One of the best moments

Of my life was getting to see my baby's heartbeat today. That was a thrill I never could have imagined. Based off of my last period, I should be 9 weeks 1 day. The baby measured a little smaller than that, 8 weeks 4 days, but that's close enough for no concerns and to continue using the due date of Aug 28. The baby is about 2 cm long right now, with a beautiful little flutter of a heartbeat that is about 180 bpm. That slows down over time.

I went a bought a picture frame to put my picture in, because I didn't want it to get messed up or lost. It's on our cube bookshelf by one of our wedding pictures.

My cyst, which hasn't been bothering me fortunately, is still there, although a bit smaller we think. Was measuring 6 cm when I went to the ER Dec 28. It's about 5.7-5.8 cm now. Still large, and still large enough that it pretty much covers both sides. My dr could feel the cyst when she was feeling for my uterus. It pretty much overshadows my uterus, and the baby, at the moment, but that will change. She expects it to just gradually reabsorb as the placenta takes over more and more of the production of progesterone, which it should be currently doing.

My morning sickness is still hanging around, and I am grateful for Zofran. Unisom and B6 help too. Pickles are still a favored food. Love pickles. Lol. It is public opinion (okay, not exactly public, but the two people who've commented- my mom and my husband) that my breasts have gotten larger. I can't tell, but I've always been awful at that, and I largely wear sports bras, so it wouldn't be as obvious as it might be in a more standard bra, as far as size goes. I'm overall tired, and I love my bed. Naps are awesome. Gratefully, I'll be done with the first trimester before this final semester of college kicks into too high of a gear.

Got some comfy maternity clothes for the upcoming months on sale today at Babies R Us. Buy 1, get one free. Made those maternity jeans a heck of a deal.

8 weeks

I'm just over 8 weeks along now. Morning sickness and heartburn have been particularly obnoxious lately. A day doesn't go by that I'm not taking something to fight off the nausea. I haven't thrown up, and I hope it stays that way. Nausea is bad enough, but at least it is tolerable. And you can usually function through it.

The heartburn has been annoying the last couple of days. I bought some Tums tonight (cherry flavored- not that bad really), and I've been chewing on them as needed, as well as taking Zantac here and there.

I realized while reading a message board how lucky I am to have as good of a husband as Joseph. Apparently a lot of women deal with men saying their symptoms aren't real, or don't help at all, or they want to nearly demand sex when the woman doesn't feel up to it. Joseph hasn't done any of those things, and he has been so supportive when I'm feeling ill and when I was on bed rest per the ER doctor for a few days.

I Think Morning Sickness Has Hit

And I keep trying to tell myself that this just means things are going well, that I'm producing good amounts of hormones and all. I get up in the morning, pop a Zofran, and eat something to try to soothe the hungry and nauseous monster that is my stomach. Fortunately, I've only been nauseous, no actually throwing up, but it is unpleasant nonetheless. It's been aggravating enough during break time, but school starts back up tomorrow, so here's to hoping it stays mild. I really don't want to be that girl who throws up in the garbage can at the back of the room in Senior Seminar. Really don't. It's also my last semester, I graduate this May. There's something incredibly reassuring about that, knowing that I don't have to go back in the fall (like I would, I'm due August 28).

Another 11 days til my next appointment...I really hope we can see the heartbeat. I'll be about 9 weeks along then, so hopefully.

In the meantime, I bounce between absolutely nothing looking appealing and eating a ton of what does. So I have days where I eat something quite well, and other days where nothing but that facsimile of Kobe onion soup sounds like it would even stay down. Having this cold or whatever it is (ran a fever for about 36 hours, nasal and chest congestion, cough, general miserableness) probably hasn't helped my appetite any. Invested in some unisom and B6 today (suggestion from my dr for night time nausea) and some encapsulated ginger for general usage. Hopefully those will help too.

Also, my cyst seems to have ceased its pain-causing, which I am incredibly grateful for. We're still being careful and all, but I think with the fact that the pain has apparently stopped, we're good. So glad to be done with that. Glad it was there to do what it did, but man, did it hurt. 

And now I steal this photo from bounty.com to show roughly what my blueberry-sized little one looks like. The baby's little limbs apparently resemble very teeny tiny ping-pong paddles more or less.

First Dr Visit

I'm sitting in the lab right now waiting for the hour to be over since I drank a styrofoam cup full of some red liquid that would make a hummingbird sing for an early diabetes test, courtesy of my dad having diabetes (juvenile) and my sister having had gestational diabetes which eventually became just diabetes. Also waiting for other blood to be drawn for other tests (hep b and syphilis- standard procedure, plus who knows what else?).

Visited with the nurse practitioner. Went over medicines I take, medicines I can take, medicines I shouldn't. Someone else has to scoop the kitty litter for a while. The 6th urine pregnancy test says, yes, I'm pregnant. 6 weeks 1 day, based off of my last period. I go back in 3 weeks for an ultrasound where I should get to hear a heartbeat. :) Until then, no news is good news.

As far as my cyst, Dr B says it's a corpus luteum cyst. Produces progesterone to sustain the pregnancy until the placenta takes over that job at about 9 wks. Unlikely to rupture, but I have to avoid rough sports and such, not that I play any anyway. Should start going down at about 9 wks.

Everything seems to be progressing normally. No morning sickness, but I still have a week or so to go before that necessarily kicks in. That's one bullet I'm hoping to dodge. My boobs hurt. Normal pregnancy stuff.

Pregnant!

I'm currently almost 6 weeks along with our first child.

Joseph and I have been married for just over a year (married 12.17.2011), and we will have been together 3 years in April (April 17). I'm going into my last semester of college, and I will be graduating in May with a Bachelor's in Anthropology with a minor in Writing (if any of you have any brilliant job ideas, or places I should apply...totally leave a comment). We have several fur-babies, all cats, including my oldest, Chen Le (born 2004), Abby (born 2009), and Harley (Joseph's baby- born 2010).

I have a younger sister adopted from China, Reese. We adopted her in May 2007. My parents are currently in the process of adopting another little girl from China, Ana-Cherie. The hope is to travel in late May or June.

I thought I had (another) kidney stone for the better part of a week, starting on the 21st of December. I had a kidney stone in December of 2008, so it wasn't much of a stretch for that to be what it was. Finally on Dec 27/28, we went to the ER and spent 8 or so hours there (10 pm-6 am). After an ultrasound and a urine blood test and a blood test, I was confirmed by the medical community to be pregnant, and saw my little black blob for the first time. That's really all it was at 5 weeks 1-ish day. However, we did find out that it isn't a kidney stone causing my pain, but an ovarian cyst. One that is about 6 cm big according to my ER reports. Yeah, no wonder it hurts. Hoping it will go down on its own and just leave me alone.

My first prenatal appointment is on Thursday, Jan 3. Not sure what to expect, but I guess I'll find out.