Baby Bump & Breakouts

Amazing! I can’t believe how accurate the weekly emails are that I receive from TheBump.com about the baby’s growth and my body! This week the email mentioned a disappearing waistline and being able to see the effects of pregnancy on my face in the form of major breakouts because of the hormones. The day I read that email was the first day I wore maternity clothes to work! Talk about a disappearing waistline! It is SO hard trying to hide my growing belly. I’ve definitely noticed coworkers staring lately, but no one has asked me directly. I’m thankful I only have one more week to keep (and try to hide) my exciting secret.

Our baby is now the size of a prune since I’m 10 weeks along (1.2 inches long right now and will double in size over the next three weeks!). Evidently bones and cartilage are starting to form and organs and arms are starting to function…soon legs will be too! I bet it won’t be long before I get to feel this baby moving…so fun!

9 Weeks and Counting...

I’m 9 weeks pregnant now and for the past 3 days I’ve been much LESS nauseous than I’ve felt the past few weeks. That’s a MAJOR improvement!

I was only nauseous with my first pregnancy for one or two days, but this pregnancy seemed much more difficult in the beginning, mainly because of the sick feeling I had about 90% of my day. It has also seemed more difficult because in addition to the nausea, I feel exhausted and am not able to rest much. Once my day job is done, it’s back home for my life-job as a wife and mom. But Phil has been amazingly helpful, letting me relax while he makes dinner or sleep when I get home while he plays with Rock. I’ve even had some great quality naps while Rock naps on the weekends, which has helped a ton!

Another surprise with this pregnancy has been my early belly growth. I know you show sooner with every additional pregnancy, but I didn’t realize HOW much and HOW soon! I’m only 9 week pregnant, but I’m wearing my Bella Band for the first time today! And I have to change shirts multiple times each morning to find a shirt that won’t advertise that I’m showing already, since we’re not quite ready to announce our news. With the rapid belly growth, we decided to start profile pictures this weekend. It will be fun to see the baby growth week to week!

At 9 weeks, the baby is the size of a green olive…almost an inch long! And as a green olive, the baby is now officially a fetus, instead of an embryo.

My next appointment is scheduled for Good Friday in 2.5 weeks. We hope to hear the heartbeat one more time at that appointment and I’ll be close to 12 weeks pregnant by then, so we’ll be ready to make more announcements over Easter weekend! I love this holiday pregnancy…Valentine’s Day positive pregnancy test and Easter announcements! Looking forward to it…only a few more weeks!

Due Date Determined!

At the prompting of my sister-in-law, Becki, I just called the doctor’s office to see if my due date has been determined…and it has! Nobody called to tell me…but it is officially set at 10/23/2012!

According to the doctor’s expert opinion, the baby was measuring 7 weeks 2 days at the time of the appointment, even though based on my last period I should have been measuring 7 weeks 5 days. Therefore, the doctor pushed my due date back by 3 days. The original estimated due date would have been 10/20/2012 based on my last period.

10/23/2012 is…
3 days after Great Grandma Muriel’s birthday
1 day after Grandpa Jim’s birthday
3 days before Daddy Phil and Aunt Becki’s birthdays
7 days before Rock’s birthday

So exciting!!!

Eventful Week!

What an exciting time! Phil and I both went to our first ultrasound appointment last Thursday where we got to see our baby for the first time (yay!) and hear the heartbeat too! It was perfectly paced at 144 bpm. The baby looked like a little cocoon right now and the nurse said there’s a little fluid pocket that’s present, but not problematic. The fluid pocket occurs in about 30% of pregnancies but usually dissolves without any future complication. Still, something to note since it’s not the norm. Additionally, the ultrasound technician could tell that the fertilized egg originated in my left ovary…that’s the same side that Rock came from too.

We took a video of the heartbeat, but can’t hear it very well because we were recording too far away from the speaker. Lesson learned for our next ultrasound!

We do not know my due date yet. I was supposed to be nearly eight weeks pregnant based on the first day of my last period, but the baby was measuring at seven weeks. The doctor said he would look at the ultrasound and some dates and get back to us with a due date (or call and ask additional questions to narrow down a more accurate due date). We haven’t heard back yet…

We also got to sit down with the nurse after our ultrasound and discuss the dos and don’ts of pregnancy, which I needed! It’s amazing how quickly you forget the important points of what you can/can’t eat and how you can/can’t sleep, etc. So that was a great refresher! (Especially since I’ve been more nauseas than I remember during my first pregnancy, so it was good to hear helpful options for anti-nausea like ginger, peppermint, eating small meals more frequently, and eating a protein snack before bed.)

Since we were waiting to hear the heartbeat before we made any announcements to family, it was all systems “go” after our appointment Thursday!

We were able to tell my mom Thursday night when she came over to babysit Rock. We were eating dinner when she arrived, so it was a perfect time to show grandma the prayer Rock had been practicing. Grandma Debbie was SO excited! She looked right at me and Phil and said “Really?!. Are you pregnant? Is there going to be another baby?”

We were also lucky to be able to tell the rest of our parents on Friday, along with Becki and Caleb (Rich and the other kids couldn’t make it to lunch). Jim and Sandi were planning to head to their new cabin for the weekend, so we weren’t sure when we’d be able to tell them. But God willing, they stuck around long enough on Friday to invite us to lunch, so Rock prayed at lunch to announce our news. Becki heard “baby” right away and had to explain what Rock said to Sandi (since she couldn’t hear as well in the loud restaurant). Everyone was really excited! Becki said she and Rich had already figured it out, but weren’t “for-sure”, so they were just waiting for the announcement to confirm their theories.

As for my dad, we did something a little more substantial because the opportunity presented itself. We went to dad’s annual Rocky Mountain Bison Association dinner and auction Friday night, and we knew they always pray before the meal. So we asked the preacher if he would be willing to help us announce my pregnancy to my dad during the prayer. He was willing! So at the end of the prayer, the preacher said something like “…and a special prayer tonight for Phil and Michele and Rock, who just found out they’re expecting another addition to the family. And for Dave Hayes who is going to be a grandpa for the second time.”

It was so fun to look up and see the other people at our table (Mary and Brian Adams) say “we didn’t know that!” and my dad looked at right at them and said “I didn’t even know that!” He was shocked and excited! He told us congratulations multiple times and kept telling us how surprised he was by the delivery method…”I couldn’t figure out why he was praying about my family during the dinner prayer!” Dad even called later in the weekend to tell us he’d already told ALL the buffalo, since he was sworn to secrecy about our announcement. Made us laugh!

Needless to say, it was an eventful few days! And our baby is the size of a raspberry already (week 8)!

Prayerfully Awaiting 1st Appointment

The past few weeks, since our positive pregnancy test, we’ve been overjoyed with the thought of having another baby. There are a number of fears too, but none that God can’t conquer and guide us through. We are so excited about the opportunity to raise another child in His likeness, hopefully showing God’s unwavering love everyday to both of our children. We have been praying for our new baby since before day one! Even Rock prays for his little sibling every day when we pray during meals and in the car with Daddy on the way to daycare. Phil always asks God to be with “mommy,” “daddy,” “Rock” (and asks Rock to repeat each of those names) and then Rock adds “Baby!” to the end without any prompting. We even have one of his prayers on video, which we may send out to family as our announcement of baby #2!

Rock is so intrigued and entertained by babies right now too. I don’t know if he understands what a baby is yet, but he always points them out when he sees them and a new baby even started at his daycare last week. That should be a great learning experience for him before his new brother or sister arrives in October.

We are praying for a heartbeat at our first doctor appointment this Thursday! I’ll be nearly 8 weeks pregnant and we will be having our first ultrasound and appointment! We’ve been anxiously counting down the days for this appointment when we get to see our new baby for the first time. The baby is about the size of a blueberry right now (.51 inches).

Lord, please be with our growing baby. Please keep him or her developing perfectly according to your will and plan. We love you Lord and thank you for the blessings you’ve given us!