My New Front Garden

Last November, I wrote in my blog about clearing our front garden.  It was a lot of work. Everything in front of our office window was removed, even the rose bush that was there when I took the pictures. So, all fall, winter, and most of the spring our garden has been empty. Looking sad and forlorn.

Unfortunately, with my husband's unique work schedule, being pregnant, and mom to a toddler, I have not had much time to get out there to actually do any gardening.  I had been itching to do it and planning on what I would put out there.

In late March, I enlisted my husband's help in digging holes and placing some boxwood hedges for me. They are quite small at the moment, but should, eventually, grow to be 3-4 feet wide and 3-4 feet high.

The front area under the office window after adding the boxwood hedges.

This morning, I finally got a chance to get out and go shopping at one of our local nurseries.  I picked up 4 perennials: 3 "Stella Supreme" Day Lilies and 1 "White Swan" Coneflower. Additionally, I got a dozen "Purple Majesty" Salvia.  I did make one more brief stop at Lowe's to pick up some mulch before coming home. 

Once I was home, I laid out the plants where I wanted them. I realized I was short a day lily, something I'll rectify later this week.

Plants laid out and ready to be planted.

I mentioned to my lovely DH that I needed help digging the holes (being 3 1/2 months pregnant I'm avoiding major physical exertion).  He went out right away and took care of it for me. He even did more than I asked. Chris dug the holes for the perennials and even planted them too. Isn't he good?  Going even further, he weeded our back garden for me. I married a prince.  

When he finished, I went back out and planted the annuals.  I watered the plants then added the mulch. I do need to get at least one more bag of mulch to finish up, but I really like the effect. I think it looks wonderful and will look even better as the plants grow.

All the plants are planted and mulch added.

Now, I need to get to work on my back garden. I may take advantage of Ginny's nap tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Absentee Blogger

I have been an absentee blogger. I feel guilty over this since I have lots of thoughts on things to write about. However, going through the 1st trimester this time has been VERY exhausting. The fatigue has been bad. By lunch I start crashing. Often, I am in bed by 7 p.m., not necessarily sleeping but resting. It is amazing how you "forget" how tiring pregnancy can be.  So, because of this I really haven't had the energy to be a mommy and a blogger.  I just have enough to be a mommy.

The good news is that the 2nd trimester will be starting in just over a week. Hopefully that will mean a return to having some energy.  Until then, I will try to at least attempt to blog once a week. If my energy returns, I start blogging more regularly, I hope.

In other news, I went in for my 12 week appoint with my Ob/Gyn, Dr. Quinn.  All looks fabulous! Our peanut's heart rate was 162. The baby is measuring a bit ahead by a couple of days. By the way, one of the best sounds in the world is hearing your baby's heart! Amazing!!

Also, Ginny is doing wonderful. She is our happy little girl! She isn't walking yet, but cruises everywhere. I honestly think that walking isn't interesting her much, not when she can get everywhere by crawling! She was with us at the appointment today and couldn't quite figure out what was going on.  She will when her new little brother or sister enters the world in 6 more months.

Thoughts on Our Peanut

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Chris and I were going to start trying to expand our family.  Part of me wondered if it would be possible, especially when you consider that I am 40.  Naturally, we thought it would take a while. Chris more so than me.  Ever optimistic, I found myself hopeful that things would happen quickly.

Last Thursday night, March 1, I had a dream that I had taken a pregnancy test and it was positive. I woke to this thought and took my temp (I chart, therefore I temp). My temp spiked again. Granted, it was only one spike but I found myself thinking "Triphasic?"  My original plan was to wait to test until after my period was missed, which would be that Saturday. However, after my dream and temperature spike, I felt I had to pee on a stick, thinking that this would at least would get the thoughts off my mind, and I would test on Monday if I still didn't have my period. 

Surprise, surprise, my dream was prophetic! A BFP!! A Big Fat Postive!! Wow! It was only our second month trying, and I was pregnant! Holy Moly!

Chris hadn't yet left for work, so I called him into the bedroom. It turns out I might have panicked him. He thought something was wrong. He seemed to be delighted to find out all was well (although later he would find himself in that male state of mind--worrying about how he would support his growing family).

I found my excitement level rise and yet the old nerves of facing another loss came back at me. Once the doctor's office was open, I called and left a message for my doctor's nurse, Michelle.  She called back later that morning and seemed excited that I was pregnant again. She told me that she told Dr. Quinn, whose response was "Yeah, they said they would start trying around now."

Friday morning, Ginny and I made our way to the doctor's office so I could get a blood test on my hcG (pregnancy hormone) and progesterone. In the past I have had issues with progesterone, requiring my use of suppositories.  I had to wait all weekend for results. It was stressful. Early Saturday morning, it became even more stressful when, after feeding Ginny at 4 a.m. then using the bathroom, I discovered spotting. Yikes. Not again, I thought. Not again. Convinced I was facing a miscarriage, I found it hard to go to sleep. I told Chris and he tried to reassure me, but nothing doing.  Chris also struggled with sleep.  When I woke again, around 6:30, I found that my spotting had changed and basically stopped. It changed to brown, which indicates old blood.  I spotted brown on and off for the rest of the day but nothing after that.

Out of concern, I even spilled my pregnancy secret (since we don't plan on announcing until sometime after 8 weeks at the very least) to my cousin, Maura. Maura is an ob/gyn nurse so I felt like telling her might give me reassurance.

On Monday, Michelle called to give me the test results....my hcG was 44 (a bit low but fine) and my progesterone was actually normal for once. Good even.  I asked about the spotting. She said it was likely implantation bleeding.  Again, I went in for blood tests again to make sure my hcG was doubling at a normal rate (it should double every 48-72 hours).

My results didn't come back until Wednesday (Michelle had Tuesday off).  The number was OUTSTANDING!  My hcG more than doubled in 48-72 hours. My hcG was 222 which meant it was doubling every 31 hours.  Yay!

I have many hopes for this pregnancy.  **Today I am 4 weeks 6 days. By the time anyone is reading this, I should be much further along.  Already, I'm starting to get morning sickness. Nausea crept up on me today. Not fun, but it reassures me.  I just pray and hope that our baby is growing and developing normally and is healthy. I get to see the baby for the first time on April 4. I am nervous, but excited.

**Please note that this was written on March 8.