6 WEEKS (SWEET PEA): May 8-14

6 Weeks (SWEET PEA): 

We're still playing around with angles and framing for my weekly photos.

I sort of like the second angle because it will be easy to replicate each week.

• Breasts very sore and somewhat swollen/firm (TMI?) 
• Some pangs of nausea randomly throughout day, no vomiting... YET! So far this "morning sickness" for me is more "dry-heaving when I see dirty dishes, old food, or crumbs". At least I can still eat!
• Gagging when brushing teeth. I used to be able to brush my tongue rather thoroughly, but now even the thought of my toothbrush touching my tongue is enough to make me gag!
• Frequent urination (more like feeling that I could pee on command any time). I get up on average 1 time per night to pee.
• Need to nap! I take my nap after work daily, and then get 8 hours at night. After I wake up from my nap every day I'm already looking forward to my nap the next day. 
• David has been a total champ helping me and making sure I'm comfortable and happy whenever possible. 
• Why does chocolate taste like hamster food? A friend became turned off of chocolate when she was pregnant, but I never suspected this would happen to me! One morning I put chocolate chips on my PB toast as a special treat (the texture of the banana I usually have was grossing me out). I was very excited, and waited for them to melt a little bit before excitedly taking a bite... It tasted like how a hamster cage smells. I was so disappointed I decided it was better to skip breakfast and throw out the toast. 
• Craving oranges! I ate so many oranges this week. There must be a deficiency in vitamin C!
• Food aversions to meat... Mostly ground beef. Even the thought of it can send me dry heaving. We were cooking burgers one day and I couldn't handle the smell of our house for hours. 
• Bloating. I swear I see people who don't know I'm pregnant checking out my (usually relatively flat) stomach. Some people have already figured out the pregnancy. They say, "Something is different." It is easy to tell I'm bloated when I wear jeans, and most of the time I'm already undoing the top button when I'm sitting around.
• Random cramps. I occasionally will get a sharp, but minor cramp, usually lasting no more than 10-30 seconds on my right side of my abdomen. Baby is growing rapidly at this point, so it could be my uterus expanding daily, or the ligaments around it stretching out. 
• No more constipation. What a relief (pun intended)
• Thirsty. It has been a warm week, but I feel as though I'm always thirsty. It helps me drink more water, but the dry mouth isn't very much fun.
• Finished Wellbutrin taper at end of Week 6. We will see how things progress, but hopefully I can stay off anxiety medications for the duration of the pregnancy. 
• Acne. Well this is a shame, but my hormones seem to be simulating those of the 14 year old Renee. My face is breaking out all over the place. Oh well... worth it!
• Dating Ultrasound on May 11. This was a gong show... I had an abdominal ultrasound in the morning on May 11, where the technician didn't see anything. He did say it may be too early, but I knew I was at least 6 weeks along, so that didn't make sense to me. He told me he couldn't confidently say whether I was (still) pregnant or not. I asked if I should be concerned, or if it was normal to see nothing, and he still said he couldn't say one way or the other. As I walked out, he gave me a look of, "sorry..." Well that was it! I was convinced we had lost our baby, or that the pregnancy was ecotpic (in Fallopian Tube) or something. David was in the waiting room, so I filled him in and then went home and cried/grieved/mourned.On my way home, I got a call from the ultrasound clinic asking me to come back later that day for another image. I figured, "great... adding insult to injury. They probably want to check if it's ectopic..." David couldn't come to second ultrasound, so Mom came, as I had filled her in on what was going on. They called me in for my US, and I went in reluctantly, still with tears in my eyes for grieving our loss. The kind lady told me they'd be doing a transvaginal ultrasound. I was okay with that, and pretty checked out by that point. I'm lying on the table, and she's muttering under her breath, "Good.... good.... what?... Good...." I'm thinking to myself, "What's good? Nothing is good!" Then she finally says, "So tiny! I can only see it from one angle." "WHAT?! You mean there's something in there?" I ask. She is shocked that I don't believe her, and that the previous tech allowed me to leave feeling as though something bad had happened. After she reassured me that I was in fact still pregnant, she showed me our bean! I got to see the heartbeat and everything! I wish now that I had taken a video of this to show David, since he couldn't be there.I feel the first ultrasound tech could have said something like... "They may ask you to come in for a transvaginal ultrasound, as those can see more this early in pregnancy," or, "it will be okay, it's likely just too small to see with this tool." Or something! I left that appointment with my ultrasound pictures and a huge grin on my face, but also a feeling of complete exhaustion. What. A. Roller-coaster. Within three hours we had gone from being excited for our first ultrasound, to grieving the loss of our baby, to seeing the heartbeat. I can't explain the range of emotions or the exhaustion I felt that afternoon/evening. 
• Baby Bean is 4.5 mm long as of 6 weeks and 1 day (May 11). On the ultrasound photo sheets it is labelled as "Fetus A". I affectionately referred to it as that for a day even though the word fetus bothers me (I don't know why... just not a pretty word). For now... it (also bothers me) will be called Baby Bean! Until we come up with some other pet name. It's tough when we can't attach a pronoun to it.
• Hearbeat is 113 BPM as of 6 weeks and 1 day.
• Ultrasound tech (the second one) said everything looks perfect and healthy and happy!

That's our tiny little bean in there {between the two white crosses}! Below it is the round yolk sac, which will eventually be replaced by the placenta (as I understand it). It is currently providing nutrients to the bean. Near the middle of the bean is a little white spec (slightly whiter than the rest). If I remember correctly, that is where the heart is!