**Again, there is no picture this week because I'm just too lazy! I'll start doing it again soon because in the next several weeks I will start showing :)**
How far along are you? 11 weeks
How are you measuring? I didn't get measured, or a sono, at my last appointment, but I'm going with that I'm still measuring at 11 weeks
How big is your baby? Right around an inch and a half in length, about the size of a fig
What major developments is your baby going through this week? The baby is pretty much completely formed at this point! The hands will start opening and closing soon, but right now he/she is busy swimming around and kicking like crazy (though obviously I don't feel anything). Bones are beginning to harden, and tooth buds are forming underneath the gums.
Heartbeat: 168 bpm...nice and strong, and music to Mommy and Daddy's ears :)
Total weight gain/loss: According to my scale +3 lbs; according to the dr's scale +1.5 lbs (so we'll go with what the doctor tells me!) In fact, she said she wished I had gained more! I don't know how I hadn't considering all the junk I've been eating.
Maternity clothes: Not yet, but my work pants are starting to get snugger. I'm about to invest in a Belly Band.
Stretch marks: Not yet!
Sleep: I sleep pretty well...and I sleep all the time now! I fall asleep at 7:00, take naps on the weekend, everything that's really unusual for me!
Gender predictions: I still think it's a girl!
What I miss: Route 44 vanilla Diet Coke from Sonic :)
What I'm looking forward to: Spring Break!! It's not really baby-related, but I'm REALLY looking forward to a week off!
How are you feeling: Tired, but still pretty good!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Baby Z Week 10!
**There's no picture to go along with this post because I don't look any different than last week, and frankly, I was too lazy to take one.
How far along are you? 10 weeks
How are you measuring? Hopefully right at 10 weeks...I go back to the doctor on Friday!
How big is your baby? About the size of a kumquat (about an inch in length), and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce
What major developments is your baby undergoing this week? He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm (according to babycenter.com)!! Baby's little limbs can bend now! Also peach-fuzz hair is covering the tiny body, and vital organs such as the intestines, kidneys, liver, and brain are in place and starting to function. Nails are forming on the fingers and toes and webbing inbetween should be gone. Every week is so exciting for me to learn what tiny little baby is going through!
Heartbeat: 163 bpm as of 2 weeks ago...I'll know more after Friday!
Total weight gain/loss: +3 lbs
Maternity clothes: Mine all still fit, so not yet! I did order several last weekend because they were on sale for a great price!
Stretch marks: Not yet!
Sleep: I've been sleeping great! Sadly, I do wake up about twice a night to go to the bathroom. Is it only going to get worse from here???
Best moment this week: Finally getting over my cold that had plagued me for a week, and feeling so much better!
Gender predictions: I still think girl. I had another dream that Michel and I had a little girl :)
What I miss: My Sonic drinks that I used to indulge in a few times a week! I bought myself one this afternoon (the first one that I have had since finding out I was pregnant and it was so good!!)
What I'm looking forward to: Everything! My next dr's appointment, feeling the baby move for the first time, and most definitely holding my precious one in my arms in September! 40 weeks is WAY too long!
How are you feeling: Honestly, I feel great! I've been really lucky.
How far along are you? 10 weeks
How are you measuring? Hopefully right at 10 weeks...I go back to the doctor on Friday!
How big is your baby? About the size of a kumquat (about an inch in length), and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce
What major developments is your baby undergoing this week? He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm (according to babycenter.com)!! Baby's little limbs can bend now! Also peach-fuzz hair is covering the tiny body, and vital organs such as the intestines, kidneys, liver, and brain are in place and starting to function. Nails are forming on the fingers and toes and webbing inbetween should be gone. Every week is so exciting for me to learn what tiny little baby is going through!
Heartbeat: 163 bpm as of 2 weeks ago...I'll know more after Friday!
Total weight gain/loss: +3 lbs
Maternity clothes: Mine all still fit, so not yet! I did order several last weekend because they were on sale for a great price!
Stretch marks: Not yet!
Sleep: I've been sleeping great! Sadly, I do wake up about twice a night to go to the bathroom. Is it only going to get worse from here???
Best moment this week: Finally getting over my cold that had plagued me for a week, and feeling so much better!
Gender predictions: I still think girl. I had another dream that Michel and I had a little girl :)
What I miss: My Sonic drinks that I used to indulge in a few times a week! I bought myself one this afternoon (the first one that I have had since finding out I was pregnant and it was so good!!)
What I'm looking forward to: Everything! My next dr's appointment, feeling the baby move for the first time, and most definitely holding my precious one in my arms in September! 40 weeks is WAY too long!
How are you feeling: Honestly, I feel great! I've been really lucky.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
My First Baby Bump(less) Post!
How far along are you? 9 weeks
How are you measuring? 8 weeks 4 days at our Thursday appt...so right on track!!
How big is your baby? According to Babycenter.com Baby Z is the size of a grape
What major developments is your baby undergoing this week? So much!! All appendages should be formed, the heart is finishing developing into 4 chambers, sex organs are there but not visible/distinguishable, and all of the organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear!
Heartbeat: 163 beats/minute
Total weight gain/loss: I haven't been weighing myself very consistently - the last time I stepped on the scale it said I had gained about 2 pounds, but I really haven't been sick, I haven't been working out a ton, and I'm not eating all that well right now. So I don't think it's baby weight as much as it is I've kind of let myself go! Oops! I'm really going to try to not go so crazy this week because I do not want to gain 60 pounds at the end of this pregnancy! My goal is 35-40! (Sorry...I got on my soapbox)
Maternity clothes: Nope...all of my clothes still fit!
Stretch marks: None yet!
Sleep: Urrrgghh...between the cold that I'm fighting, and getting up 2-3 times a night to go to the bathroom it's OK
Best moment this week: Finding out from a prenatal specialist that my uterus looks normal!!! No high-risk pregnancy here!
Movement: Not yet
Food cravings: Anything bad for me - milkshakes, burgers, fries, earlier this week I really wanted some fried chicken!
Gender predictions: I'm really feeling that it's a girl!! I had a dream a couple of weeks ago that I had a little girl and I was looking at her from behind and she had the prettiest dark, curly hair ever! I'm not gonna lie though...I do really want a girl. I'll be happy with either a boy or a girl...just want a healthy baby really!
What I miss: Being able to breathe through my nose without medications. Everybody is telling me that this is pregnancy-related, but I really hope it's not! I can't suffer like this for 7 more months! I went on two 30-minute walks today because light exercise clears my nose so well! I've been using the NetiPot and taking my Mucinex and Z-pack as directed. I've definitely gotten some relief but I'm not back to normal! I'm ready to feel normal again!
What I'm looking forward to: My next doctor's appointment 2/22!
How are you feeling: Well, aside from my nasal congestion/cough I'm feeling pretty good! I've gotten nauseous/thrown up about 5 times in my entire pregnancy so I can't complain at all!
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Praise the Lord!!
I didn't make this Facebook-official, but I definitely told my close friends, prayer warriors at church, and of course, my family. Last week, I got a call from the nurse at my OB's office saying that they looked at my sonogram (it was done by a sono tech at a different location) and they were afraid that my uterus was a heart-shape which is known as a bicornuate uterus. Being the person I am, I immediately went home and Googled it and was a bit scared to see that it came with a higher risk of miscarriage, and the baby was more likely to be born with a birth defect/malformation/deformity. After continued reading, I learned it's actually a bit more common than what I thought and I would probably just have to have a scheduled C-section a few weeks early. It didn't seem like that big of a deal, but for some reason I REALLY do not want a C-section. I don't know why; I just don't. So anyways, after a week of praying and asking God to make everything OK, and above all just to protect our precious baby and keep him/her safe we went to a prenatal specialist this morning to see exactly what we were dealing with. So I got another sonogram done today and the doctor scanned over my uterus for quite some time before telling us what she was looking for, and that she COULDN'T FIND IT!! Meaning my uterus looked normal! She continued scanning over my uterus and finally said that she couldn't find any abnormalities and that everything looked NORMAL!! I almost cried hearing that! She asked me some more questions regarding my menstrual cycle (has it been really irregular - no; do I have severe cramps during my cycle - no) and she said that those are things that are associated with the bicornuate uterus. So we got a wonderful doctor's report today! And on top of that, we got to see our precious baby again today and hear the heartbeat. It was a healthy 163 bpm. Best. Day. Ever! I hope that it only gets better! I will be going back for a follow-up appointment in about a month just to make sure that everything still looks normal, but I am not going to spend the next month worrying. I will be praising God for the blessings that He's given me, and pray that He continues to protect the health of our precious little one!
Monday, January 28, 2013
It's so different now...
I'm not at all trying to make a post that sounds like I'm complaining - more like I am documenting things that I'm going through. I'm so thankful to be pregnant, and have a healthy pregnancy so far! I ask God everyday to continue to bless our baby's health, and mine as well. But in the last few days there are definite things that I've noticed are so different for me that I'm not quite used to yet:
1. I can't do too much in the morning without eating or else I get really nauseous. This morning I slowly walked from our bedroom to the kitchen to slowly eat a banana. Once I ate it, I felt MUCH better!
2. There are days that food doesn't sound good to me at all, and then there are days where all food sounds good, and I'm so hungry all the time! Yesterday (Sunday) I ate breakfast at home around 8:30, ate a piece of cinnamon bread at church around 9:30, and at 11:15 my stomach was growling through the service. We ate lunch around 12:30 and I got so full so fast! Then around 3:30 my stomach was growling again. We ate around 5:30 and that finally satisfied me the rest of the night! Today, I'm only eating because I should - food isn't making me sick, but I'm not all that excited about it either.
3. I'm TIRED!! Saturday morning I took a nap, and then another one Saturday evening. Sunday afternoon I took a nap again, and today when I got home from work I just laid down on the couch and woke up about 30-45 mins later! I'm not a napper, so I'm not used to all this sleeping!
4. I already feel like my stomach is getting bigger. I think it's really just bloated, but either way I'm not loving it.
I know that there are some women that are literally sick from morning until night, so I'm so thankful that my "morning sickness" (which has occurred at different times during the day) generally only happens once a day/once every other day, and then it's done! That being said, it's not my favorite feeling in the world by any means, but I know that it could be much worse and I'm so thankful that it's not! Things like this just remind me that I really am having a baby, and I'm so excited about that!!
1. I can't do too much in the morning without eating or else I get really nauseous. This morning I slowly walked from our bedroom to the kitchen to slowly eat a banana. Once I ate it, I felt MUCH better!
2. There are days that food doesn't sound good to me at all, and then there are days where all food sounds good, and I'm so hungry all the time! Yesterday (Sunday) I ate breakfast at home around 8:30, ate a piece of cinnamon bread at church around 9:30, and at 11:15 my stomach was growling through the service. We ate lunch around 12:30 and I got so full so fast! Then around 3:30 my stomach was growling again. We ate around 5:30 and that finally satisfied me the rest of the night! Today, I'm only eating because I should - food isn't making me sick, but I'm not all that excited about it either.
3. I'm TIRED!! Saturday morning I took a nap, and then another one Saturday evening. Sunday afternoon I took a nap again, and today when I got home from work I just laid down on the couch and woke up about 30-45 mins later! I'm not a napper, so I'm not used to all this sleeping!
4. I already feel like my stomach is getting bigger. I think it's really just bloated, but either way I'm not loving it.
I know that there are some women that are literally sick from morning until night, so I'm so thankful that my "morning sickness" (which has occurred at different times during the day) generally only happens once a day/once every other day, and then it's done! That being said, it's not my favorite feeling in the world by any means, but I know that it could be much worse and I'm so thankful that it's not! Things like this just remind me that I really am having a baby, and I'm so excited about that!!
Friday, January 25, 2013
It's Really Real!
Today is the day that I had been waiting for since I found out that I was pregnant on January 1st - our very first sonogram!! I took off half a day of work; a.) because I could, and b.) I found it very hard to concentrate today! Our appointment was at 3:00. We got there around 2:30 because we knew that there would be a lot of new patient paperwork to fill out (this was my first appt with this specific OB/GYN; my gynecologist decided to stop delivering babies last year, so I was referred to a new dr). Anyways, around 3:45 or so the nurse came out and said that the dr. had been called away on emergency and we could choose to stay or leave. Michel and I decided to stay and wait. I ended up being seen around 4:30 and left around 5:30. This was seriously the LONGEST. DAY. EVER! So much waiting.... however; I found out that I really like my new doctor - she was incredibly sweet, answered so many questions that I had, and just really took the time to talk to me. Other than the wait, I have nothing but great things to say about this entire day.
Anyways, so the doctor did some blood work on me and did a quick internal exam (not a sonogram though) because I had called in yesterday because I was bleeding and she wanted to make sure everything was OK which it was. She told me that a little bit of bleeding from time to time is not worrisome, and appears in early pregnancy in about 80% of women, so that was very reassuring. After I was done with this doctor I got sent to a laboratory to have the sonogram done (weird, I know). A pile of more forms to fill out, 45 minutes of waiting, and 32 oz. of water later, I finally got the sonogram done! This was the part that Michel and I had been most looking forward to! We got to see the baby's heartbeat flickering really fast, and we even got to hear it! We got a really good picture of the baby now and if you look closely you can see a head forming, and the bottom of the baby is still tail-like, but it's getting smaller, and we're definitely starting to see the resemblance of a tiny human in there! Today's appointment made pregnancy feel really real to me! I can't wait for the rest of these 33 weeks to go by! Oh, and my due date was changed from September 12th to the 16th according to the size of the baby, but the sono tech said that the due date is plus or minus 4 days, so I still am calling myself 7 weeks along right now.
Here's our precious miracle!! I'm already in love :)
Anyways, so the doctor did some blood work on me and did a quick internal exam (not a sonogram though) because I had called in yesterday because I was bleeding and she wanted to make sure everything was OK which it was. She told me that a little bit of bleeding from time to time is not worrisome, and appears in early pregnancy in about 80% of women, so that was very reassuring. After I was done with this doctor I got sent to a laboratory to have the sonogram done (weird, I know). A pile of more forms to fill out, 45 minutes of waiting, and 32 oz. of water later, I finally got the sonogram done! This was the part that Michel and I had been most looking forward to! We got to see the baby's heartbeat flickering really fast, and we even got to hear it! We got a really good picture of the baby now and if you look closely you can see a head forming, and the bottom of the baby is still tail-like, but it's getting smaller, and we're definitely starting to see the resemblance of a tiny human in there! Today's appointment made pregnancy feel really real to me! I can't wait for the rest of these 33 weeks to go by! Oh, and my due date was changed from September 12th to the 16th according to the size of the baby, but the sono tech said that the due date is plus or minus 4 days, so I still am calling myself 7 weeks along right now.
Here's our precious miracle!! I'm already in love :)
Saturday, January 12, 2013
All about Baby Zoutendam!!
So this is the first post, but most definitely not the last, about Baby Zoutendam! Everybody now knows about it...our closest friends and family, our friends at church, our co-workers, and now Facebook! I'll go ahead and warn you...this could be long because I can get very wordy!
I first started suspecting that I was pregnant on Christmas Day. Almost overnight, I felt very bloated (sorry if this is TMI)...to the point that some of my regular pants were SOOO uncomfortable! I also woke up to a face full of zits, an extremely runny/stuffy nose that didn't go away, and a nosebleed. These were all weird to me so after a quick Google search pregnancy was what kept turning up. Of course, I was thrilled since Michel and I were trying to have a baby, so I decided to take a pregnancy test. I was almost positive that the test would show up negative because I wasn't expecting my period until New Year's Day. Lo and behold, the test was negative.
Fast forward to New Year's Day. This was the day of my first missed period. My best friend, Julie, had bought a huge amount of pregnancy strips off of Amazon. She had a baby in September, and knew that we were starting to try and get pregnant, so she gave me the rest of them - about 20 of them! So I've taken a lot anytime I thought that I might be pregnant (yeah...I'm that person). Anyways, a positive result is two lines, so I took the test and the negative line immediately popped up. I was still putting in my contacts and I glanced at the test and saw what I thought was a very faint second line! Of course, I was ecstatic, so I ran to CVS and bought a digital test. The word PREGNANT appeared on the screen! I was so thrilled!! (Side note: I read online that Clearblue digital tests gave a lot of false positives, and that was the digital test that I took, so of course, I freaked out, went back to the store and bought a different test. I took it at night time because I couldn't wait until the morning, and figured if it came up positive it must be true because the hcg hormone is greatest first thing in the morning. Anyways, 2 more tests came up positive, so I believe it now)!
I didn't break the news to Michel until January 2nd. I can't believe that I held it in so long! On New Year's Day I went to the store and found a onesie that said "Worth the Wait" so I put that in a bag, along with a note that said, "The wait will be over with on September 12th" and the positive pregnancy test in it. Michel saw the bag on his desk and was like "You bought me a present?" I thought that would be the giveaway, but it wasn't. So he opened his gift, pulled out the onesie and was like "Why did you buy me baby clothes? Oh, wait...are you??" So he was very excited to find the positive pregnancy test in the gift bag!
We immediately made plans to tell our family during the upcoming weekend. We actually lied to everyone, but under the circumstances, I think it's OK. My parents have a bookshelf at their house that Michel and I are planning on bringing over to our house, and I truly had had the intention of getting that bookshelf when I first told my mom that we would be over on Saturday; however, after I found out I was pregnant that was no longer my intention. :) So we went to my parents' house, and I told my mom that I had an early birthday present for her (her birthday is Jan. 10th), and I pulled a photo book out of my purse that said WELCOME BABY on the front. My mom looked at it and was like "Oh, thanks", so I told her to open it. Inside I had come up with a little poem that read:
"A boy or a girl, it's too soon to tell,
But either one we think would be swell,
So to our small family we add a new member
Grandbaby #3 will be here in September"
I'm not gonna lie...I'm kind of proud of this poem. I used it for each of our family members we told, and just changed the child and number (my sister's said "niece or nephew" rather than Grandbaby #3, while Michel's parents said "Grandbaby #1")...anyways, so my parents were really excited to hear our great news! We stayed there and had lunch with them for about 45 minutes or so, and then had to get on the road to drive to Longview. The lie we had told my sister was that Michel's brother and sister-in-law were coming down for a belated Christmas celebration, and we would be in Longview and one of the presents that we ordered and it didn't get here in time for Christmas (luckily that part was true so it gave us a really good reason to have to stop by), so I just gave her her late Christmas present, the poem, and pictures of my positive pregnancy test. Janette and Ryan were thrilled, too! I even told Karys, and I didn't think she totally understood, but Janette told me later that when Zane woke up from his nap Karys told him "Aunt Julie's going to have a baby", so apparently she did get it :) So, again, we stayed at the Magan's house for about 45 minutes before heading to Michel's parents' house. Unfortunately, his dad ended up having to go out of town on a trip (he's a pilot) and we knew this was a possibility, but we decided we would still share the happy news with his mom, and text his dad a photo of the picture frame that said "I love Grandpa" to him. Michel's mom was so happy to hear about the arrival of her first grandbaby! Michel and I are so blessed to have so much family around who already love our baby! Can't wait until January 25th when we have our first doctor's appointment!
I first started suspecting that I was pregnant on Christmas Day. Almost overnight, I felt very bloated (sorry if this is TMI)...to the point that some of my regular pants were SOOO uncomfortable! I also woke up to a face full of zits, an extremely runny/stuffy nose that didn't go away, and a nosebleed. These were all weird to me so after a quick Google search pregnancy was what kept turning up. Of course, I was thrilled since Michel and I were trying to have a baby, so I decided to take a pregnancy test. I was almost positive that the test would show up negative because I wasn't expecting my period until New Year's Day. Lo and behold, the test was negative.
Fast forward to New Year's Day. This was the day of my first missed period. My best friend, Julie, had bought a huge amount of pregnancy strips off of Amazon. She had a baby in September, and knew that we were starting to try and get pregnant, so she gave me the rest of them - about 20 of them! So I've taken a lot anytime I thought that I might be pregnant (yeah...I'm that person). Anyways, a positive result is two lines, so I took the test and the negative line immediately popped up. I was still putting in my contacts and I glanced at the test and saw what I thought was a very faint second line! Of course, I was ecstatic, so I ran to CVS and bought a digital test. The word PREGNANT appeared on the screen! I was so thrilled!! (Side note: I read online that Clearblue digital tests gave a lot of false positives, and that was the digital test that I took, so of course, I freaked out, went back to the store and bought a different test. I took it at night time because I couldn't wait until the morning, and figured if it came up positive it must be true because the hcg hormone is greatest first thing in the morning. Anyways, 2 more tests came up positive, so I believe it now)!
I didn't break the news to Michel until January 2nd. I can't believe that I held it in so long! On New Year's Day I went to the store and found a onesie that said "Worth the Wait" so I put that in a bag, along with a note that said, "The wait will be over with on September 12th" and the positive pregnancy test in it. Michel saw the bag on his desk and was like "You bought me a present?" I thought that would be the giveaway, but it wasn't. So he opened his gift, pulled out the onesie and was like "Why did you buy me baby clothes? Oh, wait...are you??" So he was very excited to find the positive pregnancy test in the gift bag!
We immediately made plans to tell our family during the upcoming weekend. We actually lied to everyone, but under the circumstances, I think it's OK. My parents have a bookshelf at their house that Michel and I are planning on bringing over to our house, and I truly had had the intention of getting that bookshelf when I first told my mom that we would be over on Saturday; however, after I found out I was pregnant that was no longer my intention. :) So we went to my parents' house, and I told my mom that I had an early birthday present for her (her birthday is Jan. 10th), and I pulled a photo book out of my purse that said WELCOME BABY on the front. My mom looked at it and was like "Oh, thanks", so I told her to open it. Inside I had come up with a little poem that read:
"A boy or a girl, it's too soon to tell,
But either one we think would be swell,
So to our small family we add a new member
Grandbaby #3 will be here in September"
I'm not gonna lie...I'm kind of proud of this poem. I used it for each of our family members we told, and just changed the child and number (my sister's said "niece or nephew" rather than Grandbaby #3, while Michel's parents said "Grandbaby #1")...anyways, so my parents were really excited to hear our great news! We stayed there and had lunch with them for about 45 minutes or so, and then had to get on the road to drive to Longview. The lie we had told my sister was that Michel's brother and sister-in-law were coming down for a belated Christmas celebration, and we would be in Longview and one of the presents that we ordered and it didn't get here in time for Christmas (luckily that part was true so it gave us a really good reason to have to stop by), so I just gave her her late Christmas present, the poem, and pictures of my positive pregnancy test. Janette and Ryan were thrilled, too! I even told Karys, and I didn't think she totally understood, but Janette told me later that when Zane woke up from his nap Karys told him "Aunt Julie's going to have a baby", so apparently she did get it :) So, again, we stayed at the Magan's house for about 45 minutes before heading to Michel's parents' house. Unfortunately, his dad ended up having to go out of town on a trip (he's a pilot) and we knew this was a possibility, but we decided we would still share the happy news with his mom, and text his dad a photo of the picture frame that said "I love Grandpa" to him. Michel's mom was so happy to hear about the arrival of her first grandbaby! Michel and I are so blessed to have so much family around who already love our baby! Can't wait until January 25th when we have our first doctor's appointment!
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