1st Doctor's Appointment

Today's appointment was pretty harmless. The nurse had a lot of medical history questions for P. and I, brochures to look over and papers to sign, and then I had to get a urine and blood test. We learned about classes at the hospital we can take and optional tests down the line that are available to us. We also chose to donate our baby's umbilical cord. My starting pregnancy weight as of today is 151 lbs, with clothes and shoes on. It looks like I have lost about 6-8 lbs since getting pregnant. Surprising considering the extra weight I feel I am carrying in my chest and how large and bloated I feel but not surprising at the same time since my diet has drastically changed. The nurse gave us a due date of April 9th, 2008 and said we would know more at my next apt which is Sept 18th and is with a doctor. On the 18th they will do a full pelvic exam, measurements and maybe an ultrasound if they find it necessary. Otherwise I will only get an ultrasound during my 20th week and hopefully at that time our little pumpkin will cooperate and show us if we can start thinking boy or girl.

Things have been going pretty well lately. I have been sleeping more which gives me less awake time to feel sick. I am eating a lot of cereal, toast, crackers and lemonade. I do worry our baby isn't getting enough nutrients from fruits and vegetables right now but our nurse said to just worry about getting things down for now and once the morning sickness goes away work on a more nutritional diet.

On another note, NFL Football starts tonight! Football for us means hours of exciting entertainment, cold weather, chili and corn bread, wearing my SF 49ers hoodie sweatshirt and late nights watching our favorite teams. Games start really late out here EST. Late enough for us to consider moving back to a reasonable time zone just for the convenience. My team is the rebuilding yet still decent Niners. P. is a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan. Go team! ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? We are.

9 weeks, September already?

P. and I went to Chicago for the holiday weekend to see a Cubs game at the amazing Wrigley Field, eat at our favorite restaurant The Cheesecake Factory and see the big city sites. The last time we went to Chicago the weather was horrendous. It was windy and cold. So cold we could hardly be outside for more than a few minutes at a time. This trip was much different.

We had a slight delay Sat morning trying to get out of the house due to tummy troubles. We almost didn't make the trip because I was having such a hard time with morning sickness Friday. We took our time Sat morning with eating right, resting and visiting the restroom and around 9:30am I felt I could make the trip and we headed out. I am so glad we hung in there and made the trip because it was a wonderful time with little troubles and lot's of fun. We were late to the Cubs game but got to see about an hour and half of play. P. bought me a cool long sleeve Cubs shirt and we had great seats along the first base line and in the shade. Wrigley Field was so cool, so old school with the manual scoreboard and organ music. It couldn't have gone any better. Oh, and the Cubs won 4-3 over the Houston Astros keeping them in the first place position. After the game we found our fancy Hotel Blake in downtown Chicago, checked in then quickly walked up Michigan Ave. to our early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We didn't have to wait for a table and sat down to share a plate of Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos and a piece of Fresh Banana Cheesecake. I had one taco myself and a handful of bites of cheesecake, just enough to satisfy my hunger but not too much to upset my stomach. It was a perfect dinner. After dinner we walked around Navy Pier and got in some good people watching, something we like to do a lot. I was so thankful to have made it all day with minimal troubles. Besides being tired from a long day of walking around and the excitement of the day we were happy and content. The downtown hotel room was loud and it seemed like the city never went to sleep. But we didn't have to check out until noon the next day so we took advantage of a nice, slow, relaxing Sunday morning away from home. Before we headed out of town Sunday we hit the famous pizza place we went to before, Giordano's and had some really good deep dish stuffed pizza. It didn't settle in my stomach well but it was worth it and thank God for frequent rest areas along the road. Oh, and someone rear ended us in traffic in Chicago. It's not bad, just a few scratches and hopefully no lasting effects on my neck. We will keep our fingers crossed. We stopped by the brand new Four Winds Casino in Michigan City and let them take our money before making the final leg home.

I have to say we had a truly wonderful weekend together. We made sure to enjoy our "childless" trip and alone time because soon vacations won't be the same. Not bad, just different, right?

New developments: Lemonade. I love, love, love lemonade. Funny, because I have never even liked lemonade in the past. Grits satisfy my hunger and don't upset my stomach so I have eaten a lot of plain grits lately. Weird, I know. P. puts his hand on my tummy while we watch TV even though there isn't anything noticeably growing in there yet. I love it. He asks me how our little volleyball player is doing and depending on how I am feeling he gets a sweet or sarcastic answer. I have my first doctor's appointment Thursday morning and will make sure to put an update on my blog afterwards. I can't wait to hear the heartbeat and see the little grape sized volleyball player growing in there.

Well, it is September already. Where did the summer go? The kids are back in school today, the weather is cooling down and the leaves are showing some color already. I feel like I have missed out on the last month of summer because of my morning sickness and exhaustion but plan to fully enjoy the beautiful Fall Michigan has to offer. In a few weeks my upset stomach should ease up and I hope to camp a couple more times with my hubby, hit the beautiful Michigan lake shore and enjoy the last couple of months before our long winter hits.