Weekly check-in • week of 4/16

mrsmtothek

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days:

FTM/STM/STM+:

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise:

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of:

Upcoming appointments:

How are you feeling?

Rants / Raves:

Questions:

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures?

varimama

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days:11/24 8+3

FTM/STM/STM+:3rd time

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise:finding out June 3rd, I booked an elective ultrasound to find out 

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of: a blue pill or red pill

Upcoming appointments: nothing until May 12

How are you feeling? Nauseous, tired, tired of being nauseous and tired 😂 

Rants / Raves: It’s spring break week for my oldest and DH is out of state all week for training. Plus it’s raining like every day this week so we can’t just like go to a play ground and get energy out 

Questions: none

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures? Cheesy murder mystery movies like the ones on the Hallmark movies and mystery channel 

nomangos23

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days: 7w 4d

FTM/STM/STM+: STM

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise: Team finding out

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of: a seahorse the size of a 7w 4d baby

Upcoming appointments: Wednesday for a New Ob intake

How are you feeling? God awful make it stooooppp

Rants / Raves:The weather has been stunning her in Texas the last several days, sun helps my mood too much

Questions:

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures? opposite of varimama, I like the real murder mysteries. Dateline all the way 

UnwritteN12

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days:

11/2     11 wks, 4 days

FTM/STM/STM+:

5th baby

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise:

Surprise

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of:

Baby is the size of a fig and has distinct fingers and toes!

Upcoming appointments:

4/26

How are you feeling?

Overall ok. Still some nausea every once in a while. Tired as can be but that might have something to do with the momming of 4 other kiddos right now. Mentally and emotionally stressed. 

Rants / Raves:

We put the news out there this weekend. Lots of jokes about this being yet another set of twins but we told everyone that we've checked MULTIPLE times and it's just one this time. 

Questions:

None

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures?

Long, hot, QUIET baths.

UnwritteN12

@nomangos23 - Yes to the real murder mysteries! Snapped and Crime Junkie are my podcasts of choice. Also, the weather really was nice in TX this weekend. Even though it was a little warm for my taste on Saturday. I don't know how I make it through summers here!

ashsowers2020

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days: 11/11 — 10 weeks 2 days

FTM/STM/STM+: 3rd

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise: team finding out June 16th!! Can’t wait!

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of: I lost track lol but cannot wait until baby is big enough that I can feel the movements. My fave part of pregnancy.

Upcoming appointments: April 28th, I’ll hear little peanuts heart beat for the first time  

How are you feeling? A tiny nauseous today but it’s been a solid 4 days without extreme nausea!! Little victories that feel so big! 

Rants / Raves: none

Questions: nada

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures? Baking bread! My daughter makes fun of me every time I make a loaf because I get super excited and love the smell so much! But, because of how nauseous I have been I haven’t made any in weeks and I think my sourdough starter I made 8 months ago is in my fridge dying because it’s been weeks since I fed it 😩 I might attempt to revive it 😬

mrsmtothek

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days:
11/08 - 10w5d

FTM/STM/STM+:
STM+

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise:
Surprise 

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of:
Officially a fetus!

Upcoming appointments:
Next week

How are you feeling?
Meh. Still not super fantastic. Reducing my B6 at night helped a bit but honestly, I'm so sick of going to bed so early. I'm used to being a night owl and I don't often get nights alone with my husband, so it's been really affecting me mentally to sign off and go straight to bed as soon as the kids do. I literally had an anxiety dream last night where he wanted to divorce me lol. This isn't the first anxiety dream I've had about him so I know it's because I feel like we're not spending time together. He thinks it's hilarious. Side note the preggo dreams have been INSANE. Night before last I dreamt I had to find all of the Harry Potter books in a library using "accio Book!" and a wand wth

Rants / Raves: 
Because I slept 0% last night with my horrible dream I also have horrible nausea. Nights when I don't get good sleep are definitely correlated to feeling run down and terrible the next day. On the bright side I finished pruning all my hydrangeas this weekend and this week is supposed to rain, rain, rain. I'm glad I got it done in time.

Questions:
TMI - anyone struggling with diarrhea? I feel like there are weeks when I literally flip flop from diarrhea to being constipated lol.

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures?
TV rewatches (right now it's Friends). I will rewatch a TV show a million times over and I cycle through them over the course of the year. My anxiety makes it hard to watch new things by myself.

mrsmtothek

@varimama Did you guys have good weather this weekend? It's supposed to rain all week here too and this weekend was the biggest tease ever.

@nomangos23 the sun makes me feel INSTANTLY better!!! I miss TX weather sometimes, I lived in West Texas for a few years. Is it super humid where you are?

@UnwritteN12 I'm exhausted parenting 2, I don't know how you're doing 4! take it easy and rest when you can!

@ashsowers2020 you'll have to post some of your bread recipes on here! all I've been craving is bread.

UnwritteN12

@mrsmtothek - Ugh yes. I haven't thrown up except for once. It's been diarrhea the whole time and it's awful!

Also, same here as far as TV shows. BBT, Friends, Scrubs, even oldies like Frasier. 

varimama

@mrsmtothek yes this weekend and last week were such a tease here too! I’m ready for full on summer weather! Also I’m also flipping between constipation and diarrhea and it’s so uncomfortable and frustrating 🫤

@ashsowers2020 i love baking bread too! I try to feed my sourdough starter every other week even if I’m not baking but mine has been getting neglected a bit lately too 

@nomangos23 I like the real ones too! Since my oldest was born though I can’t handle any that involve children though so I tend to stick to the cheesy ones now bc they are safer 

Kiek

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days:

11/2 

FTM/STM/STM+:

STM+

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise:

Team definitely finding out. Team super comfortable being a girl mom since that’s all I know for the last decade and we are a very comfortable girl house 😂. Team a boy would be a very fun change up lol

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of:

I don’t remember lol

Upcoming appointments:

First week of May. I forget that too lol

How are you feeling?

Better. I thought the nausea was over and it mostly is. But it hits me at the most random times. The fatigue is kicking my tush l

Rants / Raves:

Rant: prenatals make it damn near impossible for me to poop 😂 I don’t love that lol

Rave: I got a lot more of my garden planted today so I feel really good about that

Questions:

Nothing 

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures?

Potato chips lol. I love them. I can’t buy them ever because I have zero self control 😂

shinyobjects

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days: 

Nov 16/9 weeks 5 days

FTM/STM/STM+: STM+

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise: Team Boy! (We did ivf with tested embryos so we already know)

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of:

A canapé 

Upcoming appointments:

Tomorrow! Ultrasound and first appointment with my ob

How are you feeling? SO tired

Rants / Raves: rant: anyone else a Love is Blind fan? I was so excited for the reunion all weekend and then the delay just totally ruined my night and had me SO pissed!

Questions: none

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures?

Romance novels. They’re quick reads and you can get so immersed in a silly story. It’s a great escape. I love them. 

nomangos23

@UnwritteN12 oh Im so glad you said that because I've been having the same digestive issues and I had no idea it was "a thing" in early pregnancy. I've been convinced I've had a stomach flu the last month lol

@mrsmtothek It CAN get humid here but it's not like Houston or anything. We probably have 25% of our days with awful humidity. 

@Kiek What did you plant this year? I've been feeling too crappy to drag myself out and plant anything. I think I'll do just a simple herb garden and maybe some tomatoes this year while I get to now our beds/soil/lighting better (we just moved here in December) 

Kiek

@nomangos23 I planted tomatoes, red beets, zucchini, patty pan squash, cukes, two different types of melons, okra, and onions. In May I’ll plant my peppers and sweet potatoes. I feel you on working on the soil. We moved here in 2020 and the soil was garbage. Every year we’ve added layers of nutrients to get it healthier. Last year I had a really healthy garden and this past winter we did some serious amendments to the soil to take it to the next level. This is definitely the slowest I’ve ever gotten my garden planted because it just wears me out lol. But I worked too damn hard on this soil to miss this summer Garden 😂

kiki047

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days: 11/11, 10w3d

FTM/STM/STM+: FTM 

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise: Team finding out! NIPT done, get results in 2 weeks at our NT scan

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of:  Timbit (little Canadian reference, lol), aka a donut hole? 

Upcoming appointments: Nuchal translucency scan on May 1st, where we'll also get our NIPT results, AND graduate from our fertility clinic! Holy moly, is this real life?!

How are you feeling? Ehhhhh. Not great, not terrible. I had a terrible cold last week and am just left with this hacking cough that two doctors have now said is "just running its course". So that's fun. I cough til I puke, then I cough some more. It also makes me pee myself a little, which is just great. Pregnancy is so glamorous. 

Rants / Raves: Rant - Not really a rant but my body hates vegetables right now. Fruit is fine, most veggies are a hard pass. Rave - finally getting some of my energy back now. AND we got to see baby wiggling and dancing around on the US on Sunday, s/he has the most perfect little fingers and toes   

Questions: How do you get enough protein in your diet?? Most meat makes me gag, and there's only so many eggs and avocados I can eat. I try to do a smoothie with collagen powder once a day but I know that's not enough. I'm hoping this is just temporary, but I started tracking my macros because I knew I wasn't coming anywhere close to what I should be getting and it's true. Eating is just such a struggle. 

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures? French fries. Which are keeping me alive right now, lol. My diet is like 70% fries and chicken fingers. 

Kiek

@kiki047 I’ve been eating a lot of Greek yogurt with fruit and granola. That’s been really helping me hit my protein 

kiki047

@nomangos23 ugh, hope you get some relief soon friend. 
@varimama ooh cheesy Hallmark movies, that's another guilty pleasure lol. I have like 2857 Christmas ones on my PVR right now that I'm still working my way through.
@ashsowers2020 my poor starter is also dying in the back of my fridge. Thankfully I froze a bit of it so maybe I can revive it but there's nothing better than freshly baked bread. 
@mrsmtothek omg LOL to your Harry Potter dream. That sounds both hilarious and entertaining. Sorry about your nightmare though, I get those when DH and I don't get enough time together too, as does he. It's so unsettling. I hope you can get some quality time together soon! 
@kiek jealous of your garden, it's snowing here today. I'm wayyy late getting seeds started this year, but I use my aerogarden so it does speed it up a lot. We'll see if I can get those started this week. 

jvbirdgirl

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days: 11/4 - 11 weeks 3 days

FTM/STM/STM+: FTM

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise: Team Finding Out ASAP

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of: Bee Hummingbird! So cute!

Upcoming appointments: Next check in with the nurse practitioner is May 4

How are you feeling? Okay. I've definitely been feeling better since 10 weeks. Much more energy and way less constant nausea. I still feel sick in the afternoons, but it seems easier to manage. 

Rants / Raves: I can't believe I'm almost to 12 weeks! With each passing week, I'm more and more happy to be counting down the days to meet my little one.

Questions: Does anyone else feel giant at this point? I'm a FTM and have heard that FTMs typically don't start showing until later. Maybe it's still bloating but I just feel SO BIG. I suppose a lot of it must be bloating, but I'm just not sure. I'm feeling so self conscious about it, especially at work where people don't know I'm pregnant. 

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures? The Bachelor/Bachelorette and Survivor. Drives my husband crazy, ha! He can't stand those shows. And I can't either? But my reaction to not being able to stand it is to just keep watching each and every season.

runsoncoffee

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days: Nov 20 / 9 weeks

FTM/STM/STM+: 5TM

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise: finding out (I'm a boy mama x4 so can't wait to know!!)

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of: a jack

Upcoming appointments: intake appt next week

How are you feeling? Sooo tired. My 3 year old has been sick so that doesn't help. Nausea is improved but still randomly hits.

Rants / Raves: Every single person we've told has asked if I'm hoping for a girl. And of course I'd LOVE a girl, but I'm so tired of answering the question. 

Questions:

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures? Shows like Love is Blind, 90 day fiance. Terrible but can't stop watching.

runsoncoffee

@mrsmtothek yes to the wild pregnancy dreams... I've always had extremely vivid and intense dreams while pregnant and this time is no exception. 

ohsmith

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days:
11/5, 11+2

FTM/STM/STM+:
3rd time mom

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise:
Team finding out

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of:
Baby is the size of a lime

Upcoming appointments:
My first ultrasound is on Thursday and I'm so excited!

How are you feeling?
Pretty good, I'm not as tired as I have been but still tired. My boobs hurt ALL the time.

Rants / Raves:
Again my boobs hurt so bad, I haven't had them hurt like this in my other pregnancies so it's more uncomfortable since I'm not used to it. I'm not nauseous very often so I'm thankful for that this time around!

Questions:
None right now

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures?
Rewatching the same 2-3 shows over and over again. I will watch the same show over again rather than finding a new show to watch. I call them my comfort shows lol.

makingbacon

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days: November 26th/8+2

FTM/STM/STM+: 4TM

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise: Surprise

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of: Seahorse or a wild strawberry

Upcoming appointments: Friday!

How are you feeling? I feel like a garbage truck currently - super tired, moody, and puking throughout the day every day. I'm using a different progesterone suppository this time, so I'm wondering if that is contributing to this overall feeling. I was sick with DS2 and DS3, but nothing to this extent. DS1 is my only baby I didn't use progesterone with during 1st trimester. WIth him, I had morning sickness 1 time at 6:30 am every morning for 3 weeks. Then it was done.

Rants / Raves: Rave: It has been cold in the morning, but overall, the weather has been so nice recently. We have gotten the boys out every night to play and take walks, and everyone is loving it. Rant: 2 out of 3 boys are sick with a gross cold. DS2 was kind enough to sneeze on me every time my face was in the splash zone, so there is no way I'm getting out of this without getting sick.

Questions:

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures? When time allows, which isn't very often, I love making a snack bowl of popcorn, ice cream, or whatever and watching older tv shows.

@varimama I hope the weather got better for you! Being stuck inside is the worst.

@nomangos23 I always get sucked into the real murder mysteries, and then I wonder why I have weird dreams that night lol.

@UnwritteN12 Do you have 1 set of twins or 2 sets? Sorry, I can't remember. 

@ashsowers2020 Baby kicks are also my favorite. I love being able to "check in" with my little to make sure everything is going well.

@mrsmtothek I used to have so many dreams like that about DH. I'm sure they'll be starting up soon. I always wake up like, WTH did you do that?! He also thinks they're hilarious.

@Kiek That is exciting you got some of your garden planted! My dad grows a decent sized garden in their backyard, and I fully intend on sending to 2 older boys to help him plant this year. It was one of my favorite things to do growing up.

@shinyobjects I don't watch Love Is Blind, but I heard about the delay from several people. No one was happy about it. I heard the hosts weren't that great either?

@kiki047 Graduating from the RE was the best feeling when I had one for DS2 and DS3. I am so excited for you! Coughing until you puke sounds awful. I'm waiting to catch the cold running through our house, and that is how I picture my future.... coughing and peeing just a little. I also currently enjoy french fries a lot. I don't worry too much about what I'm eating in first trimester because I know I'll feel better sometime in early/mid-2nd trimester.

@jvbirdgirl With my first, I started showing around 13 weeks. I felt huge, but most people don't notice. In my experience, most people still blamed Covid for weight gain, which is crazy to me.

@runsoncoffee I'm bracing myself for the "are you hoping for a girl?" question. We have 3 boys, and we waited to find out what DS3 was until delivery. We had so many disappointed people when he was a boy and not a girl. DS1 has been dying for a little sister, and he actually asked for a little sister born in December, so while we really don't care what we have, I am hoping he can have his little sister. This is his absolute last chance because a vasectomy is in DH's future lol.

Kiek

I also have a dying sourdough starter 😬 I’m pretty confident I can bring it back to life but that poor thing has been so neglected.

kiki047

@Kiek ohh I like greek yogurt, that's a good idea. Thank you for the tip! 
@makingbacon I hope you can dodge that cold but it does sound inevitable. 
@jvbirdgirl I'm a FTM and definitely have a noticeable blump. I know it's not baby because it's still so small, but I look about 16w right now and it's getting harder to hide it. I'm already wearing some full panel maternity pants (which are SO comfy). *TW* I've had prior losses so part of me thinks my body is just going right ahead and lettin it all hang out. Not gonna lie, I don't hate it lol. At least this belly is for a good reason and isn't just a food baby for once. 

nomangos23

@kiki047 Try protein bagels or protein oatmeal or greek yogurt or milk! All have a good amount of protein and is better than nothing

shinyobjects

@kiki047 re:protein I drink high protein shakes, especially premier protein (they have ones with 30g and lots of flavors that aren’t awful). Learned this after my C-sections when I needed extra protein for healing. When I’m really struggling with eating enough, I try to make sure I have some high protein shakes available.

@makingbacon yea it was a pretty big fail. Honestly I didn’t think the hosts were any worse than usual, but they’ve always been kinda crappy in my opinion.

chrissdee

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days:
November 1 / 12w1d

FTM/STM/STM+:
#4

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise:
Just got my NIPS screen results back -- low risk for all the chromosomal stuff they look for, and it's a GIRL.

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of:
Baby's the size of a toy 

Upcoming appointments:
I'll have my third MFM appointment next week on Tuesday. 

How are you feeling?
Exhausted. Finally got my blood pressure to a point that I'm not super likely to have a heart attack or stroke, but it's a tough balance while I adjust to the meds because now it keeps going really low, which is also not great. 

Rants / Raves:
I just want to say that, while I would not wish "high risk pregnancy" on anyone, everybody should receive the level of care that an MFM (or at least the office I'm going to) offers. I honestly have just been so impressed with how thorough and proactive they have been with everything. 

Questions: 
Nada.

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures?
I hate how much I love shows like Love is Blind. 

fitandnerdy

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days: 11/29, 8+1

FTM/STM/STM+: STM

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise: Surprise 

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of: Raspberry 

Upcoming appointments: Just had my dating scan today and then won't go again until May 18 for NT scan and blood work!

How are you feeling? Exhausted 😴  and bouts of nausea throughout the day, but not actually throwing up so I guess that's good?

Rants / Raves: 

Rave - Got to see a little gummy bear on the ultrasound today 💕  I had a scan 2 weeks ago because we are unsure of my dating due to IUD removal and not getting my cycle back, but it was too early to see anything. I was nervous the past 2 weeks, but everything looked great today! 

Rant - The OB asked if I had any questions so I asked about if I'd be a good candidate for a VBAC (DD was breech) and the ob just brushed me off and said we will talk about it at 32 weeks??? seems like a long time to wait to even broach the topic! We're moving soon so I'll be switching providers, so not a big deal, just seems weird. 

Questions:

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures? Since we're getting into warmer weather... definitely water ice and ice cream  

ashsowers2020

@kiki047 were due date twins 🥰

@fitandnerdy they definitely should be able to discuss that now, my OB told me before I conceived that I was a good candidate, at my annual checkup in November. I told her I was trying  to conceive, it had been 15 months since my c section at that point, and she felt very confident that we could do it. And once I became pregnant the OB I saw then said she was so glad we’re opting for a VBAC, they felt I was a great candidate and prefer to try for VBAC than repeat c section. So much support. If they can’t support you you may want to look for a new OB that will, so that you can ensure you have a team of drs cheering for you, and confident in your success. 

Edit: sorry fitandnerdy just re read that you’re moving soon. I hope you find an OB that supports you! You’ve got this ♥️

medicmomma6115

Estimated Due Date / Weeks + Days: 

8w2d 11/29

FTM/STM/STM+:

STM+step daughter

Team Boy/Girl/Surprise:

Team Healthy, but hoping for a boy because it’s all I know but absolutely love our girl name  😂

Interesting baby fact / Baby is the size of:

Raspberry 

Pygmy Seahorse 

Upcoming appointments: 

May 19th, but I have to schedule perinatal because I’m high risk and geriatric maternity  

How are you feeling?

I’m very sad today after my appointment. I have a lot weighing on my mind. I am high risk due to my weight and hypertension plus being advanced maternal age at 34..my due date is my 35th birthday so they’re considering me advanced maternal age due to the risks associated. I work full time as an EMT so I’m always lifting and carrying heavy people and doing gruesome work so they pulled me from working the road and suggested light duty by my company doesn’t have light duty to offer me. My only option at this point is disability and receiving a percentage of my pay. 

Im thankful for my SO. He’s so understanding but I just feel so awful about this. 

Rants / Raves:

Rave: not feeling as nauseous all day every day…unfortunately when I do feel nauseous, it hits HARD.

Rant: the aforementioned work stuff

Questions:

Any other mommas high risk? I have no experience being considered high risk and it seems overwhelming.

GTKY: What's one of your guilty pleasures?

Greys Anatomy - idk why I still watch it when all of the originals are gone. Love is Blind it cracks me up - these people are kooky.

jvbirdgirl

@medicmomma6115 So sorry to hear that difficulty with your work! That must be so frustrating and disappointing for you. I'm glad you have an understanding and supportive partner.

I also love Greys. It's so comforting. I feel like I grew up with them! 

shinyobjects

@medicmomma6115 all my pregnancies have been high risk (ama, hypertension, history of preeclampsia). It’s definitely scary as a label, but in practice I appreciate the extra care. Generally it comes with extra monitoring, and you may be referred to an mfm for more advanced ultrasounds. But it doesn’t have to be an inherently scary thing. I’m so sorry that it is complicating your work life, though. That is definitely a very hard part if it. 

On a side note, my first pregnancy due date was just after my 35th bday so I was considered ama, but my daughter ended up being born the day before my birthday so I like to think I got in just under the wire 😂