Fifty

8 weeks 0 days (or 7 weeks 6 days, depending on which doctor or website you ask)

I'm still just taking it one day at a time. I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst. I am looking forward to (potentially) getting past 24 weeks so I can calm down a little.

As for symptoms, I'm not really experiencing too many. I have the standard boob pain and exhaustion, both of which are obviously not as bothersome as when I was pregnant with the twins. I have also avoided morning sickness thus far. With the twins, I spent about four weeks in a state of constant nausea (but I only puked once). I couldn't stand meat or water. This time, I am starving 24 hours a day, having no aversions, and already experiencing tons of cravings. I find this very odd and am trying to keep my lack of sickness from feeding into my miscarriage paranoia. That's hard. I just have to keep telling myself that my mom didn't get morning sickness and had many successful pregnancies.

My worst symptom by far is this stupid back pain. I have a horrible back and live with some level of back pain on a daily basis, but this is annoying because it's radiating around my botched spinal block and down through my tail bone. It feels better when I lie down, so it's a good thing that my lazy, scared butt is parked in bed all day.

I have my first appointment with my MFM (high-risk doctor) on Tuesday. I decided to get in sooner than later so we can discuss the cerclage early. I'm pretty nervous about the appointment, but I'm always nervous before ultrasounds. My husband is not looking forward to seeing her since the last time we saw her was during the worst time in our lives. He said he'll be sad, but he knows she's our best chance of saving this baby, so it'll be okay. I just hope that there aren't a lot of women pregnant with twins in the waiting room because I'm still having a lot of problems with being around multiples mamas. I can't help but be a little jealous and sad.

Anyway, I've decided to do something I didn't do last time. I am going to take weekly pictures of my belly starting this week. With the twins, I only took two belly pictures (6 weeks and 18 weeks). I wish I would have done a series so I could have really known just how big I was.

Here is a picture I took at four weeks. I was already a little bloated from the fertility treatments. Don't mind my disgustingly dirty mirror. Let's blame my husband for that one. Eww.

 

Here is today. I am soooo bloated from the progesterone and from eating everything in sight. I'm really worried that I'm gaining too much weight too fast. Since I'm going to stay on this progesterone until 12 weeks, I know this bloating isn't going away. I'm not considering this a bump yet since it's so early. I wish I could say that was all baby, but it's not, sadly. I can't wait to have a real bump.

 

I also want to post some information about the bean's development each week for those who are interested. Here's some information from babycenter.com:

New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

See you on Tuesday after my appointment, with what I hope is good news of a healthy, growing baby.