18 Weeks

(Thanks for the cute cardigan, Mom!)

08/24/11

Not too much to report this week. This second trimester thing is a breeze so far. Aside from needing 9+ hours of sleep a night and naps on the weekend (interrupted by leg cramps and getting up to use the bathroom), it’s going pretty great. I definitely am sporting the baby belly now. And I love it.  I’m going to need to go maternity clothes shopping this week. It’s really fun to feel the baby move around every day, and I can’t wait until Andy can feel it too.

We decided on a girl name that we really like. Sorry, we’re not sharing. But we’re still pretty stuck on what to choose for a boy name. At least we have lots of time still. I’ve been poking around at what to put on our registry. There are so many baby things out there, and I’m not sure what I’ll need. I guess that’s what family and friends that have had babies are for.

I’m trying to get lots of rest to catch up from summer camp still. My sister’s family is coming up this weekend, so we’ll have lots of fun shopping and floating in the creek with them. It’s supposed to be pretty hot.

On another note, one of my chickens started laying eggs on Friday, and we joined a CSA this week. So I’ll have lots of fresh vegetables and eggs to eat full of lots of nutrition for the baby. And I’ve heard that what you eat during pregnancy the baby can taste and is more likely to like those things in the future. So bring on the veggies!

Changes this week: Bigger belly, but not too much else.

Cravings this week: Steak,  but I haven’t had any yet.

17 Weeks

08/17/11

17 weeks now, and the baby is the size of an onion. The best part is… I felt the baby move this week! On Friday in the middle of the night I got up to go to the bathroom, and felt a light touch on the inside of my lower stomach. It was pretty cool. I’ve been feeling it a lot more in the last few days. I think I have an active baby in there. It just feels like a tickle mostly.

We had our Middle School camp over the weekend. Let me just say that I’m still exhausted from it. It was tons of fun, but very tiring. I love spending time with those kids, and I’ll miss it during Winter Camp in February. I’d like to stay very involved after the baby comes, though. At camp we floated down the Santiam, hiked to Marion Lake, and tubed on Detroit Lake. I got a good workout manning a pontoon boat on the river. The hike was 5.5 miles round trip, and at the end of the way to the lake, my hip started hurting really bad. Then it hurt all the way down and that night and the next day. It felt like when I strained my hip flexor in high school, only on the other side. So I iced it, and thankfully it’s doing much better. I guess I pushed it a little too hard.

Three weeks until our next midwife appointment and we’ll also be half way to our due date! It seems like it’s going so slowly, but it’s fast at the same time. I just can’t wait to hold my baby.

Changes this week: Movement! And I’m still tired and having to pee all the time, so thing new there. My tummy’s filling out a little more. Everyone at work comments on my belly, and I’m not sure I like it. I mean, I am pregnant, so my belly will get bigger… Oh well. Embrace the bump.

Cravings this week: Ice cream sandwiches 

16 Weeks

08/10/11

I can’t believe we’re 16 weeks along already. It feels like it goes so slow, but then it goes by fast too! Big Baby is now about 4 ½ inches long and 3 ½ oz. That’s about the size of an avocado. He/she is supposed to double in weight in the next few weeks. It will probably start getting heavy soon. My belly’s sticking out now, no denying it. I’m still not in maternity clothes, though. My Bella Band does the trick of keeping my pants up without being buttoned. I can still button them, but it’s uncomfortable when I sit for hours at work.

I think I might have felt the baby move the other day! I was on the treadmill and felt a little something in the lower left part of my abdomen. Then I felt it again yesterday while I was getting ready in the morning. I’m really not sure though, it might have been a gas bubble. It’s still kind of early to feel my first baby. We’ll see in a few weeks if that’s what I was feeling!

I got a pregnancy pillow in the mail this week, and it’s comfy! I’ve been sleeping a lot better since I got it, and it especially helps with my chronic back pain. Andy tried it out and said, “Are these just for pregnant women?” He steals it every morning after I get up.

We’re starting to think about a birthing class to attend. I’d like to either do the Bradley Method or Hypnobirthing, but I don’t think either are offered in the Salem area. So we might have to do something else or a Hypnobabies home study course. I’d rather attend a class, though. We’ll see what we can find. We still have some time. I just want to get good and prepared for my natural birth. I’m actually excited about the labor and birth. It will be quite an experience!

We have our middle school summer camp coming up this weekend. I’m lucky and get to sleep in the house on a bed instead of in a tent. This is mostly because I don’t want to have to deal with getting up in the night 3 times to use the bathroom from a tent, and also because I don’t function on not enough sleep and it makes me get sick. Camp will be fun, though! We’re tubing on the lake, tubing down a river, hiking, swimming, singing, camp firing, etc. Andy does a great job of putting it all together.

Our friends gave us a changing table with shelves this week, and Andy got out all of the things we have so far and set it up. It’s so cute, sometimes I just go look at it 

Changes this week: Bigger belly, I think I’m starting to pop out and look pregnant instead of like I’ve been eating too much ice cream. Still super tired, still having to pee a lot. I’ve gotten a few leg cramps at night, but if I stretch them they go away. I think I’ve gained about 8 pounds at this point, which is funny since the baby is only 3 ½ oz. 

Cravings this week: Gross, but I’ve been wanting macaroni and cheese. I got the Annie’s natural kind, which is a little better than Kraft  I’ve been eating pretty healthy, though. Lots of fruits and veggies.

Bonus: Here's the baby's heartbeat that we recorded two weeks ago at our midwife appointment!

15 Weeks

(I look a lot bigger this week because I tried a maternity shirt! It's way too big still, but I liked the color.)

08/03/11

So 15 weeks today, and Big Baby is the size of an orange. He/she is about 4” long and weighs 2.5 oz. We’re 3/8 of the way there! Only 25 weeks to go. It’s all going by pretty fast.

Summer’s been here in full swing this year. I’m so grateful that it hasn’t been too hot, considering that we don’t have air conditioning. It’s been mostly in the mid 80’s this past week or so, and I think it’s supposed to go back down to the 70’s next week. We had a busy weekend last weekend. We helped our friends move on Saturday morning. I didn’t lift any heavy things, just helped pack boxes in the kitchen. Then our friends Jake and Cassie came down and we walked over to Summerfest, Stayton’s annual summer street fair. It was fun, and everyone from Stayton was there practically. Sunday evening we went to a birthday party and a lot of the guys were playing volley ball. I was tempted to play, but decided not to in case I played too hard or something.

My pants are starting to get tight. I’ve been wearing the Bella Band so I don’t have to button them, but it’s getting uncomfortable too. The problem is that I don’t fit into maternity pants yet, at least not the ones I have. I’m going to have to do some shopping this weekend. My friend Sara loaned me a bunch of clothes, so that’s nice!

Changes this week: I’m feeling much, much better as far as nausea goes. I can’t shake this tiredness though. I have lots of energy in the mornings, but then after I work all day I’m exhausted and just want to lay on the couch. I’ve also been having the worst time swallowing my vitamins. I force myself to do it, but sometimes I gag. It’s no fun.

Cravings this week: In-n-out, but unfortunately it’s about 6 hours away. I haven’t really been wanting to eat sweet things, which is a good thing. I’ve been eating lots of fruits, veggies and protein. It’s funny, because I’ll be super hungry for dinner, then I won’t be able to eat that much and I’ll be stuffed full. Then an hour or two later, I’m starving again. I guess my stomach is getting squished already.

14 Weeks

(I need to stop taking these pictures right after dinner! My belly's not quite this big normally :)

07/27/11

We are now into the second trimester. Yay! Thankfully the first one wasn’t that bad, but I hear the second is supposed to be better. I’m still pretty tired though, so maybe that will let up a bit soon.

Last Thursday I woke up with a headache and went to work. At 9:00 I had to go home because I felt like I was going to pass out and my head was worse. So I slept for a few hours and laid on the couch the rest of the day. My headache didn’t get any better, so at bedtime I finally gave in and took ½ Tylenol and that finally got rid of my headache by morning. I think the whole thing was from our Gold Beach trip and me not getting enough sleep while we were there. I have to take it easy when I can, and going to bed at 9:00 has been working really well.

We had our 14 week midwife appointment this morning. Everything looks good and is right on track. We heard a nice heartbeat. Carol had to take some more blood because one of the tests was a little wonky, so they’re doing another test. It should be fine, I’m not too worried. I don’t have another midwife appointment for 6 more weeks (20 weeks is the next one), but that will be fine because everything seems to be going so well.

We’re just getting so excited about having our little baby on the way! We don’t have any names picked out yet, but there are a few that we especially like.

Changes this week: I think I’m really starting to have a little baby bump. It really shows up after I eat dinner in the evenings. Pretty funny. I’m still very tired, but not so nauseous anymore, which is nice. I’m still having to pee several times a night and at least once an hour during the day.

Cravings this week: I finally got the Thai food that I’ve been craving from the beginning of my pregnancy. It was yummy! Mashed potatoes sound good right now…

13 Weeks

07/20/11

The first trimester is almost over! Saturday marks the first day of the second trimester. I’m glad to be done with the sick/tired/etc. trimester. Hopefully everything will be smooth sailing for the next few months.

This week we went to Gold Beach with Andy’s family, so that was fun. It was especially nice to not have to work Monday or Tuesday. Vacations are needed. Now to catch up on sleep, except we’re doing VBS games tonight and tomorrow night with our Middle Schoolers helping to lead. That should be fun, but I don’t think I’ll get a lot of rest. Oh well, I guess that’s what the weekend will be for.

We’ve been trying to come up with some baby names that we like! It’s kind of hard because of our last name. We basically can’t have anything that ends in “n” (like Owen, Ethan, etc.) because it sounds horrible with Pullen. We also can’t have anything like Ivy because I’m not naming a kid Ivy Pullen. Hahaha. Oh well. We’ll come up with a few that we like and narrow it down from there. We’re probably going to keep the names a secret until the baby is born as well. Sorry for all of these secrets!

It’s funny to hear people’s reactions to the fact that we’re keeping the sex a secret. It seems like people of my parents’ generation are excited about it because most of them didn’t know the sex of their babies. Younger people want us to find out, because most everyone finds out these days. We’re just excited for the biggest surprise of our lives.

We have our next midwife appointment next Wednesday, so hopefully everything will be on track and we’ll have a strong heartbeat.

Changes this week: My stomach is sticking out a little bit, especially after I eat. My belly button is starting to get flat like it was when I was growing up, so that’s funny. I’m feeling less sick by a lot, unless I eat sugar or don’t eat at all. I think I’m getting a little more energy, but still pretty tired.

Cravings this week: Sounds gross, but I’ve been wanting chicken strips/nuggets this week. Hah. And peaches. Yum!!

12 Weeks

07/13/11

We’ve made it to 12 weeks! The rate of miscarriage from this point on is very low, so that’s encouraging! This week we broke the news to the rest of the world. We told our middle schoolers on Sunday and I told Facebook on Sunday night. It’s nice to have the news out and to not have to suck in my belly anymore. We’re almost done with the first trimester! About a week and a half left. This pregnancy is going by fast already.

The baby is now the size of a large plum or lime and is over two inches long. That’s getting crazy. It’s going to start growing really fast. It has reflexes now and is kicking up a storm. I’m very excited to be able to feel that, but it might be a long ways off still. Some people don’t feel it until later in the second trimester. I can feel my uterus getting bigger. I guess it’s the size of a cantaloupe or something now. My belly's starting to show a little bit :)

Changes this week: Morning sickness came back with a vengeance this week. I still haven’t thrown up, but this morning was close. Blech. And I’ve been absolutely exhausted, especially in the afternoon and evenings. I just get home from work and want to crash. I wish I could have naps every day, I think that would help. Oh well.

Cravings this week: Pasta and bland carbs (crackers, etc). I’ve been forcing protein down my throat because I need it and it helps with the morning sickness. But blech.