Bump Watch :: 15 Weeks

How far along: 15 weeks

Size of Baby: 4.0 in & 2.5 oz

Fruit/vegetable comparison: Apple

Total weight gain: About 1 pound (little less)

Sleep: Getting a little better.  I still wake up a few times a night and it seems harder for me to fall back asleep then it used to.

Movement: Not yet and can't wait!

Unglamorous body changes: Nothing too drastic this week.  I've really been feeling pulling and stretching in my lower abdomen.  I guess that uterus is really growing!  I also can feel the hardness in my belly where the baby is at.  It's a weird feeling to sit on the couch and drawl your legs up to your chest and feel something push back at you in your lower stomach.  I think it's going to take me awhile to get used to my belly getting bigger!

Maternity Clothes? Yes, still just wearing maternity pants and leggings (I think I'm going to wear the maternity leggings even after I'm pregnant they are so awesome!).

Showing: Every week I'm starting to a little more.  I catch my husband staring at my belly now.  All of a sudden he won't let me lift anything heavy.  I told him, "You used to let me lift heavy things in my first trimester!  What changed??".  He said, "Well, you are showing now so I'm not letting you lift anything!".  Ha!

Food cravings: Not really, still liking milk and sweets.  Nothing too exciting here.

What I miss: Still missing Dr. Pepper and deli meats!  I wish I could just have a turkey sandwich again.

Strange experiences: Nothing too strange this week.  Just having a lot of weird feelings in my stomach.  I'm guessing that's just my body making room for the growing baby.

Milestones: The baby is squirming a ton! It might even be hiccuping and it's joints & limbs can all move now.  (per thebump.com)

Best moment this week: Had a check up with the doctor and everything looked good!  We got to hear the baby's heartbeat through the Dr.'s doppler and it was reassuring to know we were using our doppler correctly at home. Ha!  AND we got to schedule our next appointment where we get to find out what we are having!!  In the next few weeks I'm going to put up a poll for everyone to make their guesses on if you think we are having a boy or a girl.  I've got lots of ideas flowing through my head on revealing the gender to our friends and family.  So excited for October!

Looking forward to: Feeling the baby move, finding out what we are having and figuring out the baby's name!

Bump Watch :: Week 14

Sorry this took me a little longer to post.  I normally want to try and get these posts up by Monday.  Our cabinets are finally getting painted this week.  But since it's oil based and has a really strong odor, Ryan & I are staying with some friends this week so it's kind of got me off schedule.  Looking forward to picking out new hardware this weekend and then finally posting after pictures!

Thank you for everybody's ideas on how to take these bump pictures.  I think I'm going to try from now on to post weekly updates and wear the same gray shirt so you can really see the change.  I think starting next week I will just stand next to a blank wall so there aren't as many distractions in the picture.  Any other thoughts??

How far along: 14 weeks

 

Size of Baby: 3.4 in & 1.5 oz

 

Fruit/vegetable comparison: Lemon

Total weight gain: 0 (back to my prebaby weight)

Sleep: Is still a little rough but getting better now that I have a body pillow!

Movement: Not yet!

 

Unglamorous body changes: Heart burn.  I am getting it almost every night now.  It's not too too bad that Tums can't take care of it, but my doctor said I can start taking a liquid antacid if it gets worse.  But, I'm getting my energy and appetite back!!

Maternity Clothes? Definitely have been rocking maternity pants especially for work.  I wear some maternity shirts but more just for fun.  I'm really not to the point where I need to where the shirts yet.

Showing: I think so but other people may not be able to tell yet.  They may just think I had one too many burritos.  :)

Food cravings: Still no cravings much to my husband's dismay.  (I never know what I want to eat.)  But I have been wanting a glass of milk every night and the other day I did send Ryan on his first "the baby wants this" trip to go get me blow pops of all things!  I am hungry all the time now which is not always the most fun feeling.

What I miss: Still missing Dr. Pepper and I've been wanting to take up running again but I know this is not the best time to be starting that.  Ha!  But this gorgeous weather has caused the running itch again.

Strange experiences: I can't think of anything strange happening these past two weeks.  I need to be better at writing something down so I don't forget.  I feel like I already have pregnancy brain!!

 

Milestones: The baby can now suck it's thumb, the kidneys are making urine and can now urinate, & it's growing lanugo, a thin, peach-fuzz-like hair, all over it's body which helps keep the baby warm!

Best moment this week: Lots of fun moments these past two weeks.  My friend, Michelle, had her baby and was so sweet to lend me her Doppler so that we can now listen to the baby's heartbeat whenever we want!  I think it's really helped Ryan feel connected to this baby and eased my nerves a bit.  We are now officially in the second trimester! Woo Hoo!

 

Looking forward to: Feeling the baby move and finding out what we are having in October so I quit calling it "it"!

Telling Family & Friends

Sorry all my posts lately have been about babies, but it's just the most major thing going on in my life right now.  I promise there will be other things I blog about too.  :)

I'm finally getting around to sharing how Ryan & I blabbed the big news to our loved ones.  First we had to brain storms some ideas and then both agree on something.  This was what we did for my mom.


The weekend that we told her we happened to be celebrating her birthday as well.  So we had several presents for her to open that night.  I had ordered a onesie that said "I love my Nana" on it because that is what she will be called by our kids.  It didn't come in until the day we were leaving town so I didn't have a chance to wrap it before giving it to my mom.  That's why you see her struggle to open the package it arrived in.  Ooops!

I think she was pretty excited.  :)  She's keeping the onesie for now so she can be reminded of the joy that is coming this spring.  My mom also used it to tell her coworkers that I was pregnant (totally stole my idea :) ).  Oh and I've gotten this question a few times.  No, we don't know what we are having yet but this onesie only came in pink or blue, and I felt like the color blue is more easily worn by both sexes.  Ha!

Then we had to wait another week to tell Ryan's family because we wanted to do it in person.  The whole gang was coming to visit us in Bartlesville to see our new digs so that was the perfect time.  We decided to do the onesie thing for them but it was harder to figure out how to give them a gift since it wasn't their birthday's.  Then we came up with an idea to give them "Welcome to the 'Ville" gifts.  So they thought they were getting little mementos from Bartlesville (which they kind of were!).

You can't see the onesies very well in this video but Harlan & Susan's says "I love my Grandparents", Emily's says "I love my Aunt & Uncle"  (Sean couldn't make it that weekend) and Sally's said "I love my Aunt Sally".  We definitely had a good cry in celebration of this little one.  I love everybody's faces in this video.  I replayed it like a million times!

Also, for both of these videos, to not seem suspicious, I faked like I was taking pictures so they had no clue I was video taking!

Then we had to wait what seemed like forever before our Dr. said we were in the clear and would be ok to announce to the rest of our family & friends.  I knew my in-laws would come up with something creative to do with the sonogram pictures to tell the rest of the family via email.  Here's what they came up with and I love it!  Wendell & Georgia May were Ryan's grandparents on his dad's side.

As for how we told our friends, a few of them we shared the news over the phone because we knew we weren't going to see them in person for awhile.  We were able to tell Matt & Kara the weekend they came to visit us and they also had a surprise for us.  They had just found out they were having a girl!!  Then we were able to tell our friends, Brad & Lindsey, when we went to visit them a the Lake of the Ozarks one weekend.  The rest of our friends we just sent out an email and attached the sonogram pictures with the announcement.

It has been such a blast this time around being able to actually share some good news!  I've been looking forward to days like this for so long and it's still so crazy to me that we are actually here.  Praise God!

Baby Fever

Over the last few months several of my friends have had babies, even over the last several weeks!  It's really hard to not have baby fever when they keep doing that. Ha!  It's been so fun to watch them become parents and see how they transition into their new role.  Plus, it's amazing to look at their baby and try to figure who they look like.  It's so crazy!!  There's no way that you can't believe that a baby is a miracle from God when you look at them.

On August 28th Ryan's cousin, Adrienne, and her husband Brent had their first baby boy named Brody.  He looks so much like his dad!

Ryan & I went to visit them over Labor Day and we got to cuddle this little guy.  Well... Ryan held him awkwardly anyway... :)

Oh I could just squeeze those little cheeks!

He was so sweet.  I totally forgot to get a picture with his parents!

Then this past Wednesday, Sept. 5th, one of my best friends, Michelle, and her husband David had their first baby boy, Henri!  I of course had to make a special trip back to KC to see and love on him.

I swear he looked like the Gerber baby.  He looked so perfect!

Don't you agree??

The very happy (& very tired) new parents.  I literally came over right when they got back from the hospital. Oops!

This is sort of off topic from babies but not really!  Right after stopping in KC to meet baby Henri, I headed to Manhattan, KS to meet up with my hubby for the K-State vs Miami game.  We were also looking forward to meeting another one of our friend's baby.

Josh, Caitlin, Victoria, Erica, John, Kenneth, Ryan & I

We stopped by a friend's tailgate to catch up with people we hadn't seen in awhile.  So good to see these guys!  (I'm rocking a baby bump, what?!)

Then we had the pleasure of watching KSU dominate Miami!!  It was Harley day so before the game the entire stadium was filled with loud roaring motorcycles.  It's been a long standing tradition to have a Harley day once a year.  I'm not sure why but it's really fun!

Oh how I miss my Manhattan.  Ryan said he wouldn't mind retiring here. :)  The stadium was under construction because they are adding on.

After that amazing game we met up with our friends, Jordan & Emily, to meet their little guy, Henry.  He was born back in June.

He was just the cutest thing ever!  I wish they didn't live in Houston so that I could see this guy more often.

The proud parents with their adorable bundle of joy!

I have friends having babies almost every month until it's our turn.  I guess it's just that time of life.  It's just getting me even more excited for the day we get to meet our little one!

Bump Watch :: Weeks 6 - 12

I decided to go ahead and post the belly bump photos before posting about how we told our family & friends the good news.  The reason is by the time I would have gotten around to posting this I would have already been a few more weeks along!  So far I've been taking a picture of the bump watch every two weeks.  I'm not sure if I'll continue doing that or not.  Also,  I have no idea how to take these pictures!! I feel so awkward.  Any tips on how and how often to do this would be great!!

 

How far along: 6 weeks

Size of Baby: .25 in & less than .04oz

Fruit/vegetable comparison: Small Pea

Total weight gain:   0

Sleep: Normal

Movement: Nope

Unglamorous body changes: Being exhausted!  I was tired all the time and went to bed so early!  And my boobs were so sore! (TMI)

Maternity Clothes? Nope

Showing:  Not yet!

Food cravings:  I didn't really have any cravings but food definitely started tasting different.  I used to love Cool Ranch Doritos but all of a sudden they taste stale to me!

What I miss: Having energy to get off the couch.

Strange experiences: I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen since we had first moved from OK .  We saw each other on an elevator and said our "hellos" and "how are yous".  Then she looks down at my stomach and says "So your pregnant?".  At the time I didn't know I was and responded "Um no, I just ate a big burrito and I've gained some weight lately..."  She was all "Oh! I'm sorry!  I just figured you guys would be at that point."  Word of advice, NEVER ask someone if they are pregnant unless they actually tell you they are!!  Randomly enough, that happened earlier in the week and that Friday I found out that I was actually pregnant.  So maybe she had ESP?  (BUT I STILL WAS TOO EARLY TO BE SHOWING!)  Geez... Don't you hate it when that happens?

Milestones: The nose, mouth, and ears are beginning to take shape.  The arms and legs are protruding buds.  Baby's heart is beating around 100 to 160 times a minute.  Everything is taking shape right now pretty much! (per Babycenter)

Best moment this week: Seeing our baby on the ultrasound and it's tiny heartbeat!!

Looking forward to: The next ultrasound at 10 weeks.

 

How far along: 8 weeks

Size of Baby: .63 in & .04 oz

Fruit/vegetable comparison: Raspberry

Total weight gain: Lost 1 pound

Sleep: Still pretty normal

Movement: Not yet!  I guess you can possibly start feeling movement around 16 weeks.

Unglamorous body changes: Still tired and sore boobs.  But also peeing all the dang time!  Luckily no nausea or feeling sick yet!

Maternity Clothes? Feeling bloated and pants are fitting pretty snug & unconfortable.

Showing:  Nope

Food cravings: Still no real cravings.  I feel like I get really hungry but then can't eat very much in one sitting.  I just get full really fast!

What I miss: Dr. Pepper!

Strange experiences: I don't think anything strange happened this week but I can't remember that far back.  I should have wrote this when I was actually 8 weeks!

Milestones: Webbed fingers and toes, eyelids and breathing tubes are forming.  The baby's "tail" is almost gone.  And the brain is developing rapidly!

Best moment this week: Having my mom visit us and just crashing on the couch to watch the Olympics.  (Remeber, I'm super tired?)

Looking forward to: Our upcoming ultrasound and looking forward to showing!

 

How far along: 10 weeks

Size of Baby: 1.2 in & .14 oz

Fruit/vegetable comparison: Prune

Total weight gain: Lost 2 pounds

Sleep: A little rough since I have to get up to pee 2 to 3 times a night!

Movement:  Not yet

Unglamorous body changes:  Still really tired, sore boobs and frequent trips to the bathroom.  Also my allergies have become like 10 times worse!!  I sneeze at everything now.

Maternity Clothes?  Started wearing the Bellaband and have some maternity clothes on order.

Showing:  I don't think so... maybe a little?

Food cravings:  Still not eating much but there's nothing that I'm avoiding or craving.

What I miss:  Sleeping through the night.

Strange experiences:  Probably just the allergy thing.  Anytime there's a new scent introduced to me it causes a sneeze attack!  (feel sorry for my coworkers and Ryan!)

Milestones:  Beginning of the fetal stage.  Finger nails are starting to grow and the baby is swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. (per Babycenter)

Best moment this week:  Getting to tell one of my best friends I was pregnant when she & her husband came to visit us!  Plus, seeing our baby again during our ultrasound and watching it wiggle around.  The best part of that appointment (besides seeing our baby) was watching Ryan's reaction to the whole thing.  I think it was the first time that he finally accepted that our baby was ok and that he might actually get to be a dad.  I've never seen him like that and I'll never forget it.  After the appointment he was waiving the ultrasound pictures all over the place and all the way out to the car. I don't think I got to see them until we got home.  Ha!

Looking forward to:  Growing a belly

 
(I was feeling pretty rough in this picture!)

How far along: 12 weeks

Size of Baby: 2.1 in & .49 oz

Fruit/vegetable comparison: Plum

Total weight gain: Lost 1.5 pounds (gained a half pound back!)

Sleep:  Getting really rough!  Between having to pee all night, tossing & turning and heart burn it's been hard sleeping long periods of time.  I just ordered one of those body pillows so hopefully that helps!

Movement:  Not yet!  Hoping to feel something in the next 4 weeks!

Unglamorous body changes:  Besides everything else I've been listing the last few weeks, I've started getting heart burn.  It's not all the time but seems to hit me at night when I'm laying down.

Maternity Clothes?  I've started wearing some.  They are just so comfortable!  Especially, maternity work pants.

Showing:  In the picture above it really seems to show a little bump developing!  It just all of a sudden pop out. Ha!

Food cravings:  Not really.  I just get really hungry more often.  I think my appetite is definitely returning.

What I miss:  Nothing really!  Counting my blessings.  :)

Strange experiences:  I had a really rough Saturday night/Sunday.  I was up all night with heart burn and a churning stomach, then I gagged on a pill that next morning and threw up.  Then later that day while visiting with family I came this close to passing out!  I don't know what was with me that day!  I've felt fine every since.

Milestones:  Reflexes have now developed!  The baby is now making sucking motions with it's mouth, and if you prod your stomach the baby will wiggle in response! 

Best moment this week:  Feeling where the baby is in my stomach.  It's harder then the rest of my stomach and I made Ryan feel it.  He freaked out and told me to stop poking the baby. Ha!!

Looking forward to:  The second trimester and hearing the heart beat at my next appointment at 14 weeks.

These are just outtake pictures that you get when your husband tries to snap photos of you!

Chopped half of my head off.

Doesn't know when to stop taking the picture!

Likes to be a pain when trying to get a pic with your friend who is also pregnant.

Kara & I when she came to visit us with her husband.  She was 20 weeks & I was 10 weeks pregnant at the time.

 

Background Story

Thank you guys so much for all the sweet well wishes and congratulations!  We could not be more excited and are hoping the next 6 months fly by.  :)

I thought I would give a little background on what has been going on since I haven't really updated much on our fertility journey.  I'm trying to remember where I left off.  I think the last thing I really talked about was the surgery I had in November to complete our miscarriage.  After that it continued to be an emotional roller coaster.  I thought that after the surgery we would just get pregnant right away but unfortunately it didn't work like that.  I was no longer able to have periods on my own due to irregular cycles.

Thus began our journey on Clomid.  I actually didn't have a hard time on it other then I probably was a little more emotional (per the husband).  But you are also emotional because you just want to be pregnant too!  My Dr. started me off on 50mg but that didn't cause me ovulate.  After trying the 100mg on the second cycle that seemed to do the trick.  However, I was not ovulating until after day 20 in my cycle (it should be more around day 14).  That was frustrating because I felt like my cycles were that much longer which meant less times to try each year.  I ended up being on 5 rounds of Clomid before we got pregnant. 

The last round I took was right when we were moving to Oklahoma, and I knew it would be my last shot with this doctor before I had to start the whole process over again with a new doctor.  However, that was probably the most stressful month of my life!!  We moved to OK, bought a house, closed on our house in KC, moved into our new house, started new jobs and had to go back to KC for a week to train my replacement.  I actually thought there was no way possible that I could get pregnant that month especially because I was away from Ryan for an entire week for training.  Needless to say God is full of miracles.

I had made an appointment six weeks out with a new doctor to get established and talk about other fertility options because at the time I didn't think Clomid was working for us.  When that appointment finally rolled around I realized that morning that I was due to start my period that day.  Being the fertility crazy person that I was, I always took a pregnancy test every month on that day.  Even though I was 100% sure we had missed our chance that month I still took the test.  Low and be hold I was in complete shock when I saw this...

I kept saying "where's the NOT pregnant"???  I think I stared at that for a solid minute while I finally processed what it was telling me.  I immediately starting crying and wanted to show Ryan but he had already left for work.  I knew our fertility appointment was at 9 that morning so I had to somehow tell him before that!  Luckily we work at the same place so once I got to work I called him to come outside and meet me at the car.  This is kind of mean, but I acted like something was wrong to throw him off since I never call him to meet me somewhere like that.  When I saw him I told him to take a look at my phone which had the picture I had taken of the positive pregnancy test.  He was in disbelief and then was ecstatic.  He couldn't believe it either!  We were so excited to be seeing the Dr. for something else other then fertility issues!

Once we got to our appointment I told the staff that we had a slight change in the reason for our visit.  They had me pee in a cup to confirm.  When we made it into the room the nurse was asking about my history and at some point during that conversion told me that the pregnancy test came back negative!  Needless to say, Ryan & I were crushed.  When the Dr. came in the room we still went through the fertility appointment because we thought I wasn't pregnant.  But I told him that did have a positive test that morning.  He went ahead and scheduled a pregnancy test through blood work as he said a positive pregnancy test is rarely wrong.

Within an hour or two I got a call from the Dr.'s office giving me the good news!  I was really pregnant!!  I guess that was some cheapo pee test they gave me in their office.  This was right before I was meeting up with Ryan for lunch.  One of the things I always do to Ryan if I have a straw is blow the paper covering at him.  It's just something I've always done to irritate him. Ha! :)  This time he was on the phone so while I patiently waited for him to get off the phone so I could tell him the good news I came up with the idea to write "I'm pregnant" on the straw paper covering and blow it at him.  I got an even better reaction from him then last time.  Who gets to tell their husband twice that their pregnant in the same day??

It seems like this process took forever but at the same time I know it could have been much longer.  We are so grateful to be where we are today and are not taking any of it for granted.  I still know we are not promised this baby so I want to cherish every moment because you never know what time you have with your child.

This post is getting long so I'll wrap it up.  I'll be back later this week with how we told our friends and family!