So, we just had our third prenatal appointment and learned that not all pregnancy calendars are the same. Apparently there are a lot of companies that send gynecologists “pregnancy wheels” that look like this:

They align the first day of your last period, or due date and it will tell you how far you are on any give date. I’m thinking that since there is a 2 week window on either side of 40 weeks that is normal for “baby” to arrive some become creative with their math. According to one, I am 15 weeks 4 days, and another I’m 14 weeks 5 days or something.

Interesting, since there are a million “due date calculators” online, and all of them give me the same due date–March 18.

Anyway, the baby has a nice, average heartbeat. It’s at about 140 and going strong. I was a little bummed we didn’t get to see him/her today, but we’ll just go to a 3-D place in a couple of weeks. That way we’ll have good pictures and be able to tell for sure if we’re expecting Kaia or Britton.

Since I was sick for a couple of weeks, I did lose some weight. I thought I had gained it back, and a tiny bit more, but not according to the doctor’s scale. It’s funny though, because I always weigh myself at home right before going to the doctor, then when I get there I weigh about 3 pounds more on their scale than I do at home. Today, I weighed about a pound more at home than ever before, and had lost about 3 pounds at the doctor. I hate our scale.

And, I now have appointments three times in the next six weeks! Since I’m not 16 weeks yet, they didn’t do the blood test that screens for genetic disorders, so I have to go back in two weeks. Then, two weeks after that I have to go for my regular monthly appointment. I’ll be 19 weeks then, and so I have to go back a week later and meet with the sonographer to have the 20 weeks structural ultrasound. I’m really hoping work doesn’t hate me. I may try to schedule the ultrasound the same day as my other appointment if they’ll let me.

I’m feeling a lot better and can eat a variety of foods now–including vegetables. But, some sweets still get to me in a random way. I can’t explain why yogurt, ripe bananas and certain sauces make me gag because they’re too sweet, but I could eat a cookie, cake or candy. But, even those aren’t appetizing.

I’m getting excited about making room for the baby not that I feel better. We cleaned out some closet space, figured out where it’s clothes and things will go, and we think it’s going to have a play pen as its crib. There are nice ones now with bassinets and changing tables that attach.  I think we’ll definitely be able to make things work for a while in our place.

It’s really looking like a little person now. I think that sometimes I feel it moving, but I’m not totally sure. I haven’t popped out yet either…my pants still fit and I don’t look at all like I’m almost 4 months pregnant. Oh well, I’m sure soon I’ll be wishing I could go back to how I am now.

Look how cute it is this week:

I don’t know, that’s just what they call it. Probably because it’s generally the easiest and best time of pregnancy–no more sickness and fatigue, and not yet big enough to cause too many aches and pains.

Apparently it’s worked for me…that horrendous bout of sickness of the past couple of weeks has nearly disappeared. I still have smell aversions, and certain things are extrememly unappetizing, but overall I am feeling pretty good.

We’ve re-examined our living situation and think we’ll stay where we are until the baby is born. After a lot of looking over the weekend, we couldn’t find anything that wasn’t pretty ridiculous–in price and looks. Well, there was one 2 bed, 2 bath condo for rent in Beverly Hills that was incredible with brand new everything that was pretty close to what we would have picked if we were designing something–even down to the curtain rods and curtains. But, alas, it’s renting for $2850 a month. No, that isn’t a typo. No, there wasn’t a pool, fitness center, or butler either.

Mark briefly thought maybe living in Glendale (about 12 miles northeast of his work) would be feasible, so we drove around to check it out. There are a lot of places for rent there, and we saw the outside of a couple of nice choices–they’re basically a lot more room for about the same as we pay now. But, after driving home with no traffic and it took 30 minutes, he really didn’t think it would be too fun.

So–we’ll stay where we are, save our money and work towards finding a living situation that isn’t as ridiculously overpriced somewhere else.

I’m still down a couple of pounds from where I was a few weeks ago, but I’m trying to eat a lot. So, I’ve basically lost a pound from where I was when this started. I’m thinking it’s muscle though since I don’t work out like I used to. And,  I don’t look like I’ve lost weight either–my stomach is definitely not as flat as it was. We’ll see what the doctor says next week. 

So, the baby is getting pretty normal looking by now. It’s about the size of a lemon, excluding its legs. And, it’s cute little hands and feet are about 1/2 inch long! I wish we could see in and watch it making faces with it’s new facial muscles too. We’re wondering if its going to try sucking its thumb now too.

I’m quite happy to be leaving this stage of my pregnancy. There is a lot of worry, nausea and fatigue that I am excited to leave behind. Well, maybe not the worry completely, but I think I’ll have a lot less of it.

I’ve learned that even though my craving for meat and cheese has abaited a little, my need for it hasn’t. I’m pretty sure it’s lack of protein that’s made me so sick this week–or at least it’s a contributing factor. Yesterday was the worst. I couldn’t keep anything down and had to leave work early. But, at home I mixed some protein powder with milk and had cereal and it helped a lot.

Mark is such an angel. He’s been catering to my every food and drink whim–not venturing into the strange and typically unedible–but not in our cupboards nevertheless. Last night it was apple juice since I was having a hard time with water. He bought 2 kinds just to be safe–filtered and non.

We’ve reopened the debate about moving to a bigger place. We do love our apartment, but we just aren’t sure how long we can have a baby there. When it needs a crib, we’re in big trouble. There are a few options available for around the same price we’re paying now, but they are in “Palms,” Mark’s dreaded part of the city south of the 10 freeway. Truly, it’s not that bad there. There are a lot of apartments and parking can be tricky. I think his biggest problem is that we’d be out of the ward, and stake. So, we’ll see what happens. There is one for $1700 (yes, I know, outrageous) just a few blocks from where we live now and it has a washer and dryer in the unit. And a small yard. That would be fantastic. It even has a dishwasher. Yes, it is a bit expensive though. So, it would have to be fantastic inside. But, with those things it’s looking good.

I’m also starting to get a little stomach in my lower abdomen now too–which is making clothes a little tight. I’m thinking I’ll look officially pregnant, not just fat, in the next couple of weeks.

So, our little jumbo shrimp doubled in size this week. It has it’s own set of fingerprints now, and moves around if I poke my belly, though I can’t feel it yet.

This is a picture of someone else’s baby, but at this stage, I think they all look mostly the same.

I know, I’m late with this week’s post. I really have no excuse, since I sit at work all day and read news and play games.

But…..I’ll blame it on the sudden wave of sickness that came at 12 weeks. Yeah, everyone says it’s supposed to be getting better now, but it has gotten worse. I’m not as hungry as I once was, so I can actually several hours without eating something. It’s a blessing really, since NOTHING sounds good. Except Mac & Cheese. And Cheerios. That’s a new one.

Maybe Baby didn’t like it’s flight back from Texas. We did have to get up pretty early, and the landing wasn’t so smooth. Who knows, it could be sad it had to leave its cousins and aunts and uncles. I think she/he really liked them. I know I did.

A few trip highlights—we flew into Dallas Friday afternoon and Mark’s brother Doug picked us up. We had a nice drive back to McKinney where he lives, and stopped for a quick view of the Dallas Temple on our way. I got to meet the rest of his family–they’re really cool by the way–and then we headed off to a Texas high school football game. It was quite the cultural experience. Mark’s nephew plays in the band, so we gave our support. It was pretty fun.

Saturday we had breakfast then watched our niece Jenna rock on Guitar Hero. I wasn’t as bad as I thought I would be either. We stopped for a few minutes at my aunt Melissa’s furniture store and visited while her adorable kids played around us. I haven’t seen them in almost 2 years, and they’re little, so they’ve grown a lot.

After a brief stop in downtown Dallas and a view of “The Grassy Knoll,” we drove out to the Mesquite Championship Rodeo. Mark’s sister’s family met us there too. Even though he thought he’d hate it, Mark actually had fun. He took some great photos….

Sunday we spent more time with Melissa and her kids (her husband was out of town.) We saw how much we could get for our money there. It really made me sad that we live in LA with such high rent in a 1 bedroom. There, we could have a 3 bedroom house with a yard for the same price!

Monday we had a BBQ at Mark’s sister Lori’s house. They have a pool and so it was nice to cool off in. Though, uncharacteristically for Texas, it was overcast and not very humid. The perfect weather. I even got a little pink–not that it’s hard.

We were pretty bummed our weekend went so fast. We had a great time with family and getting to know them better.

Oh–and about the baby this week…it’s about the size of a lime. It’s moving all over–though I can’t feel it of course–and it’s excited that it’s going to have another friend just a month younger!