One sick momma :(

Liz spent about four hours today getting fluids/vitamins/meds through an IV.  Even with the meds from our last visit, she's still not doing so hot, hasn't been able to keep food down, and lost 2 lbs. this week, after losing 2 lbs. the week before.  Our midwives scheduled her for an appointment next week, also, to check her status.  We'll keep y'all updated.

On a more exciting and financially more painful note, we wrote a check to hold a spot at a local daycare.  We've also been looking for two bedroom apartments within and outside of our building and have decided to stay with our building and management company...we love where we're at.  We'll send you our new apartment number when we make the switch in May.  

Thump, thump, thump...

That's the noise we were able to hear at our first midwife's visit.  We're about 9 weeks along, so hearing the baby's heart was a 50/50 shot depending on the angle of Liz's uterus.  Well, angled it was and within seconds of putting the microphone thingy up to Liz's stomach we heard HJ (Hedke, Jr.)'s heart beating at about 160 beats per minute.  Smiles, hugs, and kisses followed.  While hearing the heartbeat has made the pregnancy more tangible, it is all still very surreal.  We've schedule an ultrasound for May 7 and we should be able to identify the sex of HJ by then.  Now all Liz has to do is start making her list of boy and girl names.  In a rare feat, Nathaniel had his lists done almost a month ago.

Equally as exciting, the midwife gave Liz a few prescriptions for her "Morning Sickness."  Liz puked three times while we were at the 1 hr. appointment and our midwife assured us that this was not typical morning sickness, to which I said, "No, it is not typical morning sickness, we have 'Morning Sickness'.  Okay, I didn't say that, but the midwife could sense it by the look on our faces.  Anywho, Liz is starting to come around which makes Mom, Dad and baby happy. 

We also signed-up for a centering class were we meet monthly with the midwives and other couples who are due around the same.  This will give us a chance to meet other expecting couples, ask more questions, and be exposed to more information.

Back to the Future

Yup, that's a blue line and we're not talking hockey.  It was very, very faint because at this point we were only about two weeks pregnant.  Liz took the pregnancy test on Friday, January 15th while I was at school and decided to surprise me.  She picked me up at work and told me that she had something for me. 

I opened my gift to see the bib at right.  I was very confused because we hadn't officially started trying, just stopped not trying.  I literally took the bib out of the bag, read it, looked to Liz with a puzzled look for some clarification and...then it all clicked.  We couldn't stop smiling and haven't yet, unless we're puking.

Showered with Love ***warning****may include graphic content regarding am sickness!

As Nathaniel mentioned, morning sickness has not been my friend lately. However, this week we have been showered in love by our wonderful family to help brighten our days.

  With me cozy-ing up to the toilet many times a day, and Nathaniel running around getting food for me that at the time does not make me want to vomit, tidying up our apt, and rubbing my back when I am heaving into the toilet (he lovingly calls this "talking to the dinosaurs," as some of the sounds are somewhat dinosaurish), there is little time and energy for a good deep down cleaning of our apt. So imagine the joy when Mom and Roger  surprised us with a visit from the Maid Brigade. Never have I been so happy to have a clean apartment. Now when I am hugging the toilet, floor dust balls are not staring me down in the bathroom. This was one of the best gifts ever, and I am definitely going to remember it for my other fellow friends who struggle with morning sickness.



The second surprise came today, after a morning of many tears from feeling so horrible and even vomiting in the car (luckily I had my handy barf bowl!). As I was laying down on the couch, trying to start studying for Wednesday's test, I was surprised by a knock at the door. Rob and Dad had sent a beautiful bouquet of some of my favorite flowers. So, now, when I am needing a study break, I can just walk over to the flowers for an escape from reality!

Thanks for all of the love and support everyone-we definitely could not make it without you!

A ROUGH Blessing

Well, it's been a couple of rough weeks for Liz with "Morning Sickness."  Yes, I placed "Morning Sickness" in quotes and capitalized it...for a reason.  "Morning Sickness" has earned great respect in our house, hence the capitalization.  I used quotes because "Morning Sickness" happens at all times,  not just in the "morning," and calling it a "sickness" is rather sick, in itself.  That being said, the "Morning Sickness" has put Liz and I on notice for who is going to be running the Hedke household for some time to come. 

Our first visit with the midwives is Friday, February 19 at 11...details to follow.