Butterfly Wings or Gas Bubbles

Orange Seed is officially a full 15 weeks old today. According to What To Expect When You're Expecting, Orange Seed is weighing in at a whopping 3-5 ounces this week and is now somewhere between 4 and 5 inches long. No fruit description from What To Expect this week, although Your Pregnancy Week By Week is guessing "avocado". I swear last week they said softball, so I find this mildly confusing. Either they are seeing some BIG avocados or they don't know the difference between a softball and a baseball. Seriously...since when is an avocado bigger than a softball? I am not crazy to think this does not happen, am I? I remember softballs pretty darned well from my days as a First Basewoman on the Suicidal Eggplants (ahh...middle school sports...those were the days) and I definitely remember them being bigger than avocados. But anyway...

So Orange Seed is growing fast and getting stronger every day. I should start feeling him/her moving around sometime in the next few weeks. They estimate between 17 and 20. Chris will have to wait a little longer. That said, it is possible to feel him/her earlier and trust me...I'm trying! The problem is, the description of what the movements should feel like is as hard to picture as those little tiny movements might be to feel. The descriptions range from "Oh, it will feel like a little bubble bursting in your stomach" to "It will feel exactly like butterfly wings fluttering against our stomach" to "hmm...honestly, you'll be luck if you can tell the difference between the movement and gas." Nice. But I am apparently more likely to feel it in moments of stillness and quiet and so, I am focusing. I really am. I could have sworn I felt something the other night...and then again today...but it is so hard to say. They really need to come up with a device that can clarify these things. Just like the baby monitor gives you sound/sight from the baby's room nonce the baby is born, it would be nice to have regular access to an Ultrasound so that you could check if those little flutters are baby vs dinner.

It would also be nice for reassurance. I'm still not gaining weight and I look far from pregnant. The only comment I ever get from fellow pregnant people or those whom I tell I'm pregnant is "Oh wow...you must be very early...". Don't get me wrong, I am fine with being the skinny chick normally, but once you're pregnant, the belly is a sign of prestige and for the first time I am just waiting to gain some weight in the ab region already...

Ah well, soon enough, right? Soon enough. :)

In-between for Halloween

So now that Halloween (best holiday ever!) is approaching, I have realized one very sad fact...

I am in-between on Halloween! Pregnancy means two very exciting Halloween possibilities. Either you have a big Buddha belly to create all kinds of fun costumes around OR you already have your baby which provides a million and one hilariously adorable costume possibilities. Alas, as I'll only be around 16 weeks come Halloween, it is not looking like I am going to fall into the first category and, obviously, we have no desire to fall into the second. Hence follows the alack.

I'm not going to lie...I have been surfing the Web looking at all the baby costume ideas. The possibilities are endless. I'm particularly fond of anything that provides related costume options for mom and dad. One of my favorites is the lobster in the pot option. We could be chefs!



Then again, isn't everything cute when it's this little?



This is...



This one too.

This one?



Definitely.

See? All cute.

Now the pregnancy Halloween costumes are a mixed bag. Some cute. Some, well, woah...

Mother Nature with a belly globe...



Cute!

Basketball player with a belly ball...



Cute!

Detailed drawing of your baby and innards?



Hmm...not so sure, though I do admire the artistic skills!

At any rate, seeing as I have neither a belly nor a baby yet, I will be sticking to plain old costumes. I had a BRILLIANT idea, but since the dress I ordered showed up in aqua rather than green, my plans may have been thwarted.

More importantly though, to allow me to live vicariously, I hereby demand pictures of the little ones in their Halloween costumes from all my baby-mama and baby-daddy friends. Thank you!!

Comment Freedom

So, oops...I accidentally had the blog set so that only Registered Users could comment. Sorry!! For all those who have been asking, the blog is now open to all! Feel free to leave a comment by simply clicking on "Comments" under one of the posts and then choosing either "Name" or "Anonymous" from the dropdown menu.

Mea Culpa!

To Be or Not To Be

So, it is with some embarrassment that I admit that I signed up to attend an "Expectant Moms Event" today. I have a friend in the city who's gone to a few and raves about them, but she is also Super Mom and actually enjoys researching stroller types and the newest and greatest in highchairs. I can't help it...I'm not there yet.

The event is being held by a group called Big City Moms (http://www.bigcitymoms.com) and it promises to provide me with "tips on what you should bring to the hospital with you and what you should expect the first 3 weeks home". Okay, so I feel like this is the expectant equivalent of joining the stroller jogging group (I might plan on doing that too. Shh...), but I feel like I need to at least give it a try! Best case scenario, I meet a bunch of other women who are giving birth around April and are also looking for New Mom Friends AND I win a stroller (their site swears you can!). Worst case scenario, I get a bag full of goodies, a good dinner, and information overload. It's worth a try, right?

Irresistible

So, I have to admit that one of the best parts about being pregnant is the abundance of precious baby gifts. They are all tiny and soft and designed to elicit ooohs and ahhs and they made me all googly eyed even when I wasn't pregnant, so you can only imagine the awwww factor now.




Last week was our big "coming out" week. I think I told half my company population, plus we finally got to call all the remaining friends and family who we'd been dying to tell. Needless to say, the cuteness has started flooding in and we couldn't be more thrilled. Every little thing we get makes all this feel just a little bit more real. Holding little tiny baby clothes and realizing that we are going to have someone to actually put them on in only a few months is really just the most incredible feeling.




It is not news to us that we have the best friends around. We've been lucky in our lives to meet more amazing people than we would ever have thought possible. To see how excited all our friends and family are for this baby just cements that fact. It has been so fun to tell each person. Tons of screams, hugs, and general love have been thrown our way. It's so nice to finally be able to share the big news. Seeing everyone else so excited just makes us even more thrilled.

Many thanks to Aunt Janie, Uncle Dave, and Adam; Aunt Kim; Miss Heleana; and Aunt Irene for all the wonderful things above!

In other news, we did finally take our first Belly Pics. As I still feel like this fairly flat stomached fake, I've been resisting taking pics; however, it is Week 15 and I figure it is time to start showing the progress, even if Chris and I are the only ones who really see it.



For those of you who don't know...my stomach did actually used to curve IN at the bottom, rather than out. It's a tiny baby bump, but trust me...it feels much more significant when it's you! Still excited to actually "pop" though and join the ranks of the obviously pregnant! Rumor has it that could still be weeks and weeks away though, so no excuse to buy a new wardrobe of maternity clothes just yet.

Singing it from the Rooftops

Now that we are finally "official" and are spreading the word to friends and family, it seemed like starting a blog would be a great way to keep everyone up-to-date regarding Orange Seed's progress. The nice thing about blogs is that you only have to look at them when you choose, so you can decide whether you care to hear about whether or not Orange Seed has fingers, toes, and eyelashes this week or whether you would rather just stay blissfully unaware of all the little developments that keep a parent-to-be fascinated morning, noon, and night (and all the hours in between, if we're being honest).

For those of you who do care...this week Orange Seed is about the size of a woman's clenched fist. Hair is starting to sprout on its little head. Its vocal chords are already beginning to develop (uh oh!). The baby now has individual fingers and toes and based on the last ultrasound, finally looks like a baby, not just like a crustacean, a la 9 week ultrasound.

9 Weeks!

12 Weeks!

Oh! And the moniker...the story of the Orange...so way back in Week 5 when C and I first found out about Orange Seed's existence, I immediately bought us all the Must Have baby books so that we would know what the heck we were getting ourselves into to. If you haven't seen any of these books, they are absolutely fabulous and try to make this little creature, whose existence feels completely surreal for oh so long, at least a little more tangible for you. One way they do that is to describe your child as various fruits and veggies in an attempt to make those "This week your baby is 3.5cm long!" announcements a little easier to grasp. The week we found out that we would be parents come next April, our baby was the size of an orange seed. The title has stuck. Even now, 9 weeks later, when Orange Seed is actually the size of a peach, we're still referring to him/her by his/her original name.

So, 14 weeks down and 26 to go. Amazing how something can feel so real and surreal all at the same time. There's no real belly yet, no outward signs. The ultrasound where we saw him/her swing its little arms and legs was really the most "real" moment we've had. That said, we kiss Orange Seed goodnight (well, Chris does. Little hard for me.), we talk to him/her and we love him/her more than is really reasonable or comprehensible at this point. It's the most amazing experience...we're enjoying every moment.