Thump

Rick felt the baby move this morning! I think. He could have just been going along with it after days and days of putting his hand on my tummy with no such luck. I swear that man has the thickest callouses on his hands, it's a wonder he feels anything. Anyway, I had some pretty big thumping going on and the baby was higher this morning, just under my belly button. I grabbed Rick's hand and I had a little dialogue with the baby on being a good little baby and please just kick hard for mommy, just this once because daddy thinks I'm making this stuff up. So like a good little baby, s/he cooperated. I even felt the kick with my hand over his hand! And the response...Tears of joy? Wide eyes of wonder and awe? Nope. Nothing. He said, "that was it? I thought it would be bigger." Oh well, we tried, the baby and I. I had a brief glimpse into the future when he comes home from work one day and I am jumping up and down because the baby rolled over and Rick says, "that's it? I thought s/he'd be walking by now."

20 weeks

Halfway there! I've got my appetite back, and it's come back with a vengeance. The other night I wolfed down dinner, amazed at the amount of time (or lack of) it took to clean my plate. I knew I had eaten pretty fast when Rick still had a good portion left on his plate. Like a gentleman, he didn't say anything...or did he even notice? After a ladylike belch, I looked at him and batted my eyes and said in my most seductive voice, "do you feel like getting frozen yogurt?" How could he resist my charm?

With the amount of eating that has increased, there's got to be some added fat coming soon. I feel like it's already started and am having second thoughts about the whole belly shot images I have posted. But I am going to keep my pact and keep on posting these shots, even if stretch marks start showing up. Remind me of this if clothing cover belly shots start to make their way onto the pages.

So the halfway point deserves some reflection. I forgot to add a conversation I had with my Dr. during my 1st trimester appointment. I was so excited to finally feel my uterus and I was convinced that the baby was towards the left side. I lovingly rubbed that spot as I talked to the baby. So at the appointment, my Dr. took out the Doppler to search for the heartbeat. With conviction, I told her the baby was over on the left, I even pointed out the spot. She looks at the spot, looks at me and says, "um, that's your colon. Your uterus pushes your colon out over there." Not only had I failed at figuring out my own anatomy, I had been lovingly rubbing and talking to my digestive tract.

Oh but what a long way I have come since then! I know where my stomach is now! It's pushed up towards my lungs. So now my lungs growl when I'm hungry! But the one thing I am sure of is where my uterus is and also where the baby is. The baby likes to kick on my right side (apparently likes to stay far away from all that digestive stuff going on), and the kicks and flutters are amazing.

20 weeks

Weight (of certain things)

Just finished a really quick read called Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy. You know who she is, the crass, beautiful woman who's dating Jim Carrey. It's along the same lines as the Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy, but crosses that line a lot more. Meaning that she really gets down to the dirty truth about pregnancy and the things ladies don't usually talk about. One thing in particular that cracked me up is that she measured her boobs. Apparently they got A LOT bigger and well, I thought that was a great idea. I attempted this yesterday. Why? Well, the girls have been getting bigger and heavier and I thought it would be a great idea to keep track, just in case one day I get some grief from my Dr. for gaining too much weight. I think weight gain from boobs is a great justification if I can back up the amount of weight, right? A few things to note if you try this at home:

1. Heat up the scale somehow...maybe use a blowdryer to take the chill off...brrr!
2. Don't use one of those fancy BMI digital scales, unless your boobs are so long they fit across the whole scale length. If that's the case, honey, you have more to worry about than the weight of those puppies!
3. Bring the scale up to the counter height, don't attempt to lean over and dangle the girls on top. Pregnancy makes one dizzier than normal and the weight of the new belly throws one off balance.

Needless to say, I still don't know what they weigh, but Rick made a good point of using one of those kitchen food scales...I have yet to find out where that is or how much weight it holds but I'll keep you updated.

Maternity clothes

Although I haven't been able to fit into any of my form fitting pants since about 5 weeks pregnant, now my fat pants (oh come on, you know every girl has her fat pants) are being held up by a Bella Band. So the obvious next step is to go shopping for some of those cute (um, yeah right) maternity pants with the stretchy waist band. My attempts so far have left me more than a little frustrated. I'm sure some women put a little weight on in their butt and hip area, but seriously, do they have to make the pants so big in that area that it makes you look even more unflattering than you already feel? Maybe I'm still at the in-between stage of this, but I hope to god anything under my belly doesn't get as big as what the designers of these clothes have in mind. I have been able to find a few things that fit and a few things I know I'll grow into. It's just frustrating to try on 5 outfits just to go out and run errands.

18 weeks

16 weeks

There really hasn't been a whole lot of changes to report up until the last few days or so. If anything, it seems like my body has started getting used to being pregnant and I'm not feeling that "pregnant" anymore. Some things I have noticed:

• My razor has never worked so hard in its life
• Silver dollar size has a whole new definition in my book
• Veins come in all different hues of red and purple
• Dessert any time of the day is a very good thing

Last night was Halloween and I got a special treat! I definitely felt the baby moving. I thought I had been feeling something here and there for the past few days, but really wasn't sure. Yesterday I felt a few taps and they got stronger at night, where there was no mistaking it for gas bubbles! I think it might have been after overdosing on Snickers and Nestle Crunch.

16 weeks

And just because I think the bump is a little more noticeable with clothes on, here's another shot.

2nd trimester

They say you can start to relax when you enter the 2nd trimester. You start to feel your energy come back and feel more "normal." I have to say that this is a huge milestone for me but I wouldn't go as far as saying I am completely starting to relax. I am still cautiously optimistic, but definitely getting more excited as I start to feel things grow a bit more in the tummy area.

Rick and I were at a party last weekend and it was the first time that everyone was openly announcing the pregnancy. I am not one for the spotlight (ha, no comments from the peanut gallery...not one for the spotlight when I am sober, that is. Hehe), it makes me uncomfortable. I prefer to have the party so I am in the kitchen busy with food and stuff and have a few glasses of wine first. But well, with being pregnant and all, no drinking and cold sober...Anyway. But it was fun to hear how excited everyone was and of course all the same questions, which I'm not sure everyone knows the answers to. So here's the first of my small FAQ list:

1. When are you due? April 17


2. Do you want to find out if it's a boy or a girl? Definitely


3. Where are you giving birth? John Muir


4. Have you felt any movements? No.

It's funny that there are 3 trimesters, yet the first one isn't 3 months, but more like 3 1/2 months, so the 2nd trimester actually starts at 14 weeks. Which, when thinking about it, actually makes sense because the Dr's always calculate the 2 weeks when there is no way there is any baby growing anywhere. Anyway, thought I'd throw in a little trivia there. So here's my 14 week profile. Still no definite bump there, but it's growing!



14 weeks

NT scan ultrasound

I opted to have an NT scan which basically helps rule out if the baby will have certain chromosomal defects; where they perform an ultrasound and do measurements. I was excited and nervous at the same time and couldn't wait to see the baby again! Rick came along for the show this time, so he could finally see that there is really a baby in there. No, that new gut I got in the last few days is not just from the late night frozen yogurt runs. The Dr. told us right away that the baby was looking great and the measurements were perfect, right on target. She also let us hear the heartbeat which was way more emotional than I had thought. We both got a gold star at seeing exactly where the nose, fingers, heart, and legs were. We could even count the 5 fingers in one of the pictures! She said the baby is about 3 inches long and the heartbeat is 158 bpm, good and strong.

12.5 week ultrasound