Another appointment

On Tuesday we went to the doctor again for our monthly check-up but somehow either myself or the receptionist wrote the date wrong.  Oops.  Luckily I was able to see the nurse practitioner instead which, especially at this point in the pregnancy, is just as good as seeing my doctor because she's really nice and super helpful.  

The appointment was just the same as the others:  pee in the cup, blood pressure, weight, find the heartbeat, measure the tummy, take the blood pressure again because it was high the first time and make another appointment.  I know, you're wondering about the high blood pressure.  It's really not that high, I think I just get myself stressed trying to get out of school on time and then making sure I get back on time.  I'm dumb for scheduling things after school on days I have appointments (this time it was officer interviews) but I don't really have much of a choice.  The doctor isn't worried so I'm not either.

Emery is moving a lot more lately which is exciting and helps me actually feel just how real it all is.  The kicks and punches are still light and not at all uncomfortable.  This afternoon Logan was laying on my stomach and Emery was having a good time kicking him.  They're going to be good friends!  My sister-in-law told us to put a glass of cold water on my stomach to really get her moving.  We'll give it a try!  

I'm off to Destination Maternity now to get a t-shirt or polo to wear to HPU Fest tomorrow that will actually cover my belly completely.  All of my cute shirts fit everywhere, they're just a little short in the front.  I look like one of those large guys that has the bottom of his stomach hanging out of his shirts.  Ew.  I was sad about having to wear maternity clothes and saying goodbye to zippers and buttons on my pants for a while, but now they're a necessity.  Thank goodness for Destination Maternity.  I'm off!

She's a dancer!

I have figured out a way to get Emery to move around in my stomach . . . she loves dancing with the celebrities on Dancing With the Stars!  If I place my laptop on my stomach, when the music comes on she starts dancing with them.  This was how Nils was able to feel her for the first time.  Her movements are usually unpredictable, but when Dancing With the Stars is on she'll dance every time!

Gross

Ugh.  I forgot about stretch marks until I saw a commercial for stretch mark cream a few days ago on TV.  My stomach is growing everyday so I ordered some skin conditioning oil from Arbonne today that is supposed to help with those gross things.  It better work.  Is there any part of my body that is going to be the same after this baby?  I'm thinking not.  Ugh.

Emery Jewell Smith

Thank goodness for spring break!  I have had zero time to blog over the past few weeks because of competition season but now my down time is finally here.  Well, sort of.  Hopefully we'll be closing on the new house this week so packing is consuming us right now.  Even though it's a little late, here's what happened at the sonogram!

Nils and I were getting so anxious to find out if Bean was a boy or a girl so that we could paint the nursery and really start planning for our baby.  From the very beginning we knew exactly what we would name a girl.  We chose Emery because it was different (with a last name like Smith you need to be a little creative with the first name) but still very pretty and Jewell was my grandmother's name.  I have always known I wanted to use her name if I had a little girl and, since she passed away a couple of years ago, Nils and I thought it was a perfect way to honor my Mamaw.  The week of the sonogram I was still searching to find a boys name and it was really starting to stress me out.  I wanted to be able call our baby by name as soon as we found out the sex but not having a boys name really bothered me.  Nils' suggestion was to wait a while if it was a boy and just see what grew on us.  I'm not very good at being patient so that idea sounded stressful to me.

The day of the sonogram came and we were very excited.  Nils even got to the doctor's office about 45 minutes early just to make sure he wasn't late.  For some reason it took about 30 minutes for them to call me back which made me super anxious because last time I was there my doctor had to leave unexpectedly for a delivery.  If I wasn't able to have my sonogram that day I didn't know what I was going to do.  I'm realizing as I'm typing how crazy I was during that time.  Even my blood pressure was super high because of all of my anxiety.  How embarrassing.  

Finally we were called back, I laid on the table and got all gelled up (gross).  She pressed the little wand into my stomach and there was our crazy baby on the screen.  I say crazy because it was all over the place!  It was so strange to see how much it was moving but I couldn't yet feel a thing.  After a little searching our sonologist found the picture we were waiting for.  She froze the frame and asked us to guess the sex.  Sonogram pictures make no sense to either of us so we just stared for a while not wanting to guess the wrong thing.  I guess she finally got tired of us just staring so she let us in on the secret . . . Bean is a girl!  All of my worry about what to choose as a boys name was for nothing, Emery Jewell was the only name we had and the only name we needed.  After we found out the sex we let my mom come in to see her granddaughter.  We already know Emery has a lot of her mom in her because she wasn't very cooperative with the sonologist.  Usually they have a set order they look for things in but Emery was doing her own thing in there so the pictures had to be taken in the order she allowed them to be taken in.  My mom thought this was too funny.  The way the sonologist said it pretty much summed me up too, "we're going to be able to get some good pictures, we're just going to have to do it the way and in the order she wants it done".  I have always been independent and done things the way I want to and it looks like Emery is going to be the same.  I think this is what they call payback.  

Knowing that we have a baby girl on the way makes everything seem so much more real and actually calling her by name now has been really exciting!   We love you Emery and can't wait to meet you in just a few short months!

Emery Jewell Pics Take 2

It's a girl!

The pictures of Emery will be back soon.  Mom didn't like the idea of the pictures confirming Emery as a girl being on the internet.  Thanks for the effort dad but let's do some editing first, Emery is a modest girl!  :)

Sorry! New sonogram date!

You're guess is as good as mine right now!  I should have updated my blog as soon as we rescheduled the sonogram a couple of weeks ago.  The original plan was to take a half day of school today to go find out what Bean is and then go to the hospital to sign up for classes and things but once I got really sick for almost a whole week, my available sick days from school are almost non-existent now.  We only have to wait a few more hours though, the sonogram will be tomorrow (Thursday) at 2:00.  I will be sure to post on facebook and on the blog as soon as I possibly can!  Thanks for sharing in our excitement with us!

Our Little Dancing Bean

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, things have been pretty uneventful as far as the pregnancy goes lately so I really haven't had anything to blog about.  I am 16 weeks now so the morning sickness and the majority of the fatigue have gone away.  To be honest, most days I forget that I'm pregnant!  My baby bump is growing to the point that I can't wear my old pants normally (without the rubber band holding them together that is) but when I tried to wear maternity pants they kept slipping down which wasn't very attractive.  Luckily I wear dance pants and t-shirts everyday to work so I don't have to worry about my wardrobe too much but I have no clue what I'm going to be able to wear to church tomorrow.  

Our 3rd doctor's appointment was yesterday, Friday, but it was fairly uneventful as well.  Dr. Shows had to go deliver a baby unexpectedly so I saw the nurse practitioner instead who was really helpful and really nice.  I do have to say that it is very reassuring and comforting to hear Bean is still in there and doing well.  Actually, Bean seemed to be throwing a party in my stomach the way he was moving around in there.  My mom said Bean was dancing because that's what he/she is used to doing during that time of day.  It's crazy to think Bean is moving around so much but I can't feel it at all.  They say I should be able to feel it more in a couple of weeks which I think will help make it all more real.  Oh, and I actually lost a pound!  I've been craving fruit, yogurt and almond butter lately so, even though my stomach has been growing, other areas have been shrinking.  I'm sure that's the last visit that will ever happen, but I'm enjoying it for now!

The most exciting part of the appointment came at the very end when we scheduled our sonogram for February 25th.  I can't wait to call Bean by his or her name and start to really plan for the baby's arrival.  Our house will be ready about that same time so we'll already have the possible paint colors picked out so that as soon as we find out the gender we can call Jeff and get the nursery painted before we move in.  I have a feeling that the days and weeks between now and February 25th will move so slowly!  This is the appointment we have been excited about since we first saw those 2 little lines.  

I can't help but feel so blessed right now as I think about all that God is doing in my life and all of the people He has surrounded us with that not only love Nils and I but that already love Bean as well.  It's so comforting to know that Nils and I are not in this alone but that our amazing family and friends want to be involved in Bean's life as much as possible.  We'll keep everyone updated as things progress and you better believe there will be a GIANT post on February 25th after the sonogram.  

A Lesson Learned

I was hesitant to post this story because it is a little gross, but Becky told me it was definitely a blog story.  

We wanted to spend as much time in Missouri as we could since we weren't able to get up there very often but we also needed to be back in town for the Christmas Eve service at church.  So, we found a flight that left Missouri at 7:30 that morning which meant we had to leave Jan's house at 4am to make the 2 hour drive to the airport on the possibly icy roads, check in and get some breakfast.  All of this was fine for a normal person, but for someone who is pregnant this is way too much for one morning.

As we are waiting to board the plane I am starting not to feel well at all.  The only kind of morning sickness I had had up to that point was nausea and exhaustion but I had never actually gotten sick so I was hoping that's all it was.  I tried to keep myself composed as we boarded the plane and I even tried to sleep it off.  It worked for a while but it eventually got to the point to where I couldn't ignore it any more so I grabbed my barf bag and off to the airplane bathroom I went.  I already try to avoid the airplane bathroom at all costs as it is so the thought of putting my face anywhere close to that toilet was not even an option.  

I'll skip all the details but I will tell you that I used all of the barf bags on our row during the course of the flight.  I have never thrown up on an airplane and I hope I never do again.  And, just my luck, the plane hit bad weather which caused some not-so-fun turbulence and it caused our flight to get in late.  Luckily they held our next flight but we had to sit in the very last row next to the most interesting (I'm trying to be nice) guy I've ever met.  I'm still clutching my barf bag praying that I won't have to use it when he started talking.  Thank goodness it was only a 45 minute flight from Houston to San Antonio because I wouldn't have been able to handle it for more than that.  As we were taking off he kept telling the pilot (from the last row) to "do your damn thing!" and he was convinced that we were going to San Antonio, Oklahoma and couldn't quite seem to grasp the fact that we were still in Texas.  All of this would have been hilarious if I hadn't been puking all morning, but all I wanted to do was hurt him!

Anyway, I have learned that I will not be flying early in the morning next time I'm pregnant and I wouldn't suggest it for anyone else either.  It is a funny story now but at the time I just wanted to die!  I apologize if the story was gross but it's just a day in the life of a pregnant woman!

Clarification!

It just hit me that maybe I should explain who is in the video below!  My mother-in-law, Jan, is opening the present and her husband, Glenn, is sitting to her right.  My brother-in-law, Chris, is taking the video and Nils' sister, Becky, is there too.  The big laugh comes from Jan telling Becky that our present beat theirs unless she's pregnant too.  The biggest laugh comes from Chris because they've only been married a year and can already feel the pressure!  So, those are the other voices you're hearing.  Now you can enjoy!  :)

Jan's Reaction

Well, it was worth the wait. We had planned a Christmas trip to Missouri back in May, obviously before we knew I'd be pregnant but when we were hoping that could be the case. We found out in November that I was expecting but decided to wait until our trip to Missouri to tell Nils mom because we knew her reaction would be so much more special in person. This is our first morning there and it also just happened to be her birthday which made it all that much better. We gave her a picture frame with the first sonogram picture in it that says Love at First Sight. We're all in our pajamas still so it's not the most attractive video but it is very special. Enjoy!

Video Update

I know that we promised to put Jan, my mother-in-law's, reaction to the news on here once we got back from Missouri and it should be coming soon (once Nils finds the right cord to connect the camera to the computer that is).  Oops!  It's worth the wait though, I promise!

Rubber bands are annoying, time for the maternity pants

Lately I've been using the rubber band through the button hole trick to get some extra life out of my pants but that is getting really old really fast.  I'm so paranoid that my shirt is going to come up or my zipper is going to come all the way down that I'm constantly checking that area which can't be attractive either.  Also at this point I'm just looking super fat instead of cute pregnant so if my shirt did come up people would think that I just had too much Christmas dinner, yuck!

I tried on maternity pants at Target with no success.  They fit but they just weren't cute, so if you know of another place that has a better variety of brands and styles I would really appreciate your suggestions.  I may just have to suck it up and spend some money on a good pair of jeans and black pants, sorry Nils!  I did find a cute, long cardigan/sweater thing to wear to the Melting Pot tonight that will hopefully cover things well.  I'm just ready to really pop and become obviously pregnant and with my short torso hopefully that will happen soon! 

OB Visit #2

Bean is still in there and doing well!  I was smart this time and didn't use the restroom before I got to the appointment so I was able to pee in the cup successfully (thank you, thank you), my blood pressure was normal and I actually lost a couple of pounds even though my pants are getting tighter (because of the nausea I'm not very hungry).  Once in the room, Dr. Shows put the lovely jelly stuff on my stomach and used the Doppler device to look for Bean's heartbeat.  After reading a lot on the internet about how long it can take to find the heartbeat, I wasn't nervous when it took some searching to find it.  Later I found out that Nils hadn't read what I had and he was quite worried when Bean wasn't found right away.  Note to self:  Brief the husband on what to expect before each appointment so he doesn't freak out!  

Bean is resting the left (your right) side of my uterus and his/her heartbeat is at 160 beats per minute.  The old wives' tale says that less that 140 beats/minute means it's a boy and more than 140 beats/minute indicates a girl.  The lady at Walgreen's also said it was a girl so you can come to your own conclusions.  Now that I'm thinking it could be a girl that probably means it's a boy :)  

Dr. Shows gave me a list of OTC medications that I can take and told me the stretching and pulling I'm feeling when I stand up too quickly or roll over in bed is just my uterus growing and things moving around in there.  My blood work from the last appointment came back clear which was good to hear.  She also told us that my due date is July 20th which would make me almost 12 weeks right now.  Since I couldn't exactly remember exact date of my last period that is an estimate at this point.  Looking at calendars and comparing conception dates and all that, I'm expecting the due date to be a week earlier than expected.  Who knows though, we'll find out in July.

The appointment was quick but it was comforting to hear Bean's heartbeat again and know that he/she is doing well in there.  I'll have another appointment on January 30th which will probably be similar to the one today and then my February appointment will be the one where we find out what Bean really is!  We cannot wait for that appointment!  Whatever it is, we are so thankful that everything has been going so smoothly thus far.