Happy Halloween! Love Wednesday, Pugsley & Cousin It

Parents in Training!

Our good friends Ashlee & Matt welcomed baby Ella Marie into the world on Wednesday, October 27th and we had the pleasure of going to visit them on Thursday night. It was the first time I had ever seen Nick hold a newborn and it was the cutest thing! I got to hold Ella for almost 30 minutes and I was in love! She was so tiny and such a sweet little baby! Nick got in the car and said that he couldn't wait until March to meet ours! We plan to babysit for Ella whenever we can, so we can start practicing for ours! Congrats Ashlee & Matt!!

20 week bump!

here's baby at 20 weeks!

Half Way to Go!

We are officially 1/2 way through our pregnancy! Only 20 more weeks until we meet our little one! This week is (despite what my belly really looks like!) CANTALOUPE week!

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now (ours is actually measuring 11 ounces in the 52nd percentile). He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.) He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system.

interesting day

it was an interesting day to say the least! today was our 20 week anatomy scan. we had lots of good news and a couple pieces of not-so-good news. the unexpected news is that we weren't able to see the sex of our baby! when we got to the "money shot", the umbilical cord was perfectly in the way. after attempting to get the baby to move, we did see the three lines, generally seen with girl babies, so the tech guessed girl. we didn't see any boy parts at all, but she said to hold off on decorating the nursery!

the good news...
* baby is perfectly healthy! we got to see close ups of the heart (even got to see the 4 tiny chambers!), bladder, arms, legs, head, toes, you name it. baby is about 11 ounces and is measuring in the 52 percentile for size. nick got to hear the heart beat for the first time which was 156 - the highest it's been.

the bad news...
* like usual my blood pressure was a bit higher today than my doctor likes to see (seems to only happen when i'm at the doctor!) so tomorrow i will have to complete another 24 urine analysis, followed by blood work wednesday morning. this means one more day off work for this girl. dr. shah is basically just checking if we need to up the dosage of my blood pressure medicine, which has been working great so far!
* the ultrasound tech also noticed that my placenta looked a little low. it's literally a tiny bit lower than they like to see so they will also start to monitor that as well. they did say it's pretty common at this stage in the game and that it usually moves up as my uterus grows and baby gets bigger. dr. shah is going to check it again in 3 weeks with another ultrasound that will also check for gender again. hopefully the umbilical cord will be nowhere in sight at that time!

so all in all, baby is happy and healthy and that is what matters most... and while we will not start to shop for pink just yet, we'll anxiously await 3 weeks to try this all again! :)

Hello Mango!

we're 19 weeks so it's mango week! I have started to feel sensations of baby - mostly feels like he/she is blowing bubbles in my stomach. We're anxious to feel a kick, but Nick is gone for work until Friday and he doesn't want to miss a thing!

THIS WEEK ...Baby's sensory development is exploding! His/Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that they may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom. Arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of the body now. Kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

welcome to my crib

we made our first big baby purchase today - we ordered our crib & changing table/dresser! way, way back (26 years ago!) my grandma purchased my crib, so my mom wanted to carry on the tradition of buying a crib for her grandchild as well. i've been snooping around online and haven't found much i liked until yesterday my mom brought me a jc penney catalog and i found a set that i loved! nick liked it better in "espresso", i liked it in "white"... so we ended up ordering it in white (women always get the final say right?!) the furniture is called "Bella" by Savanna so I thought all of my twilight friends would appreciate that! we finally decided on the room for the baby - the gray room for those who have been in our house! - so we are finally starting to get a good idea of what we want to do with the room!

it's growing!

let me start this post by saying, i really don't think i look like this in person! i was just saying at work today that i thought baby disappeared because i literally had no belly all day. i took this photo on a full stomach, so i'm assuming it's more "food tummy" than "baby tummy". we are 18 weeks today and we only have 12 more days until we find out if we're having a football player or cheerleader!

18 weeks!

The fetus has become amazingly mobile (at least compared to mommy!), passing the hours yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing. And, baby's finally big enough that mommy will soon be able to feel those movements. *we haven't felt anything just yet, but we're hoping soon! nick will be gone a few nights next week for work, so hopefully baby will wait until he gets home to start playing!!*