Well, I still have a miserable cold. I went out to WalMart last night to get some cough drops and soft tissues and some other necessities. (Maternity shorts and sports bras for those that really want to know)

Wouldn't you know it, I got up to the register (finally!) and my WALLET was GONE!!!! I freaked out in my controlled way and called to cancel my cards and started the mental inventory of what I had lost. ($12.00, driver's license, free sub I'd finally earned, international stamps I bought over a year ago and never got around to sending the letters...)

I looked in the car and couldn't find it, but somehow it was in there and I found it when I got home. Maybe it was because I'd calmed down a little and was looking coherently for it.

Anyway, ANOTHER trip back up to WalMart later and now I'm sitting here with my soft tissues and cough drops trying to tell myself it's just a cold and stop being such a big baby! No work for me again today though because I can't imagine talking to students all day with this headache and blowing my nose every 10 seconds.

Just call me Rudolph! I hear sinus problems are common in pregnancy, but I hope this passes soon.

Ok, I just saw this a few minutes ago and I'm just about over it, but it's time to have a little talk with the expecting Daddy.

I went to get the sonogram picture to load today and it was FOLDED!!! Not in half, but in QUARTERS!!!!

Yup, after I handed it to him in an envelope to keep it nice, the excited dad folded that picture and stuck in his pocket at work. He was so excited he said he was showing everyone and I can't help but imagine a few of them must have been thinking, "Dude, you are SO busted when your wife sees what you did to this precious photo!"

Lucky I didn't see that on one of my emotional days. ;)

We made it to the mountains this weekend and the new puppy was pretty incredible - except for waking us up every 1.5-3 hours to go outside. I guess that's a sample of what we have to look forward to soon!

This time Marti was a saint and took her out every time she cried at night--and it was COLD out there! I have a sneaking suspicion that next time we need to get up that much during the night, I'm going to be the one taking care of things. :)

The ride home from Heber was pretty bad. I'm not sure if it was the flu, morning sickness or motion sickness, but either way, the dogs weren't the only one needing daddy to pull over for a pit stop.

In my pathetic mess, I started crying since I already had a splitting headache and throwing up only made matters worse. Poor Marti didn't know what to do -- and what CAN you do? hahaha!

Today I called in sick to work since the headache was still persisting and I didn't want to deal with talking to students all day like this.

We did make it to our doctor's appointment, although it was later than planned because she had to run to a delivery. I got the message RIGHT as I was pulling out of the driveway--just in time!

Marti almost didn't make it this time because he had another appointment scheduled, but she was late, too!

So we both got to finally HEAR this baby's heartbeat today. It was a little anti-climactic since we'd already seen it on the sonogram screen twice already, but it was still fun.

The heartbeat was 150 today, but the ultrasound tech told us last week that guessing the sex of the baby based on that is just going on averages, so it may not be accurate. It's like saying if you're 5'11, you're a man. Well, not necessarily. So, we all have our feelings on what we think it is, but until we see visuals on it, they are just guesses and hunches.

For the record, Marti says it's a boy. :)

Relief!

The sonogram today showed a perfect little baby. Or, as a friend of mine says at this stage, a perfect little lizard.

Marti is very happy now to see that it's alive and well and thriving. Getting the news about the blood test and today's measurements was positive. The test was for certain birth defects such as Down Syndrome and they say we have a very low likelihood of that even though I'm over 35.

They gave us a video to take home and a few pictures. I'll work on getting that online as soon as we get back from the mountains.

Picked up a new puppy to keep Sydney company tonight!

She's a precious little heeler!

Marti wants to go see U2 in concert when they come in April. However, he has a friend who's a doctor that said we should ask our OB/GYN if that is advisable.

We would be in an area of seats where I shouldn't get jostled about, but I think it's the noise and vibrations that are the concern.

I see now that I'm home the business card for the OB/GYN has been moved. I wonder if Marti called her, and if so, what her take on this was....

Can't wait for our next appointment! This should be the big one.

Last pregnancy at this time is when we discovered the baby's heart had stopped beating weeks ago. We thought before that ultrasound that the worst we'd have to deal with was news of possible Down's Syndrome.

Well, this time we know we can still get news of greater chance of birth defects, but also we're prepared in case it's even worse news.

Of course I'm still optimistic and hoping for the best. If it comes in ok, then this truly will have been a near perfect pregnancy so far.

I'm hardly sick at all this time. Of course there are the bloody noses, but at least I FEEL ok when that's happening. My allergies are taking a leave of absence this spring - lucky me!

Fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes crossed in anticipation of that next appointment. It all is on target in this ultrasound, then we can breathe a big sigh of relief for now.

We decided to get a new dog as soon as possible to keep Sydney company. Whether a dog or a pup, it will be good to get it situated before I get too plump and can't clean up as many land mines in the house if we have to deal with that.

We REALLY want a puppy and I think it would be best to get one in and trained BEFORE I have to deal with diapers, so we're making a move on that now.

We stopped by an animal rescue to see about a new puppy. I had a 5 month shepherd mix picked out (Murphy) but when Marti brought Sydney up to meet him, she wanted no part of that - or the 11 month old either.

Just like in the dog park on Sunday, she snarled and tried to bite the dogs we introduced her to. (At the dog park she tried to take on a dog named Moose!) That is soooo not like our little Sydney Pidney!!!! She really is a wreck over this. I always thought she was blissfully ignorant of everything, but she really must be able to tell.

Remember that trip up north mentioned below? Well, that fun weekend turned into heartbreak when Morgan (my step-dogger) became very sick and agitated Friday night.

We ended up having to put her to sleep after a very long day of trying to save her at 2 different vet's offices.

I went with Marti to go "pick her up" and we prepared with some ground beef to feed her when she got home. However, she never made it home.

We had a feeling when we left the house that EVENTUALLY that may happen, but I think we were in partial denial that we'd have to do it that day. In the back of my mind I went with him just to be his strength in case he needed to make the decision on the spot.

Turns out my subliminal thoughts were right and it was a good thing I went with Marti so I could say good-bye to Morgan. However, the idea of being the strong one didn't quite work out as I'd planned. I cried harder than I did when I put down my very own Sierra.

I guess I was a little more prepared for Sierra's passing -- and I wasn't almost 11 weeks pregnant at the time.

The semi-funny thing about getting home from the vet was when I went to clean out my purse. I'd been stuffing tissues in there after using them and hadn't noticed I had a big bloody nose!

Imagine my surprise when I pulled a bloody tissue out of my purse! The whole time I thought it was just boogers, but I was bleeding, too!

Good thing the nurse gave us a box of Kleenex when it was all done!

Well, the cloud passed and I'm feeling better now. We're heading up north this weekend, so that's a good thing.

I still have this aversion to meat, so no prime rib this time. (It's nearly a tradition to have a roast up there.) I think Marti picked up stuff for the pasta dish he likes me to make. Mmmmmmm! Carbs and green leafy vegetables! I can get a whole bag of spinach into one big dish of pasta PLUS other veggies. As Martha would say, "It's a good thing!"

I'm still supposed to take it easy, so no walking around while we're there. Marti got the next season of a show we watched last time, so I know what we'll be doing all weekend! SHIELD!!!! (I hear it's on FX, but I have yet to catch it on TV)

I'm not sure what's going on this week, but where did my prefect pregnancy go????

I've been sick and puking in every sink I can find. That's right - not even making it to the toilet.

I've have had a headache for 3 days or so now.

I'm just feeling crappy all around -- and FREEZING at the office isn't helping anything. I'm walking around wrapped in my grandmother's blanket.

I got another bloody nose yesterday just sitting in bed. Well, ok, I just finished eating Julio's tacos, beans and rice in bed, but that's another issue entirely.

I've been hungry, but once again, nothing looks good, so I tried tempting myself with greasy Mexican food. (The food was greasy, not the people preparing it...)

I suppose it worked because I got 1 1/2 tacos down and a little bit of beans and rice before I finally told Syd and Morgan, "OK, OK! You can have it."

Then there was the worrying yesterday about my boobs feeling deflated all of a sudden. Well, when I got up last night to pee (I don't remember if it was the third time or the fourth time) they hurt again just for being there, so I guess they are still on track.

Phft! I feel like poo!

Today in the shower I noticed my boobs don't feel so full. I hope that's not a bad sign.

We have a sonogram scheduled a couple weeks from now. I wonder what we'll see.

In case anyone was wondering, Mongolian BBQ does not taste good coming back up.

So, the morning sickness enjoyability score is
Strawberry smoothie: 1
Mongolian BBQ: 0

Today is the day we needed to send a blood sample in for the Ultrascreen. They check for possible birth defects by looking at 6 little drops of blood on this paper I send in, plus a sonogram later.

I called home yesterday to have Marti be sure to leave me a reminder to do that test and my loving husband left me a nice note so I wouldn't forget. It went a little something like this:

PAIN FOR U TOMORROW

I love that man. :)

So, today he got the pleasure of sticking my finger with a little lancet and making me bleed not once, but twice.

So, the test is in the mail and I get to do the sonogram part of the test later to see what they think.

Can't wait to see that little bugger again! :) If we're lucky we'll get to see it move around like another friend's did around this time in their pregnancy.

Just did a quick check online to see where we're at these days. Found this page that is pretty cool that shows what to expect at 10 weeks.

http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/pregnancycalendar/l/blweek10.htm

A gallon of water a day? NFW! That's like 6 1/2 bottles of water a day! And not the little 12 oz. ones!

On a lighter note - Marti gets to stick my fingers with lancets tomorrow morning so we can mail in my blood for another test that goes with yet another sonogram. Weeeee! Less than 2 weeks to go till I get to see "it" again!

Top that with knowing it's a half day that Friday and I'm going to be a happy girl next week!

Note to self: carry Kleenex wherever you go. Since nose bleeds are a symptom of pregnancy, you really don't want to be caught in Home Depot with blood on your nose, hands and chin without a tissue.

Could I have been more moody today? I don't think so! I actually had to leave my cousin's birthday dinner because I was so irritable.

Boobs. Yeah!

That's all I have to say today.

:)

Scheduled another ultrasound today. There is a test they can do that replaces the amniocentesis and is non-invasive. I just need to stick my finger and put a few spots of blood on an envelope they gave me and mail it in.

They analyze that for some chemical and also do the ultrasound to see the thickness of the skin at the neck of the baby and it indicates the odds of if the baby could have certain birth defects.

Since I'm over 35, it seems this is covered and I get another ultrasound at about 11 1/2 weeks. YEAH!

Then there's one more at about 18-20 where they should be able to tell the sex and that one is routine so it will be covered.

Vicky, Dr. Donnelly's nurse called today with the blood tests and the results from the last ultrasound.

It seems my blood work and all that fun stuff is "perfect" in her words. They also discovered I don't have any STDs of any sort. (I coulda told 'em that!)

She said the ultrasound results were great but there's a little subchorionic bleed remaining from when I had the early spotting. She didn't seem concerned and when I looked it up, it seems these normally take care of themselves. Yada yada yada...

I've been pretty hungry some days. So much so that sometimes I've been hungry less than an hour after eating.

Today I had the joy of my stomach feeling empty only 15 minutes after I ate a bowl of noodles. What's up with that?????

The good news is this doesn't happen every day, so I hopefully won't have to worry about packing on extra pounds.

Marti picked up a "chick flick" for me yesterday. The Notebook with James Garner.

I didn't think it would be that good since I didn't hear much in the way of reviews, but it was good.

It was so sad at the end that I cried.

Not your normal "movie cry" where a tear runs down the cheek and if you are really good about it, the person sitting next to you may not even know you're crying.

It was a full on sniveling sobbing cry that lasted a good 20 minutes to and through the end of the movie.

I cried so hard I threw up.

I haven't done that since Schindler's List!!!

Now, granted, this movie was not nearly as moving as Schindler's List was. But then again, I wasn't pregnant when I watched Schindler's List, either.

Yes, I think The Notebook was sad, but I think I bawled like a baby because of the hormones racing through my veins right now.

Good times!

I'm just glad we weren't in a theater with other people! Marti and I both got a chuckle out of it, but I would have been totally embarrassed if I was around anyone else.

Ok, so I just uploaded the sonogram picture after sharpening it a little.

Is it just me, or does that kid have a widow's peak already? If that's the case, this one puts Eddie Munster's hairline to shame! hahaha!

Just got back from the sonogram appointment and everything looks great! This time the baby is exactly as big as it should be, so I take it that means it is thriving and will make it.

The U/S tech printed a picture for us to take home this time, so that was cool. I'll have to scan it and put it on the site when I get home.

The heart was beating as clearly as can be at 174 beats per minute.

Yeah!

I'm so happy today! :)

Had my first morning sickness today at work. As far as these things go, it wasn't so bad. :) I have the sonogram to look forward to this afternoon, so who knows if it was just nerves playing with my stomach.

Went to see the doctor yesterday and everything seems to be normal so far. She gave me an order for an ultrasound, so we'll do that soon to see how things look.

I ended up going home and taking a nap after the appointment because I got so tired.

This is a relatively uneventful pregnancy so far. I keep hoping that is a good thing. :)