Update: 22 Weeks

Bye bye halfway point! :) I'm excited to think that I'll have a baby in 4 short months! (Well...I hope they stay feeling so short...but from the stories I've heard about the joys of the 3rd trimester, I guess I can't count on it!)

Things are seeming more and more real all the time. We're starting to put together her nursery (okay... I am starting to put it together and Sean nods and smiles when I show him stuff I bought and tell him plans for where we're going to put things...). We have a changing table, crib, and glider, and I have a few cute decorations too. We're going with coral, gray and white. I have this girlie's room all planned out in my mind and I can't wait to get it all put together.

I swear there's potential for a cute nursery underneath all those piles!

My body is going through all kinds of adventures these days. I feel little kicks and somersaults all the time, and I've even been able to feel some stronger ones from the outside! Of course, it seems like every time I try to get someone else to feel her, she quits kicking the second their hand touches my belly...but I'm sure she'll show off her ninja moves to someone else besides mom before too long.

I haven't had any food aversions since early in the first trimester, so that's nice. Cravings on the other hand, are ALWAYS around. Burgers & fries, Burgers & fries, BURGERS!!! and FRIES!!!! I don't know why, but burgers are my thaaang right now. I just want big, juicy, meaty burgers with lots of pickles, onions, and sauce....all the time. Fries are also necessary, and fry sauce...because, fry sauce. In fact, can we go out for burgers right now?!

I also crave oranges and orange juice. Oranges have always been my favorite fruit, so that's not surprising, and they're in season, so I buy them all the time around this time of year anyway. But I could easily drink 2 glasses of juice in a day and eat 2 or 3 oranges if I let myself. Overall, I'm trying to stay healthy and not indulge the burger & fry cravings too often. Some days I succeed...others not so much.

I am getting bigger every day (*cough* BURGERS *cough*). I still haven't noticed any stretch marks, but stretching is definitely going on. My belly is getting tighter and more noticeable. I don't feel too uncomfortable yet, so I forget that I have this belly, until I walk past a mirror. I still do a double-take every time I see myself from the side. I love it, though! It's just still mind-boggling to me that there's a lil' creature in there.

Now for the (not-so) fun stuff. I have been having weird little heart....'episodes?' I don't know what to call them. Really, I just noticed my heart pounding really hard a lot. I heard from a few people (and a few online articles I read while panicking in the middle of the night during some such 'episode') that this was normal, so at first I didn't worry. I let it go for a few weeks, but started thinking maybe it was not so normal for it to be happening so frequently and for no apparent reason. The heart pounding can happen when I'm sitting, standing, whatever. It feels like I'm watching a scary movie...or driving in a snowstorm with my husband behind the wheel (ha...love ya, babe! Sorry!). I am not surprised or concerned when it happens when I'm doing something active, like walking the dog or climbing stairs, but it comes out of nowhere when I'm just sitting on the couch or trying to fall asleep. Nothing seems to bring it on and nothing seems to be able to make it stop. So, after a few particularly intense episodes, I decided to call my Dr. Really, just to hear that it was all normal and that I could stop being such a paranoid-first-time-pregnant-lady. My Dr. sent me for an EKG, but of course, during the EKG, I didn't have an episode. So, now I am hooked up with an Event Monitor, which monitors my heart around the clock for 4 weeks. It's extremely annoying and I can't wait for these 4 weeks to be over! Especially because the Dr. doesn't seem concerned at all and makes it sound like this is all 'just a precaution.' That's wonderful to hear, and I'm so glad that it's nothing to worry about, but if that's the case, is 4 weeks reeeeeeally necessary? Okay, done griping. I'm glad they want to make sure everything is okay, and "better safe than sorry," etc., etc., etc. Anyway, I get to wear these little sticky probes on my chest and side that hurt like a mother (am I allowed to say that yet? probably not) to rip off. The wires are connected to a monitor that I'm somehow supposed to wear on my pants pocket...explain to me how that goes up and over maternity pants and all the way down to the pockets again?! And best of all, I have to keep a PDA transmitter (looks like a cell phone to me) within 10 feet of the monitor at all times (or else it beeps at me like I'm in trouble). Every time I have a symptom, I enter it into the PDA device and it transmits the message to 'them.'

AAAAAAAnd last of all, I have a cold. Alka Seltzer cold medicine is my go-to, but I can't take it because of the ingredients. Any recommendations? I think the worst is over. Thank goodness for a weekend so I can just climb in bed and sleep this off...

Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice!

He did this willingly...I swear.

We had our 20 week ultrasound this week and found out we're having a GIRL! I always thought it would be neat to have a boy first - I always wanted an older brother - but...I've really been wishing for a girl the whole time. Sean had wanted a boy, no surprise...but he seems really happy and excited. I know he'll be wrapped around her little finger :)

When our ultrasound technician started looking at parts, she asked us if we could tell what we were seeing. Sean immediately said, "Yeah, it's a girl!" I couldn't see any parts that reminded me of the anatomy I'm familiar with....but I was glad they saw and had no doubts! I can't lie...I kinda freaked out. For a long time now, I've had a strong feeling that I would have a daughter someday. I didn't know that this baby was a girl, but when I found out, my first thought was, "It's her!" I already feel like she's this little spirit that I have known forever, even though I don't know her at all yet. I know I sure can't wait to meet her!

Even greater than my excitement that she's a SHE, was finding out that our baby girl looks healthy and is growing beautifully. She has ten fingers and ten toes and everything else is looking how it should so far. It was such an enormous relief to hear those words! Pregnancy is just such a miracle! I can't believe there's a human in there with a perfectly formed and functioning body!

We got some gorgeous ultrasound images that just blew our minds. We saw her kicking and squirming all over the place and got to see our little cutie 'waving' right at us!

We both cried a little and laughed a lot during our appointment. It was so touching to see my husband, who is rarely ever emotional, get choked up at the image of his baby girl on the screen. What an adventure we've gotten ourselves into.....Sean really is my very best friend. I love him so much and I can't wait to see him hold our girl for the first time. He will be the most incredible daddy. This lil' lady is pretty lucky!

ALWAYS wanted to get to park here!

We called our families as soon as we left the doctor's office, and they're all so excited. This will be the second grandbaby on my side of the family (I already have the most beautiful niece in the world!), and the first (maybe...if she comes on time and her cousin doesn't come early!) on Sean's side. We have had a lot of fun the past couple days talking about names, thinking about decorating the nursery, and buying some baby things.

We posted an announcement on Facebook tonight. Sean was a good sport and let me dress him up princess-style. Our dog baby, Zero, on the other hand...he was not so willing. He is apparently terrified of balloons, and did NOT enjoy enjoy wearing a pink ribbon. You can watch our struggle here: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155021963600198&set=vb.757410197&type=2&theater

Is it tomorrow yet?!

I feel like a kid on Christmas! Tomorrow is our 20 week ultrasound and we'll get to see our little babe again. Hopefully we'll get to find out the gender and hear that everything is looking good and baby is healthy.

I cannot contain my excitement! I have been looking forward to this day since I found out I was pregnant. Thankfully, it's been a really busy week at school, so the time has flown by pretty quickly. I'm amazed that it's almost Friday already!

My students have been my kids for the past 3 years, and they are so excited about this baby. I get questions and comments about my baby bump every single day. It's been so fun. Tomorrow in class, we're going to take a poll and see whether they think boy or girl.

I know I won't be able to keep a secret long enough to plan some cute way to reveal the gender, so I'm sure I'll blab the news to the world tomorrow afternoon!

This is a picture from our last ultrasound at 12 weeks. I can't wait to see what it looks like tomorrow! Sean's grandma commented that in this picture, it looks like this baby is playing the drums already! Sean majored in percussion, so we thought that was pretty awesome :)

Favorite Pregnancy Products?

I'm a lover of all beauty products...so now, of course, I have to try out all the pregnancy-specific products I've seen or heard about!

So far I really like Palmer's Tummy Butter. No stretch marks yet, but I'm only 19 weeks, so that will probably change. I'm not holding out hope for some miracle product that will prevent stretch marks, but wouldn't that be awesome?! Mostly, I love the way this butter feels and smells. It's a little greasy, but it helps with the itch and makes my belly feel really well-moisturized and it's CHEAP! $6 and you can find it almost anywhere. I've been using it pretty liberally twice a day every day for at least the past 5-6 weeks, and I still haven't run out.

They're not pregnancy-specific, but I'm a big fan of doTERRA essential oils. Lavender is such a cure-all oil and I'm so glad I can use it throughout my pregnancy. I mix it in with my tummy butter, I rub it on my feet at night, I put some on my chest at night to help me sleep, I could go on...

Aside from beauty products, the other big change I've had to make is with pants, because I couldn't button a pair of my jeans if you paid me. Luckily, I've learned that I LOVE MATERNITY PANTS. I think everyone - men, women, children, the elderly...we just should all wear maternity pants all the time. In fact, twice when I've been shopping for maternity clothes, I've seen older women (think 70ish) shopping for pants in the maternity section. I thought it was so strange at first and thought they must not have realized what part of the store they were in, but now I understand....they just know better. I've gotten a couple pairs of preggo jeans. One pair was cheap at Ross, and the other was from Motherhood Maternity. Although the Ross jeans are cute, they just don't fit as well. They slip off my butt all the time and I can tell the quality is not as good. I hate spending lots of money on pants, but I think it's worth it to have a pair or 2 of maternity pants that won't leave you yanking at your waistband all day long.


What are YOUR favorite products for pregnancy?

19 Weeks!

Ok, 18 weeks and 5 days...but I'm excited, so I'm rounding up. This weekend marks the end of Christmas Break from school (noooooooooooo!!!), but it also means only 1 week until my ultrasound! I think pregnancy is just such a miracle, I just can't comprehend how a perfect, healthy baby can be created - every body part perfect formed and functioning. That said, I am always worried (like probably every single other expectant mom on Earth) that something is going to go wrong. But that's not stopping me from getting extremely excited to see this little critter again and find out what's going on in there! I haven't had an ultrasound since 12 weeks, and I remember being so excited that the baby looked like a BABY and not a blob!! My Dr. said, "Wait until you see it next time!" Now that it's almost 'next time,' I just can't stop thinking about seeing my little one's face (and hopefully other body parts, or lack thereof, because....) I also can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl! I just can't handle not knowing!!! I have so much shopping to do!!!

In other news:

Not really having any cravings or aversions at this point, so nothing exciting to report there. The dreams are still crazy...you can see my previous post all about that...

So far I've gained about 8 pounds  (mostly in my belly, but I can tell it's going to my hips too) and wear maternity clothes pretty much all the time, although I can still wear a lot of pants and shirts from before (loose, stretchy, flowy ones...).

I'm finally getting a little bump, and I'm starting to get uncomfortable laying on my back and just sleeping in general. I have to pee about a thousand times a day and am hungry (maybe hangry, actually) about every 2 hours.

Worst of all is the itchy skin. I've always had really dry, sensitive skin, but my belly is itchy and dry ALL the time. I'm sure it's because of the stretching that's starting to happen, and crazy hormones are no help, I would guess. Today, Sean and I went to a movie. Naturally, not even halfway through, I had to use the bathroom. I walked down the hallway, itching my belly the whole way. I saw another pregnant woman on her way to he restroom itching her belly! I wanted to high five her and say, "I feel ya sister!" I use cocoa butter cream and lavender oil every day...usually twice a day...and they seem to help most of the time, but if you have any suggestions, I wanna hear them! I'll try just about anything.

I got the coolest Christmas present ever - on Christmas morning I felt the baby move for the first time! Sean and I were in the car on our way to my parents' house for Christmas breakfast. I felt a little pressure on the left side of my belly (which I though was gas...), and then it suddenly shifted. I gasped and froze, because at first I wasn't sure if it was what I thought it was! I had never felt anything like it before! Another minute later it happened again! I just couldn't believe it. I rubbed my little bump and started to cry a little. Sean was so excited too! I can't wait until he can feel it from the outside.

Last of all, New Year's resolutions - Even though I feel great now and have my energy back, I can't seem to pull myself out of the first trimester funk. I have no motivation to exercise and haven't been eating as healthily or drinking as much water as I should. Now that I'm feeling good, no more excuses. I need to take better care of myself and this lil babe. SO, I organized my kitchen cupboards and made myself a basket of healthy snacks that are just as easy to get to as the chips! I'm also going to try and plan meals better so that I don't make the excuse of having nothing to cook and eating out instead. I have some really fun pregnancy workouts to try and can still do my Physique 57 workouts for the most part, so away we go! 2015 is going to be an exciting year!!!