Week 14 and New Ultra Sound!

First of all, I want to send a big CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! over to Tara and her fiance (!!!) Jonathan who just got engaged over Christmas! She's going to make a stunning bride and I can't wait to see all of the cute and crafty ideas she comes up with as she makes all of her plans. Have fun, pretty lady! :)

Aw, sometimes I miss wedding planning. It was stressful and fun all rolled into one. A similar kind of stress and fun I may be feeling again in the next 26 weeks. (Like how I segued right there?)

That's right, I'm now 14 weeks along which is good awesome because it means I'm officially in my second trimester, ie, the risk of miscarriage drops significantly and symptoms such as fatigue and morning sickness start to wane (though I've still been pretty lucky with the MS). And from what I hear, the second trimester is the best because you start to show, but you're still small enough to look cute-pregnant and not beached-whale-pregnant and you're the most comfortable- not sick/tired, not so big that you can't move, that sort of thing.

I'm on the left, Kevin is on the right ;-)

This is what I looked like last Saturday at about 13.5 weeks. I still don't think I look pregnant yet, but I definitely look (and feel) thicker than I did before. I'm still fitting into my clothes, though they are becoming increasingly uncomfortable. I'm pretty lucky- since I teach PE I mostly wear running shorts and sweats that all have elastic waistbands. The main problem is that they're starting to slip down underneath my belly (like a fat guy). And pretty soon, my shirts are going to be lifting up. I guess I'll tackle that problem as it gets closer...

I've always kind of struggled with my weight. It was only a couple of years ago when I finally felt very comfortable in my own skin, and since then, I've gained about 20 pounds. Needless to say, watching myself outgrow clothes without much to show for it (as in, lack of a baby bump) has been a little disheartening and I have to keep reminding myself that there is a baby inside of me. I've still only gained about a pound and a half at the most, and it still varies from day to day, so stepping on the scale has still been giving me a sick sense of satisfaction. I am looking forward to showing and looking and feeling pregnant instead of just looking and feeling like I packed on the pounds during the holidays.

Can you tell which pictures were taken with a cell phone and which were with our new camera??

I had a routine check up today with a midwife. The hospital we're going to uses midwives and nurse practitioners to assist the doctors- we're not doing an at home birth or anything like that! It was the first time we met her and she was really friendly and helpful, so I'm pretty happy about that. We also got to listen to the baby's heartbeat which was AWESOME! It was super fast- 150 bpm (as compared to mine which was 73bpm). According to pregnancyinfo.net, the heart rate can be anywhere from 120-180 bpm. There is an old wives tale that says anything faster than 140 is a girl, slower is a boy, but that's pretty much been debunked... and so we wait.

Last week, we another, possibly even more exciting glimpse into the womb... as part of a routine screening, I got to have an ultrasound on January 5th and check out the picture the technician was able to get for us...

So serious!

You can actually see a pretty detailed profile of his her Buzz's face! Isn't that amazing?? I was shocked but thrilled when she showed it to me. From what I can tell, I would say the baby definitely has more of Brian's features than mine, but that's okay because I love Brian's face so much! :)

It's fun to watch- from 8 weeks and 2 days to 12 weeks and 6 days, this is how much development has gone on:

I know I'm totally biased, but that's cool, right?

So I have some announcements to have at work tomorrow and I'm planning on telling my students on Friday... I'll be back to share how that goes! Should be fun!