Moving right along through the first trimester

Hi! It's been a while. I attribute that to finishing up my Master's Degree. I'm free now and with summer coming I should have a lot more free time. Let's see.. where to start.

Well, I am 13 weeks along. We went to the doctor today and heard the heartbeat again. We have also had an ultrasound. Below is a picture. The little thing is growing like a weed. It is the size of a lime now supposedly.



My "all day" sickness has not subsided. I spoke too soon in my last entry. I have been sick for 42 days now. That has GOT to be some type of record! Okay.. I know I'm just being dramatic, but I can tell you this-- If someone had told me that I would be sick for as long as 42 days or more, I would have said "no way. I can't hack that. Not a chance. Forget the kids. I'll adopt. I can run two marathons but I cannot hack that." But surprisingly I have made it this far. It really is amazing how much you can do when you put your mind to it or when you have zero choice in the matter. ;)

I have decided that I am either getting slowly but surely better when it comes to morning sickness or I am getting really good at this being sick thing. Who knows which one.

Let's talk about eating. Geez I do a lot of that these days. At the doctor today, I learned that I have not gained any weight and have even lost 3 pounds, but you wouldn't have guessed that by how much I eat every day.
I am honestly hungry every 2 and a half to 3 hours. Not just hungry, but belly growling, eat something or your going to be sick hungry. I try to stick to mostly healthy foods, but the quantity is a ton! For example, a normal day for me starts off with watermelon and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast (okay.. sometimes two of those Uncrustable PB & J's). By 10:30 I eat lunch (which is when kindergarten eats lunch anyway). Lunch usually consists of some type of lean cuisine and a whole can of vegetables. I had lasagna lean cuisine today and a whole can of lima beans. I hope this baby gets my love for veggies instead of its dads. Zach wont eat anything that resembles healthy really. Anyway, I also eat a banana and a 100 calorie pack with lunch. By 1 I am usually hungry and eat some baked chips or a can of chicken noodle soup. Chicken noodle soup soothes my belly for some weird reason. At 3 I am hungry and have a snack and then when Zach gets home we eat. Then I have to have a pb and j before bed. I'm telling you that it's a TON of food. Hopefully I can curve the appetite a little bit in the coming weeks, but as of right now if I don't eat as soon as I am hungry I will be sick.

I am still running. I average 2 to 3.5 miles 4 or so times a week. I like it and have always done it and the doctor says its great for me and the baby. She has given me some articles on the matter and they say that when you run your belly actually doesn't move much.. making the exercise great for baby. She has told me to stop if I am gasping for air or if I have cramps. She also says to not time myself and run strictly for pleasure. Well that's not hard. I am not into timing anyway. She also says that I shouldn't be worried with those who snub their nose at me for running while pregnant, because they are simply just not educated on the subject. She says I can run through the whole thing, but to not push myself. So, we will see how long I can go. My intentions are to go until they tell me I can't or until due day. :)

I'm still religiously lathering up with Vitamin E nightly and taking Vitamins before bed. I am going to fight those stretch marks as best as I can. My belly hasn't started growing at all. In fact, I am getting a lot of comments like this one. "Are you sure you're pregnant?".. That comment has even come from Zach and he has seen the ultrasound! My response is "If I am not, then there is something inside of me and also I am super psychosomatic and am making myself sick."

The doctor said today that my abs were just trying to stretch and that I would probably show around 16 - 20 weeks. No rush on that for me though. ;)

I can't hardly think of any funny things that Zach has said lately. I guess because I did not post in time to remember. I will work on that.

He did ask me this weekend when I was going to run and had my shirt off - "Are you sure that you're pregnant?"

He also recently told me that "We could just borrow baby furniture." My response was "over my dead body." :)

He is such a sweet hubby. Every time I get sick, he runs into the bathroom with me and hands me water and keeps flushing the toilet every few seconds. ;) Sometimes I tell him that I need him to wait outside because I would like him to still think of me as attractive and because I need a little of my dignity. His response is that it's a double edged sword. If he doesn't come in there, it'll be insensitive and if he does it'll be insensitive. He is right. Keep coming in there, babe. I expect it like a kid expects a momma to come when they scrape their knee.

I promise to post again soon.

The Dream

It’s official. I’ve started blogging. I told myself that I might take it up when we had babies, because I really wanted to keep up with the little details and I am not the scrapbooking type. Anyway, the time is NOW, because Zach and I are expecting our first baby this November.

I know! That is a hard idea to wrap your minds around. Or maybe it’s just a hard idea for US to wrap OUR minds around. This was not unplanned. We had decided that we would stop protecting and see what happened, but not “try”. Well, apparently we are fertile, because after 3 months here we are!

It’s really a funny story. You would have thought that we were underage teenagers who had to walk into our parent’s house to tell them the horrible news with the way we reacted. I found out on a Sunday and kept it from Zach for the day. Sunday evening I put a hamburger bun in the oven and set the timer. When it went off, Zach checked and got the “gist”. We were okay for a little while with the idea, but we slowly but surely started to spin out of control as to the idea of what we had done and how it would affect our “me” centered lives.

What can I say… I enjoy going to school and extending my titles with regards to my professional career, we like going out weekly for drinks, we love to buy things, and we love expensive toys. (especially Zach – who has multiple hobbies – all of which cost money!) We were so afraid that so many of these things would evaporate, but we have finally come to the conclusion that it doesn’t have to. While things might change, I am sure that we will be able to juggle our fun stuff with this new fun little blessing as well.

Now let’s talk about how this blog will progress in the coming months. Let’s just say that I am the type of person that is right to the point. I don’t candy coat things unless it has to do with my 20 precious kindergarten students, so I don’t intend on candy coating this blog either. My goals during these pregnancy months are to make note of the little things; those things which most likely will be forgotten after a while. If you are easily offended, you might want to refrain from reading. Not that I am going to try to offend you. I am just going to write it like I experience it so that I have the memory later of how it was. Heck I bet there will be actually very little that would be considered “risqué” in my blog posts, however I had to throw in the disclaimer just in case.

Below is a picture of me at 8 weeks. My life has changed already and I know that the craziness / best is yet to come!

I have experienced 10 days of nausea. Not just nausea; pure hell. These days start with my two feet hitting the floor and then sprinting to the bathroom to throw up some form of florescent bile. I have tried so many remedies. Let me name a few. Each night I go to bed with a wide variety of ammunition on my night stand. Some things that are included are 2 dramamines, 1 perscription Zofran (which is a nausea pill for cancer patients), 2 tums, 1 Prescription Phenegrin, a piece of Ginger Gum, a ziplock bag of saltine crackers, a bottle of water, and my Sea Band bracelets that I wear on my wrists to block nausea. Now don’t freak out. I never eat all this stuff. I promise I am not pumping this little one with all that junk. I just have it for emotional reasons I think. Maybe it makes me feel more prepared for the hell I will endure as I wake up.

My routine at this point is to eat a high protein snack at bed like peanut butter toast so that my belly has food in it for a longer period of time. Then, I set my alarm for 5:00 am and I put on my sea band bracelets. They work, I am telling you. They hold down pressure points on my wrists and it keeps me from getting sick for a period of time. Anyway, back to the routine. I go back to sleep and wake up at 6. I attempt to cram saltines down my throat even before I lift my head off the pillow to avoid the empty stomach situation that usually results in throwing up every morning. After keeping my bracelets on for a while in the morning, I take two Dramamines and force breakfast down. Then I am able to take my bracelets off around 10 and am usually fine for the rest of the day. This was a science and I worked hard to figure out how my body could best combat morning sickness or all day sickness as it is sometimes.

The last two days have been wonderful. I attribute it all to the routine I have in place. Who knows though, it could all be in my head!

I am proud that I seem to have found a routine that eases my nausea and allows me to function in my everyday life which I love so much. How am I supposed to continue running, teach 20 fully involved 5 year olds, and finish the last part of my graduate career if I can’t keep the nausea at bay? If you do not know me, let me tell you that I am an extremely hard worker and a very determined person. I tend to set my mind to something and do not rest until I have accomplished it. This is how I handled my nausea or “tried” to. Don’t get me wrong, I know that I have little to no control over whether my body gets sick or not. But I am not the type to stand around and let it happen without at least trying to figure out how to fix it. Anyway, for now it is good. Hopefully I will report no changes in the next blog. J

There are a few other things that have rocked my world here lately. Basically really this whole deal has already rocked the world as Zach and I know it. Suddenly my selection of drinks includes Gerber Baby Pear Juice for constipation and boring ole’ water. I am like a medicine cabinet – Vitamin E capsules, B12 capsules, and prenatal vitamins every night. My shower routine has been changed drastically too. After showering, I rub Vitamin E all over my boobs and belly to avoid stretch marks (or attempt to do so). My vocabulary is also increasing - I have learned new words like Milk of Magnesia and Peri-colace. All very interesting and funny huh? Don’t worry, I see the humor. I really see humor in all things. Life is just one big joke, right?

A few other things I want to take note of include some of Zach’s unforgettable comments. I call them heartless, but he calls them bad jokes. Seriously, I agree that these comments are exactly his personality and are quite hilarious.

“Just think, only 8 more months of this.” - Zach as I hover over the toilet and expel my stomach contents.

“After this is over, it’ll just scream all the time.” - Zach again as I toss my cookies

“Are you showing yet?” – Zach when we were just 6.5 weeks

“I’m nervous about our dr. visit today. We are finding out the sex of the baby, right?” - Zach on the way to our 8 week appointment

“Babies aren’t born with teeth?!” -Zach in complete and total seriousness

“It’s just part of it.” - Zach as I lay curled up in a ball sicker than a dog.

And one more classic - - Picture this –

“I got an outfit for the baby today” – Me getting in the car after running into Old Navy.

I pull it out and it is a set of three onesies. One is off white with a little brown giraffe on it. The other is brown and off white striped. The other is off white with tons of simple little brown giraffes on it. It also came with matching pants.

“Let’s see it.” - Zach as I pull it out of the bag.

“Um.. that’s not for a boy.” - Zach

“Yes it is. It’s more for a boy then a girl, but with a big pink bow it could be for a girl too.” - Me

“Boys don’t wear giraffes unless they are gay.” - Zach

“Yes they do. And your little boy will be wearing giraffes.” - Me

“Fine. I’ll just tell everyone that all those giraffes on his shirt are the number of giraffes he dreamt that he killed last night.” - Zach

I am sure that I will have a ton more to add to the list as time goes by. They are really quite hilarious through my view point for sure.

This concludes my first blog post. I can’t wait to write another soon.