GIRL!!!

And a stubborn girl she is. It took 3 ultrasounds from friends before anyone could tell what she was just based on her position. She was either chillin with her legs completely crossed or moving around like crazy so we couldn't see the goods. So the Friday before Christmas I had a friend at work do an ultrasound. This is when she was literally just chillin in there sucking her thumb! Crazy. That Monday I went to my friend's fertility office for he to do an ultrasound and baby girl was so active that we just couldn't get a clear shot. We were there for an hour looking! On Tuesday, Christmas Eve, my friend at work attempted it one last time. FINALLY, she got the money shot. She said she was 95% sure her guess was accurate. 95% is good enough for me! (Ps I didn't look at the ultrasounds the whole time. I wanted it to be a complete surprise) I had my friend text my sister-in-law who was going to make a gender reveal cake for us to "open" on Christmas day in front of our entire families.  The anticipation was.killing.me.  Here's a few pictures of us cutting into the cake and everyones reactions.

We are beyond excited, and shocked, to be having a girl! Bring on the bows & tutus!

Baby Nardelli is a....

15 weeks

How far along: 15 weeks
Size: A pear

Gender: Stay tuned!

Symptoms: Headaches are GONE! Halleluiah. 

Maternity clothes: Do stretchy clothes count as maternity clothes? If so, then yes. 

Stretch marks: Nada

Belly button in or out: Belly button is in

Sleep: Sleeping great! Can't complain

Best moment this week: Having my sister and dad come into town! So excited they get to spend the holidays with us. I also got to see the bean during THREE ultrasounds this week! My friend at work attempted one on Friday to determine gender but baby wasn't cooperating. It was literally sitting indian style sucking it's thumb so we didn't get to see the goods. Monday, my other friend did one at the office she works at but baby was moving around too much for her to see anything. Sooo...on to plan C. I'll have my friend from work try to see again on Christmas Eve and then have her text my sister-in-law if she can determine the gender. The excitement is overwhelming!

Worst moment this week: Just feeling exhausted from cleaning, decorating, wrapping, shopping, baking, and spending. 

Miss anything: Feeling full. I'm always hungry!

Movement: None yet

Cravings: Anything and everything sour.

Queasy or sick: Nope

Looking forward to: Buying BOY or GIRL stuff, painting the nursery, and feeling movement :)

15 weeks

14 weeks

How far along: 14 weeks
Size: A little fuzzy peach!

Gender: I'm so torn. One day I think it's a boy, the next I swear it's a girl. Ken is leaning towards boy. I don't know why it's making me so stressed out lately. I want either! I just want to know which one! It's all I think about and it keeps me up at night! And names, specifically girl names. Oy. It stresses me out even more. I literally slept 4 hours the other night because I couldn't stop thinking about what we would possibly name this bean if it happens to be a girl!

Symptoms: Still getting these awful headaches. I've contemplated calling the doctor about it but I've read so many times that it's normal and just caused by all the hormones and know several people who had them early in pregnancy. The only thing that seems to help is an ice pack to the back of my neck and rest. Which is hard to do when you work a 12 hour shift. Anywho, that's really my only "symptom" these days. And my tummy feeling a bit bigger.

Maternity clothes: Nothing yet other than my "maternity leggings" which are the most comfortable things you can wear. I'm thinking about buying some maternity scrub pants today to be a bit more comfortable at work.

Stretch marks: None

Belly button in or out: In 

Sleep: Sleep has been iffy this week. Probably from all my tossing and turning thinking about gender and baby names. Most nights I'm still falling asleep between 9 and 10 but usually wake up to my dogs screaming bloody murder when Ken comes home. Then I lay there for an hour or two until I fall back asleep or just get up cause I have to go to work.

Best moment this week: Every week it's just cooler and cooler to say how far along I am. It sounds so far into pregnancy, 14 weeks! Then I remember that I still have 26ish weeks left to go. I love to read about what's going on with the bean each week and how it's developing. It really is a little miracle.

Worst moment this week: These headaches are overstaying their welcome.

Miss anything: A bottle glass of wine after a shitty day of work.

Movement: Ahhhh I CANNOT WAIT FOR MOVEMENT! This seriously makes me so excited. Just seeing the baby on an ultrasound screen moving around is amazing. People keep telling me to just wait till I FEEL the baby move! It'll probably be the best day eva.

Cravings: Anything salty or sour...and cereal.

Queasy or sick: Red meat is grossing me out a bit lately. We made burgers the other night, and although they were good, after I felt like crap and now they sound disgusting. A piece of meat in general really doesn't sound too great anymore.

Looking forward to: Oh so much. Finding out the gender next week on Christmas Day tops the list. Other things are having family in town for the holidays, buying clothes for a BOY or GIRL, painting the nursery, and feeling baby move!

14 weeks

13 weeks

How far along: 13 weeks, 2 days

Gender: Ahh I think I may have changed teams this week. I'm beginning to lean towards GIRL. Maybe because everyone tells me it's a girl? Doesn't matter to us, we're so excited for either!

Symptoms: I'm pretty sure I officially have a baby bump, eek! Still getting headaches here and there. All in all though, I'm feeling great. Even my energy is back, BOOYA!

Maternity clothes: Still rockin the leggings most days. A few people at work have told me I look pregnant. Really? That can't be good this early. I do think I'll need some maternity scrubs here soon.

Stretch marks: None

Belly button in or out: In 

Sleep: Sleeping great! My bedtime is usually around 9pm and I wake up around 7-8am. Man I sound like a party, don't I? Still sleeping on my right side mostly but wake up usually on my left side. 

Best moment this week: Heading into the 2nd trimester! I can't believe it. Time has already flown by so fast. I never thought I'd be able to say that I'm in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy, but here I am! It feels great to be out of the "scary zone". Although, I don't think I'll feel at ease until I'm holding a teeny babe in my arms. And even then I'll be worrying if it has twelve fingers, huge ears, or a purple tongue. We also got a lot of christmas shopping done this week. The tree is up and lit and we're officially done decorating. Time to poor me a cup of jack & coke hot cocoa.

Worst moment this week: Hmm. Nada.

Miss anything: Days without headaches.

Movement: Nothing yet. When will this come?! I'm getting impatient.

Cravings: Just everything. Anything you put in your mouth or talk about sounds good to me. 

Queasy or sick: Nope. So far this pregnancy stuff is easy. #sorryimnotsorry

Looking forward to: My sister, future brother-in-law, AND dad coming for Christmas! So excited to spend time with all of them. Baking, wrapping the last of the gifts, and watching every Christmas movie we own. And of course, I'm most excited to find out the gender of this baby! 

13 weeks

Gender Prediction

We plan on finding out the gender in a couple weeks at Christmas with all our family there! My friend at work is going to do an ultrasound and keep it a secret in an envelope. Then my sister in law is going to make a cake with either pink or blue inside the cake. Can't wait! I've had a gut feeling that it's a boy but we're both still pretty torn. I thought it'd be fun to try and "predict" what we're having using some of the old wives tales. 

Baby's heartbeat is above or below 140? ABOVE

i think it's always above 140 at this stage..

Do you crave sweet or salty foods? SALTY

Did you have morning sickness? NO

Are you moody or happy? HAPPY

and sometimes moody

Has daddy gained weight? NO

Have you had breakouts? NO

Do you have headaches? YES

Do you sleep on your left or ride side? RIGHT

mostly

Are you carrying high or low? LOW

i think? still early to tell

What does the chinese calendar predict? GIRL

Are you stable or clumsy? STABLE

Is your skin soft or dry? SOFT

String/ring test above belly? BOY

Gut feeling? BOY

What do you think it is?!

Gender Prediction

How far along: 12 weeks

Gender: I'm still leaning towards BOY. Ken is still undecided...and probably will be until we find out. Our ultrasound tech today said it was too early to make a prediction, darn. However, the nub looked boyish to me but what do I know. Have you heard of the "nub theory"? Google it.

Weight gain: 4 lbs.

Symptoms: Headaches. Holy moly. We're talking daily headaches lately. Every.single.day. I've read it's normal and is probably just associated with all the extra blood volume I have now. Only thing that seems to help is resting on the couch. I think my exhaustion is starting to ease off. It depends on the day lately. Some days I'm completely exhausted and ready for a nap by 11am and other days I'm able to get so much done throughout the day without thinking twice about going to sleep.

Maternity clothes: Happy to say I bought my first pair of maternity jeans! They were 50% off at Gap (score!) and are actually pretty comfy. Also loving leggings and maxi skirts.

Stretch marks: None on my belly! Hooray!

Belly button in or out: In

Sleep: Sleep is becoming iffy. I have no problem falling asleep but have been waking up between 1-2am and tossing and turning for atleast an hour. I have a hard time turning my mind off from stuff, or getting Kelly Clarkson's "Underneath the Tree" christmas song out of my head. I'm hoping Santa brings me a Bump Nest Body Pillow this Christmas...(hint hint, hubby) I keep reading how amazing they are and great for a sleeping prego!

Best moment this week: Hands down the best moment this week was our NT scan today. We got to see the baby and it actually looked like a baby! It was moving around a ton and we got some amazing pictures! Even one with its little hand in the air :)  We even got a DVD that recorded the entire ultrasound. So amazing. I can't wait to show our family around Christmas! The NT scan looks for characteristics that could be associated with Down Syndrome and a few other trisomy disorders. Best news of all, our little peanut doesn't show any of those characteristics and looks as healthy as can be!

Worst moment this week: These gnarly headaches making their debut.

Miss anything: Cycling. I was tempted to go the other day and just not work out as intense as I normally would but 1. Ken didn't like that idea and 2. I overslept.

Movement: Saw tons of movement on the ultrasound screen! Haven't felt anything yet. Maybe in a couple weeks!?

Cravings: Sour candy, salted soft pretzels, peppermint, apples, multigrain bagels.

Queasy or sick: Nada

Looking forward to: Everything Christmasy. Sending out our Christmas cards, wrapping gifts (one of my favorite things to do, weird right?), spending time with my sister, feeling baby move, getting into the 2nd trimester, and finding out if our little bean is a BOY or GIRL!

12 weeks

Announcement

We decided to officially announce our pregnancy yesterday, December 3rd when I was exactly 12 weeks along. And by "officially announce", I mean we made it "facebook/instagram official".  I'm not sure why but it was so nervewracking letting EVERYONE know we were expecting. Don't need to keep it a secret anymore!  We decided to use some small chalkboards I had had from our wedding.

I think it turned out pretty cute. Most people were completely shocked. I haven't talked about my fertility issues with a lot of people, and the ones that did know, were completely shocked as well. It felt so good to have so much support and nice comments to read. If you're reading this, then thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We are so excited for this little adventure.

Announcement