Week 16

16 w 6 d

16 w 6 d

Where did the week go?!  Between work and studying for the PE, time seems to fly.  It also helps that I had a dentist, OB, and hair appointment this week, which kept me pretty busy.  I had hoped to make a stop by another daycare for a tour, but I had to work later on Thursday when I had planned on going by the daycare.  Oh well, there's still time.  Most places I've talked to have plenty of openings for January 2012.  Even though I'm taking 3 months off, my family has volunteered to take care of the baby through the end of the year.  It helps that my mom works for a college and has the last two weeks off.  My memaw is also volunteering for several weeks, and she is excited.  When she came into town today, she wanted to go by Hobby Lobby to buy yarn because she is going to crochet while she watches the baby.  It would be really cool if she could knit a blanket - my great grandmother knitted me one when I was an infant.  I was still a baby when she passed away, so I don't have any memories of her, so it's neat that I have the blanket as a keepsake (Mom, if you're reading this, I meant to mention that I want to get this from your house).

Someone remind me to close the closet door next week when I take the weekly progress photo...

How far along?: 16 weeks 6 days
How big is baby?: According to What to Expect When You’re Expecting: Started the week as the size of a Avocado and about to be a Onion.

Weight gain?: No gain this week. Total gain is 9lbs.

Stretch marks?: No
Maternity clothes?: I wore maternity pants practically all week, except Monday.  I did find some jeans that are below the belly and has belt loops!  I was able to wear my shirt tucked in and with a belt!  Woohoo.  Thank you Old Navy.  Since the jeans fit so well, my mom ended up buying me another pair of jeans and a pair of khakis.  I'm so excited for these jeans...eventually, I'll need some longer shirts.
Sleep?: I am sleeping very well.  In fact, too well.  I don't hear my alarm or remember turning off my alarm for several snoozes.  I can still sleep comfortably on my stomach.  This week, my dog did not try to steal my body pillow - I guess she learned it was mine!
Best moment this week?: There were plenty of moments!

• At the 16 week appointment, I found out AJ's blood type is O-; we have the same blood type (0.5% chance of two people both having O-).  This means I won't have to receive the Rhogam shot at 28 weeks.  All of our offspring will be universal donors - hopefully they'll take after me and not have an issue with having their blood drawn.  In addition to finding out the blood type, the anatomy scan was scheduled for April 19th!
• At work, the site superintendent gave me a parking spot upfront.  I am very thankful for the spot, and I'm sure when July and August roll around, I will enjoy it that much more.
• AJ assisted the sheriff's department in finding and arresting the people who broke into his work truck and many more vehicles. 
• My grandparents came to town, and I was able to take a quick break from studying to eat lunch with them.  They also placed their bets on the baby (Gender, weight, length, date of birth, and time of birth)

Worst moment this week?: Going to the dentist.  I had some cavities from childhood that were failing and needed to be refilled.  I am not a fan of the dentist because of an incident that happened while my orthodontist was installing my braces - let's just say that lots of pain and blood was involved.  Anyway, I don't like people messing around in my mouth, but I've learned to trust my dentist.  The part that was so bad about the cavity filling was that I could smell everything so well.  The gloves they were wearing smelled like a strong bubblegum flavor mixed with burnt plastic.  Then when they were drilling out the old filling and preparing the tooth, I could smell burnt metal.  I wish the dentist would let me fall asleep (and I could have!) so I didn't have to smell everything.  It's disgusting - if you're thinking about getting pregnant, get those cavities filled now.  The worst part is due to me being pregnant, they can only do so much work, so I have to return for more filling. UGH.
Food cravings?: None this week. 
Symptoms?: None.

Exercise?: 4 days of weight lifting.  My tennis partner was out of town, and then it rained on Saturday.
Gender?: Hopefully we'll know April 19th!!
Movement?: I feel some occasionally, but it's not consistent
Belly button?: Still an innie, but as mentioned previously, less of innie - shallower

What I miss?: I would say chocolate cake, but that would be a lie because some of the guys at work brought in chocolate cupcakes which made me want more chocolate cake.  Let's just say that I gave in - but hey, no weight gain, so it's all good.

Labor signs?: too early!
What I'm looking forward to?: Less than 2 weeks until I take the PE!  My sister's birthday is on the day of the PE, but she's coming into town next Saturday, and I will see her for a dinner, so I'm looking forward to that.

ENERGY!!!

Not that I am drinking Red Bull or caffeinated beverages, but I have my "wings" back as the Red Bull commercial would say.  I feel like doing cart wheels in the yard to express my happiness to have energy...but I am not graceful or coordinated enough to do cart wheels! 

It feels like fatigue has left my body, and my energy levels are back to normal.  I have an extra spring in my step, and I don't fall asleep when I sit on the couch or lay on the floor with my dogs.  My work outs have been better, and I can stay up until 9:30 PM (6.5 hours of sleep...) without a nap right after work!

Hooray for energy, especially with the weather being warmer.  The dogs love it because I come home and walk them.  I love it because my work outs are better, and I  can concentrate during the middle of the week to study for the PE Exam that I take in April.  I hope my energy is here to stay!

Must Resist the Urge...

How often do you see pregnant women in food advertisements?  Never? Rarely?

Why would they have pregnant women in the advertisement, when they must know that those women will crave almost anything they see on tv or in ads! There's no need for appeal or cutesy theme songs, just flash the food on the screen with the words "yuuuuummmm." and you will have me craving something at your restaurant.  Right now, I could really go for Outback's loaded cheese fries, but I am using all my will power to resist!  I also think how awesome it would be to order McDonald's chicken nuggets, Taco Bell chalupa, Burger King french fries, and a Chic Fla La chocolate milk shake.  Next up, some Bojangle's chicken and biscuits, pizza from any major chain restuarant, Krispy Kreme chocolate iced donuts, and an ice cold root beer (Not Barq's because it's caffeinated). 

All I think about is food, so I have to avoid the television so I don't give in (too much)! Maybe in one of my wild and crazy dreams, I can go on a fast food buying adventure to satifsy all of my cravings and wake up not wanting to dash out to the nearest place for their greasiest creation!

Cravings & Aversions, Pet Peeves, and Super Powers

Cravings & Aversions

• Macaroni and Cheese (any variety - boxed, casserole, crock pot, cafeteria style, etc)
• French Fries from Burger King, Chick Fil La,Arby's curly fries
• Fast Food - Taco Bell chalupa, Bojangles chicken and biscuits, Subway Meatball sub, McDonald's chicken nuggets, and pizza (I rarely eat fast food)
• Pickles
• The Big Cheez-Its
• Barq Rootbeer (esp. since I quit drinking caffeine since I found out I was pregnant)
• And for aversions, the local sandwich shop (Pat's) chicken salad THAT I LOVE and all the desserts I made for my sister's bridal shower.  Who could possibly not want to gobble these up, but it made me sick to even think about eating any of it.  Between texture and sweet, I just can't manage.

Pet Peeves

Random, I know...not necessarily pregnancy related, but I just had to get it out!  I guess I get irritated more easily, though I just grin and bear it, well except for the units thing.

• US Customary Units (please, let's use metric)
• People who don't return shopping carts after their use
• People who don't hold the doors for others

Super Powers

Wow, can I smell things...good or bad, I have a strong sniffer.  It's said that your smell sense can be amplified when pregnant, and the experts are correct.  Stinky trash hits me like a ton of bricks even before I open the garage door.  Or when the dogs decide to not go outside and pee on the (faux) hardwood floor.  I almost get sick if I am cleaning it up (when AJ isn't around).  In addition, when people cook yummy food in the kitchen at work, I can't help but get hungry.  People cook bacon, and it's like I instantly know before it's even warm. MMMmmmm, bacon.  Love the smell.  I just hope when the baby is born, the super smelling power diminishes...

So Many Dreams

I don't recall all of the details of the 3 dreams I do remember, but they were rather intricate and realistic feeling.  In one dream, I was chasing after a major suspect who turned out to be a friend from college who is a practicing lawyer (in my dream, I enjoyed the irony of the situation).  She now lives in Kentucky, and when I finally caught her, she was wearing Kentucky Blue and chanting a team cheer.  It felt like a James Bond movie. 

The second dream was me with our baby.  The baby was a boy, and he could not stop giggling and laughing.  I forgot to feed him until 6 hours after birth, but he was still a happy baby.  The funny thing is, I wasn't prepared for him!  I had girl clothes or clothes that fit a 6 month old baby.  I put him in the larger clothing, and he squealed with delight!  Then, who knows who was watching the baby, my family, AJ, and me went to the grocery store to buy baby food (solids...), clothing, and a crib.  Somehow our car broke down but we had a horse carriage and bicycles.  So we forgot to buy anything, and tried to get home as quickly as possible.  We had to climb a road that was rather steep that turned out to be a bridge made of wood planks - the road is from the city I live in, and I knew once we made it up the hill we could make it safely home.  Dream ends.

In the third dream, I am at my parents house (same for the second dream), playing with the baby boy, sharing a bed with my sister.  I finally remember to feed the baby, and I was feeding him Gerber baby foods to a newborn!  Then it was apple sauce with banana runts, and he made a really sour face when he ate the banana runt.  After he was feed, we just laid down in the bed and went to sleep.  Then my dogs decided it was time to wake me up...so who knows what else would have happened!

The last two dreams make me wonder if my subconscious knows something - you know, like the sex of the baby!  Before getting pregnant, I did have a dream about a baby girl, and she had an absolutely beautiful name that escapes me.  In that dream, I realized that I should not be scared of raising a girl (can you imagine what I would do with a girly girl?!?!).  Dreams are interesting though.  In the two dreams I had last night, I was calling the boy "Will" short for "Willis," which is AJ's first name and a name he would like to include in the name if the baby is a boy.  We'll see in 12 weeks or so if my dreams are true in regards to gender - I swear I won't be a forgetful parent!!

Queen of Naps!

Oh how the fatigue has hit me!  I sit down on the couch, and in a few minutes, I am cautiously closing my eyes during commercials and waking up an hour later from napping.  If I decide to curl up with my dogs (miniature dachshunds), whether on the floor, the couch or the bed, I can't help but fall asleep.  On top of 1 hour naps (and sometimes twice as long!), I am still exhausted by 9PM, and crawling in bed and falling asleep by 9:30 PM.

As long as I am moving, I am fine, but as soon as I sit down to relax, eat, or watch tv, it becomes lights out.  I hope the fatigue passes soon, otherwise, I am going to become EXTREMELY unproductive at home.

Death By Broccoli

So I have been trying to eat healthier since finding out I was pregnant.  Lately, I have been adding more raw vegetables, such as broccoli and carrots along with salads.  I ate broccoli several times, in fact every day the first week I found out, without incident.  However, something happened last night.  I am not sure whether it was due to the broccoli being a week old, having too much of it recently, or just a pregnancy reflex, but after  a few bites in, I was gagging on the broccoli.  It wasn't crisp - slightly soft.  So I threw the broccoli out, and I thought that was the end of it.

Well at 2 AM, I had cramping and gas pains that lasted for approximately an hour.  I couldn't sleep, and of course, the cramping had me concerned.  Argh, I think it will be a little while before I consume broccoli again.

Extreme Hunger

I hope the baby was having a growth spurt today because no matter what I ate, I still seemed hungry!

4:20AM - Bowl of whole grain cereal and milk
6:00AM - Serving of pretzels
7:00AM - Serving of Almonds
9:00AM - Banana
10:00AM - Serving of yogurt
11:15AM - Lunch (salad with eggs, cheese, and a side of whole wheat bread)
1:30PM to 3:00PM - 3 clementines
5:00PM - HALF of a Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza with cheese

I expect to eat an apple around 7PM, and hopefully that will be the last time I eat today.  But geeze...every hour?!  I normally space out the morning snacks every 2.5 hours.  It's good food (except the pizza), so I'm not sure why my appetite was so strong today.  Either way, I might need to pack some more snacks for tomorrow just in case. (By the way, definitely no bump/bloat pic today - stuffed belly:) )

Holy Heartburn, Batman!

I have never experienced heartburn before...until tonight!  Not fun, and definitely not comfortable, though I will say it wasn't extreme.  I would say it was a mild heart burn, but it was definitely a persistent burning sensation in my chest.  Luckily, AJ keeps Rolaids and Tums around the house, so I took one immediately.  Let's hope it goes away soon.

I thought what I ate for dinner was rather mild - cheese quesadilla, black beans, and Spanish rice - though the rice did contain a small amount of peppers.  I love spicy food.  Let's hope this isn't the beginning of a love/hate relationship.