Gender Reveal

 I am doing the gender reveal tomorrow. So I wanted to look up some wives tales and see what those say.

1. During my first ultra sound I tried that Ramzi Method. Online it is said to be accurate but it is not better than chance when studied. But during 6-8 week ultra sound you look for what side the placenta is on the left of the baby it is supposed to be a girl and on the right it is a boy. Mine was GIRL.

2. I also tried to look during the last ultra sound for the "nub" which people can see during week 12-14. My scan was at 11 weeks and 4 days so a little early. It is supposed to be pretty accurate. What you do it look to see if the nub is pointed up towards the face (boy) or down away from the face (girl). I looked but I couldn't really see any nub. I thought maybe I saw something once, but it may have been the chord. That was pointed up for BOY.

So some wives tales:

3. A few weeks ago my sister went to a baby shower and they all did the ring gender predicting game. My sister's predicted one girl and then two boys. My sister only wants two kids the predictive powers of the ring might be lacking. She made me do the ring game, but guess what, the ring didn't move at all! I tried different rings, different chains and etc. I have an essential tremor so my hand isn't that steady. So my ideomotor movements should have predicted like 20 kids for my. But I had none. In the end it was moving very slightly but not really in an direction but I said it looks like a BOY.

4. The Mayan gender calendar/Chinese Calendar says if your age and the month of conception are both even or both odd then you will have a girl and if its the opposite you will have a boy. So for me it will be a GIRL.

5. Sweet or Spicy/Salty. I usually want spicy food but I have been averse to the idea. But other than that I think I am getting mix of wants. Some days I want fruits and ice cream other days I want pickles and pastas. However, pickles and pastas are more like my normal died whereas I don't usually have ice cream at the house. I have also wanted a lot of pancakes and that is unusual as well. So I would say I want sweets more than normal so I have a sweets cravings. Sweet is for GIRL.

6. Citrus craving? Yes GIRL

7. Thicker leg hair for boys. I have not noticed thicker leg hair. I have not needed to shave more often. So this one is GIRL.

8. The baby's heart rate at the last ultrasound was 167 and that is above 140 so that is supposed to mean GIRL.

9. More morning sickness is associate with girls and even though I had some times I got sick I didn't really feel nausea outside of those times and also if it had been a while since I ate. I also felt sick if I took my prenatal until I started taking it before bed. So I would say for me I didn't have morning sickness so that is BOY.

10. One tale says that a girl steals your beauty! I haven't noticed any breakouts or bad skin. I usually have good skin so it would be noticeable if I had a breakout. So that is BOY.

11. This also applies to hair. Fuller and shiny hair is for a boy. I haven't really noticed but my mom said it looked nice a few times even though I hadn't really done it. So I will count that as BOY.

 12. A change in body temp is supposed to be a predictor. If you are cold and icy it is a boy and if you are hot and sweaty you are having a girl. I am generally not a person that gets cold or hot when indoors. So I was surprised that my feet and legs got so cold in the beginning. But I did have a sluggish thyroid at my first blood pregnancy test. A symptom of a low thyroid is being cold. Even still I will say that means I am having a BOY.

13. Pregnancy dreams. Whatever you dream about the gender is supposed to be the opposite. I haven't had any dreams about the pregnancy, but while planning how to do the gender reveal I have had some day dreams that it would be a boy, so the opposite is GIRL.

14.-15. So it is a bit early for me to be showing and I have lost weight 4 lbs from when I weighted in during the 4th week when I started using my pregnancy app. I think I was probably bloated that day because my current weight is more like what is has been throughout the year. So I think it was just the hormones. Still I think my stomach is out/up now compared to earlier this year. So out BOY and up is for GIRL.

16. Darker nipples? No GIRL.

17. Which Breast is bigger? Left GIRL

18. If you look in a mirror for a minute and your eyes dilate then you are having a boy. I just did that and nothing happened. GIRL.

19. Is skin dry or soft. It is not dry even though it is winter and usually gets dry, but I don't really know what soft means. But since its not dry then it is a GIRL.

20. Headaches? I have headaches normally, but I think I have had a few more recently. I think it's because I have been sleepier and have had coffee aversions. I even had migraines at least three times. I will have migraines normally anyway, but I don't know how regular they are, but it can be a few in a shortish time. So I will say it is a little more than normal. BOY.

21. Sleep on left or right? I think I want to sleep on right more often but I read that left is better...though it isn't huge especially this early in pregnancy. So I do go back and forth from left to right, but I think I prefer the right. GIRL.

Final Count

Girl 13 - Boy 8

I'll update this post tomorrow with the reveal.

Pregnancy Week 13

 I know that is has been a few weeks since my last post. I have been very busy in my real life plus one of my main symptoms is being very tired. I think if I wasn't working from home/social distancing I would be exhausted as that happens when I have a to go outside of the house. So I am grateful for being able to be at home. 

My grandma has been doing chemo treatment for over a year now. She has a type of leukemia that is chronic and many people live with it for a long time, but when/if it develops to acute it can kill very quickly, a few months. So the treatment is to maintain the chronic leukemia not to get her in remission. She has been able to go from 5 days every three weeks to 4 days every three weeks and a smaller dose which is good because the chemo does make her feel poorly near the end of the week, but makes day-to-day better than how she felt prior to chemo. Well on the 9th she was doing her treatment but she felt very sick from it and she had to go to the hospital for a few days. After some tests the doctors didn't see anything that would cause her to feel bad except and she was already feeling better (but not as well as she was on the 8th) so they sent her home. My sister who is a PT decided to go down to Tucson to visit her and try to help her with the nausea and dizziness. I went with her to help her with Naomi while she helped.

It was the first time that year that we were able to visit. We all wore masks and I kept my distance too. I have been social distancing and working from home so I don't think I have been exposed but I did not want to get my Grandma sick. While there my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin's wife and second cousin once removed also came to visit us. They haven't seen Naomi since prior to the pandemic. So I was able to also work from my Grandma's house. It was so fun. Naomi had been taking a step or two prior to that but without realizing it, so this was the first time that she walked on purpose and she took 7 steps! It was so cool to see. She also loved seeing my cousin's daughter who is a year and a half older than her. She hasn't interacted with a lot of other babies/toddlers because of covid. 

My sister was able to help G'ma with some exercises but she didn't know why she was dizzy it wasn't from vertigo or a normal cause. G'ma had an appointment with a PT the next day which she was reluctant to go to because she thought the exercises would be too hard now that she was feeling bad, but my sister explained that the PT would do different exercises then the week before since she wasn't doing well. So at least Caitlin was able to convince her to go.

That night I was so tired that I went to bed before 9 pm. That is one instance why I know that I would be more exhausted if I wasn't working from home/social distancing.

At the end of week 7, I had another ultrasound. My OB wanted to do their own ultrasound for their own records. I like to see the baby so I didn't mind. They let me bring 1 guest and any children under 8. So I invited my Mom to go with me. The baby looked reptile like or baby bird like. But it was moving around and had more noticeable parts than the first. I could even see a tail! I got to hear the heart beat again! 161 BPM! So cool. They also said that the baby was measuring like the due date is May 29th (my birthday), but the day of my last missed period makes my due date May 31st. Since there isn't a big difference most OBs will go off the lmp. They were willing to go off the May 29th day, but I decided to go with May 31st. In expecting science website they said that 280 days is not the average number of days of gestation, nor is it the mode, nor is it the most common (mode). It is 280 because someone decided that Mary was pregnant with Jesus for 10 lunar months (28 days). The average day is a little complex because the increase use of scheduled c-sections (which usually happen in week 39), but taking out those or looking at averages from the 1990s first times mom's average 284 days and two or more mom's average 282. So you should really count 282 from lmp. So I would much rather have the later due date then the earlier, even if it's only two days. 

I decided to do a NT scan which would scan the back of the neck to look at the fluid and the bridge of the nose. These scans can tell you if their is an increase risk of chromosomal abnormalities. I was not too concerned because my only risk factor is my age and I have been reading that 37/38 is when the risk really increases. I still wanted to do it because it was another scan. It was scheduled for November 13th. So long.

Other then the exhaustion I have been feeling pretty well. I haven't felt to nauseous since changing my prenatal from lunch time to bed time. I did physically get sick 4-5 times but it was usually because I was eating something that I was averse too. Like I made a Sunday roast one week and I had left overs for a couple days. But by the third night my body was said no to more pork! I froze the rest of the pork but I was able to finish the veggies. I have notice that one of the time when I ate something that was a something I ate recently. Like I usually eat salad kits every lunch time, but if I have a salad kit more than twice I will feel nauseous or get sick even if the kit is a different flavor. I still want to eat salads but I try to do every other day/every few days. Of course I have no problem eating oatmeal or other cereals every morning, so go figure. 

Another symptom I have experienced was being thirsty. It is very frustrating because even when I'm drinking water I feel thirsty. I was extremely thirsty last week (week 12) my lips were very chapped too and I felt like I was getting a cold sore one night. So I got out of bed to put sunscreen on my lips which can help you not get a cold sore if you feel it coming! Then I went to fridge and drank a cup of water (but no more I know if you drink too much water at once you will just pee it out and not quench thirst), Well I think the sunscreen really helped me feel less thirsty too. So I started putting sunscreen on my lips once a day and that has helped. I don't know why this has helped, but I think since chapped lips are sometimes caused by being thirsty, moisturizing my lips with sunscreen had my brain thinking I was not as thirsty. I guess I should still wear sunscreen even if I'm at home all day since I don't usually moisturize with anything else.

Last week I had more breast tenderness than any other week. It wasn't like the muscles were sore more like the skin was raw/hurt. I notice my breast fill my bra better especially the left side which is typically the bigger side in women. I haven't needed to go up a cup size yet and I don't need to go on the farthest clip. 

I have also started to have some tenderness/soreness around my abs and also in my hips. It is like sore muscle pain but sometimes can be sharp. It hurts more if I change positions. I know this is more common in the second trimester so I think I will probably be a person that gets sore in third trimester.

Those are my main symptoms (urination too but that might be because of being thirsty). So I really like the scans since I don't feel pregnant. 

On the 24th, my cousin texted to say that he, his wife and daughter would be in town for the day (they needed to pick up something from his mil) so he wanted to meet up after Naomi and Ainsley's meeting at G'ma Lulus. So we met at my sister's and craved pumpkins. My cousin brought beer and a flavor that I normally love! So it was hard to refuse without giving it away. Plus I had a headache/migraine that day (is that a pregnancy symptom?) so I had to ask my sister for Tylenol and not aspirin/ibuprofen, My cousin's wife saw that so I thought it was suspicious but my sister said it didn't sound that way. 

Naomi and Ainsley had fun playing with Naomi's toys, Ainsley pushed Naomi around in a toy cart for a while before we started carving pumpkins. The kids were too little to carve pumpkins but the rest of us did it. 

The next weekend was Halloween, my brother had a party at his house. I wanted to go but I didn't want to be around a bunch of youths who could have covid all night. So I went over early to help set up and only his roommates and one early arrival was there. I dressed up kinda like Wednesday Adams. I stayed until my sister, Naomi and Dave came which was when more people were arriving and left when they left about an hour or so later. There were more people than I thought would be there at that time, but not as many as ended up being there. My brother had told all his roommates that I was pregnant and then kept telling people all night. I don't really care that his friends know, but if you want something to be a secret don't tell Tyler!

Both these weekends were other examples of how tired I can get from a few hours of stimulation. I have been doing a lot of other day to day things but nothing exciting enough to blog about, but I'm grateful that I am working from home because I think not commuting and interacting with a lot of people helps.

Around week 9 I wasn't feeling well enough to keep doing my yoga, but in week 12 I was able to do it two day. I did the week 9 and 10 yoga though because I don't want to skip. I will catch up to my current week soon and try to do every day again. My app said that around week 10-11 your hormones aren't as high because the placenta starts to take over so a lot of the first trimester symptoms go away, but it doesn't happen over night. Like I said the week that I was the most thirsty was week 12!  

So on week 11 I had my most recent ultrasound. The one that scans the back of the neck and nose. Everything looked really good. The fluid was perfect and I could even see the bridge of the nose. The scan was much more like a baby, there was no tail and a clear head/body as well as limbs tho the limbs were skinny and the head is still bigger than the body. The heart beat was 167 so the wives tale says that is a girl right? At first the baby was still but started moving around a lot probably because baby was being prodded with a ultrasound wand. 

After the PA (doctor?) asked gave me a few options for the blood test and I decided to get the NIPs test. I would give my blood and that would be sent to a lab then the baby's dna from the placenta are separated from my blood. Then they look for extra copies of 13, 18 and 21, as well as X and Y chromosomes. So I would also get to know the sex. During the blood draw I was told it would take 14 days, but guess what I got the results in 7 days. Maybe the labs aren't as busy with covid going on. So I will be doing a gender reveal on Thanksgiving with my family and a zoom call. My brother is going to livestream for facebook. I haven't told my Aunt, Uncle or cousins that I'm pregnant so this should be fun.

Pregnancy Week 6

 The last two weeks have been difficult. I haven't been able to take a pregnancy test, but I haven't felt too pregnant yet. I haven't seen any bleeding so that was good, but I think the progesterone might prevent or delay that since I always needed to stop using it to get my period in the previous attempts.

Last week was particularly difficult to wait for my ultrasound. I just tried to eat healthy, do my prenatal yoga and be ok with not knowing. Last Wednesday, I sat down to do my yoga at lunch time. I use the video from Harlow's Earth on youtube. I was just breathing in and out, with my hands on my heart and belly when I had to get up and rush to the bathroom. I yack my entire lunch and I think I even saw some of my breakfast at the end of it. 

I had only been feeling a light nausea before that and mainly caused by taking my prenatal. This time I had taken the prenatal about 30 minutes before and thought I was ok, but I guess I wasn't. I moved my prenatal to night time close to when I go to bed and so far I haven't been sick since. 

Even though it sucked to be sick I was kinda glad to see a symptom of pregnancy even if it didn't last for the rest of the week.

This week I have had more nausea feelings. I have to wake up and take my thyroid then I have to wait at least 30 minutes but it's better if it's an hour and so I will usually feel light nausea during that time, but I generally feel better once I have breakfast. I will also get nauseated around lunch time, but it's not super strong. I was feeling it today and I ate a peach to help after I let that rest for ten minutes or so I was able to eat the salad I had planned for lunch.

Generally I don't feel too bad in the afternoon or evening, but it does show up sometimes. I have heard that having protein should help, but I generally don't like to meat at all my meals and I'm not sure if I can handle an egg. I think I am doing well enough now that I don't need to force that but I will keep it in mind if it gets worse.

As for other symptoms I haven't had too many others, may be lower back pain, but since I'm working at home I think that could just be because I am sitting a lot of the day. I try to get up at least once an hour which a lot of times I need to go to the bathroom at least. 

I also think my areolas are a bit different, but I haven't had too much tenderness. I will sometimes feel sore or achy, but I don't feel like it is the same as some have described so I think it might still be coming.

I have noticed that I am a little stuffier in my nose in the morning. It might be allergies, but I read that the blood circulates more during pregnancy and cause swelling in the nose that leads to congestion. Because I am social distancing I am sure it is not a cold, plus it doesn't stick around all day. 

So probably the most exciting part of the two weeks is my ultrasound on Thursday the 8th. It was at 2:30 and I was a little nervous that they would yell psyche! Or something. But it wasn't like that at all. I went in Kristina Bauer is the nicest PA there (imo) and so I was happy that she was doing the ultrasound.

The ultrasound was transvaginal and first she looked at the uterus the fluid was measuring at 6 weeks 5 days and she showed me the yolk sac and the baby. I could even see the baby's heart beating. 

Then she said she was going to do the boring stuff before trying to get hear the heart beat. So she went over to look at the ovaries. She said that I ovulated from the right ovulate. After ovulation the follicle becomes a corpus luteum. The corpus luteum helps produce hormones to help pregnancy during the first trimester, the placenta will eventually take over. Kristina showed me how she could see the blood flowing around the ovary so that's how she knew which ovary ovulated. She said there might have even been two follicles on that side that erupted! There was a that maybe follicle remember? She checked the left ovary too and it didn't have the corpus luteum so the egg didn't come from that side. How cool it that to know. Also I read a study that the right side may favor pregnancy.

Then we went back to look at the baby she measured from crown to rump and said that the baby was measuring at 6 weeks 4 days and that baby had implanted in the "perfect spot." I am not sure if there really is a perfect spot but it was nice to know that it was at least in a good place. Then she was able to pinpoint the sonogram to listen to the heartbeat! It was so cool to hear. It didn't sound like a whoosh, whoosh like I imagined but more like a thump thump. She could only hold it in place for a little bit but she was able to get the heart beat twice. It was going 126 bpm. The PA said they were looking for over 100. But I have read that over 120 in the 6th week is even better. If you have a greater than 120 heart beat between 6 weeks 3 days and week 7 day 0 then the chance of miscarriage is 4.9%. If it is be 119-110 it is 19% and if it is 101-109 then it is a 43% chance. Below 100 is 100%  miscarriage rate. So you definitely want to be higher than 100, but over 120 is better. Since I didn't really have to worry about the dates being off with having an IUI, I am pretty confined that I was 6 weeks 4 days like she said based on my lmp it was 6 weeks and 3 days, but so either way it wasn't 6 weeks 2 days no matter what. But if you don't have an IUI your dates could be off and if you are under 6 weeks 2 days that a heart rate in the 100s is ok too.

So I was so happy to see that the baby was heartrate was so good. She printed out some photos. I will try to post a few but they are kinda boring right now. I then dressed and went out to sign the release form so that my file would be sent to my OB doctor. They told me to contact my OB and schedule an appointment. So I scheduled the appointment on Friday, and they were able to take me on this Saturday at 2:40 pm. 

On Saturday my appointment didn't include an ultrasound. It was just a breast exam and a vaginal exam. I also gave a sample of urine. I also am going in next Saturday for an ultrasound since my OB wants to do their on viability scan. I am sure it will be just as cool as last time. I'm allowed one guest so my mom is going to come.

This weekend I became a little obsessed with looking up the Ramzi method of determining gender. Online sources says that it is 97.5% accurate for girls and 97.2%  accurate for boys. If it was really that effective I am sure OB's would be using it.
But it is fun. 

So what is Ramzi method? During an early scan before 9 weeks what you do is look for the placenta. You can ask the tech where it is if you want to. If the placenta is to the right of the womb then you're having a boy and if it is on the left of the womb then you're having a girl. I didn't ask my tech, but I think the placenta is on the left. I will try to ask next week. The thing to remember is that if you are doing an adnominal scan then the image is mirrored so you have to reverse the sides in the pictures.

Baby Name List

 Previously I gave a list of 7 names that I like. Last month I started to get more serious about it. I will likely need pick one within the year. So I am being more serious about it.

I have always thought that I wouldn't pick a name until I meet a baby. I think a name has a lot of meaning and power. I don't think I can decide a name without ever seeing the baby. However, I can still eliminate names I don't like and compile of the remaining names. I think being able to review and look over the list during the pregnancy will help me decide when the time comes.

Filtering for Popularity

As you know my main requirement is that the name isn't too popular. My name is pretty unique and I never shared the name with someone in my class, grade or even school. It was only a few years ago that I shared the name with a co-worker. While I don't need a name that is that unique, I want to aim for a name that the baby won't share with classmates at least. 

So what I did was I went back to the social security website and looked up the top 1,000 names for girls and boys in for each year from 2010, 2012, 2014-2019. I put all of them names and the number of people who were given that name in excel. Then I had excel add the numbers together by year. There ended up being 1,251 girl names and 1,224 boy names in the top 1000 sometime in those years. 

Then, I sorted by top names. Liam for boys and Emma for girls. I decided to highlight the names in red if I didn't like them and orange if I was interested in them. I immediately made the first 100 names in girls and boys names red. While I wouldn't mind using a name with was number 90, but a name that is 90 in the last decade might shoot up to top 25 in the next decade. That is what happened to my sister, Caitlin. There are that many Caitlin's her age, but a it became pretty popular in the next decade or two. So I want to try to avoid that if I can. 

After that I went down the list and highlighted the cells orange or red depending on whether or not I liked it. There were a few names that were the same as the top 100 but with different spellings, so I looked out for that too.

When I went through all of the names I realized some of the names that I have been jotting down in the last few years weren't on the list so I added those to the bottom.

Middle Names = Family Names

You might know that I am a genealogist. I have a tree on Ancestry and it almost has 4,500 people on it. I also have the tree cross posted on a some other sites, but I don't updated them as much. I was lucky because my Grandma and her cousin did a lot of work on their side of the family and my Uncle had a lot of information on my Dad's side of the family. So it was easy to grow the tree after I entered their information. I always think it's so cute when parents name a child after grandparents (first or last names) or great grandparents (first or last names). Although it can be frustrating if the person's 10 other siblings also name their child after their parents. Luckily, people don't tend to reuse names in this day an age. 

I mainly want to use Melissa after my Mom and Bernard after my Dad and his Dad. Some names will not go with Melissa or Bernard so back up middle names that I have are, below:

Louisa - my grandmother's middle name which was her great grandmother's name. 

and

Walter - Grandma Mary Louisa's father's name 

These were the top two backup names, but if Walter and Louisa also didn't go with the first name then I used the names below:

Grace - Grandpa Bill's grandmother's name

Helen - my Aunt's name

Hazel- Grandma Mary Louisa's mother's name

Frances- Hazel's mother

Harriet- After meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, my 4th great grandparents named their daughter Harriet and she named her daughter Harriet as well.

William - my grandfather's name

Eli - Walter's middle name and his father's name

Arthur- William's grandfather's name

Leonard- Grandmother Rose's maiden name

Griffin- Frances's maiden name

If the name didn't go with my top two middle names I just looked at my family tree and tried to find a middle name that suited the first name. So there is no reason why I picked on over the other. I also used some relative names as first names as well. There was one middle name that was not a family name. It is paired with the first name of Louisa and I was having trouble finding a good name to go with that. Since Louisa is a family name I think it's ok to use a different name.

On telling my brother my idea for middle names he said he liked the name Louisa. So I might have to rethink using that as a middle name. I will have to determine if he would really use it or not before giving up on it.

Baby Name's List

After I narrowed down between names I would never use and possible names. I sorted by color I had 85 girl names and 66 boy names. So I took another look at it and sorted between names that I thought were okay and names that I might actually use. I changed the color to yellow if I thought I would actually use it. Then I ended with 35 girl names and 40 boy names. So I put in middle names for all of the yellow cells. 

I wanted to be able to share my list with people and get opinions from people. I have noticed with couples they can bounce ideas off of each other and that can help narrow down the names. Since I am doing this on my own, I wanted to get input from other people. I added the names to babynames.com. It allows for 100 names so I added orange names to the list to make it 50 girl names and 50 boy names. So you won't know which names I like more than other. Also, I don't know why the list is in the order that it is. I might also put a poll on the blog.

Week 4 or is it 5 of Pregnancy

 So after my appointment for a blood test my doctor called and said my hcg levels are 97.2. Normal levels at 14 days from conception is 3 - 426. Friday was 13 days from my IUI but fertilization can take place in a few hours or up to two days later. So it could be even less days from fertilization. So I am going back on Thursday the 24th for a second blood test to make sure the levels are going up.

On Sunday, week 3, day 6, I couldn't help myself and used a pregnancy strip again. I still have a bunch and I wanted to see if it was darker. Also I have been having some cramps that made me nervous, though I think it is just gas and constipation. So I took the test during the Cardinals game against Washington. I think at most it had been 3 hours since I went to the bathroom, but it was much darker than my test on Friday morning. Still not as dark as the control line, but it eased my mind.

On Monday, week 4, day 0, it was my Mom's birthday and my sister, brother and niece went over to celebrate. I was working from home and my sister only works on Tuesdays and Thursdays right now. So on Saturday, I bought a beer glass that said world's best grandpa and a wine glass that said world's best grandma. Which I brought over with my real gift for my Mom. Glasses

I arrived at 8 a.m. and started working. My mom was getting ready and my dad was at the gym. I was on me own until around 9ish when my mom and sister's option class started. My dad was babysitting Naomi.

So I continued working until around lunch time when my brother finally arrived with a big basket of goodies for my mom. I gave my mom her presents next. The real present was a tuft & needle pillow. I have one on my bed and my parents have the mattress. She liked the pillow, but can be picky so we'll see if she keeps it. Then I gave her the glasses. She opened the beer glass first and then the wine glass. She liked them both, but no one at the table figured out that I got them the gift to make an announcement.

My sister meanwhile gave Mom a necklace and an ornament for the car. She also got her a phone holder for the car but my brother got her that as well.

I meanwhile was trying to think of a good way to say I was pregnant since they didn't get it with the glasses. So as my sister was helping my mom put the necklace on. I pointed at the glasses and said, "I didn't get these just because of Naomi."

Immediately Caitlin and Mom looked up from what they were doing. Their eyes were so wide and their mouths were open in surprise. I have never seen someone's jaws drop in real life. I could tell that my dad didn't hear what I said, and my brother still didn't understand at that point.

After a few seconds Caitlin and my Mom alternating in saying, "What?" "Are you serious?" and me nodding along and finally my Mom said, "You're pregnant?!" 

It was only then that my brother and Dad figure out what was going on. 

Everyone was very happy to hear the news and excited. I know that it is a big change, especially since I am single, but they know I have been wanting this for a long time. Anyway after that I told them about the IUI and when I took the pregnancy test and etc.

I don't plan to tell anyone else until the normal time, around Thanksgiving, but I think it is ok to tell a core group earlier as long as you know that you might have to tell them about a miscarriage later. I know that they could read it on my blog, but I am pretty sure no one reads this blog.

On Monday night I added a pregnancy tracker to my phone and it says I am 4 weeks along, but my period app says I am 5 weeks. I guess the pregnancy app shows the completed week and the period app shows the current week. 

On Tuesday, I woke up with a kinda stuffy nose. That can be a symptom of pregnancy because the blood vessels in your nose get bigger. I have been social distancing and staying at home, so I probably don't have a cold. 

I actually took another pregnancy test, it's the last I swear, my sister asked for the others. It was as dark as the control line finally! It makes me feel better that it is progress. 

I was doing a little research, 75% of miscarriages happen in the first two weeks (which I already past). The third week of pregnancy since conception (or 5th from the last missed period) the risk of a loss is 21%, but since my levels are going up that is a good sign. After the 5th week, the risk is just 5%. I had a 25% chance of pregnancy this time, so I will feel much better once I get past this week. 

Since Wednesday, I woke up feeling less constipated and gassy, so I haven't had as many cramps which is nice since they are worrisome but that was my main symptom so now I don't feel pregnant. Sometimes when I lean over my breast will be tender but not every time. I have had some hints of nausea usually after taking the prenatal, but it usually goes away quickly and isn't strong so I still don't feel too different.

On Thursday, Week 4, day 4 I went to the doctors to retest my blood. I had an HCG of 1882. So much higher which is what they want to see. They also ran some other test and my thyroid was sluggish again. I know that is common in pregnancy and it can lead to miscarriage, but even if it doesn't result in a miscarriage there can be developmental delays. The growing embryo will take what it needs from the mother so the best case scenario is that the baby gets all the thyroid it needs but you will be deficient. I haven't noticed any symptoms like tiredness or weight gain, so hopefully it wasn't going on for too long. 

Since I am still going to the fertility center, they of course are looking our for risks of miscarriage like a low thyroid. Not every doctor will test for a low thyroid this happened to my sister, but she insisted they test her thyroid which was sluggish, so it was good that she advocated for herself.

I am not scheduled for an ultrasound in two weeks. I can't believe I have to wait another two weeks. It will be difficult to wait since I don't feel very pregnant yet. I might post an update next week if there is anything interesting to post, but I will probably wait and do an update in two weeks.

One other announcement, last Saturday my roommate told me that she is moving out. She is visiting her mom, but is going to come and get her stuff this Saturday. It will be nice to have the house to myself again, but I paid off a year's worth of my mortgage since she's been here. Plus it was nice having a friend around during quarantine. She is a child-free person so I figured she wouldn't stay around too long after I told her I was pregnant, she maybe suspected something is up because she noticed I haven't been drinking as much wine. She also saw my gonal-f shot in the fridge and she could easily google what that is used for. Also, she has been hinting at moving for a few months now. 

At least I can get her room and bathroom deep cleaned and ready for the nursery. I think I like themes like zoo animals/safari or space, but I'm not sure. I told my cousin to do penguin theme, but she choose woodland. However telling her to do penguin made me realize that you can just pick one animal like penguins or whales or even clouds or cactus to be the theme. So I might try to be simple like that too. 

I read that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends infants share a room, but not a bed with parents for at least six months, but ideally a year. Since I am single I don't see that as a problem. I have a big vanity in my room that I could move out and fit a crib. So maybe it is too early to plan a baby's room.

It's been two weeks and it's positive

 

First things first! My at home pregnancy test had two lines! The test line is about a quarter of the darkness of the control line but it is there. I can hardly believe it. 

The first day I tested was 8 days past ovulation (dpo) and it was negative. That was not surprising. I saw some videos on youtube where ladies said they got a positive on 8 days and I was sick of waiting. My ovulation kit had and still has a lot of pregnancy strips so I didn't feel guilty about testing so early.

On DPO 9 I did notice some "spotting" when I wiped. It was just a slightly rustier color than normal. It was lighter spotting than in August so I wasn't sure if it was true. Plus it was a few dpos later than last cycle so I wasn't sure.

After that I waited two days to test again. I know the earliest response it 5 days before missed period, so I thought there was a chance. After three minutes I looked and I didn't see a line. I have been working from my parents home on Tuesdays so I went over there. That evening with the bright lights from my bathroom I saw a super faint line. It was so faint I wasn't sure it was there. So I checked it probably 100 times! The next morning I took the test again when I woke up. But I laid down to wait and fell asleep for another hour. But sure enough there was a light line but it was darker than Tuesday but still very faint. I took a test in the morning again around 6 am. You are supposed to do the tests in the morning because the urine is more concentrated and the HCG hormone can build up enough to show up in your urine. Well, I have been peeing a lot more (I guess that is a symptom of pregnancy), generally I never wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but on Tuesday I went to bed at 10 but got up at 11:30 and at 3:30 to go the the bathroom. So I probably should have tested at 3:30am since that wsa the longest time holding between trips to the bathroom. So I thought that was why the line was faint.

During the day, I honestly thought I was seeing things and didn't believe what I was seeing. So I did some searching online and it said that the tests will say what time you should look at the tests (between 3-5 minutes for mine) and if you miss the time then a faint line could be an evaporation line. So it could be that or it could be light because I had gone to the bathroom in the middle of the night. So on Wednesday night I decided if got up in the morning to pee then I would test then instead. I did get up but this time it was at 2:30ish so it was basically right in the middle of the night. I took the test then and waited the appropriate 3 minutes and the test was positive. It was darker than the previous tests but still very light. I had barely got in 4 hours of holding it which the internet says that it at least needs to be that long. But I was more confident that it was there.

Thursday afternoon, I realized it had been 4 hours or even longer since I went to the bathroom. So I tested again once I had to go and this time the test was darker enough that I could take a picture of it and send it to my friend Kelsi. She confirmed that she saw it too! It was only after that that I felt like it was really real. I was so excited I even yelled woohoo! 

Yesterday evening my roommate Paloma, left to go visit her mom in Mexico for three weeks. She said to me, "Don't get pregnant." 

I said, "I won't." I thought, "I can't get pregnant if I already am."
Today was the day I was supposed to officially take the test and call into the clinic. Since I still have strips I took the test again in the morning, once again after having to get up in the middle of the night to pee. I called in around 6:30 am and left a message with the nurse's triage. I am going it at 10:30am for a blood test. So I will officially know. 

So the first week I had some side effects to the progesterone cream and maybe some left over to the trigger shot, so I won't count that. But in the last day or two I have noticed some soreness in my breasts. It doesn't hurt all the time but I don't usually get tender or sore breasts so I think it is because of pregnancy. The nipples are a bit painful as well. Another symptom is constipation/gas. I have even had some cramping because of the constipation. It makes me a little nervous but I took some metamucil last night to help. I have also been nauseas I feel less nauseas than that one day in August, but I do get little bouts of it. I know the real nausea starts around week 6 so it could get worse yet. My sister did have some morning sickness but it wasn't all day or too much or anything. In Expecting Better it says people who have mornings sickness are less likely to miscarry compared to people who have no morning sickness. So I won't mind having some. One symptom that might be more unusual is that I have been cold more often. I keep my house temp at 77 now that I have a roommate. For most people that would be pretty warm but it's generally comfortable to me, but my feet have been getting cold. I have needed to wear socks to bed or put a blanket on my lap while working. I haven't really seen that as a symptom of pregnancy but it is not a normal thing for me

IUI #3

 I you didn't read my San Diego trip post, I had an update at the end.

My cycle started Monday the 24. I noticed that it is different than my normal flow. I had more cramps than normal, but not as intense as when I was a teenager. Also, the blood was brownish-black, I have never had brown blood on the first day before and I have never had black blood. I read that this could be old blood and my cycle was 5 days longer than normal because of the progesterone. Another reason for black blood is a sign of a miscarriage. Because of the spotting in the middle of the two week and the nausea I think the latter might be the cause. I know in the previous IUI post I said I was going to assume it was just symptoms from the IUI and medication, but now I think they were early pregnancy symptoms. Even though it is a bummer that it didn't stick, I'm glad to know that the procedure worked. 

So this IUI, the plan is to do a "combo cycle" (as I have seen it called on other blogs). On day 3 of my cycle I went in for an ultrasound to check. They do this to make sure that there isn't any growths as the medications can cause this. I did have on fibroid, but that isn't concerning so I was good to go. 

On the 27th of August, I started taking femara, two tablets a day from day 4 to day 7. It doesn't matter when you take them, but you have to take them the same time every day. I took them at noon since I'm working from home. I usually fast in the morning so I wanted to make sure stopped fasting. That night when I was in bed I had a hot flash. At first I didn't know what it was but I was extremely hot, and I knew heat came from inside me the air was cool in the room. It didn't last very long, but I did notice it.

The femara is used to treat the lh/fsh imbalance. I have been researching lh/fsh imbalance since the diagnosis and I was getting frustrated because the results are always about PCOS. I don't have any other symptoms of PCOS like acne or hair growth, my cycles pretty regular though they are on the longer side. After researching a lot about PCOS I don't think I have it, but if there is a pre-PCOS perhaps that is what I have. PCOS has a 3:1 imbalance and I have a 2:1, my cycles are long, but I do get them regularly and my follicle count was in the normal range for my age, but on the higher side of normal. Also my sister has irregular cycles, so maybe it is in our genes. I know PCOS doesn't mean you can't get pregnant, it can be harder though since it might be hard to predict ovulation.

On day 6 of my cycle I also added in Gonal-F shots. That is right, I had to put three shots in my tummy on day 6, 8, 10. Gonal-F is also used for IVF but the dose for an IUI is much smaller. The goal is to get 2-4 follicles that grow during the cycle. Because of the gonal-f there is a risk of twins and triplets. The risk of triplets isn't too big, but some studies show that 25% of pregnancies are twins, on the low end the studies say 18%. I would prefer not to have twins, but I think I could handle twins if that happened. The rate of triplets isn't enough to make me worried.

On day 7, I had a really strong wave of nausea. I had taken the femara for that day about an hour before and I had to lay down for about 30 minutes. I really thought I was going to be sick, but after about 30 minutes it went away. I don't know if it was from the femara or the combo for femara and Gonal-F the day before. That was the last day of femara, and I didn't get nauseous after that. 

On the first after, the day after the second gonal-F shot, I was so sleepy that I started falling asleep on the couch at 8pm so at 9 I went to bed and stayed in bed until 6-6:30 the next day. I wasn't having trouble sleeping the other days, and didn't do anything too strenuous. So it might have been the medications. 

The next morning I had an ultrasound to count the follicles and see when to trigger my ovulation. I did the last gonal F shot before I left. The ultrasound was at 7:30am. My uterine lining was 9.5 mm which was good. On the right ovary I had an 18 mm follicle which is good, and a 10 mm follicle which the tech said is a "maybe." On the left ovary there was a 17 mm follicle also good, and a 10 mm which is also a maybe. So the IUI was scheduled for Saturday the 11th at 10:30 am. I would took the trigger shot on Thursday at 10:30 pm.

A 12 mm follicle could produce an egg and as you approach ovulation a follicle can gain 2 mm a day. So the two tens could have gotten to 12 mm prior to the trigger shot, maybe they could even get to 12 after to still be affected by the the trigger shot, however, the techs at the initial ultrasound said they would tell me if triplets were more likely. So, I don't think the tech was concerned about that happening. So the chance of twins is there with the two follicles, but not triplets. 

The chance of pregnancy with an IUI without gonal-f is about 25% after 2 cycles, well with gonal-f it is closer to 25%. So basically the extra follicle doubles my chances. 

Now two things have made me super hopeful that this is the cycle. I am skeptic so I try to not allow my emotion or "signs" cloud my judgment, but sometimes the "signs" are fun!

The first sign is that I plugged my IUI date in a due date calculator, the due date is my birthday! I feel like that is a sign, because it is a day that is unique to me, so it's like the cards are aligning to work.

The second sign was more strange and eerie. The fertility center has made accommodations because of covid-19. So when you arrive you text from your car to check in. Then wait until they send a message back saying you can come in. I had already sent the message and was playing a game on my phone. Then suddenly the name Petra came into my head. It felt very bizarre and out of no where. 

I know this sounds weird but last year when I did the first IUI, I felt like there was this little girl on the other side of the vial waiting to be born. During that time, I could swear her name was Naomi. I could really feel that she was really out there. I don't even believe in this stuff, and I haven't ever had names picked out. I always thought I would need to meet a baby before I could name them. When I decided to wait for the second IUI, I felt like I had killed this being. Well, my sister had her baby last November, she and her husband didn't have a name for the baby until they were leaving the hospital. It was Naomi!!! 

So that sudden thought of Petra felt the exact same way. It was just whispering to me. So I think it will work and I think she will be Petra. It feels so weird to me because I really think it is weird if people have a name picked out for a baby before they are born. Sure people have names in mind, but I think it's weird to know prior to meeting that baby, but I just had this feeling, and it was before I even went inside. Also even though I do like the name Petra I'm not sure I would have used it. I think I will still have to meet her/hold her to know for sure, but I just have this feeling.

So since the IUI on Saturday, I haven't had too many symptoms. I did have some cramps, but they weren't as painful that first day. I still have some tenderness today. I know that aren't symptoms until the fertilize egg implants. So I'm not stressing out too much. The spotting I had last cycle was on DPO 7, which I think was implantation bleeding. So on this coming Saturday I will be on the look out, but I am going to try to wait to test to the end of the two week wait so I will check in then.