The Pregnancy Chronicles: Week 16

Oops, I'm a few days late with this post, but life was crazy...

How big is the baby?



The baby is about the size of an avocado, approximately 4 1/2 inches & 3 1/2 ounces. This is Poppy & me in pj's in the St. Louis hotel room we stayed in over the weekend. This is also my first attempt to post pictures to my blog from instagram. I think instagram is cool, but I admit that I don't really know what I'm doing with it. It's like twitter for me ... I think I have an account, but I don't know how that happened and I don't understand how tweeting works. It seems like this should come naturally to a birdie, but not so much.

How I'm feeling:

Great for the most part. I get extremely dehydrated in the middle of the night even if I drink a bunch of water in the late evening, so that is not overly pleasant. Most of the other typical pregnancy symptoms faded away this week.

What I'm eating:

Favs this week were potatoes in any form ... baked, mashed, fries ..., chicken salad, and bagels. I'm really craving Dr. Pepper and it has completely stopped giving me heartburn. I'm trying to limit to only a couple per week because I know it's not the most healthy thing to drink. But, I figure if I also drink a ton of water it'll be alright.

Weight: +6 lbs

Highlights:

I made it on a road trip to St. Louis (8 hours each way) for a fabulous shower for my future sister-in-law. I had to stop about twice as much as I normally would have to stretch out my legs & hips. The good news was that it was an all female road trip including my mom & grandmom, so no one suggested that any of us just "try to make it a few more exits." Riding around in a car was one of my least favorite activities during the 1st trimester, and now I feel almost back to my old self on long car rides. Let's hope the feeling lasts until my brother's wedding at the end of March when we make the trip again.

Deep Thoughts:

Grandmom decided that my maternity clothes look very comfortable. We got to spend about an hour at the galleria in St. Louis and burned up all of our time in Macy's. I was perfectly happy with this because it appeared to be the only store in the whole mall that had maternity clothes. Grandmom lamented the fact that she spent her hour in formal dresses when she might have found some great options for herself if she had stayed with me. Then, she just decided that I could give her my hand-me-downs when my gut goes back to a normal size. Makes me wonder if anyone else's grandmother has inherited their maternity pants...

The Pregnancy Chronicles: Week 15

How big is the baby?




The baby is about the size of a large navel orange, 4 1/2 inches long, and a little over 2 ounces - so tiny!!

How I'm feeling:

Pretty good this week. I had a few days of back & hip pain, mostly on the left side. It gets worse throughout the day, especially if I am on my feet a lot. I was at the grocery store with David when I got a significant attack of this pain and tried a few varieties of walking styles. He was not a fan. He wanted to hurry ahead and pretend he didn't know me :) Nothing worked anyway, so I went back to my normal strut.

What I'm eating:

Pumpernickel bagels from Brueggers (I am so missing their smoked salmon bagel - I will be eating one right after Poppy arrives), mac & cheese, baked potatoes, eggs, popcorn, olives, chicken. I am able to eat larger portions than I've been used to over the past couple of months. The only foods I didn't feel like eating this week were Mexican & sweets. I ate more candy than usual because it was Valentine's day and I don't think Poppy was into it.

Weight: +4 lbs

Highlights: I think I felt the baby move/kick today! I experienced about ten minutes of a fluttering feeling on the top left side of my stomach, mostly while I was in the shower this morning. Our next ultrasound is scheduled for March 13th, so hopefully we will be able to find out the gender. I added a boy or girl? poll to the blog, so be sure to vote.

Deep Thoughts: Now that none of my regular pants will fit and I've fully transitioned to maternity clothes, I realized that I will not have to worry about my fly being unzipped for the next 6 months. Whew, what a relief.

The Pregnancy Chronicles: Week 14

How big is the baby?


The baby is the size of a lemon - about 3 1/2 inches long.

Here we have the "weekend look" for the maternity photo. This means I am not wearing make up. Also I am just a couple of days away from week 15 because we may have procrastinated with our photography. Also we have an empty bookshelf. Perhaps next week it will be full of books and other styled items :) I am turned the opposite way in my photo because I was feeling crazy this week.... Now everyone can decide what my good side is.

How am I feeling?

I am back to being very tired this week. I am having weird nights full of crazy dreams, tossing & turning. I end up wide awake and feeling OCD about strange things that seem insignificant in the morning. I must say the middle of the night is odd and I usually sleep right through it. I have a feeling I'm going to become more and more acquainted with 2 am, 3 am, 4 am, etc over the next few months, so I may as well get used to it. So, it's no wonder that I end up wanting a nap after eating breakfast. Also, this is a busy work week, so perhaps that's a contributing factor.

What am I eating?

Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup, macaroni & cheese, salads, toaster strudels, and cereal. I have heartburn pretty much every night regardless of what I eat. I had some free pizza during a lunch meeting and the heartburn wasn't so bad. So, maybe I can handle more marinara? I'm not brave enough yet to put it on the regular menu ...

Weight: I forgot to get on the scale this week...

Highlights: I had a routine Dr. appointment this week. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat (rate was 160) and got an overall good report on all my blood work & blood pressure. I can't believe how low my blood pressure is. I think it was 106/64. I headed back to the gym this weekend and did 15 minutes walking inclined on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the elliptical, lifted weights (only 8 lbs), and did a lot of stretching.

The Pregnancy Chronicles: Week 13

Ok, I'm only behind by a couple of posts, so I will be caught up this week! Then, the photos you see & the info will be real time rather than a couple of weeks old.

How big is the baby?

The baby is about the size of a peach & 3 inches long.




We always take these pictures after it's already dark outside, so we definitely have some issues with lighting and shadows. But ... the days will be longer and warmer soon, so hopefully we can move our weekly photography session outside and get better pictures :)

How I'm feeling:

I have felt better this week! I do get tired at night and my favorite after work activity is hanging out on the couch. But I have gotten some good sleep and I can get comfortable pretty easily.

What I'm eating:

Favorites this week are olives, apples with peanut butter, popcorn, chicken, salads, cheese. I am definitely craving veggies in salad form. I am loving the salad bar at Jason's Deli. The only things I can drink are water, milk, and orange juice. I love lemon or lime in the water. For a fancy drink, I mix orange juice and soda water. How refined.

What I'm not eating:

Still no pizza or spaghetti. No mexican food... I haven't even tried to eat mexican. It sounds gross to me and I used to eat it about once or twice a week. Weird. The key is not to overeat, and the weird thing is that I can get really full on about half of the portions that I used to eat. It is not the most convenient thing to eat tiny portions constantly throughout the day, but when I can make this happen, I feel the best.

Weight: I have lost weight since last week and I'm back to +2 pre-pregnancy weight

Highlights:

I got an awesome package in the mail from Jessi with books, maternity clothes to borrow, and a cute tie-dyed onesie. We are working very hard to clean out the room that will become the nursery and Poppy's first few baby items are making their way into his/her closet. This week is legendary for the first person asking if I have a "bun in the oven" just because of how my tummy looked. It was a coworker, but the pregnancy news hadn't made it to her wing of the building yet :) We are right in the middle of a kitchen renovation and I am so excited for it to be done! The walls have been painted and we have new countertops and tile backsplash. The painters are coming back soon to do the cabinets, so it's off to pick out colors. I am very tired of picking out paint colors and hope to go many years without having to do so again. Anyway, if all goes as planned, we will have almost every room in our house decorated and furnished the way we want it before the baby gets here. And we've already lived here for over 4 years. It seems that a house is always a work in progress...

The Pregnancy Chronicles: Week 12

How big is the baby?

The size of a large plum ... about two and a half inches long and half an ounce.

Here is the first belly pic:



How I'm feeling:

Definitely better this week. Perhaps I will side step morning sickness entirely :) ... although maybe I shouldn't speak so soon. All of the weekly emails I get are singing the praises of the upcoming 2nd trimester, so I have high hopes for lots of energy and nesting ability. I am not a natural "nester," unless that's what you call all the piles of stuff that look like bird nests all over my house. So, we'll see if pregnancy turns me into a crazy organizer mom.

What I'm eating:

Lots of fruit and cereal. I'm still going out to lunch most days - just have to get away from the office for an hour - and I just drive straight to the restaurant that I'm craving at the moment. I am frequenting Chick-Fil-A and Ding How. I am having trouble with marinara sauce, so I'm staying away from pizza and spaghetti. Oh, how I miss eating pizza without getting heartburn.

Weight: +3.5 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight

Highlights:

Finally starting to take weekly belly pics. I feel like my tummy is large already, but I know that in reality, it is just barely showing. I can't wait until I'm carrying around a watermelon ... then I can look back at this photo and reminisce about the good ole plum days.

Ultrasound Round-up

I love getting to see how much the baby changes in such a short amount of time...


6 weeks - grain of rice. Even though the baby was this small, we could see a flicker of a heartbeat.


7 weeks - blueberry. I think the baby looks like a little snowman in this one. This was the picture we made copies of and had my grandparents open up for a Christmas surprise :)


9 weeks - grape. I will never forget this ultrasound because the baby was moving around in there like crazy and even waved at us with a tiny little arm! Usually, the fertility clinic graduates patients at 8 weeks, but since we were on vacation that week, they let us come back for one more visit & ultrasound when we got back. The nurse was so fun. She said, "Oh my, you have a BIG baby!!" I think she was not used to seeing arms & legs because most of their ultrasounds are of little grains of rice. It's all about perspective.


This is the most recent picture we've had and it was 3 weeks ago! I can't even imagine how much the baby has grown since then.


This is a close up of the arm & head from the same visit at 10 weeks. Our baby already wants to be an internet sensation... S/he is Tebowing for this pose!!! Awesome.

The Pregnancy Chronicles: Weeks 9-11

How big is the baby?

During these weeks, the baby's size was comparable to a grape, a prune, and a lime.

How I'm feeling:

The extreme fatigue definitely started to wear off and I had a bit more energy. I even went to the gym and walked on the treadmill a couple of times. We also felt overwhelmed with love & joy when we saw Poppy on the ultrasound screen at our last visit to the fertility clinic during week 9. We saw tiny little arms & legs and the baby waved at us!!

What I'm eating (& not eating):

I'm eating a lot of cereal and I very rarely ate cereal before getting pregnant. Also, I used to only eat greek yogurt and now I am back to regular yogurt and do not want the greek kind. I'm still craving chicken a lot. I'm also craving thai food and chinese from Ding How. I'm eating lots of fruit. The main snacks that I take to work are apples w/ peanut butter, bananas, chocolate covered pretzels, and pudding.

Weight: +2 lbs from pre-pregnancy

Highlights: My clothes started feeling tight around week 10. My mother in law bought me a lot of maternity clothes in different sizes from unclaimed baggage and thrift stores, so I started wearing some of the smaller options. I changed from the fertility clinic to a regular OB at week 10. I completely changed to a new practice I've never gone to before. It seemed a bit stressful to decide, but I got a lot of good advice from friends all over town and I love my new doctor.

The Pregnancy Chronicles: Weeks 5-8

It's time to play catch up. Even though I'm currently 13 weeks, I have to do a couple of backtracking posts. Weeks 5-8 covered the entire month of December. We had a lot going on due to the holidays, shopping & wrapping gifts, and then we had the whole interior of the house painted. Our house was turned upside down and we stayed with my parents during most of the "construction" days. This was lucky for me because I could park on the couch after work and let my mom fix me dinner and bring me snacks :)

How big is the baby?

In these weeks, the baby changed from the size of a sesame seed --> grain of rice --> blueberry --> raspberry. We have a lot of fun with the food size references. I think my dad is the biggest fan :)

How I'm feeling:

VERY tired. I could sleep for 11-12 hours one night, get up and eat breakfast, then feel like I needed a nap. I had to take breaks to sit down and rest in between parts of my morning routine. Shower. Sit. Brush hair. Sit to dry hair. Get dressed. Sit to put on makeup. I can't ever remember another time I was so constantly tired.

What I'm eating:
I am lucky that I haven't had morning sickness. During this very early stage of pregnancy, I learned I had to change my eating schedule. I used to eat 3 meals a day - small breakfast, large lunch (usually at a restaurant), and medium size dinner. I never ate snacks during the day. I learned that if I don't eat every couple of hours, I will start to feel sick. I went through short-lived cravings... ate a whole jar of pickles in one weekend, then haven't eaten any since. Chicken was my biggest craving. I wanted to eat chicken at least twice a day. The only big food aversion was Mexican food.

Weight: No change

Highlights:

We had two ultrasounds during these weeks. David was really nervous to go to them, but he made it through. We could see the heartbeat flicker at the 6 week ultrasound, then we heard the heartbeat at 7 weeks. It was the most amazing thing. Christmas was just 2 days before I was 8 weeks along, so we decided to announce the pregnancy to our extended families over the holidays. We told David's family on Christmas morning. We went to both of my grandparent's houses on Christmas eve day. I had my grandparents open a picture of the most recent ultrasound as their surprise. It was really fun and everyone is so excited to have a baby around! This will be the first grandchild on both sides of our family, and also the first great-grandchild for all of my grandparents. We spent the last week of December on vacation in Gatlinburg. We had a great time relaxing, reading, watching season 1 of Mad Men, and going to a magic show.