16 weeks

How far along: 16 weeks

Size of baby: About the size of an avocado; 4.6 inches and 3.5 ounces

Total Weight Gain/Loss: still down from pre-pregnancy weight but up about 0.5 lbs from my lowest weight

How I'm Changing: definitely can feel the bump and showing enough that people have commented on it 

Maternity Clothes:  wearing them and loving it

Gender: unknown (but only for a couple more weeks!)

Movements: none yet but definitely looking forward to hopefully starting to feel something in the next few weeks

Sleep: my sleep has been ok lately - getting used to waking up a couple times a night... guess it is just prep for after the baby comes :-)

Symptoms:  still having some headaches, growing pains

How I'm feeling: good overall - still get tired pretty easily and working longer days is definitely not as easy as pre-pregnancy

What I Miss: red wine, other adult beverages, sushi, and being close to our families

Cravings: not much in the way of cravings - I have recently been craving things that I can't get very easily out here in MA - Arby's roast beef sandwich, panda express, you know, all the stuff that is super good for me

Best Moment(s) of the Week: hearing baby P's heart beat at my OB appointment - it was playing hide and seek for a little bit and it took 3-4 minutes to find but when we did it was strong and clear and I got a really good recording on my phone :-)

What I am Looking Forward To: getting the results of the quad screen and most of all seeing our baby on u/s later this month! We had our first u/s so early (around 7-8 weeks) that baby P wasn't much more than a blob so it will be really cool to see a more developed baby.  As an added bonus we will get to find out if we have a boy baby or a girl baby in there!

15 weeks

How far along: 15 weeks

Size of baby: About the size of a navel orange; 4 inches and 2.5 ounces

Total Weight Gain/Loss: still down from pre-pregnancy weight about 8 pounds

How I'm Changing: finally think I can see the beginnings of a bump :-)

Maternity Clothes:  maternity pants and have busted out a couple maternity tops to supplement my ever shrinking wardrobe

Gender: unknown

Movements: none yet but definitely looking forward to hopefully starting to feel something in the next few weeks

Sleep: waking up at least 1-2 times a night usually due to a particularly absurd dream

Symptoms:  still having some headaches, growing pains

How I'm feeling: Pretty good :-)  

What I Miss: red wine, other adult beverages, sushi, and being close to our families

Cravings: I don't know if I have really had much in the way of cravings... still just trying to eat whatever sounds reasonably good and isn't total junk

Best Moment(s) of the Week: nothing terribly exciting this week but I did have a very relaxing weekend complete with sleeping in, laundry, and way too many episodes of Gilmore Girls on Netflix

What I am Looking Forward To: hearing baby P's heartbeat again at the MD appointment on Thursday

14 weeks

How far along: 14 weeks

Size of baby: About the size of a lemon; 3.4 inches and 1.5 ounces

Total Weight Gain/Loss: still down from pre-pregnancy weight about 5-6 pounds

How I'm Changing: feeling somewhat better these days... a lot less nausea and definitely not as tired

Maternity Clothes:  maternity pants and have busted out a couple maternity tops to supplement my ever shrinking wardrobe

Gender: unknown

Movements: none yet

Sleep: still waking up some at night and definitely having some weird dreams

Symptoms:  headaches - started midway through week 13 and haven't been going away without sleeping them off; also having some round ligament pain

How I'm feeling: Pretty good :-)  Looking forward to that baby bump showing up

What I Miss: red wine, other adult beverages, sushi, and being close to our families

Cravings: nothing specific this week - just thankful food sounds relatively good again

Best Moment(s) of the Week: B and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary this week so that was really fun.  Hard to believe it has been a year already and that in 6 short months we will be welcoming a little one to our family :-)

What I am Looking Forward To: feeling our little one move and learning the gender of baby Parchem

13 weeks

How far along: 13 weeks

Size of baby: About the size of a peach; 2.9 inches and 0.81 ounces

Total Weight Gain/Loss: down about 6 pounds from week 4 weight and 8 pounds from my heaviest at week 5... I actually feel pretty ok about this because I definitely had some extra weight to lose.  I think some of it has come from not being able to eat much at times but I think some is also from trying to eat better now that I'm growing a little person :-)

How I'm Changing: no real bump yet... still just blump and pre-preg belly fat... looking forward to busting out some of my shirts with the scrunchy sides :-)

Maternity Clothes:  maternity pants but no real need for maternity tops yet

Gender: unknown

Movements: none yet

Sleep: I've been having a lot of trouble staying asleep at night.  I feel like I wake up about a hundred times every night.  Not helping me to wake up feeling rested.

Symptoms:  Acne, gas, bloating, heartburn - nausea made a come back last week and seems to just be hanging around sporadically

How I'm feeling: Overall not bad.  I am really hoping the burst of energy I'm supposed to get with the second trimester becomes a reality -- I could use some energy.

What I Miss: red wine, sushi, and being able to make it through rounds without 1-2 bathroom breaks -- I think I will miss these things my whole pregnancy

Cravings: colby jack cheese, mango sorbet

Best Moment(s) of the Week: getting the nursery furniture and some bedding - so exciting to see the room starting to look like a baby haven

What I am Looking Forward To: learning the gender of baby Parchem

12 weeks

How far along: 12 weeks

Size of baby: About the size of a plum; 2.1 inches and 0.49 ounces

Total Weight Gain/Loss: down about 6 pounds from pre-pregnancy weight

How I'm Changing: Very little bump if any... definitely feel different though.  I'm already noticing a feeling of fullness and I am looking forward to having more than just "blump" as I'm referring to the bloat that I am experiencing 

Maternity Clothes: wearing maternity pants for comfort due to bloat but just wearing looser shirts for now

Gender: unknown

Movements: none yet

Sleep: No real sleep issues yet aside from waking up in the early morning to go to the bathroom

Symptoms:  Acne, gas, bloating, heartburn - fortunately the nausea seems to have subsided and food sounds better than in past weeks

How I'm feeling: Overall not too bad - still a little tired but feeling better now that I'm heading out of the first trimester

What I Miss: red wine, sushi, and being able to make it through rounds without 1-2 bathroom breaks

Cravings: nothing specific yet

Best Moment(s) of the Week: hearing the heart beat of our little baby - it was amazing

What I am Looking Forward To: learning the gender of baby Parchem

why I'm not drinking as much diet dr. pepper these days...

To begin, again, I apologize for being such a terrible blogger.  I really do mean to post more and then life just gets in the way.

That said, I suppose life may be getting in the way even more in the coming months but hopefully I can do better at keeping up with the blog because there will definitely be things I want to remember and share as B and I are expecting!  Yup you heard that correctly, baby Parchem is gestating away and due to grace us with his/her presence in a little over 6 months :-)  The family pharm is about to expand and we couldn't be more excited!

Our little blob at around 7 weeks - so cute and getting cuter :-)

I have been feeling pretty good overall -- some nausea but really nothing too terrible.  On the plus side I have lost 7 lbs since I found out I was pregnant - even without nausea food just hasn't sounded that good.  I have been trying diligently to get enough protein and good stuff though so our little peanut can grow appropriately.  Also, as the title states, I've been limiting my ddp habit to 1-2 cans a day max.  It hasn't been as challenging as I thought it would be but I do miss it sometimes.  Other than the nausea the only other symptom I've had is serious fatigue.  Growing a baby is hard work!  Apparently this will subside once I get to the second trimester.  I hope that is true because getting up to go to work has been quite challenging, especially on the weeks that we round at 6:30...

Today we had our first official OB appointment.  The MD is very nice and seems like a decent match for B and I.  He made jokes with us during the exam and overall made things relatively easy.  The best part of the whole thing was that we got to hear the heart beat which was pretty much the most amazing thing ever. I am looking forward to the next several weeks including our anatomy scan around 18 weeks (when we will find out the baby's gender) and hopefully feeling some little baby flutters in the not too distant future :-)

Well that is about all for now.  I suppose this blog will probably be primarily pregnancy focused in the coming months so if you aren't into that sort of thing check back next May -- Life is good :-)

well looks like it is time to post again...

Since it has been almost 3 months since my last post I feel like I should write something.  

Kyley and I selfie-ing when she came to visit in April

 This is a cool picture of a church near an Italian restaurant B and I went to in the North End... it was super cool and the restaurant was really good

In mid June my friend CBH came to visit and she and K and I all went to RI - C's childhood dream vacay!  We stayed at a B&B and walked on the cliff walk and overall had a great time.

 At the B&B we even went totally girly and did facials... we are pretty :-)















Also while in RI we took a trip on the rumrunner which was super fun although K's face doesn't necessarily make it seem like it was :-)

After our RI adventure we went into Boston for a comedy show and dinner in the North End (can you tell I like that place?)  Below is the DELICIOUS gnocchi I had at La Galleria 33 (which incidentally was on Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay but no worries, they have really stepped up post show)

Us at the comedy show

Sadly at the end of June my dear friend K left me here in Boston to take a job in KS... in total NE style we used her last day here to go to the beach... there is just something about the ocean - so fun even if it is 50 degrees in the water :-)

So that's what has been happening with me lately... maybe I'll have more exciting things to post soon... when it rains it pours you know