10 weeks

Double digits!!!! it's all going by pretty fast! We had to change the days of our ultrasounds, so it looks like we will be hearing the heartbeat on April 19th...with a doc that I hope has some decent bedside manners despite what I have heard, I'll set her straight if she gives me lip :)

Spike has decided to prepare us for parenthood early, how sweet, right? Well, he likes to get up to go potty around 3-4am (Andrew usually gets up for that one). Then whines again around 4:45-5:30, this one is mine, mostly out out guilt for not getting up earlier, but it also ends up being about 10-30 minutes before my alarm goes off which is a painful thought. If I am lucky enough to sneak back into bed and the boys have not eaten yet, they are now starving by 6:30 at the latest. But we love him and are glad he's not pissing all over the floor :)

Baby Center weekly update: 
 
Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.
He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.
If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.
In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

Looking more like a baby less like monster alien, kinda?

We went to see Kate Beadle today for the first time and LOVED her. She isn't a doctor, she's a nurse practitioner so we will call her KB on the blog for short. She was able to listen to my crazy talk and deliver lots of insane information without overwhelming us. She told us that the baby looks just as a 9 week baby should and everything looks perfect so far. The little monster even started to wiggle around during the ultrasound which was kinda funny. KB counted about 160 bbm (which is good) and told us we will be able to hear the heart beat at our next appointment (April 20). The due date is still Oct. 24 (give or take a few weeks). We also talked a bit about what hospital to go to for delivery, it looks like we are leaning towards Sunnyside as long as everything goes smoothly; if not, we will plan on St. Vincent's.

On a side note: Can't wait to try a trick my neighbor Deb told me about...loop a rubber band through the button hole of your pants/jeans and then pull the other end over the button. Genius! maybe I won't have to buy very many pants this way... as long as my butt doesn't grow too much more and my button doesn't pop off in the meantime.

Andrew is pumped to dad!

Well, while Andrew fixes our scanner (sorry no baby pic just yet), I'll write the cutest story ever.

Andrew and I were driving home from dinner tonight and he told me that he's pretty sure his calling in life is being a dad. That's what he is meant to do, and he'll be really good at it if its a boy, and he'll have a big learning curve if its a girl. He told me he can't wait to teach him all the important things in life, "like ya know, how to start fires and manipulate people." NO JOKE those were the first two things he could think of!! WTF? That convo went from super cute to super scary real fast. Can't wait to see how this little alien monster inside me will grow up. We're preparing for temper tantrums, lots of hair, sweaty, dramatic attitude...but oh so cute!

9 weeks

I am told on ultrasound it looks like a gummy bear (almost human-like, right?) 

Baby Center says:
Baby O'Neal is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

Feeling nauseous and chubby. Tomorrow is our first official appointment, I will post pics tomorrow or Sat. Andrew and I have learned a lot about growing a baby so far. Mostly because of our solid (and very extensive) support system. We feel so lucky to have knowledgeable people around us and SO MANY people to share the experience with :) 

Our First Ultrasound...In the words of Andrew O'Neal :)

Friday the 9^th…

I got a call from Nikki saying that she had some spotting cramps and that this may or may not be a bad thing. She was able to get in and have blood drawn, her HcG levels werehigh enough for an ultrasound and she was Rh positive (a good thing). The advice nurse recommended that we get an ultrasound, and due to the time of night, now being after 6, we would have to go to the ER.

So we left, almost got sideswiped on the way there and arrived around 7:30 to what was being described as “the busiest night they have seen in a long, long time”…. We were in line as someone hit the floor with a very severe seizure, pretty scary to see.

Let me tell you, you don’t know what “people watching” is until you sit in an ER and take it all in…We first waited about two hours before the nurse called us in to take Nikki’s vitals. He then escorted us to the room where they draw blood. We got to wait 20 minutes behind an old lady that was “a bad draw”, just to give blood and get escorted back to the lobby to wait to be called by the doctor.

This was a very stressful time for me and Nikki, because we were going to know if there is a heartbeat or if it was an ectopic pregnancy …So I ate a bunch of food, like I do when I get nervous (a trip to subway and 711). I also bought scratch offs for Nikki to play…didn’t break even.

As we were sitting in the lobby, we became buddies (unfortunately) , with a chick that couldn’t stop talking, and a dude that thought he was the coolest dude in the hospital. We also got to watch an amazing show for about two hours…This dude brought in an even bigger dude that was hurling over and puking dark blood…and falling out of his wheel chair. Of course his friend got very annoyed with the fact that his buddy was “dying” and they kept admitting “people with fucking sprained ankles” before him (his words, which he made very clear to everyone in the lobby).

He eventually got up and approached the front desk lady (because she has so much control), and demanded he be seen in 2 minutes, or there is going to be “problems”. He sat back down and waited an half an hour, his buddy started to say he was dying. This is when the guy left and came back in, without his jacket, like he was ready to fight. Again going to the front desk, pointing at the lady and the security dude saying “OK, this is fucking enough, you need two more of you, and three more of him to stop me from bringing him back there, get someone off of their coffee break and start helping the guy that is dying in your lobby”.

After a bunch of yelling, the lady told the security guard to escort him off the premises. Long story short, the guy was finally admitted and they let the buddy back in after he had to apologize to the front desk…Shit show City.

It is now 12 am, and we are called back…right as our annoyance with how long this is taking has turned to a joke.

We get seen by the doctor really quick and he then tells us it will be another 2 hours to be seen by the Ultrasound tech and to get the reports back…then said “is that ok?” um,  “does it really matter” is what Nikki said, I was ready to drop kick the guy.

After an hour, we get taken to the Ultrasound Tech, great guy.

This was about 5 hours in, and we were ready to “know our fate”, as stated by the douche of a nurse earlier…

There has been some scary times in my life, and this was one of them…more so in the anticipation and how polarizing the outcome would be, one way or another.

We watched as he moved the wand around…said, this is your Sac, and this is where we will zone in to see if the fetus is viable….10 seconds later, he focused in a two blobs, and inside one of them…this crazy, fast, twitching thing…HEART BEAT! 116 beats a minute, which he wants to be over 90 at this stage.

So we had our first ultrasound and got our first picture…

I think I was more emotional than anyone else…crazy to see it for real and have the guy say everything looks normal.

We then got escorted back to our room and were told to wait for the doctor...10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then 30 minutes roll by. It is now 2.15 am.

We start waiting outside of our room to try and push them into seeing us. They keep on saying that we need to have the report faxed to the doctor. Our nurse came in and finished everything up, but we still needed to wait for the doctor. We asked if he could just send us any follow up. She said “that is not how he likes to do it”.

So we gave him another 20 minutes, then decided to get out of dodge…We ended up walking out!

We told the front desk what we did as we were paying our copy; they laughed, and said it happens…especially when you are “holding the pictures”. They said that he would call or follow up if there was anything that jumped out.

SO that was our crazy, long day. Oh and I got a verbal to pick up Willamette Valley Vineyards as well…so, an eventful day. 

Size of a Blueberry: Week 7

Week 7 from Baby Center:

The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.

If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

So far I am feeling pretty good, a little queasy now and then but not much to report. Spike has been our latest project. He has been in and out of the vet's office with lots of urine samples to give, so far nothing but "dilute urine" and no definite diagnosis.
Next stop in our household is to get a new desk, put it together, paint the downstairs and order window coverings. No biggie :)