12 weeks along - Happy birthday to me!

Today I am 12 weeks along, so only 1 week more until the first trimester is officially over.  But I feel really confident that Bean is just fine.  The only thing I'm waiting for is for the nausea to completely go away, and it seems to be subsiding this week.  Acid reflux has gotten a little worse, but that's better than nausea!  Now I'm just waiting for the hunger to start to subside too.  But overall, I feel really good.  My energy seems to be returning to normal and I don't seem to need 9 hours of sleep anymore, which is really nice.

I have been finding Bean's heartbeat every afternoon but not in the morning.  I'm thinking that maybe she is a morning baby and likes to wiggle around a lot making it hard to find her heartbeat.  Then in the afternoon she is sleeping, so I can find it more easily.  That's my theory but who knows if that's right :)  And yes, I am now referring to Bean as a "she".  I checked the Chinese calendar predictor (which correctly predicted Brady to be a boy) and it said that Bean is a girl, so I figured I might as well start referring to her as a girl until the ultrasound confirms.  Either way, we don't care what sex Bean is, we just want her to be healthy.  And I am feeling really confident that Bean is healthy.  I don't have any weird feelings like I did with Brady, so I'm happy about that.

At this point, I feel like I am definitely showing much more than I was with Brady at the same point.  I'm only measuring about 1/2" more than last time, but it seems like it's sticking out a lot more, so maybe I had gained more fat last time since I wasn't eating as healthy as I am this time :)  A couple of days ago, I weighed 138 lbs, which meant I had gained 4 lbs, which is good.  But today I weighed only 136 lbs!  Not sure how I lost 2 lbs in 2 days, but I'll take it!  As long as Bean is growing and has enough nutrients, I'm happy.  It was pretty tough to lose all that extra weight after Brady, so I'd prefer to keep the additional weight gain to a minimum, if possible.

I'm pretty much eating whatever I want, but luckily I'm mainly desiring only mostly healthy foods.  I'm not craving fried or other fatty foods.  The only thing I'm starting to crave are desserts - ice cream in particular.  That happened last time too.  For some reason, I really want ice cream - other desserts just aren't as appealing.  But I really don't want to eat ice cream every day, so I have been eating fudgecicles and they seem to be appeasing me thankfully.  Hopefully they continue to work, so I can just eat ice cream occasionally and not all the time.  With Brady I ate ice cream a lot, especially in the second trimester, and I really don't want to go back to that.  I've never been much of a dessert person, so I'd rather not develop a sweet tooth.

Today I opened my birthday present from my parents.  I asked them to buy me something off the registry for Bean because I really don't need anything for myself and there is so much to get for Bean!  They bought me the Ergo baby carrier - so excited!!!  I'm so happy to get my first present for Bean.  I haven't even gotten her anything yet, but I really want to, so I'll have to get something soon.

My next OB appointment is in a week and a half, but I don't expect to learn anything there.  Since I check Bean's heartbeat every day and my blood pressure every few days, there really shouldn't be any surprises at my appointments.  The next time we really get to learn something is at our mid pregnancy ultrasound, which should be in early April.  I'm planning on making the appointment for that during my next OB appt.  I want to make sure I get in there as soon as possible!

I occasionally look back at my daily journal from Brady's pregnancy and notice that I was pretty emotional during it.  I definitely seem to be doing much better this pregnancy.  I am much more positive and happy.  I really haven't cried much - I didn't even get that upset when I couldn't find Bean's heartbeat that one day last week.  I feel so much more at peace with this pregnancy, and I attribute that to Brady's influence on me.  I love him so much and I'm so thankful for having him in my life.  He truly was a gift from God and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  Of course I would prefer to have him with me instead of in heaven, but then he wouldn't have had the impact that he did, so I know that God took him for a good reason and he is waiting for me in heaven.  I know he's watching over Bean and making sure she is okay.

Below is my baby bump picture that I took today.  It's definitely bigger than last time at 12 weeks.