Hopeful Thoughts

1) Weight gain? I’ve gained 12 pounds since I started counting at week 5. My midwife wants me to stay as close to 20 as possible and not go over 25, but with 5 pounds gained in the last 3 weeks alone, I’m not quite sure I’ll make this goal. Thank goodness Ryan and I were both under 7 pounds at birth!

2) Cravings or aversions? I haven’t really had any experiences where I have to have one thing in particular or I’m going to go crazy. I was talking to my friend about rubber bands the other day and said “watermelon” instead. I have enjoyed watermelon recently, but may fruits have been favorites. Grapefruit was a desire in the first trimester. I like sweet tea from Chicken Express (it would be Bojangles if I was home!) Early this morning I dreamed about the Pancake Combo with New York Style Cheesecake pancakes at IHOP, but I ate a bowl of cereal instead!

Coffee hasn’t tasted right to me in months, although I did have quite a nice cup yesterday. I’ve drunk it off and on, but yesterday was the first time it tasted like I expected since I got pregnant.

This wasn’t due to a craving so much as the great 50% off after Easter sale, but here’s what I cam out of the drug store with on Tuesday!

There were some purple Peeps when I left the store, but they didn’t make it into the photo. Let it be known that I did NOT eat the whole box by myself. Diane helped!

3) Boy or Girl? Name? Most people already know that we are having a boy. I joke that I’ll believe it when I see it in August! However, we are indeed planning on a baby boy. Our current plan for a name is Grayson (or Greyson) Parker. We maintain that we reserve the right to change this at any time, but at the moment we are pretty set on this. The only point of discussion is whether to use the “a” or the “e”.

4) Is he kicking? YES! I started noticing it shortly after my 16 week appointment, but it was just the little flutters that are often confused with gas. It reminded me of the sensation you get when you run your tongue along the inside of your cheek. Around 20 weeks I started to notice patterns. He seems to be more active beginning around 5:00 PM and responds to food, especially sweet things. About 2 weeks ago he kicked hard enough that Ryan could feel it with his hand on my stomach. That sort of behavior wasn’t consistent until a couple of days ago. This morning he was squirming enough that I could actually see my stomach moving!!

5) Maternity Clothes? I’ve been in them since early February. I was only able to make it about two months with unbuttoned pants. Pretty much the only thing I wear from my regular wardrobe now are t-shirts and PJ pants.

6) Belly button? I still have one, but it’s getting more and more shallow by the week.

7) How am I feeling? I had what felt like motion sickness for the entire first trimester. It was really bad in the car. However, I only actually threw up 3 times during the first 13 weeks. I came pretty close a few weeks later after eating at a favorite chicken sandwich restaurant, but I think my body was not reacting well to peanut oil. A different location almost made me sick a week later, and it’s a place a eat at almost weekly with no problems. So, I’ll just avoid it until delivery.

I felt really good from week 14 or so until about 3 weeks ago. With the faster weight gain, I’ve had abdominal pain off and on as I stretch. It gets worse if I walk too fast. That seems to have subsided some this week, but I’ve moved on to back pain. This is especially bad if I have to sit for a long time, which I do twice a week.

8) What are you doing with the baby’s room? Nothing! Well, at least nothing any time soon. Grayson will stay in our room for a while since I’ll be nursing, and we’ll set up a crib in the second room if we need to. Really, we’re just not sure how long we are going to be in this house. It could be anywhere from 5 months when our lease run out to years if things work out just so. There’s just too many unknowns to move forward at the moment.

9) How are you sleeping? The more pillows I have, the better! I really only sleep badly if I have to be up early in the morning, and that’s simply because I’m not used to getting up early anymore. I think I worry too much that I will oversleep.

So, there you have it!