And Then There Were 3

I am 17 weeks pregnant now, and my baby is the size of a large onion!  That sure does make me like onion a lot more!    Also, my baby’s ears should be developing, and if I talk to him/her, he/she will start to be able to hear me!!  And I have some exciting news to announce!  I will have my big ultrasound on April 16th!!  I now know the date!  And, assuming the baby cooperates, I will know if we are having a boy or a girl.  I am really excited about finding out the sex of the baby.  Of course, I will be excited if it is either a boy or a girl.  But, if it’s a girl, I won’t be disappointed, but I may be surprised.  I have completely convinced myself that I am having a boy just because that is what I feel like I am having.  And, we have one boy name picked out.  But, for the life of me, I cannot think of a girl name that I want to name my child.  I have looked at many, many girl names, but nothing is jumping out at me as the one I should name my baby.  Well, I should know more in a few weeks.

 One of the other side affects of pregnancy are crazy dreams!!  I’ve had a few so far, starting as soon as I found out I was pregnant.  My most recent dream goes like this:

The other night, I dreamt that I had my baby, but when it came out, it was my cat, Belle!!  But, it was partly human, but had a cat face.  And she was bigger than she is now, so it was a HUGE baby!!  She could also already talk.  So, I asked her if she wanted to breastfeed, and of course she did because she is a cat and likes milk!  All of a sudden, we were at my church, and I was lugging around my humongous cat-baby, and trying to find a room to breastfeed her in, but there were people in all of the rooms I tried!  And my cat-baby was getting really hungry.  So, I ended up going into the bathroom.  But, that’s when I woke up (because I had to pee!) and the strange dream was over.  I HAVE noticed that my cat has been more clingy since then, though…..coincidence?  LOL!

I am leaving for Phoenix tomorrow, and have to go to Beaumont a couple of days the following week.  This will probably be my last trip to Phoenix for a while, because I think I will be too big by the time the next meeting comes around!  I’m excited to show off my new maternity clothes in Phoenix to all my coworkers!  It will be fun to see if they think I “look” pregnant.  I am still getting mixed reactions.  Some people can’t tell I am pregnant at all, and don’t think I am even showing at all.  And others say that I am showing.  Although, no one has really said that I REALLY look pregnant!  But, I guess I am kind of glad about that because I am only 17 weeks along and don’t want to be too big yet!

I am now 16 weeks pregnant, and my baby is the size of an avacado!!  There have been some exciting thing happening since I last posted.  First and foremost, I started to feel the baby move!  It just started this past week, and I’ve only felt it a few times so far.  I felt it one night last week, and wasn’t quite sure if that is what I had felt or not.  And then I felt the exact same thing the next day while I was sitting at work.  It kind of felt like popcorn popping inside of me.  I felt a few short movements, and then that was it.  It was really neat!!  I called Will to tell him the good news.  At first, he wasn’t sure he believed me because he thought it would take much longer before I felt anything.  But, then he got really excited too!  He just told me again this weekend how excited he is that I am having his baby.  And he also told me how beautiful I am!  Ok, that didn’t have anything to do with the baby, but I thought I would just throw that in there because it is always fun to hear. 

Last weekend I went on a shopping spree with my mom, Mimi, and my sister Ashley!  We had loads of fun!  Ok, I might have had the most fun, but I still think they got a kick out of watching me try on clothes.  They also had a “belly” at the maternity stores that you could try on under your clothes to make you look 3 months more pregnant than you are right now.  It was fun to see how I look now in the clothes, and then how I looked 3 months down the road in the same clothes!  It really did help in determining what pieces of clothing would last me through my pregnancy, and which ones wouldn’t really cut it.  I made out with some great staples for my wardrobe to get me started!  I got some really cute black pants, and another pair of kakhi pants that both fit really well.  And then I also got about 5 new tops to go with the pants, and one outfit that is a short set with the top to match.  I will be stylish now!  I still don’t completely fill out the clothes, but I think I am bigger this week than I was last week!  I know it won’t be too long now.  I also got this “belly band” that I can wear over the clothes to help make them “fit” better.  But I noticed that your top needs to be long enough to cover up the top of the pants and the band itself!

 I have worn the pants so far, but I have only worn one of the shirts.  The shirts REALLY make me look pregnant, so I am holding off a couple more weeks.  But, I did go shopping today at both Target and Ross.  Surprisingly, I had much better luck at Ross.  I was not too impressed with Target at all.  I have shopped there for my pre-maternity clothes, and liked them just fine.  However, the pants I tried on today were a horrible fit (not at all like the non-maternity pants that I bought there that are some of my favorite pants!).  The pants also seemed to be poorer quality than the non-maternity pants they have there.  And a lot of their tops where also very poor quality or made for someone who is at least 5′10.  The tops that were decent quality were made for women with very long torsos.  They looked quite odd on me.  I even tried on a dress that looked really cute on the hanger, but it just ended up looking like a tent when I tried it on.  Then I went to Ross.  They had horrible pants too.  But, they did have some decent tops!  So, I ended up buying 4 tops that I can wear right now, and after I deliver the baby, and will probably take me pretty far in my pregnancy.  So, that is good enough for me!

 I think I have enough clothes now to last me a while.  But, the next place I want to check out is Old Navy Maternity!  I looked online, and the one in Memorial City Mall, just by my house, is supposed to have a maternity section!  Woo-hoo!

 Ok, enough about clothes.  (I AM a girl after all, so I had to talk about them a little bit!)  I have been feeling pretty good!  I have gotten some of my energy back, which is nice.  And some of my “digestive” symptoms are starting to get better, so that is really good!  I have started to get some pregnancy pains, but nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing severe.  For example, if I lie in a certain position too long, or sit in the wrong chair too long, my back will hurt a bit.  And, the ligaments around my uterus have started to hurt at times because my belly and my baby are growing!  But, it is usually short term, so nothing too big.  I have started to make a mental list of things that I need to do pretty soon:

1. Visit the hospital where I will give birth to look at the rooms, find out more about the process, and pre-register.  I also want to find out if I will need a deposit or not.

2. Talk to my Health Insurance provider to see what will be covered for my delivery.

3. Start looking at daycare facilities in the area, and get on a waiting list if necessary!  I hear those fill up fast for newborns!

4. Make room in our house for the baby!

I’ve already started clearing out some of my clothes and my drawers to make room for the baby clothes, blankets, etc.  But, we also need to move around some furniture to make room for the crib and other baby accessories.  It’ll be fun!

Ok, check out my new ticker!

Quote of the Day: It’s not fat, it’s Maternal Storage Tissue.

My baby is now 3 inches long and roughly the size of a jumbo shrimp!  Remember that the next time you go out for seafood.  My baby already has fingerprints, and his most critical development is already completed.  This is also officially the first day of my 2^nd Trimester!  They call this the “Feel Good Trimester.”  I am 1/3 of the way there!  I can’t believe it has gone by so fast already.  There is still so much more to be done, but the baby is still so far away.  I can’t really imagine what it’s going to be like to hold my baby in my arms.  I know it will be so much more intense than anything I can fathom in my head.  I am still very excited and can’t wait!  On a good note, I am starting to feel a little better.  I never had morning sickness, but I sure did have some digestive issues, which now seem to be subsiding.  I am also not quite as exhausted as I once was.  Don’t get me wrong, I am still usually in bed by 9:30pm most days because I just can’t keep my eyes open any longer.  But, I have more general energy throughout the day now compared to a month or two ago.

I had my 2^nd doctor’s appointment this past Monday.  Everything is going well!  I got to hear the baby’s heartbeat again!  Although, it took the technician a few minutes to find it.  She had to press down kind of hard on the side of my stomach before she could hear the heartbeat, but it was nice and fast like it should be.  Also, I haven’t gained any weight yet since my first visit, which is fantastic!  And they also took the full blood work-up samples.  My arm hurt for a few days from where they drew the blood!  Ouch!  They will test for just about every disease you can think of that might affect the baby, and I’ll find out on my next visit if there is anything that I need to worry about.  Barring any surprises, I should be just fine.

It is interesting that I can still go about my day pretty normally, even though I am pregnant.  The world hasn’t stopped; in a way, you kind of expect that it will, and that everyone will dance with joy around you because you are pregnant.  I’m still not big enough yet where people can tell that I am pregnant, but I want to tell everyone I meet!  I want everyone to know that I am pregnant with my first child!  I do tell more people that I probably need to, but when else will I get the chance?  I end up telling store clerks, people in elevators, and of course everyone at ALL of my offices!  I went to one of my offices on Friday, and they kept telling me to sit down every time I would get up to talk to one of them!  I thought it was funny.  I kept assuring them that I sit plenty throughout the day, and my baby will be just fine.

I went and bought new shoes today!  I love the feeling of having a brand new pair of shoes that you absolutely love!  I wanted to buy something that is more flat since I will be getting big soon, and my feet will be swelling.  So, I bought some flats that are leopard print (I know!  So unlike me, huh?), and have a keyhole cut out in the front by the toes.  They are sooo comfortable, and super cute!  And they are a tiny bit big so that they will still fit when my feet start to swell.

And speaking of shopping, I went looking at lots of fun baby items with my mom and my sister a few weeks ago at both Target and Babys R Us.  I definitely think that I will register at both places.  My doctor mentioned that after my next visit, then she will schedule my ultrasound!  And this will be the one where we will find out if the baby is a boy or a girl, assuming the baby cooperates.  I will definitely keep everyone posted!  As soon as we know the sex of the baby, Will and I will go and officially register.  There was SO much stuff to look at and to choose from!!  Thankfully, I was able to get a really good idea going with my mom and sister.  Also, there are lots of baby magazines and baby websites that will give you lists of things that you will most likely need.  And I plan on asking my friends who just had kids if there were any items they wish they would have registered for that they didn’t, or items that they couldn’t do without on their registry!  So far, I am thinking of a “safari theme” for the baby items.  But, we’ll see when Will comes with me.  I want him to decide as well. 

And now, your vocabulary words of the day:

Preggo – the affectionate name for all women who are pregnant.  You say “She’s a Preggo” when she is pregnant.  Try it!  It’s fun!

Pregnant Brain – the forgetfulness that seems to affect ALL pregnant women.  Really, I will blink and whatever it was that I was supposed to remember has completely left my brain.  And most of the time, I don’t have any recollection that I was supposed to remember something to begin with!

Ok, so I had more “vocabulary words”, but as usual, I have forgotten them.  Oh well, I will try to remember more the next time I write!  Well, that is all for now.  Leave your comments on this website!  I would love to hear what you think about my site!