16 Weeks!

Today marks week 16 for this pregnancy and I read that I need to get ready for a growth spurt! Baby Baum is going to double in weight and add inches to his/her length by inches over the next few weeks. Baby is about the size of an avocado right now.

I just went on a mini shopping spree today. Didn't buy many maternity pieces, but instead bought one size up than the norm in everything - so we'll see how long my body will allow for me to "fit" into them. Mostly I bought shirts that appear to have room for expansion. Old Navy was having a $2 tank sale but I guess the store opened early and there was a line out the door of people to snatch them up...so of course by the time I got to the store (11:30am)...everything was just about gone! I got a black and white tank in large. Amazing what people do for a good sale!

Speaking of clothing, I am thinking of doing a weekly ladies room fashion show. I'm not really into fashion, but a cool, hip mom named Melissa who writes an entertaining mommy blog that I read (Dear Baby), did this when she was prego and it was actually fun to read every week. She would take phone pics of herself every day in the mirror of the ladies restroom at her work and on Friday she would post her outfits of the week and list where the items/accessories she's wearing are from. Here is the link to her Ladies Room Fashion Show posts - check it out.

My 1st Baby

Steve wonders if Raja knows I'm carrying a child. This picture is so dark b/c there wasn't much light in the living room and my camera on my phone does not have a flash...but this is a pic of me and Raja snuggling on the couch Tuesday night. She's such a little snuggle bug and I hope when baby baum arrives, she doesn't turn against me and hate me forever b/c I always and will always love snuggling with her.

15 Weeks!

This picture is a seriously bad angle and the shadowing is kinda crazy - but this is a pic taken of me at 15 weeks - with my "bloat belly".

I've been dealing with what I thought was bloat belly. I've mentioned it numerous times on this blog - and maybe some of the time it HAS been bloat belly...but after spending some time with good friends this past weekend, everyone laughs and says this is NOT bloat belly, it's PREGO BELLY! So i'm embracing it.

I think, for me, I didn't feel that at this stage of pregnancy I would be showing like this. I know every body is different, every pregnancy is different, blah blah blah. But really...in my 3rd month, I didn't imagine myself looking like this! But it's exciting!

In the 15th week, baby is about the size of an apple. Legs are outgrowing the arms and (s)he can move all joints & limbs now. Still can't feel baby moving though...not yet at least. Could be another 5-6 weeks!

Next Friday we have our level II ultrasound and I'm really hoping we can find out the sex! How fun!!

Hello 2nd Trimestser! 14 weeks (and 3 days)

It's official - I'm in my 2nd trimester. Yay!

The bad taste in my mouth has been less and less, although it still lingers every now and again. Eating has been better, although Steve will agree that it's still a struggle figuring out WHAT to eat. But I don't really have any major aversions like I did in the beginning. We need a personal chef that can just make meals and we will have to eat them. We don't need a say in what it is! Just make it, serve it up and into our stomach the food will go. We are both bored of the staple meals that we eat and need some new recipes. We need to mix it up a little. So we'll see if we can work on that and do a better job at eating more healthy as well.

Baby Baum may now be sucking his/her thumb and is about the size of a lemon or clenched fist (length-wise, 3 1/2 inches). Isn't that crazy? So tiny, but is looking like a baby!
http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/your-baby/week-14/stand-straight.aspx

I am feeling like the bloating is getting a little better...but still there for sure. I picked up Holly's maternity clothes and need to pull them out and go through them. I pulled out a shirt this morning to wear. It doesn't really feel or look like a maternity shirt to me. Guess when I have a true baby bump, it will hang differently on me!

Girl Name

it's email conversations like these that crack me up!

On Jun 14, 2011 11:59 AM, "Erin Fabrizio Baum" wrote:
> do you like the name Jillian for a girl?

On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Stephen Baum wrote:

Veto

From: Erin Fabrizio Baum
Date: Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: girl name
To: Stephen Baum

:-) oh how i love you steve.

i hope we're having a BOY.

I just may eat this whole bag...

I came across these during my walmart visit today. I may just eat the whole bag in one sitting. Healthy almonds and my favorite Dove dark chocolate. YUM!

13 Weeks (and 2 days)!

According to babycenter.com, this is my final week in my 1st trimester! It's also my birthday week! :-) Baby Baum is about the size of a medium shrimp (speaking of shrimp - I'm headed to the beach for my bday on Thursday and I'm gonna have some shrimp)! I'll be thinking of baby baum while I enjoy it - good nutrients for him/her also. Fingerprints have formed & baby's body is starting to catch up with the head, which makes up just 1/3 of the body size.

I've been feeling good overall. I'm still getting tired but nothing overwhelming. I certainly don't fight naps! Yesterday Steve and I went to Winston Salem to meet my Aunt Sue, Uncle Tom, Cousin Ben, his wife Kari & Grandma Connie for lunch. We left our house around 11 and were home by 4:30. We walked around the mall after lunch, which was nice. I was beat though. I think I took a 2 hour nap after we got home! I woke up around 9pm and looked at Steve b/c I hadn't even eaten dinner (nor had he)! So I ate some cereal and we went to bed. Although I wasn't starving, I didn't want to go to bed hungry. I went to bed last night with a granola bar, in case I woke up ravenous. It was still on my nightstand when I woke up this morning.

I am still getting waves of uneasiness with my stomach and so I try to keep snacks available.  And I seem to be dealing with some reflux as well - which I've never really had to deal with before, but I'm dealing with it!

And I am still fitting into my pants.

Must Find More Dresses

I don't even have a baby bump yet and I'm already looking for more comfort. Although my jeans still fit, they're a bit uncomfortable - restricting. Bloat belly sure doesn't help. Today, I'm wearing a dress. COMFORT. I need to get more dresses.

My friend Holly has so graciously offered to let me borrow her maternity clothes and fortunately she has both spring/summer and fall/winter clothing, so that will be helpful. I just need to get them from her soon so I can go ahead and move into more comfort.

The Baby is Out of the Bag

As stated by my cousin Chris, who has known for a while that we're expecting. Yesterday I made it public knowledge to my family and my close group of college friends. I told Steve it's time for him to start spreading the news to his family b/c it will soon go REAL PUBLIC on facebook. And I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings if they don't know the news beforehand and end up finding out on facebook. Really. We don't need that.

I told my boss yesterday before leaving for the day and told some close co-workers this morning.

It feels more real now that we're spreading the news. I'm still looking forward to the physical changes, but it's almost as if a weight is lifted in making it known and not feeling like we're hiding something.

Here's to letting the baby out of the bag!

There's a baby on the way!

Message from my sister Clair:

In case I hadn't conveyed it enough, I am thrilled for y'all! I told Seth once I got your email. Aren't you impressed I kept it a secret that long? Still holding off from facebook until you give us the go ahead. 

This is such a special part of life. Enjoy the picture I've included; I thought it was such a beautiful image!!

Love,

Clair

I mean, how sweet is that? Clair - you are the best!

Not Audible, but Definitely Visible!

Nerves set in the closer we got to the doctor's office. My stomach started hurting. All I wanted was to hear that heartbeat.

We waited for a bit and I was called to give a urine sample, weigh-in & get my blood pressure taken. I think I've gained a few pounds but don't remember what I weighed last time in comparison to today's weigh-in. No one commented on my weight so I assume I'm on track. Then I went back to the waiting room to wait to be seen by the doctor.

I was called back to an exam room where Steve and I waited for the doc. She came in and grabbed the doppler and prefaced everything with "it's still early so we may not hear the heartbeat, but if we don't, we'll get you in for an ultrasound to confirm everything is okay." She squirts the gel and places the doppler on my tummy. She searches around and finds nothing but my heartbeat. I try not to panic.

We move back into the waiting room and wait to be worked in to see the ultrasound tech. Turned out she was pretty busy and waiting may take a while, so the doc ended up bringing us into another exam room where we used a dinosaur of an ultrasound machine to pull the baby up on the screen. 2 seconds in and we saw that little heart beating away! It was a relief.

So we go back to the doc on our 4 year anniversary - June 30th. We will definitely hear the heartbeat then and the following day we will have our Level II ultrasound at Duke where they do a scan of baby baum's anatomy AND we will hopefully be able to find out the sex too!