This and That

The kid is growing in leaps and bounds. She's measuring 1 lbs 10 oz right now, and my due date was bumped up to the 7th of April. At least its moving in the right direction. She is supposed to double in size again this month, so that should be interesting... I already can't see my feet, so double that will be...fun. I'm getting a little worried that she's taking after Alan's side of the family. Alan and his brothers (excluding one) were rather hefty babies, always around 8-9 lbs. That's a big kid to come out of a not so big place.

This is my last month in the second trimester. That's a little weird to think about. I haven't had too many problems this trimester. Its been pretty nice. I still get a lot of hiccups. That's my unique pregnancy symptom. I get really big, squawking hiccups, but only one or two at a time. The nurse chocked it up to pressure pushing on my diaphragm. Alan just thinks I sound like a bird a laughs. Oh well. Still, for the most part, it hasn't been that bad.

23 Weeks

There's my 23 week belly. I have another ultrasound on Thursday, so that should be exciting. She was 13 ounces last time, so lets see how much she's grown...

Kung Fu Master

Our little girl has been trying out some new moves. She would not sit still all day yesterday. She was constantly kicking and moving and stretching, and man, it started hurting. And she started kicking HARD. For the first time I was able to see my stomach jump and move when she would kick. By the end of the morning I was feeling rather battered, but she kept it up all day. Alan said she must be running out of room and is trying to stretch me out faster. I'm just glad she's settled down today.

Cramped

Its like a giant chess game trying to get everything to fit nicely in our tiny apartment. If I move these over there then I have room for this here, but what about that over there, and where will this go? Too bad I'm really horrible at chess...

I have finally got the last load of baby gear packed away. Everything is labeled and sorted and ready to go, at least for now. I'm starting to have to find creative places to put things, like behind the couch or in the pantry. Maybe someday my house will be organized.

Speaking of running out of space, the kid had developed a new technique. I call it her octopus dance. I swear sometimes she has 8 arms and legs all kicking me in different places at the same time. Normally she's most active after I eat or when I go to bed, but she got me up early this morning with her little antics. She must have been hungry or something, because right about 7am she started wiggling all over the place and wouldn't let me go back to sleep until I got up and ate breakfast. The little bugger...

Happy Birthday Alan

Since I don't have any cake pans to speak of, I used the next best thing I could find.

Lesson Learned: Using pie pans = funny looking cakes

My New Desktop Picture

Isn't he adorable? Our little niece fell in love with Alan over Thanksgiving break and followed him around everywhere.

He's going to be such a good Daddy :)

Leaving on a Jet Plane

After spending a week(ish) in Oregon, Alan and I flew back to Provo.

(Oh yeah, we're having a girl!!!)

Flying while pregnant was an interesting experience. I've heard how pregnant ladies can cut through long security lines by claiming that the metal detector thing will do something to the baby, so they get bumped up the line and only subjected to the body wand. But the lines weren't bad, so I didn't feel the need to employ that tactic.

The flight itself wasn't too bad. Takeoff was fine (besides the slight sensation of the kid dropping), the pressure change was fine, flying was fine... Landing, now that's a different story. As soon as we started descending, I could feel it and the kid could feel it. She got really active and started squirming and kicking everything she could, including my stomach and bladder. So not only was I starting to feel pretty airsick, but if I moved wrong I felt like I was going to wet my pants. Once we landed and I was able to start walking around she calmed down, but it was pretty hectic for a little while in there...

Halfway!

I'm am 20 weeks as of today and officially halfway through this pregnancy. Some exciting things have been happening...

The kid's started moving! Well, I guess its always been moving around down there, but I can feel it now. And if he can catch it in time, Alan can feel it too. It feels like something is flicking me from the inside, kinda like a little pulse. Its a weird feeling...

We go in for the big ultrasound tomorrow to find out the gender. I've been so sure that its a girl, but the next day I'm just as sure that its a boy. So no real 'premonitions' or anything. Its funny how many people have asked if I've had dreams of what the baby is. That's kinda an odd question...

I've grown out of my pants. I finally broke down and bought down a pair of maternity jeans, and they are the new love of my life. I don't know why I hung on to my old jeans for so long. They're stretchy have the big funny looking panel that goes all the way over the belly, but I couldn't love them more.

Woah...

Pregnancy dreams...are something else.

Example: We go to visit my OBGYN. But, as it turns out, my in-laws are suddenly my new OBGYN. I'm sitting there in one of those awkward little paper sheets waiting for my ultrasound, when my new "doctors" come in to tell me that we have to go someplace else for the ultrasound. I get in my car to follow my "doctors" (still wearing the paper sheet) and while I'm driving, I look over at Alan in the passenger seat and he has a pumpkin head. Or rather, a pumpkin on his head. Like he's wearing a big Jack-O-Lantern. As we get closer to the ultrasound place, I see that there are a few pumpkin eaters waiting for us (and pumpkin eaters have pumpkin heads too...I guess...). To save Alan, I speed past the pumpkin eaters and get them to chase us. I pull into a parking lot to fishtail around and pass them, but suddenly Steve Martin pops out of the bushes on a motorbike and is coming after us. We pass the pumpkin eaters and Alan takes off his pumpkin and throws it to them and they start eating, but Steve Martin is still on our tail and...

I wake up.

Why I like the Second Trimester...

...Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

Still, there are a lot of reasons why the second trimester is better than the first:

• Food looks, smells, and sounds appealing
• I actually get hungry
• No more gagging when I brush my teeth
• or eat
• or smell
• or anything. Pretty much no more gagging
• I'm starting to look more pregnant...no more need to slip the fact into random conversations with strangers
• Ultrasounds...need I say more?
• Fetal movement
• More energy
• No more tender and achy...boobs
• Did I mention that I like to eat again?

Pretty much, its just a heck of a lot better.

Accomplishing something

I actually got some things done today. Some days its really hard to find the motivation (or the energy) to get anything done around our apartment. But I finally accomplished some stuff today! I finally finished sorting and labeling all of the hand-me-down baby clothes we got and found a place to put them that was not on the living room floor (quite the feat considering the size of our apartment). I rearranged our closet somewhat to make room for a lot of things, including the frame to our bed that we can't use anymore since the bed broke. And I put away the laundry.

Its not a huge, impressive list of things, but I'm happy with myself!

15 weeks and starting to show

I have to say that this is pretty exciting for me. For weeks I've been in the inbetween stage where I just looked like I ate too much for lunch. But now I'm slowly starting to look like I'm getting more pregnant that just getting fatter. :) Granted, I'm sure it still looks debatable at this point from someone who doesn't know, but its a step in the right direction!

I have my 16 week appointment next week. The 12 week was very exciting because of the early ultrasound, but we're not sure if my doctor will do another one at this next appointment. He did allude to the fact that at 16 weeks we could possibly find out the gender, so does that mean that we'll get another one?? If nothing else, I guess we'll have the big 20 week ultrasound to look forward too...

Alan and I have both admitted to secretly hoping its a girl. I just recently found out that I'm thinking that, but I guess he's been hoping that for a long time without saying anything. I really don't want to say anything definitive, but I guess I kinda just did... Oh well. We'll just have to see what we get when it comes.

Sleep

I have had the worst time sleeping the past week or so. It has gotten to the point where there is only one comfortable position I can fall asleep in, and if I vary from it in any way, I'm up half the night. For obvious reasons I can't sleep on my stomach, sleeping on my back makes everything ache, and sleeping on my left side hurts my lower back for some reason. The only position that works is on my left side, slightly curled with a pillow between my knees, and one arm under my head pillow. If I don't fall asleep fast enough, sometimes even that gets uncomfortable. To quote "The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy" :

"Some Stepford Wives cheerfully told me that this was nature's way of preparing me for the sleepless nights that I would experience as a new mother. That's like saying dieting will prepare you for starvation! As far as I was concerned, a nature that was capable of giving chameleons the gift of disguise wouldn't be stupid enough to think that the cure for no sleep was more no sleep."

I'm just under 13 weeks, and its only going to get worse from here...

Pants

I've come to find that my pants aren't quite fitting like they used to. They still button up and are fine when I'm up and about, but sitting tends to get quite uncomfortable. Often times (when I'm at home) I've found I have to at least undo the top button if not part of the zipper as well. This leads me to an interesting problem of trying to sit down in public. I have dipped into Alan's exercise pants on occasion, but they aren't exactly the best thing to wear around anyone but Alan, seeing as how they have a huge rip in the crotch. And I haven't gotten so desperate yet that I'm wearing his jeans. I have come up with a temporary solution to my shrinking pants problem, at least until my bloat gets too big for it. I've resorted to the old close your pants with a rubber band looped through the button hole method. But again, this creates another problem. With my pants a little looser, I've discovered that I often have the plumbers crack syndrome...

So the choice is, wear my pants normally until they get so tight I can't stand it anymore, or help them survive longer and just make sure I'm wearing a long enough shirt? Decisions, decisions...

Pregnancy Insanity

That's the 'medical' term for what the increased amounts of progesterone during pregnancy does to the female psyche. In other words, it makes me:

• Ask Alan at least three times a day whether or not I have taken my prenatal vitamins (always after I have already taken them)
• Not just experience the misty-eyes-and-a-few-sniffles movie cry, but full-body, uncontrollable racking sobs while watching "Les Mis"
• Ask Alan a question, then a few minutes later ask him the same question because I've already forgotten what his answer was
• Have vivid dreams about competing in "The Amazing Race" when I suddenly lose all my clothes and only have a blanket to cover me while living as the only married couple in the Riviera Apartment complex and the Joker is out to get Alan who has just been given the ranking of "Knight"
• Threaten to throw things at Alan on a regular basis
• Get so incredibly mad at Alan's computer for restarting in the middle of my "Harvest Moon" game and erasing all my progress that I won't speak to it or even look at it for days

That's all I can think of right now.

Sunday, September 14th, 2008

I'm about 10 weeks along now. We made it back to Provo alright, but it wasn't a very fun ride. At least its over with. I've thrown up a couple more times, but things haven't been too bad. It just depends on the day. Some days I'm just fine, and other days my stomach is churning so bad I can hardly do anything. I'm really ready for the first trimester to be over. I finally have insurance now. I'm on the Baby Your Baby program until Medicaid comes through. I have a pre-doctor's appointment (with just the nurse) tomorrow, and then my first appointment with the OB on the 2nd when Alan can go with me. I had to make some compromises, and so the doctor I"m going to see is a guy. But I liked his credentials, and he looks like he's nice from his picture. And he's with the American Fork hospital, and they have really nice facilities. And I know that if I don't like him, I can always change and find a different doctor. Alan and I have new callings in our ward. We're going to be nursery workers. :) I"m really excited for it. Not only is it a fun calling, but that means I get snack time!

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

I made it through my last week of work at the pool. Finally. I thought it would never come. My stomach is still not too happy, which make it hard to sit down at the pool all day everyday. But it's done now and I'm glad. Now we just have to pack up all of our stuff into our little car and drive home. My stomach was feeling a little better the last few days, or so I thought. I threw up for the first time this morning, and it wasn't very pleasant. So I'm not sure what I would rather have, my tummy more upset but everything staying down, or it feeling a little better but throwing up. I don't know. I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

I'm about six weeks along now, and the morning, or rather all-day, sickness has set in. It seems like everything turns my stomach, and my stomach is never settled. I haven't been throwing up, thank goodness, but I've come close a few times. Everything seems to be turning me off. I can't really stand chicken, or milk, cereal, and sort of ham sandwich... chocolate is ok in small amounts, but I can't stand the smell of it. Smells really bother me. We went out to dinner last night with Alan's office, and I was doing really well until all the main courses came out. I was just bombarded with all the smells of all the different foods... It was really hard to handle. I barely ate any of my own dinner. I had to take most of it home it was so bad. I'm ready to go home to Utah, but I'm really not looking forward to the long drive. Even short drives get my stomach churning.

Saturday, August 9th, 2008

We started telling everyone yesterday. Alan's mom called saying that she got the package and she opened it on the phone with us listening. After I went down to the pool I called my mom and told her. She got more and more excited the longer we stayed on the phone. Alan posted a picture of the last home pregnancy test we took on eleventhirteen to let the rest of my family know. Alan called and let Craig and Katie know, and I told the other Icon wives that are here last night. It was fun to finally let everyone know. It was a lot of answering the same questions over and over again. :)

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

I took another home pregnancy test this morning... still says pregnant. We ordered and mailed off the "Grandmother" Willow Tree figurine to Alan's mom, so as soon as it gets there, we'll start telling everyone.

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

Pregnant?!? I've been feeling a lot...different lately. Instead of my normal endometriosis pain that just pokes and pinches really hard in certain spots, its been a dull ache and a feeling of tightness in my whole abdomen. I've had to pee a lot and whenever I get hungry my stomach almost hurts too much to eat anything. So I took a home pregnancy test this morning, and it came back positive. I can't say I was really surprised, I kinda had a gut feeling that I was pregnant. I this we were both just really scared when it came back positive. At least I know I was terrified. I'm happy, I'm really happy, but at the same time really scared. We're still kind of denying it. My period isn't supposed to come until Monday or Tuesday, so there is still that slim chance that it was a false positive. We'll test again on Wednesday just to make sure. We've decided not to tell anyone until we're 100% positive that I really am pregnant. It was hard because I talked to my mom and two girlfriends today, and they all asked my "if I thought I was pregnant" or when my period was due. I wanted to tell them so bad, but I held my tongue and I didn't...

New Blog

This is our first blog ever. We're still trying to figure out how it all works. It seems fairly simple...