13 Weeks.

How far along? 13 weeks! This is the last week of my first trimester. 

Total weight gain: 1 pound. All though by the way my pants fit I would have thought more. 

Maternity clothes?  Not yet. As I mentioned above, my pants are all starting to feel tight. My skinny jeans are pretty uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time so I'm thinking I'll have to retire those soon. My favorite pants to wear are my black Express leggings. But even those are starting to feel a bit uncomfortable on my stomach since they are low rise and have buttons. I feel like my tiny little bump hangs out when I wear those leggings and right now it's not attractive. I've been wearing more dress pants since they are looser fitting and sit higher up on my hips.        

Sleep: Sleep is so-so. I am already having to wake up a few times in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Some nights I wake up randomly in the middle of the night and toss and turn for an hour. My mind races thinking about the little gummy bear.                 

Best moment this week:  Getting to see gummy bear at our ultrasound on Thursday. Baby was wiggling around and even took a little nap while the tech was getting measurements. It was incredible to see the little limbs moving around. Chris and I were in awe. Later on we met with my primary doctor and got to hear the heart beat. Heart beat is strong at 166! Another awesome moment was "announcing" our pregnancy on facebook. We are blown away by all of the love and support we received from so many family members and friends. It definitely feels more real than ever.       

Miss Anything?  Last night we had dinner with Dan and Sof at Agave Kitchen in Hudson. Sof ordered a margarita and it sounded so good! This is the first time in pregnancy so far that I've missed alcohol. I wouldn't say I felt deprived though, it just sounded refreshing after the long work week.             

Movement:  Not yet!  It's crazy to know baby is moving around so much but I can't feel anything yet.       

Food cravings:  Ugh...this is where I confess to being a bad example. While I've been doing better with vegetables these last few weeks, my meals have not been balanced at all. Very carb heavy and eating too many processed foods. Constant nausea + fatigue + no desire to cook have led to an over-reliance of miscellaneous foods. (Read potato chips, white cheddar popcorn, goldfish, granola bars, frozen black bean and corn enchiladas, eating out too often).  I actually haven't been feeling great and I know that it is related to a lack of fresh fruits. vegetables and whole grains.  I've also been eating too much cheese and my stomach is not happy. Now that the first trimester is over I am determined to get back to healthy, balanced foods. 

Exercise: This is another area where I've been slacking. Blame it on fatigue. The past week I only made it to the gym three times. 

Symptoms:  Nausea, frequent trips to the bathroom, mood swings (my poor husband), and tiredness. My energy is starting to come back but I still feel pretty drained at the end of the day. 

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Strong food smells, meat, being the passenger in a car

Baby purchases: A few weeks ago I bought a cream colored fleece snow suit that was on clearance at Target. It's a size 6 months which should be perfect for next winter.         

Looking forward to:  Hopefully feeling more energized so I can work out more often and be more productive. Cleaning up my diet should help, too. 

Goals for the week: Green smoothie daily, exercise 4x

8 Weeks.

Today I am 8 weeks, 6 days pregnant. This morning I had my first ultrasound to measure the baby and see how everything looked. Sadly, Chris wasn't able to join me today since I scheduled the appointment mid-morning. I was incredibly nervous as I sat in the room waiting for the ultrasound tech. I just prayed everything would look normal.

I can't describe the emotion felt when I saw that tiny little bean on the screen. There's really a baby in there. My baby. I let it all sink in as the tech pointed out the flashing white dot in the center indicating a heart beat.

"Here's your baby gummy bear", she said.

So incredible.

I am blessed to report that baby was wiggling and looked healthy at this point. Gummy bear's heart rate was 177 and measures 2.2 cm. Due date remains August 16th just as I predicted!

How I'm Feeling

I have a little more energy this week which has been making me feel better than last week. Last week was rough. I feel better rested, although I'm waking up 1-2 times per night to use the bathroom or to toss and turn. I've been able to work out 3 times so far, just cardio for 45-60 minutes. Yesterday I felt well enough to run! I only ran for 30 minutes but I took walking breaks every 5 minutes. I started getting nervous that my heart rate was getting too high. It's been almost two months since I last ran but it felt so good. I am incredibly sore today. I haven't been this sore from running in a long time. I don't know if I'll run farther into my pregnancy, for now I'm just going to listen to my body. When running no longer feels good I will stop. In the meantime I think I'll have to start wearing my heart rate monitor to make sure I keep my heart rate under 150.

These days I am battling constant nausea. No actual getting sick so far, just nausea all day long. I have a love/hate relationship with nausea. I hate it because it makes me feel awful but I love that it reminds me of the little baby inside of me. I go from being perfectly fine to starving in a matter of minutes. Having low blood sugar makes me feel 10 times more sick. I've learned that making sure I eat frequently helps. I make sure I have plenty of snacks on hand. Some of my favorites at the moment include cheese sticks, dried figs, honey wheat pretzel sticks, greek yogurt and granola bars. My nurse practitioner wrote me a prescription for Zofran, however, I'm trying to only take it when things get bad. I also have some awesome preggie pops, ginger chews, and candied ginger that seem to help.

Food is a touchy subject. For someone who loves to cook and eat, I've had zero desire to do so. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day because those are the types of foods that are most appealing to me. Thinking of lunch and dinner makes me cringe. A week ago Sunday I made a huge pot of turkey minestrone soup. I thought it'd be great to have the soup for lunches and quick dinners. While I was cooking my mouth watered for a taste. I had a little bowl for dinner and thought it was delicious. Well, I ate the soup for lunch the next day and then could no longer stand it. The smell of it was too much. Just the thought of the soup (and seeing it in my fridge) was enough to make me queasy. I tried to eat the soup for dinner one night and instead ended up eating 2 mini whole wheat bagels with veggie cream cheese. I never ever eat cream cheese unless it's cream cheese frosting. I've been having to hide vegetables in my food. They are just not appealing. Meat? No thanks...chicken is about the only thing I can force down. Carbs are my favorite thing right.

Cravings:
-Carbs! Pasta, bread, pancakes, cereal, oatmeal, rice
-Almond butter/peanut butter
-Greek yogurt
-Cheese, especially string cheese
-Green Smoothies (gotta hide the veggies where I can)
-Harvest cheddar sun chips, tortilla chips, white cheddar popcorn

Dislikes:
-Anything that smells strong
-Meat
-Cooked vegetables
-Being in a car (motion sickness)
-Anything not on the "like" list

Weight gain: I don't know what my pre-pregnancy weight was. I never weigh myself. At today's appointment I had lost a pound since last week's appointment. I don't know if that is pregnancy related or just my body returning to normal after the holidays and vacation.

The Beginning

I've always wanted to be a mom. Growing up as the oldest child and grandchild on my mom's side, I was always around babies and kids. Before we were married I would constantly talk to Chris about our future kids. I knew I wanted to start a family sooner than later but I never thought we would actually be having a baby so soon! 


On December 11, 2012 we got an early Christmas present when we learned we were expecting. I knew it was a possibility that I was pregnant. Yet, I didn't expect it. I had spent so much time dreaming about a baby but I pushed the thought to the back of my mind knowing it would be better to wait awhile. Chris and I have been together for six and a half years but only married for 4 months. I knew we should enjoy our time as a married couple sans kids. Well, God had other plans :)


I took the pregnancy test one night after the gym. My period was 4 days late and I felt off. Right away I saw two lines beginning to form on the test. No way, I thought. 3 minutes later, the two lines were nice and clear. I was in disbelief. I decided to wait another half hour and then took the second test. This time the two lines were even clearer. Oh my gosh I am really pregnant! I couldn't believe it.


Chris texted me, "did you take the test yet?". 

"Not yet" I replied. I didn't want to tell him through text. 

Waiting for him to get home was awful. I had so many emotions going through me. Of course I was thrilled but it felt surreal. I was nervous of how he would react. Would he be excited? Or would he be upset? We hadn't been trying for this little baby. {I should clarify though that this baby was not an accident. We just didn't think it would happen so easily}. 

It's funny, when I was younger I'd dream up some romantic way to tell my husband I was pregnant. In reality, I was in such disbelief and shock that all I could do was show him the two positive tests. Super romantic, I know. I really don't even remember his reaction. We just hugged each other in disbelief. 

Disbelief is how I would describe the first week of knowing I was pregnant. I had the two pregnancy tests to prove it but I still didn't believe it.