22 weeks

Well I've just entered my 6th month and still feel great. Despite a little back pain and some minor swelling in my feet all is well. Steve said my feet looked like two loaves of bread baking in my shoes the other night. Today wasn't much better but I guess that comes with the territory. Good thing the warm weather is here and I can get away with flip flops.

We purchased our nursery furniture on Saturday. What a stressful event that was. After 3 stores and hours of debate over espresso or antique white we finally decided on a set and made the purchase. It should be delivered this weekend so I've got to shampoo the carpets sometime this week before it arrives. No pictures until the nursery is complete! I can't wait to get started in there.

As requested here is my 22 week belly shot:

21 Weeks

First I want to say thank you to everyone for all of your thoughts, prayers, flowers and support with my Memaw's passing. The services were beautiful and we all feel good knowing she is where she wants to be despite our sadness and loss. I take comfort in knowing that Memaw is watching over me. I'm sure she is laughing her head off just waiting for me to have a little girl to cause me as much trouble as I probably caused her at times. I just hope I can bring as much joy and happines to our little girls life as Memaw brought to mine.

21 weeks now and I finally had my first premature deformed baby nightmare. I dreamed that she was born a few months early but that she was the size of a 2 month old already. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and a dimple in her chin, but the rest of her body had skin deformities covering her and we had no idea what to do! The doctors told us they were cosmetic and could be taken care of when she got older, but nothing could be done now. Also she was born so early that we had no crib, clothes or baby essentials and I was freaking out and totally unprepared. Then Steve and I ran out to buy baby stuff and forgot the baby at home! It was so nice to wake up and realize it was all just a dream!

Steve and I have been taking the dogs on daily walks around the neighborhood and Magnum still needs a little bit of leash training. He darts at cars that drive by and other dogs he sees. Monday we were walking and a lady ran by with her two dogs so naturally Magnum freaked out and had to run over and check them out immediately. When he did he wrapped his leash around my ankles and tripped me so I ended up eating pavement and laid out in the middle of the street (of course it happened in front of 4 other people standing in their yard). I don't know how I landed but both knees are bruised, one hand, one elbow is scraped up and my lower back and right foot are both sore. The good news is that baby is fine and didn't seem to have a clue what had just happened. Steve was positive I'd just "flattened" the baby and that something terrible was going to happen. She's been kicking me all week and it gets stronger as time goes by so I know she's doing just fine in there.

In other news, we sold our guest room furniture yesterday so the babies room will soon be under way...

p.s. Little Munchkin wants to thank Memaw Carlile, GiGi & Gramps, Aunt Melissa and Uncle Justin for her wonderful new clothes. She can't wait to get here and be big enough to wow everyone with her cuteness and great sense of style.

My Memaw

My Memaw passed away early this morning. She went just like she would have wanted, peacefully and in her sleep. Thank you all for all of your prayers.

20 Weeks - Definitely a GIRL!

Friday Steve and I went in for our big ultrasound and it was so exciting! Steve got a kick out of seeing her kick me on the ultrasound. It was so fun because he would see it and I would feel it at the same time. All is perfect so far, I had no blood clots to be seen, the baby was doing great and moving around so much. She had the hiccups too so her head kept jerking up and down. Most of the pictures came out fuzzy because she was such a little dancer in there.

The technician had a tough time getting to see her lips (to check for cleft palate) because she had her arm covering her face for the longest time. They checked her heart and we got to see all 4 chambers. They checked her brain, spinal cord, kidneys, stomach and umbilical cord and all checked out perfectly. Then they checked her limbs and measured everything. The technician commented on how long the baby's legs were (wonder where she gets that from?) Then she showed us the little girl parts and we were not at all surprised!

I have been feeling lots of movement especially after I eat. Steve got to feel one of her kicks last night for the first time. Usually she stops when I call him over to feel it. We can not believe we are already half way through! She is measuring right on target with her due date.

Here is her little head and you might be able to see her arm laying on top of her face:


Here you can see the bottom of her legs, her bum (on the left) and it's a girl!


A very fuzzy shot of the bottoms of her feet:

19 Weeks

I've been feeling the baby (who is still nameless) move over the past week. Last week was more active than the last few days. Today was more active than Saturday or Sunday. Friday she must have been doing aerobics in there because she was poking and kicking me all afternoon! She must have been pretty tired because she didn't hardly budge on Saturday. We are just sitting tight waiting very patiently for Friday at noon to get here so we can see that she is A-Okay in there.

Other than that I feel good and have started moving old stuff out of the baby's room so that we can get to work in there. We are putting the furniture that is in there up on craigs list this week. Hopefully it'll sell so we can get it moved out of there soon. We would keep it but it really isn't our taste and we really don't feel like hassling with a storage unit.

Here is a cute picture I took of of my babies today:

Baby needed a new pair of shoes...

I couldn't resist buying my little munchkin these shoes at target today:

18 weeks

This past week (17 weeks) we got a bit of a scare. I noticed some very light spotting early monday morning and then again last night. I didn't freak out though because I know that blood thinners can cause you to be more sensitive and bleed easier. I called first thing this morning and went in to my OB's office after work. She decided it would be best to take me off of the blood thinner due to the bleeding. So for two weeks no blood thinner injection, no lifting and nothing strenuous. We'll go back on March 14th in two weeks for the anatomy scan and to check how things are going. If all is well then, I'll start taking baby aspirin daily. The fact that I will not be on any blood thinner for two weeks scares the hell out of us. My OB is a high risk specialist though so of course we trust her judgement. I'll just watch things very closely and go in should something not feel right.

Now for the good news! Not only did I get to see my little munchkin on ultrasound today but I felt her move for the very first time! I was sitting in the waiting room and I felt a little flutter just under my belly button. I thought oh that's just digestion, then I kept feeling it and I'm still feeling it! During the ultrasound we got a good view of her kicking both feet up toward my belly button! She was wiggling around in there for sure! She had her little hands up to her face again and was just kicking both legs straight out. At one point my doc showed me her bottom and said "look there is her butt crack and I don't see anything hanging so she must still be a girl!" She looked great, her heartbeat was great and everything else looked normal so no concerns there. I loved seeing her today though. It was really comforting and reassuring to see that I really do have our little baby in there. It really made it a reality and was just so exciting.

In other good news we got our results back on the bloodwork they did last week to test for Spina Bifida and neural tube defects and it was negative. This was especially important for me since I must be on a large dose of folic acid to absorb the correct amount. I'm very happy about that. Today they did the cystic fibrosis test to make sure I'm not a carrier. We'll get those results back next week.

We are still going back and forth on names. We just can't decide what we want to name this child. So far the 3 names that keep coming up are Ava, Haley and Hope. We like them all but just don't know. I keep looking at books and online to find new interesting options we haven't thought of. Steve is the picky one and has nixed several of my favorites already.

So these next two weeks I just take it easy and hopefully she'll move often to keep mommy's heart at ease. I'll be back on Monday to post her profile shot we got today. It's a little fuzzy but it's still her cute little face. :)