15 Weeks

How Far Along: 15 weeks

(I decided to wait until I felt like there was more of a baby bump rather than a box of donuts in my belly, so today is the first week of baby bump pictures)

Baby is the Size of A: A naval orange  

Best Moment This Week: Seeing you on the ultrasound for the first time since you were a 7 week peanut, finding out you are a baby GIRL and finally sharing the news with the cyber world and extended family and friends 

Gender: Sweet little princess!

Movement: Sometimes I wonder if I'm feeling flutters but think it's probably still too early to feel. However,  you sure were on the move during your ultrasound last Saturday!  It may just be that you like French Toast like your daddy!

Food Cravings: Ice Cream...this week...Choco Tacos sounded good

What I Miss: Sometimes Coke, sometimes deli sandwiches 

Sleep: Usually pretty well with one potty break in the middle of the night and repositioning since I'm trying to always be on my side 

Belly Button: In
Wedding Rings On or Off: On
Maternity Clothes: a few maternity shirts and looser non-maternity tops along with pre-preggo pants and the Belly Band 
Stretch Marks: Nope...hopefully that will continue to be the answer 

Symptoms: indigestion and constipation occasionally...just keepin' it real! :-)
What I am Looking Forward to: Buying a few things for your nursery, including a crib and bedding!

Baby girls' first trimester...

Was Rough.  Since we managed to keep our happy news a secret and therefore didn't share all the details while it was actually happening I figured I'd recap a little about the first part of baby girls' journey.  We had been trying for a while and pretty much had things charted out and down to a science of when ovulation and all things related should occur.  So, needless to say when the day came that we could possibly get a reading on a test we took the plunge.  There we were waiting on the little plus sign to appear and...Nope.  No plus sign.  So after a little disappointment but realizing that everything would happen in the right time we moved on and figured we'd just try even harder next month.  Well, next month wasn't it...because only 5 days later...well, Aunt Flow didn't arrive.  So, just thinking things must be off and not wanting to get Jon excited over nothing (he was out of town on business) I decided to buy a test and take it before work the next day.  I just knew that the next morning I'd have the very unwelcome visitor and there'd be no reason to waste a test.  Well, no signs of anything to come the next morning...so, there I sat, waiting on the plus sign to appear and...there it was!  It can't be...no way...so, another test taken at lunch in the Publix bathroom (this time the digital, fool-proof kind) and...PREGNANT!  The word was there...wohoo!  So, since I definitely didn't want to call Jon to break the news I took pictures of the tests and put together a little "Looks like we're having a baby" collage, sent it over to CVS and picked up the print, gift bag and picture frame on my way home.  When I arrived home I came straight inside to Jon and handed him the bag.  I'm sure it was suspicious especially because I couldn't wipe the grin off my face.  But, he opened it up and acted surprised and was sooo excited!  Now, to keep the secret....geez!  It was so hard to keep the secret...especially  from my mom and Jon's mom.  The people that we talk to practically every day and talk about the smallest life happenings with were some of the people we had to keep our HUGE secret from.  Luckily, when all you're doing is working a sleeping the weeks go by fairly quickly.  The weeks between 6 and 10 weeks were the hardest.  I had quite the sour stomach, was practically eating saltines to survive and sleeping every moment I could.  Things started getting better around 11 weeks but still are hit or miss some days, and the intense gag reflex still remains.  Also, around 11 weeks was when I started seeing some roundness in my lower belly.  So, it was good timing to start spreading the word.  It felt great when we told our close friends and family because I finally had an explanation for my weird narcoleptic behavior and odd eating habits.  And, once the secret came out I had a free pass to crave whatever ice cream treat I wanted and permission to take a nap on a Friday night.  Man, I should've milked this earlier....

Our best kept secret

The secret is out......Jon and I are expecting our first baby due for arrival January 12, 2013!  We couldn't be any more excited and are so happy to finally let the cat out of the bag (and get back to blogging)!  It's really hard to think of anything to write on a blog when all your energy is being put into growing a baby and all of your thoughts are consumed with your growing the little one.  But, now that we're officially in the clear and well outside the taboo time frame of the first trimester we're happy to share with the entire cyber-world.  Jon and I found out right away...at about 5 weeks and managed, very surprisingly, to keep up the poker-face on why I wasn't drinking, why I was always tired, why I craved tater tots, why sushi wasn't an option for dinner and simply why I lacked general energy and pep.  We would consult each other before every friend get together or family dinner and refine our story.  Sometimes Jon would forgo a drink to throw everyone off in thinking that we just partied too hard the night before.  Sometimes I would be taking a medicine that I wasn't allowed to combine with alcohol.  Sometimes I just felt dehydrated and needed to drink water.  You know, anything that could be halfway believable to keep our best kept little secret from being revealed.  It was hard.  We tried to find ways to only "twist the truth" in hopes that we weren't blatantly lying.  And, although I think after three straight months of excuses people started to believe something was fishy, we managed to keep our best kept secret yet!  So, now that our close friends and family know and we've had multiple confirmations from the Dr. that everything is truckin' along we are very happy to let our sweet little, yet oh so big secret out!  Baby Ray is coming soon!!  Oh, and we had an ultrasound on Saturday and Baby Ray is a Baby GIRL!!!