12 Week Dr. Appointment

Well, I know I said that I would only post once a week, and thus far it's been three posts already this week :-P (mostly just because it's been a big week!). We had our 12 week appointment yesterday - everything sounds great! We got to hear the heartbeat through a Doppler machine (basically a portable ultrasound that you can only hear through). Not only did we hear the heartbeat but we could hear him/her moving around like crazy! The nurse midwife asked which of us is a "whirling dervish" (umm hello? Me of course!) because this baby was moving all over the place - she kept having to reposition the machine to find the heartbeat again :) She said that the heart sounded great and our baby's activity was also a good thing. Praise God! Next appointment is in 4 weeks - right before we come home for the race!!

Please keep praying for a healthy baby - at our next appointment, we get a blood test called a "Quad Screen" that may give some markers for possible neurological problems in the baby (Down's syndrome, neural tube defects, etc). Praying that all of those will be normal!

Love you all!

12 Weeks

Our baby is the size of a lime this week!  He/she is growing rapidly, as he/she was only the size of a fig last week. This week's development is focused on reflexes - opening and closing their fingers, curling the toes, and making sucking movements with their mouth. The baby also responds to external stimuli and will move in response (even though I can't feel it yet). The eyes and ears are in their proper places, the intestines are slowly settling into place (moving from the umbilical cord into the abdomen...weird, right?!), and the kidneys are starting to excrete urine. From head to bottom, our baby is 2 inches long and weighs 0.5 ounces!

As for me, well, my clothes are slowly starting to get a little tighter in the waist region. The nausea has mostly subsided (except for early in the morning and later in the night time - especially on a night shift!) but the heartburn persists :( I have been feeling pretty exhausted the past few weeks - gee, I can't imagine why - but am hoping I will get some of my energy back soon! Also, as I'm sure Tyler can attest to, I have been slightly emotional/stressed (couldn't possibly be related to the hormones on top of the move to our new place?!) - thankfully, he loves me enough to ride the emotional roller coaster with me :)

At this point, we're trying to get all moved in to our new place and get the boxes out of the way. Once that daunting task is completed, hopefully we can start (slowly!) decorating the nursery and making more plans for the baby's arrival (more accurate budget, looking for furniture, making a registry, finding a babysitter/making future employment plans, etc).

Once again, please continue to pray for our sweet little developing baby, and also for our sanity as we get settled into our new place :)

More updates to come next week!

Welcome to the Blog

Welcome! We're so glad you are a part of this exciting new journey in our lives!
We found out we were expecting back in March and have been DYING to tell everyone! Of course, working where I do, I was hesitant about telling everyone too early as there are so many risks, especially in the first trimester. But here we are, almost out of the first trimester and eager to share this experience with our friends and family :)

Also in exciting news, we bought a house! We have officially moved into our new place, which conveniently has enough space for our new little bundle of joy :)

I'll try to keep you all up to date on how our little one is growing and how we're preparing for its arrival (hopefully in early November), and of course, we welcome all of your suggestions and helpful hints in our first go-round as parents!

Please be praying for our little one, that he/she would grow healthy and strong; also for us as we're preparing for our first child (financially, mentally, physically, etc) - I have a feeling we have no idea what we're really in for!; and also for our friends and family who are so far away who want to, so badly, be a part of this first-hand and are unable to because of the distance.

Here's to many more weeks of posts ahead!