The most popular question has been, "Are you going to find out what the gender is before he/she is born?" Some may be disappointed to find that we don't know. We don't have strong feelings either way. My only argument against finding out early is that you can't unknow once you know. But, is that an issue with us? Probably not.
Knowing beforehand has benefits. It means we can rephrase our talk from gender-inclusive to just she/her or he/his. It also means we can narrow the scope of our name search. We still have a few weeks to decide, but if it's anything like deciding the new paint color for the study, the baby will be born long before we come to a decision.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Baby's First Pictures
Here are the baby's first pictures. Images 1 and 2 are the same, except that I've marked the second to show the baby and the yolk. You can click on each image to view it as a larger image.
Taken at our first prenatal visit. ~8wks
Taken at ~12wks.
Magenta arrow points to baby's face. Purple arrow points to baby's belly.
Taken at our first prenatal visit. ~8wks
Baby is circled in magenta and yolk in yellow.
On July 27, we went in for an NT screening which is an early detection for Down Syndrome and Trisomy #18.
Taken at ~12wks.
Magenta arrow points to baby's face. Purple arrow points to baby's belly.Friday, July 24, 2009
Water Intake
Two weeks ago, my water intake increased by approximately 32 oz. That means, my normal 96 oz of just water a day is now 128 oz. The extra 32 ounces are what I now drink during the night! I'd been waking up during the night thirsty and found that the little bit of water I kept on the nightstand was not cutting it. So, when loved ones ask if I'm getting enough water...I sure hope so, because I don't think I have any more free minutes in the day to devote to H2O consumption and bathroom breaks. It's all going to a good cause. My body is increasing and maintaining amniotic fluid for our baby, producing more blood in my system and removing toxins/waste from my body. Isn't that cool?
Food and Nutrition
I finally found and simplified a daily nutrition guide for myself. Because I've been repulsed by cooked vegetables, I'd begun to worry that my veggie intake has dropped too dramatically since pregnancy. I'm having no problems eating fruit, except for the occasional tomato and avocado. Here is my simplified (slightly reduced to what I can actually tolerate) guideline:
| | | | | |
| Meat, Fish, Poultry and Egg Group | | | ||
| servings | size | food | | |
| 3 | 3 oz | fish | | |
| | | poultry | | |
| | | lean meat | | |
| | | eggs | | |
| | | beans | | |
| | | lentils | | |
| | | seeds | | |
| | | nuts | | |
| | | nut butter | | |
| | | | | |
| Dairy Group | | | ||
| servings | size | food | | |
| 4 | 1 cup | milk | | |
| | 1 oz | cheese | | |
| | 1 cup | yogurt | | |
| | 1 1/2 cup | cottage cheese | | |
| | | | | |
| Bread, Cereal, Dried Beans, Peas and Legumes Group | ||||
| servings | size | food | | |
| 6-11 | 1 slice | bread | | |
| | 1/4 cup | cooked beans | | |
| | 3/4 cup | dry cereal | | |
| | 1/2 cup | cooked cereal | | |
| | | | | |
| Vegetable and Fruit Group (Vitamin C) | | |||
| servings | size | food | | |
| 2 | 1/2 cup | broccoli | | |
| | | brussel sprouts | | |
| | | cauliflower | | |
| | | collard greens | | |
| | | potato | | |
| | | spinach | | |
| | | cantaloupe | | |
| | | honeydew | | |
| | | lemon | | |
| | | orange | | |
| | | strawberry | | |
| | | watermelon | | |
| | | | | |
| Vegetable and Fruit Group (Beta Carotene) | | |||
| servings | size | food | | |
| 2 | 1/2 cup | broccoli | | |
| | | cabbage | | |
| | | carrots | | |
| | | chard | | |
| | | sweet potatoes | | |
| | | spinach | | |
| | | apricots | | |
| | | cantaloupe | | |
| | | nectarine | | |
| | | peach | | |
| | | watermelon | | |
| | | pumpkin | | |
| | | winter squash | | |
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
First Trimester Summary
Since we are going into our second trimester, I thought I'd give a quick list of first trimester experiences (in as close to chronological order as possible):
- prenatal vitamins (2 months before conception)
- gigantic breasts
- bloating
- gas
- mild & occasional cramping (ending around week 9)
- dreams about smoking cigarettes (Just before we found out I was pregnant. Weird because I'm so anti-smoking.)
- bizarre desire to drink alcohol (Again, strange, because I'm so a non-drinker.)
- occasional heartburn
- flood of emotions (excitement, fear, hope)
- strong aversion to coffee (quit coffee completely by week 8)
- nausea
- aversion to cooked vegetables
- mild aversion to all foods
- talking aloud to baby every night before bed
- uncontrolled happy crying when seeing fans of Cash Cab find out they are actually on/in the game show
- conscious effort to reduce internalization of work stress
- pregnancy brain - my vocabulary is reduced to approximately 20 words (I just cannot remember the name of anything anymore)
- extreme fatigue in the afternoon (if neglected, leads to crying breakdown)
- obsessively looking at my online pregnancy calendar
- thoughts of quitting my job and starting a cake business
- total gross-out at Neo's cat food
- Matt takes over laundry and most of the household chores while I deal with my breakdown by taking a nap after work
- drinking milk and eating ice cream
- missing bacon
- lusting after lemons
- guilty pleasure: cherry Kool-Aid
- getting the house ready for baby
- thinking about the literature I'm going to read to baby
- imagining what kind of parent I want to be
- talking to baby about his/her Daddy since he doesn't get to spend the whole day with her/him
- yoga and constant efforts to keep cat tail out of my face when doing downward dog
Maternity Wear
We are about to enter the 2nd trimester and I am starting to feel relieved and I'm still super excited. My nausea and appetite are already improving. This past Sunday I went out to buy maternity pants. My jeans were starting to fit a little snug around my waist, so it was time.
I was hoping to minimize my exposure the heat by going to J.C. Penny off I-19, but they have an embarrassingly small selection of maternity clothes. Why bother with 1 rack of pants in 2 different styles (slacks and jeans), for a grand total of 4 different types of pants. Not to mention, all the pants were 6 sizes larger than my base size. Ugh.
The high was 108 that day, but still, I needed pants to accommodate my forming bump. I ended up at the Tucson Mall, knowing that Old Navy also has my everyday jeans in maternity wear. Well, not quite. They have them online, but the store has an even smaller maternity section than JCP. I never knew that the mother's-to-be group was so under-supported. Bad stores!
A pair of jeans and a pair of casual, army green pants later, I was starting to get shaky. I now get shaky and on the verge of tears when I'm hungry. Forget stomach grumbling or feeling hungry, we move right on to crisis mode. Luckily, I was in the mall. I stopped in at Red Robin and ordered a cheeseburger and fries, water and a coke. Not the healthiest lunch I know, but eating has been a chore since about week 9. I'm pretty much thrilled if I can force any type of food into my stomach. The soda, a rare thing, was to get my blood sugar up fast. Again, it's not the ideal method, but I really was in about to start crying phase.
I ate my whole lunch. What? Way awesome. I didn't have that zone out that I used to do when I was trying to just get through the meal. Could it be that my food aversion had gone on vacation? I think so. I haven't had trouble eating (excepting the hot cocoa foul-up this week from Starbucks. Salty ass hot chocolate is no way to win customers.) since sometime before this meal. Yay! Time to recover my vegetable intake.
After lunch, I called Matt to let him know that I was doing fine and that I'd decided to hit another store before leaving. Motherhood Maternity--my new favorite store, even if it is at the mall! What a blessing it was. I found jeans and a great pair of slacks. Now, I know where to go when it's time for preggy undies, a belly band and dressy wear for later in the pregnancy.
I give the store an A++ for the smell. For a pregnant woman, smell is important, because we can detect scents from miles away. I was already sensitive to smell and pregnancy has only magnified the sense.
I wore my maternity jeans to work on Monday for the first time. I'm beginning to show and actually, the pants make it even more noticeable. It will soon be time to tell work, if they hadn't already been spying on my stomach. Most important, I was comfortable in my new jeans.
I was hoping to minimize my exposure the heat by going to J.C. Penny off I-19, but they have an embarrassingly small selection of maternity clothes. Why bother with 1 rack of pants in 2 different styles (slacks and jeans), for a grand total of 4 different types of pants. Not to mention, all the pants were 6 sizes larger than my base size. Ugh.
The high was 108 that day, but still, I needed pants to accommodate my forming bump. I ended up at the Tucson Mall, knowing that Old Navy also has my everyday jeans in maternity wear. Well, not quite. They have them online, but the store has an even smaller maternity section than JCP. I never knew that the mother's-to-be group was so under-supported. Bad stores!
A pair of jeans and a pair of casual, army green pants later, I was starting to get shaky. I now get shaky and on the verge of tears when I'm hungry. Forget stomach grumbling or feeling hungry, we move right on to crisis mode. Luckily, I was in the mall. I stopped in at Red Robin and ordered a cheeseburger and fries, water and a coke. Not the healthiest lunch I know, but eating has been a chore since about week 9. I'm pretty much thrilled if I can force any type of food into my stomach. The soda, a rare thing, was to get my blood sugar up fast. Again, it's not the ideal method, but I really was in about to start crying phase.
I ate my whole lunch. What? Way awesome. I didn't have that zone out that I used to do when I was trying to just get through the meal. Could it be that my food aversion had gone on vacation? I think so. I haven't had trouble eating (excepting the hot cocoa foul-up this week from Starbucks. Salty ass hot chocolate is no way to win customers.) since sometime before this meal. Yay! Time to recover my vegetable intake.
After lunch, I called Matt to let him know that I was doing fine and that I'd decided to hit another store before leaving. Motherhood Maternity--my new favorite store, even if it is at the mall! What a blessing it was. I found jeans and a great pair of slacks. Now, I know where to go when it's time for preggy undies, a belly band and dressy wear for later in the pregnancy.
I give the store an A++ for the smell. For a pregnant woman, smell is important, because we can detect scents from miles away. I was already sensitive to smell and pregnancy has only magnified the sense.
I wore my maternity jeans to work on Monday for the first time. I'm beginning to show and actually, the pants make it even more noticeable. It will soon be time to tell work, if they hadn't already been spying on my stomach. Most important, I was comfortable in my new jeans.
July 6
We had our second prenatal appointment on July 6, 2009. The results from all the lab work were good. I hadn't gained any weight which is also good.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
June 24
On June 24, 2009, we went to our first prenatal appointment. I was nervous and excited. I was keeping positive, but I still worried that about that the doctor would find something wrong. These are the times when I regret researching everything to exhaustion. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about except the heat that day.
As soon as my doctor walked in the door, she said, "That was fast." I had just had my annual in April--when I told her that Matt and I were trying to get pregnant. After going over my ob patient forms, my doctor had me lay down for a pelvic exam and ultrasound. Technology is pretty darn amazing. I'd read about women getting to see their babies on ultrasound as early as 8 weeks, but I really had no idea what was necessary. The device she used is a wand that is inserted into the vagina. I'm assuming that an external device might not be able to get an image that early into pregnancy. I may be wrong.
The discomfort of the ultrasound disappeared when I saw the round, little shapes of our baby. Wow! The experience was really amazing. Matt was able to see the heartbeat. I was even more excited about that.
At the end of the appointment, I needed to give blood for lab work. Remember my mention of the heat? We were standing at the appointment counter, scheduling the next appointment and I began to feel shaky and lightheaded. By the time, I sat down to have blood drawn, I was nearly in tears. The nurse asked if I was okay and I kept saying, "Yes, I'll be fine in a moment." About the third time she asked, she answered herself and said, "No, you're not fine."
She had me rest in another room. She put a wet paper towel on my forehead and Matt brought me cold water to drink. I was fine in a few minutes, but it was a lesson that I would have to be more careful with my body in this summer heat.
Based off the date of my last period AND the length of our little one on the ultrasound image, I was 7 weeks and 5 days along.
As soon as my doctor walked in the door, she said, "That was fast." I had just had my annual in April--when I told her that Matt and I were trying to get pregnant. After going over my ob patient forms, my doctor had me lay down for a pelvic exam and ultrasound. Technology is pretty darn amazing. I'd read about women getting to see their babies on ultrasound as early as 8 weeks, but I really had no idea what was necessary. The device she used is a wand that is inserted into the vagina. I'm assuming that an external device might not be able to get an image that early into pregnancy. I may be wrong.
The discomfort of the ultrasound disappeared when I saw the round, little shapes of our baby. Wow! The experience was really amazing. Matt was able to see the heartbeat. I was even more excited about that.
At the end of the appointment, I needed to give blood for lab work. Remember my mention of the heat? We were standing at the appointment counter, scheduling the next appointment and I began to feel shaky and lightheaded. By the time, I sat down to have blood drawn, I was nearly in tears. The nurse asked if I was okay and I kept saying, "Yes, I'll be fine in a moment." About the third time she asked, she answered herself and said, "No, you're not fine."
She had me rest in another room. She put a wet paper towel on my forehead and Matt brought me cold water to drink. I was fine in a few minutes, but it was a lesson that I would have to be more careful with my body in this summer heat.
Based off the date of my last period AND the length of our little one on the ultrasound image, I was 7 weeks and 5 days along.
Friday, July 17, 2009
June 14
June 14, 2009 is the day we found out that we're pregnant. My period was about 5-7 days late and my whole body had been out of control for a couple of weeks by then. Still, I was trying not to get my hopes up, because I know that getting pregnant can take time.
We bought the pregnancy test on Saturday and Sunday morning, I took the test. Before I even set the tester on the counter, 2 pink lines appeared in the results window. Whoa! I was stunned. I grabbed the set of instructions to make sure I understood the double lines correctly. Oh my God! I'm pregnant.
Matt was still in bed. I returned to the bedroom and told him the news. He sat up quickly with a great smile on his face and said, "Your manager is going to crap." lol!
The news was so wonderful and surreal. We went out for coffee that morning and I would soon find out that that was one of the last times I would enjoy the taste and smell of coffee. Pregnancy would soon take over!
We bought the pregnancy test on Saturday and Sunday morning, I took the test. Before I even set the tester on the counter, 2 pink lines appeared in the results window. Whoa! I was stunned. I grabbed the set of instructions to make sure I understood the double lines correctly. Oh my God! I'm pregnant.
Matt was still in bed. I returned to the bedroom and told him the news. He sat up quickly with a great smile on his face and said, "Your manager is going to crap." lol!
The news was so wonderful and surreal. We went out for coffee that morning and I would soon find out that that was one of the last times I would enjoy the taste and smell of coffee. Pregnancy would soon take over!
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