FYI

We find out whether we're having a boy or girl on March 19th at 3:00. If you haven't voted on my blog, get it done before I post on the 19th!

14 Weeks and Counting...

It's officially the 2nd trimester and I've decided it is time to start posting belly pics. My friend did this and it was fun to go back when her baby turned a year old and look at the pictures from when he was growing inside her. Per her suggestion, for the second trimester I'm going to take pictures every 4 weeks; when we hit the third trimester I'll start posting every 2 weeks.
Geoff took this photo of me this morning at 14 weeks 1 day. I thought, Geez, I don't look pregnant, just fat, but I don't usually feel that way in person. In fact, people have more often noticed lately that I've lost weight rather than gained it. I thought the lighting in the room was good, but this didn't turn out that great on color and brightness. Oh well, you get the idea.
My friend actually exposed her belly for the pictures, something you won't get to see here because my belly looks like I'm suffering abuse. There is no end in sight on the heparin injections unfortunately, as the bloodwork at 14 weeks still indicates that they are needed to supply the baby with high-quality oxygenated blood. I was bummed about this (my stomach skin is getting so tough from 2 shots a day for the past 12 weeks) but of course I'd do anything for this baby.
Anyway, I'll close the post with what I thought was a sweet story. One of my biggest fears about being pregnant was that Geoff had actually said to me that he wasn't sure he'd be able to find me attractive when I was pregnant. (I know, harsh!) Well, the other day I caught him staring at my belly and said, why are you staring at my belly? He said, I don't know, it's kind of cute. I thought I would just melt it made me feel so comforted. So score one for my husband, it appears that though he's never found a pregnant woman attractive before, the problem is remedied due to the fact that he's married to one. :)

Little Thumper

Well, we had our doctor's appointment yesterday at 13 weeks, 2 days. Just a few more days and I will be officially in my 2nd trimester! We heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time which was cool. No, for those asking, I have no idea what the heartrate was; I didn't think to ask. I was just told it was really strong and clear (it sounded like it to me!) and that the baby sounded like he or she was ready to jump right out of my womb.
The jury is still out on whether or not I am done with shots. I had bloodwork drawn and the nurse will call me Monday to tell me a, if I can stop the Heparin injections, and b, if I need to start back on the progesterone shots. I am praying that we're done with both.
The heartbeat was the coolest part of the appointment. We also went over some things I"m dealing with, mainly asthma, which is a new/old thing since I haven't had it since childhood. I seem to have the nighttime coughing variety which we are trying to combat with an inhaler before bed. Just started this, so we'll see how it works. The other issue is that I continue to lose weight at about a pound a week. Now, I've been really sick with a cold for the last three weeks, but I also am having trouble eating. Doctor's suggestion is to eat high calorie healthy peanut butter. I'm trying, but I'm really not at all hungry for anything at all.
And for those who keep asking, Thursday, March 19th we will find out whether we are having a boy or girl. So if you haven't voted yet on my blog poll, you need to do it before the 19th when I post. :)

Facebook

So I've had this conflict for a long time about joining Facebook. My problem with these sites is that they take up too much time. I have to have one friend I want to check in on each time I go on, or it would take a million years to see what everyone is up to.
Then there is the fact that you get a million invites to be friends with folks that you've never really been friends with to begin with. If you're one of my 38 friends right now, don't take that to mean I don't like you. It's just that many of you know we can call each other friends and plenty of you know we just simply have known each other in the past or know each other through a mutual friend.
Plus, I worry about the ex-factor. I know that I wouldn't want Geoff on there chatting with girls - especially old girlfriends. So our condition to my joining (and his if he ever decides to) is that we will clear friends of the opposite sex before accepting invitations.
Then I wonder how folks will feel if I reject them. I mean, there are certain folks out there who should understand being rejected (ex-boyfriends for example), but what about the folks I never particularly even knew all that well or the ones I can't remember. I'm already running into a little trouble with this one.
However, there are certainly advantages. I have several family members on Facebook, including cousins that I have never really contacted through other means and am happy to have this new connection to. Also, finding old friends is great - there have been several that I am so desparate to reconnect with that I still haven't found online - so this is a start. Others I have reconnected with and it's been wonderful.
So all of this is an excuse post to say I haven't been posting on my blog because when I get online, I've been trying to figure out this facebook stuff. Hope noone minds, but of the few of you who actually read my blog, most of you are either already on facebook or you talk with me so regularly it doesn't hurt your feelings when I don't post.
Don't worry - come August we are going to be turning out the blog posts faster than you'll be able to keep up with. I seriously cannot wait for this baby to get here!

Registered

So I spent the afternoon registering online for a bunch of things you can register for without knowing your baby's gender yet. Geoff and I saw some Crime TV show about a scam involving online baby registries that almost got a girl killed and her baby stolen, so we marked our target registry as private. I don't know if you'll have trouble accessing it by our last name at the store or not. If you do, please let me know so I can fix this.

You can go straight to it through this Target Registry Link:
http://www.target.com/registry/baby/014149900000184

I've also registered at Babies R Us, but I think for that one you just put in our last name to locate it. Again, let me know if you have trouble with it.

And hey - I'm a first time new mom, so I may be missing things that you think should be on there or may have things that you would advise me not to get - if that's the case, feel free to let me know, and I'll feel free to heed or not follow your advise as I see fit. :) Just know that I've already got a ton of what we need - our nursery is nearly complete and I intend to borrow from siblings and hit consignment sales once again before baby comes.

More Prayers for Rosemary

Rosemary called me yesterday from the hospital. I don't remember how much of her story I've posted here, but after she was acquitted for murder, my former neighbor discovered that the pain and urinary problems she had been having in jail were cancer. The cancer was in her kidney and had passed through to some of the surrounding lymph nodes. Over the past several months the doctors have removed the kidney and tried unsuccessfully to remove the lymph nodes.
In the midst of all of this, she's managed to get pregnant, with baby #5, who I helped to name Omari. Yesterday I had a call from her. They did an MRI because she continues to have severe pain in her lower back that is not baby related. Her cancer doctors found that the cancer on the lymph node which they can't remove is too severe for them not to treat it immediately. They also found that a spot they'd been watching on her liver has grown significantly, from about the width of a pencil lead to over 3 cm.
The doctors decided that the baby, now 29 weeks, would have to be c-sectioned out of there so they can begin the cancer treatment. So they shipped her to B'ham last night via ambulance and performed the c-section. I'm waiting to hear how that went. The baby will obviously go straight to the NICU and Rosemary to the cancer treatment center. The doctor gave her a 50/50 chance of making it through treatment. I plan to visit this weekend if I'm well, so I'm sure I'll have more news later.
For now, I just ask that we pray for Rosemary and Omari.
Thanks.