Eat your breakfast....

....Or so they've told me for YEARS and YEARS. Funny thing is that I never felt like eating in the morning, it always made me sick. Seriously, if I ate cereal or toast or whatever I found feel sick in the morning. That could be because most of my jobs have me starting at 7am or 8am, but still.

Funny thing about this pregnancy, is that if I DON'T eat in the morning.... I get Morning Sickness. Seriously, I can't go without something or else I pay the hefty price of nausea and vomiting over it. Maybe this pregnancy thing will get me into many more good habits. :)

Oh emotions and the sickness of the morning...

Today I find myself on the edge of emotions and the sickness of the morning. Today questions arise, such as:

1. When I eat, will the sickness of the morning go away today?
2. When I eat, will my moodiness fade today?
   
3. Or...will I get even more moodier today?
   

We'll see what happens. It's such a battle! But a good one to have.

Certified Nurse Midwife or OBGYN

I know I posted something like this before, but I decided to take it down because it didn't reflect what I was going through. Because of how my visit went with Kaiser I am looking elsewhere for prenatal services.

I made an appointment for August 17th with Salem Nurse Midwives. These ladies have been around for a while, they would deliver at Silverton Hospital (not too far away) and come highly recommended. They focus on the education of the individual and their family about their pregnancy and give them choices for their care accordingly. If something happens and I become a high risk pregnancy they refer me to an OB or if complications arise in the hospital they refer me to an OB as well.

I have several friends who have recommended an OB in Silverton whom they LOVE. This woman has delivered many children from one of our churches. She tends to be there during the delivery and really cares for the families well being as well as praying for them and the baby. This sounds good to me as well.

So Midwife or OBGYN? Hard choice... I have a few weeks to decide. We'll see!

Give birth in a corporation..... I think not

Okay...so imagine you are in one of those movies that show this huge corporation. You are pretty much only a number. You give them your number and are assigned a room. You go to the room and the walls are blank, stark, impersonal. A nurse comes in, takes your vitals, gives you a robe to wear and leaves without much conversation. She leaves you in there waiting and waiting...finally to come in to hand you some information on pregnancy that you already know so you'll have something to read in the stark, blank, impersonal room. You wait and wait..wondering why you are here in the first place. Oh yeah...there's a baby.

The Doctor (Nurse Practitioner) comes in, sits down and goes over medical history. Kinda asks how you are feeling, but only cares if it pertains to difficulties in the pregnancy. She pretty much explains that she is just there during the pregnancy part. Someone else is there during delivery and maybe she'll be around for after care. She explains in this corporation that even if you get an OB, they only see you through delivery if they are scheduled that day. They don't make any special appointments to be there even after they learn your due date. Just gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside right? Hmm....

So the rest of the exam goes as planned. You get to see your baby on the ultrasound. She tells you it's really unofficial and that you have to go somewhere else entirely to get your ultrasounds done within the complex. You go somewhere different for all your labs. Never really having the same person involved. She'll really only be involved on visits to check vitals. Peachy.

This was how my first visit went today. There was no effort to calm my nerves by the nurse or doctor. No talk about me or my life, just vitals. It was the most impersonal doctor's visit I've ever had in my life. I had imagined the doctor being excited and happy for me, willing to calm my nerves and easy my anxieties of being a first time pregnant mom. It totally wasn't like that. I felt like a number in a huge system and I had to get the visit over with so they could move on with the day. Good things happened though in spite of the impersonal nature:

1. I found out I am 8 weeks and one day pregnant.
2. I am healthy so far and so is the baby.
   
3. I saw my little baby and saw the heart beat. I got to see the little stumps that would be my baby's arms and legs. I saw my baby's little head. My baby is alive.
   
4. I realized that no matter what, I don't want to go with Kaiser for my prenatal care. I want either a more personal OBGYN who MIGHT be able to be with me during labor...or a certified nurse midwife who is almost always likely to be with me during labor and delivery.
5. My visit today was essentially free, no copay required. So I got a physical exam, ultrasound and due date free of charge. :)
6. Here's my first baby picture:

Avoidances :)

So as a typical newly pregnant mommy I want to do things right. I also typically freak out that I am doing something wrong too. Sometimes I fear I'll do something wrong and miscarry, even though I well know you can't help it when you miscarry, I still worry. I hear this is pretty normal for new moms. Here are some things I am avoiding right now:

• Alcohol-Seems like it would be easy right since I don't drink a lot? Well I LOVE the taste of Baileys in a shake mmm... But for my baby I'll do anything. Even have virgin drinks aka smoothies or milkshakes. :)
  

• Smoking- Okay... I never smoked so this is SUPER easy for me

• Raw Eggs- I am not an egg person anyhow, so this is easy for the most part. HOWEVER I am a pushover for cookie dough. One of my best friends Sarah had a cure for this! Substitute 1Tbs ground flax seed and 3Tbs water for one egg. Now I can enjoy my cookie dough! Sarah is a genius. :)

• Kitty Litter/Kitty-I usually made Eric do this anyhow, but even more so now that I am pregnant. Just the smell of the cat litter makes me want to vomit, even the smell of the cat. So we keep the cat in the garage as well as the kitty litter unless we let the cat outside. Hopefully we can give away our cat to make everyone happy!
  

• Deli Meat- So I guess there's some form of bacteria in deli meat. So...unless it's a hot sandwich and heated until the point of steaming, I am avoiding deli meat for my baby's sake.
  

• Papaya- Apparently some study somewhere says that papayas (and some pineapples) carry an enzyme that can be harmful to little ones. When I was in Hawaii I gagged at the smell of papaya, so I am going to go with my instincts for my body and stay away from it.

• Soft Cheeses- No more cucumber, strawberry feta/goat cheese salads for me. Unless the cheese is heated, I'll probably stay away from it.

• Household Cleaning Chemicals- This is pretty much a given. :)
  

• Hot Tubs- If my body temp gets above 101, that's bad news bears for the baby.
  

I am sure there are tons more things I am forgetting to mention, but these are on the forefront of my mind. :) I think I'll continue to be the typical first timer mom and be extra worried about things. But that's okay... I am allowed! I am just thankful I have a good husband who pulls me back to earth when I need it! :)

The sickness of the morning....

Seriously, what I've heard about morning sickness is true! I actually have been sick mostly in the morning, although some days I've been sick the entire day. I've only had a little vomiting (Praise God!) but we'll see as the weeks progress.

I've found that:

• Saltines do in fact help to get something on your stomach so you don't puke again.
• Potato products seem to help me: Baked potatoes, French Fries, Chips, Mashed Potatoes.
• Eric's been super supportive and helpful, even though he doesn't understand my moods.
  
• Along those lines...I've had some days where I've been SUPER moody. Like unable to control my moods. I'll be super upset one minute, sad the next and then happy. It's weird not to be able to control your moods easily.
  
• Friends have been super helpful and supportive in the process. Especially those who work with pregnant ladies or have been pregnant themselves.
• When I smell cat stuff, or papaya or other things that I am not supposed to have when I am pregnant I feel sick and want to vomit. I think it's my body protecting me.
  
• Some days I am super tired and lazy.
  
• I don't have the desire that I had before to buy up baby clothes. I now want to wait until I know the gender of the baby before buying clothes.
• Unless I am a high risk pregnancy, I want to go with a midwife.
  

There are other things I've learned, but those are it for now. On Tuesday I have my first appointment with an OBGYN with Kaiser Permanente. There I might get an ultrasound, hear my baby's heart beat and figure out a due date. We'll see! After my insurance runs out I want to get a certified nurse midwife with Salem Midwives. :)

WE ARE PREGNANT!

Yes... if you are reading this it's official, we're pregnant. I took these tests I think on June 28, 2009. The first one is the one I actually took first. As you can see the cross line was very faded, so I was skeptical. Eric was sure I was pregnant, but I needed another test. However when I took the second one that line was faded too! Gwendy told me that even though the line was faded that the fact that the line showed up meant I was pregnant.

However.... I was still skeptical. I mean...faded lines?!? I needed words, like....pregnant, not pregnant. So after minutes of debating, I went out and bought a digital one. I figured the money was worth my sanity. :) As you can see, it says PREGNANT. No clearer test than that. I figure now I can rest at ease. Eric laughed at me for taking so many tests, maybe even got a little mad, but I don't care. Now I can know for sure and start to make the many decisions that I will make regarding my baby.