15 Weeks, 4 days

I'm feeling good. I'm trying to get my sweet tooth under control and I have one good day under my belt. I've been tracking my nutrition info on www.babyfit.com. I can track my iron, calcium, folate, vitamin C, etc. Plus how much fruit/veggies I consume as well as cups of water. It's been really helping me get a grasp on the best things to eat. I've been craving beans and now I can kind of see why. They're the richest source of iron, folate, and protein of anything I eat (on a vegetarian diet). On the plus: When I eat two servings of beans a day and some veggies, I can usually rack up all my dietary folate needs! Sweet deal. I guess all those burrito cravings are a good thing...*snicker..snicker*. I'm not doing so bad on calcium either and I'm also always coming in over my protein needs. However, even with the beans, I'm only coming in half on my iron but that's supplemented with my prenatals (as long as I can remember to take them). Not too bad. And Dave still thinks I need to eat steak. *Humph!*

I'm bigger than a pumpkin now!:




















Dave being cute:




















And....Barefoot and Pregnant in the Kitchen!:

15 Weeks

Well....Dave is a little sneak! Last night he called me up "from work" to tell me that he might be home late because they had gotten slammed. I didn't think anything of it. Turns out he'd gotten off an hour early so that he would have time to go to Powell's before coming home. When he did eventually come home, I also thought nothing of the bag of books he had in his possession because it's not uncommon for him to go to Powell's or record stores before work.

He plopped the bag in my lap and told me he'd picked up a few of my favorite authors while he was there. I pulled out "Emma" by Jane Austin, "Wuthering Heights" By Emily Bronte, "Robinson Crusoe" By Daniel Defoe, "High Five" by Janet Evanovich, and "Slaughterhouse-five" by Kurt Vonnegut. At the bottom of the bag, I stopped and stared at an unusual book of love sonnets by Pablo Neruda. Love sonnets?? I looked up at him quizingly. He told me to turn to page 39. I could feel something lumpy inside and I knew he was up to something. On page 39, taped up to a big of twine, dangled a gorgeous sapphire and diamond ring. I managed to skim the first line of the poem, "I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz..." when he got down on his knee and pulling the ring from the book, he proposed. He had completely taken me by surprise so I was shaking but eventually managed to nod yes. I think. It's all a little blurry right now.

Anyway, the poem reads:

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that you hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Truthfully though, I always fall asleep before he does so I'm not sure on the last line ;). The ring is absolutely perfect. It suits me. The engagement is even better. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive man in my life.
















We went out briefly afterwards to celebrate and play 80's trivia. He snapped a photo of my "belly bump" before we left. I think I'm actually starting to look pregnant!

14 Weeks, 3 days

I had one of the worst head aches of my life on Sunday. It was awful and I could hardly do anything. I had one a week or two before that. Yesterday, I could feel the beginnings of another so I called the OB-gyn advice line at my hospital. Just to be sure. Although the nurse I spoke with and I both felt it was probably just a tension headache, since it's too early for me to be experiencing preeclampsia, she thought it would be a good idea to go in and get my heart rate checked. She scheduled me in for later in the afternoon.

All is looking well. My heart rate was 125/69, which is perfectly fine. Although it's a bit higher than I usually come in at but I think I was pretty nervous. It's really only cause for alarm when it gets up to around 140. They also ran a urine test for proteins and sugar and I got another chance to hear the heartbeat. It's still there and going strong. I really appreciate the peace of mind this all allowed me. Since I can't feel it or see it, getting the chance to hear it really makes it more real. Now I can't stop thinking about that butterfly heartbeat in my stomach. My little parasite.

14 Weeks cont.

I forgot: I wanted to post a picture to show what a chub-chub I'm becoming.....yeesh:

14 Weeks

Being pregnant is weird.

In my first few weeks, I wanted bagels and nothing else. I went through a week of only desiring pizza...and nothing else. I think that week followed the Thai food week (lemon grass soup), however now I can't even think about Thai food. This week it's: burritos! I had two small burritos for dinner and I'm pretty sure that's my breakfast today as well. And probably dinner. Then next week, I'll want nothing to do with burritos. I'll probably have an oatmeal week soon. I can feel it. I bet popcorn's around the corner too.

I also can't get enough of the 'baby' movies. I ended up breaking down and actually buying Juno as well as Waitress. I've even watched Look Who's Talking about three times since I've gotten prego. I still am having trouble finding a used copy of Knocked Up. I'd buy that one in a second. I find they're good investments to add to my prego book collection. No sense in not adding the visual element. I also think I'm a sadist watching these films. Every time the baby is born, after all the pushing and moaning and screaming and sweat, I start balling my eyes out. Balling! I can't help it. Baby pops out and trigger the hormones. Dave thinks it's hillarious. I've watched Juno and Waitress both twice since we bought them and every time: baby comes out and I'm balling. Like clockwork.

I'm at 14 weeks. Officially 2nd trimester now, no question. Every text differs on when the 2nd trimester starts -- 12, 13, 14. But now at 14 weeks, there's no question.

I can even feel my uterus these days. It's popped above my pubic bone and when I have to pee, it pushes it up enough that I can feel it protruding.

However, I don't look pregnant. I just look like I might have had four burritos instead of two. And eaten a whole pie for desert. Half of my clothes fit these days. I'm having to say goodbye to a couple favorite skirts :(. I invested in two maternity skirts that adjust. One of which I can already wear when I tighten the adjustments. I'm in the annoying middle of the road phase where very little of my clothing fits anymore but I'm not big enough for maternity clothes.

And now my friends are even noticing. But not the people that hoard the seats on the bus. No luck there. I even tried forcing my stomach out more last time I was trying to stay standing up on the bus but no luck. I guess I just don't quite look pregnant enough to warrant a seat. Woe is me.

13 Weeks, 1 day

Well.....2nd Trimester!!! Most of my morning sickness has passed. I'll get a bout once in a while but it's on the tame side now. I'm still a hormonic mess. Dave describes my hormones as fire crackers on the 4th of July and that's pretty accurate. One minute, all is quiet, and the next minute I explode. Dave, being on the receiving end of most of these episodes, has been pretty amazing at handling it all. Also, when Dave's family came to visit this week, his sis left us with a plethora of baby books that he and I have both been devouring. He's half-way through a daddy-to-be book and really enjoys 'text-booking' all of my episodes.

Despite any nerves I might have had, I actually had a great time with Dave's family this week. Unfortunately, a bout of food poisoning left Dave's mom incapacitated on Thursday but Dave and I still went to the zoo with his sister, Trish and her son, Ethan. I couldn't get enough of that little guy, which I think means I'm getting maternal.















Dave's mom, Dave & Ethan, and Trish














Trish, Ethan, and I navigating the zoo.




















Also, Good Wood was well-received on Wednesday night. We ended up with a packed house! I couldn't believe how many people came out. It went pretty well and we had many requests for our next show.




























I can feel my uterus when I press on my abdomen now. I think it's popped out above my pubic bone. It feels like a soft ball, probably about the size of a large grapefruit. It hangs on my left side a bit. Dave was pretty stoked when he could feel it this morning. It kind of adds a bit of reality to this whole experience. I still don't think I'm showing but then only half of my jeans fit these days and according to my home scale, I'm up a total of 4 pounds.

12 Weeks

About the fifth time that I got up to pee last night, I started wondering where all this water was coming from. Now seriously. Every time last night it was like I was unloading a geyser. And I'm not even drinking that much more than I did before I was pregnant. Aren't I supposed to retain more water if anything? Sometimes during the day I'll average once every half an hour and then it'll only be a trickle. I have to pee that bad and that's all that I get? No satisfaction! Then about 2 hours into the once-every-half-hour deal, I finally really pee. And then I'm good for ...emm..maybe 2 more hours. And sometimes I REALLY have to go. I rush to the bathroom only to find that I have to sit there for two minutes before anything happens and while I'm sitting there, I'm dying because I have to pee so badly. It's like I'm constricted! Oh yeah, it's a baby constriction.

Well anyway, after I returned to bed from that 5th trip to the bathroom, I found I had a text message from my incredibly pregnant friend, Michelle, announcing the birth of her new son, Talon. I'm so excited for her. I know in those last couple weeks she was downright miserable. I think she must have been pushing 42 weeks at that point. Makes me feel a little bad for when I was a fetus. I was supposed to be born on July 2nd and they couldn't get me out until they performed a C section on my mom and pulled me out on July 20th, weighing in at a mere 10 pounds, 4 oz. I think I get something to look forward too later on...

I was just about to approach the I'm-so-hungry-I'm-going-to-throw-up-phaze so just now I ran to the kitchen to get the last of the seitan I made earlier this week. I also snagged one of Dave's orange creme sodas. They looked so good! Sweetie, I know you'll read this and notice one of your sodas disappeared but it's only fair-- you ate my cookies.

I've been noticing more and more abdominal growth this past week. Mel mentioned last night that she noticed it a couple days ago. Really though, I just look like I ate one too many cookies. So I guess it may be a good thing that Dave took some of those off my hands last week.

Oh!!! I almost forgot. My band, Good Wood, has it's first show next Wednesday at Mississippi Pizza. I'm so excited! I haven't played a show in about a year and a half so I'm a little nervous. We're opening for an incredibly talented friend of mine who plays both cello and sings (AT THE SAME TIME). She's amazing. I'll bring my camera to the show and see if I can't swindle one of my friends into taking a picture or two. It should be a fun. Practice on Thursday went well and the song I was less than thrilled about has come together for me. It's probably my favorite one now. It's kind of funny how that happens. Everyone calls it the "Stripper Song" because it's downright perfect for that sort of *cough* thing. We also have a song that we nick-named the "Nike Commercial Song" because you can't help but feel some sort of inspiration when we play it...like you should be running a marathon. Trust me, if you heard it too, you'd be inspired.