Life, Really Blog

Weeks 8 & 9

We told my family about my pregnancy when we went back to MN for Labor Day. I had made my parents a scrapbook for their anniversary and the last page said SURPRISE with our announcement picture. We flew in Thursday night and didn’t celebrate their anniversary until Sunday, Sept 2 so I had to keep it a secret for 2.5 days! My sister-in-law was very observant though and she suspected something was up before we announced it.

Anyway, we were finishing our breakfast when I gave my parents the scrapbook. When they came to the last page, they looked at it for several seconds and then looked up at me with a look that said “Are you serious?!?” I said, “Yep, we are expecting a baby.” Everyone was excited. My parents both teared up a bit. It was so fun to be able to tell them in person!

With Travis’ family, we weren’t so lucky. We tried calling his parents on the Wednesday after our first ultrasound but both of his parents were out of town. Travis ended up telling his mom over the phone one day while I was at work. But we’ll celebrate when they come out in October for elk hunting!

Our first ultrasound went well. They tried to do it on my belly first but our biscuit was too small to see so they ended up doing a vaginal ultrasound. It was a little unpleasant but so worth it to see our little bean squirming around in there! The baby’s Crown to Rump measurement put me at 9 weeks 3 days – about 4 days farther along than I had thought, making my new estimated due date April 7. We also saw the heartbeat and it was somewhere around 180 beats per minute. As we watched our baby do a happy dance, I cried from a mix of joy and relief. Our baby was healthy. It had a heartbeat. Everything was perfect. What a blessing from God!

Cravings: Fruit

Aversions: Vegetables still but I put them in pasta or smoothies to make them more appealing

Weight Gained: Two pounds

Week 10

This week continued the trend of feeling the worst at work but pretty good on the weekends — which was both a blessing and a challenge. It made work days even longer and harder, but I was able to enjoy and be productive on my weekends. I guess I would choose it this way, rather than the reverse.

There had been several nights when I woke up around 3 or 4 to use the bathroom and was absolutely starving. So to avoid having to eat in the middle of the night every night (because it makes it harder to get back to sleep), I started eating a snack before going to bed, even if I wasn’t really hungry. That helped.

On Friday, I was craving sushi after work and had recently learned that cooked sushi like California rolls is okay for pregnant women to eat. So I got a Cali and veggie roll from our favorite sushi place and they were amazing.

My nesting urge started on Saturday. I started researching baby stuff and created a spreadsheet of everything we need to get, including a ranking of how much we need it, where we’d find it and if we should register for it. The spreadsheet actually made the whole baby gear “How much stuff do we need?!?” feel much more manageable.

While Travis was hunting on Saturday, I went to a store that sells used baby stuff and bought a Baby Bjorn for $25 and a rearview car seat mirror for $5. I found a couple newborn hats for $0.25 at a thrift store too. And I walked around Target and Kmart to get an idea of how much stuff costs so I’d know a good deal when I find one.

On Sunday, I picked up a crib sheet (yellow ones are surprisingly hard to find!) and some paint samples. Then I started to organize our office closet and threw away a bunch of old files and papers that despite good intentions, I’ll never read again. Travis and I have filled our office and guest room to the max with stuff so there is a lot of organizing and storing things in the attic that needs to happen before we can even think about setting up the nursery!

We also need to store our guest room furniture and (I think) move Travis’ office to the guest room. We’re trying to think of how it’s going to be for him to work from home while I’m there all day with a baby, in a small house that only has one level. The guest room is back in the corner, instead of right next to the kitchen like the current office, so that’d probably be best for him. The guest room is bigger too so we’d be able to put a futon or hide-a-bed in there for guests.

Symptoms: Bloating and constipation disappeared!

Cravings: French fries, sushi, pasta, Magnum ice cream bars (saw them on a commercial and had to have them), oranges, potato chips

Aversions: Still coffee 😦

Weight Gained: Three pounds (total)

Tags: baby, pregnancy, week 10, week 8, week 9