Goodbye first tri!

Today marks the start of the second trimester! I am so relieved to have the first trimester over with. No more nausea, no more need to eat every two hours. In fact, my appetite has lessened considerably. I haven't gained any weight in two weeks, much to my relief! I haven't really had the increase in energy I hear about though. In fact, I went to bed really early last night! But I am most happy that with the start of the second trimester, the risk of miscarriage goes down considerably. I will admit, I have been kind of nervous during the first trimester just because there is so much that can go wrong. But it didn't go wrong!

All my books say the baby is about 3 inches long now and weighs about an ounce. He or she is the size of a peach. But the books make me think maybe I'm farther along than my due date indicates because the baby was 3 inches at the ultrasound last week. Hmmmmmm....

I notice now a more full feeling in my lower abdomen, its also getting more firm. As of last week my uterus was too big for its space in the pelvis. Its starting to expand outward and upward. I think its only a matter of time before I start to show.

The last few days I have finally started doing some of the house cleaning that will lead to getting the baby's room ready. I started in the basement and got rid of more than half of my stuff there... stuff thats been in boxes for two to who knows how many years. Throughout high school and college I think I kept every greeting card and school paper I ever got. Well, thats all being recycled now. I started the project yesterday and filled our recycling bin halfway. So today I took a car full of empty boxes and old papers to the recycling drop off site. And I'm not done yet, though I'm going to take tomorrow off.

My goal is to get the basement cleaned and then clean out all the closets in the house. I also want to reorganize my kitchen cabinets a bit to get rid of some things and get better storage. The closets will lead to preparing the baby's room and the kitchen will just make life easier.

I am really ready to say now this is real to me. I am having a baby. Doug and I are having a baby. Its so amazing to think about. Now I'm working toward getting the baby's room ready and before I know it we will be getting baby stuff to put in the room! Wow.

The bean looks more like a baby now

We had the first trimester screening last Friday, which consists of a finger prick blood test (it hurt A LOT!) and an ultrasound. The screening is for genetic disorders like Down's Syndrome. It will be a week or so until we get the blood test results, but the ultrasound portion of the test looks good!

The fun part of all this was we got to see the baby again, and it looks more like a baby now! He or she is about 3 inches long and was flopping around like crazy! It was so cool to see. I think now I am really ready to say that this finally is real to me!

In these pictures the head is to the right and you can see the arm peeking out from the head, and the leg kicking out from the torso.

I haven't written in here very much lately. I guess there just hasn't been much to report. I am happy to report now that in the last week my nausea and other slight morning sickness symptoms have completely disappeared. And just in time. I have gained about 14 pounds so far in the first trimester and the "good" weight gain for the first trimester is about 5.

My problem has been that eating in the morning has been tough as well as eating balanced enough throughout the day. The ideal is to eat six small meals, while I've continued with three meals and snacks through the day. Too many snacks as well as too much dessert. I'm working harder to control both now. I'm eating better breakfasts and not snacking as much. In fact, I'm generally not as hungry during the day right now. Doug and I still get dessert occasionally, but not as much as we have been.

My emphasis for right now is to curb the weight gain. I am not supposed to lose weight, thats not my goal. The ideal weight gain for me is 15 to 25 pounds total. I know I will gain over 25 pounds, but I'm trying to not go too much over that amount. We will see how successful I am!

I had to buy some new clothes because of my weight gain. I have been pretty upset with how I am gaining so much. I got some better fitting clothes though and I look better, which in turn makes me feel better. I'm hoping I don't need anything else until I start to show, which I'm sure will be any day now.

I ran the Crazylegs Classic 8K on Saturday, which was my goal since I was cleared to exercise in February. It was a great race despite rain the entire time. It was totally worth it. I'm undecided about running more races this year. I was considering increasing my running to four days a week but I think I will keep it to three. I am really starting to feel like I should just take it easy.

Out of control

Thats how my body is lately, out of control. I have to adjust my expectations for exercise, which I expected. I just didn't expect it this soon. I'm trying to eat better after the crazy eating I did last week. I gained weight and my stomach expanded some more, and I doubt it will go back. Sometimes I just eat way too much just because, but other times I have to eat that much. Its quite frustrating. My moods are becoming quite varied as well. Only seven more months of this! I wonder what pleasures I get to experience next?

The Brewers game Sunday night was fun, but not a good result. The most annoying thing is that Cubs fans are just so obnoxious. But it was fun and we're looking forward to the next game, though it is unfortunately another Cubs game.

Baby's first trip to Miller Park!

The first of many. Doug and I have a Brewers 9-pack this year, which includes a free 10th game. I'm not sure why they don't just call it a 10-pack. Maybe it sounds like more of a deal as 9-pack with a free 10th game.

Anyway, tonight is our first game! I am very excited that we can go to more games this year, and its courtesy of my layoff, sort of, since I don't work nights anymore.

Doug and I went to a new church today for Easter Sunday, and our first impression is that we really like it. Then we had our traditional Easter Sunday brunch at the Great Dane, our favorite, although we couldn't get in at the one we usually go to. Good thing they have three locations!

Doug and I are so excited to introduce our child to the fun things we like to do. And we can't wait for the new traditions we'll discover. We can't wait until he or she opens presents at Christmas, the birthday party, dying Easter eggs or playing in the little league game... and having a great day at Miller Park. Our baby is included in that tradition starting today!

We have a fetus!

So we've passed the critical first 10 weeks of development and my embryo is now a fetus. Yay!


From my Babycenter email newsletter: "Although he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby now has completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature." (http://www.babycenter.com/)


It seems like the last six weeks have passed so quickly, but so slowly too. I'm assured that the baby will be here before we know it. Sometimes I want the baby to be here right now, and other times I'm glad we still have seven months to get ready.


I've had some nausea the last few days but today I feel great! The first trimester is almost over and from everything I've read and heard, I will be enjoying more energy soon. I sure hope so!


This afternoon I had my first run outside in six months. It was tough. I forgot how different the road is from the treadmill. It was a great run though, hopefully the first of many.


There isn't much else going on right now. I have my next doctor appointment next Friday. And I have the first trimester screening the Friday after that.

I'm happy

This weekend we had a nice relaxing time at home. In the next few weekends, we'll be pretty busy. So it was nice to have some time just relaxing.

I'm really happy lately. It seems weird to be happy considering I still don't have a job. But why should that keep me from being happy? It just doesn't make sense. I'm not asking questions, I'm just letting myself be content. There's certainly nothing wrong with that!

My job search doesn't have quite the urgency it did two months ago. I'm looking, but I'm not feeling quite as desperate as I was in January. The job will happen when its supposed to happen. I'm working on a few things that I hope will pan out soon. But I'm not panicking anymore. There's no point in that.

So yeah, this weekend when I felt this happiness, it felt a little weird. It doesn't seem like I should be. But I am, why fight it?

Nine weeks

Its really early to see anything in pictures, but this is what I look like right now. I took this picture yesterday. Nothing obvious, but I can see the changes! My lower abdomen is more round and firm, but I think it will be awhile before it will be noticeable.


Next week our embryo will reach the point in development where it becomes a fetus! Right now it is about an inch long and the size of a grape. My books and Web sites say the major form is developed along with major organs, though there will be lots more growth and development of the fetus and those organs.


I wish I was at nine months right now instead of nine weeks! I have 31 more weeks. It seems so long, but I believe what I'm being told that its going to just fly by. I just hope the next month flies by and the morning sickness goes away. It hasn't been bad this week, but its just so annoying. What annoys me the most is the fact that when I start feeling the queasiness, I can't point to an action I took that caused it. I ate the same food today as I did yesterday and my stomach decided it didn't like that today. Its not fair!

Asthma

I wouln't wish asthma on anyone. I really hope my child doesn't get asthma.

A couple weeks ago I had a sinus infection that aggravated my asthma. It followed my usual pattern for an asthma flareup. My doctor told me to double my dose of my steroid inhaler and she gave me a paper prescription for prednizone. She said that in pregnancy the oral steroid is OK, but we didn't want to jump right to that. So I doubled my inhaler dose and I thought I was getting better. I shredded the paper prescription.

Unfortunately I didn't get all the way better. I had read about shortness of breath becoming a problem in pregnancy because of the onslaught of progesterone. Since I thought I was better from the asthma flare, I thought that was my problem. I talked to my OB office yesterday and they said I should talk to my primary clinic.

I ended up going to the doctor yesterday afternoon and it turns out that since I didn't use the prednizone, I just didn't get better. I have the prednizone now and within an hour of taking the first pill yesterday I felt better than I had in a week.

So I am very glad to be feeling better! I am happy that it turns out my asthma isn't getting worse and it seems the shortness of breath is not from the hormones.

So I'm crossing my fingers that the asthma is resolved for now. I'm so annoyed that I haven't been able to work out much lately. Seems like there's always something keeping me from it! But I'm getting better so I'm optimistic.