From 1st sliding into 2nd....

Well the first trimester is officially over and am now into number two. :)
As of this post I am 15 weeks, and according to the "fruit chart," today Baby C graduated from the lemon size to an orange. :)

John left on the 17th for the beginning of his three month school in San Antonio. The weekend he left we layed low and had a "us" weekend running last minute errands and going out to eat at a bunch of our favorite random places. The best part is John took me shopping. :) I had been having fits with sitting around at work with m pants unbuttoned. I just could do it anymore and would sometimes get a stomachache from them being to tight across the middle...so I graduated to the good ole maternity jeans. Having worked at Mimi Maternity in college I instantly ran to the "underbelly" style jean where the elastic band goes underneath everything...After trying a couple pairs on, I couldn't find any I liked or that fit right...To my horror I tried on the mid and full belly jean, where the panel goes all the way up my torso, and they fit GREAT. I always made fun of the ladies that bought these jeans at Mimi thinking to myself that I would never be caught dead wearing something like that....well karma sucks. Cause they are the best thing ever and I have no shame. I also bought a couple dresses at Forever 21...luckily the styles are pooch friendly, so I'm all over them.
We also went to Sears where I introduced John to pack 'n plays, strollers, and car seats. We found an Eddie Bauer "full set" of stuff for either a boy or a girl. I'm not sure they are "the ones" that we want to go with, but I teared up with excitement in the store looking at them, I'd say it's a good sign at least. :)

I started going back to the gym once John left to test this "don't go over 160 HPM" theory the nurses at Womack kept telling me at my appointments. I decided it was crap. I got on the treadmill to test this theory and couldn't do more than a fast walk on a slight incline to keep my heartreate under 160...I was so irritated and so defeated....succumbing to the thought of being a whale in the end.

The next day was my first Centering Meeting at Womack hospital.
Centering is a program the military has set up for pregnant women as an alternative pregnancy experience than your typical OBGYN/patient experience. your appointments are with midwives instead of doctors, which I really liked, and the nurses and midwives that you are assigned to will do your appointments for the entire pregnancy.
When enrolling in Centering they put you in a group that is made up of 8-12 other women that are due in your same pregnancy month and we meet with the midwife and nurse once a month for our monthly appointments. The first hour of the meeting everyone gets to meet with the midwife privately to go over your medical file and do whatever needs to be done at that stage of the pregnancy. The second hour of the meeting is as a whole group with the nurse, midwife, and all the other women and usually a "guest speaker" which could be anything from a lactation consultant to a duhla and you kinda just talk about whatever you want...whatever is on your mind at that stage of things.
I opted for this experience paritally cause John is gone and the support is nice, but also cause I like the midwife approach. By being in the group I know all of my doctor appointments all the way through January 2012 and Major White and Nurse Belenda will be there throughout the entire thing, and so far I really like them.

I have learned a lot about myself while being pregnant that I never would have thought about myself. There is a major baby boom going on across the Ft. Bragg, and the country it seems, and it's made me look at myself and my experience, look at others and their experiences, and see what my preferences and thoughts are.
So far I have learned that I am not a researcher. I don't care to get caught up in all the medical mumbo jumbo of every single stinking thing that is going on with my body or with the baby...if the midwife tells me something is concerning or whatever, then fine, we'll deal with it then, but if everything is good, then good, on with my life I go.

Another thing I've learned, is that I refuse to let pregnancy be an excuse for me to be treated differently and my life to be lived differently. I can do virutally everything I've done before minus some small changes and it's so relieving to be able to continue to live like that. I've learned that it really bugs me when peoples approach me being pregnant comes across as a dehabilitating thing or like a handicap...I don't like that kind of attention, I can still work, work out, hang out, and do everything I did before. It's my life, and my experience, so I don't expect anyone to be stuck to it with me that it doesn't concern.
An example of this was the other day a coworker held the door open for me, saying "Pregnant ladies first!" Now it was nice and all, but I told them later, that things are "same ole, same ole" and that until my belly exceeds my arm reach, they don't need to "worry" about it. I'm a big girl. Got my big girl panties on and can do virtually anything I did for myself before hand still on my own. Doesn't mean I won't walk through a door if it's held open for me, just don't like the comments that come along with it, lol. IDK if that makes sense, but that's my thought process so far....
Some people say play the card when you can! Well, so far I haven't needed to and don't intend to until I genuinely need it, so until then, I know my stomach is starting to pooch out some, but I promise I'm the same old me. :)

Another thing I learned, that is so far the best advice I've gotten and so far as seemed to be true for me, is to NOT make a "birth plan."
My sister-in-law, that delivers babies, gave me this advice when John and I were in Colorado for his brother's wedding, and so far, it seems to be the best mentality ever for me!
 I think living the Army life has helped me with this, cause I used to not be this way. I used to be a crazy obsessive compulsive planner and if there is anything the Army has taught me, it's that you can leave that at the door. You can't plan for anything, really, to go your way, no matter what, with no wiggle room for change.....So, the way I have interpereted that in my own pregnancy experience is that I have an "idea" of how I would "like" things to go, but if they can't, that's ok.
I would like to have a natural birth, but if for any reason that's not possible when it gets down to it, then fine, absolutely nothing I can do about it.
I would like to give birth without an epidural.
However I am not closed minded to it knowing that it's possible that plans could change in the moment!
I want to breast feed.
However keeping in mind that some babies just don't seem to want to or even the fact that sometimes women can't produce milk for their baby's the way they "should," this is out of my control...what could I possibly do about it?! So I'm open to pumping/bottle feeding and if need be, formula. It's not what I want but it's a battle that I'm ok with compromising on.
I think part of it, to me, is choosing your battles...of what little things you can control.
Cloth diapers or disposable? Sure.
Breast fed or formula? Hopefully.
Jarred baby food or self made? Perhaps!
Keep working, work part time, stay at home? Who knows....
These are perhaps the only things I've actually done any research on and really care too right now.

Another thing I have noticed is how much I like things to be mum and private concerning being pregnant. Doesn't make a ton of sense I'm sure, when it comes to me blogging about it, but for the most part, the true details of things we have decided or are working on, will generally be between us and whomever is around us and I have found I don't like my business being out for the world to see, hear, or read. Luckily for me, there are tons of people out there willing to share all their pregnancy business for everyone to see, hear, and read about, so that keeps me in the clear. I just don't consider any of the major details as anyone's business, and those that need to know our details, will know. I don't mind sharing a picture here and there or talking about details in person, depending ON the person, but for the most part, I like to keep the attention off myself and let those who need it, take it.

What I enjoy about this mindset the most is it eliminates the stress of all the "what if" stuff and allows me to just enjoy being pregnant and not be bogged down by what chemicals the baby is getting cause I just ate a handful of Skittles. John and I both have adopted this mindset and joke often that we sometimes forget I'm even pregnant because we don't let the pregnancy "rules" of do's and don'ts dictate our experience. I'm glad he has the same mindset as me. He's so supportive and really has let me take the reigns in the things I can for what works best for me and my circumstance, especially with him gone. It's the best partnership ever. :)

So off my soapbox....
While at my Centering meeting I asked Major White about the "160 rule." I'm thankful she debunked it, saying I could stick to my regular routine and do whatever I was doing before as long as I promised to listen to my body if it was telling me that my "normal" was too much.
This was such a relief to me!
I went back to the gym doing my cardio full force just minus the resistance to not make it has "hard," but still a workout. I have been tired, more so than usual, but not to the point where I am dizzy, sick or sore...just exercised. :) I haven't done any lifting like I was doing before hand, and am not sure that I will. I am open to it some, but I'm concerned about how lifting impacts my core considering that's usually what stabilizes you while lifting. Considering my core is being stretched out at the moment, it's not something I'm itching to dive back into...What I need to do (and my dearest, Laurie T. pregnant with lil Allie has inspired me!) is find a yoga or pilates class I can do that isn't as "hard" as weight training. We'll see what I can come up with...
The military is GREAT making these things available, and what's even better is that they are free, so that's my next pet project. :)

I have given into some of my fast food cravings I have been putting off for a while. Luckily for me they weren't as good as I imagined, so I think I have nipped a lot of that in bud. So far my favorites continue to be Subway, Chick Fil A, and anything as close to sushi as I can get. Other than that I have lived off fruit of any kind, and have started eating cereal again for a breakfast option using the milk as a higher calcium intake.

Weight wise, I've gained about 4 pounds total from LMP of April 20, 2011, give or take a few pounds to bloating or an occasional cheat day. This weight gain, I know is normal, but it's hard for me to be mentally ok with it. I choose to ignore it for the most part and just count it as 4 in my weight bank that hopefully will stay true to the allotted ending balance of the standard 25-35 lbs.

Next Centering meeting my "good" ultrasound will be ordered and we'll find out what Baby C is! I'm bummed John won't be here for it, but I've already come up with a cute way to "tell" him the gender, so I can't wait.....I have an instinct of sorts of what I think it is, and so far, 95% of people say the same...only three people have said differently.......We'll find out soon!
I've asked John if he has any thoughts or random moments of what he might think it is, and he says he legitimately doesn't know or have a "feeling" of what he thinks it might be....I don't know how that's possible, considering he says he thinks about it all the time, but in the end it makes me feel really happy, knowing he'll be happy with either one....priority is always a healthy baby, but I can't help but lean one way more than another. :)
We still only have a couple names on our name list. Unfortunately so many people are having babies right now, the list is sometimes being cut on it's own. We have NO girl names at all. We can't agree on girl names for anything. Boy names we have a few, some recently "taken," some not, but we're hanging onto them all as possibilities anyways. Once we know what it is, and once John gets home, I really look forward to figuring it out. We've continued to avoid the name talk while he's gone for now, just cause we can't 100% agree on a name for either gender, so right now the list is just a list, completely subject to change. :)
We still plan to keep whatever name we pick a secret until he/she is born. Mainly for potential judgement reasons and also just cause so many babies are being born and made right now I don't want to get potentially "stressed" about a "that's my name!" game....too petty, and takes the fun away for everyone involved.

Here are pics since the last post.........

12 weeks: size of a plum...

13 weeks: size of a peach...

14 weeks: size of a lemon
(IDK about peach to lemon, but whatever!)

15 weeks: size of a orange

15 weeks: size of a orange