Surviving week 15

So week 15 started out good last Thursday, March 8th. I'd been getting my energy back and was actually getting out of the house to go get Dylan from school among a few other short trips. Then Friday came. I woke up feeling nauseous and threw up a few times throughout the day. The anti-nausea meds I was on were not working and I just felt awful. I had a burger that night and kept it in and so I was hopeful the next day would be better. Not so much. Again I was throwing up a lot and no food was staying in. Sunday came and the same. I had a plain potato and I couldn't even handle that. All this time I am supposed to be studying for my final on Tuesday, my last class of the term. Monday comes and at this point I really haven't eaten since that Friday burger. I had lost 7 pounds since my last weigh in at the midwife's February 24. Monday evening things took a turn for the worse. At this point I was throwing up every 1 and half to 2 hours and water wasn't even staying in. I got all my notes finished up for my exam the next afternoon and was trying to figure out if I should call the nurse's hotline or my midwife. It was 5 am and I just couldn't bring myself to disturb my midwife so early. I was hoping to wait it out until 8am when the office opened. After sitting around for an hour and then throwing up again, I finally called the midwife and asked if I should go to the ER. She told me to come in at 10am and she'd get me to stop. 10am seemed like ages away. I finally fell asleep around 7am and slept for about 45 minutes. Rob took Dylan to school and we headed to the midwife's. I got started on an IV drip with fluids and meds shortly after I got there and ended up having a total of 3 bags of fluids. We left around 4pm with a new drug called Zofran. I had to call my mentor and tell her there was no way I could take the exam because of my situation and luckily I was able to reschedule without incurring any "no show" penalty. I felt alright after I got home. Took a nap for a few hours and then went out to get some blands foods I could eat. I'm on Zofran every 6 hours and will see the midwife next Friday. Today didn't start out too good. The few bites I took of my toast made me sick and I had a headache from the Zofran. After a nap and the Zofran kicking in I was able to eat my first small meal of the day around 6:30 pm. Tomorrow week 16 starts, 4 months. 16 weeks seems so much further along than saying 4 months. I hope I can enjoy this pregnancy soon. Really cherished the time I spent pregnant with Dylan. I wasn't as sick and I think I was enjoying it a little more around this time.

12 weeks 6 days

So tomorrow I will be 13 weeks along. I'd like to say my first trimester just flew by. Well, it kind of did, however, if you had asked me that a couple weeks ago I would have laughed. I won't lie, it's been miserable. So miserable in fact that my nickname has become zombie or walking dead. I was spoiled my first trimester with Dylan compared to this time around. With Dylan I did lose 20 pounds the first trimester, but I was still functional and didn't spend the entire trimester in bed. This pregnancy I've lost 3 pounds this trimester. Had it not been for the anti-nausea drugs I think I would have lost more. Today I actually felt a little human and pray that the worse is behind me and I can becom a functioning member of my family. Rob has been great through all of this and I know I would not have survived this long without his love and support. He has been Dylan's mom and dad pretty much since the first week in January. My son misses his mommy and I hope to be there more for him. I was sick with Dylan until about 6 months. I'm hoping since I had it do bad the first trimester the gods will behind to me from here on out. However, there were two days last week where I was feeling better and I thought the worst was behind me only to wake up the next day and spend most of the day in the bathroom. So I am cautiously optimistic.

I've been making little mental notes about all the cravings I am having. I don't remember having this many cravings this early on with Dylan. The main one I had with Dylan around this time was ketchup. Later it was cream cheese and pumpkin pie not together though. So far the main one that I haven't been able to satisfy is a craving for watermelon. I can't wait for the summer just for that reason. So the cravings I have had are prime rib, fish sticks,salad, coke, apples. So far I've been able to fulfill all those cravings.

I had an app that I was using to track pregnancy stuff. It was updated and now everything I was tracking is gone. I bought the belly book I used with Dylan and hope I can remember all the info I had in that app. I am not impressed to say the least.

My next midwife appointment is this Friday. I've not just been sick but also totally drained of any energy. I know it supposed to get better now, but the drug I'm taking causes drowsiness in a bad way on top of that. I haven't needed any drugs so far today and that might be why I actually got some stuff done. With that I hope to enjoy the rest of my pregnancy as a functional human being. Have to wait and see.

11 weeks and 1 day

Ok, on January 27 we went to meet the midwife.  I was only supposed to be a meet and tour, but I ended up getting all the work ups done and we got to see the baby.  I have yet to scan in the pictures the midwife gave us, but needless to say at 9 weeks, there's not much to see.  It was cool getting to see the baby.  We saw it's heart beat and it even moved/ jumped on the ultrasound.  We didn't get to hear the heartbeat though.  With Dylan we heard his heartbeat at about 11 weeks, but didn't see him on the ultrasound until 20 weeks.  I asked Rob what he preferred, seeing or hearing, and he said he thought both were great.  I like the fact that I can share the pictures of the ultrasound.  I couldn't really share the heartbeat moment with anyone else.  The midwife gave me some anti-nausea drugs, which have helped a lot with morning sickness but are not perfect.  I am still getting sick quite a bit and leaving the house is a whole different challenge.  Aside from Dylan's violin lesson on Thursdays and the weekly shopping trip, I basically don't leave the house.  The midwife said I have another month of feeling like this.  Ha! With Dylan I was about 5 1/2 months pregnant before feeling somewhat normal again.  I expect this pregnancy to take that long too, but I'm praying not any longer.  On Thursday, January 26, I could have sworn I felt the baby.  I was just once and it was quick but I definitely felt something.  I felt a noticeable jump last night too that caught me off guard.  I was hoping it would happen again, but at this point it only happens once.  As with Dylan's pregnancy taking my prenatals has not been going well.  I don't think I took them for even a week when pregnant with Dylan.  Whenever I took them I would just puke them back up no matter when I took them.  The midwife gave me a prescription for a 90 supply of prenatals she recommends.  I took them twice in the evening and both times, the day after I was so sick throwing up most of the day.  I'm not sure what the deal is with that.  I'm not a big fan of them anyway as the have a bunch of food dye in them.  That I don't understand.  I also bought a liquid prenatal shortly after I found out I was pregnant that I was taking for a while.  However, since the morning sickness kicked in just the thought of taking it makes me want to throw up and it doesn't taste that bad!  What else,  oh yes... I don't remember this with Dylan's pregnancy, but so far this one has brought acne too.  I know hormones and such are going wild and it's totally normal, but again I didn't have this with Dylan.  It seems to have calmed down this week, at least for now.  The anti-nausea meds have drowsiness as a side effect.  Before I started taking them I was a nauseated zombie.  Now for the most part I am just a zombie.  I told Rob I'd rather just be a zombie.  I've been craving watermelon for a while, which might mean this baby is truly a summer baby.  Also had a craving for lasagna.  Didn't want to make any so I bought a premade one.  Big mistake, big!  Eww.  So I guess eventually I'll have to make my lasagna to satisfy that craving for good.  Another recent development... I have been reading a lot for my class I have been trying to finish up this term.  It's been going slow since I keep falling asleep while reading, but the newest problem is I've been getting very nauseous while reading to the point of having to turn the lights off and just lay still until it goes away.  I haven't had my eyes checked since May of 2007 right before I got pregnant with Dylan.  Think that might be on the priority list after this baby is born.  So I guess that's all the news for this time. 

Baby Shepard

So we found out we are expecting another little one about a week before Christmas. It was a bit of a shock, but we are excited none the less. I mainly started this blog so I can document the differences between this pregnancy and my pregnancy with Dylan. Tomorrow I will be 8 weeks along and so far a lot is different. With Dylan, I didn't start feeling sick until shortly after 8 weeks. This time I started feeling sick around 5 1/2 weeks. The nausea is overwhelming. With Dylan I felt sick, got sick, and moved on. This time I feel sick all the time and so far have only had two visits to the bathroom. Also, I am exhausted. I feel like I'm on a newborn schedule. I eat, sleep for two hours, eat, and repeat pretty much all day. I can't stay up after I eat or I feel too sick. I have to lay down and wait for it to subside. They say girls are worse than boys and we think this one is a girl. I think I was about 5 1/2 month along with Dylan when the sick feeling finally went away. Here's hoping that because it started a little sooner, it will end a little sooner. Another interesting thing is this baby doesn't seem to like chocolate. I don't remember having issues with chocolate with Dylan, but the funny thing is, Dylan doesn't like chocolate. Ah, the mayonnaise aversion is back this time. With Dylan, Rob had to assign anything to do with mayo to a different cook, because I couldn't stand to look T or touch the stuff. I can still eat it though. So those are my observations so far. Hopefully I can update this blog on at least a weekly basis. This will more than likely be our last little one, so I'd like to keep a record of all the fun from my last pregnancy.