Stuff for Baby Mama

I'm not the only preggo at work. One of my supervisor's, Kristine, is pregnant and due in late Jan/early Feb and Jenny, who works downstairs, is also due around then. Yesterday Kristine gave me two of her books that she no longer wanted, as this is her last baby.


I started reading The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy last night and so far it's hilarious. It's the best pregnancy book I've read yet. I will give it a more in-depth review when I'm finished with it. I haven't looked at the baby name book yet, since we already have a couple picked out, but I'll get to it eventually. Then Jenny sent me a link on "uddercovers" http://www.uddercovers.com/ along with a discount code. With my mom's advice I decided to go ahead and get the cover in the color I wanted. I also decided to get the set instead of just the cover, for a $5 difference. The cover has a piece of hard plastic in the neckline so that you can look at your baby, and also has an adjustable neck strap. Mom said that when babies get bigger they flail their arms and legs and will knock a blanket off, so she recommended the neck strap. Plus it's pretty.


The set also comes with a pair of breast pads and a bracelet that helps you keep track of what side you last nursed on, at what time, and for how long.


For all of this, ladies and gentlemen, I paid a grand total of $13.95 after shipping. I saved a total of $43.85, because the item was on sale and then I had the discount code from Jenny. Not a bad deal, I think. Then the website also sells a ten pack of breast pads for $32.95 plus $8.95 shipping. With that same discount code, when I order them next week they will only cost me $9.90--shipping included. I did a little price comparison: Target, 3 pair, $17.99, Babies r Us, Avent 3 pair (with all bad recommendations), $6.99. So I'm getting a huge deal. I may even order a couple of packs. I love a great deal!

11 weeks, 2 days

According to babycenter.com, Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming

A lot of the first trimester symptoms are starting to ease off a little. I’m usually only queasy at night now, rather than all day. I’m still really tired, and my hips hurt very badly. I actually got a night last week where I didn’t have to get up to go to the bathroom. And it seems like even though I’m tired, I haven’t slept well since about five weeks. I wake up several times through the night and wake up wished I could sleep another five hours! Sometimes it would be nice to be a cat. Eat, sleep, play a little, sleep, eat, sleep, sleep, sleep…

Overall I enjoy being pregnant. It’s not always fun, but I like it. I was trying to explain it to Nathan but I don’t think he understands. It feels like I’m doing what I was created to do, and for the first time I might like my body. I like the feeling of life inside me, and taking care of it for months. I’m excited to feel movement and to get a real “baby bump”. Of course , around month nine I’m told that I will wish the baby belly would NOT be quite so big, and that the long-anticipated movements will then be bruising my ribs and making me wet my pants. Haha, well, I can enjoy it now!

Night on the town

Saturday night Nathan and I and friends went to Uno’s Chicago Pizza in downtown Fort Worth. It was SOOOOO excellently yummy. That’s my new favorite pizza. The crust is flaky and buttery goodness, the sauce was great, and it had lots of cheese. MMMmm. It was really fun to walk around downtown at night. It seems like the trendy thing to do and there are art galleries and street singers and it’s just a neat experience. There are carriage rides and people dressed up and, well, people not dressed much at all! When my brother was here we went to a comedy club downtown and took him. I won the tickets through a work thing. I wasn’t really impressed with the comedy, but then I’m not impressed with most comedy because of the crudity. It was, however, a neat experience and something that I’d never done before. Sunday after church we went to Nathan’s mom and dad’s so that he could work on his truck (76 chevy longbed-being-converted-to-shortbed) He worked on his truck, and I went inside and watched the Hallmark channel. They were doing a marathon event of the movies off Janette Oke’s Love Comes Softly series, which I read many moons ago.

I forgot to take pictures, but I did get some more clothes. My mom send me a package for my birthday. I got a shirt that is the same one as the one Aunt Nancy bought me (the teal one) but in one size up, and a pair of brown slacks. She also send me a couple of books. One of them is really special because all the preggo’s who have read it before me have written in it about their pregnancy. It’s kind of a devotional book with a little section for each day of pregnancy. It’s really neat, but I didn’t get far because I started seeing comments in my mom’s handwriting and then I started boo-hooing about how I want my mom. So I’ll return to that one on another day. Mom also enclosed a letter that she wrote for my baby, which is very special. Then Mom called and said she’d found me LOTS of things at goodwill. She sent me pictures but you know how phone pictures are. I want to see them in real life when they get here. My MIL, Daphne, bought the baby a Halloween costume for next year. I haven’t decided how I feel about Halloween yet. Nathan grew up trick or treating and celebrating Halloween, and I grew up NOT trick or treating. We carved pumpkins, and celebrated harvest time, but not Halloween. I guess I need to sit down and really think about how I feel from a perspective as a Christian. Many of the churches around here have a “Harvest Festival” on the night of Halloween and in my humble opinion that seems like a much better idea.

Stroller

My mommy bought us a Graco travel system yesterday!! I’m not sure if she found it on craigslist or if she got it on the Cedarville classifieds but she got a really good deal on it. It’s used, but looks to me like it’s in perfectly good condition. And it'll work for a boy OR a girl.

Mostly this post is to praise my honey for being so helpful. He makes our dinner quite frequently, he asks me if I want him to do anything around the house (and if I do ask he typically does it), he gets me ginger ale in the evening when I don’t feel good, and he’s just being all-around great. I appreciate you babe! Thanks for all your help.

12 weeks, 2 days

According to babycenter.com, this week: The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

Nathan's cousin's girlfriend had a baby shower this weekend, which was fun. She's having a little boy. Afterwards we went out to a fish fry at Cousin G's house. Cousin G is my favorite of Nathan's cousins. He and his wife have a little girl and a little boy, both of which are just too cute and funny! We had catfish and shrimp breaded with Zataran's and deep fried in a turkey fryer outside. It was SOOOO good! Especially the shrimp. Sunday after church I talked Nathan into trying out a little Mom and Pop cafe for lunch. They actually served RC in canning jars! I finally got to try fried green tomatoes, and had a chicken fried steak sandwich for lunch, and he (surprise surprise) had a burger. I thought it was good food and a cute atmosphere, but he didn't like his french fries. I love trying out little podunk eateries rather than hitting up Jack in the Box. We went down to his parents so he could work on his truck, but around 4 it started pouring. So we walked down to his Grandma's so I could play with my cats and he could watch the Cowboys game. Oh! I also went to a garage sale with Melissa on Saturday morning and scored a large box of maternity clothes for $15, about 15 bottles (4 oz size) for $2, a large coleman cooler for $5, a couple blankets for the outreach ministry at church, a christmas present for my neice, 6 pictures that are from England, and all for only $35. The pictures from England are the exact same ones that my parents bought after our boat ride on the Thames when we took our trip to London when I was 10. They were very expensive in London, but I got them with frames for $0.50 apeice. Yay for good deals and childhood memories!

As usual, the weekend was far too short.

12 Week Dr Appointment

Yesterday was Baby’s three month doctor appointment. We got to hear the heartbeat, and Dr. H felt my uterus and showed us where it is, and then…drumroll please…announced that we will be having our ultrasound at our next appointment! I will be almost 17 weeks so if Baby cooperates we will find out the gender, and we will get to see it and hear its heartbeat. This appointment will be the day before we leave for Ohio for Christmas, so if all goes well I’ll be able to tell my family what it is. I’m also hoping that by that time I will be feeling the baby move, although others probably won’t be able to feel it yet. A childhood friend of Nathan’s sister has offered to give us some kind of home Doppler so my family will be able to hear the baby’s heartbeat as well. LOTS to be excited about next month. And, Saturday is my birthday!

On a less pleasant note, there is no heat at work today and it is very cold outside. It is 65 degrees in this office, people. These are not humane conditions. Prisoners of war are treated better than this. This is ridiculous!

13 weeks, 2 days

Baby is about the size of a peach this week! Only three and a half more weeks until we get an ultrasound to try to find out the little shrimp's gender. Be a good baby and cooperate for Mama and Daddy!


Saturday was my birthday. Nathan gave me some movies and a hair straightener which was what I asked for. His work had called and said he was going to Florida (and all points to Nathan—he asked me if it was okay if he left on my birthday and I told him yes because this is his off season and he doesn’t get a lot of work) So I had to drop him off at the office and then I went home and had a pity party in my bedroom. Then Andrea (SIL) and Daphne (MIL) got me a cake and cnadles and I was sitting there playing with Alie (neice) when Nathan walked through the front door! He said he didn’t have to leave until Sunday morning. What a waste of a pity party, I tell ya! So we went to the mall, and then to church because I had praise practice, and then we went out to eat and went home to watch one of my movies. We had planned to go into downtown to eat and walk around but I was too tired. It was a good birthday, once Nathan came home.

Here are a couple of belly pictures. 4 weeks...

10 weeks...
And 13 weeks!