week 23
April 5, 2011
Pregnancy Highlights
How Far Along: 23 weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: 16 lbs lost
Size of baby: 11 inches, just under 1 lb.
Movement: I’m feeling some flutters here and there, but nothing consistent or clearly evident that it really is the baby
Sleep: I’ve been sleeping ok, with the exception of the one night that I woke up in the middle of the night running to throw up.
Cravings: Lately I’m all about rice. Now that we’ve run out of last year’s otter pops, I’m missing those at night.
Symptoms: I kept forgetting to call my doctor to refill my Zofran prescription, and boy was that a big mistake. I had a cold this last week, and when I finally got over all of the exhaustion that came with that, I felt nothing but nausea all weekend. I sometimes feel so exhausted and nauseous that it feels like I just finished running a million miles… even though all I may have been doing was cooking dinner or something.
hormones
April 4, 2011
Saturday night Luis and I were chatting with Carolina and she was telling us a story about her latest experience at Ross. I won’t divulge all of the details since it is not my story to tell, but I was laughing hysterically. Then all of the sudden I wanted to burst into tear. Not just normal crying, the sobbing/wailing kind of crying. There was nothing wrong, I wasn’t sad about anything. I just felt like my body wanted to cry. I didn’t do it and went to sleep instead.
Then yesterday, I had another “I just want to sob” moment. I was reading a blog about someone who had a baby a few months ago. When I find a blog I like, I have to go through all of the archives before adding it to my reader. So I was reading about this girl’s pregnancy experience, and she was talking about how she didn’t have any nausea and only felt tired and moody. All of the sudden, I just wanted to cry. I feel like I’ve been trying so hard to be grateful for this pregnancy experience, especially considering how many family/friends we have who have such a hard time conceiving. But I’m miserable a lot of the time, and this weekend was just awful.
I haven’t had a single day this week that I haven’t thrown up. Saturday was the climax of sickness for the weekend. I think I threw up 4 or 5 times throughout the day. Add to that the fact that I was feeling so guilty for not doing something incredible for Luis’ birthday and it just made me want to crawl into a hole. To make matters worse, I then started thinking about how everyone says your 2nd trimester is just so wonderful bc you’re finally feeling better and you have so much energy. For me, that just hasn’t been the case.
And here I am getting ready to head into my 3rd trimester! Where is the bliss? Where is the glow? I mean, I do feel better than I did at the beginning of my 1st trimester, but I’m still nowhere near feeling good. And it just makes me want to cry.
week 22
March 29, 2011
Pregnancy Highlights
How Far Along: 22 weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: 16 lbs. lost
Size of baby: 11 inches and almost 1 lb.
Movement: I think I’ve finally started feeling the baby. I feel some really light “popping” in my lower stomach, kind of like popcorn, but sometimes I wonder if it is gas or something.
Sleep: I’m still a little irritated that I haven’t been going to bed as early as I had been. I’ve been sleeping almost through the entire night. I wake up about 2 hours before my alarm clock to go to the bathroom, but I’m able to go right back to sleep.
Cravings: This week’s diet has included lots of rice and french fries. Not together, but if I have my choice of what to eat, it is one of those two things. I’ve also been eating pop tarts for lunch sometimes (they’re not necessarily a craving, but I eat them).
Symptoms: Still battling it out with that pesky nausea. This week’s new symptom happened on Saturday. I was doing some shopping when all of the sudden my stomach started feeling really tight. It only lasted a couple of minutes, and hasn’t happened since, but it was quite interesting.
bedding
March 25, 2011
To follow up Luis’ dream nursery post, I thought I should post what I’m actually doing for the baby’s room.
It is from the Bananafish Lily collection at Target. As I read through the comments online, I saw that most people complained about how long they had to wait for the bedding to be delivered. So I went ahead and purchased the bumper last night. For sheets, I’m going to stick to plain solid colors (wherever I find the cheapest since I hear babies often get diaper leaks and the sheets are going to get messy). The skirt I’ve decided I’m actually going to make myself. I’m still undecided whether to follow the example above, or if I want a ruffled skirt. So once I decide, I’ll get to sewing.
A guy can dream
March 23, 2011
If it were up to me, here’s how I would want our child’s room to look:
But it’s not up to me, is it. :(
week 21
March 22, 2011
Pregnancy Highlights
How Far Along: 21 Weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: 18 lbs. lost
Size of baby: 10.5 inches, three quarters of a pound
Movement: Every once in a while I think I feel movement, but I think it is my mind playing tricks on me. Sometimes I put my hand on my stomach to see if I can feel anything, but all I feel is my own heartbeat.
Sleep: I was sleeping well… until daylight savings hit, and now my system is completely off. I don’t get tired as early and getting up in the morning makes me want to shoot myself.
Cravings: I think I can officially say that I crave salt after I eat anything. The salt helps to neutralize the flavors in my mouth. Otherwise I start having this horrible taste, which in turn makes me sick.
Symptoms: I stopped taking Zofran earlier in the week. Big mistake. By the end of the week I was back to feeling sick, and therefore I got back on the Zofran.
The family blog debuts
March 22, 2011
We didn’t make much of a splash when the family blog was officially introduced this past weekend… but it is officially here.
There are almost a dozen posts here already that Natalia has been keeping saved up over the past several weeks, so take a look around.
If you’d like to subscribe, our feed can be found here: http://mertinso.com/family/feed/
Thanks for supporting us, everyone. :)
adding to the cuteness
March 19, 2011
Our friends Daniel and Katey came through town with their little girl and stopped to have lunch with us today. On their way out, they gave Graciela her very first present. Well, I should clarify. Graciela has received a few other presents, but this is the first she has received since we found out she was going to be a little Graciela and not a little Lucas. Up until now everything was very gender neutral. But now? Bring on the frilly and girly!
consignment
March 17, 2011
Every 6 months, As They Grow has a big consignment sale here in Las Vegas. For those who may not be familiar, a consignment sale is kind of like a huge yard sale, except for the items are all dropped off in one place and you don’t know who you’re buying from. Anyway, this particular consignment sale is targeted at baby items only. I have really been looking forward to the sale. I hoped we would find some great buys on big ticket items like a crib, stroller, car seat, etc. The people who run the sale check to make sure the items being sold have not been recalled and are in good condition. Unfortunately, we didn’t come away with quite as much as I was hoping to get. First of all, there were no cribs. We did end up buying a pack-n-play so if nothing else, our child will have a place to sleep:
Luis thought the pack-n-play was kind of boy-ish, but I feel like it works for both. I want to sew a little fitted sheet to go on the pack-n-play pad so the baby won’t be sleeping directly on a plastic-y fabric.
We also bought a pair of little airwalks (to match the kind of shoes her daddy loves to wear):
A book about baby sleeping habits (because I, for one, will be going back to work and would like to be able to sleep):
A bouncy seat (which I’ve placed in our computer room to remind Luis who is going to be staring up at him in a few months):
And my favorite piece of the night, a baby carrier for Luis so he can have his typing hands free while holding our little Graciela:
As was the case with when we went to Babies R Us, I felt extremely overwhelmed at the thought of picking a stroller. There were just so many different types to choose from and I couldn’t decide. Part of me really likes the Chicco strollers because the handle seems a lot higher than most other strollers. But even the used Chicco travel system at the consignment sale was $200 (they retail for $300). I’m still completely undecided about what to get. But at least we still have several months to make a final decision.
After about an hour of roaming and looking and searching and questioning, I started feeling sick. And then more sick. And then more sick. And then I felt like I was going to pass out. I had to sit down on the ground. Sadly enough, I wasn’t embarrassed at all about it. Luis was very concerned about me driving myself home (we drove both cars because we didn’t know if we were going to end up getting a lot of stuff that might not fit in just one car). But I got to the car, threw up, and then felt a little better. Better enough to drive home, and get in bed.
week 20
March 15, 2011
Pregnancy Highlights
How Far Along: 20 Weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: 19 lbs. lost
Size of baby: 10.5 ounces, 6 inches
Movement: I sometimes think I feel the baby, but then I realize it is just my heartbeat
Sleep: Lately I’ve found myself waking up on my stomach. I hope I don’t kill the baby.
Cravings: This week I’ve eaten a lot of cereal. Once again, it is not that I’m necessarily craving it. It just sounds ok to eat.
Symptoms: I’ve stopped taking Zofran. I had been feeling better and my mom suggested I try stopping, but that I needed to tell myself that I would feel ok. Well, I was fine the first couple of days, and then the nausea came right back. I’ve been throwing up every morning. I hate it. And I constantly have this awful taste in my mouth. I’m getting really sick of chewing gum to keep the taste away. So when I’ve been at work, I’ve been loading up on candy and chocolate. Unfortunately, those aren’t exactly the best food choices for the baby. And it is not that I even necessarily need the sugar… nor do I really even want the sugar. It is just something to have in my mouth so I don’t have that awful taste.