Happy Wednesday!

Just a quick little update today.

@ 24 weeks - could not only feel the baby kicking, but could see her kicks too.

@ 25 weeks - still kicking (I started to write cooking...I guess that's true too) and starting to notice some significant stomach growth. Weight gain so far +18 lbs. Still trying to hold onto my dream of 25 lbs total. We'll see though. No real cravings still, but I was hungry all night last night. Wendys, a burrito, fruit snacks and soup for dinner please! In my defense for the entire *other* part of the day I just had cereal and a small dinner roll though. And the burrito was small and the can of soup was tiny. I know I'm justifying it...

15 more weeks to go! Really 5 and then I'm going to start counting down the weeks =) I told Tyler that I predict Natalie Portman and I will deliver on the same day (probably a little early?) Speaking of celebrities, my fellow pregnant friends and I are in good company right now. Other expecting celebs: Mariah Carey, Jewel, Natalie Portman, Pink, Alyssa Milano, Jessica Alba.

Finished the baby registries the other day and I'm quite proud of them (I think I was pretty thorough). I've had a checklist written practically since the day I found out I was pregnant. I've been buying slowly since, but the rest of my checklist is successfully up at target.com (link) and amazon.com (link). My favorites...a tiny archway of play toys for the car seat and moo shoes at amazon.com and a delectable looking Bobby cover at target.com for less than $10. Though I told Tyler when we got home from target that I'm really not a fan of their baby registry. It seems like a lot of what we scanned showed up as "product unavailable" when we got home or there was just an item number and when we'd click on it, it would tell us "page not found". That and the fact that there are a lot of missing pictures bugs me. Maybe I should work for target and help them improve things? I'd be more than fine taking product pictures all day and uploading them to the computer. Amazon.com is a lot more reliable, but I understand not everyone shops online.

By the way, March 16th, we get to get to see the baby again! She'll be 28 weeks and the doctor tells us she'll have a cute, fat baby face then. The ultrasound will be in 3D. Look out for those pictures! Next to finding out the sex, this is the appointment I'm most excited about!

Anyways, quick post became long and I've got to get going. Tomorrow Tyler turns 28! and I still have work to do in getting his birthday ready. Happy Wednesday!

It's a Girl!

This last Wednesday we had our 18 week ultrasound and got to find out the sex of our baby. If you haven't heard it's a girl! What a surprise. We've been thinking boy all along based on all the old wives' tales of prediction. Everything predicted boy. In a way thinking boy all along and then hearing "girl" made it all the more fun. I'm glad we're not able to determine gender on our own...not knowing and finding out is half the fun!

Anyways, besides finding out the gender, we were able to view our baby's organs and see how they were all developing wonderfully. From the symmetrical brain to the four chambers of the hearts to her little bladder and spine, everything's looking great! It really made me feel humble knowing I'm part of growing something so special and she's developing like she should.

Some stats and facts on our little lady:

• She's in the 87th percentile in growth, meaning that she's not a small baby by any means, but she's also not a large baby.

• The ultrasound was done at 18 weeks (out of 40), but in growth, she was measuring 18 weeks and 4 days.

• She had a heartbeat of 138 beats per minutes (the last two measurements have been 152 and 151 beats per minute), very much in the normal range.

• She was head down during the ultrasound and moved on us, but wasn't crazy active so, I'm hoping this means she'll be an easy going baby after birth.

• We got two shots of her face in 3D/4D which were so neat and unexpected (I didn't think our office did them). Her face is slim, but the nurse practitioner assures us that's the way she's supposed to look at this stage since she doesn't have any fat on her.

• She now weighs 9 oz, but I still haven't felt much in the way of movement.

• She had her left arm up over her head in the 4D facial shots. It looks like she's giving us a thumbs up!

The day after the ultrasound I went to a little re-sale boutique by our house and bought a few newborn dresses and girly shirts. I couldn't resist it! We'll have to upload the ultrasound pictures to this post later. Be on the lookout for them!

Thrilled and excited!

26 more weeks!

14 weeks down. 26 more weeks to go! So far so good. My only complaint is that I've had some back pain this last week and it seems to be getting worse. I'm thinking the way I have to stretch to reach the scanner at work isn't helping (I use it a lot). Next time I'm in I think I'll have to try stretching the cord to get it closer. I'm "working" with one of the therapists at work who gave me exercises to alleviate pain and showed me how to effectively do a few. I can't say they're helping yet, but he said to give it three weeks and he's checking up on my progress when I'm in. I figure a physical therapy clinic is not a bad place to work when you're having back pain.

Tyler's been a big help. He's always there when I need him! Sunday he went out and got me a heating pad when my back pain was pretty bad (heels and wedges are so out for church) and yesterday he helped me at the grocery store when I was having some issues with walking (seriously? did I run a marathon?). Today I'm feeling much better. Thinking taking it easy and doing things slowly is helping. I was able to wash my car today with no problems, but it took me an hour. It didn't help that my car was sooo dirty. Poor thing. So neglected.

In other news, we're actually starting to buy things for the baby who we're quite sure is going to be a Watson Noah Morris based on pretty much all the fun old wives tales and tests and how great my skin has been. If it's a girl that's wonderful too, but we'll be surprised! Will probably find out the sex January 15th if not sooner and will let you know! We're beginning to stock up on baby things slowly. So far the stash looks like this

• Changing pad
• Car mirror (for day and night)
• Wash cloths
• First toy!
• A 10 pack of white onesies (decorating this Friday at a craft night)
• 6 onesies in various colors/prints
  
• A cute owl print sleeper
• A 5 pack of cute hats in yellows, greens and fun dots

I've also been monitoring ebay for a crib bedding set and a few other things. Tyler made me promise though not to buy anything else before Christmas, so I guess I'm sticking to that. I can't help looking all the time though. I'm an addict into cute things and preparation. I'm sure I'll leave some things for the shower though, don't you worry.

Vivid Pregnancy Dreams

So, I've always heard that when you're pregnant, you have the most vivid, strange dreams and I had one this morning.

I was pregnant with our first - maybe even 9 months along and then I wake up to a 16 or 17 year old boy laying in my bed making small talk with me and I'm so confused. He walks out to our dining area, sits down and Tyler and I join him to eat breakfast, but I eat in confusion. The last memory I had was being pregnant, who is this child? I have a feeling he's my own (he's very handsome by the way...no doubt), but I can't believe it since he should be a baby. Soon, I pull Tyler away and ask him what's going on and he tells me that we also have two younger sons that I don't have any recollection of and I break down when he tells me I have Alzheimer's. I can't remember anything and I remember thinking Alzheimer's is worse than cancer because I can't remember my own kids. I wake up then.

This dream only took half an hour after Tyler left for work this morning. You know the dreams you wake up startled from, extremely happy they end up being only dreams? This one was one of those. I'm heading to Wal-Mart today to get some brain puzzles to prevent this dream from ever happening in reality. I took a class in college where I learned that brain games and developing new hobbies (and keeping the mind active) are the best way to ward off Alzheimer's. It's been scientifically proven - they did a study on elderly nuns in a convent. Those that kept their minds active with brain games and hobbies were less likely to develop Alzheimer's. Their brains developed additional dendrites (ray's that develop within the brain) and while Alzheimer's plaque was able to cover some of the dendrites it wasn't able to cover them all leaving their memory. I've always enjoyed Sudoku, time to pick it back up for my future kids! By the way, I'm 10 weeks along today.

The Baby News

So, if you haven't heard, our family of three (including dog Jo) is going to become a family of four in June! I'm 9 weeks along, 10 weeks Tuesday and everything seems to be going pretty good. Found out I was pregnant September 28th after taking an early detection home pregnancy test. Wasn't entirely expecting the news - thought it would take more than 2 months of trying especially considering my past condition (diagnosed with PCOS -#1 cause of infertility- years ago only to find out a year ago that blood taken then didn't indicate any signs of the condition).

Have had several doctor's appointments. First appointment confirmed the pregnancy and the second was my first ultrasound at 7 weeks. At the ultrasound appointment, baby looked normal and heartbeat was strong at 140 beats per minute. After the ultrasound they took some blood as normal. Called back a few days later to let me know that I had a bladder infection due to the pregnancy (pretty common) and needed to have my thyroid checked by a PCP. Put on pills for the infection (3 pills a day for 7 days) and saw my PCP who prescribed me a super small dosage of thyroid medication.

Have had all the usual symptoms of pregnancy except for the morning sickness (yes!). I did feel pretty nauseated two nights this past week, but I think it can be attributed to taking 5 pills a day. Have also had some red and brown spotting like clockwork around the 1st every month. Hardly noticeable though and I've talked to my doctor about it. She says as long as it's not much blood and I'm not having any additional symptoms (i.e. cramping, stomach pains) I shouldn't spend too much time worrying about it. Can't wait to get out of the sensitive first trimester though! Once I hit 12 weeks I'll feel a lot more confident about the pregnancy (though so far not bad!)

First Picture

First ultrasound at 7 weeks. I know the baby looked more like a tornado than anything else at the time =] Ultrasound tech said baby looked normal though! Head is on the top left side.

Big Sister Josie

Will keep the blog updated on pregnancy happenings. Next doctor's appointment is the week after next, but I wont have another ultrasound until 18 weeks. Keep us in your prayers that everything will continue going well for us. =]