12 Weeks and Counting

This week I went to the doctor for my 12 week checkup. I expected to be examined, but I wasn't. The nurse checked my weight and blood pressure. Then she let me hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler. It sounded so faint. I thought I would hear it loud and clear, but it sounded as if it were far away. Then the doctor came in and answered my questions. So overall this appointment was fairly simple. I was leaving withing 30 minutes. I got a permission slip to start prenatal yoga. I should be starting that soon. I'm excited about that class. It will be once a week for $8. They also have water aerobics. I hope to take that in the spring. Here's a picture of my belly at 12 weeks. If you've never seen my naked belly before you may not notice a difference. Fortunately, I'm still wearing my regular clothes.

Surprise Gifts

I forgot to add, when we arrived home from the first ultrasound we were surprised with gifts from Mimi. We got a bib, blankets, and onesies. Mimi is Doug's mom's grandma name. Or at least it's the one currently in first place. She is testing out several. And of course the bib would say, "I love grandma."

I spent the remainder of the day shopping with Nonna. Nonna is the grandma name we gave my mom. We're still waiting on her to embrace it fully. So although I'm not wearing them yet, I have a nice start on maternity clothes. Mom said one day I will wake up, look at my belly, and say, "Where did that come from?" She said you literally grow overnight one day. She didn't want me to wake up and have nothing to wear to work. She said that happened to her and it was an awful feeling. But for now, I'm still waiting on that day to come. I was truly grateful because when I decided to spend the day with her, I didn't realize I'd get to shop for myself.

Testing the Old Wives Tale

On Thanksgiving Day we gathered at my aunt's house. I decided to have my aunt do the pendant test to determine the gender of my baby. There are lots of old wives (wise) tales about determining gender, but this is one that my family uses often. It has proven to be pretty accuarate. According to the tale, if you hold a pendant above your wrist you can get the birth order of all of your children. If you're pregnant and hold it in front of your belly it will tell you the gender of the child you are carrying. So here's a link I found that has lots of old wives tales on it. So the results of the pendent was that I'm having a girl. Based on some of the other tales on the website I'm having a girl too. I've been eating more sweets, acne is a big problem now, and our baby's heart rate was over 140. Plus everyone keeps telling us they think it's going to be a girl as well. So as you see all of my signs are pointing to a G-I-R-L. In time we will see. We should find out in January. Here is the video of us doing the test.

First Ultrasound

When we got to the hospital I really had to use the bathroom. They make you fill up your bladder and that was extremely painful. I had to look past the pain to enjoy the experience of what was going on. Later on I found out that I hydrate really well and she could tell I was about to burst. So she said next time instead of drinking 32oz of water I could do more like 16oz. Boy was I happy to hear that news! The nurse kept calling Doug "Daddy" and he tried to say he would have to get used to that. He claims he wasn't prepared for his new title. I could tell he was excited because he kept grinning. It had finally hit him as "real". He is really looking forward to the next ultrasound when the baby looks like a "real" baby. At 8 weeks, the baby was only the size of the tip of the pinky finger. So here are some of the pictures we got that day.

Sharing the News

(November 10th) So I was 8 weeks! Doug and I had kept the secret since October 16th. Thank God I had not been too sick. I had one week of sickness in the middle of the night and the very next week I had a cold. The cold was able to throw people off and not suspect anything. I scheduled the first doctor's apt for Nov. 11th - Verteran's Day. We were getting excited to see the little "peanut". We had planned to tell the family when we got back from the doctor's office. Suddenly I remembered that both moms were off for the holiday and had an ah ha moment. "I bet they would love to go with us." So we decided to tell them that night in case they wanted to go. Of course everyone was shocked and thought we were kidding. I recorded these announcements as well. (By requests, I have removed some of the videos; which defeats the purpose of me filming them at all.) You can always count on Lorynn for a little drama. Those classes are paying off. Here is a video of her reaction.

Telling Daddy

Ok so since I just couldn't wait to tell Doug, I started searching online for ways to tell him. I really wanted to record his reaction but couldn't figure out how I could do both at the same time. So I decided I had to send him a text or some sort of print so I could record him as he reads. So here's the poem I found:

I just found out,

It's no longer a maybe

We're soon to be blessed

with a sweet little baby.

(This video is a bit long because Doug likes to "play along" and avoid the topic at hand.)

A Little Dizzy

The day was October 16th. I was watching Grey's Anatomy thanks to my DVR. Suddenly I started to feel dizzy. I remembered earlier in the spring when I was experiencing dizziness being asked if I were pregnant. At that time I wasn't even attempting and hated being asked that question. Then I remembered that my last cycle started on Sept. 16th. Since my next cycle should have started today (Oct. 16th) this was a red flag. Doug and I were getting ready to go visit his family and I had just come from the gym. So I decided that when I went to shower I would take a pregnancy test. Lo and behold it was positive. It changed pretty quickly. As I grinned from ear to ear, I jumped in the shower. Now I had to decide how to tell Doug. I origninally planned to buy him a button that said, "Dad to be." Well I had not bought it yet and I didn't think I could hold the information overnight so I had to come up with another plan.