14 weeks - 2nd Dr.'s Appointment!

I am so thrilled! We had our 2nd Dr. appointment earlier this week for Baby Trims. This whole pregnancy thing has been too surreal for me. Many times during the past 6 weeks I have totally doubted that I am pregnant and then I have to remind myself of that little peanut ultrasound at 8 weeks, the fact that I haven't had my period in months and that my swollen boobs and the food aversions I suffer from really do mean something! LOL. Too funny. I think maybe my crazy brain has a habit of preparing for the worst....sort of like a survival instinct. Obviously I've still been on good pregnancy behavior, but still there has been that little doubt in my mind. Also, the fact that I haven't really gained weight....and the belly comes and goes....so I think all that added to my doubt. Seriously, I think my belly is smaller now than it was on the 13 week photo. Maybe I was bloated or had too much to eat that day? Or maybe the baby just moves around a lot? Some days I have trouble buttoning my pants and other days they fit just fine! Can you see why this has been so puzzling!?

Anyway....regardless of all that second guessing....we had our 2nd Dr's appointment and we got to hear the amazing whoosh-whoosh sound of our baby's heartbeat!! So there really is a tiny little being growing in my belly. It was awesome to hear that sound. Sean is trying to figure out where we can buy one of those Doppler’s so we can enjoy listening to the baby whenever we want! Can you imagine!? Like we are Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Hey they aren't using that ultrasound machine that they bought right now......

The rest of the Dr. visit was pretty uneventful. They took my blood pressure (good), and weight (I've finally gained almost 2 lbs!), and asked if we had any questions. My dentist mentioned that I should take Fluoride since we don't have Fluoride in our water here and the Dr. said that would be ok. So she gave me a prescription for that. I also got the flu shot. I figure with all the sick people on the MAX (light rail) that I take to and from work, that it's probably best to take all the precautions. And that was basically it. They did set me up for my next few appointments and my ULTRASOUND! Basically, you only get 2 ultrasounds through Kaiser. One at the 8 week mark, which I already had, and one at the 18-20 week mark. We are opting to do the ultrasound at 18 weeks so that we can find out before the holidays if we are having a boy or a girl. SOOO exciting!! Our Ultrasound is scheduled for November 23rd, a few days before Thanksgiving! Then I have follow-up Dr.'s appointments on November 30th and December 21st.

I still haven't told my work yet. I mean I am not really showing, just sometimes look like I had a big burrito for lunch. =) But now that we've had this 2nd appointment and the Dr. said that with a healthy heartbeat and being past 12 weeks, we have a very LOW risk of miscarriage at this point...so, I plan to break the news to my supervisor on Friday. I figure that's always good, because there aren’t' that many people in the office on Friday's and this way he'll have time to reflect on it over the weekend. Next week I will break it to the rest of the office. It'll be nice to not be so secretive about it from now on.

In preparation for breaking the news to my work, I've been talking to a lot of different people (recent parents) about taking time off work, how to approach coming back to work etc. I've also started to look at and tour daycare centers surrounding my office so that I can continue nursing once I do go back to work. There are a lot of centers in the downtown area that take infants 6 weeks and up. I plan to take off 3 months minimum. Maybe a few weeks longer if I can afford to and if my work agrees. So the baby will be about 3 months old when enrolled in daycare. I think I can probably take 3 months off PAID, which will be extremely helpful. I was then thinking that I could possibly spread out my unpaid leave (Family Medical Leave Act) - intermittently (12 weeks that I can use at some point during the 12 months after the baby is born)....so maybe just take an unpaid day off every pay period or every week. I mean if we can afford it, then that would be REALLY nice! I am also hoping that when I do come back that I can work either 1 or 2 days a week from home and so if that is the case, the I would need a sitter during working hours, but at least I would be at home! And then we would only need daycare about 3 days a week. Many of the centers in downtown offer part-time options. So these are things that I am trying to put together as options. So many things to think about!

Also on our agenda soon is a trip to Babies R Us. I think we will try to head over there this weekend or next weekend. I would like to start registering for some things that are gender neutral, like strollers, car seats etc. If you have any suggestions or reviews, let me know! I am totally naive and have no clue about these things. My sister-in-law Melinda told me that Babies R Us has some classes to register for and you can test out the strollers etc., so that is part of why we are heading there. I am sort of anti that place because I feel like you can get baby stuff anywhere, it doesn't have to be at Babies R Us, but.... I guess it's worth a shot anyway. I like the idea of being able to test things out, pick them up and really "feel" them.

Also in the news this week: I've nicknamed the baby "Bean" since beans are the wonderful fruit. =) Ha ha. Seemed really appropriate to me! Sean doesn't like that nickname though, so we are still looking for something suitable. My girlfriend Anita said she called her first baby "the passenger", which I think is pretty cute too.