Week 12

A big week for us! We had our first ultrasound and got to see the baby! I can't explain how cool that was (melted heart). The little baby was bouncing around and wouldn't sit still for the technician to take some pictures! The tech said we've got an active one, and stubborn too! I guess I'll know more about the activity in the months to come, right? Finally the little one settled down, and she got the pictures she needed. The baby was definitely moving around and bouncing in response to the tech prodding me with the ultrasound thingy (yes, we get technical on this blog). She said the spine looks great (yay!), all the limbs are there (yay!), my uterus looks great (yay!) and the baby is measuring right one time (yay!). She said everything looked really great! I have to say, that was definitely one of the neatest things I have ever seen. What an experience.

I can hardly believe it most of the time that there is really a baby growing inside of me. It still seems so fake! I feel like overnight I woke up and suddenly have a little pot belly too. I'm still feeling good. Hopefully all of my energy will be returning soon. I'm suffereing from insomnia pretty bad, but I'm not even tired during the day, so I must have some crazy burst of energy going on. Talk to me at 7:00 at night though. It's a different story!

I'm alllllmost to the second trimester. It's creeping up on me. Where is the time going??? I suppose when you feel well for most of the first third of your pregnancy, time seems to go a lot faster. What a blessing that was. I'm a little worried about how fast it's going though. I'm so far behind on my reading!


The big developments this week are that the baby now has reflexes. Fingers will begin to open and close, toes will curl (hopefully with delight), eye muscles will clench and the mouth will make sucking movements. This baby is about the size of a lime from head to rump. Wittle guy (or girl).

Is it me, or does it totally look like the baby is pointing? "Yo tech, quit pressing down on me with your ultrasound machine. Yeah, I'm talking to you."

Little Babeski has his/her mouth open in this one. This is Brett's favorite picture.



January 15: Week 12

Week 11

During Week 11 we got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! Wow was that cool! The doctor wasn't sure if she'd be able to find it with a Doppler machine this early, so she didn't want us to be worried, but she ended up finding it right away! Brett was able to record the sound with his phone, but unfortunately blogger doesn't have an easy way for me to upload an mp3 at the moment (I'm mad at you, blogger!).

The doctor appointment went really well. Brett loved my doctor, and we both walked away all gitty with excitement from hearing the heartbeat and getting positive feedback about the journey we're taking. Dr. B. said I looked good, and that everything was going well.

This was also the week that I noticed when getting up in the morning that "Hey, I don't feel like my stomach is burning and turning and all that other nonsense!". I am now feeling decent when waking up in the morning. Sometimes in the midday or afternoon I might feel a little yucky, but things are getting better, not that things were ever horrible for me!

I think my energy is returning too, since when I nap after work, I'll have insomnia at night, so maybe it's too much sleep for my body. That's a good sign. Wow, there are some days when I'm just wiped out though still. I seem to have an internal alarm clock that is the weirdest thing. Every night I wake up at 11:41. I wake up, turn over and go back to sleep. The same time. Every night. I also wake up again at 3:45a.m. for a bathroom break. Same time. I'm on a schedule, I guess.

The baby is the size of a fig and almost fully formed. The baby is also kicking and stretching already too!

January 8: Week 11

We're Making Progress

The tile floor is going in today!

Denver Part III

On the third day of our trip to Denver, Saturday, we grabbed lunch to go around noon, and hit the road to see more sites.

The first stop was a lookout point over Lake Dillon on Swan Mountain Road. Gorgeous.

We did some more driving around and sit seeing, and after that we rolled back into town to see a Colorado Rockies game. Mike and Carrie's place was a few blocks walking distance from the stadium.

Check out those rain clouds over the mountains. The rain never got to us.

After the game we went to a bar called the Thin Man Tavern. This was a pretty neat bar. They offered about five or six differnt flavors of infused vokda. I think I had a mint one with ginger ale and it was pretty good. They also have a solid selection of beer too, or any kind of mixed drink, if flavored vodka isn't your bag. They also had great food, as we got a bite to eat here too. Add the decent food and drinks with funky decor (they have a Jesus theme going on there), and it's a great place to check out.

Week 9

Ahh, already received my first belly pat. I suppose I should get used to that, but still struck me as weird. I guess it depends on who is doing the patting, right?

We celebrated Christmas with our families. Only immediate families and a handful of my friends knew at this point. We decided to keep quiet about our little Babeski until after our first doctor appointment in Week 11.

Still feeling pretty well. Some downs, but mostly up's. Mom is in good spirits. Oh, and did I mention we decided to gut our bathroom and do a renovation project? Yep, that whole thing started in the middle of Week 8. It's been going alright though.

The new resident is nearly an inch long, and about the size of a grape. The essential body parts are accounted for, though they still have plenty of fine-tuning to come in the following months. The baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form - so do the teeth. The embryonic tail is completely gone. Organs, muscles and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there, but indistinguishable for another few weeks. We've got private parts, people! This seems so crazy to me!! The embryo is an inch long!!! How is this possible??? The body does amazing things.

December 25: Week 9

Weeks 7 and 8

Week 7 was pretty uneventful for mom. I had a couple of days of not feeling well at all, but made it through work like a champ. Exhaustion has started settling in. At first I couldn't figure out what women who have been pregnant before meant when they asked about the exhaustion. The general consensus was "Just you wait." Message received. Excitement continues to grow, just like the embryo, which is the size of a blueberry.

Week 8....whoa, watch out. The hormones have kicked in. Mood changes galore. So where did this the anger and rage come from? And my skin? I look like a 14-year old teenage boy. This made me sad, because there is virtually nothing in my bag of beauty tricks that is considered "safe" to use while pregnant to help me. And that glow some people think I have? It's really just sweat from the hot flashes I seem to have several times a day. I will admit that most of the time I am absolutely freezing though. It's the strangest thing. I can't stay warm. Any other women out there have that happen? Then once in a while the hot flash comes on, and in ten minutes I'm freezing again. Crazy, crazy hormones. I'm praying my skin gets better. I'm already getting looks all the time from co-workers who are checking out my stomach, now my face too? I can handle my pants already getting tight; sigh, yes, I know it's early, but keeping a constant line of food in my stomach is what keeps it settled; but the skin thing has got to go. This is the week where all I wanted to say was "Stop looking at me or I will crush your city!" This is not a joke, people. You've been warned.


The embryo is about the size of a kidney bean, developing along.

December 11: Week 7
December 18: Week 8

Pot Pie

Betty Crocker has got nothing on me! The Pot Pie that I made today is delectable!

I can't take full credit though, I found the recipe on Pioneer Woman's website. This is a definite keeper, and what comfort food is all about. It also got rave reviews from the Husband - which means it passed the test.

Sorry about the crummy cell phone quality photo...

Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

1 pie crust (I cheated and used a store bought crust)
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup finely diced carrot
1/2 cup finely diced celery
2 cups leftover turkey, light and dark, diced or shredded (I used chicken)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey broth
splash of white wine (optional)
1 cup heavy cream
Frozen peas (optional)
Fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt butter in a skillet or dutch oven. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until translucent (a couple of minutes.)
Add turkey and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour in chicken or turkey broth, stirring constantly. Splash in wine (you can leave this out if you’d like.) Pour in cream. (May add frozen peas at this point if you’d like.)
Bring to a slow boil and allow mixture to cook and thicken for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste (do not under season), and fresh or dried thyme to taste. Do one final taste at the end and add what it needs.
Pour mixture into a casserole dish or deep pie pan.
Roll out crust so that it’s about 1 inch larger than the pan you’re using.
Place the crust on top of the pot pie mixture, and press crust into the sides of the dish. Cut vents in the top of the crust.
Bake for 30 minutes or until very golden and bubbly.
Allow to cool for a little bit before serving.

Serve with a large spoon.

And try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting!

Weeks 5 and 6

Weeks five and six were pretty average in a sense that not much changed. I still had cramping and severe breast tenderness, but I was feeling pretty well overall.

Monday of week five I met with an RN at my doctor's office. She confirmed that I was indeed pregnant, in fact her words were "Oh yeah, you're definitely pregnant". I'm guessing the results she got showed up within a few seconds too, just like my home pregnancy test. We went through a bunch of paperwork, and received a binder full of reading material.

The nurse told me my estimated delivery date (EDD) is July 30, 2010. I had done a little calculating myself when I found out, and the date I came up with was August 2, 2010. I based my calculations on a 31-day cycle, which I have, not the 28-day cycle so many people assume every woman in the world has. I told the nurse that I had a 31-day cycle, and she looked at me and pretty much said "it doesn't matter". OK, for EDD, I'll give you that. Three days isn't a big deal, it's just an estimate anyway. We'll see which of us is more accurate when they start doing ultrasounds where they can really tell. :wink:

What the Husband and I did was simple. I downloaded an application on my iPhone called Ovulation. I plugged in my menses from the last eight months, and the app told me I had a 31-day cycle. What it also does is point out days of the month it predicts you'll be ovulating. It also uses the Shettles Method in predicting the sex of the baby too. Pretty neat, huh? You can also get technical and track basal temps, fluids and what not. Two months of using this app, and we got our big fat positive. The only reason I'm talking about it is because I found the accuracy amazing, with minimal effort (I didn't do temps). When I told the nurse about it, she kind of gave me the side eye. Hey, to each his own. It worked for us. Maybe it'll work you, or your friends. I love that technology can make my life easier. :-)

Monday of week six was the worst that I'd felt so far. It was mostly a lot of excess saliva, and the feeling like I had to burp, but nothing happening. This all combined with an unsettled stomach. Let's call it nausea. Definitely a saltine and water day. I can handle this though. No complaints from me!

November 27: Five weeks
December 4: Six weeks