Nothing new to report in regards to the pregnancy, except that I'm getting tons of growing pains! Today they were pretty strong, I just feel like everything is stretching out! Oh and I've been more hungry as well so I think I'm going through a growth spurt maybe?? My constant is just listening to the heartbeat every day, it's definitely my sanity through all of this! I have no idea when my next u/s is (hoping it's with my next appt on the 22nd!) so this is what will get me by! =)

Last night we enjoyed one of my favorite things and that's BD's Mongolian BBQ! I love that place so much! It stinks b/c I get full so much faster now (I guess that's not a bad thing, lol) so the "unlimited" doesn't really count for me anymore! Bummer! haha! I don't really like leftovers either (ones that include meat) so I couldn't even enjoy it for lunch today - Mike did instead...

We then headed over to Petsmart to play with all the puppies, it makes me so sad that they are without homes! :( I have a hard time in places like that because I get so emotional - I'm such a sap!! Anyways, we got Sadie an "Outward Hound" cooling bandana! lol She's so huge and gets so hot during her walks and when she's outside, so we thought it was fitting! She looks so darn cute in it too! I think if she could talk, she'd tell us thanks! lol

http://www.alphadogtoys.com/dog_bandana_cool-it_cooling_bandanna_pink.html

What is our poor dog going to do once we have a baby!?! She's our world now and so spoiled, I think she's in for a huge awakening!! haha!

Wanna hear my baby!? Come on, I know you want to! =) Turn the speakers up! There are moments where it fades out for a second, but be patient - it comes back! That little bugger is fast though - s/he is so hard to keep on the doppler!!

I'm in love...

Last night Mike & I finally heard the heartbeat on the doppler!!! It's been a long time coming as I've been listening patiently every day since we got back from vacation! It was about 160bpm! We're going to get it on an audio clip and I'll post it once I figure out how! =)

This is short - but I'm trying to do three things at once and it's not working! haha! I'll leave you with my cute picture.. I was bored and playing with photoshop! :)

Soooo big! =)

Finally, our baby is taking shape! =) I was so worried going into this ultrasound but things are looking great! The tech said the only thing she couldn't measure was the nuchal fold but she said that from what she saw, things looked perfect! Baby was being stubborn and we couldn't get a backside view, so she'll try again in a few weeks! The heartbeat was 158bpm and I was measuring 3 days ahead at 13w1d! Baby must have liked all that good southern food on vacation! haha!!

Relaxation and Pictures

So, nothing new on the pregnancy front! We have our 12w5d u/s on Tuesday 6/17 so we're excited about that. I have a doppler at home waiting on me... hoping to hear the heartbeat and keep my anxiety at bay! I have the common, "what if", worries plaguing my thoughts lately...but nothing too terrible. Mostly, I've been enjoying each day as the mother of our little fetus and can't wait to see it on Tuesday! My m/s has calmed down a lot but I still get occasion bouts of gagging and nausea...nothing too terrilble as it could be worse!

Okay, onto more exciting stuff! We're on vacation right now in Hilton Head, SC! It's been pretty relaxing minus all of the bad luck we've had since being down here! We missed our connecting flight in PA, arrived to our condo like 8 hrs late... realized the security tag on my swimsuit was still on and couldn't find a single flippin' store to remove it... Mike "took care of it" with a hammer and a plastic bag. Everyone survived, minus the flesh on Mike's finger that was ripped off by the rusty wrench! Sweet guy, huh? The things he'll do for love. (Or the things he'll do so I don't freak out! haha)

We've been doing a lot of sleeping in, walking the beach, swimming, and shopping! =) Gotta love the outlet malls down here! Here are a few pictures of our trip so far... we're headed to Savannah tomorrow so I'll have to add more!

Here's Mike after our bad day of traveling, LOL


Walking the beach at night (one of my fav things to do!)


It's too dark to see the ocean behind us... oh well =)


This one is hard to read, but I changed the color in hopes you could see it.


The view from our backdoor of the condo:


Just for you Tru, sorry they aren't fornicating this year! LOL


My favorite place down here - Harbour Town! Here's the lighthouse we always go up in:


Views from the top:

I'm going to get in trouble soon!

After many subtle hints that I need to update this thing, I thought I'd finally listen before I get in trouble!! =)

Nothing new going on here. I was VERY sick from 5wks - 9.5wks but now things are starting to ease up. Of course, after everything we've been through to get this far, it worries me that my m/s is fading. I feel like I need to be sick 24/7 to reassure me that I'm actually pregnant. I'm still tired all the time and gag at every smell, disgusting image, thought of something gross, etc. Mike says I'm being dramatic when I start to gag - if he only knew! haha!! Anyways, I should be thankful that my nausea is easing, maybe I will be when I see by little bean again!

Speaking of seeing the bean - my mom works at an urology office where they do ultrasounds on bladders, kidneys, etc. She offered to give me an ultrasound and I couldn't resist. I knew I would be super early and there was a good chance I wouldn't see anything, but I still went. (It was an abdominal u/s and I'm extra fluffy) I was 9w4d and we did see the baby! It was incredibly grainy and hard to see, but we could see the flicker of the heartbeat! Now, my mom had to press fairly hard to get the image and I cramped pretty consistently that evening so now I'm worrying again! I can't even go ONE day without thinking something is wrong! I'm going to be completely gray once I have this baby! LOL The only thing that eases my mind is that I cramped after my first OB appt on 5/21 when he did my internal and pressed VERY hard (harder than my mom did with the u/s) on my abdomen...



See, I told you it was grainy! The head is on the right, body on the left! Little bean is growing though - you can definitely see that! =)

I think I'm going to go in again on Tuesday for another QUICK u/s. I'll tell her not to press hard (we only did b/c we were trying to get a better quality picture) and only find the flicker and be done with it. I just need to know everything is okay! I did order a doppler tonight to try to ease my worries a little. I'll probably regret it though when I can't find the heartbeat! ;)

My next OB appt is 6/17 where I'll be 12w4d! They are going to do another ultrasound and regular appt. I can't wait! Time should pass quickly as we are going on vacation next week. I can't wait! I always look forward to our yearly trips to Hilton Head! It's so relaxing and low key! I really hope I'm not so tired when we're down there because there is always so much we like to do/see! We usually drive to Savannah, GA one of the days, but I think this year we're going to do an all-day cruise to Savannah (from Harbor Town in Hilton Head). I think it will be neat to travel by water instead! I hope it doesn't make me sick! We'll see though as it's $99 a person for the cruise tickets! It does include dinner at Paula Deen's restaurant though! That place is AMAZING!

Oh, one more thing - I bought maternity pants tonight!! It was such a surreal feeling as I never thought I would walk into Motherhood for me ever in my life! I was walking to the register and started to get all teary - I'm such an emotional sap! Oh and can I just say one thing - Maternity pants are like GOLD for big girls... they are so comfy! Damn, if I would have known that - I would have been wearing them for years! haha!!!

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ONE baby!! =)



The ultrasound went great and we were able to see the little one and hear the strong heartbeat! The RE said things look perfect and he released me to my OB! So sad, I was a little teary! I wish I could stay with them throughout my entire pregnancy! (minus the 2hr drive!)

I told him who my OB would be not thinking he would know him because, like I said, we're so far away from the RE. Come to find out they were actually FRAT brothers in med-school together! How strange is that? That makes me feel good though because this will be a new OB for me and it's nice to know that he is highly respected by my RE! :) Then the RE went on to talk about frat initiations and spanking, I just stopped listening for my own good! haha!! I just love him and will miss him so much! I'll miss the way he talks in 3rd person! Haha!! He's one of a kind!

Well, I'm off to get some rest - I've felt like crud all day! Totally worth it though!