The Heartbeat and Birthday Update

I can’t believe it’s been a week since I heard my baby’s heartbeat for the first time and I’m just not getting around to posting about it. In a word…it was awesome! We went last Wednesday (my birthday) morning. The heartbeat was 150bpm, which is apparently in the good range. The doctor’s visit was short and sweet beyond that. I just don’t have a lot of questions for the doctor right now because there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong. I feel great most of the time. I did gain another 3 pounds according to the doctor’s scale. That put me at a total of 9 pounds at the 11w2d mark. But, I will say that my scale at home is still at the 6 pound mark and my exam was in a different room (therefore, different scale) than I’ve had at my last two appointments. So, maybe I didn’t actually gain anything and that scale is just calibrated differently. That’s my story – I’m sticking to it. Regardless, this has driven me to exercise harder than the 2-mile walks that I’ve been doing. They haven’t been challenging and I know my body can do more. So, I’ve started doing some of the videos that I have at home…harder workouts and I’ve been feeling less like a bum. I even see my quads starting to tighten up again.

I have to talk about the awesome birthday that I had. We had a great party at work and then I my hubby and I went to Outback and to see the movie Hitch that night. It was a really cute movie. On Friday night, I had a surprise birthday party. It wasn’t a huge surprise because it became pretty obvious as the evening was unfolding but, it was a great time anyway.

This week has been weird. I somehow contracted a bunch of cold/flu symptoms over the weekend. With those symptoms has come more constant nausea than I’ve felt through the entire pregnancy. What’s funny is that I first started to feel it on Monday, which was my 12 week mark – isn’t that when things are supposed to start calming down!?!? Anyway, I came home early from work on Monday to rest and it did a body good! I’m feeling better now. Just still dealing with a stuffy nose. Everything else has subsided for the most part (except the nausea!!!!).

10 weeks, 5 days

It's hard to believe that I'm almost at 11 weeks. I think I am starting to get past that first trimester tired stage. For the past 4 days, I haven't felt the constant need for a nap and I've gotten more done at work than I have in the past 6 weeks combined. Now, this could very well have something to do with the fact that I only worked 3 days this week and spent the previous 5 days on vacation in Breckenridge, CO. My entire vacation consisted of eating, resting, doing nothing, and trying to breathe! The climate is so dry and there is absolutely no oxygen at that altitude. I was tired and out of breath for alot of the trip. Returning to Houston (100% humidity year round) was very refreshing. So, my lack of being tired could be due to my new found appreciation for oxygen or it could just be that I'm getting used to this pregnancy thing.

My mom was here this week for a work-related conference so, my evening were consumed by her. That nixed my naptimes but, I found I didn't really need them! But, I'm also realizing that my excuse for cutting back on exercise is gone! I think I'm okay with that though. I've had good workouts for the past 3 days and I think that helps the energy factor too.

Today I went to my first official meeting with the NMC (New Mommies Club). It was started by some friends of mine at church. There just happens to be alot of women right now who are pregnant with their first child. We had a blast. I was the "least" pregnant person there. But, there was a girl there that is 10 weeks, 6 days so, we're just 1 day apart. The "most" pregnant person there is actually 40 weeks now. Her due date is tomorrow. She will likely get induced on Wednesday if the baby isn't here yet. I'm all about her giving birth on Wednesday because that's my birthday!! I'm totally convinced that everyone on the planet should be born on February 23 but, since they aren't, that makes those people who are born on that day very, very special to me.

I'm steadily getting cute little gifts for the baby. I even bought some baby books while shopping in Colorado. Other people have given me a blanket and some wash clothes and a piggy bank. But, I'm not sure that I like the fact that my mom bundled baby stuff in my birthday present! I haven't opened it yet but, she already hinted at the fact that some of the stuff in my package is for the baby.

Oh yeah, speaking (once more) about sharing my birthday...my 2nd doctor's appointment is on Wednesday. So, I may hear my baby's heartbeat as the most special birthday present EVER!!! :)

Return of the Gap

When I was 16 years old, I drove my 12-year-old sister through a drive thru at our favorite fast food fried chicken spot in North Carolina. The person working at the drive thru (small town so everyone knew each other and he was actually my boyfriend at the time) said, “It looks like the little sister is driving the big sister around town”. He thought this was funny. But, it was true – Tiona did look older than me at 12 years old. It was because she was about a DD cup and I was about a B/C at the time. So, people were always telling me that she looked older than me. But by the time I was graduating from high school, I had definitely blossomed. By the time I was a freshman in college, I, myself, was a 40 D and the comments became, “Wow, you’re catching up with your little sister now!”.

Well, when you are that big, you tend to shy away from certain styles of clothing. For instance, neither my sister nor I owned a single button down shirt. Everything was a pullover. And if we did have a button down shirt, it was strictly to wear open over a pullover shirt or t-shirt just for a “look”. We didn’t dare try to button it! However, I have since lost a significant amount of weight (40 pounds or so) and the size of my chest obviously changed with that. I’ve been hovering around a 38C for the past 2 years, I guess. But, the discovery that I could wear a button down shirt was the biggest prize of all! So, a lot of my work shirts are the button downs where you leave the tail out and it’s kinda fitted to your body. Well, today, my husband and I slept a little late so, I threw on an old faithful button down and ran out the door. As I’m walking into work, I see my reflection…OH NO!! I’M GAPPING!! It has returned. This shirt that I am wearing will no longer close in an attractive way across my chest. It never occurred to me that the full 1.5 cup size that I have increased since becoming pregnant would relegate me back to my pullover shirts so soon…

9 weeks, 2 days

Already? So far, so good for the most part. We’ve been telling more and more people. We started telling people on the Friday night that I went to the doctor. We each called our best friends from high school to start off with. Then, we went to some friends house and told our closest Houston friends. It was kind of funny. We were all sitting around playing a board game and my husband and I had a mild disagreement which ended in “Shut-up, pregnant woman”. The looks on their faces as they one-by-one started to realize what he had said was priceless! So, that was a great experience. So, throughout the past week, we’ve been calling people here and there. We had some friends over for a game night this past weekend to let them in on the news. Then we made a pretty big announcement at our Sunday School class Superbowl party on Sunday evening. So, it’s definitely getting out there and has even started to spread a little bit as a rumor.

Last night I had a really hard time getting comfortable and going back to sleep after my 3am bathroom break. I literally felt like the baby was developing some organ and there was just to much business going on internally for me to calm myself to get back to sleep. Not to mention the fact that there was absolutely NO COMFORTABLE position in which to sleep for me. I ended up getting up and getting some water and chips and reading a pregnancy book for a while. This morning, I realized that my feelings last night about all of the baby development activity were not unfounded. Here is what is going on in my 10th week (according to pregnancy-guide.net):

As development of major organs and body parts continue this week, many are starting to complete their formation. You yourself may start to notice that your clothes are not fitting as well as they used to, as your body begins to change. Lets take a look at how your baby is gong to develop this week:

• Your babys brain will start to develop the rounds and fissures that are characteristic of humans
• The upper lip is now fully formed.
• Primary ossification centers will begin to appear along the bones.
• Your babys arms are now bigger and bend at the elbow, although the fingers are still small and webbed. The toes will begin to form as notches appear on the foot plate, but by the end of the week they will almost appear to be toes.
• Should your baby be a girl, the clitoris will begin to form, and this forms from the same tissue which would form the penis should your baby be a boy
• The critical development period of the heart is now complete. Your babys heart will continue to develop and grow, but not at such a fast pace.
• The retina of your babys eye will now be fully pigmented, and the eyelids will continue their development, as they will almost appear half closed.
• By the second or third day of this week the external ears should be fully formed
• The bones of the palate are beginning to fuse, and taste buds are forming on the surface of the tongue.
• By the end of this week the baby will measure apporx 25.4mm, 1 inch, in length and weigh 0.04 - 0.11 ounces, which is 1-3g
  

No wonder I couldn't sleep! :)

First Appointment

Friday was our first appointment with the doctor. I had just been there last month for my yearly and told her that I was interested in potentially getting pregnant this year. So, when she walked into the exam room and saw me, we both looked at each like, “I guess it worked!”. She proceeded to examine me, date my pregnancy, and let us ask all the questions that we had. She insisted on dating my pregnancy based on my last period which means that I am 8 weeks today! My official due date is Monday September 12, 2005. That means that I will be very close to giving birth near our 4^th wedding anniversary. (Coincidentally, one of the reasons that we chose to get married in September is because it was not near either or our birthdays so that would give us something in celebrate in February (me), June (him), and September (us)). So, now September will have two occasions for our family to celebrate!!

J was a lot less shy than I thought he would be at the appointment. He asked the doctor about our pending trip to Breckenridge, CO next week. The doctor suggested that I don’t ski since I am a novice. I am definitely cool with that because there are 2 other pregnant girls (much further along than I am) that are going with us. I plan to hang out with them while the guys ski.

My doctor said that she would do my blood work at my next visit in 4 weeks (at 11 weeks, 4 days). Right now we have an appointment for February 25 at 9:05 but, J has something at work that day so, we may reschedule so that he can be there again.

After the appointment, J and I had lunch together at Schlotsky’s. While we were there, my mom called because she was so anxious to hear how the appointment had gone. I told her the details and she was so excited to actually have a date to write down in her calendar. When I originally told her that I was pregnant, I asked her to not tell anyone until I had gone to the doctor, at least. On Friday, I asked how many people she had told and she named about 20!! But, that’s my mom…I expected nothing less…

So, this week, I’m going to get better about my eating and exercise. I’ve already gained 6 pounds which is just blowing my mind. It will help when we finally get some food in our house…yes, we eat out for every meal because there is not a single edible item in the house. More importantly, I’ve been a little reluctant to continue with the more rigorous exercise schedule that I used to have (say this time last year) but, the doctor thinks I should keep doing what I was doing with the exception of crunches. Hmmm…that ruins the excuse that I’ve been using…