We have movement!

Over last weekend I began feeling my baby move around for the first time!!

On Friday, I was driving through Arnold and felt a little something. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and decided it probably wasn't movement. Nah. Maybe gas. Or digestion. Couldn't be the Bean Sprout.

Fast forward to Sunday. I'm at the Elk's with Mom, all geared up in our jerseys, eating some good noms, and watching the Ravens getting stomped by the Titans. yep.

And I began to feel some of the same things I felt on Friday. I realized that these HAD to be kicks. My baby was DEFINITELY moving around and I was finally able to feel it! I was so excited, and it was even more amazing cause the baby moved around a lot the rest of the night. So throughout the evening when I was at home relaxing, I could just sit back and just feel the little nugget moving and kicking and FINALLY letting me know it was alive and doing great.

Now I feel it all the time. Mostly when I'm sitting, rather than standing or laying flat. I'm super excited for when it's big and strong enough for Nick to feel it too. :)

More Appointments & Pulling Down my Pants for Strangers.

Yesterday, I had another Doctor's appointment.

It was really interesting to say the least.

I was sitting in the exam room, waiting for her to come in. She finally did and then probably said all of one sentence, I think just saying hello, when someone came over the loudspeaker:

"ATTENTION ALL STAFF AND PATIENTS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ALL STAFF AND PATIENTS PLEASE CALMLY EVACUATE THE BUILDING."

O.o

We made our way out, where there were a ton of military police cars outside at every corner of the building. It must not've been that big of a deal, cause all of 5 minutes later we were let back in.

Well. Um, anyway.

Back in the clinic, the Dr pulled out a small doppler machine, a handheld thingy to let us hear the baby's heartbeat.

AND HEAR IT WE DID!!

I heard little Sprout's heart beating away at a perfect 150. :)

It was amazing.

With no detectable movement, sometimes I get worried if Sprout is still in there, doing ok, still growing. So everytime I have an appointment where I get to see or hear my little nugget, it makes me so happy. I can't wait to meet this little turd :)

Dream On.

I've heard people talk about the supposedly "crazy" pregnancy dreams. While I haven't had anything I feel is particularly absurd since I've been pregnant, I have had a few dreams related to being pregnant.

I dreamt that I had my baby. Not the delivery or anything, but already all wrapped up and cleaned and everything. I remember it was a girl, and she was absolutely beautiful. She had dark hair and blue eyes. And she was smiling at me as we just looked at each other adoringly. She also appeared a lot older than a newborn. At least a few months old. I really liked that dream. :) Note, I have no idea what the gender is, so who knows if this means anything. I don't like to read into dreams so I'm not assuming anything.

I had another dream that I felt the baby moving and kicking. Simple, but it was really cool and I'm excited to actually feel the baby move around and actually signal to me that it's in there and still growing and living and doing ok.

I coulda sworn it was three dreams I've had recently, but for the life of me can't think of the third one. I swore it was three... oh well. Maybe I'll think of it later.

As for right now, I'm gonna go make some mac and cheese. Shocking, I know. You can all pick your jaws up off the floor now.

Obstacles.

I find myself facing an entirely new issue in life. Of course it's something I expected, but the internal conflicts I'm facing are certainly challenging nonetheless, and now I'm gonna have to learn to deal with it.

The Navy Reserve has always offered me all kinds of opportunities, many I've not been able to take and some I have. (I'll never forget the 2 month NCIS orders in Italy in Summer 2009 I had to pass up. UGH!) So since I graduated college, I've been pumped to be able to have the chance to take on more duties. However....

Bean Sprout. 

I can only be authorized to be on orders until I'm 32 weeks along, which is January. I'm also factoring in the upcoming winter holidays and such. This leaves me not able to do much of anything after mid-December. This is definitely bumming me out, since I love to keep busy, love to be working and with my new bundle of baby, I won't be able to do this really. Of course baby will keep me busy, duh, but that won't help my professional development.

I'm just such an ambitious person that the thought of sitting at home for too long sounds not very exciting at all. I just got an e-mail from one of my Chiefs about doing recruiter duty for 2 years, with the option to extend for 3 more. This sounds really challenging, yet kind of fun. I could definitely get into doing this job. But... le sigh. I told Chief to keep me posted about opportunities next year. So who knows. While I unfortunately can't get myself back into the workforce right now, I definitely want to. I only have about another week and a half of work til I'm done for awhile. I have a potential 2 weeks in November, then nothing else on my horizon til after the Sprout is born.

I just hope being a stay-at-home mommy keeps me satisfied for awhile. As I've gotten older, I never thought I would be satisfied in that lifestyle. My drive has obviously helped me achieve a lot and I hate to bring myself to a halt, even if it's for family. We'll see how I feel in Feb/March. I'm so excited to have my little stinky-butt baby here, but I also like making money.

But like I said. We'll see.

Score one for preggo!

"According to the FDA, foods containing raw eggs carry a Salmonella risk, but their commercial counterparts don’t. Commercial products are made with pasteurized eggs, which have been heated sufficiently to kill bacteria; therefore, commercial preparations of cookie dough are not a food hazard."

This is the best thing I've read all day!! :D

Mama's been craving cookie dough!