Per Swampy's Request

Here is a link to our registry.

Please note, some of these items may change depending on which nursery decoration set I decide to go with.

I'm SO NOT putting this up so you can buy me stuff. Swampy asked.

Please don't read this as greedy.

Things I've heard so far today:

"Are you ever gonna start showing?"
"You're starting to show!"
"The weight of your belly could be causing your back problems."
"That doesn't look like a very healthy lunch!"
"How are you feeling? Do you feel like a million bucks?"
"You gotta remember, you're eating for two...or three."
"Are you super horny these days?"
"Your hair looks really great lately."
"Your skin is breaking out a little."

And it's only noon.

Registered

We went this weekend to register for baby gifts at Babies R Us.
It went very well. Better than I anticipated, in fact.
I have registed for 91 items that DesvousJunior absolutely can not live without.
Apparently.
I felt great about everything I got accomplished until the hormones and frustration kicked in last night. Now I'm second-guessing myself.
My biggest concern?
Decorating the nursery. I have searched HIGH AND LOW for a decoration theme that I like.
Well...I finally found one. Love at first sight--a crib bumper, quilt, window valance, all that jazz. It's gender neutral, but fun and colorful without ANY smiling animals or cheerful bugs. (My one main criteria--no smiling animals or cheerful bugs.)
I found it alright.
In Edina.
At the Galleria.
Guess how much it cost.
Just guess.


Nope.

$700.

SEVEN. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. for a blanket set that my baby will barf and poop on.
But I love it.
Now I just have to figure out how to GET it.

Name Change

OK.
Baby Ajax' name has changed.
Please refer to the human I'm growing as DesvousJunior from now on.
Pronounced "day-va*-zhoon-yer."
Thank you, Lauren. You are BRILLIANT.

*The second syllable is actually a schwa, but I can't figure out how to type an upside down e. Oh, who am I kidding. None of you care.

Per Angie's Request

Here is a photo of myself at 19 weeks. We haven't taken a 20 week photo yet, but to be honest, I think I've changed a lot even since last week! I'll try to get one up soon.

Please note--Rich was really upset that I had to switch to post-it notes in the background. I'll try to use "pretty paper" again this week!

For comparison's sake, here's my last photo, four weeks ago.

Week 20

I am officially half-way through with my pregnancy!

Can you BELIEVE it?!

I plan to register this weekend at Babies R Us. Please pray for me and that carseat aisle...

This week, Ajax is 6 1/2 inches long from crown to rump, or 10 inches long from head to feet. He or she also weighs about 10 1/2 ounces this week.

I can feel movement very frequently these days, which makes The Hus crazy. He wakes me up at all hours of the night to ask me if I can feel it. I'm confident that soon he'll be able to feel it!

I must have gotten a fresh batch of hormones last night while I slept. I'm weepy and exhausted today. I treated myself to an iced coffee from McDonald's. It's terrible, but McD's can usually cheer me up. So far, so good.

Hormones rule!

Click on the photo link to learn more about how developed Ajax is this week!

Three Word Project

Head over to BlogMommas to see others!

Itchy and Scratchy

I. AM. SO. ITCHY.
I read that I am in the "itchy stage" of my pregnancy right now, where my blood volume increases by 50%. Therefore my blood vessels, nerves and skin are all agitated. In weird places. The tops of my arms, the insides of my ankles, my hairline and the tops of my thighs. Don't forget my palms and the bottoms of my feet (which I think is mostly from swelling, which has gone down significantly).
No amount of lotion helps because it's not dry skin. It's annoyed skin.
I suggested to my mom that they should put the leeches on me--drain some of this excess off.
She has yet to respond.

In other news, SUCCESS!
Mandi and I went on a shopping mission (from God) this weekend. We found her a new winter coat and me--MATERNITY JEANS!
Hooray!
I was so excited that I "frolicked," according to Mandi, in the store, and as soon as I paid I went back into the fitting room to change and wore them home. I asked the sales girl if she had a lot of women desperate enough to do that. She laughed and said, "Oh, yes. All the time."
Who cares!!? I had no idea how uncomfortable I had been until THAT. VERY. MOMENT.
The best part? Only $17.
Yay me!

Baby Loves AC/DC

I'm not just craving Oreos lately.

I can't get enough AC/DC.

I'm burning out my iPod at work.

Is it appropriate for my boss to hear me singing "Let's get it up!"?

All time favorite?

"If You Want Blood (You've Got It)."

I DEF-initely think this means it's a girl...

Rad

I am swollen and itchy today.

Rad.

Security Guards

You may not believe me (and I wouldn't blame you), but the animals have grown very protective of me since I got pregnant, particularly the cat. In fact, Pedro's actions are what made me first suspect that I might be preggers. : )

Weird, huh?

This is usually the scene when I get home from work.

Please note the Tums and remote control(s) nearby. Essential pregnancy tools.

Ouch.

I just spent $103 on TALL pants online.
I called Richard and said, "I just had to unbotton my biggest pair of pants. It's time."
He said, "Ok."
I said, "It's going to cost about $75."
He said, "So you mean $100?"
Basically.

Ultrasound Photos

The ultrasound visit was pret-ty cool.
We saw the baby moving around like crazy, sucking its thumb, sticking out its tongue, everything. It was quite the experience. I thought for sure that I would have a million questions, but instead I was so stunned I could hardly say anything!
As we left the appointment, Richard said, "That was the weirdest 20 minutes of my life..."
Rich also insisted that the doctor make sure that the femurs both looked good and strong. (LOL)
One bummer is that the doc AND nurse both referred to the baby as HE, even though we were both very adamant that we don't want to know the baby's sex. I pointed out to Rich that we've been calling it a HE since the day we found out we were having a baby, but still...it was sort of a bummer.
If you're keeping track, baby's heartrate is 134 (so slow!!), which is another sign that it could be a boy. To be honest, I don't put ANY stock in this guessing nonsense. It is what it is, and as Brenda said last night, "You can't change it anyway!"
It was a pretty cool experience to see that little baby flopping around in there and doing baby stuff!
I could go on and on, but let's get to the good stuff. The images here are not NEARLY as clear as they were on the screen, but they give you a pretty good idea of where we're at.

3D image of baby sucking its thumb (or at least attempting to!). This made me happy since I was a thumb sucker for WAAAAY too long. : )




Baby's face. The white part is its nose, the chin is pointing to the right, and its forehead is to the left. Can you see it?

This is my favorite from the appointment. Just a foot. This is the one that makes it a REAL baby to me. The rest of the pics are sort of...creepy.



Profile view of baby.
Its head is far left, the is fist at the top, connected to the forearm and elbow, which is touching the knee.

Ultrasound

Ultrasound today at 5pm!
I'm so excited that my stomach hurts!
!!!!!

Week 18

The Car Seat Aisle

I think my title says it all.
In other words, HOLY CRAP!
On a whim, I went to Babies R Us today to walk around and get my bearings before it's time to register.
The woman handed me a checklist with over 100 items on it.
I made my way through cribs and furniture making sure we made a wise purchase (yes!), and through the pack n play's, then on to the car seat aisle.
Talk about terrifying.
The options are endless, and the carseat is the one thing, the only thing that I am absolutely not willing to skimp on.
A very kind sales girl seemed to pick up on my fear and asked if I needed help.
"Yes!" I said. "How do I know which carseat will keep my baby...alive?"
She laughed and walked me through all my options. She seemed used to dealing with terrified mothers-to-be.
I admit that I was hesitant to register at BRU, because of their obnoxious commercials, but I have to say that after I was treated (with kindness and respect) today, Babies has my heart.


I was so overwhelmed after the visit that I had to go into Ulta and buy myself a treat. I'm sporting new "gold leaf" eyeshadow now. It's the little things...

Baby Voodoo

Last night, getting ready for Naomi's baby shower next month (more on that closer to the date), Sarah, Cara, Lauren and I repeated a sinful act that Sarah, Cara, Naomi and I first participated in about 4 months ago.
THE PENCIL TEST.
(Cue creepy music.)
Basically, you put a needle in the eraser of a pencil, and put string through the eye of the needle. Then one of your sinful friends dangles this pencil over your wrist to determine not only the sex of your child, but also how many children you will have.
Supposedly it works on non-pregnant women and will "fortel the future" and tell how many kids you will have or HAVE had.
Sarah SWEARS it worked perfectly on her own mother.
Basically, if the pencil sways one way, you're having a girl, the other, it's a boy.
Turns out, both Lauren and I are each having a girl and then a boy. Cara's having four children, and I think Sarah is having two.
I find it necessary to point out that 4 months ago, THE PENCIL told us that Naomi was having a boy, which, she did NOT.
I went to bed last night praying for my immortal soul.
Voodoo! I'm glad my dad is out of town. He would be horrified! (Probably not.)
Anyhow. A fun and interesting (as always) girls night.


**Please, no lectures on how the "little, harmless things" open the door to evil. I know, I know. Believe me.

Week 18 Check-Up

We had our 18-Week Check Up last night.
Everything seems to be in good shape.
Ajax' heartrate is 140-150.
My blood pressure is 108/64.
Our ultrasound is scheduled for October 15 at 5:00pm. Yay!!!
I'll only be 19 weeks for the ultrasound, but Fern says that's just fine. I can't wait to see pictures of my little one.
Fern answered all of our questions, including my consternation over why I'm not "showing" yet. She said the nicest thing--at least she made me feel a lot better. She said, "Darling, you have the BODY for having babies. Your baby is going to grow UP before it grows OUT, so be thankful for that! Tall girls like you have easy labors and delivery. Don't worry about this anymore!"
So, I won't.
I guess.
Can't wait to show you pictures of our baby!

DEVASTATION REIGNS: Departure of American Vixen leaves Will and Harry Distraught

Pregnant dream life RULES.

I can hardly wait to go to sleep at night to see which country I'll be in, which celebrity I'll be hanging out with, or who I'll be fighting with.

The dreams are SO vivid and realistic that when I dreamt on Saturday night that I was back in Scotland, I woke myself up crying (crying out of joy at being back there) several times.

Best dream so far (that's appropriate for the internet):

I'm in London at Buckingham Palace. For some reason I am inside the palace, looking around, and I am VERY dressed up. I look GOOD. Suddenly, both princes come through the front doors with six girls dressed all in white. I am SO good looking and charming that the princes ditch their harem and spend the day(s), week(s), month(s??) with me. When it's time to go back to America, local headlines read,

"Devastation Reigns: Departure of American Vixen leaves Will and Harry Distraught."

Vixen! Me!

I can't WAIT for bed tonight!

Furniture!

We bought our crib set today!
We found a crib and matching changing table / dresser on craigslist. The set was originally $1000 and we got it for only $300! Way to go us!
I'm pretty excited. It's got some dents and dings, but a little Murphy's Oil Soap and we'll be good to go.
I stole these pics from the ad online. Obviously it won't be pink and our daughter's name won't be Zoe, but I wanted to show it. We'll set it up in our nursery as soon as we sell our computer desk. Any takers?
p.s. Is it tacky to tell how much we paid? Sorry. I just love a good bargain.






Here's the desk. Honestly, if you want it, it's yours. I can send measurements to anyone looking.

Goldfish

I just felt my baby move!

It feels like a goldfish moving around in my stomach!

I called Richard right away to tell him. He got very excited. I know it's still a little early to be feeling movement, but after ruling out any other possible causes, I'm led to believe that this must really be it. (I reserve the right to change my mind in a few weeks.)

I've been waiting for this pregnancy thing to really seem real to me, and after our scare last Thursday and now this, it's really starting to feel like this is happening.

Oh my gosh, I have so much to do to get ready and only 23 weeks to do it in!!!

Alfalfa

When my friend, Cara, was pregnant with her first child, she talked about growing "baby hairs" around her hairline. "How pretty!" I thought. "I'll look just like J.Lo!" (Sorry for the clevage in this photo. It was the hair that I thought was so pretty.)


I thought, "IhopeIgetbabyhairs! IhopeIgetbabyhairs! IhopeIgetbabyhairs!"

I got them.

Just not at my temples like oh-so-pretty J.Lo.

I look like frickin' Alfalfa (who died at the age of 31 from a shotgun wound to the chest from a friend). Of COURSE this is happening to me.

Perhaps we should be calling baby Alfalfa instead of Ajax. Thoughts?

Melon, anyone?

Yesterday I mentioned to Richard that my uterus is the size of a small melon this week.

He oh-so-thoughtfully pointed out that that's not all that's the size of a melon these days.

TMI? We're all friends here.

Ah, pregnancy.

This week, Baby Ajax* is 5-inches from crown to rump, and according to one source weighs 5oz (this conflicts with my book that says Ajax weighs about 3.5oz). Either way--more than a candy bar! Ajax' sense of hearing is starting to develop (interestingly enough, I watched a documentary that says that baby can REALLY only hear Mother's voice, laughter, and singing until it is born, though, it recognizes Father mostly by smell when it is born. Cool, huh?), along with his/her skeleton, which, until now was rubbery cartiledge.

I am still not really showing, but I can feel my uterus getting heavier. If I'm laying on my back (which, apparently, I'm not supposed to be doing anymore), and turn to my side, I can feel my uterus changing positions in my abdomen. A VERY weird feeling.

*I intend to call the baby "Ajax" until Lauren catches on. She chose the name almost a year ago for her fictional baby and says I can't have it. It's so funny, though, that I just can't help myself. Sorry, Schmoo. It's just the perfect in-utero name.

Updates

An update on my lips:
Still chapped. Couldn't be from all the mouth-breathing I've done this week...
Update on my cramps:
Pretty much gone. I have another appointment on Oct. 8. I am looking forward to the confirmation that everything is fine.
Update on my cold:
Draining.

Thanks, everybody, for caring so much about my weird pregnancy symptoms!