13 Weeks

Swallowing my pride for a super cheesy pregnancy update. Give the people what they want, ya know. (Everyone secretly loves cheesy pregnancy updates.)

Well, we are 13 weeks along today! Even though the experts say we have one more week in the first trimester, I feel solidly afoot in the second tri, in my own humble opinion. I haven't felt nauseous in a few weeks, I've seen an upswing in energy, and overall I feel 1,309,384 (estimated) times better than I did a month ago.

{My pregnancy weeks happen to line up on Sundays, and my thus my belly photos just so happen to contain What I Wore Sunday, so I'm linking up with FLAP. Blouse is Marshall's, jeans are Gap, black tank is Blanqi.}

Here is yours truly at four weeks for comparison:

"Smile for the camera building you're staring at!"

I could suck in still, and I was. I can still button my pants, I just very much prefer not to. I still have a few pairs of "fat pants" that fit comfortably. So, not a huge difference. I don't think you'd know I was pregnant unless I told you. You'd just think I was eating a lot of these:

When in Durham.

And these:

I talked myself into thinking this was "healthy" during the first tri.

And oh yeah, you'd be right.

Total Weight Gain: I've gained 7 pounds so far, mostly from eating what you see above, but I'm okay with it! In the first tri, all I wanted to eat was potatoes and pancakes and couldn't stand the sight of raw veggies. I'm getting over it, eating salads again (yay!) and exercising more now, so I'm hoping to staying close my midwife's recommendation of gaining about 10 pounds by 20 weeks. 

Cravings: Sour gummy worms. It's probably from playing too much candy crush.

Aversions: Potatoes. Must have ate them too often in the first trimester. (French fries don't count.)

Exercise: I mentioned in my last post that my midwife recommends heart rate elevation of above 140 for only twenty minutes. At our appointment Wednesday, I really pressed the issue and she basically said to do my own research on pregnancy and exercise and to do what I am comfortable with. Does it go without saying? That very night I went for a slow 30 minute jog. I stayed under 3 miles to make sure I wouldn't be too sore. I was surprised to feel fine the next day! So today was a 3+ mile jog, some planks, and my favorite Jillian arm workout ("Armed & Dangerous," rawr). I stay at about an 11:30 pace. Nice 'n' easy. Although, I told Will afterward, it did feel like a little leprechaun was dancing on my bladder the whole time. Leprechauns are so mischievous. I did stick to my goal of three workouts per week by taking a 40 minute walk with the dogs this week. Counting it. 

Strange Observations: 

• I cannot kneel at church for more than a minute without feeling totally faint and having to do the ol' butt-on-the-pew-move, but I feel just fine jogging for 30-40 minutes. Strange, right?

• The belly dance is at its last dying breath. If you know me in real life you know exactly what I'm talking about. Because I sent you a video. I'm weird.

Other Highlights: 

• Hearing baby Brez's heart beat. It took a while to find, which prompted our midwife to tell us we have a "squirmy one" and it "must be a boy"! It was chugging along at 160bpm. Dad says, "That's a strong Nolan heart beat!" Okay. We will find out the sex in just one more month (but we probably won't be sharing).

• Comparing belly shots with mah sis. Here is Shannon at 14 weeks!

She's the breast sis ever.

• We shook on names! A boy was always going to be William. It's sort of a family tradition to name the first son after the dad. So yeah, my dad, brother, husband, and future son are Williams. It's also a family name on Will's side. His grandfather (the Mighty 8th Air Force pilot one) was William Hugh. So if it's a boy, he'll be William Hugh. Quite the no-brainer! Wilhelmina was a frontrunner for a girl's name (obviously, c'mon) but didn't quite make the cut. (We actually won't be sharing our girl name until her birthday. Sorry!)

• A good law school friend shared her pregnancy news with me this week! Her due date is 3 days ahead of mine. God is good! (And hiiiii, if you're reading! Hope you are feeling great!)

• Will finally finished all his bar licensing requirements. FREEEEDOMMM! He took the MPRE on Saturday and now we just wait for all the results. I was able to meet up with my law school friend/co-worker Daija (make your blog public!!!) who lives up north where Will took the test. We had breakfast and then hit the beach to play around with our cameras. I have another photography post on the way this week. Here's a sneak peek:

AT&T Girls says,

Stay tuned!