Voting is now open...

Please note the poll on the right side where you can guess what Baby Benton will be!

 

Still Kickin'

Me and the baby! I have finally recovered from my 72-hour stomach bug (after it tried to make a resurgence Thursday night/Friday morning). Troy and I even managed to have a nice weekend with a little running around and some football on Sunday. Then this morning we went in for our 15-week appointment and got to listen to the baby's heartbeat. It sounded good and strong (I guess...I don't have much to compare it to!) and the doctor seemed satisfied so I'm taking that as a good thing. Truth be told, he was a bit quick and nonchalant and Troy and I were both a little disappointed that the appointment was so fast and we didn't get to hear the heartbeat for very long but that's okay. In four weeks we get to go back for our second and final ultrasound so that should be much more exciting!

If I can figure out how to add a poll on the side, I'll add one so people can guess on the gender of Baby Benton. I'll also try to add a new belly pic on here soon. We were too busy rushing out the door for our appointment to take a new one this morning but I'll try to get to it tonight. Hopefully you can see a difference. I'd actually lost a little weight since my last appointment (no doubt due to being sick) but I had McDonald's for lunch so that should make up for it! ;)

Jinx

Well, I should have known better than to open my big mouth. Just hours after writing that last post where I talked about how great I've felt and haven't been sick at all, I was hit by a horrendous stomach bug. I started feeling pretty bad stomach cramping around 3 p.m. on Tuesday but managed to make it through the rest of the work day. Then I came home and took a short nap. Troy woke me up because our neighbors were coming over for dinner and I tried to fix it but was doubled over in pain so Troy had to finish up. I felt so bad...right as Troy put dinner on the table and we all sat down to eat, I had to run upstairs and be sick. And then I had to do that 3 or 4 more times that evening while our neighbors were here. Even after they left, it continued on until 2:30 a.m. when I just had nothing left. I slept curled up in a tense ball the rest of the night and felt like I'd been run over by a truck the whole next day. Not fun! I never take off work sick but I had to take off 2 days just to recover from this mess. Don't worry though...Troy called the doctor's office and they said I'd be fine if I just drank fluids. As a side note, Pedialyte is awful...tastes like horrible orange medicine.

Anywho...I've done little more than slept the past 2 days and am ready to get some energy back and feel more like myself again. Thank goodness the weekend is nearly here!

Hope everyone out there is staying healthy and feeling good! And to all those mothers who suffer with nausea...I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU DO IT. Having stomach cramps and feeling like I needed to throw up but I couldn't for 2 hours at work was awful and I know people suffer like that for weeks, if not months. Bless you!!!

Pregnancy Update

I am a couple of days into my 14th week and I still feel great. It seems like it took so long to get to 12 weeks but now the past 2 weeks have flown by! But I'm very glad to officially be in my second trimester and also to actually be showing. I start showing right at 12 weeks (pretty much on the nose) but I can still wear some of my regular clothes. I'm trying to wear them as long as possible (with the aid of my Be Band) because I'm sure people will get sick of my maternity wardrobe pretty quickly. However, I have a feeling that by February I will probably only be able to wear my maternity stuff. Anywho...here are some of my latest stats:

- No crazy cravings but I have been loving some cheese! Also, I've been ravenous the past week or so.
- Still no nausea or sickness, thankfully
- My chest is still sore and I swear it grows by the day (I've even started sleeping with a sports bra on to help hold them down and keep them from hurting when I roll over)
- Another thing I'm thankful for is that I don't think I'm really gaining weight anywhere by my uterus (truth be told, I haven't been weighing myself but I've never really done that anyway)
- I haven't been too crazy or moody (per Troy) so that is good
- We bought the stroller & car seats yesterday! Our first big baby purchase...we got a deal on them from a couple on craigslist so we went ahead and got them (they were the exact ones we wanted and in great shape).
- We go to the doctor on Monday and get to hear the heartbeat and then again in 5 weeks for our next ultrasound where we can hopefully determine the sex.

So lots going on in the Benton household! Troy's been doing really well too. He's been working really hard on the business, especially lately (gosh, I can't imagine what could have motivated that!). For the record, he is still winning our belly contest but I am definitely gaining on him (no pun intended) and I think will have passed him in the next couple of weeks.

Pretty good deals

Just an fyi in case any of you are in the market for reasonably-priced maternity clothes (or any clothes for that matter). Old Navy has a good sale going on online and if you sign up to receive their emails, you'll get $10 off any orders over $50. I ordered some work clothes last night online and can't wait to get them!

This pregnany is starting to sink in...

I am now at 13 weeks which is very exciting because it means I'm moving into the second trimester. I have been extremely lucky because so far, I've felt totally fine and have been doing really well. It was great not being sick, but in a way I almost wished that I had been (just a tiny bit) because at least then I would have felt more pregnant. My being newly pregnant also coincided with the end of the season for Glee and I swear it almost gave me a complex that maybe I was like the wife and just had a "hysterical pregnancy"! It made me feel a lot better when at 9 weeks we went in and got our ultrasound. I think Troy and I were both a little surprised to see that there really is a baby in there.

But now I have moved on and as 2010 rolled in, so did the noticeable parts of this pregnancy. I wore a dress for New Year's and noticed a distinct but small bump. Here is a picture so you can see:



And ever since then, it has become more noticeable, at least to me. I even went shopping with my sister last weekend for maternity clothes for the first time and my friend Megan was nice enough to give me a huge tub of her stuff. Let me tell you...it feels soooo much better! I was tired of not being able to button my pants and trying to find tops long enough and loose enough to wear to work (or just out in public). It's funny...I saw someone this weekend who casually said to the third person in our party, "It's so funny...when you're first pregnant you just can't wait to start wearing those maternity clothes!" and I was thinking, "Well heck yeah! Who wouldn't want to wear pants with a comfy elastic panel?" I can promise you I know some non-pregnant people (Troy) who wouldn't mind having a pair of these jeans. ;)

Here is a picture taken at 12 weeks, on New Year's Day. The baby decided to show up for 2010!

Full Coverage

So I have to ask my fellow mommies...am I really going to need to buy maternity underwear? I've been of course reading all the books (nothing technical, just the humorous ones so far!) and they all say that I might as well bite the bullet and buy these things now. I guess having never had a rear end, I just can't imagine that it will spread out enough to really need to be canvassed in cotton. Will this be my fate? Do they really go all the way up under my bra? Any words of wisdom on the matter are appreciated.