28 Weeks & Counting...

Let the countdown begin! I'm officially in the third trimester, and I have to say I feel pretty good (probably just jinxed it).  We saw our regular OB-GYN last Thursday.  I was a little concerned because I had been feeling so much movement & strong kicks this past month, but all of the sudden it quieted down.  Of course the day of our appointment when I started to say something to the doctor about it, he started moving like crazy.  This could have been due to the fact that he was hyped up on sugar from the glucose test--which I passed with flying colors.  Ever since then I feel like he has been really active.  Everything checked out okay with the doctor.  He let us know that we will not be able to see the pediatric orthopedic surgeon pre-delivery because there's only one in Springfield right now, so we will have to wait til after he is born.  I'm sure he has a lot more serious things to deal with, and we already know a lot about what will happen once the baby is born, so no big deal.  I start my 2 week appointments now.  Can't believe I only have 12 weeks left!  I'm starting to have slight anxiety because I have all these things I want to get done, and they are not done yet.  We are currently remodeling our kitchen, and as soon as that's done I'll feel a lot better about everything else we need to get done.  Our house is just so torn apart now, it's hard to imagine it being ready for a baby.

We met with the specialist today & had another sonogram.  The baby was moving & kicking the whole time.  Right now he's positioned breech, but the doctor assured me that really they don't need to be head down until around 36 weeks, and because the baby's so active, he'll definitely change positions.  The doctor said that he's a little on the small side, but nothing to be concerned about.  His foot looks good--still mildly clubbed, and he thinks that it's possible he may only need splinted to fix it.  That's great news.  We'll see him again in September so he can check up on the baby's size & foot.  We got some awesome 4-D pictures.  For every sonogram he has been sucking his thumb, so we got one of him sucking his thumb, and then when the doctor went to take another one, we looked and his foot was in his mouth.  I do believe he gets this from Chadd...don't ask.

In other news, my grandpa passed away last week.  My grandma described him as "a kind & gentle soul", which is exactly what he was.  Even though our baby won't be able to meet him, I hope that he gets some of my grandpa's traits.  One of the things I always remember my grandpa saying was "this too shall pass".  It's a good reminder for a lot of things in life, and I need to remember it more often.  We'll miss him, but I know that he was at peace & ready to go home.

Appointment with the Specialist

We had our appointment with the specialist about the baby today.  It went pretty well.  Much better than last week.  We started with a sonogram, and he was definitely awake this time!  It was so awesome to be able to feel him & see him move at the same time.  He was much more cooperative this time, and the tech was able to get great shots of his heart & the rest of his vital organs that couldn't be seen last week.  He's definitely still a boy, and has no problem showing it off.

The tech spent a long time looking at his heart, to the point that I was a little worried, but she let me know that it looked great, he was just covering his face with his hands & it was casting a shadow on his heart so she was having a hard time getting some of the pictures.  We also got to see him in 3D/4D, but she couldn't get a good shot because he was covering his face.  

The specialist we met with was great.  He reassured us that this is no big deal, & a totally fixable problem.  He also said it's not a severe case at all & made us feel a lot better about it.  He did say that clubbed feet can be associated with chromosomal abnormalities, like down syndrome, so the risk for the baby having down syndrome is slightly increased.  He talked to us about doing amniocentesis, but we are opting out because it doesn't change anything for us whether or not we know.  Overall it was a great appointment & put both of our minds at ease.  We will meet with our regular doctor on July 20th, & then with the specialist again on August 13th.  After he gets more pictures of his leg & foot, we will meet with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon so he can look at the pictures & discuss possible treatments.  

Thank you to everyone who was thinking about us and praying for us this week, it means a lot!

Sucking his thumb

Profile shot (from last week, he was sleeping)

If you look close, you can see his features--ear, eye, nose, mouth

Gender reveal blizzard cake from last week 

  

It's a...

Boy!!! Looks like my maternal instincts have already kicked in.  I knew this all along.  It just took seeing his, ahem, not so little, manhood to prove it.  We went in for our 20 week appointment first.  We had to see a different doctor because ours just had surgery.  She was really nice & gave me some tips on sleeping better & for a possible gluten intolerance.  I'm trying to watch the gluten I take in to see if that keeps me from getting sick at night.  It's been a lot better the past few weeks, but regardless, I should watch eating so much gluten because it's not good for you anyway.  After our appointment we had a quick lunch & then went back  for the sonogram.  I was so anxious!  When we got into the room she told us she would do the gender part last.  And in this case, it was after two hours.  She kept saying it was one stubborn baby.  He was asleep, curled up with his butt in the air & facing in, so all we could see was his back side.  He would not move for anything.  She poked & jiggled as much as she could and he just stayed asleep.  Does this mean he'll be a good sleeper out of the womb as well?  I hope so.  After an hour she had me get up and pee & move around a little bit.  When she started again, he flipped for about 10 seconds, so she got a pretty good profile shot, & then he went right back to his original position & started sucking his thumb.  It was amazing to see all this.  Last time we had a sonogram was at 8 weeks, and he definitely didn't look like a baby yet.  I didn't know they were going to do this, but she even got a 3-D shot of the side of his face.  It's just a little creepy, but very cool to see his facial features.  I was worried that because he wouldn't move, we wouldn't be able to see the goods, but she assured me that wouldn't be a problem.  Finally, she zoomed in & said "See that?  You've got yourself a baby boy!"  Chadd was beside himself.  It was pretty funny.  He shouted "I'm a man!"  (I had a dream we had a sonogram last week & they told us it was a boy & Chadd started screaming & dancing around the room shouting that he was a man.  In fact, I had two dreams about the sex being revealed to me last week & both times it was a boy.) She kept trying to get him to uncross his legs after this & he did eventually stretch them out for a short while.  She got a picture of the heart, but not clear enough, so she finally gave up & said we would have to come back for another sonogram.

After a few minutes, a specialist came into the room & explained to us that the tech may have seen a possible  problem with one of his feet, and that she would check it out further.  When she pulled up the image, she showed us that his right foot is "clubbed" (this is an awful term, so I think I will refer to it with its technical term, talipes).  It means that his foot didn't grow the way it was supposed to.  Instead of growing forward, it grew rotated towards the other foot.  I think Chadd and I were both in shock, especially after being so elated from hearing the gender news.  I didn't really know what to say or ask.  I did ask if his foot was formed correctly, and she said that yes, it is, it just grew the wrong way.  There are several different ways to treat it, and we really won't know what way is best until he's born.  We will have to meet with a specialist in a week for a consultation.  I know it could be much worse, and that this is a very fixable problem.  It just really stinks to know there is something wrong with our baby.  We were assured that sometimes this just happens, & that it wasn't anything Chadd or I did.  It makes me really sad to think of my child being in a cast & a brace for at least the first year of his life.  And like my sister-in-law said, it's scary being a new mom in the first place, but already knowing you are going to have to overcome difficulties makes it even scarier.  Everyone that I have talked to has said that it's really not a big deal, very common, especially in boys, & totally fixable.  Again, I am so thankful that so far everything else about the baby is healthy, and I know we will overcome this & that everything will work out like it's supposed to.  We are in good hands, and will be taken care of.  

On that note, I'm excited to finally be able to do some clothes shopping (I may have already done some.. a lot.. on Friday :)
Almost forgot... Chadd got to celebrate his first father's day on Sunday.  I got him a sweet coffee mug that has a mustache on it & says "dad".  We had breakfast with our neighbors.  I took my dad out for lunch at panera (fancy, right?) & then we had dinner with Chadd's family.  It was a great day.  Then on Saturday, we had a birthday/gender reveal party for Chadd.  We took his grandpa's boat out with his family & some of our friends for a little while.  It was really hard not to slip up and call the baby "he".  When we got back, we had everyone pick a pink bow or a mustache to wear.  I think the mustaches outnumbered the pink bows :) After an awesome dinner prepared by his dad (ribeye & pork chop sandwiches, yum), we got the cake out. My boss at the after school program owns our local Dairy Queen & made a blizzard cake for us with pink bows, mustaches, & question marks all over it.  After Chadd blew out the candles, he got to cut it and, drum roll, there was blue icing in the middle!  I'm glad we did this, it was a lot of fun keeping everyone on their toes, and a fun way to celebrate Chadd's birthday (with the help of Joe, he got a smoker & some bbq tools from me...I expect dinner tonight).  I don't know if there was much surprise, since I had expressed all along that I thought it was a boy, but it was a good time regardless.  

One Week of Waiting Left

One week from today we will know the sex of the baby! I feel like this is the biggest thing I've waited for thus far in my life.  This has surmounted even the wedding, I think (love you, Chadd ;).  I probably won't sleep all week.  I remember finding out we were pregnant in February, and then finding out that we wouldn't find out the sex of the baby until the end of June, and thinking "holy crap, that's months away".  Now we have just a week.

In other news, Chadd and I celebrated our second anniversary last week.  He totally surprised me by taking me to eat at the top of the Hilton.  I had told him I wanted to go to Steak & Shake.  So he took me to a steak house & ordered a shake (how clever, I know).  He had also already gone there during the day & told the hostess his plans (that I'd wanted to go to steak & shake, that's where he proposed, & that we are pregnant, etc.) & taken flowers & a card.  I was wondering why everyone acted so strange when we got there & kept looking at my belly.  It took a while for me to figure everything out.  Actually, I didn't.  Chadd had to explain to me.  It was a great night, though, with a wonderful husband & delicious food.  He also bought me a set of fiesta ware dishes & silverware for our new kitchen.  If we ever get our new kitchen.  We currently have our new dishwasher & microwave in the living room, cabinets are in, refrigerator on its way, but no contractor yet.  Hopefully we get that taken care of this week & we can start.  I can't wait to have everyone over once it's done...we are talking a total gut of our kitchen.  New everything.  

I am now 20 weeks & half way through the pregnancy!  Still craving cherry coke & chocolate milk, as well as green olives, watermelon, hot dogs, & DQ cheeseburgers.  The list goes on and on.  Also still having an aversion to certain meats.  My sciatic nerve isn't bothering me much anymore, which is great because it was pretty painful for a little while.  I now can't sleep on my back because it's hard to breath, and have found that sleeping on my right side is most comfortable (when I do sleep, that is..haven't really slept much since I've been pregnant.  Guess I should just get used to it).  I have been feeling a ton of movement, especially if certain music is playing.  We were at J.T. & Ashley's wedding (congrats, by the way!!!) & the dj played the cupid shuffle...the baby went nuts.  It also responds to certain foods when I'm eating them (no, it's not gas, I can now tell the difference).  I have graduated to mostly maternity clothes or shorts that have an elastic waist band.  It really sucked when I put on a pair of shorts that fit me 40 pounds ago & now I can wear them again.  Its for a different reason, I guess, so it's not as bad.  But still.  Bleh.  At least I have Jenni to walk with  sometimes now.  

Sunday is father's day, a first for our growing brood.  Can't wait to celebrate with my hubby, the dad to be. I know he will be a great dad.  He already is :) He is so worried about the baby & me all the time.  I also can't wait to celebrate with my dad.  I couldn't have gotten a better dad :) This week he came & got my car from work & changed the oil for me.  He also takes me to lunch on a regular basis, mows our lawn & has been great to talk to during out family's circumstances the past 18 months.  Not that I couldn't talk to him before, but I think we've gotten especially closer through the difficulties this year.  If I need anything he is there, no hesitations (remember when you moved that futon up stairs for us?  We need to move it back down now :).  I hope that I can be like this with my child.  He already is an awesome grandpa to our nephew, Reed, & I know he will be just as great with our baby.  A little side note, so far he does not want to know the sex of our baby.  He tried this with Reed, but found out by accident eventually.  And this was before he had a facebook.  I think inevitably he will find about ours as well, and I'd rather he found out from Chadd & me than by accident on facebook.  He is supposed to let me know what he wants to do this week.  For now, if you see him, please don't tell him what the sex is.  

Anywho, can't wait for my next blog because it will probably be about the sex of the baby.  Maybe.  Unless I get excited and blog again before that.  

7 DAYS!

June happenings, 18 weeks

Well, only 3 more weeks & we will know what this peanut is.  Needless to say, I can't wait.  I am so anxious.  At least we can count down the weeks instead of the months, now.
Since I last posted, I've felt the baby moving a lot & have been having a lot of pain because of my sciatic nerve.  My mom informed me that I also gave her a lot of pain, so what goes around comes around ;)
My new craving is chocolate milk... I can't get enough of it.  Prairie Farms chocolate milk, to be exact.  It gives me a belly ache but I love having a glass in the mornings.  That's what Tums are for, right? And, I figure it's better than craving cherry coke.  I'm also still having a slight aversion to meat, especially chicken.  I have been able to stomach boneless buffalo wings from Buffalo Wild Wings & a piece of fried chicken, but that's about it. Chadd got to hear the baby's heart beat on the Doppler, which was cool.  He also almost got to feel it moving yesterday but as soon as he put his hand on my belly it stopped.
According to what I've been reading, the baby's sense of hearing really started picking up last week, so I can' wait to use the music device that Chadd got me.  I wonder if the music I put on for it now will help to establish it's tastes in music later in life.  We are definitely going to listen to some Jack Johnson this week!
I also wanted to mention that I am so blessed to have the people in my life that I do.  It's great to have friends and family that are willing to do so much for us & lend us there baby stuff.  My sister-in-law, Mallory, sent me home with a huge tub of maternity clothes a few months back...And I have been adding to her stock pile :) My best friend, Jenni, has given me so much advice.  I think I ask her questions about pregnancy on a daily basis.  It's nice to know people with experience :) She's also lent me various items including a high chair, bouncy seat/play station, carrier, tons of bottles, containers for baby food making, and she said she's going to lend me her pump.  She's an awesome friend, I know.  I owe her big time.  A friend from work, Heather, lent me her bumbo, tons of maternity pajamas, a Doppler (love this!), and lots of other things.  My uncle's friend gave us her bassinet (if only I could figure out how to put it together).  Seriously, I am so grateful for all these people in our lives.  We would not be able to have all these things if it weren't for them.
And, two of our big ticket items are being purchased for us.  Our travel system is picked out & will be bought as soon as we find out the gender (thanks, mom!).  It is so cool, I can't wait to get it.  Would it be weird if we practiced pushing it around the park? ;) Our crib will also be on it's way soon.  Guess we, I mean "I", should really start getting serious about switching the rooms around so we can set up the nursery.  Chadd cleaned out his "game room" that will become the nursery (what a great dad already, I know).  We took 10, yes 10, trash bags to good will out of that room.  Now I need to finish cleaning out the spare bedroom so we can do some moving around.
I'm also excited to say we tentatively scheduled newborn pictures for the first week the baby comes home.  Amy Joy Photography is going to do them.  She did my nephew's pictures and they were awesome.  She has a great package that includes newborn, 3 month, 6 month, and 1 year pictures, so we are taking her up on that.  I think she's also going to do a maternity photo shoot in August, even though I already feel huge (it kind of stinks to lose all this weight, only to feel fat again a few months later.  I haven't gained much back, only 1 lb, but I feel like I'm not even in my body).  I bought the cutest outfit for the pictures.  Think Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Seriously can't wait.
As for the rest of this month, we have our anniversary coming up on the 5th, Father's Day,  our sonogram, & Chadd's birthday.  What a great month!!

I almost forgot to add, can't wait for Mallory & Darci to come stay with me in July for a girls weekend!!!  Hopefully Jenni can make it, too, and we are going to get some baby shower stuff done!  It's tentatively set for September 8th.  Seems like a ways a way, but really only a few months.  Can't wait to see what these girls have in mind... I know Jenni has mentioned some great ideas :)

16 Weeks...gender, & cravings, & names, oh my!

Today was our 16 week appointment... It was pretty exciting and painless.  Because Chadd couldn't make it, my mom came with me.  We got to hear the heart beat, it was in the 150s (still thinking "it's" a boy) & I was able to change our sonogram to June 22.  That means only about a month and we will know what this little peanut is!  I don't care either way, I just want to know.  Place your bets now.  I'm putting $50 on boy.
We've been thinking a lot about baby names.  I think most girls think about this far before pregnancy.  It was all fun and games before...now it's time to get serious!  I feel like we will just know what the baby's name is.  My requirement is that it be something we both love.  After getting some good advice the other day, I realize that I wouldn't want to name our child something that Chadd didn't love just as much as I do.  I also think that the baby should make the name, not the name define the baby...I just want a good, solid name that fits our child.  And after teaching preschool & learning 24 names/spellings & then teaching kids how to write their names... I know to keep it simple.  There's no need to change a good name up--as I said, the name should not define the child.  So, I'm trying not to think about it a lot, and I'm hoping we will figure it out in the next 5 months.  It's a very daunting task, naming a child.
In other news, my belly is getting bigger everyday and I'm getting less comfortable in regular clothes.  I still have a slight aversion to meat (I would rather not think about eating chicken breasts, pork of any kind, or steak).  Processed meat sounds perfectly fine--hot dogs (Hebrew National All Beef Kosher, of course), burgers, chicken fingers, etc).  The baby could also be a little bit Italian because I crave pizza & pasta (especially fettuccine alfredo).  I'm also craving cherry coke.  Do they make a caffeine free version of this?  I'd like to find it.
I almost completely forgot...A milestone I should have had in my last post--my "first" Mother's Day!  I'm going to sound totally spoiled when I say what Chadd got me...He has a lot to live up to every year now.  A few weeks ago he gave me a speaker system that wraps around my belly & that my ipod hooks up to.  The baby can listen to music & it presets it to the correct volume level.  I can listen, too, by using my headphones.  It's really cool, especially because the baby is starting to be able to hear.  After the baby's born, it hooks up to the stroller.  A few days before Mother's Day, he gave me the Willow Tree Angel "Home"--a pregnant woman and her spouse standing together.  I think it says together our family makes a home or something like that.  Very sweet, especially because I didn't hint at this at all.  Then on Mother's day, he gave me a necklace he had made.  In the center is baby feet, and surrounding them says "You are my sunshine" (this song reminds me of my childhood, I used to sing it to my mom) & there is a pearl on it representing the baby.  I can add more pearls if we have more kids.  I may have hinted at this :)  In all fairness, we are two very excited first time parents to be, and I'm really glad that Chadd is able to show how excited he is (he's also bought the baby numerous Black Hawks items--a jersey, onesies, sleepers).  He's pretty worried that he's "screwed" if it's a girl because these are "boy" clothes.  I told him she will wear them with pride and we will put a bow in her hair and call it a day :)
If I've rambled on, I'm sorry.  The next time I blog will probably be when we find out the sex!!! Can't wait.  I've got lots of shopping to do.

Milestones

So, we've had a few milestones this week and I couldn't wait until after my appointment to blog about them.  I swear I felt kicks yesterday (5/16) afternoon.  No, it was NOT gas.  There have been times when I thought I felt movement but it could have been gas.  This was most definitely 3 kicks.  It was after a particularly stressful moment at work, and after I sat down & started to calm down I felt it.  It was very unmistakable.  And very cool.  I can't wait to feel it again.
As for the other milestone, after I got home tonight I decided to give the Doppler a whirl.  I have been unsuccessful with it thus far.  I've heard my heartbeat, and what I thought was movement...but tonight I heard the baby's heart beat!  I couldn't believe it.  I heard it for about 5-10 seconds at a time & couldn't exactly get a clear reading on the beats per minute.  Chadd's gone at camp until Friday so I hope I can find it again when he gets home.
On another note, my 16 week appointment is tomorrow & I hopefully get to hear the heartbeat again & get a clear reading on the bpms.  It would be awesome if we got a sonogram...because they could tell me the sex...and I'm too anxious to wait until June 29!  I'll just note now, that I think "it's" a boy.  I don't know why, I just have a feeling.  Not that I wouldn't absolutely love a girl.  We'll see.  In 6 weeks.
Let the countdown begin...