Heartbeat

Today was our 12 week check up that should have been done almost three weeks ago but got cancelled and then rescheduled...oops, so that meant we finally got to hear our little one's heartbeat. I went in wondering if they would be able to find it being that we are only at 15 weeks and plus my belly is where I store all of my extra poundage, but they found it right away and confirmed that yes, there is still someone growing inside of me. The heartbeat was at 155 which is good and everything including my blood pressure checked out normal. If I am correct the heartbeat was lower than what it was the first time they checked it during out ultrasound so my first thought is that it is a boy, darn it. But the kind lady who was standing in line in front of me at Subway over heard my conversation with my sister giving her all of the details. I got off the phone and the lady excused herself and said "I couldn't help but over hear you, I am 18 weeks pregnant and we just found out we're having a little girl and her heartbeat was 151." So I guess that means we still have a shot even though the more stories I hear the less credibility I give to the old heartbeat wives tale. The big ultrasound is in four weeks, I don't know how I am going to wait that long. I keep telling everyone that since I have already reached my out of pocket maximum for the year thanks to my $6,000 a pop Remicade treatments that I may just have to develop some severe cramping and make my way over to the hospital for a short visit...lol. How wrong of me is that? LOL What an impatient Mother is willing to do for an answer. On the bad side of things it looks like my gall bladder is on it's way out, they are trying to get the baby delivered first and then take it out so let's keep our fingers crossed that everything remains calm like it has done since I have gotten pregnant.

Bedding

We've picked our bedding and here within the next month or so are going to begin the big nursery project. I absolutely cannot wait until that room is done and I can go in there and sit waiting until the day I get to lay my little one down in his or her crib. This bedding is one that we had originally picked but after Babies R Us decided to no longer sell it we settled for something else at Wal-Mart. Well low and behold I ran across our first pick today at a different store that we will be registering at as well and I was so excited I just had to call Daniel and tell him the good news. I gave him two options, we can either do this one no matter what sex the baby is or we can go crazy and do pinks and purples if we're having a girl, needless to say he said a big fact NO to the pinks and purples so this is the winner no matter what. What do you think??

This one was our back up plan and the one we already showed everyone...oops.

I like the farm animals so much better Baby B is going to be a little cowgirl or cowboy!

Belly Shot #1, Week 14

As promised here is belly shot number one. Please keep in mind that there is a reason why the camera is mine and that I am the photographer in this household, the husband doesn't a put a lot of effort into it and is having a hard time grasping why we are even taking belly shots...MEN!! You'll notice I had an intruder in the picture, we woke him from his slumber and as you can see he is feeling much better than what he was last Saturday after having his gut cut wide open to remove a sock that wouldn't come back out on it's own. This isn't the greatest of shots, I was told to move my hands...lol. I think I look bigger towards the top of my tummy than what I do towards the bottom so I don't know what's going on. We will see how I continue to progress.

Annaleigh

Even though I am lacking in the posting department there are several blogs that I follow daily. A blog that I have found myself drawn to on a daily basis is called "Three Cheers for Babies". After discovering Brooke through her cooking blog I became an avid follower of her baby blog as well. After years of unsuccessful tries at motherhood she and her husband Joe finally conceived after a successful fertility treatment. They quickly discovered that not only did the treatment work, but it worked thrice. They were pregnant with three wonderful little babies. Sadly Brooke delivered very early in her pregnancy and her triplets; Charlie, Lily, and Annaleigh were born prematurely. Even though they have had their share of ups and downs the babies continued to grow and thrive in the NICU.

Sadly Annaleigh unexpectedly was diagnosed with a disease called NEC today, it affects the digestive system of the baby and it moves very swiftly. Often times the babies recover after having the setback but in Annaleigh's case it was too late. Her surgeon discovered that her bowels were completely dead and essentially there was nothing that they could do. More than likely Annaleigh will not survive the weekend, possibly not even the night. Being pregnant with my first child after years of trying I can relate to the miracle that their conception and ultimate birth was. I can't relate though to what they must be going through. The pain and sadness that they are feeling is one I pray that I never have to experience as a parent. Tonight, please keep Brooke, Joe, and Annaleigh along with their others babies in your thoughts and prayers. I pray that God takes Annaleigh peacefully and that he allows Charlie and Lily to continue to grow and thrive in honor of the sister that they will never know or experience.

Yay

I am a few days late in posting this but I have wonderful news...I am officially in my second trimester. I honestly cannot believe how quickly those first 13 weeks went by and it floors me that we are a 1/3 of the way through this pregnancy. I am feeling really well other than the fact I am still experiencing morning sickness and now for whatever reason, I am experiencing the pregnancy headaches that no one bothered to tell me about...lol. I have had this headache for almost two weeks now and nothing is really helping. The morning sickness isn't as bad as it was in the beginning but it's still enough to drive me crazy. The funny part about the morning sickness is that the majority of it occurs during my morning showers and nightly baths. My Aunt thinks it is because the baby is not fond of warm water, this leads me to believe that we are most definitely having a little girl, she is already wanting things done her way. I can imagine bath time in our house is going to be interesting to say the least.

We have already registered and I hope that here in the next few weeks we will get a start on the nursery. This house is filled with procrastinators so as long as it's finished before the big arrival I am not going to stress very much. We have had lots of offers of help in preparing the room so I think once we start it's going to go quickly and smoothly. As of right now we are doing a jungle theme but I am slowly moving to pinks and purples for a little girl and if its a boy I see a farm theme in our future.

Our next appointment is next Friday where I hope to hear the heartbeat for the first time. I am also going to do my best in persuading my Doctor to schedule the big ultrasound for sooner rather than later. I am so anxious in finding out whether this is my little girl or if the Grandma's are going to get their wish and have a little man. I took yet another gender prediction test online today and it predicted a girl just like all of the others. I am confident that it's a girl but I am not confident enough to place money on it.

Also...is it to early to start feeling the baby?? I swear I felt a little something on Wednesday evening. I was kicking back in the recliner when I felt this oh so suttle flutter in my lower belly. It was nothing I have ever felt before so I immediately thought that it might be the baby but I have never done this before so I am not sure. I learned today that the baby is more than likely the size of a lemon. My husband being the funny guy that he is quickly ran to the refrigerator, grabbed the bottle of lemon juice that comes in the shape of a lemon and held it against my stomach. He pretty much implied I was a little far on the chubby side to only be carrying something that is the size of a lemon. He also said I have a muffin top, needless to say he almost got whipped. I am still working up the courage to post the first belly shot, I swear I am bigger than what I should be, but maybe not.

Anyway that's where we stand so far, the best is yet to come though.

Dogs and Children oh my...

As I type this Lennon is undergoing emergency surgery to fix a blockage in his intestines. I really don't know how much more I can take with this dog and all of the surgeries he has had to go under here recently. It breaks my heart that he is suffering and that there is nothing that I can do about it but try to support him as best as I can. I did realize tonight though while giving the surgeon the okay to perform the operation, I am not going to do good if and when my child ever get's sick. I am already dreading the round of shots he or she will have. Something tells me I will do the most crying. Lord help us all!!

My nephew to be...

See, my little sister really is pregnant, obviously she is a lot further along than what I am. We had a scare last night thinking that she was in pre-term labor, but she wasn't, hopefully Dylan continues baking for the next month as he is supposed to. Nikki's mother-in-law and I are throwing her her first baby shower this coming Sunday and part of my gift to her was a baby belly photo shoot. I am thrilled with how the pictures turned out and I thought in order to toot my own horn, I would share them with everyone. I am only posting a few but I hope you enjoy them.

By the way, sitting in the waiting room at the hospital in the maternity ward, watching all of the pregnant women come in and out, really helped the fact I will be one of those women in less than six months. It's officially sunk in that this is for real for us. I also bought the first few baby clothes that were gender related. I hit up a garage sale and spent $2.50 on 5 outfits for a little girl. I figured even if we do have a boy, I could always resell all of the girl clothing we have bought and received on e-bay and still make our money back on them since none of the outfits were purchased brand new.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

Almost there...

Wednesday I will officially be twelve weeks pregnant, which means only one more to go before I am officially knocking on my second trimesters door. I cannot believe how quickly these first twelve weeks have gone by. The morning sickness is still here...no where near what it was in the beginning though which is a good thing. I am finally able to eat things and Pringles have truly become my best friend. I am cooking more which I think my husband is excited about. This coming weekend is going to be a big cooking fest at my house. My sister Nikki's baby shower is this Sunday and I am bringing the majority of the food. I can't wait until it's time for my shower, mainly because it means that we will be that much closer to finally getting to meet this little one that is currently residing in my tummy. The baby clothes are already starting to pour in, mainly girl clothes as that is what everyone thinks we are having. My Dad's girlfriend Donna hit up Gymboree the other weekend and bought not only girl clothes but boys as well, just in case!! I am growing ever more anxious with this baby. I can't stand walking by the clothes and not stopping to just pick them up and give them a good wiff. I can't wait for the day when there will be someone inside of them. We have just a few more weeks until we can find out the sex of the baby but in the mean time I have been hitting up google for all of the old wives tales on how to determine the gender of your unborn child. So far the girls are winning, the only boy tales we have gotten is the wedding ring on the string thing and the fact I am craving salty foods instead of sweats as they say you do with girls.

I finally gave my five vials of blood for the pre-natal testing. To say it was a chore would be an understatement. We went ahead and waited until my next Remicade treatment in hopes that we could get it done with one stick at one sitting instead of two sticks during two sittings. Four sticks later they finally found gold in my left arm. The veins in my right arm have finally given up on us and no longer produce any blood. We can do the infusion in the them but they just don't share the precious red stuff. The fourth stick we moved to the left arm and we hit gold, the blood flowed freely and after having to assist the nurse in taking the blood I about hit the floor. The medical field is definitely not an option for this chicken. I am just glad to have it over and done with and I hope the results provide us with more good news when it comes to the health of this pregnancy. I also hope I don't have to do give up that much blood again during this pregnancy. As a reward for making it through another stressful treatment we went out to dinner and then registered for the baby at Babies R Us which was so exciting. We will register for more stuff once we know for sure what we are having but in the meantime we thought it would be ok to get the stuff we know we will need such as bottles and pacifiers out of the way.

Here's to hoping that the next six months fly by just like the first twelve weeks have done. I know I will need the time to get everything ready to go for the baby but I just can't wait until my snuggle buddy gets here.