Archive for September, 2007

coming up this week…

Author: Nic

Sep 23

hello to all. i have been researching websites to find the most “new-mom-friendly” information, and i think i’ve found a good one. meanwhile, paul is watching “in the womb” on the discovery channel. :) anyway, here’s what is happening to the baby this week…. i’ll try to attach the picture too. enjoy!!!

Week 9

How your baby’s growing:Your new resident is nearly an inch long — barely the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce, but he’s poised for rapid weight gain now that his basic physical structure is in place. He’s also starting to look more and more human. His embryonic “tail” is now completely gone and his body parts — including organs, muscles, and nerves — are kicking into gear.His eyelids are fused shut and won’t open until 27 weeks. He has earlobes, and by week’s end, the inner workings of his ears will be complete. His upper lip is fully formed, too, and his mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The tips of his fingers are slightly enlarged where his touch pads are developing. All major joints — his shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles — are working, enabling your baby to move his limbs. As for his heart, it has divided into four chambers now, and the valves have started to develop. External sex organs are there, but won’t be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks.
  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • 1st official dr. visit

    Author: Nic

    Sep 20

    okie dokie, so paul and i had decided that we do NOT want to have the baby on base. our sweet friend sarah (mother to baby lil) told me that she would no longer be my friend if i did, given the horrific experience she went through. so i did some research and got in touch with people at this women’s special care clinic that takes our insurance. i went today and it was AH-MAZING!!!! the clinic is run by all women who are all on a first-name basis…. really comfortable and casual. i must say, it was strange being in a waiting room entirely filled with pregnant women. anyway, i met with the nurse practitioner today, who is just great and full of excitement. i get to choose which of the two wonderfully brilliant and nice female drs i want to deliver the baby, AND i get to choose the hospital that i deliver at. the dr. comes to me!!!! so, the nurse practitioner got all my background info, etc, and then did the ultrasound. apparently paul and i have a little show-off in the making b/c the baby was pretty still at first and i saw the heart beat, then it was as if the wee-one knew he/she was on camera and so he/she decided to start swimming around and putting on a show. i was cracking up. needless to say, so far so good in terms of how everything looks. i wasn’t exactly clear on how far along i was, so i spoke with the np about that and she did a measurement of the baby. as of today, i am officially 8 weeks and 2 days. i will meet with the np once a month until i am 4 months. THEN, get this….. the women’s special care clinic pays to send all first time mothers to the high-risk pregnancy clinic in jacksonville to have all these tests run to check all the baby’s organs, make sure everything is a-ok, and do a 3D ultrasound. how great is that?!?!?! i was so impressed with this facility. it was such an answered prayer after paul and i have been somewhat stressing about drs on base and dealing with all of that.

    sooooooooooooooo that’s how today went and how the baby is doing. :) we’ll be sure to keep you posted. our next dr. visit is actually on our anniversary, so that will certainly be a day we will look forward to. as for now, paul and i are going to celebrate our little show-off by going to our favorite mexican joint for dinner. :)

    bye for now!!!

  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • in atlanta, celebrating with family!!!

    Author: Nic

    Sep 15

    here i am in atlanta for the weekend and loving every minute of it. i came home to shop with mom. while i don’t have a “bump” yet, i have a little pouch that makes my clothes uncomfortable. soooooo, i got some reccommendations from my cousin, kim, and went shopping crazy. i’m absolutely in love with these pants i got from target that have a drawstring waist. we got some tunic type tops too. needless to say, i’m ready for the next few weeks until i really start to show and cross over to the dark side (maternity clothes).
    uncle b is home for the weekend too from athens, which is great!!! his hugs are the greatest and i think he likes hugging, knowing that there are two of us that he is hugging now. :) he’ll be a great uncle.
    mom and da took me to pottery barn for kids today just to play around and get excited. mom was caught by the store clerk pushing around a child’s baby stroller with a baby inside. she’s kinda crazy-excited right now. da had fun playing with the toys and he tried to figure out this toy that was a bubble maker…. da thought it was a top and kept trying to spin it. needless to say, it wouldn’t spin. :) ha!
    as for the baby….. this week the baby’s hormones began to develop, and though we don’t know (or can’t see) if it’s a boy or a girl yet, the hormones to determine the sex are there. the baby is now 14 milimeters and next week it will be roughly the size of a rasberry and weigh as much as a paper clip. teeny!!!!
    paul and i have been pretty worn out this week, which is another reason why i am loving being in atlanta so much. work has been crazy for both paul and i…. i think we need a vacation. (funny how i just got back to teaching after summer vacation).
    anyway, being able to see my parents and my brother this weekend gets me really excited and it’s awesome to be a part of their joy in this news. i kinda don’t want to go back to jax…. ha!
    hope everyone is having a good weekend!!!

  • 2 Comments
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • baby dreams

    Author: Nic

    Sep 9

    the baby dreams are getting more and more strange. for starters, paul had his first baby dream this week. he woke himself up because he was laughing, and then he wanted to wake me up to tell me about it, but didn’t (good thing). apparently in paul’s dream, the baby was a boy and when paul picked him up all the baby did was fart and poop everywhere. paul said it was constant and just wouldn’t stop. hahahaha! i guess that was when he started to laugh and the dream ended b/c his laughter woke him up. cute, right?

    my dreams have been really bizarre. the latest ones are birthing dreams. i had one last week of me, ready to give birth, doctors in the room, people yelling at me to push, but when i did, nothing happened. the baby wouldn’t move and it was as though my unborn little peanut was laughing at my efforts, telling me “hey, that’s cool, i’m just going to chill out here for a while.” not so cool.

    the one i had last night was the most graphic so far (and i’ll spare you all the details, don’t worry). it was another birthing dream, but i wasn’t ready to give birth yet, just in the beginning processes of doctors telling me “ok nicole, it’s going to be a long night, so try to get some rest when you can.” for some reason, mom was in the hospital bed next to me as though she was a patient too (for what, i do not know). but instead of being in a hospital, we were in a banquet hall with hospital beds everywhere and absolutely no privacy (my nightmare come true of having this baby on base). in my dream, i realize that i’m not supposed to be there b/c i’m not far enough along in my pregnancy to give birth yet and would have a very premature baby. then i panic. i get out of my bed and start walking down this corridor to find someone and tell them that i’m not supposed to be here yet. of course, no one is to be found. then all of a sudden the labor pains begin and my water breaks. a nurse shows up, hands me a tray (it looks like one of those paper plates with the sections all cut out in it, like where to put the meat and the potatoes, etc). the nurse tells me that everything that “drops out of me” needs to be caught on this tray and given back to her for tests. WHAT?!?!?!?! totally bizarre. so i go back to my banquet hall, tell my mother (who is still lying in the bed next to me) and she looks at me and says “well, sounds like the nurse knows what she’s talking about.” and that was it. that was my dream. over and done with. completely crazy.

    i’d be really interested to know if others have weird baby dreams during this time. all of my dreams (whether they have been pregnancy-related or not) have been so vivid and “real” since i’ve been pregnant. it’s really crazy to think of what my brain is going through when i’m asleep.

    anyway, enough for now…. :) enjoy your day everyone!!!

  • 1 Comment
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • first post

    Author: Nic

    Sep 8

    good morning! this is my first time blogging… i guess that means i’m getting old. anyway, since the good word about paul and i being pregnant is getting more and more public, i figured “what the heck.” so here i am, following in the footsteps of my pregnant cousin, kim, and dedicating a blog to our baby. so many family members have been anxious to hear updates on the baby and how i’m feeling. this sounds like the best way to keep everyone posted. enjoy!!!

    this marks the end of week 7 for us. still no morning sickness (which is such a blessing). as of this week, the baby grew hands and developed eyelids. he/she is between 7 and 9 milimeters long (the length of one grain of rice). i’m absolutely amazed at the fact that something so teeny is so beautifully and intricately designed. it takes my breath away. as for me, i’ve been feeling kinda cruddy this week. i’m not sure if it’s the exhaustion or what, but the nausea has been stronger this week than in previous weeks, and though i sleep roughly 10 hours a night, my eyes burn so badly by the end of the day b/c i’m so tired.

    i guess paul should post some on this blog, so that you all know how he’s doing with this. both of us are in agreement that this still hasn’t hit us yet. side note: paul just walked in with a “fruit shake” that he made from a recipe he got out of his book, “the expectant father.” sweet of him to do…. but the shake is not so good…. strawberries aren’t in season right now. ha! anyway, the reality of this baby has not hit us yet. i guess that just comes with time.

    i should wrap this up… i’m attaching a picture i found on a baby website of what our’s should look like right now, given that we’re at week 7.

    let’s see if this blogging thing works…. :)

  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized