Fetal Development

I downloaded this baby ticker from www.thebump.com. I love seeing what stage he/she is at:



These videos come up on my iphone app from www.babycenter.com. The movements crack me up, thinking about it bouncing around in there:

Pregnancy Symptoms

I've been reading about different aspects of pregnancy pretty much every day. I have two books: "Your Vegetarian Pregnancy" and "What to Expect When Expecting". I also read from a plethora of websites and have an app on my iphone, called "Pregnancy" from BabyCenter. The topics cover basic pregnancy info, fetal development, key nutrients, other pregnant women's thoughts and experiences and lots of pregnancy symptoms.

Not knowing how I would feel before getting pregnant, I expected to feel all the symptoms I was reading about. In the beginning, the main one I wasn't looking forward to was nausea and vomiting. My frame of reference aside from the reading was remembering my old boss puking pretty much every day when she was pregnant. Poor thing would come to work, throw up in the parking lot and then conduct business as usual with a red face and watery eyes between running to the bathroom and her office. I was not looking forward to that.

Luckily for me, I made it through my first trimester without puking once. I think I gagged twice and that was it. I would begin to feel nauseous if I didn't have something in my stomach, but as soon as I would start feeling that way, I would eat a little snack and then it would subside. I wouldn't think that would feel like the natural thing to do. I mean, who want to cook when you're feeling nauseous? But, what works, works.

Anticipation (Week 18)

Today is the start of my 18th week. From what I've read, our baby is now about 5 1/2 inches long and weighs about 7 ounces. He or she should be able to hear us now. I feel like I should start talking to myself (or to the baby) more so he/she can get used to my voice. I did read the baby a free book that I downloaded on the ipad, "The Little Engine That Could". I felt silly and when I was done, Dave said I should speak more clearly. It's true, I actually thought about that as I was reading, I really should use better annunciation. I was slurring all my words together, mostly because I wanted to get it over with once I had started, but also because I tend to do that.

Two more weeks to go until our next ultrasound and we get to find out if it's a boy or a girl! I'm so excited to know which it is I can barely stand it. My mom said that they didn't have the technology to tell her what sex she was having when she had us. Yet, with all five kids, she knew what she was having and brought either blue or pink to the hospital. I don't know how the heck you would know?!

Baby Movement ? (Week 17)

I was lying in bed this morning with my hands on my belly, concentrating and trying to decipher whether I can feel my baby move yet or whether I'm just feeling the usual belly rumblings. Suddenly I felt what seemed to be the baby doing a somersault! I could feel it internally as well as with my hands. I smiled to myself and thought, "Dave would have been able to feel that". I then drifted back to sleep.

When I awoke some time later, I couldn't figure out whether I had been dreaming or whether I had really felt the baby move. I still remember the sensation, but I believe it was just a dream.

My First Post (a History and a Beginning)

My husband and I were married in July 2010 after having known each other for over 10 years. In April 2011, we decided that we would try for our first baby. I was 36 years old and we felt that the time was right. I stopped taking birth control pills and started taking prenatal vitamins right away. We thought it would be best to wait a few months before trying to conceive since I had been on birth control pills and that is what the doctor had recommended. Even though we had made that decision, every month I anxiously awaited my period to come and was disappointed when it did. Everyone kept telling me that "I would know" when I was pregnant.

I had decided to cut back on alcohol in anticipation of knowing I'd need to be without it throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding. I'd say I was a moderate drinker. I liked my glass of wine (or three), especially when hanging out with friends or winding down at the end of the day. It wasn't that hard to do, knowing the reason behind the decision.

In July, Dave and I went camping. My period was to start any day now and I wasn't "feeling pregnant". I even thought I started spotting, put in a tampon and enjoyed a few glasses of wine. We got back from our weekend trip and my period actually had not started. A couple days went by and I thought to myself, "ok, something is going on". Although, last month I thought "something was going on", bought a pregnancy test kit, both of which came back negative. The anticipation was just killing me though, so I called Dave to see if it was ok if I bought a pregnancy test. I don't know why I needed his permission, I just wanted to see what he thought about the idea. After a few minutes on the phone, I was in the isle, trying to decide which one to get. I couldn't decide and called him back. After describing the boxes, he chose one to make the decision for me and I left happy.

When I got home, I went straight to the bathroom to run the test. The directions said it would be best run in the morning with "first pee", but I wasn't about to wait that long. I ran the first test and it appeared to turn up positive right away. I must have read the directions 50 more times to make sure I was doing it right and ran the 2nd test. Both positive!!

When Dave got home I led him to the bathroom where the tests were sitting with their positive results. I think he was a little shocked as he allowed reality to sink in. We were going to have a baby.