Monday, September 2, 2013

Preggers I: 18 Weeks

Pregnancy Update - 18 Weeks.

Right when hubby and I were taking our weekly picture, Lexie came over and meowed at me.  She clearly wanted to be included in this week's picture.  :-D


I'm not really comfortable wearing tight pregnancy shirts in public yet.  I feel like the "baby bump" isn't really a noticeable BABY bump yet -- it just looks like a bump.  A lower stomach, bigger-than-I've-ever-been-before-and-don't-fit-in-my-clothes bump.  This weekend, however, I wore my MICHIGAN "Quarterback in Training" shirt... which is tighter than most things I've been wearing.  Here's your view of the actual bump that I've been hiding under baggy tops and dresses.


How far along? 18 weeks
How I am feeling?  Pretty large, and exhausted from working, but happy to be with my hubby.  The very little I've had time to read about pregnancy at 18 weeks, I guess the baby is on the cusp of a growth spurt, so I guess I have to get used to feeling large week after week.  My hubby is so wonderful, though.  He tells me just about everyday how beautiful I look, and how, the bigger I get, the more beautiful I'm going to look.

Weight gain/loss:  Weight gain... about 5 lbs.  At the Doctor's office, I take my own weight on their scale and then have to report the numbers to the nurse when they call me back.  I had to resist the urge to not knock off a couple of pounds when she asked me.  You know, like at the DMV office when they ask you your weight for your driver's license -- I ALWAYS knock off a few pounds.  At the doctor's office, though, I was honest.

How big is baby? The size of a bell pepper.

Sleep:  I only get up once or twice a night, but I have a really hard time falling back to sleep.  When I come back to bed, I find myself thinking about work and all the things I have to do the next day -- even though all these things are written on my TO DO list, and I'm not going to forget to do them, I still stay awake for 20-60 minutes after coming back to bed.  :-(
Boy/Girl Prediction:  We heard the baby's heartbeat last Friday, which was SO wonderful.  Both hubby and I were there and the Doctor measured 160 bpm.  I immediately said to Chris, "That could mean that it's a girl!"  (I was thinking of the old wives tale that says that girls heartbeats are faster than boys -- girls are in the 160s, boys are slower.)  Hubby immediately responded by saying, "No, way.  That sounds like a train.  A big, strong, masculine train."  Time will tell, but we're having fun making different predictions.
Baby Nicknames:  Nugget, or Baby

Best moment this week: Going to the doctor with Chris and getting to hear our baby's heartbeat.  We also made our appointment for the next ultrasound where we'll get to see our baby again -- and when we COULD find out the gender.  We are planning to NOT find out the gender, but we're getting excited about the appointment anyways.

Food cravings: Spaghetti.  On Saturday, I had fixed myself a bowl of spaghetti by 9am.
Missing:  This week, I missed the concept of a glass of wine at the end of my long work week.  But I found that grape juice in a wine glass did the trick.  I also missed a beer with the season opener of University of Michigan football game.

Maternity Clothes:  Mostly.  I'm still in that weird in-between phase where a lot of maternity things are too big -- or its not cold enough for the maternity clothes I have.
Movements:  None that I've felt yet... but any day.

Labor Signs: No.  Thank goodness!

General Attitude:  So relieved that we got a good report from the doctor.  Really exhausted being back to work at my traveling teacher job... but also trying to pray through my frustration and exhaustion.  I don't know how long I will work, or how long I will work at this job -- it may be from now until retirement -- but I don't know that.  I need to be grateful for this last season where I can focus so wholly on my students without the distraction of prioritizing my own child.

What I am looking forward to this week:  No school on Monday!!!  I still will be working all day, but FROM HOME!  :-D  Also, I really should be feeling little baby flutters any day.  Maybe this week will be the week.

Milestones: A colleague, who didn't know I was pregnant, told me I was glowing this week.  We hadn't seen each other since last school year, and when we greeted each other she said, "You look great.  You're glowing!"  I'm going to have to remember that as a very sly way of sort of asking if someone is pregnant.  When I told her that I was expecting, she was so excited.  Also, I don't know if this is a milestone, but several colleagues have told me how great I look, and how they can't really tell I'm pregnant yet.  It's nice to hear when I feel so big.
 
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1 comment:

  1. My mom used to work as a midwife and she says the heartbeat-predictor is not an old wives tale and that it's almost always right! However, it only works in the last month or so, right now the baby's heart just has to work really hard so it's bound to be fast ;)

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