Where did my summer go?

Aaah!  I only have one more week until I must return to work.  I plan to work in my classroom on Monday since we're allowed to pick up our key a week early.  We always have meetings & trainings the first week back, so I'll be able to get a head start.  Plus-  my girlfriend has agreed to help me take all of my boxes down from the top of my cabinets.  I would normally do this, but I'm just not comfortable with it given my current situation. :)

Sprout is doing great.  I had another appointment this past Tuesday.  They weighed me (only gained 1 pound!), measured my stomach (18 cm), and we listened for the heart beat (140 bpm).  Everything looked great.  I was sent down to the lab for some bloodwork.  We're doing the testing for downs, spina bifida, etc.  My OB told me that it usually takes 3 days for them to receive the results, and she won't call me if everything looks good.  Mr. Bossy has been holding his breath, and I get a little nervous each time I come home to find a message on the answering machine. 

Only one more week and we'll know which color to paint the nursery!  I've been, step-by-step, cleaning out our spare bedroom this summer to help up prepare for the decorating that will soon begin. :)

Next time you hear from me, I'll be revealing our sweet baby's gender and name!!!!

XOXO

Bossy Bud

18 Weeks

This last week flew by! Mr Lucky Bud took off Thursday to Monday New Years weekend, so it was great to be all together for a long weekend. I normally post on Thursdays, but was waiting to post until I had a photo, and I finally took one today.

I finally have not only gained back the lbs that I lost with always being sick in my first trimester, but also gained 3 lbs. Yeah! I worry about getting enough nutritian  and also gaining weight for the baby so I am happy to see a change in my weight. I am starting to show little by little, but not that much.

Our embryo donors contacted our social worker to see if we could meet in two weeks! This is great news for us as we know very little about them and was hoping that they would be open to a semi open situation. I am a little nervous but excited at the same time. I set up my ultrasound for Wednesday, January 18th and am looking forward to that.

Mr Lucky Bud finished doing all of the work to install a washer and dryer on the upstairs floor of our townhouse, and they arrived yesterday! I did my first load upstairs today. This is going to make life so much easier! Yeah!

Our baby is now about 5.5 inches crown to rump, and 7 ounces. I am still VERY hungry lately. That is basically all there is to report this week. 

18 weeks, 4 days

Little Lucky Bud colored Lucky Tummy Baby

18 Weeks and some thoughts...

First I will start with the usual updates:

Belly Measurement/Weight: I am not sure the correct way to measure but I measured in a line through my belly button around and it was 34 1/2 inches.

Physical Progress: Still a little round bump, I got asked today if I was expecting!

How I am feeling about my body: I am still feeling good about my body, I like to see the progression of my belly from my weekly pictures.

Cravings/Aversions: Yesterday it was chocolate milk and dill pickles!

Energy Level: It seems to have fallen a bit but I am not sleeping well. I wake up 1-2 times to go to the bathroom and a handful more because I keep ending up on my back! I hate not being able to sleep on my stomach or back.

Baby Movement: Baby seems MUCH more active this week than last week. He/she is rolling and moving all the time.

Thoughts/Feelings/Emotions: I am still enjoying being pregnant. I go from thinking wow, almost half way there! To oh my gosh I still have that long to go! I am excited for Mr. BB to be able to feel baby move soon, he has not felt baby yet.

Mr. BB and I decided not to find out if we are having a boy or a girl before we even got pregnant. How I wish we would not have made that decision because I SO want to know! It is driving me nuts not to know. Mr. BB will not let me give in and ask our midwife. She has known what baby is since 12 weeks when we had the CVS. I kind of hope that the u/s tech at our anatomy scan accidentally shows/tells us!

I have been reading a ton of books about pregnancy and birth.I went to the library and checked out 3 on birth alone. Right know I am reading 'Husband-Coached Childbirth' by Robert A. Bradley. Of course he is the founder of The Bradley Method of Childbirth. It is very interesting! I am planning on have a natural childbirth and want to be as prepared as possible.

I got something to theme the nursery off! I was in BRU and picked this up:



Our plan is to base the room off this so we will be painting the walls one of the colors off the turtle, probably the green. We will also get sheets and a bed skirt and a breathable bumper. Basically we are not going with a theme from a crib set. I am very excited since I couldn't find anything I wanted to use that was gender neutral. I feel like with these colors we can add some purples of baby is a girl or some darker blues if baby is a boy. Yay!

I hope all my fellow buds are doing well!

18 Weeks

Seeing as I'm 19 weeks tomorrow, I guess I best get this update in.

How far along: 18 weeks 6 days

Total weight change: +6

Maternity clothes: Pretty much all the time.

Stretch Marks: No, but sometimes the skin feels tight.

Movement: Yes. This week it started to go from sporadic (every couple days) to more regular (each of last few days). Mostly I'm feeling rolls.

Sleep: This week my sleep has been pretty lousy. Lets just say that worries about the amnio results coupled with a UTI equals not a lot of good sleep.

Best Moment This Past Week: Finding out the results of the amnio. Baby is a perfectly normal little boy.

Most Difficult Moment This Past Week: Waiting for the results of the amnio. Torture. The UTI also sucked, but not nearly as much as the wait.

Belly Button In or Out: Definitely still in

Cravings/Aversions: Food. Lots of it.

Symptoms: Mostly the appetite and our wiggly little boy.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Telling the rest of the family we're expecting a son!

Results Are In!

Normal Baby Boy.

No trisomy of any kind. No neural tube defects. Just a healthy little boy on the way.

I can seriously not even put into words what a relief it was to get that phone call. Knowing that there is a decent chance there may be an issue with your child and then having to wait to find out for sure...its torture.

Getting this news is seriously one of the best days of this entire pregnancy.

Anatomy Scan & Baby Sassy Bud has a name!

First things first- our anatomy scan results were perfect. Baby Sassy Bud weighed in at a half a pound and all the measurements were great. I'm always relieved to hear good results. I think IF has left me waiting for something bad to happen, but so far we have been so lucky to have a perfect baby and I have had a perfect pregnancy. Mr. Sassy Bud's parents went with us to the scan. I wanted them to be able to be a part of this since he is an only child and this will be their first grandchild. They were beyond thrilled to be there and I think they really enjoyed being able to see the baby "live" for the first time.

Now on to the fun part! Baby Sassy Bud was not super cooperative, but the tech was able to get a clear shot:

We are having a baby girl! I can honestly say that the moment those words appeared on the screen was the best moment of my life so far. I finally feel like this is real and that we will have a baby of our own in a few months.

Before our ultrasound, we had not discussed names at all. I had one in the back of my head for a while, even before IVF, but I didn't feel comfortable discussing a hypothetical baby so although I had mentioned it to Mr. Sassy Bud, I never asked his opinion of it. I think we were both too nervous. After we left the anatomy scan, I asked Mr. Sassy Bud what he thought and he said he loved it too, so we have a name!

Introducing "Brynn Atarah":

Keeping with Jewish tradition, she is named after Mr. Sassy Bud's grandfather's first initials. Her middle name is Hebrew and means "crown."

After our anatomy scan, we went withe Mr. Sassy Bud's mom to a few stores and she bought tons of baby clothes for her first granddaughter.

My only complaint lately is a backache and lots of bad headaches but I am seeing a chiropractor in hopes that I can get some relief for that.

18 weeks pregnant?

Apparently, sometime while I was asleep, Smudge grew to about 7 inches long, and 7 ounces. A little foot is now an inch long and s/he can recognize my voice when I talk.

When the heck did that happen?

So, since this apparently happened overnight, here are some of the things I HAVEN'T blogged about this month.

First, these are pictures from my 14w5d ultrasound that I bullied my OB into doing before i went back to work after the sub chorionic hematoma:










The one on the left, Smudge is waving and the one on the right is my scary alien baby... but it's really cool (i think) because you can see the structures in the skull, the developing brain, the rib cage, the heart, the upper arms and the beginning of the pelvic bone. Smudge spent the overwhelming majority of the ultrasound snuggled on my placenta like it is a body pillow. It was really cute.

Most importantly, you can't see the SCH... it was gone and I went back to work. I still hate my job. SO hate my job. There are more issues every day. And as much as I love my OB, she's just never going to get it. I hope I'm able to convince her later on that she's going to need to pull me early. I just can't do it much longer. By 34 weeks, I want to be out. I really don't want to get into all of the issues here, but the bottom line is I have an assistant manager who would be more than happy to get rid of me. People tell me she keeps coming after me because she knows she can make me cry. Which is nice for her, but sucks for me, because being a hormonal mess at work REALLY isn't my thing. I'm still looking for another job. I probably send out 5-10 resumes every week. I thought I had something lined up for a little while, but it didn't work out.

The only pregnancy issues I've been having lately have been blood pressure related. And my blood pressure is ONLY elevated at work.

For now, I'm hoping the rumors of voluntary lay offs are true, and I'll be able to leave work with a full unemployment package. That would make things much better for us right now. My stress level would drop considerably and we would just figure out the money. Maybe not the most financially responsible thing I can do - but the best thing, health wise, i can do for my child and for me.

Nothing is more important than this baby.

I've been having wicked round ligament pain - to the point of being doubled over and wanting to vomit. This is normal. Who knew that pregnancy hurt? We all knew labor hurts, but pregnancy? Just gives me an excuse to rub my belly, though. Oh, and i'm still on pelvic rest because of the SCH, bleeding and the lost twin, so we're still on standby in the bedroom. Dr Loh wants to wait until after the anatomy scan to check the placenta again before she clears us. Last weird pregnancy thing for today... I'm already leaking. At 18 weeks, I can express fluid from my breasts. It's so weird. But it's clear, and it's normal, and I guess it means i'm getting ready. Almost 1/2 way there. I can't believe in 5 months, I'm going to be a momma.

Other pregnancy related news is that I made the decision that barring medical complications, I'm going to have a natural delivery. It's been discussed with my OB and she's completely on board. I've even hired a doula to help me through it (click on the link for my doula's website). It's really important to me that after EVERYTHING my body has screwed up in the last two years, I can prove to myself that it can do this ONE thing that nature intended it to do. And staying Team Green is part of it... our "green-ness" is going to be the light at the end of an unmedicated tunnel for me.

Meanwhile, we've been TRYING not to baby shop... I had a HUGE moment the other day though, while I was browsing in Gymboree while Mr. DB was drooling over the iPhone 4 in the apple store. Unfortunately for my wallet, they had the cutest collection of gender neutral monkey clothes. Mr. DB has a HUGE monkey thing, and I'll be honest. I do too. Here are some of the first things I've bought for Smudge (fair warning - cutest clothes ever below):























Other things we've purchased are just little things... whatever discount cloth diapering supplies we can get our hands on, some clearance things on discount websites, like an organic moby wrap for about $11 and a boppy with organic cover for $29.99.

But here's the big one... we haven't purchased it yet, but I'm pretty sure we've decided. We picked out our furniture. We still need a glider arm chair with an ottoman for the nursery, but the crib and all we finally picked. We LOVE the Essex collection from Munire in Chestnut.

photo credit

In other baby news, I had my 18 week appointment yesterday. My uterus is perfect. Heartbeat is perfect and Smudge was really active during the doppler. My OB kept asking if I could feel the movements, but I can't quite yet. Hopefully soon. The best news? My blood pressure (94/58) and my weight (only gained 7 pounds so far!). I'm going to have to start wearing compression hose at work (stupid spider veins and swelling), but if that's what it takes to avoid the varicose veins my dad has, I'll do it.

And I'll leave you with this. I can't believe my fat ass is posting it here, but here goes nothing. This is an 18 week bump picture. You'll have to trust me that it isn't all regular fat. It truly is a baby bump. I'm hoping it becomes more obvious. We're going to start taking weekly pictures from here out. But I'm definitely starting to look pregnant and not just fat.


DH and I also had a conversation about #2 last night. Sounds kind of silly, since #1 isn't even here yet. But since our post baby plan for birth control is our mutual infertility, we're sort of hoping for a miracle baby within the first year. If miracle baby doesn't show up within the first year, we plan on going back to Dr Z as soon as Smudge is weaned to cycle for #2. It always makes me feel good to have a plan.

Anatomy scan is two weeks from today. Can't wait to see Smudge again. Until then....

Maternity leave plan + 18 weeks!!

...I interrupt this regularly scheduled blogging to bring some GREAT news - this past weekend, I started feeling something I had heard described, but never knew if I'd actually know it if I felt it. The sensation of popcorn popping down low in my pelvic area. I am pretty positive that it is Baby Worry Bud moving around in there & I am soooo excited! Love her. It's still nothing I feel regularly, but it does happen a few times a day - it actually just happened a second ago. :) Keep moving away in there Baby WB!!

The past few weeks I have been working on trying to get a few things on my "Getting Ready for Baby Worry Bud" list done & it's a doozie! One of the more immediate things on my list was to really sit down & take a look at my job's maternity leave policy, then sit down with an HR representative to discuss my plan/options. I had that meeting on Monday, then spoke briefly with my first level supervisor (he's actually not really, he is just a team leader...it's complicated, lol), but the overall news is that everything with my leave looks like it'll work out how I'd hoped! God-willing, if this pregnancy continues to go smoothly & with relatively no complications that require me to cease working, then I plan to work up until my EDD. I can work past that if Baby WB does not make an appearance before then - I'm actually halfway expecting her to be a little late - seems to happen with first time moms more often than not (barring any complications). Working up until/around my EDD will bring me to the beginning of November & I plan to take off 12 weeks for maternity leave. That means (much to my excitement), I'll be out on leave over all the major fall/winter holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years - yay! I have enough sick & annual leave to cover 11 weeks of paid time, so the final week I'll either take leave without pay (spaced out over several pay periods/weeks) or do five telework days during the last few weeks of my maternity leave, so that I can stay out of the office through the last full week in January. Also, since we are coming up on the busiest time of year in my industry, I may end up working some additional hours & getting some comp time this summer. And with the way my work load looks these days, it won't be a problem to accrue 40+ hours of comp time in the next 3 or so months. Hopefully things will calm down soon though, sigh.

This week, Baby WB is the size of a sweet potato (Photo Credit)! She's getting so big! The Bump confirms she's spending her time moving away in there - kicking, punching, rolling, hiccuping, twisting, etc. So cute. I wish I could have a look at her every day. :oP I am feeling pretty good still - just random aches & pains here & there (growing pains I think), heartburn, sore boobs, getting sleepy early. In other news, my side of the bed is turning into a pillow fortress. Poor Mr. WB can't even spoon me, which I know he LOVES to do! ;oP But even if he tried, it's physically impossible b/c I have pillow behind me (for back support), in front of me (belly support), two between my legs (hip/back support) & one under my head, hahaa. I REFUSE to buy one of those maternity pillow thingys b/c what in the heck will I do with it after the baby is born? And I despise clutter...so regular pillows it is for me!

I think people who don't really know if I'm pregnant (mostly at work) or not, are really starting to notice this week. A few people have asked me that oh so uncomfortable question - are you pregnant or uhhhh...? I feel like that's a DANGEROUS question to ask a woman, you know? So I never ask people, I just wait patiently for the "popping" of the bump (or for the person to talk about the baby), LOL. I think maybe the "popping" has started happening with me! Here is this week's bump pic @ 18 weeks exactly:


I'm in maternity pants/jeans full time (minus my yoga pants), my maternity shirts are still kinda big, but then my regular ones are getting a little short too! I am wearing my very first maternity dress this weekend to one of my good friend's wedding! The dress is so pretty & I'm excited for her wedding - I know she will be a breathtaking bride!! Then, next week we get our official anatomy scan, after which, I plan on ordering Baby WB's bedding & we are going to register for Baby WB's shower!! Can't wait to see my little girl again! Until next time!

I've done such a horrible job..

At updating each week. So here are some photos so you can see the progression of my belly from


15 Weeks

16 Weeks

17 Weeks





18 Weeks

18.5 Weeks


Look at my belly grow! So exciting. I can't believe to this day I have a baby growing in there. Its simply amazing. I ask him/her everyday to give me a sign what him/her is. Yeah I get nothing.

Things have finally been easing up. I haven't thrown up in about 4 days. Yay! That's so awesome. Saturday night I threw up some french fries. I think my baby really enjoys eating healthy food. I have been having this vegetable kick. I love corn on the cob and green beans. Really I could eat them every day. And I guess thats a good thing right?

I also know love bananas. Yum! Most fruit I love. I still can't eat chicken. YUCK! But do love breakfast sausage and pork. I have never wanted more breakfast sausage in my life. This poor kid is going to come out wanting a McDonald's Sasuage McMuffin. At least they are only a dollar? But geez the fat is ridiculous. You have to eat what your cravings want right?

I do also love a Pepsi every now and then. I can't believe this. Its not like I didn't like Pepsi before but I can't tell you the last time I drank a real Pepsi before I got pregnant. It had to be years ago.

Sno cones are also on the top of my favorite things. So yummy and so nice and cold and refreshing. I haven't really had any in the middle of the night cravings. I do every now and then have a want for something like candy at night but I just go to bed instead of telling Mr. OB to go to the store to get me some. I can usually fight it with water.

Sleep is beginning to be interesting. I tend to wake up every time I turn to the side. I don't know if its me making sure I don't roll over on my stomach or what.

We did a 5K this weekend. Yep this little old pregnant woman ran/walked a 5K. Who says a pregnant woman can't run? Seriously I loved it. I think my little baby did also. After working out he/she is always moving.

Oh I forgot to tell you about the flutters. I guess about at 16 weeks I felt the first one. It felt like the little one was tickling me on the inside. Its a very interesting feeling that makes me smile every time I feel it. I can't wait until I get to feel the first kick or punch.

On the nursery front we have been busy. We bought this set yesterday:



We bought the crib, the hutch and the 6 drawer dresser. We are also going to get a night stand, a glider (Any ideas on a good one) and some bookshelves.

Looks like one of the big purchases (of the many) are done. We still need to get the stroller, carseat, glider, and a video monitor. So much fun stuff to do!

My next update should be telling you whether its a boy or a girl. What do you think? Leave me a comment! I can't wait to find out

What to Wear?

First off, here is a quick update:

Week 18
Pretty uneventful, except telling everyone, "It's a Boy!" and "No, we will not be telling his name until he is born."

Week 19
I felt him MOVE! The only way I can describe it is a fish in my stomach.... you know how a fish flops when taken out of water, that is what my son feels like. Nice image huh?


As long as the weather doesn't reschedule a work event Saturday, I will be going to a Bachelorette Weekend in Nashville, TN the first weekend in February. I have really been looking forward to it, so I hope I'll still be able to go.

Now for the question of the week, what to wear? I am still able to comfortably wear my normal size 10 clothes, even with my nice, cute, new little baby bump. ALTHOUGH, if I wear a belt, my pants feel uncomfortable when I sit down and if I don't wear a belt, my pants fall down when standing up and a wind up stepping all over the bottom of my pants, POO!

I want to dress comfortable and cute next weekend with the thought that I may have grown by then, so I'm THINKING of running this weekend to purchase a couple pair of maternity type pants... What do you think? I'm thinking a pair of black dress pants and a pair of nice denium trousers. But THEN, I have to figure out what to wear for the tops! Most of my clothes are still packed up until we find our house, so that means, I may have to purchase tops too!

Here are a few things I've found online, tell me what you think...

Friday Night Dinner Out (and I'm sure that they will do some partying too)

(Imagine this top in teal, with a jeweled neckline)

Image from AnnTaylor.com

Image From Gap.com

Saturday Daytime Shopping

Images From OldNavy.com

As you see, I'm really stumped... ANY SUGGESTIONS???

Faith, Love, and BABY FLUTTERS! (finally)
Mrs. BrainyBud