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???)