Observation

I have come to realize that if someone finds out you're pregnant and you're within their line of sight, they immediately glance at your abdomen. It's weird. Like suddenly they'll see something they didn't see before? I don't know. Like I said, it's weird. I'm sure it's totally subconscious and I've probably done it to other gals before, but it still makes me self-conscious. Am I showing enough? Am I showing too much?

 

The belly at 11 weeks

This is my best attempt at a self belly portrait. Next time I'll probably have Ad help me. I'll do my best to do this every couple of weeks or so. It should be interesting!

Milestones

Today was the day. I've finally done it. I reached a milestone in my pregnancy. I said the words, "I'm" and "pregnant" together, in order, in one sentence. It wasn't, "We're going to have a baby," or, "We're going to be parents." I actually said, "I'm pregnant." And it felt pretty good.

The second milestone I reached today was using my pregnancy as an excuse to get out of something. I was giving H1N1 shots at the nursing home today, going to patient rooms, talking nice, and trying not to get bit. It was all going very smoothly until we reached a room with red caution signs posted around the door. My feet froze; a patient with MRSA (a very nasty bacteria that is tough to treat).

"Umm, I don't think I want to go in there. Can we get one of the staff nurses to do this one?"

"Why?"

"Doesn't he have MRSA?"

"Well, yeah...and?"

"Well, um, well, it's just that....um.........I'm pregnant." (aack! Did I really just say that?! Holy crap. Now what?)

"Oh, in that case, of course! You don't want to go in there! That would be terrible! So, when are you due? Have you picked out names? Have you told anyone? etc, etc, etc......." (Whew! That was easier than I thought it would be! In fact, that was great! This "I'm pregnant" thing could really come in handy...)

And that's the story of me reaching two pregnancy milestones in one day. The end.




P.S. I didn't get bit!

Building Stuff

Any typical weekend, ask me what I'm up to and I'll say, "Laundry, cleaning house, maybe a little sewing." Ask me what Adam's up to and the answer is, "Building stuff." I think that's been my answer to that question for the past 3 months. Adam's been building lots of stuff, and he's getting very good at it. This is is latest project:

A Crib For Our Tolman Baby!

This is the front rail to the crib. It will be stationary, as most cribs are these days. The mattress inside the crib will be adjustable.  It will also be a convertible crib. Once the baby outgrows the crib, it will be converted to a toddler bed. Then eventually, this front rail will be used as the foot board to a full-sized bed. In theory, our child could take this bed to college! How cool is that?

Adam plans to make all of our baby's furniture. At this rate, it looks like he'll succeed. I'm continually amazed by what my guy can do. It will be pretty cool that our kid can say, "My dad made this!"

Current Pregnancy Symptoms

Hunger
Fatigue
Hunger
Heightened sense of smell
Hunger
Vivid dreams (mostly involving close friends getting pregnant)
Hunger
Irritability
Hunger
Frequent urination
Hunger
Feeling cold

I'd say I'm doing pretty well! Not experiencing half of what some women do. I'm counting myself lucky! (As long as I don't gain 100 lbs in the process!)

First Picture

Tolman Baby's 1st picture!

Well, there it is, the first picture of our Tolman Baby. And yep, it seems there's just one in there. (*Huge sigh of relief from Mom*, *Small sigh of disappointment from Dad*)

We had so much fun at the ultrasound appointment! It's AMAZING what technology can do. This kiddo is less than one inch long from crown to rump and we have a picture of it! Truly amazing! Based on the measurements, the ultrasound tech said technically our due date should be a little later; August 24th, 2010. But, the doctor says since it's less than 7 days off, we'll stick with the original August 20th due date.

The thing that was most emotional for me was seeing the heartbeat. There was this little flutter or glimmer at the center of the chest and it was obvious that's what it was. They don't listen to the heartbeat yet, the tech says it puts too much power on that tiny heart. But, we did get to measure how fast it's beating. It's a whopping 167 bpm which they said was perfect.

So, those are the most exciting details of the appointment. If you're the least bit squeamish, or get grossed out by the talk of anatomy or female things, stop reading here.

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If not, I want to tell you about another part of the ultrasound that I thought was really cool! They check out all of my anatomy, I guess to be sure I'm capable of doing this whole pregnancy thing, I don't know. But anyway, it was really neat. The first thing the tech said was that my uterus is backward. I have no idea what that means or if it really matters, but she didn't seem concerned. Then she mentioned something about my  cervix being tipped, but seemed unconcerned by that as well. She said that based on the way my uterus is positioned, I may have more discomfort in my back than is typical.

The part I thought was really neat was when they looked at my ovaries. They looked at the left side first and of course I had no idea what to look for and couldn't discern any gray stuff from any other gray stuff. But supposedly the tech could. Then she changed the view so we could see the blood flow through it. That was neat! She also made a recording of the sound of the blood flow and it was just a faint murmur. Then she looked at the right side. When I had gone in for my first appointment the doctor said my right ovary may have a cyst, or may be the one producing the hormones to sustain the pregnancy. It seems she was right! The right ovary was much larger than the left and there was MUCH more blood flowing through it. When she recorded the blood-flow, we could hear my bounding heartbeat. It was crazy! She said that means that the egg was released from the right ovary and the part that is left in the ovary (I think she called it the corpus luteum) produces the hormones for the pregnancy until the placenta (I think, I could have this all wrong) can take over the hormone production. Isn't that amazing?! I can't believe they have a way to know all this stuff!

I think that pretty much sums up the whole appointment. You now know more about me than you ever dreamed, but that's what blogging's all about, right? I hope you squeamish ones didn't keep reading! Have a great weekend!

 

Oh, the things people say!

Today at work one of my customers informed me of a conspiracy theory surrounding H1N1 vaccination. Supposedly it's not actually flu vaccine but instead a chemical meant to sterilize America, as she said "...you know, for population control." I had to really bite my tongue to keep from telling her it didn't work on me.

Quick Update

So I figured it was time for a quick update since it's been awhile since I've posted. However, there's not a whole lot to report. Things are going well, and I'm feeling great. My biggest pregnancy symptoms are hunger and fatigue. It seems like all I want to do is eat and sleep! But I'm so lucky to have no morning sickness whatsoever.

Our next appointment is this coming Thursday for an ultrasound. They'll take a peek at the kidney bean sized kiddo(s?) and let us know a more precise estimated due date. (Right now the estimate is August 20, 2010.) I'm hoping for a digital copy of the pictures so I can post them here.

I'm not sure I'm ready to start taking belly pics quite yet. I already feel huge, although I think technically I'm still not showing. Once I "pop" I'll post something. :)

Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'll be back after our Thursday appointment!