13 weeks 6 Days

I've continued spotting since last Monday. Friday morning was a little bit more, so i stayed home for a few hours and went back to bed for morning napping and water drinking. When I woke up I was incredibly thirsty, so I wasn't sure if that was part of the problem? In any case as I was drifting back to sleep around 8:15 I got a text from my husband asking me to let him know when I got to work and how I was feeling. Then I drifted off to sleep for real UNTIL I had a crazy dream and woke up confused and completely disoriented. In my dream I woke up from my nap and it was almost 1:00 pm. I had never intended to sleep that long, so I was upset with myself and kind of stumbling around. Then I was looking for our dog and finally found her tied up outside with a plastic bag stuck in her mouth. She was fine, but she would have been out there since 7:00 am. And I noticed a potted plant from our front step was now on our back step, which made me even more irritated with my husband. Things like that kept happening until I managed to wake myself up. It was so real and so completely the order I would be doing things that I was super confused when I found I was actually in bed. I fumbled for my cell phone and saw it was only 9:00 am. Not wanting to go back into bizarro dream world I decided to just get up and go to work.
Okay, so I never did a follow-up from last Monday's worried post. Both babies looked good on the ultrasound and doc noticed a clot located away from the placentas and not too big. I'm going back next Monday for them to check the clot and heart rates of the babies. Although I still fall prey to negative thoughts at some point I just have to accept what the doctors say sometimes. What I'm clinging to now is that the doctor said it would be extremely rare to lose babies that looked as good as ours did last Monday. So unfortunately they couldn't do the first trimester screening, because I was bleeding. Apparently active bleeding messes up the hormone levels in the blood samples the take. But they didn't see anything that concerned them on the ultrasounds, so they weren't that worried about the screening and they said that if something seemed suspicious later they could always order the MaterniT21 test. I was so glad he didn't suggest amnio.
Also last week our dog Maggie had her teeth cleaned and ended up getting one of her top incisors removed. She seems much perkier (could be the pain meds) and has been really excited about the mandatory canned food for the week. The vet originally thought the tooth would come out pretty easily, but because she's Maggie it took some cutting and stitching so her mouth's a little more sensitive. The vet said her incisor was the size of most dogs' canines. That's my girl.

12 weeks 1 day

Well, it would seem that I've made it to week 12. Wow. I'm a little nervous, because I'm not as exhausted as I was last week, but then I remember that's expected. I am experiencing constipation, so there's that. (I'd much rather be exhausted). I had an appointment with my GP yesterday to discuss thyroid monitoring during pregnancy. Both she and her assistant were WAAAAYYYY excited for me. That was nice. I've been so guarded with my emotions, but I let the shields down a little bit and let them be excited for me and let myself be excited. It felt good, but I'm back to being guarded now. It's called self preservation.
Monday is my big ole first trimester screening with Maternal Fetal Medicine. Then we wait until July 19th for the next OB appointment. I feel like the results of the first trimester screening will determine when we'll start spreading the news and what news we'll be spreading.
In other news, the dog has stopped eating. I suspect it's related to her teeth and I am planning to call the vet's office to get something set up. We decided that since the EOB for my hospital visit came through and it's being covered at 100% that we could spend the money we were going to spend on that for the poor dog.

Weather Rollercoaster

Last week it was so cold schools were cancelled. This week we've experienced highs in the mid-60s. WTF, weather? But fear not tomorrow we could get snow again. Here's a picture of my 13 year old dog hanging out this past Saturday enjoying last Friday's snow. That's right. Last week was Frigid (with a capital F). Then it warmed a bit and snowed all day Friday. And then this week we experienced 60 degree weather and the tomorrow it could snow. Fantastic.

maggie enjoying some snow

Cycle Day 13

I'm currently a little over 7 lbs away from driver license weight. That's pretty exciting. Last week we were on vacation, so no elliptical. But . . . 5 days of running first thing in the morning. I need every day to be a vacation day. I've been using the ovulation test kit since cd11 and I have my progesterone ready to go. Fingers and toes crossed, but definitely not getting my hopes up.

Maggie on Vacation

Crapton of Carp

Go to the Bank - James
Countdown- Pulp
I Don't Wanna Fall in Love - She Wants Revenge
Jaw, Knee, Music - NOFX
Disco Inferno - The Trammps
Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations
Same Old Song - The Pietasters
Shaking the Tree - Peter Gabriel

The Old Dog's Hips Are Just Fine

By Sunday evening it became clear that the dog's issues were not joint related. She was apparently just extremely ill. I'm really wishing I had taken her to the vet on Friday. At this point I don't see a reason unless her appetite doesn't fully come back or she gets worse.
The weight loss continues. I'm really addicted to this whole not being obese thing. I'm wearing clothes that have been taking up room in my closet for the past couple years. And it's nice. I'm also feeling better in general--not as worn down. I just ordered a new skirt and sweater on Monday--both larges. Not too shabby. I'm thinking the skirt might not be a perfect fit just yet, but soon . . .
I am so addicted to ordering from B. Moss. I loved shopping there when it was an actual store and I recently discovered them online. Today's delivery will include this skirt and this cardigan. How much do I love 3/4 sleeves? (A LOT). This past weekend I accompanied a college classmate to an event his wife didn't want to travel to and I wore this dress. A little different for me since most of my clothing is black or neutral with the occasional pastel thrown in. On my birthday I wore this dress to an author talk and I've worn it since then a couple times to work with a beige cardigan. But now that I have the white one, I'll be trying those together.
Also Monday I started my cycle. It was a little unexpected since I "ovulated" late last time. And by ovulated I mean I had the highest LH surge of my cycle, which according to the kit isn't actually ovulation level, but hey I'll take what I can get. Since January my cycles have ranged from 25-30 days--mostly alternating between 27 and 30. Half looking forward to losing 8 more pounds and getting back on that fertility treatment horse.

This Old Dog's Hips . . .

Next month my dog will be 12.5 years old. I've been noticing some stiffness for the past few months, but nothing too bad until last night. She had some trouble getting up when it was time for the evening walk. And this morning I had to help her up, because her back legs couldn't get traction on the wood floors. It wasn't much better when it was time for her 2nd morning walk. I thought about bringing her to work with me so I could take her to see the vet, but I decided against it. I did call the vet and we decided to try some glucosamine chews. If she seems worse over the weekend I'll take her to the vet next week. Up until last night she has seemed younger than her 12 years--even with her cloudy eyes.

This photo is from a few years ago (2008?). She's a lot more gray in the face now, but this is still how I picture her. I'm hoping this is just arthritis and not something more serious.