18 Weeks

Hello all,

18 weeks tomorrow and I've been sick as a dog! I had this nagging cold two weeks ago that I tried to deal with without antibiotics or other medicines. After two weeks of feeling like crap and now wheezing, I decided to go see my doc. The doctor said my lungs were full of mucus and my airways were so restricted from coughing that he was surprised I could breath. At this point I barley could breath at night and my coughing kept F up so much he resolved to sleep in the guest room.

I had a midwife apt. last week where I had gained 4 lbs total so far. However, feeling so sick over the weekend I lost two pounds and have only gained by one. So I am only 3 lbs from my start weight at 4.5 months. Nicccccce. We go for our anatomy ultrasound on March 13th. F is so excited, he missed the other two ultrasounds, so he will be so thrilled when he finally sees our bubs kicking away.

I can't tell if the weird flutters I've felt are really the baby moving, or just my fat moving. Lol. Okay, not really the fat moving, but I do feel strange twinges and flutters. I guess I'll wait to tell people I've felt the baby until I get a full fledge kapow!

So I'm healing from bronchitis, but I still went to the gym today. Here is a pic of ultra-sexy post gym me at 18 weeks pregnant. I think I just look sweaty and fat, but I guess you might think I was pregnant is you saw me in the right "lighting" lol. Hope everyone is well.

Let the buying begin...

So we bought a stroller this weekend. I used to babysit for a lady that had this stroller and it's the only umbrella/lightweight stroller that is tall enough for me (I am 5'10" tall). It's the MClaren Volo Stroller. They're sold various places, but we bought it off ebay and saved ourselves about 40 bucks. I didn't realize when I bought it, but I get two seat covers, one pink and one red. We were just looking to buy the red, but I guess if we have a girl we'll have a pink one too. If we don't I can sell it or keep it for later I guess.

We have a few other items we've collected/ been donated. My friend Grace just had a baby last June, so her baby girl has grown out of many things that Grace is kindly lending me, like a bumbo seat, a swing, a kiddapotomus snuzzler, bottle warmer, and other things. Grace and I also traded a carseat. I had a Britax Wizard Carseat and it's too big for an infant, and I needed an infant one, so she is letting me use here infant carseat and I am lending her my convertable carseat. So that saves us both some money. I bought a nice chamois cover for the carseat on ebay from potterbarn that is so soft and maching washable.

We're getting really excited. I go for my next apt. next week on the 11th. I will get to hear the heartbeat I hope and get my bloodwork done for the quad screen. I hope all is well. We did not do the CVS or Nuchial Tranluceny test for two reasons. 1. We don't plan on aborting the baby is anything is wrong 2. our insurance won't cover it because I'm not a an advanced maternal age or have a family history of genetic issues. Since the tests run a couple hundred each, they were a no go for us to pay out of pocket. I feel like the quad screen and the ultrasounds will do just fine. I used to be jealous that Grace got so many ultrasounds and all of these tests when she was pregnant because she isn't at an advance age or have a history and it seemed her insurance covered it all. But now I guess, 7 months after she gave birth, her insuranc is still dicking her around over all the costs. So I'll be happy with what I have. We have Blue Cross and as long as other serious complications don't arise, we have to pay 750 total to our midwife/hospital. I'm okay with that. Plus it's nice that F's insurance is either single or family. We don't have to pay extra per kid or family member. We're blessed that he has a job with good insurance.

I'm still taking my gym class three time a week and walking 3 miles with Grace twice a week, but I'm slowing down on some days. I think it's because both things I do in the evening when I am most tired. This 4 week cycle I think will be my last. After this cycle I think I may switch to a swimming and yoga class and continue walking. I'm up one lb from my pre-pregancy weight, which is great, but I really need to curve the icecream consumption!

Well until next week.

15 Weeks Pregnant

So today is my 15th week. I can't believe next month will be 4 months. Well actually I can believe it. It has been a long sickly hormonal journey so far. I'm happy that my days aren't filled with nausea and gingerale anymore. I've officially put on 1 lb that won't come back off. F and I went to dinner and a movie last night which was nice. We haven't spent much time together with me being busy and tired and him being busy and a night owl. He's taking another grad class this semester but it seems a bit easier than last semester. He's not staying up all night at our kitchen table cranking away on projects like last semester. I'm happy he likes school now and is excited about doing his Masters part time.

I'm trying to plan out how I am going to have a baby and finish my disseratation. I wish I knew other women who have been successful at having a baby and being in grad school that I could talk to for support. I don't know how long it will take me to recover after the baby, or how I well I will be able to focus on writing while being at home with the baby. If there is anyone out there that has done this send me some tips on survival.

I've been doing really well otherwise. We continue to have baby items given to us from our friends who have had kids, which is nice. We have a little pile in our guest room soon to be baby's room. That's another thing I don't know, when do you put together a nursery?

Hopefully people have some good advice. I'll leave you with that today. This rainy weather is giving me the worst headaches ever.

14 Weeks Tomorrow

Thursdays are pretty crazy for me so I thought I'd leave a little note today. Tomorrow is our 14 week mark. I was trying to think of other times where we see our lives in weeks. It's kind of a strange way to count down. My husband is confused by the whole "weeks" thing, I think most men are.

Things are pretty good now, not much to report. I have been getting lots of work done trying to set the pace for the next few months, per my boss's request. I have been sleeping a little better and feeling really energized throughout the day. I felt a little sick yesterday morning, but it soon faded. I have been having some lower back pain, but just on the right. I'm going to try the stretches the trainer showed me or call my massage therapist. We're having dinner tonite with my friend and her partner, her partner is going to Africa for 6 months to do her dissertation research. I can't imagine being away from F for 6 months. What if he realized he didn't miss me? Or what if we grew apart, or he realized he didn't need me? Or what if I'm just so miserable without my best bud? I'm happy it's them going through it and not me! The last time she went to AFrica it was for 6 weeks and my friend was crazy everday without her. We'll see how she survies the next 6 months.

I feel blessed that I have F here with me in Gville in our little house which was 60 degrees this morning! lol

Gaining back my energy

Hey all,

Well I'm 3.5 months pregnant and I'm still a pound down from my start weight! I think I'm finally out of the woods as far as morning sickness goes. I seem to have a lot more energy lately too. I can make it through the day without naps and headaches, and I can brush my teeth everyday without gagging! So delightful. I'm really psyched about my weight. I have been getting about 2000 calories a day and working out 3 days a week and trying to get two three-mile walks in the other days.

Yesterday F said he's not too thrilled about maternity clothes. He says he's really happy we're having the baby, but he thinks I look frumpy all the time. I asked him if he thought he might be able to censor what he says, or perhaps think about my delicate feelings before he lets such things slip out. I have finally resigned myself to maternity pants. My regular pants are too tight by the end of the day and they push on my belly a little hard.

I finally had the balls to talk to my boss about my pregnancy on Friday. The last thing your phd advisor wants to hear from you is "i'm pregnant" when you're half way through your degree. When I told him I think he thought I was joking around at first. When he realized I was not, he said that he was happy for me but I would have to work really hard to get my degree done on time. Overall he seemed okay with it, and I felt a little more at ease after telling him. Now I don't really care who knows or who finds out, because I had the balls to tell him myself first! lol.

Baby is healthy...so far :-)

Well today was my 13-week appointment. I was feeling really optimistic this morning. F met me at the midwife's office for my appointment. He missed my first ultrasound where I saw the little bean with the heartbeat. I was hoping he would get to hear it at the apt. My intial workup went fine. My bloodwork was all really good, no STD's or anything lol. My iron levels were normal and I even lost 1 lb.! When the midwife tried to find the heartbeat with the doppler device, she couldn't. My heart sank. F looked a little upset too. She assured us that it is normal to not find a heartbeat at 13 weeks with a doppler. I'm thinking to myself "then why the hell put pregnant woment through the worry when you can't find it!?" I think she could tell I was a little upset. She called up to the ultrasound tech's and got me an apt. in an hour to have it all checked out. It was the worst hour of my life! I sat at the hospital alone because F had to get to campus for his grad class, and thought about how terrible it would be to tell everyone the baby was no more. I know what you're thinking, geesh she's so cynical and morbid. I just find it's easier to prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised is something else happens.

At 1:30, they promptly took me in for the ultrasound and everything was fine. The baby measured perfect and the heartbeat was 171! I cried because I felt so happy. It's kind of the first time I felt so protective and loving towards the baby. Before today it just didn't seem real. I just felt like I had a terrible flu everyday. Now I feel confident about my pregancy. I am working up the balls to talk to my boss at the end of this week. There's one thing your graduate advisor does not want to hear 1/2 way through your phd..."i'm pregnant" so It's hard to talk to him about it. I know he'll be supportive, but I also know in the back of his head he'll know i'll be distracted and less productive. Wish me luck and enjoy the pics!

Go Gators! National Champs Again!

The Florida Gators beat the Oklahoma Sooners on Thursday night in the SEC Championship game. Since I have been at UF, I have seen us win 2 footbal championships and two basketball championships (I think). I'm not really into the college sports thing, but when your team is playing in the championship and the entire town is crazy, it's hard not to pay attention.

F's friend Matt came down for a visit to talk to the admission people at UF so he stayed for 5 days and got to take in some Florida rays and Florida football crazieness! We watched most of the game at a pizza joint downtown because we don't have cable. We turned our cable off when we realized how much we were paying to be vegetables, but that's another story.
We had some good pizza and watched the first 2 quarter, then we met some friends at a bar closer to campus. After the game ended, we went down by campus to see all the nuts. Something like 20,000 college kids fill the streets shouting "it's great to be a florida gator!". We enjoyed watching the crowds for awhile, but then it got a little rowdy and we kept getting pushed and separated. We stayed about an hour then headed home for the night. I'll post a video of the people by campus and some of us celebrating our victory!

Matt left this morning, even though I enjoyed his visit, It was nice to have things back to "normal" this week. Although Matt did play monopoly with me, which no one ever will, so I was pretty happy. Of course I won. I never lose, except to F's baby sister once, but that was a fluke!