Glucose tolerance test this morning.

Hi everyone,

I know I've been totally missing (from here and the bump boards). I've been busy at work and also trying my best to not use my work time to get on the internet for non-work purposes...it's hard!

I had my glucose tolerance test appointment this morning. I had the fruit punch flavor which I hear is the best one. It wasn't bad at all. Just really sugary. Then I went in, had my blood drawn, and a regular appointment. I had mine early because of the PCOS but even if this one turns out normal I still have to do another one at 30 weeks.

I weighed in at 165 this morning. The last two weigh-ins were in the evening but this one was in the early morning before eating anything (but after drinking the glucose) so I think this one is pretty accurate. So I've only gained 3lbs so far. I told my doctor that I feel like I'm carrying larger than other first time pregnant women at the same gestation but I've not gained much weight. Not that I'm complaining I just want to make sure that's not a sign of anything bad. I mean, I haven't had morning sickness at all so it can't be due to throwing up. And I eat when I'm hungry. I think it's because I haven't really had cravings and I did stop eating sugar and heavy carbs (well, I've reduced dramatically) since my doctor said I'm at a higher risk for gestational diabetes. I really want to avoid developing it so I've just adjusted the types of foods I eat regularly...switched to sugar free stuff since I have a sweet tooth.

I have to call back on Monday or Tuesday to find out the results. Unless it's bad then they will call me as soon as they know.

I'm going on 23 weeks on Saturday! Yippie!! 17 weeks left! We are going to work on the nursery soon.

Oh! We may have found a day care center that we love!! We've seen 4 so far and we have a 5th to see on the 22nd this month. But the first 3 sucked. They ranged from expensive and dingy, to downright dirty and bug infested. The 4th we went to was like heaven! And not even just because it was compared to the others, but it was really really nice. Clean, bright, huge, great security and outdoor spaces, great programming! We loved it. Once we check with the 5th and final site we will make our decision. It's exciting and nerve wracking because I know I'd rather nothing more than to have my little one with me all the time but...reality is we can't afford for me to be a SAHM. We are a 2 income household and that's the best for us.

Well, anyway...thanks to Amber Z who reminded me about blogging. Now off to visit her site!

Hi Bloggers! It's a BOY!!!

It's been a while, huh?! I haven't been on in a while (here and on the bump as well) because I've been trying to avoid the internet for non-work related purposes during work and I'm too tired by the time I get home. I hope everyone is doing well. I'm going to check in on everyone between this evening and this weekend. I have lots to say!

It's a BOY!! We had our level 2 on Monday so I will try to post the video on here somehow. Also, hubbs and I have interviewed a few day care centers so I want to share that experience at some point. I also have to update my monthly belly pics in the slideshow at the bottom of this page. I'll do that soon too.

I've been feeling the little one pretty much everyday now for the past week or two. It's pretty cool! We're also working on the registry and all that fun stuff.

I hope everyone is doing great!! I'll be back soon :)

17 weeks update :)

This is my first time doing one of these updates. I've been meaning to do it but my week change day is Saturday and I'm usually too busy or too lazy to even open my laptop on the weekends. Today I'm actually 17 weeks and 3 days but hopefully this will make me start doing this regularly from now on.

*Thanks Ashley for providing a template on your blog. I hope you don't mind me using it*

How far along? 17 weeks 3 days

Baby's size? I think about 5 inches long from head to rump (about the size of my hand from the heal of my hand to the tip of my pinky) and about the weight of a turnip -according to babycenter.com. The Bump says about the length of an onion - a pretty big onion I guess.

Weight gain? I don't weigh myself at home I just wait for the OB appointments. My last appointment was at 14 weeks and I weighed 165 lbs so I'd only gained about 3 pounds. My next appointment is in a week so we'll see.

Maternity clothes? I've been wearing regular dresses, maternity bottoms, and some maternity tops but still mostly regular tops. Many of my tops are not long enough anymore so I've gone out and purchased a few work appropriate maternity shirts and a couple of t-shirts.

Stretch marks? Besides the ones that have been there since pre-pregnancy? Nope. I've never had stretch marks on my boobs or stomach area but I have (for years) had them on my rear, outer thighs, and some along my lower back right above my butt. I've been pretty consistent with putting lotion on my stomach every night after I shower but I guess if I'm going to get them there's not much I can do.

Belly button in or out? Still in. I can't imagine that will change anytime soon. It just looks deeper actually. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?

Sleep? It's been just ok. I've been sleeping with the Snoogle which has posed it's own set of challenges. Dh and I switched sides in bed because the cosleeper will fit better on one side of the bed rather than the other so we decided to just go ahead and switch now since I hope to be breastfeeding. I find myself sleeping on my back even with the Snoogle every once in a while but I've been slowly getting used to sleeping on my left side for most of the night. If I wake up in the middle of the night I'll give myself a break and sleep on my right for a little while. I usually only wake up once during the night to pee so I'm glad it isn't more than that.

Foods I love? Popsicles, sweet/sour crunchy fruits (like grapes, granny smith apples), pretty much anything my Dominican MIL cooks, burgers, strawberry banana yogurt

Foods I hate? Luckily I haven't been having any food aversions really. Sometimes I'd rather not have chicken. Also, weirdest thing: Cheddar Chex Mix gave me acid reflux so I started taking Tums almost everyday for the calcium and hopefully to help prevent acid indigestion.

Best moment this week? Feeling flutters much more frequently this week. Also, DH had his hand on my lower stomach while we cuddled in bed and I felt a little movement and immediately DH said, "Babe, I just felt that!". Unfortunately, I'm not 100% sure it wasn't just gas so who knows. I would think it's too early for baby to be felt outside. Oh another thing was I finally learned (thanks to some tips from a fellow bumpie) how to find the baby's heart beat on the doppler I have at home! I found it on Friday while I was home alone so I recorded it on my cell and sent it to DH. He loved it!

Movement? Yes!

Symptoms? I truley haven't had many at all. In the beginning (maybe weeks 6-9) I felt slight nausea a total of maybe 4-5 times but it always quickly went away and never resulted in vomitting. I didn't really have aversions to any foods. Hmmm...let's see...Well I definitely got those greenish veins all over my boobs. I had sore boobs for a couple months in the beginning but that went away weeks ago. I think my biggest symptom was hunger. I was hungry more often during the day and then when I'd eat I would feel full pretty fast too. One thing I'm experiencing now is that whenever I feel like I have to pee, I really think that it's a lot that's going to come out. When I do go, it's definitely less than I thought.

Gender? No clue. I have my anatomy scan in 2 weeks (August 16th) so we'll know then. A bigger part of me thinks it's a boy and I will definitely be shocked if it's a girl. But a tiny part of me says...maybe. My mom said that with my brother she was sick often but with me she wasn't sick at all. Hmmmmm....

What I miss? Just sleeping on my stomach I think. I don't really miss much else.

What I'm looking forward to? I'm looking forward to my OB appointment next week (even though they are taking blood) and especially the anatomy scan! And I'm also looking forward to having DH feel the baby move.

Weekly Wisdom? It's time to let go of my IVF meds. They've been a crutch for me this whole time and I need to let go. They represent a "what if"...a doubt. What if something goes wrong? But, having the meds won't make things better for us at that point. I'd rather have faith and let go of the meds. Let them go to someone who needs them and hopefully bless someone else with this miracle. Amen!

Milestone? So far it's just getting this far!

Emotions? Nothing out of control really. I've been pretty stable.

We got our security deposit back!!

In case you haven't really been following the landlady drama: DH and I moved into an apartment on April 1st and quickly got the hell out of there (breaking lease) 3 short months later. It turns out that the landlady has some serious issues - mental health issues - that were affecting us (oh little things like calling the cops on us because she claimed we had 3 other people living with us who at one point came down to her apartment to break in and attempt to rape her...yeah. And she demanded that the cop search every room in our apartment for these phantom people). So anyway...we got out of there asap.

We really thought she was going to screw us over on the security deposit because we did break the lease and she constantly reminded us that the apartment better be in good condition and that she was demanding that we get the carpet cleaned since we have a cat, etc etc. We will did leave the apartment clean but we certainly didn't have the carpet cleaned or do any of the other things she demanded of us.

Well, a couple days ago, we actually got the FULL security deposit back! We were both so shocked!! DH ran to the bank to deposit the check before it dissolved before our very eyes. Lol

On a side note: I begged DH to go out and buy me the Snoogle yesterday since I was at work and he was working from home. I had been sleeping restlessly for about a week and a half and just felt like I really needed this pillow. Well I tried it out last night and it was pretty awesome. I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet but I did sleep much more soundly last night. It actually made it much more comfortable to sleep on my back. I have to figure out how to use it so that I stay on my left side. The only problem is that I currently sleep on the right side of the bed so if I turn onto my left side and use the snoogle (the length of the snoogle is basically supporting my entire back) then when I have to get up to pee in the middle of the night, I basically have to crawl over the snoogle which is uncomfortable. I tried briefly to use it the other way around so that the opening is behind me but I don't sleep as comfortably that way. Maybe the only other option is to switch sides of the bed with DH. We're planning on doing this anyway once the baby comes because he has more floor space on his side so that's where we will fit the cosleeper. Should we just switch now? Might as well I guess.

Thanks for stopping by!

Naming a human being...

This is a very important task, no? Why some people give their offspring ridiculously "youneek" names is beyond me. I mean, I understand not wanting your child to have the same name as lots of other kids in their class at school but...there's got to be a middle ground between common and well...out there.

And what's really wrong with a classic name? They may be "common", yes, but are really respectable and strong. Like: William, Henry, Michael and Elizabeth, Catherine, and...ummm some other classic girl name (drawing a blank here).

Anyway...you won't catch us with a little Nevaeh or Jocshwahh running around.

We're pretty much set on a girl name and about 90% on a boy name. For some reason, the boy name was so much harder for us to choose and agree on. For a girl, we wanted a first name that started with an M (because me, my mom, and her mom all have an "M" name. For a middle name, we had a couple family names floating around but I wanted to incorporate DH in it too (his nickname is Alex). So we chose and agreed on Melanie Alexa for a girl.

For a boy we didn't use any tradition/family stuff because there was nothing we really loved. We went back and forth trying out names out loud... "c'mere Justin!"..."Gabriel, look at mommy!"..."what's wrong Daniel?" I don't know, they just didn't fit. Anyway, we randomly found some names that we both liked and played with various combinations and ended up with Ethan Bryce. We both really like this name and we may keep it permanently.

Now, how these names sound coming out of the mouth of our Spanish-speaking family members may be a different story. Melanie Alexa will definitely roll off the tongue beautifully in Spanish...but Ethan Bryce...not so much. But you know what? When you finally come to some kind of agreement and you're both happy with a name, sometimes you can't think of how others will pronounce it. Take DH's cousin...they just named their new son Jacob. Love the name! But they know that Spanish speaking family will change that to Jacobo...the Spanish version, pronounced "ha-co-bo"...yup. There's no Spanish version of Ethan so hopefully we're ok lol.

2nd OB appointment last night

It was kind of boring! Except for hearing LO's HB...otherwise, it seemed impossibly short. My appointment was for 7pm. We got there right on time and were in the room by around 7:10. I PIAC, the assistant weighed me (I've gained about 3 pounds), then the OB came in. This was a different one since I'm supposed to see all the docs in that practice at some point in my prenatal care. She asked how I was feeling and if I had any questions. I didn't have any...I'm feeling fine. She took my blood pressure and then checked LO's HB on the doppler which was healthy in the 150's. She said in 4 weeks I should come back and they will take 1 vial of blood to check for Spina Bifida (which I totally didn't realize could be checked with a blood test) and that's that. I made my next appointment for August 10th, a little over a week before my Anatomy Scan. And I was back in the car by 7:20, honestly.

One of my best friends loaned us her doppler over the weekend (she gave birth last month) and we checked the HB twice. Both times we thought we'd found it but it was hovering in the 80's...super low. We didn't panick, we honestly assumed either we just didn't know what the hell we were doing when using the doppler, or the doppler was messed up. Either way, we just thought it was cool that we got to hear it. So when we went in to our appointment yesterday, the doc confirmed that it was my HB we had been so happily listening to, not LO's! Hahaha! She showed me on her doppler what mine was like and then found LO's HB. There was a very obvious difference, not only in the speed but the sound of it as well. It just sounded different. We didn't realize at all that we could pick up my HB that low on my abdomen...woops!

Settling in...

To the new apartment...into the 2nd trimester...into life out of the pregnancy closet...

The new apartment:
It's still a mess but things are definitely coming along. DH has been doing just about everything around the house. I've just been putting some small stuff away where they belong. We still have boxes and bags of stuff on the living room floor, the dining room table, and in the 2nd bedroom (which at the moment is the junk/storage room). We should be pretty much done by this weekend (I hope).

The 2nd trimester:
Well, I'm officially in the 2nd trimester tomorrow (13w4d) but pregnology.com says 13 weeks so I'm sticking with that...cuz I wanna, so there! Some doctors round up to 14 weeks but heck no! I have my second OB appointment on the 12th. I have no idea what to expect except PIAC, probably a weight check, blood pressure. What else do they do??

Want to hear something funny? This was probably a total fluke but last night I was in bed falling asleep. I was on my left side, and all of a sudden I felt a pop feeling on the right side of my belly that woke me up out of my semi-consciousness. Now I know what you're thinking because I'm thinking it too. But in that moment, whatever it was, made my heart start to race and I was just excited at the possibility. I didn't wake DH up or even tell him about it today because, again, it couldn't be, could it??

Life out of the pregnancy closet:
I totally have mixed feelings about having let "the world" know about our pregnancy. I am relieved to let it out because it was hard to keep this secret, especially at work where I was still wearing regular work pants trying to hide my growing belly and suffering in the meantime. I was also experiencing some anxiety that is now mostly released. Everyone has been sweet and encouraging about this.

On the other hand, I still have this "what if" feeling. I'm sure you can all guess the main "what if". Maybe I need to acquire a doppler for peace of mind??