2nd Trimester

We're in the second trimester now by even the most conservative of estimations. That means we have a lower risk for something going wrong and I should start feeling better (not that I've felt that bad). I'll take it as a good sign that I was able to eat like a pig at our dinner last night. We had lemon pepper chicken, pasta salad, fruit, and cherry cobbler. I usually don't like lemon pepper anything, but it tasted really good to me last night. I've been craving all things sour or tart so that's probably why.

We're expecting some company this weekend. Lynelle has a bunch of stuff going on so we might not get to see much of her, but we'll see Justin. Hopefully we'll get to see little Gavin also. It's hard to believe that he's almost a year old. We haven't seen the Wises for about 8 weeks now. Funny how I go by weeks for everything these days.

We've had quite a few guesses for our game. Keep them coming. It's open to family AND friends. My favorite guess so far is Macy's. Apparently our baby is going to be built like a brick.

Here's the 14 week belly picture.

I hope you enjoyed the outfit change. It'll start getting fun in a few weeks since I seem to get bigger every day.

Play our guessing game

I just started a game for guessing gender, birthdate, length, and weight of Thunder. Here's how you play. Go to http://www.expectnet.com/. In the top left it says "Invited Guests". Enter the game name as operationivfbaby. From there it is pretty self-explanatory. Make your guess. Points will be given for incorrect guesses for any parts. I believe that's all spelled out on the guessing page. The person with the least points wins a prize to be determined in the future. It'll be good though.

I need to figure out how to close down the gender portion of the game eventually because we'll tell the world when we know if Thunder has a hamburger or a hotdog. Our next appointment is a month from today so I should have the big ultrasound scheduled by this time in July.

I'm wearing a maternity shirt today and I look pregnant. Yay! I made a lot of headway in getting my clothes organized. We're going over to friends for dinner on Thursday, but we'll make sure we get a new belly picture. It's time for a wardrobe change for the second trimester.

Jon was really cute the other night. He went up to bed before me and when I went into our bedroom he was reading "A Child is Born" and looking at the development for the current week. He's going to be a fantastic dad.

My nurse called

Apparently my nurse was out of the office on Friday afternoon so that's why she didn't get back to me until this morning. Here are my official results for those of you that like numbers. Down Syndrome risk: 1 in 1400 (better than the age risk of 1 in 650). Trisomy 18 risk: 1 in 10000 (better than the age risk of 1 in 2200). I'll have the other blood screening test at the end of July to test for neural tube defects and that should be it other than ultrasounds and mommy tests. I'm happy! In fact, I might do a little jig.

I love cherry dilly bars. I'm waiting for DQ to open so I can get one ASAP! I'm still not gaining weight so I might as well enjoy my treats and get some calcium. Maybe I should just spend my birthday money on ice cream.

Jon got rid of the mattress and box spring so I guess that means I should start organizing my clothes. I have clothes to give away, clothes to store away, and maternity clothes to hang and put in drawers. If you've seen my closets, yes, that was supposed to be plural, then you'll understand why I'm dreading this task. Maybe I'll just lay in the pool instead and rub my belly.

I love my husband!

I called the doctor at about 2:30 because I was getting really antsy about my results and the receptionist said she'd get the message to the nurse and have her call me back. She never called back! I was kind of mad so I called Jon to see if it was reasonable to be mad. I'm not so sure these days since I can be a little hormonal (and this was right before supper time).

Anyway, Jon looked into it for me since he can access my chart. Ah, the advantages of being married to a doctor. The test came out negative. That means we aren't flagged for having a Down or trisomy 18 problem. The odds were something like 1 in 1400 that we'd have Down syndrome and even more rare would be trisomy 18. That's better than the age risk and is about 99.9% showing we won't have to deal with either of those issues. You can check my math. ;) Of course these tests don't guarantee anything, but it's definitely good news. I can't wait to hear it from my doctor though.

Also, he looked into the measurements for me because I was curious and Thunder measured in at 6.5 cm crown to rump and the neck fold was normal. It's hard to believe that I have something that large in me that is moving around and I can't feel it. I guess I will soon enough. This has been a great birthday. Now Jon just needs to get rid of our extra mattress and box spring and I'll nominate him for husband of the year. Too bad he's fixing a gunshot wound right now or I'd give him a big kiss.

It's my birthday!

I'm 28 today. So far I'm having a good day. It stormed all last night and this morning so I got to listen to lots of thunder. I like to think it was my baby wishing me a happy birthday. I'm a big cheeseball. Jon sang to me this morning and both of my parents have already called and sang to me. I've gotten a couple of hallmark cards online that were funny. I went to McDonald's for breakfast. AND I'm still pregnant. Woohoo!

Here's my 13 week picture from last night. This was about 10 minutes before we went to bed so please excuse my sleepy look.

I've started wearing maternity clothes now. Emily sent me three big containers of clothes so I've sorted through those and I bought just a few things yesterday. I remember seeing my sisters wear some of the clothes so it's neat to get to borrow their clothes. I have a feeling that the things that fit are Emily's though. Claudia is teeny and Emily and I are about the same size - although she's buff!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do today. Jon is on call so I don't know how much I'll see him. We're planning to head to West Liberty tomorrow for some mexican food. I miss living down the street from the best mexican food around.

I'm planning to go to Fort Dodge in a couple of weeks. My mom wants me to help pack up my grandma. She's moving to a retirement apartment. Also, I have to check up on Emily and make sure she's on track with her painting. She needs incentive. ;) Not really, but I love her house and can't wait to see what she does with it. Since Jon will be busy, I might as well be with my family.

I still haven't gotten the results of the NT screening. I've calmed down about it some. I could deal with Down syndrome. I just hope the odds of trisomy 18 are low since that's fatal. I might call this afternoon if I haven't gotten a call by then to ask for an approximate time that I'll get my results. I'd rather not have to wait all weekend, obviously.

Anniversary and Ultrasound

I just got back from my latest ultrasound a little bit ago. Everything went very well. The first thing we saw was Thunder opening and closing his/her mouth like a fish. Then he/she started jumping around like a little frog. He/she is very active and the heart rate was 162 BPM - really good at this stage. I love how the profile actually looks like a baby now. Thunder is pretty darn cute! We decided to go ahead with the NT testing. Hopefully we'll have results that will comfort us. I think it'll be at least a few days before I find out our odds. Oh, and the cyst looking thing by the intestines seems to have disappeared and my subchorionic hematoma is resolving well. Thank goodness! I had a feeling most of that blood was gone since I haven't had any bleeding for a couple of weeks. The ultrasound tech said that all of the anatomy looked normal for this stage - and no, she couldn't tell boy or girl. We won't find that out until the end of July or early August since I don't have another appointment for a long time.
We had a great anniversary. We went to a wedding for our friends Sahar and Justin. She's Iranian so parts of her tradition were incorporated into the ceremony. It was beautiful and unique. I'll miss them and their dog Jackson since they're moving to Texas. After the wedding we went to the oral surgery banquet. It was kind of a fancy farewell to the outgoing residents. The dinner was good and we had a reason to dress up. I managed to fit into a non-maternity dress, but I'm definitely more voluptuous than usual. Hubba hubba!

On Saturday Jon was on call all day so I went out to eat with a friend I met online. It was the first time we met so I'm happy to report she's a normal, nice person and just what I expected. It's funny how you can know so much about a person without having met. We talked for a couple of hours. There are some aspects of infertility that only make sense to someone else in the situation. She's going to get pregnant next month - I've decided that, so hopefully if you're reading this Kim, your body is taking note. :)

Hormonal

Here's my 12 week picture. You can tell I'm regaining my appetite and there is something growing in there. By some calculations I start the 2nd trimester today. Cool.

My first OB appointment went well. It took a few hours though. I got to hear Thunder on the doppler before he moved on us. The doctor said he seemed to be moving a lot because he was hard to track down. I really liked my doctor and her nurse. I got a lot of information today. Jon and I are trying to decide whether to get the nucal translucency test done on Monday or not. It gives you an indication of the risk of having Down's or Trisonomy 18. For most people it gives them comfort, but some people are flagged for high risk and then go on to have a normal, healthy baby after months of worrying. Hmmm...

I'm very hormonal these days. I'm not mean, or at least I don't think I am, but I'm very emotional. I cry very easily. It's mostly tears of happiness and disbelief that things are going so well after the hell of this past year. Sometimes it's tears because of things I see in the news. I just feel so bad for Paris. LOL!

I've had a fun week with Euclid. I got a party pool at Target that has a seat cushion and I've been laying around and playing with him intermittently. He gets in the pool with me if I don't notice him for a while. My tummy is getting a little tanner. It's been very relaxing.

Tomorrow is our five year wedding anniversary. We're going to a wedding and then to the oral surgery banquet afterwards. It'll be a busy night. I need to figure out if any of my dresses fit my enlarged bust. It's such a terrible problem. ;)

I might meet one of my internet friends for dinner on Saturday. I have a whole network of people that have helped me through the last year. Hopefully I've helped some of them too. It'll be fun putting a face with a friend.

I'll update with pictures from tomorrow night if we get any good ones. We bought a new camera tonight so I bet we'll get some great pictures.