It has been so long since I posted, because in the time period I have been away I have completed four papers for school! I am so glad that is over with! I only have one easy final exam on Monday and then I will be done until mid-January!
I've already been to two midwife appointments, one on November 1 and one on the 29th. At my first visit, I was about 9 1/2 weeks along, and she could not hear the heartbeat on the doppler. I came back a week later and still no luck! I was waiting for that heartbeat to make the general public announcement (via Facebook, of course), and even more importantly, I needed the reassurance that my little sweet pea was alive and well. So I went for an ultrasound at about eleven weeks, and sweet pea was flipping and turning - with a very strong heartbeat!
After my first appointment, I started eating the high-protein Bradley diet and that has worked wonders for nausea and fatigue. I eat about 80-100 grams of protein a day, and it is a good thing I'm not a vegetarian. Strangely enough, the Bradley diet is filled with all the things I've been craving: spinach, chicken, steak, potatoes - a big departure from my normal faves of Mexican food and sweets. I have, at this point of 15 weeks, only gained a couple of pounds.
At my second appointment, Amber was still not able to hear the heartbeat (!) but she could hear the baby kicking and hear the location of the placenta due to bloodflow. So neither she nor I were very worried about the fact that sweet pea was hiding again. I decided before that appointment that I would ask her about homebirth, and she gave me a great book to read: Sheila Kitzinger's Homebirth. Bret and I are united in this, and I feel like we will definitely have some naysayers among our friends and family once they hear about the decision.
Thanksgiving went well until the ride home from Dallas on Sunday afternoon - imagine traffic jams, Grayson getting carsick numerous times, freezing weather, and I had a respiratory infection. Good times! Bret declared we will never go anywhere once we have three kids. This is a claim he makes every time we are out somewhere and he gets exasperated :-)
Now that Christmas is around the corner I am rushing to get all the things done that I love doing but that have been postponed due to horrible term papers: Christmas cards, shopping, crafts, mailing, kids' parties, etc.
Work has been sooo slow this week and has put me into a stressed-out state. I have reached the point with my work finances that I have to earn all the money to pay the bills each month; my cushion is gone. This is mostly due to the fact I overpaid each month on the credit cards we used to purchase all our start up things - equipment, supplies, retail, etc. The interest on one card is killing me, but I probably should have paid the minimums and kept a larger cash flow. Well, I live and learn in this process, I guess. I know people have other things to spend their money on at the holidays and I will have a rush before and after Christmas. My anxious personality only zeroes in on worst-case scenarios, however! I bit the bullet and am running another Groupon next week. I hope it does well, Groupon is great for advertising and the most effective strategy I've used thus far. I am running a $50 for $25 deal, so hopefully each person that comes in will pay a little overage and tip better than the first run I had this summer. I also am using it for waxing only, so that will cut down on the annoyance factor of spending money and energy doing a cheap facial. Wish me luck! (and money!)
As an end note, I have felt my little one nudge me a few times, and can't wait to feel more!
