Pregnancy Check-in

KH826 · January 2014

Happy Monday to all the expectant families on the board!

How are things progressing with pregnancy? Any updates to share? Please remind us how far along you are and what your EDD is.

QOTW: Valentine's Day is a couple of weeks away now. Do you and your Spouse/Partner usually do anything special to celebrate? If you are currently expecting your first LO(s), do you have anything special planned for your last Valentine's Day without kiddos? If you already have kiddos, how (if at all) has Valentine's Day (or just celebrating romantic occasions in general) changed?

KH826 · January 2014

21wk6d - EDD is June 3rd.

I have an OB appointment this afternoon at 3pm, but I am not expecting anything too exciting to report on after that appointment, so I will just go ahead and post my update now. I am expecting that there will be no u/s today and just the doppler. This will actually be my first experience with the doppler -- I have had an u/s at every appointment so far. I am not really that anxious about that, believe it or not, because I have been feeling baby move daily now, so I feel like I know she is OK in there.

I am; however, not looking forward to my appointment this afternoon. The only reason is that I fear my OB is going to lecture me about weight gain and that is a VERY sensitive topic for me. I have been trying very hard to be reasonable and take a middle-of-the-road approach to eating. I am only splurging once or twice a week (last night we had ravioli for dinner and Friday we had spaghetti - those were my two splurge meals). I have been eating a tons of fruits and veggies and we have been cooking 90% of our meals at home. For snacks I have been eating fat free frozen yogurt instead of ice cream when I get a craving for that, and mostly fruit, yogurt and decaf chai tea to fill the void when I feel like a bottomless pit (which is a lot these days)! Anyway... because I gained throughout the TTC process and during the 5ish weeks of my IVF protocol, I started off this pregnancy at a weight that was not ideal for me. Since then, I have gained about 20 lbs (I will be 22 weeks pregnant tomorrow). Some people will read that and say "oh well that isn't so bad," and other people will read that and say "wow, that's all I gained my whole pregnancy -- she is going to be a cow!" It is all just sooooo varying from one person to another. I don't think I am on track to gain like 75 lbs or anything this pregnancy (which would be scary and not acceptable to me personally), but I am on track to possibly gain 40-45 lbs total. Not ideal, but not anything that will put me or baby at risk per se. Just extra work I am going to have to do post partum to shed that weight.

Anyway, I know that I am now carrying on about this, and I promised myself that I wasn't going to do that, but it just sort of came out. I guess I am more preoccupied and upset about this than I thought. I just want my OB to tell me that I am doing fine and everyone is different and it will be OK and I shouldn't be worried or upset or embarrassed. But I don't think that is what she is going to say. I think she is going to "caution me" ... which will make me want to break out in hives and start sobbing...

OK - that's all. Sorry to be a crazy person. Just ignore my post. I am still going to post it because I think it will make me feel better to "get it out" -- thanks for indulging me.

QOTW: No plans for Valentine's. I brought this up to my wife last night, which is what prompted the question. We didn't come up with anything. Not sure if we will. Valentine's hasn't been a big deal for us in several years (we made a bigger deal earlier on in our relationship). Interested to hear what others have to say on the topic...

shelly2314 · January 2014

It seems that things are progressing well. We are 4 weeks along today and our EDD is Oct 5th. First beta was 104(11dpiui) and second beta was 205 (14dpiui). The doctor said my numbers looked so good I could wait to come in for ANOTHER beta until Thursday. I am terrified of needles so that was great news; however, having the beta tests reassures me that everything is still moving forward and ok!

QOTW: we don't usually do anything for Valentine's Day. I have sent her an edible arrangement (did same thing last year) but that is the extent of our V/Day celebration.

I never even thought about it being our last Valentine's Day without kiddos...LOL. Still won't change as we don't really want to put the money out for just one day, we try to do date nights and little things for each other every month...

KH826 · January 2014

@KLeigh1 - I have never heard of a Dr's office asking for a deposit of any kind if you have insurance. That seems very silly and uncommon to me (but that is just my experience). If all you are responsible for is co-pays, you may never even need to spend $300 at your OB's office throughout the whole pregnancy. I had to pay a $40 co-pay for my first two OB visits, and then another $40 co-pay when I had my NT scan, at that is it. I am told by my office that I won't owe anything else as long as everything proceeds as expected. I would question the deposit for sure...

@Shelly2314 - Good luck with your 3rd beta on Thursday! Keep us posted!

@Mamosey - you are getting so close! So exciting! Your LO will be here before you know it. Can't wait for more updates from you as the big day approaches!

shelly2314 · January 2014

@KLeigh1 - I am new to this, but I have not heard of a Dr asking for a deposit of that kind. I would definitely check with other offices in your area and see if that is a common practice.

2MamazInSeattle · January 2014

@KLeigh1 - $300 or not, if you aren't totally happy and comfortable, shop around. I had a friend change from an OB to a midwife at 37 weeks - it's never too late. But, I think for continuity and familiarity, it is nice to change sooner than later.

@KH826 - Ug, the weight gain. Don't worry - probably half of that was due to IVF treatment and has nothing to do with your pregnancy. Yeah, it's a little more of a clean-up afterwards, but you've done it before and you can do it again (I have to tell myself this too). And, I'd just bring it up first thing with you doc "I'm scared you're going to yell at me about my weight and I'm having a hard time with my gain so far. Can we talk about that first?" and just get it out there.

@shelly2314 - Congrats again!!! So exciting, and great betas. p.s. I had an awesome cat named Atticus and my sister has a cat called Jax too! haha!

@Mamosey - You're in the home stretch! FX baby comes when ready and all goes smoothly.

--
10w5d today, EDD 8/20

As we get closer to our u/s on Wed., each day feels eternally longer and longer. This is our 11w NT scan and the cell-free (Mat21) DNA test. I have to fly to Phoenix for work that afternoon, so praying there is no bad news. I did bust out our home doppler on Friday after feeling anxious and even considering calling our doc for a nurse u/s (they will do one anytime for you if you want, which is awesome) - so we found the heartbeat for a few seconds which was a relief! So, I've been self-soothing with the help of the doppler for a few minutes each day since.

Symptom-wise I am still having bouts of feeling icky, but they are tolerable. Eating meat is still not great but I do when I can - J texted me from the store the other day and I told her I wanted raisins and bananas...(two things I never eat) so apparently baby wants some potassium. I suppose there are worse things to crave! Otherwise I've been eating eggs, cheese, yogurt, nuts, fruit, oatmeal, granola and some organic frozen veggie entrees. I definitely need more veggies, but my goal for the first tri is to just eat to hunger, make good choices as much as I can and listen to my body. So far that approach is working fine. For second tri, I will probably start tracking my food and being more diligent about checking all the right boxes.

Well, I have been starting to let myself believe this baby is real. That's been hard but also is significant. I still worry and sadly for us, getting through the first tri doesn't mean anything as last time we were textbook perfect until we weren't.

I do think passing our loss date will be huge for me. March 6th. Not that I'm counting. It still feels so far away - another 5 weeks - and I've been a little sad just remember how long I was pregnant last time! Because I feel like I've been pregnant a long time this go-around and I still have so long to pass the loss date. BUT, I do think my general mental state/anxiety has been fair-to-good for the most part, so I'll take it.

Oh and I finished up estrogen patches last week! No more sticky goo on my stomach! I decided to go the distance with the progesterone, so I've got 10 more days and then I'll just have to do vitamins and my Lovenox shot in the belly each night. Somehow that feels so... manageable!

After our Friday GTKY J and I had a good talk on baby names and settled on a girl name!! Of course, we both remarked immediately, "now, watch, it'll be another boy..."

- not that we care at all. But, last time we never came close to a girl name. So, at least unless anything big changes, it's Luisa Margaret. J's gramma is Louise, and my gramma was Margareta Louise - so we are winning with our mom's on both accounts. So, now I'm kinda hoping for a girl so we can use the name! Boy name is far from clear, we never could name our last baby who was a boy - but Elliot and Theodore are frontrunners, though we think both are on the brink of exploding in popularity which is why we hesitate...

Last thing - I have a little belly already. I sort of think I'm crazy, but seriously, compared to last time this is MUCH different. It's round and hard and well, just out there. - and does not feel like bloat at all. I can still wear my clothes but did grab a pair of hand-me-down maternity black dress pants for Friday's meetings and the flight home. And I have a wrap dress for Thursday's meetings which is forgiving in that area. I work from home as much as I want to, and when I do go in, jeans/cords are totally fine - so having to dress professionally is a pain without the addition of the belly growth!

That's it for now! Looking forward to reading all of the Monday updates!

QOTW: We often use Valentine's day as an excuse for going out to dinner, and often do the earliest timeslot to avoid the crowds but also because we are early-to-bed/early-to-rise people. It's really not that big of a deal to us - but usually we get cards for each other or something simple like that, no gifts really unless I had something I wanted to get her and needed an excuse.

This year, however, we are flying to Louisiana for J's gramma's 90th birthday party on the 15th...so I'm afraid it is unlikely we'll find a swank dinner in po-dunk Louisiana where we will be.

2MamazInSeattle · January 2014

Flygirl1228 said:

10w4days EDD 8-21

We have nothing new here just the same old morning sickness! When is this going to end? Its still going strong. Im tired of eating like a 5 year old with my wife. I want to eat a real meal! I hate cooking for myself so I eat what my wife eats. We had our ultrasound and first apt last friday. It went well. We even got to see the babies jumping around! I cant believe that they are in there just jumping and that my wife isnt even close to showing! Its still kinda not believable that we are pregnant. We are trying to schedule or NT scan but Im waiting for our doctors office to send our records. I really hope that we can see the sex of the babies. Well I guess this is all that I have for now! Hope everyone is doing well.

@Kleigh1 I have heard a number of doctors require a deposit. I know it sounds crazy but it happens. I was reading a feed on here a few weeks ago talking about this. It seemed that it was 50/50. Some do and some don't.

Haha I'm lucky J doesn't care a lot about food, because she is living on garden burgers and egg/cheese sandwiches. I feel like I'm eating like a 5-year-old too! BTW, you can't see gender at the NT scan - way too early. Usually the 20-week anatomy scan is where u/s will pick up the gender, though if you had an early a/s they sometimes can see it by 16w.

firstcomeslove2013 · January 2014

Hey everyone! We are 6 weeks today. Our unofficial EDD is 9/24/2014. Nothing too new to report. C went in for another beta today and we are waiting on those results. We go for our first ultrasound on wednesday to make sure the baby is in the right spot. Things are going as well as to be expected...of course we are still nervous and excited and all over the place. C is tired and taking lots of naps and I am doing my best to be caring and helpful. We have told our families (minus my brother) and our best friends. We are trying to hold back on telling too many people but its hard to keep it in!

I have been doing a lot of research on induced lactaction and @karlamo has been really helpful in answeing my questions. We still feel so thankful and excited for what is to come!

QOTW: C is actually working on valentines day this year...so we will most likely not be celebrating. We are pretty good about showing love to each other throughout the year so valentine's day isn't as big of a deal to us!

ball.and.chain · January 2014

16w1d, EDD 7/13/14

Still. Sick. Did I mention my wife got the flu? I had the shot in October and the doctor my wife saw said the shot has been pretty good at covering people this year, so hopefully I won't get it. Just in case, she has been sleeping in the guest room and no sharing food or drink or kissing! I feel like I don't get to spend as much time with her and it makes me kind of sad. But I am a little concerned about the fact that I am still sick after almost 2 weeks, and just a little while ago I started feeling kind of weak. Could be that I just needed food, so I am eating my lunch and drinking water, but I am going to call my PCP anyway and see what's up. I am not someone who tends to call the doctor for every little thing --and I know they can't do anything for a cold and don't want unnecessary antibiotics -- so I have a hard time figuring out where to draw the line. But I guess I have another person to look out for now, so I am going to err on the side of caution.

Pregnancy-wise, I feel fine. I still don't look pregnant to strangers but my wife says she can tell the difference. Maternity clothes are imminent. I need to go shopping but I've felt too sick. A/S is next Wednesday!

@KLeigh1 -- I agree with everyone else that you should move on to another practice! I've never heard of having to pay up front for anything, but if you're not thrilled with the practice in general, that's reason enough to switch. You are going to be seeing A LOT of these people, especially at the end of your pregnancy, so you might as well like them!

@KH826 -- I can also relate to the weight issues but I agree with @2MamazinSeattle -- bring it up first with your doctor before she has a chance to bring it up with you. I was concerned I was going to get a lecture at my first appointment, so I brought it up first, and my OB said, "I'm glad to see you are aware of the situation and clearly paying attention to it which is great, here's what you should aim for..." Instead of feeling lectured, I felt like it was a conversation, and I didn't feel attacked which is particularly hard when you sensitive about it already (says the woman who cried in her PCP's office when she got a weight lecture). And if you do start sobbing -- well, trust that you are NOT the first pregnant woman to do that in her office!

QOTW: Valentine's Day is not really a thing for us (I typed it as VD at first and then was like, "Whoa! Nope, that isn't what we are talking about"). Sometimes one of us will buy a sweet treat to share, but it's NBD. This year it's a Friday, and my wife closes on Friday nights, so we won't even be together. But she has the 15th and 16th off, so I will get extra time with her that weekend (usually she only has one weekend day off). She asked me what I wanted to do with our extra time and I told her register at BRU! So I think that is what we're going to do. Since we don't really celebrate as it is, it won't matter to us much that this is our last one pre-baby.

AmandaG47 · January 2014

Good afternoon!

Today marks 34w4d for the us. We are expecting them to arrive anytime between now and feb 20th so I am really getting antsy!

J is SO uncomfortable this last week. She can't sleep well or eat very much at a time, and is only comfortable in the bath tub. While I want the girls to bake as long as possible, I can't wait for her to not be pregnant so she can have her body back and not be so uncomfortable.

As for me, the inducing lactation project is going well! Even better than expected actually. My original goal was to feed half a baby and I'm almost there! I'm making almost 12oz per day and have almost 200oz in the freezer saved for their arrival if we need it! I am beyond thrilled about it and this may even mean we will be able to split the feeding closer to 50/50. I hope that having them here will help increase my supply with all that great oxytocin!

QOTD: We don't do a lot for valentines day anymore and it is really likely we will have the girls before then so we may go out for an easy dinner the four of us.

redrockmama · January 2014

16 w 3 days EDD July 11th

KLeigh1 What surgery did you have? My wife has terrible problems with her SI joints. I've wondered if surgery would help at some point. It just seems to be getting worse. She also doesn't do her physical therapy exercises very often, but I want her to be pain free.

@firstcomeslove2013 I am curious to see what you decide about inducing lactation. My was was and then wasn't interested in doing it. Right now she seems to be leaning towards not doing, although I think it would be pretty great if she did.

Not much new going on here. I started prenatal yoga with my BFF yesterday and am really sore today. It was great though and we'll be going back as often as we can. Sleep has become a real challenge. I am a huge stomach sleeper, or should say was. I got one of those pregnancy pillows but it doesn't seem to help. I don't know what to do to get a good sleep at night. I feel huge. I wore yoga pants to work today. I guess it's time to break down and buy at least one pair of maternity work pants.

We were supposed to have an appt with our midwife on Sunday but she had to cancel because she had a birth. I was bummed, mostly because I was looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again. I look forward to the day when I feel Bubbles move everyday. For now we'll wait until Saturday morning for the HB. We should probably schedule the anatomy scan soon.

QOTW: We don't usually do anything fancy for Valentines Day. I don't remember if we did anything last year. We are flying to Little Rock on the 15th for a baby shower our grad school friends are throwing us. Seems like a good love celebration to me.

shelly2314 · January 2014

@KH826...I understand the weight gain completely. I worked really hard at the beginning of 2013 and lost 15 lbs. I was happy with my body and felt good. I don't really feel like my eating habits changed, but the stress level skyrocketed with all of the baby-no fiasco's of fertility treatments. I have now gained back 9 of the 15 lbs and flucuate with the remaining 6 every now and then.

shelly2314 · January 2014

I know I am in the VERY early stages, but I was wondering if anyone else would be starving one minute, then eat a little bit and suddenly feel ridiculously full? This is new to me so I assume it is a pregnancy "side-effect"
:-/

ball.and.chain · January 2014

16w1d, EDD 7/13/14

Still. Sick. Did I mention my wife got the flu? I had the shot in October and the doctor my wife saw said the shot has been pretty good at covering people this year, so hopefully I won't get it. Just in case, she has been sleeping in the guest room and no sharing food or drink or kissing! I feel like I don't get to spend as much time with her and it makes me kind of sad. But I am a little concerned about the fact that I am still sick after almost 2 weeks, and just a little while ago I started feeling kind of weak. Could be that I just needed food, so I am eating my lunch and drinking water, but I am going to call my PCP anyway and see what's up. I am not someone who tends to call the doctor for every little thing --and I know they can't do anything for a cold and don't want unnecessary antibiotics -- so I have a hard time figuring out where to draw the line. But I guess I have another person to look out for now, so I am going to err on the side of caution.

Pregnancy-wise, I feel fine. I still don't look pregnant to strangers but my wife says she can tell the difference. Maternity clothes are imminent. I need to go shopping but I've felt too sick. A/S is next Wednesday!

@KLeigh1 -- I agree with everyone else that you should move on to another practice! I've never heard of having to pay up front for anything, but if you're not thrilled with the practice in general, that's reason enough to switch. You are going to be seeing A LOT of these people, especially at the end of your pregnancy, so you might as well like them!

@KH826 -- I can also relate to the weight issues but I agree with @2MamazinSeattle -- bring it up first with your doctor before she has a chance to bring it up with you. I was concerned I was going to get a lecture at my first appointment, so I brought it up first, and my OB said, "I'm glad to see you are aware of the situation and clearly paying attention to it which is great, here's what you should aim for..." Instead of feeling lectured, I felt like it was a conversation, and I didn't feel attacked which is particularly hard when you sensitive about it already (says the woman who cried in her PCP's office when she got a weight lecture). And if you do start sobbing -- well, trust that you are NOT the first pregnant woman to do that in her office!

QOTW: Valentine's Day is not really a thing for us (I typed it as VD at first and then was like, "Whoa! Nope, that isn't what we are talking about"). Sometimes one of us will buy a sweet treat to share, but it's NBD. This year it's a Friday, and my wife closes on Friday nights, so we won't even be together. But she has the 15th and 16th off, so I will get extra time with her that weekend (usually she only has one weekend day off). She asked me what I wanted to do with our extra time and I told her register at BRU! So I think that is what we're going to do. Since we don't really celebrate as it is, it won't matter to us much that this is our last one pre-baby.

shelly2314 · January 2014

How I feel before I eat

How I feel about 5 minutes into the meal

2MamazInSeattle · January 2014

redrockmama said:

QOTW: We don't usually do anything fancy for Valentines Day. I don't remember if we did anything last year. We are flying to Little Rock on the 15th for a baby shower our grad school friends are throwing us. Seems like a good love celebration to me.

We will be in LR on Sunday the 16th - Wed.! I hope the weather is ok!!

redrockmama · January 2014

2MamazInSeattle said:

redrockmama said:

QOTW: We don't usually do anything fancy for Valentines Day. I don't remember if we did anything last year. We are flying to Little Rock on the 15th for a baby shower our grad school friends are throwing us. Seems like a good love celebration to me.

We will be in LR on Sunday the 16th - Wed.! I hope the weather is ok!!

Sweet! We'll be there from the 15th to the 17th. I hope the weather will be warmer than it is here. I do remember Feb is tornado season though, ugh

trisholio · January 2014

Good afternoon all! Let me just tell you I am exhausted. I had a stupid moment yesterday and agreed to watch two more kids today, so I had a total of 4 kids and 3 of them were under the age of 1years old. Thank goodness my wife took today off due to the weather, I am not sure how I would have survived without her today!

Anyhoo, our EDD is 9/2 and I am 9 weeks tomorrow! My major symptoms are exhaustion and constipation (sorry tmi). I can't seem to get enough sleep, or poop, haha. My boobs aren't as sore as they were which is a relief. I did try to put on a "fancy" bra from pre-pregnancy and it was a joke. There is no way I can wear them. I have been wearing sports bras around the house because they are so much more comfortable, I didn't realize how BIG they had gotten!

QOTD: We usually try and do something for V-Day, well by 'we' I mean my wife. She is the romantic one and loves planning romantic dates. I doubt we will do anything this year, but we do have our first OB appointment on Feb 14th. Last year we spent a few days in a cabin in Hocking Hills (which is out in the middle of nowhere) It was nice, but it made me anxious because we had no cell service.

doodah1013 · January 2014

Well... Things are not good here. Our 4th beta only came back 580... Which is very low and not doubling from the last one. So the doc is going to do an ultrasound on Wednesday, and if it is not good then I will go off the progesterone and wait...
I am thankful we at least had the last two weeks to know what it feels like to be expecting... But for now we are heartbroken and scared.

ball.and.chain · January 2014

Doodah - I'm so, so sorry the beta wasn't good. Sending hugs and thinking of both of you.

trisholio · January 2014

doodah1013 I am so sorry to hear this disheartening news. I hope that the numbers go up quickly and all is well, but either way we are here for you and A. Lots of love and hugs to you both. Let us know if you need anything

StacyLH24 · January 2014

Jumping in if that is ok...@doodah1013 - I'm so sorry to read your update. I hope that this is just a minor fluke and that you will find that all is well on Wednesday. I hope you have a little fighter in there! You are both in my thoughts.

KH826 · January 2014

Sending huge hugs and tons of support to @doodah1013 & @firstcomeslove2013. You are in my thoughts tonight.

Jazibel · January 2014

@doodah1013 & @firstcomeslove2013 - keeping you both in my thoughts and hoping for a positive turn of events.

Checking in late after a bout of the stomach flu that both Kaden & I had while out of town this weekend. He's still sick with congestion and a fever. There have been several long nights and I'm beyond tired - about to take a nap if a Kaden stays asleep for his.
Pregnancy related I'm 27 weeks today - woohoo 3rd Trimester :-) EDD 4/29.

Other than the flu - everything seems good on the pregnancy front. Owen still kicks around a ton. He loves kicking Kaden when he's laying on my lap. Early this morning (3ish) when I was rocking Kaden in the glider both babies we're twitching and kicking up a storm (Kaden as he fell asleep). I felt like I had a lap full. EV and I are still slightly in denial that we're months away from having another baby... Not sure when reality will kick in but hopefully it's before Owen arrives. ;-)

QOTD: EV's bday is around Valentines so we usually focus on her bday rather than Valentines. Not sure what we'll be up to this year it's been a while since we've gone on a "date".

shelly2314 · January 2014

@doodah1013 & @firstcomeslove2013...I hope that everything takes a turn for the better!!

shelly2314 · January 2014

While I am anxiously awaiting the Dr's call back on our 3rd beta test, I am curious....Did anyone else's Dr do an u/s early in the pregnancy? My Dr had me schedule one for next week and we will be 5wks (it is also the day after my birthday)

ball.and.chain · January 2014

@shelly2314, it really depends on the doctor. Mine likes to wait until after 6 weeks because a heartbeat is generally visible then in a viable pregnancy, but a lot of doctors do an earlier ultrasound to check for an appropriately-sized gestational sac, yolk sac, and possibly fetal pole. Do not expect a heartbeat at 5w, though.

firstcomeslove2013 · January 2014

Our doctor had us do one (we were almost 6 weeks). There was no heartbeat to be seen (the pregnancy was not viable) but also she was checking for position of the gestational sac and checking on the size.

shelly2314 · January 2014

I didn't even think about the hb! Ok...just wondering how normal it was. Thank you guys!

Want a personalized experience?

Pregnancy Check-in

Re: Pregnancy Check-in

Choose Another Board

Search Boards