Spring Has Arrived

I took Angel (my shihtzu) for a walk late this afternoon/early this evening after my appointment with the obstetrician (which went well, by the way). I brought my camera with me, since spring has finally started to appear. It was a nice reminder of God's ultimate plan and His time. With my friend's passing two weeks ago while his wife is expecting, it was a nice reminder that through death comes life. Although J. will not meet his youngest baby, that new life will come despite his death. That goes for so many different things. I mean, with Easter coming, it's a reminder that Jesus's death was the beginning of life. A forest fire brings death to some parts of the tree and then the new life that comes from it is amazing. So after a long winter, after the leaves had all died, seeing the buds on the trees is a great reminder of all of this. Spring is in the air, new life is all around, the long death of winter is no longer here. Here are a few pictures from my walk:

  

 

21 Weeks 3 Days Update/Quiz

I know it's been a little while and I'm overdue for a post of any kind, but with J.'s funeral and picking up some hours at the store until Hubby gets there to run the store, it's been busy. But, without further delay, my latest update:

How far along: 21 weeks 3 day

 

Symptoms: Nausea (yes, I still have it), heartburn (it's getting worse, but I'm taking Zantac), the need to pee frequently, a round belly

Total weight gain: 10 lbs at last weigh in at the doctor, but my next appointment is Wednesday, so we'll see what it's up to now.

Maternity clothes: I can still wear some of my non-maternity tops and they still look pretty good. But otherwise, it's pretty much maternity pants, tights, dresses, pantyhose, skirts, and tops. Although, most of my dresses are not maternity dresses and they work pretty well!

Stretch marks: Only on my chest, as it has have definitely grown already. But none on the tummy yet. I'm using TONS of Palmer's Cocoa Butter.

Sleep: I sleep like a baby most of the time, until I have to pee. I love my body pillow. I have been sleeping very well other than the potty trips. Thankfully, with the body pillow, I don't find myself lying on my back at all.
 

Best moment last week: Feeling the the baby dance around to live brass music. It was at J.'s funeral. J. was a music teacher, tuba player, lover of brass. My Hubby is also a music teacher, a trumpet player, and a lover of brass. So he participated in the service in honor and celebration of J. Baby Girl was dancing around and kicking away to the brass music.

Movement: Lots of dancing around and little kicks. So amazing! Still can't feel it from the outside, but that's okay. I'm sure that's coming soon.

Food cravings: Oddly, none really. My sweet tooth had briefly returned, but now it's gone again. I don't really have any cravings. Weird, huh? Although, Hubby makes me jealous when he's drinking his Pepsi, since I've pretty much sworn off most caffeine. So I bought myself some no Caffeine Pepsi. YAY!

Belly Button in or out: In, of course!

What I miss: My Victoria's Secret bras actually fitting. Yep. Today, I had to buy a maternity bra. Let's just say that it's not little. I had to get a waist size bigger than I wanted because they didn't have a 36. So I got a 38.....G, that's right, G!!! Yikes!

What I am looking forward to: Being able to feel the kicks from the outside.

 

Milestones: Finding out that baby is a girl last Thursday (the 18th).

 

How is daddy? He is wonderful. Since we're almost sure we're calling her Isabella with the nickname of Izzy, he's calling her Izzy Gillespie after Dizzy Gillespie. It's so cute.

How are the grandparents? They are excited as can be. My mom has already started buying lots of little girl clothes.

What If It Happened to You?

For all you new readers, usually I would post about my pregnancy (or before that happened, my fertility journey). But instead, I'm going to take a detour and ask you to lay prays on one of my dear friends. Thursday night, Hubby and I received a phone call that our friend J. had been in a car accident. His wife, A. was the one who called. She was very upset but didn't know anything at that point. As the night progressed into the wee hours of the morning, Hubby and A. exchanged several texts and phone calls. Around 2am Friday morning, A.'s mom called with the news. J. had died on impact in the car accident. I was devastated. 

J. was an amazing man of God. Young, not even 30 yet. Gifted. Had a heart for reaching children for the Lord. Loved to teach music to his students. A. is now left as a single mother. Her baby girl, M., is turning two in less than a month. She has another baby due in September. Her grief is unmeasurable. I know this is a sad and very depressing post, but it has been weighing on my mind a lot. It's a horrific tragedy for those of us on Earth. J. is in Heaven and he is rejoicing with our Savior. But A. is so grief-stricken. 

Please pray for A. as she is now working through her grief. She's trying to tell a two-year old that Daddy is not coming home. She has so many emotions to work through, thoughts that creep in, bitterness towards the other driver (and she asked for prayers for that, as she doesn't want to be bitter at all, but rather forgiving). 

I just keep imagining that it was me. What if that was my Hubby? What would I do? It's so unimaginable. What if it was you? What if this same situation happened to you? Hard to imagine, right? We just need to remember to appreciate those we love. Spend time with them as much as we can. Tell them we love them as often as possible. Hug them every chance we get. You just never know when God will call someone home.

Just pray for the family as they work through this difficult situation. Nothing can prepare you to lose someone so close, so young, and in such a sudden and tragic way. They have a long road ahead of them and prayer is the only sure thing to help get them through it.

Sorry for the depressing post, but it's been on my mind and I just needed to share my thoughts.

Baby Girl

I had my big 20-week anatomy scan today. The baby is looking good. SHE (yes, it's a GIRL!) is measuring 2 days behind, but that is good. Baby is perfect. I haven't put the pictures on the computer yet, but I will. Baby is just perfect. She wasn't the most cooperative thing there could ever be. She had her legs crossed for quite a while. She decided to put her arm over her face with her hand in a fist. I think she was annoyed with all the jiggling. The ultrasound tech (awesome lady) had to keep jiggling Baby Girl around because she wasn't cooperating. She covered her whole abdomen at one point by crossing her arms. But everything is just perfect.

I had my ultrasound done at a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor. He has decided to keep me on as a patient due to my hypertension. I have no complaints, he's a very nice doctor. So I'm going back in 8 weeks to see him and he wants to monitor the growth of the baby, since smaller babies can be related to hypertension, even if it is medicated. so, just add another doctor to my list of doctors. I see my obstetrician on March 31st. I don't see Dr. F (the MFM Doc) until May. And then, he wants to start monitoring me every few weeks. I guess I'm going to have a lot of days where I'm leaving work without being able to do my hall duty. I get to work early enough in the day to make up for that time, so I'm not worried about that. 

That's about it for me now. I haven't posted pictures yet, since I have to take pictures of the pictures, as my main computer died, so I can't scan the pictures to a computer. I'll post them soon!

Baby Furniture

Yesterday was a SUPER busy day. My Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law drove up (in the torrential rain) to deliver the baby furniture. The original plan was to store it in my parent's basement for now, since we really weren't ready for it here. We're still working on cleaning the baby's room. But somehow, there was a miscommunication and the furniture is here. So my MIL and SIL helped clear out the furniture that was in the way and loaded it into their van (since we were getting rid of those pieces anyway). As frustrated as I was about the miscommunication, I was so glad and thankful for their unceasing help. They stayed all afternoon and helped rearrange the living room to open up the space and of course, the baby furniture is here. The crib is not yet assembled because there really isn't room for it yet, we're still working on the future nursery.

So it was a really busy day. After all the furniture was rearranged and some of it was out in my MIL's van, we drove our giant computer stand to my aunt's house and assembled it there for her. With all the rain, there was flooding issues, so we had to be careful. It wasn't necessarily the best day to do all the furniture moving, but it's done. I am so thankful for the extra help, since when it comes to moving furniture, I feel useless these days. 

Now...if I only had the motivation to work on cleaning some more...

18 Weeks 1 Day Update/Quiz

Okay, so it's been 3 weeks since I did one of these, so I thought it was time. Everything keeps on changing! I'll post my latest belly pic (from 17 weeks 4 days) at the bottom of the quiz. Enjoy!

How far along: 18 weeks 1 day

 

Symptoms: Nausea (though not nearly as bad, still usually only at night or when I have to blow my nose...tissues have a smell and I just can't stand it), constipation is back, my belly has sort of "popped," the heartburn is becoming very constant, and I have to pee a bunch of times in the night.

Total weight gain: 7lbs at last weigh in at the doctor, but my next appointment is tomorrow, so we'll see what it's up to now.

Maternity clothes: I can still wear some of my non-maternity tops and they look pretty good. But otherwise, it's pretty much maternity pants, tights, dresses, pantyhose, skirts, and tops.

Stretch marks: Only on my chest, as it has have definitely grown already. But none on the tummy yet. I'm using TONS of Palmer's Cocoa Butter.

Sleep: I sleep like a baby most of the time, until I have to pee. I love my body pillow. I have been sleeping very well other than the potty trips. Thankfully, with the body pillow, I don't find myself lying on my back at all.
 

Best moment last week: Feeling the flutters and realizing that it's more than flutters. Today, I swear I felt a kick.

Movement: I still feel the flutters, but now, I also feel a lot more movement. Today, like I posted above, I think I felt a kick. So amazing!

Food cravings: Oddly, none really. My sweet tooth had briefly returned, but now it's gone again. I don't really have any cravings. Weird, huh?

Belly Button in or out: In, of course!

What I miss: Of course, the foods I shouldn't eat like lunch meat and hot dogs, but I also miss really dancing. I went country line dancing last night and realized that I can't really get into as much as I used to because my whole center of gravity is different!

What I am looking forward to: My appointment with Dr. H tomorrow and scheduling the anatomy scan.

 

Milestones: Feeling the first kick!

 

How is daddy? He is wonderful. We've started cleaning out the second bedroom. He's so super helpful.

How are the grandparents? They are excited as can be.

Now, for the most recent picture...