No ice cream!? What kind of pregnancy is this?!!

Ok, so Baby Schmidt and Mommy Schmidt are having our first small fight. I've tried to have ice cream on occasion for the past two weeks now and every time I have some, I'm regretting it within an hour. NOTHING soothes the frothy, icky feeling that I get high up in my tummy just under my ribs. It's not reflux, it's not like I'm going to be sick...it's this intense, frothy, air in my tummy feeling that I can't get rid of no matter what I do other than wait and be super uncomfortable. For a split second I thought it was just Culver's ice cream that did me in, but nope! It's home ice cream, Culver's, Cold Stone, you name it. The thing that really gets me is that many pregnant women savor in the fact that they get to eat ice cream all the time and it's so great...and here I eat a bite of ice cream and I'm the size of a bloated house and hurting. I know I should probably just break down and buy the tums to see if that helps...but I keep forgetting and then never want to go anywhere post-ice cream b/c I'd rather be lying down on the couch praying for it to go away. SO, that's precisely what I'm going to do for the rest of this short night. Why, oh why, did Jason and Julie suggest Cold Stone after BW3s?? Sigh...at least it tasted SO good...

200 days to go!

Well, we officially have 200 days to go until Baby Schmidt arrives (pending s/he is actually a due date baby - yeah right). This is going to be short b/c I have quite the headache (unfair - everyone else was drinking last night and I bet they feel fine today - and I get the headache...hmmm) and I also need to get some things done around here as Adam is busting his tail off in the basement patching up the ceiling where we had the water leak. He's my trooper and hasn't even said anything to make me feel bad for riding the couch and chair most of the day. The belly bump is not going away which makes me pretty sure it's here to stay. Like I've posted earlier, I'm excited for our doctor appointment Wednesday so I can find out if I'm growing at a normal rate.

This morning Adam and I went to our favorite breakfast place in town - Muscatine Family Restaurant - where I got this great wild rice and chicken soup and a blueberry pancake. AWESOME. So then 1:30 rolls around and all I can think about is that soup that I had for breakfast...So I call them up and go pick up a bowl of the good stuff. I walked in and the owner (funny guy) said 'long time no see! we're open til 9 if you want to come back!' and I laughed and took my soup home. Ah, the joys of pregnancy. I was going to ignore the craving but then this week I would have been at work and had to go there to get more. It doesn't pay to ignore semi-healthy cravings. They don't go away.

Ok, I think I'm ready to get up and do something now. The bright green grass is starting to show through the snow which is melting quite fast. Whew! I wasn't a fan of it anyway.

SNOW?!?

Today we are "supposedly" getting 2-4" of snow here in Iowa. What?!? It's almost April and the heavens are raining down snow?!? Cruel, cruel world. Hopefully the weather people are wrong again and it's a dusting that will melt tomorrow. Ugh. For now a cold rain will have to be ok - better than snow.

Today Adam and I have been rather productive. We got up, had pancakes, and Adam worked on the leaky sink in the kitchen and I did some things around the house I've been putting off...like laundry. I was running out of essentials and Adam was out of white t-shirts...unheard of. He might have even been turning his boxers inside out but wouldn't admit it to me if I had asked. Apparently I've been a little behind on things. :)

I've officially turned 11 weeks on Thursday and am currently 11 weeks 2 days along. I think the belly might be getting ready to pop out soon as my 11-week picture showed a bit more bump that I had anticipated. I am not sure if I'm "growing" at the right pace right now as A) this is my first (and the second belly/baby grows faster anyway) and B) you can't compare to friends b/c their bodies are all different and will show differently. Ho hum. We have the 12-week appointment next Wed (April 1st-yikes!) and we get to actually HEAR our baby's heartbeat instead of just see it like we did at the last ultrasound. I'm trying to come up with some worry or symptom to see if I can't get Dr. Coleman to want to do another ultrasound but things are going smoothly so I doubt it will happen. She said our next u/s is at 20 weeks. Maybe I'll pull the SLP knowledge out and ask her to check for any cleft palate/lip problems...our baby's palate is just finishing up the closing process this week, so once we hit week 12, things should be all closed up! According to babycenter.com, our baby is the size of a fig this week. (Last week was a kumquat and next week is a lime (huge!)). Adam is shocked by how big s/he is already.

Two other SLP friends (Sara-24 weeks preg, and Denise) and I went to visit our friend Abbie who had her baby just over a month ago this week. Abbie looked and sounded great (I can only hope I'm that resilient)! Cammie was adorable and while she is bigger than she was at birth, it was a little daunting to think my baby could be even remotely that big in October! Cammie currently weights just under 8lbs if I remember correctly which makes me think of my poor mother who had one baby almost 11lbs, 2 over 9lbs, and one over 8lbs! My goodness! And she lived to tell about it!! Hopefully I'll follow Adam's side where babies didn't top over 8lbs if I recall...we shall see. I am just hoping for a very healthy baby and don't mind if s/he comes 1-2 weeks early. :) That was s/he can avoid all these late October birthdays as well! Every time I tell someone my due date, I hear 'oh my birthday is...' (insert date within a week of due date here). My baby's got some competition. :) The 1-2 weeks early should clear the birthday competition right up and save mommy a few extra pounds. :) Healthy baby comes first though - always.

So here's an annoying symptom for a girl who loves to eat - my stomach becomes really painful when I even slightly over eat. And by over eat, I don't mean load up at OCB or something, I mean having dinner. For example, as I write this, my stomach hurts way up high. Right below my ribs in the middle. I had a little bit of our leftover BW3s with Adam just before noon, then some canned pears about 45 minutes later, and a piece of apple pie with ice cream at 1:30...good spaces b/w eating...but apparently I overdid it. Baby must be growing straight up and squishing my tummy, which sucks b/c this momma loves to eat! I've gained anywhere from 3-4lbs so far depending on the day and my digestive system...gotta love how hormones can get things all out of whack.

But now I am going to brave the cold cold rain and run to the store for ingredients to make some yummy things to bring to Jason and Julie's poker night tonight. I'm really glad we live two doors down with the coming weather. Then we're going to "downtown" Muscatine for a farewell get-together for a couple we know who's moving to Oregon. I'll be ready for a nap after church tomorrow...not the leftover cleaning I'm sure will be waiting...

Energy!! I feel good today!

Energy! I woke up with energy and a tummy that didn't feel icky at all (unheard of for weeks). Praise the Lord and I love my baby more than ever today! That doesn't mean I won't wake up tomorrow morning back to ick and super tired, but I'll take today and did for all it's worth. I was productive at work ALL day (ok maybe not 10 minutes in there or so). We had originally planned to go out for dinner with another couple tonight but that fell through so Adam and I were trying to decide if we should stay home and figure something out for dinner or go out to a favorite mexican place called Las Lomas here in Muscatine. Adam emailed me midafternoon and asked if I would make enchiladas like my friend Julie does (he was clearly on a mexican food craving kick...who's the one with the symptoms here?!). I told him if he wanted Mexican than we should go to LL b/c I wasn't cooking anything that complicated. He then suggested leftovers. So then I was on my way home and thought, hmmm...enchiladas...Susie's (step mom) enchiladas...so I promptly called her when I got home, got the recipe, ran to the store, and made the best enchiladas ever! We also had snowpeas with it - YUM. Adam had three enchiladas! I managed one. It was his last 12-hr day this month (after 7 days in a row) so he must have been hungry and tired. I also cleaned the kitchen by putting all the things back under the sink (even though it's not fixed yet), did all the dishes, and was excited to be able to see my counters again. Ah, the small things.

I posted on Facebook that I can see the light at the end of this first trimester tunnel! Goodbye nausea! Goodbye crazy fatigue!! Bring on the quickening and feeling baby kicks!! Bring on finding out the sex of the baby!! I am not convinced in the slightest that today was the onset of feeling completely better (no nausea/fatigue) b/c I thought my nausea was gone a long time ago and it came back within a week. I love you Baby Schmidt! Thanks for giving mom a day off from the ickies!

The cat is completely outta the bag!

Anyone and everyone can now know we're having a baby! I announced it at work today and put the news on my Facebook page. It's official! 10w5d into this pregnancy and it's ok to finally talk about it in more than a whisper. Whew! After I spoke with my supervisor so as not to surprise him with a group announcement, I put a pink/blue sign in the staff lounge at the AEA that read (something like) "Guess who's expecting?? Enjoy a peep (I put out pink and blue peeps)to help us celebrate the much anticipated arrival of Baby Schmidt October 15th!" so that was fun. I still had a headache this morning but one tylenol did the trick and it didn't bother me much the rest of the day. But back to the Biggest Loser b/c watching TBL and blogging don't go well together, especially when you throw fatigue in the mix. G'night peeps.

The Day of the Come 'n Go Headache

You guessed it - pregnancy headaches galore today! I woke up with a raging one and finally by lunch when I could hardly move my eyeballs so I took one tylenol (sp?) that seemed to really do the trick - along with some great chinese (I would recommend the hunan chicken). Got through the rest of the day and the headache came back around 4pm...this time tylenol didn't work so hard. So yup, you guessed it, sitting on the couch in my pjs. Tomorrow's the day I'm going to tell work and then we won't have to worry about who knows. It's been nice having "our little secret" but it will be even nicer to not have to watch everything I say and do anymore. I'm willing to bet that people will be more understanding of any "duh-ness" I've had in the past few months. I told my evaluation team today (2 women) and they said they had both noticed I hadn't been the first one to get my reports done for a while...it's because it's much harder to think when you're pregnant. Any of you who've gone or are going through it can back me up on this one! Back to "Chuck," my dull headache, and more soon.

Quiet Weekend

It was a quiet weekend on the Schmidt family front. Adam is on day 4 of his 7 straight days of 12-hr shifts so we didn't do much this weekend. I had Friday off, thank God, b/c the fatigue was starting to hit real hard again last week. I went out for a very nice lunch with my friend Melanie and then headed home to do some other things.

Saturday morning, I slept in a little bit but was not feeling the greatest. I was worried I was starting to get strep throat b/c the back of the left side of my throat was killing me every time I swallowed. I decided to just wait for a bit since I didn't have the tell-tale white spots anywhere. Then I remembered it might have something to do with allergies since the tree pollen is ridiculously high here. I rested and hung around until the girls and I couldn't take the weather outside anymore - it was beautiful! So we went outside to do some gardening and clean up the flower beds from their neglect last fall. I seriously trimmed up the front bushes...maybe too much? And then I got to work on the south side of the house. I found that my seedums were growing already under last year's gunk as well as my irises and daffodils. Actually, my daffodils in the front yard are anywhere from 6-12" tall and ready to open in the next week or two...although I think we're supposed to get a really cold day next week so hopefully that won't delay things. We've really lucked out with the weather down here. It's been in the 50's and 60's lately, with yesterday (Sat) being 68 after all was said and done. After about 3 hours of work, the girls and I called it a day and went in the house until Adam came home from work and we had dinner. I was pretty tired so after Adam served up some apple pie and ice cream, I promptly fell asleep on the couch while he watched March Madness. A not-so-great thing that happened yesterday was that when I was about to put the murano in the garage after all the gardening, it wouldn't start! And then when it did, it didn't sound the greatest. Bummer! We really think there's a fuel injector issue and it's long over due for a tune up. However, we're grappling with how much to stick into it since we are currently waiting for a Nissan Pathfinder to show up at LuJacks (car dealership) so we have more space for traveling since we're always so tight with us and two dogs. It started fine since, but still needs to go in...doesn't quite sound right...

Sunday rolls around and I was considering going to church, but was too chicken to take the murano and get stuck there. Not the worst place to get stuck, but if I'm not feeling well (which comes and goes), I don't want to take that chance. The girls and I prayed from home today. :) I was really lazy, I'm not going to lie, and didn't do much. I did a baby boy name search for a long while and I think we came up with a few that we really liked - at least for first names. But mum's the word! We're not sharing names until our little peanut is screaming his/her head off the day of arrival. I was really getting worried that we wouldn't find a boy's name b/c many of the names we really like either end in /s/ (which won't work with the last name Schmidt; I think I posted about this already) or the name(s) have been given to some other lucky little boy we know too closely to name our own boy that, should we have a boy. Girl names are pretty easy. We aren't set on any specific ones, but we have several that could work. Anyway, Adam had asked me to DVR the Badger game (sad for him from the result) and had informed me it started at 2pm. I was flipping through the channels and stopped on the Syracuse game to see how it ended. All of a sudden I looked up from my laptop to see the Badgers in the middle of the jump ball to start the game!! It was only 1:20! So I ran downstairs to DVR it and as I'm waiting for the TV to turn on and get to the right channel, I hear drip...drip...drip. I did the whole slow motion turn around (b/c I knew what it was but didn't want to admit it) only to find the ceiling dripping water onto and in front of the couch!! Ahh!! I quick push the couch out of the way and get a pot and basket to catch the water. It didn't look like it had been going on for more than an hour or so given the amount of water on the floor/couch and drip rates. Unfortunately, it appears to be dripping right under the sink and dishwasher. I let it drip while I waited for Adam to call me back and took a shower (yes, I realize the timing makes me very lazy) and then turned the water off. We'll likely have to call in a plumber since Adam is on 12s until his first day off on Thursday. Juuusssttt...a little frustrating.

I was going to go run errands in town b/c we need a few groceries, some fuel injector cleaner, and I promised Adam pizza tonight...but my stomach is giving me a hard time. I'm not going to lie and say I've eaten all that great the last two days. My schedule is just all off and while I don't necessarily want to go to work tomorrow, at least it will get me back into some sort of rhythm. It tuckers me out just to think about going back to work tomorrow. Ugh. I'm 10 weeks, 2 days today, so we're narrowing in on the end of the first trimester. Whew. Can't wait. Then I can get some energy back and motivation to be a better housekeeper. I told Adam we need to seriously consider a house cleaner once I get huge and then have the baby. He said he'd help more but has a crazy schedule including traveling...I think he'll see the light. I've heard of some good and relatively cheap house cleaners so hopefully we'll find a good one. Maybe not yet though.

Have a great week and hopefully I'll be heading out to Wally-world and papa murphy's soon.

10 weeks - Bring on the fatigue

Poor Adam. He woke up first this morning since he starts 7 days in a row of 12-hr shifts. Then I got up shortly thereafter...on the wrong side of the bed. I was so over tired from a busy (albeit short) week of work and just staying up too late, hormones, the whole 9 yards. Thankfully the girls were good and I have an understanding husband or the morning could have gone very differently. It didn't help knowing that I had a crazy busy day ahead of me - at work by 7:30, double IEP meeting at 8:00 (twins), kids from 8:50-3:10 with a 20 minute lunch, a grad school student coming to observe all day, and then a final IEP at 3:15 before going home. Thankfully it all turned out ok, as my parents didn't show for the morning IEP and the afternoon one was cancelled b/c the whole family was sick (2nd one in 2 weeks like that! I hope I don't get it!). I made it through, came home and had leftover mashed potatoes to tide me over until Adam gets home around 7pm, and am sitting watching TV, letting the dogs in/out, and bummin' around online. I will need to soak up these days and never take them for granted as they will change BIG time come October! No big plans for this weekend other than SLEEPING IN for me, poor Adam will be working all weekend. :(

Almost 10 weeks!

Tomorrow I am officially 10 weeks along. It's a great feeling b/c the longer this goes the less chance something will go wrong. I am feeling rather pregnant anyway (by symptoms, not sight), so the worry at this point is quite small. Actually, I take that back about feeling symptoms instead of seeing them...by the middle of the afternoon, my stomach gets quite bloated and sticks out easily. By the end of the night, I look like I'm 3-4 months along already! By morning (most of the time), it has dissipated and is only a little bulge that only I (and maybe Adam) can see or tell is there. Since I've only gained about 3lbs since we got our positive test (feb 12), it can't all be extra pounds - some of that's gotta be baby! I'm going to try to remember to take a belly picture tomorrow at 10 weeks since I skipped the 9 week one b/c I was so freaked out waking up that morning to a huge (feeling) protruding tummy. I'm just about ready for a nap. Last night I went to cheer on our co-ed volleyball team for the last game of the season and since we didn't get home until about 10pm, sleeping around 10:30, I'm tuckered out. Adam had the day off so he did some relaxing, bonding with the dogs, met me for lunch, and did some work outside so the dogs could run around and exercise. Later gators.

The Bridal Shower was a success!

It's been a while - woops! Let me back up and catch up on the rest of last week before I head into the weekend. I hit the 9-week mark this past Thursday...and woke up with a huge baby bump (compared to the day prior)!! I had no idea where it came from or how it happened literally overnight...after talking with my friend Sara, she said that sometimes things shift around and perhaps my uterus was more anteriorly placed that day. It lasted about two days and then went down a bit Saturday. Thankfully! It's not that I'm in denial about the coming belly, but being only 9 weeks doesn't mean the belly just appears out of nowhere this early! I don't think first-timers are supposed to show this early, so that's why I was so surprised. On to Friday...

Friday, after successfully getting to WI late Thursday night driving alone with two dogs, I drove up to Green Bay to hang out with the bride-to-be, my bff from back home, Steph. We went shopping and after complaining about how my pants don't fit in the waist anymore, Steph promptly convinced me to get some mommy pants. I denied the need and said I wanted to wait for a few more weeks yet since all of my friends here in IA said they didn't start wearing mommy pants until weeks 12-14...but thinking of my pants needing the rubber band trick for 3 more weeks just about sent me over the edge. So I picked up two pairs of mommy pants, tried them on, and am never going back. I even suggested to Adam that I wear them for the rest of my life, pregnant or not...he disagreed. So there. I admitted it. My bloating and slowly expanding belly is in maternity pants too early. But I'm so much more comfortable. And I don't care. :) I went to pick up Adam up from the Milwaukee airport and after a 25-minute traffic jam, he was successfully retrieved and we went back to my dad's house for dinner with my brother, his fiance, and her parents.

Steph's bridal shower was Saturday and it went off without a hitch! Thanks to the help of mothers and bridesmaids, Steph's bridal shower went as well as I could have hoped. She only had to have 6 pieces of gum for the bubblegum game. It's a game where you ask the bride's fiance 15 questions prior to the shower...and then make her answer them at the shower. For each question she gets wrong, she puts a piece of bubblicious gum into her mouth. Steph did this for me at my shower, so I felt it only fair to return the drooling, hilarious favor. :) Needless to say, we tied. It turned out great and then I went home to lie down as the long day took most of my energy.

Today we went back up to Green Bay for brunch with the bridal party and after picking up our naughty dogs, we headed for home - and remembered to pick up Adam's truck in the Quad Cities and are home resting in our PJs. Hope everyone else had a good weekend! More soon!

Spilled a few more beans

Today I told a few more people about our good news. I went to our volleyball game and when the refs saw me in my school clothes, they asked why I wasn't playing so I continued the whole idea of "I hurt my back." I then told the rest of my team (which was really just Jenna & Dustin) and left to stop in at our friends' Kurt & Rachael's house. It was fun b/c they have a 4 1/2 month old who will be just about a year when our little bean is born (and not so little anymore). They were excited as well...I left it very open-ended when I called to say I was going to stop by and said I wanted to stop in for a few minutes to chat...they were worried something was wrong. Very much the opposite. :) I also spilled the beans to some friends back home and had a great catch-up convo with my good friend, Trina. What a good day it turned out to be!

This morning I felt pretty icky but it was about 90% fatigue, 10% nausea. I didn't know if I was going to get any energy but then right around 10am, my energy returned and I got through the rest of the day great! I was rather thankful. I even had enough energy to do a little shopping in the Quad Cities before heading home to the girls. I had two disappointments while in the QC - First, I was in OfficeMax and it suddenly downpoured about an inch of rain in about 10 minutes. On my way to the car (running)I managed to kick mass quantities of water into each shoe. Not a huge deal. Then, I stopped at JCPenny's to get one more pair of "fat pants" for work before I am forced into (what I've heard are super comfy) mommy pants in the next month or two - and they were out. And all the stores in a 100 mile radius were out too! Does everybody wear a size 11 long fat pants? Seriously. Oh well. I guess I'll just do more wash and live in my current fat pants until they fall apart. Bring on the mommy pants (in a few weeks yet).

Well, now that I've officially let myself down and won't be in bed by 9:00pm sharp as originally planned, I best wrap this up so I can take the necessary steps to get there as fast as I can. I'm hoping that a little extra sleep will help the mornings go a little more smoothly. If I can feel better by 9-10am, all will be ok in the world for the next few weeks. :)

Adam-less this week

Yesterday, Adam flew out early in the morning for a week on the west coast for work. His first flight was rather bumpy since he had to fly over the storm that affected most of us Sunday, but he had a smooth ride the rest of the way to Portland. Since we're going to WI this weekend for my friend, Steph's, bridal shower, the dogs and I are going to pick him up in Milwaukee on our way home Friday early evening. Hopefully Baby Schmidt will be kind and leave me a tummy that feels ok and a little more energy to deal with household things and two crazy dogs.

After this weekend, I had fully prepared myself for stepping on the scale this morning and having my grand total weight gain to be approaching or at 4lbs. While it doesn't sound like much, the recommended weight gain in the first trimester is anywhere b/w 0-5lbs. I've been hovering right around 3lbs and getting nervous that I'll top my limit way before my 12 weeks/first trimester are up. Let me also tell you that I will be eating and doing whatever is best for the baby - no food deprivation here! But good choices and smaller, more frequent meals would be best for me to become a regular-sized whale instead of a fat-a-soarus whale in the end. So back to my weigh-in this morning - I was hovering right around 2.5lbs. Woo hoo! I felt pretty good about that and hope that my improving eating habits continue to keep this baby and body in decent pregnant shape.

Off to the grocery store...the fridge is bare and this baby's gotta eat! Well, not anytime soon...I just had supper and I'm full - but not as full as after lunch today. I had chicken/veggies/rice in a spicy sauce at the local chinese restaurant and had bigger eyes than my tummy. I ended up having to lean way back in my chair and stretch my stomach out b/c it felt like my lunch was going nowhere - it finally subsided and I felt better by late afternoon. It's crazy, but it's getting kinda full in there already since my uterus/baby is already the size of a large grapefruit. Does that seem unreal to anyone else? I must say, I'm rather impressed with my body and what it is doing already. That said, off I go. :)

We told our families!

What a whirlwind day and a half. Adam and I both took the afternoons off on Friday and went home to WI to tell our parents in an effort to catch Adam's parents before they left for Arizona today. My bff back home, Steph, has her bridal shower planned for NEXT weekend but we told our parents it was happening this weekend so no one would suspect anything...and it worked beautifully. We got them all!

We came into town Friday evening and made up the excuse that I had been shopping and found small 'unimportant' gifts for them that they might like for vacation. We had Sherri (Adam's mom) open hers first (a Grandmother Willow Tree figurine) and she initially thought it was another mother/son piece...until we had Al (A's dad) open his baseball wrist rattle...then Sherri read the bottom of the figurine that said "Grandmother" and all pandemonium broke loose as they got it. Best thing is - we recorded it. They thought we were giving them gag gifts and we wanted to record their reactions...they were slightly mistaken!

This morning, we told my mother, brother, and sister during brunch to celebrate my mom's birthday. We gave her a picture frame with the ultrasound pictures in it and a 'grandchild' saying on the bottom. She flipped. It was great. Recorded her too! As for cousins and you shall receive! To tell my brother and sister-in-law, who have been asking for cousins for their daughters frequently, we sent our nieces the ultrasound pictures and asked them to call us when they get it. They currently live in Alaska. Can't wait for that phone call!

Lastly, we went to my dad and stepmom's house. My dad was at a church retreat so unfortunately we had to have him open his gift while we were on the phone with him. It was another easy gift-giving for my stepmom since her birthday is next week. We gave her a onsie that said "grandma's little helper" and it had a watering can and flowers on it which is fitting since Susie is co-owner of a plant nursery. She was very excited and you guessed it - recorded reaction! My dad called us before opening his present and Susie videotaped it too...he also received a onsie that said "grandpa's little helper" and had tools all over it - fitting since my dad is "Mr. Fix-it."

Needless to say, we are thrilled, beyond excited, and so pleased that everyone knows now. I am going to wait to tell work until the end of March but we are feeling better about slowly letting the cat out of the bag to our friends. But for now, I'm so sleepy I could sleep sitting up. I'm feeling a little guilty that I haven't had many veggies and fruits the past few days, so I'm going to go have some leftover corn. What can I say? We'll just blame a late-night corn grazing on the baby. :)

I sucked it up today

Ok, first off, I don't think I explained our u/s pictures and where everything is. The baby's head is on the right in both pictures. You can see arm/leg buds in both pictures. In the first picture, Baby Schmidt is facing the camera (I wonder if we have a little diva or just a cooperative baby). You can easily see two little arms and legs in the first picture. In the second picture, it's a little harder to tell if the bulge in the middle is the heart bulge or arms...the baby is facing more 'up' I believe.

So on to today. I woke up this morning and was not feeling the greatest. The feelings got worse as I continued to get ready but since I had a preschooler coming in for a screening, an IEP after school, and a hair appointment, I decided to suck it up and go in. I almost lost my cookies several times while getting ready but kept myself in check. I made it to work (a Davenport elementary day, meaning I'd be up and running all over the school most of the day). Beginning of mission accomplished. My preschooler came and cried half the time he was there. He's three. Needless to say, he's coming back since I have no idea how his language/artic truly is from 5 minutes of silence and 10 minutes of barely talking. Then I had a kindergartner and helped our psych translate his highly unintelligible speech for some cognitive testing. I went back to my room and since I was beyond fatigued, ready to be sick any moment, and had quite the headache going (since early yesterday) so after some pregnant friend (and one not pregnant friend) consultation, I decided to take the rest of the day and go home. Mrs. Grass' chicken noodle soup sounded like something I could handle so I stopped at Walmart on my way home and got some. Here's the bonus - yesterday, Dr. Coleman said that complex carbs can help with morning sickness and that white powdered donuts can be especially helpful - Adam is my witness! Guess what was on the first shelf as I walked into the store - white powdered donut holes. I grabbed a package of them on my way to soup...and after a 3-hr nap, some soup and donut holes, I'm feeling a bit better. Whew. My headache is still an issue and I took one acetaminophen that didn't help much. I'm usually an advil/ibuprophen girl so maybe that's why. Perhaps it's a pregnancy headache. Who knows. I'm just so thankful that I took a day to rest and will hopefully feel better for our ride home tomorrow for the best (short) weekend ever! 8 weeks today! 2/3 of the way through Trimester #1...

First Doctor's Appointment and Ultrasound

Today was our first doctor's visit and ultrasound...guess what?!? All is good! There is one Baby Schmidt in there! I was only mildly disappointed that we didn't see twins, because the baby was healthy, a good size, and had a very fast little heart beat that we got to see, but not hear today. S/he measured at 1.38cm (about 1/2") and 7 weeks 6 days (7w6d) meaning I'll change weeks every Thursday. Tomorrow I'm officially 8 weeks and 2/3 done with this trimester - thank goodness. While I'm sure my pregnancy symptoms are mild compared to most, I still don't appreciate the queasiness that sometimes accompanies being an incubator/baby grower. Like the kind I have right now. Peanut butter chocolate cookies calmed queasiness the other day...why not today? Argh. We'll try mac 'n cheese with real hot dogs (not the little kid kind) to see if we can't remedy the situation. I will have a veggie of some sort later once dinner goes ok.

Ok, more background on the appointment. We get there and I double-check with the receptionist that I don't have to have a full bladder for this kind of ultrasound (u/s). She said no, so I told her I'd be right back (go figure, I had to pee again) but she stops me quick and says wait! They need a urine sample...do you want to go back and do that now? I had no idea where to go so instead of risking getting lost and looking like a pregnant idiot, I just waited. Whew, hurdle #1 - cleared. We are finally called in and give all the necessary info...and I finally get to pee in a cup. Good times, empty bladder, happy new-mom-to-be. Go back to the room and the fun begins. Get naked and wear a sheet with holes in and just before I'm actually ready, in walks Dr. Coleman. She's great, by the way. So I quick grab the back of my sheet (gown) and quick sit on the chair that miraculously turns into a declining bed with stirrups. Amazing. She gets to business collecting the necessary items and finally FINALLY it's time for us to see the little being in there...in goes the wand...and TAH DAH!! A very fast little heart beat inside a very tiny little person!! Baby Schmidt is visible!! Ahhh....(that's the heavens sounding). S/he is sooo tiny, as I stated above. I can't believe it. I always thought that by actually seeing the baby on an u/s that it would suddenly become "real"...all I got was this sense of relief that there's actually a little person in there with a strong heart beat...no epiphany of "ah ha! NOW I feel pregnant!" because I can't FEEL him/her yet. I don't know. I'm super excited that we've got a "so far so good" but wish I would have had the epiphany of yup, NOW I know. The symptoms have been telling me all along. I guess I had my epiphany weeks ago then.

So anyway, I shed three very joyous tears, squeeze Adam's hand (with a death grip, I'm told) and we have a baby. My due date is October 15th, right where I had figured it would be. This baby has some interesting dates to contend with...the 15th is my brother/sister-in-law's anniversary...if s/he hangs on a few extra days, s/he could be born on Adam's dad's bday on the 18th or my dad's bday on the 20th! We shall see...hopefully I don't follow my mother's footsteps too closely with going past due dates and then 23 hours of labor with baby #1...a girl can only pray.

So the doctor answered all our questions, took her time with us, and I feel great having Dr. Coleman as my OB. Adam's a little nervous that we're staying in Muscatine as the hospital here does not have the best reputation in terms of doctors - in every dept EXCEPT OB. My friend Kelly went through Dr. Coleman for her first baby and since she would do NOTHING to jeapordize her or her child's health, I feel completely confident that this is the right decision. I think Adam felt more comfortable too once he got to meet her and ask questions.

So afterward, Adam and I were starving so where do we go but healthy China Buffet. What better place to celebrate the first sighting of your first (not yet born) child? Gotta love fine Muscatine dining. :-) So we are eating and we see a friend of ours, Dustin, there and one of his first questions is "What's new, what's going on in your world?" Funny...I want to scream "We just saw our baby for the first time ever!!" but instead we play it off like life is boring and nothing's new. Hee hee hee...all in good time.

Now, if I could just get my printer to work properly (don't take new ink cartridges out of the printer immediately after installing them - I knew this - you'd think I'd have thought a little harder) I could make copies of the u/s pics to take home with us this weekend. I'll stop at Wally world tomorrow and get another one. Oops. Now I'm off to make mac 'n cheese and hot dogs with the REAL hot dogs that Adam is being so kind to pick up for me on his way home from work. :) At least I craved things then instead of 10pm, right?

The Countdown Begins...

As of this post at 6:20pm Tuesday night, we officially have 16.67 hours to go until the beginning of the first doctor and ultrasound appointment related to this little bean in me. Or should I say blueberry, as that is his/her current size this week. The baby has DOUBLED in size since last week already. There is a great website my friend Abbie sent me that shows many ultrasounds including the traditional kind and 4D ones from preconception until 9 months. Another neat thing I learned on that site is that our baby's skin is currently made up of ONE layer of skin CELLS. This is why babies at 7/8 weeks are very translucent. The great thing about being translucent is that the baby can show off all the organs s/he's creating and growing. Once s/he gets some 'thick skin,' we won't have this luxury. Fine by me! I want my baby to have some SKIN! Oh yeah, the website - http://www.ehd.org/. Check it out. It's addicting and before I knew it I had looked at all of them (there are many).

Adam and I briefly talked about our anticipation and excitement for tomorrow's appointment. I started the conversation with, "I'm 98% excited and 2% scared out of my mind." He asked if I was more scared that something was wrong OR holy shit there's really something in there...I said 1% of each. We've been so excited for this day to come...so for there to actually be a real-live human about to invade our immediate family is a little "real" for us at the moment. I'm not so worried that something is wrong. I can't imagine there's nothing there since I still feel tired most of the time, my bras are just about to be too small (what?!? I don't know if that's EVER happened), and my stomach hurts if I don't feed myself just right...among other minor symptoms. While Adam knows I've been a LITTLE whiny here and there, I've been really lucky to have had a relatively smooth pregnancy thus far (knock knock). Let's hope it stays that way!

Other upcoming countdowns to note:
1. Going home to WI this weekend to tell our family (pending tomorrow goes well, which it should).
2. The end of Trimester #1 (end of March-ish, depending on how far along the OB says I am tomorrow) and hopefully all this fatigue (temporarily) and queasiness.
3. The end of the school year and the start to a beautiful, part-time summer of working and incubating.

I know the economy is rough and making everyone nervous, but we've been pretty lucky so far in 2009. Thoughts and prayers please that this part of 2009 (the baby) continue to go well, smoothly, and that everything works out (ie. healthy baby) for us. I'll send the same wishes your way (unless you don't plan on babies this or next year).

Well, I delayed putting on PJs immediately upon my arrival at home in hopes that I would not become quite so comfortable and do nothing all night like I did last night. It went well! I got lots done so far, but I think it's time to go get comfy-er. It was a great thing that my pants fit today but that's because they're my fat pants. I joked with Adam tonight...he's got a goal to shed a few pounds and now that he is, we're trading tummies. His is going back in and mine is starting to stick out a little. Don't worry - not baby. Just bloat and it's normal. But now that I'm rambling (clearly dilerious from this "up and at 'em" attitude), I'm going to go get some jammies and snuggle up by the warm fire downstairs. Adam's at volleyball. I couldn't go b/c my back is still really "sore." Hee hee! Little do they know (well, save Jason & Julie) that we should have a big announcement soon as to why I'm really missing vball! Wish us luck tomorrow!

We got a Wii!!

I'm more excited than words can say. WE got a Wii!!! I'd been wanting one for so long and now I (I mean we) have one!! Let me back up. A few weeks ago, we were at Best Buy and found 10, count 'em TEN, Wiis sitting on the shelf waiting to be snatched up and taken home. I had one in my clutches and walked around with it for a half hour before Adam finally convinced me that we needed to spend that money on baby stuff instead of a "fun game." I was heartbroken but agreed. After some time to think about it, we decided that we would get one the next time the opportunity presented itself. Fastforward - we're at the mall in the QC yesterday and walked past a gaming store to see FOUR Wiis sitting in the front window! I was so excited and after Adam promised we'd grab one on our way out of the mall, I was stoked...until we forgot. I was all excited to go to Barnes & Nobles for our "What to Expect when you're Expecting" book. Sad. So we went about our business and decided to stop at Toys 'R Us to look at carseats/stroller combos and low and behold - they had just gotten a shipment of Wiis!! To sweeten the deal, they had Wii Fits too!! The Wii Fit is about 75% of the reason I wanted one of these thingies in the first place and I was pumped. I scooped it up right away and THEN we went to look at carseats and strollers. New parents - advice please - do they make an infant carseat/stroller combo that clicks in and out of the bases (you'll know what I'm talking about if you have young 'uns) that works for carrying around an infant as well as when they get older? Or do you have to buy an infant carseat and "big kid" carseat separately? We only looked one day and have lots of time, but if anyone has any ideas there, let me know.

Back to the Wii Fit - Adam's getting it set up for him and isn't a fan - and I'm not looking forward to the weight part of it either...oh well. It's not like I'm in line for losing these days. Although I'm ready to get some bigger pants already!! I'm in my 7th week and it's not baby that's sticking out...it's all this bloating! So I supposed I should just get used to it and go buy the next size up. I don't plan on getting any bigger than that until I need maternity pants around...April? May? That puts me around 16-20 weeks...perhaps I'll need those pants sooner!

We're so excited for next weekend. Hopefully the week will be fast and painless and we'll be on our way to WI before we know it!! Oh, and another fun countdown - only 3 more days until we get to see our little bean!! The ultrasound is Wednesday!! (What if there's two in there???)