Gardening

Lately I feel like I am a garden because each week when I log onto TheBump.com I am told what fruit or vegetable Baby J resembles.  Granted, that is where I got the name for this blog.  I must admit that I stopped tracking what fruit or vegetable I was "growing" mainly because of morning sickness and first trimester blahs.  Alas, I am feeling much better.  Everyone has been asking for "bump" pictures.  Well no one tells you that you really don't have a bump at first.  No, no, no....at first you are just presented with a squishy, fluffy, pudgy excuse of a belly. You know the one, it's the same one that rears it's ugly head every month for most of us females.  This special pudgefest however is not cute and it does not go away after 3-5 days.  It is the kind of "bump" that makes people go "hmmm...did she eat too many donuts?  Maybe she's just carbo loading."  I have to say this was not a fun time for me.  Nothing fit the same...it still fit, but not the way it used to.  Things were tight in all the wrong places, my profile seemed thicker, I constantly felt like I had eaten one too many servings and the worst part was I didn't even look pregnant. 

You can imagine my joy when at 15 weeks I was finally able to see some semblance of a bump!  My friend told me it would pop out one day out of nowhere and she was completely right!  One day I looked pregnant with my bump albeit a teeninsie bump but a bump to say the least.  This is the point that I finally decided to start documenting my pregnancy with the infamous "bump" pics.  I wanted to do something a little different because well that's what I usually do. Call it my creative side, Husband calls it my left brain; whatever it is it lead to these first few photos. 

 An unofficial bump pic at 13 weeks.

 Official bump pic at the end of 14 weeks, I was closer to 15.  Husband looks thrilled.

Now we're talking...16 weeks and counting!

More to come as I continue to grow.  The best comment I received after posting these was from my brother, "I can't wait to see the pic where you are holding a melon!" 

Make sure you get my good side!

This post is a couple of weeks late but I still wanted to share with everyone.  Right before we left for Europe I had my 12 week appointment with a prenatal specialist to make sure Baby J is baking at just the right temp and speed.  Unfortunately, Husband could not attend, it was his first day at his new job (let’s not get into how disappointed I was---pregnancy hormones are awesome!) so one of my best friends, Sinit, came with me.  If you know me well you know that I often refer to Sinit as my moral compass, my calm in the storm and someone who no matter how much time has gone by, I can pick up with like it was yesterday.  I love Sinit…she always comes through.  Truly an amazing friend.  So Sinit tells me she will go with me.  The morning started out right…I woke up early for what I thought was my 10:30 appointment almost leaping out of bed at the excitement to see Baby J on the big screen.  As I was leaving the house a calendar reminder popped up on my screen reminding me of my 10:00 appointment!!!  EEK!!!!  Here it is 10 till 10 and I think I am running early except now I am late.  Of course when you are late there is always much more traffic and people seem to drive at a snail’s pace.  I vacillated between speeding and not speeding (after all I did have precious cargo on board---sort of).  Sinit arrived before me and was waiting for me at the valet area (God bless the valet service at Women’s Hospital).  We rush upstairs and into the doctor’s office 10 min late.  I was checked in and told to wait...which would have been ok but my bladder was about to bust!  I was told to have a full bladder to get a good look at Baby J so I did what anyone would do.  I reenacted a scene from the movie “Juno” and downed about 200 oz. of liquid for the appointment.  Having to pee now is very different than having to pee before pregnancy.  I didn’t realize it hurt so much more to hold it…I know that’s TMI but you mommy’s will understand.  If I am barely pregnant what will it feel like when Baby J is a small lil melon sitting right on top of my bladder?!  I am frightened by this thought. 

“Mrs. Jenkins, please come to the back.”

Sinit and I walk to the back at which point I crack a joke, “They are going to think we are lesbians and you are my wife.”  I only said that because a lot of people in the waiting room gave us peculiar looks as we walked back.  I doubt that’s what they thought but between the need to pee and the excitement I was trying to expel some nervous energy.

We walk into the exam room and immediately the tech squirts the infamous goo on my, no longer flat, not quite a bump tummy.  She pressed down with the ultrasound scope and there clear as day was Baby J….and then 2.2 seconds later Baby J was gone.  Shy maybe?  “Hmmm….looks like baby doesn’t want to be on camera today,” the tech says.  “Not to worry, we will find it.”  A few tries and the witnessing of lots of baby gymnastics and wiggles Baby J came back into view.  I think Baby J wanted to make sure we got its good side; I mean it is half my child and the importance of finding your good side in photos cannot be stressed enough. 

It is truly amazing to see your baby on screen.  Non-believers in God would really question their belief once they see something so amazing that can only be described as a miracle.  In just 12 short weeks our baby grew from a poppyseed to a small lime.  It went from just being to moving and having a personality of its own.  Sinit and I were weepy and excited at the site of something so beautiful.  The doctor was able to take a few good photos in between all the wiggles.  Below is the best one.  I am happy to report that I think Baby J inherited daddy’s perfect nose!  

It's Officially Official 2012 Style

Ahh I feel such relief!  Yesterday I was finally able to announce that we were expecting a lil Baby J.  When I say “announce” I am of course referring to making it officially official on Facebook.  I mean this is 2012 where most of the communication we have with each other is via photo posts, status updates and pokes (ok maybe not pokes…I never understood that feature).  Sad as it is…this is our sounding board and if it’s not on Facebook then it’s not official.  ;)

I must say I had been wanting to post about it the second I found out but for there were several reasons why I didn’t.  I wont bore you with all the reasons why but I will say that one reason in particular was that I wanted a cute way to announce it.  I didn’t want to just slap an ultrasound photo up (not that there is anything wrong with that…but I am a photographer half the time and self-proclaimed creative personality so I thought I needed something better than that).  My first thought was a picture of Husband in a pair of shoes, me in a pair of heels and the sweet lil Toms I bought when I was about 2.2 seconds pregnant.  That task was a lot harder to achieve than I thought and I underestimated the vast power of the mosquitoes that have already taken over Houston.  So it was on to the next idea.  I can’t say it is what I imagined but I figured people would get the hint when they saw a pair of mini baby Toms with our wedding rings perched atop them.  I was so excited as I uploaded the photo to my FB page and waited in eager anticipation of the comments that would soon follow.  I must say, my friends did not disappoint and I was overwhelmed by the reaction of friends and family, new and old!  Life is full of so many amazing moments and sharing the news of our lil poppyseed with everyone certainly tops the list.  I know the journey will be long…and hard…but what a miracle and blessing it will be when we are finally able to meet our lil one.

Here is the picture that I posted with the headline that read; “Looks like Husband better clear some closet space...we've got a special lil roomie on the way!”