Category: pregnancy

One more month has passed! It’s going by faster now that the first trimester is over, but we’re still anxiously waiting to find out what exactly is in this body of mine – besides a look-a-like fruit!

As we wait, we continue to grow . . .

How Big Baby Is Now: 

He or she is about the size of an avocado, weighs about four ounces, and is about four inches long!

How Baby Has Changed:

Our baby’s ears are in their final position, and  he or she is beginning to hear our voices. Uh-oh! Toenails are growing, too. What about that sweet heart? It’s pumping 25 quarts of blood each day. This information comes from The Baby Center and The Mayo Clinic.

How Big Mommy is Now:

Well, it depends on who you ask. Friends that I see here and there each week mostly say that I don’t look like I’ve gained any weight except for in my stomach. I really don’t know how to take that since if you ask John or me we will tell you there’s been weight gain everywhere!

How Mommy Feels:

It’s quite amazing how as soon as I hit the 2nd trimester I felt a burst of energy! Is it just in my head? Who knows, but I’ll take it! I almost feel like I have more energy than before I got pregnant. I feel great, but do notice a few annoyances like pimples all over my face.

What Mommy Eats:

I still don’t like a lot of meat, but I love a lot of sweets! Not good, huh? Yes, I know. I need to watch that. I eat a lot of yogurt and fruit and the bad-for-you sweets, too. I tend to like snack foods more than big meals!

Our Doctor Visits:

We went back to the doctor and heard the baby’s heartbeat again. It was a little harder to find this time which I didn’t like, but the midwife assured me that it’s because the baby is behind a lot of tissue. His or her heartbeat was 170 beats per minute the first time we heard it, and at this visit it was 155 beats per minute. The most fascinated part was that we also heard the baby moving, and there was a lot of it!

The Birthing Plan:

We are still on track with using a midwife and pray that everything goes smoothly in order to make that possible. At the next visit (at 19 weeks) we will have our first ultrasound, and this will give us a lot of detailed information about how the baby is developing. And of course we will lay our eyes on our child for the first time and find out if he’s a he or she’s a she! Needless-to-say we’re extremely excited about this special day!

Decorating the Nursery:

A few weeks ago we bought our crib, and John put it together. Yes, it’s early, but we found a great deal, and I want to start decorating! Once we know baby’s gender it will be full force ahead!

Daddy News:

Funniest thing – daddy is losing weight and giving it all to mommy! He is working very hard to accomplish the growing “honey-do list” I gave him about two months ago. But when there’s a baby on the way the list seems a lot more pleasurable. Daddy made my first Mother’s Day very special with candy (yay!), flowers, and my very favorite, the sweetest card ever!

Thoughts on Being a Mommy:

Where do I begin? My emotions are at an all-time high, and everyday there is a new thought, worry, emotion, idea, and joy. As a person with a performance-based mentality most of the time, it is hard to begin something – motherhood or parenthood for that matter – that is so big it is impossible to accomplish peacefully without full reliance on Jesus. I am overwhelmed with what is ahead, but I know God is pruning me to stop working in my own effort and just “come to Him” (Matthew 11:28-30).

On a different note, I never thought that at 35 years old I would have five other friends having babies at the same time as me – four of which are first children for them too and three who are due in October with me. For most people my age the baby-making season has already begun, and there was always the thought that I’d be the “only one” left. What a blessing it is to have other women close to me going through the very same thing! Of course, all but one lives in Georgia – insert sad face – but just knowing they are there makes so much of a difference.

Blogs About Pregnancy and Motherhood That Are Helping Me:

Undefined by Crystal at Shine and Joyful Mothering! – Loved, loved, loved it!

A Comparison of Birthing Settings by Erin at The Humbled Homemaker

I am now entering what I hear could be called The Promise Land of pregnancy – the second trimester – where the nausea is replaced with yummy food, the exhaustion with an energizer bunny, and risky fear with a desire to shop, plan, and decorate!

So where are we this month?

How Big Baby Is Now:

He or she is about the size of a peach, around three inches long, and weighs almost one ounce.

How Baby Has Changed:

All of our baby’s organs are developed and this month he or she is beginning to form urine and get rid of it. Nice, right? Our baby has also formed fingerprints. And his or her head growth is becoming more proportional with the body. This information comes from BabyCenter and The Mayo Clinic.

How Big Mommy is Now:

I know you won’t believe me when I tell you this (except that I  have pictures to prove it, but even then you might think the pooch was already there), but I had a pooch at one month! The moment my body registered “pregnant” it began to pack on the weight. John makes me feel better by saying it’s because I’m only five feet tall. I’ll believe him for now, but come November I doubt I’ll be as convincing. So I’ve gained almost ten pounds already!

How Mommy Feels:

Overall I have had a fairly easy pregnancy. I have been sick off and on, mainly at night, but since it  hasn’t been constant it’s been bearable. I have been utterly exhausted, though, and at the same time can’t sleep well at night. However, over the past week most of these first trimester symptoms have gone away.

What Mommy Eats:

I have not had major food cravings or aversions. I went through a week or so where meat made me sick to think about, look at, and of course eat. But I’m not a big meat eater anyway. I pretty much like what I’ve always eaten.

Our Doctor Visits:

We have only had one doctor visit at eleven weeks, and we heard our precious baby’s heartbeat! Of course there are no words to describe that sound or feeling! We will have our first, and if all goes naturally the midwife tells us only, ultrasound at around twenty weeks. That is when we will find out whether to prepare for a daughter or a son. And yes, we are finding out. How ever could we wait any longer!

The Birthing Plan:

This is a work in progress as we do more research. We have decided on having as natural of a birth as possible, and we are using a midwife. However, we realize that everything could change quickly, and so our hopes will be no more than that – hopes. It is too soon to know every detail.

Decorating the Nursery:

You better believe that I cannot wait to find out what we’re having to go full force with decorating! I love to decorate! Last weekend the conversion from guest room to nursery began. We moved the bed out of the room and the piece of furniture that will be the changing table (an old vanity) into the room. When we painted some other rooms in our house I went ahead and painted the walls of the nursery in anticipation of it one day being just that – a nursery. I am pretty practical, (and hate to paint!) so the walls are a light butter color.

Daddy News:

The most special part of this whole experience has been watching John become a daddy. It is amazing. I feel like in many ways women are mothers before the baby even comes. After all, we start practicing with our baby dolls at two years old. But to watch your husband become ga-ga over your unborn child is just so special. My best friend wanted to help me register for the baby, so even though it was really early, I registered last month when I was home in Georgia. But I didn’t register for the car seat and stroller because I wanted John’s input. So on Saturday we went to Babies-R-Us to look at them. I never in a million years would have thought John would enjoy going in Babies-R-Us. To be honest, until now I hated going in there! It’s so overwhelming! But not John. It was like he was in the Georgia Bulldogs Superstore instead. He was so sweet trying out all the strollers and practicing folding opening them. He’s already loving being a daddy!

Thoughts on Being a Mommy:

There is one thought that has not left me over the past month. I love this child so much, so very much, that it is not possible that anyone has ever loved a child as much as I love this one. I have to be the first person ever to experience this kind of love. Then, in the very next thought, I think of course that is not true. Women for thousands of years have felt this kind of love for their child. My mom tried to explain it to me, and of course I’ve heard about it in movies and from other women, but until a baby becomes a part of you, either physically or spiritually through adoption, there is no way to explain it. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to feel a mother’s love. What a perfect representation of God’s love for us. And it’s just beginning.

Blogs About Pregnancy and Mommyhood That are Helping Me:

The Humbled Homemaker

One Fun Mom

Modern Alternative Mama

Keeper of the Home

I love hearing mommy advice! And I need it!

Please leave me your best thoughts for this month of pregnancy!

And if you know of other great websites, let me know!

It was the day after Valentine’s Day. As I put down the little plastic stick that told me I was not the only soul in the small bathroom, I started to pace, and cry, and pace, and cry. A prayer had been answered. A prayer I had prayed way before I was old enough for it really to be answered: “Lord, please make me a mommy one day.”

Today was the day. And so I paced.

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