2.8.12

4 months

According to my calculations/method, I am 4 months along today!

Also, I must say that the BeBand/Bella Band thing is the BEST thing ever!!! It is definitely my favorite maternity-related item so far.

 I was trying to put a couple of pictures in here, but apparently my browser is not up-to-date enough to add photos... guess I'll try again later!

1.8.12

18 Weeks Update

Today is 18 weeks for me and my little one! Not a lot to update since last week - I still haven't felt Baby move (at least, not that I have recognized). There have been a few times when I thought I might have felt something, but I'm pretty sure I haven't felt the "real thing" yet.

I realized that pretty much all day I am tensing my stomach muscles - not consciously or intentionally, but when I think about it, I can "relax" my abdomen and my tummy sticks out a little more. It's not painful or uncomfortable, and I don't think it's bad or a problem to be dealt with, I just think it's odd. I've also had some more round ligament pain (still pretty infrequent). For the most part, I still feel the same as I did pre-pregnancy, except that I get tired more often/easily and now when I bend over to get things, there's something in the way :)

Two weeks until we get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl, if Baby cooperates! I may have mentioned this before, but we are going to do a mini-reveal of the gender while my mom is out visiting. We will have my in-laws and mom with us, and we will get my dad, step-mom, Sean and Siobhan, and possibly my grandparents and Ian and Kathryn on Skype, and all find out together :-D It should be fun. It might be a little tricky working out everyone's schedules, but hopefully we can make it happen!!

Also, by my calculations/method, I'll be 4 months tomorrow!! Exciting!! :-D

25.7.12

Also...

Adam noticed today that my belly button is already changing... it's usually pretty deep (I mean I think it's a pretty normal depth), and now it is MUCH shallower! WEIRD!!!!! Also this morning, I really looked pregnant in the outfit I was wearing. Most of my shirts are softer fabric so they tend to "hug" my body more, but I was wearing a button-down over a tank top, and the button down definitely made me look noticeably pregnant! :-D

How many months pregnant am I?

Today is 17 weeks. Not too much to update since Monday; however, I have been wondering how people calculate how many "months" pregnant they are. If you go with the idea that a month is 4 weeks, and pregnancy is about 40 weeks long, that is 10 months, so right away that doesn't work. I have seen some websites that have a chart, and for a few of the months, they have (I believe arbitrarily) made them 5 weeks long instead of 4. I have heard some people say you take the number of weeks you are and divide by 4.4 (the average amount of weeks in a month). So for me, I would be 17/4.4 = ~3.8 months. That is kind of labor intensive (pregnancy pun not intended). I guess I can use that, but I came up with a different idea. Maybe someone else has also thought of this "method," but I haven't seen it anywhere, and I have done a fair amount of googling on this topic, so I will go ahead and call it my idea. I go by my due date, January 2, and count backwards. So December 2 would be 8 months, November 2 is 7 months, etc. While this may also seem labor intensive, I just wrote it on my calendar when I figured it out and now I don't have to do any more figuring! My method is also pretty close to the division method, because it puts me pretty close to 4 months (August 2!!) :-D

So... how would you/did you/do you figure out how many months pregnant you are?

23.7.12

The results are in...

No UTI!! Yay!!!

Adam and I are going to go to Olive Garden and a movie to celebrate! :-D

Also, we went out on the boat this weekend, and I have a hard time getting back in the boat from the water without landing right on my stomach (on the edge of the boat), so I asked Adam about fashioning some kind of step or ladder for me to use. He was able to come up with a makeshift rope ladder that, with me leaning on Adam for support, enabled me to get on to the boat with no tummy landings! What a great husband I have!! :-)

18.7.12

16 weeks & check-up

I kept putting exclamation points at the end of my post titles. I am trying to not overload this blog with exclamation points, only because I don't want to lessen the value of them when I do use them. So understand that I am very excited about my post titles, even if my punctuation doesn't seem to reflect it :)

16 weeks today! Went to the doctor and Adam came, again. He will probably just come to the next one with me, for the ultrasound, and then I may not have him come with me every time after that. He has to take off the entire day when he comes with me, so we'll see if he keeps coming.

The appointment went well. The doctor said I am right on track for growth, and we got to hear Baby's heartbeat again! I also did another urinalysis test, to make sure I don't have a UTI anymore. So be praying! I won't find out the results until Friday or Monday.

I can hardly wait till next month when we'll get to take a peek at Baby!! My brother and sister-in-law did a big gender-revealing party with my nephew, Rowan, and while I don't want to do that, I thought I might do a version of it. I want to have the ultrasound technician write down the gender, and then get my dad, step-mom, Sean and Siobhan on Skype (my mom will be with us) and all find out together. Then I'll just make the announcement on Facebook, probably :) So that's the plan for now!

16.7.12

Clothes and Bump

I bought my first maternity clothes/items yesterday! I am going to need a dress for a wedding in a couple of weeks, and my nicer dresses are starting to get a little tight, so I bought one at Target yesterday that should last me quite a while, if not through my whole pregnancy, yay! I also bought another dress, a shirt, and a Bella Band to extend the life of my pre-pregnancy work pants (and any other pants, but I mostly got it for work). Used the Bella  Band today, and so far I really like it!

I'm not really showing a whole lot yet, but I do like showing. :-) A few people this weekend said they could tell, and of course Adam can notice it a lot as well.

Doctor's appointment got switched to Wednesday, so I don't have to wait all the way until Friday! Then, in 4 weeks, we will be finding out if we are having a boy or a girl! :-D I can hardly wait!!

13.7.12

Another dream

So I mentioned that earlier this week I had a dream that we were having a girl. Well, last night, I dreamed that we had a boy! In this dream, I actually had the baby really fast (and easy! yay I hope that part of my dream comes true!), and the baby was early (basically I had the baby now), but he was about 8 pounds, so he was totally healthy. When I dreamed we were having a girl, I just saw an announcement and knew we were having a girl, I didn't actually see a baby girl. Isn't that interesting! So I guess I'm an equal opportunity dreamer :-D

11.7.12

15 weeks

I can hardly believe I'm already at 15 weeks!  Next doctor's appointment is next Friday. I'm still feeling pretty good, but I've been getting lightheaded more easily when I stand up from reclining. Also I've been dealing with a stuffy nose a lot of the time, which isn't painful, but it can be annoying. I like breathing.

Yesterday my belly started to show a little more. I noticed it before I went to work, and one of my coworkers noticed it, too! Still wearing my normal clothes, although my friend Ashley loaned me some maternity pants and sweater, along with some books! Thanks, Ashley!

I would like to know why there isn't a standard way to determine the "months" of pregnancy. If you look online, there are a bunch of methods, charts, and what-not. I guess this is why they go by weeks. That, at least, I can keep track of!!

175 days or 5 months and 22 days until Baby's due date!! :-D

9.7.12

An Update

We'll have to see if I can come up with a better title than "An Update!" haha...

Well, I tried some Greek yogurt, and while I don't think I could eat an entire container plain, with fruit I like it! It is definitely different, more tart than regular yogurt, but I do like it. Adam couldn't believe the amount of protein in it, and one of the flavors I got (honey) has two ingredients: milk and honey. He was impressed by that as well. And I definitely like the 10 extra grams of protein! So I think that will be a regular addition to my diet (at least my pregnancy diet, and maybe beyond!)

Last night I had my first dream about Baby's sex, and in my dream, we were having a girl. I don't necessarily think that that's my intuition and that I'm right, but so far I've mainly just had dreams about being pregnant, not about Baby!! I had quite a few dreams about telling people I was pregnant until we actually told people.

Also, even though I am not really showing yet, I think Baby is starting to rearrange my abdominal organs. My stomach felt kind of funny today, like a muscular thing, not like indigestion or nausea. This has happened once before, although the first time it was PAINFUL, and this time it is just irritating.

Finally, I do think the pure aloe is helping my acne. I'm still red and it's not great, but it's definitely improving. I will keep it up and see how much it helps over time.

That is pretty much it for now!!