Merry Christmas

Our Christmas vacation went by so fast. I feel like we never stopped, and still didn't get to do things that I thought we would have time to do. It has just been 'go go go'. We had a fun time though and got to see family, friends and eat lots of good food. The day after we got back, we met up with my roommate from graduate school 'Louise', at the Metro Centre -  its one of the biggest malls in Europe and its about 20 minutes from my home in England. We had brunch before she headed to see her family for the holidays, and then Jesse and I shopped (ALOT - as in 7 hours). Can you say exhausted? The next day we unfortunately went to a funeral, to pay respect to a great man. I hadn't seen my best friend Vanessa in many years and her dad had passed away. It was a beautiful but heart breaking service.

After the initial hectic couple of days we settled into a routine of waking, walking the 3 dogs for an hour plus in the surrounding countryside and then hanging out with friends and family. I got to see my undergraduate roommates, Emma and Joanne. If you remember from a previous post, I mentioned they are both pregnant too. If I had been thinking I would have taken photos (I know, I know - photographer and no pictures). Seriously I took NO photos this vacation. Too busy and more importantly, it rained, EVERY DAY.................. makes it pretty difficult to get out and take pics. Not saying we couldn't have done stuff inside, but outside it better.

My sister Natasha and my mum had a family baby shower for me, it was really fun. My cousins were there. A couple of Natashas friends, that I have also adopted as my friends ;), and my other sister Andre. We had a good time ate more good food and played some really fun games (thank you Marise - you need to become a party planner, speccializing in Baby Showers).

I essentially had 3 days of opening pressies - baby shower on the 23rd, birthday on the 24th and christmas on the 25th!!! How fun?!?! Time flies though - there are some iphone pics from the baby shower, but thats it. My plans of getting my cousins newborn, my sisters, Linzi etc etc didn't happen
:(.

We are packed and ready to fly out on the 28th. I am coming back with a horrible cold and sore throat - wish us luck with the travels.

Happy New Year to everyone - next post willl be 2013. Lots to look forward to.

Home for the Holidays

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

Short post today - we are travelling home to England for the Holidays :)................ So Excited!!

We left Houghton last night around 6.30-7pm. We thought we were going to leave around 3 but Jesse ended up working in surgery till around 6pm. It was ok though - I had ALOT to do yesterday. I did exams for students in the morning AND I got them graded and turned in! Which is great because I thought I was going to have to grade them in the car. Then I went home - packed up the dogs and took them to the Kennel. I don't normally mind, but yesterday I was super emotional about it. Blue has been really glued to me over the past few weeks, like he doesn't want to let me out of his sight, so it was hard to leave him at the Kennel - although once we got there - he was happy and acting all crazy, and then Barley was acting like he didn't want me to leave him. I am confident that they have fun there though - they get to stay together and its really quite a nice kennel. I guess that must be the pregnancy hormones making an appearance ;)

After that I made a quick trip to the Dentist.................. my teeth were hurting and reacting to hot and cold food and drinks :(. I was worried I was getting an abscess or something. The dentist reassured me that is was pregnancy related issues and that happens to some people (hmmmm - I seem to be hearing that ALOT). So he sent me on my way with sensodyne toothpaste.................... its still a little sensitive today, but not like yesterday.

I packed up the car, checked us in for the flight - I must have got on there early because I got the seats I was tempted to pay an extra $42 for (per person) the day before! Can you believe airlines are doing this now. You pay to get on a flight and then then try to coerce you into more money to get the seat you want. Anyway - we got the seats we wanted and I didn't cave in and pay the extra - I just need to remember to be online waiting for the flight to open up for our return travel.

I am excited for Christmas, I think it is going to be super busy, but fun and I am going to get to see two of my really good friends and family!

Here is a picture of the ever swelling stomach. We have lots of movements everyday - seems to be very active right after swimming and showering. Hoping this is signs of a super water baby.

Happy Holidays Everyone :)
Much love Louisa and Jesse

Week 21 bringing you Holiday Cheer and a Little bit of Color

I think this is the fastest pregnancy ever!! People keep telling me that it last forever, but honestly its going by so quickly. Maybe ask me again in a few weeks if I still feel the same :)

So I have been absolutely inundated with emails and texts this week asking me the gender of the baby :). I know I delayed the posting, but seriously I have been so busy and I didn't really have a good week last week with the blacking out and all that. I didn't feel like doing much. I did send my mum some cupcakes with the appropriate frosting color. Over the top - maybe - but who knows if I will ever get to do this again - and so yes, I am going to have fun with it and enjoy it :).

Then at the weekend I had a little gender reveal party with our close friends here. It was such a fun night, we made pizza (or Shannon did - she is just too good at deciding the toppings for Pizza :). And then we had cupcakes, which I made - I have some pictures that I need to upload. It was a really nice night, and special. I am happy that we got to share it with our friends here. I wish I could have done something for everyone I know, but its impossible and super expensive. On Thursday though, Jesse and I had our Winter photos taken by Sarah Bird Photography. I did a little reveal by wearing a ribbon with my clothes that gives away the gender. I love the photos and I am so glad we have them, they will always be special to us.

We are expecting a girl :). We have obviously known for a few weeks now because of the blood test. I think its so cool that blood tests can detect baby DNA. They say it is 100% accurate, but I have to admit when I went for the anatomy ultrasound last week, I did get nervous when I asked the technician to confirm it. Although I think at that point the technician and I were just hoping I would stay conscious long enough the get through the ultrasound. I think this color looks so cute with the grey sweater too.

You can see the bump a little better in the picture. Some days I think I am so big, and others I am like - where did it go. I know that it is slowly moving its way up. Swimming is more comfortable (yes I am still swimming, even after the little scare). I am not swimming any backstroke though ;)!! To be honest, I think the baby likes swimming, it moves around alot when I am in the pool :). Hoping this is a positive sign.

I am not going to lie - she has to like swimming, given the genes she is getting from Jesse and I right?!?!

The next few pictures are some of my favorites too :) - I love this one - because first of all, doesn't my husband look super hot in it?!!!! You can't see his face properly, but there is just something about this picture. I can't wait to put these up around our home!






There's that Train again. Every time I go to this place, I always think about my Grandad Raisbeck. Even Jesse does whenever we see a cool looking train, and he never even got to meet him :). I really love this picture - I also love the Train. When I was growing up, my Grandad Raisbeck had this train collection that I think I was mildly obsessed with. It was seriously the best thing ever. Once a year he would build the whole collection, and I got to be a part of that. It would take up a whole room. I loved watching the trains whizzing around when he was finished with it. It was AMAZING and I think that is where I got my train obsession from.  I think about it all the time and I am hoping that I get to do that with my children one day! AND - that they love trains as much I do :).

Finally - I like this picture just because its wintry and cosy and loving. We are leaving for England in just a few days now (well 7 to be exact) and I am so excited to see everyone at home! This is going to be the best Christmas EVER!

There is so much to do before, work work work, pack, Christmas parties - isn't it ironic that the best time of the year is always the busiest and most chaotic.

Happy Holidays everyone - stay posted as we continue this fun fun journey :).

The Half Way Point

Warning: this is a long one :)

I reach the 20 week milestone tomorrow (Tuesday December 4^th). Time is going by so quickly. I am updating the blog today, because this week is insanely busy and I want to get a post in before I get overwhelmed with things to do. Which means gender reveal won’t be for another week…………….. I know, I know it’s not fair – I said I was revealing the baby’s gender at 20 weeks – but I haven’t had time to figure out a fun reveal post. So you will just have to wait just a little while longer ;)………….. Patience is a virtue....right?!!!  I’ll keep that poll running for another few days J - so if you haven’t voted yet, go to the previous post and cast your vote.

Things I am doing

Exercise: swimming, swimming, swimming, I seriously thought I would be running all the way through – but I guess my body had other plans! Thank goodness for swimming is all I can say – although I am beginning to remember the toll it has on my shoulders when I swim every day L. Then today I had a slight mishap in the pool but managed to save myself in time…………… which is a good thing, because the poor lifeguard didn’t have a clue what to do. I was half way through my workout when I started to feel weird, so I stopped to see if that would make me feel better, but I started to feel really heavy and hot. I got myself out of the pool and my vision was really blurry. I managed to get myself in a seated position and then asked the lifeguard to get me some water! The problem at this pool is there is only one lifeguard and she had to leave me to go and get water, by the time she got back that blurry vision had turned to complete blackness. I have never passed out or blacked out before, so I was really scared, thankfully I recognized the symptoms and managed to keep doing yoga breathing. I didn’t fully pass out because I could still hear the faint sound of water in the background, but  I was in complete blackness. It was quite scary ! Lesson learned………………. Take something to drink and eat during swimming I guess – although I did not feel dehydrated or hungry before I started.

 Baby Moving: yes, yes, yes – it feels like little flutters – nothing that I can see – but each day those flutters get stronger and go on for longer! I am thinking if baby thinks it’s getting cramped in their already then we both have a long way to go!

 Food – I LOVE IT – and I EAT ALL THE TIME!!!!!

 Things I am surprised at:  that I am 20 weeks already – oh my goodness – can you believe it? I am already half way – in 20 weeks (if everything goes as planned by the doctors – we will be holding our little baby in our arms). EEK!!!!!

 Am I/Are we ready?:  Oh how many times will I get asked this question, it just make me laugh every time. One day I will answer – why yes, I am ready, I am ready for something I have never experienced before, and the possible and highly likely sleepless nights and worry etc etc etc –haha,  is anyone ever ready – I doubt it, yet people survive.

 What annoys me : everything, most of the time for no reason – if you were to ask Jesse this question he would probably answer ‘me’………………. He doesn’t really – he just happens to be around when I am annoyed ;).

 What makes me happy – my two good friends (besties from Undergraduate are pregnant. Emma is 21 weeks and Joanne is 15 weeks. It was so exciting I got in touch with our other roommate Nicola – she has the most gorgeous little girl to ask if she was too, she said to watch that space – eek. Emma and Joanne both have toddler boys right now and they are fabulous friends and equally fabulous mums J. I am going to get to see them at Christmas and I CAN’T wait!

Friends I know that are expecting right now

Liz : you all know this already because she is the most awesome person and friend ever……… there isn’t a day goes by when we don’t talk (several times a day). I love her to bits and I can’t wait to find out what she is having J

Sandy:  graduate school friend, we started grad school at the same time and finished at the same time. We have always been good friends and we always manage to see each other at least once a year. She is expecting TWINS in March……….. oh how exciting, I can’t wait to meet them. A boy and a girl, how perfect!

Emma: my roommate from undergrad. I feel like we have been friends forever and we have been through A LOT together! She is expecting her second baby due in April.

Joanne: my other roommate from undergrad. Same as what I said about Emma, its so great when we get together because it’s just how it should be, like we have never been apart.

Kelly: one of my old swimmer friend (yes yes less of the old I know), she is expecting her fourth in March! Wow 4……….I can’t even imagine! Well sort of because I am one of 4, but still!

Linzi: This is one of my sisters ( Natasha) best friends, I shot her wedding in the summer, she is the sweetest girl. She has an adorable little boy named Max and he is going to be a big brother in April.

Meredith: she is the Wife of ones of Jesse’s cousins ‘Kyle’, she is absolutely fantastic and I am so excited that she is expecting in June!

Doherty: this makes me smile. Doherty is one of my old swimmers from IU (yup, I claim some of those swimmers, especially the ones I coached for 4 years). I went through A LOT with those guys, and I am still in contact with most of them. Doherty is due in May.

Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge) - a Royal baby is due in 2013 too......... thats lucky and so exciting for my home country :)

Finally although not still technically pregnant – my cousin had a beautiful baby girl last week – her name in Anya………. How beautiful!

 That’s a whole lot of babies!

Am I wearing Maternity Clothes : absolutely……….. I put it off for a while, but now I am for sure showing and I finally succumbed to them. But now I am wearing them, I have no idea why I waited so long – they are the most comfortable clothes EVER . I still fit my regular jeans (on good days)         

Am I Sleeping?: better than it has been since week 6 – I am now able to sleep 3 hours without waking up to pee! I never thought this was EVER going to happen to me again………….. so right now I am thinking this is nothing short of a miracle ;)

Excitement for the week – hearing the hearing beat and knowing the anatomy scan is just around the corner. Andi, Shannon and Christine and I also had our girls weekend in Appleton. We go to hang out, shop till we drop (literally) and eat good food. It always fun, and I hope it continues to be an annual tradition! I wish I wasn’t so superstitious because it would have been fun to baby shop with them, but I refuse to do it till I am past 20 weeks.

 I will post picture updates in the next post.

The Epic Road Trip

I have been missing in action for a while because we just embarked on an epic road trip for Thanksgiving break so we could spend time with Jesse's family.

Our trip started on Tuesday after Jesse got done with his last class before the break. We drove 8 hours to Birch Run Michigan arriving around 11.30pm and spent the night in a hotel. I was particularly excited about this because Birch Run has an amazing outlet mall. We didn't have time to hit many stores, but we did some Christmas shopping in Gap for our adorable nephews back in England, and I spent a good amount of time in a Maternity store. I was in desperate need of some clothes that are more comfortable to wear than the ones I was trying to still use. All of a sudden last week, everything felt a little bit tighter, it was probably a significant week for gaining a couple pounds and belly rounding out more. Its actually starting to look more like a pregnant belly now, than a muffin top ;)

Here is a picture of one of the tops I bought............... its just a black sweater - but I really liked it on :) - and it shows the belly so far! I am 18 weeks pregnant here.

We drove to Columbus Ohio after the shopping trip and it was so much fun, we stayed at the brad new Hilton............. I think it had only been open for one month, and it was so nice. We got there a little late because we shopped for too long, and didn't anticipate the traffic being so crazy, but that's ok because we had fun and we still got to hang out with Jesse's Mum, Step dad and Brother in the evening.

The next day Jesse and I woke up early and ended up going to the hotel gym for an hour, then we went for a long walk along the river with his family. Then we went to Buca di Beppo for Thanksgiving lunch. Usually it is an Italian restaurant, but for Thanksgiving they serve up traditional food for the lunch, and its all done family style. I love it - I just love Turkey - so I was going to be happy no matter what. Its pretty safe to say though, I was wiped out by the afternoon.

Friday, we started part three of the road trip which ended in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We got to hang out with his dad and Jill. Then on Saturday, we drove to Indianapolis - where we spent time with more of Jesse's family - it was great. They had all just got back from a vacation in Ireland, but they were troopers and we had another Turkey dinner - I am telling ya, I can't get enough turkey. His cousin Heather has twins, they are just learning to walk and they are into everything, they are so so adorable. His cousin Kyle's wife, Meredith announced that she is pregnant too - I think 13 weeks............so excited for that :). We took a picture of us together, so when I get it I will upload it to this! There will be lots of little ones running around together over here and in England. My cousin Leanne is set to give birth now, my other cousin has a 2 or 3 year old, my aunt has a 4 year old and last but not least my amazing sister has two adorable boys 5 and 3 :). So many cousins for ours to play with ;). In between all this excitement, we found time to go to buybuybaby and babierus to start our registry. We have some things on them, but I'm telling you - you need at least 3 days to do all that stuff. We don't live near the stores, so we put the main things we thought of on there and will add the rest online :)

Sunday was the epic trip back up to our home. Its a 12 hour drive, which took a bit longer because when we hit the Upper Peninsula, we were greeted with Lake effect snow, so it really slowed us down - but we have enough snow now for ski season to start (YAY)!!

Our anatomy scan is December 4th and that's when I am 20 weeks - I guess I have promised to tell people the sex if all goes well at the 20 week scan............... so the poll is out

Boy or Girl - let me know what you all think :)

16 almost 17 weeks

On Tuesday I will be 17 weeks - time is going by so quickly. I am posting a little late because I have had another busy week of deadlines and meetings. To say I am ready for a break is an understatement, Thanksgiving can't come soon enough.

So in the mad chaos of last week, I did have to go for another Ultrasound - I know........... lots of Ultrasounds already! At my last doctors appointment my blood pressure was reading a little on the high side! Its not really normal for that to happen to me - but at the same time, its not totally abnormal either. If I am feeling unsure about something when I have a doctors visit, I have been known to get White coat syndrome. However, a higher BP reading when pregnant is a red flag for doctors, irrespective of what a normal reading would be. So the doctor was asking me questions etc, trying to figure out why it might be high. I asked her about this excessive peeing.............. turns out my instinct was correct and it is actually excessive, not just because I am pregnant............... but excessiveness goes with more checking on things. So they had me do a 24 hour urinary analysis to check Kidney function (which came back fine) and an ultrasound to check cervical length (which I should get results this week sometime). The ultrasound was good, baby has grown quite a bit since the last time and seemed quite active :)!.

 



The next Ultrasound will be December 4th for the 20 week anatomy scan. So more pictures will be posted then!

 

Recently I have been having a sneak around on the Internet looking at some baby things. Remember we have no stores up here for me to go window shopping, so I surf the web! I am loving this look below!

Have a Good Week!

 



MaterniT21

Its been a busy 2 weeks, but here are our updates so far:

On October 18th we drove to Iron Mountain to do some genetic testing (MaterniT21). The hospitals where we live don't offer anything like that and our Doctor recommended that we do genetic testing and thought this would be the best test for us. So we had to drive to meet with the specialist just for a blood draw (or so we thought). We we got there, they had us fill out paperwork and then said OK we are ready for the ultrasound now (what??? ultrasound........ not expecting this - nerves flood in - blood pressure shoots up - seriously could they not that said this before - I am a person that needs to prepare ;)). Anyway - as we prepared for my 4th Ultrasound (at only 13 weeks), they told us we could hear the baby's heartbeat today - very cool................. so we finally heard it - AND we have more pictures - that I will upload here. For this ultrasound the baby was very active, moving its arms and legs around, shooting its legs up above the head.

So what is MaterniT21 - here are some facts that I have:

• The MaterniT21 PLUS test, developed and validated by Sequenom CMM, is a laboratory-developed test (LDT) that analyzes circulating cell-free DNA extracted from a maternal blood sample. The test detects an increased amount of chromosomal 21, 18, and 13 material.
• Trisomy 21 is associated with Down Syndrome
• Trisomy 18 is associated with Edwards Syndrome
• Trisomy 13 is associated with Patau Syndrome
• Accuracy rate is said to be 99%

The test involves a consultation with a genetic specialist, ultrasound and a blood draw. The blood draw is taken just like any other blood draw from the vein in the arm, and from that they look at my DNA and the baby DNA (yes they can now detect baby DNA in the mothers blood, how cool is that).Then we are told we have to wait about 6 days for the results. Hmmmm well we actually waited 13 days, and because I decided that I wasn't updating until we got the results back.............. its been a long 13 days, especially after the 6 days :(.
Anyway - we found out that the first vial of blood they took didn't have enough DNA so they were using the second vial to grow it in the lab. So that's why we had to wait so long. Fear not though, the results are in and they were NORMAL. Oh what a relief ................. there is more testing to come I think, I will find out at my next meeting with the doctor, but this is one hurdle down!. Did  I mention the test looks at baby's DNA, and detects X and Y chromosomes................ baby's gender anyone ;)

So that is the serious - now for some fun.................... one of the people I work with here made this diaper wreath and hung it on my door at work. The wreath has Tickle Me Elmo diapers and a Husky in the middle. Terry made it - its so awesome I love it :) I hope the picture does is justice - It is currently hanging on my office door until I take it home to go in the nursery!

We are now 15 weeks and 1 day............. time is going by so quickly.

What's Up Second Trimester

We are in the second trimester - according to different things I have read the baby is the size of a Peach! Pretty small.......... hard to believe. I do love my peaches though :)

This is what they say about the second trimester, also known as the ‘Feel Good Trimester'. So during this time, I should be starting to feel better, I should have more energy and those food aversions should start to disappear. That is a whole LOT of should's!!!!  Today is the mark of the second trimester! So my question is do these things happen overnight ?!?!........... ask me again in a week!

I can say this - the constant need to eat is now few and far between. Some days I 'want' to eat all the time, some days its a struggle to find anything to eat. The food aversions are somewhat better, but I am struggling to find things that I really want. I made this great dinner a couple of nights ago, took one bite and then went and opened and can of soup. Jesse looked at me like I was crazy, because in his words 'this is great'. 'Oh good' was my response- enjoy eating that for the rest of the week then. I am longing for the days when I want to make good food and then eat it. I also think I might need to change my eating patterns to a main meal at lunch time, because I guarantee by the time dinner rolls around I am not wanting anything! UNLESS - its fruit............ ah fruit is like a little piece of heaven! Melons, apples, pears, mangoes............ pretty much anything! And - new weird craving............ orange Popsicles (ice lollies for the British that are reading this). I remember loving these as a kid, and apparently I had forgotten how fantastic they were until this past week. Take note of the orange though won't you - seems to be a pattern here with the orange colored foods - remember the Cheese puffs, and the macaroni and cheese, and now these Popsicles!

The second trimester is also exciting because its marks the time when I can officially 'out' my friend. So before Jesse and I found out we were (seriously - what is this 'we' business other than being politically correct - it is me that is ACTUALLY pregnant), I would tell her all about the things that were going on, and I always thought in the back of my mind how fun it would be to if we were pregnant at the same time (I even used to throw that out there every once in a while. Anyway, last time I was in Bloomington, she got to come and visit for the night with her husband, and we were going to meet up with a couple of friends later that night. We were talking before we went out and I asked if she was preggers (for one reason or another),  she said 'not that I know of'. So we went to our friend Heather's house and Heather happens to make the best Mint Mojito's EVER!!!! Seriously! I don't normally drink, but it was too tempting, so we all had a little drink (remember previous posts, about me doing things I wouldn't normally do!!). Anyway, wouldn't you know - we both happened to be pregnant and just didn't know it yet! Many of you have guessed, but if you hadn't my AMAZING friend Liz is pregnant too, and we are only 6 days apart............. EEK!!!! SO EXCITING!

This picture is our first one together when we were pregnant :) - we have talked about doing friends bumps photos........... which I think would be so cute (being the photographer that I am) and I really really hope we get to do it.

So - how did we find out.............. well remember the story about the wedding and how I realized I was having similar symptoms- I ended up calling Liz after that and telling her the story about this girl I met and how she was out with her friends etc etc and that after that story I started having an 'ah ha' moment......... and that I did a pregnancy test etc.......... was how I told her - then she happened to mention that she was going to take one too and the next day it was my turn to be super excited for her :). How fun though :). I am so happy and excited for her and Scott - and I will forever cherish this picture!

I will see about that belly update picture in my next post!

p.s. - I also happen to know several other friends that are also pregnant right now - that I will mention next week too :)............... can anyone say 'Fifty Shades of Grey BABY BOOM'.

Heart Beat

So after we couldn't hear the heart beat a couple of weeks ago, they rescheduled me for 2 weeks later. Which was putting me at just over 11 weeks pregnant. At this appointment Jesse got to come with me and I think we were both pretty anxious to hear it. Another person I know who is going through this with me (I won't out her just yet) has already heard her baby's heart beat and it was much earlier (Eek - I can't wait to tell you who it is - I am so happy and excited for her).

So, we head to the doctors office eagerly anticipating hearing the heartbeat. I get all set up and she is listening (the whole time with the perfect poker face may I add - she is very good at this), but to no avail, I am either way to noisy or baby is way too shy!. So we get to go take another peek................... you can see such a big difference between this photo and the one I posted a while back. Baby is so much bigger, moving around and has limbs etc etc. The heart was flickering away and everything looked good. so maybe in a months time we will get to hear the heart beat.

Here is the pic - go back and check out the first one - baby grew so much bigger!

So hear we are, all caught up with my pregnancy so far. I feel like I am at the stage now when I can start to post updated belly photos..................... no judging! :)

Food aversions appear to be less, although chocolate, tomatoes and meat are still on the no way list! I have gone from eating like a horse, to not wanting to eat anything at all for about 5 days to re-introducing certain food groups back into my diet. I think those people that say all they craved were healthy foods! HA! whatever is my response to that. I truly believe now that for at least the first trimester, this is essentially out of your hands. I have read it changes as you enter the second trimester, so I am holding out hope! Its not like I am not aware of healthy habits etc, I feel for the best part I live by them. I mean like I have already stated, I used to enjoy my fair share of chocolate and eating out, but making healthy choices, cooking, and working out are a HUGE part of my everyday lifestyle. This baby has made everything change with respect to that! If eating healthy meant starches and sour candies then I can tell you - I had that down to a tee! My favorite snack of hummus was replaced with disgusting (but oh so amazing) orange puffs that make your fingers orange. I think the one thing that is my saving grace is I crave fruit - as much as I want the other stuff. Peaches, oranges, grapes, apples pears (talking of pears, I almost tackled a fellow colleague for his pear the other day - I restrained myself - I can't even imagine how that might have gone down). It did send me running to the store for pears though :)

My craving this week other than fruit was vegetable pot pie!

I hope you have enjoyed the trials and tribulations so far - I hope to continue to post on a weekly basis, if anything to show you the belly updates :)

Superstitions and Popping Out

I have them - lots of them. So other than a few people, no-one was going to know! That is unless you are married to my husband, who wanted to tell everyone immediately (Louise I know you are laughing right now). Jesse has a hard time keeping anything to himself, its ok, its endearing...... hes just very excited to share his happiness!

I won't go into the in's and out's of what my superstitions are because I also happen to have a superstition about that! Ha- I told you, I have lots of them!

Remember when I said I was eating like it was my job! Well, it came with a price, unexpected early weight gain (which I am assured is not as bad as I am perceiving it to be) and the slight rounding of my lower abdomen. At week 9 it wasn't that much because it still wouldn't show in a picture, but boy was I feeling it.
In my head this is what I imagine I look like - Pamela Anderson (hello boobs) with a beach ball for a abdomen (now isn't that an image).

Of course I don't really look like this, but remember my perceptions are very skewed. I am someone who is very disciplined with my body and it has been 'trained' for many years in swimming and triathlons, and I liked my body ALOT!!! Now I am being told to not be so disciplined and weight gain is going to happen (has to happen) and I have to embrace it. So, I am learning to embrace it, a baby is growing inside of me and I am embracing (slowly) the changes that are occurring on a daily basis. That does not mean I am going to stop what I love (unless a doctor tells me to). I am still swimming, almost daily, I am running 3 times a week, cycling (outdoors when I can) and doing yoga. The intensity is of course much lower than I would normally do, and if I am simply exhausted, then I know to take a break.

Even with my continued exercise routine, it didn't stop my abdomen from popping out around the beginning of week 10 (just a little bit - but it did take me my surprise). Let me just say I am quickly learning, the things I expect to happen, don't..... and the things I don't expect to happen do. There is no one way to be pregnant, each is its own case study (there I go with the research again) and although there are many similarities, there is something that makes us all unique!

Cheese Puffs, Pepsi and Sour Patch Kids

Weeks 8 and 9 were something else. Did I tell you all I was doing was eating........... well it didn't stop. Every time I woke up to pee, I had to eat crackers, or I felt nauseous, and I did not want that to become anything (yes my friends and family that know me well, understand that me throwing up is never a good thing - it never ends). I did discover one thing, nausea disappeared when I swam - oh how I am so so thankful for swimming, I like to swim, baby likes to swim - we are already friends!

I also discovered that what I thought I should be eating, was not what I wanted to eat - and this was the start of some major food aversions!. I would never normally want to eat anything that made my fingers orange, yet I couldn't get enough of cheese puffs. It didn't last long though, they are now on my list of food aversions. Pepsi - some people say ginger ale - ugh no thank you, not during these weeks anyway (week 6 and 7 yes), I craved Pepsi! Which is so weird, because I rarely and I mean rarely drink soda.......... the best way to actually have the Pepsi is to pour it into ice cube trays and then wait for it to freeze. And lastly sour-patch kids............... I am going to thank Shannon Handler for that one! She mentioned our friend Rachel had told her all she wanted during the first trimester was sour patch kids, and I just remember thinking - I NEED sour patch kids now!

Food aversions - meat! tomatoes! chocolate (still sad about this one), salsa, marinara sauce.............. pretty much anything. I would make dinner, then look at it and say no thank you!

What I wanted to eat - Crisps (for the British ) and  Chips (for the Americans). Chips (for the British) and Fries (for the Americans). Cereal, and toast (toast has become my new chocolate.

The smell of everything is heightened............... for a couple of days I couldn't bear the smell of Jesse (poor guy - he really doesn't smell bad - just those couple of days) - thankfully that has gone away and I can be near him again! :). Then he was eating chocolate........... ugh the smell of it was disgusting. Yes I know crazy - especially coming from the person that would eat a candy bar a day!

I did have another doctors visit during this time, just a general check up - she tried to listen for baby's heart beat, but couldn't so she took me into the ultrasound room! EEK............ scared much, but there is was flickering away, growing stronger every day!

Weeks 6 and 7

I had this grand idea in my head that I was going to have the healthiest pregnancy ever (by healthy I mean in terms of what I put into my body)! Hmm - apparently I don't really get much of a say over that. More on this later!

We started this period of time off with a couple of blood tests to see how my HCG levels were doing. After the first one - the nurse called us back as said - well, you are VERY pregnant. What?!?! aren't you just pregnant or not.............. what is this VERY business. She explained my levels were high - I of course, being the researcher I am had to get online and find out what that meant. YES my levels were fab........... eek they kind of fell into the multiples zone too. The next one was more normal but they were increasing at a rapid rate, so until that first ultrasound I did wonder.

During this time I was put on extra progesterone, which I was to take up to 10 weeks. It didn't seem that bad, but progesterone is the hormone that essentially plays havoc with your body, and with me - it made me hungry (every second of the day and night). So from week 6 I feel like I have been steadily gaining weight. Another major change - frequent visit to the bathroom................ really where is all this water coming from. Hmmm - well initially I had read that it was good for pregnant women to drink 100oz of water a day (see what I mean about researcher things). So I did, I drank tons of water, which made me visit the bathroom ALOT. Over labor day weekend, I had to get up every 45 minutes during the night to go............... ugh - no sleep - I was going insane. No-one ever said anything about sleepless nights before the stork arrives with the baby (that's how it happens right?!?!).

Our first glimpse of baby was during week seven, they said come with a bladder full of water - HA! of course I would - at this stage I was still drinking 100oz a day. So we show up and they go to take a look - and nothing. Apparently my bladder wasn't full, just go outside for 20 minutes and drink a little more................ you are kidding me. I was ready to go and they were telling me to hold it for another 20 minutes and drink more! That was the longest 20 minutes ever, I couldn't sit still, my stomach was protruding to what I felt was about an 8 month preggers person and I just had to sit and wait :(.

Finally the technician came back out and took us in, baby showed up - me being so uncomfortable was thinking 'great, seen it, heart is flickering, can I go now'. Oh no, she has to measure it from all angles, the whole time pressing on my lower abdomen, which by the way is the most awesome feeling ever (dripping with sarcasm people, dripping)!!

BUT, we did end up with our first picture of baby, which was so tiny that she wrote BABY across the middle of the picture, just in case we didn't know ;)

Summer of Travel

All I remember about this summer is the travelling I did. I remember thinking in May, how am I going to fit in my life with all this travel. What I meant by that was - how were Jesse and I going to find time to fit in fertility appointments etc when starting May 28th I was essentially missing in action for the remainder of the summer?

Don't get me wrong, this was probably one of the most fun summers ever, I spent time in Bloomington, San Francisco, Hawaii -let me say that one again Hawaii!!, England and Bloomington again. I got to spend time with some of my closest friends and I am forever thankful for this past summer :)................ apart from that slight fracture of my ankle - not so fun!

So before my trip to England, we had a week to fit in some time to meet with a fertility doctor in Green Bay.  We were given a plan of action for getting pregnant, upon my return from England. We would schedule a time to learn how to do the hormones etc to be ready for Egg retrieval and implantation sometime in October 2012. According to the doctors we would hopefully be pregnant on the first go, meaning all the testing (and yes, there was an amazing amount of testing) were giving the indication that we just needed a little help from outside sources (how romantic)!

Anyway, I got back from England, and it was crazy time, my good friend Louise was coming to visit and I wanted the house to look decent for her . Jesse and I were racing in a triathlon................ except I was just swimming (see fractured ankle comment above) and then I was heading back down to bloomington with Louise for the second week of August. See what I mean about not having 5 minutes.

So back to the plan, I would get back from Bloomington, head straight to Minnesota for a wedding (oh yes, in addition to all the crazy - I managed to find time to second shoot weddings) and then we would schedule the appointment for learning how to do the hormone injections! Phew! It just so happened to coincide with the beginning of the semester for me!........... hmmmmm.

Bloomington was fun, I got to see and reconnect with good friends and my close friend Liz came to visit for the night with her husband, we went out for some drinks (which is very rare for me, because I don't really drink often), but we were having fun - and I jokingly asked her if she was preggers? Ha! - not even thinking about me.............. because in my head, we were doing egg retrieval and implantation in October and that time could not come fast enough.

Anyway, I got back from Bloomington and headed straight out to Minnesota for a wedding. This is where it gets really crazy! The photography crew ended up crashing in the suite of the bridesmaids. Which meant for late nights and meeting some interesting people! Then two other girls showed up who were the ushers, and one of them was pregnant (5 months), I started chatting with her and then she told everyone the story about how she found out! It was a funny story, that I won't retell, but the whole time she is telling the story I started to have an 'ah ha' moment and then an 'oh no' moment. Eek - I was here to shoot a wedding and I needed to focus!

So.............. I ignored my two little moments and focused on the bride and groom . In the car the next day when we were driving home, all I kept thinking was 'I really need to pee'..............  I must have had Adam stop that car 4 or 5 times. I told Jesse how I was feeling when I got home, and his response was essentially - your period is coming, you have been so irritable. Thanks Jesse! and to all the men out there - even if you are thinking that - NEVER say it - you have no idea how this makes us feel.

Anyway, finally the next day after reading up on all the symptoms  I admitted to myself that yes I was in fact pregnant, I just needed confirmation, so I bought a pregnancy test and lets just say all I needed was to touch the thing and the lines showed up positive! It was instant - none of this waiting for two minutes.....................

Excited much - well Jesse yes - me shocked and excited. Shocked, because we were told the chances of it happening without help were VERY slim! So I wasn't really prepared, I had done things I probably wouldn't have done had I thought we would have had a chance, I guess that time after England when Jesse insisted I stand on my head really did work - its not an old wives tale!!! ha ha - just kidding, it wasn't that extreme.

So August 24th, was when we found out we were about to add a little one to our household!