the cat is out of the bag...

Anyone notice a blog title change?! Well, our family of 3 (plus Remmy) is going to be a family of 4 (plus Remmy)! We are expecting another little one in June! (Due date 6/6/12!)

We took the pregnancy test on October 2nd, which was the day I ran the half marathon. I did have my suspicions a few days before. I had similar symptoms as with Jamie (meaning I had to pee more than normal, which is a result of increased blood production.) The timing worked well as Jamie and I were flying out to the States two weeks later. I wanted to tell everyone in an unusual way like last time. So we bought a t-shirt for Jamie that says: "I'm not lion, [picture of lion], I'm going to be a big brother!" Unfortunately we don't have a single photo of it! But everyone loved it. Christine wanted to know if it was true, Kim screamed, my mom noticed straight away, my dad didn't notice for 2 hours (until my mom asked what he thought of it!). Everyone is thrilled.

I am now nearly 15 weeks, and into the second trimester. So far I've been sicker than I was with Jamie. With him, I was only ever nauseous, but I've been throwing up a few times a week, mostly first thing in the morning after I open the fridge or encounter certain smells like dog food or moldy food. Like last time, I had to eat all the time to stop from feeling sick. I think I'm nearly out of it. I don't feel nauseous as much. I am also much more tired. I take a nap when Jamie does, nearly everyday.

We had a scare a few weeks back when I spotted for about a week. I was referred to the Early Pregnancy Detection Unit for a scan and everything was ok. We got to see our little one a few weeks earlier than normal:

It's not as clear in the photo, but we saw it in action wriggling around. The baby is about an inch long here.

Our normal 13 week scan was at the end of November. I had blood taken and they measured the baby to check for any abnormalities and also to assess probabilities that it might have Down's or another disorder. Everything came back normal and here is the baby 3 weeks older:

Quite a difference! The also measured my fibroid, which is back and growing again. It's about 8cm now, which is 2cm smaller than it was at this stage with Jamie. It continued to grow until 20 weeks last time, so we'll see how it is a the next scan.

I have had one midwife appointment so far, where she took my history and we discussed the last pregnancy/delivery and plans for this one. Since I had a c-section last time and lost a lot of blood, and because of the 'large' fibroid (greater than 10cm), I am considered a high risk pregnancy. It doesn't really mean all that much except that I'll be closely more monitored in delivery and I wouldn't be allowed to have a home birth (not that I'd ever want one!). I am several extra appointments with the obstetrician to discuss fibroid and delivery. I will have a choice if I want to have a c-section or try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I haven't made a decision what I want yet, and apparently don't have to decide until 36 weeks. I'll keep you posted on that.

A bit of a long one, but a lot to catch up on in 15 weeks. I'll try to update more regularly. The next ultrasound is at the end of January, which is when we'll find out the sex!

worst night of my life...

Friday night was probaby the worst night in my life (at least in any recent memory). I apologize in advance that this post is not for the squeamish.  You have been warned...

Before going to bed on Friday I felt a little funny but with impending labor, nothing is really that out of the ordinary. Flu like symptons are common in pre-labor.  At about 12:40 I woke up and made a dash for toilet and started throwing up and until there was nothing left to throw up.  We had chinese take-away for dinner, so I thought it might be related to that. I went back to bed, only to wake up 20 minutes later and repeat the pattern.  This continued every 20 minutes almost on the dot until 6:00am.  After the first few times, there was pretty much nothing left, so resorted to throwing up in a bucket the rest of the night (Paul, bless him, cleaning it out after each time). Even though there was nothing left in my tummy, the violent throwing up continued all night. It was also paired with diorrhea (lovely, eh?!). We rang the hospital a couple times in the night and they said to monitor baby's movement and try to keep hydrated (yeah, right!).  The second time we called (about 5am), they said to ring back at 6:30 or 7:00 if it was still happening. We were one session away from going to the hospital. After 6am, I slept through until 9:30.  As it was occuring every 20 minutes, I had begun to wonder if they were connected to contractions. My abdomen was going rigid, but it wasn't painful, so if anything, it might have been Braxton Hicks. 

Later that morning, I rang the hospital again because I was concerned about the baby and potential dehydration.  I talked to a very nice midwife who said it sounded like I had likely Norovirus (which the hospital recently had a breakout earlier in the month). She said their first priority is the baby, but because of the contaigousness of the virus, they'd prefer I'd stay at home. She said to drink something cold and eat something sugary and monitor the baby's movement. If he didn't become active, then I should ring back in an hour.  Luckily, it seemed to work-I did feel him shift around. Though the toast and jam did make me ill again and I ended up going back to sleep. That was the last time though. I slept on and off all day and by the evening was feeling much better and managed to drink more easily and eat some crackers and a half of a banana. My energy also began to return. I had a full night's sleep last night and today I've been much better.  I'm definitely on the mend and able to eat more normally today, though I'm of course taking it easy. I'm even beginning to hope labor starts again, as I had to put my wishes for that on hold on Saturday as I probably wouldn't have had the energy for it.

Thankfully, no one else in our house has shown signs of the Norovirus, so prayers that it doesn't spread would be greatly appreciated.  We can also give thanks that this didn't occur after the baby came, so I've found a reason to be grateful for being 9 days overdue.

Tomorrow I'm back at the hospital for my second sweep and I got a call on Friday to say my induction has been booked for Thursday (check in will be Wednesday night). Of course I want to avoid induction, but it's nice to know I'll be meeting my little man by the end of the week. Hopefully,if nothing else, all this intestinal upset will have moved me further along.

How are you feeling?

So the first thing nearly everyone has asked me after finding out I'm pregnant is how I'm feeling. I think I've been pretty lucky so far. I have been nauseous but not actually sick. I found if I eat something every couple of hours it helped, though I never really felt hungry. As lunch approached I'd feel particularly not like eating but knew if I ate I'd feel better, which was always the case. I kept a store of pretzels or fruit and nuts to snack on in my desk. Consequently, I put on about 8lbs and already have had to go back to my 'fat' jeans. I guess I'm lucky I lost all that weight during marathon training and still have all my pre-weightloss wardrobe to tide me over until the maternity clothes phase.

The last two weeks have been getting gradually better and I feel less sick and haven't been snacking as much. I've also been able to work out with my trainer Fiona for her last three weeks in England (once a week) and she's set me up with a three gym workouts, plenty of pelvic floor exercises and I've also been promised a post pregnancy workout as well. I've also been running 3 times a week for 30-40 min and still cycling to and from work (45min per day). I've also been trying to walk to work once a week (takes about 55 min). And I'm down 2 lbs. I know it will come back quickly once this baby hits a growth spurt, but a small little victory for me, since I knew a lot of my weight gain was extra food, not extra baby. I'm probably only run for about a month more and then switch to low impact cardio.

I'm officially done with the first trimester tomorrow when I will be 14 weeks. I'm looking forward to actually looking pregnant hopefully soon, and not just feeling a little chubby.