13 Weeks Pregnant!

I'm in my 14th week! I'm pretty sure that nudges me up into the 2nd trimester, but maybe not for another week... Either way, I am feeling better so far! I had a rough few days earlier this week so I'm hoping that was my "peak" and that I'm coming down into that splendid time where I actually enjoy being pregnant! Keep your fingers crossed for me;)

The batteries are dead in my camera so I'll have to take the belly picture tomorrow or this weekend after shopping.

I've been able to talk to Thomas a lot this week, like once or twice a day so far!! He's doing very well. We're pretty sure he's staying the whole deployment:( But have started talking about a little vacation we want to start planning for when he gets home this July! So it's something for us to really look forward to!! He's working his regular 12-hour shift right now and an extra 4 hours to cover part of another guy's shift. 16 hour days... whew!! But ofcourse we're proud of him and he's doing a great job over there!

Life and pregnancy are pretty slow right now so I don't have anything else to really write about:( But ofcourse.... I have Fun Facts about Baby Whitten this week:):)

THE 14th WEEK OF PREGNANCY:

*Thyroid gland has matured and your baby begins producing hormones which will be used throughout his or her life.
*In boys, the prostate gland develops
*In girls, the ovaries move from the abdomen to the pelvis
*Your little one may have learned to suck his thumb by this point!
*Your child's bones are getting harder and stronger by the day!
*Your baby's skin is very transparent still
*Lanugo (very fine hair) covers the baby's body and will continue to grow until 26 weeks gestational age - Generally this will be shed prior to birth. Its purpose is to help protect baby's skin while in all that water!
*Your baby is 3.42 inches (8.7cm) long and weighs about 1.52 ounces (43 grams) - approximately the weight of a letter!

Playing Catch Up!

Sorry about not posting this on time! I spent the weekend in jacksonville busy with family and a baby shower for a friend! The weekend was wonderful! I ate a ton and kept it all down!! It was a beautiful thing:) I woke up monday morning to leave and had a pretty sore throat, so I was a little worried since I spent sunday with Thomas' step-mother who had Strep throat! Well, my battery was dead in the Durango and everytime my dad hooked it up to the charger my security system started going off, at 5:30 in the morning!! he finally figured out that we could disconnect the horn and wa la... it was quiet and charging!! (Such a smart man!!) Well, that was the end of my beautiful weekend! I threw up that morning just a few minutes before I left:( I munched on some crackers and a muffin on the 2 and a half hour drive home and felt fine when my dad called to check in on me a few minutes from my house! But not even 15 minutes later I was throwing up again:( I laid down to take a nap and woke up 2 hours later throwing up. I ate some trail mix while i put some tater tots in the oven and by the time the tots were done, the trail mix came back up. I was miserable. It was the worse (worst?) I have felt so far. I, stupidly, thought I was done and that the tots were staying down... Thomas called around 10 that night and a few minutes later I had him on speaker phone listening to those lovely tots coming back up!! I figured, since his timing was so great and he wasn't here to hold my hair, the least he could do was be grossed out by it on the other side of the world!! I called out of work the next day since i planned on going to the ER since I wasn't able to keep anything down and threw up with in the first half hour I was awake. But the rest of the day I was fine... I went to get a sub from subway and started getting sick on the way there, but was too scared of throwing up while I was driving so i "jedi mind power-ed" it to stay down:) And the rest of the week has been fine! I haven't worked, she gave me the week off to rest, so I've just been bumming around the house with my horribly energetic dogs! I don't have a belly picture for 12 weeks but I can post the fun facts about the baby!!

THE 13th WEEK OF PREGNANCY:

*Your infant is about 2.91 inches (7.4cm) and weighs around 0.81 ounce (23gm) - This is about the same weight as 4 quarters.
*If you could peek in again you may spot your baby as he begins to practice inhaling and exhaling movements
*Eyes and ears continue to move and develop
*Baby's neck is getting longer, and the chin no longer is resting on his chest
*His hands are becoming more functional - Your baby may find it comforting to start playing with his fist.
*At this point all nourishment is received from the placenta

I typed out this whole long post about how terrible I feel and figured it was a little too detailed and a little too whiney... so I deleted it!! But the past week has been a wonderful combonation of exhaustion, nausea and hot flashes... only to be topped off tonight with projectile vomitting my SPICEY chicken taco salad all down the front of my new clothes:( On the plus side, throwing up made me feel much better, even though I am starving again!! I'm pretty sure I was a silly silly fool for praying to God all those months for this!! And I really don't think we'll be sticking to the 5 kids plan I put into play while I was so desperate for a baby! At this point I'm almost certain this will be an only child!! But maybe if Thomas can get a 3 month leave to take care of this child and everything else while I'm pregnant next time, I'll think about doing this again! lol.

Speeeeeaking of Thomas... I got an e-mail from the commander's wife today! She had talked to her husband the day before and he wanted her to tell me that Thomas is "kicking butt" and that he is so proud of all of his accomplishments!! Wow! If you know Thomas there is no way you are surprised by this!! But it just amazes me that he is doing SUCH an amazing job over there and I'm throwing up all over myself back here! Two totally different worlds at this point!! lol! BUT, I will be 12weeks tomorrow, so pray pray pray that this part of the pregnancy is over for me soon! I'm ready to be excited about this pregnancy and this baby of ours!! I'll update on baby's growth and whatnot tomorrow or Thursday and add a belly picture soon too!!

Belly Picture--11w2d

Today is a lazzzy day! I decided I would sleep until noon and stay in my p.j.s all day since I'm going to be running around so much tomorrow!

I think I look amazingly huge in this picture... and not in the pregnant way! Just fat. But I have been eating chocolate for the past 2 days!! But here it is at 11 weeks and 2 days... and it's only going to get bigger:P

Valentine's Day

Valentine's day was wonderful!! I didn't throw up:):):) And that makes any day special, but I was so happy to get through the day with out being sick!

Thomas called me before I had to go in for work to wish me a happy v-day and we talked for a few minutes! He called later that afternoon and we talked for about half an hour and I cried the whole time lol... I felt so bad for being so emotional, I know all you military spouses know how important is is not to cry like a silly woman when you're talking to your husband 6,000 miles away. It's no good for him to be over there thinking you're having a breakdown! haha. But luckily, he was sweet about it and assured me that he believed I was fully capable and not breaking down!!

I had a dinner and movie date with my friend Shelly. Her husband is also over seas so it worked out good. We went to Samurai for dinner and then killed time at a furniture store before going to watch Jumper. It was a really good night... and again, I didn't get sick:):)


When I got home I had a present waiting for me on the door step! Thomas sent me chocolate covered strawberries with a precious teddy bear and a balloon!! It was perfect considering he waited in line at the moral hut for over an hour to use an unlocked computer to order them for me!! It was so thoughtful and the strawberries were a perfect dessert before bed:)

I also have to mention the package I got from my parents the night before! They were sweet enough to seend me a box full of candy and a card! It was so special and I'm still enjoying the excess of chocolate in the house!! --Thanks mom and dad! love you:)

11 weeks pregnant

I'm in my 12th week of pregnancy. Almost out of my second month:)

The nausea isn't getting any better. I'm throwing up almost everyday and hating most all foods. But I'm praying that with the end of this month will come the end of this annoyance! So we shall see!

I'm making progress on the house. Thomas has been gone for 3 weeks and I have yet to do any dishes! But, I have swept and mopped the floors and made the rest of the house look decent! Tomorrow I'm going to buy some storage bin, those big rubbermaid ones, and will take down our christmas tree!! Yep! That's right... yesterday was Valentine's day and our lovely (fake) tree is still bringing in the christmas cheer!! But only for one more day I assure you! (Don't judge me lol)

I will also be shopping with a friend tomorrow for some more maternity clothes. I gained weight in our nearly two years of trying to concieve and couldn't fit into most of my clothes... so now that I have a great starting off point for maternity clothes, I'm still only down to one pair of jeans, one pair of green cargo pants, one pair of black dress pants and 4 or 5 shirts that I can fit into this early on... and they are just tees and regular shirts, nothing dressy. So I will be searching for another pair of jeans and some cute shirts that I can wear now and grow into over the next few months!

Thomas is doing great! I think I mentioned that he has a lot of responsibilities over there, but I know it's good for him to be busy and not just sitting there thinking he is serving no purpose!!

I'm not really sure what else to write... the past week was pretty uneventful and I'm hoping that things start getting more exciting around here so I have more interresting material to write about, for your sake!

But for now you'll have to settle for fun facts about baby's growth and development in week 12:

*Vocal cords begin to form.
*Those precious eyes begin to move closer together!
*Ears shift to their normal place on the side of the head
*Intestines move farther in to your child's body
*His or her liver begins to function - Responsible for cleansing the blood, storing nutrients, and providing needed chemicals, this is an important event!
*The pancreas begins to produce insulin
*Baby's average size is now at a whopping length: 2.13 inches (5.4cm) and weight: 0.49 ounce (14gm)

Midnight's weekend get-away!

well, for those of you that do not know my beautiful kitty, Midnight... She was found by my dad like 4 years ago and given to my little sister as a pet... she was pretty much a wild cat and was pretty hateful... to everyone but me for some reason! So midnight became my cat and when I married and moved, her and Nina cam with! Well she turned out to be a very sweet and loving cat until she is under stress! And nothing causes her more stress than dogs! So now that we have Mya and Rocco she is a bit frazzled most of the time!! She spends her days on the back of the couch, tucked away on a chair in the dining room or on top of the fridge with her face planted in her food bowl... she is quite fat now!! But every now and then, when the weather is nice and the dogs are in their kennels (to grant her safe passage to the door) she likes to run out the front door while Im on my way to work and spend the few hours in the sun!!

Well, Saturday I ran out to get some food and she ofcourse bolted out the door! When I came back half an hour later she wasn't ready to come in yet, so she stayed out and I took a nap after throwing all my food up:( A few hours later I went to let Nina out for the night (she spends every night outside or she screams at my bedroom door until I put her out) Midnight wasn't on the front porch or out back! Now, i really need to stress to you just HOW important this cat's food is to her!! There is no reason in the world that cat would go that long without begging to come in so she could eat!! But there was nothing I could do, it was late! So all day sunday I looked for her around the neighborhood, in the woods behind our house... nothing! So today I decided I would go door-to-door and ask if anyone had picked her up or seen her! Everyone knew what cat I was talking about but hadn't seen her since saturday and promised to keep looking for me!! So I decide to call animal control. I wasn't really thinking I would get anywhere with it since there are a few stray cats in the neighborhood and no one has ever complained to me about my two being outside! But as soon as the lady answered the phone and I described the cat (Big, fat, black female!) she knew who it was right away!! And gave me a number to call!!

A few weeks ago a lady put flyers up in my neighborhood for her missing black cat with an injured back leg. Someone had spotted Midnight saturday night and picked her up out of my yard and called the lady from the flyer at 10:30 at night!! When they realized it wasn't her cat, the man said he would just take her back and "dump" her in the neighborhood... But the lady knew she had to have a home bc she was sooo fat! So she kept her over night and took her to the vet the next day to have her scanned for a chip and told the lady at the desk to give her number to anyone that calls asking for a "fat black cat"!!

For a while I thought about just not looking for her... if she came back, then great and if someone had picked her up then atleast she was with a family that loved her... but the thought of her being at the pound for some reason and not being adopted... just drove me crazy! The house was so empty without her last night!! It's strange enough not having Thomas here... but to lose Midnight too... I couldn't deal with that!! So I'm so glad everything worked out and that I'll have my full house again!! The lady is dropping her off in the next hour:):) I couldn't imagine not having my Fat cat around!!

Belly Picture- 10w3d

I've lost some weight since I can't really keep much down at this point... But here it is! I'm still not seeing much of a difference, but I see it everyday! But I can kind of feel where the baby is in my lower abdomen, so that makes me smile!!

10 weeks pregnant!

Well, It's official! I'm a fourth of the way done!! I'm in my 11th week of pregnancy:)

I can't really say that it went fast... the first few weeks felt like an eternity, waiting to know if the baby was ok, if there was a heartbeat, was this all going to all-of-a-sudden go away and I wake up and realize that we were going to have to continue trying? But here I am... I still have a few weeks before I'm out of the first trimester and ofcourse anything could happen at anytime in pregnancy, but as I start to feel the knot starting to grow at bottom of my abdomen I can't help but realize that this is not a dream:)

My next appointment is on St. Patrick's Day. I'll almost be 16 weeks and that just seems amazing to me!! I know that time is about to start flying and that it isn't going to stop flying! One day I'll be sitting at this baby's graduation and that already feels so close:( But onedayatatime right!?

I'll be scheduling my next ultrasound at that appointment and this is the BIG ultrasound! The baby will definately have a face to look at and we should be able to tell the sex, if the baby feels like exposing himself!! If you haven't noticed, I always seem to call the baby a "he"... It started almost from day one! Everyone has always referred to the baby as a boy... so I'm sorry little baby if you turn out to be my beautiful little daughter!

Thomas called today! I talked to him for entirly too long! We got to talk for an hour and a half and only got disconnected once! So ofcourse we got comfortable talking to eachother, like we were sitting right in front of eachother... and that made it soo hard to hang up the phone! We talked about the baby and it is so amazing to hear him talk about becoming a father! He is so excited and I know he is going to be wonderful!! It's hard to be apart through all of this and I asked a few times for him to just get out of the military and we could move back to jacksonville and amount to nothing... but we would wake up next to eachother everyday! So it's almost appealing to us lol But again, I'm just taking it one day at a time! And just praying that he stays safe and that everything here goes smoothly, so he can get his mission done over there and get home to me and this baby!!

I'm exhausted, and staied up late to watch LOST! If you don't know, LOST makes my heart go pitter patter like a dog in green grass!! I'm completely in love and would stay up as late as possible to watch it!! But now I'm tired and am very excited that I get to sleep in a little tomorrow since I don't work on fridays!!

But here are all the neat little facts about what's going on with Baby Whitten in week 11 with a picture of his toes!!




*Nearly all structures and organs are formed and beginning to function.
*Fingers and toes have separated - Take a glimpse at how incredibly precious your child's tiny feet are at this point.
*Hair and nails begin to grow
*The genitals begin to take on the proper gender characteristics - It will be just a few more weeks before your ultrasound can show if you are having a boy or a girl!
*Amniotic fluid begins to accumulate as the kidneys begin to function - This fluid, consisting primarily of water, helps provide a cushion for your baby while he's nestled within your womb.
*The muscles in the intestinal walls begin to practice contractions that digest food.
*Your baby is about 1.61 inches (4.1 cm) long and weighs 0.25 ounce (7gm).

Update

well, yesterday was a pretty busy day. It was my Birthday:):)

I had to work like normal. Boss-Lady put the baby down for a nap early and she was wide awake when I got there. So I had her up and going most of the morning. She finally went down like 30 minutes before her mom got home. I decided to heat up some pizza I brought from the night before. I had gone to the Px to get some stuff for thomas' v-day box and got a slice of pizza and some crinkle fries. I ended up falling in love with and only eating the crinkle fries!! So as I'm sitting there eating this pizza I'm completely turned off by the idea of eating all that cheese! So I peal off allll the cheese. Then I can't really stomach all the tomato sauce! So I scrape allll of it off!! Noe I'm down to just the bread part... and can't stand the idea of chewing it lol, so I spit the rest out on my plate... and as I'm doing that, I get that feeling... you know the one. my mouth started to water and my stomach knotted up and I knew I was about to be sick! Ugh. I went into the bathroom and had to stand in there for like 5 minutes, because I knew I was going to throw up, but just couldn't! Finalllly! If you have been reading the blog and/or remember a few weeks ago I threw up right after eating frozen pizza! So I'm thinking there is a link. The only time I get sick is if I eat silly pizza... So I'm done:( No more pizza for me:( I'm sad because frozen pizza is like the EASYIST thing to make for dinner! I don't even have to wash dishes or anything... bummer!

So after I got sick, I couldn't shake the nausea and as soon as the mom got home, I split! I had my first appointment with my midwife at 1:00!! Amazingly, I didn't have to wait very long to be seen at all!! My midwife I very sweet! I really don't think there could have been anyone better for me!! She's very excited that I'm planning on having an unmedicated, natural birth and recommended me to a doula that she works with a lot!! The appointment didn't last very long but i had a pap done and a physical. She wanted to try and hear the baby's heartbeat with a doppler but warned me that we might not. I guess it's hard to hear from the outside this early even on very skinny women... so we def weren't thinking we would hear it! BUT... after a little searching, she found him... for a few seconds, and then he flipped away! Everytime she would find him, he would run away! She said the heart beat was in the 170s so the baby was very awake and active:) Which is the weirdest feeling... sitting there being told that there is a little being flipping all around your abdomen and you can't feel a thing!! LOL! But I was very happy to hear that he was active and healthy! What a special birthday present:):)

Thomas called after the appointment but we got disconnected shortly after and he wasn't able to get it back... but it was good to hear his voice, even if it was just for a few minutes!

My good friend, Jamie and her husband, Jesse (who got home from a year in Iraq the day after Thomas left!) made me dinner and a cake!! It was the perfect way to finish off my birthday! They grilled some chicken and bought me a few gifts... It was really sweet!! ---Thanks guys:)---

The weather here this week has been beautiful!! So today when I left for work, I left my dogs out back on their lead so they could enjoy being out side and beiong able to run around, opposed to being cooped up in their kennels for a few hours!! Wellll... I got a call at work, from housing letting me know that they got loose and were being held up in a neighbor's backyard!! They didn't tell me very much... so when I got off and got the the neighbor's house I was completely shocked to see Mya sitting there with half the lead still connected to her collar! LOL... I guess they snapped the cable lead and got free!! That is crazy power! So tomorrow I will be doing all the paper work and whatnot to get a fence put up in the yard a.s.a.p.!!!

Thanks mammaw!!

This is a shout-out to my Mammaw! She made me this beautiful blanket for my birthday! She is very talented... and has a pretty nifty sewing machine! But She made this for us right after she got out of the hospital... what a lady!! I know she reads the blog and I wanted everyone to see just how wonderful this blanket is and howwww thankful i am for it! i love you Mammaw!! I hope you are feeling better! kiss:)

Belly Picture-- 9w1d

There you go! These are my trusty cargo pants lol!! They got a little snug tonight, so I had to go back to leaving them unbuttoned and just tying the draw-string!! Any difference so far? Maybe by next month I'll have something to look at!!

9 Weeks Pregnant!

I'm in my TENTH week! Ahhh, we're getting into double digits!!! I'm almost one-fourth of the way done!

I didn't post a belly picture last week because I slept for most of it! Since Thomas left, it's been a little tough for me to be motivated for anything more than going to work and sleeping! The nausea has gotten worse, but I'm sure it will be over in a few weeks so right now I'm just thanking God that I can sleep it off and am not throwing up and that the end is right around the corner!

I'm in Jacksonville for the weekend celebrating my 22nd birthday (the 5th) with my family and friends! Nothing too big! I'm having dinner with a few friends tonight and then will go out to dinner with my parents and sisters and have cake and ice cream tomorrow probebly! My mom is taking me maternity clothes shopping for my present so I'm excited about that!! I still feel like an imposter... I can't see any change in my tummy, besides loosing some weight from not eating much the past few weeks. But I hate belly bands and can't button any of my pants except for one pair of cargo pants, that I now live in!! So some new clothes that I can grow into are a very welcomed birthday present|

Thomas is doing well! I haven't heard from him in a few days, but that's ok! He's pretty busy over there! Right now they are working on taking everything over from the exisitng squadron and getting them back to the states. Thomas is not only in charge of his own shop but is also in charge of all the vehicles! I think that just goes to show how much they trust and rely on Thomas in his squadron!! I couldn't be prouder:)

Well, This week my baby is officialy not an embryo anymore! Baby Whitten is a fetus! woo hoo:P The picture up on the right shows what the baby looks like this week and below are the fun little facts about development! I'm sure I can sucker Hunter into taking a belly picture for me this weekend! So I'll post that soon!! Have a beautiful weekend!

*The most critical part of your infant's development is complete. Now you are headed into a period of rapid growth.
*While a bit strange to envision, your baby's head is now about half its length - Soon the rest of the body's growth will catch up but this area is prepared to keep up with the rapid brain development!
*Eyelids fuse shut and irises begin to develop - Eye color is also determined by this point.
*Placenta begins to function this week or next - The placenta is the organ responsible for both the provision of nutrients along with the removal of waste to keep your baby growing strong!
*Your baby will be about 1.22 inch long (3.1cm) and weigh 0.14 ounce (4gm) at the end of this week