just a quick note

While Chuck and Michael play Xbox in the living room, thought I would blog a little since I hadn't in a few days. Week 22 begins tomorrow and I'm thankful. Last week was a very hard week, not with baby, because she's moving and jumping and playing and I'm sure growing. We had a few things go on in our life that has put us in a struggle, but we will survive and make it out with only the strength and lessons learned from it all. Baby girl is apparently learning that my bladder is trampoline-like and she gets good "air" when she hits it just right. And she is becoming a pro at it! I've learned that she absolutely doesn't like salsa, which is such a shame because it was one of my favorite snacks. She must be growing because I am getting hungrier more often and am trying to eat as well and as much as I can. Every night when I go to bed, she begins her tumbling and flipping and acrobats! Chuck is trying every night to feel her, but he hasn't yet. Hopefully soon! The worst symptoms I'm having at the moment are major fatigue, which I don't know if it is baby caused or just stress caused, because like I said earlier, it's been a hard week and I've slept next to none and I'm having aches and pains all over, especially my back and feet at night. I don't know if my feet are swelling, but they ache, only at night. But honestly, I feel ok, I'm not complaining! She'll be soooo worth it when she makes her grand entrance!
My next MD appointment is Aug 4 and Dr Christine has already told me they will be doing another ultrasound to look at her kidneys, and I will having a gestational diabetes test.

Name Game

This naming business is difficult. We're down to two names for the most part and can't decide. Chuck says either, and I say either, but I really have my heart set on one. Decisions, decisions! I know this should be the least of my worries, but sometimes it's the little things that are the hardest!

It's a .......

It's official, we will be parents of a beautiful baby girl by Thanksgiving! Had a great doctor's appointment on yesterday. Baby Girl showed us her "stuff" by sitting rearend down so we could be sure she's all girl! She weighs a whopping 13 ounces, she's about 6 1/2 inches long and has long arms and legs. She enjoyed throwing them all around while we watched her! Her spine, brain, heart, bladder and stomach are all there and functioning properly. Heartbeat was 155 bpm. She is lying along my pelvic area, hip to hip and is very low and I have an "anterior placenta" which means the placenta is on top. this means it's going to be another couple of weeks before I feel her kick really well and another month or so before anyone can feel my tummy to feel her kick. Another note is she is actually measuring to be bit earlier than previously thought, Dr measured her to be around Nov 19, not Nov 23 but she is not going to change due date b/c it is only a few days, and we all know babies rarely come on due dates! So, I'm still betting on Nov 21, Chuck is betting Nov 18. I guess we need to start a prediction calender!
I'm healthy too, I've gained 4 pounds since last appointment and blood pressure is perfect (120/75). I'm hungry most of the time now and very tired a good bit too. My body is starting to do some changing as in my belly is growing into all basketball look. I'm starting to walk a bit slower and Chuck says I "walk pregnant" b/c it's more comfy to walk with my back a little bent. I get short of breath if I walk or talk a good bit so I try to pace myself. I go back in 4 weeks and I have to do the gestational diabetes test, which doc says I'm having no symptoms for.
Lisa and Amy are beginning preparations for the baby shower. We are registered at Babies R Us and Wal Mart. They are thinking either last weekend of Sept or first of October. I'll keep posted on that.
I have to call today to register us for baby class at the hospital. Can't wait for that!!!
Well I'm off now to go eat something and enjoy the rest of my vacation!

Babies R Us & WalMart

We decided to start our registries today at Babies R Us and WalMart. Chuck, Lisa and I went to both and it was sooo much fun. And, yes, we jumped the gun a little and registered for girl things and if July 7th has other news for us, then I'll be happy to change it all, but we had such a great time just looking around and experiencing it all. I never knew baby stuff could be so fun! We did go a little overboard with some things, but ya never know! If you want to look at our registries, feel free, you can go online to either and search baby registry and search either my or Chuck's name. (I think on walmart's he entered Charles, not Chuck) There are a couple of duplicates on both because I forgot we had registered at Babies R Us for a couple of things and put them on Walmart too. Oops! Babies R Us definitely has more stuff on it because they have such a better selection. We mostly put the essentials (diapers, onesies, bottles, etc) on walmart.
Next time I blog will probably be July 7th...so see you then!

Hmmm....Did I just feel what I think I did???

Tonite at approximately 7:15 or so, I think I felt the baby kick for the first time. I'm not for sure about it, but it was a feeling I've never felt before in my life and it wasn't a gas bubble, because usually if I get those, shortly after the first feeling then my entire stomach hurts. I was standing in a store and something in my lower stomach, on the left side, just jabbed me. Almost like someone had just bumped into me, however there was nothing around me to do that. My sister happened to walk around the clothes rack that I had propped on and asked if I was ok, because she saw me grab my stomach and prop on the rack. I explained to her what happened and she she smiled and said, "I bet that was baby!" I slowly began walking around again, thinking if it was a gas bubble or something else it would do it again, and as of 1 am (right now) not again.
So for all purposes at this point, I'm going to declare it to be baby kick #1. I might be wrong, but I've been wrong before but this really does feel right!
Now I'm going to go rest and try to get some sleep!

What a Beautiful Baby...

We got a great surprise today....an unexpected ultrasound with a sneak peak at the 4D!!! And let me just say, that is one beautiful baby chillin' in my tummy! Heartbeat was 160 bpm and he/she was just laying there, breech, and gave us some great poses of the profile, rib cage, spine and sucking the thumb. Then at the end, it decided to cover the side of the face as if to tell us our view was over! The ultrasound lady, which was not our regular ultrasound lady Jamie because she was off today, but was sooo nice, did try and get a glimpse of the girl/boy parts but to no avail. Baby decided today wasn't the day for discoveries! Then she clicked the button and there was our beautiful baby's face, just looking at us, eyes still shut, but wow! what a sight! I've seen 4Ds in the past but to see my own was just absolutely amazing. I didn't cry although I did well up! We go back on July 7 for the gender reveal!
As for me, I'm healthy and fine. Blood pressure great and I had lost another pound, but MD wasn't too worried telling me that next month, they would measure baby and determine if I needed to modify my eating habits/nutrition, in case baby wasn't getting enough. She said by pictures now, baby looked right on target. I did share my concerns with her that I don't feel like eating most of the time, not sure if I'm eating enough, and worried that my appetite hasn't increased. She said at this point, she was not worried in that since I began my pregnancy overweight, that it is most likely that baby is using up the excess vs needing additional from me as would be had I been average size from the beginning. I was also concerned with my increase in morning sickness over the past 2 or so weeks. Again, she said was not a big problem unless I got to a point of not being able to hold down any food, which at this point, it's just brushing my teeth brings on a quick session between my face and the toilet or sink, or whatever I get to the quickest.
I will hopefully be able to post the pics from today by the weekend. As we were not expecting to get an ultrasound today, we didn't take a CD with us. Chuck is going to try and get the cords he needs to hook up our scanner this weekend, so I will post as soon as possible.
On a less happier note, we spent last night in the ER with Chuck. He hit his head yesterday at work on a steel beam and basically, it won. He has a concussion and "positional vertigo". He can't walk exactly straight, has a headache, a sweet little knot on his noggin, and is now realizing what day, month, planet he's on. Yesterday, he was unclear about that! The positional vertigo is basically when he turns his head downward or to the left he gets extra dizzy. Doctor told him this would clear up in a week or so, he has to go back next Monday for a recheck. Until then he was to be off work tonite and then to light duty until Monday. He seemed to be feeling a bit better tonite, he's still a little uneasy on his feet, but thankfully our apt is small so he doesn't have far to fall! just kidding, he's doing a lot of furniture walking! lol

Week 16 Begins Tomorrow

Tomorrow begins Week 16. I learned today baby is aobut 4 inches long and weighs about 2 oz, about the size of an apple. I'm having a few new symptoms and some of the old ones are sticking around. New ones are morning time stuffiness, leg cramps, and extreme breast pain, especially my left one. Old ones that seem to still be here are frequent urination (as in, you can set a clock to my potty breaks!), fatigue and moodiness. I'm trying to battle the moodiness best I can. Poor Chuck is getting the brunt of it and I always come back and realize I've been mean, but I just can't stop myself at the time. He just looks at me and says "ok, honey, it's the baby talking" and walks off. Thank goodness he understands, most days! My biggest worry at the moment is I'm not hungry and when I do eat, I don't want to and nothing tastes good, so I eat very little. I am trying to eat but it tastes so bad, I can't. I weighed at work Friday, and compared to my first weight on April 1, I've lost approximately 15 pounds.
I received a new book (Your Pregnancy Week to Week) and some pamphlets today from a maternity service I get through my insurance and learned what actual amounts of the food groups I should be eating at this point and I'm coming no where close to what I should. I am making a conscious effort, effective today, to eat right, including Chuck sat down and wrote out a grocery list of items to buy for me. He's become concerned and is going to start monitoring my intake from here on out. If anyone has any ideas of how I can work on this, please help.
I go to the doctor on Tuesday Jun 9 so I will post on Tuesday with my updates.