So yes, today was our second ultrasound! It was supposed to be at 2:45, but on saturday Den found out he’d been scheduled for a conference call today at 2:00 that was supposed to take an hour (and it takes us half an hour to drive to the clinic). I was not pleased. I managed to call this morning and ask them if there was any way we could push the appointment back 15 minutes, and they were able to do that. After rushing around like mad to finish up at both our jobs, we arrived in the office at 2:59pm.

And then we sat for quite a while. I was starting to worry that they’d forgotten about us and packed up and gone home! But then the U/S tech called us back and we got right to it.

It was strange at first, because to my eyes the blob didn’t look any bigger, but the heartbeat was smaller… then she zoomed in. :lol: What used to be a huge heartbeat in the middle of a little blob is now a little heartbeat in a bigger blob! And the blob has shape! We saw the head and the very tiny little body… little arm and leg buds… and still a little tail. The little guy has doubled in size since our last ultrasound! (And I didn’t see a yolk sac. I wonder if it’s transferred to the placenta yet?) It wasn’t moving at all yet though… just chillin’ out at the bottom (? I think? I don’t really know how the ultrasound shows things, up or down) of my uterus.

Here’s the picture:

And here’s the same picture with my artistic rendering overtop so you can hopefully see what the hell it is you’re looking at. It has a huge head, four little buds, and a tail.

My ovaries have shrunk appropriately, she said I’m well on my way (to recovering from the egg retrieval), they asked when my first appointment was with the OB’s office and who it was with (they have to send paperwork over), then wished us well and off we went! That’s it!

Oh, before we left she said she still has my due date down as April 6. Den explained about the leap year thing, but she said she’s leaving it as the 6th. Grrr. I’m still not changing anything! :P Maybe I’ll be able to convince my Midwife of the proper date. ;) (Yes, I’m freaking anal about things. Numbers MUST come out properly!) No, not like it’s going to make a difference in the end! But darnit, I’m due the 5th.

I got home and quickly scanned the photo, but didn’t have time to post it anywhere as apparently we had a BBQ to go to, thrown by Den’s boss from the military base. Den had apparently told me of this yesterday (I faintly recall… sort of) but he neglected to remind me of this today, so of course I was caught completely off-guard. He didn’t want to be late, plus there was supposed to be burgers and stuff, so I put on my jeans and belly band (am liking that more and more) and off we went.

I must say, it was a little weird to be in a crowd of people who all knew that I am pregnant. We got a ton of congratulations and “have you talked about names yet?” and “how are you feeling?” I don’t know… it just felt weird to me! Good, yes… but at the same time it’s like I still can’t believe I’m really pregnant. Especially since I’m not really showing yet (even though Den SWEARS that I am looking pregnant). A few of the girls were really cute, though… they leaned over really close and asked Den, “Is it alright if I say congratulations??” He told them of course it was, and they said, “Oh good, because my girlfriend was pregnant and I couldn’t say anything in public until she was like 5 months along!” So everyone was very nice. And yes, the burger was good.

One of those weird food things, though… they had chips with dip. Two types of dip: french onion, and ranch. I have always liked french onion. I have pretty much always disliked ranch. Guess which one I was stuffing in my face? Yeah. The ranch. Which is not entirely surprizing to me, since a couple of weeks ago I found myself eating a big salad covered with ranch dressing. And it was so. freakin. good. So apparently pregnant-me likes ranch? Odd.

Oh and, umm, does anyone know if kahlua cake/desert thing is okay to eat when pregnant?? At first I said no way was I touching it, but then someone explained that during cooking all the alchohol is baked out, just leaving the flavor. So I had a few bites. (It was good, but I was full!) So if anyone could let me know, for future reference, that’d be great…

I MUST have the Sleep Sheep and Baby Sheep for our little Sheepie’s nursery.

Yes, I do think I’ll be going with a sheep theme. Or at least going with solid colors, and adding sheep. Yep.

More links to save…. diaper bags this time.

The Skip Hop Dash looks like a possibility. More than I wanted to spend, but with lots of pockets.

Oh, I like the Five Piece Combo from Ryco. Looks very nice, lots of pockets, easy access, and even looks like it has a long shoulder strap.

I do love the Ju Ju Be All in terms of functionality and looks, but it is WAY beyond my price range. I guess some people are willing to spend that much on a freakin’ bag…. I am not one of them.

ETA: The Skip Hop Duo has also been recommended to me… and it doesn’t have the fold-over flap (which I hate). I especially LOVE the ice blue color. it’s $50, but that’s not *terrible*.

Hubby and I just watched a show on TLC called Crazy Sexy Cancer. It was really… interesting. Inspiring. When she cried I wanted to cry too. Her foray into strange and alternative therapies looking for her cure reminded me a lot of the things we infertiles do in a desperate attempt to fix what’s wrong with us, when traditional medicine has failed us or simply doesn’t know what to do. At one point she says something about how doing nothing feels so terrible… there’s this need to do something, anything.

I highly recommend watching, if you get a chance to see it.

::

The last couple of days have not been fabulous, at least in terms of feeling sick. And you know how it is… when your body feels off, it makes you really crabby about everything else, too. The mornings haven’t been great for me… an hour or two after I get up I’m feeling wretched and dashing to the sink/toilet/whatever’s close and heaving up my breakfast. Not so certain I’ll be eating much cereal anymore… didn’t work too well for settling my stomach. And unfortunately it’s continuing into the rest of the day off and on. I’ll be fine for hours at a stretch – or at least just slightly uncomfortable – and then there’ll be 15 minutes when I’m trying to puke and can’t stop gagging and heaving. Then I’ll be okay again for another while.

The way I was feeling before, I was feeling nauseated at times, but eating quickly calmed it and let me go on my happy way. However now food is making me feel a little green as well. Just running through the list of available meals makes my stomach turn a little. “Ooo,” Den said today, pulling something from the freezer, “we can split a panini!” Which, I may have mentioned, I previously was liking very much. Not today. No, I wanted nothing to do with that panini. Perogies, however, were okay. Whatever.

Den is being really sweet (when he’s not cracking jokes, at least – one of his favorite pasttimes!). Like tonight, with the panini – it’s a tiny little thing, hardly a snack for him, and yet he was trying to get me to eat half of it. Before that he forced half a cookie into me, lol. When I started cooking the perogies and asked him how many he wanted he insisted that he’d eat whatever I didn’t eat, that I should eat all that I could.

And he’s very sweet in other ways too. I feel so very lucky that my husband is a snuggler like I am. Because, I have to admit, there has been no hanky-panky going on in the bedroom or anywhere else in quite a while now. I think a lot of husbands would get cranky about that. But mine… he hugs me and kisses me and cuddles me and rubs my back and tummy. I feel so loved. I feel so happy.

Tired, too. I haven’t been sleeping very well lately, and that’s making me feel very exhausted (and whiny, and bitchy) in the mornings. The sleep thing is partially because I’m so tired when I get home from work that I’m napping, and partially because it doesn’t matter how tired I am all day, late evening I suddenly wake up and want to read and talk for hours. (Den doesn’t so much appreciate the chatter at 11pm.) I’m finally getting tired again now, at 12:30, though my stomach might keep me up a while longer.

Yes, the stomach pain. I sure am hoping this is not another one of those giant painful gas balls forming, but it’s very uncomfortable. My stomach feels bloated and tender. I took Maalox, so we’ll see how that goes. I’d really like to get some sleep now…

I received some Thirsties diaper covers in the mail today! They are soooo cute! From photos online I was a little worried they’d be really plasticy – sometimes pics shows them as very shiny. And I wasn’t happy with that. But I get them and they’re so soft and lovely! AND they come in tons of colors – which most covers don’t. So now I’m on the hunt for more in XS and S in some other colors. Though it seems that on DiaperSwappers Thirsties go fast! I was lucky to get the ones I did, I guess.

I’m just so excited to try out my diapers on the ickle baby when he/she comes. I’ll have to remind myself of that when the time comes…. “Look, remember how excited you were for the diaper thing?” “Yes, but… I wasn’t thinking about the POOP!” Going to happily ignore that for now!

::

Den and I were talking a little bit more about labor and birth. Or rather, I was rambling about it, he was listening. I mentioned how I’ve gotten some mixed advice/reactions to giving birth in a hospital, seeing how I want a non-medicated, “natural-as-possible” birth. I guess it’s one of the things I’m letting him choose. There are so many things about the birth that *I* want, that I have specifications on, and he’s really insistent that we give birth in a hospital, in this particular hospital. And I’m okay with that, surprizingly. I can be a wee bit controlling (no, really?) so it’s a little weird that I’m so okay with it. But I guess that’s just how it is.

Den’s really starting to “get it,” I think – about what I want for a birth and what I’ll need to get there. He told me we’re just going to have to go over with the Midwife and OB what I’m looking for and suggested we ask their advice on how best to achieve that – ie, how to handle nurses and such. And he added, “I’ll be your advocate,” with a solemn nod. He’s so sweet. I’m not sure why I was worried before – maybe because the birth was so far off to him that he wasn’t showing me any reassurance – but now I can totally picture him being all protective and, “No, THIS is what she wants, this is what she gets.” That’s cool. Maybe we can pull this off.

I did admit to him that I’m not like 100% committed to going medication-free. Not that I don’t want to, but I recognize there may be mitigating circumstances that would change my mind. A friend of mine probably would have done a natural birth, had she not been in labor for three days – not active labor, but three days of no sleep. And her active labor was really drawn-out too. By that point she was so exhausted she could barely function. Getting the epidural allowed her to sleep for a few hours and prepare herself for pushing the baby out. I told Den, it’s a hard line. You need to go into it with as much dedication as possible in order to get yourself through it – yet at the same time you can’t be so inflexible that you’re totally disappointed if things don’t go the “right” way. I need to find a balance that will allow me to have the best experience for me. And part of that, unfortunately, is playing it by ear. (I haaaaate playing things by ear!)

::

My left ovary has been letting me know how unhappy it is the last two days. I guess it’s really shrinking back to normal, because I’m feeling a lot of pangs and twinges from that area. Feels a lot like right before retrieval, to be honest. And it’s only my left side. (It was significantly larger than my right at my ultrasounds, so that’s why.)

I was at Walmart today and while I was there I picked up some more Expecta (DHA suppliment) and decided to buy some Unisom and B-6 – the two things recommended by the nurse to take together to help with the nausea. She said the half-pill of unisom, taken with the B-6, doesn’t seem to make most pregnant women more fatigued than they already are. (Actually what she said was, “I know what you’re thinking – Unisom is a sleep aid, and the last thing I need right now is to be more tired!”) Even if it does make me tired, I wouldn’t object to that right now.

I think I am taking more pills now than I was when I was trying to get pregnant. :lol: (Just no injections – thank goodness!) I have: my celexa, the prenatal, the DHA suppliment, the B-6, and the Unisom. Lovely! And that DHA suppliment is a giant gel pill…. learned the hard way to take a BIG gulp of water to get it down, or else it gets stuck. Yuck yuck yuck.

::

In some sorta-unrelated news, Den has decided to take some night classes and finally finish his degree! He has a really solid, well-paying job right now, but, as he explained it, once he gets his Bachelors he can become an Officer in the military which could open a lot of doors for him. It would increase his pay slightly, which is of course nice, but I’m most excited that he could have some more career options. He’s had the same job for over 10 years, he’s pretty much at a dead-end right now with nowhere to go, if he transferred to something else he’d take a pay cut which we can’t afford. And he’s been getting increasingly more frustrated by it. I think mainly because he’s done the same thing for so long, he’s so bored and fed up with it. I’ve always felt bad that he can’t just go look for another job, again because we couldn’t afford the huge pay cut that would take. So for him to have some options is wonderful! The only downside is that he’d have to go away for several weeks for some required training, which would suck, but it’d be well worth it in the end. Obviously I would really love for that to happen before the baby comes.

We stopped by the college today so he could find out his current status as a student (inactive) and re-register and find out what he needs to do next. I guess he needs to put in some calls to advisers so he can find out what courses he needs to finish up his degree. He only needs 7 stinkin’ credits to graduate! Oy! He really is hoping to get enrolled for a Fall class, but I don’t know if everything’s going to be sorted out in time for that.

He also mentioned a big inspection that is coming up in February. I guess he doesn’t get paid overtime for any extra hours he puts in, but he gets “comp time” – which means for the hours he works overtime he gets extra hours in his time-off bank. Which, guess what, will be REALLY REALLY handy when the baby comes! I asked him if he can take paternity leave, and he can – but it would be unpaid. Can’t do that. So I guess he’ll just be saving as much leave time as he can so he can get a couple of weeks off with me and the baby. That would be so wonderful.

Oh I hope everything works out for him!