So thankful I work at a place with a doppler in the secret closet!

I just heard the heartbeat (LOL, lying on the bathroom floor, but I didn't care). I calculated it to be about 164. Yay! It was reassuring, since I've been worried because I was feeling better. I found it right away, low, right above the pubic bone on the right side. YAY!!!!

Oh, my co-worker friend (she's a nurse) snuck it for me. She told me about it while I was pregnant with Andrew, so now it's in the back of my mind. I knew that once I made 10 weeks, I'd be able to hear it.

10 weeks belly pics.

Bare belly:

With shirt:

I'm starting to feel a lot better, especially when I think back to 4 weeks ago where I couldn't brush my teeth without throwing up or dry heaving real bad.

I'm also excited that my baby is now in the "fetal development" stage. Yay! Isn't my ticker cute?

Still waiting on part for the crib

I had posted last Friday about the crib. Well, I got it together (myself, mind you) 3/4 of the way done. The very last step was to attach the front side (which happens to be a drop-side, which I don't like, but I have found it's hard to find a crib that doesn't have the drop-side). It wasn't going on, and I couldn't figure it out, so I called DH into the room (which I really didn't want to do because I was doing so well putting the crib together myself). He looked at it and the part on the bottom right, the one that slides on and catches--has a piece broken off of it (junk plastic damn fucking shit!), so I went back to Once Upon a Child and told the cashier about it and she asks me if I want to return the crib.

"Well, no, I'm hoping you can contact the manufacturer and get the part replaced for me", I said.

She said she'd talk to her manager, who was coming in that night (this was Friday) and see what they could do.

It's not rocket science. There's a 1-800 number right on the instructions. It says to contact for replacement parts. I don't even think they would charge, because it's not like they want people using unsafe cribs. It said someplace on the crib "2006", so it's not like it's some antique we're talking about here.

I am going to call them (right now) to see if they have figured it out. This shouldn't be that hard! I could have called myself, but I wanted OUAC to be aware that they sold me a crib with a broken piece on it (and, no, it wasn't me because I looked underneath to make sure I wasn't the one who broke it). It's about the principle of it all.

I want a crib so my kid can sleep in his room again!!!! <------------ see how frustrated I am?

Got the crib dilemma solved.

Okay, so a couple weeks back, you probably saw my post regarding the Simplicity crib recall. I took it back to Shopko without a receipt and got the full $147 refunded to me.

I thought I'd get Andrew sleeping on a "big boy" bed, but in the back of my mind, I knew he wasn't the type to stay in bed. No big deal, I figured, I'd just let him get used to the idea and eventually he'd figure it out. WRONG-O! Try Andrew running for the door, crying, and banging his head on the door so hard, he left bruises. Dang, this kid is fierce!

So, I needed to find a crib. I've been looking on Craigslist and whatnot, but really can't find anything to suit my needs. Yes, I'm being cheap and not buying a new one, because, well, all the ones that are nice are significantly more than what I got back for the first one. I didn't really feel like paying more, and DH was like, "let's just wait".

DH had another idea: that he'd find plans online and just build one. By the time he gets around to that, Baby #2 will be in kindergarten. Plus (and I hate to admit it), DH takes shortcuts and I would be afraid of the crib being ghetto if he built it. It's a baby's life we're talking about, so it damn well better be perfectly and safely constructed.

So, my mom was aware of this dilemma and she called my sister-in-law-to-be (1 week to the wedding), who works at Once Upon a Child (Asst. Store Manager) and asked her what they had. They happened to have a wooden 3-in-one crib (cherry-colored) and with her discount, it'd be $85.

I ran over on my lunch (oh, the convenience of living in "Small City", WI and being able to get several things done on a 1/2 hour lunch break) and took a look and the crib is in good shape. There was just one scratch on it, but it would be on the back side by the wall, and who really cares.

I paid for it and will go pick it up after work (I didn't have time to wait for them to disassemble it).

No, Andrew won't be in a crib forever, but this is worth my sanity to have him in there until approximately December. He went from being this angel toddler who went to bed awake, smiling at his Baby Einstein fish toy, to a demon self-hurting, angry child who is once again being nursed to sleep in my bed.

Here's to having a new crib!!! :)

Ultrasound pics

8 weeks, 6 days

I'm back and everything looks great!

This is just fabulous! I get there and almost went crazy waiting for the ultrasound tech and doctor to get back there. I love how they give you 10 minutes to take your pants off and place the lovely paper sheet over your girlie parts. Hehe. Anyway, as soon as she got the baby in view, I saw the flicker. I was so happy to see it! Then she measured crown to rump and it measured right on with my ovulation-based calculation of 8 weeks, 6 days (of course, they had to put my date based on LMP, which is 8w3d, but they put both, so that's fine). It was a quick ultrasound. They pointed out the arm and leg buds. They even told me that it was the left ovary I ovulated from (yay, leftie!). I'm just so glad everything is okay! I got three pictures to take home. :)

I then met with the nurse for the medical history questioning. The nurse was super nice! We got to the part where she asked me if I'd be breast or bottle feeding (you all know my answer there), and she then asked me if I nursed my first, so I told her he was still nursing and we were working on weaning. I went into a little detail, and she told me I could be a lactation consultant because I was really knowledgeable on the subject. That made me feel happy, because my dream career (my maybe someday back to school dream) would be an RN/LC. That took about an hour, and then some, because I decided to participate in a study. They're taking 800 pregnant women from around the state of Wisconsin, 200 of them from my clinic, and they're going to take an extra swab (when they do swabs) to see if there is a link between certain bacterias and pre-term labor. I am interested anyway, since I was GBS (Group B Strep) positive with Andrew, so I had to have the antibiotics via an IV during labor. I've heard most women will test positive again, so it's just one of those freak things--really, harmless, and 25% of women have it. It was the only "complication" I really had, so no complaints here.

Then I went and did my labwork--at least this time I put the urine sample in the little door AFTER I pulled my pants up (last time, I had no clue that there were people--lab workers--on the other side of that door, and someone may or may not have gotten a free peep show. :)

Thank you for the good thoughts--glad all is well here! :)

Excited, nervous, and scared shitless!

I have my 9 week ultrasound today (although I'm not 9 weeks tomorrow). I am begging my body not to fail me! Last time I went in, with the last pregnancy, all I saw on the screen was an eight-week fetus with no heartbeat. It was so hard to see, because I was expecting a lively 12 week baby.

I am praying that when I get there, everything goes well. I can't wait to see that little flicker on the screen, and I think I'm going to have a heart attack while waiting in anticipation. Hopefully not. I don't think I can handle seeing another dead baby.

This swine flu I have is quite annoying. I'm brining water and cough drops so that I'm not hacking away through the whole thing. This poor baby probably already has shaken baby syndrome just from bouncing around all day with my coughs and sneezes.

I will update when I get back to work after my appointment. I have to meet with the nurse for my first OB appointment (the one that lasts over an hour where you answer 9,082 questions about your family's medical history), and then I think I will have bloodwork drawn.

I should be back to work around noon, Central time.

Please think good thoughts for me!

So sick of hacking!

We have the damn Swine Flu. Well, not really, but DH seems to think he had it (of course, since he had fever and chills with his cold, it had to be swine flu, right?). Anyway, I've been hacking non-stop, sneezing like crazy, and all this was after I had just gotten over another cold. Last Friday I remember thinking, "hmmm...my cold is pretty much gone. Yay!" and then the very next day I woke up with a sore throat. At least Andrew was starting to seem better last night. I did nothing but wipe his nose all weekend long.

Andrew got a haircut yesterday! We cut more off than we did last time, so it made me a little sad to see all that pretty blonde hair fly away in the wind (we cut it on my grandparents' deck). I didn't save it because we saved it from the first haircut. My little boy is looking so big! :*(

Do you do the cooking?

I don't. My hubby loves to cook, so I let him. I'm sure I would cook if I had to, but I am usually so tired when I get home from work. I don't know how someone can work all day and go home and prepare a fancy meal! I give you props if you do!

I have never had a desire to cook or bake. When growing up, my sister loved to help my mom out and I was always reading or drawing instead. I guess I'm just not a "hands-on" kind of girl, and never have been. It's different with parenting; I love doing everything and am somewhat of a control freak. When I'm home, DH doesn't change diapers or clean Andrew up after he eats--I would much prefer to do that.

Picture thread.

There was a wedding shower yeserday for my future sister-in-law (the wedding is two weeks from tomorrow. She will marry my little brother!). My mom threw the shower and I got this cute pic of her and her sister. My mom is on the left, and my aunt (my godmother) is on the right. They are enjoying wine, although my aunt isn't quite the enthusiast my mom is. My mom's favorite wines are red wines, and of the reds she really likes red zinfandel. I believe she is drinking Merlot here, though. Doesn't she look damn good for 49???


Here I am at 8 weeks. I look smaller than I did at 6 weeks, but that was all bloat. I know it was. So, this is probably a more true representation. I can't wait until I'm actually showing!


Finally, here is Andrew being silly. He put the whole grapevine in his mouth, and wanted to eat it that way. Silly boy!


He is growing up so fast! I bought him these cute size 6 sandals when we were in Florida just 6 months ago, and he has already outgrown them! When I bought them, his toes had plenty of room to grow. Well, now his toes are hanging over the edge by about 1/3 of an inch, so I bought him new sandals. Well, I couldn't find sandals in size 7 (the stores don't have CRAP right now), so I got him baby crocs. They're actually cute, even though I'm not a huge fan of crocs and don't own any myself.

Hope it's normal for morning sickness to come and go.

Normally, I feel icky starting around 9:30/10:00 p.m. and lasting through the next morning. Well, yesterday it seems my appetite was back and I felt good last night. I brushed my teeth last night and this morning without gagging. Hopefully, m/s is just taking a break and will be back soon. 1 week to go until my ultrasound, and I really hope to see that flickering heartbeat! I think I might die of nervousness beforehand. I'll probably hyperventilate. I wish the week would just hurry up.

(A post note: my anxiety is culminated by the fact that last time my bean stopped growing at 8 weeks and I never even knew. No cramping, no bleeding--nothing. Only to find out 4 weeks later that it was a missed miscarriage.)

So, for those of you who have been through this before, did your morning sickness ever come and go? I can barely remember with Andrew since the m/s part of it was 2 1/2 years ago. I do know that it lasted from weeks 6-9, but I don't remember if it came and went.

Fine, fine, if you insist....

Here's a pic. Not the greatest pic of me, I look ew....but Andrew is adorable!

Getting my hair cut after work...

I'm still not sure if I'm going to continue with the A-line bob, or go with something layery and flippy. I don't know, but I always ask the stylist what she thinks would flatter me the best. It's been about 2 months since I've had it cut and it's like a jungle right now.

7 weeks today!

The Sea Bands seem to be helping. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I feel much better at work today. I still dry heaved this morning after brushing my teeth, even with the cinnamon toothpaste. Oh well, I felt better after I did it.

My little tickers are getting so cute and more baby-like!

Got my $147.00 back! Simplicity crib recall!

In case you haven't heard, Simplicity cribs have been recalled again.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09260.html

The link has pictures. They had a similar recall in the past, and people were okay if they had the "new parts".

But now, an 8-month old in Texas has died, and there were 25 other incidents where babies could have been injured. These are cases where the drop side detatched from the crib (cheap junky plastic part below the drop side failed). The 8-month old in Texas was found between the crib and the detached side. How terrible!

How can these companies make this junk? As soon as I saw the recall information and saw that it looked like Andrew's crib, I grabbed the paperwork, and sure enough his model was listed on there. Also, "Made in China". I should add that I received this crib as a gift, and I didn't have the receipt. They didn't need it at the store.

What a hassle for the consumers and the stores.

So yeah, DH took the crib apart while I was at work and loaded it up into the trunk. We hauled it into the store in two carts and left the mess with them, after getting our money.

Andrew is currently on his crib mattress on his bedroom floor. We have to set up a "big boy" bed for him soon. When I'm a little further along, I'll buy baby #2 a crib with the money--a nice one without drop sides.

ETA: We received this crib as a gift from Mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law.

Tell everyone you know! Pass this information along!

Yuck--toothpaste!

I threw up immediately after brushing my teeth last night, and the same thing happened this morning (only it was dry heaving because there was nothing to throw up).

I am going after work today to pick up a different flavor than mint, because right now I just can't handle it. Maybe cinnamon?

In other news, I will be 7 weeks tomorrow, and then one more week until I am 8 weeks. If I can make it past 8 weeks, I will make it past the point I did last time, which will be huge.

Then my ultrasound is Tuesday, 7/21, a day before I make 9 weeks.

In other news, Andrew is really cute. During the fireworks the other night, he said "blue" when there was a blue one (after the intital 10 minutes of a death squeeze in my arms; can't blame him--first fireworks and we were actually IN the park they were at). The other day he also called his blueberries, "purpoh", which is his attempt at purple. Very, very cute.

He is battling pinkeye right now, although his eye isn't actually pink. He had some goopy eye boogers coming out of his eye, and it wouldn't stop leaking (his eye was crying), so I had taken him in on the 4th, only to discover that they closed down the walk-in pediatric clinic two weeks prior, not that it would have mattered since it was a holiday. So, into the ER we went, because urgent care wasn't available on a holiday. It wasn't busy at all (I went in the morning so to beat the people coming in with missing limbs due to firework mishaps). The doctor was nice and said he definitely had an upper respiratory infecetion (cold)--he was rattly, so I was worried it was in his chest (doc said his lungs sounded great), but that he did have pinkeye. He prescribed some antibiotic eyedrops that are to be instilled 4 times daily. The infection is in the right eye too now, so now I added the drop in the other eye too yesterday (doc said this would happen because kids rub their eyes and don't know boundaries, and it's so contagious). I'm rambling. I realize that. Today he was lethargic, lying on the floor crying (DH called me at work to tell me this). He's been running a low-grade fever for several days and is drooling like crazy (not sure why, since all 20 teeth are in and have been in for some time). He loves getting his eyedrops, by the way. NOT! I bribe him, at least with the morning one, by giving him his gummy vites after. Not that it prevents him from screaming his head off, as I restrain his arms and pry open his lids to get those drops in.

Anyway, this all came about after his 2nd visit to daycare; the first visit resulted in two weeks of diarrhea and vomiting, which eventually resulted in an IV infusion for dehydration (I still say it was Rotavirus, although they didn't officially diagnose it).

So yeah, after the 2nd trip to daycare resulted in this, DH just doesn't trust that they clean/sanitize anything in that house (which, they may not--they have a TON of toys and it is an in-home daycare--they have 3 kids of their own). They have kids coming and going at all times of the day, even though there are usually no more than 3-4 in addition to their own.

So, unless they "bleach the entire house", as DH puts it, Andrew won't be going back. It's too much stress dealing with him getting sick and staying sick. Not to mention, both of these times haven't been innocent colds, but have required trips to the walk-in. I understand "building the immune system" and all; I get that. However, my mom was home with us until kindergarten and I just got the normal colds and my immune system obviously did well. I wasn't overly sick as a kid--sure, I had my migraines, but I really was a pretty healthy kid. I think things will be easier on a 4 or 5 year old, once he goes to pre-school/kindergarten, than they will on a little guy. This has just been like clockwork--two days after attending daycare, he gets sick. His eyes are "sick" looking when he is sick, he always seems to run that fever, and he is really whiny and clingy. His appetite has sucked for the past week. Ugh.

That said, we did meet one of the daycare helpers--she happens to be the daughter of a co-worker here. She's a sweet girl, I believe she's 15 or 16, and her name is Emily. Apparently, when Andrew was sad, he went right past the daycare provider lady and straight to Emily, with his arms stretched out. Emily is wanting to baby-sit Andrew and she tells her mom how cute he is and about all these little words he uses (she thought it was cute that for "juice", he says "jew"). She just adores him. She also lives in our town (we're considered a town, and we're not part of the "big" city that is my city name, so to speak). So, if we want to go out to dinner some night, Emily lives 3 minutes away.

In addition to that, Andrew has always done well at my mom's and she is scheduled to take him 2 more days this summer. Even with Mikala there (my brother's daughter who is 3), Andrew stays healthy and has never caught any mutant diseases there. I should add that DH would much rather have a day with Andrew than a day to himself, rather than a day "off", only to have a whiny and sick Andrew for the next 1-2 weeks.

Whew, that was long! I applaud you if you actually read it all!

Definitely nauseated.

It started last Thursday, and I wasn't really sure, but now I can tell. If I don't constantly snack (and fewer things are sounding good to me--just crossed cheese off my list), my stomach feels so sick.

What do I want right now? A nice salad with some french dressing. We need to go grocery shopping as soon as DH gets home from getting some dirt. I'm afraid by then I'll be too sick. He doesn't understand, either. He thinks I need to plan ahead and figure out what I'm going to eat ahead of time. Blech.

With Andrew, I never had it this bad during the day--it was always at night. This time around, I'm feeling pretty yucky all day.

Okay, I have to stop. I can't keep typing about this because it's making my stomach turn even more.

Andrew is watching 60 Minutes with me right now. I think it's because they're talking about an "Eeeeee" (airplane).

So excited for my friend!

Molly is in the hospital right now, in active labor. We should get to "meet" her little man later on today!

Belly pics!

I'm sorry these are at different "zooms"!

This was taken today at 6 weeks! :) Totally bloat, but, I'll take it. It means something is happening right in there.


This one was taken on June 17th at 3w6d, so this is my "starting" pic. :)

My little blueberry boy!

Andrew LOVES blueberries. They had pints on sale for $.99 each at the grocery store, so we grabbed four of them. Andrew ate half a pint himself last night! He actually got mad at me when I ate one of them. Fresh blueberries are much better than the frozen ones!

Six weeks today!

I'm six weeks today. On the very bottom of the page, I have my tickers...isn't the Pregnology ticker so cute?! I love it. It's starting to look more "baby". It will start to get really cute around 10 weeks! My brother gets married on August 1st and I'll be 10.5 weeks along. I wonder if I'll be showing just a little?

We aren't telling people until I'm showing. (Well, so far three of my close friends at work are the ONLY people who know, besids DH, of course. And the entire internet.)