Sunday, August 29, 2010

Week #12!

I know, I know, I'm slacking on the updates again. Since I can I'm going to use Peanut as my excuse. The fatigue has increased with a vengeance over the last two weeks, and some nights it's all I can do to stay up until 9pm before I'm falling asleep on the couch.

In week #10, Peanut was the size of a prune, in week #11 they had grown to the size of a lime, and now Peanut is the size of a large plum!

It's hard to believe that I can have some little person the size of a plum growing inside of me and I don't feel a thing! It's amazing really. By now most of the bodily systems are all in place and some are already starting to work, even though they still have another 6 more months of maturing left to do.

Aside from the increasing fatigue there have been a few other changes with my symptoms over the last few weeks:

-By about week 9-10 the bloat had really begun to set in. In order to prolong the life of my regular clothes I purchased a Tummy Sleeve on the advice of a friend. It helps by allowing you to wear your regular pants undone without them well falling to your ankles!

-One day last week (11wks) I woke up and suddenly I could do up some of my pants again because the bloat has disappeared! This could be caused by Peanut moving therefore moving some of my internal organs

-The all day fatigue that had started to get better started to kick my butt again last week. Not fun.

-Nausea (what I like to call all-day crappiness) has gotten worse especially in the morning. Every week I try and decrease my dosage of Diclectin, but my body wants nothing to do with that and the next day I'm back on my regular dosing schedule. The gagging and retching are so bad that every night at dinner and before I go to bed Andre asks me if I've taken "all my pills".

-The good news is that for the past week and a half I've only had to get up once/night for my nightly bathroom run. Yeah for more sleep!

This week is going to be a busy one with our IPS screening scheduled for Wednesday morning, and then another visit (and another ultrasound) with my specialist on Thursday morning. Andre has meetings at work all day on Wednesday so my mom will get to see Peanut (or as she calls him/her "Cashew") on the big screen. Andre will be with me on Thursday morning though.

Stay tuned everyone for another couple ultrasound pictures this week, and hopefully not too soon afterwards the "Global Announcement", after we get a chance to share the news with my grandparents that live locally.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Second ultrasound!

Andre and I are incredibly lucky because we were blessed to see our little peanut again! We were at the specialists office this morning for another visit, and another ultrasound to make sure peanut is developing normally. The ultrasound tech is absolutely wonderful and as she was checking out the umbilical cord and placenta she had Andre come over to the screen so he could see everything.

Peanut is measuring on schedule, and the little heart was beating at 145 beats per minute. We also found out that peanut could be arriving a little sooner than we originally expected since our official due date is March 9th!

Our first ultrasound I was only 6wks3days pregnant, so this time at 9wks5days pregnant there was so much more to see this time. It was miraculous to see. Both Andre and I both had tears in our eyes this time. Peanut is no longer a little blob on the screen, but actually looks like a little person! A person with a really big head, but a little person! Peanut was even moving! There are no words to describe what we were feeling when we saw the little arms and legs moving, and body wiggling. It was amazing.

Seeing everything today makes all the nausea, gagging and dry heaves more than worth it.

We were given a few pictures, but I think this one shows the head, arms and legs the best. Here is peanut:



Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Week #9

I'm realizing that I'm really slacking with the whole week-by-week updates, but I have a really good excuse because Andre and I were on vacation for a week and a half, and a week of that was in sunny Aruba! We had a great time on vacation, but we're happy to be back home.

So on to peanut! So much has happened since week #6, and peanut has been doing some serious growing! Peanut is now the size of...

I'm not a big fan of olives, but at least we have a visual!

In week 7 peanut was the size of a medium blueberry, and last week the size of a raspberry, to give you an idea of the rate of growth that is going on. In week 7 little leg and arm buds were forming, and by week 8 is looking a little less alien like everyday! The best part is that by week 9, our little peanut has officially graduated from embryo to fetus! Little muscles are beginning to develop as well, so on an ultrasound we could actually see our little peanut swimming around! Later on this month we could also be lucky enough to hear the beautiful sound of little peanut's heartbeat!

So much is happening!

I mentioned in our last update that the nausea train had arrived, and that I had tried Ginger Gravol. Well the nausea continued to worsen, so after a call into my specialist I was starting a prescription nausea medication named Diclectin. This medication has worked it's wonders for the most part making me feel (almost) normal most days. One side effect of this drug can be fatigue at the start, so thankfully I was on vacation and could nap under a hut on the beach every morning. This has been replaced by normal first trimester fatigue now.

I'm still feeling:

-bloat, mostly at night, but happens all day

-aversion to scents

-constant feeling like I'm going to gag, often for no reason at all. This drives Andre crazy!

-fatigue

Thankfully my daily heartburn has eased up, and I'm only getting up twice a night to a full bladder which is a big improvement to 4 times a night! This means more sleep for me.

Things are going well overall though, and Andre and I are so excited for another appointment at the clinic on Thursday when we will hopefully get another opportunity to see peanut on a second ultrasound!