Two Options for the Mom Reveal

We have narrowed it down to two possible ways to tell the parents:

They arrive a week from tomorrow. As much as I'd like to wait until actual Mother's Day, I can't keep up the ruse all weekend and I know I'll be too anxious to tell. So, on Friday night once they both get there, I'll say that I want to give them their Mother's Day presents early since it's something they can use for the weekend.

1. Under option 1, they'll each get a wrapped book that they used to read to us as kids. Brett's mom would get Where the Wild Things Are and my mom would get The Giving Tree. The inside covers would say something along the lines of, "Hope you enjoy reading this to your grandchild just like you enjoyed reading it to me."

2. The alternative would be to get a photo frame with three cutouts. The top one would be a pic of our house, the second one would be a pic of our new car and the last one would be a sonogram pic. Under them, we'd write, "House in the suburbs: 200k, SUV: 20k, sharing this picture with you: priceless."

I'm kinda leaning toward option 1, but I'd love opinions! Oh yeah, this is all pending a successful u/s on Monday.

Feeling Very Pregnant Today

Yesterday was a bizarre one. After two solid days of feeling like a useless mass of flesh, I got home with the energy of a four-year-old that just drank a case of Mountain Dew. I rushed inside, changed clothes, threw my dog in the car, went to CostCo, went to the grocery store, cleaned the house, ate dinner, and crashed in bed. I swear I must've accidentally had some caffeine yesterday. That's the only explanation that would make sense.

Being paranoid and neurotic, I started worrying that the burst of energy was because I had miscarried and been released from the grips of pregnancy hormones. Don't worry, I woke up this morning and dry heaved over the toilet for 5 minutes, making me feel pregnant all over again. It's only 5 days until our ultrasound. I really can't wait to see a beating heart and get ready to finally start shouting our good news.

Fatigue

Here's a recipe for making a pregnant lady very sleepy and lazy.

1.  Work outside in the yard for four hours on Saturday.  Scoop up loads of dirt and grass, lay sod, and mow.

2.  Get up between 2:30 am and 5:30 am early Sunday morning when 88-year-old grandma is rushed to hospital with bronchitis.

3.  Wake up at 10 am Sunday and work in the yard for another four hours.  Dig a trench, shovel dirt, and make repeated Home Depot runs.

After following these simple instructions, said pregnant lady will spend all of Sunday evening glued to the couch watching her husband do laundry.  Don't worry, she'll do a great job at work on Monday only to come home and whine like a baby after doing 30 minutes on an elliptical trainer.

Here's hoping that I can recover from my horribly taxing weekend!!

I Know This Sounds Stupid

I am about 6.5 weeks along now and have had lots of good omens for this pregnancy -- no spotting and bloodwork showing strong HCG and decent progesterone numbers.  Despite these good signs, I am paranoid about having a missed miscarriage.  I would feel so much better to see that little heartbeat, but our heart isn't until a week from tomorrow.

The only major symptom of a missed miscarriage is that symptoms disappear.  While I'm still tired with sore boobs and occasional nausea, I really don't feel that bad at all.  I know I'll regret saying it if it happens, but a little morning sickness would go a long way to helping me feel pregnant.

My Teeth

I think about teeth a lot at work.  Since I work for a health foundation, we are always trying to figure out what health needs aren't being addressed.  Dental care is a major need in this country and so many people who need it can't afford it.  

I attribute my super-proactive attitude toward dental care to the fact that my job has made me hypersensitive about the importance of teeth.  Before we even started trying to conceive, I went to the dentist and told her I wanted to get my teeth all fixed up so I wouldn't have to get anything intense done once I was pregnant.  One crown and one cavity later, I was all fixed up.  On Easter, I noticed that my gums around my new crown were hurting.  They throbbed on and off for a solid week.  I happened to have a dentist appointment Monday for my regular cleaning and also had her look at my aching tooth.  She attributed the whole thing to pregnancy.  Pregnant women are more prone to pregnancy gingivitis which causes bleeding and inflamed gums.  Ick.

She gave me a prescription mouth rinse, but it isn't proven to be safe for pregnant women, so I'm afraid to use it.  She told me to try rinsing with saltwater and see if that helps.  The last thing I can stand the thought of in the morning is rinsing with saltwater.  I'm already one burp away from yaking, so voluntarily putting in my saltwater sounds awful.  My tooth felt better most of the week, but is aching again.  I hope it gets better because nine months of this sounds like hell.

How to Make a Baby Budget

Brett and I set aside this evening to plan out our budget for the next 9 months.  We are trying to be faithful to the Bump's interactive checklist, which tells us to use this week for budgeting.  So, how did the night go?

After going to the gym, we were both starving so we stopped at Arby's.  I was somehow still starving when we got home and had a plate of pasta next.  My stomach's been nauseous all day and a full stomach usually helps, but I couldn't seem to get full.  After eating my two dinners, we started discussing our budget.  Our goal is to have $2,000 to spend on baby hear, six months living expenses in savings, and our new car paid off.  It looks like we'll be able to meet these goals, but we'll be left with just $500 for our vacation this summer.

I am so ready for a week-long vacation with just the hubs, so this was devastating news to me.  I handled it very maturely, meaning that I hung my head, pouted out my lower lip and sobbed softly until Brett consoled me.  Once he wrapped his arms around me for a hug, the full-fledged four-year-old style crying set in.  I swear I was on the verge of a classic toddler temper tantrum.  I'm going to blame that one on the hormones.

I kept sobbing, "My stomach hurts, we can't take a vacation, and this is stressful."  I'm settled in on the couch for an 18 Kids and Counting episode, so I'm better already.

Every Two Hours...

I must go pee and eat something or I will die. I haven't crossed the threshold from nausea into puking, but I definitely don't feel so hot these days. The last week or so, I've been feeling on the verge of vomiting. Although it's mostly in the morning, it gets bad again if I fail to eat regularly. Although my first two weeks of pregnancy involved lots of greasy foods and sweets, I am now onto healthier eating habits, which is a good thing because I am eating a lot more often.

I've also found that the thought of Diet Dr. Pepper makes me gag. My previous favorite now sounds so gross. I had a caffeine free DDP yesterday without trouble, but the thought of it disgusts me today.