18 Weeks!

He's my belly shot (a few days late) from our 18 week mark a few days ago! Getting bigger! And please disregard my horrible choice of incredibly baggy sweatpants...they certainly are not the most attractive things in the world, for sure, but I wasn't thinking about that when I took this shot...I was just thinking about how comfy and oh-so-inviting they looked when I got home from wearing a dress, pantyhose, and heels all day at work. :) Kind of a "milestone" today...someone at work who I do not know (and who definitely did not know I was pregnant beforehand) actually asked me when I was due?! I was a little shocked...guess I am officially looking preggers now and showing a bit more than I thought!

So, BIG week this week! We find out the gender this Wednesday!!! We have our 19 week ultrasound appt where we not only finally find out the gender of our little jelly bean, but we are also prayerful that we get a good report on the baby's health and growth progression so far.

Will our next blog post be in PINK or BLUE!?!?!?

In the 18th week...here's what is happening!

Your Baby
Your baby's ears are now facing forward and are completely formed so she can actually hear you talking now. You don't need to abandon your potty mouth just yet, but you might want to start thinking about it! Other highlights this week:
This week is also the beginning of ossification. And while that sounds like some long and involved paperwork you'll have to fill out, it's really a fancy medical term for the hardening of your baby's miniature bones. And that's a good thing.
Your baby's nerves are making more and more complex connections. Her sense of smell, taste, sight and hearing are all developing. A substance called myelin, which makes nerve connections travel faster, is now coating your baby's nerves.
Your baby now weighs between 5 and 7 ounces and is about 5½ inches long—about the size of a pickle from the corner deli. (You're familiar with pickles, right? Your regular accompaniment to a big bowl of ice cream?)

17 Weeks!

We are 17 weeks as of this past Friday - here's a look at my growing baby bump! As of today, we only have a week and a half left to go until we find our the gender of our little one! We got LOTS done this weekend around the house - ahem, my sweet husband, dad, and some other helpers did, that is! People always told us to get the little jobs around the house completed BEFORE the baby arrives or they'll never get done, so that's what we did...2 new toilets, new garbage disposal, new ice maker, trees chopped down, backyard hedges pulled up, tons of dirt added to the side yard of our house (no more flooded basements we hope)...you know, the glamorous stuff! But Philip got a bunch crossed off our our "honey-do" list!

I also had to add this picture of Hunter to the blog...I came downstairs to find him sleeping on not 1, but 2 of his dog beds and curled up around his favorite red pillow. It was TOO cute not to grab a photo! He is the best pup...I love every ounce of him. I can only imagine how strong our love for our new baby is going to be, when we love this "baby" so much!

In the 17th Week...here's what's happening!

Your Baby
Speaking of packing on the pounds, that what it's all about for baby this week. He's adding fat stores that will keep him warm and cozy after he's born. Your baby's weight will increase approximately six times over the next four weeks. Good to know you're not the only one tipping the scale. Also this week:Your baby is hard at work honing his sucking and swallowing reflexes—all the better for eating that 2 AM (and 5 AM, and 8 AM ...) meal in a few months! The finger- and toenails are beginning to grow from their nail beds, which would explain why he'll need them trimmed almost as soon as he's born! Your baby weighs nearly 5 ounces and is a little over 5 inches long—about the size of a baked potato (load on the butter and sour cream, please).

16 week belly shot!

Swine Flu Shot Available - Finally!

Good news! My OBGYN Group is administering the Swine Flu vaccine to pregnant patients this Saturday from 9am-1pm! I will definitely be there!

And we have MOVEMENT!!!

What a great night...Philip built a fire since it was cold and raining outside and we were both laying on the couch watching a variety of Tuesday night TV shows (well, really just So You Think You Can Dance and Biggest Loser...can you tell I had the remote?)...and I felt the first movements from my little jelly bean! I wasn't certain at first, but after several of the same movements, I went straight to my What To Expect resource and it looks like I felt our baby's moving for the first time!!! And it's true what they say...it's kinda like popcorn popping or muscle twitches. So exciting!!! I love every single "first"...

In the 16th week...here's what is happening!

Your baby is already mugging for the camera as she practices all sorts of facial expressions, such as squinting, yawning and grimacing, which will come in handy when you introduce her to pureed spinach. Check out what else is happening in utero:You're just getting comfortable with being a new mom, but you're actually on the road to being a grandma. If your baby is a girl, her uterus is fully developed and the ovaries already hold primitive egg cells. Did that just make you feel a thousand years old, or what? Your baby's skin is still translucent and wrinkly, not unlike an old man's, but more fat will soon accumulate under the dermas to plump her out. If you could peer inside right now, you'd be able to see all of her veins under her skin. And speaking of veins, your baby's heart now pumps about 25 quarts of blood per day, and she hasn't even seen Orlando Bloom yet! Also, her eyes are now locked and loaded at their final destination, facing forward rather than to the sides. (Whew!) This is the week women get an amniocentesis, if their doc recommends it. In addition to supplying doctors with a boatload of info about the baby's health, amnios are also more than 99 percent accurate in determining what version of baby you'll be having. So if you want to know and you're getting an amnio, now's a great time to find out for sure.Your baby weighs about 3 ounces this week and measures between 4 and 5 inches, about the length of your mascara.

15 weeks!

My belly is growing a little bit every week!

Visit to PA

We had a great time visiting our family up in Easton, PA this past weekend...Jenn, Chris, Julian, and the 2 newest additions: Lily and Alex. It was so great to see everyone, and Philip's parents even made the trip up there as well! Everyone seems to be doing great, and they have a beautiful house in a beautiful part of the country (glad they are back in the US)! It is fun to think that these are not only our niece and nephews, but they will be our "little one's" cousins by Springtime!

In the 15th week...here's what's happening!

Your Baby
Although many women don't start feeling the baby move until the 17th week (or later), your baby has been having his own party in the amniotic sac he calls home. If you feel a little flutter in your belly this week, don't discount it as gas or hunger. It could be your babe banging around. Here's more to look forward to:

Baby's head is now resting on his well-formed neck instead of directly on his shoulders like Igor. He's beginning to grow eyebrows and eyelashes this week. (All the better to give you that "Mom, you're crazy" look when he's a teenager.) The hair on the head also begins to grow and, with some creative styling, you'll be able to turn those locks into a Maddox Jolie-Pitt faux-hawk some day.

Although baby's eyes are sealed shut, he's now able to sense light. His eyes and ears finally look like real baby features now. As your baby practices sucking and swallowing actions, he may actually hiccup. You'll know he's had one too many shots of amniotic fluid by the steady thump-thump you feel.

Over the next month, baby will grow faster than ever, so make sure you load up on enough nutritious food and fluids to support his growth. Your baby now measures nearly 4 inches, about the size of a Kit Kat "finger" (regular-size, not the Big one you get at the movies), and weighs almost 2 ounces.

14 Week Check-up

We had a good visit to the doctor today for our 14 week check-up! And while our little baby was playing a bit of hide and seek with the doctor's doppler for a few minutes, the heartbeat finally came across clear and strong at 140 bpm...same as 3 weeks ago! Dr. Taylor is happy with my weight and belly-size progress up to this point as well. The better news? We were informed that our next appointment will be Nov. 18th, in just 5 weeks, for our 2nd ultrasound and a chance to finally find out the gender of our little one! Philip and I cannot wait!!!

On another note: the doctor's office should also be receiving doses of the swine flu vaccines next week or the following week, and once they are in, I will be getting mine asap. :) I have been getting a lot of calls and emails...thank you to everyone for thinking of me - I will keep y'all updated!

Athens

Sooo, this is a late post from back in August. We took Hunter up for a vet appt on a Saturday before the start of football season, and had a great day...and technically, it was the baby's first visit to Athens, so we made sure to make a stop under The Arch. And Hunter growled - then made friends with - a statue of Uga in downtown. It was a good day!

In the 14th week: here's what is happening!

Your Baby
Think of it this way: You're a third of the way through and baby's a third of the way cooked. Now that the "big stuff" (like skeletal and organ development) is taken care of, your baby starts a period of rapid brain growth, fat buildup and detail work. Highlights this week include:
Your baby now has fingerprints! Book 'em, Danno! Believe it or not, he actually created them himself while swimming around in the amniotic fluid. As he moved his hands, the skin on the tips of his fingers formed unique ridges and folds. That's why no one on earth has the same fingerprints, not even identical twins! Cool, right? Baby's arms are now in proportion to his tiny body, but his legs are still on the short size in comparison.
Meconium, that tar-like, sticky first baby poop, is now loading up your baby's intestines, which means you might want to set aside a bottle of olive oil, one of the few things that will get the gooey poop off of baby's bottom.
Your baby continues to gain new and impressive skills such as practicing and controlling voluntary muscle movements (this will help him fling food across the room later in life). Your tiny dancer's movements are no longer the jerky, uncontrollable twitches of yore—he now moves with graceful control.
Your baby is now weighs about an ounce and is the length of a flip phone, or roughly 3.5 inches—he's tripled in size from a mere three weeks ago! Luckily, you haven't done the same.

13 weeks!

Here's my belly shot at 13 weeks!

In the 13th week...here's what is happening!

Your Baby
Your baby can make a fist and even suck his or her thumb this week—both skills that are über-cute during infancy ... and not so much at the age of 9. If you're really lucky, you might catch a glimpse of baby's thumb sucking on an ultrasound photo. That's a framer! Other exciting developments include:
Your baby's eyelids are fused shut to protect his eyes as they develop. His bones and skull are solidifying and soon itsy-bitsy ribs may appear. (Baby ribs! How cute is that?!) Baby's intestines are finally right where you want them—in his or her belly instead of poking out into the umbilical cord. Baby's tooth sockets are all loaded and ready to pop out baby teeth six or seven months after baby is born (causing baby a lot of pain and you a lot of lost sleep).
Who's that singing? Elton John? Could be your baby: His vocal cords and larynx are completed now.
Your baby-to-be now weighs about 20 grams and is nearly 3 inches long, or about the size of a Nutter Butter, covered in chocolate. OK, it doesn't have to be covered in chocolate, but isn't everything better that way?

UGA/LSU - Not the game-ending we were hoping for :(

What a beautiful day in Athens yesterday...but the game has a bad ending. Of course, we were able to capture some great photo ops where we were smiling beforehand...definitely not a lot of smiles after the game - that's for sure!

12 weeks - we are officially through the first trimester!

Yesterday we "officially" passed through our first trimester...FINALLY! Here is my 12-week belly shot! From what I have read and heard from girlfriends, I will just keep expanding from here! Philip and I are celebrating our milestone with dinner tonight and then off to Athens tomorrow for the UGA/LSU game!

It's "official"!

The big "baby news" was announced at our work conference this week and tonight posted on Facebook - so I guess it's official!!!

Hearing the Baby's Heartbeat!

I had a routine doctors appt. Thursday for my 11-wk check-up...I thought I was just going in for some blood work, etc...but got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time instead! WOW! It was so emotional! Our little one was a little shy at first, and had nested his or herself down in my lower abdomen, but the Doppler finally found it...the little galloping sound of a heartbeat! Very strong at 140 BPM! It was amazing - the first time that I really felt like "hey, there is really someone growing inside my belly!" I also informed my Managers at work about the pregnancy - I am blessed that they were both not only supportive, but excited for Philip and me. We are FINALLY in week 12 - almost finished with the first trimester! We are so excited to begin the journey of the second trimester and everything that is coming up in the next few months!