I’m 31 weeks along today! I wanted to take a cute picture of my bump to mark the date but my plans changed after something unexpected this morning. Now, I don’t even want to bother with putting on pants.

I did take pictures today, but they’re dramatic and don’t show much bump. I only took them to pretend I’m a badass or freak out my siblings (depends on the sibling). But, I’m not an alarmist jerk, or I try not to be. When I texted the photo of the IV in my arm and the patient bracelet, I made sure to add that Meatball and I were okay.

Now, for two stories. I’ll tell you the end right now: I was sent home from labor and delivery after some tests/monitoring and am okay and so is Baby Meatball.

Sunday night: Midnight visit
My first thought when I saw the blood in the toilet and on the toilet paper was, “Should I tell Sean?” Of course, I knew I had to. I know spotting early in pregnancy is normal, but this wasn’t early. I was 30 weeks along.

I went back to the bedroom and turned on the lights. “So… there’s some blood.”

He immediately got up and stayed calm. While looking for the number to the doctor’s office, we double-checked what the Mayo Clinic book and literature from Kaiser said about bleeding at this point. The doctor’s office put me through to the advice nurse who asked a few questions and then told me to call labor and delivery. I summed up my issue in one sentence to a nurse. She responded succinctly, “Yup, you need to come in.”

We changed quickly and were at the hospital five minutes later. (I’m glad I live so close.) It was a little after 12:15 when I checked in.

Once admitted, I was monitored by the nurses for contractions and asked several questions about the bleeding and my medical history/pregnancy thus far. The doctor on duty checked me out and concluded that everything looked okay (cervix is fine, placenta was away from the cervix thus not the cause of the bleeding, no contractions). I was sent home with directions to not have sex and return if there was more bright red blood or cramping.

I’ve never been admitted to the hospital for anything, so the whole experience was surreal even if I was just there a couple of hours. The scariest thing, according to Sean was when the machine monitoring my contractions made a long beep noise. Seriously, it sounded like it was flatlining. A nurse rushed back and said, “oh, the printer is stuck.” Sean did not like the printer’s warning beep.

On the bright side, I did get to see Baby Meatball briefly during the quick ultrasound. He looks good and definitely has Sean’s lips. We got home a little before 3 and I emailed my boss to let he know I’d be taking the morning off.

Today: Too many needles
Despite starting off the week at the hospital, I felt fine for the next few days. I was especially happy this morning because Baby Meatball is now 31 weeks old.

I went in for my monthly appointment with my OB. It was short and sweet. The nurse who checked me in gave me a TDAP shot (ouch!). My doctor mentioned my low blood pressure, but wasn’t worried since it’s been like that for the past few months, my heart rate is fine, and I’m asymptomatic. We talked about baby’s growth and what to expect when I come back at 35 weeks. Everything looked good during the quick ultrasound and then she sent us off on our way to my next appointment with the lactation nurse.

While Sean and I were in the RN’s office listening to her talk about how to get the baby to latch on, I started to feel sick. I had the same symptoms I had on the bus in February and after the Café Tacuba show last month. I told the nurse I didn’t feel well and she gave me a plastic trash bag so I could vomit. The nausea and faintness were relieved by vomiting, my vision returned to normal and I cooled down again. The nurse took my blood pressure and consulted with my doctor. Instead of sending me home, they sent me next door to labor and delivery.

Once again I was monitored for contractions. My blood pressure was checked every 15 minutes and I had blood drawn for a few tests (blood sugar, anemia, electrolytes). I was hooked up to an IV to ensure I got more fluids in case I was dehydrated. I got my results and everything looked normal, I didn’t have any contractions and once again Baby Meatball was fine. The midwife on duty ruled out potential causes for the dizziness and then said I was fine to go home to rest. Before I left the nurse gave me warning signs for preterm labor, pre-eclampsia, and tips on dealing with dizziness during pregnancy. I spent the rest of the day resting at home and Sean went to work.

It was funny, shortly before I got sick, Sean thought we were going to be in and out of our appointments quickly. Hah. I guess I had other plans.

A few weeks ago, I went in for my monthly appointment with my doctor. While waiting to check in, the woman ahead of me told a teenage girl next to her, “I keep seeing pregnant women. It must be a sign.”

“Huh? I’ve only seen two,” replied the teenager.

“I’ve seen five. Three walked by. One was just ahead of us in line. And there’s the other woman in line behind us.”

She wasn’t talking about me. She was clearly talking about another woman who looked much further along in line behind me.

When Sean joined me in the waiting room, I told him the story and offered a fake cry. I was a little bummed about not yet looking pregnant to strangers. I guess there’s benefits to that.

I can still wear a couple pairs of pre-pregnancy jeans if I use a ponytail holder looped through the button hole. Strangers don’t reach out to touch my bump or try and make conversation about my pregnancy. No one has said “Wow, you’re getting big!” or made other rude comments about my size. Nor do I receive unsolicited advice — actually we’ve been asking friends for advice and they’ve been awesome. I’m on pace for the recommended weight gain.

And I got accused by my cousin Nancy of exaggerating my bump in the Instagram photo above (taken at 23 weeks). She was right, but how often do you pose for a picture by sticking out your belly?

Anyway, I know this will change as I approach the third trimester.

When I got in to see the doctor, she started with her usual, “how are you feeling?” We followed up about my near fainting episode. She then went on to the routine ultrasound. She hadn’t been looking around for more than two minutes when she stopped.

“Let me go get my colleague. I want her to see something.”

She left the exam room and returned with a second doctor. The second doctor introduced herself, asked me if I’d been leaking fluid (no) and went on to continue with the ultrasound. They took some measurements and determined that there was a normal amount of amniotic fluid.

“Sorry for scaring you,” she offered.

The whole thing happened so quickly, that I barely had time to get scared and think of all the what-ifs. Sean, on the other hand, had plenty of time to get worried.

I was told to focus on drinking more water throughout the day.

I probably would’ve been more scared if I hadn’t felt Baby Meatball move for the first time just a day before my appointment.

Since then I’ve felt his movements gets stronger and Sean’s been able to feel him too. It’s still weird, but I don’t want it to stop.

I passed on the baby registration process to Sean after our initial visit to Baby’s R Us (his post on that). I was a little overwhelmed by the various products. Sean’s been taking his job seriously and doing a lot of research. He’s awesome. Also on the awesome list: the friends and family who have offered hand-me-downs (e.g., my boss who gave us the crib her daughter has outgrown. w00t!)

We’re close on two important decisions:

1. The name. We have the same first choice and no clear second choice. Sean is ready to choose [NAME]. I feel like I need to see Meatball first to know [NAME] is right, but maybe that will change in the next few months. How did you know the name was right?

2. The paint for Meatball’s room. We just have to decide if we want three neutral walls and one brighter accent wall or four walls of the brighter color. I think both would be good with the crib we just received.

My dad is worried Meatball is gonna stick as a nickname, especially if he is chunky. My cousin Nancy thinks it’s inevitable.

What a surprise. Even though I arranged my taco condiments in Mexican flag colors, the Mexico versus US World Cup qualifying match still ended in a draw. I thought that would do the trick. Nope.

This rainbow is located on the grounds of the Sony studios across from the church I attend weekly. I’ve never noticed it because I always entered on the east side. I found it fitting that I saw it last Wednesday, a day after I had a tough day and shortly before going to confession.

Sean played ZogSports in New York. The league didn’t exist in LA until this season. Here he is explaining the rules to his new teammates.

I haven’t had any cravings in the traditional sense, but I do indulge in stuff more often. Normally, I’d let the paletero go by, but this time I had to flag him down for paleta de limón. It was the perfect refresher after a walk in the park.

I went on a walk to the farmer’s market and came back with cookies. I think I’m doing it wrong.

I need to host a game night.

Sometimes during lunch I like leaving campus to take a walk in the adjacent neighborhood. Other times I just go to parts of campus I never visit like “the hill” where the dorms are located. I passed the new-ish John Wooden statue on the way.

Why haven’t I felt Baby Meatball yet? Does my extra padding block the feeling of his movement?

If Sean and I choose a name with an uncommon spelling and alternative pronunciation, will Meatball get annoyed that his name is frequently mispronounced and misspelled? At least he can commiserate with his father on the latter.

Do all maternity pants sag? Is that just me?

Speaking of sagging, how do young guys do this? It’s so uncomfortable and inefficient for walking.

Am I super behind on prepping for Baby Meatball’s arrival? Pregnancy forums make me feel that way since all I’ve really done is clean out the room that will become his nursery and secured a secondhand crib that I still need to pick up. Color scheme? Theme? Nope. Far from that.

Will I come back to running from pregnancy as a better, faster, stronger runner? (See: Marie’s latest race report.)

When will I actually start to look pregnant rather than just looking like I’ve gained weight?

Why did I get rid of most of my pre-weight loss clothes? I could’ve gone through pregnancy without buying much.

Why did I take such a long break from running last summer and early fall?

Even if I wasn’t running, I had to do my part as a runner. Plus, I live way too close to the course not to go out and cheer.

On Sunday morning, I woke up shortly before 7:30 feeling nervous and excited. I texted Alexis and offered a couple of tips. She seemed nervous but did fine. Mainly, don’t go out too fast and don’t trip over all the throw away sweaters.

I watched a bit of the telecast before making breakfast and heading out to Beverly Hills where Sean met me when I ran LA. It’s close and a good place to spectate since parking is easy.

A little before 9:30 we got to Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive (~mile 17), we waited for our runners with signs and cameras. Fifteen minutes before, I’d received a text message with 20K splits for Claudia, Jorge and Alexis. They were all in the 8-8:30 pace range. Claudia was the fastest, so I expected to see her come by first. I didn’t think it would be so tough to spot Claudia and Alexis since there were fewer women runners around. I was wrong.

We almost missed Claudia. I called as she passed by and she turned quickly. I’m not sure she recognized us, but she did look great. (She held on to the pace and finished in 3:42, a huge PR!)

We never saw Alexis even after I expected her to pass. I held her sign until I got the 30K split update. I’m still bummed I missed her. She would’ve loved our sign.

We missed Jorge as well. And he missed us too even though he looked for us. The corner where we were at had a good number of spectators, so we might have just blended in.

Last, I would have missed Marlene, as I turned to get more, but she spotted Sean. She also went on to earn a 12 minute PR. Go Marlene!

After I knew our friends had passed by, I got out the oranges and pretzels we’d packed. The oranges went by really fast, but the huge bag of pretzels lasted longer. We stayed until about 11:45. I think most of the runners at the point were well in to the 5+ hour range.

The runners were awesome and graciously thanked us for the snacks and loved Sean’s Nelson Muntz sign*. One woman told me, “You don’t know what this means.” Oh, I do. I love oranges during marathons and knew with warmer temperatures predicted folks would need the sodium from pretzels.

Congrats to the all the finishers! Can’t wait to join in on the fun again.

Alexis, if you ever want to do it again, I have a sign ready.

*I had sign envy. Sean got a lot of smiles, “ha ha’s!” and even a few runners stopping for pictures. One guy even recognized it from last year’s marathon or 2011. I never knew it was so popular since I haven’t done the cheering thing in a while.

Early last fall, I harbored hopes of running the Los Angeles Marathon. I knew I’d have to do a lot of work to rebuild my endurance, but it was still on my mind especially as my family mourned tío Johnny’s passing in early November.

I never talked about it with Lori, but I thought it might be nice for Team Mosqueda to run LA in remembrance of our uncle. As kids, we were both awed each time he completed another LA marathon. The memory of tío Johnny running definitely inspired us through our training/races many years later. His triumphant finish line photo was even displayed in his casket during the wake.

A few weeks after tío Johnny passed away, I found out we were expecting and all hopes of long distance running went out the window. Honestly, I was a little bummed but mainly relieved. The thought of getting back in to marathon running shape was making my head and legs hurt.

At least I have wonderful memories of the LA Marathon. It’s been good to me even if the weather hasn’t cooperated in the past. Part of the reason I went for (and met!) the sub-4 reach goal last year was because I knew that with the wedding and plans to start a family soon after, LA ’12 could be my last marathon training cycle for a year or two.

While, I won’t be running from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica this Sunday, I’ll still be out on the course. I’ll be cheering somewhere in Beverly Hills, Century City or Westwood (where the course comes closest to my home). I have some friends and family running the marathon and want to be out there to cheer for them as well as thousands of other runners. I love making race signs and have already thought up a couple motivating signs for Alexis (brother’s girlfriend), Jorge, Claudia, Marlene and her Students Run LA cohorts from the high school nearby.

I do have some tips from my limited experience on the course. (Past recaps: 2011: Rain!; 2012: the perfect race day; 2012 post-script)

1. Start slow! I know this isn’t easy due to excitement, adrenaline and the downhill start. However, try to reign it in. Remember that this is the easy part. Avoid stressing out and weaving too much around slower runners. Don’t worry, you’ll pass them up at the hills on First Street up to Disney Hall and out of Downtown LA in to Echo Park.

2. Develop a smart pacing strategy. Don’t try to run all the miles at/near the same pace. Instead, plan to run the first 10K at slower than goal pace and speed every 5-6 miles or so until you get to the end. This is a great course to negative split given than the last 4 miles are downhill. I used My Marathon Pace bands which allow you to personalize a plan for the current LA Marathon course. In making my plan, I set it for a slower start, negative split and slower effort on hills. With all this said, be flexible. Bad race days happen, unfortunately.

3. Stick to your fueling strategy and get water at all the aid stations. They’ll be crowded on a warm and sunny day so pass up the first few tables and grab water at the end. Don’t forget your sunblock!

4. Draw energy from the spectators and check out their signs. The good/funny ones distract from any pain or even boredom on the course. If you elected to have your name printed on your bib, thank those who are cheering for you. Hopefully there’s a great turnout for spectators this year since it’ll be warm and sunny rather than cold and rainy.

5. If you’ll have friends cheering for you on the course, think about having them at a place where you know you might struggle. Sean, my sister and parents cheered for me in Beverly Hills around mile 16/17. Seeing them always gave me a boost when I needed it mentally. Also, make sure they know what you’re wearing so they can spot you easier. Avoid wearing the official race shirt because you’ll look like every 10th runner. Last, a bonus of coming up with a detailed pacing plan is that you can give your friends/family pretty accurate times for when you’ll be at a certain point — that is, if you stick to the plan. (ETA: Have your relatives sign up for race day tracking. You can sign up for it yourself and have your splits posted to Twitter or Facebook. Last year it was every 10K and includes an expected finish time based on your pace to that point. It feels kinda awesome to see your friends cheering you on from afar.)

6. Thank the volunteers. They’re awesome. Enough said.

7. Enjoy the course and the LA landmarks as you zoom by. It’s rare that you get to stroll down Hollywood Blvd or the Sunset Strip without any cars.

8. Load up some LA-centric songs on your iPod. I know it’s cheesy, but Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” is fitting when you’re kicking ass through LA streets. Save your phone battery for when you finish and need to meet up with friends and family in Santa Monica. It’ll be hectic.

9. Come up with a mantra that you know will help get you through the tough miles. I like “Sí se puede.”

10. Let the adrenaline take over and give it all you have left on San Vicente in the last 4 miles.

¡Suerte!

I didn’t know if it was real or not but it couldn’t hurt to search Facebook.

I searched and found some weird stuff.

Um. What?! I don’t have anything against the employees of Walmart, but I’ve never worked there or any other retail position. Also, I’ve never heard of the name “Consuela,” but I do know a couple of Consuelos.

I checked out the photos and “Consuela” had been using my personal and family photos for almost a year.

Hey, look, my sidebar photo. Also, that wasn’t a nice summer day in Pueblo, Colorado. It was hot summer day in East LA.

I guess we have something in common. I really like this photo too and have used it since ’08 as a profile or avatar photo.

This one really bugged me. That’s my family! Using my photos is one thing. That’s creepy, weird and just plain wrong, but using photos of my family is on another level. I’ve seen enough episodes of Catfish to know that this kind of thing happens, but never wanted to search for my own photos on Google Images. Where would I even start? I have thousands of photos online. By the way, I searched the stolen photos later. None showed up on the Facebook profile probably due to privacy setting. My photos did show up where they’re supposed to: my blog, Flickr account, friends’ blogs, and blogs where I occasionally comment thanks to Gravatar. I believe “Consuela” downloaded the photos from my blog based on the photo sizes and the fact that all my photos are friends only on Facebook. My download settings on Flickr are limited too.

After going through the photos, I sent a couple of messages asking “Consuela” to remove the photos. I also looked up how to report an impostor account and submitted my complaint. I posted about it on Twitter and Facebook. Several friends reported the fake account as well by saying the user was pretending to be someone they knew. Each time they submitted a complaint, I’d get a message:

Hey Cindy, it looks like this person is pretending to be you. You should report them for impersonation if you think they are.
Report “Consuela” for impersonation

I haven’t received anything from Facebook, but later in the evening I noticed my photos were gone. A friend told me a few moments later that there were new photos up on the profile. I’m assuming “Consuela” stole those too.

When our ultrasound tech, Ling, announced “Well, it’s a boy” matter-of-factly I choked up. “I’ll show you later,” she added.

For the past ten minutes, I’d been lying uncomfortably in a dim room while she pushed at my abdomen with the transducer probe. The poking and prodding of the past three ultrasounds was bad enough, but the anatomy scan was worse. I drank 32 ounces of water over an hour earlier without peeing as required. That’s a lot of liquid for a bladder already under a lot of pressure. Along with that, I had to turn my head up to view the screen which was awkward and uncomfortable.

But that didn’t matter as soon as Ling said that three letter word.

A boy! My dad was right.

I cried for the first time during an ultrasound and let the tears trickle down my chin. I squeezed Sean’s hand but didn’t turn back to him as I had already done several times that morning. I’m not sure why I wanted to hide my tears. Perhaps I didn’t want him to interpret them as disappointment.

They’re definitely not disappointment. I’m pretty sure I would’ve cried either way. I thought of how happy Sean will be to buy our son all the superhero toys and clothes he surely wanted as a kid — or as a thirty-something. I also couldn’t help but think of the struggles young men of color face. The day before, I’d seen lots of stories about the anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s killing. He’s not even here and I’ve already become protective of him and what he might face.

Ling showed us later how she was sure of the sex. Baby Meatball was not shy. She continued on with the scan for another 45 minutes or so. She got photos of several organs and body parts as required for the anatomy scan and then sent us on our way.

As soon as we were out we called our parents and siblings to share the news. The responses ranged from “I knew it!” to “So it’s official?” I had another appointment that morning with my OB. She already had the results from the radiologist’s analysis and told us all looked normal. We also talked about how to prevent the dizziness and faint feelings. Everything she suggested was in the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Health Pregnancy book. I should have read that more closely considering my history.

Later in the day, I treated myself to a manicure and pedicure. It’s been too long. I chose baby blue, I couldn’t help it. At least I’m aware of the “nurture” in socializing gender roles.

Yesterday we went shopping for a Batman nightlight I’d seen online. We left with the nightlight and Baby Meatball’s first book.

Sean posted his reaction this morning. Read it here.

*Apologies to Morrissey for the title. I had to do it after finally seeing him live Friday night. I feel like I went through a Chicana@ rite of passage. Plus, Sean took the best title (About A Boy) for his post.

In a little over an hour, I’ll be going in for the anatomy scan. It’ll be the second part of the test to make sure everything is okay with the baby. Additionally, we’ll get to find out the baby’s sex, if he/she cooperates.

I’m excited and a little scared at the same time. I’ve been really chill for the last 3 months. Sean is the one doing most of the worrying. This week is different.

On Monday morning I had one of my scary and annoying fainting spells. I was on the bus at the time and was sitting. At first I just felt nausea and thought it was motion sickness, which has been happening more often on the bus (I miss the days when I could read on the bus).

A stop later I knew it wasn’t the usual nausea that I could ride out until I got within a few blocks of work. I felt really bad (a) needed air and (b) really needed to get to a bathroom. At the next stop, I stumbled to the bus bench at Olympic and Westwood and took off my jacket immediately because I had chills and felt clammy. Everything looked really bright and I waited for my eyesight to readjust. Then I tried to figure out what to do. It was only about 8:30 so a lot of the places in the mini mall behind me were closed. I was 2 miles from home and about the same distance from work. When I felt okay to walk, I went across the street to use the bathroom. That made me feel better as did drinking some Gatorade.

After that I got to work on the next bus that came along. I felt weak and tired the rest of the day but the nausea and dizziness never returned. I got in touch with the Kaiser nurse hotline and they put through a message to my OB. By the end of the day I had talked to another nurse in the OB’s office and scheduled an appointment for today (Wednesday). She’s probably not happy I omitted that I faint rarely.

Normally, the fainting thing doesn’t freak me out, but everything’s different as I’m pregnant. I don’t want to faint while pregnant and if it’s something to do with my blood pressure or heart then that’s definitely cause for worry as my heart is working harder with the greater blood volume.

As for the scan, I’m just hoping all is good with Baby Meatball (yes, that’s our odd nickname for him/her, I hope he/she forgives us when we reveal this). I hope his/her ten fingers and toes are coming in just fine and. And I hope to feel those toes and feet soon with a kick or something. I still haven’t felt the baby and that bums me out a little.

We took a mini poll with the immediate family to vote on what they predict I’m carrying. Currently girl is winning by two votes. While I don’t have an intuition about the baby’s sex, my dad does. He dreamed about his grandchild shortly after we revealed we were expecting. He mentioned the dream a while ago, but kept the details to himself because he didn’t want to sway our name choices. He finally revealed on Sunday after voting in the poll that in his dream, our baby was a boy named Juan Carlos. “I think I was influenced by your tío Johnny’s passing since it was not too long after,” he confessed. It makes sense since Juan Carlos combines both brothers’ first names.

We’ll see if my dad is right. He’s got decent odds.

If this is tl;dr (too long; didn’t read), the main early pregnancy symptom that hit me was fatigue. I just wanted to sleep. I had mild nausea and vomiting, but it was pretty mild. I didn’t gain weight, but my body did change and my hair does look shinier. Also, flying cross country really sucked.

From the week 7 check-in (around December 7th):

I think I had my first wave of morning sickness today.

I’m feeling pretty tired these days. I slept a lot over the weekend, but I still felt sleepy and tired all day Sunday. I struggled a lot to get out of bed this morning after 8ish hours of sleep.

No food aversions, but I don’t feel like eating fresh fruit besides bananas.

Any chemical smell is a lot stronger, but doesn’t cause nausea just annoyance. For now.

(My morning sickness wasn’t that bad. I didn’t know what to expect, but I wasn’t surprised given that my mom claimed she never had morning sickness. I kept Saltines on hand at work and snacked on them late in the morning to ward off the nausea. I didn’t escape the vomiting, but it was about every other day and ended by Christmas. Well, it came back once or twice after.

The worse thing was feeling tired all the time. I called out sick one day just because I needed more sleep.)

From the week 9/10 update (around December 26th):

I’m a cup size bigger than normal. My pants still fit and I haven’t actually gained weight. I was starting off about 5 pounds greater than my normal weight for the past couple of years.

I actually tried running a little on Saturday. I was able to do 4-5 minutes at an easy jog on the downhill portion of my walk. It felt good, though the bigger breasts did make my sports bra feel pretty tight.

The nausea and vomiting is worst on an empty stomach and when I’ve made the mistake of not taking my prenatal with a meal. Otherwise I feel better with a couple of saltines and a few sips of ginger ale.

This did not work on the flight from LA to NY. I felt gross the entire time but never vomited.

From the week 11 check-in (around January 6th):

I’m feeling more back to normal these days. Aside from the flights to and from NY, the nausea and vomiting has pretty much gone away save for one episode a week ago. Sunday nights are not my friend.

I’ve had a bit of a cold since arriving in NY on Christmas Day. I’m just a little sniffly, it’s nothing as bad as what I got after ABRCMS in November.

Bad side effects: I broke out a little earlier in the week, as if I typically would around my period.

Good side effects: my hair looks really shiny and long.

I haven’t really gained any weight (we’ll see on Tuesday), but I figure there’s plenty of time for that. I’ve been advised to try to keep the weight gain to 15-20 lbs due to my BMI. This doesn’t mean all my clothes fit. I removed several items from my closet since they don’t fit and haven’t fit for a while. With pregnancy there’s no hope I’ll be getting in to them any time soon.

From the week 13 check-in (around January 18th):

First, I had my NT scan and second appointment on the 8th. I took off the morning and was surprised that both appointments plus waiting in the lab to get my blood drawn took 3+ hours. I’d like to complain, but then I remember that I have health insurance and so far have not had to pay a cent out of pocket. The only things we’ve bought health wise have been prenatal vitamins and the initial pregnancy test.

At my appointment I found out I hadn’t gained weight. This is fine considering my doctor things I have enough weight to make a baby and I have plenty of time to gain weight.

The nuchal translucency ultrasound scan was interesting. The tech showed us different parts of the baby, feet, head, profile, and then patiently waited for the baby to be in the right position before taking the measurements needed. That took a while since the baby was moving a lot. Sean joked that he/she was doing the robot and trolling us. I wouldn’t put it past our offspring to be like that. The measurements she gave us were in the normal range.

Afterward, I waited 30 minutes in the waiting area at the lab to get my blood drawn for the second part of the NT test. The latter part took less than 3 minutes. We’re still waiting for results. [We got them. Everything looks cool.]

As for first trimester symptoms, they’re pretty much gone. The nausea and vomiting (never that bad) haven’t made an appearance since the end of the year. I haven’t had a saltine or ginger ale in a couple of weeks. I have more energy. I could actually run — slowly and downhill — for 12 minutes. Before this week I could only do 5-6 minutes before going back for walk breaks. I sort of feel back to normal except for being ready for bed at 9:30/10 and having a few vivid dreams each night. It feels strange, but I know this is normal and I’m not going to complain.

I also started telling close friends and my boss. I told the rest of my co-workers a week or so later. Everyone has been very supportive and quite awesome.