Hi!
I'm currently eating broccoli soup and writing this blog from our laundry room! It's snowing outside so I figured I'd just hang out in here while I write up this exciting post instead of walking back and forth!
Then I'll wrap up one last present and bake Ryan's favorite, my secret-recipe gluten free pumpkin cake. He always has me make it on his birthday and Thanksgiving, often on Christmas, and on generally every promotion or achievement exciting enough to warrant a cake.
Today marks our last week of the first trimester. We do belly pictures every Wednesday since that starts a new week for us (allegedly) so I decided just to put everything up today, even though it's not officially the second trimester yet... mainly because it's exciting and I feel like waiting 27 more weeks to meet little RuthAnneMarieLouise or JohnJacobRalphEdgar is ENOUGH waiting!
My first trimester definitely lived up to the terror everyone warned me about. I have been nauseous, achey, emotional, dizzy and exhausted this whole time. Meat and eggs have been disgusting to me but I've had to force some down each day to get in enough protein. Vegetables were pretty gross-sounding at first too. Ground beef is fine now as long as it's already cooked and eggs are slowly coming around for me. I am still grossed out by spaghetti squash but my other veggies are okay with me now.
I'm currently eating broccoli soup and writing this blog from our laundry room! It's snowing outside so I figured I'd just hang out in here while I write up this exciting post instead of walking back and forth!
Then I'll wrap up one last present and bake Ryan's favorite, my secret-recipe gluten free pumpkin cake. He always has me make it on his birthday and Thanksgiving, often on Christmas, and on generally every promotion or achievement exciting enough to warrant a cake.
Today marks our last week of the first trimester. We do belly pictures every Wednesday since that starts a new week for us (allegedly) so I decided just to put everything up today, even though it's not officially the second trimester yet... mainly because it's exciting and I feel like waiting 27 more weeks to meet little RuthAnneMarieLouise or JohnJacobRalphEdgar is ENOUGH waiting!
My first trimester definitely lived up to the terror everyone warned me about. I have been nauseous, achey, emotional, dizzy and exhausted this whole time. Meat and eggs have been disgusting to me but I've had to force some down each day to get in enough protein. Vegetables were pretty gross-sounding at first too. Ground beef is fine now as long as it's already cooked and eggs are slowly coming around for me. I am still grossed out by spaghetti squash but my other veggies are okay with me now.
And now, for a belly collage.
We started taking pictures the day of the positive test, in week four, so we would have something to compare with in the home stretch.
I definitely had "disappearing belly syndrome" (especially noticeable in week 9), but then I had rounding and started to show around week 11. Feeling a hard little ball in my lower abdomen is the strangest feeling and I'm looking forward to bending over or stretching and feeling a strange little flicker.
I definitely had "disappearing belly syndrome" (especially noticeable in week 9), but then I had rounding and started to show around week 11. Feeling a hard little ball in my lower abdomen is the strangest feeling and I'm looking forward to bending over or stretching and feeling a strange little flicker.
Lastly, I thought this would be fun to do at the end of each trimester. I snagged it from Natasha's blog and changed it a teensy bit. Since we're planning to be surprised by the gender, I added a few questions of my own at the end.
How big is baby? According to What to Expect When You're Expecting, Baby Bell is the size of a peach.
Maternity clothes? I started stocking up on maternity clothes and baby clothes the day we decided to start trying. I use the $10 coupons Kohl's, JCPenney and Macy's sends out, along with the Kohl's cash my mother-in-law sometimes sends me. I have a full maternity wardrobe but don't need to wear any of it yet.
Stretchies? None yet.
Sleep? I took a nap almost every day, usually for an hour, but my record was four hours! It's hard to sleep on my side since I normally sleep on my back, but could be worse.
Best moment this week? Entering the second trimester!
Movement? A little early for that, but sometimes I do feel a weird sensation all my mommy friends say they felt in the beginning too. Not baby moving, just my body feeling something strange and different.
Labor signs? None.
Belly button in or out? In.
What I miss? Tuna salad, big time.
What I am looking forward to? In the second trimester, moving and beginning to set up the nursery. Big picture? Holding my baby. Holding my baby while eating tuna salad.
Parents.com Gender Predictor Quiz: Boy.
Old wives' tale gender predictions
Morning sickness for girl, none for boy: Definitely having morning sickness. Girl.
Carrying high means girl, low means boy: Can't really tell just yet.
Heartbeat over 140 beats per minute for girl, lower than 140 for boy: 168 bpm at the last visit. Girl.
Craving sweets for a girl, salty or sour for a boy: I've always loved my sweets and I still do, but I'm a heck of a lot more interested in salty or savory foods right now. Boy.
Acne breakouts for a girl, clear skin for a boy: Definite acne breakouts... but only on the left side of my face. Girl.
Hang your wedding ring on a string over your belly. Swings back and forth for a girl, circle for a boy: I don't have a real belly yet so this might now count, but it swung back and forth. Girl.
Chinese Gender Predictor: I used this chart. Girl.
If your age and the year of conception are both even or both odd, girl. One even and one odd, boy: Odd age, even year, Boy.
That's three for a boy and five for a girl.
Gender votes
What do you think? I'll update it as people vote.
Boy: 11 of our family members.
Girl: 5 of our family members, Deanna. Renee.
In other news, Crystal Paine's new ebook, 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life, is still on sale for $.99. Tomorrow is the last day!
Such fun pictures!! I love that you started right away.
ReplyDeleteDo you like miso soup or egg drop soup? It's something relatively light but the eggs are sneaky and don't actually taste like eggs!
As far as carrying high or low, I just read an article that said it depends on height and ab muscles. If you're tall or have strong abs, you carry high, and if you're short or have no ab strength, you carry low. So since you're short, I'm guessing you'll carry low. I'm interested to see!
We figured it'd be neat to compare down the road.
DeleteI do but a certain someone never gave me her egg drop soup recipe! I haven't ever tried making it so I haven't had it in years! Is it usually GF, do you know? I just assume not.
Oh cool, thanks for telling me that! I bet you're right, I'll probably be pretty low. Those old wives' tales are always so silly. I love how if you gain weight only in your belly it's a boy, anywhere else is a girl... what if you're pregnant with a boy but eat Jumbo Jacks (mmmmmmmm, does that not sound DELICIOUS right now?!?!) for every meal and never work out?!
Ahh i forgot! I have it typed up and just need to add the pictures. I'll try and get that up tomorrow!
DeleteYa, those old wives tales don't always work haha Honestly, I don't even remember what a Jumbo Jack tastes like! I know I liked them when I worked there when I was 15, but it's been over 4 years since I've had one! That's weird to think about.
Yay, I <3 Iffy Inklings! And I can add the ingredients to my grocery list!
DeleteTechnically, I don't remember what they taste like either... but I can imagine it, and I imagine it being delicious. I think Jack N the Box was my favorite burger place, or maybe it was tied with Burger King. I never really liked or ate fast food that much back then either so it's kind of hard to say. I just counted back and I've been GF for three years now. Nuts!
"Holding my baby while eating tuna salad." - that is very specific!! Haha :) You are the cutest little pregnant gal ever!! Going to go and pretend not to have baby fever now....
ReplyDeleteI would never actually do that. A) because tuna salad is the most disgusting thing on the planet unless you're the one eating it and B) because I just imagine a sliver of tuna falling onto my poor baby's forehead. Worst mom ever.
DeleteHa ha, thank you! And good luck with that fever! I for one did not escape it unscathed!! =P
Glad to see you are doing so well, Sara!
ReplyDeleteThank you! =D
DeleteLooking good!! I love the Old wives tale things at the end!! I had morning sickness with both, yuck skin for this one but not for Lachy, both salty and sweet cravings, and both boys heart rates have been well over 140bpm! Every ones got their own ideas, its so interesting to hear them! (Although, sometimes you get to a point when you just want to hit the next person who tells you with 100% certainty what your gunna have!) Since the Chinese predictor got both of mine right i'm gunna side with that one and say Girl!! Keep up the good work mama!! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteYeah, I read something recently that said the only reason the old wives' tales stick around is because they have a 50% chance of being true. I probably know 50% of women who agree and 50% who don't ha ha.
But I will say that I did the Chinese Gender Predictor for everyone I know the ages on. It was accurate for every person but me. So weird.
Aww so fun!! You guys must be so excited and I'm happy the icky feelings from first trimester are subsiding. Your tuna salad awaits, hang in there! :) ~ Naples Sara. p.S: thank you soo much for the influenster invite! I did my profile and a bunch of written reviews but don't have any points or badges yet :( boo. Do those get assigned to you? How do I push that along?
ReplyDeleteThank you! I miss tuna salad so much it hurts. It's kind of rude of the universe really, the only meat that sounds good to me right now and it's completely blocked. Jerks.
DeleteUh-oh, I don't know if I'm good at explaining these things so let me know if this makes now sense! On the right side of my profile I see "Sara's Badges" so I'm guessing you'll either see the same thing with "none yet" or something under it, or you'll have something maybe in the middle of the page that says "earn badges" or something of the sort. Badges are mini profiles, maybe 10 questions, so they know which boxes make sense to send you... they have a bride-to-be badge too! Don't feel bad about the points, those don't update until I think midnight the next day, but good job doing reviews because those are a great way to get points! Let me know if you still can't find the badge section. =/
Thanks missy! Great explanation, I was wondering if the point thing would be on a cycle like that, cool I did about ten and added a page so maybe tomorrow something will show up. Personally I use online reviews for a TON of stuff from shoes to dog food and I enjoy writing them when I have time do this should be fun. Hope you get some points for me joining through you too!! :) BTW I can't believe you have SNOW!
DeleteYay, you'll have to let me know how many points you end up with then. I'm always curious because I already had points when they started the new system since I'd done reviews and stuff for so long. I don't think I get any points for inviting other people, that would be awesome!
DeleteI know! We got around two or three inches last night and it is so cold inside today, but just a teensy bit chilly outside. The sun is shining and the snow is already melting! We're thankful for that though, only 2wd for us!
Boo! All in all I did 20 reviews yesterday and added four pages... And still have zero points.
DeleteReally?! That just doesn't seem right! Did you get your badges yet? Maybe you have to have badges for points to show up since that's where they get categorized under... and if so, maybe you should e-mail/Tweet/Facebook them and ask about it. They seem to be pretty good about answering questions within a decent amount of time.
DeleteYou are such a cute pregnant lady! I like your style too. I guessed all of my brother kids genders and were right on all 4 (Girl, boy, girl and girl!) I began guessing many years before I ever even thought about studying medicine, to be exact. Before my sister-in-law was showing I could just tell what she was going to have (I think because of her personality, but I am not sure). When she did finally start showing with the girls her belly was well rounded, large and seem to be 'dropping'. She also gained a lot of weight. Not 'bad' weight but a large amount of water weight all over (breast, face, ankles). With the boy her belly was up high and never dropped. Her back also wasn't as arched like with the girls. Their heartbeats also played a roll in their gender when I was deciding. The girls heartbeats were always high (like mines was when I was pregnant) and my nephew's was always lower. With their first 2 they chose to not find the babies gender because my brother thought I was talking crazy. They have lost 2 babies before they got married and both were girls (as I predicted too).
ReplyDeleteEveryone is different. I knew I was having girl from the start. From the look of your pictures I think your having a girl but boy also ran through my head too. As long as he or she is healthy, that is all that matters!
Absolutely, a healthy baby is the important part! You'll have to let me know as things progress if you change your mind about the gender! =]
DeleteYes I'll let you know! My cousin is pregnant now with a boy. The babies heartbeat is around 140bmp which was the same for her other little boy but was different for her daughter. She has put on weight however I don't think it was because of her pregnancy. She has always been really skinny and small so it has been best for her to put on weight. Oh and I forgot to ask.. are the names you have decided that long or are they combined together because you are unsure yet?
DeleteHa ha, we aren't sharing the names so I make up new ones each time. =]
Delete