Thumper

Our 2nd ultrasound was today and everything looks great!  We got to hear the heart beat thumping away at 180bpm =)  The baby is measuring right on track at 8w6d.   So, so relieved!!!!

I do have a small sub-chronic hematoma  (2cm) but it is in a location that shouldn't pose any danger to the baby but may cause some spotting/bleeding if it's not just reabsorbed.  Over the next few weeks I will be weaned off the medications and we have now "graduated" to the OB, who we will see for the first time on the 21st.  

This is a head down view of the baby and you can see her/his fingers that just formed this week!

The babies head is down toward the bottom and feet toward the top.  Kind of blurry, sorry about that, pictures of pictures are tough.

The Meds & Potty Training

Had blood pulled today (7w6d) and it looks like my body is starting to produce it's own estrogen and progesterone =)  For those who might not know, in a FET cycle they suppress all your natural hormone production and supplement with medications.  Because my levels are going up it's a good sign that things are going as they should with the pregnancy (everything crossed!) and also that I may be able to say adios to the meds...and no time is too soon for that.  I'm still on oral estrogen pills everyday, two estrogen patches every other day and three progesterone suppositories daily (I know TMI...but my poor vajayjay!).  If everything looks good on the ultrasound and blood work next Thursday then the med weaning begins...and will likely be done by 11 weeks.  So only three weeks left, I can do it!  I'm also hoping that will help the queasiness I've had almost all day, every day. No complaints though...I know how lucky I am to be here.

In other news K has decided it's time for potty training.  I bought her undies over a month ago and told her how pretty they were and that she got to wear them when she used a potty instead of diapers.  On Thanksgiving morning she asked to wear them and we've only had a handful of accidents since.  She is wearing a diaper to bed and for naps but wakes up dry most of the time.  She also asks to wear a diaper to go poo-poo sometimes.  She has a sticker chart and loves getting a sticker for going pee-pee.  She gets an M&M for going #2 and she loves that.  At school I think she enjoys the attention of being one of the "big kids" in class since there are only 2-3 that use the potty.  Overall she's doing it pretty much herself...hope it keeps going this well!

Not much else going on...just the holiday scurry, I'm sure you all know it well =)

Sick

At 7 weeks (last Friday) apparently the all day sickness sets in...ugh.  Please go away around 10 weeks like you did in pregnancy #1!  That is all...

We Have a Heartbeat!

We are officially expecting a baby on 7/19/13!  We had our first ultrasound today at almost 7 (6w6d) weeks along:

In the picture the baby is on the left and the yolk sac (where nutrients are coming from right now) is on the right with the yolk stalk connecting the two. We think it more looks like the baby is holding a party balloon though ;-)  Her/his heartbeat is at 132 bpm (video on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdhA28lpSss) which is great, they just want it above 120 at this point. Everything looks great, measuring right on track.  

The nurse did caution us that if there are genetic issues that between now and our next ultrasound at 9 weeks is when it would abort.  But the good news is that chance of miscarriage have now gone down to 5%

Thanks for all the good thoughts, they've obviously been working!

Animal Sanctuary

Saturday we went with some friends to an animal sanctuary that rescues large carnivores.  I had no idea that they are the 3rd largest illegal trade in the US (behind drugs and weapons).  This place is a non profit that takes in animals from circuses  zoos and private owners.  Many of the animals have been kept in small cages their whole lives and when they arrive they don't even have the motor coordination or muscle development to walk around a large enclosure.  They rehabilitate them in smaller areas and then move them to 2-3 acre enclosures where they can roam free.  The animals are amazing!!!  Most of our pictures are of lions and tigers but they also had smaller cats (lynx, bobcats, etc.) and bears.  K loved it even though it was only 40 degrees with a cold wind *BRRR*

Here is a tiger in the smaller pens.

K on the elveated walkway around the large pens - apparently the animals are less stressed with humans in the airspace rather than on ground level.

How cute are these lions?!

So excited!

Big male taking a nap

That's one big scratching post!

Don't you just want to scratch her/his tummy?

Two enclsures had packs of wolves.  They fed them while we were there and afterwards they just sprawled out on the ground and napped.  It was very fitting for Thanksgiving Day weekend =)

Two young males cuddled up in the rehab area.

Our stroller brigade

If you're interested in checking it out or adopting an animal their website is http://www.wildanimalsanctuary.org/.

In other news my first u/s is Thursday...time is crawling by this week!!!

Unbelievably Thankful!

It brings tears to my eyes to think about how lucky I am.  Yesterday M and I were busy getting our home ready for 10 family members to come join us for dinner.  Each family brought 3-4 things to contribute to dinner and we had a huge spread of wonderful food and enjoyed about 6 hours of visiting.  Even thought it was exhausting it epitomizes how lucky we are.  We have great family that we enjoy spending time with (for the most part - haha) that lives close to us, we have a nice house that everyone can gather at, good jobs, a great little girl and a little candy corn on the way.  We both have good friends (including many of you!) who give us lots of support when things are good...or bad.  It doesn't get any better.  I hope you and your families had beautiful day together!

Meds, GI Bug and Thanksgiving

My nurse switched up my meds late last week since my stupid insurance won't cover my estrogen patches.  So I went from 2 patches every other day to 1 and from 1 estrogen pill a day to 2.  She said I could take them at the same time or split them up so I decided to take them both before bed to limit the chance I'd forget to take one during the day.  By Sunday I was so sick I could barely function until about 2pm.  I kept on the plan that night and was rewarded by waking up to use the bathroom at midnight, 1am and 5am.  I also had horrible stomach cramps and all over body sweats while going to the bathroom.  Nice.  Not sure if it's totally the meds or if I had a GI bug come to the party too.  Needless to say I emailed my nurse yesterday asking for a new plan.  She told me to try to take the estrogen pills 12 hrs apart and on a full stomach.  So that's today's plan...wish me luck.  Maybe tomorrows blood work will show a high enough estrogen level they will let me go to 1 pill per day and 1 patch every other day *fingers crossed* And oh yeah, we're hosting 13 for Thanksgiving.  That's all the whining I have for today...carry on =)