I'm Sick : (

I either have some demonic allergies or a nasty cold. Either way, I feel as though I'm dying.

I was just starting to feel better from all of the pregnancy malaise, but Mother Nature is not ready for me to rest comfortably. Ohhhh no.

Since Friday I have been coughing, sneezing, congested, coughing until I gag/vomit, feeling like I'm being smothered from said congestion, and therefore can't sleep. It has been a wonderous few days.

I finally broke down a took some Claritin which doesn't seem to be helping that much. Claritin is a Class B medication. Meds in this category have not been thoroughly tested on humans, but in animal testing have not been found to have any negative impact on an unborn fetus. Likewise, Class C meds are a no-no, and Class A meds have been proven safe. So, I was trying to struggle along without taking anything, but ended up taking something, but it didn't help. Yeah. That's kinda where I'm at.

I've also read that (like just about everything else apparently!) seasonal allergies can be positively or negatively affected by pregnancy. Clearly, mine have been negatively impacted as I've never had allergies this bad in my life. Throw in a fever and I'd swear that I have the flu. (Okay, please don't throw in a fever, I wouldn't be able to survive.)

In better news, I'm at 16 weeks today. Bean is the size of an avocado and ears are developed enough to start hearing sounds this week! I suppose this isn't the best week for poor Bean to start hearing things as I'm sure it'll get tired of me hacking and shaking things up in there! Also, we'll have to stop yelling at our dog to be quiet or the baby's first words will be NO, BELLE! STOP BARKING!

No movement yet, but everything I've read promises I should feel something soon!

Bountiful Harvest #2

4 cherry tomatoes and 1 jalapeno:





I did eat one of the cherry tomatoes already and it was delish! VERY sweet. If only the garden would hurry up and start producing more!


What happened to my zucchini? I thought that zucchini and yellow squash are ridiculously easy to grow? How many have I had? None. ???

Family Room Updates

First and foremost, check out our new carpet!!!

I know that you don't have a "before" example to compare it to, but trust me this is a HUGE improvement! Our old carpet was stained and smelly! It smelled like dirty, stinky, uncared for animals (from the prior owners). We have steam cleaned and baking soda'ed and tried all sorts of deodorizers, but no matter what we do the smell just kept coming back! Clearly it was stained clear to the carpet pad and there was nothing we could do to fix the problem but invest in new carpet. So we finally did and we are VERY happy with the results! It looks so much fresher and cleaner in our house I can't even tell you!

And to go with our new carpet some fresh new pillows for the couch!

I got these on Overstock.com, $30 for the set, which isn't too bad considering the exorbitant cost of decorative pillows. It's ridiculous! It's nothing to have to pay $30 PER PILLOW at some stores!

So, what do you think of the updates?

Our bountiful harvest

Yep, this is it so far. One tomato.




There are a few more still on the vine ripening and several green ones. There is one jalapeno pepper that's nearly finished growing, and a couple of tiny eggplants and cucumbers, but I'm getting worried about what the garden will actually produce since it's nearly the end of August and it's going to start getting chilly here in the next few weeks!

Anyway, my little tomato was VERY good. You sometimes forget how fresh veggies are supposed to taste when you're used to eating produce from the grocery store. This was definitely a fresh vine ripened tomato. I enjoyed it with a nice scoop of cottage cheese. YUM!

13 Weeks and a Sex Prediction

I'm at 13 Weeks today. This is good.

4 days from now I will officially cross over into the coveted Second trimester. Land of beautiful pregnancy and small baby bumps. Purportedly, the 2nd Tri is the time post- all of the icky 1st Tri vomiting and fatigue and pre- being too large to feel good. I figure the 2nd Tri must be pretty darn good considering people voluntarily go through the 1st Tri again with subsequent pregnancies. I just can't imagine putting myself through this special level of Hell again.

My appointment went well and I haven't gained any weight yet (see: above mentioned vomiting). Blood pressure is good and we got another peak at Bean as they did an ultrasound. This time they were able to do it on my tummy vs. the previous one which was trans-vaginal and just as special and uncomfortable as it sounds. A good thing to note: Baby's head is becoming a lot more proportionate to its body. In early develpment feti (is that the plural of fetus?) tend to look more like an alien or something that should be named Skeletor than a tiny human.

According to this U/S Baby's heart rate was between 158 and 159 beats per minute. A good strong heart rate and one that indicates that this alien being inside my body is a girl.

An Old Wive's Tale says that if baby's heart beat is less than 140 bpm it will be a boy, whereas above 140 bpm indicates a girl. I don't know how 'old' said wive's tale is as I don't think they started doing a lot of fetal heart monitoring until the 80s and of course there are scientific studies that indicate this unit of measure is a bunch of bull cocky, but it's fun to think about anyway,

We should be able to actually find out the sex in approximately 2 months. Apparently right around 14 Weeks or so the fetus will begin to exhibit either male or female genitalia even though sex is determined right at the time of conception. Understandable though since everything is so tiny right now.

Mark really wants a new TV.

I keep telling him to wait until our current TV (a hand-me-down from his Dad that's perfectly fine albeit large and bulky) dies a peaceful death following a long life. I hate the thought of purchasing a new TV just to do so when we have a perfectly good one right now!

He does not agree with my sensible side so he has prepared a short PowerPoint presentation to persuade me to his way of thinking. I will post the presentation, but you must keep in mind that you missed out on the best part: the argument was made in Mark's best Billy May's (rest in peace, Billy) impression.

In honor of Mark's wish and his persuasive argument I'm hosting a poll, please vote.

I've just spent a lot of time lately erm... indisposed. Mostly on my bathroom floor.

That's right fans and friends, I'm officially knocked up!

Squeeeee!!!!

Please forgive my absence as I have spent my last few weeks puking, nauseous, fighting to keep my eyes open, or sleeping. I'm honestly lucky if I get a shower in. I'm sure you understand. Growing a human is hard work!

So, here's a little timeline to catch everyone up. I'm currently 9 weeks along and due February 23rd.

Week 1 (Week 3): My BBT goes up when it usually takes a dive. I try not to let myself get too much hope and anxiously wait for cycle day 11. That morning, I woke up early to pee on a stick and what did I see, but a second faint line!



OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!!! Loads of squeeing ensued. I also found out that "they" (the authorities on all things pregnancy) add in the 2 weeks prior to conception (supposedly the amount of time since the start of your last period if you have a textbook 28-day cycle) so I was actually nearly 4 weeks pregnant! Woohoo!

Week 4: Wheeee! Pregnancy is fun! Hubs and I decided that we wanted to wait a bit to announce the news to anyone because we were still in a bit of disbelief. I called and made my first pre-natal appointment and they wanted to see my in Week 6. Hunger kicked in right away as well as sore bewbies.

Week 5: Uggghhh! Pregnancy isn't so fun anymore... Nausea hit me like a tidal wave and I spent the latter half of Week 5 and the first half of Week 6 with my head in the toilet. Seriously, it was as if my body was fighting off some sort of terrible stomach bug that had invaded my body. I spent this time eating saltine crackers and baked potatoes. That's it. Oh, and drinking diet, caffeine free ginger ale. It was about this time that I wondered why so many women voluntarily put themselves in this situation. I mean... women have been having babies for hundreds of years. It's what our bodies are made to do. You'd think that our bodies would have evolved over time to deal with the hormones that come with early pregnancy. Guess not.

Week 6: More vomiting. Met with a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) at my OB/GYN pratice. She said that nausea indicates a healthy baby. Good news for me and baby. They did all the usual check-up stuff, a pelvic exam, and a pap smear (uck), even though I just had one a few months ago. I find 2 in one year to be entriely unnecessary. They took urine and about a quart of blood.

Week 7: More vomiting.

Week 8: More vomiting. Really, there wasn't much else going on during this time.

Week 9: Some days I'm still sick, other days the nausea and vomiting seems to be replaced with ferocious fatigue. Fatigue that is bone deep and makes you feel sick. It's a wondrous change. I'm actually feeling much better today and even ventured to the grocery store for the first time in a month. This is of course after I slept 12 hours Friday night, took a 2 hour nap from 6-8pm on Saturday evening, and slept another 12 hours on Saturday night. Gee do I feel refreshed! I just need to figure out how to capture this rested feeling while working 8.5 hours a day...

Anyhoo, last Monday we went to the doctor for our very first ultrasound! I was able to enjoy a huge sigh of relief because there is definitely a baby in there (at least the doctor says so) and it's growing where it's supposed to and how it's supposed to. Even though I had no symptoms I had nearly convinced myself that something was wrong. It was growing in the wrong spot; there was nothing in there, something. But the doctor says everything looks great and we even going to see Lil' Bean move! It kinda just looked like a little gray blob, or a peanut or something, but we did see his little arms move! It was the cutest thing. And we got to see his little heart beating. It was amazing.

Here's a pic:



Looks like a baby, right? Sure.

So, that's kind of where we're at. Super excited, still in a bit of disbelief, but we're starting to tell people. And you're people. So... yay!

I promise I'll be around more. I've got a ton of stuff to discuss and hopefully I won't be spending as much time on the bathroom floor.

Pee Ess: I know you're jealous of my super-fab Paint skillz. If you study, Young Grasshopper, you too may master Paint one day.