11 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along:  11 Weeks

Size of Baby:  Lime (1.6 inch, .25 oz)
Nicknames (Gma & Gpa W):  Keyli/Emilie (girl), Liman/Thor (boy).  Explanations:  Working with Key Limes.  Thor b/c Key Limes have thorny branches.  Emilie is lime backwards with "e" & "i" twice :)   

Weight Gain:  5.2 lbs total
Maternity Clothes:  as often as possible (pants).

Milestones:  Baby is officially developed enough to be called a fetus.  The most critical part of baby's organ system development is over (good news!).  Baby will grow rapidly and will double in size by next week.  Ears are moving to the side of the head and reproductive organs are becoming more distinguished.

Symptoms:  worse headaches, nausea, popping joints, dizziness
Cravings:  banana peppers, hot sauce used as salsa... mmmm.

Aversions: meat & BBQ
Recap of the Week:   Patiently awaiting the end of the first trimester...  soon!  This week I got some more books from a friend at work (Shannon).  She let me borrow one about breastfeeding, one about after the baby comes, a baby name book, and the Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy (which I LOVE and am almost done with already).  Tay grabbed the baby name book and started wildly suggesting things like "Horace" so he may be banned from that book in the future.  Love all my books - trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible until I can teach a class on pregnancy & babies!  :)  Dreams this week have been extra creepy.  I've had nightmares almost every night since finding out I was pregnant...  Most terrible and not worth mentioning here.  I had an extra interesting one this week, though... I dreamed we went to the doctor and found out we were having a boy, he was absolutely certain.  Next, I deliver the baby but it's a toddler (yikes) and it's a girl with curly blonde hair.  Fast forward slightly (I think) and myself and the baby are swimming underwater.  I was scared but not scared.  So, definitely a little weird.  Just hope I don't give birth to a baby the size of a 2 year old!  My nausea has been different this week... some days I think it's really getting better and it's gonna be totally over so soon.  Then the next day it hits me like a ton of bricks (I suppose to make up for the easy day before).  Hoping this is my body preparing for the second trimester with no morning sickness?!?  We had Jenn's b-day dinner this week & it was awesome to see everyone.  Her actual birthday was on the day of my doctor appt so it was a great day all around.  During dinner, baby preferred cheese fries to cake which was somewhat surprising.  No worries though, because Daddy finished my piece of cake!  Final thought for week 11:  I called my #1 daycare choice (Little Prayers) and scheduled an appt to look around and ask questions in a couple of days (please see week 12 for further details!). 

10 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along:  10 Weeks

Size of Baby:  Prune (1.2 inch, .14 oz)
Nicknames (Gma & Gpa W): Kelsey/Pru (girl), Elliot/Sunny (boy).  Explanation:  Kelsey & Elliot are types of prunes & Sunkist brand of prunes (i.e. Sunny).  G-ma's boy baby was also kissed by the sun :) 

Weight Gain:  3.4 lbs total
Maternity Clothes:  Several times a week.. bought some more & I just love em :)  Pants only still - no maternity shirts needed (unfortunately)

Milestones:  The beginning of a critical period in baby's development when all the vital organs have formed and are beginning to function.  Baby is growing tiny fingernails and toenails and tiny buds for teeth.

Symptoms:  headaches, very tired, nausea every morning and every time I let myself get hungry, sore & popping joints (hips & groin have been very sore... hard to move around quickly).
Cravings:  banana peppers, hot sauce, sometimes chicken strips, Pizza Hut salad with creamy italian dressing.

Aversions: meat (still)!  If anything, i can eat chicken strips though :)
Recap of the Week:   First double-digit week and I'm loving it!!  Really big week for us too!  First, I had some spotting on Sunday - just a little but scared me to death.  There were crying, hysterics, etc.  Fast forward to Tuesday (Dr. Appt!!!!!!).  Tuesday morning, me & Tay woke up a little late (nice!) to be at my Dr. Appt. at Parkhill by 8:30.  I had been extremely nervous since Sunday on top of my normal insane worrying about everything else, but the morning had finally arrived!  Had to go to the bathroom (per my usual 20x per day) right when we got there and they had already called us back by the time I got out.  Luckily, Tay told them where I was & they were waiting on me.  First, they took my blood pressure (which was good!) and weighed me (see Weight Gain comment above) then they gave us a room.  Nurse was talking about what would be done at the appt today and mentioned pap, physical exam, hearing the heartbeat.  I asked if I had to have another pap since I had one in July and she said "NO" much to my relief (I bleed for a while every time I have one & didn't want the extra worry).  I changed into my lovely gown and Dr. Bailey arrived very quickly.  I told him right away about the spotting and he assured me that it happens in 1 out of 3 pregnancies and is usually fine but we would listen for the heartbeat shortly and check on the little one.  Also said if he couldn't find a heartbeat, he would send me for an ultrasound.  So, that made me glad and nervous at the same time.  He did the physical exam (checked uterus size, etc) and said everything looked good then he grabbed the dopplar to find the heartbeat.  He made sure to reassure me by saying "it may take a minute to find the heartbeat since little one is still so small".  With Tay in the chair beside me, Dr. Bailey but some gel on my tummy and got to work.  He found my heartbeat twice and twice said "nope, that's yours" and FINALLY (felt like forever while I was barely breathing) he found little one's heartbeat low on my belly.  He let us listen for a few seconds (not long enough for me or Tay - we discussed later) and said it sounded strong and was 160 bpm.  Taylor said "that means girl, right"?  [insert old wives tale:  above 140 bpm is girl, below 140 bpm is boy]  Dr. said "or a boy".  LOL.  He does not seem to believe the old wives tale.  I researched it later and it has absolutely no scientific basis but still fun to guess :-).  Dr. Bailey then asked if we had any more questions and I read him my list while he patiently answered each one.  Things I've found on the pregnancy discussion boards and on the internet that have absolutely no basis in fact according to Dr. Bailey are:  1.  Proactiv not safe  2.  Shouldn't highlight your hair or use hair products  3.  Should sleep on your left side b/c there's a vessel on the right that can get squished and kill baby if you sleep on that side and you can also squish baby by sleeping on your back or stomach (LOL)  4.  Underwire bras are bad during pregnancy b/c damages your milk production.  Doctor was slightly amused by all of these and said they are all fine.  I told him I prob need to stop reading so much & he laughed and said "no, that's good".  Other questions I had were that my prenatal vitamin doesn't have iron and do I need to be taking a supplement.  Answer was "YES! You need iron".  He also recommended Expecta pills in addition to my prenatal vitamins.  So, I'll be adding both of those.  Finally, asked if I'll get to hear the heartbeat every time and the answer was a wonderful "Yes."  It was so unbelivable to hear little one's heartbeat.  Fantastic to have the first sign that everything is ok in there.  So, worry abated for one day and back to normal the next :)  That's just me but I'm very much trying not to stress and have faith that God will protect this little one.  Taylor told the doctor that I worry way too much :-)  I think I have a clearer picture of little one inside since hearing the heartbeat.  I truly can't wait till (s)he's actually here!

9 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along:  9 Weeks

Size of Baby:  Green Olive (.9 inch, .07 oz)
Nicknames (Gma & Gpa W): Olive/Kalie (girl), Oliver/Matt (boy).  Explanation:  Kalamata Olive:  Kalie & Matt :)

Weight Gain:  Another Pound...  Ok this prob needs to slow down now... a pound a week isn't gonna work :)  2 lbs total so far.
Maternity Clothes:  Wore maternity pants to work a couple of times this week...  normal pants hurt even sizes too big!  It's like the button hits in the worst possible/most senstitive spot and it's super uncomfortable.  Even though my weekly updates say I shouldn't need maternity clothes yet... what do they know???  No maternity shirts yet though, just loose ones so nobody notices at work.  And tight ones at home so I can see the belly :)

Milestones:  The embryonic tail disappeared, yay!  The hands and feet look a lot less like paddles and have more formed fingers and toes.  Baby has a more human shape.  Head is still larger than the rest of the body and the eyes are fully developed, but are covered by the eyelids which are fused shut for the next 16 weeks or so.  Internal reproductive organs, testes or ovaries, are starting to form but will not be distinguishable until the next couple of weeks.

Symptoms:  bloating, headaches, very tired, nausea every morning and every time I let myself get hungry, no more sore boobs but still swollen, popping joints (ankes a LOT, knees, elbows) - cracks me up.
Cravings:  pickles, banana peppers (yum! want some right now), ice cream, gravy, and hot sauce (none of the above at the same time).

Aversions: meat!
Recap of the Week:   Literally CANNOT wait until I'm in the double digit weeks!  Week 9 was lovely too though :)  I find myself waiting/anticipating nausea each morning b/c it makes me feel like everything is ok with the baby.  I feel like if i weren't sick one morning, that something would be wrong.  Weird, I know, but more of my constant fears showing up!  I bought snacks for my desk drawer at work this week b/c I get sick when I'm hungry (which is about 10 times/day).  They've helped a lot!  I'm sure people think I'm a giant pig though since they don't know I'm pregnant and I have 3-4 snacks a day plus breakfast and lunch at work :)  Started going to sensory again at work (which also helps with the issue above).  I stopped going when I was trying to lose weight.  For those non-Tyson people, it's taste-testing of different products to rate/evaluate them (chicken strips, tortiallas, bacon, ETC).  They have a least one per week and it's so much fun.  You get a snack for participating and my choice has been overwhelmingly Reeses!  Asked HR for maternity leave info.  I'm getting so excited imagining what our Little One will be like!  I talk to him/her several times a day - wondering if LO can actually hear me yet?  We've been talking a lot about the baby room this week and my 2 favorite crib sets are...

http://www.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=1c06aa9&DeptID=70676&CatID=77448&SO=0&SelDim=5%7e&x5view=1&NOffset=2&Ne=5+18+904+949+833&N=4294940794+4294937719&Nao=0&PSO=0&bcCat=3&CmCatId=70676|77448

And...

http://www.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=1c068d2&DeptID=70676&CatID=77448&SO=0&SelDim=5%7e&x5view=1&NOffset=2&Ne=5+18+904+949+833&N=4294940794+4294937719&Nao=0&PSO=0&bcCat=3&CmCatId=70676|77448

Stay tuned for the final decision :)  We're planning on buying sometime in October.

8 Weeks

 

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along:  8 Weeks

Size of Baby:  Raspberry (.63 inch, .04 oz)
Nicknames (Gma & Gpa W):  Grandpa's Little Himbeere or Ruben (boy), Grandma's Lil' Brea
 or Ruby Rose (girl) [explanation (I think they had a harder time with the nicknames this week :) -- Genus Rubus is the proper name for Raspberry. Raspberries are Red.  Ronnies Great,Great Grandfather was named Ruben.  His mom was named Ruby Lila. Raspberries are in the Rose family.  OK, thats what I worked with to come up with names. I also went to the German dictionary and Raspberry in german is Himbeere - pronounced himbera (short sound for the e and a). Oh, one more - Rubies are Red.]

Weight Gain:  One Pound!  My first weight gain :)  I'm certain it goes downhill from here.
Maternity Clothes:  Ok, I wore maternity pants to work on Friday and it was the most comfortable day so far!  Still feeling a bit guilty about that but me & the little raspberry were comfortable.  Black dress pants - couldn't tell they were maternity pants.  Just a small belly panel.

Milestones:  Baby's head is proportionally larger than the rest of the body and the ears and eyelids are developing.  Fingers and toes are developing from the arm and leg buds which now have distinguished wrists and elbows and can even flex.  Baby's heart rate is around 150 bpm.  Uterus is the size of a grapefruit.

Symptoms:  bloating, headaches, very tired, sore boobs, nausea
Cravings:  Orange Juice, pickles (fun!).  I have one of the giant jars of sliced pickes and opened it and ate an entire 4th of it in one sitting :)

Aversions: sometimes meat in general
Recap of the Week:   Little things that Taylor does makes me certain he's going to be a wonderful daddy.  I cannot wait to see him with our baby.  This is the first week I got to use the belly stickers from my best Jenn!  Loving them :)  Ready for week 12 when i can use the next one.  Planning on putting all the "belly sticker" weeks in a collage photo frame for the baby's room.  No cramping this week which makes me feel SO much better.  Nausea every morning like clockwork and throughout the day mainly when I'm hungry or when i smell something that doesn't agree with me. Told grandma the good news this week which was SO much fun.  She's really excited & I can't wait for her to meet our little angel.  I can feel a harder portion in my belly that doesn't feel like just bloating!  Makes me think a little of it is my uterus at least :)  Been a bit of a stressful week with grandma in the hospital and lots going on at work.  Got to spend a wonderful evening at Charlie/Mollie/Quentin/&Carlie's house for some good food and fun play!  Makes me anxious to play with our little one.  Labor Day holiday this week which was a really nice break.  Seems like the weeks are going by so slowly... just ready for 9 weeks to arrive!

Names submitted by my wonderful nieces & sis: