CP Cyst - Nada!

Yesterday we had our US to check up on everything especially the CP Cyst. Basically in healthy babies these tend to go away on their own and that's exactly what this one did. They didn't see any remaining cyst and she's as healthy as a whistle.

Also the other 10% was confirmed and they are still calling her a girl!

She measured 22wks 1dy, as of yesterday my calculations were 22wks 0dy. She was 50.2% in weight, growth and height.

Basically she's perfect and probably the most beautiful being on the planet at the moment!

Worlds most beautiful profile and little hands

Little feet and legs crossed, always a lady

You don’t know true fear until you’re a parent.

I had mentioned in an earlier entry that the baby has a Choroid Plexus Cyst (CPC) and that we were going back to get things checked out. I thought now that I’m 100% more relaxed and educated about the situation I would comment on it and let everyone know what is going on.

When Michael and I had our 19 week Ultra Sound (US) the tech just merely suggested to us that they will order another US because she wasn’t able to get a good read of the baby’s brain and this is something they like to have.

So the following Thursday I went in for a normal doctor’s appointment and thankfully I took my mom. The doctor checked the growth of my uterus, my weight, blood pressure, and the heart beat. Everything seemed fine and she asked me about the US. I told her it was fun to see the baby and that it was a girl.

My doctor was looking down at the papers and said “everything looks fine except” . . . . my heart sank, my emotions hit the floor and I couldn’t focus on much. I looked at her and was ready for her to finish. She explained to me that they saw a CPC, which is a cyst on the glad that makes spinal cord fluid in the US and that is why they were issuing another US. She told me the CPC has a slight association to chromosomal disorders like Downs and Trisomy 18. “But everything else looks just fine, Aubrey” I remember the doctor saying. She also told me she hadn’t personally seen the CPC have a negative outcome for any of the babies she’d delivered.

When we were checking out, the doctor told the receptionist to schedule a Level II US and that date was set for July 29. She also told me I should have blood work done. My mom met and old friend on the way out and it helped to clear my head a bit. When we stepped onto the elevator my mom said “you handled that a lot better that I thought you would have” I lost it. Cried the whole way down and out of the building and my mom had to drive me home.

The thoughts I was feeling were all conflicting and confused, I was mad at myself, concerned, scared, tired, worried. Things you can’t even imagine. And I realized at that point I had never really known true fear in my life. I hadn’t even held her in my arms and I felt for her.

The blood work, I had the following day and had to wait three days, but it came back fine. The US we are having this Thursday is to double check things. And like I said I feel better about it 100% better in fact. Though, I am still saying little prayers that she will be fine. I have faith in God and really at this point that’s all I can have. I will update everyone on Thursday – seems to be the day associated with this pregnancy far more than an email update. I wouldn’t be surprise if she comes on a Thursday (say Thanksgiving) :-)

"Has it been easy?"

Well I have never really thought about my stats regarding my pregnancy until someone asked me the other day “have you had an easy pregnancy?” After really thinking about it I had concluded that I have not had an exactly "easy time" with this; nonetheless, I would do it again in a heart beat.

What makes this “not easy”:
1. I have had morning sickness since week six and I’m slowing venturing into my 21 week and still have it.
2. I had minor spotting week four and had to be put on progesterone supplements and go in for a pelvic.
3. Bad cramping in my abdomen at 15 weeks and went to the ER, it was just round ligament pains.
4. Road Trip to South Carolina – kicked me in the butt, swollen ankles and feet, constant vomiting, and headaches.
5. Migraine, can’t take anything strong enough for them while pregnant.
6. Choroid Plexus Cyst was found on one of the ultrasounds and had to do extra blood work and another ultrasound to test for chromosomal disorders.
a. I haven’t blogged about the CPC, because it was scary stuff and to put myself though that was though enough, and to blog about it would have been harder. I did get my blood results back and all is fine. We are scheduled for the Level II ultrasound next Thursday, July 29. But I’m thinking all will be okay.

All in all I think we are doing rather well considering. I’m not complaining by any means it just got me thinking when I was asked that, as I haven’t really had to put together the components of the equation before.

Last night was my first night I felt really uncomfortable lying on by belly. I could feel the hardening of my belly and I don’t think the baby appreciated it much, as she seemed to move around a lot more.

My favorite time of day is just after dinner when we sit down and watch TV. I can for sure feel her move then and I’m finding I look forward to that moment of the day more than any.

Over all life is still swell! God bless the pregnant ladies.

I'm in Love

Not much to say right now except for the fact that I'm in love... I can feel her a lot more often and my life is really starting to be all about her.
I see rainbows - literaly - everywhere and I just know it's my baby girl telling me she's doing just fine.

Motherly Instincts – Mommy 0 - Baby .9

Well yesterday was the big day. My mom came into town and to kill time before the 2:45 deadline, we let Michael take us to lunch at Breskeez to watch the Dutch beat Uruguay in the semi finals of the FIFA World Cup. We were only about 10 minutes from the ultrasound place so about 2:30 headed that way. After extensive paper work and the Tyra show we were called back.

The tech was very accommodating to Michael, my mom, and me and we got started with warm goo squirted all over my belly. We saw the obvious outline of the body and the bones, like the ribs, spinal cord and all were very obvious and this made me happy to see. The heart was also obviously beating and again very happy.

The baby was lying side to side with its back against mine, but facing us, in a way. So the tech wasn’t able to get a good picture of either end, the babies rump and the brain. After much coercing the baby still didn’t move and every time the tech tried to see the little privates, the baby would cross their legs, and one time the cord was even in the way. But after much ado, the tech announces “I’m about 90% sure it’s a girl”. Well there went my first test at motherly instincts! But we're happy nonetheless!

My lesson – don’t tell people what you might think it is, because if/when you end up being wrong they replay “I told you so” like they had better comprehension as to what was going on in my uterus then I did!

My thinking – well yes I’m going to defend myself! Michael wanted a girl from day one, I didn’t want to disappoint daddy, so I talked myself (and Michael) into it possibly being a boy so there was no disappointment.

Granted there was NO disappointment what-so-ever! I’m more please all her vitals are working fine than the fact my instincts were a little off. We will have to go back in three or so weeks so they’re able to get a better picture of the brain and can confirm the other 10% for us!

Life is grande!

Like I said, she wasn't the most cooperative, but apparently this is her little
girliness. :-)

Appetite

Well guess who’s got an appetite, yup me, and is it bigger than ever.

It was about Wednesday this week and I woke up without any nausea or vomiting and went straight for the Crispix; I haven’t been able to feel full since.

It’s a weird feeling, wanting to eat, as it’s been almost 12 week since I’ve actually felt like even looking at food. I’m extra leery about packing on the preggo pounds now (as I finish my bag of chocolate dipped almonds). I have surprisingly lost 14 pounds over the last 12 weeks in the process of basically not eating (or vomiting what I do eat up), and I have gained two of those back since yesterday. I find I’m hungry every two hours. I ate at 5:00am, 7:00am, 9:30am, noon, 4:00, and I’m already looking forward to my stir-fry dinner. I’m going to have to focus on fruits and veggies and not much else. I’ll be okay if I gain the 14lbs back, but I’m in no hurry for anymore – fluffy women don’t need much more.

It’s good to enjoy food again, though; however I still seem to feel waves of nausea at strange but reasonable things, like the sauerkraut at the hot dog stand, or the urine in boy’s bathroom at school . . .

Cooking was my ultimate hobby before I got pregnant and with the great schedule I’m going to get with the new position and my new found love of food again, and not to mention us being able to afford cable now, Giada*, Ina*, and I will be cooking up a storm.

Thursday update – my uterus is the size of a small melon the baby is comparable to a sweet potato. Also beginning to wonder if I really felt it move that first time, as I haven’t felt anything since and I am very anxious to. The little guy/gal can hear things now and publications encourage Michael and me to talk to it . . . honestly, not quite feeling like doing that at the moment (I hope that’s normal).

*FoodNet Work program hostesses

Vera Bradley

Call my snotty, snooty, stuck up, materialistic, expecting too much, a proud momma, or whatever they call novice pregnant women when they want/expect something that really won’t end up the way we think it will.

To be honest my obsession all started long before I got pregnant. I remember having a conversation with an old preggers friend about trying out different diaper bags and what would be the best for her. At this time I didn’t realize this was such an important part of all of this, but I soon saw otherwise. A few days later I was in the cute little shops in old town and came across a shop that had the Vera Bradley bags.

Now I’ve always favored Vera, but never had a good excuse to buy one. If you aren’t familiar with Vera Bradley it’s a designer handbag line that is lovely! It's a bright, paisley, flowery print with quilted stitching. They are basically a piece of art your wear on your shoulder! Lovely!

Well low and behold they have Vera diaper bags – I now understand the importance of such a wounderful piece of maternal hardware. It has a vinyl insert to change the baby on and accredits itself with having 11 pockets – I am in love. I told myself, “When I have a baby this is the diaper bag I’m getting” disregarding the $97 price tag.

So this is it, the diaper bag of my dreams -- Vera Bradley Baby Bag in Blue Rhapsody… Is it too much? Probably?! Do I deserve it? . . . Yes . . . I think I do!

A Trip to the ER

So like I said before I am trying to not be the typical first pregnancy lady with a million questions and another million reasons to go running off to the hospital every five minutes... Well that didn't last long.

First, in my defense I thought it was appendicitis... didn't even really consider it being something with the baby.

The Saturday night before Michael and I left on vacation, a 15 hour car ride to South Carolina, we did the packing and some major house cleaning as I like to return to a clean house. About 7:30PM I started to get a very sharp pain right behind my belly button. About 9:30PM it was still there.

The thoughts racing through my head were as followed: I need to get this looked at before the long car ride. I don't want to be in South Carolina and have to visit the hospital. I need to talk to a professional. Is it just gas? Should I be worried. Why is it still hurting?

So I called the doctor hot-line and never got an answer back... "Mikey I think I need to go to the ER"

So after blood work, an IV of saline, a mortifying pelvic exam, and an ultrasound they sent me home with round ligament pain. Worthless two hours and I felt so ridiculous! Everyone was reassuring me that it was better to be safe than sorry. . . I guess I'm ultimately glad it wasn't anything too major.

Due to the lack of sleep the night prior to leaving, the 15 hour car ride resulted in a huge migraine, three vomit pit stops, a full up-chuck cup, and two really swollen feet.

New Beginnings

Well it's been quite some time since I have posted anything and with good reason, I have been the busiest person on the planet!! But I wanted to update everyone on where we were with the baby growth, our lives, reasons I haven't blogged, and reasons I should have.

1. Limbo - I started to fall into a state of limbo about two/three weeks ago. The newness of the pregnancy had worn off, the morning sickness was still there, I hadn't felt the little guy/gal kick, and we didn't know what it was (boy/girl). Well we still don't know what it is, but other events have helped me move out of my limbo state, but that's an honest reason why I lost touch with the blog and wanted to share it.

2. New Job - About three weeks ago I started to gather leads on an amazing job offer in the school district I did my student teaching in. Needless to say I have focused almost all of my energy in that direction. Well after much hard work . . . I GOT THE JOB. Teaching art, digital photography, and yearbook. About five minutes from my house -- Michael and I couldn't be happier.

3. Quickening - This is the technical term for feeling the first movements of the baby and I HAVE. This will definitely pull you out of the limbo state, realizing it's real! Michael and I were at a concert a week and half ago and we got there rather early to get good seats. While we were sitting there waiting I felt a little tickle in my lower left side. It wasn't gas, for sure, so the only other thing it could be is the baby. I've felt it move since, maybe three times. So amazing, waiting for it to do it again.

4. Vacation - Michael and I literally just got back from an amazing vacation we took with some high school friends of his. We rented a house out for a whole week and did nothing except lay on the beach. This was a great bonding time for Michael, baby, and me.

5. Maternity Clothes - While on our lovely vacation I began to realize I could no longer wear my regular pants, and the tightness of the bella bands cause me to have really bad morning sickness. Thank goodness for Outlet Malls in the South! I hit up Motherhood Maternity and scored myself some great maternity Bermuda-style shorts in three different colors, hoping those will get me through the summer. I feel so much better in them!

6. The Big One - Our big ultrasound visit has been scheduled! July 6th! We are so excited!

7. Belly Picture - Though fluffier than the normal sized woman I felt it was legit to post a belly picture as I'm now too big for my pants.

Thursday

I got crafty/techy and posted the tickers are the top of the blog page; I think they are fun and I hope you all enjoy them.

Long week, but it is finally Thursday and I get my fun updates. The one website talks about how the baby now has fingerprints and its head isn’t as huge in comparison to its body as its body starts to grow. He/she is also able to hear and react to sound and encourages me and baby-daddy to talk to it. He/she has also started to develop vocal cords and can respond in such a way to noises. He/she is the size of a peach or a large shrimp – they don’t seem comparable in my book, but whatever works.

Also the vomiting is starting to teeter off, and I’m sure you are all sick of hearing about it as I’m sick of writing about it. I still do so every morning, but I’m better immediately afterwards, where it use to last all day. I did get pain killers for my headaches and haven’t needed to take them, but am glad I have them just in case.

Supposedly this thirteenth week is the actual last week of the first trimester, so after this week I will be in the relatively blissful state of my pregnancy. Here’s hopin’!

Bella Band

Well I thought I would post something about the Bella Band for those of you who don't know exactly what it is and for those of you who might be able to provide me with advice -- my trials and tribulations...

The Bella Band is basically a big cylindrical piece of fabric that goes from right below your breast to just below your butt, if you want it to. You can scrunch it up if you don't need it to go that far. You can get different colors and patterns and wear it below your shirts for a layer affect too. The gist is you're able to wear your normal pants, leave them unbuttoned or unzipped, and put the Bella Band over your pants/under your shirt to keep your pants up. *this is not my belly*


I ordered two from http://www.amazon.com/ one in black and one in white. It cost me about $30 for both and I thought it was a valuable investment. I started sporting them this week because when I zip up my pants the tightness in my belly causes me to vomit and I'm trying to avoid that. Yesterday was my second day wearing the white one and I think it was a little stretched out, I also think it's a looser fit then the black one.

Today I've got the black one on, tighter pants, and a longer shirt -- all which seem to be a good combination for successful use of the Bella Band. My body is interesting proportions with a long torso and a high waist, so things are always somewhat challenging to fit on me. The point for now is to "look as normal as possible" so nobody at work catches on for a few more weeks.

I broke down and ordered some maternity shirts on http://www.oldnavy.com/ I did have a 15% off coupon so it was justified. They are longer than normal shirts and I have a feeling my long torso and I will really like the fit.

Changes... Second Trimester Begins

I can’t explain all the things that are changing with my body, but there are for sure changes going on! I am tired more often and sleep hard. I pee a lot more and that has actually started to ease up a bit which means my uterus is starting to move up and out of my pelvic and not resting on my bladder anymore. My hip joints are starting to ache like crazy and I'm missing my Advil for sure! I am still queasy and don’t feel like eating much and I still get sick in the mornings--those two things are not fun at all. I’m giving it another week and then might need to get meds.

Though I have lost 8.5lbs my pants are starting to feel really uncomfortable. I am sporting the Bella Band today and don’t know if I’m too fond of it. I feel like my pants are too loose now. But, I’m not going to spend the money yet on maternity pants, as I feel I’m going to need them more in the future, and I’m not about to buy a size bigger in regular pants so I feel better, the Bella Band will have to work for now. I guess I need to buy longer shirts.

I’ve been getting headaches more these past week, as I use to get them prior to the pregnancy – and didn’t get them much in the first trimester, but I think I am at the point were I’m going to call my doctor and see what else I can take besides Tylenol, its not cutting it! I’m really trying not to be one of those typical novice pregnant women asking questions every five minutes, but I’m going to have to break down if it involves my wellbeing.

I don’t think I’m showing per say, do to the fact I had my fair share of midsection fluff prior to this, but I’m to the point were I can no longer suck the fluff in… kind of fun, will take a belly pic and post soon!

Nothing too exciting, but there were somethings I wanted to share… Also I wanted to let those of you who are reading my blog know that I’m not going to be posting anything on Facebook until my school year is over, which will be June 4th. For reasons that are silly, but still personal enough to think this way. So we won’t be going "Facebook Official" until then.

Side notes: I’m currently in love with the Coke I am drinking. I have been really good through the first trimester and I was feeling beat today, so I grabbed myself a Coke and I love it. Promise not to do this too often. AND Explorer payments are going to be even less than we thought! Wonderful news.