I love my belly!

So at week 18 I have started showing so much that I think I look really pregnant. I dont' know how much others agree with me but I am constantly looking in the mirror and touching my growing belly. I am so happy to look like I am growing a baby and not just chubby. Garrett has begun touching my belly more and even at night when we are going to sleep he reaches over and rubs my tummy to tell the baby goodnight. It makes me smile.



On to Week 18 development:

How your baby's growing:

Head to bottom, your baby is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and she/he weighs almost 7 ounces. The baby is busy flexing its arms and legs — movements that you'll likely start noticing more and more. The blood vessels are visible through the thin skin and the ears are now in position and stand out from the head. Myelin (a protective covering) is beginning to form around the nerves, a process that will continue for a year after the baby is born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and Fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If your baby is a boy, his genitals are noticeable, though he may hide them from you during an ultrasound. (http://www.babycenter.com/)

I am getting anxious to find out the baby's gender. Unlike Mari and Liz I haven't a name for the baby in utero... so its been challenging to limit the reference to "it". Hopefully we will be able to schedule an ultrasound before Christmas and do a big reveal when all the family is home. But we will just have to wait and see.

I am excited to start calling the baby by name once we know the baby's parts. All that depends on us deciding upon a name. Little boys names are hard.... Any suggestions? I know that is a dangerous request, but at this point I am starting to get desperate. I refuse to have a child that is three weeks late because his daddy can't/won't decide on a name:) ha ha!

I think I felt the baby move in the middle of the night the other night as I lay awake between 2:30 and 3:45 am. It felt like I had a butterfly flying inside my tummy. I felt something move and I wasn't moving. It was surreal, but I am still waiting to feel the baby in a way that makes me know with out a doubt that he/she is moving around in there.

I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and will hopefully be able to schedule the ultrasound then. So until I have more news...

I think Ill go and eat some Ice Cream:)

Pregnancy Week 14

Ok, so I am a huge slacker and have been the worst pregnancy blogger in all of pregnancy blogging history. However, I have only had functioning internet at my apartment for 5 days so all things considered I think I am doing pretty well.

That being said, the last seven weeks of pregnancy have been externally uneventful. I haven't popped yet, but I think I am just now beginning to show. I have felt well and have regained my energy. I have been so thankful that I can stay awake for more than two consecutive hours. Around week 9 Garrett went with me to the first OB ultrasound. It was so neat. We saw the little baby and heard its heartbeat. It sounded like a train, " Chuga-Chuga, Chuga-Chuga..." It was incredible. Thankfully Garrett kept his color during the visit and didn't have to leave unexpectedly like he has had to do in the past. I am gaining confidence that my otherwise steady and resourceful husband will make it through delivery without his own set of nurses.

I had another ultrasound this past Friday and I am so greatful to the Lord because the ovarian cyst I have had for over an year and a half has shrunk to 1/3 of its original size. I have an appointment with the doctor to evaluate the ultrasound measurements, but if the cyst remains as is, then the threat of surgery during pregnancy has all but gone away.

I found this today and it captured my feelings this afternoon so here it is:


A few weeks ago I read that the baby's ears had developed and that he/she could hear us. So both Garrett and I have been talking to the baby. I have contemplated reading to the baby, but I haven't gotten up the nerve. In all seriousness, isn't it kind of strange to read books, play music, or even talk to, a small little person growing inside of your belly. When I start to really think about what is actually taking place inside my body, I can get a little freaked out. I am growing a baby. A person is growing and developing inside of me. Sometimes I wish I could shut down the part of my brain that engages in critical thought.


Week 14 Development:
Your baby weighs almost one ounce, and is 3 to 4 inches in length. Your baby's bladder is beginning to function and, believe it or not, your baby actually begins urinating. In fact, although doctors are not really sure how or where your baby's urine is produced, they do know it is one component of the amniotic fluid, which regenerates itself every 3 to 4 hours.

How your baby's growing:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active. (http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-14-weeks_1103.bc)

Pretty Exciting Huh. Well thats all for now, and I promise Ill do better in the near future:)

Week #13

Week 13 Development:

The most dramatic development this week: Reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over two inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce

Pregnancy Week 7

So this is what's happening in the babies development this week:

Your baby’s fluttering heart would show up on an ultrasound performed this week. He or she is between 0.56 and 0.8 inches from crown to rump - or about the size of a grape - its liver is churning out large amounts of red blood cells, and will continue to until the bone marrow forms and takes over this function. Week eight marks the beginning of a very busy developmental stage: its face continues to change as the ears, eyes and the tip of the nose appear; the intestines start to form in the umbilical cord; and your baby's teeth begin to develop under the gums. (www.pregnancyweekly.com)

I have started to feel nauseous the past few days and have not enjoyed that in the least. It seems that I am most prone to feeling sick between Breakfast and Lunch. At about 10:30 I am hungry and need to eat. I have yet to throw up but have wanted to to relieve the yucky feeling.

Thats all I got for now, I am going to go take a nap.

Pregnancy and Sleep

I have always been a girl who could sleep. In high school, I was the one who slept until 7:20 threw on some clothes and barely made it to school on time. Saturday and Sunday consisted of little more than sleep and football. I remember my Mom being concerned that I wouldn't wake up before noon if I didn't have someplace to be. Since being married to a man who doesn't like to sleep as much as I, I have slept less, but was always able to sneak in a nap here and there. Saturday mornings I would sleep in until 930 or so, but nothing like my teenage years.

Let just say that being pregnant has changed all that! I can sleep like never before. I have been going to bed, well actually falling asleep on the couch at 9:30ish, and sleeping there until 10. I then stumble to bed and immediately fall back to sleep like I never even woke up. I sleep wonderfully until 1:30 when I wake up having to go to the bathroom so badly its like I have forgotten to pee for the past 6 months. I stumble into the bathroom, I have learned to leave the light off it helps the falling back to sleep process, do my business and return back to bed. I sleep until about 5:30 waking occasionally having had some random dream which I never remember. At this time I must pee again. What! I haven't had anything new to drink since before I went to bed and I emptied my bladder like 4 hours ago... What gives. I then return to bed and sleep nicely until Garrett lovely asks me to make his lunch at about 6:45. At 7 when he leaves for work, I go back to bed and can sleep until 9:30 or so. I get up and eat because I am awoken by a feeling that says, "Eat now or you will regret it in 5 minutes." I usually eat a bowl of cereal, the 3 berry blend fake Cheerios from Trader Joe's have been hitting the spot. I wash that down with some Gatorade, and my vitamins that make me gag.

After breakfast, I have been reading a book Abby gave me called Great Expectations. Its great...haha. It breaks the pregnancy down weekly rather than monthly which is helpful. I like it a lot. Did you know that during pregnancy your blood volume grows causing you to gain aprox 4 lbs.? Crazy. Well after my morning reading, some days I take a nap. I have been sleeping on the couch with the wonderfully soft blanket KK gave Garrett and me for Christmas last year. It's a great nap blanket. I can sleep until 11 or 11:30, because by then that awful feeling of eat or die returns. So I eat.

The afternoon passes by with some occasional nausea and the reminder that I must be eat. But I am for the most part normal...

It's the evening that is hard. After I make dinner, eat and do some cleaning up, I am so tired that I must rest. I must say that Garrett has been wonderful and has really been helpful in the chores department. I think he has done the dinner dishes every night for over a week. He is a wonderful man. This is the time that I can be found back on the couch under the fabulous nap blanket, with some sort of a book nodding off here and there in between chapters. I am out cold by 9:30 and the process starts all over again.

Women who work while pregnant are women to be honored. I don't know how they keep their eyes open let alone stay productive. And the whole multiple children thing, how you are this tired and must continue being a Mommy is unbelievable to me! I am thoroughly impressed by Mom's who have little ones and are pregnant. Especially having 2 under 2! :)

All I can say is that I am glad that Garrett had enough wisdom to encourage me to finish school before trying to get pregnant. Finals and pregnancy would have sucked!

Praise Songs vs. Hymns

I ran across this today and thought it was pretty funny as well as a nice honest criticism of each.

Praise Songs explained…

Not long ago a farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. “Well,” said the farmer, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”
“Praise choruses,” said his wife, “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.

The farmer said, “Well it’s like this—If I were to say to you:
`Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a hymn.

If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:

Martha Martha, Martha,
Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,
the cows, the big cows,
the brown cows,
the black cows,
the white cows,
the black and white cows,
the COWS, COWS, COWS
are in the corn,
are in the corn,
are in the corn,
are in the corn,
the CORN, CORN, CORN

Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well that would be a praise chorus.”

Hymns explained…

A young, new Christian from the big city attended the small town church one weekend. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the young man, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”

“Hymns,” said his wife, “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like regular songs, only different,” said the young man.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.

The young man said, “Well it’s like this—If I were to say to you, `Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a regular song.

If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:

Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.

For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.

Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.

So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn.
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.

Then, if I were to do only verses one, three, and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.”

Pregnancy Week 6

Ok, so I am pregnant! Its very exciting and also very overwhelming. I have been feeling a little nauseous in the evenings, but nothing incapacitating... Garrett is also very excited. He is looking forward to being a Daddy. When I told him I thought I might be pregnant, his response was, "Are you kidding me?" I guess it happened a little sooner than we expected. But, nevertheless, we are overjoyed.

Food Issues:
I love hard boiled eggs. They are a great source of protein and easy to eat on the run. However, I will no longer be eating hard boiled eggs. I tried the other morning and was unable to finish it. Food Aversions, Here I come! Isn't that sad.
And, I hate taking vitamins, they make me gag. I almost puke every morning when I take them!
I am loving everything Gatorade. It tastes delicious to me, and is much more flavorful than plain water. But don't fear, I am drinking plenty of water too!

So here are some interesting facts about what is happening in the little baby's life:

Fetal Development Week #6

Your baby's heart is dividing into chambers and will soon find a more regular rhythm. Your little embryo is about 0.08 to 0.16 inches from crown to rump (about the size of a BB pellet) and looks more like a tadpole than a human. But it undergoes a tremendous growth spurt this week: Its major organs - including the kidneys and liver - begin to grow; the neural tube, which connects the brain and spinal cord, will close this week; and your embryo's upper and lower limb buds begin to sprout, which will form the arms and legs. The intestines are also developing and the appendix is in place; and its facial features are starting to form, the nostrils are becoming distinct, and the earliest versions of the retinas of the eyes are forming.(www.pregnancyweekly.com)

Thats all for now:)