What I realized yesterday

As I was standing out in the driveway helping my husband move a saw so he could cut some molding (yes - the same husband who is supposed to be taking it easy and letting his shoulder heal) I was doing some math in my head. Then it hit me - I am 2/5 of the way through this pregnancy.  Yikes!

I said that out loud to J (the 2/5 part, not the yikes) and he just laughed.  I said "No seriously - that's kind of a scary thought!".  It made me realize that all the things that I have been saying "We have plenty of time" about are going to have to get done.  Now we just need his shoulder to heal so we can start doing some work on the nursery.  If only I could get him to sit still.

This week's check in:

How far along? 16w1d - baby is the size of an avocado. Avocados = guacamole which goes great with beer. I miss beer.

Weight gain/loss: 7.7  lbs according to my scale yesterday. Seems to be creeping up faster now. I blame part of that on the re-emergence of cement bowel.  I hate my colon sometimes.

Maternity Clothes: Still not wearing any, but I really could've gone for a pair of pants on Saturday. I think it's time to stop wearing pants made out of material with no give.  I did order a pair of pants online and tried to go to Target to look, but their selection sucked.

Symptoms: Cement bowel is making a comeback. I think my body is becoming immune to my miralax routine.  Not cool.

Gender: Now I'm starting to think boy.  We find out for sure on Nov 30th.  Five more long weeks...
Sleep? Sleeping pretty good except for last night. My unhappy bowels were not allowing me to get comfy. 

Best moment this week? Having my regular OB appt and getting to hear the heartbeat just beating away in there.  Very cool to hear and was a relief.

Movement: Still feeling nothing.  I know it's still early, but I want it to happen soon.

Food cravings/aversions: No major aversions, but I have been eating way too much Halloween candy.  I need to keep that crap out of the house.  I'm also loving fruit, so maybe that helps balance out the bad.

Belly button in or out? In and feeling pretty normal.

What I miss? Beer.  And not being uber bloated at the end of the day.

What I am looking forward to? Feeling baby move and finding out what's in there.

Milestones: Hitting 16 weeks is really the only milestone from this past week.

What I'm nervous about: Not really nervous about anything at the moment. Except for the fact that weight gain seems to be increasing at a faster pace than I would like it to.

Here is a pic from this morning of my 16w1d 'bump'. 

My incapacitated husband

J in his sling and the water contraption that ices his shoulder while cheering for (and swearing at) his football team

Two weeks ago - as I was enjoying the wonders of Arizona and having a great time with  my sister - J was at home having surgery on his shoulder.  He had been having problems with it for months and finally decided to do something about it.

After two MRIs (the first one was screwed up) they found that there was more damage than anticipated. Instead of just needing to go in and grind down the ends of the bone (ouch!) they also needed to repair a torn bicep and clean out a cyst that had formed.  Yikes!

So he went in for surgery and 2 1/2 hours later he was as good as new. Or he will be once he's done with physical therapy and can get out of his sling.  We're still not sure how long he will be out of work, but I guess I'm glad he got this done now so he will be fully healed once it's time to be lugging our little one around.

For right now we are a pretty sorry pair - him in a sling trying to do things one handed and me a bloated mess who gets pretty uncomfortable in the evenings.  Needless to say there will not be many nights out for the foreseeable future.

Just beating away in there

Yesterday I had another appointment with my OB.  Nothing overly exciting - my blood pressure was great (108/60), I tried not to look at the number on the scale (it's not fair since it was afternoon, I ate lunch, and was fully clothed - with shoes), and we decided to wait until my next appt to do the second half of the bloodwork for the NT scan since I was just over 15 weeks and they do it between 15 and 20 weeks.

Then I got to wait some more since there wasn't an open room. I parked myself on the couch by the checkout desk, perused some pregnancy and parenting magazines, and watched the other people walk out.  I was very interested to see how calm this one woman was, especially when I overheard her say that she is having her baby tomorrow and was scheduling her 6 week postpartum visit.  I really hope I'm that calm when the time comes!

Finally they had a room ready for me and I went back to wait for my doctor. I didn't get to see her at the last visit since she was busy delivering a baby, so it was nice to see her again. She commented that the results of the first round of bloodwork looked fantastic and then she whipped out the doppler. It's heartbeat time!  Baby is apparently hiding pretty far down in my pelvis still, so it took a second to get it, but then there it was.  The sound I was waiting all day to hear.  Dr Evans said it sounded great so I was pleased.

I was slightly less pleased when it came time to talk about the next appointment. I asked if that was when we would find out boy or girl, but she said no.  She wants to wait 5 weeks for that (when I would be in my 20th week), so instead I have a regular appt on Nov 10th (happy birthday to me!) and then she wanted to schedule the anatomy scan for 2 weeks later. Unfortunately that is Thanksgiving week and nothing was available. So I took an appt for Dec 8th since it was the day with the latest appt available (I try to accommodate J as much as possible so he doesn't have to miss too much work).  When I got home I realized that puts me at 22w3d - and it's 7 weeks from now, not 5.  So this morning I called back and took the appt that was available the previous week on Nov 30th at 2:30 (J said it's fine). So I will be 21w2d instead.

Yay - less than 6 weeks until we find out!

I wonder how long til they figure it out?

We have our 'Fall Festival Fun Day' next Friday at work. Basically they'll have a cookout for us out in the parking lot at lunch, the office will be decorated for Halloween, and there will be trick-or-treating around the office.  Costumes are encouraged, but since I am not really into wearing a costume for the entire day I bought this shirt:

I wonder how long it will take someone to figure out that it means I am pregnant. I haven't announced it at work and only my office mate knows so far.  I just hope it gets here in time - I bought it Monday.

I guess it's the thought that counts

This past Saturday, while J was busy swearing at the TV while watching his Wolfpack lose in OT (my team was off so I didn't have to watch us suck again) I started going through the box of maternity clothes that a woman he works with sent over.  I was fairly certain that nothing was going to actually fit me. This woman is maybe 90 lbs soaking wet when she isn't knocked up and is also very petite. I'm 5'7" tall and of a healthy weight for my height (132 pre-pregnancy).  Anyway, I hoped for the best and dug in.

There were several very cute pairs of pants - that were all size 0 maternity.  I literally laughed out loud. I have not seen that size since probably middle school. To humor myself I tried a pair on. I did get them on, but stuffed sausage isn't the look I'm going for while pregnant, so I need to pass on all the pants.  There were also quite a few XS shirts that will not be fitting these 32D's.  I did come away with a nice stretchy sweater, a cardigan, and a coat-like thing that will fit. The rest will be passed on to other people or taken to Goodwill.   I definitely appreciate the gesture, but part of me thinks she must be insane. She has met me in the past and I can't believe she actually thought this stuff might fit. Then again - maybe she was just trying to clean out her closet.  Oh well.

Now for this week's check in:

How far along? 15w1d - baby is the size of a navel orange. Which reminds me - I bought some tangerines this weekend and forgot to bring one as a snack today. Damn!

Weight gain/loss: 5.7  lbs according to my scale yesterday. I guess that's not too bad for where I am in this pregnancy.

Maternity Clothes: Still no, but I think I may be getting close. My jeans were not comfortable by the time I got home from work on Friday and I was loving my stretchy lounge pants this weekend.

Symptoms: Right now - nothing.  Feeling pretty good and enjoying it while it lasts.

Gender: I was leaning towards Team Pink - and Saturday J referred to the baby as "she", but now I'm not so sure.

Sleep? Sleeping great even with the 2 or 3 pee breaks during the night. 

Best moment this week? Getting the results of the bloodwork from the NT scan (finally). Everything looked good and it did a little to set my mind at ease.

Movement: I'm sure s/he's moving in there, but it's still too early to feel.  I am really looking forward to that, though.

Food cravings/aversions: Pretty much nothing.  I was fiending after some cracked pepper Krunchers potato chips yesterday, though.

Belly button in or out? In and feeling pretty normal.

What I miss? Still beer.

What I am looking forward to? The doctor's appt this Wednesday. I won't get to see baby, but I'm looking forward to hearing the heartbeat.  Also looking more pregnant - it's definitely getting there.

Milestones: Nothing really - hitting 15 weeks I guess.

What I'm nervous about: Not finding a heartbeat at the appt this week.  I need to stop thinking like that and stressing out.

And for your viewing pleasure - here is a pic of my 15w1d tiny bump

Excuse the poor quality - the bathroom lighting and my camera phone leave a lot to be desired  :)

Sold!

Yesterday I re-posted my ad to sell my car on Craigslist. I had to deal with some annoying people the first time I posted it - especially the guy that was lowballing me and trying to bully me into dropping $1K off the price.

This time I wised up and put J's phone number in the ad so the people would call him instead of emailing me.  I did have one dude email me and ask if there was any chance of me letting it go for $3500. Um....  no.

We took the car down to a vacant parking lot off of one of the main roads in our town and put the sign on it. The sign also had J's number on it - which  made me happy because I did NOT want to deal with people trying to haggle with me.

Soon after we got back from putting the car out there J's phone rang. A guy wanted to come take a look at it.  I was trying to figure out if he had seen the car the day before when I drove it to work and had the sign on it, or if he saw my ad that I just posted.  Either way, he was going to be there in 30 minutes to look at it.  When he called to say he was there J drove over to meet him (arm in a sling and all).

About 20 minutes after J left he called me. "Get the title and that bill of sale - he's gonna take it.".  YES!!  Car is sold!  We were originally asking $4900 and the new ad had it at $4800, but we let it go for $4300. The dude showed up with cash, so if we tried we probably could've gotten more for it, but I was just happy to have it over with.  We had to scramble to get my PSU alumni license plate frame, the tag, and my Steelers license plate off of the car. J also had to get the satellite radio hookup out of it. Something we probably should have done last week before he had his surgery and only had the use of one arm.

So the $4300 will cover the down payment that we put on the Sequoia (on the AMEX) and the rest of it covers my portion of the bills for this month.  That means I will be able to pay off the final balance of my credit card and finally be credit card debt free.  Such a good feeling!

I will say that I was sad to see my Mustang go. That was the first car that I ever bought completely on my own.  I was bummed to see it being driven away, but once I looked at the envelope full of money I cheered up a little  :)

I'm liking these numbers

Yesterday I called my doctor to get the results of the bloodwork from the NT scan. I was told they would call me with the results in 7-10 days and it had been two weeks. Part of me was afraid maybe they were waiting to tell me the bad news at my appointment next Wednesday (yes, I tend to be a pessimist!).

I called and the receptionist said a nurse would call me back.  Almost two nerve wracking hours later I finally got the phone call I was waiting for.  All good news  :)

Risk of Downs Syndrome went from 1 in 300 (based on age) to 1 in 6,701

Risk of Trisomy 13 and 18 went from 1 in 578 (based on age and general population) to less than 1 in 10,000

That definitely gave me a little peace of mind. I know it's not like saying there is no way it's going to happen, but our odds look better.  There will be another blood draw between 15 and 20 weeks where they will recalculate all my odds and also check for Spina Bifida.  Oh joy - more blood.  But for right now I'm happy and just looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again next week.

My trip to the Grand Canyon State - Part 2

On to Saturday - we woke up and watched some College Game Day at 7:00 AM (very odd) and watched the beginning of my game while packing our overnight bags and getting ready. My Nittany Lions were stinking up the joint, so we decided to get on the road a little early.  Hopped back in her sweet rental car (a Hyundai Elantra who's only redeeming quality was satellite radio) and headed north again.  Along the way I got some pictures of the local landscape.

It didn't take long until we started to see the cool rock formations of Sedona.  So we pulled off at one of the rest areas with a scenic view for some pictures.

At the rest area with the formations in the background

Then we headed into Sedona to find a place to eat before it was time to head to the spa. We ate at the Open Range Tavern with a spectacular view of the red rocks, did a little shopping and then headed to the spa at the Hilton for some pampering. 

Lunch at the Open Range Tavern

We started out with the mani/pedis and then each got taken back for our massages.  Hers included some salt scrub, but they recommended I skip that because of the pregnancy.  Instead I just had my pre-natal massage and enjoyed every second of it. 

Waiting to be taken back

Drying my nails

We finally got out of there around 8:30, headed back to the Hyatt and checked in.  There is a low light ordinance in effect in Sedona, so each of our rooms had a flashlight under the kitchen sink. Nic's room was huge with a kitchen, dining area, living room with fireplace, huge shower and jacuzzi tub and a king sized bed. My adjoining room wasn't as spectacular, but it was still really nice.  We were hungry so we grabbed the flashlights and headed out. Unfortunately the only things open were a sushi place (a no-no for me and she is severely allergic to fish) and a Coldstone Creamery.  Ice cream it is!  We got our fill and hiked back to the rooms.  We had an early morning the next day so I headed to bed.

The view from our fabulous rooms at the Hyatt

Some of the other buildings at the Hyatt

My alarm went off at 4:50 AM on Sunday to get the day started. We needed to be at the meeting place by 5:45 so we ate some apples and zone bars and hopped in the Elantra to head out. We met up with the balloon group and got in the van to go out to the launch site. After a 20 minute ride we reached the field to find Cletus and Jethro trying to inflate the balloon.

It took quite some time for them to get the balloon inflated and upright and we were getting antsy to get up there since the sun was already rising.  Captain Don came to give up his spiel and instructions and asked if anyone was pregnant since "We can't fly preggers" (yes - he said preggers. I wanted to puke.)  I lied and said no so I could get on board.  For the record, it's not that the altitude or anything is dangerous for pregnant women. It's just in case they have to crash land - they don't want any pregnant women to get squished and possibly hurt the unborn baby.  Being that it was a very calm day we figured the odds of a crash landing were low.

So we finally climbed on board (which is impossible to do gracefully) and soon we were off.  This is what was right above our heads:

Probably should have passed on the hairspray this morning!

Taking off

Soon we were aloft and floating over the landscape. Even though we missed sunrise I was still able to get some nice shots:

We floated along - rising up to 1200 ft - all the while listening to Captain Don ramble on about the landscape, the history of ballooning, and lots of other stuff that I wasn't really paying attention to at the moment.

The view from about 1200 ft up



I was keeping my eyes peeled for some wildlife, but the only things we saw were some jackrabbits.  After a while I started to feel a little hot from my layers and the flames shooting over my head.  I got a sick feeling in my stomach and a slight ringing in my ears.  I said "Uh oh" and Nic looked at me.  "Are you ok?". Umm.... not so much. I had broken out into a cold sweat and everything was going white. Crap - I'm going to pass out!  There was no room to sit, to put my head between my legs, or to do anything really. I was able to get my jacket off and push up my sleeves to get some air to me. I put my head on the side of the basket and closed my eyes. Luckily after about 5 mins the horrible feeling passed and I made it through without falling over or puking over the side.  Hmm - maybe there is something to that 'no pregnant women' rule.

Just prior to my lightheadedness

We floated along for another 10 mins or so and Captain Don found a good landing spot up ahead and radioed to the chase crew to tell them where we would be coming down.  We came in gently, the big dudes in the chase crew jumped up on the sides of the basket to keep us down, and they started to deflate the balloon so we could get off.  Mimosas followed (my physician sister assured me it was fine to have a sip of champagne) and some snacks before we headed back to the van to take us to our cars. All in all a fantastic adventure!

One of  my favorite shots from the balloon

Snacks after the balloon ride

 

We drove back to the hotel, freshened up, packed our stuff and headed back towards Phoenix. Next up - football game.

Nic's friend, Jordan, and his wife picked us up at a Burger Kind one exit down from University of Phoenix Stadium and we headed over. They have VIP parking so it made sense to take one car.  We got to the stadium and headed inside. I have to say I was pretty impressed with it - especially in the club level seats where we were sitting.

The outside of the stadium

 We had great seats and settled in for what I was sure was about to be a blowout of the home team. 

Home team being introduced

We were pleasantly surprised when the Cardinals beat the defending Super Bowl champs 30-20.  Jordan was going crazy and it was really  nice to see the home team come out victorious.

The Cardinals about to score

All smiles for a Cardinals win

After the game we sat in traffic for a while, got dropped off at our car, and headed home.  We were both pretty tired from being up so early and having such an adventurous day that we hung out and watched Sunday Night Football and relaxed.  Nic ran out and got us some Taco Bell for dinner (yes - I was in AZ and the closest to southwest food that I got was Taco Bell).  While we ate we watched her cat, Mike, come trotting into the apartment with a new friend.  A desert spiny lizard that he caught outside. He dropped it and the lizard promptly hauled ass across the room to get away from Mike and certain death.  My sister was more interested in getting a picture of him than catching him.

Mike playing with Carl

I was beat so I took a shower and went to bed - hoping that the lizard wouldn't make an appearance on my pillow.  I woke up bright and early at 6:00 AM and started packing. When I went out to the kitchen to grab breakfast I was greeted by Carl (my sister named the lizard Carl) peeking out from under the stove.

Carl's hiding place under the stove. He has since been captured and released back into the wild.

We gave up on catching him for the moment and headed out for some last minute souvenir shopping before dropping me off at the airport. Downtown Scottsdale is very cool and I wish we'd had more time there. We did get some nice pictures.

I wanted a picture with a real saguaro cactus,  but had to settle for the fake one

We did some shopping, I got some trinkets for the in-laws (back at home taking care of my husband post-surgery) and we were on a mission to find a onsie for the baby. My sister really wants to get him/her one so we went to half a dozen places. I walked into this one gift shop and was shocked to run in to a co-worker of mine from back in Charleston. What the heck was he doing in Scottsdale? And what are the odds that I would run into him in this tiny gift shop in the downtown area?  So random.  Anyway, we never found a onsie, but Nic is out there for 4 more weeks so she has some time.  We took some final pictures and headed to the airport.

Outside the gift shop where I saw my coworker. So weird!

No, not the real Mike Rowe  :)

Nic got me to the airport about an hour before my flight, I said a tearful goodbye and headed back to Charleston.  This was by far one of the best long weekend trips I have ever taken and I will never forget all the fun that we had.  Thanks Nic - you're the best!!!

My trip to the Grand Canyon State - part 1

Disclaimer - this is going to be looooong!

First off - my sister rocks!  I just wanted to get that out there. We have always been super close ever since we were kids. We lived together after I graduated college and she graduated med school, we both picked up and moved to SC at the same time (her to start a job and me to get away from a broken engagement), she was my maid of honor and I would have been hers if her wedding hadn't been called off, and she is the one person I know will be there for me no matter what (besides J of course).  We are best friends and I can't imagine my life without her in it.

That being said, she outdid even herself this past weekend.  She planned the most fantastic long weekend trip for me to visit her out in Arizona while she is there doing her locums gig.  I got there Thursday evening around 9:30 (12:30 to me) and one of her fellow doctors picked me up at the airport since she was working the 7P - 7A shift.  She had left me some snacks and some instructions letting me know she'd be home around 7:30 the next morning.  I took a shower to wash the travel yuck off of me, took Kirby (her portly beagle) for a quick walk, and hopped into bed.

Friday morning Nic got home around 7:30 - which I realized when Kirby launched herself out of the bed (she was under my covers) and ran to the door. We got up, ate breakfast, got ready and headed north towards the Grand Canyon. We stopped several times along the way to take some pictures.

Humphreys Peak - highest point in AZ at 12,637 feet elevation

Flinstones Bedrock City in Williams, AZ - we had to stop and take pictures

Doing my part to prevent forest fires

We got to the little airport to check in for the helicopter ride, but we were kind of early so after check in (including getting weighed!) we drove up to the park to take a look at the canyon from ground level.  After finally finding a parking spot we walked over to the viewing area and I got my first look at one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  In a word - breathtaking.  We took a bunch of pictures before we had to hop in the car to hightail it back to the airport.

Nic and me at the scenic viewing area

There was a guy sitting out on one of those ledges - we thought he was nuts

We got to the airport and waited for our names to be called while watching all the foreigners mill around.  Our Johnny Knoxville lookalike pilot called our names and we headed out to the copter. After some instructions he put us in our seats and Nic and I had the best ones in the whole thing. I was in the front next to the door and she was next to me. I was glad we didn't get stuck in the middle seats in the back. They do the seating based on weight I guess to balance it out.  So we took off and headed towards the canyon. Our pilot chatted pointing stuff out and giving us a nice little history lesson.  After about 5 minutes we reached the edge of the canyon.  All I can say is "Wow!".  Gorgeous.

All smiles before take-off

Our pilot, Tanner

Back on solid ground

After we got done with the ride we bought some souvenirs and headed back out on the road.  There were a couple stops for pictures and then we headed back south to Scottsdale with a brief stop at BW3 in Flagstaff for some grub and trivia (we totally kicked ass!).  We got home around 9:00 PM and hung out til bedtime.

I was going to put the whole trip in one post, but this is already getting a bit lengthy. I'll continue tomorrow with our trip to Sedona, the hot air balloon ride, and the Cardinals game.