12 week checkup.

This morning:
Me: "Do you want to come to my checkup?"
Matt: "Sure"
Me: "Okay, I'll pick you up around five after or ten after 11:00."

... three hours later...

I pulled into the driveway and tried to call Matt to let him know I was there and it went straight to voicemail. Bad sign. I decide my next best option is to run inside and get him. Much to my surprise (or not), Matt is hanging out in his basketball shorts and cut-off tee playing Rock Band.

Me: "Ready?"
Matt: "For what? Oh, your appointment!"
Me: "I'll go by myself." (leaves immediately)

So there's the intro.

Anyway, I only weighed in at 147. That is certainly no more than I weighed last time (probably less but at least not by much). Nobody mentioned anything so that's good.

I finally heard the heartbeat for the first time! :D I was looking forward to that since it was too early at my last appointment. The heart rate was in the upper 140's/low 150's.

Good checkup! My next one will already consist of the "big ultrasound". This pregnancy is going so much faster than my first.

Noah is turning one!

I can't believe tomorrow is Noah's first birthday. We had his party on Saturday in Michigan at the cottage. It was great! The weather was crummy but we made the best of it. Indoor space was limited but at least all the bodies in the cottage kept it warm! It was nice to see friends and family again on our trip. Noah did really well on his plane trip. On the way up, he slept part of the way from Raleigh to Chicago and then the whole way from Chicago to Grand Rapids. On the way back, he slept the whole way from Grand Rapids to Atlanta and then didn't sleep at all from Atlanta to Raleigh. That last part was a little challenging but he still did well. I think the hardest part about flying with a baby is keeping them entertained during the layover. We have to find an area at the gate to sort of barricade off so that Noah has a little area in which to crawl around. Of course he wants to go everywhere! Ahh, it is definitely an energy drainer.

Anyway, Noah got lots of cute gifts at his party thanks to the generosity of our family and friends. His cake turned out really cute and it was just a $20 cake from the Shop 'n' Save in Beulah, haha. Needless to say, our options were limited but it was fine. I set out "treasure chests" filled with "treasure" (candy... like Paydays, 100 Grands, Ring Pops, Lifesavers, chocolate coins) and hung a little pirate-themed Happy Birthday banner on the porch. It was pretty simple but pretty darn cute. I also made chocolate cupcakes to compliment the cake and put little skull & crossbones picks in them.

I've been feeling pretty good all week and then I get home and throw up everything I ate today (which wasn't a whole lot)! What the heck?! Please let this be the last time. I hate feeling queasy and throwing up. :/ I just made some coffee... hoping that helps to ease my tummy. We finally told everyone about expecting #2. My 12-week checkup is on Wednesday! I have no reason to believe anything is less than perfect, I just hope I haven't lost any weight. I certainly don't feel like I have so I doubt that will be a problem, lol.

Back to work tomorrow (I'm not really that excited... I miss the cottage)!

it would be nice...

if I could keep my first attempt at breakfast down... really nice. I don't get how pregnancy = stomach flu? lol That makes no sense. So anyway, since my relationship with Rice Chex (or, technically speaking, Kroger Rice Bits) has failed, I'll make an effort to keep down my blueberry bagel. I've never thrown up my second breakfast so I'm feeling pretty optimistic that this will end up in my favor.

betas.

I forgot to report back after my beta results. My first draw was 60,000 and my second was 80,000. They like to see them double every 48 hours but since I was far enough along (7 weeks) that my levels were tapering off anyway, they weren't worried about it. They were just glad they increased at all.

In other news, I'm feeling a little bit better in general each day. Less nausea and fatigue. That is a relief. I know it could come back at any moment but I'm hoping that doesn't happen. I still have some serious food aversions though... meat (gag) being the biggest one. I can't even write about it because the thought makes me want to throw up.

Next... I started trying to sleep train Noah a few days ago and that has been going pretty well. He is getting better at putting himself to sleep. There is some crying involved but never by himself. I think it's cruel to shut a baby in its room to cry alone. Noah mostly just whines and fusses which is no big deal but if he gets hysterical, one of us will go in there to comfort him. I usually just stay in there with him until he gets quiet enough that I can sneak out!

So anyway, I'm just going to lament for a second now. I'm sad that I won't be able to make Noah's birthday party like I originally wanted now that our income is about to significantly decrease. :( I think now I will just get the bare minimum to make it look pirate themed and that's it. A banner, some cupcake decorations and a treasure chest filled with "treasure". I suppose that should be good enough. I was going to get some balloons, tattoos, favors for the kids and some fancy shmancy pirate napkins, too, but I'll just have to get over it!

a "halestorm" indeed

Well. I certainly can't WAIT to reveal the impending arrival of #2 right after we discovered that my husband lost his job. (note the sarcasm) That should be interesting, lol. I was planning on a fun little reveal at Noah's birthday party but now I really don't even want to tell our families.

8 weeks, 4 days.

This is the day that morning sickness gets the best of me. Oh, yes... what a pleasure. What does this baby have against me already?

I'll give it this much - I had cinnamon coffee cake for breakfast so at least it didn't taste too bad coming back up.

the fatigue.

Is KILLING me. I feel like I'm on the verge of death by lethal injection every day.

Everyone teases you about not getting any sleep once you have a newborn but what they FAIL to mention is the fatigue that you suffer through during first tri REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH SLEEP YOU GET!

I have felt better after a sleepless night with an infant than I do now after having eight hours of sleep.

I am so tired of being tired all the time. It has to be worse this time around than it was with Noah. That is for SURE. And now that I have to take care of him on top of it... it's definitely worse.

/vent