It's a...

BOY!

Everything looks great and he is quite a cutie. :)

I have been on the phone since we got out of our appointment so I apologize for keeping you waiting. I promise to post pictures tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the big day!

We are scheduled for our anatomical scan tomorrow at 4. Rod and I are both very eager to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I'm not nervous about the ultrasound, but I am a little anxious thinking that Rod might not make it in time. He has 2 big performances with his band at school this weekend. That takes a LOT of work to set up. Friday afternoon he has to set some things up before he can leave. I'm hoping he can get lots of volunteers to help him so he is able to leave by 2:30. Once he leaves, we have to hope that the traffic is light enough through Frederick that he can make it back to Hagerstown in time. Maybe I can stall the ultrasound technician for a few minutes until he gets there. Keep your fingers crossed for us! :)

57 days until Christmas!!!

I am so excited about Christmas this year. That's nothing different because Christmas has always been my favorite day of the year! The whole Christmas season has so many great traditions and memories for me. Some of my favorite things are: buying and wrapping gifts, the smell of cinnamon when you walk into a retail store, making cookies, Christmas specials on TV, decorating the tree (although my sisters and I have a tradition of complaining the whole time we are helping Mom with the tree), and of course watching people's faces when they open their gifts.

Rod is hoping that I stick to our Christmas budget this year because he knows for the next 18+ years I will not be able to keep from buying our kids tons of fun presents!

So, tell me what you're looking forward to this Christmas season.

Big Foot

Another lovely symptom of pregnancy has come my way...swelling! Yesterday I was changing for the gym. When I went to put my socks on, I looked down at my feet and let out an audible gasp. To my amazement one of my feet was extremely swollen! I've asked a lot of (previously pregnant) people about this. A couple have said it could be a sign of preeclampsia but most people say it is pretty normal. Don't worry, I've been carefully watching for signs of light-headedness and a racing heartbeat.

Today I put a makeshift stool under my desk at work which allowed me to keep my foot propped up most of the day. It looks a lot better tonight than it did last night.

This picture was taken last evening after I had already had it elevated for about an hour. Please excuse the worn-off nail polish. Later in the evening I took care of that!

I'm Having A...

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NEPHEW!!!

My sister and her husband found out last evening that they are expecting a baby boy! She said he was kicking all around and looks very healthy. :)

Bored or nesting?

After almost 5 days of being in this house, I have decided to tackle (multiple) projects. I hope this is what nesting is like! Although it would take me and an army of maids to get thise house organized, I feel like I'm making a little bit of progress. The dining room (which will become the nursery) has been our dumping ground for junk over the past 3 years. Because I'm excited to get the nursery started, I decided to begin my blaze of organizing in there. I am even organizing our wrapping paper!

I finally felt it!

Yesterday I finally got to feel the baby move! There have been times over the past two weeks when I thought I felt a flutter. Yesterday I felt it very clearly. I was laying on my stomach watching TV. I wasn't squishing the baby because I was propped up on my elbows, but I think the added pressure in my abdomen was what helped me be able to feel it. Now I am fighting the urge to lay like that all day so I can feel it constantly. :)

Camping Trip

Since the last several posts have been about boring medical stuff, I thought I would share some pictures today.

We chose a beautiful weekend to go camping. At night it got a little chilly but during the day it was in the mid 70s! It was fun to relax around the fire and chat with our friends Amy and Tony.

The only scary moment was when I tried to fall into the fire! I tripped over my chair one evening when I was trying to sit down in it. I was falling straight forward like I was going to land in the campfire. As I felt myself falling, I decided that I needed to do anything possible to keep from catching on fire! I used every muscle in my body to throw myself sideways to avoid the fire. It worked but not without some consequences. My arm landed on the grill part of the fire pit, I scraped my knee up, I knocked my chair and Rod's chair over on me, and worst of all I spilled my baked potato all over the ground. When I knocked the chairs over, the drinks that were in the drink holders spilled all over me. Meanwhile, Amy saw me falling and as she jumped up to help, she knocked her drink onto her lap. I'm sure it was quite a sight!

A self-portrait of me!

Rod cutting a log in half to put on the fire.

Rod grilling up some shishkabobs.

Our friends Amy and Tony with little Luc and their dog Odie.

This was a self-portrait using the camera's timer...not too bad.

17 weeks 2 days.

Quarantined

So, I've been coughing quite a bit over the last two days and decided to see my doctor today. Based on the knowledge that I was exposed to whooping cough, I thought it would be wise to get tested.

I went to my family doctor who asked me some questions and listened to me breathe. She seemed stuck on the idea that I have bronchitis (I strongly doubt it) so she gave me a breathing treatment. That didn't change anything so she agreed to write a lab order to test me for whooping cough.

After seeing the doctor I went straight to the lab and had a nasal swab done (OUCH!). They told me I can expect results in about a week. Because I have a life to live, I didn't feel like waiting a week was acceptable. I asked my doctor if she could go ahead and treat me for whooping cough but she said no because she did not want to expose the baby to the antibiotics unless absolutely necessary.

So, here I sit at home on day 1 of waiting for my results. Thankfully I have an awesome boss who agreed to let me work from home until I find out for sure if I'm contagious or not.

We're going camping...

...for the last time without a baby!

I was thinking this morning that we are going to have to rent a trailer when we go camping next year. We already fill the Explorer to the ceiling with stuff. I can't imagine what it will be like when we are taking baby accessories, too.

I'm not one of those people who really enjoys camping. I don't understand why people choose to sleep on the hard floor of the forest when they have a perfectly good bed at home. I am not a fan of cold showers, eating food with ashes in it, having to walk down the road to the bath house, etc. But, I do love my husband and I enjoy spending time with my friends so once again I will go on a camping adventure and try to have a good time!

And now for the REAL reason I agree to go camping every year: THE S'MORES!


I promise to post some camping pictures next week. Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Fetal Echo Cardiogram Update

So, I spent basically my entire morning on the telephone with doctors, NICU units, my insurance company, etc. It was quite a pain but I'll try to make this short.

I spoke to my doctor and she said that she agrees with the doctor I saw yesterday and would like me to get the test done. However, she said that she fully understands why I don't want to do the echo cardiogram at the same time as the ultrasound. She recognized that the ultrasound should be a fun occasion and that the echo cardiogram experience may not be as positive.

Her office was helpful about trying to find another location where I could do the test (besides going to downtown Baltimore). We were not able to find another location due to the limitations of my insurance. So, I will go to Johns Hopkins on November 10 for the fetal echo cardiogram.

The happy news is that we will get to (hopefully) learn the baby's gender on October 31 at 11AM!

Doctor's Visit

I went to the OB's office for my scheduled appointment today. It was fun to hear the baby's heartbeat again! I also learned that I've gained 20 lbs. Maybe I'm blind, but I don't think I look like I've gained that much. Perhaps I should look in a mirror. ;)

Anyway, back to the appointment. Because I was born with a hole in my heart, the doctor I saw today (not my regular doctor) said I need to get an echo cardiogram done on the baby. I'm not too thrilled with the idea of having to go to Baltimore to get this test done. Besides the trauma of going to Johns Hopkins, I am sad because they said I cannot have a separate ultrasound done. That is particularly disappointing because I was SO looking forward to the special experience of getting to find out the baby's gender. Rod and I were going to take the day off to go to the appointment and then we were going to have lunch and go shopping for pink or blue!

Tomorrow I am going to talk to my primary OB to get her opinion on whether or not this test is necessary. If she feels it is necessary I will beg her to let me have the regular ultrasound at a separate time. I do not want the joy of finding out the baby's sex to be overshadowed by the stress of the echo cardiogram. At this point I'm going to try not to worry about it and just plan to talk to Dr. Ginter tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Hello in there...

I tried desperately to hear or feel movement. I held my breath while pressing my ear close to the mother's rounded mound of a belly. I tried speaking into the belly button, hoping that the sound waves just might awaken the creature within. My efforts went unrewarded. No ripples, no kicks, no bumps. What we have here is a shy little baby. This little baby is turning out to be more and more like her/his mother each day.

Hmmm.... Well I am certain that once it gets out of that dark place, the silence will be broken forever. I was thinking the other day that I have my next 21 years scheduled. Yikes! Diapers, Soccer, PTA, bake sales, and band-aids for the next 7665 days. That all should be kinda fun, right?

Until next time, "Keep your stick on the ice. We're all in this together." -Red Green

I'm fresh outta witty...

So yesterday I promised you a fun and witty post. The bad news is that I thought about this all night and all day and still haven't thought of anything that fits that definition. Instead, I will bore you with the details of my work life. Does that sound good?

I'm having so much fun making some of my colleagues wonder if I am pregnant or not. I keep seeing people look at me funny, but they're too afraid to ask why my stomach has gotten bigger over the past few weeks. Most of my coworkers know that I'm pregnant, but I don't want to go around announcing it to every single person that I know through work. My job has me working with a variety of people in the community every day. I feel weird walking up to each person and saying, "did you know I'm going to have a baby?" Causing them confusion is much more fun!

So, today I was at a training and sitting next to a colleague. I probably see this guy at least 1-2 times a week. He clearly is wondering about my growing mid-section but has never asked. This man is one of those people who jokes constantly so I am getting quite a kick out of making him guess! Anyway, I was drinking some coffee at the training and another friend/colleague of mine walked by and said, "that better be decaf" (of course it was!). My male coworker quickly turned and looked at me with a curious look on his face. But, he still didn't say anything. I'm interested to see how long I can keep him in the dark!

Sorry for the delay

Rod said he wants to update the blog every Sunday. He didn't have time over the weekend and I think he forgot about it once his busy week started.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that we haven't fallen off the blogging wagon. I will be thinking of something witty and fun to post tomorrow. :)