13 weeks. Hello, 2nd. trimester! I'm feeling ok, but tired. Nap a lot. Had some gaggy moments but no hurling so that's a nice change. I'm becoming sex obsessed too. Erotic dreams and uncontrollable urges to get laid NOW. I'd chase Paul around with lecherous intent if it wasn't for the fact that I poop out so easily lately. I told him sooner or later I'd have the energy to catch him and for now I'd just think dirty thoughts in his general direction.

We watched the ultrasound tape again and this time we caught Cletus-the-fetus yawning twice. We missed that earlier. It gets easier to see the more I get used to watching ultrasound images. At first there's just too much static and blur.

Double date last night -- met Adam and his gf to see Polyester. We'd never seen it on the big screen but since the Enzian is doing cult movies now it was cool to go watch it. We ate out at the Olive Garden and then went to Borders to kill time first. I got a yoga book for pregnancy so I don't have to drive myself crazy with my other books trying to figure out what is comfortable while pregnant and what is not.

So long as it doesn't rain, I'm hitting the pool tonight. Cross your fingers!

• What: Water aerobics
  
• Duration: 30 min
  

Went to class but 30 min. into it a lifeguard yelled at us to get out of the pool because of lightening. So we had to call it quits and now it is pouring cats and dogs!

Ate a pickle with my sandwich when I left the pool and now I have this annoying pinchy feeling in my lower abs. Does that mean Cletus-the-fetus hates pickles or what?

• What: yoga
  
• Duration: 15 min
  

Did a quick yoga workout and now my back and shoulders feel better. Had to skip some of the poses though because they just felt too uncomfortable while pregnant. I'll have to add different ones so it works out to 20 minutes rather than 15.

Noticed the last few times we've had sex that certain positions are getting uncomfortable too -- not like my stomach is in the way because I'm not that big yet but like there's just too much pressure on my lower abs or bladder or something.

Back from my parents' house. Mom was having computer problems so I had to go over and help her. I also had to take her some books she wanted and then of course, there's the 60 sec of ultrasound on tape to share. Dad washed and waxed my car for me (surprise!) while I was inside with mom making food and then lectured me on car maintanence (not a surprise).

I think my parents got a kick out of the ultrasound on tape -- it's new to them since neither me or Karen had ultrasounds. Dad asked me if Paul was going to attend the birthing and I said he planned on it. Dad got a weird look and told me one of his old coworkers brought in a tape of their kid's birth years ago and my dad saw some of it and he said it was just gross and he couldn't take it. Then again, he skipped my birth and then fainted when he tried to watch Karen arrive so Dad doesn't have a high tolerance for that sort of thing.

Mom suddenly asked me out of nowhere if when my baby was bigger and had birthday parties if he was going to have a pinata and I said "Sure, why not?" She said she was wondering because while that's par for the course in Panama, who knew what American kids had at their parties these days.

When Cletus-the-Fetus is big enough to hold a stick and give a pinata a good whap and old enough to have little friends, why not? We had oodles of pinatas growing up and I fondly remember the candy free for alls they turn into once the pinata is broken. The birthday person got 3 tries first and then had to get in line with the rest of the kids in age order. So all the little kids got a turn and then everyone had to wonder which one of the older-middle kids was going to be the one to crack that thing open and have candy showering down on them. I think it's better than Halloween!

I didn't tell mom this, but I decided long ago when I hit one of those "decade" birthdays I'm going to have my last pinata. Maybe 30, maybe 40, maybe 50 or over. I'm not sure which one... but definitely one more time in my life I'm going to be the FIRST one in line to hit. So there. :)

This morning we set a new record for going from horizontal to vertical. Paul woke up yelling that he never heard the alarm and that it was 8:30 and we had 20 min to get to my appt. We both raced through teeth brushing and all that jazz without getting in each other's way -- amazing! We threw on clothes, snagged a video tape, and we were en route in 5 min. We showed up at the OB's at 8:51 for my 8:50 appointment. Whew!

Everything with me was fine. No weight gain since last month, and my lab work and Pap all came back fine except for my iron being a touch low at 11.9. The midwife said if it gets lower than 11 at the next lab they'll move me to a prescription vitamin with more iron in it. Headaches are letting up and I haven't thrown up in a few days so that was good. I'd chugged a bottle of water on the way over and I barely managed a pee sample for the strip test. No problems with the strip results -- yay.

"Cletus the Fetus" is also doing fine -- all the measurements were good, strong heartbeat at 166 bpm. Got to see him moving around which was neat. Saw him roll over, kick with his legs, and extend his arm to show off fingers. He also looked like he punched himself in the head with his hand and I told Paul later that he takes after his father minus the hammer. Took him a second to get it and then he laughed. (Paul's clonked himself on the head with many things, including the claw end of a hammer, can you imagine!?)

The tech. did all the things she had to do and then she popped in the tape to try to get us a few seconds of Cletus moving but it looked like he'd gotten tired from wriggling. So she was pressing down with the wand and jiggling my lower abs trying to get him to wake back up again. Eventually he did start squirming some more so on the tape we have a kick and a wave.

So it looks like these fluttery feelings I've been having lately *are* him punching or kicking me. Paul was surprised at how active he was but I was expecting that. Paul can't feel it happen from the outside yet but I'd been getting little clues with those weird little bubbly feelings.

I was a bit detached at my last u/s beause he was a blob that was making me very ill. This time I felt more kindly disposed towards him because he looked more recognizable as a tiny person in the making and over the weekend I had some nausea free moments.

I cleaned my desk anbd found the sheet I was tracking my workouts on for a Pesidential Sports Award. I'm a bit bummed out that I didn't get to finish it before morning sickness totally derailed me and now I'll have to start all over! Poo! :P

We had a quiet day -- slept in, went to lunch at Pizza Hut since we both were craving pizza, then we went to Salvation Army and got some books, and then SuperTarget to price baby crap. The linens and clothes were in much calmer patterns, but the stuff like strollers and swings and things were a bit better at Kids'R'Us. They had some maternity pj's and undies too so that was nice -- I don't think the regualr Target near my house has that.

I finally found the tape measure and my waist is 2 inches bigger. No wonder I hate my other shorts!
Been itching all over too -- very annoying.

Day after tomorrow we get the ultrasound... I'm getting more and more excited and I keep hoping everything is shaping up well.

Read on a board somewhere that someone was feeling strange about breastfeeding because it didn't seem natural to her. While I know what is "natural" depends on what you have become familair with, to me it seems totally natural and it fits in with my expectations of baby care. I'm hoping I can manage it for at least 6 mos if not longer... and I look forward to it as bonding time with baby.

As a kid I got to see some of the women in my family breastfeed and both my SIL and my friend N. have breastfed in front of me. I probably won't go as far as some lady at the mall who just flipped up her top in the food court and fed her baby -- I'm too modest to do that with no blanket. But I can't imagine not doing it.

I feel soooooo tired! I just got up a few hours ago and I'm ready to hit the sack already. I so, so, so wish I didn't have this lab appt. Ungh.

Stomach is all upset. Couldn't face chicken at dinner so I just had a little mac and cheese. Very little protein today. Nrrgh. Will try to do better tomorrow re: food. At least I took my vitamin. I just don't want to eat anything! I feel so yucky I want to just hole up in bed and hide.

I have lab work at the endoc. tomorrow... I don't know if I dread it or not. I'm worried about my insulin levels -- at last lab that was the only value that was slightly off but I was just coming off the Glucophage. So who knows what it is now? I'm also wondering if my thyroid is doing ok.

12 weeks. I am soooo tired. Cletus (the fetus) must be up to something because I am worn out and I haven't been doing anything particularly exciting.

Still trying to get a grip on the nausea thing coming back after enjoying a good long stint without it. Still not sure if I'm going to the pool or not. Still not keeping up with my house despite the fact that this weekend I have to go get kitchen estimates for a small remodel. Evil headache won't quit. My body is changing so much I can't keep up. Still feel fluttery things going on so I must be growing a dancer or acrobat. Cramps suck.

Dad called yesterday because he realized we went to see David Copperfield the magician, and not David Copperfield the story. He was so annoyed to have missed it and wanted to know why I didn't tell him! I said I did call them to tell them I was buying tickets and he told me next time to talk to him and not my mother because she'd gotten it muddled up thinking we were going to go see a play.

The show was VERY good, and Paul and I both had a great time. His illusions are always so stellar! He's very charismatic too.

Then Dad wanted to know how I was doing and how much weight I've gained and if I feel sick. I do feel sick, I've put on 3-4 lbs first trimester, and other than feeling tired, I feel mostly ok. I complain, but it's isn't anything I can't deal with. Then he told me to let him know if Paul changing out the light switch helps or not and hung up.

Paul changed out a bedroom light switch for me last night because the day before I kept hearing/seeing crackles whenever I turned it on. Since we didn't hear it crackling with electricity when the light was on, Paul said it must be the switch's fault because it only happened when the swithc was toggled up or down. So now it's fine. Hooray.

Paul gave me a great back rub the other night -- and in a few weeks we're going to make spa appointments for our anniversary like last year at the Wyndham. I am soooo looking forward to that! Or maybe I'll try the Greenhouse Spa instead... and consider splurging on a series of six -- on for every month left in this pregnancy. That would be lovely. Siiiiiigh.

Throwing up again for the last 2 days. So I've been scarce and will catch up later.

• What: Mall walk
  
• Distance: 1 mile
  

Rained yesterday. We went to eat at the mall, get the JCPenney baby/maternity catalogs, and the cruise toys'r'us w/ a kids'r'us in it to check prices on things so we know what ranges to expect them in. The walking was nice, but I got a leg cramp -- same twitchy leg with the squiggly nerve thing from last August.

Found some things, but I'm going to have to keep collecting price ranges elsewhere because I didn't see any baby monitors and other small items I wanted to know about. (Crib sheets, people! Why aren't there any nice sane ones?)

Paul and I both liked the Jeep Cherokee lightweight stroller best of that collection -- easy to collapse, smooth driving, and seemed pretty sturdy. It was in grey, darker gray and yellow accents. Some of the others were annoying to steer but I pointed out it might not be the stroller but an abused floor model. Then again, if a floor model can't take adults checking it out, I don't see how it will survive a kid using it! Paul was disgusted with one stroller because he couldn't figure out how to collapse it. He was turning it over, pushing on things, poking it... his Care Bear "baby" was falling out of the seat being mashed... so funny! But neither he nor I could ever get it to collapse. Too fussy. Neither one of us liked the baby bucket & stroller combo. What a pain in the ass to get the bucket part off the stroller part! If we can avoid baby buckets, we will. I'd much rather sling -- when we carried our nieces around in bucket seats they kept banging our legs. Ugh.

Feel blah still but dragged myself to do groceries. Got a 1st degree hypertension warning this time. Maybe I just don't like to do groceries any more. I know for sure I hate this brutal heat!

Midwife told me to rest if I feel weird, not to stress because grocery store thingies are not always accurate, and that if I feel truly bad or faint to go to ER. I see the OB practice for check-up/ultrasound in less than 2 weeks but she said if I want to be seen sooner they'll move me up. About the advice I expected, and I'm not unhappy to be reassured but still... I miss feeling perkier. This weak feeling and semi-dizzy thing is a drag. Add the queasy and it sends me over the edge.

Mom called again to tell me she's working on the baby sling and that she is using my Dad as the model since I'm a few inches shorter than Dad and Paul is a few inches taller so he's middle ground. Mom can't use herself because she's the shortest of all of us. I told her I felt strange and she said to rest and to just wait til later when I start to feel stranger.

I still feel these fluttery things in my lower abs too. If that's fetal movement, and this fetus is busy punching me and swimming about no wonder I feel weird!

2 AM again. Feeling very queasy and my tailbone hurts for some reason. Nnnnnrgh... I thought I was done with this crap. :P I better not toss my cookies... I just don't want to go there! :P

Cleaned kitchen, made banana muffins to use up old bananas. Tummy feels a bit odd, so stayed home from pool. I keep having these semi-queasy feelings mixed with hot, sharp feelings lower down. NOt quite heartburny but something.

Mom called to tell me she was out shopping and although she didn't buy anything she wanted to tell me about all the baby things she saw. She's having a good time playing grandma I think.

2 AM. What am I doing? Cleaning. Fished my shower curtain from the washign machine (hot water cycle, 1 cup borax, 1 cup vinegar) and rehung it and now I'm looking for something else to clean after I eat. Nesting mode urges. What next? Sigh.

Feeling a little better but have NO interest in food. I'm struggling through the day on practically one food item. Today was working through a box of Eggo's. Yesterday was a loaf of sourdough. There's some other things in there, but not much. Tomorrow I need to try to get on with variety. My stomach just isn't into it though.

Checked my blood pressure at the gorcery store and it returned a value for 2nd degree hypertension. Tomorrow I need to call the OB and/or my GP. I feel like crap and it needs to stop. :P

I am exhausted. Spent the weekend seeing my in-laws. Sat we drove over an hour to my MIL's and then today it was over an hour to my SIL's and then 2+ home. First time I've gone that much sine pregnant so I was really surprised and how wiped out I felt. It was nice to see everyone, but I just crashed when I got home. Whew!

• What: Water Aerobics
  
• Duration: 60 min
  

Just back from water aerobics class. Got a lot of congratulations form the ladies who'd heard I was out because of morning sickness. I'm tired, but not exhausted -- took it slow and easy and when I got unsettled I just did things in place rather than in circles like everyone else. It just gets too dizzying to be doing everything in circles like that.

I'm actually surprised I've been feeling so good all week. I'm at 10 weeks today and I wasn't expecting the nausea to let up until 12 weeks at least if not longer. Let's hope it stays away!

All day today I've been feeling fluttery movements in my lower abs. Is it gas? Uterus growing? Fetus rolling around? What? And I solved the vitamin gagging by taking it with a cup of skim milk with Ovaltine.

Paul comes home tomorrow. Yay! However short his business trips are, I'm always glad for him to be home. Last night while we were talking on the phone we got into common fears about sex in third trimester that I'd read somewhere.

"Ok, the fear that having sex will somehow harm the baby."

"I can understand that one," he said. "I bet that's the number one most common."

"The fear that sex will bring on labor."

"Ok, I can see that too, esp. near the end."

"Feeling weirded out while having sex when the baby starts moving around in there."

"I never thought about that. Still understandable if it bugs you to have baby kicking back."

"Fantasies that the baby is peeking at your penis or about to bite it off."

"WHAT?!"

"I swear it was in there!" me with the giggle fits.

Green Pepper activewear patterns. Cool!

On impulse I went over to Mom's today for most of the afternoon. She's decided to make me a tube sling and I chose this maroon material with guatemalan looking stripes from the box of fabric she had. It's not actually guatamalan material, just that it looks like it.

While Dad took a nap, Mom convinced me to go to Beall's to try to find drawstring shorts even though I was still pooped from shopping this weekend and finding nothing. I'm losing my waist and button shorts are driving me up the wall, but I only have one pair of drawstring board shorts that will do. If I could find another 2 like that I could make it through summer and 2nd trim. without having to buy anything else. The more I get along in this pregnancy, the more I regret that I do not know how to sew well. At least my mom knows how and she's very good at it. Holly can sew too so I suppose between the two of them if I get stuck they can help me out. Because if I don't find board shorts soon I'm going to look for a pattern and just make the bloody things!

Didn't find any shorts today, but I did get larger sports bra so that's a help. Mom got her first sports bra -- I can't believe she's waited this long to get one!

We oogled baby clothes and I came home with 3 "sleeper sacks" with the foldover hands because I wanted some and they are always so hard to find. Onesies, little shirts, blankets and stuff like that I can get later because you find those *everywhere* but I wanted to get these now since they were so cheap and they were foldovers to boot. Mom had no idea what I was talking about when I said I wanted sleeper sacks to bring home baby in with the folding hands so it took me a while to find one and show it to her and then she helped me comb through 5 racks to find the other 2 gowns. One is a solid yellow with the bottom that is open, but with elastic to keep it semi-bunched up and closed. The other two have totally closed bottoms and of those two, one is white with blue clouds and the other is white with green and yellow bears. All three have snaps up the front and long sleeves with a pocket on the end of the sleeves. When you invert the pocket over the end of the sleeve and over baby's hands, then his hands stay warm and he won't scratch himself in the eye or something. A lot easier to keep on in winter than eeny baby gloves or mittens and they won't get lost!

I told her I wanted to shop for the rest around Thanksgiving when the sales are on and I know what gender I'm having. I'm looking forward to that. Maybe Karen will be home for Thanksgiving and she can help.

Mom keeps telling me to get on with it and crochet a hat, but I've been working on a blanket instead. I've had to unravel the whole thing 3 times already so I'm starting to think there MUST be a mistake in the pattern. I'm going to do it one more time and if I have to unravel it again, I'm forsaking this pattern and going with a new one!

Bad headache this evening so I had to take Tylenol and go lay down. Now I'm drinking a Dr. Pepper I really don't want just to see if the little bit of caffeine helps.

Been laying low over the weekend since I was having growing pains all over. My right boob hurt one day, and then the left the next. Then all these stretchy-pulling feelings in my uterus. Or these zinging feelings somewhere down there but couldn't decide if it was labia or vagina or cervix or what. Very elusive. My waist is leaving and shopping for a bra and shorts is beomce more an more important to me -- only I cna't find any that fit right! Grrr!

Paul has rechristened my pregnancy "Cletus" now that it's become a fetus and gone past the embryo stage. I think I liked "Peanut" and the "Found A Peanut" song rather than "Cletus" and the "Cletus the Fetus" song.

Today over lunch Paul told me he'd told Greg he wasn't wigging out over it and he was taking things rather well. Greg had asked him how he was doing and how I was. "I was fine when you told me you were pregnant, I was calm doing the ER day, I was pleased with the ultrasound, everything about the first OB appointment was fine, didn't have a problem watching your pelvic exam, everything hunky dory."

"Until?" I prompted, knowing it was coming.

"Until the end of the appointment where they sent you to the lab room to have blood drawn."

"Really? I hate having blood drawn but I didn't think at was all that freaky to watch." He didn't have to see the needle go in or anything -- he wasn't even near me!

"No, it was when you were sitting in that chair with the nurse and I was sitting in the other chair across the room and there was that chart with the circles on the wall. "

"Oooohhhhhhh.... I know which chart!"

"Yes, the one with all the circles showing how many centimeter dialted each one would be. I started feeling really woozy after looking at the 10 cm circle. 10 cm is really big!"

From a pregnancy newsletter I get weekly:

"You may continue feeling some morning sickness, dizziness and fatigue but they should all be lessening. "

Yeah, right. Try worsening! The sheer violence with which I throw up always surprises me. I don't know what it is about the early AM but from midnight to 6 AM I dread, dread that pukey feeling coming at me. It's just awful -- my eyes bug out, my body is tense, the taste is terible, I pee my pants, I swear I'm going to burst a vessel somewhere, I can't breathe. Just ugh, ugh, ugh. Now I have to take a shower, brush my teeth, gargle and change clothes to feel sane.

At least I make it to the toilet -- I've yet had it happen to me and NOT made it to the bathroom. I don't think I could cope if I had to first puke and then clean it all up off the floor. Ew. Poor Paul -- running after me trying to bring me water or a towel or anything at all to make it better... I know he feels bad for me.

I didn't go to the pharmacy today because I felt so bad I couldn't deal with the drive but tomorrow no matter how gross I feel I have to go so I can get my nausea prescription. I'm 9 weeks today... first trimester can't end soon enough for me.

Holly offered to drive me to water aerobics class tonight now that I'm cleared for exercise but I asked her for a thurs. raincheck. I dropped off the nausea med. prescription last night and the pharmacy was out of stock and won't have it til Wed. I felt so gross last night I couldn't imagine doing an evening class without meds.

Paul heard me cussing on the couch and he laughed and told me I'm going to give the baby a complex before it is born. I keep telling him I like the growing fetus fine, I just don't like the not-so-fun pregnancy symptoms.

It will be kind of fun to get a 3D ultrasound though. Because Paul's brother was born early and with a minor cleft palette, Dr. G. said he suggested a 3D one when I'm further along so we can check out baby better and see if there's going to be a problem.