15 weeks-12/27/2007-Catching Up

12/23/07
Dad made us a yummy lunch and then we headed over to my Aunt Kari's house to celebrate Christmas with Aunt Kari, Uncle David, and their new baby Will. She also had my Uncle Kevin, Aunt Bridget and their awesome kids-Kevin Jr., Alex, Monica, Blaise, Regina, Dominic and Maria. Those kids are so well behaved and polite!! Jenn immediately fell in love with Dominic!

I got to hold Will for a very long time, and besides learning that he is the cutest baby in the entire world, I've learned that I need to start doing arm exercises!!

After Kevin and Bridget and their kids left Kari gave me two big bags of diapers and clothes that Will has grown out of, and a really neat travel sleeper. I am so excited that someday Blueberry will be able to wear clothes that so many 2nd cousins of his has worn! It is also very neat to me to have a family where the cousins range in age from 30 to 2 months. When I was growing up there were only a few of us!

12/24/07
Got up and headed to Ikea with Mom, Marshall and Kari. We looked at cribs and baby furniture and Kari was a wealth of knowledge. She even taught us how to use salad spinners as art projects. Jenn told me when we got home that she listened to every world Kari said and soaked it all up!

Went to dinner with Mom, Dad and Marshall at Texas Roadhouse...but had even more fun going home. It has always been a tradition to see Christmas Lights on Christmas Eve. Jenn and I shared our tradition of searching for stars on peoples houses like you used to do with punch buggies as kids...this turned into a laugh fest. Someone would scream "Star!!", my Mom would scream "Tree!!" Jenn would snort, and I'd yell I have to pee! (picture Marshall, Jenn and I smooshed in the back seat of a sedan). The five of us fought over who would get to go to the bathroom first when we got back to the house! "STAR!!! TREE!!! SNORT!!! I HAVE TO PEE!!!"

12/25/07
Met at Mom and Dad's for present unwrapping. Got lots of goodies!! Then my favorite part of Christmas, my Dad made Sausage and Gravy for breakfast. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Kari, David and Will came over for that, and we played Rummy after breakfast.

Went back to the hotel to take a nap and then came back for dinner. I don't eat turkey in case you haven't been paying attention to my blog, but everything else was very yummy.

Visited for quite a while and then my Dad had to go to bed since he had to work at 5:30am. After he went to bed Jenn and I went back to the hotel to get her a good nights sleep before the trip home.

12/26/07
Met Mom at "Farmer Jacks Kroger" to purchase some penguins (which became the theme song of our trip home) and then went shopping at Targets and Michaels and World Market (cool store!) and Marshall bought us lunch at a Coney place (introduced Jenn to OPA!). Went back to the house for more goodbyes and hit the road.

Left at 11:45am and got home at 8:45pm (after stopping for pizza).

We had a wonderful trip. It felt great to spend Christmas with my family after so many years away. Blueberry did well-we did get the Doppler finally and were able to hear his little heartbeat thumping away-we think we even heard him hiccuping!

Blueberry's first road trip and Christmas were a hit...I hope yours was just as wonderful and warm!

14 weeks-2 days-12/22/2007

Well Blueberry has made it through his first road trip! We made it to Pittsburgh in about 3 and a half hours, and then Blueberry decided that it would be fun to give me car sickness! We had to stop every hour to let me get out and walk around, and breathe. It ended up taking us 10 hours to get through the normal 8 hour drive!

We're here now safe and sound! We went to lunch this afternoon with my mom and brother to On the Border-I love me some spicy food! It seemed that Blueberry liked it to!

We went and visited my one of my favorite families for dinner tonight...the Vanzo's-Mommy and Daddy Vanzo and their daughter Jennifer-Jennifer and I were best friends in high school and I dated her older brother David for awhile. It was great to catch up with them, I haven't seen Jennifer in a gazillion years!

Tomorrow we are heading to my Aunt Kari's house to celebrate Christmas with her family and my Uncle Kevin and family. I really can't wait to meet Kari's new son Will...the pictures I have seen of him are amazing!

Updates

I got the results back from my thyroid testing and my gestational diabetes testing! I passed both with flying colors. My TSH (the thyroid) was 3.01 which is the lowest I've had yet!! My glucose was 99, anything under 140 is good!

And, in case you were wondering, my Doppler hasn't come yet. I've moved past minor conniption fit right on to major! (we are going to the DHL facility in the morning to pick it up).

See those of you in Michigan soon!!

14 weeks-12/20/2007

I email this to Jenn each Thursday, and thought I'd share it with all of you...we find it interesting!

Your Week 14 Blueberry Update:

Your Pregnancy Calendar

Today is Thursday December 20th 2007.

You conceived on Thursday September 27th 2007
and your due date is Thursday June 19th 2008.

84 days have passed since the conception,
and you are 182 days before your due date.

You are 14 weeks into your pregnancy,
and you have 26 weeks to go.

You are in the 2nd trimester.

32% of your pregnancy has passed, there is 68% left to go.


About Blueberry:
How your baby's growing:
This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown,
grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain
impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny
features form one expression after another. His kidneys are
producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around
him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too,
and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch
him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to
bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of
a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing
faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct
neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to
a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body.
(His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting
to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo,
all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this
week — a sign that it's doing its job right— and his spleen
starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you
can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little
pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch
long) are more flexible and active.

13 weeks 6 days-12/19/07

I need to vent about DHL. The Doppler that I ordered has been at the local DHL center since Saturday. Why oh why can't they just put it on a truck and bring it to me? They were here at my work on Monday and Tuesday...is it that hard to put one little two pound box on the truck and walk it in the door with the other packages?

It says out for delivery today, if it doesn't come I may have a minor conniption fit.

NBR-Not Baby Related

My friend Estee posted this survey on her blog, and I liked it...so I'm doing it here. I'd love you to comment your answers, if like me you are stuck at work, bored, and the phone hasn't rung in two hours.


1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hand's down hot chocolate, with lots of marshmallow swimming around. Although I'd really rather have a cup of tea.

2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa wraps. What fun is a present just sitting there? I would much rather see the look of delight, and honestly hear the sounds of frantically ripping Christmas paper. Oh, and I have a wrapping paper collection of 26 rolls, I counted them yesterday. I am not allowed to buy more, until I use some up.

3. Colored or white lights? I prefer white lights, Jenn prefers colored. Our tree is colored (and blinking Estee), but the lights outside are white.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I used to, but it seems to have disappeared from my Christmas decorations box...

5. When do you put your decorations up? Normally the Monday before Thanksgiving, and then the tree gets decorated Thanksgiving night...that didn't work this year.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Sausage and Biscuits on Christmas morning!!!!!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? I'm going to stick with the night that my parents played a tape of their friend saying HO HO HO Merry Christmas. They woke me up and we stood at the bottom of the staircase listening to him. I remember being totally excited, and I remember the excitement on my parents face, which I thought then was for Santa, but realize now that it was from watching me...I can't wait to feel that excitement too!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was 9/10/11? and my mom asked me to go get her something out of her purse. Also in her purse was the packages that the gum and chap sticks from our stockings. That was a dead giveaway.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, new pajamas are always opened on Christmas Eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? With many tacky ornaments that I keep in a separate box from the normal ones so that Jenn doesn't hide their ugliness in the back of the tree.

12. Can you ice skate? No, I have my mothers weak ankles, or at least that is my excuse!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? This adorable penguin/kiwi bird stuffed animal named Floppy, that was immediately destroyed by our dog.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? The spirit of giving...gifts, time, money, food...this is what I want Blueberry to learn, the spirit behind Santa Claus.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Yum-Yums, and I normally HATE peanut butter.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? see question #6-I can't wait for the Master (my dad) to make it for me this year!

17. What is on top of your tree? A rusty white angel, totally not my style, but I haven't found a replacement for her yet.

18. What's your favorite traditional Christmas Carol? Oh Holy Night, again, can't wait to hear my father sing it.

19. What is your favorite contemporary Christmas Song? I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.

20. Do you like candy canes? Ick. I get tacky Christmas ornaments, Jenn must cover the tree in candy canes.

13 weeks 4 days--12/17/2007

We had Christmas with the Allison family on Saturday night. Opened gifts, ate pizza, and then Elissa decided it was time to tell the kids about Blueberry. I was kind of surprised as originally she was just going to wait until I was showing and have them figure it out themselves, but she said I'm 13 weeks now...they shouldn't be kept in the dark. She said I'm going to tell them you are pregnant--it's your job to answer the how questions. She said it would prepare us for the birds and bees conversation with Blueberry later on.

She told them they are going to have a new cousin. Who?? Heidi is having a baby...
Skyler (11)-Nuh huh.
Austin (8)-Can he be my friend?
Annabelle (7)-I want to hold him!

It was weird that all three of them assumed Blueberry is a boy, without me even saying that I thought he was too, maybe kids are psychic?

Skyler cornered Jenn later and asked if she was pregnant too. He's the only one who really had any questions, and they were all minor. He asked Jenn if I cheated on her. Jenn told him no, we went and saw a special doctor who helped us, and that seemed to satisfy him!

Austin thinks we should name they baby a Chinese name, he has no explanation for why. Skyler didn't like any of the names we suggested, and Belle said we should name the baby J.D. or Tyler after some of her friends on the bus.

Later Belle was laying on my lap and I was drawing on her back. She was talking to Blueberry telling him how she wants to hold him. She asked if he could hear her. I told her yes and she jumped off my lap and ran to her room. She made me all teary when she came back with one of my favorite books "There is a Monster at the End of this Book" and read it to Blueberry.

I have a copy of this book waiting at home for Blueberry, and I am going to write in the front cover how it is the first book he ever had read to him.

13 weeks 1 day-12/14/07

We had our first appointment with our Ob-Dr. Christine Stabler. I've always loved her as my doctor, mostly because she is overweight so she understands the struggles and doesn't lecture me toooooo much.

It was a very long appointment and we learned a lot. The most important being that I should not do any skydiving for until after Blueberry arrives...guess I have to cross that off my list of things to do in March.

We talked about my idea of a good birth. I would really like to go drug free, and she is very supportive of that. My labor suite will have a shower and a jacuzzi for me to relax in, and she gave me exercises to start doing now to get my body ready for labor.

She brought in a Doppler so that we could hear Blueberry's heartbeat (I've missed it the last few weeks!!) and it took forever to find him. She found the placenta first and told me to stop worrying, if the placenta sounds that good, then Blueberry is fine, we just have to find him! She had been looking for him down around my pubic line, but then decided to look up higher. Sure enough she put the wand near my belly button and there he was. Thumping away--that sound will never get old to us. I even went online last night and rented a Doppler for the house. he he.

I hate needles, it is a trait my father passed down to me. I have gotten mostly used to the blood draws, but shots are a whole different story. Dr. Stabler has always been a huge promoter of the flu shot. I told Jenn that if she offered I would do it this time, since I'm pregnant, I usually turn her down, I'd rather battle the flu, than have to get a shot. We were in that appointment for an hour and a half and she said "Okay, I have other patients to see, see you in a month" In my head I said "Yeah, no flu shot!!" She must have read my mind. She popped her head back in and asked if I had had a flu shot yet. Yuck.

I have gained 5 pounds which is perfect according to Dr. Stabler. First time in my life I've done the right thing as far as weight!

Since I am old, and overweight, she wants to nip Gestational Diabetes testing in the butt. That was fun let me tell you. They have you drink two styrofoam coffee cups full of this syrupy Sprite flavored liquid. I drank the first glass fine...the second one did not want to go down. Then you wait an hour and do a blood draw. We also did a new thyroid check to see if I reacted well to this new dose of medicine. I should hear the results from both by Monday I would assume.

Our next appointment will be Thursday, January 10, 2008. Glad we rented our own Doppler, how on earth can we go for four weeks without hearing our little Blueberry?!?

12 weeks 4 days-12/10/2007

While talking to my mommy dearest last night I had the most exciting revelation. We get to play Santa Claus next year!! I had already planned the trip to the paint your own pottery place where I will paint a plate for leaving Santa's cookies on...but this is so much bigger.

• I...um We, get to sneakily wrap presents and hide them in the house with special wrapping paper. (I have a huge wrapping paper collection...huge I tell you)
• We get to eat the cookies/hot cocoa/carrots left for Santa and the reindeer
• We get to devise diabolical plans to trick our child(ren) into continuing to believe in Santa (my parents had a friend tape record himself saying "HO HO HO" etc and played it for me one Christmas night!)
• and many more that I'm just to excited to think up right now!
  

Yes, Blueberry will only be six months old next Christmas so he isn't going to remember a darn thing about his first Christmas...but there will be a gazillion photographs and scrapbook pages to fill him in on it later!


***edited to add***
I email Jenn my postings to share with her the blog entries since she can't read them from work...today's response...

"i am so not eating the carrots"

12 weeks 1 day-12/7/07

Vicki the accountant at work was kind enough this morning to bring me a muffin from her favorite bakery. I was more than happy to eat it!

As I was eating the last bite I called her:

Me: Thanks for making me a cannibal.
Vicki: What?
Me: That was a Blueberry Muffin.
Vicki: Um...I wanted Blueberry to have friends.

Guess I really have to start watching what I eat.

(if anyone is keeping track as we all learn the sizes of our fruits, Blueberry is now the size of a Lime. I am looking forward to Blueberry being the size of a pomelo *only my mom and dad will understand this*.)

11 weeks 5 days-12/4/07

I'm a little bored right now when it comes to being pregnant. Nothing new is happening and there are still 8 days until my next Dr.'s appointment. I'm a little sick sometimes at night, or I'm starving to death. If I'm planning a yummy dinner, I'm sick. If I can't think of anything in the house to make, I am miraculously starving. Or in last nights case I planned on making pirogies and sautéed onions, was starving and happy that I was starving and cooking, then proceeded to burn the crap out of the onions. Sigh. Thank goodness for the little Costco pizza's, they have been my lifesaver many nights.

Today no fewer than 8 other hotel employees asked me how I'm feeling. I feel like I disappoint them when I report that there is nothing new to report.

You aren't showing yet!?! No, but if you were in my pants you would notice a difference. Some people tell me it's too early to tell a difference, others are amazed that I haven't noticed a bigger difference. I do not fit in my "wear only when there will be no sitting involved" pants. My pants that normally fit perfectly are starting to get tight by the end of the day, so I unbutton them, and all is well! My fat pants are heaven. Thank goodness for fat pants.

11 weeks 0 days-11/29/07

The Liars. (oh and **warning**, I'm about to discuss bodily functions, stop reading here if you'd rather not know about my bowels.)

Morning sickness may decrease and you may not need to urinate as much as in early pregnancy. You may become constipated, however, as bowel movements slow down in pregnancy.

A-Morning Sickness. It is not always morning sickness. Sometimes it is evening sickness, or more specifically 6:15pm sickness. It does not start as early as they say it will. Sometimes it doesn't start untill about week nine. It does not start to go away during week 10 either. Sometimes it starts to get worse around week 10, to the point that your other half may starve to death if she doesn't get dinner soon. Or freeze when I force her to eat it outside so that I don't have to see, smell or think about it.

B-Constipated. I can only dream of constipation. I used to be on a pooping schedule. Every third day. I was happy with this schedule as I am not a fan of pooping. Now every single morning at 6:45 am if I am not near a restroom you will hear lots of whining and moaning. And it's not just at 6:45 am either. It happens throughout the day. Give me constipation please.

C-Urination. Eight times a night. No wonder I need a nap.


Please understand that this is not complaining. I love it. I do love to dry heave loudly at the idea of "so, what do you want for dinner tonight". It makes our house a fun house. I do love peeing a lot because that means baby is growing and pushing on my bladder. I do enjoy pooping. Okay, that's a lie. I hate pooping. I have for as long as I can remember. I am not a lets sit on the toilet and read the paper kind of girl.

I do have days where I am starving and could eat all day without getting sick. Yesterday was one of these. I ate more yesterday than I have in the last week combined. I'm sure at my next doctors appointment I shall prove that I put back on the 8 pounds I've lost so far. Oh well, I am realllllly looking forward to the cute maternity clothes!!

10 weeks 5 days-11/27/2007

We got to see Blueberry again yesterday. It is so wonderful to be able to lay there and see the little munchkin swimming around. Blueberry is looking much more like a baby, and way less tadpole like. Every time the ultrasound tech would try to pause the screen he would back-up just enough that we couldn't see him.

Here is a picture, it's a little fuzzy because I took a picture, of the picture with my camera phone, but I think you'll get the point.



Blueberry is in the black part, head towards the upper left, kinda looking at his feet. The four white dots are hands and feet. That is an ear at the bottom of the head I believe.

Yes, I keep calling Blueberry a boy. No one can tell us what he is yet, but I'm going with boy. Which makes me very happy, but we are unsettled on a name. It was going to be Broderick Marshall, but I'm already tired of the BM comments, so we are rethinking. If Blueberry was to be a girl we'd be all set, as we have had that name picked out for at least 5 years. She'd be Cavanaugh Jenna. (Jenna is Jenn's cousin who passed away from Cystic Fibrosis--Cavanaugh, well that's a long story.)

I'm still liking Orion. But that seems a little out there. (semi pun intended) Jenn likes it, but would prefer it as a middle name. But we also both want Marshall (my lil brother) to be the middle name. I'm not going to release the current boy name to the public, until we've both slept on it a few more nights. But so far I can't think of any bodily functions that the initials will spell.

10 weeks 3 days-11/25/2007

I was browsing tickers this morning, and this one caught my eye, thought I'd share!

10 weeks 1 day-11/23/2007

Many people ask me if I have any cravings. Until yesterday I always said no. I have come to the realization that I have two major cravings, Ding Dongs (which are very hard to find here) and butter.

I rediscovered Ding Dongs two years ago in Florida. The Target that we do our grocery shopping at had them, and I bought 4 boxes to take home with us. I like them frozen. About a month ago at our Target I found them too! I currently have 3 boxes of them in my freezer. Last week there were 5. We were at Target the other night and I threw two boxes in the cart. Jenn asked why I needed to buy more. Because you never know when our Target will stop stocking them!!

Bread has become nothing to me but a means of butter to mouth transport. At dinner last night with Jenn's parents I had three bites of stuffing, a serving of green beans (covered in butter) two bites of mashed taters, NO TURKEY (Blueberry apparently does not enjoy the sight, smell or taste of Turkey, and I have two in my freezer!!) and about 15 pieces of bread smothered in butter. MMMMM butter.

Jenn always checks to make sure I eat something good for breakfast and lunch because I don't eat dinner all that often. She called me yesterday morning to see what I had for breakfast-a bagel, smothered in butter. What is it with you and butter, she asked? I don't know, could you bring me a Ding Dong??

10 weeks-Thanksgiving 2007

Today is our most thankful Thanksgiving ever. I don't even care that I am writing this from work (okay, I'm writing this from work so that it makes it look like I am doing something productive so that I don't have to stuff New Year's Eve party invitations.)

I really hope that Blueberry enjoys all the Thanksgiving food, as we've been invited to three dinners. Don't worry, I won't pig out at all of them, but I have an unnatural love for all foods Thanksgiving, and I know who serves the best of which food, so I'll pace myself so that I can get it all in.

Darn, should have bought the maternity pants sooner, then I'd have lots of space to fill!!

Love you all, THANK YOU for loving us too!!

9 weeks 6 days-11/21/2007

The other day my friend Lyz called to see if I was maternity clothes shopping yet. She knows I have a bit of superstitious mind and wasn't going to buy any maternity clothes until the last possible moment. I said not yet, but I'm getting there, why? She was at one of her favorite consignment shops and they had a whole lot of plus size maternity clothes. I didn't think much of it, because if you know me at all I'm a little stuck up and consignment just isn't my thing. Sales are more my style.

I should also mention that I freak out at least twice a week about money. Jenn has sat through many of my fits as I go over the budget and reminds me that we just did this two days ago and we are going to be just fine. It's just me. I have a fear of poor what can I say.

So I mention to Jenn what Lyz had said, and I have never seen anyone so excited in my life. I was reminded about how much I like to freak out about money, so why don't I do something to save some. I had to call Lyz back to get directions and hours for this consignment shop and we went to visit last night.

Some other plus size woman must have already been there because it was slim pickings, but all in all everything there was very nice. I got three nice, name brand shirts for $15.00 and I know they would have cost me at least $30.00 each in the stores!

And I had no idea what consignment shopping really was. You take your old unwanted stuff there and they sell it for you-then PAY YOU. I shall be scouring my closets if you need me.

9 weeks, 2 days-11/17/2007

Your Pregnancy Calendar

Today is Saturday November 17th 2007.

Your due date is Thursday June 19th 2008.
You are 215 days before your due date.

You are 9 weeks into your pregnancy,
and you have 31 weeks to go.

You are in the 1st trimester.

19% of your pregnancy has passed, there is 81% left to go.

What??? 19% of my pregnancy has passed...that's almost one fifth! That's a little sad to me. For as much as I can't wait to meet Blueberry (and that is the point isn't it?) I really want to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy. That is the point of the blog too, to remember every little detail....such as.

My belching. I've always been a pro. I once entertained Elissa's two boys during an hour and a half ride home from Philly by belching the alphabet over and over again. (I can see the tear in my mom's eye for being so proud of me!). But let me tell you, I am now a Master Belcher. I can rock the entire house. And they come from no where! I was standing at the front desk yesterday and I thought a little belch was coming so I even politely covered my mouth (see mom, you did teach me!). What came out of me was by no means the little tiny one I was envisioning. Oh no, I swear the ceiling fans stopped working for a second they were so shocked. Thankfully there were no guests in the lobby.



Each week I get an email update on how things are progressing in my body. I was ever so excited to read today that....

"The embryonic "tail" is completely gone."

What a relief.

The same email also informed me that Blueberry is now officially a fetus. This makes me giggle because before we found the nickname Blueberry, we were excited to someday be able to call the baby "Cletus the Fetus". I kinda like Cletus, but I don't want the poor kid to have 7 names before we sign the birth certificate. I mean last night I was trying to find a way to fit Orion into it's name if it is a boy....apparently indecisiveness does not go away during pregnancy.

8 weeks 6 days-11/14/2007

Okay, gonna try and post pictures...if they don't come through, I'm sorry! You can email me and I'll forward them to you heidimingo@gmail.com

8 weeks 5 days-11/13/2007

Yesterday was a big day. We got to meet our precious little Blueberry for the first time. And in our typical fashion, we managed to mess up. The appointment was originally for Wednesday at 10:30am, but Jenn had it switched to Monday. We arrived at the Dr's office at 9:45am and sat in the parking lot for a bit, finally at 10:05 I told Jenn we could go in because her antsyness was killing me!! We had been arguing over the appointment being at 10:15 or 10:30.

We walked in and the ultrasound tech was standing right there waiting for us. Jenn asked what time the appointment was for-you guessed it-10:00. Sigh, by the time this baby is born I really need to organize myself a little better. My planner clearly states that the appointment was for 10:00, I should learn to read it.

Once I was ready the ultrasound tech came in and started. Showed me my right ovary (thank you, I've seen that before), my left ovary (next please!), my cervix (measuring good, move on), the outside of my uterus (seriously only interested in the inside) and then....

Baby. One single little perfect baby with a beautiful heartbeat. She measured it-perfect. Then she tried to measure it's little heart and it was dancing around, you could see the little arms wiggling back and forth! I swear I could almost hear it humming along to the elevator music playing in the background!

Then she found the heartbeat, and we were able to hear it. We had no idea that we would hear it today, we had heard that it would be a few more weeks. It was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard in my life. Beating at a perfectly healthy169 beats per minute. The whooshing sound was just too much for me and I started to cry. I could feel Jenn standing behind me shaking and I knew she must be crying too.

We were given a few pictures to take home, and as soon as I can figure out how to blur out my social security number I will share them.

The second big part of my day was telling my parents. I was beyond stressed about this as I never shared with them that we were even trying. Jenn spent all evening telling me to just do it, call them, they need to know. After a few minutes of talking about their new mattress I just kinda blurted it out. I told my mom that I had an interesting day today, with a doctors appointment, she responded with a worried "really?" and I told her that the doctor said that she was going to be a grandmother again in June (they have four other grandchildren that they have adopted as their own). There was a lot of whats and hows, and then I finally heard excitement in her voice. A lot of whats and hows still followed. They were simply shocked as they didn't even know Jenn and I wanted kids at all. Once the initial shock wore off they were happy and excited. Now of course (like Jenn told me months and months ago) I regret not filling them in sooner. Sorry Mom and Dad!!

Today is now the day that I will start sharing this blog with people. I've been writing it this whole time knowing that once Blueberry showed it's little heartbeat I would share...and I'm excited to! All the major people know, it's time to start sharing our little secret with everyone!

7 weeks 5 days--11/6/2007

Well last night was a new experience!! I woke up at 1am with an awful pain in my chest-thought I was dying. I have never felt such a thing before. I woke Jenn up in tears after it didn't go away for 20 minutes. Jenn says it is heartburn. Well I've never had that before, and I always just assumed that heartburn would feel like...well...a burn in my chest. This was like a big huge bubble had landed in my chest, and if I could just pull off the worlds best belch, then all would be well.

I rocked and cried and rolled around, vomited because I made myself so upset and finally at 2:15 Jenn gave up trying to convince me that it was heartburn and left for the grocery store to purchase Tums.

Five minutes after she left, I was cured.

She made it home in record time, less than 15 minutes to drive to the store, find the Tums, and drive back home.

Even though the pain was gone for the most part, she made me take two Tums, and they weren't as horribly awful as I thought they would be.

It makes me feel good to have another symptom!! But why do pregnancy symptoms have to be so gosh darn painful??

7weeks 2days-11/3/2007

My cell phone rang at 8:44am this morning, I looked down at the number and it was the Fertility Center. My heart sank. What could be wrong that they would call me on a Saturday morning when they are closed?

Michelle wanted to let me know that my TSH (my thyroid hormone) had doubled since two weeks ago when they checked it, and they need to up my Synthroid dosage. Which scared the color right out of my cheeks. If my TSH levels get too high, it can cause miscarriage. She promised me that they aren't high enough to be dangerous for the baby yet, but she wants to make sure they get it back down before it gets that far.

Since Michelle isn't worried in the least, I'm only half as worried as I could be. Still scared, but not so much that I want to curl up and cry.

On a side note, I forwarded Jenn an email the other day that mentioned that the baby is the size of a blueberry--so that's what we've taken to nicknaming the baby...Blueberry!!

6 weeks 6 days 10/31/2007

or 7 weeks 0 days if you are my doctor, but I'm gonna stick with my current plan.

Happy Halloween!!!

Had my first official prenatal appointment yesterday. We were late, 3 minutes, and I panicked, only to wait in the lobby for 40 minutes because they were behind. They have never been behind!!

He went over all the symptoms I might be having:
Nausea?? Nope
Sore Breasts?? Check (Jenn told him to double check that)
Tired?? Check (again, Jenn had him double check that)
Spotting?? Nope
Cramping?? Nothing to worry about.

We were then told all the do's and don'ts-no cleaning cat litter (I have never before, why would I start now???) No smoking, um duh. No drinking, um, double duh. Eat right, don't actually eat for two...etc.

I was told that he was going to check my cervix to make sure it's closed, but he said he wasn't worried about it, since I'm not spotting and my cramping is the normal stuff (round ligament pain) than he's not worried.

Then the good part...scheduling our ultrasound. But it wasn't as good as I thought. They are making us wait almost two weeks!!!!! November 12 at 10am will be the big moment we get to see our ONE baby's heartbeat!

Oh, and today, I got sick for the first time. It was nice to know things are going well even if the doc won't let us see our baby :)

6 weeks 4 days--10/29/07

I'm bored. I am so used to waking up every morning, taking my temperature, peeing in a cup, dipping a stick into the cup, staring at said stick, punching all that info into my chart, and obsessing over the chart all day. Now...I just wait for doctors appointments. There is a long time to wait between each one.

And, I know I am just begging for trouble, but I wouldn't mind some morning sickness...or something quite tangible that I am pregnant. Yes, my breasts hurt like the dickens, and I do sometimes get a little icky feeling after dinner, oh and I am as bloated as can be...but that isn't what people think of when they think of newly pregnant chicks. They think of pukers. I want to be a puker.

6 weeks 1 day 10/26/07

Baby is apple seed sized now. How sweet. I still feel relatively normal, except for being tired and having sore boobs, and kinda almost wish for morning sickness to make this feel more real. It is hard to imagine that it's been two weeks since we found out "for sure" that this was happening.

Mostly what I feel right now is nervous, nervous that something will go wrong, nervous about bringing a child into this world, nervous that there are four of them in there!! (well, not really that last one, I'm pretty sure there is only one baby...Jenn still swears two, and lots of people are convinced there are three).

Nothing special to update yet...next dr's appointment is Tuesday, October 30 (6 weeks, 5 days). I hate waiting this long...and Jenn refuses to let me waste any more money on pregnancy tests...lol.

5 weeks, 4 days--10/22/2007

Bloodtest #3......2266!!!! Again, a doubling time of 2.36..we've got ourselves a steady little grower in there!!!

Next appointment will be 10/30/2007 where they will tell us all the do's and dont's of pregnancy...and even more importantly (since I have read every piece of literature I can get my hands on I already know all the do's and don'ts) they will schedule our ultrasound to see the baby's(ies) heartbeat(s). I am fully convinced it is only one...Jenn's work has a poll going on betting on how many there will be. I'd like to shoot the people who say 4.

I'm sick, which isn't pleasant. Every time I cough it feels like my bellah is going to explode!!

Boobs are as sore as can be, makes laying on my bellah tough, but I am enjoying every little minute of it!

5 weeks, 0 day--10/18/2007

Bloodtest number two results are 701. That is a doubling time of 2.36 days. They are looking for a doubling of 48-72 hours, so I am well within those limits!!

Grow Baby Grow!!

4 weeks 3 days (10/14/2007-Sunday)

See this o. The baby is the size of half that right now. Isn't that simply amazing? We went to the PA Ren Faire today and really enjoyed it at first. Then I got horribly hot and tired and wanted to go home. But at the same time I wanted to have fun and we had only been there for two hours. We walked around a little bit longer (bought a Flamingo made out of beeswax, a glass blown pumpkin, and a gift for my mom for Christmas) and then we both decided we'd had enough and headed home.

I slept almost the whole way home. We stopped at Freeze and Frizz to pick up dinner, and ate it at home. We decided to take a nap, that lasted until 9am Monday morning.

I think pregnancy may make me a little tired. I love it.

10/12/2007-Friday

I went into work a little early as it is a Friday I wanted to get somethings done before I dissappeared to the doctors office. I left at 8am and called the dr's office from the car. Explain that my period didn't come, can I please come in for a blood test. Run home and pick up Jenn and drive the 40 some minute drive to York. I didn't tell them I had peed on a stick, but they knew. I asked when I would hear back from them-around 2pm. EEK!!! I hate waiting. it totally sucks. All I do anymore is wait. Wait for my period, wait to ovulate, wait to see if it worked.

At 12:45 I looked at my cell phone and told it "Would you just ring???" Holy smokes it did.
Me: Hello?
Voice: Is Heidi available.
Me: This is she.
Voice: Hi, it's Michelle at the Fertility Center.
Me: Hi. (with a quivery get on with it kind of voice)
Michelle: I have good news for you, you are pregnant, your hcg level is 121!
Me: Yipee!
Michelle: You took a home pregnancy test didn't you.
Me: Maybe.

Then she tells me that I should come in next Thursday for another blood draw to make sure the numbers are rising properly. (See more waiting). They will also test my thyroid to make sure that the baby is getting enough of my hormone, and leaving enough for me.

I called Jenn, then Elissa, then Lyz and then I went into the bathroom and cried relief.

This is amazing.

Before 10/12/2007

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Started my period. So excited to get a new cycle started and have a plan. See last month my body surprised me and ovulated way earlier than expected so we missed trying. It was rough, but I guess in the end worth it to wait the extra month!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Started my monthly dose of 100mg of Clomid per day. Clomid sucks. It gives me hot flashes, and makes me cranky and just in general kills me. I hate it.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Got a positive on my ovulation predictor kit. This is not normal, as it is way way to early for this to be happening. I called the Fertility Center and asked what to do, they just tell me to come in Sunday morning at 7:30am and we will get it all figured out. I spend the evening crying because this is exactly what happened last month and I ended up missing ovulation. I can't take it if we miss it again.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Arrive at Fertility Center and the wonderful lab girl Amy takes me back to take my blood. She's talking about giving us the results tomorrow if I ovulated or not, and I am starting to shake with fear that we yet again missed it. I don't remember what she said, I was too busy watching Jenn's face turn redder and angrier when it hit me-they are going to do the IUI and just hope we didn't waste the specimen!!!!! IUI gets done, we head home.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Wait all day for the phone call from Michelle at the clinic to tell me if I ovulated at a good time, or if the IUI was too late. She finally calls and tells me that we didn't miss it, in fact I haven't even ovulated at all. Come in tomorrow and we'll do an ultrasound to see what is going on. Sigh. Well, we wasted a specimen, but hey, better safe than sorry. I'm a little stressed out at this point. Just a little. Twenty minutes later she calls back to say hey--order another specimen, have it shipped overnight. This is after 2pm, so overnight is really now Wednesday morning. What it I need it tomorrow???? More stressing ensues.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Go in for ultrasound. Jenn and I have been doing this for awhile so we know what things mean, even if the doctor doesn't outright explain them to us. Ultrasound tech is doing the ultrasound and I see her measuring each follicle. They are 21, 24, 19, 23. Um, you ovulate when the follicles are between 20 and 25. I begin to cry. They take us back for bloodwork again, and send us away for two hours while they process it. We have breakfast at Cracker Barrel (which I don't eat since I am so nervous that our specimen hasn't arrived, but we need it) and shop for a new couch at the Room Store. Head back to Center.

While sitting in the waiting room Fed-Ex stops in and drops of a dewar---could it be our specimen????? I start to chipper up a little bit, but then sink when Michelle calls us back. Jenn and I give each other the "no matter what she says we are going to be okay" look, and follow her. She must have sensed our fear so she stopped halfway down the hall and said "It isn't bad, relax". OMG. Total sigh of relief. I started to cry.

When she got us back to the room she showed us the numbers...my hormones are not quite ready to ovulate, but the follicles sure are!! So she prescribes a trigger shot to be given to me (by Jenn) at 9pm tonight, and we will do IUI on 9/27-my 30th birthday.

Shot didn't hurt a bit. I am a shot wuss. I cried for the two hours before about it, but really I didn't feel a thing. I felt the cold needle since it was refrigerated, but nothing else.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Just like every IUI I've had before, and I won't go into the description of it, since I have no idea who may read this.

When I got to work the "o" pain started. I feel my ovulation. I feel the little egg spring free of it's follicle and start traveling. IT FREAKING HURTS!! I could barely stand up straight all day long. We had plans to go to Shady Maple for my birthday, as it is free on your birthday, and I dreaded it. Kept hoping Jenn would get the hint that I was in way to much pain to walk around a buffet, let alone stuff myself with the buffet food, but even when she did get the hint, I still wanted Shady Maple so I just dealt with it.

I felt awful lying to my parents when they called to wish me a happy birthday. I was in pain and sounded bad so I told them that I had a stomach bug, which I guess in a sense was true it was a pain in my stomach that I was experiencing.

Now we just have to wait until October 11th for the blood test to see if this worked or not.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

I have given up. I'm crampy like normal, and I have really sore breasts like normal. I figure this is the end of another cycle and even start talking quite seriously to my friend Lyz who is going through the same thing about how "fun" it will be to go through daily injections together. I start figuring out the budget with all of this. I tell Elissa about how much this is going to cost, and how much I am going to need her to listen to me whine while I get the shots each day. Jenn and I went to dinner at Sonic and I was playing with one of my TTC coins (a coin that a wonderful girl on the internet sent me to wish me well in my Trying To Conceive journey). The coin said baby on it and I was rubbing it between my fingers and it split into two coins. Jenn and I joked how maybe the injectables cycle was going to give us twins.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

I am even more convinced that this is not our month. I have Jenn call the Fertility Center to cancel our blood test, and schedule the injectables meeting for the following Thursday. I am sad, but excited to move on another step.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

There were two home pregnancy tests left in the house, and I asked Jenn as I got in the shower if I could use one, just for fun. After getting out of the shower, I used it and set in one the bathroom sink. I brushed my hair and looked down at it. Holy Smokes, there were two lines. I have never seen such a thing. I ran into the bedroom and jumped on top of Jenn who was sleeping screaming turn on the light and put on your glasses there is a line here!!!!

I spent the entire day at work trying to decide if this second line was real or not. We put a plan together. I will stop peeing at noon, and come home and pee on that one last stick--see what it says. If it says yes, we will head to Giant to purchase a digital test and see what it says.

I have never driven home so fast in my life. Flew up the stairs, peed in the cup and dipped the stick. Sat on the bed next to Jenn and stared as almost instantly the second line showed up.

Fly to Giant (I'll admit it, with the cup of pee in the car) to purchase a digital test (whoo baby they are expensive!). Run out to parking lot, dip it and watch the little hourglass tick. I covered it up with my hand because I was soooo nervous. The test says it takes 1-3 minutes to determine it's results. Thirty seconds into the test Jenn removed my hand because she wanted to watch. It already said "PREGNANT". I screamed.

Drive to Elissa's house to show her-she of course isn't home. Try to find her at football field, not there either. Spend 30 minutes driving around trying to call her but her cell phone was off. Drive to Lyz's house to show her. So far Lyz's mom Joni has been my favorite person to tell. I barely handed her the stick and she just started bawling and hugged me so tight. Hang out with them for a bit and keep trying Elissa-finally getting her-now she's at the football field, so we head over. I give Belle a hug and Elissa says "wasn't today supposed to be your bloodtest?" I simply handed her the test and she squealed!!!

Shortly after that we left there and went to Chili's for dinner-I spent most of my meal staring at the test. I cannot believe it says pregnant.