Nursery Madness!

Have I mentioned I'm a planner? Needless to say I've spent hundreds of hours scouring the web looking at anything baby related. Between setting up our registry, getting inspiration for the nursery and shopping for furniture I've probably wasted a solid week online.

My baby obsession has only gotten worse since we've found out it's a boy. Now I can REALLY plan! Clearly the first place to start was the nursery. I have such a clear vision for what I want, a classic nursery that welcomes you in and makes it hard to leave. The perfect little haven for our little guy on the way.

The room is already a pale grey/blue that I love, enough blue to be appropriate for a boy without being in your face. Next came the bedding. But where to begin!? Again I didn't want anything that was too over the top (aka bats, trucks or anything sports related) - but didn't want to go so neutral that you couldn't tell what we were having.

Weeks into my online hunt I stumbled across a set from Pottery Barn, and fell in love. It was perfect. Just enough blue to say "I'm a boy", with that classic Pottery Barn finish. I simply couldn't wait any longer, I had to have it right now (patience is not my thing). Not able to wait a day longer (I mean they could all sell out overnight) I called my mom up and told her I found the set I wanted, and was going to go buy it.

A week later a huge Pottery Barn package arrived at my office. I immediately opened it up, ripped through the bubble wrap and pulled out the most beautiful quilt I have seen. It was exactly what I wanted. Absolutely perfect.

Here is a snap shot of the set from Pottery Barn, along with some other ideas I have for the room. Ohh what fun I'm having <3

Little Feet

In one of my earlier appointments I learned that my placenta had attached in the front of my Uterus, meaning there would be an extra layer between me and our baby that could get in the way of me feeling those first kicks.

There were a few occasions early on where I thought to myself I had felt our little one move, but to be perfectly honest I couldn't tell if it was the baby or gas. It wasn't until around 18 weeks that I could say for sure I was feeling serious movement.

Those first few flutters were incredible and I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of love for this baby, not yet a pound but still making his presence known. Every time I feel one of his little kicks I stop dead in my tracks and pause, not allowing any of the outside interruption to distract me from the miracle that is going on inside my body.

I got to share this experience for the first time on July 24th, while one of my best friends Calli was visiting for the weekend. We were watching TV relaxing after an afternoon of shopping for baby furniture (more to come on that) and started to feel him wake up inside of me.

Immediately I grabbed Calli's hand and placed in on my stomach. Two second later I felt our little guy give a nice good kick and watched as Calli squealed with excitement saying she had felt it. Trying not to move to much I called Drew over and did the same thing, placing his hand on the side of my stomach. And sure enough Baby S gave a second kick so that his Daddy could get in on the action.

It's been almost a month now of feeling these movements and I still can't get enough. I imagine that when I'm 9 months pregnant and have feet pushing against my lungs I'll feel differently. But right now, I'm savoring every single second of being pregnant and the blessings that these little feet bring.

Baby Bump

Pretty much the second I found out we were pregnant I started watching, and waiting for my baby bump to appear. Between feeling sick all day long (morning sickness is really a stupid name for it) and not keeping up with my normal exercise routine I put on weight pretty quickly in the first few weeks. Regardless of the gain I didn't get that adorable little bump. Instead I just had... a gut.

Towards the start of my second trimester I started to feel like my normal self again. I was up to exercise in the morning, back to eating tons of fruits and veggies and thankful to notice I was gaining weight at a more normal pace.

Regardless of falling in the normal range for weight gain, I still did not look pregnant (still just fat). I remember thinking at 17 weeks I'll definitely look pregnant. And when that didn't happen I said, fine, at 19 weeks I'll totally have a good bump.

Now I get every woman carries her pregnancy differently, but after 20 weeks this was just plain ridiculous! I still wasn't feeling like my bump was as big as I expected it to be. And instead of that perfect little round belly I've seen in all my friends pictures, I looked like I had just gotten back from a big buffet lunch.

I'm now 22 weeks, and feel like I'm finally starting to show. I'm happy that I'm not yet the size of a house, but at the same time can't wait to have a big obvious belly that I can walk around rubbing all day long. Here is my 21 1/2 week belly shot, taken in the bathroom at work... it has a big mirror.

The Great Gender Reveal

I'm a planner and not big into surprises, so it came as no shock that I wanted to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. Luckily Drew felt the same exact way, and after our 12 week visit we scheduled a second appointment on July 11th to find out if we were on team blue or pink.

I expected the next few weeks to drag by, but with some distractions at work it seemed like the weeks were flying by. Before I knew it the big day had arrived and I was minutes away from finding out what we were having.

Throughout the entire time we were pregnant Drew made it pretty clear that he wanted a boy. I sort of hung on the fence, a boy would be great, a girl would be wonderful - but in the end all I wanted was a healthy baby.

I sat in the waiting room for a good 20 minutes, feeling once again like I was going to throw up from the anxiety.  Finally I was called in, bared my belly and laid on the table - ready for the big reveal. I guess Baby S had other plans, because for the next hour I watched as the doctor struggled to not only get the measurements she needed, but a sneak peak at what was going on "down there".

All I kept thinking was I'm not leaving here until they tell me if I'm having a boy or girl. At last, after trying some new positions the doctor got the angle she needed. And...

It's a BOY!!

Images from our 19 week ultrasound <3

Too Good To Be True

You know those rare times when the stars align and something you wished would come true actually does? That was pretty much what happened here. Our good friends were also trying for a baby (their second after a wonderful little girl who is now about 5) and soon we realized that there was a chance we could be pregnant at the same general time. "Wouldn't it be great", we thought, "if we had babies together!"

Sure you say those things, and think what the hell are the odds that it actually happen, and then it does. After a couple of BFNs Jenn and CJ found out two days after Drew and I learned our own amazing news that they too were pregnant.

The excitement to learn that our dreams came true, AND that our babies would be born days apart was just too much to handle. Immediately we started scheming how to share the news with our friends once we were far enough along.

We planned for a BBQ once we were both around 12 weeks, and Jenn made these AWESOME t-shirts that we put on once everyone had arrived.

Seeing that we're due just days apart, we're literally able to go through this together. From the start Jenn has been there to answer my endless question like "is your body doing this" and, "how do you feel about this name" to "what the hell do I put on my registry".

Aside from her t-shirt skills (see above), having Jenn to talk to through all of this has been an incredible support. I can't wait to see what the next months bring, and welcome our little babies into the world together.

Big Announcement and Big Trouble

At 12 weeks and 3 days it became even more real when we revealed to those outside our immediate circle that we were expecting a baby in December. Of course I posted a picture of our latest ultrasound to Facebook, the place where you make all your grand announcements these days. I also shared the news with the rest of my co-workers who I hadn't told a few weeks before.

Once again I was overwhelmed by how excited our friends were hear the good news. I confess that I still go back and look at that first post I made, touched by the number of comments people left.

I left work that night on cloud 9. Finally after weeks of keeping this inside I could explain why I was eating more bread than I had in years, couldn't keep my eyes open past 3:00 pm and starting to pack on some pounds (in two very particular areas, if ya know what I mean).

Just as I thought we were turning a corner and we were in the clear, I went to the bathroom around 9:00 pm and was horrified to see I was bleeding. Not spotting, but really bleeding.

Panic set in and Drew and immediately got in the car and drove 15 minutes to the ER. We spent the next 4 hours there, as I had more blood work taken, another ultrasound and other fun exams. In the end, they had no idea what had caused the bleeding and the baby looked fine, moving around in my belly like no big deal Ma, relax.

It felt like the wind had been taken out of my sail. Here I was waiting anxiously to get to the 12 week point when your chance of miscarriage drops significantly to tell everyone. Then not even 24 hours after sharing the news we have a scare like this.

I stayed in bed the next day, basically afraid to move and then had another appoitnemtn with our regular OBGYN. Again, everything looked fine and they had no idea what had caused the bleeding.  I was told to take it easy for 2 weeks, but that there was nothing to be worried about. I relaxed as best I could, but was a nervous wreck. Everything scared me, moving, walking, bending over - even going to the bathroom freaked me out.

But just like the Doctors said, it seemed as though everything really was fine and once again I started to have hope that this little baby inside of me was not a temporary visitor, but was a permanent one who was going to stick around for the long haul.

Can you keep a secret?

Here's the thing, I'm not good at keeping things to myself. Of course I know all the rules, aka "Don't tell people until you're in your second trimester" - but quite frankly that's not just feasible for a person like myself.

Now I didn't go shouting the news from the roof tops, but I didn't exactly keep quiet about it either. I told my parents the very hour we found out. Then my 4 best girl friends from high school at about 5 weeks, and Drew's sister and Parents at about 6 weeks. Finally at 10 weeks I told my Mom's family along with a few close co-workers.

When it came to sharing the news that early in the game I had a single thought in mind, if something were to happen whose support would we want? Without any real hesitation those were the people who we told first. Sharing our little secret (literally as Baby S was the size of a raspberry at this point) was so much fun. Seeing how people reacted and how excited they were was touching.

Over the next few weeks I continued to be monitored by my RA with regular ultrasounds and blood work. The anxiety I felt going into those first few appoints was unbearable. Deep down I knew everything was fine, but was always afraid of the "what if". What if something is wrong, what if the babies heart isn't beating anymore, what if, what if, what if.

Around 11 weeks I finally started to breathe a bit easier, and start thinking to myself... what if nothing goes wrong?

Here is how we shared the news with my Mom's family. Boy/Girl cupcakes and our 10 week ultrasound image.