End of February 2013: Growing

Beautiful things are growing in South Miami.

First, in our backyard:

A delicious green pepper!

A juicy jalapeno.

Cherry tomatoes!

The garden has also continued to supply us with an abundance of lettuce (two different types) and several large tomatoes. I think we have a month or so left of growth until things will get too hot and the garden will shut down until next season.

But there's something else growing in South Miami... something very exciting:

As the garden outside goes dormant, a garden INSIDE MY BODY is growing the most amazing thing ever... LIFE. Bryn and I are VERY excited to announce that we are expecting a little love nugget in August 2013. Wow... it's crazy to be able to type this on this blog. While I've been slowly sharing the news with friends and family as I've moved further through the pregnancy, this marks the first public declaration.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH! We're having a baby!!!

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Let's answer some of the basic questions. I offer you a list of FAQs:

When is your due date?

August 24th. This is the weekend before Bryn will start his 2013-2014 "fall" semester at UM. (Gulp).

So, how far along are you?

I will be 15 weeks along on Saturday. The ultrasound above is from 12 weeks. I have already had 2 ultrasounds (a quick one with the OB around 8 weeks just to prove to us there really was something going on in there) and the 12-week ultrasound to begin screening for Down Syndrome. The next one is at 18 weeks... that's the BIG one where they can tell you the sex of the baby.

Was this pregnancy planned?

Yes! We decided that this is the best time for us to start a family. I am still working independently on my dissertation and, due to visa constraints, am unable to work in the US. We were very lucky to discover that it was easy for us to get pregnant... it all happened very fast! (I hope that a healthy lifestyle and good weight played significant roles in my ease of conception! I've also been told, and now have a growing tummy to prove, that the Hughes seed is very strong...)

Will you find out at that ultrasound what the sex of the baby is?

No. We've decided to wait and be surprised!

What do you think you're having?

A baby, silly. Duh.

What do you think your baby will look like?

I used one of these awesome baby photo predictor things online and it came up with this equally terrifying and hilarious photo of what our child will look like:

Is Bryn your baby's father?

I can't believe you'd ask that. I'm not even going to dignify it with an answer. 

OF COURSE BRYN IS THE FATHER.

Where will the baby be born?

The baby will be born in Miami at UM's Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Is your OB an attractive, spunky Polish New Yorker?

Yes, she is. How did you know? That's quite the specific guess.

What do the pugs think of all this?

Initially the pugs were really upset. We've bought several videos and books to help us tackle the issue and are confident they will be excited about the little one's arrival when the time comes.

What will the baby's name be?

Since we are not finding out the baby's sex before its arrival, we are going to wait to announce the little one's name as well. Just for fun, I'll share a few names we won't be using: Saggitariutt Jefferspin, Hingle McCringleberry, and Donkey Teeth.

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I have to pause again and just tell you how wonderful it feels to share this news on here. It's been really hard since I found out I was pregnant to keep it off the blog. I haven't been able to talk about weight gain and being unable to exercise due to sickness and tiredness. I haven't been able to share with you how AWFUL the first trimester was and how I've been forced to deal with the beginnings of some really big physical changes.

BUT THAT ALL CHANGES TODAY!

To bring things on here up to speed, I'd like to give you a quick overview of my pregnancy thus far:

FIRST TRIMESTER

Weeks 1 through 5: Well, these don't really count. I had a very good idea I was pregnant about a week or so before I could actually take a pregnancy test. I took two at-home tests and then had the bloodwork done... bam-oh. Pregnant. I learned that when you get all of these positives, your due date is calculated back from your last period... so you kind of become several weeks more pregnant-er right off the bat.

We told all immediate family of the pregnancy on Christmas morning, right when I was around 5 weeks pregnant! It was amazing to share our happiness and see how excited parents and siblings got at the prospect of a little Brillian/Jillyn entering the world. My parents were visiting us in Miami for Christmas, so we got to have some fun in sharing the news:

Weeks 6 through 8: Awful. Hell of earth. GIANT PAINFUL BOOBS. All day "morning sickness" but no barfing. Dizziness. Extreme tiredness. STRONG AVERSION TO ALL VEGETABLES. INTENSE AND INSANE CRAVINGS FOR MEAT. Pimples. Mood swings. Sinus headaches.

These weeks were like going down a Willy Wonka-esque tunnel of despair through all food crimes of my past. My body was sending the crazies messages--messages I haven't heard in many years. Things like "EAT KRAFT DINNER" and "SPEND TWO DAYS EATING NOTHING BUT JELLY BEANS" made this chapter of the pregnancy extremely challenging.

Now, I should tell you that I did try to go to the gym in the middle of all of this unpleasantness. I went swimming in mid-January and then had a salad for lunch (despite my body's STRONG protests). I returned home after this outing sicker than ever, and spent the next three days on the couch. Yikes. Lesson learned: listen to your body even if it's telling you things you can't believe you are hearing.

Weeks 9 and 10: Food aversions started to subside. Most symptoms started getting a bit better. Still very tired, giant boobs, etc. but able to function a bit better.

Weeks 11 through 13: Things got a bit back to "normal" (or more like "a new normal.") Body began to change, thighs "thicken". Pimples get worse. Food aversions GONE (praise the lord.) Bring on the vegetables!


SECOND TRIMESTER

Week 14: Looking pregnant. Rounder in the abdominal area. Feeling MUCH better about life!

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To close this post, I'd like to share some of the things that have surprised me so far about being pregnant:

• Being pregnant is the reason I did not blog about New Year's resolutions for 2013. Now that the news is out, I can tell you that I really only have three resolutions this year: HAVE A BIG, BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY BABY who will grow up to change the world, make progress on my dissertation, and continue to love my husband with every ounce of my being.
• A moment of brutal, naive honesty: I always thought that pregnant women who gained a lot of weight were lazy and dumb. Nice, right? I know now that being pregnant is this crazy whirlwind experience where your body does what it wants to/needs to do to CREATE LIFE. I've gained weight so far and have gained more than the "recommended amount." But I don't know how else I could have survived that first trimester. It took everything I had just to stay alive. I feel like such a knob for EVER judging any pregnant woman.
• Pregnancy is like donating your body to science or entering a launch code for a missile. Once you've popped the first pill or pressed the final button in the sequence, you are no longer in control. Things are going to go however they go... and you are just along for the ride until things play out.
• As you can imagine, my pregnancy will change the focus of this blog. But once the baby is out, I'll be right back on board with my "GOODBYE FAT" goals. I decided to give myself a challenge... let's see if I've learned enough to be healthy throughout the pregnancy and get my body back after pumping out a baby. How things have come full circle, eh? I started this blog losing weight and "killing babies" (gulp) for every 8 pounds lost. Now I will be gaining weight and CREATING a baby. What fun.
• I'm going to take it easy for the next few months! Now that my desire to eat salads and other green things has returned, I feel confident that I can eat better for the remainder of the pregnancy. I also have the energy (GO-GO-PROGESTERONE!) again (HURRAH) to return to the gym. I will blog more about this later. Goals here are to maintain flexibility, core strength, and regain some of the strength I've lost in taking the past 2 months off from my normal hardcore routine. I've decided to give running a rest until this baby's on the other side.
• The news of our pregnancy has brought so much happiness and joy! It's been really wonderful to see so many people get excited that we are having a baby. I think we're going to make a cool kid and am so grateful for your love and support this far throughout this journey.

One last thought to close this momentous (and long!) post:

I feel so lucky to have such a smart and capable partner by my side to help me through this pregnancy and to be the most wonderful father to our child. Our garden is getting a bit bigger... how beautiful is life!

We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good

We'll do the best we know.

We'll build our house and chop our wood

And make our garden grow...

And make our garden grow!

(From Bernstein's operetta Candide; an excerpt from the finale, "Make Our Garden Grow.")