Still a Boy!

We had the anatomy ultrasound yesterday - when they check out baby's heart, brain, kidneys, and many other things to make sure there are no abnormalities. And of course, they checked the sex again. Before the appointment, Jason and I talked about how funny it would be if they said that the baby wasn't a boy after all. But we found out that he's still a boy!

It was neat because it was a longer ultrasound, since the tech was looking at so many different things. Everything looks perfect, which is so wonderful. He was not being completely cooperative, so there were a few things she couldn't check, and because of that we might have another ultrasound to check those things (yay!) But that's up to the doctor.

Russell was head-down: a 180 from how he was at our last ultrasound! A couple of times he opened his mouth really wide, as if he was yawning. :) We also got several pictures, including some 4D photos - those ones are a little odd because of the color and the lumpy appearance of everything - but we were happy to see the little guy and how much he's changed!

Today was my first full day of student teaching (SO busy and crazy), and I decided to tell the kids today. They are so excited that I'm pregnant - although, unsurprisingly, the girls are disappointed that it's a boy. A few students came up and touched my tummy, or gave me hugs and said hi to the baby.

So, things are going well! Almost halfway through the pregnancy - how amazing!

Belly?

I know, I know - I don't look very pregnant yet. But you have to admit that you can see a little bump...



(Sorry, I know it's not great photography.) This was taken today, 18 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I'm thinking in a few more weeks, it will be noticeable - hopefully!

Exciting news of the day: we are going to look at a crib and dresser/changing table tonight! We found it on CraigsList, and I looked at all the reviews, and they seem like a good buy at a good price. If we buy it, it will be our first baby purchase :)

Another Dream and Funny Students

I had another baby dream last night. I dreamt that I gave birth and - surprise - the baby was a girl instead of a boy! All I could think was, "Well, we can't name her Russell!" And for some reason, right after she was born, my aunt Jane took care of her for a few days before Jason and I got her. She was the most beautiful baby - blonde hair and blue eyes. (For those who wonder, though, I am very happy about having a boy - this was not a subconscious desire!)

Also, today was a funny day at school. I haven't told the students that I'm pregnant yet - my teacher thought I should wait until I'm showing a little more. However, while the students were doing some independent vocabulary work today, L came up to me and said, "T said you look like you're going to have a baby!" I just laughed and said, "Well, maybe I ate too many Christmas cookies!" Apparently several other children heard L's statement, and they started discussing whether or not I looked pregnant and if they thought I was really having a baby. Of course, I did get them back on task, but it really amused me! Maybe I will need to tell them sooner than later!

Note to Self

Cereal for breakfast. C E R E A L. Not English muffins, not chocolate chip pancakes, not toast with an egg on top. Cereal. Anything else will make me throw up (as I proved once again this morning.) I must be a slow learner. Whoever said morning sickness only lasted through the first trimester, lied.

But it is totally worth it for this little boy. If you want cereal, baby, then that's what you'll get :)

Another Appointment Down

I had another doctor's appointment today (a "measure and listen"). It was very quick - weighing, blood pressure, and - the best part - heard the heartbeat again! She had no trouble finding it this time; maybe because he's a little bigger now. Oh, and I also had to have 4 more vials of blood drawn. I had 5 drawn last time, and one test came back abnormal, so now they are testing for lupus and two other things. But the doctor said it's just precautionary and it's most likely that nothing is wrong.

I still haven't gained any weight! Well, actually, I technically gained 1 and 1/2 pounds, but that can probably be attributed to the cherry cobbler milkshake I had right before the appointment (thank goodness Kville has a Cookout now!) The doctor said not to worry about the lack of weight gain; she said I would probably only gain 15-20 pounds the entire pregnancy because I'm small to begin with. She also said, "Many women are very jealous of people like you." Haha!

Also, I have been feeling baby move for a couple weeks now! Sometimes it's very obvious that it's him, and other times I'm not so sure. But I swear I felt him kick today - not just flutters. I know it's really early for that, but I don't think it could have been anything else. It's really cool! I'm excited for it to get stronger :)

Dream and This Week's Plans

Last night, I dreamt about our little boy - yes, still having all those crazy, vivid pregnancy dreams. In the dream, he was only 2 days old (but looked more like 6 months old), and I didn't remember giving birth, or what we had named him, or anything. Then people told me that I had an emergency delivery where they had to give me lots of drugs, so that's why I didn't remember, and Jason decided to name him Amos (which I hate, btw). But he was a little cutie! He looked just like Jason - bald head and all (Jason was bald until 2 years old).

In other news, I start student teaching on Monday - wow! That's when I'm planning to tell the other teachers I work with and the other master's students in my cohort. Not sure when I'll tell the third graders; maybe I'll get Mrs. H's advice on that. Then, I have another measure and listen appointment on Friday, so I'll get to hear his little heartbeat again!

We've got a pretty busy weekend until then: lots of errands today, then church and Casey's first birthday party tomorrow! Happy birthday little guy! :)

It's a... -12/30/08

...BOY!

I went to visit Mom, Dad, and Jef in Atlanta, and since Mom works at a pregnancy center, I got a free ultrasound! I hated that J couldn't be there, but they have been so busy at work that he couldn't take any more time off. So today I went to Mom's office and wow, does baby look different than 8 weeks ago! He was sitting straight up, Indian-style - so cute! He was jumping up and down a little and his arms were up by his ears. At one point, he was scratching his head.

Because he was sitting Indian-style, she had to do a transvaginal ultrasound to see the anatomy. But it was clear as day - definitely a boy! I'm sure J is already thinking about teaching him various sports and taking him around construction sites :) It makes it more real to know the sex: I can know what kinds of clothes I'm looking for and we can really narrow down names.

Also, we had a wonderful Christmas - I got a Baby Signs book from J's parents, a pregnancy pillow from J, and some maternity clothes from my parents! Among other wonderful non-baby things, of course.

So, things are rolling right along, and our eyes are on June!

Fun Facts...and Clothes! - 12/17/08

Fun baby facts at 13 weeks (from various sources): 1) baby is the size of a peach, 2) baby has fingerprints now, 3) bones are starting to grow!

Fun mommy-to-be facts: 1) I haven't gained any weight so far, 2) I think my tummy is getting a bit bigger, but most people can't tell yet, 3) NO MORE MORNING SICKNESS!!!

Fun daddy-to-be facts: 1) the first thing out of J's mouth these days is "we're having a baby" - he's so excited to tell people, 2) the drums are probably moving to Honky's house - and I am not disappointed, 3) he is very relieved that I'm not sick anymore - it really worried him!

And clothes, clothes, clothes: I ordered maternity clothes from EBay about 3 weeks ago...and they finally came! They are too big right now, but a lot of my regular clothes don't fit right either, so I am at this weird in-between stage right now. Also, J's cousin is going to let me borrow her clothes, as is one of our friends from church! I am so excited and feel so blessed, because buying the whole maternity wardrobe would be quite expensive.

So, things are going very well! We love you all and are so grateful for the prayers and well-wishes :)

Tell the World! - 12/11/08

We had a doctor's appointment this morning, and baby is doing great! The nurse had some trouble finding the heart rate at first, but she told me it's because my uterus is tipped back and because I have tight ab muscles. When she found it, we listened for a few minutes, and the rate was 166 bpm.

So now we feel good about telling everyone! I know some of you have been dying :) so tell whoever you want! It's nice not to have to keep it a secret anymore!

Telling the Fam - 12/3/08

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and of course we have so much to be thankful for :) It was wonderful to tell my extended family and to hear about the in-laws telling J's extended family.

People have wondered how I told: Our extended family came over to my parents' house at different times throughout the Thanksgiving weekend. When someone would come over, I would say, "Oh, X, I'm so glad you're here, because I have some pictures to show you!" Then I would hand them the ultrasound pictures. It was so fun to see the excitment on their faces.
We feel so much love and so many more prayers going up for this little one - it really does make it that much more exciting to share our joy with others.

On Sunday we'll be at that "magical" 12 week mark where the risk of anything bad happening goes down so much, then next Thursday we'll get to hear the heartbeat again. After a good report then, we'll (finally) let the whole world know :)

Oh and I thought I was done being sick - guess I should stop saying that since it seems to be jinxing me (as I got really sick this morning!)

Telling the Fam - 12/3/08

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and of course we have so much to be thankful for :) It was wonderful to tell my extended family and to hear about the in-laws telling J's extended family.

People have wondered how I told: Our extended family came over to my parents' house at different times throughout the Thanksgiving weekend. When someone would come over, I would say, "Oh, X, I'm so glad you're here, because I have some pictures to show you!" Then I would hand them the ultrasound pictures. It was so fun to see the excitment on their faces.
We feel so much love and so many more prayers going up for this little one - it really does make it that much more exciting to share our joy with others.

On Sunday we'll be at that "magical" 12 week mark where the risk of anything bad happening goes down so much, then next Thursday we'll get to hear the heartbeat again. After a good report then, we'll (finally) let the whole world know :)

Oh and I thought I was done being sick - guess I should stop saying that since it seems to be jinxing me (as I got really sick this morning!)

Strange Dreams - 11/21/08

Apparently, vivid dreams come with the pregnancy territory, and I normally have at least 2 every night. Some of them are baby-related and some aren't. Here are a couple of the more interesting ones:

1) A few weeks ago, I dreamt that I was pregnant, but that pregnancy meant that I held the baby in my hands 24/7. Each week, a nurse would stop by and say, "Congratulations, you're X weeks pregnant!" and give me new parts (fingers, toes, etc) to put on the baby.
2) About a week ago, I dreamt that LA was pregnant with triplets, and that I found out about it on her blog.
3) Last weekend, I dreamt that J and I were living in an apartment in Charlotte, and his old army buddies (in this dream, he had been in the army) came up to "help" him with some money he owed. But they gave him this Kool-Aid that made him really sick, and they stood there and laughed. I got really angry and cussed them out and threatened to kill them! (That was a stressful dream.)

Weird, I know!

Ultrasound! - 11/13/08

Today we got to see our baby for the first time! What a cool experience. Baby was even moving around, and we have a few ultrasound pictures for those who would like to see - including a couple of 3D images. (The 3D images were kind of like looking at pictures of a shrimp.) Heart rate was 170. The doctor said everything looks good.

She did move my due date back (forward?) a few days, to June 21, and said the baby is measuring 8 weeks 4 days. That didn't really surprise me because, suffice it to say, I keep track of my cycle in many different ways, so I knew the first date might be a little off. In fact, within 5 minutes of meeting me, the doctor laughed and said, "So you're a type A person." Very true!
So even though we are at 8 weeks instead of 9, everything is healthy and looking good! It was just so relieving (and amazing) to see our little one!

On another note, I suppose I shouldn't have said in the last entry that I hadn't been sick again, because of course then I threw up on Tuesday morning! Oh well...

Not Much New! - 11/10/08

Well, I don't really have a lot to say here, but since people are reading I thought I should say something! :) I have not thrown up again since my last entry, thank goodness! I still have waves of nausea (yesterday morning and this morning, for example), but it hasn't been as bad.

I think my bloating (what a gross word, sorry) is making my clothes fit a little tighter. Obviously it's too early for it to actually be the baby, but I'm afraid that people who don't know are going to look at me and think I'm just gaining weight! Maybe I'm the only one who can tell, though.
I will write again on Thursday after (hopefully) good news from the ultrasound!

This Baby is a Picky Eater! - 11/2/08

Foods baby doesn't like: pb&j, bananas, salad.

Found out about the bananas at the elementary school on Wednesday, and found out about the salad when the nausea woke me up at 12:30 last night.

My mom threw up 1 time total in 3 pregnancies; I've thrown up 3 times in one week! I have her hair, eyes, feet - why couldn't I get her morning sickness? I guess I'll have to stick mostly to crackers, bread and ginger ale for a few weeks!

On the bright side, this makes me think that the pregnancy is probably going just fine! Less than 2 weeks until the ultrasound when we'll know more.

Morning Sickness - 10/26/08

On my list of things that are not fun: getting sick at church. I wasn't feeling well through the whole service, but since I had never thrown up before, I thought I would be fine. Well, I wasn't. Thankfully there was only one other person in the bathroom with me - an older lady. This was our conversation:

Me (coming out of the stall): So sorry about that.
Lady: Morning sickness?
Me: Well...yeah...but we're not telling anyone.
Lady: Since I don't know your name, I won't tell.
Me: I probably won't be able to hide it for long if I keep throwing up like that!
Lady: It'll be over soon. Congratulations!

I just thought it was a funny conversation! After I got sick, I felt much better.

Now We're Really Done Telling - 10/21/08

So, J and I had agreed not to tell anyone but our parents for a few weeks, and then in a few more weeks we were going to tell our best friends Josh and LA.

So much for that plan! Yesterday, I ended up telling Mrs. H, the teacher I'm working with at the elementary school, because I wanted her to understand if I needed to run out of the room or have a doctor's appointment, etc. Then today - I couldn't help myself - LA and I were on a walk, and I told her. And tonight on J's way home from work, he stopped over at our friends' house (the Bs) and ended up telling them!

J and I are pretty open-door, open-arms people, but I really didn't think we would tell so many people so quickly. I really want that to be all until we tell our extended family after the ultrasound. On the other hand, at least more people are praying for the three of us now!
In other news, we had a little scare last night when I had a tiny bit of brown spotting. But it went away within a couple hours and has not come back, and things like that happen in perfectly normal pregnancies. Since it has not continued, it's "out of sight, out of mind."

Doctor Confirmed - 10/16/08

Well, I am definitely pregnant! I went to the doctor's after taking a midterm exam at UNCG today. Basically all they did was a urine test to confirm the pregnancy - the nurse commented on how fast the two lines showed up. She also gave me some sample prenatal vitamins to take and a brief question-and-answer sheet about medicines I can take and other FAQs.

We also set up the first ultrasound appointment: Nov. 13 at 2:30. J is going to come with me. It will be exciting to see our baby on the screen! But I guess I will just have to wait patiently for the next month.

Also, as far as my nausea goes: on Tuesday morning, I felt the same way I had felt when J and I went deep-sea fishing on our honeymoon. You guys know that story - it was horrible. So I researched some treatments for nausea, and I read that ginger can eliminate the sickness. So for the past 2 mornings, I have eaten this ginger candy thing (it's just ginger and molasses) right when I wake up, and I have felt pretty normal. Yay!

I have a couple other symptoms, but I doubt you really want to hear about them! :) Overall, I'm doing just fine, and so is J.

Going to the Doctor - 10/13/08

My good friend LA is a nurse, and before we even knew about the pregnancy, I had asked her for some gynecologist recommendations. I called the office today, and they told me that to confirm the pregnancy, I can have a walk-in appointment any day this week from 9-4. So I am either going to go tomorrow or Thursday, and we will have an official doctor's diagnosis. The woman on the phone said that the next appointment would be an ultrasound at 9 weeks, so that's a little while away.

In other news, I have not been feeling so great the past couple of mornings. It's really hard to eat anything when I wake up: I'm starving, but everything I've tried tastes awful at that time. Then I have an upset stomach, which settles a few hours later. Hopefully this won't become a pattern!

Tested Positive! - 10/10/08

I had been thinking for a few days that I could be pregnant - in fact, I was 87.3% sure. When I told J on Wednesday, he thought I was overanalyzing and that I would soon find out that I was wrong. I let him know that I was planning to take a test on Friday.

Well, today (Friday) came and I woke up at 5:15, unable to sleep. I decided it was as good a time as any! J was certainly surprised when I woke him up with the news! We sat up talking until 6:30, when I called my parents. As Mom is a nurse in a GYN office, I figured I could use her advice! J called his parents a couple hours later...but they are the only ones who will know until the first trimester is over - we don't want to take any chances.

According to this due date calculator I found online, I am 4 weeks pregnant and due on June 17. I plan to make a doctor's appointment on Monday, so we'll see if that changes.
It's amazing how a little test can change so much! We are surprised but feel so blessed. God, please watch over this little one!