Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

No, seriously. Do it. I know you've got more.. Yes more. Because I JUST felt her kick!!

Okay, that's really all I have to write about... I just wanted to document it lol

Don't Stop Believing.

So, now that Mark and I know what is going on, I feel comfortable sharing this with everybody who wasn't aware anything was evening wrong.

A month ago I was flagged for Trisomy 21. That is how we found out Madison was a girl at 17 weeks rather than during my original 20 week scan we had scheduled; we needed an ultrasound to narrow down the likelihood that Madison would be born with Down Syndrome. Going into the geneticist we were told that from my blood test they had noticed an abnormally large presence of one of the four hormones that are released during pregnancy. With what they saw, they put Madison in a 1 in 40 chance for Down Syndrome. After speaking to the geneticist we were sent for the second tier; an ultrasound. Everything measured perfectly, but there were two soft markers. Soft markers are common finding in babies with Down Syndrome. The first soft marker was a Choroid plexus cyst in the baby's brain. This would not affect the baby's brain, and they are found in perfectly healthy babies. They typically go away on their own. They also found a dark spot in the heart, typically they are calcium build ups. Also, the baby's heart would not be affected by this, and perfectly healthy children have this as well, but it is a soft marker. These two soft markers brought her chance of being born with Down Syndrome to 1 in 20.

After that we were sent into a consultation room. We were told about the soft markers, and asked if we had decided if we were going to go ahead with Amniocentesis. Amnio testing does have a risk of miscarriage, I had already researched it, and I was not okay with that so I declined immediately. Earlier in the appointment we were told about a test, MaterniT21. It was another blood test. They would take my blood, thus no potential for harm to the baby, and from that they could find DNA from the baby to count chromosomes. It is 95-99% effective in diagnosis Trisomy 21, more towards 95% for Trisomy 18, and about 65% for Trisomy 13. They weren't concerned about 18 or 13, just 21, so I agreed to have that test done. I was told it would take two weeks for the test results to come back, and they did. Today.

Today I got a call. The area code was Wilmington, where my appointment was, so I knew exactly what they were calling to tell me. They were calling to tell me whether my baby was going to be born with Down Syndrome or not.

On or around November 11th, 2012 I will have a baby girl. Her name will be Madison Brianna J. and she will be beautiful and 100% healthy. I nearly cried on the phone, but I pulled it together. The tests came back negative for all forms of Trisomy. She will be a normal, healthy baby girl. I felt in my heart that everything was fine, but it feels so much better to have that reassurance.

Give Me All Your Luvin'

Say hello to Madison Brianna. Yep, you got that right, it's a girl! We found under unfortunate circumstances, which I'm not going to discuss with anybody other than those who are already aware of the situation, so please do not press the issue. I will not talk about it right now. Soon enough, people. Soon enough. I will say that the ultrasound went very well, all things considered. She is measuring exactly where she should be.


More good news: I don't feel like hell anymore! Hip hip horray! I've cleaned the house like 3 times this week... that's every other day... that's like 2 times more than usual. And 3 times more when I was in the middle of Morning Sickness hell. My house is now clean on a daily basis... that deserves a drink-- oh wait.

I haven't thrown up in at least two weeks. As long as I stay away from too much dairy, and little to no eggs or chicken I'm good to go.

In under three weeks I'll be getting another ultrasound, in Florida, with my family. My mother is getting us a 4D ultrasound, which I'm super excited about. I love seeing her move around, which she does. Alot. I just pray that she stays a she!

I'm also feeling her move on a daily basis. Not big moves, just kicks-- mostly after food because apparently I'm growing a porker. A butthole of a porker, too. Daddy's chili? Kick. Momma's taco pie? Nada.... an hour after Momma's taco pie she grabs applesauce and THAT makes her happy. Really!? Whatevs... guess somebody is already a Daddy's Girl. I will win her over with kisses, and hugs, and clothes when the time comes. Your days are numbered, Daddy.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

Just kidding, please don't. I can't take much more.

Today is day THREE of not feeling like shit. I feel like a damn lottery winner after this past Sunday/Monday. 13 weeks hit me like a ton of bricks. I threw up twice Sunday night, woke up Monday and had to call in because I was on the verge of throwing up every time I so much as blinked the wrong way. I couldn't keep ANYTHING down the entire day. I had to resort to sleeping the entire day, especially RIGHT after eating (which is supposed to be a no-no) so I fell back asleep before I could throw up.

BUT... I had a headache Tuesday night, and that was that. Nothing yesterday, nothing today :) Well besides my new symptom: Who the fuck didn't warn me that I would be stabbed in the tit on occassion throughout the day!? But... that's better than nausea from sun up to sun down. I was able to clean the whole house yesterday, and today I put up new blinds in the bathroom since Mark is too lazy to do it :P Well that and he's too busy picking up my slack lol He's been a real go getter ;D He'll do the dishes, laundry, AND bing fuckin' boom he COOKS!? He drinks every day, but I'll take that as a small price to pay for him being a motivator :P But, remember, I cleaned yesterday! He still cooked, but that's not the point xD

Oh, and he's buying a go kart today. Lord help our back yard. Lord help our poor puppies. And Lord help this baby because I'll be damned if I ain't test drivin' that thing! Keep your "You're pregnant, don't do that, it's baaaad" comments to yourself. It's a go kart. In my back yard. Nobody is going to hit me, I'm not going to be doing sweet jumps, and if the thing flips hell hath frozen over.

So yeah, that's my update about the ever so lovely world of pregnancy. After two months of misery (I was fine the first month) things are looking bright again! I'm feeling better, I'm finally starting to look more pregnant than fat, and my husband is good for more than impregnating some lazy chick with an obsession with flavored water & starches.

You're Mine To Love

9 Week Ultrasound

Houston we have A baby! I'm dumb, and forgot to ask what the heart beat was, but if I had to guess it was right around 150 bpm, but thats a guess from when the sound was fresh in my mind. Honestly, I still have the approx. speed in my head and the ultrasound was a week ago :P

Unfortunately, Mark couldn't make it. He had to go to a post & relief ceremony and carry a flag around (apparently his shop felt he was the best fit for this... even when he had this appointment on the board for THREE weeks, switched to days so he could come, and even more so than the guy who had done it before and knew exactly what he was doing... but that's another story.) So yeah, he was not happy that he missed it, but again, like I said, another story.

My official EDD is November 11th (2012). The day after my mom & stepdad's anniversary. It's so strange because SO many significant dates in our relationship have lined up with the same or other significant dates with their relationship.

So I'm now 10 weeks and my "ahh mahh gaaah" has settled down a lot lately. Yaay for baby taking care of it's own hormones and leaving mine alonee!! Now I'm not a sick bitchy lazy ass. I'm just a lazy ass... Okay I'm still bitchy too.

You've got a (zofran) in me.

I cannot wait until my first prenatal appointment. I'm not sure which reason is bigger for me, though... seeing my baby for the first time or getting some drugs for this God forsaken nausea. It's baaad. For the past three days (though it seems like FOREVER) I have been miserable. Sleeping all the time, because the longer I'm awake the sicker I feel. No matter what I eat nothing helps. I can't smell certain things without wanting to punch them in the face, everything anybody does annoys the piss out of me, and I just want this first trimester to be over so that maybe I can finally function for longer than an hour a day. Week six was not a great week for me. Today I should be at or darn near close to my 7 week mark. Only 5 more weeks of first trimester "bliss" yaaaaaay. Can you sense the sarcasm? I always thought I would love being pregnant... that I would feel great, alive, wonderful, happy. Nope, I feel shitty, dead, crappy, and all around exhausted. Even typing this is exhausting. So yeah, I think that's enough of an update for now... excuse me while I internally combust.

&& I was like baby, baby, baby, oh!

5 weeks. That's how far along I am. I'll be six weeks in three days. Our baby's heart is probably pumping blood right now. This week is when it divides into chambers and starts to pump blood. He's the size of an appleseed right now... no more than a little tadpole... but last week he was the size of a seasame seed, so that's a pretty big improvement I'd say! lol. And yes, I said he. I'm just going to refer to "it" as a he for now. I kind of feel like that's what it is anyway. As much as I want a little girl for my family to spoil first, I really feel like it will be a boy. Which is actually a bit unfortunate for my decorating side as well. I really want to do a Snow White themed nursery. Not literal snow white everywhere... I hate that stuff. But the colors. Red walls with white polka dots as a focal wall, behind the baby's crib. Then an iron crib with white & yellow bedding. a blue gliding reclining chair. White bookcase with lots of red & blue accents. Splashes of yellow thrown here and there. Uhg I can see it, it's gorgeous... now so see if my intuition changes lol. I think for a boy I'll do a grey & orange room with a very colorful mobile. No matter what gender the mobile will be a rainbow of bright colors, for sure.

Oh! Logan wont be our boys name anymore. Mark's stepsister had her baby two months ago or so, and we just found out that was what she named her son. I have another name in mind that we both like, but I'll stick to telling that one to a select few just incase lol

I haven't been lightheaded since those last two days, thankfully. But the exhaustion and lack of motivation is a really killer. All I want to do all day is sit around and do nothing. Hell I wanted to play video games yesterday and I didn't because I didn't want to have to move from the computer chair to the dang sofa! Hopefully this doesn't last too terribly long. I would love to get back to the gym... yeah lets face it the gym probably wont happen anymore lol.

Off the topic of baby (*le gasp!*) We finally got our new dishwasher installed!! It's soooo quiet, it's actually a rather soothing sound. Like running/bubbling water. I've used it twice today already... but not because I wanted to (which I also did...)... because I've been too lazy to hand wash. FAIL.