14.5 weeks

Happy Sunday to everyone! It is cold in Chicago and I'm loving the fall air temperature. However, the past two nights, it frosted and got down into the 20s. My impatiens are now dead! :(

So, I'll be 15 weeks on Tuesday and I'm still very nauseous and vomiting. However, I do believe the vomiting is less than the last time I posted. I am no longer throwing up every day, but maybe 2-3 times a week. I'm learning that I need to keep something in my stomach because if I don't, I will throw up stomach acid as gross as that is. However, I was unsuccessful at keeping my breakfast down yesterday morning and very mad about it. I'm reading a lot about pregnancy bringing congestion in the nasal passages and sometimes lungs. So, I find that coughing will often catalyze throwing up and I REALLY hate it. Although the vomiting is less, I'm hating the daily and all nausea. It's super exhausting and frustrating. I'm very busy at work and my responsibilities with my class this fall. It is hard to fulfill all the responsibilities I have within the week including household responsibilities when I'm so sick all the time.

I don't believe I am as tired as I was either. I feel as though I can stay up later in the evening, but I am easy worn out. Today, we had an all day service project at church where the ENTIRE church went into the community to do a variety of different service projects. I was on a team with three other people, including Chris and another couple (Jana is also pregnant; I think 21 weeks) and we washed windows. Due to the cold, Jana and I washed the inside and the boys did the outside. I was so incredibly exhausted that I napped for a bit this afternoon and it was GREAT! I'm finding that I'm waking up early in the morning, before my alarm goes off between 5-5:30am. It makes me angry that I consistently have to wake up at 3am every morning to pee!! The other morning though, I THINK (don't know) I felt the the baby move. It wasn't a fluttery feeling, but shifting pressure in my lower abdomen. It is very early still as most women don't feel the baby move until 16 weeks, so I think it will be awhile before I'm actually sure I can feel it.

We go back to the doctor on the 22nd (next Thursday) and I'll be 16 weeks. I'm hoping the nausea and vomiting is gone by then, but if not, I may talk with my midwife about medication. Reportedly, it is VERY common for women to be prescribed medication for the nausea and vomiting. I've recently heard stories about women being hospitalized several times a week for dehydration due to the inability to keep fluids down. I'm very thankful that I am not in that situation. My chiropractor shared with me that she was sick for the full 9 months with both pregnancies and was taking medication to help alleviate the nausea. I'm REALLY hoping that isn't going to be my circumstance.

Chris has recently started referring to the baby as "the parasite" and will lovingly refer to me as "host". At first, I thought he was silly for suggesting that the baby was a parasite, but when I looked up the definition on dictionary.com, it was pretty accurate. :) In fact, dictionary.com states, "An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host." HEHE!! I find this very amusing. I think Chris's excitement about the baby is increasing as it becomes more and more real to him. He likes to touch my tummy a lot and was talking to the baby the other day telling him to be a boy and "grow a penis because they are super cool." :D Perhaps Chris was saying this to provoke me knowing how much I want a girl.

Well, the holidays are coming up and we should know the sex of the baby by Thanksgiving as I will be 21 weeks. This is assuming that we can schedule the level 2 ultrasound in time.