Pregnancy: Weeks 13-16

 

Weeks 13-16

How far along? 16 weeks

 

Baby's size and development? Baby is the size of a delicious Avocado, weighing about 5 ounces and measuring 5 inches long. It can sense light, begin to hear outside noises and riverdance on my bladder.

 

Best moment? Telling our families and having that weight off our shoulders. Lots of happy tears and wine (for the future Grandma's, that is)/eating so much stuffing and gravy
 

 

Symptoms/Changes? No more nausea or indigestion! Still tired and easily dizzy. Bump noticable but I retain the use of my stomach muscles and will continue to suck it in until I can't anymore. Somehow, despite pregnancy books saying that I should experience a temporarily reduced urinary frequency it seems only to get worse. I get up at least twice a night (up to 5 times) and can't make it through one art class without abandoning my students to pee. I also have an increased appetite and eat an incredible 5 tacos in one sitting after a particularily terrifying, wet and muddy evening lost in a corn maze with my husband and in-laws.

 

 

What I miss? Having red wine with turkey dinner. The point in my pregnancy when I had a flat stomach from nausea and huge boobs from hormones, they are less cool when the belly starts coming in. Eggs Benedict. Sleep.
 

 

What I'm looking forward to? Our housewarming party next weekend! Seeing adorable preschoolers dressed up for Halloween at work! My next midwife appointment (finally one Andrew can make it to!).

Holding our tiny little baby for the first time and getting to put tiny onesies on it. Being able to stop calling the baby an it. Labour, breastfeeding, everything!

Our new house

When we moved in to our new house it was both creepy and smelly. We took a chance and got very lucky. We were able to have stinky carpets removed and replaced with laminate, our kind parents helped us clean the whole house and paint half of it, and we made a few furniture purchases that made it functional.

Some before

Some afters (in progress, really)

Ikea Ektorp corner sofa, craigslist $400

Coffee table, from my childhood home (dad made it)

Rug, Winners $79.99

Throws, Ikea $10-30

Knit grey pillow, Ikea $20

Faux Sheepskin, Ikea $15

Wall colour: Crystal, Home Depot

Lamp, Winners $17

Cardboard side table, my own silly art project

Painting the fireplace made the biggest difference of all!

Lack Sofa Table, Ikea $59.99

Yellow Chair, London Drugs $20

Table and chairs were a $150 craigslist find, rug was a hand-me-down. We will eventually paint the table all white and the chairs a different colour or shade.

The bedroom hasn't changed much from what my bedroom looked like in high school.

Instead of hating the ugly countertop I tried to find a complementary colour to make it work.

Not a pretty picture (not a pretty kitchen) but it illustrates how we made the kitchen functional by adding much needed storage and counterspace.

Pantry, Ikea $15!

Island, Ikea (hand me down)

Not pictured are the laundry room, backyard, office and second bedroom. We also painted the front door black to cover the peeling brown paint. Obviously everything is decorated for halloween so I will redecorate a bit and work on some other projects.

House to do list:

• De and Re-Caulk the bathtub
• Hang bamboo blinds in the living room
• Finish unpacking the random, leftover boxes
• Paint the upper half of the kitchen, the hallway, the closet doors and the baseboards
• The Nursery! (paint, window coverings, light fixture, furniture, decor)
• Fix the two, ugly, scratched up kitchen drawers (possibly cover with fabric or wallpaper)
• Organize the laundry room
• Organize and decorate the office a bit
• Hang more artwork on the walls
• Work on the backyard, salvage the yard-waste-stuffed compost, garden, get some patio furniture for spring, clean up the shed a bit
• Trim some branches on the many trees and shrubs in the front yard
• Paint exterior (property management company to do it they said in a few weeks, but something tells me we will be waiting until spring)

Pregnancy: Weeks 9-12

(We were too busy moving to take a 12 week photo)

Weeks 9-12

How far along? 12 weeks

 

Baby's size and development? From grape to plum little baby grew a lot during this time. :) Now weighing almost half an ounce and measuring about 2 inches long, we have come a long way from a poppy seed. You can kick and make faces now, I see problems with these skills arising in the distant future.

Best moment? Seeing you/your heartbeat on the ultrasound/getting to pee after the ultrasound/finally being reunited with Andrew and moving in to our new house!

 

Symptoms/Changes? Nausea slowed, peeing SO much, exhaustion still awful, indigestion the worst, bloating, huge boobs, aversion to mashed potatoes, desire for soup, food poisoning, high waisted skirts to hide very slight bump.
 

What I miss? Soft serve, caffeine, being able to sleep through the night

 

What I'm looking forward to? Finally telling our families at Thanksgiving!

Pregnancy: Weeks 5-8

Weeks 5-8

How far along? 8 weeks

Baby's size and development? Our baby has grown from sesame seed to raspberry during this time! Now weighing .04 oz. It looks less like a tadpole than before. :)

 

Best moment? Meeting my midwife and being really happy with my decision/when the girl at Victoria Secret told me my new bra size.

Symptoms/Changes? Mild nausea that occurred when I hadn't eaten recently, exhaustion, weight loss, dizziness, mild eczema, sore boobs, going up two cup sizes and down two band sizes.

 

What I miss? Our apartment, the ocean, my husband (At 8 weeks I moved back to the mainland to start a new job while Andrew stayed on the island to finish classes.)

What I'm looking forward to? My first visit from Andrew!

Pregnancy: Weeks 1-4

I have had the worst case of baby fever ever since we sent off our last "thank you" card from the wedding. I always knew I wanted babies but my goodness when the wedding dust settled a switch was flipped! But, I waited patiently. Sat through lectures while doodling nursery plans, procrastinated writing papers by watching The Bussiness of Being Born and soaked up every bit of pregnancy and baby-related information I could. When I graduated, grad school and a career were the farthest thing from my mind. I couldn't possible spend two more years day dreaming in a lecture on a subject I felt no passion for. Even the direction of my undergrad was skewed by my baby fever. I took courses on infant and child development and wrote every paper I could on fetal brain development and maternal stress levels. I even managed to make my final STATS class project pregnancy realted! I know one day I will go back to school but at that point it was time to do what made me happy. Poor Andrew had been listening to me whine about babies for three years. He didn't need convincing, he wanted it just as badly as I did, despite being less vocal about it. On July 29th 2012 I took a home pregnancy test (only 8dpo) and it came back positive. I took one again the next day with the same results. I told Andrew that afternoon when he got home from school and there was a lot of cardboard (I made a maze, it's a long story), Tragically Hip and happy, shocked tears. :)

Weeks 1-4

How far along? 4 weeks

 

Baby's size and development? Our baby has been nicknamed Poppyseed, thanks to an iPhone app that compared its size in the first few weeks to that of a poppy seed. You weigh 0 oz and are less that .05 of an inch long!

 

Best moment? Telling Andrew that I was pregnant

 

Symptoms/Changes? I didn't experience much in those first weeks, any symptoms I thought I had turned out to be in my imagination once I started experiencing real pregnancy symptoms.

 

What I miss? Large amounts of coffee

 

What I'm looking forward to? My first midwife appointment

Looking forward to...

April 2013. That's when we get to meet our baby. :)

!!!