17 weeks

We went to our 17 week OB appointment today and things are on track and where they should be. Besides giving some blood for the AFP screening, it was pretty routine. I'm up 5 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, which is actually a little more than I was expecting...although I don't know why, given all the ice cream I've been eating lately :P

We also got to hear the heartbeat again and Brad got a little video to share:

Here's also a little tummy status photo I took this morning as well:

17 weeks

One thing we did realize with this doctor visit, is that we don't really care for the OB I've been seeing. I don't feel comfortable asking her questions because I feel like she's bored hearing them and answering them. And she just stares at me like I'm stupid while I'm talking...which is not exactly the relationship I'm looking for during all this! I'm scheduled to see the other OB in the office next month (the woman I actually originally selected as my OB) and so hopefully we'll mesh with her better. She's younger and I'm hoping not as jaded. And if that doesn't work, we'll have to start looking because I'm sure as heck not comfortable talking about a birth plan with an OB that got defensive and strange after my question about the success rates of natural child birth at the hospital where we are currently supposed to go for the birth.

After seeing the documentary Business of Being Born and playing on feelings I've had for a long time about current birthing in the U.S., I'm very concerned about not getting railroaded into making choices that are unnecessary or not what we really want. The problem is that my insurance is both good and bad. Great if you want a 'normal' hospital birth (the entire pregnancy and birth would cost $300), but my options appear to be pretty limited for other alternatives. I did find out that the insurance covers midwives within my network, so the next step is to find out if there are midwives in my group and then whether the insurance also covers any portion of a home birth. So we'll see! I'll let you know what I find out and what we decide to do!

Food

I've been planning a food post for awhile to talk about what I've been eating (as well as the things I probably shouldn't be), but food has taken a turn in the last week. I'm now at 17 weeks and while I missed the serious food aversion stage associated with morning sickness, its settling in really good now.

The problem is Brad and I are food planners. We generally go to the store on Sundays and get our groceries for the week. The problem I'm facing now is that what I want to eat (and what sounds really gross) changes day to day. Its impossible to plan anything beyond a day or so for fear that it will end up sitting in the fridge untouched. The only really solid thing I can count on in my desire for ice cream. So, we've started shopping for just the basics and nothing more, then deciding each night what sounds good. It means many more trips to the store and not as much from our local co-op, but its the only option right now.

I've also had random cravings for comfort foods; grilled cheese and tomato soup, chili and corn bread, just to name a few. And boy have they hit the spot! I thought I was going to explode from happiness when we had chili the other night - so good! (This may be the best side effect of pregnancy! I mean, I'm a food person, but man, it has NEVER tasted this good...at least when I'm getting what I want, otherwise, its quite a challenge to keep from gagging when I have to eat something that I don't want.)

Now what makes this food issue more of an issue right now, is that in my latest email from Baby Center, it mentioned that Lloyd's going to be doing a whole lot of growing in the next few weeks - doubling in size! So, I'm more concerned about making sure I'm eating the best I can nutritionally for the next few weeks. I know my body is making sure that Lloyd is getting everything 'he' needs from what I am eating, but I'm pretty sure a Happy Meal is not a wise choice at this time (which sucks because they have really good toys right now!).

15 Week Photo Update

I know I've owed an update for a while and I still have another post I'm drafting about food, but before this photo is painfully old (I'm already at 17 weeks tomorrow), I thought I better get this up now!

This is a belly progress shot from the Sunday of my 15th week.

15 weeks

Nothing too dramatic, but you can see the difference when you compare my tummy to my bust line with my 9 week picture below.

9 weeks

I think last weekend was also my last weekend wearing my casual pants 'normal'. I have a Bella Band and was resistant to try it out because I thought it would just be too tight and I really didn't want another layer of something around my middle in summer weather. But by Monday evening my belly hurt from my pants so much that I put it on. All I can say is - wow! It wasn't constricting at all and actually felt good after being pinched all day with my pants fastened. I was able to wear these same pants with the zipper up, the buttons undone and the Bella Band on top folded in half. I can already see this is going to be a wardrobe staple, so I should probably get more than the one black one I currently own. I also found a tutorial on-line where you can make a similar thing, but it just doesn't look like it would hold things up as well and it looks unfinished to me (I don't have a serger, so the edges would be zig-zag stitch, which I think it kinda rough looking). Either way, I'm already looking forward to wearing my jeans on Friday with my Bella Band. I know it will be way more comfortable than last week!

Jenny's treat from 'grandma'

Jenny got a special little treat from her 'grandma' Lori from the natural pet store.



I do think she likes it!

Week in Review

Last week was a big week on several fronts. First and foremost, on Tuesday we had our first OB doctor's visit and we got a chance to hear Lloyd's heart beat for the first time. Yay! It was so fast and brought into question exactly what species I was carrying in there ;-) I was so relieved to hear that little lub-lub and it really did cement that this was in fact happening and there is a little person growing inside me at this very momment.

Then, right on queue, I started showing. We both really noticed the change on Wednesday night. I'm far from huge or anything, but I can no longer suck in my tummy and except for the normal layer of padding that's always there, my stomach has a firmness to it now.

On Thursday, not only was it Brad's 35th birthday (wow!), but his folks flew into town that night for a long weekend. We had a really yummy sushi dinner at a fairly new local sushi bar then picked them up at the airport around 9:00. The next few days were a whirlwind of building up dressers and shelves to help us stretch the usefulness of our condo for the baby as well as gathering other things to keep us organized. We're still in the process of moving everything into their new homes, but I'll be sure to post photos of everything once its all shipshape. I'm really excited to continue to get things organized and cleaned out, so that the next few months I can just concentrate on making things...because there are a lot of things on that list!

So...Sleepy...

Today has been a tired day. I can't seem to shake it and even after my lunch nap, its been rough. Fortunately, I've been able to just plug away on a project at work with no big rushes or demands. But, sheesh, I just want to go home and sleep. I am, however, going to try and be good and take myself to the gym after work. It will be harsh to get over there, but I know once I finish spin class, I will have a lot more energy and will feel better. After all, I do have one more 6am work day this week.

ETA - apparently it helps to actually bring your gym bag to the gym! I must have really been out of it this morning - not only did I leave it on the dining room floor, I didn't even realize I'd forgotten it until I got to the gym parking lot and discovered my empty trunk!

11th Anniversary Weekend

This weekend we celebrated our 11th anniversary! I talked about about it here, but I thought I would talk here about what we actually ended up doing! We got up bright and early on Saturday, fixed breakfast, then headed over to the San Diego zoo. Since it was earlier than when we normally go, we got a chance to see some things we normal don't. Most of the big cats were out, including the huge jaguar as well as most of the bears. We got a peak at the new tiger cubs, too. We also walked a lot more of the zoo...almost the whole thing. By the time we were done and had lunch, I was exhausted.

(Brown Bear enjoying a dip in his pool)

This was compounded by the horrible night sleep both of us had the night before (although, I have a sneaky suspicion that I was responsible for Brad's sleep issues that night). I was tossing and turning after continually awaking from very vivid dreams. Besides 3 trips to the bathroom, I finally had to get up and eat some cereal because soon I was too hungry to go back to sleep. That helped a lot and I finally got some rest, but I was still awake by 7:00, only to find Brad was already up.

(View of the sky from under our tree at the park)

Today, our anniversary, we headed to the park - of course! It was a perfect park day and the soccer people who had taken over our little nook of the park were finally gone, so it was back to normal. Yay! We also went out to eat tonight at Toro and I was able to fake my sushi craving with a couple rolls that don't have raw fish in them. After that we headed to Maggie Moo's for an ice cream splurge. We've got a movie to watch now which should round out the night quite nicely :-)

All in all, it was a lovely anniversary weekend and we were fortunate to have been able to spend the whole weekend together!