Week 18 - a day late

So maybe I was a bit overly optimistic about my nausea... Several factors helped make a difference but to summarize... week 17 was not sweet. So, it's nice to move on to week 18.

Yesterday was a very fun day and I found some great bargains! What a Delight! But I did a bit too much with too little food and by suppertime, I felt like I was going to throw up. (I hate for John to come home to me feeling like that!) But I *think* I may have felt our baby!!! Maybe it was just gas, but it felt like a hand or a leg swooshed by my stomach!!! Just incredible to think of a little body growing inside of me. All through the pregnancy, I've gone through various levels of reality. The shock and awe of "We're going to have a baby" continues to hit me in new ways.

Okay, the bad news is, I don't have the week by week book so tracking our baby's progress may be a bit scattered. Here are some sites to check out:

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-18-weeks_1107.bc
http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/calendar/week18

Oh, another new experience this week: heartburn. I couldn't figure out why my heart hurt so bad and I was getting a bit worried until I realized ah, heartburn goes with pregnancy.

Still no pic, maybe sometime this week.

Time is flying by--it's almost MAY!

Week 17!

I will refer to week 16 as "Sweet 16" because it seems everything got better during that week! There were still moments when I felt gross, but I noticed a huge improvement overall. And I figured out what triggers my nausea: Hunger, Tiredness, and Stress. Before "Sweet 16" it seemed like nothing made any difference in how I felt; I just felt gross. Now I can figure out what the problem is and fix it! How nice!

And week 16 is also the week I popped! I now look Pregnant! Oh happy day! I'll try to nab someone to take a pic of my baby bump. I'm so proud!

Despite eating almost 24/7 I still have not gained any weight so either the scales are broken or, everything is just getting re-arranged in there!

I have "lost" the book I was using to track our baby's growth so I'll have to come back with an up-date.

The only sad part of week 16 is that I cannot say for sure that I felt the baby. There have been rumbles and bubbles in my tummy but nothing felt any different than normal life so... maybe I'll feel something different this week :0)

Baby Dream

Last night, I dreamed I had our baby! The dream began in the middle of labor (which had been painful) but when it came to delivery, the baby just slid out without any pain at all. The baby was in this membrane like black sack which was sticky. We had to peel it off to see our beautiful baby. I was shocked to discover our baby was a boy and kept saying, "I really thought it was going to be a girl!"

John and I were delighted to hold and dress our baby boy--he was so cute!!! He had a little bit of blond hair on the top of his head that stuck up in the middle.

Despite multiple efforts, I was unable to nurse him. I was devastated!

Our baby grew a foot (in length) every week so he didn't stay little very long! I was concerned we wouldn't have any clothes for him to wear!

Such a crazy + random dream. Though we still have a loong time to wait before we'll get to hold our precious baby, I am excited already. I am not looking forward to labor, but knowing that we'll get to have and to hold this miracle now growing in my stomach... I think all the pain will be worth it!

:0)

16 week miracle

So precious, this is a baby at 16 weeks:

Ten Best Foods for Pregnancy

Ha, ha woops! Today is actually the day I begin my 16th week, not yesterday. I got my days confused and thought I was farther in the week than I actually am :0) Maybe that explains why I felt so miserable last night--I wasn't actually in my 16th week and from now on I'll feel great--here's hoping!

I found this article very interesting:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-ten-best-foods-for-pregnancy_10320506.bc

And what do they list as the 10 best foods?

1. Eggs (egg-salad sandwiches are delish!)
2. Salmon (I really need to learn to like this!)
3. Beans (I need to get some soaking!)
4. Sweet Potatoes
5. Pop-corn and other whole grains (probably not intending microwave pop-corn here)
6. Walnuts
7. Greek yogurt (seems yogurt and kefir do splendid things for pregnant women)
8. Dark, green, leafy vegetables (wha-hoo for kale chips!)
9. Lean meats
10. Colorful fruits and vegetables (I'm crazy about strawberries)

Check out the link to find the reasons why ;0)

All this typing about food makes me hungry. I'm off to eat some broccoli. MmmMmm

16 Weeks

Time is flying by. I felt like reaching week 15 was a big turning point for me. I felt much better... that is until last Friday when I threw up again. This makes my average about once every week... discouraging in my second trimester. I still need to eat 24/7 and I still need to get my rest.

I am feeling better than I have though at times it feels like progress is slow. My mom is keeping four of her grandchildren this week so I've offered to take over all the cooking and laundry. This is certainly something I was unable to do before.

I may be able to feel our baby this week! Oh happy day!!!

I found more bargains on girl clothes today :0) Very fun to think of putting them on our baby, even if this baby is a boy and we need to wait awhile for a girl. I would be delighted for John to have a son to follow in his footsteps. :0) He is already an amazing dad--so kind, gentle, and caring. He holds my stomach and talks to our baby... I love it when he does that!

Ultrasound Results

It has been such a delight to share my pregnancy with my sisters and sister-in-law. Hopefully we will get a chance to take another belly picture this Saturday.

And what will we all have? A baby of course!

Celina: a baby boy

Loree: not enough evidence either way but most likely a girl

Sara: a baby girl

Me: no ultrasound yet. If we have one, it won't be for a few more weeks.

Strange Dreams!

Ever since I've been pregnant, I have had strange, vivid dreams. Sometimes they are creepy (like two nights ago when I was surrounded with huge, fuzzy, black-widow spiders) but mostly they are just wacky. Last night is a great example. There are 3 different dreams that I remember. In the first dream, we were visiting a family from the church. In addition to their house, they had this old, rickety, falling down, "house" that I fell in love with even though it was missing a front a door and several windows. I went inside and found all this neat old furniture and other old items.

In the second dream, I was for some unknown reason, desperate for a shower. John and I were close to Cabela's. He was able to sneak me into the mens bathroom where there were showers. (We went into the mens bathroom so he could help me and keep me safe). Someone found out we were in there and we got in trouble. I explained I was pregnant and that made everything fine. The woman who was yelling at us, took us to her apartment. It had OSB walls (which she called plywood) and it was painted various colors. She was very proud of her work and kept going on and on about her lights.

In the third dream, John and I had decided to sleep in a tent at a campground, along with others. We had a terrible time finding a place to set up our camp since all the ground was very hilly. There was a competition to see who could finish and get back up to main building first. When we arrived at the main building, my two oldest nephews and my sister Sara were already there. They were all at a high tower (with a rubber raft on top) and you had to jump off the raft into the lake below. Sara arrived first so she got to jump first. She made a perfect dive and I was amazed to discover that she had a mermaid tail!!

The weirdest dream yet though is from a few months ago. I dreamed that times were really tough and so we decided to sell John's right arm to a meat factory. John didn't mind having his right arm cut off, and even helped me carry it to the meat factory!

15 Weeks!

15 weeks! How fun to be this far! And, I'm finally starting to look pregnant!!! I have gained around 5 pounds and my stomach definitely has a small baby bump (which I am very proud of!)

I still feel quite sick most evenings and threw up Saturday afternoon... ruining our plans to celebrate John's birthday. I felt so horrible changing everyone's plans and became an emotional basket case. I felt it was too late in my pregnancy to be throwing up and I didn't feel better after anyways.

The baby has been very hungry! A few hours after I eat, my stomach begins to growl!

The head to bum measurement for this week is 4 to 4 and 1/2 inches long and weighs 1 and 3/4 ounces! It should only take a few weeks before I'll get to feel our baby bumping around!

"Your baby's rapid growth continues. Its skin is thin. At this point in its development, you can see blood vessels through the skin. Fine hair called lanugo hair, covers the baby's body.

By this time, your baby may be sucking its thumb. This has been seen with ultrasound examination. Eyes continue to move to the front of the face but are still widely separated.

Ears continue to develop externally.

Bones that have already formed are getting harder and retaining calcium (ossifying) rapidly. If an X-ray were done at this time, the baby's skeleton would be visible."

an excerpt from: Your Pregnancy Week by Week by Glade B. Curtis, M.D., M.P.H and Judith Schuler, M.S.

Happy Days

John and I have had some very happy days. We went on a little honeymoon this past week. I highly recommend it!


Yesterday, we went to see my midwife and her assistant. It was a really good visit and I am so grateful for their services. Everything is looking good with our baby! We heard the heartbeat again, 130 bpm so it's official--we are going to have a either a boy baby or a girl baby!