8 Weeks: What's New...

Due Date:  November 27, 2011

Baby Developments:  Little Mango is the size of a raspberry this week and is growing like crazy. Im reading that even though I can't feel it, baby is moving his/her little arms and legs! I had my first appointment with my doctor this week and had another ultrasound. My next appointment is May 16th and we should be able to hear the heartbeat!

Cravings: if it's fattening, I'm craving it! I swear I am starving all the time and choose to feed my hunger with all the bad things I shouldn't eat....this week alone I've had Mexican, mac & cheese and pizza. Definitely not what I was referring to when last week I said my goal was to eat better.  The light at the end of the tunnel: I can't get enough red apples and bananas. At least I'm balancing my bad eating with a little fruit!

Aversions: Nothing specific this week.

Symptoms: Extremely tired this week. I have turned into an "in bed by 9pm" girl. It will be interesting to see how this change in my sleep schedule affects my ability to hang next week when I'm in Atlantic City for work - a big part of this trip is networking and mingling after dinners at night. I've also been so emotional! I'm generally a fairly emotional person, but it is accelerated by 100% for sure. I'm crying at TV shows, radio stories, a little bit of everything...

I am loving: Sharing what I've been feeling with my mom and sister. They have some good feedback or at the very least are great listeners. I also LOVE when Nick refers to the baby or talks about me being pregnant. I know that deep down he is very excited....just like I am!

Sleep: All.the.time....I am exhausted. I seriously can't understand how I can be so tired all day at work when I am sleeping more than I've slept in so long. They say this lasts for the first trimester, so I guess I've got four weeks left. Hopefully it doesn't impact me on our trip to NYC with my mom and sister, Jen. I want to be able to walk all over my favorite city and not be whiny & tired!

I miss:  Caffeine. I was doing well for so long, but it hit me this week. More than anything I've really wanted a Red Bull. So bad, I know! I did have half a can a couple of days ago and I actually felt guilty....I'm going to try and be better.

I am looking forward to: My 12 week appointment. Then we can tell everyone freely and not have to worry as much. I can't wait until I don't have to hide it...I've almost slipped a couple of times this week.

I'm spazzing about:  Working out. The weather has been horrible this week and all I want to do is run outside. My energy is down so working out has been a struggle.

Best moment this week: Seeing Little Mango in the ultrasound again. It's still hard to believe there's a baby in there.

It's a...:  It's still waaay to early.

Exercise: (refer to "I'm spazzing about") I need to make a pact to work out more. My goal is to continue to stay in shape, plus I need to make sure I'm not the beached whale at Okoboji over the 4th of July weekend!

Diet: Not as good as I would've preferred, but I'm going to make sure that I make a conscious effort to eat better this week. If anything it might only improve my energy level to get some healthy food into my body.

Goals for the upcoming week: Eat better and work out (hmmmm....deja vu anyone?)

Belly shot:

Week 8 Belly Shot

Reading...

So I started out all gung ho to read and research all I could about my pregnancy and what to expect...well, my intentions were good but as I was cleaning up our room tonight I noticed two of the books - "What to Expect When Youre Expecting" and "What to Eat When Youre Expecting" - still sitting on our dresser...untouched.

I actually started reading one of the books, "skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven," but honestly after the first couple of chapters I lost interest. Some of the information was good and I liked the sarcastic tone, however, the majority was just way too strict. I understand that I need to change certain habits and all that BUT does it really make sense to warn women off milk?!? There was a whole chapter on how humans are the only creatures who drink milk after nursing. I guess that is a valid point, but I definitely don't agree with it and the fact that myself and other people for years & years have been drinking milk and we are all fine! I believe in these books providing information and recommendations but I don't like to feel like I'm reading scare tactics!

So...I guess that's why I haven't kept up on my reading since then...I will get back on the saddle soon, I'm sure.

Cravings

As much as I've wanted some other foods so far in my pregnancy, I think my first real craving was this past Saturday when all I could think about was getting my hands on some pickle wraps! So after work, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up all the necessities and ran home to make them, eating them as I was putting them together. They were fantastic....and they were also my dinner for the night, along with some corn on the cob. All in all a great meal in my eyes, not so much in the eyes of my doctor, I'm sure.  But I got some vegetables, protein and dairy, right?

 

Pickle Wraps (they don't look the best, but they tasted great!)

I've also been extrememly tired. Each night I go to bed earlier and earlier and last night was no different.  I was in bed by 10pm and didn't get up until 8am this morning! I've been catching hell from Nick because he can't believe I'm so tired all the time and having to go to bed so early. I guess I'm catching up on all the sleep I'm going to miss out on once Lil Mango is here.

This weekend we told Nick's grandpa Florian that we are expecting. We headed to Tilden, NE for the day to spend some time with him since we aren't going to be there on Easter. It was a fun day of eating way too much food, playing Casino and Bingo and just spending some time with his mom's side of the family. It was really nice. His mom is so excited to be a grandma for the first time, so it's always fun to talk with her about her upcoming grandchild. We've still sworn everyone to secrecy since it's early and I can only imagine it's killing her not to spill like it's killing my mom, but they've both been really good!

We also got some bad news for the world of online poker this weekend - on Friday the Department of Justice shut down all three major online poker sites and indicted their founders for money laundering and illegal gambling. This really will impact Nick's day to day since that is where he spends the majority of his hours. It also looks like the sites could be down for anywhere from 15 months to 2 years, more than likely until they legalize online gambling in the United States. What does this mean for us? Nick will spend more time playing cash games at the Horseshoe and more than likely more time traveling. I guess we will see what happends in the next few months.  Check out the full story here: Poker News

7 Weeks: What's New...

Due Date:  November 27th!

Baby Developments: Baby is the size of a blueberry this week and his/her brain is developing. Arms & legs are emerging as joints form and a permanent set of kidneys is now in place (all of the development is so exciting)!

Cravings: Definitely craving sweets, warm pretzels & cheese and black cherry Icees.

Aversions: My favorite food is Chik-fil-A chicken nuggets, so my mom brought some up a couple weekends ago & as soon as I smelled them I got nauseous!! This.can't.be.happening...

Symptoms: Nausea. No vomiting (thank the Lord), but at least once a day I'm nauseous. I guess it could be worse.

I am loving: Letting our family in on the secret! We know it's early, but we also are just too excited to share the news! All of our immediate family has been let in on the secret and a handful of really close friends. We have sworn them to secrecy and now plan on waiting until the normal 12 weeks to tell everyone else the good news!

Sleep:  I've been very tired, even more than usual. I've been heading to bed a couple hours earlier than normal around 9:30pm or 10pm and snoozing through my alarm until about 7am. Definitely not normal for me.

I miss: Surprisingly I don't miss alcohol, soda or Starbucks as much as I thought I would....especially since I was so addicted to caffiene and pretty much partied at minimum two days a week in my old life.  I did miss these things initially, especially Diet Pepsi & Diet Mt. Dew, but the caffiene headaches have subsided and all is good. Black cherry Icees have become my new obsession! The one thing I do crave now and again is a glass of champagne....mmm...

I am looking forward to:  the next couple of months, especially finding out what we are having! I went shopping with my mom and sisters this past weekend and really wanted to buy clothes for this little one! I did make a couple of purchases - a onesie from Cafe Press and a set of Carter's sleepers in gender neutral colors. Oh Lord is Nick in for a rude awakening when we find out and I can REALLY shop for him/her!

Cafe Press - "You stack blocks. I stack chips." onesie.

Carter's Gray Stripe & Stars Sleepers & Hats

I'm spazzing about: Whether or not I'm doing things right. I want to make sure that I'm eating right, exercising enough/but not too much, getting enough rest....just doing everything right to ensure Little Mango is as healthy as he/she can be.

Best moment this week: It's still so early so sharing in the excitement of our family & friends once they find out has been priceless!

Movement: None yet...

It's a...: Way too early, but can't wait to find out!

Exercise: I've slowed down, however, my goal is to run Lake Zorinsky (5 miles) at least 3 times/week during my pregnancy. The last couple of times I've ran I've gotten winded really easy & had to walk a bit. I hope this will improve, but I'm not very optimistic.  I also started Jillian Michaels yoga on off days and it's tough! I'm going to talk with my doctor on Monday to make sure I'm not over-doing it. Just to be safe.

Diet: Not good...I've been eating what I've been craving and it definitely hasn't been healthy. I really need to eat better in the upcoming weeks.

Goals for the upcoming week: Exercise more consistently and eat better. I also need to contact our insurance to get the specifics on maternity leave, etc. I haven't done my digging yet and really need to get it figured out!

Belly Shot:

First Belly Shot

Disappointment with my doctor...

To back track a little bit....after finding out late on Sunday March 20th that we're pregnant, I immediately told Nick so we could celebrate together. Ideally I would've planned a cute way to tell him, but to be honest I've taken so many (negative) tests and really didn't anticipate this one to be positive, so I wasn't prepared! So I ran out into the bedroom flashing the positive test.. Needless to say he was extremely shocked but really excited. We spent the next couple of hours talking about how much this is going to change our lives...in a very, very good way.

The next morning I woke up early to call my OB-GYN's office and set up the initial appointment, but much to my dismay, they told me they wouldn't schedule until I was at 8 weeks. 8 weeks?!?!? I jumped online to check if this is normal (your doctor really doesn't see you until 8 weeks?) and yup, it sure is.....I was definitely disappointed, but scheduled my appointment for April 18th when I should be around 8 weeks along.

I spent the rest of the day running errands and checking out my options at the bookstore to read up on my pregnancy and this little one in my belly....I bought "What to Expect When You're Expecting," "What to Eat When You're Expecting" and "Skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven." I also jumped on Amazon and bought some pregnancy books for Nick...he's much better with the medical stuff, so I figure he can read about everything and give me the cliff notes version later.

I was dying to tell someone (Tessa, mom, anyone) because I've never been good at keeping secrets, let alone such important, exciting news but I held off....I'm going to come up with a fun way to tell them, and soon. I don't know how much longer I can take them asking me how "trying for baby" is going.

Saturday night brought along the Kenny Chesney concert...we had been planning on going with our regular "Kenny group" for a while now and were so excited to see him perform again...the biggest challenge ahead of us would be an explanation as to why I'm not drinking. I decided that I'm not a good enough liar to fake being sick, so instead I brought along some soda water and limes (normally to mix with my favorite Ketel One vodka) and secretly made non-alcoholic drinks at the house and on the bus ride to the show. We had such an amazing time and I'm sure no one was none the wiser. As much as I missed drinking with them all night, I definitely didn't miss the hangover the next morning. I think I could get used to this...

A Little Bit About Me...

Well I guess I should tell you a little bit about myself. I'm 29 - soon to be 30. I married my husband, Nick, on August 1, 2009 and it has truly been an amazing year and a half. Nick and I have been together (basically) since Fall 2000. We live in Omaha, Nebraska - which we both love because it's a great city and our family & friends are all so close. I have been working at Harrah's and Horseshoe Casinos in Council Bluffs, Iowa (right across the river) for the last seven years, most recently as the Director of Casino Marketing. Nick is a professional poker play and contrary to what everyone thinks, we didn't meet at the casino! We actually met my sophomore - and his freshman - year at UNK.

We have a puggle named Maya who has basically been our child for the past three years. She is such a spoiled little puppy, but who can say no to that face...



But now that is all about to change because I'm pregnant and we are about to give Maya a little brother or sister, which is why I decided to start this blog. I wanted to have a place to write down what I was feeling, give updates on the little one and share details with my family & friends.  So enjoy the ride....

Bun in the Oven

Well....it's official!!

As I had been doing for a while (just to check), I took a test on the night of March 20th and I'm pregnant! I was so excited to FINALLY see two lines! But just to be sure....

Let the craziness of the next nine months begin!!