The new normal

I've made many comments on this blog about how the movements of the baby feel strange. All of the little pokes and kicks definitely have taken awhile to get used to, but it's happened. Now, it's become just a normal thing to me to feel strange little movements in my belly.

A lot of women talk about how the LOVE the baby movements. They use words like "magical" and "amazing." I'm still not there yet. If I think about it, the movements could still best be described as "weird." It's just that, now, I don't think about them very much.

The movements have changed some, too. I still get flutters and kicks, but I'm also getting rolling and pressure. It's almost as if the baby wants to stick his head out through my belly button. He's still sitting pretty low (perhaps because of my low-lying placenta), so I rarely get many movements above my belly button. I'm grateful for that, though. I have a short torso, so I suspect I'll be getting plenty of kicks in the ribs later on. I'm glad that this kid is delaying the inevitable a bit.

I'm back!!! (With a picture)

Sorry it's been awhile since my last blog post. Work has been insane, and things with the holidays have been crazy. I didn't even take a picture at my halfway point of the pregnancy! I hit 20 weeks a week ago. I did take the picture below this morning, though. I'm at 21 weeks and 2 days.



I'm really starting to show a lot now, obviously. I've gained 15 pounds - crazy! I feel like it's all baby, though. My face isn't fat, and I haven't really gained anything in my arms yet. I may still gain weight there soon, but it hasn't happened yet.

I'm still feeling good. My back hurts occasionally, mostly in the morning. My legs also get sore if I walk too much. I never understood why pregnant women always want to get their feet rubbed, but now I get it. My weight is higher than it's ever been in my life, and it makes my legs tired to carry around the extra weight. I went Christmas shopping this weekend, and my feet definitely hurt by the end of the day. I'm still wearing high heels at work, though, and I'm hoping to wear them as long as I can.

Feeling the baby, for real this time

I've commented that I thought I've been feeling the baby for a couple of weeks now. Recently, I've had a new milestone - feeling kicks from the outside.

As I said before, my milestones here are still pretty early. A lot of people (most people, in fact) don't feel external kicks until 20 weeks more more. On two separate occasions, though, I've noticed that the baby was particularly active. When I put my hand on my belly and kept it there for a bit, I got a little poke. Definitely a kick.

Getting kicks is kind of weird. I hear a lot about how "magical" it is, but I'm not sure about that. It's really weird to think that there's another THING living in there. While it's obviously something that we wanted and planned for, it's still a little strange now that it's actually happening. I'm still in denial that I'm pregnant sometimes, but getting poked and prodded by the baby definitely brings it back to the front of my mind.

It all feels pretty surreal still. Maybe it will sink in more after our ultrasound next week, but I doubt it. I have a feeling it will get more real once the baby starts kicking my ribs and / or bladder, but I think it won't really sink in at all until the baby is actually here. Heck, it might not even sink in then. In some ways, it's still weird to me that I'm old enough to have a full time job and a husband - I still feel 8 years old sometimes. Knowing that I'm old enough to be a mommy is really just outside of my comprehension sometimes.

14 week belly shot

I've decided all future belly shots will be covered - no more bare bellies. The last one just didn't turn out well.

This shot makes me think a couple of things:
1) I still don't really look any different
2) My husband needs to improve his photography skills. What's he doing taking pictures of all the cat toys all over the floor? Oh well.

My clothes are still fitting fine, although they're starting to get a bit tight. And, my energy level is much better than it was. I didn't realize how tired I was a few weeks ago until I started to feel normal again in the last few days. It's kind of like how having a hangover can make you appreciate feeling normal.

Feeling better every day

I know I haven't been a good blogger lately, but I've been swamped at work. Things have finally started to calm down, though, and I think I should have some more time for this blog now.

The big news now is that I'm generally starting to feel better. It's crazy to think that I'm nearly at the end of my first trimester. My energy level is improving, and my nausea continues to get better. I took last week off from the gym, but I was able to go again yesterday for the first time in about 10 days. I'm trying not to beat myself up over taking a week off. After all, I'm pregnant! I just don't want to use the pregnancy as an excuse to totally let myself go, physically. Last week, I felt pretty crappy in the evenings, though, so I took those days to just rest (rather than pushing it at the gym). I still walked every day - just no weight lifting. As I feel better, though, I'm looking forward to getting into more of a routine.

My weight gain has been pretty minimal so far, which is good. I gained a couple of pounds almost right away, and, as of this morning, I'm up about 4 pounds in total. That's actually a little on the high end for first trimester gains (you're supposed to gain 2-4 pounds), but I'm trying not to overthink it. I was pretty thin to begin with, so I'd expect to gain a fair amount of weight.

Overall, things are going great! We're going to start telling our friends tomorrow abou the pregnancy, and then I'll tell work in about a week and a half. We have our next appointment on the 26th. It will be the first with the midwives, and I'm pretty excited to meet them.

Telling the parents

Sorry I've been a bit MIA lately. I've been absolutely swamped with work. Good swamped, mostly, but I wish the timing would have been a little different. I still generally feel okay, but I'm still occasionally nauseated and often tired by the end of the day. I've been staying late at work lately to try to work on some big projects, which is quite a bit harder while pregnant. I'm nearly done with the 1st trimester, though, so I hope things will be getting easier soon.

In baby-related news, this past weekend, we told my parents about the baby. The weekend before, I told my sister. It's starting to feel a bit more real now, although I still don't really think it has sunk in yet. Everyone's excited for it, and I think they're still in shock, too. This upcoming weekend, we're going to a wedding. I'll be 11 weeks at that point, and I'm thinking that might be a good time to start telling people. I don't want to detract from the wedding, but, if people ask why I'm not drinking, maybe we'll just tell them about the baby. We'll see, I guess.

Other than that, things are going well. My symptoms have actually been a little worse the last few days than they had for the previous couple of weeks, but I've generally still been really lucky. I've mostly felt fine. Not "good," but "fine." It really hasn't been that bad. I haven't really been a big fan of vegetables lately (they sound a bit repulsive), so I've been eating a lot of fruit to try to get vitamins that way.

We just bought a baby name book, too. We're pretty settled on our boy name, but we haven't really agreed on any girl names. I'm hoping the book will help, but I"m a little worried that it won't. It's not that we disagree about names - there just aren't that many girl names that we like. We have plenty of time to decide, though.

At some point, I'll probably go back over this blog and hide a few of the posts from before we were pregnant. I'd like to keep those posts for my own knowledge, but i also want to be able to share this blog with family and friends once we tell them about the baby. Stay tuned...

First appointment

We had our first appointment today. I know that I'm 8 weeks and 3 days pregnant, but, the OB thought I should be something like 11+ weeks pregnant. Luckily for me, that meant that the OB scheduled a dating ultrasound. Even luckier, we were able to get in to see the ultrasound tech today, too.

She found the baby right away (I still can't believe there's actually a baby in there), and she saw a heartbeat. I'd been a little worried about a miscarriage (as all pregnant women are), so I was very glad to see it. The heartbeat was 170 beats per minute. There's an old wives' tale that heartbeats over 140 beats per minute are indicative of girls, but we'll see if that's true. We'll get another ultrasound at about 20 weeks, and we'll find out the gender then - probably right before Christmas.

Everything else looks good. It was my husband's first time being at an OB / GYN-type appointment (obviously), and he was pretty horrified and uncomfortable by parts of the exam. He got over it, though, and he was so so so excited to see the baby on the ultrasound. He and I talked afterwards about the fact that we'd just started coming to terms with the fact that we're having a baby, and now it seems so unreal again.

I also found out today that the practice has midwives, which makes me really excited. I've wanted to deliver with a midwife for quite awhile, and this is exactly the type of delivery environment I want. The delivery will be at the best hospital in the area (the only area hospital with a NICU), and it will be done by a midwife as long as things progress normally. If things go awry, there is ALWAYS a doctor at the hospital to step in and assist as needed. We also got some information today about the hospital where I'll be delivering, and it sounds like exactly what I want. I'm very pleased.

Other than that, things are going well. I feel fine, mostly. Occasional mild nausea, but nothing really noteworthy. Some insomnia, some headaches, some moodiness - basically a little bit of a wide variety of symptoms. I know that I'm lucky to be feeling so good. While there's still time for things to turn south, I've been really lucky so far.

My next appointment is scheduled for the end of October. It's really starting to feel real now.

I'm afraid to jinx it

Since finding out I'm pregnant, I haven't really felt too bad at all. A little tired, and slightly nauseated. I know there's still time to feel bad (I know some people don't get morning sickness until they're 8 weeks pregnant), but I've been really lucky so far.

I've had some food issues recently. A lot of food just sounds completely disgusting, so I have to be very thoughtful about what I eat. I have definitely not been eating the healthiest food all the time, but I know I just need to eat whatever sounds good. If I don't do that, I won't eat. I also feel a bit gaggy - like I could just gag randomly. But, not too sick.

In the morning, I've been waking up and drinking a juice box right away. I've heard that little burst of sugar can help with morning sickness. Since I've been doing that, I've hardly felt sick at all. I sometimes get a little sick feeling if I get too hungry, but I was like that pre-pregnancy, too.

The biggest thing I've been craving has been apples. McIntosh apples, to be specific. I eat at least 2 per day. That's better than craving french fries, I guess.

Basically, I've been feeling good. Better than I thought I would. I know there's still time for it to go south, but I'll just concentrate on enjoying it for now.

Maybe I'll be one of the lucky ones.

Now I start getting symptoms

So far, I've been pretty lucky in the symptoms department. Granted, I'm only 6 weeks and 4 days pregnant (it still feels weird to consider myself "pregnant"), but some women get morning sickness earlier than where I am now. So far, my chest has been sore (that was a very early symptom), and my breathing has been labored. I occasionally get waves of nausea, but nothing major.

Tonight, though, the exhaustion hit really hard. It's not even 8:30, and I'm in bed. After dinner, I just needed to go to bed right that minute. Like, I couldn't even stand being in the kitchen anymore.

Luckily, my endlessly patient husband graciously offered to clean up the entire kitchen, including my dinner dishes. I can hear him down there right now straightening up. I think he really feels a purpose with helping me out. It's really sweet. He's actually been amazing in other ways, since I've been rather impatient and short-tempered for the last few weeks. He's been nothing but understanding.

I'm pretty lucky. So far, no terrible symptoms (although I expect them to get worse any day now). And, when I do get symptoms, my husband bends over backwards to help.

I can't wait to see him as a father.

Still feeling good, but for how long?

Tomorrow, I'll be 6 weeks pregnant. I still can't believe that. The 6 week mark is supposed to be the point where most women start feeling sick. Some start feeling sick earlier than that. I haven't had that, thank goodness, but I'm fully expecting to start feeling bad over the weekend (or maybe next week).

My big fear is that I'll feel really gross during some upcoming work trips that I have. I'm traveling on September 14-16, and then again on the 26-27. I'm going to be visiting customers, and I'm somewhat concerned that my sickness is going to impact my ability to have productive meetings.

Like everything else related to trying to get pregnant or pregnancy, I'm just going to have to wait to find out.

I forgot one

I forgot a symptom that I didn't mention before - I've been out of breath all the time. Gasping for air after I walk up the stairs. And my heart has been racing a bit - my pulse is faster. I guess both of those are normal symptoms, but it's interesting that those are the only ones I've really experienced so far.

Surreal

I'm still having a really hard time believing I'm pregnant. I'm not really that excited yet, because I know a lot can still go wrong. I have my first appointment next Wednesday. That still isn't going to change much, though, because I'll still only be 6 1/2 weeks pregnant at that point. My husband is bouncing off the walls, though. I've basically told him we can't talk about it too much because I don't want to get my hopes up yet. I'd like to wait until October to spill the beans.

I'm still not really having many symptoms. No morning sickness, although it could start any day now. I'm not even really that tired. My chest hurts (especially when the cats step on it looking for breakfast in the morning), but that's about it. I get a little bloated by the end of the day, too, but really nothing major to report.

Oh, and I'm starving all the time. I'm trying to eat as healthy as I can right now because I think it's possible that I'll be unable to eat healthy stuff later one.

Another prediction for upcoming symptoms: I bet I'll have nasty heartburn at some point. I had it a few days ago, and heartburn isn't really something that I suffer from regularly.

We'll see.