9 weeks 5 days

This morning was a rough morning. I seem to have caught a cold, and I barely slept at all last night. My throat hurt all night long, my breasts hurt, and I had this weird thing happening where every time I tried to move in my sleep, I woke up because my abs weren't functioning well to let me move. It was so bizarre.

Between not sleeping well, having a cold, and being pregnant (aka exhausted and emotional), I wasn't in the best shape this morning. Dave told me to stay home and sleep in for a while. So I slept in until 9:30 am and then came into the office. I definitely felt better after an extra two hours of sleep, but my throat and head still feel super gunky and my body is dragging. I need to look up what medications I'm allowed to take. I know the list is pretty limited.

On a brighter note, Dave found baby slings on clearance at Walmart, so I ordered one. It was down from $45 to $25, which I couldn't really pass up. Here's the one I chose:



It's black on the inside and reversible, so Dave can use it too without looking like a girl. I'm pretty excited about it...I've heard a lot of people rave about these things. Hopefully it will work great for us, too.

9 weeks 4 days

15 random things from my pregnancy:

1) Despite my ever-widening midsection, I have to-date only gained 1 lb.

2) That will change soon, as in about 2 1/2 weeks I am scheduled to start gaining 1 lb per week. (Holy camoly!!)

3) There are very few vegetables that do not flip my gag switch. Peas and green beans are about it. The thought of cooked broccoli makes me want to run for the toilet.

4) Chicken noodle soup and chicken Ramen Noodles taste absolutely amazing. Add macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes to that list. Delish.

5) I am now peeing at least once, often twice, a night. This is after I go to sleep.

6) I am having crazy vivid dreams, as is expected during pregnancy. However, I had these before, so I'm not so sure they're a symptom for me.

7) I have reached the point where the probability of miscarriage is only like 2.5%. Yay!!

8) I want lime green to be a main color in the baby's room.

9) After reading a fiction book about a bunch of pregnant women, I don't think I care whether I have a boy or a girl anymore.

10) Dave is an absolutely amazing husband and has been soooo tolerant of my mood swings and random food aversions and cravings. I love him. :)

11) My leg hair now grows about 2 inches a day. Ok, that is an exaggeration. But really, it's growing way too fast.

12) I have now thrown up twice. Once was at Dave's mom's a couple weeks ago. The second time was the other morning on the way to the airport in Chicago. I actually had to have Dave's uncle pull his car over so I could open the door and vomit into a bag. I always thought it'd be so embarrassing for that to happen...but really, when it's happening, the only thing you care about is ending the horrible nausea lurching into your throat.

13) My chest has now hurt for close to ten weeks in a row. That's one long interval of chest pain. (I'm using the word "chest" for the sake of any of you readers who are male.)

14) I'm tired. Almost all the time.

and....

15) I know it's all worth it.

9 weeks 3 days

This weekend we went to Collin and Brittany's wedding (which was beautiful). We told many people about the pregnancy while there, and I was a bit overwhelmed by the response. I was approached by grinning faces and hugs all night long, and I had about fifty pairs of hands on my stomach throughout the night. It was very sweet...but still odd to have so many people touching my belly. Despite the fact that others had told me it would happen, I still wasn't quite prepared. But I did appreciate all the love and attention. :)

I liked the following update from What to Expect about what's happening this week with Besido:

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Your baby's growth is fast and furious when you are 10 weeks pregnant. He or she is nearly an inch and a half long and the size of a prune, but not nearly as shriveled (even with all the time it spends in water). In fact, your baby is really taking a human shape now. Bones and cartilage are forming, and small indentations on the legs are developing into knees and ankles. The arms (complete with elbows) can flex already, but don't run to the store for a baseball bat just yet. Though your baby's arms are taking shape and getting stronger, each one is only about the size of this number 1.

The tooth bud fairy is making her appearance this week, heralding the arrival of your baby's little choppers, which are forming under the gums. (Those pearly whites won't break through the gums until your baby is close to six months old). Other systems are go, too. Your baby's stomach is producing digestive juices, the kidneys are producing larger quantities of urine, and, if your baby's a boy, he's already producing testosterone (yikes!).

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8 weeks 3 days picture

I took some more pregnancy pictures last night. You can definitely tell my belly is popping out a bit. :) Yay for showing 4 weeks earlier than the average pregnant woman!!!

7 weeks 4 days ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound this morning!!!

Here is Besido... :)




This one measures Besido...he/she is 1.5 cm long. :) (And if your computer resolution is the same as mine, then this picture actually shows Besido's real size!)


And this one shows Besido's heartbeat at the bottom. It was 162 beats/min. :)

I'm so excited!!!

7 weeks 2 days picture

Alright I took my first uncomfortable pregnancy pictures (e.g. with my shirt pulled up and an obvious focus on my midsection) today. Here they are for all you family members and friends dying to see if I've changed.

In the first picture, me sucking in, in the second picture, me standing somewhat normal. (As you may see, I have very little sucking-in power these days.) (Oh and please excuse Rogan licking her butt in the second pic, hehe.)

I will venture to say that from these pics, you don't think I've changed a bit. Oh contraire, mi amigo. Although I haven't gained any weight, Besido is moving my insides around so much that I have gained two inches in my waist at my belly button. Needless to say, this somewhat limits the clothes that fit me well. I finally bought a belly band this weekend to help smooth things out and hold up my pants when I can't keep them buttoned. I also found a tactic today that worked well using a hairband to hook my pants button to the button hole while still leaving expansion room. And after I've had dinner and a glass of milk? There's no hope. The belly puffs out to Timbuktu and I'm left with a wardrobe consisting of t-shirts and sweatpants. I can't wait for the day when everyone (especially at work) knows I'm pregnant and I can just let it puff out as far as it wants. Ahh, just a little while longer.

But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the uncomfortable-but-I-know-I'll-want-to-have-them-someday pics. :)

7 weeks 2 days

I read this update in my weekly emails from "What to Expect" - thought I'd share because I liked the info. :)

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How's your baby measuring up this week? At a length of about half an inch right now, your baby has graduated from blueberry-sized to raspberry-sized. But weekly growth is getting a bit hard to estimate, and here's why: Growth occurs at about the rate of one millimeter each day, but that growth isn't necessarily just in height. Spurts can occur in the arms, legs, back, and other parts of your baby's body. So, big changes will be occurring every which way in the coming months.

What else is changing at 8 weeks pregnant? A close-up view of your little embryo (say cheese!) would reveal a more baby-like appearance (and thankfully, a less reptilian one). You'd see an upper lip forming, the protruding tip of that cute button nose, and tiny (and very thin) eyelids. And check out those hands and feet! Your baby's webbed fingers and toes are differentiating now, so give your baby a round of applause.
All this growing is exciting for your baby too. How do you know? His or her heart is beating at the incredible rate of 150 times per minute. (That's twice as fast as your heart beats.) Your baby's digs are growing, too. Amniotic fluid increases at a rate of about two tablespoons per week to accommodate your womb's growing tenant.

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6 weeks 4 days

I had my first prenatal appointment this morning!!

Luckily I had been forewarned by my fellow pregnant friends that it wouldn't be an exciting appointment. Sure enough, all they did was make me pee in a cup, sit me in a chair and talk to me, then draw half of the blood out of my body and fill it into bunch of little tubes.

I still enjoyed the appointment though. :) They gave me a tentative due date of February 25th, which is two days earlier than what I'm saying it is. (They're calculating based on first day of last period, I'm calculating based on day of ovulation, so my estimate is a bit more precise. Most times women don't know the day of ovulation, so the doc can't use this date.)

What I'm really excited about is that they're having me come in for my first ultrasound next Wednesday. It seems a little early to me (7 weeks 6 days according to their due date) but I'm fine with that. The sooner I get to see little Besido, the better. :)

6 weeks 2 days again

So I know I already posted today, but I just had to add another little story.

Today I went to lunch with the stats pod (aka statistics department) from work, and part of my meal was a salad from the salad bar. Somehow a black olive snuck onto my plate, and when I bit into it I nearly gagged. I've never liked them much, but this is definitely a heightened aversion to olives. Ever since I tasted that olive at lunch, I have smelled black olives everywhere I go. I came back to work, and as I walked through the halls I smelled black olives. I went to Kristin's office, and I smelled black olives. I sit here at my desk, and if I think about it enough, I smell black olives.

Ick ick ick.

By the way, despite the fact that this skirt makes my tummy looked smoothed-out (see previous post from today), I will not wearing it again for a while. I feel wrapped so tightly I can barely breathe.

6 weeks 2 days

Ah, the belly bulge. It is officially there. Never did I think that at 6 weeks I'd be hiding a tummy. I don't really weigh any more (this morning I was about 2 lbs more than when I weighed myself last week, but my weight regularly varies that much depending on the time of day and how much I've recently eaten). But my clothes are tight. I finally resolved over the weekend that for the next several weeks I am going to look like I've gained weight (and not a baby), and there is nothing I can do about it short of trying to wear looser clothing.

This morning I put on a skirt that went up to my belly button and a shirt over it that I thought made me look smooth and not bulgy. I also put on an open sweater to hide a little more. I thought I looked good. Then I got to work, and Sasi (who knows I'm pregnant) walked into my office and said, "Oh, wow, you look very..." and rubbed her belly. Great, so much for my disguise.

Wednesday is my first doctor's appointment. I'm definitely going to have to ask him or her if this early expansion is normal. I'm quite a distance from the "12 to 16 weeks" when I'm supposed to start "showing." (In fact, I'm only halfway there, haha.)