The Second Trimester is Here!

This past Thursday marked the beginning of my second trimester. The resources say the baby is the size of a clenched fist. I have gained 5.2 lbs so far. My lower back is starting to hurt slightly from my pelvis spreading -- or so I am told. I just thought my lower back was hurting temporarily, as it sometimes does, but then after a couple days, Brandon and I read in the daily journal that it was due to stress on the lower back from the pelvis moving. The discomfort comes and goes. I have noticed my belly more. When reaching for something, I get this weird "you shouldn't do that" feeling on the sides of my abdomen -- especially when reaching for something in the back seat of the car.

We took photos last night of my profile, but I was tired and grumpy in addition to being unable to hold a naturally happy look for the camera, so this photo was the best of them (probably best out of 25 -- poor Brandon). I was actually shocked at how big my belly looked. I thought it was just me that could see it and that I needed to provide hand gestures to indicate the location of the bulge or the person I was talking to wouldn't understand where they should be looking -- man, self image is so delusional and disorienting.

12 Weeks and Counting

I went to the doctor yesterday. Everything thing is still looking good. I had gained two pounds since my last appointment. All tests looked good.The nurse had no trouble picking up the sound of the baby's heart beat with doppler. The heart beat was 154 beats per minute. Due to travel with work, my next appointment is postponed until I am beginning my 18th week.

My belly is definitely starting to show -- a button popped off my pants yesterday. The doctor made hand gestures indicating 1) how big my uterus was -- it appeared to be the size of two grapefruits side by side and 2) how big the baby was -- it appeared to be the size of a medium egg.

My mom and dad spent the night with us last night and brought maternity clothes that my cousin Lauren is letting me borrow. Ellie Dudly sent me her maternity clothes last week. They both are helping us out a lot by letting me borrow them -- it will save us a lot of money and we really appreciate it.

Right now, if I wear maternity pants they seem to slide down all day. I need to remember to keep trying to get the Bella Band Ellie suggested. Brandon and I went by Target this weekend to see if they sold them in the store since they had them on-line but no luck. Target had Bio Oil, though. In Fit Pregnancy magazine, it says it helps prevent stretch marks if started in the first trimester. Brandon is in awe of my weakness to advertising propagada.

11 Weeks Yesterday

Well, yesterday marked the end of my 11th week of pregnancy. I weighed 119.8 lbs today which means I have gained 4 pounds even so far. My appetite is slowing down. I am not as hungry, and it looks like my legs are slimming up a little. When a first found out I was pregnant, it seemed like I started putting on weight in my thighs almost immediately. My waist hasn't changed much yet. The pooch is still low enough that it has only increased my waist by an inch.

The baby is supposed to be the size of a large lime right now, and it skin is very sensitive to touch since the nerves in the skin are new and developing. It says the baby will move around whenever it comes in contact with anything -- although I won't be able to feel the movement for a while longer.

I had an emotional day yesterday. I probably cried 6 times yesterday over someone at the licensing department being rude/mean to me at lunch. Every time I thought of it I got upset. Poor Brandon didn't know how to console me because whenever he padded me on the back I got more upset. He bought me a chocolate-dipped, chocolate-chip cookie sandwich with cream icing in the middle that night to cheer me up which it did. The other good news is we paid off my car and got the title in our name. One less payment to make. Although, Brandon will probably have to handle all of the future title, tags, and car stuff in general after that experience.

Everything is Going Great -- Except for Tight Waistbands!

So far so good. I still haven't been sick at all. I feel great. If this little pooch wasn't getting bigger, I don't know if I would know that I was pregnant.

Sometimes, when I move my abdomen certain way, I feel a twinge of discomfort, but I assume that is normal.

My weight gain seems to have leveled out to approximately 4 pounds so far. Hopefully, it will stay close to that until the end of my first trimester. If it does, I'll be on schedule to gain approximately a pound a week until the end.

My clothes are definitely getting tighter. Right now, I am wearing a skirt which its waist is practically at my rib cage because thoughout the day I have shifted it up to keep it from cutting into by belly. The skirt started the day about a inch below my knee. Right now, it is at the middle of my knee. We will see where it ends up by 5:00.

Endless Possibilities

Well, I found a program online that creates photos of future potential babies based on photos of their parents called BabyMaker. I began with a photo of Brandon and I -- this photo was taken on my 31st birthday -- the day after we found out we were expecting. I ran the program 9 times and this is what it came up with. I don't know why it created more boys than girls, and I am a little concerned about lefty on the second row.