Quad Screen Results!

*NEGATIVE!!!*

Awesome, I was worried since I've been playing phone tag with my doctor's office all day, even though the nurse's messages assured me "nothing was wrong." I still assumed the worst and wondered why they would call me if nothing was wrong b/c that is so not like doctors, lol! Yay, one less thing to worry about, I'm very happy!

***10 more days until until our ultrasound!!!**** (I'm just a little excited! :) )

BH already?

I'm already having Braxton-Hicks contractions with this pregnancy which has me a little weirded out. Though with Venily I did start getting them at about 20 weeks and my doctor told me earlier that I'd probably get them earlier this time around and they would probably be more intense. I just don't like it, it worries me a little. I'm sure it has a lot to do with being really sick today and lying in bed until 2:00pm and only getting up to go to the bathroom and throw up! Just lying there for so long it's easy to feel what is going on and I have only had a cup of 7up and an apple all day today b/c I feel SOOO horrible!

My gosh I hate being sick! Especially when it feels like I've been sick an exceptional amount of times this past year (not including the 3 months of horrible morning/all day and night sickness) AND I got a flu shot this year (as usual), but I don't think it helped out much at all! I think I'm going to go take a bath now since I'm home alone. I hope it helps!

In better news- 11 MORE DAYS UNTIL WE FIND OUT WHAT WE ARE HAVING!!!!

17w, 3d Pregnancy Comparison!

I thought the pics would be a little closer this week since I feel like my belly has finally become really noticeable with this pregnancy, but looks like I'm still carrying a bit smaller this time around! Maybe it was all those sit ups I did so I could get confidently back into a bathing suit after Venily was born, lol?

Our Big Ultrasound Is Scheduled!!!!

I had my doctor's appointment today at 17w, 2d (though my doctor's office must have moved up my due date to September 21st based on my early ultrasound- which would put me at 17w, 4d (but I'm keeping my due date the same for my own records)). Everything is still looking good. Baby's heartbeat was at 148-149bpm (at my 18w, 5d appt, Venily's heart beat was also at 148bpm!).

I had my Quad Screen Blood Test today and should get my results at my next doctor's appt (May 15th- the day after my birthday!). Now that I got it done I'm a little paranoid about it, even though I wasn't paranoid about anything being wrong up until I got the test- I know there is a REALLY high false-positive rate too.

WE ALSO GOT TO SCHEDULE OUR BIG ULTRASOUND!!!!!! **Friday, MAY 1st at 4:00pm!!** Exactly 2 weeks from today! I am so excited to find out if we are having a little Haven or a little Preston!!! These next 2 weeks are going to take FOREVER!!!!!! :)

This is your last chance to get your guesses in! Or let me know if you want to change yours!

Venily's Class!

I took Venily to her "Building Blocks" class today and it was AWESOME!! I wish it was every day!! They do a lot of movement and songs and dancing and things like that and then all the kids get to play together for a while. Venily warmed up much quicker today than at Story Time yesterday, so that's great! She was even getting into some of the dances! And the last 2 days she's come home exhausted and fell right to sleep for an awesome nap!! Hmmm.... I need to find more programs for 18m olds, lol (all of them seem to be 2+)!

We are trying to do some MAJOR Spring cleaning. I just got the living room done today (and I think that's my easiest room, lol) so it will probably take me at least a week to do my whole house!

We just got back from a 2.5 mile walk and my back is killing me (it probably didn't help that I moved all my couches and tables today too, lol)! Anyone know how to walk yet avoid that? New shoes, different posture, or something? I should probably start stretching too!

17 weeks! -Moving Right Along...

Baby at 17w is...
*About 5 inches CRL!
*Starting to get baby fat (Jason thinks that that means I have to start eating a ton more fat myself- silly boy!)
*Turning soft cartilage to hard bone
*Developing its sense of hearing

How far along? 17 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 125lbs (5lb total gain- I'm at my pre-Venily weight)
Maternity clothes? No, using a Venily hair tie on my sick days
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Good. Harder to sleep on my stomach since I literally feel like I'm laying on top of a small child! I get VERY tired during the day still as well- I need to go to bed earlier!

Best moment this week: IEaster was fun! And long walks outside!
Movement: Yep, several times a day now and even some hard hitting which makes me smile like crazy! :)
Food cravings: Hmm... still grapes and Spring Water. And Smart Dogs!
Gender Thoughts: I'm trying to convince myself that it could be a boy, but that just seems too weird!
Labor Signs: None

How are you feeling on a scale 1-10? 8. Some nausea still right away in the morning and at night. Headaches still, but they seem to be getting less intense. Also lower back pain since I started walking (I was really hoping that I wouldn't get it this pregnancy, but oh well!)
What I miss: Caffeine and I would LOVE to be in a hot tub right now!
What I am looking forward to: Friday's doctor appointment!!!! (Just a regular appt, but I'm still excited!)
Weekly Wisdom: It's wrong for guys to hit on pregnant women. Period. Especially if they are carting around their 18m old as well. It's just creepy and not at all flattering!
Milestones: I have become an expert at finding out where the top of my uterus is!!! With Venily I always tried and never knew what the heck the dr. was talking about even when he tried to show me, but for some reason, I can find it really easily now!
Differences from 1st pregnancy: No new differences I can think of!

May 13, 2007 (17 weeks, 3 days pregnant w/ Venily)


Picture: 15w,2d

Picture: 17w, 3d

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been really busy!

I only have about 2 weeks left until my ultrasound!!! I'm so excited, I can't stand it!! It's like a million Christmases, birthdays, parties, and first dates all rolled into one!! I don't even know if I was this excited about my wedding, lol! I am really hoping the baby cooperates! I can't take much more suspense!

The baby has been good. No problems and I think I can safely say that the morning sickness has passed! I had really bad lower back pain and headaches for a while but even that has gotten a lot better. A lot of people ask me if I've been getting any unusual cravings, but I haven't really. I am hungry a lot and sometimes I want something really specific, but it hasn't been any one thing really consistantly.

I'm pretty sure I've been feeling the baby move around now too, which is so exciting!!! I've been feeling it for about a week now, but I was pretty skeptical at first. It feels a lot like what people describe, butterfly wings, popcorn popping, just really light feeling. It also sometimes makes me think of tadpoles swimming around! =) I LOVE it, I can't wait until it turns into real kicks and Jason can feel them too!!

Also, I'm getting quite huge, lol! I've started wearing some maternity tops now and some regular ones that look maternity. I've also had more people starting to notice. An eighth grade girl told me the other day that I had a very cute little pregnant belly, lol, she's friends with my brother and he told her. Then in a different class I had a boy raise his hand and flat out ask me if I was pregnant! Hahaha! I told him yes, but that that was a very dangerous question to ask someone. He said that was the rumor going around the school, lol. It's funny because I always get people that look at me, look down at my stomach and then look back up at me and you can tell they're wondering, but they don't say anything because they know better, in case they're wrong. I think it's funny too how just because I'm pregnant, people think I'm hard of hearing too. I've overheard a bunch of people talking about me, and I just laugh. I even walked by two teachers, one of which I knew from grade school and I was only like 3 feet away when I heard one say to the other "wow, she doesn't even look pregnant!" LOL, people are so funny.

So, we're been buying some things for the new baby already! Nothing like specifically for the baby, but just some things we'd like to have. The other day Jason and I bought a DVD camcorder because we wanted to have it to capture all of the little moments to show the baby when he/she is older. Now we're thinking we will probably videotape the birth! Hahaha, somehting to scar our child if he/she ever watches it. I've heard that it's fun to watch afterwards because there are so many things going on, I don't want to miss out on anything. If anyone had their birth taped or knows of someone who did, let me know! I'd love to know if they thought it was a good idea or not and how it went and stuff! We also bought a new digital camera (the exact same one that I had stolen at the Kalahari a few months ago). I know I'm probably going to screw up my baby's vision with all of the pictures I plan to take of him/her! lol. I also bought a c.d. of songs to listen to while you're trying to put your baby to sleep. I used it when I worked at the daycare and I really liked it! Other than that, we've been pretty good about not buying anything, I'm trying to wait until after we know what we're having! I also picked out a car seat/ stroller that I really want, but we're waiting a while to buy that too because Jason doesn't want it sitting around our house with no baby to put in it. I can't wait to get it, it's soooo cute, I want it now just to look at it!

I'm still having very strange dreams and lately they have gotten even crazier!! The weird thing is how strong the emotions are that I feel in the dreams. I wake up and the emotion stays with me for like an hour. I wake up really mad, scared, happy, etc., all depending on what my dream was right before I woke up, lol! I was wishing that I could turn my dreams off, but the other night I had such a great one! I dreamt that I had the baby! It came on really suddenly, so there wasn't any time to call people up or anything to tell them that I was having the baby. Jason and I just went into the hospital, I got put into a room and like 2 seconds later I had the baby!!! It was great, no pain at all! LOL!!!! I was in such shock at how easy it was. I was holding the baby in my arms and I asked Jason if I had an epidural and he said no, there wasn't enough time. I couldn't believe it and I told him that it hadn't hurt at all. He gave me a weird look and said, well, it looked like you were in a lot of pain. Then I was like, I don't even know if this is a boy or girl!! He told me it was a girl and I looked down at her and she was the prettiest girl in the whole world. She had a little bit of brown hair and blue eyes and she was just perfect. Then I'm like well, she doesn't look like a Venily.... but she will. Lol. Then I realized that I must have blanked out a whole lot of what happened, because I couldn't even think about how much she weighed or anything. Jason told me that she weighted 7 lbs, 6 oz and was 22 in long. I felt so good then, I was walking around just holding my little baby and Jason called up some people to come over and people came to see her. I was mad then because everything had happened so quickly, we didn't even have a chance to videotape the birth or take pictures or anything. Lol, then I wanted to take a shower, but I didn't want to put my baby down and Jason was too scared to hold her! :) It was the best birth I could have asked for, lol, too bad it can't be that easy!!!!

Well, I hope all of the mothers had a great mother's day today, mine has been really nice! Jason got me a necklace with a dragonfly on it with our baby's birthstone, it's really pretty, let's just hope he/she is born in October! A week from Tuesday is my next appointment and I get to schedule my ultrasound on that day, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!