Happy Halloween

Here's a couple of photos of our dress up day at school. I'm standing with Sarah, one of my students. Although I'm dressed in black, I think you can tell I'm showing a little of the baby bump!

Pregnancy Insomnia and dull headaches

Last night I just could not get to sleep! So I got up and went to the office to look up some info on insomnia on the Internet. According to Baby Center, 78% of pregnant women have insomnia. They listed some things to do in order to get to sleep such as having some milk, taking a bath, or having a cup of decaf tea. I tried having milk but it didn't work and earlier in the evening I had a cup of tea. I finally had a fitful sleep of changing from one to side to the other. According to another website, I'm supposed to be sleeping on my left side so that the placenta gets the nutrients to the baby. I may have to resort to sleeping sitting up or on the loveseat with my feet propped up. All day today I had a dull headache. I drank lots of fluids and ate small meals and even rested when I got home from work. I think I'll just have to keep trying different strategies for getting some quality sleep.

Aside from all that, I'm still so happy and excited about our baby girl! I can now refer to it as a "she" when I talk about my baby bump.

Getting used to it

Yesterday was such a long day for us so when I went to bed I had the best sleep ever!! I am just so excited about our "little lady" (that's what Jon calls her). We told our parents yesterday and they were very excited. I emailed a few people so far and they were really excited too. I'll be making phone calls to friends to tell them the good news. We are thinking of names but nothing's really jumped out. Jon said he's ecstatic about having a girl. Today I told some coworkers about our baby girl and I felt really proud. I am slowly getting used to the idea of being a mother. I bet it'll hit me for sure when she's born. It's weird but I have a sense of peace inside me that I haven't really felt until now. The baby looks good and is doing fine. I just want her to be healthy. I'm going to go put my feet up for awhile now. :-)

Big Announcement

Got some great news at today's sonogram - IT'S A GIRL!!!

We got to see the face, hands, legs, feet, heart and stomach on the monitor. The doctor asked us if we wanted to know the sex and ofcourse we said yes. Then he said, "I'll give you a hint: you'll need a bigger checkbook for this one!" Jon and I both laughed and said, "It's a girl!" My favorite view of the baby was the face. I mean, at first glance it looks like an alien but after awhile it was so cute looking back at us. She held up her hand at one point as if to say "Hi!" I cried a little and Jon held my hand. We are so happy!! Now we can plan the nursery and pick out some names.

Baylor Grapvine

This is me standing outside Baylor Grapevine Women's Center. As you can see it's a big hospital. Monday's perinatal appointment will be in the Professional Building. My OB is Dr. Joseph Kilianski and he's located in the Women's Center (middle building). These pictures were taken on October 8 by Jon. We had just seen Dr. Kilianski and had a sonogram. Now he knows where to go when it's time!

Pregnant Halloween Costumes

Hello! This morning Jon and I decided we'd better find some costumes for the party next Friday night. Last year I was a geisha and he was some sort of spooky purple thing. Anyhoo, we went to Party City and I kinda thought we'd have better luck finding him something to wear than me. As we looked around I spotted something that looked like it might fit. It was a "coffin bride" costume with a witch's hat. It was black velvet with gold and it fit perfectly. Jon found a knight's outfit he liked so we also bought him a sword. I had some other ideas for myself if I didn't find anything - a pregnant hippie, "Harriet Potter", or a clown.
Halloween has been fun ever since our friends Susie and Kirk started having costume parties at their house in Irving. Their house is like a haunted house inside and out.
This week at work, we are encouraged to dress up on Thursday as part of a department contest. But then the education department scheduled a training from 1-5 with reps from corporate and I will not be in costume the whole day!! I'll just wear all black plus my witch's hat. Jon said they were dressing up on Friday where he works so maybe he'll wear his knight outfit.

17 Weeks now

I think this week I'm starting to grow and show. At work I just layer my clothes and no one can really tell but I won't be able to do that for long. I wonder how big I'll get? Right now I've got two pairs of maternity pants, a pair of maternity jeans but only one or two maternity shirts. Shopping at Motherhood Maternity and Mimi Maternity is kinda neat but it can get expensive. I love looking online at all the maternity fashions.
Still having some problems sleeping. When I'm awake at 3AM I sometimes start thinking of things I should be doing the next day and then by the time I know it I am still awake at 4AM! I am now using at least 4 or 5 pillows to try to get comfortable but sometimes it just doesn't work. I am afraid to actually move to another part of the house because even though I'm awake, I'm still a bit groggy. One night while walking to the office I bumped into a storage bin with my foot.
Well, that's it for now. Think I'll start the day and maybe take a nap later on.

Dr. Appointment

Today I had a short visit with my OB, Dr. Kilianski, for a check up. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat! For awhile there it seemed like the baby was moving around a bit but then the MA found the heartbeat and it was normal. Dr. K said I am doing great with my blood pressure and weight. Before I left I had to get some lab work done which means another blood test. Next Monday I'll see a perinatal doctor for my level II sonogram. Lucky for me, they are located down the hall from my OB. Oh, my OB is located inside Baylor Hospital - Grapevine which is where we will be going to give birth in April. It's a big hospital and the staff is really wonderful. I feel really good about how things are going so far. Now if I could only sleep....

Sleep and Baby Registries

Well, it was another night of tossing and turning and trying to find a comfortable position. Even my body pillow was no help! I know I'll need a nap today. Maybe this is nature's way of preparing me for more sleepless nights with a baby? I thought by doing exercise yesterday I would fall asleep faster. So far I've been exercising at least 3 or 4 times a week and my sleep patterns vary. Sometimes hunger wakes me up and I try to ignore it but most of the time I can't so I get up and grab a snack in the kitchen.
I began a registry at Babies R Us which was loads of fun! I left some things off the list until we find out if we're having a boy or girl. We're thinking about registering at Target too later on. Oh, we've heard that two of our friends who are expecting are having boys. I wonder if this is a trend?

Back tracking a bit

Hi again! Thought I'd share some things from the first trimester. Back in July Jon and I decided to see a fertility specialist to get things going in the baby department. We didn't have to do any drugs or IVF - the doctor monitored my ovulation and pin pointed the days I was fertile. We were so lucky to "get lucky" and finally conceive. The news from the doctor's office really hit home when we began to tell our families we were pregnant. During the first trimester I was very tired and began to notice that a lot of foods I used to like were disgusting. I had mild morning sickness and I didn't gain any weight during this time. I could still wear my regular clothes and shoes so that was good. I had decided to wait until the 12th week to tell my boss at work and some coworkers that I was pregnant. I did a lot of reading in the first trimester. I bought the standard "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and some others. I also bought pregnancy magazines at Half Price Books and checked out more books at the library. And ofcourse I began surfing the Internet for more information on pregnancy. It got to the point where it was information overload! Even Jon read a book especially for Dads-to-be and began to understand what I was going through.

I'm looking forward to growing my baby bump during the second trimester and getting our home ready for our baby. My due date is April 8, 2009. We're going to find out the gender but for right now, let's keep guessing!

16 Weeks

I always said I'd journal during my pregnancy so here's my attempt to explain how I'm feeling. I am 16 weeks along and feeling pretty good. Up until now I haven't really shown. But this morning at church I happened to look down and there it was - the beginning of the baby bump! I was so surprised and nudged my husband and pointed to my tummy proudly sticking out. He smiled and touched my stomach. He said he really didn't notice me showing until this morning. It's like it happened overnight. And speaking of night, I really can't sleep through the night comfortably anymore. It's like I'm permanently bloated and can't get comfy.

We are very excited about this baby and appreciate all the love and prayers from friends and family.