Friday, December 14, 2012

25 weeks

Here we are at 25 weeks- the wee girl is growing! I have finally figured out how to take my iron without feeling terrible. As long as I take it mid-day, with lunch, and it's the slow release formula, I seem to only get lightly nauseous.



Opie has been attached to my heels. Mike has even mentioned that Opie is more aware of me when I am around-he seems to follow me everywhere. Like right now, he is asleep touching my feet while Mike is relaxing in the other room.

This week has been complicated for a few reasons. On the happy side, we are moving Monday. We are really excited about moving- being outside of the district is going to be hard. However, after the past weekend, when I was out of town, and Mike had to deal with some sort of techno-beat and blowing things up in alternating patterns, I think coming home to a quiet house will be worth it for both of us. We are packing and getting ourselves ready. As my mom said, moving isn't really even stressful for us now because we have done it so many times, but it's just knowing exactly how much time and work it takes to get organized.

On the really sad side, a dear family friend and influential pastor in my life unexpectedly passed away this week from complications with care for lymphoma. Dr Chip Gunsten has been a friend of my dad's since the 70's. Growing up, we would often go over to the Gunsten's house for dinner on the weekend and we played with Sarah and Anna, who are the same age as Matt and me. Sarah and her husband Rob and Anna were all in youth group with us. Pastor Chip married Mike and I.

He was a vibrant man and truly an exemplar of faith, hope and love. He was GOOD. He made and continues to make the world a better place through his influence. Pastor Chip was really a "pastor"- he led through actions and words and was deeply faithful. I am thankful he was part of our lives. The loss of such a kind, strong and admirable man is deeply sad. The reverberations will be felt for many years to come throughout the Lutheran Church in Virginia.

Pastor Jim, me, Mike, and Pastor Chip
Please keep Chip's wife Kris, Sarah, Rob, Anna, and Sarah and Rob's baby daughter, Meredith, in your prayers.

Faith, hope, love.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

24 weeks

Here we are at 24 weeks! The baby girl is growing, I think... I am hungry all the time. I am almost excited to go to the doctor next time, just to see what my new measurements are! I definitely don't fit into non-preggers clothes any more. I thought I was going to be able to keep wearing t-shirts for the duration. Yeah, that's not going to work.  Unless they become belly shirts, which we all know is class with a capital gross. Maybe Mike's t-shirts.  

I just ate a bowl of ice cream and the baby is now dancing in my tummy. She is truly my daughter. 

My mom and Mike's mom, Karen, have been so great about supplementing my borrowed pregnancy wardrobe with their own really kind gifts. This is a new dress that Karen got me, just for the holidays!


 In other news, we will be moving come mid-December. We are very excited to leave our thin-walled apartment for a larger baby/dog/family friendly townhouse in Alexandria. I will post pictures soon of the new place. It's going to be really hard to leave the city center, and specifically leave the 10 minute walk between our house and our dear friends Chad and Jen's place. Sigh. A very bittersweet move.

Mike said "look normal". This is what I came up with.
This weekend the Blueberry and I will be spending a few days with Mom and Ray and Ray's daughter Suzanne and my brother Pudface McWeinerson Matt in Atlanta. We are celebrating Christmas a little bit early so that will be really nice. Mom and I will get to do some baby stuff, and we'll get to have a Christmas celebration.

Happy Wednesday (ohmygoshitsnottuesday).

Friday, November 30, 2012

23 Weeks

I have been eating us out of house and home lately. I am not sure if the kid is going through a growth spurt or what, but I can't seem to get enough to eat. I definitely am feeling bigger, which is great in some ways, but is really strange/uncomfortable in other ways. The little one seems to have developed a bit of a schedule- she is very quiet in the morning, but gets more active as the day goes on. She really kicks in the evening. Mike has felt her kick a few times now, and it's really incredible to me that she can be in my tummy and yet he can feel her too.

After an afternoon at the hospital 
I am still feeling good- not sleeping very well lately, and I wake up really hungry. I got up at 3am the other morning and had to have a snack. And I have gone back to waking up nauseous again, but we are getting that under control. Also when Mike and I went to look at houses last weekend, we had to stop at Dunkin Donuts so I could get a bagel. There's nothing special for me about Dunkin, it was just the closest thing. I have tried to keep snacks with me, but ran out somehow this past week. I am trying to get more iron, but the pills really make me feel terrible. But I want the kiddo to get some iron. 

blurry. blurry blueberry. blurrrberrry.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Giving Thanks

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. Man, I needed some time with my brother and dad. Seriously. They got here late Wednesday evening, so Mike and I took Wednesday to get ready for their arrival. We prepped everything for Thanksgiving, so Thursday would be very easy and low key. I think this is the key to Thanksgiving success. We also made sugar cookie dough, which we then used with our new NINJA SHAPED COOKIE CUTTERS. And, yes. They did taste better than Christmas tree or God forbid, circle shaped sugar cookies. 

Non-refrigerated Thanksgiving food- Before

Refrigerated Thanksgiving food- Before
On Thursday, this is what the majority of our day looked like: 



The turkey went into the oven at 2pm. We started with stuffed mushrooms and mulled wine around 3pm. There was a rotation of food in and out of the oven and on and off the stove and we ate around 5pm. We had a turkey crown, which I ordered from a farmer at the farmers market, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and broccoli, Karen's corn pudding, Mike's sausage, apple, and cranberry stuffing, cream rolls, Jen's garden green beans with bacon, whiskey mushroom cream gravy....

Thanksgiving after cooking

Thanksgiving After cooking

And who can forget?!???! It's not Thanksgiving at the Henrickson household without cranberries with the lines. Will the class never stop? 


On Friday, Mike had to work, so Dad, Matt and I went to see Skyfall. One of my favorite moments of the weekend was when we were walking to the metro and Dad was talking about how he got the Blueberry a tiny pink baseball glove (it is obscenely cute). Matt and I started joking about how when we were kids, and we would play wiffleball in the backyard, Dad had all these names for his pitches... Neither of us could EVER hit the "sucker pitch". Then we started talking about watching football the day before and going to see James Bond. Then Matt said, "man, we have a lot to teach the baby." 

Our girl is so blessed already. 


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

22 weeks

Here we are at 22 weeks!

I went to the doctor yesterday- I already feel like I see the doctor more than my husband, but now I have to start going 2x/month... ah well! The baby is in all measurements average- average tummy measures for me, anatomy growth scan was all average, and I am gaining average weight. All good! I can feel her kicking a bit more, and I keep trying to help Mike feel it, but the Dr said that it's still pretty early for that. Though it doesn't prevent me from waking him up at 6am to see if he can feel her kicking like I can!


My temperature is actually normal now, which is unusual for me- usually my basal temp is a bit low. But the wee girl is warming me up! My blood pressure is still low, but closer to my normal level. So the doctor said I don't have to go back to the cardiologist and get a 24 hour monitor. Phew.

I kinda like that you can see the bump pretty well now. 

Dad and Matt are coming for Thanksgiving- they arrive later tonight. I am very excited for food and football and hanging out with my favorite men. It sounds a bit silly, but I am glad the Blueberry will get to hear their voices too.

Mike and I have spent today getting ready, it's been a pretty low stress day- just cooking and tasting and cooking and eating lunch and tasting and also tasting. I started making pumpkin pie before I realized that I threw out my pie pan a few weeks ago because it was cruddy, so I had to improvise. I must say, I am very proud of the results.

Pumpkin Pie Tarts
We won't be short on food. I'll post before and after shots later. I absolutely love Thanksgiving. I am thankful for so many things, but for now, I'll just leave it that having my family visit, and knowing that the baby girl already has so many people who love her is filling my heart to overflowing.



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

21 weeks

Here we are at 21 weeks. I feel like I popped overnight. I swear, yesterday I didn't look as pregnant as I do today. I couldn't sleep last night, so maybe the baby was growing a lot (???).

Dress my mom got me- very cute. Also, getting better at looking normal in self photos. 

 I am not sure if it's real, but I do feel that I have baby brain. I completely forgot where I parked the car at the hospital this morning. So, that was a fun 25 minutes of directionless wandering.

Tummy sticking out! 
This is one of the cute sweaters that our friend Emily sent along for  maternity wear. I get so many compliments on her clothes when I wear them... I think when I go back to non maternity, I might need to get her to help me shop. 

I swear, I could see my toes much more easily yesterday. 
I have been doing a lot of thinking about the baby's room. I think we have a few good ideas, but no dedicated color scheme yet. We'll get there. I want to be deliberate about this, and not let it get away with me like most of my decorating does. I think the main thing we have agreed on is that there will be one wall entirely dedicated to books. Because we'll still be renting, we can't paint, so we will get some plate rails normally used to display plates, but will put books on them. So they are simultaneously providing color and variation, but also very functional. Mike and I are so excited about reading to our little girl, this is the perfect combination of decorative and functional. We are already starting a wonderful collection of books thanks to our friends Chad and Jen, my mom, and Mike's aunt Margaret (she's a children's librarian, so she's our hook up- book hook up? book up?). 

Friday, November 9, 2012

The Big Announcement!

Mike and I are absolutely over the moon to let everyone know, the apple of our eyes is an amazing little

  GIRL!!!!!!

The Blueberry was cooperative today. All it took was a little orange juice and a calm mommy. We both absolutely loved this picture.





You can see her little ribs through her thin skin and her ear looks so sweet.  In the one below, you can see the her umbilical cord. It was great to see her heart with all four chambers and little valves opening and closing. Her nose is so wee! 


I went to the cardiologist, and all is good. I think I was dehydrated and my own diagnosis is that perhaps I wasn't eating right. I was eating a lot of fruit and had been eating a lot of junk food, because is what I've wanted to eat. So, I've reupped my veggie intake, and am drinking at least 2x the water I was drinking. Fear not, I am still eating my m&ms, but I am just complimenting it with more veggies.


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Week 19-20

No pictures yet this week.

We were hoping to have a massive announcement last week- the gender of the Blueberry. Unfortunately, the child already has a mind of its own and decided that it would rather nap than give mom and dad the satisfaction of starting to "nest" in earnest.  A dear friend told me, that kid is already giving you a taste of what the rest of your life will be like, you no longer have control. This is true, I am trying to not freak out whenever it happens.

We went for our anatomy scan last Thursday. It wasn't the greatest experience- the tech was very focused and had a rough (at best) bedside manner. The picture that she printed out for us was... creepy. I actually made a joke that she was giving it to us as a halloween present. Maybe it's because the last ultrasound tech was so good and so efficient, and printed out four beautiful photos, or maybe it's because I am completely emotionally vulnerable right now, but the picture she gave us looked like a skeleton, not our precious child, and I can't look at it. It's buried in my bag.

And this is why we have no pictures this week.

Mike has been a hero through everything. He is going to be an amazing dad. Our child is so incredibly lucky.

I have gained 11 pounds so far- 10 in the first trimester and 1 since. I am working on it, and it's not for lack of eating, that's for sure.

I had to go to the cardiologist today because I have been continuing to have bouts of tachycardia, or elevated heart rate. My blood pressure this morning was 84/46. I generally have low blood pressure, but this is low, even for me. The cardiologist seemed more concerned about my current BP than about the elevated heart rate. He told me to drink more water, that I was probably getting dehydrated and that I could wear a 24 hour monitor if it's still bothering me in a couple of weeks. I have to get back to him to schedule the monitor pick up, so we'll see what happens.

We have our repeat anatomy scan on Friday morning. There were multiple pictures that they weren't able to get because the baby was so intent on sleeping. We did see the heart beat and the brain has 2 lobes, and I think everything else looked healthy. We just didn't see all four heart chambers and a few other key anatomical structures, beyond the gender.

As of tomorrow, we're halfway there. I absolutely can't believe it. I feel like we are still navigating realizing we're pregnant.

I am starting to have little cramps and pains here and there in my abdomen, and feel little flutters, which I can now identify as the baby moving. Pregnancy clothes are great, though given the option, I would prefer to be in my pj pants all day. I think they might frown on that at the hospital.

Hopefully we'll have some amazing pictures to share on Friday!!!!!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

week 18-19

I was away at a conference this past week, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society's meeting. This is my profession's annual meeting, so it's actually nice to go each year because I get to see lots of people who I have known since grad school, or have had the opportunity to work with professionally. However, as a result, I didn't get my normal time to take pictures and get organized for the blog. So here are pictures a bit late!

It was interesting being pregnant at the conference, because I think initially, people just thought I'd gained some winter weight... FINALLY someone asked me if I was pregnant.

Also, this week I have experienced my tummy bumping into stuff it didn't used to. That's been kind of funny, but at the same time, slightly dangerous. I didn't realize how close to the edge I apparently put my toothbrush.

I didn't mean to be making a kind of crazy face here, but I happen to be. This whole taking pictures of myself thing is more challenging than I thought. 


These pants are maternity pants, but they are those demi-coverage type and as I get bigger, I like them less. I think they are awkward with where they sit. 

Also, you will notice the flashlight- I was testing it because we have Frankenstorm coming our way. I don't know how to deal with this kind of thing, so we're playing it by ear, but we may be making a trip inland... We all know how well DC handles any sort of slightly abnormal weather.

That's it for now! Happy Saturday!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

17 weeks

Here we are at 17 weeks! 
Little "baby pooch", which is what my lovely brother called it. 

Front, bump showing! 

Not much to report other than that I am feeling good,  am 100% fine with going to bed at 9pm, and have apparently entered into the junk food craving part of pregnancy. Today at the store I wanted to get reese's jello no-bake, but I think it's possible that this doesn't actually exist, rather that I made it up.  If that's the case, someone should get on it, because it sounds awesome. So I got reese's pieces instead, and they have been more than adequate. Along with a side of chocolate covered pretzels. Lest you think I am feeding the Blueberry only junk, I did have a small baked potato with TONS of fresh veggies on top and no butter for middle dinner (early dinner was reese's; late dinner was chocolate covered pretzels.)

Blueberry from my view


Saturday, October 13, 2012

I love Saturday morning

What a great start to a Saturday. It is an absolutely perfect early fall day. Cool, but with beautiful sunshine and heavy dew. The outside smells faintly of wood fire and mud. It's my most favorite time of the year, I think. This morning we were up early, which I absolutely adore on the weekend. I know I sound about 9 million years old, but I will take early Saturday morning over late Friday night almost every time. Also, turn down that music and get off my lawn!

Opie and I went to Rock Creek Park this morning, because he has been out of his mind lately with energy. I think this week was kind of hard on him because I was at work for long hours, and then am tired in the evening, so although he gets his 30 minutes in the morning and 30-45 minutes in the evening of exercise, he is used to more stimulation. Plus, he is a puppy of routines, which ultimately I am very thankful for, but he never does well with slight schedule changes. With Mike gone, he is having to adjust to my schedule.


So this morning we went to the park and I threw the ball for over an hour. He ran around like a crazy puppy (side note: when we went to the vet this week, she informed me that Opie will soon be a "senior." I laughed at her.) and would've continued to run, but the park police told me I had to put him back on a leash and I decided just to bring him home.



Last night, my good friend came over and she and I ate dinner and watched a movie, but Opie was being kind of a pain. I had to put him in "time out" (go to his kennel) once, and after about 5 minutes, I let him out. He was good for about half an hour, and then started being naughty again and all I had to do was say "Opie..." in my most warning tone, and he put himself into time out! I consider this a parenting victory. You know, because dogs are exactly the same as humans. 

In other news:

Pregnancy. I am feeling very good, though still get nauseous for about half an hour after breakfast in the morning. This is completely manageable though. Preggie pops and this organic tea my mom sends me does wonders. Possibly all placebos, but I care not. If it helps, I will keep doing it. We got the amazing box of maternity clothes as well as a couple books and (importantly) some of Mike's favorite whiskey from Jacob and Emily. What a gift!!! No weird cravings yet, but I tend to find myself feeling much better if I eat fresh food, like salads or fruit. My body still doesn't really love meat, but I need it because I have low iron and the iron vitamins make me ill. So, I am really trying to eat red meat at least once a week if not more. 

Work. The presentation went really well. I was very relieved. I have said this many times, but improv absolutely changed my life in so many ways. I still call on certain skills I learned in theatre and improv in my day-to-day work life. Especially when it comes to presenting.  Also, I did data analysis all day Friday and my data looks really good. I know it sounds uber-nerdy, but I am so excited. And if you have nothing to do today, please call me so we can talk about my excellent kappas (not a euphemism). Work is really good these days. I love what I do and continue to be amazed that someone is willing to pay me to do this stuff. 

Marriagebreaktober. Over it.

Have a wonderful fall Saturday!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

16 weeks


So, here are the things that I have learned about pregnancy this week: 

1) 16 weeks is my magical week! No nausea or throwing up this week. It is WONDERFUL! I am feeling good now, and am getting excited about everything that is happening. 

2) I have needed to ask for help a lot more lately. Marriagebreaktober has been a bit challenging for me, mostly because I miss Mike, but also I am pretty tired. I have had excellent chats with friends and family lately, and that has made a world of difference. In addition, our friends Emily and Jacob are sending lots of maternity clothes and books our way. This is an incredible gift. I guess I am realizing how much help I need and how important it is... I want our child to grow up knowing how many people have given his/her parents a boost, just by their kindness and love. I hope we can do the same for future mamas and papas. 

3) I got a suit for a presentation tomorrow from this pregnancy clothes rental website, just to try it out, and I am not impressed. Won't be doing that anymore. 

4) self pictures are kinda hard to take- I need a better method. I had to focus really hard to get the first one without the phone covering my face. 

SERIOUS FACE PICTURE.

BLUEBERRY'S BUMP!!! you can see it a little bit! 


Bump from my view. 


I give a big presentation at work tomorrow which I am nervous about. Not only am I nervous about the presentation itself, but I have a new thing where my heart starts to race a little bit and I get out of breath easily. Nothing to worry about, but for someone who has always had lower than normal blood pressure and fairly low heart rate, I really notice it when my heart rate goes up.

Apparently, The Blueberry is the size of an avocado! The eyes are closer to the front of the head, and ears are close to their final position. The heart is pumping now and the legs are getting more and more developed. Hopefully soon I will feel the kiddo moving!!!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Baby. Time.


These last few weeks have been quite the whirlwind. Mike and I are expecting!! We are 15 weeks now. I went to the doctor again on Monday and the baby is doing great. We will have our 20 week scan in November. Mike is going to get to come to that scan- he's unfortunately had to miss the last 2, so this will be great. Whenever we hear the little heartbeat we both want to hear it for EVER. It's incredible to think that there's a little something growing in there... but it's finally starting to look like there is!

This is me now:


Notice the wee belly! (please notice the whiteness of the belly less). Here is the reason I was in a bathing suit: 


We got to go to the beach. It was marvelous. Just Mike and I and about a million books. We have had very limited time together lately because of work commitments. And on top of inconsistent schedule, the this month has been rechristened "marriagebreaktober" due to the fact that there are a total of 6 days this month that Mike and I will both be in our apartment simultaneously. Mike's at Genius Training (though I bet he is training all those JV geniuses- compliment = 5 wife points, please) for 3 solid weeks and then I go to a conference myself for a week.

Thinking about baby stuff is simultaneously exciting and petrifying. We made a big purchase toward baby stuff this weekend. It's a used Honda CRV, perfect size for baby, baby accoutrement, Opie, plus us.

Happy Tuesday!