Week Seventeen

This week we went on a baby shopping adventure to Buy Buy Baby in Allentown, PA. It’s owned by Bed, Bath and Beyond and it’s basically a baby superstore. When you first walk in, it mirrors a typical Babies R Us, but it’s much bigger and more organized.

We went over to the stroller section to test strollers. They probably had around 100 different strollers from the very basic to the very high end. We picked out a specific style on-line and we were looking forward to taking it for a test drive. My Mom and I spent countless hours doing internet research and reading reviews on strollers, so I was pretty sure what I wanted. Boy, was I wrong! Once we got there, we talked to the sales person who showed us a stroller that we weren’t even considering by Baby Jogger. This stroller had almost every feature we were looking for! It was modeled after a jogging stroller, but smaller, extremely light weight and it had a super smooth ride. The canopy is very large, the stroller is very safe and it comes with all kinds of fun a la cart accessories. The one thing it was missing was lots of storage, but this is easy to overlook when we loved all of the other features. Internet reviews on this particular stroller are excellent, probably the best set of reviews I read on one particular item. The best part about this stroller is the way it folds and how compact it is. I attached a photo and you can watch the video by clicking HERE
We also checked out car seats while we were there and we confirmed that we wanted the Chicco Keyfit 30. It’s very safe and easy to work with. It’s also highly recommended. Since we drove 75 miles to Allentown, we couldn’t leave empty handed. We picked up our baby monitor and thanks to a coupon and gift card, got $100.00 off. I would say that our trip was very successful and definitely a learning experience. Here’s a picture of my friend and I posing by the reserved parking sign.

This is a non-eventful week in pregnancy land. I haven’t really felt that many kicks this week and nothing new has happened. I am continuing to get more uncomfortable at night time and I’m often waking up with a sore back. This is to be expected, I just thought it would be a few more weeks until I got this uncomfortable.

One funny story I want to share is about a dream I had this week. I had a dream that my friends and I went to a party and all brought snacks. I made buffalo chicken quesadillas. I was so convinced that this was a great real-life recipe that I made them on Sunday. I used a combination of quesadilla ingredients and my buffalo chicken dip and served them up with Spanish rice, fresh salsa and sour cream. To my surprise, they were actually very good! We had guests come over for my experiment who also agreed that they were excellent. I’m looking forward to more dreams that include new recipes for me to try.

Week 17: Onion

Average size: 5.1 inches, 5.9 oz.
Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints.

Rainy Day Bump Photos

Week Sixteen

Glen and I had a fantastic Valentine’s Day! Glen surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and took me to Devon Seafood Grill. I had the grab cakes and Glen had the swordfish. We had a banana cream crepe with root beer sorbet for dessert. The entire meal was out of this world and we enjoyed our time together. 

 

 

 

 

I had my 16 week appointment this week, which actually seemed to be without purpose. I walked in, got weighed (5 pound weight gain since I found out I was pregnant), peed in a cup, met the OB, Dr. O’Leary, and had the heartbeat measured (in the 150’s). The appointment on lasted about ten minutes. While I was there, I scheduled my 20 week appointment with the OB which is on March 16^th,, and I scheduled my Anatomy appointment which is at 19 weeks on March 11^th. I’m really looking forward to the appointment on the 11^th because Glen will get to go with me for the first time and he will be able to see the baby! I just can’t wait to see the look on his face when he gets to see an ultrasound of our little baby for the first time.

 

Since my exciting news of feeling the baby move last week, I haven’t felt a thing! I tried laying down and being still. I tried poking around in there to try to get the baby to move and nothing! Exactly one week after I felt the baby move for the first time, we went out to eat at Fiesta Mexico. For those out of town folks reading my blog, it’s a Mexican restaurant in Harrisburg. I was sitting in the booth, stuffing my face with tortilla chips and salsa when all of a sudden I felt some fast movements in my lower abdomen. “Wow”, I said, “The baby must really like Mexican food because it’s moving like crazy”. To Glen’s sheer excitement he said “let me feel it!” and then when I told him that he wouldn’t be able to feel it from the outside, his big smile soon turned into a sad face. The baby was kicking so hard for about 5 straight minutes. My smile went from ear to ear. I actually felt the kicks start in the lower abdomen, then to the side and finally at the top of my abdomen. I think the baby was just switching positions. It was a really cool feeling. Again, the best way I can describe it is to compare it to the stovetop popcorn. My belly is the popcorn container, and the baby’s movements felt like the kernels were popping! 

 

 

 

Since I’m officially four weeks along, I was eager to start the baby’s room. Glen and I worked out color palettes for the room and started shopping for furniture. We went to Babies R US, Burlington Coat Factory, JC Penny and Finally Rock-a-Bye Baby ( a small family owed store). I’m a little picky when looking for furniture because I had something specific that I wanted out of it; I wanted it to have drawers (not doors) and I wanted the crib to convert into a toddler bed. You would be amazed how hard it is to find a dresser that only has drawers. Most have drawers with a swinging door. I just thought that it was a little impractical. We did manage to find one set at each of the locations that we liked. We ended up purchasing our furniture this week at Rock-a-Bye Baby. We loved the one-on-one service, we loved that it was a small, privately/family owned business, and most of all, we fell in love with their quality, all wood furniture. We chose a very simple dresser and crib set in a dark wood (called chocolate mist) by the company, Westwood Design. Westwood Design is known for Quality furniture that’s meant to last from birth to beyond. Every piece of the furniture is made with solid wood and high quality parts such as hidden ball bearings. The crib we purchased has three height adjustments, coverts into a toddler bed, day bed, and finally, a full sized bed. We felt that we made the right decision when purchasing this furniture. They could have had the furniture delivered this week, but we asked them to please wait until we can paint the complete the main pieces of the nursery. 

 

 

 

 

Our nursery is not exactly “move in ready”. The floors and heater are in, but it sits without trim, a chair rail, and closet door. We’re also considering installing a ceiling fan. Until we can get these items finished up, as well as the nursery painted, we aren’t going to be moving the furniture into the nursery. We have plans this coming weekend to clean out the closet and finish removing the old wall paper from the room. On March 11^th, we will officially know the sex of our baby and will be picking up our paint that weekend. We have plans to finish the trim and final touches in early April.

 

 

Week 16: Avocado

Average size: 4.6 inches, 3.5 oz.

 

Watch what you say... tiny bones forming in baby's ears mean the little one can now pick up your voice. Eyebrows, lashes and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming. And, if you're interested, an ultrasound might be able to determine gender.

 

 

Week Fifteen

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Glen and I are celebrating Valentine’s day together at an exquisite seafood restaurant in Hershey called Devon. I made reservations in the late afternoon with the intention of making a dessert at home in the evening and watching a movie. I’m hoping that Netflix sends us Despicable Me. Rarely do Glen and I splurge on anything, so we decided to treat ourselves this weekend. I’m incredibly excited to be spending Saturday evening alone with my one and only Valentine, Glen.

 

Something very magical happened this week, I felt the baby move! It was to my complete surprise that I felt the baby move this early on, and definitely not what I expected. After going through a year and a half of analyzing my body and really getting to know it, I feel very sensitive to foreign happenings. I woke up early on Wednesday from a deep sleep, laying on my back. I typically don’t sleep on my back, but I must have rolled over while I was sleeping. I remember waking up and not being able to open my eyes because I was so tired and they were somewhat fused shut. So, I just stayed in that position very still and feeling completely relaxed with my eyes closed. All of a sudden I felt something strange and beautiful. For me, it felt like bubbles popping every 2 seconds or so in my lower abdomen. I guess you could compare it to gas bubbles you get in your abdomen, but softer and with more pattern. I just stayed completely still, with my hands on my stomach and enjoyed the bubbles until I fell back to sleep. I feel like maybe this was the baby’s way of saying “Hi Mom! I’m doing great in here but I can’t wait to see you in a few months”.

 

Our NT testing results came in this week. All of the tests came back normal. So that eliminates the probability of Down’s Syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities.

 

Glen and I went window shopping this weekend at the Hershey Outlets. On our journey, we noticed that baby clothes are incredibly overpriced. Sleepers are $10-$25 each, and socks are $7-$10 each. Even baby essentials are incredibly expensive. Looking at these steep prices makes me feel grateful for all of the people in our lives who had children in the past year that are willing to give us some hand-me-downs. We also just had someone offer us their swing that was barely used for free. We just hope that we can continue to pass the gently used items that we receive on to our friends who will have children in the future.

 

During week 6, I remember thinking how far away the baby was from being an orange. I was particularly looking forward to this week’s fruit because I love oranges. For the record, I’m equally excited for next week, the avocado, since I love avocados! I do hope that everyone enjoys my wacky weekly baby comparison photos, I enjoy eating the fruit of the week after the photo is taken. I suppose that’s a little odd to “eat my baby” every week. 

 

 

Week 15: Naval Orange

Average size: 4 inches, 2.5 oz.

 

Continuing the march towards normal proportions, baby's legs now outmeasure the arms. And, finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Your fetus is squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, though you probably still can't feel the movements.

Fifteen Week Bump photo

 

 

Week Fourteen

Even though the second trimester is a blessing, it also brings on some extra stress. I have officially lost all of my symptoms and with this came some concern. I just wanted to know that my baby was still there, and doing ok. I was really looking forward to this week’s NT scan, just so I could have reassurance.

 

On Sunday, my Mom and I decided to go test out some strollers and look at some baby supplies in Lancaster. We didn’t end up finding the particular stroller that I wanted to test, but we did find a bunch of cute nursery sets and furniture. We scanned the pack and plays and car seats and even looked at baby clothes. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. After we returned from Lancaster, we ate out at the Cracker Barrel restaurant, which hit the spot completely. I think that their raspberry lemonade is my new favorite drink.

 

On Monday (1/31/2011), my Mom and I had lunch at Café Fresco, then we headed over to the hospital for my NT scan. We waited around for about 15 minutes until my name was finally called. Wendy Glatfelter, the genetic councilor, took us back and went over the reasons for the test and what to expect. Basically, they are going to be looking for signs of chromosomal abnormalities such as Down’s syndrome and Trisomy 18 and 13. After talking to the councilor, we were taken back to the waiting room until our ultra sound tech, Kristy, came to get us for the ultra sound. The purpose of this ultrasound is to take measurements and look for signs of abnormalities. It was a nice, long ultra sound that was really enjoyable to watch. My Mom and I were “ohhh-ing” and “ahhh-ing” throughout as the baby moved around. We could see a nice strong heartbeat of 157 bpm, and the baby even did some flips and flops. When we first saw the baby, it was drinking the amniotic fluid, which I thought was adorable. The baby also showed off its hands, legs and feet. We could vividly see that baby had all ten fingers and all ten toes. The doctor came in shortly after to confirm that the measurements looked very good and brought in a nurse who took my blood. I had to get a finger prick, which is probably the worst way to have your blood taken, in my opinion. I just hate having my finger pricked! Even though I haven’t received my full results of the scan, I feel that everything is fine with baby Charron.

 

Ever since Monday, I’ve been thinking about an Ice Cream Snickers bar. I probably haven’t had one in years, and all of a sudden, I really had to have one. After days of fighting my temptation, I finally asked Glen to pick one up from the store. Glen has been really supportive and accommodating throughout the pregnancy so far, so gladly agreed to get one for me. Once he brought it home, I decided that I no longer wanted it. I think the hardest part about having cravings, is that they soon turn into food aversions and if you don’t act right away, you’ll miss your opportunity completely. Luckily, I have an understanding husband!

 

So this week, I’m really craving pickles, Oreo cookies, BLT’s, grape Gatorade, white fish, and shrimp. I’m still hating chocolate candy and most meats are not appetizing. The thought of a hamburger or piece of chicken makes me feel sick to my stomach. Greasy foods aren’t really agreeing with me moment either.

   

 mmm...pickles

 

 

I attached some ultra sound photos, including the infamous “hand” photo. I hope you enjoy them!

 

And here is a video of our baby drinking. 

 

Week 14: Lemon

Average size: 3.4 inches, 1.5 oz.

 

Your adorable little fetus is busy with thumb sucking, toe wiggling, and (not so cute but equally amazing) making urine and breathing amniotic fluid as the liver, kidneys and spleen continue to develop. Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over the body for warmth.

 

 

Week Thirteen

At thirteen and a half weeks, I’m officially in my second trimester. The second trimester is often referred to as “the honeymoon stage” because your sickness usually completely disappears, you have much more energy, and you’re not too big that you’re incredibly uncomfortable to sleep. I have definitely been looking forward to the start of this trimester and I hope that it doesn’t go too quickly.

 

So what’s on my 2^nd trimester agenda? Well, a lot, actually! To start things off I have a NT scan scheduled for 1/31/2011. NT stands for Nuchal Translucency and basically it’s a scan to check for potential abnormalities such as down’s syndrome. Initially I wasn’t going to get the NT scan, but after thinking about it, I decided that a) I want to be prepared and knowledgeable should my baby have a potential abnormality and b) because I’m greedy and I just really want to get another ultrasound. I’m going to include these results and photos in my week 14 entry, even though I will be getting the NT scan done at the conclusion of my 13^th week.

 

After this, my next regular OB visit is set at 16 weeks on 2/16/2011, then a few weeks following that I will have my “big” ultrasound where the anatomy may be revealed. Hopefully we can get a pretty definite answer on the sex of the baby so we can start planning out the last month and a half of the second trimester. If things go as planned and we know the sex, Glen and I will be busy shopping, putting together baby’s nursery, picking out names, and possibly even starting a gift registry with Babies R Us. I’m also looking forward to sporting a cute baby bump and shopping for maternity clothes.

 

I don’t have too much to share other than I’m starting to feel like a normal person, and my bloat has gone way down, leaving me with a miniscule little bump (which in all reality, is probably just my uterus). 1 trimester down, and I’ve gained 3 pounds, which is right on track for my ultimate desired weight gain.

 

Everyone seemed to enjoy my week 12 post about my maternity top, so I thought I’d share week 13’s maternity purchase. I had a credit from a previous purchase I made at Ann Taylor Loft, which I was able to finally use on a sweet Summer-y maternity dress. My intent is to wear this to some upcoming weddings, one in Late April and the other in early June. 

 

 

 

 

Also, to update you all on my work happenings, my title change and status change to “exempt” are officially going into effect for the next payroll. No more worrying about taking my paid time off or working extra long hours to try to make up for lost time for lengthy appointments. 

 

I hope you enjoy the week 13 peach photos. I was feeling silly this week!

 

 

Week 13: Peach

Average size: 2.9 inches, .81 oz.

 

Your fetus is forming teeth and vocal cords... savor this, their non-functional phase. Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy. (Much more convenient.)

 

 

 

Week Twelve

Wow! I can’t believe I’m 12 weeks already! This is quite a milestone.Why is it a milestone? Well, "they say" (not sure who "they" is but whatever) that the chance of miscarriage drops significantly to less than 2% after week twelve.

This has been a pretty good week for me both in real-life and in pregnancy world. Let me start with the pregnancy stuff. One very big change in pregnancy world is that my morning sickness is dissipating. I still get waves of nausea throughout the day, especially if I’m hungry, but it’s a huge improvement from weeks prior. I’m definitely still feeling fatigue, especially in the afternoons around 2:00pm, but I feel so much better now that I’m not nauseous all day. My pants are getting tighter as the weeks go by and I’ve started to unbutton them the entire way and wear longer shirts this week. I wouldn’t say they are too tight, I would say that it’s just uncomfortable how they fit around my rapidly growing waist. It’s hard to believe that in another 8 weeks, I’ll have a definite baby bump and I’ll know the sex of our little sweetie.

I started browsing maternity tops this week and found one that I really love! I found it on the Motherhood Maternity website. Again, I’m not too keen on most maternity clothes because a lot of them remind me of tents so when I find something I actually like, I’ll probably pick it up as long as it’s within what I’m willing to spend. The shirt that I really love is dark purple and more fitted. It’s also something I would wear in real-life without a baby belly which really appealed to me. I went to two different Motherhood stores in the Harrisburg Area and couldn’t find it at either so I ended up ordering it online. I posted a photo for those that are curious. Ha, a day after I wrote this blog entry, all sizes were sold out with the exception of XL. I'm so glad I jumped on the small's while they were still available!

 See, isn't it cute?    

This is also the week that Glen and I got to share the big news with some of our closest friends. My good friend, Emily, arranged a girls night at a new sushi grill which was a golden opportunity to share the news with the girls. Glen then got the guys together for wings and told them our news. Everyone seemed really excited for us and we both had a great time. I really wanted to let my closest friends know a few weeks ago and I was pretty stuck on wanting to tell them in person but I never had the opportunity until now. I feel like a weight has been lifted from me in a way, because we can be a little bit more open about it and we know that we have a lot of love and support from everyone.

The one not-so glamorous side of this week is that I have a bacterial infection (BV) which I needed to be placed on antibiotics. The antibiotics leave me with an awful metallic taste in my mouth and they are hard to swallow. The metal taste usually goes away within 2 hours, but those two hours are brutal! I just try to hide the taste by eating loads of Skittles.The bad thing about BV is that if untreated, it can cause miscarriage in the 2nd trimester and pre-term labor, so I'm taking my yucky meds as directed.

So my non-pregnancy news includes a nice new raise in salary! I found out this week that my position was slightly underpaid and the company decided to make the salary for my position more competitive in the market by bumping me up a pay grade. To go along with this, my supervisor is trying to get my title changed along with changing me to an Exempt status in a few months. What this could mean is that I would get paid a flat weekly salary instead of being paid hourly. The benefit to this is that I am not required to work a set amount of hours, so when I have doctor appointments, I can leave for them and come back without taking vacation or making my hours up. Right now, I’m either using vacation or I’m flexing my time and working longer days on days that I don’t have appointments. This is manageable, but honestly, it would be so much easier if I was made exempt.

All in all, this was a pretty wonderful week. 

 Week 12: Plum

Average size: 2.1 in, .49 oz

As you move into the second trimester, baby shifts into the growth and maturation stage. After weeks in the critical development stage, almost all of baby's systems are fully formed. 

Week Eleven

This week I had two OB/GYN appointments. The first appointment was on 01/13/2011 with the OB nurse, Pam. Pam was super nice and sincere. She asked me a lot of questions about my medical history and family history, as well as Glen’s. She then went over a couple of materials and tried to calculate my due date, although wasn’t successful due to my cycles being irregular. I had some blood work done, my weight checked, and got to pee in a cup (which I always seem to miss and get my hand, doh!) The nurse then went over foods that I couldn’t have such as fish high in mercury, soft cheeses, and deli/processed meats. I don’t know if I’m really craving these items, or if I just want them because someone tells me I can’t have them, but I would just LOVE to bite into a turkey sub or have some sushi! My new sushi substitute these days is a simple cucumber roll with extra ginger. The roll helps curb my craving and the ginger on top eases my nausea.

My second OB appointment was on 01/14/2011 with nurse Bristol and nurse practitioner, Amy Stauffer. Bristol was wearing Hannah Montana scrubs, which made me giggle. Amy Stauffer was extremely nice. She answered all of my questions and gave me a list of over the counter drugs that I’m allowed to take as well as some tips for morning sickness. I can’t wait to go home and review all of the pregnancy materials.

Amy did a couple tests and gave me a ultra sound “just for fun”. At first nothing showed up on the screen, then as she slowly moved to the left we finally saw the baby. It was hanging out on the very far left of my uterus, she also said the baby was positioned “up front” (whatever that means). I couldn’t believe my eyes! My baby looked like a baby for the first time ever! The little arms and legs were waiving around and it was positioned head pointed down. She took a few photos for me and checked the heartbeat. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the heart rate at 180 bpm. Amy said that it was a very strong heartbeat which indicates a strong baby. Our little sweetie is measuring 39 mm, which is about 1.54 inches-just perfect! Amy then confirmed that the baby is measuring 11 weeks and 2 days! This is a little ahead of schedule giving me an official due date of August 4^th, 2011.

Glen didn’t get to go to the appointment because he was home sick with the stomach flu, but he was really excited to see the photos and said “Wow, it looks like a baby!” and “I can’t wait to hold it”. We are both really excited to be parents!

 

Week 11: Lime

Average size: 1.6 inches, .25 oz.

Your fetus currently enjoys a 1:1 ratio between body and head, and has skin so transparent that blood vessels show right through. But, fingers and toes are no longer webbed, and hair follicles, tooth buds and nail beds are forming -- setting up a significantly more attractive future.

11 week/2 day Ultrasound Photo