Thursday, August 12, 2010

Plum-tastic! (week 12)

Welcome to week 12 everyone!

I can't believe this is the last week of the first trimester! It has flown by so quickly, but then again, I feel like I'll never get to my appointment next Friday! I guess that's the way life always is. The anticipation seems to last forever, but then in hindsight times seems to have flown. I'm sure that's the way this whole pregnancy will feel when it's over... then again, I'll probably be saying the exact same thing in 18+ years when I'm sending my Butter Bean off to college.

I'll admit, this week has been a struggle. I only lasted 4 days into the withdrawal period before I cried uncle! Last Thursday, I called my psychiatrist and told him that something had to give! The shakes and dizziness were getting worse instead of better and the only reason I was keeping anything down was because of a prescription for Zofran my midwife had called in for me. His assistant returned my call and said for me to just go back on the anti-depressant (which is the med I knew was the ones giving me the withdrawal symptoms). But wait... I thought this was the medicine I was absolutely not supposed to be on while I was pregnant. I thought it was very, very important that I get off them? Grrr! This doctor is driving me nuts.

Anyway, he put me back on a half dose, and told me to just stay on it until my next appointment in over 2 weeks. I've however decided that I want off this medicine if at all possible, so after being on the half dose for a week, I've cut the dose in half again (so from 20 milligrams two weeks ago, to 10 last week, and now 5). We'll see how this goes. If I start experiencing problems then I'll just go back to the half dose I've been taking for a week. Hopefully, though, I'll be able to wean myself off more slowly and be free of the meds within a few weeks.

I'm completely off the other two meds, however, and very happy about that. I seem to be adjusting to being off those meds fairly well. I can tell that my emotions are closer to the surface then they have been lately, but I am still able to control them. I cry more easily then normal, but that may just be the preggo hormones, so who knows. I'm trying my best to just relax and take things one moment at a time, trusting that I have the strength to handle anything life can throw at me in the future. Worrying about things that might or might not happen, certainly won't help any.

So enough about me and my struggles! What's going on with the Butter Bean this week? Here's what my app says:

The features of your baby's face are becoming more defined. The eyes have moved towards the front of the face and the chin and nose have taken more shape. Your baby's tiny fingernails are now well formed on fingers that will be able to open and close. In your baby's brain synapses are rapidly growing.

A week from tomorrow, we have our next appointment with the midwife. We should definitely be able to hear the heartbeat then. She said, if she can't pick up the heartbeat with the Doppler, then she'll do an ultrasound right then and there to check on everything. I'm so anxious to finally hear my little one's heartbeat. Since we decided to decline the genetic testing, and since I have a regular cycle and was pretty confident of when I became pregnant, there has been no need to do any ultrasound. If everything goes as planned, then we won't have one until our 20-ish week anatomy scan. I can't believe that in only 8 short weeks, we'll know if we are having a little boy or a little girl! I'm pretty much convinced that my little guy is a boy, but I'll be overjoyed for whatever we find out.

Still no baby bump over here, but I hear that's not unusual for first time moms who sometimes don't show until closer to 16-20 weeks. I did buy a couple pairs of maternity pants and a t-shirt the other day when I was out shopping. The pants were just so comfy, and will still be when I get big, and the shirt was just too cute to pass up!

I'm currently doing a lot of research on things we need for the baby. Still haven't made a final car seat decision. I've found the stroller I want, but Jay thinks it's out of our price range so we'll see. At least we've decided on a crib, a highly rated model from IKEA. Woohoo! Finally got the baby gear bible in, Baby Bargains, the other day. It's quite overwhelming but I believe it's going to be an extremely helpful resource.

Well, I think that's it for this week. If I don't write again, I'll see you all next week! Have a wonderful rest of the week and a relaxing weekend!

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