A Week of Contradictions

This has been a strange week for me. I have gone from the highs of happiness to the lows of sadness in just a matter of hours. From speaking of birth to speaking of death. It really puts the transient nature of life in general into perspective.

My best friend's mom died of Lou Gehrig's disease this week. Anna Marie and I have been best friends since high school, going on 14 years now. I've known her whole family, including her mom, that long too. I was at her house alot and I remember her mom made the best bread and would usually send some home with me. I was a bridesmaid in Anna Marie's wedding and she was a bridesmaid in mine. Her mom came to my wedding and I remember that even with the disease, she looked beautiful all dressed up. It was the last time she would ever get dressed up. She died in her sleep sometime late Sunday night/early Monday morning. She simply didn't have the energy to continue breathing and quietly slipped away.

Wednesday morning we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time and I cried a little because I was so happy. It was an affirmation of life. Wednesday evening we went to Dana Dorotik's viewing and I teared up a little there too when I saw her laying in the casket. It was an affirmation of death. This morning my mom and I went to her funeral. It was a beautiful service, if such a thing can be said of a funeral, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the church. There was a graveside service afterward, which we did not attend. Anna Marie later told me that each of them - her dad, herself, and her sister and brothers - took a white rose from the arrangement my family and Jessie and I had sent and laid it on their mothers casket for a final farewell before she was laid to rest. That made me cry a little too. I have their family in my prayers.

Second Visit to Obgyn and a Small Heartbeat

Today was the second visit to the obgyn office and the first time Jessie and I got to meet with Dr. Meyers, who will be delivering our baby. He's short, slightly pudgy, and has a great sense of humor along with alot of years experience doing what he does. He delivered my sister, Tammy's, babies so I know he'll be great. Jessie and I really like him, which I think is an important part of the process.

I got an exam first thing and then after that was finished he went over all of the results from the labwork I had done last month. Apparently I'm super healthy. Great news! I also found out my blood type. I know it may be kind of weird that I'm 31 years old and never knew what my blood type was, but maybe it's a good thing that I never had to know - no major trauma events. In any case, now I know. Also, I'm rh positive, which means no extra injections with a needle later on in the pregnancy. This is also great news! More great news - I didn't have to get any lab work done, so no stabbing me with sharp instruments causing a mini-panic attack to ensue! The news just keeps getting better!

The best news of all - we got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! It was a healthy and normal 140-ish beats per minute. It was so great that I teared up a little bit. And I'm not a crier. Jessie and I were both so happy.

I have another appointment scheduled in three weeks, and I'm going to have to get lab work done then. But that's weeks away and I'll think about that when it gets here!

One Down, Two More to Go

Woo hoo!!!!! First trimester is officially over today!! Only two more to go! Even though I didn't experience morning sickness like a lot of pregnant women do, the first trimester still kinda sucked. I think morning sickness was the only pregnancy symptom I didn't have. This is also the most tired I have been in my whole life and I can't wait to experience all that second trimester energy burst I have been hearing about.