6 Week Appointment

I had my first OB appointment this week. Well, kind of. My current OB/GYN recently dropped the OB services, so I'm being forced to leave my comfortable cocoon and start all over again with a new practice. Thankfully, the current place doesn't want to send patients out into the unknown before they confirm that the pregnancy is viable, so I had an appointment with one of their midwives - the one who delivered Charlie. It was a talking appointment, so there wasn't too much excitement going on. We did discuss the OCD issue and talked about how that could be managed without having to go back on medication in the third trimester like I did last time around. The first step in that direction was to schedule me for an ultrasound so that we can make sure there's actually something growing in there. That happens next Tuesday. I'll be 7 weeks exactly, so there should be a heartbeat but not much else. She said that if I waited until 8 weeks then we'd see something that more clearly represents a baby, but I think for my sanity the sooner the better. They gave me a short list of practices that they were referring out to, and I went down the list and visited websites and made some phone calls and found one who offered the MaterniT21 test. It's a relatively new test, but it's non-invasive and the research suggests that it's an effective screening text for the three big trisomy disorders. I think that having the test done will definitely help with the anxiety issues. Most of what cropped up toward the end were the whole "what if they missed something?!" thoughts. I originally went into trying for baby #2 intending to have the CVS test done, but after reading the risks and benefits Charlie talked me out of it. We'll revisit that if any of the screening tests come back questionable. I have my first appointment with the new practice at 10 weeks, and they'll order the test at that point. I still plan to have the NT Scan done, since that will also reveal any structural issues. The more information, the less anxious I'll be. Right? RIGHT?!?! After that's all over and done with, I can go public :)

Sucking Wind

This whole running during pregnancy thing is proving to be a lot more difficult that I thought it would be. When I run in the mornings while it's still dark, I really only feel safe sticking to my own, well-lit neighborhood. The sidewalk network is one continuous loop that totals 2.7 miles. I've been running that loop for what feels like forever. It's boring, but it's relatively safe, so I suck it up.

I live at the bottom of a hill. Not a super long hill, only about .4 miles. I measured it with my Garmin once. When you get to the top, there's a .1 mile flat section, then a long downhill broken up by a cul-de-sac, followed by a long uphill. About .6 miles. A little more up and down, another cul-de-sac, and then a steep downhill that you then have to run right back up. Like I said, I've been running this loop for a long time. And I mean RUNNING it. The hills have been great for increasing strength and endurance.

Now? I can barely make it up the first hill without stopping for a walk break. I'm whipped by the top. And the second, longer hill? Forget it. I've been throwing in the towel halfway up. I keep trying to make it "just one more house!" It's just not happening. I feel like a fish out of water. I never thought it would be this difficult to run 3 miles. I've also been running garmin-less, because I really have no desire to see how slow I'm going ;)

I hope things get better in the next few weeks.

A So Sad Food Aversion

Food aversions. Good times. Last time around it was eggs - the very smell of Charlie cooking eggs was enough to send me running to the bathroom. They were normal eggs, but they smelled soooooooo bad. I was kind of interested to see if I would have the same experience this time around. Well, I do - but with a food that's much closer to my heart. I don't know how I'm going to make it through.

I'm half Italian. Never mind the fact that I'm blond-haired and blue-eyed and have a very French sounding name - I'm mostly Italian. I eat a lot of Italian food - pastas, gnocchis, sauces, pancetta - and cheese. Oh god, the cheese! I love Asiago and Pecorino and I've been known to eat grated Parmigiano-Reggiano by the spoonful. But my favorite has always been Mozzarella. More specifically, GOOD Mozzarella, the kind that you can only find in NYC and Jersey. The kind that comes in a braid or a ball sitting in its own personal salt bath. Whole Foods has an acceptable alternative - they sell shooter marble-sized balls of mozz in the aforementioned brine. Charlie is a very Mediterranean preschooler and often takes a container of cheese along with a container of cherry tomatoes for lunch. He refers to it as "Ball Cheese," however many times the husband tries to get him to call it something else.

Anyway.

Last weekend I bought a container on our weekly shopping trip, as I always do. When we came home it was lunchtime, so I opened it up to snack on a few. It smelled so bad! I tried to get the husband to smell it, but he refused. I'm never sure if I can trust my sniffer, so I took a little bite and promptly spit it back out. I cursed WF for selling me rotten, nasty cheese. I mean really, the expiration date was still a week away! I marched back down there to return it a few days later. Came home, opened the container, and was met with the same horrible smell. Took a nibble - same horrible taste. Husband and son both say it smells and tastes just fine to them. AYFKM? Of all the things to have an aversion to, I get stuck with Mozzarella? Really? REALLY? And right before my trip to Jersey, too. *pouts*

Holy Bloat, Batman!

I forgot all about the early bloating. I swear, by the time I get home from work I look 4 months pregnant. I definitely won't be wearing my black dress anytime soon, at least not until the pregnancy is deemed healthy and we spread the news. I'm sure it would just cause speculation.


But really, how do I go from this:                              to this:

in a matter of weeks?

Part of me is really going to miss my sweet abs ;)

If I remember correctly, the initial bloat went away around 7 weeks into pregnancy. Of course, then it all came roaring back in the form of a baby, but at least by that point it was safe to tell people and I didn't have to worry about trying to hide the squishiness.

Keep on Running Till the World Ends

Back in the day when I was super active on a Health and Fitness message board, there was a poll about running playlists. Someone mentioned the Dancing Till the World Ends song by Britney Spears, but said that when they sang along in their head they would always sing "Running Till the World Ends" instead. I went and downloaded that song and found it to be incredibly catchy - bonus that it has a great beat for speedwork.

I have no plan to stop running (or kettlebell training, but that's a different post!) during pregnancy. In fact, my (potentially unreachable) goal is to stay in good enough shape that I'll be able to participate in some way in the 2013 15th Annual Flying Pig next May, when I'll be about 37 weeks along.

The general rule of thumb when it comes to exercise is to not start anything new. Luckily for me, I've been running regularly for a while now. In fact, I ran the day before I got my BFP and two days after. I also ran yesterday morning and will go out again tomorrow morning. Have to take advantage of this amazing fall weather while I can! I'm not running long right now, mostly due to the fact that it's really dark when I run before work and I'm wary of straying outside of my well-lit neighborhood. When I have my first OB appointment in a few weeks, I'll definitely ask what they think is the upper limit for mileage. It would be fun to run/walk a half marathon - I see pregnant women out on the courses all the time. Then there's the girl who "ran" the Chicago Marathon at 39 weeks - that's hardcore. I would LOVE to be in that good of shape at the end of this pregnancy.

To be honest, I'm more concerned with running while breastfeeding. Nursing boobs are no effing joke.


(source)

Why am I Here? And Not There?

One of the things that I regret most about my "real" blog is that I made it not-so-anonymous. At the beginning, the intent was to keep my widespread family members up-to-date on pregnancy happenings without having to spend hours and hours on the phone updating them one-by-one about appointments and how I'm feeling. I have a very big family and they like to talk. A lot. That was all fine and good, but then I realized that I actually LIKED blogging, and that I had a whole lot of stuff that I wanted to share with the world (whether or not anyone really cared to hear about it is another issue, altogether). But it was too late, and so I continue on my not-really-anonymous blog. In all reality, most of my family members have forgotten that it exists, and I'm 100% ok with that. However, in the off chance that they happen to pop in (as they have been known to do), I'm starting this temporary blog over here so that I can talk about the latest excitement going on in my life - I'm pregnant! Again!


Well will you look at that...




Being the paranoid, anxiety-ridden, OCD mess that I am, I'm not interested in announcing my knocked-up-ed-ness to the whole world at this point. I love my family dearly, but I'm too paranoid and worried about all of the what-ifs to want to spread the news far and wide just yet. So this is where I will leave my thoughts, all of the things that I wish I had written down when I was pregnant with my first but didn't, because I didn't want anyone to know. And when (if) I pass that magical time known as the first trimester and the screening tests show that all is (likely) well, then this blog will come to an end, and I will move everything back over where it belongs, on my real Blog Home. So join me, now, and then follow me back, later.