Week 13 - Part 3! Busy busy but soaking it all in!

After knowing Daniel had accepted the new job and that we were moving quickly enough that he would be starting on September 30th, we spent the weekend soaking in time with our friends. I found myself making mental snapshots through the weekend and really relishing the jokes, laughter, and the company of such dear friends that we have spent countless hours with over the past several years. We have semi-jokingly called the group the "Florida Family" but with all seriousness, this group really is our family. We have had folks who have moved out of the group and folks that have moved into the group - but Daniel and I have been the only couple still living in Florida who were part of the original group. We were the constant.

In Iceland hiking glaciers!

Triumphant hikers! Heading down to Machu Picchu after hiking in through the sun gate

 

During week 13 we had a busy, weekend delightfully full of friend time. Daniel accepted the offer, we met with our realtor to discuss potentially listing the house (we had set this up in advance), and almost immediately afterwards Ryan and Chris poured into the house for another Rockband fest (they were very serious about getting their Rock time in - ever since Daniel had gotten the unofficial offer). After that we headed onto Thai Hana for dinner and back to our home for another condemning round (or three) of Resistance and the other crowd favorite - and cackle inducer - Cards Against Humanity. On Saturday I managed to find someone who would come in and patch a few spots on the carpet right away and Chance got to watch and protest as we paid someone to use some extra rolls of carpet we had to replace Chance's handiwork. After that we headed over to Thomas and Brie's house to watch the Clemson game, enjoy a tasty dinner, and see the photos from their Tanzanian Safari adventures.

This kinda sums up the goofy, witty, nerdiness of our beloved friends...

 

Sunday was a lovely classic Sunday spent with Daniel and Chris. Chris is truly the Ted to our Lily and Marshall and I honestly can't tell you how much we enjoy his company or how much we will miss him. Sunday Chris came by to help us ditch the beloved and hated old black leather couch that we replaced with beautiful, comfy, supportive couches a few months ago. We put a sign on the couch that said "Free! Please take me!" - and seriously...it was gone in less than fifteen minutes! Daniel jokingly went back to check to see if it was gone before I posted a listing on Craig's List and came back laughing - we felt ridiculous for waiting so long to put it outside but still couldn't believe it was gone so unbelievably quickly! The boys also moved some furniture around to stage the house the way the realtor had recommended. After that we paused to handle the "to-do's" we each had and then regrouped for the evening. We went to dinner at Bonefish Grill and all really enjoyed our meals and then opted to come back and hang out at our home together - we ended up all piled into the living room watching Breaking Bad like the family that we are.

And we have taken Chris out on ledges far past his comfort zone....notice how we are leaning out and he is....not? :)

Exploring the floating Uros island on our crazy Lake Titicaca and Amantani adventure...

The terribleness of the things going on in this photo makes me laugh every time...

 

Even Monday and Tuesday were busy days! Monday I met with the realtor in the morning to photograph our home and officially list it on the market, met some former MCC social studies teachers for a really nice catch up lunch, went shopping with a gift card from my mother-in-law who had sent me a very sweet care package with several gifts cards so I could enjoy the "frivolous life" I had enjoyed when I too was employed (we're financially fine without me being employed, but I do have less extra cash and it is harder to justify buying a cute shirt for myself when I don't have a job to pay for it or wear it to...although once my clothes don't fit I'll have a reason!). After that I came home and crashed for a little bit and then headed out to join our friends at World of Beer (which I will delightfully say has vetted out some pretty tasty alcohol-free beer - and I will admit I have really enjoyed sipping one while my friends enjoy the real stuff - it's been a pleasant compromise) to provide a buffer for Kelly's Eagles passion - she needed to watch the game with people around so her fervent care of the game was a bit muted by the rest of us carrying on. The gang was up for the challenge! Daniel and I had a TON to talk about - he had given his company his official two weeks notice that day, told his program, etc so it had been a very busy, full day!

Tuesday afternoon I went and met with my favorite stylist in the world - Nikki Taylor at Introspection Salon in downtown Melbourne who has been cutting my hair for the past six and a half years - I LOVE her and her amazing haircuts! I had made an appointment a few weeks ago when I realized I was overdue (I usually get a back to school cut) - it was exciting to tell her all of my news and I truly think she sent me away with the best haircut I've ever had - I LOVE it! Perfect layers - in all the right places. I'm thrilled! And one of the things I love about her cuts is that they grow out well for months and months and months so now I have a lot of time to find someone amazing in Maryland!

By Wednesday I was beat - my cold was starting to catch up with me, I was quite tired from several back to back days of running around, and it was a hard core couch day. I ended the day with a big step in the second trimester direction - I cooked chicken for dinner - cut it up and cooked it and ate it and everything! Big win! Homemade chicken pot pie has become a new favorite of ours and it was deeee-licious soul food.

Sooo...an incredibly busy week. Big decisions, busy days, and truly treasured times with our dearest friends.

 

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Our Other Next Big Adventure - We're Moving to Maryland!!!

I have been trying to think about where to start on this one and it's tricky! The "pieces of the puzzle" have been falling into place slowly but surely for months, so I will try to start there.

 

1. I left my job at MCC. (Here's a background story Why I Left) It was primarily a professional decision, but there were a few other side factors as well. One was that along with wanting to pursue avenues in technology integration for professional reasons, it was personal too - a technology integration position would likely be more family friendly than being a classroom teacher. The third factor was that Daniel was reaching the end of the program he has been working on for six years and timing was prime...if we were ever going to move it was now.

 

2. Daniel has been the chief software engineer for his program for the past six years and has seen it through its full life cycle - the program was supposed to end eighteen months ago...then twelve months ago...then three months ago...but seriously - they were heading into testing in June. While the program will be testing and doing additional things for months and months...the most critical work is done and well, it's a great time for him to transition out (compared to any other point before now in the past six years).

 

3. Suddenly we felt incredibly mobile! If I left my job we were not tethered for the reason, nor tethered to the static nature of the school calendar. Plus Daniel's program was winding down so he wasn't going to be professionally blacklisted for screwing his program over. We checked home values in our area - they were up! Not as up as we would like them to be - but up enough that we would not be losing major $ if we left - we could break even or even better! All of a sudden we felt mobile and free!!! Now where to go?

 

4. All of this happened right at the end of the school year - I left my seventh year of teaching on a Friday afternoon, Daniel finished the baseline build for his program after putting in overtime by Sunday, and we were off to Europe on Monday! (Well, actually Tuesday, but that's an entirely different frustrating story). We decided to enjoy Europe and work on the job applications when we returned. Within two weeks of getting home we found out that I was pregnant! Suddenly things seemed even more meant to be...maybe it would be easier for all of us if this year my job was to get the house ready to sell, help us get move and get settled in, have the time to work on making professional connections once we reached an area, and enjoy a maternity leave that was longer than six weeks!

 

5. We started applying - all over - the geographic requirement? SEASONS! Texas was an unacceptable option. We needed Upstate mountains or further North. It also had to be an area where I would have options professionally (which is a lot of places, but also gave me veto power). There was actually a company that was courting Daniel (he had first and second interviews with them and it was progressing towards scheduling an on-site interview) - there were seasons (it was beautiful, mountainous, etc), it was a pretty good fit for him professionally, but there the population was a bit too sparse for us - there was one high school in the area and a few within a thirty to forty minute drive. For me it really wasn't going to work. We kept looking. He had an interview once or twice a week through July with various companies, spoke with head-hunter/recruiters on numerous occasions, and we kept an open mind. As we had few nibbles from Colorado (one of our dream destintions) and I thought about the benefit of living somewhere that was a days drive to the grandparents (for all of our benefits) we became less focused on trying to find something awesome in Colorado. As we rolled into August with the company (that he has accepted a position with) became a front runner and by mid August he had an on-site interview scheduled in Maryland for August 29th.

 

I don't want to be unprofessional on Daniel's behalf and get into a detailed analysis between his current company and his future employer. But in the end, the future employer had better benefits (I will say that Daniel's current company had just significantly decreased medical coverage - particularly maternity - JUST after I started seeking prenatal care and this company has much better support - so for our immediate needs it was a very nice benefit), provided a raise that would off-set the cost-of-living increase, and was an excellent fit for him professionally. Many of the companies he interviewed with wanted him to work in a certain area, be a code monkey for an indefinite about of time, and eventually work his way up. This company was very excited about his skill sets and is bringing him on as a technical lead for different programs. This company also highly encourages its engineers to work on more than one program at a time - which suits Daniel's high-need-for-variety-and-challenge very well. And, they recognized the masters and the hours towards his second masters as additional years of experience when determining where he placed - very exciting, because his current employer never really recognized the masters.

 

Daniel has actually flown up to this area for work to be the liaison with this company multiple times over the past few years and has always come back from his business trips raving about the company. He always comes back talking about how young, smart, and interesting the people are and how he really likes the atmosphere.

 

What am I excited about? Deciduous trees! Fall! Seasons! Being near lots of things to do! Not being a hostage in my own home from April - September! (This redhead is just tired of the heat and the sunblock and has likened it to not liking cold and living in Alaska). I'm just done. I want so badly to just get to be outside! I am excited for seasons that will make it feel like a year has occurred instead of feeling frozen (or melted) in time - palm trees in December just doesn't do it for me! My sister just moved to the area a few months ago so we'll be in the same town for the first time in over a decade! My grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc in NJ will be three hours away! Our dear friends Arthur and Kristina moved there several years ago! And! we have lots of other people we know in the area that we haven't even really realized we'll get to see yet - I seriously need to sit down and work through facebook - I am pretty sure it's bunches of people! And professionally? Lots and lots of options! I am excited for our future kiddos education (we are heading to an area with fantastic school districts). And being the adventurous people we are... We are excited for different and a new area to explore!

 

 

And so - we are moving! It's a big step - but I think it's a good one. We are really excited about it! Things are moving incredibly fast now! Daniel's on-site interview was August 29th, he accepted an offer on Friday, September 6th, we listed our house on the market September 9th and Daniel gave his company two weeks notice, the movers came to consult and plan our move on Friday Sept. 13th, they will pack us up Monday Sept 23rd, load the truck Sept 24th, and we will be in Maryland (after stopping to see the fam in SC) by Friday Sept 27th night so we can spend the weekend checking out the area! Daniel starts work Monday, September 30th! His future employer fully covers relocation and provides us with thirty days of temporary housing while we are figuring out how now to be homeless. We are having them ship Daniel's car and driving my car together to SC for a few days with family and then onward to Maryland (we could have all flown, but shipping Chance seemed stressful and we weren't sure when else we would have time to visit family in the next few months). So - Viola!

 

We are incredibly excited! But, of course we are currently in the midst of lots of unknowns - will our house sell? Where will we live when we get there? Etc. Am I stressed? I mean...have you ever known anyone who is moving to feel the most relaxed they've ever felt? Right. So yes, I am stressed - but very reasonably so - and I can assure all of you that most would find me uncannily calm. I keep reminding myself that previous Beth and Daniel spent MONTHS discussing what would be best for them and our future and our future family and now that everything is happening super crazy fast, I have to trust that previous Beth and Daniel knew what was best for future Beth and Daniel and just try to roll with it and enjoy my friends and time here while I can. So we have! (We have never wanted to live in FL forever - in fact we've been talking about an exit strategy for years - and thought we had a few more years before we could make it happen...but then all of a sudden those puzzle pieces have had a mind of their own!).

 

I am SO glad the most I have to pack is the valuables, important documents, and what I need for thirty days of temporary housing. I have several hours of things to weed through and prep before the movers get here - but I have another week to do it, and really - it'll be fine. Our poor pup has ben stressed, but he's rolling with it. Moving lots of furniture the first weekend and having different people in the house was very stressful for him, but now that the new things have "stayed the same" he's just fine. We made sure he went to daycare again last week to keep routine and to give him an axiety outlet.

 

It's all rolling - ready or not, here we go!

 

This picture is actually of us in the Quito airport getting ready to fly to San Cristobal in the Galapagos - but I think it captures how we're doing right now too! Ready and excited for our next adventure!

 

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Week 13 - Meeting our Wiggler!

Week 13 - September 5 - 11th

This week was a HUGE one - lots and lots going on! I think it is definitely going to be a two post explanation...so part 1...

Week 13 started with an early morning appointment for our nuchal translucency scan and then the corresponding blood work. I was super crazy excited to see our baby! Our last look was at 5 weeks 6 days - it was wonderful to know we had a heartbeat and that things looked good - but honestly - we had a cheerio size blob that flickered - it didn't exactly look like a baby. To add an element of challenge to the experience I started grappling with either an extra surge of allergies or acquiring the cold Daniel had brought back from Maryland. On Wednesday night before my appointment, slept badly because my throat was so burny/sore, and woke up Thursday morning obsessed with making sure I was either continually consuming cough drops or water to keep my throat in check. I wasn't fully sure at my appointment whether it was a cold or allergies so I just kept my mouth shut about it - I had called at least eight times to get this appointment set up (we were totally unimpressed with this office, but Daniel's insurance company required us to use it for the NT scan) and because they had procrastinated in getting us an appointment I was right on the end of the NT scan window, so I was having the scan darnit!

 

This was one of the appointments I told Daniel he should also attend, so we both drove separately so he could go onto work and met up in the waiting room. I had gotten an 8:30 appointment - second appointment of the morning, so I figured we shouldn't run too late, right? Totally wrong. The number of people in this waiting room kept increasing...rapidly...and the rate at which they were taking people back was...incredibly slow. Daniel had a meeting at 10 in Malabar and we weren't even called back until 9:20 or so... How can an office be running 50 minutes behind for their second appointment of the morning? And, their computer system was down which wasn't helping matters either. And the whole time we are waiting we can overhear bits and pieces of conversation going on in a side room between the doctor and what sounded like other techs/nurses - all laughing and carrying on. Daniel turned to me and sternly said - I am. very. unimpressed. And then I reminded him this office was Harris' pick.

 

But...they finally called us back! They had a flat screen TV mounted across from the exam table so we got to watch the whole scan - very exciting! And then - we saw Baby Hals! YAY! Cuteness, actually-looking-like-a-baby, and squirming around! When the tech first started the scan Baby Hals was face down, burrowed into my tummy (which I thought was adorable), but evidently that wasn't the angle the tech needed.

Baby Hals is a snuggle bum! All burrowed into my tummy!

She checked some different things, checked the heartbeat (150 bpm) and let us hear it, and then decided to try to get the baby to roll over - which I found hilarious. She was wiggling and jiggling my belly with the wand and I was laughing quite hard - but sure enough after just a few seconds Baby Hals was like *sigh, fine!* and rolled over so she could get the shots she needed. From that angle we could see way more kicking and arm waiving - it was all really exciting! I have told my friends that since the appointment I have realized that I am now envisioning the baby as looking exactly as he/she did in the ultrasound - so at the moment I can picture nothing other than a black and white, granulated, low resolution baby wriggling around - if I give birth to something that looks different I may be confused! Haha. But no, seriously - when I put my hand on my tummy now there's a black and white, granulated, low resolution baby inside.

Baby Hals at 13 weeks! :)

And so there's Baby Hals! And he/she has all of his/her major body parts and all of those body parts were where they were supposed to be - woohoo!!!! Wonderful news! Once the tech finished - she was really very sweet, but I felt like she felt very rushed (ahem - they were super behind at this point and their waiting room was almost full), the doctor eventually came him and said pointed out that he could see an intact nasal bone which lowered the risk of Down's syndrome to something like 1-700, then he said my age lowered the risk further, and said the nuchal fold was exactly what it should be, and said the number was more like 1-3300 or something like that and said the bloodwork would give us an even more accurate idea. All awesome news! Daniel hit the road to try to make his meeting and I waited while they tried to figure out what kind of paperwork they were going to send with me to take to my doctor if the computers were down.

 

I took a pathetic looking piece of paper that was a photocopy of essentially a post it note with some stuff scribbled on it with me and headed the half mile down the road the my midwife's office (it's a practice that's a blend of midwives and doctors - but I have really loved working with them so far). I signed in for blood work and then waited for quite a while and was eventually brought back - they needed blood to check my thyroid levels (family history makes me super high risk for issues...it's affected almost every single woman on my side of the family), blood type (I knew I was O- but they wanted to confirm and check for any RH antibody issues - Daniel's +), regular pregnancy related blood work, NT testing related blood work, bunches of stuff. Seven vials later (a new record for me) - and this woman had the magic touch - having blood drawn doesn't usually bother me anyway - but this woman was particularly impressively good! I finally left - I had started all this craziness at 8:15 and was leaving at 11. Good grief. Good thing I hadn't been teaching and told them "oh, I'll be back by x period" - it would have been a total lie and I would have been a stress ball.

 

I thought about rewarding myself by stopping for lunch somewhere - but honestly by this point I was feeling worse and worse - I was pretty sure I was siiiick. :( And all I wanted to do was go home and curl up. So I did. We had an appointment with a realtor the next day (Daniel already had the unofficial offer, so we wanted to go ahead and get rolling on figuring out what to do about the house - we were hoping to sell and wanted the realtor to come by and talk to us about improvements, staging recommendations, etc). So...only some rest for the siiiick. I gave myself two hours of crashing time on the couch, nursed a can of soup and some tea, called Daniel to whiiiine and tell him how much my throat hurt and how I was going to need him to go to the store on the way home to buy me siiick food (like throat pleasing ice cream). And then I decided to cave and take the first tylenol of my pregnancy (I had made it thirteen weeks!) but yeah - omgoodness! I just took one and it took the edge off my miserably sore throat and I managed to buck up and finish the sorting and tidying I had to do in my office (that was the last big task I had on my pre-realtor list). That two hour stretch was all I had in me and I quickly down spiraled from there through the rest of the evening.

 

The cold killed the pregnancy hunger and what little appetite I had started to regain. :-/ Daniel was very sweet that evening and I was a shivering, miserable mess who put herself to bed early. He even did the evening dog walk for me.

 

I felt way better the next morning - but the cold was not gone. The extra awful siiiick feeling was, but cold related fatigue and symptoms and stuffiness lasted the whole rest of week thirteen (and honestly - I am into week 14 now and 12 days later I STILL have a freaking cold.) I REALLY miss my pre-pregnancy immune system. Pre-pregnant me had an immune system of iron from teaching - sometimes Daniel would get sick and I never would - otherwise I beasted most all colds within 1-3 days. Seriously. I think not slamming the cold with cold medicine from the start is another major detriment to cold killing. I think there is a lot to be said about tackling the symptoms head on right away.

 

But...Friday was full of all kinds of excitement...so much that I think it deserves a separate post! Stay tuned!

 

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Week 12 - Staying Busy!

 Week 12 - August 29th to September 4th 

This is where it is really helpful that I am "back-blogging" because I can actually talk about what has been going on!

I woke up very happy to reach week 12! There are plenty of debates about when the second trimester begins (at week 12? at week 13? at 13.5 or 14?...all would say by 14 you are in it) - but it doesn't matter - reaching week 12 seems monumental and exciting! Risks go way down from here, Baby Hals' major organs and systems have formed (still plenty of maturing to do...but that takes time), the baby bump starts moving more "out" as things shift around and the baby starts kicking his/her growth into high gear! Oh yeah and - I grew an organ too!

This week was a particularly busy one. First - Daniel had his on-site interview on Thursday and flew up to Maryland for a 26 hour whirlwind trip. When he got home we had lots to talk about (but it had gone very well!) While he was out of town I took advantage of the uninterrupted time to clear out my closet...complete overhaul. It's a lot easier to do when we might be moving, when I have the time, and when many of my clothes that were in the "eh" category weren't going to be worn for another nine months or more. The "Eh"? They're ALL gone. I tried on EVERYTHING and evaluated whether it was not going to be wearable until this baby growing business was finished or if...hmm, maybe this might make a great in between time top ("in between" meaning the time between needing maternity shirts and the fact that some of my shirts no longer fit or now look ridiculous). I was pretty excited to discover I have quite a few "in between" friendly shirts - it's like I have a new wardrobe in some ways because everything fits differently! :)

Daniel texted me this morning to show me his snazzy self all suited up :) good thing we finally bought him a suit that actually fits!

Knowing we might move (and that if we do it will happen super fast) and knowing that in other cases we are going to have a baby and will be shifting quite a few things around here has been a huge motivator - I had steadily been working through each room of the house and weeding things out. There's a massive Goodwill down the street and I have made several trips - the one I made after the closet clean out involved my car being loaded up top to bottom - the trunk, the entire back seat up to the ceiling, the passenger seat - we have been emptying out! I've been spending about 4-5 hours a day either sorting through and reorganizing or deep cleaning the house (as in washing the walls, touch up paint, deep dusting...you name it).

Baby Bump update -continuing to grow!

This week I also visited my grandmother and Aunt Florence in Orlando! My grandmother had flown down to visit Aunt Flo so I drove over for a day trip and got to catch up - we had a really nice morning, lunch, and afternoon together and they were both incredibly excited for us and all over our upcoming adventures! While I was there Daniel called and said APL had called him with an unofficial offer! We were unofficially moving to Maryland! It was really exciting to tell my grandmother we would potentially be only a few hours away with the great grandchild!

My lovely sweet Grandmother!

And last but not least? At week 12 how am I feeling?

Food is still Meh. I think Baby Hals may be comprised on blueberry nutrigrain bars this week (I know they are not the emblem of nutrition in the granola bar department but this week they are a delicious snack that I don't hesitate to eat...so I'm going with it). I am suddenly absolutely exhausted again...I had energy and vigor from weeks 9.5 - 11 or so and then I seemed to have fallen back off the cliff into exhaustion land. And the allergy season I was bracing myself for is here - Ragweed has blossomed in full force! To the point that if I don't take a benedryl at night I can't "keep up" my fight against allergies and I get a raging sinus headache. Can you tell I tried to push through and go without benedryl? Yeah - I lost. Benedryl at night until the ragweed season it is. I surrender.

But to recap? Week 12! Yay! So excited that we have made it this far and that things are going so well! Grow Baby Grow!

This picture has oh so many explanations. 1) Daniel brought a cold back from Maryland and only wanted popsicles. 2) We made Ryan (the only person we know who likes lime popsicles which were in the variety box) eat the lime popsicles first before he was allowed to have another flavor. 3)Knowing Daniel had an unofficial offer the boys had a Rockband-fest at our house and enjoyed being "mothered" as I made a junk food (ahem - popsicle) run to target and kept them stocked up to rock.

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Week 11! Healthy Doppler Heartbeats and Going Public! Woohoo!

Week 11 - August 22 - 28

The first day of week 11 was going to be our big day! I hadn't seen my midwife since week 5.5 and was super eager to know everything was still okay. Daniel and I had decided that if Baby Hals had a healthy hearbeat the rest of the world would find out about our next adventure - I was so excited!

 

I had to wait a lot longer than I did at my last appointment...so for a good forty minutes to an hour I was just waiting and waiting to be called back to be seen. Once I was called back it was initially to meet with the nurse to go over genetics, risk factors, what prenatals and supplements I was taking, etc (btw - my supplement choices? gold star for me! DHA? check (in my fish oil), is fish oil purified/free from mercury? - check, she mentioned the need to get extra calcium - check)...I had actually done a lot of research back when we started heading into this baby making business and had modified what I took daily. I read a lot of research articles before I picked things. Ultimately I take a prenatal vitamin (I love the Rainbow brand), burpless fish oil that has plenty of DHA and EPA, 5,000 mg of Vitamin D, and a calcium supplement each day. I'm sharing because it was super hard to find info or definitive recommendations and I knew that by the time I would be meeting with a doc to discuss these things some of the critical development would have already happened.

 

Wow did I digress. Okay, so then, finally!, my midwife came in and immediately pulled out the doppler. (at the ultrasound 5-6 weeks prior we could see a heartbeat flicker but couldn't hear anything yet...so I was so ready to hear a heartbeat!). She cautioned me that at 11 weeks she can find a heartbeat about 70% of the time....but! It didn't take long - and all of a sudden there it was - that amazing, magical galloping swooshy sound - at a beautifully healthy 160 beats per minute! YAY! The rest of the appointment was fine - everything was looking great!

 

And so...we went public and told the grandmothers to have at it! (They had been chomping at the bit to tell the world). We made the following announcement and soon followed it up with this blog entry that told the whole story...

I also have been taking pictures each week - and week 11 yielded one of my favorites thus far. So bump updates:

4 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, and 11 weeks!

Healthy mom and healthy Baby Hals at 11 weeks! YAY!

The rest of my week...

Well, it's time for another smh-at-my-pregnant-self story (smh = shake my head)

 

Friday night we grabbed a tasty dinner at Thai Hana (well, tasty for everyone but Ryan...sorry buddy) and then had folks over to hang out. We were playing the quickly heated mind-bending, conspiracy theory inducing game of resistance and then transitioned to the far lighter (and darker) game - Cards Against Humanity. I was struggling with an increasing issue with brain fog - I kept having to ask people to repeat themselves over again and had a processing delay...the group was definitely making fun of me. I also kept feeling warmer and warmer...I had gradually shed my cardigan during the first game and during the second I was just getting quite hot and flustered. Daniel finally was like - "Beth what is going on?!" (he was on the other side of the table and came walking over to me) - and I said (giggling hysterically...which if you know me well should be no surprise) "I don't know - I'm just SO hot! I don't know what's wrong with me!! I can't think straight!" and he touched me and was like "Oh my God!" and brought a small fan over to blow directly on me. It was helpful - but at that point I suddenly was super overwhelmed with the feeling that I was going to be sick and headed off to the bathroom where I decided that laying on the tile floor was my best bet. It had to be hormones, but it was full fledged pregnancy hormone craziness.

 

Evidently my literal melt down was enough to concern our friends (I'm sheepish just thinking about it - although I could control zero of what was happening to me) - but they compelled Daniel to check on me who was not less concerned to find me enjoying the tile on the bathroom floor. He brought me some water and I told him to just give me a minute. I eventually calmed down enough - but still felt quite strange. Our poor friends were fairly freaked out.

After everyone left we got ready for bed, but by then I had headed into having shivery shakes - to the extent that I was physically shuddering and just too uncomfortable to try to sleep just yet. I ended up on the couch in a down comforter watching TV in the fetal position for a good hour before the shivers passed and I could retreat back to our covers and go bed.

 

I was once again reminded to never underestimate the unexplainable power of pregnancy hormones to just take over. Good grief.

 

We made a trek on Saturday out to Seasons 52 in Orlando - one of our favorite restaurants - and really enjoyed its tastiness. The menu is fresh, all dishes are capped at 475 calories, and we have generally found the food to be super yummy! They also have dessert shots - so you can have more than one dessert flavor and still not feel like you have had way too much. It's really just our favorite.

 

My complaint of the week...

Okay...I think at this point I am allotting myself to one complaint a week. That seems reasonable right? For week 11 it is this... I understand that I am hungry every 2 or 3 or (if I'm lucky) 4 hours. I have psychologically rationalized such new habits as the baby's way of conditioning me to be ready to feed him/her every 2 or 3 or (if I'm lucky) 4 hours. I get it. ...But actually that's not my complaint. My complaint is that while I have to eat at highly frequent intervals...food...just doesn't sound that great. When something actually sounds good - I am SO excited! I have foods that are on my "usually good" list and foods on my "oh no, I don't think so" list, but it is getting increasingly old to have to come up with what we are going to have for lunch and dinner when...well, nothing sounds good, and dear husband has decided that he has no opinion. *Sigh* Or...picks a meal that he can prepare for himself - but sounds terrible to me, so I still have to worry about feeding myself. *Sigh.* So I am hungry (if I don't eat ever 2/3/4 hours it's insta-nauseau...and the only cure is to eat) but I have no appetite. Where oh where have you gone, dear appetite*? And when oh when are you coming back? (should be soon...right?) *Appetite doesn't have to include large portion sizes, just food sounding remotely palatable or tasty would be great.

 

Disclaimer - I know I am not puking and for this I should be grateful. I REALLY deeply, truly am. But, after several continuous months, I am just running out of patience with the hungry but no appetite contradiction.

 

"Usually good" foods - I am pretty sure my baby is 10% fuji apples, 10% quaker oatmeal squares, 5% lowfat milk, and 10% Simply Orange Juice with Mango. Not sure how that will look...but...yeah.

 

"Oh no, I don't think so" foods - Any piece of chicken that are bigger than my finger nail and not mixed into a dish/soup. Double negative points if I had to cook it. Peanut butter. Considering peanut butter on whole wheat toast was my favorite afternoon snack a month ago I really have no idea. Asparagus...which pre-pregnancy dear husband and I would eat at least two bunches every three days...we had an obsession. For now it is one hundred percent gone.

 

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10 weeks! :-D

10 weeks - August 15 - 21

So...ever since 9.5 weeks I feel like I have turned a corner - still not one hundred percent - but certainly better than I have been feeling! The hunger? Still most definitely an issue. And food doesn't really sound good, but I do keep eating it. ...But otherwise the past few days have been a pleasant surprise.

This is probably the most hodge podge entry ever...but here's some highlights from week 10...

This week I found more maternity pants - which are awesome by the way. Did you know they make yoga pants with the expansion tummy panel? WIN! I finally acquired a second pair of jeans and have one pair of black convertible cargo capris/pants - I officially have enough pairs of pants to be able to do laundry once a week and to not rubberband my clothes together to go out in public. HUGE victory for me! By the way, if you are one of the people trying to stretch your wardrobe for as long as possible all I can say is why torture yourself?! I fought it for a few weeks, but once I caved...ahhh, so much more comfortable! It wasn't that my pants didn't still buckle (in fact my smallest pre-pregnancy pants still button...it's just a terribly uncomfortable idea).

I also met with some of my colleagues for happy hour. It was fun to see them, I secretly gloated inside when they all talked about how tired/rough the first week of school had been (I don't miss the sore throat!), and breaking the news to them was a lot of fun! Exciting!

After that I met with the lovely Rosemary Laird - a parent of several of my favorite former AP students - for a delightful dinner at River Rocks and worked hard to absorb every bit of sage parental advice I could from her. I have known the Lairds for three years now and have only become increasingly amazed by the children, the parents, and the whole fun, precious family and tonight was no different! The Laird family kick-started Baby Hals' baby book collection! Each member of the Laird family (all four children and each parent) picked out their favorite baby book and signed it with a note! It was just the sweetest present!!!

A wonderful, thoughtful gift from the Laird family! Baby books for Baby Hals! :)

 

This week I have also visited the Kennedy Space Center...twice! Once with my friends and Daniel to see the new Atlantis exhibit and once with a dear friend and colleague I knew from the Korea fellowship. He and his wife Rachel were in town, so we enjoyed a nice lunch on the river and then thoroughly enjoyed exploring the space center - they were equally inspired and amazed by the exhibit!

Catching up with Mark Quinones at River Rocks and enjoying a breezy summery meal along the river

Mark and Rachel looking to the stars...

the Atlantis in all her glory - quite a beauty!

 

This is the kind of silliness that goes on in the evenings...

Okay, so totally cheesy...but it's this kind of stuff that makes me want more than one kid. To me there is something heartwarming about sibling antics...

 

As for cravings/aversions during week 10? Chicken is still hit or miss and Daniel has dutifully taken on the task of prepping/cooking the chicken part of dinner when applicable. (He's a keeper!). Cravings? Orange juice, orange juice, orange juice, orange juice! It is just SO good!

And week 10 positive? Today I swam at the gym and really enjoyed it! It ended with me feeling happy and contently tired, not beyond exhausted. In fact - before the gym I loaded the car with stuff for good will, paid the bills, moved all of my classroom boxes into my closet so if we are goign to sell the house we can show the room, did a load of laundry, worked out and then came home to cook dinner, fold laundry, cleaned the kitchen, walked the dog, what?! I know! I really am feeling a lot better than I have been!

 

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When to Tell People? And What Helped Me Wait...

Written around week 9-10

I have struggled with this one. I don't think telling people early will "jinx me" - I actually think that superstition is ridiculous. However...I do understand that some people perceive the news as being very private news, particularly if the pregnancy has a sad, devastating ending.

That said, if after trying for a year and getting pregnant we did have a miscarriage - it would be devastating and extra upsetting the next time someone asks when we are going to start a family already.

I have gone in circles - if we tell people early will they think we are being overly optimistic or foolish for sharing so quickly? But telling our friends and family also means that there would be support there for us if something sad does happen - because let's face it - every week that I continue to be pregnant and Baby Hals continues to grow I cannot help but to become increasingly excited and attached to the idea that some day I am going to get to snuggle with this little one.

I'm also not going to lie - in reality, I told a bunch of people!  But it was really fun because aside from parents and siblings and our immediate circle of friends we got to really enjoy telling people very organically as it naturally came up in conversation or when a close friend messaged us out of the blue to chat.  Each week we added a few people to our circle.  It made it increasingly exciting and in many ways it was really fun that we got to enjoy slowly telling people one by one for as long as we did. 

And the day I told my grandparents and all of my mother's sisters, I may have chosen not to warn mom ahead of the ambush!  (And kept cracking up when I thought of her suddenly juggling an onslaught of calls!) And my Aunt Betsy is convinced that I must consider naming the baby Diblet.  Sigh. 

Maybe it is silly...I am an incredibly rational, logical person, so knowing the statistics and my chances of things going wrong was a must. I found this site to be a great help to me - as the days passed it really boosted my confidence and made me relax and feel more free to be more unguardingly happy about my pregnancy and our baby... As was expressed by Cameron Diaz's character in What to Expect When You're Expecting "information soothes me!" 

If you look at the statistics...you can see why at 8 weeks my confidence was up and why by 9 or so weeks I was bursting to make an official announcement!  But at that point I had an appointment scheduled at 11 weeks exactly - so it seemed silly to not just wait a few more days.  I decided then that once I heard a healthy heartbeat at that appointment is was public announcement time - and then I had a countdown to focus on! 

While the numbers in the beginning are very daunting, once you get down to single digits - it really was a very comforting countdown for me!  I am sure these stats aren't perfect - but it was something hopeful, yet realistic to focus on.

Knowing for weeks that the difference between the week I was in and reaching the second trimester was 1% was, well, awesome! 

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