17 Week Ultrasound

On Monday, July 9 we had another ultrasound. Aunt Kilah was in town doing corn with my Grandma and I, so she got to take a break and come to the ultrasound with us. It was so fun having her there!

And, just like I did last time, I forgot and ate a little sugar right as I was walking out the door so Babe would not hold still. Oops! :) Seriously, I will learn one of these days - albeit slowly. After awhile we were able to get some good pictures, and we were able to confirm what Baby Matthes is! We are waiting until we tell our close family and then we will start telling friends.

Babe weighs 6 ounces and the heart rate was 147. Everything looked good on ultrasound, so that was reassuring, since I have still not been gaining much weight (according to my scale). After seeing how much Baby was moving during our ultrasound, it makes me so excited to finally be able to feel it. It is such a bummer that my placenta is anterior because there is no doubt in my mind that if it wasn't that way, I would be able to feel every move Baby makes. I'll continue to be patient.

By 17 weeks, body fat is beginning to form. Baby is also able to hear noises from the outside world, and it's eyes have settled in the front of his/her head and can even perceive light. Within the next week, the pads on Babe's fingers and toes will begin to develop "fingerprints." Pretty cool!

So here are the ultrasound pictures from almost right at 17 weeks!

I love this first one because you can see 2 chambers of the heart.

Again, likes to keep that hand right up by it's face.

One of the feet that I can't wait to kiss.

The precious hands that I can't wait to squeeze. Here are several,
because I just can't get enough.

Our next ultrasound will be on August 10th at our doctor's office. I am so happy to not have to wait another 4 weeks to find out if Babe is a he or a she. We are so excited and cannot wait to start telling family and friends! This has been such an amazingly fun process, and I'm so blessed to have felt so well that I can enjoy all of it. My baby belly seems like it is growing by the day, so that is exciting. Still haven't worn any maternity pants, but the buttons on all of my regular clothes definitely do not close at this point. I have started wearing some maternity tops - they are so much more comfortable!

That's it for now. Love and prayers in Week 18, Little One!

16 Weeks!

Here are the 16th Week Belly Shots!

I must be getting bigger...at the 4th of July party that we went to, one of

Dan's (our) friends lovingly came up and said

"Kait, you're getting fat!"

I'm not even mad about it! :) 

 

How far along? 16.5 weeks
Total weight gain: 2-3 pounds
Maternity clothes? Just a few maternity tank tops
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep: Much better since I got the Snoogle pillow. On a few rare occasions I can make it through the night without having to get up to go to the bathroom!
Best moment this week: Nothing exciting this week :(
Miss anything? Watermelon margaritas that I would be sipping out at the pool all these hot summer days
Movement: Nothing I can say for sure yet
Food cravings: Valentino's beer cheese sauce just a couple times - I might be over that already
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!
Gender: I  have said boy for weeks...we have a pretty good idea, and hoping to find out for sure very soon! :)
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Breast tenderness is improving lately, and the only other thing that I can complain about is my face that looks like a 14-year-old-going-through-puberty's. Seriously, I cannot wait to get back on some strong medicine to get this acne under control. I am so embarrassed, but I'm afraid it is going to be awhile. Other than that, no headaches, nausea or heartburn.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Feeling baby move already

OB Appointment, 6.29.12

So I am a couple days late posting, but I had another doctor's visit on Friday, June 29th. It was short and sweet, and doc said everything is looking great! Dan left earlier that day to go to a golf tournament in Grant, so I was on my own for this one. Naturally with Dan not being there, for the first time, they offered to do a doppler quick and we got a good, strong heartbeat almost instantly...clocking in at 153. I thought for sure I would be able to hear it with my stethoscope, but not so much. That sound will never get old! :)

I asked about the paresthesias I was having on my hands and feet, and he said to keep an eye on it, and if it starts getting worse or a lot more frequent then he would have me see a neurologist.

He suggested taking Benadryl for sleep when I need it, and I know that that is always recommended in pregnancy, but...I lived on that before I got pregnant, and knowing how whoozy and drunken it made me before, I haven't been able to bring myself to take it with Babe on board. So I bought a Snoogle pillow, and so far that has helped a little bit with getting comfortable at least. (I'm still getting up to go to the bathroom 2 or 3 times a night, and I would have thought that would be slowing down by now. Actually 2-3 times is more than the 1 time that I was getting up routinely in the 1st trimester).

He said that by his scale I am actually up 4 pounds. According to mine I am only up 1 pound. I am almost positive that that day I was carrying 2 pounds of water in my bladder because I was waiting to go to the bathroom because we always have to leave a sample when we get there. I'm calling that water-weight, but regardless he isn't concerned about not gaining much weight yet.

Our next appointment is August 10th, and we will have an official ultrasound before that appointment. That is the date we would normally be finding out if Babe is a he or a she, but we are actually hoping to know for sure within a couple of days and before Alyssa goes on maternity leave. I'm so glad we don't have to wait another 6 weeks! After we decided we were for sure finding out, I wanted to know yesterday what Babe was. If I would have had it my way, weren't going to tell anyone what it was, but Dan said that wasn't possible and that we weren't going to do that because if he knew, he wouldn't be able to keep a secret. So, we will tell...eventually. Until then, what are your guesses? If you're a reader, leave a guess in the comments so I know who is following along! I'm excited to see what you all think! :)

And in other ramblings, I had my first real pregnancy craving last week, and I had no idea how much it would consume my mind. Anyone who knows me well knows that Valentino's is an all-time favorite, so naturally I was craving their beer cheese sauce over pasta and was determined to have it one way or another. I was planning to go by myself on my wild and crazy Friday evening alone since Dan was out of town, but thankfully, Aunt Roo was in town and indulged with me. I would be lying if I said I didn't seriously contemplate asking for a container of it to take home. I resisted, and now I am needing to go back again. This is going to be an expensive craving!

This baby has got to wonder what is going on with me, because my fight-or-flight has been in overdrive with all of the fireworks going off these past couple of days. Typically I am not a jumpy person whatsoever, but every.single.time a firework goes off on our block I jump larger than life. Sorry, Little One, for the frequent and unnecessary anxiety...I'm confused by it, too!

Enough ramblings for now...Back soon with more ultrasound pictures!

Week 15 Belly Shot

15 weeks already! It seems like this pregnancy is taking forever, but then I think back and realize how fast it has gone. I am reminding myself daily to appreciate these weeks and to take time to enjoy them...especially since I am fortunate enough to feel so awesome that I truly can enjoy these days. I'm just getting really anxious to feel the baby move, and to know for sure that that is what is happening. There have been several times now when I wonder if that's what I was feeling, because it felt a lot different than typical gas. Only time will tell, I guess!

Please excuse the blurriness of this picture. We desperately need a new camera because this is one of the best ones we could get. I am embarrassed to even put this up. I don't feel as big as I look in this picture, maybe I was just bloated in this picture (which I didn't feel like I was when I took it - I always take these in the morning so I'm not extra bloated). Anyways, here is the 15 week belly shot!

I had been eyeing a Carter's outlet everyday on my way to work this past week, so yesterday after a long weekend of working, I decided I was going to stop since I could actually make it there before they closed for once. I wasn't sure what to expect, but turns out that store is amazing, quite large, and had tons of great sales going on. I went straight back to the clearance section and got a lot of great clothes for Baby for what I thought were steals. They also have an OshKosh B'Gosh store that I was planning to stop at, but after walking out of Carter's with more than enough, I called it an evening so hubby wouldn't get too upset. I still have it all laying out on the floor in Baby's room because I love to go in there and think about how cute he/she is going to look in all of the new gear. :) I have officially found my new favorite store!

Up until that shopping trip I had been guarding my heart just a little bit because we weren't 100% positive what baby was and I didn't want to get too set on what we thought he/she was. But it's official, my heart is too excited, and I need to know for sure sooner than later. I did make sure to ask what their return policy was, and as long as it has the tags on still you can return it with or without a receipt. Perfect, and just what I needed to hear! Hoping we can get another peek sometime here in the near future so we can be 100% positive.

We are contemplating some pretty big decisions right now, and praying that we can make the best decisions for what's right at the right time. It's hard not to get anxious and worry about the future, but we are trusting in a God whose plan is bigger than ours and that what is meant to be will happen. More on this later.

Baby Matthes - I am getting more and more excited every week and absolutely cannot wait to meet you. You are an amazing miracle and I am so thankful to be carrying you so close and so dear. We love you so much!

Love and prayers in Week 16!

US - 13w4d

And here are pictures of our little bambino! We are pretty sure what it is, but no evidence to share. Sorry! Heart rate was 143, and as I suspected, the ultrasound at our doctor's office was probably incorrect because baby is still measuring right where we thought it should be. So no more shrimp for us! Baby was very mobile during the ultrasound so it made it difficult to get any great looks at first - note to self, don't eat a mini snickers right before! Luckily we were able to spend quite a while scanning so we were able to get some really great pictures. Everything looks great so far.  We got some cool looks at the baby's skull, brain, kidneys, spine, legs, feet, arms, and hands.

We are SO excited! :) A big thank you to Alyssa for doing these for us,

we appreciate it SO much!

This picture of the hand makes my heart melt. 10 perfect fingers. We may also have a thumb sucker, it kept it's right hand up to its mouth for quite awhile.

Babe looks like an alien in this picture, but I love it because you can see so well that it has its mouth open. Pretty amazing!

The placenta is anterior as you can see in the picture above (the grey right in front of baby's face is placenta), which is a bummer because it could mean that I'm not able to feel baby move as early as normal. Hopefully just a few more weeks!

And, luckily the heartburn and headaches were very short lived, and haven't had much of either since. I have also been having some prickling paresthesias on my hands and feet that is more frequent and I am wondering if it has anything to do with the pregnancy. I've never heard anything about that so I will ask my OB when we go in for our next appointment on June 29th. Still having troubles sleeping; it seems to be a trend right now. All in all, can't complain! I am just so thankful. Can't wait to feel this little one moving, especially since we got to see how active he/she is!

Love and prayers, Little One!

3 Month Belly Shots

Three months marks the beginning of my first belly pictures. Since I have started to feel like a blimp, I figured now would be a good time to begin. Still looks like I've just had too many brownies, but if you know there is more there you can probably tell something is going on, finally! These pictures aren't high quality because we don't have a decent camera (yet) and I don't own any photo editing software (yet). We also need to find a better background. But, these were last minute so they will do for now!

Getting more exciting every week now! We love you, Baby Matthes!

Pregnancy in Numbers

Here are the details of this pregnancy so far in numbers. Thought this would be a good way to be able to look back and compare to next time. I will add to the list at the bottom when we get to those things.

Weeks...13w4d (today's US said 13w5d)

Weight of Baby...?

Current Heartrate...143

Trips to bathroom at night...1

Episodes of vomiting...0!

Morning sickness...0!
Diet Pepsis...4
Miles walked in past week...17.3

Week I started noticing my clothes getting tighter...13
Pounds gained...1
Ounces of water per day...90-100

Months since we found out we were pregnant...2

Days until due date...?

1st week of maternity clothes...

Week I started showing no matter what I wore...

Week of the 1st flutter...

Week I first saw my stomach move from Baby...

Number of baby showers we've had...

Number of stretch marks I've earned...

Week I 1st felt contractions...

Centimeters dilated...

Days I'm willing to go past my due date...

Pieces of unsolicitted advice I receive daily...

Number of times my feet are swollen at any given moment...

Back shortly with belly pics and new ultrasound pictures!