My Little Maui

Today we received our first baby gift!

Our roommates, Steve and Emily, just got back from Hawaii last night and they brought us back some goodies! They gave Rudy one of those Hula Dancer figurines you put on your dashboard - he didn't know what it was! Ha ha.  Once he figured it out he ran outside to put it in the car.

The other gift they gave to us, well to the baby, is the cutest t-shirt/onesie I have ever seen.  Here are some pictures:

Front

Back

How perfect is this for our little surfer baby?!

I absolutely love everything about it.  The first thing Rudy said was, "We need to build a stroller like that!!"

MyLittleMaui.com is the company that designed it - they have the cutest onesies for surfer babies!

Sympathy Belly?

Have you ever heard of a father-to-be taking on the symptoms of his pregnant wife?  Well, I hadn't heard of that until now.

Over the past few weeks my pregnancy symptoms have been mostly along the lines of nausea....nausea...and more nausea..but luckily no vomiting...yet.  Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself.  Of the many pregnancy symptoms I've had, craving certain foods has not really been one of them.

Although I haven't been craving any weird foods, Rudy has!  It's like Rudy is taking on the pregnancy symptoms that I am not experiencing yet.

Last night, after eating his dinner he had this weird craving for corn.  He wanted corn and he wanted it immediately - it was funny to watch him scavenging through our little pantry trying to find a can of corn.  Finally he found a can and started eating the corn without even bothering to heat it up.

That wasn't the only instance when he had a strange craving - he had one or two other cravings last week late at night, but I didn't think anything of it until last night when he said, "Baby, I think I'M pregnant" right before he went hunting for a can of corn.

How funny is it to think that sometimes husbands take on pregnancy symptoms too while their wives are pregnant?  I read that some men even start getting a "sympathy belly," which is when the man starts showing like he is pregnant - crazy, huh?

I sure hope I start having cravings soon for any kind of food because this nausea and no appetite thing is not fun.

Anyway, I am officially 7 weeks and 1 day pregnant.  Here's a little information from TheBump.com about week 7:

Baby's now the size of a blueberry!
Baby's brain -- both hemispheres! -- is growing fast, generating about one hundred new cells every minute. Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place.

Sweet Pea to Blueberry

Well, I am currently 6 weeks and 6 days pregnant - still extremely early in my pregnancy, but I feel as if I've already been through so many changes.  From week 6 to week 7 the baby graduates from a sweet pea to a blueberry.  I am still having trouble understanding how the heck we heard our baby's heart beat when he/she was the size of a sweat pea - amazing!

Anyway, since I am on bed-rest for the next while I decided to do a fun little survey for my blog.

About the mommy!
Name: Stephanie
Hair color: Brown with blonde highlights
Eye color: Blue
First child?: Yes!

About the daddy!
Name: Rudy
Hair color: Dark brown
Eye color: Green
First child?: Yes!

Finding out!!
What day did you find out?: Wednesday, July 6, 2011
How did you feel when you found out?: Surprised/Ecstatic/Overjoyed/the list goes on and on!
Who was with you?: Rudy - well, he was asleep.
Who was the first person you told?: Mama L
How did they react?: She had the best reaction - "Well, it's about damn time!" LOL
How did the daddy react?: He almost jumped through the roof with excitement - he's been wanting kids since we met.

Telling the grandparents!
How did your parents react?: They were so so excited - both had amazing reactions.
How did his parents react?: They were both ecstatic.
Are they helping with baby names?: No
Have they bought anything for the baby yet?: Probably not yet since it's so early in the pregnancy, but I know they are going to spoil this baby!
How often do they call to check on you?: Every day

About the pregnancy!
When was your first appointment?: July 14, 2011
When is your due date?: March 15, 2012
How far along are you?: 6 weeks 6 days
Have you had any ultrasounds?: Yes
Have you heard the heartbeat?: Yes!! On July 22, 2012
What was the heartbeat?: around 126 beats per minute

Sex of the baby!
Are you finding out the sex or will you wait until birth?: We definitely want to know the sex of the baby before!
What do you want?: A healthy baby!
What does the daddy want?: A healthy baby! Although he does believe it will be a girl!
What do you think you are having?: Everyone seems to think it's a girl, but I have no idea.
Have you had your big ultrasound yet?: Nope, not yet.
Are you & daddy happy with what you are having?: Of course we are - even though we don't know the sex yet :)

About the birth!
Do you know what you are taking with you?: Not yet
Who is going to be with you?: Rudy!
Are you going to videotape it?: Um...I'm not sure - it's up to Rudy.
Natural or medicated?: I'm probably going to go with medicated.
Do you think you will need a c-section?: Not sure - although all 3 of my Mom's pregnancies were c-section - not sure if that will affect me.
Will you cry with you hold your baby for the first time?: Of course I will - I cried like a baby when I heard our baby's heart beat for the first time.
Do you think the daddy will cry?: I absolutely know he will.
Do you know what you will say to the baby when you first hold him/her?: I love you
Are you scared about the labor?: Heck yes - only because of the pain.

Names!!
Do you have a name picked out?: Well, we did, but now that I am pregnant I think I want to change them - ha ha.
Girl names...: Madison Isabella, Isabella Marie, Katina Marie - still searching.
Boy names...: Andres Jesus - we need to do a little more thinking about boy names.
Is your baby going to be named after someone?: Possibly - Andres after my Daddy and brother, Jesus is Rudy's middle name. 

Other random questions!!
Where was your baby conceived?: In Costa Rica!!!
Have you felt the baby move?: Not yet.
What race(s) will your baby be? From you and daddy?: Caucasian - our little Inca Greek American
What was your first symptom?: Severe heartburn 
Will your baby have godparents?: Yes
Who will the god mommy be?: Elizabeth Sheets Leventis (Sister-in-law)
Who will the god daddy be?: Jason Andrew Leventis (Brother), Andrew Peter Leventis (Brother)
What is the baby's room theme?: Not sure yet.  Still trying to decide where we're going to be living by then.
What is your favorite pregnancy book?: What to Expect When You're Expecting
What do you look forward to doing again once you are no longer pregnant?: Surfing and working out - since I'm on bed-rest I can't do hardly anything...
What physical and other features do you hope the baby will get from daddy?: His eyes, skin color, sense of humor, his athletic build (if a boy)
What physical and other features do you hope the baby will get from you?: curly blonde hair (had blonde hair when I was born until around 4 years old), my hands and feet, my athletic build (if a girl), my intelligence (ha ha)
Is he ready to be a daddy?: Yes and he will be the best Daddy on the planet!
Are you ready to be a mommy?: Absolutely!

Holy Hormones

OK - If you think PMS is bad, wait until you're pregnant.  Yesterday was a terrible day for me and everyone around me.  I was not a happy camper.  It's funny now, but yesterday not so much.

Yesterday started off with a stopped up nose, swollen itchy eyes, a sore throat, and NO appetite whatsoever.  You know how they say you feel the worst if you're sick when you just wake up? Well, they aren't lying, but they are a tad bit wrong.  I felt like death...all...day...long.

Although I felt terrible, things started looking up when I felt super productive to do all of my homework.  Yesterday I was in charge of putting my team's paper together, editing it, and adding the conclusion.  I also had an individual assignment that I had been working on most of the day too.

It was a perfect time to get all of my homework done because Rudy had the night off from "take care of wifey duty" so I wouldn't have any distractions.  Little did he know he'd be coming home to a very irritable, pregnant, wifey.

Anyway, I was super stoked to have gotten all my homework done around 7 PM, but then what I thought was turning out to be a decent night turned into hell.

Everything stopped working.  The most important thing that stopped working was my student website!  I had been working my behind off ALL day to find out that I wouldn't be turning in my assignment due to an internet server malfunction.  I called my school's technical support thinking maybe it was a school-wide problem, but no. After 4 hours of trying to get in touch with technical support, I find out it was just MY problem.  Not only could I not log in to my student website, I couldn't find my teacher's or team members' e-mail addresses to let them know what was going on.

Then the panic set in.  I was supposed to have my team paper turned in yesterday so everyone could review it and make any necessary changes, but that wasn't happenin'.  I'm the type of person who can't stand when people make excuses for why they couldn't get their work turned in on time and I so didn't want my team to think that about me.

Rudy finally came home, but he probably shouldn't have - ha ha.  I'm pretty sure I ripped him a new one for no good reason just because I was still trying to get in touch with technical support when he walked in.  Then again, I guess it was good that he came in because he was able to talk the crazy out of me to just go to sleep because there was not a darn thing I could do at that point.

Well, I wake up this morning, still feeling like I am falling apart, only to find out that my student website still wasn't working.  Before I could get back into crazy mode Rudy made me pack my things so he could take me somewhere that has a different internet service.

Thank God I have an awesome husband because I probably would have had a heart attack this morning trying to figure out how the heck to sign into my student website.  Luckily I was able to get all of my assignments in on time today.

Oh and of course as soon as we got home from being gone most of the morning and afternoon, my student website was working at my house.  Oh the joys of living in Costa Rica.

On the bright side, I have a super awesome hubby who has been going above and beyond to take care of me and our little sweet pea.

Now that I finished writing this I can't believe how much I freaked out yesterday - makes me wonder how my hormones are going to be the rest of this pregnancy...oh goodness.

Seriously?

Well, if it's not one thing it's another...I'm sick!  No, not with morning sickness, but with a cold from hell.  My throat is killing me and I can't breathe through my nose - and I'm sneezing ALL the time.  I've been feeling crappy the past two days, but boy did I wake up feeling like a ton of bricks hit me while I was sleeping this morning.  Don't the doctors say that if your mucus is yellow then you have an infection? Yuck - I hope this isn't an infection.

OK - on a different note...

According to my doctor and TheBump.com, I am around 6 weeks and 3 days pregnant - which is clearly not far along at all.  After finding out that Rudy and I are having our first child, we wanted to tell EVERYONE and we did - but was this a good idea?

After telling everyone our news, I started reading all those books/websites/magazines and came to find out we probably shouldn't have told everyone....yet.  Apparently the best time to tell everyone the good news is around or after 12 weeks pregnant - whoops, I totally missed that memo!  The reason being is because so many women have miscarriages during the first 12 weeks - well we've already had our miscarriage scare, so hopefully we won't have anymore!

Anyway, according to TheBump.com, our baby is the size of a sweet pea.  Holy moly that's small! I still can't believe you can hear the baby's heart beat when it's the size of a sweet pea - incredible, right??

Baby's now the size of a sweet pea!

Growing like crazy, baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks, and chin. Those little hands and feet -- still webbed like paddles -- might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as yours!), and blood is starting to circulate.

So far my symptoms have been pretty normal - nausea, heart burn, acid indigestion, and others that are just too much information - ha ha.  Oh and acne!  I have never had more than one or two pimples at a time on my face before and now I have them everywhere!  I thought you were supposed to look the best you ever have while you're pregnant...ha ha, guess that's not the case for me quite yet.

Well, I can honestly say I have not been craving anything - I don't want to eat or drink.  Just thinking about food makes me want to throw up all over the place.  Sometimes there's a very short window when I am hungry and well if I don't eat immediately - forget it! I have to eat as soon as I feel hungry because once that short window passes, nothing is going down without being forced down.

So now that I've spent a lot of my morning blogging - I guess I better do something a little more productive...homework.  Luckily homework is another thing that will keep me busy while on bed-rest...