13 Weeks

Whew! Breathe a big sigh of relief...I’ve made it to the last week of my first trimester! Next week is a big milestone for any woman who’s pregnant and I can’t wait to pass that mark.

Here’s what babycenter.com sent me this week about what’s going on – As you start to begin your second trimester, most of the baby’s critical development will be completed and your odds of miscarriage drop considerably. (Yea!) Fingerprints have formed on your baby’s little fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her thin skin (which validates what I thought that I saw on the sonogram) and her body is starting to catch up with her head. The head still makes up about a third of her body size now. If you’re having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries (this just AMAZES me!). Your baby is almost 3 inches long, about the size of a medium-sized shrimp and weighs nearly an ounce.

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As far as changes in my body, babycenter.com tells me once again that the risk of miscarriage drastically drops during this last week of my first trimester. Next week marks the beginning of your second trimester, a time of relative comfort for many women who see early pregnancy symptoms such as morning sickness and fatigue subside. And if the ease of those symptoms wasn’t enough good news for the week, they also tell me that many couples also notice a distinct libido lift around this time. And even though birth is still month away, your breasts may have already started making colostrum, the nutrient-rich fluid that feeds your baby for the first few days after birth, before your milk starts to flow.

So there are lots of changes coming my way. Which I think is just a recurring theme for the next months...and since the theme is change, here are some new belly shots for you. I know that I’ve been doing the pictures every other week, but it seems like action is finally happening and weekly shots might be called for now. Check it out... (Sorry for the massive zoom/crop on the pics...I forgot to set my zoom in on the camera before I took the pictures, and then they just looked funny since you could see me holding up my boobs...I don't know why it bothered me, but it kind of did.)

So what do you think? I didn’t do the normal picture where I’m showing how much room I still have left in my “normal” jeans – because there is NO MORE ROOM in my normal jeans! Haha! I can still wear them, but like I mentioned to someone the other day, when I sit for long periods of time in them, they get pretty uncomfortable. So I’ll be making the transition to maternity pants here shortly...which is exciting.

Mentioning which, I’ve been on several shopping “trips” for maternity clothes recently...I need to do a fashion show and take some pictures and post them. Maybe that’s something that you can look forward to seeing next week...Talk to you then!

What do you call it?

I’m having one of those moments. And I need your help. Here’s the deal: what do you call your baby bump? I don’t know yet if it’s a boy or a girl...and I’m getting pretty sick of saying he/she all the time. I don’t like referring to the baby as “it” because that just seems wrong somehow. And so far, B and I haven’t come up with anything super cute to refer to the baby when we talk.

We’ve kind of fallen into the habit of just calling it “The Baby” like an important out of town visitor...but that seems too formal too. So we need a cute nickname. Some suggestions would be nice. What did you refer to your bump as before you knew whether there was a boy or a girl in there? If you haven’t been pregnant yet, do you have a sister/friend/acquaintance/second cousin/co-worker or just a suggestion for me on what to call it?

I can’t say why it bothers me so much...I’ve tried peanut...that didn’t really work for me either. That worked at first when it looked like a peanut, but now it looks like a baby, so I don’t like calling it peanut.

So comment below and offer me an idea or suggestion, if you could please. I really need some help with this one!

Our 12 Week Sonogram

Tuesday was a VERY exciting day for us...we got to see the little peanut again! Except that the baby no longer resembles anything like a peanut...it actually looks like a baby! Imagine that...

My OB sends her patients to a group up in Austin for the 20 week sonogram that can hopefully determine the sex of your baby – if you so choose to find out. There’s also an additional sonogram and early genetic screening that this group offers you at 12 weeks. They do a sonogram and take measurements of the fetus looking for indicators of neurological problems that may arise, and they also send off a blood sample for further genetic testing.

This was entirely an optional process for us. Neither of us has anything in our family medical histories that made this a “must” appointment. But we decided to go ahead with it, if for no other reason than the opportunity to see our little one again. I was a little worried about the blood work portion of the visit, but went ahead like the trooper that I have become!

We arrived a few minutes early and the lady in the waiting area that handled the front desk got on my last nerve. I think that B thought at one point that I was going to reach through the window and beat her to a pulp. Now, I won’t lie – the thought DID cross my mind when she called out my name when I was standing in line behind two people (she could clearly see me and we had just talked less than 2 minutes before so she knew what I looked like) but I’m proud to say that I suppressed the urge to smack her. Aren’t you proud of me too?

Anyway, the waiting room got full rather quickly, and I was relieved to be the first patient called back. They weighed me in before putting us in our room...neither B nor I can remember what my starting weight was at our 8-week appointment with my OB, so we’re guessing that I’ve gained about 3 pounds. Which was great news to hear as sickly as I’ve been feeling!

It was a waiting game after that. The nurse, Isabella, gathered some information and did her preliminary measurements with the sonogram. She was pretty good at jiggling my belly with the wand and making the baby move into a better position for whatever she was trying to capture. And we got to watch the baby’s antics on the screens for about 10 minutes.

I’ve got to be honest here and tell you that those 10 minutes were pure heaven. I can’t feel any movements yet, so seeing all the movements and activity on the screen was heavenly. I just remember when I was pregnant before that I knew things were ok with how much J moved during the day and night. Although sometimes uncomfortable, those little pokes, prods and kicks eased my mind that things were going fine. So seeing this one be so active on screen was truly amazing. Even more so when I see it moving all around and STILL can’t feel anything!

B was really enjoying this time too. The baby kept bringing his/her hands up by his/her face – like playing peek-a-boo – and that was really cool to watch. At one point the baby rolled all the way over. We could clearly define the skull, including the brain and jaw bones. At one point we could also see the spine going all the way down to the legs. The legs weren’t nearly as active as the arms were, but the moved around a bit too.

Here’s some pictures for you. And just to compare the growth that’s happened in 4 short weeks, the first picture is the 8-week sonogram that we got:

All you can really say about this picture is that it DOES look like a little peanut!

The amount of change between week 8 and week 12 is just AMAZING to me...here's a close-up on the head, where they were doing the bulk of the measurements. Isn’t that amazing?!?! Yes, that's the developing brain that you see, and if you look REAL close you can see an ear? That's what my Mom and I think, and we're sticking to it!

Although we saw the legs and buttocks area, it’s still WAY too early to say girl or boy...much to B’s disappointment. He’s convinced that it’s a girl, but I don’t know yet. I’m not being pulled one way or the other really. Just like Kasia from Good Finking! (If you don’t read her blog, hop on over and check it out!) I’m going to do the Wive’s Tales that she posted about and let you know the results before we get an official ruling...they worked pretty well for her! Read about it here.

Anyway, once the nurse did her stuff, she left the room to wait for the Dr. to come in and do his measurements. He came in and measured the neural space right at the back of the neck. We measured a 1.7, which he said was right where the baby was supposed to be at this stage. So that was good news. Of course, he said that we’d have to wait for the official word from the lab to come back (after they analyzed the blood work and all), but we won’t hear from them for about 10 days. But he said that he was not expecting to hear of anything, based on his preliminary findings.

While I wasn’t too worried about the genetic screening side of this appointment, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to see the little one “in action” again. The one thing that they didn’t do was turn the microphone on so that we could hear the heartbeat. I’d like to have that measurement again...but we’ll just have to wait for our OB appt coming up next week.

I’ll have new belly pics posted tomorrow hopefully, so be sure to check back...I think that I’m ready to give up on my normal jeans! That means progress in the “bump” department, so be sure to check back.

First Trimester Comparison...

I've gotten a couple of comments about how there doesn't seem to be that much progress on the growth of my "belly" right now...in fact, I've been the one making MOST of them! I saw this idea on another mom-to-be blog that I follow and thought that maybe a side-by-side comparison of the belly shots that I've taken during the first trimester might show some progress...and I think that it does. Check it out...

So what do you think?

I know that I'm still not all that large, but can't you clearly see the "bump" that I'm getting? It's crazy to me that it's so high...but whatever. I know that it's just my organs and such moving around to make room for the ever growing baby...becuase he/she is nestled much lower than that bump above my belly button!

I'll try to keep the pictures coming and here pretty soon I'll make the move to weekly pictures. I'm getting more of my energy level back...and a big project at work is hopefully within two weeks or so of wrapping up...which means more time to dedicate to this blog! Speaking of which, if you read this in your Google Reader (like I read ALL of the blogs that I follow!) click on over to my actual blog...there's a new background and everything! It's amazing what an extra hour of energy can do for a blog!

Let me know what you think about the new look...I'm working on a header next...but that might take some time since us pregnant women are SO indecisive!

Twelve Weeks

Wow...where has the time gone? Seems like just yesterday that I was posting as a newly pregnant woman...now it’s old hat! And here I am finishing out the first trimester...so exciting for me. And B, of course! We can’t wait for the next few changes to come our way – starting to wear maternity clothes, my belly rounding out, and feeling those first few movements.

So many other blogs that I read seem to be women who have been pregnant and they’ve all had their babies in the last two or three weeks. Which is probably not helping my impatience...

Here is an update on where I am with my pregnancy, according to babycenter.com: The most dramatic development this week is reflexes. My baby’s fingers will soon start to open and close, along with toes curling, eyes clenching and mouth making sucking movements. Babycenter.com says that if I poke my abdomen right the baby will squirm in response, but that I still won’t be able to feel it. The baby’s intestines are growing rapidly and the little kidneys are starting to produce urine. From head to rump, the baby measures just over two inches long (the size of a lime) and weighs about half an ounce.

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I can definitely see a difference in my belly this week. I’m starting to “pop” in my normal clothes, though nothing really apparent just yet. I can tell a difference, and people who know me well could tell if they really looked, but strangers passing me on the street can’t tell that I’m prego quite yet. Here’s some belly shots for you, as promised...

As you can see, the top of my stomach is starting to round out a bit, and I’m quickly running out of extra room in my regular jeans! I think that I’ve got about two weeks left of wearing these...without my belly band. Then I’ll need to make the big move to maternity clothes.

It amazes me that my shape is changing regardless of how little I seem to eat some days. I’ve been plagued with a bit of troublesome nausea...and babycenter.com warned me this week that heartburn is coming next. Oh joy! Just kidding. I’m feeling better, LOTS more energy than I’ve had in the past few months, and I even managed to stay up past 11 o’clock a few nights this past week. That’s a big change from going to bed at 8:30...

I have noticed that my nightly trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night have made a regular appearance this week. I’m not one of those girls that normally can’t make it through the night without going to the bathroom, so getting up in the middle of the night to pee is not a familiar thing for me. But I’m adjusting quickly to that as well.

That’s about it for now...I’m just trucking along, growing day by day...and enjoying every minute of it.

Mad Shopping with a Pregnant Lady...

You’d think that I would have learned my lesson about pregnant women and grocery shopping last week when I “ran into” the store to grab ONE ITEM and came out with 6 types of junk food that I can’t even tell you why I bought them...but apparently I really am as stubborn as my mother always tells me that I am because I went back for round 2 yesterday. Here’s how it went down...

My nausea has gotten increasingly worse in the last week or so. Because of this, I’ve started being very finicky and careful about what I eat. I make myself eat something, and work really hard not to throw up on the really bad days. So far, so good. And I’ve learned that when I’m eating and my body tells me that now would be a good time to stop eating to actually listen to my body and not continue to stuff my face. Yeah, I learned that one the hard way!

Anyway, so when something actually sounds good to eat, I try to eat. And on the good days, I’m trying really hard to eat more to make up for all of those other days when I really don’t eat that much. So yesterday morning I woke up hungry. I’ve also learned that this is typically a good sign for how the day will go. I ate ½ an apple before leaving home and ate my healthy breakfast of Pop Tarts at my desk at work. (Don’t judge me. They’re yummy right now!) Imagine my surprise when 10am rolls around and my stomach growls. That’s a sound that I haven’t heard in about a week...so I immediately get out some crackers and snack for a minute or five.

Then 11:30 sneaks up on me and it’s lunchtime. Not wanting to push my luck too far, I decide that I’ll just eat some Velveeta Shells and Cheese for lunch. Just one of the single servings that I keep here in my desk...except that I was out. Hmmm...well, a trip to Wal-Mart won’t hurt. But remembering the episode last week, I steel myself to just go in and buy macaroni. Nothing else.

I go downstairs and start my car up and start driving across the street to Wal-Mart. While sitting at the red light, a wave of nausea hit me so bad that I thought that I was going to throw up in my car. Seriously. That bad. Well, maybe lunch is not going to be all that great today, I think to myself. Never-the-less, I push on towards Wal-Mart, but as I walk in the door, I think to myself that maybe a tub of cheese isn’t really the best thing for me to eat on a queasy stomach.

Now I’m wandering through the grocery section of Wal-Mart looking for inspiration for lunch and finding none. I looked all up and down the frozen entrée cabinets, but no. I think that maybe some of that new cook in the microwave pasta is called for, but after staring at the choices for a good ten minutes decide that I really don’t want to try something new on a touchy stomach. My mind wanders back to the Shells and Cheese, but I just wander if I could handle it...because it still sounded kind of good to me...so I head on to the pasta aisle.

Discovering that I was on the wrong aisle, I wander over to the right one, resolutely ignoring all the things on the shelf that might have been crying out for my attention. I get to the right aisle and see the single serve Velveeta macaroni tubs...but wait. What’s this? No original Shells and Cheese?!?!? Just broccoli and cheese and 2% Shells and Cheese. I mean, come on people. You’re eating MACARONI...why bother with the 2% stuff? I’m just saying...

But back to my story. They had NO original Shells and Cheese in the individual serving size. Seriously?!? I manage to talk myself out of macaroni for lunch...and decided that since my belly was still turning somersaults and the nausea was pretty bad that maybe Chicken Noodle Soup was in order. Since I was already on the right aisle, I make my way over to the soups. I find the one that I want, and then decide that I really don’t have enough crackers at my desk left to have with my soup. So I walk all the way back to the back of the grocery section to get more crackers. On my way, I grab some caffeine-free beverages (so that I’m not tempted while at work by the vending machine) and some more Pop Tarts so that I don’t have to come back to the store for “work food” this week.

As I make my way to the counter to check out, I realize that I really do want macaroni...but can’t do anything about it. I’ve spent at least 20 minutes in the store...meaning to buy ONE item, that I can’t even find because they’re sold out, and I have 5 or 6 other things in my arms that I didn’t come here for. I check out, diligently adding my $5 to my Wal-Mart gift card that has started my “diaper fund” and exit the store.

After all of that...I ended up eating at Chipotle.

Yeah, just goes to show that the joke was on me. But the good news is that I ate three solid meals yesterday with snacks in between all meals. I did good! The best that I’ve done in the past week, that’s for sure.

Any other pregnant women have funny grocery shopping stories to share? Since this is my second one, I’m starting to think that maybe B should do the shopping for a while...

Eleven Weeks

Wow. I can’t believe that the end of the first trimester is really in sight...seems like just yesterday when I was just finding out that I was five weeks pregnant and here I am now nearing the end of my first trimester.

According to babycenter.com my baby is now just over 1 ½ inches long and is about the size of a fig. Even though an inch and a half doesn’t sound like much, the baby is almost fully formed. The hands will soon begin opening and closing into tiny fists, and tiny tooth buds are starting to appear under his/her gums. Some of the bones are beginning to harden and the baby is starting to kick and stretch. These movements will become more frequent as the body grows and becomes more developed and functional.

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One depressing thing that came up is that babycenter.com said that although the baby is starting to move around quite a bit that it would be another month or so before I start feeling those movements. Bummer. I was really thinking that I was about two weeks away from feeling the baby’s movements. I’m anxious for those moments for now...I just remember how calming it was feeling my daughter move around regularly. It made me think that everything was ok and going all right as long as she was moving around like normal. So I’m a little impatient for that to start.

On the good news front, I’m feeling less and less tired. I’m starting to get back to a more “normal” schedule, meaning that I’m not falling asleep on my feet at 8 o’clock at night. I feel like I have more time to get things done (hmmm...so then I should be posting more, huh?) and am enjoying my evenings a bit more.

On the bad news front? The nausea is getting worse. Thus far I’ve been lucky enough to just have nausea and no actual vomiting, but there are days when it’s just all that I can do to keep what I’m eating down. And other days when I force myself to eat the barest of meals just so that I’m getting nutrients. With that being said, I’m eating a lot of peanut butter crackers for dinner at night. And just like my last pregnancy, my nausea typically doesn’t start in the mornings...usually sometime around noon or my evening meal. So that’s been just lovely.

Other than that, things are good. I go in for my pre-screening and another sonogram next week and then have a doctor’s appointment later on during the month. So I’m just trucking right along...next week I’ll be sure to include some belly shots of my ever expanding belly (just kidding, it hasn’t changed that much!). I’m eating what I can...keeping it all down (for now – cross your fingers that it stays that way!)...and watching my little bump grow a bit each week. More to come soon!

Ten Weeks

Well, it’s been a while, I know. I’d apologize, but there has just been too much between work, holidays and feeling like I was hit by a truck these last two weeks to do much posting. You’ll have to forgive me...but here I am, with an update for week 10.

Here’s what babycenter.com has to say about where I am in my pregnancy right now...for week nine, the baby was the size of a Grape, and this week, I’ve progressed to a kumquat. Now, for those of you like me, who might need a little lesson on what a kumquat is or what size that actually would be here’s a picture from my favorite friend – Google. Because yes, kumquat is googleable!

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A kumquat is a small fruit that grows on a bush like a lemon or lime...but is a bit smaller I think, since babycenter.com says that the fetus only measures a little over an inch from crown to bottom. It weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, but has already completed the most critical portion of its development. (On an aside, YES it really bothers me to call the baby an it...but it’s less troublesome than typing out him/her all the time!) On a more exciting note, there are no more webs between the developing fingers and toes, and little nails are beginning to form on the fingers and toes. There is also a fine amount of peach-fuzz beginning to grow all over the skin this week.

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This is super exciting for me. It seems like SO much is going on down there right now, and I just can’t wait for the movements to start. I know, I know...it’s kind of like wishing for the baby to walk. Once it happens you’ll regret wishing for it on one hand and cherish it on the other. It’s the same way with the baby’s movements – you’re so excited for it to happen and then after several months those little kicks and nudges can get to be semi-painful...but for right now I’m still looking forward to it. And if I remember right that’s somewhere around week 12-14...so I can’t wait!

Here’s the promised belly shots: As you can see, I’m rounding out and filling in nicely...there used to be a bigger "dip" around my belly button, although I could say that it’s happening a bit faster than I’d like to see! It doesn’t really bother me to the point of obsessing over my weight or losing sleep at night about it, but at the same time with a second pregnancy it’s hard not to compare it to your first pregnancy. Things are different this time around, that’s for sure! As you can see, I can still fit into my non-maternity jeans, but I have taken to wearing the Be Band (the Target version) with all of my dress slacks for work. I did get two pairs of dress slacks with elastic in the waist for Christmas, so I can’t wait to try those out! Maybe this week I’ll start wearing them. I haven’t started shopping for maternity clothes yet, but I can tell that that big event is coming soon...

I’m feeling okay. Not great. Not horrible. Just okay. I have noticed that my fatigue has really lightened up in the last two weeks, I’m now able to stay awake past 9:30pm – Woo Hoo! But the nausea is just not letting up yet. I’m lucky that it’s not an everyday thing just now...so that’s good. But when it’s here, MAN is it HERE! At least it’s not here each day so that I get a good day or two of eating in between a day or so of not eating much more than crackers. My sweet tooth has come back a little bit, but on the rough days, I definitely crave saltier things over the sweets.
I’ll try to do better now that the holidays are over and get back to posting these on Friday/Saturday like I’m supposed to...but I make no promises! Take care until then!