First Ultrasound

I just got back from my first ultrasound. It took her a little while to find the baby because I have a cyst on my ovary, but she finally found it. It was really nice to see it there even though it is just a tiny thingy on a screen. But we got to hear the heartbeat, and that was way cool. I feel so much relief. Everything is OK. The picture she gave us looked better on the screen where we could see the shape of the baby much better, but I thought I would post it anyways.

She told me that when we fly i have to get up every 2 hours and walk for 10 minutes. I am really nervous about this. I usually sit in my seat and don't get up the entire time!! I figured I would have to get up a few times to go to the bathroom since I pee all the time. But I didn't think I would have to get up so much. But I definitely don't want to get a blood clot, so I will do what she says.

I am super happy today

busy busy

I have been super tired this week. It seems like I should have been doing more but I just couldn't get the energy to. I have trouble sleeping at night, so many things going through my head about our trip to Michigan and everything else that i just can't shut my brain down. I did get one of the suitcases pack this past week. It is just full of gifts but still. I also finished that baby quilt for Dave's step-sister's baby. But next week I have lots to do so I hope I can sleep better at night so I am not so exhausted. I have to take Wendy to the vet on Monday then my OB appointment is on Wednesday, and I have to pack all of our clothes and clean the house really well.

Other than being so tired I have been feeling OK. Twice this week I made dinner but then couldn't eat it because it smelled gross to me. Dave thought it was funny. I am really excited about my OB appointment this week. I have lots of questions.

If I have time next week I will blog about how my appointment goes. Whew I feel a little overwhelmed. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

the 411

  So I just got back from the orientation at the hospital. And I have to say there are lots of concerns running through my head. The clinic nurse was there and gave us upfront info about having a baby here in Misawa, and she was blunt. The hospital here isn't capable of handing anything but normal situations. They can't do twin births, or deal with ANY complications. Now I am not planning to have problems but if I do I would really be upset if I have to be hauled to a Japanese hospital where they don't speak English ... or be taken to Okinawa. She made it a point to say it is easy to go to the states to have the baby, just tell her and she will get you your stuff together and find a place in the area you will be in that takes Tricare Prime. But you can't fly after your 7th month or something like that.... SO that means months of being away from your spouse and staying at someone's house..... But what really bothered me is that when the SrA went around figuring out everyone's due dates I heard a girl tell her she would like to get an earlier appointment to talk to someone because she is having severe cramping. And the SrA told her that's OK, cramps are alright. And the girl said but they are really bad and they even wake me up at night they hurt so bad. And the SrA told her that its fine just as long as she isn't bleeding... and told her if she starts to bleed more than a pantyliner to call the clinic...... But I was thinking WHY wouldn't they get her in earlier??? At least to ease her mind you know? I know I have had some cramps but I am pretty sure they are gas related... But either way I know how much I worry every time I have one.... And I would like to ask a Dr. about a thousand questions myself... But that girl is probably scared and if she does miscarry, heaven forbid, she is going to be upset that she was told it was OK when it wasn't. I know I had bad cramps before I miscarried... And maybe seeing the Dr. wouldn't have changed anything but I just wanted to be able to ask if they were normal and I was told I would have to wait over a month( till week 10) to get my first Dr. appointment. But this time I was going to pitch a fit if I had to wait a long long time again to get in. I have to wait 2 weeks for my first appointment and ultrasound... but I know how that girl feels... Nervous.
Well, I am not going to worry about anything. Worrying won't help...I'm just gonna pray everything works itself out. But, boy if God set things up so I decided to go to the States to have this baby I would be so excited. I am a little worried about having my first baby so far away from my mom. Plus... I don't know what the chances are that we will want to take an infant on 12 hour flight.... probably slim. But when I have the baby we will have less than a year left here... so if we don't make it home until we PCS back to the US... the baby will be one before any of our family members get to see him or her. That makes me sad. But that is thinking way ahead isn't it?!!! It's hard for me not to, living in a foreign country is tricky!

cleaning things out

I love love LOVE finally getting around to things I have been meaning to do. Don't you?!! Last night I finally made banana bread! I had SO many bananas in the freezer it was ridiculous. I mean I knew there were a bunch, but I took them all out and there were 24!!! Enough to make 8 loaves of banana bread. But I only have one loaf pan ( something I have been meaning to do- buy another loaf pan) so it takes forever to bake and start another. I ended up making 3 loaves and 2 batches of muffins. Dave took the loaves to his coworkers and he took a batch of muffins to be eaten at the office and then the other batch is for us! How excited I was to look in my freezer today and see that mess gone. I have been trying to clean out the freezer. I think all that is left in there right now are 2 salmon steaks, a bunch of ham ( leftover from Christmas) that I have soup plans for and a bag of corn. I am so happy. Then for dinner tonight I cleaned out the pantry of a bunch of stuff we have had in there for.... I can't say how long exactly. Sadly I think some of that stuff is from when I had a job and kept easy stuff around to fall back on. I found some leftover potato flakes from last Sept when I had my wisdom teeth out!! There was a box of stove top that I am pretty sure was from when I worked.... and I found some garlic and cheddar biscuits in there. SO we had a great dinner. Barbecue shake n bake chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and cheddar biscuits. I just feel so proud that I used all that stuff up! Maybe I will make a ham and corn chowder I think I have a recipe for something like that in a recipe booklet I bought not long ago. Then my freezer will make me very happy.
Tomorrow I have my pregnancy orientation at the hospital. It is super early in the morning and I have no idea where the meeting room is . The hospital is like a maze, it took my 15 minutes to find the OB clinic for my pregnancy test!! But I am excited to hear what they have to say. I know i have lots of things I am wondering about right now so hopefully tomorrow I will get an understand of everything. Eeeeeee!!!

EXCITEMENT

  Eeeee. I am getting so excited. I have been trying not to be too excited about our trip home, because if I am too excited the days will creep by so slowly, it will drive me nuts. But now that it is just over 3 weeks away I can't help it. We have lots of stuff planned .... Tiger Game, 4 days up north at our family cabin, a Toby Keith Concert, a BBQ with our friends from Luke who just happen to be in Michigan now doing recruiting, a quilting day with my sister, I am throwing a purse party.... and lots of other stuff too. Then this morning I checked my email and somehow I get a Detroit concert update and I usually delete them but today I opened it and my FAVORITE band is going to have a concert in Detroit while we are home. And it just so happens to be on our only day with nothing planned yet!! Isn't that fate?? SO I bought tickets and emailed Dave at work and he is so excited too!! And I have so many other things to be excited about... Like expecting our first baby!!! And Dave's new job is working out awesome for us!!( obviously because he has only been at this job for a month and we got pregnant!) Oh!! AND that books swap thing I signed up for is great!! I already got my first book and I have mailed out a bunch of books and most have arrived already! And I have a bunch of new books on their way to me!
I am just really happy...
p.s. This picture is of the old cabin up north. No one sleeps in it anymore, they use it to store the lawn mower and snow mobiles. But when my mom was younger her and her 4 siblings and her parents and her grandma all stayed in there. it is so tiny and there is no toilet. but its fun to look around in there. There is a really old fridge and old furniture.. . But the house that was built to replace it is so nice and roomy and it has a bathroom! Dave and I love it up there... Except there are wild animals.

wierd things, happy things, scary things

Weird things first... This morning I woke up to drive Dave to work and on the way I kept seeing these white things on the side of the road. At first I thought it was patched of frost or something. I asked Dave and it took him a while to figure out they were spider webs. They were all over the grass. It gave me the heebie geebies. There were so many of them it was creepy. We have some spiders here that are amazing actually. Our fence is covered with webs during the warm months. They are not like any webs I had seen before we lived here. You can't spray them away with the hose and if you have the guts to pull the web off it is back the next day. They are kind of pretty though.

The happy and scary things are the same really. I went today for my pregnancy test at the hospital and it came back positive. So we are really excited, but I am scared. I don't want to go through another miscarriage. That was really rough. I just keep praying everything will be okay this time.

who knew?

I am so tired this morning. Last night I woke up at one am after a terrible nightmare. Before we went to bed we watched The Deadliest Catch. It was scary watching it....That's right a fishing show made me scared. And apparently I was upset enough to have a horrible nightmare about being on the ocean. I like to look at the ocean but I am terrified of drowning in it. When we watched that movie Poseidon last year I had to leave because I was about to have a panic attack. I had to go spend 10 minutes in the bathroom trying to catch my breath.
But last night was terrible... I woke up thinking that a wave had washed over the bed and I actually had to look around to see where I was. It was hot and I couldn't stop freaking out. So I went to the living room and slept on the sofa. Luckily Beethoven was on and it made me feel more relaxed.
I hope I got enough sleep to get me through the day.