[JulesMarion]

Welcome all!

I check back here frequently, but I don't want to post all the time and be obnoxious. I'm filled with fear a lot, which I know is unhealthy because it stresses me out. I just have had spotting a few times in the past two weeks, and even though the last US said everything looks good, I worry. I have another appointment tomorrow (w/ nurse) and then Tuesday (to actually see the doc) and hopefully that will help put my mind at ease. I know I just need to have faith, I just freak every time I cramp or don't feel good. *sigh*

I'm almost to 13 weeks, and my nausea has pretty much gone away, but I've started to get dizzy and feel faint in the place of that. I'm trying to drink enough water, but they told me to drink at least 100 oz. a day. I feel like I breathe water now. :P

[Ishbel]

Are you a FTM Jules? I am, I have been told that fear is now part of our makeup. It will never EVER go away being a mom. Which makes sense but not something I was really prepared to 'feel'. You're past the first trimester! Cramping will still happen even in the second (at least it does for me) but so far so good on the spotting. Now I worry that I'm gaining too much or not enough or not eating enough carbs (I try to keep a handle on the carbs). THEN I remember that I'm fine and my mom didn't have as much access to the "what to do" and went with her gut when she was pregnant with me.

It's hard to relax.

You might be dizzy if you are drinking a lot of water and not getting enough salt and electrolyes...just a thought. I probably get in 3.5 litres if not more a day of water. I did that before I was pregnant though so it's just something I do.

[JulesMarion]

What's FTM? I'm still new and I drank some Gatorade and felt much better. Had a headache yesterday and today but took a nice nap and now I'm good.

[Ishbel]

FTM is first time mom. Glad the gatorade made you feel better.

My mom bought me a fitbit for Christmas and the little thing is addicting! It's making me move for sure. I'm using Leslie Sansome's walk at home videos. I also signed up for a prenatal yoga class.

What's everyone else using?

[gretel]

I'm still here. I have my first appointment on Friday and the wait is super frustrating. I'll be 8 weeks tomorrow and with my daughter, I already had an appointment and an ultrasound by now.

I haven't done well with eating the last couple of weeks. The only cure for my nausea is eating so I either feel nauseous or ravenous. I'm making a better effort of filling up on veggies and fruits rather than the simple carbs of bread and crackers. I only have a few aversions so I can eat mostly everything I ate before I was pregnant. I crave sweets but I feel so gross after eating them.

[JulesMarion]

I am a first time mom - I'm still getting used to the acronyms, sorry!

I haven't done much exercising but I really want to start swimming. I need to talk to my doctor tomorrow about what kind of exercise is okay for twins, and since I've had bleeding/spotting issues for the past few weeks, the nurse told me to hold off til I see the doctor.

I'm 13 weeks now, and the nausea has gone away for the most part (unless I'm hungry, then I start to feel sick). I've just started feeling kind of sad since it's so dark up here. It's normal this time of year for people to get that way, but this year its been a little harder to stay positive. (The sun is just now rising and it's 11:15)

gretel, I understand the frustration. Not sure where you are geographically, but here they won't see you until 8-10 weeks. Tomorrow is technically my first appointment, and the only reason I've been to any other doctor is because of emergency/bleeding. Luckily everything is okay so far - just enjoy your appointment and make sure you get some good pictures! The second US I had, the OB gave me a picture where I couldn't even tell there were babies in there... he handed it to me like "for you!" and I was thinking I'm pretty sure he was just getting rid of the one picture that didn't have any value to them as doctors... haha.

[gretel]

JulesMarion - there is no normal first appointment time around here. My old practice would see you ASAP for a confirmation pee test and general education. They would prescribe the ultrasound for any time after 6 weeks I believe. The new practice says they don't see you until after 7-8 weeks, but they saw me for a miscarriage at 5 weeks. They have the u/s equipment in the office which is probably why they schedule it the way they do. I saw my daughter at 7w1d. I'm just impatient because I'm having a really hard time focusing on anything else right now.

Oh and where in Alaska do you live? I did a cruise tour in 2009 so I saw a few towns and cities along the way. I'd really love to go back for a chance to see the northern lights

Ishbel - until I'm told otherwise, I'm still doing what I was doing before. I have been doing a lot of Jillian Michael's videos. I was doing a "Firm" video this weekend, but I overheated and felt terrible afterwards. I feel better this time around so I'm really trying to stay as active as possible. But, I fell asleep on the couch around 6:30 last night, so I didn't get anything in. Bare minimum is the 10 minutes I spend taking the dog for a walk in the morning.

[JulesMarion]

gretel, I'm from the Fairbanks/North Pole area. Did you guys stop there? It's central AK, so I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't go to the middle of AK. Northern lights here are beautiful, but the stinky part is that you can only see them in the winter, when it's dark! (AND COLD!)

Just had my 13 week appointment, and both babies are wiggling around like crazy. One of them (Baby A) would hardly stay still for long enough for the doctor to get the heart rate! They were 152 and 157, so good and strong. We opted out of genetic testing, since it won't really change anything, and our insurance doesn't cover it. I figure they've made it this far, and I need to have faith. Still nerve wracking, though.

[gretel]

JulesMarion - We started off in Fairbanks... I think we were there for 4 days. My coworker went to school there so he kept telling me about Otto the grizzly bear. And we had amazing Thai food there - who knew? My only beef with Alaska is that we were on land for 10 days and didn't see Mt. McKinley...until the day we left Anchorage. All of a sudden, you could see the whole Alaskan Range. Oh well, between that and the lights, I guess I have to go back! That's so neat about the wiggly twins. My daughter barely moved for any of her u/s's. She was always sleeping. Ahh, only 3 more days until I get a peak.


I'm having a bit of a rough day. It's super cold in NJ, in the tens with wind chills below zero. I can handle it just fine, but our furnace went out last night. Luckily we have some space heaters, so the bedrooms were warm. But the main part of the house was already 50 by morning. It's not supposed to get above freezing for a couple more days. And since it is so cold, everyone is having problems. So I'm not sure how quickly we can get someone in to fix it. All I know is that once the gas line is installed to my street, it's time to replace the furnace and switch from oil to gas. Sadly, this is a common occurrence.

[JulesMarion]

Oh neat! Yeah, it can be finicky when you can actually see anything here. I'm
Sure next time you will! Just be very careful with space heaters, make sure you have a carbon monoxide alarm installed. We've had quite a few deaths this year because of that. That stinks about the cold - I was telling my husband that I feel bad because other parts of the US arent prepared for these kind of temperatures. Just make sure your pipes don't freeze! I'm sure space heaters are all but sold out there. We have a Woodstove that heats our home 95% of the time, and to keep extra heat in we sealed off all the windows with plastic lining, and I know some people even use the hard blocks of foam insulation to keep out drafts. Not sure how your house is laid out, but some of those measures ensure our house stays warm in subzero temps. This year we had a power outage that kept multiple thousands of people without any source of heat/electricity for almost a week with -20 F temps, and many people had to buy generators. I'll be praying for you guys, boilers are not fun to deal with especially when you need them... Which is usually when they'd break down!

Good luck with your appointment! It's been such a relief each time to see them. I didn't know that pregnancy would make me into 20X the worrier I already am!

[Ishbel]

Hey Hey Everyone,

I'm past the 20 weeks and got to see the little nugget yesterday, if all goes well maybe the last time until she/he is out?? Nugget was measuring small but still within normal range. I had a bad day yesterday, just really tired in bed at 830 on Tuesday and then 730 last night. Feeling quasi normal today so hopefully it was just baby growing? I was a little worried I was fighting the nasty flu going around our region. The walk from my bed to the bathroom was a marathon.

gretal I was told to stop running due to spotting and then it stopped and then started again so I was told to stop walking. I ended up getting a nasty NASTY sinus infection that needed two rounds of antibodics right after my first trimester (when I could have started exercising again) so I was off any movement for almsot 6-7 weeks. Enjoying my videos and moving again.

Jules Hubby would like to go to Alaska too, apparently there is a disney cruise that goes up there. He's a HUGE HUGE Star Wars fan and now that Star Wars is in disney I think it's only a matter of time that either Star Wars will be part of the cruise or they will have sole Star War cruises. I expect I'll be on one of them to Alaska one day. I'm from northern Saskatchewan so I've been lucky to see the northern lights in my life time, down where I am now they are few and far between. We opted out of genetic testing too but mostly because of the anxiety it would cause in me which isn't good for me or the baby. The ultra sound tech looked VERY hard for any soft markers (both times), thankfully he's a doc so he could share "it all looks good" or "there is nothing I see that would concern me". There are different measurements and markers in the 20 week ultra sound I learned yesterday and he looked for all of them because we mentioned it again.

Hope everyone has a good day!

[gretel]

JulesMarion - we got the furnace to fire again Wednesday night, so it was only cold in the house for one day. And it's now up to 50+ degrees with lots and lots of rain today. What a difference from the -2 and -20 windchills.

Ishbel - saw the doc yesterday and he told me to do whatever I'm already doing, just no scuba diving or extreme ski jumping. I'm really happy the days I can find the time and energy to do something. Yesterday, I walked and today I did another JM workout.


I'm feeling pretty upbeat today. Had a great visit with the doctor yesterday and saw our little baby bean. I'm measuring right on target and we saw the heartbeat too, but I didn't catch how fast it was. I don't go back for almost a month, but it will be another ultrasound again, so I am excited. I do need to get blood work done and try to get a copy of my post-op report from the last practice. I think we are going to wait until the next appointment to share the news because I'll be 12 weeks then. I was also pretty shocked to see 187 on the scale there since I just measured 179 at home (clothed vs naked, beginning of the day vs end of the day). The first trimester bloat is insane.

[JulesMarion]

Yay for doc visits! I felt silly today for calling the after hours number for my doctor to ask a question, but she told me they have the number so we don't look at google... Which that helps. I just hate bothering people on the weekends but I worry. (And I don't call unless I'm concerned about something that is otherwise not apparent in any book I have).

Looks like we traded weather, gretel, now it's -33 F here, but that's normal for here. Glad our house is warm! I'm hunkering down for a nap now since I may have overdone it today. I may be in the second trimester but it doesn't mean I'm not pooped! I wouldn't be concerned about the weight difference, just weigh yourself tomorrow morning and you'll probably find that the scales are off. I know I regularly weigh about 4 pounds heavier at the doc with my clothes on (shoes off). And bloating happens... That should be the motto for pregnancy...

[Mickeypnd]

Hello ladies! I'm a FTM and let me tell you, this pregnancy has not been easy! lol
I'll be 14 weeks tomorrow and I'm still suffering with morning sickness. I pray I'm not going to be sick my entire pregnancy but I feel like I'll never be over this sickness.
I'm tired all the time (my second wind has not kicked in lol) and so very bloated. I also can't eat as much so I find myself eating small meals throughout the day. Hopefully it'll get better.

[JulesMarion]

Mickeypnd, I have a few friends who have had lots of luck with Zofran, have you talked to your doc about that?