Welcoming the second trimester.

So I had my second prenatal today. My dr seems pleased with my progress. The baby's heart rate has been steady in the 160s. I have yet to gain any weight but my stomach is getting bigger. If you hang around me you'd notice, but some people just think I'm just fatter.

I gave up wearing my regular jeans. They were pinchy and I get bloated and it's REALLY pinchy. I was just going to buy bigger jeans but someone gave me maternity jeans and caprees so I figured they are free, may as well use them. I feel kinda weird in them and they don't fit me right, but I'm sure I'll grow into them.

My favorite thing about being in the second trimester is I'm not as nauseous and tired. I still get pretty sleepy, but it's controllable. I have a new issue, though. I get dizzy if I move too fast or get up fast. Easily avoidable, really.

My mom, my best friend, Zach, and my dr have a running bet. My dr thinks I'm going to have a boy. Mom and Charlie are going with girl. Zach thinks it'll be a girl. I think it's going to be a girl (when I have dreams about the baby, it's always a girl). I will officially find out on April 12th! I am thinking about telling people via home made cards.I know it's kind of dorky but I love sending real mail and getting mail (it's such a dying art). Zach and I are going to look at stationary tomorrow!!

=^,^=

My rice baby

This is my tiny little baby. It's as big as a piece of rice right now and you can watch it's tiny little heart beat at 107 bpm. I was so scared that somehow when I got my ultrasound it would be gone or something horrible. I am so so so relieved that my little trouble maker is there. We're also kinda relieved that it's one, not two. With how heavy my nausea and tiredness has been, we were kinda worried about twins. Such isn't the case, which is just fine. :D

Oh so tired

I barely get home from work, take my meds, eat a small something, and crash in bed. I seem to always be exhausted. I wake up after 8 or more hours of sleep, and I'm still tired! This pregnancy things is nuts! I know I'm not that far into it, so I feel like I'm doing something wrong. I'm trying to change my diet to add more whole wheat and fruit, but I still lack energy. Maybe it's this earache that I've got that's sapping my energy? I grew up with ear infections and swimmers ear what seemed like every other week and I never felt tired from it, but who knows. I'm going to try the library to see if there are any energy boosting recipes I can try to get Zach to help me cook. Luckily we both have the next two days off together.

Week 5 = barf

I'm entering week five of my pregnancy and let me tell you, morning sickness is no joke.. I had to leave work yesterday because I vomited so much I was beginning to shake and feel dizzy. I feared that I would be moving someone somewhere and drop them. I just couldn't do it. I just can't seem to keep anything down. Zach bought me some ensure, so I'm sipping at that and apple juice (for some reason I'm loving that stuff). I'm starting to feel somewhat better. I hope my boss doesn't get too mad at me. I'm going to do what I can for work, but I'm not going to endanger a patient.

Today I plan to get some chores done. Tomorrow is Zach's first day back to school, so I'd like to have the house somewhat clean so we can enjoy some time together. I'm hoping my mom will drop by at some time. I haven't seen her since I told her of my pregnancy :(

Pregnant!!

So I found out I was pregnant yesterday. About 4 and change weeks pregnant. I did two home pregnancy tests to be sure then the docs wanted a blood test. All came back positive. I'm kinda in my own world now. The doc told me my progesterone was in the 12s when it needed to be in the 20s so they have me...let's just say "taking" progesterone pills to raise that. They promised me I only needed them for 6 weeks, so I'm holding them to that.

I kinda lucked out with the metformin I was taking for my PCOS. I had forgotten to take it since December because of all the things that were going on. I read that you can't breast feed if you took/or are taking metformin during pregnancy. Zach feels pretty strongly about breastfeeding, seeing as most of his sisters had done it and he saw the health benefits of it over and over and over again. I've got a long time before I have to think about it, so I'm not going to :P

My cinnamon rolls are done!

Peace out!

Long time no see

I hope to post more often, but life happens!

Zoey has found she loves snow. This was her first time in it. She sure had a good time!

Zach and I discovered Chicken and Gnocchi soup from Olive garden. After SEVERAL trips there we found our poor bank account was suffering so I decided to copy the recipe. It's still somewhat in the works, but this is what I have so far:

Amber's copy cat Chicken and Gnocchi
1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (you can use a rotisserie chicken)
1 14 ounce can salt free chicken broth
1 quart half and half
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup carrots, finely shredded
1 cup onion, finely diced
1-2 cup fresh spinach
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon parsley
1 pound potato gnocchi (you can sometimes buy this at the store)

Sauté the onion, celery, and garlic in a bit of butter and/or olive oil, over medium heat until the onion becomes clear-ish (Zach says when they turn into ghost onions)

In the soup pot add the flour and butter, and make a roux, let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half (I wonder if you can use half half&half and half milk. It was almost too much cream for me).

Into the roux/cream add in the onion, celery, garlic mixture, carrots, and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick add the chicken broth (I had to boil it a bit before it became thick). Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasonings, simmer until soup is heated through. Don't overcook the gnocchi or it'll become mashed potatoes!

I also added 2 cubes of chicken and herb bullion in the end. I would have used "Better than Bullion" but I only had beef. It seemed to give it a bit more flavor. Also, the carrots turned the soup slightly pink. I suppose you can rinse them, but I figured that would kill their nutritional value.

Let me know how I could improve on this, if you have any ideas!

Zach's Story

We went to bed at around 0300. After dreams of Voldemort, pickles, flying guitars that could talk, and cupcakes we woke up at 0600. I lay in bed thinking "God please make it 0300 again. I got out of bed around 0620, made some oatmeal, and our day started. Poor Amber. I waited until Amber and her mom left to go to the doctor to shower, then stepped out to head to school. I had my bag, lunch, and even my work clothes... But the keys were still on the recently added hook near the door.

Thankfully our bikes were not locked up so I hopped on mine and rode for the rental office. Halfway there I realize that I forgot to air up the tires for the last... 2 months. After a long, quad-killing, ride I arrived out of breath. Thinking the door was locked I stood on the office porch for 5 minutes. Turns out it was not locked. I got the spare key, rode home, unlocked the house and almost locked the spare in the house, sans-keys. I managed to sacrifice a hand to prevent overwhelming stupidity.

I only arrived 35 minutes late for my first class. The teacher was cool about it. Turns out most of the homework group I was in did not show up... For one of them it was very understandable: If you have kids in public school in this area they are sick, or will be soon. School went well.

Work was another matter entirely. The guy who was to help me called off. Again. Again... He calls off 3-4 times a week. "It's medical, they can't fire me." Yeah, but they can stop scheduling you so that you can no longer come in and work on Sunday for that $1 premium. Seriously! Only day he works is the one on which he gets paid more. Way to forget that those other 4 days would have made you more money than that one!

People are idiots.

But it was all worth it when I learned Amber's surgery went well. She will be on her road to recovery for a while, but when it arrives life will go on. Heck... It's going on right now.