16 week photo

Ok so it may not look like much of a bump to you, but I'm telling you, from my angle it is huge. Especially when I'm sitting down.

one large navel orange

Has it really been two weeks since my last confession? Well...no wonder my readers were wondering if I fell off the face of the earth (yes, I never know anyone actually reads these until they start wondering where the new ones are. Except for Cyndi, because she's the only one that writes comments on here). Well not a lot has happened really. Well that's not true, a lot happened yesterday but up until that point it was mostly the rocky road to recovery for me. But I'm happy to say that most days I get through without so much as a cough (well, maybe a cough or two, especially when everyone else is quiet). But ok, back to what happened yesterday.

The whole night before I had barely slept. I kept waking up and coughing (ok so it's not totally gone) and turning and just felt generally uncomfortable. The past few days I had been feeling a lot of stomach pain (which apparently is normal) and some nights made it hard to sleep. That was one of those nights. When I got up in the morning I had not much time to get myself up and ready and on the road by 730am so I could make it to the free breakfast (I will only get up that early for free food) that was going on at a conference put on by some people at work. So I still wasn't feeling great but off I went. I started noticing as I scurried my way to the hotel the conference was at that I really wasn't feeling well, and by the time I was seated my stomach was really putting a lot of pressure on my pants. That's when I looked down and realized I was fully busting out of my pants. So, very discretly, I try to undo the top button on my pants during the key note speakers presentation. Unfortunately I had one button and two clasps on the flap part so it was a bit tricky. As was trying to tuck it back into my pants so that you couldn't see it flapping around under my shirt. Unfortunately I still had to sit through 3 hours of mornings sessions, so by the time lunch came I was ready to bolt. Luckily I had sweat pants in my car (I don't normally have sweat pants in my car, some of us were getting together after work and I planned on spending the night at a friends house, but it was such a blessing that I really recommend that everyone should keep sweat pants in their car. A whole outfit change really, you never know what can happen. And the day you suddenly grow out of your clothes you will thank me). I mean people warned me that one day I would wake up and not being able to fit into anything but I didn't think that it would happen while I was wearing my clothes. So then after all of my complaining to everyone around me I finally showed them the evidence - my bare flesh busting out over my already unbuttoned pants - and they finally believed me and I got my first "you look pregnant". Granted anyone seen in this pathetic state would probably get a "you look pregnant" or worse. But let me tell you, my sweat pants never looked so good (disclaimer for Cyndi. My sweat pants resembled nothing like the photo you sent me of that pregnant girl a couple months ago. Mine are classy sweat pants. From lulu. Ok maybe not classy so much as pricey). So I still haven't gotten the look or the question from strangers yet, but for those that know me, my stomach has definitely popped. Ironically my DH still hasn't seen it (racing weekend) but considering I have a large navel orange in there it's about time. Weight gain is still the same (as in no gain, but no more loss either), and even better, I can wear pants that only fit me two sizes ago with my bella band. I'm sure this will all catch up with me, but for now, 4 months is looking pretty good.

why are we whispering?

I am feeling much better but woke up this morning without a voice. Unfortunately I had to lead a discussion group this morning at a high school to teens and by the end of it everyone was whispering (people like to match in volume apparently). I'm just hoping my research assistants will be able to hear us on the recording. I ended up going to Urgent care on Wednesday after talking to my doctor just to make sure it wasn't strep (apparently it's not good for babies) and it wasn't. So that part is good. Now is just the waiting period to get over it. I took some halls on my way home today but then was paranoid it was killing the baby....so now I have to google that and see if it's safe. One of my updates from my pregnancy tracker sites told me I need to start eating "healthy" which means no processed foods or things with extra sugar in them (like spagetti sauce). WTF? Seriously. What am I supposed to eat? They also say eating raw vegetables and fruit can poison the baby with this life threatening bacteria. So apparently I need to visit my local nursing home and get some tips from the chef.

I experienced my first earthquake! And so did my baby :) I was sitting working at the computer (now in my living room since the office is now the babies room) and I started feeling really dizzy. Like the feeling you get when you're out at sea on a small boat or when you're about to pass out. At first I thought it was morning sickness hitting me again but then I looked at the table next to me and noticed the vase on it was moving. Then I looked up at the chandeliers and they started to move too. And then it was really swinging and the pool had big waves sloshing back and forth from one side to the other. My DH made us stand under the doorway (I would have had no clue it was an earthquake. I always thought an earthquake was more like a vibration or rumbling like you were going to go through the floor. But all of my information about earthquakes comes from watching episodes of full house). The earthquake happened in Mexico (6.9) but we felt the effects! Ok I know earthquakes are not good things but still, it was kind of exciting (just like I kind of want to experience a tornado...without the whole going to Oz part of it).

I had my first real baby dream last night. I dreamt that I wasn't gaining enough weight and I could see the entire outline of the baby in my belly and he (yes, it was a boy) was lying only on my right side so I was all lop-sided looking. So I decided that I would take him out of my belly to see what he looks like and then put him right back in so he could keep growing. And somehow I could do this quite painlessly without any blood. So in case you are all on the edge of your seats, I'm having a boy with lots of curly brown hair. Eye color is still up in the air. In my dream one eye was blue and the other was brown. So I put him back in my stomach so he could keep growing until his eye color would match.

I heart soup

I have been miserable since Saturday. I don't think it can be entirely pregnancy related but it's hard to say. Some of the symptoms are very similar to the common cold (stuffy nose, tiredness, achy-ness) but I also have a painful sore throat (which I don't think is pregnancy related) and some serious nausea. The worst of it was driving home late Monday night after teaching. I actually threw up on myself in the car...about a mile from my house. At least I had only been eating soup and drinking water because I had been feeling so sick so it wasn't as much of a disaster as it could have been. But it isn't helping my weight gain. At this point I should be gaining .5-1 pound a week. I weighed myself again this morning and I'm down yet another pound. Why is it when I want to lose weight it's the hardest thing in the world and now that I'm actually supposed to gain weight it's impossible.

Since I've been sick I took the day off yesterday and caught up on MTVs 16 and Pregnant. I don't know why I love that show. Maybe it makes me feel better than if these 16 year old girls can manage it somehow I will be able to too? I announced to my class Monday night that I was pregnant and it was actually kind of fun. They were really excited and one of my older/male students (he is actually a grandfather) told me afterwards that I'll be a really good mom. It kind of took me aback but it was actually really nice to hear. I don't think anyone has really said that to me (I mostly get the, "I thought you didn't want kids! Was this planned???") and I didn't realize how much I was worried about my parenting skills.

It will be a bit of a struggle today to teach my class. I feel like this cold is getting worse if that's even possible. Likely it's because I can't breathe at night so I'm not getting enough sleep, and I can't eat because of the nausea so I'm not getting much energy there either. I just need to get through this afternoon...without throwing up on myself :)

coming out...literally

I guess I scanned in the new photo's in an incompatible format for this blog but they are up on facebook (and it is amazing how fast the word gets out). We are officially public! whoo hoo - now time to start getting serious about this. As the first step we went to Target yesterday "just to look". It was a little overwhelming for both of us. Just to see all the stuff that's out there....and not knowing what you really need. So no suprise, we walked out empty handed. But we did get tackling on the baby's room. Yep, we officially have a baby's room! Formally known as the office. The only thing left in there is the bookshelf. And I went through the bookshelf to get rid of books I don't want anymore. If anyone wants any, let me know, otherwise they are going to the library! We have the desk/laptop now in the living room and I love it out here. Now we don't constantly bring the laptop away from the desk because it's in a more social place. Plus the internet connection is better out here. I also started cleaning the closet out but that will be more work for another day. Since nothing was in there it was pretty much a storage place. But now the games and puzzles we have are just off the den so it's actually much more convenient for when we have people over. So it's progress.

I think it's finally happening....I am starting to show! And not in the cute "oh look at her little baby bump" kind of way. More in the "she just stuffed herself with a turkey dinner with all the fixins" kind of way. Ironically my pants fit fine. And no, I don't wear low riders that just barely cover my butt crack. It's just sticking out a lot higher than I thought. Basically just under my rib cage down to the belly button. But again, not in a pregnant way, it just looks like I got a bit fat. Good thing it's finally time to start telling people....

Ultrasound update!

Good news! Went for my end of the trimester check up and everything looks healthy and normal. The baby even flipped over while she was looking at it which was very cool. I will post up some of the pics as soon as I get them scanned. Next appointment is in 4 weeks (which is just a check up) and then 4 weeks after that is when they do a sonogram to check the anatomy (i.e., gender check!).