Feeling girly

Yesterday I went to get a pedicure to keep me feeling girly. It's my small little luxury. Well, as I was nearing my pedicure end, I decided to get my nails done too. I didn't want anything crazy, just some white tips to make my hands feel pretty.

I left the nail saloon feeling good.

The next day, today, I showed up at work and I got chewed out for getting nails. "Pregnant girls can't get their nails done."

Pregnant girls also shouldn't lift things and shouldn't get their hair done (except for cuts and trims) and shouldn't stand by microwaves and, and, and!

I think that if I went to the nail saloon to purposely sniff and get high on the fumes and chemicals in there, yes, I shouldn't go cause too much may cause a problem. However, I didn't see and issue with being there an hour.

I talked with the baby daddy, and he and I both feel, it's not life threatening to me or the baby to get my nails done. Once I go to the dr, I will ask him how he feels. IF he says to stop going, then I will find out why and go from there.

However, the only thing I want people to yell at me for while I'm pregnant is my soda intake. I have been pretty cautious about it, but I'm human and week. I love how those tiny wonderful bubbles feel on my tongue. I am dehydrated every other day. So, yell at me to drink more water or skip the soda.

I'm so hungry!!!

This has been a rough week. I'm not peeing as much through the night, but when I wake up, I am starving! If I get something too sugary first thing in the morning, I get a little uneasy. The other morning, I had a bunch of green grapes and I couldn't finish them cause my stomach was starting to fuss. Anyone know if it's the grapes? Or just me?

Anyway, I find that yogurt and granola have been pretty satisfying with lots of water and a prenatal pill. I am trying to snack more and have smaller meals. Isn't that what they teach us is a healthy diet? lol I'm not gaining any weight, which I like cause I'm not supposed to just yet.

I am getting real antsy for my first appointment. I can't wait to hear that little heartbeat. A week and a half. *sigh*

Quilts

One of the fabric stores by my work is closing, so I picked up some material there for a steal. I found 3 fabrics that looked great together. I was going to make a yellow brick baby quilt out of it, but once I got it home, I decided to do a block quilt. It's a little bigger than a normal baby blanket, but it will provide room for growth.

Since I don't know if it will be boy or girl, or both, I'm gonna make a little girlie one too. I already have pink, purple and brown butterfly and polka dot material. So excited!

Nausea or hunger?

Yesterday, I was not feeling it. I got home from church and made Chicken Toast, minus the toast, plus a pita. I got through the first half of the pita that had tomatoes and was loving it! However, half way through the next half, with only cheese and chicken, I started feeling a little stomach sickness. I didn't think much of it, but after a few hours and trying to think of dinner options, I was getting a little nauseous. I ended up having a candy bar, crab chowder and water and feeling better.

Today was a different story though. Jason washed some green grapes for me to eat as my breakfast on the way to work. After eating what was probably 35 grapes, my stomach asked me to quit cause it didn't want anymore. Now, I'm not sure if I ate too many, or if it was just that I had so many grapes. I had some Chef Boyardi Raviolo for lunch, just a snack with some water and it made me feel a little better.

I'm curious to see if this is the morning sickness coming out? Or just my belly acting up.

Yacking

So, I still haven't yacked. However, things that make me gag:

• People who come to my teller window with their hands covered in blood
• People who hand me a wad of cash to sort out and I have to remove their pocket lint (this is not Jason.)
• Chicken bones (but those made me gag before)
• People who don't bathe and I have to call over my supervisor to help them before I yack on them
• People who work at the fast food restaurants surrounding work and come in smelling deep fried

Wow. After reading this, it sounds like the work is my biggest problem. The only thing non work related is something I've had an issue with for years, so it doesn't even really count. lol

Wowza!

So, I still haven't had any "sickness". Morning or otherwise. However, one of my regulars, who is not the cleanliest, brought in another wad of $5 bills. I thought way too much about the money, and the lint that was attached to it and started gagging.

I think when Jenny, my sister, lost her sense of smell however many years ago, all the smelling capabilities came to me. I have always told everyone I have a pregnant lady's sense of smell. I didn't think that when I got pregnant it would get better, cause I already thought it was superb! I was wrong.

I can smell EVERYTHING! Regular customers who didn't smell before, now smell of something. Not sure what, but some of them are not friendly. And, it's not just bad smells. One of the girls I work with use to work at Victoria's Secret, and though the perfume she wears smells pretty, she wears so much of it I have a hard time breathing. I have a little fan at work to keep me cool, and sometimes it doesn't help when I have smelly customers (good or bad) and the air blows it right on me. I even face the fan away, or turn it off in a non-chalant kind of way, and sometimes it doesn't help. I, for the most part, can control my gag reflex, and there has only been one incident so far where I had to have someone else process the transaction cause I couldn't handle the smell.

Other than my Superman Sense of Smell, my boobs are the only other complaint. My nipples looked bruised the other day! Kid you not, they were purpley red. Don't know if that is normal, but it sure is making me feel weird. They are normal colored again, but maybe it's just the type of bra I'm wearing?? I don't know.

I still pee a lot. However, now that the urinary tract infection is gone, I don't dread it. In fact, it gives me a few seconds out of my day to sit and relax, kind of. lol

What is wrong with my skin?!

Since the week before finding out I was pregnant, I have been getting spouts of dehydration. Probably cause I don't drink as much water as I should. However, does that really warrant my dry skin? Every time I get out of the shower, I feel like my skin is drier than the mojave desert in July!
I take a shower in warm water, and then I bathe in lotion. Books tell me it's normal, but sheesh... This could get a little pricey if I am going to be using this much lotion! Any ideas?

It's been one week...

It's been a week since we found out our lives are going to be completely different for the rest of our lives.

The idea is finally sinking in. All week I've been doubtful about the results, still thinking they were false. Yes, I kept thinking that while we were in Denver visiting friends, who are on the HCG diet, I kept thinking they snuck in our room, stabbed me with one of the needles and snuck out. LOL

Yes, I know, I'm a bit neurotic. But, it's still so incredible that something we've wanted for what seems like forever, and have tried to get forever, is finally happening.

• We've decided to make a few changes around the house. Mainly organizing, simplifying, and "nesting".
• I made a baby blanket with my mom today. It's not totally finished, but it's about half done.
• Over the last few months I've been avoiding sugar. We're not as great of friends as we used to be. So, I've stocked up on healthy treats.
• I have some prenatal pills that I'm taking that I bought over-the-counter. My body isn't rejecting them like they did before which is very nice.

Saturdays Results

Baby is cooking well. They wanted to see 3 times as much HCG as the last resutls, which was 264, and the results from Saturday are 1010. Nearly 4 times as much!

I also have a urinary tract infection (UTI). But, getting a Rx for that, so hopefully I won't be so cranky.

5th Week

Ouch. That whole breast sensitivity is kicking in. I've heard it can get real bad. Not looking forward to that.

I also got an email telling me that the baby is the size of a sesame seed and it's brain is forming.

2nd Round of Bloodwork

I went and did my second round of bloodwork today. Monday seems so far away to get the results!

Telling Family

When I called my dad to break the news, he was with my brothers. I had him put me on speaker phone, and once we got it working, I asked them how they felt about being uncles and a grandpa because in 9 months, that's what they were going to be. They of course teased me and asked if I was buying a kid. I told them no that I was pregnant. They then asked who the father was. So I told them it was this guy Jason. I will have to introduce them at the next holiday party we have. lol I think they are all excited.


Not 5 minutes after hanging up with them, my stepmother called. She is elated!


As we were on our way to the party store, Jason left a voicemail for his dad saying, "Hey Grandpa, call me back when you get this. Love ya."


I also told him he should text Tyler. So, we've covered out-of-towners and 90% of my family. It was now time to get out the tricks and tells Jason's moms, littlest brother, sister and my mom.


We thought of a few different things. But we came up with getting little pink and blue balloon bouquets, and setting them on the front door step of each house with a little note, then driving away and texting.


As we were making our way across the valley, we came up with a few ideas for writing inside the cards. Jason thought of a knock knock joke and with some fine tuning, we came up with:


Knock. Knock.
(Who's there?)
Expecting.
(Expecting who?)
Expecting Baby Graf in May 2011!!!


The only downside was that when we stopped by each house, no one was home. LOL


However, Carla arrived home shortly after we left. She called Jason so excited that she is going to be an auntie.

Brian and Gi got home from work and were really excited for us.


I ended up calling my mom. My family is real weird. We call each other for some of the most random things, or to tell jokes or for no reason at all. So, I called to tell her the hilarious "joke" that Jason told me. She was pretty mellow about it, but she was also in the middle of a relief society function. I do know that she is so excited to have a grand baby.

Friday morning I got a text from Jason saying that his mom knows. I am really excited for Jason to be a dad, but I'm nearly just as excited for his mom to have another grand baby. I finally motivated myself to get up, the fatigue is really kicking in, when my phone rang. I picked it up and it was his mom. I loved that she said, "Hi Jessica, it's grandma." She told me that her and June were out pretty late and as they were pulling in the drive way she saw the balloons. Then she saw they were blue and pink and said, "June! Look! Blue and pink balloons! Jason and Jessica!!!"

I'm so excited for all the joy this baby is already bringing to our families.

Bloodwork

On Wednesday, when I called Sue, my nurse, to tell her the test was positive, I got the other nurse on duty, Cheryl (since Sue is off on Wednesdays. Something I learned many months ago after calling her and not getting responses back til Thursday or getting calls from Cheryl.)

Cheryl had me come in as soon as I could on Wednesday to run the Progesterone and HCG tests. Making sure the levels are good. I got a call from Sue on Thursday saying my progesterone is at 53.5 which is great cause they like to see it above 10. Woot! My HCG was at 264. This is kinda low, but they like it to triple every few days, so she wanted me to get more bloodwork done on Saturday. Let's pray the levels go up.

As for symptoms, I have few. The pills I was/am on always tend to make me gag and feel nauseous, so that's nothing new. I did have the "pressure" cramps. They have subsided for the most part. My nipples are real sensitive, but my boobs don't ache like everyone says they should. Lucky me!

I'm stoked to know the baby is a size of a poppy seed. I'll try to keep everyone as up to date as I can. This is the first grnadbaby on the Claessens side, and on the Graf side, it will be the second grandbaby for some, and the first "Graf" grandbaby for others. I know there are a lot of excited family out there. Friends too.

Telling Jason

This always seems to be the first exciting thing for expecting moms. How to tell the soon to be expecting dad.

I wanted to tell Jason in a special way. I wanted him to remember this forever. Not that he wouldn't remember becoming a dad, but finding out your life will never be the same after this news, I wanted it to be special.

Many ideas ran through my head. Making dinner and presenting "dessert" as the positive stick. Kinda sounded gross though. Then, I thought about getting baby clothes and putting them in the washer and when we were getting ready to go to bed that night, I'd ask him to switch the "clothes" over. I didn't want to buy too many clothes of the wrong sex. I also thought about filling the spare/baby room closet with diapers over the next few weeks, but who knows if he would pay that much attention to that closet.

I went with getting him a little present.

Before I say more about the present, let me tell you how our week had been. Monday, we had a little birthday celebration for Jason. We were in Denver for his birthday so we didn't get to celebrate with our other friends and family. Monday afternoon, Jason was helping tidy up the house and was taking our suitcases out to the garage when he heard lots of little boys playing outside the garage. He opened the garage door to find 4 little neighbor boys. 3 from down the street who attend our church and one from the opposite direction. Jason being the wonderful patient guy he is explained that they need to ask permission before getting into the Jeep.

After 20 minutes of Jason "putting away the suitcases", I went out to the garage to see what the issue was. I was filled in on the current situation. After Jason had said goodbye and we thought the kids would resort to one of their houses, Jason finds them getting into OUR backyard. He explains again that they need to ask permission to go in our backyard. They then ride their scooters through our front yard, start turning on the water, coming in and out of the house like they own the place. I was running out of patience. Jason went out and explained to the boys that they needed to go home since it was getting late and he needed to help me with other chores before his little party.

After what we thought was the end, I hear the water turn and I am out the door before Jason can get there. I did not explain. I let them know that "they need to listen to our rules when they are at our house. We have been very nice to them and if they want us to continue being nice, they need to listen to us. Otherwise, they will not be allowed to come over, ever. Do you understand?" That was the end of that.

Jason's present
I went to Babies R Us and found two cute little outfits. One in boy colors that said "Daddy's best friend" and a little girl one that said, "Daddy adores me." I want to teach the kids sign language for many reasons, Jason too, so I then went to Borders and got The Everything Book on Baby Sign Language. I found a little organization box, or something like that, put the book in, put the outfits in just right so when he opened the box he would see what they said, and then I put the positive pregnancy test on top. (Don't worry, I didn't pee all over the stick and I'm gonna wash the clothes before the munchkin wears it.) I set the box with a little gold bow on top of the coffee table just before Jason arrived home.

He walked in, gave me a hug and a kiss. And as we were hugging I casually told him that a little person dropped that box off for him while he was gone. He looked perplexed and I think he thought tons of different things, mainly, what have those little boys down the street gotten me?!

When he opened it, he still seemed a little perplexed. So, I told him, "Ya, they said they'd be back in 9 months." And then, there it was.

Jason: Are you serious?
Jess: yes.
Jason: For real?
Jess: Yes, Jason. It's for real.

I won't go into how gushy it was, but I loved watching his reaction. I wanted to surprise our families, but I had gone to see Jenny earlier that day, and I can't be around her more than 5 minutes without sharing whatever juicy gossip I have. So, I told Jason to call her since he was dying to share it with someone. Thank you Jenny. You truly are an amazing sister.

History

Jason and I have been married for 2 and a half years. Since our wedding day, we have not tried to prevent pregnancy.
About 6 months into our marriage, I was concerned that we still hadn't conceived and started going to different specialists, i.e. endocrinologists, ob-gyn's, etc. I was asking work to help me out. I was the Executive Secretary for a credit union here in Vegas. It was pretty stressful at times and I asked if I could be demoted to a lower position, such as a teller. I live in North Las Vegas and I had to travel out to Henderson everyday for work. I spent 11 hours out of my day on work.
They were unwilling to work with me so I quit and started working for a more nationally known bank as a part time teller. It is a lot less stress and a lot less hours.
I had a Dr put me on Metformin for my irregularity and diabetic symptoms in March of 09. I lost 30 lbs and was stoked that my girl parts were working on their own, most of the time. I kept thinking we would get pregnant soon, but it didn't happen.
I got a new OB-GYN Dr at the end of '10 and he kept wanting to put me on Clomid. I have heard lots of crazy stories about Clomid, so I kept telling him I wanted to find a different way to get pregnant, and if those didn't work, then we'd try Clomid. Well, none of those other ways worked, so I started Clomid in April. My June, I was wore out by all the poking, prodding, and pee stick testing.
I was emotionally drained cause here it was 3 months gone by and I still wasn't pregnant. I talked to the nurse and she told me, some people get pregnant the first month, some the fifth. The average is the third cycle. Being that I was at the end of the third cycle and realizing I was less than average, I started giving up on getting pregnant. It's definitely not as easy as my 12 yr old self thought it was, have sex, 9 months later you have a baby.
I told my husband, our families and friends that if I didn't get pregnant this month, I was gonna call it quits for a while. I'll be getting my Associate in Accounting in May '11, and I will be turning 30 in April, and I had lots of plans to do lots of things. Jason and I were going to take a Bahama Cruise for my 30th birthday. Already have it paid for and everything.
However, Friday, September 3, I took a test and it was negative. I was pretty bummed after taking so many tests and always having them negative. Then, on Tuesday, I still hadn't had any sign of my cycle coming. I had been having some discomfort in my pelvis, but didn't think much of it. I called my nurse to find out what she thought, and she said, "Take a test tomorrow morning. If it's positive, call me and we will have you do blood work. If it's negative, call me when you start."
From the books I've read and seen, I knew that the 18th day after ovulation was your "key" day. If you are a basal body temperature person, if you have a high temp on the 18th day, you can be pretty sure, you're pregnant.
Wednesday, September 8 (Day 17 after ovulation)
Jason got up for work, I got up with him then went back to bed. I had the day off but had some errands to run with a friend, so I knew I needed to get up and going. I took the test and there was a faint blue (+) sign. After all the research and work I've put in to "reproduction" knowledge, I knew you couldn't get a false positive. Unless you had just had a miscarriage, just delivered or were on the HCG diet. So, being that none of those applied, it took me a while to let it sink in.
However, it has sunk in and I am so stoked to be pregnant. I have always wanted to be a mom. And, I think I am more excited for my wonderful husband to get the chance to be a great dad than I am for myself to be a great mom.