Perks of Pregnancy

Despite the rough past months, I still would have to say there are some nice perks to pregnancy. :) A few being people wanting to open doors, carry things for you, feed you, oh and the parking at the mall is nice too. :) The bigger my tummy gets the nicer everyone around you seems to be. I am enjoying that part of pregnancy to the fullest...ask my husband. :)

Update on Declan:

I went into the doctors today and got to ask a few more questions about the questionable spot on Declan's heart. Luckily I was reassured by the doctor saying she see's these things all the time and hates to even bring them up and stress out the mom to be. She said they are checking it on the ultrasound in 2 weeks and is not concerned at all at this point for his health. I think at this point me stressing about it would just make things worse. I am SUPER excited to see how much my little man has grown in the past month. 2 more weeks to see his cute face. I have decided he is a stubborn little one. The lady had a hard time getting him to sit still to hear his heartbeat today- at first it freaked me out a little until I realized he would just move away from the doppler real quick. When she finally got to hear it he kicked it real hard. haha! He is stubborn just like mom and dad. :)

Still no weight gain- but that was SOLEY because I once again got a migraine so bad that I ended up throwing up like 20 times Saturday night- it was AWFUL but I am feeling SO much better right now. Now I am off to enjoy a fun weekend with good friends in Las Vegas! :) Hope everyone has a good week! :)

Half Way There

How Far Along: 20 weeks and 2 days (5 MONTHS?!) How could this have happened so fast? I feel like the 20 week mark is a BIG milestone for me- starting to slowly feel more comfortable with the whole being pregnant thing.

Baby: Baby is as big as a cantaloupe. Can’t believe I am fitting a cantaloupe child in my belly right now. He is about 7 inches in length and weighs ALMOST a pound!

Baby is creating meconium (ewe) and gaining weight now to get ready for birth! Declan also has sleep patterns now, which I am pretty sure I am aware of already. He sleeps during the day and wakes up at night BIG time! Lucky me for after he is born with this habit J I am guessing there is no way to adjust this now either is there?

Movement: Oh my gosh- I swear he is doing a round off back handspring in there as of late! I LOVE IT!!!!!

I am starting to wonder if that show "I didn't know I was Pregnant" was a big fat LIE! Seriously though...how in the world can you NOT see your belly growing because something the size of a Cantalaop is moving around inside of you?? Used to love that show...now I don't believe...haha!

Sleep: I take a unisom at night but still get up too pee a few times and have a hard time falling back asleep. Usually because I will realize Declan is moving and get to excited to sleep.:) I end up sleeping on my back often times because my child I swear is pushing on all my organs when I am on my side! Definitely feeling cramps and ligament pains now too (Do yours feel like menstrual cramps????) Mine do and it kinda freaks me out!

Symptoms: Still Dry heaving but not throwing up- I'll take it! I think I may have even gained a pound! :) I see the doctor on Monday to find out how that's going. I am feeling SO much better these days- EXHAUSTED with my new work schedule (4 11 hour days in a row is rough on a pregnant lady) but overall feeling REALLY excited to meet my son! I am obsessed with my nephew already so I can see how much fun boys are!

Purchases: I bought my bedding this week which was HUGE for me! I found the EXACT custom bedding I wanted with a matching mobile- all to be shipped to me THIS week! EEK! I was honestly terrified of actually purchasing something like that for some reason- didn't want to jinx myself maybe?? My sister gave me lots of cute boy clothes that Luke already grew out of!

I took this at work today - I don't think this shirt is the best for a belly pic- but none the less here it is. :) I think I may be pushing out a tad on this- or maybe just in denial about my growing belly.

Thought I would a picture of my baby right now- She is already jealous when I want to pet my belly rather than her. I am stressing a tad about how she will react to a baby- but we will see :)

AWFUL pic of me- Jonny convinced me into going to a movie with no makeup on- but he HAD to take a picture since I just HAD to get both a pickle AND Ice cream before sneaking it into the movies. Don't worry folks I don't eat them together :)

My dinner last night...mmmmm I really LOVE grapefruit right now- but I ALWAYS love grapefruit- it's just a bit intensified now :)

BIG EXCITING NEWS!!!!

Husband decided to surprise me and take me on a BABYMOON to San Juan Puerto Rico NEXT MONTH! Hopefully I won't be too huge at 6 months along?! We have been there before and LOVED it! Beautiful Caribbean waters and rain forest greenery??! YES please!

P.s I am reading so many blogs of amazing ladies waiting for their BFP! SOOO excited for each of you and am praying for all of you!!!! :)

Anatomy Scan

I was EXTREMELY excited/nervous about today's scan. You obviously want to hear that everything is perfect and you are doing a good job of housing the little babe. I got 45 minutes or so to see my little man up on screen- he looked SO big compared to last time and seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen! I couldn't believe you could see his perfect little features! The lady said he was super photogenic and gave me lots of video clips and pics to take home.

Here are a few of my favs :)

His adorable little foot- and yes he had all ten fingers and toes!

His little face! I am in love with his button nose :)

And SUCH a happy boy in there- he decided to throw a big smile our way! haha! This one cracks me up- I can't wait to meet him and know his personality.

Declan sucking his thumb - Makes my heart melt
And his profile!

After the ultrasound I went in to meet with Dr. Huish where I got a half hour lecture on eating everything in sight. He was concerned since I haven't gained any weight since the beginning- said the baby was healthy just stealing all my nutrients (hence the dizzy spells I've been getting as of late.) Eating more I can handle- I am still throwing up though and dry heaving which makes the weight gain a bit difficult. I was SOOOO grateful he is measuring EXACT to where he should be though!

He then told me he wanted to see me again in 2 weeks and then 2 weeks after that for another ultrasound. I got a bit worried just because I knew this was supposed to be the final ultrasound given and usually he would need to see my for a regular visit a month later. He told me NOT to worry- that he has seen this before but he found that one kidney was a bit smaller than the other and he also found a spot on his heart that he wanted to keep an eye on. He said some long name that I of course have NO clue of. I was still on cloud nine from seeing my boy and didn't even THINK to ask more questions. All I heard was "Don't worry" "It's gonna be fine." Hours later I decided to research online (NEVER a good idea people!) AND NOW- I'm starting to worry.

I read the kidney thing and wasn't too concerned. I did read a few women that were told that and then their son had some discomfort occasionally from it. My concern was more the heart. It can cause a higher risk of down syndrome which I chose and still choose to not test for at this point. I really know nothing about this spot and need to just take a chill pill till my next ultrasound- and just remember this means ANOTHER ultrasound to see my little boy! So for now- I am TRYING not to worry myself.

And now- a few video clips of little Declan (Don't worry they're short) I just couldn't resist showing him off!

I am guessing he is Nombing down on his amniotic fluid- lol

Little Wiggle Worm

Him in 3d :)

I'm such a proud Mommy!!!!!

Blog Award

I wrote about it on THIS blog since that is where I received the award- but MANY of you have received an award from me there so be sure to check it out! :)

ChEcKlIsT KeEpS GrOwInG!!!!

I am in full on nesting mode as of late and I feel like my checklist keeps growing and growing! Last night as I was cleaning the kitchen- I grabbed a bag of garbage to bring out and BAM - I had this massive pain shoot in my uterus. I have never felt any stretching pains really so this was new- I didn't think anything of it- just figured I needed to rest. ALL day today though I have been waddling everywhere from the pain of what must be a pulled ligament. I have decided to hire someone to do the house cleaning in hopes that will help :) For now I am just working and attempting to figure out the room.

We are working on designing some custom bedding- which again has been a pain to agree on- Jonny really likes this set below- so this is a possibility for the fabrics.
My sleigh crib is on it's way but we did find the rest of our furniture (Changing table and a few small dressers ) on craigslist that will match almost perfectly! Unfortunately the hutch won't work anymore because the color is off- I could paint it but I don't want to overwhelm the room with too much furniture.
Ignore the hutch since I will be kicking that out soon :)
The crib should be in soon but I still need to figure out something fun for the lighting and the window (maybe drapes of some sort??) Still need an awesome comfy chair/glider for nursing and of course to paint! After waiting for really 8 years for this kid- I think I am going a little crazy on the nursery :) I just hope it will all come together and look like what I have pictured in my head :)

18 Weeks 1 day and the Beginning of 2012

I must say I am THRILLED to be starting this year with all the exciting changes happening in our family! I have 154 days left till I get to meet my little son. This pregnancy may not have been easy each and every day- but I will say that I would do it all over again times a billion to have this baby boy. I am already in love with this little man.

He is finally making himself known by moving all around in my belly - he feels like an active one now! My hubby still can't feel it yet but I'm sure that's to come in the next few weeks- something we are looking forward to. :) It puts a HUGE smile on my face every time I feel him moving around. Right now I can usually only feel him for a few minutes at a time a few times a day- hopefully as he gets bigger it will be easier to tell.

My husband and my 8 year anniversary is coming up here pretty soon here. Every year this brought on a lot of bittersweet feelings- it was a reminder each year that I STILL wasn't pregnant. It hurt so bad because I would do ANYTHING to be in this position right now. As you can see from my background story- we tried a REALLY long time. I read a story today about a woman who went into pre term labor at 18 weeks (SAME amount of pregnancy as me) and lost her little boy. She was so positive and so sweet and grateful for the time she got to hold her little boy. This reminded me how fragile life really is and to NEVER take one moment for granted. Point is- I tried a long time for this baby- I am truly grateful for every moment with this baby- even the hard ones.

Now onto Exciting things:

How Far Along: 18 weeks (ALMOST HALF WAY!!!!!) 22 Weeks LEFT

Baby Update:

Every week I get SO excited to see how much my little Declan has grown from all these awesome websites out there.

*Declan is now 5.6 inches long (He is as big as a bell pepper!)

*He weighs a whopping 6.7 ounces! (Over Half a pound and continuing to gain weight)

* He's yawning, hiccupping, swallowing, twisting, rolling, punching, and kicking!

Things I miss most: Nothing- waited too long for this :)

Things I am looking forward to:

Getting to see my little boy again on ultrasound in a week and a half! Going in at a little over 19 weeks to do his anatomy scan. I am a nervous wreck as usual wanting him to be healthy but am thrilled to see his cute little face and see how he has changed in the past month!

Symptoms: Was still dealing with vomiting and dehydration pretty bad at the beginning of the week- lost 5 pounds in the mix of all this and now back to gaining. Feeling SO much better now!!! Dealing with just gagging a few times a day- and headaches that are still not nearly as severe as last week. Still having crazy VIVID dreams- so strange to remember 2 or 3 different dreams when you wake up the next morning. Still 4 pounds under where I started the pregnancy at, but I have a feeling that’s gonna change really quick here. J

Cravings: Grapefruit and sugary cereals this week. Still craving pickles…mmm mmmm

P.S THANK you for all the texts, emails, and responses on the baby sling. I have a good friend who is going to make me a homemade “Moby Wrap” from a tutorial she found and another friend letting me try out one she didn’t use with her baby. I appreciate ALL the help!

AND a belly shot for the week. Jonny said the shirt is taking away from the belly so I was brave and did one without. Don't let the white belly scare you...tanning hasn't been my top priority as of late. :)

Other than that I have just been doing some random shopping around and starting a few projects for his room. PRETTY sure we are sticking to our original plan of the gray and blue and still pretty sure his name is Declan. Jonny wants to change the spelling now to Deklin so people pronounce it right- just unsure if it looks to girlie with a "k." Hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the new year!