Ten weeks!

-Mandy

Well, today I'm "officially" ten weeks pregnant. Still in my first trimester - and still experiencing nausea and exhaustion. But, according to everything we've read, Bun has now completed most of his/her major organ development. So we've got a little baby inside of my belly, starting to grow like a weed!

My excitement has also started to take off this past week, and I've been checking out nursery decor at a rapid click. I'm still going back and forth on several things, but I know I want bright bold colors for the baby to look at (no pastel-colored room, no matter how sweet it may look to us). For a baby boy, Ben really wants to have monkeys, so we've decided on zoo animals. I think my favorite bedding set, so far, is this:

Boy Bedding: Jackson

Plus, Mom has the perfect set of cutouts that she saved from my nursery:

Animal Cutouts from Mom

We just need to find/make a monkey to go with these guys! As for a girl's room, I'm really loving the idea of ladybugs right now. Here's a nice one that I like:

Girl Bedding: Lady Bug

The whole room collection is actually really cute (especially the lamp!!), but they painted walls pink for the online pic, and the room looked like it had been washed over with Pepto!

For the nursery furniture, I'd like to go with a more natural wood color, or possibly oak. I haven't decided if we're going to buy furniture that will be just nursery furniture, or if we want to get something that we'll take Bun to college (i.e., regular crib or a lifetime convertible crib). But my favorite (at the moment) is this furniture collection from Babi Italia:

Furniture: Eastside Cinnamon, Babi Italia

So those are the nursery ideas for now - I'm sure they'll be changing quite a bit over the coming months. But I want to have most of this decided on/purchased/registered for by July...I think some friends of mine back in Dallas are throwing a shower for me in August!! Man, if only I could get past all this nausea, this pregnancy thing would be too much fun!!!!

Some of my favorite things

-Mandy

As I enter my 9th week, I'm thinking about all the things that helped me through my second month of pregnancy. In honor of Bun's third month, I present a list of my favorite things:

1. Good jogging, sleep, and (soon) maternity bras
2. Ginger gum
3. Lemonade
4. Starchy foods
5. Fruit
6. Seabands
7. Sleep
8. Midnight (or 3am) snacks
9. Exercise*

And some of my least favorite things (which used to be some of my faves before getting pregnant)
1. Chocolate
2. The thought of wine, or any sort of alcohol
3. V8
4. Broccoli
5. Leafy green veggies
6. Chicken (unless it's fried)
7. Food in general
8. Exercise*

*Notice "exercise" made the list twice; this one depends on the day of the week.

A few interesting developments from this past week:
1. Occasional bloating makes me look pregnant - and I mean really pregnant.
2. I've gained just a couple of pounds but can comfortably button only two pairs of my jeans.
3. Ponytail holders make great extenders for pants that can't be comfortably buttoned.

I'm also starting to think about nursery furniture, but will wait a bit longer before getting too into re-decorating. Right now I'm looking forward to losing the nausea, a return of my appetite, and a real pregnant belly that doesn't come and go with bloating. This whole pregnancy thing is an adventure already!

Belly Pic - 7 Weeks

-Mandy

So we've decided to start documenting my growing belly now, before it starts to grow. The belly currently measures 31 inches - the same measurement I got when I found out I was pregnant. In theory, I should wear the same outfit in every picture and take it in the same spot each time. Since the clothes I'm wearing now will never fit in 8 months, I found a simple enough black tank-top, which I'm sure I can later match with a preggo top. And we chose Bun's future nursery for our "studio".

Seven Week Belly Pic

While I don't look pregnant yet, I'm definitely feeling the full swing of first trimester symptoms. I'm nauseous all the time and have very little appetite, so eating has become quite the chore. I'm also feeling exhausted most of the time and have started taking naps during the day and sleeping at least 9 hours a night. I'm trying to continue my workout regimen, but it's getting difficult to drag myself out of bed in the morning for the gym. Even so, I feel so much better the days that I find time for even a short jog. I've also been quite pleasantly surprised with Sea Bands - the baby blue wristbands I'm sporting in the above pic. Not only are these stylish accessories quite the fashion statement, but (more importantly) they really help keep the nausea under control.

And then there's the mood swings: I've cried more in the past few days than I think Ben has seen during our entire marriage! And anything can set it off - running out of hot water in the shower, Ben cooking dinner and doing the dishes, or a bout of nausea when we're out shopping. Ben's a trooper though - glad I married such a patient guy. :)

No matter how I feel, I know it's all going to be worth it when I get to hold our little Bun in 8 months! For now, I'm anxiously awaiting the 2nd trimester energy boost I've been promised.

Say cheese!

Bun's first picture!

Bun had his/her first picture taken at this past week's appointment, and we think s/he is already a looker! Just to the right of the arrow is the yolk sac, which has been providing nourishment to Bun. In the next couple of weeks, the yolk sac will begin to disappear, and the nourishment will be provided by the placenta and umbilical cord. Just below the yolk sac is where we saw little Bun's heart beating!

Heartbeat!

-Mandy

I'm officially seven weeks pregnant today, and Ben and I are now breathing a bit easier - we saw, and heard, Honey Bun's heartbeat this week! Although I had my first prenatal appointment during my fourth week, it was too early for me to see anything too telling. So the first appointment was filled with details - prenatal blood tests, checking the safety of medications, questions about symptoms, etc... This week's appointment was the big one, though, the one that let us know Bun really was in there, developing into our own sweet little baby. Until this appointment, I was having a hard time even accepting what was happening inside my body - I've been just so scared that it wasn't real, or that it might go away.

But it is real, and the experience of this week's appointment was absolutely amazing. The ultrasound technician quickly found Bun and we saw the quick fluttering of his/her heart. After taking some measurements, the technician turned the sound on, explaining that it wasn't always possible to hear the heartbeat this early on. Barely a second later, the room was filled with the quick pounding of our little one's new heart! I was in tears, and Ben was holding my foot (rather tightly) - it was the happiest moment of my life (his too I'm sure).

I'm sure there will be many more of these moments to come. And, while I'm still holding onto some of the anxiety, I'm also so much more excited about planning for Bun. I have a feeling the next 33 weeks will fly by before we know it!