9 weeks 2 days

Tardy again?! But of course! I was actually finding reasons tonight that I should procrastinate writing this now, but then I heard Paul's voicemail that he won't be home for another three hours, and suddenly my reasons started disintegrating. So...

How Far Along: 9 weeks 2 days (baby is the size of a grape)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Holding steady at 4 lbs gained so far.

Maternity Clothes: After suffering all day yesterday in a pair of khaki pants I wear every week (seriously, unbuttoned AND all the way unzipped and still miserable!), I retired those and reached for my black maternity slacks today. I quickly remembered why I didn't really like them...the fabric doesn't feel right and they catch every teensy speck of lint. I'll definitely have more maternity clothes shopping in my future, but I'm hoping I don't have to bust out the maternity pants more than once a week or so (just due to few business casual options that are comfortable now).

Movement: Not that I can feel, but E2 is busy forming muscles right now and should start moving involuntarily by the end of the week!

Sleep: Still pretty good, and still interrupted by 4-6 potty breaks during the night.

Baby's Sex: Not telling. :)

Symptoms: Oy. Nausea continues to break through periodically, worse in the evening if I'm up past my (early) bedtime. The constipation is still awful. I'll be adding a probiotic and digestive enzymes this weekend, and have been ordered to request a prescription for a compounded suppository called a (not even making this up!) "Bottom Rocket". Fun times.

Cravings: Sporadic and fleeting, but rather annoying. A full steak dinner from Saylors Country Kitchen, our favorite Portland, OR steakhouse (2 hours away!) comes up frequently and can't be satisfied until I don't know when. (Tragic.) Today on my way home, I suddenly craved a giant, fully loaded baked potato. Thankfully, fleeting. I was craving fish and we had a nice BBQ'd salmon dinner last night with broccoli and a rice/quinoa mix, so I'm good there. :)

Belly Button In or Out: In.

Freak-out of the Week: None this week, so far. My first prenatal appointment turned out to be just an ultrasound...it felt very deja vu to my last pregnancy, where Dr. M. did ultrasounds every two weeks (7, 9 and 11; this time I had 6 weeks at UW, then this week at nearly 8w6d with Dr. M., and again in two weeks at 10w6d). I felt extremely well cared for. He's received a bunch of stuff from Dr. C. at UW and is on board with "the plan", and had even pulled a page out of one of his journals so he could show me a recent study that stated the chance of recurrence of preterm labor with a singleton after the preterm labor and loss of twins is "only" 5.8%, compared to 0.8% for "normal" people. (Then he said, "I know that's still too high, and we'll do everything we can to prevent it.")

What I Miss: I mentioned milestones last week, and yesterday I saw video proof...my friend's son, who should be two weeks younger than Aliya and Bennett, demonstrated his new take-two-steps ability - on camera. Ouch.

Looking Forward To: The end of my first trimester...approximately 3.5 weeks away. I'm hoping for an end to (or, at least, a recess from) the nausea (no more Zofran!), constipation (until later, anyway) and extreme fatigue. However, end of first trimester means that nasty 14w2d milestone is only 4 weeks from today.

Next Appointment: December 10th for another ultrasound with Dr. M.

I'll leave you with two pictures before I force myself to cook dinner. :)


E2 at 8w6d (measuring 8w4d).
The heart rate was 186.

This monstrosity is my chart at Dr. M.'s (turned inside out),
all 2 years 4 months of it. Gads.