I Was Once A Belly Toucher

I love being pregnant. These last few weeks have been great! The nausea has gone pretty much away and now I can enjoy my growing baby bump. With all the great things I've enjoyed about pregnancy, I found some things that I do not enjoy as well. All of the opinions just make me feel icky. The FAQ's are starting to drive me insane! So I've made a fun little list of the crazy things you have to deal with being pregnant (at least so far). Remember it's all in good humor.

1. When to tell...Somehow this wonderful life change is not your own to tell people...and I believe it is generally expected to tell EVERYONE as soon as you know you have a little one on the way. No matter when and who we tell that were expecting, the replies are always "Why didn't you tell me!" or "You've known for that long!", but by far my favorite has been "I didn't even know!"-that's because we just announced it, lol.

2. Belly Touching...this is an odd one that I've only had to deal with a little bit. I'm still undecided about how I feel about this. I originally planned to count belly touches...but I believe last week I lost count at a family party. It's really the oddest phenomenon. All of a sudden you're belly is not your own, it becomes public property. At least now that I'm starting to show more, it makes more sense. The weirdest were the belly touches when I had no bump at all. I realize that people think they are touching the baby...but really they are just touching me.

3. Opinions are endless. This one I won't elaborate on too much. We all know how it feels to get unsolicited advice. Again a weird phenomenon, once one finds out you're expecting, they can't wait to tell you all about it.

4. There are some things we're either not decided about or things we don't care to discuss. With this in mind how do you avoid people pushing for information! Even things as little as names, or as big birth choices, feeding decisions, and baby care have come up so much I think I need to make a maternity shirt that reads some snarky answer that I have yet to come up with. Let me know if you think of anything, however in my current state of mind I require it to be snarky.

5. There are some questions that just feel odd to be asked: "Was it a surprise", "Were you trying", or "Was it planned". I think that's a little personal. Maybe people don't realize what they're actually asking here, it's become one of those FAQ where people don't think before they speak.

6. More unusual questions. The list goes on and on. Along with #2 and #5 above, for some reason there's something about pregnancy that makes people lose their sense of privacy and respect. No, I don't want to discuss how I will use my breasts or the rest of my body with you-but thank you for asking.

7. I think this quote sums up this point: "You weren't invited when the baby was created, so you will not be invited when the baby is born".

I always heard babies make people go crazy.

Of course all of the above is conditional on the relationship you have with the other person. Being related or knowing the person isn't an open door however.

I have to admit before I was actually dealing with these things, I was probably a HUGE offender. I think I have committed at least 5 of the 7 pregnancy crimes above. I offer my sincerest apology to the world of expectant females around me. Oddly enough, I still see a full term pregnant belly and have the urge to touch it. Maybe once I'm full term we can put our bellies together and have the babies touch each other (Ashley D. this means you-hehe)...creepy right? So you get my point.


*This post was not created by the inspiration of one person. It was inspired by the many encounters with people crazy on the contagious drug called pregnancy.

It's A BOY!!!

Well this is an unexpected pregnancy update. I guess I'll start from the beginning. Yesterday morning I woke with very sharp ligament pain. I've had it before, so I figured it was just my body making room and stretching. Well the pain didn't subside. My last baby appointment my CNM told me that if there's any consistent pain then they need to know about it. Around 5 p.m. the pain was still there so I decided to give her a call. She wasn't too worried, but due to the consistency and location she wanted me to go to the ER to have it checked out in case it was my appendix.

I decided to wait until the next day just to see if it would go away or get worse. Today it was still there, so we decided to have it get checked out. We went to the ER-and I was slightly annoyed because I was pretty sure they would send me away telling me it was just normal pregnancy pains. Better safe than sorry I guess.

After being pricked and prodded, we got to the good part. The doctor ordered a full ultra sound of my internal organs. This was a plus, we would get to see the baby and maybe try to convince the tech to tell us if it was a boy or a girl. Our regular visit to find out wasn't for 4 more weeks. After seeing all of my organs, we find the source of my pain was an ovarian cyst. Of course this killed as she pressed down to get a good pic for the doc. During the ovarian photo shoot, Tyler got a good shot of baby's bum.

Our ultra sound tech was amazing. She took a lot of time during the baby ultra sound and pointed out everything to us. Little Peanut was so cute and wiggly. He wouldn't stop moving. He was also arching his back and neck so much. I hate when toddlers do this, I hope it's not a habit forming, however it's cute right now. I of course teared up and Tyler couldn't stop giggling at him wiggling his arms and hands. We even got a wave. We saw his brain, his spine, his little arms and legs, heard/saw the heart beat of 138 (love that sound). I think he'll have longs legs like daddy (we hope). He was all stretched out like he was in a spa or something...maybe that attributed to my pains.


*Peanut at 16 weeks and 4 days. He's adorable!

We got to the gender part and he wouldn't cooperate. Our tech was about to give up and gave us the guess of a girl. We were both very happy, Tyler was excited for a little Lacey. Lucky for us we had a stubborn tech who enjoyed a challenge so she kept going. At one point little peanut crossed both legs and arms over his parts so we couldn't see anything. Little stinker. She prodded and even did a few jabs to get him to move around (I wanted to remind her that along with jabbing him, she was jabbing me as well). Eventually she was able to differentiate his body parts from the umbilical cord and decided on a very positive BOY!


*Poor kid will see this pic one day and hate us.

We were so excited because this is what we've been hoping for. A girl was great, but you could definitely tell Tyler's excitement was risen. He's already making plans for skim-boarding lessons in 3.5 years.

Oh, and for anyone concerned about my reason for going to the ER...they sent me home with the diagnoses of 'Moderate Pregnancy Discomfort' and an Ovarian Cyst. The cyst will go away (or rupture-not fun) but won't cause any damage. Nothing too bad-which is good with me. I'm happy we went in anyway-finding out it was a boy helps the time and money be worth it!

16 weeks and counting!

16 weeks and the pregnancy is going well. I'm starting to grow more and so is Baby Peanut. He's approximately the size of an avocado. No, we do not know the gender yet, but calling Peanut a he is better than a he/she or an it in my opinion. And no, we won't be disappointed at all if it's a she!

Here is a Ultra Sound photo of little Peanut at 10.5 weeks. We won't get another until 20 weeks. I can't wait to see how he's grown!

One of my blogger friends had an excellent system for her pregnancy updates, and instead of re-creating the wheel, I decided to follow her example with maybe a few little changes. Thanks Sunni!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 16 weeks

Weight Gained: -1 pounds

Belly Growth: 14 Centimeters

Heart Beat: around 145 bpm

Size of the Baby: An Avocado

Movement: Nothing yet. I've heard since it's my first it will probably be more around 20 weeks that I'll feel something. We can't wait though!

Food Craving/Aversions: No cravings yet really...I still love french fries-which is horrible, potato chips and ice cream are nice too. Coffee still smells horrible. I can't wait until I can enjoy it again. Just this past week I've been craving more eggs. The first trimester I couldn't stand the thought of eggs, and now-they're so yummy. Ironically the thought still grosses me out, but they taste good.

What I Miss: Energy, eating, not having to take medication to feel normal and not nauseous, cooking, cleaning, working out, EVERYTHING.

Symptoms: I'm still pretty nauseous, although it's eased up a little. The doctor did put me on some medication/vitamins to help out, so that is good for now. I have ligament pain every so often, however laughing and sneezing isn't as painful lately. Hiccups. Fatigue. Forgetfulness. Irritability. Yes, pretty much everything in the book.

Best Moment This Past Month: Hearing the heartbeat again. Going the gym on Saturday and the grocery store on Sunday. They both wore me out but maybe life will go back to normal a little bit.

Other: After being pregnant 4 months now, I've realized it has it's pros and it's cons. Some of my favorite cons are the things people say and ask. Which is why I am going to start a post on all the things NOT to say or ask an expecting mother. I can't wait.

Here is a photo of my 16 week belly. I'm starting to show a little, but am still in that 'she could just be fat' stage, lol. Oh well. I'm happy with my little baby bump!

*So the odd thing about belly shots is that they're usually also boob shots. I guess it's something you can't avoid. So please excuse the boobs and concentrate on the belly :).

Lord I praise you because this child is fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Plsam 139:14