Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Boom, Boom, Pow...

Okay, it's cheesy (and an awful song - I mean, what is Fergie even talking about?), but our little boy is moving up a storm these past few days. It all started on Friday when we were headed to our 20 week appointment. I felt 2 distinguishable movements in my lower right abdomen. I got so excited, and then nothing for the rest of the day really. I was a bit bummed but knew that when you first start to feel your baby it's not always consistent. On Saturday, though, he started to move some more. I found that he was most active after meals when my belly was really tight. I kept trying to get David to feel it, but the baby would stop when David had his hands on my belly. He kept telling me it was okay, but I really wanted him to experience it, too. Well, Sunday, we went to the neighborhood pool, and after I did some laps and got out, I lay down for a while. The boy went crazy! I told David to put his hand and feel, and he felt it :). Then we could both see the movements when we looked at my belly. It was awesome! David didn't know what to expect and seemed taken aback at what he was feeling and seeing. I was so happy that he could finally share in the experience.
Now our little boy is moving a lot. I usually don't feel him until I sit or lay down, but it hasn't gotten old. I don't think it ever will. I get so excited every time I feel him, and I still gasp when he gets started. He's started moving during lunch and today he moved during a therapy session. I just smiled to myself because our little boy is there with me and I'm so aware of it. It's like mommy and baby are sharing a moment together. He's part of my session with me, and that makes it a little better. I love this part, and I'm so in love with our little boy!
So that happened...

Friday, June 26, 2009

Baby Body

A lot has seemed to change in just the past 2 weeks. Suddenly people are noticing I'm pregnant. By "people" I mean a whopping 3 who didn't know have asked me about my bump. The best so far was from a dad at The Aspen Center. He asked, "What's that bump there?". I told him, "A baby". Then he said he thought maybe a couple weeks ago, but didn't want to say anything. I asked him what he would've done if I hadn't said it was a baby. He replied, "Well, we've been coming here for a year now, and you're pretty trim, so I felt like it was a safe guess." I thought that was so sweet. He even thought I wasn't due until December maybe. Everyone has been so nice to me during this pregnancy, from making comments about my little baby bump to telling me that they don't know many women 5 months along who still have a silhouette. It makes my day when someone gives me a compliment about my baby body :).
I have finally purchased some maternity clothes, too. My tops still fit, but they are not as long as they use to be. I don't want to stretch out my tops to no return, either. I was actually able to find some tops that weren't maternity but they were my size in a tall. The shorts and pants were the main issue. My belly band is getting annoying to adjust because when I sit it doesn't always stay in place. I was able to find some cute pants and shorts today, and I even bought a nice little dress. All in all, it was a pretty successful outing. The swimsuit is an entirely different story...

The Big 2-0!

Obviously, I am not just turning 20. I am glad that is over with, although I'm sure there may come a day I wish I was turning 20 instead of another number. No, on Wednesday, I hit the 20 week mark in my pregnancy. That means I am halfway there to our baby boy. It seems that the time doesn't go by so quickly when I'm waiting for my next appointment, but when I think about when we found out we were pregnant, it doesn't seem like it's already been 5 months. It has been, though, and we had our 20 week appointment today. It was pretty "in and out". They did all the measurements 2 weeks ago at our big ultrasound and my uterus isn't much past my navel, so there's not anything to measure there. Our little boy was a lot more cooperative today, though, and the doctor found his heartbeat right away. A nice 140 bpm or so. He even moved a couple of times, which was cool to hear on the doppler. I couldn't feel him, though. I am feeling him move more, but still irregularly and nothing that David can feel when he puts his hands on my belly. Our next appointment is at the end of July. I'll be 24 weeks then! So that happened...

Friday, June 12, 2009

It came to me in a dream...

Today David and I found out that we are having a baby boy! The funny thing was that I had been thinking "girl" all along until last night. I woke up this morning and told David that I had several vivid dreams through the night and 2 of them involved me holding our baby. I have had several dreams where I am pregnant, but none about the gender. My older brother, Scott, and my mom both had dreams about us having a boy. Well, in my dreams last night I was holding our son. I told David not to get too excited since a dream may not mean much. In this instance, I was apparently having a psychic moment.
It was such a wonderful ultrasound. WakeMed has a 3D/4D lab at their main hospital, so we headed there this morning for our 8:45 appointment. For 30 blissful minutes, we were able to see our son! The technician began by showing us the brain and pointing out the fossa and developing lobes. Everything was normal (check). Then she moved onto the heart and pointed out the ventricles and the how the blood was pumping. Healthy and check. Then she pointed out the kidneys. I recognized everything else without much aid, but I had to take her word on the kidneys. They were healthy, too. After checking to make sure we had a healthy baby, she asked if we wanted to know the gender. We both said yes, and she moved down. Well, the baby was not shy, and he was more than happy to open his legs. There was no question our baby was a boy.
It was all so surreal. I was so happy to hear how healthy he was that I didn't really react much to finding out the gender. I could see how happy David was, and I was happy, but no tears. It didn't really hit me until we were waiting for the elevator to head back to the car. Then I looked at David and he smiled and we hugged, and all the happiness overcame me. We are going to have a baby boy! No more trying to say "he/she" or "the baby" to avoid an "it" slip. We can now say "he". We can even call him by his name (but only around each other b/c that's remaining a secret).
We had a gift card to Target that we had agreed we would use to get a couple of outfits once found out. Well, once we started looking, we ended up spending the entire gift card on clothing and a cute blanket. I loved how much David was a part of it. He didn't just say, "Whatever you like." He picked items out and enjoyed looking for baby things.
Here are some of the clearer pictures we got that you all will probably be most interested in. We also got pictures of the brain and facial cavities, but those are a bit creepy. I hope you guys enjoy. So, that happened...



Thursday, June 4, 2009

Happy Anniversary

David and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary yesterday. We, well maybe I, had decided that we would go the traditional route with our gifts to each other. The first 2 years were simple: The first year was paper, and I got David B.B. King concert tickets. Last year was linen/cotton, and we went to Germany and Spain and agreed that would be the really nice hotel we stayed at. This year was a bit more difficult - leather. David has leather shoes and a leather briefcase. He has a leather camera case. He has leather belts (not that I would get a belt, but you see my point). Well, it was down to a leather beer bottle holster and a leather cigar case. While I decided on the latter, I will keep the other one in my gift repertoire for another year. I feel a future Father's Day gift calling... Anyway, I gave him a leather cigar case with 3 nice cigars in it, the idea being that he and our dads could celebrate the arrival of our baby with them. He loved it.
I had no idea what David was going to get me. He's a very good gift giver, so I didn't doubt that he would come up with something good. I was not expecting what he gave me - a Kate Spade diaper bag! I'm pretty sure when I saw the tissue paper with "Kate Spade" written on it my heart started to beat very rapidly, and I looked at him like, "You didn't?". I still didn't know it would be a diaper bag. It is beautiful. And he even made sure it's wipable and stain resistant.
David said he already knows I will be a great mother, and now I can do it in style :). I have such an awesome husband!

To cap it all off, we went to dinner at a fabulous French restaurant in Raleigh, Saint Jacques.

We both started off with salads. I got the mixed green salad and David got the crusted warm goat cheese salad. We shared an order of escargots. In between our salads and entrees we were given a nice subtle sorbet to cleanse our palates. For our entrees I ordered the lamb osso bucco: Fresh lamb shank braised for 12 hours until fork tender and served over roasted root vegetables and white bean ragoƻt, finished with the braising lamb juice reduction, and David ordered the veal oscar style: Thinly hand cut veal top round, topped off with fresh lump crab meat and a warm hollandaise sauce, served on potato galette and fresh poached asparagus. For dessert David had the mousse au chocolat and I enjoyed the warm peche delight a la mode. It was simply scrumptulescent :).

It was a very memorable 3rd anniversary, and I'm excited to start our 4th year together. (okay, so even though I turned off the italics it is still typing in italics). So that happened...