It's a BOY!

I had my ultrasound done on March 21st and we had a VERY cooperative baby! Showed us exactly what we needed to see.... his BOY parts! :) We will be welcoming another little boy into the house this August. I was wanting a girl, but the more I think about it, I realize that Jillian is PLENTY of attitude for this house! :) Plus I already had several outfits & such that I had saved from Tyler, so only a few more things to go and we'll be all set for baby! It's really funny because I had decided that Joe's office would become the new baby room. But Joe was NOT happy about this idea! He complained and complained but I finally told him that whoever went through 9 months of pregnancy and whoever has to go through labor can decide where the baby's room will be. He didn't like that either... but it got my point across. The funny thing is that that second Joe found out that he was getting a boy, he had NO problem giving up his office! He went from making every excuse in the book to going on & on about what he wants to do to the room before the baby gets here. Good grief! All he needed was a boy to motivate his happy butt out of that room! So I am hoping that we can get working on the baby's room ASAP. I'm already 23 weeks and 6 days (or 22 weeks according to the doctor) so it won't be much longer now! I'm just excited to meet him... he already has so much personality. :)

Updates!

I know, I know.... I've been slacking. Haven't updated for about a month now. I went in for another doctor's appointment on February 18th and found out that I REALLY don't like Dr. Meyer! I went in wanting to figure out the difference in what they think is my due date, and what I think is my due date. Instead of talking to me like a decent human being and being open to the fact that ultrasounds could be wrong, Dr. Meyer told me that ultrasound measurements are "never" wrong and that there was no way I was 15 weeks & 6 days pregnant. I looked at him and said, "I have been feeling the baby move. I don't think I'd be feeling that if I wasn't even quite 14 weeks." Dr. Meyer actually told me that I'm not feeling the baby!! He said, "It's probably just gas." I looked at him and told him that this is NOT my first pregnancy... I KNOW the difference between gas and my baby moving!! So he took me in to do another ultrasound. He said he would prove me wrong if that's what I really wanted. Good grief! So he did another ultrasound & took crown to rump measurements, a measurement of the head, and of the leg. Based on all those measurements I was at about 14 weeks & 6 days. So pretty much half way between what they were thinking and what I was thinking. So I looked at the doctor and said, "Okay, so I'm half way in between." What a jerk. He said, "No, we're still going by your original due date." Grr.

So then after all that, I started feeling really strong kicks from the baby on March 3-4th. I was pretty sure that these were strong enough for Joe to feel. So Saturday night, March 5th. I was sitting on the couch and I had Joe put his hand on my lower abdomen. I felt a kick and I asked him if he felt it. He said, "I felt something." So then when we were in bed later that night, I put his hand on my stomach again and decided that I wouldn't tell him when I felt a kick. I would see if he could identify it on his own. After a few minutes, I felt a really strong kick and Joe said, "Whoa! Now I DEFINITELY felt that one!" So here's what kills me. If I was really and truly only 16 weeks along like the doctors were thinking, there is NO WAY that Joe would have felt the baby move! I looked it up online and I guess most women aren't able to have their husband feel the baby move until 21-24 weeks. So me being at 18 weeks (which is what I think I am) is FAR more plausible than if Joe had felt the baby move at 16 weeks. I obviously have a very active & strong baby anyway.... even feeling the baby move at 18 weeks is impressive. But I just do not see how he could feel the baby if I were only 16 weeks. So I called and left a message with a nurse at my doctor's office so that I can discuss this with her. I'm hoping to get a call back from her soon. I'm curious to see what they think. Pretty sure that this is just more proof that I was right all along.


Recent ultrasound.... baby at either 14 weeks (their estimate based on my very first ultrasound), 14 weeks & 6 days (estimate based on the measurements from this ultrasound), or 15 weeks & 6 days (which was their very first due date they gave me).

14 weeks

Today I could really feel my uterus expanding.... so I thought it'd be a good time for an updated picture. It's funny because I look at my belly, and I look at this picture, and I just think it's crazy that I'm bumped out this much at 14 weeks! But my eating has slowed down & my exercising has increased, so it's got to be baby!

Every baby's different....

Goodness... I had NO idea that one pregnancy could be SO different from the next! I had no significant changes or symptoms with Tyler, and now I have almost every symptom to the extreme! Thankfully the nausea isn't as bad as it was with Tyler, but the two biggest issues are that I can't stop eating, and I can't stop peeing! I will eat a big meal & then be not only hungry, but STARVING less than an hour and a half later!! And then at night.... goodness gracious! I end up peeing about 6 times! The whole running for the bathroom thing better not get any worse or I won't end up getting ANY sleep at the end of my pregnancy! And poor Joe... that guy has to think I'm crazy! We'll see a commercial on TV for some restaurant, and just like that, I'm hungry ALL OVER AGAIN!! Thankfully, I haven't been gaining mass amounts of weight though... I thought for sure that I'd go off the deep end with how much I've been eating. When I went in for my last appointment a few weeks ago, I had actually LOST a pound!! WOOHOO!! The doctor said that she doesn't normally like to see that, but she said that since it's because I've been exercising more, it's perfectly fine.

Speaking of my doctor's visit. I went in February 21st for my first official visit. They did the full exam (fun, fun), and I got my first ultrasound! It was so neat to see the little features on the baby's head, the fingers, feet, spine, etc. The only frustrating thing is that when she did the baby's rump to head measurement, she said that I was measuring at 10 weeks!! Um... NO! I'm sorry, but on February 21st, I was at 11 weeks & 6 days, NOT 10! I know my body. I know that based on my basal body temperature and my mucus (gross, I know), I KNOW when I ovulated. Not only that, but according to their "new" due date for me, I had to have conceived during the week that we were at my mom's for Thanksgiving! I DON'T THINK SO! So I'm sorry doctor, but I'm still going with MY calculations! I know my body better than you do. So no matter what you say, I am currently at 13 weeks and 6 days. :-P



Our new little one!





Picture taken at 9 weeks... I am very upset at myself for cutting my hair, so I think I look absolutely horrid in all my prego pics. Therefore, I don't end up taking very many - lol.

Belly time!

Goodness gracious! Only 9 weeks along and I already have a belly!! I was reading different things and I guess this is totally normal since your abdominal muscles are much more lax your 2nd (and so on) pregnancies. I think I'm just fat, but Joe reassures me that it's just because I'm pregnant. Thank heavens for a wonderful & reassuring husband. One who CERTAINLY doesn't mind that my boobs are now bigger too! Thankfully I haven't been nearly as nauseous as I was with Tyler, but when it comes, it doesn't like to let up! I have only had 3 days of puking so far (which I am NOT complaining about!) but when it's one of those days, it tends to really knock me out for the whole day. Today I threw up right before breakfast, but kept breakfast down. Then I just threw up a few minutes ago (about 3:30 pm). So maybe today I'm just vomiting because I get too hungry... which is entirely possible. Speaking of hungry, that is the BIGGEST difference! I am eating like a HORSE!! I can eat an entire meal, and then just an hour or so later, I'm not just hungry, I'm STARVING! It drives me nuts! At first I tried to hold off because I had JUST eaten, but the hard part is that if I hold off, then I just go into nausea & puking. So I end up eating 3 meals and then 3 big snacks a day. I really need to go stock up on fruits & veggies so at least I'm eating HEALTHY snacks. Right now it's more cookies & fudge that have been so readily available during the holidays!

I also just got a huge box of maternity clothes in the mail today that I had ordered from eBay. I am so excited! They are mostly all either Old Navy or Gap maternity clothes... and those brands aren't cheap! There is a pair of Old Navy maternity shorts that I am SO excited about... they are SO comfortable! It's funny how I'm suddenly excited about things like maternity clothes & baby names. :-D

It's official!

Well, we're expecting!! Joe and I made the decision at the beginning of November that we were no longer not trying to get pregnant. We weren't exactly trying, but if it happened... it happened. Well, it happened! And it certainly didn't take long!

I started having my suspicions sometime around the 3rd week of November, but I had taken a pregnancy test, and it showed negative. We went to my mom's for Thanksgiving and the day before we left to go back home, I was 3 days late this time so I decided to take another pregnancy test. STILL NEGATIVE! I was very frustrated at this point. I went in to get a blood pregnancy test done on November 30th, and even THAT was inconclusive! My hCG levels were only at 6.6 and a level 5 is considered not pregnant. So they wanted to wait 48 hours to re-do the test. They said that as long as my levels were going up, they could view it as positive. I guess your hCG levels are suppose to double about every 48 hours. I went in again on December 2nd to have my blood drawn again. I got a call later that evening with the results. Since my level was a 6.6 just a few days earlier, I figured that as long as I was around a 20, that should be enough of an increase to call it what it is. They told me that my level was now at a 41, but that they still weren't sure and that I needed to come BACK in to get my blood drawn AGAIN in a week! WHAT?! My levels go from 6.6 to 41, and you're not SURE?! So I went home and took matters into my own hands. I took my 5th pregnancy test.... this one made it very clear. I'M PREGNANT!! I did go back in to get my blood drawn on the 8th of December just to be sure that my numbers were still going up. At that point, my numbers were at 1,700... definitely pregnant!

We told half of Joe's family at Tyler & Jillian's combined birthday party on December 4th. I had made shirts for them that said "I'm going to be a big sister" and "I'm going to be a big brother AGAIN!". I wrapped the shirts and had the kids open them up at the same time. I had the video camera ready & I'm SO glad I did! Everyone's reactions were priceless! It took them a bit to figure out why we were so excited & video taping the kids getting shirts, but once they read them, they were THRILLED! Then we told my side of the family when we went down for the basic training graduation for Tim, my brother. They were all SUPER excited as well! My mom couldn't be ANY happier that she gets to be a grandma again! She's ready for another baby to love on! Then just this past weekend (the 18th), we told the rest of Joe's family. We had to tell Joe's mom over the phone because she was too sick to attend the King Christmas Party, but she was absolutely tickled pink. She has been saying for quite awhile now, "You have a yours, and a mine.... now you just need an ours!" So it's official.... we now have yours, mine, & ours. :-)