Cravings...

Today, I got my first craving. I woke up wanting peanut butter with chocolate sauce on cucumbers. It is so odd saying that, never mind typing it because I HATE peanut butter. The baby really is taking after its daddy already because Drew LOVES peanut butter. 

I had my first bout of morning sickness too. Mostly nauseated, but I have one or two episodes of throwing up, and it’s just blah…  I had my first high-risk OBGYN appointment and they said that I am officially 4 weeks and 1 day pregnant. My Beta HcG went up from 427 to 502. It didn’t double, but it didn’t decrease so they are going to watch it and hope it goes up. 

  There is a bit of concern that the HcG is not doubling like they want to see, but they are going to continue to closely monitor me. My OBGYN’s name is Amanda Kalan, and she is really nice. Much nicer than the original male doctor that I saw. 

Genetic testing was offered and Drew and I discussed this, since the doctor wanted to put the referral in for genetics for a bunch of screenings normal and typical of high-risk pregnancies, but I was hesitant on getting them done as I am already high risk of miscarriage, and an amniocentesis would be sticking a large needle into my stomach which makes me have another chance added to an already high risk pregnancy for miscarriage. 

Drew and I also discussed the nuchal translucency test for Downs and the genetic testing via blood work and we decided that we would rather not know what things are “wrong” with the baby as it wouldn’t change anything. 

His concern is mostly my health, and also that the baby is healthy. It is nice to see him being very supportive and agreeing with me on big decisions like this. 

We did finally decide on names and agree on them too. If it is a baby boy, the name will be Dominic Andrew Doyle, after him, as his name is Andrew, but everyone calls him Drew. If it is a baby girl, it will be Claire Katherine, so he can get his Claire bear.  Katherine is his mother’s name, so the middle name would be after his mother. 

I will be getting another beta hcg done on 1/13 and then another on 1/16. After the 20^th of January, things will be rough, as I have work, and so my work schedule is rough. They want to do a 7 week ultrasound where they can see the fetal poles and get a better idea of what is going on, on 1/28/14, and then they want to do the 8 week viability ultrasound around 2/5/14. 

So that is the update on the pregnancy at the moment. I am really getting sick of being prodded with needles, but I keep reminding myself that I am carrying a miracle, and that combined with morning sickness and cravings is a good thing. I am reminding myself that this miracle is growing inside as it should be, and that is why I have these things going on.