Happy New Year

It is 10:15 pm. I'm sitting here, watching football, listening to The Hubby snore on the couch. It has been a good night. We had friends over, celebrated the new year at 7:00 with the kids, then put my little lady to bed a little late. I got a fight, with wasn't fun, but it is all fairly quiet now. Just me, my kicking baby, and my snoring husband.

Not only does this night mark the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012; this is also what The Hubby and I consider our 10 year anniversary. It's a long complicated story, but we went from friends to more 10 years ago tonight and have been inseparable ever since. We didn't celebrate our 5 years of marriage this past summer, so why would tonight be different? We're low key type of people, so this is okay with me for tonight.

My wish for all of you is happiness as we enter the new year, whatever that means for you in your life. I can't wait to see what excitement 2012 brings--meeting our little boy and who knows what else!

And now it's time to prod The Hubby off the couch and ring in 2012 in an acceptable way for this pregnant lady--going to sleep.

Sometimes you just need to take a break

This morning I was lying in bed, dead to the world snoozing a bit longer as The Hubby took his shower, when I awoke to the sound of "Mommmmy....Mommmmyyyy...."  I opened my eyes and looked at the clock.  It was a little early for her to get up, but because she typically just cries as she awakens, I rolled out of bed, and went into her room.  I scooped up my girl, her head laid on my shoulder, and we went downstairs.  We sat in the same rocker/recliner that I'd nursed her in for 21 months, the same place I used to rock her to sleep every night, and just rocked and snuggled.

Eventually, she slid down so her head was in the crook of my arm--the same position (minus the swaddle) that we'd sat in for months at bedtime.  She looked up at me with her sweet brown eyes and said, "I want to sing, Mommy".  So we did.  We sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", the ABCs, and then she asked me to sing "The Rainbow Song".  I'd been singing "Rainbow Connection" to her at bedtime for the last few weeks, so I started and was surprised when she started to sing with me.  We snuggled in the dark living room, singing, rocking, for a few minutes.

She started to wake up more and asked to see "The Farmer Song...with the Animals", so we sang "Old MacDonald" and we were singing it when The Hubby came downstairs to see what we were doing.

What a great start to the morning--I wish I could start every day like that!

20 Weeks--Halfway there (technically)!

First of all, I owe you all a real blog--a good blog.  I have a lot swimming around in my head.  But for now you get my weekly update, two days late, as usual.  And you'll get my meal plan tonight.


How am I feeling? Generally, pretty good.  I've got another cold or a continuation of The Cold That Wouldn't Die.  Either way, I was feeling pretty run down on Sunday, especially after staying out late on Saturday night.  I'm doing a lot better with that today, though, and am at work, plugging along.

Mentally, still struggling with my flabby belly.  But otherwise, doing well there, too.

Weight thoughts: I don't really have any at this point!  I've been avoiding the scale and just eating when I feel like eating.  I haven't gone hog-wild, but I haven't really limited myself, either.


Doctor appointments?  None until 2012!

Maternity clothes?  24/7 at this point.  I love the shirts because they make me look more pregnant and the pants are just comfy.  I got a pair of jeans from a friend this weekend.  They actually fell down while I was walking down the stairs yesterday, so they may need to wait or be worn with a belly band.  I also got a pair of black dress pants at JCPenney on Saturday.  I don't love them (they're tight on my thighs) but I don't hate them.  I'm wearing them again today.


Movement? I'm definitely feeling more definite movement, but not consistently still.  I've gotten a couple of good kicks, though, which make me feel a bit better.

Baby preparation?  We painted Baby Girl's big girl room yesterday and will be working on it sporadically.  We're hoping to keep the doors closed so she can get a big surprise from Santa, but we'll see.

Last Wednesday, The Hubby and I had a date at the dentist.  We were done early, so we went out for ice cream and to discuss boy names before picking up Baby Girl from the sitter.  We have about 40 on our list of "I don't hate it" names.  How's that for progress?  We're just incredibly far apart on naming styles for boys at this point.  But with time, we'll come up with something that we both love.

We still haven't made any baby boy purchases.  I want to talk to The Hubby about this and what we're doing in the nursery and maybe about buying some clothes.  We also need to go through the tubs of clothes from Baby Girl and sort out what can be used for Baby Boy.

19 Weeks

How am I feeling? Pretty good!  Still battling a bit of nausea when I don't eat the way my body wants me to.  I've still got a bit of a sore throat and cough at least once a day (for the past FIVE WEEKS).  My hair is still falling out as much as it was pre-pregnancy.

Emotionally, I'm still struggling with the way my pregnant body looks.  I work hard every day to wear something that doesn't make my double belly obvious, but it stresses me out.

Weight thoughts: I gained 6 pounds in under 4 weeks between my two doctor appointments, which was frustrating, but not totally surprising.  I've been hungry, not really worrying about what I'm eating, and eating to quell nausea.  I've been trying to do better, but whenever I eat anything healthier (ie. with FIBER), I get extremely gassy and that gas really hurts.  I was (and still am) craving salads, but end up paying for them later in the day most of the time.

Doctor appointments?  We had our BIG u/s last Friday.  I was feeling anxious about the appointment, afraid something was wrong with the baby.  I knew I shouldn't be feeling as much movement as I did with Baby Girl because of my anterior placenta, but I still thought I should be feeling more than I was.

Before the doctor came in, The Hubby and I started discussing names.  He got (pretend) angry, telling me that we need to wait to narrow down the name pool by about half.  So then I told him I wanted to bet on the gender, since he was so convinced baby was a girl and I was so convinced baby was a boy.  He said, "I don't like to bet because I don't like to lose" and I pointed out that if he loses the bet, he wins b/c he's getting a boy.  He was okay at that point.  I named the terms--person who won the bet gets to sleep in on Saturday morning.  He named the time--8:45 a.m.  I agreed that the loser even had to sleep with the baby monitor on their side of the bed.

Dr. S came in and we chatted for a few minutes.  I told her I was anxious and just wanted to see that little heart beating, so she started there--she located the heart right away.  It was, as always, a beautiful sound.  The heartbeat was 152.  I then told her we had a bet about the sex of the baby.  She found "the goods" and turned the monitor to me and said, "Who was right?"  I immediately confirmed that I was right.  It was obvious to me that there was definitely a penis in there.  The ultrasound wand shifted slightly and I wasn't quite as sure that I was right, but she confirmed--"Yep!  A boy!"  I asked if she would grant us the guarantee that a different OB/GYN did when she did our anatomy scan for Baby Girl--a wardrobe of the opposite sex if their determination is wrong.  She said she doesn't make guarantees like that :)

I looked at The Hubby.  He still looked confused, but I honestly think he was in shock.  And I smiled.  I grinned.  I kept smiling while we looked at the parts of the brain, the four chambers of the heart, the humongous noggin (measuring at 20 weeks even though I was only 18w6d), the fingers, the toes, and everything in between.  Baby had one hand up to his face and the other hand was touching his feet for most of the ultrasound.  He was squiggling all over the place!  Dr. S had some problems getting a good picture of the spine because Baby Boy was laying on his back at the very bottom of my uterus, facing up.  Eventually, though, she could see and everything looked great there, too.

Before I knew it, the ultrasound was sadly over and The Hubby had hardly said anything the entire time.  I asked Dr. S about my bloodwork results and all of them were good--all decreased odds for Downs, Tris.omy 18, and all the other things the quad screen checked for.

What a great appointment.  The realism of having a boy sunk in a bit later that day and I wasn't *as* excited, but I'm still happy.  I'm happy that Baby Boy is growing properly, healthy, and will be loved by SO many people (as many people as if he were a girl--I'm not saying it's just because he's a boy).  And the fact that he's a boy could be fun, too :)

Maternity clothes?  All day every day.  I just went through my closet yesterday and moved all my "not going to wear until this baby is out of me" clothes to the back and made room for hanging up my maternity clothes.  I am going to make a trip to JCPenney and maybe Destination Maternity soon to look for some maternity jeans and black dress pants.  My jeans from last time just weren't comfortable and with some extra weight REALLY aren't going to work.  My black dress pants were a little snug on the thigh.  I found one other pair that I'm wearing today, but I don't love them, either.


Movement? I'm fairly confident that I'm feeling movement, but it's nothing like I remember with Baby Girl.  Just before I began this post, though, I felt my strongest movements yet, so I'm hopeful that they'll really start increasing from here. I'm anxious to be feeling this baby more and more!

Baby preparation?  Now that we know the gender, the first thing we're working on is a name!  We don't have a boy's name that we love.  We also need to discuss what we want to do in the nursery since the pink and brown decor won't really work so well.  Yes, I *could* keep it, but want to do something a bit more neutral or boyish.  I'm leaning toward animals--I saw an adorable duvet at Ikea that had a circus theme that could be cute.  We'll see!

Meal Plan 12/4-12/10

We had a big holiday party with our friends on Saturday night and have a lot of leftover turkey that we'll be using in recipes throughout the week, which means we'll be trying some new recipes.  If these are as good as I'm anticipating, maybe I'll roast a turkey more often!

I'm not going to commit to having any recipe any specific night because who knows what I'll be in the mood for at any given time!  We don't have any dinner plans this week, but I know there will be at least one night that I don't feel like cooking.  I've learned recently not to even bother planning for more than five meals in a week.

Turkey Tetrazzini
Creamed Turkey (will likely serve with leftover mashed potatoes and maybe some dressing)
Turkey Noodle Soup
Spinach & Chicken Tortilla Bake - When I saw this on my Google Reader, I knew I wanted to try it.  The ingredients were a bit more expensive than I'd like, but it should be good :)
Fajitas - To use up the remaining tortillas

Two Year Molars and other stuff

Because I'm sort of sucking at this blogging thing these days, I wanted to post a quick update.  I'm fairly confident that Baby Girl's first two year molar has broken through the gums on the lower right side.  I've seen it below the gum for a few weeks and then felt it today.  Hopefully the others come through fairly smoothly.

We had our anatomy scan this morning for #2.  I will reveal the sex later to save some surprise for some IRL friends :)

I've lost all motivation to cook.  I cook when I have to, but I just never feel like it and would rather eat out.  Might explain a 6 pound weight gain over the last 4 weeks.  Whoops.

18 Weeks

How am I feeling?  Generally, just fine.  I probably would have said on Saturday that the cold was gone...and then I started coughing more on Sunday.  Of course.  So who knows where that's going.  But pregnancy-related, I'm doing pretty good.  My hair is STILL falling out as much as pre-pregnancy and I'm still exhausted.  I'm experiencing a lot of acid reflux, but no heartburn for now, thank goodness.

Emotionally, I'm still looking at my belly and seeing fat.  I'm showing more than most because of my upper belly, which is still bigger than my lower belly.  You'd think just the lower belly would grow with baby, but it's not true at all and that's making me anxious.  Also on the emotional side, I've totally come to terms with the thought of having a boy, so I think I'll be able to be happy no matter what we find out on Friday in that regard.

Weight thoughts: Haven't weighed myself recently, but I have a feeling it isn't going to be good when I do.  I just haven't been watching what I eat much and have been eating out far too much.  I'm hoping that that will decrease for the next few weeks until we get into Christmas, but I'm not confident.  I'm just too tired to cook most of the time and The Hubby isn't ever going to say no to ordering out, even though we both know it's the responsible thing to do.

Doctor appointments?  Just the one this coming Friday for our anatomy scan.  Praying that baby is healthy and willing to show us the goods :) 

Maternity clothes?  I'm pretty much always wearing them at this point.  I can still wear a number of my non-maternity pants because they were always big in the waist and come up over both of my bellies.  I had forgotten about my sister-in-law's maternity shirts that were in a box in the garage that I pulled out before we left for the long weekend.  A lot of them fit really well, so I'm excited about that.  I'm actually wearing one of them right now :)  Maternity shirts just help me feel better about being pregnant and not just fat.


Movement? Maybe?  It's still SO faint.  I'll feel little bumps that I figure are the baby, but it could just as easily be gas.  I'm crossing my fingers that it picks up soon, but am not confident that it will, sadly.

Baby preparation?  We're heading down to IKEA on Thursday to hopefully get some things to finish up Baby Girl's room.  Like last time, I'm anticipating a bit more preparation once we know the gender.

Shutterfly Giveaway Winners

It's your lucky day!  Because there were only 7 entries to my giveaway AND I discovered that I actually had THREE codes to give out, almost half of you were able to win! I used the random number generator on Random.org and these are what it gave me:

#3 corresponds with Samantha, who also asked how I got involved in this.  I found a link on another blog site to apply to get free cards for other occasions and then they contacted me for this holiday season.  Very exciting for me!

#1 of the remaining 6 corresponds with Cassie

#3 of the remaining 5 corresponds with Sarah

I've contacted all of the winners and will be getting the codes out ASAP so you can get your holiday cards created, mailed to yourself, and then sent.  Congratulations to all the winners!  

To those of you who didn't win, I hope you'll still stick around and keep reading.  You never know when I'll say something interesting or have another giveaway!

Collecting Stars

It seems like every day Baby Girl is making up some new pretend thing to play.  Her favorite thing recently has been to collect the stars in the car.  She'll reach up into the air and gather as many stars as she can.  And then she'll share with The Hubby and me.  We have to protect our stars and not let them fly away.  But sometimes if they do fly away, she'll catch them for us and give them back.  And then sometimes she wants to collect ALL of the stars and then will let them free (only to be snagged again).

I feel like there's some sort of metaphor there.  I'm just not sure what it is.  But it's a beautiful thing.  I love her imagination.

If I could collect all the stars and give them to her, I would.  And if she let them go, I'd gather them again.

17 Weeks

How am I feeling?  I'm doing fairly well.  I am still having very slight bouts of nausea, but they're manageable.  I've been feeling stiff and really need to start doing some yoga or at least some regular stretching.  The Cold is still lingering a bit in the form of some snot and coughing in the mornings and evenings.  I'm still exhausted--I fell asleep at 7:30 on Friday night, woke up long enough to move upstairs, and slept until Baby Girl woke at 6:30.  And I was still tired.

Weight thoughts: I weighed myself the other morning and found I'd gained about 4 pounds in 2 weeks--up a total of 12 pounds.  I'm not happy, but it's not a huge deal and not hugely unsurprised.  Most healthy foods give me insane gas (which leads to major gas pains when you can't regularly release the gas....), so I've been avoiding them generally.  That leave me a lot of junk and junk doesn't tend to keep a person full for long, so I eat even more.

Doctor appointments?  Anxiously anticipating our big ultrasound in less than 2 weeks on Friday, December 2nd!

Maternity clothes?  Oh hell yes.  I have been wearing maternity pants full time for the last few days.  I just love the comfort of them and am happy to discover that my pants from last time still fit fairly well.  I still don't *need* them, but I'm wearing them.  Now I just need to get some more long-sleeved shirts.


Movement?  I think so.  It's really faint, but I think I'm feeling some bumps and bubbles in there.  It's comforting, but I don't feel it consistently enough to freak when I don't feel it.  Hoping to feel more soon, of course, but not holding my breath because of the anterior placenta.

Baby preparation?  Nothing major recently.  We got the bedding and a couple of accessories for Baby Girl's big girl room this weekend.  We'll kick into high gear once we know this baby's gender, I think.

Meal Plan 11/20-11/26

It's a light week for cooking.  I was up early enough this morning, though, that I had time to gather coupons for the grocery, so it might not be as cheap of a grocery trip as I'd like to think.

Sunday: Going to my parents' house, so my mom will likely cook chicken and noodles
Monday: Bow Ties with Spicy Sausage in Tomato Cream Sauce
Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie (will cook chicken while making Monday's meal)
Wednesday: Easy Skillet Pork Chops
Thurday-Saturday: Letting other people cook for us :)

Conversations my husband and I have when the kid isn't around

Once you've been together for ten years and have a kid, when you aren't around the kid, you sort of run out of meaningful things to talk about.  Sure, we talk about our day, but when that topic is exhausted, what do you talk about?

Apparently, we talk about underwear.  Not just any underwear, but underwear that have some sort of a scent to them so that when you fart, you release a pleasant smell.  I had a few arguments about this: 1) at some point, even the pleasant scent will become related to the not-so-pleasant scent it's attempting to cover and 2) the underwear would need to be chemically designed to work WITH the foul odor to interact and create a new, pleasant scent.  And because everyone's...errrr...scent...is different, you would have to have personalized undies.

And then we discussed what pleasant scents we would like to create.  My choices revolved around light, airy scents--baby powder, roses, and the like.  The Hubby, however, decided that he wanted his to smell like a turkey.  Or a pumpkin pie.  And then he decided that we'd have to design different undies for different holidays, both in patterns and for scents.  You could have one that smells like pine trees!  Or chocolate!

And that, my friends, is what happens when my husband and I are in the car together after a long day of work, without a toddler asking us questions like "what's that?" and "why?" and "what's that do?".

Shutterfly Holiday Cards...and a Giveaway!!!

It's time to start thinking about holiday cards.  Ever since Baby Girl was born, we started sending out photo cards (and giving photo books as gifts as well) because I know people love to see her beautiful face.  Many times it's the only contact we make with people throughout the entire year, so they can see how quickly she's growing, too.

I think I've posted before about how much I love Shutterfly, but I wanted to make sure you really know it this year :)  I've tried other websites, but love the quality of Shutterfly.  I typically order holiday cards (and sometimes other cards throughout the rest of the year) through Shutterfly and I wanted to show you some of my favorite designs this year.  I won't tell you which ones I'll use, just in case you're on my Christmas card list!

I actually received a couple like this last year and I love it!  I love that you can include multiple photos as well as the classy, classic design

Of course, this year we just have one kid, so we'll likely just include one picture.  I like this and obviously am leaning toward the monogram designs!

This one is a little different and I love the way it looks with a black and white photo.  

I haven't taken our Christmas card photo yet, but I'm sure it will include a lot of joy.  I can't get Baby Girl to stop smiling most of the time.  This one is really fitting for our family--we laugh all the time together!

Don't you love these designs?  Go check out all of Shutterfly's awesome Christmas card designs!

And here are the details for the giveaway:

I have three codes for 25 free cards for my readers that Shutterfly provided me!  That means THREE of my readers can win codes for 25 free cards (codes expire 12/31/11).  Wow!

I'm going to make entering easy--just go to Shutterfly and come back and tell me which design is your favorite.  You can tell me why, too, but it's not required :)  Make sure I have a way to get into contact with you in case you win.

The giveaway entries will be cut off at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, November 22nd.  On Wednesday, November 23rd, I will announce the three winners both by emailing them individually and on the blog.

Baby's Gender

I was just coming to post that I have this gut feeling that this baby is a boy and the fact that the heartbeat (this past visit the h/b was in the 140s or 150s--I forget) and cravings (savory instead of sweet, even though I remember craving savory with Baby Girl sometimes, too) all suggest it just make me even more sure.

And then I was going back through old blog posts and found this.  Same doctor appointment around 16 weeks, same lower heartbeat, just like last time.  I suppose it is possible this could be a girl.  Only time will tell--just over 2 weeks until we find out (hopefully)!

I think I mentioned before that I wasn't enjoying the thought of having a boy.  Heck, saying I wasn't enjoying the thought is a gross understatement--I was scared and pissed and anxious about the idea of having a boy.  But I've actually started calling this baby a "he" and it really is growing on me.  Will I be sad not to use Baby Girl's clothes again?  Of course.  But whatever God's plan is for this child, it will join our family and it will be what is meant to be and I will embrace it.  I think I've convinced myself enough that it's a boy that I won't even cry if the doctor tells us it's a boy.  I even have moments where I *want* it to be a boy so The Hubby and his family will be extra happy.

But now it's just a waiting game.  We shall see!

Sickness, and the meltdown it caused

On Sunday, October 30th, I got a really sore throat on the right side, like I had some major drainage coming from my ears and down my throat.  Ouch.  When I got up the next morning, it had migrated to the left side of my throat.  Throughout the remainder of the week, I felt worse and worse.  The worst of it (for both Baby Girl and me) was Saturday and Sunday, November 5th and 6th.  I had a really runny nose, a cough, and was just plain exhausted.

I felt quite a bit better by Monday and went to work.  I felt like I was generally getting better throughout the week.  I was coughing less, my nose was drying up, and I'd assumed, while I'd been feeling rough for awhile, that I'd at least feel normal by this past weekend, two weeks after it all started.

That doesn't seem to be the case.  I don't know if I actually feel worse, but I sure don't feel better.  I think my nose is running more.  Both Baby Girl and I are still coughing, especially in the morning.  I would probably be worried about her or myself if we weren't both feeling the same way.

To make matters worse, on Saturday afternoon, I started feeling nauseous.  I couldn't decide if I should eat or not and am glad now that I ate dinner because it at least made me feel better at the time.  I was afflicted with the nausea all day on Sunday as well and only felt better when I was actually eating.  I've tried all my normal fixes--drinking more water, eating smaller meals with more protein--nothing is working.  Ugh.  I don't know if it's pregnancy nausea or related to being sick.  I even fell asleep very early in the recliner and took a nap on Sunday.  All I know is that I'm tired of being sick.  I'm tired not feeling good.  I'm tired of being tired. 

It all came to a head yesterday.  I walked up the stairs to my bedroom, laid down on my bed, and just cried.  I didn't want Baby Girl to see me so upset.  I sobbed.  At some point, Baby Girl and The Hubby came upstairs and we all hung out in our bed for about 45 minutes, playing in the "tunnel" (under the sheets).  It was fun.  Soon they left, though, and I fell asleep.  I hadn't intended to, but when I woke up, I was in a bit better spirits. 

I wish I could say I feel better today, but I just don't.  My nose feels stuffy, my head is cloudy, I can't regulate my temperature (a typical pregnancy symptom for me), I'm still coughing some, and I'm exhausted.  I just want to feel more normal, even if it's a pregnant normal.

/whine

Meal Plan 11/13-11/19

We've failed miserably at cooking as much as planned each week, so this week we're only planning for 5 meals and one of those is using leftovers from another meal.  I've also had a resurgence of nausea and exhaustion, as well as STILL fighting the same cold that I've had for two solid weeks now, so I'm anticipating a lack of energy to cook, too.  Look for a blog post entirely devoted to whining about this very soon.

Sunday: Mexican Chicken and Rice--I think I found this on Pinterest and it was great.  It was a lot like a family favorite, Salsafied Chicken and Rice, but with a bit more veggies.  Baby Girl ate her entire plateful, eagerly, and The Hubby and I agreed that we need to have it on a regular basis. 

Monday: Swiss Casserole Chicken--If you look back at my last few weeks of meal plans, this has been on it.  For some reason, we really fail at crockpot meals some weeks.  I'm going to try really hard to get this made this week, especially since the cheese is already sliced (I was getting ready to make it one morning when I discovered my chicken had gone bad, even though it was the day of the Sell By date).

Tuesday: Sweet Pork Tacos with Cilantro Ranch Dressing--As soon as this came up on my Google Reader on Cassie's blog, I knew I had to make it.  I'm hoping it'll turn out okay with Caffeine Free Diet Coke.  I could go buy a 2L of Caffeine Free regular Coke...hmmm...  Either way, I'm really excited to try this.  I also hope that we can ration the meat--the pork loin we had in the freezer was a little smaller than the recipe calls for and I'm hoping to use it for quesadillas later in the week.

Wednesday: Chicken nuggets and tater tots.  I saw this (sort of) on Cassie's blog when I read her meal plan for this week.  I bought some pretzels and might try crusting the chicken in it.  We'll see :)

Thursday: Quesadillas with the leftover pork

Friday: No plans, but we'll likely eat out at least once during the week, so we can cook a leftover meal this night.

Saturday: We have a tradition of having Chipotle on Football Saturdays.  I'd thought it wouldn't happen every week again this year, but since I got pregnant at the beginning of football season, I figured, why not?  Maybe this kid will come out loving Mexican (authentic, Americanized--we don't discriminate) as much as its big sister does!

14 and 15....and might as well do 16 weeks

In all the excitement of making our official announcement, I stopped writing updated blog posts about my pregnancy, so I've missed the last few weeks.  I think it's okay, though, as nothing particularly exciting has happened.


How am I feeling?  Just fine, except for this cold.  I started getting a sore throat (not just scratchy) October 30th and am still blowing my nose and coughing some.  Baby Girl has it, too, and is still doing the same.  I think we both generally feel okay and are sleeping fine, but the cough is hanging on for a long time.  But as far as pregnancy goes, I'm doing good.  No more nausea!  I'm still exhausted every day, but I don't really remember that letting up much last time, either.  I have crazy dreams at least every other night when I typically dream only once or twice a month.  I'm also still having shortness of breath unrelated to the sickness.  All typical pregnancy stuff that doesn't bother me too much.  I still don't have to pee any more than I did pre-pregnancy.  I hope I'm blessed to escape that symptom again this pregnancy.

Weight thoughts: Up about 8 pounds.  Not horrible, but not great.  I know it will only go up from here, but I'm hoping to curb it a bit.  Some veggies, especially peas, don't sound great to me, so I've been eating less veggies than I normally do with dinner.  But I have found that I love a raw bell pepper and/or a salad, so I've been trying to have those on a regular basis.

Doctor appointments?  Just had one on Monday, November 7th.  We were scheduled to see a different doctor since my regular OB was on GYN rotation in the hospital, but were pleasantly surprised when my regular OB popped in and did my appointment!  The nurse had had me disrobe from the waist down and that confused and concerned the OB.  She immediately asked, "Are you doing okay?  Any bleeding?"  I told her I was fine...just following orders.  She laughed.  :)

She found baby's heartbeat--147 bpm.  I'm leaning toward boy, but of course we'll see.  She asked if we'll want to find out the sex of the baby and we told her yes.  She said, "Let's see if we can find out today..." and started moving around the ultrasound wand.  She said everything was a little small so she couldn't tell anything, but she did print out a picture of our little one for us to take home.  Love her.  She sent us down for the bloodwork for our quad screen and told us she'd see us on December 2nd--for our anatomy scan and (hopefully) gender determination!

Maternity clothes?  I've worn maternity pants twice in the last couple of weeks, but mostly because I didn't feel like wearing regular pants or didn't have anything clean.  I'm still wearing all of my normal clothes if I want.


Movement?  I've wondered if I've been feeling movement some in the last few days, but have told myself that I'm probably not since my doctor told me I have an anterior placenta.  From my understanding, that's the only problem with the anterior placenta--muffled or no feeling of movement.  Plus whenever I'm pregnant, I have an awful amount of gas, so I'm sure that's what I'm feeling.  I'm still holding out hope that I'll feel my baby move soon, though!

Baby preparation?  The Hubby continues to clear out Baby Girl's room and she continues to anticipate her big move there.  I'm anxiously awaiting the gender determination so I can start planning the nursery and determine if we'll need new clothes and other items.  I've also been loosely shopping for a double stroller and trying to decide what kind to get, especially since Baby Girl is older and more independent, but much better behaved when she's strapped into a stroller.

Meltdown

Written 10/27/2011

I just walked to a different floor in my office, sat down on the toilet in the last stall, and cried like a little baby.

I am so exhausted.

I went out last night.  No, not to a club or a bar--to book club.  There were four of us there and I really enjoyed myself and the company.  I got home, however, around 11:30 and was asleep around midnight.

Then, this morning, Baby Girl decided to wake up early.  She started moaning (her normal "I'm awake" noises) around 5:30, which is over an hour prior to the time The Hubby typically has to wake her up.  I went in and got her around 6:10, which was twenty precious minutes prior to the time The Hubby typically wakes me up.

Add on top of that the fact that I'm 13 1/2 weeks pregnant, stressed about work stuff and my inability to concentrate, stressed about the state of my house, stressed about getting Baby Girl's Halloween costume made, and trying my damnedest not to get a cold....and I'm just done.  I've felt like I could fall asleep at any moment for weeks now.

Today I just realized how incredibly worn out I am and just broke down and cried.  I don't have any idea how I'm going to find the energy to cook dinner, to deal with Baby Girl (toddlers are SO EXHAUSTING), to clean my house, to do laundry, to make Baby Girl's costume...to do anything but sleep.  And that's why I cried.  I cried from stress and from exhaustion.

13 Weeks

Written 10/23/2011 @ 13w1d

How am I feeling?  If you would have asked me at 12w6d, I would have told you that the nausea had returned and I felt pretty awful.  But today I'm doing pretty well.  I even overate last night without too many negative consequences.  The predominant symptoms that I experienced very early (morning diarrhea and headaches) have returned, but I'm hoping they don't stick around for long.  I'm also experiencing quite a bit of pregnancy-related congestion that I keep thinking will turn into a cold.  Imagine feeling like you're going to get a cold for over a week.  That's where I am right now.  Just relieved to be officially in the 2nd trimester and hoping the energy and feelings of normalcy return soon.

Weight thoughts: As of Saturday morning, I'm up 1.8 lbs from the day we found out we were pregnant, which I think is pretty darn good since I'm not watching what I'm eating nearly as closely as before.  I'm sure the aforementioned symptom doesn't hurt, of course. Of course, I participated in a clinical study today (Monday) and it made it look like I'd gained even more.  Crazy doctor office scales.

Doctor appointments?  Not until November 7th.  I'll be seeing one of my doctor's colleagues, which I'm actually looking forward to.  If this baby cooperates, I'd like to deliver vaginally, which means I'd be more likely to have one of the other doctors in the practice deliver the baby.  With a scheduled C-section, I wasn't terribly concerned about that.

Maternity clothes? Not yet.  I want to, but don't really have a need to.  The only type of clothes that aren't fitting well are my jeans and they work okay with a hair band on the button.  My maternity jeans were never that comfortable, so I'm not in a hurry to wear those.  I did try on a new-to-me pair of maternity khakis, though, and am really tempted to wear those.  I definitely didn't look pregnant whatsoever in those, though.

Baby preparation?  For me, it's mostly been mental.  I'm still getting used to this.  Every single day I think about how things will be different once we have another human to be in charge of.  We did tell our good friends last Sunday, which was really fun.  They were genuinely excited for us, which was a great feeling.  We also told The Hubby's parents on Saturday (10/22) and they were really, really excited.  I asked Baby Girl, "Isn't there something you wanted to talk to Grandma and Pops about?"  She said, "Baby Boomer".  The Hubby asked her where "Baby Boomer" is and she said, "In Mommy's tummy".  It didn't take long for them to figure it out from there.

The Hubby has started working on cleaning out the room that will be Baby Girl's, much to my dismay.  I'm not really that excited about moving her to a new room with a big girl bed.  She, however, is incredibly excited about it.  She asked me tonight about her bed and told me that she wants Boomer to sleep in her bed after I told her that her crib is her bed for awhile longer.  She also decided she wants to paint her new room purple, so we'll be working on that soon.

12 Weeks

Written 10/17/2011

This weekend we hit 12 weeks, which, even though 13 weeks is technically the beginning of the 2nd trimester, felt like a big milestone.  We got to hear baby's heartbeat again on Wednesday and feel a lot more comfortable with being happy now.

I'm feeling pretty good.  I was prepared on Saturday to write that the nausea was gone, but then got hit with another bout on Sunday.  I think I just get off on my eating schedule during the weekends and that's what causes me to get nauseous.  I was fearful that dinner would make me feel worse (last time I was feeling nauseous before having Chipotle, I felt worse afterward), but I ate my full bowl and felt great afterwards.

We got to share the good news with one of our closest couple friends yesterday and it felt great.  We were a little nervous about telling them because they've had a rough year of their own, but they really seemed genuinely happy for us, which was a relief.  We're hoping to tell The Hubby's parents this weekend (if they aren't available for us to visit, we might have to Skype with them--keeping this secret is killing me!) and then we'll be able to tell the world.

I'm still not really showing, but notice the swelling myself.  I could probably keep wearing my normal clothes for the next couple of months, but am not sure I want to do that.  Once we tell people, I like looking more pregnant than fat!  So I'll probably switch to maternity clothes in the next month.

As I was writing this post, I realized I hadn't scheduled our 16 week appointment (the computer system was down when we were there before), so I called.  Our next appointment will be November 7th (we'll be 15w2d) with one of my doctor's associates since my doctor will be on hospital duty that week (she warned us at our last appointment).  Since I was on the phone, I asked to schedule our subsequent appointment, hoping to get a better time slot than late afternoon.  The scheduler said we could come on Friday, December 2nd at 8:30 a.m.  MUCH better time slot AND we'll only be 18w6d.  That will be our anatomy scan (the scheduler says they do them between 18 weeks and 22 weeks--so glad to be on the early end of that this time!  Last time we were over 21 weeks!).  I can't wait to find out what we're having.