Here's a photo of all the baby related Christmas gifts we got this year. The shirt is maternity and super cute.
Only about five more months to go! We'll hopefully know the gender in about three more weeks!
Monday, December 31, 2012
on the move
Here's a photo of all the baby related Christmas gifts we got this year. The shirt is maternity and super cute.
Only about five more months to go! We'll hopefully know the gender in about three more weeks!
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Christmas break update
Chris and I have had a great time off together so far. One great thing about working for the school system and for a public university is all the time you get off at Christmas. I can't complain. This year I got two extra days, which gave me two and a half weeks off! Chris got two weeks. We both go back to work on Wednesday, which is going to be tough. I've just been able to sleep in the last couple of days.
Sleeping in has been tough since I've been pregnant. I just have a hard time staying comfortable. I wake up on my back a lot, and that's starting to become uncomfortable.
On the first Monday and Tuesday of my break Chris was still working. I worked to try to finish up some Christmas shopping, baked a lasagna, relaxed with my puppy on the couch and visited my friend's new baby. Baby Jack is pretty sweet. Later we met up with our friends for dinner and to purchase some gifts from our small group for the kids at church.
On Wednesday, Chris and I made pancakes for breakfast and then went our separate ways to really finish up Christmas shopping. Then, we met up at home for a quick lunch and headed out to my doctor's appointment to check on this little baby. I was 17 weeks and one day on the day of my appointment. My blood pressure was up a little compared to last time, but still normal at 120/60. I had put on about four pounds since my last appointment (5.6 total), which my doctor said was what he would expect to see. The baby's heart rate was 163. Chris finally got to hear it! We scheduled the mid-pregnancy ultrasound, which I was hoping would be at 20 weeks, but I figured it wouldn't be since they're seeing me about every four weeks. Even though it's usually almost five weeks between appointments. It was as I expected. He wanted to see me back after four weeks, and they couldn't get me in with an ultrasound and appointment back to back until January 22. I'll be 22 weeks on that day. I am very excited to hear about how this little one is developing and the gender. I've been feeling flutters for about two weeks now. Some days it's really consistent, while other days the movement is so light and inconsistent that I find myself wondering if I've really just felt something or if I am imagining it!
Wednesday night we went to church to help out with the children's Christmas party, which was fun. We got to give out the gifts from our small group, which was a lot of fun!
Thursday we grabbed some stuff for goodies at the grocery store, cleaned the apartment, wrapped some presents and then relaxed while watching part of the first season of Modern Family- thanks, Niki! Our small group got together that night for a little Christmas party, which was more or less a meal and a game or two of Scattergories!
Friday we finished wrapping presents, went out to lunch and did all our laundry in preparation for going out of town for four days. Niki stopped by on her way up from Jackson for some dinner and then continued her journey to Elizabethtown. I stayed up to make a few treats to take with us to Elizabethtown.
Saturday morning we pack up the car to head to Elizabethtown. We set our cat up for being out of town- thanks to Jared for coming by over the weekend to feed him, scoop his litter box and set up his food timers while we were gone.
Saturday night I went out to a fancy dinner in Louisville with the girls in Chris' family. Chris hung out with his dad while we were gone. After dinner we went to see the Louisville ballet perform the Nutcracker, which was great! I had never seen a professional ballet before, so that was a real treat!
Sunday we went to church with Chris' family, made some more treats to share and vegged out on the couch a lot!
Monday was Christmas Eve. Lori made a wonderful brunch and we opened gifts with his family before his stepsister and stepbrother had to go to their dad's. Chris and Niki played music at their friend's church at the 11 p.m. service, which was neat because when it was over, it was Christmas morning!
On Tuesday, which was Christmas morning, we headed off to see my family in Henderson as the rest of the Carters headed out to see family in northern Kentucky. We spent the day visiting with my little brother and parents and preparing for the party that evening. We made lots of great party food! All my siblings, their spouses and kids arrived that evening prepared for the snow storm that was due to hit around midnight. They were calling for blizzard conditions, 8-11 inches of accumulation! The siblings that live close by were all planning on going home that night if at all possible, but came prepared to stay the night just in case the storm came early! We all ate too much and opened gifts. It was pretty much chaos as it always is, but we're talking about celebrating Christmas with a family of 17! It's bound to be a little crazy with that many people in one house! It's funny to think that they'll be at least 18 by next year!
Sorry, Dad! I think you're the only one I didn't get a picture of. You were really sick those two days, so you're probably glad. Plus, you never want your picture on the internet anyway!
On Wednesday morning, we woke up to about four inches of snow with a little more on the way. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast while waiting for the roads to clear with one of my sisters and her family, my two youngest brothers and parents. By the time we got ready and packed up the car it was almost noon and the main roads were safe to drive on. We made a quick stop at my sister's in Evansville to pick up some of her maternity clothes that I wanted to borrow. Then, we went to see my grandparents before heading out of town. We stopped on our way back through in Henderson to see my step-grandparents and pick up my brother who was having his car worked on and needed a ride back to Bowling Green. Somehow we were able to fit him, his laundry, our gifts, the dog and all those maternity clothes in our car! I am still not sure how!
We got home on Wednesday night and finally got to open gifts from each other. Chris got money for the guitar he's building and I got a study bible and a fancy maternity pillow. We each gave each other some other little gifts and stocking stuffers. It was a good Christmas! Thank goodness it's over! I am beat!
I spent most of Thursday trying on maternity clothes and organizing my closet. We also went to the Bailey's to visit, have lunch and for Chris to meet their new baby.
Friday we ran some errands together, went out to lunch and did a little post-Christmas shopping. Today has been lounging, laundry and more closet organizing. It's tough fitting an extra wardrobe in your closet! Sheesh!
Just a few more days of break left. Not sure what else I can squeeze in!
Sleeping in has been tough since I've been pregnant. I just have a hard time staying comfortable. I wake up on my back a lot, and that's starting to become uncomfortable.
On the first Monday and Tuesday of my break Chris was still working. I worked to try to finish up some Christmas shopping, baked a lasagna, relaxed with my puppy on the couch and visited my friend's new baby. Baby Jack is pretty sweet. Later we met up with our friends for dinner and to purchase some gifts from our small group for the kids at church.
On Wednesday, Chris and I made pancakes for breakfast and then went our separate ways to really finish up Christmas shopping. Then, we met up at home for a quick lunch and headed out to my doctor's appointment to check on this little baby. I was 17 weeks and one day on the day of my appointment. My blood pressure was up a little compared to last time, but still normal at 120/60. I had put on about four pounds since my last appointment (5.6 total), which my doctor said was what he would expect to see. The baby's heart rate was 163. Chris finally got to hear it! We scheduled the mid-pregnancy ultrasound, which I was hoping would be at 20 weeks, but I figured it wouldn't be since they're seeing me about every four weeks. Even though it's usually almost five weeks between appointments. It was as I expected. He wanted to see me back after four weeks, and they couldn't get me in with an ultrasound and appointment back to back until January 22. I'll be 22 weeks on that day. I am very excited to hear about how this little one is developing and the gender. I've been feeling flutters for about two weeks now. Some days it's really consistent, while other days the movement is so light and inconsistent that I find myself wondering if I've really just felt something or if I am imagining it!
Wednesday night we went to church to help out with the children's Christmas party, which was fun. We got to give out the gifts from our small group, which was a lot of fun!
Thursday we grabbed some stuff for goodies at the grocery store, cleaned the apartment, wrapped some presents and then relaxed while watching part of the first season of Modern Family- thanks, Niki! Our small group got together that night for a little Christmas party, which was more or less a meal and a game or two of Scattergories!
Friday we finished wrapping presents, went out to lunch and did all our laundry in preparation for going out of town for four days. Niki stopped by on her way up from Jackson for some dinner and then continued her journey to Elizabethtown. I stayed up to make a few treats to take with us to Elizabethtown.
Saturday morning we pack up the car to head to Elizabethtown. We set our cat up for being out of town- thanks to Jared for coming by over the weekend to feed him, scoop his litter box and set up his food timers while we were gone.
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| Presents for my family. |
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| Presents for Chris' family. The big one underneath is for me. |
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| Pooped out after all the wrapping and packing! |
Sunday we went to church with Chris' family, made some more treats to share and vegged out on the couch a lot!
Monday was Christmas Eve. Lori made a wonderful brunch and we opened gifts with his family before his stepsister and stepbrother had to go to their dad's. Chris and Niki played music at their friend's church at the 11 p.m. service, which was neat because when it was over, it was Christmas morning!
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| Joshua enjoying his gift from us. Penelope knows he's under there! |
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| She finally got her gift! |
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| 17 weeks and 6 days! |
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| Penelope pooped out after all the presents! Too many bows and wrapping paper to chew on! |
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| Chris making pecan logs! |
On Tuesday, which was Christmas morning, we headed off to see my family in Henderson as the rest of the Carters headed out to see family in northern Kentucky. We spent the day visiting with my little brother and parents and preparing for the party that evening. We made lots of great party food! All my siblings, their spouses and kids arrived that evening prepared for the snow storm that was due to hit around midnight. They were calling for blizzard conditions, 8-11 inches of accumulation! The siblings that live close by were all planning on going home that night if at all possible, but came prepared to stay the night just in case the storm came early! We all ate too much and opened gifts. It was pretty much chaos as it always is, but we're talking about celebrating Christmas with a family of 17! It's bound to be a little crazy with that many people in one house! It's funny to think that they'll be at least 18 by next year!
Sorry, Dad! I think you're the only one I didn't get a picture of. You were really sick those two days, so you're probably glad. Plus, you never want your picture on the internet anyway!
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| sisterly love. |
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| Massive amount of gifts! Before the kids tore into it! |
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| Fiona on Christmas! |
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| Nieces with Uncle Jason. |
On Wednesday morning, we woke up to about four inches of snow with a little more on the way. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast while waiting for the roads to clear with one of my sisters and her family, my two youngest brothers and parents. By the time we got ready and packed up the car it was almost noon and the main roads were safe to drive on. We made a quick stop at my sister's in Evansville to pick up some of her maternity clothes that I wanted to borrow. Then, we went to see my grandparents before heading out of town. We stopped on our way back through in Henderson to see my step-grandparents and pick up my brother who was having his car worked on and needed a ride back to Bowling Green. Somehow we were able to fit him, his laundry, our gifts, the dog and all those maternity clothes in our car! I am still not sure how!
We got home on Wednesday night and finally got to open gifts from each other. Chris got money for the guitar he's building and I got a study bible and a fancy maternity pillow. We each gave each other some other little gifts and stocking stuffers. It was a good Christmas! Thank goodness it's over! I am beat!
I spent most of Thursday trying on maternity clothes and organizing my closet. We also went to the Bailey's to visit, have lunch and for Chris to meet their new baby.
Friday we ran some errands together, went out to lunch and did a little post-Christmas shopping. Today has been lounging, laundry and more closet organizing. It's tough fitting an extra wardrobe in your closet! Sheesh!
Just a few more days of break left. Not sure what else I can squeeze in!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Oh baby, baby
I've been noticing my growing belly a lot the past couple of days. Chris has been noticing it too! He likes to tease me by asking what I ate! Ha! I am still to the point where if you didn't know I was pregnant, you probably wouldn't notice it, or if you did, you might just think that I had enjoyed a big lunch!
I am 15 weeks today. My sister told me she thought I'd probably be starting to wear maternity clothes by around 15 weeks, but when she said that I was 12 weeks, and I thought there would be no way. I am still fitting in my regular clothes okay, but my pants are getting a little bit snug. I could see myself needing to wearing some maternity stuff by Christmas, but we'll see.
I don't go back to the doctor for a couple more weeks, but here's the info from my first couple of visits.
I went in for lab work at 4 weeks and 1 day, which was the day after I found out I was pregnant. They did a blood test to check for pregnancy and repeated it two days later. They said both blood tests were positive and that my levels of hCG were doubling beautifully!
The first ultrasound was at 7 weeks exactly, and the baby's heartbeat was 140. My ultrasound was moved up a few days from my first appointment because I was concerned about lots of pain on one side of my abdomen. I was worried that there might be something wrong, so they move it up a week and a half! That's the earliest they said they'd be able to see what they needed to see on an ultrasound. I guess it was all just normal pregnancy pains because I found out at my actual doctor's appointment a week and half later that the baby was measuring right on schedule and that everything looked fine as far as they could tell. Most importantly, to ease my worries, the pregnancy was in the right place!
My first doctor's appointment was at 8 weeks and 2 days. I was 129.8 pounds, which is pretty close to my normal weight and my blood pressure was 110/60. Because my ultrasound was a week and half before this appointment and it was too early to pick up the baby's heartbeat on a Doppler, they let me sneak an abdominal ultrasound to check the baby's heartbeat since they weren't too busy in ultrasound. They said it might be too early to see anything with this type of ultrasound, but were willing to try! They didn't take any pictures or measurements, but they put the monitor on my belly long enough to let me peak at the baby and get a reading on the heartbeat, which was 192! I about jumped up off the table when they told me it was that high! The tech told me not to freak out. She said fetal heart rates get really high between 8 and 10 weeks and assured me it was fine! She said it would start to come back down between 10 and 12 weeks. I was really nervous, so I am sure my heartbeat was sky high too. I am still wondering if that has anything to do with the baby's being so high.
My second appointment at 12 weeks and 6 days was quick. Well, the appointment itself was, but waiting to talk to the financial counselor, waiting in the lab for a urine analysis (which is a part of every appointment) and waiting on getting my flu shot afterwards was not! I thought I might miss my appointment time! I asked one of the nurses why the lab was so crazy, and she said that Mondays aren't good days for lab work because it's always so busy. That's valuable information for scheduling future appointments! I had gained 1.6 pounds and was weighing in at 131.4. My blood pressure was still 110/60. The baby's heartbeat was 170! I was so relieved that they were able to easily capture it on a Doppler and that it had lowered since my last visit!
At lot of people have asked me how I am feeling. I've been pretty lucky so far. I can only complain of the normal pregnancy aches and pains. I was having some pelvic bone pain for a few weeks, which is very early for this type of pain and it caused me to worry thinking it would eventually become unbearable. However, after coming off progesterone a couple of weeks ago, I have been a little better as long as I don't lift anything too heavy or cross my legs for long periods of time. The high levels of hormones during pregnancy are what causes the ligaments to get too loose too early, and that's what causes the weird pains. I was put on progesterone through my first trimester as a precaution because of my medical history and due to some bleeding very early on. I am glad I was able to come back off of it though. I had to take it right before bedtime because it made me feel pretty crappy. I was very nauseated between 6 weeks and 9.5-10 weeks. I only threw up one time though, and I have been fine as far as morning sickness for the last 5 weeks. I guess I am feeling pretty good now because I am in the blissful second trimester.
I have been struggling with worrying too much lately. I guess carrying around another life has gotten me a bit nervous. I know that everything is in God's hands and that whatever happens is supposed to, whether that means a healthy baby or not, but I still turn to worrying about things. Please pray for me. I worry that something will go wrong with the pregnancy, and to be honest, something could and that wouldn't necessarily be outside of God's will. I know that sometimes he puts us through trials so that we love and trust him more. I think that's what scares me so much. On the other hand, I know that God never gives us anything we can't handle, so just pray that I remember that every day and that I wouldn't worry so much. Plus, I don't want to drive my husband crazy.
I am 15 weeks today. My sister told me she thought I'd probably be starting to wear maternity clothes by around 15 weeks, but when she said that I was 12 weeks, and I thought there would be no way. I am still fitting in my regular clothes okay, but my pants are getting a little bit snug. I could see myself needing to wearing some maternity stuff by Christmas, but we'll see.
I don't go back to the doctor for a couple more weeks, but here's the info from my first couple of visits.
I went in for lab work at 4 weeks and 1 day, which was the day after I found out I was pregnant. They did a blood test to check for pregnancy and repeated it two days later. They said both blood tests were positive and that my levels of hCG were doubling beautifully!
The first ultrasound was at 7 weeks exactly, and the baby's heartbeat was 140. My ultrasound was moved up a few days from my first appointment because I was concerned about lots of pain on one side of my abdomen. I was worried that there might be something wrong, so they move it up a week and a half! That's the earliest they said they'd be able to see what they needed to see on an ultrasound. I guess it was all just normal pregnancy pains because I found out at my actual doctor's appointment a week and half later that the baby was measuring right on schedule and that everything looked fine as far as they could tell. Most importantly, to ease my worries, the pregnancy was in the right place!
My first doctor's appointment was at 8 weeks and 2 days. I was 129.8 pounds, which is pretty close to my normal weight and my blood pressure was 110/60. Because my ultrasound was a week and half before this appointment and it was too early to pick up the baby's heartbeat on a Doppler, they let me sneak an abdominal ultrasound to check the baby's heartbeat since they weren't too busy in ultrasound. They said it might be too early to see anything with this type of ultrasound, but were willing to try! They didn't take any pictures or measurements, but they put the monitor on my belly long enough to let me peak at the baby and get a reading on the heartbeat, which was 192! I about jumped up off the table when they told me it was that high! The tech told me not to freak out. She said fetal heart rates get really high between 8 and 10 weeks and assured me it was fine! She said it would start to come back down between 10 and 12 weeks. I was really nervous, so I am sure my heartbeat was sky high too. I am still wondering if that has anything to do with the baby's being so high.
My second appointment at 12 weeks and 6 days was quick. Well, the appointment itself was, but waiting to talk to the financial counselor, waiting in the lab for a urine analysis (which is a part of every appointment) and waiting on getting my flu shot afterwards was not! I thought I might miss my appointment time! I asked one of the nurses why the lab was so crazy, and she said that Mondays aren't good days for lab work because it's always so busy. That's valuable information for scheduling future appointments! I had gained 1.6 pounds and was weighing in at 131.4. My blood pressure was still 110/60. The baby's heartbeat was 170! I was so relieved that they were able to easily capture it on a Doppler and that it had lowered since my last visit!
At lot of people have asked me how I am feeling. I've been pretty lucky so far. I can only complain of the normal pregnancy aches and pains. I was having some pelvic bone pain for a few weeks, which is very early for this type of pain and it caused me to worry thinking it would eventually become unbearable. However, after coming off progesterone a couple of weeks ago, I have been a little better as long as I don't lift anything too heavy or cross my legs for long periods of time. The high levels of hormones during pregnancy are what causes the ligaments to get too loose too early, and that's what causes the weird pains. I was put on progesterone through my first trimester as a precaution because of my medical history and due to some bleeding very early on. I am glad I was able to come back off of it though. I had to take it right before bedtime because it made me feel pretty crappy. I was very nauseated between 6 weeks and 9.5-10 weeks. I only threw up one time though, and I have been fine as far as morning sickness for the last 5 weeks. I guess I am feeling pretty good now because I am in the blissful second trimester.
I have been struggling with worrying too much lately. I guess carrying around another life has gotten me a bit nervous. I know that everything is in God's hands and that whatever happens is supposed to, whether that means a healthy baby or not, but I still turn to worrying about things. Please pray for me. I worry that something will go wrong with the pregnancy, and to be honest, something could and that wouldn't necessarily be outside of God's will. I know that sometimes he puts us through trials so that we love and trust him more. I think that's what scares me so much. On the other hand, I know that God never gives us anything we can't handle, so just pray that I remember that every day and that I wouldn't worry so much. Plus, I don't want to drive my husband crazy.
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