Eating habits

One of the things I was not prepared for was the way some things just do not taste or sound good to me. For example, chicken looks and tastes gross. We used to eat it almost every night. Clif bars don't taste very good - when I used to love them and bought a box from Sam's right before I got preggers. My sweet tooth is out in full force, and I'll be honest, I don't have the willpower I used to. I ate a Hershey bar yesterday and it wasn't even that good. I don't really like plain Hershey bars. I would not have done that without all these hormones running around!!

I do want to eat steak or red meat - something I rarely ate before. Luckily, we have that half a cow in the freezer so I'm good to go. I have some nice NY strips thawing for dinner tonight.

16 weeks

I've lost my husband to his new teaching job and football practice, so I'm back to taking these photos myself.

• This week, I weighed 207. Still a little higher than I'd like but at least not such a drastic increase.
• The "bump" is definitely here. Yesterday at work, someone asked me if I were pregnant for the first time without any prompting or prior knowledge. She said she could tell.
• My ear is still clogging up all the time. Almost every day now.
• The skin at the top of my stomach is starting to stretch - I have an itchy dry patch that seems to go away when I lotion it up in the mornings. Hopefully that will prevent additional stretch marks to the ones I earned in college.
• I can feel the baby moving!!! Such a strange sensation at first. I didn't really know what to expect, but it's super odd. Today I was wearing tight pants (my own pants, with the hair tie as a clasp) and I think the little nugget didn't like that so much. Whenever I sat down, I imagined it pushing back out because that's when I could feel it.

Two more strange things

I forgot one on my list!! My ear doing this strange clogged feeling, where my hearing sounds muffled in just the right ear for a while, then it will go away. I asked the OB about it and she said no big deal - all mucus membranes are expanding and producing more mucus. Great.

I started sleeping with a humidifier to see if that helps. So far, it's not, but it probably helps the hubs and his morning sneezing ritual, so I'll keep using it anyway.

Here's my 14 week picture - a different shot of my other weird thing. I'm finding this is so much easier than my belly band for now. I can just use a hair tie to keep my pants on. You can see that I'm not that much bigger, because the clasp is only about an inch and a half from it's original hook, but no way is it going to meet with its partner. Everyone is saying I'm starting to show - just a bit.

Strange things

Maybe you've heard that pregnant bodies do all sorts of things, maybe you haven't. Here are some of the weird things I've noticed so far:

1. I have a strange rash/bumps on my upper arms. I think some people have these all the time, but I don't so it's weird to me. They don't itch, are not red or pimples, just bumps. 
2. I have a lot of dreams. Last night's dream was about an awesome food buffet. I was having a great time until the hubs woke me up. 
3. I am starving. When I get hungry, I can usually wait a while until I eat. Now, I start to get shaky and a lil nauseous if I don't eat pretty soon. I also can't eat very much. If I eat too much, when I burp I throw up in my mouth a bit (gross, I know.) but that's apparently because the valve that closes at the top of your stomach gets loose. 
4. I can't walk fast. I used to walk super fast to get to a meeting at work. Now, I'm the slow poke holding everyone else up. It's really annoying to start panting immediately.

Rockin' the radio

The baby websites and books tell me that the squirt can hear muffled noises. We recently bought a mom-car SUV so I have a pretty sweet Bose stereo system now. I mean, that thing can bass. So, I've been exposing the squirt to some nice rap music on the way to and from work. I like to turn it up so you can actually feel the bass, not just hear it. I'm going to love it when the baby comes out singing some serious beats.

13 weeks

As you can see, the hubs is now on board to take the photos. I didn't bother to fix my hair or put on makeup so this is what the baby will see me look like all the time.

The damage is beginning

Written Friday, August 5, 13 weeks pregnant

I'm having a really hard time accepting this whole weight-gain thing. I don't really feel pregnant yet. Other than being beyond hungry every couple of hours and peeing twice as much as that, I feel pretty normal now. We did get to see the little squirt the other day for about an hour at my 12-week ultrasound, so I know it's in there. But, I just feel like I've gained several pounds and that I need to quit eating and work out more. I know HOW to lose weight and there's this little internal battle almost daily about should I eat more - no I should stay hungry longer, then the other side of me reminds myself that there is, in fact, a wee little baby (about 2 inches tall) rolling around inside my stomach and is probably hungry too.

I really don't want to gain more than 30 lbs. I started this journey at 195-ish, but we'll go with that. At 13 weeks, I weigh 202. One of the charts online says I should only weigh 200 next week at 14 weeks, so I'm already ahead of the chart. And I'm not happy about that.

11 week shot

Written July 24, 11 weeks

I meant to do this every week, but I guess I didn't think there was much to show for progress because I missed three weeks. The husband says he'll start taking these photos now.

I've also been reading that a lot of women take every photo in the same shirt, so I'm going to try to stay in this shirt. I like it and it's pretty stretchy. :)

Pregnant at work

Written Saturday, July 23 (11 weeks pregnant)


I started telling people at work last week. I wouldn't say I'm "showing" but I definitely look like I've gained a few pounds, and some of the people I used to work out with all the time were starting to stare at my midsection (or I'm just paranoid, not sure which is the truth). And I hate the rule that you have to wait til the end of the first trimester. The hardest part for me was being at work feeling miserable and pretending like nothing is going on.

Luckily, I never did throw up at work (or at home for that matter) but it was something that I constantly thought about and hated the idea of a three-hour meeting. That meant I was trapped without bathroom access and without food to keep the waves at bay.

8 weeks shot

This photo is still horrible, but I took it one morning in a hurry before work. You get the idea - not much going on in the belly.

I almost told the hairdresser first.

written Thursday, June 30 (8 weeks pregnant)

The day I should have had my period, I got my hair cut and highlighted. I was thisclose to telling my hairdresser that I was probably pregnant. I was thinking about that last night while eating my 2am snack of saltine crackers. It's amazing what people will tell the hairdresser - or anyone really who isn't close to their friends or family. Maybe it's an outside perspective, or maybe it's the freedom of knowing they won't tell anyone else. But I didn't. One baby shower I went to had a game with questions. One asked the baby momma "who was the first person you told?" and I didn't want my answer to be the hairdresser.

This morning we had some dude in our kitchen measuring for new countertops (ya know, so we can do all of the things to the house we wanted to do before we are too busy changing diapers and not sleeping). I came out of the bedroom to find out my hubs had already told this stranger that we were expecting. Not that it bothered me - just noting that baby daddys do this too.

7 weeks shot

I know some people take photos of their progress weekly. I'm going to do my best. The husband says "I'll take these pictures later when you are showing." So, I guess you'll know when "I'm showing" because they won't be terrible photos like this:

The nausea settles in

written Saturday, June 11 (5 weeks pregnant)


This is probably TMI. Read on if you want to be grossed out.

I went to the doctor yesterday. I had and continue to have a problem of nausea, but not so much throwing up, and issues with it going the other way. At one point this week, I'd irritated my hemorrhoid to the point of the toilet being full of red water. I alerted my OB as the internet said to do. She referred me to my primary care provider (or PCP), who said I should go to the ER or that she could see me July 13. I said that's bullshit and not happening. So I reported back to the OB what the PCP said and she says to come to her office at 9am the next morning to see the nurse practitioner. Deal. I also need to bring a sample with me... oh.

I immediately leave work because there's no way I can collect said sample at work, and I didn't feel so hot anyway. It's always nicer to be at your own house with your own toilet paper and comfy pants in these situations.

I go in and explain everything. They say not a huge deal unless I have a fever. The sample says I do have rectal bleeding, but not the kind that is up high in the GI tract (which = more serious problems). She prescribes me some high-powered butt foam that has a numbing agent to make my bottom less painful (turns out that stuff was $45 so I told the pharmacy they could keep that 5-day prescription) and I'm on my way.

I have my "real" first appointment with the OB next week - at 6 weeks.