Symptoms, painting, and smiling babies

Things are still going great. I'm able to pick up baby's heartbeat on the doppler within mere seconds of trying now. I guess that must mean baby is growing quickly!

Interestingly enough, my symptoms dissipated at around 9-10 weeks, but came back with a vengeance over the past few days. I threw up so violently on Saturday morning that my chest was sore for days. I'll take pregnancy however I can get it, even if its wrought full of all kinds of not-so-fun things, but this last weekend definitely was a bit more challenging than I've experienced so far! Central Texas is experiencing major cedar pollen and it's causing me to have a hard time sleeping because I'm so congested. Everything pregnancy-safe isn't working, so I'm just praying the cedar calms down here soon so I can get a little rest.

A few days ago I had a strange experience. I got up off of the couch and found I had a hard time walking or putting weight on my right leg. I felt the pain down low in the groin area. My first thought was round ligament pain. But after it persisted into the following morning, I decided to read about it and I ultimately I think what I was experiencing was symphisis pubic dysfunction. The pain wasn't exactly sharp, but it was constant, which makes me think it wasn't round ligament pain. I'll be talking to my OB about it at the NT scan Thursday because it was pretty debilitating when it happened. I was waddling and holding onto counters and chairs to walk. Luckily, it only lasted about 14 hours. But if it comes back and sticks around, it could mean physical therapy. Whatever it takes for this baby to make it here safe and sound, I'll do. :)

In other news, Kevin started painting the nursery yesterday! Regardless of boy or girl, the basic color scheme in the room will be gray and white paint similar to the room below that we are using for inspiration. A boy will have blue accents and girl will have pink accents like the picture here:

Kevin is so sweet. He wouldn't even let me lift a finger to help. He's dreamed about painting the nursery since as far back as I can remember. He told me to come upstairs once he had finished the ceiling and I did, only to find this on the wall.

Kevin + Elizabeth <3 baby!

Adorable, no? I love this man!

Yesterday we went grocery shopping. Booooooring. But on the way out, there was a little girl who was maybe eight months or so being pushed around by her mom in the shopping cart ahead of us. This adorable little girl looked right at us, with this ridiculously cute smile on her face. We smiled back, waved, and she gave us an even bigger grin. It just melted our hearts. It reminded me of the amazing prize at the end of all of this. It reminded me what all of the last three years of fighting has been for. As silly as this sounds, sometimes the tangible baby at the end of this journey is easy to forget because you're so busy protecting yourself by only living day-by-day, week by week. But in that moment of seeing this little baby girl smile at us, my heart grew about five sizes remembering we will soon have a tangible, smiling baby of our own.