Bare Naked Belly

Get it? As in Bare Naked Boppy but instead this passage is titled Bare Naked Belly. HAH! There seems to be some action going on in the belly over the past couple weeks, even though the baby is only 10.5 ounces I am pretty sure that I can feel the baby moving every now and then, usually two or three quick bubble popping sort of sensations from inside the belly, but nothing that can be felt on the surface. So riddle me this . . .if the baby is under a pound and only 8 inches in length, how is it exactly that my belly is so huge? Yes, yes, I know, there's the placenta and fluids and all that other junk in there but mathematically it still doesn't all add up. And they say it will get even bigger . . .yikes.

Doesn't this come in Khaki?

Let me just say that registering for a baby is quite different than registering for a wedding. I don't recall feeling like a complete moron while picking out items for our home that time around, but baby products are clearly not my forte. Definitely a good thing that I went with my mom and my sister because if it were Jay and I, we would have both been pretty agitated at the end of the day (as it takes much patience and experience to complete such an activity.) It took about 3 hours to make it through the Babies R Us and knock off most of the items on my list of "must haves" and recommendations from cousins and friends. It was more difficult that I thought it would be to find bedding and other big items that didn't look completely hiddeous to me (seriously, no offense to everyone out there that loves loud rainbow colors and pink ribbons and animals bouncing all over the place but even as far back as grade school that wasn't my style.) At the end I was left wondering, why doesn't Calvin Klein make khaki inspired baby bedding? For those of you thinking I'm completely nutso, let me clarify that I have nothing against cute fuzzy stuffed animals, noisy toys, or colorful baby clothes, my issue is only with the furniture and decorative items that will become permanent fixtures in our home. But don't worry, the baby won't be completely deprived of color. We are going to replace the taupe walls in the baby room with a lovely shade of light green. And after many hours of searching online, Jay and I did find a mix of green/yellow/white/blue bedding that we actually like at Potterybarn Kids. And once we found the bedding I of course became completely obsessed with it. The matching star sheets had been discontinued and since there was no way on earth we were going to find a different set of bedding after all that searching and debating, and I couldn't possibly be content with just green bedding after having seen the lovely star pattern, I had Jay go out on eBay to purchase the discontinued sheets. (I actually never used eBay before, and now I'm completely sold on it.) And so we have registered at the baby giant Babies R Us and the fashionable Potterybarn Kids. Now I can relax and enjoy some turkey and pie.

Baby's First Photo

Today was our first ultrasound and it was so much fun! (aside from the fact that I was close to peeing myself right there on the exam bed) Thankfully the radiologist let me go to the bathroom after snapping the first few images and viewing how large my bladder really was from the 32oz of water. We saw the heart beating and the baby moving it's arms and legs and moving all over the place. (The baby is quite active during all of our appointments but I haven't felt much action yet.) Throughout the photo shoot the radiologist made comments about how the spine, heart, and cord all are "what they like to see" and we'll be discussing the results with the doctor on Monday at our next appointment. The baby is giving us the thumbs up sign in the first photo . ..with it's left hand. ;)

Oh . . .and it is confirmed . . .there is just one baby in there.

The Dunkin' Difference

Thoughts of twins have now been replaced by dreams of donuts. (I am literally having dreams about them). Not just about any donuts. . .Dunkin Donuts. The donut provider of choice, the clear winner over Krispy Kreme, the donut that "America Runs On". I think my re-born love of the donut started with a news story on TV of Dunkin Donuts moving into Krispy Kreme territory in the south, and the speculation as to who would win the battle of the donut. My head was filled with images from childhood.... on the weekends my dad would bring us the breakfast of champions: a dozen Dunkin Donuts filled with favorites like the white & black chocolate covered donut, the apple filled cinnamon donut, and the white powdered chocolate creme filled donut. I was reminded of this over the weekend while driving through Illinois and Indiana as we passed countless combo Dunkin Donut/Baskin Robbins locations (and given my passion for Baskin Robbins combined with my new fetish for Dunkin Donuts you can imagine how hard it was for me not to immediately pull over and indulge myself).

But yet I haven't caved yet to this crazy obsession...not yet (that's right, I haven't had a single Dunkin Donut, not recently nor in years past) Truth be told it's because we don't have one anywhere near where we live and it would take a 40min round-trip excursion to go out and buy some. But despite this I think about them all the time. I am assuming this is because I am pregnant and constantly have food on the brain (even more so than usual). Otherwise I don't think I would be this fixated on a freaking donut.

Dreams

Since becoming pregnant I have had a lot more dreams that are still easy to recall after waking up in the morning. I've always had some crazy dreams, now there are just many more of them. Amongst these dreams there seems to be one theme that is consistently reoccuring . . .twins. I've probably had a dream about twins once a week for the past month or so. Though last night it wasn't me that was having the twins, but a friend of mine that is due in a few weeks who was expecting to have one baby and then at the last minute found out she was having two (just a dream, she really is just having one baby). I think I am either trying to subliminally convince myself that there is still a possibility that we are having twins, or I have some strange ability to predict the future (like what's her face on Medium), or the more likely explanation that I'm just reacting to the comments from some people about how large my tummy appears (it's about a 50/50 split in people thinking I'm huge and there must be an awfully big baby (or babies) in there vs. those that say I look completely normal for where I am in the pregnancy). I guess we'll see for sure which explanation was correct after the Ultrasound next week!

Ramblings of a pregnant lady

Not much new news to report. Still eagerly awaiting the first signs of movement. I've been just a bit absentminded lately, like planning to do something and then completely forgetting about it a moment later. I went shopping and picked up a few new things....my new favorite shirt is shown in the picture. The bunching on the sides is great. (If you can't figure out why then you had the most picture perfect belly while pregnant or you're a man.) I am still hungry most of the time, I think that the double bowl of cereal or double portion of oatmeal for breakfast and a midmorning fruit snack are no longer

cutting it. I suppose I could ask Jay to start cooking me breakfast every morning, but that would mean I'd have to wake up earlier which is why that just isn't going to happen. I am starving at the moment and can't wait to head out for lunch in 10 minutes (which means I was ready for lunch at 11AM, but socially 11:30 is much more acceptable.) I do not understand at all the people who can wait until 12:30 (or later!) to eat lunch. And since it was Halloween

yesterday I couldn't help but throw in a picture of Jay and our Super Dog.

A New Belly Shot!

Ignore the fishing pole coming out of my head . . .the point of the picture is the belly.

And now it's Week 15

Actually it's week 15 day 2 to be exact. We went perusing for paint colors this weekend and remain undecided between yellow and green. My tuscan and taupy shaded yellows have been ruled out by Jay for a more "gentle" yellow and subtle greens. The belly is getting firmer (there's something actually in there), though the picture hardly shows it's magnitude. It does however show the maternity clothes that are now part of my everyday wardrobe, specifically one of my favorite pairs of pants with what I now know is referred to as the "demi panel". Luckily my shoes still fit...though they are new because it's the only thing I feel justified buying for myself during all the sales going on....and who can resist Capacity Days? I am definitely my mother's daughter, and on that note, she can't wait to see how I deal with someone just like me. Apparently I always wanted to be "in control" as a young child (for those of you laughing you can stop now). I suppose you could say I haven't changed much, though I do wash my hair, brush my teeth, and change my underwear on a regular basis now.

Second Doctor Visit

We went to the doctor today and heard the heart beat again. I mentioned the family history regarding twins on both sides (my mom's side and Jay's mom's side), so the doctor cruised around my belly listening for a potential second heartbeat, but it sounds as though we have a single bun in the oven. (I think I felt a wave of relief and mild disappointment all at once...in the end relief won out). Other than the excitement of listening to the baby's heart, I got the flu shot, weighed in at having gained 10lbs to date, and we found out that Jay and I have the same blood type, O+. I also realized that I've been counting the weeks incorrectly up until now, as 14wks and 4dys equals week 14 and not 15. (Must be the difference between being left brained or right brained.) And so I am approaching the end of week 14!

Now that's a belly...

Can you say huge?

Yes I realize that it will in fact get bigger but wow did it get huge fast! I'm convinced that my body was aware that I informed everyone and that we were no longer keeping the belly a secret so it moved everything along quickly once the news was out! Maternity clothes are now my regular attire, and I have swapped my "normal" clothes out of my closet and replaced them with the very nice borrowed maternity clothes friends. I am much more comfortable now and was actually excited to wear them, but am still getting used to the whole having a panel in the front of my pants deal.

So my closet is cleaned out, and we cleaned out the baby's closet this weekend. We've decided on the first floor bedroom across from ours as the baby room (we have two up and two down in our house) . Apparently everyone agrees with Jay that this is the best place to put it and so it is decided. The cleaning of the closet is in preparation for painting (though not sure if Jay realizes this yet, but he will now) ;) I hope to have that out of the way before Thanksgiving. Maybe even before Halloween.....

As for how I'm feeling, things are still pretty good. I am getting headaches and lower backpain off and on, but as I have been informed, it could be a lot worse.
And for those of you that haven't met him before, meet Rosco our dog. Not sure if he realizes yet that we're expecting another bundle of joy to enter our world (as he was the first), but sooner or later I assume he'll make the connection. He loves being around other people, other dogs, kids and babies, so no worries there, we just might have to work on his uncontrollable and unstoppable licking habits. (I have never seen or heard a tongue bigger or louder than his.) For those of you that have seen it you know I am not exaggerating. His tongue, like my belly, is huge!

It's Official!

It's official! A new Conway is on the way with an anticipated arrival on April 15, 2007!

We're in week 14 of the pregnancy which means the second trimester has just begun (supposedly this is the easiest trimester but I didn't think the first one was that bad either) Hopefully not too many of you were irritated at that last statement. But it's true...the first trimester for me was pretty normal. I didn't experience any morning sickness, just the occasional crankiness, frequent hunger pains, lack of energy and many trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I did however gain weight and start to show fairly early (see the lovely picture Jay captured around week 10). And so Rosco and I have been taking many long walks together to try to stay healthy (our dog has apparently put on some sympathy pounds lately so the walks do us both good).

Speaking of healthy, when we first found out that we were expecting I tried to eat chicken and vegetables for dinner every night, but by the third evening the taste of chicken made my stomach churn and the smell of the grill made me want to hurl. And so ended the ultra healthy dinners. Mostly for dinners I've been eating pasta (shocking isn't it?) or salads, with occasional variety. Breakfast is almost always cereal, yogurt, or oatmeal, with lots of fruit and usually a protein bar as snacks. Lunch is whatever happens to look appetizing in our cafeteria at work (which typically limits my selection to salad, soup, or sandwhich). But then there are of course the cravings ....there was one week early on where I just had to have cookies and milk every day (probably explains the early weight gain) and more recently halloween candy has been my enemy. But I've always been this way so it's really no surprise that I still crave chocolate (the pasta food cravings come from years of fantastic Italian food with dad's side of the family and the desire for dessert definately comes from delicious treats on mom's side).

But enough about food and back to the baby . . .at the end of the first trimester we had our first doctor appointment and were able to hear the heartbeat! We're scheduled to go back towards the end of each month, with our first Ultrasound expected just before Thanksgiving.

I hope to keep this up throughout the pregnancy to keep everyone in the loop, so stay tuned!