8 Weeks

Typing out "8 weeks" as the title makes it sound like I'm not very far at all in the pregnancy...which I'm not...but I feel like I've been pregnant forever and that it's time for me to be in the second trimester already.  The problem with being told you are pregnant when you're 4.5 weeks pregnant makes the first trimester SO VERY LONG.  I'm tired of the unknown.  The last time I was 8 weeks pregnant I still lost it.  Sigh.  I want to be 14 weeks pregnant RIGHT NOW.

Other than trying to keep myself emotionally UNinvested in this pregnancy, at least for the next month, I've been doing really well :)  

Symptoms so Far

HUNGRY?  I definitely have to eat more often, or I get light-headed.

CRAVINGS?  Salty foods.  Chips are absolutely delicious :)  My Valentine's Day chocolate is just sitting in my cupboard, untouched by me, which is a rare occurence.

POOR SLEEPS AT NIGHT?  Not poor...but I don't sleep through the night anymore.  I'm usually up once or twice to pee.

MORNING SICKNESS? Not at all. 

WEIGHT GAIN?  1 lb

MILD CRAMPING?  Not really.  I can 'feel' my uterus if I've been doing too much...but that seldom happens.

TENDER BREASTS?  Yes, which I don't remember with my other two pregnancies...but maybe I've just forgotten and didn't want to include too much information in the blog entries at the time.

TIRED?  Yes, a bit, but in my defence it's been SO busy.  I had to switch from working 6 hours on Mondays and 11 hours on Wednesdays to 3 hours on Mondays, 11 hours on Wednesdays, and 3 hours on Fridays.  It's amazing how being at work at extra day can really make life busy.  Kayla has definitely felt the effect of me being gone three times a week.  She's way more clingy and whiney when I'm around - which would exhaust anyone!

SHOWING?  At night, definitely yes...to me at least.  The general public would likely just think I've got a belly.

Ultrasound #1

After a busy day, I had a lot of cramping last night (7 weeks) and this morning (7 week 1 day), which led to HUGE worrying.  I was stressing about it all night.  I know cramping can be normal, and I had it early with Matthew and Kayla, but after the miscarriage this summer, I was super paranoid.  I chugged back water all evening, which allowed me to pee a lot, which confirmed each time that I was not yet bleeding.  And thank goodness, bleeding never came.  Cramping is fine.  Cramping with bleeding is not.

So, needless to say, I was very glad that I had an ultrasound scheduled for today, to reassure me that things are going well, or to let me know it's not.

AND - things are going great!  Baby Struik is growing right on target, measuring 9.99mm, or 7 weeks.  Perfect.

And I got to see the yolk sac.  And I got to see and hear the heart beat.  Nothing beats the barely-audible 'whoosh-whoosh' sound.  Baby's heart rate was 159 bpm.  Nice and strong :)

The one 'not normal' thing about the ultrasound is that I've developed a cyst on my right ovary.  The doctor said it's a "Corpus Luteum" which developed because I must have ovulated during this cycle. Remember the follicle that was growing when it shouldn't have, that the bloodwork determined would probably not release? Well, it must have released.  The doctor said that the cyst was not an issue, and would disappear on its own.  I googled it, and once the placenta takes over producing progesterone (at the end of the first trimester), then the cyst will shrivel and be absorbed.  Nothing to worry about :)

Now, I've graduated from Genesis (*tear *tear.  I was hoping for a second ultrasound like I got with Matthew and Kayla).  I'm supposed to continue my estrogen and progesterone until I'm 10 weeks, but other than that, things are now a 'normal' pregnancy.  Next up: booking an appointment with my family doctor.

23 Months!

Matthew:
-  Favourite snack:  Popcorn or Candies
-  Least Favourite Snack:  Any sort of cake or cookie (or anything of that nature)
-  Favourite dinner:  Carrot Stumput (Bite of carrot stumput, bit of meat, bite of carrot stumput, bite of meat)
-  Favourite drink:  Juice of any kind.
-  Can tolerate sour candies.
-  New words this month:
     More
     More Please
     No
     Dada
     Mom / Mama
     Tic Tac
     Nana (Banana)
     Moon
-  Learned to 'Dance' this month (rocking back and forth, side to side, sometimes with hands raised)
-  Started having time-outs this month
-  Before he gets put in his crib at night, he requests/demands to be rocked back and forth in my arms while singing "Rock a Bye Baby".  As soon as I pick him up to do it he puts his head in my arms.
-  Plays around with Kayla at night, jumping in their cribs, and laying their blankets over the crib rail.
-  Often stood by Remy and Carly in their high chairs while they were eating their meals.  A couple weeks later, in the nursery, without prompting, he grabbed two baby toys and gave one to each baby.
-  Started feeding themselves cold cereal for breakfast this month.  The highlight is drinking the milk from the bowl at the end.

Kayla:
-  Favourite snack:  Popcorn or Candies
-  Least Favourite Snack:  Any sort of cake or cookie (or anything of that nature)
-  Favourite dinner:  Carrot Stumput (Bite of carrot stumput, bit of meat, bite of carrot stumput, bite of meat)
-  Favourite drink:  Milk
-  Can not tolerate sour candies.
-  Is a HUGE Mommy's-girl right now.  HUGE.  She often just wants me to carry her.
- New words this month:
     No                             Pee
     More                         Side (Outside)
     More Please             Yeyow (Yellow)
     Carry                         Corn
     Milk                           Weh (Wet)
     Da (Dad)                   House
     Mom                          Knise (Knife)
     Cut                             Peese (Princess)
     Tic Tac                      Why (Super Why)
     Pate (Plate)               Couse (Couch)
     Moon                        Lacey
-  Learned to 'Dance' this month (rocking back and forth, side to side, sometimes with hands raised)
-  Started having time-outs this month
-  Plays around with Matthew at night, jumping in their cribs, and laying their blankets over the crib rail.
-  Started feeding themselves cold cereal for breakfast this month.  The highlight is drinking the milk from the bowl at the end.
   

Testing Time Outs

**This is the second post tonight...so don't miss the one below!*

Matthew had his first encounter with time outs today...and I got the complete opposite reaction from him than I did from Kayla a few days ago.

Matthew and Kayla were at my parents', playing with some toys (plastic boards with holes that you push plastic 'thumbtack-like' pieces into to make pictures/designs) on the table.  Matthew started to throw them off the table, scattering them all over the floor.  I warned him not to, and he did it again anyways.  I sent him to the time-out corner, and he cheerfully walked over there.  He didn't try to leave.  After I let him out he went right back to the table and did it again.  I warned him again, but he kept doing it, so back to time-out he (cheerfully) went.  After I let him out he went right back to the table and did it again.  Before I could say anything, we cheerfully walked right back to the time-out corner.  What a STINKER.

Later in the evening he was sticking plastic foods in the slats under my parents' gas fireplace.  After being warned to stop, I put him in time-out, on the step.  He right away stood up.  I sat him down.  He stood up and giggled.  I sat him down and he giggled.  I stopped, because it obviously had become a game for him, and walked away.  He watched me, and stood up, laughing.  And then kept craning his neck so that he could see me because he knew he was making me laugh.  What a STINKER.

Kayla Peed on the Potty!

You would laugh at me right now if you saw how excited I am.  LOL.

I bought some cheap Ikea potties back in the fall, and let Matthew and Kayla play with them around the house so that they would know what a 'potty' is, would know how to sit on them, and would be comfortable with them.  About a month ago I took them away, so that when they did make their appearance again for potty training they would have (hopefully) forgotten that they were originally toys to them.

We've also had many, many, many conversations about peeing in diapers and wearing big kid underwear and peeing in the potty.

The past two weeks Kayla has really shown an understanding of what peeing is.  She definitely understands pooing as it's usually a big ordeal, but she started showing signs of knowing when she's peeing.

It started two weeks ago when she peed on the carpet while she was waiting for me to put her diaper on after her bath.  I didn't get mad at her (because it was my fault for being slow that morning), but definitely told her she was not allowed to pee on the carpet.  A few days later, when Jon was dressing them after their bath, she started whimpering when she stood there in her towel and then peed.  That was my first indication that she knew exactly what she was doing.  

A few days ago, while having her bath, she pointed to her bum and said 'pee'.  I asked her if she wanted to pee on the potty and she said 'ya'.  I quickly hollered for Jon to grab a potty from their closet and he brought it to me.  I put her on it and explained that if she peed in the potty, she would get a candy.  No such luck.  

Since then, she's asked to be on the potty twice, but has had no luck each time.  

That brings us to tonight...

Just as I was putting her in her crib she said she had to poo (which is 100% legit because it's been two days since her last poo and she's made several attempts already today, so I knew it would be happening either today (hopefully) or tomorrow).  I asked her if she wanted to poo on the potty and she said 'ya'.  I pulled her out of her crib, took off her sleeper, opened her undershirt, took off her diaper, and put her on the potty.  I explained that if she pooed or peed she would get a candy.  No more than 20 seconds later she makes a startled noise and points down into the potty, and sure enough, she was peeing!  I was ecstatic!  She chose a tic tac for a candy, and I didn't even make her brush her teeth again. :)

Note:  I have no intention of being 100% serious with potty training her...yet.  I'd like to see how quickly she picks it up herself.  Maybe she'll be super easy.  That would be amazing.  My goal is to have both Matthew and Kayla fully trained by the end of the summer.  I think Kayla will be easy.  Matthew, on the other hand....hmm...probably not so easy.   

Bloodwork Results #2

Yay!  Pregnancy is progressing nicely!  Four steps done!

My beta (hcg) number is 10870 mIU/ml, and I'm definitely happy with that.  The rule of thumb is that it should double every 48-72 hours when first pregnant, so considering 8 days ago my beta number was 842 mIU/ml I would have been happy with anything between 6736 mIU/ml (doubling every 72 hours) to 13472 mIU/ml (doubling every 48 hours).  I'm smack in the middle of that range which is good :).

Genesis managed to call me this afternoon still and let me know that my first ultrasound (with Genesis) will be on Thursday, February 21 at 1:45pm.  I'm looking forward to it.  That's the next step to pass!

We're definitely thankful to God for this pregnancy!  

Time-Outs

Yes, that's plural.  Time-outs.

And plural to one child.  One sweet, but oh-so-very-strong-willed child.

Can you guess who?

Kayla.

Oh man, she is as stubborn as they get.

She earned her first time-out by putting tiny barbie pieces (shoes, baby rattles, bottles) in her mouth and chewing on them, and then ignoring the request to take them out of her mouth.  I put her in the corner of my parents' family room.  She was NOT happy.  She kept leaving the corner to try to get to Candice for sympathy, only to be put right back there again.

The second time-out was earned by putting the tiny barbie pieces in her mouth AGAIN, despite her first time-out.  She was sent right back to the corner, and even though she was upset she did not leave.

The third time-out was earned probably only 10 minutes after the first two.  She had been colouring with pencil crayons and decided that she wanted to chew the ends.  She ignored my request for her to take them out of her mouth, and so she was sent to the corner.

To top it off, she refused to eat dinner tonight, even when she knew she would not get dessert and watched Matthew eat it in front of her.

Oh man, she is testing me!  Terrible twos, here I come!

We're Pregnant!

YAHOO!!!

We are thrilled...but definitely cautiously so.  So much can happen still.  

But, this is definitely the next step!  Three steps done (1. Embryo surviving thaw, 2. Successful transfer, 3. Positive blood test), but there are still many more to get through!

The one thing that kept me hopeful that this embryo was working was that on Friday, February 1 (11dp5dt) I had cramping at night, as if I were going to get my period.  What's funny is that on the EXACT same day with Matthew and Kayla's cycle I had cramping as well.  That's when I appreciate my blog :)  Other than that one 'symptom', I had  no idea if this worked or not.

I didn't receive my bloodwork results until 3pm, while I was at work.  My beta (hcg) number is 842 mIU/ml.  That's a good number, considering it was only 4 mIU/ml with my last failed embryo transfer cycle :).  This number is supposed to double every 48-72 hours if the pregnancy is going smoothly.  My next bloodwork is on Tuesday, February 12.  Hopefully my number will be good then too!  That would be another step done :). 

Genesis didn't call me yesterday, so I didn't want to update my blog until they had officially confirmed it.  That, and the fact that my boss, who reads my blog, doesn't know (yet).  I'll have to tell her tomorrow, before she finds out from my blog.

I do feel cramping on-and-off tonight...which I'm sure is a good thing, just a sign of my uterus working it's magic.  Hopefully.  Fingers crossed!!

My mom has quickly adopted the 'Laura take it easy...don't do it...I'll do it..." role again.  I definitely don't carry Matthew and Kayla at the same time right now, but I still carry them individually (especially Kayla, who seems to need me to "cay-ee" (carry) her everywhere.  Just hoping that this little embryo has buried deep into my uterus and is hoping to be there for a long time!

On a total side note:  I thought Matthew and Kayla went to sleep amazingly tonight...no crying!  HOWEVER, 15 minutes after laying them down I started to hear laughing...and now, 45 minutes after we laid them down, I hear them talking to each other.  Seriously...these kids are night-owls!  So so so cute though.

Nervously Waiting

I was definitely not this nervous for the results of our last frozen embryo transfer.  My stomach is all in knots this morning.  I wasn't nervous last night, so |I| managed to get a somewhat decent sleep - I only woke up 4 times during the night!

Every time I press 'refresh' on the myehealth screen my stomach flip-flops.  The results probably won't be up until early this afternoon...but you never know.  Maybe I should just stop checking so the flip-flopping would stop.

At least I have to go to work this afternoon, from 12-3...that should make my day speed up a bit.

This is the last time I'll have to go through this...maybe I should enjoy the suspense?  Ha!