13 weeks: baby is the size of a lemon

I'm not sure if that belly is actually starting to pop out or if it was the McDonalds Angus Deluxe cheeseburger and fries I ate last night. Maybe a little of both? It does seem my belly has done some growing in the last few days. I'm up about 4-5 lbs now. Nausea continues to be improved (although not absent!) and I'm still tired but I'm hopeful that the first trimester experience is becoming a thing of the past. I'm still having food aversions to vegetables and cravings for junk food. It's a bummer because it's amazing how strong the cravings can be. I've never experienced anything like it. I've gone through fast food drive throughs four times now. I've gotten quite sick after two of them, including last night. The worst was the Burger King Whopper with cheese. Oh man, I was up a bunch of times in the night all the way through to the morning!

Anyway, onto a more exciting topic. Great news today! We had a nuchal translucency scan this morning, which combined with blood work I had a few weeks ago, gives us odds of Down Syndrome and two other chromosomal abnormalities with 87-89% accuracy. Our odds of having a baby with Down Syndrome is about 1 in 1,592 (0.06%) and Trisomy 18 or 13 1 in 8,481 (0.01%). This is fantastic! Before the tests, odds were about 1 in 231 and 1 in 425 respectively, just based on my age alone. The other benefit to having the NT scan is that we got to see our little one again, this time in more detail. Here is one of the photos they gave us. Baby now has fingerprints, vocal chords, and teeth!

In other news, I have acquired more maternity clothes. I went to Bella Stella near our house and tried on a bunch of stuff. I ended up with three pairs of pants, a dress, a cardigan, and two shirts. When I got up to the cashier he goes, "And with the 40% off sale, your total is $64." I didn't know there was a sale! Jackpot! Then today I spent a few hours with two mommy friends and got more maternity clothes and some baby stuff. It feels like Christmas all over again. We feel so incredibly grateful and I'm thankful for such wonderful friends.

Today is a good day.

12 weeks: baby is the size of a plum

We're two days late on this one because we're in Arizona for the Christmas holiday and got distracted by the festivities. Took the photo at my mom's house.

The big news this week with baby's development is reflexes. Apparently if we poke my belly the baby will move in response. I still feel nothing. Also, baby's eyes and ears have moved into the right spots so he or she is not looking so much like an alien anymore.

I don't feel as nauseous in the last few days as I had been, hopefully this continues. I'm still exhausted a lot of the time. The biggest thing for me this week is busting out of some of my pants. I can still button some - like the jeans I'm wearing in these photos with a forgiving waist - but my belly is pretty sensitive these days and the restriction of a waistband is pretty uncomfortable. I wore maternity pants for the first time yesterday, some red courderoys with a demi panel (a 3" elastic waistband). I don't know why all pants aren't made that way because they're so dang comfortable!

It has been fun to spend time with my family for the holiday. We went to the Desert Botanical Gardens on Sunday night for their annual luminarias event with 12 live music acts around the grounds. Christmas Eve was my niece and nephew's in the Christmas play at an outdoor mass. Christmas day the whole family came over for a meal and gifts, including two uncles and an aunt! The hit gift was the wood stick figures with moveable limbs that we all got from my sister, Jill. Here's Evan's posed as Karate Kid.

11 weeks: baby is the size of a lime

Taken with the new camera Evan and I got each other for Christmas!

I decided to bump up my weekly postings by a day because I don't work Mondays so it's a lot easier to write a blog. Since we're guessing at the exact gestational age based on my last period anyway, I figured a day sooner isn't a big deal.

Apparently baby is moving around a lot in there, stretching and kicking and doing acrobatics. A few new developments this week include tiny tooth buds and a diaphragm, which means baby can sigh and hiccup. I don't feel a thing.

In the last few days I think I've begun to look markedly thicker in the middle now. Evan says he can tell. I can still button all my pants but they're straining. Nausea doesn't seem to be as bad anymore and hopefully that's not temporary. The biggest pregnancy symptom this week was complete and utter exhaustion. I called in sick two days last week because I could barely open my eyes. I slept 10-12 hours/night and took daytime naps those two days. I thought I might be anemic so I went to the Burger King drive through and got a Whopper with cheese. I've been craving burgers lately. Unfortunately, it made me sick. I doubt I'm anemic because I've had two complete blood counts so far and both came back within normal ranges. I seem to have improved a little but I am still so incredibly tired ALL. THE. TIME. I feel full and bloated all the time these days, too. I think it's a combination of gas, constipation, and a bigger uterus. Pregnancy is very glamourous. Speaking of gastrointestinal issues, check out this time-lapse animation of what happens to your insides over the course of a pregnancy: Museum of Science and Industry | Make Room for Baby. Did you see the intestines get shoved around? Oh my gosh!!! No wonder.

Evan and I went for a walk in our neighborhood yesterday and discovered a maternity and child resale shop called Bella Stella. Score! No purchases this time but we'll be back, I'm sure.

We had a couple exciting events in the last week. First, we celebrated Evan's grandma's 90th birthday with a brunch at his parents' house on Saturday. What a birthday to celebrate! She said, "I hope each and every one of you celebrate a 90th birthday, too." Me too! In addition to the same crew present at Thanksgiving, Evan's Uncle Dave's family came up from Big Bear, California to celebrate. How wonderful to spend time with them. The other exciting event this week is we purchased tickets to Thailand in February! Woo hoo! We're very much looking forward to that trip.

10 weeks: baby is the size of a strawberry

I suggested to Evan that we skip a week or two of baby bump photos since still there's nothing going on and he said, "Nooo! We'll regret it!"Apparently he is more invested in these than I realized. After all, he is the photographer. 

Baby has now completed the most critical part of development and all the vital organs are in place and functioning! Nails and hair are starting to appear now. Crazy to think all this is happening when I don't feel a thing.  

My symptoms are still full-force but I see a light at the end of the tunnel with the end of first trimester just a couple weeks away. Still haven't puked - woot woot! At this point I'm feeling pretty thick in the midsection but I can still button all my pants. I've only gained 3 lbs but it feels like 10, all in the midsection. I'm pretty emotional these days. Evan and I went to see a tuba Christmas concert last weekend and I started to cry during one of the songs. Evan goes, "Awww, does this remind you of a childhood memory? Are you missing your family?" Nope, just crying because I'm pregnant. Pay no attention to the lunatic crying in public at a tuba concert.

We had our first appointment with the obstetrician on Friday, which was exciting. It was fun to sit in the waiting room amongst a bunch of pregnant ladies at different stages of pregnancy. "I'm one of them now," I thought. Like part of a special club. Some had young children with them, too. "Boo-boos" as Evan calls them, dogs and babies are "boo-boos." It's endearing. We were mailed a folder when we made the appointment that included a bunch of information and a lengthy health history questionnaire. In the days leading up to the appointment we were reminded three times to bring the questionnaire. We brought the questionnaire. The first appointment lasted about an hour and included height, weight, a pelvic exam, an ultrasound, some blood work, discussion of genetic testing, and answering our questions. The best part of the appointment was getting to see baby with the ultrasound cart they rolled into the room. It wasn't as clear as the first one but we saw baby wiggling all over the place and the heart beat. I'm sharing one of the photos they gave us below where baby's arms are outstretched. So cute!

Since the appointment went well and we knew our risk of miscarriage is pretty low at this point, we decided to share the pregnancy news more broadly with friends and family. What a relief it has been to get this wonderful secret off my chest! And to share and compare my pregnancy experience with my family and other mommy friends. 

9 weeks: baby is a fetus now!

Today is a big day because nine weeks marks the end of baby's embryohood and the beginning of fetushood. We're in month three! This week baby's tail is gone and now his/her eyelids are forming as are hair follicles and nipples. S/he is about the size of a grape or green olive.

As of last night, Evan and I have now read up through the end of the first trimester in the pregnancy book. We have our first OB appointment this week on Friday morning. We need to get our list of questions together. So far we have one: What is our risk of miscarriage at this point? If you've had bleeding during first trimester (which I have) your odds of miscarriage increase. But after you've seen/heard the heartbeat on ultrasound around 8 weeks or after then your chance for miscarriage is <2%. However, I don't know what the odds are if you've had bleeding AND seen the heartbeat. I'm hoping our OB will hear the heartbeat again this week and can give us some peace of mind. I REALLY want to quell some fears here. The longer I'm pregnant the more we have grown to love this little nugget inside of me and we would be devastated to lose him or her. Plus, we'd really like to announce to friends and family after this appointment. It's so hard to keep this exciting secret.

My pregnancy symptoms seemed to have kicked into high gear in this last week. The nausea is most bothersome. It's like a constant hangover with intermittent waves of more intense nausea and dizzy spells. I am constantly aware of where all the trash cans are in case of emergency. I'm so afraid of throwing up at work. Plan A: the employee restroom, Plan B: the patient restroom, Plan C: that trash can over there. Adding to the nausea is my superpower sense of smell. I have nearly puked just from smelling something intense. And something can smell good yet at the same time make me nauseous. Like the other day I smelled potato salad in the hallway at work, which smelled good, and then I imagined the taste of it and nearly gagged. I normally love potato salad! This is all so strange. And it really sucks to suffer in silence. Another reason I can't wait to tell friends and family is so I can get some support!

Honestly, though, all this is easy to tolerate because I am just so overjoyed to have a little one growing inside me. As tough as it can be, all these things I feel remind me that baby is busy developing and wiggling and stretching and hiccuping and all those things necessary for becoming healthy and strong. Imagining a little being in there isn't nearly as weird as I thought it would be.