Week 16 and 17

okok, I'm falling behind on these posts :( Last day of week 17 today!

Week 16

Updates: It's getting pretty boring now as I am just busy rapidly expanding

•  I'm starting to feel weird flutters in my belly! Although that could be anything ranging from the baby to muscle spasms to.. gas. I'm going to choose to believe that I'm not disgusting and it's the baby. I've noticed that it happens more around certain times (like 5-6PM). WebMD tells me that it should feel like "gas bubbles" but I think "flutters" or "muscle spasms" is closer to how it feels. Another way I'd describe it is that it feels like my belly has a heartbeat. It's definitely not uncomfortable but it's not comfortable either (feels like a distraction) so I can only imagine that as the spawn gets bigger it'll probably get annoying :(. 
• Supposedly the baby is at the state where it reacts to light being shone at the belly now and will either move to avoid it or react to it. I was super excited about that until I realized sitting on a couch shooting a flashlight at my belly trying to guess the baby's orientation is super boring. So that pastime ended much faster than I anticipated.

Maternity wear!

• So I'm definitely showing now. I always read about women who are like "I didn't show until month 5!" In my case, that's a freaking lie. I could pretty much tell immediately. Maybe other people wouldn't notice at that point but the minute you start thinking you're showing, the self consciousness sinks in anyways and you find that perfect excuse to wear sweats 24/7... until they no longer fit. 
• I've moved on to maternity jeans. They are amazingly comfortable, amazingly hideous jeans that don't actually button and stretch all the way up to past your waist.
  

• My bras officially do not fit anymore. Even in my workout bras I am in constant danger of having something indecently pop out. Let me just say though, nursing/pregnancy bras are THE UGLIEST THINGS EVER and cost an exorbitant amount. As if you don't feel unsexy enough as a giant beached whale, it's like the fashion industry decided to add insult to injury and make you feel even worse :(. 
• For a while, loose fitting t-shirts were my best friend. They were comfy, pretty much worked with any bottom, and hid my growing belly pretty well - AND ALSO you can wear them after the baby!! Somehow in the past week or so my belly has grown past the point of no return and loose t-shirts now just make me look fat. But they are still comfy so I'm still sticking with them. 

Week 17

Holy crap have I gained weight. Officially hit 10 lbs today and did a before and after photo comparison. Left is before pregnancy and right is start of 18 weeks. Little spawn is around the size of a bell pepper now. I seem to be carrying pretty low which according to Google, means that it's a boy... about 50% of the time (haha). Other than that, it doesn't seem like carrying low means anything for the baby or mom. It's been nice though because sometimes at night when I'm hunched over it pushes up against my upper organs and its SUPER uncomfortable. So thanks baby spawn for not growing so high up!

We have a OBGYN appointment tomorrow and I plan on pestering her until she scans for gender so maybe we'll find out tomorrow! Otherwise, June 9th is the official gender scan assuming the baby cooperates and shows the goods. 

Week 15

Things I learned this week:

• Prenatal yoga = SUPERRRRR boring. If I wanted to breathe through times of stress I'd sit on my bed and breathe through my Hearthstone games while some BM player taunts me.
• Where does the weight go during pregnancy?
• Baby: 8 pounds 
• Placenta: 2-3 pounds 
• Amniotic fluid: 2-3 pounds 
• Breast tissue: 2-3 pounds 
• Blood supply: 4 pounds 
• Stored fat for delivery and breastfeeding: 5-9 pounds 
• Larger uterus: 2-5 pounds
  Total: 25-35 pounds
  *I'm pretty sure all 7 of my new lbs have gone straight to blood supply and body fat. I can't even take a walk without feeling winded.
• WHO INVENTED CLOTHES?!? I hate clothes. Nasty constricting expensive things.

Week 14 (2nd half)

I FEEL GREAT.

It's been almost a week since the last time I threw up/dry heaved and I feel so great, in fact, that I'm even starting to forget how miserable I've been the past couple months!

AND THIS IS HOW WOMEN ARE TRICKED INTO HAVING MULTIPLE BABIES D:

At least I've documented my misery in detail so the next time I start thinking babies are so freaking cute I can reread the trauma of the past couple months and make an educated decision (ha. yeah right :().

I'm almost back to normal now. I can move around, eat things, stay awake, and generally am operating like a human being again! Oh sweet, sweet basic life abilities, I'm never taking you for granted again.

First trimester recap

• Weight Gain: I've gained about 6 lbs first trimester and have officially started setting new records on my scale :(. As miserable as my nausea has been, I guess it doesn't fall on the extreme spectrum of morning sickness. Every time I've gone to the OB and lamented pitifully about how nauseous I am she has always rudely unsympathetic thanks to those women who lose 10 lbs their first trimester because they can't keep anything down. Hmph.

• Fitness: I never considered myself super fit prior to pregnancy but I was hitting up the gym about 3-4 times a week for weight lifting and a yoga class or quick run 1-2 times a week (ok, that sounds way more intense typed out than it was. They were not long sessions - around 30-40m and most of it was sitting around in gym clothes feeling "productive"). I stuck to that schedule for the first month but once morning sickness hit I've been at the gym a whopping total of two times - and both times were to pay for my bill. Needless to say I'm grossly out of shape now as confirmed by the fact that I tried to do "warm-up day one" of Kayla Itsines and got through half of it and almost died. By contrast, the last time I tried that workout I didn't even feel winded :(.
  
  Now that I'm starting to feel better I've been doing just light weights and squats at home so that hopefully the squat rack won't kill me right away when I visit the gym again. I will have to modify my workouts though as I can't do exercises on my back (as the baby gets bigger lying on my back presses on the vena cava and reduces circulation to the baby) and I'll most likely avoid heavy weights... just in case.

• Baby bump: The baby bump is SUPER UNCOMFORTABLE. It literally feels like I have a volleyball wedged in my midriff especially when I slouch over. Initially my belly expanded below the belly button but over time it seemed to shift upwards. I definitely feel like I'm growing more wide than out which is unfortunate because THAT IS COMPLETELY THE WRONG DIRECTION TO GROW IN. I don't know how I'll be able to handle getting bigger considering how poorly I'm handling it now.
  
  The baby bump grew alarmingly around weeks 9-11 and it hasn't seemed to grow much since then despite the fact that the baby has about quadrupled in size since then (from cherry to orange). Which makes me super suspicious that it was just bloating which is just disgusting so I'd rather not think about that.

• Diet: HAAA. WHAT DIET. Just kidding (kinda). On one hand I've cut out coffee, raw fish and most seafood in general, as well as pink meat, deli meat, and salads. Basically anything that puts you at risk for getting sick normally plus a couple other things that irritate the baby. I thought coffee would be a hard one to kick but after my strong distate for food and everything smelly the first couple weeks it ended up being super easy. You can have the equivalent of one cup of coffee of caffeine a day unless you want an irritated fetus and there are some inconclusive studies that show a correlation that the percentage of miscarriage is higher with women who ingested a lot of caffeine vs not.
  
  On the other hand I've basically turned into the guy from Supersize Me. First trimester was all about eating 1) food that would not be disgusting when thrown back up and 2) whatever I wanted. That ended up being a boatload of carbs in the form of bread and a ton of crap food. I tried REALLY hard to eat healthily the first couple weeks but just gave up and succumbed to trying to get through each day alive. I will never judge pregnant people again.

• Clothing: I was not excited about maternity shopping. That sounded like an exorbitant waste of money to look halfway decent for six months when you definitely don't feel decent beneath the ridiculously priced tent you are wearing. So far I'm still able to fit in most of my normal clothes and can even zip up my pants if I suck in my belly - but I don't even really want to do that non pregnant so why would I do that now that I'm 6 lbs heavier? Anything tight would exacerbate my nausea so I've pretty much been living in maxi skirts and tshirts for the past couple months.
  
  Belly bands are amazing inventions. Thanks to them I can wear pants on the desperate days I run out of laundry and I can walk around with my pants unzipped and nobody knows! The downside is that your pants slightly feel like they're in danger of falling down all day but who cares. 

• Stretch marks/linea nigra: Nothing so far... *knocks desperately on wood*. Actually I've recently discovered some small stretch marks around my boobs so THERE GOES MY DREAMS OF JOINING A TOPLESS COLONY :(. It sounds like it just depends if you're prone to stretch marks genetically and creams can help treat them but won't do too much to prevent them. We'll see how this progresses but so far for creams I like just plain coconut oil for its fast absorption and Burt's Bees Mama Bee belly butter for the days I just don't want to smell anything.

Whew, long recap. I'll edit if I think of anything else otherwise, on to trimester number two! 

week 14

HMMMMM... it seems my morning sickness may be subsiding! Given this amazing development, I now push myself to sleep later and later.. until my body rebels and I throw up. Then I crawl into bed a sniveling snotty mess at the successful late hour of 1030PM.

We went in for our 2nd trimester checkup with the OBGYN which was by far the least interesting checkup ever. Baby spawn didn't even get a headshot out of it. We just sat around and listened to the baby's heartbeat for about 3 minutes and then we packed my tummy back in and went to work.

Next up is yet another blood test and then I will have completed the combined first and second trimester screening for all the genetic diseases (whooo).

Baby bump is still hide-able depending on what I wear. Although I haven't determined what works or not. It seems to be all random

OR I can let the baby bump hang in all its full glory. So uncomfortable.

IN OTHER NEWS - Koopa finally got kicked out of his room so now we have deep cleaned, bleached, and repainted the room. Prior to Eric having a fit of insanity and moving the rodent into the house, the room was just our spare bedroom that we loaded all unpacked boxes into and pretended it didn't exist. In fact, we even called it "The room that does not exist". Still have a a bunch of stuff to do to make it habitable including:

• Removing that disgusting light fixture
• Repainting the ceiling
• Repainting the doors and baseboards
• Get a rug
• Get furniture
• Make it a live-able room

Baby project #1 done! 

Baby's room.. someday.