April 2019

16 Weeks

Now that I got my initial post out, I’m more motivated to keep up with ongoings! Also, I found another woman’s blog over the weekend and reading her weekly updates was really helpful to me. Maybe this will help someone else in the future?

Baby size

Baby Mo is the size of an avocado! 5 to 5.5 inches long and about 2.5 oz in weight.

Highs

I got to visit my coworkers in Charleston last week! We ate giant pizza which was my favorite food-related moment of the trip.

I had a great run at the end of last week as well. Friday was plagued with storms, so I kept an eye on the radar and was finally able to get out the door in the late afternoon. I wanted to run my 8-mile route but was open to seeing how I felt. Lately the first mile of most every run has been uncomfortable, and I feel like I have to pee even if I went right before stepping outside. The first couple miles of this run followed this pattern, but then once I started feeling better, I felt so strong for the rest of the run! It was a great end to the week/start to the weekend to finish up feeling like I thrived during a longer run rather than just survived. I have a goal to do a 10-mile run before I get too big, and having a solid run like this made me more confident in my ability to do that.

Then on Saturday I met up with my friend James for a run, and it was so fun to have his company! I found that a lot of the discomforts I have while running alone aren’t there when I have someone there to distract me.

Also on Saturday we got to have lunch with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law! We haven’t seen them since Christmas, so it was nice to get the chance to catch up on life and share more about their nephew-to-be.

Lows

I’m having a LOT of SI pain on my right side. I had some about 6 weeks ago but managed to keep it under control with a few exercises, but this weekend it really flared up. I K-taped my back at the beginning of the week and opted for a pool run yesterday and a short run today, and both of those have helped. I have a pregnancy support belt set to be delivered today as well! I didn’t think I needed a pregnancy support belt this early, but my friend Jenn said she started running in hers at 16 weeks, so I will, too!

If you’d like to know what SI pain feels like, imagine having a stabbing/is-my-back-broken level pain when you randomly make certain movements, but you’re not sure enough which movements bother it to avoid them. Fun times.

The only new symptom to develop is my gag reflex is extremely sensitive, and I’m gagging when I brush my teeth now.

My main low is that I just don’t like how I look right now. All of my weight and expansion is right in my stomach, but I always imagined the expansion being a little…firmer. My expanded stomach is soft and flabby, so I’m in that awkward stage of, “Did you eat a big meal, or are you pregnant?”

Something that helped reading the blog I found this weekend is hearing someone else struggle with that and acknowledging that you can feel both unhappy about how your body looks because of the baby AND super excited about the baby growing there. They aren’t mutually exclusive.

Thanks for reading! As a reminder, I’m participating in a 10-week fundraising effort for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and you can help! Every donation, even just $5, works toward a cure. Donate HERE.

We’re having a baby!

Hooray! Baby Morrison will be joining us in October of this year, and we couldn’t be more excited! I’ve been gathering info for this post but putting off writing it. Everyone keeps telling me how quickly the time will pass, and even if it feels slow now, I probably shouldn’t put off writing about it! My memory is already getting bad as it is.

January 2019

Since my running had been going terribly, I decided to get my ferritin level tested to see if I was anemic. I hate going to the doctor, so I ordered a CBC+Ferritin test online and presented it to LabCorp without having to go through a doctor! I got the results back, and there were a few concerning things. First of all, my ferritin level was 215. To put that into perspective, my level has never been above 50, and the normal range ends at 150, so that was absolutely bonkers. I also had some indicators of hypothyroidism, so I scheduled a doctor’s appointment to talk to someone about my results.

January 28th

I had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon, and I assumed they would ask me to take a pregnancy test since we were trying to have a baby. I really didn’t want to find out I was pregnancy in a doctor’s office, so I took a test that morning even though it was pretty much the earliest possible day I could find out (roughly 5 days before my period was due). I braced myself for a negative (which due to the early nature could have been a false negative) and was seriously shocked it was positive. I got to tell Josh he was going to be a dad and we took this photo at 5:56am. #wewokeuplikethis

My doctor said all of my abnormal tests were likely due to the very early stage pregnancy and ordered another test for me, just to double check everything, mainly the thyroid issue. She was wonderful, and I’m happy to have found a doctor I like!

Things I learned about pregnancy

You count weeks from your last period, not from ovulation. This makes perfect sense since most women can remember their last period and likely don’t track ovulation, but it felt like cheating to me when I was extremely early. 4 weeks pregnant means you’ve only actually been pregnant for 2! Half the time!
Your OB-Gyn doesn’t see you until you’re 6-8 weeks pregnant. If you find out as early as I did, that is a LOT of time to freak out and worry about all the things that could go wrong and wonder if you’re really pregnant.

February 2019

I spent the first week of February in Charleston with the Praxis team and it was SO HARD not to say anything. My notes from that trip say, “Keeping this secret is exhausting!”

I did take a sneaky picture when we took a trip to the beach. I was about 5 weeks pregnant, so Baby Mo as we were calling the baby was the size of an apple seed, so I could send it to Josh.

A couple of weeks later I finally had my first doctor’s appointment! Apparently my insurance at the time required a “confirmation of pregnancy” appointment before you have your “initial OB” appointment, so my visit was very quick. We did get to see the tiny baby (1/3 of a cm) and the movement of a heartbeat, so that was cool! It made it real that there was actually something there even if it was very small. I also got put on levothyroxine for my thyroid.

I eagerly called Becka on the way home from the doctor, and we got to share the news with Josh’s parents later that day, too. We were seeing my parents the next week for my birthday, so they were the first ones we got to tell in person! I’m pretty proud of my delivery as well. Their 40th wedding anniversary is coming up in October, so I asked if they new what the gift was for the 40th. Dad sarcastically guessed paper, and then I said, “Oh, I thought it was that you got your first grandchild?” 😉

“Morning” Sickness

I’m sure most people have heard that morning sickness is poorly named, and that is the TRUTH. My notes for February 19th are, “Been a rough nausea day. I made ramen at 9am.”

Luckily weeks 7 and 9 were the worst for me, and I was almost fully past morning sickness by week 10-11.

March 2019

I went back to the doctor and had my “first OB” appointment which was much more informative than my first one! I got a goodie bag and a packet of information and instructions not to type my questions into Google but instead to ask the doctor. I got to see the baby again who was actually visible this time. I still hadn’t heard the heartbeat, but my doctor showed me the wiggly heart and measured the rate.

More pregnancy fun

Pregnancy nausea is a fine balance where you try not to get hungry but you also try not to eat too much. You essentially snack all day or do the “six small meals a day” plan. I get no joy from constant snacking or small meals! But being hungry was terrifying, and eating too much was horrible too, so snack all the time it was. At my second doctor’s appointment they made a comment about how I had already gained some weight – well that’s what happens when you eat constantly!

Most common acne products aren’t pregnancy approved, so I had to switch to something that was. My skin has been on a rollercoaster of breaking out badly all over, clearing up, and then having spotty breakouts, and also clearing up. It’s definitely been tough from a self-confidence standpoint.

I reallllly wanted to announce publicly on April 1st as a not-joke, but I had my 12-week appointment on April 2nd, and I just wanted to make sure everything was still good. This marked the first of my double appointments where I see my doctor quickly (weight check, blood pressure check, doppler to hear the heartbeat) and then go to another office to see a specialist. The specialist office had a much fancier ultrasound, and Baby Mo was nearly 10 cm long at this point! Still looks a bit like a blob with a big head but more like a baby than a month ago.

I got my blood drawn for the cell free test that checks for Trisomy 13, 18, and 21 as well as the sex of the baby. They told me they would call me with the results but wouldn’t leave the sex on voicemail, so I’d have to call them back for that. Because of this, we knew there wasn’t a way for Josh and I to find out together as I’d find out before him, so he asked me to surprise him with a cookie cake.

Just a week later, I got the call! She told me the results were negative for all of the trisomy tests and asked if I wanted to know the sex. I said yes, and she replied, “You’re having a baby boy.”

A boy! I was so excited to know…and a bit shocking! I made a cookie cake for Josh just like he asked and sent him a photo of the blank cake before I decorated it. Then it was just the wait for him to come home from work!

15 weeks down, 25 to go!

Team ALL in for Hattie

I have an exciting announcement! My friend and college teammate Thomas Clarke was nominated as a candidate for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) 2019 Man & Woman of the Year campaign, and I am a part of his team.

Thomas and I were both drawn to this cause because of our friend Lauren Harrison whose daughter was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) last summer. Lauren is an excellent writer, and you can read the full story on Hattie here.

There are a lot of ways for you to be involved and the easiest is to donate. You can even join our team if you’d like! These funds go directly to LLS in support of its mission to find a cure to blood cancer and improve the quality of life for patients & their families.

Please join me in helping fund the research to find a cure for blood cancers!