You Know What is Worse?

You know what is worse than bathing suit shopping…shopping for a bathing suit while you are pregnant. Seriously, it was awful. And it wasn’t awful like how it normally is where you just want the bathing suit to look better…because let’s  face it ,the bathing suit you have on while you are pregnant is never really going to look normal. The upsetting part about the entire experience was that even though I know I am getting bigger, I don’t necessarily feel “huge” yet but any means. When I had to try on those bathing suits it basically forced me to do what I avoid just about every day and that is actually look at my whole body in the mirror. So I bought a bathing suit (at least it was on sale) since I will be needing one this summer, it is black and white with flowers…maybe I can hope that like so many other black colored clothes the bathing suit is “sliming” LOL. I never quite knew what Erin meant when she would say how (during pregnancy) she all of a sudden hated shopping. It’s like the worst of two evils…we need clothes, but going through the process is so much more exhausting than normal shopping and inevitably you end up with the one thing that looks “less bad” than the others you tried on.  I have to say though maternity clothes have come a long way and our generation is very lucky compared to what our moms had to wear. After the whole shopping for a bathing suit experience I leave you (particularly those who are pregnant or have been recently and can relate to what I am about to say) with one question…How do fat (and I am not referring to pregnant woman) buy bathing suit on a routine basis? I forever feel perplexed by this concept.

Cosmo is so in tune with his emotions!

I already knew how smart our dog Cosmo was; however, as our child will do someday that dog just continues to amaze me. Joe left last night to go on a weekend backpacking trip with the boys. Later in the evening after Cosmo and I had been relaxing and watching TV he knew it was getting close to bedtime and he went upstairs in the loft to watch to see when Joe was coming home. Finally I had to go upstairs and get him to come back down to go potty since Joe was obviously not coming home last night. We went to bed and I thought he would be fine in the morning.

I need to preface the rest of the story with that a few weeks ago when Joe was in Columbus for the weekend my parents had come to pick up Cosmo. I went over there later in the weekend and he was very excited to see me; however, he knew immediately that I was there and Joe was not. Up until I had arrived at mom & dad’s Cosmo was eating his food and acting normal. After I arrived he started to not want to eat his food. I tell this story because he did the same thing this morning. Normally Cosmo (like most dogs) are very excited to get their meals. After I put his food in his dish he didn’t want to eat it. I left for work this morning and he still hadn’t eaten (at some point he will during the day, but it’s not his normal routine.

The moral of the story is Cosmo is so smart that (I believe) when he goes to my parent’s house (and Joe and I are not there) he knows he is safe and the feels comfortable. This also means that he knows when he is at his grandparents that Joe and I are together. When I am home or with him at his grandparent’s house and Joe is not there, he knows that we are not together. Psychological analysis: our dog has separation anxiety, and I don’t mean it in a bad way. It means that he understands when one of the two of us is not there and we are not together…which makes him nervous. He is so loving and observant!

If more humans were as in tune with their emotional side like our dog the world would be a better place!

Belly Pictures 21 weeks & 5 days

Baby Beyer is getting bigger!

Dr. Appointment #5

I am happy to report that I had a good meeting with Dr. McGrew today. My blood pressure and other vital signs continue to be healthy and it took us all of 5 seconds to find the baby’s heart beat with the doppler…boy was it going fast (somewhere between 140-150 beats per minute). The other goods is that I am not retaining any extra water weight (particularly in my ankles). This is good because I have noticed as of late that when I wear my sports socks that they leave little marks around my ankles. I think it just normal dispersion of weight and as long as I don’t wake up one morning with kankles. Baby Beyer is growing healthy and very active.

I must share the only not so exciting piece of news from my visit was that since my last visit (4 weeks ago) I gained 10 pounds…I was very shocked. I noticed in the last 9 days or so that I have really gotten a lot bigger and unfortunately my boobs are also getting larger…which is clearly just very unnecessary. Anyway from weeks 18-19 my weight was still on track and where it should be.  I swear after we went for our ultrasound (at 19 weeks & 3 days) it has been all downhill from there (in regards to the weight gain). The majority of this lovely 10 pounds has come in the past 2 weeks (6 of the pounds to be exact). I wish I could just say that I have been eating a lot of junk food etc. and that this is just what I get…but I can’t even be happy to have been stuffing my face with sweets and have gained the 10 pounds. After I left the doctor I was very emotionally overwhelmed and then spent the next 20 minutes or so (after I called Joe to tell him that the baby was fine) on the phone with my mom sobbing. The whole thing is just very overwhelming only because my weight (up until the past 2 weeks or so) has been very steady and on track….then BOOM ATOMIC BOMB! It is just scares since I am just at 22 weeks that I am still so early on (relatively speaking) in my pregnancy and that something like this would happen. Last week when I felt like I had really gotten bigger (which has now been confirmed based on the weight gain) I was talking with Erin and I asked her how to deal with all of these feelings of getting bigger (being that she has seemingly had an answer/feel good method for just about every other situation so far). She told me that there is nothing I can do, she still hasn’t accepted it, most likely I won’t either, and that I should just blog about it…so now you know why I have been rambling on for several sentences. I understand that weight gain is all part of the process, I just want myself and the baby to be as healthy as possible.

The good news is that this week (prior to this emotionally distressful news) I had increased my work outs and planned to do so (as long as my body will let me). All I can hope is that the work outs will help level out the weight gains for the next several weeks.

In other funny and ironic news I have continued to feel the baby move; however, I have yet to feel the baby move when I am resting/calm. I only seem to feel the baby when I am in a frenzy/running around…there goes my hope that Baby Beyer will be calm like Joe and less of a spaz like me…here’s hoping that we can teach the baby some yoga or relaxing breathing techniques at a young age!

Confirmation of Movement

During certain points of pregnancy (prior to feeling the baby move) you wonder what is really going on in there and even though you know the baby is getting bigger, the whole science of it all is still very overwhelming. Two Friday’s ago (Good Friday 18 weeks in) before I went to my doctor’s appointment I was franticly trying to finish up stuff at work and as I was leaving and running about I swore I felt a small movement (which I had never felt before). I dismissed it thinking that it was just me getting caught up in the moment and maybe thinking I was a little hungry. A similar feeling happened right as I was entering the doctor’s office then two more times later that afternoon (while I was washing the kitchen floor). I didn’t really get any more sensations that next week (during the week), but then Saturday morning (19 weeks) as I was cleaning and washing the floor I started to feel them again. I did not want to get excited, but had the sense that I was starting to feel the baby move.

Last night as I was cleaning up from the graduation party and moving around a lot I felt them again and again. It’s kind of feels like tumbling when the clothes are in the dryer and they get to the top and fall down to continue tumbling or when a hamster is running on its wheel. I also felt these movements (more distinctly) again this morning.

At this point I feel confident in sharing with the world that Baby Beyer is indeed making a ruckus inside and that movement has been confirmed. I am looking forward to feeling a kick or a punch (sounds odd doesn’t it) during the next few weeks. I am even MORE excited to when Joe will be able to feel the baby from the outside…I am sure he will have a good Sunday Morning Scribbles to read once it happens!

Half Way There!

It's hard to believe that I am 20 weeks today...time sure does fly! Even though this is my first time being pregnant I have had a prediction for quite some time about when I was really going to start looking "big." Unfortunately, the one time I would have liked to be wrong...I was not. I figured through the first 19 or so weeks that I could keep my body statue relatively low key (getting a little bigger each week). I thought once I hit 20 it was going to be all down hill...right now I feel as though my prediction could not be more true! I have not weighed myself this week (I will tomorrow at the gym), but I can say that size wise I got much larger this week. I teased my mom on the phone this morning not to be scared when she sees me on Sunday for Mother's Day. I know what you are thinking and as Joe lovingly always tells me "you are supposed to get bigger." I understand and have accepted it, but it doesn’t change all of the feelings that come during the process.

We had a little graduation party at our house for Joe's grad students/student workers last night. I had seen several of them 3 weeks ago at the Run @ the Roo 5K when I was 17 weeks. All of the girls said how much bigger my stomach has gotten...and it HAS! At 17 weeks I had a nice small bump and now I have more of a nice circular volleyball size mass growing. At least (for the time being) nothing else seems to be growing significantly larger on my body so that is good news.

I am so excited to start the second half of the pregnancy as we will begin registering for the baby as well as looking for things to complete the nursery. Now that I am getting bigger I will make sure to share belly pictures more often for everyone to see.

Lots more exciting news and adventures to come!

Belly Pictures 19 weeks

By popular request below are two pictures of my growing belly. I like to think of myself as just getting "rounder" as opposed to "bigger" (at least for the time being)!

Ultrasound 19 weeks & 3 days

We had our final ultrasound today and it was exciting, I felt the suspense building all day. As most of you know the plan was not to find out the gender of Baby Beyer…and we are happy to report that we still do not know whether our little miracle is a boy or a girl. It was very difficult and at one point we both wanted to change our minds and find out, but we held strong and will surprised when Baby Beyer arrives.

We saw so many great pictures of the baby. All of the measurements for Baby Beyer came in as they should, so I am on track for my due date of September 23! Baby Beyer now weighs 10 oz. and measures in at 21 cm long (8.3 inches)! The baby had a very strong heart beat of 158 beats per minute. We were able to see several distinct features of Baby Beyer including his/her face, nose, jaw, eyes, hands, feet, heart, spine, ribs, as well as the umbilical cord. The whole experience was very surreal. A few times during the ultrasound the baby was kicking and Joe kept saying “can’t you feel that?” But at that moment I could not. I do believe in the past week I think I have felt the baby move, not a kick or punch but more like tumbling; Baby Beyer did plenty of that during our ultrasound! We learned during the ultrasound that I have an interior placenta (no cause for alarm, my wonderful friends Renee and Erin had the same thing). It just means the placenta is above the baby (as opposed to be underneath or besides the baby) and it is between my uterus and the baby, this means Baby Beyer will have to kick/punch extra hard before I start really feeling all of the activity in there. But don’t fret, from what I have heard from Renee and Erin once Baby Beyer starts moving and I can feel it’s GAME ON!

We are so excited to share with you all of our good news. Baby Beyer is healthy (and happy) in the pictures below…enjoy!

#1 Baby Beyer's hand & leg (profile view)
#2 Baby Beyer's foot/toes (profile view)
#3 Baby Beyer's leg (profile view)
#4 Baby Beyer's face & arm (frontal view)