Little Baby

I've been wanting to get back into the 'ol blog for awhile now. I just wanted to make sure that I didn't get started without an intention to continue. So I've waited...

But 3 weeks ago we broke the news to the world that Little Baby is on the way. And around the same time Baby Belly started to pop up underneath my shirts.  I know that I'll regret keeping Little Baby to myself, when our family and so many of our friends are far away. I want you to be able to anticipate this arrival with us, and watch Little Baby grow with us as well.

I'm not getting too ambitious (on the blog-front). There is a lot of planning going on over here (on the baby-front). I'm hoping to do a weekly update on this sweet baby and as I get into the swing of that, I hope to share more than just baby-goo-goo-ga-ga.

Here is my first ever pregnancy photo. I took a profile picture of the belly, but it just freaked me out, so you'll have to live with this one until I get some more courage. 

Today I am 16 weeks pregnant (4 months). Due January 19th.

Which means that I am in my second trimester. I'm feeling pretty wonderful.

New symptoms I'm realizing recently:

• vivid dreams, mostly nightmares
• acid reflux every once in a while
• headaches
• can no longer button my pants - some maternity clothes are being put to use
• feeling belly muscles/ligaments stretching - ouch!

Old symptoms I'm still enjoying:

• being bloated - by the end of the day my belly is 3x bigger than it was in the morning!
• cravings (mostly chocolate ice cream and salami)
• hunger
• very sensitive to smells
• have to pee every 45 minutes

Symptoms that are history:

• nausea (never had it that bad to begin with)
• feeling exhausted all the time
• boobs hurting like crazy
• aversions
• crying over nothing at all

I can't feel Little Baby moving yet, although I know it is a mover. In our 10 week ultrasound, although the baby wasn't much bigger than a bean, it was a squirmy-wormy! That was when we first saw the heart beat. We first heard the heart beat at our last OB appointment last week. I initially thought that I was the one running this pregnancy marathon, but at 140bpm, I'm starting to wonder if it is really Little Bean that is the one doing all the work.

Right now Little Baby is the size of an avocado and can hear the world. So I try to sing to it every day. I know it doesn't know English, so it doesn't much matter what it is that I sing. I just want it to know that there is a wonderful world waiting, and it's good mommy-baby bonding time for me.

We will eventually convert Landon's office into a nursery. I'm hoping to put this off as long as possible (thinking December). Landon has received a fellowship for this next semester (which is only awarded one student in his entire department each year - he's awesome). So that means he is not teaching at all, but will be working from home on his dissertation 10+ hours/day. It needs to remain an office space for as long as possible for his sake. So all nesting instincts are going into sewing: swaddling blankets, burp clothes, etc... and reading, reading, reading about babies and baby stuff.

I've stopped running recently. I'm no longer feeling exhausted all of the time, but with each day above 90 degrees, I worry about pushing myself too hard. I did go rock climbing last weekend which was very fun. I took it pretty easy there too, but I was just glad to be in the mountains having fun.

Our next OB appointment is at the end of this month. Prior to which we will have an ultrasound to determine Little Baby's gender. We can't wait!

My next weekly updates should be shorter, hopefully, since I think I have brought you up to speed on this one.  I'm hoping that by next week I'll have felt this sweet baby moving. I'll keep you posted...