12 Weeks, and starting to show....

11 Weeks....

And the charming fruit analogies return! Hooray! According to WebMD, it's now the size of a large lime. Is it wrong that my first reaction upon reading the word 'lime' was "mmmm, a Caipirinha would be delicious right now..." (for you heathens, a Caipirinha is a yummy Brazilian rum/lime adult beverage). But I digress - the shrimp is now a lime. Good stuff.
In other delightful news, the morning sickness is vanishing quickly. I'm getting headaches a bit more frequently again, but that is just as likely to be caused by the stupid spreadsheets I spend my days tinkering with...
So I decided recently that the wise course of action when it comes to maternity clothes is to buy them before you need them. But this theory is complicated by my resistance to going into a maternity wear store until I look pregnant. Not sure why, but some part of me feels like a complete fraud walking in there looking normal. As if they would summarily kick me out of the store for having the audacity to enter sans-belly. My rational mind clearly understands this is total crap. But, the hesitation remains. So the only safe zone is the maternity section of a department store. Which I ventured into, for the first time, on Sunday.
What I hadn't really taken into consideration until then was the extraordinary ability of maternity clothes to make you look really pregnant. Five seconds after putting on one of the poofy-waisted tops, I was convinced I had somehow skipped to month 5 of this pregnancy. Which, frankly, is not a look that I happen to covet just yet. So I picked out a few things, but I think it's going to be a while before I wear them in public.

Stay tuned for our next episode, when Elise tells her boss(es) about the baby, and of course, updates her Facebook profile with the news.

Shrimp?

So the medical literature went swiftly from charming fruit analogies for size to seafood. Yes, it's now a medium sized shrimp. Upon reading that, my reaction (like any right-thinking foodie) was to wonder how many shrimp-per-pound count that translated into. You know - when you buy shrimp they are labeled with a number range, this translates into the average number of those shrimp per pound. So the smaller the number, the larger the shrimp. Is it too much to ask the medical community for a bit more specificity?

And the shrimp is also now officially a fetus. Yay! So the shrimp-fetus seems to be doing well, and causing mom less stomach distress. To be truthful, the stomach distress I experienced today probably had nothing to do with the shrimp-fetus, and everything to do with the large bag of Halloween candy I brought to work. Is it ever too early to use your child as a scapegoat?

And yesterday was the first time in this pregnancy I have been really treated as an invalid. :) We went over to Kristin's place for some wholesome pumpkin carving/scary movie fun, and she refused to let me carry the (not really) heavy pumpkins. Which was great until we were out of sight of her and my darling husband handed my pumpkin back to me. Sigh. Guess I have to start looking pregnant before I can count on the easy treatment.

Hooray for Midwives!

So our first visit with the midwives group at Swedish Covenant Hospital went swimmingly! My lovely hubs came with me (earning points towards his Dad Card, while potentially losing a point on his Man Card). The midwife we met with (um, Lynn?) was cool, and said everything I was hoping to hear. She told me that I'm the driver on this bus and she's just along to help as the navigator. So whatever my preferences are, they happy to accommodate. And there was no sense of "we're the professionals who know better and you're just a crazy preggo lady who can't possibly be trusted with decisions that matter." So that's a relief. She also introduced us to the director of the midwives group, who was not only looking sassy in her pencil skirt, but wearing stiletto leopard print heels. I confess, not precisely what I expected. Though I am quite certain she would not actually deliver a child in said get-up, it was still impressive that she could spend the day on her feet like that. So 5 style points for her.
Anyways, they gave me a brief pelvic exam (and apparently my uterus tilts to the back -- which she said is uncommon but doesn't mean anything -- to which I wondered "so why are you telling me this then???") and tried to listen for a heartbeat with the Doppler. The Doppler was crazy - sounded like there was a poorly recorded drum solo being broadcast on AM radio coming out of my midsection. But alas, no heartbeat but my own was heard, as almost-nine-weeks is still a bit early for that for most women. Next time....

It was totally weird to hear the midwife refer to it as "your pregnancy." It just seems somehow more official to hear a trained medical professional state it as a fact. So..... I guess it's real.

In pregnancy-side-effects news, I'm definitely feeling some of the hormonal changes. WebMD warns that I may feel "weepy" and my reaction to things as simple as a Hallmark commercial confirms that this is indeed true. Also I continue to look forward to the day when I can consider myself the sole client of my stomach.

And for the record, my little alien is now the size of a strawberry. Which I consider a poor choice of fruit for size comparison as their size tends to vary greatly. But, hey, I don't make this stuff up.