15 Weeks Pregnant!

I turned 15 weeks pregnant on Sunday, August 28th.

Baby Growth: Baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces. The legs are growing longer than the arms now and he/she can move all joints and limbs. The eyelids are still fused shut, but baby can sense light and if you shined a flashlight at my stomach, the baby would most likely move away from the beam! (Would it be mean if I tried that?) We're at the stage in pregnancy when we could find out the gender if we wanted to! (Hilbert #5's gender will be a surprise and the name will be revealed on their birth day!)

My Symptoms: I'm still vomiting every single morning when I wake up. In past pregnancies, it didn't end until around 20-22 weeks, so I still have some time to go if that pattern continues on. 

My skin. Oh my gosh, my skin. I have been breaking out like crazy and it's just ridiculous. No matter what I do, when I feel like some pimples are going away, more appear in a different spot. Hopefully that starts to clear up soon.

My stomach for sure looks pregnant and I had Jake's karate teacher ask me if we were expecting. It's finally starting to feel "hard" if that even makes sense. It doesn't feel like lumpy fat anymore, it feels like a real pregnant bally. My belly button is already an outie as well.

My hair is falling out like crazy. After I put conditioner in my hair, it's literally covering my hands. I don't remember it being this bad in previous pregnancies... it normally happens postpartum. 

I continue to get headaches, especially in the evening.

Weight: I'm honestly not sure as I don't like weighing myself at home. I have a doctor's appointment this Friday, so we'll see what the scale says then. I'm hoping to not have gained anything this past month.

Gender: No clue. Like I said before, I carry different with each baby and the wives' tales don't predict squat for me. Some days I think boy and others I'm like, "Oh totally going to be a girl!" We'll find out in February! :)

Maternity Clothes: YES! I can't wear regular pants except yoga pants/leggings, but that's not always acceptable to wear out in public. Especially if I want to feel put together. I need to buy some, but I'm waiting until the weather gets a little cooler so I can grab some fall/winter staples to get me through. I know it's our last baby, but I want a really cute pair of maternity jeans. The ones I have are so ugly.

Movement: THE TIME HAS ARRIVED!!!! I've felt flutters the past 2 weeks, but have been associating them with gas.  At 15 weeks, 1 day I felt my first FOR SURE baby movement! It's so exciting! This is my favorite part of pregnancy and it never gets old! 

Sleep: I wake up constantly to go to the bathroom or to take care of my 11 month old newborn. Haha! But no seriously, Luke still wakes up about 2-3 times a night. I'm totally used to it, but there was one night where he only woke up at like midnight and it was glorious! 

Cravings: Lately I've been wanting the Southwest salads from McDonald's. Y'all, I can't get enough. I could eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner and be totally okay with it. 

I had a coke icee a few days ago that was absolutely delicious. I have a feeling that instead of visiting Starbucks at Target, I'll be grabbing an icee.

What I Miss: This sounds really weird, but we were supposed to be down at Disney World this week for our annual "BIG FAT DISNEY WORLD VACATION" but we cancelled once I found out I was pregnant since I knew I couldn't handle the Florida heat while still having morning sickness. I think about it every day and it makes me so sad. I guess this just means we can go next year for Christmas! 

Best Moments of the Week: We picked a boy name! So now we have both of our names and I am so excited to use either one!  Don't try to pry it out of me! I'm not budging. NO ONE will know, not even the kids. 

Questions/Concerns: 

• I want to take a tour of the L/D unit at the hospital I'll be delivering at this time
• ... and I need to ask about registering at the hospital

Goals for the Week: Drink more water! Eat more veggies! Exercise as much as I can! 

Belly Pictures:

Richmond Zoo

Back in the beginning of August, Mama and I decided to take the kids to the Richmond Zoo. We've gone to the DC Zoo once before, but with the summer crowds along with my hatred of driving into the city, we nixed that one right away. I've heard great things about the zoo in Richmond. It's definitely a great one to take smaller kids, too! It's not huge, it's easy to get around and there's plenty to see and do! It takes us about an hour and half to travel, so it's not something we'd do all of the time, but it's a nice day trip to get out of the house and see some animals!

This guy was so funny and oh my gosh, he was LOUD! He reminded me of the killer in the movie, Scream with the face he made.

Chloe got upset when she realized she wasn't in the first picture, so of course she had to pose. But wouldn't smile. Go figure!

We did the little train ride they had. It was cute, not too long and the kids enjoyed looking at the animals in the field.

After the train ride, the older kids and Mom went on the lift across the park. 

My absolute favorite part of the day was getting to feed the giraffes! 

The bigger kids also fed some birds. I stayed out of there! I have a little fear of birds flying all around me.

We had a fun day and will definitely return! 

13 Weeks Pregnant!

I was 13 weeks as of Sunday, which is my “rollover” day for a new week. (So, technically I'm 13 weeks, 2 days today)

Baby Growth: Our sweet baby now has fingerprints and is already so unique! It's so amazing to me how much happens so early on in the pregnancy. The veins and organs are visible and if the baby is a girl, she already has over 2 million eggs in her ovaries! Baby is roughly the size of a pea pod, about 3 inches! 

My Symptoms: I'm still waking up and getting sick every single morning. Thank goodness for Zofran! I seriously don't know what I'd do without it. There was a day last week where I was in between prescriptions (my fault for waiting so long to refill!) and I wasn't able to take one... BIG MISTAKE! I was throwing up every 30 minutes. Longest day of my pregnancy so far! 

The headaches seem to be going away. I still get them randomly, but I know that's a side effect of the nausea medication. I try my best to drink enough water, but I know I could be drinking a lot more. I wake up and drink my spark/rehydrate combo and drink one in the afternoon as well.

I still get super crampy and it seems to happen most in the evenings. I know since this is baby #5, the stretching and cramping will be felt more but sometimes it's so painful! 

Weight: Surprisingly, I'm still at my pre-pregnancy weight! This makes me so happy because I totally started this pregnancy about 20 lbs heavier than my normal weight. With this being a big surprise and having gone though a pregnancy only last year, I know I was still holding on to some of that weight. It seriously does get harder to lose with each consecutive pregnancy! But I've been trying my best to stay active! (Well as much as I can in the 1st trimester.) I'd ideally only like to gain about 10-15 lbs at the very most to stay within my range. I feel like as long as I keep up a routine and eat healthy, it's possible! Normally by this stage in previous pregnancies, I had already gained a few pounds. 

Gender: We won't be finding out the gender this time. We have 2 boys and 2 girls and it was so much fun being surprised with Chloe that I totally want to do it again. The name won't be revealed until birth either. 

Speaking of names, we have NO ideas whatsoever. Why is it so difficult? 

My gut originally said girl, but some days I get a boy feeling. The wives tales are never right for me and all of my pregnancies have been completely different, so I don't have any "signs" making me lean one way or the other.

Maternity Clothes:  I've been wearing maternity pants/shorts for awhile now. They are just so much more comfortable! As far as shirts, it's a mix. I got rid of a lot of my maternity clothes because we thought we were done having babies, but a friend of mine gave me a bunch of cute shirts so that was a big help! Once the weather starts getting a little cooler, I'll go out and maybe pick up a few pieces to get me through the winter where I'll be at my biggest! 

Movement: Not yet. It should be happening pretty soon especially because my placenta is finally not sitting on TOP of baby! 

Sleep: It's hit or miss. I wake up about 4 times a night to go the bathroom and Luke still wakes up 2-3 times a night. 

Cravings: Ya know, I have really have no idea. It all depends on the day. Some days all I want are subs from Wawa or Subway and other days, I just want big salads! In the early weeks, I loved cucumbers with ranch. And today? It sounds disgusting to me. 

Work Outs: I was doing AWESOME from about weeks 6-8 working out and doing cardio everyday. Then the morning sickness hit and my energy took a big dive. The energy is slowly coming back, so I hope to start working out daily again. I need to do at least 30 minutes on the treadmill everyday to keep this weight gain to a bare minimum. 

Best Pregnancy Moment This Week: Seeing our sweet baby yesterday! I had my NT scan and it's always so much fun getting a peak at the baby! 

Questions/Concerns: 

• I find myself laying on my stomach a lot. Is that still okay?

Goals for next week: Drink more water! Cook more meals at home... it's been rough y'all! Work out more.

Thoughts: I'm finally in my last week of the good 'ol first trimester! I know the nausea/morning sickness always goes well into the 2nd trimester for me, but I know that my energy levels pick back up a bit, so I'm so looking forward to that!

Thought it would be fun to show a comparison picture from this stage in pregnancy with Luke: (13 weeks, 2 days with baby #4) It's still so surreal to me that this was only last year.

Baby #5 12 Week OBGYN Visit

Friday afternoon I had my 12 week check up! Chloe decided she wanted to come with and I'm so glad she did. She was such a sweetheart and I love that she's at an age where she understands what is going on.

After we checked in, we didn't have to wait too long. Thank goodness because waiting with kids can sometimes make it feel 10x longer. Luckily, Chloe was in such a good mood and on her best behavior.

My weight was 1 lb higher than my very first appointment, but I was expecting that because it was a late afternoon appointment and I didn't take my shoes off like I normally do. Blood pressure looked good as well!

The nurse checked the baby's heartbeat which is new to me as the doctor normally does that. It took a little bit to find, but since baby is still so little and low, I totally expected it! Heartbeat was 174 and Chloe thought it was such a neat sound! She kept saying, "Whoosh whoosh whoosh!" :) I don't follow the old wives' tale of the heartbeat since it's ranged with all of my children! I know anything over the 160s they say is a girl, but we'll just have to wait and see!

My midwife, LeeAnn, is so awesome! Our new insurance isn't accepted at my previous OB's office where I've gone for the past 6 years, so it was scary to me to have to switch for this pregnancy. Especially after Luke's pregnancy last year and everything that went on. That office just KNOWS me and knows what to look out for. I totally lucked out in finding LeeAnn and I'm so glad she is able to care for me during this pregnancy. She's so on board with me going for a VBAC (I had my 1st c-section with Luke last year due to complete placenta previa) and says that it should be no issue whatsoever, especially because my first 3 births were vaginal.

We talked about getting the genetic testing done and I asked her if it was necessary this time since I've had it with my four previous pregnancies and I know that I carry no genetic disorder genes. She agreed that we could totally skip it and that if something showed up on my 20 week ultrasound, we could go from there with testing. Works for me! I did have to get the general "new OB" blood work done, but that's no problem. (It tests for things like HIV and to make sure I'm healthy ie no drugs)

I did ask her about the whooping cough vaccine and if I needed to have it done again with this pregnancy even though I had it back in September. She said that yes, it's so important to get it done to pass that immunity on to baby. She mentioned that Josh should have it done as well before baby is born. The kids are fine since they follow the routine vaccine schedule and are all up to date. So, I'll be getting that done sometime between 26-34 weeks!

It was a quick, easy visit! On the way out, Chloe got to pick a treat from LeeAnn's stash on her desk. She totally bypassed the fruit snacks and picked a sucker. Surprised me!

I have my next visit scheduled at 16 weeks!