13 Weeks and Growing!

Holy moly! Little Bubba is already over 3 months!? For real?

Well thank goodness, because I'm finally getting past the nausea and fatigue, and I'm loving that. I'm actually feeling pretty good these days! My belly continues to expand and I'm glad that it now it actually appears that I am pregnant and not just like I've been eating too much.

I just got back to El Salvador on Saturday, after spending 2 weeks with the family in Houston. It was nice being in Houston for a bit- even though it meant exercising less and eating more. I feel like I have the appetite of a teenage boy and being in Houston only encouraged it. I went to Chic-fil-A 3 times (sorry gay friends, I love their chicken), had pho, Mexican, and Thai... and always kept good ice cream in the freezer at the house. Blue Bell and Drumsticks! Now that I'm back from the vacay, I am ready to make an effort to make good choices and try to keep the weight gain down. I just don't want to get too huge, ya know.

I went shopping for my first maternity clothes with mom while I was home. We found some jeans that were a really good deal, so even though they were too big on me now, my mom encouraged me to get them. She said I'd be thanking her later, promising there will come a day when the others won't fit anymore and I will need them. I then started crying right there in the dressing room, sad that my ass would actually one day be big enough to fill those pants. Mom comforted me, and I took a deep breath toward accepting this. I'm just not built like those skinny girls that somehow magically stay thin and the only thing that grows on them in pregnancy is their belly. Temporarily having a big butt is totally worth having a baby! :) It's not forever, but being a mommy will be.

Noel and I are really looking forward to finding out the sex in a few weeks! We bought this silly gender  predictor test online just for fun. Supposedly it can sense the hormones in your urine and thats how it tells you what you're having. It came in the mail while I was in Houston, and I took it this weekend when I got home. It turned pink... so according to the test we're having a girl!

You can barely see the pink in the window now because it faded between when I took the test and when I took the picture a few days later. But this was it! 

Haha, I'm not taking it too seriously! Like one lady who reviewed the product on Amazon.com was pissed because she had so much faith in the test, went out and starting buying all this girl stuff, and then found out later from ultrasound that she was having a boy. I'll wait and see what the ultrasound says!

For a while I've been saying I'd be happy with either but I really want a boy... I take it back now. I want both! I know I will have so much fun either way. And dressing up baby girls can be so much fun I bet, with all the cute pink frilly things. So I will be thrilled no matter what! It's my first baby, who cares what it is! But until I know what you are baby, I'm calling you Little Bubba.

One of the best things that happened while I was home was I got to hear Little Bubba's heartbeat! Because mom is a midwife she has the equipment at home and we could listen whenever we wanted. We tried the day I got there for the first time. Little Bubba was only 10 weeks then, so the heartbeat wasn't as easy to find, or as loud. But we got it really good a few times. We even skyped Noel in so he could be there to hear it too! Dad and my brother Evan and his fiance Jenny also listened in! The pictures below are from that night, courtesy of the wonderful Jenny.

With my mom and wonderful midwife... Happy to hear you, baby!
You are so small, but already have so many people that love you!

See Noel on the computer!

We went back to listen a week later and then again the night before I left, each time being louder and easier to find. The sweetest little sound I ever heard! I am really wowed by the fact I am nearly in my 2nd trimester! These first 3 months have flown by, and I'm guessing the next 3 will too, especially with our move to DC and everything that will be going on with that.

It's all so exciting! It's all starting to sink in a little more and be a little less scary. In my 1st trimester I was scared about everything, every little ache and pain, and worrying about things I had done before I knew I was pregnant. I was looking things up on the internet all the time, and was asking mom a million questions. One time I asked her if she thought I was having a pulmonary embolism because I had been really short of breath and looked online and saw some women talking about having that. Haha, I am more relaxed now, maybe also because I'm feeling better or jut getting used to things. I still come up with tons of questions every week, but they aren't so much the fearful kind.

So we're steadily moving forward! And Bubba now has a first belonging...a beautiful homemade quilt gifted by my mom, that was made by one of her sweet clients. I love it! I love that I have something tangible now that will belong to baby when he/she gets here! It makes it all that more real and fun! I can't wait to get to DC and get more baby stuff! :)

10 weeks and some days, at Mom & Dad's in Houston

13 weeks 2 days, back at our house in El Salvador

Paz y Amor.