Pregnancy: Week 18 Gender Ultrasound!

Week 18! December 19, 2012



IT'S A BOY!


Our gender ultrasound appointment was wonderful! I'm thinking I should have gone to school to be a sonographer, because I could watch that baby on the screen all day long! I'm so fascinated by ultrasounds. That has to be the best job, ever!

I think I knew all along that our baby was a boy. Whenever I would think about the baby, I just felt like it was a boy. I'd slip up and call the baby "him" every once in a while. When I thought about my baby being a girl, it just didn't feel right...even though I've always wanted a girl. I'm not disappointed by any means. I like the idea of having the oldest child be a boy and I'm so excited to see Jake with a son. He's going to have so much fun teaching him sports and rough-housing with him!

Back to the appointment: Our little boy is super active! The sonographer said she couldn't go in order on her checklist because our little man wouldn't sit still. As soon as she found what she was looking for, he would move. She showed us his stomach, kidneys, abdomen, legs, arms, hands, feet (which are the cutest feet ever), head, spine, individual bones, etc. We were able to watch the heart beat and see the different chambers. We could even see the separation between the left and right hemispheres of his brain! One of the coolest things to see was the umbilical cord. There was even something like a heat sensor that showed the blood flow through it. Baby had his legs crossed and I was getting really nervous we wouldn't see the gender, but he eventually opened up and we got to see his "little boy part" as the sonographer called it. :)

We decided not to tell anyone until we got together with my entire family for Christmas that weekend. My brother got to find out a little early because he helped us put together "gender reveal" cupcakes for everyone to bite into. It was really cute and it was fun to see our nieces and nephews react. Thanks again, Ross!



Jake is very happy to be having a boy! Here's the proud daddy to be!

Pregnancy: Weeks 15-17

Week 15! November 28, 2012



So, this week I started feeling little vibrations that I thought could've been the baby moving, but I definitely wasn't sure. I really had my doubts because I'd been told as a first time mom, I most likely wouldn't feel the baby until I was 20-22 weeks along.

Week 16! December 5, 2012



Look who has a bump! This week I could definitely say I felt the baby move! Those little vibrations that I had been feeling last week were my little peanut in action. I was tying quilts at the extension office with the 4-H kids for work and I just kept feeling this little rubbing vibration inside. I don't really know how else to describe it. Most women say it feels like butterflies or bubbles popping, but that didn't quite fit for me. I had my doubts at first, but I continued to feel the same thing on and off throughout the next few days and that pretty much sealed the deal. I was thrilled! I'd been waiting for the longest time to have some evidence that this was really happening! It's still hard to believe there really is a baby inside of me.

Week 17! December 12, 2012



Pregnancy advice, for anyone out there who is less intelligent than I am: DON'T chop off a lot of hair or make any major changes to your appearance while pregnant. Your body is changing enough! Any sudden, drastic changes will cause you to have an emotional breakdown, in which you will suffer a complete identity crisis. Okay, maybe I am being a bit dramatic, but pregnancy hormones make you do that sometimes. I decided to cut my hair this week (evidence doesn't show up until next week's picture) and donate it to Locks for Love. I'm adjusting slowly, but right after I chopped it off, I had a total meltdown. I came home to Jake sobbing. Then, we had to rush to our first prenatal class, but I couldn't stop crying. I am sure they all thought someone had died because I was very red and puffy. My friend, Candice cut my hair and she did a great job and I really do like it now. I just grow very attached to my long hair and it hadn't been cut in almost a year and a half. Moral of the story: save big changes for well AFTER the baby comes!

This was yet another nerve-wracked week. I was terrified about the upcoming ultrasound. I didn't feel like they would find anything wrong, but you never know. Mostly I was scared they wouldn't be able to tell the gender of the baby for certain and I would have to wait even longer. Waiting to find out the gender was torture!

Pregnancy: Weeks 13-14 and some other good stuff.

Week 13! November 14, 2012



I definitely thought I was getting my belly this week, but it still wasn't good enough for others to notice. Morning sickness was still kicking my butt, though slightly less so. In other news, we got a new house guest this week. Unfortunately, Jake's Nana took a fall and broke her hip. She will be in a rehab facility for a while, so we are watching her pup, Wyatt. He's crazy, but cute!



Riley is learning to tolerate the new addition. (Maybe this will be good practice for him having to share the house and the attention for when the baby comes!)


Wyatt is learning to fit in.


Week 14! November 21,2012



I consider this the week when the morning sickness finally let up for the most part. (Insert praise music here.) This was just in time for Thanksgiving!

I made my mom's famous rolls all by myself for the first time and was pretty darn excited for how they turned out.


And Jake carved his first turkey! We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with his mom and brother.


I couldn't leave out this kodak moment: this is how I know Jake is going to be the best dad! What man will cuddle a dog (one that he pretends not to like) like a baby?? Too sweet!

Pregnancy: Weeks 9-12

9 Weeks! October 17, 2012



Our first ultrasound was this week! SOOOOO EXCITING!

Ultrasound! October 22, 2012




What an awesome experience! When we went to our ultrasound appointment, we were told that my doctor was called out to do a delivery. We could either reschedule and see him the next day for the ultrasound or see one of the other doctors in the clinic. I was already a nervous wreck and had been looking forward to this day since I found out we were pregnant, so we decided to see the other doctor.

I'm not sure what I expected. I've seen ultrasound pictures before, but I was still absolutely in awe and amazement when I saw my baby for the first time. I don't know if I expected it to take a while to find the baby or what, but I remember being shocked when all of a sudden...there was our baby! And he was MOVING! Right from the very start, our little boy was super active! I couldn't believe how much he twisted and jerked! I guess I thought about the ultrasound pictures and not the fact that we'd be able to see what he was actually doing. It was incredible! Oh, and he was so cute! I started crying, of course.

We were able to see so much! We saw the umbilical cord, head, body, arms, legs, and even a defined set of the cutest fingers ever! We heard the heart beat (a strong 171 bpm) and he measured in at 1.1 inches or 9 weeks, 4 days. (My calculations put him at 9 weeks, 5 days.) It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life!

10 Weeks! October 24, 2012



Nothing too specific to mention this week. Eating was such a chore. Morning sickness wasn't necessarily intense and I didn't throw up a lot, but I felt kind of miserable all the time. Food rarely ever sounded good. I would eat only because if I didn't, THEN I would dry heave. Lovely, I know.

11 Weeks! October 31, 2012



I started to feel like I was developing a bit of a belly at this point, but I was the only one who noticed. I was beginning to think morning sickness would never end. Jake and I were supposed to go out to a dinner party on Halloween, but he had to work and I just felt too lousy to do anything and definitely too lousy to eat dinner with friends without them knowing something was going on.

12 Weeks! November 7, 2012



This week was the first time I thought there might be a light at the end of the morning sickness tunnel. I had a couple days that weren't as bad as usual. I began to be hopeful. Also this week, I got to make my first real baby purchases! The girls in my ward were all raving about the JJ Cole warehouse sale that comes to town once a year, so I dragged Jake along and went to check it out. We bought a diaper bag, bundle-me, support pillow, and a pacifier holder. I'll have a put a pic of my cute diaper bag up sometime.