First Doctor Appointment

So, it is official now ... everything checked out fine at the doctor's today and I even got the fun yearly exam too. I have some tests to think about for all those genetic diseases and I have no idea what to do about it. On the one hand, I would like to know but on the other hand, if we find something negative, it might taint the pregnancy. Oh and since I am over 35 now I get the extra option of doing an amniocentesis too. It doesn't sound pleasant to me and I probably won't get it unless absolutely necessary.

Oh, I lost a pound since my last visit so my doctor was asking me about morning sickness. It is pretty much constant nausea but nothing has come up ... yet. So, I guess most of my problem is finding something to eat that appeals to me. Oddly, I find myself more nauseous after I eat rather than when my tummy is empty. Soup seems to do the trick so I am stocking up on more of that. I also notice that rich foods tend to make it worse too. Bummer!

According to my doctor ... I am 7 weeks today and due on Feb.14.2008 which is my dad's birthday. What a coincidence! She also scheduled a first trimester ultrasound for next week so let's hope it goes well. We are anxious to hear a heartbeat and she didn't do the doppler in the office because the ultrasound is much more accurate and with my uterus tipped back, it is just super hard to hear anything from a doppler.

My next appointment is on July.26.2007 and I should be 11 weeks along. She also wants to do the 1 hour glucose test at that time since I had gestational diabetes during my last trimester with Davin. Oh so fun.

~Monica~

New Job

Did I mention that I have a new job now? Too much going on to remember if I have or haven't. Anyway, it was a long process and I wasn't even looking for a job but this job found me! I have been a customer and community member of a jewelry/diamond simulant web site for many years now. They had posted that they were looking for a new web person and I sent an email inquiring about it for a friend of mine who I thought would be perfect for it. It turned out that she wasn't interested so I offered my services only because I like this company so much. My skills are rusty and I can only do it part time so they wanted to see if they could find someone full time. Well, they weren't able to so came back to me and now here I am!

So far, the work is easy enough and most of my time is spent reading code and figuring out how things work. It is amazing how quickly all that stuff comes back!

So, here are the web sites I am working on but mostly it is just tweaking existing pages and adding some new ones. Hopefully, I will be able to work on cleaning it up as time goes along.

Takara Lab Created Diamonds
Better Than Diamond (Asha Diamond Simulant)

Bah, now you know my jewelry secret!
~Monica~

My Alcohol Tolerance Tested Again

Sunday has been a very interesting day for me. Fredrik and I went to brunch at the Palisades with our friends Rod & Colleen. We are trying to have a date night together without kids every month or two. It was a ton of fun and we had a great time even though I missed out on the mimosas. I was really looking forward to those before I found out I was pregnant. Unfortunately, I also woke up this morning with my first touch of nausea and it didn't go away until we ate brunch. I even tried to have some milk & cereal as soon as I woke up but I mistakenly took a sip of OJ which completely turned my stomach. Oh what fun.

Then later that evening we had dinner at my grandparents house since my dad's cousin from Japan was in town visiting with his family. I was almost prepared to spill the beans if I was questioned why I wasn't drinking wine but I really didn't want everyone there to know. I know my grandma has good intentions but she always makes me feel like it was my fault for losing each baby. Thankfully, wine was not a huge feature at dinner like it would be if it was at my dad's house so I think I got away with it. I am afraid that my stepmom is starting to get a bit suspicious but so far she isn't saying anything ... which is so unlike her. Maybe she knows that it is too soon to ask such questions. I know she won't be able to hold it in much longer. Ugh.

At least another family event was completed without the dreaded LOOK or QUESTION. Whew!
~Monica~

It's been a while...

I didn't realize how long it has been since I blogged last. Laziness I suppose or maybe there isn't anything noteworthy to write about? Naw, probably the former. I am going to talk about some things I would rather remain private for now so my blog is only readable to myself right now. I will let some people in as time goes by and it will eventually be opened up again for all the world to see. There are just some things I would rather keep to myself right now.

On a totally different note, I decided on what exact flooring will be installed in our house! I am so excited that I can't wait to see exactly how much it will cost, what it will include and how long it will take to get done. I might add some information later about the details.

Also, my Sensaria National Convention is coming up next weekend. I can't believe it is already here and that I have been a rep for almost a year now. Time does fly when you are having fun!

Until next time,
~Monica~

Bamboo Hardwoods

I talked on the phone and exchanged a few emails with this company and like them a lot so far. Very informative and I like their web site too. We even decided to visit their showroom today and am still very impressed. The sales guy knew who I was and took the time to explain their products and what makes bamboo a good option. He even went into what makes them different from their competitors when I asked him to be honest. Unlike some of the other stores I visited ... he didn't feel it necessary to bad talk the competition in order to make their product seem better. I think Empire was the worst about this! The Bamboo Floors guy did mention some negatives about other companies but only after I brought them up and again I didn't get the feeling that he was trash talking them but it was more like a friendly warning to be cautious.

Now the true test is to bring some samples home and see how I feel. We were initially drawn to the vertical natural style since we thought it would be the most neutral with our furnishings. Bamboo generally comes in two varieties -- horizontal or vertical grain -- and two colors -- natural and carbonized. Basically, the bamboo is cut into thin strips and then laid down either horizontally or vertically, glued together and milled like hardwood planks to get the "boards". With horizontal grain, you see wider (maybe 1cm?) stripes and darker tones where the "knots" of the bamboo are. The vertical grain has much thinner (maybe 0.5cm?) stripes and the knots are harder to see. We not only liked the look of vertical natural but we discovered that it is slightly harder than the horizontal grain and even more harder than the carbonized (a coffee/caramel color) style. We are very concerned about durability because we have a dog and a kid and we know they will be hard on the floors.

Then we get introduced to strand woven bamboo. It is more than two times harder than all the other versions! It is made by shredding the bamboo into strands and combining them with a glue/resin mixture to create boards. The pattern more closely resembles a wood grain and the color is a blend between natural and carbonized. That was one of our biggest issues with the bamboo ... natural was almost too blond/pale and the carbonized was almost too dark. This strand woven seems to be between the two colors. Perfect!

We were also impressed with BHW's "tropical" species of bamboo which is significantly harder than the standard Moso variety that most bamboo floors are made from. I also like the different color variations it had and if I didn't love the strand woven, this would have been our second choice. I also liked that BHW has an exclusive contract to harvest this variety of bamboo because they helped create it. Sweet.

Now they need to come to our house and measure and get the estimate closer to what we actually want. When I spoke to them initially, I gave them 100sqft more than we are actually covering and with a slightly less expensive material. Even so, their quote was on the lower end from the other two companies and if I compared the quote to the one store that had Teragren which I felt was almost identical to BHW ... then the quote was at least $2k less! I am excited to see what they can do for us!

~Monica~

More flooring options

I spent much of the weekend and past few days looking at other flooring stores and took home some samples too. I originally was thinking that laminate flooring that looked like hardwood was going to be the way to go but as I was looking around, I noticed there were some samples of bamboo as well. I thought it was an interesting material but probably too expensive. However, when I mentioned it to my husband, he was more interested than I thought he was going to be and I ended up going back to one of the flooring stores to see what they had and took some samples home.

Today was the estimate from Nielson Brothers and I had them run the numbers for laminate and bamboo as well. It turns out that the difference in price was much less than I thought. Maybe less than $1000? I also decided to not replace the carpet in the bedrooms for now so that I could spend a little more money and get a nicer quality of bamboo. There is a huge difference out there in quality and I am learning more each day. I also don't want carpet on the stairs anymore so I am hoping that getting the stairs done in bamboo won't break the bank either. It is another reason why I am sacrificing the bedrooms for now.

~Monica~

First Nurses Appointment

I had my first nurses appointment today which is mostly just filling out paperwork and going over your medical history. I also get to pee in a cup again and get three vials of blood taken too. Fun! Most of the appointment was uneventful but we did talk a bit about my concerns about my body not rejecting the baby this time. The nurse said that they don't usually say that your chances of a miscarriage are increased until your 2nd one. However, since I am nervous they are accommodating of my fears and they will do an early ultrasound most likely. She also said that my doctor will try listening for the heartbeat at my next appointment and that amazingly most doctors are able to find it quite early. I am doubtful however since my uterus tips backward and it was really hard to hear anything with a doppler. It was even hard with the regular over the tummy ultrasound so the only way I can usually get confirmation is with that vaginal ultrasound. Super fun. I don't think I heard Davin's heartbeat for the first time until the 12/13 week appointment in my doctor's office with the doppler. I don't want to do that again!

My first doctor appointment is on 6/28.

The other news today is that I got another estimate from Great Floors today. They are slightly cheaper than Nielson Bros but not by a huge amount. For the flooring that I really liked (Teragren Bamboo) they were much more expensive but that was mostly due to the cost of the material. I have done more research and decided to give a store that specializes in bamboo a try. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say!

~Monica~

Father's Day BBQ

I wasn't ready to deal with my family knowing about my delicate condition yet but we were invited over to my sister and brother-in-law's house for a BBQ to celebrate Father's Day. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem but they always have wine before and during dinner. Last time they were suspicious of me when I didn't have any alcohol until the end of the night and it was a tiny amount. It literally made me ill just taking a few sips and I was really worried that the same thing would happen this time which would make it hard to "fake" it.

I hope I was able to today since I took a glass of wine without hesitation and took the tiniest sips when people were around and then every so often I would sneak away and dump some of the contents into the sink. I wonder if they bought it? Oh and I simply had no desire to drink alcohol and it makes me somewhat queasy to drink it.

Oh yeah, today (or maybe the day before?) my boobs started getting sore.

~Monica~

It's confirmed!

Even though I had to deal with the biggest poopy mess this morning, I managed to make it out of the house before we head out to gymnastics to pee in the cup at the doctor's office. I hope nothing is wrong with Davin since he woke up grumpy and then had the biggest, messiest diarrhea which leaked out his diaper, down his leg and onto the carpet. I didn't realize this when I picked him up to take him to the bathroom but the act of lifting him up must have released the damn and we dripped all the way to the bathtub. YUCK! This was the start of my decision to look into replacing our flooring with laminate or something besides carpet. Hopefully, more on that later.

Back to the doctor's office and they have a new office now so the whole peeing in a cup thing is a new procedure. Davin of course went into the bathroom with me and was pretty good the whole time but very curious what I was doing. I am not entirely sure these new bathrooms were intended for peeing in a cup because they used to have everything within reach of being seated on the toilet. They pretty much had that but there was no counter to put your cup after you pee. I had to put the cup on top of the toilet paper dispenser and when I did my son started reaching for it and saying, "Juice!" UGH. How gross! I immediately intercepted him and said, "Oh no that is not juice. It is yucky!" Whew.

I didn't see the usual receptacle for placing the full cup so I had to take it with me and was wandering the halls wondering what I should do with it. Thankfully, the lab tech spotted me and rescued me from my bewilderment. About 10 minutes later, they told me the good news ... I was indeed pregnant! I went ahead and scheduled my next few appointments and it started sinking in that yes ... I am pregnant ... again!

Oh, I also got an estimate from Empire Today on new flooring and I went into this without much research at all. I see their commercials all the time and thought what the heck. Let's see what the ball park is and if it is something we can even consider doing. Well, I am not impressed with them. I don't like the way they just write down a price out of thin air which I thought was ridiculous as the "retail" price. It was over $20k for about 1000sqft?? In laminate? Even their initial price was a bit steep and she was only able to lower it if she called the "warehouse" to see if there was a special price on the flooring I picked out. Of course there was a better deal out there and that was a much better price but the whole process left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess if you like a limited selection of products/colors and not having to think about the process at all, then Empire is the way to go. I am just not willing to spend over $10k of my hard earned money without getting informed and educated about what I am buying. On to more estimates!

~Monica~

Here we go again!

I guess this might be mostly a pregnancy blog as I would like to document as much as possible in an easy way. I was actually ready to try again in April but maybe subconsciously I really wasn't. I can't even remember now why we didn't try during our "window" but I know when we did baby dance it was either slightly before or after the "window" so I was pretty sure it wasn't going to happen. I think I might have been sick or something during that time but I really can't remember right now.

I had actually planned better for the month of May and marked it on my calendar when we were going to baby dance. We were joking not too long after we baby danced a few times that I was pregnant. I wish I could remember now but I felt different almost right away and every time I was really cranky when I was hungry or had a short temper with Fredrik, he kept poking fun at me that we might be pregnant. I was hopeful but still not convinced when I took two pregnancy tests as soon as the box said I could start seeing results. The first test was on day -7 and it was negative and the next one was on day -5 before my period was due. I was overly anxious about testing because I totally miscounted the days I was supposed to test. I really should have started at 5 days before but I jumped the gun a bit. So, I had convinced myself that it just wasn't happening this month and that we would try again the next. Well, my period due date arrived and nothing happened (which is NOT unusual at all) and decided to try the test again the next morning. Much to my surprise, I peed on that darn stick and the second line appeared indicating that I am indeed pregnant! I ran to the living room -- my husband had woken up early with my son and was napping on the couch -- and woke my husband up and told him the news! I am sure he said, "I told you so!"

It was Tuesday June 12th that we found out we were pregnant. I made an appointment to pee in a cup at the doctor's office to confirm the results. Until tomorrow!

~Monica~