The good old days...

Having dinner at Palomino's before the show...

Just getting started...

Christy, me, Nat, and Paige

Nothing like a New Kid's concert to make you want to be a little pre-teen again. They were highlight of my early years. The bad hair, and clothes were just the cherry on top. So Nat, Paige, Christy, and I headed to the much anticipated New Kid's concert. I had been excited since July. It was so worth the wait! We had such a good time! We stood all night. I really did feel young again. It was the most I had moved since July! I had been so afraid to move anything that had to do with the baby that my moves had been so minimal. I was actually sore from dancing the next day! It felt good to just relax and let loose. I am so happy that we all got to go together. We each really appreciated their classic dance moves, the pants dropping Donnie, and the shirtless Jordan. Classic...

Just checking...

Well I am very lucky in that I have a brother-in-law that does ultrasounds. Right at my 12 weeks I started to get a little paranoid. I happened to go on a field trip on the school bus that scared me. Of course I have first pregnancy paranoia. Anyhow, I was airborne for like two seconds and slammed into the seat. Common sense should have told me not to sit in the back of the bus. So I was weirded out by that and decided to go ahead and call on my brother-in-law Mark. Last Sunday morning I had like a 20 minute ultrasound! It was great! The baby was already sucking it's thumb! I had just seen it at 10 weeks and it was not even close to doing that. This actually looked like a baby. He said that everything looked good so far! The heartbeat was at around 164, which according to old wive's tales would mean that I was having a girl! Well I know better, so I won't hold my breath. I have always felt like I was having a boy for some reason. I guess only time will tell! I am hoping to find out at 16 weeks. The first weeks are just taking forever...

Almost there...

Not much going on at 12 weeks!

So this first trimester has been intense. The intense part comes from this trimester just being a scary time during the pregnancy. One can't get too excited because it just may not work this time. I basically have feared that this entire time. I have been excited, but not fully. I am always holding back. As I come close to the end of my trimester, I can't help but to feel more settled into my reality. This may just work this time! Aside from my little setback that I had at six weeks, this has been a pretty uneventful pregnancy thus far. I have had the basic symptoms like super fatigue, no appetitite, and of course frequent visits to the bathroom. I fall asleep great, but toss and turn throughout the night. That is kind of annoying. Other than that everything has been great. I am looking forward to the future and can't wait to be in my second trimester. Apparently my appetite will come back with a vengeance! I am looking forward to that. I eat alot of soup right now, and bean burritos. I don't crave those things, but my stomach seems to be okay with them. I am ready to be hungry! I love food. However, my legs are starting to change. I kind of fear what will happen to them in the next few months. They are kind of growing! What is going on? I am not even showing or anything. Well I am not wanting to complain because I have wanted this to happen and I totally welcome it. It is still funny to me though...

Back to normal...

Three weeks between appointments is soooo long! I know that the stretch gets even longer later, but for me, this was that longest I had gone without seeing a doctor. I didn't know if the baby was still there, or if it was growing ok. I was still feeling very very tired, and did not have an appetite. So all seemed like it was going well. The only thing that worried me was that I stopped taking my progesterone shots at 8 weeks. All of my other IVF friends did not stop until 10 or 11 weeks. Apparently, the placenta starts to take over making progesterone. Well, I was concerned that my placenta would be the one that wouldn't do what it was supposed to. Naturally, I called my doctor over at the IVF place, and she said not to worry. I asked her if someone's placenta ever did not make the progesterone when it was supposed to and she said no. I instantly stopped worrying about it. Phew! Well Neal and I got to go to my regular OB for my 10 week visit. There was our little alien moving!! It had arms and legs and a gigantic head! Whoa! The head was moving side to side and the arms were flapping. It was nuts. I wasn't expecting that. We also got to hear the hearbeat. It was great! It was loud and fast. She answered some of our questions, and there were quite a bit! I felt really great about our appointment, and just felt this great relief come over me. We made it past a very critical point in development! We are just taking it one day at a time, and hoping that our baby continues to grow and develop like it is supposed to!

7 week visit

One of the perks of having IVF is getting ultrasounds earlier than people who conceive naturally. We were able to get this ultrasound at our seven week appointment. So this was our day to see the heart beating and find out how many beats it had. Of course, I was nervous as usual. Sure enough, our little seahorse was there and thriving! It's heartrate was at 134. It was so crazy to see how much it had changed in a week. The whole thing is just a huge miracle. How is it possible? The doctor felt that everything was going just fine, and that our due date would be May 1st. It was weird to think that much into the future, but it kind of made it real for me. So more good news. Every week that passes, I feel just a little better. As we were getting ready to leave the office, she went ahead and released me to my regular OB. I was actually really sad about it. This doctor gave us our baby that we had been wanting for what seemed like forever. We had gone through so much together, and it was just sad to say goodbye. I am pretty sure that we will be back in two years or so to try and have one more. So it is not goodbye forever! This visit was a little bitter sweet, but I am glad that all was still going well.

The Big Scare

6 week ultrasound

So pregnancy had been going so far so good. I was just feeling really tired, and a little nauseous. I was having some migraines every so often, but nothing major. I had just turned six weeks. It was a Friday, and I was at school. We had just had a fire drill, when I suddenly felt something. I decided to check it out, and sure enough I was bleeding. What in the world? Panic didn't quite set in right away. Luckily my friend and fellow first grade teacher Hillary was there. She took care of my class for me. Between where I was and the office, I changed directions three times. I didn't know what I was going to say or do. I finally started heading towards the office. By the time I got to the office, I was in complete panic mode. The first person I saw was my Principal. She got on her computer and got my doctor's number for me. She was really great about it. I went ahead and called my doctor's office. My hand's were shaking, and my face was all red and puffy. It was really frightening. I just remember thinking that this just could not be happening. My nurse said at first to just wait and see what happens, but I was not going for that. She told me to go ahead and come in. By this time, two of my other friends at school had come into the office where I was, and actually calmed me down a little bit. It makes such a difference when you work with such supportive people. It truly helped me. So then I went ahead and started driving. I call Neal, and he knew by the sound of my voice that something was wrong. He went ahead and left to meet me at the hospital. I then called Natalie. I didn't want to call any family. I didn't want to worry my mother if it wasn't necessary. Natalie started looking at some stuff on-line for me about bleeding. She helped me relax enough to start thinking rationally. By the time I got to the hospital I was feeling a little more optimistic. So I got my ultrasound, and there was this tiny thing still in there! The doctor even saw the flicker of the heartbeat! The blood ended up being a hemorrhage that would eventually seal itself off. Oh the relief! I was just told to take it easy, and rest. That night my sweet girlfriends from school sent over dinner, and Ty, Nat, and Kate came over. It was a nice ending to a horrible day.

Bye Franklin, Hello Macy

Murphy and Franklin

I mentioned that I lost my poor old dog Franklin in June. He just stopped walking one day and tensed up. We took him in and put him down. It was awful. He had kind of been falling apart, but it was still hard to see him like that. He was a really good dog. In August, we decided that we were ready for another dog. We had been wanting a boxer, so we decided to go with Legacy Boxer Rescue. They were awesome! We had to decided to go with a girl. I have never had a girl dog, so I was so excited to buy a pink collar! We finally got our dog, and her name was Casey. I thought that sounded to unisex, so we changed it to Macy. She is such a good dog. She is a little older(7), but that is okay. Old dogs need love too! Her and Murphy get along great, and we tested her with Kate(Ty and Nat's baby,) and James our nephew, and she did really well. We miss Frank, but Macy has already made us very happy!