Never A Dull Moment

Last Wednesday was a rough day. It started off completely normal and I felt really good. Lunch time rolled around and everything changed.

It was really windy that day and I walked across the street to Cafe Rio with my co-workers to grab some lunch. While we were walking over I started to feel funny, kind of like my head was foggy. I was having a hard time organizing my thoughts. We were standing in line waiting to order and all of a sudden I couldn't speak correctly and my right hand went completely numb. It was so bizarre. I knew what I wanted to say, but the words came out slurred and sounding like gobbledegook. We laughed about it at first and I was like, "OMG, you guys I can't spit it out today!" Then it happened more and I started to get scared.

We got our food and sat down. I didn't talk much during lunch because I was afraid to. My head felt jumbled. We walked back to the office and it happened a few more times. I could not, for the life of me, recall the word 'grass'. As soon as I got back to my office I called the nurse line. My vision was fuzzy when looking at the computer screen and it felt like I was about to get hit by the migraine train.  The nurse asked me a few questions, one of which was if I knew what TIA was.  I had no idea. Turns out TIA is Transient Ischemic Attack and is basically a mini-stroke. The nurse recommended I go immediately to the ER and if I couldn't get someone to drive me, call 911. I called Marco and he was out of his office so fast! He picked me up and we headed to Desert Springs Hospital, right down the street from UNLV.

Sad face while waiting for them to take more blood in the ER

We waited there for 6 hours. They took urine to confirm I was pregnant (OMG, I AM PREGS, I PROMISE!) The nurse announced my results to the whole waiting room, which I normally would have been completely annoyed about but found it kind of ironic that a whole waiting room of strangers now knew my secret when so many people close to us still didn't know... Once it was confirmed they cancelled the CT scan they ordered. They took 7 more viles of blood (to do the blood typing, etc which has already been done twice already) The doctor said that because I had a history of migraines and no history of clotting issues, I'm in good health, young, etc that it was more likely that this was an Atypical (or Complicated) Migraine. It was so scary. About a year ago there was a news reporter in LA who had the same thing happen to her (live on air). You can see it here. It was hard for me to watch because you can see the panic in her eyes and that is how I felt.  There was nothing they could do for me, I got some Tylenol and orders to take it easy and rest over the next few days. He wrote me a doctors note for four days. I thought that was silly until I realized how crappy I felt over the next few days.

We got home late, around 10pm and I was absolutely exhausted. My head literally pounded for the next two days. The headache didn't go away until Saturday. I slept for most of Thursday and Friday. I think I was so stressed out and that wasn't helping anything. On Friday, I was spotting red blood (not the brown its been) and so I just took it as easy as possible over the weekend. Friday was 9 weeks!

How far along? 9 weeks 
Total weight gain: One pound (it's literally all in my boobs)
Maternity clothes? No
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Good, except for Bella waking me up. That's getting old pretty quick since I'm pretty tired by the end of the day.
Best moment of the week: Getting another positive pregnancy test (even though it was at the ER)
Miss anything? Nope
Movement: Not yet
Food cravings: I really wanted to eat a bologna sandwich every day this week...I came close. Delicious! 
Anything making you queasy or sick: No
Gender: Who knows?!
Symptoms: Perma-bloat. By the late afternoon/early evening I have a nice sized belly happening. Then it's back down to normal in the morning.
Belly button in or out: In 
Wedding rings on or off: On 
Labor Signs: No 
Happy or moody most of the time:  I was more moody this week but there was a lot going on. 
Looking forward to: Our first OB appointment is this Wednesday and we'll get an ultrasound!

Appointments, Appointments, Appointments!

I found out really early on that we were expecting. I know now I was only 4 weeks, 3 days. Needless to say, keeping my mouth shut has been extremely difficult, but so much can happen early on so better safe than sorry. We had a little scare in week six and I had some spotting. I called the nurse hotline and they recommended I go to the Urgent Care. We had most of our initial testing done at that time (blood typing, hcg test, etc) and they also ordered an ultra sound to make sure the pregnancy was viable and not ectopic. There is nothing more nerve wracking than waiting for someone to tell you if your pregnancy is "viable".

We had our first ultra sound at 6 weeks, 6 days which was a full week before my first OB appointment. We got to see our baby for the first time and it was the most overwhelming experience of my life. I just started crying. There really IS something in there!!! Turns out there was other things in there, too (only one baby, though...darn!) and I have a one centimeter subchorionic hemorrhage as well as a fibroid. This means that part of the placenta has pulled away from the uterine wall and there is a bleed there. Hopefully it will just clear up on its own. It's very small which is good news.  I'm on pelvic rest until my appointment next week which means taking it easy, no exercise, no heavy lifting, and no sex. This whole week of craziness (and three visits to Urgent Care) made me feel much better about keeping the news to ourselves for the time being. I got so tired at one point last week that I got home from work, slept from 5:45-7:45, ate dinner and was back to bed at 9:30 for the night. I'm trying my best to keep my sleepiness to myself at work, but sometimes it's really hard!

Our first official OB visit came on 3/22 at 7w6d. It was not at all what I expected- probably because it wasn't actually my first OB appointment. Boo! It was the 'confirm your preggy' appointment and we did that last week at Urgent Care.  Our due date was confirmed to be November 2, 2012 and they took a lot more blood and I peed in another cup. I think this is going to become standard procedure. :) My doctor assured me that this subchorionic hemorrhage and fibroid are nothing to worry about and the bleed will usually clear up on its own. In the next breath she said she wanted me to stay on pelvic rest until 18 weeks! WHAT?! 10 more weeks?! So, either this is a bigger deal that she initially said or she's just crazy. So I hemmed and hawed (shocker) and we are going back in two weeks for an ultrasound. Damn straight. 10 weeks without knowing what the deal is as I continue spotting- this lady is mad. Our actual first OB appointment will be on April 4th (9w5d), then we will be going to a perinatologist for the ultra sound and should get pics from it this time as well. I really want to know what is happening in there and that everything is alright. After that, we will go for monthly appointments starting at 14 weeks.

Here are a few pics from the last two weeks. We're going to stick with the location of "week 8" and do them there weekly. :)

How far along? 8 weeks 
Total weight gain: Nothing so far :)
Maternity clothes? No
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Good, except for Bella waking me up. That's getting old pretty quick since I'm pretty tired by the end of the day.
Best moment of the week: Not getting sick :)
Miss anything? Beer, wine, steak- medium
Movement: No
Food cravings: Sweet stuff- thank goodness for sugar free jell-o pudding snacks! 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Marco was cutting a steak and it grossed me out. The shower.
Gender: Unknown, but I had a dream we saw the baby on an ultrasound and it was a boy and he had Marco's clef chin. :)
Symptoms: Bloated, especially in the evening. Sore boobs but only at night. I'm burpy...more so than usual. Tired by the end of the day. I've gotten light headed, dizzy and nauseous in the shower twice so far but I think it was because it was the morning and I hadn't eaten yet. I now have a bowl of cereal waiting for me when I wake up and its been fine since then. No nausea other than that, thank goodness!
Belly button in or out: In 
Wedding rings on or off: On 
Labor Signs: No 
Happy or moody most of the time:  Happy! 
Looking forward to: Our next ultrasound so we can see our baby and know what's happening with this bleed!