Movin' & Shakin'...while Walkin'!

All the times I've felt the baby move I've been sitting still or laying down. I just took some papers to the back of the office and on my walk there I had to stop cuz I had this weird feeling in my belly. Then I realized...the baby's moving while I am! I started walking again and the baby kept moving...I couldn't stop smiling! This activity is definitely welcome! :-) I know, I might change my mind about that when he/she starts kicking my bladder or ribs, but until then I'll enjoy it!

A new baby in the family!

We got a phone call on Saturday from my Aunt Kathy...she had some surprising news!

My cousin Jodi had her baby 6 weeks early on Saturday morning! Aiden Isaiah is 5 pounds and is on a respirator, but doing well. They were unsure about a lot of things when we talked, but everything was looking positive! Jodi was in labor on Friday at work, but she thought it was Braxton Hicks (sp?) until early Saturday morning. That's when they decided to call the emergency room to talk to a doctor, but no one called back so they just went in. Which is a good thing because they got there at 3:30 and she delivered in one push at 4:00 am!!! Could have been a parking lot baby! :-)

We're all glad baby and mom are doing well...sounds like dad is very excited! Can't wait to find out more details!

I finally broke down....

...and bought some Oxy this weekend. No, not Oxy Clean! The stuff for ZITS!!

My face, chest and back are beginning to look like they belong to a teenager!! It's just terrible! What's worse is I have to ask my poor hubby to get my back for me...the things you do for love! :-)

(I know, prolly too much information!)

Much happier adoption update

Our prayers are so close to being answered! The birthmother of baby Aliya has changed her mind again and will be proceeding with the adoption plan! She and the birthfather were both sworn in by a judge yesterday and signed the pre-termination of parental rights papers. The actual court date is tentatively set for Tuesday, but that may change because one of the lawyers has a schedule conflict. We also have to keep in mind that the birthparents have up until that date to change their minds again. I hope that they won’t put Ronda & Gregg through that heartbreak once more.

I cannot express how happy I am for the two of them! Updates to follow!

This and That

I have to tell you about my 2nd strange craving...I had it in Phoenix! (First was the canned tomatoes.) Josh, Ash, Adam, Dan, and I went to the grocery store on Saturday to pick up beer for Mason’s birthday party. We decided to get some chips and french onion dip so we could contribute a little something to lunch. Well, as we were walking to the car I decided I wanted some pizza. We talked about it briefly and decided there was some frozen pizzas at the house if I wanted to make one. The next thing I knew I was saying, “I want to dip my pizza in the french onion dip!!!!” Everyone thought it sounded gross, but Gram made me a pizza and it was just what I was looking for with my dip! :-) Josh’s Aunt Pattie is convinced it’s a boy cuz I was craving junk food. She said with her two boys all she ate was junk and with her girl she ate veggies and fruits. We’ll have to see!

Last Thursday night my craving was for cheese curds from Culver’s!! I have no idea where that came from, but I wanted them…and we ate at Culver’s for dinner that night just so I could have some! :-)

Speaking of food (hahaha) I’ve decided my jeans are no longer wearable! I wore a pair to work last Friday with the button unbuttoned. By the end of the day they were unzipped as far as I could unzip them and still cover it with my sweatshirt! Luckily, mom brought me some retired jeans of hers with the elastic waist… I think those will last quite a while and are really comfy!

I decided that the movement I felt is definitely the baby and not gas! :-) I felt more flutters last night and a few while I was laying in bed this morning. This is so cool!! Another bonus...knock on wood...I haven't been sick since for two whole days!

Our meeting with our realtor went really good last night. Things look good and he only had a couple minor suggestions for us to “stage” the house to get it ready for sale. One of which was to get rid of the deer head on the wall down stairs…hahaha! Looks like the only real downfall with the house is the two car garage. Most of the houses for sale right now have three car garages, but are also about $15,000 more than our house, so our will be perfect for a first time buyer or a young family. (Like us!) The fact that we didn’t put a deck on is a minor set back, but not a big deal in the pricing. He showed us how he plans to market the house and explained what will be happening through the process. Hopefully all goes well and it sells within 30-90 days!

And speaking of the big move, Josh has a hot job lead thanks to dad! Dad’s been working with an engineer at one of the big engineering/surveying companies in Wausau and found out they need some help. Josh emailed his resume to a guy there and got a reply back on Tuesday night saying that they would like to meet with him (on a Saturday!) the next time he is in town! He’s going to call him back today and set up a time on the 4th to meet with them! Great, huh?! They were also, for some reason, impressed that he has a background in road work as well. BONUS! :-) I’ll keep everyone posted on what’s going on with those two developments as well!

Not so great adoption update...

Got an email from Ronda & Gregg last week and it wasn't good news. The birthmother of baby Aliya has decided she does not want to continue with the adoption. This was devastating news for all of us and my heart is broken for Ronda & Gregg. I haven't heard anything more from her, but our hopes are that since the birthmother hasn't spent any time with Aliya since her birth it will be too much for her to handle and she will change her mind again. I know it sounds like a terrible wish, but it would be the best for Aliya too.

Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers.

Movin' and Shakin'!

I think the first “weird feeling” I had in my tummy was in the van on the way to San Diego. There’s been a few since then, but I was never really sure what it was.

Well, today I’m positive the “flutters” are the baby because there has been a lot! Before lunch I felt it quite a bit around the center/left part of my tummy and it went on for a few seconds…it was amazing! Just a little bit ago I felt it on the opposite side! This feeling definitely makes up for being sick on and off for the last two weeks!

I'm 16 Weeks!

I haven’t been feeling up to par lately, which is why I haven’t posted. SORRY EVERYONE! :-) I’m not sure what happened, I’d been feeling great. Then after vacation I got a really bad chest cold (what my dr. thinks was leftovers from allergies in AZ) and started getting morning/afternoon/evening sickness again. Even with the Unisom and B6. So I’m dealing with that and trying to stay excited about being pregnant. :-) I can’t wait to have the little one here so I’m not sick anymore…not that there won’t be other things to deal with then!

Now…on to the details! The little one is now 4.5 inches long, crown to rump, and 3.5 ounces. About the size of…drum roll please…an avocado! (This comparison thing is really cool…last week when we were in the grocery store we picked up a lemon to see the size of the baby! It really hit home!) The baby’s legs are longer than his/her arms now and he/she can move all joints and limbs. The eyelids are still closed, but the eyes can move a little and he/she can sense light now. (Which of course Josh loved hearing…it’ll only be a matter of time that he is shining a flashlight at my belly!) Little toenails are even starting to appear! Hahaha…they said my hormones should have stabilized now and my nausea should have eased up. YEAH RIGHT!

In the next three weeks the baby will be having big growth spurts, doubling his/her weight and adding inches to his/her length! That is so exciting!! My belly is definitely showing growth already and I REALLY need to order some more maternity pants! I haven’t gained any weight so far…actually, I’ve lost a total of 5 pounds. I don’t think that’s a lot, so I’m trying not to be concerned about it, but I’ll definitely ask at my next appointment, which is a week from today. That is when they normally do the quad-screen, which tests for downs syndrome, etc. We are 90% sure we’re going to opt out of this test, as it doesn’t give a 100% answer anyway. Does anyone have any comments about this?

OH! I found out what is causing my stuffy nose, bloody nose, and terrible allergies! BabyCenter says: …increased estrogen can cause swelling in the mucous membranes and possibly the production of more mucus. Your blood volume is increasing, too, which causes your blood vessels to expand, including those in your nose. (You may get occasional nosebleeds as a result.) And because pregnancy alters your immune system and makes you more susceptible to certain infections, it might just be that you have a cold or allergies.

Since I'm on vacation, I'm copy and pasting the info from BabyCenter here this week! My BIL, Dan, guessed the fruit of the week on Sunday! I don't know how, but he did! :-)

How your baby's growing: Head to bottom, your baby's 3 1/2 inches long — about the length of a lemon — and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces. Her body's growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. By the end of this week, her arms will have lengthened and will be in proportion to the rest of her body. (Her legs still have some growing to do, though.) She's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over her body (called lanugo). Her liver starts secreting bile this week, a sign that it's already functioning properly, and her spleen starts contributing to the production of red blood cells. She's also producing and discharging urine into the amniotic fluid, a normal process that she'll keep up until birth. You still can't feel your baby's movements, but her hands and feet (which are now half an inch long) are more flexible and active. Thanks to brain impulses, her little facial muscles are getting a workout as she squints, frowns, and grimaces. (Like any child of mine will need practice making faces! HA!) She can grasp now, too, and she may be able to suck her thumb.

When we were in San Diego I was a little tired but, for the most part, did a lot better than I did the weekend of derby with all of that excitement and the long days. I forgot my Unisom and B6 on Sunday night and Monday morning there was no gagging...nothing even close! So that gives me high hopes for next week when I stop the Unisom and start back on my prenatal vitamins! YAY! My energy level has also changed a lot. Didn't even sleep all the way home on the 5.5 hour car ride back to Phoenix. I felt like a nap yesterday, but it passed quickly and I didn't really need it! I'm hoping the next three months will be a breeze...and I can't wait until March 22!

OH! We got the baby two little gifts, one at Sea World and one at the San Diego Zoo. We got him/her a blue and yellow pastel colored Shamu at Sea World that has the crunchy stuff in it (my fave!) and a giraffe blanket thing at the zoo! The start to our theme...Noah's Ark! Well, I'm pretty sure that's the theme we're doing!

Vacation!

I’ll be taking a temporary blogging hiatus between now and the 12th for our vacation to Phoenix. (I know, jeers from the peanut gallery…hahaha!) If I get a chance to do my weekly update from my SIL’s computer I’ll do that, but I’m not really planning on it!

Have a good week and I’ll write when we get back!

Check-up!

My doctor appointment went great yesterday! Everything is normal and progressing just fine! When I got there they wanted a urine sample, but I didn’t have to go! So she told me to try again before I left. Two of the nurses already know me by name, go figure!! The doctor was running behind, which I’ve never encountered at that office, but I didn’t care. I actually picked up a couple of the pregnancy magazines in the lobby and learned a few things!

When I finally got called in she said my B.P. was ok, which was 132/80. She said she wants it to be 120-130’s over 70-80’s. (Pre-pregnancy was 128/78 or so, so not much of a difference.) When she put me on Aldomet for the B.P. she put me at the lowest dose, so she said to take it three times a day now instead of two. No prob…I even remembered today! She also said my plan to stop the Unisom and B6 after vacation is just fine. She said she doesn’t want me to take the chance of being sick and I said GOOD! I’ll also start taking my pre-natal vitamins again at that time instead of the Flinstones. That will be a welcomed change since I HATE those things! They’re gross! :-) She said she had some samples of prescription prenatal vitamins to give me before I left. Works for me! Then she answered some questions, I of course forgot to ask about my weight but I’m not worried about it because if she thought I needed to gain more she would have yelled at me! After the Q & A she got out the little machine thing and told me we get to listen to the heart beat! I was excited because I really wasn’t sure what to expect at this appointment! When I got up on the table I asked her to show me where my uterus is since we’ve been pushing around down there and couldn’t tell the difference between my intestines and what we were actually looking for! :-) It was neat and I think I’ve actually felt it before, but she had to push pretty hard…I think we’ll just leave it alone for awhile...at least until it gets bigger! Listening to the heartbeat was really great, yet a little un-nerving. When she first put the device thingie on my belly there was nothing…I was holding my breath and trying to read her face until she finally found it and I heard that relieving sound of the little ones heart beat! It’s so cool…reminds me of the wind blowing and whooshing because it is so fast…170 beats per minute, which she said is normal and it will continue to come down as the baby gets older. (It was 178 at six weeks.)

As I was getting ready to leave she told me to make my next check up in four weeks and then started talking about my 20 week ultrasound. Because of my pre-hypertension she wants to have a Level 2 ultrasound done, which shows more detail instead of the normal one that they do at the clinic. Fine with me! :-) We’ll have to go to the “ghetto” hospital in Minneapolis for that one. After she gave me a number to call for my appointment, I was all excited and she sent me on my way…without a urine sample or my prenatal vitamin samples! (I ran there this morning quick to pee and grab the samples of vitamins!)

When I got down to the lobby I called right away to get my ultrasound appointment!! My next doctor appointment is March 1st, same time, and my 20 week ultrasound is March 22nd!! WE ARE SO EXCITED!! I hope that the baby co-operates and we are able to find out the sex! HOW EXCITING!!!!!! And I hope the time between now and then goes by FAST! :-)

Ronda and Gregg Update!

We received another update email from Ronda last night…they were able to spend two days with the new little baby and everything seems to be falling into place. Her name is going to be Aliya, which means immigrant to a new home. ISN’T THAT PERFECT?! Little Aliya will be discharged today and taken to a foster home where Ronda and Gregg will be able to visit her until the termination of parental rights court date. They’re hoping to know the date early next week, but are estimating it to take 3-5 weeks. This isn’t finished yet even though it is looking promising. Please keep them in your prayers!

The last week of my first Trimester!

This week the little one is about 3 inches crown to rump – roughly the size of a jumbo shrimp! Its weight is now a full ounce and even though it is so tiny, it is a fully formed baby! Isn't that incredible?! I even read he or she will start to urinate the amniotic fluid that is swallowed…kinda gross, but goes to show everything is starting to work! That could also explain why I had to get up twice last night to go potty, which is the most I've had to yet!

I’ve already had some vicious bouts with 2nd trimester heart burn, but nothing I can’t live through…just have to be sure to have my Tums with me! After we get back from vacation I’ll cut out the Unisom and we’ll go from there!