12 Weeks

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” – Psalm 139:13

How far along? 12 weeks

Due date? October 15, 2013

Weight loss/gain? Up about 2 lbs.

Exercise? I’ve been sticking to incline walking, the elliptical and my Body by Trimester videos ever since our first doctor said he wasn’t comfortable with running. However, Saturday I went out for a walk and had to jog to cross the street. It felt really good, so I kept going (with caution of course) for about 25 minutes. I don’t really see myself running once there’s a bump to risk falling on, but I might add it in occasionally for now while I have some energy back and am not really showing yet.

Maternity clothes? Not yet, but I stocked up on some basics while I was in the US.

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep? Sleeping good other than multiple trips to el baño during the night.

Best moment this week? We had the important 12 week sonogram, which they called an “ecograph” over here. Although we opted out of hearing our perceived risk for down’s syndrome, the doctor said that everything looks good and is developing normally. We’ve got a strong, healthy heart, 2 arms and 2 legs!

Miss anything? Although I don’t miss the taste of it and the smell kind of gags me right now, I did miss being able to share in the bottles of wine that were consumed while we had friends in town last week.

Movement? Little baby was a dancing machine on the last sonogram we saw, but I can’t feel anything yet. Still a few weeks away from what I’ve read.

Food cravings? Lots of fruit (though this isn’t really strange for me), Greek yogurt with honey and cereal. Pizza is really good too.  Although I was never really sick during the very beginning, nothing ever really sounded good unless it included bread, but I’m starting to get my taste for veggies and flavorful items back. (Thank goodness because I’ve got brussel sprouts roasting in the oven as I type!)

Anything make you queasy or sick? If I go too long without eating, my empty tummy let’s me know it. I need to get in a habit of smaller, more frequent meals.

Other symptoms? Though not as consistent as in earlier weeks, I’m still getting more frequent than normal headaches.

Have you started to show yet? Not really. It just kind of looks like I stopped going to the gym and went on a beer drinking binge. It’s awesome. (My perfect husband tells me I’m crazy for saying that. He’s too good.)

Gender prediction? If I was forced to choose, I’d say boy. I don’t really have any reasoning other than that’s the first picture that pops in my mind when I think about our little person.

Happy or moody? Mostly happy, though I have cried multiple times this week for silly reasons. Luckily, the tears pass quickly.

Looking forward to? Being officially in the 2nd trimester and making some tiny purchases!

All possibilities considered, I’ve had a pretty easy first trimester and am ready to keep moving forward! We’re super excited and so thankful to have heard good news after the in-depth screening on Wednesday. We also changed doctors this week due to misunderstanding our insurance policy. Through the recommendation of a friend, though, I was pretty quickly able to seek out someone else, and then really liked her at our first visit. It’s nice to have a woman, and I think I can understand her English better than the other guy anyway. We’re thankful for that as well.

This is certainly going to be different than having a baby in the US since I don’t really know how everything works over here. Lucky for me, I have a super laid-back, reassuring husband who has rubbed off on me over the years making me more relaxed as well. We’re going to try to be as go with the flow as we can about little details and differences between Spain and the US along the way. Any “birth plan” that I would ever come up with, no matter what country I was in, would end with a safe delivery and healthy baby no matter how we got there.