17 weeks, four days

Rolling over in bed at night has become a real PITA lately, requiring at least four steps (one elbow up – body up – switch elbows – lower body to bed — wiggle around to find comfortable position). Although I’m sure I’m not waking up every single time I switch sides, it sure feels like I am. Formerly a solid sleeper, I’m now a bit of a twighlight dozer, which isn’t really helping the whole “feeling rested” bit. There are still times where I get irritated and just flop on my back instead of my side — I know, I know, I shouldn’t be doing it, but I’m just dying to feel comfortable – but then I never can really fall asleep anyway because of the niggling part of my brain that keeps poking me awake with thoughts of “oMG you’re gonna kill the bayyyyyybeeee flip over flip over flip over!!!”

(The eyelid goes twitch twitch, twitch twitch.)

Only a few short weeks until we find out whether we’re having a girl or a boy — assuming that the Weetus cooperates and lays the right way.  January 13 is the day!  I’m so excited.  I still feel pretty damn sure that I’m having a girl, but our next door neighbor – a great-great grandmother and true matriarch – walked past me yesterday, eyeballed my stomach, and said, “You’re gonna bring home a boy.”   So, we shall see.

The more I feel the baby kick, the guiltier I feel when I eat crap.  I was proud of myself yesterday for eating tons of fresh fruit and all kinds of veggies for breakfast, lunch and dinner – but I guess that doesn’t really offset the two doughnuts I had on Saturday.  (I said I feel guilty – I didn’t say I always do something about it!)

Thank goodness today is a half day – I think I’m going to sign off, go home, and take a nap with my big ol fuzzy dog.

Happy New Year!

Seventeen Weeks (and POP!)

HELL-o.

But even that doesn’t really give the full scope of how I have popped. This one is better:

(And now you know why I cut off my face in these belly shots – I look like a world-class goober with a camera in front of my face.)

Merry Christmas!

And in other news, I now weigh more than my husband

To: Matt
From: Lucy
Re: Oh no!

Did you have to wear earplugs last night because of my snorings?

To: Lucy
From: Matt

Yes – I put on earplugs and my shooting range hearing protectors and I could still hear you.

To: Matt
From: Lucy

Oh my God in heaven. I am SO SEXY.

Stylin, Profilin

Oooh yeah, baby. Don’t let anybody ever tell you that pregnancy ain’t sexy.

Y’all, meet my new best friend – my belly support apparatus. Yes, it is VERY sad that I am already using this at sixteen weeks along, but frankly, vanity plays very little in my decision making these days. Ze belly has been hurting due to its rapidly expanding size and all the ligaments and whatnot that are getting stretched out, so I figured a little bit of support was in order. (I actually didn’t buy this – my newly post partum sister no longer needed it, so she gifted it to me. I probably would have held out a bit longer if I’d handed over my own cash, but now that I have it, I have no compunction about wearing it at barely four months along.) Unexpected bonus – it helps keep my damn pants from sliding off my ass! Who woulda thought that pregnancy pants had such a problem with staying up?

I wore it to bed last night to see if it would help with the monster stretching pains I’ve been having, and it did appear to make a difference. I still had to get up at 5 am to take some Tylenol to ease the worst pains, but at least I didn’t wake up six times because it felt like someone was taking a hacksaw to my pelvis.

So, sixteen weeks and change. I’m feeling the baby move a lot more these days — the flutters and bubbles are noticeable even when I’m not really paying attention. I’m honestly a bit surprised that I’ve felt her move so often and so early in my pregnancy — according to the wisdom of the internet, since I am a first-time-mom and also a generously proportioned one, I shouldn’t be feeling the baby move for another two or even four weeks yet! Then again, I DO seem to be gestating a wee acrobat (judging by my ultrasounds, anyway), so maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised.

And, I’m off to buy some baby stuff! Happy Sunday!

PS — I don’t actually walk around with big white blobs/streaks on my clothes, although it looks that way by the pictures I post here.  I’m taking snapshots using our EXTREMELY ancient mirror, which is smudged and has paint marks and who knows what else.

Sixteen Weeks (yesterday)

I keep forgetting to take pictures on Thursdays to mark the passage of weeks. Now that I’m feeling so much better, the weeks have just begun zipping by. It’s hard to believe I’m already at the four month mark — nearly halfway through this pregnancy!

So I missed taking a picture yesterday, but here’s my picture of sixteen weeks, one day:

– Lucy

MOTHAEFFIN OWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Seriously, this shit hurts like HELL!

I really am starting to think that the pain is all caused by my uterus ripping through the scar tissue from the four surgeries I had about ten years ago. I’m glad that Ze Bebe is creating space for herself, but OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWW! It doesn’t help that I’m waking up about every two hours at night because of the pain.  Fatigue + pain = suckitude of major proportions.

The one good thing about all this is that it means that the baby is definitely growing like gangbusters. I felt her kick during the day today for the first time – normally I have to be laying down with my eyes closed, filtering out external sounds/sights/sensations in order to pick up on her movement. This time, I was talking to someone at the office about a work issue when all of a sudden – THUNK!  Me so happy when she says hello. 

MAMASITA

Ow ow ow ow ow ow. OW.

Although I remain as lazy as a slug, my Yewt has decided to embark on a strenuous exercise program of cramping, charlie-horsing, contracting and and generally growing like hell.   It all started four days ago, when I started feeling this low, throbbing ache deep in my abdomen.  Gradually, the pains became more frequent and intense, to the point where I woke up multiple times last night, mid-spasm.   At six a.m. this morning, I decided it was time to call the doctor.

Matt and I went in today at 1 p.m. (our first anniversary!  Woot!).  The doctor felt my cervix (high, tight, totally fine) and then waved the doppler around.  “I’m going to look for the heartbeat with this, but it’s still very early to find it via doppler.  So don’t worry if I have to check around for a bit before finding it.”  Naturally, the moment he placed it against my abdomen, the sweet sweet sound of THUMPATHUMPATHUMPATHUMPA filled the air.  Strong, steady, healthy heartbeat.

He didn’t really give us any answers as to why I’m having the pains – it was pretty much a shrug and “I guess everything’s fine” – but my money is either on early Braxton Hicks or my growing uterus breaking through scar tissue caused by my four surgeries for endometriosis (or both).  The Bebe was kind enough to give me a nice quick THUMP’d kick today, which did help reassure me that everything is okay.

Just hang in there tight, wee Babe — no escaping early for you!

Speaking of which, I am an auntie again!  My sister’s water broke early on Friday morning and had her first son just a few hours later.   She was only 34 weeks along, but baby Jack is big (relatively speaking), healthy and already nursing up a storm.  I got to hold him on Saturday, and when I did, I told him “Don’t you be giving your little cousin any ideas, mister!  She’s* gotta stay put for a long time yet.”
Ciao!

MAMA

*  No, we don’t know the sex yet.  I just have a feeling that this is a girl.

Fifteen Weeks

Today, my baby is this long:

.

.

.

Gah. Okay, I was going to be all clever and find a picture of something four inches long, but it turns out that such a picture is hard to find (well, PG rated pictures, anyway). I measured random crap against a ruler to see if there’s any convenient reference point for how long four inches is, but, no. (Um, almost the length of a pen? Slightly longer than one of those mammoth binder clips?)

So. Get out a ruler and measure yourself. Four inches. Wheeee!

My baby is also about as heavy as an apple.

I am as heavy as a house.

Babycenter.com tells me that I should have gained about five pounds by now, more or less. To that I say, HAH. Five freaking pounds? I gained five pounds in the first thirty MINUTES of pregnancy. Noooo, I am instead merrily chugging down the path of a nice 45-pound weight gain. Go, me.

And now, I will end this post because zzzzzzzzzzzzz. So fucking tired.

Oh, wait — first, there’s this:

Bones is totally excited about the new baby. Also, Merry Christmas, assholes.

MAMAAAAAAAA!

Photos!

Firstably, in order to counter Camelia’s contention that my big ol belly in my previous post was caused by me arching my back, I present the following:

Look at that. I am BENDING MY KNEES so that I have no arch, and yet!  Yet! BELLY.

And a regular pose.

Also, a picture taken with my sister a few weeks ago. She was 30 weeks, and I was 11-ish. I think she won this particular belly-off.

Also, I hate her for looking so damn stylin’, even in jeans and a t-shirt.

Last, I have heard tell that pregnant women tend to get a bit of back. Those of us who were already blessed with butts?  Well, apparently the booty takes on new, ever bubblier proportions. I decided to take a picture of myself from the back to find out if it was true.

And…. yeah. I would say that the bubble is in evidence.

MAMA!

14 weeks

My baby may be the size of this:

But I am the size of this:

Holy feck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think I felt the baby move last night for the very first time. I was already 99% asleep when I felt the gentlest, tiniest ripple way down deep in my belly, but it was distinct enough to make my eyes pop right back open. I waited in vain to see if it would happen again, but alas — it must have been the Bebe’s one last kick before falling asleep herself. I’m excited to lay down tonight and see if it happens again!

MAMA!