My Twenty-Fifth Week

I'm 26 weeks pregnant!  This is probably considered the last week of the second trimester.  Unbelievable!

Not a ton has changed since last week, except I feel like I've ballooned into full on preggo.  I'm sure you can see from my pictures that in the last couple weeks, I have really expanded!  I really do feel pretty big now, and am trying to imagine that the baby is going to grow to about three or four times the size it is now (it's approximately 2 lbs) and where it's going to go in my belly.  Crazy.  I was 8 pounds 11 oz when I was born, and my mom said she was about 8 1/2 lbs too, so this could definitely be a sizable baby if she takes after her family!  I'm up to about 16 lbs of weight gained.  That's still the low end of the scale according to my pregnancy books.

We (well, Greg mostly), hung the curtains, pictures, and mirror in the baby's room this week.  It looks really cute, I'm excited!  I promise to show you guys once it's a little more done.  I also did my first load of baby laundry, washing some sheets, clothes, and the liner from the bouncer chain in Dreft to prepare.  I know I'm ahead of schedule on some of this stuff, but my family is all coming to my house for an early Christmas on November 30th, so I'm trying to get a lot done before then because my niece will probably sleep in the nursery and I want them to see it looking at least close to complete :)

Heartburn is still happening sporadically.  I'm still just taking a Tums if I get it and it usually does the trick.   

My sleep is pretty broken these days.  I guess it basically has been ever since I got pregnant.  I flip back and forth from right to left side all night, and I'm usually up about twice to pee and drink water.  It's not a huge deal, but I can't remember the last time I slept 8 hours straight through.  I'm guessing it's going to be a long time before I experience that again!  I have made it without a pregnancy pillow so far, just holding one pillow kind of between my legs, but sometimes I wake up with some hip pain.  Not sure if I'm going to cave and get a pillow or not.  I've always been an early riser anyway, but I found myself waking up at about 6am both weekend days this week.  The good thing is when I get up that early, it's usually because my mind is racing on things I want to do, and I tend to be fairly productive.

Which brings me to my next topic- cleaning/nesting.  Greg worked on our kitchen grout with a Dremmel tool this week, making a lovely film of dust on everything.  He did it while I wasn't home and ventilated the area fairly well, using fans and an air purifier to help, and he covered everything he could with old sheets, but it still made a pretty big mess.  Once his project was finished, we did a deep clean of everything in the kitchen, removing everything from the counters and thoroughly cleaning each thing, the counters, and the floors.  We're trying to do that to the whole house in preparation for my family's visit and for the baby.

I can't stay off Zulily.  I think I've ordered about three things from it in the past couple weeks.  That site is dangerous!  I'm addicted to shopping for baby related stuff (except for that pair of boots I ordered).  Luckily I've pretty much stopped over analyzing my registries and I'm hoping I will mostly leave them alone except for a couple items I need Greg's help with.  I also ordered The Happiest Baby on The Block from Amazon after hearing how great it is.  I heard Baby Wise is great too, so I may pick that up.  Anyone have any other books they would suggest that I should read?

I would say the baby's movement and kicking has picked up a bit.  Greg (and me) felt her thump from the outside again a couple times this week, and I can usually feel her a bunch later at night and that's when the kicks seem to be the strongest.  I wonder if she'll be a night owl like her dad is.  I also even saw my belly move while she was moving/kicking.  Maybe she is active after all, but it's just not how I thought it would feel.

How far along? 26 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: Big boobs, big belly.
Best moment this week:  Probably feeling more movement.  I like it when she's active in there.
Miss Anything? I could use some wine and I'm sure I'm going to miss it even more when I see my parents drinking it this weekend for Thanksgiving.
Movement: Yes, seeing and feeling the thumps from the outside was cool.
Food cravings:  cheeseburgers, berries, ice cream (I usually want ice cream around 2-3pm and have to drag a co-worker out with me to get some at least once or twice a week).
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, pretty much no doubt what's going on there now.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In
Mood: Really happy.
Looking forward to: Thanksgiving, my family's upcoming visit.
What I am NOT looking forward to: The dreaded glucose test.
Weekly Wisdom: Stay calm, carry on.
Milestones: Stronger kicking that can be felt from the outside. Feeling obviously pregnant, with a more distinct round belly.  More nursery progress.  Received first registry gift in the mail from my friend Lisa :)

My Twenty-Fourth Week

Alrighty, we have arrived at 25 weeks of pregnancy!

The twenty-fourth week went pretty good.  I'm in really good spirits and feeling happy and excited about what's to come.  It's feeling more real every day.

I would say I had decreased heartburn this week, which was cool.  I even tested it with spaghetti with tomato AND red pepper flakes in it the other night and didn't have any re flux.  I was surprised.  I guess that just proves my theory that it doesn't really matter that much what I eat (although I still think heavy amounts of citrus makes me get it)- if I am going to get it, I get it.

Even more people are commenting and remarking about the bump now, so I think it's really in that definitely looking pregnant territory now.  One thing I haven't really mentioned is that my chest has also grown.  Greg has been saying it was bigger for a while (how nice of you to notice) and for a while I didn't agree, because I was still fitting in to my normal bras, but recently I have actually had to buy some new bras so I guess I have gone up about a cup size now.  My friend Sarah also noticed and commented on it.  Nice.  I'm okay with this side effect since I've pretty much been smallish on top my whole life.  Bring on the Jessica Rabbit boobs...haha.

We finally did our registries this week.  We took a night to go to Buy Buy Baby and do that one in person.  We were there about three hours and despite all the neurotic research I have done on every baby thing imaginable, I still found the experience to be semi overwhelming.  We did a pretty good job starting it at the store, and then in the days to follow, I added more online to that and our Amazon registry after a little more research on a few items like the Pack N Play.  The registries actually ended up being sort of even in terms of how much stuff is on each one.  Amazon had some things that were not at Buy Buy Baby and/or were so much cheaper on Amazon (BOB Revolution!), I couldn't justify putting them on the Buy Buy Baby one.  Still, I loved the experience of getting to do the Buy Buy Baby one with Greg in the store.  He clearly wants to make sure our little girl gets plenty of girly pink stuff, despite her mama gravitating towards gender neutral options a lot of the time.

While at Buy Buy Baby, we ordered a glider for the nursery, which is the last major piece of furniture we need.  It will take a little while to come in, so we probably won't have it  for about a month.  I also got a couple bins at Target this week that we'll probably use for toys or changing supplies.  I have my eyes out for little touches to add here and there, but really I think the major stuff in the nursery is set.  I put our prints in our new frames and really like how they look- they just have to go up on the wall.

Our Graco car seat came!  It's very cute!  We ended up getting the girly version (not at my request), and I actually don't mind it, despite the fact that if we have a boy in the future, it might be slightly awkward if he uses it.  It's pretty surreal to see it sitting in our house and know that our baby will be using that soon!

I took my first hospital class this week.  It was on epidurals (and analgesics).  Like I said in my last post, I don't really have a strong opinion of whether I want a natural or epidural birth., but I just think it makes the most sense for us, with the situation we're in for this birth, to go with the epidural.  I will say, that I'm not one of those people that thinks epidurals are the best thing on earth and will make everything wonderful and perfect.  The class didn't change my opinion and make me want one any more or less.  Honestly, I am nervous about the epidural.  I am not a huge fan of needles, and frankly the idea of one going into my back near my spinal area (it's actually below the cord, more in the nerve area of the spinal column I learned), doesn't sound that appealing.  Still, I also didn't change my mind on getting one- I plan to.  I think if done properly and if I'm lucky enough to not have side effects, I will be glad that I did get one.  The nurse that taught our class recommended that we try to labor without the epidural while moving around (jacuzzi, birthing ball, walking, etc) to progress labor for a while and I think this is a good plan if I can handle it.  They recommend getting the epidural when you are between 4-6 cm dilated, so if I can, I will try to make it to about that point before opting for one so that it doesn't slow my progress down.  I do know that I don't want the analgesics, which are more the injected/intravenous drugs.  Those may help my pain, but they go into the blood stream and can affect the baby, which I definitely don't want.  Epidurals don't go into the blood stream and don't affect the baby.  Whatever happens, it's going to be interesting...

Movement/kicking is still kind of light.  On the night we registered, when we were sitting filling out the paperwork for the glider, I got a big string of thumps in a row and grabbed Greg's hand and put it on my stomach.  He immediately felt her!  That was cool!  She's most active between about 4pm and bedtime, and usually around 9pm I can usually count on some decent thumps.

I went to see baby Michael and Erin this weekend.  He was very cute and sleepy.  He slept through most of the visit, but woke up right before I was about to leave, so I did get to see him alert for a little bit and hold him.  He was a squirmy little guy!


How far along? 25 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: Big boobs, big belly.
Best moment this week: Greg feeling her move from outside.  Working on the registries.
Miss Anything? Turkey sandwich.  I went to Panera twice this week and missed the Sierra turkey sandwich, one of my favorites.
Movement: Yes, feeling the thumps from the outside was cool.
Food cravings: Donuts (we had some at work and I had trouble keeping myself away), cheeseburgers, smoothies (yay), double chocolate cookies, Greek salad.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, pretty much no doubt what's going on there now.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In
Mood: Really happy.
Looking forward to: Seeing the curtains and pictures up in the nursery, Thanksgiving.
What I am NOT looking forward to: The dreaded glucose test.
Weekly Wisdom: I might be ahead of schedule with stuff like the nursery and registering, but it's really helped me to feel like it's more real, and I need all the help I can get!
Milestones: Stronger kicking that can be felt from the outside.  Feeling obviously pregnant, with a more distinct round belly.

My Twenty-Third Week

24 Weeks pregnant!

Apparently this is the beginning of slight viability, where the baby has a slightly better chance of survival than before if it were to come early.  So yay for that!

So, the beginning of the 23rd week started with a trip to my OB for a check-up.  It was actually a really quick appointment.  I got to hear the heartbeat with the Doppler (in the 150's), had my vitals and weight checked, and that was pretty much it.  The midwife I saw reminded me I should pre-register at the hospital where I'm delivering and also told me to pick a pediatrician.  I did the pre-registration this week and know the practice I of pediatricians I plan to use, I just need to call and get set up.

In other news, I started a registry.  I decided to go ahead and start an Amazon one online last week and have gradually been adding items to it.  I plan to drag Greg with me to Buy Buy Baby this week to do the other one if we can fit it in.  My strategy is to put more of the essentials on the Buy Buy Baby one and I've been putting more of the "secondary" type items on the Amazon one.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I know for myself when I buy registry items, I like to physically go to the store and look at the options, so I'm thinking more people will use at the Buy Buy Baby one?  I could be wrong.  If you guys have input, let me know.  I'm a newbie!

I finally found some frames for the nursery prints that I think will work.  I actually found them at Kohls and got a pretty good deal, four 11x17 frames with the 8x10 matte for about $50.  Only thing?  I had major pregnancy brain and forgot to return the other ones I had originally gotten at Michaels, even though they were sitting in the car ready to go back.  Oh well, I will do it on another trip!  The curtains I ordered also came this week, so hopefully Greg will want to put them up soon so we can see how they look.  I'm excited though, they seem to match the colors of our bedding perfectly :)

Plans for my baby shower are getting underway, which is really cool.  That's another one of those milestones I sometimes didn't know if I'd ever hit.  In addition to my friend/family one, this week a co-worker asked me if she could throw me one at work, which I thought was so sweet.  I'm really looking forward to those, which will both be in January after the holidays.

Let's talk pregnancy body and physical symptoms.  The belly is really out there now.  No doubt.  I was asked when I was due and what I was having by a sales lady at Belk last weekend.  I also had another person at work ask me if I was pregnant.  It's still funny to me that I'm noticeably pregnant to all now.  So weird. I'm up about 13 lbs in weight now.

Cropped my head out because my eyes were closed...

I had a couple more bouts with heartburn this week.  I feel like it's completely random for me though, sometimes I have it bad and other nights nothing.  I can't even really establish a pattern of certain foods that are triggering it or anything.  I'm thinking citrus juices is one thing though, because I know one time I had a bunch of lemonade and another day I had a tall glass of OJ and I definitely had it those nights.  I think I'm going to steer clear of citrus drinks for a while.  The other stuff seems to be a crap shoot.

I'm also still noticing how easily I get tired from standing, walking, etc...  I've gone to bed early a lot in the last week and on nights when I stayed up later, I was pretty exhausted.  I think my uterus is also pushing stuff up into my lung area and I'n noticing that I'm short of breath easier.  I think because I have a short torso all the space is getting used, so I'm probably feeling it more than some people with more room in their torsos.

I'm admittedly a little frustrated with where I'm at with movement/kicking at this point.  People keep telling me that it'll eventually get so frequent and strong that it'll be borderline annoying.  At this point, I am feeling movement everyday, but it's not that frequent and not that strong, it's still more like most people describe it in the early weeks of feeling it.  Just like with all my other pregnancy stuff, I just kind of want the clear symptoms to confirm that everything is okay in there.  Lack of movement/kicking just makes me kind of nervous.  Come on baby, kick me!  

How far along? 24 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: Physical tiredness, heartburn again, protruding belly.
Best moment this week: Hearing her heartbeat.
Miss Anything? Running.  I had a non-alcoholic beer one night this week, so I got that out of my system ;)
Movement: Yes, but I'd still like it to be stronger and/or more frequent.
Food cravings: Cake, cheese burgers, Basic 4 cereal, popcorn, and carbs in general.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, pretty much no doubt what's going on there now.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In
Mood: Good!
Looking forward to:  Registering, my first hospital class (this weekend), seeing the curtains and pictures up in the nursery.

My Twenty-Second Week

I'm 23 weeks pregnant!

We kicked off this week with a tour of the maternity ward at the hospital that we are going to deliver at.  I know I say it every week, but these moments are still pretty surreal to me.  There were so many times if I wondered if I'd ever get to do these things that pregnant people do to legitimately prepare for a baby...it still just feels crazy that I am now doing it.  I feel so lucky.  I digress!  I was probably the least pregnant person in the tour group, judging by the bumps around me, so I'm not sure if I'm just really on the ball or way ahead of schedule.  I'm impressed with my hospital.  They encourage natural child birth and if even if you're not going natural (I'm probably not for a bunch of reasons- see next paragraph), they still do a lot of what I consider to be natural birth processes, such as encouraging labor techniques, an hour of skin-to-skin contact following the birth, and such.  The birth suites are amazing, fully decked out, yet homey feeling, and all but a couple of them have Jacuzzi tubs if you want to use one for labor.  I think we'll be pretty happy at our hospital and I'm glad I had the foresight like five years ago when I chose my OBGYN to make sure they had privileges there.

Just to further explain my decision to not go natural (no epidural), in case you're wondering, I don't really have strong feelings about laboring one way vs. the other.  I have heard the pros and cons of both and listened to my friends' stories of births both ways.  I'd be open to natural if we had the time and ability to schedule something like a Bradley method class, but it's really impossible with Greg's schedule, and I would have to probably hire a doula or something in order to have a coach to help me with natural labor.  There's a very real chance that Greg might not even make it to the birth with his type of schedule.  He got two weeks of vacation starting the day before my due date, but of course we really can't predict when I will go into labor.  Of course we hope that he will be there, but it's a possibility he could miss it, so I can't really do anything that requires me to definitely rely on him.  The other reason I'm likely to go with the epidural is that I sort of felt labor pain when I had my first miscarriage and tried to go the drug route to expel my pregnancy.  I don't know if it was particularly bad because of the drugs I was on or what, but I ended up in the emergency room after feeling the worst pain I've ever felt which caused me to vomit, shake uncontrollably, and feel like absolute crap, so if that's what I have to look forward to for labor, I think I'll take the epidural.  I do know that epidurals and drugs have their disadvantages and risks too, and I'm not taking any of that lightly, but I still think it's the most logical decision for us with the circumstances we are dealing with.

The nursery is in great shape!  I give all the credit to Greg.  He got the bookcase and dresser set up this week, so it really looks furnished now.  We also picked curtains that I am going to order soon.  I bought some frames for our prints, but I'm not sure they are big enough, so I want to look around more for bigger frames- probably 11 x 17 with an 8 x 10 opening.  The ones I got are 8 x 10, and I feel like the prints go right up to the edge of the frame and look pretty small on our expansive wall, so something bigger might be necessary.  Now it's just going to come down to all the other decor and details to finalize it.

I had a pretty indulgent pre-Halloween weekend, and I think I gained about 2-3 pounds this week.  I'm sure it had something to do with the four cupcakes and handfuls of Tootsie Rolls I ate this weekend.  Yikes.  I'm realizing that the next few months are probably going to be challenging with all the fun/delicious holidays between now and my due date.  I need to practice some restraint around all the goodies.  I think I've been slightly under normal weight gain though, so it's not a huge deal that I gained a little more than usual this week, it's just something I don't want to get too out of control.

I am still walking, and I also tried a new prenatal workout video over the weekend- Summer Sanders.  It was interesting.  I haven't done a workout video in a while and everything feels so different.  This is sort of the opposite of a Jillian Michaels video- so laid back.  I think it'll be good to do this about once a week when I'm sick of walking and with the weather getting colder, but my attention span for videos is kind of limited so I think once a week is probably realistic.

I went to Jessie's baby shower over the weekend, which was fun.

She's about 6 weeks ahead of me to I like seeing where she is with the process and what I have to look forward to.  Right now, it's looking like we might hold off on having my baby shower til the beginning of January to avoid the craziness of the holidays.  I sort of hate to wait that long, but I think it'll be easier than trying to plan around all the Christmas madness and I doubt many of my friends that would travel in would be able to come if I tried to have it in December.

I feel pretty good, but I echo what I said last week.  I notice being physically tired more easily.  Saturday night I was standing for a while at a Halloween party, and I got pretty tired.  I feel slower and bigger.  I honestly think I have more fatigue in the second trimester than I did in the first.  I never really had that consistent tiredness that a lot of people talk about in the first tri.  I had a little heartburn this week, but nothing major.  It doesn't seem consistent enough to warrant worrying about it, I just take a Tums on the nights I get it and I'm fine.

How far along? 23 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity, but still some normal tops- less these days though.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: Physical tiredness, heartburn again, feeling BIG.
Best moment this week: I'm still pretty excited to see the nursery come together more (don't worry, I'll post more pics when it's more finished).
Miss Anything? Running, beer.  Need to find some non-alcoholic beer.
Movement: Yes.  Still want to feel some stronger kicks, but I can feel it more distinctly now.
Food cravings: Tootsie Rolls, potatoes in any form, cheese burgers, and carbs in general.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Toothpaste.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, pretty much no doubt what's going on there now.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In
Mood: Good!
Looking forward to: Working more on the nursery, registering, feeling more movement and kicks.

That about sums up week 22!

My Twenty-First Week

Alright, I'm 22 weeks now!

So, the nursery is painted, the crib is assembled, with the bedding in it (so we could see how it all looked), and we bought our dresser and bookshelf this week.  I also ordered us some prints from Etsy for the walls that match our bedding, which is a lambie theme.  We need to buy frames for the pictures.  I'm on the hunt for curtains now and think I've narrowed it down to a couple choices.  I ordered some swatches online so I could see what matches best.  We also got a mirror that will probably go on the wall next to the dresser so we can use it to distract the baby while changing her.  It's coming along!  Here's a sneak peek of the crib, bedding, and walls.  Not the best pictures ever (IPhone!), but you get the idea.  By the way, we obviously know to leave the bumper out for a while when the baby is little, we just wanted to see how it all looked in the crib.

This was the first week I felt like everywhere I went, it was actually obvious that I was pregnant.  A neighbor asked me if I was expecting this week, and I was proud that my tummy was out there enough that he noticed.  I'm also filling in maternity clothes that used to be big on me.  This week purchased a sweater, two pairs of maternity tights, and three more pairs of maternity pants.  I was hoping I could get away with minimal maternity clothing, but I work in a fairly formal office and using safety pins to hold my pants together isn't really working anymore at this point, so it's time to face the fact that I'm going to need more clothing to carry me through to late February.  This is probably isn't the most convenient season to be pregnant and I kind of envy my friends that got away with wearing sundresses all summer.  I have a lot that would have worked for summer.  Winter clothing is tougher!  Oh well, not a big deal.

Another cool thing that happened this week was that I won us a car seat!  I attended one of the Graco/Babies R Us events in my area and won a Graco SnugRide Connect Click 40!  Pretty cool!

The car seat is an infant seat, but designed to adjust so that your child can use it up to the recommended two years of age.  It has eight different settings to accomplish this, getting more upright with each adjustment.  It's sort of the opposite concept of a convertible car seat.  The car seat only works with two strollers since it has the Click Connect technology, so that means we'll end up buying one of those to go with it, and then go from there if we want more/other strollers when the baby is older.  It's probably good that we're forced to buy a specific stroller, because honestly I was thinking of getting like three different strollers and was tearing my hair out a little trying to decide on what to get to with a car seat.  Problem solved.  Also, the stroller seems really lightweight and folds up pretty compact, which were the big concerns for me.  The sport one reminds me a lot of the City Mini, which my brother has.

My appetite has been pretty normal, and I didn't have any morning sickness this week .  Haha, I actually did have a little on the LAST day of the week because of another toothpaste episode, which came after I'd written that update!  I did notice that I was more physically tired this week and had some back pain on days when I was on my feet for long periods of time.  I have a massage credit waiting and it might be time to cash it in soon.  I've also noticed it makes a huge difference if I'm not wearing really comfortable shoes.  I'm thinking it's the extra 9 lbs I have on me now.  Shoes that used to be comfortable to walk in for long periods of time no longer are, so I am having a hard time choosing shoes for daily activities.

We need to get going on our registry.  I think that's next on the agenda once we slow down on the nursery.  I went shopping for a baby present this week and although I recognize most baby necessities at this point, I still can't say that I've totally made all the decisions that need to be made on which things I want for each category.  Which bottles, pacifiers, diaper bag?  Not sure yet...  Must buckle down and make decisions!

Oh, and we are stuck on a name.  I think I mentioned in a previous post that we had a boy's name picked out that we both loved.  Greg has a girl's name that he loves and I really like it too, but I am still not 100% sure about it.  I spent hours this week looking through names, and I can't say that I found many that I'm that crazy about.  Greg doesn't want anything unusual.  I don't want something too popular, but also not too UNpopular either...  Even worse?  Greg hates pretty much everything else but the name he likes.  I'm constantly coming up with lists of possibilities after spending hours pouring through names and he'll glance at my list and shoot everything down.  It's really frustrating.  I'm not sure how we're going to decide on this.  Good thing we still have a while...

How far along? 22 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity, but still some normal tops.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: Physical tiredness
Best moment this week: Seeing the crib totally put together with the bedding in it made me happy.
Miss Anything? I was missing running this week after reading a bunch of friends' race recaps.
Movement: Yes, but I'd love more and stronger kicks!
Food cravings: ice cream, grilled cheese, potatoes, and carbs in general.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Toothpaste got me again.  Grrr.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, I think it's finally becoming more obvious.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In
Mood: Good!
Looking forward to: Working more on the nursery, registering, feeling more movement and kicks.

My Twentieth Week

Here we are at 21 weeks!

Let's recap week 20, shall we?

I had some significant heartburn several nights this week.  I checked my list of approved meds during pregnancy and can takes Tums, so popping one at night seemed to help on the nights I got it.  In previous weeks I got it once in a while if I ate pepperoni pizza or something, but now it doesn't seem to really matter what I'm eating, I just sometimes get it anyway, even if I'm avoiding something acidic.  The good news is that it's not every night, but I've noticed it's definitely more frequent, and I'm probably going to have to think more about my nighttime food choices from here on out or pay the consequences.

Wednesday night I went over to visit Lindsay and Lila.  She's super tiny, and I enjoyed holding her and listening to her and her husband tell me how things have been going.  It amazes me how my friends that are recent parents seem like such pros at being parents only weeks after having a baby.  This gives me hope that I can do this too!  I'm really starting to visualize what life with a baby is going to be like and having these glimpses into my friends lives is really helping.  I'm soaking it all in.

I called the hospital and set up a maternity ward tour for Greg and I for later this month, along with some classes.  It was challenging with Greg's schedule though, because a lot of the classes I signed up for are in upcoming months and we don't know whether he'll be off or actually make it.  Some of them he doesn't need to be there for, but there are some that I think he should attend, so we'll see if I have to reschedule them.

I went camping with some friends this weekend, which posed a few challenges due to the pregnancy.  The plan for lunch the first day was deli meat sandwiches so I packed my own peanut butter and jelly (actually it was almond butter and jelly)- no big deal.  Sleeping is challenging enough in a comfortable bed at this point, and I spend all night flipping from right to left side.  In a sleeping bag, which I placed on an old foam egg crate mattress topper, I was even less comfortable than usual, and flipping was REALLY hard, especially with Clyde next to me.  I also had to get up and leave the tent in the middle of the night to pee, which I kind knew would happen, since usually at home I go at least once or twice at night now.  Finally, we went for a hike, and I was noticeably more tired and winded than usual.  I know it was partly due to not sleeping well the night before, but my endurance is also way down.  I guess that's to be expected when my primary workout is now walking.  I still got in a decent hike, but turned back earlier than most of the hikers with my friend Jess.

This week someone that didn't know I was pregnant actually asked if I was, so that was the first time that's happened.  I'm not sure if I just look bigger or if she's just really ballsy.  Probably both!  I was also wearing kind of an obvious maternity top, so that probably enhanced the bump more.  I tend to wear loose fitting tops that probably hide the bump sometimes, so I'm sure a lot of people don't know.

I'm feeling movement every day now, but it still doesn't feel like what I expected kicking to feel like.  It does feel similar to gas bubbles like some people have said, and only lately has it gotten stronger so that I can distinguish that it really is movement.  I'm guessing it'll get stronger and feel more powerful as the baby grows.

You know how they say you go into nesting mode during pregnancy?  Well, no one told me my husband would too.  I came home from work the other day to the nursery completely cleaned out and my husband in full blown "let's get this done now" mode.  He had vacuumed, cleaned the baseboards, and spackled a gouge in the wall in the nursery.  He was all hyper to go to Lowe's and buy the paint, which we did last night, so that he can paint the entire nursery.  I am amused.  We also got our crib mattress at Target while we were out.  Things are moving along!  \

Lastly, I thought I'd start doing this kind of update as well, now that we're in the second half of the pregnancy.

How far along? 21 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Some regular, some maternity.  I have almost no normal bottoms I can fit into now though.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: heartburn
Best moment this week: working on the nursery with my hubby and feeling more movement
Miss Anything? beer, wine, sushi, and the convenience of eating deli meat.
Movement: Yes, but I'd love more and stronger kicks!
Food cravings: ice cream, Indian food (which I had an aversion to in the first tri), carbs
Anything making you queasy or sick: toothpaste.  Luckily I started using Close-up (cinnamon flavored) on days when I feel like mint toothpaste is making me gag and that seems to help.  Something about the mint just makes me gag.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, I think it's finally becoming more obvious.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In
Mood: Great!  I just had one of those awestruck moments today where I was seriously grateful for all that has happened :)
Looking forward to: Working more on the nursery, registering, feeling more movement and kicks.

My Nineteenth Week

I'm now 20 weeks!  Halfway there, wow!

Next time we take indoor photos I need to watch the contrast between what I'm wearing and the fireplace!

So let's recap the 19th week.  

I left off my last recap by letting you know that we're having a baby girl!  The rest of the anatomy scan went fairly well except for one thing- there were some cysts seen on the brain area.  This was kind of hard news to take for both of us, even though our doctor spent most of the time expressing that he wasn't really worried, because we show no other reasons for concern (our Downs tests were low/normal, and the baby looks really normal everywhere else).  He said this is fairly common and they usually disappear by a later ultrasound.  So, we're going back at 28 weeks to check on it.  My placenta is also blocking my cervix slightly, so we're going to see if that eventually moves, but I'm less concerned about that as long as the baby is healthy.  Anyway, the cyst news kind of ruined the news that we're having a girl for a little while til we Googled more about it.  Google actually helped for once when we saw that forum thread after forum thread had mothers telling story after story of this happening, the cysts clearing by a later ultrasound, and they went on to have healthy kids.  We're hoping that's where our story goes too.  It just kind of sucks to reach a major milestone, like finding out the sex, and have it sort of spoiled by bad news, especially since I still need all the reassurance I can get with my history.

After a few days we seemed to think less about the cysts and more about the fact that we are having a girl.  I finally started thinking more about the nursery and I think we sort of have a general direction we are going in now.  We are going with dark wood furniture, neutral tan/white bedding (and probably curtains too), and we are planning to paint the nursery a peach color.  We actually bought our crib, bedding, and a paint sample, so we're well on our way.  I'll post more when we get further along with this, promise!

One cool thing that happened this week was that Victoria came to town and we were able to meet for the first time!   We went to breakfast on Saturday and I had so much fun talking with her.  We've been following each other since before we both got pregnant, routing for each other during our struggles, and now have been following each other's pregnancies for months.  And we're both having girls!  So much to talk about!  After breakfast we had a little photo op, and her Dad's girlfriend got this funny picture of us while we got ready to have our picture taken.

Let's try that again...

Anyway, she is awesome and I wish she lived closer so we could hang out more, but it's nice that her Dad lives close to me so hopefully we'll get to hang out again in the future- with our baby girls!

My parents also came to visit this weekend and they saw the bump for the first time since it popped out.  It was fun to show them :)

 We did a lot of walking on Sunday when they were here, visiting two Charlotte museums and running around in Costco for a while, and I could definitely feel it more when I walk a lot now, probably because I have about 7-8 extra pounds to carry now.

I didn't have any nausea this week, so that was kinda nice, although, I haven't really minded having it that much, since any indication of things going well is welcomed, even if it's barfing ;)

The appetite is still pretty normal, but I did notice sort of an increase in hunger this week.  I had a couple days at work when I was hungry like every other hour and constantly snacking!

I THINK I felt movement this week for the first time!  I'm fairly certain because I've felt it almost every day since, usually anytime after 4pm.  I'm not really sure how to describe what it feels like, because it's not really what I expected.  I guess it's like a light thump or swirl?  It's usually when I'm sitting pretty still, either at my desk at work or in my TV watching chair at home.  I'm hoping that it gets more distinct so I can really tell it's kicking if that's what it is.

That about sums up week 19!  Looking forward to the second half of this pregnancy!

My Eighteenth Week

So I'm 19 Weeks!  

Most of the eighteenth week was spent traveling around the Midwest visiting Greg's family and some of our friends in Illinois and Indiana, which I hope to recap more of later in a separate post.  I'm slow these days, I know!

Traveling didn't allow for my normal level of activity (I normally walk about 5-6 days a week), but I did get in two walks, in Chicago and Indiana, plus some extra walking with friends and family when we were out and about.

We visited a Buy Buy Baby with Greg's parents so they could look at baby stuff with us.  We looked at cribs, strollers, and all sorts of other stuff.  I'm not as overwhelmed as I used to be, but still have some things to figure out.  Greg's Dad got excited and bought the baby some monkey outfits and a stuffed monkey.

We were also in Columbus one night of the trip (on our way to Chicago), and I did a quick run through the book store to get an Ohio State (my Alma mater) onesie!

Greg's sister has four kids, the youngest being about three, and she gave us a bunch of baby stuff, including a pack-n-play, convertible car seat, diaper genie, and some toys.

My appetite is pretty normal now.  I did have one brief episode of dry-heaving one morning during our trip, but for the most part I felt pretty good, especially since I was trapped in a car for lots of the trip.

There's more a bump now, so it was a good time to visit everyone and show it off.

Since it's on the cusp of weeks 18/19, I will tell you that we found out the gender at our appointment Tuesday, and it's....  A GIRL!!  I actually kind of thought it was from the beginning, and then the night before our anatomy scan I dreamed we found out it was a girl.  Greg had been leaning towards thinking it was a boy.  I'll have more on all of this in my next report, in the meantime, we'll let the news sink in ourselves!

My Seventeenth Week

I'm eighteen weeks now!  Actually, eighteen and a half really.  We're on a trip right now so this post is a little late and the below picture was taken in a hotel room.

So, the seventeenth week was interesting.  I actually had some pretty wretched morning sickness one day this week.  Apparently the baby doesn't love pumpkin oatmeal as much as it's mama and decided to make me puke about 4-5 times til every last trace of it was gone from my tummy that day.  (Sorry, TMI!).  My husband thought that was pretty funny, because he's sort of a hater of pumpkin and rolls his eyes at me every year when I start putting pumpkin in EVERYTHING.  He said the baby must get it's pumpkin aversion from him.  I did successfully eat some pumpkin pancakes this week though, so not all is lost.  I still find it interesting how my nausea has presented itself.  I was talking with a friend who is 13 weeks pregnant and she had pretty bad all day nausea until about 11 weeks, but never really puked.  I guess I'm lucky in that I never really have long periods of actual nausea, just a strong gag reflex and urge to puke at random times, and it's still happening to me at 18 weeks.  Strange.

I was in my friend Sarah's wedding this week, which was fun, but I picked out and purchased my bridesmaid dress before I was pregnant (and actually in pretty good shape) and barely squeezed into it for the event.  Sitting, dancing, and standing were all pretty uncomfortable in the dress and by the end of the night, I couldn't wait to get that dress off.  Another week or two and I probably wouldn't have fit in it at all.  The bump is a-growin!

Ow, my dress is too tight!

I did some more maternity clothes shopping this week and ended up with a pair of pants, a pair of jeans, a sweater, and a top from Kohls.  I have to say, their maternity section is small and limited, but I LOVE their jeans and you really can't beat some the deals I've gotten there (one of the tops I got was like $6 after I used a 20% coupon and found it on sale).  I've actually been pretty disappointed with Target's selection so far.  I had one trip to Destination Maternity, but most of their stuff is crazy expensive and designer, which I don't really care about.  There's a maternity consignment shop in Charlotte on my radar that I'm going to have to check out sometime soon.  I guess one thing I'm going to have to tap into eventually is online maternity clothes shopping.  I've kind of been avoiding it, because I really like to try stuff on and have a hard time being able to tell what will fit me from a picture.  Friends with maternity clothes, if you have stuff you want to let me borrow, I'm definitely game!

Another thing I've been meaning to tell you guys is that I've been listening to some Pregtastic podcasts, which I had originally heard about on Kath's blog.  They have talk shows about almost any baby and pregnancy related topic you can think of, so it's been fun to listen to some and hear a group of pregnant women speak on different topics.  I recommend them if you are expecting and want some fun and interesting pregnancy information.  I've listened ones on registry must-haves, baby carriers, and some of the high-low ones.  I like having them in the back ground when I'm doing something else.

I'm up a solid 4 pounds now, so my weight is creeping on, but still pretty slowly.  I think the bump is fairly obvious now unless I'm wearing something pretty loose though, so it's fun to kind of have more of a real bump.  I know I still have a long way to go though!

I haven't had a lot of strong cravings this week.  My diet has been pretty normal, more like my pre-pregnancy diet, except for the day with the pumpkin oatmeal disaster.  Oh, one thing that was kind of neat, was that I had non-alcoholic wine this week!  At my friend Sarah's rehearsal dinner, the restaurant had it and offered it to the bride and I since we are preggo and unable to drink alcohol.  We split a bottle of Cabernet, and I thought it was pretty good.  Upon further research on their website, they are associated with J.Lohr, one of my favorite wineries, so that means my taste buds must not have been too off when I declare that it was pretty good.  I might have to see if I can track some bottles of this stuff down to get me through the next four and half months.

I still don't know if I've felt movement.  Sometimes I think I might feel something, but I'm still not sure.  I am excited to feel some legit kicks and hope that happens really soon.  I think it will help a lot with my confidence in the pregnancy.  I've been checking my friends old pregnancy posts and lot of them were already feeling kicks at this point.  Jealous!

I'm still researching baby purchases, because I know creating the registry is coming up.  One thing I'm kind of stuck on is strollers.  I think I want to get a BOB Revolution for running with the baby (I'm open to other suggestions though), but I think I'm also going to want some other kind of stroller for normal activities, because I don't think I'm going to want to cart the BOB in my car.  The other stroller will need to be something that unfolds/folds easily, that will fit in my car trunk (I drive a mid sized sedan), and works with a car seat initially.  I'm not sure if I should just go with the travel system combo (car seat/stroller) or something else.  I know about the snap-n-go, but maybe I might want something that will actually work beyond the car seat as well.  Confusing.  I may end up just going to the store and to see the options in person and will need my husbands help deciding.  Please let me know if you have suggestions!

Lastly, we have our anatomy scan scheduled NEXT WEEK!  We are finding out what we're having, so assuming all goes well, we will know in a week!  I'm not sure what I think we're having.  Initially, I thought it was a girl, but I've kind of migrated to the middle now and I think it could go either way.  I've had people tell me they were sure it's a boy and some tell me they're sure it's a girl.  Greg thinks boy.  I think like most people I'm pretty much split on the old wives tales, so that's not really any help.  I guess we'll just wait and see!

My Sixteenth Week

I'm seventeen weeks now!

So, my sixteenth week was pretty rough because of my crappy cold.  The coughing/phlegm stage lingered for days after the rest of my symptoms had subsided and it mostly just made my uncomfortable.  Being sick when you're pregnant sucks.

I had my 16 week appointment at the OB this week and they did a blood test for spina bifida and then used the Doppler on my tummy to listen for the heartbeat.  I again will say what I said last time we did the Doppler- I have no desire to get one of my own Doppler machines and try to find the heartbeat myself.  Even at the doctor's office it makes me nervous when they are moving the wand around looking for it (even though the doctor found it pretty quick).  I would be a ball of stress if I was trying by myself at home and couldn't find it.

Anyway, hearing the heartbeat renewed my sense of security for sure and I immediately went home and announced the pregnancy on Facebook, so that is now out of the way and I can stop worrying about it (and whining to you guys about it).  I received tons and tons of well wishes too, which was fun.

I also bought the baby some cute onesies at Old Navy because of my excitement after the appointment.

Saturday, I went to Erin's baby shower, and literally everyone there was either pregnant or a new mom.  I was glad to actually be pregnant and not still in limbo like I had been so many other times when attending showers or it would have been sad and uncomfortable.  Much talk of babies and pregnancy ensued.

Also, Jen made these awesome chocolate cupcakes for the shower, which seemed to trigger some massive chocolate cravings in me.  The next day I made chocolate cookies, and the day after that I got a chocolate milkshake.

Other cravings this week included Outback sirloin, so one night I got take out dinner from Outback that included a sirloin, shrimp, baked potato, salad, and bread.  So good.  I'm still eating a lot of fruit too- apples, pears, strawberries, nectarines, and grapes this week.  This may have been my first week without a cheeseburger, but I guess the steak is close!  I heard recently that it's actually a good thing for pregnant women to eat red meat.  There's a certain enzyme in the red meat protein that isn't found in other sources, so I'm going with it.  I also heard I should be eating kale though, and I don't think I've had any since I got pregnant, so I guess I should get some.

I seemed to get the "nesting" feeling this weekend, since I did a lot of closet cleaning and went through the plastic tubs I showed you of extra clothes in the baby's room.  I got rid of two garbage bags of stuff, and also moved around stuff in my closet so that the stuff I can't fit into is moved to remote parts of the closet.  Progress!

I don't think I've felt the baby move yet, and I'm hoping that any day now that'll happen, now that I'm kind of in the most common window for when you first feel it.

I'm up about 3-4 pounds weight-wise.  I think I kind of popped a little more this week, although, I still think the belly is hidden depending on what I'm wearing.  I find myself getting frustrated a lot when I'm trying to get dressed though, because I'm kind of in that awkward don't-really-fit-into-regular-clothes stage and not-totally-in-maternity-clothes either.  I'm sure I look frumpy at work some days.

Happy 17 weeks baby!

My Fifteenth Week

Wow, I'm now sixteen weeks pregnant!  Four whole months pregnant.  Surreal...

Before another one of my nightly walks with Clyde.

My fifteenth week was interesting.  I actually had a pretty bad day of morning sickness one day this week, which was funny, because it kind of came out of nowhere, and it's probably the worst day of it I've had the whole pregnancy, which I would not have thought would have happened this far in.  Although, I have heard more stories lately of pregnant people getting morning sickness more in the second trimester lately, so I guess it's kind of random and depends on the person.

I visited another maternity store this week and ended up buying one casual shirt.  I'm still building my maternity wardrobe pretty slowly.  I'm not sure if there's much difference in the bump, but I wore maternity pants to work this week, and it was nice to not have to worry about them feeling too tight or to deal with a safety pin like I've been doing with some of my pants.  I've probably got a while before I'm in full time maternity clothes, but I am enjoying sprinkling them in, especially on days when the bump feels bigger and my regular clothes feel tighter.

This week we officially picked our daycare!  Out of the three we looked at, there was one we both felt was the best fit for us and our wants/needs.  It was the one that we felt the most comfortable with, and we know two families with kids that go or have gone there that spoke highly of it, so I feel confident in our decision.  I dropped off the registration form and deposit this week so we're officially on their waiting list now!  Pretty exciting!

At the end of my fifteenth week, I came down with a pretty bad cold, which I am still dealing with, and have been out sick from work for two days now, which is unusual for me.  I don't know if it's because I can't (and am not) taking cold meds, or if it really is just hitting me harder because I'm pregnant, but I feel like absolute crap.  My doctors approved medication list has a few things listed I can take, including lozenges.  I took maybe 3 lozenges spaced out in the first 24 hours, because my throat was absolutely KILLING me.  I also have had many cups of hot water with lemon, juice, and soup.  I've gone through at least one box of tissues myself.  Luckily the sore throat has subsided, and I'm mainly dealing with a lot of congestion alternating with runny nose, which makes me feel like I'm living in a fog.  I've been pretty useless the last two days, which is frustrating, when I have a ton of stuff at work and at home I could be getting done.  Naps and TV watching have been my major activities instead.  Oh, and Greg is home and has the cold too, so the two of us have shared in our sick misery.  I am mainly just worried about the baby and hope it's not affecting it.

As for cravings, well, the past few days have had me craving soup, and grapefruit juice, which I guess isn't a huge surprise since I'm sick.  For some reason, orange juice hasn't sounded that good to me most of the pregnancy, but in the past week, I've probably had an entire bottle of grapefruit juice myself.

I still got in my usual cheeseburger over the weekend, and I'm still craving a lot of fruit, including kiwi, apples, nectarines, and pears this week. I also got some mango sorbet and that stuff is the bomb.  Oh, AND I got my first pumpkin spice latte (decaf) of the year on Sunday, and it was delicious.  I haven't had much coffee since I've been pregnant, but probably have about one or two decafs a week, so this was a treat.

One new-ish symptom I have is a little bit of heartburn at night depending on what I eat and whether I'm lying flat or not at night.  I definitely noticed it after eating pizza the other night and my husband will attest to the burp-like sounds coming from my chest at night.  Nice.

Lastly, I have to admit, I have been struggling a bunch with my confidence in the pregnancy again this week.  Two people I know announced pregnancies on Facebook that are each about a month behind me.  Even though I'm "out" on the blog and most of my close friends and family know I'm pregnant, there are a lot of people who still don't know, and I started really struggling with the fact that I haven't said anything on Facebook.  I know it's kind of dumb, but I really do want to be able to share the joyful part of this with everyone I know, but only if I'm really confident that everything is going to be okay, and there is still a part of me that is pretty afraid.  Getting the cold this week didn't help, I've been very worried about it affecting the baby.  I have my first appointment in four weeks tomorrow, and I seriously can't wait to hear the heartbeat again because I SO NEED confirmation right now.  Assuming everything is okay, I think I'm going to go ahead and "come out" on Facebook about the pregnancy in the next few days.  I just know that a lot of people who don't know yet would want to know and share in the joy.

I also look forward to tomorrow's appointment because I should be scheduling our anatomy scan, where we'll find out what we're having!  I'm hoping that we'll be able to schedule it for about two weeks from now! Can not wait for that!!

My Fourteenth Week

I'm 15 weeks pregnant!

Sorry, we weren't organized enough to get a great picture this week.
I got this before my daily walk with Clyde.

The fourteenth week started with Greg and I visiting some day care centers in our area.  Even though we don't need day care for about a year, we have heard the waiting lists are long and wanted to get a jump on things early.  We visited two places, both recommended by friends that have children at each, and were impressed with both.  I will say that the experience was somewhat overwhelming though.  We saw the infant areas at both places, but also were given a tour of the rest of the facilities, which included classrooms where the kids were about 4 years old and focused on educational activities.  This was kind of a big jump for me, when at this point, I'm really just thinking "Please take care of my baby and make sure he/she is still alive and in the same condition I left it in when I dropped it off".  Now we're having to think ahead to how we want our small child educated as well, so it's necessary to think present as well as future in terms of what kind of care and education we want our kid to have.  Head spinning...  We opted to look at one more place recommended to us this week, and then we'll probably make a decision based on these three.

Greg surprised me by actually doing some of his own crib research this week, and ended up finding a crib he liked that seems like it would match the dresser/book shelf we saw at IKEA a couple weeks ago, if we want to go that route.  We went to the store and looked at it and it's nice.  I'm not ready to commit to nursery furniture without a little bit more thought just yet, but it's an option.  While at the store we walked around looking at more baby stuff, and I explained the difference in car seats (infant vs. convertible), strollers, pack-n-play's, etc... to him, showing him how much stuff is out there and how much we have to decide.

In other news, we started cleaning out the room we're using as a nursery.  We had a futon in there that Greg moved out.  Also it has been known as our "ironing" room, since it used to house our iron board and iron, but we moved it.  The bulk of the stuff remaining in that room is mine, as it's sort of been my winter/summer clothes storage area (hence the bins you see below).  We actually have a huge basement, so it's not going to be a problem to store that stuff down there instead, I mainly used this room because it's right next to ours and was convenient and available (til now).  I want to go through some of my clothes and get rid of some things before moving it all downstairs though, so I'll try to work on that in the next couple weeks before we really get going on the nursery.

As for how I'm feeling- still pretty good.  Nausea is less and less.  I think if people are looking for it, they are actually starting to see the bump.  I actually got a couple comments about it this week, and I think the rumor is finally making its way around my office (I'm surprised it's taken this long, because my office is known to be a rumor mill!).  I pretty much always wear flowy tops to give myself room, so I think I've kind of hidden it well, but if I'm wearing anything more form fitting, you can kind of see it.  I've also noticed that some of my bottoms that were roomy enough to fit into til this point are tight now.  I've been using a big safety pin on my flat front pants to extend them further, which actually works pretty good (I never really felt like the bella band was appealing), and did the hair tie trick on some shorts the other day.  I think it still just kinda looks like a beer belly, and look forward to the time when it is really obvious what's happening there.

I'm still craving cheeseburgers, but also corn on the cob, ice cream, peaches, apples, potatoes, and still pancakes (I had some this morning).  I'd say my diet is fairly well rounded and I try to get in a fruit or vegetable with every meal.  It's not quite as healthy as it was pre-pregnancy, since veggies haven't sounded that good to me (I still don't want peppers, and can only eat spinach if it's hidden in something).  I love my carbs, as you can probably tell.  I had a really good grilled chicken sandwich with cheese and grilled pineapple on it the other day when I was out to lunch.  I think I need to pick up some pineapple next time I hit the store.  Yum!

Weight-wise, I appear to be up about 2 pounds now.  Still a slow gain at this point.  I really don't doubt that it's going to creep on steadily with all my indulgent cravings though.

Exercise is still mainly walks and I've been good about doing them almost every day.  I had a crazy week because of the DNC going on in Charlotte, but I think maybe next week I'm going to buckle down and try to get to a prenatal yoga class.  I really want to start doing something besides just walking.

Oh, also, I found myself kind of more tired a couple days this week.  I went to bed around 9-9:30 a few times, which is early for me.  I thought that was kind of funny, since most people talk about the second trimester energy.  I kind of had the opposite in my first official week and was falling asleep.

Anyway, that about sums up week 14!  Onward!