BB: 11 Weeks

11 weeks and going strong. Time is really flying by, it is hard to imagine I will be out of the first trimester in just two weeks (they consider 13 weeks to be the first trimester). I have our 12 week doctor's appointment next week. I will probably fail the weigh-in (it is just wrong to get weighed right after the holidays), but other than that I think everything is going good.

From the baby center:

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

A Kumquat?

Wow, week 10! Everything is going pretty well. My nausea is pretty much a non-issue, but I am still pretty exhausted. I look forward to catching up on my rest when my company shuts down for Christmas (I will not have to go back to work until the 5th).

From the Baby Center:

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

Nutcracker with Staci

On Saturday, December 13th Staci and I had a had a "date night" to go see the nutcracker. We started off the evening at Uchi, which is one (if not the) best sushi restaurant in Austin. We filled up on a California roll, Spicy Tuna roll, salad, crab / avocado dish and a peanut butter dessert. It was delicious! If you have never been, I highly recommend it, but you must go early (they open at 5) because they only take limited reservations. We had a funny experience with an unused white bowl... lets just say that the wait staff was eager to clear the table of used dishes, the only problem was that the bowl had not been used yet (it was awaiting salad) and there were about 5 attempts to take it from us, one was successful.

After our yummy dinner we went to The Nutcracker at the Long Center. We had awesome seats and really enjoyed the show. It is something I have been wanted to do for years, but Brian did not have must interest in going.

Staci and I had a blast and look forward to more date nights in the future!

Salado Christmas Stroll

On Friday night Brian and I went to Salado with our friends Tania, Kimball, Maya, Barbi, Amanda and Jeff for the annual Christmas Stroll. We ate dinner at the Stagecoach Inn and then walked around town looking at all the stores and enjoying the scenery. It was a great time hanging out with friends and getting into the Christmas spirit.

The only downfall was that I did not get my afternoon nap, so I was totally exhausted all evening. Naps are a new found necessity if I am going to stay up later than 8:00. Needless to say, I think I was asleep in the car before we even go out of Salado.

9 Weeks: The tail is gone!

From the Baby Center:

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

The Word Is Out!

Well I am happy to say that almost everyone knows about BB and the response has been amazing. Brian and I are so blessed to have such a supportive, loving group of family and friends. This CHRISTmas season is going to be even more special because of the amazing gift God has blessed us with. I am trying real hard to eat right, rest and exercise, but some days those cheeseburger, chili dog & cheese steak cravings take over. I am still very exhausted, but have found working out during lunch gives me extra energy to make it through the day. Tonight my friend Shelley is coming over. She purchased a fetal heart rate monitor when she was pregnant with Hayden and is going to let me borrow it. I am hoping I will be able to hear the heartbeat tonight, but it may take a couple more weeks of development. Tomorrow we are 9 weeks!

The First Look

Well today we saw the doctor and everything looks good! BB is 2cm with a strong heartbeat at 167bpm. The sonogram was so amazing, I cannot believe I have a little life growing in my belly! Seeing the baby, hearing his heartbeat and watching his heartbeat in his itty bitty body was incredible.

Brian really liked Dr. Solomon, which was very important to me. When Dr. walked into the room he said "Well that did not take long", haha. I just saw Dr. Solomon a few weeks ago for my annual and we discussed getting pregnant, etc. They took 4 vials of blood, I should get the results in a couple of days.

I cannot even express all the different emotions I am going through right now, it was just totally an amazing experience. Now only 12 more weeks until we can find out what we are having!

Our Baby: Week 8

Things are going well! We see our doctor tomorrow for the first time and cannot wait to see the baby and hear his heartbeat!

New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

7 Weeks: Our Blueberry

It is hard to believe we are already 7 weeks! My symptoms so far are pretty normal... exhaustion, nausea (all day) and moodiness.

From the Baby Center:

The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry. If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

Christmas Affair

Staci and I went to the Christmas Affair today. I had never been before, but I heard it is a lot of fun. The affair is truly the ultimate Christmas shopping experience, they have everything you can imagine and you get to support locally owned small businesses.

I saw the cutest baby clothes & accessories EVER! It was so hard to refrain from purchasing things, even though we don't even know the sex of the baby. Staci asked me two times if I was pregnant because I kept freaking out on all the cute baby stuff. I had to tell her no, sorry Staci.

So instead of purchasing things for our baby, I took a lot of business cards and catalogs.

Conversation with BB: Spaghetti at 10:00am

10:00am: BB- I want SPAGHETTI Mom- No bb, it is too early BB – BUT I WANT IT Mom – no, how about pita chips and hummus 10:05am: Mom: MMMM pita chips and hummus Stomach: Holy heartburn BB: not good enough, I want Spaghetti 10:12am: (Mom walking to breakroom to heat up spaghetti) BB WINS

Week 6 - Lentil Bean

From the Baby Center:

This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.

Our First Package

Today I came home from work and had a package on my porch from Leanne. Inside were three books for me and three books for Brian. There was also a ton of cute maternity clothes that will be perfect for spring / summer. The sweet moment was when I remembered seeing how cute Leanne was in these clothes. I cannot wait to wear them! Thank you Leanne!

Our First Trip to Babies R Us

Today Brian suggested we go to Babies R Us. He had never been there before, so I knew it was going to be an interesting experience. I think he was in a bit of shock when we first walked in, but we had fun walking down every isle looking at things for BB.

For me it was a bit bizarre to be looking at items for our baby. I have been in Babies R Us many times to get gifts for friends. It was a completely new perspective and I loved every second of it. How we will choose the right items for our baby will be a different story, but I am blessed with many friends that will help me though the process.

We cannot wait to go back with the zapper in hand to start our registry!

BB's First Trip

It so happens that I found out I was pregnant the day before I left on a week long business trip to Germany. I was a bit nervous to travel overseas. Luckily I had no issues at all, other than the constant exposure to cigarette smoke and a bit of exhaustion & nausea. I wanted to get BB (Baby Betzen) a shirt to mark this memory and decided on a shirt from Hard Rock Cafe. Although the shirt is huge, and will probably not fit BB until 9 months - 1 year, it will be a fun reminder of our first journey together.

"Holy Cow"

I decided a long time ago how I would tell Brian I was pregant when the time came. We already had plans to go to dinner downtown tonight to celebrate Brian's birthday, so I put my plan in motion.

Before dinner I took him to the place he proposed to me (a dock on Town Lake, near Shoreline Grill). He figured out where we were going, but had no idea why I would take him there.

I told him this is where we started the first chapter of our lives together, so I thought it would be a good place to tell him about the second chapter and then told him I was pregnant. He was totally shocked! He said "Holy Cow" about 100 times that night. We cracked open a bottle of sparkling cider and toasted each other with the glasses we used on our wedding night. Then we went to dinner and had a wonderful night of celebration. The night was perfect. When we got home I showed him a book I got him called the Baby Owners Manual and the positive pregnancy test results.

"Holy Cow"

3:15am on November 7th

I have been feeling very tired and nauseous all week, so I decided today I would take a pregnancy test. I woke up at 3:15 (why I still do not know) and decided to go take the test. I figured the test would tell me I am not pregnant and then I would go back to sleep... boy was I wrong. The test said I was pregant. I cried and laughed and keep thinking "no way". I was in total shock, but it was a good kind of shock. I called my doctor and set up an appointment for Friday, December 5th at 8:10 (I did this when Brian was in the shower, sneaky me). I went to the grocery store to get Brian some food items for next week while I am in Germany and decided to get another test to confirm. As soon as I got home, I took the test (before putting up the groceries) and it was positive as well.