36 Week Appointment

We had our last sonogram on Monday. The baby is around 6 lbs 3 oz. Measurements were a little small (measuring just a couple of days behind the due date) which is not concerning at this stage. However the weight was in the 60th percentile. So it seems we have a small but solid baby on the way. The doctor is guessing the baby will be around 8 pounds at birth. Nothing is happening yet but I will be having weekly check-ups from this point forward. The doctor told me that neither cervix was dilated which is interesting. She thinks there is a chance that both of them may dilate even though one of them does not serve a purpose in this pregnancy. It has to do with the hormones. The baby is still in a head-down position which is the correct position for birth. He/she has changed from facing my left side to facing my right side. Generally the best position for birth is to face my back so we'll see if the baby decides to cooperate when the time comes. Not much else is going on at the moment. We still need to pack our hospital bags, order a glider, and clean up a few things but it sounds like there is sufficient time to get that all done. Still no boy name but I guess we will decide that at the hospital if we need to.

32 Week Appointment

We are now in the 33rd week which means only 7 weeks until the baby is due! At 33 weeks, most babies are between 4.5 and 5 pounds. We had an appointment this morning. First was the sonogram and then we met with the doctor. Everything is looking normal in terms of growth so that is excellent. During the sonogram the baby appeared to be touching his/her feet and maybe playing with them. We were also surprised to find out that the baby has managed to change position and is now head-down which is the correct position! That means that I may not be having a c-section after all. I will have another sonogram in 4 weeks so we will be able to tell at that time if the baby is still head-down. Brett and I were happy to hear everything is progressing so normally. It is a little more difficult though not knowing what is going to happen. With a c-section, we knew that we would probably just go in when we were scheduled and have a baby fairly quickly (although the following weeks would be extra difficult). Now we are more in the dark in terms of when this is going to happen and how it will all play out. But the end result should be the same and that's all that really matters!

28 Week Update

Well, we are officially in the 3rd trimester now... and it shows! Mom and Dad came to town yesterday and apparently I have grown quite a bit in just a couple of weeks. The baby is also becoming very active in the last couple of days.

My doctor appointments that were monthly for the last two months are now going back to every other week. I think it is just sort of standard care (minus all the ultrasounds) for the 3rd trimester. The ultrasounds will still be monthly so we will probably just have two more before we see the real thing. At today's appointment we had an ultrasound to check the baby's growth. Everything was still normal - the baby is now around 2 pounds, 13 ounces and is in the 55th percentile. The only abnormal thing was that I was really lightheaded and seeing spots so I had to sit up a few times. This was probably just caused by being on my back too long. We were also able to tell what position the baby is in right now. Its back is against the bottom of my ribs (along the top of my belly) with the head, hands, and feet down lower. Not quite the ideal position but there is still plenty of time for it to move. I don't think I will bother posting pictures - they are really grainy and you can barely tell what anything is. The baby always has its hands and arms in front of the face so the technicians have a really hard time getting good face shots.

In other news, we finally got registered at Babies R Us. That place is massive and I think there is a lot of "stuff" that they try to sell that people really don't need. Hopefully we got the necessities. We still need to pick out the infant travel system (car seat and stroller set) but Brett is doing his research first. We also registered online for some things at Target that were either more reasonable or worked better. A lot of people have been asking how the nursery is coming along. Well, we are a little behind on that. It is still an office right now just gathering a few more baby things week by week. Maybe by the time the shower is over at the end of the month we will have enough stuff to where we will be motivated to find a home for everything. Me working on the weekends now is not speeding up the process. We are also starting our birthing classes this weekend. They will be the next two Saturday mornings for about 3 1/2 hours. Brett is definitely not pumped up for that but it's part of the job.

One thing I have accomplished is getting my cloth diapers ordered. I know - we are nuts! But I at least wanted to give it a try to save our landfills from about 3,796 disposable diapers that can each take hundreds of years to decompose. Besides, they are pretty cute (for now, until they are covered in poo).

And one thing we went backwards on is names. Brett has decided that he is not into "Kyler" for a boy. So we are back to square one. Boy names are tough! We are trying to find a name that is not in the top 100 for popularity but is also not way out there. We can't seem to agree on one. So if we have a boy, he may not have a name for a few days. The one name that we both like (but is really popular right now) is Gavin. Brett is still hung up on Jacoby but I just can't do it. He also came up with Sanders the other day - again, can't do it. So we bought a baby name book with over 100,000 names. Hopefully we can agree on one!

24 Weeks

We had another appointment this morning. It started off with an ultrasound. The objective was to take measurements to ensure that the baby is growing normally. Everything is looking good. Measurements were all normal and the head is a little wider than normal but that may be due to the shape of the head. The baby weighs about 1 pound 10 ounces. It is in the 63rd percentile and is measuring at 24 weeks and 5 days (about 4 days ahead of the estimated due date of May 23).

The technician worked hard to get us some good pictures. The ones I have posted are the best we could get since Vegas Baby was not cooperating very well.

This one is of a leg (you can see the picture is marked with the thigh, knee, and foot).

And this is of the bottom of the feet (the baby has its legs crossed at the ankle).

This was a 3D ultrasound so it would have been really neat to have a picture of the face but the baby was being very shy. Its head was face down and would not budge. Of course 10 minutes after we left the room the little thing was moving all over the place and has been all day since. I have been feeling a LOT of movement all over lately.

After the ultrasound we had an appointment with the doctor. Nothing really new there. I have gained a lot more weight than 1 pound 10 ounces but the weight gain is on track for the amount I am targeted to gain - about 30 pounds by the end of the pregnancy. The doctor also asked us to start getting ready for the delivery - taking birthing classes, getting registered at the hospital, and deciding what type of delivery we want.

Less than 4 months to go and we have a lot to do! Brett and I have each purchased one item for the baby. I went to Lincoln last weekend with some of my family and picked up a little Nebraska hat for our Husker baby ;) Brett was skiing in Steamboat Springs and bought a tee shirt. It was really cute... although the smallest size they had was a 2T so the baby will be a toddler by the time we can get some use out of it. Needless to say, we have a long way to go. One of the next few weekends I am determined to get some furniture purchased so we can at least get started on the baby's room.

20 Week Appointments - Halfway There!

I had two more doctor appointments this week. Monday with with the perinatologist and Tuesday was with my obstetrician. Both went really well.

The perinatologist did another ultrasound and the baby is getting bigger... yay!

Here is a profile of the face.

And this is a pretty good shot of his or her hand which is pretty cool to see.

The baby was moving around quite a bit (as usual - at every ultrasound we hear that we have a very active baby). The crazy thing is that I couldn't even feel it. I can't imagine what that kiddo looks like moving around when I can feel it! Anyway, the doctor was very pleased with how everything looked - normal. It is still breech but the baby is growing at an appropriate rate which was the main reason we were having to see a specialist. So now unless something else comes up I don't have to go back to her anymore. Let's hope that is the case for the sake of the baby.

On Tuesday I had an appointment with my regular doctor. Nothing new there. She told me that the max I can work is 50 hours per week - darn! ;) We will also be doing ultrasounds once a month throughout the rest of the pregnancy. Starting in March I will be in to see her every two weeks.

I am getting more and more anxious to start doing more baby things. We haven't bought anything yet and are trying to hold off for a while. It has been fun to get a few gifts from family members and that makes it a little easier to wait. I've also been online window shopping if that makes any sense. We did have to start shopping for maternity clothes which was painful - I hate shopping, and finding cute maternity clothes that I can wear to work has been a pain. My belly is growing and Brett is definitely not used to that - he makes comments daily and says things like "you really are pregnant." Not sure why it has taken him this long to figure that out...

And the most exciting thing for us this week is that we found out some close friends of ours, Paul and Amie, are expecting at the beginning of August! I think that makes Brett feel better... he isn't the only one whose "life is over." :) And it will be nice (and fun) to have friends with a kid the same age as ours. Too bad they don't live in KC!

16 Weeks

Nothing too eventful has taken place since the last post but I will update with what has occurred. We have told some more people and I have had a couple more appointments.

First, we went to Florida over Thanksgiving to visit Brett's brother and sister-in-law and told them that they were going to have a niece or nephew while we were there visiting. We spent Thanksgiving and that Friday and Saturday at Disney World before going to their home in Jacksonville for our Thanksgiving meal and some QT with them. It was a lot of fun and nice to see them. Brett seemed a little more relaxed about the baby after telling and talking with his brother.

When we got back, I went to the doctor to check up on everything since I had been bleeding just a tiny bit. They checked the heartbeat and it was completely normal so they said it was nothing to worry about. That was a big relief. I would guess it was just a result of all the extra walking I did at Disney. At work, I finally told my boss. It went really well and I am meeting with our HR guy this week to go over the policies, etc.

As if I hadn't already done enough traveling, we road tripped to Dallas for the Big XII championship game with some of my family. It was a lot of fun and a great game even if the result was not ideal for us Nebraska fans. The good news is that I was able to keep my secret from my mom's sisters (even though I had to do some innocent lying). The scary news was that when we got home, I was bleeding a little more than before.

I had a doctor appointment today (we got back last night) and told my doctor about my newest scare. She checked the heartbeat which was perfect but decided to do an ultrasound to make sure everything was looking okay... and it looked just fine. Phew! She said I should be able to go home for Christmas as long as everything still looked okay in two weeks when she checks me again. Oh, and I passed my diabetes test so it will be a very merry Christmas!

12 Week Ultrasound

We had our 12 week ultrasound today. This one was to test for any genetic disorders, etc. Things like spina bifida and chromosome abnormalities I believe is what we tested for. We decided to go through with these tests since my insurance covers them and so that we would be aware if there was any type of problem.

I didn't know but the ultrasound was a 3D one. You can sort of see the face shape. I posted a picture. It is a little dark since I couldn't use the flash or there would be a reflection. The technician commented on how active the little thing was. She said I would probably be feeling a lot of movement after the next few weeks. She was having trouble getting the pictures she needed because of all the moving around Vegas Baby was doing and had to tap on my stomach to get him/her to get into a good position for a picture.

We also got a goodie bag at the doctor's office today. It had a bag with bottles and formula which was a big wake-up call. Although a little early - it expires about 2 weeks after the baby is due. We also got a run down of what we need to do to get registered with the hospital. It seems like such a long ways off but I'm sure it will fly by.

My next appointment is with the perinatologist on the 23rd. I'm not sure what they will do, I am guessing a physical exam. Ultrasounds are so much more fun!

2nd Ultrasound

We had our second ultrasound today. It was so amazing... we were able to see the baby moving around! Vegas Baby was kicking and punching like crazy. We might have our hands full with this one. Also, everything was measuring well and looked good. I am much more confident now that I know that the little one is growing and alive and kicking! Even though we had already heard the heartbeat, this ultrasound with all the movements really made me feel like there is a baby.

 And you can actually tell that it is a baby at 9 weeks... not just a blob!

We really wanted to wait until Christmas to tell anyone but we were just dying to break the news to someone. Plus, I thought it would be nice to be able to talk to someone who had been through this before.

The first people we told were my parents. It seemed like a great time since it was my dad's 50th birthday. My mom had called a day or two earlier saying that this milestone birthday was bothering him. We were throwing a surprise birthday party for him but she was still worried that he might not be real happy. So I told her I had a homemade gift for him that would cheer him up but I had to give it to him when it was just the four of us. When Brett got into town I pulled my parents away from the party and handed my dad a quick handmade card and grabbed my camera. I told him to read it out loud. "Just in case 50 didn't make you feel old... you are going to be a GRANDPA!"

I snapped a picture to capture the moment. My mom's mouth was so wide open. She gave me a big, long hug and had tears in her eyes. Dad was just as excited. We had prepared ourselves and everyone around us that it could take a long time for this to happen so it is shocking and exciting that we are actually expecting a baby in May. Now the true test is to see if the secret can remain a secret until Christmas when we are planning to tell the rest of our families. Don't let me down Mom & Dad... I convinced your son-in-law that you guys were secret-safe!

Beginning & First Ultrasound

I am still in shock and cannot stop thinking about being pregnant. I sort of hope that I "get over it" (to an extent of course) so that time goes by faster and I can focus on things like work or cleaning my house instead of spending every free minute learning everything I can about pregnancy. In the past few weeks, I had been complaining about weird things like my stomach feeling yuck, the "twins" hurting, and other random things. I thought it was nothing since my cycles are often long and we thought it to be pretty much impossible to get pregnant on our own. But Brett thought it was funny and kept saying things like "maybe I knocked you up" or "are you pregnant?". I took my first pregnancy test when I was around 4 weeks pregnant. It came back inconclusive... even though I had bought the kind that says "pregnant" or "not pregnant." I didn't think much of it at the time except that it was a waste of money. The next couple of weeks I continued to feel really nauseous and still no period so I picked up a cheap-o pregnancy test at the grocery store. I took that test on Monday (Sept. 28) in the morning and it was pretty clear that it was positive. I called my nurse and was told to come in for a blood test. My numbers were really good and we had an ultrasound scheduled.

Today (Oct. 1) was my first doctor appointment and ultrasound. It was really neat and sort of made it set in that there really is a baby growing inside me. Brett perked up from the Consumer Reports magazine when he heard the heartbeat. Wow! I had no idea we would hear the heartbeat that early. We also got ultrasound pictures to take home.

Going into the appointment, we thought I was around 8 weeks pregnant based on my last cycle. So we would have conceived around Aug. 15. However, the ultrasound showed that the size of the baby was consistent with someone 6 weeks pregnant. This makes sense due to the fact that my normal cycle had been around 45 days without medication (rather than the regular 28 day cycle). So, conception would have occurred around the end of August. When the doctor told us that we were actually 6 weeks, Brett had a "shit-eating grin," if you will, on his face. He was doing the math out loud and I realized what he was thinking. We were in Vegas at the end of August and he had been wanting to be able to tell people that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. The doctor got a kick out of that story.

So now we are just waiting for my next scan which will confirm whether our "Vegas Baby" is growing at an appropriate rate. We are also trying not to tell anyone until we are well into the pregnancy due to all the risks. I can already tell that this is going to be difficult. Our goal is to wait until Christmas and I will be four months along.