7teen

For some odd reason, the odd numbered weeks seem so much further along than the even numbered weeks... strange.  Today marks 17 weeks that this squirmy little thing has been cooking.  Only 23 more weeks to go!

Don't mind my super grimy mirror... I should clean it someday!

How far along?   17 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: New weigh in will be on Thursday.

Maternity clothes? Still just using the belly band + a couple pairs of maternity pants.  I ordered a bunch of maternity dresses and tank tops online, so hopefully some of them work for when it starts getting warmer out!
 
Stretch marks? No

Symptoms: Le tired.  Starting to become more irritable.  Still hungry.

Sleep: I'm still usually in bed with the lights out by 9pm, and can't seem to sleep in past 8am on the weekends.  Though, lately Lucy has been the reason behind my lack of sleep.  She gets in bed, gets to hot, jumps out of bed, and wakes us up to be invited in again later.  Rinse.  Repeat. 

Best moment this week: Deciding that we're going to go on a beach spring break vacation next year with the baby.  We're not sure where yet, but we're going to go somewhere!
 
Have you told family and friends: Everyone knows!

Miss Anything? Nothing this week.

Movement: Still feeling the little flutters and a bit of rolling.  Happens most frequently while I am driving.

Food cravings: Apples, Cheese, Pickles, sweets.  Today, I am dying for some doritos... 

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Still ham.

Have you started to show yet: After I took today's picture, I noticed that my belly is definitely starting to protrude past my chest.

Baby is a: ??

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Goodness, I was crabby today.  I can be having a fine day, but then something stresses me out, and I do a complete 180.  I hate being so all over the place currently.

Looking forward to: Still can't wait for the anatomy scan ultrasound on 3/19! 

Rollin'

I have a snow day today (thank goodness- there is no way I wanted a 2+ hour hazardous commute this morning).  So, instead of doing anything productive, I am currently sitting on the couch, putzing around on the computer, and feeling Baby L rolling around like crazy!

Over the last week, it's been more of a swishing/bubbly feeling, but over the last couple of days, it's now a more pronounced rolling sensation!  Like I said in my last bump update, this is my new favorite thing <3

Sixteen!

Somehow, I almost forgot that today was Monday, and that I needed to update the bump progression!  At 16 weeks, I feel that for people who know I am pregnant can definitely tell what's going on beneath my shirt and stretchy pants!  The bump is starting to round itself out a bit.

How far along?   16 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: +4lbs total

Maternity clothes? Still just using the belly band + a couple pairs of maternity pants.
 
Stretch marks? No

Symptoms: Exhaustion, hungry all the time, but I am starting to fill up more quickly and need to snack more often.  I am also waking up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night still.

Sleep: I got my boppy to use as a knee pillow (suggestion by a recent mom), and that has done a world of help!  I am dreaming like crazy, so I wake up tired, but I am doing better at sleeping without my hips hurting.

Best moment this week: Determining that what I have been feeling this past week has been movement!  Moving the guest bedroom into the office to make room for the nursery.  Also, getting our Britax travel set in the mail on Saturday.

Have you told family and friends: Everyone knows!

Miss Anything? Ice cold white wine.  This summer is going to be rough!

Movement: I've got a swimmer!  It feels like I've got a little fish in my ute.  It's not constant, but I feel the baby a couple times a day.  It's my new favorite thing.

Food cravings: Apples, Cheese, Pickles, sweets

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Ham.  But that may be from having the stomach bug right after eating ham on Christmas, and not so much a pregnancy food aversion.

Have you started to show yet:The belly is definitely getting bigger!

Baby is a: ??

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: I find myself getting irritated easily, but I'm generally happy.

Looking forward to: Anatomy scan ultrasound on 3/19!  Stronger movement from Baby Lorenz.

Woot!

Our of all the baby things that we need to buy, there has been one thing that I have been researching ever since we were considering trying to get pregnant.  I have been looking at strollers for for.ev.er.  I didn't realize how overwhelming the number of possibilities there are out there!  I've been cruising forums, and reading blog posts, and consumer reports on what's out there, and last month, Luke gave me the green light to pick which ever stroller I wanted if I could find it for a good deal.  Well, that good deal came around this week!

Originally, I had wanted to go for the City Mini (they're light, compact, come in fun colors), but I didn't want to have to spend too much time having to figure out what infant car seats were compatible with the City Mini.  Lucie's List convinced me that the Britax B-Agile was going to be my best choice, especially since it doesn't need any sort of infant seat adapter, and I could purchase the carseat, the base, and the stroller as a travel set.  Apparently, the Britax was sued for copyright infringement due to the shocking similarities between the two strollers, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on much by not getting the City Mini (besides picking between more than two colors).

I put the Britax 2014 B-Agile + B-Safe travel system in my cart and waited.  On Wednesday, I was doing some more research on baby things, and found that I was able to get one of the better deals on it!  The set retails for $399, and I was able to snag it for $244, so I was pleased as punch to save over $150 off retail price, plus I got free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Fast forward to this afternoon- our travel system has arrived!

 It feels a bit strange to have a stroller and infant carseat hanging out in the house without really anything else for the baby, but since Luke and I decided that we want to spread our larger purchases out over the next 5 months, it makes sense that we'd start collecting these must-haves for Baby Lorenz.  We have no expectation that anyone will purchase our big ticket items for our baby showers (my experience with baby showers is that people buy clothes, toys, books, and feeding and bedding items, and I rarely ever see anyone buy a crib for the expecting parents), so it feels nice to be able to start checking some of these things off our list. 

March's big purchase?  Probably the crib (and a few outfits once we find out what the sex of the baby is after March 19th- provided that baby cooperates!).

Road Rage

I think that I finally have some actual evidence that driving around rush hour with crappy drivers makes me ragey!  The last two times I've had my blood pressure taken at the clinic, my systolic has been between 145 and 150.  Normally, my BP is in the low 130's, so I was pretty shocked to see how high it was.  After today's appointment, my doctor took my BP again just before I left, and it had dropped down to 125!  I've started to make the correlation that driving from work in Champlin, all the way to Maplewood while crunched for time with bad drivers surrounding me causes my blood pressure to definitely increase!  Next appointment, I'll try to get there a little bit early, and maybe read for a bit before going in and see if that makes a difference.

Update- I've been thinking about this more and more and I really think that my first experience with the clinic has been a cause of my high blood pressure.  The three times I stepped foot in Partner's OB, I was riding the miscarriage roller coaster.  Now, every time I go in, I am so worried that something might be wrong with the baby, and I get all anxious until I hear the heartbeat (this plus having to drive in traffic).  Once I hear that wonderful thumping sound, I relax completely.  When I go in again in two weeks, I'm going to discuss this with my doctor and see if there is anyway I can see her first and have her use the Doppler before having the lab tech take my BP and see if that makes a difference.  In the meantime, I am to check my BP a couple times at the drugstore to make sure it isn't getting high.

15

Time for the 15 week update!

How far along?   15 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I'll find out at my appointment on Wednesday.

Maternity clothes? Still just using the belly band a couple pairs of maternity pants.
 
Stretch marks? No

Symptoms: Tired.  Today I was a bottomless pit!

Sleep: Every time I change positions, it's a big ordeal having to arranging myself around the dogs, and since I can't really sleep on my back or stomach anymore, I wake up more when I am moving to my other side.

Best moment this week: Getting the good NT scan news.  Making my first baby clothing purchase today-  How freakin' cute is this little outfit??  I was shopping at Target today, and this was priced at 50% off, so I'm hoping that the baby can fit it when it starts to get cold.

 
 
Have you told family and friends: Everyone knows!

Miss Anything? Nothing this week.

Movement: I am starting to feel some slight flutters/bubbles when I hunch way down in my chair.  I'm not sure if it's baby movement, but I'm starting to think it might be!

Food cravings: Apples, juice, and sweets.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Spicy does not sound good.

Have you started to show yet: I see it, though the pictures don't show much change yet.

Baby is a: ??

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Still pretty happy.

Looking forward to: Finding out if baby Lorenz is a boy or girl in the next month.  Determining if what I am feeling is really the baby.

Results

When I turned on my phone after school today, I saw that I had a voicemail, and I had a feeling that it would be the OB office.  Well, my gut was right, and they were calling to let me know the results of the NT scan.  Over the last few days, I haven't really given the test a second thought (we're young, healthy, no immediate family history of trisomy 18 or Down Syndrome), but my heart did start to beat faster when I realized that this information could potentially have some life-impacting decision making attached to it.

I felt immediate relief when I realized that the voice on the message was not my doctor (usually the doctor calls with news that needs immediate attention), but was instead one of the nurses.  She explained that my NT scan came back in the normal ranges for both syndromes.  The NT scan does not give positive or negative results, just a risk factor.  Our chances of having a baby with either Down Syndrome or Trisomy 18 is 1 in 10,000, which is the best risk factor you can get with this type of testing!

So, everything is looking good so far.  There is still a part in the back of my mind that is just waiting for the bad news to happen, so to have everything going so smoothly this time around is definitely welcomed :)

Student Involvement

I mentioned during my 14 week update that I shared the news with my students on Monday.  It has been fun to see how much my students do actually care and are somewhat invested in my growing fetus!  Since I work at an alternative school, my students are not always the best with their attendance, so when I announced on Monday, there was a handful of students who were not there to find out.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, I several (male) students who took it upon themselves to make sure that everyone who has had me at some point this year knew about my pregnancy!

I was shocked to have several students tell me that they couldn't believe that I would keep this from them for 3 months.  When I told them that I needed to wait to make sure my family knew first, many of them replied with, "Aren't we like your family?!"  One student (who has a 2.5 year old) now calls me Preggo, and occasionally asks how I am feeling (I still find it hard to believe that some of my students have been through this already!).  Another student was shocked when I told him, and said, "Wow.  This is, like, really big news!" and one more student told me that "this was the biggest, most unexpected news he had heard all day."  Remember, my classes are the 18-21 crowd (Super Seniors), and I only have 2 girls total across my 6 class periods, so to hear these comments from these at-risk young men has melted my heart a bit.

Now I just have to come up with a fun way to share the sex of the baby in March!

14

Finally!  I am officially in Trimester 2 of this whole bun cooking thing.  After our great appointment on Friday, I've been so happy.  I keep looking at the pictures of our little baby, and I can't believe that we've gotten to this point already.  In the back of my mind, I have had the "what if...?" thoughts running through, so to be able to see Baby Lorenz moving around, and to hear it's heartbeat again helped push some of those darker thoughts aside.

Today, I told my students about the baby, and it was fun to see their reactions once they figured out the Mad Gab I created that said "Lore Ends Isper Egg Nut" (sounded out slowly to say "Lorenz is pregnant").  I only have two female students throughout the day, so it was kind of cute to see 18-19 year old guys asking questions about my baby, and to see what their guess is for whether the baby is going to be a boy or a girl (all but one class thought boy).

On to the 14 week update!

How far along?   14 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I actually dropped a pound since the last appointment, so right now I am +2

Maternity clothes? My belly band is still my best friend, but I haven't quite made the move to maternity shirts yet.  I feel like I still have a couple of weeks (though today's shirt definitely is nearing it's end for the next 6 months)
 
Stretch marks? No

Symptoms: Still tired, have to pee all the time...sore hips today.

Sleep: I've managed to go the last couple of nights without having to get up to go to the bathroom!  I am limiting how many fluids I drink before bed (though now I wake up and chug a glass of water).  Not sure which is worse!

Best moment this week: We went public on at work, and on Facebook!  It was fun to see the outpouring of love and support our friends and family have given us.
 
Have you told family and friends: See above :)

Miss Anything? Wine.  I could go for a glass. 

Movement: Nope

Food cravings: Again, I hear or think about a food, and then I want it.  Nothing that I HAVE to have right this moment though.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  The idea of a hot baked sandwich makes me queasy.

Have you started to show yet: The bloat/bump is in full force!

Baby is a: ??

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Still pretty happy.

Looking forward to: Seeing my belly get bigger, and starting to feel movement.

NT scan

We have a real baby cooking in my ute!

Yesterday was the nuchal translucency (NT) scan, and our first chance to get a look at the baby.  Hearing the heartbeat two weeks ago was fantastic, but now being able to see what's been growing was an amazing experience.  A lot of my prior experiences with ultrasounds and OBs were when I was miscarrying, so to be able to have happy news each visit makes me feel less and less anxious about what's going on.  The ultrasound tech said that we are measuring perfectly for an August 5th due date, and took a little time to let us see the baby moving around it's arms and mouth.  Baby Lorenz even gave us a biiiiiig stretch, so that was fun to see.  At one point, the tech changed the ultrasound to 3D, so we got to see our little lava baby chilling in what looks like a pretty comfy cave.  The next ultrasound won't be for another month yet, so it'll be cool to see how much baby changes and grows over the next 4-6 weeks, and hopefully find out the sex!

Things are feeling much more real now.  On Monday, I am going to let my students know about the baby, especially since my co-teacher said that I probably can't hold out much longer since my bloat/baby bump is starting to show, even through my flowy sweaters!