Pregnancy Update #5 - Projects and Theories

This update covers about 2 weeks and on my mind has been projects - as in projects to be done before baby arrives. This baby will be born on the heels of the holidays and adds an 8th birthday to the 5 month birthday streak we have from October to February. Here are projects that are now in progress or on my to do list:

• Decluttering. Again.
• Buying birthday presents and Christmas presents early. This needs to happen in September/October.
• Going through kid clothing to weed out what is stained/torn/no longer useable, as well as get item counts to a good number (one child in one size won't need 18 t-shirts, but somehow things add up). We started this weekend with going through everyone's current clothing. We have a plan to tackle the stored off season clothing over the next few weeks.
• Figure out a better clothing solution in bedrooms. Fitting clothing for 12 in our 3 bedroom house with very small closets needs worked on because fitting clothes for 11 is a struggle right now.
• Baby wish list - I've started a wish list on Amazon to remind me of the things we need to get for this baby. There are also things I'm interested in checking into more for baby but that may not make the cut. Once we find out baby's gender we will also need baby clothes, ours have pretty much been used up after 9 babies. And with the last 6 babies in a row being boys I don't even own anything for a girl if we end up having one.

I did start one other project. Choosing recipes for freezer meals and preparing them for the 3rd trimester and after baby. I got a start on this by choosing new recipes and preparing 13 meals on Monday with my hubby. We will use them over the next few weeks to see what everyone likes and make more before baby arrives. The meals were a mix of stir fry sets with different meats, sauces, and veggies, apricot chicken and green beans, company casserole, chicken noodle casserole, a taco bake, balsamic beef roast and carrots, etc.

Symptoms for the last two weeks

My nausea has been less constant. There have been moments and sometimes hours of each day where I actually don't feel sick to my stomach. I still have a few foods that make me gag, the chief among them being chocolate. I am not having any food cravings.

I've not been as sleepy in the afternoons. By bedtime I'm worn out, but I'm not napping during the day. I'm not sure how that is working because I'm not sleeping as well at night. I'm waking pretty often right now.

Exercise - I finally decided that it was time to get back to exercising despite my morning sickness. I know what a marathon pregnancy and labor are and need to be in decent shape for that. I aim to be more active. Some days I wore my Garmin Vivofit to track my steps. It gives you a little notification (a red line) that gets longer the more you are sitting, so with a quick glance I can see if I need to get up and move. Other days I did exercise dvds. I have TTapp dvds, Walk Away the Pounds dvds, and others. I kept my exercise bouts to about 20 minutes.

Weight - I still have gained no weight this pregnancy and just in the last week have lost a pound. This makes the next item pretty funny.

This was me before this pregnancy one pound heavier than I am today. This is me at 200 pounds.

This picture is me yesterday at 11 weeks 4 days pregnant. I weigh one pound LESS than I did in the pre-pregnant picture, 199 lbs. I've got a very obvious pregnant belly now. I have a couple of theories about how my body can make such a big change without gaining weight:

1. My muscles have waved the white flag of surrender and given up. This is totally possible for a 14th pregnancy. This is the theory I'm most in favor of.
2. My body is sucking the weight from elsewhere on my body as my belly grows. Also possible I suppose, but not likely.
3. I'm pregnant with twins. This is the least likely possibility but the one that some of my children are very much in favor of. I have zero history of twins in my family. This theory is highly unlikely but could explain the quick belly growth. I can't rule it out until I get an ultrasound, which won't happen until I actually tell my doctor I'm pregnant - probably in about 2 months.

There you have it, my pregnancy update! Feel free to leave a comment with your most likely theory about how I can be so obviously pregnant without gaining any weight. ;)