Words

Words Evan is saying at 13.5 months old:

Hey

Bye bye

Ma (Mama)

Da (Daddy)

Kitty

Milk

Duck

Bird

Book (he's still working on the pronunciation of this one!)

Nana (not so sure about this, but my mom insists he is saying it - meaning her of course)

Anxiety

Okay so here's the deal....

My anxiety attacks have dramatically increased since I became pregnant. Like.....on a good day I have 5-10 anxiety attacks, some days I have them almost constantly. That's made me more sick than morning sickness. I also feel like I'm having problems with depression.

I talked to my midwife last Tuesday and she prescribed me Zolo.ft for the anxiety. She isn't convinced that I'm having depression problems and thinks that it's probably just pregnancy in general making me feel this way. At the time I smiled and nodded, but I know my own body and I know that I've had some real depression. Thankfully that's been a little better the past couple of weeks, but the anxiety is still a problem. Regardless though, she said this medicine should help the depression if I'm experiencing that too, but not to be concerned if it doesn't go away, because that would just mean that it's normal pregnancy symptoms.

I'm on 25 mg of the medicine, a very low dosage. It took me until Sunday to start taking them. And I still feel guilty about it. I just don't know....I was hoping the midwife would tell me some natural remedies, but this is what she recommended first and she seemed to feel strongly about it.

Matt and I did research and there's no proof at this point that Zo.loft can cause problems in the first 2 trimesters. And then the effects of anxiety/panic attacks on a baby can be serious like development problems, increased risk of diabetes and heart problems in the future. My chances of preterm labor are increased.

Sigh.......... I feel anxious about this stupid anxiety medicine. I was ALL NATURAL with Evan. I never took a single pain reliever pill while I was pregnant. Not while I was pregnant, not during labor, not even after labor (well, until about a week went by and I had to take Motr.in for my sore breasts, but that's a whole other story!).

I also had a flu shot last week. I don't know if that was the right thing to do either. If my mom wasn't a teacher and didn't come into contact with the flu every year I probably wouldn't have taken it.

Did any of you take antidepressants while in your first trimester? I'm hoping to go off the medicine by the second trimester, but who knows. And did any of you get the flu shot while pregnant? I'm just so nervous and upset by this........ I just feel that I'm already failing this baby. I did everything right with Evan and felt so confident. And I feel like it's all out of control this time around.

guilty

I feel guilty for not eating well with this pregnancy. For not exercising. For not being as careful. For taking medicine instead of having the med-free pregnancy I had last time.

Gender theory *updated!

*UPDATE:Well I think that all the ladies on the message board I was on were confused! lol It's funny that EVERYONE was confused about the same thing. But I'm still not sure if it matters where the baby is located in the uterus or if it's where the placenta is located. And I don't know how to tell where the placenta is. Speaking of placentas, I hope I don't have an anterior one this time because I want to feel the baby kick sooner and more often!!

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http://www.obgyn.net/ultrasound/ultrasound.asp?page=/fm/articles/fetal_gender_placental_location

Interesting article about a theory that states that the gender of a baby can be determined from early ultrasounds. If the baby implants on the right side of the uterus it's a boy and if it's on the left side it's a girl.

I read a message board thread and it was correct for the women who had had babies before. I don't know if it's correct with Evan because I can't remember which side he was on and the u/s pictures I have are zoomed in and centered so I don't know.

Just wondering if any of you have heard of this and have an opinion. Obviously it's just a theory, but it may or may not have been right for you! I'm curious to know if it was and if you want to give me a link to your early u/s pictures feel free!

Evan's early u/s picture is on the right side bar (6w5d). His later u/s pictures are HERE (18w) and HERE (32w5d).

This baby's early u/s picture is less clear than Evan's (as far as seeing the baby). Probably because it was done almost a week earlier than his! I still need to post it, but it looks like the baby implanted on the left side so maybe a girl if this theory is correct? I will talk more about gender in a later post...

13 Months Old

My son is 13 months today! He's been celebrating by doing all kinds of exciting growing up things.

For the last week his first molar has been breaking through. He had his flu shot a week ago and had a fever that night. Then the next couple of days didn't eat as much. It wasn't until he started jerking his head away when I'd give him a sippy cup or put my hand near my face that I realized he was teething since I thought those symptoms were a side effect of the shot. I'm still not sure about the fever. He did have a teething fever of 101 a couple of months ago, but this was even higher (103). So maybe it was a combination of the shot AND teething.

He WALKED the other day!!! I said "come here" while he was standing holding on to the door jamb. He took a step, then looked down and deliberately took another step, then another step, then another. By then he was to me! I made a big deal about it and immediately went to change my facebook status, bragging about his accomplishment. I didn't think he'd do it again but I got right back down on the floor and stood him up a few feet away. He walked right to me! He did it several times. I think the most steps he took in a row were about 7. He did really well too, he didn't wobble much or fall down. He would always make it to me! I'm so proud of him, you'd think this was something only he does and not every single baby in the world, but he did such a great job!!

My mom said that when I was a baby I walked a couple of times when I was almost 1. I fell down and she said I didn't walk again for a couple of months, then when I did start I walked perfectly and never fell. I guess I was a perfectionist even then! But Evan is 13 months and just walked for the first time. He hasn't walked since then. I couldn't get him to yesterday or so far today. However, he did this same thing with crawling and a lot of the words he says. He'll do it a few times in a row, then stop doing it for weeks and then suddenly start again.

He also said 2 words together for the first time this morning! He said "Hey Kitty." He said it several times after Matt said it. SO cool!! He's just been all around more vocal today, saying words that he's been able to say for months, but usually doesn't say. He said "da" (daddy), "bye bye," "okay," "kitty," and "hey kitty" this morning.

He also got scratched by our cat Serenity this morning, shortly after saying "Hey kitty" to her. Evil cat. Her claw covers fell off weeks ago but we haven't had many problems with her scratching him so we didn't replace them. But tonight we will definitely put them back on her! She scratched his face, about half an inch under his eye. It bled and now there's a scab there and it's looking a little puffy around it. I washed it after it happened, but I'm going to watch it to make sure it doesn't get infected.

That's all for Evan's 13 month update. I think I still have yet to post his 12 month stats from his doctor's visit a month ago....I will have to do that soon!

ultrasound

The ultrasound went well on Friday!!! *big sigh of relief*

We saw and heard the baby's heartbeat. It was 92 bpm. I'm measuring what I thought I was measuring, but it's about a week earlier than they thought. So I was 5 weeks 6 days. My due date is officially May 14.

I haven't scanned the ultrasound picture yet, but I will post it soon. :-)

Other Updates

At the end of July I became a consultant for Pampered Chef. I'm surprised at how much I enjoy it! It's been a great way to make extra money and get out of the house a little bit. I'm a little concerned at how it will work if I have morning sickness as bad as I did with Evan though. I could hardly stand the smell of most foods then, so I definitely wouldn't be able to go to someone's house and cook a meal while giving a demonstration! But we'll see how it goes. The good thing about PC is that I can take a break and then start up again whenever I want.

It's a big change for me. I wish I had started doing it years ago when I couldn't find a job before we started TTC. I remember feeling so depressed that I didn't have anything to do. I'm just surprised more people don't do this! Not only do I earn a commission (that is higher and higher the more I sell each month) I get SO MUCH free stuff. I have received HUNDREDS of dollars worth of free stuff in the last month and a half. If any of you are interested in learning more please email me (click on my profile on the left sidebar) and we can chat about it!

Another big thing going on right now is that we have decided to try to sell our house!! I'm really, really hoping it will work out. We actually have a specific house in mind that we want to buy. I'm praying desperately that it will stay available until we can get it! But the price was just reduced this week...the owners are very eager to sell. So I'm worried that it's not going to stay on the market much longer....

I just hope our house will sell FAST! The realtor who helped us buy our house is confident that we will sell pretty quickly. He's not in the business now so we are searching for another realtor. Uggg...that's already been a mess. I guess I should just take care of it myself, but basically I told Matt that if he couldn't get hold of the lady we were wanting (that my parents used a couple of years ago) by late morning to find someone else so we can start the process NOW. But of course it's been 2 days and nothing has happened.

Ahh! I'm excited/nervous about that on top of being excited/nervous about this pregnancy. I'm just hoping that soon the time will fly by as we pack up our stuff and move from this 40 year old 3 bedroom 1450 sq ft house to an 8 year old 6 bedroom 2940 sq ft house with an office, dining room, garage and neighborhood park!!