Food Lately

During this first trimester of pregnancy I have definitely experienced food cravings and aversions---none of which have resulted in any sort of tearful, emotional pregnant break-downs, luckily! :) (True story: my co-worker, who is also pregnant, had a tearful meltdown over Strawberry Poptarts in the vending machine several weeks ago!)

I have only experienced one MAJOR aversion: MEAT. Eeeek!  The thought of eating a large chunk of meat makes me want to vomit.....like, steak, meatloaf, porkchops, some chicken.  I have been able to eat meat in small portions, like meat that is mixed into a casserole.  Yesterday afternoon, Alan grilled some Brat's. I 'fixed' the meat-phobia problem by cutting one brat in half, length wise, and filling the hotdog bun with lots of mustard, onion, and cheese! It works! :)

As far as cravings are concerned, they change daily! Our household is mostly a Taco Bueno household; however, this little baby of mine CRAVES bean burritos from Taco Bell! We don't even have a Taco Bell close to our house, so it proves to be a bit of a problem.  I also have been craving fresh fruit and veggies--I've been roasting my veggies in EVOO. Yay for a somewhat healthy craving!!  Another favorite of the baby's mine: french fries with lots of ketchup!  Other than those constants, my cravings seem to change with the days on the calendar.

Alan took me out to a fancy, YUMMY dinner last weekend at a local restaurant within the Renaissance Hotel. We wined and dined on the most delicious dishes! 

Water and Tea

Lobster Bisque

Salad

Lamb Shank

Chicken Penne Pasta with Spinach and Mushrooms

Mushroom Risotto

Parmesan Garlic Bread

Creme Brulee

and, Coffee

There were several problems with this: 1) it was delicious and I want it all. the. time! 2) it was a $100 meal (oops! luckily we had a gift certificate!) and 3) I threw all of it up immediately after arriving at home.

Overall, I'm right within the 3-5 pound weight gain during the first fourteen weeks! Thankfully, my healthy cravings have balanced out those not-so-healthy splurges--whew.

What were some of your pregnancy cravings?

Little Somethin' about my Little Somethin'

We went do see our new doctor (high-risk) on Wednesday, LOVED him! I felt he was very attentive, promised ultrasounds at every appointment, and spent a lot of time looking at our little one!  Throughout this whole process (infertility, trying to conceive, and conception), I have felt so BLESSED at the medical staff that God put into our lives! I could not ask for better care, really--it's something I will never take for granted.

Some of you women, especially those that had rough pregnancies, might hate me for putting this out there: I LOVE being pregnant. That's another thing I will never take for granted--I know too many women that struggled during their pregnancies, so I feel extremely blessed that my body has done so wonderful with it up to this point. God is so good, ALL the time!

11 WEEKS :)

How far along: 11 Weeks

Size of the Baby: Large Lime

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 0

Maternity Clothes: None

Gender: Unknown (Our doctor said we'd find out at our next appointment--yippee!!) Of course Alan says he prefers a BOY, but in my heart, I feel like it's a GIRL. Only time will tell...... And, of course, we don't really care either way!!

Movement: Too Early, but each ultrasound our little miracle has been super active. The last two times we've seen baby, he/she has been waving at us with the left hand!

Sleep: Last week, I had a rough sleeping week--I called it pregnancy insomnia. This week I've been completely exhausted and ready for bed at 7:30 each night! I love my sleep!

What I Miss: Nothing compared to being pregnant!

Cravings: Fresh Fruit and Veggies.....and, French Fries with LOTS of ketchup.

Symptoms: Tiredness! Fatigue!

Best Moment this Week: Seeing our little miracle again! Our doctor did a very thorough ultrasound this week, so we got to stare in amazement for a. long. time!  Baby waved at us during the ultrasound--plain as day. Even the nurse and doctor squealed when it happened! I'm so blessed!


I hope this was enough information to hold you over for awhile!  My belly is getting a little more "round," not like pregnancy round though---just fat round.  Pretty soon it'll be time to start taking pictures and watching us grow!! (So after I originally typed this, I figured I'd go ahead and let you see my bare belly---it might be the last time!!)

Love Struck

Did y'all watch Idol last night? My hubby called and woke me up just in time for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! (I go to bed super early ;) )

From the very beginning, my three favorites were Lauren, Scotty, and Haley. So, when it came right down to it, I didn't care who won!

Now, I'm a sucker for a good love story. Hope y'all didn't miss that kiss(es) between Scotty and Lauren! Young love is SO precious! I know all you girls remember how it feels to be absolutely smitten over someone---I wake up every. morning. feeling that way :)  I hope they are madly in love, get married, and make lots of country-singin' babies!

(I might've created this whole relationship between them in my head, but just let me believe. Ok?!)

I found this video on YouTube this morning, so I know I'm not the only one who is a sucker for a good love story!



Beauty Dilemma

Help! The last few weeks---I'm blaming the hormones---my skin has been ridicuously oily.  All that oil has caused me to break out like a sixth grader. Yuck! I've had troubled skin all my life, but it had seemed to settle down in my adult-hood.  I'm a pretty simple face routine-type-of-girl, so I prefer to stick with a gentle Ivory wash morning and night. (Gasp! I know.) I should really be taking better care of my skin.

I had a facial last Thursday, and my skin felt so wonderful afterwards!

Thus, I'm seeking your advice. What do y'all do for your skin cleaning routines?

Here are two things I'm considering:

Wexler's Acnescription
I found this cleanser several years ago at Bath and Body Works, $14.

Dermalogica MediBac.
This was the line of products used during my facial, so I'm sure they are a bit more pricey. I managed to find a acne product line sample kit on Amazon for $30, though.





Speaking of skin routines, I tried something I swore I'd never do.....a self-tanner! I was in a wedding last weekend and didn't think people wanted to stare at my pasty white skin. I'll be the first to admit, I LOVE the product I purchased!

Jergen's Natural Glow. I'm not really sure how I came to the decision to purchase this one. Seriously, at one point, I had three different self-tanners in my shopping cart. If you're looking for a pretty color without the sun damage, I totally recommend this investment--I think it was $8.

So, give me your best skin advice, ladies!! Ready, GO!

Denver's Birthday Celebration

Last, last weekend we also had the pleasure of celebrating our friend, Denver's, THIRTIETH birthday!  Zach and April hosted a super fun party at their house with all of our friends and some of the birthday boy's family.

We enjoyed TONS of good food, including the most delicious smoked meat courtesy of the man of the house. We got to catch up with lots of friends we hadn't seen in a while, as well as get some good laughs at the suckers lovely volunteers who participated in a Michael Jackson dancing game on the XBox Kinect.

He's so HOT :) He's been working on his "mullet" for quite some time and it's really paying off!

Calling All Blogger Friends

I deleted my profile/dashboard picture yesterday in hopes of changing it, but every time I try to upload a new photo I get an error message: "You have exceeded your photo upload quota."

It's making me ANGRY that I cant figure it out. So, help?!!

Has anyone else run into this problem? and, How do I fix it?

Fist Pumping Like Champs

Saturday evening I had the pleasure of hitting the town with the girls, Jersey Shore style, to celebrate the upcoming wedding of one of my bestfriends!

I'm only working two-and-a-half days this week, as I plan to be a little busy bridesmaid worker bee :) Looking forward to a weekend full of fun, friends, and LOVE!  Both Alan and I are in the wedding, so I'm also looking forward to walking down the aisle with him once again!

Although I'm a bit biased, I have to say that us bridesmaids arranged a pretty kick-butt Bachelorette party--everyone seemed to have a great time. We started off the evening at a local restaurant, in a private area, for dinner and a "personal" shower. From there we boarded our own private party trolley to paint the town!  And, that we did :) (I'll leave it at that!)

Notice in this last picture that our girls kept it kinda classy with some champagne. We weren't dressed the most classy, though :) I picked up the bride, then her grandma, for dinner....upon leaving her grandparents house, her grandpa informed us that we looked liked hussies! Hahaha!

Mother's Day Recap

Time to get caught up on plenty of events that have been going on in our lives lately! 

Like I mentioned last week, we broke the BABY NEWS to our families on Mother's Day :) We hosted a brunch for my mom and grandma shortly after church---then, hit up Alan's dads house----then, his mom's house---then, my other grandma's house! Phew! It was an exciting, action-packed day!

Here are some pictures from our day:



Quiche




Gram, Mom, and I
Alan got me my shirt for Mother's Day :)




Alan, Dan (Alan's Stepdad), and I




Jordan, Gram, and I




Mema playing Speed Scrabble with Papa
She created this word with a little encouragement from her kids and grandkids :)




Brooke playing Jenga



The Whole Crew

We Skyped Alan's sister, Jill, and her family to tell them the news!  Both of our momma's claimed "they knew" based on mother's intuition, so Jill's response was my  favorite of the day! Sorry, Moms! ;)  (I've attempted to upload that video multiple times without success :(  )

Cat's Outta the Bag, Part Three

This will be the last post in my "Cat's Outta the Bag" series. I promise y'all are officially all caught up now :)

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27TH

ULTRASOUND DAY :)

We have been anxiously awaiting this day for, literally, years--the day we hear the sweet precious sound of our new baby's healthy heartbeat!

Throughout this whole process, I have been pleading with God to give me peace and patience. Given our track record with pregnancy, I had plenty of reasons to give into the fear and anxiety hiding in the corner of my heart; however, I'm so THANKFUL that God hears the cries of His children. During this waiting period, I have experienced nothing but peace and joy! Praise Jesus!

We waited in the waiting room for nearly an eternity (it seemed like it) before being taken back to the ultrasound room. Dr. Bundren came walking into the room, happily and excitedly ready to show us our baby! As he was prepping the ultrasound machine he joked with us about the chance of multiples--HA! Immediately after initiating the ultrasound he stated, "We have a heartbeat!!" And, almost as immediately as he said those words, tears of joy filled this momma's eyes! Daddy had jumped out of his chair to stare at the little miracle on the screen. Sparing you the rest of the details of the ultrasound, I'll tell you it was an indescribable, surreal experience! To this date, it was probably one of the most sweetest moments of our married life!

Not only did hearing that precious heartbeat make my chest swell, but seeing the proud, beaming Daddy standing by my side made my heart nearly pound out of my chest! Alan never took his eyes off our little miracle during the ultrasound. :) You hear that women experience "pregnancy glow?!" Well, Alan definitely has the "glow!" I'm so proud of him! Proud of us!

As a wife, and expectant mother, I get choked up thinking about the path we walked to get to this point. I know we're not "through the fire" yet---but this makes us one step closer to laughing in the face of thrombophilia, PCOS, endometriosis, and a septated uterus.....all the while raising our hands and praising the One who brought us here! :)

We go back to the doctor on May 9th to see our miracle baby again, I can't wait!!

MONDAY, MAY 9TH

ULTRASOUND #2

Today was our 2nd appointment with Dr. Bundren, our infertility specialist, for an ultrasound. Once again, we were quite anxious!

Today, our little guy was three times as big as he was several weeks ago. He was also quite the little swimmer in his gestational sac. We got one real cute picture of him with his left arm waving at us :) Proud, precious moment for both of us! Everything looked great, once again.

Dr. Bundren will be sending us to a new physician--- we didn't have any choice in the matter. They will be calling me later this week with an appointment date and time, we'll be seeing a high-risk obstetrician that was recommended to us by Dr. B's office. Our new physician is affiliated with St. Johns--yaaaaay! ;) They promise us that he will be wonderful. He did some of his residency alongside Dr. Bundren, and is in a medical practice by himself. So, no games of muscial doctor for us during this pregnancy! :)




Cat's Outta the Bag, Part Duece

Again, we're rewinding time just to catch y'all up!

MONDAY APRIL 11TH

LASH OUT

I had my first pregnancy hormonal "lash out" today, only at the urge of my physician's nurse. I had some difficulty with my insurance filling my prescription for Lovenox while we were out of town. My phyisican was adamant that I start this new medication AS SOON AS we had a positive pregnancy test secondary to my history of pregnancy loss and documented PAI (and ANA) thrombophilia. Obviously the plain 'ol Baby Aspirin hadn't been getting the trick done. Well, through a series of phone calls with a very difficult to understand pharmacist in Denton it was determined that my insurance did not want to cover this prescription. Since this all happened on the weekend, I didn't want to be crazy psycho pregnant chick who bothered my physician while he was at home with his family. I promptly called their office on Monday morning, and their staff was irratated with my insurance company. They had faxed the "preauthorization form" to my insurance company on the preceeding Friday--which should go through immediately upon receipt. The staff urged me to call the customer service number on the back of my insurance card and "go up the food chain" until I found an answer. Needless to say, I was pretty darn proud of myself for the out-lashing I gave over the phone. It was totally uncharacteristic of me, so I'd like to think it was the hormones. I was told that it would still be an additional 24-72 hours before the prescription would be approved, but I was "more than welcome to buy what I needed out of pocket until then." (Note: Three daily injections costs $100). I pretty much accused my insurance company of trying to "play God" with my pregnancy, and informed them that I didn't think they were important enough to decide whether or not I got to carry a healthy pregnancy. Phew, this is getting too wordy. Just know that my lecture was successful, within 30 minutes my prescription was ready at the pharmacy. Best part: 30 days worth of injections = $10.

TUESDAY, APRIL 12TH

HCG UPDATE

I went to the doctor's office on Monday morning for a recheck of my lab work.

The nurse called back with the results: HSG 727.

Yaaaay! :) It's rising just like it should.
I go back in one week for another lab draw, and depending on what it shows, we should be able to see this little guy on ultrasound.
On a side note, we've been calling it a "little guy" or "brother" around the house. Bentley said he won't be disappointed, though, if it's a sister. He'll love her just as much :)

TUESDAY, APRIL 19TH

PRAISING JESUS

I had my third quantative pregnancy test drawn yesterday, and have been not-so-patiently awaiting the nurses phone call today. I hardly slept last night in anticipation (fear is probably a better word) of the news that I might receive today. I had a looooonnnng talk with God on my way into work this morning, and asked him to calm my nerves and give me a sense of peace regarding the situation. I knew He was taking care of me today!
The nurse just called; my levels were GREAT! :) So, Alan and I get to see our little blessing for the first time next Wednesday.....as in SEVEN more days. I cannot wait to hear that precious heartbeat.
I am feeling so BLESSED today :)

Cat's Outta the Bag

Now that the 'cat's outta the bag,' I have some pregnancy documenting and catching-up to do for many family members and friends.  I've been trying to use a site "Mama's Memoirs" to document our happenings, but it's giving me a TON of fits trying to get friends and family on it. Do any of my mommy readers have advice or recommendation of website to use? Otherwise, you're gonna get it all here on the good 'ol blog :)

Let's rewind time, shall we.......

WEDNESDAY APRIL 6th

POSITIVE PREGNANCY TEST

Since we were leaving for Texas Motor Speedway for the weekend I had purchased a box of two pregnancy tests. I knew I had to pack the pregnancy tests and tampons--not knowing what the weekend might hold. Well, since I got TWO tests, I figured I might as well pee on a stick for fun before we leave town. Lo and behold, it was POSITIVE! :) I couldn't speak, automatically my knees went weak. I took it in the bedroom and just held it out in front of Alan. He immediately began jumping up and down like a crazy man who just won the lottery. Me? I just clutched the test and cried uncontrollably into Alan's chest.

Those of you who have followed our infertility story, know of the heart ache and struggles we've endured to get to parenthood. Not that this moment was our final destination, but it puts us one step closer at punching infertility in the big. fat. face!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. By this point, you've probably figured out that we basically lied to all of you--friends and family alike. We knew a long time ago that we were sticking to this plan.....of blatantly lying. Knowing the pressure, stress, emotional pains, and physical pains that we've overcome in recent months, we felt like we owed it to ourselves to have an "us" moment. So, sorry. But not really ;)

We're still awaiting an official "due date" based on ultrasound, but according to the pregnancy calendars it's looking like Baby Hancock will be here by December 15th. Remember, we'll be a scheduled c-section because my uterus isn't strong enough to endure a labot---soooooo, most physicians will schedule c-sections anytime after 38 weeks gestation. We keeping our fingers crossed that we'll be holding this sweet little baby by early December!

THURSDAY APRIL 7th

PREGNANCY CONFIRMED

We had a whirlwind of a morning on Wednesday, trying to get out of town AND learning we were pregnant.

I called my physician's office immediately. Going into our "trying to conceive" phase, the nurse was adamant that we called AS SOON as we had a positive result so I could start on my Lovenox (blood thinner). I stopped by the office on my way out of town for blood work.

Sometime during the afternoon on Thursday, Dr. Bundren's nurse called to confirm my HSG Level (40). I had a heck of a time trying to fill my Lovenox prescription in Denton---you'll see on Monday I got to have my first crazy pregnant rant at my insurance company over the phone  :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, y'all! :) If you have plenty of things youre loving head on over to Jamie's blog and play along with us!

I have a bit of a surprise, special edition WILW prepared for today!

I'm LOVING my sweet little growing family of FOUR! :)

SURPRISE!!

This ultrasound was taken VERY early, so our sweet little baby only looks like a little nugget! We have a more recent one that I'll try to post soon. :)

Baby Hancock will be joining our family in early December! :)

We could not be more blessed by God's timing in giving us this little joy that we've prayed about for SOOOOO long. We have been over-the-moon excited about it, and we were so happy to share the news with our families on Mother's Day. It was a VERY special weekend, to say the least!

We're healthy and everything is looking AWESOME! :)

Thank you ALL for the prayers you've offered on our behalf during our time of waiting, you don't know how much they meant to us!

Also, don't be confused! There's only ONE baby in there.....the family of four counts our baby boy, Bentley! He is so excited to be a big brother!!