The Seven Spot: 18 Weeks!

Lots & lots of pregnancy updates this week! First off, the MISERABLE headache that I've had for the past um, 6 WEEKS, is slowly but surely easing up. It's still here, just less intense each day and not so constant. And that's really the overall theme lately - I think that 18 weeks is going to prove to be my magic number when the first-trimester woes finally disappear and I start to feel like myself again. I've had so much more energy and the nausea is almost completely gone. Which, again, OMG WHY DID NO ONE PREPARE ME?! The first Tri was, in a word, ROUGH. But those days are (almost!) behind us now and I can say with glorious 20/20 hindsight that it was all worth it.

As far as other pregnancy symptoms go, I've certainly had my share. These are quirky little things that are more annoyances than anything, like stuffy nose/constant sneezing (really, it's a symptom! I didn't believe it either but the books all confirm), lower back pain, spontaneous crying (those Pedigree shelter dog ads are TOO MUCH). And SHUT THE FRONT DOOR I am having to get up from bed and pee at least three times every night. Add in the fact that I'm drinking enough water to fill up a pack of camels' humps (what is a group of camels called?) and you can see the dilemma here.

My appetite is still really hit or miss. We celebrated our 3rd anniversary a few weeks ago (love you, Danny!) with dinner at Annie Gunn's, which is easily my favorite restaurant in St. Louis. Dan had one of the best meals of his life, and I ate about three bites of mine. He also brought a 1997 Mt. Veeder cab which he drank all by himself. Which, that's just MEAN. I had a teeny little sip and it was amazing. Look, I'm already sacrificing for my child! I'm the best mom ever!

And as far as the bump, well here's a really crappy BlackBerry picture that I snapped in my office bathroom yesterday:

Clearly, I have not yet mastered the art of cellphone self-portraiture, but you can definitely get the idea here! I think I already look huge in this picture. Funny enough, at our last appointment two weeks ago I was still down four lbs. from my pre-pregnancy weight. According to my home scale, I'm now plus one, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. Either way, my doctor wasn't concerned at all, so I'm not either. And this is my new favorite dress - so comfy and flattering. It even makes my boobs look perky! Which, right now, NOTSOMUCH. I bought it in both black and green and would wear it every day if I could. In fact, yesterday I was holed up at my desk all day finishing up a big project and saw about three people in my office, so I might try and get away with wearing it again this week.

And, of course, we celebrated Dan's first Father's Day yesterday. We had a nice dinner at my in-laws and I got him an infant-sized USA soccer set to match the one he has:

I also got him a World Cup t-shirt since this gift was actually for baby (he loved it though!).

We find out the gender on July 6th and I absolutely cannot wait (to start monogramming things!). In other news, I've given my company notice that I'll be leaving the end of October to become a SAHM. I work for an absolutely amazing company that has been VERY good to me throughout my multiple medical leaves over the past three years. Dan and I agreed that we wanted me to leave on the best terms possible and give them generous notice to find my replacement. I work in a very specific market segment, so it will probably take a while for them to find someone, so this was definitely the right thing to do. They were wonderful about it and genuinely happy for me. It still doesn't seem real that I'll be leaving, but I'm sure it will set in as the days pass by. I've always wanted to stay home with my kids, and I'm really grateful that we'll be able to make it work. My sister-in-law is also moving from Houston back to STL so I will probably be watching her baby Sydney a few days a week, too. I know having two babies around will be challenging, but I'm beyond thrilled that the cousins will grow up together. I didn't grow up near any of my extended family, so this is something that I consider really special. I know they will be BFF's.

I've had a lot more pancreatitis-related pain the past couple of weeks, which is kind of a bummer. I'm not sure how much I've discussed this here, but for the past couple of years I've been getting regular pain treatments that have been on hold since I found out we were expecting. The treatment involves injecting a paralytic into the nerves around the pancreas (with a GIANT needle through my back) and has been an absolute Godsend for me. Depending on how I'm doing, I get one of these every 2-4 weeks. Even though both my OB and pain doctor say that it would be safe to continue the treatments, my pain doc is really conservative and wants to try and avoid it as long as the pain doesn't get out of control and my blood pressure stays in a healthy range (pain can cause your BP to quickly skyrocket). I'm sure his paranoia about treating a pregnant woman has something to do with the cost of his malpractice insurance, but hey, I'm married to a trial lawyer so I can't really blame the guy. And it's amazing how much pain you can tolerate when the health of your child is involved. So I'm just trying to follow the pancreas diet as much as I can and hoping that the pain stays manageable.

Whew, long post! I can't promise weekly updates, but you can be sure I'll be on here as soon as we know the gender. Stay tuned!

4 Comments

LOVE the baby bump picture!! And so glad that you are feeling better!

Love you!

Posted by: Heidi | June 23, 2010 at 09:30 PM

I can't wait to go shopping for Poppy as soon as you know whether she is really a girl. :) You are adorable and I will be praying for the pain to get better. Love you lots.

Posted by: Amy | June 23, 2010 at 09:34 AM