17 3/7 Weeks

So we had our appointment with our perinatalogist this afternoon. The appointment went great! He did our anatomical ultrasound and everything looked wonderful. The skeletal system was in place and well formed, and all of little baby's organs looked great and were where they were supposed to be. That was a great relief! He did confirm as well that this is ALL BOY! =)

We videotaped the ultrasound so we could share it with all of you. Unfortunately, it is proving harder than I thought to get it formatted for blogger. So while we figure that out, here's the rest of today's pictures.

Here are some still shots from today's ultrasound.

Baby has been measuring a couple of days behind the last few ultrasounds. Today I am 17 3/7 and baby was measuring 17 5/7! So he is bigger than he should be!! This is a really good sign that the medications I am on are only affecting me and not the baby! Keep up the prayers!

I took some more belly shots tonight! Baby is growing! At this point in time, I have officially gained 6lbs! Woohoo!!!

The baby keeps flipping around in there! Today his feet were right where I have been feeling all those popcorn sensations, so I am pretty sure that he has been kicking me.  =) I am feeling them multiple times per day now which is awesome. I can tell when he is sleeping and when he is awake and active. Its great!!

We are so very excited! It was great to see baby moving and see how much he has grown. We are so thankful to God that baby is healthy and growing along just like he should. Just like you, we are gearing up for Christmas around here. So the next post will probably be after the holiday. So the three of us would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Technically 17 weeks

I'll find out my exact weeks along on Monday at our appointment.

Just a quick blog to say that I LOVE BEING PREGNANT! I feel so blessed to have this experience. After wanting this for SO long and waiting what seemed like forever, I still have to pinch myself that it is actually happening. That right now, a little baby is growing inside of me. It's amazing, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Speaking of that baby growing inside of me. I'm at work just perusing the internet. I have been on my feet for the last couple of hours and have just sat down for a little while. At first I wasn't paying much attention, but it kept happening so of course I started waiting for it. I have been feeling it all shift, but have been passing it off as gas or something else. I keep having this popping sensation, like popcorn popping, over and over in the same spot. :)  Pretty sure that's the baby moving all over the place. This is very exciting. I have felt it before this, but never as much as tonight. I figure he must be awake. :D

This is amazing. There's a baby in there.   !!!!!!!!! 
<3 <3 <3

16 Weeks

I am tired. In fact, I am always tired and hungry. I am feeling great, like my pre-pregnant self, except for in a few areas.  I did throw up unexpectedly on Saturday. So we will have to start counting new from then. Today is one day with no vomiting! =) This feeling great is great . Except being the worry wart that I am, I just keep worrying. I worry that things aren't going the way they should be since I'm not feeling terrible all the time. I know, ridiculous. I can't help it. I see too many scary things at work, too many sad sad stories. My heart breaks for these families and these babies. It's really terrible.

Speaking of work. I am having a REALLY hard time being here. 13 hour shifts are long and hard and stressful enough. Being pregnant has not helped. I'm on my feet a lot, and my patience is tried multiple times a minute with multiple sick babies and difficult families. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do. I feel truly blessed to have this job. I just end up feeling the worst that I ever feel when I am at work. Midway through the shift I usually have a terrible headache from monitors alarming and babies crying. That lasts me all the way home, only to return the next night that I come in. I carry all my stress in my neck and back, and by the end of my shift they are THROBBING. The worst thing is I have no patience. NONE. I tend to get frustrated easily, and this job tests more than your patience. It makes your sanity waiver. There are multiple times that I just have to walk away and get a break from it or I will lose my mind. I am trying a new approach though. I am no longer working 3 nights in a row. I am breaking them up throughout the week. 2 nights here, 1 there. I am hoping this is going to alleviate some of the stress that is weighing me down. =)

I say all this to ask for prayer. I wish it were easier to be here right now. I wish my shifts went by faster. I can't imagine feeling more tired and worse throughout the pregnancy, and still having this workload. I wish they had a paid maternity plan where you could stay home throughout the pregnancy, as well as a wonderful maternity leave after the baby arrives. =) That would be perfecto. I am tired friends, and I have another 40 years ahead of me, WITH KIDS! Ok, that's all from Debbie Downer, it's just hard to not let it get to you sometimes.

I'm pretty sure that my appointment with my Perinatalogist is next Monday. The week of Christmas.  I say pretty sure because I haven't had my planner with me the last couple of appointments. This has caused some memory lapses as to when my follow up appointments are. I am trying to be better organized and have started using my phone. It takes a little longer when you're pregnant!  I think he will be doing my anatomical scan then and letting us know for sure what this baby is. Dan is not nervous at all, he says he knows that it is a boy. I can't wait to know for certain, I'm a nervous Nelly. My OB appointment is the following week, the week of New Years. The Holiday season! We are all busy busy bees! I hope this is finding you in great spirits and enjoying time with those that you love. Much love to all of our readers!

Christmas at the Payne's 2009!!!

Our highly anticipated, I'm sure, Christmas gallery:

Something happened here in Houston a few days back. SNOW. =)

Dan and my dad are in a Christmas light competition. =)

So here are some detailed shots of our light display.

I think the snow adds a little something, don't you?

After the snow had melted a bit the next day. Yes! It actually stayed for more than a day, well at least in patches here and there. This is our front tree.

Our second tree that sits back a bit further.

A great view of the whole house lit up at night! SO PRETTY!!!

Dan by Santa after a long day of Christmas shopping.

We finally started!

Our cute little mantle. Dan and I have our big stockings and the little one is the newest addition! We ran into some of Dan's friends at Panera today and they are expecting as well. She is 14 weeks along, and they were told they were having a boy. Well, they were at first! Now there's a 75% chance they are having a girl! Yowsers! That makes me all the more anxious to have my "big" scan and make sure this little guy is all boy!

Merry Christmas!!

15 Weeks!!! December 6-12, 2009

Baby at 15 Weeks:

The baby can probably hear now and is comforted by the sound of your heartbeat and your voice. Encourage your loved ones to talk to the baby and let him know how much he is loved already.

Colorless eyebrows and eyelashes have now appeared and the hair on the head is getting thicker.

Speaking of hair, a very fine down, known as lanugo is now covering the baby's entire body. Most of this will disappear before his birth.

The baby's heart is pumping the equivalent of about 25 quarts of blood a day.

The scalp hair pattern is developing. If you could see it you would already be able to tell if he got Daddy's cowlick.

Isn't that SO exciting!!! The baby can hear now?!?!? That truly makes my heart fly!!! Especially since Dan was just loving on that baby today and talking to him asking if he could hear him! Pregnancy is SO awesome! I can't believe all these things are happening inside of me. God is so good. I am loving every minute of being pregnant. It's unbelievable. I don't even want to think of a time when I am not pregnant, isn't that silly?

I am feeling a lot better! I still have waves of nausea, but accompanied with that I also have times where I feel like my old self. I am eating a lot more and throwing up a lot less. I am pretty sure that it has been 9 DAYS since I last threw up!  HALLELUJAH! I started wearing maternity clothes the week of Thanksgiving when I was home in Michigan. Oh did I underestimate the comfort of maternity clothes! I could live in the maternity pants I bought. I also purchased the belly band so I can still wear my old jeans, albeit not as wonderful as those maternity pants. I'm going to wait til I'm a bit bigger to purchase more.

We took more belly pictures today, I will post soon hopefully. Our computer, as always is on the fritz, and it takes me 30-45 minutes to upload one picture. That is if it doesn't start shutting down in the process. :(  I just want to throw it out the window, but Dan won't let me. So maybe I'll be able to get them up here on Thursday.

I need to figure out my exact dates here soon. Everyone is confusing me. The Perinatalogist measures me and says that I am measuring small and am a few days behind what I am supposed to be. Which he says is no big deal. Then the Midwives told me that my original dates were correct and that my measurements are right on target. ??? So what do I go by? Do I stick with my original dates? Or do I say I am only as far along as I am measuring? Sigh.

I have started looking at baby boy nursery themes online! This is a very fun and exhausting process. There are so many options! I can't wait for our next scan so I can start shopping already!!

BELLY!

14 1/2 Weeks

I had my appointment with the Midwives today. They put us in a room and closed the door. Dan was sure it was because they were probably talking about us. Come to find out, he was probably right.

One of the midwives came in, and told us that they decided to transfer our care to an OB. I didn't understand, so I looked at her as if this wasn't new information and just shook my head yes. She continued on, talking about how all of the Midwives had a meeting and discussed whether or not they were comfortable caring for me throughout the remainder of my pregnancy. The consensus was that I should be considered high risk at this point and I should be transfered onto a higher level of care. Then it started setting in for me. Dan and I both knew that this was a possibility. We were caught a little off guard though, because things have been going so well. I was still on very low doses of all of my medications, and the baby looked great. Our Perinatalogist was watching the baby carefully and had been reassuring us that everything looked great and there was nothing to be concerned about. We expressed these concerns to the Midwife. She said that she understood but they as a whole, thought it would be best for me and the baby to be followed by an OB. We once again reiterated that we were already being followed by a high risk Perinatologist, and so far my Primary Care Physician had been making all the calls on my medications as well as monitoring my blood levels. The Midwives at this point, were doing the least to follow this pregnancy in regards to my hyperthyroidism, so I didn't understand why they were passing our care on. Dan and I were both very upset. I am already an emotional person, and throw in pregnancy hormones just for fun. There were multiple times where I had to fight back tears. I just kept thinking about how my appointments for the rest of the pregnancy were going to change, as well as the delivery itself. I was very sad. Thankfully, the midwife they chose to tell us the news, we liked and already had rapport with. She is really funny, and she kept adding comic relief to the situation, so I didn't shed a single tear.  =)

So we talked with her for a while and she recommended a female OB that works with the Midwives in their practice. We made our next appointment with the MD she recommended and we will just go from there. If we end up not hitting it off with her, we will be on the search for someone else that delivers at TCH. So please be praying that we do end up liking her. The midwife did say that there was a possibility that if my pregnancy goes on without complication that we could be switched back to the midwives at 36 weeks. Just in time for the delivery. So we will have to see how this whole thing pans out.

On a better note, she did another doppler to listen to the baby! His heartbeat was healthy as could be! It was great hearing it! She said that as soon as she put the doppler on my belly that he kicked it! I thought that was pretty awesome. We could hear that he kicked it, but I didn't feel it. I had one more tiny flutter sensation while we were in Michigan. I was standing in the bathroom brushing my teeth and I felt it. So quick! I want it to last longer so I can know for sure what it is!

Anyhow, we have our annual Sugarland Town Center Christmas Tree Lighting tonight! It's gonna be so cold! I already know. ;) Speaking of Christmas, IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!! I couldn't be anymore excited! Dan and I have yet to start our Christmas shopping. Shame on us, I know. It's going to be a frenzy now! I will have to post our most recent pictures of our finished house. We have all the decorations up outside and I think we are getting to the point where we could be called gawdy. That means we have just a few more decorations to put up until it's just right! ;) Hope you're having a Merry Christmas thus far!

Oh and did I mention that I am hungry all the time??  I AM HUNGRY ALL THE TIME. ALL THE TIME. Even if I just finished eating, I will still be hungry. It's ridiculous! I am back to my prepregnancy weight but I have a feeling it will be going up up up with how much I'm inhaling. Dan is really worried. ;)

14 Weeks THANKSGIVING!!! =)

So it's Thanksgiving week! I was so excited to eat Thanksgiving dinner! It is my favorite meal on the planet! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes with roasted marshmallows on top, crescent rolls and cranberry sauce! It doesn't get much better than that! We had a preThanksgiving feast at our house the Sunday before Thanksgiving so that we could celebrate with Dan's family. I think that 2 Thanksgiving's is pretty much the best idea ever. We shall repeat this, just so we can eat that delicious dinner again surrounded by those we love.

We had a wonderful time in Michigan. It is always great to see family that you don't get see often enough. We had a family wedding the Friday after Thanksgiving and it was SO fun to tell so many people that we are expecting a boy! We loved every moment of it. =)

Unfortunately, whether it be the routine change, or lack of sleep my wonderfully loved feelings of well-being were fleeting. Before we even touched down in Michigan I was super nauseated. We made it off the plane just in time to see some food. I sent Dan immediately over to get some for me. It was too late. One bite, two bites, didn't matter. I was done for. I searched frantically for a bathroom, only to find it was closed with a security guard there blocking my entrance and everything! Gotta love Metro Airport! The security guard pointed me in the direction of the next bathroom, way too far away for me to make it too. So my only option was to get sick next to a window, with everyone being nosey and staring. My poor husband tried to stand guard and make a barrier with the luggage, but we still had gawkers.

This carried on throughout the trip. I was nauseous all day everyday and sensitive to hearing about/smelling/or even thinking about foods all over again. It was not fun. Especially since we have so many restaurants there that we love and make sure to stop at every time we are home. That didn't stop us though. We stopped at the usual places: 7-11 for some well needed slurpees. Delicious. National Coney Island Hani Specials. The famous Apple pancakes from The Pantry. Gross White Castle for Dan. Mongolian Barbeque and the always amazing Beirut Palace. My mouth is watering just typing it. The sad thing for me was that all this food that I love so dearly all tasted different. Everything tastes different. I am SO particular now, it is literally ridiculous. Much to my dismay, everything I bit into I found something that didn't taste right. :( It was a sad state of affairs.

I also have hyper-gag reflex. If I don't swallow my pills on the first go, or sometimes even if I cough too hard, projectile emesis everywhere. :(  I can barely brush my teeth. What can you do? I am so excited to be pregnant, that I don't even care.

The trip, as always, was way too short. We can't wait til we can take baby boy there! We were sad that it didn't snow, but we were so thankful to be able to spend the Holiday with family. We love you guys!