Week 13 (Déjà Vu)

Whew, what a crazy few days.

On Thursday, I went to the OB/GYN to have my second appointment. The appointment went great. I inquired about a flu shot that did not have preservatives in it and they had some available so I was able to get my flu shot. I was also able to listen to the baby's heart beat. I recorded it so that I could play it for Ryan when he got home from work. At this appointment the midwife told me she wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure that I was 16 weeks along. My appointment was scheduled for Saturday.

Saturday morning (bright and early) I began to drink 4-6 eight ounce glasses of water for my ultrasound. That ended with me getting sick and then drinking more water. Ryan and I drove to Allen Hospital. We were really excited that the ultrasound could be done on a Saturday so that Ryan could make the appointment without taking off work. After the ultrasound, the technician estimated that I was at week 13 and 3 days. That makes the nausea I have been feeling a little more clear. I am slightly bummed that I am not as far along as I was told but either way I am pregnant so I suppose waiting a few weeks longer will be okay.

My next OB/GYN appointment will be on November 15.

Here is my photo from last Sunday. I finally got it to load. I suppose this is a picture of week 12 with this new information I have (No wonder I am not showing!). :)

Week 12 Photos

First Ultrasound

Week 13 and 3 days

Week 15

Hey All,

I tried to upload my picture but the picture keeps rotating when I upload it so I will post it another day! :) Here are my weekly stats though. I have my second doctors appointment on Thursday! I will try to post on Thursday or Friday about my appointment! At this appointment I will be meeting my midwife for the first time. I am hoping that she will let me hear the baby's heartbeat.

Pregnancy Stats:

How Far Along – 15 Weeks

Size of Baby – an apple.

Gender – Too early to tell.

Total Weight Gain – None so far.

What I Miss – Being able to drink tea whenever I want without reading the label.

Cravings: None specifically but I keep baking.

Symptoms: Hiccups, Heartburn, Not hungry at times still.

Worst Part of Pregnancy this Week: Nothing :)

Best Part of Pregnancy this Week: Realizing that I am only 5 weeks away from seeing my baby and finding out whether I am having a little girl or a little boy!

German Chocolate Torte

My favorite dessert has always been German Chocolate Cake. Since Ryan and I have gone "primal" I have been trying out different desserts so that I can continue to share my baking with my friends and family. About a month ago, I ran across the blog, The Food Lovers Kitchen. I found this recipe and immediately bookmarked it with the intent of making it for my birthday, instead I made brownies. Today, I decided to tackle this recipe. It wasn't very hard at all and it tastes incredible.

The recipe uses coconut flour which is extremely low carb. If you click the down arrow next to the serving amount you can decrease the serving. I made 6 servings. I used a mixture of stevia** and honey to sweeten the recipe.  I have included the changes I made below. I hope you give the dessert a try!

Make the recipe!

Instead of	I used
Pecans	Walnuts
Chocolate chips	Baker’s Chocolate (sweetened slightly with stevia**)
Palm Oil	Coconut Oil
Maple Syrup	3 tbs honey and 1/4 tsp stevia**
Salt	I left this out.

**A note about stevia.

-Make sure that the stevia is the real thing, otherwise it will not be as sweet as the stevia I use. Vegetable inulin is a bulking agent, so it is not as sweet as pure stevia. Also, some stevias are sweetened with dextrose and other sweeteners. I buy my stevia from the bulk section of HyVee. The stevia bottle says, Stevia rebaudiana which is just the name of the stevia plant. It is so much sweeter than the bottled stevia options that have additives to them. About 1/2 tsp of pure stevia is equivalent to 1 cup of sugar.

14 Weeks/Birthday/Trip to Illinois

Hey All,

This has been an exciting week! First of all, I am 14 weeks today! For some reason, I have hiccups like crazy. It is kind of silly because I am so used to this that I hardly notice that it happens but others around me obviously do. :) Also, the baby has decided that I should have a little more nausea. I am extremely anxious to see an ultrasound of our little person. I am not sure I am patient enough to wait 6 more weeks (It's a good thing that the nurse didn't give me a choice)! Our dog, Eddie, decided he wanted to be in my bump pictures this week. :)





















Pregnancy Stats:

How Far Along – 14 Weeks

Size of Baby – a lemon.

Gender – Too early to tell.

Total Weight Gain – I am still down from where I started but I have gained 2 lbs since last week!

What I Miss – I still miss eggs with a runny yolk!

Cravings: None

Symptoms: Still getting up a lot to go to the bathroom. Nausea, Hiccups (Me, not the baby)

Worst Part of Pregnancy this Week: Getting sick on my birthday :(

Best Part of Pregnancy this Week: Seeing my family for the first time while knowing I was pregnant.

My Birthday!/Illinois Trip
My 23 birthday was Friday! Ryan and I decided to make the 5 hour trip from our home in Iowa to see my family in Illinois. I was excited since I had not seen them in about 2 months. We thought it was a good time because my sister was moving to Ohio today. We arrived in Illinois late Friday night. I brought my family grain free brownies to celebrate my birthday. The trip was lots of fun. I also got to spend some time with 3 of my good friends.

On the way back to Iowa today, Ryan and I stopped at some little antique stores. Ryan found an antique mug that looks like a barrel, which we purchased. We also stopped at Trader Joes to buy some grass fed meat since we have a hard time finding a variety in Iowa. Upon arriving home, there was a package on our kitchen table! I opened it to find that Ryan had gotten me a camera for my birthday! I am not an expert at photography but I wanted to have a new camera to photograph the baby since my old one was not working well.  We played around with the camera a little bit tonight (using it to take the baby bump photos!)