What's kickin'?

So I was laying in bed last night and I had my arm over my belly. The baby was wiggling and such and all of a sudden he kicked...and I felt it on my arm! I moved my hand over where his feet are and waited. He kicked my hand again!

This morning on the shuttle to school I saw a friend of mine. We were talking and the little guy started kicking. I asked my friend if she would do me a favor. She put her hand on my belly and within a few seconds he kicked her. She smiled and told me that was awesome...so now I know it isn't just my imagination. He actually is kicking hard enough to feel.

I'm sitting outside of class in the hallway right now waiting for my professor to get here and start class (I have another 30 minutes). He's moving a bit right now. I suspect he'll settle down here soon. He's usually fairly quiet during the day. Or at least I haven't noticed him during the day. We'll see if today is different.

I'm selfish...

I must confess. I've been a bit selfish lately. I've been sleeping when I'm tired, and eating when I'm hungry. And I don't offer my snacks to anyone else, or care if anyone else is tired. I look at like this though: I'm creating a whole human being out of just a few cells. What are they doing? Homework? Oh yeah, I do that too. I'm in school full time. I know what it's like to have tests and homework. On top of that, I do housework...and just helped finish remodel our house. All while creating a human being out of a few cells that were put into me in December.

Ok, I'm not doing it all alone. I've got the grace of God keeping this little guy safe in me and reminding my body what all it needs to do. But come on, I'm the one who is exhausted, starving and thirsty all the time. (Yep, thankfully it looks like the days of hyperemesis are behind me! *knocks on wood*) I'm eating regularly and drinking almost a gallon of water a day. I'm dealing with the little guy putting his head, butt, feet, fists or whatever else into my stomach while I'm eating. I'm the one who gets up in the middle of the night to pee.

I think I have the right to be a little selfish...at least for today.

Bladder Bouncy House

Apparently the bladder bouncy house is all the rave in prenatal fun these days. Step 1: Locate Bladder. Step 2: Kick it and bounce on it until the woman who owns the bladder empties it. Step 3: Wait til it fills again. Repeat steps 1-3.

Yep, that's how I wake most mornings now. This little guy is either having fun on my bladder, or pissed cause it's taking up his limited space. Either way, he kicks it until I empty it.

I officially outgrew all my clothes this weekend. I'm going to have to go buy a few extra maternity pants today. I have three pairs of jeans and some dresses that fit. I have tons of shirts. I only have one pair of shorts. I don't know if they fit because I haven't tried them on yet. The majority of this pregnancy is going to be in the summer. Well, the majority of being big. I'm also going to need to buy a bathing suit. It'll be the first time ever needing a bathing suit during pregnancy. I'm also going to need some extra sun tan lotion. My belly is going to need to be fully covered.

I officially popped this weekend. I took some pictures. T has seen them, so I can post them now. As you can see, at just over 17 weeks (17w2d) I'm showing. I'm all baby though and I haven't put on much weight. Poor T's diet plan of losing as many pounds as I put on has kind of petered out.

As I write this, Jay is pushing his head against my left side. I think he's trying to find more room. Unlike all my other pregnancies, he doesn't kick and jab at me. He's very slow and methodical about his movements. It's almost like he doesn't want to waste his energy right now. I've been dreaming about his birth already. That makes me nervous. I didn't dream about any of my other births until I was mush further along. I hope that doesn't mean anything. It probably just means that I'm excited to see the look on T and M's face when he arrives. We'll see.

And I was doing so well...

Yesterday set me back several days. It was a bad stressful day and because of the stress, I got sick. I mean I lost everything I had eaten in several days.

I woke up and was feeling queasy to begin with but I ate and that kind of subsided. The kids helped me clean the livingroom and I let our two dogs out back into our fenced yard. I finished cleaning and sat on the couch to put my feet up. The German Shepherd scratched on the door to be let in, so I let her in. My Chihuahua (a tiny teacup that I've had for about two and half years now) wanted to stay outside. Ok, no worries. She'll often stay outside when Sasha, the German Shepherd, comes in because she's able to do what she wants without the puppy wanting to play. Sasha is only a couple of months old...so she's still a puppy.

The kids went out to play about two hours later. When they came in they brought Sasha with them. I asked them to bring Patches. They said she wasn't out there. I stopped and asked them what they meant. She had been out there earlier. That's when it all began. We went looking for her. The only way she could have gotten out of the backyard was to go into one of the neighbors' yards. Who knows from there. I went our neighbors that moved in the day before we did and they hadn't seen her. We knocked on the other neighbor's door and no one answered. I prayed that she hadn't gotten in their backyard. They have two pit bulls and she's so tiny they would have torn her to shreds in a matter of moments. She barely barks, and they bark all day so I wouldn't have heard anything different. We drove around the neighborhood, but we never found her.

I came home and promptly got sick. I know that stress is a trigger for vomiting. I wish I could relieve all stress, but sometimes it just happens. That's life. We're going to put up signs around the neighborhood today. She's not wearing her collar because I was going to give her a bath so I took it off. That was stupid. I just wish I knew where she was. At this point I'd be happy knowing that someone found her and is taking care of her. I'm just worried that the neighbor's dogs chewed her to shred. Plus, last night it stormed horribly here. She's out there somewhere, all one and a half pounds of her, alone and without help or someone to take care of her. My poor baby.

Speaking of babies. This little guy is doing well. I've gained half a pound. I'm still dehydrated no matter what I drink. I carry water or Gatorade with me every where I go. This little guy wiggles around and gets the hiccups regularly so he seems to be doing ok...even if I can't keep food down.

Well, I need to go put up lost signs. Hopefully some one calls me this afternoon.

Quick Update

So nothing new has happened really. We're 99% finished with the home renovations. The new furniture is in, the projector and surround sound are installed and the house is almost put back together. I have been working to refinish my new dining room table. A friend of ours gave us a solid oak table. We bought new chairs for it and they were a dark wood. So I sanded down the entire table and re-stained it. I just have to put the clear coat on it and it will be done. The problem is it's been raining and I have to do it outside. So it'll be a day or two before I can finish it.

The baby seems to be doing great. I think he wiggled closer to my back because I hadn't felt him move in several days. This morning though I felt him kicking some. At least he's snuggled in and comfy. His mom and sister went to Disney last week. T is looking forward to taking him someday. I'm sure she'll have tons of fun with him there!

With spring break this week I'm hoping to take the kids out to the zoo or something. The morning sickness has let up a little. I've still been dry heaving a lot. I don't get sick quite as often though. It's been almost a week since I brought anything up, so I guess that's good. I'll have another appointment with Sam, my midwife in about two and a half weeks I believe it is. I need to check my calendar to be sure.

That's about it though. Nothing really new going on. I'll have to get a picture of the little baby bump posted soon. He's a little guy so far. Maybe if I'm lucky, this one won't be over 9 pounds! Even if he is though, his mom and dad will adore every inch of his chubby little body and I'll proudly give birth to him. (I don't know if I'll be as proud of the aftermath of a kid that big though...but that's another story, lol!)

I don't have gas!

You know when you have gas and you feel that little flutter in stomach...and then you fart? (Yes, that's not very lady-like...then again when have I ever been lady-like?) Or how about when you're hungry and you feel that rumbling.

Well, I'm not hungry, and I don't have gas! The baby has officially made himself known! Friday I had an appointment with Sam, my totally awesome midwife. She showed me where the baby was and let me hear the heartbeat. I called T and she got to hear her son. I then called back and left a message on their answering machine so M could listen to his son. (And so T could hear him whenever she wanted.)

I am officially showing. If you see me wearing a regular tank top, I have a little baby bump. I'm all baby. You know those women (who I think are few and far between) that have that baby bump that's round and little and is all baby. You know the ones. They complain about how they're so big, and they look like you did when you were two months pregnant...and they're eight months along. Yeah, the girl you'd like to throttle because she looks so tiny pregnant. Well, I'M ONE OF THEM! Ok, the rest of me isn't tiny, but I have that little baby bump. I'm over 15 weeks and just started showing some. Usually I'm four weeks and showing.

The hyperemesis isn't too bad anymore. I have moments where I feel queasy, but *knocks on wood* I haven't vomited in six days! I did dry heave a few times in the past several days, but I haven't brought anything up. I'm also starting to put on some weight. I'm up to 165.5...I had been a little heavier, but I lost a few pounds. It's ok though, because I can feel him in there wiggling and his heart rate was perfect, so he's ok. I may actually end this pregnancy lighter then when I started. That would be too weird.

Thanks for hanging in there with me. I'll be posting more often now. We're done with the home remodel, and midterms are nearly over. Next week is Spring Break for me and the kids. We don't have any plans, just to enjoy the house.

Go M.A.D!

Chaos, Drama and a Nap...

Well, it's been a little bit since I posted. I apologize for that. Life has gotten crazy!

We're remodeling the house and this week the carpet gets torn up in preparation for the hardwood floors. We're also getting rid of the couches, a desk, and two chairs to make room for the new furniture. The house is in chaos!

It's midterm week, and I've been super busy. I had my first midterm today and I think I did fairly well. I have four term papers due this week as well. One of them is completely written and done. *phew* The other three have been researched and most of the work is done. I just need to get them written and out on paper. Hopefully that won't take too long.

And lastly, my ex-husband took me to court and today was the date of the hearing. He wants to have child support terminated. My husband is adopting her, so it's really not that big of deal it's just the way he did it. I swear there are times he likes to stir up drama just to irritate me.

I came home today after school and was so tired. This little one is making me so tired. It could also have something to do with the fact that I haven't been eating much. At least I'm keeping down what I do eat. Now that I think about it, I'm eating more than I think I am. I snack fairly regularly. Oh well...at least I'm not puking every 10 minutes!