Halfway to a Life Changing Event

I know many of you blog followers are also friends on Facebook, but for those who are not on Facebook, or who missed the announcement, or merely want more details, this week's post is about the life-changing event that will affect the Millers around February.  After 7 years of marriage, we have finally decided to expand our family and are expecting our first child around February 10th.  If you don't want to do the math, that means I just started the 21st week of pregnancy.

It's interesting that pregnancy is determined to be 40 weeks, even though you aren't actually pregnant for the first two weeks.  Now that I am officially 19 weeks (out of 38), I can say I am at the halfway point.  Thankfully, I have little to complain about regarding the first half and hope I can look forward to an easy second half as well!

Our baby announcement was announced on 

 social media a few weeks ago 

The first trimester wasn't bad at all. I only occasionally felt queasy in the car or when it was time to eat.  I did notice that I would go from feeling fine to famished in no time at all.  People frequently ask if I've experienced cravings and I have been fortunate to want fresh fruits and veggies often. I've been going through lots of hummus with cut up veggies!  I have had some cravings for sweet foods too.

Since I wasn't sick, I was convinced I was having a boy. Just about all my friends were sick when pregnant with girls and fine with their boys.  I was very surprised when the anatomy scan at my 18 week ultrasound appointment revealed that the baby is a girl!  I can't say that we where disappointed since our main concern is that she is healthy.  We are just grateful to know that so far things appear to be progressing normally.

Darwin is already protecting his little sister

Our daughter at 11 weeks

Knowing that it is a girl, starting to feel her movement, and having my belly really start to pop has made the experience so much more real than it was in the first trimester.  We refer to the baby as her, or our daughter, and are making plans for her arrival.  We've been shopping at lots of yard sales and consignment shops and have had so many friends and family reach out to offer us baby items they no longer need.  It is amazing the number of products marketed for baby's needs and we are still trying to determine what items are actually necessary and what are not.

Being hippies at heart and hating to see so many products (both new and used) go to the landfill, we do know that we want to try and be as eco-friendly as possible. For us that means buying used products that are still in good/usable condition when possible and trying to extend the life of new products as much as possible (like with cloth diapers).  While having a baby is certainly not taking the "road less traveled," I do think that some of the choices we are trying to make about the pregnancy, birth, and care of our daughter are not mainstream.  It does seem like there is a trend towards be environmentally conscious among my friends and peers who are having children and I welcome any suggestions that will help us do things better.  I don't expect us to be perfect at any of it, but we are sure going to try our best

I'll leave you with a few "belly pictures" of the first half of the pregnancy...

Week 7

Week 14

Week 19

Week 20

For those who have experience with cloth diapers, I'd love to hear your opinion about what works best. I like the idea of one size diapers that can be adjusted to fit so we can use the same ones throughout, but I also want them to work! Also, if there are product lines that are especially good at using sustainable materials, please share. It seems everything is made of plastic from China!  The other topic I am struggling with is what to look for in a day care center.  If you have these, or other tips you want to share, I'm glad to hear about them!