Week 15 (am I still pregnant?)

Hello blog world!  We're about to make this blog public, so now it will actually feel like I'm writing for all of our friends and family.  So far it's just been for us and the animals.  The pets pretend like they've been reading the blog, but I know they haven't been.  They've shown no interest since we broke the big news!  Although I'm pretty sure Diva knows something is up in my belly because she zeroes right in for my stomach when jumping on top of me when I'm in bed or laying on the couch.  I can't tell if she's trying to comfort me and baby or trying to ensure she stays the baby in the family by eliminating any threats to her status!

The past week and a half I can't say that I've really felt "pregnant."  It's a very strange phase to be in.  I'm not getting nauseous or sick (although I have puked a handful of times over the last 2 weeks) and I'm not really showing yet.  I almost feel like my old normal self!  Although I am super tired by 8 pm still.  Almost every night I fall asleep on the couch watching TV.  All of our programs are back this fall (Revolution! Nashville! New girl!) along with some good new ones (Hostages, The Blacklist) so I've been trying to watch one a night but sometimes its pretty hopeless.  Usually my dear husband will notice I've fallen asleep and he'll stop and save the show and then attempt to rouse me and get me to bed.  He's been getting a lot of quality time with the internet in the evenings!  Luckily he hasn't seemed to mind...yet.  Pretty soon it will start to dawn on him how little he's seen me and how little he's gotten lucky over the past few weeks.  Crossing my fingers my energy is back before he starts to notice!

We had our second appointment, and first appointment with the OB (although this was just a fill-in OB, the one we chose was unavailable, but we'll have her for the next gazillion appointments), on September 17.  It was a very quick appointment but we did get to hear the baby's heartbeat again!  I wasn't expecting to hear that, so I got pretty emotional again.  It's just so freakin' incredible that there is a baby inside of me!  There are times when I'll get teary eyed just thinking about all that's been happening and what's yet to come.  Happy tears, mind you.  I'm so excited to be a mother.  It's something I've wanted for a long time and it's amazing that my time is finally here.

Our next appointment is October 15th...13 days away.  I wish these first few appointments weren't 4 weeks apart!  I feel like now is when I most need reassurance.  On Sunday I took another pregnancy test, after all the "not feeling pregnant" for a week.  And of course, still pregnant.  I need to calm down and enjoy this phase!  When I can eat, go to work, walk the dogs, and see friends like a normal person.  Although late-night activities are still pretty hard since I get so tired.

So far our scale at home is telling me I've gained 4.3 lbs.  Not that much, but not surprising since I spent so much of the first trimester getting sick and not eating any real meals.  I might have gained a bit more according to my OB's chart, since the nurse said I'd gained 4 lbs. just between our appointments on August 19 and September 17.  I'm more confident in my at-home numbers though since I weigh in at the same time each week and I'm always in the nude.  At our next appointment I'll wear a light, floaty dress to see if my number and the Dr's number come a little closer.  With the weight gain, that puts me at 163.4.  I was told to gain the recommended amount of 20-25ish pounds putting me at 179/184ish by the end of the pregnancy.  That means about a pound a week from here on out, so I better keep my sugar cravings under control!  And keep up with the walking and swimming.  My goal is to start incorporating a lot of arm exercises, because there's no way I'll be able to carry a baby around all the time with my currently very weak arms!

Although probably not obvious to everyone, I've definitely gained the weight around my middle (although I'm pretty sure its just my love handles growing for now!).  I can no longer button my dress pants, but I still fit into my jeans and all my stretchy workout pants.  I had to go out and buy one of these sweet belly bands (see pic below) to wear with my work pants.  I was wearing it folded in half the past few weeks but this week I've been leaving it up because it already feels too tight when folded down.  The awesome thing is that this band is super smoothing...like a very comfortable spanx for my back fat!

Now that I'm keeping food down, I've been better about my fruits and veggies.  I'm still not eating quite enough veggies, but I'm working on that.  I've also been better about getting in my full 80 ounces of water every day.  I've never been very good at drinking water, so this has been a huge adjustment for me.  I'm letting myself have a diet coke a few times a week, as well as V8 juice and OJ, to break up the boring task of drinking water all day.  I've also been big on lemonade.  I know it's packed with sugar, but the payoff of getting extra "water" ounces in makes it okay with me.  Speaking of fruit and veggies...here is my first produce picture!  Week 14, baby is the size of a lemon.  This week baby is the size of an apple; I'll be taking that picture soon.

Just for laughs, Aron took pictures of the lemon with all the pets too.


Hanky's pregnant! "Why do I put up with this?!"

Diva's pregnant! And also more interested in getting to the camera than posing with the lemon.

 Stripey's pregnant! And cute as a button.

Rory's pregnant! Sitting on top of one of our packed boxes. The cats love their boxes!

I've been getting told a lot to take belly pictures during the whole pregnancy, so I may start up again with some good profile shots.  All of my friends and lots of random people have been offering me great advice for the pregnancy!  Some women are very hesitant to share, but I want to hear it all.  I might not take all advice to heart, but I like hearing how everyone handled their different symptoms and any good tips they've gleaned from their pregnancies.  I've also been sneaking in a lot of baby-blog reading while at work.  Next up on my to-do list is to buy a good body pillow.  I have a tough time staying on my left side (I sleep most comfortably on my back, in mummy position), so I want to get one of those pillows that wraps around the back to keep me propped on my side.

I also want to get our baby registry started!  But I'll refrain for a bit longer...we get to find out the gender in 3 weeks!  If I remember to book that ultrasound appointment...I guess that's up next on my to-do list. :)