17 weeks

Or roughly the equivalent of 4 months. This has been a great week! It appears my belly has decided to just round out completely, as you can see. Baby isn't anywhere to be found in there though, he/she is still pretty darn low and about 5 inches long from head to rump.

We've been in Hawaii for a week which has helped make this an awesome week. To top that off, I've felt movements for the first time! It was hard to admit that's what it was at first, but as it continued to happen throughout the week I know that's what it was. I can see how people say it feels like gas, but it is different. The first few times I only felt it while sitting. Then, last night, I felt it while lying down...and so did Trevor! I didn't think he'd feel it for a few weeks but I kept trying and he actually felt it last night. Very cool! I'm excited to feel other movements, so far it's just been the little jabs.

Our next appointment is Monday and it's just a quick check in and hearing the heartbeat. Then in a few weeks we'll have the big anatomy scan (the one where we're not finding out the sex).

Here's this week's photo. No numbers but hopefully the ocean makes up for it. See the rounding out? I feel like I just look Thanksgiving full all the time.

16 weeks

This is my first post using the Blogger iPhone app so hopefully it turns out fine. It's been a good week! Still gagging some but much less. I'm starting to have more energy which is really exciting! I'm taking half a Unisom at night just until we get back from vacation then I'll try quitting it again.

My belly seems about the same size, still bloating like crazy by the end of each day. We had Trevor's unit formal last weekend and I was up, at the bar and feeling okay until 1:30 am - unreal!

For the past week or so I have been feeling twinges in my uterus area. From what I've read it could be my muscles stretching or it could be baby. Twinges is the best way I can describe it. It's not painful, not a twitch like when your eye twitches, just a twinge. I've been trying to find a pattern but I don't think there really is one.

I think that's all the updates for now. Time to board our flight to Maui!

15 weeks.

This past week has been pretty good, I must say.  My appetite has been improving and there are foods that actually sound good to me.  No issues with constipation, gas or fatigue.  I think I only gagged a couple times in the last week, very exciting!  And no barfing!  I'm still taking 1/2 a Unisom at night after the barf scare I had last week, but I'm not feeling like I desperately need it each night.  I think I only had to get up in the middle of the night to pee three times which is a record so far.  The most exciting news of the week is I think I have a legitimate baby bump now.  It's pretty small and only noticeable when I wear tight clothing, but it's there.  I still get bloated and by the end of the day my belly feels huge, but this is the photo I took right when I woke up this morning, before eating anything.  Trevor took the picture, I should give credit where credit is due since he was less than thrilled to have a camera thrown at him the second he opened his eyes.

It looks like I'm slouching, but I'm really not, just the belly starting to stick out.  Cheese still tastes particularly good...and sweet corn, I could eat that all day.  I guess it's been a pretty uneventful week, but I'm perfectly fine with that.

Trevor and I are going to Hawaii next week.  I'm really looking forward to the vacation, just not the journey there.  We have a layover on our way there and back and I am not a fan of those at all.  I have to get up and walk around every hour and a half to prevent blood clots because of all the extra blood pregnancy creates.  Better yet, our flight home departs at 10pm so I'll be up all night walking around the plane, pretty exciting, eh?  Anyway, this leads me to this week's pregnancy question: What are your best tips for travel during pregnancy?  Oh, and thanks to everyone for the answers to the weekly questions both on the blog and in private.  It's been fun to get the input from all of you!

-A

14 weeks

For the most part, this has been a good week.  I've discovered two favorites, can't say I'd call them cravings, but I now really love eating slices of mild cheddar cheese and salad (specifically the kind you get at a salad bar with shredded carrots and cabbage, right? that's cabbage?) with French dressing.  Those are some pretty good favorites if I do say so myself.

I've been getting lightheaded at times, usually in the morning, so I try to make it a point to get plenty of fluids.  I let myself have one big glass of the Lipton sweetened iced tea a day (ok occasionally 2 glasses) then the rest is usually water.  I drink that sparkling water like nobody's business; the burps make me feel better if I need it, too.  My appetite in general seems to be getting better, thankfully, now I just try to stay on top of making healthy choices.  Some days I would love a nice, big sandwich piled with cold deli ham, but I'm following the no lunch meat rule.  Some people say it's fine, but I think I'll survive without it.

Overall I've been feeling pretty good, less tired, less nauseous.  In fact, Sunday night I stopped taking my Unisom.  Monday afternoon I started to feel kind of crummy and as soon as I got home from work I threw up, and it was a doozy.  First time I threw up from actually feeling crappy and not from gagging.  So, that night I was back on the Unisom, but I think the combination of food/fluid loss and having been off the meds, I still wasn't feeling right on Tuesday.  I went into work Tuesday morning at 8, left at 8:30 and threw up by 8:45.  I have been taking the 1/2 Unisom every night and have been feeling just fine, so I figure I'll give it another couple weeks.  I don't want to jinx it, but my gagging problem seems to be improving a bit, not a lot, just a bit.  Speaking of jinxing, I haven't wanted to mention this either, but here it goes.  My acne has been at its worst in recent years.  I was even given a few different medications for it (that I had to stop when trying to conceive).  I assumed it would go hog wild after stopping the prescriptions, especially getting pregnant right away, but by some miracle my skin has been clearer than it's been in a long time.  I realize I have a long way to go yet and that could change at any time, but I'll take it for now!

They say frequent urination typically goes away in your second trimester then comes back in the third.  I'm excited to announce I only had to get up in the middle of the night to pee 4/7 nights the past week!  Such a big accomplishment.  And I think that's all the excitement I've got for now.  I took two pictures this week because I've been getting a few comments here and there about my "bump."  I'm certainly not offended, but I wanted to prove that my "bump" is actually bloat.  I'm rounding out just a tad, but anything noticeable to others at this point is bloating.  The first photo I took right when I woke up and the second I took around 5pm after eating a couple meals and snacking.  See the difference? :)

P.S. anyone else who's documented a pregnancy in photos find it very difficult not to suck your belly in? 

This week's first time mom question: I'm almost positive we'll skip the crib bumpers, but just out of curiosity what are your thoughts on them?

-A

13 weeks

Call it what you want: 13 weeks, 3 months, 2nd trimester-we've made it.  It's actually kind of weird not having this pregnancy be a secret anymore.  I think we both got so used to it being a secret it started to feel normal.  We're certainly very appreciative of all the congratulations and excitement though.  And what a relief to even make it this far (a long way to go yet, I know!). 

Symptoms have been about the same this week as last week.  No gag barfing in the last week though.  Gagging, absolutely, just not causing me to throw up.  I've actually started to occasionally gag on nothing, just randomly happens.  I'm finding it difficult to drink plain water, so I drink carbonated water (the non sugary kind, just plain sparkling water-the burping makes me feel better, too) or water with sliced cucumbers in it.  I'm still needing the half a Unisom at night and still getting up to pee in the middle of the night, but it's tolerable.  In general I haven't felt quite as tired as I did a few weeks ago, but it still hits me every so often.  Yesterday I could hardly keep my eyes open all afternoon.  The weather today was much nicer than it's been so I was able to get out for a walk.  My appetite comes and goes.  I can eat snacks all day (I try to keep it healthy with apples, bagels, cucumbers) but actual meals, especially supper, just don't sound good.  I'm hoping that goes away soon.

Now that we're past the 1st trimester, this is all starting to feel more real.  We've discussed names (don't even ask! and while you're whining about that we're not finding out the sex either) and have decided on a "theme" for the nursery (ocean).  Right now what will be the nursery is more like one giant storage closet, something we'll need to tackle in the coming months.  Things I'm irrationally worried about: where and when to have a baby shower and what if Trevor is at class in Mankato and I need to get to the hospital (also in Mankato).

That's about all I've got for this week.  Oh, and for those of you reading this who can answer some first time mom questions for me...here's number one: What's your best pregnancy tip/advice?

  I should stop taking these after I eat.  It may appear there's a bump, but I think it's just post-eating bloat.  Correct me if you think I'm wrong.

-A

Second OB Appointment, 12.5 weeks

Hooray!!  OK, so we're a few days shy of the official 2nd trimester, but we're calling it good.  We just had our second OB appointment today and all is well!

For those of you just finding this out, obviously, we're pregnant.  Click here to read from the beginning.  If you skip that part, let me just tell you I won't be posting these to Facebook (to spare everyone the pregnancy details if they're not interested) but you can type your email address in the "Follow by Email" box to get updates when there's a new post.  I've been taking "belly" photos, but really there's nothing to see yet.  I was pretty bloated for a while, it went down, now I think it's back, but I'm not sure I can call it a baby bump yet.

Baby Gibbs is due January 25, 2013.  If you do the math, it will appear I got pregnant before Trevor got home.  For those of you who haven't been down this road yet, they start counting pregnancy with the first day of your period, not when you actually got pregnant.  But, again if you do the math, we really didn't waste any time!

Here is the post about our first appointment.  As for today's appointment, it was a quick one.  Well, after almost an hour and a half of waiting it was quick, gotta love the doctor's office!  The doctor came in, asked a few questions, then got out the doppler.  She assured us sometimes it takes a little bit to find the heartbeat, but it really didn't take long at all, phew!  A solid 160 beats per minute and we were happy :) As for symptoms, they've been gradually getting better the last couple weeks...for the most part.  I'm off the Zofran completely and surviving on half a Unisom in the evening.  Luckily, my "morning sickness" is actually "evening sickness" and Unisom helps with nausea and happens to be a sleep aid-works very well.  My boobs are sore, especially when I wake up, but I can deal with that.  My gag reflex is as bad as ever.  That's the only thing that's caused me to actually throw up...6 times now.  I gag on pills or food quite a bit, but if I gag twice-bad news!  Fatigue is getting better, but I'm getting the occasional headache and lightheaded at times, usually after a shower.  All in all, much more manageable than a few weeks ago!

We quickly started making phone calls and it's been so fun to share the news!  For those of you who continue reading, I'll be posting some first time mom questions-I'm sure I'll have plenty-I'd love some input in the comments.

-A

10 weeks, 4 days

No photo with this post.  I've been procrastinating the post because I've been waiting to take a photo, but that's just not happening.  No worries, there's really nothing to see yet aside from varying levels of bloating.  The good news is that by varying levels of bloating I mean it's actually gone down some.  Let me back up a bit...

A couple days after that first appointment we headed to visit family in Wisconsin.  I had been feeling pretty good minus the constipation issue.  I was still in need of nausea relief so I was taking Zofran, but the side effects of that were no good.  I decided to give it a shot without Zofran and have now been off it for about 10 days.  Throughout the day I feel good enough without it (at least to make it worth getting rid of that yucky side effect), but evenings are no fun.  Evening sickness is probably better than morning sickness because I can be lazy and just go to bed.  Also, I've started taking Unisom to help with that which is a sleep aide, much better to be taking that at night than in the morning.  All in all I've been feeling pretty darn good, relatively speaking.  I have to really make an effort to drink plenty of fluids and my appetite isn't completely normal, but I don't feel like death all day.  Oh, one more fun tidbit:  my gag reflex is awful.  I gag on my pills, supper, yogurt, when flossing my teeth, you name it.  Twice I've thrown up from gagging, not nausea, gagging. 

Less than two weeks til our next appointment.  I'm feeling pretty good about things, but still anxious to make sure there's still a solid heartbeat!  I'm sure I'll be nervous in one way or another the whole time, but I'm hoping my mind will be at ease to know we made it to 12.5 weeks and all is well.  And, bonus, that's when all of this stops being a secret.  CAN'T WAIT.  We have a couple get togethers/parties coming up that are going to be very tricky to hide.  I can come up with excuses not to drink, but no hot tubs, no slip n slides, no water skiing/tubing and no drinking get a little obvious.

I'll do better on an 11 week photo this Friday.

-A