I have heard of the "glow" that I am supposed to have when pregnant....but I am not so sure about that! lately my skin has started to look remeniscent of my puberty years!! I am so glad that I have bangs right now because (as it was back then) I have most of my little pimple friends on my forehead. except one doozy that I just have to write about to remember. this one started off as a sore spot on my nose, on the bottom near my nostril. I thought it was just sore from blowing it a few times. oh no. after a few days it began to grow. my goodness.....this thing ended up being huge and puffy and so sore last nite! jeff just had to show it off to our friends. no biggie, just an embarrassment of pregnancy that I don't mind sharing. it still looks pretty awful today, but a lot less sore. at least it wasn't on the end of my nose or something! (knock on wood....don't want to jinx myself at this point).
I have read (on those 'wives tales' sites) that bad skin is a sign of carrying a girl. perhaps because this all seemed to start around the time the peanut's thyroid was supposed to begin pumping out hormones. I don't really believe all these wives tales, but it is just a fun way to guess the gender over the next few months. two ladies at work are also convinced that it is a girl. one because the fetal heart rate was high at 160. the other because I am gaining weight all over, not just in my belly. I am "spreading" as she said. hmm, both true. but we'll see if it all means anything in september!
2008-04-03 (15 weeks)
stockpiling begins! my mom and colin came to our house on their way from florida to new brunswick yesterday. they brought a ton of stuff with them for the peanut!! we had picked out a crib, change table, and dresser online and now it sits in the soon to be nursery in huge heavy boxes. apparently as soon as she heard the news, my mom was out shopping (according to colin) which is typical of my mom's style! and we certainly don't mind. she bought about 40 outfits for all age ranges: 0-3, 3-6, 6-9. my mom wants us to find out the sex of the baby to make her shopping easier! there will be time for shopping when the baby arrives. we also got a really cute winnie the pooh baby-toddler bath, bath robe, slippers, and towel. we are not into the cutesy stuff for the nursery, but these kind of extras are just fine with me. we also got a whole bunch of crib sheets, washcloths, and bibs. the best part was the crib set we had picked out online.....it turned out to be very nice in person! yeah! kind of a modern pattern that is called "orchard park" with apples, birds, and trees on it. it will look great with the turquoise walls and chocolate furniture. now the hard part.....packing this all away for the next few months. we have a LOT of decluttering and organizing to do BEFORE we start working on the nursery. well, at least it is spring now and easier to get work done. time is a ticking and we have a pretty big "to do" list to get to!
2008-03-31 (14 weeks)
heatbeat
jeff and I went for a visit to our family doctor last week. she said the ultrasound looked good....I thought so too!! little peanut! the picture has become my desktop on my work computer. the rest of the visit was pretty uneventful probably since I have had no real difficulties. (knock on wood). I seemed to have sailed through the first trimester with no morning sickness. woo hoo! my thought is that I will pay for that later with the back pain and heartburn (both pre-existing).
the fun part of the visit was hearing the heartbeat on the doppler. very cool. the doctor was able to find it right away. it was neat to hear the baby moving by the sound becoming slightly more faint as the peanut swam away a little. the heartrate was 160. the wives tale says that predicts a girl. I am not convinced of anything. I still have no gut feeling about the gender. and a client of mine just had a baby and did not know until the birthday...she also had no gut feeling what she was having (it was a girl). it's fun to guess....most of my friends are predicting a boy. we will have to get cracking on the name selection again soon. we need to narrow our lists!
2008-03-25 (14 weeks)
first ultrasound I went for my first ultrasound (u/s) last week. it was on the first day of spring, march 20. too bad the weather was nothing spring-like, but that is besides the point. I had scheduled this test to do the screening for down syndrome and spina bifida and a couple other genetic abnormalities. my gut says everything is just fine. but the test was so much fun! unfortunately the car broke down when jeff was on his way and he missed it. but I at least got 2 pictures printed for him. I waited fo an hour and a half with a full bladder....and I am staff at the hospital! jeez, I guess there is no favourtism. then the tech said that I didn't need a really full bladder so I got to take a half-pee. that was not fun. then I waited while she looked at the images, giggled my belly to get the baby to move, and did her measurements. then it was my turn to see!! how exciting!! at this stage the baby is small enough to fit on the screen but not so small that it doesn't look like a baby. I was amazed to see the baby moving around, kicking and moving his/her little arms. and I could clearly see the spine and the brain. very cool for a science nerd like me! after showing the pictures to a few people we have nicknamed him/her "the little peanut" since saying "him or her" is annoying. "peanut" is gender neutral! now I get to blame my loud and constant burping on "the peanut"!
