24 week milestone

As silly as this may sound, I've been counting down the days to the 24 week mark. Preemies have a much higher likelihood of viability/survival outside the womb after 24 weeks, should and early delivery become necessary. "Micropreemies," as they are called, have their own sets of problems to deal with but I feel like now that I've reached this point I can breath a little sigh of relief knowing that even if something terrible happened to me or the pregnancy, at least Ash would have a decent chance at living on his own. I'm sure this is totally irrational, but normal. Breath with me "whew." 


I have a good number of posts that I'm working on and just haven't had time to finish and upload, so look for those in the next week or so. For now, I'll leave you with a few new belly pics in the slideshow on the other page. For whatever reason, we always take the pictures last ate night when I have no makeup or hair done, so please excuse my face and the horrible lighting.

Mothers' Day

Mother's Day was not overly eventful for us. We got to give both of our mothers these great books we found titled Granda, Tell Me Your Memories which have 365 pages of questions about their life/childhood for our moms to fill out each day and then return to us to give to Ash (and future siblings). It will be fun to ready a page each day for a year when the kids are older so they can get a glimpse of what growing up was like for Kim and Janina. Kim's book was delivered by mail to Oklahoma and Janina's was hand delivered, as we got to pick up her and my dad from the airport on the night of mothers's day.


We didn't celebrate a mother's-to-be-day for me (I think that's probably a jinx or something) but I did receive sweet cards from my sister-in-law Jenni and Aunt Lynda,and a book called Prayers for Expectant Parents from Linda Hillis.


Thank you all!

Daddy's thoughts on Gender Determination

My closer friends and acquaintances who've recently had children have all had girls. My mother is one of five girls, my dad had three girls until I showed up, Nina's brother has two girls, my boss just had a baby girl, our neighbors JUST had a baby girl, and a couple in our small group JUST had a baby girl.

So, I was convinced we were having a girl. I talked to several people, they asked questions about how Nina was feeling and they all agreed that the signs pointed to: A GIRL. No problem. I'll play dress up, have tea, and learn to carry a gun when she turns 13.

When March 25 finally showed up, I woke up normally and took Toby on his morning constitutional. We often have great conversation on these walks, as he may be one of the better listeners I've ever met. Granted, he's usually sniffing a tree or bush, or darting after some hungry squirrel, but he's always willing to lend a floppy ear. As we walked, I told him, "It's going to be a girl, and the household playingfield will be even." I went to work, told everyone it's going to be a girl and I couldn't wait to buy her cute dresses and ribbons for her hair.

I was tempted to call Nina and say let's forget the sono, we know what it is... but I didn't. Ounce of hope, maybe?

Our family gathered at the doctors office at 3:00... we waited a few minutes and a happy young woman with her mom and friend emerged, "It's a Boy!"

I felt as though our odds had, for some reason, just gone down... why is this? As if her having a boy could in any way affect our child.... But the feelings/emotions I'd been having weren't rational either (how many people really talk to their dog on a morning walk trying to convince IT that all would be fine with another girl in the house).

As we entered the sono room, Joe introduced himself. A great guy with a reputation of having never missed the sex of a baby. 

Joe got Nina prepped and started up with the pictures, I called my mom with the expectation of giving her the news... As Joe worked, he showed us the spine, the umbilical cord (which is three chambered) and generally took his time with my emotions... finally, he asked if we were ready... we confirmed... and he said:

"Say hello to your little baby..... BOY!"

Screams throughout!

Who'd a thunk I could actually do this right?

Over all the screaming, Mom wasn't able to hear what was said, but I told her and she was just as excited. 

Exhaustion and joy hit me at once, yet I still had plenty of nervous energy to keep me going. I called family, friends, some people I barely knew... I'd actually done this part of parenting right. I imagine it's only going to go downhill from here...

A good day

April 27, 2011


I'm still convinced that it's these dresses that help make me look pregnant, because I'm still squeezing into my jeans (albeit not the skinny jeans).


A second person noticed I was pregnant today. I was at King Korn Popcorn getting a birthday bucket for my dad when the woman helping me sheepishly looked at me and asked, 
"So how are you feeling?"
"Um...good?" 
"Are you...? When are you...?" she stammers (probably wondering if she may have just offended me, at which point I realize that she thinks I'm pregnant)
"September 10!"


We continued to have a friendly conversation about how I was feeling, if it was my first child, all of her grandchildren, etc. Before I left, she mentioned how beautiful I looked, which really made my day because I was having quite the ugly day (unshowered, hair in a pony, broken out).

Penta Screening

April 11, 2011 - 10:21 a.m.

I just heard from Dr. Benz's office that our penta screening (screening to see if the baby is at risk for a chromosomal abnormality) was negative. Rejoice!

"You having a baby?"

April 7, 2011

Today was the first day that a stranger noticed I was pregnant - quite a milestone in my book!

I still barely look like a mommy-to-be, but some clothes certinaly accuntuate the baby bump.
I was wearing a black and white faux wrap dress from Target (which incidentally is my least favorite item of clothing, so I was not upset when I got red juice all over it after delivering a cinnamon snow cone to JR at work this afternoon) with a wide black belt at my waist. I think the belt helps the bump portrude, because when I was having a long-overdue pedicure with mom, one of the nail techs who has worked there for as long as I can remember, passed me in the hallway and did a literal double-take. "You having baby?" she asked. I was so proud to say "Yes, I am!"

I'm sure there will be lots of these questions in the future months and I'll probably get tired of answering the obvious, but for today, it was nice to be noticed!

Second Trimester Progress

This trimester, I am hoping: to finally look pregnant

I am most looking forward to: gender determination

I am most nervous about: additional blood tests for disorders, etc.

I am least excited about: how busy I am this trimester

Something amazing I've learned so far: that the baby will eventually open its eyes in the womb

Changes in my body: I've finally got a barely rounded belly at 16 weeks. It has been disconcerting to see women who are due after me that look very pregnant, while I'm still fitting into my skinny jeans (although I'm having to use the rubber band trick to keep them on after lunch!) I've also had quite a bit of back pain, which is normal for me, but seems to be exacerbated by the pregnancy. I'm already begging JR to get me a Snoogle to help me sleep comfortably!