Baby is on the move.

Kyle finally(!!!!) felt the baby move a couple of nights ago. It was only for a second, but at least now I know that I am not crazy. :-). I have been feeling a lot more movement, though it is still mostly when I am lying down in the evening. OH--and according to the baby development calendar, our little one has pretty functional hearing and can respond to sounds. Funny--a couple of times I have raised my voice, I know how shocked you must be, and I will feel a little tap. It is as if the baby doesn't like it when I shout. Hopefully, she won't be a yeller.

21 week pictures

Alright...so now I am 23 weeks and we took these a couple of weeks ago. The belly is much more impressive now, but you can see the increasing roundness in these early ones. Kale (our blue heeler/lab mix) is being VERY protective of me. He is lays his head on my belly when he jumps in the bed. When we walk at night, he is very suspicious of joggers and anyone that comes too close...which sometimes means that the kids in the neighborhood get a raw deal. He is so cute and cuddly that everyone wants to pet him, but he is also a very loyal and protective beast, particularly since I got pregnant...so we have to be careful to give adequate warning that he is on patrol.

Here are the pictures. I will post some newer ones and our Thanksgiving pictures as soon as I figure out where they are. :-). 24 week check up is coming up on the 30th, so time is flying by.

Sometimes when you least expect it.....

We were NOT planning to find out the sex of our baby......we were actually quite adamant about it. This was much to the irritation and frustration of friends and family. :-). So, of course, when we went for our 20 week ultrasound we made this clear. Kyle was struggling before we even got into the sonographer's office, but he decided that he could stick to the plan. Once the sonogram started, it was amazing...see the pictures below. Baby Devo was all squished into one half of the available space with feet up by the head. As they go through the diagnostic part of looking at the brain, lungs, kidneys, bladder, stomach, etc...it was the coolest thing I have every seen. You could see the baby drinking the amniotic fluid and we saw the half full bladder and the filling stomach. FYI---it is freaking me out a little that this tiny being is peeing into my uterus at the moment....

As the sonographer made her way from top to bottom and then bottom to top, it became pretty clear that our child was not modest...so we didn't need any help figuring out that it was a girl. Our little one isn't exactly "ladylike" or modest, so we got a full-frontal view of the naughty bits. Kyle was actually the one that called it....silly me, I was concerned about the internal organs! So--we are pretty confident that we are having a girl, a little Wesleyanne addition to the family. Kyle is beside himself...so excited that he will have a daddy's girl to hug and kiss on forever. I am excited, but I really couldn't have cared less if it was a boy or a girl. Best news is that she appears to be a deep sleeper because she barely wanted to shift around to give the sonographer a good view of her cerebellum. At the last ultrasound, she wasn't real excited to wake up long enough to flip positions either. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a good sleeper! Apparently Kyle and I both slept through the night pretty early, so we are hopeful. Here are the ultrasound pictures from the 20 week....I can't believe this is the last view we will
get of the baby before she is born. Check out the giant Buddha belly! On the second picture, there is a phrase "Gig 'Em" written by the sonographer. At A&M, the students hold up a thumb and say Gig 'Em as one of the traditions....when baby put up her thumb, the tech (an A&M grad) couldn't help herself. :-)

belly pics from early on

I am finally getting around to posting the pregnant belly pictures from the first trimester. I will post a picture from this week (19 weeks and 1 day) tomorrow. There wasn't a whole lot of change in the first trimester, but now I am over the hump and I seem to be developing a significant poof in the mid-section. We have our big 20 week ultrasound next week....no, we are not planning to look at the naughty-bits!

Here you go.
9 weeks.......



13 weeks.....
A little poofiness.....but wait until you see what has happened in the last few weeks!

OH---apparently pregnancy is catching. There are two pregnant faculty members in the department (one is due 3 days after us!). I have a friend from Junior League that is pregnant and due in March. AND I must have run into a dozen people at the conference we just attended who either just had babies or were pregnant. I guess it is going around. :-)

16 week prenatal visit

Kyle and I went to see Dr. Dawson on Tuesday....he only sees OB patients on Tuesday afternoon and Thursday mornings, so it was the usual mad house of people. The office is open until 6:45 on Tuesdays, so our 4:20 appointment was right in the thick of the busy time. Anyway, everything looks great so far. I have gained 5 pounds total (16.5 weeks along), which the doctor and Kyle assure me is right on track for this point. We heard the baby's heartbeat, which was stronger than the last visit. By the end of the week, Devo should weigh as much as a baseball and will continue a big growth spurt for the next couple of weeks. Exciting stuff is going on in my belly even if I don't feel anything all that exciting yet. :-)

We got back the results from our nuchal translucency test and had the second half of the sequential screening (for chromosomal abnormalities)....Dr. Dawson said that our chances of having a problem is very slim (VERY slim), so that is great news. We scheduled the big 20 week ultrasound for the first week of December and we are looking forward to seeing Devo in 3-D.

I promise to update with some pictures this weekend. I will post the belly pics from 11 weeks and from this week.....I am certain you will be able to figure out which is which. All 5 lbs of weight gain are in my bump.

Baby Development Calendar

A very good friend of mine got me this super-sweet baby development calendar that has all kinds of cute factoids about your pregnancy.  Each week ends with a comparison of your baby's size to a common object (usually food....3 weeks ago, Devo was the size of a taco shell!).  Most of the daily comments are written from the point of view of the fetus.  For example, "It was nice having help, but since my liver and spleen now produce blood cells, I no longer need the yolk sac".  Anyway, today I am 16 weeks and 2 days pregnant and the information for today is as follows:

"Believe it or not, I can see in here!  If you shine a bright light on your belly, I'll gradually move my hands to cover my eyes".  

There is a person in my abdomen and they have eyes!  Good lord!  Now all I can think about is the 20 week ultrasound and whether or not the doctor will let us bring one of those big flashlights to shine on my belly....I want to see little Devo's hands cover up his/her eyes.  

Belly pictures and more Devo news to come soon. 

Finally, the baby looks like a tiny person!

These are pretty self-explanatory. Next, I am going to post the first trimester belly-pic. I don't look particularly "pregnant"....more like I ate too many doughnuts for breakfast.

13 Week Sonogram--Nuchal Translucency Testing

On Tuesday, we went for a sonogram to evaluate our risk for chromosomal defects like Down syndrome, Trisomy 18, etc. (we are scientists, so the idea of finding out more data about the baby was irresistible!). We were having a nuchal translucency test where they measure the fluid present at the back of the baby's neck....more fluid is associated with more risk for chromosomal problems and spina bifida, etc. Anyway, the sonographer started the exam and Devo wasn't moving around very much and the baby's position wasn't quite right for the technician to get a view of the neck. So--the tech started pressing on my abdomen with the ultrasound wand trying to get Devo to move into a better position. She pressed a couple of times and then all of a sudden there was a flash on the screen where the baby's hand came up in front and swatted like there was a fly! It looked like Devo was telling us to stop being pests. Kyle commented that we knew whose personality the baby would have....I was not amused.

The tech still couldn't get a good look at the neck, so she had me stand up and walk around trying to get the baby to change position. When she got me back on the table and started again, Devo's butt was facing us. Again---as if to say "You want to measure something? Measure this!". It cracked both of us up. Then Devo cooperated and did some somersaults for us. It was so great!

OH--as for the testing, everything looked great. They took some blood and we will get the results sometime around 20 weeks since they compare my bloodwork now to that taken at my 16 week visit in November and then calculate our risk for chromosomal issues. BUT--everything looks good so far and we are so glad that we did the sonogram this early (only do this if you get the test done) otherwise we would have had to wait 2 more months to get a view of our little one.

I will post the ultrasound pictures soon, but this story was too cute to keep to myself. :-)

Providence Trip

We spent the weekend in Providence and it was beautiful.  The weather was cold for us (in the low 40's at night and high 50's in the daytime).  Our blood is so thin since we moved to TX...I guess we will have to work on that before we take any ski trips with Devo.  

The weekend was dual purpose.  One of my best friends from college had a birthday (Jess) and grad school friends were getting married (Nicole and Michael).  For anyone that doesn't know, in the event that I am unable to fulfill my wifely duties due to death, Jess and Kyle will become life partners.  :-)    

The weekend was a lot of fun, but this whole gestating thing is taking its toll.  I was exhausted by 10pm the first night (totally plowed through and stayed out until midnight).  The second night, I was really feeling it....the 3rd night I collapsed as soon as we got home from the wedding and slept for 9 hours.  Seriously?!  I am actually less tired than I was a month ago....then this trip would have been crazy because I never would have made it past dinner. Seeing friends was wonderful and it just served to remind me how lucky we are to have people that we love and that love us.  We need to move back EAST....TX is too far from everyone.      

12 week prenatal visit

Tuesday afternoon Kyle and I went to see Dr. Dawson (the ob/gyn). This visit started with the worst part....the weighing. Surprisingly, while I feel quite poofy in the midsection, I have only gained half a pound in my first trimester. That made me feel MUCH better. :-)

We heard the heartbeat for the first time on Tuesday. 163 beats per minute....apparently that is normal. It took a few tries to get the doppler in the right spot, but then we heard that little beat and it was magical!

We will post some pictures of the first trimester abdomen...not too impressive yet, just looks like I ate too many doughnuts at breakfast. Now that I am not disgusted by all things edible (morning sickness is over!) I may start eating more doughnuts anyway......

And so it begins.......

Well, it has happened. We surprised even ourselves and decided to start a family. For those of you that know us well, you know that this is something that didn't really occur to us until recently. But--we couldn't be happier. Let's just say that we were very fortunate and our high school health teachers were right....it didn't really take too much, eh-hem, "trying". Right now, I am 10 weeks pregnant and my due date is April 17th (-ish, of course). We have been to see Dr. Dawson, the ob/gyn, and got some sweet pictures of our little swedish fish at 8 weeks. When you see these, it isn't clear if we are having a chicken, a gummy bear, or a fish....but seeing these images on that little screen had an amazing impact on both of us. We hope that you will enjoy the ride with us.