Week 15

This week has been the best so far. I finally felt normal. The sickness has stopped and my energy has returned. I went to bed by 9:30-10:00 instead of 7:00. I ate normally all week without that feeling of indecisiveness and constant hunger. I think I've reached that milestone when you get into the second trimester. It feels great.
I still don't feel any movement with the baby. I'm hoping it will happen with in the next few weeks. I've felt a little cramping and some strange pains. I'm getting blood drawn on Thursday and hopefully they'll schedule my next ultra sound. Then we can find out the sex of the baby!
The most exciting thing that happened this week was finding a ton of maternity clothes on craigslist. I found a young mother of two who wore the same size as me. All of the clothes were from Motherhood and in great condition. All she wanted was $50 for the entire tub. When I got home I counted 20 shirts, 3 pair of pants, 1 skirt, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pajama set, 1 robe, 1 shirt/pant set. I loved almost everything. 4 of the shirts aren't my style so I'll either give them away or sell them consignment. I cleaned out all the clothes I can't wear anymore. Just for fun, I tried on my jeans and couldn't pull them up past my thighs! I don't mind though. I'm completely at peace with my weight gain....I still didn't exercise this week. Oh well. Maybe I'll blame the weather..it has been really cold!

Week 14

This week reminded me of week 9 when I first started feeling sick. I was sick almost everyday. Also, I just couldn't stop eating. Not only was I hungry all of the time, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to eat. The evenings were tough again this week. So much for starting my 2nd trimester feeling better! I don't have any strange cravings. I did eat some weird things though. Its so hard for me to figure out what I want for dinner. Nothing is appetizing to me. One day I ate a can of refried beans with sour cream. Another day I ate an entire, large can of baked beans. I paid for that one, if you know what I mean:) Twice this week I ate salt and vinegar potato chips and lot of pickles (another prego cliche!). I guess I've craved salty foods this week. I'm still sleeping a lot and not really exercising. I ran/walked the loop last weekend and it was tiring. My chiropractor advised me not to run at all due to the extra weight I'm carrying. My knee is still healing and its just not good for it. So, I did nothing! Speaking of weight, according to my scales I'm up 14 pounds now. My regular pants are really getting tight. I think I only have a few more weeks in my work pants and I'll have to buy some. Tim started clearing out the garage today and throwing things away. We can finally walk in it! (I'm sure dad doesn't want to hear that:) Next weekend I'm going to start sorting through my "teacher" stuff that sitting on 3 shelves. Or, I hope I do!
Oh, and I went to the movies with Kristi and Kara. Kristi was able to use the "pregnancy" card two times. She got me a ticket when the movie was sold out and she got us 3 good seats in the theatre by telling people to move over because her pregnant friend needed a seat. I love it!

Week 13

Last Sunday, I started off this week feeling sick again. I only got sick 2 times this week and of course it was in the evening. I'm still having some cramping but overall it was a good week. I'm bummed I don't have another ultra sound for 4 more weeks. Seeing the baby is the best part of this! I ordered my first pair of maternity jeans from Old Navy. I love the way they fit (any girl who loves jeans knows how exciting it is to get a new pair). The maternity roll top panel is a little bit to0 big on my waist now so I have to roll it down. I went to a high end maternity/baby boutique in the Forum called Peanut Butter and Jelly/Belly. I tried on a pair of Citizens for Humanity maternity jeans and it was like stepping in to heaven. The material was soft and fit perfect on my ever growing tush. However, they were $176.00. I just can't justify spending that kind of money on a pair of jeans I'll only wear for 6 months. I'm certain that Tim would be very disappointed if I bought them as well. So, I ordered the Old Navy jeans and they are just perfect too. We're starting to plan out how to begin making the baby's room. Theres so much to do before we can even paint. We have to move a bunch of furniture out of my office and bedroom, into the garage. First the garage needs to be cleaned out and that's going to be a huge task! I've been looking on craigslist for cribs too and I haven't found the perfect one yet. We still have plenty of time for that anyway. I'm excited about going into the 14th week. I think I like the even weeks better than the odd weeks....weird, I know!

Week 12

I returned to work this week and was expecting it to be exhausting. I actually felt great this week and was only sick a couple of times at night. Both times I let myself get too hungry because it was late and I didn't feel like eating. I should know by now not to get to that point but sometimes I'm just ready for bed and I don't feel like eating another bowl of cereal. Another change I noticed this week was an increase in cramping. The book I'm reading told me the baby grows 30 times its size between week 11 and 13. This is probably why I'm cramping so much. Isn't that incredible? Its now about 2 inches long and the fingerprints have developed. The intestines have descended down the umbilical chord and are settling in abdomen. I also felt like I "popped" out this week. I have a tiny baby bump under my clothes now and I love it! My face is also rounding out. I had a doctor appointment on Thursday at Cape Fear OBGYN. The nurse practitioner examined me and said everything looked great. We heard the heartbeat on the doppler too. I never get tired of hear that! As of this week, I have officially put on 11 pounds. This is the last week of the first trimester and I am right on schedule with my weight gain. Last week I said I was going to try and work out 3 days...well, that just didn't happen. I'm just so tired after work and not motivated. Not to mention, its been 40 degrees all week! Who wants to change and go back out in that kind of cold weather? Not me! Our next ultra sound is in 4 weeks and I think they will try to tell us the sex of the baby. I can't wait!!

Week 11

I have felt so much better this week. I only got sick once in the morning on Monday. I exercised more this week than any other week too. I've been out of school for Christmas vacation so its been easy to take cat naps and rest when I've needed too. I'm anticipating an exhausting week when I return to school on January 4th. I'm going to try my hardest to go to the gym atleast 3 days this week. On Thursday, December 31st, we had another ultra sound. This was a screening for nuchal translucency. They told me it was a regular screening for all patients at 11 weeks. Basically, the screening is for birth defects such as down syndrome. First the nurse tried to find the baby using the ultra sound on my stomach. She couldn't find it and decided to try the wand. When she walked out of the room and I started to cry. Panic and fear overwhelmed me thinking that something was wrong. I don't feel anything this early in the pregnancy so sometimes its hard to believe something is growing inside of me. Tim reassured me that everything was fine as the nurse walked back in. Then I saw the baby on the screen. Now he/she has a full body, two arms and two legs but is only 4cm long. He/she was jumping and bouncing all around but I can't feel anything! It was amazing. All the sudden, the baby turned and looked at us and waved. So now we know that at least one hand has five fingers! (see the top ultras sound pic) I asked the nurse if she could tell the baby's sex. She said she had a really good guess but not to go out and buy all the baby colors just yet. She told us what she thought and we were thrilled!! I'm going to wait to post the true sex until we find out for sure.
Maybe I feel so much better this week because I ate McDonald's and Taco Bell! I never eat fast food during the week but it was just so good! I bought my first pint of ice cream too....I know that's so cliche but there is some truth to how good it tastes when you're prego:)