Ok, this is the sucky part! I promise not to complain too much during the first trimester! The prometrium the doctor put me on for increasing my levels of progesterone as an at-risk pregnancy is making this a most inconvenient and miserable time. The nausea alone is nearly a deal breaker. In less than 24 hours I went from barely noticing my nausea to having every smell, every taste, not to mention water making me want to puke. I found that only two things don't make me want to vomit...Chick'fil'a sandwiches and bean/cheese burritos...not super healthy, I know! For the first 4 days I'd get super dizzy after taking my medication. So dizzy I couldn't turn my head without wanting to pass out! Thankfully, I have either adjusted to the meds or eliminated the symptom by not taking them on an empty stomach. When water isn't making my tastebuds feel/taste like they have a coating of burnt plastic over them it makes me bloat up like I'm 7 months not 7 weeks! Everything I consume makes me want to belch, but cannot, and causes all my clothes to make me feel like a tied off sausage. For over a week now I have been pretty uncomfortable, but I did manage to make a new bestest friend in Maalox! Boy does that help with all the above discomforts!!!!

Next week we go back to the doctor and hopefully Ty will be able to hear the heart beat of this little bugger.

Despite Uncle Dr. Chris' assurances of a little girl, I think this one will be a boy. Just a little family history that gives me the feeling. Boys are dominant in my family (11 boys/7 girls, and those are just the first cousins, nevermind the 13 male second cousins that I have never even met) and statistics like that mean more to me than those Chris gave us last week (no offense!). Ty wants to know the sex right away so as soon as we find out we will let you know...Frankly I don't care, I just like to make Ty squirm with thoughts of a teenage girl!!!

Hope you are all well...or at least doing better than me!

Love ya all!

K.

A Hint on DemonSpawn's Real Name

OK, so we'll tease a bit. The name for our child can be found here - WikiPedia Link. The name is on this list, regardless of gender (no "sir" is not part of the name). Can you find it? Do you have an idea? Leave a comment and tell us!

Oh yeah, we're going to "George Forman" all our kid's middle names - for boys it will be Christopher, for girls, some feminine variant of Christopher. Hit the poll to vote for your favorite girl version*.

Love to all,
Ty

* Please note your vote won't count for s#!t in the end, but it's nice to see what everyone thinks.

Baby's First Picture

Here it is...mugging for the camera...Baby Robbins, or the DemonSpawn as we call it.

Yesterday Karna had her first baby appointment and her OB/GYN prescribed Prometrium; when she filled the prescription, the first warning on the label is: "Not to be taken by pregnant women." Hmmm...not a reassuring start to this medical relationship. That made us look up the drug we used to help get pregnant; Femara: "Can cause birth defects, not to be used for infertility." Holy s#1t! Now we're (ok, I'm) really freaking out!

We (OK, I) called Dr. Uncle Chris last night with some questions after Karna's first appointment, and he calmed us (OK, me) down. Then he consulted an OB associate (maybe he was a bit freaked out too?) who told us Karna's doc is doing great. The Femara dose was so low for so short a time, it won't have an effect on the kid, and the progesterone is meant to keep the kid inside (Karna had a lower natural progesterone count). So we (OK, she and the kid) are doing great!!

So this artistic black and white rendering of DemonSpawn tells us a few things:

• There's only one sack, so it's not a twin from the Femara.
• It could be an identical twin, but that's not likely unless in this picture DemonSpawn is hiding it's sibling.
• The kid already has a heartbeat of 118 beat/minute, Karna heard it, so that's about the same as my heart rate these days.
• All this is really a good sign!!

Thanks to Dr. Uncle Chris (I only use the Dr. when I ask him for medical advice) for the info, I feel much better now. Oh and we'll thank him too for giving us his consummate statistical conclusion that this is a girl DemonSpawn. I will reserve judgement on that one until the next set of Polaroids. Until then, it is still an IT!! But it's our it and we're proud of it.

Love to all,
Ty

First Appointment

As Ty said I had my first appointment today. The doctor sprung an "internal" ultrasound on me so I didn't even have the chance to call Ty to let him know until after it was all said and done. Ty and I discussed which of our 2 names would be best for this baby if it is only going to be one, but we won't tell you just yet!! We are at almost 4mm, which makes us 6 weeks. The doctor gave us a due date of June 4...just in time for Father's Day!! Hooray!!

I still haven't told my family or work yet, although the news was 'leaked' at the firehouse, and I am anxious to say something to my family, but the doctor suggested waiting a few more months, as I had originally suggested to Ty. It may make a nice Christmas announcement to my family.

The morning sickness has been pretty easy so far, but with the addition of the progesterone prescription it is likely to get worse. The doctor suggested that I may experience symptoms similar to PMS and be grouchy and irritable as well as have cramps while taking the meds. He also thought that I'd have increased nausea. I'm not looking forward to that, but hey, what can you do. I signed on for this wholeheartedly!

Love to all,
Karna

Dubious Data?

Karna went in for her first doctor's appointment and we are now officially, medically pregnant. I am thrilled, but ultimately it's a mixed experience for me for a few reasons:

• I am ecstatic for the verification (but I didn't really need it).
• The Doctor did an ultrasound and only saw one baby, we were hoping for twins.
• The baby's already got a heart rate of 118 beats per minute! This is really exciting.
• I missed the first ultrasound. This has me really quite upset, we though this appointment would just be blood draws.
• The doctor told Karna she shouldn't tell anyone she's pregnant because of her high risk for spontaneous abortion. He even gave her a prescription for progesterone to boost her hormone levels so her body doesn't reject the pregnancy.

So the ultimate outcome is that we are pregnant and so far everything looks great. I am thrilled! I guess more than anything else I will be more conscious of the road were on and not take anything for granted.

I will keep you updated. Love to all,
Ty