4 month tummy

Yep, I finally had to give in to the maternity pants with the cool big elastic band. I couldn't find any jeans that I liked....will have to keep looking.

I can't believe how much my belly has popped out in literally days! For reals, one day my pants fit fine, then the next day they didn't. EJ notices it getting bigger every day too.

Haha, this morning I was jamming out to some reggaeton and baby started kicking away, doing somersaults in there. Either she doesn't like it or she enjoys it as much as her mama does. I think she was having fun dancing around with me though :P

My belly popped this week! Every day I can feel it getting bigger. I'm running out of jeans that still fit!

Just being nosy...

OK, this is EJ writing now. I am just being nosy, and figured that I might as well get into the action with this whole baby blogging thing. Given that I cannot grow a baby inside me and that I am missing out on all of that, I figured I'll try to get involved in ways where I can. Anyway, the baby moved yesterday...lots of times. I was actually driving home from work when it happened. Margarita called my cell phone and told me all about it...I cried a little, just a little. But then afterward I couldn't stop thinking about it, and giggling about it. So I must've looked like a crazy person giggling by myself while stuck in rush hour traffic. Anyway...I'm done.
HI BABY!!!

finger CHOP!

Now I'm sure I felt baby kick. Yesterday I was talking to my belly and I felt several little pokes. It was so cool to finally feel what's been growing in there! Even more than hearing the heartbeat....although that was pretty awesome too. EJ is so proud every time we go to an appointment. Afterward he'll brag to everyone, "my baby's heart beat 156 times a minute." I actually got kind of emotional (i.e. cried) when I felt that little poke and knew for sure that it was baby. It's definitely more real now. EJ was even able to feel him so I know it wasn't just me. Can't smile big enough :)

Auntie Freda took this picture at Veta's fundraiser in Fairbanks in November

Tibet

Oooh, I wanted to mention this concert we went to a few weeks ago. It was the first Free Tibet concert in Alaska on Jan 10. A Tibetan man who grew up in India and Nepal (because his parents fled Chinese rule in Tibet) has been living in Alaska for a while now and organized this event. They brought up a former Tibetan prisoner to talk about her experiences. Her name is Ngawang Sangdrol, and she was first imprisoned when she was 13 because she was part of a peaceful protest. She was there for 13 years in all before the government was pressured to release her and she came to the states.....can you imagine!??! They also brought up I guess one of Tibet's most well known performing artist, Yungchen Lhamo. It was cool. There were also a couple of local indigenous groups that performed. And it was free. Yungchen Lhamo performed last. She has such a soft calm voice and her music is so soothing, like lullaby music (I should get her CD and listen to it when I can't fall asleep!). It was really nice. So I was just sitting back in my chair enjoying the music, let my eyes close and was thinking about baby...and I felt a little bubble down below my belly button. Gas? Has to be, I was only 14 weeks pregnant...but it was in front in the middle....hmmm.....maybe. I think baby liked the music.....

Insomnia

How do I write a frustrated sound.....arrrgh....I can't sleep! Most nights I wake up and cannot fall back asleep, then I am so tired all day long! I have this eye mask and lavender aromatherapy and try all these breathing and relaxation techniques..and nothing. EJ sleeps so easily..I think it makes me more frustrated.
Anyway, I thought I'd write about dreams. I often remember at least bits of my dreams, but lately they have been more vivid and weird. I did have a dream that I gave birth already. I was at a check-up and they told me there that I was in labor and had to start pushing already. I was worried because it was too early and that was not how I wanted to give birth (it was this really sterile room on a hard little exam table). They told me that I had to start pushing so I gave a feeble push because I didn't really believe them that it was time already. (I didn't feel anything so I knew it was a dream.) They got mad at me and told me that I had to try harder, and put my hand down there to feel the head crowning, then all of a sudden the whole baby came out and I caught it. I just laughed because I stil didn't believe it. I looked down and it was this brown baby girl with a head full of thick dark hair. I laughed again and said "this can't be my baby, I was bald my whole first year!"
EJ had a dream that he was pregnant and gave birth...hahaha...he doesn't remember the details though.
After I told my new BIRCH (Building Initiatives in Rural Community Health-- the name of the AmeriCorps program I coordinate) team that I was expecting in July, one of the girls came up to me and told me that before she came to town for orientation and we met in person that she had a dream that I was pregnant.
TG and EJ's mom are sure that I am going to have a girl. Alison says it's a girl. We'll see...........

Baby Bump!

I've just been feeling chubby lately, but I think that's finally a real baby bump! 16 weeks. Baby's as big as an avocado. Almost everything is formed, just has to grow grow grow. She* can taste what I eat in the amniotic fluid...even more motivation to eat healthy food so she won't be fussy with it later on! Next week she'll start to be able to hear us :)
*we don't know if "she's" a boy or girl, and won't until her birthday, I'm just going to randomly say he or she instead of "it."

First Trimester

Exhausted? YES...could not keep my eyes open past 8:30. I never thought about how much energy it takes to grow a whole new person!
Vómitos? Only a few times when I brushed my teeth...weird.
Cravings? Olives....loooooove olives lately.
Amazed? Totally. I know women are pregnant and having babies all over the world every day, and many of my friends and cousins already have, and I worked for a while on the labor and delivery ward where I saw it every day, multiple times a day.....but I still can't fathom how one of EJ's tiny cells merged with one of mine and created a whole new being for this world. And how so much is growing out of those two microscopic cells....eyes, a heart, fingers....a whole entire person is being formed inside of me. I feel so empowered to have this ability. Super cheesy I know, but it's true!

Hmm, what else. Super eager, I read as much as I could get my hands on. EJ asked me one time, "how many first trimester chapters are you going to read?" I wanted to know EVERYTHING. We started meeting a bunch of different midwives to decide on who will guide me through this. I got prenatal vitamins and was more motivated than ever to eat as healthy as I could...always had this bag of veggies to snack on in my bag. No more coffee :( Just herbal tea...sometimes got so tired of drinking tea, but I'm used to it now. Then around 6 or 7 weeks nausea kicked in and I didn't want to eat anything. I would feel fine in the mornings but it’d get progressively worse throughout the day and by dinner time I couldn't be convinced to eat. I would just eat whatever I felt like eating just so that I ate something (cheese…olives…sunflower seeds…seems I wanted salt!). And I was still really tired all the time. And work has been soo hectic lately. It was pretty tough in December trying to finish up my class at UAA, keep up with this super busy time at work, and my part-time job teaching diabetes classes. I had no energy left for anything else. I just wanted to SLEEP. The nausea wore off by 12 or 13 weeks, and I’m back to thinking about my nutrition and reading everything I can about what our jelly bean’s developing every week.

When we first found out.....

First belly picture around 6 weeks. Baby's about as big as a lentil. Nose, mouth and ears are forming.

And this is from my journal, what I wrote the first day we found out...
November 2, 2008 Día de los Muertos:
So my boobs have been pretty sore the last few days, and I haven't had mi regla all of October. Last week I tried a test and it said "not pregnant." (I had a glass of syrah that night when we ate at Tango...oops!) Still nothing so I wanted to try another one this morning but was trying not to be too anxious and was afraid to just be disappointed again. EJ said go ahead trying not to make a big deal about it then went downstairs to make coffee. I peed on the stick and tried not to watch the blinking hourglass the whole time. I came back to the bathroom and it said "pregnant." I thought I wasn't it right because I didn't have my glasses on yet, or I was just hoping too hard, but it still said "___pregnant," no "not." I called EJ upstairs, impatiently, and watched him go look at it. He jumped around super happy. We are so happy. I was kind of shaky. I kept asking "is that right?" "are you sure?" EJ brought me coffee back in bed. Next time I had to go to the bathroom I peed on another stick, and it too said "pregnant." EPT 99.9% accurate x 2. EJ and I stayed in bed most of the day reading pregnancy stuff and talking about it. We had everyone over for dinner. At the end of the prayer EJ said, "and thank you God for blessing us with this baby on the way." I was watching everyone’s faces, saw them understand what he meant then there was screaming and jumping and crying and hugging. It was cool. Everyone is so happy and excited. It still doesn't seem really for real. It does, but it's surreal. Should be about 4 weeks. Can't wait to start talking to the midwives and learn everything I can.