22 weeks and 5 days

Hi again. This Saturday marks the start of my 23rd week of pregnancy. The belly has really started changing now to the point that I have surrendered all of my pre-pregnancy pants and get to wear much more comfortable maternity pants. Our baby is about a pound now and moves around and kicks all the time, well, mostly when I am relaxing.It is such a great feeling!  This part of pregnancy is really fun and the fact that we really are having a baby is "kicking in".

I didn't post after my last appointment (the 20 week) but the baby seemed healthy, heartbeat was good and strong, and things are coming a long. I was told, however, after my ultrasound,  that I have a fibrous growth on my uterus that they want to monitor by ultrasound every 4 weeks. Supposedly this is common and usually doesn't cause any problems, but sometimes it can block the birth canal depending on how large it grows and where exactly on the uterus it is so they need to keep an eye on it. So, I will get to see my baby by ultrasound much more than expected, which is the fun part. I'm praying the growth doesn't cause any issues for the health of the baby or for the delivery.

Since my last post we have been busy...we moved into a bigger apartment that has a 3rd bedroom, so our baby now has a bedroom. Well, right now it is storing some of the stuff we have yet to unpack or find a place for, but it will eventually be her bedroom. My mom and sister got the baby some clothes, books, and toys and my mom gave me a bunch of the dresses that I wore when I was a baby, which is pretty special. They are adorable. It is exciting to be buying and getting stuff for our little girl.  The biggest thing on my mind right now is deciding on a theme for the nursery, as my mom is going to make a quilt for the crib. I believe I found a pattern I like, just have to find fabric. Once I decide I will post a picture.

12/9/2010   at 22 weeks and 5 days

My mom and I at Thanksgiving, about 21 weeks

A picture my mom took of Nick and I at Thanksgiving, about 21 weeks pregnant

Well, that's the update for now, Enjoy the pictures of my growing belly!

It's a GIRL!

Yesterday, November 9th, we found out that we are having a little baby girl! Well, at least they were about 85-90% sure (there's always that margin of error until the baby is born!) . Our ultrasound went well and our girl seemed to be growing healthy and her organs were as they should be. She is the size she should be for my due date of April 9th. Although we were ready for either a boy or a girl, just praying that it was healthy, I am pretty happy that it is a girl, as I feel as though I bond with little girls better and I LOVE shopping for little girls. Early in the pregnancy I could only picture the baby as a girl, in fact, but as time went on, I began to realize it could be a boy too! I guess my initial instincts were right, but I thought it may just be wishful thinking. Although Nick was sorta hoping for a boy, he really is happy and just glad it is healthy. We are so excited and I am really looking forward to picking out girly stuff that's actually for my own baby this time!! Pictures of the sonogram are posted!!

16 weeks

Today I had my 16-week appointment. I met with a different midwife this time (there are 3 where I go) whose name was Megan. I was nervous about meeting her because I am pretty sure she just finished her midwife schooling, but I absolutely loved her. She was personable, open to questions, and knowledgeable. I liked that she explained things to me, which the last midwife didn't do (come to find out that one is leaving in a couple months anyway). As of right now, I am kinda hoping Megan will deliver our baby, but we'll see who is on-call when that happens.

The appointment went well. We heard the baby's heartbeat and Megan said it sounded good. She measured me and everything seems to be going normal. The most exciting thing was that she gave me my referral to go get my big ultrasound where we get to find out the sex of our baby as well as see how his/her body and organs are looking. My appointment is November 9th at 8am. I don't look forward to drinking 24 oz of water in a short amount of time and then holding it in for over an hour...a bit nervous about that since I don't drink a lot at once usually. But I guess I have to! So excited that in 2 1/2 weeks (if baby cooperates) we will know what we are having. Can't wait to pick out baby stuff. And so far, 2nd trimester has been great! I have more energy, don't get sick anymore, and I don't spend Saturdays laying on the couch doing nothing anymore. I know this will change in the 3rd tri so I am enjoying it! I am so thankful to God for this pregnancy.

Heartbeat- 12 weeks

Today we had our 12-week appointment and met another of the midwives at the office. Since they ended up doing an ultrasound at my 10-week, they didn't do one this time, but this time we were finally able to hear the heartbeat. She said it sounded good and healthy and every thing else seemed fine too. We are still so excited that this baby is healthy and it was once again great to just have confirmation that things are going well. I am starting to have more energy now and the nausea is almost gone, with only some slight sensitivity to smells at this point. The last couple weeks I was so tired especially in the evenings that I just laid around and waiting til 9pm so I could go to bed! I had a couple Saturdays where I did nothing all day. It was very unlike me. But now I am doing better, able to clean around the house and get things done and even wanting to go out. I am thankful that the energy is coming back! At least for a few months. My belly is starting to be a bit more obvious to people who know me, so that is fun, and the pants are getting tighter, so I will be coming up with ways to keep wearing my clothes over the next couple months before I really need to buy a new maternity wardrobe. That's the update for now!

First Baby Anderson Sighting 9/10/2010

Baby Anderson, 9/10/2010

Today Nick and I went to our first appointment at the Midwife's office, feeling both excited and nervous. I was mostly nervous that for some reason the baby wouldn't be alive, which really is silly because I FEEL pregnant all the time, but still....the anxiety. The first appointment is a lot of talking about medical history and background, peeing in a cup, and blood samples, and also an attempt to hear the baby's heartbeat. Well, we couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat. I was feeling pretty bummed because I just really wanted confirmation. It turns out one of the midwives had time to do an ultrasound though...so instead of hearing the heartbeat, we got to SEE our little baby's heart beating!!!! And see its adorable tiny feet and hands and body (and large head). It was so exciting and it felt so good to see a little human inside me with a heart beating! The nurse thinks at this point that I am about 10 weeks and 2 days and the estimated due date for now is around April 8th-10th, as we suspected. We are so thankful to God for this little life growing inside me and for the chance to see it today. And, sorry folks, there was ONLY ONE BABY inside me. No twins. :)

9-10 week Update

The last couple weeks I have really started to "feel" pregnant. I have nausea that comes and goes, especially when I get too hungry or often after I eat. I throw up no more than once a day if at all so that's not too bad. During my 6-8th week my appetite was pretty bad, I just couldn't think of anything that sounded good to eat. But now my appetite is much better and I can eat almost anything and I hold most of it down. The smells are what really get to me now....just smelling something can make me nauseous. I wake up a few times every night so sleep isn't great, but additionally I feel exhausted, as in I feel like I got hit by a truck, a lot of the time. This is especially in the evening after work. My belly has grown a little bit lately which is fun to see. We are getting more and more excited as the pregnancy moves along and reality sets in that we are going to have a baby!

I have to say, Nick has been the best supporter during my nauseous and tired times. He takes great care of me. He has been making almost every meal we have, doing dishes, cleaning the house, and even holding my hair when I do throw up. I couldn't be more thankful for him and his support.

We have started to talk a little bit about name ideas, labor classes, to have or not have an epidural, and about moving into a new place. We have some friends that may be renting their house out soon, so that would be our first choice if timing works out. We do know that we'd like to have another bedroom.

So, there's a little update on whats on our minds these days and how things are going. I will update again after our first pregnancy appointment (yay!) which is this Friday, Sept. 10th.

Dreaming of Twins?

I had my first baby dream on Monday night and I thought it was sorta funny so I wanted to share it.

I dreamt that I went into labor one night. We went to the hospital. The whole labor is a blur except that I remember it was only about 30 minutes long (one can only dream of that!). I gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Ahhhh!! I remember holding them both in front of me and looking at them closely and I remember at least one of their little faces. She kinda looked like Nick. And they were really tall, skinny newborns. In the morning of my dream, Nick and I realized that we hadn't told anybody that we went into labor, let alone that our baby came, let alone that it was TWINS!  So we finally called and told family and friends. Then I think I woke up. But after I woke up, it took me a long while to realize that I did not just give birth to tall newborn twins. What a weird dream it was. I really hope for just one baby at a time, but twins do run in both Nick and I's families, so we'll see!

6-8 Weeks

at just 6 weeks, slight bump

Pregnancy symptoms have arrived! When I hit my 7th week, we were in Chicago/Galena, Illinois for my brother-in-law Peter and Marcy's wedding. First thing that made me sick just smelling it, SAUSAGE. No sausage for me anymore, at least for a while. I began to feel a bit queasy, especially if I didn't eat promptly enough. While the queasiness is no fun, it is a good sign to me that the baby is growing and developing so that makes it worth it. I'm beginning to see a very small belly forming that wasn't there before. I look forward to that baby bump growing. We are getting more and more excited about having a baby and starting to look into baby names, reading some books, and thinking about whether to move into a bigger apartment or find a house to rent.

We're Pregnant!

On the evening of August 4th, 2010, which happens to be my little brother's birthday, we found out we were pregnant! I decided to take a test because I was getting anxious, but thought I probably wasn't pregnant, because after trying to have a baby for over 2 1/2 years unsuccessfully you begin to wonder if it will ever happen. Well, I got a plus sign very quickly. I was trying to think of a fun way to go tell Nick, but all of the sudden he walked in, wondering why I had been in there so long. He saw the test, and we both just kinda stood there shocked. Then we got pretty happy. It was a guarded happy, because when I found out I was pregnant in April I miscarried two days later. But still we are so happy to be on our way to having a little family!  My estimated due date is April 10th. My first appointment with my certified nurse midwife is September 10th, at 10 weeks pregnant. I am hoping then to get a more exact due date and time frame.