30 Weeks, only 10 weeks to go!!!

We had our Christmas Eve doctor visit and everything still looks great. The baby's heart rate was beating a strong 133 bpm. The heart rate was a lot slower than all the other times but the doctor said that it's perfectly normal, it will go up and down depending on how active the baby is at the time and I hadn't eaten anything yet this last time. I had to have blood drawn for the glucose test but won't know anything until the next doctor visit in two weeks unless something is wrong. From now on, I will have to go to the doctor every two weeks. The doctor said we'll probably have another ultra sound closer to the end, so that will be very cool because the baby will be a lot bigger and a lot more defined. I still feel pretty good, I can't hardly complain, other than it's harder to get up and down, but that's expected. We will be having 2 baby showers soon. The first one will be in Mt. Vernon, IN on Jan. 17 and then we'll have one at our church in Harrisburg, IL for everyone that live closer to us on Feb. 21. We'll be getting invitations out soon. Jesse took this picture of me on Christmas with my new sweater on.

27 Week checkup

We had our doctor visit Tuesday (Dec. 9) and met the new doctor. She is great, we are very happy with her. She's so friendly and nice and easy to talk to/ask questions to. We heard the heart beat going about 145 bpm, just right. My weight gain so far (though I'd like it to be a little less) is very normal she said and I'm doing great, I'm right on schedule. I measure just right as far as belly/baby size, the baby is doing wonderful and is just the right size. I go back on Christmas Eve (2 weeks from this visit) for my glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. The doctor doesn't seem to think I will have any problems with that because the baby is of normal size and there wasn't any sugar in my urine, so we'll see. I really hope all is good, I'm always praying for absolutely NO complications, for a healthy baby, and a smooth labor/delivery. I feel great, other than a little discomfort here and there, all is great, I can't hardly complain. I feel the little one moving ALL THE TIME! She's definitley a mover!

Week 26

We have made it to week 26!! The baby is doing great, she's kicking more than ever. Others like Jesse, my mom and Jesse's mom have also been able to feel her kick and move at times. I don't really have any cravings that I can tell but I do get hungry a lot more often. I'm trying to be careful, though, to watch what I eat and eat healthy as much as possible, which is hard to do around the holidays. I go to the doctor next Tuesday, Dec. 9. I will be seeing the new doctor, Dr. Leinenbach, for the first time, she's supposed to be a great doctor and is highly recommended. The reason I have to switch doctors is because my original doctor, Dr. Sanderfur, will no longer be delivering babies after the first of the year, he is retiring that part of his job. We were really sad to hear that at the first checkup with him, he's a really great doctor, but I can't blame him for wanting to be able to sleep through the night, finally after about 30 yrs, without being called to a delivery. The new doctor is usually booked up and really hard to get, but Dr. Sanderfur made a special call for us and got us in!! yay!!

Week 23

We had our 23 week doctor visit on Tuesday 11/11/08 and the doctor said the ultra sound looked good, everything is in the right place and is the right size. We got a strong heart beat, beating 142 bpm. Our precious little girl is doing great and growing fast. My belly is really starting to pop out now as you can see. After our appointment we went to start our registry at Babies 'R us and Burlington Coat Factory (Baby Depot) and will register at Wal-Mart in the near future. We ran out of time but I think we got most of the important stuff registered for. We have plenty of time still to register for other things that we forgot about or if we change our minds about something. Registering can be a very stressful thing to do, I'm glad we got it started at least.

The big ultra sound

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

We are having a sweet baby girl, and we're so so so so excited!!!! It was so fun, both Jesse's parents and Julie and my parents were all there to see the ultra sound. Jesse and I went in first by ourselves and the u/s tech told us that it's a girl (she's 99.9% sure) and then Jesse went a got our family and brought them into the room with us. That's when we told them it's a girl and they were able to see her moving around a stuff on the screen. Everyone was sooooo excited!! She sure was moving a lot. She would hardly stay still for the u/s tech to get the pictures she needs for measuring the heart and brain and stuff like that, that the doctor will look at. She kept flipping around, kicking her legs and moving her little arms around. I could have watched her all day long, it makes me soooo excited! After the ultra sound me and my mom and dad went baby shopping, it was so much fun finally being able to look for and buy baby clothes which is something that we have been anxiously holding off to do till we found out what it was going to be. We didn't go crazy or anything but we did get a few, pretty adorable things. Here are some of the pictures we got from the ultra sound and of the family all waiting in the waiting room to find out.

17 weeks

We had another good doctor visit Tuesday, good strong heartbeat of 148 bpm. I think I have officially started to show a little baby bump, people have started telling me that I'm showing, even though I knew I was showing a long time ago (at least I felt bigger around my waist). I'm ready for it to start looking like a baby belly. We go in for our anatomy ultra sound on Oct. 9, can't wait!!

Your pregnancy: 17 weeks

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop

16 weeks

Still feeling good, we go to the doctor next Tuesday (9-30-08)

How your baby's growing:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.