3d Ultrasound

Yesterday for Alex's birthday we went in for a 3d ultrasound. Neither of us were quite sure what to expect, but it was so special! Baby R was sleepy but alert and even smiled at us a few times! Definitely has Alex's button chin and adorable smile! We can't decide whose nose, but we think that lips and cheek/facial structure come from me!
As for the medical details, the little was 4lbs, approx. 16+ inches, with a strong steady heartbeat! (S)he's already turned head down and facing to the right.


Those are about all the updates I have on the baby front. As most of you know we're headed to Monterey, CA towards the end of the year for Alex to start his MS in Computer Science in Jan! Since he'll be far far away in the Sandbox before the baby's even born, I'm slowly trying to figure out the logistics of moving us by myself up-state with the little. The plan now is to pack out and drive up in early November. Hopefully we can find a house quickly in order to move in and take our time getting settled before our Christmas travelling and Alex arriving home to start school. We shall see how it all happens as we get a little closer!

I guess that's about it for now! I'll try to add another picture of my ever expanding belly shortly. For now, here are a couple cute photos from the ultrasound! Love that little smile!!

24 weeks

A few new things to report this week-
Just had my latest appointment and got the results from our 20 week ultrasound and the blood screening that tested for Downs Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Spina Bifida. All came back normal! Although neither of us had been worrying about the results, it was definitely a relief to get the "perfectly healthy" from my midwife. I've gained just the right amount of weight (by 24 weeks the range is 12-17lbs and I've just hit 12) and my belly measurement was also "normal". The baby's heart rate was normal, although it took a little while to get it! Every place my midwife would put the doppler wand on my belly the baby would kick it and then move right away! Already feisty :) Next test to pass is the glucose test next month for gestational diabetes.

The baby is SUPER active- mostly in the early mornings, bedtime, and lots of random times throughout the day. I've even felt what I'm pretty sure are hiccups a few times over the past few weeks! Feeling the Little's movements is one of the best feelings in the world! Most days I'll lie down to take a nap and watch my belly move as she (he?) starts wiggling. It's incredible to see bouncing and rolling through my skin! When Alex happens to be at home he always puts his face on my belly, talks, and prods when we wake up and when he gets home from work. Over the past month he's gotten quite a few kicks to the face and neck!

As far as the usual pregnancy complaints go I don't have many! After the morning sickness finally went away (at almost 17 weeks!) the only real "complaint" is tiredness. Some days I barely have the energy to walk through the grocery store and put away the cold groceries. Other than that, I have no back pain, hip pain, etc, though occasionally my abs are sore from all the stretching the little guy is making them do! I keep hoping that the regular exercise, stretching, and good posture are keeping all these things at bay, but I know I have lots of growing to do between now and the end of August.

Hmm... What else? I'm still hanging onto my non-maternity clothes. Some pairs of pants I have to leave unbuttoned and loop closed with a hair-tie. Recently some of my shirts have gotten just a little bit too short, but I'm making everything last as long as possible! Most maternity clothes are way too big on me, so luckily my current wardrobe has been flexible enough! Other than that we've got the nursery mostly set up- furniture is all in and organized, but still working on ordering the rest of the cloth diapers, hanging a curtain, and organizing the closet which is currently full of fabric, yarn, and various craft supplies. Once we get it a little more put together I'll take some pictures and put them up!

I think those are all the updates I have. We are getting closer and closer to welcoming Baby R and we are SO excited! 15 weeks to go!

Here's the two most recent photos of the ever growing belly!

At almost 25 weeks!

Almost 25 weeks!

Frivolous Nursery Post

This is a frivolous post with very little no info about Baby R. Though we've decided not to do much "decorating" in the nursery due to our short timeline in San Diego (potentially moving in Dec just 3.5 months after the Little's arrival!), I just can't help but look a tiny bit at some cute gender neutral ideas. I mean what woman doesn't want to go all out and decorate their first-born's room?! I was actually doing really well and hadn't looked at all until this week. I've done a little bit of sewing- some diapers, some swaddling blankets- and some knitting - a little beanie and a warm cotton blanket. All practical things that I need and can make way cheaper (and cuter!) than I can buy. (Sidenote- did you know they sell cotton muslin/gauze swaddling blankets for $40 for a set of 3? Uh, yeah. I bought enough fabric-in cute colors!- for 3 blankets and spent $11 and maybe 10 min per blanket finishing the edges. Anyway...) Tuesday, I stumbled across this adorable constellation-embroidered quilt project and just love it! Naturally, I immediately thought of the nursery, and since, I've just had outer space on my mind! Needless to say, the constellation quilt project is underway, and now I keep seeing more cute space-y things that make me want to break the rule a tiny bit and decorate a little!!

I think this pic is actually a table runner, but I'm improvising and making a larger quilt with a contrasting color binding- lime green, maybe?

And since I know you have nothing better to do than check out imaginary pictures of what I might do in Baby R's nursery here's just a few more pics of adorable things:

Solar system mobile that glows! [link]

And a crocheted version. Another project!

A paper one with a template to make it from Martha Stewart! [link]

Even though these pillows aren't necessarily "space-y" I just like all the colors and the geometric swirl!

I already have a few of these photo hanging wires/clips from Ikea, but have yet to decide what to put in them... Ideas below!

^^ These two are little watercolors of the phases of the moon! I just thought they'd be cute split up individually along the photo wire. ^^

Ok, that's all the time I'm wasting on nursery ideas for now. Back to Spring cleaning!

20 weeks and other news!

So actually, I'm already 21 weeks. Over HALFWAY there! This post is just a week late.
News from week 20:

Alex felt his first kick! I've been feeling the baby's movements for about a month+, but so far they're normally not strong enough on a regular basis to be felt from the outside. But one night, while we were eating dinner and watching The X-Files re-runs, they were strong enough that I thought he might be able to feel it- sure enough after a few short seconds and a little poke he felt two! Very exciting week for him! :)

Last Thursday we had our 20 week ultrasound that Alex was actually able to attend! Yay! Between being underway every other week for deployment work-ups and a busy BUSY work schedule filled with EOOW studying (big test!), he doesn't get to come to any of my normal appointments. Anyway, there's not really much to report from the appointment. The ultrasound tech just took about 60 pictures of the baby and all his/her parts to send to my midwife. Alex got to see all those pictures and close ups of the brain, heart, spine, feet, legs, arms, face, everything! I was behind the screen at that point, but at the end she did show me the baby's profile and a full side view of the little guy sitting with thumb in mouth and ankles crossed! It was really the cutest thing ever. Unfortunately, I don't have a full picture of it, but here's a few from the appointment (they're not very good because (a) they're just not very clear to begin with and (b) I currently don't know where all the parts to the scanner are amidst my spring cleaning so these are pictures taken of pictures... never a good combo):

Of course, my belly is a lot bigger than the 16 week picture that is up, so I will try to get Alex to take a new one soon!

That's all the news I have for now! Luckily, no news is good news- baby is healthy, VERY active (I regularly get kicks to the bladder), and only 19 weeks from making his/her debut!

Heartbeat

(Fortunately) there's not much news to report! Had an appointment with my midwife and she said all looks good and we are both a "picture of health". Baby R has a strong heartbeat, and now I just have to try to gain some weight. I lost about 5 lbs up front and today at 13 weeks 5 days have only gained 1 lb back. It's really hard to gain weight when ALL food smells and tastes disgusting. I am constantly in the kitchen making food, putting it away, and making something else until I finally come up with something I can stomach. Other than that, I have few complaints! I'm just happy the little guy is healthy and all this nausea is for a good cause.

So the real purpose of this post is much less of an update since there's so little to report and more a means to share the little video (really audio clip) at the bottom of this post. Alex and I ordered a home fetal doppler in order to listen to the baby's heartbeat at home. It's the same thing that doctors and midwives use at the appointments between ultrasounds. Anyway, I figured out how to record it and there it is! Baby R's heartbeat at 13 weeks 5 days!

 

Surpise!

Well, I didn't think I'd be turning our Japan blog into the Family/Baby blog so soon, but here we are! Everyone told us that we'd get pregnant in Japan, but we laughed it off and went on our way. "It's a terrible time!" we said, "We're ready to enjoy Japan unburdened! We have years before that's going to happen".  And at the end of our tour in Japan as we boarded the flight to our new home in San Diego, we made jokes about how wrong those people were. Fast forward two months, and it appears that the joke is on us. Somehow for 8.5 weeks I managed to ignore all the signs: Nauseous all day? Exhausted? I convinced myself and Alex that it was the stress of moving, climate change, etc. A few weeks in, even the smells of most foods and my lavender soap were making me get sick. But, no. Obviously I wasn't pregnant- couldn't be. We're still on sea duty and Alex is a busy Navigator prepping for a long deployment. All this must just be stress and a winter bug. So I scheduled my yearly physical, and despite my continuous reassurance that all of the above symptoms were just move related, my doctor calmly forced me into the lab. I'm sure you can figure out the rest from here: He gave me that "Big Fat Positive", and, with a grin on his face, handed me a huge stack of paperwork on the way back to the lab. To get eight vials of blood drawn- too bad I hadn't had lunch yet.

Disclaimer: Most of the above (though all true) is written tongue in cheek. Yes, we were convinced it was terrible timing, but are absolutely thrilled that His plans are bigger than ours! We've always wanted a big family, we just weren't expecting to start it so soon :) 

Since Alex was underway when I got the "big news", I decided I had to keep it from him until he was home. Who wants to find out they're going to be a dad in an email? So upon his arrival home we walked in the front door and I handed him a package... containing this book:

Surprise!

And that's how the journey began...

Post coming soon with all the info and pictures from our first ultrasound!