16 weeks! Lil' 2.0 and I are at 16 and a half weeks and more or less enjoying sweet sixteen! I've been taking notes periodically since six weeks, but just like everything else, I am really really terrible about allowing the things I jot down to not actually turn into a blog post. I mentally draft notes all the time...and have things in drips and drabs but am really bad about pulling it all together. The other nail in my blog post coffin was when I typed up two or three weeks worth of things only for the draft not to save. *sigh* but - plenty rough around the edges, this is what has been going on for 2.0 and this momma.
We found out we were expecting August 8th while Daniel's parents were in town, attended my family's reunion in NJ the following weekend, and then I dove into the "beginning of the school year" craziness at my school. While being due in mid April is gold for someone in education, it means the start of the school year is super rough!!! For me this month was very critical - I was helping with new teacher orientation and was also launching the learning management system for my school. We were piloting the platform this year, but all faculty and students needed accounts, parents needed to be able to create observer accounts, teachers needed training, etc and the whole project was by baby! (Oh yeah, and I was growing a baby too and already had one at home!) It was go time!
Week 6 -
This week was THE WEEK. Holy cow. First of all this week was the most important week at work that I have had since I started my job. It wasn't just a big one, it was HUGELY important to me and I have been working towards prepping for this week for months and months.
So...how did we start the week? Sunday Hannah came down with hand, foot, and mouth disease and had fevers all day, was sobbing uncontrollably, drooling and clawing at her mouth. Considering she had been teething all week (she had woken up in the middle of the night every night the previous week)...increased teething irritation was totally plausible but it really seemed like more. Pain meds were the only thing that helped at all, but she was utterly miserable. Monday night the rash started setting in and then we knew for sure - HFMdisease. Monday my presentations with faculty started, Tuesday was the first full faculty meeting, I hit six weeks, and did my first big training session with faculty who had never seen our LMS before. That afternoon I felt awful and then increasingly awful. Body aches, chills, fever uggggh. I slept terribly, limped through the faculty retreat, went to my first doc appointment (which was basically an annual exam and lab work), and then got to start enjoying terrible feverish sweats through the night and an incredibly itchy but painful rash all over my hands. What was crazy was that all of the bumps on my hands seemed to appear on any point that was frequently used, where the cells in my skin would tend to replenish more frequently - like my finger tips and the area around my rings. The same happened on my feet, but not quite as terribly. By Thursday, I was a miserable, blistering, itchy mess and by Friday I was still all of the above, plus utterly exhausted because I had barely slept in days because of my fevers and itchy hands.
 |
| Hand foot and mouth disease is the worst! And it just kept giving its gifts! Scabby skin showed up a few weeks later. The weirdest thing! Our feet didn't peel until at least a month after - and three months later mine are almost done. So so bizarre, |
Daniel was sick too - about a day and a half behind me and for him, the disease seemed to really attack his poor feet (perfect for my runner, right?)
Overall it was just a crazy week. But I felt like quite the conqueror who has earned quite a few battle stars and should be crazy proud.
At the end of the week I also took a gamble and told my main boss. I really wanted to wait until after I had conquered this week to say anything - kind of as a way of proving, hey I may be pregnant, but I still am conquering my job. But, I was SO nervous! SO SO nervous! But it went really well, and I think in the end, it was a good decision, or at least it feels right for now. He was really positive and supportive - His wife is also expecting and had just hit 20 weeks, so he was confused when I said I was due in April, because I could tell he was doing the math. I finally explained that yes, it was early, but with Hannah I felt the worst between 7 and 10 weeks and that I would be hitting 7 weeks just as we kicked off the first day of school with students. I think once I mentioned that he understood. I further explained that the idea of having to take a day emergently at the beginning of the school year (which educators just don't) because something sad happened or I was really ill and to have to lie about it and be perceived as being irresponsible, was stressful and I would rather be transparent. And once I explained that, I think he really understood.
Translation or addendums to FB posts...
(6 weeks 3 days...)
Whew! HUGE week! Faculty reported back this week and we launched the new learning management system my school is adopting and I ran extensive training sessions all through the week...all while Hannah and I (and Daniel...but he got off easy) enjoyed the delights of hand, foot, and mouth disease (omg it's just the absolute worst!!!!) I think the blisters on my hands are going to all conjoin and my hands might just fall off. Overall, everything went incredibly well! Relieved, exhausted, and hoping next week (first week of school, starting Wed) is more reasonable!
(Addendum: I pulled all of this off AND am six weeks pregnant and feeling worse by the day! I feel like a (n exhausted) rockstar!)
(6 weeks 5 days...)
Daniel Hals did the grocery shopping, then took Hannah to the park and got her napping while I finally ran a few errands, then he walked the dogs and cooked dinner while I lined up and ironed clothes for the first week of school! Today I am a kept woman!
(Translation: I feel pretty crappy and Daniel is doing an amazing job picking up the slack and helping out)
7 weeks -
Fatigue and nausea definitely kicking in just in time for the first week of school! I've been incredibly hungry - but my hunger turns to nausea in seconds, so keeping up has been a major challenge.
I've been semi-nauseous in the morning - especially mid morning, it always seemed to peak right in the middle of the class I teach and I have had several days when I have mapped out my grab-the-trash-can-as-I-flee escape route. But I always feel so much better after I get lunch. By late afternoon I start feeling a lot worse and all I've been able to tolerate for dinner is cereal/oatmeal. One incredibly big highlight? The cafeteria is open again at work now that school started, so I have a perpetual backup plan!
Translation or addendums to FB posts...
(7 weeks...)
And the first day of school (number nine!) is done! Excited to be teaching again on a daily basis, but loving that my main job is still instructional technology! But this has been an epically long week! Sorry #hannahhals #momistired #isitfridayyet?
(Translation: #mom is really freaking tired!)
(7 weeks 2 days...)
So much more relaxing to look back on the three incredibly hectic and critical weeks that jump start the school year than to have them looming in front of me! Relieved, exhausted, thrilled with how well things have gone, and excited for this school year! I really love my job!
(Side story: I had my sonogram today and finally got to see our little baby...AND...everything was perfect! Perfectly strong heartbeat, exactly as far along as I thought I was, perfect! So not only do I feel incredibly triumphant for conquering these three weeks at work, but we have a beautifully forming baby!)
8 weeks
As dinner tonight was a bowl of cereal and a plate of caprese and my evening snack is oatmeal and hot chocolate because those are the only things that sound tolerable...I can say that my food aversions and all the weird nausea has fully kicked in. In many ways it's not as bad as I remembered, but that doesn't mean I haven't had my moments.
At 8 weeks the hard core fatigue and rounds of all day sickness in the forms of feeling nauseous or gaggy, unable to eat certain (most) things, etc. Lunch is the easiest and I feel the best afterwards. But even for lunch there's a very limited range of what I can "handle" eating. Dinner. Blah. Cereal is quite yummy. Chicken and vegetables are just absolute no's. I pretty much want processed shit that I really don't eat normally or gross greasy things that I would usually only let myself "splurge" and have on occasion.
This week was the second week of school - and included Back to School Night. I've definitely stayed busy!
 |
| We've had fun telling our friends that are near and far away! |
Last night was the most excited I have been for our little 2.0 and the whole idea that we are going to be a sweet little family of four! We were at the Kunkles and as I watched Daniel play with both Lillian and Hannah as they roared with laughter, I was so excited about the next few years we have ahead! And really all the precious years we have as a family.
9 Weeks
Daniel went to FL for a work trip, second back to school night, aversions less severe but still there and are very much still ruling the show - the fb post below explains how insane of a week this was!
 |
| 9 weeks 1 day - pregnant with Hannah on the left, with 2.0 on the right! |
Translation or addendums to FB posts...
9 weeks 2 days
After three days of Daniel being away, which involved super early morning dog walks for me, 3.5-4 hours in the car each day as I drove the triangle between Silver Spring (home), North Laurel (daycare beside Daniel's work), and DC (my work) in rush hour traffic, and Hannah even got to hangout behind the scenes at Back to School Night (take 2) last night; Daniel Hals is now home and I got to spend my evening watching #hannahhals roar with laughter. All is right again in our little world! ❤️ Content, thankful, and exhausted!!! :)
(Translation: none needed. Brutal week, exhausted mom who is proud of juggling it all while growing 2.0)
This week I also had an appointment with an endocrinologist. At my last checkup the big beginning of the pregnancy blood work up and had discovered the my TSH was low (which actually indicates hyperthyroidism) and my free T4 was really high (also consistent with hyperthyroidism). So off to the endocrinologist I went. I had had two weeks to be worried and dismiss worry. My mom had thyroid cancer in her late thirties (free and clear now!), and pretty much every woman in my family has hypothyroidism on some level. I wasn't shocked to have off thyroid levels, just bummed. I also have been having my levels checked since I was in my early 20s and knew they had always been normal until now, so if it was an issue it wasn't something that "should have been caught" before. In fact, I arrived at the docs office with my levels from December. They were on the low side, but still in the normal range.
The doctor did an ultrasound of my thyroid and very quickly determined there were no lumps or toxic nodules or anything else alarming, which ruled out all kinds of things. However, it made it more likely that the hyperthyroidism was being caused by an autoimmune disorder called Graves' disease. Crap. Not definitely, but there was a real chance this was the culprit. I left with lab orders and enjoyed a lovely scavenger hunt to find the right lab and then finally make it back to work.
10 weeks
Still fighting with food - on a particularly epically bad food day my lunch at work was grapes and sweet potato fries. Then the person beside me was eating something that resembled and smelled like cat food lasagna and the next person sat down with crab cakes. Game over! I ended up eating cereal by myself in my office. Uggggh.
Meat, especially grilled meat has just been a big fat no and this week especially food has been a struggle. Most veggies are also. My moment of caving involved ruffles cheddar sour cream chips (I don't eat potato chips ever - they are greasy and disgusting) but at this moment they were the best.thing.ever! I would be ashamed, but I ate half of a small bag (the kind that would come with lunch) for afternoon snack and half the next day for mid morning snack and both times it made me feel so much better even though the Beth floating above me was just disgusted... It's been a very weird month of eating.
The final day of week 10, I headed to the endocrinologist, a mix of calm and basket-case kinda nervous, anxious to learn whether I had an autoimmune disorder that could endanger my baby and be a pain in the ass the rest of my life. I didn't have to wait long...and it was great news! My TSH level was normal, my free T4 and free T3 were still high, BUT there were no antibodies that indicated Graves Disease! WOOHOO! The doctor was "perplexed." She then asked me how I was feeling overall. Nope, I didn't have heart palpitations. Meh, I was sleeping alright - but the past night or two I was worried about whether I had Graves or not, and I haven't slept through the night since before the test was even positive because I have to pee... but it felt like not sleeping well from the pregnancy, not weird overstimulated thyroid things. And so, I was told we could wait and see. No dangerous-for-the-baby anti-thyroid medications for us! (which would have made me feel like crap too). I would do more labs in a month and see how I was doing and at my ultrasound in five days we would make sure the baby was growing to size (too small could be hyperthyroid) and that the heartbeat was normal (too high heartbeat for the baby could be hyperthyroid as well). I left elated, relieved, grateful, and thrilled!!!
Translation or addendums to FB posts...
Sept 28, 2013 I woke up and spent my first morning in Maryland, as we lived in a hotel with my husband and Chance while I found a place for us to rent; Sept 28, 2014 I woke up and spent my first morning in our home in Silver Spring with my husband, Hannah, Chance, and Holly. Sept 28, 2015 I woke up and was thrilled to not be surrounded by suitcases or boxes! Here's to staying put for another year!
Addendum: (I woke up with Daniel, Hannah, Chance, Holly, AND 2.0 growing away! Staying put for another year, but life is still a'changing!)
11 weeks
This was the first full day I could cherish the idea that I didn't have Graves' disease and actually let myself be excited about the fact that "oh yeah, I'm pregnant!!" And, I'm already past the most dangerous part and the baby seems to be okay! And it was finally fall! I was all grins at work and really looking forward to my Friday OB checkup, anxious to have that extra confirmation that they baby was doing well!
Friday was frustrating - the doctor said it was too early to bother using the doppler, and I wasn't quick enough to beg. She said that since I had an ultrasound the following Monday, I would get to see the baby then and check on everything else then. It was logical, but I was bummed and I guess after all the ups and downs from the past few weeks, I was really looking forward to having that reassurance.
During the weekend we met up with Bonnie, Tommy, and Savannah, and went apple picking and to the pumpkin patch - we gathered a family of four pumpkins together and had fun sharing our big news with them.
Sunday I also felt distinctive movements and was pretty sure it was our sweet little 2.0! It happened several different times - and again the following day, but I wasn't confident enough to say anything until I went to the doctor for the ultrasound and they place the wand pretty much exactly where I had been feeling movements and the sonogram revealed a baby who was definitely waving and kicking up a storm! And, from that point on I have felt the baby almost daily! These are my favorite kind of little movements - they almost tickle, they are so delicate and sweet, and they most certainly don't hurt or bruise my ribs!
The sonogram confirmed many things - that we had a totally healthy baby who was waving and kicking up and rolling and adorable! The heartbeat was perfectly normal, the baby was beautifully and perfectly formed, and measuring several days ahead already! We might have a tall one! (And certainly not one that is stunted by hyperthyroidism).
And so, after the appointment...we posted this!
12 weeks - 14 weeks
Food and I are finally on better terms! It's still hit or miss at times, but 12 weeks seemed to be my turning point this time. Not excited about food yet, but able and willing to eat a broader range of it!
Our beloved FL family visited this week and we had a great time catching up with them!
14 weeks - 16 weeks
So I officially cleared the first trimester and can finally eat again! My greatest struggle the past several weeks is fatigue. I'm horrendously tired and I just can't ever seem to get ahead. We had 4-5 weekends in a row that were almost all napless weekends, so one of my only only chances to lay down and snooze (or catch up with Daniel!) has been repeatedly thwarted AND I have a cranky/extra whiny, overtired toddler to sweeten the deal. That hasn't helped me feel more rested. Sleeping in never happens. Daniel has started taking Hannah for one or two parts (each are about 6 miles or 45-50 minutes) of his Saturday morning workout - so that has been a nice little break for me. Some mornings he leaves at a time when I'm wide awake, but many mornings I have been able to crawl back into bed for a nice forty-five minute nap. Sometimes longer, but I have found it's best not to get my hopes up!
We've spent the past few weeks soaking in the glorious fall weather and enjoying as many fall activities as possible! I LOVE fall in Maryland! October is the most magical month of the year around here!
15 weeks and "going public" at work! -
 |
| Wore this shirt for Halloween at work and enjoyed the opportunity to "go public" before the gossip mill was discussing whether I was pregnant/just getting pudgy. My students were super excited about it too! |
There have been many ways in which things were similar to my first pregnancy (Hannah), but there are ways in which this one is different. While the nausea and aversions were definitely there, in many ways I feel like I am less sensitive to the crazy flux of hormones than I was last time. I partly wonder if that's because I'm still nursing even now, so they never all fully left my system and I never fully reclaimed myself. Regardless, that has been nicer. Once I cleared the first trimester, I feel like I can get away with not snacking quite as frequently - and I don't think I ever got away from that crazy dependence with Hannah, even for a little while. My cravings during the first trimester (or more, what I could manage to eat/the times I wasn't just choking the food down) was really greasy and gross foods - whereas with Hannah, sweets and baked goods were allllllways my weakness. Both of these babies freaking love caprese salad and italian food. But this one is a lot less of a fan of meat, particularly grilled meat - even now, I only marginally want a steak - and if I have some, I want a third or half of a normal "Beth" portion (which is like...a whole chunk of cow normally). What any of that suggests about gender? Who knows - but it will be awfully fun to find out in just a few more weeks!!!
 |
| My baby is looks like a "big kid"!!! |
Posted with Blogsy