Category Archives: pregnancy

on pregnancy: 18 weeks

pregnancy

I don’t have any photos to share here – this post will be word heavy…and it also may end up being a bit of a rant. My apologies.

I’ve heard many women say, “I loved being pregnant!” and all I can think is, “Really“?

So far this has not been my favorite experience. Constant sickness for 4 months. Weird puffiness that doesn’t look like I’m pregnant, but rather like I ate too many burritos. Persistent nausea that resurfaces every hour if I don’t have a snack immediately. Fatigue. “Worried sleep” because I should be on my left side instead of on my back. Anxiety over whether or not I should be feeling the baby move, but I don’t and is everything ok in there? People saying “you don’t look pregnant” (ie: all the symptoms and nothing much to show for it except bigger cleavage, which I don’t actually appreciate). Realizing I eat a lot of feta cheese and having to order without it. Gagging on vitamins because I’m terrible at taking pills. Losing my words mid-sentence (what was I saying?). Frequent dizziness. A stuffy, stuffy nose all the time. Flat, lackluster hair and regular skin breakouts on my cheeks (what)!?

Where is the second trimester Golden Age of Pregnancy I read about? When will the day come when I don’t wake up feeling icky-ew. And where is my glow, my increased energy and my cute baby bump?

All that complaining being done, I do love some things…

Reading my pregnancy app and learning how my baby is developing week by week. When R sticks is face on my belly and talks to baby. Putting my hand on my belly and saying “hi, baby, whatcha up to in there?” or “ok baby, let’s go to work, get ready to dance”. Having R think of the baby as my “passenger” and therefore getting that nickname. Playfully imagining our spoiled cat meeting baby in February, packing up his knapsack and moving to Arizona wailing “I’ve been replaced”! Rearranging our living room furniture to accommodate a changing table or other baby furniture in our one-bedroom (yep, we’re staying here). Having fun visualizing myself growing a lemon, an avocado, a turnip, a sweet potato.

I’m excited for our next ultrasound to catch another glimpse of our sweet potato passenger and to hopefully learn she/he is healthy and whether or not Baby K is a she or a he.

And those are my thoughts on pregnancy at this stage of the adventure.
*

catch up #2: oh baby!

baby k, pregnancy

Our biggest news is that we are going to have a baby! Yes, I am pregnant (currently 13 weeks) with Baby Kozoll (currently the size of a peach).


*photo not to scale 😉

We feel incredibly grateful that Baby K came to us so quickly and easily – it was just over a month after we decided to go for it that the pregnancy test indicated “positive” and I was 5 weeks pregnant. We found out on June 11th and I left for New York City the next morning for two weeks. Talk about a crazy way for R and I to process the news – separately.

Once I returned to LA and we were able to process our news together, things got exciting. And then I got sick. Morning-noon-night sickness was upon me and I was so unhappy. I survived on sourdough toast, glasses of milk and cereal for weeks. I did enjoy the occasional salad or fruit slices. I had to eat to ease the nausea, but eating sounded awful – it was a struggle and I was rollin’ into work late every day, at like 10:30, sometimes 11am because I just couldn’t get out of bed in the morning. Ew. Now, I still have some nausea if I don’t eat enough and the sickness practically disappears when I have to get on a plane to go somewhere (Washington State, Costa Rica). But it’s back now that I’m home and I just hope against hope it goes away within a week or so. R has been simply the best through my ickiness – bringing me nibbles when I need them and not getting annoyed when I say “I don’t feel well” for the 10th time in an hour. He’s the best.

Baby Kozoll is doing great! We’ve had 2 ultrasounds (7 weeks and 11 weeks), both on track and lookin’ good. The first ultrasound photo looked like a shapeless blob, but I did see the healthy little heartbeat.
Here is baby’s first photo…

R was able to attend the 2nd ultrasound with me and we were floored and thrilled to see an amazing baby-like image. We saw arms, legs and what I thought was a nose. R already demonstrated what kind of Dad he’s going to be, because when that image of Baby K popped onto the screen he immediately pulled out his iPhone and started shooting video. He got this awesome little video of the baby moving when the doc pressed the ultrasound tool into my belly. Whoa! We fell instantly in love with our little one who, at the time, was somewhere between the size of a fig and lime. I’ll post the video soon.

I am so happy to finally be able to share our news widely now that we’re moving into the 2nd trimester, but really!? I’m 2nd trimester pregnant? Wow.

All the grandparents are excited. My dad is already planning to build a playhouse in his backyard (he’s pretty stoked). We are more than grateful to feel a lot of support and love in this new adventure.

We go back for our 20 week ultrasound on September 20th, which we hope will reveal whether we’re having Baby Boy K, or Baby Girl K, but mostly just looking forward to seeing another glimpse of our child and learning that all the anatomy looks healthy.

Baby Kozoll is due February 11, 2012!
*