Baby Reeser Week 18

So I'm totally being a copycat and copying my pregnant pal, Lisa's, idea of blogging my weekly (or maybe in my case every couple of weeks) pregnancy progress.

When I first found out I was pregnant, a friend got me a pregnancy journal to track pretty much my every breath of pregnancy.  It was just way too much for me to handle.  I returned it.  I consider myself Type A, but I'm also not really a "get in touch with my feelings" person.  (thanks, mom :))  So to track every feeling and emotion over a 40-week period was just a little much for me.  And also so far I've felt really good.  Nothing has been too out of the ordinary.

But I do know I'll want something to look back on and remember some of the little things, and I'm sure it will be fun when the baby is old enough to look back on too.  But like Lisa said, I'm kind of afraid that I'll do all this detailed stuff for Baby #1 and then not as much when/if the next one comes.  But I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there, and hopefully if that day comes I'll still have the old blog to turn to!

So let's get started. 

Total Weight Gain:  This one is kind of hard because once we got back from our honeymoon I kind of started packing on the pounds.  Well, I for sure wasn't working out regularly and wasn't really watching what I was eating.  But I also didn't weigh myself.  And I didn't know I was pregnant until about eight weeks, so then I blamed the weight gain on the pregnancy (and not the pizza and chocolate).  So I don't have a solid "before pregnancy" weight.  But starting from my first OB appointment on November 2nd to now my third OB appointment yesterday, January 11th, I've gained a total of four pounds.  I'm thankful it's only four - I feel like it should be about 34.

Maternity Clothes:  I am that person who tried to still wear my regular clothes for as long as I could, but the first time I put on a pair of maternity pants, and pretty much every time I put them on, I think "why haven't I always worn these!"  They're amazing!  Work clothes have been the hardest though.  At home I usually just wear sweats or yoga pants and a sweatshirt.  But I haven't really had too much for work since most of my work clothes were more fitted.  My mom got me some great maternity work tops for Christmas, and I got a pair of maternity dress pants from Kohl's and a few tops and jeans and leggings from Old Navy those will be my staples for the next few months.  I'm loving the comfort.

Sleep:  Not a whole lot has changed here for me.  The first trimester I slept ALL the time.  I would come home from work and be dead tired and falling asleep on the couch by 6:30 or 7:00.  I've gotten most of my energy back, but still sleep a solid 8-9 hours a night.  And it's a nice hard sleep.  I told Hal the other day my favorite part of the day is going to bed.  ha!  But, again, this isn't too different from pre-pregnancy.  I've always loved my sleep.

Stretch Marks:  Haven't seen any yet and hoping and praying I don't.  I read something the other day about lotions - I was thinking about trying something like that for prevention - but the reviews said it didn't really help much.  But I might still do it just for the fun of it.

Best Moment of the Week:  Yesterday getting to hear our baby's heart beating at a solid 144 beats per minute (lower heart beat = boy?!?!?!?).  Can't get enough of it.

Miss Anything:  I really have been trying hard to cut out pop.  I haven't cut it out completely, but I have quit drinking Diet Coke, which was my go-to.  I've been trying to limit it to Sprite which is caffiene free or a regular pop instead of diet to avoid the aspartame.  But, yes, our baby will probably come out hopped up on sugar.  Better than crack, right?

Movement:  After our last appointment in December, which was at 13 weeks, my sister-in-law asked if I was starting to feel the baby fluttering.  I said I didn't think so, but what did it feel like.  She described it like a little bird was in her tummy or a musle spasm.  I didn't think I had felt anything like that.  Well, the next couple days as I was driving home from work, I kept thinking to myself, "I feel like I'm having cramps."  But the more I thought about it, they didn't actually hurt, so it wasn't cramps.  I'm pretty sure it was the baby I was feeling.  And now I feel it on pretty much a daily basis - usually in the late afternoon/evenings.

Food Craving:  People keep asking me this!  "Are you having any weird cravings?"  Not really.  Well, not anything weird I guess.  I crave sweets a lot.  But that's completely normal - I have a horrible sweet tooth.  The only time I crave something specific is if I know we're going out to eat, then I'll get something specific in mind and can't be deterred from it.  But Hal is so nice - he always lets me pick where we go "because I'm the pregnant one."  The only real difference that I can think of is I always have breakfast now.  I wasn't a big breakfast person before - just grab something quick on the way out the door.  Now I get up and at least have a bowl of cereal or a breakfast sandwhich and always with orange juice.  I've never consistently kept orange juice in the house before, unless I was having company.

Anything Making You Sick/Queasy:  I am right there with Lisa on this one.  My first trimester I never once felt sick or queasy or gagged at anything.  Second trimester - different story.  Well, not sick or anything.  I came home for lunch one day and Libby (the puppy) had had an accidet in her kennel that I had to clean up.  I only got about half of it before my lunch came up.  Ever since then if I see, smell, or hear anything related to passing gas or number two I'm gagging and running for the bathroom in case something comes up. 

Have you Started to Show Yet:  I guess so.  Ha!  I mean, I'm wearing maternity clothes, right?  It's hard for me to tell because I had a belly before, so to me I just have a fat belly.  But my pregnancy tracker app said the placenta is the size of a cantelope now, so that's got to account for some of it I suppose.  I have yet to take a "bump" picture.  Guess I'll have to put Hubby to work behind the camera!  But same with Lisa, if I'm wearing baggy clothes, or a sweatshirt I just look like I've had one or ten too many slices of pizza.

Gender:  Can't wait to find out if we're having a little boy or little girl!!  I don't have a preference one way or the other, but am always drawn towards girl stuff when I'm in the stores.  Hal desparately wants a boy and jokingly says if it's a girl we're putting her up for adoption.  Little does he know he'll fall head over heels either way and that little girl (if that's what it is) will steal his heart the moment he lays eyes on her.  The other day I did have just a feeling come over me that it was a girl.  It was kind of a weird thing.  I told Hal, and he just stared at me.  It was kind of funny.  All he said was, "Don't do that!  Don't have that feeling."  But then a few nights later I dreamt it was a boy.  So guess we'll have to wait and see.  We can find out in February.

Belly Button In or Out:  In.  I've always had an inny, and it's way in there too.  So it will be fun to see how that changes as my belly grows.

Wedding Rings On or Off:  I've just been wearing my wedding band, which was a little snug from the start (thanks to my Block-inherited sausage fingers).  But when I get warm my fingers swell and then it's just really tight.  But I'm determined to keep it on.

Happy or Moody Most of the Time:  Maybe I should ask my husband?!?!  I think I'm pretty happy most of the time.  There's times where I'm just blah and a few times when I get a little sensative, but I'd say happy outweighs the moody.  And, again, I don't think that's a huge change from non-pregnancy.  :)

Looking Forward To:  Jamaica!  We planned a fun vacation to Jamaica at the end of January before we knew we were expecting.  Thankfully I've been feeling fine so it shouldn't be a problem, and I'm sure we'll be thankful for the get-away before the baby comes!