13 Week Appointment with Specialist

Well I am happy to report that both I and the baby are doing extremely well! I saw a different ultrasound tech today, she was just as nice as my other lady. We couldn't tell the sex yet, but she said hopefully by my next visit in 2 weeks. I'm so excited! Although, I have to go to Piedmont Hospital, even further in Atlanta for that one. One week out of each month my doc goes to other hospitals to cover other doctor's vacations. He gave me the choice of seeing someone else at the Northside office, but I like him and I just want to be seen by him. It's not too much further than Northside, and not as much traffic, so I guess that's ok. I asked him if he delivered babies, but he said not anymore. The ultrasound tech laughed and said that A LOT of people were not happy when he stopped delivering.

I was trying to decide between Cartersville, Kennestone and Northside. I'm pretty much going to rule Kennestone out since I don't see anyone there. I would rather my family have to drive to Cartersville, rather than Atlanta, and now that I know Dr. Korotkin doesn't deliver I'm going to rule Northside out too. So I guess Cartersville it is. I do remember the last time I was there that the Labor & Delivery ward was really nice. And the room I was in initially before being transferred to Chattanooga was huge and nicely decorated. Besides, you don't have to pay for parking, ha ha ha! I'm sorry, it might just be me, but paying to park at a hospital is RIDICULOUS!

Oh, and my odds for Down's Syndrome is 1 in 10,000 and doc said those were excellent numbers and I shouldn't have anything to worry about. :o)

Excitement Building...

I just got out of the bath... it would be horrible if my legs were more hairy than my husbands at my appointment. Lol. Just kidding, they weren't quite that bad. But then again you haven't seen Bobby's legs. Another joke... ok, ok I'll stop.

Tomorrow is my appointment at the specialist and I get to see my baby again! I am so excited to see how much he/she has grown. I'm secretly hoping they'll do the 4D again, but I don't want to get my hopes up. I'll just keep my fingers crossed. I read on on of the pregnancy websites I frequent that if examined outside of the womb, you'd be able to tell the sex of the baby. I was going to ask if they could see it with the 4D since it was so clear last time. I have lunch plans with mom afterwords, and then it's down to business. I gotta go by the post office to get a P.O. Box, then home to do some more packing. At least I'm off tomorrow and Wednesday. I sure am glad for that... After the last couple of days at work I'm ready for a break.

They've cut down hours so I normally have mid-coverage in my copy center, but lately it's pretty much been a skeleton crew. We have enough overlap time to pretty much finish up the job we're working on and explain the other orders that came in. It's been kinda rough. My GM was on vacation last week, so that made it even worse. Sometimes I really hate my job, but I do like my boss. She's a hard ass but she's awesome. Anyway, I'm off to bed. I have to get up really early to drive (or should I say sit) in Atlanta traffic. It's all worth it though... :o)

12 Week Appointment

I had my regular OBGYN visit yesterday morning. It was pretty uneventful. No Ultrasound this time. The doc just used the little handheld monitor to hear the heartbeat and said that it sounded great! He said he looked at the ultrasounds from the specialists visit from last week and said everything looks good in those pics. Then he checked my cervix, high and closed, Yay! I asked him to check for infections also, he took a sample and looked at it under the microscope and said all was clear but he'd send it to the lab anyway, just in case. I can call on Tuesday to get the results. Basically all was good!

12 Weeks

-Baby is 2.5 inches and weighs 8 to 14 grams.

-Baby can squint, open his mouth and move his fingers and toes.

-Baby's digestive system is able to make contractions that push food through the bowels and also is able to absorb sugar.

-The pituitary gland is beginning to produce hormones.

-Baby's brain is fully formed, baby can feel pain and can even suck his thumb.

-Baby's eyelids will remain shut until the seventh month to protect the optical nerve fibers.

Pics @ 11 Weeks

The bad dreams are back.

Last night I had a dream that I was sitting in a room in the hospital and the nurse comes in and said she has to give me a shot in the neck. After she was done, I asked her what it was for and she said it was to start labor. I told her I was only 11 weeks and my baby was fine. She said my doctor said that I needed to deliver because their was something wrong with the baby. I started screaming at her and telling her that I haven't even seen the doctor yet and they didn't even do an ultrasound to see if there was anything wrong. She looked at the paperwork and read off the name and I screamed "That's not my name! You've got the wrong person!" She said she's go get the doctor and she'd be right back. She didn't come back for a long time so I went out in the waiting room looking for her, and when I saw her I started yelling and crying that they better give me something else to stop the labor or else I was sueing her, the doctor and the entire hospital. People were trying to calm me down but I just kept screaming and crying that they killed my baby when there wasn't even anything wrong. I kept waiting for the labor to start but I woke up before it got that far.

I've been trying to shake the dream all day but it just felt so real... I hate that. Stupid hormones, making my imagination run wild.

11 Weeks

(I used my own ultrasound pics from today instead of a generic picture from the web.)

-Baby is 1.5 to 2.75 inches and weighs approx. 8 grams.

-Baby's length will more than double in the next 3 weeks.

-My uterus is almost big enough to fill my pelvic area.

-Baby's fingernails appear this week.

-Inside baby's abdomen the intestines are forming.

-Baby is able to swallow and urinate into the amniotic fluid, which is continually filtered out and replaced.

-All vital organs are formed and for the most part function normally.

-At this point baby will continue to grow in size and efficiency.

Appointment with the Specialist

OK, so in Atlanta at 9am on a weekday... Not somewhere you want to be. Traffic was horrible. As soon as I got onto I-285 my GPS said "traffic accident reported in 4 miles". My exit? 5 miles. They must've gotten it cleared by the time I got halfway there since it was starting to break up the closer I got to the Glenridge Connector. Anyway, I zoomed in the parking deck and found a great spot right in front of the stairs leading to the tunnel that takes you to the Women's Center. I was only 10 minutes late, but the receptionist didn't say anything. I would've been pissed if they would have turned me away after driving an hour in traffic to get there. Anyway, I only waited about 5 minutes before they called me back.

First thing we did was the ultrasound. She tried to use the regular wand (they put it on your belly), but baby was tucked way down. I told her my uterus was tilted so she switched to the trans vaginal wand. We saw the heartbeat right away. It was 171bpm, which she said was in normal range for my stage of pregnancy. We saw little one floating around and kicking. It was such a relief, I definitely let some tears roll down as we watched. Then she switched it over to 4D, and I've got to say it's the most amazing thing in the world. I though the 2D ultrasound was cool, but the 4D is just awesome! She measured from the head to the rear and then the size of the head, and confirmed that I was exactly 11 weeks. So all my dates are correct. :o)

When she was done she went to go talk to Dr. Korotkin and he came in shortly after. He checked my cervix and said that it was high and closed and everything on the ultrasound looked great. He also recommended that I be screened for Downs Syndrome, he recommends it to all of his patients. So I agreed and they poked my finger and I get my results at my next appointment. It'll be a "1 in a x number of babies" chance. I remember when they did tested on Brent after he came out they said that genetically he was perfect, so I'm not too worried, but you never know. While I was getting my finger poked my ultrasound tech came in with some pictures she printed out for me, and she printed like 6 of the 4D ones! I wasn't expecting that, but I'm definitely grateful. The nurse was like "You got color ones! Not everyone gets color ones". So I was on cloud 9 of course. My next appointment with them is in 2 weeks, so I'll get another ultrasound, cervix checked, and results for the Downs test.

I had lunch with mom and she took my pictures back to her work so she could show her co-workers. She's going to drop them off at my work later since I have to close tonight. I'll scan them and put em up as soon as I get home tonight. So today has been a very good day, I don't think anything can bring my mood down right now. Well, off to rest before getting ready for work...

Dinner, Dishes and a Raise

So I actually felt like a normal person when I came home today. I did the huge pile of dishes in the sink, gathered all the trash from each room and started marinating the chicken. On the menu tonight: Lemon pepper chicken, rice and broccoli with cheese. (I was going to make rice/broccoli casserole but Bobby ate my can of cream of chicken on Friday). I plan to start on getting laundry sorted after dinner. I'm going to go through and pack up the summer clothes, unpack the winter and maternity clothes, and go through and see what I want to donate to either Goodwill or Salvation Army. Hmm... there's also a local Habitat for Humanity in Cartersville. We have old dishes that we need to get rid of too, I think they take household items to sell in their store.

I had my review at work today. It was pretty good, other than some areas that I already knew I needed to improve on. I got some advice on how to handle situations without getting too angry, which is my downfall. I usually end up yelling at my team when they do something that impacts the department negatively, instead of coaching them on how to do it the right way. However, I do feel that there are some people that no matter what you do, will always disappoint you if they aren't a good employee to begin with and just don't care. Also, I was shown how to do write ups so that I can FINALLY write people up myself. YAY!!! I'm not saying I want to write people up, but some people don't kick it into gear unless they know they're on their last leg with the company. I also made a suggestion about one of our programs and my GM is going to send it up to the right people to get it heard, which is awesome, since I believe it would dramatically increase profitability with the program. My raise wasn't awesome, but it was more than I thought I'd get, so I'm happy with it. She said she gave me more than the maximum allowed. She had to get it approved by the District Manager and he had no problem approving it. It helps when he's buds (in the most business-like way possible) with the Hubby though... :o)

Well, off the put the chicken in the oven...

Feeling BLAH

Yeah, that pretty much sums up how I've felt this past week: BLAH. I've been extremely bloated all the time. After I eat I burp about 100 times (no joke), and I'm not even gonna tell you what happens when I sleep... :o) Tee-hee. Lately just the thought of eating is enough to tire me out, it seems like such a chore. I don't enjoy it at all. Even ice cream! I think I need a s'more to put me back on track. I'm starting to get a craving for them again. Yesterday I think I slept til about noon, it was great. And today we got up around 11am, watched Bobby play his XBOX360 and kill people, then went to Waffle House. I normally love my sausage, egg and cheese wrap but today I wasn't really feelin' it today. It was a struggle to get the last bite in. I kept thinking "Must eat protein, baby needs protein..." For the record, mind games don't help when you're pregnant. You're body takes over anything your mind wants.

I'm also starting to feel some stretching around my sides. Especially at night. I try to find a comfortable position at night and as soon as I find one, 20 minutes later it's not comfortable anymore. My hips are starting to hurt too, I know they're about to start spreading. It's not too bad yet, but I remember from last time. The pain is coming... It's only a matter of time. It's usually only if I've been sitting in the same position for a long time and then try to get up. I guess it's time to start stretching.

I've trying to get into gear for this move but it's been so hard to try to get on track. There's so much to do, starting with just cleaning and doing the dishes. But we've got to figure out what we're taking to the house, what's going in storage, what we're giving away to be donated, etc. This week at work I'm going to be collecting boxes so I can start get stuff packed that we don't need. I took the last week in October off, but I'd like to have most of our things already where they need to be. With the exception of the furniture. I'm pretty sure we'll have to rent a truck, not a large one, but big enough to fit the couch, loveseat, table, bed, tvs, computers and dresser. If all we had to do was move the big furniture and clean that last week I'll be a happy camper.

I just hope I get some energy back soon...