19 & 20 weeks

Warning this post is going to be all over the place.

First of all I am currently 20 weeks and baby is the size of a....

I didn't have time to post a 19 week blog so I'm shoving that info into this 20 week one. And lots of stuff happened.

So right before I hit 19 weeks I was obsessed with the sun and being in the heat. I spent almost every day outside. As a result of pregnancy I've been way more sweaty than I normally am but I was enjoying the 90 degree weather anyway. Here's a few outdoor pics I took that week

                                           
                                               Maggie and Lucy. They get along sooo well.

I posted that weird pic of my belly so that you can see how weird my navel is looking. Its getting kind of flat now and I need to get a longer barbell for my navel ring.


Here are my 19 week belly pics...

A few days after I turned 19 weeks we had our big ultrasound...

Both of us slept like crap the night before because we were so stinking excited. Thankfully when I got to the office they took me in right away. First it was me and the ultrasound tech in the room Nick  had to wait to come in until after she got her technical measurements. So the whole time I'm in there the lady is making small talk and all I'm wondering is if the baby is okay. Why do us techs do this? You can see that I'm pregnant and what pregnant lady doesn't get a little nervous that something might be wrong. The previous 2 days I hadn't felt too much movement (it turned out it's because it was in a weird position) I was pretty anxious to know that everything was alright. But she kept doing her thing for about 10 minutes while I sat there nervous. Finally she brought Nick in and we actually got to see some stuff. Most importantly the money shot. Our baby was spread eagle and there was no doubt in my mind what we were looking at was a baby girl even before the tech said anything. Instantly tears started pouring I think Nick teared up to. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life, it made all of this so much more real. We are having a baby girl. Unfortunately the tech didn't really care about getting us nice pictures she printed off a bunch of blobs that hardly resembled any mammal let alone a human.

Let me just say how surprised I was that we were having a girl. When I first got pregnant I thought it was a girl because of how sick I was in the beginning. Everyone I know who had baby boys hardly had any morning sickness at all. But after about 12 weeks I was suddenly convinced we were having a boy and I had felt that way all day every day since. I always referred to the baby as a he. I was in shock when it turned out to be a girl. But I'm so happy it's a she!

We did a photo shoot with my sister the day before the ultrasound. We took girl and boy pictures so that we would be prepared for each. She hasn't finished editing all of them but I'll post the rest of them in my next blog.

Right after we found out the sex we went and registered at BuyBuyBaby and bought our first piece of baby girl clothing from Baby Gap. They were having an amazing sale this week and I scored this adorable romper for $11 (originally $32 I am very proud of my sales shopping abilities).

Also this week I got to meet baby William!!! I was so happy to see Philena and meet her little man. Its amazing how much this kid looks like his parents. He was an absolute sweetheart. I've been wondering how Lucy would react to a baby being around and getting more attention than her and she was great with William. She looked so happy to be a around a baby and William really liked her too.

At 19 weeks baby girl weighed 10 oz and was in the 74th percentile for weight and length. So she's big maybe that's why I can feel so much so early? The Midwife and us tech were pretty impressed that I was feeling so many kicks and that they can actually be seen from the outside. She is really reacting to sound a lot more than she was before. When Nick talks to her she moves more. We went to see Prometheus yesterday and she went nuts when it got loud in the theater! I hope it didn't terrify her too bad but she was moving so quickly and intensely it was startling for me too.

I've been craving lots of sweets lately... Especially french toast and fruit. It's been a craving for a few months now but I'm indulging it more than I did before. It has gone from a want to a need. Another craving has been slurpees from 7-11. I am not a soda drinker so it's weird for me to want something like that soo bad.

I guess some people can start getting stretch marks around this time but I don't have any yet. I've gained 6.8lbs so far and 5 inches on my waist. I haven't measured my ass but I don't need to do that to realize it's getting fat. I've never really had a booty so I don't mind, it's just new and weird to me. About a month ago a customer at work was talking to me about pregnancy she literally said, "your ass is going to get soo fat it wont even resemble your ass from before," that's a little scary but for now I'm okay.

Here are my week 20 pregnancy pics...

Until next week!

<3

18 Weeks Pregnant

I'm 18 weeks pregnant yay!!!

Big things are happening this week with my little sweet potato. This week baby is wiggling punching and practicing all kinds of things it will need to be an expert at by the time that it's out. It's swallowing amniotic fluid and has taste buds.

Nick and I watched Alien for a refresher before we go see Prometheus. If you've never seen it pregnant you don't know how scary it can be....

That scene is just not the same when you know that there's a tiny little being inside of you and you silently irrationally hope that it doesn't come bursting through your stomach at that very moment.... It's probably a good thing I wasn't feeling official kicks yet when we sat down and watched it.

Oh yeah. Baby is a super kicking. I started feeling the kicks Tuesday evening and confirmed them as kicks Wednesday morning. Baby kicks are pretty much the coolest thing that's ever happened in the history of ever. Then Thursday night Nick and I ate thai food for dinner. Holy shit does the baby either really love or really hate spicy thai food. It literally went ape shit in my uterus. Suddenly the tiny kicks turned into Hulk smashes all over the place. It was pretty awesome and because the baby was all raged out Nick got to feel it kick for the first time!! I've been soo excited for him to feel and it was amazing.

This week  I've also seen some superficial benefits to pregnancy..... Long flowing hair and gorgeous strong nails. I also think that I'm officially "glowing" I love my bump and I'm loving my body now more than ever.

Earlier this evening my super lovey dovey kitten girl cuddled up to my belly and I just had to take a picture of her. The baby was totally kicking at her but she didn't seem to notice....

I've been thinking about how it feels like I found out I was pregnant just last week and started looking through the pictures I took at that time and figured I should include this pretty big moment on here. I took this picture a few hours after finding out I was pregnant....

That's my happy puffy emotional face and the digital test that I took and sent pictures of to Nick at work. That's me on  one of the happiest days of my life. <3

I thought I'd put my belly into context I found pictures from a week before I got pregnant to put up next to my belly pictures from this week.

<3

17 weeks

I'm 17 weeks pregnant today!

Baby is as big as....

Or your open palm from crown to rump.

 Lots of tickles from baby this week. Lots of round ligament pain also.  I've been exhausted pretty much every day. It's not too bad in the mornings but after 2 pm I'm just done. It's hard because at work I'm expected to be standing pretty much the whole time. I have been sitting to eat lunch around 1 pm in between customers. I probably only sit for a total of 20-30 minutes per 7 hour shift and it's starting to kill my feet. They hurt horribly every day no matter what shoes I wear there. When I'm moving around I'm much happier but a lot of the time I'm standing pretty still waiting on customers and scanning in movies. I have noticed I get a bit light headed towards the end of the day if I can't sit at all.

I've been very hungry this week and gave into quite a few cravings... Supposedly the baby is going through a growth spurt and starting to accumulate fat on it's body. And I've definitely eaten enough chocolate this week to provide some cute baby fat.

I've gotten into the routine of doing some exercises and stretches for a about 20 minutes before bed each evening.  It makes me feel productive and I've been falling asleep easier.

So far total pregnancy weight gain has been 3.7 lbs. Not too shabby :)

We only have about 2 weeks until our anatomy ultrasound where we will find out the sex of the baby. We are super duper excited!! I'm really starting to think it's a boy now... I guess we'll see!

Here's my tummy this week!

                                                    I'll be saying good bye to my toes soon!

                                                   
<3

16 Weeks!

I'm 4 months pregnant! Baby now has finger prints and can hear!

I'm happy they baby can hear this week because we got an awesome gift in the mail. Almost all of the rock a bye baby albums from some of our favorite artists! Yay for awesome friends!

The biggest thing to happen this past week is that the baby is moving, a lot! It is the most amazing feeling ever and no matter what I'm doing every time that I feel it I just stop and smile and sometimes giggle. It feels like my tiny little baby is tickling me from the inside all day. It is making me so unbelievably happy and excited. I finally get why some people love pregnancy. This is the most amazing thing to ever happen to me and the love that I feel for this tiny little being is so huge and mind blowing.

I am now one of those people who loves being pregnant, this is the most amazing thing I've ever experienced in my life and I am just so happy. :)

Here are some belly pictures for this week...

And one of Nick tickling my baby belly...

<3

Weeks 14 & 15

Today I'm officially 15 weeks pregnant (starting my 16th week).

Baby is the size of a Naval Orange! HOLY CRAP!

Now I see what they mean when they say pregnancy goes by fast.

My first 12 weeks felt like they took forever! After that the times are flying by and I'm physically changing every day before my eyes.

As far as week 14 goes. It was pretty awesome I felt almost normal just a little tired I was also super duper hungry. Then I started to develop a really bizarre ear/face ache. I called my dr. and she instructed me to go straight to the emergency room. So that's how I spent last Saturday... Stuck in the ER for hours I got a lot of good reading in but it really wasn't worth the money. The "Dr" in the ER was kind of a jerk and ordered a CAT scan as he just had a patient die from a bone infection and thought I must have that too.... I feel like this was completely unnecessary especially when he hadn't even properly examined me or run any other tests... After that and more hours of sitting around trying not to be forced into taking Vicodin by every nurse around. I got the news I was being released but they wanted to check for a heart beat before they let me go. I was excited of of course because I love hearing that sound. But the nurse was completely incompetant and literally had no clue what she was doing with the Doppler. I asked her twice if I could try it because I had at least seen my Dr do it before. She refused and it took her like 10 minutes to find it. With my mind at ease about that she said the Dr had to talk to me before a I left. I waited for 40 min then realized my nurse and Dr were discussing their personal lives instead of letting me go home. I got my stuff together and waited in my door way staring at them until they noticed me. The look on their faces was the best part of my experience. He told me 5 possiblities of what my pain and swelling could be caused by... None of which were the actual cause.

So I went home in pain and finally Saturday night I gave in a took a few tylenol because I could not stop crying form the pain.

Sunday I experienced my first Mother's day and it was wonderful. We spent it with Nick's mom and sisters bbq and watching the kids play. It was fantastic everyone gave me nice gifts to make me feel special. My favorite was Nick's. He got me a baby memory book and a card from the baby :)

On Monday my awesome friend Lisa got me in to see the ENT where she works. He immediately diagnosed me and confirmed that the ER "Dr" was a quack. I had an outer ear infection of the eardrum and canal which is the most painful. Lucy also had a rough day as she had her dental scaling that day, we spent the majority of the evening laying around feeling poopy together. 

The rest of this week I've been growing what feels like a lot. My stomach is rounding out more and I love it. My cravings this week haven't been too bad everyday I want fruit, soups and salads... And pizza once...
I've also finally put on some weight :) I'm up 2.8 lbs! It feels like right to my tummy and possibly my boobs. Lord help me if those things keep getting bigger.

Oh I also think I felt the baby move for the first time last Saturday since I've felt it twice since. That super exciting and I can't wait until they're more definitive and Nick can feel them.

We are shopping for cribs right now. Any advice would be helpful we are completely stumped. I think Nick and I want completely different styles. Ugh.

13 Weeks

Hello second trimester :) I've been waiting quite a while to see you.

This week baby is the size of a peach :O

Now that I'm thirteen weeks my all day long nausea has vanished. I'm still nauseous every couple hours but not for very long and usually just when I'm hungry. I am sooooo thankful for this. I'm starting to see the nicer side of pregnancy. This week I've had some really awful headaches that last pretty much all day but that's just pain and I can take pain.

Hopefully this means a less whiny less cranky version of Mo. I feel like I've been complaining quite a bit these last few months and I'm ready to be more pleasant to be around.

I've had a wonderful week.

Tuesday Nick and I went for the first screen which included a blood test and ultrasound. It was amazing seeing the baby look like a baby. It is insane to think about how much moving around and kicking is going on in my uterus right now. I was pretty much oblivious to the reality of it until I saw it for myself. Little one is very active. And apparently very stubborn. The scan took about 30 minutes (which I didn't mind) the tech had to coax the baby into the correct position over and over again the baby was just not having it. She ended up getting what she needed though. We both had a sigh of relief to see that the measurements she took were well within the normal range for our little developing fetus. We also got some great pictures and a first look at the baby's profile....

 

 I was able to catch up with a few friends this week that I haven't seen since before I was pregnant. It was awesome and it made me feel like a real person again. I'm excited to continue this especially now that I'm less of a drag to be around. Audrey and Katrina and Lisa thanks for insisting on hanging out with me even while I was a cranky bitch. I feel like I would have gone even more insane if it weren't for you girls <3

I have not been as active as I wanted to be the past few months. It's kind of impossible to exercise when you feel like your going to throw up just sitting down. Due to that horrible nausea I was lucky enough not to gain any weight in the first trimester. But now that I'm hungry again I'm definitely going to kick my fitness level back up. Nick and I spent 40 minutes at the gym this morning and it was awesome! This whole week of socializing plus some good ol' exercise have made me feel like a normal person again.

In other news my belly has transformed from a normal belly to a baby bump. A real baby bump. It is hard all the time. It is sensitive all the time. To me it looks, feels and seems quite large for how far along I am. But it's definitely a baby bump and it's definitely not going anywhere so I'm embracing it. I've realized that I'm only getting bigger from here on out.

I really liked week thirteen. It's 7 pm and I'm ready to hit the sack lol. Until next week!

12 Weeks

Today I'm officially 12 weeks pregnant! (Starting my 13th week)

Week 12 was weird but awesome. I was even more exhausted than normal but it seemed like my nausea was only occurring every other day. Until yesterday where I lost my breakfast very unexpectedly. The awesome part was that we got to hear our itty bitty baby's heartbeat for the first time! It was amazing and so reassuring to hear it pounding away in there. The heartbeat was 155 bpm which according to old wives tales indicates girl.

I really thought earlier on we would have a girl, but I'm really leaning towards boy now and I constantly catch myself to referring to it as a "him." I mean we've nicknamed it baby Spartacus which may feel a little awkward if we find out its a tiny baby girl in there.

Anyway my pregnancy has been a constant surprise for me so now I pretty much expect anything to happen. I always imagined being one of the pregnant ladies who was constantly elated and enamored by the whole pregnancy experience. I imagined I would eat an insanely healthy diet every day, maybe have slight morning sickness. Having heard my mother (who was one of those super peaceful insanely happy pregnant people) constantly talk about how easy her pregnancy was, how hungry she was and how she thinks of her pregnancies as the happiest parts of her life, I expected to feel and be the same way.....

They aren't lying when they say every pregnancy is different.

As soon as I hit 6 weeks I was sick all day every day. Literally every minute of my like I was on a fair ride I could never get off. I've had the stomach flu quite a few times in my life, it sucks, but the nice thing about the stomach flu is that it's over with in about a week at the most. Morning sickness lasts for weeks and drains every bit of energy out of you. Not to mention by 7/8 weeks I had developed my insane food aversions. All of the sudden every vegetable that I had loved and planned on eating in abundance smelled and tasted rotten. Lean white meats went from a stable in my diet to completely untouchable. The only thing that I had any interest in eating was fruit and white potatoes. After 14 months of pretty much being on a diet I was not used to not eating vegetables every day.

For the past 6 weeks my diet has been disgusting and I feel constantly guilty about it. My midwife has informed me that for now I should just eat whatever I can and worry about it after week 14. I try to remind myself this when I eat a junior bacon cheese burger and there's a lump in my throat because I feel so guilty. I did everything right and I was well informed before becoming pregnant I know that healthy eating is important. Or at least I did. According to my midwife for now all that matters is that I'm taking my vitamins getting protein and fiber and as much diary as I can stand (which unfortunately isn't much).

Before I became pregnant I scoffed at women who ate crap and thought "don't they know that's bad for them? Do they not care?" I know now that most of the time they day care but that's literally the only thing they can scarf down in order to get some calories to the baby. That is them caring. Most days I don't want to eat anything I know after every meal I'm going to feel horrible but I eat what I can because the baby needs it.

I am not the glowing pregnant lady I imagined. My face looks like that of a young girl going through puberty, I am sick all day every day, I eat a great deal of crap, I don't exercise everyday because I'm exhausted, I really don't think that I'm glowing. I am happy though. Happier than I've probably every been in spite of all of the crap. I will also never judge a pregnant woman again for what they eat or how they act. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Anyways enough whining I just had to get that out there.

The baby is definitely bigger (the size of a plum now!)

My animals aren't allowed to lay on my tummy anymore without some careful placement. My bump is super duper sensitive. Speaking of which it looks way more bumpy this week!

On Tuesday we have an ultrasound and we are soooo excited to see him again! Until next time :)