Daddy finally got to feel Peyton move!

Last night I felt Peyton moving around quite a bit after we laid down in bed. It was stronger than I had felt before, and I thought that John just might be able to feel it too. I put his hand on my belly and sure enough, he felt her kick!! It was really great for him to experience this too, and I look forward to many more nights of even more moving.

20 Weeks, 2 days

Lots to update-20 Weeks

I don't know where to begin, there is so much to update. First off, some belly shots. These were taken Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I am definitely starting to pop, which has been really fun. Christmas Day marked 5 months exactly of pregnancy, which also means I am half way there!!!!

The biggest news we found out on December 23rd is that this baby is a GIRL!! John and I were already decided on a first name, which will be Peyton. We are still deciding on middle names for her, and the options are Rylee, Paige, or DeMaris. It has been great knowing that we have a little baby girl growing in there, and now finally being able to call her by name instead of saying "it", "the baby", or even at times calling her Sammy.

We had a 45 minute ultrasound on December 23rd to find out the sex, and also to measure and check on Peyton's anatomy. John and I were so excited leading up to this day that both of us had trouble sleeping at times. The day finally came, and we could hardly believe it was there. When the ultrasound first started, we told the tech how excited we were to find out the sex. About 5 minutes into the ultrasound, the tech casually mentioned that this is what a girls parts look like, and that we indeed had a girl. To be sure, I asked her how sure she was and she said there was absolutely no doubt about it, it was a girl. The rest of Petyon's anatomy was all present and measured right on target. During the measurements, she would move all around, and at times I could feel the movement. Her head was on my left side, and feet on my right, which is the opposite from our first ultrasound. Here eyes remained closed. They said that she weighs almost a pound and from head to toe is about 12 inches tall. She was positioned in such a way that the tech had trouble measuring something on her heart, and something on her spine, so she did a vaginal ultrasound and was able to then get the measurements. Once the tech was done getting all of her shots, it is routine for the OB to come in and do a quick ultrasound herself. The OB said that Petyon looked beautiful and healthy. As the OB did the shot, she mentioned that the Placenta was "low lying" and a bit close to my cervix, although it was not covering the cervix (which would be Placenta Previa and would mean that I would need to have a C-section). The OB said that the majority of time as my belly grows, the Placenta will be pulled up and away from the cervix, and that it was nothing to worry about. We asked her if we would need to have another ultrasound later on to confirm that it did indeed move away from the cervix, and she said no we didn't need to.

A couple of weeks ago, John and I made the decision to not work with Cascade Birth Center anymore. There were some things about the center that started making me feel uncomfortable, and not completely confident in their care. I had heard fantastic things about the midwife group at Providence, and had our first appointment with them on December 21st. We met with Gretchen for our first visit, and I immediately clicked with her. She was caring, paid attention to detail, personable, confident, and knowledgeable. We mentioned some of the the reasons to her why we decided against the birth center and she was very attentive to those concerns. As she was going through my chart history, she noticed that the blood labs drawn on me at 8 weeks had a concerning thyroid level. A normal thyroid level was approximately 1.5-2.5 and mine was listed at 20! The birth center had mentioned at 8 weeks that all my lab work came back great, with not problems (obviously an oversight on their part). Gretchen was concerned enough that she re-drew my blood that day, put me on medication immediately, and had me make an appointment with an internal medicine doc for 2 days later. Good news is that the next day she called us regarding my re-drew blood and told us that my Thyroid levels all came back completely normal. Whew! We were extremely relieved to hear that and I didn't need to take the medication anymore, nor did I need to see the internal medicine doc. After all of this, we were extremely impressed with Gretchen and felt very good about making the switch to Providence.

On Christmas Eve (1 day after our ultrasound to find out the sex and measure for anatomy), and midwife from Providence called to discuss the results of the ultrasound. He said that they too noticed the Placenta was close to the cervix, that they were not concerned, but that they did indeed want me to come back for an ultrasound in the 3rd trimester to check for the placement of it then. So, in a couple of months, we will get to see Peyton once again with another ultrasound.

I started feeling Peyton move at about 17-18 weeks. I keep saying the best way to describe the movement is exactly what it is, a little kick inside. It also feels like a little piece of popcorn popping. Since then, I have continued to feel increased movement all the time. Peyton is quite the active little girl. I love it each and every time I feel it and can't wait for John to be able to enjoy it as well. Hopefully we are only a few weeks away from him being able to do so.

Maternity pants and I are NOT good friends. Although I definitely can't fit into my regular pants anymore, I have not loved any maternity pants whatsoever. I have been living in leggings and long sweaters. I just very may well continue to do so as long as I can. John and Molly got me 2 pairs of fold over yoga pants for Christmas (which I am wearing right now), and I absolutely adore them. These will be added to my everyday wear. My mom and Tommy also got me 2 maternity shirts for Christmas and I love them as well.

Finding out the sex came just in time for Christmas and our friends and family definitely took advantage of that buying LOTS of things for Peyton for Christmas. We received a pair of sandals from Karin and Eric, a Ladybug onesie, monkey bib, and lion stuffed animal with blanket from Grandma and Grandpa Kirkpatrick, 2 little stuffed animals from Grandpa Kirkpatrick (his annual gift to all the girls in the family and we felt very special for him to include Peyton this year), a pack of adorable onesies, a polk-a-dot pink dress, hair clips, and jammies from auntie Anna and Uncle Colin, Peyton's first photo frame, a sleep sack (that also turns into pants), and a few outfits from Nana and Papa, a cute yellow and pink onesie from Nana Demaris, and John got a "Daddy's girl" onesie in his stocking from Santa. Nana and Papa also got us a BabyCook so that we can make our own baby food for Peyton (Tiffany was especially excited for this!). We were so flattered that people thought of her on Christmas. It was very sweet of everyone, and fun for both John and I to open our first girly things after finding out that Peyton was a she. Her crib is already getting filled with lots of fun things (see pic).

I am really enjoying the pregnancy so far, and feel that I can identify even more with the baby, now knowings she's a girl. I look forward to all the new adventures that will come in the next 5 months until we can meet her!

Week 17 Bump Pic

Here is the baby bump at 17 weeks.

4 Month Appointment

Today I had my routine 4 month appointment at the birth center. I got to hear the heartbeat again, which is always amazing. The little peanut was so active moving all around when the midwife was using the Doppler to hear the heartbeat. It was very comical! The midwife made the comment that "it must be a boy because of how much it is moving around." That will make John happy. Everything looked great, except for my calorie intake. I have gained only 2 pounds so far. The midwife asked me to tell her exactly what I ate yesterday. After hearing what I ate, she said I need to eat approximately 1000 more calories per day than I have been doing! She said especially because I have been working out (which has been such a wonderful thing for my energy level), that I need to take in no less than 2500 calories per day. She said if I eat every 2 hours that should help, and snack on items like peanut butter and crackers, cheese and crackers, hummus and pita bread, whole milk (yuck!), and nuts. I drove straight from my appointment to McDonalds and had a cheese burger and fries for lunch, which I NEVER EVER do. It was very good though!

We are chomping at the bit to find out the sex, which we do exactly 3 weeks from today. Cant' wait to refer to this baby finally as a he or she!!!

About a week and a half ago, we decided it was time to put up the crib and transform the old office into the nursery. We had a great time with this. We moved the "office" stuff upstairs and transformed that room more into a den/office than a guest room. We took down my old bed that was upstairs and bought a Aero bed for the 1 time a year that we actually get guests. So far we have accumulated the following for the baby which now sits in the nursery:

• Crib (thanks Kate and Todd)
• Glider chair
• Swing
• a few packs of diapers
• a couple of unisex outfits from Tiffany's girlfriends
• Duck slippers (that my mom and Tommy purchased for Kalei, Mason, and Alex, so I had to have a pair for our baby too!)
• Pack and Play (thanks Katie & Todd)
• Baby bath (Thanks Katie & Todd)
• Walker (Thanks Katie & Todd)

I have been feeling pretty good the last few weeks. Very little to complain about here. My new absolute favorite pregnant item is leggings. These puppies have been lifesavers!!! They are stretchy, so they fit me perfectly (not too small like my regular pants are now, but not too big like most maternity pants are). I have been wearing them pretty much every day. I have a little pain when sneezing or standing up too fast, which I am told is caused by Round Ligament Pain down in my uterus and is completely normal. Still am sleeping well. I HATE taking my vitamins. Every. Single. Time. I take them, I gag. Yuck. That must be a pregnancy induced thing. John has asked very nicely that I don't take them in front of him, or he too may gag.

Geneva and Brice found out that they are having a girl! This will be the first girl great granddaughter in our family (4th child born, and all others are boys).

Next update-a new belly pic next week.

First Belly Pic

My belly at 15 weeks.

Catching up on the first 14 weeks of pregnancy

Here I am, a little over 14 weeks pregnant and I thought it was about time to start blogging about my experiences with carrying this baby. I'll start from the beginning...

John and I had been trying to conceive for a few months. I had decided to chart my cycles since they were really long and irregular, so I had been charting for the past couple of months. I was expecting my period any day. We decided to take a test the next morning (it was Friday night). I woke up at about 3:00am that morning to use the restroom and decided to go for it. There I was pacing back and forth in our dark house (John fast asleep) waiting for those little lines to show up. To my surprise, it was positive! I went running back into our bedroom and woke John up to let him know. He was of course beyond thrilled. We were up for the next couple of hours, excitedly talking everything over.

I had know for a while that when I did become pregnant, I was interested in exploring the option of having a natural birth. Although many chose this because they don't want their baby exposed to the various drugs used in a medicated birth, that was not my reason. I saw childbirth as a challenge, and knew that it was something I could conquer without an epidural if I put my mind to it. My good friend Lucie had just given birth a few months prior and had all her prenatal care done at a birth center with midwives. She had expressed to me several times how wonderful her experience had been and that she wouldn't have it any other way. We decided to meet with the midwives at Cascade Birth Center in Everett, just a few blocks from the main hospital. John and I showed up literally with a hand written list of questions to ask the midwives. We wanted to be sure that if we were in fact to chose this option for our birth that it was a well educated decision and we felt comfortable, safe, and prepared for what came along with our decision. We walked away from that first appointment feeling completely confident in the birth center and the staff there. We felt safe with the possibility that we may have our baby there.

We had our first ultrasound at 8 weeks. That morning we went in to the birth center for a routine check up and they said we should schedule an ultrasound on our way out. Turns out that the ultrasound center had an opening right then and there, so we headed over to the center. We got to see the baby (which looked more like a blob), and we also got to actually see the little heart beating (as well as hear it). It was such a great feeling to see the little baby in there and know they were safe. John and I just felt so much happiness.

Our next ultrasound was scheduled for week 12 and was a screening for downs syndrome. During this ultrasound, we again got to see the baby which now looked like an actual baby. They had 2 legs, 2 arms, fingers, toes, etc. The ultrasound tech told us the baby had developed all their parts besides the sex organs. John was hoping to be able to determine the sex at this ultrasound, but as I suspected it was too early. I could not stop smiling during the entire ultrasound (which lasted about 20 min or so and we were able to get on DVD). It was such a neat feeling to see the baby moving in there while the tech was measuring all their parts. At one point during the ultrasound, it appeared that the baby was sucking either their finger or thumb. They played with their hands a lot and moved all over. Their head was positioned on the right side of my belly, feet on the left side. Once again, we got to see and hear the heart beat, which was of course fantastic. The ultrasound showed very, very low risk of Downs.

I feel pretty darn blessed so far with my pregnancy. I had about 3 weeks of some fairly moderate nausea, but never got sick (as in vomit sick). During those 3 weeks, food also did not sound good at all. I ate whatever I could choke down. From time to time, my blood pressure (or blood sugar) will fall too low and I feel faint. Its happened twice while I have been scrubbed into surgery and all of a sudden my face will get extremely hot and I feel very weak. The 2nd time it happened, I actually had to drop out of the surgery and go and eat a cracker, sit down, and drink some juice. Within 15 min, I felt better. During the first trimester, I felt extremely fatigued. It was all I could do to make it through my work day and then I would come immediately home and be on the couch the rest of the night, often falling asleep around 8:00 or 8:30. However, once 2nd trimester was here, I had most of my energy back and even have been back at the gym a couple of times a week.

I have been itching to shop for this baby, but its been hard without knowing the sex. About a month ago, however there was a gigantic twin sale out at Bellevue Community college that Katie was a part of and let me know about. It was used baby items of all kinds. John, my mom and I headed out and we scored big time. It was so much fun to shop for the baby with both John and my mom. We bought a swing, little ducky slippers, a baby tent for Hawaii next year, and a front carrier pack that John picked out. Hayley and her mom bought the very first outfit I have received for the baby as a congratulations gift. A nurse at work brought me a small stroller, a book and a toy for the baby. Katie and Todd handed us down a really nice crib, a walker, a baby bath, and some additional supplies.

We've decided to use the office as the nursery. We are slowly getting prepared to make that change over such as moving the computer desk upstairs, purchasing laptops, selling the papasan chair (just today), etc.

I bought my first pairs of maternity pants just last week. They are still too big for me, but my regular clothes are getting uncomfortably tight. I am in between being able to wear my regular clothes and wearing maternity clothes, so most of the time I have been wearing leggings, and am very thankful to get to wear scrubs at work all day. This past Friday was Colin's 30th birthday party and the first time that people noticed my little baby bump. Its very tiny, but its there. It seems to be more present in the evening. My mom has noticed my breast have gotten bigger as well.

John has been a wonderful support so far through everything. I am lucky to have such an involved husband and he is just as excited as I to meet the baby.

More to come!