Happy Halloween! Some of our friends had a Halloween party tonight, which we went to. Dressing up was required, so we obliged. I ended up going as a blue M&M, partly because it was easy and cheap and partly in tribute to an old friend who I once went trick or treating with in college who dressed as a blue M&M. (Yes, I did go trick or treating in college, and yes we got a lot of comments about being too old, but what can you do?)
As I was cutting out the M for the belly of my shirt it occurred to me that I was really more of a peanut M&M, so.... .
I have the worst heartburn right now. I'm sure it's not the worst ever possible but it's the worst I've had yet. I think it's because we didn't have any dinner and all I did was eat chips and dip for two hours. I need real food but it's too late to eat much and all I want is pizza anyway. Nice, hot, gooey, saucy, cheesy pizza. Sigh.
The site is back! I doubt it's better than ever, as nothing has changed except it works now. But still. Hurrah!
So, a quick rundown on the past week or so...
I was sick, I got better, then we went to Ontario to visit my dad this past weekend and I got sick again. It was really more like allergies, just like the previous sickness started out, but then turned into a lingering sinus/upper respiratory thing. Thank goodness this time I'm nowhere near as sick as last week. The strange thing is that although I have a slight allergy to dogs, Dad's dog has never bothered me before, but that's the only thing we can think of that would have caused the allergic reaction I had from being there. A pregnancy oddity, I suppose.
The trip, other than being a bit unpleasant on account of the allergies and Jason having a bit of a cold, was good. We celebrated Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving, two weeks late) with turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, all the usuals. We haven't visited them since Christmas, so it was nice to be back there again (although thank God this trip was nothing like the Christmas trip -- talk about sick!! Ugh!).
And that's about it, actually. I thought there was more to catch up on, but maybe I was wrong. Today we are 18 weeks. We're also in the 5th month now, although I think that started last week (or the week before, depending on how you count your months). My appetite has really picked up again in the last week. For a few weeks I wasn't very hungry at all, but starting last week I couldn't eat enough. Also, my belly is really starting to get in the way. Suddenly simple tasks like putting on my pants or socks is difficult and I have to twist all over to do it. My belly is also getting so firm, and not in the Abs of Steel sort of way.
More and more people at work are asking me if I'm pregnant. It's neat to see the different ways people go about asking. Some ask me directly if I'm pregnant. Others must check with someone else first because they say to me "So, when's the baby due?"
We're beginning to talk about pulling boxes up from the basement and packing some things up and going through closets and such. It's early (seeing as how we aren't likely to move until next summer) but Christmas will be upon us soon, and after that, I am afraid I'll be getting too large to be much help with the rummaging and packing of things. So, we start now in the hopes that we have a tiny corner cleared by the time the wee baby comes. We're also talking about starting our registry soon, for the same reason. Except of course I'm not worried about being too large to shop (though I'm sure that will become a reason once I'm that big!). It's mostly just so it's done before the Christmas rush starts (and in case people want to shop for us from it). So much to do, and we aren't even painting and putting together a nursery!
(PS - don't forget to read the two entries below that I posted last week when the site wasn't working!)
We had our October doctor's appointment this morning. Everything is going well with the baby and me. I gained weight, although I didn't ask for the exact number, and I know it was more than I should have. However, certain systems in my dear body are still not working quite up to par, although they're much improved in the last week or two, so I expect that accounts for a good deal of the weight gain. I told the doctor about that, and she smiled and nodded and made a note in my file.
My uterus measured right on target, and the baby's heartrate was about 150 today. It was neat how last time she was way down low on my abdomen to find the heartbeat and this time she was so much higher, right under my belly button! I'm a-growin'!
We asked a bunch of questions this time, too. I've been keeping a list so I won't forget. Of course, what did I do when I left work yesterday but forget the list. Ha! We also scheduled an ultrasound for the next appointment, which is November 19. We are not going to find out the sex of the baby, but we do want to make sure that all is well and growing normally.
That's about it for the appointment. Last night Shannon and I went to Once Upon a Mom, a used maternity clothes store. I found a couple more shirts and a couple of heavy button-up shirts to wear over other shirts as it gets colder. I'm thinking the word of the winter will be layers. Already I'm aware of being warmer than usual. Shannon and I also went to Babies R Us so she could pick up some things she needed - she bought me stretch mark cream! What a thoughtful, nice sister!
I'm feeling tons better now. I stayed home from work on Thursday and started feeling better after that, actually. It's probably a good thing, too, or I never would have survived our busy weekend -- bull riding event on Friday night, Pumpkin Festival Saturday, both of which involved lots of walking and energy-expending.
The baby's doing pretty well as far as I know. I haven't felt it move lately, at least nothing that I know without a doubt is the baby. I do feel an awful lot of strange squiggly sensations all over my lower belly that I suspect are the baby, but I'm just not sure enough about them to claim it really is the baby.
Tomorrow we're 17 weeks! I can't believe how fast this is going by. Wednesday we've got our doctor's appointment again already.
I can't believe it, I'm sick again. I *never* get sick this often. Ever. This time it's a horrid upper respiratory thing. It started on Sunday, with my voice getting ragged and raspy. Monday I couldn't talk very well at all, but apart from that I felt fine. Yesterday, still no voice, but I started to sneeze and cough. Today, no voice, and lots of coughing and sneezing. I probably should have stayed home from work, or at least left early, but I didn't. Bad me. I hate this feeling, where if I sneeze or cough, the crap in my lungs is going to leap up and block my whatcha-ma-callit and keep me from breathing. It's happened twice already tonight. The first time I panicked something fierce, but the second I controlled myself better and it wasn't as bad. This sucks. Really bad. I'm so tired, but afraid to sleep. Argh.
This morning as I was preparing to leave, I stood in the open front door, chatting with Jason. He noticed that the tree just outside our door has already lost most of its leaves. I looked at it, and then out at all the other trees surrounding our apartment, all of which are in various stages of undress, and smiled at a thought that came to me. I told him that when the trees once more have leaves, we'll have a baby. That puts things into perspective. Even though in many ways spring seems impossibly far away, as it always does this time of year, knowing that by the time the leaves come again our baby will be here somehow makes the arrival of the baby seem closer.
We're 16 weeks today. The baby is nearly 5 inches long and weighs around 3.5 ounces, and is "breathing" amniotic fluid. Tomorrow we start week 17 and the 5th month (lunar month, that is). Speaking of months, what is the "accepted" way to count months in pregnancy? Is there one? Because some sites/books go by the lunar months and others, like What to Expect, go by the other way of counting, which I forget now what they call it. Just wondering.
I don't think I've mentioned this before, and I'm too lazy right now to go back and check, so bear with me if this is old news. I'm quite sure I've been feeling the baby move off and on for about three weeks now. It started around week 13. I'd be laying in bed, quietly concentrating my attention on my belly, thinking about the baby, when I felt a strange sensation run across my belly, about where the top of my uterus was at the time. A week or so later, also while laying in bed, I felt a distinct thump low on the left. Last week, I was in a training class at work and felt a series of three or four thumps also low on the left. Over the past few days, every now and then I feel an odd wiggly sensation low in my belly, but it's nothing as distinct as the other times. The movements are not strong enough that I would never have felt them if I hadn't been still and quiet and with my attention and thoughts focused on the baby inside me. It's such an amazing thing, feeling the little thing wiggle around like that. I look forward to the next time it moves around, but each time it comes and goes so quickly I barely realize it before it's over. I'm sure soon enough I'll be all too aware of it, so perhaps I should enjoy my stomp-free bladder days while I have them!
There's a chance I'm not an imposter after all. This afternoon I stopped by a woman''s office to drop something off. We talked about it for a minute, and then she glanced at my belly and looked up at me. She smiled and said "Congratulations, by the way. When are you due?" I was so surprised that she noticed, and even more thrilled and pleased. That made me almost giddily happy when I thought about it later back in my office. It still makes me smile!
Today I felt ridiculous for the second day in a row. Wednesday night my sister Shannon (who is also pregnant and about 3 weeks ahead of me) and I went shopping for maternity clothes, and lo and behold, we found some! Kohl's has always been my saving grace when it comes to finding pants that fit, so it should be no surprise that this store came through once again. Kohl's had maternity pants of the low rise, bandy-panel style -- and I know that makes no sense, but maybe you know what I mean, anyway? -- in sizes that made sense. A large fit like a large ought to fit me, instead of the larges at Motherhood, which I could barely pull all the way up. I ended up getting two pairs of extra larges, however, much to my chagrin, but only because if I gain anymore weight in my thighs the larges will be too tight. Ha, I should say WHEN I gain more weight in my thighs. I also bought a few maternity shirts because I discovered that regular shirts aren't long enough and you can see the panelly waistband of the pants.
Sooo..... that's why I have felt ridiculous these past two days, because I've been wearing a real, complete, honest-to-goodness maternity outfit. I don't feel big enough to wear maternity shirts - they are huge! I feel like an imposter, as if everyone is staring at me and wondering what in the heck I'm doing. But I must wear them, so I am. I'm not willing to deal with my tight uncomfortable regular pants when I have these wonderful, beloved pants that actually fit. So, an imposter I shall remain for a few weeks until my belly grows a bit more!
A new belly pic from yesterday is up! Looking at this picture, I think I look so much larger than I do when I look in the mirror. It's strange. I don't think I'm really that big! Oh and please don't mind that pathetic look on my face... that's me just barely recovered from stomach flu!
There's a new joy I have very recently begun experiencing. The past day or two I've had a really awful pain running from my low low back into my left leg. My suspicion is that this is sciatic nerve fun. Whee.
We're 15 weeks today! I can't believe how fast this is going by. Jason pointed out that in a little more than a month we'll be halfway through the pregnancy. That's hardly any time at all, especially considering how busy we're going to be in that month.
I have very little to report as far as how I'm feeling pregnancy-wise. Things are pretty much the same as usual. Tiredness, still there but not as bad as it was. Food aversions, much less severe (I ate chicken last week! Twice! AND a cooked green veggie! woo!). I keep getting this really painful stitch in my left side. Sometimes it lasts for hours, others it goes away in half an hour. No matter what it hurts like heck and there's nothing I can do to help it.
Yesterday I felt vaguely nauseous all day and ended up leaving work a half hour early. I came home and slept for a couple hours and felt worse and worse. I spent the evening suffering from an intense desire to throw up, but never did. I woke up this morning feeling lots better, but still worn out and unstable, so I'm home from work. Shannon and Tom were both sick yesterday too, with very similar symptoms. We all spent Saturday together...I wonder what it is that we all caught and Jason managed to escape? Very strange!
This afternoon we went to the mall on the hunt for some maternity pants. That's all I wanted, just a couple pairs of pants. Seemed simple enough at the outset, and I had no doubt as we started out that I'd come home in an hour with just what I wanted. After all, the mall is filled with stores that sell heaps of maternity clothes, right? Wrong!
We went to JCPenny, Sears, Kaufman's, Lazarus, and Motherhood Maternity. The first two had a mediocre Maternity section, with a couple racks of pants and shirts apiece. I found a pair of pants at Penny's that fit pretty well (I was in awe of the freedom the pants gave my belly! Ahhhhhhhhh) but were a bit tight in the thighs - foreshadowing for the rest of the shopping trip, had I been paying attention - so I put them back and decided if I found nothing else I'd come back and pick them up. Kaufman's and Lazarus apparently don't believe in babies, because they had no maternity sections (boooo). I found lots of hopefuls at MM, as you would expect. I entered the fitting room with about 10 different dresses and pants. I returned 9 of them to the racks. It seems that maternity clothes designers suffer from the same delusions as regular clothes designers that every woman weighs 110 lbs and is 5' 9". I had foolishly assumed the maternity designers would be sympathetic to the deformities of the human form that result in 160 lb 5' 7" women. Silly me.
It took two hours but I eventually found something that worked, and bought a simple dark grey dress and a pair of black pants. It isn't the bounty of bottom coverings that I had dreamt of, but it's a start. (At least, this is my opinion now, six hours later. When I paid for those items, the girl behind the counter who helped me find things looked at my paltry selection and said in a shocked voice, "None of those worked for you?!" And I had to say no and then left the store feeling like a cowier cow than I felt like going in. I stood outside the store and cried on Jason's shoulder... it was a very trying experience.) Fortunately I am not desperate yet, and can manage for at least another week or two with those two items and the big size pants I bought a couple of weeks ago. Maybe in the meantime, the maternity designers will have an epiphany and issue a new line for real women instead of mannequins.