beary bear

Today: 11W6D

TMI Factor: */5

Bedside mess

Met my new "regular" OBGYN, Dr. R, yesterday. She was perfectly nice but I miss the nurses at ARCH and Drs. H & A, and I miss my old OBGYN, Dr. S. I know connections aren't made in the blink of an eye and I will just have to be patient, but so many things are different here. It's a hectic office shared by three popular docs, and I feel like I'm just a number. Dr. R didn't tell me anything I didn't already know from "What to Expect" or the evil evil internet, but she was nice enough and I feel comfortable enough, I guess, so we'll see how things progress.

Also, no ultrasound yesterday. Boo. But she did use the doppler to pick up baby's heartbeat. Super yay!

Things she said:

• Once first tri is down and nausea has quelled, try to lay off the starches and fried things.
• Cheap prenatal is OK as long as it has DHA/Omega 3.

That's ... pretty much all she said.

I also had five vials of blood drawn for normal prenatal testing, and that was not fun. The good news is ... PIO SHOTS ARE DONE AS OF TOMORROW. Tomorrow is the 12-week mark and we are officially cleared from progesterone shots and Climara patches! However, we still have a whole vial of progesterone and I am planning on continuing the shots til it's used up (I will ask first, however.) Truth be told, I'd do painful, itchy, lumpy PIO shots til Week 40 if it were beneficial for baby.

Hope I am an unremarkable patient with a smooth and uneventful pregnancy from here on out!

Other updates:

• Monday we have our appt at FDC (I would have been so much more disappointed about not getting an U/S with Dr. R if not for this upcoming appointment).
• I ordered bona fide maternity jeans from Gap since I have not fit an actual pair of my own jeans since 6 weeks. They arrived and I tried them on yesterday. There's a bit of elephant-leg going on but the waistbands are good and that's pretty much all that matters.
• Also in the order: a maternity tank (well-designed actually - it's a stretchy tank that'll grow with the belly but also, I believe, follow you back to your pre-pregnancy shape.)
• Annnnd ... a little bear hoodie with little beary-bear ears. I bought it in 3-6 mo size so that Jellybean will get more use out of it but I almost wish I'd gotten 0-3 purely for the instant gratification factor. It's my one baby indulgence 'til we're more ready to make baby-related purchases and investments.

• Without saying the actual name we've picked for a boy, I will say that my brain can't seem to remember it. It's a J-name, and my brain keeps going to Jeremiah, and while that's a cute name, I wouldn't name our child that. My criteria for names: I have to be able to make a cutesy nickname out of it for everyday use (sorry not sorry). It has to mean something positive. It has to sound nice and look nice. No nutty alternative spellings. Anyway we'll see if the J name starts to stick or not. Also there's the slimmest of slim chances that we'll have to think of girl names - but that's less of a problem because I've had those picked out since we started TTC. Ha!
• We found out that our friends are expecting a girl and their due date is the same week as ours! It is awesome to have someone to talk to about the joys and pitfalls of early pregnancy. Esp the MS.
• Speaking of, the MS has been a trickster lately. It migrated to late afternoons and evenings. Then it shifted to after dinner. Then it moved to right after lunch. One day, it didn't come at all. The next day, it hung around from morning to night. One thing is pretty consistent though - once it arrives, it sticks around for the remainder of the day, all the way through to bedtime.

Can't wait for Monday (genetic counseling and ultrasound at FDC.) It would be a side bonus to get a peek at the nub and a guess as to the gender, but since I'm already 99% certain it's a boy, all I really want is to see him swimming around and waving hi again.