Well, it's been really exciting this past week.  I have noticed so many changes!  I am no longer nauseated all the time and I sleep well at night... well, except for the many bathroom visits.  A big change is my eating habits.   I eat more and I hold it down.  I try to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables as well as drink plenty of water.  There is always a debate about whether or not caffeine is good for you during pregnancy, and I've been told that a moderate amount is ok... but it doesn't matter to me because caffeinated soft drinks and coffee make me sick.  I like sprite... and tea is ok too.  So too much caffeine is never going to be an issue.  I also notice that I can tell when I need to eat and when I need to sleep.  It is an interesting change because before I was just nauseous all the time.  It is also interesting that I actually have to get up at a certain time in the morning to eat something in order to feel my best for the rest of the day.  If I get up too late and therefore eat too late, then my day gets started on the wrong foot.  I can't skip breakfast at all... and I can't wait to eat... I have to eat at certain times throughout the day.  I also have to make sure to have enough snacks throughout the day.  These changes are intriguing.

Another exciting change is that I am starting to show a little.  It is so exciting!  I am wearing maternity clothes... I mostly need maternity pants than anything else because I can't wear pants the way I used to.  I can no longer have anything that is too tight around my belly.  In fact, just a little too much pressure on my belly is uncomfortable and sometimes painful.  So I am wearing maternity pants in which the top rests UNDERNEATH the belly.  It is also weird to feel around my lower belly which is firmer now due to my uterus.  It is exciting!  I now have something readily visible on my body that is a sign of the miracle inside me !!  I enjoy laying my hands on my belly and talking a little to my baby... Chris loves to kiss my tummy.  He is away at Arkansas right now (he was home briefly for the weekend), and when I talk to him on the phone he gives me a kiss and then says "And one for the baby" and gives another kiss.  It is so cute!!!  We have thought of a boy's name that we both really like... Caleb Michael.  Now to find a girl's name... and then it'll be exciting when we find out if it is a boy or a girl!!!  Anyways, my body is telling me that I need to go lie down. 

Chris and I had another fight yesterday.  He just really does not understand the concept of "depression" or my mood swings because he kept treating it as if it was something that I just needed to "get over".  He does not understand that it isn't really something I can easily help right now... especially since I am extremely hormonal and my moods go up and down so easily (which they were doing yesterday).  I guess it frustrated him that I would be having a good time but then all of a sudden I would be depressed and saying depressing things.  It frustrated me too to not be able to get over being depressed.  Finally, he understood and stopped yelling at me to just "get over it".  After that we had a very pleasant night... which is good because he had to leave today for two weeks for a training in Arkansas so I'm glad we parted on good terms. 

I was also upset because I felt like I couldn't talk to him yesterday about the baby... every time I tried something happened in which our conversation was interrupted (usually by something he did).  I got all upset thinking he wasn't as excited as I thought he was about having a baby... this thinking was probably also due to hormones.  We finally got to talking about goals and hopes for our baby, which I told him how important it was to talk about parenting goals.  We don't need to necessarily decide whether or not we want our children to be teachers or astronauts when they get older because that is their decision, but it is good to talk about what we hope our children will learn... and what goals we have for ourselves in parenting.  We came up with a few hopes and goals.  Such as, we hope that our children are successful in life whether they go to college, get a job after high school, or join the armed forces.  So our goal is to encourage them to set goals and strive to achieve their goals.  We also discussed things like discipline and how we would handle that.  As an example, we decided that when a child breaks the rules, we will discuss with each other (if possible) what displinary strategy to use before disciplining the child.  That way we are both on the same page and we are both enforcing the rules the same way.  Chris and I have discussed also how to deal with the military aspect, such as him being away on a deployment or us moving from place to place. 

Last night, Chris and I also got a book of 100,000 baby names and started looking through it.  We highlighted a bunch that we might like... and later we'll narrow those down too.  We got to the G's in boys names.  Some of the boys' names we liked included Brant, Branton, Brice, Brighton, Calib, Chad, Conroy, Craig, Dante, Darren, Daylan, Dean, Deron, Deror, Devin, Dustin, Eli, Elias, Elijah, Elisha, Elliott, Everette, Frederick, Gabriel, Galen, Galileo.  We haven't gotten through all of the G's yet.  Some of my personal favorite boys' names from this list are Brice, Calib, Darren, Dean, Dustin, and Gabriel.  We haven't started on girls' names yet, but they include a few girls' names in the boys section (why... we don't know).  So we did see a couple of girls' names that we liked... Arielle, Carmella, and Gabriella... and we flipped to the girls' section to highlight them there (not in the boys' section).  It was fun going through names together.  I think we will have gone through the book by the time that we find out if it is a boy or a girl, and then we can narrow down the names in the appropriate section . 

Today, I've been somewhat depressed because Chris is gone... but I'm feeling happy and excited about the baby... especially now that I have written this blog and looked at the baby names again .  I have friends to talk to too and that is good.  I'm both excited and scared about being a mother.  I can't help but be scared about the fact that I will have responsibility for this life... both inside me now and after I have the baby.  I did find out from a friend that a woman does not have a period when she is breastfeeding so that is good news for me since I have decided that I want to breastfeed . 

I had my follow up ob appointment today.  I got to hear my baby's heartbeat again which is still so amazing!  It was steady so that's good .  It is hard to explain the sound of the baby's heartbeat through the doppler.  It sounds different than just a normal heartbeat... kind of like there is an echo.  The baby moved again after I listened to the heartbeat for a couple of seconds, so the nurse had to move the doppler to the other side of my uterus.  I love to hear the heartbeat; it lets me know that my baby is doing good .  My lab results came back and they were all normal... the cystic fibrosis test hadn't come in yet but the doctor said it should come in soon and if they have to do it again then they'll just take more blood from me.  The cystic fibrosis test is interesting.  They test to see if I have a recessive gene for cystic fibrosis.  If I do, then they will check Chris to se if he has a recessive gene as well.  If we both have the recessive gene, then there is a 25% chance that our baby will have cystic fibrosis.  If either one of us does not have the recessive gene, then our baby will not have cystic fibrosis. 

I also found out that I do NOT have an immunity to toxoplasmosis... so I have to be careful around my cat.  Mostly, it just means that I shouldn't change the cat litter because cats give humans toxoplasmosis through their poop.  There isn't as much of a danger with my little kitten though because she does not go outside.  Cats get toxoplasmosis from killing small animals like birds and rats.  Still, I am going to take the extra precaution and make sure Chris changes the cat litter.  Honestly, I am not too upset about this extra precaution... haha.  Chris changes the cat litter already anyways... but this gives me more of a reason not to have to change the cat litter... hehe .  Well, I woke up pretty early for my appointment which was at 8 am... so I am tired.  And I am supposed to listen to my body and sleep whenever I am tired... so I am going to take a nap. 

So... do I feel different now that I am three months pregnant?  Yes, I do actually.   The nausea is starting to get better... little by little.. and I am having better sleep at night.  In fact, I almost got through last night without any nausea medicine... key word is ALMOST though.  I  am still continuing to need to go to the bathroom frequently, and I am always tired.  My appetite has come back now so I am having more cravings.  This week, I've gone crazy with eating chili cheese fries... but I have started adding my own little topping... sweet relish.

I went to the doctor last Monday for a 3 hr glucose test in which they checked my blood sugar after I'd been fasting (I'd had nothing to eat or drink except water since the night before).  Immediately after testing my fasting blood sugar, they gave me a sugary drink and tested my blood sugar every hour for three hours after that.  My blood sugar is normal and I'm not diabetic so my ob advised me to stop taking the metformin my family doctor had put me on.  So it seems that all is ok with this pregnancy.  However, I found out yesterday that I have a bladder infection.  So I am taking medicine this week for that which should clear it up. 

All the medical and physical stuff aside, I have been extremely excited about this pregnancy... and very happy.  Although there are moments of fear that come when I think about taking care of a tiny newborn baby.  And there are the mood swings and the sad moments when I start thinking of my mom and crying because she is not here to share this experience with me.  But all in all, I am happy and excited.  I keep looking at the ultrasound picture and looking at my belly, and pondering about the fact that the little baby in the picture is actually in my belly.  Oh... I have the picture in my photo album now :).  Oh... and I also filled in the answers to this month's reflections today (reflections for the third month).  I can't believe I've gotten through three months of this pregnancy!  In two more months, I will know if it is a boy or a girl!  I can't wait!

It still amazes me how much is going on inside me.  All the vital organs are there now, but there is some "fine tuning" going on.  The face is becomine more human, little details are coming together.  The fingers and toes have already formed and are separated and not webbed.  The eyes and ears have moved to their proper locations.  More nerve cells are forming and synapses are forming in the brain.  My little baby also has reflexes, such as sucking, now.  Every week, more of my baby's body is developing and my little baby gets bigger.  He or she is about 2 inches now :).