18 Weeks!

That’s right, I am at 18 weeks today! It’s true, I’m no good at math and if you’ve been keeping track, I did skip a week here. But at my last doctor’s appointment, my fabulous doctor confirmed what I’ve known all along - I am actually a week ahead of his projected due date. Oh, the joy of affirmation!

And, we found out we’re having a GIRL!!!! Well, at least we are pretty sure it’s a girl. The doctor couldn’t give us an absolute answer but it seemed pretty clear. We’ll know for sure in two weeks after the sonogram.

In the meantime, my husband and I have shifted into girl-prep mode! My poor husband is only slightly terrified at the thought of a baby girl. He grew up in a very blue house. Luckily a good friend suggested a book called “Be Prepared.” Think of it as a MacGyver-esque guide for new dads. It looks FABULOUS and it’s already on the way to us from our friends at Amazon. I promise I’m not in the business of plugging anything BUT all of you first-time parents out there should check this book out. The website has a lot of very funny (and seemingly practical) advice: http://www.beprepared.net/ Plus, I think it makes my husband feel quite manly about the whole daddy thing. There are lots of pictures of dads looking like lumberjacks and several references to scouting and tools and the like. What ever it takes! I know you ladies are with me on that one.

Please keep sharing your tips and thoughts. We love to hear from you!

Until next time,

Beth from LaBump (that’s )

Weel 16

Hello friends, well I am almost all the way to week 16. Officially, the count is 15 weeks and 5 days (but who’s counting). Second trimester ROCKS!!! I have so much more energy, I don’t feel like I’m living a lie and I’m embracing wearing comfy clothes. I still can’t make maternity clothes work but I’ve just decided that it’s fine to wear the exact same 3 or 4 things over and over until they do. I’ve warned co-workers and friends to go ahead and get used to my exactly 2 dresses and 2 pairs of pants that fit. I must say, people have been quite kind.

I’m pretty much back into a regular routine now that I can keep my eyes open for more than 8 or so hours a day. I’ve even been making it to the gym in the mornings again. Word on the street is that I better enjoy it while it lasts because apparently during T3 the exhaustion will be back with a vengeance.

So here’s my pregnancy tip for the week – don’t be afraid to show a little skin while pregnant. Now ladies, I’m not talking about va-va-voom or risqué here, but seriously, why not? Especially during that time where no one can really tell that you’re pregnant (at least not until 5 seconds or so after you meet since you likely will have told them by then) and you just sort of look like you’re growing a spare tire, why not show off those shoulders or legs a little? By all means, let’s take the attention off the tree trunk middle! You are beautiful, so put on a little spray tan and grab a cute tank top or an adorable skirt (just be sure it’s stretchy).

Please share your pregnancy tips and advice here. Goodness knows we’ve all read enough about drinking 10 glasses of water and eating plenty of fiber! Let’s get to the good stuff! What are your thoughts, insights and secret tips? Please share for the good of swollen, broken out, pregnant women everywhere. We need all the help we can get!

Una Mas Bump!

Beth here,

Well friends, the cat is officially out of the bag. For the past three months I feel like I've been lying to everyone. I am not good at keeping secrets (just ask my sisters). It's not that I can't or that I don't understand the sanctity of a really big secret. It's just that I feel SO guilty NOT telling. Anyway, this baby secret has been a doozy! And I haven't done a great job of keeping it either. Included in my misadventures with secret keeping was a fairly embarrasing face book moment where I thought I was confidentially telling a good friend the news. I learned quickly that there's no such thing as confidential on facebook! I really hate Facebook! Luckily, a sympathetic on-looker pointed out my mistake and I was able to yank the post after only a few hundred people had seen it. I spent the past several weeks hoping my boss wasn't included in that group.

For those of you that don't know me personally, this is my first baby. I'm going to be sharing some of my pregnancy adventures here. I'll try to avoid all of the boring and obvious stuff - like how we're so excited we don't quite know what to do with ourselves (and we are, of course) - and stick to the more interesting (and usually embarassing) subjects like, is it possible that NONE of my pants fit me and it's only week 8???? Please share your thoughts and comments. Goodness knows, I can use all the good advice I can get.

So here I am in the middle of week 14. Okay, so according to my doctor, I'm only in the middle of week 13. I disagree with his math. He changed my due date from October 3 to October 9th a few weeks back, but ever since he's been telling me that the baby measures really big. I really love my doctor, please don't get me wrong. I think it's really just that I WANT to be further along in this little journey than I am. I think I'm pretty much the most excited person on earth about becoming a new mom. The problem is, I'm not quite so excited about the whole, pimply, bloated, headachy, fat-pants wearing journey that leads to a new baby. Am I a terrible person? I fully get that there's A LOT more physical discomfort to come when this little one is born. It's just that, at that point, I'll also have perfect little fingers and toes to look at and a little tummy to kiss.

What I'm thinking about this week:

Weight gain. That's right. As much as we all want it to be a non-issue during pregnancy, if you're like me, it's on your mind! So last week my doctor commented that I hadn't gained any weight in awhile. Don't worry - the baby is totally doing great and looks like a rock star on the ultrasound, if I do say so myself. And let me just clarify that I see my doctor much more frequently than you might expect. I had a miscarraige awhile ago and in addition to that, it's just his style to do visits every 3 weeks instead of once a month. Anyway, after that no-weight-gain comment I went home and felt I had permission to eat pretty much the entire bag of cheesy Baked Lays - next to the Dorito, these are the yummiest chips in existence, in my opinion. Plus, I like to pretend they are health food based on the whole "baked" thing. Okay, so I recognize that there's just not much nutritional value there and all that but man those chips are sooooo good! Then, I spent most of the weekend eating waffles, mexican food and cheese plates (only the hard cheeses of course). Somehow I was a tad shocked when I realized I had gained 3 pounds in just under the same number of days. nice. I'm pretty sure this isn't what El Doctoro had in mind. Perhaps I can start wearing those cute maternity jeans a little earlier than I thought.