Mindi - So glad it was good news from the doctor!!!!! <3 <3 <3

Sakai - Just curious... how come you have a 'cap' of 15 lbs weight gain? Cardio is good, just remember to listen to your body! My friend said something funny about eating healthy. "You can start eating right at any time. Even in the middle of a bag of potato chips! The first step is to take your hand out of the bag." Eating healthy is easier than we think!

Amanda - What is it about the people we love having expensive tastes? ;-) What colors are you thinking about for the baby's room?

racrane - I want to smack my friends who complain about anything... "I've been under the weather the past two days" "Yeah, well I'm under the prengant for the next seven months! Get over it!" I try really hard to be nice, but some days it's extremely difficult. I think we are the same # of weeks along, or very close My estimate has been between 8 and 11 weeks.

Today was an interesting birthday... I had my interview (mediorcre at best! ugh ). Then DH and I toured the birthing facility... it is GORGEOUS and I'm frustrated that it isn't covered because I'm in another state, we will keep looking in this state. Or, save like crazy and pay out of pocket. THEN DH took me out to lunch! I really wanted pizza (I'm sensing a theme, I think pizza is my go-to pregnancy food) but the place I wanted to go was closed down! So we went to a chinese buffet instead. I noticed that, in the past when I have gone to buffets, I can down 3-4 plates without batting an eye... Now, I can barely get through 2. It's not a bad thing in the least! I just wonder if cleaning up my bad eating habits has helped me not eat as much, or if it's the baby.

Mindi- Happy to hear it you got great news and 100% confirmation of girl!!! Maybe you guys can do some more shopping now if hubby will participate.

Racrane- Have you had an ultrasound yet? If you know baby's healthy and on track, there's much less of a chance to miscarry(though it could always happen.) If you haven't had any warning signs, I wouldn't worry much. Everyone i know who has a pregnancy pillow says it helps them sleep wonders. I however have a sectional with ten oversized pillows. I've put half the pillows on my bed and never slept better in my life! It cushions me in every which way I sleep. DF works overnights so I don't have to share my bed either. And the exhaustion should eventually get better. I remember both times it was horrid but it does get a little better.

Bianca- Happy Birthday! Two months is such a long time to wait for an ultrasound. Do you not get a first trimester one to estimate a due date?

Sakai- I understand the eating habits. I try to eat healthy but fruits and veggies and salad and stuff just make me sick =/ Did your doctor set a 15 pound gain limit or did you?

Speaking of all the decorating, glad I have cheap taste- anything black makes me happy! LOL I did end up getting an espresso nursery set but only because it was almost two hundred cheaper than buying the three pieces seperately in black. I wish I could paint the walls!

Gale- No fun you don't get to decorate for this little boy. Maybe you can find some ways to tweak the room! How odl are your other boys?

Manda- I don't know her style but we got our glider from shopko. It's a 360 swivel(both chair and ottoman). We got ours on black friday for cheap but they're usually on sale for about $140-$170 even though they normally cost around 300 around here. Maybe you could check into that!

Mindi - glad to hear your baby girl is safe and sound!

Welcome Bianca

Everyone else is very busy!

Just had my son's 4th birthday party tonight Can not believe he is going to be 4 on Sunday!!!!! The other night I was putting him to bed and he asked me where the baby was again and when I pointed to my bump he gave it a kiss and said "I just kissed baby"

I had an ultrasound at six weeks. She said she noticed there was a healthy heartbeat going on and everything seemed normal. So I know the risk is lower, I just worry. That's kinda normal for me. My boyfriend says I should relax because our baby will be born stressed like me.

Happy Birthday Bianca!

Keller, I actually asked the doctor about getting the ultrasound but she said I should wait. I don't really understand why. I don't think I was clear with the staff when I scheduled my appointment because they gave me another urine test to see if I was pregnant (I did that about 3 weeks prior to my appointment)! When the doctor came in and said "You're pregnant!" I just looked at her and said, "I know. I thought we were doing an ultrasound?" then she said we'd wait until my next visit. I guess because I had the pregnancy confirmed at another place and I wasn't clear with the staff as to the nature of my visit when I went to their facility, they assumed I was getting tested for the pregnancy? I dunno. They used the little circular chart and my last missed period to estimate my pregnancy. I got frustrated because I have irregular periods in the first place, and I don't have bleeding with my period but I have everything else, so it was difficult enough for me to estimate when my last period was!

I've been reading up on KY laws/regulations surrounding births, and I have to say that we are having only this child in KY, if we have it in KY at all. There are no CNMs (which means no water births) only Direct Entry Midwives--and none in the city I live it, which is one of the larger cities in the state!!!!! Homebirth is practically illegal here, but if I want to get the birth that I envisioned, that's pretty much what I'd have to do. I doubt highly I'd be a "candidate" for safe homebirth because of my weight, my Rh status (I'm Rh positive), and my family history for diabetes. All of these things separately knock me out of being classified as healthy (much less all together), so a midwife would probably recommend I go to a hospital anyway. I just don't want to shell out $3k to have this baby the way I want as opposed to paying zero dollars to stay in-state and get a generic hospital birth.

*sigh* Sorry for the long rant. I want to punch my roommate for being inconsiderate over the past few days, but I don't think he fully understands the things that he's doing are wrong or inconsiderate or rude. He's a teenager trapped in an adult's body, and short of chucking him off a bridge, I don't know what to do with him. I had to sit him down multiple times to tell him to keep his noise level down (he plays loud, terrible music at night... I guess to help him sleep but this is why we have headphones! in the mornings he gets up and loudly plays video games or loudly watches--and comments and laughs at--the television) and to tell him to stop telling people that I am pregnant. He told his boss (also DH's boss) that I am having a baby. DEFINITELY not his place!!!!!!! He also believes that because I have a car and he doesn't that just because I am driving somewhere that I will "drop him off" wherever he's going (or somewhere near where I am stopping) and not have to pay me gas money. He makes more than DH and I and yet he's too cheap to give me $5 for taxi-ing him around.

EDIT: Thanks for the birthday wishes all. I was just focused on frustration!

Mindi, in an effort for us to continue our pregnancy twinship, I started bleeding/spotting tonight. Of course, since my midwife office was closed and it was 9pm, she had me to go the ER. Everything was fine, and they're not sure what caused mine either, but it had stopped by the time I got there. But man, I was in a PANIC for a while there. In the ER waiting room, my blood pressure was 157/85 (normally I'm 112/65 or thereabouts). Which of course meant they had to do a whole pre-eclampsia workup. Of course, by the time they had me listen to his heartbeat and had checked to make sure my cervix was fine, my blood pressure was back down to normal. I was worried! I AM having Braxton Hicks already, though (which was confirmed on the monitors). They're short and I can barely feel them, but it's a little early to be aware of them!

He sounds great, though, and everything is fine, cervix is closed, so yes, I'm saying that this was just the universe making me and Mindi twins, again (and our boy has loooong legs, too!! Seriously, are we secretly related?)

We do appear connected this pregnancy, Amanda...how weird!! My BP was 120/64 yesterday...it normally runs 106/54. So "normal" was "high" for me. The baby's heartbeat was pretty fast too when the doc heard it with the doppler in his office, so I tried to calm down. I'm not having any BH contractions that I can feel...but in spite of what DH thinks I do have a higher tolerance for pain and discomfort so I may just be ignoring them.

I kinda think maybe I overdid it on the elliptical yesterday morning. I was feeling good so I picked up an extra five minutes...and pushed a little too much as well. I really love the new elliptical and can't wait to really see what I can do on it! But I guess I'll have to.

I was just thrilled to hear that my cervix is fine so far. I was really worried about that!

On the legs, I need to look it up. Should the baby be proportional at this point, or will all babies' legs be long around 24 weeks-ish? Hmmm....

Amanda & Mindi - So glad everything was A-okay! I know it has to be a relief to get confirmation that your babies are healthy.

I'm so twitchy, just three more days until I find out the gender. I'm so excited. My Mom really wants a girl, my husband's family wants a boy... I just want a baby It's certainly starting to sink in that it's all real.

Keller - My oldest turned 3 at the end of November and my second one is almost 17 months old. This one will be our third boy in 3 1/2 years. Life is definitely not boring around our house!

I'm kind of curious. I'll be ten weeks in a couple days and I really don't feel "pregnant." Yeah, I'm queasy but that's been about it. For all of you, when did it hit you that you really were pregnant? Because asides from no periods in two months, it just doesn't feel real to me yet. Anyway, I was just curious.

Oh, and I'm quite the emotional type today. I live in the dorm hall at college and saw a little black cat wandering around outside in the freezing cold. (I live in Wisconsin.) I started sobbing hysterically to my friend about all the poor animals out in the cold. She just started laughing at me.

Racrane - honestly, it was when he started kicking regularly. The little flutters did it a little bit, but it was the big kicks that really convinced me.

We got so much done this weekend! Nursery is emptied of all of the old office stuff, we picked out paint colors, and we set up my office and treadmill in the other room. Plus we took care of some other maintenance stuff, stocked the house with groceries and farmer's market goodies, and took 2 truckloads of random stuff to Goodwill and the dump.

I think we found a glider we like at Target, so that's good! Crib/changing table combo gets here tomorrow, and I just know that with our OCD, we're going to insist on assembling tomorrow night. The mattress is already here - we splurged a little and got an organic one. The way I see it, there is almost no surface his head will be close to so many hours as his mattress.

Same here, Racrane...when I started feeling movement. Really it was at the sonogram I had before the one on Friday. I saw the baby's little mouth opening and closing, and the little hand up by her face, probably grabbing her ear, and it was opening and closing. It really hit me right then that I was having a BABY...not some science experiment. Took me a long time and I felt horrible forever that I wasn't feeling connected to the baby.

We are still totally unprepared. Took me all weekend to find a few books DH and I want to read. HAVE to start shopping. We plan to do that this next weekend. I really want to look at this little "gently used" second-hand baby shop on Saturday before we buy anything new.

Biancasimone- My Dr. recomended that I not gain more than 15 pounds if I could help it because I'm at risk for Diabetes during the pregnancy. I've already gained 17 so I'm trying to work that number back down.

MindiV- Yay for girls! glad it was all good news.

Racrane- I didn't feel pregnant until around 16 or 17 weeks. I really feel pregnant now, but only because my stomach feels so distended(sp??)like I'm forcefull sticking my gut out. And I have to squat to pick something up, which is reall new to me.

I'm 21 weeks as of yesterday....and I still haven't felt the baby move. it's kinda bumming me out.

Sakai: I'm sorry you haven't felt the baby move yet. I hope it's soon for you!

I'm at that point where I'm just dying to tell some people, if nothing else to get their support. But I'd rather pass the 12 week mark first. I also can't wait until I'm further along to feel the baby kick, like Mandalinn and Mindi said. I'm definitely getting more excited now.

We told close friends and family before 12 weeks, but the news got out at large at 12 weeks. Just felt better keeping it as private as possible until then.