July 26, 2007 (28 weeks pregnant w/ Venily)


Picture: 27w, 3d

Well, I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow (hopefully for real this time!)! I decided to go back to the Family Care doctor that I saw and liked. I also scheduled an appointment w/ another OB, but he couldn't get me in until August 9th and there was a possibility that I wouldn't be able to deliver at Aurora (he has his own practice and delivers at Aurora and Kenosha Medical) so I'll be cancelling that appointment unless I change my mind about the doctor I'm seeing tomorrow! It's been such a hassle switching, I'll know better next time around to start off at a good hospital w/ a doctor I like!

On another exciting note, my MIL just gave us a TON of great stuff for our baby that she had in storage! We got a swing, a smaller travel swing, a baby bath tub, and lots of toys, blankets, crib sheets and things!! It's so exciting, I love having all of this baby stuff in my house! I went to buy our travel system the other day, though, and it's being discontinued and is really hard to find so I'm probably going to have to order it on line unless I want to go with a different one. Same with the Amy Coe collection that I want for the nursery at Target. I sure know how to pick stuff, lol! It's alright though. I'm confident that I'll get everything I need in time and that it's going to be adorable no matter what!

Oh and I'm 28 weeks today and this is what my baby looks like! She's getting so big and is so strong now!

July 20, 2007 (27 weeks, 1 day pregnant w/ Venily)

I'M IN MY THIRD TRIMESTER!!!!! I can't believe it! My baby could be born now with great chances of survival, but hopefully she decides to stay in there until October! My second semester has been so great, I'm a little sad that it's over. I haven't even felt very pregnant except for my big belly and all of the moving around in there (which is the best part anyway)!

So, I had some disappointment yesterday. About 5 minutes before I was going to leave for my doctor's appointment, I get a call saying that my appointment is cancelled and that the doctor isn't accepting any new patients at this time! Thanks for the advanced notice! Gosh I hate doctors and hospitals! I knew she wasn't accepting new patients, but I thought that we had gotten around it and had everything worked out. I think we're just going to have an at-home birth and Jason will deliver the baby! LOL! Just kidding, though I'd prefer that rather than going back to Burlington! Instead we're just going to find another doctor at Kenosha. Possibly the one I saw last week (he was really nice, but not an OB, though he does OB stuff too) or another guy that Cathy recommended. We'll see, I really wanted to have a woman, but I'll get over it- as long as I deliver in Kenosha, I don't care any more!

All of this doctor stuff has me a little stressed out though. I could hardly sleep at all last night and had several terrible dreams about bad things happening to the baby. I weighed myself at home yesterday and I haven't gained ANY weight since my last appointment a month ago! It doesn't make a lot of sense b/c I eat all of the time. I really want to get in and have my stomach measured to make sure she's still growing on schedule in there. I'm sure she is, b/c I look bigger and she has been kicking and moving around more and more all the time, but it doesn't help that everyone I see tells me how small I look or when they can't believe that I'm over 6 months now. Plus over the last week I've been so tired and keep getting dizzy all of the time. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we've been so busy around here! Jason has had the last 2 1/2 weeks off of work so we're always doing something and now with Jacki and Jake back, we spend a lot of our time with them! Hopefully I can get in to see a doctor sometime next week and see what he says! In the meantime I'll just keep eating all day long and taking naps whenever I get tired- it's a rough time being pregnant, huh? LOL! :)

I think some of my stress also comes from the fact that I don't have everything ready yet for when the baby gets here! I'm really big into planning beforehand and being prepared! I'm working on it though! Yesterday we went to some garage sales and I got a rocking chair and ottoman and a floor toy that babies play with while laying on their backs. And we already have a changing table, bassinet, toys, blankets, lots of pretty little girl clothes, etc. Most of which we've had before we were even pregnant! So, I'm not behind on getting things or anything, but if it was up to me I'd have the whole baby's room all set up with everything ready to go by now if I could! I'll probably have that ready within a month and then I'll feel much better!

July 18, 2007 (26 weeks, 6 days pregnant w/Venily)


Picture: 25w, 2d

I just got back from my glucose test today! It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it wasn't very fun at all. I didn't throw the stuff up like I was afraid I might, though it did take me awhile to drink the last half of the stuff because it was progressively grosser and grosser. Also, I only had to get my blood taken once, an hour after I drank it. But, I DID have to wait in the waiting room for the WHOLE hour, I thought I was going to be able to go home and get a few things done, but I couldn't leave- it was so boring! Hopefully I'll get my results back sometime this week. I'm not too worried about having gestational diabetes, but I am a little concerned that I might be anemic. I hope not!

I am getting more and more excited for tomorrow! Tomorrow is the start of my THIRD (and final) TRIMESTER and I get to meet and have my appointment with my new doctor in Kenosha! I really hope I like her, though I'm sure I'll like her a lot better than my last doctor! I'll write more tomorrow when I get back!

July 10, 2007 (24 weeks, 2 days pregnant w/Venily)

100 Days Left And Counting!!!! The days are just flying by! Jason thinks that that's a long time, but he doesn't realize how fast time goes!

We just got back from a visit to the Kenosha hospital where we are now all set up to continue our pregnancy and delivery there!!!!!!!!!!! We haven't met our doctor yet, but I was able to get the one that I really wanted! She's a young, cute, FEMALE doctor and I am so excited. Plus Cathy says she's really nice and really knows what she's doing! It's just such a relief to get that all taken care of! We have our first appointment with her on the 19th! We also took a tour of the labor and delivery floor!! WOW!! It was just AMAZING!! I don't know what I was thinking wanting to go to Burlington. There is ABSOLUTELY no comparison. This one was huge, gorgeous, clean, etc. and the environment there was wonderful. All of the rooms but one had moms in them b/c there were a ton of births last night, including two sets of twins, but you would never have known that! It's so calm and peaceful and pretty there and exactly where I'd imagine I would want to have a baby! And the rooms themselves were even bigger and nicer than I had remembered and the bathrooms were just incredible with a whirlpool tub and shower and everything! Burlington's room's don't even have a shower or tub and you can barely turn around in them! I am just so happy that we're going to Kenosha now, I'd go there even if we had to drive 3 hours to get there, it's so worth it!!!! If you can't tell, I'm just so excited! :)

Let's see, what else is new? Venily is doing well, still kicking a lot and growing nice and big. I've been reading books to her now and she likes that! She's kind of a weird baby though, she kicks a lot when most babies would fall asleep like driving in the car, swinging on swings, etc. I hope she's not like that when she's born! She's been getting a few more things too as we're starting to get ready for her. She has a ton of cute little outfits and things from Clifton's daughter, I think she's set from newborn to 3 months! I've also discovered the wonderful baby clearance section in Walmart, lol. Everytime something gets to be too cheap to pass up, I buy it! I've gotten some really cute little socks and a baby bath set! We also bought wooden blocks that spell out her name! I'm going to paint them and put ribbon on them and hang them up on the wall in her room, I can't wait!

Our baby shower is also all set up now, with invitations coming soon. We're having it at the Brighton Dale park on August 5th! We went and looked at it the other day and it's really nice!

Jason and I also just celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary and our 6 year anniversary of being together and had a great time! We went out to eat, watched a movie (Knocked Up, lol, it was very funny), walked around down by the river in Janesville, went shopping, went for a ride in Jason's new 63 Rambler (it's called something like that, I know nothing about cars), and ate our wedding cake that has been frozen for a year (it was actually really good!). It's crazy to think what's going to be going on in our lives a year from today, on our next anniversary! We're going to have a 9 month old daughter, CRAZY, I can't wait!

June 29, 2007 (24 weeks, 1 day pregnant w/ Venily)

I retook the FFN test today and the results came back negative! I'm so relieved, but I will definitely be looking into switching over to the Kenosha hospital on Monday anyway!

June 28, 2007 (24 weeks pregnant)

Well, it's been an eventful last couple of days. For the last 2 weeks I've had this overwhelming fear that I'm going to deliver the baby super early. It seems like I've been hearing a lot of stories about that recently and now I've learned my lesson! I think it has to do with the fact that I know that my baby could survive if she's born now (though she still doesn't have a very good chance and there would probably be several complications). So, please don't tell me any more baby or birth stories unless it only involves healthy, happy babies and mothers and I'm going to stop reading about them too!

Tuesday at about 3:00 I had some bleeding and called the nurse. It scared me, but for 2 months in my 1st trimester I bled every week for a day or two each week and I was told that that was pretty normal. But, I haven't had any problems with that since then, so I wanted to see what the doctor wanted me to do. I figured he'd say something like if it continues after a couple of hours or if there is any pain w/ it to call them back. But, when I talked to the nurse she said the doctor wanted to see me right away! I was trying to avoid going in there and I was asking her if that was necessary and if she thought that something was wrong. She said well, you shouldn't be bleeding at this point in your pregnancy, so you should really come in and get it checked out. Luckily for me, Jason was on his way home and only like a block away from the house when I called him so he brought me there.

Again, I thought the dr. would just check me over quick, tell me he didn't think anything was wrong and then send me home. He did an exam and said that there was still some blood and he didn't know why so he wanted me to get admitted to Labor and Delivery and have them monitor me for a little bit to see if I was having any contractions. That's not what I wanted to hear, but again I figured they'd hook me up to it for a few minutes and then we'd be able to go home. I got wheel-chaired to labor and delivery by a little old woman that looked like I should have been pushing her around! It made me nervous to go there b/c the last time I was there was about a year ago when Chase was born! It didn't feel right being in a birthing room having Venily's heartrate monitored and having me monitored for contractions at only about 24 weeks. I had to lay in the bed for about an hour and a half. Then the doctor came in and told me I was having some minor contractions and that he was going to do an internal test to see if I was in labor or not. If it came back negative I was fine and could go home, but if it came back positive I was going to have to have some ultrasounds to see what was going on. He did the test and it was really painful and there seemed to be a lot more blood than last time. He told us that the blood would almost guarantee a false positive so he ordered the ultrasound. I was starting to get really scared and told Jason that he kept saying the wrong things from what he was supposed to. He was supposed to tell me that everything was fine and that I could go home! Then a nurse came in and hooked me up to an IV (my first ever, and it hurt worse than I even imagined! The back of my hand is all bruised today!). And then as soon as that was in, another nurse came and took my blood. And then a lady came with the ultrasound machine that she had to wheel up from Imaging (they don't have one in L&D!). She did a regular ultrasound first and we got to see our gorgeous daughter again (the only good thing about this whole experience!). She looked really good, as usual! This woman took all of her measurements again and said that she was very photogenic! She also confirmed to us that she's definitely a girl! :) Based on her measurements at 23 weeks, 5 days, she was measuring at 24 weeks, 5 days! She's growing very well and is now in the 81st percentile! They estimate her to be at 1 lb, 11 oz. Her heartbeat was also really good at 140bpm, which is right where the monitor was keeping her at too (between 135-145). I had to have an internal ultrasound also which showed that my cervix was long (which is what the dr. was hoping for). Her fluid levels and stuff looked good too. The dr. was happy w/ the ultrasound results, but wanted to keep me overnight just to be sure. He called a high risk pregnancy specialist in Milwaukee and told him what was going on w/ me and that dr. said that he wanted to see me immediately, but my doctor told him that he wanted to hold off on sending me b/c he was pretty sure I wasn't in labor. My doctor isn't sure but thinks that my placenta just shifted a bit, allowing some blood to come from behind and that the blood on my cervix was irritaing it, causing it to contract. When Jason talked to Cathy Kotrba, she thought the same thing so that makes us feel much better.

So, we spent the night in the hospital and it was not fun at all! I haven't spent the night at a hospital before since I was born! Jason is such a sweetheart and slept in the tiniest, most uncomfortable looking recliner I have ever seen even though I told him several times that he could go home and sleep and that I would be fine! He's the best! I didn't get much sleep either. The bed and pillows were uncomfortable and I was still hooked up to the IV, which made things difficult. The IV also kept beeping really loudly every time I would fall asleep and then I'd have to call a nurse in to fix the problem. I also had to go go the bathroom a million times and I'd have to drag the whole big IV thing in w/ me! Yesterday morning at about 9:30 the doctor said we could go home. I was put back on the contraction monitor for another hour or 2 that morning and it didn't show any more contractions, thank goodness! My test from the night before came back positive though, as the doctor figured, so I have to go back in a few days and hopefully then it will be negative! It it turns out I am in premature labor they are going to put me on medication and do everything that they can so that my baby can bake longer and come out healthy.

We learned a lot, though, through this experience about what it will be like to give birth here and neither of us are very confident about it. I told Jason that I wanted to deliver here as long as there weren't any problems, but now that there has been we are more than likely going to be switching over to Aurora in Kenosha. The nurses and doctor were really nice here, but didn't really know what they were doing. It felt to both of us that this was everyone's first time dealing with anything like this and even the whole atmosphere wasn't very good. The rooms are VERY small and in order to do anything, they have to take out all of the furniture and move it into the hall and go and find stools or lights or things from other rooms to bring them in. They were also always looking for outlets and stuff and running in the bathroom to get paper towels. It just didn't seem very organized at all. Plus, here at Burlington there are 2 rooms you go to. The birthing room where you stay until about an hour after birth and then you are moved to an even smaller post birth room. At Kenosha, you get a really nice birthing suite that you stay in the whole time and it's so much nicer and also fully equipped with all of the necessary things (no furniture moving into the hall necssary!) and it has the feel of a nice hotel room rather than a cramped hospital room from the 80's. They are also remodeling the rooms here at Burlington, which is good, but no matter what, there is going to be construction going on in at least one set of rooms when we're ready to have the baby. They are supposedly set to start the post birth rooms in August and they will take 2 months. They should be done by the beg. of October, but you know how that goes! Then, when they finish those, they are going to work on the birthing rooms. Sooo.... if we thought things were disorganized now and no one knew what they were doing or where anything was, it's only going to get worse! So, that's what is going on! Jason said he could get me to Kenosha in 12 minutes if necessary! :) Lol, and if we have any more problems, I'm pretty sure Jason isn't going to let me have any more kids any time soon. He already said that we're adopting our next one, but I want to have a couple before we start adopting! We'll see!

Jason has limited me from doing almost everything because he doesn't want anything going wrong (which I understand). So, I've had to tone down my obsessive cleaning and there will be no more moving of furniture by me or lifting boxes or anything like that! I've definitely learned my lesson!

Oh, also, we might have a few changes in where and when we have the baby shower, so I will let everyone know when it's figured out. It'll probably still be the same weekend, but maybe a different park.

Here's some good pictures too of what my baby looked like at 8 weeks, what she looks like now, and how she'll look at 40 weeks! Jason gets freaked out by these, but I find them facinating! :)
8 WEEKS

24 WEEKS

40 WEEKS

June 19, 2007 (22 weeks, 5 days pregnant w/Venily)


Picture: 22w

My 5 month appointment today went great (I'm 22 weeks, 5 days)! Who knew things could be this easy? I'm getting a little scared now that things are going too well! My blood pressure, weight, baby size, sugar, etc. are all perfect and I'm not having any problems at all! I'm up to 138 pounds rights now (lol, this might be the last time I write how much I've gained!) so I've gained 3 pounds in the last month. I'm supposed to be gaining about 3/4 to 1 pound a week from now on so that's good. Everything with the baby is pretty much formed by now so she's just going to be doing A LOT of growing these next few months! The doctor said she's probably a little more than a pound right now, awwww, that's so cute!!! He also said that she's going to be putting on some muscle this next month so the kicking is going to get a lot stronger.... I don't know about that, she's pretty strong already! Her heartbeat today was 140bpm. I love hearing it! Other than that nothing new has really been going on. I love her more and more each day and can't wait to see her. She's still all I think and dream about!

An update on our baby shower: we're going to be having it Sunday, August 5th at Silver Lake Park.

I scheduled my next doctor's appointment for July 18th! Only 3 months after that until my baby is born... it's going so fast!!! This next appointment I have to do a glucose test though, I'm REALLY not looking forward to that! They take your blood, give you a bunch of sugar water stuff to drink, then I go to my appointment and they check my blood again after that to check for diabetes. My doctor said that b/c I'm thin and healthy he can pretty much guarantee that I won't have diabetes, but they have to check anyway just to be sure. They'll also be checking for anemia. I've heard some bad stories about the stuff you have to drink and I hate getting my blood taken so getting it done twice in one day is really going to be bad!

Interesting fact: I was cleaning (I've been cleaning my entire house for the last two weeks straight, going through EVERYTHING) and I found a baby book of me. I was born on a Monday at 7:01am and weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz and was 20 inches long!

June 10, 2007 (21 weeks, 3 days pregnant w/Venily)



I've been pregnant for 150 days so far!!! ONLY 130 left until my due date! I think it's going by pretty fast! The only time when it was slow was the first 2 months and like 2 weeks before my ultrasound. I'm sure the last month is going to take FOREVER, lol! Overall, I love being pregnant though! People are so nice to you, it's kind of weird! Also, feeling my daughter kick me and move around is my all-time favorite thing in the world. She kicks A LOT, especially when I'm sitting or lieing completely still. She also really likes music and when I eat certain things like fruit or chocolate- she's a lot like her parents already! I was laying out in my yard today in a bathing suit and felt her kicking. I looked at my stomach and I could actually see where she was kicking, it was the FUNNIEST thing ever. I couldn't believe it! It's hard to believe how big she's gotten already. But, as much as I love being pregnant, I can't wait to finally meet her and hold her. I wish I could have her in my arms and have another brother or sister for her already inside me, ready to go! LOL, we're going to wait a little while though, don't worry!

I let Jason know all of the middle names that people have suggested. He still likes Rose the best. I came across the name Autumn today and really like it, so I'll have to see what Jason thinks about that. Plus, she'll be born during that time of the year, so it would go along well with her name.

It looks like my baby shower is set for August 4th! I can't wait, it should be fun! We're doing a guy and girl shower and my mother-in-law is throwing it for us at her house! I finished up our registry at Target and have also registered at Walmart, but I am still going to add a few things. Here are the addresses if you are interested:

Target: http://www.target.com/gp/registry/registry.html/ref=cm_lc_sr_1/601-9666785-9012925
?ie=UTF8&type=babyreg&id=1B0IDC8996GZG&jsebd=1

Walmart:
http://www.walmart.com/giftregistry/gr_load_edit.do?registryId=09101737001

I've also put up a new belly pic. It's getting pretty ridiculous now, I can't look at the pictures without smiling. I feel so HUGE! I went to try on a pair of my shorts the other day and I COULD NOT button them, not even close, LOL! I can still wear most of my jeans, but they are getting tight. I can't wear a lot of my shirts anymore either, b/c they are too short. But, people say that I look a lot smaller in person and that the pictures are misleading! I disagree! :)

June 5, 2007 (20 weeks, 5 days w/Venily)

Jason got to feel the baby kick this morning!! He's been feeling her move around a lot, but she refused to kick when he had his hand on my stomach! But, he got to feel a nice hard kick this morning! He gets kind of weirded out that there is a little moving human being inside of me (actually I do too sometimes, lol!), but he was still excited!

We've been trying to come up with a middle name too, for Venily. I'm kind of leaving it up to Jason to decide. He doesn't want anything unusual, lol, so all of my names that I like are out! We're probably not going to add my maiden name to the middle name, we don't want it to get too long and crazy. Jason came up with Rose for a middle name (which I didn't really like at first, but it's kind of growing on me). He also came up with Hayden (which I really like), but as soon as he said it, he kind of changed his mind. He said it's alright, but he thinks we can find a better middle name! So, let us know if you have any suggestions for a middle name and I will run them by Jason!!

June 4, 2007 (20 weeks, 4 days pregnant)

I finally got the ultrasound pictures up on here! She's so cute! And I went shopping for baby stuff for the first time today! Target gave me a $20 gift card for setting up an early registry (it's not done yet though), so I was able to buy a few things! I also allowed myself $10 to spend b/c Jason told me I could buy one outfit once we found out the sex, so I put that towards what I bought today, lol! It was VERY hard to limit myself to $30 though, there was so much cute stuff I wanted! I could have easily spent thousands! Here's a pic of what I bought (I'm so excited!):



I got two sets of little hangers, some little baby mittens, and a pillow and blanket to go with the bedding set that I want. It's pink, brown, and white and has butterflies. Here's a pic of the bedding set:



Isn't it so cute?! While I'm at it, here's a pic of the car seat/ stroller that we are buying (Jason's making me wait until closer to the baby's due date, lol!).



I LOVE BABY STUFF!!!

June 1, 2007 (20 weeks, 1 day pregnant w/ Venily)

I'm so excited about our baby girl- I couldn't even sleep last night! And every two seconds I think "I'm having a girl, I'm having a girl, I'm having a girl!" over and over again. It's all I can do to keep from skipping when I walk, lol! Yay for pink and purple, dresses and skirts, bows and lace, pigtails, painting nails, makeup, Barbies and dolls, and Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!!!! Along with all other things pretty and girly! :) Now watch, I'm probably going to end up with a little Tomboy, lol!

Oh and I forgot last night to tell you that she was waving at us during the ultrasound and opening and closing her little mouth and sticking out her tongue. And at one point she had the hiccups- it was so fricken cute! I really wish we could get a 3D ultrasound done, but I don't want to spend the money! I'll just have to wait until October to see her again!

I subbed elementary gym today and I overheard a third grader telling her friends that I looked pregnant! She's really sweet and I went up to her and told her that I was. It was funny because she just shook her head like "yeah, I could tell," hahaha, and then told me congratulations! So it's got to be pretty noticeable if a 3rd grader that hardly knows me can tell!

I took pictures of my ultrasound pictures, (lol, I know that's terrible!) but I hope to scan my actual pictures this weekend. So you can see a very blurry pic of her for now!

May 31, 2007 (20 weeks pregnant- HALF WAY! w/ Venily)


Picture: 19w,2d

Venily: 20 weeks

I HAD MY ULTRASOUND TODAY AND EVERYTHING LOOKS AWESOME AND WE FOUND OUT THAT WE ARE HAVING A LITTLE BABY GIRL!!!! We're so happy!!

While we were in the car on the way to the hospital Jason said that he had been thinking about it and he thought that he'd rather have a girl! I was very happy with that, but was sad too, in case it was a boy and then both parents would have been hoping for a girl, lol! That's not something you would ever want to tell your child! Then, while I was getting my ultrasound done, during the first part they just looked at my organs and stuff and Jason was still in the waiting room, but I kept looking at the baby and thinking I saw "something" that would indicate that it was a boy. Of course I wouldn't have been unhappy if it was a boy, I was just really hoping for a girl and had VERY strong feelings that it was going to be a girl! Then Jason came in and they did all of the different measurements for our baby. They look at all of the major bones and all of the organs and things. She said that our baby was very active but that it was very good at taking pictures, lol! I knew it was active, she has already woken me up a few times in the night! Everything looks good with the baby though! Her heartrate was 136bpm. Then, by using all of the measurements that they took of things like her leg bone, waist, and head they calculated where she is at. She weighs about 3/4 of a pound. She is in the 55 percentile (which is good). And at exactly 20 weeks today (I'm halfway there!), she is measuring at 20 weeks, 1 day!!!! Just perfect!! Then she looked to find out the sex! I was preparing myself that she was going to say "boy" and she looked at her for quite awhile, just to make sure. Then she said that she was 99.5% sure that it was a GIRL!!!!! I was screaming and laughing and crying and grabbed Jason's arm because I was so happy! She said that she hadn't seen someone get that excited in a very long time, LOL!!! I couldn't help it, I'm so excited- that's exactly what I wanted! Then she showed us her little girl parts, lol, and said she could tell it's a girl not only by what she couldn't see, but by what she could see too! Hahaha, Venily must know that I'm getting all excited again just writing this, because she's kicking me hard right now, lol!!! And yes, we're still going with Venily for the name!! We still haven't decided on a middle name or names, but I'm sure we'll have one very shortly!! So, yep, we're parents to a gorgeous little baby girl named Venily Young!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait until we can finally meet her!

Our scanner isn't working, but as soon as we are able to we'll have up the ultrasound pictures from today. There is a picture of her foot, her face from the front, and one of her whole profile. She's a little cutie!!!! Also, when I get some time tomorrow, I'll be updating this whole site, so check back!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 4:54 PM

Question for Moms!! Current mood: ecstatic Category: Life So, my ultrasound is tomorrow and after I HOPEFULLY find out the sex, I'm going to start my baby registry b/c if I do it now, I can get a $20 gift card to buy baby stuff myself!! My question for moms is... Is there anything that you really recommend that I should get?? Also, I am going to be breastfeeding and was wondering if anyone knows of a good brand of breast pump that works well and is also cheep (like no more than $50- I know some go for like $350!). THANKS!!!!

May 22, 2007 (18 weeks, 5 days pregnant w/ Venily)

I had another great appointment today. I am 18 weeks, 5 days! Everything is still looking great! The baby's heartbeat was 148 bpm and I'm measuring good (though I feel HUGE) and I am gaining the right amount of weight. I'm up to 135 from starting at 126, so I've gained 9 POUNDS so far!!! I can't imagine more than doubling that!

My next doctor's appointment will be June 19th. AND I got to schedule my ULTRASOUND today!!!! I tried to get it as absolutely soon as possible, but they are really booked. The soonest I could get was Thursday, May 31st at 2:45, so that's when I scheduled it!!!! I will be exactly 20 weeks at that time (HALF WAY THERE to seeing my gorgeous little baby!)!!! I am so EXCITED, I can't wait to see what I'm having! If that baby doesn't show me then he/she is going to be grounded as soon as it's born, lol!

May 18, 2007 (18 weeks, 1 day pregnant w/ Venily)

My baby is crazy!! He/She has kicked me really hard a couple of times over these last two days! I actually don't know what that baby is doing, it feels like it's using it's head or something, lol! I don't know, a couple times it did it I was listening to loud music in the car and it just might have been head banging, lol! :) Every time the baby does it I laugh so hard! Other than the hard kicks every once in a while, I feel the baby moving around ALL THE TIME!! It is a very active one indeed, I'm so happy! It makes the whole experience much more real. I'm really hoping that the baby will do one of those hard kicks when I'm getting my ultrasound so I can see what the heck it's doing in there!! LOL!!!! :)

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!!!!!!!

Wednesday, April 25, 2007 4:11 PM

My Grandma Current mood: sad For my Grandma, who passed away this morning and who will never meet her future great grandchild. A woman who, knowing how badly I wanted a baby, made me a blanket and jacket about 2 years ago and put it away (before she ever even knew she had cancer) just in case she didn't make it that long... Our baby is very lucky to have her in heaven looking after him/her.

April 24, 2007 (14 weeks, 5 days pregnant w/ Venily)


Picture: 13w

Well, I've been pregnant for over 100 days now and I'm finally feeling great!! I haven't felt really sick in a long time! I also have tons more energy than I did, which is great b/c I can finally get stuff done now! I've also been walking a lot every day since it's been nice out, and I really think that that is helping me out! The only real complaint I have is that my lower back absolutely kills me by the end of the day, but it's so much better than always being sick! Plus Jason helps me out in every way that he can, so I can't complain!!

My appointment yesterday went great! We got to hear the heartbeat again, it was 153 beats per minute, which is perfect. I've also put on 2 1/2 pounds since my last appointment, which is right where I'm supposed to be. So, for everyone that keeps asking me where I'm keeping that baby, don't worry, it's in there somewhere, lol! I can really tell that I'm getting bigger, it doesn't matter if anyone else can or not. All of my blood tests came back great too. No problems with anything. We have also decided not to get the triple screen blood test at 16 weeks. It was a hard decision b/c it would be really nice to know that everything is okay, but at the same time I think the rest of the pregnancy would be really difficult if we found out everything wasn't okay. It might give us some time to prepare, but I think we'll deal just fine if we find out once the baby is born.

My next appointment is May 22nd and my doctor said that during that appointment we can finally schedule our big ultrasound (for about a week after that)!!!!!!! We're really excited!!! So, hopefully by the end of May we'll know if we have a little boy or a little girl!! I can't wait, Jason is literally going to have to restrain me from going out and buying a million different things once we find out!

Jason is so cute too, last night he had a dream that he was riding in the car with Mike, Jake, and our baby in a car seat!! He said every time they'd stop, he'd take the baby out and play with him. He said he couldn't tell if the baby was a boy or girl. Then they'd be driving again and Jason would look down and realize that he didn't put the straps on right and he'd get nervous and quick buckle him in! He's so cute, he's going to be such a good Daddy!!

Friday, April 13, 2007 11:54 AM

More boy or girl predictions! Current mood: giddy Category: Life I know I'm obsessed, it's actually a very serious problem I have! Anyway, I found these additional ways to predict if you're having a girl! It's a girl if: You had morning sickness early in pregnancy (Yes, most definitely) Your baby's heart rate is at least 140 beats per minute (Yes, it was 184) You are carrying the weight in your hips and rear (No, I don't think so at least, but it's still early- I'm kind of hoping that doesn't happen though!) Your left breast is larger than your right breast (Yes, a little bit, lol!) Your hair develops red highlights (No, I don't think so) You are carrying high (I don't know what is considered high or low, plus it's still early) Your belly looks like a watermelon (Too early to tell) You are craving sweets (Yes, but that is pretty usual of me. I was also craving chips (which I never eat and is a predictor of a boy)) You are craving fruit (Yes, I eat fruit all day long) You crave orange juice (Yes, I drink it every day!) You don't look quite as good as normal during pregnancy (I would say yes, but Jason and my Grandpa disagree. Jason says that after I have the baby, he wants me to go back to the size I'm at now rather than my usual size. And my Grandpa said that pregnancy looks good on me and he told Jason that he should keep me pregnant. He also said that I was starting to look like a Jew that just got out of a Nazi concentration camp, lol, my Grandpa is so funny!) You are moodier than usual during pregnancy (Yes, I agree!) Your face breaks out more than usual (Yes, unfortunately) You refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread (Yes, but I never have) Your breasts have really blossomed! (Yes, definitely, Jason's favorite part so far!) Your pillow faces south when you sleep (I have no idea, I'll have to ask Jason!) Your urine is a dull yellow color (I have no clue, but it's opposed to bright yellow, so I'm going to say yes, lol!) You hang your wedding ring over your belly and it moves from side to side (Lol, I actually just went and tried this and YES, it did!!) You add your age at the time of conception and the number for the month you conceived and the sum is an odd number (Yes, 22+1=23!) So, according to a majority of these, it's a girl!!!!! The doctor just needs to tell me already so I can get on with other things!! LOL! Oh, and I just got a package yesterday from Rick's parents. The cutest baby outfit I've ever seen in my life and a Willow Tree figure of a pregnant woman. I was so excited opening them, it could have been a treasure chest filled with gold and diamonds and I wouldn't have been more excited, lol! I almost started crying when I looked at the little outfit! It's sooooo cute, I can't wait to put a little baby in it. I'm starting to cry right now just thinking about it!

April 5, 2007 (12 weeks pregnant w/ Venily)


Picture: 11w, 2d

I'm 12 weeks today, which means I'm in my 2nd trimester!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm very excited about that, I've heard it's the best trimester!!

Unfortunately I'm still sick a lot. I've felt sick most of today. Also, I'm still tired a lot during the day, still nauseous at a lot of the same things, and I'm still having trouble sleeping at night! Other than that, things are going well! I'm just looking for some of those other things to get better very soon!

We are still having a hard time with names for a boy.... or I should say JASON is still having a hard time with names for a boy! It has to be a girl, it just HAS to!!! I know we still have a long ways to go, but I don't think Jason will EVER find a name that he likes! If anyone has any more suggestions, please let me know, and don't worry about what the names start or end with b/c Jason will just change his mind again anyway!

Our next appointment is on April 23rd and I'll be 14 1/2 weeks at that time!