Twenty-five, nice to see you!

 

                                                                Twenty-five week bump!

I’m twenty-five weeks pregnant! Some days, it feels as though the pregnancy is flying by. Other days, it feels as though I’ve been pregnant for forever.   

During our twenty-week ultrasound, we found out that we’re expecting a baby BOY! I had a feeling all along that it would be a boy – mainly because there’s a running joke in my family that “Katie and Joe are going to have five strapping young boys, just like Joe!” Ha! Well I know the five kid part isn’t true. I’m thirty-three and can’t imagine having four more children. I’m hoping we have two children total, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what God has in store for us.

Baby boy looked great during the ultrasound and was moving a TON. It looked like he was having a little dance party. My doctor couldn’t believe how much he was moving – so much so that we were unable to get a recording of his heartbeat. Every time the doctor put the Doppler near the baby, he’d start kicking like crazy. When we were walking out of the doctor’s office, the doctor turned to Joe and me and said “Good luck with that one. He’s quite a mover!”

Overall, I’m feeling MUCH better these days. In the last two weeks, I’ve only thrown up once. ONCE. That’s noteworthy – especially because it was a daily occurrence during weeks nine through twenty-three. As of yesterday, I’m back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m definitely getting bigger and I’m rocking a big baby bump. Some of my pre-pregnancy clothes still fit; however, things are starting to get a little tight. I suspect I’ll be in full on maternity gear in the next couple of days or so. I know the scale will start creeping up, but I’ve come to terms with that.

I’ve noticed that I’m starting to feel really tired in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, sleep has been hard to come by these days. I get up probably four times a night to use the restroom and then it’s almost impossible to fall back asleep. The baby LOVES to kick, especially from 3-4 a.m. I suspect this is his way of preparing me for sleepless nights once he arrives. I do love feeling those kicks, even if they wake me up in the middle of the night. It gives me peace of mind that everything is going well and that he’s growing bigger and bigger each day.

Twenty-five down, fifteen to go!

 

 

The First Trimester

The first trimester was interesting.  I think it’s so odd that when you take a pregnancy test, you’re already four weeks pregnant.  I felt no different during those four weeks leading up to the test (well technically two weeks if we’re being practical in regards to timing).  After taking the test, the next four weeks flew by.  I felt great and didn’t have a care in the world. 

No cares in the world, until week nine hit.  It was like a switch went off, and I was feeling nauseous twenty-four seven.  I logged so many hours in my bedroom and bathroom.  I threw up almost every single day.  Gross. 

The morning sickness (all day sickness) was like NOTHING I’d ever experienced before.  It’s hard to explain how horrible I felt.  I didn’t want to eat anything.  NOTHING sounded good.  Not even pizza, which if you know me, is my favorite thing to eat, and would likely be my last meal if I was on death row.   

I feel bad complaining about the sickness, because I’ve read so many stories about couples who struggle to get pregnant.  I’m so thankful that Joe and I were able to get pregnant and I thank God every day for this blessing.  We’re very lucky and I will never forget that. 

FIRST TRIMESTER 411

BABY

• We had two ultrasounds during the first trimester.  I started to cry during the first ultrasound.  It was SO crazy to see such a tiny thing inside of me with the strong flicker (the heart beating).  It was such a surreal experience.  The baby looked great during both ultrasounds and was measuring right on schedule. 
• At week twelve, Joe and I heard the heartbeat with the Doppler.  It was so cool!  Baby’s heart was 165 bpm.  Healthy and normal. 
• During the second ultrasound we could see the baby moving around.  He or she was bending their legs and moving their arms.  It looked like it was having quite the dance party!  

ME

• Fine the first eight weeks. 
• After week nine, it was downhill.  I was not able to keep any food down.  Despite having a baby bump at week 13, I was down about 8 or 9 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. 
• During my first ultrasound, they found a 2 cm. subchorionic hematoma.  Cue the tears and freak-out.  There was about a 15-minute period between the ultrasound tech telling me she saw the hematoma and me meeting with my doctor to discuss said hematoma.  I of course did what any woman with a smart phone would do, and googled the condition.  Not a good idea.  I started crying in the waiting room, and Joe immediately put my phone in my purse.  Once I met with the doctor, I calmed down.  Apparently A LOT of women get these things and they usually go away by the end of the first trimester.  At my ultrasound at 10 weeks, they checked to see if the hematoma was better or worse – thankfully, it was LONG GONE. 
• With the hematoma incident, I was instructed to not workout.  That, coupled with feeling like CRAP made me not want to do any exercise. 

OBLIGATORY BUMP PICS:

Week 10

 

 Week 13

 

 

And yes, that’s Oliver photo bombing my bump pictures.  He follows me everywhere!

PREDICTIONS:

I think it’s a boy.  Most people think it’s a girl.  We’ll hopefully find out at our twenty-one week appointment in early September. 

OH, IT'S NOT THAT EASY?

Well, here we go! Back in May, I took a pregnancy test. Low and behold, that test showed a positive result!

 

Let's rewind, shall we?

To say that the past year has been crazy would be an understatement. I started a new job back in August 2012. It was hands down, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Joe also opened his insurance agency in August of 2012.

We started the whole “trying to have a baby” back in September of 2012. Our plan was to get pregnant in September and then have a summer baby. Well, much to our surprise, it didn’t happen that first month, so we kept on chugging. In October we decided to invest in some ovulation kits. Bummer, no baby that month either. Truth be told, I started freaking out.

During the next several months, I tried almost every ovulation kit on the market, started charting my temperature, and became quite acquainted with acronyms like BBT and TTC. Month after month, nothing seemed to work. I began to really freak out and the following thoughts crossed my mind: Did we wait too long? Why is this happening to us? Am I infertile?

Of course, once we received a positive result in May, we knew the answers to those questions. I’m not infertile and we didn’t wait too long.  We think it happened to us because we thought we had a plan, and we did, as previously stated. Well, looking back, we think God was laughing at our plans. You can’t plan something like this. It may happen, or it may not happen. It’s not always on your timeline.

We’re eagerly waiting to have this sweet baby join our family in mid-January. Until then, we’ll keep this as a journal to chronicle the journey that lies ahead.