number 2 [week 7]

Symptoms: Nausea, nausea, nausea. I've been sick as a dog. Dry heaving, dizziness, barfing (although thankfully not too much), and lots of time spent in bed. I even went home early from work one day because I just couldn't hack it.

Cravings: Chinese food. I decided to be good and get orange chicken from Trader Joe's, even though my heart was really set on Rose Garden.

Aversions: Last week's highly-craved tortilla chips are now a no-go. I also cannot look at another saltine cracker.

Missing: Sushi. I may have been drooling over it at Trader Joe's.

Mood: Pretty miserable, to say the least. It's hard for me to remember if I was constantly this sick with Simon. I'm happy in the brief moments when I feel like myself. And of course, I'm thankful for this little miracle that's torturing me from the inside.

Sleep: I've been impressed that it's been mostly uninterrupted. I think I've woken to go to the bathroom only once or twice.

Dreams: The night before my friend Molly's birthday, I dreamed that she had a new apartment that was really a wine cellar. She was hosting a get-together and her new apartment was literally crawling with cats. For some strange reason she was really excited about the cats; like, more excited about the cats than all the wine. It's funny because Molly is really more of a dog person.

Clothing: Everything's fitting better this week, especially because I've not been bloated like I was last week. I do, however, feel really fat and pudgy by the end of the day no matter what I eat, and then I wake up the next morning looking normal again. I also keep seeing maternity shorts for sale on the Facebook swap pages, but I have no idea what size I am since I've never been big-pregnant during the summer. The weather spiked to an unnatural 90 degrees today, so I'm already terrified of what's to come.

Best Moment: Seeing our little peanut at my first prenatal appointment. It sure is small, measuring less than a centimeter, but it's really in there and its heart is beating. I was so nervous going into the appointment, but everything looked great. Fingers crossed for another great view at my next appointment at 11 weeks!

Pregnancy Purchases: I tried some ginger candy to help combat my constant nausea. The problem is, I don't actually like ginger. I popped a piece while driving and I feel horrible to admit that that piece of candy went flying out my car window just seconds after entering my mouth. I guess it was either littering from a moving vehicle or barfing inside of one.

Other News: I also had a dentist appointment the day after my prenatal appointment; my first dental visit in over 8 years. It went well and I was pleased to learn that my teeth are not in as bad of condition as I had feared. My dentist decided to hold off on x-rays until after I have the baby, and we scheduled a teeth cleaning for June. Oral health is important for a healthy pregnancy!

Looking Forward To: A week of less nausea? (Yeah right.) But maybe some more energy so I can spend more waking time with my boy.

pregnancy [week 21]

  My other new maternity jeans from Ross... $9!

The beginning of this week started off with great excitement: ERIC FINALLY FELT THE BABY KICK!

We were lying in bed just after waking up and Eric decided to put his PSP on my belly so the baby could hear the music coming from the game.  He put his face on my tummy to talk to the baby about the music and BAM! Eric got a swift kick in the eye!  He was so excited to have finally experienced movement after so many weeks of failed attempts.  It was a few days until Daddy and baby were able to make contact again, but when they did Eric was completely thrilled.  At the end of the week, we witnessed our boy's new ability to make my stomach move up and down with his internal thrusts.  I first noticed it happening while at my friend Jen's house on Friday evening, and to my delight Eric was able to catch a second performance when I returned home that night.  He felt more kicks and punches and watched and my belly protrude here and there as the baby rolled around and around.  The experience of Eric finally getting see and feel our son moving around inside of me was the highlight of my week.  I think the three of us--Mommy, Daddy, and baby--are beginning to connect as a family.

The downside of this week was my physical condition.  Auntie Nausea and Uncle Headache came back for a visit and were not welcomed with open arms.  I threw up one day and battled headaches almost every afternoon as well as into the evenings.  My mornings were spent feeling like I couldn't eat enough to satisfy my hunger, thus leading to queasiness and the spins.  As a result, my nutrition for the week wasn't stellar due to all my symptoms, but I was grateful to keep down the food that I did.  Rice, bread, and pasta have been my best friends!

 At 21 weeks our boy is the size of a pomegranate, weighing roughly 12.7 ounces and measuring about 10.5 inches long.  As he's growing he's becoming stronger and stronger, as evidenced by his movements and kicks.  The one "normal" 5th-month pregnancy symptom I've experienced this week is indigestion, which I'd never had the pleasure of dealing with prior to being pregnant.  It's stunned me just how uncomfortable indigestion is, and coinciding with my nausea made it even more unbearable. But, as crappy as I've felt, I remember that both my son and I are healthy and we are extremely lucky to not be experiencing any major complications thus far.  It's the times when I'm feeling my worst that I should remember to count my blessings; I have many of them.               

pregnancy [week 13]

I'm still in that in-between stage where I'm definitely showing but it just looks like fat.  It's weird to say, but I look more pregnant without clothing on than I do when I'm dressed.  Why do my clothes make me look chubby?  I don't know... but I am looking forward to when my belly pops so I don't have to worry about those awkward stares from strangers wondering why that chunky lady is walking around rubbing her gut.

On a lighter note: the weather has finally cooled a bit and I was able to take this week's belly photo outside.  Yay natural light!  Eric took the dog for a walk today and we've even had the air conditioner turned off for the last 2 days.  I'm hoping that this means we're headed toward cooler temperatures (at least temporarily) so I can get back outside for my walks.  While I move around quite a bit at work, it's not as much as I could be doing.

Speaking of work, I was really thinking I was almost out of the woods where morning sickness was concerned since I felt great during my first 2 days back.  WRONG!  Mistake #1 was thinking I could wait to eat breakfast until I was in the car rather than eating before leaving the house.  Mistake #2 was assuming I'd be able to take my prenatal vitamins right before my meal instead of right after.  What did these 2 mistakes cost me?  Try having to pull over 4 blocks from home on my way to work the morning of the first day of my 13th week to throw up stomach acid and a whole prenatal vitamin.  WHOLE!  Talk about scary and embarrassing.  Luckily I was quickly able to get back on the road and eat my Cheerios.  I've since returned to having my cereal at home.

I learned later that day that the first trimester is actually 13 weeks long rather than 12, which was what I had originally assumed.  At first I was disappointed that I'm not in the second trimester yet, but since the nausea has hung on here and there every day this week I'm glad that I still have an excuse for feeling sick.  Now that I'm at the end of week 13 I've noticed less nausea and more headaches in the last 2 days, which both have had the same outcome of me sitting on the couch feeling debilitated.  But I feel better and better each day and I'm trying to remain positive that my morning sickness is coming to a close.  Please, let it be so!         

Baby boo is the size of a peach this week and is developing fingerprints!  It's hard to believe just how much is going on inside of me that I can't see or feel.  Our little honey is growing like crazy and creating new body functions daily.  I wish so much to be able to feel some movement from the outside but I know that will come with time and eventually won't stop.  I told Eric today that I miss the baby and wish I could see him or her, but I have to remember that before we know it our son or daughter will be here on the outside and we'll get to see, hold, and love our child everyday for the rest of our lives.  That, I'm really looking forward to. 

My bump, week 13:

pregnancy [week 11]

Our friend, Nick, was over at our house after I took this picture and I was still wearing these same scrubby clothes and messy hair-do.  I pointed out my bump to him and he said he didn't really notice anything different.  Are all men pregnancy-blind?  I did not eat one too many Big Macs... there is a baby in there, people!  And I know I am growing because the stretchy running shorts I'm wearing in this photo were not fitting the same way they used to... comfortably!

The biggest highlight of this past week was that we got to see and hear the baby again!  My 11-week appointment consisted of a brief physical, a pelvic exam, and a review of my labs from last month's visit (all normal!).  Then we had the ultrasound.  It took a second to get a good view of the baby, but when we did we saw our loved one very clearly.  Someone must have been in a good mood because we got a great shot of the little bug bouncing around and waving its little arms at us.  Seeing such rapid, healthy movement brought tons of happy tears to my eyes and hearing that amazing heartbeat warmed my heart.  As I lay there, crying with joy over the sight of the precious life growing inside of me, looking at Eric and seeing the smile on his face, I felt so incredibly blessed and relieved that my little one continues to be healthy and safe.  I spent the rest of the day looking at the ultrasound photos and missing my baby.   

I hit a huge milestone yesterday: I finally threw up.  Twice.  And it was awful.  The first time was in the early afternoon shortly after eating an Orange Creme Yoplait yogurt.  Everything came up orange-colored and my nose ran pretty badly afterwards.  After the shakes went away I was able to eat again and felt normal.  In the late afternoon I was feeling horribly nauseous again and decided to eat a Skinny Cow Cookies 'n Cream Truffle bar, which had successfully cured a particularly bad bout of morning sickness earlier in the week.  This time it only made me feel worse and want to throw up, but I did not want to experience that again.

I held on until dinner that night; Eric made a plate of spaghetti for me and we shared a salad.  The carbs seemed to calm my stomach immediately and I even went back for seconds on the salad.  I was fine for almost an hour before the barf-feeling returned and I continued to resist it for another 30-45 minutes before losing the battle completely.  The second round was AWFUL!  With a full tummy, everything I had eaten for dinner painfully came back up, including the broccoli from my formerly delicious salad.  I cried, Eric fetched me water and comforted me as I sat shaking on the bathroom floor.  The pain in my throat felt like I had swallowed glass.  Needless to say, I didn't eat anything else for the rest of the night and even skipped my prenatal vitamins.  I was happy to find that the swallowing pain had subsided when I woke up the next morning, and so far I haven't vomited since!      

Our wiggly, waving baby is the size of a lime this week, roughly 1.6 inches long and weighing approximately .25 ounces.  The Bump says it now has a 1:1 head to body ratio which means it looks a lot more like a baby now!  When I picked out this lime at the grocery store to show Eric how big baby is, it honestly blew my mind that our little bug has gotten so big so fast.  And maybe it's because I refused to didn't have a prune to photograph last week, but seeing and holding this lime in the grocery store made it feel humungous in my hands.  And the best part?  Babe still has so much more growing to do, and I have many more weeks of excitement and surprise to celebrate over our little lovey's growth.  Grow, little baby, grow! 

pregnancy [week 7]

This last week has been a difficult one with all my pregnancy symptoms in high gear.  Nausea has been frequent, bathroom trips have been frequent, exhaustion has been frequent, and hormonal crabbiness has been WAY too frequent.  I feel queasy several times a day, whether I'm just relaxing or keeping myself busy.  I have to run to the little girl's room more often that what seems possible with the amount of fluids I'm drinking.  I take one, if not two, naps everyday after work.  I get very impatient, and very irritated, very quickly.  Taking all this into consideration, though, it seems like I'm progressing through this pregnancy the perfect shade of normal.

 Eric caught me during one of my mid-afternoon snoozes

Tomorrow is our first doctor appointment and we'll hopefully get to find out exactly how far along I am, as well as confirm that everything is progressing as expected inside my belly.  I am supposed to have my first ultrasound to determine my estimated due date, fill out a bunch of oh-so-fun paperwork, and get blood and urine tests done.  I have a huge phobia of getting my blood drawn so Eric will be with me to offer his arm to squeeze.  I am trying to focus less on the scary-needle part and more on the I-might-get-to-see-and-hear-my-baby's-heartbeat part.  That's the exciting part.

I've made it my goal this week to focus more on my eating habits and activity level.  Ever since the morning sickness hit, I've only craved the most unhealthiest of foods.  I seriously had a hamburger 3 times and pizza 4 times last week.  Yes, I can blame the 4th of July holiday and the mass amount of birthday parties we've attended as of late, but I really need to take responsibility for my nutrition.  No more "only a burrito sounds good right now!" and no more laziness.  In addition to recommitting to my pre-pregnancy healthy eating habits, my fitness needs to get back in gear as well.  I put the kibosh on my Insanity workout once I found out we were expecting and was diligently walking the dog every evening during that first week.  In the week since, the weather has been in the triple digits and doggy and I have barricaded ourselves inside the air-conditioned house.  Now that the heat has cooled for the time being, we will be getting back outside and I plan to ask about some pregnancy-safe exercises at my appointment tomorrow.    

This little baby, the size of a blueberry, has already changed our lives so much in such a small amount of time.  I'm so excited to hopefully see our little nugget tomorrow and be able to rest assured that it is developing totally normally.  This little bugger has been quite active thus far, and I know its early affects are just the beginning of this crazy, exhausting, bloated journey!

pregnancy [week 6]

When The Bump told me that morning sickness "can be an all-day affair," they were not kidding!  

It seems as though just as I hit week 6, the nausea hit me as well.  I'm thankful that I haven't actually been slumped over the toilet retching my brains out, but my moments of queasiness have not at all been consistent.  It hits me when I'm getting ready in the morning, while working with students, driving, sitting on the couch, and when simply breathing or blinking my eyes.

Amazingly, eating really helps when I'm feeling green.  7UP has become my new best friend and Eric has vowed to keep a constant supply in the house.  My food cravings have been off the charts, though, and of course have consisted of only junk (pizza, Mexican, and hamburgers have graced my presence this week).  As wild as my food-wants have been, my don't-wants are going crazy as well.  Before grocery shopping earlier this week I added a number of items to our list that I thought I wanted, only to find that the mere sight of these foods in the store completely turned my stomach.  Eric and I have already been forced to make peace with the fact that one or both of us will be making frequent, small trips to the store when a particular dish suddenly sounds appetizing. 

I'm still struggling with the idea of how something so small--the size of a sweet pea, to be exact--has so suddenly and completely changed my life.  This tiny, little thing that's growing inside of me is already in control, having a say in what I can and cannot have, what I can and cannot do, making meal demands and threats of regurgitation if I'm near the wrong food or lacking the right one, and leaving me cranky and exhausted and owing my husband an endless amount of thank yous. 

But I already know it'll have all been worth it in the end.