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Sunday, July 26, 2009

1st Trimester Highlights

Well, I am just past 18 weeks pregnant, but I forgot to post about my first trimester ... how's that for MommyBrain?!


Finding Out
We found out on April 29th, Chad's 35th Birthday. I took the test as soon as Chad left for work because I really suspected that I was pregnant … but I wanted to know before him because I had a plan. I had a dream that Chad opened a gift with a positive pregnancy test inside. That's exactly what I did and how I told him!


Symptoms:
  • extreme nausea in the evening – starting at 3:00 and lasting until 9:00
  • Weight Gain = 0 lbs
  • could not eat dinner (or even make dinner most evenings); poor Chad and Natalie had to fend for themselves
  • tired, tired, tired – I took a nap almost every afternoon
  • craved chocolate milk, tater tots, strawberries, and apples
  • ate a bowl of cereal late at night – or just before sunrise
  • cried all the time and found my usual supply of patience for Natalie was running at an all time low – I really struggled with the guilt of that – guessing there's more of that to come, huh?

Ultrasound Craziness
I had three ultrasounds in the first 13 weeks, and each one was a little stressful.

  1. @ 7 weeks – I mentioned to my doctor that I was having twin dreams and feeling more sick than I remember with Natalie. This, of course, peaked her “Could this be twins?” radar. During the ultrasound (which had to be done in the less comfortable manner), she had a weird look on her face and called in another doctor. There was an additional structure … without a heartbeat. We'll never know for sure, but that structure may have been the beginning of a second embryo … or part of the yolk sac … or a even a shadow. My doctor assured me that the structure would be re-absorbed and didn't pose a concern. While I was a little sad, I focused on the great news of one little grain of rice with a beating heart and a place in mine!
  2. @ 9.5 weeks – Doctor Maplethorpe checked for the heartbeat with the Fetal Doppler. No heartbeat was detected, but that's not unusual at this early date. But because of the “weird” first ultrasound, Dr. M decided to follow-up with another ultrasound. The screen was turned toward me, and I could tell that there wasn't anything on the screen. Dr. M decided to take a look – in that less comfortable way again – and still there was nothing on the screen. I broke down at this point. She re-positioned the transponder three different times before pointing it down as far as she could – toward my tail bone. And just like that, I could see my little jelly bean. What a relief! We discovered I have a retroverted uterus, which also explains all the pain in my lower back.
  3. @ 13 weeks – Still no heartbeat detected on the Fetal Doppler. Because of the other two strange ultrasounds, Dr. M brought in the ultrasound machine – again! And again, I was a mess. I definitely thought we'd hear a heartbeat at 13 weeks. But my retroverted uterus and a very prominent placenta was to blame. The ultrasound revealed good cardiac activity but the fetus was measuring a little small – not enough to be concerned because as the doctor said, I don't make big babies.

With extreme nausea and crazy ultrasounds behind me, I am actually really enjoying my second trimester ... and setting my goals on weight gain ... this bowl of rocky road ice cream should be helping!

2 comments:

Janelle said...

Glad to hear you are feeling much better. I'm sorry you went through so much anxiety that first trimester....what an emotional rollercoaster. Enjoy that ice cream!

Laura said...

As someone that has been there and done that first trimester crazy anxious mess I am so sorry that you had to go through that too. Soooo happy to hear that everyone is doing good! So, did you pick out any boy names yet? :P

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