10th Week... Spoke too soon

Well, I wrote last week about how I was starting to feel better but then for the next few days I felt just as icky as before. I'm still feeling nauseous on and off throughout the day, but now it seems more related to how often I eat. So, I'm trying to snack more often and that seems to help a little :-)

Have I mentioned how brushing my teeth makes me gag? This is definitely something I remember from my pregnancy with Madeline. It wasn't too bad the first couple of weeks, but it has been getting worse. I can't brush my teeth right away in the morning any more - so I've been waiting until an hour or so after breakfast. The gagging hasn't actually made me "lose my cookies", but I thought it might, so I hope waiting an hour or so will help me avoid that all together :-)

Not much else happening this week, but I've always thought that no news is good news!

This week I had Madeline join my weekly photo shoot. Here are some of my favorite shots...

We'll continue to take pictures together every week - I really think she'll love these pictures when she gets a little older :-)

9th Week: Feeling Better

The week didn't start much different from last - more nausea, very tired and not much of an appetite. Just as our CNM, Cheryl, told us, these symptoms usually peak around weeks 8 and 9 so I wasn't surprised... But, as of yesterday I started to feel a little bit better! Less nausea when I wake up at night and, if I keep something in my stomach, the nausea has been a lot more tolerable during the day. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't disappeared all together, but it's definitely getting better :-) Food still doesn't look/smell very appetizing to me so keeping myself from getting hungry hasn't been the easiest thing to do. I'm still tired, but I've kept that at bay by heading to bed somewhat earlier than normal :-)

According to the experts morning/all day sickness sometimes starts to lessen around this time because the placenta starts to take over the hormone production for the baby. This means mommy's body can cut back on the extra hormone production, occasionally leading to a decrease in nausea - yeah!

The night-time nausea has gotten better, but sleeping hasn't been that much easier... I've always slept on my side, but the past few nights I've woken up with quite a bit of pain in my hips. I flip over and try the other side for a while, but the pain just seems to get worse as the night goes on. Once again the experts have an answer for this too: during pregnancy (sometime as early as the first trimester) our bodies release hormones that help relax and soften the joints and muscles, causing discomfort in some pregnant women... well, that would be me - I'm so lucky!!!! I guess I'm just going to have to experiment with different things (pillows, etc.) until I find something that works.

We had our second prenatal visit on Friday. It was a long, but very good appointment. Cheryl let me ask a ton of questions and she answered every one of of them. I really like the way she talks with me instead of just spitting out a bunch of medical numbers and statistics. She really listens to my wants and concerns. I feel like she is really trying to get to know me as a person rather than just a patient. I think this is so important, especially when trying for a natural birth. She encouraged me to find a supportive doula and said that in her experience having a natural birth had a lot to do with mental preparation. She said that preparing physically was definitely important, but that the mental preparation is what she has seen hold others back in the past. She suggested taking a few yoga and other prenatal classes at a place called Blooma not far from where we live now. This was very encouraging because I had already planned on going there - I've heard nothing but great things!

The appointment came to an end with a search for the heartbeat. It took quite a while, but we finally heard a couple seconds - what a wonderful sound! It didn't last long, but finding the heartbeat with an external doppler at this stage is still a challenge with most pregnancies (the baby is just still so small!). Our next appointment, in 4 weeks, should give us a better listen :-) Cheryl left me with a hug and a lot of confidence - how many doctors would do that?!?!?

This week I also started my search for a Doula to be by our side during labor. Back in February I met an amazing woman, Jen, at an ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) meeting who had just given birth to her beautiful daughter just days earlier. She had a successful, completely natural, VBAC - my hero! Anyway, I bumped into her again a few weeks ago at the screening of the birth film that I attended. Once again I was inspired by her story and she said that her Doula had been amazing and highly recommended her. After a few e-mail exchanges I got in contact with her doula and found out that she herself was due with her second child any day! I asked if she was going to be taking on any new mommies next year and she said definitely! I plan on meeting with her some time in November after she's had her baby and her life has settled down just a little. I don't know if she'll be right for us, but it's exciting to begin our search :-)

As promised, you can see my first belly shot in the new slideshow above. I'm really going to try and get a new picture posted every week!

Week 8: So Tired

Our family road trip to Indiana this past weekend went really well - we had such a good time :-) We spilled the beans to Matt's parents and they were very excited. Madeline had her "Big Sister" t-shirt on for a good 5 minutes before Matt couldn't take it any more and asked his parents if they liked Madeline's new shirt... Once they realized what it said they thought it was wonderful!

We also ended up telling most of our college friends... it hard to keep a secret like that when everyone is wondering why you're not acting quite the same as you usually do :-)

The car ride wasn't very pleasant for me, but I survived :-) I had to eat a few crackers every 20 min. or so to keep from feeling completely nauseous, but once I took the wheel and drove for a while I felt better - the front seat was a lot nicer to me than the back seat! Madeline was a trooper - she tolerated the 10 hours (each way) in the car a lot better than I did :-)

Our midwife mentioned that the morning sickness usually peaks around weeks 8 - 11 and that seems to be ringing true for me. Pretty nauseous all day lately and having a hard time finding anything to eat that actually looks/smells appetizing. Not to worry, I'm still eating, just maybe not quite as much as normal :-)

Sunday the extreme exhaustion settled in. I've really been having a hard time keeping my eyes open for the past few days. A short nap when Madeline lays down in the afternoon has really helped.

Just like during my pregnancy with Madeline my face seems to be breaking out, I'm guessing it has something to do with all of the hormones racing through my body right now! I'm also back to gagging whenever I brush my teeth - not so pleasant! My stomach has also been overly "bubbly" lately, so keeping a few Tums on hand has been helpful :-)

A few days ago I had a little cramping and started to worry, but I-Am-Pregnant.com put my mind at ease, saying that this is common around this stage. My uterus is growing (obviously) and sometimes this causes tightening or cramping. Just one more worry laid to rest :-)

We have our next appointment with CNM Cheryl tomorrow and we're praying that everything is going well. I don't know if we'll be lucky enough to get another ultrasound, but we should at least be able to get a chance to listen to the heartbeat. This will also be a great opportunity to talk with Cheryl about our wishes for this pregnancy and birth. I'm looking forward to hearing her answers to our questions and feeling reassured that we've made the right prenatal care choice :-)

I know I promised belly pictures this past week, but because we were out of town it didn't happen. I'll make sure to take the first shot this Saturday (9 weeks)!

Week 7: Still Queasy...

The morning sickness has set in and I don't think it's going anywhere for a while. As soon as I start to feel better I try and eat something which eventually leads to me not feeling so hot about 20 min. later - vicious cycle, but I'm starting to get used to it :-) Still no throwing up, so that is definitely something to be thankful for :-)

A new "symptom" this week is feeling light-headed if I try and get up too fast. After doing some reading I think I can attribute this to the 10% increase in blood flowing through my veins which can lower your blood pressure. I'm pretty sure the consistent "falling alseep" of my arms and legs might have something to do with this too.

As expected I'm more tired than usual, so the waking up 3-5 times a night to go to the bathroom hasn't helped. I don't think the getting up would be so bad if I didn't feel so nauseous by the time I got back into bed, but eventually the exhaustion takes over and I fall back asleep... just to wake up an hour or two later having to go to the bathroom again and the cycle starts over :-(

Not too much else to report. Just as I've said before (and sure I'll be saying over and over), all of the inconveniences I've been describing are very welcome signs that everything is going well and they are all very worth it!

I've decided to start taking the belly photos at 8 weeks, so those should be posted every week from now on :-)

On another note... We're so excited to make our trip to Indiana this weekend and let Matt's parents in on the good news! It will be so much fun to let Madeline "tell" them in person :-)

Call me crazy...

Ever since deciding to add to our family we have discussed the possibility and hope of doing things naturally this time around. The engineer in both of us wanted to make sure that this was something that was both safe and healthy (even after having a C-Section with Madeline). Books have been read, hours of research has been done on the internet and dozens of discussions have been had with people that see things from both sides. After taking all of this information into consideration we truly feel that a natural birth is right for us.

In continuing my education on natural birth, tonight I went and saw a documentary all about women who chose to give birth naturally either at home, in a birthing center or in a hospital. The film was very inspiring and helped confirm my feeling that this is what I would truly like for this pregnancy. I hope Matt also has the opportunity to see the film soon and share in this feeling :-)

Because of my previous C-Section with Madeline we're not sure if a home birth is right for us this time around... and because Birthing Centers aren't available in Minnesota, we have chosen to see a midwife with the hope that she can help us achieve a natural birth at the hospital in Waconia. We'll also be looking for a doula in the area for extra encouragement and coaching along the way :-)

We have the next 8 months to continue learning all that we can to help make this birth experience the very best it can be :-)

6 Weeks: Relieved :-)

Today was our first appointment with CNM Cheryl and it went great! She asked me about how I've been feeling and she said that everything I told her were good signs... nausea, going to the bathroom all the time, gagging when brushing my teeth, breast tenderness etc. She is the one that really helped me through the miscarriage in April so she also knew that I was both anxious and excited at the same time. To help us feel better that things were going well she asked if we were interested in an ultrasound and we immediately agreed!!! She said that because it was still so early (6 weeks) that we may not be able to see a heartbeat for another week or two, but the ultrasound would give them a good idea if everything was going as it should.

A few minutes later we (Matt, Madeline and I) were in the Ultrasound room looking at the newest addition to the Frantz family! We could see the tiny heart beating away! There isn't much to see on the picture, but the baby is on the left and the yolk sack (which will become the placenta) is on the right.

The next picture shows how fast the heart is beating: 115 Beats Per Minute (BPM) which is exactly what it is supposed to be :-)

They checked out everything else and said that EVERYTHING looked just as it is supposed to :-)

We're so glad they suggested the ultrasound. It really helped us breath a sigh of relief - especially since this is exactly how far along I was last time when everything started to go wrong (46 days). Even though all of the "signs" pointed to a healthy pregnancy it was so reassuring to see the tiny heartbeat :-)

We're not ready to tell everyone yet - because it is still very early, but we'll be letting immediate family know in the next few days/weeks. In fact, we broke the news to my mom this weekend and plan on letting my brothers and sisters in on the good news later today! We're letting Madeline "tell" them...
Madeline wore this T-shirt to Grandma Judy's on Saturday (a very fun "secret") and we'll let my brothers and sisters know today by sending out these pictures... followed by a link to this website :-)

We're going to wait a little longer to tell Matt's parents because we have a trip to Indiana planned in just a couple of weeks and think it will be so much more fun to tell them in person!

We'll let everyone else in on our secret around 12 weeks :-)

Knowing that everything is going well makes the nausea a lot easier to deal with! Hopefully it only last for a few more weeks, but if it lasts longer that's OK too :-)

We're just sooooo excited!!!!

Nauseous...

Another morning of mixed emotions... I've been feeling kind of queasy before getting out of bed for the past couple of mornings, but I didn't know if it was because I was laying there worrying whether or not everything was all right with the pregnancy, or if it was the beginnings of morning sickness. Until today the nausea went away as soon as I got up, well, today that wasn't the case. I'm still feeling woosy and trying to convince myself that I need to eat some breakfast. The mixed emotions come in because morning sickness is a sign of all the right hormones are flowing and typically indicate that the pregnancy is doing well - yeah!!!! On the other hand it's not so great to feel like this :(

When I was pregnant with Madeline I had morning (but more like - all day) sickness for the first several months. I don't remember exactly how long it lasted, but I think it let up sometime during the 2nd trimester. I never actually threw up, but nausea would come and go throughout most of the day. My hope is that with this one it progresses the same or better - I'd hate to start actually throwing up like so many people I know... especially my mom, who threw up constantly throughout most of her pregnancies.

I'm relieved that a few more signs of pregnancy have started to develop (that didn't happen last March/April), and am getting more excited about my first appointment with CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) Cheryl next Tuesday :-)

Anxious...

The "symptoms" of pregnancy seem to be fading which caused me to lose a lot of sleep last night. I've read that the cause of all of these symptoms is in the increase in hormones that comes along with being pregnant. Losing these symptoms so early in pregnancy makes me worry that this indicates a decrease in these hormones - and possibly a problem similar to what happened last time.

Last March/April when we were pregnant for the second time we didn't tell anybody about the pregnancy until after I miscarried. Keeping the pregnancy a secret for the first 7 weeks had A LOT to do with me not really "feeling" pregnant. I didn't have any of the symptoms that I had had with Madeline and something just didn't feel right.

Not having told anyone that we were pregnant made the situation both easier and harder at the same time. It was easier in that we didn't have any awkward situations come up when someone would say or ask something about the pregnancy, but it also made it harder because in some ways I wanted people to know what we were going through. It was hard to smile when people kept asking "So, when is Madeline going to get a baby brother or sister?". Do we tell them about the miscarriage or just smile and say "Soon - hopefully"? We ended up telling a lot of people about our loss, but there were also times when we just let it go.

With symptoms being weak again this time and seeming to fade it makes me all that much more anxious this time around. I've made an appointment with our midwife for next Tuesday (6 weeks). Hopefully she'll be able to tell me more and help ease my anxiety.

5 Weeks: Excited!!!

This morning we confirmed our suspicions that yes, in fact, we are going to be parents again and, Madeline will be a big sister next May!

This news gives us such a sense of excitement and relief. The relief is being felt because last April we experienced the loss of our second pregnancy and since then emotions have run high and becoming pregnant again has taken a little bit longer than it has in the past. The disappointment and feeling of loss associated with miscarrying is hard to explain. Even though it's something we still think about often, we've learned to accept it and understand that it didn't happen because of anything we did wrong... there wasn't anything that we could have done to change the outcome. We're really hoping and praying that this time everything goes as planned and we have another wonderful and exciting pregnancy :-)

I'm planning on keeping track of all things pregnancy related this time around. I kind of regret not starting a blog with the first pregnancy, but I'm going to try to remember, and note, how things are the same and how they are different this time around.

~ Madeline, if you ever read this, I'm sorry I didn't keep a more detailed diary of my pregnancy with you, but I hope you find this just as helpful when you get the wonderful opportunity to experience all of these things for yourself ~

Well, so far I've felt a few early signs of pregnancy... tender chest and occasional twinges of an upset stomach. Neither of these is nearly as pronounced as I remember it with Madeline, but it's still early and I really don't want to jinx myself :-) I've also been going to the bathroom a lot more often and feeling pretty worn out - both typical in the first few weeks (and throughout the entire 40 weeks). One unusual thing I felt this week was some cramping. I did some research on the internet and found out that this can happen during implantation. I hope this is the cause and that it's not an indication of any sort of problem.

Besides keeping track of how I'm feeling throughout the pregnancy, I'm going to chart how much weight I gain (comparatively to how much I gained with Madeline) and I'm going to take weekly pictures of my growing belly - should be interesting!