My Lovely Baby Bump

You win! After MUCH hesitation (on my part).. I'm giving you people what you want.. a picture of the baby belly, haha.

Here we are at 16weeks

Brandy put it perfectly: "Isn't it awkward, like you spend your whole life (starting as a teenager) trying NOT to call attention to your weight and your stomach, and then all of a sudden you get pregnant and its like THE TOPIC. It's hard to switch gears like that"

~AMEN to that.. I think that's why its been hard for me to take belly pictures thus far, but I'm switching gears and am ok with taking them now :) Enjoy!

Baby Benjamin

This past Sunday, one of my closest friends, Kellie, had her baby... Benjamin. So yesterday, my mom and I went to visit her at Calvert Hospital. He was born at 1:48am Sunday morning, weighing in at 9lb 4oz, 21in long. He is amazingly beautiful and perfect!!

Me & the little studmuffin

Daddy Benny & Baby Benny

Beautiful new mommy Kellie & precious baby Benny <3

He's just the cutest!

Congratulations Kellie & Benny!!! Little Benny's buddy/girlfriend will be here in February :)

15 weeks ~ Interesting Discoveries

Here we are, 25 weeks to go.. seems so far away!

Every Monday (as I grow into another week of pregnancy), I read about my pregnancy at that week and all the information is so fascinating! For instance: I've been having a stuffy nose for a few weeks now and I figured it was from the weather.. although I've never been congested from the weather before, but I didn't think anything else of it - Why would I? WELL, come to find out:

"Believe it or not, it's pretty common to have a runny or stuffed-up nose during pregnancy. About 20 to 30 percent of pregnant women have congestion without having allergies or a viral infection like the common cold. This condition even has a name: rhinitis of pregnancy. It can start as early as your second month and last until you have your baby or even a few weeks afterward.

Higher amounts of estrogen during pregnancy can contribute to swelling in the mucous membranes lining the nose and even cause you to make more mucus. What's more, the amount of blood in your body increases and your blood vessels expand during pregnancy, which can lead to swollen nasal membranes as well. Other hormones may also play a role."

Wow. I never would have thought that my stuffy nose was because I'm pregnant, but now it all clicks together.

Another interesting discovery I've found is my limbs falling asleep easily - come to find out.. this is due to pregnancy too. It's quite aggravating because I'll wake up several times through the night because my arm/shoulder has fallen asleep. While I'm sitting in the car or at work, my leg/legs will fall asleep, so I'm constantly on the move. Ahhhh! I'm trying to find something that helps but so far, no luck.

Last interesting thing this week, well as of yesterday, I'm pretty sure I felt the baby move!!! I was lying down, trying to take a nap and I felt this odd feeling in my abdomen.. something I'm SURE I've never felt before. It was amazing!!! Surely after that I couldn't take a nap because I was so excited and was waiting to feel another movement.. and I did a few hours later at bedtime :) I definitely look forward to more of this!

Thats all I have for now.. no pictures to post since my camera is dead. I'm putting it on the charger as we speak in hopes I will take pictures to post for next time ;)

Snow Crab Legs & Yoo-hoo's

Yes.. so here we are.. almost 15 weeks into my growing peanut and all I can think about is food and sleeping. My latest addictions that I just can't get out of my taste buds?!?! You've guessed it.. Yoohoo's, Snow Crab Legs.. and sweets of course. Something tells me that I need to get on a better craving track here otherwise I might be giving birth to a whale (I'd still love the baby whale of course, but I don't think that will be easy to recover from).

So, how on earth am I supposed to kick these bad cravings to the curb?!

AHhhhhhHhhh.

And here's a random picture of me & my brother, Jose at the Jack Johnson concert last month (better late than neverrrr) ;)

*Miss Food Junkie

Week 13: Last week of First Trimester!!

What's been going on in the past 5 weeks? Good question. My memory has been a little hazy lately, so I'm going to try to recap to the best of my abilities ;)

Luckily, I was fortunate not to have any morning sickness and am told that I am now in the clear! Wooohooo. Now.. there were a few instances where I got extremely nauseous, but never actually got sick. I'm no where near as tired/exhausted as I was and the constant gas I had has now passed (no pun intended haha). I have noticed I have a new BFF... the bathroom.. I'm waking up throughout the night to go potty and its already begun to aggravate me.. I know this is only the beginning so I'm trying to just get used to it.

I went to my Doctor last week and had gained 2 pounds.. when I feel like I've gained about 10. My clothes are fitting very snug and I've resorted to wearing elastic shorts/pants/kapris, since these are the only thing that really fits and is comfortable anymore. Everything seems to be going right on track though and I've had very smooth sailing so far... for this I'm very thankful. Most women I've spoken to have told me how miserable they were in their first and last trimester.. but so far I have no complaints.. just excited to feel the baby move for the first time and for my baby bump to LOOK like a baby bump instead of just looking fat lol.

Last week I also got a Ultrasound at American Radiology and some blood work done for a Nuchal Translucency Screening (testing to find if the fetus has Down Syndrome or other genetic disorders). My blood work has come back normal and I'm confident that the sonogram results will reveal the same thing. I didn't get this test done because I was worried that the baby would have something wrong with it, I got the test because it was an extra sonogram that my insurance would cover lol. I went alone this time around, Donald doesn't have much leave left for work, so its best to save it up for the future.. like when we can find out for sure what the gender is :-D

Although this was uncomfortable at first for me, only because I had to drink 24oz of water an hour beforehand and hold it and my bladder felt like it was going to explode.. This ultrasound was WAY cool, the baby actually looks like a little human now, not just a blob on the screen(like it did at 8 weeks). It was just moving all around in there too and very active, it was very surreal. The heartbeat was in a normal, healthy range of 153 and the size of the baby is also normal. The woman that did the ultrasound was very nice and pointed out everything to me and gave me some great pictures.

Planning ahead: I will only be getting 3 weeks paid off work for maternity leave, but my bosses (aka mom and dad) have been gracious enough to let me bring in the baby with me to work after the 3 weeks are up until whenever we feel its best to put them in a daycare. When my mother had me, she was out of work for 3 weeks then I was brought in to work with my mom and dad. This is a benefit of working for our family business and I'm very excited (so is my mom) to be able to have the little baby with me at work and taking care of them myself for as long as I can. We're so excited, we already bought a Pack and Play for work :) Now all we need is a rocker here and we'll be set!

Thats all for now.. I'm ending this long post with two pictures. When I'm comfortable with it, I'll take one of myself, but right now I'm not feeling being in pictures lol.

The little peanut, 12 weeks <3

It's Pooh.. we thought this was "gender neutral" ;)

*Miss Quite Simple

8 Weeks and Counting..

I had my first real OBGYN doctor's appointment yesterday and all went great! I had to switch doctors since mine only delivered at Southern Maryland Hospital and (since I live in La Plata), wanted to have the baby at Civista. SO, thanks to some great references from friends I switched to Dr. Barry Aron. I was scared about going to see a new doctor, but as soon as I walked in the door I was at ease. The waiting room was cozy and comfy, the staff was extremely friendly and Dr. Aron was so nice, informative, through and just made me feel so comfortable. They gave me a goodie bag full of prenatal samples and literature... now I'm so confused as which prenatals to take! For the past few weeks, I've been taking Prenatal Plus and a generic DHA supplement but now I'm wondering if I should switch to one of the new samples I've been given... decisions, decisions.

My mom and Donald went with me for our first sono to see the blob and the heartbeat :) Come to find out.. my due date is February 7th (ahem, for those of you who don't know.. this is my birthday).. what are the odds?! I just can't get over that.. out of 365 days, I get pregnant with a due date on my birthday, crazy. What a wonderful birthday present we get to look forward to!!!

My current symptoms haven't varied much from the last post, I'm tired frequently, sore, having some crazy and rememberable dreams, irritable, sometime nauseous but haven't gotten sick (yet), been going to the bathroom a lot more frequently, and I seem to be getting a headache behind one of my eyes everyday lately and its really annoying. I've also noticed that my pants/shorts are fitting a little snug, as if I'm "bloated", I thought this is a little early for this, but I'm hearing its normal. I sure hope so. I'm praying that I won't get any "morning sickness" since I've been okay here so far.

We have thought of names already ;) For a girl = Claudia Lynn. For a boy = Shane *something* lol, still undecided on the middle name there.

This past weekend we spend with my family at the beach house in Calvert County, here are just a few quick pictures:

Dylan, Nikki, Melissa, Rachel, Me, Grandma Claudia, Danielle and Sonia <3

Grandma with all her grandchildren :)

Umm YES, the big kid in the bucket to the right is my boyfriend. Haha

Before our Louisiana crab boil feast

*Miss Quite Simply... Complicated ;-)

Well.. Look What We Have Here

I've been slacking on blogging lately and intend to fix that.. starting NOW. To kickoff this, I have quite the announcement.

I found out last week that... well... I'm pregnant!!!! Shocker right?! I know. Looks like Donald and I are going to have a baby.. wow :) Yes, we're both excited, and so is his daughter, Kamrie. She has been praying for a baby sister, but we will see what He blesses us with. I'm just believing for a healthy, happy baby.

As of right now, I'm 6 weeks, with an approximate due date of February 11th, 2011. Some of you may think this is early to be making an announcement, but we can't contain the excitement and joy and wanted to share it with everyone. I've already been to the Doctor and gotten my blood-work done, so it is official <3>

A few changes in me that I've noticed is that I've been completely exhausted / tired lately, been kinda gassy, easily irritable and have a few sore spots (ahem - Mom's: you know what I'm talking about). Other than that, everything seems normal. No "morning sickness", heartburn or cravings.. yet.

I'm still a bit shocked myself and a little in disbelief, but I'm overwhelmingly happy. I'm so excited for this new journey of being something I've always wanted to be, a Mom.

*Miss Comlicated