Show and Tell

I thought that it would be nice to post some pictures of the baby items that I have received/bought up to this point:

Here are some t-shirts, bibs, shoes, and diapers.

A big thank you to my mom for the bibs and shoes and to Bob for the Pampers coupon!!

I hope it does not break my dad's heart too much, but this child will have TONS of Gator gear!



These are some Christmas outfits that I picked up from Belks - 75% off!! My mother thought that I was crazy to buy 4, but the baby can start wearing them the day after Thanksgiving. They were only about $3 each.

















I am going to be away from the blogosphere for several days. Greg and I are headed to New Mexico to visit our good friends, Mike and Lauren, until next Monday. In case anyone was worried, I alerted my doctor that I was flying and she ok'd everything.

Gluttonous

We have a co-worker, Julie, that has been on a strict diet for the past 5 months to try and resolve some health problems. I felt have felt so bad for her, especially during Christmas when a deluge of gifts arrived from clients. She sat there eating her salad while we all gorged ourselves on endless boxes of Godiva chocolates, Harry and David fruits and candies, Hickory Farms goodies, etc. Her desk was even right next to where all the packages arrived.

Julie told me on Monday that her diet had ended and she was allowed to resume normal eating. I immediately promised to make brownies and bring them in Tuesday morning.

Monday night, I set to making brownies with the intention of bringing the whole pan into work for everyone to share. Greg asked if we were going to have any when they were hot out of the oven. A pregnant woman CANNOT be expected to resist such a temptation, so we decided that we would have some when they were ready. Some turned into 1/3 of the pan (with milk, of course).

This morning, I realized that I would probably REALLY like having some more brownies tonight before bed. I made the decision to bring in two large brownies for Julie at work and leave the rest at home for us to enjoy.

I am such a pig now!!

Growling Tummy

Greg and I spent a labor intensive weekend working in our yard. On Sunday morning, I was so tired from the day before that I slept in until 8 am. I am usually up around 6 am, so this was late for me (I did get up to let Mable out to pee around 7, but I was not really "awake").

After I woke up, I just laid still for a little while before getting out of bed. I noticed that my tummy was making a growly noise every few seconds. After a while, I realized that the noise was coming at very regular intervals. I started timing the pause between each stomach growl. Each growl was exactly 6 seconds apart. This went on for about 10 to 15 minutes before I decided to get up and eat something (I made pancakes - Yum!).

Now I know that when contractions start to come at regular intervals, you are going into labor. But stomach growls?? Has anyone ever heard of this?

In other news, I read that there is supposed to be a full moon on October 4, 2009. My current expected due date is October 1. I am not really into astrology, but they say that more babies are born during a full moon than other times of the month. We will have to wait and see.

Boobs

That's right, this post is going to be about my boobs. Dad, David, Bob, Mark, etc. - if you are out there, you can stop reading HERE.

Somewhere around weeks 7 or 8 I found that my boobs increased in size almost over night. I seemed to be busting out of everything almost overnight. After several weeks of trying to make due with what I had, I decided that I could not take the pain any longer. Last Wednesday Greg and I ventured out to Motherhood Maternity in search of a good new bra. By Greg and I, I mean that Greg sat on a bench in the mall outside the store and I actually went into the store. This is our routine at the mall.

For some reason, I assumed that the people that worked in stores geared to pregnant women would be familiar with what a pregnant woman would need and might actually be able to provide some assistance. I explained to the "girl" working behind the register that I no longer fit into my into my 36C bras and that I needed something a little larger, but that I was not sure how much larger. I decided to disregard everything she said after the following sentence: "Most women increase a cup size after their milk comes in, but they tend to stay the same band size." Um, hello?? I had just explained to the "girl" that I already went up a size of some kind (I was guessing cup) and my milk will not come in for quite some time.

At this point, I took matters into my own hand and picked out several bras and headed to the dressing room. I was able to figure it out on my own, but I came away from the experience with a very bad impression of Motherhood. On a good note, I did score some coupons for diapers and formula!

This past weekend, I discovered that Target has a larger selection of nursing bras at about $5 cheaper than Motherhoood - lesson learned!

12 Weeks 0 Days

I guess that the first day of the last week in my first trimester is as good of a time as any to post my first entry. The purpose of this blog is mainly for me to document the physical and emotional changes I encounter through my first pregnancy. Some people do this in a baby book, but I am choosing to use a blog instead. A secondary reason for the blog is to share my progress, appointment updates, and any news with family and friends. Perhaps I am being presumptuous to think that other people will care, but I said that it is a SECONDARY reason. It has been an exciting journey so far and I am sure that more fun is yet to come!

To go back to the beginning of this journey...

December 25, 2008
I woke up on Christmas morning at my in-laws house having bad stomach cramps. I was very disappointed because I knew that my period was on the way. This was our 5th month trying to get pregnant. I think that it was even harder that it was Christmas. I had really been hoping to have a surprise gift! Little did I know that this was the last one.

January 8, 2009
Gators defeat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl for the National Championship in football.

Baby is conceived.

January 14, 2009
Greg accompanied me to the OBGYN for my annual visit. We discussed our lack of success to date in the baby-making department. She explained that it was very normal for it to take 6 to 12 months to conceive. She was willing to have my progesterone levels checked and to write Greg a prescription for a seman analysis (SA). Greg was such a good sport about this and I am extremely lucky to have him! He dutifully took his sample into the clinic to be tested. They called around January 20th to report that the results were normal.

January 22, 2009
My period was due and did not arrive by 5 in the afternoon (believe me that after several months of charting my basal body temperature, I knew EXACTLY when I was late). I decided to use a cheap pregnancy test that I purchased off the internet for~$1. A very faint, almost invisible line appeared. Greg and I agreed that we "maybe" saw something. I decided to use one of my more expensive digital tests. I got too excited and put the darn thing together backward and got an "error" reading. I was not happy about this because I only had the CBE $15 digital test left. Greg advised me to wait until the next morning just to be sure. After he went off to do some painting, I decided to use it anyway. I have no patience. It took about 10 seconds for "pregnant" to pop up. I ran into kitchen to show Greg. Unfortunately, we had Fernando the handy man installing our French doors at the time, so we had a quiet celebration in the pantry! Greg was thrilled that he paid $280 to have a SA done only to find out I was already pregnant.

I was very lucky that I did not have morning sickness. There were about 2 weeks when I was very nauseous in the mornings. I found that if I ate something, I felt better. I developed an aversion to green foods, especially spinach. Luckily it passed quickly.

At approximately 7 to 8 weeks, Greg and I both noticed that my chest had rapidly expanded - almost overnight. I began wearing very loose fitting shirts to work in hopes that no one would notice - and they didn't. I guess that Greg is really the only one that looks at my chest (and I like it that way!).

March 11, 2009
Our first appointment to meet with the doctor. We had an appointment in February when we me with the nurse to go through our medical history, take my weight and bp, and get a slip to take to the lab for blood work. Our first visit with the doctor included a look inside to make sure everything checked out (it did), a boob check, and a quick listen with the doppler to hear the babies heartbeat. It registered at 165 beats per minute. Greg found a pamphlet explaining the father's responsibilities during pregnancy, child birth, and after while we were waiting for the doctor. He has taken this pamphlet as being gospell and frequently quotes information from it to explain ~his~ duties to me. I am pretty sure that he actually makes most of this information up.

We decided to let the cat out of the bag today and tell people at work about our news. Any of you our there that have been waiting to tell other people can now feel free to do so.

Thanks for reading - I will post again when I think that I have something interesting to say.