We have a Fetus!

Yesterday marked week 9 of pregnancy. That means the baby is officially a fetus! We're thrilled to have made it this far, and have gotten really hopeful since hitting that milestone.

Over the weekend, I noticed I was more energetic during the day. That continued into yesterday too, though I'm still not sleeping well, and am still bloated. Apparently I got a little too cocky, since last night about 7:30 (thankfully after Jeopardy was over!), I started to feel more sick than I've felt in weeks. Lying on the bathroom floor, dizzy with the sweats, groaning about how terrible I felt, sick. Thankfully Mr. Magnolia Bud was out with his best friend for the night, so I didn't worry him more than usual. About 10:30, I felt well enough to sit up and scoot into our room and lay in the bed. The nausea continued all night long, which meant no sleep for Magnolia Bud last night...which means I'm a bit of a zombie today.

This week, the baby is the size of a small strawberry (or an olive/grape, depending on which site I read). He/she is about an inch long, and the tail is completely gone! Touch pads on the fingers are starting to form, and the eyelids and ears are fully formed.

We're starting to tell a few people--just our best friends and bosses at this point. We're planning to tell our families the weekend after next, since our first doctor's appointment is the 25th.

We've been pulling out our Doppler every few days to see if we can hear a heartbeat, but because I have a retroverted uterus, we're not expecting to hear it for another 2-3 weeks at home. It's still neat to try, and since we know it's still early, we're not worrying about not hearing it.

We also bought our first "big" baby item last weekend. I met a woman who was selling her (used for less than a month) Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper, the one we wanted to get. She was selling it for half price, so we bought it. Mr. MB set it up when we got home, and it looks great! (And I know this may be controversial)--we covered the mattress and sheet with a blanket, and the cats have been loving it! They play in it, lounge in it, look out the window from their co-sleeper perch, and are having a really great time with it. For now, we don't see the harm in letting them explore, since baby's still not coming for 7+ more months.

Aside from a few (SO CUTE) little sleepers (gender neutral, of course), we've only been buying cloth diapers. So far, we have 9 Bum Genius 4.0's, 14 econobums, 24 newborn prefolds, and 12 infant prefolds. Over the next 1-2 months, we'll be buying several thirsties duo covers in both size 1 and size 2, to complete (for now) our CD stash. I know it's early, but so far I haven't paid more than 50% of list price for anything! I'm a sucker for deals!

On that note, I'll sign off and try to get some work done.

Sending healing thoughts to Diva Bud, labor thoughts to Flora Bud, and well wishes to everyone else.
-Magnolia Bud