12 weeks

Just a quick post.

I'm coming to the end of my 12th week. Life has been super crazy organising our move to Canberra and finishing work. I've just driven to Canberra from Perth for 5 days. I've never felt so wasted in my life! I've found a GP down the road from my new house and I have my referral to see an Obstetrician. Now, I just need to get an appointment to see him. 

It was a bit of a pain moving when I was 12 weeks, but there wasn't really much I could do about finding a hospital or an OB from Perth. My Perth GP just told me to wait until I got here. 

As my screening blood tests had already been done for IVF, I will just get tested for diabetes on a fasting blood test on Monday. And hopefully I can get an appointment with my OB next week! They have to do a bit of squeezing to fit in a time to see me, as I should really have booked my appointment 2 or 3 weeks ago. But there wasn't much else I could do!

Otherwise, my belly is slowly growing. I had to buy my first pair of maternity jeans the other week. It was an emergency purchase during my lunch break as the jeans I was wearing were getting uncomfortably tight. It still just feels like a fat belly at the moment though. My husband was a little disappointed it wasn't bigger when he saw me for the first time in 3 weeks. I may have been going on a bit about how huge I was getting. Well, it's reassuring that I'm still a modest size for now.

There'll be more to write soon. Stay tuned.

8 week scan

My 2nd pregnancy scan - 8w2d

I have been extremely busy lately with our move to Canberra. I've been looking for rental properties that will accept my two big furr-babies (my gorgeous pups). And I've been trying to get our house ready to rent out to new tenants...it has it's stressful moments!

But of course, we still make time to go in for our next ultrasound (which you can see above). It measured 1.86cm. The doctor even pointed out it's head, but I couldn't tell at all what I was looking at. But otherwise, everything is going really well. 

Now my next step is to find an obstetrician, which you would normally do before you get to 10 weeks. However, finding one in Canberra when you still live in Perth is making things a little more difficult. I should be about 12 weeks when I arrive in Canberra, I'd hate to leave it too late! Eeek!

7 weeks

OK, so it has been 3 days since my last Crinone prod. I have started to feel a bit better in general. Yesterday I was ready to spring out of bed again, I even surprised myself with this unexpected energy. Unfortunately, it kept me up until 11.30pm and I paid for it this morning. I narrowly missed a car parked in the emergency lane on the way to work...Aaargh! The driver's seat is no place for resting your eyes. Soo tired today. Cannot focus.

I'm also struggling to get a control over my new digestive habits. Sometimes I get the queezies (not to the point of throwing up yet though). So I eat some crackers, or salty chips. Then I'm absolutely starving and I can't stop eating the chips...

I now know the difference between starving and hungry.  When you're hungry, you can stave off the hunger pains with a little nibble here and there. And when you're starving...it changes your personality. I become pre-historic, I can't form sentences and I can only reply with shrugs and grunts. But as soon as I get some food into my stomach, my face softens and I feel human again.

I've switched my diet from high protein/low carbs to high carbs so that I can increase my fibre intake, hoping to help with the constipation. Only problem is the high carbs makes me a bit bloated. When I'm bloated, I struggle to take deep breaths and it feels as though a tight band is squeezing me around the chest. So I huff and I sigh a lot. I know that has started to annoy my husband. Especially when my dog starts copying me and huffs around the house with me! Ha ha ha!

Looks like I'm going to be in for a fun ride!

No more drugs

This week I have been weaning myself off the Crinone on advice from the Fertility Specialist. I've cut my progesterone prodding back to every second night.Tonight will be my last night.

I've been on drugs since January 20, over two months ago. But I'll be drug free from tomorrow!! I'm excited because then I'd know what symptoms are pregnancy symptoms and not chemical side effects. But I'm also a little worried because I'm on my own now. It's up to my own body, with no help from drugs. Can my body support a baby? I don't know. I guess only time will tell. In the mean time my fingers shall remain tightly locked together :)

7 week scan

Today I had my first pregnancy scan and hubby came in with me. It was an internal ultrasound. You can see the little "yolk" sack and the little embryo inside it on the bottom right. He measured it at 43mm and gave the estimated due date of 12 November (my iPhone app wasn't too far off!)

He also showed the heart beat! He pressed some buttons and the screen changed and the little Belly Bean pulsed with the heartbeat. It's little heart rate was 120-140 bpm. There wasn't any sound, so we couldn't listen to it, but WOW! It was really cool!

Afterwards, he told us that we need to visit our GP and get a referral to an obstetrician for the 12 week scan. We could be in Canberra by then! So if anyone can recommend a good obstetrician in the ACT, that would be fantastic.

He also wanted me to come in for one more scan in another 2 weeks. I've been booked in to see the ovary whisperer, so I'll look forward to that. She's really great with any questions you might have, so I'll make sure I'm prepared. Pregnancy ultrasounds don't start until after 8.30am, so I can have a little sleep in.

We were actually charged for this ultrasound ($85), which can be claimed back on Medicare. But I'm sure the other ultrasounds weren't charged? Maybe they were part of the IVF cost? Not sure.  

But at least we got to leave with little print outs of the ultra sound. It's real! Little Belly Bean :)

6 weeks

It's Sunday, I'm officially 6 weeks, starting into my 7th week now. The embryo should now be the size of a rice grain, or a pea. My picture of a rice grain looks a bit small, I probably should have used a long grain rice instead.

I've started to feel a lot better this week, I've been feeling less side effects from the Crinone and less bloated. I've been worrying a little bit about not making it through the first trimester, but I haven't focused too much on it as I'm so excited I'm still actually pregnant.

I've been looking up the foods I'm not allowed, and I would be half way through eating a pizza and think...is that feta cheese cooked enough? Does that chicken look a bit pink? Or I would grab some grapes from the fridge and start eating them before thinking...did I wash those? To be safe, I may just go vegetarian, avoid soft cheeses and wash all the fruit and vegies before they go in the fridge.

A friend and I were saying how some women still smoke and drink during their pregnancy, which put things into perspective a bit. Here I am, worrying about a dirty grape, and other women are still poisoning their unborn child and still carrying a child to full term. I think I should probably relax a bit.

Otherwise, the main pregnancy symptoms I've been feeling this week is frequent urination, sharp pains and twinges, minor cramps, overall tiredness and changes in my appetite.

Frequent urination

What I didn't understand about frequent urination was the immediate urgency for the need to pee. The usual need to pee would consist of 2 or 3 levels of warning. The first one you would ignore, the 2nd level you would start to make your way towards a toilet at a leisurely pace and the third level is "drop your pants now, I'm not waiting for you anymore". Somehow, when you're pregnant, you skip past that first level and you don't hang around on the second level of warning for too long. So don't ignore the alarm bells when they're distantly ringing, get to the toilet quick...even if it's just for a piddly, little amount. Also, night time pees became an issue. I would need to go to the toilet at 3am every morning. It hasn't been so bad lately. Apparently, your hormones send more blood to the pelvic area and your uterus is positioned right on your bladder (until second trimester), meaning you need to pee more. Brilliant.

Sharp pains, twinges and minor cramps

I notice a few sharp pains, especially when I'm lying on my back and try to move around a bit. Nothing too dramatic. I've felt minor cramps in different areas of my lower abdomen as well, but again nothing too drastic. I read somewhere that cramps are a good indication that the uterus is still preparing itself, still in early construction stages.

Soo tired...

I've been quite tired this week. More than usual. I've found it quite hard to get out of bed in the morning, and I'm just ready to fall onto the couch when I get home from work. I don't drink coffee anymore, but I find a cup of tea does wonders for me. I've also really noticed a drop in energy levels since I've stopped taking my multivitamin. I hear it passes, and again, it's just the baby using up all your energy levels to keep working on the construction stages.

Appetite

My appetite has changed a bit. I can't seem to finish a full meal. So I tend to snack more through out the day instead of having big meals. This also helps prevent bloating. And I always wake up starving!