My top baby items! Yay!

So - it's not as if I've put these to use, so I don't know the quality, so..for right now, it's all in theory. Here are some items that are stylish, and will get the job done - as far as I think now ;)

Aquatopia Safety Audible Bath Thermometer & Alarm - Turtle - Babies "R" Us $16.99

This little number is not limited to just being on the little bath, this can follow the little one into big kid tub time - I know my mom would tell me that you can tell if the temp. is right by feeling the water on the back of your hand, well, my mom also said that I didn't have a need for my cell phone.

Boon Grass Countertop Drying Rack - $17.99

How adorable is this? This is a drying rack that I would proudly display on my kitchen island - I am concerned about cleaning in the nooks and crannies, but it says that it's dishwasher safe.

Nursery Design!

Yes! The fun stuff has arrived, nursery design..I've been on projectnursery.com non-stop since the morning sickness seemed to fade away..which is kind of funny since I was on projectwedding.com for my entire engagement :) I've come up with a really rough drawing of how I would like the room to be set up:

And, I've found all the components that I want to go in:

Baby-Mod Line from Walmart - Oliva

Ikea Expedit storage shelf.

These are the basic things that I know I want in the room..We also know we're going to replace the carpet..which is brand spanking new, with different shades of carpet tile..and we're going for an animal theme..not crazy..but enough that you can tell that there's a mini-zoo going on. I'm hoping to get the recessed lighting and ceiling fan installed within the next couple of weeks, that way we can start working on painting the room..that's right..I'm going gender neutral.. I can't seriously wait another 2 months to find out the sex of the baby to start working on this nursery..I have way too many other things to do.

Complications

So far..the pregnancy has been a difficult one...I've really been praying to get into the "safe zone" otherwise called the 2nd trimester. In my 8th week we were sure we'd lost the baby, after having our first ultrasound, we were sad to find out that there was nothing in the yolk sak, at this point, we were devastated, here we were, 48 years combined age, and we'd already had 2 miscarriages, we were told that there still may be hope so they drew blood to check my hormone levels, which should double ever 2 days to show a viable pregnancy..I went down to the lab, went home, cried my eyeballs out, and very patiently waited for what I thought would be sad news. Taking a few days off really didn't seem to help me, I was in a lot of pain and nothing was really going to change that. My doctor called and let me know that my first hormone levels were through the roof, but that wasn't an indication of anything, they'd need to wait for my 2nd set of blood work results to come back in order to make the medical comparison..again, I patiently waited... I was called the next day to find out that my levels had not doubled, but they had gone up, which could mean a number of things: 1) My levels were so high that there was no where else for them to go in terms of doubling 2) My body was still under the impression that I was carrying a healthy baby and was continuing to produce the hormones associated with that 3) Who knows? ..sometimes things just happen.

..so, we just had to wait until May 13th to be assured that we had infact miscarried the baby...did I mention that this day was my husband David's birthday? Well, although he assured me that all he wanted was for me to be healthy and I should worry too much about it being his birthday, I felt horrible. I went into the doctor's office that morning, I had my physical exam, and then the nurse brought David into the room for the vaginal ultrasound, just as soon as it started, we knew what we had seen on the screen...a happy moving baby! I can assure you that we DID NOT expect to see that on the screen, David literally came in to really see for himself what the problem was, while we went in thinking that we were going to leave dissapointed, we ended up scheduling our 2nd prenatal appointment, and all of our prenatal screening..amazing! ...but back to the ultrasound, as I lay there crying my eyeballs out, the nurse let us know that the baby was actually moving.. you read about the baby moving at 8 weeks, but to honestly be blessed enough to see your baby waving at you and catch it on the screen..breathtaking. So, here we are, 9 weeks 6 days..we're praying everyday for a safe pregnancy, 2 more weeks and we're in the "safe-zone"

Sicker than a dog..

Ugh..so here I am, 8 weeks pregnant, and I'm puking like crazy..and interestingly enough, I'm not losing any weight from doing it..which I'm so used to happening when I throw up this much..so that's nice, I'm sure the baby is getting what little nutrition is staying in my body, and I'm hoping that at least some of the prenatal vitamins are getting to the fetus..a lot fo worry about now.

So, when we first found out we were going to be parents, I started looking up products, reading up on cloth diapers...researched breast feeding, well, that's all kind of taken a back seat to just trying to get rest and keep as much food down as possible, which sometimes means lying down as I'm eating...yes, it's that sad. David told me that if he could take away all my pain and put it onto himself, he would..and I wish I could take him up on his offer somedays..it's really that awful.

I'm dealthy afraid of the job's effects on me during this pregnancy..while I know most people survive, my biggest fear is that..most people told me that I wouldn't get morning sickness, and here I am..so what if it's the same with the stress from work. I'm going to invest in some good earbuds, and utilize them if need be, making sure that this gestation is as serene and healthy as possible is my main goal.

I "love" Kaiser..

So, when I called over the phone to make my very first appointment about 3 weeks ago, I was very dissapointed, the woman on the phone was talking through all of the information pretty fast, that I didn't even really had a chance to jot everything down, but the most important points that I did get down were: bloodwork & ultrasound...well, today, I receive a phone call from my OBGYN's office and she's informed me that they need to schedule my first prenatal appointment, so I open up my calendar and get ready to shoot out some dates that work, I give her the earliest date that I'm available, and so now we're scheduled for May 11th at 3:35p..she then informs me that I'll have my firs ultrasound on this date ...pause.."What?!" so I tell her that I was under the impression that this was being done on my appointment that was scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, April 30th, and she tells me no, that this appointment is more of an orientation, and then I'll be sent off to the lab to do bloodwork to be testing for the various genetic disorders, and to check my blood sugar levels, etc, etc. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty dissapointing news. The thought of being able to see the baby has made me so anxious, and I now have to wait another 12 days, this is going to be nerve racking..ugh! I called David and he said he's fine, and he can wait to see the 2 babies..that's right, this maniac thinks I'm pregnant with twins. Well, anyway, I hope to have great news of a great appointment in the next couple of weeks, until then, I'll read and wait patiently.

I'm pregnant

So, the truth and fact of the matter is ..it wasn't the best April Fools joke.. when I put the fabulous message on my facebook on April 1st that I was "Finally Pregnant" ..I really didn't think I was, I had taken a pregnancy test on March 31st, but the result was faint and so I disregarded it and thought I'd test again in a week...well..7 days later, on April 6th, it was confirmed, Jennifer and David were pregnant, and the due date is December 14th.

A lot of thoughts ran through my head after the initial excitement started to dissipate..but the very first was, "Oh No! ..what if I go into labor during a basketball game?" ..David responded very calmly, "Well, then you'll have to wait until after the game's done," spoken like a true coach.

I feel comfortable saying now that this is not David and my first pregnancy, we found out that we were pregnant early in the new year, but soon after, we unfortunately had a miscarriage, which we both took very hard. For someone like myself that doesn't have an ideal cycle, it was devastating, I just put my hands up in the air and asked "Why?!" Well, what we sometimes consider unfortunate things may have a reason, and I have to really live in the thought that it may have been the best thing for David and I, and medically, maybe there was a reason why I didn't carry that pregnancy to term.

On the brighter side, here we are..currently 7 weeks pregnant, we love reading every possible thing that there is about pregnancy, I'd like to consider myself ultra-prepared, because in all actuality, I am. We've been planning to have kids for a couple of years, infact, I started taken prenatal vitamins 6 months before the wedding to really prep myself and make sure that I was as healthy as could be should be conceive right away. Everything was great and dandy, and wonderful, we were floating on cloud-9 until..well, until the morning sickness set in. April 18th was the first time I was as unhappy as could be since we found out that we were going to be parents, and here we are, April 26th, and I still feel awful..but I keep thinking, this too shall pass.

David's already purchased my Leacho Maternity Pillow which I couldn't live without, and Mama Bee Belly Balm, from the makers of Burt's Bees, another item that I probably couldn't live without at this point are my Sea-Bands..since it's more like ALL-DAY sickness than morning sickness, I have these on, pretty much ALL-DAY. I take them off sometimes before I go into meetings, becasuse I wear them so high up my wrist, and often times, people seem to know what they are, so I don't really want to risk being discovered until I'm ready to release our news into the world.

So, for the most part, at 7 weeks, I just want to remain calm and enjoy the things that I'm able to enjoy now..I've already given up the sushi, the coffee, the ubber amounts of chocolate, so life is going to be hard, but we're so blessed that we'll have a little one to call our own in 6 more months.