It think it's official...

I've popped. Jeans were getting a big tight...the stomach was feeling a little harder...but not like this. Even two days ago it was not like this. It is an official 'belly.' You can see the outline of my underwear on my skin because they are now too small. (Seriously - do you think I could find maternity underwear ANYWHERE in Rhinelander?? No.) They noticed my stomach at work. Jeremy said he felt my stomach before me when we hugged. And now I cannot lay on my stomach anymore without feeling 'it' and being uncomfortable.

It's quite exciting actually! :) I've been staring in the mirror for hours - not because I like looking at my return-to-adolescence-face...but because I'm really pregnant now. And it's exciting. :)

We've had an....

interesting 24 hours! First off, the airline situation is still screwed up from the weather last week, with planes still being late and screwing up everyone else's schedule. So none of our 4 flights were on time. Then our final flight last night, due to another plane being late, was severely overbooked, so they asked for people to be bumped. We volunteered - so we were off the plane. Then we were on. Then we might be off. Then we were on. Either way we got back to WI in one piece - the captain for the flight from Grand Forks to Minneapolis should have his license revoked. (It was even on a big jet - not a little puddle jumper. The little puddle jumper flights were better than that one...up down up down up down up down....you get my drift.)

The very interesting part came at about 11:00 p.m. when I realized the stomach ache I had been dealing with for about 4 hours wasn't going away. I suspected another gallstone attack (had one in July that also landed me in the ER) but didn't know how that and pregnancy mix. So I call the OB nurse that I was told to call after hours if I had any problems. That nurse pretty much didn't want to deal with me and just flat out told me to go to the ER without even hearing what I was complaining about. So we go to the ER - yes I was having a gallstone attack - and no there was nothing they could do for it. They said the exact same thing last time and told me to try to manage it from home next time if I could - which is what Jer and I would've done if the OB nurse hadn't said "Honey, it's a safety issue for you and your baby." So maybe OB nurses don't know the most about gall bladders. Either way - got home at about 2 a.m. with a prescription for Vicodin and actually felt well enough to go to work this morning...the clinic was only open for 3 hours so I got a good nap in after that.

Christmas in ND was amazing and so much fun. Very few people will get this but the POTATO SAUSAGE WAS GREAT!!!!! I've had dreams of it since then. :)

TTFN.

We're back...

from the doctor's visit! It went very well. We had to see a different doctor because ours is off for the week, but he was very nice. We heard the heartbeat again, it was a healthy 156, but I am still losing weight. They aren't concerned yet but we'll keep a watch on it. (Bring on the milkshakes!) I am on a kind of funky schedule for doctor's visits, so I'm going to have to wait 2 more visits until my ultrasound. The next one will be at the end of January and I will be roughly 16 weeks, and they will do the ultrasound at the visit after that one and we will be able to find out the sex of the baby! I think we have officially decided that we are going to find out, and will tell people, but we will probably not tell anyone the name picked out. (For those of you who heard Ellen and Oliver - chances are those won't be it anymore...just so you know:)

Well we must get packing because we leave tomorrow for ND! I am so excited for Christmas!! I hope you all have a wonderful, family-filled Christmas!

Ta Ta For Now.

Pink!

Do you like? I will change this periodically because blogger offers so many cool themes - but pink is the theme for now.

Still dealing with the headaches as best I can - but did treat myself to a haircut today! (And laundry...3 loads and counting...)

TTFN.

12 weeks! (About 3 months along...)

Here's the deal....I wake up in the morning feeling all normal, aka not big, and then by 6 o'clock and later, I am most undoubtedly pregnant! This picture is proof of that! I do not wake up this big, but I guarantee you I feel as big as I look by night. Here's the other hysterical thing - you get all excited to start showing and having to buy new clothes, etc. And I am. But you see the little fat pouch I had before getting pregnant isn't morphing into a cute little pregnant belly. It's making me a cone-bellied-pregnant woman! It's hilarious really! I'm hoping I get that perfectly little round belly soon - but who am I kidding... :) To be quite honest how the belly looks really does not matter and I know that. Besides I don't know how long these skin-showing pictures will last...I'm assuming they don't get any prettier. I've been getting lots more headaches in the last week so I am trying to down water in hopes of it being because of dehydration, but I think it may just be being pregnant. I have a website I post on and lots of women in my same week category are going through the same thing so it helps to talk to them. Baths also help but I'm used to these super-hot baths - not lukewarm 97 degree baths! Oh well, they are still relaxing.

Our next appointment is on Wednesday and I'll let you know how it goes!

TTFN...

I've had some...

people comment on how you have to sign up for an account in order to leave a comment on this page...(See the bottom link where it says '0 Comments'). You don't have to however - click on the '0 Comments' link, and then 'Post a comment.' After there, click on 'Post anonymously.' You should then be able to type a comment and just leave your name at the end of the comment, without having to sign for an account at Blogger.

Please leave a comment if you have visited - is anyone even visiting?? :)

Finally...

got our Christmas shopping done yesterday and today. Not much is new on the pregnancy front except...I bought my first pair of maternity jeans! (Well, actually two pairs.) There was a sale at ShopKo, of all places, and the jeans were only $15. The first pair I actually wore. They are not the full-fledged maternity jeans with the big cotton front. They are just a regular jean with a wide cotton band on the top, about 2 inches. Just makes them more forgiving. I start out the day nice and slim and feeling pretty normal, but by about 6 o'clock, I feel most definitely pregnant. So that's probably just bloating but none the less it's uncomfortable in regular pants.

We are getting VERY excited to head to ND for Christmas. I've talked to Kyla a few times and she says she's coming to see me in an airplane - so precious.

Feeling very...

big today. Last night was incredible - I swear my stomach grew in front of my eyes. Now...I know a lot of that is bloating, but still, it hasn't gone down that much! It's really kind of alien-ish! Today has been really hard though, emotionally. Anything is setting me off and I start bawling for like 20 minutes without any warning - and I'm not totally sure why I'm crying either. I think Samson knew I was having a hard day, he just came and laid right next to me. (This usually requires about 5 minutes of petting first).

Here's another picture of my parent's new cat - she is the cutest thing in the world and apparently the dogs are warming up to her really quick!

TTFN.

170!

I found it! I found the heartbeat at home with a Doppler I took from work :)...and it was a healthy 170 beats per minute! It was, to date, the most beautiful sound I have ever heard in my life! Words just can't express it! There actually is a baby inside of me!

Jeremy had...

his Christmas concert tonight for 7th grand band, 8th grade band, and jazz band. They sounded so good!! Certain teachers are finding out now that we're expecting so it was fun to talk to them. Jeremy also got the most compliments from parents and people in the audience than he's ever had before, and that was fun to be able to be there with him to hear those.

I think I may be showing a bit now. I can feel it. I feel full...not like you-just-ate-too-much full, but just full. And my jeans are tight...even my "bloated days" jeans. Heartburn came again last night but I think I got the Mylanta down in time for it not to flare up too much. But seriously - this time I did nothing to bring it on. Nothing. If I go over to someone's house it's like..."Hi - did you put salt or pepper on that? Sorry...can't eat it - heartburn." So pathetic!

I've also lost 5 pounds...not so good, but not terribly bad either from what I hear. I tried to eat a big breakfast this morning and that didn't sit very well. Maybe that's why I'm losing weight...it's not that I've got horrible morning sickness - it's just that nothing is appealing to me and I don't have an appetite. I'm fine not eating. My doctor at work, though, recommended chocolate milkshakes...we'll give those a try. :)

Meet the newest member of the Larson family - Lilly!

We saw...

Ocean's Twelve this afternoon and what an awesome movie! It'll take another one or two viewings before I really understand what happened, but the point is that I want to see the movie again.

Not too much else new today - exhausted and a little nauseous again, but again I just can't wait to hear the heartbeat in a week and a half! That's also when we're flying to ND - so getting very excited for that as well.

TTFN. :)

10 Week Belly Pic!

I think I...

may have spoken too soon about the sickness ending. Today was a little rough again. I couldn't eat very much this morning and thus have felt sick all day. I forced myself to eat a larger supper, and again it is not sitting well. I also took a 3 hour nap today! It felt like only 15 minutes. :) I tried to hear the heartbeat today by myself at work, but didn't hear anything. That was a little discouraging so now I really can't wait until our next appointment. I just want to know that there really is a baby in there!

So I was doing laundry...

downstairs in our scary dungeon, and Samson the cat (see below)

always likes to be down there. It is a struggle to get him back upstairs. Well, last night I see him go flying back up the stairs, before me! I didn't think too much of it, but I should've.

A few hours later, as I was almost asleep on the couch, I hear a loud bang and look to see a mouse running across my floor with Samson chasing it, towards me! I started screaming and it suddenly clicked why Samson was so eager to get back upstairs to play with his new toy. Roughly 4 or 5 hours later, and after a few heating vents were demolished by Jeremy, the mouse was finally dead. And no, Samson didn't kill it. Samson got uninterested in his new toy and was falling asleep. So much for the killer cat...

This is...

my first entry in our new blog - or basically our new pregnancy journal. I have wanted to do this for a while, simply because we are so far away from everybody we love! I'm hoping to use this as a way to convey what I'm feeling, what happened during doctor's appointments, and just general thoughts. At the bottom of each entry there will be a "Comments" link where you can write back to me!

I guess to start out - I found out I was pregnant on October 20, 2004 with a Dollar Tree store test - (they really are only $1!). I of course then had to validate that with about 20 other different brand tests!

I had a feeling I was pregnant, though, simply because things felt 'different.' Very sore and quite moody! After that we had a little bit of a scare when I had continuous left side pain - a symptom of an ectopic pregnancy (when the pregnancy has implanted in a fallopian tube instead of the uterus). We were seen right away and had an ultrasound done. They found the baby in the uterus, but a large cyst on my left ovary. After that I just dealt with some very common symptoms - nausea, extreme exhaustion, and soreness.

After that, the symptoms took a turn at around 8 weeks. They became much more specific then. The nausea - which basically feels like I'm on a boat all day - became very apparent in early afternoon and nighttime. The moodiness can take over completely (just ask poor Jeremy) and I literally feel sometimes like I have no control over my emotions and the things that come flying out of my mouth. And my energy level hit rock bottom - I was struggling to make it through a day at work, let alone do laundry or make supper. Jeremy has been so great and really picked up the slack for me, but has asked more than once "When am I going to get my wife back??"

And today we are at 10w1d ... 10 weeks 1 day. The energy level has really sky rocketed the last two days, which I hope is a sign that this phase of the pregnancy is nearing the end. A new symptom, however, which is not fun at all, has appeared...heartburn. I could just cry it hurts so bad! It apparently is not only from acidic foods I eat (No more spaghetti sauce!) but also from the increased progesterone levels in my body. I am downing Mylanta and Maalox like there's no tomorrow! Hopefully this doesn't last...

Our next appointment is December 22nd and we will be able to hear the baby's heartbeat by then! After that we fly to PR on the 23rd and leave the 27th.

Thanks for stopping by!

JRM