12 weeks

How Far Along: 12 weeks
How Big is Baby? Baby's now the size of a plum (Or a Nutter Butter as Dave says)! As you move into the second trimester, baby shifts into the growth and maturation stage. After weeks in the critical development stage, almost all of her systems are fully formed.
Total Weight Gain/Loss: +1 this week (+5 total)
Maternity Clothes: Using the BeBand from Target with the majority of my dress pants for work.
Gender: Counting down the weeks till we find out!
Movement: It is going to be awhile but this is what I am most looking forward to!
Sleep: Still waking up multiple times a night for the bathroom but usually always fall back asleep rather quickly.
Belly button in or out? In.
What I miss: Nothing!
Food Cravings:  None this week.
Aversions: None this week.
Symptoms: Multiple bathroom breaks throughout the day and night. Increase appetite. Got my flu shot last Tuesday evening and it knocked me on my ass!! I could have passed out from exhaustion later that evening then felt horrible the next day and half, plus my arm hurt for 3 days. I've never had a reaction like that to the flu shot.   
Best Moment this past week: Getting to see MJ today!!!!! Aka nutter butter (as Dave referred to how big baby is now). Aka Predator...you'll see in the picture below ;)  Also getting our first baby purchase in the mail, more on that later.  
Milestones: Getting to 12 weeks baby! We're almost out of the first trimester, yay! 
What I'm looking forward to: Picking out nursery furniture...soon.

MJ's 12 Week Photo shoot:

MJ's heartbeat today was 173 bpm and measuring 12 weeks 3 days, baby is growing!!

 Our baby looks like predator!!!!!!! Lol

 Close up of baby's profile with his/her hand up by it's face.  Apparently MJ loves to have his/her hand up there, they kept it there the entire time.

Our sweet baby angel's beautiful profile!!

Bellies!

One Bump. Two Bump. Three Bump.

Hello Bellies!

Mollie (Steph's sister), Steph (my sis-in-law), and Me 

We're representing every trimester!!

Mollie is due February 17th with #4. Although she has had all three of her girls 3 weeks earlier, so really she can go any day now! They only found out the sex of their first but have let the others be a surprise and so will this one. Steph is due June 23rd with #2. They found out what they were having with their first but will have this one be a surprise. Then there's me, due August 13th with #1 and we are definitely finding out!!

And now you can vote right over there at the top

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on what you think MJ aka Baby Dex will be!

Don't worry it's anonymous and super easy, just click on Boy or Girl and press Vote. It's so easy that even you can do it Mom and Dad (I know you read this!)

I look forward to seeing your votes! And if you want you can even comment on any post on why you think we're having a boy or girl ;) 

MJ

I actual meant to make this a post shortly after our announcement. Thankfully Tiffany brought it to my attention that I never did. Thanks Tiff!

No we are not naming our child MJ (although at this point I cannot promise those will not be his/her initials). It's a nickname for baby. We didn't want to call the baby "it" since we don't know yet whether "it" is a boy or girl. So Dave started calling the baby MJ after we found out we were pregnant. Pregnant NOT from a 3rd IUI. Pregnant from our Dominican vacation!! Or all the mamajuana Dave consumed (not to be confused with marijuana!).

Mamajuana is a drink from the Dominican Republic that is concocted by allowing rum, red wine, and honey to soak in a bottle with tree bark and herbs. It's rumored to be an aphrodisiac that the locals say "will give you lots of babies!" Dave made sure he drank a lot of it while on our trip and he brought back a bottle just in case.  

Let me clarify that I in no way think that just because we went on vacation that we got pregnant. I don't! I hate the suggestion that "you just need to get away and relax, then it will happen". It doesn't work like that. Everyday stress will not effect your fertility, unless of course it's an extreme case of stress that it is affecting you physically and mentally. In our case, I have very little stress in my life. Yes infertility is stressful and yes it's something I worried about very frequently, but for the first year of us TTC we didn't chart, we didn't temp, we didn't time, we just were.

I do think there were multiple factors that came together all at once that month where everything was perfect. A perfect egg and a perfect sperm that actually (finally) found that egg making a perfect embryo. No missing or extra chromosomes. Perfection. I had the right lining for that perfect little embryo to implant in and make a home for the next 10 months. I also still had Clomid in my system from the month before. Acupuncture! Acupuncture! Acupuncture! My weekly adjustments and acupuncture treatments have been improving my previous imbalances. And I still continue them throughout the first 12 weeks to help sustain this pregnancy.

My due date is August 13th, which is also my grandfather's birthday who recently passed away the month we got pregnant. Coincidence? He may just have had some words with the man upstairs and my due date is a sign someone just might have a guardian angel up there now!  I'm just sayin'.

All in all I think it was a combination of all the above I just listed. And I'm thankful we didn't need a 3rd IUI. I'm thankful it happened on a natural cycle, with some additional help.

Terrific Lady Day & 11 weeks

Dave declared this weekend "Terrific Lady Day". It's from the TV show The League on FX. Basically it's a special day that a man gives to his significant other in which he does whatever she wants, whenever she wants and he doesn't complain the entire day! (I definitely like the effect this pregnancy is having on my husband!!)

Since there was a small snow storm Friday, Dave ran to the grocery store to get some snacks and dinner before I got off work. Then picked up a few movies for us to have a movie/date night at home. Saturday, he took me shopping. We went to lunch then stopped buy Babies 'R Us to look at furniture and every thing else they had, it was a tad bit overwhelming thinking we're going to have go through all that stuff in the next few months. I finally got my new vacuum. Then we went to the bookstore to pick up a baby name book and Dave wanted a book for himself, he got "What to expect when your wife is pregnant". He then took me to look at maternity clothes in which I found some clearance items at Old Navy and then some extra leggings and a shirt for the spring at TJ Maxx.

We both went through the baby names book and compiled a list. Surprisingly our girl list is now narrowed down to our top 3 favs. As for our boy names, this is going to be very hard to agree upon!!! I'm extremely picky and really don't want something that is really popular, nor do I want something crazy or weird spelling. However we did agree once we figure out our names, we're not telling. I never understood what the big deal was about telling until recently. EVERYONE has an opinion!!! Even the guy at the bookstore. A complete stranger!! He told us not to name our child with two of the same names, why the hell would I ever name my child Dexter Dexter?!?!?!? Umm No! Because he went to school with someone names Robert Roberts and Edward Edwardson, he could see us using Dexter as a first name too. If a stranger has an opinion on the name of my unborn child I definitely don't want to hear friends or family tearing my favorite names apart when I already have a very narrow list of what I like.....Rant over! :)

It was a pretty eventful weekend!! I LOVE terrific lady day ;)

How Far Along: Today is 11 weeks!
How Big is Baby?

Baby's now the size of a lime! (more like a kumquat!)Your fetus currently enjoys a 1:1 ratio between body and head, and has skin so transparent that blood vessels show right through it. But fingers and toes are no longer webbed, and hair follicles, tooth buds, and nail beds are forming -- setting up a significantly more attractive future.



Total Weight Gain/Loss: 0 this week (+4 total) 
Maternity Clothes: I broke down. I bought the BeBand from Target. I'm expanding, even if it is mostly due to all the eating and only a very tiny, tiny baby! It's mostly just my dress pants for work right now, I found out last week when I wore a pair that were already slightly tight pre-pregnancy that as the day goes by my belly gets bigger and my pants get tighter and tighter. To the point I have to unbutton them to be comfortable! So today was my first official day wearing it!!
Gender:  We can't wait to find out! My feelings keep going back and forth almost daily. I think girl but it seems like in the majority of my dreams it's a boy, so that confuses me.   
Movement: It is going to be awhile but this is what I am most looking forward to!
Sleep: Better this week. Still waking up multiple times a night for the bathroom but usually always fall back asleep rather quickly except for last night.
Belly button in or out? In.
What I miss: Nothing!
Food Cravings:  Still nothing. Although this week we ordered Hungry Hobo at work one day, it never tasted sooo good that I made Dave take me there Saturday too! So I guess we'll see if that one turns into anything. Today fruit started to sounds really good again. I'm going to the grocery store tomorrow to pick some up and hopefully I'll finally be able to start eating more healthy. 
Aversions: The thought of ground hamburger still makes me grossed out. I tried to eat a piece of lasagna and only could get through half of it. But a cheeseburger still sounds just fine.  
Symptoms: Multiple bathroom runs a day/night. Increased appetite. Decrease in nausea!!!
Best Moment this past week: Telling more friends and I told work! Went to Babies 'R Us to just look at furniture and the crap load of stuff they have. We started making a baby name list!!

Milestones: Buying maternity clothes on clearance. Finding both genders bedding.

What I'm looking forward to: 12 week ultrasound/appt and screening next week, I can't wait to see MJ!

Gifts

We are blessed.

My parents gave us this beautiful Isabel Bloom when we stopped over to their house after our second ultrasound. The statue is call "Faith", which is very fitting with the journey we've been on to get where we are today.

FAITH 

'Without faith, nothing is possible.

With it nothing is impossible.'

-Mary McLeod Bethune

Baby Dexter received his/her first gift from Chad, Kelsey and Jackson, to hold baby's first picture.

Then today, one of my co-workers and my boss came back from running errands together with presents!!  They each bought me a maternity item from Target. One was a long sleeved, black top with ruched sides that I'm sure I'll be able to wear in a few weeks and throughout the pregnancy. The other got me a gray cardigan/sweater with one button for when my belly is nice a round, it will definitely get lots of use when it's hot and the A/C is cranked up in the office!

I love my family, friends and work friends!!!  

{ten weeks in review}

Today is 10 weeks and now that the word is out I get to write weekly blogs about our little miracle, which I've been waiting to do for almost 3 years now! I never would have thought it would have taken this long...  I decided to put the last 6 weeks together in one as a review of what has been happening with both me and baby.

How far along? 10 weeks today

How big is baby?

Baby's now the size of a prune! With bones and cartilage starting to form and vital organs beginning to function, baby is making major progress. Body length will almost double in the next three weeks, and arm joints are now working. (Soon, legs will start working too.)

 

 

 

Total weight gain/loss: I have a feeling I will be losing track of this number on purpose. I can definitely see how some women gain a lot of weight and foresee this will most likely be the case with how often I am hungry!!

Maternity Clothes: None yet, but because of the bloat pants are getting tighter and uncomfortable especially as the day goes on. I see needing new clothes in my future sooner than later and lots of leggings!  

Symptoms: Belly bloat. Exhaustion. Nausea. Stuffy nose (who knew that was part pf pregnancy?). Increased appetite. I seriously go from feeling sick one second to being so hungry if I don't eat at that second I'm going to feel sick again. Needing to eat something every 2-3 hours. I even wake up at night hungry and if I don't eat I either feel sick or cannot go back to sleep. I also have the occasion dry heeve, I swear I'm going go vomit but I never do.

Sleep? Usually wake up 1-3 times a night for the bathroom, I only hate it because it's cold outside those covers. Some nights I can't get back to sleep and will stay awake a good hour or more each time. I've turned into more of a night person, I'm usually able to stay up to 9-10pm no problem but getting up in the morning is another story. I for the life of me cannot get my butt out of bed!!

Best moment this past week: We started telling close friends and my blog readers, seeing how excited everyone else is for us sure is amazing! Also, hearing all the ideas Steph already has about my shower makes me feel pretty damn blessed....and she has already started planning it!! 

Movement? Way to early for but I can't wait!

Food Cravings: Carbs to ward off the nausea. An aversion to lettuce. I can eat raw veggies however they definitely are not appetizing. Also the thought of ground hamburger makes me feel sick but a cheeseburger does not! I really haven't craved anything, usually nothing sounds good but my tummy is still hungry.

Gender: No preference, we want both! (But there is just ONE in there). Dave says as long as we get a healthy baby in July/August it doesn't matter which gender baby is! We did check the Chinese calendar which says girl. Dave already tried taking a quiz for me that included 20 questions on old wives tales, it's way to early for those though. He also did a free tarot reading and it said boy.  I had a dream the week before our 2nd u/s that MJ was a boy, we saw all the goods right up close. But then just the other night I had another dream we didn't find out ahead of time what we were having and I was in labor in the delivery room with no drugs (thanks Steph!) and baby was all girl then. So really it's up in the air!!!

Labor Signs: Lets hope not till summer!

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Absolutely Nothing! That may change but for now I'm content and happy :)

What I am looking forward to: EVERYTHING! Making it to next week

Milestones: Making it past our milestone 6 week marks! Making it to our first AND second ultrasounds, seeing baby and hearing the heartbeat. Also, being released from my RE and graduating back to my obgyn.  

{onto 2012}

I may be a little late but Happy 2012!

Looks like the first week and half of 2012 has already started to get away from me. We spent the first day of the new year having a lazy "family day in bed". Equipped with the pups, we watched movies and reality TV and napped on and off throughout the day. It was fabulous! Sometimes you just really need one of those days. I can't believe it is really the new year, 2011 sure when by fast. It was a whirlwind of events and a roller coaster ride of emotions, both good and bad. There are so many things to look back on last year that really made it a great year with a few rough patches.  

A Recap of 2011:

• I started a new job, making better money, working with great coworkers and loving my boss.
• My brother and his family moved back to Iowa, I get to hang out with my nephew more!
• I'm going to be an aunt again!
• Dave was given an overdo raise.
• I started taking more orders baking.
• We spent a great weekend in Chicago.
• We had two close friends get engaged (not to each other), Roxie and Sean John.
• Lost weight....and gained weight.
• Got a new car!!
• Went through 5 rounds of Clomid.
• Upgraded to an Infertility Specialist.
• Had an HSG to check my fallopian tubes. 
• Had two successful IUI's with Clomid, unfortunately we also had two miscarriages.
• I started acupuncture and getting adjustments
• Lost my grandfather and a dear aunt.
• Took an amazing trip to the Dominican Republic 
• We're still living in our beautiful home and have our two cute little puppies.
• We have our health and we have our families!

Now we get to look forward to 2012 and to what looks like is going to be OUR year!!!

Because we're PREGNANT!!!

Yes that's TWO very positive lines

It's official, we made it to our first (ever) ultrasound and actually got to see our little miracle, yolk sac, fluttering heartbeat and all!! We even got to hear the 126bpm heart fluttering away, absolutely beautiful!!  It was such a relief to see up on the screen, I was of course really nervous but everything about that little blob was perfect. That little "baby" is mostly just the yolk sac and the actually baby is seriously the size of a grain of rice under the sac. CRAZY!

This is our little Christmas Eve gift at 6weeks 4days, measure 6w2d

We decided to tell our parents over Christmas since my RE's office got us in right before the holiday. Dave's parents had invited both my parents and us over for dinner on Christmas Day so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to tell them together.

We made them each a Christmas Card from Baby D, with his/her first photo saying "Merry Christmas Grandma and Grandpa. Can't wait to meet you in August! Love Baby D" Their reactions were fabulous!! I wish I would have video taped it, they were definitely happy! We celebrated Christmas with my parents, Jordan, Steph and Carter the day after Christmas and told them then. I gave Steph the Christmas card to open, she was so excited for us that Carter started screaming and cheering too, although he had no idea what for at first, it was hilarious. We then gave him the card to look at his little cousin and he thought is was so funny...

He even gave it a little kiss :) I think he's excited to have another little cousin to play with along with his own little brother or sister due in June, which mean I'm just 7 weeks behind Steph!!!! It's going to be one exciting summer :)

Here's baby at 8 weeks 5 days, measuring right on target with a heart rate of 177bpm! 

I can't believe how much s/he has grown in just two short weeks, from a tiny little blob to waving arms, legs, a Buddha belly and a small little profile!! CRAZINESS!

Now that we've made it this far and have seen MJ twice, we just started telling close friends, not yet the world (maybe in a few more weeks as I'm completely nervous for that) and now also my faithful readers whoever you are out there (if anyone?).

We're really praying hard that this one sticks and continues to grow, grow, grow. Taking it day by day still since we have a long way to go. I make sure I pray everyday, thanking God for getting us another day closer and hoping it will continue through July/August.