Bell pepper photo shoot.

Baby Veale is 5.5 inches long this week, that's the length of this pepper including the stem. The pups wanted their pictures taken this week too and Fenway was very interested in the pepper!

Things to appreciate while I can...

I got this post idea from another pregnant blogger (expecting twins!!!!!!) at Red Fish Blue Fish .

Here's a list of things I am really appreciating while I still can...

1.  Dangling earrings; once Baby starts getting grabby I certainly won't want to be wearing anything he or she can pull out of my ears!  So I'm making sure I get plenty of wear out of them while I can!

2.  Loving my belly; I've never had a super body image.  I know I was a healthy weight but I just never felt incredibly comfortable with my midsection.  Right now I'm loving my bigger belly.  I still think I tend to look overweight instead of pregnant in clothing, but I love the way my bare belly looks.  I stop to check it out in the full length mirror every morning and night and it makes me smile. 

3.  Sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time;  Newborns feed every 2 hours!?!  I didn't know this one until I started reading my pregnancy books.  Yeah I knew I'd be getting way less sleep but didn't realize it would only be in 2 hour intervals!

4.  Puppy snuggle time; I am smothering Wally and Fenway now because once Baby Veale arrives it will all be Baby snuggle time!

Wally thinks I bought the pregnancy pillow for him.

5.  Long showers; I am enjoying showering on my own schedule.  It won't be long before I'll be hopping in for a super quick shower when I can get Baby entertained or asleep.

6.  Dessert;  I surprisingly don't want it as often as I thought I would, but when I do I'm not feeling guilty about indulging in dessert :-)

7.  Non-baby proofed house; It will still be quite a while before we have to worry about Baby getting into outlets or cabinets but I will enjoy not having to press extra buttons or levers in order to get something out of a cabinet!

If you can think of anything else I should be taking full advantage of now while I can, let me know!

18 Week Update

This week Baby Veale is the length of a bell pepper;  5.5 inches long and weighs in at 7 ounces.  He or she is busy flexing arms and legs, which I should be able to feel soon!  And the boy or girl parts should all be in place by now so all Baby Veale has to do on July 9^th is show us the goods!  Hopefully there’s not a shy baby in there.

HUNGER has been my biggest change this week.  I went from having to force myself to eat to getting incredibly hungry throughout the day.  I’m not constantly hungry which is good, but when I get hungry, it’s a savage kind of hunger.  No one better get in the way of me and my meal of choice! 

This morning I took Baby Veale out for their very first run.  I was on pelvic rest for the entire first trimester and then had been too nervous to do much until now.  The weekly pilates classes have been great and leave me sore, but you know me, I need more!  I hit the track at 0600 (yup, breaking out the military time) and got in a nice easy mile and a half.  I started out too fast and realized I wasn’t in the conversation zone (all the outdated textbooks say you should always be able to hold a conversation while working out to ensure your heart rate is not too high, and since I’m being an overly cautious pregnant woman, I’ll stick to that guidance for now) so I stopped to walk for a minute after the first lap.  But then I finished the rest of the workout without any breaks.  It felt great and it was a beautiful sunny 70 degree morning so I could have gone further but I figured I’d see how my body handles the workout before I do that.  So far, so good; I’m still feeling great and energized and excited to do it again.

New pregnancy symptoms of the week have been carpal tunnel and back pain, woo hoo!  I’ve had issues with carpal tunnel in the past, mostly just numbness /tingling in my hands but now it’s that and wrist pain.  The back pain is due to my organs moving around and the baby/uterus moving up and out which throws off my posture.  Poor hubby who has back issues said “now you know what I feel like” and I may have turned into crazy pregnant Kristen and replied with something along the lines of “YEAH, TRY ADDING 20 OTHER SYMPTOMS TO THAT, I’M PREGNANT, YEAH, IT’S JUST LIKE HOW YOU FEEL.”  Sorry, hubby!  He never knows when the switch will be flipped from normal Kristen to crazy pregnant Kristen.  In reality I do empathize with his back pain now, I’ll have to be sure to tell him that today.

I don’t think I’ve shared my most amusing pregnancy brain moment that happened a few weeks ago.  I was at work and wanted to ask Dan if he had Thursday off.  So I proceeded to open up Google and type in “Do you have next Thursday off?”  Turns out Google can’t answer everything.

How far along? 18 weeks

Total weight gain/loss:  down 3.5 lbs overall…but a .5 lb increase from last week, yes I’m counting that half a pound, don’t judge!

Maternity clothes?  No, only because I haven’t gotten the time/motivation to go buy some!  I’m living in dresses.

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Better!  Still waking up every couple of hours but I think that’s something I just have to get used to. 

Best moment this week:  Going for my first run in four months this morning then coming into work to free ice cream (at 8am); for research purposes of course.

Miss Anything?  Not being a picky eater. 

Movement: No :-( Come on Baby, start letting me know you are there!

Food cravings: Baked potato soup with cheese from La Madeleine!  Debating whether it's worth it to drive out there at lunch time...I'd have to stay at work later since it would take longer than a normal lunch break.  hhhmmmm.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Everything except for baked potato soup from La Madeleine, raw veggies, fruit, or pasta.

Have you started to show yet: I’ve started to look overweight but not really pregnant.

Gender prediction: July 9^th can’t come soon enough.  I referred to the baby by the name we have picked out for a boy the other day, I’m wondering if my instincts are telling me something.

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!  Still easily annoyed though, just be super nice to me and we won’t have any problems, haha.

Looking forward to: July 9^th! 

10 months??

Whenever anyone asks how far along I am I answer in weeks.  I know that they don't really care about how many weeks and that they really want an answer in months...there's always a moment where I can see them doing the math in their heads or sometimes they just come right out and ask, "how many months is that?"  This question is not as easy to answer as one might think.

Doctors and all of the books, apps, and information websites out there start the timeline before you are even pregnant.  The earliest you even find out you are pregnant (I'm talking naturally here, not the fancy early response tests) is 4 weeks!  So one month is down before you even knew it!  So there are nine months left after that point. But those doctors and books all say 40 weeks, that's 10 MONTHS!!!  So as I hit 18 weeks tomorrow, I am not quite halfway yet.  Halfway in the counting weeks world is 20 weeks. 

So when I'm asked how many months I am, I'm not quite sure how to answer.  Technically at 18 weeks I'm 4.5 months.  But then people would assume that I'm due in 4.5 months when in reality I'm due in 5 months.  I guess I'll have to just start giving a swag, I mean no one would really expect me to say 4.5 months, so I'll just go with 4 months for now.  And when I spend an extra week telling people I'm a certain month, hopefully they won't notice!  :-)

I guess we can't complain about being pregnant for 10 months though when elephants are pregnant for 22 MONTHS!  Eeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkk, no thanks!

 

Nesting???

I am overwhelmed with home "to-do's" and I have been patiently waiting for the nesting phase of pregnancy to kick in.  I have been so tired and unmotivated that all I want to do during my time off is lay in bed!  Well we have a family friend coming to move in with us in a week and a half...so I guess I don't have time to wait for the nesting phase to kick in, it's time to get my butt in gear!

Normally having a guest wouldn't be a problem, except we are going to need a nursery before he is due to move out.  So we are turning the guest room into a nursery since it's on the same level as our room and then turning the gym into a guest room.  Not to mention, my brother is moving in 3 months before our other tenant is scheduled to move out so we will also be converting the office into a living space for him.  How much of this had we started as of last week?  Almost none!  We moved out the gym equipment but quickly replaced it with things being displaced from other storage places around the house that we are now losing.  Hubby built a closet in the soon to be guest room where the entrance to the laundry room had been which meant he had to turn the den closet into an entrance to the laundry room.  Other than that, nothing has been done!  Here's what the new guest room looked like on Saturday:

I spent all day Saturday clearing things out and finding new homes for everything.  Although lack of motivation wasn't my only problem, boy do I get tired out and thirsty quickly!  I had to stop about every 20 minutes to put my feet up and drink some water!  But here's the end result:

Okay, it still doesn't look like a guest room, but the rest is up to Hubby since moving furniture is not on my pregnancy comfort list.

Sunday I had to attack some closet space.  We lost a closet in the den, the extra storage space we had in the gym, and the closet in the nursery since that will now belong to Baby Veale.  Here's the mess I had to start with:

After a trip to Goodwill and lots of garbage bags brought to the curb, I got it down to this:

Look, there's even room for more stuff!!!  

Okay, now that I've bored you to death with this post, if you even made it this far, I will promise to post similar before and after pictures of the NURSERY!  Now that will not be boring!

Woe is me...

There are a lot of daily activities that have gotten much harder for me since becoming pregnant and I'm sure the list will get longer as my body changes more.  So here's my moment of being a cry baby (pretend I look this cute while doing so!) 

1.  Getting out of bed in the morning.  It's not difficult to wake up, that I have no problem with, but the physical act of lifting my head off the pillow and putting my feet on the floor has gotten to be a big struggle.  I generally wake up to use the restroom...for the second time...between 3:30 and 4 am so when the alarm goes off at 5:30 I feel like I just got into bed.  I also feel heavier.  Even though the scale hasn't changed much I feel like my skin is full of sand and it's so hard to move!

2.  Brushing my teeth.  This has gotten much better since the first trimester but the increased gag reflex and the increased congestion means dry heaving into the sink between scrubbing teeth.  Probably more than you wanted to know, but I'm being honest here!

3.  Getting dressed.  Since I'm still in the in-between my normal clothes and maternity clothes stage, I generally have to nix the first hundred outfits I try on in the morning either because they feel too tight and uncomfortable or they legitimately will not zipper anymore. 

4.  Getting to work on time.  See 1, 2, and 3.

5.  Remembering anything.  Where was I going with this post?

6.  Deciding what I want for lunch/dinner.  There are so many cravings and aversions that I can't seem to keep my tummy and Baby's tummy happy.

7.  Saving money.  Even though I know it's more important than ever to start really saving money I want to buy myself new comfortable clothes and shoes and I want to buy baby stuff and I want to buy things just because that's what I do when I'm moody.  Luckily Dan still has his head on straight and has already started a college fund and some other investments.

8.  Drive.  Those seat belts are not made with pregnant women in mind!  Eventually when the belly gets bigger I guess I'll be able to situate the belt below it.  But right now it just adds more pressure to places that don't need any more!  AND with the increased hormones, everyone's driving annoys me beyond no end.

9.  Fall Asleep.  There's so much to thing about and plan for!  My mind is always racing when it needs to be settling down to go to sleep.  On top of that I cannot get comfortable and like I've mentioned before, I hate sleeping on my side.  I've learned a few tricks to keep myself in slightly more comfortable positions but it's still a challenge.

Despite all this, I am enjoying being pregnant.  I also know that this list is nothing compared to the things that will be difficult to do with a baby in the house so I'm just preparing myself.  :-)  I am just so excited for November!!!
 

Onion Bump!

I was nervous to take a picture with an onion because they've been high on my list of aversions, but here I am with a smile on my face!  Excuse the outfit but the combination of the fitted clothes and having just eaten a nice big dinner helped emphasize my baby bump! 

And here's the bump!  It's still looking more like a bag of donuts than a nice round baby bump, but either way there's a growing baby in there!!

Week 17 Update!

Baby Veale weighs as much as a turnip this week at 5 ounces and is about 5 inches long from crown to rump.  Another half inch growth spurt this week.  A lot is going on with Baby Veale; her or his skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone and the umbilical cord is growing stronger and thicker...which is good since apparently Baby likes to suck on it (we got to see it happening at the 13 week ultrasound!)  And Baby can move his or her joints and sweat glands, body fat (why does a chubby sweaty baby sound cute but a chubby sweaty me, not so much???) and fingerprints are forming this week! 

I've started to learn what it means to relax.  I don't think I had ever really relaxed in my life! I have the occasional day when I sit on the couch in my pj's for a couple hours but that's more of a recover and recuperation from my normal life style than actually relaxing.  I think this new relaxed feeling that I've experienced is due to the placenta releasing a hormone (yes, more hormones, gosh there are a lot of them) called relaxin.  Relaxin's job is just as it sounds, it relaxes all of your muscles which will obviously be helpful during labor.  I must say that I'm enjoying this rather zen feeling (usually while sipping a decaf flavored latte with whipped cream and a hand on my belly) and I'll have to find a way to channel it after pregnancy.

I'm still not looking noticeably pregnant which kind of has me down.  I'm certainly looking wider, but it's not really a belly.  Honestly I'm just feeling fat which is also making me have a difficult time with cravings.  Being so health conscious before pregnancy makes me leery of all of the odd cravings.  They say that your body will crave foods that contain nutrients your baby needs.  There are instances where I use this as justification, like those delicious decaf lattes I've been enjoying; they are the only way I'm getting milk down my throat and calcium is important so I'll take those extra grams of sugar because of it.  But when I want things like crab rangoons (why do I want them so badly?) I cannot think of any nutrients that this would give me that I cannot get from a healthy source so I do not give into them.  Well, I haven't given in yet...this one's just getting stronger though!   So I'll continue to battle the cravings!

New symptom this week is crazy vivid dreams!  I hardly ever had memorable dreams before and now I have crazy dreams multiple times a night.  The only explanation I've found for this symptom is that since pregnant women wake up multiple times a night it's more likely to wake up during a REM cycle and be able to remember the dreams.  Most of the dreams have been life like and scary.  The worst of which was when I dreamed it was Saturday and woke up to an alarm clock on a Thursday! ;-)

How far along? 17 weeks

Total weight gain/loss:  down 4 lbs overall…but a 2 lb increase from last week.

Maternity clothes?  Not yet but more of my clothes aren’t fitting comfortably anymore; I had to wake Dan up to help me zip up my dress yesterday…

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Better!  Still waking up every couple of hours but I think that’s something I just have to get used to.

 

Best moment this week:  Getting a Decaf Campfire Mocha from Caribou coffee, there are marshmallows and chocolate in it AND you get to choose from white, milk, or dark chocolate!  Haha, I’m easy to please.

Miss Anything?  All of my pretty heels…I cannot walk in them anymore, thanks clumsiness. 

Movement: not really, I had a strange flutter feeling when we put the iPod playing classical music on my belly…maybe that’s the “quickening” they talk about…even if it’s not I’m pretending  that it’s Baby!  I’m starting to get antsy in anticipation of feeling deliberate movement;  I’ve read that it generally happens between week 16 and week 18, but for first pregnancies it tends to be on the later end.

Food cravings: Crab Rangoons.

Anything making you queasy or sick: anything with a strong scent.  Bacon (pork in general), sweet potatoes, bananas, and onions are still on the aversion list among many other things.

Have you started to show yet: I’ve started to look overweight but not really pregnant. 

Gender prediction: We’ll find out on July 9^th if Baby cooperates!  I’m so excited!

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!  But easily annoyed…I think people have become worse drivers in the past couple of weeks, I get really stressed out while driving!

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender, getting a pedicure, and someone giving me a good excuse to eat a Crab Rangoon…anyone?

Nursery Inspiration

I am so excited to find out Baby Veale's gender.  Only 20 more days, but who's counting?  So for the next 20 days I will be narrowing down nursery ideas so I can start working on it as soon as possible!

Let's start with the boy's nursery.  I am an Etsy addict, if you haven't discovered all the cool and unique hand made items on Etsy yet, get you butt cursor over there to take a look!  Anyways, I had been struggling with a theme for a boy nursery, but as soon as I saw these amazing wall letters on Etsy I knew it would be RED SOX!!!

(The baby's name will not be Brody.)  I don't know what took me so long to come to the realization that a Red Sox theme nursery would be perfect, I mean our dogs are named Fenway and Wally (their mascot).  Playing around on Pinterest (another addicting website) I found a few more photos for inspiration.

 The red and blue bedding as well as a navy blue glider will be on the must have list.  As well as this amazing Fenway scoreboard!

So while I thought I'd be a little disappointed in not being able to buy pink frilly clothing, I will be so excited to put together a Red Sox nursery if we find out Baby Veale is a boy!

Now let's move on to the girl nursery.  I haven't gotten any real theme inspiration but I do know that baby girl will have a chandelier in her room.  The walls in the nursery are already a bright blue shade so I think we will keep with it and go with a blue and bright pink theme...our wedding colors to boot, oh how I could go for that pretty candy buffet right now!  Ah, back on track...

Other than knowing that I want lots of bright pink accents (I've already scoped out an awesome lamp at the antique store and a bright pink glider) I don't think I'll have an overwhelming theme.   But I have been loving elephants lately.  I think there might be some random elephant accents thrown in around the room.

Tomorrow marks week 17 for Baby Veale.  The produce size comparison for tomorrow is one of my strong food aversions so I may be searching the market for something similarly sized! :-)

Worth it.

I have been complaining an awful lot lately.  I seem to be getting every pregnancy symptom in the book and most of them are not the most desirable.  I often hear back from people that the end result will be worth it.  I cannot wait for "the end result!"  I cannot wait to feel my heart expand the first time I hold my baby, I am so excited to be a mom.

But the truth is, it's already worth it.  I cannot accurately describe how much I already love this little baby growing inside of me; yes the same one my doctor described as a tumor when I complained of nausea, cramps, headaches, congestion, food aversions, and now back pain and strange dreams.  I lay in bed at night, horribly uncomfortable on my side, but once I place my hand on my growing belly and think of the baby, MY baby that's growing there, I can't help but smile.  It's an immense love that I have no words for and I know that it will only grow stronger.

Not only is my love for Baby Veale growing stronger each day, I also feel more connected to Dan than ever before.  If you ever wondered why pregnant women rest their hand on or rub their bellies all of the time, it's because it brings on an amazing feeling of connection and love to the baby and to his or her father.  And it's not just the growing love and connection to Dan that makes it more special, it's also the whole new side of him it brings out.  There is nothing like seeing your husband wheeling around dozens of different strollers through the aisles of the store or analyzing the safety of different car seats.  And it feels wonderful when he shows up at the house with whatever food I am craving that day!

On a side note, I have an important date to share!  On July 9th, provided Baby Veale is not camera shy, we should find out if we are having a boy or girl!

Avocado Photo Shoot!

This week Baby Veale is the length of an avocado.  It's important to remember that we are talking length here because the avocado does look smaller than the nice round apple, but it is indeed longer!

Baby Veale is half an inch longer than last week!  I wish I could get that much taller in one week! 

I'm still looking forward to the day that I'll look obviously pregnant.  Then I won't feel the need to ask the Starbuck's barista 30 times if they are sure my drink is decaf!  :-)  I'm only five feet tall so as soon as Baby gets his or her growth spurt I'll definitely pop, there's no where else for the belly to go but out!

Everyone keeps telling me that I need to eat more since I'm now eating for two.  In reality, a pregnant woman only needs to get 300 more calories a day than she usually consumes.  So while the "eating for two" excuse is great when I feel the need to eat two cans of clam chowder for lunch or to have a lunch with 5lbs of cheese in it...this was so good...

I decided I needed a calzone after seeing a picture of one.  It was surprisingly difficult to find a place that would make one with broccoli and tomato, which of course was not something I was willing to fold on!  Anyways off topic!  "Eating for two" is not a valid argument for people to try to force me to eat cake or other equally bad for me things, so that's kind of annoying me this week.

Actually most things are annoying me this week!  Lack of sleep and pregnancy hormones are bringing out a new side of Kristen!  Dan's doing a great job of dealing with it and continuing to spoil me which makes me happy.  I smile every time I think about what a great dad he will be. :-)

Wow this was a random rambling post!  That about sums up how I'm feeling this week!

Old Wives Tales Battle

I cannot wait to find out if Baby Veale is a he or a she.  In the mean time let's see what the Old Wives Tales have to say about it.  Here are some common one's I've heard:


Old Wives Tale #1:  Cravings Curse
Okay, this one has nothing to do with gender, but I think it’s a good one to share with Dan! Basically if anyone denies a pregnant woman whatever she is craving, they will get a sty in his/her eye.  But he has yet to let me have frozen yogurt for dinner and he hasn't gotten a sty so unfortunately this one is just a myth, haha!

Old Wives Tale #2:  Heart Rate
If the baby’s heart rate is above 140 bpm, it is said that the baby will be a girl.  If it is under 140 bpm, then it will be a boy.  Baby Veale has consistently been above 160. 

Old Wives Tale #3:  Acne
If you have acne while pregnant, it’s a girl.  It’s thought that acne during pregnancy is caused by the extra hormones.  That would be a point for team pink.

 Old Wives Tale #4:  Cravings
People believe that if you are craving salty foods while pregnant, you can count on having a boy.  If you crave sweets, fruit, and orange juice, you are having a little girl.  Well I’ve gone back and forth between wanting salty snacks and fruity treats…so no points either way here.

Old Wives Tale #5:  Dream of Gender of Baby
If you have dreams that you are having a boy, you will have a girl.  If you dream about having a girl, it will be a boy.  Dreams show the opposite of what you are having. I’ve only had one baby dream and it was a girl…so point to the blue team.  

 
Old Wives Tale #6:  Clumsy vs. Graceful
If the pregnant woman is graceful throughout her pregnancy, she’s having a girl.  If she becomes clumsy, she’s having a boy.  Point to the blue team.   

Old Wives Tale #7:  Side You Most Rest On
If a pregnant woman prefers to lay on her left side, she’s having a boy.  If she prefers resting on her right side, she’s having a girl.  I had to ask my doctor if sleeping on my right was safe for the baby because I’m so uncomfortable on my left side, which is recommended.

Old Wives Tale #8:  Morning Sickness
If you had a smooth pregnancy with no morning sickness, it’s a boy.  If you were sick or felt really nauseous during your pregnancy, count on a girl.  Oh evil first trimester, pink point here! 

Old Wives Tale #9:  Protein
When a pregnant woman craves meat and cheese, count on a boy. Meat has been an aversion and cheese is still the same as pre-pregnancy. So I’d say point to team pink here!  

 
Old Wives Tale #10:  Baby Names
It is said that when you can only think of specific names for a boy or a girl, you will have that particularly baby.   We really easily agreed on one specific boy’s name and I love it.  The girl’s name was much more difficult to decide on so I guess that’s a point to team blue!    

FINAL SCORE:

  
The Old Wives seem to think I'm having a girl.  There are two other tales that I cannot answer yet, one is if I'm carrying high or low and the other is if my stomach is the only thing to grow or if everything seems to get bigger.  We'll have to adjust the tally once my belly gets big enough to decide!

I don't think this is a big enough sweep to count on a girl just yet, but we'll find out in about a month!  

Week 16 Update!

This week Baby Veale is the size of an avocado (avocado photo shoot to come)!  Baby measures in at about 4.5 inches crown to rump! And did I mention that the week 13 ultrasound revealed really long legs?  Let's hope that he or she gets height from Dad!  This week Baby is growing toenails and the little heart is working hard to pump 25 quarts of blood a day!

I started my Prenatal Pilates class last Saturday and it's fantastic!  There were about 10 ladies all at different stages of pregnancy, one lady's due date is 4 days after the last class of the 6 week session! The instructor was incredibly knowledgeable and not only led us through pregnancy appropriate exercises but also told us how each exercise would benefit us during pregnancy, labor, and afterwards.  She also pointed out exercises to avoid while pregnant and even movements to avoid during every day activities and explained why and what to do instead.  Not only was it very informative, but my muscles were feeling the burn!  I was sore for two days afterwards and look forward to having the energy to do the exercises at home on my own and to learn more this weekend!  I also found a Prenatal Yoga class that I want to try out as well.

I got an e-mail stating that at week 16 I should be starting to get the pregnancy glow.  I'm guessing they don't mean this skin that has me wanting to trade it for my high school skin and the five days of no sleep bags under my eyes, are not their idea of glowing.  I've been so congested that I have not been able to sleep since Friday night.  Thanks to all the Facebook suggestions from friends I have ordered a humidifier and will pick up some Breathe Right strips on the way home so hopefully that will help.  Now if anyone has suggestions for how to get my skin to clear up, I'm listening!  Oh, I want that glow!

So if you haven't guessed by the last paragraph, I've been a little grouchy this week.  BUT I got a huge mood lifter last night!  We got the stroller we picked out, thanks Nana and Gramps!  I'm slightly obsessed with this stroller.  We spent a good hour at Babies R' Us picking out the perfect stroller and I think we found it.  Obviously I haven't had the chance to actually use it for its intended purpose yet, but it's so light, ACTUALLY folds up with one hand as claimed, is easy to maneuver, and is small enough to fit in the back of my car!  I love it!

 

How far along? 16 weeks

Total weight gain/loss:  down 6 lbs

Maternity clothes?  Not yet but more of my clothes aren’t fitting comfortably anymore!

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Hasn’t happened much this week due to the congestion and nose bleeds.  Here’s hoping that the humidifier that’s on the way and the breathe right strips I’ll pick up on the way home tonight help! 

Best moment this week:  We had another doctor’s appointment and got to hear the heartbeat again; fast and strong at 161 beats per minute.

Miss Anything? Sleep which has also contributed to my overwhelming desire for an IV drip of some COFFEE!!!

Movement: none yet, I’m starting to get antsy in anticipation, I’ve read that it generally happens between week 16 (NOW) and week 18, but for first pregnancies it tends to be on the later end.

Food cravings: Cucumbers, I ate an entire English cucumber in one sitting yesterday and if I had any left I would have had another for breakfast this morning.

 Anything making you queasy or sick: The kitchen trash can, which is in the pantry, so now the pantry makes me queasy; dirty dishes, sorry Dan, and pretty much any foods other than raw veggies (excluding lettuce…think I’d get a weird look for ordering a salad with no lettuce?) with Italian dressing and rice.  I feel fine all day long but the food aversions are still no fun…although yesterday, I think due to my congestion and not really being able to taste or smell too much, I was able to top my rice with some curry chicken.  It's weird that foods I loved last week...clam chowder and pasta, are now aversions.

Have you started to show yet: YES!  Now I’m looking forward to the point where I look pregnant and not just wider than usual!

Gender prediction: Don’t know.  Hubby still thinks boy, but I’m leaning towards girl now.  We’ll find out in a month!

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On, they’ve actually been too big this week but I’m sure that will not last.

Happy or Moody most of the time: I haven’t slept in 5 nights, take a guess! 

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender.  I want to shop for clothes and bedding!!!

Apple Pictures!

I couldn't resist a photo shoot with the apple!  These were taken last week at 15 weeks, 2 days.  Maybe I cheated a little as this was the biggest apple we had, but it looked so perfect!  Tomorrow marks week 16 and I'll be hitting the produce section for the next comparison!

Next time I'll have to wear something a little more form fitting so you can see my little bump.  I'm starting to show a little but I'm expecting to really pop soon! I had been wearing loose clothing since I was trying to hide the fact that I was pregnant for so long, but this weekend I started embracing wearing some of my fitted tops.  While to most I look like I'm more in the extra padding around the middle category than pregnant, I am liking flaunting the little bump!

  

See, it's a little bump, it's really there!  :-)  Haha, this is fun now.  When I'm feeling gigantic in a month or so these posts may not be so smiley, but I'll enjoy it while I can!

Week 15 Update

This week Baby Veale is the size of an apple. I wonder if that's why I'm craving them this week? And I just realized that all of these weekly measurements are the 'crown to rump' lengths so this excludes the legs!  With the legs growing even longer this week this means that Baby Veale, from head to toe, is already longer than an apple, grow baby, grow!  Although baby’s eyelids are still fused shut, he or she can sense light!

Enter: overwhelming feelings!  25 weeks left to go!  It seems like such a short amount of time and there’s still so much to do. 

The news is spreading across my office and it’s fun getting all of the “congratulations!”  Now that everyone knows I get to talk about pregnancy and babies to people other than Hubby and I’m enjoying it.  I’m sure my coworkers are sick of hearing me talk about stroller and monitor options, but that’s not going to stop me!  

I'm also finally starting to show.  This week I have a definite lazy carboholic baby belly!  I'll start taking belly shots tonight for proof!  Now that I have this little belly, I'm coming to the realization that I will eventually have a really big belly.  I have an irrational fear of strangers coming up and feeling my big baby belly.  Why do people think that's okay?  I like my personal space.  I'm not sure how I'll handle that one yet, but there's still time!

How far along? 15 weeks

Total weight gain/loss:  down 5 lbs

Maternity clothes?  Not yet but I’ll be hitting the stores this weekend, my clothes are getting very uncomfortable!

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: I can generally sleep through the night now although the side sleeping is still horribly uncomfortable.  I sleep in a “fortress of solitude;” in fact, I say good bye to Hubby instead of good night.  I sleep with my big pregnancy pillow on one side of me, an extra pillow under my head, and yet another pillow propped under my back to keep me from rolling back to the more comfortable position.

Best moment this week:  We had another doctor’s appointment and got to hear the heartbeat again; fast and strong at 161 beats per minute.

Miss Anything? Exercising, I got the okay last weekend but the only thing I’ve been brave enough to do are some pushups and squats.  I signed up for prenatal pilates starting this weekend!  I’m really missing COFFEE this week.  It was one of the smells that made me feel nauseous in my first trimester but now when it reaches 2pm and I’m staring at the computer screen in my cubicle, coffee is all I can think about.

Movement: none yet, I’m starting to get antsy in anticipation.

Food cravings: FRUIT, apples and grapes in particular;  Pasta and rice; I discovered I really like clam chowder poured over pasta and have made it multiple times.

 Anything making you queasy or sick: Sweet potatoes, bacon, bananas, and Thai food; I love Thai food and am hoping this is not going to last the whole pregnancy.  A new one this week is Caesar salad dressing which is odd since it was one of my cravings early on.

Have you started to show yet: YES!  Between Sunday and Tuesday I popped!  On Sunday I had my normal flat stomach and by Tuesday I had a very noticeable bump, I didn’t think there could be that much change in such a short period of time!  It’s still small enough that people will probably just think I’ve been overindulging on sweets…and actually I have been overindulging on pasta and not working out so I’m sure it has something to do with it…but either way, it’s a bump as a result of the baby!  

Gender prediction: I’m suddenly feeling like I’m carrying a girl in there.  This is probably just a result of my shopping trip to buy a gift for a friend’s baby girl, now I have baby girl fever.  But to hubby there is still a baby boy in there!

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender.  I want to shop for clothes and bedding!!!