Week 17 - April 23, 2008

This week has been the most amazing yet! I finally feel good 90% of the time and I love that people are starting to notice my belly. Before I felt like (and to quote my 5 yr old nephew Landon) that I just looked like I'd just had a little too much junk food. Yeah, he seriously said that. HaHa! Isn't that hilarous?

Now I feel like it's a definate baby bump! I've only gained 4 lbs total so far this weekend I got the comment "is that all you've gained" several times. And my friend Callie even said my bump looked like it should weigh more than 4 lbs. Well you guys get ready! My Dr said I can gain 30 lbs total. So I can only imagine what that will look like!

I thought Jared was going to die this week before our appointment finally got here. He was super anxious and so was I. We were scheduled for a 3D and 4D ultrasound and the Dr had told us he would try to determine the sex of our baby. Thursday finally got here and of course I was nervous all day. What if something was wrong? It's the same thing I go through every single time I have an appointment. I am good for 3 weeks and then the week of my appointment I worry myself to the brink of insanity.

The ultrasound was amazing! Our sweet little bundle measured 17 weeks and 2 days, and weighed about 6 oz. And....he says it's a baby girl! He only got a quick glimpse of the baby with it's legs spread but he said we should be saying baby girl and he will confirm it next month. We watched our little angel moving around for about 20 minutes while he measured and checked her out and explained things to us. It's so unbelievable that she's only about 5 inches long yet she's already looking exactly like a human.

The only thing about her that scares me is that everytime I have an ultrasound, they comment on how active she is. But....she is Jared's daughter so I should expect that right? The video of the ultrasound is hilarious. She gives a thumbs up, moves her cord all around and thows gang signs (according to the Dr) the entire time. Above are some pictures of our little super active sweetheart... And check out the toes in the thumbs up picture! My Dr commented on how long there are....she definately gets that from me!!

Week 16 - Busy Weekend!

Weekend was super busy and fun. Now that I'm finally feeling a little better (most of the time) we actually were able to have a productive weekend. We bought living room furniture Friday, went to Freddy & Amanda's wedding on Sat, keep Gavin and Amarah, had Direct TV installed, had company and even grilled. All without me feeling too yucky. It's so nice to finally be at this point. I was starting to think this baby hated me...seriously!

March 25th - Week 13 First Bump Pic

Mar 25th - Week 13 - Nothing too exciting this week. The sickness is still going strong and it's become a routine part of my day. Mainly in the mornings but some days I have to deal with it in the evenings too. Again I would like to say I am now popping Zofran like tic tacs. It doesn't rid of the sickness but it sure helps. I don't know how I would function without it. I tried all the "rememdies" and everyone I know has given me. Yeah...sorry but none of them have worked for me. I also can't tell what triggers the queasiness other than just simply being pregnant. And I can't stand sweets. Eating anything even halfway sweet makes me gag!

Tums are a must each evening otherwise I can't lay down at night. My dr says it's the progesterone the placenta produces and it causes my esophogus to dialate. Pretty much means my esophogus no longer keeps things down in my stomach like it used to. Oh yeah and I can no longer sleep on my stomach. Not because it hurts or anything but it's gotten just big enough that it's uncomfortable. Which has been a real struggle for this chic because I used to ALWAYS sleep on my stomach. I also wake up frequently for no apparent reason all during the night. So you can imagine how tired I am when morning rolls around. So to sum it up....these days Anna is a tired and queasey girl :-)

13 weeks down....only 27 more to go. Yikes it sounds like a long time when you put it that way! Ewwww that also means I've thrown up at least once every day for 47 days now. Gross!

Enough whining though! Today at our appontment we got to hear the baby's heartbeat which right now is my favorite sound in the world. 162 beats a minute! It's so amazing and reassuring to hear our little angel in there growing away. My total pregnancy weight gain was 2 lbs and my Dr is very happy. Says that's good for this point. Last time I weighed less than before I was pregnant and he chewed on me a little bit for that. But hey...you try gaining weight when all you do is barf!!

I am posting my first preggo pic. Lori and Marla...it's what you have been asking for. Jared is so proud of my little bump and he's always saying he can't wait for me to be bigger. Yeah, it's the one time in a woman's life when her man is excited she's gaining weight...hehe. Trust me I'm soaking it up! When Jared says "you need to eat more for the baby" I don't argue with him!

And I love how much Jared tries to baby me. He has been super amazing and this baby is letting us expereince things we never have before. Jared kisses me and my belly every morning before work and he says a prayer for the three of us each night. Sometimes I feel a little guilty that I get to have our little angel with me 24/7 but at the same time I think that it's so awesome. This is the one time I actually get to have a hand in God's plan. I get to physically let him grow His child inside of me! Only now can I truly start to understand why a mother has such a special bond with her child. It's something that no one else gets to share with my baby for a while. It's just me and this little angel. I can't wait to feel the baby move so Jared can experience this process even more. But for now I am learning to treasure this gift that God has given me!!

Feb 28th - Week 9 Rough Week

Feb 28 - Week 9 - Ended up being a rough week. I thought I was having some problems so I ended up in the ER Saturday night with luckily what turned out to be my first acto of being an overly-worried mother. They assured me everything was fine but Monday after another scare I landed up in my OB's office in million pieces. However nothing calmed me more that to see my little one wiggling around on the screen with that tiny heart beating away. They again assured me my baby was fine and perfect and that they saw no reason why I was having the problems I was. So I was relieved but still a little worried. They took more blood and sent it off for a test of my preogesterone level. Although everything was perfect at the moment, they preogesterone levels would be an indicator of any problems that might be looming in the future. After 3 days of waiting and spending my every extra second reading about progesterone...the office called and told me my levels were great. I was so relieved and so thankful. The bright side of this little scare is I have had 4 ultrasounds during the first 9 weeks of my pregnancy. My insurance company is going to croak!! And my pants are now getting uncomfortable so comfy pants with a 2" band here I come!! :-)

Feb 23rd - 9 Weeks First Ultrasound

Feb 23rd - 9 Weeks - My favorite thing yet...the first ultrasound! I was so nervous. As the appointment got closer I kept getting more worked up. What if they couldn't find a heart beat? What if something was wrong? But as soon as the tech began and the baby appeared all of my worries were gone. Jared was there standing over me...holding my hand and our little baby was right there before our eyes. I couldn't stop looking at the monitor. It's tiny little heart was beating away and our little baby that we had loved for 9 weeks became even more real to us. I didn't want to leave the office!!

Feb 5th - 6 weeks First Appt

Feb 5th - 6 weeks - My first appointment. Things got even more amazing that day. I was 6 weeks along and knew that lots of things can happen early on in a pregnancy so I spent a great deal of time telling myself that I was prepared for whatever news I might get that day. They did the "offical" pregnancy test and confirmed what my home test had already declared - PREGNANT. They should have listened to me. I had all the signs. The first and most noticable was my face breaking out, my back was killing me, and my stomach was cramping. And lucky me...the day after the appointment the barfing began. It was like being car sick 24/7. Seriously. Trust me it didn't take long to figure out that if I made myself throw up the feeling was let up a little but it sure didn't go away. My doctor prescribed Zofran which I vowed not to take. I'm a super freak and don't want to take any meds!

Photo at 3 Weeks Preggo

Jan 23rd - 4 Weeks It's Positive!

Jan 23rd - 4 weeks - We got our little bundle of joy the very first month we tried. Jared swears he knew it would happen that way. I on the other hand, was convinced it would take months. I being the bookworm I am, had read it takes 4-6 months for the average couple to conceive. So imagine the surprise I got when two weeks after ditching the birth control...I was staring at a positive pregnancy test!

I'd heard everyone else's stories but believe me, until you are the one holding the test, you can't comprehend what it really feels like. In one single moment, I was hysterically happy...jumping up and down. Next I was staring at myself in the mirror and there were tears of joy and thankfulness. How could we have been this lucky so fast? And then in the next moment, feeling scared to death and wondering if I was really ready for such a huge responsibility.

Of course I tried to surprise Jared. Apparently he knew we were trying (ha!) but I hadn't told him that I was suspecting it. I bought a gift bag with huge red hearts on it and I wrapped the test up in tissue paper and then stuck a newborn diaper in the bag. He was out working on the house so I walked in and he happened to be sitting on a bench in the middle of the living room. I handed him the bag and said "I hav our first gift for the new house". As he took the bag from me he smiled and I tried to hide all the emotions that were on the verge of bursting out of me. Before he had even pulled the items out of the bag he said "you're pregnant?!". I tried to smile and gave him a "just open the bag" look but luckily before I had to decided how to cover, he was throwing his arms around me and smothering me with kisses. In the 12 years we've been together, I've never seen that look in his eyes or felt that much emotion though his hugs.

I will never ever forget how amazing that one day was. To go from wanting a baby and hoping it would happen relatively soon...and then getting to be the one that put that look on Jared's face. Sometimes I still think about that day and how everything was so perfect. But I know that it was only the begining of an incredibly amazing journey!