Good Day

Our appointment went really, really well yesterday. I was nervous as they were searching for the heartbeat (what if they can't find one??), but the nurse found it relatively quickly and easily. The rate was 160-nice and strong. It was amazing to hear it beating again-I can see the draw of renting a fetal heart monitor--I'd love to hear it whenever I wanted! Greg, while he saw the heart beating last time, didn't get to hear it, so it was nice to have him in there as well. We chatted with our Doctor for a bit, and then it was time to go! Nice and uneventful, exactly how we like them!

In the seemingly never ending comparisons of our child's growth to various fruit, we have made it to Stage Lime! My instinct is to celebrate with a margarita, but I guess that will have to wait until Spring.

And if that wasn't enough good stuff for the day, the curtains I've been working on for about a month and a half for our family room have been completed. Greg and I hung them last night and they don't look half bad if I may say so myself, though Greg was ready to just thumbtack a sheet over the windows just to have them covered. It took some work to convince him that our 20-something inch, 5 year old TV and desktop computer were not hot, rare commodities on the black market. Still, the windows do look better covered, and the extra privacy is nice.

For you, April!

April had requested to see a second wreath I had been working on made out of hydrangeas. This one was pretty easy--the only problem was not knowing exactly how the fresh flowers were going to dry. This one turned more green than it originally was; the original hydrangeas had more blue and pink tones which I'm not seeing as clearly anymore. Still, it was a lot of fun, and looks great against the dark red and brick tones of our house!

Tomorrow is our 12 week appointment--say a quick prayer around 8 am if you get a chance (and if you happen to be up--why do I keep scheduling these things for so early in the morning??) I've felt great these last two days, which is good in that it led to a productive weekend, not so good in that I can't yet separate not feeling pregnant with not being pregnant. Hopefully a good appointment tomorrow will help change that and I can start appreciating the good days.

Please say it's just me....

In reference to our above ticker from lilypie.com, does 199 days sound like a long, long time to anybody else??

Sudden Burst of Craftiness

My good friend Meghan came over Sunday afternoon; our purposes were two-fold. First, watch one of my favorite movies of all time, Roman Holiday, to help destress and relax from our busy weekends. Second, and most important, to put together glass bulb wreaths with ornaments we picked up from Williamsburg Pottery over the summer. They turned out fabulous (if you ignore the fact that the bulbs were not only plastic, but had a seam running down the middle of each one--but that's okay, it was our first attempt, and well worth the effort). Plus, they cost about $12 each to make. Now I can't wait for the holidays to be able to put it up!!

I have so lucky to have people in my life who share my love of all things crafty!!

In other news, we have made it to Week 10! After a few symptom-free days about two weeks ago where I began to wonder if everything was alright, my body corrected itself and is back to its usual array of symptoms--extreme tiredness, coupled with being hungry every hour and a half or so. I do feel fortunate that the whole nausea, morning sickness routine has yet to make an appearance--hopefully we can keep that up. There is also an ongoing debate on whether my breasts have grown larger or not--hard to say, honestly. Maybe, maybe not. And last night I noticed that my belly button seemed to have changed shape...maybe. Again, without any "before" pictures to compare it to, Greg and I are having a hard time being definitive about any of the more subtle changes that may (or may not) have taken place thus far.

In all honestly, though, I'll take it. It hasn't been a "hard" first trimester by any means. The hardest part has been the worry that Greg and I have brought on ourselves, so, for that, we will consider ourselves lucky. And seeing that it is now approaching the 7:00 hour, I must prepare myself for bed...only half-joking, by the way.

Reading through comments, it seems that I am not posting fast enough for some of my more avid readers...all that I can say to all, well, one of you, is that I was exhausted yesterday evening! Once my mind caught up with my body in finally believing that we were, indeed, pregnant, my body exacted revenge by trying to make up for 8 weeks worth of symptoms-namely, exhaustion. As I told Greg this afternoon (right before I told him to call me back at 5:00 to see what I wanted for dinner-it becomes a complicated process when absolutely nothing sounds appealing), "I didn't get to bed until 8:30 last night--what do you want from me??"

Anyway, it turns out that, amazingly, everything seems okay and Baby Smith is thriving! I'm attributing lack of symptoms to the whole "practice makes perfect" theory, meaning that, by pregnancy #2, my body quickly caught on to the gameplan and all the unnecessary hoopla (i.e. symptoms) went by the wayside. I guess that means that by my fifth pregnancy I won't know I'm pregnant until my water breaks?

The bleeding, on the other hand, is still a minor concern. But, seeing a heartbeat is definitely a step ahead of where we were last time, and I honestly believe there isn't a whole lot that can be done anyway to prevent a miscarriage if that's where the pregnancy is headed. So, we'll just wait and see on that front.

Greg, poor Greg, who almost missed the ultrasound (seriously-he came knocking on the door halfway through) is as thrilled as I am. There is nothing quite so amazing as seeing your baby's heartbeat on ultrasound for the first time. It almost makes those fetal heart monitors seem worth the price--I'd love to hear that little heartbeat whenever I wanted!!

If you're a mommy (or mommy-to-be), do you remember the first time you saw your baby's heartbeat on ultrasound??