{Hidden Baby Chronicles} 14 Weeks - A Lemon

June 19, 2014

Hello 2nd Trimester!!  That seems impossible, but here I am!  There is a certain sense of relief making it to this milestone.  I can't believe it means that I'm already 1/3 done with this pregnancy.  What?!

Photo Thoughts: Sporting the new "regular shorts" that I broke down and bought last week in a size up from my usual.  So much happier about life when the waist band of your bottoms isn't always a source of discomfort.  You can definitely see my expanding lower belly in this picture, but it's also part dinner-baby, part thick waist band of the shorts.  Spent a lot of time this week on the phone and on FaceTime sharing our announcement with family, so that's what I'm making reference to in that last photo.  Also, these weekly photos are also totally going to serve as a "watch my hair grow" series. In January, it was barely past my chin!

How I'm Feeling:  Still the annoying preggo that feels really good and has very few symptoms.  Sorry?... I have been starting to have some self-conscious, "oh my god, my body is about to change a lot and I can't control it" moments that have been making me feel kind of down.  But I'm trying not to obsess too much about it.  I'm growing a baby for crying out loud!

Baby/Bump: Baby H is the size of a lemon this week (a rather large, 3 inch + lemon) this week!  The baby's weight almost doubled from last week, which is pretty impressive!  The baby can wiggle his/her fingers and toes, and can even suck his/her little thumb.  He/she is also growing fuzzy baby hair (lanugo) all over its body to keep warm... I'll blame this one on my husband's Middle-Eastern herirage :-) 

Symptoms: More bloating/filling out in the waist area.  Still nothing even beginning to resemble a baby bump, but its definitely enough to keep me tugging at my shirts wishing for more length and unbuttoning my pants just about everyday.  My wardrobe is starting to become somewhat limited.  I'm not in any rush for the baby bump to appear, but I do think I will be somewhat relived when it does, because then I will be out of this awkward in between phase as far as growing out of my "normal clothes" but not being quite ready for maternity wear yet. 

Weight: +4.0  I officially kept my first tri weight gain under five pounds- wahoo!  It's seriously startling/unbelievable/scary to read that they recommend about a pound a week weight gain from here on out...

What I'm Anticipating: Now that most of our family members know about Baby H., I'm definitely looking forward to sharing the news with our friends! 

What I'm Stressing About/Worries: A little vain, but I'm going to go ahead and say it... I'm starting to get a little nervous about the prospect of the impending weight gain that is in my very near future.  I haven't gained much yet, but my clothes are already feeling all around uncomfortable, so I guess I feel like it's more.  I know it's all for good reason, but it's still a hard concept to wrap my head around all the changes that are truly beyond me control. 

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: I have yet to have any real cravings as in "I have to have x right this very minute."  But I have noticed that my general preferences seem to be more toward salty foods.  Which is so strange to me since I have always had such a huge sweet tooth.  I'm all about pretzels, crackers, cheese, etc. recently. 

Sleep: So good, I can barely even pull myself out of bed in the morning.  I have always been a stomach sleeper- I just can't fall asleep any other way, so I always wondered if I would sleep horribly once pregnant and not able to sleep on my stomach anymore.  I asked my doctor if I needed to stop sleeping on my stomach, and he basically said that as long as I was comfortable I'm fine.  He went to say, "when you get to looking like a see-saw on your stomach, that's when you need to stop."  So I'm interested to see how much longer my stomach-sleeping ways will last. 

Movement:  Too early for that!  But it's fun to think that that milestone will happen sometime this trimester. 

Boy or Girl:  Who knows?  My mom thinks it's a boy.  I haven't had any real intuition regarding the gender since the last ultrasound when I had a strong boy feeling.  I'm pretty 50/50 now. 

Milestones: 2nd trimester, baby!  I feel pretty legit now. 

Highlights of the Week: Several highlights this week!
-David's first Father's Day!  I think we will both feel a little more into celebrating next year when we have a real life baby in front of us!

-We told David's family about the baby while we were in Austin for Father's Day.  This was something I had been nervous about, but it actually went really well.  They were very surprised and so excited.  And they definitely understood our request for wanting to keep things to just family and close friends for a while longer.  Like I mentioned last week, David's sister ended up being in Austin that weekend too, so I got to tell her in person.  I pulled her aside and told her one-on-one, and she was so excited!  I'm not sure if I mentioned on here before, but Renee and I were friends long before David was even in my life.  Now I'm lucky to have one of my best friends as a sister-in-law, and so it was extra special to be able to tell her the news myself.  Later that evening, we gave David's dad his Father's Day present (an "I Love My Grandparents" onesie).  He had such a surprised look on his face when he realized what it was, and immediately said, "Are you pregnant?!" Then he got up and gave everyone high-fives.  I have that on video, too- I can't wait to put all my videos together and share everyone's reactions.

Since Renee ended up flying out of town before her gift arrived, I had her boyfriend open it and take a picture for me so I could show it to her when I told her in person.  Their cat Izzy is modeling the onesie here.

-After David's parents were in on the news, we started telling the rest of the extended family.  It was fun to call my aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.  I was able to FaceTime with my grandma (Mimi) on Thursday night, and she was so so excited!  She was a little weepy, but just so happy.  It will be her second time as a great-grandmother.  It was fun to talk to her about how much she loved being pregnant with each of her five children.  It really is such a fun experience to be able to tell your close family and friends that you're having a baby- there's not really another experience like it.  It's so cool to see people's excitement and happiness for you. 

{Hidden Baby Chronicles} 13 Weeks - A Peach

June 12, 2014

Only one week left in my first trimester- that seems pretty unbelievable!  This week was a really fun week as we started telling more family members- this time around, our siblings.  Also, being sick (even if it was just having a cold) while pregnant, totally sucks. 

Photo Thoughts:  I refuse to do any bare belly photos, but if I did one, you'd be able to see that I am definitely "fuller-looking" around the middle.  However, there really is still not a bump to be spoken of.  Maybe I also just need to stop taking these photos at the end of the day so a "food baby" bump isn't confused for a real baby bump. 

How I'm Feeling:  As far as pregnancy symptoms go, I'm still feeling really good. In general though, I wasn't feeling too hot this week.  I came down with a cold over the weekend, and it hit pretty hard right away.  Usually when I have a cold, I'm not afraid to go straight for the Afrin, Tylenol cold, etc.  So I really don't think this cold was all that bad, it was more just that I couldn't take much of anything to relieve my symptoms.  I slept pretty terribly... even moved out to the couch one night.  I got desperate and even tried those "Breathe Right" strips (which totally didn't work).  Luckily, the cold didn't last long, and I was feeling almost entirely better by Thursday. 

Baby/Bump:  This week, baby H is the size of a peach and is forming vocal cords, teeth, and fingerprints.  Fingerprints! That's wild.  The baby's body is becoming more proportionate to its body.  Although, with my big ol' head, I'm guessing he/she will have a pretty giant noggin' still.

Symptoms: Still really really lucky in the pregnancy symptoms department.  I'm still experiencing some dizziness, especially if I get up from sitting too quickly, and I'm also still dealing with some pregnancy acne- just lovely.  I'm still looking/feeling really bloated in the stomach area.  I'm in that in between stage where my normal clothes (especially pants) are feeling tight and uncomfortable around the waist, but I'm still not big enough to need real maternity clothes.  It is getting really hot here, and my summer shorts were fitting well enough (if I just left them unbuttoned), but I finally broke down and just bought a new pair of regular shorts in a size up.  It was amazing how much more comfortable and better about myself it made me feel to have some bottoms that fit comfortably! 

Weight: +3.0 (down one pound from last week).  Still really hoping to keep my first trimester weight gain under 5 pounds. 

What I'm Anticipating:  We are heading to Austin for Father's Day weekend to spend time with David's family and share our news with them.  I am strangely nervous about this.  I guess maybe just since I can't predict their reactions as well as I could with my own parents.  I know for sure they will be happy and excited for us, I think I'm just more concerned about them understanding our desire to still keep things somewhat quiet for a few more weeks before we "go public."  It's a control thing for sure.  #controlfreak

What I'm Stressing About/Worries: Aside from what I mentioned above, I'm not stressing or worrying too much this week!

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: Nothing specific, but I have noticed that I get full much more quickly than I used to, and that full feeling seems to last a lot longer.  But then I will also get hungry really quickly/suddenly.  It's not a "hungry all the time" thing, it's more just that when I DO get hungry, I get hungry quickly and all of a sudden and it's like starving hungry. 

Sleep: No good this week because of my cold.  I even moved out to the couch one night thinking that sitting propped up would help- but no luck. 

Movement: Way too early for this.  I can't even imagine what this will be like when it does actually begin though.  It's crazy to think about!

Boy or Girl: Too early to know, but we will definitely find out when the time comes.

Highlights of the Week:  Definitely telling our siblings about their impending aunt/uncle status!  I had sent my brother and sister and David's sister "I Love My Aunt/Uncle" onesies in the mail.  I told them I had sent them late/early birthday presents (luckily their birthdays are all within a few months of this time) and made sure they had strict instructions not to open the present until I could FaceTime with them.  They were really surprised and so excited, and I'm so glad I set it up the way I did and made sure I could see their reactions since I couldn't see them in person.  I'm making an effort to take videos of our families as we tell them the news, and it's so fun to have their reactions recorded.  I'm planning to make a "video montage" once we are done telling everyone.  I didn't end up being able to tell David's sister this week, because it turned out that she had decided last minute to go to Austin for Father's Day weekend so she was out of town when the present arrived.  I was a little disappointed, but then realized it would be even better that I will get to tell her in person since we will be there, too! 

Another highlight of the week was my 12/13 week OB appointment.  It was basically just a follow-up from the blood work/ultrasound at my last appointment that were part of the 1st Tri combined screening.  All the results came back negative, which is what you want, so that was a huge relief!  I also got to hear the baby's heart beat again (this time beating at 170 bmp).  I don't think that sweet sound will ever get old!  David couldn't come to this appointment, so I took a video while the nurse used the Doppler so he could hear the heartbeat.  Check it out:

{Hidden Baby Chronicles} 12 Weeks - A Plum

June 5, 2014

Twelve whole weeks!  A full dozen!  For some reason this twelve week mark seemed somewhat monumental.  It brought with it a lot of relief of some of the worry I've had up until now- a lot of that having to do with getting to see a healthy, bouncing baby with a good, strong heart beat at our ultrasound last week. 

Photo Thoughts:  Just like last week, I'm still pretty sure the little "bump" that I'm showing off here is about 90% bloat and/or the effect of taking this photo at the end of the day after three full meals.  If I pose the same way in the morning, that food baby is nowhere to be seen.  But hey, at least I have a good excuse for a "food baby" belly now :-) 

How I'm Feeling: Still really good- kind of great, even.  And now that I have mostly stopped being paranoid that my lack of symptoms means something must be wrong, I'm able to truly realize how lucky I am to feel so great.  I'm definitely grateful for that!

Baby/Bump:  This week, baby is the size of a plum!  Baby is mostly done developing its major organs and systems, so from here on out, it's mostly about everything getting bigger and more mature.  Crazy that a basically fully formed human the size of a plum is in there!  Reflexes are also developing and baby is opening and closing his/her fingers and toes.  Grow little plum, grow!

Symptoms: Again, still very few.  I did notice this week that I'm back to getting dizzy and seeing stars very easily if I stand up too quickly.  I also has one evening where I was very disinterested in eating at all and felt kind of nauseous.  I figured out quickly though that it was because I had let myself get too hungry, and that is what brought on the waves of nausea.  Poor David has been working really late the past few weeks, and I've usually just been waiting to eat dinner with him once he gets home.  So I guess now I just need to go ahead and eat or have a snack while I'm waiting.  Still having weird dreams and still getting up once a night to use the bathroom.  Oh, and I'm getting some lovely pregnancy acne. Yay.

Weight: +4.0.  I'd really love to keep it under a five pound weight gain for the first trimester...

What I'm Anticipating: I've been working on getting together the "props" for our announcement to David's parents and our siblings.  I'm not all that creative, so everyone is getting a onesie of the "I Love My ___" variety.  I think I've done a really good job of keeping the secret, so everyone should be very surprised.  We will tell our siblings this coming week, before we head to Austin for Father's  Day and our announcement to David's parents.  I'm really excited, but also strangely nervous. 

What I'm Stressing About/Worries:  I definitely am feeling a lot less worried since the ultrasound last week, but I'm still a little bit anxious about waiting to get the results back from the blood work/NT test that they did at that same appointment.  I will get those results at my monthly OB appointment next week.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: I just had one evening this week where everything food related was an aversion.  But that didn't last long!  I'm still having to choke down salads though.  I try to make a small side salad with dinner each night, but I usually just give up after it's about halfway gone.  Yuck!  Sorry, baby.

Sleep: Love it!  Still really weird dreams, still waking up once a night, and still really hard to get out of bed. 

Exercise:  Really proud that I'm still sticking to 6 days a week.  Although I'm definitely having to take more frequent breaks than in the past. 

Movement:  WAYYYYY too early for me to feel this, and it seems like a so long away before I will be able to start feeling any movement.  I'm sure it will be here before I know it though.  

Boy or Girl: Too early to know, but we will definitely find out.

Highlights of the Week: I took the day off of work on Friday and went with my friend Lori to visit another friend, Kim, who lives about an hour and a half outside of Houston.  Kim and Lori are friends that I met in Australia, so it's fun to be back in (kind of) in the same place!  Kim has a new baby boy that we wanted to meet, and Lori has an adorable five month old.  It was fun to be around Kim's 2 boys, and Lori's little girl and to imagine adding my own little one to their mix.  Kim's older son and Lori's daughter are almost exactly a year apart.  And with my due date being mid-December, our little one will be born almost the same time, but another year later.  So we will have a two-year old, a one-year old, and a newborn around Christmas time!  It was a fun visit, and SO amazing to hold a newborn.  It still seemed unreal that I'll have one of my own soon enough.  Kim was also nice enough to loan me some of her maternity clothes, too.  It's so funny to see the waist band of those pants!  I have yet to try them on, because I'm not quite to that point yet, but I'm afraid it won't be long...

Actually FOUR babies in this photo! :-)

 

That's a wrap for week 12!  

{Hidden Baby Chronicles} 11 Weeks - A Lime

May 29, 2014

A good week! Only three weeks left in the first trimester, AND we had another ultrasound and got to see our little lime bouncing around like a jumping bean! 
 

Photo Thoughts: I'm finally willing to show my bloat a little bit.  I'm still pretty sure that's about 90% bloat/10% the roundness of my tummy I've always had.  But whatever, there it is.  Also, this lime was a little bigger than the given 1.6 inches for this week, but who has ever seen a lime that small anyway?

How I'm Feeling:  Still really good and mostly normal.  I definitely felt a huge amount of relief when we saw the baby alive and kicking (even bouncing) at the ultrasounds this week.  More on that later. 

Baby/Bump: This week our jumping bean is the size of a lime!  I just looked back at my first post, and was shocked to see that what is now a lime started out the size of a poppy seed!  A lime was still seeming pretty small to me before, but now I realize just how much growth has already happened.  The baby is 1.6 inches and weighs 0.25 oz.  Our lime is doing lots of moving in there now- which we got to see at the ultrasound- so wild!  Also, tooth buds, hair follicles, and nail beds are forming already. 

Symptoms:  Still very few symptoms, but I am finally feeling much less paranoid about that since the ultrasound.  I know how lucky I am to be feeling this good.  The few minor symptoms that I'm still having are: belly bloat, and waking up once per night to pee still.  It seems like my general food indifference in the evenings has returned somewhat.  I sit down to dinner and am just not all that interested in eating.  I've also been feeling a few minor cramps throughout the week/round ligament pain- whatever they call it.  Oh, and even though I'm drinking a TON of water throughout the day, when I wake up first thing in the morning, I am always extremely thirsty!

Weight: +3.5 which is down 0.5 from last week.  Yay?...

What I'm Anticipating: David and I finally decided that we would tell his family our big news on Father's day weekend, so I'm already getting excited/anxious/nervous about that.  This also means that around that same time, I will tell the rest of my immediate family.  After that is all done, then we will move onto telling extended family and close friends.  We will deal with social media at some point after that. 

What I'm Stressing About/Worries:  Just like I was nervous about telling my parents our news (for no reason really), I am also now nervous about the next round of "reveals."  Don't get me wrong, I'm excited, too!  But for some reason, it really gives me some anxiety. I know it will be fine though, and really fun and exciting even!

I'm also a little bit nervous about going back for my follow-up appointment with my OB (my ultrasound was just with a tech).  At this appointment, I will get the results of the nuchal translucency screening and my blood work.  I'm trying not to think about it too much just yet though. 

Diet/Cravings/Aversions:  I brought salads for lunch at work each day this past week, and I literally was choking them down.  It wasn't making me nauseous or anything, but each day they just seemed totally unappealing to me.  I made it happen though! 

Sleep: Best thing ever.  Still really weird dreams, still waking up once a night, and still really hard to get out of bed. 

Exercise:  Really proud that I'm still sticking to 6 days a week.  Although I'm definitely having to take more frequent breaks than in the past. 

Movement:  WAYYYYY too early for me to feel this, BUT it was so so cool to SEE so much movement at the ultrasound! 

Boy or Girl: Too early to know, of course.  BUT, this is kind of interesting.  For as long as I can remember (even when I was growing up), whenever I thought about having kids in the future, I automatically thought girls.  Not that I don't want a boy- I'd love to have BOTH!  But that's just what my mind automatically envisioned- girls.  I think some of that may have to do with having tons of girl cousins and all the babysitting I did in middle school and high school for a family with three girls, and I loved those sweet girls.  BUT during our ultrasound, within just a minute or two of seeing the baby on the big screen, I had this inexplicable instinct of, "that's a boy."  It was so strange, but it was definitely an overwhelming "boy" feeling.  Mother's instinct?  Maybe, maybe not.  We will see eventually!

Highlights of the Week: FIRST TRIMESTER ULTRASOUND!  Best day ever!  Our appointment was on Thursday morning.  They called us back right away, we met the ultrasound technician who was very nice, and she got us situated in the coldest room ever.  We were both freezing the entire time!  Luckily, we were distracted from the cold for the most part.  They had a pretty sweet setup, with a big screen TV mounted on the wall so we could see what was on the tech's screen on the the TV screen. 

I didn't actually get nervous until she put the little wand on my stomach and turned the machine on.  Then the butterflies immediately kicked in.  I had been so nervous about my lack of symptoms that I had pretty much convinced myself that we would see nothing or that she would immediately have bad news to deliver.  And actually, it did take her (what seemed like) a long time to find anything, and when she did find the baby, it was just absolutely still at first.  My heart sank.  And David later told me that he thought the same thing at first.  But it wasn't long before the baby was seriously bouncing all over the place!  HUGE relief at that point!  I really was not expecting to see so much movement.  It was so fun to see though!  He/she was bouncing around all over the place, kicking his/her feet, rolling around, and even waving his/her little hands at us.  The tech has some trouble getting the baby to stay in the right position to get the measurements that she needed, so she had me roll onto my side a couple of times.  I could have watched all day!  We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time too- which was incredible!  His/her heart was beating away at 182 bmp- that was so surreal to hear!  It sounded like a helicopter or horses running.  I wish we would have thought to get a video of that so we could replay the sound. 

After the tech got what she needed, she gave us a printed photo, and we even got a disk with multiple photos from the ultrasound and even a few video clips.  Then a nurse came and took my blood, and that was it. 

I still can't believe that I have a bouncing, squirming, kicking, lime-sized human being in my belly!  Pregnancy is seriously wild... and surreal.  But so amazing! 

{Hidden Baby Chronicles} - 10 Weeks - A Prune/Kumquat

May 22, 2014

Wahoo! Double digits!  Things are moving right along.  I'm still really willing these first trimester weeks to pass quickly... I just really want to get to the second trimester and feel a little more comfortable with things most likely being OK. 

Photo Thoughts: Yet another flowy "disguise the bloat" shirt.  BUT, you can tell by where my hand is that my tummy is definitely growing.  Also, the "fruit of the week" is finally starting to get big enough to actually kind of see in the photos!  And as my face may reveal in the last photo, I have mixed feelings about my new "belly belt."  Sigh...

How I'm Feeling: Still pretty darn normal.  And this continues to freak me out.  Actually even more so this week.

Baby/Bump: This week our baby is the size of a prune.  I'm apparently already taking up the parent habit of thinking my baby is way cuter than others do, because I just couldn't deal with using a prune comparison this week.  I had to consult an alternative website that used a kumquat for size comparison.  Much better/cuter!  Baby is 1.2 inches long.  Little kumquat now has working joints and its organs are now fully developed and starting to function.  Also, hair and fingernails are starting to appear.  Crazy, hairy little kumquat!

Symptoms: Broken record again.  Very few of the typical 1st trimester symptoms that you hear about.  I know I am very lucky to be feeling so great, but it really just throws me off.  In fact, the few symptoms that I was having actually seemed to lessen this week.  Which really threw me into a tizzy.  I'm not having the slight nausea/indifference to food in the evenings anymore, not getting dizzy as much, haven't had any cramping for quite a while now.  All I'm really left with is the lovely BLOAT.  It takes a lot of mental effort to convince myself that just because I'm not having many symptoms doesn't mean something is wrong. Easier said than done though. 

Weight: + 4.  ACK!  Slow down weight gain!!  I've actually been doing really well with watching what I eat (or so I thought). 

What I'm Anticipating: I'm so anxious for my next OB appointment.  One week from today!  I am really hoping that I can calm the eff down after that. 

What I'm Stressing About/Worries: This week I got extra worried about my lack of symptoms and the fact that the ones I did have seemed to actually be lessening.  This pregnancy this can be a total mind game, people!  My mom got to listen to me go on and on about it for quite a while a couple days ago.  It felt good to just vent.  I also talked to David about it, and he actually made me feel a lot better.  Sometimes he's not the best at comforting me when I'm being emotional or unreasonable... he's just so typical engineer in his thought processes that I think it's hard for him to reason with me when I get like that.  But in this case, he pulled though and gave me some really good advice/encouragement, and I felt so much better afterwards.  He basically told me, "focus on the facts.  The facts that you have now are: 4 positive pregnancy tests, a beautiful ultrasound, and we even saw the heart beating away.  Those are the facts, and they all seem to mean that you have nothing to worry about."  His advice was so engineer/logical minded- I love it.  And he's absolutely right.  So I'm trying to just focus on the facts that I do have and not get caught up in all my hypothetical situations and worries. 

What I'm Missing:  This weekend was the first time I missed having a glass (or 3) of wine on Saturday evening while we relax on the couch and watch TV.  So I poured some fancy, bubbly fruit juice drink into a wine glass and tried to enjoy that.  It actually wasn't too bad, and did the trick... kind of. 

Sleep: Sleep is good.  So good.

Exercise:  Still sticking strong to my 5-6 days a week workout schedule.  Which makes me even more frustrated at the fact that I've gained 4 pounds already.  Oh well...

Movement: WAY too early for this.  Although supposedly, the baby has begun wiggling his/her arms and legs already.  Crazy!  And its little hands now meet over its heart- awwwww!

Boy or Girl: Also WAY too early for this.  But yes, we will find out when that time comes.

Milestones: For baby: vital organs are formed and starting to function!  For me: I had my first visit to a maternity store.  I had been doing some research on belly bands and belly belts, and I wanted to see some in person before I made my decision.  It was so odd to walk in there... especially without a bump to "prove" that I belong in there.  But the sales lady who helped me was so nice and answered a ton of questions for me.  I ended up with a belly belt, which should hopefully help me make my pants/shorts last me some more weeks before needing to buy any full on maternity pants.  It's basically like a bra extender that just lets you have more space around the waist band of your pants.  And actually, I tried it when I got home, and at this point it gives me too much room.  So I might just need to wear my pants unbuttoned for a bit longer before I'm ready for the belt thing. 

Week 21 - A Carrot

August 7, 2014

While I continue to post my "Hidden Baby Chronicles," from here on out I also need to post my weekly updates on time.  Ok, so this one is a week late, but I gotta get back on track somehow.  So excuse the confusion of old and new for just a little while longer here...



Photo Thoughts: Looking rather tired here.  Also, hopefully soon my baby bump will pop out more than my butt does.  Haha :-) 

How I'm Feeling: Same old thing here- still feel really good, still thankful to feel so good.  I'm also still riding the high of finding out that Baby H is a BOY (full recap of that fun day coming soon)!  Things definitely feel a lot less abstract now that I can start to try and envision a baby boy. 

Baby/Bump: Supposedly baby is the size of a pomegranate this week.  But until someone can produce for me this mythical 10.5 inch pomegranate, I'm not buying it.  So despite the picture below, I went with a carrot (length-wise) for this week's produce comparison. 

As far as my bump goes, I think I finally "popped" this week!  FINALLY.  It's like Baby H just wanted to wait until everyone knew he was a HE before he started showing evidence of his existence.  Or something.  It's still nothing all that impressive, as I can still get by in looser clothing without it poking through.  But if I wear anything tight, you can definitely see the bump.  David pointed out this week that my belly actually seems to protrude more when I am laying down than when I am standing up.  Which seems a little strange to me, I guess he is defying gravity?... Or maybe he is more stretched out when I'm upright and likes to curl up when I lay down.  Who knows.  It's pretty wild though. 

The bump is especially prominent from the "above view."  Not that I was running that fast or anything, but the belly kept bumping into the little handle bar... sorry baby.

Bump from the side

 

Excuse the bare belly and messy room, but see how much more it protrudes when I'm horizontal?  Also, it is lopsided to the right. Scoot over please, baby boy.

Symptoms: Still with the acne, but I talked to the doc about it at my 20 week appointment, and he cleared me to use some topical medication, so hopefully that will help. 

Weight: I honestly forgot to weigh myself this week.  Oh darn...

What I'm Stressing About/Worries: Finding a place to live.  Our lease is up September 13, and we have officially turned in our move-out notice... without a place to move TO.  There is a lot on the rental market right now, but things are just moving so quickly.  We found a place we loved last week, and we thought we moved quickly in getting an application in, but somehow someone else got theirs in before ours, and we lost the house.  Back to the drawing boards... send some positive house-hunting vibes our way if you think of it. 

Sleep: Sleep is the best.  I really will be so sad if/when I start to have trouble sleeping.  I'm still getting by without a pregnancy pillow, and I'm still managing to somehow do a modified stomach sleep.  However, with my belly now on its way to large and in charge status, I'm not sure that will last much longer. 

Exercise: Still trying to squeeze in 4-5 workouts a week.  And my Wednesday Zumba class is something I look forward to all week.  I can't help but wonder how much longer before I will look absolutely ridiculous doing some of those moves with a huge belly... not that I didn't always look ridiculous doing any of the moves ;-) 

Movement: Still a few suspicious "gas bubble" sensations.  I'm skeptical that I'm actually feeling movement though.  Plus, my doctor confirmed that I do still have an anterior placenta, and he said that it probably won't be moving at this point.  So that probably means that it will be a bit longer than most people before I feel movement since there is essentially an extra layer of padding between the baby and my belly. 

Boy or Girl: A sweet baby BOY!!!  I still can't believe it!

Milestones: I'm now in the second half of this pregnancy.  We found out that Baby H is a BOY.  Aside from finding out the sex at the ultrasound, my doctor confirmed at my 20 week follow-up appointment that everything in the ultrasound was normal and developing just fine!  Oh, and I wore my first pair of maternity jeans.  That's a milestone, I think. 

Highlights of the Week: Of course the biggest highlight of the week was our ultrasound appointment.  There's nothing like seeing your baby moving around and looking healthy in there.  It was such a relief just in that first couple minutes when the ultrasound tech searched for the baby and found him pretty much immediately.  And it was such an amazing surprise to find out that we are having a sweet baby BOY.  I'm going to have a SON!  Crazy...

{Hidden Baby Chronicles} 9 Weeks - An Olive/Grape

May 15, 2014

Apparently I have just entered the beginning of my 3rd month of pregnancy?  What?!  That seems impossible- I don't think that's right. This week I celebrated my first Mother's Day as an "almost mom."  That is also wild.  David was sweet enough to get me a Mother's Day card, but it's hard to consider myself a mother at this point.  Next year, when I hopefully have a near five month old, then yes, I will fully ring in my first Mother's Day with all the bells and whistles.

Left: major bloat hiding under that maxi dress - Center: Grape! - Right: Funny "Mom Jeans" Mother's Day card

Photo Thoughts: Again with the flowy tops/dresses.  The pregnancy bloat thing is real.  And I'm just not really willing to showcase my pregnancy gut.  When I get something that actually resembles a real deal baby bump instead of a beer gut, I will for sure show it off. 

How I'm Feeling:  Still really good.  Still really freaks me out...

Baby/Bump: This week our baby is the size of a green olive.  Olives happen to be one of my least favorite foods, so I opted to consult an alternative website that instead compared my baby's size to a grape.  This was much more acceptable to me.  Supposedly now this little grape is no longer an embryo, but now a fetus.  Basically that means that all of the major body systems are established and from here on out it's just growing and fine-tuning things.  Isn't that crazy that something the size of a grape could have all of its basic human functions/structures already?!  Pretty wild...

Symptoms: As I mentioned above, very few... at least, very few of the unpleasant ones.  I've noticed that in the evenings (around dinner time and after), I have some very vague feelings of nausea.  Nothing serious, but I tend to sit down to dinner and whatever is in front of me just doesn't seem very appealing.  I get most of it down without any problem, but I'm basically just not too interested in eating by that time of day.  Still having some freaky weird dreams.  And still having to get up once a night to pee. Oh, and bloat.  Lots of bloat.  My clothes are definitely getting uncomfortable, and I get that "Thanksgiving day, need to unbutton my pants feeling" quite often.  
 
Weight: +2.5 El Beez

What I'm Anticipating: Already getting very anxious and impatient for my next OB appointment at 11 weeks.  With my lack of typical pregnancy symptoms, it's hard to feel like I'm actually pregnant.  So I'm looking forward to some reassurance when we get to see our little grape on the ultrasound again!

What I'm Stressing About/Worries: Broken record here... just worrying about the possibility of miscarrying.  I can really get way too into my head about it, and I'm quickly able to convince myself that my lack of symptoms absolutely must mean something is wrong.  It's a total head game.  Oh, and as much as I tell myself to stay away from the pregnancy forums, I get sucked in and just can't stop reading the horror stories sometimes.  I need to stop that!

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: None really.  And I seem to be doing better in the evenings as far as things not being appealing to me at dinner time. 

Sleep: Great- no problems there, and I hope it stays that way.  Still getting up once per night to use the bathroom, still having crazy dreams.  Oh, and I don't think I've mentioned before how much of a struggle it has become to pull myself out of bed in the mornings.  I've never been a morning person, but I've never had this much trouble actually getting out of bed.  It's a real struggle now!

Exercise: Still sticking strong to my 5-6 days a week workout schedule.  Haven't had any problems with this yet, but I have noticed that my endurance for running has really decreased already.  I can't believe it was only a little over a month ago that I ran a ten mile race.  That sounds impossible to me now!

Movement: WAY too early for this.  Although supposedly, the baby has begun wiggling his/her arms and legs already.  Crazy!

Boy or Girl: Also WAY too early for this.  But yes, we will find out when that time comes.

Milestones: First mother's Day... kind of.  Graduated to month three of pregnancy (?).

Highlights of the Week: The highlight of this week was most definitely telling my parents that they are going to be grandparents!  Here's how it went down:

On Saturday, I told my good friend Sarah that I was pregnant.  That in itself was a fun highlight of the week!  My idea was to have her be in on the reveal since my parents live in Phoenix, and I couldn't be there in person to give them the news myself.  So I had already sent Sarah a package that included my mom's "Mother's Day present" and Sarah was going to stop by on Sunday and deliver it to her.  I had some excuse about how I didn't have time to send it to them on time, so I asked Sarah to pick something up for me and run it by the house... so they were expecting her that day.  The gift included: a onesie with "I Love My Grandparents" on it, and a grandmother's journal with cute prompts for a grandmother to share stories of her life with a grandchild.  I got a grandfather's one for my dad, too.  THIS is what I got, if you're curious.  There was also a card that the lovely Emily from Live A Charmed Life designed for me.  I put a copy of the ultrasound photo in the card, too. 

I was for some reason so incredibly nervous about telling them.  I think a lot of it was excitement, but there were definitely some nerves too- not sure why, but that feeling definitely didn't last long.  Sarah texted me when she pulled up to my parents house, and it just killed me that I couldn't be there, but I was waiting in anticipation for the call that I knew would come soon now... and the video that I begged Sarah to take. 

It went SO well, and my parents- especially my mom- were SO surprised.  I really don't think they had any idea whatsoever.  Sarah did such a great job, and I honestly can't imagine anything better- aside from me being there of course.  She got the best video of the whole thing, and I LOVE seeing my mom's reaction.  It's so sweet to see her shock and excitement!  See for yourself:

And here's a fun selfie that Sarah took with my parents after the big reveal:

It was so fun to talk to them afterwards.  Lots of excitement and questions and squealing!  I had to give a quick little lecture to them about how they were not to tell anyone else until we gave them the go ahead. 

Silly me forgot to take a photo BEFORE I wrapped the gifts... pregnancy brain... But below is a fuzzy post-opening picture my mom sent me

 

 

Future Grandma!

That reveal made things feel very real!  We're still not ready to tell anyone else yet, but this definitely made me excited for when that time comes!