Almost there - with pictures!

These will probably be the last pictures of my pregnant tummy, which is exciting for everyone! I had Robert take two, so you can see the difference - I feel like I don't look as huge when I'm clothed. He also took these pictures from sitting down, which makes them a little off, but overall they're a fairly accurate depiction of how large I am. I even developed a few stretch marks here at the end, just in the last couple of weeks. They are just hiding below my belly button, which means that I can't really see them - even in a mirror they're difficult for me to find. The only ones I can see are a fairly amusing "x" that has appeared atop the scar from my naval piercing. That was looking odd enough without the stretch marks.
After the past couple of weeks excitement about when the doctor would decide to induce, it now seems that she has decided that my body can handle itself. This going back and forth is making me a little nuts, but I can't really complain, since I would like to be able to go into labor naturally, if my body will do so. I guess that just shows how well I've done over the past few weeks, in terms of keeping my blood sugar under control and what-not. It's still not great, but Gabriel is still doing fantastic, and the doctor is no longer as worried about either of us suffering terrible side effects. I don't even have to go to the hospital for extra monitoring this week! Now I just get to hope I go into labor this week. My due date is this Saturday, and I don't believe the doctor will let me wait for labor on my own after next Monday. And we are ready for this baby! We really thought that she would want to induce early this week, so we are pretty good to go. My mom is flying in tonight, so that she can be here for the birth. I'm glad we'll have at least a day or two with her without the baby, because she'll be able to help me look at the baby's room with new eyes, and hopefully figure out how to organize it a little better, I think.
So we should all think labor-ful thoughts for me this week! I have been feeling stronger contractions since early this morning, but still nothing regular, or even strong enough to pay much attention to. Maybe we'll get a New Year's baby after all!
And just for fun, I thought I would include a picture of our little Christmas tree, and the other member of our small family, George. We had a lovely Christmas just with our own small bunch. I missed seeing all of our family as we are so used to, but it was nice to be able to be relaxed and just focused on ourselves for this year. As I mentioned before, we feel as though Gabriel is already here enjoying it all with us. We are so ready for him!! Soon . . . and maybe by the next time I post it will be with a new baby to show you!

Whew! That was a close one!

As some of you may already have heard, I almost had a baby this weekend! Because of all the stuff going on with my body (see last post) the doctor was concerned that we would run into complications that could affect the baby. So far he looks great, and he is considered full-term as of this weekend, so she was not worried about him being born early. She felt that the risks of complications were higher than the risks of inducing labor. But when she examined me, she discovered that my body is no where near ready for labor, even being induced. She was still going to go ahead and do it, but after conferring on it with some of her colleagues, she decided that the monitoring we are already doing is enough to catch anything that might be going on with me or the baby.
So, probably no pre-Christmas baby for us, which we are grateful for. At least I am - I knew I was not ready. There is the potential that my body could still go into labor on its own, but that's unlikely I think. Or after our visit on Monday, she could still potentially decide that we need to have the baby this week - but I doubt it. She still wants me to have the baby early, but she's giving my body more time to get there as well. That way even with induction it will remain a more "natural" birth experience. So I'm thinking weekend after Christmas, when he'll be at 39 weeks.
Also, my brother told me a funny story that I want to share. He was talking to his daughter (who's about two and a half) about me being pregnant and having a baby, and he asked her, "What's the baby's name?" Her response? "Bacon."

So Close!

First, some apologies about not posting for so long. I've been meaning to, but we've been having some serious issues with our internet connection. Robert is working on it, so hopefully soon it will be totally fixed.
Lots of big news, mainly, little Gabriel may be coming into our world a little earlier than we'd thought! Last week at my doctor's appointment, my doctor decided to get super concerned about the fact that I am still having glucose show up in my urine. In addition to that I am still putting on more weight than I really should be. Those two things combined made her go, "Okay, you know what, I don't care if your gestational diabetes test came back normal all those weeks ago, we're going to do something about this." Like I've said before, I am a relatively healthy eater - not great, I do have my weaknesses, but I really shouldn't still be having these issues if everything is normal. So she did some more bloodwork. They also did some bloodwork to see if there was anything going on with my gallbladder and liver, because that constant pain I have had in my ribs has gotten much much worse recently. I've had a few times where its seriously made me a little bit incoherent and panicky, it gets so bad, and I have to lie down to make it go away. And apparently, that is where my gallbladder and liver are! So she just wanted to make sure they were functioning properly.
When the results came back, everything looked fine except for my blood sugar levels. I had already made an appointment with a dietitian to put me on a meal plan to handle my blood sugar levels. When I saw her, she also showed me how to check my blood sugar levels with a little meter, so now I'm poking myself in the finger four times a day to get a record for my doctor. After the blood results came back, my doctor said she was basically treating me as though I have gestational diabetes. So I had to go to the hospital on Saturday so they could do some monitoring of the baby. They did what they call a non-stress test, where they make sure his heart rate is fine and that he's moving. They are also looking to see accelerations in heart rate with the movement, because that shows that his blood is properly oxygenated (I think). Gabriel did fine, but had a little trouble with the acceleration part. According to their protocol, they have to see certain signs before they can let me leave, so I was sort of stuck there until he had another heart rate acceleration. Thankfully he did, and then they had to call my doctor for her to authorize my release. That was when I realized that if they didn't like something that they saw, they would just check me in, call the doctor, and I'd be having a baby! It was a little eye-opening.
On Monday I had an ultrasound, just to make sure that the baby looked good - there were a variety of measurements the doctor was looking for that would tell her whether or not he was suffering from my excess blood sugar. I was very glad to hear that the doctor thinks he looks great - she is not worried about him at all, right now. However, I will be very closely monitored for the next couple of weeks until my due date, and I have a feeling that the doctor will not be interested in waiting beyond that for this baby. Until my due date (so for the next three weeks or so) I'll be going to the hospital once a week for non-stress tests (my next one is on Friday), and getting an ultrasound every Monday morning with my doctor. When we made the appointments for the ultrasounds, the receptionist said, "She likes to do these in the morning, in case you need to head to the hospital afterward."
So, at any of these visits, basically, the doctor could potentially decide that she doesn't like what she's seeing, and I could be checked into the hospital to have the baby. Presumably there won't be any emergencies, and he can be induced, rather than requiring a c-section. But I'm really not sure. She also started me on a medication to lower my blood sugar, because even with my diet changes (which are honestly not that much), it's not where she would like to see it. I have one more final project for this semester, which is not due until Sunday, but which I am planning on getting done tomorrow or Friday at the latest. I would like to get it done tomorrow, so that when I check into the hospital for my test on Friday, I have no worries, at least where school is concerned. After that, I am obviously going to make sure the baby's room is ready, and that we're ready for him whenever he comes!!
I'm not worried, I think the baby will be okay no matter what happens - the doctor is being super extra cautious right now just to make sure that's the case. It's just a little strange to think that it may happen this way! And I want to reiterate that the doctor does not think that he is in any trouble right now, and in fact, he looks fantastic. I think it's me, and what my body could still potentially do to him, that they're a little worried about. Thank goodness gestational diabetes goes away after pregnancy! Now I know the value of taking care of myself so I don't get type 2 diabetes in the future. It is seriously no fun. Oh, and I will try to post a picture soon! I am rather large, as you might imagine.

Thanksgiving

Today I'm so thankful for my family. For everyone who I will not see today, and for the family that I get to spend Thanksgiving with today. I am especially thankful for my little growing family that consists of me, Robert and Gabriel. It sounds really weird, but I feel like he's a part of everything we're doing today - I mean I feel like he is a separate individual who is enjoying the holidays with us. I know that he's still a part of me, but when I think of us getting ready for the holidays, I view him as being not a part of me, but his own little self. It's really hard to explain. But I'm excited to do all of the Christmas decorating and everything that we have not done for the past five years. It's because of the baby that we'll be staying home, so it feels like this is our first Christmas together. Even though he won't officially be here yet! So maybe that's why I feel like he is participating, when really, he is just along for the ride.
So that may not make any sense, but I wanted to try to convey what I was feeling today. I'm thankful for all of you, and I love you very much! And I'm thankful for chocolate covered peanut butter balls, which Robert is making while I type this!

Breastfeeding Class, and further updates

I know, it's been forever since I updated. But not much to report. Little Gabriel (!) is just loving making his presence known. He's in the same position a lot it feels like. I feel most of the moving on my right side, and I often get kicked up under my ribs on that side as well. Which is great, since that's the side that my ribs are most sore on. It gets uncomfortable, to say the least. And I'm still suffering from all the same other discomforts I described in previous posts, so no need to go any further into that. At least the baby seems to be enjoying himself. I just honestly can't believe that I still have six more weeks of him (and me) just getting bigger! It's a little crazy.
I began a little bit of work on the baby's room, convincing Robert to move the treadmill out of there. It's still in the hallway, but at least now I've been able to do a little bit in there. My next goal is to rearrange all of the bookshelves to my liking, but they may have to wait until we can actually get the treadmill into storage. I know that bookshelves seem tremendously unimportant, and it's probably tough to understand why I need to have them settled before I can set up the crib, but that's just the way my brain is working right now. I still have to discover the location of my missing bassinet for the pack n' play that Chris sent to me. Having someplace for the baby to sleep is important.
And breastfeeding class! We went tonight, and, for me at least, it was really interesting. Most of the info I sort of knew already, having picked it up from various other readings. But it was really nice to get so much information, and to see how super supportive they are of breastfeeding at the hospital. It seems almost impossible to fail, unless there is some deeper underlying, unpreventable something that keeps you from being able to. They really really want you to be successful. So that's good to know.
And in non-baby related news, our dog George was attacked by another dog at his doggie daycamp place. No one saw what started it, but it is speculated that the other dog reacted to a "back off" signal that George gave her, and just snapped and went at him. They were only without supervision for a minute or two, but she was able to do a lot of damage in that time. He's doing okay, but he's looking pretty beat up. Lots of open puncture wounds on his neck and the sides of his face. The other dog was brand new, it was her trial day. She didn't pass. So having someone else to worry about has made me focus on my own discomforts less. Which is good. As I've said before, my complaints are nothing compared to what some women deal with during pregnancy. Or compared to what George is probably feeling now.

32 weeks - That's 8 months people!

Here is the latest picture, although it doesn't really give you a good idea of how large I feel. There is seriously a baby in there - either that or an alien creature, but we're pretty sure it's a baby.
The main stuff I have to report in this post is just how freakin' uncomfortable I've been!! My hips hurt almost constantly, as do my ribs, especially on the right. I keep expecting to see swollen and bruised skin, but it looks normal. It just hurts! The past couple weeks have definitely made a difference, and that baby just keeps pushing everything out of his way. My lungs are compressed so that I am almost always short of breath, no matter what I'm doing. And my poor stomach is squished - heartburn was bad enough, but now I feel queasy a lot of the time as well.
So that's my whine/rant about how uncomfortable my third trimester is. Sleeping has become difficult, but I've perfected my ability to nap, so that's not that huge. I'm not keeping up with school like I was because I really just can't sit at my computer for that long anymore. But that's okay. Now I'm back to how I was doing when I was working and in school. I am super glad that I am lucky enough to not have to work during this part of the pregnancy - I am just not one of those women who could do it!
I have another doctor's appointment this week - soon we'll be seeing her once a week! We'll see how much bigger I've gotten in two weeks. Also, I get my swine flu vaccination today. I think that's pretty exciting. I had decided not to get the regular flu shot, but now I'm wavering on that decision again. I've never gotten it before, and if it were just for myself, I would not be getting it this year either. But it's supposed to protect your baby even after birth, which is good. So we'll see.

Baby Shower

We had a fun baby shower this past Saturday, with just a few friends from the area. I don't have pictures yet, but once I do, I will certainly post them. I am quite sure that there are some very amusing ones.
One of my favorite things about the shower was something that was suggested by my old boss - she said that at her sister's shower, everyone was asked to bring their favorite children's book, to jumpstart the baby's library. I thought this was a fantastic idea, and as a result, I have many lovely books now! My mom is visiting me this weekend, and she also brought me a huge stack of books that we read together when I was a child. Some of the books I remembered very well, and others I had totally forgotten about until I had them in my hands again. Now I just need to organize the baby's room in a way that will allow for books to be put somewhere. We will be buying another book case soon for sure.
Other than books I got some fantastic clothes, a diaper bag (two actually, so I took one back), and some super cute bibs. Showers are fun. :)
In other news, I was trying to remember if I mentioned my doctor's visit this week. I don't think I did. Basically I have a big baby, is what we have decided. I am measuring at 33 inches, which is slightly larger than normal for where I'm at in the pregnancy. I'm doing yoga, and reading tons about natural birth, so hopefully I will have no trouble at all just because he's a little big. Positive thinking is incredibly important when it comes to having a good labor, so I am keeping that up as well! Oh . . . I was going to do a post all about why I am choosing natural labor, and all the stuff I have learned about various types of augmentation of labor, but I think I'll do a separate post about that later.

He has a name!

Okay, big news!! Some of you may have already heard that we have settled on a name for our little boy. Some of you may think that name is Josiah, since that's what we were discussing for so long. But as time went on, neither of us really felt like that was right, even though we were calling him that occasionally. So we hadn't officially said that was his name, but more like just the top of a short list. And then a month or so ago I had this dream . . .
I'm not kidding, my dreams have been fairly epic since I became pregnant. Sometimes it feels as though I am watching a movie, and that's how this one was. A huge, crazy, end-of-the-world type movie. I could tell you more than I'll share here, because some of the scenes are still really clear in my mind, but I'll just tell you the important part. So I was pregnant in my dream, and the world was ending. I believe the sun had exploded, at least that's what it looked like. (Yes, I saw it happen in the dream.) I had a few hours to find a way to safety (presumably off the planet, although that was never really clear). Somehow I managed to get together with a group of people who were leaving, there were only eight or so of us, and we knew that it would be up to us to begin a new human civilization. And what I said right before I woke up was, "Baby Gabriel will be the first of the new civilization." So when I woke up, I was like, that's it . . . Gabriel.
The more I thought about it the more I liked it as a name, and when I brought it up with Robert, he said he really liked it too. I'm pretty sure we had actually mentioned this name before, but neither of us felt very attached to it. But now that we're thinking more of the little person that is our son, it just seems right. So, laugh all you want that I got my son's name from an epic, kooky, sci-fi dream, but hey, it's a good name isn't it?

Miscellaneous post about all the stuff I haven't been posting about

I know, it's been ages since I posted. And I have definitely had stuff to post about too, it is just a matter of laziness, I suppose.
So, first off, I am supposed to post a recent tummy picture, since it's been more than four weeks since the last one, but we haven't taken one yet. So here is a picture of me at about 27 weeks, although you can't really get a good idea about how big I actually am. Not that I'm huge yet, although of course I feel enormous. Secondly, I should report that the baby has been moving a bunch. I know that I've already mentioned that, but seriously! This guy is a jumper. It is incredibly entertaining to watch my body move around with him, really. Although it probably creeps everyone else out. So he seems to be doing well, enjoying life, etc.
I had a doctor's visit on Friday, and as usual, I feel like I'm gaining too much weight. The doctor says it's okay, that I just need to make sure I'm eating right. My cousins were in town this last week, so I spent a few days eating out with family, which makes eating right a little bit more difficult. But I'm trying to get back on track again. I was also really lazy, and not eating right even at home, even though I have all these lovely vegetables to cook with! But like I said, I'm trying harder now. I have gained just about 30 pounds, and 35 is the most that they really want me to gain. And I still have a couple months. So I'll probably be going over that number, but hopefully not by too much.
In further news, we have begun our childbirth classes! So far we have gone to two, but I am most excited about the one that is this next week. We get a tour of the childbirth center on Wednesday! This is very exciting for me. But the class otherwise has been good. It's a small class, with only six other couples (I guess there are usually at least twice that many in a class). There are a lot of Microsoft employees, two of whom work on the XBOX, which we thought was kind of entertaining. We have talked more to one couple in particular, because they have so much in common with us. The husband, Ke, is one of the XBOX guys, the wife, Tao, is a "homemaker" (I prefer stay-at-home mom-to-be, but homemaker was what her husband called her), they share our due date and our doctor! The wife, however, does not speak very much English, so we have mainly talked to the husband. I talked a little bit to another woman this last week, but we still haven't connected much otherwise. So far in the classes we have talked about the labor process, as well as techniques for breathing and relaxing through contractions. Most of us want to go as natural as we can with our birthing process, but we will be talking about pain medication options and that sort of thing in the coming weeks. I have decided that I for sure am not interested in an epidural, but I do want to know a little bit more about other pain management options.
And lastly, another hat, bootie, and mitten set! Someday I may actually make something larger, but for now, these little things are fun, and they are necessary. This set was supposed to be newborn size, however it looks a little bigger to me. Which is a good thing, I suppose, since the baby will not be newborn size forever!

More knitting - I can't help myself

I have nothing new to report, beyond being more uncomfortable the past few days than normal. My back and hips are not feeling super awesome, and I think I'm suffering from growing pains in general. But other than that, we are still good. We can see our little wiggle worm moving around from the outside occasionally now. I got to observe the horror this creates in male friends; I think my friend Andrew may still be traumatized. But I think it's pretty entertaining.
And now I get to share more ridiculously cute knitted stuff! I really don't think I'll be running out of knitted things to share anytime soon, so you'll just have to put up with me. This is my favorite set that I've made so far. It's super easy and super cute, and really quick to make as well.
I'll have another picture up of the baby (well, from the outside, you know what I mean) in the next week or so.

Wiggle Worm

This little one is such a wiggler! He doesn't really seem to be much of a kicker, although sometimes I do get some solid kicks. Mostly he's just moving around a bunch. This morning for the first time I actually felt him in two places at once. He was kicking on my left side, and doing some other calisthenics that I could feel on the right, maybe with his arms. Who knows? It's fun feeling him, but sometimes it makes me wonder what more is to come. I'm sure the little kicks will only get stronger. He also seems to be taking a little bit more advantage of the extra room I've grown in the past couple of weeks. My body has definitely made room for him up higher, but he hasn't been using that space much. I'm sure he'll need it soon.
We had another doctor's visit yesterday, and from now on we'll be seeing her every two weeks. She continues to say everything looks great, even though I was worried I'd get another lecture about weight gain. Listening to his heartbeat is always fun, although he was moving around so much yesterday, you could hear the movements as much as the heart!
So everything's looking fantastic, and we even have a second car now, which we needed for the baby! We still need to do some serious work on the nursery (!! we have a nursery!!), like getting everything out of there and in to storage, and getting the crib and everything situated. But we've got a few months still, thank goodness! And I am still knitting, although I am stuck working on a little hat that is taking forever. Definitely won't be making two of those. Quick and easy patterns are what I want. We'll get more pictures up soon, so you can see how we're growing!

Cute little knitted things

Here is the first post of stuff I've knit for the baby! I've knit four pairs of baby booties and one hat, and I'm in the middle of another hat, which I ran out of yarn for. I still have two more baby bootie patterns that I'd like to try, so I'm waiting to do a baby bootie specific post. But I needed to share this hat and bootie pair with you. They're not a set in that the patterns necessarily go together - I just knit them from the same yarn, so they match. The booties are ridiculously tiny, I'm not even sure they would fit a newborn infant. And the yarn is not necessarily baby soft yarn, so an infant might hate it. But the hat is the most adorable thing on the planet, I think. And it was super easy, so I could definitely make another. The hat pattern is called the Genghis Baby Hat. Very fitting I think. Once I'm done with booties and hats, I'll be moving on to bigger projects. I have in the queue a baby book and a sleeper that I already have the yarn for. So you'll be hearing more from me on the knitting front, I'm sure.
Oh and in other news, I have a baby shower scheduled. One of my friends from work is hosting it for me, but in case you're curious, it's on October 24th. I only registered at Target, because I truly hate Babies R Us, and I don't want anyone to feel obligated to shop there. We start childbirth preparation classes in a couple of weeks. I'm excited! We're going to actually have a real live child with us soon!!! AAaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

Six months and counting . . .

I find it really strange that this month's picture looks the same, or maybe even smaller, than last month's. I swear to you, I am bigger. I definitely look pregnant now. When my mom was here we did a bunch of maternity clothes shopping, so hopefully that will work for the rest of the pregnancy. I basically splurged on pants.
In addition to some things for me, I recently got a bunch of yarn to start working on baby knitting projects. So far I have made three pairs of baby booties, while trying to find my favorite baby bootie pattern. The latest is the best, but I'll post pictures when I'm done with my baby bootie spree. Then I think I'll be moving on to hats, mittens, and various other baby things.
I'm still feeling great. I love it when people ask how I'm feeling, because really, I have no complaints! I am sure that I will begin to get more and more uncomfortable, as our little one gets bigger. Already I'm feeling him more everyday. And he can definitely be felt from the outside now as well. He is determined to make himself known!

Diagnosis . . .

Guess who does not have gestational diabetes? Well, lots of people, I'm sure, but also, me! Like we thought, my body just does weird things when processing sugar, but I am not diabetic, and it causes no harm to my pregnancy. My body just apparently doesn't process sugar through my blood as well, or something, and it ends up in my kidneys, but it is not a problem. What lovely good news.
I still plan on sticking to my new healthier eating habits, although I will probably not restrict myself quite as much. Can you believe I only had chocolate once in the past month, and that was on my birthday? I can hardly believe it myself.

Check-up Day

I saw my doctor for a brief check-up this morning. I got to hear the baby's heart beat some more, which is always fun. She said everything looks fantastic, except . . . sugar is showing up in my urine again. Which is bad. So tomorrow morning I have to drink some stuff after not eating for 8 hours, and then have some blood drawn. This is the gestational diabetes test that they do for everyone, but usually not for another month or so. But because of this stupid sugar, I get to do it early. The other thing I was a little concerned about was my weight, but I seem to be back on track there.
After talking with my mom when she visited last week, I am not that worried about the outcome of this test. My mom said she had the same thing happen to her during her pregnancies, and I tend to take after her quite a bit when it comes to stuff like that. And being diagnosed with gestational diabetes would not be the end of the world, it's just not something that I'm interested in dealing with. The worst part, in my mind, is that it sets up the baby to have problems later in life, like a greater chance of having diabetes himself, or struggling with obesity. Neither of these are things that I would like to put my child at greater risk of having. The doctor said the baby is in the 70th percentile size-wise (gestational diabetes causes bigger babies), but neither Robert or I are small people, so I think that's pretty normal at this point.
All-in-all this whole experience has at least forced me to eat a lot healthier. I really have cut out junk food, and all sorts of goodies, and I've been relying on fruit stuff for my sweets. I've also paid more attention to added sugar in stuff. And I've been eating a lot more whole grains. So it's been good for me. I just hope that everything comes out okay with the tests, and it's not going to be something I have to struggle with for the next four months.

more ultrasound pictures

They sent us home with a stack of pictures from our most recent ultrasound, which was done on the 19th of August. I scanned them all, just to preserve them, but I won't be sharing them all here. There are a couple that are just a little too creepy, and at least two that I have no idea what you're even supposed to be seeing. But here are the rest!
Well, blogger decided to be difficult about the formatting of this post, so I may just leave all of the picture descriptions at the top, and the pictures below. Hopefully you can figure out what it is you're looking at!
First is a picture of baby with his hand in front of his facing holding the umbilical cord. He was playing with it a lot while we were watching him. This is a 3D image, which is why it looks a little different.
To the right is a profile view of baby's face. We've decided he has my nose.
Next is another 3D picture, this one more of a profile view, with his hands up by his eyes.
To the right of that one is another, similar 3D shot, one of the creepier ones I think.
Here is a 3D shot of baby's legs!! (I've been feeling those a little bit recently - I'm sure I'll be very familiar with them by the time he arrives!)
To the right of the leg picture, another 3D face shot, a little more defined, I think.
And finally, this last shot is the one where the doctor said, you have a boy! No idea how he can tell from that, but I thought I would include it anyway, for entertainment value.









































So there you have it! Baby pictures! I've been feeling him moving around a lot more lately, which is very entertaining. I can even feel it from the outside sometimes, so Robert's been able to feel it. And I've started my registry at Target. It's really made me realize we have a real little person coming soon that we'll be taking care of!

It's a boy!!!!!!

I love how all of my post titles end with exclamation marks. But really, it's all so exciting! So, as you can see from the title, we know that we are having a boy. Knowing that makes him seem more real, more present in our lives somehow. We still have to decide on a name, but the baby and I have been discussing it, so I'm sure we'll agree on something soon.
We had a fantastic ultrasound where we got to see him move around a bunch, and even got some fairly creepy 3D pictures. I'll have to scan them and get them up here at some point, which I promise will happen soon.

20 weeks!! We're halfway there.

I am actually, finally, beginning to show a little bit! It's not quite enough for people I don't know to think I'm pregnant - for all the world knows, I just put on weight like that. But I can definitely tell, as can the people who see me regularly. For some reason I feel like this picture is not entirely accurate - I feel like it actually makes me look a little bit bigger than I am. I think I'm not standing up straight.
This is an exciting week, as you may recall . . . on Wednesday we go in for the ultrasound!! Which means more actual baby pictures, and news about the baby's gender!! We are so excited to see our little one again.
For the past week or so I have been feeling little flutters inside - not real kicks or anything, but I definitely feel someone moving around in there. One of my books called this "quickening". I know some of it may not be the baby, but I know for sure that some of it is. Soon I know I will be able to feel the baby all the time! That is exciting.
I have not been back to the doctor since my last post, so I have no updates regarding whether or not I'm still consuming too much sugar. But I have cut myself off from all the extra-sugary things that I didn't even realize I was eating so much of - ice cream, cookies, candy. If you would have asked me before, I would have told you that I don't eat very much of that stuff. Now that I'm paying attention, however, I know for a fact that that's wrong. I have also been paying attention to added sugar in stuff, but I feel like that is less important for me, since my excess sugar obviously came from all of the excessively sugary stuff I was apparently eating all the time! So hopefully this new awareness will help keep me from getting gestational diabetes, and at the same time, it's definitely making me healthier!
So, keep your eyes peeled here, I'm sure I'll have the post up as soon as I have time on Wednesday! (It is my birthday, and my mom is flying in, so it will be a busy day, but I'll get it up as soon as I can.)

Sugar!!

So I'm in trouble. Apparently I have been eating too many sugary foods, cause I got a lecture from the doctor when I went in for my visit this week. I have never been the kind of person who pays super close attention to what I eat. I figure I eat well, very little fast food (and I like to think the fast food I do eat is not as bad as McDonald's), not very much junk food, lots of vegetables and very little meat. I do love chocolate, and ice cream, so I know I'm not perfect, but still. Now I will have to pay attention to added sugar in stuff, and no more ice cream or other sugar-filled goodies for a while. (/cry)
Other than that the baby seems fine. I will probably start feeling baby move sometime around our next ultrasound, or maybe very soon thereafter. So exciting!! I am sure those updates will be infinitely more interesting.

Birthday present for me

Just a quick update, nothing super new to report. Baby is doing good, as near as I can tell. I have my 20 week ultrasound scheduled, which is the big one, where we get to take a really good look a baby, and find out gender and everything! I am super excited. The appointment is scheduled for my 30th birthday, which I thought would be an excellent way to celebrate! So stayed tuned for that, I am sure we will not only have pictures, but lots of news!!

16 weeks and counting

We'll try to take pictures every month or so to give you an idea of how the baby is coming along, at least from the outside. This picture really doesn't look considerably different from the one we took three weeks ago, but I certainly feel different. The skin on my tummy feels tighter, more full. Also, my belly button is starting to look funny. It is not poking out yet, but it is certainly getting pushed on from the inside.It's rather amusing.
I already feel huge, which is funny, since it's still barely noticeable for the most part. I'm pretty sure that I will not get used to it, and I'll just continue feeling like I'm very large, seeing as how I'll be getting larger. My reactions to my body are almost as entertaining as what's actually happening.
Also, I got back results of my baby's risks for certain genetic disorders. The risk for Down syndrome is 1/3646 and the risk for Trisomy 18 is 1/24041. So I think we're doing pretty good.

Ultrasound pictures!

Thanks to my wonderful friend at the Shoreline Library, I was able to get these pictures scanned (finally!). These are from two weeks ago, when I was 12 weeks, 5 days pregnant.
You can't seen much, but you can see the head, and the body. That's baby's hand in front of the face, it looks like something is sticking out of the mouth. And you can sort of see baby's legs. We could see it better in the actual ultrasound. What got printed out wasn't quite as clear.
So there you are!! We'll have another ultrasound at 20 weeks, when they'll let us know the gender of our baby (yay!), and we may have more before then, I'm not sure. I will certainly continue to post whatever pictures we have.

a visit to the Doctor

We had another brief doctor's appointment on Friday morning. They went over the results of the blood-work they did the week before, which is supposed to check for various birth defects. We are happy to say that everything looks good, but of course we were not expecting any difficulties.
We also got to hear baby's heartbeat again, which was lovely. Not much more to tell, but I promise that at some point soon I will get that ultrasound picture scanned and posted. Oh, and in 6 weeks we will be able to tell what the baby's sex is! We will definitely keep you posted!

Baby Pictures

I decided to start documenting baby growth, and that means taking pictures of myself. Which is a little awkward. But you can see I am starting to show the tiniest bit! It is still impossible to see when I'm dressed, since I have never made a habit of wearing tight clothing, but it's there. I probably will update these pictures once a month. And as soon as I gain access to a scanner I will post ultrasound pictures.
I'm feeling good, morning sickness is pretty much gone. I still get a little queasy if I don't eat enough, but it's not the same as it was. And I am still super tired. Growing a baby is apparently really hard work. I think I take at least an hour long nap every day. And I'm sleeping more every night. But it's obviously worth it!

Very Official First Post

I'm unsure of how to begin this blog, so I guess it's best to just jump right in.
We got to see the baby together for the first time this morning. It was incredible. They gave us a DVD of the ultrasound, and I was trying to figure out a way to post it somewhere and embed the video here, but I think it won't be happening. So we'll just have to make copies for those that want them.
One of the very first things we saw was the baby do a little full body wave. It has lots of room to move around right now, and it sure is moving. We got to watch for twenty minutes or so, I think. It was just lovely.
I did get some pictures, so I'll try to get those scanned and then post them here. It definitely looks like a baby!!
I don't know how often I'll be posting at this point, as there are not many noticeable changes happening. But I will try to post at least once a week!