13 weeks to go...



Hi everyone,

I thought I'd post an updated belly picture, in which I'm wearing my old regular pajamas... I think they still fit ok, just a small shortage of material in the front :0)

I have a doctor's appointment not this week but next week, which is when I will get the glucose test done to determine if I have gestational diabetes. I guess its a long appointment, you have to take some stuff and then wait an hour or something like that.

According to a baby website I follow, Christopher should weigh about 2 pounds now and is about 14 1/2 inches long! That's pretty long. It also says he opens and closes his eyes, and sleeps & wakes at regular intervals. Unless he's moving around in his sleep, I think one of his "awake" times is at night before I go to bed. That's when I feel him the most. My mom actually was able to feel him last night, she's the only other person besides Chris to be able to. The timing has to be just right! To those of you who have been pregnant, did you feel your baby move all the time? I worry sometimes that I don't enough. I've been at the doctor's before while they were listening to him and could tell he was moving a lot, so he's fine, I just couldn't feel him. I only feel him move when I'm still for a while, like sitting in class or going to sleep. My boss' wife was saying she only felt her daughter move once or twice a day and she was very healthy.

Have a great week, and will talk with you soon.

love, Andrea

14 weeks to go...









Hi everyone,

Here's a few pictures of our nursery so far. Chris is enjoying the glider chair he successfully assembled! The only other peice of furniture we have is the changing table. Babies R Us hasn't been very good about getting the crib and dresser in, they both have come in twice and were damaged and had to be reordered. Hopefully they are here soon. The crib should be fun to assemble I'm sure!

In two weeks I will get a blood glucose test to determine if I have gestational diabetes. I asked if there were signs of it and the doctor said not always, but I'm guessing I don't have it. After that visit, I will be in my THIRD trimester already and will go to the doctors every two weeks. Wow is it going by fast!

I hope everyone enjoys the beautiful weather this weekend and will talk to you soon.

love, Andrea & Chris

25 weeks along (15 to go!)

Hi everyone,

Not much new to report this week. We were going to start our birthing classes last week but rescheduled because its a little too early. When I had called to initially schedule them, these were the only ones available so I just signed up. Now we'll be going at the end of April, which will be closer to the due date of June 18th which makes more sense.

Things are busy and stressful with school, but I am trying not to get too stressed out. After this week I will have a little breathing room which I'm looking forward to.

My family came over tonight for some dinner, it was great seeing them and below are some pictures. Christopher is going to have a big group of cousins to meet when he arrives!




Dad & mom


Auntie Lorie & cousin Jacob


Grandma


Cousins Sophia & Cameron


Auntie Trisha

Have a great week!

Andrea

6 months along! (24 weeks)



Just a quick belly update Chris took today while I was on the phone! Christopher and I are feeling great. Last week I got woken up with a leg cramp that was really painful, it hasn't happened again since but I do hear they are common in the second and third trimesters. We ordered some really attractive compression stockings that may help with that! I hope things are going well for you.

Andrea

Baby Christopher!!






I thought I'd upload a few pictures of Chris as a baby so we can make a good guess at what the baby will look like. For those who don't know, we're naming him after Chris - except I'd like to call him Christopher to avoid confusion! That said, Christopher is kicking around in there, I usually feel him the most before I fall asleep and when I'm sitting for a while in class or doing work.

I have been so busy with school this semester that I have a feeling the next four months will fly by. I have been feeling great, I am really enjoying the second trimester. Someone asked me today if the baby had a growth spurt recently, because I look significantly bigger than last week. I think it was just the top I was wearing, though I must say my belly has been itching like crazy today. I hear that can happen as the skin stretches, so maybe there is a growth spurt happening!

Chris isn't home so he can't take a picture of my belly this week, will try to post one soon. Hope you're all doing great and will talk with you soon.

Andrea

22 weeks...

Hi everyone,

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and it went well. It was a quick appointment because everything is fine, there won't be an ultrasound for a while now. I got weighed and have gained exactly 20 pounds, which feels like a lot but the doctor said it is good. My appetite has been pretty big lately, so I don't think that will be slowing down anytime soon! I do crave random foods that I don't normally eat much of. Just last week during class I heard the baby shout "send down a meatball sandwich immediately," so naturally, as soon as class was over, I had one delivered to my office. I'm very happy to oblige his food requests!

Chris and I went to Babies R Us today and changed a few things on the registry, including the entire theme for the room. I saw the one we had picked before and decided I didn't like it anymore, so now we're going with a Winnie the Pooh theme. Below is the website if you want to check it out, its really soft and cute. Chris doesn't have to repaint the nursery again which is good!

Although I have felt the baby move for about a month now, I only felt him kick strongly in the past week or so. Chris had his hand on my belly yesterday waiting for one and felt him kick for the first time which was really nice.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/prodpop.jsp?LargeImageURL=http%3A//TRUS.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-3049420dt.jpg&displayTab=enh&productId=2415172&totCount=0

I hope you have a great week!

Andrea

Will post more later this week, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon which I'm not sure what will happen at - I'll let you know! Hope things are going well.

Andrea

20 Weeks (we're halfway there!)



Hi everyone,

So this week makes the halfway point for us which is exciting (though I think it was probably the easier half, we'll see!). According to a baby website I follow, he should be about 10 inches long and weigh about 10.5 ounces. I wonder if he weighs more than that though because at his ultrasound three weeks ago, the website said he should have weighed about 5 ounces but the doctor estimated he weighed 9 ounces. He might be a fat little guy! Also according to this website is that he is now covered in that greasy white stuff called vernix to protect his skin, and that's his digestive system is getting practice by swallowing amniotic fluid.

Chris and I registered for our prenatal classes last week. We get a tour of Women and Infants during one of them which is good, I've never been there (as a patient) so I wouldn't know where to go, as all my visits with the d0ctor are down near my house. We signed up for three, the usual birthing class that's for a month, a breastfeeding class, and a caring for mother & infant class for post-delivery. Chris can attend all of them which is great.

Have a great week and will write more soon.

love, Andrea

18 1/2 Weeks along...





Hi everyone,

As you can see, we are getting the nursery ready for the baby, well, Chris is more the one getting it ready since I'm not allowed to do any painting right now. What we did was pick out a theme for the room, which is under the sea, and brought one of the pieces from it home so we could match the wall color to it. You can see the theme on their website if you want:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2407318&cp=2255986.2290652.2290950&parentPage=family

Its a nice color, I think the room will look great. What setting up this room will entail is switching around out other rooms, so while Chris is up to it, he's going to paint our new bedroom also.

I had a doctor's visit the day before yesterday which wasn't anything special, just a check in and everything seems normal and healthy she said. My average weight gain for the 2nd trimester has been 1.5 pounds per week, which is right on target as they say I should gain 1-2 pounds per week from now on.

One last update, I felt Christopher fluttering around for the first time a few nights ago! It was very cute. It took a couple of times for me to realize what it was, now I can recognize it easily. I have almost always noticed it only at night, its just a gentle flutter very low in my adbomen which is always neat to feel.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Andrea

It's a boy!!!

Hi everyone,

Today was our third ultrasound and as you can see, it's a boy! We're so excited. It was a great visit, we saw so much of his anatomy. The skeletal system was visible, down to jaws and fingers. They also were able to show his blood circulating from the umbilical cord to the heart (in color), that was really neat. All his organs seemed to look fine, meaning there were two when there was supposed to be and they were on the right side of his body. She said I should be able to feel him kick soon, that sometimes if the placenta is on top the mother doesn't feel it because its acts as a cushion, however his is on the bottom so it should be any time now. I also read it takes longer for first time moms to recognize a kick, because they don't know what to expect. He moves a lot, I should feel that soon.

Below are some pictures from today. The quality is pretty poor, and I don't know about you but whenever I saw someone else's ultrasound pictures, I could never figure out what I was looking at. I can make everything out on these pictures because on the monitor at the appointment, it is ten times larger and clearer. But here it goes... remember, you can click on a photo to enlarge it if its too small to see.

This first one is of his arm, his head is on the right. The technician said it was important to see his hand was open, for some reason that rules out several problems.


Another view of his arm.


Here is a typical profile view. his head is on the right, facing up. The white lines are his bones, you can see his jaws, spinal cord, and face bones well.


Lastly, she said there's no doubt about it - he's definitely a boy.


Will post an updated belly shot next week, when I will be 18 weeks along. By the way, according to his measurements today they came up with a due date 9 days earlier than mine, though again there is error in those measurements so my doctor wants to stick with the date of June 18th. Its funny that every ultrasound has given me a week earlier of a date though!

Talk to you soon,
Andrea

15 Weeks (again!)



Hi everyone,

First let me explain the title of this blog. I went for a doctor's appointment last week and she said to ignore the radiologist's due date, that I should go back to the original one of June 18, 2007. So alas, I'm still 15 weeks along this week, not 16 like the radiologist told me. She said that while the scans are always saying I'm a week further ahead, that they aren't totally accurate so we shouldn't change the original due date.

Nothing much went on at the last appointment, other than that she couldn't find the heartbeat for about 60 seconds which was really scary. I guess its normal to take a long time to locate though, because she didn't have the aid of an ultrasound image, it was basically just a microphone. So no photos this week, but, we find out the sex (if all goes well and they can tell) in two weeks, on January 9th. We can't wait!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas today!

love, Andrea

15 Weeks



Today makes 15 weeks along for me, the baby is somewhere between the size of a lemon and an advocado. I have felt great the past couple of weeks, only one day I was really dragging. I don't know how I went through last semester feeling like that everyday, on top of not sleeping well! I appreciate how much support I received from my family & Chris. Poor Chris, I didn't do a thing around the house the whole trimester. Literally, not a thing except lay down, sleep and eat. I may have fed the dogs a day or two... I think... Chris was very patient, though he's glad that's getting better now!

So as you can see in the photos there is definitely getting to be a pooch to my belly. People notice it but it still just looks like I've gained weight, its not distinctively a pregnancy belly yet. By the way, I've gained 5 pounds so far which is exactly on target. I ran into a girl from my class today and told her and she was shocked, I laughed because she said "oh I noticed last week you've gained weight, I thought it was just stress from school." So maybe I should tell people why I'm gaining weight, otherwise they are left to assume that between gaining weight and my skin and hair looking bad that I've just let myself go or something! Speaking of that, its been really cool telling people. Everyone is so excited for Chris and I, and that means a lot to us.

Looked at one daycare so far and will look at another tomorrow. The one we saw is nice, but 20 minutes from home. So picking up the baby will be almost an hour affair, that's too long. There's one 4 minutes from our house that has a waiting list, I put us on. The one I'll see tomorrow is on campus, very convenient. I'll update next week on how it goes.

14 Weeks Along




So this week makes 14 weeks, the start of the second trimester. Here is a "before" picture of my belly, taken yesterday, so we can see just how much is going to change during the second trimester. I must say my pants are already very uncomfortable, there are a few that I could wear last week but yesterday even my most comfortable pair hurt my stomach. I have one pair of maternity jeans so far, I think its about time to get some more clothes.

No updates as far as appointments for the past couple of weeks. Although we will be able to know the sex in a couple of weeks, my next ultra sound is not scheduled until January so we'll find out then. I had been hoping for a boy until recently, now I honestly would be happy either way. Only problem with a boy is Chris and I can't agree on a name :0).

Andrea

Hi everyone,

Today we completed 2 of the 3 parts for the first set of testing for genetic abnormalities. These first two parts consisted of my blood getting drawn and an ultra sound at a special radiology lab, not our usual ob/gyn office. These are the photos from the testing which he said looked GREAT. There were two things he was primarily looking for in these pictures that would suggest Down's syndrome, one is whether there is a nasal bone (70% of individuals with Down's syndrome do not have that nasal bone) and the other is the amount of fluid behind the neck. He showed me a picture of what the fluid looks like in a Down's baby and it was really, really big - twice the thickness of the normal neck. Then he showed it on ours and it was normal, just a very thin layer. He also pointed out the nasal bone the baby has. So it looks like things are fine in that area. The next step is my getting my blood drawn in a month and that will determine if the baby has spina bifada. I was surprised to learn neither of these run in families, so we are just as likely to have a baby with these problems as any one else.

While he was looking around he said things looked good overall, the placenta is good and everything. A few interesting points... the baby isn't upside down anymore, his head is the part on top. Also, you can see his hand clear as day, the fingers are separate, and you can see the umbilical cord. Lastly, he said the same thing they said at the last ultra sound, that I am a week further ahead than originally thought, so I think that is most accurate. As of this past Monday I was 12 weeks, which might explain my starting to feel better - I'm getting out of the first trimester alive! Not to say I didn't nap twice today, it was my day off so I took advantage of it :0).

Enjoy the pics, at my next one in a month we'll find out the sex!

Andrea

Hi everyone,

As you can see from the photo above, we've had our first ultra sound and heard the heartbeat too. It was quite the experience to see the baby with my own eyes and to hear the heart beating - it was just a beautiful thing. In the photos, the baby is upside down. You can see the arms on the sides pretty easily.

So I've talked about this with a few family members and they feel the same way - we all think this is a girl. I have a strong feeling that it is. I'm not sure how soon we find out, I hope soon. I'm at 10 weeks now, and I think its at 16 weeks that we can know the sex. I can't wait to find out!

Next week I have to start a series of bloodwork/ultra sounds to test for birth defects. I think the first couple tests are for spina bifida and Down's syndrome. I believe that is all they test for in the first trimester.

My first visit with the ob/gyn went well last week. She is very laid back. A little too much if I had to say, she was late for our appointment but I guess she drives from Providence to the office closer to my house. She's very young, I liked her. I suppose it was good that she was so laid back because I was throwing a hundred questions to her about everything, including whether Lean Cuisine meals are ok for the baby, and she was patient and nice about everything. (oh and the answer to that question is those frozen meals aren't good for anybody, but it won't hurt the baby).

Other than that, nothing much new. I've gained a few pounds but my regular clothes fit perfectly fine. I'm feeling fine most days, days when I am really exhausted is rare now which is great.

I'll post any new developments!

Andrea

Hi everyone!

Today makes just over 7 weeks along for me, which is just about half of the first trimester. I've been feeling better this past week which is nice, I'm getting more sleep and am feeling less exhausted. The first couple weeks were fine, just a little tired, but then I got really drained and my emotions were all over the place. I never noticed before how many sad commercials are out there... and I made the mistake of watching When a Man Loves a Woman on t.v. the other day, I just went through a box of tissues for that :0).

But when I'm able to get some extra sleep I feel pretty good. There's always a sense of being tired, its just constant, but I'm getting used to it. Its as though I ran for miles (yeah right) and am sore, its just tempting to always want to lay down. I hear the fatigue really lightens up once you hit the end of the first trimester, and although I don't want this pregnancy to rush by or anything, I am quite looking forward to my the 13 week mark, if I will in fact feel a bit more like my old self.

Next week I have my first appointment with the nurse, and the week after with my ob/gyn. I've never met either, so I hope I like them. I plan on delivering at Women & Infants, because that's a good place to be if there are any complications.

Will write more soon.

Andrea