Goodbye First Trimester.

 Bump pics : Weeks 8-13

I am finally out of my first trimester and today we had another healthy doctor's appointment. It is always such a relief to hear a strong heartbeat. I feel like this time around my tiny bump popped out by 10 weeks, although thankfully I made it through the first part of pregnancy with only a few extra pounds so far. Here are a few fun stories from the beginning of this baby bump....

Telling Ryan

I honestly didn't really think I was pregnant. I knew there was a possibility but I just didn't "feel pregnant" back in June. One afternoon we were packing and I decided to just take a quick test to make sure. Right away, POSITIVE. I was surprised and laughed. Then I went down stairs and told Ryan who also laughed. We just weren't expecting all of that to happen 5 days before we moved! 

Telling Our Families

We shared the big news with both of our families when they came to help us on our moving day. We showed them each around the house and ended with showing them the baby's room. Surprise!

Telling Eva

We actually told Eva about a month ago. It was kind of early to be telling her, but we decided that it would help her understand why I had been so sick. She could tell that something was different because I'm usually super active and involved with her and had mostly been laying down. She was so excited and has seen the baby twice at the doctor's office with us. I love that she talks to it and rubs my tummy.

 How I'm Doing
* Hungry. Since the very beginning I've been very hungry most of the time. I feel like I'm constantly eating, but it's probably more like 6-8 small meals/snacks a day, and I can never eat much at one time.
* Food cravings: Cheese, bread, bread with cheese, Starbuck's breakfast sandwiches, crab wantons, ice water with lemon, all Mexican food, Olive Garden soup and salad, Jersey Mike's sandwiches, extreme ice water with lemon, juice, chocolate milk, cereal, onions. I rarely ever want to eat anything sweet, normally I love sugar. I go back and forth with coffee, some days I can enjoy a cup and other days even the scent makes me mad.
* Nauseous. I will be okay when this goes away! It is not fun to be nauseous and hungry. That makes me open the refrigerator and cry while staring at food I do not want to eat.
* Forgetful. My brain feels like mush and I find myself not remembering stuff all the time. A few weeks ago I cooked sweet potatoes and remembered they were still in the over 3 days later. Mush.
* In pain. This has been the hardest part for me. I have really bad nerve pain all over my body. It is usually constant, all day, all night pain that brings me to tears. I feel silly saying that but it is so hard to be in pain all over, every single day. My doctor today did some extra blood work and is recommending that I try massage therapy to see if it will help. Aside from praying for a healthy baby, this is my biggest prayer request. I went and started refloxology massage yesterday and so far it has been helpful.
* Emotional. I cry pretty often and I may have forgotten how irritable I can become when pregnant. It's a weird place to be when you are so happy to be carrying a baby, yet so easily frustrated with life.

* Mixed maternity fashion. I bought a pair of maternity shorts when I was only like 7 weeks pregnant and that was one of the best decisions of my life. I wear them almost every day. As far as tops I'm at the point where most regular tops are getting too small but most maternity tops are still too big. I have about 3 decent outfits that I wear right now, so if you see me in the same outfit every week, feel free to tell me how amazing I look. I know that I will need the majority of my maternity clothes for months with cooler temperatures so I am waiting until then to purchase anything else.
* 5 weeks to go until....we find out the gender of the baby! I go back and forth a lot on my instinct so I probably have no clue. If I had to say, I would pick boy. I really love our girl name though, so I would be bummed not to use it. Other than that, we would really be happy either way. Yes most people say that. We actually mean it.
* What I'm looking forward to most....holding this child in my arms. I want to cherish every moment of being pregnant, but some days it is hard. That's reality. I just keep my eyes and my heart on the end goal. I am also excited to feel the baby move and to see Eva be a big sister.