16 weeks- Baby Bump

Mon, Jan 11th- 16 weeks
This week I officially switched into maternity clothes!  I had been trying to wear my old jeans and fastening them with hair rubber bands and then using a belly band, but it just wasn't comfortable.  The band had to be adjusted all the time and it kept riding up.  Elastic waisted pregnancy pants are much more comfortable! I have also been sporting some maternity tops, but continue to wear some of my older ones too.  Thanks to family and friends I am looking very fashionable in my new and new-to-me outfits.  I have not bought myself so many new things, ever, so it is refreshing to have so many new things to wear in my dresser.  I also went through and purged many of my old clothes and sent them to Goodwill or to the upper confines of my closet to make room for all this new stuff.
I have gained only 5 pounds, even after Christmas, so I think at this rate I'm on track not to gain over the 25 pounds alotted to my by my doctor.
This week, according to my pregancy books, I should not be lying on by back anymore, unless propped up.  I was able to prevent myself from sleeping on my belly quiet easy, but this has been brutal.  I toss and turn and by hips just ache. I've tried sleeping on my back with several pillows behind me but I can't seem to get comfortable.  We hated our bed before, but I'm about ready to light it on fire! Don't know how I'm going to make it another 5 months without a good nights rest?  We even tried our guest room bed and then stole its foam mattress pad (now with 2) for our bed.  Still no success.  Guess we should have splurged a year a go and got the temperpedic that we really wanted.
Other than that I can't complain too much.

Big News in the Nelson Household

We are Pregnant!

Last week we sent out the following email:

"Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all had a good holiday break and have managed to get back into the swing of things. So our good news is that we are pregnant! I'm 15 weeks along with an estimated due date of July 2nd. Our parents and immediate families were told after our first appointment, but we were mean and made them keep it quiet until we came home and told much of our extended family and close friends in person while we were home for Christmas.

We are excited and so far everything has been going smoothly. Not too much nausea and overall feeling pretty good. I'm now unable to button my jeans and have begun using rubber bands to hold my bind my pants together. Thankfully I received some maternity clothes as Christmas presents and hand-me-downs while I was home for the holidays. Soon I'll be ready to sport them.

We plan to deliver here in TX. I didn't want to get into a post-doc position and then leave right away on maternity leave. This way I can use the good medical benefits I currently have and then use up my sick leave. I have about 2 months left of research and then I'll begin writing my disseration. I should be defending in late April or early May. After that I'll work on writing up a few manuscripts and do a few experiments for the lab. My boss said I could stick around as long as I like; he has been very supportive. Ideally we would like to move back to the NW after this, but we will have to wait and see what kind of job I can get. Unfortunately the job market isn't great right now. Ryan plans to continue to golf (cross our fingers that this is HIS YEAR) on the Adams Tour this spring and summer and play in more Nationwide events throughout. Overall he played quite well this past season, but unfortunately didn't make it all the way through Q school.

Our parents' are both very excited, as this will be the 1st grandchild on both sides. No- we are not finding out the sex, we will be waiting for the suprise at delivery! Which I know will be hard and have already been told that we are brats for doing this to everyone.

Stick with your resolutions!

Miss you all.

Much love, Michelle and Ryan"

With that being said, we just hope our baby is a bit more pretty when he/she arrives than I was! Suprised my parents even kept me!