11 weeks, 3 days

It's almost over! I still have the normal morning sickness and have been relying on my Zofran (if you ever have symptoms of Hyperemesis Gradivarum, ask your doctor about it. It has been life-saving for me besides some annoying little headaches it causes.) I've been feeling so much better since Tuesday that I went back to work on Friday. It was a good day, just exhausting. I'm somewhat worried that a 5 day week is going to kill me. It's not the most accommodating job considering I have to pee every five minutes and I need to eat about every two hours. But I love my job so what can I say? Only six months and three days to go! Yippee!

So we decided to cancel our appointment to have genetic testing done to check for some chromosomal abnormalities (including Trisomy 18 and Down's Syndrome). Reason being the "ultrascreen" as it is called gives only a ratio or percentage of chance that the baby could have a chromosomal abnormality. If the test were to come back abnormal, they would tell us what our chances of having a child born with abnormalities would be, and offer further testing. The further testing available to us now is called amniocentesis. It's a process in which a needle is inserted - usually through the mother's abdominal wall (her stomach) or sometimes up through the vagina - and the amniotic sac is punctured and fluid is removed. Not only is the procedure painful, there is a small risk that it could cause miscarriage. To me, there is nothing that could be worth even the smallest of risks of miscarriage. So we've come to the conclusion that having an ultrasound only to give us a percentage and refusing further testing would only cause 6 months full of wonder, worry, and stress. So when the doctor encourages you to have testing done, do the research for yourself! I'll write more about some of the other available testing later when it's time to research them!

We have an anatomy ultrasound scheduled for March 12. They will also be able to tell the sex of the baby as long as he/she cooperates (yipee!!! I can't wait!). The ultrasound tech promises she will try really hard and have me roll over and shake it around if it's laying the wrong way. So that's less than a month away... i'm absolutely anxious! and my belly should start showing around that time too, so you'll get to see some yummy belly pictures. Apparently when I saw belly before it was mostly just bloating from gas (that's why I deleted pictures - nothing like a cute little belly full of gas). If you're already a mommy you know all about it. =o)

I'll tell you I've never experienced physically as many weird weird things as I have in the past month and a half. Gas pains, constipation, muscle pains, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and exhaustion. And I hear so many people say how immensely they enjoyed their pregnancies. What? Yes, I love this baby and would endure anything to bring it safely into the world, but I'm definitely not gonna lie and say I'm enjoying it. Hopefully it's just this beginning stuff and the middle will be tons of fun. I have to admit I'm looking forward to having a nice big glowing belly. It's not all bad to have large juicy breasts either... and they finally stopped aching... yay!

So I want to start working on a baby scrapbook, but I have to wait until March when we know what it is so I know which colors to use. I'm so anxious. Just for future reference, there won't be any baby books on my registry because I'm creating my own. I want it to be a certain way, and they don't sell them that certain way. I'm working now on a pregnancy journal that will eventually be filled with lots of belly pictures. Right now it consists of some ultrasound pictures and rantings and ravings about being sick. It's a little more therapeutic than a blog cuz there's certain things I don't exactly wanna shout out to whatever world out there is reading =o)

lol, rant much?


<3