We HAVE showage peeps!

Of course, a week before the wedding, baby O'Brien decides to make his debut by making my belly poke out a bit. Its not much, but noticable, and enough to make my dress just a little uncomfortable! I'm sure I'll be able to make it through the day though :)

Also just in time for the wedding, increased urination. Thats super fun. I feel like I'm in the john every five minutes after I drink water. And if I don't drink water, I swell up like a balloon, which is also very fun.

There was one of my pregnancy tickers that said "Mommy's uterus is the size of a grapefruit, which is exactly what she'd like to throw at Daddy right about now".....I think it was around week 8 or so.......I didn't really understand it until now. There have been a handful of times where I've just snapped at Pat for no reason, or gotten angry over the silliest little things. Luckily though - he's handled it like a champ :) He's a good man, that Pat O'Brien!

I've been so lucky to not have any of these symptoms of pregnancy, and I get them all right before I get hitched.....*sigh* Couldn't it just have waited one more week???

OH, and just in case you're wondering, my belly is still hairy. So much so, in fact, that it actually had some static electricity goin on yesterday. I was adjusting my preggo band pants, and saw all the little hairs sticking straight out. Its so strange.

ACK!

I just officially shared it with the world!

BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT

We've told immediate friends and family, and said its OK to spread the news, but this is the first time we're officially saying it out loud - shouting from the rooftops - WE'RE GONNA HAVE A BABY!!!!!!!!

It feels so strange! I'm actually shaking right now!!!! Somehow - it makes it all more real - more exciting! *Whew* and I'm relieved somewhat as well. It just feels sooooo goooooood!

Hooray :) Boo Hiss :(

::::: HOORAY! :::::
My headaches I've been complaining about for the past couple of weeks (as well as the jaw pain) have finally been resolved. I have a severly strained jaw muscle, with a big Charlie Horse in it! I can't take all sorts of muscle relaxers being all pregnant and stuff, but the dentist did do some massages and show me some stretches to do at home. He's a cool dude, and got me in right away. I think Dr. Padleckas rules!

::::: HOORAY! :::::
I found a bathing suit!!! SUPER cute at Target today. Its a two piece tankini type thing, with brown bottoms with this cute cinchy ties at the sides, and a funky brown/teal tie dye thing going on up top. Fits great now, but definitely LOTS of room to grow too. The great thing is that it still looks good now, even with room to grow later. I'm excited about it!

::::: boo hiss :::::
I still have another cute bathing suit on order from motherhood. Hopefully that one fits too, so I don't have to return it. A girl should always have at least two swimsuits, right?

::::: HOORAY! :::::
I told all the peeps in my office yesterday that I'm pregnant! It felt good to get it out - even better because I LOVE the attention, and I love seeing people genuinely happy and excited that Pat & I are going to be parents :) Such a great feeling! One of the secretaries, Lorraine, kept calling me Mama - I totally was soaking it up!

::::: boo hiss :::::
The big boss - (basically my boss's boss's boss - the guy who was in charge of making sure I got back to the US and sent me to Mexico) was less than enthused about the whole thing. It was kind of like a "Oh great, she just gets back and gets knocked up - another one bites the dust". First of all - pppppttttthhhhhhh - second of all, I'm not planning on just giving up this great job that I have.....and pppppptttttthhhhhh for thinking people can't be great mothers and great employees. UGH. It just irks me. And, if I wanted to stay home and be a mom, thats my prerogative - its my job to take care of my personal life first, then business second. So if I decided to leave (which I've pretty much decided I won't) and it screws the business - than I guess I'm just stickin' it to THE MAN who has screwed all those other employees before. Its not personal. Just business.

::::: HOORAY! :::::
I'm probably going to officially tell the rest of the world today - if I ever get around to announcing it on my other blog. We'll see what's up!

And LAME-O was his NAME-O

Wow man, I didn't think St. Patrick's Day would bother me so much. I feel kind of left out now that I am not drinking at all. Now, don't get me wrong people, I'm not a drunk, but I like a beer as much as the next girl....and I guess since I "can't" have one - the more I want one, you know?

It hasn't been a big deal. Pat and I have been out plenty of times and I've stuck to water, or cranberry and soda with a lime twist. Now and again I'll even partake in an O'Douls or other such non-alcoholic beer. But, sometimes, you just want the real thing, you know? At least I finally found a reason for non-alcoholic beer. I always thought "What's The Point?!". There are some pretty tasty choices out there, too! In one motherhood magazine that I picked up, there was actually a summary of taste testing various brands of feaux beer - now THAT's the kind of pregnant stuff I LOVE to see in a magazine - something that is really pertanent to me and my life, and not something about how anything non-organic is going to make your child grow a third eye en utero.

But this weekend, there was a lot of drinking and carrying on, and there I was, with my green O'Douls or water or whatever, trying so hard to have fun, but not really being into it all. I even had to take a couple naps. I just felt, overall, LAME-O. In fact, I was singing Carli Simon's "You're So Vain" but substituting Lame for Vain at one point on Sunday morning. I'm not sure why....I've gone through periods in my life before where I haven't drank, but maybe because its tied so much into the O'Brien family culture it keeps me feeling left out. Its totally self implemented - no one at any point in the weekend made me feel bad about it (I mean, they all KNOW I'm pregant for pete's sake!). My almost sister in law Kristen and I talked about how she felt the same way when she was carrying each of her three kids. I guess it just comes with the territory.

Funny thing - we were at a party Friday night, and our friend's dad is a retired OB/GYN (you know, the kind of town doctor where people introduce themselves and say "Dr. Gallagher! You delivered me and my 7 brothers!"). Anyway, he said "aw honey - that's all blarney. My wife drank a Manhattan three times a week when she was pregnant with all 8 of our kids. Have a real beer if you'd like." Ok, so maybe I was exaggerating with the blarney part (although it was St. Patrick's Day weekend) - but he did say that! Ah - I love old people. They are so cute!

ugh.

Still suffering from these stinkin' headaches. I've decided its probably due to allergies / sinus issues. I'm taking some sudafed....but I'm also going to go to the dentist sometime next week to see if my bite plate needs to be adjusted, because I'm having some tension in my ear/throat/jaw as well.

Appointment went well yesterday, except that I had to wait FOR.EV.ER for the doc. I had a chick doc instead of Dr. Kelsey - because he was on vacation until next week...and I didn't want to wait that long. She was OK - kind of rushed - but OK.

She listened for the heartbeat with the dopplar thingy (it kind of looks like a mouse, which they move around on the belly, attached to a speaker) on my belly, but couldn't find it :( so we went and did a quickie abdominal ultrasound just to make sure everything was OK. It was :) There was little blob O'Brien squirming about on the screen, with a healthy heartbeat and all. It was so stinking ADORABLE!!!! Little feet kicking, arms and hands touching its face! HA! A real baby!

I'll get another ultrasound tomorrow - its part of the 1st trimester screening. They use a high resolution ultrasound and take measurements - and based on that they can tell you whats "normal" and what might be indicative of genetic abnormalities. I guess the high res ultrasound is cool though - much nicer than normal ones in doctor offices.

Its a bit of a bummer though because Pat can't be with me to see the ultrasound. He's got a pretty important meeting - and we couldn't reschedule the appointment cuz they were all booked up. Oh well - I'll be OK I'm sure. I might try taking a movie with my cell phone so he can see the baby moving about though. Its quite an improvement from the first ultrasound we had!

Swelling stinks and other musings

:::::::::::::::::: WEIGHT ::::::::::::::::::
Up til now I haven't really gained much of any weight at all, which is really really good I think. But about this time, around 12 weeks or so, most of the experts say that you should be starting to gain about a pound a week. I didn't think this would be a big deal, but I'm up a pound this morning and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Good for baby, I suppose, but bad for me. My goal, overall, is not to gain more than 20 pounds or so. Doc agreed that was probably a good number. General guideline for a single baby pregnancy is 25 - 35 pounds, but since there is a little more of me to love to start out with, being on the low end of that number is a good thing. Besides, if I only gain 20 pounds, that keeps me below 200 pounds. I think if I ever went above that number I might flip out - it would be very bad emotionally (not to mention physically) for me.

:::::::::::::::::: SWELLING ::::::::::::::::::
Aside from the weight gain, the past couple of days I have begun to swell. Icky. That isn't fun at all. My fingers and toes are beginning to look like sausages. I'm not sure why that is - I guess it would be because I have been a water slacker as of late. So, I'm going to concentrate on hitting that 64 oz mark each day. Hopefully that will help.

:::::::::::::::::: ATTIRE ::::::::::::::::::
I purchased a Bella Band last week, and it arrived Friday. Its a tube-top looking thing that you put over your belly and the top of your pants to hold them up - so I can still wear my regular jeans and pants with the top button unbuttoned, and also wear my maternity stuff that is still a bit too big. Great invention - for sure! Like I said, I haven't gained much weight, but the bloat factor and body changing is definitely making my pants not fit quite right. This thing is fabulous!

I also ordered a bathing suit and some preggo shorts - I'll definitely be needing those when we go to Tucson in May for Pat's mother's College Graduation. I hope it fits well! I'll find out this week when it gets here!

:::::::::::::::::: HEADACHES ::::::::::::::::::
I've always been a sufferer of migranes, and for the most part, since the inception of this pregnancy, they have occured less frequently than normal. I would get them before at least 3 days a month, and these past three months I think I've had less than 3 total. That is, until Friday. It started as a dull roar, then got so bad that I finally had to resort to taking tylenol. Which normally doesn't help at all. I've always taken Excederine for my headaches, its the only thing that really packs a punch and takes them away. Anyway, Asprin for preggos is a big no no, so I stuck with the lightweight stuff.

Well, it stayed with me for three (count em - 3) days. Not full migrane strength the entire time - but Friday night and Saturday afternoon were horrible. It finally went away Sunday morning after I went for a run. So maybe its just my body telling me that I need to get out and move my butt more.

Week 11 - 203 days to go!!

Here's what pregnancy.org has to say about this fantastic week #11:
Your fig-size baby is now fully formed — measuring 1 1/2 inches long and weighing in at a quarter of an ounce. His skin is still transparent, allowing many of his blood vessels to show through. Some of his bones are beginning to harden. His fingers and toes have separated, and he may soon be able to open and close his fists. He's already busy kicking and stretching, and his tiny movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. These movements will increase as his body grows and becomes more developed and functional. As your baby's diaphragm develops, he may also start getting the hiccups. Because he's still so small, you won't feel any of his aquatic workouts or intrauterine gulps for another month or so.

And....from BabyGaGa.com:
Your little growing fetus is about the size of an apple this week, getting heavier all the time, and is learning lots of complicated behaviors like the swallowing reflex and coordinated response that allow them to touch their face. You're hopefully starting to experience a lessening of the morning sickness symptoms as the placenta takes over hormone production fully.

Crazy eh? Baby Blob O'Brien is getting bigger by the SECOND :) HA!

My appointment today at the neurologist went well. Apparently the numbness is fairly common occurance, normally attributed to drastic weight gain, trauma to the hips or back, pregnancy, or in my case, for no reason at all. And, its normal for it to worsen a bit because of being pregnant. So I'm not dying (HOORAY!). I'm just supposed to keep exercising and see if it gets any better or worse. However, I have to put an official ix-nay on the unning-ray, because it could make it worse. Not like I've been running much anyway (since its all of -2000 degrees outside). I'll still be doing the 8K for the Shamrock Shuffle - just much slower than everyone else!

So, how have I been feeling you might ask? Well, pretty darn good! I'm approaching the 2nd trimester, and that is pretty exciting, because it means we're 1/3 of the way done! WHOO HOOO! Time is just A FLYING by - its crazy! I'm still maintaining my weight, (down 1 pound overall) which is good, but I should probably start increasing my intake here after my next OB check in (next week). I haven't been eating SUPER healthy, but I have been doing my best to not pig out on junk food :) Despite the non-weight gain and water consumption (I drink at least 32 oz, but aim for 64 per day), I'm starting to feel rather bloated and huge at night. Enough so that I *have* to take my pants off at night and put cool pants on (cool pants = pj pants)...thank goodness for cool pants!

My dad and brother came by yesterday to pick up some things out of storage (I hope you're enjoying your new washer and dryer Mom!) and my dad was - CA-racking me up! He didn't want me to do anything!!! I would climb up to get something off the top shelves and he'd say "Should you be doing that? You should get down" or if I was carrying something he'd say "Are you sure that's not too heavy? You're not supposed to carry anything". Even at lunch I grabbed the tray with our sandwiches on that and he told Keith to carry it for me. It was so stinkin' cute! Maybe Pat should take some tips from Dad on how to take care of me :) I finally had to tell Dad that yes, I'm sure I was OK doing those things and assure him I was just pregnant and not handicapped.....but it was nice for someone to be concerned.

OK - the baby is hungry, so I must eat. There's some leftover pizza calling its name :)

Appointments galore

I've got a few appointments this week.....

Wednesday, I'm seeing a neurologist to talk a bit about the numbness I've had in my left thigh since November.....my OB didn't really think it was a big deal, but since its been spreading and tingling a lot lately, I figured it would be best to get it checked out now. On Thursday, I'm going to get blood drawn for the 1st trimester screening (the genetic testing stuff). I'll have results by next week.

On a side note, I had appointments today for the kitty cats (no Mom, I'm still not giving them away after Baby is born) and they are in fabulous health. Hooray!

Things that make you go hmmm....

During our last OB visit we were given the option of early genetic testing to determine if there are any potential defects which would effect Baby Blob O'Brien's development. Two were invasive procedures - the most commonly known is an Amniocentesis, the other is called CVS (or something like that) where they insert a tube through the cervix and then take samplings of fetal tissue. Those are the only two methods that can tell 100% the sex of the child, as well as the presence of any genetic abnormalities such as spinobifida or down’s syndrome. There are also some screening tests that you can do with simple blood drawing or measurements taken during an ultrasound. Not invasive procedures, but also no risk of miscarriage…also a much more subjective approach – they just take a look at red flags based on measurements of the baby or different things in your blood.

If insurance pays for it, we’ll be doing some of the non-invasive screening. But, if not, we won’t worry about it. These tests were usually only offered to women over the age of 35, where risk factors become greatly increased, but Pat has some family history of down’s syndrome / mental retardation……enough to make us just the slightest bit concerned.

The big issue with this genetic testing is what to do with the information? I think the medical profession looks at it as this: early detection of potential problems gives people a more viable option of termination of the pregnancy. I guess in that type of situation, the earlier, the better. Neither of us are proponents of abortion – so for us, that wouldn’t be an option. But I think just knowing if you are going to have a special needs child before hand does have its advantages…although can anything ever prepare you, really?

On another note......I chose a prenatal vitamin. Hooray! It's the cute purple one :) Goes down easy, comes out smooth HAHAHAHA!!! I should be able to pick them up tomorrow!