11 Weeks

This week was also better than average, as I’ve only felt sick one or two days out of the week. So now when people ask how I’ve been feeling, I can honestly say that I have more good days than bad. But, I noticed a new problem surfacing this week- sciatic nerve pain! When I stretch or move in a certain way, I suddenly start to feel a sharp pain down my back and legs. It was particularly bothersome the other night, so I asked Eric to rub my lower back to see if that would relieve the pressure. When he lightly rubbed the area, it sent those nasty pains down my legs and it was almost unbearable! So I’ve been trying to take it easy, stretching here and there, in hopes that the pains will lessen or go away.

I had a three day weekend this past week, which was very nice to catch up on some much needed rest. I’m starting to think that my sleep is positively correlated to how well I feel, since lots of sleep makes me feel at my best whereas little or restless sleep causes me to feel sick during the day. So I’ve definitely been making time for more sleep by going to bed earlier and staying in bed longer- my typical morning routine of showering, doing my hair and make-up, and everything else to make sure I look presentable has kind of gotten thrown out the window. Now I’m lucky if I do my hair before leaving the house!

We told the rest of our immediate families over the weekend about the pregnancy. I made it a priority to tell everyone in person, if possible- and I think it was appreciated. I’m feeling relieved, now that everyone is pretty much in the know. I was a little anxious to tell some people for some reason, even though the news was very well received by everyone we told. Then Eric took it upon himself to make the grand facebook announcement, so I followed by posting a few pictures on my page. Now everyone knows!! It is kind of fun to watch all the congratulations rolling in from our extended group of family and friends. It’s good to know that so many people are thinking about us and wishing us well!

Update on the home front- we have to (well, have chosen to) delay putting the house on the market. We decided this mainly because FHA guidelines rule that our original appraisal holds true for four months- meaning that if we had a buyer, their fair market price would be our appraisal price, and therefore, we would not be able to sell the house for much more than we paid. Once realtor fees and taxes are factored in, it would cost us somewhere between 8-12K to sell the house at the moment. So, our realtors highly suggested that we wait until the appraisal expires in June to put the house on the market. Hopefully at that point, we can sell the place without having to put much if anything toward the sale. So that’s where we are at the moment.

Eric is definitely being laid off on May 7, which is disappointing, but at least we have a firm answer now. He took the opportunity to speak at his most recent union meeting by giving a 3-minute talk about why his job position is vital to the county (and it was televised!). It was well received, but in the end will not change anything about their decision to cut his position. So, he’s currently trying to put his resume out there to find what is available in the job market. Even a part-time job would help right now, especially now that we’ll have to budget for cobra coverage. We’re really going to have to watch our budget closely right now, since we’ll be staying put for another two months… we’re hoping and praying that all will work out and that we’re making the right decisions for us and our little family. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

According to all my reading, the baby is the size of a “large plum” right now. I don’t feel much different, other than being kind of bloated. And my clothes still fit, so that’s definitely a good thing. One of the questions we get right away when we tell someone is whether we want to find out if we’re having a boy or a girl. I think we’re decided that we do want to find out- simply so we can prepare and plan ahead of time. It’s kind of odd, but I feel like I already know what we’re having… I won’t say what that is, but I just have a feeling. Plus, once we know what we’re having, I think we’ll be able to envision life and mentally prepare ourselves a little better. As far as I know, we should have the option of finding out the sex at our “big” ultrasound scheduled for June 18th.

10 Weeks

This past week has been better than most- I think I’ve only been sick maybe once or twice. But I’m still exhausted. I’m shocked by the things I literally cannot do, like standing to empty and re-load the dishwasher or just taking a nice walk around the mall. I’m always tired!

It didn’t help that I had to work on Saturday this week- the asthma clinic hosted their annual Asthma Forum, where we had about 120 doctors from Northern CA come to the hospital for expert lectures and workshops. I was in charge of many of the details, including coordinating the catering on the day of the event, which was exhausting. I have yet to inform my employer that I am expecting, so I was trying to both take it easy and handle everything at the same time, which didn’t work out so well (I was on my feet for ten hours straight)! At the end of the day, all I could do was crash on the couch at home. I was supposed to go to a friend’s house for a bbq, but I didn’t have even one ounce of energy left after the forum. I sure hope my energy level returns sometime soon.

Luckily both Elaine and Eric have been nothing but helpful and supportive. I am so thankful for them. Elaine came over this past week and painted my toenails for me! That was so thoughtful. We always get together at least once a week and usually do dinner together or go shopping or just hang out- but I haven’t really been up to doing much of that these days. So, she’s been coming to me mostly and keeping me company while I sit around and try to take it easy, which has been really nice. Plus, Eric has taken over many of the household chores. Even though they’re not always done the way I would do them or according to my timeline, I think I’ve done well in simply letting it go and being thankful for what he does do. He also cooks for us often, even when nothing in the world sounds good to eat.

Our realtors are coming over this week to talk some numbers with us and to officially get the house on the market. I’m actually looking forward to it. I really want to sell the place quickly and just put this behind us, since we have more pressing issues to deal with- like our child on the way and Eric’s job situation (to which I have no update at the moment. Frustrating). I hope this situation works out for the best- and I have a feeling it will. If the sole reason for this whole ordeal is that we end up with a more affordable place to live in on just one income, perhaps child care will be less of an issue once we have to think about it. I’m trying to think on the bright side…

I realized that I’ve yet to mention anything about how I feel about expecting a child- honestly, I can say that I am excited. This is what we planned for and what we wanted! What we didn’t want or plan are the circumstances that we have to sort through right now. Unfortunately I often find my excitement overshadowed by all the stress we have to deal with lately. It’s quite unfair actually- I want to be the mom who is planning away, picking out all the perfect details for their nursery, and can’t stop talking about their baby. It’s an exciting process! But I feel like I can only handle one thing at a time, and our house and job situation is that one thing right now (well, 2 things). I feel just awful about it. I hate to think that I’m disappointing our child already, but I can’t help it. I’m really striving to make things right early on, so that when it gets closer to the fall, we’ll be more stable, more secure, and ready to take on the challenge and blessing of welcoming a child into this world. I feel like once our crises are in order, I will be able to embrace this process more fully. I just hope that comes soon.

9 Weeks

This past week was just terrible. On top of feeling even worse than usual and being sick both morning and night lately, my week started to go downhill very quickly on Wednesday. Elaine was over at the house for dinner (homemade pizza- which I love, but chose not to eat since I was so queasy that day) and Eric was on his way home from a meeting at work. I started to feel awful, so I headed to the bathroom anticipating the usual. But instead, my stomach started to cramp, which was new to me thus far. At first it was bearable, but then suddenly, it got a whole lot worse… I had these intense abdominal cramps that made it hard to breath, and soon enough I was doubled over in pain yelling for Eric and Elaine. After a quick phone call to the Kaiser advice nurse, we were on our way to the emergency room.

I’ll omit the portion of this tale where we drove around for what seemed to be forever, trying to find the stupid Antioch Kaiser branch in the middle of nowhere. We finally made it to the ER and I couldn’t even walk myself through the front door. They immediately admitted me into a holding room of some sort and one of the nurses tried to coach my breathing down, since I was hysterical.

The pain was still unbearable, but breathing slowly made it just a little easier to live through. After waiting for the nurse to check my vitals and waiting for a room to become available, the doctor decided that I was dehydrated and hooked me up to an IV. They offered me some pain medication for my stomach cramping, but I was hesitant to take anything. Luckily the cramping died down to tolerable, they did a quick ultrasound and baby seemed happy and fine, and after a few hours, we were all sent home- with no answer as to why I was experiencing such horrible cramps in the first place. Elaine thought it was stress, which could have very well been true. Or it could have just been the dehydration, which can be dangerous during pregnancy. Who knows.

I’m so glad that Eric and Elaine were there to help me and I’m extremely grateful that it wasn’t anything worse… we were a little scared for a moment there. The next day, I had a follow-up ultrasound at my doctor's office to ensure that everything was fine. Unfortunately the ultrasound quality wasn't great, but seeing baby moving around and hearing the heartbeat once again was so reassuring!

On the home front, we’re pretty much decided that the house needs to be sold. After meeting with our realtors and explaining our situation, they seemed confident that they could sell the house quickly without a problem. So, we’re trying to wrap up the house projects we’re dealing with currently, like the drywall that needs to be redone in the kitchen and pantry, so we can get the process started.

We’re not looking forward to the weeks and months ahead of dealing with a house on the market (again)… we’re praying that it will be a smooth a painless process so we can move on and start over with clearer minds and less stress. That’s what our little bean deserves.

8 Weeks

We told most of our family members about the existence of our little “bean” over the weekend. Eric’s grandma Palshis (his mom’s mom) is visiting this week for her birthday, so we figured that now would be a good time to make an announcement while she’s here with us. We had to scramble to come up with a good way to tell at least his mom, so while I was at Barnes & Noble picking out a few things, I came across two scrapbook-type books that asks what life was like for Grandma/Grandpa as a child, what their favorite things are, what baby's family heritage is, and so on. So we wrapped those up and gave one each to Eric’s mom and Grandma at the same time. They seemed excited to learn the news. Eric’s grandma even hopped a little when she learned she would soon be a great-grandma. So that was nice. We plan to give one to my dad this upcoming week and also send one off to Eric's dad in Texas.

The rest of the family found out during Easter brunch at grandma and grandpa Fleming’s house- and again, everyone seemed genuinely happy for us. Elaine already knew, but I did put together a little Easter basket of her favorite things with a little card that said, “Some-bunny I know is going to be an Auntie!” Apparently she’s already gone out and bought stuff for my baby shower!! She’s so funny.

So I still feel terrible in the mornings, but not every morning, which is a nice change of pace. Luckily I was feeling well on Easter, but today, not so much- I threw up in the car this morning and still feel a little queasy. Hopefully what everyone has told me so far will be true- that come 12 weeks, I’ll start to feel better again.

We have another doctor’s appointment coming up this week- our 10 week appointment. I was a little irritated that we couldn’t schedule it on one of our Fridays off together, as we’ve done before. But, Eric is going to be able to leave work for a little bit to come join me this Thursday for the ultrasound at least. So that will be nice.

We’re still stressed about our situation with Eric losing his job… we have an appointment this week to talk to our realtors about getting the house on the market. I’m just a little worried that for some reason, the house won’t be worth what we need it to be worth to sell it. I’m trying to be a little more optimistic, but we’ll just have to wait it out and see how things go. Things will work out somehow, we just have to figure out how.