I'm just going to call it week 12/13

Well, I've apparently been a little off on my weeks. I'm officially (as I checked with the doctor yesterday) 12 weeks pregnant. I'm glad to have that little misunderstanding cleared up. Half of the pregnancy sites I'm on keep telling me I'm 13 weeks. They NEED to get their calculations fixed.
Well, this week has been pretty interesting. We went to the doctor yesterday and heard the baby's heartbeat again! I was a little nervous because Dr. Stafford was having a little trouble locating it at first. But he finally found the little wisling hiding out on the right side of my abdomen. I love that sound. It reminds me that I really am having a baby and not just gaining weight and experiencing an overextended bout of flu.
The nausea is finally starting to ease up. I'm having good days and bad days, but Dr. Stafford informed us that that is a sign that morning sickness if moving up and away. I should be having many more good days in the future. The only thing that is really causing me to feel sick lately (besides all of those foods I can no long ingest) is the fact that I'm always hungry. If I let my self start to feel hungry, I also start to feel sick. The pretzel sticks aren't cutting it. So I'm now moving toward several small MEALS a day, instead of "snacking". This, of course, is making me feel very self conscious and worried about rapid weight gain, but that hasn't really been an issue. So I suppose I should just quit the worrying (too bad that I've never been good about doing that). So I'm doing my best to stick to healthy foods like rice and veggies, peanut butter crackers, and APPLES.
I officially have a pregnancy craving, and thank God it's a healthy one. I want to eat apples and appley foods all day and would if I could convince myself that I don't really need that other nutrition. But as that's not likely, I'm constraining myself to eating about two apples and bowl of apple sauce per day. I think I'm going to look into baking with apples: cake, muffins, etc. If you have any good apple recipes, please share!

Here are the new belly pictures:
I'm not sure wearing a hoodie was the best choice for belly shots, but I'm too cold not to wear a sweater! I even turned up the heat in the apartment and I'm still cold!








I'm really not deformed. It's just the pockets. They always look a little goofy.







Fun Facts!

*When is your due date? April 12, 2010

*What week are you in? 12 weeks

*How much weight have you gained? Over this entire time, I have gained 1lb.

*Do you know the gender of your baby? If so, what? Not yet, It'll be another couple of months

*Do you have a name picked out? What? Boy: Kellen Gabriel or Kellen Daniel (I think it's romantic naming a baby after the father), Girl: I really like Aiden or Maryanne or maybe something flowery

*Who is going to be with you during delivery? Dan

*Natural or medicated childbirth? Medicated when I can't take it anymore

*Home or hospital birth? Bloomington Hospital

*How are you feeling right about now? Nausea in the morning, but energy in the evenings (Yeah!)

*Have you felt the baby move? Well, it officially is moving. I just can't feel it yet.

*What is the latest thing you bought for baby? We haven't done much shopping yet. We're kind of trying to wait until we find out the gender.

*Any food cravings? APPLES!

*Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore? Not much new. Tomatoes and spinach (I've started taking my folic acid again. Vegetables are just not appetizing right now).

*Memorable Moment of the Week: Hearing the baby's heartbeat again! Oh, I love that sound.

Week 12

Well, this week has certainly been a change from the norm. As I haven't had any educational obligations since Tuesday (save grading), I thought I would have gotten so much more done around the house. Surprise! The sickness train apparently realized I extended my available hours and claimed them for its own. So, unfortunately, I've been laying on the couch watching movies, eating starch (which is pretty much all I can keep down) and running to bathroom on my scheduled hours, plus a few more.
Although I haven't had a chance to accomplish as much as I intended, this week has been very exciting in Prebabyland. Dan talked to the baby for the first time this week. It was so sweet! After taking care of me during a terrible spell on Sunday, we were nestled on the couch watching a movie. Dan laid his head on my stomach and asked the baby how he/she was doing. How he/she was feeling after the difficult day we had experienced. It's just one more thing that helps me see how great a father Dan is going to be.
We did manage to get out to go shopping in Nashville yesterday. We had a nice time trying to find some early Christmas presents (as it's my custom to get Christmas shopping done by October). I got tired really easily, but we had a lot of fun. Dan also mentioned that I was actually starting to look pregnant (Yeah!). So that was an exciting and proud moment for me. Although my stomach has suddenly grown, I haven't really felt like it's a "pregnant belly". Hearing some reassurance from Dan felt really good.

Well, here are the weekly belly pictures:

Well, my mom informs me that she started showing early. That makes me feel a little better and a little less like I'm having twins.








A shot from the front











Fun Facts!

*When is your due date? April 12, 2010

*What week are you in? 12 weeks

*How much weight have you gained? Officially lost weight again. Just about half of a pound, but you'd think with only being able to eat carbs I would have gained something regardless of how sick I've been. And I'm getting bigger out in front. So, I guess that means I'm losing weight in other places to compensate?

*Do you know the gender of your baby? If so, what? Not yet, It'll be another couple of months

*Do you have a name picked out? What? Boy: Kellen Gabriel, Girl: I really like Aiden Jerusalem

*Who is going to be with you during delivery? Definitely Dan, any training nurses/interns (it was a great experience for me!)

*Natural or medicated childbirth? Medicated when I can't take it anymore

*Home or hospital birth? Bloomington Hospital

*How are you feeling right about now? Just nauseous, but starting to get some energy.

*Have you felt the baby move? Not yet but I can't wait!

*What is the latest thing you bought for baby? We haven't done much shopping yet. We're kind of trying to wait until we find out the gender.

*Any food cravings? I wanted Chocolate donuts one day, and another I wanted BBQ anything. Right now I'm just trying to keep down food, which means eating little that isn't starch.

*Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore? The list is growing. On top of last week: yogurt is the newest thing, It's difficult to eat fruit, but I'm trying to work it in. Very few vegetables are palatable still. I'm working on it!

*Memorable Moment of the Week: Dan talking to the baby for the first time! Dan saying that I'm starting to "look pregnant".

Baby Blogging for Beginners Weeks 0-11

Well, I don't blog, but I thought this might be a nice way to keep you all up to date on what is going on with Dan, the little fetus and myself. Since some of you live far and away and the rest I'm seeing less often now that I'm puking four+ times a day (though at scheduled intervals), I figured I could help you all feel involved and updated this way. Plus it saves me answering the same questions 300 times when I go into a public setting.

So this week has been pretty eventful for us: Because I've been so terribly sick, I have had to postpone the rest of my student teaching until next fall. After trying six prescriptions (which was the entirety of the doctors' suggestions), an assortment of herbal remedies, and old-wives-tale treatments, to no avail, Dan and I decided that taking some time off would be the best decision for the baby's and my health. This way I can rest and relax as needed, eat/drink when I feel I can, and simply prepare for mommyhood without the excess strain (as has always been typical even when I'm not pregnant!). My mentor teacher, counselors, and my doctors alike are all in agreement that this is the best decision that could be made at this point. I finished my last day at school on Tuesday and it was very sad. I'm hoping to be able to stop in, periodically, just to say "Hi" to the kids. I'm definitely missing them!
In the mean time, I'm hoping to find something beneficial I can do from the comfort of my own home at my own pace. I may take up knitting. I may start my own business. I may finally write that novel. Or I may just come out of the closet and become the housewife you know has been inside me all these years. I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to explore my options. To tell the truth, I'm kind of excited about the freedom. I've never really had an opportunity to do something like this. So, I'm looking forward to adventuring into the unknown (well, less known than the previous direction my life was headed).

So, as for the pregnancy:
Dan and I found out we were expecting on August 5th! It was super exciting!

I wasn't really sure that the test had read correctly. So I took two. This picture was taken right before Dan went off to work that day.

Since that time we have been to the doctor a few times, mostly for tests and already our first ultrasound!
We had our first ultrasound at the end of August. It was pretty early, but since I've been so sick, the doctor wanted to make sure I didn't have some rare condition which would cause serious complications. However, the tests came back fine! We were so relieved. It just turns out that I got the shortest end of the stick when lots were being drawn on who gets to have the worst morning sickness ever. We also got to hear the little one's heartbeat for the first time during that visit. Wow! It was so amazing to see that little pulsing dot and hear the thump, thump, thump, thump. Although the baby looked like nothing more than a little shrimp, we were told that everything was measuring up very well and our due date of April 12th seemed to be right on the dot! Since we have currently misplaced our sonogram pictures, I'm hoping to get another copy from the Aegis soon. So I'll have those up before too long!
Here is a shot of the belly at the end of month two. Just the beginnings of the baby bloat.
I had a check up on Sept. 1st, just to make sure I was healthy. Turns out, excluding horrendous morning sickness, I couldn't be healthier. So that is another blessing!

We are scheduled to go back for our next ultrasound on September 29th. This should be a pretty routine visit as we have decided to forgo the CVS testing. After looking into it, I decided I wasn't comfortable with it and Dan agrees. Anything that increases that chance of miscarriage, no matter how small, is just not kosher in my book. Since we aren't high risk, it isn't being pushed by our doctors. So we're grateful for that. We may have ultrasound examinations done later that don't involve such invasive and risky techniques for determining chromosomal defects. We're still looking into it.

Well, to end off this first and very long blog, here are the latest belly pictures. I don't know if you can tell, but I feel like I've grown a lot! But that could just be all the stretching I'm feeling from the inside. Now I know how those stretch toys that were so popular when I was a kid felt all the time.

From the side. I swear I look bigger than 10/11 weeks!

I mean, I did have a bit of a tummy before baby, but not like this!

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Right from the front. I don't know if you can really see a bump from this position but thought it would be nice to include for comparison.

Here are some fun facts about the pregnancy:

*When is your due date? April 12, 2010

*What week are you in? 10/11 weeks

*How much weight have you gained? maybe a few tenths of a pound. I'm having enough trouble keeping food down, let alone gaining weight!

*Do you know the gender of your baby? If so, what? Not yet, It'll be another couple of months

*Do you have a name picked out? What? Boy: Kellen Gabriel, Girl: Aiden, Jerusalem, Anne, Raine (we're still pairing it down)

*Who is going to be with you during delivery? Dan, but I'm not sure if about anyone else.

*Natural or medicated childbirth? Medicated, but not until I give the go ahead. I want to wait as long as I can.

*Home or hospital birth? Bloomington Hospital

*How are you feeling right about now? Nauseous and hungry. Does that even make sense?

*Have you felt the baby move? Not yet, but I can feel the ligaments in all of their stretching glory

*What is the latest thing you bought for baby? Dan bought a baby hiking pack. He's so excited!

*Any food cravings?No, but whatever I feel like eating, I must eat. Otherwise, I can't eat anything.

*Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore? Hummus and cucumbers. Bleh!