7 Weeks

This week has been one of disappointment and joy. What a roller coaster ride! I called to make an appointment with a midwife on Monday only to discover that it's not as easy as making a doctor's appointment. I needed to answer some basic question over the phone like, when are you due, do you have any illnesses, do you have an ontario health card etc. Then I had to wait for the centre to confirm that there would be a midwife available for me. And she told me I could be waiting up to 2 weeks! Luckily I only had to wait 24 hours but the news was not good. Because midwives take their vacations during the summer, there was no one available for me. She might as well have ripped my heart out of my chest with the help of a rusty spoon. OK, well... I'm exaggerating a little but I was pretty upset. For the past 3 months I've been thinking and weighing my options only to be told it was all a waste of time and I would have to do what I had decided against... seeing my GP for 10min appointments only to be passed along to a strange OBGYN and finally to deliver in a hospital, medicated and unable to leave my bed. All I wanted was options. And then there was a glimmer of hope.
"You could try calling the midwifery centre on the other side of town. Maybe they've got someone available for you."
My heart began to beat a little faster and I suddenly wanted to hang up on this woman and call the other centre before any other pregnant bitch got a chance to. But of course rational people don't do things like that so I kindly thanked her for helping me and answering the few questions I had. Then I said goodbye and hung up. I said something to P about my bad luck and promptly started dialling the other centre.

This time, it all worked out :) It wasn't my first choice but it's not a bad one. I'll be seeing a midwife that's about 25 minutes west of me instead of 15 minutes east. My first appointment is in 2 1/2 weeks which is a little later than I would have liked but I'm sure it'll still be an uneventful visit. I'll probably be too early for an ultrasound but maybe if I keep my fingers crossed they may want to verify a heartbeat.
Speaking of...my lil' bean is now the size of half a cheerio and growing! His little heart has now finished developing and is beating almost twice as fast as my own. And what could that little heart be pumping at seven weeks? His own developing blood of course. The arm and leg buds now have little paddles where hands and feet will be and are starting to flap about. The eyes and nostrils are just dark spots but the nose, ears, and mouth are also starting to form. Then there's the kidneys, spleen and liver ducts that have begun to form while the intestines are getting longer. And you know all this work is leaving me very tired. I find myself exhausted after only doing a small amount of work like washing dishes, or even doing the laundry. My to do list keeps getting longer and I've really had to tell myself that it's OK. I've got to rest and not sweat the small stuff.

6 Weeks

This week has certainly been a lot different than last week. My lil' bean is now the size of a peppercorn and it's sucking up all my energy. I can barely make it through a day at work without wanting to take a nap after lunch. I try to eat small meals more frequently so I don't get lethargic but it doesn't always help. Then there's the short bouts of nausea that seem to affect me at the worst of times. Although I have yet to make a dash to the bathroom, feeling like I might isn't fun. And my last complaint is that I'm starting to gain weight. Wether it's from water retention or actual baby weight, I'm not sure. And of course it's not a lot of weight but my pants are starting to feel a little snug and my button down shirts now have a peek-a-boo hole. I wonder if anyone else is going to notice?

On a different note, I've decided to see a midwife instead of staying with my GP. It was something I was always curious about and since I've had a lot of time to think, read and listen to podcasts, it seems like the obvious choice for me. I'm planning on making an appointment next week and I'm really curious to see how it will go. I especially like the fact that the midwives are 15 minutes from me while the doctors office is 35 minutes. Yay for short commutes.

5 Weeks

Today I hit the five week mark and so far so good. My lil' bean should have a beating heart even though he/she is only the size of a sesame seed. I've decided not to call the doctor until I'm six weeks along. I just want to be sure that this isn't going to turn out to be another chemical pregnancy. My first prenatal appointment won't be until eight weeks anyways so I figure I've got some time.

The biggest difference I've noticed this time around is that I've felt a lot more, um...activity. I guess that's a good way of describing it, lol! I was feeling crampy and uncomfortable during implantation and it didn't stop until a few days ago. Apparently that means the blastocyst was doing a good job of making a permanent home in my uterus. Yay!

Other than the cramps I'm feeling good. No morning sickness yet and I can only hope it won't be so bad when it starts. Also, my appetite hasn't changed at all. No crazy cravings but I am really missing the coffee :(

There's Always a First!

The idea of starting a pregnancy blog has been running through my head for some time now. I've been reading other blogs and listening to podcasts and after being uncertain about it for so long, I decided it was time to jump in. I wanted to document every step of my journey and since I'm not exactly the best speaker, and I lack the audio equipment, and I'm a photo nut... a blog was the logical solution.

My husband (let's call him P for now) & I have been married for 3 years. He is the oldest of 3 children so you can be sure the last three years have been a series of questions, similar to the following:

"do you want kids"

"are you planning on having kids?"

"have you decided when you are having kids?"

"you guys are getting older, have you thought about kids?"

"are you at least trying?"

And the questions keep coming...lol!! I thought that maybe with my sister-in-law being pregnant and having her baby 7 months ago things would taper off, and maybe we'd be question free for awhile. But of course not...sigh. The hard part was dealing with all the questions through my first miscarriage and one chemical pregnancy.

But now...it's on. I am pregnant again!!! 4.5 weeks to be exact.

P & I are hoping for the best but we can't be sure. Not for awhile anyways, hence the secret blog. I've been keeping my excitement of our growing bean to a minimum, but deep down I can't wait to tell everyone that I'm going to be a mom.