18 weeks

I've still been really emotional this week (I forgot to mention that last week when I posted about the wedding!). I cry easily and I get irritated easily. Luckily not as much at my family these days, more so at rude people at work or idiot drivers. ;) One day this week was especially bad. I was having a meltdown in the car and I could not stop crying, no matter how hard I tried. I was in the passenger seat and I opened the glove box to retrieve a napkin or something to wipe my face with. Apparently I didn't get the glove box closed all the way because about a minute later it fell open, bashing me in the knees. OH THE SOBS! I felt really bad for Steve at how hysterical I was being and I remember thinking to myself, "These cars passing us on the freeway are going to think I've been kidnapped and am utterly losing it!" Thankfully Steve is SO patient with me when these ridiculous moments strike. I'm so thankful for him.

Last week my mom and sister and I had a great time at my cousin-in-law Ashley's baby shower. They had a co-ed shower with lots of friends and family and it was tons of fun. My cousin Brinton is a hoot and kept the room laughing during gift opening. They got some really adorable stuff for baby Presley and I can't wait to meet her! I'm posting a picture of Ashley and I because I know a lot of my Cary cousins read this blog. :)

Ashley at 33 weeks, me at 18 weeks

I'm still getting mild headaches a few days a week. This week it's getting harder to do things like bend over to tie my shoes, or raise my leg when I'm shaving in the shower. Bending over and getting up and down at work are becoming more challenging too.

I have been feeling baby move more this week! The movements have changed from subtle barely-noticeable flutters to actual movements that I can detect. So far I haven't gotten a reaction any time I've pressed on my stomach but I can tell the baby has wake and sleep patterns and I feel movements most in the morning and evening. They are no longer only when I'm laying or sitting really still and I feel them pretty much every day. It's very exciting! Steve said there was one night last week when I was sleeping and he had his hand on my stomach and he's pretty sure he was feeling movement too. I haven't felt anything from the outside yet but I usually don't have my hands on my stomach when it happens.
People who don't know I'm pregnant are starting to mention things in the halls at work... I had one doctor see me in the cafeteria last week and he gasped and said, "Ohhhhh! What did I just see?!" Many friends and coworkers will stop me in the hall to tell me how cute I look or to touch my belly. Thankfully I don't mind people that I know touching my stomach so that hasn't been an issue yet. ;)

17 weeks

 

This was a very busy week!

I finally started gaining weight! I wouldn't say that I'm excited about this, but it was kind of nice to see the number on the scale increase just a little bit, especially since my doctor seemed surprised at my last visit that I weighed the exact same amount that I had at the visit before.

My cousin Stacy got married! I was a bridesmaid in her sports themed wedding and the entire day was a blast. It was so exciting to be a part of her special day and to see her marry her best friend! (And a great guy at that.) I'm totally bummed that I didn't get a picture of her and I but I'm hoping to post an album to Facebook soon.

During the reception Steve asked me if I wanted a glass of wine. Jordan looked at him and goes, "She's pregnant!" Steve chuckled and said, "Oh yeah..." and Jordan gave him the most perplexed look. It was hilarious.

We were watching a TV show this week and the man's wife went into labor while he was at work. He hung up the phone and said, "She's having contractions, I've gotta go." Jordan looked at me and said, "So... she's in labor?" I said yes and he sighed and said, "Man... that's going to be so weird when that happens to us..."

Jordan is awesome at giving foot massages! I asked him one evening if he would rub my feet and he said, "Sure, but not for free." I asked how much he would charge and he told me he would give me 25 minutes for a quarter and 50 minutes for two quarters. I laughed and asked if he realized that was only one cent per minute. I had him rub my feet for one minute and then said, "There, you just earned yourself a penny!" He laughed too and I told him I would give him a quarter for 5 minutes and two quarters for 10 minutes. He replied, "Ok, I'll start tomorrow."

The next day I asked him if he wanted to rub my feet and I got quite a nice foot rub for 50 cents! I'm thrilled about this...

I did have one "incident" during week 17... I had been puke-free for awhile and the gagging had mostly subsided, save for an isolated episode here and there. One day I was at work and we were extremely short staffed. It was just one other person and I in the front office and she had gone to lunch (thank goodness because this would have been super embarrassing if I wasn't alone). I started to feel a little nauseous and I thought that was weird because it came out of nowhere and I had just finished a yogurt a little while earlier so my stomach wasn't empty (not to mention, I had also had breakfast that morning). The phone rang and I answered it. I listened to the person on the other end, all the while trying not to gag and quietly sipping ice water. All of a sudden I blurted out, "Can you please hold" and pressed the hold button right as I grabbed the trash can and threw up. It was awful!! I was able to compose myself and finish the phone call but holy smokes, that was not a situation I hope to repeat!

Headaches have continued this week, probably about every other day. I'm still trying to increase my water intake and have been doing better. I'm hoping this will keep helping with the headaches too.

Here's another photo that I'm posting just for laughs. This is what I saw the last time I went to my parents' house, created out of their fridge word magnets.

 Thanks, guys. ;)

16 weeks

 

4 months along! Time is still flying... and I'm still sure that I won't think that when I'm 8 months pregnant and as big as a house, but for now, the weeks just keep flying by!

I've been making baby steps in the progress of Baby's room. It started out as our computer/craft/leftover wedding/junk stashing room. We succeeded in moving the computer to a different room and I have slowing been making progress in organizing craft supplies and filing stacks and stacks of papers that always end up on TOP of the filing cabinet rather than IN it. One of the problems of our house is that we have no storage space so we have been using the two spare bedroom closets for that purpose. I want the closet of the baby's room totally cleaned out so that we can use it for BABY stuff, and the closet in the other spare room will become our homeschool supply closet, so figuring out what to do with everything else has been tricky. I'm trying to get rid of as much as I can!

Steve got really sick this week and ended up missing 9 out of 10 days of work in two weeks. We took him to the doctor when I was 16 1/2 weeks and they said he probably had had the flu (fever for days, sweats, chills, vomiting, upset stomach, lethargy, aches) and that his lungs sounded junky and they put him on antibiotics. It's been a sloooooow recovery but I left that appointment feeling EXTREMELY grateful that I had given in and gotten the flu shot a couple of weeks earlier. Jordan and I managed not to catch the germs.

I started getting headaches this week, usually in the afternoons. I'm trying to drink lots more water and it's been going better, so that sometimes helps. I generally get somewhere around 4 and 5 headaches a week.

Less gagging!

15 weeks

I accidentally got really behind in my posting so 15 weeks seems like a long time ago! Let's see what I can remember...

I am still really emotional. I wouldn't say that I have roller coaster emotions but I cry easily out of frustration or anything sentimental. And talk about the road rage... jeez.

SOMEHOW Steve's car (which I have been driving because mine is on strike) developed a completely HORRIBLE sour milk smell. I cleaned out the car one weekend so I could go pick up a friend of mine and her two kids and all of the gear we would need for a freezer cooking day at another friend's house. So the car was completely empty. The next day I went to the grocery store and bought milk. The day after that, the smell started. And holy cow, it's awful. I sniffed all around that stupid car, including the EXACT place I had set the milk, but the smell didn't get any bettor or worse depending on where I sniffed. I checked the milk jug that I bought and it was perfectly dry with no leaks. We're still totally puzzled about it and the smell is still lingering, though MUCH more subtle now. I had started having to go out and start the car and roll the windows down about 10 minutes before I wanted to drive it, just to prevent the gagging. How awful.

Speaking of gagging, I still do. Morning sickness continues to elude me most days (hooray!) and I throw up about once a week.

We had another ultrasound this week! My friend Aslan works for a volunteer pregnancy center and when business gets slow they look for "models" to do ultrasounds on because it helps keep their funding, etc. up. I didn't have to think twice about a free, local peek at our baby!

The center has volunteers who are minimally trained in ultrasound and are able to tell three things: that you are pregnant, how far along you are, and that there is a heartbeat. Baby's heartbeat was in the 150's! We got a nice, long look at many parts of the body and Jordan got to be there, which was really fun for him. Our baby is a  mover and a shaker, that is for sure! At one point the tech had the want on my stomach and she wasn't moving it at all. Baby was flipping and turning all over the place! We saw a couple of good kicks, some waving and lots of head movement.

Because they are only trained to tell the three things I mentioned above, they cannot make any kind of guess or assumption regarding gender. I did ask the tech to take a peek though and we have an idea of what we think baby might be. :) The big announcement will come on April 13th - check Facebook!

Here are a couple of pictures of our adorable little Dash.

 

(The word on the left says "hand" and the words on the right say "face profile")

 

Foot!