Our baby has eyelids!!!!

Well, here we are!  Week 9!  Thankful for 9 weeks of pregnancy.  Praying that I will be able to see the last 31 weeks :)

My belly is getting hard, and I can't bend over without having to "rearrange" my stomach and clothing.  Also, bike riding is becoming a challenge.  I might just stick to walking and climbing at the gym.

Handsome Husband, I think, is becoming a little more fearful about becoming the Handsome Father.  I realize it's different for men.  I've started reading a book about pregnancy from a man's perspective, and it's helping me be more compassionate.  Hopefully.  It's making me WANT to be more compassionate...how's that?

I haven't thrown up in days, and I'm pretty sure I want to eat everything in sight.  Except fake cheese has lost its appeal.  And now it looks yucky to me.  Which is a SUPER shame, because my mom and dad stocked up on cheese.  Pasta I can do again.  And I could eat pizza every single day of my life.

Tonight Kristi is bringing over cheese steaks, and I may just float up to the ceiling.  I can taste them now... mmm....  this is WAY better than puking.  Also, she doesn't know yet, so sweatpants and sweatshirts for me, once again :)

We're leaving for RI in a few short days.  Today I got in the memory books to give to Tom and Cathy and the baby Red Sox books to give to Dan.  So now to iron, wash, and pack, and then we'll be all set.

In other news...we meet SB in just a few days :)  I'm hoping for an ultrasound.  I'm hoping for a heartbeat.  I'm hoping to hear him say, "You're out of the scary part."  :)

Those were the days...

Remember the days when I used to sleep on my stomach?  Remember that time?  I think it was, oh, no more than a week ago.  And then yesterday I'm looking out a window at church, and I'm leaning pretty hard on my stomach and I realize: It's not going in anymore.

Alyssa was trying to sit on my lap during the play yesterday and I couldn't get comfortable because my belly just would not budge.

And then last night I woke up with this intense pressure on my bladder and back and abdomen, and I realized I was on my stomach and it HURT.  I realize this is going to be quite the change for a girl like me, because I am a stomach sleeper for LIFE.  Andy bought me a body pillow and that seemed to help, but my arm always falls asleep.  So it's a work in progress.

But feeling that belly...Andy felt it too.  He's like, "What's in there!?"  And I'm like, "Um...I'm sorry.  Have we met?"

Today I got up for work and threw on a pair of maternity yoga pants and a t-shirt, which is considerably tighter than it was when I wore it last week.  I tried putting on a cardigan...yeah, not shutting over my belly.  SO, it's the t-shirt, cardigan, and my big puffy winter vest that I wear to shovel snow.  And ballet flats.  Hopefully this will mask the fact that I look like Nanook of the North. 

"Is she looking sloppy today?" 
"Oh no, she's wearing ballet flats, she's fine."

In closing, we're gearing up for the big reveal this weekend in RI.  The car is ordered, the appropriate clothing is in the wash.  Cathy keeps asking Andy what we'd like to eat while we're up.  She mentioned corn beef and cabbage.  Andy was going to suggest saltines and ginger ale.  He's a good man.

I SLEPT!

Wahoo!

Although, I'm pretty sure the Handsome Husband has had his fair share of me not feeling well.  I'm trying to feel better, believe me.  It's no walk in the park.

So as we count down the days until our appointment, (of course I have something planned every single day, so I'm not sitting around counting the amount of times I go to the bathroom, and ponder all the things I'm not hungry for...) I've been thinking about how best to tell his parents.

Perhaps something like this?

I mean, who doesn't like a used pregnancy test on their cookie cake?  I know I'm a fan.



I had a dream...

Last night I THINK I may have slept the night through.  I think.  But I did wake up well rested this morning.  I threw up my "supper" (1/2 a soft boiled potato, 1 applesauce, 1 ice pop) and then I was somewhat fine after all that.  I scrubbed my bathroom (with baking soda and vinegar) and I did some laundry, folded it and put it away, and then I was in bed at 8:30.

This morning, somewhere between the first time my alarm went off and the time I actually got up, I had the most amazing little dream about SB.  But only it was an actual baby.  And she was a girl.  And she was in love with her daddy :)  She was cooing at him and babbling to him, and my heart was so light!  And she had a Minnie Mouse stroller, and we were rolling her around this park with all these other babies, and we were just...so...happy.  If I can have a few more dreams like this, it might make the puking more bareable.

As another good point to make- today we are at 8 weeks :)  Next week is our first prenatal visit.  SB looks a little like this:

Meanwhile, I can feel my insides stretching out and moving around to make room.  SB is about the size of a jelly bean- about 1/4 of an inch long.

We're starting to make a list of who will find out first.  We decided the people to find out after the first PN visit are going to be the people we'd want to surround us if for some reason we lost the child.  That's going to include Pastor Bob and Joan, Aunt Michele and Katie, David, Tara and the children, Kristi and Keith, and Andy would like to tell Brian.  For everyone else, they can wait until week 13/14, until we know we're out of the woods.

We will leave for RI the day of our first PN appointment, and I don't mind saying that Andy is REALLY nervous to tell his family.  For whatever reason it was easier to tell my family, but there's no saying how his is going to react.  His brother once told me, "You'd better keep taking those pills, because I'm not ready to be an uncle yet, and I don't need you doing that to me."  So you can tell, we're not quite sure what to expect up there.

Anyway.  Happy 8 weeks, SB.  Please stay healthy and strong.  We love you very much :)



Just putting it out there...

I am miserable.

I am making everyone around me miserable.

I am tired.

I am whiney.

I have a snius infection/bronchitis/otter cough, whatever you want to call it.


I think my poor husband has had enough.


I hope I feel better soon....

Don't mind me, it's just my uterus expanding.

So I'm pretty sure everyone in the whole entire world knows I'm pregnant.  I feel SO obvious!  Like some day my boss is going to walk into my desk area and say, "We've been noticing you've been wearing maternity jeans to work.  Is there anything you'd like to tell us?" 

I wish that we could keep it our secret, but it's going to pop out here sooner or later.  More sooner than later.  None of my real pants fit any more since I have a big case of The Bloat.  Ugh, what a pain.  Which is something, you know, how bloated I am?  Because I pee every, like, minute.

I can't eat.  That's the other thing.  I get a hungry spell right before lunch, and I TRY to eat, but it just sits in my mouth.  I haven't been in my kitchen for days.  Last night is the first night I didn't puke all week, so that's progress.  My mom suggested chopping up my vitamins REALLY small, and taking them with juice.  So I tried that, and so far it worked.  As in, it worked last night.  So maybe it will work again tonight.

The only thing that settles are popscicles and rice crackers (or Puffin Corn...) So I've been eating just that.  AND I've got this killer sinus infection.  (Thanks mom, dad, April AND Andy, and I'm pretty sure my coworker for handing that to me).  I haven't slept in two solid weeks.  I will wake up through the night and either have to pee, puke, recover from a nightmare or cough/take a drink/blow my nose.

My mom and sister came over last night to keep me company while Andy worked late.  I was REALLY thankful.  April rubbed my back, and I believe told SB not to go into theatre (she said even though SB doesn't have ears, it could feel it in it's heart).  Mom helped me remake my bed and folded laundry/put it away.  It was great.

I am just so stinking exhausted.  Not eating, not sleeping, making a placenta and a human...it takes it out of ya. 

Andy took out the trash, did all the wash, cleaned and aired out the kitchen (can't STAND that room right now!)  I love him more than there are words to express.  He said I should remember all the nice things he's done while I'm screaming at him in 6 months.  I told him I'd try :)

But I'm SO thankful.  SOOO thankful.  Every time I lay down I ask God to carry my baby through this pregnancy and keep it healthy.  I've said it before, but it's worth repeating every post.  In a few weeks I'll be reporting that I'm up at night because it's kicking me in the bladder or ribs, and I will be just as thankful then as I am now.

Tomorrow we're going shopping for SB!  So excited!

Feeling better because I'm feeling sick...?

ANOTHER rough night last night.  As soon as I ate supper, I knew it was coming up again.  But after my little mental rush yesterday, I'm glad to be feeling the way I do.  Because it means that the baby is causing my hormones to go wacky, which means everything is normal :)

My friend Krista put it this way- you're always going to worry, no matter if the baby is in your belly or in your arms.  So draw on your faith, and look for little victories along the way.  Don't concentrate on what MAY happen, concentrate on what is happening NOW inside you.

So that's my mantra.  And I hope this baby someday knows how much I love it!  And how I choked down horse pill prenatal vitamins daily for it, and how I puked my guts out on a regular basis for it.  Now they don't make a mother's day card for THAT!  :)