The First 4.5 Months

*Disclaimer* As this post covers pretty much the beginning of time to the present, it runs a bit long. If you're here for progress pictures, scroll on down to the bottom and skip all the blathering!

Today, I'm at the 18 week mark - 4.5 months through the pregnancy. It's admittedly a bit late to be starting an online journal now, but thankfully, I've been taking pictures along the way! My goal today, therefore, is to share the first half of our journey...

Brett and I got together in September 2009, and immediately were serious. For those of you who were in grad school with us, you saw how quickly we became inseparable. Nothing has changed in the past 5 years! When we married in October 2011, we talked (and talked and talked...) about what our future together would look like, and whether and when we wanted to have children. Brett's refrain during this time was always "Just give me until I'm thirty!" 

One of the cool (and sometimes frustrating, for our families) things about our time in China is that it has given us some distance from "the real world," so to speak, to let us slow down and really plan out our next move. We're both dreamers, and have tons of interests, so our talks over the past 3 years have been basically hashing out various future roads from our "now" - there are no doubt many iterations of Brett and Liz out there in the multiverse from the variety of plans that have been hatched and subsequently discarded during this time (much to our parents' and siblings' chagrin!). 

One definite future path we chose was to start a family. We didn't exactly have a time frame in mind, but we knew we'd want to get started sometime in 2014/2015. 

(It's not a coincidence that this October, Brett will be turning 30...)

So since I had been on the Pill for about a decade, I knew that I'd have to give my body time to readjust to a natural cycle and start ovulating again. For most women, this takes anywhere from a few months to a year. In May, I stopped taking the Pill and started tracking my temperature and secondary fertility signs, just to get a baseline for when my body would be back to normal. This is also a great method of birth control in and of itself, once you know when you're ovulating (and thus when to AVOID impregnation!)

Well, I still don't know what a normal cycle for me looks like post-Pill, because within 2 weeks, baby Tingley was on the way! Talk about wham, bam, thank you ma'am! In hindsight, we probably should have been a little more careful, but hey - it took the decision-making out of our hands, which can be a very good thing! 

Barbara and Paul, little did we know that I was already a few weeks pregnant during our trip to Hangzhou at the end of May!

We found out at the end of June, just before we were to come home for the summer, and, while both of us were initially shocked, we quickly became excited. We waited until we saw our families in person to tell them - that has been the most difficult thing about this whole process so far! - and they were by turns surprised, worried about us staying in China, and, of course, overjoyed. 

(I didn't take any explicitly "pregnant" photos during this time, as I obviously wasn't showing at all until much later.)

We talked exhaustively, and decided that we would remain in China for the duration of our contracts with our current school, which are finished in June. We have excellent, full-coverage insurance provided by the school, and we've found a great Western hospital not too far from us. We'll have our baby there, with all the comforts of home, surrounded by doctors and midwives trained in Western medicine and traditions. We just wouldn't be able to afford having the baby uninsured in the US, as well as having to cut our contracts short and incurring all of the costs of moving back home - things that our employer will pay for upon completion of our 2 years. All in all, I feel very comfortable with and confident in the medical care we're receiving, and I'm not the least bit nervous about delivering here in China!

As a side note, one thing that we've found so wonderful about life here is the way that children are viewed and treated. While it may seem at times as though children are allowed the run of the place, there's no shaming of parents or exclusion of children anywhere. Children, and especially babies, are universally adored, and there's no taboo about showering affection on a total stranger's kid. Our Australian friends who have 3 young boys warned us that sometimes, women will just pick up the youngest and take him over to their families for a while when out in public - it's very open! We have plenty of friends who have had babies in the past couple of years here, and crowds literally form as people want to stop and adore the children. One thing's for sure - this baby will have no shortage of attention!

Next time, I'll write more about our plans for delivery, and our experiences with the medical system here. For now, I'll wrap up my long-windedness and post a few pictures from when I started documenting little bit Tingley's growth. 

Thanks for sticking with me this long to get to the pictures! (And if you scrolled down and skipped the wall of text, I don't blame you in the least!)

11 Weeks

Head on the left with the arms up, legs on the right, crossed. Baby Tingley's just kicking back and relaxing!

This is the week when we first met our doctor, the wonderful Dr. Sarai Nietvelt from Belgium. Here's our first picture of baby Tingley in all of her/his peanut glory! As you can see, s/he was very small at this time.

12 Weeks

We first documented baby Tingley on a trip we took to Thailand at the end of July/beginning of August

As we are book people, we have quite a few books on the whole pregnancy and birth process. One that has been interesting as a simple week-to-week description of what's going on with the baby is What to Expect When You're Expecting, the old stand-by. It's not the most comprehensive text, but it does allow us to have a slightly better picture of what's going on developmentally each week. They use common foods to compare your baby to for relative size comparisons.

Here, at 12 weeks, the baby was weighing in at a massive half-ounce, and measuring about 2 1/2 inches from crown to rump. For comparison, the baby this week was the size of a large plum. 

13 Weeks

Also in Thailand - please excuse the underpants!

At 13 weeks, the baby was the size of a peach, with the head taking up about half of that girth. The vocal cords and bones were forming at this time, and the digestive tract moved into the body from the umbilical cord. 

It's been helpful to picture what's going on in there during these first few months, as it's hard to believe there's really a baby growing in there! I have had absolutely no morning sickness, and other than steadily getting bigger, I'd never know I was pregnant so far!

15 Weeks

Back at work, taking pictures in our office and in the bathroom mirror

Just before 16 weeks, I felt the baby move for the first time. For those of you who have had children, you know how difficult it is to describe those first movements. They're so slight, it feels as though it might just be gas bubbles or the gurgling of an empty stomach. But there's also a fluttery, whirring kind of sensation that's a little unlike any other feeling. It's almost like having the butterflies when you look down from a great height, or when you're thinking about that first crush. It's surreal, to say the least! I wish Brett could experience those little motions as well!

During this week, the baby had grown to a whopping 4 1/2 inches - the size of a navel orange! 

16 Weeks

Weird angle.

At home in our bedroom. The baby looked super high that day, but I think it was a weird angle. I'm not carrying as high as the first picture would have you believe.

At the beginning of my pregnancy, I was carrying around a few extra pounds (ahem *beer*). In the first few months, though I wasn't having any morning sickness, I lost a bit of weight, largely because I cut out alcohol and sweets, and have been paying more attention to eating a well-rounded diet. I also found myself with a generally smaller appetite, but would get hungry more often.

At 4-5 inches long and weighing 3-5 ounces, the baby this week was the size of an avocado. We're just working our way through the fruit section!

17 Weeks

Again, in our office. The view from Brett's desk. 

I feel like this is the week that growth really ramped up for both me and the baby. My appetite has certainly grown, and I can feel my body stretching to make room for the growing baby. I was still feeling great in this week as well - no complaints yet!

This week, the little nugget was the size of a pear, and hiccuping, although I haven't yet felt that much movement.

18 Weeks (today)

Growing like a weed!

As I lay on the couch over our long weekend, I could feel all sorts of little fluttery movements and stretching sensations of my belly. This is the first week that it seems as though I can actually feel the baby and myself growing. I've trimmed down all over except for in my belly, which is where it certainly counts! I'm still looking forward to some real, for sure movements - ones that Brett can feel, too! 

Again, to keep our fruit theme going, this week, the baby is about the size of a sweet potato, likely weighing in around 6-7 ounces, and measuring between 5 and 6 inches.

As a bonus, here's a comparison picture of me in the same dress, with 5 weeks of growth in between. 

We've got an appointment for September 30th (the day after my birthday) to have the all-important anatomical ultrasound. We'll most likely find out the sex of the baby then, and we couldn't be more excited to be able to start picturing who we're addressing.

While we will share what we're having with family and friends, we're going to keep the names we've chosen to ourselves until baby Tingley is born. We'll tell you this much - we'll be using family names either way!

If you made it with me this far, thanks! I promise the posts after this one won't be nearly as exhaustive (or exhausting, depending on your point of view). Love to you all!