Week 11! Healthy Doppler Heartbeats and Going Public! Woohoo!

Week 11 - August 22 - 28

The first day of week 11 was going to be our big day! I hadn't seen my midwife since week 5.5 and was super eager to know everything was still okay. Daniel and I had decided that if Baby Hals had a healthy hearbeat the rest of the world would find out about our next adventure - I was so excited!

 

I had to wait a lot longer than I did at my last appointment...so for a good forty minutes to an hour I was just waiting and waiting to be called back to be seen. Once I was called back it was initially to meet with the nurse to go over genetics, risk factors, what prenatals and supplements I was taking, etc (btw - my supplement choices? gold star for me! DHA? check (in my fish oil), is fish oil purified/free from mercury? - check, she mentioned the need to get extra calcium - check)...I had actually done a lot of research back when we started heading into this baby making business and had modified what I took daily. I read a lot of research articles before I picked things. Ultimately I take a prenatal vitamin (I love the Rainbow brand), burpless fish oil that has plenty of DHA and EPA, 5,000 mg of Vitamin D, and a calcium supplement each day. I'm sharing because it was super hard to find info or definitive recommendations and I knew that by the time I would be meeting with a doc to discuss these things some of the critical development would have already happened.

 

Wow did I digress. Okay, so then, finally!, my midwife came in and immediately pulled out the doppler. (at the ultrasound 5-6 weeks prior we could see a heartbeat flicker but couldn't hear anything yet...so I was so ready to hear a heartbeat!). She cautioned me that at 11 weeks she can find a heartbeat about 70% of the time....but! It didn't take long - and all of a sudden there it was - that amazing, magical galloping swooshy sound - at a beautifully healthy 160 beats per minute! YAY! The rest of the appointment was fine - everything was looking great!

 

And so...we went public and told the grandmothers to have at it! (They had been chomping at the bit to tell the world). We made the following announcement and soon followed it up with this blog entry that told the whole story...

I also have been taking pictures each week - and week 11 yielded one of my favorites thus far. So bump updates:

4 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, and 11 weeks!

Healthy mom and healthy Baby Hals at 11 weeks! YAY!

The rest of my week...

Well, it's time for another smh-at-my-pregnant-self story (smh = shake my head)

 

Friday night we grabbed a tasty dinner at Thai Hana (well, tasty for everyone but Ryan...sorry buddy) and then had folks over to hang out. We were playing the quickly heated mind-bending, conspiracy theory inducing game of resistance and then transitioned to the far lighter (and darker) game - Cards Against Humanity. I was struggling with an increasing issue with brain fog - I kept having to ask people to repeat themselves over again and had a processing delay...the group was definitely making fun of me. I also kept feeling warmer and warmer...I had gradually shed my cardigan during the first game and during the second I was just getting quite hot and flustered. Daniel finally was like - "Beth what is going on?!" (he was on the other side of the table and came walking over to me) - and I said (giggling hysterically...which if you know me well should be no surprise) "I don't know - I'm just SO hot! I don't know what's wrong with me!! I can't think straight!" and he touched me and was like "Oh my God!" and brought a small fan over to blow directly on me. It was helpful - but at that point I suddenly was super overwhelmed with the feeling that I was going to be sick and headed off to the bathroom where I decided that laying on the tile floor was my best bet. It had to be hormones, but it was full fledged pregnancy hormone craziness.

 

Evidently my literal melt down was enough to concern our friends (I'm sheepish just thinking about it - although I could control zero of what was happening to me) - but they compelled Daniel to check on me who was not less concerned to find me enjoying the tile on the bathroom floor. He brought me some water and I told him to just give me a minute. I eventually calmed down enough - but still felt quite strange. Our poor friends were fairly freaked out.

After everyone left we got ready for bed, but by then I had headed into having shivery shakes - to the extent that I was physically shuddering and just too uncomfortable to try to sleep just yet. I ended up on the couch in a down comforter watching TV in the fetal position for a good hour before the shivers passed and I could retreat back to our covers and go bed.

 

I was once again reminded to never underestimate the unexplainable power of pregnancy hormones to just take over. Good grief.

 

We made a trek on Saturday out to Seasons 52 in Orlando - one of our favorite restaurants - and really enjoyed its tastiness. The menu is fresh, all dishes are capped at 475 calories, and we have generally found the food to be super yummy! They also have dessert shots - so you can have more than one dessert flavor and still not feel like you have had way too much. It's really just our favorite.

 

My complaint of the week...

Okay...I think at this point I am allotting myself to one complaint a week. That seems reasonable right? For week 11 it is this... I understand that I am hungry every 2 or 3 or (if I'm lucky) 4 hours. I have psychologically rationalized such new habits as the baby's way of conditioning me to be ready to feed him/her every 2 or 3 or (if I'm lucky) 4 hours. I get it. ...But actually that's not my complaint. My complaint is that while I have to eat at highly frequent intervals...food...just doesn't sound that great. When something actually sounds good - I am SO excited! I have foods that are on my "usually good" list and foods on my "oh no, I don't think so" list, but it is getting increasingly old to have to come up with what we are going to have for lunch and dinner when...well, nothing sounds good, and dear husband has decided that he has no opinion. *Sigh* Or...picks a meal that he can prepare for himself - but sounds terrible to me, so I still have to worry about feeding myself. *Sigh.* So I am hungry (if I don't eat ever 2/3/4 hours it's insta-nauseau...and the only cure is to eat) but I have no appetite. Where oh where have you gone, dear appetite*? And when oh when are you coming back? (should be soon...right?) *Appetite doesn't have to include large portion sizes, just food sounding remotely palatable or tasty would be great.

 

Disclaimer - I know I am not puking and for this I should be grateful. I REALLY deeply, truly am. But, after several continuous months, I am just running out of patience with the hungry but no appetite contradiction.

 

"Usually good" foods - I am pretty sure my baby is 10% fuji apples, 10% quaker oatmeal squares, 5% lowfat milk, and 10% Simply Orange Juice with Mango. Not sure how that will look...but...yeah.

 

"Oh no, I don't think so" foods - Any piece of chicken that are bigger than my finger nail and not mixed into a dish/soup. Double negative points if I had to cook it. Peanut butter. Considering peanut butter on whole wheat toast was my favorite afternoon snack a month ago I really have no idea. Asparagus...which pre-pregnancy dear husband and I would eat at least two bunches every three days...we had an obsession. For now it is one hundred percent gone.

 

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