12 Weeks Bump Board!

Hit the 12 week mark! One more week separates me from leaving the 1st trimester in the dust :) Although I can't complain too much because my first trimester was much easier than some other preggo mama's to be have gone through. 

This week Baby L is the size of a Plum... YUM! 

- Most of his/her critical systems are fully formed!

- He/She is about to enter the growth and maturation stage, in which her organs & tissues will grow and develop rapidly.

- Baby is now developing reflexes - if you poke his/her body, she'll likely move :) 

- Baby is opening and closing their fingers and curling their little toes, too! 

- Their brain is developing fast!! 

The average fetus at 12 weeks is about 2.1 inches long and .49 ounces. Now that Baby L's got pretty much all his/her parts, baby's main job is to KEEP ON GROWING! :) 

Big News!! I'm reaching the home stretch of the 1st trimester!!  Which hopefully means that my hormones will tone it down a bit -- so I stop crying at just about EVERYTHING that pulls at my heart strings in even the smallest of ways. Morning sickness & nausea will hopefully subside (although some mama's deal with this throughout their entire pregnancy!) and some energy will return in the 2nd trimester - at least I hope so! But this can be replaced with headaches and dizziness - ugh! Baby L is almost done developing their body's most important systems and parts, which means its mostly about getting bigger and more mature from here on out :) 

Appointments coming up: 

Nuchal Translucency screening on January 19th. We get to see our baby on ultrasound :) and I get quite the arsenal of blood work at this appointment as well.

The nuchal translucency screening test (also called the NT scan) can help your healthcare practitioner assess your developing baby's risk of having Down Syndrome and some other chromosomal abnormalities, as well as major congenital heart problems.

The NT scan must be done when you're between 11 and 14 weeks pregnant, because this is when the base of your baby's neck is still transparent. 

It's a bit nerve-wracking given everything we have been through to even get pregnant but I trust God and I know He's got this. 

We also scheduled our first 3D/4D ultrasound to hopefully find out if we will be shopping for a

That isn't until February 11th though and I will be almost 17 weeks along. We never had the opportunity to do this with Caleb so I am really looking forward to this! And we are hoping that Baby L cooperates with us and shows us the goods and we get some fantastic pictures of him or her that we can treasure forever! The place we are going also gives us a DVD of the entire experience which will be fun to show to our families and friends. This will also help us in choosing how to decorate and design Baby L's nursery! =) I'm currently into stripes: 

And if it were a boy I love the idea of teal and gray. We shall see! 

Symptoms This Week: 

I am honestly feeling pretty good...aside from being really tired a lot. And I seem to be feeling pretty nauseous from day to day again. Ginger Ale is definitely my BFF at this point. I have always been lucky enough to never have morning sickness though. Always more of an all day nausea and feeling like I'm going to toss my cookies type of girl - which is even worse in my opinion. Nothing is worse than feeling like you're going to barf for 5 hours straight -_-  My belly hasn't changed much either from last week and I might carry small - just like I did with Caleb until around 25 weeks when I popped. My boobs have also gotten HUGE. My bras are getting tight so I'll need to replace them soon with someone bigger. I stick to sports bras mainly anyway because they're comfortable and underwire sucks. My sense of smell is insanely sensitive. I can smell pretty much everything and anything and it's extremely potent which can cause some nausea for me. I sweat like crazy too.. .and I feel like I'm on fire when I sleep. Also... always feeling starving so I have started keeping snacks to my bed to help when I wake up feeling hungry. This is also disgusting but I don't even care... I have been farting and burping like crazy. And my farts? are enough to probably take down a T-Rex. It's pretty disgusting, haha. My husband says "pregnancy farts suck" and he's right. They are absolutely terrible. Constipation is up there too.. I have been having some serious issues going but they subside. I haven't had to take anything as of lately to help me go. I'm still dealing with the itchy thing on occasion but it's nowhere near as bad as it was before. My hormones have me getting upset or irritated a lot quicker than I was before as well. 

Other common 12 week symptoms: 

- That dark line on your belly starts to appear

Still hasn't made an appearance & from what I remember I never had much of one with my other kids either. So who knows? 

- More vaginal discharge to protect your, um, lady parts from infection.

The good the bad and the ugly - remember? I'm suffering from this. It's gross but whatever keeps away the risk of infection works for me. 

- A noticeably bigger belly!! 

Like I said my belly hasn't changed much from last week... and some days it looks bigger than others. I think it's a lot of bloat to be honest. 

- Headaches and dizziness may start to intensify around this time which could be caused by hormones, vision changes, drops in blood sugar, dehydration, or possible stress. 

I haven't had any of this yet ... although my eyes are getting worse. I can barely see without my glasses on, which is something that has gotten considerably worse since I had Caleb. I developed astigmatism when I was pregnant with Caleb and I need to rely on glasses. I wish I could wear contacts but they freak me out.

I am hoping for a return of energy in the 2nd trimester because I have been dragging my behind this entire 1st one. I haven't been able to find an ounce of energy to workout or do much of anything. So I'm hoping that some energy will return and I can get back into a regular workout routine -- I am going to do T25 again from the beginning and do the modified stuff - especially for everything that requires jumping around and bouncing. 

Food Cravings: fried pickles - even though when I had them the other night I felt super sick afterwards. Red peppers, baby carrots, &  French dressing. And still craving Subway. SmartFoods White Cheddar Popcorn is also the bees knees. I wouldn't mind some King Crab legs either smothered in butter. Haha.

Food No-No's: There hasn't been much really.. I guess the fried pickles could fit in here too.

For the most part I try to eat healthy and stay away from junk. But when you're pregnant you do have cravings that are pretty gross, lol. 

Anything I'm worried about: The fact that I don't have many symptoms. But I guess some women are just lucky. I definitely feel pregnant. But naturally I worry.

Boy or Girl: my symptoms, cravings, etc. lead me to believe I'm having a girl but I could definitely be wrong. Because I thought I was having a girl with Caleb and boy was I wrong! LOL. 

Looking forward to the ultrasound on the 19th but a little nervous about the testing. All in all I know everything is okay, but my nerves get the best of me a lot of times. All in all I feel good though and I'm really blessed God is letting me experience pregnancy again. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

XOXO, Jenna 

Divine Appointment

I truly believe that God has a plan for all of us. That there's a reason as to why things happen whether they're good or bad, why certain people come into your life and when. 

Last September 2013 when i miscarried I was devastated. I was besides myself with grief and I had no idea how I was going to overcome the sadness in me. Eventually I did and I truly believed that God had a bigger plan for my unborn child even if that wasn't with me. I had almost lost all hope that another baby would be in my future. And I lost my way.. My faith dwindled again... Losing my mom and a baby in the same year? I felt like it was some type of cruel joke. And the universe was laughing at me. 

But then my period was 2 days late and those 2 lines popped up. A mix of emotions all at one time... Definitely happiness but more overwhelming fear than anything else. "Was this really happening?"; "maybe my test is defective."; "what if the same thing happens again?" All normal fears for someone who had lost a baby a year before. So when I tried really hard not to get my hopes up. I tried telling myself that I shouldn't get excited because I didn't know what was going on... I should wait to see the doctor and they can tell me more when I go. But yet...I found myself telling my best friends that I was pregnant and they shared in my excitement and my joy. But also encouraged me to know that being fearful is something completely normal. Especially after what I had been through. 

This is where "divine appointment" comes into play. On December 1st I went for my "pregnancy confirmation" ultrasound. This was it. D-DAY. This appointment held so much. This was when I would find out if I was successfully pregnant or had to begin on the road to recovery yet again after suffering the loss of a pregnancy.

My ultrasound tech was wonderful. I forget her name but I wish I remembered it so I could thank her. She wasn't originally supposed to have me to scan but something told her that she should scan me. I told her a little bit about myself, told her my story of miscarriage and how devastating it was. How excited and fearful I was for this pregnancy. & how I was SO afraid that something would be wrong. How I felt God had a bigger plan for my miscarried little angel. And then she scanned my belly & together we saw the little heartbeat flickering on the screen. 

We cried together. This woman I had never met until that day was crying with me over the heartbeat of my unborn baby. She talked to me about God's will. And how she felt that God had sent her to me to help me with my faith. She wasn't supposed to scan me but said she would at the last minute... She said it was God's divine appointment. There was a reason she chose to scan me. I asked her questions about God and told her how I had wanted to get closer to Him. Explained the loss of my mother and baby destroyed the little faith I had left. She gave me the information about her church, Glad Tidings Church in West Lawn, PA. I thanked her and I went on my way. She impacted me so much that day. A woman I had never met before that moment impacted me in the biggest of ways. She showed me my unborn baby, took the time to show me everything I wanted to see. I was only 6 weeks and 2 days so there wasn't much to see. But nonetheless she showed me. 

Divine Appointment. It's a funny thing how the Lord works. Brings people into your life and with good reason. I would have never encountered that woman or learned about her church had it not been for my ultrasound appointment that day. Because of her I found a church that I truly connect with & enjoy. Im able to attend online services from the comfort of home since I can't get there all the time. And I truly LOVE it. What an amazing technology this is! 

Divine. Appointment. God had a reason. He had a reason for taking my mother away and for having me miscarry in September 2013. 

Had it not been for all I've experienced I may never have gotten my faith back. Had I not lost my unborn child I never would have changed OB/GYNs & ended up at PMMC getting scanned by an ultrasound tech that changed my life. I wouldn't have gotten my faith back in the Lord. I mean maybe I would have. But maybe not in this way. Had I not lost the baby in September 2013 I may never have ventured back to church. But I did lose the baby, and I lost my faith. I lost my way. Until now. That woman changed my life. 

God has a bigger plan. He always does. He knew what He was doing when he had me lose my baby, He was preparing me for something bigger and better. For a relationship with Him to be stronger than it ever was before! He sent me this woman to tell me about her church and all it had to offer me. And I'm blessed to have met this woman. And I thank her from the bottom of my heart. 

Divine appointment is a beautiful thing.

Have a great Sunday!

Xoxo, Jenna