What a great day! You rock and I'm so jealous!

Thank you! Well, after submitting a long list of possible names to my husband, he ruthlessly vetoed all of them except 2, lol. One is his name (he's the II and this baby would be the III) and the other goes great with his/his dad's middle name. I like the second option, because my husband's name is 1) very unusual and 2)in my mind belongs to him and it would be odd to me to have a baby called that. BUT since his dad passed away when he was only like 6 I totally understand wanting to honor him. And my husband's name does lend itself to a cute nickname for a baby. I do think that we are both leaning toward the other name, though, and pairing it with my husband's middle name. Gosh that was probably confusing. ANYWAYS, my husband is kind of waffling and I'm dying for him to just make up his mind already, lol! I had such an easy time naming Sebastian and Vincent so this drawn out process is driving me batty! Once he expresses some opinion either way and we hash it out I'll report back. Speaking of driving me batty, I can't wait to feel the baby move, but I found out that I have an anterior placenta (who knew there was such a thing?!) and that will act like a cushion and make it take longer for me to feel any movement. GAH.

They are VERY excited. The younger one really wanted a little brother. I think the older one wanted a sister, but he's since warmed up to the idea and was talking at lunch today about how exciting having a little baby around was going to be. The heat is definitely a factor right now! Heat index has been 100 degrees here, as well as humidity. I used to be cold all the time, but recently I have been overheating a lot.

Hi friends! IT'S A BOY!!!!! 3 sons, isn't that amazing?! Still blows my mind. Yesterday's appointment shows everything is looking great! Dr said, all other things being equal, he will want to induce me at week 39, which is the week of Thanksgiving. I feel like a total imposter posting on the "active" thread because I just am not right now except when I can squeeze a walk in between thunderstorms. Blood pressure is still so low that any exertion wipes me out completely and makes me feel faint. I will have to embrace this as a season of rest, I suppose, although I am still holding out hope for being able to swim once the pool is ready. The constant rain means we are having a horrible time getting the chemical balance correct and managing algae. I am eating a lot of fruit, salad, homemade bread, peanut butter, lowfat cheese, and not a whole lot else, lol. Weight gain is 6 lbs which is apparently right on track. Anyways, yay for a healthy boy! I thought I would be disappointed not to have a girl, but I'm actually really excited!

That swimming excursion sounds really neat!

Hi friends, just wanted to check in on the new thread! I'm still in the land of the living over here, and honestly doing much better, though I still have bouts of nausea and dizziness. Most food aversions are gone except chicken and garlic. I've got a little baby bump going on, which is both neat and disconcerting, lol. Exercise has been limited to walking, but at least I'm able to do that. I do find that I am overheating easily so I am looking forward to our pool being ready to swim in (in the next couple of weeks). I haven't been weighing myself because I was finding it too stressful, but so far I think I'm doing decently. Still eating fruit like crazy and can drink regular water now and eat salads for lunch again (yay!). I am doing well with getting enough sleep and keeping my mood in balance, which were 2 big goals for me last month. My next OB appt is on the 10th, and we may find out the sex at that visit. It's a little early, but the dr said he was going to try to see. If so, I will be sure to report in for that! I enjoy reading y'all's updates, ladies!!

@Laura Corin Wow, that souffle is impressive! Good job! @soror I'm so sorry you felt rotten yesterday. But your food sounds great! Lots of good cooks in this group! I met my goals yesterday, which is the first time in a long time I can say that! Also I had my first salad in about 6 weeks. Those who are familiar with my daily salad habit know this is a big deal for me. 🙂 I did some bridges after squats yesterday and had some issues with round ligament pain, so just have to take it easy and go slow. Today's goals are basically the same, except I have the opportunity to walk longer. Also, to gently enlighten my husband as to why we will not be naming this child Optimus Prime, lol. My 5 year old wants to name it Temper. As in Temper Tantrum. ROFL. This same kid said good morning to my belly yesterday, then sort of cringed and said, "well, that was awkward." LOL. Anyways, sleep last night was great, so I hope to continue to see improvement in my energy and stamina. If so I will probably try to come up with some sort of more concrete exercise plan for second trimester. Y'all know I like plans. 🙂 I'm sure anything I come up with will be better than the first trimester plan of "3 sets of Don't Throw Up."

@soror I missed that about the poison ivy! Yuck! I hate getting that. Hope it's not bad. I have had such a good day that I had to come on here and talk about it, haha. I had a little nausea when my stomach got empty before lunch, but otherwise good. I had peanut butter toast for breakfast, a low fat cheese stick and a big fruit salad for morning snack, a hot turkey cheese bagel sandwich for lunch, a banana protein-powder almond milk smoothie for PM snack, and am planning either a tuna sandwich or a big salad with tuna for supper. In short, very close to my typical diet, except I can't stomach greek yogurt yet. So exciting!! Food in general is tasting better too. Activity-wise I took my walk and did my exercises (such as they were) as planned, but I didn't push it too much because my blood pressure was quite low (87 over something, can't remember) and exertion made me dizzy. But in all, so much better than before. YAY!

We sure enjoy our pool, even though it's just an above ground one. I love to swim and manage to get decent exercise even though it's not a lap pool.

77 is jacket weather!!! 😆

Thank you! It's definitely getting summer-hot here, in the low 90s today! But I walk outdoors in the morning and do ok. The sunshine really boosts my mood!

Hi ladies! I'm happy to report that I have had enough (mostly) good days in a row that I think I can say I'm out of the first trimester sickness. Boy, that was horrible. I have never felt so bad for so long in my life, except when I had mono as a teenager. I still have intermittent nausea, and dizziness and food aversions are still present, but in general everything is much more manageable and my mood/energy are way better. I'm 12w4d right now. So I reckon I'll jump back in with y'all! My goals for the next few days are: good sleep, mo' water, daily walk/squats/kegels, and shifting back toward my previous way of eating as much as food aversions will allow. I'm doing great with the water thing--as long as there is a minimum of 2 lemon wedges and a ton of crushed ice in my quart mason jar at all times! Sleep is fair. Food has been awful, of course, but getting better. I had some lean ground beef last night along with a bunch of cut up veggies with dressing dip...total win compared to the last 6 weeks of grilled cheese sandwiches and Gatorade. I'm still craving fruit and am making a special trip this weekend to supply myself with watermelons, lol. I am going to keep cut up fruit and veggies in the fridge at all times. I'm really hoping to be able to eat some tuna for lunch. Small victories!

@soror Rest and take it easy--CD 1 is draining, blah! Happy to report that my OB appointment was great! I really like my doctor a lot. If anything good came of the whole miscarriage scare, it was getting connected with this doctor. Baby was very active, scooting around and rubbing his/her eyes. The picture he snapped was basically the worst view of the whole scan unfortunately. There were some great moments where I saw the whole profile, the hands, etc. Healthwise, my low blood pressure is a concern but not dangerous unless I pass out. No showers--baths only. Move and stand up slowly, stay super hydrated, rest often, frequent small meals, etc. It certainly makes me feel weak and queasy, but I'll take it over 24/7 nausea! Morning sickness comes and goes now, which is a big improvement. The only age-related thing he brought up is that, due to a higher risk of placenta deterioration leading to stillbirth in those 40 and above, it is not his practice to let women my age get to the due date, which makes induction a bigger possibility than usual. I'm 12 weeks tomorrow...first trimester went by soooo slowly, but I have a feeling the second one will fly by, especially if I start feeling better! I haven't completely lost hope for a "fit and active" pregnancy, but my priority has definitely shifted to making sure I get enough rest and keeping my mood up. The fact that I really haven't gained any weight makes it easier to shift that mindset too. Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Hi friends! Love reading your updates! I had about 3 days of feeling much improved before the dizziness/low blood pressure, nausea, and food aversions came raging back. During that time, I took walks and watered plants in my parents' yard to get out and enjoy the sun and warm weather, which helped my mood. I even ate a little beef! It was a nice reprieve (y'all hear me trying to stay positive?! lol). I have been reading about squats and how beneficial they are for easy delivery and would like to start doing some again once the dizziness and low blood pressure get better (supposedly about halfway through). I have my 12 week appointment tomorrow--hopefully I will get another ultrasound pic to share! Y'all help me pray that everything is good with the baby. My husband is worried about our age and potential problems and his worry is making me worried, lol.

PMS/PMDD hormones make me crazy and spike my anxiety horribly. And when there is additional stress of some form it can compound it big time. There were 2 different seasons of life that I took an anti-depressant to help me get through that. Once external stress reduced I was able to manage the "regular" PMS madness without medicine. The anti-depressant was a Godsend--no shame!

I put on eyeliner and mascara every day, just because it gives my mood a boost to not see "tired eyes" when I catch sight of myself in the mirror. My appearance would probably benefit from some BB cream too, but I can't bear anything that feels foundation-y, blech!

Hi ladies, and happy Mother's Day (y'all not in the US included!). I'm happy to report that the nausea seems to be easing a bit. If I let my stomach get empty it returns with a vengeance, but in general it is gradually becoming more manageable. I'm hungry constantly. While no food really sounds good to me at all anymore, I'm going to try to expand my diet a little this week. Another positive--I have graduated from only being able to drink Gatorade to being able to handle ice water with lemon. I've been doing ok with walking every day...it's pretty humbling how much it wipes me out though. I'm 11 weeks today, and while I don't look pregnant yet, there's definitely what appears to be a sideways bean burrito under my belly button, LOL! The biggest positive thing is that I have definitely gotten excited about having a baby. Something clicked in my head the other night and happiness rushed in and displaced (most of) the anxiety. I started remembering getting the calls from the adoption agency about my other 2 kiddos and bringing them home from the hospital and how amazing all that was. I'm also looking forward to my next appointment and ultrasound on Friday! I was so emotionally messed up from the not-miscarriage last time that I didn't get to enjoy seeing the baby on the screen or anything like that. That's all that's going on with me! Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day!

This reminds me of my current predicament--cooking. It's so hard to cook for the family when you can't taste the stuff to check if the seasoning is right! I keep asking my husband to tell me f something is off, but I have a strong feeling that he'd just suck it up instead. lol

Newbie pregnant person here! Thankfully, my terrible nausea seems to be letting up (I'm almost 11 weeks), but my food aversions are still strong. I usually am a very healthy eater--big salads, chicken, fish, greek yogurt, etc. But since about 6 weeks, I've had strong aversions to meat, veggies, yogurt, garlic, and tons of other stuff that I usually eat. Basically the only things that don't sound utterly gross to me are peanut butter toast, cheese toast, cold fruit, and Gatorade. Even water is gross is me. Please weigh in about when your pregnancy aversions went away, if you experienced them!

Wow, soror, you have had a ton going on! Enjoy your well-earned rest today! Yesterday was such a much better day for me. I made it through my grocery shopping trip with only 1 really bad nausea episode (shopping is horrendous for me while morning sick), then felt good enough by lunchtime that I was able to eat a sandwich and a bowl of fruit. Nausea continued pretty low level all day and I ate soup and a bread roll for supper. This morning it's a little stronger than yesterday, but still much improved from what it has been. I'm going to attempt a half hour walk shortly. Maybe I have turned a corner!!

Happy Sunday everybody! 10 weeks along today--the 2nd trimester is in sight! @barnwife you give me hope that in a few weeks I might regain enough strength and energy to do something active again! Food aversions, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue continue to be pretty tough...apparently I'm right at the peak of crappiness when it comes to hormones according to what I've read. My goal for this week is to stay hydrated. Simple and hopefully attainable! Funny thing--I keep craving and dreaming about fruit, especially strawberries, pineapple, and watermelon really cold and straight from the fridge. Literally I will wake up in the night from extremely vivid dreams about eating icy cold strawberries, lol. I've been eating a big bowl of fruit every day, so that's something! I finally scored a fresh pineapple from the store and it's ready to cut up today, woo hoo!

What gorgeous flowers! Just wanted to report that I ate some salsa today and am totally counting that as a vegetable! Also that the blood test results are in as well as my complete OB panel and everything is normal. My anemia markers are on the lower side of normal, but seems like nothing the prenatal vitamin levels of iron supplementation won't continue to improve. Sounds like the anemia was situational because of the huge blood loss.

I loooove Jasper but was vetoed 😢

I'm happy to report that thanks to y'all, we have several more names on our possibility list! Please continue to add suggestions if you think of any others!

Happy birthday, @wintermom! You guys are being so active and eating such good stuff! Yay! Y'all being so reassuring about my limited diet was very helpful and timely, because the nausea and food aversions have really cranked up a notch this week. I had read a few times that weeks 9 and 10 are the worst, and I'm 9w 5 d. Salad is getting pretty iffy, as are smoothies. Yesterday I ate peanut butter toast, cheese toast, strawberries & grapes, and buttered noodles. Staying hydrated is hard because the thought of sipping water grosses me out for some reason. I've been doing a big glass of crushed ice with mostly water and a little fruit juice, but I might try some La Croix. I wish watermelon was in season. I could probably eat one a day. Yesterday I walked for 30 mins around the property while my boys helped my husband shovel gravel into a drain field he's been digging. It was good for my very low spirits for us all to be outside together. I also ordered myself a few new dresses and skirts...jersey maxis that will transition well once I start showing instead of just being bloated all the time, lol. I haven't had new clothes in a loooong time, so that was fun. I really sympathize with y'all dealing with work stress. The same exact day that I thought I was miscarrying, my "boss" (I'm self employed, but I only have 1 client company) announced a switch to a new software platform and it has cause SO. MANY. PROBLEMS. I dread opening my work email every day and knowing that I can't actually do my job...instead I have to keep trying to untangle all the procedural knots caused by the switchover. Bah. I ended up missing an important deadline and had to email a colleague at my client company about it--turns out she's 12 weeks pregnant and had the same huge hemorrhage as me at the same time in her pregnancy and also thought she had miscarried for almost a week. CRAZY. I think it should be more widely known that this can happen. Anything you see on the internet says brown spotting=ok, any amount of red bleeding=miscarriage. Ok, enough rambling. As soon as the nausea and food aversions let up, I'm celebrating by buying a subscription to a prenatal yoga class online and ordering some Mexican food! Y'all have a good day!