16 weeks...it's baaaaack...

...Morning sickness.  Dum dum dum duuuuuum. (Wow, it's hard to express evil-sounding music through a blog post.)  I thought I was done with all that but for some reason it has come back with a vengeance during the past week. However, it's no longer random nausea & puking throughout the day - it is solely confined to the mornings now (like REAL morning sickness!).  I feel gross in the mornings, always puke about 45 mins after getting up, and then feel gross off and on until around noon. Then I'm fine the rest of the day.  This has made getting to work on time very very difficult. Let's hope this bout is short-lived.

Here's my growing bump:

Weight is +4 lbs and baby's the size of an avocado!

This week has been funny with running into people I haven't seen in a little while who didn't know I was pregnant.  Inevitably they'll glance at my stomach, pretend they didn't and then say suspiciously; "So, what's new?". I usually then just point to my belly and just say; "Baby" to which they squeal a bit and respond with; "Oh yes, you have that pregnancy glow!"  

I find this amusing. I'm pretty sure I do not have a 'pregnancy glow' right now. In fact, I think I would currently classify it more as a 'dead fish glow'. I know it, you know it, but thanks, I guess, for pretending.

I also get a lot of: "Ooo, are you excited?!"  Heck yes I'm excited. You have no idea just how excited we truly are.  But really, has anyone EVER answered that question with anything other than "yes"?  One of these times I'd like to answer with; "Meh, not really" just to see their reaction but I don't think I have the guts for it.

What I have NOT gotten is: "Was it planned?" like so many women on my BMB seem to have. That's probably because I'm in my thirties and have been married for a while. In my case I think most people have been wondering when the heck we were gonna get on that but luckily I haven't received any insensitive comments.  Yet.  

I haven't felt any movement from little Petey Nugget yet but this is apparently around the time that I should start feeling things (supposedly it's like a bubbles sensation). I hope I'll be able to report that next week!  I also have my countdown on to when we find out if it's a boy or girl!  (18 days to go!)

You didn't know you were pregnant? Really?

Please tell me you have seen the show "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant".  I am so confused by that show.  HOW could you go to full term and honestly have no idea you were pregnant?  I feel like every single day something new and different is happening to my body. New feelings, new quirks and pains and growth. I'm not even technically 4 months in yet and already it would be absolutely impossible for me to NOT notice I'm pregnant.

Take this morning for instance: Last night I remember remarking to my husband that my nips were itchy. I did some absent-minded scratching and moved on. Then this morning as I was about to step into the shower, I glanced into the bathroom mirror and BAM! TOTAL National Geographic nipples staring back at me. What the ever living fuck?! Seriously; cute little nips yesterday and today it looks like I just gave birth to a litter of puppies. How did this happen overnight?!! 

(Don't you just love when I give you waaaay more info than you ever wanted to know?)

I'm serious in that I don't even recognize my boobs anymore. Even if I lived in a house with no mirrors and no lights, only dressed in huge over-sized sweatshirts at all times, and had nubs for hands so that I couldn't actually touch/feel my boobs I STILL think I would notice the changes. I just can't believe that there could be women out there who truly didn't know they were pregnant. As my (total white-bred) husband would say: "Bitches be crazy!"

Heh. Yoink!

15 weeks. And the stretch marks have begun...

I've been feeling the stretching now; Round Ligament Pain (RLP) to be precise. It's not painful, just uncomfortable sometimes, mostly on my right side. I've been slathering on the Burt's Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter which feels good and keeps me moisturized but is apparently not doing much for the stretch marks.  
PS: Pregnancy + winter = ridiculously dry skin. I am a dinosaur.

Here's this week's bump pic:

 Baby's the size of a naval orange!

Weight gain: +3.5 lbs. Somehow I gained a pound and a half this week. Looks like the lack of puking is starting to catch up with me.  However, I'm really not big on food lately. I almost always feel hungry but nothing really sounds good to me anymore except for tart lemonade (I'm lookin' at you, Runnin' Red!) and juice, but there's so much sugar in them that I try to limit myself.  I've been eating what I can because I know I need to but I'm annoyed with food in general lately; particularly when I eat something that I used to like and then find that it doesn't taste the same to me anymore.

Tuesday was my routine monthly prenatal check-up with my midwife and all was good: Heartbeat was back up to 150bpm, I got my results that the NT scan was normal, and I found out that I'm negative for cystic fibrosis. All good news!  

Also, we scheduled the anatomy scan for March 18th! I can't wait to find out if little Petey Nugget is a girl or boy!!  I had previously wanted to be Team Green and wait to find out the sex until the birth but Hubs really wanted to know. He said that since I'm carrying the baby/feeling everything and all he can really do is watch, it would help him feel closer to the baby if he can picture it as a boy or girl. That made sense so I gave in.  Now that we're definitely going to find out, I cannot WAIT! Less than a month to go!

The midwife also scheduled me to see both the Nutritionist and one of the OBs in the next few weeks since she's concerned that my PCOS plus extra weight could lead to worse insulin/blood sugar issues and possibly gestational diabetes. Ugh.  So all of those upcoming appts coupled with integrated screening part 2 and then my next routine prenatal with her equals at least 1 appt per week through the first part of April. What was that I said recently about loving the break from all the dr appts? ;-)

Okay I think that's all for me today. I'm exhausted lately because work has been hell on earth recently and all-encompassing.  I have been one step away from a complete crying breakdown every single day this week because it's been so awful and I really don't know how much more I can take. I am counting the days until maternity leave. (As of today, 175 days until my due date!)

Mmm...lemons

I am loving lemony foods lately!  How appropriate since I'm now 14 weeks along (minus a day) and baby is the size of a lemon! Bump pic!

Weight gain is +2 lbs and it's now obvious I'm pregnant. People at work who I haven't even told are randomly congratulating me now once they catch sight of my stomach so I guess there's no longer a question. Good thing this isn't a food baby or I'd be pissed!

Annoyance of the week: My coworker (who I strongly suspect may be a hoarder) has been trying to give me all her old baby stuff.  Now, that might sound like a nice thing except for the fact that her youngest child is NINE.  She has had this shit laying around her house for NINE YEARS and keeps trying to pass it off on me like it's a present that I should be excited about. Umm, thanks but no, I do not want your used, decade-old changing pad! Or the ugly giraffe poster that was hanging in the kid's room that is now yellowed and curled up on the sides.  I'm not sure if she thinks she's being nice or if she's finally getting around to some loooong overdue spring cleaning, but either way, I really don't know what to do.  I don't want to insult her but.... NO! I do not want your ancient recycled shit! You know who does though?  The garbage man.

Awesomeness of the week: Morning sickness has been letting up considerably!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
That was a pretty rough 1st trimester. I am thrilled that it is now over and I am loving 2nd tri so far!!  I'm feeling better, I have some more energy, I'm sleeping better, AND I have a cute bump forming! Plus, not having to suck in my stomach is fun :-)

My next appt with my midwife is this Tuesday!  I'm looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again but besides that I really am not sure what else we'll be doing...guess I'll find out on Tues!

It's Facebook official!

We announced the pregnancy on Facebook today! Here it is:

After more than a year and half spent wishing and hoping, "Hubby" and I are absolutely thrilled to share the news that we are expecting Baby "Chickin" this August!!

It took me a bit to figure out what exactly to say since we were never "out" about our infertility but I think this struck a decent middle ground so folks have some idea of what we went through/just how happy we are, but without going into detail.

I also have to say that actually posting it out there for the world to see and having people come out of the woodwork to congratulate us made me unexpectedly emotional.  I couldn't stop myself from crying with gratitude, thinking about everything it took to get here and remembering the hopeless times filled with fear that our dream of a family may never come true. I just feel so unbelievably grateful and thankful that we are here now and I wish for that so hard for every single one of my fellow Dreamers. 

My good friend Jaytee at Miles Yet to Travel linked to this blog post on her own blog the other day which so eloquently sums up everything I feel about my own "Sisters Who Wait".  I think about you all every single day and am always hoping and praying for you. Although my circumstances have changed now, I could never forget what it's like to be in the IF trenches and I hope you know that I'm still there beside you on the sidelines, fighting with you from afar.