Wednesday, August 29, 2012

18 Weeks




Total Weight Loss/Gain: I'm up 3 pounds.

Size of Baby: The baby is about the size of a sweet potato!

Maternity Clothes: They are much more fun to wear to work than regular work clothes.

Sleep: I sleep like the dead right now. My body is exhausted!

Movement: Nothing yet - I can't wait to feel something!

Cravings/Aversions: My love of candy is back! And it's almost Halloween = perfect!

What I Miss: Being able to carry heavy stuff myself.

Gender: I'm so looking forward to September 14th! It's what's getting me through these first few crazy weeks of school. I'm totally unsure what it is - I guess my gut tells me girl but then I doubt myself and think boy. Had to go to the doctor last week for a little issue (nothing wrong!) and the heart rate was in the 140s, which is right in the middle. I think it jumped back up into the 150s though once she found it.

Mood: Pretty good! Stressed but good.

Milestones: We got our baby furniture! I have love/hate feelings toward Babies R Us, but they put the furniture we had been eyeing on amazing sale and we jumped on it. We got our crib FOR FREE! It's awesome! I also finally sold my little coupe today! It was a little sad to say goodbye to that car! It was sporty and young - I bought it because of that, knowing it would probably be my last chance to have a car like that. So now the search for something kid-friendly can really get going!  I'm excited to have something bigger and more roomy! And by the way, I think it's safe to say the nausea is gone. I haven't thrown up in over 3 weeks and it is amazing! Pepcid AC is helping my heartburn a lot too - better living through chemistry.

Medical Concerns: None, thankfully!

Anything Else You'd Like to Share: My feet are killing me! I can hardly walk on the hard kitchen floor when I got home at night. It's always like this the first couple weeks of school, but this may be a little worse. I have the full pregnancy waddle going on already - all because of my feet hurting! And apparently this point in the pregnancy brings a lot of back pain, which I'm definitely having. My spine kills me at the end of the day. Can you say whiny much? It was neat telling my students about being pregnant! 8th graders are so funny - some of them are excited and some of them just stare in horror. Pregnancy is very gross to most of them I think. I figure their parents owe me some sort of fee - having a teacher be pregnant and possibly go into labor in front of them will essentially be like free birth control for the next 10 years at least!

What I Look Forward to: A three-day weekend! And hopefully having one day where I stay in pajamas all day!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

17 Weeks



Total Weight Loss/Gain: According to my scale at home, I've gained about 2.5 lbs total.

Size of Baby: According to the Bump, our baby is about the size of an onion.

Maternity Clothes: Love them! I got to wear a cute new maternity dress to two events on Saturday. It was comfortable and I felt good wearing it - score!

Sleep: I sleep pretty well but am still having lots of heartburn, especially at night. I woke up very late Saturday night and literally felt like I could throw up - not because of nausea, but because of pure acid in my throat. I had accepted that heartburn was just part of pregnancy, but my Dad gave me a little speech the other day and urged me to call my doctor. So I did and now I'm trying out some meds that are pregnancy safe. It's important for mommy to still have an esophagus when baby arrives, so I'm glad to be trying some new things. 

Movement: Nothing yet. 

Cravings/Aversions: No one thing in particular. When I'm hungry for something, I'm all about it though! 

What I Miss: I normally eat sushi once a year or less. In the last week, due to various social situations, I've eaten at sushi restaurants twice! Trying to figure out what to eat has been interesting.

Gender: Counting down the days until September 14th! A bunch of Facebook friends think it's a boy. Several people I saw this weekend think it's a girl based on how I'm carrying. We shall see!

Mood: Okay. I feel like I've been handling back to school stress pretty well, but I've had my moments this week.

Milestones: Hmmmm. Can't think of anything specific right now! 

Medical Concerns: None, thankfully! 

Anything Else You'd Like to Share: At the end of my work days I usually feel some pain/stretching in my abdomen. I'm trying not to push myself too hard but there is a lot to do right now! Baby is the priority of course! I've had professional development this week. In the past 3 days, I've sat through 11 different breakout sessions. Sitting for that long is painful right now. My bum, my back, and my ribs are killing me! Maybe that will make me appreciate that my job doesn't require sitting all day. Also, I feel like my bump has doubled in the last week! I read that the baby doubles in size very quickly at this point in the pregnancy.

What I Look Forward to: We booked a little babymoon/my 30th birthday getaway to Fredericksburg in November. I'm so excited!!! By then it will be our first real time away in a year and a half and I cannot wait!!!!


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

16 Weeks

I'm going to start doing these weekly pregnancy updates that I've seen on other people's blogs. It's a fun way to track the info! I hope to be able to keep up with it after I go back to work on Friday.
Total Weight Loss/Gain: Since my first weigh-in at the doctor's office at about 6-7 weeks, I've gained 3 pounds. I'm not sure what my exact weight was before I was pregnant but it was pretty close to my first weigh-in, so I'm counting from that.

Size of Baby: According to Babycenter, our baby is about the size of an avocado!

Maternity Clothes: Yes! Love them! Some of them are a little big sometimes, but I feel so much more comfortable in them than regular clothes. My sweet mother-in-law bought me some new clothes that will help me transition back to work!

Sleep: I sleep pretty well, but have extreme heartburn every night before bed. I feel like a fire-breathing dragon! Milk and Tums, Milk and Tums...

Movement: I'm not sure?! I've been feeling lots of weird pains/feelings in my abdomen for the last few days and I'm wondering if some of them are movement. As a first timer, I'm still not sure!

Cravings/Aversions: No one thing in particular. When I'm hungry for something, it sounds really good though! 

What I Miss: Lately when I see people drinking a glass of wine, I think about how that would taste and kinda miss it. I'm not a huge drinker though, so I think this is more a byproduct of alcohol being off limits right now. I did have a strange dream the other night that I was at a social function and had a cocktail and didn't realize what I'd done until after I drank it and then I was totally consumed with guilt. Never too early for mother's guilt is it?

Gender: We find out in 1 more month! Can't wait! I keep going back and forth, but right now I feel like it's a girl. A few weeks ago, it was a boy. Cam is still solidly thinking it's a girl. We had Chinese food recently and the Chinese word on the back of my fortune was "daughter". Could be a sign! We will be thrilled either way - there are so many fun things about either gender.

Mood: Pretty good. Trying to stay breezy and not stress before I go back to work. I'm making a pretty concerted effort this go round not to stress so much when getting ready for the school year. I will admit to having a completely irrational crying session yesterday due to feeling guilty for yelling at the dog. Bad puppy mommy!

Milestones: 16 weeks today! I can't believe we are nearing the halfway point. That's just crazy! I also haven't thrown up in over a week. That could change at any moment, but maybe it could be the beginning of a milestone? 

Medical Concerns: None, thankfully! Went to the doctor yesterday and everything looks great! It took her about five minutes to find the heartbeat on the doppler. Two weeks ago, she found it much more quickly. I was silently freaking out, but she finally found it and everything sounded good. She says it can be pretty tough to find it at this stage of the pregnancy. The heartrate went from the 120s to the 140s and then up to 150s (where it was two weeks ago). She said the rate can move up and down wildly like that when baby's moving around a lot. Crazy to think about a little baby having a party inside me - ha!

Anything Else You'd Like to Share: I've been having some pretty sharp shooting pains. It freaked Cam out when it first happened because we were laying in bed and all of a sudden, I was jerking around in pain. I don't know how to describe it, but it feels how I would imagine it would feel if a full term baby was extending its arm out in one direction. I've looked it up online and there's a common nickname for this pain, but I'm going to be a lady and not repeat it on the blog. Google if you wish. I've also felt a lot of stretching in my stomach. My doctor said all of this could be movement or just my uterus stretching.

What I Look Forward To: Finding out the gender! Getting adjusted into a comfortable working routine. 

Saturday, August 11, 2012

My, how some things change...

I'm only a little over one-third of the way through my pregnancy, but I already feel very different than I did before. And not just in the standard "I don't feel very good physically" way.  In the spirit of keeping a record of everything, I'm going to jot down some of these changes here. These may be pretty boring to anyone else, but this blog is a little life journal for me!

  • Candy - I no longer have the same feelings about candy. Anyone who knows me will be shocked! Maybe this is a temporary pregnancy thing? Maybe I'm finally growing up and out of my child-like obsession with candy? I don't know, but I used to consume a lot of candy and now I can eat a few pieces and feel totally over it. 
  • Mess - I'm becoming a messy person. I'm used to being an organized neat freak. But now I'm more apt to let things sit. Laundry goes unwashed, papers stack up on the counter, and there are usually three different cups on my bedside table at any given time. I still care and it still bothers me, but not enough to do much about it. It's weird. Last week my water bottle cap wasn't on completely and some water spilled in my purse. Now, old me would have freaked out, removed everything and made sure it dried out completely. But I hardly did anything. It's just water, it will dry.
  • Weight - I am not obsessed with my weight right now. This is huge for me. I have spent/wasted so much time over the last few years worrying about my weight, comparing myself to everyone around me, etc. I can attribute this shift to several things. Right now, my body isn't about me - it's about my baby. I know how much weight is healthy for me to gain and I plan to stick to it. But after two and a half years of near non-existence, my metabolism finally works again. It's nice and comforting to feel that. And I just don't eat as much now that I'm pregnant. And throwing up for months will you feel very silly for worrying about your double chin and cellulite. Maybe my old insecurities will return, maybe they won't. But for now, I'll take it!
  • Opinionated - I feel very strongly about certain things. I've always been opinionated, but also pretty selective in who I share them with. But right now when I feel something, I feel it very strongly. Like when I went off on the Rooms to Go customer service representative because they made us wait three weeks to have someone come inspect a pillow with a seam that ripped (completely on its own) rather than just send us a new one. Call me crazy, but when someone spends a small fortune on furniture with one store, a free replacement is in order. Or the people who brought a three month old baby into a midnight showing of Batman. Don't even get me started on them! Basically, my sense of right and wrong is heightened.
  • Mommy - Even though I haven't had my little one yet, I already feel a connection to other mothers and at times, a slight disconnect from people who don't have kids. I don't mean this to sound bad, but it just is what it is (I hate that saying!). Recently I heard some people talking about how someone we all know had changed since she had her baby. It was put in critical terms - saying she didn't take her job as seriously now. And this person isn't even officially back to work yet. I kept my mouth shut but it made my blood boil. Having a child is a life-changing experience. No one is ever the same afterwards. I hear people talk about the love they have for their children and how it is unlike anything they've experienced ever. I already feel that love, but I know it will be on a whole other level when I actually meet my baby. I am so excited about it! And so that discussion made me think some things. Of course, this woman shouldn't take her job as seriously now. Babies have a way of putting everything in perspective, including the over-obsession and worry most of us have with our jobs. 
  • Handwriting - My handwriting has changed! Isn't that weird? It's similar to before, but much less pretty. It's sharper somehow and I just can't make certain movements flow with my fingers. I don't know what that's about at all. 
  • One more thing! This isn't really a change, but I must make note of it. I already had acid reflux before I was pregnant. It's a genetic curse in my Dad's family. One time in college my sister lost her voice and her speech became slurred. The diagnosis was acid reflux. So yeah, we've got it really bad. My acid reflux during pregnancy is off the charts. I really, really miss Prilosec. It is a miracle drug and I will never take it for granted post-pregnancy again.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Girl Scouts

When I was little, I was a Girl Scout. Well, first I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout. I have lots of memories of our meetings, selling cookies, and trips we took. But the memories that stand out the most to me are the ones of my Girl Scout troop leader Wendy. Wendy was my friend Kelly's mom. Wendy was not your typical Girl Scout troop leader, in any sense of the word. Wendy drove a black Mercedes and smoked cigarettes, back when it was still socially acceptable to do so. Dare I say she even made smoking look cool?  Wendy worked full time. She wasn't particularly crafty, although we still did crafts. She had long red nails and wore red lipstick. I'm sure we spent time talking about normal Girl Scout things like nature and ponies, but I remember one of our meetings turning into a full scale debate because one of the girls showed up wearing lipstick. I think we were in late elementary school at the time? Anyway, Wendy brought it up and we debated whether or not it was appropriate for a girl that age to wear colorful makeup. I admired Wendy in many ways. She was different - an archetype of the independent women of the late 80s/early 90s. The strangest thing about Wendy is that one day...she essentially disappeared. Left town with her family and we never heard from her again. Her husband was a cop; in fact, all our Girl Scout meetings were held in conference rooms in the Round Rock police station. We found out eventually that Wendy's husband had gotten a new assignment that required them to move across the county and cut ties with everything. Maybe the FBI? I'm not sure, but one thing I know is that very few Girl Scouts had a leader quite like Wendy.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Odds & Ends

From here on out, if anyone asks how I'm feeling, I'm just going to say, "Okay". If I'm having a stretch of feeling good and I say so, it's like a cue for my body to say, "Oh really? You think so?" and I will be throwing up again in a few hours. It's like I jinx myself. Sunday I woke up feeling better than I have in months. I felt like myself and had energy to do things again. We had a great day and then I continued to feel really good Monday. I thought I'd finally gotten over the first trimester stuff. And then it was 2:30 am Tuesday morning and I was puking again. And then again Tuesday right after lunch at my parent's house. This is new, as up to this point, I've somehow always been able to contain actually getting sick to my own house. Then I literally laid on their couch until 8 pm. I couldn't get up, couldn't do anything. We can now add cherry snow cones and broccoli cheddar soup to the long list of foods I will never be able to feel the same way about. Gross, I know. But it's my reality. For the entire summer. And I'm over it. It's all worth it, of course, but I'm just worn out. I pray that it's over for good by the time I go back to work on August 17th. If I have to throw up in a middle school bathroom, they may have to take me straight to the loony bin. I'll stop whining now!


On a happier note, I bought the bedding I blogged about last week. It is absolutely adorable and I'm so in love with it! And it was a great deal. So if we have a little boy, we are set! 


Are you watching the Olympics? It's so fun! I'm so happy for the U.S. gymnastics team and Michael Phelps. I don't really care for Ryan Lochte. He seems arrogant and he wears a grill. Seriously, a grill? 


There's a Martha Stewart Show rerun on right now that's from the week of Halloween. It makes me so excited for Fall! I can't wait for pumpkins, cooler weather, and boots. I'm also really excited for football season, but sad because it means my Campbell will be gone every other Saturday for the entire day at Aggie football games. He loves it and that makes me happy, but I miss him! I'm super attached to him right now. When he's around, I feel better. Always. Love that baby daddy of mine so much (I know you read this Cam! <3).