Starting Out

For some time, I've been thinking about starting a blog. Last night in a fit of sleeplessness, I decided it was time. I'm so far away from my family and friends I thought you guys might like to know what is going on with our growing family. I always worried that my thoughts might not be original enough to do this, but I think you all might be interested anyway.

Marcus and I found out the day before Thanksgiving that we were pregnant. I know you're supposed to wait until you're out of your first trimester to tell everyone, but we were just so excited that we started calling people immediately. The only two people we thought might still be awake were our brothers, Jeremy and Nate. They have a habit of staying up late. We are two time zones away from Jeremy (he was in Knoxville for Thanksgiving break) and one away from Nate who usually is up into the wee hours of the night/morning. So we called and called and then called some more. They eventually picked up and both were thrilled to find out they were going to be Uncles. We told our family and friends the next day. After three years of waiting our day had finally arrived and we knew we had to share it with everyone.

Since then time has seemed to fly by. We are officially out of the first trimester. Every Sunday marks a new week in the pregnancy so I am 15 weeks right now. I have my 16 week appointment on Tuesday of this upcoming week. So far things are going great. I love my doctor and she has been so excited for us. Before we found out we were pregnant we visited with her. My neurologist suggested we do this since we were officially trying so we could talk with her about our concerns with the epilepsy and our upcoming pregnancy. When we went to our first visit once we found out we were pregnant, I think it was at eight weeks, she was so excited for us. I talked with her nurse via a rather lengthy phone call about my medical history and that of my family about a week before the visit. When she found out how sick I was already she prescribed a medicine called Zofran that has saved my life with the morning sickness. I still felt nauseous, but at least I wanted to eat. I think one of the most amazing things thus far was seeing our first ultrasound. It allowed us to see the baby, hear the heartbeat, and we could even see the little heart beating away. During my 12 week visit we didn't have an ultrasound, but we did get to hear the heartbeat and even the baby moving around. I thought it was just my stomach growling at me.

Without going into graphic details, I must say pregnancy has been a total body experience thus far. I never knew my body could feel or even look like this. I feel like my baby bump has just been growing steadily for weeks now. I sent out some pictures to my family when I was 13 weeks. I need to take a couple new one's and put them up here so everyone can see how the bump is growing. I've tried to wear non-maternity jeans for as long as possible and I fear my days are numbered. As far as the seizures go, it's been quite a ride. I never even thought how much the baby would take out of me and my medicine. I have to go to the lab here on base and have lab work done twice a month, for those of you who truly know me and know how much I hate needles you'll know how big of a deal this is. They actually know me now and know I need to lie down or otherwise there is a strong possibility I might just pass out on them. Never really a good thing, especially now that we are pregnant. This week we had quite a shock. My medicine levels are usually in the 13-15 range in my bloodstream. I was down to a five. Barely a therapeutic level. So we upped the dosage and in two weeks, surprise (!!!), I have to go back and have more blood work done. I also don't think I've ever been this hungry in my life. All I want to do is eat and it's nothing too healthy either, though I'm trying to follow what the books say and eat better. Sometimes baby carrots just don't satisfy the craving I have for that nice bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on top.

There are several websites that you can sign up for that will track your pregnancy week by week. At the begining of each week you get an email letting you know how big the baby is and what you can expect to happen this upcoming week with its growth and what is developing that week. For example, the baby now has fingerprints and can sense light. She is also four inches long. This takes me back to my gymnastic days and the balance beam and realizing my baby is the size as the beam I used to tumble on. The websites also offer nice comparisons to size with a fruit or vegetable. I look forward to every Sunday when I get an email from the various sites telling me how the baby has grown and what to expect to happen this week with the development.

I think that this is it for my first entry. I think it might be longer than the others. I'm thinking it will have less introductory material and more about the pregnancy itself. I'm also thinking I will post on Tuesday after our visit with the OB and then every Sunday to keep you all updated. This might change though. On March 12th we find out what we're having and I'm thinking I might just have to write an extra one for that day.