Monday, June 24, 2013

Pregnancy: Weeks 7 to 11

We were completely surprised and excited to find out that I had gotten pregnant so quickly this time. It took us over a year to conceive Ryan. We assumed that we would be in for another long wait the second time around. We prayed that the chemo drugs hadn't damaged my fertility for good.

God answered our prayers by giving us the greatest blessing in the world! After all of our struggles, something in life had finally happened easily for us! It is still hard for me to believe that this is really happening.

Ever since we found out, I have been nervous about everything going smoothly. There are way too many heartbreaking stories, especially during these early weeks of pregnancy. Please keep us in your prayers that our baby continues to grow and is healthy.

I regret not writing down and recording things as they happened during my last pregnancy. I feel like those 40 weeks flew by and I barely remember them. So, this time, I plan on just jotting down a few notes and taking pictures each week. I started at 7 weeks...


Week 7

Baby’s development:  
-100 new brain cells are being made each minute
-arm and leg buds are beginning to grow
-mouth, tongue, and kidneys are forming

Pregnancy symptoms:
-intense headaches
-dizziness
-sore boobs
-morning sickness/queasiness throughout the day (since week 5)

Cravings:
-greek yogurt
-smoothies
-fruits (especially bananas)
-peanut butter

Aversions:
-salty foods
-fried foods
-Mexican food
-most all cooked foods 

Movement: n/a

Gender: no idea

Total weight gain/loss:  0

Belly button in or out? in

Best moment of the week: graduating with my master's degree with straight A's!

Looking forward to: first doctor’s appointment 



Week 8

Baby’s development:
-upper lip, nose, and eyelids are forming
-fingers and toes are separating

Pregnancy symptoms:
-morning sickness/queasiness throughout the day
-sore boobs
-feel very tired

Cravings:
-sandwiches
-salads
-fruits
-smoothies
-honey roasted peanuts

Aversions:
-most all cooked foods
-salty foods
-fried foods

Movement: n/a

Gender: no idea

Total weight gain/loss: 0

Belly button in or out? in

Best moment of the week: seeing the baby on ultrasound and hearing the heartbeat!  

Looking forward to: road trip to Connecticut next week

First picture of our little bean at 8 weeks 2 days. Heartbeat was 178.


Week 9

Baby’s development:
-officially a fetus (no longer an embryo)
-liver, spleen, and gallbladder are forming
-tiny muscles are starting to develop

Pregnancy symptoms:
-morning sickness/queasiness throughout the day
-feel very tired

Cravings:
-sandwiches
-peanut butter

Aversions:
-most all cooked foods
-salty foods
-fried foods

Movement: n/a

Gender: no idea

Total weight gain/loss: 0

Belly button in or out? in

Best moment of the week: visiting Barry's sister

Looking forward to: telling our family the big news!




Week 10

Baby’s development:
-bones, cartilage, knees, and ankles are forming
-arms and elbows can flex
-teeth are forming under the gums
-stomach and kidneys are functioning

Pregnancy symptoms:
-morning sickness/queasiness throughout the day
-feel bloated

Cravings:
-protein (greek yogurt, meat, more peanut butter)
-sandwiches
-salads

Aversions:
-fried foods
-salty foods

Movement: n/a

Gender: no idea

Total weight gain/loss: 0

Belly button in or out? in

Best moment of the week: spending lots of time outside

Looking forward to: next doctor's appointment




Week 11


Baby’s development:
-hair follicles are forming
-fingernail and toenail beds are developing
-testes or ovaries are developing
-baby can do stretches, somersaults, and forward rolls

Pregnancy symptoms:
-feel queasy only at night
-bloated

Cravings:
-sweet, baked goods
-fruits
-sandwiches
-salads
-breakfast foods
-chicken (weird, because last pregnancy I had an aversion)

Aversions:
-fried foods

Movement: n/a

Gender: I'm guessing girl and Barry is guessing boy (the opposite of what we thought last time, with Ryan)

Total weight gain/loss: +1

Belly button in or out? in

Best moment of the week: seeing our baby on ultrasound, hearing the heartbeat again, and the doctor telling us that the down syndrome test measurement results came back normal (lowest risk)

Looking forward to: California next week!


I was pretty nervous driving to my doctor appointment and sitting in the waiting room with Barry and Ryan. Until I can start feeling movements, the only way to know whether the baby is okay is by ultrasound/doppler.  When I saw him/her and heard the heartbeat for the second time, I was sooooo relieved that I started crying!

Second picture of our little bean at 11 weeks 3 days. Heartbeat was 154.



Belly Growth:

I'm definitely showing much sooner than I did with my first pregnancy!



Sunday, June 23, 2013

Hey! Guess What?!



It's true! We are thrilled to announce that we are expecting another little one, due January 8, 2014. I am 11 and a half weeks pregnant and we are beyond excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sunday, June 16, 2013

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the amazing dads who make sacrifices for their children, loving them unconditionally each and every day!

This year, Ryan did finger painting and made handprint trees to give to his daddy and both grandpas.

A Poem for Daddy

My footprint is small but getting bigger everyday
I am learning by watching you work, love, and play
Remember when your days are long and you can't walk another mile
That this little footprint makes it all worthwhile

My hands are getting bigger too
I use them to play and love to chew
One day my hands will do much more
I hope you will teach me what they are better for
~author unknown

Summer 2011
Spring 2012
Spring 2013 
I love how Ryan is so much like his daddy! He looks exactly like Barry's mini-me (with the exception of having mommy's blue eyes and fine hair) and he also inherited daddy's love of cars, boats, planes (basically any transportation), sports, and sleep. You know that he doesn't get that stuff from mommy!

They are seriously the most awesome guys that I know. I always think about how grateful I am to have these two. Barry is such an involved parent. He spends at least a couple hours a day with Ryan, even on days that he goes to work. I think that it is so healthy for Ryan to feel that both of his parents play an active role in his daily life. I love that the 3 of us spend lots of time together because it makes us a more close-knit family. We are very blessed.

When we were picking out Father's Day cards, Ryan originally picked out one with a dinosaur, but then decided to go with a Mr. Potato Head card, because he didn't want daddy to "be very scared of the dinosaur's teeth".  LOL

I hope that everyone enjoys celebrating their dads today... it takes a truly special man to be there through thick and thin for his family.


Thursday, June 6, 2013

Circadian Rhythms, Light Therapy, and Vitamin D


This past winter, a blood test determined that I had an extreme vitamin D deficiency. I also had a delayed sleep phase disorder. My doctors prescribed light therapy and vitamin D supplements, which I have been taking since February. I found that they help me tremendously. I no longer have fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle weakness, daytime sleepiness, or insomnia!

Circadian Rhythms

We all have a biological clock that controls our circadian rhythms, which affects things like our body temperature, appetite, alertness, and sleep timing. For some of us, the genetic makeup of our circadian timing system causes our bodies to deviate from the typical pattern. For as long as I can remember, I have had abnormal circadian rhythms that led to me feeling the most energetic right around the time that everybody else is going to sleep. I have also always been ridiculously tired in the mornings (basically, any time before noon). I usually managed to get by on very little sleep during the weekdays and then I would sleep until the afternoon on the weekends to make up for it. 


But over the past two years, my sleep patterns had got even worse. It was at the point where, on a daily basis, I would not sleep the whole night and still be wide awake at 7:00am when I needed to wake up at 8:30 or 9am. Then I would crash in the late morning and not be able to function throughout the rest of the day on a normal schedule. I desperately needed to find something to help, because I couldn’t do the things that I wanted to do at the times that they needed to be done. I followed people’s advice, such as not consuming any caffeine or sugar, but I still found myself awake all hours of the night.

I ended up going sleep specialist, who told me that I had a delayed sleep phase disorder, causing me to operate about 9 hours behind everyone else, both in falling asleep and waking up. She recommended for me to try light therapy (typically used to treat S.A.D.) which involves sitting in front of a bright light that mimics natural outdoor light, minus the harmful UV rays. I honestly thought that it sounded like a gimmick at first, especially since I didn’t see how light therapy could possibly work for both S.A.D. and sleep disorders, but I was willing to give it a try. 

Light Therapy

I was happy to find that, after getting a light and using it for only two weeks, my circadian rhythms automatically adjusted. I was finally sleepy at night and energetic during the day! Since I need to be exposed to the light for 30 minutes every morning, I chose to go with the visor, rather than the light box, so that I can move around and do daily activities (getting dressed, breakfast, or driving to wherever I am going) at the same time. 


I now generally sleep from about 1:30am to 8:30am, which isn’t perfect (the sleep specialist said that I will always be a night owl because that is how my body is naturally) but it is much more reasonable than before.

I look silly wearing it, but Ryan loves the hat and says that he wants
to wear a light hat like mommy. Ha! I hope that he never has to!


Vitamin D

I originally hoped that the light therapy used for circadian rhythms would also help to bring up my vitamin D levels, but since there are no UV rays involved, it does not provide any vitamin D. While I do go outside daily (especially now that the weather is gorgeous!) and eat foods that contain Vitamin D, it just isn’t enough for me. I think that it would be for some people, but all of our bodies are unique and process things differently. So, at the recommendation of my doctor, I now take an additional vitamin D supplement every day.


Since I hate taking lots of pills, I opted for Carlson’s vitamin D drops along with Carlson’s liquid fish oil for the added health benefits. I also started taking Magnesium, since it works together with Vitamin D. I have never really taken vitamins before in my adult life (except prenatal) but since I have started taking these, my body feels less achy and more energetic.



Why Vitamin D is essential… 

Vitamin D can help our bodies in various ways: increasing muscle energy, reducing muscle fatigue, promoting calcium absorption, reducing inflammation, encouraging bone growth, regulating cell growth and cell activity, helping the immune system, protecting against osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, rickets, and hypertension, reducing stress, reducing depression, strengthening hair and teeth, improving brain function, and aiding in weight loss. Furthermore, vitamin D may even play a role in the prevention of certain types of cancers.

According to this article“Strong evidence indicates that intake or synthesis of vitamin D is associated with reduced incidence and death rates of colon, breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers. More than 1000 laboratory and epidemiological studies have been published concerning the association between vitamin D and its metabolites and cancer. Long-term studies have demonstrated the efficacy of moderate intake of vitamin D in reducing cancer risk and, when administered with calcium, in reducing the incidence of fractures.”

This article states that, "Though the relationship between vitamin D and breast cancer remains unclear, a growing body of research currently supports vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for breast cancer" and "vitamin D deficiency has been shown to promote the growth of human breast cancer cells in the bones of nude mice, suggesting that vitamin D might promote cancer growth by altering the bone microenvironment.”

I also found it interesting how this article says that a "variation in VDR (vitamin D receptor gene) may be associated with breast cancer risk." Maybe that explains why some of us are prone to having low levels of vitamin D?

Regardless of how little or how much protection vitamin D can offer me from a cancer recurrence, I still think that it is important for my overall health to make sure that I am getting plenty of it. Foods that contain vitamin D include: eggs, cod liver oil, mackerel, mushrooms, catfish, herring, tuna, salmon, sardines, fatty fish, and fortified dairy products. However, a healthy diet alone often isn't enough to fulfill the daily requirements of vitamin D. 

So we should make sure to spend lots of time outside this summer and try to get an extra dose of vitamin D!


 
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