100 days.

I've been baking this baby for 100 days already. Insane.

Today I booked my plane ticket to go home in 3 weeks for a shower thrown by my BFF Martini. I'm so excited to see my family and friends again!!

Only downside is that I'll be driving back alone (not flying). I inherited my grandmother's car when she passed away (1998 Buick Regal - AWW YEAH) but we haven't gotten it back to the Minneapolis yet. So, I'll be doing that when I come back...

Other than that...no new news. The hubs and I were thumbing through a baby name book last night. All that did was determine about 1,358 names we will NOT be naming our baby.

And belly pics are up.

Sorry, internets, for my serious lack of pictoral updates.

But now, they are there...in all their glory.

Enjoy.

Ack! Stranger comment!

While grocery shopping and browsing the ice cream aisle, a fine gentleman told me:

"You'd better feed that big belly of yours!"

PLEASE PLEASE tell me I look pregnant. If I just look fat and some dude says this, I'm going to curl up and die.

This was towards the end of my shopping. Before I even got in the store I was told that I have a "fine pussy."

I'm never going grocery shopping alone again. I think this has just become the hubs' duty.

I've reached a decision.

Since the labor/delivery and recovery rooms at the birthplace have DVD players in all the rooms, I'm bringing Sex & the City episodes to watch. The hubs bought me the box set for Christmas; he personally cannot stand the show. But since I will be giving birth to our child, he will be forced to watch my it, nearly my favorite show of all time.

And so, it shall be.

Suddenly labor sounds kind of fun. :)

16 weeks.

How far along? 16 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Still about + 1 overall.
Maternity clothes? Still massively enjoying my recent purchases. Although, I have to say, maternity shorts selection leave much to be desired.
Stretch marks? One more has joined the small cluster on my thighs. But I'm quite sure those were there before the spawn.
Sleep: Continually lame. I can assume it's only going to get lamer. I never sleep through the night, and wake up just about every other hour.
Best moment this week: FEELING MOVEMENT! Woo-hoo!
Movement: Uh, see above.
Food cravings: Chocolate Cake. With vanilla ice cream.
Gender: After my dream? Girl.
Labor Signs: Nooo.
Belly Button in or out? Still innie. Still wider.
What I miss: My shorts. All of them.
What I am looking forward to: My doc's appt this afternoon so I can hear the heartbeat again, hopefully!
Weekly Wisdom: Sigh. Again, hug your loved ones and cherish every moment.
Milestones: M to the O to the V to the E to the M - E - N - T!

This week ended up being a lot more tragic than we ever could have imagined. A good friend of the hubs and I suffered a brain injury on Tuesday evening, and after days of surgeries, prayers and hope, he was eventually taken off life support and passed away around noon on Sunday. He had many MANY friends, and all of us were very sad this weekend, trying to take the whole situation in. I've teared up a few times, but when a coworker sat down, gave her condolences and asked what happened this morning, I just started to cry.

His funeral will more than likely be later this week. I just hope that this is the last of the funerals before this baby is born. I know it's not possible, but I just get worried with all the tragedy and sadness I've been through since being pregnant that it'll somehow affect the baby. Just a worried momma, I guess - I know there's no real possibility...but it's just scary and sad that all this has happened in such a short period of time.

We'll miss you Kelley, but we know our baby will have yet another angel to watch over him/her.

The Fruit: 16 weeks

Watch what you say... tiny bones forming in baby's ears mean the little one can now pick up your voice. Eyebrows, lashes and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming. And, if you're interested, an ultrasound might be able to determine gender.

No, we're not interested, thankyouverymuch. Although, I did dream that an ultrasound tech told us it was a girl. Hmmm..

Thank god we have 4 more months.

Last night, the hubs and I went over a list of baby names I'd come up with over the last few weeks.

Out of 21 girl names, he liked 4.

Out of 11 boy names...he liked none. But he added two that I could agree with.

I always knew this would be a difficult task. I think we both kind of feel like - what's the rush? And it's true, we do have plenty of time to decide, but I feel like if we can come up with a couple of names, we could at least address the baby by one or both of those names instead of "it" for the least amount of time as possible.

I'm not going to share them here. :) Yet another secret to keep from you. Muah-ah-AH!

I think we have movement.

I'm about 80% sure I just felt movement, after conferring with some ladies on the 2nd Tri board.

Holy crap. So early! The nurse told me I might feel it earlier since I'm thinner, but whoa.

So, so surreal.

OMG. OMG.

Muscle twitch or kick?!

I just felt something, three times in my lower abdomen.

AHHH. I can't tell. DAMMIT.

15 weeks.

How far along? 15 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Still about + 1 overall.
Maternity clothes? In addition to the Gap jeans purchased last week, I dropped three hundo on 2 more pairs of jeans and 4 shirts at Macy's yesterday. Ooops. But not really, because I love them all and they're all SO COMFY!!
Stretch marks? Not that I am aware of!
Sleep: Last night was MUCH better than the previous night. Being sick AND pregnant poses a sleep issue.
Best moment this week: Hmmm, I guess continuing the registry task, but this time with the hubs. :)
Movement: None. I can't wait to feel it though!
Food cravings: Sushi & Beer. Again.
Gender: This week I'm thinking boy.
Labor Signs: Zilch.
Belly Button in or out? Still innie. Still wider.
What I miss: Being able to do anything active without getting a backache.
What I am looking forward to: Feeling movement!
Weekly Wisdom: It's okay to spend a bunch of money on maternity clothes - you're basically buying a whole new wardrobe!
Milestones: Going baby item browsing with the hubby.

The Fruit: 15 weeks.

Continuing the march towards normal proportions, baby's legs now outmeasure the arms. And, finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Your fetus is squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, though you probably still can't feel the movements.

::cough cough COUGH HACK COUGH::

I blame it on my brazen bragging of my "excellent health" last weekend. I was so proud of the fact that I did not get sick ONCE over the winter...and then...BLAMO. The sore throat set in Saturday morning, and by Sunday I was completely sick.

Being sick while pregnant is annoying. Last night, sleep was HORRIBLE. I was anxious and warm and achy and coughy. NyQuil would have been the bomb. Yet, I laid and did not sleep for like, 3 hours. Or if I would doze off, I'd wake up within 5 minutes. Booo.

And my teeth hurt. All of them. I guess this also is a pregnancy symptom, aggravated by my cold.

Still, I'll take all of this over being nauseated or fatigued.

A non-baby post....

If you're a reader of Martini's (which some of you may be) - you may notice her blog is offline again. That is because someone using the email address shannonjkramer@hotmail.com and with the name "Shannon Kramer" has been sending a link to her blog to people that may not necessarily need to be reading it. This person is obviously trying to out her in some form or another, and this is the second (or third?) time in Martini's blogging career that such an event has taken place.

Martini's requesting your help. Recognize that name or email address? Leave me a comment - together we'll get to the bottom of this travesty.

(PS - please feel free to send hate mail to this "Shannon." I give you my full permission.)

14 weeks, and a well deserved update.

Photo courtesy of Martini while at Gap Maternity. Note new jeans!!

How far along? 14 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: + 1 overall.
Maternity clothes? I FINALLY bought some full panel jeans yesterday. They are THE THING GREATEST EVER.
Stretch marks? No, but itchy boobs. A sign of stretch marks to come? Maybe.
Sleep: Don't ask. Sleep has unfortunately been off due to awesome houseguests Martini and Single Grrrl.
Best moment this week: Starting the registry. THAT was interesting. :)
Movement: Again, tons of it, just don't feel it yet.
Food cravings: All foods sound good for the most part.
Gender: I'm thinking girl now.
Labor Signs: Nada.
Belly Button in or out? Still innie. Still wider.
What I miss: Being able to stay out late.
What I am looking forward to: Adding the big ticket items to the registry.
Weekly Wisdom: Don't try to tackle your whole registry in one day. You'll go insane.
Milestones: First EXCELLENT maternity pants. Full panel, full awesomeness.

So, I've been noticeably absent from the blogging world since Friday. This is because my BFF Martini and her friend Single Grrrl came for a visit on Saturday from a land where it's much, much warmer than the MPLS. We went out for dinner every night, did the Walk for the Cure on Mother's day, went shopping and saw a concert. And every night I was struggling to stay out and awake. :) But we had tons of fun.

Mother's Day was very nice. I got a cute card from the hubs as well as some pretty flowers, a card from my mom & dad (and they paid for an opal necklace of my late grandmother's to be rhodium plated and mailed it to me), a card & Pooh photo album from my lovely mother-in-law, a card from my sister-in-law, and a card from my grandma. So many cards and cute gifts! Martini also brought me a baby book, complete with box for keepsakes, that I don't think was necessarily meant as a mother's day gift, but it bears mentioning here. :)

The three of us (sans the hubs) started my registry at BRU on Sunday as well. Holy crap. That's a daunting task. I registered for a bunch of smaller items, but held off on bigger ticket items like the crib, carrier, stroller and whatnot for when the hubs joins me. We'll probably tackle that this weekend.

Shopping yesterday was v. good. I FINALLY bought myself a pair of maternity jeans (full panel) at the Gap that are SO much more comfy than my jeans+bella band combo. They were even on sale! I also bought a scarf at H&M, a couple shirts (in a little larger than my average size so they can be worn for a while this summer) and a canvas print at Urban Outfitters. I think it'll match the bedding I've decided on.

The print.

The bedding.

Fruit: 14 weeks

Your adorable little fetus is busy with thumb sucking, toe wiggling, and (not so cute but equally amazing) making urine and breathing amniotic fluid as the liver, kidneys and spleen continue to develop. Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over the body for warmth.

NT Results are in!

And we got the best possible result - a 1/10,000 chance of either Down's or Trisomy 18 or 13!

Hooray!

As my mom said, "Of COURSE our baby would have the best score!"

(Yes, she calls it our baby. Who am I kidding, it really is - considering this is the first grandkid on either side of our families.)

The ultrasound pics!

Ughhhhhh, bwarp.

Right now I am sincerely fighting the urge to vomit. I can't tell if it's due to the orange juice I drank this morning, the fact that I didn't eat right away when I got hungry, or if it's from the headache that I've had for 3 days.

Burping, hot flashes...it feels like it's on it's way.... urp.

13 Weeks.

How far along? 13 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: + 1 overall.
Maternity clothes? DESPARATELY need maternity pants. THe bella band is making me super uncomfortable.
Stretch marks? Not that I know of.
Sleep: Last two nights have been horrible. I think you could label last night as insomnia. The headache didn't help.
Best moment this week: Seeing the babe in all it's glory on Friday!
Movement: Apparently tons of it, just don't feel it yet. :)
Food cravings: I think I'm over the cocoa krispies. And starting to burn out on PB&J. :)
Gender: I'm thinking girl now.
Labor Signs: Nada.
Belly Button in or out? Innie, but getting wider. No likey.
What I miss: Good sleep and not having a headache.
What I am looking forward to: This so called "2nd Tri good feeling."
Weekly Wisdom: I have to reiterate last week's: Always bring snacks in your purse when you leave the house for more than an hour.
Milestones: OUT OF FIRST TRIMESTER! WOO-HOO!

Fruit: 13 weeks.

Your fetus is forming teeth and vocal cords... savor this, their non-functional phase. Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy. (Much more convenient.)

There's a real baby in there.

And it no longer looks like Mr. Peanut.


Today we had the NT scan. It was fabulous, aside from almost peeing myself and nearly passing out from starvation.

But the ultrasound. It will never stop blowing my mind. S/he was "standing" on their head, and the u/s tech had to try to get it to lay flat so she could get some measurements. The babe cooperated, and was moving all over the place, kicking and stretching and opening it's mouth. So bizarre. All that happening in my ute and I can't feel a damn thing.

Smudge's heart rate was at 157bpm, and measuring right on time for a Nov 10th due date.

Then we had to wait almost 45 effing minutes for a lab person to come and draw like, a thimble full of blood. At this point, I hadn't eaten in two hours which clearly is a no-no. So I was on the verge of passing out and finally THEN the chick comes by to draw my blood, with no apologies for making me wait 40 more minutes than I should have.

Oh well. We got a TON of pictures of the babe, as well as a 3/4D one...all of which need to be scanned. But, I took a picture of the one above while waiting for my blood to be drawn, so enjoy that until I get the rest scanned.

Oh, and most importantly, the initial neck measurements were all normal. We have to wait a week for the results of the rest. :)

I just can't stop staring at this picture. I didn't want the ultrasound to end. I could stare at that forever.