mmmmm

I'm craving macaroons.

Half baked

Baby and I marked the 20 week point on Tuesday! Here is the 20 week belly.

During the last week I've gotten my appetite back and it's fierce. I woke up a few times at 3 am with a growling stomach. I am an eating machine. I need breakfast as soon as I wake up. And I'm hungry again before lunch. Everything sounds good to me now, including sweets. I highly recommend the Dairy Queen Limited Edition Thin Mint Blizzard with vanilla ice cream. It may surpass Wendy's Frosty as my favorite frozen treat. I think I will have gained some weight by my next appointment :)

I have tried to hear the baby's heartbeat with my stethoscope for the last couple of weeks, but still nothing. It is supposed to be possible as of 20 weeks, so I am getting excited for it any day now. It is moving a lot, but it is only noticeable after I eat or when I lay down. Donavon thought he felt it move while we were in Chicago, but so far that is the only time. And he wasn't really that sure about it.

breakfast meat

This morning's protein: Morningstar Breakfast Sausage. Mmmm. Dip em in maple syrup.

I'm going to have some cereal, too. But that isn't nearly as interesting as the protein quest.

150s

I had an 18-week checkup yesterday. Heartbeat is still in the 150s. Unbelievably, I have not gained any weight since the 14 week appointment. And I had lost a pound at that appointment. Despite donut day! I think I gained a lot of weight during the first couple of months, so I'm not too concerned about the slow down. Everything sounds good with the baby and my uterus is growing at the appropriate rate, so baby and I are perfectly healthy. BUT I was instructed to eat a serving of protein at every meal, including breakfast. And apparently, yogurt and cottage cheese don't count. This morning it was a hunk of pork loin. This is going to take some getting used to.

Unfortunately, it is still too early to hear the heartbeat with my stethoscope, which is KILLING me. I try every night before bed, though. You aren't supposed to hear anything until after 20 weeks. I'm just being impatient/optimistic.

Donut Sunday!

We woke up and looked on the calendar. To our delight, it was Donut Sunday! A quick consult with Google Maps for the nearest location and we all hopped in the car (Alyssa, myself and of course Merle).We enjoyed our donuts outside on this beautiful day at Wyman Park.

“I'll have the one with chocolate icing and sprinkles. No not that one, down, down, YEAH that one!”

Even donuts have handles.

What’s that on the horizon? A 15” beagle perhaps?

Across from Dunkin Donuts was a parking lot with film crew trucks and, more interestingly, period cars. The lot was right next to a 50's style high school, which we are guessing is one of the filming locations (a new Barry Levinson film perhaps?). Check out the pictures that I took here.

Must eat...

For the last couple of weeks my appetite has been really mild. And when I wanted to eat, it was fruit or salad or vegetables...with an occasional trip to Wendy's that sat like a lead weight in my tummy. But sweet Mary, since yesterday I've been a ceaseless eating machine. I had my peanut butter toast this morning with an egg white and a cappuccino. Until today, that would have held me until a light snack of fruit or a light lunch that I had to make myself eat.

But today, I was starving at 11am! I wanted a plate of everything. We sat outside at a lovely Father's Day Brunch at the little bistro down the street. I ate all my food - toast, eggs, potatoes and half of Donavon's pancake. And I was not unhappily full. I think we're going through a growth spurt.

Update: After a 2pm ice cream I slept for 2.5 hours. I woke up hungry. I made it until 6:30 and my stomach was GROWLING. We had dinner at Bertucci's and you know, I ate a lot and was only pleasantly full. It's 9:00 right now and if a Frosty were in front of me, I could eat it. As enjoyable as this bulking stage is, I really hope it doesn't last.

chocolate milk

mmmmm. two large glasses of chocolate milk tonight. couldn't get enough. it required a trip to the market for more milk but that didn't deter me.

sweet, sweet caffeine

So, "they" recommend less than 200 mg of caffeine a day while pregnant. Well what does that mean?

The first beautiful discovery came when I learned that a can of Coke only contains 34 mg of caffeine. Beautiful Coca Cola. That remedy of all things hangover related and, coincidentally, morning/all day sickness related - exhaustion, nausea, headache. I'm sad, even bitter, that I went through the first few weeks without knowing that a medicinal Coke a day was really not a huge health hazard for the developing munchkin.

Since the morning/interminable sickness has pretty much abated, I once again long for my morning coffee. I'm at 12 weeks, things are looking good (I mean did you SEE the video?) so I'm indulging. That's right. One shot of half caffeinated espresso. How much caffeine is that? Well, experts tested millions of shots to come up with the less than informative range of 50 -120 mg of caffeine per shot, making my half caff anywhere from 25-60 mg. It's a big spread. Which is why I'm limiting it to one a day. Such a welcome return to normalcy.

it did not last

I woke up at 12:30 and I will be taking a nap soon. Wow I'm tired. On a high note, we went to Wendy's for yummy food. Spicy chicken sandwich, no mayo, pickles. And a frosty. The frosty is in the freezer because yeah, it was good, but really the chicken sandwich was all I cared about. I wish I had another one.

today's sandwich

I have a new meal.

Chopped hard boiled egg, canned chunk light tuna and a slice of tomato on a piece of yummy white country bread. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. I've had 2 so far for lunch.

Now that I know there is a baby in there, I have a renewed urge to eat healthily. I want to make the baby out of HIGH quality material.

Not sure what that means for the lime sherbet.

account

Half a muffin, leftover shrimp mei fun, 3 bowls of lime sherbet, grilled cheese (fontina), some more lime sherbet out of the carton, slice of bread with butter, half a blackberry ice cream bar, chocolate milk, half a burger with hummous, tabbouleh and pickles on it, 2 bedtime crackers.

I take it back

I feel pregnant. Two naps and three bowls of lime sherbet later, I better be.

Pregnant Woman Needs Chinese Food!

 

If your pregnant wife is craving Chinese food, don't let her place the phone call. This is our "dinner for two". To give you an idea of just how much food this is, the restaurant sent along five forks.

Have a nice day.

and the winner is...

Lime sherbet. I've had 3 mugs so far today. The other ice creams were ok (I tried Butterfinger and Peanut Butter Tracks, too, last night) but the sherbet is far in the lead.

What Donavon neglected to mention is that, at first, the only sherbet I could find was an $8 party tub. Not only was I concerned that I wouldn't be able to eat a party tub (I'm less concerned and a little regretful now) but also I didn't think it would fit in our freezer. I was kind of close to crying at that point. After careful searching, there was some sherbet disguised in ice cream packaging. I had NO idea that sherbet came in any packaging other than those clear tubs with a thick white lid that you satisfyingly peel off, like on Fluff tubs. Unfortunately, they didn't have rainbow sherbet in the more reasonable size, which caused a little distress. Eventually I pulled it together and settled on Key Lime, with the other ice creams as back up in case the flavor was all wrong.

Pregnant Woman Needs Ice Cream!

Earlier in the day Alyssa told me that she was amazed that while some women crave ice cream when pregnant, it didn't sound good to her at all. Hours later we were trolling the ice cream case at the grocery store trying to pick out the perfect flavor flavors. To be fair, the small one in the lower right is mine. :)

muffins

They weren't that good.

What will I fall in love with next? Those turkey burgers still sound good but I'm too afraid of the heartburn now.

It is cruel that the one time in a woman's life when she is encouraged to gain weight and should eat more, she doesn't want to.

I don't want that anymore

For some reason I had terrible heartburn last night - it is supposed to hit in the third trimester when the kid is kicking you in the stomach all the time, not now! Perhaps it is due to the pickle and hummous laden turkey burgers I was eating regularly. I have been getting away with the "I'm so nauseous but when I am hungry I like spicy, garlicky food" gig for long enough, I guess. Unfortunately, I have four containers of hummous in the refrigerator because I was eating it nonstop for days. Now, I have no interest in the hummous. So, today's best food - progresso chicken and wild rice soup. It was a beautiful thing, eating that soup. It even got a few carrots into me. And heartburn friendly? Maybe?

We just bought 5 muffins because it is the only thing I want for breakfast for the last week. Let's hope I still want them tomorrow morning.

9 weeks: favorite meal

I have had at least 5 turkey burgers in as many days. Not just any turkey burger. One with sliced tomato, sauteed spinach, hummous and sliced pickles. Yeah, I know. Pickles. It is perfection.

everyone sleeps 14 hrs a night, right?

I went to bed at 11:30 last night and I woke up at 8:30. I ate half of a muffin then let the cat in and out several times. At 10:00 I went back to bed until 1. Real sleep. Hard sleep. Like night time sleep. This is most of what being pregnant is so far. I'm tired, I'm going to puke, I'm cold, I'm hot. Usually only 2 or 3 of those things at once, though.