13 week ultrasound

Due to the tornado, I was unable to go to my 12 week appointment and the usual appointment schedule would be thrown off by a week for the remainder of the pregnancy.  At my 13 week appointment I was able to get an ultrasound of the baby!  Not because it was cool or that I could, but because the doppler wasn't picking up the baby's heart beat!  I was excited at first when the nurse said "if I can't find the heartbeat we'll have to do an ultrasound," but when she couldn't find the heartbeat, I was a little concerned. 

I had begun to feel something in my lower abdomen that week, but didn't know what it was.  The books say that when the baby kicks at first it can be confused with gas bubbles, please tell me what gas bubbles feel like?  I would feel some kind of twinge, like something tumbling, every now and then, maybe once a day, but didn't know what it was.  When the nurse put the probe (where she needed it to get a reading), I could see the baby move around!!  I saw the baby curl up into a ball and then splayed out it's entire body and appendages, not to mention I FELT the baby do that right at the exact moment.  From then on whenever I felt that tumbling twinge, I knew it was the baby making a big movement. 

This image captured the heart rate, 160! 

Apparently the baby was still in my pelvis and hadn't risen to my abdomen yet.

Beginning to look more like a little human!

Tornado and Registering

I apologize that the posts aren't rhyming with N words, just trying to get all caught up with the pregnancy before our baby arrives... any day now. 

Back in April, April 27 to be exact, Huntsville experienced mother nature's wrath, an E4 and E5 tornado, although most of the media was focused on Tuscaloosa.  The E4 tornado came through 0.1 mile south of our house, while the E5 tornado came through 3-5 miles North of us.  It was pretty scary that day, but everyone we knew were fine.  There was a lot of damage further east of us some minor, some major, some total devastation.  This map shows the slew of tornados that touched down across the south that day.  

Huntsville was without power and cell phone reception for about 5 days.  The radio announcers originally said 3 days, then changed to 7 days. So we decided to bail and head down to Birmingham especially since I was pregnant and didn't want to chance it on nutrition and slowly spoiling food.  Not to mention that we couldn't call anyone to let them know we were okay.  As we drove, as quickly as we could legally since we were running out of gas and no local stations had any, we could see some of the damage.  As we approached Cullman, about an hour south of us, we were able to use our phones to call family.  Bryan's family, to which we were driving to, were happy to hear that we were okay since they had "heard wind" of some tornados going through Huntsville and we got the approval for us to crash for a few days.  When I called my parents, they just wanted to chat about what we had done that day and what our plans were for the weekend... just a normal conversation!  The only news that they were getting about the tornados were the one's in Tuscaloosa.  Once my mom got more information about what happened near us, literally, then she began to freak out. 

So what to do in Birmingham when we didn't have any plans to be there... might as well start registering! We decided to register at Buy Buy Baby as our main registry.  We did end up registering at other locations since we don't have a Buy Buy Baby in Huntsville, which I am still shocked about.  The store, Buy Buy Baby is awesome!! It's a sister company to Bed Bath and Beyond.  I'm not sure if sister company is the right word to use, but Bed Bath and Beyond owns Buy Buy Baby and you can use the coupons at both locations, the stores are designed with the same layout, and the prices are great!  

Awe registering... if only we could get a copy of the security camera that day!  I do believe that whom ever looked/looks at the day will pin point "the future new parents" instantly!  We spent about 6 hours registering or it felt like it.  We did some in the morning, took a break to eat lunch, and went back for more.  The best thing I like about Buy Buy Baby is the associates that work there.  They know the specifications, quality, safety, practicality, and can answer any and all of your questions without having to get a manager or telling you to call the 1-800 number!  

What took us the longest registering was the strollers, car seats, and baby bjorn.  We probably asked a bazillion questions about car seats and strollers.  Comparing specifications, quality, safety, etc.  With my pelvis being dislocated, and will continue after delivery, weight was our biggest concern. We were lifting and folding just about every single car seat and stroller in the store!  Not to mention, we didn't know how to fold or unsnap any of them, hence funny security videos!

But our most hilarious moments were trying on the baby bjorn carriers! The store has all the carriers available for you to try on... let's just say it took us a while to figure out how to wear the bjorn!

It probably took us 45 minutes to get to this point! 

Telling Small Group

Every Monday night we go to church for a small group gathering with our friends.  We decided to tell our small group at 11 weeks that we were pregnant only because of my pelvis.  You know, in case I needed to call someone to help me off the ground...  

That night we were bringing dinner for the group. For dessert I made chocolates melted into baby shapes: rattles, booties, baby animals, etc. As we were chatting during dinner, the group was asking me about my back: what I had done, what had happened, what caused it, etc.  When I replied, "it's directly related to my pregnancy" a few people looked at me excited, while others were still processing... We said that we were pregnant and "the baby is already a pain in my butt."

I meant to take a picture of the chocolates, but I guess "pregnancy brain" began earlier than I realized!

Miserable Nuisance

During the 9th week of pregnancy Bryan and I traveled to Los Angeles.  That Saturday I began to notice some discomfort on the left side of my inner pelvic area near my spine.  It wasn't painful, just uncomfortable to walk, stand, or sit.  I associated it with all the walking and standing we were doing sight seeing through the city.  I had begun to waddle to ease the nausea I was experiencing, I thought maybe the different stride was bothering my body. On Sunday I still had the discomfort, but noticed that I wasn't sitting with my legs crossed as I usually do when I sit in seats and thought that sitting with perfect posture was causing discomfort.  Come Monday, I noticed that when I got up from a sitting position and began to walk that my pelvic/spine area felt stuck and needed some assistance to get moving.  I called my mom to ask what the discomfort could be and she said to watch it for a few days to see what happens...

Tuesday April 12: 10 weeks pregnant and the day that changed my pregnancy.

I had gone to work at a company that I had worked at many times before and gotten to know the people and the job at hand.  All morning long I had noticed that I was hurting and grimacing with every step I took.  Not just the stuck feeling, but stuck with pain feeling.  I would grip handles with white knuckles, and take each step much slower.  Other employees starting commenting that something wasn't right with me, I agreed and said I must have slept wrong and had a kink. 

By the afternoon the pain was worse no matter if I were standing, sitting, walking, or still. At 1:30ish I bent down (maybe to my knees) and my legs gave out.  I fell to my knees and couldn't move, I was literally stuck! I managed to lay on my side as I deciphered a way to get back to standing, about 10 minutes later.  I was done for the day.  I told the contact person that I was in pain and needed to go home, she agreed since she had seen me suffer all day long.  I somehow managed to make it to my car and headed home.  However, by the time I got home the pain was worse and it took me about 20 minutes to get from the door to the bedroom.  

I called Bryan and the OB to see what to do.  The doctor on call said to come to Labor and Delivery to get things checked out. When we arrived I could barely walk and had to use Bryan for full support. The hospital ran a doppler test to check for a blood clot since we had just traveled.  The results were negative as I assumed since the pain wasn't in my legs.  Since I was pregnant they couldn't run any x-rays nor prescribe an anti-inflammatory as they usually would. Instead they told me I had to go to Physical Therapy where they would figure out what was wrong, fix it, and how to prevent it.  Why that isn't the usual protocol is beyond me. 

Two days later I was at the Physical Therapist office barely managing to walk or move without grimacing in pain.  The therapist did a few exercises with me and bam pain gone, walking normal! (for a little while)  She diagnosed that my SI joint (the location where the pelvis and spine meet) was out of alignment/dislocated.  It's normal for pregnancy due to the extra hormones that loosen the joints to prepare for baby's arrival, mine just happened to loosen early.  She sent me home with 2 months worth of physical therapy and exercises to help strengthen the muscles around the area, but warned that it would get better in the second trimester, but come back to haunt me in the third...  boy was she right!!!

So that's the reason why this pregnancy hasn't been the easiest and we have been uber busy in preparing for the baby.  The second trimester was fairly easy (in the joint pain department) so we were able to get just about everything done and ready for the baby.  Now on to the third trimester... let the haunting begin!

April Fool's Day

We had our first OB appointment on Friday April 1.  I was 8 weeks along and would be hearing and seeing our baby for the first time!  When we got into the ultrasound room, the technician talked us through what all we would be doing and seeing.  I had never understood growing up why my mom had condom's next to her ultrasound machine in her office nor what the stick looking probe did... now I know!!  

8 week ultrasound: the ball to the left of the baby is the yolk sac it helps provide nourishment until the placenta is formed.  The heart rate was strong and fast.  My first response was "holy $h!t" Yep this is real, we are pregnant, no turing back now. Bryan thought it was cool. 

That night was emailed our families to tell them about the first appointment.  We titled the email "TWINS!!"  But quickly mentioned Happy April Fool's Day!

No No's and Ho Ho's

The first people we wanted to tell were our immediately families, but I didn't just want to call them.  Bryan's birthday was coming up and we would be seeing both sides of the family the same weekend so we were able to tell them in person.  I had decided to embroider 4 bib's for the 4 grandparents.  On the bib's I put "I ♥ ___"  fill in with a name that the baby could potentially call that grandparent.  For the Novack's I chose "Tom Tom" for Tom, and "No No" for Judy.  For the Homlar's I chose "Bo Bo" for Bob, and "Ho Ho" for Marjorie.

We saw the Novack's first on Saturday March 12.  They came up for the day to celebrate Bryan's Birthday early.  We planned on going for a hike on Rainbow Mountain.  Before heading out we decided to tell them our news (since we assumed the rest of the day would consist of baby talk).  I had a box that I could fold the bib's up in and gave it to Judy.  She opened the box and inside she saw the word "No No." When she pulled out the fabric she looked at for a split second before asking, "are you telling us something?" We said, "yes, we're pregnant."  With a calm, yet excited demeanor they congratulated us (and yes the rest of the day consisted of baby talk). 

The next day Sunday March 13 we went to Nashville.  My niece had her first birthday party on Saturday and my mom would be in town.  We arrived around lunch time and decided to give my mother the box as we all ate.  She opened the box and saw the words "Ho Ho."  When she pulled out the bib she stared at it... with a "half smile, disgusted, upset, fake happy" look on her face.  She looked around the room (everyone else had figured it out) at everyone's happy smiling faces and asked, "is this a joke?"  I wanted to respond, "nope I think you're a Ho," but instead responded, "we're pregnant." She figured it out at that point as she screamed, hooted, and hollered!!  We then asked her "what were you thinking when you saw the bib?"  She said, "I thought the bib was for me to wear since I always spill on myself!" After we all stopped laughing, my sister-in-law's mother mentioned that they make adult designer bib's for elderly people... guess who's getting that for Christmas!

Knocked Up Novack

Yea so I'm actually 32 weeks along and just now posting about being pregnant.  For those that know, this pregnancy hasn't been the easiest and we have been busy with a massive "to-do" list. 

We found out we were pregnant on March 1!  

Now you know how I look at 6:00 am.  Apparently it's best to pee on the stick first thing in the morning.  

I had decided to try and surprise Bryan before he left for work.  I didn't want to go all day with this kind of information (either positive or negative) by myself.  Bryan usually gets up for work around 5:30-5:45.  When he got up to get into the shower, I went to the guest bathroom to pee on the stick.  When I saw it was positive, I decided to place the stick (with the cover tightly snapped together) on Bryan's dresser, assuming he was going to roll through his usual schedule of coming out of the bathroom and checking his phone... not that day!  Instead he grabbed his clothes, put on his shoes, made his breakfast and lunch, brushed his teeth, shaved his face, grab his wallet, put on his class ring, and then check his phone!  Bryan didn't know what exactly he was looking at as to whether it was positive or negative, but he commented "I assume this is positive, since you would probably be crying already if it were negative."