6.5 weeks vs. 8 weeks

Here are some ultrasound pictures to compare my last visit (6 weeks, 4 days) to the pictures from my visit this morning (7 weeks, 6 days):

Here is the 3D pic from 6 weeks, 4 days.                        

 And, here is the 3D pic from nearly 8 weeks.

7 weeks, 6 days Officially

I went in for my 8-week ultrasound, or what I thought would be about 8 weeks and 1 day.  My doctor ultimately measured the baby at 7 weeks and 6 days, but she said "it" was right on track and she was happy with what she saw in the ultrasound pics.  Since I had been feeling so nauseous and I was worried about fainting in my classroom when I start school next week on Jan. 6th, (yes, I have a long history of fainting… ask me about my cracked two front teeth sometime…), my doctor gave me TWO different prescriptions for medicine to combat the nausea -- one for the day time and one to knock me out at night.

It was fun for my doctor to play around with the new ultrasound machine again, and the clearer pictures that I get now compared to what we saw on the old machine last spring make me feel a lot more confident about what my doctor and I can exactly see inside my uterus!  I'm feeling much more optimistic about this pregnancy because this is the furthest that I have been where I have seen and heard the heartbeat and have seen the baby reach the "fetus stage."  At this point, I can only be patient and stay positive and know that there is not much more that I can do beyond my control besides eating a healthy diet, getting exercise and getting plenty of sleep.  My doctor continues to stress the importance of getting 1000 mg of Folic acid every day, so I'm doing that, too.

Well, BLAH BLAH BLAH…... Here are the pictures!

8-week Milestone?

Well, I guess it had to happen at some point, but I just thought I would be one of the lucky ones that would not need to vomit during pregnancy.  Today marks 8 weeks in my pregnancy, as well as the first day for me to throw up.  Ugh, so I had been feeling pretty "normal" without any pregnancy symptoms in the last few weeks, but all of a sudden, as I enter my 8th week now, the symptoms are all hitting me hard.  I threw up three times today.  I NEVER throw up… even when I'm the "normal sick," but only when I'm severely sick and on my deathbed, when I threw up last year when I was out ill over Christmas, so this was something major for me. David and I just drove back from Wisconsin three days ago on Dec. 27th, and I only felt super tired while we spent Christmas week up north, but now I have been feeling very dizzy and light-headed since we drove back to Tennessee.  The food aversions did come on strong last week, too.  My dad made sure to have some decaffeinated coffee in the house, but the taste and smell of coffee made me nauseous.  Just like last spring, any vegetables or salad really make me feel sick, too. Although my food cravings and aversions continuously change, below are some of my recent ones.  I still can't believe that I actually have certain "cravings" because I always thought it was a bunch of bologna that pregnant women made up as an excuse to eat lots of junk food.

Cravings: Fruit (pineapple, grapes), Lays potato chips (sour cream & onion, salt & vinegar), spaghetti and meatballs, cheese, rice, toast with butter, Chick-fil-A waffle fries

    

Aversions: lettuce, salads, vegetables (especially squash), coffee, chocolate



Thanks to my hubby for taking me to IHOP yesterday to get me some blueberry pancakes!  I was craving them so badly that I salivated over the online menu the night before!

Almost 6 weeks vs. 6 weeks 4 days

I'm very interested to see how fast it grows from week to week, if I get lucky enough to see the little guy/girl that often.  For now, I'm trying to squeeze in as many ultrasound appointments as I can in December since I already went way past my deductible back in September because of all my doctor and hospital visits with my other two pregnancies in the past 8 months.

Here are the ultrasound pictures again from a little under 6 weeks (Friday, Dec. 13) and from the pictures that we got today at about 6 weeks 4 days (Friday, Dec. 20).

6 weeks 4 days Ultrasound pictures

So, I felt super relieved this morning when the doctor found the little lima bean shaped baby on the screen for my ultrasound appointment.  It measured 6 weeks 4 days.  We saw AND heard the heart beat (119 bpm), so that was exciting!  The best part was that my doctor recently got a new ultrasound machine, so she can take much better, clearer ultrasound pictures AND she can take 3-dimensional pictures, so that makes me feel more comfortable when we can have a better view of what we're looking at in my body!

Ultrasound overload…. get ready:

Another HP article on miscarriage

My Miscarriage: The Story I Will Keep Telling

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aidan-donnelley-rowley/miscarriage_b_1967351.html

"Now I know. Now I know this happens to so many of us. That we lose heartbeats, lives. That it is common. Most people I know have suffered this kind of loss. But that doesn't make it any easier when it happens. No, the pain is profound. And when we feel this pain, when it grips us, statistics mean nothing."

"I wish more of us would tell our stories. Our stories of longing, of loss. I know they are not happy stories, but hard ones. But I really think these stories would have helped me seven years ago on that October morning when a little screen spelled the end, when it all went black."

Celebrity miscarriages

Jay-Z's Mention of Beyoncé's Miscarriage Is Actually Groundbreaking

http://jezebel.com/5874768/jay+zs-mention-of-beyonces-miscarriage-is-actually-groundbreaking

"But in general, although celebrities are prone to dish about their diets, their sex lives, their sobriety struggles, and their tattoos in intimate locations, miscarriage is not a subject stars are very open about. And on the rare occasion that a celebrity offers information, usually the woman — and not the man — has something to say."

"In 2010, Lily Allen suffered her second miscarriage; she is among a select few who have been open about the loss. Christie Brinkley has revealed she had three miscarriages; skater Nancy Kerrigan has had six; recent reports claim Jennifer Aniston miscarried back in 2004, when she was with Brad Pitt."

Jackie Kennedy's 5 Pregnancies

I found an older Huffington Post article from Nov. 18th that I thought was interesting about Jackie's 5 pregnancies, although she's only had 2 surviving children.

Jackie Kennedy's Five Pregnancies -- the Tragic and the Successful

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-levingston/jackie-kennedys-five-pregnancies_b_4273416.html?utm_hp_ref=parents-pregnancy

It's amazing how many more women have miscarriages and how many more miscarriages the average woman has herself than the statistics actually lead you to believe.  I feel thankful that I have a supportive husband, family and friends unlike the unsupportive way it sounded like JFK acted toward Jackie.

Huffington Post article, see #3

8 Things We Learned In 2013 About Having Babies

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/13/pregnancy-health-2013_n_4420859.html


Food for thought:  I thought this article from the HP (link above) was interesting… especially #3 about miscarriages occurring more frequently than we think, and #4 about maternal exercise during pregnancy.

December 13, Part 2

I went to my doctor today for my first ultrasound at 6 weeks.  We barely saw the flickering of a heartbeat, but that was about it.  Just one baby, no twins! Because of my miscarriage history, I'm going in next week for a second ultrasound to check and make sure that everything is okay at 7 weeks.

Below are some 6-week ultrasound photos and my first "belly pictures."

December 13: Because I don't believe it

More positive pregnancy tests… just because I still didn't believe it after having been already pregnant twice before in the last 8 months.

November 28, 2013: The day that I found out