Holiday Firsts

We had a wonderfully relaxing holiday season. We were able to spread our Christmas festivities over a three-day period which made for a very stress-free holiday. This will definitely be the annual plan for as long as possible.

This holiday season also brought along a few pregnancy firsts. On Christmas Day we reached the midway point! We’re on the downhill slope now. Also, my belly button decided to peak outside of its cave. The top half popped out a few days after Christmas so now I have a half-innie/half-outie. Ben is already really freaked out by it…this is going to be fun! I was also graced by the presence of my first encounter with heartburn. I don’t know how I have avoided it all these years, but I do believe I am now making up for all that lost time. Oh joy! And finally, the thing that completely shocked me was I experienced my first Braxton Hicks contractions. All of the books say many women don’t ever feel them and even if they do, they are completely painless. Ok, I will concede to the fact that they are not painful, but they are rather uncomfortable. To quote a frustrated Rachel from “Friends” when Ross told her Braxton Hicks contractions were completely painless: “No uterus; no opinion!” Well said Rachel, well said!

This wasn't a holiday first, but I just realized I forgot to mention it in my two-month break from blogging. I first felt the baby move (flutters) at 15 weeks. When we went to Mexico I could feel kicking, but every time I would call Ben over she would stop. But, Ben was able to finally feel her kick at 18 weeks.

Here are my 20 week belly pictures:

Mexico

Is anyone there? Yeah, I know—I’m a bad blogger! Hopefully, once the baby arrives I will feel like I have more to share.

Now to play catch up…

Ben and I took a wonderfully amazing trip to an all-inclusive resort and spa in Mexico in the beginning of December. It was my first time out of the country and my first flight on a commercial airline (says the daughter of a pilot)!

For the most part we had a wonderful time doing nothing! We sat on the beach under a cabana being waited on hand-and-foot for two whole days. Bonus: On our second day of lounging we had front row seats to two weddings! You can see one of the weddings taking place just beyond Ben's feet. Ben wasn’t really that impressed…I guess it’s a girl thing.

Later, we took a full-day guided tour of the ruins at Chichen Itza. I thought this was absolutely going to be the highlight of the trip, what with my obsession of history. However, after traveling for three hours and listening to our tour guide try to crack jokes for three hours straight we finally stopped at a little shop and that was when we learned that we would not be eating lunch until 4:30 in the afternoon. Um…what?! People, we ate breakfast at 8:30—you cannot expect a pregnant lady to abstain from eating for 8 hours. Needless to say I was a little panicky when we finally arrived at Chichen Itza. After listening to our tour guide talk about nothing for 20 minutes in the sweltering heat, Ben and I decided to live on the edge, break away from the tour and go EAT!!! After we ate we conducted our own tour, which was fabulous! At the end of the day, we decided we had a much better time exploring the ruins on our own and it was pretty fabulous!

Ben and I consider ourselves to be extremely blessed to have been given this opportunity (along with many others). We can't wait to go back--that is, if we can ever afford it!

Oh Baby!

We had our second ultrasound yesterday. There is actually a baby in there...not just a bubble! The purpose of the ultrasound was to measure the back of the neck as the first part of a series of tests that screen for Down Syndrome. When the technician was doing the test, she said what she was seeing was a textbook example of how to measure. She said babies rarely get in the perfect spot, but ours did! She even printed out an extra copy to turn in when she goes for her recertification. Yep, that is definitely my child...already trying to be a perfectionist!

It was so much fun to watch the baby move around! The only bad part was Ben wasn't able to make it because he had to out of town for work. I seriously wanted to film the screen on my phone so he could see the movement.

The heartbeat was 162 bpm and the technician said she *thinks* it is a GIRL!!! Yeah, I've been thinking this entire time that it was a boy. Anyway, the baby cooperated rather nicely by showing us her "good" side. It is still a little early to be 100% positive, but it looked pretty clear--by the way, now I'll feel really stupid when we find out in December that it really is a boy! But until then, I'll go on cautiously thinking it is a girl!

P.S. I promise I have a head!

10 Weeks

Not much of a belly change from last week, although I think it may be slightly smaller this week. But that could be due to the fact that I was wearing the only pair of pants that actually fit today! It is rather nice to be able to button your pants and actually breathe at the same time.

On another note, the emotional part of pregnancy has definitely kicked in. I spent 40 minutes sobbing today because my math test wouldn't print correctly. I fixed the problem after 5 minutes, but it upset me so much I cried the rest of my planning period. And I don't mean I had tears trickling down my cheek. Oh no, this was a full fledged sob fest! My friend was in my room trying to comfort me and another one of my friends from across the hall came to my room and closed the door because I was crying so loudly. I could have probably cried for a few more hours over that printing mishap, but I had to pick up my kids. Ridiculous, I know!

Finally, the exciting news for the day--we heard the heartbeat! 140 bpm!!

Hmm...

I think there is something in there! People at work are starting to give me the "are you pregnant or just fat" looks, but I can't officially make the announcement until our next faculty meeting in two weeks.


I know it doesn't look like much, but those of you who know me know that this is a pretty significant baby bump for me! Yay!!

One Baby On Board (Phew!)

Here is the first ultrasound picture of our little peanut! Right now I am 7 weeks 1 day and the baby measured 6 weeks 6 days, so slightly behind, but nothing to worry about. We saw the heart beating...amazing!!! 126 bpm!!

Sharing the News

Here are some pictures of the day Ben and I shared our news with my dad and bonus-mom. We gave each of them a bib that said "I love my grandpa" and "I love my grandma." Their reactions were hilarious!