More belly, more heartbeats!

   We heard the heartbeat again at the doctor's office today. I actually stayed home sick today with a cold, and the office called to see if we could move the appointment time up, which we could because I was home sick today, so Rod got to come! He was so excited. If he couldn't come, I was planning on trying to record it, but he came and I forgot. Don't worry, despite my lack of audio clip of our baby's heartbeat, there is still a way you can hear it. Just ask Rod. He does the best imitation of the baby's heartbeat I've ever heard. He was doing it all the way home from the doctor's office. He's gonna be such a good daddy!
    My mom tells me that a baby's heartbeat sounds like a train (chooochoochoochoo). But what I hear is different. I wonder if it's just because it's earlier in the pregnancy, but the baby's heartbeat is more of a whooshwooshwhoosh sound. Again, ask Rod, he's really good at it. On the way home we decided it's actually just an Asian thing. We're having a half Asian baby, so their heart speaks a slightly different language, more whooshy than choo-ey. I hear that the ch sound is a hard one to learn how to pronounce anyway, so I think that explains the difference.
  So, I'm 15 weeks and a day now, and I am DEFINITELY showing. I'm so excited about this too! I was nervous for a little while because I thought I was just eating too much, or not healthy enough, but when I went to the doctor's today, it turns out I haven't gained any weight yet in the pregnancy. And yet, in this picture, you can definitely see a belly there. I have quite the baby bump. This means that I've slimmed down a little bit elsewhere, because that belly hasn't added any weight. I'm just so excited to have a visible baby bump. It is now available for all to see and get excited with me!

Too big for my shirt!

13 Weeks and there is a visible belly!

I have now officially outgrown my first shirt. I put on a button down shirt today that I haven't worn in a little while. I have been adjusting it all day long to try and not have a belly hanging out underneath the lowest button! I guess it's time to retire this shirt for a while!

Human again!

 You know the song from Beauty and the Beast? "We'll be human again, only human again, we'll go waltzing around once more..."? Ah, this past weekend has been so wonderfully human again! We're hitting week 13 now of pregnancy, and without the student teaching for the weekend--which has been my main source of exhaustion--I have finally been able to be myself again. I have been busy all day for four days in a row now without having to take a nap, or lie down because it was too much because I'm pregnant. I am so excited. I cleaned the house on Friday and made bread, which I've wanted to do for several weeks now. I have been so happy. Rod and I went to the gym on Saturday, and though we were both tired, we watched a movie and then went out for a walk later that evening, and I still had energy to do it all!!! That is the most exciting change that has happened recently. It'll be interesting to see what happens when I go back to school tomorrow, but so far, man it feels good to be human again!
  Along with that change, my husband has noticed that with the beginning of each trimester, I've broken out in acne. True, and very irritating.... But, that means no picture this week (well, that and I forgot to have my husband take one before I posted this) so I can't show off my baby bump. Yes indeed folks, it is there! It showed up on Monday and has grown a little since then too!! Unfortunately, it's not very big yet. It's exciting for Rod and I, because after three months of telling everyone we're pregnant, we wanted to start looking it. When we found the definite bump on Monday, we were SO excited. But it's only just big enough to cup my hand around, so it's really not big enough for anyone to see yet. No matter, everyone will see it soon enough, now that it definitely is here, right? I'll have to take a picture next time, just so you have a picture, even if it's not quite visible yet.
  According to some research, starting with the thirteenth week, the baby can hear sounds, though it's mostly just manifested as detecting vibrations, not really distinct sounds. We found that exciting, and Rod spent yesterday morning trying to communicate with the baby, "We love you, Junior." I don't know if he got the message, but like my mom says, if he missed it now, we'll have plenty of opportunities to tell him later.
  Recently, I have been dreaming more and more about babies. All the time, actually. It's exciting. Last night I dreamt about my little sister, Mary (who is NOT pregnant--it was a dream, remember) having a baby shower. I was looking at these booties that someone gave her that were soo cute, white with little polka dots on them, and when I got up this morning, I was so excited about baby stuff! I jumped on Rod (yes, he was already awake) and begged him to take me baby shopping this morning. I didn't have to beg very hard. I think that's the fastest I remember us getting out of bed in the morning. We went to Target, and then to look around at prices at Babies R Us. We got so much fun stuff! I think Rod enjoyed the morning just because he spent the time watching me jump around all excited. He was on a little crusade to find the right stroller, though we didn't buy one yet. We're holding off on the big purchases for now (mostly because we're going to have to just store them until the baby arrives). We bought little things, burp cloths, towels, wash cloths, a couple of pacifiers, bibs, socks, onsies, a first aid/bathroom care kit, diaper changing kit, fun stuff. We had a good time looking at clothes, but didn't buy any because we want to know the gender before we buy clothes.

PS-those little things, watch out! They can rack up fast!

It was so much fun to buy some stuff for Junior. The bathtub in the picture, I bought that while out with a friend on Saturday, and I think now that we have a blue bathtub, we're ready to have a girl... :)

The Lord and our child

    Ever since hearing the heartbeat on Tuesday, the fact that in a few months, I will be holding a baby in my arms, a baby that my husband and I made, is all the more real. I've begun to love that child, now that I have heard it for the first time. For some reason, seeing a blob in an ultrasound wasn't quite as real as hearing a heartbeat. Rod will be a daddy, and I will be a mommy. When we hold that child, we're going to be it's caretakers while it's here in our home, for the next 18+ years. Wow, intimidating and very exciting.

     With this new mindset, I was reading the Ensign today and came across a few articles that really struck me. There are several good ones in there, on marriage, the temple patron fund, resolutions for the new year, but the one that got me going about Junior was one on a mother dealing with the birth of her stillborn daughter. She found comfort in the scriptures where it talks about all children being alive in Christ. She pictured her daughter being held in Christ's loving arms. Wow, that really struck me, and I pictured the child I have yet to meet in Christ's arms. He knows my child very well already. I have spent the morning imagining my child held in Christ's arms before he is sent down to earth to join our family. I imagine Christ speaking to Junior, "It isn't going to be easy, but you're going to a family who already loves you and can't wait to meet you. They will help you through, and I will always be there to help you too." 

  What a blessing to know that Rod and I are not venturing into this parenting adventure completely alone. Aside from family members who are willing to help us figure out what to do with a baby, Christ will be there to help us figure out what to do all the time. As I have thought about how Christ already knows and loves this child more than I do, I find I feel drawn closer to Him because He already loves those most important to me. It's an interesting difference, to find that as I grew in my testimony, I was most often drawn to Heavenly Father because "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 Jn. 4:19) Now I am finding that I love Him and am more drawn to Him because He loves those that I love. He knows them better and can help me help them better.
   I haven't even met Junior yet, but I'm surprised at how even preparing to meet him can draw me closer to Christ. Already, what a blessing this child is!

The first heartbeat

I feel so twitterpated this evening. And it has very little to do with my very hot, lovable husband. I heard Junior's heartbeat today! Now I feel all twitterpated over my little one. I was so nervous when we went for the appointment that I wouldn't hear anything, but there it was, just beating right along. As soon as I heard it, I was so excited, the first thought that came to mind was, that's my little one! Admittedly, it's not just mine, which the twitterpatedness does have something to do with my wonderful husband, because the little tenant I have is our little one. I'm so excited! I can't wait to have this little one! I felt my own heart swell with love for the little one as I heard his heart beating, I'm so excited to be a mommy and shower this one with love!
Oh, and in other good news, while I was at the doctor's office, they said I was a very healthy momma, so the pregnancy should be a very low risk pregnancy. Hooray!
Now, I've never planned on doing a pregnancy announcement, because I'm too excited and I'm telling everyone already. So it would be pointless because you all know already. But, I decided that if I were to do one, it would be something like this:

This is also my first attempt at using the timer on my camera...

It would include Rod of course and a "We're" at the top, but Rod's not home and I just took this photo.

Here we come a wassailing....

These past several weeks have been so good, since Rod and I got to go home for Christmas. We have seen so much family and have both enjoyed our fair share of the good food to be found. I'm ten weeks along now, and I can rest a little from the morning sickness. It doesn't bother me nearly so much anymore, for which both Rod and I are VERY grateful. Now I can be a happy pregnant woman.
       We went home for Christmas and were very happy to do so, but let me say that flying home when you're dealing with morning sickness is NOT a pleasant experience. I've always been someone who found turbulence on a flight amusing. It is not amusing anymore. Especially when we had one flight that had turbulence the whole way. Thankfully, despite the airline's best efforts, I can still say I have never thrown up from morning sickness. It's just very good at making me miserable.
       The awkward part is that I'm not showing yet, so I announce it, and everyone takes a second look at my belly, and there's nothing to see yet... It's kind of funny, kind of awkward to watch. Not that I was expecting to show yet, people just seem to have a hard time believing it if you're not taking up a whole aisle at the store because of your now enormous girth. On that vein, I've been planning on posting pictures here of the growth of my belly, so here's the first one, so you can compare it with the last one and fully appreciate the change. (I assume I will get much bigger than I usually am...) If you think you see a belly now, that's not Junior... that's mommy's holiday weight.Right now, I'm really looking forward to having a belly to show for all of that morning sickness....
    Speaking of growing bellies, I actually have expanded some around the middle, enough for me to start wearing pants with no waistbands because it's too painful. My mom took me out maternity clothes shopping over the Christmas break and we found lots of good stuff in thrift stores, especially salvation army. I'm now feeling much more equipped to grow... I just am feeling impatient to see a little growth. I suppose I'll see it soon enough, though, it's almost the second trimester!