Week 14

Hey Babycakes!

Today is a really special day.........#1 We have made it into the 2nd trimester!!!! WHAAHOO!! #2 it's my birthday today! I am 33 years young today. I have received lots of birthday wishes through cards in the mail, texts, emails, Facebook, and of course in person from friends and co-workers. It's days like today that really make a girl feel loved! It was a really nice weekend with friends and family and of course your Dad.

Here are a couple pictures from our family dinner. We had homemade lasagna and garlic bread and your Auntie Allison made an AMAZING cake for me.

  

This is the lady who should be there on YOUR birthday:

Dr. Janowiak!

We had an appointment today (yes, on my birthday) - but it was just a quick and easy check-in. I heard your heartbeat for the first time ~ strong and healthy. You were wiggling around a lot (but I can't feel it yet) and she sent me home with a few new pictures. Doc said I could have a half a glass of wine to celebrate my birthday ~ so I did ~ almost. I poured it, tasted it and promptly spit it back out. Apparently wine doesn't taste good to me right now ~ good thing. 

Oh ~ and her prediction is that you are a girl :) Here you are:

I think you are waving at me ~ 'Happy Birthday Mom!'

Here is the Pregnant Chicken Blog Post for the week ~ it gave me a good laugh ;)

Second trimester! Can I get a woot woot? Have these been the longest weeks of your life, or what? By the time you have this kid people will say “My that was fast!” and you’re gong to wonder what parallel universe they’ve been living in. Personally, I found all those weeks to be the longest of my life. Now I’m impatient and I worry which is never a good pregnancy combo because pregnancy is slow and it gives you a lot of time to read about scary stuff and hear horror stories from oblivious idiots (my band name if I ever start one).

If my calculations are correct, you’ve made 8,000 googled inquiries because you’ve, panicked that you’ve eaten something you weren’t supposed to, freaked out because your body did something weird, and/or had someone tell you that you should be doing something that you haven’t been doing so you’re scared that your baby is going to have gills.

Sites like to lay folic acid guilt and listeria panic on you, but I’m going to tell you this: stuff happens, but most of the things you do or don’t during a pregnancy are screw turners and not game changers. Now, wait, wait, don’t write me angry letters, all I’m saying is that if you go about your business and lead a healthy, reasonable life then there’s no reason you won’t have a perfectly healthy baby.

As for that little weeble causing all the anxiety, he or she is a looking more and more like a little person everyday with facial expressions and working plumbing. Your baby is about the size of a lemon but that’s lame so I’m going to say a cupcake. Your baby is the size of a delicious cupcake with sprinkles on top.

 

mmmmmm ~ Love ya Baby, me

Week 13

Hi Baby!

Spring has just barely sprung around here. We have had cool, rainy weather the last few days ~ today there was actually a crazy thunder/lightning/hail storm that rolled through. It is cool enough for a coat in the mornings, then almost t-shirt weather in the afternoons. It's my favorite time of year ~ emerging from winter. Bulb flowers, forsythia and fruit trees are beginning to pop around the valley.

We have been spreading the LOVE about you to a few more people these days.....Our good friends Micah and Kara, her sister Heather, my girlies Lindsey, Jana, (Katie of course has known for awhile), Mark and Carolyn......it is really fun to see the joy on their faces and get all the big hugs. You are already loved by so many people. They can't wait to meet you!



Here are some developments about you this week:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby weighs nearly an ounce.


When the Doc measured you last week, they said that you were about 3 inches from head to tail.


I have been feeling a little better these days.....a little more energy, but I still get the afternoon queasiness. I feel like I am eating A LOT, but I haven't gained any weight yet, just still thickening around the middle. Starting to show....I will probably have to tell people at school about you pretty soon as it is getting tough to hide my little belly. They will all certainly be thrilled to hear the news as well. 

Love you Baby, me

Week 12 - 1st Doc Apt's

Hi Baby!

We received lots of good news about you this week! On Monday Dr. Mary Janowiak checked me out for the first time as a PREGNANT person ;) She was very excited for us. We talked about all sorts of stuff, but mostly she just gave me confirmation that we are healthy and doing the right things. It was quite a surprise, but she did an ultrasound while we there! It was really neat because she was very patient and took the time to make sure we got some well-posed pictures. You are quite a cutie! You were wiggling around like crazy!

Here are the pictures:

Side view

Top of your head, arms, hands

Your fanny, legs, feet

So cool!!!!!!

A few days later we had another appointment with Dr. Bobroski at what I like to call the 'fancy ultrasound place' - Maternal Fetal Medicine. She took lots and lots of pictures ~ but their purpose was to measure you and make sure you are growing at the right rate and in all the right places. They said that everything about you is 'textbook'. Good deal baby. The pictures that they sent me home with are not nearly as cool as the others, so I'll spare you.

Everything seems to be ship-shape!

              
                          Love ya,  Me

Week 12

Hi Baby!

HAPPY EASTER!

 

I love Easter! It is one of my most favorite holidays. I can't wait to celebrate with you and see you all dressed up in your Sunday best, hunting for eggs and digging through your overloaded Easter basket. It's going to be so great :) We are headed over to Mary and Joe's house (your Grandma and Grandpa Gordon) in a little while to share a nice meal together......probably ham, asparagus, scalloped potatoes, homemade rolls......mmmmm I love it all!!

 Here are some pictures from this evening:

Your Mom and Dad.

Your Auntie Allison and her beautiful centerpiece.

Our Easter loot!

It is the last night of Spring Break, we'll have to make it an early night so tomorrow morning isn't so rough going back to school. BUT - tomorrow afternoon we have a doctor's appointment with Dr. Mary Janowiak. It is the first official apt. with the Doc so I am really excited to meet with her. Later in the week we have another ultrasound apointment too. I'll update this post afterwards with some new pics of you  :)

Here are some developments about you this week:

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.
Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

Love ya baby, me

Week 11

Hi Baby!  

This week was GLORIOUS Spring Break for your Dad and I. It was pretty cool weather last weekend, but it has turned warm and beautiful the last few days. I went down to Arizona and visited my Grammy and Grandpa Cudnohufsky (your GREAT grandparents) for a few days. Aunt Bonnie and Cousin Henry were also there visting from Alaska. It was a really great trip. I shared the big news about YOU with them - of course they were absolutely thrilled. It was so much fun to tell them all in person instead of over the phone. Then I had to call Aunt Cindy and Uncle Michael/Aunt Kim/Cousin Chase back in Michigan and share the news with them too. They are all very happy and excited!

Here are a few pictures that I took (Henry has some really good people shots, so I'll have to update again later):

While I was gone your Dad refinished/stained all of our kitchen cabinets. We are getting new granite counter-tops soon (exciting I know) and we wanted to update a few other things in the house first. Last night we installed new handles and knobs on all the cupboards, put warmer light bulbs in the kitchen lights and replaced all of our ugly brass doorknobs in the house with pretty brushed nickel knobs. We are chipping away at making our little nest nice and cozy.


So here are some Week 11 preggo developments:

I haven't gained any weight (actually lost a few lbs), but I feel like I am expanding around the middle a bit. My clothes are starting to get a bit uncomfortable.  This week I purchased my first official 'maternity clothes' - two pairs of leggings and a black & white striped tunic (like a dress). Also, my Momma mailed me a cute wrap-around blue dress with white flowers. I think it will be really comfy. Still feeling icky nauseous, mostly in the evenings. But your Dad is still pumping me full of good food - ALL THE TIME.

Here are some updates about you:

Your baby is starting to look less alien now. Woot. He or she has hands and feet, a tongue and a nose and some bones are starting to harden. See ya shark baby, you look more like a chicken nugget with legs now. Just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, she is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

Pretty cool!

P.S. Your Dad and your Auntie Allison think you are a girl....I think you are a boy - who knows yet!!! But we will be finding out and sharing the news as soon as we can ;)

Love ya, me
 

Week 10

Hey baby!

Had an appointment with a nurse in our Doc's office this week. It was just an initial 'Here's everything you need to know about being pregnant' meeting. Which was kind of annoying because I have been reading obsessively about everything, so she didn't tell me anything new. But whatever, they did take some blood to check on a few things, so that was worth the trip. Any positive info that I get about you and your progress just makes my day :)

I have been feeling....better than last week....but still pretty weird. Super tired, very nauseous, hard time sleeping through the night. But 'they' say that all these things are good signs that you are doing well. I had a half-awake half-asleep moment of clarity last night......it might sound weird to say, but I had this strong feeling for the first time that something was really missing from my life - that something is you! I had this aching, yet really happy feeling that you will fulfill a little empty space in our lives that we have been unknowingly saving just for you. You are so loved baby :)

 

So today is St. Patrick's Day! The Gordon Family has a tradition of eating corned beef, cabbage, carrots/potatoes and soda bread for the holiday meal. Your Grandma Mary is an AMAZING cook - there are so many meals that she has made that make my eyes roll back in my head with joy. However.....this is the one meal of the year that I could live without! I think its the smell of cabbage that really turns me off ~ but I love spending time with our family ~ Grandpa Joe, Auntie Allison, Great Grandpa Mac, Great Grandma Thelma and your Dad of course. We all always have a good time together. I am looking forward to seeing everyone tonight. 

  

Here are some updates on your growth this week:

How your baby's growing:

Though he's barely the size of a cherry — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

Grow baby grow!   

                   Love you baby, me