The Bump

Ladies and Gentlemen, this day has finally arrived - we took our first bump pictures :)

Although I've been noticing my thickening waistline for some time now, I didn't think it wasn't looking like anything except some extra pounds, that is, until yesterday.

Yesterday, as I went out to my car for work, my neighbor, who parks next to me and didn't know I was pregnant, looked and exclaimed, "You have a baby bump!"  I do see her a lot, so it's not like she's a total stranger, but if it was enough for her to notice, I figured it was enough to take a picture!

So without further ado, introducing The Bump:

Thursday marks 17 weeks, so we still have a lot of growing to do - in fact, the baby is supposed to double in size in the next two weeks!

Pregnancy Math

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains references to menstrual cycles.  Nothing gross though, promise.  Proceed at your own risk.

When we started talking about getting pregnant, one of the first things we considered was when the baby would arrive.  This is an important thing to know, as it creates a timeline for getting the nursery ready, planning work schedules and vacation time, budgeting, etc.

However, figuring out this ever-important date is more confusing than the movies would lead one to believe.  I had always heard two numbers related to this issue - pregnancy is 9 months long and your first trimester (when people generally start spreading the news) is 12 weeks.  Turns out, neither of these numbers are particularly helpful, or even correct.  12 weeks to a trimester would suggest a 36 week pregnancy.  False.

Side note: my doctor told me that the risk of miscarriage actually drops to almost as low as it will get once you've had an ultrasound to confirm everything looks right, which I had at 8 weeks.

Here's the magic number - 40 weeks.  Everything pregnancy-related in calculated in weeks, not months.  You may think that 40 weeks begins when the magic + sign or double lines show up on the home pregnancy test.  Not correct.  That 40 weeks actually begins from the first day of your last menstrual cycle.  But, you ask, how can this be?  If I had my period, clearly I was not pregnant yet!  And you would be right.  You are not pregnant for the first 2 weeks of the 40 weeks.

They do this because date of conception is very difficult to pinpoint (more on that in an upcoming post).  This means that for women with cycles that are significantly longer or shorter than 28 days, the due date can actually be revised based on the size of the uterus and baby as pregnancy progresses.

Confusing, right?  So when someone asks me, how far along are you?  And I say, 17 weeks, I can see that person calculating in their head how many months that is, when really what they need to know is that is almost halfway to 40 :)

February 7 is coming faster than we realize!

Long weekend

Last weekend, Alex had a few days off a work, which was great because it gave us a chance to hang out with visiting family, and take a little trip to Michigan for a few days.  We have friends with a beautiful house on Lake Michigan, and they generously offered us a place to stay for a few days.

But before Michigan, we spent some time hanging out with these clowns:

Sam and Alyssa brought their boys to Chicago for some deep dish pizza, a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, and lots of play time.  The adults even got in a game of Settlers of Catan - much to Sam's chagrine, Alex came from behind and won. Again.

Then it was off for a few days of R&R at the beach.  And all of you east-coasters, I'll have you know it does count as a real beach :)  The only thing missing was salt in the water.

The house was up on the hill, with an elaborate set of stairs heading down to the beach.  We had one day of rain, but the next day was gorgeous enough to make up for it.  In the words of Zac Brown, we put our toes in the water, asses in the sand, without a worry in the world, although only Alex had a beer in his hand :)

Doctor appointment

Today we had our third doctor's appointment to check on little Herbie, and everything was great!  It was by far our shortest appointment yet - just spoke with the doctor and she listened to the heartbeat with a little doppler device.

This was the third time we'd heard Herbie's heart beating, but this time was a little different.  In addition to hearing a really strong, regular heartbeat, we also heard these "whooshing" noises.  That, the doctor explained, was the sound of little Herbie squirming around!!!  There was a lot of whooshing, so I guess that means our little guy/girl is keeping busy in there - so crazy!

I'm at 15 weeks now, and the doctor said I'd most likely be able to actually feel Herbie moving between 18-22 weeks, which is right around the corner!

More updates with photos to come - we were in Michigan for a little getaway over the weekend, which was amazing and relaxing.  Plus, I finally broke down and bought my first maternity clothes.  Stay tuned!

Our first baby

No, I'm not talking about the growing one inside me.  I'm talking about this guy:

After all, he is our first baby - just look at him!  Have you ever seen another dog (or any animal for that matter) that likes to be held like a baby?  I took this picture at work yesterday as we got in some quality snuggle time.  Not sure how he's going to handle it when there is a human baby in his spot...hopefully he can step up to the plate and be a good big brother :)  If not, we might be investing in obedience classes...

Daddy Skills

Courtesy of  K-Strat (it's a rap video, so I'm using her rapper name), here's a hilarious video about being a dad.  We're also going to start watching "Guys with Kids" this fall - maybe Alex can pick up some pointers :)

Watch "Daddy Skills" here.

Maternity Clothes

Truthfully, the thought of buying maternity clothes kind of bums me out, at least until there's an actual baby-looking belly to put in them.  But I don't have a bump yet.  For now, I just look like I ate too big of a lunch and bought  pants in a size too small.

At some point, I'm going to have to break down and buy those stretchy waisted jeans, but that time hasn't quiiiiite come yet.  However, I did make the most important purchase to fit my soon-to-be baby belly - a bigger Bears jersey!

Alex demonstrated just how well he knows me the other night as we walked by the Reebok outlet.  He said, "hey I'll bet Reebok jerseys are on sale now that they're no longer official.  Want to go buy one that will fit your belly through football season?"  It was an offer I couldn't refuse.  I may not have any pants that fit well, but at least I'm ready for the Bears!  That qualifies as maternity clothes, right?

2 years

Two years ago today, Alex and I got married and forever joined our lives together as one - what a great day :)  Looking back, I thought we had a lot going on in that year leading up to our wedding - we both got new jobs, moved to Chicago, planned a wedding, bought a condo, and got married.  My grandma passed away just two weeks later, I went through my first election on the campaign, and Alex got a different job.  It was a busy time.

When all of that subsided, I remember thinking, now things will settle down for awhile.  Now we'll have some consistency, and we have had that.  We've had time to decorate our place, pick up a new (for us) car, make some great new friends, and make fun memories with old ones.  But just two quick years later, and we're embarking on the biggest adventure yet - Herbie.

I wonder if, two years from now, I'll look back at this time and think, that was the calm before the storm that is raising children.  Or maybe I'll look back and have trouble even remembering what life was like before Herbie.  Or maybe we'll be getting ready to embark on some new unforeseen adventure.

Whatever we're facing, I am so blessed to face it with Alex.  There is nobody I'd rather go through life with.  I guess that's why I married him :)

My first baby purchase

Well, technically it's not my first baby purchase (I bought a onesie and a bib to make our announcement to my parents...more on that another time), and technically it's not just for the baby buuuuut my motivation for buying it now was all about the baby so it counts.

I bought my first DSLR camera.  I wanted a camera that would take great pictures, and not cost a gazillion dollars, so I decided on a refurbished Canon EOS Rebel T3.

I learned a lot about cameras after much online research and some advice from a photographer friend.  Basically they all said, buy a camera body you can afford because unless you are a professional photographer, you'll never use all the bells and whistles, and save your money for good lenses, because that's what will affect the picture quality.

I chose Canon over Nikon because I liked the way the buttons were laid out better.  Really scientific.  Now I just have to learn how to use the darn thing before February so I can capture our little bundle of joy in his/her full glory :)

Meet Herbie

Ladies and gentleman, I am pleased excited ecstatic to formally introduce the newest member of the Heacock household - Herbie :)

Herbie is the little nugget currently taking up residence in my belly.  This picture is a little out of date - I was eight weeks along then and tomorrow marks the end of 13 weeks - but because it's Herbie's first photo, I had to share.

Over the next 27 weeks, or however long it takes for Herbie to join the world, I'm going to chronicle our journey together here, both for posterity's sake and also because I've already found out a lot about being pregnant that no one tells you before it happens, so this is my extended public service announcement.  Some of it is informational, some is miraculous, and some may be a little gross - consider yourself warned :)

To kick things off, I'll start with a miracle.  When that picture was taken, there were also sound effects - we could hear Herbie's very strong and very regular heartbeat - 162 beats/minute to be precise.  After just eight short weeks, our baby had its very own heartbeat, completely separate and and distinct from mine.  I almost can't even fathom it - that there's a new heart beating inside of me - but it's definitely there.  I've heard it twice.  And besides sharing some space in my belly, I haven't done a thing to make it happen.  Absolutely miraculous if you ask me.