22 Weeks

Baby Kicks

I have been feeling Precious kicking away for a few weeks now, but Jared got to feel the subtle jolt of our kicking baby this week for the first time! It was about 3AM, and I was lying on my side sleeping, and woke up to a thrashing baby. I instantly grabbed Jared's hand and plastered his fingertips on the baby's apparent bullseye. He was instantly awake, waiting in expectancy to feel even the slightest movement.
After about 10 seconds, baby sent another jolt through my belly. I did not say anything, because I wanted to see if he could truly feel it himself. Just as I felt the kick, Jared gasped and exclaimed, "I felt it!" The baby kicked again twice in the following minute, and after each thrust, Jared cried out in excitement!


On Sunday, we had a picnic dinner at my parents' house, during which Anna was able to feel a subtle kick as well. Baby was not as active that day, and the kick not as pronounced. Anna was excited nonetheless.


My pregnancy has still been going extremely well, with very little to complain about. I have not been sick once to date. I have not yet experienced any water retention or swelling. I have not had strong food aversions, nor cravings. Really I have just been more tired than usual, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to maneuver with my growing belly. I have also noticed that singing for long periods of time (i.e. church worship time) robs me of breath quickly, and I end up needing to sit down for the final few songs, exhausted. Also, I can definatley relate to the comic strip! I have been SO FORGETFUL and SO CLUMSY!


I thought it would be fun to share some of the wives tales that everyone has been showering upon us regarding their prediction as to the gender of our baby!

• If your husband's family (siblings) has more boys than girls, you are more likely to have a boy. If there are more girls, you will probably have a girl.
• If people can tell you are pregnant by looking at you from behind, you will have a girl. If they cannot tell from behind, it will be a boy.
• If your pregnancy is easy, it is probably a boy.
• If your pregnancy is easy, it is probably a girl.
• If you look great during your pregnancy, it is a boy. If you look like crap, it is a girl, because all the beauty is going into the baby.
• For every 1,000 girls born, there are 1,049 boys born, so you have a greater chance of having a boy.
• If the baby's heartrate is slow, then it is a boy, if it is fast, it is a girl.

If you have any more to share with us, we would love to hear them!

21 Weeks

As all of you know, the highlight of our week was seeing our baby for the first time (previous post). I do not really have many words to describe that experience. All I can say is that God is knitting together a beautiful little creation inside of me, that we CANNOT WAIT to meet (well, i guess we can, we are not quite ready yet)!

Jared and I have continued to prepare the house for the new addition. We have been discussing changes that need to be made throughout the house in order to be "baby friendly" yet functional at the same time!

This past weekend we flew out to Rhode Island to visit Andy and Shannon! It was a short visit, but this was the first time we have all seen eachother since I have been pregnant. They were excited to hear about all the baby plans, and feel my tummy. They have agreed to make a stylish, leather diaper bag/purse for me and the baby! I am very excited to see what they come up with!

The MOST Beautiful Thing I Have Ever Seen

Ok, so hearing the heartbeat was amazing, but now I am just speechless.

Let me introduce you to our precious baby...


PROFILE


FACE, LOOKING AT MOMMY AND DADDY, SMILING


PROFILE (arm up in front of face)


TRYING TO SUCK IT'S THUMB

We saw ten fingers and ten toes. We saw the brain, the stomach, the kidneys, the lenses of the eyes, the spine... We saw our baby open and close it's mouth trying and trying to suck on it's fingers. It was honestly THE.MOST.AMAZING hour of my life. It changed my perspective completely. It has touched Jared deeply as well. It made it real for him, since he can't experience anything firsthand. He has been glowing since we left the doctor's, and turns to me every so often with a twinkle in his eye and pats my tummy saying, "Honey, that is our baby in there!" It is one of the best gifts in the world for me to see him so excited.
*********
Baby's Actual Stats:
Weight: 12 oz. (a can of soda!)
Heartrate: 154 bpm
Length: 10 inches +/- (head to foot)

20 Weeks

Halfway!

As of today, I am halfway through my pregnancy! Wow! The time has been flying by. Jared called me today from work and we were talking about how fast and easy the pregnancy has been going, and this is what he said to me:

"Time is flying by so fast. Before we know it, we will have a two-year-old running around and you will be pregnant again. And then we will be thinking back to that day that we were talking on the phone about how fast time is flying."

My response:
"Oh just hold on there-- let's not jump too far ahead!! I was just thinking more along the lines of 'Before we know it we will be packing a hospital bag!'"

We went to Babies 'R Us today and made our final selection on a glider rocking chair for the nursery, and will be putting in the order later this week!

Ultrasound countdown: 1 day!

Baby's approx Stats:
Weight: 10.5 oz.
Length: 10 inches (head to foot)

Nursery, Part II

Labor of Love

(Click on the images for a larger view)

Painting the Ultra White base coat




Taping off our lines. Abby came to help and it only took two hours and some craziness!



Starting to add the COLOR!




Shinae and Josh helping us take the tape off!



Four rolls of tape + bright paint = a whole lotta hat!



Putting the crib together!




FINISHED AT LAST!!!!

Progress...

BB's Approximate Stats:

Weight: 8.5 ounces
Length: 6 inches head-to-rump
Heartrate: 144 bpm




Click on image to learn more.

19 Weeks

Love Nudges!

I have begun to feel movement over the past week! I cannot be sure, but I think it just might be BB giving me some love nudges! About two weeks ago, I was getting excited because I was feeling movement, but it was always followed by some flatulence ;) Over the past week, however, the movement I have been feeling is slightly different than the gas bubbles aforementioned, and are NOT followed by any as well. These new movements resemble an internal abdominal twitch. One reason I have not solidly concluded whether this is the real deal or not, is because I have heard several descriptions of first movements from other moms, and none of these line up. Among the list are: "bubbles popping," "flutters," "vibrations," and "butterflies." The movements I have been feeling don't take on any of these floofy terms-- it just feels like a little wooden matchstick knocking on the inside of my uterine wall (a.k.a. a tiny little leg kicking me!).

Our ultrasound is rapidly approaching! We are going to see our precious BB for the first time next Wednesday (May16th) at 4:00! We couldn't be more excited!

Nursery, Part I

We have offically begun the process of getting the nursery ready! This afternoon when Jared got home from work, we went straight up to the office and cleared it out! We started by throwing all the little odds and ends into boxes and hauling them down to the garage. Then we disassembled his computer desk, and down that went as well. Within an hour, the room was as bare and white as the day we moved in. I vaccummed quickly, and then up went the crib, changing table, and all the painting supplies!

We made a deal. Jared gets the garage. Completely. That is his area to do with as he pleases. He is making a "man room" down there, which is actually turning out to be pretty awesome. I am hoping he will drop the "man" part and let me hang out down there too! He is gonna have a pretty sweet set-up. His computer desk is right next to the "kegerator" (a fridge he transformed into his own beer on-tap station). On the other side of his desk is a cool little carpeted home theater area . He has the flat screen TV I bought him last year, hooked up to a new DVD player, and his X-Box. Facing the TV is a couch, and next to that is the full size popcorn cart he got for our anniversary (because of his love for popcorn!)

Back to the nursery. We got everything all ready and the next step is to paint, which we are going to do on Wednesday evening. Well, at least Jared is. I am going to help wash the walls, and tape everything. The first layer of paint is bright white. Then the colors will be next. I will post pictures during the process. Here are the first ones...

Prenatal Visit #2

We had our second prenatal visit yesterday. I spent so much time looking forward to it (because anything that has to do with my baby excites me!), that to be completely honest, it was somewhat of a disapointment. Now, let me clarify. It was disapointing in a good way, because everyting is going as it should, I am healthy, baby is healthy, and everything looks fine. So the visit just went extremely fast. I was literally in the clinic for 10 minutes. But here is the low-down.

I followed the nurse back to the dreaded weigh-in station, but to my joyful surprise, I have only gained 3 lbs in four and a half weeks! The nurse told me this was great, and that I should gain an average of 1 lb. per week from here on out. Then she took my blood pressure: 102/50. Good again. Then the nurse got up, and the midwife came in. Mary (the midwife), gave me an ultrasound form, so we can schedule to see our Little Precious in two weeks! Then she measured my belly, and listened to the baby's heartbeat. The best part of the visit is that I brought a little recorder, and now have 13 seconds of the most sweet sound I can imagine. I can listen to BB's little heart just beating away, whenever I want! And now, all of you can hear it too!


This week, I have felt God showering me with blessing. Only last week (Week 17), I was complaining that I was having clothing issues. Well, God has overabundantly provided for me, and I feel so amazed and SO GRATEFUL! On Wednesday evening, Papar called me up and said he wanted to take me shopping for some new clothes! I was thrilled, and quickly accepted. We met at the store, and he helped me pick out some great pants and shirts! I was finally able to FIT into some jeans again! I cannot tell you how exciting that was! So I wore my new clothes the following day to our appointment! Then Thursday morning I had an opportunity to go garage sale-ing with Emma. I was about to give up and go home, but I decided to try one more block that had three sales on it. At the first sale, I found a beautiful baby blanket and a sleep positioner. At the second sale, I got an adorable, new Graco swing for $15! Then I crossed the street to the final sale of the day, and hit jackpot. She had an entire rack of adorable, Old Navy, GAP, and American Eagle maternity clothes in my size! I got about 15 items, including a mixture of capris, slacks, dressy jackets, comfy shirts and a nice pair of jeans for $39!
THEN... After work on Thursday, Gary brought Cassie and me out to dinner and then to go shopping for more maternity clothes! He bought me a cute tankini swimsuit (don't worry, the belly is safely tucked away out of site!), some shorts, and a bra!
As you can see, when it rains, IT POURS! God didn't just shower me with clothes in my time of need, he sent HAIL!

18 Weeks

Snoogle Me!

I have really been growing! Holy cow (I feel like a cow)! My ever-expanding waistline has been starting to get uncomfortable at night as I try to roll over. And I wouldn't even think of laying on my stomach anymore, unless I really wanted to go pee every 5 minutes.

When we were registering this week at Babies 'R Us, Jared was my knight in shining armor as he guided me over to a bin, grabbed a Snoogle (maternity body pillow) and bought it for me. What a guy. You have no idea what a difference this has made. Curling up in my Snoogle is like being wrapped in a cloud of comfort and support. Every time I get in bed at night, I snuggle up to my new pillow, then get a dreamy smile on my face as I stare at Jared with ridiculous admiration for providing such comfort to me. I dreamily tell him what an amazing husband he is, and then my eyes roll back in my head in sheer ecstasy. I think he just might be pretty happy with the purchase as well (seeing as it was NOT a cheap pillow.)