Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Week 20: Halfway there!


I obviously can't take a picture if the Mr. isn't completely busy at the time.  Yup, he was mowing again.  And I had just washed my face.  Keepin' it real here, folks!
So I'm halfway there!  Such a blessing!
We had our second sonogram last Thursday and it was incredible.  The little nugget was movin' and groovin' in there!  I wasn't really expecting to see so much movement, but it completely took my breath away and I definitely cried.  I pretty much leaked tears the ENTIRE time.  I realized that what I have been feeling has DEF been the little nugget.  We have a healthy baby- the sonographer was even able to count fingers and toes!  Healthy brain and a healthy heart and measuring right on time.
How far along? 20 weeks, baby!  Oh gosh... sometimes it just hits me that in December I'm going to be a mommy and I get pretty overwhelmed.  In a good way!
Baby’s size? A banana, from head to toe.  Up until now the baby has been measured from head to rump, but now it's measured from head to toe.
Total weight gain/loss: 5 POUNDS!!!!!  I seriously jumped up and down in the doctors office on Thursday!
Maternity clothes? Um, I hit the motherload.  I'm so thankful that a friend gave me a TUB (literally a tub) full of maternity clothes.  A huge blessing.  And she's pretty close to my size (yay for short legs), so I've got more pants to choose from now!  Thank you Destin!!
Stretch marks? Not a one!
Sleep: Pretty good!  The past two days I've been doing day camp at the church and may have overdone it a little, so I've had some pretty fantastic naps when I get home and have managed to get a good nights sleep in as well.  
Best moment this week: Finding out the gender and sharing it with our family, friends, and teensies!!!!
Miss Anything? Despite my good sleep, I'm missing sleeping on my stomach.  And I've had a hankering for sushi that veggie rolls just can't satisfy...
Movement: Some serious movement!  Mr. has even felt it!  There have been a couple of times I've seen my stomach move, which is completely freaky and completely cool.  Nugget is quite active when I lay down at night and I've been watching and feeling all the movement while I settle down for the evening.
Food cravings: Nothing in particular other than sushi.  I have finally been eating fresh fruit again.  I love fruit and it's been a while since the idea or thought of fruit hasn't completely repulsed me.
Anything making you queasy or sick: No!  Praise God!
Gender: If you're my friend on Facebook (and I'm assuming most of you are!), you already know.  But I have to share a little story before sharing the BIG news!
Since about 8 weeks, I had a distinct feeling that it was a girl.  When I first found out I was pregnant, I immediately started looking at little boy things because since meeting Mr. I have wanted a little boy first.  But after about a month, somethings changed and I couldn't shake the feeling that we were going to have a little girl.
Mr. grew up with 2 older brothers and was insistent that if I wished hard enough, we would have a boy.  I kept telling him that I was pretty sure it was a girl.
Wednesday night after church I was leaving the living room and said, "I still have a feeling it's a girl..." to which I heard him mutter under his breath, "Yeah... I kinda do to."
I immediately turned around and he pretended like it had never been said.  Stinker.  ;-)
Fast forward to our appointment Thursday and they wait until the very end to tell you the gender.  We were both super excited and our sonographer asked if we had made bets.  I told her that I had just felt like it was a girl and Mr. said that he wanted a boy.  The sonographer then said, "Well, it seems like mother's intuition is right!

We're having a little girl!!  A GIRL!
WE ARE SO EXCITED! Mr. has already said that he is taking her hunting and fishing.  I wouldn't expect anything less!
We've decided on the name Clara.  No middle name yet, but we're working on it.  
I absolutely love being able to call her by her name!  And to be able to call her a HER!  No more "it!"
Our little baby Clara.  *sigh*  I love it.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Symptoms: Today I was outside with some littles having them do some very simple jobs in our church's community garden and I got really hot.  I could definitely tell I needed to get inside pretty soon.  Thankfully, I was able to sit down with some cold water and put my feet up for a bit.
Belly Button in or out? It's in, but it will be flattening out soon, I can tell.  I have a super deep belly button naturally and it's getting significantly shallower as the days progress.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Mostly happy and energetic, but I have had a couple of freak outs.  My birthday was on Saturday and I may have had a complete breakdown with the Mr. after I had locked myself (and my keys and cell phone) out of the Zone (our youth building) and had to walk in the rain around to the front of the church, while a wedding was going on, and ask the officer on duty to let me back in.  Ugh, it was awful, but I probably overreacted.  I calmed down and had a wonderful birthday!
Looking forward to: Starting on the nursery!  I've got some fabulous projects I'm going to be working on over the next few weeks including picking out fabrics with my mom (!!!!!!!!) and sewing a crib skirt with her and my super seamstress friend Erin as well as sewing a cradle sheet and a few other things with my mother in law!  And shopping with my stepmom and sister... SO MUCH FUN!  Now that we know the sex, everything is more real and more fun!!
Please pray for: Continued growth of baby Clara.  That she will progress normally and healthily. 

Thanks for all your support and prayers as Mr. and I continue this crazy blessed journey!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Week 19: Excited!


I really ought to have Mr. start taking my pictures... I hate selfies.  Never taken one in my life until I got preggers.  Mr. is just never available when I take the pictures (he was mowing tonight).  
It hasn't been a week yet since my last weekly update (at some point I'd like for these updates to always be on the same day, but that hasn't quite happened yet), but I didn't want to update any later because we find out if we're having a boy or a girl tomorrow afternoon and I felt like if I updated tomorrow or Friday that I would be lying once I got to the "gender" section of the update.  I know, it's ridiculous.  I don't want to tell the internet until my family, friends, and church knows.
We are VERY excited to find out though.  I already told Patrick I'll be going out tomorrow after my appointment and buying an outfit in either pink or blue to show our parents via FaceTime tomorrow night!  And NAMES!  We can start nailing down NAMES!  So good!
On with the update:
How far along? 19 weeks
Baby’s size? Mango!
Total weight gain/loss: Dr. appointment tomorrow and as I said next week, I'm hoping that I have gained at LEAST 2 pounds.  Honestly, the way I've been eating I don't think it will be too big of a problem... especially since I just ate my second dinner for the night.
Maternity clothes? I bought a pair of skinny jeans from Old Navy.  So far I have been a big fan of Old Navy maternity.  Especially the prices!
Stretch marks? Nope.  My sweet friend Jessica suggested Palmer's Cocoa Butter for Stretch Marks and I LOVE it.  I'm not really concerned with stretch marks at this point, but my belly was ITCHING.  The lotion is nice and thick and smells like chocolate.  Love it.
Sleep: It's been awesome this week since we moved our dog Brady out of the bedroom.  He's such a good dog, but he's OBNOXIOUS at night.  He wants to sleep on the bed with us, but we haven't been letting him since we found out we're pregnant.  But he still wants to get up on the bed, so he puts his head on the bed and whines and whines and whines.  We tell him no, he lays down on his bed and sighs loudly.  This goes on multiple times at night until Mr. and I finally fall asleep and he sneaks onto the bed.  Ugh.  So ridiculous.  AND if there's a storm, he will stand up on the bed and BARK.  That is just about the worst thing ever... being woken up by a barking dog at like 3am.  So he's been sleeping in the living room.  Of course he's also been whining at the door... but after Mr. got on to him the first night and I got onto him last night, he went to bed and got over it.  So nice and happy sleep for me!
Best moment this week: What I THINK is the baby moving.  It's pretty weird and at first it made me just a little nauseous, but now that it's gotten a little more consistent it's pretty cool.  Also, I talked to my mom about what the baby will wear when it comes home (I know... it's ridiculous, but this is what my mom and I do- we plan small things ridiculously in advance.  usually what most folks would consider NOT a big deal is a big deal with me and my mom) and she told me that me and my brother and sister all came home in Feltman Brothers outfits (which are SUPER expensive).  She offered to let me have my coming home outfit if it's a girl and borrow my brother's coming home outfit if it's a boy... which led her to looking through all of our baby stuff.  Ya'll... she sent me pictures of my stuff and it's a little ridiculous how much clothing she kept!  Plus some other really fun and sentimental things like baby blankets made by her and my great great Aunt Grace and a chalk drawing that my dad had done of me!  So fun to see pictures of all this stuff.
Miss Anything? It's getting uncomfortable to sleep on my stomach and I'm a BIG stomach sleeper.  That's probably the biggest thing right now.  With my hunger, returned my love of plain old water, so I'm definitely not missing drinking water lately!
Movement: YES!  What I'm feeling HAS to be the baby!  I'm anxious for my ultrasound tomorrow so I can see how the baby is moving around in there.
Food cravings: Nothing in particular, just FOOD.  I've been doing a good job of eating this week and trying to make up for what I've lost.  I had a friend offer to bake me some healthy and delicious treats... I think I'll have to take her up on it (please, Julia!?).
Anything making you queasy or sick: NO!  *cue Hallelujah Chorus*
Gender: WE FIND OUT TOMORROW!!!!!  That's why I'm writing this post today... my teensies don't find out until Sunday night (we're telling family tomorrow night and friends on Saturday night) and I definitely want them to know BEFORE I put it on the world wide web.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Symptoms: Nesting is beginning... I can tell.  I've been cleaning and organizing and prepping and planning... I've started to tackle the pit of the nursery and can't wait to start really decorating!
Belly Button in or out? In, but being stretched.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: I've been very happy- Mr. even commented on how he could tell how much better I've been feeling.  I'm just praying I continue to have more good days than bad.
Looking forward to: TOMORROW! We'll find out what the sex is and I'm so excited!  I have absolutely NO preference.  I still have a feeling it's a girl though... We'll find out tomorrow if I'm right or wrong!  I'm also excited to start being able to call it a HE or SHE.  It's a little annoying to keep calling it IT.  Which is why I tend to just say "nugget."  It just seems a little more personal.
Please pray for: Next week is our Day Camp at church and is a pretty exhausting week.  Last months Day Camp was where I started feeling miserable, so I'm praying that I'll have just enough energy to get me through the day.  God will provide exactly what I need.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Week 18: Back to normal!!!



I do believe I'm getting thicker around my midsection!  This was taken last night (the previous post's picture was taken on Monday) after I devoured a delicious pizza and orange cream soda from BJ's.  Food baby AND real baby?
I am feeling SO much better.  Like, I can't describe to you the night and day difference that I feel from even just earlier this week.  I'm totally understanding the whole "2nd trimester energy" that I was certain was a myth for me.  Case in point: 
Yesterday I only worked until about noon because I was going to be gone with my teensies all night for a youth rally (Summer Youth Series) and I am working today.  So my plan was to go home and get some rest since I was going to be pretty busy.  However, as I was driving home (which is literally a 2 minute drive), I drove past the turn to my neighborhood and decided to run to Target to grab a few things to organize my craft closet.  
The craft closet needs to be cleaned and reorganized so we can move all of Mr.'s hunting/fishing/office supplies out of the room that will be the nursery and into the craft closet.
I got home and completely reorganized and cleaned up the craft closet.  And then worked on the office.  And cleaned 2 bathrooms.  And the kitchen.  And took the trash out.  And picked up a 15 passenger van and then took a 15 passenger van BACK* (see bottom of post for an explanation on THAT madness...).
I feel back to myself.  Which this time even last week I couldn't imagine.  THANK YOU so much for all the prayers.  God has been so good to me.
How far along? 18 weeks
Baby’s size? Sweet potato- whoa.
Total weight gain/loss: I have a Dr. appointment on Thursday and I'm so hoping I've gained at least 2 pounds.
Maternity clothes? Yes- LOVE my stretchy waists!  And I went swimming for the first time and wore a maternity swimsuit and loved that it really showed off my belly!
Stretch marks? None, but the stupid rash has been making my belly ITCH like crazy!
Sleep: Best moment this week: SO many.  Probably the best has been hearing updates from my friends who are at camp with my high schoolers.  I seriously cried when they left on Sunday afternoon and I get pretty emotional thinking about how God has spoken to them this week.  I can't explain how much I love this camp and the way that God uses this camp to invite teens to Him.  It was hard to not go, but SO GOOD to hear that He is working in their lives!
Miss Anything?  Coffee.  Or rather, the idea of coffee.  The thought of actually DRINKING coffee sounds terrible and disgusting, but I miss my morning ritual of drinking it at my desk as I settle into my morning routine.
Movement: YES.  I think... I will feel a rolling particularly after I eat and later in the evening.  And little thumpings?  Maybe?  It's so strange because I have absolutely NO idea what I'm supposed to be feeling.  I will press on my stomach and will feel movement too.  So obviously I've been doing that a LOT.
Food cravings: Coke.  Like COKE Coke.  And really cold in a can.  It's so weird, I was a big DIET coke drinker before I got pregnant and now that sounds like the worst thing ever.  Also, PICKLES.  Kosher dills.  I know lots of you read my Fbook post about polishing off a jar of pickles on Wednesday.  Mr. made sure to buy me a new jar that day.  Good man.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really!!!  You have NO idea how excited I am to say that!!!  I've eaten really well (well, not really healthy...) this week.  There are definitely things that sound better than others, but isn't that always the case?
Gender: WE FIND OUT NEXT THURSDAY (as long as the baby cooperates)!
Labor Signs: Nope.
Symptoms: Okay moms who have done this before- round ligament pain!?  I have a little aching around my hip bones when I change positions and particularly when I get up out of bed in the mornings.  I've also noticed that if I haven't been drinking enough that it happens throughout the day as well.  Is that what I'm feeling?
Belly Button in or out? In, but looking wider than normal.
Wedding rings on or off? On.  
Happy or Moody most of the time: SO happy.  A little overwhelmed by the fact that we're almost halfway there, but feeling pretty happy most of the time.
Looking forward to: Our ultrasound on Thursday and the BFF is coming with her new hubby that same day.  Oh, and I turn 30 next Saturday!
Please pray for: Continued healing and energy.  And for my STUPID RASH to go away.  It's taking forever for it to heal and it's become quite itchy.  



Monday, July 8, 2013

Week 16/17: An unexpected turn of events...


Okay, so I somehow managed to wear the SAME THING I did in the last picture I took.  And also managed to look equally as unhappy.  Ah well.  Maybe I'll smile in the next one, mkay?

So here's the last two weeks' (I'm actually 18 weeks as of today!) update!  And as you can tell, there was an unexpected turn of events.

It started two weeks ago at our Day Camp.  I'd been feeling particularly off all day, but my sister was in town and Mr. had told us we would all go see Man of Steel that night.  So after day camp sister and I went home, rested up, and went with Mr. to see the movie.  About halfway through the movie I realized I didn't feel good.  At. All.  I thought it was from the camera being so shaky the entire time.  We went home and I immediately went to bed.

And woke up at 3:45 with a fever.  Nothing high, but enough that I needed tylenol.  And I also knew I needed to call the Dr. first thing the next morning.

So I called my doctor's office first thing Tuesday morning and got an appointment at 10:30 with the on call doctor.  Great.  I took a couple of sips of water and promptly threw that up.  Brilliant.  A couple more sips, more throwing up.  I knew that NONE of this was good.

We get to the doctor's office and the doctor checks me out and tells me I have two options: go home and attempt to keep some fluids down or be admitted to the hospital.  After talking with the doctor and Mr. she changed her mind and decided I needed to be admitted.  Probably just for 24 hours for IV fluids and observation.  Mr. was certain that I would be home late that evening.  He even tried to talk my mom out of driving up here (my sister was at the house and since she has leukemia she couldn't really come up to the hospital and hang out with me).

Fast forward to Thursday and I'm STILL stuck in the hospital with an IV for fluids and for antibiotics- with a persistent fever.  They had run some blood tests (which had come back negative) and had an infectious disease doctor come and check up on me.  He was convinced that it was a simple virus I had picked up in Honduras and not one of the "exotic diseases."  I didn't have a rash, so it couldn't be typhoid or dengue fever.

I finally got out of the hospital Friday afternoon.  My fever had finally broken so I was cleared to go home.  Of course I got home, promptly threw up (again) and my fever came back.  The same thing happened on Saturday afternoon too.

And Sunday I noticed a rash covering most of my body.

*sigh*

So they still don't know what the issue is/was.  They put me on enough antibiotics though that whatever I had, it is nice and dead now.  I've felt MUCH better the past couple of days!

During all of this, little Nugget has been fine.  They checked the heartbeat twice a day in the hospital and Tuesday at my follow-up doctor's appointment the heartbeat was still normal and strong.

I, however, have been quite pathetic the past two weeks.  I've lost (another) couple of pounds but thankfully the doctor was just glad that I hadn't lost any MORE than that.  I am just starting to get my appetite back, so I'm hoping that I'll start gaining weight SOON.  Gee, I never thought I'd say that.

I went back to work yesterday and I can't tell you how GOOD it was to worship with my church family, teach my teensies, and get out of the house!

My church family has been such a blessing.  They have been covering me, Nugget, and Mr. in prayer.  I can't even begin to describe how good it is to know that people are praying over you.

Mr. has been absolutely incredible.  He's taken care of me, prayed with me, kept a level head... plus he works at the hospital I was staying at, so he was able to get into the snack closet and grab me a sprite whenever I wanted it!  He's taken off so much work just to take care of me and arranged for people to stay with me when he did finally have to go back to work (once I got out of the hospital).

My mom was wonderful too.  She (unfortunately) has had to spend too much time in hospitals with Shelby fighting leukemia and knows exactly what to do and how to help.  Just having her there to watch Say Yes to the Dress was perfect.  She even blow dried my hair when I was just too plain weak to do it.  Love her.

Overall it's been a crazy two weeks.  Definitely not something I'm ever looking forward to repeating.  But through all of this God has helped restore my health and energy.  He has been good.  As He always is.  He's watched over my little family and I'm so thankful to Him for all that he has done and will do.  We choose to praise Him in all things.

So thank you for your prayers and thoughts.  I'm so thankful to friends and family and love you all.  And I'll get back to the regular "pregnancy updates" this week.

AND we find out the gender a week from Thursday!  So cast your votes in!  Mr. and I are split: I think girl, he thinks boy.  What do YOU think?

Blessings,
Lauren