Half Way to the Goal

Well we're 6 months along. Mostly. Nothing really new has happened except that I now really do look pregnant. Last week my brother pointed to my stomach and said "Whoa!" Yes. Thank you Paul. I think Eric likes it though.
I read in a book that men are proud when they're wives are pregnant. I asked Eric if that was true and he confirmed that he is proud of it. I think it makes them feel more manly that they can reproduce. At any rate, I'm happy that I don't just look chubby.
We had an appointment yesterday and found out that I have to go to the hospital in the next month to get my Rogam shot and my glucose tested. I'm not really looking forward to that but it would be nice to know were the Timp Regional Hospital is since that's where we are delivering.
I also found out that I gained like 10 pounds in the last month. I'm still where I should be but I'm going to have to be more careful going forward. I don't want to have to lose 60 pounds!
So someone gave me a piece of advice last month. She told me to pick up diapers any time I go to the grocery store and stock up. I thought this was a good idea since I read that newborns go through 10-15 diapers a day (something Eric didn't believe and asked some lady at the store who confirmed it). So at the grocery store last night we decided we would take a look at the baby isle. We were both pretty floored that diapers are so expensive! It's $10 for 50 diapers so that will last about 4 days! We bought a package and we'll continue to do that every time we go to the store for the next... what 8 years? sigh.
Here's a question for you mothers. How many packs of diapers should we buy of size 1 before the baby grows out of them and we need size 2?

A little girl in there!

We had our ultrasound done on Wednesday and we found out that "that is a little girl is there." (The Nurse/Technician) She is healthy and has all her little parts in working order. And she is already the cutest baby I have ever seen. :)

We are both thrilled to be having a girl. I would have been just as happy either way but it turns out, Eric didn't ever imagine it would be a girl so he was more disappointed than he thought he'd be. (His words). Not that he was upset or unhappy but he wasn't as thrilled. That didn't really bother or worry me though. I figured he had 20 more weeks to be ok with it. It didn't take 20 weeks though.

By the time he got home from work that night at 1 AM he was fully on the baby girl train. I asked him what changed his mind about it and he said he just started to "picture her." Everyone was really excited to hear we would have ANOTHER girl in the family (Both mine and Eric's family have a large magority of girls) but I think Aunt Shannon seems the the most excited. Right when she left work she went out and bought the baby 2 little sleeper outfits. SO cute. Pictures below.

In other news, I have finally passed the morning sickness stage! I still get a bit sick if I over do it but compared to what it was I'm fabulous. I do get a lot of heartburn though so I take a tums about once or twice a day. I put on 5 pounds last month so I figure that is a good sign. I've gained a total of 7 pounds since my first doctors visit. I'm a bit behind on weight gain but I'm still healthy so I'm not worried. Plus, I know how to make for lost time! I've also been feeling her quite a bit lately. She must be getting stronger. Sometimes she'll get me so good it makes me jump but we love to feel her wiggle around. :)

Other big news is that Eric was offered a new job at Datawise. It's a really great company his sister Jenn works for. They take information for survey's and polls and put it together so it looks nice and is easy to read. They also link it to demographics and other stuff I don't really understand. Eric was chosen for the job out of 90 applicants and he's ahead of schedule in his training. The only thing that is hard about that situation is that he works from 5 PM to 1 AM leaving Friday and Saturday nights as the only time we get to be together.

So that's how we're doing now and here are some pictures!

Eric the day after I took the test.

Quilt Grandma Hanson gave to her. It makes me want to go on a picnic with her. :)

Ultra sound picutes. See? She's cute.

BTW if anyone know how to rotate a picture, please let me know!

Presents from Aunt Shannon

Look at the cute birds!

Hope she's big enough at Christmas to wear this!

The best part: When she crawls, she will have a reindeer bum and the little ears stick up!

Second Trimester

So it's been two months since I last posted anything and I'm sure you're all dying of suspense. Ha. Anyway, so I did get morning sickness. It was just a little delayed in reaching me. Boy did I get sick. I was throwing up at least twice a day and it was getting increasingly difficult to go to work. Thankfully, I have a friend at work who is about 7 months I believe and she was really sick too so she knew about the best little magical pill in the world. It's called Zofran. And I love Zofran. I hate the price gouging people who sell it though. For a 30 days supply of the OFF brand, it's $320.

My insurance will only pay for about 12 pills every 23 days which means I can take one pill every other day. So I have "pill days" and "non pill days." I like pill days.
I'm about 16 and a half weeks now and if one more person tells me about how great the second trimester is I'm going to punch them. You've been warned. I think it is great, really great that you were not so sick in the second trimester. I'm still sick and I'd prefer not to hear about how bad my luck is. Thank you I know. On the other hand, sympathy is always appreciated. :)

Since my last post we've had two doctor's appointments. Or rather, Midwife appointments. We got to hear the heartbeat both times. I had no idea how powerful this would be, or how much I was worried that something might be wrong, till we heard the swishing of our baby's tiny little heart going so fast. I bawled right there on the table and the Midwife had to ask me not to laugh because it was interfering. The second time we heard a big swoosh and I was informed that was a movement. We get to find out if it's a he or a she on April 7th. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas!

Speaking of movements, the book says I should feel the baby move in the next couple weeks or so. Sometimes I think I feel it but I can't really be sure. Apparently it feels like little butterflies in your tummy but what I'm getting is like a little nudge. Not sure what that is. I think I'm most excited for Eric to feel it anyway.

My tummy is starting to get a little bump but it kind of just looks like I've gained 10 pounds (I've only gained 5 actually). But we did go get me some maternity pants. I don't know why people complain about maternity clothes. I can still wear my regular clothes but why do it if you don't have to squeeze into them or use a rubber band to keep 'um closed. Yeah, the selection is slim but man are they comfy! It's like I get to wear pajamas everywhere! The only problem is that I can't find any pants I like that are long enough so I got 3 pairs of capris. I hope the weather gets warm really fast.

Yesterday, Eric and I rearranged our apartment a bit. We moved Eric computer into the front room (HALLELUJAH) and made some space in the bedroom for our next adventure. I got the closet organized and made some space in the hall closet for baby stuff. I guess you need lots of stuff like baby shampoo, baby Tylenol, baby wash clothes, baby nose sucker things ect. It will be interesting to see how we fit all of us and our stuff in a one bedroom apartment for the first few months. Good thing our bedroom is so big and babies are so small!

So that's pretty much the update. I'll let you know when we find out what it is. I've been picturing a boy lately but I will be just as happy for either one.

Also, I'm out of pudding and popsicles.

Everything is still "normal"

I had my first prenatal visit yesterday. The whole thing doesn't seem real at all. I chose to use a midwife instead of a doctor but I'm not entirely sure it makes a difference either way unless I have a c-section. I didn't actually get to see a midwife yesterday but I talked to a nurse about my whole health history and Eric's genetics and such.
I feel quite proud about my health history and genes! The only thing that was of note was that I once had pneumonia and my sister has Down Syndrome. And seriously, out of all the things to note, this was nothing.
The nurse was quite pleased that I didn't have to be tested for anything yucky like STDs and it made me happy (once again) that Eric and I were good before we were married so there is no chance of hurting our baby.
Then they took my blood. FIVE VIALS. What they need five vials for is beyond me. Luckily, my nurse was super awesome and she found my vein quickly and she was fast. I just had to remember to breathe and I was fine. Eric got a little queasy. It will be interesting to see how he does when I'm actually in labor...
My next appointment is February 11th.
I have been feeling more sick lately. I was really hoping to just skip that whole part. I wake up at 5 AM to drink a glass of juice and eat an english muffin in bed. Then I sleep for half an hour to let my stomach settle. That seems to help. I've lost it twice. The first time I had just eaten a big breakfast and found cat barf and the second time I just hadn't eaten enough and then I smelled my wet towel (by the way, EVERYTHING smells bad) so I threw up what I had eaten. Not fun. My life now revolves around not getting sick.
Still, I consider myself lucky. I can still have a normal day even though I don't feel awesome and it also means that everything is good with the baby.
Eric was almost happy when I threw up because that means everything is "normal." It's funny how now more than anything we just want everything to be "normal."
P.S. Just found out my friend Mike's wife is expecting triplet boys! (note: I only ordered one please.)

Something about a cat and a bag?

This post is so that I can remember what it was like and how we felt....

Well, we were going to wait to tell people but Eric was too excited so practically everyone knows now anyway. I sure hope we don't miscarry....
Yes, Eric and I are expecting our first baby the end of August this year. It was our New Years surprise. We decided in November that we weren't going to prevent anymore thinking it would take us 6 months to a year to get pregnant since we were pretty bad at preventing earlier in our marriage and we didn't get pregnant. Yeah. I stopped taking my pills about a week in (P.S. Apparently you are supposed to finish your pack first) and I messed up my cycle a bit so I wasn't really sure when I should take a test. I took one test December 17th and it was negative. So I waited and waited for my "monthly visit" and it didn't come. So we went and bought a double pack after our date the night of December 30th. We stopped at Eric's parents house to pick up a few things and he stayed to shovel the drive way for his mom since his dad was out of town. I had to go home and take the test though because I really had to go and I wanted to take it at home.
So I got home, and I rushed to the potty, while reading the directions (it's more complicated than you'd think). I put the cap on and set it on the counter in the bathroom to watch. (Lily knocked it on the floor and I freaked out because the directions say to keep is flat. She likes to knock everything on the floor...) It's supposed to take 1 minute to show two lines if you are pregnant. Yeah. It took like 20 seconds tops.
I was in the bathroom and I started to freak out. I was saying "oh boy. oh wow. oh jeez. oh boy boy oh boy." After feeling like I was going to hyperventilate I went and sat on the couch and waited for Eric. I didn't have to wait too long thankfully.
He came in and says "So??" I asked him to come sit next to me on the couch and he says "it's negative isn't it?" I showed it to him and he was very happy. He told me later that while he was really excited about the baby, he was also relieved that he "works."
I started to cry and freak out. All I could think of was that line in Juno. "That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be undid." I guess I was just hit will how HUGE and life changing this is. Eric was good and he held me and told me it would be ok.
We went to Walmart the next day and wandered around in the baby section. I cried at every tiny thing. Literally.
We are both feeling much more excited about it and I'm not so scared. I have lots of support and Eric is being fantastic about everything.

We found out when I was 6 weeks and now we are 8 weeks. We have our first doctor's appointment tomorrow. They said I wouldn't see the doctor but they are going to take my blood and do lots of tests. I hope everything is ok.
Eric and I are praying for a healthy baby. We are reading the book "Pregnancy: Week by Week" so I'm not so scared about what is happening inside me. Currently, our baby is the size of a pinto bean. Next week it will be the size of a medium green olive. (I read ahead. :) ) I really can't wait till we find out what it is so I can buy tiny clothes and blankets. I hope it's blonde like it's Daddy.
I've already started to gain some weight (boo) but I'm thankful that I haven't been really sick.
We have come up with a boy and girl name we like but we reserve the right to change our minds and I don't want any negative comments about the names. It's not your baby okay? If it's a girl, she will be named after my mom's mom; Mabel Mae (Probably just called Mae or Baby Mae). A funny woman with a lot of faith who enjoyed serving and music. I feel a special attachment to her even though she died when I was 4.
If it's a boy, he'll be named Alexander Clay. Alexander Keele was Eric's Great Great Great (I think?) Grandfather. There is a memorial in Payson that tells how he defended a well against Indians and ended up being killed. (I will get the story straight and try that again). Clay is Eric's father's middle name. Eric doesn't really like Alex as much so for short we will probably call him Xander (pronounced Zander).

We are excited to find out if it's Xander or Mae but we won't know for a while. In the mean time, I'm trying to excersize and eat well. Thank you to those who have been excited for me. Your support means a lot to us.

The New High Five

Eric does this thing a lot. He sticks he fist out in front of me, while still staring in the other direction and says "nucks." I guess it's supposed to be some kind of "Amen Brother" thing. He was surprised when he did this in the car and I licked his fist instead of "giving him nucks."
That is officially how I respond to "nucks" now. A year of marriage later and he still gets surprised when I lick his hand and I still laugh.

I love that man. :)

Carnival Rides

Before:During:

After:

Sky Ride and Shoes

Terror Ride

Bumper Cars

haha look at Eric

Good times. :)