I'm a Slacker

So, I haven't posted here for a long time. Things are going well. My appetite is finally making a come back (although it still isn't what it used to be :)) and I feel good enough to do something other than lay around the house moaning. Now I'm trying to work up the ambition to start a stretching and walking. I know it's so important to exercise when you're pregnant, and I really want to be as healthy as I can for this whole ordeal so let's hope I can stick to my guns.
The other day I thought I felt baby move. However, I have been super duper bloated in the last few weeks (sorry, I know you don't really want to know that) and so I think it was just a gas bubble moving :( Baby isn't quite big enough to be making that big of a kick yet. But on the flip side, today I was just feeling my tummy and I felt a really hard lump. I kept poking at it and poking around the rest of my belly to see if that really was a fetus, and the lump went away! So, I'm pretty sure that was a head or a rump poking out and I made it change positions.
Oh so much more to talk about...but I have to get back to work.
Life is such a miracle!

A Small Feat

Today was fast Sunday so Curt was super hungry after church. He's been craving manicotti for a while, but I just haven't had the stomach for that dish. Since I haven't really cooked for him in a long time, I decided I should feed him something extra good on a day that he was extra hungry. The meal was a joint effort (he was super excited) and here comes the great part of the story. I ate ONE AND A HALF manicottis without gagging or even wanting to! It's been so long since I've eaten real food and actually enjoyed it. I feel like it has become such a chore to eat, just because I have to do it so often and because I haven't had an appetite for anything. Hopefully this is the beginning of the return of the world of eating for pleasure :) I'm so blessed.

Dr. Visit #2

I went to my second prenatal appointment this last week. I was a little nervous, just because I wasn't sure what to expect. Well, after discovering that I haven't gained any weight since the first visit, I was more nervous. Curt was with me again, he's such a supportive husband. The doc congratulated me for getting through the first trimester (yay!!) and then asked me how I was feeling. I let him know that I've been really uncomfortable because I've been so bloated, and I didn't know if or what medications were safe. To emphasize how bad it's been, I told him it even wakes me up in the middle of the night sometimes because I'm in pain. Then Curt pipes up, "Yeah, and then it wakes me up!" Tee hee hee. The doctor laughed and said, "Well, you did this, you should have to suffer some consequences!"
Then came the exciting part; he pulled out the Dopplar, which finds the baby's heartbeat and amplifies it so we can hear it. He felt around, and moved it around, and kept moving it around, and nothing. My heart worried a bit as I looked at his face and saw a little confusion (maybe that was just in my head.) He put the device down and started feeling with his hands. He discovered that my uterus was sitting to the right (I didn't know it had that much room to move where it wanted to). So he picked his tool back up, and sure enough, there was the baby's heartbeat! He looked at me and said, "Yep, you're pregnant!" Whoa, talk about an emotional moment; not at his news flash, but at that rapid thumping coming from inside me. It made it that much more real that there is a little person growing in my womb. He let us listen for quite a while. I'm so grateful that I've made it three months already and so far, things seem to be right on track. Everyone has been asking me if I want a boy or a girl. I can't wait to find out what it is, and then I will have an answer :) I want whatever is inside me, changing my life forever. It's a miracle!

Yay for Mommy Clothes

So my good friend Becca and I went mommy clothes shopping the other day. So crazy, but so fun! We went to a store called "Motherhood" and I felt like a kid in a candy store. Everything was so cute! Although I don't need the really big clothes yet, I have started to feel slightly uncomfortable in my regular clothes. Today I wore the dress I bought and it was so so comfy! The store had this little pouch you could strap to you to see what the clothes will look like when you are super duper prego. It was freaky! I had to take it off real quick because I just can't think about that now.
By the way, I have one week left of the first trimester and I'm hoping and praying that my appetite comes back to me soon.

You Live & You Learn

Every Wednesday my co-worker and I (the only two women in the office) go out to lunch together. This week we went to Olive Garden - one of my faves. I got minestone soup which I love and was actually able to eat most of it without gagging (not true of all foods I used to love). Everyone knows that Olive Garden breadsticks are so heavenly, and so unhealthy for you. But did I mention that they are so good?! And especially when dipped in alfredo sauce. Anyhow I was able to eat two of them without a problem. The bad news is, I had the most disgusting garlic taste in my mouth for the rest of the day...and into the night! Holy cow, I tried everything. I ate who knows how many mints, chewed on some gum, even after I brushed my teeth and used mouthwash that taste would not go away. The next morning I woke up with halitosis still and was not able to keep my breakfast down :( That was Wednesday. Last night we were with some friends who ordered pizza and garlic knots. They tell you to avoid greasy food when you're pregnant, but unfortunatly pizza is one of the few things I've been able to enjoy eating. I wanted to taste the bread knot so I had ONE BITE of one and quickly decided against it. The result? Again, I could not for the life of me get rid of that terrible taste! What have I learned from this experience? Avoid garlic like the plague!!

Oh Thank Heaven

I finally took the step of breaking the news to my boss. Let me explain how nervous I was for this day. This company is very, let me say, picky about who they choose to hire. I went through 7 interviews, count them, 7, including meeting both CEOs and 2 other people from the corporate office in Salt Lake. They really want to be sure that they pick employees who are committed to being an asset to the company and not just some Joe Dirt who needs to have an income. Most of the interviews included some form of the question "How long do you plan on staying with the company?" I somewhat skirted around the question because I knew we wanted to start our family soon. One lady even asked flat out "Do you plan on having kids soon?" (totally illegal) to which I gave a very vague answer (I know my rights). Anyway, when I took the pregnancy test and found out I was 5 weeks pregnant (since they include the 2 weeks before actual conception), I had only been employed for 4 weeks. AND, they had just paid for me and Curt to take the trip to Salt Lake. In other words, they invested quite a bit in me and I felt kinda bad. Now, of course I had no need whatsoever to feel bad. My family life is way more important to me than keeping a job for a long time just because they expected me to. I just didn't know how they would react to the news that I basically was pregnant when they hired me.
So, I gave it a few weeks to sink in and really think about how I would tell them. Well, I'm 12 weeks along and although it's not too noticeable, I am starting to sprout a bump. I decided I could not hold it in any longer and I told my boss I needed to talk with him for a few minutes. He looked almost as nervous as I felt :) I think he didn't know what to expect from a serious meeting with me. After a minute of small talk, I said, "I have exciting news....Curt and I are expecting a baby in April." To my surprise, his face lit up and he said "That's great! Oh I'm thrilled for you!" He then went on to tell me about the birth of his first child and what an incredible experience it is. He got quite sentimental as he relayed stories to me about his wife's pregnancies. I was so so relieved! He didn't seem worried about giving me the time off, and even encouraged me to quit so I could be a stay-at-home mom (in a roundabout way). He was so supportive and happy for me; he even told me that if I ever had a rough morning and needed to be late to just call his cell phone and he would take care of things until I could get there. THAT could have saved me some morning misery over the last few weeks. What a blessing!!

What Was I Thinking?!

So, last week the relief society in my ward had a craft night. There were several cute decorations to sign up for, and I wish I could have done them all. I've never been good at crafts, but I want so badly to get better at them. There were two super cute table runners; one with pumpkins and the other with snowmen. I thought to myself, we finally have a table and that would be such a cute decoration for Christmas! So even though I am terrible with a sewing machine, I signed up for it thinking, it looks pretty simple. Boy was I wrong! I was so excited to take my own machine that my mom gave me a couple years ago and spend the night with other women visiting and being craftsy. I guess I just expected someone to stand over me, telling me every step to take to put this table runner together. The first sign of disaster was when I went to thread my machine...the bobbin holder was missing! I'll admit, the last time I took the machine out of the box was at least 6 months ago, but I'm pretty sure that piece was there last time. Well that was embarrassing. So I had to wait to use another machine. I started to put a stitch around the edges, and the bobbin ran out of thread. I asked my friend to come help me thread it, and again, I was embarrassed that I didn't know what I was doing. Then I couldn't figure out how to put the dang thing back in the machine. After struggling for several minutes, a nice woman came and asked me if I needed help (by this time, everyone at my table had moved on to ironing or backing the runner so I was by myself). She put the bobbin in for me and I went back to work. I had been there for an hour at this point and wasn't even close to getting anywhere with the project. I was frustrated and mad at myself for over estimating my skills. I was fighting back tears so hard because I didn't want to be a baby about something that wasn't that big of a deal. Well, I tried, but then I looked around the room and saw everyone else having fun and I was all by myself and not having fun. I went to the bathroom to take a few minutes to compose myself, but ended up bawling my eyes out for 10 minutes. I was crying because I felt so stupid that I didn't know what I was doing, then I was crying because it was such a dumb thing to be crying about, and that I couldn't stop crying. My pregnancy hormones just took my emotions and ran. I finally called Curt to come and get me (I had gotten a ride with a friend) and sent a text to a friend who knows my secret to come and talk to me in the bathroom. She immediatly assumed that I was terribly sick, and I was too embarrassed to tell her the truth so I didn't correct her. She kindly gathered my stuff for me and brought it to me. I cried to my husband, who was able to help me calm down. I know I will someday finish that darn project, even if I have to make it up and it looks terrible, I am determined to put that material together somehow.

Hooray!!

This story made my heart so happy! We've slowly been sharing our news with a few close friends here and there, mostly to get Dr. advice or to explain why I could only eat a few bites of a delicious dinner that they made for us. About a week ago we invited our friends (names have been left out until further notice) over for dinner. We thought it was probably time to let them in on the secret as well. With the ultra sound pictures on the fridge, we figured they might notice them and say something... Well, sure enough, Wife saw them and said "You have something exciting on your fridge!" I smiled and said "Yes, we're expecting a baby!" Curt piped up and made sure they knew that I've been pretty sick and that I don't eat very much at a time. To which Wife responded "You poor girl, I understand...100%." I was still chopping fruit for dinner, so it took me a second to realize what she said. I looked at her and said, "Wait, 100%?" and she smiled and said "100%! I'm just a month behind you!" YAY!!! I wanted to jump for joy! We spent the whole rest of the night talking about puking and doctors and clothes not fitting and not being able to eat ANYTHING and bloating and emotions...the whole 9 yards (our poor husbands). What a relief to have a close friend going through this same crazy experience with me! We've talked almost every day since then, supporting each other through the woes. And better yet, I have someone to maternity shop with!! I love my husband with all my heart, but he is so not fun to shop with. It might not seem like a big deal, but I'm so far away from all of my family and my in-laws and it means so much to me to have a girlfriend who I can complain to, shop with and sympathize with. What a blessing!