2nd Trimester: Weeks 14-19

The second trimester has been wonderful so far! It is way more fun telling everyone you are pregnant than keeping it a secret. I am the worst liar. Co-workers had noticed me munching on saltine crackers and would ask if I was pregnant. I just kept saying I liked saltines.. which is true. But i felt so guilty and I think they could see right through me.

Symptoms in 2nd trimester so far:

1. Still tired, but nothing at all like the first trimester. I have been able to stay up past 8:00pm and have resumed cleaning my apartment.
2. Nausea: all gone! Just some middle of the night stomach aches.
3. Headaches: I have been getting some seriously bad headaches. I hear its because your blood volume practically doubles. That is definitely how it feels.. like my head is going to explode with pressure. Luckily Brian's head massages are almost as good as Excedrin.
4. Exercise: I promised myself I would make the effort to exercise, but I have tried this a few times and its a no-go because my feet make me regret it the rest of the day.
5. Hormones: still some crying that may or may not be over valid reasons, but I think things are leveling out a little. hard to tell.
6. Food situation: still the same. just like the things I like a lot more. I have noticed an increase in appetite, but mostly just need to eat way more often.. like no longer than 2 hours between eating.
7. Weight gain: 8 from when I got pregnant. 12 from my lowest during first trimester.

Janeen was a good sport and took my 16 week picture with my right after Christmas dinner.

After thanksgiving, we got to tell all our friends and do the big FB/insta announcement. Everyone was so excited for us and it just made things more fun and real!

Finally everybody knew. Secret was out. I was ready to start showing and talk about all things baby!

Embarrassing pregnant story of the month, that I don't know why I am sharing: 

I woke up feeling super nauseous on Monday.  I couldn't even make myself eat breakfast and I NEVER skip breakfast. I went to work and just drank a ginger-ale. Bad pregnant idea number one .. skipping meals.  Then our office got subway for lunch and they were like 3 inch sandwiches and I picked off the deli meat. So I had a cheese, lettuce, mayo and mustard miniature sandwich. Not enough food! Brian called and offered to bring me lunch, but I was feeling like we were too poor and knew he was busy so I said that I was fine. Bad idea number two. I snacked on nuts, and some crackers, but by 7:45pm when my shift was over I was famished and shaky and felt so terrible. I called Brian on my way home and asked if he had any dinner started. He was like I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were already done work, I'll start making anything you want immediately. I hung up the phone and the tears just came. I was so mad that I couldn't eat immediately. Now couldn't have even been soon enough. I walked in the door just crying and Brian was like what the heck, what happened?! I just said.."I'm so hungry!!!!!" It was just so pathetic, ridiculous, and so completely my fault! Luckily Brian, just made me dinner quick and then we could laugh after. So embarrassing and stupid. I just couldn't control my emotions. The rest of the week Brian has packed me more snacks so we can avoid an emotional breakdown in the future.

1st trimester: Week 4-13

Even though this was the most exciting news in our lives! Brian and I were sure we wanted to wait the usual 12 weeks at least before we told anybody. My family has a history of miscarriage so I just wanted to be sure. That didn't exactly work out because one day our friends, Kimber and Scott were here, and Kimber just guessed... I was only 6 weeks pregnant! A true sign of a BFF. I guess I wasn't exactly symptomless... but still!

Symptoms in first trimester:

1. Extreme tiredness and fatigue. HOLY COW. I couldn't get off the couch! I was sleepy all day every day even though I was sleeping 10 hours plus a nap most days. And i thought 12 hour work days were hard when I wasn't pregnant!
2. Nauseous. Some days it was all day long, some days I would get a break and barely any at all. Luckily I had no vomiting though! My diet was mostly saltines, ginger-ale, and toast.
3. Some mood swings :) I don't think Brian would exactly use the word "some" :)
4. No food aversions other than In 'N Out and McDonalds smelled much worse than usual. And weirdly I just don't feel like cereal. ever.
5. Food cravings: nothing too weird. Foods that I like, I like more, and foods I don't like, I liked even less. Currently eating lots of cheese, liking chocolate more than candy (this is weird for me!) and love love loving oranges. 
6. Weight gain: lost a few at first, then maybe gained 3-4 by the end? Hard to really know.
7. Acne: oh my gosh. The worst in my life! Worse than even the worst teenage years. Little red bumps everywhere. The worst..

Our first doctors appointment was at 9.5 weeks (Nov. 5th). I had so many questions, and wanted to hear our little blueberry's heartbeat earlier, but our doctor's office was firm with 9.5 weeks. The nurse asked us our whole medical history, the genetic testing we wanted, and the hospital we would like to deliver at. At this point I was overwhelmed and not even entirely sure I was even pregnant.  The nurse kept asking me, so when are you due? How far along are you? I was like.. uh I think that is why I am here. Finally Brian asked if we could hear a heart-beat or take a blood test to confirm I was even pregnant? Our doctor brought a little sonogram machine in and we saw a little heart-beat beating on the screen. Eeeee! So fun!

That night we decided it was time to tell my parents. I texted them multiple belly pictures, pregnancy test pictures, and my the cover of my book What to expect when your expecting. They face-timed us immediately and were so excited for us! Given my dad is 61 and my mom is 55, they think it is about time they became grandparents!

We planned to tell Brian's family at Thanksgiving during dinner. At dinner we waited until the thanksfuls portion of dinner. Then Brian said I am thankful for the baby in Jennica's stomach. He got a little shy and said it pretty quiet with his head down by the end. So his family really didn't believe us and kind of continued with dinner. Then I said, No I'm really 12.5 weeks along!

Then we called my siblings. Sadly we couldn't do it in person. Janeen's reaction was one of the best. :) I wasn't planning on taking a screen shot, but she held this surprised face for like 25 seconds, so I decided to capture the moment. It's been so nice to have everyone so excited and supportive!

By the end of the first trimester I could definitely feel my body start to change. My middle felt bloated, and my pants were barely zipping up. I ended up wearing my lulus' most days, or at least leaving my top button undone to my jeans. I also was googling absolutely everything. Can you use Pro-activ while pregnant? Can I eat pepperoni pizza while I'm pregnant? Bacon? Fish? Sandwich meat?  Cookie dough? Suddenly my whole diet and life felt like it was changing!  So many questions and I couldn't ask anyone because it was a secret! 1st trimester was tough I tell you! But oh so exciting!

Next thing to look forward to, was finding out gender!!  Chinese calendar says ...

We will soon see!!!!

2013

Since I failed to blog all months of 2013, I decided to do another year in review. I realize this is kind of cheating blogging, but I like it. And it kind of keeps a memoir of my life, however short.

January 

We got to snowboard 6 or 7 times last season and it was wonderful!

 February

Brian and I skipped gifts and instead treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at our favorite restaurant for Valentine's Day.

 March

For UVU spring break, Brian and I took a trip to Danville to hang out with Dave and Denise. We took a day trip to Half Moon Bay and walked the beach at the Ritz Carlton. So romantic!

 April 

Chanel got married!! Kimber, Nelson and I road tripped up to Canada and braved a snow storm to be with our bestie on her wedding day.

 May

I went to Waffle Love for my first time ever. Those waffles are melt in your mouth, out of control crazy good. It reminded me almost of eating waffles in Belgium on my study abroad. It was the first of many trips this summer.

June

In June was an outdoors month! We hiked up around Squaw peak. We don't know exactly where we hiked, but it was beautiful!  We also hiked to Stewart Falls.

 

Our friends Scott and Kimber have the best hammocks that are perfect for chilling in parks in June.  Brian and Scott thought it was funny to appear like they weren't wearing any clothes.

July

In July we went up to Canada for my Grandma Dittmann's funeral. It was very sad to lose her, but she died at 92 and she had a good life. It was a wonderful service, and it was so nice to get to go home for Canada day. 

August

August gets a few more pictures :) First big news of the month... Brian completed Paramedic school! He worked so hard, and put in 1400 hours in 3.5 months of rotations. I'm so proud.

Then we went to Canada for 2 weeks! And did so much! We drove over 4000 miles. We rock climbed on bears hump, drove through banff and jasper, climbed the Via ferrata in Nordegg, went boating in montana, and played and played. It was a wonderful vacation.

September

We went rock climbing.. a lot! Sometimes twice a day.. once in the light and once in the dark.

October 

Both of our birthday months.. and I found out I was pregnant! Could a month get any better?!

November

We spent Thanksgiving in Danville again where the weather was beautiful! And Brian got bored so he hung out of his bedroom window in a hammock.

December

My baby sister got married and she looked gorgeous! We love her and Cody together and the day was so beautiful!

Then we got to spend 2 weeks in Canada for Christmas which was much needed. Brian even convinced me to snow shoe up bears hump which ended up being pretty spectacular.