And the countdown is on...

I am 17 weeks today - at 18 weeks and 3 days, we are finding out what we are having. So, naturally, the next week and a half is going to go by incredibly slowly. But the good news is that there are things going on that create milestones towards that day. For example, this Sunday, Jess and Em and I are going to see a movie. Next Tuesday, my mom is coming into town. Next Wednesday is our holiday office party. See, small steps...

But I totally think it's a boy. We'll see, though! :)

The List

When people find out I'm pregnant, they often ask me what I'm craving and really, it hasn't been too much. Fruit, especially berries and watermelon, occasionally something crazy (like the night I had to have a cheeseburger and an orange Fanta), but all and all, it's been pretty mild.

There is, however, a list of foods that I cannot eat. This list makes me sad because it's some of my favorite foods, however, I'll take not eating them over not being sick, thank you very much. The most updated list is as follows:

Peanut Butter: Okay, I love peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and banana sandwiches. But peanut butter, hands down, the nastiest thing I have ever thrown up, therefore, until this baby is born, I am not risking it again.

Pumpkin: This one just makes me sad. It's FALL! My favorite time of year! Time for pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattes and chocolate chip pumpkin cookies! But nope, anytime I try even a bite or sip of something with pumpkin, Baby Neighbours says, "No way, mom. No way." Sigh. Maybe next year.

Milk: Drinking plain white milk was never my favorite, but now, it's downright nasty. I can still do it in cereal, but that's it.

Yogurt: Every morning, I used to take a yogurt and chocolate milk to work. Now, the thought of yogurt and it's creamy, thick texture is just too much. Chocolate milk was on the bad list for a while, too, but I have overcome that one!

Mexican: See previous posts. :(

Rice: Anything with rice, in general, makes me sick. This includes Chinese food, chicken and rice, broccoli casserole, Tin Drum, etc. Again, don't know why, exactly, but it just does.

Chicken from Chick-fil-A or Zaxby's: Something about the smell...however a chicken sandwich from Wendy's is a-okay.

Time Flies...

I’m now into my 14th week of pregnancy and so far, everything with the baby looks great! About three weeks ago, I stopped throwing up, which is the best thing ever! I still get tired easily and nap quite a bit, but other than that, my symptoms are pretty mild. I have been having back and butt pain, which apparently is caused by the baby being close to a nerve. Who knew something the size of a lemon could cause back pain?

We had the NT scan about two weeks ago and the results from that came back great for the baby! I got some not-so-great news, but we’re handling that well. The bottom line is the baby will be okay and so will I. I’m being treated at the Perinatal Center and with my OB…the sad news is I won’t be able to see Kerianne as much for the rest of the pregnancy and I don’t know what I will do without her! But Dr. Nix is amazing and I feel very lucky to have a team of great medical professionals looking out for me and our baby!

The next big thing is the gender ultrasound, which is scheduled for 12/18. That seems like forever away! Every time I go to the doctor, I hope they tell us, but they always say it’s “too soon”. But it will be a great Christmas present to find out if we are having a little boy or a little girl! What do I think? I think we’re having a boy – but we’ll find out pretty soon!

A confirmation

I have said this before, but last night proved it to be true. Baby Neighbours does not like Mexican food. I thought, well, it’s been a few weeks, so maybe it will be okay. So we went to Chepe’s (the only place I’m sure uses pasteurized cheese) and from the minute I started in on the cheese dip and chips, I knew this wasn’t going to end well. By the time the food came out, I thought I was going to lose it. I tried a few bites, but then I asked for a to-go box. Chris offered to wrap his up, too, but I told him to keep eating. Then, they brought out some fajitas to the table next to us and I literally had to run out of the restaurant.

So, there will be no more Mexican restaurants during this pregnancy. Because Baby Neighbours does not like Mexican food.

Down with the sickness

I am sick. A lot. In fact, last week, I missed two days of work because I was so sick. I don’t like being sick. I realize that this sickness is for the greater good, but man, I will be happy when this passes. They say it should get better after 12 weeks. I hope so. I am on progesterone supplements, too, so once I stop taking those, I think I will feel a lot better. I have 12 more days of those pills, 12 more days until the first trimester is over.

We had the 10 week check up on Wednesday and we’re lucky enough to get another ultrasound! This time, when we saw the baby, it looked like a baby! And oh boy, was it moving! In fact, we got three new pictures, but the baby was moving so much they were blurry. But watching that baby on the screen was so amazing. The heartbeat was strong and Kerianne said she thinks everything looks perfect! We have an NT scan on Nov. 6 and apparently you get some really good pictures there. We have another appointment on Nov. 13 (Friday the 13th!) and then five weeks after than, we’ll have the gender ultrasound! So right before Christmas, we should know if Baby Neighbours is a he or she! And then the fun (i.e., shopping) begins!

Telling your mom that you're going to be a mom is...strange

I wanted to call my mom the day we found out. I wanted to call her at 6:45 in the morning (which would have been 5:45 her time). But I didn’t. Because I was scared to get her hopes up. I was worried (am worried) that something will happen. So Chris and I decided to wait to tell our parents until after we saw the heartbeat. The change for miscarriage drops to below 2%, so we thought at that point, it would be a little more “real”. That’s not to say if something happened between the pee test and the ultrasound we wouldn’t have told people, but, I don’t know. It made sense to us.

The first real challenge for me came on Grandparents Day – Sept. 12. I wanted so badly to call my mom and tell her she was going to be a Nana. I talked to her that day and it took everything in me not to tell her. Then there were the days were I was so sick and she would call and I would put on my telemarketer voice (learned from a summer of selling magazine subscriptions over the phone) and act completely cheerful and normal, even though I thought I was going to throw up at any second.

The day that we had the ultrasound, we took the pictures and had copies made. I immediately mailed them to my mom, with a card and an “Expectant Grandma” pin that I bought in Savannah (I told my girlfriends it was for a lady in my office that just found out she was going to be a grandma – they bought it!). I knew she would get the package on Saturday morning, but then I got worried that someone else would open it. So late Friday night, I called my brother. I told him he had to make sure that mom was the one to open the package. He asked why. I told him he’d have to keep it a secret, to which he asked, “Are you pregnant?” Yuppers – my brother’s a smart one. But he came through for me, making sure mom was the one who opened the package (which she thought was my brother’s birthday card from me and could not understand why Stephen wanted her to open his birthday card.)

Obviously, my mom is super excited. She’s wanted this for years and she is dying to tell people, but she has to keep it quiet for a few more weeks. Of course, her idea of keeping it quiet is telling people that don’t have Facebook pages. God bless her.

That's our baby

We have a heartbeat! A strong, healthy, amazingly awesome heartbeat! The ultrasound was truly the coolest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. But before I tell you how amazing it was, let me tell you how it happens (and yes, this is TMI):

This isn’t the pretty “squirt some jelly on your belly” ultrasound like in the movies. This is a “stick a rod up your hoo-haa” ultrasound. It’s called a transvaginal and they stick this long skinny rod with like an eye thing on the end up inside and move it around. It doesn’t hurt, but it sure doesn’t feel good either. I knew this when I went in, but I don’t think I was prepared for it, really. I mean, the ultrasound tech was so friendly and reassuring, but then all the sudden – wham! She stick in this rod and we’re off. She could have at least bought me lunch first…

But what happened next was the most amazing thing – we saw our baby. There he/she was. Just sitting there, being a baby. And I cried. I cried so hard with our ultrasound tech showed us the heartbeat, I missed it. I could not stop crying and then I looked at Chris. I could see tears in his eyes, which made me cry even more. There was our baby. Our baby. It was magical.

The tech took some measurements and pictures, but then started to pull the rod out. “Wait!” I cried. ”Please show me the heartbeat again! One more time, please!” I made myself stop crying and wiped my eyes. And I saw it. That little flicker going a mile a minute. It was so strong and fast. It was beautiful. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

That’s our baby.