Can you hear me now?

I am thrilled to be (already/finally) 20 weeks pregnant! Between my last update and now, I have had many weeks of being sick and tired which is all the excuse I have for not writing frequent updates. Almost everytime I think that the sickness has got to be ending (second trimester, 15 weeks, 17 weeks, 19 weeks), I get proven wrong again. I was sick yesterday at 19w1d so I'm crossing my fingers that was the absolute last time...

Now the baby should be able to hear me, so at least I have someone to complain to if it happens again! Hear that, baby?

Here are some of the notable milestones of the past weeks:

10 weeks: We get to watch the baby on an ultrasound. Heart is beating, baby's arms and legs are moving, everything looks great. John is pleased with baby's rhythm and dancing skills in utero. Awww, look at that cute fetus!

14 weeks: We take baby on an airplane to Wisconsin for Grandma's 90th birthday. I try to keep my pregnancy a secret until the presentation of the scrapbook where my page announces that Grandma is getting upgraded to "Great" on February 27th. However, several people start to notice my little bump and word gets around to nearly everyone beforehand. During this trip, I feel the first flutters of baby moving.

19 weeks: Daddy takes Mommy and baby on a short vacation to the Bahamas. Baby's first international trip! I am getting much bigger and am feeling baby's movements a few times everyday. John wishes he could feel too, but I think baby needs to get a bit stronger first. The belly is definitely growing and I'm pretty firmly in maternity clothes now (and loving it - why does anyone go back to normal pants after finding comfortable, stretchy, and trendy maternity clothes?!?).

Our big 20 week ultrasound is coming up soon, so hopefully we'll have a lot more photos and good news about baby soon. I can't wait to see how big baby is now!

Growing

Tomorrow I am 9 weeks pregnant and I am getting bigger! My waist was 30" pre-baby, and it is now 2.5" larger. Today was the first day that my pants were too uncomfortable to button. I've been wearing a lot of dresses, but I might have to figure out an interim-maternity solution for work clothes soon. I can either buy a few more loose dresses, buy larger clothing, or buy a belly band to wear my pants unbuttoned. Oh, the choices!

I'm looking forward to actually showing, rather than just getting fat. But I suppose I have a few more weeks left where it will get worse before it gets "better".

The good news is that the baby is also growing too. We had our first ultrasound on 7/9 and got to see the heartbeat. I was too worried to really look at it myself, but John and the doctor looked intently so I trust them that it was there. Although the official printer wasn't working, John was able to take a first picture of our baby with his blackberry.

John is already very attached to this little one. I'm still trying not to be too attached but just enjoy that I am able to stay pregnant for this long. I will let myself get attached and get (even) more excited when we get to our next ultrasound at 10w2d.

The baby seems to want me to know that it is there, though. I've had a few bad days of nausea and even threw up 3 times in the last 8 days. While feeling sick isn't wonderful (obviously) it does help me feel more confident that we're both still okay so far. Otherwise, I feel like I use up all my energy just trying to eat, sleep, and work. I can't wait until I have more energy to actually do things that I'd like to do before the baby - like sewing classes, working through my knitting to-do list, and reading more books.

Weekly Recipe: Daily Granola

I found this recipe at http://orangette.blogspot.com/2008/02/consider-it.html. When I was younger, my grandfather used to make wonderful homemade granola and I've always wanted to make my own. While this wasn't as good as my grandpa's, it seems like a pretty good starting point. I like the ingredients, but the end result was a little too chewy and sweet for my taste. Next time I'll cut down on some of the sweeteners and let it bake a little longer (I did about 40 minutes this time).

Daily Granola (Modified from Orangette.com who modified it from Nigella's Feast

Dry ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups raw almonds
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
1 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds
1 cup dried coconut
¾ cup sesame seeds
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:
¾ cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
¼ cup honey
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300°F. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones, and stir well.

Spread the mixture evenly on two rimmed baking sheets. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until evenly golden brown. Set a timer to go off every ten minutes while the granola bakes, so you can rotate the pans and give the granola a good stir. Remove the pans from the oven, stir well – this will keep it from cooling into a hard, solid sheet – and set aside to cool. The finished granola may still feel slightly soft when it comes out of the oven, but it will crisp as it cools.

Scoop cooled granola into to a large zipper-lock plastic bag or other airtight container. Store in the refrigerator indefinitely.

Weekly Recipe: Lemon Poppyseed Cake

I've decided to start a new series on this blog where I post a recipe once a week. This won't be any glamorous food blog entry, just a way to record one of my favorite recipes. The series may go through themes - maybe I'll even start posting pictures?! Don't get your hopes up, though.

The first recipe is my mother's Lemon Poppyseed Cake. It is delicious, moist, lemon-y (of course!) and incredibly simple to make.

Ingredients:
1 Box Reg. Yellow Cake Mix
1 Small Instant Pudding Mix (lemon)
3/4 c Oil
3/4 c. Water
3/4 c. Lemon Juice (I only had a 1/2 c, but it was still good)
1/4 c Poppyseeds
6 eggs

Instructions:
Prehead oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients. Grease and flour a bundt pan or 2 loaf pans. Bake for 35-45 minutes.

So Far, So Good

6/24
I am 5 weeks (4 weeks and 4 days) pregnant. After one year and two early losses, it looks like I might finally be on my way to a baby. With my past experience, I'm worried that positive tests may turn negative and I have about 7 positive pregnancy tests to prove it!

The good news is that the tests are getting darker so it looks like this little one might stick around a bit longer. My first appointment is on 7/9 and I hope that we'll be able to see a heartbeat at that appointment.

Every day I stay pregnant feels like a great accomplishment at this point, but I also feel detached from my pregnancy. Symptoms (which mostly include absolute exhaustion at this point) make me happy, but it feels more like a happy dream than reality so far.

Unlike the last time, I didn't share the news with John in any cute way. I took a Dollar Store test on 6/18 that looked negative at first, but the dye movement me second guess it before throwing it away and I tested with one of the expensive tests. The tests seemed to get a bit darker with time ("darker" being relative as I had to take the test apart and hold it against the light to see anything at all), but I thought I was just seeing lines I wanted to be there. John was asleep, so I woke him up and asked him to see if he could see anything on the test. Shockingly, he thought the test was convincingly positive!!! After the test sat for about 30 minutes, the line on the expensive test actually was pretty convincing.

As of today, I have 4 positive Dollar Store tests, 2 positive FRER tests, and 1 positive digital test in my collection. Luckily for me, I only have another 4 pregnancy tests in my collection which should be enough to get me through the 2 week wait (why is waiting always in 2 week increments?) to my ultrasound.

Although we are still very much in "wait and see" mode, if all goes well we may have a baby around February 27, 2010!