8 Weeks and Counting

Time seems to be slipping away very quickly. There are a million things that we need to accomplish before this baby comes (like finish building the walls in what will become the nursery). We've been renovating our house very, very s...l...o...w...l...y for the last couple of years, and T. has finally seen a need to speed up the work (LOVE that!). He's starting to get a little worried about how quickly the time is going by, though. There is SO much to do. We have basically done a gut renovation of our entire house, but there is a lot more putting-back-together that has to be done.

We are currently at 8.5 weeks. I am feeling really good, actually. I've had no morning sickness at all, which makes me worry sometimes, because I'm crazy like that. I am REALLY tired, and need to be in bed by 8-8:30 every night. My boobs are also incredibly sore, and huge (for me). I was built like a 12 year old boy before I was pregnant. Now I am looking a lot more like a 13 year old girl. I'm also apparently one of those people who gets thick around the middle when they get pregnant. It happened pretty quickly. I had to go out and buy some new pants already. Thank goodness for bad economy sales! I had bought a pile of new pants last spring, because I was a little thinner than normal and all of my clothes were hanging off of me. With the Big Project stress that was going on at work at the time, I knew there was no chance that I'd gain weight then. The pants I bought then were all size "0". Unfortunately, one of the pairs of pants went to a suit that I really liked, and most of my size "0" pants stopped fitting a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, I found the same pants on a sale rack the other day in a size "4" for $14.99, so I can still wear my suit! I also found another pair of dressy khakis for business casual Fridays for $6.99! I had to buy new jeans, too, also in a size "4." So basically, I've gone up two sizes in a matter of weeks. If you knew me well and you looked closely, between my boobs and my belly, you would know that I am pregnant. I've had to dress really carefully when we've gone out with friends and family, because I'd like to stay in the closet for now.

Although I've had no morning sickness, my stomach feels a little off at times. Eating something generally makes it feel better. I've been keeping a big bag of Sta.cey's Pita chips in my desk drawer. They come in a plain variety that stays crunchy even after the bag's been open for a while (making them perfect for stashing in my office), and they're quite tasty, even though they're plain. They're all natural, too. And, they make my stomach feel better. There are definitely things that I am not that into eating. I am so over chicken, beef and pork right now. I know I need the protein, so I struggle to eat some, but I REALLY don't want to. I have to force myself. I still want fish, but I have been avoiding it because of the mercury. I did break down and have lobster last night, but it was the only time I've eaten fish since getting pregnant. It's just too confusing to try to keep track of how many portions I've had of what fish over what period of time, and which fish are okay to eat how often. I've decided that I'll just have seafood once a month. So, lobster it was, this month. It will probably be lobster every month all summer. Can you tell I'm a New England girl?

I've found it a little difficult at times to remember what I'm supposed to eat and what I'm not allowed to eat. I had lunch with a friend the other day, and ordered a turkey sandwich. I was dismayed to discover that it came with brie on it, but peeled the brie off and happily ate the very delicious sandwich. Hours later, I remembered that turkey is a "lunch meat," and I'm not supposed to eat it. Duh. I just don't think of it as "meat," which is stupid, I know. I have felt fine since I ate it, and hopefully, it won't pose a problem. I am trying not to worry too much about making these kinds of errors, since there are tons of things women eat all over the world that are on Americans' "pregnancy no-no" list, and their babies are just fine. I try to be cautious and prudent, without neurotic, which is actually working out okay so far.

Today, I'm craving an Italian sandwich from a particular sandwich shop near my house, but this time I remember that I'm not supposed to eat cold cuts. I'm going to substitute the vegetarian version that they also offer, which is basically tomatoes, pickles, peppers, olives, and provolone cheese. The pickles and provolone really make the sandwich, so it'll be an acceptable substitute. I've been thinking about this sandwich for days. It's really sad!

I have my first appointment with my new OB's office on Tuesday. I'm meeting with the nurse. I went in last week to have all of my lab work done, and they said they'd call if anything came up, so I'm assuming that since I haven't heard anything, everything came back fine. Then, in two weeks, I have my first appointment with my new OB herself. I was surprised they scheduled the appointments so close together. I'll be nine weeks at my appointment with the nurse, and almost 11 weeks at my appointment with the doctor.

Overall, I am feeling really positive right now. I'm a little worried about the genetic testing that's coming up. It's so hard to know what the right thing is to do. I am leaning toward doing CVS. It seems like most women just do screening tests, and don't do amnio or CVS unless the screening tests show a problem. My difficulty with that is that screening tests only tell you probabilities, and don't give you actualities. I think I would rather deal with actual information. I have a cousin who was at higher risk for a baby with a genetic disorder, but still unlikely to have an affected baby, but she nonetheless gave birth to a baby with a significant genetic disorder. Particularly in light of her experience, I guess I'd just rather know for sure (even though I know there is a very small false positive rate even with the invasive tests). It is maddeningly difficult to try to decide, though, and the thought of the needles for the invasive tests makes me very susceptible to changing my mind. It will be interesting to see what my new doctor's take on all of this is. If anyone has an experience with CVS, I would love to hear about it.