Monday, November 29, 2010

Our Little Thumb Sucker


So last week we had our big 20 week apt and just as everyone said it was by far the best apt yet. For about 15 minutes we got to see every angle possible of our little one and it was awesome. From the heart to the brain to the feet to the lips, everything looked great and it was amazing to see how much he/she had grown. Our little one is weighing just under a pound at this point and is the length of a banana. It must be in there pretty snug as I feel it move all the time now (which I love by the way). Here are some other pics from the ultrasound:




I wish I could tell you what the sex of the baby is, but Josh and I somehow managed to stick to our guns and not find out. Let me tell you, when that ultrasound tech said she knew what we were having, it was all I had in me not to make her tell us. Later that day I even contemplated tracking her down and making her fess up. I know we will be glad we waited, it is just hard to keep it a secret when someone else out there knows. Luckily she told us that as many patients as she sees a day, the chance of her remembering beyond 24 hours was slim to none. Guess it is a mystery again :)

We are officially 21 weeks today which means we have about 4 months left before we get to meet this little guy or girl. Every day we get more and more excited and feel more and more blessed.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Bottles, Bottles, and More Bottles

Well, we did it. We finally faced our biggest fear and walked into Babies R Us this weekend to register. I've honestly been postponing it for as long as I thought we could as I was dreading the experience. I've heard so many horror stories of couples taking 3-4 hours because the choices were overwhelming and they had to read every single label to make a decision. Well, I was bound and determined this would NOT be us. Knowing a) Josh's attention span and b) that his Dad happened to be with us, I knew we were in trouble. Luckily, I will say that while ours was not the best experience I've ever had, it was also not the worst. I had done some planning ahead of time which I think really helped. 2 things that helped us survive: Baby Bargains book (http://www.babybargainsbook.com/babybargains/default.html) and an email from my mommy friend Julie who just went through this process a little over 2 years ago. I cannot say enough amazing things about this Baby Bargain book. It literally goes over every item you are going to need and provides a letter grade on each brand as well as a recommendation. It also goes as far as providing a sample registry in the book (although we did not see this part until after we were 80% done). This was our saving grace. Rather than read every little thing, we could easily open the book, see the one they recommended and scan. Done. The problem arose when they had a recommendation for a specific brand, but not a specific type within that brand. Ex: the book highly recommends Graco pack and plays. What it fails to say though is that at Babies R Us, there are NINE different Graco pack and plays. WTF! They all look the same except for the price so how the heck are you supposed to chose. Well, enter mommy friend email with brand recos. Ahh, bliss. When the book was out of recos, we turned to our email and voila. 9 out of 10 times this worked. Don't get me wrong, there were still many moments when Josh and I were fighting over the fact that the baby DOES need toys to hang from the stroller and yes we DO need a mirror for the back seat. But hey, in the end, I must say that I'm lucky we did a little planning ahead of time. I'm still convinced, however, that they should give you an "I survived my 1st baby registry" shirt on your way out.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Almost Half Way

We are 2 weeks shy of being half way done with our pregnancy....crazy! At 20 weeks we have our big ultrasound where the doctors check for the sex (although this won't affect us), how the baby is growing (organ size, etc), placenta and umbilical cord and whether or not the due date is still accurate (this will be interesting to see if its changed. Our last ultrasound we were measuring a little ahead of schedule, so we'll see). We can't wait! It is perfect timing too as we will then be hopping on a plane to go to Virgina for Thanksgiving where we can share all the news with Josh's family. On that note, I just found out today that I am going to get not 1, not 2, but 3 Thanksgiving meals...SCORE! I honestly could not be more excited about this given the circumstance. On 11/18, my work will be doing our annual Thanksgiving day lunch (#1), on actual Thanksgiving, we will be feasting with Josh's family (#2) and on the Saturday after Thanksgiving we will be having a belated Thanksgiving dinner with my family so that my whole family can be together (#3). Of all the year's to have 3 dinners, this one could not be more perfect...I think someone is watching out for me and my hunger.

Here are my latest belly bump pics. The first one is from 5 weeks when we had just found out we were pregnant. The 2nd one was taken this morning at 18 weeks. Amazing what just 13 short weeks can do. I'm scared for the next 13 weeks!



Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The Stuff Nobody Tells You

So in my first 17 weeks of pregnancy, I've learned a LOT of things that nobody ever tells you about. I'm sure that I will continue to learn a lot, so I intend for this post to be an ongoing segment on my blog. Here are the top 5 things I've learned thus far (the good, the bad and the ugly):

1. Nobody ever prepares you for how bad the 1st trimester really is. I'm not sure if it is because it is such a short part of your pregnancy, or if the joys of the child make you completely forget what you went through those first few months, but I'm here to tell you that it is rough! I was even a "lucky" one who did not get physically sick, so I can only imagine how terrible it is for those who can't keep anything down. For me it was the constant feeling of a hangover day in and day out. Headache, nausea, exhausted, food aversions, mood swings, etc. Think of it as being terribly hungover and PMSing at the same time. Horrible!

2. Some where along the line, someone forgot to inform me that starting around 14 weeks, you begin to have frequent nosebleeds, and your gums bleed every time you floss. What the heck?! I guess the extra blood flowing through your veins is bound to come out somewhere but geez.

3. I've always known that sleeping on your back and stomach was a no no but no one ever said anything about needing to sleep on your left side only. Apparently sleeping on your left side positions the placenta in a way that it provides the most nutrients for your baby. Now, I've always been a back sleeper so that was hard enough, but when I wasn't on my back, I was on my right side facing away from my lovely snoring husband. So, needless to say, shifting to my left side was an adjustment. Thankfully I quickly realized that earplugs were my saving grace!

4. No deli meat! You already know where I stand on this so I won't go into any more detail.

5. This next one is a personal symptom that does not happen to everyone, but again, I had never heard anything about it prior to being pregnant. Around month 2 I started sneezing excessively and now I sneeze a minimum of 20 - 30 times a day!! Apparently it is pretty common and it is due to a condition called Pregnancy Rhinitis. Sounds made up right? Wrong! According to Pregnancyinfo.net, "Pregnancy rhinitis is actually one of the most common discomforts associated with pregnancy. Like morning sickness and backaches, thousands of pregnant women experience pregnancy rhinitis every year. In fact, it is believed that between 20% and 30% of all pregnant women will suffer from pregnancy rhinitis to some degree."