11 weeks (+4 days)

It's hard to believe it's 11 weeks (and four days) today! I'm a bit behind because of the Christmas holiday, as we just returned back home today.

Baby, you were beyond spoiled this Christmas! Aside from receiving a maternity wardrobe that is without a doubt larger than my regular clothes, we received baby books and a beautiful painting by your aunt Megan. Christmas was still great this year but it was hard to concentrate on anything other than the fact that you'll be here next year! We're already planning your first Disney trip, first Santa visit and all of those fun things that make Christmas truly magical.

As for me, I'm feeling pregnant these days. And I'm looking it, too, especially when I wear my non-maternity clothes. (My days of non-maternity bottoms are official OVER. I've had it up to here with my BellaBand and am succumbing to maternity pants this weekend when I get to the mall! The tops are still okay, especially if they were baggy to begin with -- but they sure aren't baggy now!)

Check out the difference:


Right now my biggest symptoms (annoyances!) are headaches, the worst acne ever (ugh, this part is my least favorite), the inability to stop burping for more than five minutes at a time and the fact that nearly every food seems too disgusting to eat.

But it's all worth it, Baby, because right now you are the size of fig and almost fully formed. Your tooth buds are appearing under your gums and you're busy kicking, stretching and moving around (which we saw you do on my 10 week ultrasound -- you're a hyper one already!). All of your vital organs are formed and functioning.

This week, I've had tons of dreams that you're a girl. This is the first time throughout my entire pregnancy that I've thought you were a girl. From the moment I saw the "positive" on the test, I had this gut feeling you were a boy and therefore I've spent many nights up and pondering what types of boy things you'd like, or how to do your boy nursery. I haven't really given a thought to the fact you could be a girl until lately. Your great-great-grandmother (my great-grandmother) is thinking like me and bought a little butterfly dress outfit for you. Your grandma, Edie, is sure you're a girl based on the old wives tale about your heartrate. A good 93% of the people we encounter are sure you're a girl, while only a few are insisting you're a boy. I'm pretty confident you're a girl this week. As for your dad? He says he can't guess, but he just doesn't want to end up being wrong!

10 Weeks

Well, it's been one hell of a week, but here I am...10 weeks! I personally can see a noticeable little 'bloat pouch' in my belly. So far no one in public has said anything to me in regards to my potentially expecting, but I guess it's kind of early for that.

So, I'm 10 weeks today and have a nifty little "bloat pouch" now.

As for weekly fun facts:
- My nausea has subsided, but I have the rollercoaster of emotions.
- Baby, by the end of the week, will be a "fetus" and not an "embryo."
- Baby now has discernible fingers and toes.
- Baby's skeleton is growing and hardening.
- The ears are beginning to take shape and the eyelids are no longer transparent.
- Baby's brain will make an incredible 25,000 new neurons every minute this week.
- Baby weighs only 4 grams and measures 1½ inches, about the size of a mondo Brazil nut.



- Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function.
- Baby's limbs can bend now.

Pizza Face.

Growing up, I always had acne. My mom would always yell at me when I called it "acne." Acne, she said, were the craters that my father had on his face as a teenager. I just had pimples. Whatever you wanted to call them, they were the bane of my teenage existence. For years, my forehead would be home to those pesky little flesh-colored bumps. For years, I'd essentially experiment every facial wash or promising acne cleanser on the planet. Thankfully, my skin went easy on me during college. Aside from time-of-the-month breakouts, I didn't really have to worry anymore about those nuisance-y bumps. Right before my wedding, of course, I started noticing the little bumps coming back. Stress? Maybe. After my wedding, they were present enough to warrant a trip to the dermatologist where he confirmed that I was having "slight adult acne." Of course I was. Why oh why would my skin dare cooperate with me for more than four or five years?

(I should also note that my adorable little fourteen year old sister has inherited The Good Genes from both of our parents. I got mom's unruly Fran Drescher-esque hair, she got dad's silky straight hair. I got dad's also unruly skin, she got mom's flawless complexion. At fourteen, she doesn't even know the meaning of the world "pimple." Life is so unfair!)

Anyway, the dermatologist prescribed me some facial washes and overnight creams that killed my adult acne. Life was smooth sailing. I didn't even feel compelled to wear foundation to work anymore.

...And then I got pregnant.

I was reading an article on a website, one of those "what to expect during pregnancy" sites, and I read that your skin will either be clear and glowing or a teenage disaster site. As luck would have it (or as my luck would have it), my skin went with the teenager route. My forehead is covered in pimples of the teenage variety. Last night while washing my face, a few of them popped and began to bleed. The utter joy of bleeding pimples if something that I literally have not had to deal with since I was sixteen years old. And, to make it worse, I'm almost looking like Rudolph with this big red one nearly on the tip of my nose. Because there's no TMI in my world, I should also admit to the fact that these little bumps have made their big debut on my chest and a couple even on my back (which even in my teenage years has never-at-all happened before!).

I'm essentially a pimple-y mess. I find myself self-consciously comparing my own blotched complexion to my sister's teenage friends when they're over (and guess what? They ALWAYS have less acne than me!). My acne medications and dermatologist prescribed facial washes come with the bold "not for pregnant or nursing women" notices. Which leaves me with all-natural acne washes from the health food store, which are proving to be about as effective as...something that's highly ineffective. I'm not feeling too clever at the moment. Go with it.

So I guess this is part of the Pregnancy Adventure. And, before you say anything complimentary, this is me 'fessing up to airbrushing the above photograph that was taken this afternoon. At least I admitted it!

9 weeks!

Okay, not the best picture this week, but it's friggin' freezing here in South Florida and if I don't stay bundled up, I just might freeze to death! Just saying.

Today I am 9 weeks pregnant and I can't believe it. As neurotic and paranoid as I am, the time really is flying by. A lot of really interesting things are happening to Baby this week, too. Baby has grown an inch since last week and is now the size of a green olive. According to those week-by-week websites, I should be feeling more tired than I've ever felt in my life. CHECK! THAT'S ME! RIGHT HERE! I feel so stupid for even complaining about fatigue at the start of this pregnancy because I definitely didn't know what the word even meant in comparison to the past couple days.

I've got all of the other gassy, bloated, peeing-every-two-minutes symptoms that the books are saying I should have. But enough about me and the gory details of pregnancy.

As for Baby, he/she is beginning to develop his/her sex organs! We won't be able to find out what Baby is for a while, but it's so exciting to think that Baby is officially one or the other! (Just for reference, everyone except for three people so far have guessed boy. Lately I've been feeling like she's a girl, though my gut has always said that he's a boy!) Baby has nipples and hair follicles and his/her pancreas, bile ducts, gallbladder and anus are all in place.

This is what Baby is looking like, right about now:


Crazy, no?!

8 Weeks!

Today I am eight weeks along. I have this nifty little pouch of bloating that makes it so my pants can no longer button. Between that and the itchiness of my belly, I find that I'm starting to do "that pregnancy thing" where I walk around with my hand rubbing my belly.

I've tacked on "trouble getting comfortable" to my list of symptoms and qualms. I'm so completely exhausted at night, especially after work, but I feel like it takes forever before I can lay in a position in which I'm comfortable. My stomach and my breasts are just sore and, ugh, the bloating doesn't lend itself well to getting comfortable.

According to those pregnancy tracking websites, I should start to notice my bra becoming snug. Great! I did order a few new bras (especially sports-bra style bras, which I'm all over when I'm at home) and am just crossing my fingers that they don't get too big. I'm pretty sure it's not even possible for them to get any larger than they already are (trust me), but it almost makes for a fun little science experiment: just how big CAN Lindsay's breasts get?!

As far as Baby goes, he or she is growing webbed fingers and toes, has eyelids that nearly cover his or her eyes and his (or her!) brain is starting to form neural pathways. Baby is also about the size of a kidney bean but I'll leave it at that because food references are not my friend right now.

Also, it's Hanukkah! Baby is the next generation in being spoiled, because he/she is being born into a "half Hanukkah, half Christmas" (as I always said as a kid!) family. My parents have taken to already buying Baby his/her Hanukkah gifts: last night Baby got a set of board books and a plush "what do you see?" book. Baby approved greatly, though apparently not so much when it comes to the food. I downed way, way too many latkes to proudly admit this afternoon -- and Baby promptly sent them back up again.