13 Weeks

On Sunday, I entered the 13th week of my pregnancy. The last week of the first trimester. I think I hear a hallelujah chorus. I am really looking forward to my second trimester... that is, if it is anything like my second trimester was when I was pregnant with Rylee. I felt great. I looked great (other people's words... not mine). It was just a wonderful experience for me.
The past few days have been better days for me overall, thankfully. I still have my up-and-down moments where I don't feel very well and I just want/need to lay down for a little while, but I have noticed my nausea has lightened up a bit. I still have to stay on top of keeping food in my stomach, or the nausea comes quickly, like the flip of a switch. It's pretty annoying, honestly. Hopefully it will continue to lighten up, though, and if I'm lucky, it'll be completely gone in the next week or two.
I have already worn a few maternity shirts. I can still fit into my regular pants - for now, anyway, but I feel like I look bloated/fat in some/most of my shirts, so I figured I'd go ahead and take advantage of the maternity clothes that have been passed down to me. Somehow, something about a maternity shirt actually makes me look pregnant, and not like I'm just putting on weight. I like that.
Today, I had a check-up with my OB/GYN. It went well, thankfully. My blood pressure was good (94/60... might sound a little low, but it's actually good, because it'll raise as my pregnancy progresses), and I weigh 105 pounds, meaning I've actually lost two pounds since my last appointment (which is pretty normal/common in the first trimester). My favorite part of the appointment was, of course, when we got to hear Baby's heartbeat. It's been a long six weeks since we last got to hear it during my 7-week ultrasound, so it was definitely music to my ears. The thing that surprised us about it, though, was how fast it was. It was nice and strong at 160 beats per minute, which is about 30 beats per minute faster than it was last time we heard it. For those of you familiar with the old wives tale about fetal heart rate indicating the gender, this changes what we originally thought this baby is. At 7 weeks, we got excited. "It's below 140 beats per minute!" we said. "Sounds like it's a boy!" Today, however, it sounds like we have another little girl on the way. In reality (as you all hopefully know), the fetal heart rate has no relation to the gender; it simply fluctuates/increases as the baby grows, etc. So, we'll just have to wait seven more weeks to find out what's really "cooking" in my belly.
For now, I'm thankful that we have a healthy, growing baby on the way. I can't wait to start feeling him/her move.
Here is the belly picture Jordan took of me on Sunday: