14 Weeks

How Far Along: 14 weeks (182 more days to go!)

What "They" Say About Our Baby's Development: This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck its thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, its facial muscles are getting a workout as its tiny features form one expression after another. Its kidneys are producing urine, which it releases into the amniotic fluid around it — a process it'll keep up until birth. It can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch it sucking its thumb. In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, it measures 3 1/2 inches and weighs 1 1/2 ounces. Its body's growing faster than its head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, its arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (Its legs still have some lengthening to do.) Its starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over its body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and its spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel its 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.

Weekly Food Comparison: A lemon...may explain the lemon cravings and all the lemon candies I'm eating!

The Good: Officially in the second trimester! Nausea is still there but MUCH less. Have more energy during the day which is also good!

The Bad: Still have really dry skin, so baby oil, lotions, etc. are my new "normal".

The Weird: Got nauseous in the grocery store this week. Almost had to run to the bathroom three times. Also bought very unusual foods for me just based on what the packaging looked like and how it made me feel. I ended up coming home with "normal" groceries, accompanied with donuts (never buy!), sugary cereal, and Betty Crocker boxed potatoes in garlic and butter flavor. (Definitely weird for me since I never buy boxed potatoes!)

Currently Craving/Avoiding:

Avoiding: String cheese, sodas (too sweet to drink), random foods make me sick.

Craving: Protein, sour candies.

Doctor Updates: Nothing new this week. Have an appointment in two weeks.

The Weekly Belly Bump: Definitely seems a little bigger.

14 weeks...my belly button seems to be getting smaller!

Confusion

So Tito and I hit Babies R' Us for a visit this weekend and to see what was out there and what prices were so we could comparison shop online.

We left confused. Tito actually said he felt more confused than before going in. I felt a little better. But not much.

It's just the whole amount of stuff needed for babies. And not really the stuff, but the amount of choices of stuff! It's crazy. We looked at bouncers, swings, pack and plays, strollers, car seats, cribs, dressers, gliders, carriers, bottles and more. And then Tito wandered over into the Toys R' Us section and we looked at toys. Not that an infant plays with much, but we do have a fondness for the many bilingual toys that are out there (the Leapfrog brand makes these cool bilingual drums, maracas, and a few other toys. We are definitely getting those for our kid.) :)

We know we're early in looking, but with some things (crib and dresser) most likely having to be ordered by 20 weeks, we figured it was ok to look. And when we move in a few weeks, we're going to just have an empty room, so we can start getting things as soon as we want since we don't have to clear out space for the "stuff". Besides, I have 27 weeks left and that is going to go by a lot faster than I think it is...it always does.

Update on baby items

So, thanks to Amazon Prime, we got our packages already! Actually the baby bath came in 1 day! The rest of the stuff arrived yesterday.

The baby bath seems larger than I thought it was going to be (I don't know what I was thinking, it needs to fit a baby up to 6 months old!) I'm worried it won't fit over our kitchen sink, but in that case we can probably just put it in the bathtub, right?

The sound machine had a 10 second demo on it so I was playing with that yesterday. The sounds seem nice and soothing. Although the "womb" setting was a little creepy. Tito and I both agreed on that one and don't think we'll be using that setting but sticking to the ocean, rain, etc. settings.

The Itzbeen is TINY! I thought it would be larger (about the size of a Kindle) but instead it's just a little larger than an old school Ipod (maybe the size of an IPhone?) and has a little clip where you can clip it onto your clothes. Makes perfect sense to me! Haven't had a chance to pull it out of the package and play with it (I've kept it all in packages so we can just put it all in a box to move and then put it all in the baby's room) but I can't wait to try this out. I love little gadgets like this!

13 week update

How Far Along: 13 weeks (189 more days to go!)

What "They" Say About Our Baby's Development: Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, its veins and organs are clearly visible through its still-thin skin, and its body is starting to catch up with its head — which makes up just a third of its body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long and weighs nearly an ounce. This is the last week of your first trimester, and your risk of miscarriage is now much lower than earlier in pregnancy. Next week marks the beginning of your second trimester, a time of relative comfort for many women who see early pregnancy symptoms such as morning sickness and fatigue subside.

Weekly Food Comparison: A shrimp! At least it doesn't have a tail anymore...

The Good: Almost to the end of the first trimester. In fact, some people consider me "in the second trimester" now. Technically I won't be until Monday...but close enough!

The Bad: Still have nausea and headaches, although subsiding a bit. Also noticing very dry skin, so I'm slathering myself in baby oil and lotion.

The Weird: Hot flashes are back occasionally. Also, I *think* I might be feeling the baby move ever so slightly occasionally. Sometimes I can press on my stomach where the sonographer had the ultrasound wand and occasionally I'll feel a very light flutter after a few minutes. Feels like popcorn popping inside my belly.

Currently Craving/Avoiding:

Avoiding: Cheese, most sweets (have no craving for them at all. Dessert barely seems appealing to me so I usually skip it.)

Craving: Sour things, pickles, chicken.

Doctor Updates: Nothing new this week except test results came back from the appointment last week and things look great baby-wise!

The Weekly Belly Bump: Still the same. A little bigger. Definitely still bigger at night than in the morning. (All of my photos are taken in the morning.)

13weeks pregnant (some bruises on the side of my stomach from my shots)

First baby items...

So I got our bi-annual notice of our insurance survey yesterday and logged online to take it. The best part of this survey is the $50 they give you for taking it. :) I called Tito and said it would be nice when he took his if he could apply it to Amazon or Babies R' Us so we could get $100 worth of something for the baby. He insisted he wanted to do a "date night" thing, and wanted me to as well, but I chose to go with Amazon.com so I could have the option of getting something for myself or the baby.

After taking the survey, I filled out that I wanted an e-certificate and it actually arrived in my in box about 20 minutes later! I've never gotten them that fast! I spent about an hour looking on Amazon, trying to decide what I wanted. I finally decided I wanted to get the most "bang" for my buck, and opted against applying the $50 towards a swing, pack and play or something larger. I've compiled a list from recs from some friends, as well as Baby Bargains for some items that are deemed "essential" and also some things that I think would be helpful to me so I was looking at those. So I ended up with 4 items. I only went about $12 over because we have Amazon Prime and shipping was free. So it wasn't a bad deal to get 4 things for $12!

Here's what I got:


Safety 1st Comfy Bath Center in Light Blue - had really high recommendations on Amazon and customer reviews. People mentioned that the temp gauge was good, as well as the foam (in blue) kept the baby from slipping and didn't get cold like the older version that had a plastic coating.


DEX Products Sound Sleeper SS-01 - I actually had been recommended to get the Homedics version that has a disc that projects on the ceiling, but that one didn't qualify for Amazon Prime for me, and the reviews on this one were good as well since it has 24 different sound options (you can combine sounds if wanted.) And I'd read some reviews on the Homedics that said that the projection on it and backlighting was a little bright for a baby.


Itzbeen Baby Care Timer - Blue - The reviews I'd read were good, and the one that sold me was the guy who mentioned that he'd bought it for his wife who thought they wouldn't need it - until the baby came. And then she was so sleep deprived that her math skills suffered and she was having a hard time figuring out the last time the baby was fed, when it was changed, etc. I know it seems like a silly, frivolous baby item, that women have had baby's forever without needing an electronic device to keep track of this stuff, but this money was free money to me, so this was my "splurge" item!


Latin Lullaby - I've had this saved in my cart for future purchase for 2 years. It's full of Spanish lullabies, and includes two songs that Tito's parents used to sing to him when he was a kid - "Duermete Mi Nino" and "A La Nanita Nana". We're in the process of collecting books and CD's of lullaby music in Spanish and English for this baby.

I'm excited for our first few items (other than some miscellaneous items I've picked up over the past year or so, or books I've gotten.) to arrive! Granted, I could have waited a couple more weeks so they'd be one less thing to move to our new place, but it's ok, it's baby stuff and it's small, right? :)

12 week update

How Far Along: 12 weeks (196 more to go!)

What "They" Say About Our Baby's Development: The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, its toes will curl, its eye muscles will clench, and its mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. Its intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into its abdominal cavity about now, and its kidneys will begin excreting urine into its bladder. Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. Its face looks unquestionably human: Its eyes have moved from the sides to the front of its head, and its 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.

Weekly Food Comparison: A lime! Yummy!

The Good: Saw the baby this week! Moving around and squirming like crazy! I was able to see the baby's heart rate this week (163 bpm) although we couldn't hear it with the doppler. My doc said that the baby was probably deeper inside than the Doppler could hear. Hopefully next time! Have found some foods to help me with nausea. Almost to the end of the first trimester!

The Bad: Nausea is still here. Hoping this will be my last week. Also very tired, and I usually go to bed between 8pm and 9pm now.

The Weird: My sense of smell seems to have ramped up again. Bad things smell really bad to me and I can smell them long after I've been around them, like the smell sticks to me.

Currently Craving/Avoiding:

Avoiding: String cheese (the site of it still makes me sick), super greasy foods.

Craving: Veggies (other than green peppers), water, sour things (sour Lemonhead candies are awesome), pickles, cucumbers.

Doctor Updates: I went to have another ultrasound and first round of genetic testing done on Tuesday. I had the ultrasound first and saw the little one in there moving around like crazy. A couple of times the baby dragged its hand around and it was so neat to see 5 perfect little fingers and a perfect little hand. I cried (as usual) during the ultrasound because I'm emotional but also because it was just so amazing to see. You can see ultrasounds online and other people's but when it's your own it truly takes your breath away. We go back in another 3.5 weeks for the next round of tests and hopefully can hear the heartbeat on the Doppler. And then two weeks after that, we go in for another ultrasound to see the gender. I'm banking on "girl", as at the ultrasound last week there was a pretty good "money shot" and no boy parts to be seen. And I've felt it was a girl since the beginning. So we'll see if I'm right! Until then, Tito is still referring to the baby as "he" when he talks about it.

The Weekly Belly Bump: Still about the same. But I'm definitely close to busting out of my regular pants. I bought two pairs of maternity pants this past week and they are SO comfortable. Still a little loose, but I'm sure not for long!

I still owe the 11 week photo in the last post but here's the 12 week. You can see the left over bruises from my shots. Not the best shot but it shows theres been some growth this week! And yes, I'm wearing maternity jeans. None of my other jeans fit me now (they won't even button and the pair I tried on this morning won't zip!)

Home update

So we were approved for the new place and we officially move in on October 17th. We're going to go over and sign the lease this weekend. I started packing this past weekend when Tito was gone and didn't get as much accomplished as I thought I would, but still managed to get a lot done. The cats are in a funk because there are boxes all over the house and they know somethings up. I think they think we're leaving them behind... :)

I can't wait to be in the new place though and settled. I hate this feeling of unrest. And finally, once we're in the new place we can start buying the many needed things for this baby. I've been eyeing and researching cribs and car seats for awhile as well as strollers. I can't wait to find out if it is a girl or boy officially so we know which way to go with the nursery colors and decorations.

Under 200 days to go!

I can't believe we're under 200 days to go now! So crazy how fast time is flying...

Yesterday was a good day. I woke up nice and early. Had some breakfast (Trix cereal, yum! I'm craving sugary cereals which is weird because I never eat these!) then got ready for the day. Headed to the UW for my first appointment of the morning which was my NT scan ultrasound. The ultrasound tech was awesome. So nice, and she found Baby D right away. At first Baby D wasn't moving at all, then, as if it knew we were looking at it, it started squirming and moving around like crazy! She snapped a few photos, and started to take the measurements...I saw the baby roll over three times total. It was moving its feet and legs, and arms and hands around a bunch too. It was so amazing to see tiny, perfect fingers and toes! The tech said everything looked great, and the fluid at the back of the neck and spine were actually as "low as they possibly could be" which was great to hear! She said the baby was measuring at 11w6d and I was 11w4d according to my dates, so she said that was right on. Baby D is just about 2 inches long. With a huge head. :) She did one shot from underneath where you could see both legs and I looked and said "I don't see anything there that indicates it's a boy." She smiled and said it was too early to be conclusive but that she was guessing it was a girl, which is what I've felt it was from the beginning. I'll have to wait another 6 weeks to know for sure though.

I had another appointment after this for an ultracomm and then meeting with my doc but I had some time to kill so I went to the cafeteria to get some food because I was starving! I ended up having an egg, two slices of turkey bacon and a slice of raisin toast. Lots of protein!

The ultracomm appointment was right afterwards to measure the amount of blood flowing from my heart (this is one of the special things I get to do because of my heart condition.) The results there were not great. I am pumping far greater than normal amounts of blood through my heart. My blood pressure is low, but the flow is too high. Although my doc said that if I were to be abnormal in anything that this would be the best thing for my to be abnormal in. So I'm increasing my medications and getting checked again. We go back in a month for the second part of the testing (more blood work) and then also for urine protein levels and another ultracomm.

I can't even put into words how truly amazing it was to see this little baby moving around and squirming and knowing that it was something that Tito and I created from something so tiny! I'm in awe of it all. So I'd like to share with you all my child.. (I put the markers on for people who didn't know what they were looking at!) :)

New home update!

We thought we'd found a place before and then went looking last weekend. We looked at about 5 places, and then decided to try and go and look at one more. On the way to that one, we passed a complex I'd written down (and frankly written off after seeing photos as it was old, needed updates and seemed a buit dumpy.) I mentioned this to Tito and he suggested we stop in just in case. So we pulled in and went in to meet with the leasing agent. She told us about some great deals they were having and then offered to show up a place. We agreed and drove over (the complex is large and separated into two areas.) When walking in, I was more than pleasantly surprised.

The leasing agent told us the place had been remodeled but essentially it had been gutted and completely rebuilt. The kitchen was all new - new appliances, new cabinets, fixtures, faucet, sink, counter tops, floors. The carpet was new. The paint was new and a nice cream tone not just a plain white. The doors were new, the molding around the doors was new! Three bedrooms and they were all decent sized! Two bathrooms and both decent sized and all new everything in them! Guest bedroom has plenty of storage space. What will be the nursery is right next to our room and perfect sized. A nice sized deck (so much larger than our current deck) and with a huge storage closet as well. Woodburning fireplace, new light fixtures throughout, etc. Washer and dryer (brand new, the plastic still on them!) The price of the place was only $60 more than our current place! The complex is located on a dead end street that has a mix of the complex, houses, condos and townhomes throughout. There's a green belt at one side, walking trails, sidewalks, it's across the street from our gym. The complex has a pool (seasonal) and year round hot tub. Also has a gym, tanning bed, game room with pool table, movie room, etc. Also playgrounds throughout the complex. The best part? The complex is SO quiet. We were there on a Saturday afternoon and it was super quiet and Tito went back once mid week in the evening (7pm) and it was still very quiet. Perfect!

So we took applications that day and drove away. We talked after we left and Tito admitted it was perfect. I suggested we go back and drop off applications and he said we could do it the next day. Well the next day we got a call that the place we looked at was rented! But, they had two others available in October as they're being remodeled now. And those units were both on the second floor, which we preferred. (There's only 2 floors in the whole building.) So we decided to drop off our application the next day. Well they called us on Monday and said that they had rented one of the other apartments. So we knew we needed to get our stuff over there. So Tito dropped off applications on Monday night and now we're waiting, but essentially we're moving October 17th. I can't wait to be settled in our new place! Hopefully the cats like it! :)

11 Week Update

How Far Along: 11 weeks

What "They" Say About Our Baby's Development: Your baby is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden. She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

Weekly Food Comparison: A fig! Again, never had a fig...

The Good: Feeling better usually. A little more energy, but not much. I have much more energy in the mornings than I do in the evenings.



The Bad: Headaches. Horrible, migraine-like headaches. Also motion sickness when I'm driving. Makes the commute in the evenings hard. I've increased my water intake to help combat the headaches but they're still pretty rough.

The Weird: Hair! The hair on my arms and legs seems to be growing at a super fast rate. Luckily I have blond hair but it's crazy!

Currently Craving/Avoiding:

Avoiding: String cheese, soda, most sweets, chocolate, ice cream, green peppers, hamburgers.
Craving: Veggies (other than green peppers), pizza (pepperoni, even though I got horribly sick last week!), chips and salsa (from a restaurant only! I made Tito seek out both Mexican food and pizza last weekend), water (thirsty all the time), chicken nuggets or popcorn chicken.

The Weekly Belly Bump: About the same. Notice it much more in the evenings, and with certain clothes. I've lost the bloating so some clothes are fitting again but I think it won't be too long before they're too tight again. (*Will have to post photos on Monday as I took one this morning but Tito took the camera to MD with him before I got a chance to upload the pic!)

11 weeks pregnant

Ready for the weekend

It's only Wednesday afternoon and I'm already looking forward to the weekend. Tito is leaving this weekend and flying cross country to a friend's wedding in Maryland. I couldn't go because my doc wouldn't let me fly (boo!) So I get to hang back and do fun things. Like what, you ask?

Here's my weekend plans:

Friday morning - drive Tito to the airport at the horrible hour of 5am! Drop him off and then - wait for it, wait for it...go to work. It just doesn't make sense for me to drive back home again since I'd have to go 20 mins north of where I work to go home, and by the time I got there I'd probably have to get ready for work and come in. So I'm crazy and just going in at 5:30am. But the good thing about this? I get to leave at 1:30pm on a holiday weekend, so that is not that bad.

Friday night - birthday party at a sushi restaurant north of me. I'm really going to try and be awake enough for this. Not that I can eat sushi but I've heard the place has teryaki so I can have that. We'll see how I'm feeling though.

Saturday morning - buy boxes and get boxes from grocery store. Pack. Pack. Pack. Take things off of walls and repair holes from nails. Fun times. Since I won't be able to physically lift anything during our move in about a month, I can pack. So I get to pack and stack. I'm going to box up anything we're not currently using on a regular basis and can live without for a month before we move.

Saturday night - work on finishing our honeymoon scrapbook. Watch tv and movies. Veg.

Sunday morning - church.

Sunday afternoon - finish any packing, organizing or purging that wasn't done the day before. Finish honeymoon scrapbook. Start working on honeymoon video (gift for Tito for Christmas.)

Sunday night - Read. Go through Rachel Ray magazines and Family Circle and Good Housekeeping and pull out recipes I like. Copy into recipe organizer while watching tv. Recycle magazine when done.

Monday - Read (I have so many books to catch up on and get back to the library!) Relax. Veg. Pick up Tito from the airport. :)

I need to keep busy when Tito's not here otherwise I go crazy. I'm happy if I accomplish 50% of this. In my mind the packing, organizing, finishing the honeymoon scrapbook (it's 75% done already) and reading are the most important. So really it's not that much. Just enough to keep me busy so I'm not bored, sitting on my butt all day watching tv or missing Tito too much.

And it'll make the weekend go by quickly so I can get excited for Tuesday - which is our next OB appointment and chance to see jalapeno! I'm going in for the quad screening for genetic testing and part of it includes an ultrasound. So hopefully we'll be able to see jalapeno moving around rather than just being a little heart-beating blob like the last time (at 7 weeks.) It's amazing to me that in just 3.5 short weeks our baby will have gone from a non-moving blob to a fetus with fully formed organs, and is moving up a storm!