The Good News Is....I Can Still Suck In!!! (Sorta)

12 weeks, 5 days

At the end of the day...obviously!

Sucking in...

Letting it all hang out...

Surprisingly, I haven't gained any weight yet! Or at least that's what they told me yesterday at the doctor. Maybe I gained my first few pounds today?!?!

P.S. Got to hear the heartbeat yesterday. Fast and strong!

My First Taste

of parenting, that is. Last night, a woman from Bark Busters came to our house to give us a lesson on "parenting" Ellie. Though I highly doubt she'd call it that. We were educated in all the ways of a dog pack and taught that Ellie is testing us to see if we are still deserving to be the leaders of the pack. When we fail (i.e. allow her to pull on her leash, or walk through the door first), Ellie begins to question our abilities as leaders. Sounds a bit like what teenagers do to their parents, no? :) So now we have homework this week. We're supposed to work with her on Sit-Stay and we go about our businees until we Free her. Wish us luck tonight!

Lemon Drops or Ultra-Screen

I think I had my first true craving yesterday. I had to have Lemon Drops. (Not that I've eaten them since I was like 10, but all of a sudden I could taste them in my mouth and had. to. have. one.) Luckily, I realized this as Jay and I were headed to Pops and Gaga's house (Jay's parents) so we stopped at Publix. They were out of Lemon Drops. Grrr. Not to worry! There's a CVS right across the road. They didn't have them either. I was incredulous. Who stocks these candy shelves?!?!? I settled for Mike and Ikes (of which I finished off the box in one night) only to decide on the way home that I still wasn't satisfied. So I made Jay stop at the Walgreen's on the way home. Lo and behold, Walgreen's was my savior-of-the-night. They had Lemonheads. Though looking back on it now, I still feel like I settled.

This is what I got.

And this is what I wanted. I think I'll have to go on another run today.

On a more serious note, I'm scheduled to have an Ultra-Screen tomorrow at my 2nd OB appointment which screens for Down Syndrome and Trisomies 18 and 13. I'm having a really difficult time deciding whether or not to have the screening. There's only 1 pro: Jay missed the first ultra-sound and I would love for him to get to see the baby and hear the heartbeat (and I wouldn't mind another peek!). The con is just that I think it might cause more anxiety than is necessary. Of course there's going to be some chance that Birdie could have a birth defect; but it's not going to change my mind about anything and I've heard horror stories about parents preparing and planning for a baby with a birth defect for months, only to give birth and find out it's perfectly healthy. So today I'm calling our insurance to find out if the Ultra-Screen is 100% covered. If it's not, then that'll make my decision not to do it. If it is, then I have to go from there...

Sharing the News or Birdies

I wanted this post to have two titles so I just named it both. One of the shows I watch (I can't think of which one right now....is it too early to have "pregnancy brain"?!?!) always titles their episodes like that and I think it's so creative. Speaking of creative, I wish I was more creative. I see all these cute pregnancy blogs, or pictures of pregnant women, or nurseries, and think, now why didn't I think of that?!?!? I'm just creative enough to wish I was more creative.

Anyway, I'm out of the pregnancy closet. Officially official. I posted it on Facebook and it doesn't get more "out" or official than that. It's starting to feel much more real. Maybe the fact that I can't button my pants anymore has something to do with that too. Shout out to my sis-in-law for loaning me a bella band so I don't have to wear maternity pants yet! I told my students on Friday which was super-fun...they were so cute about it. I'm so lucky to teach such awesome kids!!!

Oh, and as for the Birdies part of the title...that's just because I'm obsessed with all things aviary right now. I was already headed down Jay Bird lane before I got pregnant, but now that there's a little nugget inside me (which is supposedly the size of a plum this week!), I think birds and nests and such are just adorable. Do you think the nursery could have a bit of a bird-theme whether it's a boy or girl?!? And, while I love the nickname Nugget, I'm kinda wanting to call Baby Blev, Birdie or something like that too. Some of my students came up with the nickname Doodle from a story we read. I love 'em all! Tell me what you think.

Rough Night

I'll try to spare you the details.

Background Info: 

• A friend at work ate spaghetti for lunch.
• It smelled delicious.
• After school, the volleyball team (which hangs out in the classroom across the hall from mine on gamedays) ate spaghetti before their game. Again, my stomach growled.
• At cheerleading practice I called Jay to see if he could pick up supplies for spaghetti so we could have it for dinner.

The Facts: 

• We ate spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner with green beans on the side.
• It was delicious!!! (I've had a bit of an aversion to chicken lately, but I'm loving hambuger meat.)
• After dinner, I was certain I had room leftover for dessert. (This fact is very important because I've quickly found that the only feeling worse than feeling hungry pangs when pregnant, is feeling too full. It's miserable.)
• For dessert I ate leftover chocolate fudge coca~cola cake with a large ice-cold glass of milk. Mmm...
• 5 minutes later I had that awful hunger pang feeling I get if I don't eat every hour.
• It was almost bedtime, so I decided to ignore the pain thinking my food would settle soon, I'd be asleep, and I'd wake up feeling fine.

The Bad News:

• While brushing my teeth, I lost it. The spaghetti, the green beans, the chocolate cake, the milk.
• IN THE SINK.
• Then the toilet.

The Worst News:

• My sink has not been draining properly for quite some time.

Naturally, Jay and I took this opportunity to argue about who should have unclogged the sink before this disaster occured. Luckily, he was a dream and helped me clean it up. (With yellow scrubbing gloves on his hands and a t-shirt tied around his nose and mouth.)

I thought towards the end of the first trimester the nausea should be getting better???

I'm pregnant!!!

I've been waiting to create this blog until I was "fully out" with the pregnancy, but then I realized that I could make it private. So if you're reading this blog, then I've invited you to join in on this crazy journey that I've begun! By the end of this week, I plan to have told work and my students and the remainder of my close friends who don't know yet.

Today, I am officially 11 weeks, 4 days pregnant. According to some of the websites I now read daily, Baby Blev (or Nugget, as Linds aptly named it) is starting to grow fingernail beds and hair follicles! Though I've now been to the doctor, saw the ultrasound and heard the heartbeat, it's still hard to believe. :)

While I am experiencing nausea, I haven't had a bad bout of morning sickness. And hopefully the nausea I am experiencing will be gone in another couple of weeks! Linds told me yesterday that she's ready for me to start showing....part of me feels the same way. At least if I look pregnant, then maybe I'll feel pregnant! But so far, the only "bump" I get is bloating at the end of the day. The good news there is....I haven't gained any weight yet....yay!

Here's the proof of the pregnancy. Yes, I took 3 tests because I just couldn't seem to believe the first....or the second.... :)  I know, eww, I peed on these! Also, you can't see the (+) sign very well. Sorry!

And here's my first "bump" picture taken at 10 weeks....obviously at the end of the day. (The kangaroo pouch on the dress probably doesn't help, either.) As soon as I can get to a scanner, I'll scan in the pics of Nugget from the ultrasound.