I can feel my uterus!!

Weird post, I know, but for the purposes of "journaling" about this pregnancy, I had to comment on it. For the past two to three days, I've felt something I've never felt before. My lower abdomen area is tightening, stretching, and making its presence very well known. I can feel it both inside and outside my body. Besides a heartbeat we hear once every month, feeling this is like a real guarantee that something is going on down there. It's weird to have anatomy you've always had and rarely noticed become such a focal point.

So, this week baby Shmu is the size of an onion. Now to me, an onion is smaller than an avocado and and orange, but we'll just think of it as being a large onion. :)

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.

The Heartbeat!

When you go 4 weeks between doctor's visits, hearing even something as simple as a heartbeat is pretty exciting! My mom was able to go with me this time, which was really special. We called Ru and held up the phone to the doppler machine so he could hear the miracle, too. Afterwards, I made an appointment for the "big" ultrasound in a few weeks and Rudy and I are eagerly waiting to see our baby, especially now that it looks like a baby! :) 

Here's what we heard yesterday ... 

Guacamole anyone?

That's cause this week baby Shmu has grown to be the size of an avocado! 

This week, tiny bones are forming in the inner ears and Shmu will be able to hear his/her mommy's voice!!!! :) Eybrows, lashes and hair are starting to fill in. It's amazing to start thinking about what features our child will have and what parts will look like daddy and what parts will be like mommy! Even more amazing (and tempting) is that we could now find out Shmu's gender. We have decided, however, that we'll wait to be surprised in the end. I know it will be a very special moment for Rudy and I, and we're really looking forward to it! My only wish would be to have a photographer there for the delivery... to capture those special moments of first meeting one another! Are you interested Randy? :) 

And besides the main attraction, here's mom at 4 months: 

See the baby?? :) Granted, this is taken at night and I'd just eaten. I tend to look a lot "fuller" in the belly at night. By morning, there's not that much to get excited about. Nevertheless, there it is at four months. I have my next doctor's appointment this Friday and I'm really looking forward to it! It's especially nice because for once I'll be going while feeling well!!!!  I'd forgotten to post about that. It has taken the last three weeks to simmer down, and the nausea is still there in the evenings, but I finally feel (mostly) better!!!!! Yeah!!!!!! Rudy and I celebrated the fact that we'd made it through! Honestly, it was such an accomplishment for both of us! :)

San Diego and 15 weeks!

Thanks to my school sending me on a really great conference for four days, over Valentine's/Presidents' Day weekend, Rudy and I got to take a mini vacation! We kept referring to the place as our "little Hawaii." I didn't take a picture of the pools and water slides, but I did get a shot of one of my favorite places to sit! True to Hawaii form (for us anyway) we enjoyed four, lovely, rainy days. What can we say? Hawaii just does that for us!  It was so good to get away that even the rain was fun! Here's one of my favorite spots. The pool had a bunch of cabanas, too. Mmm, how fun to swim and lay in one! Maybe some day...

During the conference, I noticed my slightly expanding waistline to be somewhat of a nuisance. My pants fit well, but sitting down for 7 hours a day proved to be slightly uncomfortable. :) Wow, this is really happening?! He/she is definitely there!! And should be, considering that now our Shmu is the size of an orange! 

The dragon, as we affectionately call our baby, is now moving and wiggling like crazy. It's legs outmeasure it's arms and all four limbs have functional joints. I can't wait to feel the first flutters of movement! 

Good-bye 1st Trimester!

Never have I been so excited to say good-bye to something! :) Hopefully this new trimester will be as wonderful as everyone claims and soon I'll be feeling more myself again. I've had a few more tolerable days lately, so Rudy and I are hoping we're starting a new trend. Of course every time I say this, I end up eating my words the next day! 

Our doctor's appt. went well and I got to hear baby Shmu's heartbeat at a beautiful 170 bpm. It took the nurse quite some time to find it and I was getting pretty anxious. No ultrasound and I'm sure not another one until sometime between my 16th and 20th week appt. That will be our next and last look at our baby before his/her grand entrance. For now we're lookin' at a peach...

This week Shmu's teeth and vocal chords are forming! Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now one third the size of the body. Speaking of which, crown to rump, our Shmu is about 3 inches long! It's still hard to believe there's a living being inside me. 

And... speaking of that... here's my 3 month "bump" pic. My students and I all agree we can see a difference. We noticed it the morning before this picture, when there was just something there that wasn't there before! Although most of you will say I'm crazy, I still had to post a pic after three months. It's also the first time I was well enough and had the energy to blow dry my hair for school in about two months! I've been wearing long sleeves, not because it's cold, mind you, but because they cover the sea bands I've been wearing on my wrists in my attempt to feel less nauseous. Who knows if they really work or not! 

Day by day...

I'm counting the minutes and hours in each day until I can sleep and have some relief from this sickness. I'm currently writing to try and distract myself. I'd had a couple of days that were pretty tolerable and I dared to think my body was starting to get used to the idea of a little one inside. But no, that was wishful thinking. Today was a pretty rough day. Unfortunately, once I throw up, my body seems to remember throughout the whole day and for some reason, likes repeating itself.

During more positive moments, I think about the fact that we're at twelve weeks and the magical day of feeling "normal" should be fast approaching... :) This week the Shmu is the size of a plum. I have another doctor's appt. this Thursday and I'm excited to get another glimpse, even if just through a doppler for the heartbeat. There's something so magical about that heartbeat. It helps remind me what I'm so sick for! I can't wait!



In case you'd like the cliff notes: As we move into the second trimester, the baby shifts into the growth and maturation stage. After weeks in the critical development stage, almost all the baby's systems are fully formed.

For a more detailed account (I'm thinking grandmas and great grandmas here... :) This week, our daily pregnancy journal tells us that Shmu's thyroid, pancreas and gall bladder have now completed their development. The baby's intestines are now in the abdomen in their rightful place. The muscles in the walls of the digestive tract will become functional this week in order to begin "practicing" the movements required to push food from one portion of the tract to another.

11 weeks down!

This week our Shmu is the size of a lime. Wow, are we growing here! Shmu currently has a 1:1 ratio between head and body and has skin so transparent, that you can see blood vessels through it. Hair follicles, nail beds, and tooth buds are forming this week. Sources say that my uterus should be the size of a small grapefruit by now, although I have yet to notice. I take pictures every week, but have yet to post one until I think someone other than myself would notice a difference! So for now, the only thing reminding me of the reality of this pregnancy is my nauseous stomach. I really think we need to pour more research money into finding a reason and cure for morning sickness. I'd be the first to donate! :) 

I feel blessed!

In spite of feeling miserable both day and night for the past 5 weeks, I feel blessed. I've learned some things about my husband, or rather grown to appreciate new things in this new phase of our life together. 

Rudy's picked up my share of the work around the house, prepared his own food as well as spent many nights running around the town picking up whatever sounded good enough for me to keep down. He's been by my side as my comfort and my strength and I don't think I could have made it through any of this without his support. Best of all, he's ran the errands, answered the constant requests and even offered to do more than necessary... all with a great attitude. As I've watched his selflessness and tender care, I've been in awe of the man I married. I'm even more in awe thinking about the kind of father our child is already blessed to have. 

On a particularly rough day for me, one that started with me leaning over the kitchen sink and ended up with me having to leave school during the middle of recess... Rudy surprised me with a beautiful bunch of daisies and a card for Mommy (encouraging to her be strong) and a card for Shmu (welcoming this little life - from dad). Both were precious and just what I needed. 

Here's my Ru...

Our little olive!

Little Shmu's grandmas are very interested in the progress of their little blueberry. So, I thought I'd update on its growth and fruit/food status... 

Our little embryo has now officially graduated to fetus-hood. With basic physical structures in place and increasingly distinct facial features, baby is kind of starting to look like a baby! My pregnancy journal says that this week little Shmu will: have a fully formed upper lip, the retina of the eye will be fully pigmented, external ears will be completely developed, and taste buds will begin to form. Just to name a few things, of course!

Our 5 Year Anniversary!

We made it to five years! Woohoo! Although it hasn't been an easy five, we're more in love and stronger than ever. God is good. To celebrate the day, I wanted to take Rudy back to a place we had gone for dinner on our honeymoon in Maui. We both remembered it to be one of the best meals of our life and I was delighted to find one located five miles from home. Being so sick, I had to talk myself into going all day long and was determined to make it.  I hadn't told Rudy where we were going and I don't think he had even seen this place since Maui, so it was a nice surprise! After two bites of my $30 meal, I was done but enjoyed being out with my man. We think we'll go back every five years and make a tradition out of it.

           December 27, 2008