Our Second Prenatal Appointment

Today was our second prenatal appointment. It was a pretty good one since we got to hear the heartbeat with a doppler. Pretty uneventful appt, since I am a low-risk pregnancy. I pee'd on a stick, then waited for the doc. He came in and chatted with us, and I told him my fear about not being able to hear the heartbeat - and he assured me that if he couldn't find it with the doppler, then we would give us an ultrasound to assure us that the baby was fine - but there was no problem finding the heartbeat - and it was perfect - strong and steady! Then he let us listen to my heartbeat - and you could hear the difference, mine was slow and relaxed, the baby's was fast and urgent - so amazing! It is such a great feeling to know that the little one is in there just growing and changing and developing day by day. Our next appt is scheduled for Dec 1st, in the Meridian location - so that we can get another ultrasound without paying for it - they have a machine in the room, and will just do one for you with out charge - which is sooooo nice. I am looking forward to hopefully finding out if we are having a girl or a boy - I know I will be super excited either way. The Chinese calendar says we are having a girl, we have heard mixed reviews from friends - about whether the morning sickness was heavy or light - and how that indicated one sex over the other - but of course they all contradict. One was sick with the boy, not with the girl, one was sick with the girl, not with the boy - and so on - so who knows!

Anyhow, things are progressing nicely - we are 10 weeks along, 1/4 of the way through - crazy to think. At our next appt, we will be 14 weeks - officially in the second trimester! I can't wait for May!

I could have puked

Wow, this morning was the first morning where I actually thought I could have vommited, but I didn't get up, I just layed in bed and waited it out.

Okay, so I lied

I thought I would get through the first trimester without much morning sickness, but turns out I was wrong. Not that I have been severely crippled by the morning sickness, but some mornings I have a hard time getting out of bed, and some evenings I don't want to do anything but lay around. I don't really have an aversion to any specific foods - just a general sense of illness and nausea in my tummy. I am making it through, and hopefully I can get Dylan to cook a few meals if I need - but we are about 6 weeks away from the 2nd trimester - so I think I will make it.

The first appointment

So we went to the OB on October 4th, to have an ultrasound and find out how far along we were, and to start prenatal care with a great doctor. It wasn't much of a question in my mind that I wanted to have a hospital birth, a home birth is not of interest to me, mainly because I don't want to deal with the pain if I don't have to. Anyhow, we picked an OB, one that my sister had gone to in the past - Dr. Bryan Hodges. We went to the Woman's Clinic for our appointment, and were called back for the ultrasound. The tech asked me to expose my belly - and she poured the cold goop on it - and was unable to find my uterus, she searched for a little while and then said we should do a transvaginal ultrasound. So she left the room and I undressed. While Dylan and I were waiting for her to return, we started wondering, "what if we really aren't pregnant?" It was a strange feeling to think that we had been wrong, and weren't really pregnant. But, it turns out that my uterus is tipped way back, and wasn't big enough to see through my stomach - so we found out that we were in fact pregnant - that the baby has a heartbeat, and that we are about 6 weeks along. When we asked a due date- the tech used the software to tell us our expected due date is May 29, 2006. How funny - because that is our wedding anniversary. Wouldn't it be great if we had our first child on or near our 2nd wedding anniversary?

After the ultrasound, the tech gave us a picture of our baby - and we went back to wait for the doctor. It wasn't but a few minutes and they called us back. We met Dr. Hodge's nurse Jody - who is absolutely great. She is the only nurse that works with him, and will get to know us pretty well. She weighed me - 146lbs, and had me pee in a cup. She came in and explained a little about how things will work - monthly appts until 28 weeks, then every 2 weeks until 36 weeks, then every week until the birth. Took a background and explained about NO medication during the first trimester. Then we waited about 5 minutes and Dr. Hodges came in. Dylan and I had a list of questions, and that was great, because he asked us if we had any questions and we started firing away. From the beginning it was obvious that he was the doctor for us. We will deliver at St Lukes hospital, the room that we labor and deliver in will be the same room that the baby stays in. He will deliver the baby onto my chest and wait until the cord stops pulsing before he lets Dylan cut the cord. He encourages breast feeding within the first hour - and he said he has been told he practices more like a midwife than a doctor - and that is great, we like the feel of it!

Turns out, his godfather is my undergrad advisor - Dr. Centanni. We talked about that for awhile, and he gauranteed me that he wouldn't miss our delivery for anything in the world. He said the only reason he misses deliveries is if the mother has the baby in 3 minutes, before he gets to the hospital. He talked about his c-section rate - which is about 18%, pretty low for Boise doctors - and pretty low overall. So I am encouraged my our doctor.

We made our next appointment for Halloween morning, and went to get some blood drawn. I was AMAZED, but Dylan was able to watch as they inserted the needle and drew three vials of blood. Usually he gets sick feeling at just the discussion of needles - so it was great - I am assured of his ability to watch the birth of our child, and not get dizzy and pass out!

So far all is well, the morning sickness hasn't been bad - just a little nausea if I don't eat regularly - and I am drinking lots of water!

This is pregnancy at 6 weeks!

And the Baby Cometh!!!!

Two weeks ago, September 18th, I took a pregnancy test, just by chance. I have been off birth control since February when Dylan and I decided to start trying to get pregnant. I had one cycle, March 30th, and haven't had one since. I had my annual girlie appointment on August 31st and had a negative pregnancy test, and on September 18th as I was jumping in the shower, I happened to see that we had one more test in the medicine cabinet - and I thought, 'what the heck, not like it is gonna be positive.' It took about 5 seconds for the plus sign to show up. Dylan was out of the house, so I called him on his cell, and told him the news, that we might possibly be pregnant. We then went to the grocery store and bought another test. This one had the reading on one side, and the sample collector on the other - well, I didn't turn it over to urinate in the collector, but it must have gotten enough urine to register a positive anyway - so we were pretty certain that we were pregnant.

The next day I called the doctor to go in for a test and confirm it, and they told me that I didn't need to do that - that the home test is the same that they use, and if I had two positives in one day - it was pretty certain. So they scheduled my appointment for October 4th, and to do an ultrasound, to see how far along we are!

I am so excited, to be pregnant, to be having a baby, to be starting our family, for this new change! I am a little apprehensive, as I am sure that all expectant mothers are - but I am more excited than anything.

Since finding out that we are pregnant, I can explain the slight nausea that I have been having if I wait too long before meals, the extreme tenderness in my breasts, and their increase in size!!!!

Dylan and I let our family know by sending out an e-mail with a picture of the tests and an announcement that we asked for a second opinion, and it was positive - that we are expecting a new development in May or June next year! Most everyone responded that same night - Dylan's mom, sister, aunt and uncle, and my dad called the next day. Dylan's dad, however, has yet to say anything - two weeks later we are assuming that he has checked his e-mail, but waiting to see if he calls or e-mails or anything! Nothing new on that front!

It has been a pretty uneventful two weeks so far, a little cramping and nausea, but otherwise, little effect. I don't have morning sickness like Dylan's sister, Lindsey, who was ill and had to run for the bathroom at the mere mention of food! I only have to eat a little something to supress the nausea.

Dylan has been quiet mostly, but I can tell how excited he is - I am hoping the ultrasound will show a tiny fetus that he can see and get a little more attached to. Our friends Manuel and Amy came over today with their son Julian and their new baby Jenna, who is a sweety. I held her and fed her and rocked her to sleep - and you could see the love in Dylan's eyes - I know he is going to be such a great father - he is so caring!

Anyhow, this is my official pregnancy journal, where I plan to keep record of the entire experience - and keep up to date with all the new developments until the birth, at which point I am sure I will not have time to keep up with this until the baby is a bit more independent!

Stay tuned!

I Saw It

Wow - can you imagine knowing that your government is corrupt, having all that information right there in front of you, and having no idea what to do with all of it, how to change things. I watched Fahrenheit 9/11 on Sunday with my husband and some friends/family. It was an eye opening experience. We sat and talked afterwords about what it all really meant. Dylan made a good point, that even if you don't agree with Michael Moore - even if you think he is an extremist and slanted the movie, that there is inherent bias - all you have to do is see that the vast majority of the information and footage is from public information sources, this is information that you or I could get a hold of and read. It isn't some cooked up conspiracy theory - it is the obvious truth. And what do we do now??? Walk away and hope that he gets out of office this fall??? I hope not - I hope that this movie will help people to wake up and get out and vote and be active politically and have a say and a stand in what happens. Although, with the last presidential election being decided not by the people, but by the appointees, and family friends of the "winner" - it makes one wonder what their vote really counts for - ya know!!!!

Life is good!

Can you believe half the summer is already over. I have to be back on campus the 16th of August - that is just a little over a month away. And I am excited - really I am, but I guess a little insecure over starting to teach a lab. I don't even know yet what lab I am teaching, what is expected of me, how I am supposed to prepare - I guess I just don't feel grounded in the whole situation yet. But that will come with time. The summer has been good, short but good.

Dylan's sister has tried to convince me that it will be fine, she taught a lab for a course she hadn't even taken before - and I guess if she can do it - so can I.

We spent last weekend with Dylan's mom's boyfriend's kids - Kali, Christopher, and Karrissa. It was lots of fun. We went to Melba for the 3rd, Boise for the 4th, floated the river, and went to the Zoo on Monday the 6th with Laurie and David. All was well, until the kids went to the penguin exhibit to watch a feeding. Kali started feeling dizzy and fainted, hitting her head on some concrete - she got scrapped up pretty good, but no concusion, no long term damage - we did go to the hospital though - they did an EKG and a CT scan - all looks good! Made me feel bad because they said she was dehydrated, although she spent all weekend with us, the whole weekend she was drinking water, eating - everything seemed fine. I hope David doesn't reflect this on us - we took good care of them!! I like those kids a lot and I know Dylan gets a kick out of hanging out with them - he gets to be the big brother he always wanted to be!!!!!

Other than that - nothing new and exciting - waiting for the weekend - as usual!!!

Amanda

We are Married Now

So the wedding was amazing, the honeymoon was so connecting, and we have been home now for a few weeks, and I am still so in love with Dylan - I don't think the wedding changed much except for the formalities - and the fact that I can proudly say that I am Mrs. Bruesch - sounds strange after having been Ms. Rogow for so long - but it fits, it feels right - in my mouth and on paper! I love it!

We are still working on the pictures - scanning, scrapbooking, organizing - and I have to get some more back from my aunt who took pictures at the wedding - but I am so happy with the way they came out - Walgreens needs to work a bit on their processing - some of the negatives must have had dirt on them or something - anyhow they are great!

And work is work - nothing new there - but it is pissing me off. Not that I feel like I am an elitist or anything for being of a science mind - but I feel like people who are strongly religious to one persuasion or another can be very rude. I had a conversation with a co-worker at work about how the wolves were re-introduced into Idaho and they are beginning to be a nusiance to farmers. He thought farmers should be able to shoot any animals that come on their property - and I said elk, deer, moose, human. And he continued to say - Humans are made in the image of God and are not animals - and I just said okay, whatever. He then began to poke and jab regarding science talking about how the world had aged nicely from the time he was in school and they thought the earth was 4 billion years old, and now supossedly they think it is 645 billion years old. I questioned that instantly - because the generally accepted view with regard to dating is that the earth is 4.5 byo. And he just went on and on about how do you even know. I asked him if this was a statement by a reputible scientist - which he thought was rather amusing and asked if I was joking, was that an oxymoron - what an ASS!!!!

Anyhow - I digress - life is good, married life is good!!!

New Home on the Web

Well, I suppose I am about 10 years behind the times as far as blogging is concerned. I am not a big journal writer, so I suppose this is a stretch for me - but rarely do I have problems with finding something to say!

What prompted this: hmmmmm, I don't honestly know - I have been spending more time online with my Yahoo! Group - scrap_happy - I am a scrapbooking addict. I guess I started reading some of their blogs and thought it might be nice to have one of my own - where I can post pictures from our wedding (in less than 2 weeks), where I can talk about frustrations, work, school. Just a place to vent without having to bother people about it!

So I hope I don't bore you with my ramblings - but if so, this is for me and no one else!!!!

Amanda