six weeks

Dearest third child.

There will be no photo this week.  And uh, probably a big ol' fat chance of one next week.  I promise I love you no less than your sisters.  But honestly, life is crazy and it is only going to get crazier, so please excuse me for not documenting my non existent belly for a few weeks.  Thanks.  I promise once there is an actual belly I'll at least take a picture on my phone.

I really do love you.

Whew, ok, moving on.

This has been quite the week!  My first doctor's appointment was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.  My mom was in town with my dad for some meetings and she wanted to go shopping, so we ventured to the mall, with the excuse that I wanted to get home a little early to work on wrapping presents or something.  Naturally while there, my doctor's office called asking if I could make it there in 30 minutes because a surgery had been pushed back and she wouldn't be available that afternoon.  I was flustered, but tried to play it off like it was a follow up from my chemical pregnancy.  So my mom took me home and I headed over there.

The appointment went fine, my blood pressure was 102/76, I chatted with my doctor, and they drew some blood.  I was in and out really quick so I texted my mom and asked if she wanted me to meet her for lunch.  I headed her way, and we sat down at California Pizza Kitchen for some food.  While we were waiting for our meal she asked me how my appointment went.  I said oh fine, everything looks good, I'm alive.  And she responded with, "And you're not pregnant?"  Haha, shoot.  She was on to me, and I couldn't hide it.  So I told her :o).

The high of the day was short lived, because by that evening I was run over by a stomach bug semi truck.  It was miserable.  I stopped throwing up in the wee hours of the morning, and had ventured out of the bedroom around 9am.  Not much later I got a call from the doctor's office.  My HCG quant looked good, with a number of 27,105.  They had also checked my progesterone, and while it was within normal pregnancy limits (they said they look for above 10), it was low at 12.  So they called in a script for progesterone supplements.  The nurse also said my doctor wanted an ultrasound for viability, and was I able to be there by 11:30am?  Mind you I was still feeling somewhat close to death, but I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to see that little baby.

I was nervous, because at six weeks it really is a toss up whether or not the heart will have started beating yet.  So not seeing a heartbeat wouldn't mean the pregnancy wasn't viable.  But it sure would have stressed me out.  But almost immediately after the tech started the scan I saw the little flickering heart.  I was so relieved and happy.  The baby measured 3mm, or 5W6D.  Off by one day from what I thought, so for now I'll go with that.  I scheduled my next appointment for January 21st, I look forward to hearing the heartbeat! 

how far along:  6 weeks (compare to 6 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:   according to the bump a sweetpea, a mere .25 inches.  Baby should be sprouting some eyes, a nose, ears and cheeks this week!

weight gain:  As of this morning, I'm down 4.5 pounds from my starting weight.  But seeing as I was puking my guts up for about 10 hours straight with some hellish stomach bug I'm not all that surprised.  I haven't had any real food aversions or lack of appetite yet, so I'm sure I'll gain that all back soon.

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms:  Slight nausea and headaches.  And bloating.  Bloating is so damn annoying.

exercise:  I managed to run a total of 11.65 miles and walk 1 mile.

cravings/aversions:  Sometimes nothing sounds good and sometimes I want to eat everything right at that very moment.  The latter isn't very helpful with this whole bloating thing.  Really more than anything I am just too plain lazy and tired to cook anything.  Suppose I should remedy that.

movement:  nope.

sleep:   I go to bed freezing cold and wake up sweating like crazy.  And then I'm just really uncomfortable and can't sleep.  Plus my children haven't been sleeping well so nobody in our house is sleeping.  UGH.

gender:  I'm leaning towards a boy.  Then again, I've thought a boy the last two times and been quite wrong, so there's that.

looking forward to:  Christmas.  Other than that, nothing really.

worries:  Really hoping that the progesterone supplements do their job, and my levels don't drop low enough to endanger the pregnancy.

what's different this time:  The progesterone supplements.  Also, I have this really heavy feeling low in my belly.  I don't remember it the last two pregnancies.  It is different than the bloating.  And I feel like I was more tired the last two pregnancies.  I'm sure the fatigue will come, and I have been tired, but not like I'm going to die if I don't go to sleep tired.

best moment this week:  Seeing the little babe's heart beating.  I don't think it matters how many pregnancies you go through, an early ultrasound with that itty bitty heart beat is just amazing.  Somehow my body is taking two little cells and turning them in to a freaking human.  There is a speck measuring just millimeters inside me, with a beating heart.  How is that even possible?