16wks (3ds)

Oh man was this a great week! I am doing really well. Energy is up and thriving and I'm really starting to get my appetite back! Even my headaches haven't been as bad this past week. And, of course, yesterday was great, and that wasn't even supposed to be part of this blog post but whatever. It's exciting. The first part of the week was absurdly slow moving, as if the whole world knew I was anxious to find out the gender of my baby and was conspiring to make me wait as long as humanly possible. It was torture. I did a lot of sleeping since time tends to pass faster and less boringly when you sleep through it. But eventually the day came and though I had slept through the week I was barely able to get a little over 4 hours sleep that night. Go figure. I was able to down about three glasses of OJ in addition to my bagel in an attempt to force that child into movement. Fortunately it worked! Any pregnant women who want to ensure their fetus is not asleep during an ultrasound? Drink lots of OJ before your appointment. Mine was doing back flips and acrobatics in there. We got to the appointment and they had me do another Chinese Gender prediction test and it said clearly Boy. It was Boy surrounded by other Boys. And the guy said they had a 90% success rate with the chart.

So we get into the room and it's huge and they're playing Coldplay lullaby music so Jason automatically approved of it. The tech was super nice and she talked us through the whole thing and Jason sat up on the bed with me and we watched the ultrasound on this huge flatscreen. At first we couldn't see much because Bebe was lying in the most absurd position, but after a few deep coughs there was a shift and the tech goes "There we go!" and we go "... what is it?" "You can't tell?" "..." "Well-" *zooms in* "What isn't there?" "OH MY GOD SHE'S A GIRL!" And we found out our little Bebe was a beautiful, slightly alien looking, flexible little GIRL. The voting was 12 for girl, 4 for boy - so way to go majority! She had her head on the bottom and her whole body flipped over it like an extreme Yoga master who was a former Russian acrobat. We got to watch her for about 15min and I could watch her for hours and hours and hours. Afterwards I dragged Jason to Babies 'R' Us so we could find an adorable GIRLY outfit for Bebe. Not that she won't have a million cute girly outfits by the time she is born, but I wanted to be able to say "I got this the day I found out I was having a little girl" and so we got one! Of course, since we're rather obsessed with our cats, we had to get one with cats!!


if you're really bored and interested, Bebe's 13:14min ultrasound

OKAY. Bebe specifics. And, yes, still calling her Bebe for now because while we THINK we have a name we want to try calling the baby by it to make sure we like it and it sounds good to us. So Bebe she will remain for the present! Bebe is 4.5" long and 3.5 ounces and is about the size of an avocado. While at the grocery store the other day I picked one up and held it to my stomach and went "hey honey it's our daughter!" I really couldn't believe something that big was growing in me and will KEEP growing and getting BIGGER. Legs have grown longer and stronger (as we saw in that ultrasound) and her head is a lot more erect too. Her eyes have moved to the front of her head and her ears are almost in their final position. Scalp patterning has begun too, even though there isn't hair yet. But she has started growing toenails! In the ultrasound we could see her little heart fluttering, which it should be since now her heart is pumping 25 quarts of blood to her body each day and this will keep increasing until birth! I still haven't felt her moving, even though I know she's kicking up a storm in there. But I've been assured that I might not feel her until around 20wks since this is my first baby. Oh well! As I told a friend, from the way she's moving I might be begging her to STOP kicking before too long once I feel her start!!

15 wks (3ds)

So I'm 15 weeks and the most exciting thing that has happened since I last posted and now is that I had another doctor appt! It was a short one, Dr. listened on the doppler and found Bebe right away with a FHR of 142! He said my uterus was about 2 finger widths below my naval and that everything looked and sounded fantastic. FTR, I am loving the rise in my uterus because I can finally button my jeans again! I'm enjoying my little reprieve before I have to go back to maternity clothes and belly bands. I also got to make an appointment for my anatomy scan! I'll have it at exactly 20wks at 7:30am on August 25! I'm really (and nervously) looking forward to it. Mostly because I just want to hear that everything looks perfect and that I have no cause to worry about anything. I think my biggest fears right now are umbilical cord length (I have this horrific paranoia about it right now, tyvm pregnancy message boards) and placenta position (1 trimester of pelvic rest is more than enough, no placenta privia for me hopefully). But right now I am trying not to focus on those! I am 15 weeks and I can finally start to see a defined tiny little bump and I spend most of my time just poking it in order to "play" with Bebe - though what Bebe's thoughts on this form of "playing" I am sure aren't as favorable. I've also traded exhaustion for headaches which I seem to get a lot more regularly now, though fortunately they are more annoying than debilitating. According to the Dr. I am now +4 lbs. from my pre-pregnancy weight which I feel good about since I'd really prefer not to stray too far from the recommended 25-35 lbs.

Most of my thoughts, though, are preoccupied with July 30th. On that day I will be going to Prenatal Impressions for the Gender Determination! I cannot wait to find out if Bebe is a Boy or a Girl, and I even had Jason pick me up orange juice and brownie mix so I can try to force Bebe into a sugar rush to force movement. I've been pretty consistent with thinking Bebe is a girl through most of my pregnancy thus far, but lately I've been finding myself saying "He" at some points. Whether this is due to having a set name for a boy and no set name for a girl, I don't know. But It'll be fun to find out! I've also started looking into Old Wives Tales about gender prediction this past week and I'd like to share my findings with you:

REASONS BEBE MAY BE A BOY:

• I did not experience Morning Sickness
• My feet are colder than before pregnancy
• The hair on my legs has grown faster than before pregnancy
• Dad-to-be has been gaining weight (sorry honey!)
• I am having headaches
• Add my age at conception (26) and the number for the month I conceived (April=4) and the result is an even number (30)
• My age at conception (26) and the year I conceived (2011) are an even and an odd number (Mayan method)

REASONS BEBE MAY BE A GIRL:

• My baby's heartrate is 140bpm or higher (150, 174, 166, 142)
• My left breast is larger than my right breast (though, to be fair, this has always been the case)
• I am craving sweets and fruits
• I have gained weight in my hips and rear
• My face is broken out
• My breasts have grown absurdly large
• The Chinese Gender Chart tells my I'm having a girl (though, it should be noted, I have done this 4 times with various sites and got Girl twice and Boy twice)

OTHER TELLS THAT ARE NOT APPLICABLE OR I HAVE NOT TRIED:

• I barely have a belly (I swear, it looks so much bigger in pictures. It doesn't look nearly that big when I look in the mirror) so I do not know if I am carrying high (girl) or low (boy). I also do not know if my belly is shaped more like a basketball (boy) or a watermelon (girl)
• Drano test. You're supposed to put your pee into a cup of drano and if it's green it's a girl and blue it's a boy. But I do not have drano, and the fumes are supposed to be really bad for you
• The key test. If a pregnant woman picks up a key from the fat end she's having a boy, from the thin end it's a girl. But I know this now so I will be conscious of it now!
• The ring test. IDK how to do this to myself, lol
• The Native American legend: if your younger child's hairline at their neck ends in a point you are having a child of a different gender. if it is straight across you are having a child of the same gender. Obviously I can't do this since I have no previous children. Also? Not always accurate, though people SWEAR by it, because my hair ends in a point at my neck and my younger sibling? Also a girl.
• If you try 2 or more days before you ovulate you're having a girl. The day of or day after ovulation and you're having a boy. Apparently because Y sperm swim faster and die earlier and X sperm swim slower but live long. Unfortunately, we were taking a break the month I got pregnant and it is the one month I did not test for ovulation and my ovulation timing is never consistent so I could not tell you when ovulation occurred for this to be a viable method.

So that's 7 points for Boy and 7 points for Girl and 6 unknowns. Does this mean I'm having a Hermaphrodite? ANYWAYS I have created a poll (see side bar beneath my Welcome! blurb) so please please please feel free to vote in it! If you'd like to expand your answer in my comments go for it! I love comments and justifications! It should say a lot that I resisted putting the answer "PONY" and "HUMAN" as answers because (and I'm looking at you SSers) I know some of you would choose those!! Oh but enough of predictions and speculations. FACTS! At 15wks Bebe is 4"! Trying to figure out a fruit size is like comparing apples and oranges. Literally. One site says Apple and one says Navel Orange. Fun huh? I might go with Apple since I'm a Mac user, haha. One fun thing is that Bebe can now sense light, even though eyelids are still fused shut. But if I shine a flashlight on my stomach Bebe will shy away from the light. Fortunately for Bebe I have no idea where my flashlight is. Bebe is practicing breathing by moving amniotic fluid through that tiny little nose and into those developing lungs that are just primitive little air sacs right now. Legs have outgrown arms so Bebe looks more proportional now and all those little limbs and joints can move and bend. Even though there isn't much to taste besides amniotic fluid, taste buds are growing and developing. MOST importantly, it is now possible to determine gender which will happen next week (and just in case the u/s place is wrong, it'll be confirmed on August 25th by my Dr at 20 weeks). Some people have felt their baby move by now, but I have not, sadly. But apparently 16-22 wks are typically when first timers start feeling the movement so I am going to drink OJ and eat brownies and poke and prod and just wait for little Bebe to poke back!

14 wks (5ds)

Barely. But I'm here I'm here with a few minutes to spare if I rush this. The end of vacations are like a black hole of time loss. On Thursday, the day I turned 14 wks, we left vacation and drove to Chicago where I could meet up with friends to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2 (and meet Matthew Lewis [aka Neville Longbottom] by sheer coincidence). Then the next day we drove straight through the night from Chicago to get to Orlando at 7am on Saturday. After a quick nap we left to South Florida to pick up the cats from my mom and Sunday we came back to Orlando (after stopping at Lindsay's (You Are The Roots) to meet her beautiful son Ethan. Lindsay also gave me a ton of baby things for which I'm eternally grateful and ecstatic about. Monday and Today have been spent in the hell known as 10 loads of laundry and unpacking and organizing and, most importantly, starting my baby registry! I decided to start working on it now since a lot of the main things we want are going to be gender neutral in order to be passed down to our future children whose gender might be different. This means bedding and room decor and large scale toys like bouncers and play mats. This is fine with me because I'm not big on frilly flowers and pink butterflies anyways. Then there's all the little things too like diapers and creams and feeding accessories, etc. etc. etc, that don't require gender. It's nowhere near ready to be released since I'm already thinking of changing several things and a few items are listed because I like them and want Jason's opinion of which is best, so there's that. And the big tickets like crib, furniture, car seat, stroller and baby monitor (trust me, Jason is in charge of that one) require a lot more research before we settle. But I'm a little less panicked now that it's begun.

Bebe! Bebe is the size of a lemon this week and is about 3.5"! Brain impulses are in high gear as Bebe's facial muscles begin making expressions anywhere from a grin to a scowl. The body, arms and legs are also rapidly growing in order to catch up to that once giant head. Lanugo, an ultra-fine downy hair, is also forming all over the body. In addition to the kidneys which are making urine, the liver is now producing bile and the spleen is assisting in red blood cell productions! Bebe is punching and kicking up a storm, but sadly I still can't feel a thing. As for me, I love the second trimester and am having no complaints! I woke up STARVING today and actually wanted to eat which has been rare for me lately. I definitely have more energy and have been zipping around with chores. I'm also completely stressed out at how disorganized my house is and now that I'm not panicking over my baby registry I can finally get back into the swing of doing my chores and switching out dressers so I can get this old furniture out of my bedroom. I am LOVING being able to move around more now that my first trimester light-activity restrictions from my hematoma are lifted. I also have a doctor's appt this Friday and afterwards I will schedule my anatomy scan!! Exciting!

13 wks

Guys guys guys guys guys guys! I'm out of my first trimester. At least I think I am. One website (BabyCenter) says Second Trimester is AFTER the thirteenth week so I wouldn't be there until next week but I don't CARE because I want it to be here now so I will listen to the majority and say it is today! And what a beautiful day it is too. I spent it on a boat reading my Kindle while Jason fished. Only to realize that pregnancy does not make me an effective fishing partner because even though the fish barely met the length limit he was debating letting it go because it wouldn't be a lot of meat (and he caught 3 the day prior) and I was all doe eyed and "Please! Honey you have to let him go you HAVE to!" And this isn't just because the idea of eating fish still makes me a little green around the gills, I just got really really upset at the idea of killing it. So he let it go and I was happy. But don't judge me too harshly! I kept my mouth shut the night he caught three with me on the boat. I only speak up for the small ones. Since those are the only ones he's bound to listen to me for, lol. Aside from fishing I've had a really nice vacation and Jason's taking me out to dinner tonight to boot so we can celebrate!

Ah, 13 weeks. Such a longed for number, and yet I feel very little has actually changed. I pee more now than ever even though I'm being assured that should slow a bit. I'm not nauseous at all anymore, though I wasn't that nauseous to begin with. I do have a bit more energy during the day, but come dinner time I am beat and just want to curl up and doze. And food? I'm still not that interested. I'll force myself to find something to eat just because I need to and I'm hungry but I don't actually want anything, and the things that don't sound absolutely revolting are few and far between. Poor Jason just wants to be able to cook for me and feed me and keep me healthy and nourished and I am making it virtually impossible by not wanting a thing (though I did ask for buttermilk pancakes yesterday morning and got them!) but he's hanging in there valiantly.

As for Bebe! At thirteen weeks s/he's about 3 in. long, weighs about an ounce, and is roughly the size of a peach! Oh what a peach, my Bebe. The best thing about this week (aside from it being the milestone marker for a significant decrease in my chances of the M word) is that Bebe has FINGERPRINTS. Those tiny little digits have those markings that are individual just to her/him that will be an identifier for life. Also, if Bebe is a girl, the ovaries are now stocked with more than 2 million eggs. Meaning if Bebe is a girl I am carrying my future grandchild in the womb of my womb. Talk about crazy. Bebe's body is growing as well, in order for it to catch up with the head, and now the head is only 1/3 of Bebe's size instead of half. Skin is still completely translucent and veins and intestines are clearly visible beneath it. It's amazing that this all started out as a microscopic bunch of rapidly dividing cells and now it's something moving and wriggling and thumb sucking. I really can't wait for another 3 weeks and 2 days until I can see Bebe again and find out if I can say he or she. Votes are pretty much in a deadlock between family of the baby's gender so it'll be pretty fun to figure out whose intuition was right!

12 wks (2ds)

It's 12 weeks!! Well, and two days, but I've been on the road for the past three days so you have to forgive me the tardiness. This week is a big one because Jason and I decided that we were going to go public with Bebe this Friday (yesterday) and we did! So hello everyone who is reading this blog for the first time and welcome to my pregnancy accounts! It's still another 5 days until I'm out of my first trimester and breathing becomes easier and I stop jumping and freaking out at every cramp (and I had a couple really uncomfortable ones while showering and getting dressed and am just repeating my mantras of "it is just round ligament pain. it is just round ligament pain. you have not jinxed yourself by not waiting until thursday. it is just round ligament pain" because I am overanalyzing everything). 12 weeks also means I FINALLY get to stop taking my progesterone pills!!! I have a about 4 left though which I'm saving for just in cases. It's a little scary being off the progesterone, to be perfectly honest. I've been on it since week 5, so I've had 7 weeks of that sort of safety net and now I feel as if I'm walking without one. But now that the placenta is developed it's producing enough progesterone so my body doesn't have to do it (since it sucked at it). But I am not going to be paranoid! I am on vacation and have fresh air and am just going to relax and enjoy being pregnant. Or I will try to, at any rate.

This week Bebe is a little over 2 inches long (the size of a plum!) and weighs half an ounce. I feel like Bebe is ahead of the development game because according to the various website authorities, reflexes are the name of the game this week - such as sucking thumbs, which last weeks ultrasound showed Bebe was already very capable at. But toes are curling, eyes are clenching, and if I poke my abdomen Bebe will squirm and swim away. You can bet I've been poking and prodding Bebe since I read that!! Nerve cells are developing in the brain and synapses are forming rapidly! The face is now definitely human and eyes have shifted from the side of the head to the front where they should be and the ears are also in their correct place. There was a rapid growth of intestines and right now they've protruded into the umbilical cord, but should now start easing back into the abdominal cavity. The kidneys have even started secreting urine into the bladder!! I just won't have to change those diapers for another 6 months.

As for me, I'm doing all right. I've noticed this week that my taste buds are off when it comes to salt. I had some French Onion soup for dinner one night and felt like I was eating pure salt while my husband assured me it was fine. Then the next day I had Wendy's fries for lunch an I couldn't taste any salt and felt like it was cardboard. Once again, Jason assured me they were plenty salty. But could I taste it? Nope. The smell and thought of fish still turns my stomach. Today Jason got up at 7am to go fishing in a canoe and caught a fish. Then he brought it back around 9 and cleaned it up and cooked it for breakfast. I'm sure it was delicious but I breathed through my mouth until he was done. But my father-in-law then made me pancakes and I was very delighted and I forgot all about the fish. I actually slept through the night so I don't feel exhausted today which is an awesome change!

11 wks (3ds)

Ding dong the clot is GONE! That's right people. No more subchorionic hematoma for me or Bebe! Guys I am so over the moon happy that I'm still on a high from it. I had my doctor's appt at 8:45am on Friday and I was so nervous. I had visions of going in there and being told that my clot wasn't gone and it was in fact bigger. Of being told that I couldn't go to Wisconsin. But I held it together (okay, that's a lie, I got into an argument with Jason on the way there over something stupid and cried hysterically for about 15 min. It's a miracle I didn't walk into my appointment looking like Lady Gaga) and went through the motions! My doctor was stuck in a meeting so I got to meet another doctor at the practice and she was fantastic! She tried the doppler on me even though I was only 11wks and we got a nice strong heartbeat after a little searching which made me breathe a bit easier as we went into the ultrasound. The u/s tech was an absolute doll and she did the first u/s abdominally where I got to see Bebe wiggling and squirming like crazy! Just as restless as his/her mama. She happily explained that there was no sign of a clot whatsoever and the heartbeat was a very healthy 166bpm. That was just the most beautiful words ever. And watching Jason point at the u/s screen exclaiming over Bebe moving around and different features was just as beautiful.

The u/s tech took us back to the nurses who put us in an exam room to wait for the doctor, but before the doctor came back she went and got us again. Because I'd had bleeding previously in my pregnancy she wanted to check my cervix just to make sure it was alright and there wasn't any signs of anything. So I went back with her and changed for the internal u/s. I know they're more invasive and uncomfortable, but I would not mind doing them every time if it means I can see my baby that clearly and beautifully each time. Bebe was SO CLEAR! We even got this amazing view of his/her brain! There's two hemispheres

and it looked like a perfect black and white miniature model of a human brain. Jason was ecstatic over that and requested a picture of that. Leave it to my husband to be obsessed with his baby's brain (I love you honey!). Then the u/s printed us out another set of photos and we got the absolutely phenomenal one you see here to the right. A perfectly clear and detailed picture of Bebe sucking on his/her thumb! There's toes and fingers and a nose and a mouth and a tiny eye fused shut and just these tiny limbs! I have been starring at this picture for the past two days obsessively, you have no idea. I'm half convinced it's the greatest ultrasound picture to ever be taken ever - especially at this early stage. Anyways, after that u/s - where we were assured my cervix was just fine - we went back to see the doctor who answered all of our questions. Seriously, Jason pulled out his phone where we'd written all the things we wanted to ask but were worried we'd forget after seeing Bebe. The doctor told us we were the cutest couple she'd ever seen as we did this. After the doctor's appointment we ran errands until almost 5pm and then came home and did a ton of cleaning and stuff so I was so exhausted that I passed out without writing this entry on Friday. Then Saturday I went to my husband's cousin's daughter's first birthday - which was a Tinkerbell theme, so you know I was thrilled with it - and we didn't get back till late and I passed out again.

But today! I was determined to write this today! My due date was moved up one day to January 12, which makes Bebe 11 weeks 3 days and 1.6" - about the size of a small lime (if you measure it horizontal, not vertically). Bebe has been growing hair follicles and tooth buds and nail beds. Ears are almost in their normal shape and the tiny nose has even teenier nasal passages. Bones are beginning to harden too! As we saw in our ultrasound, Bebe is busy moving and kicking and stretching, even if I can't feel them. Bebe's even hiccoughing now as the little diaphragm forms, but I can't feel that either. As for me, I have

been nauseous all week and I threw up for the first time on Friday!! Shush, I'm excited. It was barely anything and only because I was chewing up my prenatals and all of a sudden the texture had me gagging so bad the prenatals came back up. But it made me smile for a little because I felt pregnant! Also, apparently I do have a bump as my friend Lucy put this photomanip together to convince me of my 4wk and 10wk photos. Thanks Lucy. My dreams have also been insane. The other night I had a dream that I had the baby at 20wks but she (in my dream I had a girl) was the size of a full term baby and all she wanted to do was sleep. And I kept waking her up to feed and I put her back in her crib and said to Jason "I'm going to be really sad when I wake up and this is a dream." Which of course in dream world is cue for the dream to just deteriorate into the absurd and the baby started talking, walking and going to History classes with me. So, definitely a dream. Additionally: My face is absurdly broken out and the idea of meat products are completely unappetizing.

On July 7 I will be in my 2nd trimester!! This excites me so much. I want to be able to breathe. And I'm still on light activity until then so I'm excited to be able to be more active. And I'm excited to have an appetite again! Also, my next ultrasound isn't until 20wks so I've talked Jason into doing the Gender Reveal at a 3D ultrasound studio at 16 weeks because I cannot wait 9 weeks to find out if I'm having a boy or girl. Right now Jason is thinking boy, but I've been pretty convinced from the moment I found out I was pregnant that it's a girl. I don't know why. But I'd love a boy, so either way I'd be insanely excited. Speaking of ultrasounds, I'm going to leave you with some images from this weeks! Until later ♥

Top of Bebe's head and both arms

View from the back, laying on side

No more pictures, Bebe wants to go back to sleep

Big brained baby

And one more of my favorite picture! Bebe and the beloved thumb.

10 wks (1d)

It's ten weeks!! I'm a little late (again) but my company excuse still stands. I've had a fabulously full week. Last week I talked about how my cousin and her husband were in town for the weekend, but right after they left my sister, K, came up to spend a few days with me. We mostly hung out at my house since I was (still) getting over my cold but on Tuesday we went to Downtown Disney to meet up with my cousin for dinner and drinks (for everyone but me) , but then she left Wednesday. Which was perfect timing because Wednesday was my first class!! Our doctor's office offers an Early Pregnancy class and signed us up for it and it was really interesting. The Doctor and Nurse who put it on were very informative as well as entertaining. Best of all it served the purpose of (once again) reminding me that I'm pregnant and my jeans aren't fitting for a reason. Since in these days I'm so rarely nauseous that any reminders of all that make me feel pregnant are so welcome. Thursday was also super exciting because I got to meet up with a good friend and former coworker of mine who is in her second trimester and tell her I was pregnant too!! It's really exciting to be pregnant with someone I know and feel comfortable with who lives in the same city as me. She's only about a month and a half ahead of me so it's still close enough that I feel like I have a partner in crime with this all and it was so refreshing to be able to walk around the mall with our caffeine free fraps and compare symptoms and discuss nursery designs and clothes and our inability to get comfortable. I came home feeling really happy - and really pregnant. Then Friday I had my cousin back! We made pizza and played Apples 2 Apples and I had the worst night's sleep of my life.

But I'll get into that later! The important thing is that Bebe is now 1¼", and roughly the size of a kumquat (see side image). A lot of sites say "prune" but I don't want to compare my baby to a prune. Eww. Other people were saying "walnut" but I'm not quite sold on that. You can use walnut if you, like K, have visceral shudders at the name "kumquat" but seeing as I have actually eaten this fruit before (the skin tastes sweet, like inside an orange, and the inside is sour, like a lemon, so it's a neat contrast) I have no qualms with it and will continue to refer to it this week as Kumquat. Moving on! The most exciting thing is Bebe is no longer an embryo!! We are now officially a Fetus. This feels like a big deal to me and I am excited about it since, apparently according to the internet, the most critical period of development has passed. It's also been three weeks since my 7 weeks appointment where I

was diagnosed with the subchorionic hematoma and told it would dissipate in 3-4 weeks! Friday (4 weeks since) I will have my next ultrasound and be able to see for sure if I can breathe again but since these last 3 weeks were so critical for me and I'm feeling fine and have had no sign of bleeding, my hopes are high. Bebe is also a busy little fetus right now! Swallowing is possible, even though it's just fluid, and kicking is the name of the game as it paddles around inside my uterus (which has gone from the size of a small pear to the size of a grapefruit). All of the vital organs (including the kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver [which is now making red blood cells in place of the yolk sack which is slowly but surely disappearing]) are in place and beginning to function, though they still have a long way to go to getting to their full potential. The growing brain is causing Bebe's forehead to bulge for the moment and the head makes up half of the body length! In other physicalities, it's all about the little details that are making up Bebe this week. Peach fuzz is starting to sprout over the skin and teeny tiny fingernails are beginning to form on fingers and toes that aren't webbed anymore! Speaking of unwebbed limbs, they can now bend at the little indents which will turn into knees and elbows!

As for me, symptoms haven't changed much. The smell of fish and smoked meats make me shudder and all I want to eat are yogurt and clementines and the occasional toasted bread with something. I feel exhausted all the time, but naps are apparently the bane of my existence. Whenever I take them I am completely unable to sleep at night. Last night was a fantastic example, for instance. I went to bed around 10:30 and ended up tossing and turning until midnight and then waking up to pee around 2 and finding sleep to be out of the question. So I read a book, ate some yogurt, and finished the book. By the time my cousin and her husband left for the airport and my husband left for work I was finally tired again and fell asleep around 9 but woke up around 1pm and was fully awake. With any luck I'll sleep tonight because I have a pool party to go to at my step-sister's! I got some nausea last night that helped with the not sleeping, but after I ate some yogurt my stomach calmed down. Buttoning my jeans is a far distant memory that I will fondly miss and my waist is quickly losing shape. My boobs? They're bigger. And I finally feel like I'm related to the rest of the girls in my family. Yesterday I was just this pile of bloat and was having the worst gas bubble pains that finally dissipated after drinking three straight glasses of water. Today - aside from being exhausted - I am doing all right. Famished, but that's par for the course these days since I can rarely find foods that are filling and substantial that seem appetizing to me. I'm really crossing my fingers that in 3 weeks when I leave this trimester food will return to being enjoyable to me! But the real thing I'm excited about? Seeing Bebe on Friday.