I'm behind.

I've had a lot going on in the last couple of days and was really sick yesterday so I need to catch up before we head out for the weekend!

Wednesday I took the last of my medicine. Hopefully my estradiol level is firmly in control by Thunder now because it isn't being supplemented. I also got my last shot of progesterone. WOOHOO! No more shots to the butt again until we go for a sibling. My poor bruised rearend will start recovering now. I did a count and I've had a total of 85 shots this IVF cycle. Some of those shots were to the thigh, some to the stomach, and most were to the hip/butt. We've got it down to a science, but I still hate shots! I love babies though.

I've been feeling pretty good for the most part so it came as a huge surprise when I started vomiting yesterday morning on my way to work. I basically thought - crap, here comes the morning sickness. However, I didn't get feeling better and couldn't even keep down water. My students were so kind and behaved when I went to the bathroom to puke. I went home early and Jon told me he was sick too. So it looks like I still don't have morning sickness. Thank goodness! We think it was some bad lettuce and we're both feeling better today. I think I'm still a little dehydrated. It's hard to totally recover when I have issues with eating. Maybe I should buy some chips. LOL! I lost 5 pounds yesterday so I don't think I need to worry about excessive weight gain at this point.

Jon and I haven't gotten around to a nine week photo since we were both feeling so awful yesterday. It might end up being a 9.5 week photo.

I can't wait to head out for the weekend. I've missed my family!

I told my students.

For some reason this post didn't show the first time so let's see if it shows now.

My precalculus students have been dying to know what I'm doing next year and I promised I would tell them before the seniors graduated. Since today was the last day with seniors in that class I told them about the pregnancy. They were extremely happy. I think they had the best reaction so far. Teenagers don't worry about the problems that could happen so it was just pure joy for the girls. The guys even seemed happy for me. I bet the whole school will know by the beginning of class tomorrow even though I only told 11 students. I also told my colleagues finally. A few already knew, but most of them didn't even know we were going through another IVF cycle. That was a fun surprise.

For those of you wondering about the chip episode, I managed to keep the whole bag down. In my defense, they were Poore Brothers chips so it wasn't the biggest bag in the world - under 1000 calories. Naughty me. It's a good thing Emily is sending me some pregnancy workout tapes.

What was I thinking?

The doctor suggested small snacks and eating often so what did I do? I ate an entire bag of potato chips this afternoon! I think I may be breaking my streak of not getting sick during pregnancy. Ugh! They just tasted so good and I've been having problems finding any food appetizing so I went a little nuts. Now I'm suffering.

Nine days left of teaching. I really wish our school had air conditioning.

My sister Emily is loaning me her pregnancy clothes. If I keep eating like I did today I'll be needing them sooner than later. Yikes! I'm excited to visit my family next weekend. I think my nieces and nephew are long overdue for some smooches.

I'm going to go to bed now. Hopefully I don't get to experience those chips coming up again if I fall asleep quickly.

Hello everybody!

We've officially released this website to friends and family. I feel so exposed, but happy and excited at the same time. If this helps one person, then that makes me ecstatic. Plus, I know EVERYONE wants to see my stomach all the time. Just wait until I get stretch marks, then it'll get really good.

Last night we went to a sushi party (cooked, don't worry) and someone guessed I was pregnant pretty much right away. She said I had a glow about me. I'm a happy pregnant woman and it must show.

Here's the website from my IVF clinic for those of you that are clueless about the process: http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/med/obgyn/infertility/carc/generalinformation.html

8 weeks

Don't I look proud of myself? Oh and if you're wondering about the pants, they're the pants I wore to the egg retrieval when they took out the fruit of my womb. Hehehehe

Phew!

All looked good today. Thunder's little heart was beating at 167 BPM and we could see his little arms and legs. I should scan the pictures some time because he's starting to look like a baby already...or maybe I'm just better at interpreting ultrasounds. He's been doing some growing so no wonder I've been so hungry, tired, and nauseous in the last week. The subchorionic blood is still there so it's possible we could have another bleeding scare, but the doctor didn't seem too concerned. My next appointment isn't until June 18th and I'll be getting a level 2 ultrasound. They want a closer look at the guts because there was a tiny little cyst/shadow that they want to watch to see if it goes away. I guess it's pretty common, but some cause for concern for me since I'm such a worrywart.

We'll be sharing this website with family and friends soon. Just a word of warning - We had a very rough time in November and December with a miscarriage. If you just want to read about our happy times, then don't read anything before March.

I'll post the 8 week belly picture tonight. I'd better hold my arms up this time so I don't look like I'm the size of a house!

Ultrasound tomorrow

My 8 week ultrasound appointment is tomorrow at 11:30. I'm excited and nervous. Hopefully Thunder is thriving and that stupid blood is gone or greatly reduced. I almost puked when I was brushing my teeth this morning and I've started having to go to the bathroom constantly so I'll definitely be surprised if my little bean isn't growing strong. Otherwise I've been suffering (to a small degree) for nothing. I don't mind symptoms at all. It'll be better when I don't have to go to work in the morning though.

I met my replacement yesterday. He seems like a pretty normal guy and not too big of a math dork. He is really short and looks young, but I think it'll be fine since he'll be teaching the upper level classes. He won't have major hooligans to control. I feel better about quitting now that I know my replacement. I only have 10 days left with kids. It was really strange today when I realized I was teaching the last new lesson of my career. I taught all about secant, cosecant, and cotangent and had kids figure out all of the exact answers for the special angles between 0 and 360 degrees. That last part there was for my future reference and probably made some of you groan in rememberance. Until tomorrow...

7 weeks

Note to self: Put your arms up when getting belly shots because otherwise it makes you look waaaaay bigger than you are. I'm looking pretty darn bloated. Here's this week's picture:

I'm feeling much more nausea these days accompanied with a loss of appetite. Last night I slept for 11 hours straight. I think that's because I was recovering from the trauma of Tuesday. I really don't need strong symptoms now that I've had a reassuring ultrasound, but I'm not complaining.

I think I'm getting hormonal because I got really mad at my principal today. He scheduled my replacement to come in and meet me at a time when I'm busy AFTER he asked me when would be best. I'd really like to talk with the new teacher and show him around his room. Hopefully we'll be able to reschedule. I'm going to be glad when I don't have to deal with anything school related anymore. It was fun to not have to be involved with the planning for next year's professional development (AKA BS). I won't miss the paperwork or "teaching reading comprehension strategies" in math class. We math people don't do none of that there stuff.

Scary night!

Yesterday I felt a gush of fluid when I got out of my car in the afternoon. It was blood! As you can imagine, I totally freaked out and figured I was miscarrying. The fit me in for an ultrasound appointment this morning and guess what....there was a heartbeat and the baby was measuring right on 6 weeks, 6 days (which exactly coincides with my due date). The heartrate was 136 which is very good at this stage. I just can't believe it.

The cause of the bleed is a rather large subchorionic bleed. A subchorionic bleed is a sequestration of blood within the folds of the developing placenta, usually seen between 8-12 weeks gestation. It usually has no effect on the baby or on the pregnancy and dissipates on its own within a few weeks. You can follow its disappearance by serial sonograms. Don't I sound smart?

My next ultrasound is scheduled for May 17th. Hopefully the bleeding will slow down and stop soon so I can get more excited. GO THUNDER!!!!!

Nausea - woohoo!

I was pretty much nauseous all day today. It wasn't extreme and I haven't puked or gagged or anything, but it was definitely there. I hope this means things are going well in there for my little one. He seems to like orange juice and pasta. Both have calmed my stomach tremendously. I hope things don't get a lot worse though because it'll be hard to teach if I have to make a run for the bathroom. At least my room is right next to the bathroom. I'm fine with being sick if it gets me a baby. It's amazing how nausea puts me in a good mood. I'm such a weirdo.

Today was the last day of AP Calculus before they take their big test. I'm so excited for my kids. I've enjoyed teaching them for the past four years. I bought them lots of candy to snack on between the two parts of the exam. I'll really miss teaching smart kids that I know very well.

Lots of company

We had a very busy weekend. Jon's parents came Friday night and stayed until Saturday afternoon. Our friends the Wises came Saturday evening and left midday today. This evening we had an extern from the hospital come over for a while since Jon's on call. It's helped to keep me somewhat distracted.

Everyone was very excited about our news. I continue to fluctuate between feeling like things are going great to feeling full of dread. Thursday can't come soon enough. I've felt a little off after eating so I'll take that as a good sign. I took another home pregnancy test on Saturday and it was still nice and dark.

That's all for now. I don't feel like talking about pregnancy when I have so much anxiety.

6 weeks today

Things are going well. I'm still not feeling sick. My newest hope is that I'm one of those lucky ladies that feels really good during pregnancy. I have a little bit of metal taste in my mouth and random shooting pains to all my good parts so at least I'm having SOME symptoms. One more week until we get to peek.

Jon's parents are coming tomorrow afternoon. We still haven't decided how we're going to share our good news. I don't think Jon wants to do anything fancy, but that just goes against the grain for me. Maybe we'll show them the embryo pictures and my small collection of positive home pregnancy tests. Just what everyone wants to pass around - sticks with pee on them! Maybe I should put them in a ziploc at least.

Jon is going to take the first baby bump picture tonight. I'll add it to this post when we have it ready. For the last couple of weeks I've been able to suck in my gut to make a flat tummy, but I noticed that I couldn't do that anymore yesterday. I finally got rid of the bloat from IVF and now it's coming back. Hopefully that means the baby is growing. Otherwise I need to stop chowing down! We plan to do weekly photos throughout the pregnancy.

I guess we should clean the house a little tonight. We're always good about keeping the house picked up, but dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning bathrooms aren't our high points. Jon always does the vacuuming and then I do the rest unless I'm being lazy...then Jon does most of it. He's the best husband in the world and he's all mine!