“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12

Friday, January 27, 2012

8 weeks: Feeling Better!

Wow, time is starting to fly now! I can't believe I am already 8 weeks! It just seems like last week that we found out I was pregnant. Hoping it continues to speed right along.

Don't get me wrong, I do want to enjoy this time because it is an exciting time for us, but I don't want it to feel like it's dragging on either. :)

As my post title says, I am feeling much better since my last post. Gosh that was awful.

I had to work last Saturday night and it was rough. I went to work feeling okay, but as the night progressed so did my nausea and hunger. I tried to keep eating something most of the night. By about 10 PM, I was so hungry and absolutely nothing sounded good enough to eat. But I felt awful and knew the only way to feel better was to eat.

So I tried but didn't eat much. Two hours later....hunger is now worse and really feeling bad. Managed to eat some beef jerky which did make me feel better but that was short lived....like one hour short lived. Ugh.....

By the time I got home, I was exhausted and not feeling good at all. I immediately go to bed at 8 AM and don't wake up till 6 PM. I probably could have just stayed in the bed till the next day but I knew I had to try to get up and eat something.

I felt like Chili's Margarita Grilled Chicken sounded good so Wes went to pick it up to-go.

**Side Note: My husband has been great through all this sickness. I know it probably isn't easy dealing with someone who doesn't ever want anything to eat and lays around on the couch all day long. Compared to his wife who used to always want to eat anything and always seemed to stay somewhat productive throughout the day. Such a blessing to have a wonderful husband to get me through this roigh stage of the pregnancy.**

Wes figured out very quickly that if I said something sounded good, he need not argue about something else sounding better but to just go with it in hopes that I would eat something and feel better.

This meal didn't prove to do much good....

I struggled to get three bites of chicken down and then had to quit. My stomach was not having it.

Fifteen minutes later, first dry heaving episode was in the books. Not.Fun.

The rest of the evening, I layed on the couch dozing off and on and finally decided to call in a night around 11 PM. And I slept the next day till 10:30 AM.

Wow, they weren't joking when they said you would need extra sleep in the first trimester. I'm exhausted!!

Now...why did I tell all of you the most awful parts of my first trimester experience?

Because.....it does get better!!

The next morning, I felt better. Not great, but better. I had my morning cup of coffee (hasn't happened in over a week) and breakfast. A hamburger from Steak n' Shake actually sounded good so Wes and I got out for lunch. It didn't end up tasting as good as I had hoped, but I did eat half.

At least it was something.

I had to go back to work Monday night and was so afraid it would end up like before.

But it didn't! I had the BEST night I have had on nights yet! I managed to eat pretty consistently all night long without much nausea at all. (Thanks to Zofran and OTC Bonine)

I couldn't believe how great I felt. Still not 100% but SO much better!!

I had to work again the next night, so I was hoping it wasn't short lived and would last through the next day at least to get me through work.

Success! Even though I took the Zofran and Bonine just to be on the safe side, I had another great night!

I am still stuggling with the challenege of having to eat every two hours since my stomach will start churning with hunger pains. I made a trip to the grocery store yesterday and got a lot of fruit hoping it would sound appealing in the next few days to give me something healthy to snack on.

Here is my snack from yesterday. String Cheese and a peach. It tasted delicious!!

It felt so good to not only finally want to eat, but eat something that is healthy for me and baby.

The sickness only lasted two weeks.....think it's the end of it?

I sure hope so! I couldn't take much longer. I feel for those mom's who were sick throughout their entire pregnancy. I would definitely rethink having another child if that was me.

Like I said, I still don't feel quite 100% but most of the time I am a good 90% which is great!

Yesterday I even managed to go grocery shopping, clean up the house, and fix dinner. Success!!

**Edit: Okay, I don't know if I just jinxed myself by typing this blog about how great I've been doing because I just threw up out of no where. Wonderful..... I don't really feel bad which is somewhat of a plus but I thought I was over this! Zofran and Bonine for the day....check!!!

I'm going to quit typing while I'm ahead. Or how about change the subject. :)

I haven't posted any recent pictures of Lexi lately. Here is a pic from today.

Lexi ran into Wes's music room and this is where we found her. Keeping the seat warm maybe?

Such a cutie! Love this girl!!

Update on Wes and the studio. This has been a really great week for him. He has new projects coming up in February and has been busy with existing clients this week. I love seeing God at work in my husband's life. He has a passion for music and works hard to fulfill the calling that God has placed on his life to do it for a career. Not every week is as easy as this one has been for him, but he continues to push forward and discover the many blessings God has for his life.

My mom will be coming to visit this next weekend which I am SO excited about! She hasn't been to OKC in a long time. I am looking forward to spending time with her and hopefully doing some shopping along the way. :) Maybe even go look at baby stuff.

Another thing we have to look forward to this next week is my first prenatal visit which is Thursday. This visit will just be with the nurse and I will see the doctor when I am closer to 12 weeks. Wes is planning on coming with me. We have been told we will get our first official ultrasound so we are excited to see our little baby again soon!

I haven't taken any belly pictures yet mainly because I don't feel like anything has changed. I know I still need to document my body before things start changing so maybe I will start taking a weekly picture this next week.

Wes thinks I have a little belly but I keep telling him that it's got to be all bloat and no baby since baby is still so small and so far down. He begs to differ....let's hope I'm right and the bump isn't starting already!

My next post will hopefully consist of our newest ultrasound pictures and more stories of how great I'm still feeling (minus the random runs to the toilet in the middle of the day...so weird...)

According to thebump.com......

 BabyFetus Ticker
and.....

 BabyFruit Ticker

Grow baby, grow!!

Friday, January 20, 2012

First Trimester Battles

Thank you to everyone who commented and congratulated Wes and I on the baby. We are so blessed with amazing support from both friends and family. We look forward to sharing this exciting experience with all of you!

Now that the  news is officially "out", I can start blogging about my journey throughout my first pregnancy. Even though my body has yet to outwardly show any signs of our precious cargo being on board, my body is definitely telling me it is working overtime and giving me quite a challenge to get through this first trimester.

You probably already guessed it, but yes...nausea has reared its ugly head already. Lucky me. :)

After we found out I was pregnant, everyone kept asking how I was feeling so far and I repeatedly answered them with, "I honestly don't feel any different. I kind of wish I had some symptom so I could feel like I am actually pregnant".

Why did I say that? So naive as a first time mom. It seems that you are so excited just to finally be pregnant but then you don't feel any different, so you wish these awful symptoms upon yourself just so reality will set it a little more.

Well, ask and you shall receive I guess.

Here's how it started: Monday, Jan 9th (not even 6 weeks pregnant yet) Wes and I had a hamburger and fries for lunch. Sounded great, tasted great too! Then for dinner, we rented a movie and I was craving Chinese food (mainly egg drop soup) and so of course we ordered out Chinese and it was great!! I didn't eat all of the Chinese so I stored it away in the fridge for leftovers the next day.

The very next day, Wes opens up the fridge to find something to eat for lunch and what does he pull out? Chinese of course!

And what happened? My stomach did a complete flip and the thought (and the smell) of that Chinese food made me so sick to my stomach. I couldn't even stay in the same vicinity as the food in fear of losing it completely. Wonderful.

And thus began the vicious cycle of first trimester hormones and nausea. Yay. I asked for it, right?

Not even 6 weeks pregnant yet! All the forums I've read (yes, I'm that girl) had said that the nausea usually kicks in between 6-8 weeks. I figured I had at least a good week to go! Boy, was I wrong.

Luckily, I haven't thrown up (but have gotten close once) but have ALL DAY nausea. I'm hungry ALL the time, so much so that my stomach physically hurts because it needs to growl. Problem: NO food sounds good, nor does it ever taste good. Great combination, right?

So I eat just to satisfy the hunger pains and hope it will subside the nausea too. I realize that the nausea is only worse when my stomach is empty, I get it. I need to eat. But how am I supposed to eat when the thought of any food makes it all worse? Rough.

I haven't even been able to drink much fluids either, which worries me because I know I need to stay hydrated. I've continued taking my prenatal vitamins and can keep them down. Most say that baby is still getting the nutrients it needs as long as I keep taking them. I feel like this is the only thing I am doing good for my baby at this point.

The day the nausea hit, I had to go into work that night and work three nights in a row. Talk about a struggle. Trying to eat normally even if you aren't pregnant is hard when you are working nights. But now add the complexity of pregnancy nausea to the mix and we have a problem. Those were the hardest nights of work to get through. Luckily I work in a labor and delivery unit, so I can get some sympathy and nausea meds to get me through.

My the end of the week, I had called my doctor to get something called in for the nausea so I could at least eat something. The meds are helpful but never a guarantee that all the nauseous feeling will go away.

Since then, I have had good days and bad days. Probably more bad than good but I will take what I can get. Yesterday was a good day. The day before...not so much. Today..not so much..

I had computer training class Monday and Tuesday of this week and those were not good days. Having to get up early and get moving and out the door quickly does not work well for me. I need to eat desperately to make the nauseous feeling go away, but there just isn't time. So by the time I got to class, I felt awful. I managed to eat dry Cheerios and water throughout the morning to get me through till lunch. Nutritious huh? Like I said, I take what I can get these days.

The second day of class I debated on leaving early due to feeling so bad. I toughed it out though and got through the rest of the day, but just barely. The next day I had absolutely nothing to do so I stayed in my pajamas and never left the couch. Slept off and on all day and still put in a good 12 hours of sleep that night. Growing a baby is tiring!!!

The only food that I have noticed myself actually wanting is Mexican food. Wes's mom said this was all she wanted to eat when she was pregnant and so far, it's not a bad choice. Normally, when all else fails, some type of burrito and chips and queso manage to sound appealing.

The bottom line is I have to keep my stomach full at all times but hard to do when nothing sounds good. Halfway through first trimester and so ready for the next half to fly by so I can feel normal again.

Until then, I will do the best I can and enjoy the ride. The end result must be all worth it for women to continue to put themselves through these pregnancy symptoms over and over again. September can't come soon enough!!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

New Beginnings for 2012

Here is a video of what's to come in 2012 for the DeWitte family. Enjoy!!



We look forward to sharing this new journey with all of you! Let the blogging begin!!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

New Post for 2012 Coming Soon!!

Happy New Year everyone!! I promise I haven't forgot about you fellow blog readers!!

I've really slacked off in the blogging world. I'm so glad all the other blogs I follow are better at posting than me otherwise Blogger would be a little boring. :)

I'm writing this quick post to let all my readers know I am currently working on a post that I plan on publishing this weekend. Lots to update on and I have starting working nights at work as of last week, so I keep having to work on it in sections.

But it will get done!! I am hoping by me typing up this promise of a new post, it will actually happen. So stay tuned!!! DeWitte family update is coming soon!! You don't want to miss it!!