Not Hobbit Feet!

So I'm going to use this post to rant about pregnancy.

Overall, it's been a pretty easy pregnancy. I didn't have any morning sickness, I didn't mind going to bed at 8PM and sleeping for 10 hours, and I haven't had any heartburn. I consider myself pretty lucky, given that 75% of women report having had morning sickness.

However, things have started to change now that I'm halfway done. I have some pretty painful back pain, I'm not sleeping that well (I love sleeping on my stomach and I'm only supposed to sleep on my side), and then last night, I encountered the dreaded hobbit feet! Now, real hobbit feet would be hairy, so thankfully that's not the case, but they are huge. My ankles are totally swollen. Blerg.

Tonight I went to my first prenatal yoga class. It was great. Relaxing and good at working on that painful back pain. The women there are in various stages of pregnancy from 20 to 32 weeks, but I believe I'm the only one with swollen feet. They just look disgusting.

Okay, rant over. I know the prize for this is a healthy baby. I just wish my feet didn't have to suffer in the process.

Test on Photo Uploading

I've been trying to figure out why some photos allow me to click to the actual size and why others don't. So here's a test to see if it worked. I'm also playing with the layout of the caption.





Marzipan





Tandy


Oh good! It appears to have worked. Now you won't have to squint to see the photos!

Belly Shot Tuesday

In the interest of remaining consistent (mostly so I can remember later how huge I was), Chris is taking photos of me every two weeks. So here I am at 20 weeks 5 days. I don't seem to look that much bigger, but ahem, the scale tells me something different.







You can view the comparison by clicking on the label "belly" at the bottom of this post. Speaking of labels, I wonder by Blogger gave these examples as labels: scooters, vacation, fall. I can understand vacation as a label, but I really do not ever see myself labeling a blog post with "scooters."

Beware the Kicker and the Waddler

Chris and I went to my 20 week appointment with my ob, and everything looks great with Baby Berry. She's growing just as she should be. Apparently, the ultrasound technician gives the doctor all the measurements, but does not write down the gender because they don't want to be wrong. My doctor said that there hasn't been a single time in her experience that the u/s technician gave the wrong gender, and as we've seen from the photos, our little girl is not shy.



Then the doctor measured my belly and took the baby's heartbeat. The baby's heartbeat was hard to find because every time she tried to get a reading, the baby would kick! And of course that started me laughing, which also disrupted the reading. Afterwards, my doctor said: "Wow, that baby is lively. I know it's always reassuring to have a lively baby, but you might be uncomfortable after a while if she's moving all the time."



Which of course brings me to the latest development -- feeling the baby kick! For a few weeks now, I thought I was maybe feeling the baby move, but it really hasn't been until last week that I knew for sure. I guess the best way to describe it is little gas bubbles, but coming from a different place than normal. It's definitely a trip! She's not kicking hard enough that you can feel it from the outside, but I'm sure that will change soon.



And if Baby Berry is growing just as she should be, so am I. At 20 weeks, I'm halfway done with this pregnancy, and I've gained, I'm embarrassed to admit, 20 lbs! And I don't quite understand it, considering I've been walking about an hour at a time, and yesterday, I walked so much while we were out at in Fol.som looking at houses and going to a certain baby super store that I literally started waddling my feet hurt so much. I'm also not eating a ton more than I usually do. But the doctor doesn't seem to be concerned and thinks I might gain most of my weight in the second trimester. Oh well. I'd write more, but it's time for dinner. =)

It's a .... (drumroll please)....

Today, which has been an amazing day all around due to the inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th President, is made even more wonderful because we had our long awaited ultrasound. The ultrasound technician was very by the book and wouldn't let us know if the baby is okay or not okay (I only take the pictures, the doctor will review), but we'll know for sure this Monday when I have an appointment with my obstetrician.

Once the technician was done taking all the photos for the doctor to review, she finally let me have a look at the computer screen. Baby Berry was moving all around, very lively, with its bottom in the air most of the time. And then we got a clear look at the "parts" and there's no doubt that she's a girl! I think we're both head over heels over the revelation, but I was so positive it was a boy that I asked the ultrasound technician if she was absolutely sure. However, looking at the pictures, it's pretty darn clear that it's a girl. :)

I'm trying to figure out how to scan the photos so I can post them here, but we've got some great ones, including a very clear photo of one of her perfect little legs.

Needless to say, we're very excited but we'll both feel much better once we know that everything's okay...

UPDATE:

Here are some of the first pictures of our little girl...

Her legs are up in the air, near her head, so it's easy to see the gender!

Here, both of her hands are up by her face -- Chris did a demonstration before I was actually able to look and I couldn't stop laughing. The u/s technician got kind of annoyed.

Look at the perfect little left leg - kind of creepy to see her leg bones...

Here she is sucking her toes...

Mouth is open

Bye everyone, see you soon!

Get Paid for Blogging about the Great Barrier Reef?

NPR, my favorite source for all news (including learning about the Flight of the Conchords on HBO), reported on what may be the most fun way of earning a lot of money in a short amount of time.



Apparently, the Government of Queensland, Australia is offering a short six month contract for exploring the islands on the Great Barrier Reef. You get to snorkel, scuba dive, island hop, and blog about your adventures -- all for $100,000 US! Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.

And for those of you who read Battered Suitcases, you'll see that Chris & I could already be on our way to earning money blogging about the GBR. In fact, friends of ours, based on our experience, are doing the exact same trip that we did this spring for their sabbatical. I think we deserve a finders' fee!

In any case, since NPR reported on this job (at the time only 150 people had applied), the "Best Job in the World Website" has reportedly become overloaded.

18w5d Belly Shots

So here, as promised, are some shots of the "Belly!" We're going to try and post them at least every two weeks to show the progress. I have to say, the belly has definitely grown a lot in the past few weeks or maybe it's the maternity clothes that are accentuating it.

The Framboise Patch Beginnings

C and I decided to start a new blog to document the next chapter in our lives, parenthood! For those confused by the name of the blog, "framboise" means raspberry in French. We didn't want this blog to be out there in the blogosphere, so we figured framboise would not be very searchable. Plus for those who know me in real life, you'd know that I'm half-French and love raspberries. It seems to fit.

A work colleague started his work blog, www.hubandspoke.typepad.com and said that if you didn't read it very carefully, it might look like husband poke. Sounded like the perfect pregnancy blog name to me, but then I realized it might be hard to explain to our little blueberry one day.

Thus was born the Framboise Patch.

Okay, first to back up. C and I decided to start trying for a baby late this summer -- and here we are, ready or not! Little Blueberry is due June 11th (although I guess he or she is probably more mango-sized by now)

The next big step is the formal ultrasound which is scheduled for January 20th, Inauguration Day. If Blueberry cooperates, we'll find out if it's a boy or girl. And as soon as I get a chance, C has promised to take some belly shots.