29.4.05

Yesterday's surprise was a half-day of treatment at a day spa! It was wonderful. I started with a massage, which was so nice. I've had massages before, but this was my first pregnancy massage. Then they fed me a "lunch" of very tasty chicken caesar salad (with italian instead of caesar dressing). That was followed by a facial. After my facial I got a manicure and then a pedicure. It was so much fun! Go Doug! :)

Doug and I are going to Houston this weekend to visit family. I think I'll bring along the baby care book we bought (what to expect the first year) and try to get a little reading done in our down time. When I'm home I can always think of something more exciting or pressing to do than "study". I would like to be as prepared as I can though. Of course recognizing that you can never be *really* prepared for a baby!

28.4.05

Yesterday was my birthday - woohoo! It started with breakfast in bed (pancakes) and an early phone call from my mom. I also had an impromptu surprise birthday party from my stay-at-home-mom friends and coffee with another friend and a few more phone calls throughout the day. One gift appeared on our back porch and freaked me out, but it was a fun surprise! In the evening, Doug took me out to dinner at P.F. Chang's and that was followed by a couple more phone calls. Busy day! :)

Some mysterious thing is happening this afternoon, which is my main gift from Doug. I have my suspicions about it, but I'll be keeping those to myself in case I'm wrong. It should be a fun afternoon though! The cats did nothing for me for my birthday. The baby treated me by having hiccups for the first time this morning!

25.4.05

We're at 24 weeks now. That's about six months - wacky! The baby should weigh just over a pound and is almost a foot long. That's long and skinny! The brain is growing rapidly. Naturally, because the baby is going to be brilliant. Space in my uterus is starting to fill up! And this is disturbing - my uterus has now grown to the size of a soccer ball!

I've been reading about exciting things like being at risk for high blood pressure. I have never had that problem prior to pregnancy and my BP has been nice and low at every prenatal visit, so I'm really not worried about it though. Apparently the worrisome things to look out for are (excessive) swelling in your face and hands because that is a sign of pre-eclampsia (which is not a good thing).

22.4.05

Doug surprised me this morning with breakfast in bed! Last night I was drooling over an ad for McGriddles on the back of a magazine he was reading. I was joking that he needed to get up and go make me one (at 11 p.m.). This morning he did it! Well, it was an egg sandwich on an English muffin, but close enough! I'm always teasing him about fixing me breakfast in bed and this time he did it when I wasn't expecting it!

After we ate, the cats were all weirded out because that was not part of the normal routine. They got into a big wrestling match in the floor and I was laying in bed watching them. Charlie finally got sick of it and jumped up onto the bed. Then he walked straight over to my foot and started biting it! He's never done that before. "You think our battles are funny, do you? I'll show you funny! Grrr!" :o)~

21.4.05

Okay, I have to admit that I'm pretty bored with being pregnant. Some days (like yesterday) it's more like I'm *sick* of it! I know that is normal, but I thought I'd make it a little further before I started feeling this way. Like, I thought I'd at least make it to the third trimester (though that's only two or three weeks away). Things only stay exciting for so long before they start to become tedious.

I do want to clarify - I'm not bored with THE BABY, so don't start with the pep talks on how it's a miracle and all that because I know - I'm tired of getting bigger and not being able to pick things up off the floor or bend my body very far. I'm also tired of pregnancy being the only thing that's going on in my life. I want my body and my identity back! But enough ranting for one day... :)

19.4.05

Well, I couldn't post at the end of last week because there was some problem with the website when I tried. I am always too busy on the weekends to think about it. Yesterday I was recovering from being sick. But *today* I am back! :)

I am now 23 weeks pregnant (for those who don't know or forgot - my due date is Aug. 13th). I'm feeling pretty good these days. I'm trying to enjoy my freedom of movement before I get too big and uncomfortable. Apparently the baby has developed sense of movement and could feel it if I were inclined to dance around. I think I might fall over though - the sense of balance is a bit off these days thanks to the torpedo developing on the front of my body.

Baby moves a lot now. I swear sometimes it feels like he/she is doing flips! :)

13.4.05

I went to Borders yesterday to look at their infant care books. I want something that covers all the basic things you will face in the baby's first year. I know of a few titles that are fairly popular and I figured there would be a few others that I'd never heard of. Turns out there are a *lot* of books about the baby's first year. I spent roughly two hours studying them to figure out which was the best.

By the time I left I had totally fried my brain and hadn't even made it through all of them. I ended up getting two of the better ones (the big name ones that i was interested in to begin with). I figure we can look them over and I'll just return the one that we like less. There are just too many choices when it comes to baby stuff!

Did I already mention that it took Doug and I 30-45 minutes to make a decision about which diaper bag(s) to register for?!?

11.4.05

I'm now at 22 weeks in the pregnancy and I can't decide whether it's flying by or creeping along at a snail's pace. Apparently the baby is looking more like a newborn in there now, complete with lips, eyelids, and eyebrows. He/she is also developing little teeth buds below its gumline. Just keep baking, baby!

Thankfully, no one has touched my stomach without permission yet. At least, not anyone that I don't know well. I have had random people begin to talk to me about being pregnant though and people that I know do seem drawn to touching the belly. So, when someone I don't know asks to touch it (or someone i do know and i'm just not in the mood), how do I say No without being rude...?

At least people have stopped telling me that I don't look pregnant now! :)

8.4.05

I had another one of my bizarre dreams last night. In this one I actually had the baby (it was a boy in the dream). There many strange and amusing things that happened, but my favorite is that at one point the baby turned into a big kitten! :)

I made the mistake of buying a maternity shirt that is dry clean only. I never intentionally buy dry clean only items because I never take things to the cleaners, but sometimes I just don't notice. Naturally, the very first time I wore the shirt, I got a little spot on it. I think my belly brushed against the car or something (imagine that). I took it to the cleaner this morning because I'm afraid that it will be ruined if I try to just wash it (sometimes i take the wash it anyway approach) and they will have to send it to a "specialist" to be cleaned. Nice.

6.4.05

I have all the windows open this afternoon and am shivering in the breeze. 72 degrees sounds a lot warmer than it feels! Well, soon enough it will be so warm outside that I wouldn't even think of opening the windows, so I'll just enjoy it! :)

We tried to trap Cow Kitty last night so that we could have him fixed today, but without success. We didn't even catch a possum! Just before bedtime we had a big storm come out of nowhere, so we had to put the cage up on the porch where a trapped kitty would not get soaked. I don't know if it was the location or if CK was just chilling in a dry place, but no luck. Oh well, we can try again another night.

Baby and I are doing pretty well. It's odd getting used to the way your body changes when you're pregnant. Nothing works quite the same way it used to...

4.4.05

I'm 21 weeks pregnant now. My information says the baby weighs about 12 oz. Isn't that crazy? I'm more than halfway through and the baby doesn't even weigh one pound yet? The baby moves a lot now. Sometimes it's still little fluttering movements, but more often it's full-fledged kicks and nudges. It feels like gymnastics to me! He/she moves a bit throughout the day (like right now), but most of the action is in the evenings and it really gets going right after we go to bed.

It's kind of cool really. Since I'm trying to go to sleep, I'm just laying there still and quiet so I can really enjoy feeling the movement. I know that I might not enjoy it as much once it gets stronger and starts keeping me awake! :) I like trying to imagine what the baby is doing (punching, kicking, flipping, spinning)...

1.4.05


Here are the pictures from our latest ultrasound. I know they are small, but if you click on the image, it should give it to you a bit bigger. The top picture shows a little hand. The middle shows a little foot - so cute! And the bottom is a profile shot. :) Posted by Hello
Okay, I finally posted the ultrasound pictures. I know they aren't very clear, but that's just the way it is with these images. Seeing them in person is clearer and the video is too cool. Hopefully you'll get to see one of the two eventually. :)

We'll be scheduling our follow-up ultrasound for the week of May 16-20 (hopefully). That is the week before our first baby shower and our trip to New York. I hope the baby cooperates this time! This would probably be our last chance before birth to find out. But as long as the scan shows that Baby P is developing normally, we'll be quite happy!

I had to go out and buy some new gym clothes yesterday because I'm rapidly outgrowing my old ones. Apparently the thing for this season is capri workout pants.