27 weeks 5 days

I just realized I hadn't posted these! These are the pictures from the specialist we went to at 24 weeks. Look at that foot! It appears he has my feet, good for him! Giant feet are much better for boys than for girls. In the bottom picture his head is on the left and it's a profile. His hand is just above his head. Every time we see him he has his hands up over his eyes! Apparently he hates the light like Greg. I'll probably find him sleeping with a pillow over his head in the crib.

Everything is going very well, I have another specialist appointment and my regular 28 week appointment on Tuesday. Smudgy is moving a ton, especially at night. He kicks me in the ribs every once in a while which is less fun than the others.

26 weeks 2 day

Even though I know I'm 26 weeks along (or more importantly, 14 weeks from full term) I still can't believe it and, writing the title (yes, I said writing even though I typed) makes it more real and, frankly, terrifying. (There are a lot of commas in that sentence!) I promise I'm excited about Smudgy coming, really I am. I just hope that I'm ready when he does. I keep saying that I hope I'm ready to be a mom and people always respond "you already are!" That may be so, technically, but I don't feel like one. I feel more like a host right now.

At the last ultrasound the technician said that he was viable. I know I'm supposed to be excited about that but I mostly just felt the urge to clutch my stomach, squeeze my legs together and pray. Not only because I want him to make it to full term but also because I'm just not ready to be done yet. So far, and I realize this may jinx me, I enjoy being pregnant. There are some downsides but, for me, the pluses outweigh the negatives. I feel important all the time, like I'm constantly busy even when I'm just watching television. There's so much going on over here! All the time!

He's really moving now, a constant affirmation that he's okay. They say that, at this point, babies are sleeping about 14 hours a day. Either Smudgy is an active sleeper or I'm calling bravo sierra. Not that it bothers me, mind you. We haven't had any feet stuck in between ribs or anything yet (something I'm told I can look forward to.) People ask me what it feels like; it used to feel like bubbles popping. Now that he's almost 2 pounds it feels like getting kicked in the stomach by tiny feet from the inside. I realize that's not helpful but that is exactly what it feels like.

In other news, I can't believe it's October! This only means that the rest of the pregnancy will fly. I get to decorate for Halloween this weekend then comes Thanksgiving and then Christmas and then Smudgy, hopefully in that order! I can't wait! Honestly. I promise.

24 weeks 3 days

The more pregnant I get the worse I get at writing on this blog. I'll try to do better!

My new favorite pregnancy symptom is getting overheated. There are times that I feel like I'm going to explode I'm so hot. It's like I have a personal heater inside.

We went to the doctor on Tuesday for our regular 24 week check up. The ultrasound technician couldn't see the heart well enough at the last appointment so she wanted to check it again now that Smudgy's a little bigger. The heart looked great, no problems there. There was a white spot below the heart that she wanted checked more closely so she said she was going to take a picture and send it to my doctor. Greg was concerned but I felt pretty calm about it, she didn't seem alarmed at all.

Then we went in for our appointment which happened to be with a midwife this month. She was the absolute worst at being calming. She started talking about cardiologists and specialists. It was the last thing we needed. She made us an appointment with a perinatal specialist but we couldn't go until Thursday. It was the longest 48 hours ever!

We went to see the specialist on Thursday morning. A nurse was doing an ultrasound for the doctor to look at and he came in in the middle of it to tell us that he'd been watching from his office and that everything was fine. We immediately felt better. Turns out that Smudgy has a hemangioma on his liver. Apparently it's very common and doesn't mean anything. He said he sees about one a month. So....yeah! Crisis averted. On the very positive side, we have now had a specialist looking at Smudgy's everything including organs and everything looks great!

20 Weeks 3 Days

We went to the doctor on Wednesday to have the 20 week ultrasound and ..............it's a boy! More importantly though, everything looked good. We could clearly see Smudgy and all his parts. The spine was a little creepy but I'm glad it's there! It's amazing what can happen in 13 weeks. I still can't believe it.

Thursday I went for my regular appointment. My blood pressure was normal for the first time so fingers crossed that it stays that way. I asked the doctor what will happen if it goes back up and he told me that I would be on bed rest and would most likely have the baby around 38 weeks. It's only two weeks difference but it actually takes the birthday from January to December, after Christmas to before and from 2010 to 2009! Weird.

I got to hear the heart beat again and I could hear kicks too! It's so strange that I can hear the baby moving and see him moving but I can't feel it. As violent as it looks though I've stopped being in a hurry!

20 Weeks

We're halfway there! I can't believe it, it's gone really fast so far. Don't worry, I know the last half is harder. We go for the ultrasound tomorrow that should tell us if Smudgy is a girl or a boy. I'm really excited, and nervous. I haven't felt Smudgy yet, at least I don't think I have. I know that it's too early to worry but I will anyway until I see that heartbeat tomorrow.

Smudgy's Beach Pictures

Smudgy's first game of catch.

Smudgy's first T-shirt.

Smudgy's first Skeeball and arcade prize!

Smudgy's first game of Putt Putt.

16 weeks 6 days

At my last appointment I had blood drawn for the AFP test which lets you know if your baby is at increased risk for Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 18 or Open Neural Tube Defects. The doctor said the results would be back in a week and that they would email me if everything was normal and call me if it wasn't. I had a voice mail today from a nurse wanting me to call her back, it's been exactly a week. I freaked out! I called her back 21 times (no exaggeration, I counted) and she finally answered. Turns out it was just a response to a question I asked at my last appointment. I told the nurse how I had driven myself crazy and she said the results weren't back yet.

One hour later I got the email, everything is normal! Yay!

15 weeks 6 days

I went for my 16 week appointment today and it went really well. I got to hear the heartbeat! I didn't realize it was happening at this appointment so Greg missed it. Frankly, it just sounds like a heartbeat. The ultrasounds are much more exciting!

She said it was in the 150's. I had to ask if that was good because I had no idea at all. I barely know what's normal for me! She said it was very normal, perfect even. As soon as she found it (very quickly this time!) I said "that's so weird!" I think she was a little concerned. But it is weird, to have something moving around inside me with a heartbeat that I can't feel. I realize that there are all sorts of things happening inside me all the time that I can't feel but this seems different.

Amy's decided it's a girl which makes Greg like her a lot less. Nothing personal Amy! I keep warning him that he's going to have to stop saying things like that! I made the appointment to find out so we'll know (hopefully) August 19th. I think my Mom's going to go with us. Fun!

14 Weeks 2 Days

We went to Panama City last weekend and met Greg's parents and our niece Audrey there. She's about to turn 6. It's always fun to share the pregnancy with new people! Audrey was especially fun because she's about the age of the kids in my class (who I haven't told yet.) It was really cool to see how 5 year olds act about pregnancy. We got there late on Thursday night and Audrey was already asleep. When I got up Friday morning she and Greg were sitting in the living room. I said "Hi Audrey!" and she said "Hi Aunt Molly. How's that baby?" It was so sweet! The rest of the trip she would, every now and then, pat my belly and ask about the baby. When we went to the beach to watch the fireworks she put her hands protectively over my belly and asked if it was too loud. She'll be the best cousin! Our last night she was sleeping with Pops and woke up giggling. He asked her what was going on and she said she had a dream that I had the baby but it was really two babies in there and they were jumping on the bed. I love kids.

13 weeks

Today marks my second trimester! Finally! Now I'll actually be sharing this blog with people instead of just writing it for myself. We went to the doctor yesterday. We were there to hear the heart beat but Smudgy wasn't cooperating. She was moving the doppler all around my belly and pointed out my heart beat (not as exciting) but couldn't find the baby's. She said it's not always easy to find this early so we got to have an ultrasound instead, which is way more fun and exciting. We could see the heart beat but we didn't have to. Smudgy was wiggling and jumping so much it was clear that everything's fine. The doctor seemed surprised by how much movement there was. It was truly the most amazing thing I've ever seen. We could see the arms and the head, way more exciting than the last ultrasound. Even though I knew I was pregnant it was surreal to see a real live person inside me. It's also weird to know that Smudgy could be moving that much and I wouldn't feel it.

We have to wait 8 weeks to find out if it's a girl or a boy. Torture!

10 Weeks 4 Days

Today is Greg's 29th birthday. I'm glad we'll have a kid before he's 30! I'm excited to hear the heartbeat in a couple of weeks! I've been feeling pretty good. Tired a lot but not really sick. A couple mornings I've felt a little nauseous but it goes away pretty quickly. I feel very lucky.

After spending most of last week with my pants unbuttoned I went and bought some maternity clothes. It feels really early but the woman at the store and several people online have assured me that everyone is different and this is not unusual. Still, it's hard to not just feel fat.

Through facebook I keep seeing that people I knew in high school are also pregnant. It's interesting to think that we would all decide to start families around the same time.

9 weeks 1 day

I had my second regular appointment on Monday. I assume everything was normal since the doctor was only in the room for about 5 minutes. He asked if I had any questions and sent me to the lab to give what must be a dangerous amount of blood.

Everything's going really well. I have very few problems. I'm tired a lot and take a nap every afternoon (thank goodness I have a job that provides me that luxury.) I also get really hungry but only some days. I think it must be proportional to whatever is happening that day, like fingers growing or organs forming.

I'm really glad to be even closer to the second trimester. Every day I let myself get more and more comfortable with the idea that this will actually work. Greg is more and more used to the idea too. We've been looking at deals on baby stuff and generally letting ourselves believe!

First Ultrasound

We went to the doctor on Wednesday May 20th to have our first ultrasound. I was at 7 weeks and 1 day. We were there to see the heartbeat and to confirm the due date. The technician said that she was getting a due date of January 9th but since that's within a week of the original due date of January 5th they'll keep it the 5th. I'm still marking the weeks using the original due date but I'm hoping it's closer to the 9th. The farther away from Christmas the better! We also got to see the heartbeat. It was a little surreal, seeing that fluttering heartbeat. Greg said it looked like I ate a person. He's so sweet! As you can see at the bottom of the picture, the baby looks just like a smudge sealing our nickname of Smudgy.

First Blog!

Greg and I decided to start this blog as a way for family and friends to keep up to date on all of our baby news. So, here's the news: We're having a baby! We found out two weeks ago. I studied 3 pregnancy tests trying to decide if I was seeing the positive line or not. I finally ended up buying a digital test that clearly said "Pregnant" and I finally had proof of what I had been sure of for days. I was pregnant! I went to the doctor last Monday and everything went well. She gave me a tentative due date of January 5 but we have an ultrasound next week to confirm that. Hopefully we'll get to hear the heart beat!