Christmas 2011

 23 weeks:)

 24 weeks:)

 25 weeks 6 days:) On our way to Christmas Cocktail!

 My Favorite Kiddos!  I can't believe how big they are!!

 26 weeks:) Christmas Eve at my parents!

Christmas Eve with our little family!

Adam and I had a wonderful Christmas season this year!  We were both super busy with work the week before Christmas, but it was so nice to have that extra day (Monday) just to be home.  As usual we spent Christmas Eve with my family in Owensboro.  We always have such a great time-we do lunch with my immediate family (parents and sisters family), then later that same day some extended family comes over.  Its so great to see all the little ones and the adults play "Dirty Santa" which is always a hoot!  Then we spent Christmas Day in Frankfort with Adam's immediate family.  Baby girl even received a few gifts this year!  From Grandmomma and Grandaddy (my parents)- a set of gowns and they had previously mailed us a very cute parents to be ornament for our tree.  From Aunt Summer and Uncle Robin (my sis and BIL)- a book of nursery rhymes.  From Amie (my niece)-a christmas ornament. From Trent (my nephew)- an Elmo playmat From Aunt Abby (Adam's sister)-a UK onesie.  From Adam's parents (they are still deciding what they want to be called!)- a swing and diapers

Adam and I didn't really have a "special" time to exchange our gifts.  Next year, we will definitely set aside a "family" time for the 3 of us!  I got Adam a new UK t-shirt and a set of noise canceling earphones (he requested these!).  Adam got me a Kate Spade diaper bag!  I was super excited about this--we got a great deal on it at the outlets in Jeffersonville, OH.  He also surprised me with a gift certificate to the Baby Belly Spa for a prenatal massage and pedicure!  I'm the luckiest girl:)  Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday!  We are looking forward to next Christmas--it's going to be a whole new adventure!

And She Shall Be Called..

STELLA ROSE!!!

We have loved the named Stella since before we knew we were expecting.  It wasn't really decided that far in advance but was on our short list for a long time.  We kept on saying the names out loud and eventually Stella just "stuck."  The middle name on the other hand was a bit more difficult!  We've had many discussions about the name-when to decide, when to share, etc.  At first, Adam wanted to think it over for a while and make a final decision at the beginning of March.  I put my foot down and said absolutely not--that is way too close to the due date!  Besides I really want to get some personalized things for her room and of course outfits!  So I told him we had to make a decision by Christmas!  Around Thanksgiving, I was almost positive that we had decided on a name.  The first was a definite!  Then Adam decided that he wasn't quite sure about the middle name that I had selected (it was a family name).  Anyways by that point I had exhausted all my name possibilities and frankly was over it!  If he didn't like the name then he would have to come up with something better ha ha!  Anyways he topped mine with Rose and I absolutely love it!  I've always loved older names and I'm a bit thankful now that she's not being named after anyone.  I think she will make a name for herself!  We shared our name with our families at Christmas and everyone loved it! I took this picture and sent it via text to a few friends to share the name as well:) I'm a bit hesitant to go telling everyone--I only hope that no one says anything negative because regardless this is her name.  

29 & Preggers

Wow!  We have a lot to catch up on:)  I recently celebrated my 29th and LAST birthday hehe!  We celebrated early with my family over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I then received another early birthday present at our doctor's visit-our baby girl is growing healthy.  We had a great visit-moma and baby are doing great!  My weight and blood pressure are good.  Baby heartbeat was 145bpm and I was measuring right on.  I've been feeling pretty good other than a little indigestion here and there and a few nights of bad leg cramps.  I definitely wasn't looking forward to hopping on that scale right after a holiday weekend but I'm right on track for the "normal" weight gain.

Giving Thanks

This post may be a little mushy (call it the pregnancy hormones!) but I have so much to be thankful for! 

1. My Husband: Ok so no one's perfect and of course there are times when we can drive each other MAD!  But I'm in love:) He has made a point to make it to everyone of our baby appointments and has been so great through my pregnancy!
2. My healthy growing baby girl: Need I say more??
3. My family: I love spending time with my family.  Regretfully I don't get to spend as much time as I would like just hanging out with my family.  Thanksgiving is the best time for this:)  We always go to my sister's for Thanksgiving day and her and my BIL make a huge spread of all the favorites!  Plus we usually celebrate my birthday so extra desert yummy! (I'm pretty sure I gained a few pounds-thank goodness for maternity jeans! haha)
4. My friends: I love getting together with my college friends for our monthly bookclub.  Even though we spend but a rare moment actually talking about the book, I love just having a time to get together!  Also loving all our couple friends and my work friends.  Everyone is so excited about our little one.  I try to not be a gushing momma to be, but if people ask me about her then I feel it's okay to share!  Loving all the fun things that our friends are telling us to prepare us for parenthood-looking forward to experiencing it for ourselves.  And I'm in love with all the little gifts that people have given us for baby-books, toys, outfits.  So thankful for all the love that people have for her already!
5. Health: 
6. My job: Again I may complain about this but I am thankful for not just any job.  I work with the best doctor ever (well that's my opinion)  He truly cares about his patients and me!  Also, all the people that I work with are great!  Everyone is so caring  and go out of their way to help each other.  

I could go on and on...I wish that I had plugged in with the 30 days of thankfulness.  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

Half way:)

That's right- we have officially reached 20 weeks!!!  This is a milestone in and of itself, but this week also marked the first time we felt our little sweet pea move:)  It's so surreal and I'm left with feeling both excitement and anxiety(there's so much left to do!)
Size of baby: A small cantaloupe or a large banana (these two are very different but whatever)
Belly button in or out: IN
Stretch Marks: NO
Best moment of the week: Feeling you move!  I thought I felt a little flutter here and there last week but it was gone as quick as it started and I was never for sure.  Then on Saturday night I was laying down after Christmas shopping with my family all day and I thought I felt a little kick.  I quickly placed my hand on my lower abdomen and felt two more kicks, each one a bit stronger.  Unfortunately, Adam wasn't quick enough to feel it at this time.  The next morning right after waking up, Adam and I were laying in bed talking and the baby was little miss wiggly.  Adam was goofing off and singing (if you know him-he sings alot, you've probably received a singing voicemail from him at some time!) and the little one loved it!  She was dancing all over the place and Adam felt a few kicks (not too strong but a bit stronger than the night before).  It was crazy!  Ok so we secretly joked that maybe she didn't like daddy's singing and was kicking to make him stop please haha!
Food cravings/aversions: Still no real food cravings-finally had me some oreos!  No aversions either but I've been paying a bit more attention to what I eat.  Trying to avoid spicy foods or anything that may cause indigestion.  I have indulged in a bit more dessert than usual:(
Sleep: Sleeping pretty good at night.  Still getting up at least once during the night to empty the bladder but quickly fall back to sleep.  Sleeping mostly on my side and trying to avoid the stomach
Side note: This weekend while shopping I picked a few cute things (off the clearance rack nonetheless) for baby girl next spring/summer:)  So exciting!
This weekend we plan on looking at furniture again and possibly registering! 

Weekly Stats

19weeks 1day 

It's A.....

GIRL!

And she shall be called....Baby Girl Davis:) Haha

We had our anatomy scan on Wednesday, October 26th!  Baby girl was just as excited as her parents-she was so fidgety and wiggling all over the place.  The ultrasound tech even asked me if I drank alot of caffeine because the baby wouldn't stay still!! (the answer of course was NO-none at all!)  But everything went great-we saw all her little parts and everything seems to be working.  No areas of concern-what a relief!  Heartrate was 146bpm.  Head circumference and abdomen circumference she measured a few days bigger than expected.  It was so surreal to see her moving all over, especially since I have yet to feel even a little flutter.

Boy or Girl??!!

We are getting very close to finding out the gender of our little sweet pea!  It's so fun to hear what people think we are having based on various assumptions.  We can't wait to find out because I think it will start to really feel like we're having a baby.  Adam is head over heel about our little one, but the procrastinator in him is not wanting to discuss baby names until we "can narrow down our options" HA!  And he's not been to excited about moving the furniture out of the "office" and into the guest room in order to transition to a nursery--What's the point of having one empty room and one room full of everything?  I guess I see his point, but it's slowly killing the planner in me! 

Anyways, back to the topic!  Adam and my mom swear we are having a girl.  Now I'm not sure if that's intuition or just hopeful wishing, but nonetheless they are 100% sure it's a girl.  I"ve waivered back and forth over the weeks, but more recently am leaning towards one more than the other.  I'll tell you if I'm right after we find out--stay tuned!  One of the doctors that I work for swears that we are having a boy-he even bet me $1000 (I have no intention of paying him, but fully expect my payment if he's wrong!) and all because I've not been sick.  I would be lying if I said I felt 100% since day one, but I've really tried to put on a happy face because for one it could have been much worse and second what's the point of complaining about it-no one can make it go away and I still have to work regardless.  A nurse at work that is also expecting (she's having a girl anyday now) thinks it's a boy because I'm carrying low--not so sure if I am or not because I don't have a large bump yet.  Various other people have their assumptions too!

So the other night for fun, Adam and I participated in a few weird gender prediction tests that we found online.  Here are the results:

• Chinese Gender chart-based on my age and the month of conception: BOY
• Old wive's Tales Method-answer various questions about pregnancy: GIRL (65%)
• Heartrate: Based on heart rate if >140 girl: GIRL
• Wedding Ring prediction: Attach wedding ring to string and dangle over mom, circular motion girl, to and fro motion boy: BOY

Unfortunately, we are no closer to knowing than when we started. But it was fun!  Soon enough, soon enough:)

P.S. I'm way behind on posting:(  My computer is still messed up. Promise to overload you guys with pictures and updates soon!

Recap

Ok so I'm a little behind on my blog:/  BUT it's not my fault!  My computer has been having problems and we had some guy working on it.  I FINALLY got it back today, but now I can't get my pictures to download from the camera to the computer-frustrating!  So I"ll try to play a little catch up before I go on hiatus again.

We're definitely growing now!  We've progressed from the size of a lemon to an orange and are now the size of an avocado:)  The baby now has hair (lanugo) and eyebrows/eyelashes.  His/Her ears have transitioned from the neck to the more appropriate side of the face.  I've yet to feel the baby move, but it could be any day now as the baby is getting stronger and squirming.  I continue to feel better each and everyday.  My energy has returned to more baseline but no surges.  I'm starting to have some round ligament pain and indigestion, but both last for only a few minutes at a time.  I've gained 4 pounds:)  Wearing Be Band with more pants than not.  Feel as though most people that know I'm pregnant are beginning to appreciate a little bump.  Some are even touching my belly which is definitely the strangest feeling I've ever had!  I'm not feeling "cute and pregnant" but rather fat and flabby HA!  We have our next doctors appointment next week-this 4 weeks has gone by so quick!

I'm already getting lots of unsolicited advice regarding everything from what I should be eating/do to childbirth and even parenting in general.  Some people say the craziest of things!!  And boy are they inappropriate!  Please don't tell me I can't have a piece of candy--I"m already giving up alcohol, caffeine, my figure; suffering through headaches, allergies, and other minor aches and pains with the use of NO OTC medicines. SO  If a little piece of candy makes me happy-leave the pregnant girl ALONE!  Sorry I had to vent about that ha!  And people are starting to guess the gender!  Adam is sticking with his original  intuition that we are having a girl.  Most people think that I am carrying low and assume we are having a boy!  Who knows but it sure is fun to hear everyone's guess.

Promise to post a belly pic soon-stay tuned:)

14 week update

Ok..this post may be a bit random!
Our baby is the size of a lemon:)  He/She could be sucking it's thumb-how fascinating!  Kidneys, Liver, and spleen are all functioning.  And lanugo is forming to help keep baby warm.
Still fitting into most of my prepregnancy clothes.  Worn BeBand a handful of times with pants that are a bit snug. Let me just say-I'm not a huge fan of the BeBand.  I thought it would be great, but it doesn't stay in place!  I'm constantly having to readjust it and by the end of the day I feel like my stomach has be constricted all day.  Ugh-I may be switching to maternity pants sooner than I had planned just for sheer comfort:)  Don't judge me!!  Still no big baby bump-but I think it's trying to pop out.  My abdominals have definitely relaxed a bit.  A couple of people that know I'm expecting said today that they thought I had a little bump--maybe it was just what I was wearing??!
I went on a bit of an online shopping spree over the weekend and Monday.  Typically don't purchase alot online because I need to try things on for size and this was even harder!  Gap and Old Navy both have a good selection of maternity clothes.  Too bad I can't find any in the stores around here.  So I went online and lucky for me they had 30% off and free shipping!!!  Picked up quite a few things-just waiting for them to arrive now.  Keep your fingers crossed that I don't have to return anything:)
Random bit of info--Did you know that Meijer pharmacy gives prescription strength prenatal vitamins for FREE?  That's right for free!  Jackpot:) 

Helloooo 2nd Trimester:) And Dr's appointment update

We made it:)  Woohoo!  Week 13 started this past Saturday and I'm so happy!  So much to my dismay there is some contradicting information regarding when the actual first trimester is over.  Some say after the end of week 12 while others say after the end of week 13.  I was riding the fence until the doctor confirmed today that we were definitely in our 2nd trimester!  The outlook is much brighter:)

• First trimester highlights
• Finding out we were expecting
• Telling family and close friends
• Our first ultrasound
• No vomiting!!!
• Still in all "normal" clothes
• Weight gain to date 2 1/2 lbs

We had another doctor's appointment today.  I was originally scheduled for last week (12 week appt), but Adam had to work out of town so we rescheduled for today.  We met with Dr Fuson for the first time and I absolutely LOVE her!  She took time to talk with us and answered all of our questions.  And I didn't feel silly asking questions! (Sometimes I think that physicians think that I should know all the answers b/c I'm a PA, but I'm an new expecting mother too!)  She went over all of my lab work and vitals from last visit and said she was very pleased. 
When we had our ultrasound at the last visit, the technician noticed a "spot" on my uterus that she took a picture of to let the doctor look at.  At the time, the tech didn't make much of it because it was small but she said the dreaded word fibroid.  I know lots of people that have fibroids and have no problems at all, but I was a little nervous to find out more because I know that they can cause problems during pregnancy if they grow and press on the placenta or they can cause problems with hemorrhaging after birth.  So I've been "patiently" awaiting to find out more.  Great news: Dr Fuson said it was a very small fibroid (about 1cm) and it should cause NO problems throughout my pregnancy.  She was so unimpressed by it that she doesn't even think we will be able to visualize it on subsequent ultrasounds!
Also and most importantly, we heard the baby's heartbeat!  Yet another confirmation that there truly is a baby in there:)  The nurse struggled a little bit to find the heartbeat at first but then there it was!  Initially the heartbeat was a bit muffled at 150bpm.  Then the baby started moving and the nurse had to reposition and the heartbeat ranged from 140-145bpm.  Everyone's been telling us a heartbeat at this range means where having ______! What do you think??

First Ultrasound

I just realized that I never posted about our first doctors appointment and ultrasound!  We had our official first appointment at 8 weeks.  My OB/GYN is Dr Jennifer Fuson at Central Baptist Hospital.  At our first appointment we met with the ARNP.  We were beyond excited about the ultrasound and the wait was well worth it!  We saw a 3D image which was a bit weird.  The baby measured exactly to date and we got our due date of March 31, 2012!  We saw the heartbeat at 170bpm.  We "heard" the heartbeat but the tech said it was a digitalized one based off of the visualization.    The baby had arms and limb buds for legs and we could see the bloodflow through the cord.  The baby was even wiggling around a bit!  Luckily, everything checked out great!  We then met with the ARNP and had my exam.  I think that we were fortunate that she didn't give me a great deal of restrictions and I felt very comfortable with the discussion.  As long as I have an "average" size baby I should have no problem having a vaginal delivery.  Thank goodness!!  I was exactly 6lbs born 3 weeks early.  Adam weighed over 10lbs!  Wish me luck!  Our next appointment will be next week-we should hear the heartbeat:)

End of Week 11 & Beginning of Week 12

I'm starting to feel better!  Less nausea and fatigue.  Still not 100% but an improvement.  Adam has been home which has been helpful and work has been routine.  Our litte baby is growing like crazy.  Now the size of a small prune, the baby is developing toe/fingernails (which makes me think of the scene in the movie Juno!)
In other news: the word is quickly spreading!  We traveled to Ohio yesterday and met up with both sets of Adam's grandparents.  This will be Grandpa Ray's first great-grandchild and I think he was a bit shocked!  Grandma Donna and Grandpa Bernie have several great-grandchildren but were excited all the same.  We then made a pit stop at the outlets in Jeffersonville, OH.  I picked up a few maternity items (even though I'm still fitting into all my regular clothes). 
Today, we met my parents and my dad's parents in Indiana right outside of Louisville for dinner at this restaurant called  The Overlook--it sits right on the Ohio River.  Funny thing is, when we originally told my parents a few weeks back my grandparents had come over that night for dinner.  We had already decided we weren't going to share with them yet and swore my parents to secrecy.  Anyways, that day my Mamaw would not stop talking about this cradle that she had put away in her attic that she was wanting to give to me.  This is the cradle that my dad gave to my mom when she was pregnant with me.  All of my aunts used it for my cousins and my sister even used it for my niece and nephew.  It was just so funny that she randomly brought it up that day and would NOT stop going on and on about it.  I was about to die!  So today, I introduced our little sweet pea by saying that it looks like we'll be needing that cradle a little sooner than she thought!  They were excited!
This weekend we also mailed out little announcements to aunts/uncles and other close family and friends.Pregnancy announcement

Books and Gifts

The instant we got that first faint positive line on the HPT, I immediately needed MORE info!  I first searched the internet via thebump.com.  Lots of useful information, but some scary info if you read peoples responses to things.  I stuck with this for a couple of weeks.  Honestly I was still a bit apprehensive to buy books, etc.  Around week 6, I searched amazon.com and picked up

I also bought Adam a little gift

This is a funny guys perspective to pregnancy!  Not very informative but a short read:)

Also, I wanted to get a start on some sort of journal so I purchased this

It is great!  It has all the essential places for belly pics and ultrasounds, plus has funny sayings and things to prompt journal entries regarding how I'm feeling, etc

Adam surprised me with a little blue box to celebrate that we were pregnant!  My first Tiffany gift (hopefully first of many more to come ha!)  I love it!  (Yes I feel a little bad that I all I got him was a $9.99 book!)

Sharing the News

Keeping our little "sweet pea" a secret was a bit more difficult than I anticipated.  We had decided that of course our parents should be the first ones to hear the news and that we wanted to tell them in person.  This would have been easy, expect that Adam was travelling like crazy for work and my parents live close to 3 hours away!  I was originally hoping the keep it a secret until I was closer to my second trimester.  And the perfect time would have been this weekend because tomorrow is Grandparents Day!  Great idea in theory, but of course nothing goes exactly as planned.  Anyways, I was beginning to not feel well so I was afraid word might start leaking around work, etc. 
So we ended up telling our parents around 9 weeks!  The great part about all of this, is the fact that we hadn't shared with any family our plans as far as when we were going to start trying to have a baby!  All this was a complete surprise:) 

We surprised my mom with a visit home to celebrate her birthday a little early.  I think we trumped all the other gifts with the news of a little one arriving in the spring.  Everyone was beyond excited, even the kids!  My sister even teared up a bit:)  This is a little sleeper, socks, and rattle that my parents have already shipped to us for Baby Davis!

Adam's parents were a bit easier!  We had them over for a cookout and gave them a picture of our ultrasound to announce the news.  Of course, my MIL said she knew it when we invited her over (I will give her the fact that she's randomly asked us if we were pregnant on at least 2 separate occasions this summer) but I still think there were no hints leading up to this. 
We swore both families to secrecy and I know it's just killing them.  But as far as we know mums been the word!
We've also slowly began to spread the word to close friends as well.  And soon we will tell our grandparents (again the plan is for in person).  We have designed some pregnancy announcements cards that will be mailed out to family and friends in the next few weeks!  Soon enough the whole world will know when it goes viral on facebook haha!

Signs and Symptoms

Let's start from when "we found out" we were pregnant

Weeks 4 & 5: Normal PMS-type cramping.  Unlike the "usual" 2 days of cramping, I experienced all day 2 weeks worth of cramping.  Worse at bedtime and with more back achiness.  I would typically take some Ibuprofen or something of that nature, but now I was trying sans medicine.  Frequent urination--awakening at least twice during the night.  Headache, well this was more caffeine-withdrawal related.  Lasted about three days, again did not take any medicine to relieve.

Weeks 6 &7:   The start of week 6 on the dot, morning or rather all day sickness, began.  Each morning I would awake with nausea.  It would stay with me until after eating lunch, then return again around 4-5pm.  Worse times were first thing in the morning and around 9pm.  Frequent urination, now awakening only once during the night.

Weeks 8 & 9: Nausea still.  A bit better during the week, definitely worse on the weekends.  Fatigue or should I say exhaustion!  This creeped in here and there in the prior weeks in the form of a cat nap after work or falling asleep early on the couch.  But this weekend I think I slept most of the day away.  If not asleep I was definitely lounging on the couch.  Unfortunately, Adam was away for work for the majority of this time and it was all up to me to take care of myself.  It's pretty hard to cook a decent meal when you are tired and nauseous---so soup or pasta was about all I could handle!

Week 10:  Finally getting the nausea under control.  I realized that if I eat every couple of hours, then I can ward off the ill feelings.  This is still a bit difficult on the weekends (I'm not on a schedule and I tend to just eat less), but this weekend was much better.  Despite eating 5-6 times a day, I have yet to gain any weight!  Yay!  Frequent urination--once during night.  Still fighting fatigue.  Took a nap Saturday, Sunday, and Monday!  Hoping to store up enough energy to last me all week:) 

Finding out

A little back story first (as most people have been asking!).  We hadn't shared with many people our exact plans as to when we were going to start trying.  Our thoughts had always been that there were certain things we wanted to do before "settling down" with a family.  My main "to do" was travel and specifically to Paris.  Well, we checked that off in May!  Since returning home most discussions turned to the topic of babies.  Needless to say we went back and forth about being ready in all aspects of our lives.  But after visiting some close friends that had just been blessed with a precious baby boy, our fates were sealed.  It was time!

July was a busy month for us.  We travelled to HHI for vacation with my family and had a blast!  When we returned Adam was due to travel to northern Ohio for work for several weeks (returning home for most weekends).  I had realized that if in fact we were expecting, I may learn of this while Adam was away.  As most people in my situation would have felt, it was not an ideal scenario to have to deliver that news via phone.  So I decided to take a test a few days early "just in case."  Adam and I had discussed this and he agreed.  However, I think he forgot because he walked in on me in the bathroom and immediately asked "what are you doing?" When I told him, he got this nervous look on his face!  A few minutes later we had a faint positive line!  Adam was ecstatic, but I was a bit apprehensive.  What does a faint line mean??!!!

I went about my business for the next few days.  I gave up caffeine and tried eating healthy.  I had some of my normal PMS symptoms but otherwise was doing fine.  When aunt flow failed to show up, I took a more reliable (First Response) test.  It was almost instantly positive!!  The next day, I called the OB/GYN to set up my first appointment.  I had calculated at that time that I was around 4 weeks and estimated my due date to 4/2/2012.  Because it was so early on, Adam I decided to keep the news to ourselves until we had at least gone to the doctor.  Also, we wanted to tell both of our parents in person. With Adam out of town that made things impossible for a while.  So I avoided phone calls so that I wouldn't spill the beans!!

Bun in the Oven

If you're reading this, we've shared the good news!! We're going to be parents, our little sweet pea is due March 31, 2012:) We're beyond excited! We've decided to start this blog so that family and friends can follow along with us as we transition from a family of two to a family of three (well four if you count our dog, Brodie!) Anyways, the first couple of posts will be recaps of our lives over the last several months. Enjoy!