37 weeks

Just realized it's been two months since I posted last. Woops, sorry about that. Everything is going well...just getting bigger by the day. I've gained 40 lbs so far and my feet are hugely swollen! Shoo. Saw the midwife today and my blood pressure was 96/62, the baby's heartbeat was 140 bpm and I was measuring at 37 weeks. Think I'm starting to drop a bit because it's getting easier to breathe and I'm feeling some pressure/cramping down low. Whatcha think? Could be wishful thinking.



Noah's nursery is coming along. Brian is almost done putting the dresser together. We just need to hang the pictures. Most recent pic:


and his closet:


Also, instead of birthing at North Fulton we'll now be at Atlanta Medical. The awesome midwives I've been seeing have started their own practice down there. There will be three birthing tubs set up so hopefully I can still give water birth a shot.

I only have 14 days of library work left (unless bebe comes early) and I can't wait to escape from the crazy public :-) Although I'll definitely miss most of my coworkers and a few of our really cool customers.

Guess that's all for now...

29 weeks

Alright, y'all, here are a couple recent belly pics. He's definitely grown some. According to the books he should be around 3 lbs now. Knowing my genes he'll probably at least triple that weight before birth. Whew lawd. I'm already sore and have sciatica...can't imagine what 40 weeks will feel like.

28 weeks

Most recent pic @ 29 weeks

We also worked on his nursery a little bit this past weekend. Here's a pic of the room so far:

Last week we took a water birth class and went on a tour of the maternity unit at North Fulton. I loved it. It really was a lot nicer than I was expecting. It's small, private, has three rooms with huge birthing tubs, and they even have mood lighting in the rooms! Awesome. The nurses were also extremely nice and helpful. And last weekend we took a Parenting 101 class with our doula, Teresa. It was great...I love her teaching style. Pretty sure Brian knows more about birth and babies than he ever bargained for!

27 weeks

I had my glucose challenge test this morning. Kept hearing horror stories about how nasty the drink was and the stomach ache that came with drinking it. Well, mine was lemon-lime flavored and not bad at all. I just felt like I had eaten too much candy or something. They took my blood an hour later...hopefully I passed. My blood pressure was 107/61 and I've gained 26 lbs total. I'm also measuring 27 weeks so I'm right on track. My midwife doesn't think I'll be having a 10 pounder. Hope she's right! :-) Noah is a good boy and is already head down...she tried to let me feel where his head was but I couldn't tell what I was feeling. Still cool though. Last night I woke up to pee (as usual) and it felt like he was doing somersaults in there. In other news, my right boob has started leaking which is just lovely. TMI?

Big boy

Had another visit with the midwife today! She measured the fundal height (the distance between the pubic bone and the top of the uterus) and said I'm measuring in at 24 weeks - one week ahead. Which would make my due date more like August 13th. So we'll see what happens...I'd be happy if he came early but I'm not holding my breath. My blood pressure was 100/58 which seems really low to me but they said it was normal. At least it's not high! Also while she was trying to find his heartbeat with Doppler he kicked her. Funny.

Gifts from Mimi Judy!

Thank you mom! Here are the pics:

Graco MetroLite Birkshire

Graco SafeSeat Birkshire

Brian put the stroller together while Midas ran around the house freaking out. He thinks we're gonna put him in it! Anyhow, I'm very happy with both items and can't wait to see Noah in them :-)

23ish weeks

Noah's been flipping around a lot lately...I still get kicked really low but I'm also feeling them up above my belly button now, too. Brian got to feel a big kick earlier and that was cute :-) Right now I'm sitting on the couch with headphones on my belly. He's listening to some classical music for babies that I checked out from the library. Hope he likes it! Also, here's a current pic of the belly:


I have another prenatal appt on Thursday so we'll see how much weight I've gained...oh lawd!

Noah weighs a whole pound!

I headed out to my anatomy scan this morning by myself. Poor Brian had a stomach bug and couldn't leave the house :-( It went really well, though. We saw the four chambers in the heart, the diaphragm, two kidneys, his bladder, the boy parts, his brain, etc. He was moving a lot, throwing his arms up by his head and bouncing around as usual. Heart beat still going strong at 151 bpm. He was in a breech position, which explains why I've been feeling kicks lower in my belly. Apparently a lot of babies are breech at this point since they still have so much room to move around.

I also found out I have an anterior placenta, which means it's attached to the front wall of the uterus. This is probably helping to buffer a lot of his kicks, but I still feel them pretty regularly. I know ultrasounds aren't too accurate in predicting the due date once you get farther along in the pregnancy, but according to today's scan he's measuring 21 weeks 4 days which would make the due date August 16th. He'll probably come on August 22nd (Mark's wedding day) just because that's how life is, right? ;-)

Here are the pics from today:

Face

Boy parts (on the right hand side)

Feet

Hand

19 weeks 1 day

We had a prenatal appt today. They weighed me (I've gained 12 lbs so far...can you tell I got my appetite back?!), took my blood pressure (110/60), and listened for the heartbeat. The little guy was busy moving all around as usual. She found it for a second, it was 151 bpm, but then she said he "went off to play again." lol. We're going back on April 9th for an anatomy scan to check out the heart and all that.

While we were at the appt, JCPenney called to say our crib had arrived. So we swung by there afterwards and picked it up. Brian assembled it in no time and it looks so good! I'm super happy with it. Just need to buy the bedding now.

18 weeks 5 days

Nursery

This is my favorite bedding so far for the nursery...can't resist blue, brown, and polka dots! It's from Restoration Hardware's baby line. Think I'm gonna have to register there..

The Bump @ 16 weeks 5 days

I couldn't resist

I wandered into Babies 'R Us for the first time ever today. They were having a sale on Carter's clothes so of course I gave in. Here's what I got:

It says "Little Squirt" underneath the whale

16 weeks 5 days

Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm just now starting to feel better...still nauseous a lot but I no longer feel like I'm going to die! Progress. My last prenatal appointment went well. I've gained 4 lbs so far. The baby's heartbeat was 152 bpm which was very good. Last Saturday (Feb 28th) Brian, my mom, and mother-in-law went with me to a place called OB Sonics to find out the gender. It wasn't hard at all to tell that it's a....BOY!! which you can clearly tell from this picture:


We were all shocked since EVERYONE thought it was going to be a girl. But we couldn't be happier :-) So far the name we're using is Noah Gregory but that could change. Look how cute his little hand is....


I think I'm starting to feel him move a little bit. Definitely feeling something different than gas. So that's exciting :) Uncle Mark and Aunt Holly bought him his first outfits and they're adorable. Can't believe how tiny they are. Made me anxious for him to get here!



I've also been doing some maternity clothes shopping. I've found some shirts, a sweater (to wear at the freezing cold library), a pair of jeans, a skirt, and some new undies. We made the mistake of going to Izzy Maternity first...every shirt was at least $80!! Screw that. Target, Old Navy, and Motherhood are my friends.

11 weeks 1 day

Brian, my mom, and I went to my first official prenatal appointment today! It was awesome...we got to listen to the heartbeat on doppler and while we were listening we also heard the baby kick and flip over. Our midwife, Margaret, is out recovering from surgery so we saw Diane instead. I love her too! We were all laughing and having a good time (yes, going to the OB/GYN can be fun - if you go to ISIS). Oh, and I haven't gained a single pound! Guess it's all the puking...although I have eaten two calzones bigger than my head this past week ;-) The ultrasound was so cool. Our baby is already a dancer. She was kicking and waving her arms all around. I have a feeling it's a girl so I'm just gonna say 'she' til I find out otherwise. Brian took a video of the ultrasound but we have to edit the size before posting, so here are a couple pictures in the meantime:

10 weeks 5 days

Ok well I broke down and bought a pair of maternity pants yesterday. They're amazingly comfy. Also, I haven't thrown up for three days straight! We even hung out with friends on Friday night and went to trivia last night. My mood has been improving too (I think). All I have to say is YAY!!!

The Meet the Doulas tea was a lot of fun and we ended up hiring an awesome doula :-) I'm excited.

Hopefully I'll have some good news on Wednesday after my next appointment.

9 weeks 4 days

Still feeling crappy. Fortunately I haven't thrown up for the last few days. Just feeling nauseous all the time. I've read that the placenta begins taking over hormone production in the 10th week so I'm hoping to gradually start feeling better every day. Wishful thinking?

I bought a Bella Band because my pants were seriously becoming uncomfortable! Don't wanna buy a bunch of in between clothes. Just going to wait until I'm big enough for maternity stuff. In a few weeks I'll begin posting a weekly pic of the baby bump. Right now it's just bloating ;-)

We're going to a Meet the Doulas Tea on Monday. Going to meet the doulas from A Labor of Love and hopefully find someone to help support us during labor. I'm shooting for a water birth and know I'll need all the help I can get!

Brian is going to be a great dad. He's really stepped up to the plate during all this nausea nonsense and has been doing the dishes, laundry, feeding the cat, cleaning the litter box, going to the store, bringing me breakfast bars in bed...all while I've been a big lazy complaining blob on the couch. Husband of the year <3

Also, my next appt with the midwife is January 28th. If they do another ultrasound I'll definitely post pics!

Expanding

Even though I don't eat much I've outgrown all of my pants already! Probably just due to bloating but still seems early. Time to go shopping.

We're having a baby in August!

Well, it’s official. I’m in my eighth week of pregnancy. And I am MISERABLE! Nausea all day and night, some vomiting, heartburn, sore boobs, exhaustion, constipation, super heightened sense of smell (can’t even go near the fridge), peeing every ten minutes, etc etc etc! I’m trying not to complain too much because I know this comes with the territory. Still, didn’t realize it’d suck this much. Not sure how I’m going to get through the next 4-5 weeks at work. Praying for January to go by quickly.

I first tested on Wednesday, December 10th and the “+” sign showed up before I could even set the test down. It was DARK too. I was kind of shocked because we weren’t trying to get pregnant in November. I had a chemical pregnancy (where the egg gets fertilized but doesn’t implant properly or has chromosomal abnormalities) back in October and we were told to wait three months before trying again. From what I’ve read, though, doctors just say that because they prefer to have your period back on track so it’s easier for them to date your next pregnancy. I also wanted to wait because I knew a baby conceived in November would be due right around the time my brother is getting married. Well of course, my due date is TWO days before his wedding. Should be interesting!

I ended up testing two more times the next week, both with the same fast dark result. My first appointment with my midwife was on Monday, December 29th. Her name is Margaret Strickhouser and I really, really like her. She checked my cervix and said it had a bluish tint (a good sign). Then used Doppler to listen for a heartbeat but it was too early. She sent me down the hall for an ultrasound where we got to see our little Tuckerling whose heart was beating at 163 bpm! Exciting :-)

6 weeks 5 days. The baby is the little blob inside the black circle at the top left (so technical).

Unfortunately my diet has gone straight to hell due to all the nausea. The thought of almost everything makes my stomach churn. Especially garlic. UGHHHHHHH. Also tried to eat a spinach salad and spit it out. Of course I was able to get down a cheeseburger. Brian just laughs when things like this happen and says it’s definitely his child. He’s good at eating lots of meat and not so good at the vegetables. Today I was up at 4:30 with my head in the toilet. Called in sick to work and stayed in bed 'til almost noon. Been trying to nibble on a whole grain bagel with lots of fiber. And drinking water and Gatorade. Still feel terrible. Gonna stop taking my prenatal vitamin as I think it's really doing a number on my digestive system. Probably try Flintstones chewables or something similar instead. Wish me luck!