Nursery stuff

We're starting to think about the nursery now that we know we're having a boy!! This week has been so amazing. I love knowing more about my baby and being able to call him by name. We've also had a lot of fun thinking about the future and looking forward to playing with our little boy. We're very used to boys. We spent a couple of years with one (from the time he was an infant until he was almost 3) and I even lived with him for many months when he turned 2. We had SO MUCH FUN with him, it makes me smile to think that we are having one of our own!!!

We've decided to go with a dinosaur theme for the nursery. Matt went crazy when he saw THIS bedding set. I love it too, but unfortunately it is no longer available. We've found a couple of used sets on Ebay, but they are selling for just as much (or more) as the new set was at BRU! I'm still looking though, hoping to find it. So far I haven't found any dinosaur sets that are in stores or being made right now, all I can find are used sets or new discontinued sets that are selling for too much money. I found THIS one yesterday on craig.slist. It's used, but is a good deal. I contacted the seller and am waiting to hear back from her. I hope I do because even though we don't like it quite as much as the other, it's still great and I'd love to get it. I'm determined to find some type of dinosaur bedding!

A co-worker of Matt's is going to give us a swing in a couple of months when his baby outgrows it! So nice!! Another of his co-workers gave him a Bradley method book for us to go over. I considered taking the classes, but I don't think we will. But at least this way we can read and study more about it on our own. My mom bought us a cute little onesie (it's a dinosaur one and she didn't even know that we had decided on a dino nursery at the time!) and an adorable blanket. My MIL gave me this figurine when we went over there last week: She gave us the couple figurine for our first Christmas together and another one a couple of years ago as a birthday gift for me. I love them!

So far the hardest decision we've made on what to buy is a crib. We had finally decided on THIS one (that model has received pretty good reviews and is recommended in the new Baby Bar.gains book), but now I'm thinking about THIS one (of course it's more expensive) and THIS one (which I think is a great deal, but I'm not sure I really love the appearance). The nice thing is that the last two have hidden hardware and I've heard they are really sturdy. I talked to a lady who has the Am.y Co.e and she said she loves it. However, Matt thinks that I'm going to need a drop rail since I'm kind of short (5'3"), but I'm not sure about that. I never used a drop rail with my friend's son. When he was big enough to have the mattress on the lowest setting he was always awake when I put him in bed so I didn't have to lean over. If he fell asleep somewhere else at that age I just left him there instead of putting him in the crib. Worked for me... What do you think? Did you find a drop rail to be helpful or necessary?

I think I felt Evan move again last night, but this time I'm not sure. It was more of a pressure from inside instead of a fluttering. Now I'm positive that the 2 other times I felt that fluttering (at 15 and 17 weeks) were him moving. I've never felt anything like that before or since. The pressure was different though and I suppose it could have been gas (I didn't have gas at the time, but my stomach was feeling upset). You may be able to tell from the sonogram, but I have an anterior placenta. My midwife said I probably won't feel him move much until about 22 weeks. Also, the placenta is very low at this point, causing placenta previa (where it blocks the cervix). I'm going to have another u/s at 32 weeks to make sure that it's moved up and isn't blocking the cervix. The u/s tech said in over 90% of cases it moves up. If it doesn't I'll need a c/s and even though that isn't my "birth plan," it definitely isn't the end of the world. If that's the worse thing that happens this pregnancy I'd be grateful!!

Lazy day

It's a gloomy day outside. Our weather is crazy, it goes from mid-70s and sunny to mid-50s and rainy. I wish it would stay warm! This has been the coldest year in NC since I moved here. It started the beginning of November and it's still cooler than normal now. Anyway, there's a lot of things I should be doing like cleaning the kitchen or taking a shower or lifting weights and exercising. I stopped exercising around 9 weeks because it made my stomach so upset every time I'd do it. Now that my stomach is feeling better I should really start back up again, but I'm too lazy at this point. :-(

I hope everyone had a great Easter. The weather here was beautiful and the dogwoods, azaleas, and wisteria are blooming - so pretty! My brother, sister, and I went to church together. Matt was volunteering on the parking team for all 3 morning services so he wasn't able to sit with us. Afterward, we went to my parents' house for dinner. It was delicious and we had a good time. We celebrated my brother's birthday too. I've had so much cake this past week! First my dad's birthday, then dessert at the in-laws', then dinner with my parents on Thursday, then Easter dinner. Yesterday I refused to take leftover dessert home, because in between all of those days I've been eating leftovers!

I try to think about Jesus' death and resurrection everyday, not just on Easter, but it is great to have a day set aside just to celebrate our eternal life. I'm not a perfect person, I don't always act like a Christian, and a lot of times I take God's sacrifice for granted, but I do want to take this opportunity to share what I believe and what Easter is really about. I'm all for having fun on Easter...eating candy and a big meal, spending time with family, Easter egg hunts, etc. But I think that even without all of that Easter can be celebrated. Even if I was alone and had nothing, I would still be celebrating because all of those things are just bonuses, the real reason for Easter is to remember the miracle of Jesus rising from the dead. Giving my life to God has changed me and given me a reason to live. I don't like to preach to people, I want my actions to show what I believe, not my words to just say it. But just because I don't always talk about my beliefs doesn't mean that I don't think about them every day and live my life by them. If you have any more questions about Christianity or Easter feel free to ask, I'd love to talk more about it.

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

Luke 24: 1-7 - "On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' ""

It's a....

BOY!!!!

The ultrasound was amazing! It was awesome to get to see so many details. Everything is perfect and he's even a little big, everything measured over 18 weeks but it was all within 5 days, so he's not big enough to change my due date, just big enough to be healthy. :-)

When the technician first started, he was sleeping, being so still, but his heart was beating at a healthy 161 beats per minute. She started measuring things and checking out the heart, liver, brain, spine, etc. Everything looked great and she kept smiling really big and saying how perfect he looked. After she measured most of the things she needed she decided to wake him up so that we could see him moving and she could try to get a better view of his gender parts since he had his hands between his legs (of course). She started digging the ultrasound wand around in my abdomen and it did the job. He started squirming and waving his arms and legs!! After 30 minutes she finally got a view between his legs although he didn't make it easy since after he moved his arms the cord was right in between them. She had me turn on my side and then asked me to go to the bathroom so that my bladder would shrink and make more room for him to move around. After that she showed us something that definitely looked like 2 little dots...some important boy parts. ;-) So exciting!!! It's such a great feeling to know what he is and to know his name.

When we arrived in the ultrasound room Matt asked the technician about recording it and she said it was no problem and grabbed a blank tape to put in. She didn't record the whole thing for some reason, just part of it, but it is SO COOL! We watched it last night with Matt's family and I couldn't stop grinning, just like when we saw it the first time. It's on a VHS (and we don't own a VCR), but we're going to transfer it to DVD and then I'll be able to put it on the computer too!

Just after the appointment (which was overall great, my blood and urine samples were healthy and I've gained 6 pounds since my first visit) we went to register at BRU. We only spent an hour there so we didn't get much done, but it's a start and it was something fun to do to celebrate our little boy! We ran home, grabbed the things we were taking over to the in-laws and then immediately left and stayed at their house until late last night. I returned home SO tired which is why I didn't update y'all right away.

So, you want to know his name? We've had it picked out for a l.o.n.g time, definitely over a year, maybe even more than that. Say hello to Evan!


Here you are supposed to be able to see some of the gender parts although the cord is in the way, so I'm not sure if they are obvious (they aren't to me in this pic, I only saw a glimpse when the tech pointed it out). He's facing towards the left, this is a full frontal view, and he has his legs curled up so his knees are sticking out.





This is a profile of his head and abdomen, his head is on the left and he is on his back. If you look closely you can see his nose and lips.

Here's a view of his perfect little legs!! Once again, he's on his back with his head to the left.


A profile of his head with his arm stretched in front of his face. His head is on the left and he's on his back again.

u/s questions

I'm getting really nervous about my u/s tomorrow. And excited! I'm worried that there will be something wrong, but excited to see how much our baby has grown and find out the gender. I've been praying that everything's alright and will go smoothly.

Anyway, I have some questions about it. Does the technician record the u/s? Like, do they put it on tape for you to keep? I've heard of some doing this, even my mom has a tape of my sister's u/s. Also, do you think I should bring our camera so that we can record the screen and take pictures, or will the techs be annoyed at this? And does the doctor/midwife come in while it's happening to make sure everything is okay? All I know is that our u/s is at 2:00 and then we're meeting with a midwife at 2:30 to "go over" it. I don't really know what that means, but I'm guessing she'll talk about what we saw, etc. However, if she wasn't there, how would she know that it was all good?

My dad's birthday celebration was a lot of fun. We made him enchiladas and then my mom made strawberry shortcake and a chocolate ice cream pie for dessert. Matt and I bought him waterlilies for his pond and my mom gave him THIS, which is really cool! It will be perfect for him to use when he travels. I can't believe that I forgot to take pictures of him opening his presents! I just got one of the desserts and one of him being a goofball eating them. I'm really bad about remembering to take pictures at special events!

We put our new bedding on the bed the other night. Yep, we bought it last summer and just now put it on. We also just now cleaned out our bedroom, which has been a partial storage room since we moved in. We cleared off the dressers and our bedside tables of all the boxes, bags, and other random stuff. I'm so happy! It feels great that we are finally clearing the house up. It's never been completely clean since we moved. Everything was so hectic after moving in that I didn't immediately unpack and organize. We lived out of boxes until September and even then I pretty much just pulled things out and put them in corners or on table/dresser/counter tops.


I'm getting back on my feet now, finally. I've been much more social, I'm keeping things clean and organized, and I'm generally a happier person. I feel like my life is finally coming together for the first time in years after not being able to find a career and the miscarriage. Oh how I pray things continue to go smoothly, at least in the pregnancy/baby department. I know I can't expect my life to be perfect from here on out! Depression can consume a person's life and I'm glad I'm staying on top of it right now.

Clumsy *UPDATE *sigh*

I think pregnancy has not only made my mind clumsy (forgetting appointments, driving the wrong way, etc), it's also made me physically clumsy. I can't count how many things I've dropped/spilled over the past few weeks. It's already happened a couple of times today. Very weird.

It's my dad's birthday today and we're going over to my parents' house to celebrate tonight. I'm happy that it will also be Anne's son's birthday! Woohoo!

UPDATE:

OMG. I can't believe I just washed 2 loads of laundry without using detergent. How is that even possible? Stupid, stupid, stupid. And one of the loads I rinsed twice since I used bleach. What a waste of water. I think I'll just leave the bleached clothes since at least they got bleached, but I'm going to have to rewash the other load. arrrrrrrrr

Maternity clothes

I bought my first maternity clothes yesterday! I'm really excited about it. :-) My mom was told of a consignment shop near my house and so the two of us went to check it out yesterday. It's a huge maternity/infant/toddler/kids shop that is in 2 separate buildings. There was a pretty big selection of maternity clothes and I bought a pair of jeans for $8 (that look brand new, much nicer than all of my worn out jeans that I've owned for 3+ years) and a pair of khaki capris for $6. They will both fit me now but have plenty of room to stretch. As I get bigger I'm going to keep going back to that shop to buy more jeans and capris. I also saw some cute dresses, but none in the small section, I'll have to keep checking since the lady who worked there said they get new clothes in almost everyday.

Matt and I talked more about names. I didn't even have to bring it up! He came home from work on Thursday and immediately apologized. He said he knew it sounded bad and that he doesn't even know why he felt that way. He said after giving it some thought he realized that plenty of women name their daughters after female relatives (duh). I just surprised him with the idea of using my mom's name. That man needs so much time to think about things. He usually keeps his mouth shut until he does, but the other day he unfortunately didn't do that. He also admitted that he really likes the idea of using my great-grandmother's name as a middle name. I didn't know that, I thought he still didn't like it much, but he said it's grown on him. He's going to keep thinking about my mom's name too, because he thinks he'll end up liking that as a middle name as well.

My dad's birthday is on Monday, my brother is coming home on Thursday for Easter, and then we'll be celebrating his birthday over Easter weekend (his is the 15th). In my immediate family all of the girls have November birthdays and the boys have April birthdays. Actually, even in my extended family most of the girls have November birthdays! My mom, sister, me, both of my grandmas, my great-aunt, and my aunt. I've always thought it would be really cool to have a little girl in November. But confusing too!

17 weeks

Now my baby is the size of a turnip or onion. I definitely have a baby bump now! Yesterday I saw my mom and sister and they were amazed at how much bigger I've become in just one week. And Matt saw me leaning over the sink after my shower this morning and said "Preggo Poo!!!" (Poo is his nickname for me....lol). He's so excited that I'm getting a belly (it is much more obvious when I bend over or sit down, it kind of poofs out even more). At this point I still feel like I'm just getting fat. I think I'll start feeling differently when I feel the baby move. I'm happy with my body so far though, it's felt weirder than I thought to start getting bigger, but I'm not unhappy or self conscious about it.

Speaking of feeling the baby move, I think I felt it the other night. It felt like there was a goldfish in there swimming around. Very weird!! I've never felt anything like it before. It was at night just after I laid down to go to sleep. The thing is though, at around 15 weeks I felt the same thing when I was laying down. But that seems awfully early to feel movement. That time I just figured it was something else, but those 2 instances are the only times I've ever felt anything like that. So I'm just not sure, maybe after feeling it some more I can look back and say that it was movement, but I'm not ready to claim that yet. I looked up baby movements yesterday in my book and one description of how it feels is a goldfish swimming inside you! It was funny because when Matt asked me what it felt like right after it happened I said that's the only way I could describe it. So I'm thinking both times may have been movement. I haven't felt anything since though.

I had an acne breakout last week and it's just now fading. I thought my skin was supposed to be clearer during pregnancy! I also haven't noticed a difference in my hair like the pregnancy books said happens during pregnancy. Of course, my hair is so short. Maybe that's why. But it doesn't seem thicker or softer so far. I'm growing it out, but it's going to take awhile. I'm ready for it to be long again though! As it grows out it starts looking like a mullet, so then I have to get the layers trimmed out of it. My hair stylist said that's the way it is, that eventually it will look good as it gets longer, but it's frustrating to be set back. I only get it trimmed every 2 months though to save money.

Remember what I said about having more energy last week? I take it back. I had a few days of feeling energetic and sleeping really well, but since then I'm back to normal. However, I've been sleeping decently (more than 5 hours a night), so I'm happy about that! But I still have to take naps in the afternoon and I still don't feel energized at all. I've been going to bed a little later though, so it isn't as bad as it was for awhile. I guess I'll tell my midwife about it next week just in case I have an iron deficiency or something.

I can't believe that we'll be finding out the gender in less than a week! Matt and I are thinking about making our parents wait until Thursday (the 9th) to find out. We'd like to tell them in person, but Matt has a soccer game the night that we find out. We're thinking that we'll go to my parents' house for supper and then his parents' house for dessert and tell them all in person. And I think my brother may be home on Thursday night so he could hear it too. Anyway, I'm just excited about finding out and telling everyone. :-) Did you do anything special to tell your families the gender or just call them up to tell? Originally I figured we'd give everyone a call, but now I think it would be fun to do it in person even though I know it will drive my mom and sister crazy to wait another day to find out!