6.24.13

Wowza; its been awhile.  Not sure why I've been such a stranger to the blog except that we've been super busy working on the house, which has been drainingly exhausting but super crazy amazing in pretty much every other way.  Its really starting to take shape & become our own.....and I'm loving the way that's making me feel.  I don't know if Feng Shui is a real thing or not but if it is, its definitely coming into play because as we get more & more things done & finally "right", its really beginning to feel fantastic when I look all around me in here.  Of course there are still paint cans & sandpaper in my field of view.....but we have come so far & done such a fab job & I'm just loving it all.  Yay us for being such a great team:)

ANYhow.......I hit 14 weeks (+ "lemon" status) tomorrow!  Can you believe it?  I feel like I *just* peed on the stick....and now here I am, cruising right on into my second trimester already.  Seriously.....whhhat an amazing feeling.  We get to see Dr. Heinzel again on Wednesday morning, so that'll be fun since we should get to listen to baby's heartbeat again.  

::insert warm fuzzy feeling here::

:)  :)  :)  :)  :)

I'm not really getting a huge vibe re: boy vs. girl yet though most people seem to think I'm having another girl so far from what they've told me;)  I'll have to do a poll on here again like I did with Stella's blog once I get a little bit further along.  The sad thing is that I can't be sure if baby was conceived at the end of March or on the first day or 2 of April....so I can't even consult the Chinese Gender Predictor chart this time.  Boo!  Ah well; I'll have to do that thing where you swing your wedding ring over your belly or whatever it is & see what the results of that turn out to be this time instead;)

I actually can't believe that I haven't told the whole world yet......but I've done really good & have just been telling people as I see and/or talk to them.  Its been so much fun getting to do it this way rather than just totally informally all at once on FB.  I have a few more people I'd like to see/tell in person & then I'll blurt it out for the rest of the world via some kind of a cute belly pic and/or "Big Sis" pic of Stell Bee.  I still have yet to figure out the creative aspects of that but that's on the asap TO DO list....so, with a little luck, it should be accomplished before long:)

6.12.13

So I reached the ever-elusive 12-week mark yesterday & ooooooh how glorious it felt:)  I remember taking my test & thinking that "June 11th" felt like it would take FORever to arrive.....but it was here before I knew it!  The first tri has been flying past much more fluidly than I thought it would & I'm so grateful for that. Plus summertime always flies & my beloved fall never lasts as long as I'd like for it to & always gets interrupted with an overabundance of Christmas shopping .....so, really I'm thinking baby will be here in our arms basically before we know what hit us;)

Stella talks about baby regularly now & its the absolute greatest...

"When we get all of the baby stuff out, me & Mouse will teach the baby how to use it!"

"Mouse would like to share the changing table with the baby, if that's ok?"

"I want a baby sister but I'm thinking it must be a boy cause...you know, I'm a girl."

She's so flipping cute.

I really need to update this blog more regularly with all of the sweetness that comes out of her mouth:)

Oh!  And I found out last weekend of yet ANOTHER dear friend (and family member, actually!) who will be birthing a little bitty friend for our peanut just about a month after ours gets here. That makes 5 of us now so far!!  I can't even believe that baby is still in utero & already has this fabulous, built-in playgroup already in place!

:)  :)  :)

6.4.13

I feel like its especially important to document that yesterday was the first day that Stella started to incorporate the baby into her drawings.

:)  :)  :)  :)  :)

I feel like its finally started to sink in for her & she's genuinely starting to get really excited.  And BOY....what a fantastic thing that is to witness.

She also told me that Christmas is "waaaay too long to wait".

I can't say that part of me doesn't agree with her;)

Oh & by the by.....

Today marks the start of Week 11 for me & baby has officially reached LIME status:)

6.3.13

These past few days have been super exciting & its been so much fun.  

After we had heard the (gloriously beautiful & perfect) heartbeat, we told my parents our happy news.  Mom looked so totally floored & it was so awesome.  She couldn't believe how baby-like the lil bean already looks on the ultrasound picture.  You can really make out so much; the head, the back, even the femur!  Such totally amazing stuff.  Of course she wanted a copy for her fridge;)

Then we fed the ducks down at the lake with Stella on Saturday morning & it just felt like such a happy moment & the perfect time to tell her.  First she jumped up & down at the news, then ran all over the place, then proceeded to peek down my shirt in an effort to see the baby.

The logic of a 4-year old is seriously the cutest ever.

She's told us a couple of times that she's kind of hoping for a sister but that she "thinks it might be a boy cause, you know...I'm a girl."  Hehe.

And now the hunt for the cutest BIG SISTER shirt ever officially begins.  Or maybe I'll create an original one for her myself somehow.  That could be fun.

I'll also need to figure some kind of a cool way to reveal the news on FB.......eventually.

:)

5.29.13

I'm not gonna lie.....

I was totally excited/counting down the minutes til my appointment today but as the day wore on & 3pm crept closer, I actually started to get kind of nervous...

I mean, up until this I was basing all of our excitement/information on a pee-on-a-stick test.  I hadn't even had a chance to have a blood test done, like I had around week 6 with Stella.

But......as most worrying turns out to be, all of that was for nothing because my appointment couldn't have been more wonderful:)

Dr. Heinzel was just as fabulous as ever.  He made us feel so welcomed & cared for & relieved & happy & just...all-around good.  He told us that he's thought of us often & wondered how we were doing (on our fertility journey) & when he would be seeing us again.  I told him that I was still so sad that his shift had missed Stella's delivery (by 7 minutes!) & he promised me that he would be the one to deliver this one, no matter what.  I told him how strongly I had considered The Birth Center but that I just couldn't bear the thought of him not being the one to care for me through the pregnancy...to which he replied, "Don't worry; I'll be your midwife.  It'll just be at Lankenau.  You can go natural with me.  You'll heal so much quicker too.  It'll be great!"

I just adore that man.

And that baby!  There he was....flipping around all over the place, his little heart flickering away on the screen.

*Magic* doesn't even come close to describing:)

NOW its really real.  

And I just feel so overwhelmingly blessed.

xo

5.28.13

Little Bean,

Well, BabyCenter.com says you're about the size of a kumquat now & theBump says you're a prune......but all I know is that I've hit the 10-week mark as of today & I couldn't be happier:)

Double-digits!  Now this is getting to really feel real.

I can't help but start to wonder what you are......

I don't really have a 'feeling' yet, as to whether you're a boy or a girl.

Hopefully I'll get that feeling before long.  I was right last time, so I'm hopeful that I will be again:)

I can finally say that our first appointment with Dr. Heinzel is TOMORROW (!!!)......& that is the most exciting thing of all.  I'm sure I'll have lots more to report after we see him, so I'll keep this one short & sweet...

Stay cozy & safe in there.  I love you so much already....

xo
Your Mama

5.26.13

So I hit the 9-week mark this past Tuesday, which was awesome.  Baby is officially a green olive now:)  Symptoms have kind of escalated the past few days, which is kind of strange...but again...kind of nice at the same time, since I always feel like being symptomatic somehow must mean that everything is still going OK in there.....

First off, I feel like my belly has already popped!  Not hugely, of course.....but its definitely there.  I didn't really start to show until my 5th month with Stella so this was kind of a surprise!  And though I could've buttoned my jeans this week, I opted to leave the button undone & smooth them out with my fancy schmance new bella band.  Soooo deliciously comfortable.  So I've kind of been going with that for the past couple of days.

Also:  I had read something about "pregnancy rhinitis" awhile back...aka...allergy symptoms that come on simply because you're pregs (not actually allergic to anything)...and, lo & behold, I think I've got it!?  2 nights ago I was practically in tears from the amount of sneezing & nose-blowing I was having to participate in.  It was absurd.  Nevermind the fact that RJ & I were watching a movie and thin watery nothingness was literally just pouring out of my nose & down my face without warning.  So totally bizarre & kind of gross.  Better than morning sickness symptoms, though.......I'd have to imagine...?  So, really, I figured...I shouldn't complain.

Then...last night I felt like literal poo.  Again, just kind of out of nowhere.  Belly aching, head aching, feeling like I could hurl but never actually hurling......just yuck all over the place.  Not sure if it was morning sickness finally rearing its head or what but ew.  I was in bed by 8 and even the couple times I woke up during the night, I still felt gross.  It didn't really pass until I woke up.....then it came back as a crazy monster headache at Target around 10am.   

The rest of the day today I mostly felt ok...but still these weird twinges of nausea would kind of come & go.

Maybe I shouldn't have assumed so soon that I was off the hook with m/s again this time.....cause, um......apparently not.   Lol