21 weeks!

I had a ultrasound today, and our little man looks right on target! Everything looks normal, and he's measuring right on time (except for his arms and legs, which are measuring two weeks ahead. I think he's gonna be a tall boy like his grandpa!) Here's a cute pic of him sucking his thumb.

He was sleeping at first, and then seemed to get excited that the ultrasound tech was playing games with him, because he started kicking or punching back every time she finished pressing on him. Then he would cover himself up with his hands when she would try to get certain shots, like he was being funny. Seems like he has a sense of humor already!

So he's about a 1lb now and getting close to a foot long at about 11 in. Twice the size of my last ultrasound! Grow baby, grow!

Long time, no update!

I had intended to do a weekly update, but time seems to have gotten away from me! The last time I posted was just before leaving for San Diego, and a lot has happened since then. So bear with me for a long entry!

One of the main reasons I haven't posted anything was because we had a bit of a scare, and I didn't want to be too dramatic about things when we didn't have any definitive answers. Shortly after arriving in San Diego, I got a call from my doctor who said I tested what technically constitutes as positive for Downs Syndrome. However, the "positive" result was for a 1 in 126 chance,  (1 in 600-something is normal) and they wanted me to come in for the MaterniT 21 test, a new but far more conclusive test. But being in San Diego meant I had to jump through a ton of hoops to find someone to test me. And that meant a couple weeks of waiting with some serious anxiety for paperwork to be snail-mailed to me and then given to the testing lab and then sent with my blood test to the lab that performs the test before eventually being sent back to my doctor in Chicago with the results. Phew! Although we would (of course) love our child whether they were born with a developmental disease or not, I am very happy to say that the test came out clear and our baby does not have Downs Syndrome, and from what they can tell at this stage is completely mentally healthy. We are so happy!

As for much lighter news, our little man has started kicking up a storm!  I'm in my 20th week now, (half-way there!) and he seems to be right on track. It's such a crazy feeling to physically feel another little person inside my belly. This started about a week and a half ago, and at first it was just these little fluttery feelings that were pretty unmistakable. But it wasn't anything that could be felt outside by someone else. Then as of Saturday he's started dancing away to the point of visibly being able to see him and feel him! It's SO exciting. I can't wait until Philip gets to San Diego so he can feel his baby kick! And my belly has REALLY started to look like a real preggers belly, not just like I'm ambiguously bloated. This one is from last week, and I think I may be a bit bigger now!

This past weekend, we traveled up to the Bay Area for my sister-in-law Masha's bridal shower. (Helping Masha with her wedding is why I've been in San Diego all this time. She get's married in less than two weeks, on July 22nd!) The shower turned out wonderfully, with a seriously gorgeous cake and probably some of the most amazing cookies I have ever seen. (made by the supremely talented sister-in-law Sophia! Here's her cake shop with pics of the cake and cookies.) Sophia and Masha's sisters did a fantastic job with what turned out to be a really lovely shower. It was so nice to see the family and so much love and support for Masha!

Masha and I came up a few days early to be able to visit with some of our friends in the area that we so rarely get to see. And lucky me, I also got a mini-shower with my friends! Because I'm flying back and can't exactly carry a ton, it was a "onesie" shower and I was showered with lots of super adorable clothes. And Sophia also gave me an entire box of clothes from her boys. I LOVE hand-me downs. Here's a quick glimpse at the adorable-ness they all sent me home with. I put some of my favorites on the top of the piles (assorted to size!) but it was so hard to choose!

There's also handmade burp cloths and a swaddle blanket in the picture, of course made by Sophia! And they perfectly match the decor I want for our nursery. Check out her etsy shop! I'm so lucky to be related and get this stuff for free.

Philip and my mom are painting the baby's room this weekend while I am gone so I won't have to inhale the paint fumes. It's going to be a soft popcorn yellow with white furniture. I can't wait to get back and start putting the room together! As I've said before, we're doing a hobbit themed nursery, and I've already made the crib quilt, curtains and a toy box from the palette of fabrics I've picked out. I got them all from Jo-Anns, and I'll be doing much of the nursery handmade with these fabrics.

I'm tempted to add the fabric Sophia made the burp cloths out of because I love it so much. We shall see! Even though I can't do much while I'm here in SD, I did finish the design for the wallpaper border that I'm going to print out and put around the room on removable wallpaper. The artwork is both Tolkien and Pauline Baynes. The borders are Tolkien's art for the original cover of The Hobbit, and the artwork is from Baynes' abbreviated version of The Hobbit. Pauline Baynes was one of Tolkien's favorite artists. You might also recognize her as the original artist for the Narnia books.

There are thirteen segments, (26 pictures) and the pictures tell the story of The Hobbit. I really love the way this turned out and I hope it prints out the way I hope it will!

That's all for now, but I'm sure it's plenty! I probably wont be able to update again until I'm back in Chicago, as the next two weeks are going to be super busy with the wedding and traveling. But I'll be sure to update again when there is more to tell!

It's a............

BOY!!!!

We had our anatomy scan today, and the ultrasound tech was 100% positive that we're having a boy! We're super excited, and yes, we have a name picked out but we're not deciding anything with finality until he's born. As of right now, we're thinking Johannus Henry (John) after my dad.

They also changed my due date to November 30th. A little disappointing, as that's a week more to wait to see him! But not that much of a difference.

The anatomy scan was pretty neat, as the ultrasound tech was checking out details to make sure things look healthy. So we got to see close ups of his brain and heart, and all of his extremities. I'm posting the most recognizable pics as some of the others are pretty indecipherable to me!

This picture is just one of general cute baby-ness. Squeee!

And here's his left foot with all five toes.

Here's his right hand. He was going back and forth between waving at us and what looked like scratching the back of his head in a way that was amazing similar to how Philip constantly scratches his head when he's thinking. :)

Here's the revealing moment! However, if it weren't for the convenient arrow and the blatant "IT'S A BOY" that the ultrasound tech wrote in, I'd have no idea what I was looking at. She seemed extremely convinced though.

 And this one is another shot of him being male. Again, I'm very happy for the convenient arrow.


All in all, this made for a VERY happy seventh anniversary for Philip and me! We celebrated by going out for steak dinner and then stopping at a baby store to pick up one baby boy item. We mainly looked at the clearance section and Philip chose this adorable little coat that was on sale for $10! Originally almost $40, it made me realize how smart it is to shop the clearance racks now for winter clothes for our new little one!

Yay for babies!

15 weeks!

Time seems to be going by so slowly! I can't wait for this little one to come. I THINK (hope/pray) that I'm done with puking. I've had some very good days, and although I think I'm going to be one of those that is nauseated for the entirety of my pregnancy, things are looking much better. I've found that as long as I eat every two hours and sleep a minimum of nine hours, things are good!

Baby is apple sized and growing fast! My belly is growing too...

Not much else new to report- our anatomy scan is only 2 weeks away! I can't wait!

14 weeks!

Baby is about 3.5 inches long now, about the size of a lemon. :) I don't have another appointment soon, so we won't get to see him/her again on an ultrasound until June 12, (our anniversary!) when they'll do the anatomy scan.

As for me, I think I'm finally coming out of the first trimester woes! My energy has been up, and most importantly I've stopped puking multiple times a day. I've even been able to go without my nausea meds and be okay! The only thing I've found so far is that if I continue to sleep poorly, I'll have a really bad day and the nausea comes back. (although not as strong as it has been!) So I keeping up with the sleeping pills after attempting not to take one and having an awful day as a result. Things have been better for about 5 days now, so when I hit a full week of feeling better I'll officially consider myself done with morning sickness! yay!

I'm definitely looking pregnant these days, which I find to be a lot of fun. This picture was taken a week ago, and I feel even bigger now!

We also made our very first big baby purchase! I know it's still a bit early, but the stroller I wanted was on sale for about 30% off on amazon, so I took the opportunity to get it cheap while I could.  I did tons of research to settle on it. It folds up small and is pretty light weight, has a lot of storage space and it can also accommodate an infant seat for the early days. So much less bulky than the huge "travel systems" that I've always found to be a pain. This is it, except in green.
I'm glad we've decided to space some of our purchases out a bit. I don't think we'll be buying anything else anytime soon, although I'm still working on a few sewing projects for the baby. :)

That's it for now!

13 weeks!

Only 189 more days to go! While it kinda feels like this is going pretty quickly, it also feels like it's taking FOREVER! I've had morning sickness for two full months now, and I'm just waiting for it to finally subside. I had to go to the hospital again yesterday to get more fluids, but they gave me vitamin B12 and Unisom to take as well as the Zofran and so far today seems to be going pretty well. I was actually able to sleep last night!

I also feel like I've "popped," meaning my belly is really starting to look like a preggo belly and not just like I'm bloated. All of my weight seems to be going to my belly, which makes the rest of me look smaller! But I'm sure that is going to be changing very soon.

The baby is about 3 in. long now, about the size of a peach. :) It's so surreal to think that we were all so small at one time, and this baby could potentially grow from so tiny to be 6'8" like my dad! Grow baby, grow!

12 weeks today!

We've officially hit the twelve week mark and I'm finally starting my second trimester! It still feels like my first trimester, (still not doing so well) but the baby seems to be right on track and doing well, and of course the statistics for miscarriage have now gone down significantly. I had another appointment today and heard the heartbeat again and the doctor tested my levels to see if I needed another IV. My levels are still low, but since I've been taking the dissolving Zofran I've cut down on the vomiting 2-5 times a day to maybe once every other day. That's a good improvement in my opinion! So she said that unless I'm unable to keep down water or if I puke more than once a day, I should be okay without the IV. I even was able to do a little shopping and go out to dinner with Philip! So things are looking up, and hopefully this second trimester will get rid of this sickness for good! My next appointment is going to be on our anniversary, and it will be the big ultrasound appointment where we might find out the sex of the baby! I can't wait!

We're pregnant!

5/4/12

So we've decided to officially announce that we're pregnant! I've been keeping a blog since around the time I found out, and now I can officially publish it. So please scroll down and look at some of the posts from the past few weeks! I'm going to try and post any ultrasound pics, doctor visit updates and any other baby-related things we'll be encountering during this pregnancy. Thanks for visiting!

11 weeks today!

5/3/12

I had another appointment yesterday and the baby's doing great! It was amazing to see the little one doing flips and waving at me! Everything is checking out perfectly.

Seeing the baby move around like that really hit me (and my overactive emotions) and I almost started crying I was so excited. We've been trying for so long and hoping that this would finally happen and now it has! It's so amazing!

Although the baby's doing great, the little bean has been stealing all of my nutrients from me and making me super sick so the doctor sent me to get an IV and replenish my fluids. So I spent a long lovely day at the hospital with all sorts of needles and monitors hooked up to me so that I can hopefully start getting back to normal. I'm at the brink of the second trimester, which is when things are supposed to start easing up and most women lose the majority of their morning sickness and get a bit of a boost of energy. I am patiently waiting for that day to come! I'll see the doctor again next week to check my levels and see if I've gained any weight instead of losing it. They also gave me a couple more nausea meds to try, one of which is basically the same one as before except it dissolves in your mouth. The other one is completely different, but I won't be trying that unless the dissolving one doesn't seem to help. Here's to hoping!

9 weeks and 5 days!

4/24/12

I had my first appointment with my new OB today! She's super nice, and has just the right blend of no-nonsense and compassion that I like/need. The appointment went very well, and I was sooo happy to see that she does her own ultrasounds instead of sending me off to an ultrasound technician. I had such a bad experience with that with my miscarriage in the fall! And she totally seems like the type of doctor who will give me an ultrasound if I ask for it, even if she doesn't think it's necessary. Not that I want to be all demanding, but I think she gets how important it can be to just have that peace of mind knowing that the baby is alive and well. She seemed to insinuate that I'll have either an ultrasound or a doppler at every appointment. She answered a lot of my questions and really made me feel at ease. Overall, I'm very happy with my choice of doctors so far!

The ultrasound today looked great. The baby is measuring exactly on schedule, and the heart beat is good and strong at 170 which is right in the normal range. It was even starting to wiggle around a bit and kind of looked like it was waving its little arm at me!

The only bad thing was that I've had such bad morning sickness that I've lost 14 lbs in the last month, and my urine sample came back saying I'm basically starving. Not surprising to me, because I can't keep much down, and my appetite is all but non-existent. So the doc prescribed me Zofran, which is an anti-nausea medication. Hopefully it will help me get some food in these next few weeks!

I have another appointment next Tuesday to check up on my eating/weight gain, and then I'll have another one once I hit the second trimester. I'm so excited! It looks like this baby is going to make it!