First Trimester
Month 1 (weeks 1-4): DONE! (+/- 0 pounds)
Month 2 (weeks 5-8): DONE! ( +/- O pounds)
Month 3 (weeks 9-13): DONE! ( -3 pounds)
Second Trimester
Month 4 (weeks 14-17): DONE! ( +3 pounds/ total gain of 0 pounds)
Month 5 (weeks 18-21): DONE! (+5 pounds/ total gain of 5 pounds)
Month 6 (weeks 22- 26): DONE! ( -1 pound/ total gain of 4 pounds)
Third Trimester
Month 7 (weeks 27-30): DONE! ( +3 pounds/total gain of 7 pounds)
Month 8 (weeks 31-35): DONE! (+10 pounds/total gain of 17 pounds - what a jump!)
Month 9 (weeks 36-40): DONE! (+3 pounds/total gain of 20 pounds)
1 1/2 weeks post pregnancy: lost all 20 pregnancy pounds PLUS another 10 pounds! Whoo-hoo for breastfeeding!!
Disclaimer: I was already heavy to begin with, which is why I haven't gained much weight with this pregnancy (except for month 8!). I had absolutely no morning sickness, very low blood pressure, no GD, and pretty much have eaten all the same things I did before I got pregnant. I have noticed that my appetite has actually decreased - - much to DH's disamy. He was really hoping for some late night ice cream cravings!
We were married on a rainy and windy Friday evening near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on October 27th, 2006. Not everything was perfect, but I was too happy to care! We had a fabulous day with all of our closest family and friends and just doesn’t get any better than that!
Almost exactly two months after the wedding, we found out I was pregnant!
Click here to see the photo slideshow of our wonderful wedding
To see my planning bio, click here:
Middletownbride
Links
Molly Ann
I'm Pregnant!
Ultrasound Pics
Maternity Photos
Belly Shots
The Nursery
Baby Shower
Misc Baby Stuff
Furbabies
Molly Ann
Molly Ann was born on Monday, September 10th at 10:57 pm. She weighed 8 pounds, one ounce and was 21 inches long! I started leaking a lot of 'gunk' on Sunday afternoon (3 days after my due date) and immediately started having contractions every 1-5 minutes (not painful), so I called the hospital and they had me come in to check if it was my water. It wasn't and since I was only 1 cm dialated, they sent me home and said to come back when my contractions were too painful to talk through. My contractions continued to be 3-5 minutes apart and gradually got more and more painful. So at 1:00 in the morning, when I could no longer talk through my contractions, we headed back in. But I was only 2 cm dialated, so they sent us home again!
Monday morning, I didn't know what to do. The contractions were very painful and had been coming every 4 minutes for HOURS now, but I didn't want to get sent home again. I was starting to feel more pressure with them now though, so I just called my ob, who had me come into the office to get checked. I was 4-5 cm and 80% effaced, so they sent us over to the hospital around noon on Monday! I got an epidural almost immediately, but after two hours, I was really feeling my contractions again. I was pretty bummed that my epidural wore off so quickly. And that the anesthesiologist refused to do anything about it. My doctor ended up offering me some IV drugs - which were great, but left me feeling so incredibly groggy! My mom was writing down all the funny things I said while under the influence! lol
My doctor was going to give me pitocen, since I was progressing pretty slowly. . . my contractions weren't that regular - I would have one ontop of another and then there would be a five minute break. But, since I was feeling the contractions so much, she decided to let me progress on my own. The nurse commented that she'd never seen someone progress so far without regular contractions.
I couldn't quite dialate all the way to 10 cm, so they ended up giving me pitocen right at the very end. I started pushing a little after 10:00 and pushed for about 45 minutes and little Molly Ann finally blessed us with her arrival! It was awesome!
Some words of advice: if you decide to have a mirror, you might want to have them wait until the baby really starts to crown. They put the mirror up a little too early for my liking and I couldn't even see the baby yet, so all I saw at first was a gross view of my private area . . .I watched myself poo on the table (disgusting!) and I watching hemmoroids popping out (scared the crap out of me and I didn't want to push very hard after that!). But, once I could really see her head, it helped soooo much! My pushes became much stronger . . . the nurses weren't even ready! I didn't get to watch the whole thing in the mirror, because the doctor ended up doing an episiotomy and kicked the mirror out of the way (Thank God!). I also ended up tearing. But, it was all worth it and I've healed quickly. Honestly, the worse pain after childbirth for me was the cramping of my uterus. I didn't even feel my stitches until about a week after her birth, and even then, it wasn't painful . . just uncomfortable.
I highly reccomend having someone in the delivery room with you (besides your husband) taking photos (preferable a professional). Everyone says you forget the pain of childbirth and while that's true . . . you also forget about the emotions of the day. I am so thrilled to have these photos to look back at and immediatley all the emotions of the day come flooding back to me! It's an amazing time and should be documented properly!
Click here to see the awesome slideshow of photographs from Molly's birth (and make sure your sound is turned up!)
I'm Pregnant!
After the wedding, DH and I decided to "stop trying NOT to get pregnant" . . . no charting, no temping or anything like that -- just do the same thing we'd been doing, only with no protection. The plan was to try it this way for 6 months and if I didn't get pregnant, then we'd move onto charting. Luckily, we got pregnant almost immediately! We were so excited and so surprised it happened so quickly!
We had taken a cruise over Christmas with my family. Christmas was on Monday and I was due for AF on Thursday. I packed a few pregnancy tests with me -- my plan was to test on Christmas day just in case I was pregnant. I took the first test on Christmas Day and it came back negative. On Friday afternoon, right before we were about to meet my family for our last dinner on the cruise, I took one again and it immediately showed up positive! (and yes, I did EXACTLY what I swore I would never do . . .take a picture of it!)
DH and I bought a little baby hat at the gift shop to give to my parents at dinner that night. They totally didn't get it at first! My stepdad said he kept thinking, "does this thing stretch? Cause it's not going to fit me!" My sister was the first one who caught on -- everyone was so excited!
How we told other family members:
FIL - he was cat-sitting for our two cats while we were on the cruise and we asked him to wait for us at the house when we came home. DH asked him if next time we went away, if he would watch all three grandkids. FIL didn't blink and eye and immediately said, "what, is Erin pregnant?"
My Dad and stepmom - we hadn't exchanged Christmas gifts with them yet, so we bought an extra present (a set of bibs that say things like "grandpa spoils me"). After they opened all their other gifts, we gave them the bibs. My Dad was in complete shock!
My "bonus mom" - Again, we needed to exchange Christmas gifts, so I bought her a really cute baby-themed picture frame and put a note that said, "picture coming in September". She was soooo excited! We were eating breakfast at a restaurant and she jumps up, crying and screaming and announces to everyone that she was going to be a psuedo-grandmother! It was so funny!
One of my good friends - Ironically, three years ago, we had gone up to their house for New Year's Eve and they told us they were pregnant. So, I waited until New Years Eve and I called her up and non-chalantly said, "wow, I just thinking about how it's been three years since that New Year's Eve when you told us you were pregnant . . . . well, I just thought I'd call and return the favor."
Some other pictures from the cruise:
Ultrasounds
1st Ultrasound at 9 weeks to date the pregnancy:
Second ultrasound at 12 weeks when the doctor couldn't find a heartbeat during our regular appointment. Turns out, the baby was just moving around too much!
Big level 2 ultasound at 18 weeks! Baby was being very stubbern and was moving her arms all over the place, but kept her legs crossed tightly! When the doctor started banging on my belly to get her to move, she covered herself up with her little hand! She's so modest already. At the very last minute, he saw 3 dots and said he was 98% sure it was a girl!
Another ultrasound at 32 weeks (just cause our doctor is cool like that). Confirmed it's a girl!
Maternity Photos
My sister took these for us . . . outside ones were done at 38 weeks, indoor ones at 39 weeks. I think they turned out pretty good! I even proud of my stretch marks! lol
Wow mama! Check out those stretch marks!!
My boobs are about ready to bust out of that shirt!
Belly Shots
I'm being brave and posting all these belly shots for those plus-size women who wonder what they're going to look like pregnant. I was able to wear almost all my regular clothes up until about 26 weeks . . . strangers didn't start noticing my belly until almost 30 weeks.
The Nursery
Even though we know it's a girl, we chose to do a gender-nuetral nursery. That way, we can use all the same stuff for future babies! We went with Coloca's "Alphabet Soup".
Before and After Shots
(Well, the before shots are after we started moving everything out - it used to be a guest room)
Still to do: hang fabric message board (the pink with green ribbon thing on the shelf) on the wall above it.
Still to do: MH still needs to make the wall letters for her name to hang above the crib (but since we're keeping her name a secret, that project is on hold!)
It's kind of hard to tell, but the bottom half of the walls are striped (flat and semi-gloss paint).
The finished window with curtains, roman shades and the window cornice DH made.
The wall letters my husband made.
Baby Shower
My mom, with help from my sister, two best friends, and my "bonus" mom (my ex-stepmom) threw a great shower for me! So many more people came than I expected and they were all so generous! And the food was DELICIOUS!! (huge rave for E's on Main Street for their catering!) Unfortunately, I pretty much hate every picture of myself from that day, but oh well. I'll show you anyway.
The cupcake tower - - we have it narrowed down to three names, so they decorated the cupcakes with our three choices - - so clever!
Favors - they were flower seeds!
This was just a small portion of the gifts. By the time all the guests got there, the table was overflowing and there were boxes EVERYWHERE!!
WTF the wrong with my eye in that last picture???
More Fun Baby Stuff
Our Travel System
Our Bedding
Swingn'n' Bounce Swing
High Chair
Cradle similiar what my stepdad is making for us and the bedding to go with it.
Dipaer Bag similiar to mine
Outfit I'm thinking about bringing her home in
LOVE these for my chemistry professor husband!
Furbabies
Our big boy, Chandler. He was up 19 pounds, but then he got hit by a car and broke his jaw, then a year later had a urinary tract infection and the vet put him on a diet. He's a healthy 16 pounds now - - definitely not the smallest cat!