Week 20 - halfway there!

The sign says "Halfway there!" - guess I should have used a marker.  I can't believe it!  I feel like we've accomplished a decent amount of "baby stuff" this week/weekend so I'm definitely happy about that.  Not much to report other than I'm heading out in a minute for a prenatal massage!  Certainly psyched about it and don't want to be late :-)  Looking forward to Tot trade in Charlotte with mom and Jill (and Jordan?) this week and then going to see all (but Beth :-( ) of my covenant girls from college in Mississippi to celebrate sweet Courtney's ordination.  It's going to be a great week!

Some things I've noticed, part four

Round ligament pain, you say?!  I had read about this but was introduced to it yesterday via a swift cramp in the side.  Apparently muscles and joints have to stretch out to accommodate my ever enlarging uterus.  Indeed there must have been some serious stretching going on.  It felt like the sharp cramp or "stitch" in your side you'd get when running.  Except it didn't let up for quite a while.

I do believe the enlarging uterus has already done a great job pushing the rest of my guts north.  Also yesterday as I was driving I felt a decent amount of pressure between my chest and my stomach,  It didn't hurt at all, just made me a bit uncomfortable for a minute.  My guts have less and less room!

Occasionally when I bend over I get what I think is acid reflux.  It feels like something I ate a bit ago is coming back up the way it went down.  Ick.  It seems to happen most often if I bend at the waist so that my head is below my heart.  This has never happened to me before (that I can remember) but I have seen that it something that can happen while you are pregnant (and then goes away as far as I can tell).  It's totally gross and I'm not sure how people live with it all the time.

On a happier note, I have been feeling baby D kick daily for over a week and I am OBSESSED with it.  Sometimes I'll sit and poke him to see if he'll move around.  THIS is one of the main reasons I wanted to be pregnant.  I'm so thankful that so far pregnancy hasn't come with lots of nasty pregnancy symptoms but I'd like to think that even if it had this part would be worth it.  It isn't something that can be described.  It's awesome and one of a kind and YAY for getting to experience it!

Finally, every baby-related decision that comes up feels like a life-altering-major-life-or-death decision.  I can't think logically about anything.  Picking out a car seat seems impossible.  We'll certainly choose the wrong one and put the baby in danger.  I want to use cloth diapers but I can't decide which brand to use.  Picking out a name...don't even get me started.  I know this IS actually a major decision but even names I thought I liked (and still do sometime) are making me hesitant.  Maybe we just haven't found THE one yet.  Maybe we have and I can't make a decision to save my life.  Still have time - just have to really get on it and pick out some more options I suppose.

Look at me daddy!

I felt the first very distinct baby boy movements last Wednesday night.  Last night right before bed he was doing some serious acrobatics so I told James to feel just in case.  One big kick/punch/somersault later I said, "Did you feel that?!" and he said, "Yes!  Right there!" and pointed to the exact spot on my belly.  He felt it!  We're only at 19 weeks (and 4 days) so I don't expect it to happen all the time yet but we now have the first time.  And it was awesome :-)

Farewell my dear Spyder, farewell.

Today I lost the only Spyder I ever loved didn't want to squash.  Obviously a convertible with a backseat that really doesn't qualify as a *full* backseat is not a suitable car for toting tots.  I knew this day would come.  I don't think I was really prepared for how sad I would actually be when it got here.  I'm not just sad because it was an awesome car (ohhhhh was it an awesome car) but more importantly it was the first thing I ever did by myself as a real-world-after-college adult.  I got it by myself (well, dad helped at the dealership and spotted me a little bit of down payment money, but I had him paid back in a few months), made all the payments by myself and even managed to pay it off early.  Insurance was my responsibility as was all care and maintenance.  It's funny to me that I'm essentially getting rid of my *first* big responsibility as an adult to prepare for my GREATEST responsibility as an adult.  It will most definitely be worth it.  The plan is for me to get James' car and he will get a (used, paid for in full) "work" truck or SUV.  He has seen a few that might end up being mine but we'll see how it shakes out.

I also realized something VERY important today.  Pay attention because this could potentially come in handy in the years to come.  If ever a woman who still intends to have more children runs for president (or is pregnant when elected to the office) DO NOT VOTE FOR HER.  I am all for a female president.  I think female brains are inherently wired differently than male brains and I think a woman could bring a lot of fresh insight and ideas.  (Provided it was the RIGHT woman...not just any woman could handle it.)  However, I was almost in tears today at the dealership over selling my car.  It's sad, but it's not THAT sad.  A pregnant unexplainably weepy woman would not fare well in high stress situations and negotiations.  The US would end up either blowing something up because "it was mean" or we would get taken out for being a country led by a crazy crybaby.  I don't feel in control over my emotions right now (plus I've developed a wicked case of ADD) - not the best qualities in a president.  So friends, I urge you, never vote for the pregnant lady.  Wait until she's past her childbearing years and then vote away.  :-)

Week 19

What a week!  First we found out baby D is a boy, then I felt what I'm now positive was the first real motion Wednesday night!  I've felt the same bump/bubble/flutter sensation every day since Wednesday so that has to be it.  So so exciting!  Baby D is about 8.5 ounces (half a pound - yippeeee!) and about 6 inches long crown to rump.  I guess they still don't include the legs because he's all curled up in there and it's hard to tell how long the legs are.  Size is comparable to a large mango or heirloom tomato.  So, if you know how big those fruits are, I give you a gold star.  Nothing to report with me this week other than I only have one pair of jeans left that fit...my "skinny" jeans (isn't that just hilarious irony) because they are so low rise they still button under the belly.  LOVE me some stretchy pants!  Less than a week left now until the half way mark...that's serious craziness.  I'm excited about getting closer and closer to meeting the babe but I want to enjoy the pregnancy as much as possible because it's going so fast!

Ohhhh - I think we've also made big decisions regarding the nursery.  We (from here on out when I say "we" I obviously mean James...I'll be there for moral support and to make sure he does it right :) are going to put chair rail in?/on? the wall (in the middle...which I think is implied by the "chair" part of chair rail, but I'm not positive) and paint below it brown and above it a light/bright/happy blue.  If you were involved in our wedding you might recognize this as our wedding color scheme.  Yup, we still love it.  And have actually refrained from using it anywhere else in the house (until now).  We'll use the border from the red nursery in this post above the crib and frame something awesome.  On the opposite wall I've finally picked out an Uppercase Living expression- seen here (my sister Jill sells these cool things so check out the website and order something!).  The word "dream" and the cloudy thing around it will be *BROWN (not blue like I originally said, cause that don't make no sense!).  So excited about getting started on this!

Yay for progress and YAY FOR BOYS!!!  (Still not over the excitement!)

Judo CHOP!

Laying in bed on Wednesday night I all of the sudden felt a really distinct bump from within.  I told James "I'm pretty sure I just felt it!  What time is it?!"  It was 11:23pm.  I felt it once or twice more and then fell asleep.  I was kind of waiting for it the next day but didn't really feel anything.  Until 11:30 or so that night.  Hmmmmmm.  James and I got home just before 11:30 (went out to see a friend's band) and as I was doing last minute e-mail checks I felt the same thing again!  It's such a crazy feeling!  It does sort of feel like a bubble or a flutter.  Pretty exciting stuff.

James is out tonight at a boy's poker game so I've been sitting lazily on the couch for quite a while.  I've actually been feeling the bubble/flutter on and off for the past few hours.  So, tomorrow is the beginning of week 19 and it seems we are also at the beginning of real and consistant motion!  Between finding out our baby is a HE and starting to feel him moving around it's feeling more and more real.  We are having a BABY BOY people!  And he'll be here in LESS THAN 5 MONTHS!!  Enjoying sitting lazily while I still can :-)

The details

First - thank you so much for the overwhelming show of support and love for us yesterday!  As was very obvious in the video, we (me more exuberantly than James) are SO SO excited about our baby BOY!  If you'll recall from this post I've always really wanted a boy.  I think I had somewhat prepared myself for a girl and know that I would have loved her just as much had it turned out we were having a *her* BUT now we'll never know.  If I'm being completely honest I feel very grateful that I wasn't put through that test.  We're having the baby boy of my dreams!

I guess I never really explained the cake thing so here is what we did.  I don't know where I got the idea but it's something I've wanted to do for a while - it's definitely not an original idea because it's becoming more and more popular.  But either way - we went to the office at 7:30 and went back for the ultrasound.  The lady was super nice and we told her right away that we didn't want to find out right then whether it was a boy or a girl.  She said she'd tell us when she got around the "giblets"  so we could close our eyes.  We probably watched the screen for about 20 minutes and I really could have watched all day.  It was SO cool!  She went through and looked very carefully at everything.  The little uncooperative guy had his hand over his face so she moved right into arms and spine and heart.  Watching his little heart beat was unbelievable.  She moved down and got the view of the boy parts while we closed our eyes, then we opened back up to see his little feet.  She had to finally tilt the table way back so my head was lower than the rest of body and poke on my belly to get him to move his arm.  Then we could see his face!  She kept switching the view between 2D and 4D so we got lots of different views.  He does have both brain hemispheres...hopefully he will be capable of using both! :-) 

She left and had the doctor look at everything before coming back to tell us that everything looks perfectly normal.  HOORAY!!  Things are looking good for a healthy baby.  She handed me a sealed small manila envelope (not before holding it up to the light and saying "Just want to make sure you REALLY can't see anything!" haha).  A friend and my fellow life group leader recommended a wonderful teacher who also bakes some of the most amazing cakes EVER when I told her what I wanted to do.  The problem I was having was that the bakeries I called said they needed more than just that day to finish the cake.  It wouldn't be ready until Wednesday!  Ummm, no.  Can't wait that long.  Kim was instantly willing to help us even on our short time schedule.  And bonus, she lives less than 5 minutes away!  So, I drove straight from the ultrasound office to her house and put the envelope under her doormat.  She put together the incredible cake you saw and brought it over around 3.  My family got here just before 2 so we were all trying to occupy ourselves until James got home.  The plan was to have dinner and then cut the cake.  However, once James got home around 5 we decided it had been long enough and decided to cut the cake before dinner (we did wait til after dinner to EAT the cake).  James' mom doesn't want to know (which means we can't tell his dad either because he can't keep a secret) so we called my Mamaw and Grandmom & Granddad and got them on the phone.  Those were the 2 phones we were talking into just after we cut.  James, being the genius that he is, thought to put the pie server under the cake and cut it with 2 knives at once instead of cutting one side of the piece and then pulling the knife out to cut the other side.  Someone might have gotten a glimpse of color that way :)  Jill was standing on the stairs taking a video with her camera so we got it from another angle too.  I am sad that we didn't get her reaction on camera but apparently she is not :-) 

Mom had 2 bags waiting and so we opened the baby's first present and found the cutest outfit ever with a bib that says "Adorable Boy!" - Jill got super cute shoes to match.  The other bag had a girl outfit in it, but mom was so sure it was going to be a boy she said she bought that one at the last minute *just* in case.  Haha.
 
So - that's what happened.  It was a perfectly brilliant day - one for the record books!  And now we have evidence of how insanely excited I was so when we have trouble with our *perfect* little baby boy I can watch that video and hopefully channel that joy ;-P

A post in pictures

IT'S A........................

I haven't actually watched this video yet....trying to get it on here as fast as possible...hope you get the drift! :)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It feels like Christmas Eve and birthday eve and all the other exciting "eves" rolled into one!  I can't stand it!  That is all.

Week 18

There she grows!  She=me of course...can't say for 2 more days what baby D is growing in there.  I CAN say that contrary to what James will tell you if you ask him it is NOT a monkey.  We have now reached about 7 ounces, 5-5.5 inches long and about the size of a bell pepper.  Quick side note to baby D, time to stop all of your tiny baby crime spree shenanigans, you now have fingerprints!  They can ID you kid!  As EVERYONE knows, the gender appointment is TUESDAY!!  I've been trying to keep myself pretty busy this weekend and it was mostly a success :-)  I am glad that all of this excited anticipation is for something that can ONLY be good results, unlike the feeling I had waiting for news about whether or not IVF "worked".  I still feel great and wish everyone could experience pregnancy as easily as I seem to be.  I know we're not quite half way there but these 18 weeks have been great!  I do think I'm feeling more and more flutters and baby motion but I can't really be sure.  

Also, I was able to buy a Moby Wrap this week from a friend of a friend for half price!  Totally love deals and I've been looking at this wrap for a while.  We tried it out today on Driscoll baby #1 and surprisingly she loved it.  Really really loved it.  She was all snuggled up against me and not fighting to get out at all.  At one point she laid her head on me and I was pretty sure she'd be out in about 5 seconds.  Here she is:

Hopefully that's a good sign that baby D will love it too, but worst case we can just haul Madigan around in it when she's feeling neglected - hehe.  I'll be back on Tuesday evening with long awaited results!

An exception to the "I hate shopping" rule

Baby clothes.  I have wanted to *happily* shop for baby clothes for SO LONG.  In the past I loved looking at all the cute tiny outfits but is also made me sad.  But now, I get to shop for OUR BABY!!  Hooray!  I had my first chance last night at a cool sale at a friend's house.  Kind of a mobile discount baby/kids clothes boutique.  I found a few gender neutral things and one fabulous little girls onesie.  I still want a boy but one definite plus to having a girl is the clothing options.  Lots of cute stuff for little boys but so much more to choose from for little girls!  I also found a marvelous dress for Christa and can't wait to see her lifting it up looking so cute in it!  Here is the dress I got for her:

 

And here are my other purchases (all at VERY discounted prices..love it!)

Two perfect options for a December baby, green should work for boy or girl and how GREAT is that last outfit for holiday pictures?!  I will be gifting it to someone if it doesn't work for us!

So, yay for cute baby clothes and double yay for shopping for our baby!  So glad it's Friday because we are ever so slowly inching toward next Tuesday!!

Week 17

Kind of funny how different the belly looks in different things :-)  Hard to believe we're getting so close to half way there!  Felt great this week - up about 5 pounds total.  Had some coupon thing for Destination Maternity so James went with me this afternoon and I got 2 cute dresses, a tank top and some workout pants.  People, pregnancy workout pants are cuh-razy.  I'll have to figure out a way to post the genius design, but basically they fit at the normal place in the back (maybe a little higher) but they are cut waaay low in the front to sit under the giant belly.  Brilliant!  Only 9 days til our gender appointment and my excitement is growing so much every day.  I just can't WAIT to know!  And I equally can't wait to see baby D again.  Almost time to get serious about picking out baby stuff - I didn't get any responses last time but I feel like that might have been due to the difficult hoops you had to go through to post a comment.  I've fixed that now.  Soooo, I need opinions on newborn vs. convertible car seats and separate car seat and stroller vs. strollers/car seat in one.  Speak up!  ... and thank you :)

Da crib, da crib!

I'm super excited.  James and I saw this crib on our first trip to Babies R Us a month or so ago but the longer I look at it and think about it the more I freaking love it.  And James seems to be on board too which is a touch surprising given that....it's mostly white.  Trust me, I'm as shocked as you are.  Everything in our house is dark wood furniture.  I LOVE dark wood furniture.  But check this out:

It has dark wood trim!  And the matching furniture pieces are white with dark wood on the top and knobs:

And James had a genius idea.  Because the rails of the crib will turn into the headboard of the bed later he (and the kid...father/kid project!) can paint or decorate the white to match whatever color/theme the room is later!  I think with the space we have the white will really work.  Sooooo, I think the first big decision has been made!  Happy Friday and happy long weekend - I hope you have a good one :-)