12 weeks

How far along: 12 weeks (on August 9th)

Baby size: Baby is the size of a large plum - over 2 inches!

Total weight gain/loss: According to my doctor's office, no gain or loss... I need to get a scale at home to keep track.

Sleep: Sleeping really well.

Movement: It'll be a while before that happens.

Food cravings/aversions: Craving salty, sour, and spicy foods still. LOVING Pinkberry frozen yogurt... I got a huge take-home container with my favorite flavors (mango and pomegranate) the other night so I don't have to keep going back! For some reason, I've been wanting eggplant parmigiana all week... but I'm kind of scared to eat it since I've read that it's one of those foods that you eat to induce labor. And I don't really want to go into labor right now, that would be bad. I should ask my doctor. And pasta... pasta pasta pasta... I want pasta! Fettuccini modo mio sounds soooooo good right now.

Pregnancy symptoms: I'm feeling generally pretty good, just tired.

What I miss: Nothing much...

What I'm looking forward to: Finding out if Baby Appleseed is a boy or a girl! I do not have the patience to wait until he/she pops out in February!

Milestones: Baby's facial features are becoming more defined, and he has little tiny fingernails! Baby is also developing reflexes this week, so if I poke my belly, he will wriggle in response (even though I won't be able to feel it quite yet).

Best moment of this week: We had told our families and a few other people about the baby already, but this week we told the rest of the world, and it was super fun! :)

Pregnancy moments with the hubby: Normally when we were watching something at night, Thomas would fall asleep before it was over. Now it's me who can't keep my eyes open. Thomas was always the one to go to bed first as well, but I'm usually fast asleep before him. I think it's funny... he just thinks I'm weird because some nights I can't even wake up enough to move from the couch to the bed!

10 weeks & 11 weeks

Time is getting a little blurred with all the travelling going on... but we're finally back in Dallas, and tomorrow I will actually be 12 weeks pregnant!

So it's time for a little catch-up on 10 and 11 weeks...

How far along: 10 weeks (on July 26th) and 11 weeks (on August 2nd) 

Baby size: 10 weeks - a prune, 11 weeks - a lime.

Total weight gain/loss: No weight gain or loss so far! But I think I see the tiny beginnings of a baby bump...

Sleep: Sleeping really well... but with all the travelling across time zones I have been completely exhausted and sleeping around 12 hours a day!

Movement: It'll be a while before that happens.

Food cravings/aversions: Craving salty, sour, and spicy foods still... really loving my homemade salsa at the moment, with lots of lime juice and jalapeno peppers! I also had a random craving for salmon the other night, so I got some at Central Market and it was SO good.

Pregnancy symptoms: I'm feeling generally pretty good. Tired all the time, but I'm blaming that mostly on the travelling.

What I miss: Nothing much...

What I'm looking forward to: Announcing the pregnancy to the world, which we are going to do any day now!

Milestones: At 11 weeks, most of Baby Appleseed's organs and systems are fully formed! They will continue to mature and grow for the next 28 weeks! It's hard to believe that there is a tiny, 2-inch long, fully-formed baby inside of me right now.

Best moment of this week: Hearing the baby's heartbeat at our doctor's appointment last Friday! It was SO COOL! I took a video of it on my phone, but I haven't quite figured out how to put it into a blog post yet.

Pregnancy moments with the hubby: Telling his brothers together last weekend was super fun! Also, we were sitting in church the other weekend flipping through the bible index and picking out hilarious names for Baby Appleseed :)

8 weeks & 9 weeks

I'm going to squish these two updates together, because I'm 9 weeks pregnant today and I still haven't done an 8 week update.

How far along: 8 weeks (on July 12th) and 9 weeks (July 19th) 

Baby size: 8 weeks - raspberry, 9 weeks - green olive.

Total weight gain/loss: Nothing's changed so far.

Sleep: I sleep pretty well with the Unisom, but it's hard to wake up in the mornings.

Movement: It'll be a while before that happens.

Food cravings/aversions: Salty, sour, and spicy foods. I had a MAJOR craving for Pinkberry (a frozen yogurt place in Dallas) when I woke up one morning. I've also been craving tomatoes... I eat at least three big tomatoes every day, sliced with freshly ground salt and pepper. Yummy. My husband is back in Dallas already, and he's been going to all my favorite places to eat and telling me about it... and of course, then I start wanting what he had. He went to Olive Garden and got the steak gorgonzola alfredo pasta, which is my all time favorite... and he also went to Pinkberry. And In N Out Burger. I hate him. But not really.

Pregnancy symptoms: I'm feeling generally pretty good... if I let myself get too hungry, or if I eat a big heavy meal then my stomach gets uncomfortable... but other than that, the Unisom and vitamin B-6 take good care of me :) I'm still pretty tired all the time. And I got a few headaches last week... one that lasted ALL night and I couldn't get rid of it. I think I hadn't had enough water to drink.

What I miss: Nothing much... maybe being able to eat more than one piece of pizza at a time or eat greasy things like fish 'n chips without feeling gross afterwards. 

What I'm looking forward to: The end of the first trimester... I can't wait to tell the world about Baby Appleseed! We're going to a reunion for the hubby's side of the family at the beginning of August, and we're going to tell Baby Appleseed's uncles (all FIVE of them!). The hubby's parents know already, but his brothers don't. I'm also looking forward to seeing my hubby again after three weeks away from him!

Milestones: At 9 weeks, Baby Appleseed has graduated from being an embryo to a fetus! He has lost his little embryonic tail and looks a little more like a real baby. He's a whole inch long!

Best moment of this week: I think I found a name for Baby Appleseed! If he's a boy, anyways :) Which I'm pretty sure he is. I still need to put it past the hubby... but it's one that he's already said he likes.

Pregnancy moments with the hubby: Well he's in Dallas and I'm in England at the moment... so he does cute things like saying goodnight to Baby Appleseed when we chat, and sends kisses to him/her. Baby Appleseed talks to his daddy in a * little tiny squeaky voice * and says goodnight too :)

7 weeks

When I wrote the last post, the 6 week update, I was apparently only in my 5th week. We had an ultrasound on June 29th and the doctor put me at 6 weeks 1 day... which I can't really make sense of, because I was pretty sure of the dates when I could have gotten pregnant... and being only 6 weeks on June 29th doesn't calculate with those. But anyways, we'll go with the doctor's prediction for now - because it's so early on, it might change. My estimated due date is now February 21st, 2012 (I had thought it was more like February 11th).

Two days after my ultrasound, halfway through week 6, the hubby and I flew to England. We had been planning this trip to see my family long before we knew we were pregnant, but being pregnant made it more exciting. I was nervous to travel because I didn't know how I would feel, but I ended up being just fine. I was just a little bit uncomfortable on the flight, but that's not unusual. My doctor prescribed me Zofran and Reglan (anti-nausea meds) to take with me to England just in case morning sickness got really bad. I'm in England for a month, so I didn't want to be stranded here without any remedies if it got bad. But so far, I've been all right. I get queasy at night and in the mornings, but I take vitamin B-6 every day, and I take Unisom (a mild OTC sleeping medicine [doxylamine succinate] that helps with morning sickness) at night. The combination of those two make it very manageable to get out and about and enjoy my time with my family. I don't want to take the Zofran or the Reglan unless I absolutely have to, and so far I've only taken Zofran one time. During the car ride from Heathrow Airport back to Clevedon where we're staying, I was sitting in the back and started feeling really nauseous. We hadn't told my family I was pregnant yet, so I couldn't really say anything... so I popped a Zofran in my mouth and it worked instantly.

We arrived in England on the 2nd of July, and had a fun time telling my family. I recorded the whole thing on my smartphone, so I'll upload the video when we tell the whole world about the pregnancy. The hubby went back to the U.S. for work on the 10th, but I'm here with my family until the 29th.

Today I am actually 8 weeks pregnant, but I thought I'd do a quick update on the 7th week to catch up. Most of my 7th week was very busy sightseeing around England and going to visit family members. I'm not really sure how to count the weeks - does week 6 through 7 count as the 7th week, or does week 7 through 8 count as the 7th week? Hmmm. I'll just do the posts when I "change" weeks.

How far along: 7 weeks (on last Tuesday, July 5th)

Baby size: A blueberry :)

Total weight gain/loss: Nothing's changed so far.

Sleep: I seem to get queasy and uncomfortable at night, so sleep hasn't been that great recently. But the Unisom really helps.

Movement: It'll be a while before that happens.

Food cravings/aversions: I've been craving anything salty (salt and vinegar chips nom nom nom), and sour things like sour candy, and spicy things as well. I wouldn't say it's an aversion, but I've been kind of "off" sweet things like desserts and ice cream. But I still like chocolate. [Phewsh]

Pregnancy symptoms: Queasiness at night and in the morning and general fatigue. I take lots of naps. And I get queasy in the car as well... I've never had carsickness before. If I sit in the front I'm generally all right.

What I miss: Nothing much... maybe just feeling "normal"... haha, but that isn't going to happen for another 7 months or so.

What I'm looking forward to: The end of the first trimester... it hasn't been all that bad, but I'm still ready for it to be over! And I want to be able to tell everyone that I'm pregnant.

Milestones: Little tiny arms and legs are starting to develop.

Best moment of this week: Technically it was still during the sixth week, but telling my family that we were pregnant was awesome.

Pregnancy moments with the hubby: He was just very thoughtful of me the whole week, especially when we were travelling... flying or driving somewhere. He made sure I was all right and took good care of me. I was sad when he had to go back to the U.S. for work, but I still have my family to look after me.

6 weeks {I think}

How far along: Around 6 weeks! Will have a better idea next week at our ultrasound appointment.

Baby size: A sweet pea :)

Total weight gain/loss: I don't think anything has changed so far.

Sleep: I sleep like the dead... SO tired.

Movement: Nope... that won't come for another couple of months.

Food cravings/aversions: For some reason, I don't like butter anymore. Ewww. I tried eating a piece of toast with butter on it and it was just gross. I've been craving spicy and salty things... I make my own fresh salsa and I put a lot of jalapeno peppers in it this time! Apparently craving spicy and salty things means I'm having a boy. [Craving sweet things = girl].

Pregnancy symptoms: The usual first trimester stuff... I'm tired all the time, I have to pee all the time, I have very sore *certain parts of my anatomy in the chest area* [The hubby gets all uncomfortable when I use the word "boobs", hahaha, so I really have to come up with a code word... hmmm]. I've had some mild queasiness every so often and I'm hoping that's as bad as it's going to get!

What I miss: Nothing much right now.

What I'm looking forward to: Our first ultrasound next week! I can't wait to see Baby Appleseed, and maybe even hear his/her heartbeat.

Milestones: Baby Appleseed's tiny little heart started pumping blood this week!

Best moment of this week: Just waking up every morning and my heart jumping with happiness when I remember that I'm pregnant :)

Pregnancy moments with the hubby: I'm just loving explaining pregnancy and baby stuff to TAC... he's pretty clueless :) But it's also really cute when he goes and looks stuff up. I told him this morning that I'm feeling more tired than usual these days, and he said "apparently that's pretty normal for the first trimester"... so cute!

The story of how we found out.

Before I forget, I want to write down the story of how we found out about Baby Appleseed... you know, for posterity. In case posterity is interested.

It was a blisteringly hot late Sunday afternoon (the 12th of June) and the hubby and I decided to go for a run around the 2-mile loop near our apartment. The temperature was at least 100 F and humidity was so high I had a hard time breathing - I felt like I was sucking in water instead of air. I have no idea why we thought it was a good idea to go running when it was so ridiculously hot. But off we went... we walked the first little bit to warm up, then start jogging. I barely made it half a mile before I had to stop. I felt SO overheated. The sun was beating down and I felt like I couldn't catch my breath, it was just too hot. We ended up walking most of the rest of the way, jogging occasionally when we came to a shady area where it felt slightly less unbearably hot. The hubby could have run more, but I was just too tired.

I was so exhausted when we got home - my feet felt like they were boiling in my shoes and the rest of me was just radiating heat. We both just sprawled out on the living room floor with the air-conditioning blasting, trying to cool off. Once I was decently cooled off, I decided to take a cold shower. Before I got in the shower, however, something made me pull out a pregnancy test and take it.

Here's a little back story: I have very irregular cycles, so I keep a little stockpile of pregnancy tests so I can test to make sure I'm not pregnant. Also, for the two weeks before this fateful Sunday the 12th of June, certain parts of my anatomy in the chest area *ahem* *cough, cough* had been very tender (but that's also not uncommon with my irregular cycles). So it was a combination of that, and the fact that I just felt unusually exhausted after this run/walk, that made me take a test. I was FULLY expecting it to be completely negative, like every test I'd ever taken before.

After I took the test I set it down and walked out of the bathroom to grab my towel. I returned only a few seconds later, and there staring back up at me were TWO PINK LINES. * cue panic attack * When I got my voice back, I yelled for the hubby to come see, just to make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me.  They weren't.

Here's the picture again.

The rest of the evening was spent in a daze. I think we watched some TV, ate some dinner, and just sat on the couch trying to wrap our minds around the idea that I was pregnant.

Oh Baby Appleseed, how you have turned our lives upside down! In a good way, of course.

I'm really am pregnant.

Those pee-on-a-stick pregnancy tests are obviously very accurate, but nothing compares to the doctor's office calling to give you the results of your blood tests, which resoundingly say I'm pregnant.

I had my first blood test on Tuesday. Blood tests are fairly traumatic for me... I've had bad experiences with them since I was a little girl. I've fainted twice and I come close to fainting every time. I was nervous because my husband couldn't come with me and I would have to drive myself home afterwards. I ate lunch just before I went to keep my blood sugar up, and I drank LOTS of water all day long to keep my blood volume up. Both of these tactics worked... and I told the technician I would need to lie down for the test because I'm a fainter. The blood test was over in about 5 seconds. I stayed lying down for a couple of minutes just in case and got up slowly and I was fine. I got a fairly bad bruise at the site of the blood test, though.

On Wednesday the doctor's office called and told me my progesterone level was 18.5, which was very good. Apparently they want it to be at least 11. My HCG (or beta) level was 253. I asked if this gave them an idea of how far along I was, and the nurse who called said if she had to guess she would put me around 5 weeks, which is what I was thinking.

I had another blood test on Thursday to make sure my HCG levels were going up. The nurse told me they like to see them about double every 48 hours. This blood test was worse, for some reason. The technician put the rubber band/tourniquet around my arm, then got a phone call and left for a few minutes. By the time she got back, my arm was throbbing. She did the test on my left arm, since the first blood test had bruised my right arm, and she did it on the outer part of my elbow crease because apparently that's less prone to bruising. This time around I could feel the needle going in and coming out, and it took longer (maybe my blood volume wasn't as high as the first time?). Whatever the case, I felt pretty shaky when it was over and had to stay lying down for a while and then get up really slowly.

Ah, the trials I am already going through for you, Baby Appleseed! I am fully aware that there are much scarier things (ummm, LABOR!?) to come, but we'll take it step by step.

Blood test battle wounds. Bruise on my right arm, bandaid on my left.

The doctors office called yesterday (Friday) and told me that my HCG/beta level had gone up to 668. It more than doubled, and the nurse said that was very good. We set my first ultrasound appointment for the 29th of June. I can't wait to see Baby Appleseed and hear his/her heartbeat!

Little outfits that the hubby and I got to take pictures with :)

I can hardly believe it.

Honestly, it still has not sunk in that I'm pregnant. Apart from the constant need to pee, and the occasional twinge of queasiness [yup, that started yesterday... oh joy], I have to keep repeating to myself over and over "I'm pregnant"... "I'm having a baby"... "There's a baby inside me right now" and so on.

Having a baby was just so far from our thoughts and plans right now that I think it will take a while to register that, oh my goodness, in less the 9 months we will actually HAVE a baby. It's incredible to me how two tiny cells (the sperm and the egg, for those of you who didn't pay attention in biology) can meet and then within 40 weeks grow to a fully formed, complex human baby. My baby is only the size of an appleseed this week, but even that is amazing... in the span of maybe three weeks, two microscopic cells collided and developed into a tiny appleseed baby that is already developing major organs like the heart, liver, kidneys, and the nervous, circulatory, and digestive systems.

My mind is constantly racing, jumping from one thought to another... one minute I'll be thinking up fun ways to tell people we're pregnant, and the next I'll be worrying about where we're going to live, then I'll be dreaming up cute outfits and wondering if Baby Appleseed will be a boy or a girl, and then I'll be wondering what the next 8 months of pregnancy are going to be like. It's a miracle that I ever manage to fall asleep. But then again, I am so tired that falling asleep is not really a problem.

* Yawn * speaking of sleeping...

Surprise!

Last night the hubby and I had the biggest shock of our lives...

Two pink lines!

We were not trying to get pregnant, and we are not quite sure how it happened (well...  obviously we know how it happened... but still).

This morning I took another test just to be sure... and sure enough...

Pregnant!

I've named the little peanut Baby Appleseed, because apparently the baby is currently the size of an appleseed (according to my rough calculations I am about 5 weeks pregnant), and I thought that was a cute little name.

I'll be keeping this blog anonymous until the end of the 1st trimester, because we are not planning on announcing the pregnancy until after 12 weeks. But I wanted to keep a record of my thoughts and symptoms and, of course, the ever growing baby bump while we wait to tell people. 

So far, my only symptoms are slight crampy feelings, sore boobs, and constantly having to pee (sorry if that's TMI... but this is my blog, and that's just what you're gonna get). And I think I'm more tired than usual. Oh, and talk about VIVID dreams... I dreamed last night that cockroaches were crawling up our bedroom wall and it was SO real and freaky. Keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed and sending up lots of prayers that it doesn't get much worse than this... I'm kind of terrified of morning sickness.

Hubs and I are equal parts in shock, nervous, excited, terrified, and happy. This baby was not in our "best laid plans" and we will have to work hard to be financially ready for it. We have lots of decisions to make... if we should move closer to family (which is complicated because both of our families live mostly overseas), what kind of saving we should be doing and how to better manage our finances, if we should look at buying a house, if I should continue looking for a job or find a way to work from home... I don't even know how to go about picking an OB-GYN. We are overwhelmed, but still thankful... a baby is always a blessing.