Week 6!

Baby is now the size of a sweet pea! 

While baby is growing away in there my hormones are starting to catch up with me. Let me just tell you that morning sickness is no joke. At first it was just this kinda gross feeling that made me extremely tired and not very hungry. Now I can't keep anything down beyond saltines and small sips of ginger ale. I did have thanksgiving dinner with my family but it was followed directly by feeling absolutely disgusting and having to lay down for an hour. Not fun. We traveled home last night and I had saltines for dinner. I woke up this morning and had saltines for breakfast. It's 2:00pm, I'm at work, and I cant even fathom eating anything besides saltines for lunch.This is miserable.

I know that once the baby is born I'll barely remember all of this but right now I can't seem to focus on anything besides my churning tummy. In addition to feeling gross I've begun having these crazy mood swings where I just feel like crying at the craziest stuff! Really the only kind of mood swing I've had has been in the direction of crying so I guess it could be worse (like getting stressed or angry) but is it too much to ask to get a deliriously happy swing?

We told pretty much all of our family this week. The reactions were all very good but no one was as excited as we expected them to be. Luke thinks it's because everyone has been expecting this for awhile (I think he's just trying to make me feel better). I'm also (big surprise) a little moody so maybe it's just all in my head. My parents already bought themselves "World's best grandparents" shirts, ha ha, at least their excited! 

Monday is our first doctor's appointment so that's exciting (and scary). I definitely plan on asking about remedies and/or medicine for this nausea so maybe I can feel a little more normal. At this moment I would love to go home, take a nap, and maybe have a baked potato. I could handle that, I think.

I hope you all had a fabulous thanksgiving and I'll be back soon with reports on the doctor's visit!

Just call me Johnny Appleseed

Tomorrow marks the beginning of week 5 and according to The Bump.com baby is now the size of an appleseed!

Baby Braswell will DOUBLE in size this week, although that's still teeny tiny. According to The Bump.com "The embryo doesn't look like much more than a tadpole right now, but at five weeks, she's already starting to form major organs (heart, stomach, liver, kidney) and systems (digestive, circulatory, nervous)."

I am still amazed that all this is happening in my body! As far as symptoms go I'm still having a pretty easy time of it. (knock on wood!) I have been pretty exhausted (but then again we did just have a whirlwind weekend with the marching band), I still have minor cramps and lower back pain but they're happening less frequently now, my feet were incredibly swollen at the end of Saturday (after an entire day at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World). Normally I could spend an entire day plus some at Disney and just be regularly tired but on Saturday I was tired to the point of tears (and I was super emotional that we had to leave my favorite place in the world). Yesterday I tried to drink a lot of water to get the swelling down (which was harder than it sounds because I was also on a bus for over 12 hours and bathroom stops were limited). I am definitely having to run to the bathroom more often, but not obnoxiously more just noticeably more. Also, according to all the books and websites I've been reading, the next couple of weeks is when morning sickness has a tendency to show up. Let's hope I miss out on that boat.

The most noticeable change has been my eating habits. Let me just say that cravings are real and so are food aversions. I cannot stand chocolate now, pretty much anything sweet (other than french toast) grosses me out :( and at Disney I had mini corn dogs with RELISH from Casey's Corner, TWICE! (I normally hate relish!) I'm still paying close attention that I get enough iron in my diet, and I do try to eat somewhat healthy. There is a lot of spinach and hummus in my fridge now, and pita bread is my friend too.

I'm not showing yet, just some gross bloating that makes me feel as big as the side of a barn and has forced me into the flowy shirt section of my wardrobe. Before I eat I feel fine, but as soon as my belly is full it's like there's no room for it to go so I get this oh so attractive pouch that makes me want to do about 1,000 sit ups. 

(See no cutesy baby bump, yet!)

We also told more people this week, including my parents who just sent us the most adorable basket of flowers with a stuffed Mickey Mouse in it :) We also bought Baby a couple things from Disney World, but those pictures will have to come later because I have to get ready for work now.

I hope you all have a "magical" day! :)

Speechless

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

I can hardly believe I am typing this post! This was our second month trying and I had a gut feeling that I was pregnant but I didn't want to get my hopes up! I decided to test tonight on a whim and I got my POSITIVE result!!! I'm still in shock!

I had a rough day, I wasn't feeling well and I had my first newborn photoshoot which was so much fun but also more challenging than I anticipated. I didn't get as many "perfect" shots as I wanted and I came home with a whole lot of self pity. Luke got home from his flight shortly after and he fixed me supper and said that maybe I would feel better after I ate (my iron has been low lately, so if I don't eat I get really tired). After watching "Gnomeo and Juliet" on Netflix I decided that I would go ahead and test since I hadn't this morning and I had all those internet cheapie tests left. I'm 12 dpo (days post ovulation) today and it's still early... but apparently not too early! I had laid the test on the counter and after I washed my hands I was staring at it waiting for it to get completely clear, hoping that I would see something. When I say staring, I really mean boring a hole into it with my retina's, at first I thought I was imagining it (the line was very faint), then it started to get white around the line... I took it into the "princess room (office)" where Luke was working on homework (aka facebook-ing) and all I could say was "I swear there's a line. There is a line. I swear. I swear." and he looked at it and smiled from ear to ear and agreed he saw a line too. I was crying. I couldn't help it, there is a baby growing in my belly! We hugged and kissed and just stared at the test in disbelief!

After awhile Luke had to finish his homework (for real this time) and I went to call my best friend since I was 13, Sarah. She was just as excited as us! We gushed and talked about the future and made plans to meet up very soon. She's the only one we're telling until this weekend. We're going to Disney World with the marching band I work with (that my sister is in) and we're going to tell her then. I hope I can wait that long! We're going to tell the rest of our family over Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see what their reactions will be!

As far as symptoms go I really don't have too many. I've had some minor cramping, similar to menstrual cramps but not as intense. I've also been getting short of breath over the stupidest stuff like drying my hair or switching the laundry over. Weird. I've also been very tired lately, but I thought it was just because I wasn't eating right and my iron was low. Other than those few symptoms I've been feeling fine though. I'll definitely keep you updated on other symptoms as they appear!

WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!!