WOW TALK ABOUT PREGNANCY BRAIN.  It sure has been a busy day off and now my brain appears to have shut off.  I  wrote the title for this blog and then no content before I  posted it.

Well Today I did my first and hopefully only glucose test for this pregnancy. For those who have never taken it you drink this sugar liquid and then have to sit for an hour before the take your blood to measure your glucose levels. In the past they had used a coke like solution that was super sweet and those who had it said it was terrible to drink. These days they use a more bland sugar solution that while not bad to drink is definitely not pleasant to drink. I just hope I do not FAIL the test which means the glucose reading is to high. This does not mean that I necessarily have Gestational Diabetes, just that it could be. It does mean that I would have to do the two hour test which also has an additional blood test required to complete and not peeing for two hours. If you are or have been pregnant you know that it is hard for a pregnant women to hold it for two hours and just sit around and wait.

Have you ever noticed how many aches and pains you have or notice when you are pregnant? Wigth this pregnancy I am finding that I have had or noticed more aches and pains associated with it. This can be from the position of the placenta, size and number of babies or from previous pregnancies. In my case  I think some alot of this  can be attributed to the pregnancy losses I had in pregnancy 1 and 3. These kinds of losses make a person more vigilant about what is happening with there bodies or some may call it paranoid. 
Myself I would prefer to error on the side of caution and get checked out than run the risk of putting my life or that of my unborn child in danger.  This is what saved my life with the ectopic pregnancy and today's visit gave me a sense of piece. It is very easy for a person to think of all the scary possibilities of what something is or dismiss what could be a possible danger. Lucky for me it is not anything that is dangerous to this pregnancy. The babies heartbeat was a good strong 143BPM.

Well the day has finally arrived for our 20 week or halfway baked ultrasound. I am just a little excited at the prospect of seeing my baby and finding out who she/he is. It doesn't matter really if it is one or the other but since I have my boy I would love a girl. Guess we will see.

Updated July 17th 

Its a GIRL. The tech seemed pretty sure that we are going to have a girl and showed us the three lines on the screen that show her the girl bits. Have to say that I could not see what she was talking about but will take her word for it. I can now go shopping a bit and make sure to get gift receipts just in case. This house is going to have a lot of pink soon. 

When you are getting ready for the first child, all you have to worry about yourself and your partner ready to be parents. I mean sure you have your doubts. Can we really do this? Will we be good parents? What if I make a mistake? The reality yes you can do this, yes you will make mistakes and yes with Love and hard work you will be good parents.

With the first child, we parents have the luxury of time to get ready for the event including:

• Time to sleep when you are tired 
  
• The ability to say I am just going to do nothing actually be able to do nothing.
  
• Just Enjoying your pregnancy
  

You don't have anyone else to worry about needing to take care of and put their needs above your own. The joy of being a second time parent is you know that you can do this, you have already made the rookie parent mistakes and you are a good parent. With the second or third the questions change from Can I to:

• How will my other child or children be as a sibling?
  
• Will he/she feel left out when the baby comes home? 
  
• Will they be jealous?
  
• HOW DO YOU GET THEM READY FOR THE NEW ADDITION TO THE FAMILY????????????

I think for me the biggest question I have been working on is how to get my son ready for the baby. I want him to accept the baby and be an awesome big brother. I know that when we bring the baby home he will need to take time to adjust to and figure out his new place in the family. I can only hope that we will be able to prepare him enough that he knows we love him forever and will like him for always.

We have already started to try getting him ready for the baby by talking about the changes he has noticed going on with mom. He can tell you where the baby is if you ask and smiles most of the time when asked the question. I have asked him if he will help me with changing the baby, he answers YES. When I Ask if he will share his toys, the answer changes to NO.  I guess all we can do at the moment is:

•  Keep talking about the baby and remind him how much we love him.
  
• Spend time doing things he enjoys so he learns that no matter what else is going on we love him.
  
• Ready books on where babies come from and the great things about being a big brother.
•  And when the baby is born, make special time just for him along with asking for his help in taking care of his new sibling.
  

Many people wonder if pregnancy brain is real and I am here to say yes it is real. I have had moments where I forget for a minute what I was going to do or say. Sometimes I forget names and how to do something I have done a million times. Okay, a million may be exaggerating but here is a [rime example of Baby Brain. At my regular OB appointment we did the normal how are things going, measuring where you should be and see you in 4 weeks. Normally I would then go and book the next appointment but this time went right to the car and told hubby about the appointment. Then did a Homer and walk back in to book my next appointment. See Pregnancy Brain really exists.

 Have you ever noticed how when a women is pregnant here emotions can go from one extreme to another in seconds?  Have you ever noticed the number of jokes such as the one quoted here? All of this brought to us by the letter H for hormones.
 Hormones are amazing things. They are responsible for many of the changes to our bodies during pregnancy. They are doing great things one moment and the next moment they are literally a pain in the butt.
 I am amazed at how many times I have noticed the effects of pregnancy hormones have had on me. Their is the obvious enlargement of the breasts  and belly. I have also noticed that I will sometimes start to cry at times that I would not normally cry at. My patience seems shorter and find me reminding myself to calm down at the littlest things. As Peg  from Peg and Cat would say ...." count down from 5 to 1". I am sure as this pregnancy goes foreword I will notice a lot more of the wonderful things hormones do.

With the expanding waist line  comes the spreading of the news and the expanded number of people aware of your pregnancy.  While I had wanted to shout this pregnancy from the roof tops when we found out, I decided that a more cautious approach might be best with my history of perinatal loss.  I know of cases where people did share early and then suffered a miscarriage which can be hard when everyone asks how things are going. I am glad that  I had shared with a few close friends before we had our miscarriage, they became my support group afterwards.
Now that we are in a safer time, I have decided on a more subtle method and that is telling my friends and family as I see them.  All I can say is the reactions of some when they see me is priceless. I was at a family event recently and one or two people were ready to burst trying not to ask and then asking anyways. More to write later, time to get ready for work.

It is 6 AM And I am awake and out of bed. Not the kind of awake where you feel refreshed but the kind where you wish you could go back to sleep but wonder if you will be more tired if you do? What will my day be like if I go back to sleep or stay up?
I am finding this time that I am having more nights of bad sleep mostly from having trouble finding a comfortable sleep position and the rest from having to get up to peee all the time....TMI? as I said in a past post, get over it.  A person shares more than just their bathroom routine with their doctor, the residents, the nurses and ultrasound or lab techs, so might as well get used to sharing everything.
As I am reading this I can see how the lack of sleep is making me witchy as I call it. I know that I have had to consciously make a few word choices to keep this post polite and yet still open and honest. Like no coffee, lack of sleep makes this girl irritable, grouchy, low on patience and down right witchy.

While nausea was a fun symptom to deal with I found the medicine I was given for it really helped. Have stopped the medicine I am finding that the nausea has all but stopped as well. My new friend is now heartburn.
Heartburn for me feels like my chest is on fire and trying to burn a whole through my chest. It makes me feel sick and kinda like puking. I know, TMI. (See past post) I have a feeling that GAVISCON is going to be my friend again this pregnancy, I am amazed how early it has started to wreak havoc with my life. Well time for another GAVISCON.

June 15 th - I have found my new favourite cure for heartburn, or at least a good helper to keep it at bay. GUM. Thats right, gum has been helping me deal with the fun of heartburn. They say it is something to do with the creation of saliva and such. What ever the reason I am a fan of gum and the affect it has on my heartburn problems.