Captain's Log: 8 weeks

How preggo I am: 8 weeks. Only 0.9545 days on Mercury. Mercurian days??

Baby size: Wild strawberry, Pygmy seahorses, jelly bean sized. It's a little hard to visualise to be honest.

Morning sickness: The good news is I've been puking less. Still pretty constant nausea though which is not pleasant. I'm trying to drink an Ensure every morning before I get out of bed. Seems to help a teeny bit. But also I poured some all over my hair and in my ear one morning which was less than helpful.

Food cravings/aversions: Everything tastes awful with a few exceptions. I'm having trouble eating enough. It's this vicious cycle if I'm too hungry or too full I feel sick. But when I feel sick, I don't feel like eating.

Other symptom: I am still tired and having weird dreams. But nothing much else yet. My almost 5 week bout of viral illnesses is finally over. It's also crazy how different my pregnancies have all been. There hasn't been much in the way of bloat this time yet and that was never much of a problem with Lyra. The 2 miscarried pregnancies the bloat was awful. My boobs are starting to hurt this time but it's nowhere near as awful as the 3rd pregnancy. Though I was still nursing Lyra then so that may have contributed.

My thus far non existent bump. Not even a bloat bump like last time. I'm smiling funny because I can't feel half of my upper lip in this picture. Woohoo for dental work. 

Weight gain: Nothing so far as I know.

Mood: Still somewhat grouchy but not as bad since I'm feeling a bit better physically.

Gender: Unknown. One week until I take the test. I think it's a boy. My reasoning is that 2 out of the last 3 were girls (I don't know about the other one though) and I was wrong in both those cases. Therefore, it's about time I had a boy and it's about time I guessed right. So it's a boy. That's my guess.

Lyra stats: She cracks me up. Yesterday she got up from nap, came to the doorway of my room where I was relaxing in bed, and stood there for a good five minutes. Farting. Refused to come in which was fine by me once I realized what she was up to. Also she's been successfully transferred sleeping from her carseat to bed in the evening twice. Literally this has never happened before. And she got a new haircut with bangs. I think she looks a little like Matilda.

What I miss: Really, all I miss still is not feeling sick And enjoying food.

Best moment this week: I dyed my hair pink! That was fun. I do have a worst moment for the week too. So yesterday was my last old due date. I was paranoid something would go wrong and just sad about it. Because I should have been having a baby today or soon or have a newborn already. Instead I'm still in the middle of morning sickness and I have a month to go before I get past the last point I miscarried. So anyway, I decided since the day was crappy already I'd schedule a dentist appointment. Not sure if that was the right call or not. I have some fairly severe dental anxiety/phobia, especially since getting my wisdom teeth out. Also, morning sickness and heightened gag reflex plus dental work is not my favorite combo. I told my dentist that I would rather give birth than do wisdom teeth again so I think he realized I was nervous. It wasn't the worst, it turns out. But they had to use a hell of a lot of anesthesia shots. We went the overly catious route at first and ended up using some of the slightly less gentle anesthesia because I was not taking chances after a while. The kicker? My cavities are in weird unpredictable not patterned places and I have great teeth otherwise. So the dentist says pregnancies are probably to blame becuase apparantly that's another thing in your body that children affect. But anyway, success, didn't puke on the dentist or have a public meltdown or whatever. The bar is low.

Looking forward to: I'm getting a fetal Doppler in the mail! One of my friends actually won it for me so I'm not turning that down. That will hopefully be reassuring in a few weeks once I figure out how to track down the baby's heartbeat.

Why I'm Finding Out The Sex Of My Baby

So one of decisions that comes with pregnancy is deciding whether or not you want to find out before birth if you're having a boy or girl. So here are my reasons for finding out. I want to preface with I don't care what I get, and I intend to raise my kids as nuetrally as possible and let them figure out who they are. I know sex and gender are different and I think I'm fairly good at addressing all that when it comes to life and parenting but I'm just curious, am I growing a vagina or a penis right now?

1. I want to know. Plain and simple, speaks for itself. Really it's the only reason I need to give anyone but I'll list the others too.

I found this picture that really explain how I feel.

2. Sometimes pregnancy sucks. For me at least. I feel like I had a hangover for the first half and some change (at least with Lyra this was true). If you vomit every day for that long you'll start to get a little depressed and it's fun to find out if you're having a son or daughter. Plus it's stressful, worrying about if everything is ok with your little fetus, you need some perks. Plus the medical procedures related to having the baby happen to me. I get the ultrasonic wand up in my business everytime we need a look at the baby, I have to do the hard work evicting the kid from my uterus, and etc etc. It's not always a walk in the park and I want to have benefits too.

3. Naming the baby. This made bonding with Lyra easier for me. It makes things more real to switch from "it" to "he" or "she." Knowing Lyra was Lyra before I met her face to face made the bonding thing more concrete. Plus I have crafty friends who make cool shit. That's why Lyra has a Dalek and TARDIS themed blanket with her name embroidered on it. Those projects take time and that blanket was ready at birth.

4. Trigger warning here if birth trauma gets to you. My mom was put under general anesthesia for an emergency c-section when she had me. So she didn't get to meet me right away. Should something like this happen to me, I don't want everyone else at the birth finding out about my baby first and I don't want to be all groggy and drugged when I do find out.

5. Trigger warning for miscarriage here. So the last miscarriage was a late first trimester one and we were able to do screening after the fact to find out what the baby was. Well I mean, it was to look for genetic abnormalities but we also found out about her sex chromosomes. Finding out she was a girl after she was already gone was brutal. I want that to be a separate happy moment if at all possible this time around. But it did also help to have closure, knowing. It made it less of an intangible loss. So I would like to know in case of loss. And I want to know as early as I can for that reason.

6. I've done my waiting. 12 years of it. In Azkaban. Not really, but you get my point. I've already been waiting since last April. I still have a long way to go and I'm tired of waiting.

7. I get two days of excitement instead of one.  I hear a lot that it's so exciting to be surprised when you give birth. Well it's exciting anytime. There's enough going on the day you have that baby, finding out early just makes a second day amazing as well.

8. And for another counter argument, I hear the "avoid gender stereotyping" arguement. What's a few months when you have to fight that forever anyway? Plus you can still do gender neutral for clothes and nursery if you'd like. Anyone who knows me, knows I work really hard to not gender stereotype and sometimes I feel a little insulted by the arguement that's what you're doing or will do if you find out. I have a theme for this baby's room that doesn't depend on sex or gender. Lyra is just as likely to pick out her green train shirt or her blue shark shirt in the morning as she is the sparkly pink cat shirt or the tulle skirt with the hearts on it. I try really hard to let Lyra figure out Lyra and do whatever she wants, whether that be playing with baby dolls and helping do laundry to playing with race cars and helping Travis in the garage. It's important to me she understand that while I fit into the more traditional gender role right now,  that's fluid and it's by choice. So yeah,  I think finding out about my baby's chromosomes a couple months early does nothing to force them into any specific stereotype.

So that's my personal thoughts on the matter and why I'll be finding out early on. I should know in 3 weeks. That's so early, how cool is that?

Captain's Log: 7 weeks

How preggo I am: 7 weeks. 47,040 moments pregnant. Because obviously a moment is 90 seconds.

Baby size: Raspberry or playing dice sized

Morning sickness: So sick. All the time nausea and throwing up like 5 times a day morning sickness. Way worse than any other pregnancy I've had so far.

Food cravings/aversions: Everything tastes awful and even if I want something in theory, it's hard to choke it down. Salt and vinegar chips were pretty good the other day though which was a nice break.

Other symptom: I am exhausted. And my dreams are getting crazy vivid. I had one involving murderous bison and hockey lately that was kinda bonkers.  Then there was also racquetball against Dumbledore and Snape. Also scrabble but in teams and in a wave pool and the letters were on wooden balls. And a lucid dream lately too which hasn't happened in a long time. I don't know that it's pregnancy related but my ribs have been hurting. Just this ring of pain around my upper torso. I'm just waiting and watching that for now .  It hurt really bad last night but chilled out a bit again. Maybe I pulled a muscle puking. That would be my life.

Weight gain: I haven't lost weight as of my trip to the doctor for yet another virus I came down with recently. I know I'm throwing myself a pity party lately but seriously, I was sick for 4 weeks and I'm just now finally getting better and I'm not convinced it will stick yet.

Mood: I'm channeling Regina George right now. I'm so mean.

Gender: Unknown. I'm going to take the Panorama test that will tell us this along with other genetic insights. So I should know in 3 weeks, when results come back.

Lyra stats: Honestly she's been pretty standard this week. She got to go to the zoo with Travis when I didn't feel well and had a blast apparently.

What I miss: Feeling good.

Best moment this week: The first ultrasound! I'm glad to see that there's only one baby, and it's measuring well (ahead by 4 days but my due date is not being changed) and has a heartbeat. It wasn't as exciting or as happy as the past early ultrasounds. I feel a lot more cautious about it because it feels less sure.  But good news is still good news to appreciate for now.

And there's the little baby!

Looking forward to: Finally not being sick and getting out of the house again and seeing people. And also the Panorama test. I have no patience.

Captain's Log: Jovian Day 100 (AKA 6 weeks Earth Time)

How preggo I am: approximately 100 Jovian days. That's days on Jupiter in case you were wondering. I picked that because that's how long I feel like I've been pregnant and I'm only 6 weeks. I've known for just over 3 so that's part of why it feels like forever.

Baby size: Lady bug or Maine blueberry sized.

Morning sickness: Ughhhh. I've never been this sick, this early on in any of my pregnancies. I got to dry heave in the parking lot of Babies-R-Us the other day. Classic.

Food cravings/aversions: I can still eat bagels with cream cheese and sort of enjoy it. Even sushi sounds gross and that was my go to food with Lyra and it's my "I had too much tequila and I'm so hungover I could die" or stomach flu food. I'm weird I know, but it's true. So if sushi is off the menu, you know it's bad.

Other symptom: Sometimes my boobs hurt. Sometimes I think it's because I'm thinking about them and trying to decide if they hurt.

Weight gain: I know not.

Sleep: Insomnia still sometimes and lots of vivid weird dreams. And also I'm so tired. Just deeply down to the bone tired.

Mood: I'm so grouchy. And mean. I told my mother in law she is a terrible person. In my defense she was mean to me and my father in law agreed with me. And so did Travis. It was a very democratic insult and she has to like me right now anyway. She helps deliver babies for a living, I guarantee that's not the meanest thing a pregnant person has ever said to her. Also I got sick again, that makes 3 times this year (plus everyone else has been sick here too) and January still isn't even over. I'm currently deciding if I'm on the very tail end of it or if I'm getting sick yet again or if it's just pregnancy related. So just don't cross me right now, I'm not in the mood.

Gender: Unknown. I'm working on a post about my reasons for finding out early through.

Lyra stats: Well this happened today. So Lyra is 2.5 years old. She was standing still, holding onto one of those push walker toys meant for babies who are like, under a year and learning how to walk. Picture a baby walker, essentially. She wasn't running or doing anything weird, when suddenly she flips forward (I'm talking full front flip here) and lands right on her face on the wood floor. And then her neck bends all horrifying like while I rush the 4 feet over to her. By the time I decided I didn't need to call an ambulance she was already mad that I wouldn't let her stand and jump in her camp chair. Kids are awful. Also I can't for the life of me get her to stop eating her books. Probably a good 40% have big bites taken out of them. "I eat book, mama. I bite." Awesome.

What I miss: Enjoying life. I know I'm being melodramatic.  I'm glad I'm pregnant, I just feel awful physically.  I miss enjoying food.

Best moment this week: Ooh actually I have a really fun one this week. My birth story blog post is being published in a book this May! One of my birth photographer's friends is putting together a book. So I'm excited to see that. Here is the link to my original blog post and this is the link to the story on my birth photographers website but with photos and her words added as well. I adore that lady. If you need a birth photographer in Fairbanks, use her, but don't tell me or I'll be jealous.

Looking forward to: The ultrasound the day after tomorrow. I am equal parts excited to see the baby and hoping to get it over with so I can get that initial dose of anxiety finished with. I'm anxious that things won't be as they should but trying not to let it squash the joy.  In all likelihood, I'll go in, see a heartbeat and promptly resume worrying the next day. Motherhood in a nutshell.

Captain's Log: Sol 34 (AKA 5 weeks Earth time)

How preggo I am: In Martian time I am 34 sols pregnant. Sounds cooler than 5 weeks.

Baby size: Peppercorn or BB pellet sized, little still!

Morning sickness: Already kicking in. The general hungover feeling started on and off a few days ago and I already puked once.

Food cravings/aversions: Nothing specific really, I'm trying to continue enjoying food while that lasts still.

Other symptom: I'm hungry. A lot. Unless I'm nauseous. It is weird. Also I definitely have to pee all the damn time. And for the first time, I feel like that pregnancy glow thing is a thing. I just feel like my cheeks look like I'm wearing blush or something. I just feel like I look pretty which is a nice perk. If I'm going to feel like crap, at least I don't look like it.

Weight gain: As far as I know, nothing but I haven't checked to be honest.

Sleep: Insomnia seems to be a pattern in pregnancy for me. Plus I've been sick and I'm trying to find a good pillow so my neck has been hurting, none of which helps things.

Mood: Grouchy and irritable. I think I'm mostly just stressed but I'm just kinda mehhhh.

Gender: Unknown, obviously. I intend to find out though, when I do genetic testing. So I should know by 10 weeks. This has always been one of the big pregnancy related "discussions" between me and Travis. But damn it, I've been waiting 9 months already for a baby and I have nearly that much more to go so I just want all the data I can collect now.

Lyra stats: I'm going to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the toddler years I don't think. Things are a bit more peaceful now that I caved and put her back in diapers but she's in a "I do it myself stage" and a mama's girl phase which is all a bit smothering to be honest. Not to say I don't still enjoy her tremendously, I'm just being honest, toddlers are tiny tyrannical devils. I have 2 great stories though. We went out to eat the other day and the waiter brought her a sucker at the end. Now, Lyra's grammar is a little unrefined and she phrases things with an extra "me" at the end or uses it instead of "my." For example, "I eat noodles me" or "Water bottle me." She's also not very good at the second syllable of words. "Wa" is water " "Ju" is juice, etc, etc. So when the waiter brought over a sucker, instead of saying, "My sucker," Lyra very excitedly screamed at her loudest volume, "SUCK ME!" The other funny Lyra moment of the week was while reading a book. There was a picture of a fox and I argued with her for about 5 minutes because she kept telling me it was a cat. Finally I gave up and said,"Fine, it's a cat. Look, Lyra, cat." She gave me a look of utter disgust, like I was the stupidest person she's ever met and said, "No, no, Mama. FOX." Sheesh. Also she can use chopsticks. Real chopsticks. I'm thoroughly impressed with her.

What I miss: Beer and wine. But not all that much honestly. And having as many shots of espresso as I want. I'm trying to keep my caffeine intake down to reasonable amounts. So only 1 or 2. Luckily, I have decaf for my new espresso machine.

Best moment this week: I was sick most of the week and hardly left the house. So honestly, probably it was the one play date we got to go to this week. Nothing cool happened related to pregnancy to be honest.

Looking forward to: That first ultrasound. Not that I get to have one next week, I still have 10 days but still, that's really the one thing I'm looking forward to right now.

The closest I'm getting to a pre bump picture because frankly, I don't want to clean my mirror right now and if I wait until later, I'll forget. So whatever. 

672 Hours Pregnant, Glitter Infestations, and How to Prepare for the Apocalypse

First, good news! I got my 3rd and last blood test back and things are looking to be on track so far this time around. My hCG was at 450.2 mIU/ML at 3w5d, it quadrupled in the 3 days since the previous test. So I'm hopeful and maybe will make it to my ultrasound at 6 weeks and some change (hopefully right around the beginning of February) without any scares or stress.

I am 4 weeks exactly today and I don't think many symptoms are kicking in but it's hard to tell because I've been fairly sick. I think pregnancy bionic nose has turned on but I'm also super stuffy so that's the worst of both worlds. I had no idea how badly all the animals farting has been lately. Lyra is pretty bad too. I always know when it's her at least, she cracks up and says, "I toot me" every single time. I've felt kind of nauseous but I'm 97% sure that's just being sick. And I'm exhausted. But I'm not sleeping well because I can't breathe great laying down. And I'm up peeing at night again though and I'm pretty sure that's pregnancy.

I've been on a hardcore cleaning binge. Possibly a bit stress related but also a good deal related to being trapped in a house unable to see friends because germs. My bathrooms are cleaned, Lyra's room and all 568,539 toys have been organized, I'm caught up on dishes, ALL the laundry is done (I'm talking down to dog blankets and bathroom rugs), the guest room/office and laundry room are both fully organized (I've been meaning to finish those since we moved in almost 7 months ago). My electronic life is even organized. I had nearly 6,700 unread emails when I started that decluttering project (shameful, I know) but now everything unimportant is deleted and I'm mostly unsuscribed from all the lists I managed to get myself on. At this rate I won't have any nesting to do at the end.

As you can see I have 6,611 unread emails and I am subscribed to 74 email lists. I have a problem. I actually debated just getting a new email address. 

Most importantly, there is hardly any glitter left in my house. There's a funny back story here that seems too amusing not to share. So a while back I saw this thing on the internet about glitter paint pictures. Basically rolling around in glitter paint and taking pictures. It looks really cool even if it sounds kooky. And somehow that led to me researching milk bath photos (also super cool, you fill a tub with water, add powdered milk and you get this neat opaque effect). And then I put 2 and 2 together and decided to make a milk bath, dump in a couple containers of glitter and get some artsy photos taken. Seemed like a perfectly logical decision at the time.

So I only got 2 modest sized containers, one silver, one gold, maybe 5 inches tall and 2 inches in diameter. I had to hold back from buying more and thank goodness I did. I've never seen so much glitter in my life. Travis had to vacuum the tub. After I swept it. My master bathroom carpet (terrible design decision that is at the top of our fix list) shimmers. Literally shimmers and sparkles. I couldn't get it off my body for 3 days. I left actual glitter trails. If I would have commited any crimes, you'd be able to follow the glitter trail back to me. Travis tried to ban me from rooms of the house and I'd hear him sigh whenever he discovered it was too late.

Still though. Best. Decision. Ever. The photos turned out all sparkly and shimmery and shiny. It was like being a mermaid model. I did indeed get cool artsy photos plus a nice ego boost because I looked pretty. My previous nickname of Skittles (thanks to the rainbow hair) has been replaced with Sparkles. At this point most of the house has been intensely decontaminated, but I estimate another week before there's no trace of glitter on the floor anywhere in the house.  Plus the comic value of having a house full of glitter is worth the cleanup.

The glitterpocalypse aftermath. Actual Twilight vampire status right here.

Frighteningly, 90% of the glitter has sunk to the bottom by this point. 

Now that my house is sparkly clean (haha), I have to admit my other project. This one came about after hearing about the false missile alarm in Hawaii and the less talked about false alarm in Japan several days later. I can hardly fathom being in that situation and reading accounts of people who were was horrifying to me. So I'm setting up my supplies in case of nuclear attack or general emergency requiring evacuation. The feedback I've received from those close to me has ranged from disdainful silence/eye-rolling (ahem....Travis) and "thats a bit on the tinfoil hat spectrum" and "oh yep, my boyfriend is one of those weirdos too, why do I even like either of you...." all the way to "that's a fantastic idea" chats with prepping tips and advice. Whatever though, to the haters, it's worth the peace of mind if there's ever even a false alarm. I would rather be prepared during a false alarm so I'm as calm and not panicked and as little traumatized as possible. And if anyone mocks me, guess who won't be getting to share my food and toilet paper come doomsday? You can't wipe your ass with sass, I always say. (That's a lie, I've never actually said that but I will from now on, you can bet on that.) I could envision this being me though, if I don't prepare ahead of time. "Oh I brought all these lip balms." And "I got contact solution! No contacts. Guess if we wanted to make slime, we good." I've seriously watched that video like 5 times. Ok, maybe 8. I find it inexplicably hilarious. So yeah, disaster prep, hardly the weirdest thing I've ever done. I mean, bigfoot showed up at my bridal shower and I took my 1 year old to a MUFON meeting so it's pretty standard really.

Back to business, I got a little distracted there, sorry. The one major setback recently, potty training. Not me, I still have that whole business figured out. Lyra though, not so much. We've been working on it for seriously at least 5 or 6 months. I'm so done. I kept at it for ages because she learned after like 3 days and hardly had accidents for 2 weeks. Then I guess she decided that was dumb so she was over it. And now I am over it. I'm tired of cleaning accidents several times a day and all the extra laundry. Or the extra pull ups all the time. It's actually less work to use and wash cloth diapers. So we are back to that for who knows how long. Oh well.

So that's that, not too much else to say, seeing as I've been writing with a lot more frequency the last little bit. I'm planning on starting up my more structured pregnancy blog update next week. But it could just be more rambling about glitter or nuclear apocalypse, guess we'll find out.

Preliminary Blood Test Results

First off, good news so far! The upshot is I got my first 2 blood results back and my midwife said things look good so far. Which should be enough info right there but I went deeper in researching and dwelling on the numbers because that's all I have right now. It is still so early that there isn't much to test and there's really no way to get any more feedback than this that things are ok. The baby is the size of a poppy seed so an ultrasound wouldn't show anything. This is why we are waiting until 6 weeks when hopefully the heart has started beating. And even then it can still stop later, as I know too well. But anyway the following is a glimpse into my overly analytical and anxious mind. I like math too much and am too creative in thinking up scenarios for my own good.

So the basics first. I am in the process of repeated blood tests to check the levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). This is an indication of pregnancy and generally levels should double every 48 to 72 hours in a healthy pregnancy. The quantitative level matters to some degree but the doubling matters more. However, huge caveat here, levels can vary wildly. High numbers can be normal or they could mean multiple babies or molar pregnancies (I'll get to that later). The same goes for low results. Low can mean impending miscarriage or could result in a totally normal pregnancy. So essentially, it's biology 101, here's the "rule" and 42,197 exceptions. And This is where my overthinking and over researching gets me in trouble.

Because I'm a lunatic with no self control and I knew I was pregnant at 2 weeks and 6 days, or 2w6d,(I'm calling this 7 days post ovulation, or DPO, because I didn't track very well and its a bit of guess), my first blood test was at 3w0d. My hCG came was 38.2 mIU/ML. My next test was 2 days later (49 hours to be exact) at 3w2d and came back at 115.2 mIU/ML. The normal range for hCG during the 3rd week of pregnancy is 5-50 mIU/ML. So my results are in range for the first reading, above for the second, and they tripled in 49 hours.

Now because, and I cannot stress this enough, I have lost my damn mind, I made myself a little excel spreadsheet with potential scenarios. Side note, turns out  I miss using excel a lot. I'm not even embarrassed to say I find spreadsheets and data fun. If my levels continue to rise at this rate, by 4 weeks I will be at 3,094.2 mIU/ML. The range for 4 weeks is 50 to 500 or so as far as I can tell. Also different resources say different things which is unhelpful. And not much  data exists for this early on because not many people test this early. If my number only doubles every 48 hours from now on it will still be 687.6 mIU/ML. So I'm worried about multiples or molar pregnancies a bit.

I looked up the average for twin pregnancies and at 4 weeks and they vary even more wildly from source to source so I just got annoyed and stopped looking. Or rather kept gathering numbers and I still feel clueless and don't feel morally capable of reporting a number. Nonetheless, hCG tends to be higher with multiples but high hCG doesn't automatically mean it is multiples is the takeaway here.  I do know one person personally having twins who had a hCG test at 4w1d and hers was 551 mIU/ML. And again rational me popping in to just say it could be just normal. Normal, normal, normal. Plus, twins would just be two for one, twins wouldn't be bad. I'll take what I can get at this point. Just please, universe, no quadruplets.

The bad one would be molar pregnancy. I mean, a miscarriage would be bad. But I can handle/deal with that. I have before, I could again I just reallllly don't want to. Molar pregnancy is different. It is a genetic error that causes abnormal tissue growth in the uterus. Not to get too in depth but its not viable pregnancy and I'd potentially need a D&C. They can be precancerous and I wouldn't be able to get pregnant for a year afterwards. You are at a slightly higher risk if you've had multiple miscarriages. It only happens in 1 in 1,000 pregnancies but those odds seem more ominous when I think about the 1 in 4,000 to 1 in 10,000 chance of Turner's syndrome which was the cause of my last miscarriage. In any case, it isn't a serious worry yet, but I couldn't help but think of it. I know too much about pregnancy.

Now I do realize I'm overthinking and worrying but I can't help it. This is just what happens in my head sometime and I guarantee I'm not the only one to have thoughts like this. Jokes aside, I think I'm actually quite normal and probably even a good deal more upbeat and relaxed than other's in similar situations. Plus, I let it all out and now I feel better. In all likelihood, I'm pregnant with one single baby and my pregnancy will be uneventful. And generally, I really believe that and am doing pretty well about it all. But, I'm still going to check what I can. Next blood test will hopefully bring me more reassurance and it really won't be long until the 6 week date with the twat wand (aka the transvaginal ultrasound I'm getting too familiar with) when I get to see a heartbeat. Fingers crossed!

In other non pregnancy related news, Lyra seems to be done with napping. I'm still hoping shes just having a weird week or something but we are at day 3 with no nap. I'm not ready for that.

Also I got contact lenses! I can see again! I'm still going to keep part time/back-up glasses around but it's fun to not have to wear them again and to have decent vision back.

I'm also learning how to brew kombucha (fermented tea, it is delicious) and the Christmas espresso maker is already seeing heavy use.

Dinger is starting to tolerate the cat more. Cat seems sick of his freak outs and now very boldly strolls into the room when he's around. I think it may still take a few months but yesterday Cat cuddled on my lap and Dinger cuddled at my feet. 6 months of progress right there, he's just a slow learner. Roxi and Travis meanwhile, continue to be Roxi and Travis. And now I'm all caught up!