First Ultrasound!

We had our first real doctor's appointment today. Aaron met me at the doctor's office at 2:30, and we waited in the waiting room for about 10 minutes. They called me back, I peed in a cup, they took my blood pressure (90/58), and then we waited for an hour in this inner waiting room before they took us back! I hope that is no indication of what is going to happen when I go into labor! The doctor called us back into his office to chat with us about our pregnancy and the risks I have with mine in particular. I won't go into a lot of detail, but they have some concern about my cervix. This just means I'll have to get two extra ultrasounds than I normally would to check cervical length and make sure it is ok and that I'm not developing cervical incompetency. Unfortunately I don't get two extra peaks at baby during this time though. The other concern they have is with my back, which I think most of us expected. The doctor said with so many of my vertebrae fused, and still having hardware in there, I have basically a 0% chance of getting an epidural. In some ways this is ok, because I wanted a natural child birth anyway. They are still going to send me to meet with the anesthesiologist at 36 weeks though so s/he can check my x-rays so they know if it is ruled out all together. The reason the doctor is still concerned about this is in the case I need to get an emergency c-section, because they'll still need to give me a spinal. So, I'll go get it checked out so they can come up with a plan before the labor starts so Baby Luther comes into the world as quickly and carefully as possible.

Then the doctor took me back and performed my annual exam and then asked Aaron to come in. The ultrasound was amazing! I knew right away where the baby was and how it was oriented. We were so excited to see it! I wish I had a video of it so badly to post for everyone to see. The best part for me was seeing the heart beat. I was so panicked about that. We got to listen to it too, and it sounded good. Lil Luther had two very distinct legs that, at one point, were just kicking away! We got a little swimmer on our hands! We joked when we got home that s/he is getting ready for the Tour de France. haha! Here is the picture:
Sorry it is kind of blurry, but that is how it looks for us. He took so many pictures, but only gave us this one! The bottom is the head, s/he is facing left. The triangle floating in space on the top is his or her little leg!

I guess it's legit now! Aaron and I need to start getting our house ready for baby. I'll be sending emails out to new parents, but if anyone has advice on must-haves, we'd love to know!

Busy Weekend

It's been awhile since I posted, but I've just been exhausted since my trip. The trip itself was a whirlwind. I was feeling so tired the whole time. We would get up early and work all day and go to bed late. I did get a good amount of reading done in my spare time, but that was few and far between. I was irritated a lot of the time I was there, and not feeling well generally, I think because I was overdoing it and my body was letting me know. But, I did get to see some sharks, turtles, fish, crabs, etc. which is always really cool. It was so great to get home to Aaron though. I had been sort of depressed about being away from him on my birthday, but when I got home he ordered me Rusan's (my favorite) and had an awesome chocolate swiss and Reeses' cup ice cream cake waiting for me. It was so sweet! I had to teach the next day--all day. I basically felt like I spent the rest of the week just catching up on sleep and recouping.

This weekend Aaron and I cleaned out our garage (finally). It looks so good in there now, and it looks like both Aaron and I will be able to park in there once we get the garage door fixed. I am so happy about that! We also put together a gazebo for our back deck and set it up in there. Now we have an outdoor retreat! It is so nice! All we want to do is spend time outdoors, which is not usual for us since we burn so easily and we have a lot of mosquitoes.

As far as the pregnancy goes, I am still feeling crampy/pressure in my abdomen from time to time. I'm also still just as tired and nauseous, but thankfully still no vomiting. I switched my prenatal vitamin and now the time of the day I get nauseous is different, but unfortunately is still there. I still get dizzy every once and awhile, and I'm feeling pretty fat lately. I haven't gained any weight though, so I think my weight is just shifting (mostly to my chest...ugh!). One good thing, though, is that I do have my appetite back for the most part. All I want now are things like macaroni and cheese, but at least I have an appetite! Our first appointment is a week from tomorrow. I am so excited!!

Check out some pictures:
The front of our house-newly painted, with a newly stained front deck.
Our awesome organic garden!
Our new gazebo! Doesn't it make you want to come visit?
Our whole back deck--grill, outdoor seating, gazebo
Our first gifts for the baby. The bib is from Aunt Marlea and the whale socks are from Aunt Janet. How cute are they?! This shot is in the nursery. You can (kind of) see the color of the walls. Even if we have a girl, we didn't want anything too girly, so we painted it a bluish color.
First belly shot. Of course you guys all know I've never been the skinniest, but at least you have something to compare my later shots to. I've barely grown yet, at least in my stomach (haha). This is Lil Luther at 9 1/2 weeks!

Eight weeks pregnant!

Aaron and I are eight weeks pregnant today! I don't know why my pregnancy calculator thing isn't updating though. Eight weeks! I can't believe we are almost into our third month! ahh! I'm so excited! I'm even more excited that our doctor's appointment is getting closer!

Apparently our baby is about the size of a large raspberry and is making spontaneous twitching movements now, although I can't feel them.

I won't be updating for a few days because tomorrow morning around 7am I will be heading to FL with some of my students from UGA. Friday I'll drive them down and take them to Gulf Specimens, then to the dorms to get some sleep for early wake up the next day. Saturday we're going out on the boats for some trawling and then over to Cape San Blas for snorkeling and swimming. Hopefully this year no one will get stung by jellyfish! Sunday we're back out on the boats. Monday we'll be canoeing for 4 hours and then driving home. I won't get home until really late Monday, so unfortunately my birthday will be kind of awful, but ohwell. I can't do hardly anything on this field trip, so I'm kinda bummed I even have to go, but hopefully there will be some fun in it.

Mood Swings

I'm starting to experience mood swings now. Not all bad. Some things are so great, and then sometimes I'll cry over a sad or happy tv show. I feel so silly when I do that! Today I'm just feeling really down in the dumps. I've gotten so much unsolicited advice lately, and that has been making me sort of panicked. I feel like everyone already knows what is best for our child, which is so frustrating. But despite that, I also feel really alone today. I hate this. I hope it doesn't last for much longer.

I'm really craving macaroni and cheese lately also.

No other significant changes, except that I forgot to mention in an earlier post that I'm bruising really easily now. My legs are covered! I guess Lil Luther is stealing all my iron or something. I'll have to bring it up at my next doctor's appointment.

4th of July Weekend

Aaron and I got back yesterday from visiting Columbia for the 4th of July weekend. We had a pretty good time! We got to visit with his parents Thursday night. BJ, their new puppy, is so much bigger than we last saw her! And so full of energy! Friday we spent the early part of the day in the pool. We tried to get Sophie to go swimming, but she was not interested at all! We would drag her in there, and then she would just find the nearest dirt and roll around in it. haha! After we got cleaned up we went to Uncle Mike and Aunt Marlea's to visit with them and Alana and Justin. It felt like forever since we'd seen any of them, and it was so nice! We later went to Ben and Jeanette's house to spend time with friends. It was great to see everyone. On Saturday we woke up and went swimming. I eventually had to get out of the pool because I was afraid I'd throw up in it. My morning sickness really tried to get the best of me Saturday. I felt like I couldn't do anything without wanting to throw up. I finally ate some crackers and felt well enough to go over to Uncle Mike and Aunt Marlea's for her birthday and some fireworks! And this time, Nicole was there too! It was such a fun day! The fireworks were awesome, and it was just great to spend time with family. Sunday we went to brunch with Aaron's grandma, and then we hit the road for Athens. All in all, it was a pretty fun weekend.

At the doctor's I was told my morning sickness might pick up in the 6th or 7th week, and it definitely has. I'm still not throwing up though. I just feel miserable. A few friends have recommended I get Zofran from my doctor, but since I am still not throwing up, I think I might see if I can ride it out. It's weird, because it's not like a normal stomach flu or stomach ache. I can't predict what will make it feel better, and I think most of the time it's a fluke when I feel ok. It's strange.

Aside from the nausea, I've also been getting really really REALLY weird dreams. Last night I had a dream that I was at my old house and it was haunted (which I always thought it was). I was being attacked by flying clothes and hearing haunted voices. I even lost my vision in it at one point. I read that the dreams are just my anxieties about parenthood, and I can actually remember them because I'm sleeping more lightly now. They are way more vivid now than they have ever been. I can hear voices very distinctly and see images almost like in HD. It would normally be fine, except for when they are about a haunted house or something. I really wonder what they mean.

For the most part, the crampiness has gone away, and I'm not breaking out as bad as I first was. Who knew getting ready to be a mom meant you reexperience teenage trials? I'm still feeling tired all the time, but I have so much school work to do, I need to find energy and motivation from somewhere. I think I'm going to get a pregnancy yoga dvd and see if that'll help.

On a positive note, my nails are awesome! They have never been this long or strong.

In a few days I'll be 8 weeks pregnant. I can't believe the second month is nearing an end! I can't wait to see what is in store for us in the third month!

Eyelashes

Tomorrow we'll be seven weeks pregnant. I can't believe how slowly it's going! I just read that in my seventh week our baby is as big as a tic tac and weighs as much as an eyelash. For those of you that really know the weird things about me, you know how completely grossed out I am by stray eyelashes, so I'm trying not to hold it against our little one. haha.

I can't understand how small my appetite is. Literally nothing sounds good. It's awful. And when I do eat, I get full so fast. Yesterday was a hard day. I had to dissect fish with my students at UGA, and the smell of the formalin was too much for my nausea. Other than that, I am just really so tired. And lazy! I have so much to do for my classes this summer, but I have no motivation. All I want to do is lay around or sleep. My clothes also don't fit quite the same anymore, and I'm just feeling really fat. I can't wait until I am actually showing so I feel more like I'm pregnant and less like I need to go on a diet.

Athfest was over the weekend, and Aaron and I headed down both Friday and Saturday night. Friday night we went to see a sneak preview of the new Michael Cera movie Paper Heart at midnight. What a long night! I was so exhausted by the time we left, but boy was it a good movie! I love Michael Cera. Saturday night we went to watch one of Aaron's coworkers bands (he was in 3!). It was another long and exhausting night, but it was fun. We don't go out that often, and I know pretty soon we'll be going out less, so it was nice to just get out.

Aaron and I finally decided to get our house painted after the snow storm. We had an interesting experience with the painters, and despite a few tiny things we need to touch up, the house and deck look pretty good. We've ordered a gazebo for our back deck, and when it comes in and we've set it up, I'll take pictures to post for everyone.

Our garden is out of control growing so much, but nothing is ripe enough to pick yet. It's so frustrating. I can see so many tomatoes! I'm hoping within a week they'll start turning red. Not that I will be able to enjoy them this summer, with my stomach being the way it is, but at least I have some sort of green thumb! It's exciting!

I think this weekend we'll head to Columbia to visit with friends and Aaron's parents. I'm sad we aren't able to go to Ohio for our family reunion, but it'll be nice to be in Columbia. I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!