Some Pictures

This is my first post where I am going to do nothing but post pictures.

How I announced to my coworkers that I am having a little boy. Cupcakes frosted blue!



The awesome fabric I bought for the baby's room. The dinosaur fabric is for the curtains and the blue fabric is for the valances and pillows. I love how the blue looks like dried cracked earth!



I didn't want anything really baby-ish and also something he could grow into, so dinosaurs it is!

My cool diaper bag I ordered from Etsy. I was able to pick the fabric. Again, I didn't want something that screamed "BABY!". I am carrying it so I wanted it to be a fabric I liked.

That's all for now. I must post about our registering adventures. We had fun. Sort of.

Best Day Ever!

Yesterday was such an amazing day. I started out the day nervous and antsy. We were going for our "big" ultrasound, or the growth ultrasound in the afternoon. I wanted a healthy baby, gender didn't matter. My husband, always the rock, helped calmed me down.

The cruel doctors make you drink 32 ounces of water 30 minutes prior to the appointment, so armed with a full bladder, off we went! The ultrasound was absolutely amazing. Seriously, yesterday was one of the best days of my life so far. We got to see everything in such detail. I can't believe how thorough and detailed the ultrasound tech was.

The bladder was full (the baby's, not mine) which means the kidneys are functioning beautifully. The stomach was full which means baby is swallowing correctly. Ten awesome fingers and ten awesome toes. The little bugger was laying face down which made it hard for the tech to get good pictures of the heart, but finally, the baby cooperated. It's pretty funny how they get the baby to move. Or at least I thought it was funny. The tech kept poking me with the wand and everytime that happened, the little one would move. Ultimately, he/she didn't roll over, but that's okay. The heart looked great!

Everything else was great. The heart, brain, spine, length of the femur, little hands, little feet (no club feet) and everything. Baby weighs about 14 ounces (little chunker) and is measuring about 6 days ahead of my due date. They will not be changing my due date because it's common for babies to measure a little ahead or a little behind. The ultrasound tech asked if we wanted to know the gender which of course we said "YES!" to.

Now, I have to tell you that all along my husband has said it's a boy. There is no changing this guy's mind. I have thought it was a girl all along, only because everyone is saying "it's a girl". Apparently, I look more feminine during pregnancy and all the gender prediction tests are saying girl, girl, girl. Jason and I had a bet going that whoever was right about the gender got to pick the restaurant we went out to celebrate at.

So the tech looks at the baby's little legs and then scrolls up. I said "Is that a penis?!". The baby is indeed a BOY! I am totally shocked! Jason was right all along. I should have just listened to him. Secretly, we both wanted a little boy. Jason is the only boy on his side of the family and so he really wanted to be able to carry on the family name. I wanted to give him a son since this might be our only little one. We got to see his little penis and scrotum. Blackmail for later in life I am sure. Jason keeps joking that he wants to frame the ultrasound picture of his little boy parts.

IT'S A BOY! I am totally shocked and absolutely thrilled. Even this morning, I still can't believe it.

We got tons of pictures of the ultrasound. We got to see his profile and so far, he looks like daddy. He even sleeps like daddy. Face down on his stomach with one arm above his head. What a sweetie.

I am in love. I cannot wait to meet this little guy in a little over four months. I hope he looks just like Jason and has his sweet disposition too.

Body Identity Crisis

I am sure I will get all kinds of negative comments about this post, but oh well. It's how I feel and I can't change that.

I was chubby before I got pregnant. Not fat, but certainly I could have lost another 10 pounds or so. I have always thought "When I get pregnant, I will listen to my doctor and gain only the recommended amount". For me, that amount was 15-20 pounds because I was already a bit "fluffy". Easier said then done.

I am trying very hard to eat right and get enough nutrition for the baby. I track my calories on Baby Fit to make sure I don't overeat. I tend to get between 1900-2100 calories every day, which for me, is very high. Before getting pregnant, I was doing Weight Watchers and I would be lucky to make 1400 calories a day.

I get enough fruit, veggies, meat, dairy, etc. But why am I gaining weight so fast? My biggest fear is that I will go into the doctor on the 25th and he says to me "Packing on the pounds are ya?". This is my fault. I shouldn't even be stepping on the scale. Right there is the error that I make.

So how much have I gained? Well, I think it's 8 pounds. I am 18.5 weeks pregnant. I don't know if this is normal or not. However, it's 8 pounds. That is almost half of what my doctor wants me to gain total. I still have almost 22 weeks left to go. I'm in a pickle.

I am having issues with my body. I still don't look pregnant. I just look fat. People can't tell I am pregnant, however, I have gotten comments about my weight. "Oh, have you gained weight?" when I see someone I haven't seen in a while. These comments DO NOT help. My old clothes don't fit, with the exception of the fat pants I managed to retire over a year ago. Those still fit me. My shirts mostly do too. All 8 pounds of this weight is in my belly. I look like I am carrying around a keg.

I want to look pregnant, and feel good about myself, but I don't. Instead, I feel fat, gross and well....Gross. Not good. I should be feeling happy and joyful about this baby. I am happy about the baby, but can I please look pregnant already? I am tired of the stares from strangers and people at work.

Ugh, identity crisis. Like I didn't have a bad enough body image before.

Heartburn?!

As if morning sickness wasn't fun enough on its own. No, I had my first round of heartburn yesterday. I am not prone to get heartburn normally, but I guess since I am 17 weeks pregnant, it was inevitable.

The culprit? A Coke. It was my own stupid fault too. I had a Coke at 3:00. It was the only thing that sounded appealing and I needed something to settle my stomach. Well, an hour later, my stomach was even more inflamed. Stupid, stupid Rachel.

I don't keep Tums in the house (which I will now!) and because I was cooking dinner, I couldn't leave to go buy some. So I stuck it out. I eventually found some antacid pills in my husband's emergency kit so I took some. Did they work? For about an hour, yes. After that, oh the burn!

Moral of the story: Don't drink a Coke at 3:00 in the afternoon thinking it will settle your stomach.

Baby Kicks!

Yesterday was a really good day. I got to work, sat down, opened my Coke (coffee still makes my stomach turn) and got ready for my day. I finished my sugary caffeinated beverage and thought "Oh yuck, gas".

I jumped out of my chair. It wasn't gas! It was tiny baby kicks! I felt a couple right in a row so I know I wasn't feeling my heartbeat or something else. Up until now, all I have felt is some "flutters" or "bubbles". I know for sure this was the real deal.

Honestly, it was the coolest feeling in the world. I almost started crying because it was so great. All day I kept eating sugary stuff (bad, I know) because I wanted to feel those little kicks again. No dice though.

I do think my little piglet liked the sugar and caffeine from the Coke I drank. Baby after my own heart, I tell ya.

In other news, I tried again to stop my B6 and Unisom combination. I thought surely, I still can't have morning sickness at 17 weeks. WRONG! I still have it. I felt great all day and then late last night, I started feeling miserable. It took me over two hours to fall asleep because I was afraid I was going to throw up in bed.

So back on the pills I go. I guess if it's not bad for piglet, I will keep taking them.

FYI, Jason hates that I call him/her piglet. He says "We are not swine". But have you ever seen baby pigs? They are soooo cute!