20 Weeks- the Halfway Mark

I'm in a whirlwind right now; we're flying to Cabo San Lucas early tomorrow morning, and I've been at the doctor, packing, and I'll be leaving shortly to see Eclipse, the new Twilight movie, with my friend Vivian.

Doctor and ultrasound are separate; I had my 20 week appointment with Dr. R. yesterday, and had great results- weight gain great at 3 pounds in the last month, blood pressure, urine sample, and heartbeat all good. I have two more appointments at 24 and 28 weeks before I bump up to biweekly visits.

This morning the ultrasound went swimmingly. She was very active this time so the technician got all the shots she wanted pretty rapidly. Reconfirmation of the girl parts, as well as great looking organs and skeleton.

Ray missed the doctor visit so he got to hear the heartbeat during the ultrasound- loud and clear and normal at 136 beats per minute.

She even has a little button nose. How cute is that?

I'm so happy we got such great pictures.

19 Weeks

19 weeks, one week from the halfway mark. I have a half pound mango buried in my abdomen.

Last night we took two shots on the actual day.

Right before bed. Not my most attractive time of day.

I saw my girlfriend Vivian yesterday, who gave birth in April. Between a hilarious story of her son burping up in her husband's mouth (hysterical) and plans for our trip to see Eclipse next week, we marveled how eating a little bit really makes your tummy expand. Just an apple, and the belly grows a lot. I think it's a lot of water combined with less room in the stomach that has been shoved out of the way. Until recently my tummy has been fairly flat in the mornings, and all my pictures have been taken at night. No more flat tummy, I'll see my abs again sometime in 2011.

This weekend I was pretty sure I felt movement- first thing in the morning as I was waking up. I told Ray immediately but he wasn't able to feel anything.

Nothing the next couple days, but yesterday afternoon I swear I felt her roll over! It felt strange and wonderful, like a little thing brushing the inside of my tummy from top to bottom.

Some of My Favorite Baby Finds

I had a feeling I'd enjoy shopping for baby things more than my own clothes, and I was right! I've been pouring through catalogs and websites for baby things since before we knew she was a 'she,' and now that I'm nearing the halfway point of pregnancy, the decisions on baby registry and all the items we'll need and want have to be made. There are so many options out there, it's very easy to feel overwhelmed- there's a lot more gear out there today than when our mothers were young.

I love to shop but I also want a lack of clutter and extra baggage, so it's important to me not to purchase or have every single gadget and toy available. Here are some of my favorites that I've found, the items that I'm most excited about.

I'll start with the one thing that is really for me: a chic diaper bag. I'm going to be carrying this everywhere so it needs to fit my style. I love this tailored Gigi bag in chocolate from Storksak. It has lots of compartments and a travel changing pad. If it's good enough for celeb mommies, it's good enough for me.

Fresh fruit basket of soft toys from Uncommon Goods. They have a veggie crate too, I bought that for my cousin two years ago. Both are so cute. It's never too early to learn about eating nutritious foods!

These teething bracelets are also from Uncommon Goods. I love this idea, it's pretty and if baby is teething away and needing something to chew on, I'd rather it be a bracelet than my arm. Yes, it will probably be dripping with drool. I'm aware.

How cutie patootie is this pacifier?! A soft plush giraffe attaches to the binky, making it much more difficult to lose. It's a toy and pacifier in one. Wubbanub makes several different animals available on Amazon; I love the kitten one too.

Raffi and his songs were favorites of mine and my brothers when we were little. He's friendly and easy to sing along to. Particularly Baby Beluga, a song and album that I want her to know.

If you Give a Mouse a Cookie is such a sweet little book. I love the whole series- If you Give a Moose a Muffin, If you Give a Pig a Pancake. This will be part of the reading before bedtime repertoire.

Goodnight Moon. Essential. Classic.

These kids' storage suitcases from Land of Nod are charming. Great for storage in the bedroom and for carting around little essentials when she's older. I'm hoping for them in green and lavendar.

This Serena & Lily crib bedding collection is so pretty, in the lavendar and pale green colors that are the color palette we're using in the baby's room. The two women from Marin County make home decor and furniture for adults too, but their baby collections are particularly sweet.

And finally the Chicco Lullaby LX Playard which doesn't seem that exciting . . . but it's also a changing table and bassinet now, and a naptime spot later. And it travels really well. The Chicco website shows how versatile it is, pretty amazing.

SWAGGER WAGON

Ray sent me this from work on a Friday, I guess it was being passed around the office. I think it's just hilarious, the 'family' from the Toyota Sienna commercials.

We won't be purchasing a minivan- just can't wrap my brain around the soccer mom stigma- but I think this is just hysterical.

Rough Night

Man I am so tired. Fatigue like the first trimester, and it's because of a horrible night of sleep and a lot of walking today.

I felt a bit restless when going to bed, which wasn't a great start. I actually was still semi-awake and going to the bathroom when Ray came to bed, which is unusual. I usually have no idea when he goes to bed because I'm sound asleep.

Two bathroom trips later at 12:30am, I feel little bubbles and pulls and I think maybe it's her moving. Maybe I really feel her! Now I don't think so, I think it was gas and digestion as usual (or if it was her it was still too small to distinguish from gas); anyway, I couldn't go back to sleep from thinking about it. I think I lay awake for another 3 hours, tossing and turning from side to side. I wanted to lay on my back or my tummy SO BAD. That is the worst part of sleeping now, and not only are those positions off-limits, they are finally too uncomfortable anyway. There is pressure in my pelvis on my back, and pain in my tummy the other way (besides I don't want to squash her!) When I finally got back to sleep I dreamt of our little girl as a baby, inconsolable until I swaddle her in a pink blanket, and propped in a weird vertical bouncy seat by my in-laws in a sort of abusive way. Very weird.

When I woke up, I felt horrible, so tired. It was a bit early and Ray was still home. I wondered out of the bedroom and mumbled something about the night and he sent me back to bed. I got up again 30 minutes later and did my usual morning exercise, a medium one. Showered, ate breakfast, and dashed out to the door with my mom and her friend Donna.

We spend the day at the new Impressionist exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. A collection from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris is visiting and we were both looking forward to it. It was wonderful although a bit crowded, but it was a lot of standing and walking for me and my back was feeling the pain of my shifted center of gravity. Ordinarily I'd never need to sit down during such an outing, but I had to seek out a resting place twice. We had a delicious lunch at the Moss Room in the Academy of Sciences (marinated local sardines and watercress and red plum salad for me, delicious) before heading home. I changed out of jeans into sweats immediately and have assumed the position of couch potato every since.

Really hoping tonight's sleep is better.

18 Weeks

Sweet potato sized. I feel like I have gotten noticeably bigger in the past week. I had dinner with my girlfriends yesterday and we took some photos. Didn't get permission to show them but here's a cropped photo. Goofy look, I was laughing

17 Weeks

Baby Girl is now the size of an onion. We're getting into the bigger fruits and veggies now.

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Barbies and Ballerinas

A baby girl!!

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A 4D ultrasound revealed the gender to us this weekend.

Ballerinas and Barbies, My-Little-Pony and Strawberry Shortcake will play a role in our future, no doubt about it.

I am thrilled of course; I would be happy with any healthy child, but the past few weeks I have begun to hope for a daughter. From the beginning I had a feeling it was a girl and to know that my intuition was right is pretty amazing. We've started playing the name game and fairly quickly agreed on a first name between us- pretty miraculous since we can hardly agree on anything sometimes! We're 98% positive on it and are toying with a few middle names, but will likely keep them to ourselves for a little while.

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Yesterday we made our annual visit to the Foster City Art & Wine Festival. This year we had the company of our friends Dan and Linda. Linda is due with their first child in late August, (also a girl! yay for the girls!) and we make kind of a cute pair if I do say so myself.

Me at 16 weeks and 3 days, Linda at 27 weeks. She looks amazing!

I've always said I wouldn't be terribly girly if we had a daughter, but I find myself thinking of ballerinas and other fun things right now! Perhaps it is the initial joy and will wear off. Still, it feels so good being able to say "she" with confidence, and even have a possible name to whisper in private.

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I'm Average

Here's a fun fact, courtesy of one of my many weekly pregnancy emails:

In 1970, the average age of a first-time mother was 21.

Today in 2010, the average age is 27.

I was feeling a bit old by the time we conceived, but I'm just perfectly average.

Bad Appts vs Good Appts

Today was a day of bad medical appointments and good medical appointments.

1st Appointment (The Bad One):

• 8:00am blood test for second trimester blood screening, the second part of the full integrated screening to test for certain diseases
• Arrive to discover that my appointment is just to pick up the lab form. Gah!! Which means I have to get in line behind the two dozen people who had to fast and are there when the lab opens. The same lab who messed up the first trimester blood test that I had to have retaken in May.
• Wait 45 minutes in the waiting room. I haven't eaten breakfast yet (didn't need to fast but had to get there in time) and the only available chair is a child's hard stool which is soo not comfortable. Watch as one person gets called every 15 minutes or so.
• Get up to ask how much longer the wait will be, am told at least another 45 minutes. What?!
• Promptly get up and leave with my lab form. Plan to return to my regular lab down the street to get the blood done tomorrow when I'm a little less anti-lab.

2nd Appointment (The Good One):

• 2:15pm appointment with my doctor for my 16-week check-up
• Arrive early to give my urine sample and sit down comfortably to wait with my knitting
• Watch cute new Dad and what seems to be his tween-age sister-in-law with his 9-day-old baby in the waiting room (Mom was in her appointment). Chuckle as I catch sister-in-law watching me knit. Little baby is sweet and with good lungs, keeps bursting out with teeny crying. Dad looks sort of tough but couldn't be sweeter with baby and sis.
• Doctor pronounces my blood pressure and proteins excellent, weight gain normal- only 2 pounds since last month. Whew!
• Baby's heartrate is strong at 150 beats per minute- again normal
• No-go on finding out baby's gender- position was good but the umbilical cord was between its legs! Oh well, it was a long shot anyway.
• In and out in 20 minutes- easy breezy

So I had the bad and the good medically today- at least I got to have the good last, right? And I don't have to go to that lab again if I don't want to, and I don't intend to!

And no, I'm not too disappointed about not finding out if it's a boy or a girl because . . . we're getting a 4D ultrasound done on Friday!!! The office was recommended to me by a girlfriend and we have an evening appointment. They can tell the gender from 15 weeks so I'm very excited. We'll get to see much better pictures of the baby than we have before, and finally find out if I should saying 'she' or 'him'.

Photo Shoot

I'm 15 weeks and 4 days now, creeping closer and closer to 4 months! Yesterday afternoon we visited two baby stores for research. We registered at the second, Babies R Us. In the end we were there walking around with the gun for an hour and a half and by the end I needed to sit down! We had a nice dinner together in San Carlos before coming home and doing the first proper photo shoot of me. This is partly my fault because I'm not a very cooperative photo subject, but we were able to take several nice shots.

You can also see our backyard which has been under construction the past few weeks.

Shoulda touched up my makeup before the shoot. And I could do with a hair trim.

This dress is super comfortable now but I can tell it's not going to last me the whole summer. My growing breasts are already not getting the support they need in it! Maybe I can sew extra support into it. . . right now it's too skimpy to wear more than a bralet and it's not doing my chest any favors. :-P

15 Weeks

I'm 15 weeks today, woo hoo! One week until my 16-week check-up. I'm feeling good, hope everything is good on the inside. At this point baby is squirming around like crazy, although I can't feel anything yet. She's also sensitive to light and sounds.

I've been doing mad research this week, on baby gear and cars. We'll be buying a new car in the next 6 months and I've been researching my top picks and features that we want. The baby gear is pretty daunting. This is nothing like the wedding registry we did where at least I'm familiar with the items. This is all new territory and there is so much stuff out there. On the one hand we are lucky for all the advances in technology and selection that is out there. On the other hand our moms had it much easier because there was less stuff to weed through. Aaah!!

Pickles!

I read today that pickles are a common pregnancy craving. I've always liked pickles, but they've definitely been a craving lately. Kosher dills and bread and butter sweet pickles, as a snack or with lunch. Ketchup too. Tomato juice in the morning if I feel peckish between breakfast and lunch.

Cooking

I baked a loaf of bread today, first time in months! It was nice to feel the dough in my hands again.
I made the loaf to go with a crockpot dish. I went big because a friend of Ray's will be here for dinner and I wanted to make something nice for us. We had chicken with peppers and mushrooms- delicious! The bread was an excellent pair with the saucy stew.

12 week picture

Ray took a photo of me last Saturday when we got home from dinner. We haven't taken any pictures of my changing body until now; honestly I had having my picture taken when I don't feel good and that's been too often until now. This is 12 weeks and 3 days.

I'm wearing a Bella Band over my pants for two reasons: #1 I cannot button them, and #2 it's actually quite comfortable to have something over my belly right now. It smooths everything out too, a great bonus.

Not much different but there is definitely a tiny bump there. Goodbye flat abs, I hope to see you again someday!

My First Mother's Day

I didn't think of it in advance, but I guess this was my first Mother's Day! Mother to be counts, right?

To Ray it does; he surprised me with some gifts when we were at my parents' house celebrating the day. After brunch (with Dad's yummy french toast and cheese eggs) and just before tea (I made a peach slab pie for that, yum!) I found a stack of presents next to Mom's. Very sweet! He gave me a bunch of books- really for both of us, on baby names and purchasing all the gear we'll need- and a small sleeping pillow. I've been sticking an awkward pillow between my legs lately, it's more comfortable, but not quite the right shape. This one looks like an apostrophe, you sleep with it between your legs to keep your hips in better alignment and rest your head/belly area on the upper half. It was great last night!
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I've been so tired lately. Those words don't even cover it actually- dog tired. We were out to lunch a few days ago and suddenly it swept over me like a blanket. I could barely keep my eyes open and others at the table noticed. I was pretty embarassed! We went home earlier than planned and I could barely function the rest of the day. This seems to be my one lingering pregnancy symptom, my morning sickness seems to be truly over. When you think about it I am a 24/7 baby factory, so it's not a hug surprise to be tired!
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I forgot to add the other day, my weight gain seems to be ok. I gained about 7 pounds during the first trimester, a teeny bit more than I should have. It's harder than I thought it would be to stay on track, it's a really fine line between getting enough and having too much. I am staying as active as possible, especially because exercise is still good for me and great for baby. If I can just keep the weight gain in check and retain muscle tone, I'll be pretty happy.

Visits from Mom are always good

This morning Mom came to visit me; it was nice to have a visitor during the day, especially her. We stopped by a farmers market in town before hanging out at home and doing some knitting. She's gotten me started on some baby blankets, from a book she got out of the library. The pattern is simple but lovely, so I'm planning to make a blanket and washcloth set for us, but also a set for our friends Dan and Linda who are having a girl in August.

The visit was really nice, low key and pleasant as it always is with Mom. Later in the afternoon I had my 12 week doctor's appointment- I'm 12 weeks today! All looks good, it was a quick appointment. I think they'll mostly be quick from now unless there is an issue. We got to hear our baby's heartbeat very briefly. It was the first time, and very cool.

I'm feeling much better, more normal. I still don't really look pregnant, just fat. Looking forward to this awkward stage being over!

One of my Top Favorite Doctor Visits of All Time

This morning I had my 12 week ultrasound. We came home with these pictures of our little peanut:


waving "hi!"

At this point our baby's head is kinda big (in all three shots, the body is on the left, the head on the right). This will normalize in the coming weeks. But he/she looks healthy and on track so far. I can't describe what it was like for us to see him/her squirming around on the screen. There is really a little person in there!

Right after the ultrasound I went to get a blood test. We're having the full integrated screening done for our baby: this ultrasound and two blood tests will show the probability for such conditions as Down Syndrome and a few others. It's not complete until the second blood test at 16 weeks, but thus far the indicators are good. Yay!

Return of the Salad

So exciting because I've been able to eat salads again this week! Salad is my standard and favorite lunch. They are healthy, flavorful, crunchy, and delicious. This is good news, I'm slowly getting on the mend, out of that horrid morning sickness and back to some normal.

I had a greek salad with some seared shrimp, tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta on Monday; a roasted beet salad with feta and fresh corn on Tuesday; and another mish mosh salad with beans on Wednesday. Watermelon is also a great snack, with some nuts for protein.

I feel fairly bloated and kinda fat at this point, 11 weeks. Many of my regular pants aren't fitting anymore, so I spend a lot of time in sweats.

One more week to go to 3 months!

Blueberry Crumble

I wanted something homemade with berries for Saturday dessert so I made a blueberry crumble. Ate wwaayy too much of it too. Oh boy, but you know what- I'm just happy to be enjoying food just a bit again.