Peanut On The Move

We had to go in today to have first trimester genetic testing completed. For those who don't know this consists of an ultrasound and a pin prick of my finger to check for Down Syndrome. I'm not worried about the results but it's one of those things doctors recommend, especially if insurance will pay for it. Ours did so we did. For reasons I won't go into now we had to take a way-too-long drive to Scottsdale to have the test completed. It took us an hour and a half to get home! On the lighter side, we left with three new ultrasound pictures of our growing Peanut and visions of her moving her groove thang. Patrick says it must have been her exercise hour cuz she was flipping and turning and causing all kinds of ruckus, which is good. Also, she's grown to around 3 whole inches!! And she has a nice, strong heart beat. The first two pics are of her head and upper torso while the last one is of her turned on her tummy sticking her butt up at us, which the ultrasound lady nicely labeled for us. :)

Insatiable

Seriously, when I have heard women talk about how much food they can pack away while pregnant I was sort of amazed and wondered how much of it was real hunger and how much of it was them giving themselves permission to make the world their buffet. I had no idea how hunger and eating would take over my life! I feel like I am constantly eating and I have truly come to dislike eating. It's annoying. I have better things to do with my time every few hours than eat! One morning last week I had THREE breakfasts! That's flipping ridiculous! But I was hungry and when I'm hungry and don't eat I tend to feel very ill. So what choice do I have? I had to upgrade my lunch box to one fit for a family picnic so I could bring all my snacks to internship with me. And fortunately, I have been able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables again because for about a month there I only wanted fast food french fries and canned fruit. I never thought I could dislike eating to such a degree but I have decided maybe this is a good thing. Maybe it will help me lose weight after Peanut is born?

My First Hormonal Near Meltdown

Last Friday, I was eating my breakfast and considering the day that lay ahead of me when I glanced over at Atari, who was fast asleep on top of the loveseat, and nearly broke down in tears at the thought of leaving her for the day. She was not sick, she hadn't suddenly learned English and was begging me to stay and, in fact, she made no indication that I was even in the room with her, but...I literally did not know how I was going to make it through the day without her and had to choke back tears. I seriously considered calling in to my internship supervisor with the excuse that I had a wicked bad headache...which I did so I would not have been lying. It's a good thing I was at home alone or I would have spent whatever time it took to convince Patrick that Atari could not be left at home alone on that day or I would die. I never did really come to my senses until much later in the day when I realized those feelings could likely be attributed to pregnancy insanity. I certainly did not go into my internship with my head cleared of that insanity. And, as I later told Patrick, the one and only reason I managed to make it out of the house that day was that I need a certain number of direct contact hours in order to complete my internship and move on with my life and Friday is the day that I tally up the most hours. Otherwise I would have spent the day with my little Atari curled up on the couch.

Just as a reference, this is Atari with Chewy laying on top of her.

Week 10 Doctor Visit

Went to the doctor today. Peanut is 10 weeks, 3 days old and their little audio ultrasound thingy revealed that she's got a strong heartbeat! The doctor let us know that when a baby has a strong heartbeat at this stage means there is a great decrease in the chances for miscarriage. In other words, she's working hard and holdin' on tight!

I also had to get blood drawn for a variety of things I know I don't have so was barely listening. Next we have to decide about genetic testing which consists of more blood being drawn and an ultrasound to check for down-syndrome and cystic fibrosis. Next appointment is in 4 weeks.

Patrick and I left the doctor's office slightly upset thanks to a scene we witnessed. As I was getting my blood drawn we were listening to the doctor talk to a woman who was having pre-mature bleeding. The woman looked really concerned about what the bleeding might mean. I was distracted with the extraction of blood and we had to do a few more things before we could leave so I lost track of the woman. As we pulled out of the parking lot, though, we noticed the woman sitting on the curb between some cars smoking with her friend! How can you possibly opposite on such polar sides and still look yourself in the mirror? We were confused, to say the least.

Silly Things I Am Trying Not To Worry About

For the time being I've given up on finding an appropriate due date countdown ticker. A friend gave me a good lead on some, but posting the link in blogger did not work. And the ones blogger has are either plain/can be used for anything or freaky. I have also come to the conclusion that this is just kind of an awkward stage for Peanut. You know, she's trying to grow arms, legs, fingers and toes while also trying to produce fully formed organs--she's under a lot of pressure. So maybe she looks like a tadpole right now--that's okay. I am subscribing to a weekly email that updates me on Peanut's progress in the womb. Last week I learned her tail is becoming less tail-like with each passing day. This week I learned she has formed all of her major organs and is officially a fetus (as opposed to an embryo)!

Item number two on my list of things I should not be worrying about is girls names. Long before we even knew I was pregnant, Patrick and I had a boy's name ready to go. It was really easy and we have not even considered changing it since we decided so long ago. One of Patrick's coworkers believes this is a sign we'll be having a boy. Girl's names have been soooo difficult. Patrick examines each name for it's "pole-esque-ness". And by "pole" I mean stripper pole. He's convinced that certain girls' names automatically result in the girl becoming a stripper some day. And since he does not want his daughter to become a stripper we must stay away from those names. Other names we'll like one day but a few days later one of us will have grown sour to it. It's a conundrum and it's driving me crazy...even though we still have more than 6 months before we have to have a name. I will say this: I am open to suggestions.

Finally, what the hell am I suppossed to do about the nursery? The current color of the future nursery is a dark blue--it's Patrick's office and that is his favorite color but it's not very baby friendly in my opinion. Plus, the room only has one window so I feel the color(s) should on the lighter/brighter side. I want something that is colorful and stimulating but will also grow with Peanut. Let's face it--she's not going to be a baby forever. I did find one design that I liked here but it would require that I get white furniture. I have no problem with white furniture except that the crib I have found that I like best does not come in white. Ultimately, I want something that is on the neutral side that I can add some frills to if Peaunt is a girl or take away some frills if Peanut turns out to be a boy. Again: open to suggestions.