It's been a tough road, but it's been totally worth it!

Friday, August 28, 2009

And it's a...

GIRL!!!

Profile (Tommy says she has my nose!)
View up looking at the bottom of the butt... a girl!


Foot!


We are both so thrilled! We both were expecting it to be a boy, but we were nicely surprised with a girl!

We first met with our genetic counselor to go over risks for birth defects, in our case were very low. She also went over our family history to make sure we're not first cousins or anything :). All went smoothly, we then went out to the waiting room to wait for our ultrasound.

We got in there, and as soon as she put the wand on my belly, we saw the most beautiful sight I can imagine... our baby. They did all sorts of measurments of the head, looked at the brain (yep, it has one!), looked at the heart to see all 4 chambers working perfectly. They also measured the spine and looked for spina bifida... NONE! The belly looked good, the baby even had a bit of fluid in the stomach, so she is drinking the amniotic fluid like she should be! Then moved down and saw all the toes, the hands and fingers, and of course, the money shot...

After some prodding, the Dr. got the baby to cooperate and show us the goods. GIRL! You could even see her inside girl plumbing, so there is no doubting what she is. First words out of Tommy's mouth, "Oh, Lord!" LOL! Yep, and she will be wrapped around his finger!!

Everything looked good, no markers for any genetic problems. She weighs 10 oz. and is about the size of a banana. She measured right on time, so due date still stands at Jan. 23.

All in all, we are THRILLED to be having a healthy baby, and just the cherry on top to get a beautiful baby girl!

Now, I gotta go shopping... :)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

2 more days...

... and it's dragging on!! We are both so anxious, as well our friends and family are, to find out what we're having! I just hope we get a good shot so they can tell. Knowing our luck, the little bugger will have their legs crossed or something! AHHHHH! No!!! Mama is DYING to go shopping! :)

On a totally unrelated note, I'm eating the BEST Colorado peach right now! Yum!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Feeling better

I'm feeling much better about the Spina Bifida results... I still figure it's less than 1/4 of 1% chance, so odds are on my side! Just another little speedbump in this journey to parenthood! I can't wait for next Friday! I will be a bundle of nerves, but will be good to get everything "out in the open". I just hope the baby cooperates to see what it is! Mama's gotta SHOP! :)

I think I forgot to mention this, but last week at my OB appt, my blood pressure was a bit high... 138/84! Preganancy-induced hypertention starts at 140/90, so my Dr. wants me to cut down on my salt intake... which is HARD! I am only "allowed" 1500 mg of salt per day. Once you start looking at sodium content in every food, that's not much at all! It's been hard, but gotta do it for the baby and me!

Other than that, feeling good, occasional heartburn, still feeling some movement from the baby, and starting to actually look pregnant. At least that's what people at work are telling me. I still think I just look like I have a beer gut! LOL

7 days until the big u/s!!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

So my Dr. calls...

At my last OB appt., I had blood drawn for the 2nd part of the ultra screen testing.. first part was for Down's syndrome and 2 other syndromes (which came back normal).

A nurse at my OB's office just called that he 2nd half for spina bifida screening came back positive. :( She said my OB isn't that worried about it, my chances are still 1 in 584, as opposed to the normal 1 in 1000, but still... so they will be looking for that in the U/S next week at the perinatologist.

Please pray that everything will be OK with our little bean!!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

OB Appt. - 17 weeks

Today was my OB appt. with Dr. Gernhart, and let's just say.... I love her! She is such a fantastic doctor, easy to talk to and very fun. We started with blood work to test for the last of the genetic disorders, spina bifida. I'm not all that concerned about it, since neither Tommy nor I have any history of abnormalities in our families (well, maybe my sister... lol! Love ya!)

Nexty we went over our birth plan, a time to ask any questions, and then we listened to the heartbeat. She found it right away this time, and it sounded like a miracle!! It was in the 150's she said, so it was strong and happy.

It was cute, Tommy then asked if "we" should be limiting our activies, such as jet skiing, four wheeling, etc. Um......... YEAH!!! Dr. Gernhart sorta laughed and said yeah, she probably shouldn't be doing that at this stage, and Tommy just said he wanted to make sure so when he did go do those things without me, he wouldn't feel guilty! :) lol

I go to the perinatologist at Methodist Hospital on Aug. 28th for the genetic counseling and *hopefully* my anatomy scan!! That is when they will tell us what we are having! The real reason I am going to Dr. Bonebrake (yep, that's his real name!) is because I had a LEEP procedure done years ago, where they froze and took out part of my cervix due to pre-cancerous cells. Dr. Gernhart just wants to make sure my cervix length is OK and that I won't need a cerclage, the stitch they put in your cervix to "sew" it closed. I just want to see my baby and find out what it is!! :)

Then I go back to Dr. Gernhart on Sept. 14th for my reg. OB appt. So exciting!!!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

My achin' head!!

This past week I've been getting some major tension headaches! I usually get them when I'm NOT pregnant, but they seem to be coming on more and more latley.. I've had 4 in 1 week. Last Friday, I finally broke down and called my OB to see what I could take. She prescribed Fioricet, a tylenol-based drug with caffeine and a barbituate in it! Yikes! I have to say, it does help, but it makes me nervous about taking it, so I've been trying to do it without them. I read the barbituate part is addicting, and that's the LAST thing I need!

So I am at home this morning, taking my time getting ready to go to work. Tommy thinks it's all work stress related, and I have a feeling he's right. So does that mean I can quit?!?!?! Ha ha, I would love that! But not likely to happen. I still think I need to go apply for my dream job.... to water plants at Mulhall's (a gigantic nursery here in town). How hard can that be, just me, the sunshine, and a hose!? :)

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Massage

Ahhh... just got back a little while ago from a prenatal massage... it was WONDERFUL! We are fortunate enough to live about 4 blocks from a shopping center that has a lot of little shops. I bank there, my chiropractor is there, Blimpies is there (very important!), pizza parlor, pet store, and massage therapist Brittany!

She had my lay on my tummy with extra support underneath so I won't be laying right on my tummy... and she concentrated on my neck and shoulders, since I've been getting headaches lately... and wow. I'm like jello, but it was a wonderful way to start my day! Thank you to my wonderful husband for the gift certificate for that massage!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Oh, one more thing...

This is for Kristi, my dear friend in South Carolina, who has been DYING for a belly shot, since she says she can't be here to rub my belly!

It's not pretty yet, but this is 16 weeks:



Love you and miss you to death girlie!!!! xoxoxox

16 weeks

I'm finally back on for an update!! Sorry it's been like 3 weeks, it's just been HELL at work, and super busy at home, so haven't had much time to get online! But I took today and tomorrow off from work, so now I have some time to get some updates done!


Well, since my last post, I finally got over my morning sickness... thank God! It ended right around the middle of my 13th week. So from 6 weeks to 13 weeks... ugh. Now just dealing with heartburn. But overall, I feel pretty good! I have another appt. next Wednesday the 12th, so I'm excited for that!


I've had to go out and get some maternity pants... mine are getting a bit tight! I have been using the Bella Band, but it's getting annoying because it's shifting every time I move, so I'm done with that. Going to look at some dress pants for work today. I have a few shirts too that now I can wear and aren't skin tight. YAY!


I'm still not convinced there is a baby in there, in spite of tight clothes, heartburn, etc. I just don't feel I'm getting a belly yet! I just look fat in my gut, like I have a beer belly! Tommy thinks I'm nuts and tells me to get over it. So I made a sign for what will be the nursery (right now it's a spare bedroom and a collector of Tommy's remote control car collection!)



So now every time I get up and leave our bedroom, I see this on the nursery door... a gentle reminder I'm pregnant! I still won't be completley convinced until I get really big! :P

And speaking of nursery, no, we haven't done anything to it yet. I told Tommy I don't want to even think about it until we know what we are having... then it's GAME ON!!!! :) My big u/s should be around Sept. 3rd. I will find out for sure on Wednesday.

And I am proud of myself, I haven't bought anything yet for the baby.... told myself I was gonna wait until we found out, and so far I've made good on that! But it's been hard!!