@VeryKatie oh my gosh, Keith is just precious! You look gorgeous and so so happy! I am so excited for you and glad that you had a positive birth experience! Thanks so much for sharing with us-it's so nice to have a graduate give us the full experience

@VeryKatie thank you for sharing all of the details! I'm happy to hear your realistic description of the pain and the drugs haha. Sorry your family is being a pain but it sounds like you are going to be able to deal with it once you recruit Chris's support. Keith is beautiful and you look amazing and happy! Positively glowing!

Adorable baby!!

Question for your pregnant women. I am 5 weeks (yay!) and I was reading one of the blogs re: eating at your TDEE and not at deficit for the first trimester.....but it seems like a lot?! is it? I guess I have been shooting for a deficit, but not really hitting it, so usually eating at 1650 with a goal of 1415 or so...but my TDEE for a sedentary work is 1940? It seems high......from my warped calorie counting brain. Eat to hunger? and stay at or below that within reason? I gained like 45# with my son, way too much....I remember wanting to "feel pregnant or look pregnant or something ridiculous like that...., and I have already 5# ahead of where I started with him and overweight, BMI of 26.4........thoughts? experience?

@VeryKatie Congratulations! You're both beautiful. You did great! Thanks for sharing the nitty gritty. It's encouraging.

Ok. Weaning off of caffeine and keeeping up my workouts .i did spinning last night and i feel a bit breathless but can do it. Im tired but not yet wiped out.i didnt exercise mich at a higher intensity with my first so im really wantibg to not let my endurance fizzle out. Only 5.5 weeks so i fear its all coming. I have a low level of nausea when im hungry and if my hear rate is over 140. I know things are gonna change soon. Im bloated. Big boobs. Its friday!

Im on day 3 of quit caffeine.....woo

Hey ladies! Congrats to all you lovely pregnant ladies! And to @VeryKatie! Keith is adorable and you look fantastic!

At Kirstie's request and for cathartic venting for myself, I'm going to bombard this thread with a few posts about my pregnancy, labor and delivery, and early post-partum weeks. These will probably be long so feel free to ignore.

Pregnancy:
I didn't particularly enjoy pregnancy. The nausea and exhaustion from the first trimester continued throughout the entire pregnancy. I enjoyed watching my body grow and change but didn't enjoy the discomfort. I had noticeable swelling in my feet and ankles starting around the beginning of the second trimester. In the third trimester my hands would swell too. My blood pressure was elevated the whole times starting at the beginning of the second trimester. It wasn't high enough to be a problem but was consistently close. I became increasingly intolerant of bs which got hard at work at the end. I also felt useless at home. Just 10 minutes of cleaning would leave me exhausted for hours. Leo was amazing and never complained about having to do more chores at home. I got very little exercise because walking not only hurt my belly but would very quickly give me serious diarrhea. I started waddling less than halfway through the third trimester. In the end the swelling in my feet was so bad that sitting upright was painful. I was actually proud of myself for rigging a setup at work that let me elevate my feet at my desk. Many funny and jealous comments were made by coworkers

Jessica, as I said before I am so glad you are back and I love reading all about your adventures during pregnancy! You have been missed and we will all read your story I’m so sorry that your pregnancy was so uncomfortable for you, it’s so unfair that some people have it easy and others have such a rough go of it, and we have no idea why! I love hearing peoples birth stories, what worked for them and didn’t, and all about their babies. Feel free to post/vent/share as much as you’d like!

I feel even more anxious now then I did before getting a BFP! I called the local OBGYN office today and they scheduled my first appointments. They said they'll have a nurse call me on Sept 21st to go over my history and then a confirmation appointment on Oct 6th. I should be 7w+6 then. It seems so far away!

Overall, I feel decent. I'm 4w+2 today and my bbs are sore, a little crampy and tired, but having some insomnia the last few nights and have been running hot. Thank goodness the majority of the pregnancy will be in the winter...if I stay this hot my hubby is going to find me laying in the snowbanks to cool off.

Originally, I didn't think I'd bother to call my primary care doctor who offered to do a confirmation and congratulations appointment, but since even talking to the other office is so far out, I might give them a call so I have someone to talk to and field the irrational questions sooner rather than later!

I'm still wrapping my brain around it all! Hoping to do something kind of fun/creative for telling my parents as this will be their first grandchild and they have both been hinting hard for a few years and aren't aware we were actively trying. I've got some white onsies ordered and going to make custom iron on transfers for them to their interests-- for my mom one with a cow that say "farm help" arriving and for my dad one with a fish that says "fishing buddy" arriving. Not sure when I'll send them....we are 500 miles apart so if I can contain myself I can probably wait until after my Oct 6 apt and include ultrasound photos with it. But...I also want to shout it from the rooftops right now as well! So...I'm blabbing here instead! Thanks ladies.

Congratulations @SheilAnneSmith!
So this is my third pregnancy and this is the first time that I am already thinking about losing the weight afterward. Like, I have a 10K I want to do 3 months after my due date, I'm still reading weight loss success stories here and on Pinterest... compared to previous pregnancies where I happily gorged on whatever I wanted and told myself that I'd worry about the weight later. So weird.

@SheilAnneSmith That is a really cute idea with the onesies in the mail. Farm help! Haha. Also, the snowbank comment. Looool. Also, I agree with calling your primary doc. Since they are closer, it might be easier and cheaper to see them for minor things while pregnant, right? Plus it's just fun sharing good news.

@marianlyn Wow. I can't imagine running a 10K right now, let alone right after delivering. If you do it, please post a pic!

@WifiresGettingFit I don't know how long I can contain myself...I think I'll do the onsie project this weekend...they might get sent out early next week and pray all continues to go well. I fear mailing it and then miscarrying the day it arrives to them or something crazy like that. Having a hard time being super positive instead of fearing the worst and the days are crawling by so slow! I kind of felt like crap yesterday afternoon but feel significantly better today, which should be a good thing but instead I am worried it's because something isn't right. My brain needs an off switch and I need to ban myself from google--for my sanity and my work productivity!

@Kristie155 I don't think we'll use skype, I don't think either of us have even ever used it. We both live in pretty rural areas and mainly text as phone calls get dropped most of the time as well. We both still have landlines though! lol

I see the primary care doctor on Monday. It may be more a counseling that medical appointment, but it'll be so nice to talk to someone! Hopefully she can ease some fears and provide some positive feedback on the OBGYN office, or help me explore other area options I may have overlooked.

I have been craving spicy foods, I made a giant pot of Jambalaya last night...I hope I continue to want spicy foods for at least the next 5 days, because it'll take me that long to eat the leftovers. Yummy! My usual sweet tooth is pretty quiet. I hope that stays true, it'll make it a lot easier not to gain 50 pounds!

I didn't tell that story! It wasn't anything real planned out and pretty silly/awkward...lol...

He goes to bed way later than me, so we have a routine of him coming to bed with me to talk and cuddle until I fall asleep. So, as we were cuddling and talking about the next day he eventually groped my chest, so I asked him, "Does it feel any bigger? Because it will be before long," he caught on right quick, but that was after he missed a comment about how I wasn't going to drink any free beer at the rodeo the next night earlier in the conversation. I left him the positive digital test the next morning with a shirt that says "Worlds Greatest Farter..I mean Father" on it that I bought a few months ago.