Baby Appointment #4

On Tuesday, we had our fourth baby appointment with the doctor! And as with every other appointment we've had so far, this one was great! 

This appointment was actually our anatomy scan. This is where they really check everything on the baby out and make sure everything is growing and measuring correctly. There are two doctors in our office and these more in-depth scans are done by Dr. Marshall, the other doctor. So this was our first time working with him. Luckily he was great to work with and really explained everything that he was seeing to us really well. 

Before the scan, however I have to get my weight checked, blood pressure checked, etc. So after my last appointment, if you remember, I was told to start eating more desserts and start gaining some of that weight back. Well I've been trying, let me tell you! I'm probably the only woman in the world who gets on the scale every day praying to have gained weight! Ha! My appetite is slowly growing and I'm actually able to eat more food every time I do eat. And Austin is definitely helping with trying to "fatten me up" by giving me food all the time! :) So when I stepped on the scale at the doctor's office I had to ask - did I gain any of that weight back? The nurse said, some... almost two pounds. In four weeks I had only gained almost two pounds? Agh! I guess I just need to keep on eating! :) 

So back to the scan! All of Baby Z's physical measurements are right on track! Meaning, head, waist, etc. As of Tuesday and along with my due date, I was at 18 weeks and two days. The baby was actually measuring just ahead of that at 18 weeks and five days. So not a huge difference and it doesn't change our due date either. And while I'm sure this is a good thing, I don't want that baby to get too big in there! It can grow once it's out! :) 

Next the doctor checked vital organs. I have no idea how long you must have to study in order to understand what you're seeing on those screens, but he was great at explaining it all to us. First we looked at the baby's brain. Everything was in order, where it needed to be and everything accounted for. He looked at the spine and told us no problems, so no spina bifida. He was able to tell us the top lip looked great so no cleft lip. We saw the bones in the legs, which also were good, no clubbing or anything like that. He looked at the stomach, the liver and the kidneys and again, all perfect. And finally the heart. This was pretty cool to see. He was able to show us all four chambers, the heart was pointing in the right direction, all the values were there and the blood was flowing correctly in and out. The best part, he was able to tell us that he could rule out 95% of heart defects based on what he was seeing! Awesome! 

Again, the baby had a strong heartbeat, which we got to hear. It was right at 154 - but he told us to pay no attention to the old wive's tale about whether it's a boy or a girl based on the heart rate. So don't try to start making guesses! :) We are waiting to find out the sex of the baby so he made sure we couldn't see anything we didn't want to see. He did warn us at the beginning too that even if we think we see something, it probably isn't what we think. :) 

Showing us Baby Z's strong heartbeat :) 

The doctor was also able to switch over the 3-D scan for a little bit and showed us our little one's face! And although it maybe look a little creepy, it was pretty neat to see. :) That little baby is really taking shape!

This is the second picture we have with our baby in that "thinking pose"! It must be a pretty smart baby! :) Again, during the scan, our baby was moving around. I think it's always on the move! And it was even moving the hand around - almost like it was waving to us! :) I have begun to feel these little flutters in my stomach and at first I wasn't sure if what I was feeling was the baby or not. But it's happening more and more so I'm pretty certain its our little one. It's a pretty awesome feeling. I'm really excited for when the movements become more defined and Austin can feel them as well! 

My stomach is definitely starting to grow but it doesn't quite look like a defined baby bump yet - hopefully soon! :) But I can really feel it starting to firm up! And while this is definitely exciting, it is making it a little more difficult to sleep. And I can only imagine that it's probably going to get worse. :) 

We go back to the doctor again in four weeks for a regular check up and then another four weeks after that, we get to go back in for some more of the 3-D scans! We look forward to sharing more with you then! :) 

My Amazing Husband and Soon-to-be Dad :)

World's Best Dad

With all the updating I was doing in the last blog post, I completely forgot to brag up my amazing husband! :) He has been nothing short of perfect throughout this pregnancy! Let me tell you why... 

First off, the shirt in the picture is a shirt I gave him on the night we found out we were pregnant. I bought it awhile ago and wanted to give it to him when we found out the big news. I thought it was only fitting for the world's best music teacher! ;-) I know, without a doubt, that Austin is really going to be the 'World's Best Dad' when our little one arrives. 

As I mentioned in the last post, those first few weeks were really hard on me - being extremely exhausted and constantly sick all day, every day. And I could not have asked for a more supportive husband. At first, Austin said he was even going to sit with me on the bathroom floor whenever I was sick... but after a couple rounds of that, I think it got to be too much for him. :) I don't blame him - it was too much for me as well! 

But Austin would do everything I asked and even things I didn't have to ask for! He was always bringing me fresh water bottles or glasses of juice to drink. Whenever something sounded even the little bit appealing to eat, he would run out to the store to get it for me if we didn't have it - no matter the time of day! He put up with making me all kinds of food and then taking it away after I could only manage a bit or two. 

As I was pretty much always in bed or in the bathroom, Austin kept up with all the housework. He would do all the cooking and cleaning - most times without me even nagging him to do so, because I was just too sick and tired to even care! :) He let me sleep and rest as much as I wanted and needed in those weeks, which couldn't have been fun for him because I was not good company! 

He would research ways to help with morning sickness and went out and bought me some meds to try. And when those didn't work and the morning sickness wasn't getting any better, it was Austin who convinced me to finally call the doctor and get a prescription to help. And he always gave me back rubs whenever I asked. :) 

He's been to all of our doctor's appointments, always asking questions or reminding me of questions I had. And he even knows how to distract me when I have to get my blood drawn. He reads daily updates about what's happening throughout the pregnancy and tips for how he can help along the way. He's also already started some research on different baby products and doesn't mind talking about the different things we're going to need to register for. And he's working on bonding with the baby already. The only thing he needs to really do now is pick up his guitar and start learning some lullaby's to sing to our baby! :)

There is no one else I would rather have by my side and I know he is going to be my rock throughout the rest of my pregnancy and during labor. I am truly blessed to have such an amazing husband. And I can't wait to see him in action as the World's Best Dad. :) 

Little Baby Z :)

I know it's been a long time since I've updated, but shortly after my last post, I started traveling for work and then we found out we were pregnant! :) So I thought I'd take the time now, since we've recently shared the news with everyone, to update you on our life and the pregnancy. 

So the fall travel season started out normal and I was busy visiting high schools and college fairs. It was the week of October 22nd and I was up in Minnesota for some college fairs. As the week went on, I started feeling sick but really didn't think much of it - I thought I had just picked something up from the road or one of the many high schools I had visited. I wasn't feeling any better and when I went into work on Friday for our Open House I think I made it until about 8:30am before I had to give up and go home because I was so sick. I spent the rest of the day sleeping. That night, it was actually Austin that suggested I take a pregnancy test because it's rare that I get sick for that long. I told him I would take one but I wasn't going to look at the results - he would have to do that. Because in all honesty, we had been trying for a while and I was getting tired of being disappointed by the negative test results. He agreed, so I took the test and left it in the bathroom for him to look at and went back to bed. Three minutes later, Austin came out of the bathroom and said, you might want to look at this. It was positive! :) Even though we had been trying, it was still a bit of a shock to see! But Austin and I were both so excited! 

We both agreed we weren't going to tell anyone right away until after seeing the doctor and such. But the next day, we were suppose to go to Des Moines to help Matt and Amber move into a new apartment. Looking back, I probably should have just sent Austin and stayed home because really I was of no help. When we got there, we told the family I had picked something up on the road and wasn't feeling good. Austin's mom asked (somewhat jokingly) "Are you pregnant?" I laughed it off and said no, that would be much more fun being sick if I was! However, I would soon learn that those words held no truth for me... 

The first thing we did after finding out was to find a new doctor. The doctor we had been seeing was only a family doctor and didn't do deliveries. When I called to ask for a recommendation, the doctor's office really wasn't a lot of help. So I just searched the internet, found an OB-GYN doctor and made an appointment. Well luck was on our side because we absolutely love our doctor. She recently had a baby herself so knows exactly what I'm going through, she explains everything clearly to us, answers all of our questions and is just generally really nice. :) We had our first doctor appointment early November, when I was about 7 weeks along. I really wasn't expecting much from the appointment, mostly just to confirm I was pregnant. So it was a pleasant surprise when we were told we'd get to have an ultrasound! It's true, the little bean didn't look like much, but we could see the flickering of the heart. That made it all very real - to both of us!

7 weeks

After that appointment, we decided we would tell our immediate families at Thanksgiving our wonderful news. We first had Thanksgiving with Austin's family the week before Thanksgiving. For both sets of parents, we bought frames that on one side had a poem about a Little Grandbaby and on the other side we could put an ultrasound picture. We had Austin's mom open up the present and when she realized what it was, there were tears in her eyes. :) The excitement was there in everyone that we were expecting! It was also fun because Amber and Matt were expecting a little one (who would come a week later!!) and so we were happy that our babies would be so close in age and have someone to play with growing up. 
Next it was time to tell my family. We went up to Minnesota the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and by the time we got there, it was fairly late. But everyone was still up and enjoying some drinks and appetizers so we joined in! My dad offered me a glass of wine and so to not give anything away, I accepted but didn't drink any. We actually had another present for my parents that night. In October, they celebrated 30 years of marriage! So Meg, Dan and I put together a photo book of pictures throughout the thirty years and in the back we had messages from family and friends. This was the first time we were all together so we had them open the book first. I think they were pretty amazed by it and impressed at all the work it took. Especially when they got to the messages in the back. My mom made a comment that we'd never be able to top a present like this again! (Little did she know...) After they looked through the book I said that Austin and I had another present for their anniversary and my sister joked about how we were showing them up. My dad was the one to open our present and once he opened it, he looked down at it, looked at us, looked down at the picture again and then up at us and said, "You're going to make me a Grandpa?" And when we said he, he (literally) jumped out of his chair and my mom started crying. I'd say it was a pretty good response. :) Again, everyone was very excited. 

So both sets of parents are very excited to be grandparents, or grandparents again. And in some cases, I would even say they are more excited than Austin and I! As my mom put it, "I think we're more excited for this baby than we were our own because this time we're not scared to death!" :) Point well made, Mom. 

Again, we decided that we wanted to wait until Christmas before telling extended family and that was pretty hard for both sets of parents. :) It was also hard for us! Especially at Thanksgiving with my dad's whole side of the family asking us when we were going to have kids, telling us we need to hurry up and making sure we had an announcement to tell everyone by the time Christmas came around. :) But we managed to make it through without anyone spilling the beans. 

At the beginning of December, we had our second doctor's appointment and again had another ultrasound. This time the baby looked a little bit more like a baby and was even moving around for us. It was pretty cute though - and the doctor agreed - because the little one had it's feet up in the air and ankles crossed. It was definitely just hanging out. :) This time we were also able to hear the heartbeat and that was a magical sound. Again, just reaffirming that this is really happening! 

11 weeks - with ankles crossed in the air :)

11 weeks - just hanging out 

Even though we had seen the baby a couple times and were able to share our excitement with family, this pregnancy was not going easy on me. From six weeks and on, I had horrible morning sickness. And it was not just in the morning, it was an all day battle. I was having a really hard time keeping most foods down and even on some really bad days, even drinking water was difficult. On top of this, I was still struggling to finish all of my high school visits. I was also constantly exhausted. Luckily, my job is pretty flexible and with comp time that I had from traveling, I was able to take days off when I needed it without using up all my sick days. Finally, when Austin was just as sick of me being sick as I probably was, he urged me to call the doctor and see what they could do. I had already tried some over the counter medicine but it wasn't helping. So I got a prescription to help with the nausea and was finally able to eat some food. It didn't make the morning sickness go away completely, but I was able to eat a little bit more. The every day morning sickness though lasted until about week 13 before it finally eased up and by that time I had lost about 20lbs. Luckily though, I was feeling much better as we headed into the holidays at home and was finally able to really eat some "real food" and all my Christmas favorites! :) Although I can tell my stomach has definitely shrunk because I can't eat very much before I get really full but at least I'm able to eat and have an appetite again! And at our most recent doctor's appointment, I was told it was okay to hit the desserts to start putting some of that weight back on. Not something you hear very often from a doctor! :) 

Over the Christmas break, we were able to see most of our extended families (on both sides) and some friends and share our wonderful news with all of them. It was a lot of fun telling everyone each time we did and then answering questions and sharing stories. One of my favorite stories though is probably when we told my Grandparents on my mom's side. We skyped with them on Christmas morning and my dad actually recorded the video of us telling them. I'll share that video with you all when I can. :) 

Our last doctor's appointment was on December 31st and this was just a quick one to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was a strong heartbeat in the 140's but the doctor was laughing because the little nut kept moving around! It looks like the baby already had Daddy's crazy energy! :) It really was the perfect way to end the year. 

And now we're into 2013. Our due date is June 23rd and crazy enough, both Grandpa's also have birthdays in June! So I'd say it's a pretty good month! I'd also say that God's timing is pretty awesome because Austin will be done with school when the baby comes and will be able to be home with me and the baby all summer! Not only will I appreciate all the extra help, I'm sure, but it will be a great family bonding time! Our next appointment is January 22nd and we'll have our anatomy scan then to check and make sure everything is growing the way it should. We have also decided to wait and not find out the sex of the baby until he or she makes an appearance in June. :) 

So life has been great. Things have been busy. And big changes are about to come. Austin and I are making sure we enjoy our lazy weekends of doing nothing and sleeping in as much as possible now before the little one arrives! :) But otherwise, it's life as normal. Austin is entering his busy time of year as he prepares students for solo/group ensemble contest and then large group contest after that. And soon I'll start traveling again with high school visits and college fairs. I'm sure the next six months are going to go by a lot faster than we hope! But I'll try to keep things updated on this blog on how everything is going with our growing family. Thank you all for your support and excitement for our little blessing. We are definitely looking forward to this next chapter in our lives!