Happy Valentine's Day - 12 Weeks!

Among all of the other happenings at work and on the home-front (nothing bad, just action-packed!), time has passed such that you are 12 weeks along now!

At last we left off, I was having some bathroom issues (ha!) and some bleeding/cramping as well.  I called again at the end of the week, and the nurse I spoke to had me come in the same day for a quick ultrasound to check on everything.  It was a HUGE relief to see you there on the screen, waving right at us!  The technician did a whole bunch of other measurements, after which we saw the doctor.  The bleeding was caused by a sub-chorionic hemorrhage...a placental bleed.  Usually pretty benign, although she advised to take it easy for a little while.

On Monday, we had a doctor's appointment (check-up) that your brother, Daniel accompanied us to.  Heart rate was good (161 beats per minute!) as was everything else.  It was kind of funny to see the look on Daniel's face when the doctor put the doppler on my belly to listen for the heartbeat...and he's still not quite understanding that the baby inside my belly is NOT Jared.

Then on Wednesday, your NT appointment!  The ultrasound started off great, and you were bouncing off the walls, rolling around and being all sorts of amusing.  After a bladder emptying (they had me come in with a full bladder to help with imaging), the ultrasound continued for purposes of getting a few more measurements AND to see if they could get a few 3D shots.  You looked like you were asleep for a little bit in there, but we had a great time watching you, and being able to see distinct hands and fingers!

The genetics appointment right afterwards just went over risk stuff, but based on ultrasound, everything looked pretty normal!

And with that...some ultrasound pictures at long last!

A Hazy Thursday Post

Time sure has flown by!  Since your brother, Daniel, has been sick for this week (and either me or your dad have been home with him), I have to make myself think about what day it is!  Today you are 9 weeks along!

I'll start with something fun before getting into recent happenings.  With your brother, Jared, I did one of those silly online gender prediction things.  Here's what came of yours!

Madam Zaritska Predicts:

The day you deliver, outside will be hazy. Your baby will arrive in the late evening. After a labor lasting approximately 5 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 5 pounds, 5 ounces, and will be 20 inches long. This child will have light gray eyes and some black hair.

At least that was more reasonable than Jared predicted to be over 14lbs!  

Anyway, the morning sickness continues, but it's being kept under control with the help of Zofran.  However, one of the unfortunate side effects of that medication is that it causes constipation.  With all the stress of the week before (had Jury Duty, had to go to an early "business breakfast", and was interviewing a ton of potential interns), I'd forgotten that I hadn't gone, and I was still a bit dehydrated in general.  

All of this came to a head over the weekend (and luckily, resolved!), much to my distress.  I can still feel the lingering cramps and intestinal pains.  At least that's what I hope it is.

Monday (which I had off for MLK day) came a new development.  With lingering pain in my sides (intestinal), I went to the bathroom, and upon wiping, had some blood.  Well, it was more like pink.  And so the spotting started, although not a TON, it's enough to make me paranoid still.  The spotting has gone between mostly pink, to some definite red, to some brown, and back to pink.  When I called the doctor's office, they didn't seem too concerned, and I'm really trying not to be.  Next appointment is on the 11th, which is about 2 weeks away.

In any case, the morning sickness continues...and as your daddy says, that makes him feel a little more secure, even though it's not a pleasant reminder that you're still there!

First Appointment!

So many things have happened since the last post, culminating in our first OB appointment!  I guess there's a lot to cover, so we'll get started!

I thought I was going to have it easy with the morning sickness this time around (since it hadn't really shown up by Christmas time and I was feeling pretty good).  And then it hit me like a ton of bricks.  Throwing up, and lots of it along with random dry heaves.  Sometimes even at night, the nausea hits.  We were somewhat prepared for this, as your daddy promptly stocked up on ginger ale and some crackers.  We also hit up Babies R US for the "Preggie Pops".  And last but not least, I still had some Zofran left over from your brother.

Even with the Zofran (which I had been carefully rationing out!), I was still throwing up sometimes, but at least it took the edge off enough to go to work.

And with my careful rationing, I took the last left-over dose this morning right before the doctor's appointment.  So moving on to that...

Everything looked great!  One little baby in there, nice flickering heartbeat on the screen!  You measured perfectly on at 7 weeks, 1 day (which is what I calculated you out to be anyway!).  I got a flu shot and some blood drawn (out of my HAND, instead of my arm, which failed).  The next appointment there will be in February, and then we just have to schedule the NT scan for around that time as well.  The NT scan is one of my favorites, as you will have grown so much by then, and it's fun to see you jump around.

As soon as the pictures are scanned, I'll post them...even though there's not a ton to see...just a tiny little blip on the screen!

Merry Christmas!

Can't end the day without a Christmas-themed blog entry!  Well, things are moving along, and it still doesn't yet "feel" like you're there yet, but I'm not worried about that!  Today you are 4 weeks, 4 days along, and for some reason it seems like it should be more, but also it seems like the time is flying by!

No real morning sickness to speak of yet, although there was one night where I had some stomach upset, maybe due to something I ate?  Took a Zofran, went back to bed and that was that.  Some smells are starting to make me a little bit nauseous, but nothing major, and nothing putting me over into "puking purgatory" yet.  Sleep is always good, but I haven't been just zonking out before 9pm.  Your brother Jared has been a little bit under the weather, so he's been keeping us up periodically through the night.  Definitely not helping with any fatigue.

Other than that...I've been as hungry as ever!  Also VERY thirsty, but that could be due to the dry weather.  No weight gain, as far as I know, but after eating so much around the holidays, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the first pregnancy where I actually GAIN weight in the first trimester!

I should also mention that our first appointment is January 11th!  You'll be 7 weeks, 1 day along, even earlier than your brothers were at their first doctor's visit.  We're still pretty excited!

In any case, Christmas was great!  Your oldest brother, Daniel, was really understanding Santa this year, and was really surprised at all of the presents under the tree and at your grandma and grandpa's house. As I mentioned before, Jared was feeling a little worse for wear, but he still had fun with his gifts too.  Just think, next Christmas you'll be spending on the outside!

So no picture or anything like that, other than your ticker (which, yes, I know it isn't updating...on purpose.  Today you are 4 weeks, 4 days...on another day, you'll be more!)

Hello, World!

I guess right now is as good a time as any to announce that there's another Stone baby on board!  I'll start off by saying that you made your announcement a bit earlier in pregnancy than your brothers...9 days past ovulation!  There was a hint of a line yesterday, and this morning it was not only there, but darkening up.  Your dad went off to get some "good" pregnancy tests this evening, and there it was...clear as day!

So according to all of your mommy's dates, your due date is August 29th, 2013!  It seems so far away, and so surreal right now, but I know it will come so very fast!

It's going to be so fun for you to have TWO big brothers!  Daniel has been a big brother to Jared for almost 2 years now, so he's pretty good at it.  He'll be starting kindergarten when you are born!  Jared is the current baby, but he's such a big boy now, and he has Daniel to help him be a great big brother to you too.

It will be fun to see all of the differences and similarities in pregnancy and all of that good stuff compared to your brothers.  Are you a boy or a girl?  Will you look like them?  What color hair and eyes will you have?  When will I feel you kick?  I have to admit I love all of these firsts!

So with that...welcome to the world!