"I woke up hungry at 4am and I'm just now eating at 9:30am...Am I starving my baby?" (and more pregnancy anxieties)

I've been reading in a couple of pregnancy books and apparently this is only the beginning of my worries of motherhood! This is my first time at this thing and it's all so new, strange, and exciting. All the sensations and changes in eating habits, preferences, and tastes...crazy. Overall things have been going well. I stopped getting super nauseous a couple of weeks ago (it SLOWLY faded out). I started getting hungrier more often, but I still can't eat a lot when I eat...so it's frustrating when I get hungry again 2 hours after eating! Ugh! Then the worries set in, "Am I starving my child? Oh crap!" But then I think of all the pregnant moms I encountered in Zambia and how they somehow manage to reproduce despite disease, malnutrition, and starvation. All the books talk about the amount of protein I'm supposed to be eating. Are you kidding me? I rarely ate that much when I wasn't eating like a toddler and when meat didn't look like the worst thing I ever saw. So I've been getting smoothies from Jamba Juice with soy protein about once a week (as if that's putting a dent in what I'm supposed to be having protein wise). But then you have to worry about how soy may convert into a estrogen-like substance that overwhelms your baby and causes it to fall out of you or turn your baby boy more feminine or something ridiculous like that. Ugh. Then I think of all the pregnant Asian mommies I saw in China and how much soy they must ingest on a daily basis and how their kids pop out just fine. GOD HELP ME! (and He does!) I still haven't gained any weight according to my parents' scale a couple of days ago. Still down the entire weight I lost from when I started...BUT I haven't lost any more weight in about 4 weeks...so I count that as a success. It's strange not seeing the number creep up on the scale yet considering I'm starting to get a more noticeable baby pooch! I'm going to the doctor on Friday though, so we will see what Dr. Gunby has to say about all this! Duke is still my shadow/protector. He's so sweet to me and in-tune with how I'm feeling. What a sweetie. Not to mention my FABULOUS husband who is super supportive all around. Ryan and I actually made a more serious attempt at coming up with names as we were driving 10 hours (each way) to Birmingham, AL this weekend for his best friend Justin Hefner's wedding. It's just so hard thinking of names when we don't know the sex yet. I know that the sex can be seen at this point (since I'll almost be 16 weeks when I go), but we're not sure if we want to pay for an extra sonogram (insurance barely covers one!) and what if it's not as conclusive looking from whatever angle the baby's hanging out in these days? I just want to know FOR SURE when it's time to know. Dr. G says 20 weeks, so that's what we're shooting for! I'm just so impatient! I hope all is well out there with you my blogger friend. Thanks for the continued prayers.

Elise is Engaged!

My little sister Elise got engaged this weekend! I'm so excited for her and Brady!

Raynee's back

For the next two weeks we will be dog-sitting one of my favorite fosters, Raynee!!

She's a lot bigger than the last time I saw her as a puppy. She's a little bit more energetic since last time too. That's what happens when you don't have us dog-whispering her or Duke to tell her that life is much better if you just relax.

We should have a good time together!

Here's her pics from now and one from when she was a puppy.

New Body!

No, I'm not speaking about the second coming of Christ, or the new heaven & new earth where we will be in His presence forever and receive a new body. I sometimes wish we were talking about that (that's something else to look forward to...Also, sorry for the seminary reference, my OB is right by DTS so it's bringing some fond memories back)! I'm talking about how God has created women's bodies so perfectly to house new life that He knits together inside us. The changes a pregnant woman's body goes through would kill any other person who was not pregnant. Literally. My nurse mom reminds me of this while she's giving glory to God. Kinda freaky encouragement, but fun. I was reading from my What to Expect When You're Expecting book last night while my brother and I were sitting on my back porch. I was at the section called "What You May Be Feeling" for month 3 and I read the symptoms aloud to Brett with the preface, "Who would sign up for this?".... - Fatigue, lack of energy, sleepiness - Frequent urination - Nausea, with or without vomiting - Excess saliva - Constipation - Heartburn, indigestion, flatulence, bloating - Food aversions and cravings - Increasing appetite, especially if morning sickness is easing - Breast changes: fullness, heaviness, tenderness, tingling; darkening of the areolas; lubrication glands in the areolas becoming prominent, like large goose bumps; expanding network of bluish lines under your skin - Visible veins on your abdomen, legs, and elsewhere, as your blood supply pumps up - Slight increase in vaginal discharge - Occasional headaches - Occasional faintness or dizziness - A little more rounding of your belly - Continued emotional ups and downs, which may include mood swings, irritability, irrationality, weepiness - Misgivings, fear, joy, elation - any or all - A new sense of calm - Still, a sense of unreality about the pregnancy I'm sorry, but what the hell man? That would not sound like any fun to any person reading this who is not pregnant. But for me, it's kinda interesting (notice I didn't say fun). I really don't mind a lot of the physical changes. So far I've lost weight overall (I won't tell how much so you won't worry about me, but it's enough to notice) so that's been interesting as my legs, butt, arms, and face have actually shrunk. Notice that I didn't mention anything about my midsection or bust....that's a different story. I look at myself in the mirror and I actually think I look very pretty most of the time. I'm sure this will change as I bloat up like a beached whale, but for now, it's an (almost fun) adventure. The reason I can't use the word fun is because my nausea. I'm having a hard time not blaming it for everything that is wrong in the world. But today I woke up with a renewed point of view about it (thank you Lord for giving me something I could not give myself), so hopefully I'll carry this more aligned point of view throughout the rest of this battle with nausea. You can pray that the Lord renews my point of view about work now! Hopefully I'll get my act together and take some weekly belly pictures. I'm so forgetful these days that it hasn't even entered my mind in weeks.

BIG news!

(Bloggers get first dibs!) We are pregnant! We just had our 2nd OB appointment yesterday and things are really looking great! Little Amerson wiggles around on the sonogram like a little shrimp and has a strong heartbeat. We are over 11 weeks now! We are due December 20th. CHRISTMAS BABY!

I have been nauseous all day every day...so that's been fun. I'm looking forward to that (hopefully) being over in the next couple weeks!

More updates and news to come.

Here's our sonogram from last month's appointment when I was 8 weeks.