Maternity Clothes, or, Why I Love a Good Muu-Muu

I posted last week sometime about loving my new maternity pants. Old Navy has a great selection of comfy pants that look normal except for the waistband. Shirts, however, have proven to be really hard to come by.

I stopped into the GAP on Saturday to check out their maternity options. The section was really small, and there weren't a lot of options. I picked up a few sweaters but that was it. Yesterday, I went to Northgate Mall to check out JCPenney's maternity sale, but it took me the longest time to find their tiny department. I think it was so hard to spot because it was with the other clothes designed for 80 year olds. No, I've never actually seen an 80 year old pregnant woman, but now I know where they shop. I did find minor success at Motherhood Maternity, but only for, ahem, mammoral support. Luckily their bras are pretty cheap. Then I tried Target. Their maternity clothes are in a tiny corner between plus size and juniors, and nothing looked good at all.

I had big hopes to not spend thousands of dollars on tents for this pregnancy, but it looks like I'm going to have to try nicer places. Ann Taylor loft has cute maternity shirts, but they're all $70-ish and that seems a little excessive. I guess for now I'm going to keep wearing my non-maternity clothes until they have stretched beyond recognition. And I'll rotate my few maternity items sparingly.

We have our second appointment with the midwives tomorrow, and it's also the start of our pregnancy class. Hopefully we'll get to schedule our ultrasound too.

Sunday Observations

1) I can't suck it in any more. My tiny baby bump is permanent, but it just makes me look fat. It'll be nice when I actually look pregnant.

2) I'm losing my belly button. The hole is getting bigger, but shallower. I'm wondering how long it'll be until it pops into an outtie.

3) I have a faint linea negra (literally "black line") running from my belly button down to my pubic bone. It's not negra yet - it's more of a faint tan, but it's definitely there. I hope it doesn't get much darker, but only because it creeps me out.

4) Time practically stands still when you're pregnant because you're counting down the weeks until you have your baby. But that doesn't stop weekends from zipping by. It just makes week days that much longer.

5) Apparently my parents are the only people reading this blog, since they're the only ones who have entered the free baby pool. Take a guess! You literally have nothing to lose.

Baby Pool

Up at the top of this site is a link to an online baby pool. There's no money involved, but there will be bragging rights! Click on the banner, and take a guess!

Go, Placenta, Go!

Welcome to week 14, the official start of my second trimester! Here's what babycenter.com has to say about week 14:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

So, I have actually started feeling less sick, which means the placenta has taken over the protection of the baby. The placenta, unlike the yolk sack that's been on guard for the past however many weeks, doesn't emit hormones to protect the baby. It's those pesky HCG hormones that make you sick in the first place. Humans are one of the few species whose bodies try to reject the growing baby, which is why the baby needs protection at all.

I also got my first maternity clothes yesterday. I bought 3 pairs of pants from Old Navy's maternity store. They are so comfy! I wish all pants had elastic waistbands. Buttons and zippers are way over-rated. We'll probably hit up the Macy's sale and Target this weekend to find some better fitting tops, but at least I don't have to walk around with my pants unbuttoned anymore!

Withdrawals

I'm at work today (like most week days), but Dan took today off to study. We work on different sides of our floor and only see each other at lunch and little pop-ins to say hi during the day. But now that he's not here, I'm lost. It's hard to not have him to take a break with and to IM all day.

He's doing a great job studying for his exam, and I'm really proud of him. But I'll be really happy when he's back at work tomorrow and when his exam is over. I know this is only the beginning of the withdrawals, but I don't like it. I can't wait for today to be over so I can go home and see him. Maybe it's my crazies kicking in again?

Anyway, we checked in on the baby last night and the heartbeat is still going strong. It's getting really easy to find it now since it's getting so big. In a few weeks when it starts really moving (and I can feel it consistently), we won't have to check in with the doppler. But for now, it's our only way of making sure things are still going well. It seems unreal still in a lot of ways but hearing its heart beating makes it much more real for both of us.

How Sweet It Is

Apparently, the baby's taste buds have started working, and it can taste everything that I eat and drink. According to my books and online reading, this is when it's very important to eat a variety of healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables and lean meats. I'm also supposed to be avoiding junk food, or the baby may develop a taste for it. I guess this would be a good time to stop my diet of Pringles, Sour Patch Kids, donuts and milkshakes. I've been craving foods I haven't eaten in years, and since I haven't been hungry for much, I've been indulging. Luckily even when I want these foods, I can't eat much of them.

To be honest, I've been trying really hard to eat enough and eat well. But when I can't stomach much, I think it's more important to eat anything than to not eat at all. My appetite does seem to be returning a little bit, so I'm optimistic that it will be a good fall and winter of giving the baby a taste of what's to come when the teeth come in. Hopefully that won't just be Cheetos and Oreos...

Monday, Monday

Mondays are the worst, aren't they? You're as far away from the weekend as possible, and you have a whole week's worth of responsibility ahead of you before you can sleep in and wear comfortable clothes. I have 24 more Mondays between now and when I start my maternity leave. 24! That's almost tolerable.

I'm so bad at waiting.

:)

Second Trimester, Here We Come!

I am 13 weeks and 3 days pregnant today. Thursday will start the second trimester, which I hear is the best trimester. Energy returns, nausea subsides, baby movement is felt...

I actually think I feel the baby already. Not often, and not consistently, but I feel little taps from the inside, around where we're finding the heartbeat. I mostly feel it when I'm sitting and putting pressure down there, or when I lie down and stay very still. When I feel it kick (or somersault or head butt or whatever it's doing), I first get really excited. But then I get a little freaked out. There's an alien in there! But then I get excited again. This is what we wanted, after all.

I can't say that I'm noticing a boost in energy yet, but I have felt less sick the last few nights. I can eat after 6:00, and I'm not quite as picky about what. I still have a weird aversion to spaghetti sauce, but other things don't seem so bad.

13 down, 27 to go

We've made it 13 weeks into the pregnancy now! The baby is around 3 inches long, weighs around an ounce, and has fingerprints! We listened to the heartbeat last night, and it has slowed down a little bit to 155 bpm. This is normal, and still very amazing to listen to.

I've popped out a little bit already, which according to everything I've read is too early (by like a month). But I definitely have a bump that I can't suck in anymore, and I've given up trying! Since it is a little early by book standards, I've decided it's twins. It totally isn't, but that's what I'm using as an excuse. I even went looking for a second heartbeat last night, but the twin must have been hiding because we couldn't find it! :)

Okay, so we're having one healthy baby, and that is plenty for us! This is the last week of the first trimester, and by this point the miscarriage chances are practically 0%. This is also around the time that I'm supposed to start feeling less sick and get more energy. I really hope that's true! This has been a long 6 weeks of feeling gross, and I'd like to feel more human again.

Have a good weekend!

Emotional Overload

I have (and have read) several pregnancy books written by doctors and nurses, and even one written by Jenny McCarthy. Every one of them talks about the emotional changes that go hand in hand with being pregnant. Nonsense, right?

We've had some trouble lately with fruit flies. Dan read about a home remedy where you put fruit in the bottom of a jar or glass, cover the top with saran wrap, and poke the end of a pencil into the wrap to make holes big enough for the flied to get in. They crawl in, can't figure out how to get out, and problem solved! We tried this experiment and were very successful Last night, we decided to clean up our fly trap, but most of them were still alive. So we filled up the glass with water to drown the little buggers. They're just flies, right? And then came the waterworks. I felt so bad killing those flies. What did they ever do to us? And was drowning really the most humane way of dealing with them?

As I sat on the couch crying about them last night, I realized how ridiculous that was. Dan didn't know whether to comfort me or laugh at me, so he settled on staring at me like I was crazy. Even I had to laugh at myself.

Back about a month ago, I was reading one of my books that wisely advised against asking your husband if you seem crazy. Because you are. But I asked Dan anyway, and he was like a deer in the headlights. How do you answer a loaded question from a crazy lady?

I'm working at home today since the Orkin people are coming out to spray for spiders. I doubt I will shed a tear for my 8-legged nemeses, but I apparently no longer have control of my feelings. We'll see!

Still Blech

When I read about "morning" sickness and how it will probably last until the 13th or 14th week (and sometimes longer!), I felt pretty lucky that mine didn't kick in until the 8th week. That meant only 5 or 6 weeks of feeling bad. Well here I am, about to finish my 13th week, and I feel terrible.

I feel best first thing in the morning, right when I wake up from 10 or 11 hours of sleep (yes, I go to bed that early!). The good feelings last about 30 minutes -- long enough to shower and get dressed. Then I have to eat, and it all goes down hill from there. Eating is a chore, though breakfast is my easiest meal. Cinnamon rolls or Cheerios seem to always be an option. The other night we had French toast for dinner because only breakfast foods seemed okay.

Then comes the bus ride. The ride is usually okay until we hit lower Queen Anne. This morning we were stuck in traffic next to two lanes of freshly lain asphalt. Barf! Then we get into Belltown and downtown, and there's a smoker every foot or two. Cigarette smoke has always bothered me, but that's my number one gag inducer now.

So by the time we actually make it to our building for work, I'm practically crying and ready to go home. I think if I didn't have to walk back through the smells to wait for the bus, I would have been right back on my way to Ballard many mornings!

Lunch is never an easy decision either. Dan and I were already tired of our choices, but now none of them seem like options. I don't want teriyaki or Thai, the salad bar is alright, pizza is no longer my favorite food...so we've done a lot of settling on Mexican-ish food, even though it's not that great. I can see myself gaining 50 or 60 pounds easily this pregnancy if I get my appetite back! I'm going to eat and eat and eat as soon as food sounds good.

I'm lucky if I have a craving when we get home. Then I can sneak in dinner before 6:00 when I get sickest. If I can't/don't eat by then, I'm pretty much out of luck. I've been forcing Instant Breakfasts on these nights, so that I have enough in my stomach for my vitamins (which I'm still gagging down).

So that leads back to the early bed times. If I can't eat even though I'm starving, what's the point of staying up? I don't feel better staying up, but I do feel better when I'm unconscious. Go figure!

Now here I am, after work, trying to figure out dinner. I better hurry or it's another night of liquid nutrition for me!

But after all the whining, I would (and will) do it all over again. I love this little lime so much already, and making me sick is just its way of letting me know it's okay.

The Cat's Out...

We told the owners of our company today that we're going to be parents. I was more nervous to do that than I was to interview in the first place! But it all went fine. We're going to keep the secret from the rest of our staff for a few more weeks, just to make sure, but the hard part is seemingly over.

Have a good weekend!

Heartbeat Recording

If you look at the top left of this site, you'll see a box to play the heartbeat sounds (if they didn't automatically start when you got here). We recorded that last night before bed. The quality isn't great, but I thought it would be better to share this now, and hope to get a better recording later on.

The beat gets louder as the recording goes on. It was registering around 160 bpm last night. I can't believe how hard that little heart is working!

Enjoy! It is our new favorite sound.

Tomorrow Makes 12!

Tomorrow is the twelve-week mark. It's still another week and a half until we're in the second trimester, but I can't believe we've made it this far already! Here is some twelfth week info, according to babycenter.com:

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

So, the baby is more like a baby now than a large shrimp, which is kind of what it's been resembling up to this point.

Food is sounding a *little* bit better to me these days, which makes me slightly less ill at night (since I can eat a little bit after work). Instant Breakfasts are still my night-time friend, but I think we're finally headed up! I hear that the second trimester is the fun one: more energy, renewed appetite, you can feel the baby move... I can't wait!

Monday Blues (or Greens?)

It is another green morning for me, here in Pregnancy Land. The weekend was so nice, which makes it even harder to be at work again. My dad and I had a great time at the Huskies game Saturday (despite the ending), and it felt good to be out in the sun (after we got sunscreen and a hat!). Sunday was more relaxed, but I had a session with my personal trainer. It's getting harder and harder to get motivated to exercise, but at least there's an hour a week that I'm working hard and doing something good for me.

Dan found the cross-stitch Christmas stocking that I bought a while back, so I started that last night. I'm glad I have over a year until baby's first Christmas, because this one's going to take a while! It will be a nice hobby to have as I get less and less mobile over the next 6+ months.

Happy Monday!

11 Weeks and Counting

Our peanut is about an inch and a half long now, and still making me sick. I love the reassurance that things are going well, though!

My Dad is taking 'us' to the Huskies/BYU game tomorrow as a baby's first football game. I guess the requirement for singing the fight song has been relaxed for this one. It will be nice to get the fresh air and to spend time with the old man. I can call him that because he's going to be a grandpa! :)

Not much else to report. Our next appointment is on September 30th when we start our Centering Pregnancy class. The first half of the class is spent doing checkups with the midwife, and the second half is talking about what we're all going through. It'll be nice to meet some other local couples sharing the same incredible ride.

165!!

We have a heartbeat!! We bought a doppler so we could listen at home, and we found one! We listened to the little peanut for about 30 minutes, and you could tell it is swimming around in there. The beat would get louder and then go away and then come back again. It stayed around 165 the whole time, and it was the coolest thing I've ever heard!

There is an old wives' tale that a heart rate over 140 means a girl, but I just did some research online and the studies I read say that there is no statistical difference in heart rates between boys and girls. I guess 30 weeks is soon enough to find out!