27 Weeks

Well, we're almost out of the 2nd trimester...that's so hard to believe...time is going by so fast.  This little guy is going to be here before we know it!!!

This week, he likely weighs about 2 lbs. and is about 14 1/2 inches long (head to toe).  He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and maybe even sucking his thumb (I wish so bad we could get an ultrasound of this!!!).  Since more brain tissue is developing, his brain is more active now.  While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning - with a lot of medical help - if he were born now.  (We're super excited for him to arrive, but we want him to wait a little while longer and finish growing in my belly!)  The rhythmic movements I sometimes feel are baby hiccups, and they may be common from now on.  Each episode only lasts a few moments, so I find it hard to tell if he really has hiccups or if he's just doing hurdle jumps in there.  This is what he's looking like this week.

As for me, things are going great.  I had a slight bump in the pregnancy road this past week (see my previous Ups and Downs post if you're interested in knowing the details on that), but I'm over that and things are fabulous!!  I had my gestational diabetes test last week, and I'll get the results of that at my next appointment, this Thursday 4/29.  It's so hard to believe this will be my last monthly appointment...I start going every 2 weeks after this.

We start our childbirth education classes on Wednesday night...I'm excited and nervous all in the same breath, and I think Jeff's just nervous.  Next Sunday, we're going to the Grand Opening Celebration of The Dr. P. Phillips Baby Place at Winter Park Memorial Hospital.  We are super excited to see the place where we will get to welcome our baby into the world.  It's a brand new "boutique" facility at the hospital, and the event next Sunday is supposed to be a fun time.

In other news, I made a drastic change in my appearance this past Friday.  I have decided that I'm tired of having highlights/lowlights because it's just so much upkeep, and it gets expensive.  So, I had my stylist take me back to my natural color...only it's not my natural color.  I'm going back on Tuesday to get it fixed because it's just too dark and has too much deep red tone to it...not a good look for me.  I've got to get this fixed soon because I can't have pictures of me like this floating around...Harrison will be ashamed of me in years to come!!  :-)

Jeff has so diligently been working on the baby's room.  It's like 99% complete, and knowing him, it'll be finished tonight.  I'll post pictures once it's finished.

We got our first baby gift in the mail yesterday; we got some of the bottles we registered for...it was exciting to open the first gift.  We've been given a few things in the last several weeks, but for some reason, getting a gift in the mail felt different to me...???  Anyway, we are so thankful!!

Well, I better cut this off here.  We've been working on cleaning and preparing for the baby (I guess this is the beginning of the Nesting Phase for us), and I still have a ton of stuff to get done!!  Marlee is overseeing this whole project from the comfort of the back porch...

Have a blessed week!!

Ups and Downs

Being pregnant is and has been so far a great experience for me.  I have been so fortunate not to be burdened with morning (or afternoon or evening) sickness, and I've only had a small issue with sciatic nerve pain.  I feel so blessed!

Last night, however, was a bump in my pregnancy road.  I had a pretty serious meltdown because of all the anxiety I have about having this baby.  Looking back now, it's kind of funny, but it's not really.  I read somewhere once that there is usually an [emotional] incident or two in every woman's pregnancy where the man in her life wishes he could forget it or just remove himself from the situation...mine was last night.  Poor Jeff...he didn't know what to do with me because I was out of control crying and trying to talk, but you couldn't hardly understand a word I was saying.

Basically, this is what it boils down to...I am scared of the unexpected and unknown with regards to having the baby.  Obviously women have babies everyday and many do it with no pain mediciation and little or no child birth education.  Well, I am a worrier by nature (not a good quality, but it is what it is), and I have a ton of anxiety about haivng the baby.  We are set to start child birth classes in one week, and Jeff is less than thrilled about it because he's not sure how he's going to handle it.  He is such a strong person, I keep telling him he'll be fine.  But, like most men that are first time dads, he doesn't know what to expect either and is worried about passing out or getting sick or just not handling it well.  Having the conversation about the upcoming child birth classes just brought on the huge wave of mostly unpleasant emotions for me.

Anyway, this is probably something most, if not all, women go through during pregnancy, whether they talk about it and admit to it or not.  I sure hope that I got all of that out of my system last night, for Jeff's sake and mine.  This is a very exciting time for us, and we have so much to be thankful for, especially each other!!!

After my little breakdown, Jeff started painting in the baby's room again. I awoke to a beautiful surprise this morning...

Can you tell the daddy to be is super excited about the arrival of his baby boy??  I'll post "real" pictures when the room is complete.

Jeff is such a wonderful person, and I am so blessed and thankful for him.  I am an overly emotional person anyway, but he always knows just how to handle me (and if he doesn't know, I tell him...LOL!). 

God is so good; He is so good to me!!!!

26 Weeks

Well, I'm now to the 6 1/2 month mark and I have a belly to prove it!!

At this point in the pregnancy, the network of nerves in little Harrison's ears is more developed and sensitive than before.  He may now be able to hear Jeff and I talking to each other.  He is inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his little lungs.  These so-called breathing movements are good practice for when he arrives and takes his first gulp of air.  He is continuing to put on baby fat and is now up to about a pound and two-thirds and measures about 14 inches (I'm beginning to wonder if this is accurate because my "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book says he's just about 9 inches...hmmmm).  His little boy parts are beginning to descend which should take about 2-3 days.  This is what he probably looks like this week.

In other news, my hip/sciatic nerve pain has subsided for the most part.  It's so much better than it has been for the past two weeks.  Hopefully I won't have that anymore, but I'm guessing the chances of that are slim.  I'm feeling great and just trying to enjoy each day of the pregnancy and his little kicks and movements in my belly.  I find myself asking him to kick me all the time...when he's not moving, I try to move my belly to make him move.

I go for my gestational diabetes test tomorrow.  I'm not really looking forward to that because I'll have to drink this sugary liquid and then sit for an hour before they can draw the blood and do the test.  I'm worried that drinking the sugary liquid stuff is going to make me vomit...YUCK!  I'm sure the test will be fine and the results will be negative, and this will just be one more entry into my weekly log of the pregnancy.

Jeff has started painting the nursery...I can hardly wait for it to be finished; it's going to look great!  He and our good friend Brett put up a chair rail over the weekend, and that just makes the room!  I'll post pictures once he's finished painting.

Well, I guess that's all for now.  Make it a great week!!  :-)

Update on Marlee

As many of you know, my little pooch got pretty ill last week..it scared me and made me very sad.  It's funny how our pets really are like children to us...even when we have children or have a child on the way.

Anyway, last Tuesday afternoon when I got home from work, I was greeted with a horrible smell when I walked into the house.  It smelled of poop, but I knew there was no way there could be poop in the house because Marlee was crated and she's really good about doing her "business" outside.  Anyway, as I was walking Marlee, I noticed her "business" was not like it normally is.  I immediately called up my good friend Alyssa who is a vet tech and told her about the symptoms Marlee was exhibiting (including the vomit episode she had the previous Saturday evening while Jeff was away).  When I came back inside, I noticed that she had vomited in her crate at some point in the day.  Being the overly emotional person that I am, I immediately started crying (like that is really going to help or solve anything, but that's what I do).

Alyssa highly recommended that I take her in to see the vet on Wednesday, so early Wednesday, I headed to the doc with Marlee.  She was gassing me the entire way there, and it was the most offensive smell ever!!  We get to the office, and they take her right back and get her temp and do a stool sample, and the results of the latter test were alarming, so they took her right to get x-rays and do a full panel of blood work.  Of course, I'm crying in the waiting room because I'm unsure of what is wrong with my Marlee.  After a short wait, the doc comes in and said the x-rays didn't show anything except that her tummy and intestines were inflamed and "angry" as he put it.  He surmised that she had a pretty serious bacteria in her belly and intestines and proceeded to give me 5 different medicines to give her over the next two weeks.

On Thursday afternoon, I got a call from the vet's office with the results of her blood work and urineanalysis.  The blood work looked good and all her levels and vital organs looked good as well.  However, the urine test showed that she has crystals in her urine, calicum oxalate which could turn into bladder stones.  They said the Ph level of her urine was low (acidic) and that we needed to re-test in 4 weeks.  They said if the crystals were still there in 4 weeks, they will want to do more x-ryas and possibly ultrasounds.  OMG!!

Well, we've been very diligent about adding a ton of water to her food to ensure she's getting enough fluids to help flush out her little bladder.  They also said we needed to change up her food and put her on prescription dog food that is supposed to also help with the acidity levels.

She is still not 100% back to her normal little chipper self, and that breaks my heart!  I'm hoping and praying that the changes we're making to her diet and the medicines that we're on for the next week will cure all her issues.  I can't stand the thought of her being in pain or having to have surgery if she does develop bladder stones; Lord knows we can't afford on-going ultrasounds, x-rays, and surgeries.

Please keep my little girl in your prayers...she's gotta get better!!

25 Weeks

Head to heals, our little guy is about 13 1/2 inches and weighs about 1.5 lbs.  He is beginning to exchange his long and lean look for some baby fat, and as he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out, and he'll start to look more like a newborn.  He is also growing more hair, and if I could see inside my womb, I'd be able to know it's color and texture.  This is what he looks like this week.

As for me, I'm hanging in there.  I have been plagued with some pretty major hip/sciatic nerve pain over the last week.  Some days are better than others.  I've tried everything I can think of...heating pad, Icy/Hot Patches, stretching, walking, massage, tylenol, sleep, pillows...everything, and nothing seems to make it better.  I know that it's just the added weight I'm carrying around on top of the position of the baby, but it still is not pleasant.

My mother-in-law had surgery this past Friday to remove a brain aneurysm.  She is doing as well as is expected considering the severity of the surgery.  They actually found another small aneurysm once they were in the brain removing the one they went in there to get.  She was in ICU until Saturday afternoon when she was moved to a regular room.  She is on the road to recovery, and we are all so thankful!!  Thanks so much for all of your prayers and well wishes!!!

I'm learning to play golf with my three girlfriends, Liz, Kelly, and Courtney.  We had our fist lesson this past Saturday (sans Courtney because she was off in Puerto Rico getting engaged), and it was a lot of fun.  We learned how to hold the club, proper stance and putting techniques.  This upcoming week, we are supposed  to learn chipping and pitching (I think).  I'm sure to be the next Michelle Wie in no time!  ;-)

~Until next time~

6 Months (24 Weeks)

Wow, already to 6 months...it's odd because sometimes I feel like I've been pregnant forever, and other times I feel like I just found out.  And, I'm so excited to meet this little guy that I feel like the next 3 1/2 months are going to drag by.  However, I know time is going to fly and before I know it, I'll be holding my baby boy!

So this week, Baby Center says that the baby is growing steadily and has gained about 4 oz. since last week...not as much as I feel like I've gained...LOL!  He's just over a pound and about a foot long...when I read that, I started singing that silly Subway commercial..."$5.00, $5.00 foot longs..."  He's still pretty lean, but soon he will start to fill out and plump up.  His brain is growing quickly, and his taste buds are continuing to develop...I wonder what he thinks about the food I'm eating...hmmm.  His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world.  His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will change soon.

This is what he looks like this week.

As for the update on me, I'm doing okay.  I'm finding it harder and harder to sleep at night, and I know that will probably only get worse as I continue to get bigger.  I toss and turn so much through the night, and I'm getting up to go to the bathroom at least 2 times each night, and sometimes 3.  Anyway, I'm healthy and all is well.

HAPPY EASTER!!

HAPPY EASTER!!  Today is a beautiful day in so many ways!  Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was raised to live on this day.  We are free because of his crucification for our sins!!

Jeff and I are up and getting ready for church on this beautiful day.  Each one of us got a little something for the other one for Easter.  Last year I made an Easter basket for Jeff with all sorts of goodies in there, but I ended up eaing most of it.  So, this year, I decided to do something very small...

I LOVE these little things, and we were just talking about them the other night when we saw a commercial for them on TV.  They don't taste like the regular Reese's cups, and at no other time throughout the year that I see these (Halloween and Christmas) do they taste as good as the ones at Easter.

Anyway, so I got up this morning and sat them out for Jeff.  When he came into the kitchen, I said, "Look, honey, I got you a prize."  He smiled really big and went into the pantry to get the prize that he'd gotten for me and here's what he had in his hand...

I laughed so hard when I saw this.  He said, "I knew you loved them!"

I love him...he is so good and I am so thankful to have him!!!

Monthly Check-Up

I went for my monthly check-up yesterday and got a good report.  I was so excited to hear the baby's heartbeat again.  I have to report, though, that I was wrong about what his heartbeat was.  As I said in one of my previous posts, I thought his heartbeat would be 137.  Anway, the little guy was really active while I was at the doc's office, and had his heartbeat up at 152.

As for me, everything is going well.  I measured in at 24 weeks, exactly where I should be.  My blood pressure was good as is my weight gain.