16 Weeks!

I decided now that our big secret is out, I wanted to document this pregnancy in our blog. After all, this has always been a blog about our marriage and lives, and this is an exciting new direction we are taking! Since we were married almost 4 years ago (wow) I have blogged about moving across the country, traveling, teaching, building our first house, our beloved golden, tough times through our pregnancy losses, and everything in between, and I am excited to document this new stage in our lives through our blog. I also need to update my 101 in 1,001 list...I have been a major slacker. I will get on that.

So here goes my first "weekly update". Today I have officially made it to 16 weeks. That just seems crazy. The first trimester flew by!

And now we have....the pregnancy survey:

 

•How far along?: 16 weeks!

•Total weight gain: Well, according to the doctor's records at my last appointment 2 weeks ago, only about 2lbs.

•How big is baby?: According to my trusty pregnancy website www.thebump.com, baby is the size of an avocado! But avocados come in different sizes...would that be the small avocados or the large avocados?

•Maternity clothes?: Busted out the maternity jeans for the first time today! They. Were. Awesome.

•Movement: Nothing yet...which I am a little sad about. I need some reassurance that all is well in there!

•Stretch marks?: No thank goodness...but I am sure it's only a matter of time. Better stock up on some of that cream that I am sure doesn't work anyways.

•Sleep?: Still love it, except having to sleep on my sides now isn't so cool. My shoulders and back have been killing me. Maybe Santi will buy me one of those pregnancy body pillows for Valentine's Day (hint, hint). He is quickly losing real estate in our bed between my nest of pillows and the dog.

•Symptoms?: I never had many to begin with. Not much going on now either except huge tatas (for me) and peeing a lot.

•Food aversions?: Those were mostly in weeks 7-9...thankfully they have mostly gone away.

•Food cravings: Water with lots and lots and lots of lemon or lime juice

•Belly button in or out?: Still in

•What I miss: Besides margaritas and caffeine, I really miss shopping for normal clothes. We went to the mall today and all I could do was look at all the cute spring clothes (yes, they bring out the spring clothes in January here). Maternity clothes are ugly. Except the pants. They rock. I think I will try to squeeze into non-maternity tops in a larger size than normal.

•What I'm looking forward to: Right now, our anatomy scan on February 11th. I can't wait to see our little one again and of course find out if this is a little boy or girl!

•Best Moment this week: Celebrating Santi's 30th birthday!!! And getting our changing table, bookcase, and rocking chair put together in what will eventually be the nursery. Can't believe we actually have furniture in there! 

•Milestone: Baby can now hear our voices!
 
•Nursery Progress: So far we have the rocking chair, changing table, and bookcase put together. Take a look!

 Daddy busy putting together the new furniture:)

 The changing table from IKEA. It even has a hidden drawer inside! I plan on finding some baskets for the shelf to store diapers, creams, wipes, etc.

 Bookcase from IKEA. I kind of want to find something to decorate the white bins that will hold toys, but I don't have any ideas yet. The books on top are in Spanish and the books on bottom are in English.

 Tevez is thrilled about his new little brother or sister. Can't you tell?

Ceiling light with clouds from IKEA. I think it's adorable. 


We still have lots to do, including finding a crib. Maybe eventually I will find one I like. I am excited to get some color in there and add all the little details. It's also a little scary/overwhelming having baby things in our house. There are even more things hiding in the closet. It's tough having been through losses and constantly thinking about the "what ifs". By the grace of God this nursery will have a little occupant in July, and I just have to hang onto that.

•Belly Pic: 
I changed up the attire this week for Santi (promise the Halloween shirt will be back next time). Santi loves the Steelers (well, second to the Colts of course). So here baby and I are rocking a Steelers jersey at 16 weeks! Go Steelers!!!

 In defense of my hair this week, I was attempting to pull it back for the first time since cutting it short. I wish my hair would just grow a little. It's been looking wicked lately. Ugh. 

And the three become four...

I'm back...and I come bearing exciting news if you hadn't guessed yet by the title of this post!!! Yes, Santi and I are expecting yet again, hence my absence for the last three months! Santi, Tevez, and I are about to add another member to our little family. So far the third time has been the charm for us, and we are putting our faith in Him with this pregnancy. By His grace I will carry this little one to term. So...since I have been avoiding you all for the last few months in an attempt to keep our secret under wraps, I will give you a timeline of events.

Giving it another shot-Due to my previous losses, my wonderful doctor decided the best bet for me to have a viable pregnancy was a combination of Clomid and progesterone supplements. We were nervous about the prospect of multiples with Clomid, especially having conceived twins naturally the first time around, but we decided if God wanted us to have twins so be it. It had been a tough journey for us and while we were anxious about the new treatments, we were thankful that our doctor was willing to find a solution to our problem before we had to suffer another loss. Most doctors refuse to run tests until you have had three or more losses. I think that's crazy. Our doctor is a blessing.

October 30th, 2010-Two tests confirmed what I already knew...we were pregnant again!!!

Even though we were thrilled beyond belief, this wasn't the first go around at pregnancy for us...and we were nervous. We tried to go about our normal routine for the next couple of weeks until our first appointment, but we may have purchased a little Halloween outfit on the sale rack after Halloween...

November 18th, 2010- We had our first doctor's appointment. She did an early ultrasound to make sure everything was progressing normally, and to give us some peace of mind. I couldn't even look at the screen until I heard her say, "There's the baby, and there's the heartbeat!". We were so thrilled that our tiny little bean was growing and thriving! This was the first time we had a positive experience with an ultrasound, and we were relieved. We found out our due date would be July 9th, 2011! We went out for lunch to celebrate afterward. Even though we had something wonderful to celebrate, it didn't take long for the nervousness and worry to creep in again. I was feeling waaaay to good to be pregnant, and although I was thankful, it also made me constantly fear that things weren't going well. I guess this is just how being pregnant after a loss goes.

This is our little one at 6 weeks, 4 days. Sooo tiny, but there's a heartbeat!


December 7th, 2010- Our second doctor's appointment seemed like it took forever to arrive. We got to have another ultrasound (I never get tired of those!) to check on our little one. He/she was moving around like crazy and had grown significantly in size since the last time we got a peek! It was so exciting and such a relief. We went out to celebrate making it through yet another doctor's appointment.

This is our baby at 9 weeks, 4 days. She/he is growing!

Now, we had to wait four whole weeks for our next appointment. It was torture. Even more so since I was feeling pretty great aside from my random food aversions and being a little more tired than normal. On Christmas Day I hit 12 weeks, I was officially the most pregnant I had ever been, and we breathed a sigh of relief. We even decided to start letting the family know little by little. Up until this point we had only shared the news with close friends and our immediate families, and it felt like a relief to let the secret out, but we were still anxious. Thankfully having lots of visitors kept us busy over the holidays and the time flew. Before we knew it it was time for another appointment, and I was just shy of 14 weeks!

January 7, 2011-We headed to the doctor for our third visit and I was extremely nervous. This was the first visit they would attempt to hear the heartbeat and get a reading via the doppler. My stomach was in knots waiting for the doctor to find the heartbeat, but I was relieved to hear that the reason it was taking so long was because our little one was moving all over the place and wouldn't stay still! She finally got a reading at 153 beats per minute. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. When we left the office, we went to schedule the next appointment...the anatomy scan! I cannot believe on February 11th we will find out if this is a little boy or a little girl. After all we have been through in the last year, I never imagined we would reach this point. We are so blessed. God is faithful!

And that brings us to now. As of yesterday, I am 15 weeks along. For those of you that like to know the months, divide by 4. And for those of you who can't do math, that's almost four months! As far as the belly, well I was in denial at first but in the last week or so it's become rather evident and hard to conceal. I caved and bought some maternity pants yesterday. I might as well be comfortable right?

We have done a pretty crummy job of taking belly pictures, but I will try to do better. Here is one of me around 9 weeks as sort of a "before" picture (ignore my terrible hair):

Yes I am wearing a Halloween shirt. Since we found out Halloween weekend, we decided it would be funny for me to wear the Halloween shirt all the way up until July to see how small it gets.

Here is a comparison picture of me at 15 weeks. Ok, I am bigger. Yikes.

Well, now that the word is out, we hope that we will be in your thoughts and prayers over the next 5 months and beyond as we prepare to welcome this new person into our lives.