Good Sunday Morning!

I love that it is a 3 day weekend.  I always feel like the weekends are too short.  I think it's because I don't usually do too much, and am pretty lazy.  I like it that way, though... so don't judge me.  :)

Yesterday, Arthur and I slept in until around 11:30 or so.  We played Wii with Mike and hung out for a little bit.  Around 3, we left and went to Buy Buy Baby.  It was pretty cool, but I didn't really see a whole lot I liked.  I think it's because we have a very specific theme in mind for our baby boy.

We are probably going to do his nursery in an "Under the Sea" theme.  I previously joined Pinterest but didn't really use it.  I went back on Thursday night (after we found out that he's a boy) and looked up some fun ideas.

Arthur's favorite theme is a dark brown crib and some cute ocean accessories:

He also likes the wall decoration of these schooling fish:

I'm not too picky, but I'm leaning towards liking the lighter colored wood because to me, it looks less cagey.  :)

I've been pinning some other things, not just room stuff.  I found some cute knit things that would be fun for pictures when he is born.  I just need to learn to knit.  :)

After Buy Buy Baby, we met up with my parents at the mall for a minute so they could pick up Arthur's grill saw.  My dad is redoing his bathroom with one of those walk-in tubs.  I think it's great that he's making an effort to make their house nicer.  He's doing it all himself, but he has asked Arthur to help one weekend when he's free.

At the Mall, Arthur and I went to Gap Kids and I found a really cute hat that was on sale.  I think it's  Christmas hat, but it looks like the 4th of July to me.  Because my due date is July 11th, it will be a perfect little hat for him to wear:

Then, we went to Cheesecake Factory with some friends and my brother.  There was a mixup on the reservation for how many, so Mike and his girlfriend waited for nearly 2 hours for a seat for 2 after we had left.  They still got seated just before 9, so it worked out.   

I ordered the Chicken Bellagio and the Godiva Cheesecake.  Sooooo good!

Arthur and I went to a friends house after dinner and played games.  I was feeling pretty good, so that was appreciated.  Overall, it was a good day.

How far along:  15 Weeks, 3 days
How much time left:  24 Weeks, 4 Days
 
Top two symptoms:  Yesterday my symptoms were slight nausea and a headache later on in the day.  Nothing too bad.  I think they're slowly getting better, which tells me that the 16 week timeframe for my headache going away may be true.  I sure hope so.

Favorite thing I ate today:  I didn't eat much of my dinner because I had Gastric Bypass 10 years ago... so I don't have a lot of room.  So I took it with me and ate some at our friend's house and it was just delicious.  I love that it includes Prosciutto on top, and pesto... two of my favorite things. 

Mood:  My mood yesterday was really good.  Since I found out that I'm having a boy, everything has become happier for me.  I love that.  :)  I did have a few minutes yesterday where I was worried about Mike and his girlfriend getting to eat, and I did have a bit of trouble processing those emotions.  That's one thing about being pregnant that I struggle with, which is not being able to let some things not get to me.  Pregnancy hormones win!

Worried about:  I chatted with a girl last night who was in the group I was with, and she's also pregnant.  She's much farther along that me, 30 weeks or so.  We were talking about different birth methods and whether or not we were going to go natural.  I worry about my pain tolerance, and I struggle to make a solid decision about how I'm going to handle it when the time comes.  I know that I'm going to have intentions of going natural, but I have absolutely no idea how bad it's going to be.  I do plan on pushing myself to stay strong and breathe through the pain... but every time I say that to someone who's been through it, they laugh at me because the know I have no idea how bad it can get.  It doesn't scare me, it feels more like a challenge, which I like.  I am probably over thinking it because I'm not even close to that time yet.  I will have to figure things out soon, I'm sure.  I'm open to advice here!

Excited for:  This might sound weird, but I'm very excited for dinner tonight.  Arthur is making squash and Salmon for dinner from Costco.  There is nothing I love more than salmon!  *drool*

Satisfied

I love the singer Jewel.  I appreciate her music because she has the ability, through song, to express emotions that I feel in my life in a way that I could have never done in words. 

For a long time, I didn't know if I wanted to be a mom.  I knew when I was little that I did, but as I got older, and became comfortable with my life how it was, I thought that I would be happier not having kids.

And then, my sister and my brother both had kids, and something inside of me changed.  I saw how happy they were, and I felt how happy their kids made me.  I realized that I was going to have to make sacrifices to be ready to have kids because I'd been living so long thinking that it would never happen.  Once I made a simple decision that I was going to start figuring out how to prepare myself, it became so easy to see what roadblocks I would have to overcome.  I'm so grateful that I pushed myself, and even now, only 15 weeks in, I'm already starting to feel satisfied.  I'm so excited to be a mom!

I love how Jewel explains what Satisfied means to her in this video.

Here's the song she's talking about in the video above.  I've posted the lyrics below. Please forgive the ending with Regis and Kelly. I loved the live version the most, so I posted it instead of the music video. 


If you love somebody
You better let it out
Don't hold it back
While you're trying to figure it out
Don't be timid
Don't be afraid to hurt
Run toward the flame, run toward the fire
And hold on for all your worth

Cause the only real pain
Your heart can never know
Is the sorrow of regret
When you don't let your feelings show
So did you say it
Did you mean it
Did you lay it on the line, did you make it count
Did you look 'em in the eye & did they feel it
Did you say in time
Did you say out loud
Cause if you did Hun
Then you've lived some
And that feeling inside
That's called satisfied

Horses were built to run
And the sun was meant to shine above
And flowers were made to bloom
Then there's us
We were born
To love
We were born
To love
So did you say it
Did you mean it
Did you lay it on the line, did you make it count
Did you look 'em in the eye & did they feel it
Did you say it in time
Did you say it out loud... oh
Cause if you did Hun
Well then you lived some
And that feeling inside
That's called satisfied

WE'RE HAVING A LITTLE...

Did I drive you crazy with the anticipation?  I hope you enjoyed a little bit of how I felt for the past 15 weeks!  Ha!

I'm just kidding, and I'm sorry that you had to wait so long.

When the girl who was doing the ultrasound moved the wand over to where we were going to check for the gender, I knew immediately what it was.  I even turned away briefly because I was so surprised.

IT'S A BOY!  You can see his junk where the arrow is pointing, 3 little white dots in between his legs.  :)

It was like a rush of emotions all at once, all of them were happy.  The feeling of peace from knowing what he was, and the thoughts that came to me all at once was so overwhelming.  I started thinking of the nursery, and clothes, and sports, and legos, and baseball hats, and EVERYTHING!  It was like a flood of every thought that I had suppressed over the past few months was hitting me.

We got a few more pictures and left with a stack of pictures and a CD with the digital copies.  I also got a DVD of the video so I could watch him move again.

Arthur and I were so excited, so we wanted to tell our moms.  We went up to Bountiful first and stopped at the grocery store.  We got a little cake and the girl wrote "It's a Boy!" on it for us in frosting.  We took it up to my parent's house and surprised them.  They were so happy!

Afterwards, we stopped and got some vanilla cupcakes and some little plastic bottles that are usually for baby shower favors.  Arthur put a blue one in each of the cupcakes.  We went to Arthur's mom's work and both she and Arthur's sister were there working.  They took a break for a minute and we pulled out the cupcakes.  It took them a second, and Arthur had to ask them what color they are.  They were like "Is it a boy?!"  We laughed and said yes.

Yesterday was such a great day, one of the best I've had in a long time.  I commented last night that I hadn't felt this happy since I first found out I was pregnant.

I'm now learning what this baby thing is all about for someone my age.  It completely breaks up the monotony and the mundane feelings of everyday life.  Before I got pregnant, life felt like going through the motions every day.  I know that things are going to become even more crazy when I finally have him here... but for now, I'm certainly enjoying the new and exciting emotions that I have never felt before.  :) 

What is it? Boy or Girl?

I know how important it is to apologize to someone if you haven't had a chance to talk with them in awhile, especially if they are upset with you.  So, let me begin our conversation today with an apology.  I am really sorry for not blogging in awhile.  I had a bunch of days where I was really struggling to feel happy about much of anything, so I felt like no news was good news until I had a happier perspective.   

I had hoped with the 2nd trimester starting that my nausea would magically disappear and that my headaches would just vanish.  They didn't, and so I got a little depressed. 

I also went to my 14 week doctor's appointment on Friday, January 11.  Both Arthur and I were told at our 10 week appointment that if we got there at a non-busy time that maybe we could have an ultrasound.  We purposefully booked an appointment at 9:00 in the morning so they would have no excuse of being busy with us being the first appointment of the day. 

At the appointment, everything was fine.  My blood pressure was normal, and baby's heart rate was 161.  The doctor asked me if I had any questions and of course I did.  I asked him about baths, because I'm having 1 a day now to help with the growing pains and crampy legs.  He said it was fine as long as the water wasn't so hot that it made my skin turn red, and as long as my body temperature didn't get too high. 

I also asked him about deli meats.  He said that in his over 2,000 deliveries, he'd never seen a woman who had contracted listeria from deli meats.  He said they were probably fine.  I do trust what he says, but I also know that I tend to be the 1 in a million (so you're sayin' there's a chance) that gets the bacteria.  So, I am just cautious.  I might incorporate some deli meats from somewhere that I see them cut it in front of me.  I dunno.  I'm glad that I'm not craving it too bad anymore.  However, I WILL eat myself a fat sandwich (from Subway, of course) that has lots of no-no meats on it as soon as this baby is here.  :)

The last question I asked was about my ultrasound.  I wanted to know if it was going to happen that day.  He said that he normally does an ultrasound at 20 weeks unless there is something wrong with the heartbeat, etc.  Because I'm checking out to be completely normal (thank goodness), he reassured me that most problems seen in ultrasound won't even be visible until then anyway.  I took peace from that and realized that seeing my baby was just 6 short (HA) weeks away.  *sigh*

A few days after that at work, I found out that I didn't get the position that I had applied for.  I was bummed for about a day, and the pregnancy hormones didn't help much with that.  Unfortunately, it exaggerates everything for me... so feeling sad is like feeling like it's the end of the world.  I tried to focus on sayings like "everything happens for a reason" and "it wasn't supposed to happen right now".  That helped a bit. 

Yesterday was date night for Arthur and I.  He sent me an email while I was at work that had the subject of "Off at 4?" and the email said "Date night!  Are you off at 4?"  I thought it was cute that he was so excited.  For us, date night usually consists of dinner somewhere with a Groupon and then home to let me sleep off the food, which is why the excitement was funny to me. 

I started feeling gross around 2 or so, and wanted to lie down.  I got the rest of my stuff done for the day and was ready to leave around 3:15.  Arthur was able to pick me up by 3:30, which I really appreciated.

I got in the car and was pretty grumpy and miserable because of how awful I felt.  Headache, nausea, etc.  He asked me if I needed something to eat, so I told him yes.  We went to Taco Bell and I got some food.  I ate it and started feeling a bit better.  I could tell he felt bad for me so he asked me if I wanted to go to Babies R Us and pick out something with some coupons he had.  Of course I did!!

We went there and it took us awhile to decide on something, because there was nothing that was gender neutral.  I kept commenting, "this will be a lot easier when I know if it's a boy or a girl."  I also said "I'm 15 weeks today, we could do Fetal Fotos."  Arthur was concerned because he didn't know how much it was and so I let it go again.  We decided on a cute blanket with owls on it.  It was brown, so it was good for a boy or a girl.

After Babies R Us, Arthur said he wanted to go to Costco to get some  paper towels because we are out.  We were closest to the Costco at 5300 South, which is close to Fetal Fotos.  I asked him if we could just drive past so I could price check.  He was pretty hesitant and sounded like he didn't want to.  I persisted because I really needed to know how much it costs so I could figure out if it would ever be possible.  5 more weeks seemed like eternity.

He drove over and parked, and I assumed he would just wait in the car.  He got out with me, which I appreciated.  We went in and I asked the girl for pricing and options.  She got me a couple of brochures, and went over how much it costs.  It wasn't too bad, the lowest priced package was only $79.00, which included a DVD, pictures and a 2D gender check. 

I was getting ready to thank her for the information, and went to leave, and Arthur said, "We'll do that one."  She said "Are you Genevieve?"  And I thought, how does she know my name?!

Arthur said "Surprise, you have a 5:00 appointment!" and I realized that Arthur had already booked a session for me!  I started crying! 

I think I freaked the girls out at the front desk because it was more like bawling.  I felt like I had just won the lottery.  I danced around and hugged Arthur and couldn't even see straight.  It was one of the most emotional times I've ever had in my life, ever.  I realized that I was going to find out if I was having a boy or a girl!

We went in the ultrasound room, and it was everything I had ever read about.  a very comfortable bed, dimmed lights, peaceful.  She put the goop on me and it was warm, unlike the freezing cold goop at the doctor's office for the heartbeat.  She put some music on, a lullaby on the piano.  There was a big screen TV at the other side of the room that I could see where the picture would appear.

She started the ultrasound and moved the little wand thing around.  The second I saw the picture of the baby, I started to bawl.  I felt bad for her because she was trying to get a good view, and my crying prevented her from being very productive.  I finally calmed down after a few moments and just watched.  It was so amazing to see the little head and the little body.  She took a bunch of pictures as she went along so I was able to know what was in each shot.

Then... she went to check for the gender.  She found it!  But, you'll have to wait...  :) 

I'll blog a little bit later today with the news!  Can you tell what it is?

Need to Get Moving!

Today is Sunday.  I have done practically nothing.  I've just finished up an hour long nap, and I'm about ready to get started on cleaning up.  I'm doing the kitchen today, and Arthur is doing the bathrooms.  He already cleaned the majority of the house this week when he put the Christmas away.

Yesterday and today I didn't do much of anything.  I relaxed and had naps, which was so nice after feeling so gross last week.  I am looking forward to a normal week next week.

I spent some time today looking up YouTube movies of people who were able to find out the sex of their baby at their 14 week ultrasound appointment.  I don't expect that I will be able to, but it's nice to hope, right?

I still want to go to the external ultrasound place so I can find out for sure at 15 weeks.  I just want to know if I'm having a boy or a girl!

Let's see... another thing I wanted to blog about was a friend of mine who is also trying for a baby.  She's gone through a lot in her quest to get pregnant.  We've been going through this journey together in a way.  Earlier in the year, she seemed to be more on track to get pregnant than me.  There were a few times that we both were sure she was pregnant, and so I was hopeful for her.  About 2 months before I got pregnant (I think) she wasn't ovulating and so she was worried about being able to get pregnant.  For those of you who don't know what that means, if you're not ovulating, then it means you're not having a period.

She was really worried, and so was I.  She went to the doctor and I think they pointed at a few things, possibly being on birth control for awhile and possibly PCOS (Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome).  PCOS is when you have cysts in your ovaries and so it prevents you from ovulating.  The doctor was able to confirm that she did have cysts.  She went on a medication (I think it's Metformin) and it took away all of the cysts.  It is normally for people who are diabetic, or people who have insulin resistance... but it regulated her blood sugar and helped her get ready to start ovulating again.

Once she got the green light that her cysts had shrunk, she took Provera.  Provera brings on a false (or forced) period since she hadn't had one in so long.  After the jumpstart, she had one cycle that was weird,  after not having a period for so long.  Her second cycle, she ovulated!  The Metformin and Provera worked!  She is now 11 days past ovulation.  If you're pregnant, you can get a positive test starting around this time if you're body starts producing a lot of HCG.

For me, I had a positive test at 13 days past ovulation, but that was a personal choice because I was so nervous about getting a negative test.  I may have gotten one earlier if I had wanted to test sooner.

Anyways, we aren't sure if she's pregnant yet.  She knows her period hasn't come yet, which tells me that she may be pregnant.  She's had a few of the symptoms of pregnancy, like light cramping and exhaustion.  I want it so bad for her, so she can experience this.  It has completely changed my life.  It's like I was going down one road, and when I found out I was pregnant, I turned right and walked in a completely different direction.  Everything is different, and better.  Yes, I am sick a lot and may complain a lot on here, but the hope I feel is incredible.

The reason I talked about her is because I am really impressed by her story.  Even if she doesn't get pregnant this round, she is on her way to getting what she's always wanted and talked about for as long as I've known her.  I do wish I had someone else to come along on this journey with me that I was close with.  Even though I have friends and family members who have been pregnant before, it's different when it's someone who has wanted it as badly as I wanted it.

How far along:  13 Weeks, 3 Days
How much time left:  26 Weeks, 4 Days
 
Top two symptoms:  Today I have been really tired and been moving really slow.  Arthur says it's because I've been in bed most of the day.  Truth or not, I haven't had much energy today.  I'm up and moving now, so I anticipate the nausea will follow. 

Favorite thing I ate today:  Last night it was my night to cook.  Mike and I combined forces and we made Lemon Pepper Panko Crusted Chicken, tortellinis with Alfredo sauce and beans with almonds.  It was so good!  I had some leftover chicken today and it was just as delicious as it was last night.  :)

Mood:  Because I've been really lazy today, my mood has been normal.  I haven't felt too sad or too happy, and so I've appreciated the lack of ups and downs.  Now that I'm up and moving, I think I had better eat something so I don't get crabby.  ;)

Worried about:  I'm a little worried about work this week.  I've had a lot time off to relax and get re-charged... so I'm worried that I won't be used to the pace that this week is going to bring.  I'm just going to stay really positive and focus on getting through each day.  I just need to make sure I'm eating and getting enough sleep.

Excited for:  I do have some exciting news about job-related stuff.  I got an interview for a position I've really wanted for a long time.  It's on Tuesday, so I'll be sure to blog about how it goes.  I'm very excited to have a chance to show what I can do, and to talk about my passion behind this particular type of work.  Oh, I hope, I hope!!

Weekend!!

Hurray, it's the weekend!  I was really looking forward to sleeping in, but it's 7:00ish on a Saturday morning.  I am up because I heard this terrible crash that woke me up.  It sounded almost like someone had broken through our front room window and landed with a thud in our living room. 

I asked Arthur if he heard it, and of course he didn't.  He will probably sleep through the end of the world.  I was really scared and didn't want to come out of our room.  I listened for any follow-up noises like walking around, or glass crunching.   There was nothing but little cat bells.

I cautiously came out of our room and peered around the corner into the living room.  The cats had knocked over the big palm tree plant.  Arthur spent all day yesterday taking down the Christmas decorations, which included putting our big palm tree in front of the window again. 

I'm sure the cats weren't used to it, so they were probably trying to climb it.  It sits on a wiggly 3-legged stand. 

I tried to come back to bed to go back to sleep, but I kept worrying about water going all over the floor (if he'd recently watered it or something).  I came out and stood the plant up and now there's no way I can sleep.  :(

So, I'm up blogging.  I may get some hot chocolate and try to go rest a little in a bit, and maybe read.  I do love the morning when it's quiet and I can just do what I want.  I wonder if it will stay like that when I have kids. 

How far along:  13 Weeks, 2 Days
How much time left:  26 Weeks, 5 days
 
Top two symptoms:  Yesterday I didn't deal too much with difficult symptoms.  It was the typical headache throughout the day, and then nausea at night.  I think the nausea seems to get bad just as I'm starting to get ready for bed.   Not sure why.  I had to eat a banana, a half of a pack of saltines and eat a Preggie Pop Drop.  If you haven't heard of them, they're all natural and they're supposed to help with nausea.  They are sour, so I think something with the extra saliva production makes you not be as nauseated.  I'm not sure, but they work pretty good.  https://www.threelollies.com/

Favorite thing I ate today:  Yesterday, I had Subway.  It was so delicious.  I haven't eaten much today, so maybe I'll blog with that info later.  :)

Mood:  My mood yesterday was ok.  At work I was a bit frazzled because I had to get a bunch of stuff done for next week.  I did have a happy moment, my boss found out she's having a boy.  I was excited for her because she wants a boy.   The other highlight of my day was coming home and seeing Arthur.  He always cheers me up after I've had to work all day.  He even traded me nights and made me dinner.  Best husband ever.

Worried about:  Even though I'm extremely excited for my 14 week doctor's appointment next week, I'm nervous too.  What if something isn't normal?  Have I done everything I can to make sure I have a healthy baby?  I know that most of this stuff is out of my control, but I still worry about it. 

Excited for:  On the other side, I'm also very excited.  It would be cool if the doctor could tell me the sex of the baby.  I know 14 weeks is probably too early, but I can still hope, right?  I really, REALLY want to go get Fetal Fotos to do an ultrasound at 15 weeks because they can see the sex of the baby then.  They even guarantee that they will be able to tell you what it is from then.  Even if the baby is being "shy" I hear they give you a gift certificate to come back and try again.  I just want to know!!!  :)

Long Time No Blog!

So sorry for the delay.  I haven't felt like blogging until today this week.  I kept thinking about doing it and every time I did, I got a little bit of anxiety because of how long I've waited to blog.

But, I must forgive and forget, and move on.  Here I am, and here are the updates.

I promised a picture of my new haircut that I got on Saturday.  I have bangs and darker hair:

I also promised a picture of all of the baby stuff I got for Christmas.  I took a picture of all of it, including a few of the things I've collected on my own:

 On Monday of this week I worked from home.  I had a pretty relaxing day getting a few things done for the end of the year.  That night, Arthur and I went to see The Hobbit.  It was pretty good.  I kept waiting for them to meet up with the dragon and Arthur told me that it won't happen until at least the 3rd movie in the series.  Hmm.

After the movie, we went back home.  We watched the ball drop for the new year.  It wasn't very exciting, but it was very nice to not be stressed with going out and doing a bunch of stuff.

The next day we slept in until about 9:30.  I met up with my sister and her family to go to Build a Bear.  It was Adam's birthday present back in November to get a Build a Bear and an outfit.

We met up at the Gateway and ate at the food court for lunch.  Then we went to Build a Bear.  Adam picked a little dog and named him Ruff Ruff.  We got him an NBA outfit and a football outfit.  We dressed him in the NBA outfit:

After Build a Bear, we met up with Jackson and Whit and Leo at the Aquarium.  Jackson loved looking at the fish.  He is so cute, he babbles and talks non-stop.  He also let me hold him a few times, which was awesome.  It was nice to spend time with both my nephews and my niece on my day off.

I had to go back to work on Wednesday, and I've just been getting back into the groove of things.  Mostly, I'm just focusing on getting past these next week or so until I can get back to the doctor and see how my baby is doing.  I'm trying really hard to avoid nausea by eating well and sleeping as much as I can at night.  I still feel pregnant which tells me all is still ok.  :)

How far along:  13 Weeks TODAY!
How much time left:  27 Weeks

Top two symptoms:  Today it was nausea and body aches.  I have been coming home and taking a bath to help with the painful "growing pains".  They are mostly in my upper legs and lower torso.  I read that it's pretty normal for this part of the pregnancy.  Normal doesn't mean that I appreciate it, though.  :)  I tried to keep eating as much as I could today to help with the nausea.  I did a pretty good job. 

Favorite thing I ate today:  I went to Zupa's with my friends from work and I had the mushroom soup with orzo pasta.  It was de-lic-ious.  :)

Mood:  My mood at work was good, I felt like I was able to get everything done today and stay focused.  It got a bit worse after work, which is when I started to go downhill and feel a bit worse. 

Worried about:  My headaches are still there during the day, and I worry about the pain that I'm feeling in my legs and lower torso.  I know it's normal, but it still worries me sometimes.  

Excited for:  I'm looking forward to getting together with my sister, dad and Brielle to celebrate their birthdays.  It's always fun to spend time with my family.  :)