Plugging along!

Greetings from the Arctic Tundra! My car thermometer said "-7" this morning. It is COLD. And more snow is expected tomorrow. We've been whalloped this winter and it's only January! This weather blows for all of us. But since this is my blog and it's all about me, let me say it is pretty rotten to be pregnant now! I want to get outside SO BAD. I feel totally cabin-crazed and shuttered up inside and I want to go do something! I have been craving walking with the little aches and pains I have, but everything is so icy and there are no sidewalks. The dogs have already pulled me down once with the ice and my not-so-stellar balance.

We have been going to Lincoln Woods on the weekends to get out, though. It helps! They plow the big paved road around the lake and it's so nice to get some exercise in. It gets dark too early to do that during the week now, though. I hate winter!

Everything else is going well! I had a doctor appointment two weeks ago and things are looking fine! I passed my gestational diabetes test - yay me! With the PCOS and weight I am at a higher risk, so making it through without GD is an accomplishment! Yay me. :) Less impressive is my total weight gain...11 pounds. Now, I KNOW I'm pregnant and I'm supposed to gain weight. I am actually not a person who freaks out about weight. I guess I was just really hoping to gain as little as possible. They say when you're overweight before you get pregnant, to try to keep weight gain between 15-20 lbs. Gaining 11 by 24 weeks does not seem very on-track. But oh well. I'm trying!

Speaking of food, no weird cravings or anything. I like to eat but there hasn't been anything I MUST HAVE. :) I'm sure Rob is thankful to not have to run out at all hours to buy me pickles, etc.

Already taking over!

We've been lucky enough to receive a few presents from our registry - thanks to Mom and Dad (I can't pin them down on what they want the baby to call them, so we'll stick with what I call them) and my good friend Jon! As a result, our not-terribly-large downstairs dining room is being taken over by baby stuff.

If you were to figure out the footprint of all the items on my registry, how much living area would be left for Rob, myself, and three dogs?

This post doesn't really have much of a point besides to present some cute photos of Rob the Assembler and Mini the Pack-and-Play Poacher.

Also, a random thought: it's awesome when you're the only one in the office so you can listen to Pandora Radio kinda loud (Oh! You Pretty Things is on right now) and allow for pregnancy-related gaseous emissions to flow as nature intended.

And one more thing! Prenatal yoga is the best thing ever. I still feel really good but was feeling kind of stretched-out and a bit off-balance this week. Well, good timing for some yoga! Once you get over the hippie-dippy parts, like "Breathe into your baby" and "Caress your baby through your belly" (um, the word "caress" is so bawdy romance novel to me for some reason - a little too reminiscent of loins and smoldering passion to be baby-related), it is glorious.

Okay, that's it.

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2011 to all my friends and family!! Gosh, I can't believe the new year is here already. THE year. Stuff just got very real, peeps. I know how silly it sounds (it makes more sense in my head!), but I was putting off a lot of serious decisions and planning until "after the holidays." We need to figure out so many details - particularly how my company will allow me to handle leave and scheduling after the baby. And what we'll do with the baby while working.

I really have no idea what we're going to do.

But, on the less stressful front, it was a wonderful holiday! The picture is me on Christmas Day, so at 22 weeks. Of course, I'm behind on pictures but this weekend will be 24 weeks. That sounds momentous to me for some reason, so I will really try to remember!

New Year's was nice, despite a different vibe from previous years! We went out to dinner with some wonderful friends, then spent a bit at a local bar with friends, and were home for the ball drop at midnight. To see out the last year we'll be a family of two. Whoa. That's deep.

I posted my photo and was puzzling over how huge my feet look. I just remembered that's because I am wearing Rob's slippers. :)

Half-Baked!

I have reached the halfway point! I am totally amazed. Maybe, just maybe, I could end up with an actual baby at the end of this! Mind-blowing.

There really hasn't been too much going on in the way of pregnancy developments. I must be getting big - you should have seen my sister's face when I saw her for the first time in a week. It was priceless! Shock and disbelief...so I guess things are really poppin'!

I took the picture above myself (as if you couldn't tell). Rob is sick this week. I love him to death but it is funny how it's as if he is the only person to ever get sick with the most awful cold in the history of the world. So it's been a quiet week for me - I had to cancel my quilting lesson Monday, and I've been taking care of the dogs and scrapping together random food for dinner. I always loved to cook so much, but I have been totally not inspired or ambitious this whole pregnancy. Which is a shame because boy do I love to eat!

I feel pretty good generally, and I continue to be so thankful for that! My lower back is starting to ache a bit, but it's not a surprise when you think of how fast my center of gravity is changing. And that's about it! I am knocking on every piece of wood in my office right now that things stay somewhat smooth!

I have been feeling the baby like crazy, and at random times. So far, the morning appears to be a popular time for some baby jazzercise. I can't wait until you can feel it on the outside to Rob can start to feel more connected! I know he's jealous. He enjoyed speaking into my bellybutton (or what's left of it) as if it's a microphone to say hello. And also sticking his finger in my poor, shallow, wide bellybutton. I guess he's kind of right that it's the closest he can get to the baby right now. :) But it feels WEIRD. I always had such a cavernous bellybutton, very deep but thin, that I don't think the skin way in there ever got touched. Now it's so shallow and it's opening up like it's going to flip inside out that you can access the previously-unexplored regions. I think I'll have to put a band-aid or something on it when it flips so it doesn't rub on my clothes!

Also, my belly is ridiculously hairy.

It's fun...but definitely a little disconcerting to look down at this weird body that seems to belong to someone else!

So there!

FIVE pounds, per the scale at the OB's. Suck it, fat scale at my GP's office!

Nothing really new at the appointment yesterday - baby looked good in the ultrasound, NT scan bloodwork showed low risks of the birth defects for which they test, and baby sounded active and strong on the heartbeat scan!

I was wondering if they put the sex of the baby in your chart after the anatomy scan but just didn't tell the parents, but apparently the tech didn't write it in. The doctor was excited that I didn't know. She said it's more fun for the doctors. :) Glad I can bring some excitement to the table!

Almost halfway there!

Sometimes, it feels like I've been pregnant forever. And then alternately, time is flying by! Very strange. It's also weird how sometimes I feel very pregnant and other times totally normal. I think my belly is bigger some days than others, too. It felt really big when I took the picture above, though!

I can also say I am 100% sure I am feeling the baby! In hindsight, now that it happens pretty consistently I suppose I have been feeling it here and there for maybe two weeks. It's a nice little feeling and it makes me smile! It's also tremendously reassuring to know the little one is in there and dancing around.

So the baby is a mango this week. I was not amused when What to Expect When You're Expecting described it as a "mango dipped in greasy cheese" due to the vernix caseosa. Despite not having had more than a whiff of nausea during this pregnancy, that really crossed a line. Not cool, WTEWYE!

So that's really all that's going on right now! The baby is moving and I'm growing. My back is getting a bit sore. As I mentioned in the last post, according to my general practioner, I've gained 6 pounds since I got pregnant...but she has a fat scale and I'm waiting until I see the OB tomorrow to get the real measurement. :)

Anatomy Scan

We saw the baby again! And look, s/he is waving to you again! The position was so funny to see, with the legs way up to almost the head. Although it feels like this baby is taking up a ton of room, apparently it is folded in half. Heaven help me when it decides to stretch out!

Again, so amazing. Even more this time when the baby doesn't look like Alien. It looks like a real person!! The purpose of the ultrasound is to check on organs and such, so it was totally cool to see the four chambers of the heart. AND the technician didn't slip and tell us or show us the sex, so it was a win!

And since he'll probably never read the blog, Rob is almost as much fun to watch as the baby during these things. He has such a grin and gets all teary. :) Also, aren't those feet the cutest picture ever?

Besides the appointment, not much else is new! I'm feeling good but getting big. I'm up 6 pounds since getting pregnant...which I think is borderline too much, so I should reign it in! Some days, though, I am just a remorseless eating machine - I can't stop!

I had an appointment with my general practitioner yesterday and she literally squealed when I told her I was pregnant. My last appointment was right around my first IVF cycle and I was definitely at a different place in my body and mind.

I hope everyone who actually reads what I have to say had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am thankful for all my family and friends. :)