Ally’s Pregnancy Journal

Tuesday I had an apple and an orange for breakfast, a salad for lunch and for dinner - ravioli and meatballs.

Wednesday I had yogurt with grapenuts for breakfast, a ham, cheese, salami, tomato, lettice and onion on rye sandwich with snack size bag of cool ranch doritos. Dinner we had some mixed veggies (edamame, baby corn, water chestnuts, etc) and chicken pot pie.

I had really bad heartburn yesterday, I was amazed at how bad it hurt. the nausea is still there but work has been so mind consuming that there are times I compltely forget it is there.

This afternoon I ordered a fetal doppler that you can hear the baby’s heartbeat in as little as 11 weeks and since I hit that mark tomorrow figured that would be something good to get since we also know we will eventually have a second child.

After talking to a co-worker who has a 5 month old son he said they had started their registry right away so I think we will start that soon to really get a hands on for the different products. Some we already know we love, some we need to see and really get to feel if it is sturdy, and will hold up to the wear and tear a kid will put on it. We also want to get things that can be used more more than just a few months, some of the toys out there now have stages where they convert to the next stage and can last a kid years.

Bryan is over having dinner with his mom tonight but was sweet enough to pick me up a fully loaded cheeseburger sub for dinner, I was surprised I ate the whole thing! Maybe it was all those hots and pickles loaded in there! For lunch I had a chicken breast and I had a yogurt smoothie and a granola bar for breakfast. Not a fully balanced meal but after all the fruits and veggies I had a long stay in the bathroom this morning at work so I wanted to get some meat back into my diet to firm things up a bit! Though I guess the cheeseburger sub was well rounded since it had lots of shreaded lettice, tomatoes, raw onions, ketchup, mustard and cheese and was only 1 burger (got a small).

The nausea is still present all day but today I actually forgot about it completely a few times, then when I thought it was gone, oops nope it wasn’t, but it was nice to be able to forget about it. Again it could be how busy I was at work, but I’ll take what I can get. Just hoping it gets better in a few weeks like everyone says it should!

This week has been hard on us due to Bryan’s dad passing away on Monday morning and Monday night was my first time actually having to hug the porceline god and boy is it so much worse than doing it when I was really drunk when I was younger! I felt like it was never going to stop. Tuesday and Wednesday I had problems at lunch again where I felt I was going to be sick in the middle of eating.

Thursday wasn’t too bad, had muffin for breakfast, a smoothie for lunch and a salad for dinner, not a lot to eat but it kept the feeling of being sick away and just had the constant nausea which I am getting useto.

Friday I skipped breakfast (I know bad, but we slept in a bit) I had a salad and a little bit of a thai dish for lunch. Dinner I had some smashed potatoes with cheese and bacon and a few pieces of steak tips. For dessert I split with the guys a carmel sundae, it’s a good think too since I only had a few bites of it.

Saturday I had half of an egg, ham and swiss on a wheat bagle for breakfast, fruit and cut up raw vegtables for lunch and cheese and crackers for dinner, not much but all I could get down.

Sunday (today) I had a plain bagle with cream cheese(with a little bit of blue cheese added to it), watermellon for lunch and pad thai for dinner. I am having a little more watermellon now before bed.

By the end of this week the baby will be about the size of a softball and hopefully in a few weeks this constant nausea will go away!

We had talked a few weeks ago and at the wake it became official when Bryan told some family and friends our potential names. So far if it is a boy it will be Donald Fredrick and if it is a girl it will be Abigail Muriel. So we will call it Donnie or Abby. We both are still very set in not finding out what it is till birth.

*Ally

I went to Elizabeth’s (Bryan’s cousin’s wife) shower today and got to see most of that side of the family. It was great getting to talk about babies since all of the women at my table have children so I got to learn some new tips and info about being pregnant, having babies and having kids. I love hearing from experienced moms all the info.

Today was another light eating day…. I had 3 pieces of multigrain toast for breakfast, ham and cheese sandwich and salad for lunch and had some fruit cocktail for dinner. I’m really not useto eating so little but if my doctor isn’t worried I shouldn’t be, it just seems so strange since I have never heard of loss of appitite as a symptom of pregnancy. The nausea was pretty good today, this morning I had it and the toast helped then just before 1 I could feel it coming and a ginger candy kept it back.

Well this last week was crazy….

Friday the 12th we celebrated our anniversary with sushi (no not raw fish - sushi actually means seasoned rice) so we ordered rolls that contained cooked fishes I could have like a lobster roll, tempura shrimp, spider roll (has crab in it) and tamago (cooked sweetened egg). Though if we go again Bryan has to order since I ordered way too much (for once I had an appitite at dinner)

Saturday morning I was up at 3:30 am and on a 6am flight through Chicago to Minneapolis, MN for a Creative Memories Conference. The flight out was not bad at all and through most of the trip my ginger candies kept nausea at bay. My appitite stayed pretty much the same… good breakfast, decent lunch and a small dinner, 2 of the nights I actually had an appitiser as a meal. That saturday I got pleanty of excersize running around the Mall of America, glad I went to see it but don’t know if I would ever go again if I was in Minneapolis again since I am not a fan of malls, but one that big was worth seeing.

Sunday I got to meet a bunch of consultants I met on an online board then got to go on a tour of a Creative Memories Plant. I geeked out quite a few times since it was so great getting to see the technology behind the products. After a bunch of us went and purchased products only offered at the conference.

Monday and Tuesday we had sessions and breakouts where we learned about new products and new offerings to offer our customers.

Monday night I got to meet up with some of the same group of consultants we had met on Sunday morning as well as a few more at the Brit Pub (they have the best artichoke spinach dip - that was my meal).

Wednesday we packed, checkedout, had breakfast then Judy and I walked quite a few miles - we walked through Loring Park over to the Sculpture garden then went through the Walker Museum (what a wonderful museum). We were back to the hotel, said goodbye and I hit the shuttle bus to the airport.

Here is where I will never go into an airport in my first trimester again… the combination of having to lug my luggage to the self-service check in (which was pretty far) then the smells, the problem was not a single strong smells but multiple strong smells and there were tons of them. There were some people who must not bathe often or wear any kind of deoderant because that smell was pretty strong and the burger joints reaked. I had to spend 3 hours waiting for my flight since our last shuttle was much earlier than my flight was. I had a hard time keeping myself from getting sick and found myself dryheaving a few times (was kinda embarrising since I didn’t know if I was going to puke anything up). I got in at 11pm and went to bed as soon as I got home but did not sleep at all due to nausia and dryheaving so much.

Thursday I called in sick to work and when I wasn’t up running for the bathroom I was sleeping and stayed in bed all day. That night I slept much better.

Friday I went into work and had a very productive day. that night I ate a little bit of fried rice, 2 crab rangoon and a little bit of beef and peapods for dinner. Much smaller of a meal than I normally do.

Saturday (today) I slept in, had a smoothie for breakfast and lunch rested some more, worked on a gift for a shower I’m going to tomorrow (gave all the supplies and a purple 7×7 album for the mom to make a scrapbook and other accessories since they know they are having a girl) I had an italian calzone with Bryan (we split) and ginger ale really helped me keep it down.

It has been strange to have such a heightened level of nausea, I’m hoping that since I am now 9 weeks that this goes away as everyone predics in 3-5 weeks! I have not actually thrown up yet (I don’t count dry heaving) so I hope that doesn’t come (knock on wood).

Today we also got our first card in the mail to congradulate us - it was from my cousin Wendy, it was very sweet of her and though she is down in NJ she keeps in touch like she is much closer. Can’t wait till the holidays come around since that is when we usually get to see most of the family!

I have a feeling Bryan and I will be ording

some onesies from this place

Also, we both have iPods now and these onesies are just soo cute, might get the white one

Here is a good one for me for xmas

Here is another cute maternity tee

I already purchased this Beach Mama tank

I can’t believe I am in my 8th week of pregnancy already.

I am pretty much having the same symptoms of sore boobs, being tired and nausea. Ginger remains to be my best friend for the nausea but I found hot coco to work well the other day. My new symptom last night was getting up in the middle of the night to pee, I never have to and last night I couldn’t stand it any longer, hopefully that was a one time deal but I guess time will tell on that.

Tuesday night I had a salad with steak, black olives, field greens, balsomic dressing and pasturised blue cheese.

Wednesday I had a piece of pumpkin loaf for breakfast, a tuna melt with tomatoe and for dinner had chicken pot pie with a little rice.

Thursday I had an egg, ham and cheese on a crossant for breakfast, chicken bites with spicy sause and a piece of icecream cake for lunch. Dinner was late since I had a salon apointment to do some highlites and lowlites in my hair along with a trim so stopped at the local Thai place for a house salad, fresh spring rolls (veggies and a little shrimp rolled in a soften rice paper) and golden bags (fried dough filled with lots of stuff, though I only ate 2 of them) and a thai iced tea to go.

This morning I only ate half of an egg, ham and cheese on a wheat bagle and for lunch I am having a cup of onion soup with lots of cheese in it.

*Ally

Well the last two days I have been getting waves of nausea that just come and go.

Last night I went home and laid on the couch since I could feel it coming, had a ginger candy but didn’t seem to help. I had a ginger beer with a few leftover sweet potatoes fries and still no luck on taming the nausea. We had bbq chicken, spinach and rice and I ate a half a piece of bbq chicken and a few bites of rice and could not eat anything else. Had water hoping it would help but it wasn’t till I was laying down in bed that it really went away.

This morning I had no problems with nausea, had a yogurt with grapenuts. Now that lunchtime is here though that is another story - I had to force myself to eat a few pieces of lamb tikka(which I love) and a couple of new potatoes but the steamed summer squash and zucchini went down no problem.

We have started looking at girl and boy names on both sides of our family looking many generations back. We will have to pick a girl and boy name since we will not be finding out what we are having ahead of time.

Still too early for us to start a registry at Babies ‘R Us but we have been pointing out things we like to each other as we see them in my pregnancy magazines and online. From talking to different mom’s it seems that around 4 or 5 months along we should go that way I won’t be too big at that point and can spend a whole day getting to really get hands on feel for some of the different options. We definitely know we want a convertible crib, though we are not sure exactly what we want.

*Ally

Like many weekends lately they have been flying while the weekdays slowly go by.

We spent Friday evening visiting at my cousin Tris and Jonathan’s house for movie night with his son Ethan. I had a wonderful calzone with spinach in it since lunch I had only had a hamburger and some salad. (Breakfast was a piece of pumpkin loaf) On the way home we stopped and got ice-cream (I got black cherry)

Saturday I was tired from running around for the Company party on Friday so I decided to take it easy on the couch and catch up on my email and a nap. Breakfast I had a big bowl of shredded wheat. Lunch I had a piece of Bryan’s leftover BBQ pizza from the night before and Bryan came home and made us Steak and Spinach with mushrooms on the grill.

Sunday I had a few buckwheat pancakes and ended up having some of my ginger candy before we left for my cousin Elizabeth’s house since I was feeling a little bit of nausea. By the time we got to her house I was fine and between 1 and 4pm I had a chicken breast, a cheeseburger, a piece of corn on the cob and heart of palm salad. Later we had a small cone of ice-cream to top it off. That ended up being my dinner as well and I was amazed at how much water I had drank that day!

Last night(Sunday night) sore boobs a little more than the usual. I have been sleeping in a sleeping bra for 2 weeks now since I have been having problems with them being sore since then, but last night was a little worse. I have been putting lotion on them and my belly every night to help prevent stretch marks.

Today I had a yogurt for breakfast and just before noon went down and got a salad(romaine lettuce, cucumber, green beans, olives, mushrooms, broccoli, cheddar cheese, tomatoes topped with blue cheese dressing (the blue cheese was pasteurized - I checked with the cafe manager).

Still haven’t had an appetite so it has been so hard for me to be able to eat and hard for me to decide what to eat. I’m just glad my doctor is not worried so I’m not stressing over it.

Yesterday August 3rd was our first appointment to see the Obstrition…

So we get there, I put my name on the list, Bryan and I sit and wait. After a few minutes the woman behind the counter calls my name. Bryan leaped out of his chair, I said not yet because I knew she wanted me to fill out some forms. He looked so disappointed, but sat there quietly while I filled out the forms. I included him a bit to help him even though I knew his family history, but I could tell he wanted to be involved.

After turning them in we waited some more and the nurse comes out and calls my name. He leaped again and she said, just Allison for now. I think he wondered at that point if he even got to come in at all, but I felt soo bad for him. (remember he had asked me 2 or 3 times if they would do an ultrasound today, to each time I said I didn’t know) They had me give them a urine sample and since I had already had all the blood drawn I had no need to see another needle today! She weighed me and asked me a ton more family history questions. Then she gave me 5 boxes of different prenatal vitamins (each box has 5-6 doses in them, though I think I will just save the one with the stool softener since I have had the opposite problem lately) They said they would write me a perscription on the one I liked best when I come back in. Then we finally got to go get Bryan!

She brought us to a room and had me undress from the waist down and the doctor would be in. She took a while and Bryan was getting so impatient! When she came in she was nice and friendly and I found out that there was a major reason why my General Practitioner recommended this doctor - because she delivered her baby!!! I was so psyched to hear that since I really love my GP! She asked me a few history questions and symptom questions then told me I could ask any questions. So I got out my 3 page list (no word of lie here, 3 pages, though with room for me to write in between so it may have only been 2 pages without all the spaces)

She said I can eat peanuts since we have no allergies, I can have all the shellfish and lunch meat I want, soft cheeses - if they are pasteurised I can have them - well I found out there are some bleu cheeses that ARE!! (wishbone bluecheese dressing uses pasteurised cheese) she went over the fishes to avoid since I was confused from the books, though she did also mention to vary the source of the fish. I can eat sprouts. She hadn’t heard of any issues with herbal teas except for chamomile I should probably avoid since it can cause preterm contractions, but green tea, chai and peppermint tea all fine(needed to know specifically those since I love them soo much). After I’m 12weeks she said it is ok for the dentist to do full xrays if he feels he needs to, though after the one full set to minimise and do only when necessary. She wasn’t worried about my appetite being so small and said I could actually get away with gaining as little as 10lbs. I loved embarrassing Bryan on this one - asked about sex - she said at no point is sex not ok to have unless she says so! Oh and said not to question not getting curses when I mentioned I wasn’t getting up in the night to pee. Then came the pap (definitely glad she warned me that it causes spotting!)

We also talked about my cycles and said to schedule an ultrasound at the desk so they could determine exactly how far along I was - so I asked if I would be able to do that today since I could tell from the look on Bryan’s face he was very disappointed so far cause she wouldn’t listen for a heartbeat till our next appointment in 6 weeks. She said that she didn’t know, but the front desk would. So she left me to get dressed and we headed for the desk.

I told the woman that we needed to schedule an u/s and when she started to look up the schedule I asked if it would be possible to get one today - the girls from there were not around but looked like 1pm and 1:30 were open so asked for us to wait for a few minutes to see if the girl came back by 1, if not we would go get lunch and come back for 1:30. A few minutes pass and sure enough the girl was back and she could take us. Bryan was soo exited as he sat in the chair next to the other monitor. She did an external one and couldn’t really see anything so had me fully empty my bladder and when I came back did the internal wand was scared at first that she was going to put the whole thing in me, thank god she didn’t even come close, guess it is just so she doesn’t have to lean in! As soon as she got the baby in focus you could see the heartbeat, OMG I thought Bryan was going to fall out of his chair, he was soo amazed and looked at me soo happily. He was even more psyched when I asked if we could have a picture, she gave us 3!

On each of them, it is hard to tell but the head is pointing North East.