22 Weeks

Week 22

Starting to notice the waning of my belly button. I didn’t think I would mind seeing it go, but as it slowly creeps away I am having trouble saying goodbye. 

This week I have the added bonus of a numb spot on my left thigh just above my knee. Thanks baby for sitting directly on my nerves. It pretty much feels like I was shot with Novocain. It doesn’t hurt, just feels a little weird (or doesn’t feel weird depending on how you look at it). The midwife and the internet agree it is no big deal and everything will be normal again once baby moves off my nerve. 

Lots of kicks these days. I’m even seeing my belly move here and there with a few of the strong ones. 

Christmas had the added bonus this year of baby gifts! Lots of super cute owl goodies for the nursery, an owl hat, and baby PJs from my Mom (she doesn’t know her Grandma name yet). And a beautiful Eric Carle Christmas book from Marco’s Mom (Nona).  

Christmas Card

20 Weeks

Week 20

Welcome leg cramps! Waking up with a Charley horse and yelling bloody murder while half asleep is really a great way to spend an evening. My one thought at that moment was how the hell am I going to birth a baby if just the leg cramps are this painful. Thankfully I’ve learned a few helpful stretches to avoid another rude awakening. 

I had an abdominal cramp situation that made me nervous this week so I called the midwife to ease my mind.  She assured me it was just growing pains or maybe even a gas bubble. I’m so thankful to have that resource even late in the evening for non-emergancy questions. I really didn’t want to use the internet for answers that would only freak me out more. 

Baby loves to kick me. Everyday the little jabs are getting stronger. I’m going to have to get used to them to avoid Tourette’s-like exclamations I keep making when I’m surprised by the force every now and then.  

This was the first week I got a little down about being pregnant. Maybe it’s a bit of sadness over losing my body and fear of losing the “us” Marco and I have. We both agree that at this point we are, on a scale of 1 to 10, about an 8 freakout level. Realistically, baby is going to be a big change, but we currently don’t travel, we don’t stay out late, and we don’t really do anything in our free time that a baby will hinder or stop. I’m mainly frightened of the permanence. There is no going back now. But I bet everyone feels this way, at least a little bit the first time.   

Treasures

We are doing some remodeling and as the demolition progresses, we found a few cool items hidden in walls. 

So far, we uncovered some newspaper pieces from 1923 and a half dozen baseball cards from the 60s and 70s.

These are some of the more interesting sections of the newspapers. I love the hand drawn ad headlines, the car prices, the office rents, and the situations wanted. 

These two baseball cards were the oldest of the seven that were found. Most of them are worth between $0.50 and $3.99 according to the internet.

As Marco pointed out, with the dating of the newspaper, everyone who read that paper or had anything to do with its creation is probably long gone. It’s pretty neat thinking of the families and people who previously lived in this weird little house of ours and the evidence they left hidden in the walls. 

19 Weeks

Week 19

Whoa baby you love to move around now! This week Marco felt the baby kick for the first time! I think it really made this baby a little more real for him. Since then, I’ve been getting little jabs all the time. This kid really likes to spin around in there.

We also had our second trimester ultrasound this week. Everything is healthy and wonderful. We saw the baby opening and closing its mouth and making hand gestures. It was pretty amazing all the details you can see. Marco loved seeing all the little tiny vertebrae in the spine flex while baby flopped around. We know now if we are having a boy or girl. But that info is being announced to family on New Years Eve. So for now it’s still a secret. 

This week’s craving: Kiwi fruit

18 Weeks

Week 18

We missed our week 17 photo because of the busy Thanksgiving holiday full of traveling. Although I bet the bump looked about the same. 

This week I actually felt baby kick my hand! It was so much better than the little flutters I was feeling before. I ran to Marco and he still wasn’t able to feel anything. I hope he will get to feel the baby any day now. 

I’m sick this week with a stuffy head cold. I have a little guilt about being sick and not being in top shape for baby. Although I bet baby will get me back and make me sick a few times.

16 Weeks

Week 16

Only one more month until we know if we are having a little he or a little she. But regardless of the answer, I’ve been trolling around Etsy looking for cute owls and other goodies for the nursery. I haven’t bought any baby clothes yet, except for a bib, but I’m looking forward to those first tiny outfits.

Other than slowly becoming obsessed with baby accessories, the second trimester has proven to be a time to enjoy pregnancy. I love looking pregnant. I want everyone to notice. I embarrassingly find myself popping the tidbit that I’m expecting into even the most mundane of conversations. I’ve made inappropriate announcements to people at the dog park, our waitress at dinner, and pretty much anyone who we’ve met more than once. So I think I’m pretty excited about this whole baby thing. 

Nursery Inspiration

Sources: Owl Drawing, Felt Owl, Paint Swatches-Martha Stewart, *

*I have been saving these photos for a while and can no longer remember some sources. I apologize for not providing attribution.

15 Weeks

Week 15. 

I think I’m feeling really subtle baby movement more and more in the evenings. It could just be a stomach gurgle, but it feels like it is in the wrong place for that. 

This week we had our monthly check up with one of our midwives. We listened to baby’s heart beating. It was loud and clear this time. Last month they couldn’t find it because baby hadn’t popped out of my pelvic area yet and I have a backward uterus. Both of which make for tricky heart beat detection. But there was no trouble this time. I just love hearing that little heart beating away.

Baby Confessions

I bought my first baby item before I was pregnant.

I justified it by thinking it could be turned into a gift for someone else.

An autumn Saturday at home and a mini backyard BBQ for two.

14 Weeks

Week 14. 

Not much different this week. I’m more back to normal than ever. I’m just waiting for something to make me feel more pregnant. There have been times that it was almost easy to forget since so little is changing. At least being nauseous most of the day made me feel like something was happening.

I know it’s probably too early, but I think I may have felt a little baby bubble of movement this week. A few online women have said they were able to feel movement this early. I was just sitting on the couch and felt a bubble on the left side of my belly. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before. So I’m assuming it was the little lemon floating around. I felt it one more time the next evening, but nothing for a few days now.

Pregnancy jeans are still amazing. 

New Shoes!

Hops on Halloween.

Yup. We did.

4 to 12 Weeks

What I missed posting while keeping baby secrets. Not much to see anyway.

13 Weeks

Week 13. 

My little baby bump! We’ve been taking photos each week since I was six weeks pregnant. I bought these vintage number blocks from Etsy to notate the weeks. I didn’t think I would notice a difference so soon, but here it is! 

This week I’m feeling much better. I’m actually feeling hungry again instead of just sick. I can’t eat as much as I used to per meal, but I have way more little meals throughout the day. According to my scale, I haven’t really gained any weight. I lost some weight at first and then gained it back. I think it’s all just redistributing. 

I’ve been wearing maternity pants for about a week now and they are AMAZING. All pants should have a huge elastic waist instead of buttons. I’ve always wondered how pregnant ladies kept their pants in place, and now I know. 

Each week I want to post a little update about how things are changing. I recently read an article on TheBump about over sharing about pregnancy and baby. I feel that people talking about the weird or hard stuff brings information out of the closet and can help anyone feeling confused, scared, or alone while going through these totally normal changes. The more women talk about the hard stuff, the less stigmatized it becomes. And if you don’t like it, don’t read it. Until I got pregnant, I didn’t read all the detailed baby stuff on friend’s blogs, but I’m sure glad it’s there now! I won’t be posting any graphic birth photos, but I will use my blog as a public journal for how I’m feeling and what is changing in my life.

I’m so proud to be pregnant and on the brink of parenthood and very happy any information I need on the subject is available from real women talking about it publicly online. 

Ok. End PSA. 

Note: Marco likes to take the photo when I breathe in so my belly looks a bit bigger than it really is.

Are you still in there?

Maybe it is a first baby thing, but I keep waiting for each little mile mark for all of this to feel real. We saw the two lines appear on the test, saw the little heart beating at the first midwife appointment, told family the news, I’ve been nauseous for two months, I grew out of my pants, we saw the baby wiggling around on the ultrasound, and now we’ve made our big internet announcement. But still after all these things it doesn’t feel real yet. I keep rubbing my tiny baby bump belly as if to indicate to the world I didn’t just over eat. 

I think maybe by the time I get my first kick in the ribs I will believe there is a new little person growing in there. Which will quickly be followed by the realization that this little person is going to need to come out. 

Everything's About to Change

We can no longer continue this radio silence. After months of trying to keep info off the internets, I’m just bursting to announce that Marco and I are going to be parents!

I’m pregnant!

That feels so great to say out loud. I’ve been carefully not posting much of anything, worried that I would let something slip before we were ready to tell the world. I’m 13 weeks and a few days in. Baby Arment is due around April 28th 2012. We had a big checkup last week and were told everything looks super healthy and right on schedule.

I’ve been so anxious to ask questions on my favorite babyblogs and get all of the modern mommy tricks and tips. So please pass along any bits on the best places to get cool baby/pregnant-lady things.

I’m going to be sharing all my pregnancy and baby stuff right here on this blog. Since this is a place where I talk about my life, I didn’t think I needed to create a separate place to talk about the baby.

(I’ll still be posting lots of Hops photos. We know he’s going to love a new sticky baby.)

Instapaper 4.0 →

Marco released Instapaper 4.0 today! He’s been working hard on this incredible update for about 6 months. It is amazing. I’m so proud of you honey!