Big Day!

Today has been a busy one!

The card I sent to my parents to let them know about their upcoming grandbaby arrived today. The beans are officially spilled! Once I got off the phone with them, I sent an ultrasound picture to the other members of our immediate families to let them in on the news. So far everyone seems to be really excited. Still haven't heard from a few people, hoping we hear soon so we can know its OK to tell additional people. Trying to avoid something being posted on Facebook or the like before certain people we want to know before the masses find out. The best part of all the bean spilling conversations so far was talking with my mom. I'd been worried for awhile that they might not be able to come out here when the baby arrives since finances are tight with them...and she made it clear she was planning on a visit. Yay!

The other reason today is a big day is that if you go by the 40 weeks divided by 3 to get 3 trimesters...I'm there today (13 weeks 3 days). I'm honestly in shock that we've made it to this point. Back when we got the positive test, I honestly didn't think we'd make it to 6 weeks...making it to 2nd Tri feels like a miracle. So, so very thankful for every day that Baby Cactus Bud stays put.

I suppose I should also do a 13 week update since I haven't yet.

So far this week things are going well. Was wicked nauseous the other evening, but other than that, no nausea or morning sickness to speak of. I'm still pretty tired in the afternoons. I joke about it being "Group Naptime" now since at the NT Scan the baby was apparently napping and it was right when I usually sleep...plus our dog always is game to join in on the napping, lol.

I do have two new and notable symptoms this past week though. Well, perhaps I should call them possible symptoms as I'm not positive that they were what I think they were. I'm pretty sure two different nights this week I've felt movement. It was really faint and very fleeting. Sort of felt like a bug running inside of my uterus. Not sure why everyone else gets butterfly flutters for a visual and I get one of a June Bug...but there ya have it. Both times it was at bedtime as I was relaxing with a book. The other notable possible symptom was possible Braxton Hicks contractions. I was a bad girl the other day and was a slacker with my water intake, and had a pretty notable cramp-like pain in one spot near my uterus. Put my hand on it and it was rock-hard. It went away like a minute later, but returned for a bit soon after. Anyone out there think either of these descriptions could be movement or Braxton Hicks?

No big changes with the other stuff I usually include in my weekly update. Definitely the high points of this week have been today: Telling our loved ones and moving on to 2nd Tri.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Take care,
Cactus Bud

Telling the Family

This is belated, but I wanted to share how telling our families went. Two Fridays ago, we decided that it had been long enough. That was the day we were going to tell our families about the baby.

Bright and early the morning of the 25th (before our prenatal appointment), we called my mom at home. She was SO excited! She asked when we were due, we told her September. She asked what day, we said 19th. She started screaming louder...and I made out "SO IS RACHEL!!!!!" (Rachel is my baby sister. We're a year and a week apart. Now we're due on the SAME DAY!). So our first announcement was made...and we got an even better one back!

My sister hadn't told anyone but my mom and her IL's about the baby, since their first appointment isn't until today. I am SO excited that we're pregnant together. We live 15 hours apart, and we've never been the closest of friends, but I can't imagine something so fun as to each be pregnant with our first baby at the same time! (And yes, we've already worked out when mom is visiting each of us...Rachel gets her for the first two weeks, and she'll be with us for 1.5 weeks after that).

We then told two of my brothers and my dad, who were both really excited. In fact, one brother's reaction went something like this:
Me: "Hi Uncle...you do want to be an uncle don't you?"
Him: "WHAT?!?!?!?! Go back a sec. Are you serious?"
Me: "Yep, we're due in September. We're so excited!"
Him: "You're telling me that today is the day I get to become an uncle? This is the best day of my life! I went to Taco Bell, ordered my lunch, and while they cook it I became an uncle?! This is awesome!"

So cute! And if he's counting himself as the best/favorite/most awesome uncle now, I'm definitely not stopping him!

Later that afternoon, we drove up to see Mr. Magnolia Bud's family for the weekend. Our newest niece was born a month before, and we hadn't been up to meet her yet--so that was our cover. We met his family at his brother's house for dinner. Of course, we brought presents galore--belated birthday gifts for three of the people that were there. After dinner, we were sitting around at the table, and Mr. MB told his mom we brought her a present too. She said (as she always does) that just seeing us was enough of a present. He handed her a lime. She looked at it, and asked what it was. Mr. MB said that it's the size of her next grandchild. Everyone got REALLY quiet and we could tell they were thinking "seriously?" (Some background--we've made it really clear for years that having kids were a low priority for us, and it would be years and years before we started thinking about them...of course, all to make them stop asking the questions). All of a sudden she started squealing with excitement, it was adorable! Everyone was SO excited, and they all seemed to be in a bit of shock--all night people would say things like "I can't believe it!" "Finally!" etc. It was all very cute.

Last week, I told my bosses, and we came out on Facebook and my personal blog too. My boss announced it at our all-staff meeting yesterday by having everyone who wasn't pregnant stand up...one other girl and I were left sitting (out of 75 people, she had announced last month). Everyone clapped, it was great!

Until next time, sending lots of love and baby dust your way!
Magnolia Bud

7 Weeks

I want to extend a warm welcome to our two new buds: Cupcake Bud and Teacher Bud. I'm looking forward to following your journeys.

I also want to apologize in advance if this post is a little disjointed as I've had a helluva sinus headache today. This pretty much sums up how I've felt all day

(Photo credit: http://tinyurl.com/484vr9h )

One of the joys of 1st Tri is that if a medicine might actually work to relieve something that is bothering you, you probably can't take it. I'm not complaining in the least, I'd take this headache any day over another miscarriage, but it has made today a challenging one. This will pass though, I'm just repeating that to myself.

I'm pretty much in shock to have made it to 7 weeks, especially after the spotting I had last week. Thankfully the spotting from last Monday has stayed away save for a few tinges of pink the last few days. I know that is par for the course after a trans vaginal ultrasound though, so that little bit of spotting I didn't worry about. Symptoms have been picking up a little this week. I'm still lucking out in the morning sickness department. No tossing my cookies yet, just mild nausea. Its been a little more regular this past week though, which is a good thing. Since my ER visit I've been feeling more growing pains down there. (Are those round ligament pains? Do they have a name?) Just mild cramping in the ute area, nothing major. I used to mostly get it in the middle of the night, but the last few days its started going on in the day too. The girls have gotten more tender the last couple days too, and I swear my left nip is changing a little. Why just the left is beyond me, but whatever. I haven't really had much issue with fatigue lately. Naps are always welcome, but its not that overwhelming MUST SLEEP NOW feeling. I've noticed my hair is oilier than usual too. Just an observation.

I finally ironed out my insurance situation. The bad news is that I'm out of luck in terms of going to my civilian doctor. The good news is that I have the ball rolling to get things going with the military doctors. I'm bummed I'm having to adjust to another new hospital and system as I've just gotten used to my civilian doctor (we moved here this past fall). Some other disappointing news with that is that the first appointment they can get me in for isn't until March 10th, and that's just a meet & greet to go over paperwork and history. I'll be about 9 weeks at that point. They won't even schedule my first "official" ultrasound until that appointment is done. So, the soonest I'll possibly get to see the heartbeat is 10 weeks, nearly a month after this past bleeding scare. That's best case scenario, it could easily be more like 12 weeks.

I'd really like have the appointment sooner than later both to see the heartbeat (something I've never seen before) and because I'm itching to tell my mother about the pregnancy. I just can't bring myself to do so before I see proof of a heartbeat (the miscarriage broke her heart). Its really hard not blurting it out to her when we talk on the phone and she asks how I'm doing. We're planning on telling all of our immediate family at the end of 1st Tri, so hopefully we'll have had that ultrasound by then.

I guess that's about it. I'm thankful each and every night to have made it through another day still pregnant.

Best of luck to those testing in the coming days!

I Outed Myself

Mr. Sassy Bud and I have been keeping the TTC business pretty hush-hush for the past year. The only people that are aware that we have been trying (unsuccessfully) are his parents, my older sister, and one close friend/neighbor. I prefer to keep my personal business just that, personal.

I had dinner with a friend this past week. She is one of my closest friends, and also a self-proclaimed baby-hater. She has made it quite obvious that she does not, and may never want to have children. We've had the discussion about children many times before and she always comments about how I better not get pregnant anytime soon. Those comments have gotten past the point of annoyance to me, and now are just down right rude. This conversation happened to come up again when we were at dinner. So, I told her- about TTC for the past year, about the trouble I have had, and how frustrating it has been to me. My decision to tell her was mostly due to not wanting to hear her negative comments anymore, and if/when I do get KU I really don't think I could handle what I'm sure would come out of her mouth if she hadn't understood the whole process. Overall, I think it went well. Besides making a stabbing motion towards her head with the chopstick, she didn't really say much besides that she understands why I feel this is a good time for us to TTC.

In other news, today is CD17. My chart overlay is showing that my temps are very similar to last cycle (ended with Provera at CD84). I'm optimistically waiting to O, but I'm not getting my hopes up. My annual ob/gyn appointment is in February (along with my one-year TTC anniversary), so if I haven't made any progress by then, I will see what her plan for us is. Until then, I'm being patient and keeping busy.

I'm Out!

In an effort to boost morral and because we couldn't contain ourselves anymore we outed ourselves to all of our family and friends! Since there was no way we could make our announcement in person I composed an email and attached the picture below:

It was a hit! The outpouring of love we received was amazing. Everyone is just thrilled for us. I may still feel like crap but at least I'm feelin' the love!

Also, today marks 8 weeks! Forging on to week 9 now...