The Name Game

So, since Baby P finally let out the big secret that she's a girl I have torturing myself trying to come up with the perfect name. See, if it was a boy we knew 100% that he would be Declan Leo. The Mr. and I both agreed on Declan years ago (long before a baby was in the plans) and love the name, and Leo is his dad's middle name, Grandpa and Great-Grandpa's first name. It was perfect. So, for the first half of the pregnancy we threw around girls names and both approved of Anika, but of course, now that it's time to actually commit to a girl name I just can't do it.

Do I still like Anika? Most definitely, especially since the Mr. and I both have 3 syllable first names that end with an 'A' it is fun that it fits the mold. However, I am terrified that people will mispronounce it all of the time. We like the pronunciation of Ah-nick-ah, but I've already encountered people who try to pronounce it Ann-ick-ah or the dreaded Ah-neek-ah. Is it worth the risk of having to correct people on a regular basis? I've tried to come up with another girl name that I like as much and I'm having a very hard time. Turns out I'm very picky....for instance I stay away with anything that ends with an 'ee' sound because our last name does as well and needless to say it ends up being way too many ee's if it's in the first name as well. That and the other issue is that I come from a large family, supersize actually, with 57 first cousins. Yup, that's right, so a lot of names are already taken. For instance Addison, love it, but already used.

So, any suggestions? Throw them my way. If not, we'll keep throwing around ideas and probably, at the end of the day baby girl will be Anika. Anika Noelle to be exact. Guess we'll see what happens!

The Big Announcement

Our baby finally cooperated!

We're having a sweet baby GIRL!

And let me tell you, we were shocked. From the beginning we were both positive that this little one was a boy, but it looks like we had a sneaky little girl all along :)

Bump Update

Well I totally failed at getting a 26 week bump picture, but I still have a few old ones I haven't posted yet. Here we go!

Week 20

Turns out my week 20 picture is being weird and I can't get it to upload correctly. So, just picture me with a slightly larger stomach...and for some reason my butt sticking out because that's obviously a flattering pose, duh!


Week 22

Week 24

Ultrasound Round 2

Baby: 2 Parents: 0

Looks like our little one is going to be the best behaved kindergarten student out there. He/she is still breech and just sitting in there with his/her legs crossed. The Mr. and I couldn't help but just laugh this time around.

Good news is that our nurse practitioner is awesome and told us to make sure to schedule our next appointment (28 weeks) with her again and we'll sneak in for another quick ultrasound to see if he/she has flipped. She made it sound that as long as baby is breech we won't be able to tell what the gender is so we're crossing our fingers that he/she will flip head down in the next four weeks.

What a stinker!

Round Two

Okay, sweet babe. You have a second chance to spread your legs, please be a trooper and do so for your mom and dad! We so badly want to know what to call you. It's getting pretty old referring to you as an 'it.' So, pretty please cooperate right around 4 pm today. K? Thanks.

Mama

Uncooperative

At 20 weeks in utero, my child has already shown his/her stubborn side. We were so excited for our ultrasound and within the first couple minutes the ultrasound tech made a comment that our sweet babe had his/her legs crossed with a hand between them. In other words, there was little to no chance of finding out the sex. After about a half hour she had my get up to empty my bladder in hopes baby may move in the process. No such luck. So, here we are, 21 weeks and no clue if we are having a boy or a girl. I've begun to accept the idea of having to wait until delivery, however, the Mr. not so much. He very much still wants to find out. So, I have a call into the doctor's office to see if we can have another scheduled, and if not, we have a back up plan of paying for a 3d ultrasound. Guess we'll see what happens!

Related to the ultrasound, I was able to read the radiologist's review of the images and it turns out I have an anterior placenta. I have to say I was pretty relieved to hear that because although I feel baby move occasionally it's definitely not near as much as I thought I would. The anterior placenta helps to explain it though. The only time I really feel baby is when I'm laying down for a longer period of time, but never when I'm standing and very rarely when I'm sitting. I guess he/she is just aiming most of the kicks right into the placenta. Good news though is that the other night when I was laying in bed, baby was pretty active and luckily the Mr. was able to feel one strong kick. I was so happy that he was able to share in that.

In other big news of the week, the Mr. stepped foot in a Babies R Us for the first time ever! This may not seem like a big deal, but trust me, for him it totally is. We didn't start a registry yet, but it was pretty nice just walking around with him as we looked at all the different 'gear' and discussed the different things we would need. We tested out some rocker/gliders and decided that we're going with a white crib since we're going to refinish a dresser we already own and though white would be easiest to color match. He seems to be getting excited about working on these projects. First step: clean out the spare bedroom. Oof, that is NOT going to be fun. Needless to say it has been our dumping ground for miscellaneous stuff for the last four years, oops!

Today is the Day

Well folks, today is the day! The 20 week ultrasound is finally here! By 2:30 this afternoon we should know whether we are having a son or a daughter, our Declan or our Anika. I am so excited!

"Um, honey? I think something is coming between us."

That's right folks. The Mr. commented for the first time tonight that he is now definitely noticing the belly when we hug. I guess it's official, I have a bump :)

Update...with overdue pictures

19 weeks tomorrow. I have to say this pregnancy has flown by so far. I can't believe I only have 11 more days to wait before I find out if we're having a son or a daughter, only 8 more days until we're half way done! So crazy and so very exciting. I am still overall feeling great. This last week has actually been the roughest of the whole pregnancy and that is only because I feel as though I could sleep around the clock. I also scared the husband with the first hormonal crying fest. What made me cry? Trying to explain that I was just that tired. Poor guy handled it like a trooper. Only other complaints are just aches and pains of my body expanding. Early last week I was greeted with an incredibly sore tailbone are that I can only think to credit to changes in my pelvis. This morning I woke to all sorts of aches and pains but I think those are due solely to staining the deck yesterday.

Okay, now for the pictures. Please forgive the unkept state of my bedroom in the first couple and my extra stylish pajamas, I made a pact with myself that pictures from now on will be taken in actual clothes so I don't look like such bum. Oh and all of these are approximate dates, I'm horrible at remembering to take these pictures.

Week 14

Week 16

Week 18 (taken Saturday in the middle of the day so there is actually decent lighting, yay for small achievements!)

Last but not least, a belated 16 week appointment update. Everything was still looking great and the babe's heartbeat was a steady 144 bpm.

Oops

I guess I haven't updated lately at all. In all honesty, life has just been very low key lately. Don't get my wrong we've kept busy with all sorts of different activities but nothing 'big' has happened in quite a while. I am very much enjoying it.

Pregnancy update: the days just keep passing by. The belly bump is starting to make an appearance and it's starting to feel more real. As for symptoms I still can't complain. I have experienced some less than enjoyable constipation (what? there's no such thing as too much information on my own blog right?! haha) and heartburn is starting to make an appearance. Besides that, it's just the aches and pains of my body expanding to make room for the little one.

The Mr. and I did make our first baby purchase which I'm pretty excited about. I had my heart set on a Chicco car seat and after reading reviews I was crushing on a Baby Jogger stroller but hadn't seen one yet to confirm that opinion, however I happened up on a deal on Amazon I couldn't pass up. Britax just released a new car seat (the B-safe) and stroller (the B-Agile) and if you bought both of them you received a free extra car seat base (valued at $79) and a snack tray for the stroller ($20). I monitored the prices and was able to pick up all four items for $352.00! So far the reviews for the new seat and stroller are phenomenal but seeing as they were just released for sale this week I'm going to keep them in their boxes for a little while until more reviews are posted after people are able to buy them. With these items taken care of and my parents saying they want to buy the crib we almost have all of the 'big ticket' purchases taken care of. It is such a relief!

It's Official

The first trimester is done! It feels so good to know that I'm a third of the way through the pregnancy and that much closer to snuggling my son or daughter.

We had out 12 week appointment last week. The Mr. came with my once again and I am so happy that he wants to be involved in each doctor appointment. We were able to hear the heartbeat, a strong 160 beats per minute, but I'm going to whine for a bit because they didn't let us listen for long. Honestly, I could have laid there all afternoon listening to the whoosh whoosh of our little one's beating heart. I don't know if I've ever heard a more beautiful sound.

My birthday is coming up in a few weeks so the Mr. is starting to ask what I want. We were throwing around a few ideas last night and I'm torn between something practical like the fancy rocking chair I think I want (I say think because I have only been admiring it online, I still need to try it out) or something just for me, like replacement diamond earrings since I lost one or tickets to see Adele. Ah well, he has ideas, not it's up to him to figure it out I guess!

11 Weeks

Wow, we're already almost done with the first trimester! I have to say it absolutely flew by. Looking back I had prepared myself to have a first trimester filled with horrible nausea, throwing up constantly, and complete exhaustion and I truly experienced none of it. I've definitely been more tired than I am normally, but not to the point of needing to go to bed way earlier or take regular naps. I think I took only 3 naps over the last 6 weeks and I couldn't be happier to say that.

With that said, we made the big reveal this last weekend to both sets of parents. It was really nice to be able to talk to my mom a bit about how her pregnancies were. Turns out I just come from very good pregnant lady genes because my mom claims to have had pretty much symptomless pregnancies! I was so happy to hear that because I was really starting to worry that maybe something was 'wrong' with my pregnancy since it has been so easy.

My one real symptom finally sent me to the store today. Oh yes, that's right, mama needed some new bras. I even had a couple of friends at work today comment that I was looking rather voluptuous, haha. However, I am a total bra snob. I have bought nothing but Victoria's Secret since I was 17 and trying on bras at Target just showed me that you definitely get what you pay for! Needless to say I came home with a couple that once I tried them on at home (because I didn't feel like going for round 2 in the fitting room) I discovered they will be going back to the store tomorrow. Wish me luck finding something that works!

The Mr. and I did start the bump picture tradition last week, but they haven't been uploaded yet so I'll try to do a post with pictures sometime soon. The bump is definitely starting to make an appearance!

Party Time is Over!

Whoo hoo! Normally I am down for a good party and I don't mind hosting at all, but I must say it is such a relief to have this party over with! Even though I have had, what I would consider, an easy first trimester thus far the added work and stress of hosting 60 people Saturday night was not treating me well. The party came together fabulously, my sister and I did a great job (if I'm allowed to give myself a pat on the back). We turned the Mr.'s man cave of a shed into a beautiful 50th bash. I am kicking myself now for not taking pictures, if I can track any down I will share for sure.

I think the most stressful part of the whole party was trying to keep this baby a secret still. One more week until we tell the parents and all hell breaks loose, which at this point I am really looking forward too. This is where I confess that I am a horrible secret keeper, on top of that this was a pretty large family even with approximately 30 of my aunts and uncles and I had a pretty hard time keeping my mouth shut. They all wanted to make small talk and chat about what was going on in my life, etc and of course there is this HUGE thing happening that I need to keep quiet about. On top of that many of my mom's sisters who I am actually very close to know that I will have at least 1-2 drinks at a family event so trying to come up with reasons why I wasn't drinking wasn't going so well. I am pretty sure at least 3 of them figured it out but at least they were nice enough not to question it. I am so excited for the people I love to know about the little babe, but I am absolutely dreading how crazy my mom is going to be about the whole thing. Next weekend will be a doozy for sure!

Quick Update

I've been slacking. Live has been absolutely crazy lately, not only have I been coping with the first trimester exhaustion, we are throwing a surprise 50th birthday for my mom on Saturday (complete with 60+ guests) so things around the house have been chaotic.

However, my dear Mr. just made my heart grow at least three sizes. It's been hard to figure out what is going through his head about baby, but I just got a text from him that as he's driven by garage sales at work today there are a ton of cribs and baby stuff. Now, don't construe this to mean I trust him to buy baby stuff from garage sales since I have a feeling we have completely different standards, but at least I know his heart is in it. He's going to be such a good daddy.

Introducing Baby P!

We had our first ultrasound today! Baby P is measuring at 7w4d so they'll probably be changing my original due date. His or her little heart is beating at a solid 150 beats per minute and his or her little body resembles the cutest little blob I've ever seen.

Baby is the blob on the left and the blob on the right is the yolk sac. We were even able to see the developing cord. It's so amazing and I am so grateful the Mr. was able to be there with me.

PS: Why don't women warn one another of the trans-vaginal ultrasound? They always make ultrasounds look so nice on TV!

The First Prediction

Two posts in one afternoon?! Say it ain't so!

I had to document that the first gender predictions have been made. The sole gentleman coworker I have (who I refer to as my work grandpa because he is just that old) told me he hasn't been wrong in his last 25 predictions and he thinks baby will be a boy. However, the other person we were talking with at the time said she thinks it's a girl. I'm leaning more towards the work grandpa's guess since that is what the Chinese gender chart says as well. Too bad we have to wait until August to find out!

7 Weeks

I have the best of intention to have the Mr. take the initial bump shot but it never fails that we forget until we're crawling into bed for the night. I think I will set an alarm on my phone so we can take one tonight. Seven weeks is a good starting point, right? I definitely have the early pregnancy bloated belly thing going on. So excited for when the babe is actually large enough to create a bonafide bump!

Turns out the Mr. and I are both awful with secrets. We are still holding strong on not telling our parents, grandparents and extended relatives about the baby until at least Father's Day, but we've spilled the beans to our close friends (mine more than his, a girl needs support right?!) and siblings. I feel kind of guilty about this, but it all comes down to the fact that we just can't trust the grandmas to not tell the whole world! I'm scared enough to tell them on Father's Day because that is only 10w5d and I can guarantee that my mom especially won't be able to keep her mouth shut until the 13th week. Guess we'll see what happens! Oh, and quite a few of my coworkers know as well, but when you work in an office of women that is just bound to happen. This entire paragraph was pretty much just meant to justify that what I did was okay, am I completely off base? Not like I can change it now anyways.

6w3d

It's official, I had my first baby related dream last night! I'm not normally a dreamer so it was absolutely crazy how vivid it was. I was at my ultrasound appointment that is scheduled for 8 weeks and the ultrasound tech told me that I was actually 12 weeks pregnant and it was a boy. Absolutely ridiculous because I know I couldn't actually be 12 weeks and that you can't tell the sex of the baby that early but my subconscious must not be totally convinced!

In other news, I am still being blessed with a nausea free pregnancy. I get little bouts of upset stomach, but as soon as I eat something it goes away. I know it's still crazy early, but I'm hoping it stays this way!

Oh, just realized I never updated that my 7w3d ultrasound was pushed back to the 8w point because the ultrasound tech's schedule changed. So there's that.

Mixed Emotions

My sister-in-law's father passed away tonight after a courageous 4 year battle with A.L.S. He was an amazing man who will be missed by many. My heart just aches thinking about what his family is going through right now. So my brother and sister-in-law could be with her family tonight I babysat their daughter (along with my other sister-in-law), needless to say we made sure she had more than enough auntie love and gave her lots of extra kisses as we snuggled her to sleep. Her papa was one in a million.

The good news I wanted to write about the other day when blogger was unfortunately down. I had my first OB appointment last Thursday and it went great. I am so sad my CNP can't deliver the baby because we get along just great, but I am definitely going to make sure I see her for a lot of my prenatal appointments. The most exciting part of my appointment is that my CNP is a firm believer of early ultrasounds so she decided that we'll fudge the truth about the accuracy of my dates. So....we get to see our baby for the first time a 7 weeks 3 days! I can't wait! I'm trying my hardest to get rid of my fear that I will miscarry. I have no reason to think I will, but every pain I feel makes me think that is what is happening. Guess all I can do is hope and pray that our sweet babe sticks with us. Whenever I'm scared I have the hubs kiss my tummy and tell the baby to hold on tight. Obviously I know that it won't make a difference but at least it puts a smile on my face. He's going to be such an amazing daddy.

Still excited, but...

Today has been a doozy of a Monday. On day 2 of a horrible headache, forgot to pack Tylenol and it seems that my entire office is made up of ibuprofen people (PS: it's pretty impossible to try to hint that only Tylenol will do without announcing you are pregnant) and a particularly hard to deal with client is on his way into the office because he's mad at me. Is it 4:30 yet? Pretty please?