THE AWKWARDNESS THAT IS MY BODY

So lately I've been having mini meltdowns in the mornings as I'm getting ready for work. NONE of my work pants will fasten and most I have a really hard time getting over my hips. When I do get them on and figure out a way to keep them together (I have been using elastic hair ties) I just feel and look like I've eaten 50 too many ice cream sandwiches. Ughh!! I don't look pregnant...however none of my clothes fit... the only comparison I can think of is when you're trying to grow out your hair and have to endure that super awkward middle phase. I feel like that's where I'm at.

If nothing else I think this is going to give me an excuse to go shopping for some new clothes :)

Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

11 WEEK APPOINTMENT

On Tuesday, July 6th I went in for my 11 week appointment. It was super quick and consisted of them weighing me, measuring my belly and listening to the baby's heartbeat. I've gained 1.75 lbs. so far and my belly measured at 11.(?) cm. (they just measure a small portion of your belly from underneath your belly button down near your who-ha). The nurse who took me back attempted to find the heartbeat on the doppler but after several minutes of trying she couldn't find it - she assured me that she just wasn't good at finding it and that she bet the Dr. would have no trouble at all. I was a little nervous by this but deep down I knew everything was just fine. Sure enough, the Doc came in and instantly found it. I had a perma-smile as soon as I got to hear that beautiful sound. :) The baby's heartbeat was really strong at 160 beats.

All of this is still very surreal to me - it's so hard to comprehend that I have a living being that's half me/half Doug growing inside of me - this is truly God's most amazing miracles.

OUR FIRST ULTRASOUND

Words cannot describe how amazing this experience was.  I have been a nervous wreck up until this point - always worrying if the baby is okay and if he's really in there :) well yesterday morning I got confirmation that he IS in there and he's doing wonderfully!!!  Doug and I met at the doctor's office for our 9am appointment and we were both soooo excited (and me really nervous) to get to see our baby for the first time.  We went back to the ultrasound room where I got to lay down and have jelly rubbed on my belly while doug sat in a chair next to me.  They have it set up so that you are looking up at a big flat screen TV which shows the image of the ultrasound that's displayed on the tech's computer.  She rubbed the little thingy mabobber on my belly and we instantly saw our little baby!!!!!  My first emotion was complete relief that there was only ONE baby (I was terrified there would be more than one).  My second emotion was a little frantic because the baby wasn't moving.  All the while we were both in complete amazement that we were looking at our little creation that has been growing inside of me for the last 11 weeks. She instantly switched on the volume so that we could hear the heartbeat...the relief feeling was back. :) Then I started crying like a big baby and as I was crying my stomach was contracting and bouncing all around which apparently shook the baby up because he started moving!!!!  Then I started laughing becuase it was just so cute!  He was putting his arms up to his face and just looked to be sliding around in there.  It was AMAZING - that's the best word Doug and I could come up with. :)  He measured at 11 weeks 1 day which bumped my estimated due date up 5 days from January 24th to January 19th. The heartbeat was 158 which she said was right where it should be. We obviously weren't able to tell the gender this early but I got the strongest boy vibes ever so I'm going back to my original belief that it is a boy!!  Doug thinks it's just because he is bald :) hahaha..

I'm SUPER sad that I can't get the video to load of our little baby moving around in there - it is sooooo neat!  I think the file size just might be too large.  Instead, here are a few of the baby's very first photos :)