The day I spilled my cookies...err...cereal

Hello world. :) First, I'd like to ask all mothers and mothers-to-be, did your ultrasound tech give you digital pictures or did you scan your ultrasounds? I do not have a scanner, and I tried taking a picture of the picture of the ultrasound, but it looks so crappy, I'm not going to post it and disgrace my blog! :)

Anyway, I am almost to ten weeks--just a few more days! It is going by SO slowly, but so quickly at the same time.  I think after the initial shock and cloud nineness wore off, time has started to pass a bit more quickly, thank the good Lord!

I am actually feeling a bit less queasy as the time passes, but I will tell you a little story I like to call "I Finally Threw Up". It goes a little something like this...

On Father's Day Sunday, I ate my usual cereal of choice, the highly nutritious Fruity Pebbles, but this time, I drank orange juice with it--the first time I've had OJ since Junior came into the picture.  Before I got into the shower, I told Stuart I was feeling sick (I say this about ten times a day, so he didn't think much of it).  I was doin' my thing in there, and had even gotten to the conditioner-in-hair stage (I do this BEFORE I wash my body, so my conditioner can marinate a little) and I thought to myself, "Uh oh, I better sit down, I'm either going to pass out, or throw up." 

The next thing I knew, I was bent over puking my guts out. I'll spare you ALL the nasty details, but it was GRAY with a few multi-colored specks. I guess my tum tum can only digest so many pebbles at once. I yelled for Stuart, who ran into the bathroom and saw me bent over a pile of gray nastiness. He asked if I was ok, and if I needed anything, and at the time, I was feeling better so I said no. We cleaned the tub out, and I resumed my shower. 

It wasn't a whole minute later that I was bent over chucking again! Stuart came to my rescue, I got out of the shower (conditioner in hair, mind you) and sat on the toilet while he cleaned up  my mess.  Now, girls, is that not a wonderful husband?  He never once wretched, made comments about the stench...and you know vomit in a hot shower can't smell pleasant... and babied me the whole time. :)

Since I still had conditioner in my hair, I insisted on finishing my shower, only with cool water instead of hot.  I maintain that the heat of the shower mixed with acidic OJ and sugary pebs is what did me in.  We had to cancel our plans to take Stuart's dad to lunch because I was afraid my stomach was out of commission for the day.

Since then, knock on wood, I have felt pretty darn good. :) Maybe I just needed one good bleeccchhh to make me feel better. We shall see...

In other news, I want a mountain dew so bad I can't see straight. My baby NEEDS one! No, really! OK, maybe not, but momma sure wants one.  I am sticking to my guns, however dumb/naive/silly anyone thinks it is... if my diet coke addict (no really, like a 12-pack a day) could give it up while I was in utero, I think I can do the same for little Grace or Sam.  Which brings me to my next topic... NAMES!

We have already decided one our names, and they are:

Norah Grace (she will go by Grace, but daddy wants to call her Gracie)

or

Samuel Reid (he will go by Sam)

If you know much about my lineage, you know that parts of these names are significant to my side of the family. :) I come from a long line of Norahs... I am Norah Katherine, my mother is Norah Elizabeth, and my grandmother was Mary Norah. I am relatively sure that my great-grandmother was a Norah (family, help me out here?!), too. Anyway, my mom says she always wanted a "junior".  "Men have juniors, I wanted one too!" she says. For the longest time, I protested...I always hated my name on the first day of school.

You know, the teacher doesn't know anyone, and calls roll... "Noah Berry, is there a Noah Berry?" Or even if the off chance that the teacher got my name right, giggles would erupt in the classroom of immature kiddos who think the name Norah is old-fashioned, or even *gasp* dorky. Well, I have to say, as I have gotten older (sigh), the name has become more appealing to me, and I have gotten more compliments. :) As far as the Grace goes, we just love the name. AND, as an added bonus, we found out that a distant relative of Stuart's on his dad's side was named Gracie. Hot darn!

If the baby is a boy, Sam has no real significance, we just like it. :) But Reid is my grandmother's maiden name...and because she was so important to me, Stuart and I have both agreed that honoring her is something we'd like to do.

Since my last post, I have expanded my maternity wardrobe even further. Pregnant ladies, take note: Gap Body Maternity is where it's AT! Comfy, CUTE, and not any more expensive than Motherhood Maternity. I have a couple of pairs of pants, a belly band (I am ASSuming my A$$ won't expand to the point that my current jeans don't fit...please?), and several sweaters and long sleeved t-shirts.

Baby Wiser has also accumulated some more clothes, thanks to my step dad's mom. He went to visit in Kuwait, and came back with an assortment of girl-appropriate onesies, and a "gender neutral" aka yellow and green set of clothes...and a hat and the little mittens! Precious.  :)

We are still waiting on the whole home-buying process to pan out... kick me in the face. I refuse to bring Baby Wiser home to this apartment.  Not only is it busting at the seams with STUFF, but we only have two bedrooms, and the second room is my cat's (Willer, had her since I was in 5th grade) room, and because we have to keep Oscar the Pug and Willer the Cat separated...sigh. We are OUT of space. and I am out of patience... but I am trying to keep my cool for baby. :) Our "dream home" is not working out (dang short sale), so Monday evening we are going to look at other houses. Hopefully we find out soon. :-/

In the mean time, please keep sending your prayers up! We have our big "gender revealing" appointment on September 8th (less than 3 months, is that not CRAZY!?) and we can't wait to plan Baby Wiser's first "party" shortly thereafter.   Woohoo!

Dear Baby Wiser

Dear Baby Wiser,

Hi! I am your mommy. This is the first blog I've written just for you.  I hope that some day, when you're reading this, you can appreciate all the love, prayers, and support that you have already gotten!  The days CRAWL by, we are so ready to meet you already, even though you are only 5/8ths of an inch!  Sometimes, I think your Mimi and Grand-Sass are even more excited than Mommy and Daddy.  Nah! That's impossible. :)

Today I went to the doctor.  They tell me you are just about seven weeks old inside of there.  I didn't get to see you today, but next Wednesday, when you are 8 weeks old, Mommy and Daddy get to peek at you again! We can't wait. :)  Anyway, at the doctor, they told Mommy her blood pressure was high! 156/85...yikes.  I told the nurse that the circus of a waiting room probably didn't help things, and that I was nervous about this being my first "real" appointment.  You see little baby, when a mommy-to-be goes to the doctor, all sorts of awkward things happen...and, well, it's a little uncomfortable at times.

They asked me all sorts of questions about Mommy and Daddy, and even about Mimi's health!  After about 30 minutes, they took some blood just to make sure Mommy is healthy for you. At the end of the appointment, my blood pressure was 142/80. This is still not the best, but not quite as worrisome. :) Mommy and Daddy go back to the doctor tomorrow, and this time we get to meet our doctor.  His name is Dr. Dalton and some ladies from work say he's good.  I hope you like him.

After all that nonsense, Mommy and Daddy went to a place in Nicholasville called The Skillet with Uncle Andrew, Mimi, and Grand-Sass. Daddy and Uncle Andrew got 3 pound hamburgers! THREE POUNDS! If they could eat them in 20 minutes, they could get their money back.  No such luck...even though Uncle Andrew only had about a handful of french fries left when the timer went off. :(

Then, we went to Maggie Moo's and I got strawberry ice cream with gummy bears.  I think you like ice cream.  I never get sick after I eat it. :) If you're anything like your Mommy, you will love it! Which reminds me, I hope that Mommy and Daddy can help you eat good, balanced meals.  We talked about it today and are going to try to do better now, so that when you come, we won't be hypocrites when we make you eat your veggies.  I know, hypocrite is a big word. I will explain it some day. :)

We took our ice cream over to Gordman's and Mimi bought Mommy her first maternity outfit! I probably won't need it for a few months, but it was fun to look.  Boy are maternity clothes comfortable! I wish all my pants had elastic waist bands (well, I guess I could wear them, but people would make fun of Mommy!). We also looked at baby clothes, but because we don't know if you are Grace or Sam, we can't buy much yet.

So far, here's the breakdown:

Mommy: girl
Daddy: boy
Mimi (Mommy's mom): girl
Grand Sass (Mommy's stepdad): girl
Uncle Andrew: "I don't know."
Uncle Brad: boy
Aunt Melissa: girl
Tara: girl
Carly: boy

We should find out in September...and we plan on having a big party for you with all of the people who love you already! I will show you pictures some day. :)

Well sweet baby, all this growing you are doing is making me very tired. Don't worry, I love every minute of it. You keep on doing what you're doing. Every time Mommy and Daddy lay down at night, we say a prayer for you, and we know that in the morning, we are one day closer to meeting you!

Love,
Mommy

sweet puppy

So, a friend of mine told me that dogs can sometimes "sense" when their master is pregnant, sick, tired, etc. I think Oscar has finally caught on! We just spent about 30 minutes laying on the couch together, him on my belly (like a low-temp heating pad!)  I decided to go back to bed--gotta rest of my days off from work!--and he went with me and laid right beside me. What a loving, supportive little puppy.  As I type this, he is licking my arm...over, and over.....and ovvvver. Ok, ENOUGH Oscar! :)

So, today is roughly seven weeks. Maybe as early as 6 weeks 5 days, we don't really know for sure, but what I do know is that I feel like poop.  I finally broke down and called my primary care doctor (still haven't seen an actual OB yet) and left a message with the receptionist.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that my doctor has some ideas/meds/a big hammer to hit me in the head with... as long as it's safe for the baby.  I feel very, very queasy all the time.  If I get up to fast, I have to stop and hang my head down for a few minutes so I don't upchuck. While I have not yet actually vomited, at times I wish I would (maybe it would make me feel better). 

Yesterday Stuart and I went to the grocery store and on the way home, I was so close, I grabbed a fleece jacket that was in his floorboard to use as my "bucket".  Nothing.  I ran upstairs as soon as we got home and sat by the toilet for a few minutes.  Plenty of gagging, but no actual vomit.  Another thing I have noticed is that brushing my teeth has become very dangerous.  The whole brushing the back of your tongue thing...watch out.  Gag reflex heightened by a million.  The past 4 or 5 days, I have gagged every time I have brushed my teeth.  Lovely.

Daddy called to check on us a few minutes ago, and asked me if I was going to go swimming today since it is so sunny.  I said "no." He asked me why not...and I said "I just don't feel like it." :) Very odd for me, a former sun goddess, but the thought of sitting outside in the hot just  makes my stomach turn.  I will stay inside where it's nice and air-conditioned, thank you very much. :)

Amidst all the baby action going on, we are still waiting to hear something about our house.  We made an offer on a house in Southbrook in Nicholasville over a month ago.  It is a short-sale, though, so we knew it would take a while.  At the time, however, we didn't know about our other big news, so we weren't under any type of time constraint.  The last time I spoke with our realtor, I let him know that we want to be moved in with a nursery ready by the fall.  We shall see...

baby's first ultrasound

Well...hmph.

Today, Stuart and I went to get our very first glimpse of Baby Wiser...trans-vaginally mind you. Yuck!  Anyway, according to the ultrasound tech, we are probably a few days off on the baby's age...instead of 6 weeks and 1 day, Baby Wiser is measuring 5 weeks and 6 days.  She also said that this is VERY early to have an ultrasound and really see much. I told her that the receptionist probably only scheduled such an early ultrasound because I flipped out on the phone. :)

So, we saw the gestational sac...and fetal pole (Baby Wiser was all crammed up in the right side of the sac, I wish the little one would spread out a little bit in there!)...and a few flickers of the heartbeat!  We even heard it a few times on and off.  She tried to measure it, but she couldn't get a long enough read.  Rats. 

Stuart went with me and held my hand the whole time.  I feel so blessed to have such a loving, involved husband.  I know that little baby will be SO loved!  :)

I forgot to ask for a print of the ultrasound (what a horrible mommy-to-be!) but I am going back in two weeks so that they can get a better image and remeasure to double check our estimated due date and all that fun stuff.  The girl told me that most women don't get their first ultrasound until 8+ weeks.  I guess we are just ahead of the ballgame then huh?

I go back next week for a screening... I think this is the checkin me over, drawin some blood, asking lots of questions appointment.  I plan on sparing Stuart the misery. :) I figure he only needs/wants to come to the baby-viewing appointments. :)  Hopefully this time in two weeks I'll have a picture to show everyone! That little baby needs to do some growing in the meantime!!