14 weeks

I have finally told everyone closely related! Now I can tell the whole world!

I went back to the doctor on Friday because I thought that something was wrong with MY heart. Turns out that I am just stressed... like my mom said! But, he did find the baby's heartbeat on the doppler! I recorded it. Now I can listen to it whenever I want to!

(I was hoping to be able to put the heartbeat on here. I have it in an .exe file and a .wav file. If anyone knows how I can get it onto here, that would be great!)

13 weeks

Today, I am 14 weeks. I am really forgetting to post something during the label week of these posts!

I went to the doctor on Monday. My blood pressure was 161/84 the first time they took it and 156/88 the second time they took it, so it is high. My weight is 185.2 lbs, so I haven't gained any since a month ago. Then, when they tried to find the baby's heartbeat with the doppler the PA student couldn't find it and neither could the midwife. So, they brought in the ultrasound machine. Luckily, they were able to see the heartbeat on the monitor, and the midwife said that it looked good. It was pretty much the scariest moment of my life!

Then, they made me go to the lab to get a jug. I had to collect my urine for 24 hours. The midwife wanted to get a baseline for protein since protein in urine and high blood pressure can mean preeclampsia. This is SO scary for me especially since I am not showing very much still.

Caleb is doing good in Iraq. I get to instant message him almost every night since he has gotten to Iraq, and I have gotten to use the webcam with him twice now. I really LOVE getting to see him!

Sookie is doing great! We started basic obedience classes on Monday, and she did really good. We also have one of her puppy friends over (a 9-month-old pug) a few days a week. It really wears her out!

12 weeks

I am 13 weeks tomorrow!! That means: I AM OUT OF THE FIRST TRIMESTER!! I have been craving junk food. I know that I am not supposed to, but it is all SO good! (I made a pot roast tonight to get my veggies for today!)

Caleb made it to Iraq. So, now the "real" deployment starts!

Sookie is doing good. She is getting spayed in a few weeks. I should not be worried about her because I know she will be okay from working at a vet's office. It is just a lot harder to do when it is YOUR doggie!

11 weeks

I am actually 12 weeks today, but I am going to tell you what happened this past week. I went home for Labor Day weekend. It was a lot of fun! My sister, Rachel, and I went to the Mizzou vs. Illinois football game. (Mizzou won 37-9! YAY!!) I have started not being able to eat things that I normally love. It is getting really difficult to find something that I want to eat when it is time for me to eat. Other than that, everything is still the same. I am still not showing yet.

Caleb is doing good. He is still in Kuwait and pretty bored. He calls me every few days and emails me usually every day. I am doing good with him being gone so far, so hopefully it keeps going good!

10 weeks

Today I am 10 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I have been VERY emotional the past few days. Caleb left Friday, so that mixed with the pregnancy hormones has made me cry a lot. But, I know that he made it there and is doing just fine. It is really hard to think that he really is going to be gone for a year. A year is such a long time. But, I have so many friends that have gone through this and it is really just a given in the Army, so I know that I will make it through. And, I already can't wait until he gets to come home! Our dog, Sookie, really misses him. I just don't play with her as good as he did. He called Sunday morning. It really surprised me, and it made it SUCH a good day! Now, I am just trying to keep myself busy... and I'm leaning on my friends a lot!

Please pray that he, and the rest of the soldiers overseas, stay safe!

THE ULTRASOUND!!!

Today I had my 10 week appointment. The doctor was very nice, but he was old and a little touchy feely. I still liked him though because he asked me about horses and seemed very knowledgeable. He even did an ultrasound!

The baby's heartbeat was 158 bpm. He/she was also moving around A LOT!! (This kind of worries me for when I actually feel the baby!!) We could actually see the legs and arms of the baby, so it was like it was a real baby! (LOL!) (Another funny thing that you will notice on the pictures is that the doctor used my maiden name and not my married name on the ultrasound machine.)

Anyway, here are the pictures!

9 weeks

Tomorrow is my next appointment! We will get to hear the baby's heartbeat and hopefully get an ultrasound. I can't wait! I will also finally know my blood type! And, I will know the results of the oodles of tests they did on my blood between the last appointment and now.

I am currently losing my waistline as the area where my uterus is becomes more and more round. I still can't wait until I actually have a baby bump!

More will be coming tomorrow after the appointment!

8 weeks

Today I am 8 weeks 5 days pregnant. This past Wednesday I had my first appointment at the hospital. It wasn't really too terribly exciting. All we talked about was family history. But, we did schedule our next appointment for the 25th of August. I will be about 10 weeks by then, and Caleb will be leaving for Iraq soon after. So, the nurse scheduled us with a doctor who could possibly do an ultrasound. I am hoping he is nice so I don't have to beg too much! (Keep your fingers crossed, pray, or whatever you need to do so that we can see our little one... and get a print out picture for Caleb to take with him.)

After this appointment, I will be doing group appointments. They will be 2 hours long with the 1st hour with my individual care provider. I will get to meet many other women, soon-to-be mothers also. I hope I like the appointments this way!

I still am not showing, but I bought my first 2 pairs of maternity jeans. They are THE most comfortable pants I have ever worn! I am thinking about wearing them after I have the baby. But, I am also hoping that I lose weight afterward, so I have a feeling that that will not work! Still, if anyone wants a comfortable pair of pants, maternity is the way to go!

I also have this thing about buying baby clothes. I know that I will get a TON at my baby showers, but I just can't help going into stores, seeing the small clothes, and not leaving the store without at least one outfit! I think I need help! On the good side, all of the clothes I have bought are either on sale or from thrift stores, so I haven't been doing too bad! I just know I need to stop!

Caleb and I spent 2 hours the other day registering at Babies R Us. It was a lot of fun picking out what we want, but there is SO much we don't know. (They gave us a book with advice for picking out certain items in it AFTER we were already registered!) Now we just need to register at Target and continue to put Disney/kids movies in our wish list on Amazon.com and we will be ready for people to start shopping for us. (Hint, hint... haha!!)

I am just 4 weeks away from being done with the first trimester!

7 weeks

This is amazing! I think this is the first week that I haven't been to the doctor or the ER for some sort of pain! Things are going great now!

My 8 week appointment is this coming Wednesday, and I have been told that we will do absolutely nothing other than discuss family history. Then, I am hoping that I can schedule my appointment that is supposed to come at 10-12 weeks for earlier because at that appointment, the heartbeat is heard. I want Caleb to be here for that!

The biggest news this week is that I now hate chicken! Caleb's battalion FRG had their first coffee on Wednesday, and afterward 3 other ladies and I went out to Porter's. (Yes, it is a bar, but I only had lemonade... and it was free!) We ordered chicken wings and they were delicious! The next day, Caleb came home and made grilled chicken for me and I just couldn't make myself eat it. Just the thought of it (yes, typing this is difficult) makes me feel sick!

6 weeks

Today I am 6 weeks and 2 days pregnant! Last night at 3:30am I was jolted from my sleep when I felt a horribly sharp pain in my abdomen and pelvis. I decided to go to the ER because it was very scary! They did a blood test, a U/A, and a pelvic exam. The U/A was normal. The pelvic exam showed that I have bacterial vaginosis. And, my hCG was 8000, so I am still pregnant, but the doctor didn't know how that correlated to what was actually going on inside. He ordered an ultrasound so that they could check and make sure I didn't have an ectopic pregnancy. But, I had to wait until 7:30am for the ultrasound department to open up and it was only about 5am at that point. I thought that I would be able to go home and wait for them to open, but they told me to stay there!

I was happy that one of the nurses brought me in a warm blanket. At 5:30am I let Caleb know that I would be getting an ultrasound sometime after 7:30am and I wanted him there. I tried to sleep on the hard exam chair, but I only got about 30 minutes of sleep. A hospital is definitely not the place to get a good night of sleep! Then, Caleb got to the hospital, and we waited only a little while before we were worked in to get an ultrasound.

It was a trans-vaginal ultrasound, so it felt very funny! But, luckily, we got to see the baby! The ultrasound tech was not actually supposed to show us, but I kept asking if we would get to see and she was just very nice! The baby was in it's sac and you could also see the yolk sac and the heart beating at 140bpm. It was really nice to see, and I am glad that Caleb got to see it!

The doctor said that the pain was from my round and broad ligaments stretching which is normal. I was sent home with some Clindamycin for the bacterial vaginosis at about 8:30am. Now all I need to do is catch up on sleep!

5 weeks

Today, I am 5 weeks and 5 days pregnant. The nauseousness that I had been feeling the week we came home (July 13-20; I was 3 weeks 5 days to 4 weeks 5 days) has now gone away. I have learned to eat late at night so that I am still full when I wake up. I also was given B6 from the doctor to help. It just feels so weird to be pregnant and not be able to see a pregnant belly.

I still have disbelief about being pregnant. I sometimes think that I am going to have my period any day, but I know that I am still pregnant, and my hCG is progressing like it should. My only hope is that Caleb gets to see me with a (small) baby bump before he leaves. I will be about 10 weeks when he leaves, so hopefully I start showing early. Other than that, I am feeling fantastic!

How it all started

Caleb and I got married May 8th and afterwards we settled into our two bedroom house on post at Ft. Riley. We scheduled our honeymoon for his block leave. He left shortly after we got married for NTC in California, and I graduated from Mizzou May 16th. After he got back on June 9th, we spent lots of time with our puppy, Sookie. Then, we left for our honeymoon in Antigua on July 5. I was so excited! I was our first big vacation together, and it was the first time we flew in an airplane together.

So, July 5 we left Ft. Riley and flew out of Kansas City. In Kansas City, however, we had some bad luck. First, we saw the sign that had the restricted items on it and one of them was Mace. I couldn't remember if I had left my Mace at home or not, and sure enough, it was in my purse! I had to throw it away (sorry Kim)! Then, when we went through security, they had to do an extra search of our carry-on bag. When they did the search the bag, they found 2 tubes of sunscreen. I was not happy! We had just bought that sunscreen! Apparently, since it was in the same bag as our snacks, Caleb had forgotten about the sunscreen and just put the whole bag into our carry-on. Luckily, only one tube of sunscreen was over the allowed 3 ounces of liquid, so we got to keep one of them!

We flew in to La Guardia Airport in New York City that night. We took a cab to the hotel that we were staying at near JFK Airport so that we wouldn't have as far to go in the morning. Now, our cab was no regular cab as we were soon going to find out! As we walked out of the baggage claim area, a man with a black suit jacket asked if we needed a cab and, of course, we said yes. He walked us out to the road and went to get his cab. His cab wasn't a yellow cab, it was a brand new black suburban! When we went to put our luggage in, the police pulled up behind him, so he didn't put it in at that time. This made me feel a bit uneasy. But, he explained later that, since he was in the road, he could get in trouble for holding up traffic. Luckily, I had Caleb with me, so I felt safe. The ride was pretty awesome! We ended up going 75-80mph in a 50mph zone! Thankfully we didn't crash, and we got to the hotel REALLY fast!!

The next day, we boarded the plane to Antigua. It was a 4 hour flight, and on the back of the seat in front of each passenger, there were TVs. We played games and watched new releases. (I watched I Love You, Man for the 2.5 time. You will have to ask me for that story some other time!) When we were starting to get ready to land, I started to feel sick. It was not a fun landing, but I didn't throw up or anything. I just got really hot and nauseous.

Once we got to Sandals, it was AMAZING! We spent every day in the pool, ocean, and relaxing. The food was great! There were 7 restaurants and we were able to eat at all of them except for 1. At night, we would play pool... a lot... or go swimming in the pool right outside our door. It was a great vacation!

This was the door and patio of our room at Sandals.

This is the pool that was right outside our door.

We had a fully stocked bar in our room. The alcohol was on top and there was beer, juices, sodas, and waters inside the fridge.This is the main pool that we went to everyday. There was a swim up pool that we went to frequently! The water in the middle (on the right side) was a gigantic hot tub.This is the view from the beach.

The day we left we had some more bad luck! Before we left Antigua, we had to pay departure tax. The tax was $20 per person (cash only), and Caleb on had $20 in his wallet. We thought we were fine until we were told that the ATM at the airport was broken. So, we went to the nearby bank, and that ATM didn't work either. At this point, we saw some other people that I had seen at Sandals walking back to the airport from the bank. We asked them if they had found an ATM that worked and they had, but they said that only Visa cards worked. All Caleb had were Mastercards, but I knew that my separate debit card was Visa. However, walking across the parking lot I realized that I had just gotten a new card number and I had not yet memorized the PIN number! Unfortunately we were flying out on Sunday, so the bank branches were closed and when we tried to make a call to the 24/7 bank line, it could not be made since it was toll free!

I walked back to the airport in tears! I didn't know what to do! Caleb had already said that he would stay behind and let me go home, but I didn't want to leave without him. Back at the airport, I ran into a couple that I had seen at Sandals. I ran up to them asking if they were going to New York. (We had the plan that we would find someone going to New York, borrow $20 from them, and pay them back when we got back to New York and could use the ATM there.) This couple said they were going to Miami, so I broke out in tears explaining what had happened. The couple was so nice that they just gave us the $20 that we needed! I was so relieved!

Later on, they needed a pen to fill out their customs papers, so I ran to them and gave them the one I had in purse. And, after we went through security I found them and asked if I could have their address. They said no. All they wanted us to do was pay it forward. I started crying again at his generosity and I thank God for providing for us!

The plane ride back was just as bad as on the way there! And, after we got back to Kansas City (we stayed another night in New York between flights), we started driving home. But, I felt so car sick! It was the most horrible feeling, and I made Caleb pull over a few times. I could not have been happier to get home!

Upon getting home, I checked my email and my Facebook. Then, my very good friend texted me and told me that, after trying to get pregnant for almost 2 years, she finally was! I was so happy and excited for her! But, I started to think about the pain I was having. The fact that she was pregnant made me jealous (with her pregnancy, that meant that all of my friends were pregnant and I felt left out). So, without Caleb knowing, I went upstairs and took a pregnancy test. I kept thinking to myself as I was waiting that it would be Not Pregnant, and that would be okay with me. At least I took the test! But, to my surprise, it turned out to be Pregnant!!

I ran downstairs to tell Caleb, but unfortunately he was on the phone! I told him he needed to get off the phone, but he didn't. He was worried because of the look on my face since he knew the pain that I had been going through on the way home. So, I told him! He just kept hugging and kissing me after that! I ran upstairs so that I could get service to call the hospital to make my first appointment (at 8 weeks). I also texted a few of my friends since I just couldn't hold it in! I was so excited, and looking at Caleb, so was he!

This one speaks for itself! This was the first one I took.