Tuesday 30 January 2018

16 Week Update

Sixteen weeks today! It's hard to believe. I've gotten a bit worried over the last few weeks about baby since I don't feel movement (the rational part of me is saying stop worrying, it's still too early), but after feeling it and then not, I can't help myself. I have an OB appointment on Monday morning so I'm hoping my OB will either bring in the ultrasound machine or listen to the heartbeat to ease my mind.

How far along? 16 weeks

Total weight gain: 12 lbs. I have decided to start working out with the hubby, so I hope that helps me slow down. Short and small workouts, but it's something.

Maternity clothes: For sure!

Stretch marks: So far, just the one that got worse around my ostomy.

Sleep: It's still okay. Over the past few days I've been extremely tired come bed time again, like falling asleep on the couch tired.

Miss anything? I miss wearing my regular ostomy appliance. But since the regular isn't flexible enough for my rounding belly, I had to switch.

Food cravings/aversions: I caved into my KD and hot dogs and funny story about that. I wasn't paying too much attention while making it and added too much milk. I was SO upset. I started to cry. It was a bit ridiculous actually, but it is what it is. The hot dogs were amazing! I don't seem to have one particular craving, but when I see something, I need it! Like macaroni salad at the moment.

Showing: Yes. The bump seems to be growing now each week.

Gender: The plan is for it to be a surprise!

Labour signs: No, and I hope not for a while!!

Symptoms: Growing bump and large breasts. Congestion as well...I am a mouth breather at night all of the time

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding ring on or off? On!

Happy or moody most of the time: I would say happy most of the time. Also emotional. I just start to cry and I try my best to stop it from happening. Kind of like a sneeze you feel coming on.

Looking forward to: My OB appointment on Monday so I can hopefully hear or see the little babe.

Tuesday 23 January 2018

15 Week Update

Today marks 15 weeks of pregnancy. The past two weeks have flown by for me. I got married to the man of my dreams on January 13th and I have to say, I was sad when the wedding was over. It was just so much fun. And everything leading up to the big day. All of our friends and family helped make it such a memorable day. And last week we were on our honeymoon. We went to a ski resort because both Chris and I snowboard. This mama did not do any snowboarding. Instead, I hung back the hotel, got cozy in coffee shops, and went snowshoeing twice. My first experience was awful though because I somehow ended up on a black diamond ski trail instead of the snowshoe trail and let me tell you, snowshoeing up a black diamond is torture. I definitely earned my hot chocolate that day!

Since I am 15 weeks already (it seems like it is passing rather quickly), I thought it would be fun to do the weekly pregnancy updates.

How far along? 15 weeks

Total weight gain: I am going to say 10 lbs and stick with my post IVF weight

Maternity clothes: Yes. I have been wearing maternity pants since I was 9 weeks along. My pants were squeezing and were so uncomfortable and I am definitely someone who likes to be comfy

Stretch marks: I had a few stretch marks from my last pregnancy around my stoma (I have an ileostomy) and it looks like the one has gotten worse.

Sleep: I seem to be sleeping okay but I don't think I get into very deep sleeps. And I feel like I toss and turn a lot to get comfy.

Miss anything? I missed snowboarding last week. It was a little emotional for me towards the end of our honeymoon that I couldn't snowboard. A small sacrifice though and I can't complain!

Food cravings/aversions: Sour candy is definitely a craving. Never mind the candy, just give me that sugar! Also, I have been craving KD and hot dogs...which I think is going to have to happen this week.

Showing: Yes. And the bump gets even bigger as the day goes on from bloat.

Gender: The plan is for it to be a surprise!

Labour signs: No, and I hope not for a while!!

Symptoms: Growing bump and large breasts. Congestion as well...I am a mouth breather at night all of the time

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding ring on or off? On! I just got it!

Happy or moody most of the time: I would say happy most of the time

Looking forward to: Feeling this babe move again. I am pretty positive at the beginning of my honeymoon I was feeling the babe move, but since then, I haven't felt anything.

Thursday 11 January 2018

Ready to Share

I know many of you have been following along on my journey and you have been waiting for me to share the outcome of our most recent IVF cycle. Thank you for being patience and giving us the time we needed.

Without further suspense for you all, we are pregnant!!! What a miracle God has given us. Throughout the entire IVF cycle, I had a sense of peace and calmness and I know that came from God. It was the same feeling God gave me when I did my frozen transfer with my now 3 year old. It seems that all along, God has been whispering to me that everything will be okay, enjoy this time. And that's what I've been doing.

With my last pregnancy, I worried every minute of every day and I missed a lot of the joy of being pregnant. With this pregnancy, I have enjoyed every second. We even started taking bump pics at 5 weeks because I was determined to enjoy every moment I could.

After our IVF transfer, I was anxious to be able to test. I don't think I would ever be one to wait the two weeks and wait for blood work. I was stocked and ready to go with pregnancy tests. On day 4 past my 5 day transfer, I took a test in the evening. It came back negative, which was not a surprise. What surprised me is I didn't feel any panic at all. I took it as good news that the trigger shot was out of my system. The next morning, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning with a full bladder and decided to take another test. I was only 5dp5dt so I told myself if it came back negative, I couldn't be upset. Well, it was a positive. A very faint positive, a squinter in fact, but it was there. I surprised myself and stayed calm and went back to bed until the morning. That morning, I decided to tell Chris and show him the test. He was excited but he seemed skeptical (obviously he doesn't have my trained squinting eyes). So later that day I decided to buy a FR test. When I took the test, I had a moment of panic because the line didn't appear right away. About 30 seconds later, it was there, clearly there. Clear enough for my to take a picture and send to Chris, a line he could trust was telling us we were pregnant.

The past 13 weeks have been amazing. I had morning sickness between weeks 6-8 where I felt like I had a hangover all day. Those were long days but everything has been so worth it. Our due date is officially July 17th and I cannot wait to meet our little miracle. God is so good!