18 weeks

How far along:  18 weeks  (1.1.15)

Total weight gain/loss: +6.5 lbs... add an extra 5 if i weigh at night.  ; )

Maternity clothes:  my maternity shirts, for the most part, are more flattering than regular clothes.  they accentuate my belly without making it look like a gut.  still doing fine with my pants.  as far as church clothes go, i can still fit into everything, but almost nothing looks good.  i just look weird and fat.

Sleep:  it's been better i think.  maybe because i've been so tired after busy days in costa rica?  my dreams are still ultra bizarre but are never pregnancy related.  

Best moment this week:  probably just being in costa rica with everyone.  i was enjoying the company and my kids and just being pregnant.

Movement:  just loving it.  baby likes to sit low and on my right side.  that's almost always where i can feel the knots.  i'm feeling lots of thumps on the inside but the kicks aren't powerful enough to feel on the outside really... but it's really easy to feel baby's back or head or whatever when it's pushing out or situated like that.

Food cravings:  eating has been weird since we've been traveling.  it's been really great not having to think about preparing food or cleaning up dirty dishes and whatever, but sometimes it's just hard to eat other people's food.  i love scrambled eggs, but it's always a struggle for me to eat them when they're prepared by someone other than myself and especially the way they were prepared in costa rica.  chunky but slightly runny and if it had cheese, it was chunks of partially melted cheese mixed in.  and not cheddar... the colby jack sort of stuff that melted differently.  we did the hotel breakfast buffet every morning that we were at playa flamingo and i normally had scrambled eggs, fruit (the papaya wasn't my favorite, but i normally ate whatever watermelon, pineapple, and canteloupe they had available), an order of pancakes (loaded with butter and syrup), juice (normally starfruit), and a bowl of frosted flakes (or corn flakes if that was all they had).  i ate a ton at breakfast because i was normally feeling my best, and we typically went light on lunch and heavy on dinner so i needed something to really sustain me.  oddly enough though, i never felt full... i would just keep eating for however long i could find options of acceptable things for myself to eat.  dinners were whatever i could handle from our menus.  authentic places we ate at, i normally ordered shrimp or fish (which always comes with rice and beans) and other places, it was always just whatever i thought i could handle... pasta, burger, pizza, etc.  pregnancy makes me a picky eater (at this point at least) because i can look at something and be all "oooo shrimp pasta with a super creamy sauce!!!  oh, served on spaghetti noodles?  i could handle penne, fetuccinne, angel hair, etc, but just not spaghetti noodles.  i'll order a cheeseburger instead."  one place we ate family style of rotissere chicken that was served with tortillas and rice and beans, etc.  i can't handle corn tortillas... so i ended up just mixing it all on my plate and eating it with a fork.  the good news of it all was that i was really able to increase my eating this week, maintain a well balanced diet, and put on a few pounds.  also, apparently my morning sickness is still very much alive and well... i found that out when i ditched my vitamins/medicine for three days and was fearfully clutching a barf bag more often than i would have liked...

Symptoms: nausea (although not much if i keep taking unisom/b6), headaches (only sometimes), big belly (all the time)

Gender:  my gut still says girl.  i can't help calling this baby "she" and if that's truly the case, we might already have her name picked out.

What I miss:  nothing really.  i'm in that pregnancy sweet spot for the most part.  i still kind of wish i was skinny again or that i was a little bit bigger so i didn't look so awkward, but really, i'm absolutely loving where i'm at.  oh wait, just kidding.  i miss being able to go in hot tubs.  we went to two different hot springs locations while we were in costa rica and i couldn't go in the truly hot pools.  had to stay in the ones that were more bath tub temperature.  that was hard on me.

Milestones:  it's starting to click in my head that we're going to have three kids.  i'm trying not to panic.  ; )
Theme: the week of pregnant in costa rica
What's different this time around:  i'm still having to take unisom and b6 or else i feel sick.  both previous pregnancies, i was done with morning sickness at this point.

Extra:  honey's sister, steph, is pregnant with her first and due exactly a week after i am.  she's not showing.  at all.  when we were hanging out with the matarittas on sunday, the mom looked at our bellies in awe as she tried to make her brain realize that we were due a week apart.  her eyes got all big and she said [in spanish], you're going to have a BIG baby!!!  steph just started laughing and relayed the message to me.  ha, yup, i know i'm huge for how far along i am.  thank you for that.  ; )  

1.3.15 at 18 weeks 2 days

1.3.15 at 18 weeks 2 days