Baby girl...maybe?!

So last Thursday we went to the hospital and a friend scanned my belly to see if we've got a boy or a girl growing in there!! We wiggled and jiggled, twisted and patted, rolled and pushed....and still no go! The umbilical cord was in between Baby's legs! When we first started looking she was sooo sure she knew what the baby was. Then, the longer we looked the more unsure she became.

Although, they have really cool machines, now! She can show the blood flow in red and blue, that's how we knew it was the cord. But that's pretty cool....

However....my sweet friend who snuck me into the hospital for a super special scan now has me scared to death! She just kept saying "This is such a big baby! This baby is sooo big!". She measured the femur and just gasped! I don't know any measurements, but man, Baby sure looked big. She wanted to take a picture of the spine and kept saying she couldn't get the entire spine in one picture frame. Interesting! But Anthony just mentioned that neither of us are small people, so I guess we're growing a tall baby! Ant says Baby's going to be an athlete....if she's tall and skinny she'll be an awesome runner!

Sooooo...She's 90% sure it's a baby girl!!!! I'm super-duper excited! Here comes pink and bows and ribbons and black patent leather shoes!

Tomorrow (Thursday, Nov. 12) we go for our official anatomy scan at the doctor's office. Hopefully the cord moved this week, with all that wiggling in there you'd think she's doing jumping jacks or maybe Irish dancing!

HOPE we find out something more definite tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Watch me grow!

6 Weeks

Look at that....NO belly! All my pants still fit!

8 Weeks

Not much different, not much to see.

10 Weeks

Beginning to see a bump, but still not much...

12 Weeks

3 months down, 6 to go! All my pants still fit, but there's a tiny bump.

14 Weeks

Ok...it's official. I popped! Here's the belly...although now we're 17 weeks.

My pants don't fit anymore and I've had to move to maternity pants. But the problem with that is that they're all too big! So I spend my day yanking and pulling at them b/c they keep falling down! Soon enough I'm sure that problem won't exist.

I haven't felt the baby yet....I keep thinking of your post, Anna R., about feeling Tristan for the first time. The doctor said it might not be until 19 or 20 weeks. Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

I'm still bummed about having to wait 4 more weeks to find out the sex. I wanna know NOW!

Doctor Visit

I went to the doctor again yesterday...

We are 16 1/2 weeks along....wow, 4 months! Just today someone mentioned that I was almost halfway there. That's a very interesting thought. It still feels like it's crawling by...don't get me wrong, I don't want to wish it away or rush it along, but it just seems like it's taking forever!

OK, doctor statistics so far:

16 weeks, 3 days

5 pounds gained

150 heartbeat

(178 last time)

That's about it. We talked about the flu...I'm getting a flu shot from the school system and the doctor's office should have the H1N1 vaccine within a week or two. They're going to start witht he 3rd trimester patients, then branch out to 2nd trimester. She hopes to get me in within that time.

We scheduled our next appointment...4 weeks! Such a long time, and especially this time since our next appointment is a BIG one! Our ultrasound!!! She wouldn't let me come in early, though it would be equally great between 18 & 20 weeks. She's making me wait until 20 weeks for our next doc visit and the ultrasound. TORTURE! Just tell me already! I can't wait to start picking things out and buying stuff (although I'm sure Ant can wait!). Our appointment is not until November 12....forever away!

We'll keep our fingers crossed!

Also...a shout out to Tori for going with me to the doctor yesterday. If you didn't know, Tori's a nursing student at Lenoir-Rhyne and I'm her "pregnant guinnea pig" so to speak and she's doing a report on me and Anthony. Kinda fun if you ask me! Anyway, it was her first time hearing a baby's heartbeat and she thought it was super cool. Which it totally is. Oh yeah, and Tori is a super sweet girl and a very good friend! So thanks, Tori. It's so nice not to go alone!

Lazy Saturdays

Well, we're both finally feeling better. FINALLY! That's really good news. It took Anthony a little bit longer to shake it than me, but I think we're pretty close to 100% again.

I took some pictures yesterday and today...different families. But I wanted to show you my favorite one of Faith! She's such a beautiful little girl!

Now it's Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting here on the computer while Ant reads Dan Brown's new book on the couch. This kind of afternoon is the best...just laying around and being together. Most of the time we do this on Sundays, but today we just migrated towards the couch!

Anthony has been working diligently on our new bathroom. Here are some new pictures!

Yes..we now have a shower basin, the bottom of our shower. There is a drain and everything!

No, you're not seeing things. Anthony's head is hanging from the ceiling! We had to remove these 2x4s to get the new ceiling piece in. He's laying up in the attic among the insulation. Gross.

You should also notice the plumbing! There are pipes of all kinds! We've tested it and it officially works! So "technically" we could take a shower in there with the new pipes and the drain. But I'm not sure that would be good for the sheet rock.

Ta-da! Now there is no hole in the ceiling, the beginnings of a wall, and electricity for the ceiling light and fan! It's working... it's coming along! It's just a slow process. Ant took a couple days off last week to work on it, that's all the recent progress.

As of today he built the corner bench and we're officially ready to get our backerboard and tile! We're planning on picking up the backerboard and some more sheetrock so we can finish the wall and be ready to tile!!

Hooray!

Sickness during pregnancy

This sucks! I feel terrible this weekend! My head is full of yuck and my nose is terribly runny! I've been coughing and sneezing. Yesterday I had a really nasty fight with my gag reflex and I almost didn't win!

Today we stayed home from church so I didn't share my germs. But I won't be so lucky tomorrow. School is on Monday...and there's no money for substitutes. So I have to go to school.

Anyway, I tried Sudafed and Benadryl.....Benadryl knocked me OUT! but didn't help me feel better. Sudafed didn't do anything. I mean, nothing. Now there's nothing else to try. When you're pregnant you have such a limited amount of drugs to try!

I'm going to go take a shower to see if that makes me feel better. At least I slept last night....no promises about tonight!

I'll post more about the bathroom progress soon! Cute pics to follow!

Good News

Since most of you who read this already know....I figure it's OK to post about it, now.

But we're almost 12 weeks pregnant and nearly finished with the first trimester!!!! We saw the baby at 8 weeks on ultrasound. We couldn't hear the heartbeat but we could SEE the flicker on the screen. How amazing! It was 180 beats per minute. That's crazy to me.

I couldn't help but cry. What an amazing feeling to see that living thing you've created with someone you love so much. You just can't explain it to anyone else, you just have to experience it.

So our due date is March 28, 2010. Anthony thinks we'll wait till April.

We're also taking votes on the sex of the baby before we know! Ant says it's a girl, my mom has already bought dresses, so she's on the girl side. Erin says it's a boy (although I think it's just so she can buy everything green!). Amy hopes it's a girl....I too want a girl. But we'll be happy with ANYTHING as long as it's healthy.

Next Tuesday, the 14th, we get to hear the heartbeat for the first time! I'm sure that'll be the most exciting moment! We hope to find out the sex by Thanksgiving. Hooray! I can't wait to buy sweet, sweet things....no matter if they're pink or blue.

I bought my first pair of maternity pants today. Amy says I'll hate them before this is over! I finally found some at JCPenney that were long enough, everyone else things all pregnant ladies are 5 foot 6. HA! My belly has popped out and there's a definite bump there now. Anthony is so sweet and snuggles her every night and every morning before we go to work. But he keeps wanting to squeeze and wiggle it. And it's not very fun. It's uncomfortable. He doesn't understand....he says she likes it! ;-)

More to come...

One down... 35 to go...

One week is totally finished!!!

We made it together through 5 whole days of school. There were definitely some bumps along the

way but sure enough, here we are. We're all alive and no worse for the wear. Besides being extremely exhausted after school I'm making it.

The child with autism is very tiring....and requires constant attention or nothing gets done. I can't do that, so Mom has to understand that he can't function in a reg-ed classroom. We'll see what happens. They're in denial about it.

My 4th grade team is really good I think. Our newest member has just slid right in without any trouble and we're working well together so far. I hope it stays that way!

Some of my munchkins are adorable and some would drive you crazy in only 5 minutes! It's totally amazing how that happens! There are so many kids in 4th grade this year that we're just full of them, and it's tough to move around the room, or get away from them!

Hope all stays well....