Coming out of the blog closet...

Originally, my blog was private. I didn't intend on telling the entire world I was infertile. I was going through something so horrible, that I didn't feel like I could talk with anyone (other than hubby, of course). No one I knew had ever battled this. I needed a place to write my private emotions, feelings, and decisions. My blog was accessible to those battling infertility (IF) like myself. Their comments and prayers carried me through, and I will be forever grateful to those ladies.

Today I make my blog public. If you're reading my blog for the first time, welcome! I hope that you or someone who is close to you is battling the hell called infertility, and just maybe our journey will help in some way whether it be motivational or knowledgeable. If you have no idea what IF is or if you're just nosy, I welcome you too!

I urge you to use the abbreviation key to the right. I use a lot of abbreviations and some readers can easily get confused.

Most people have no idea how hard we tried for this baby and I don't mean by having non-stop baby making sex (BD'ing)... so here's an outline of our IF journey:

- December 2007, decided it was time and we were ready to start a family. Discontinued birth control (BC).

- After reading TCOYF, started charting my cycles. Charts showed no ovulation.

- In 2008, battled a 6 mth long cycle. 2 FAILED attempts w/ Prometrium and 1 FAILED attempt with Natural Progesterone Cream to start a new cycle. Last attempt with Provera, finally brought a new cycle (aka AF)! (This was my first suspicion that I may have a condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS); my research on PCOS began); also tried herbs - Vitex and Soy Isoflavones

- December 2008, lab results came back w/ slightly high testosterone and diagnosed "borderline PCOS"

- During 2009, we went through six FAILED Clomid cycles. Ovulation (O) observed on first cycle. All other cycles, no ovulation. Battled large cysts after first and second cycles w/ Clomid.

- August 2009, we started to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE)/Infertility Specialist who diagnosed me as "perfectly PCOS" after thorough testing of DH and I - hysterosalpingogram (HSG), sperm analysis (SA), misc blood work, etc.

- October 2009, I participated in a clinical research study for PCOS women who were attempting to conceive.

- After battling for 2 years, DH and I took a break and tried naturally for 6 months.

- After 6 months and further research, I asked to be tested for Insulin Resistance. My insulin levels came back ABNORMAL and I started to take Metformin to assist with the symptoms. Ovulation did not restore on it's own.

- August 21, 2010 (our last cycle in hell), took Femara 2.5 mg on cycle days 3-7 and ovulated for only the 2nd time in 3 years!!

- September 22, 2010, we were very surprised to learn our battle with infertility was over and a new battle began! :P

I always knew deep down, annovulation was our problem. Everything else checked out perfectly normal, except for the one little fact that I did not ovulate. I prayed to God that he would just give me that one chance. All I wanted was to ovulate just once. He gave me my chance, and I took every single bit of research and knowledge I had attained and used it!

Was Femara my miracle drug? Maybe. Or maybe it was the combo of Metformin and Femara. Over the course of the 3 years I lost about 20-25 pounds as well. I also changed my food choices to organic. Whatever the combination was, we found the right one! During the 3 long years of our journey, we cried, we hoped, I prayed, we researched, we endured disappointment, we felt relieved to have answers, we researched some more, we counted our blessings, ...but most importantly, we focused on the light at the end of the tunnel, and we believed one day we'd get there.

Today marks 99 days to go! If our baby girl were born tomorrow she'd have an 80-90% chance at survival. After going through what we've endured for 3 long emotional years, those numbers are comforting to Daddy and I and today we celebrate our baby girl!

Valentine’s Day

My honest opinion of Valentine’s Day is this... It’s just another day with a label that requires everyone to spend money on unnecessary items. If your SO needs a day to say and do romantic things, you need a new SO! Just sayin’! Hah! You’d think I was single talking like that! :P

Well, it’s true!

This year I told DH that I didn’t want him spending (a.k.a. WASTING) money on Valentine’s Day gifts for me. If he was going to spend money, he needed to spend it on our daughter!! So, as my V-day gift, guess what I got?!?!

A HUMIDIFIER!!!!!!

I’m stoked! Because this is a MUST HAVE for baby girl. Here in Texas allergies are killer and if she’s our daughter she will battle them, like her parents do! We also have two dogs and a cat, so unless my baby has magical powers this item will be used!!


I’m so happy he bought the one we registered for AND he used a 15% coupon!! I teach him so well! And naturally it’s a FROG! DH’s TCU Horned Frogs = Frog Humidifier for baby girl! :P

Speaking of TCU...here’s what I gave DH for V-day!!



I had it custom made for him and our baby girl! It’s a TCU Cloth Pocket Diaper by Squeezie Cheeks!! It’s size small, so it won’t fit her for a while, but I LOVE it and DH loved it too!!

I did come home to a steak and lobster dinner AND fresh flowers! So he did go against the "no money spent on me rule", BUT he said he shopped around at 3 places before buying the flowers! I love him more and more when he makes an effort to save us money! :) Happy V-day Everyone! I hope you feel as loved as I do today!

Baby girl needs a name!

I didn't realize naming our daughter would be so difficult. I thought that was the fun part!? I blame every bit of stress and agony on myself! I am OCD. I am a planner. I must plan every little detail. I must feel prepared. If I fail at least I know I did everything I could to PLAN ahead.

We both wanted a unique name - nothing TOO common, but nothing too over the top or foreign to the English language. So when choosing a name here's what I considered:

- the spelling and could it be easily pronounced and/or spelled
- the appearance when written in cursive - I swayed away from names starting with the letter I, because I don't like the way "I" looks in cursive or written in script letter. It appears like an "L" in some instances.
- her initials - My initials are AA or AGA (with middle name). I prefer her not to have a double initial like BAA or BBA, etc.
- the appearance of her monogram - My monogram reads AAG and I HATE the way that looks! I've never had anything monogrammed for this reason!
- the name meaning - must have a positive meaning, nothing negative (like devilish) or nothing too biblical (DH is Atheist).

Ok, so I'm little picky with all of these conditions, but we did come up with two favorites:

Option #1 - Helene Gayle (DH's favorite)
Meaning: "bright one" or "shining one" or "light"


We both loved Helene, but we struggled with choosing an appropriate middle name. Nothing seemed to flow well. She needed something short and sweet - maybe one syllable. After vetoing many middle names, DH suggested my middle name - Gayle. Not my most favorite name in the world, but it actually fit, and I wouldn't mind "giving" her my middle name. My oldest sister actually has my mom's middle name, so this was a little bit of a tradition we were starting here, I suppose. The one thing I don't like about this choice is her monogram. She would NEVER be able to have anything monogrammed, because it would appear like this:


Ummmm. No!

I'm ok with her never being about to have anything monogrammed. I did fine without it.

Option #2 and my favorite - Aiyana Helene
Meaning: "forever flowering" or "eternal blossom"


My favorite has always been Aiyana w/ the middle name of Helene. I love Aiyana, but I love Helene too! With this name I feared the spelling/pronunciation aspect. Will she be correcting incorrect pronunciations and spellings all her life? Possibly. But it's so beautiful and unique!

So how are we going to decide? We've decided to wait to name our daughter until we've met her! We'll give her the name that seems to fit her the best.

I wanted to incorporate her name into the nursery in a couple of places, so I'm a little bummed we'll need to wait to "finish" off her nursery. I think in the end though, we'll be more content to name her this way and not have to hear everyone's opinions of either choice for the next few months!

I added a poll to the top right of my blog. We would love to know which name is your favorite!

24 weeks - Week of Viability

Today I noticed my babystrology.com widget says 112 days left. WOW. In 13 days I'll be saying "DOUBLE DIGITS-99 days left". WOW. That's crazy to think about...

Some say this is the "week of viability". If baby girl were to be born today, she would have a 40-70% chance at survival. Next week, her chance of survival jumps to 50-80%. Then at week 26, an 80-90% chance. A greater than 50% chance is great, but I'm most comfortable with the 80-90% chance at week 26! So, I'm going to hold off my celebrations for when I can say "99 days left". That will be a huge milestone and we'll have more than one reason to celebrate! I'm such an overachiever! ;)

I'm also planning to make my blog public on that day. I have mixed feelings about it. I feel like I'll be opening up all of my secrets to the world. Are they really secrets? NO. But that's what it feels like. I'm ready for the world to know what DH and I have been through, but I'm really bad with handling the comments, opinions, or judgments - especially the ones I didn't ask for. But, on the other hand, if my journey can help one person then it will all be worth it! :)

Things are still going great. I've been battling bad heartburn, indigestion, and some round ligament pain (RLP). But nothing I can't handle. I do think that sometimes I may have a braxton hicks contraction (BH). I'm not too sure though. It doesn't happen often or ever repeat itself in a short period of time, so I'm thankful for that.

Other than that, not much going on. We had 3 ice/snow days last week, so I didn't have class all week. They are forecasting another bad weather day for tomorrow. After being stuck in the house for 2 days straight I was itching to get out, but oh so scared to do so in my new car! I have to admit though, I thoroughly enjoyed my days off from work and school! I'm sure the next 2 or 3 weeks are going to be HELL playing catch up. :(

23 weeks and SNOW/ICE Day!!

Sleet and snow on the roads = no school, no work, and no new mommy mobile anywhere near the crazies on the roads!!

How far along: 23 weeks

Growth: Baby girl is 11.3 inches from crown to heel and weighs about 1.1 pounds

Symptoms: heartburn and indigestion; bloody boogers and a very irritated nostril

Total weight gain: 8 pounds

Maternity clothes: All of the time. My drawstring scrub pants are starting to fit very snug and becoming uncomfortable.

Stretch marks: No new ones. I started using Palmers Tummy Butter last week. I hate it. It doesn’t smell good, and it stays on ALL DAY. I have to scrub myself HARD in the shower to get off the residue feeling it leaves behind. I’ve been using it maybe once every 2 days. I can’t imagine using it more often. I’m one of those people who know I’ll get stretch marks. I already have them from when I gained 30-40 pounds in my first year of marriage! The Palmers has been highly recommended to me, so what the heck, I’ll give it a try...

Movement: I feel her move daily, and I love it! She get hiccups very often or speculation says she's a very rhythmic dancer like her mommy was! She has her quiet times, and that's hard getting used to unless I'm focusing on school! She loves to distract me while I'm studying for school!! Sometimes she kicks so hard that I can see my body move! I can't wait till I can see my belly move!

Sleep: I’m starting to notice my legs falling asleep at night if I find myself sleeping on my back, so I’m trying my best to sleep on my sides to promote the best possible blood flow to baby. I’m not using any kinds of pillows yet, but I think they may be in my future very soon!

Best moment this week: Seeing lots and lots of production in the baby’s room! Clothes are washed, folded, and hung! Everything that was business related has been moved into our bedroom, so her room is starting to look like “her room!”

Food cravings: I don’t necessary crave it, but I thoroughly enjoy Biscuits and Gravy! I would eat it everyday if I could!

What I miss: When I was comfortable in my own clothes. Maternity jeans are so frustrating. They constantly sag and I have to pull them up all of the time. So annoying. Now I know why I always see PG women appearing so frumpy in public!!

What I am looking forward to: To having our baby girl here! I’m starting to get ‘those feelings’ of wanting her here so bad. I tell myself “No! You need to wait!” She’s nowhere near to being “done” and I don’t want her to be in the NICU for any amount of time, so I’m ok with waiting. But I am looking forward to having her in her room we’ve prepared and my new mommy mobile! We’re ready to be a family!

Milestones: Not necessarily a milestone, but I’ll be in my THIRD trimester in 4 weeks! Mommies in my due date group are hitting the 3rd Tri and I didn’t realize it was just right around the corner for me!

How is daddy? Still super excited! I love to see him all giddy and the twinkle in his eye he’s acquired!

How are the grandparents? Busy. MIL and FIL are starting to gather the names and addresses for the baby shower. There are 120 adults already on the guest list thanks to both of our very very large families; not to mention probably 50-60 kids. (Note: Shower will be co-ed. They always are.)

Here’s my belly pic from 22 weeks...Still waiting for my B bump to turn into a C bump! :) (It's absolutely amazing how much dirtier the bathroom mirror looks on camera than in person! Gross.)

My NEW Mommy Mobile!!

I'm still truly sad our Altima didn't last us a long time. I wanted to enjoy driving a car with no car payment, but sometimes I can't always get what I want! I know long term DH and I will love the piece of mind knowing we're carting around our baby girl in a reliable car, and we won't have to stress or worry about it breaking down on us with the baby in the car ...in triple digit Texas heat!

So, long story short, we looked into a Chevrolet Equinox! We went to one dealership and realized maybe it was going to cost too much. We had a number and we needed to stick to it! So we started to look at the new Chevy Cruze.! The price was about $5K less. It was smaller than the Altima, so we worried a little bit about convenience when we travel to Austin with baby and 2 dogs. Again, we were sticking to our number and couldn't complain.

Then, after about a week of car shopping we both came home exhausted and frustrated. Deep down we both wanted the Equinox. We continued to shop around and found new Equinoxes advertised for $19,995 in Frisco. We proposed this to our dealer and, even though, they would be losing $$ on the deal (supposedly!) if the other dealership was going to do it, then so were they! In the end, we got what we wanted for only $3K more than we were going to pay for the Cruze!! We stuck to our number and we still got what we wanted! A beautiful 2011 White Chevrolet Equinox!

Honestly, this was our best car shopping experience by far! We took our time and shopped around for WEEKS! It was exhausting and frustrating but in the end it paid off! We are 100% positive we got the BEST possible deal! My BIL has "connections" in the GM business who confirmed that we got a GREAT deal on this car. I feel so good about this purchase!





I'm so looking forward to having our family in this car! DH and I are so in love with it!

FINALLY, Daddy feels movement!

She's been super active lately and sometimes she kicks so hard that it startles me! I've been getting frustrated with DH, because I would put his hand on my belly, push gently... but apparently too hard, because all he could feel was HIS PULSE!! Then, she'd kick and I could see OUR hands move... and he couldn't feel her. ...OMG.

Then, finally, the hard kicks came back with a vengeance last night - may have been hiccups too! I placed his hand there and FINALLY, he feels her! He looks at me with huge bug eyes and says "Whoooaa! That was weird!" Haha - love him.

Willpower. Determination. Strength.

I've never questioned my ability to raise a child; however, when it comes to our particular situation I have most certainly questioned my ability to juggle a full time job, a new baby, my marriage, my company, AND continue to go to school.

My attitude has been "We'll see what happens..." I never intend to QUIT school; however, I have played with a few different ideas of what I may do.

Now, keep in mind, DH will *always* be in school! He's successful. He has drive, and he will graduate with his degree in 2.5 years. That will never change - baby or not!

My schooling has always been put second, and I recongize my ability to attend school as an amazing *oppurntunity*! After baby arrives in May, both DH and I will take both summer semesters off. He will return to school in the Fall, BUT will I return as well? No question, I will do my best to take on at least 2 online classes; however, for my degree plan I must take a science lecture and lab EVERY Spring and Fall semester, which means no online class... rather on campus classes!

Will we be forced to purchased a second vehicle? Can we even afford that? Probably not. That's my first obstacle.

Next is, can I even do it?

I want to EBF (exclusivly breastfeed). This does not mean directly from my breast 100% of the time. This means I want her to have only breastmilk for atleast the first 6-9 months. I know there are SO many factors that go into my ability to do this, so I'll cross those bridges when I get there. But in my mind, if I'm able to EBF long term, I will be required to pump at work - no problem (logistically). I will pump in the car, in public, whereever I need to. I will be completely committed to BF and completely commited to my child.

But will I be completely commited to school? I need to be. Especially for the sake of my new baby and her future! But will my time (what time, right?), energy level, and everything else be perfectly aligned to ensure I'm able to include school into the mix??

I'm not sure.

I have the support of my wonderful husband who is willing to ensure I'm able to attend school, but what if I become completly overwhelmed. What if I feel like I can't do it, like it's too much for me.... when really, is it too much? Or am I allowing it to overwhelm myself?

God delivers the answers...

So I'm walking through the student center at school yesterday and a travel system catches my eye. I think "What is a infant carrier and stroller doing in the student center? This is weird." As I countine to walk, I realize that next to the travel system is a mommy sitting on the couch covered by ironically the same exact Bebe au Lait Nursing Cover I registered for! As I keep walking to my class, it totally dawns on me... she's a mom, with an infant, BF her baby AT SCHOOL! Wow.

I wanted to say something to her. The visual she gave me moved me. I don't know her exact situation. Does she have one car too? Does she have an amazing partner who supports her? I do know one thing. What she exhibited to me was what I WANT to be able to do. She was doing the best for her child by comitting to BF AND she was at school furthering her education. She could have been at home BF in the privacy of her own home. Or she could have chosen to FF (formula feed) by bottle, avoid the awkward looks, and attend school. But she wasn't.

I was amazed, and for the first time, I was given confidence that if she can do it, SO CAN I!

21 weeks and lots of baby updates!

Movement: I felt the baby from the outside for the first time on Thursday. I literally saw my arm move! Unfortunately, she hasn't been that active since, and DH hasn't had the privilege to feel her. Thursday is his birthday and I think, she's making him wait so she can give him her "gift"!

Cankles: I have cankles already. Nice. Isn't it a little too early for this? Ugh. So depressing. I MUST increase my water intake, decrease the salt, and start working out again!! Ugh. I have no other excuse! Honestly, I don't mind the cankles right now as they're covered up all of the time, but I'm really hoping my fingers aren't next. Fat fingers = no wedding rings = very very sad A.

Diaper Stash: We are 95% done with our NB (newborn) diaper stash!! I'm so giddy! I still need to research more on inserts and cloth wipes. Then, purchase both and we'll be 100% DONE for 0-3 months (maybe longer!).

DH's birthday: So, DH and I have never really been "gift" type of people. We always go out to a nice dinner, but rarely do gifts AND dinner! When you're both students (now with a baby on the way!) you realize materialistic items are in no way necessary in life! So this year, I wanted to surprise him with gifts! I've always known I was married to an amazing man, but I didn't think I'd realize he's even more amazing than I thought. With this pregnancy, he has been so thoughtful. He won't let me carry anything heavy including multiple loads of groceries up to our 2nd floor apartment. He constantly asks if our baby girl is/was active today. And he actually wants to go shopping if it entails anything for this baby! He gets as excited as me to get fluffy mail (cloth diapers) and to even put furniture together!! He truly amazes me.

So for his birthday, I thought really hard, and I realized how his frivolous spending on xbox360 games has completely disappeared. Now, he sells his games on craigslist and uses that money to buy a new USED one! He never buys new games anymore. Also, he used to spend about $100 a year or more on Xbox Live subscriptions. (This is required if you want to play "online" with people around the world.) He used to really enjoy playing with his "online" friends, but he hasn't purchased a new subscription in a very long time. I appreciate all of the money savings on his part so much!

I also started to realize that his personal time is about to completely diminish. I mean, he's not a party animal by any means, but when he's home on Saturday night, he's always playing his xbox360. It's probably the only thing he does for himself to "get away"!

I want him to have as much "personal" fun time as he can possibly get in before this baby comes. So, I bought him a 1 year subscription to Xbox Live. After this baby is born, I know it is going to be extremely exhausting, especially since he'll be home with her while I'm at work, so I will urge him to get in "his" time as often as he can! With this subscription, he'll be covered for one year!


I'll probably put a card on his subscription "from his daughter" and add a note that says something like "Daddy, You better enjoy this as much as you can before my arrival!"

And also as a fun gift from myself, I purchased this T-shirt from Cafe Press. We found this online one day very early on in this pregnancy, and he loved it. I can't wait to see his face when he unwraps this!


Nursery Furniture: After a trip to Ikea yesterday, we have one piece of furniture left to buy!! We have the crib, changing table, and the dresser/chest of drawers!! Since I'll be in class till 9 pm on DH's birthday, he says he's going to have his own little "party" at home and start to put all of the furniture together!! lol!

20 weeks 1 day - HALFWAY THERE!!

2-0

Wow...

To look up at that ticker and see a number that begins with a TWO... Wow. I'm so grateful and so thankful to have made it to 20 weeks! Baby and I are halfway there. There are no words to describe how excited DH and I are! We're not even halfway ready physically, but we're so ready emotionally!

In the next couple of weeks, I think, we'll start the guest bedroom/nursery transformation. It's currently a guest bedroom with piles and piles of her stuff, business stuff, and misc junk. I want to get it cleared out and organized for her! Realistically, I'd like to be 95% ready one week before finals (approx. by May 1st). Remember, I'm the OCD planner and that's my "goal" date I'm setting! Then, after finals are over for both DH and I, we (hopefully!) have a couple of weeks to wrap up any last minute details before we welcome her home!

So far, this pregnancy has been a breeze! I wish I could say that I've returned back to my usual workouts, but I haven't. My excuses include: the holiday craziness, buying a new car, stressing about buying a new car, waiting for my new car (details coming SOON!!), it's 25 degrees outside (I walk to the gym from my office), and I don't have access yet to the gym at home. Sounds pretty good huh?

I've continued to feel movement daily. These days she's pretty quiet. I feel her most in the mornings and at night. I think she's a pretty chill baby... for now!

I've started to SPEND MONEY on this little girl!! Luckily, mostly everything I've purchased are necessities! Details coming SOON!

We have chosen names! I have my favorite and DH has his! We'll take both to the hospital, meet our little girl, and give her the name that fits her best! Details coming SOON!

My mind has been in overdrive lately, because I have one available week left before Spring semester starts for me. I've been reading my books as much as I can and researching as much as I can! The BIG decision - we've decided we will CLOTH DIAPER!! So that has taken up most of my "researching" time!

Here's my 20 week bump pic! Sorry about my finger being in the way! I think I still look fat, rather than pregnant! The little indention in between what I call my "top bump" and "bottom bump" still exists! When it vanishes I'm sure I'll feel like I look PG! :)

18 weeks 2 days

How far along: 18 weeks

Growth: DH loves to keep up with the fruit/vegetable size comparisons and yesterday he told me... "She's a mango today!" Those were his exact words!! lol!! My visual was of my baby turning into a mango! :) According to a couple of other resources, it appears she's 5.59 inches from crown to rump and 6.70 ounces now!

Symptoms: none other than fetal movement!

Total weight gain: +5.5 lbs ..I'm proud of this considering I'd probably gain about 5 lbs over the holidays and baby girl was 6 ounces at 17 weeks!! So in my mind, we're right on target - lol!

Maternity clothes: Oh yes! My scrubs are still fitting me for work, but I do have some that I'm about to retire any day now. :(

Stretch marks: No new ones.

Sleep: The last 2 nights I've been in bed by 8:30 pm! I've been getting about 11 hours of sleep! Let's just say I'm enjoying these last few months of sleep!

Best moment this week: Registering at Babies R Us with DH. He was so excited to get the opportunity to park in the "Expectant Mothers" parking space!!!

Movement: I've been feeling lots of movement on a daily basis! No hard kicks or punches yet! Just taps and wiggles for now!

Food cravings: None.

What I miss: Wearing my Miss Me jeans!

What I am looking forward to: Ringing in the new with my loving husband at my side! This New Year has so much meaning for us!!

How is daddy? I don't think I've seen him more happy and excited about this baby!!

17 weeks 2 days

My stress level has reached an all time high for this pregnancy. Nothing at all having to do with the pregnancy or the baby - everything having to do with our vehicle. Being a one car household is extremely financially rewarding, especially when your 2004 is so close to being paid off. In my mind, it was going to be perfect. We'd have a paid off vehicle and if we wanted to get another vehicle we could. Then, we'd be a two car household with one car payment = great! Well great went from great to horrible real quick. I won't bore you with the mechanical details, but as of this morning it wasn't running. Hopefully some time very soon I'll be able to say I have a new car...

In much better news, I've been feeling movement. The first tickles were on 15w4d - actually the day of my last blog post. It felt as if my pants had shifted a tiny bit and it tickled. For the next 3 or 4 days I continued to feel this once or twice a day. Then the taps started and one night while I was in bed it happened about 3 or 4 times. I was positive of what I was feeling. Ever since Tuesday (17 weeks) I've been feeling the taps throughout the day! I even think I've startled her a couple of times! It's so weird to think of how tiny she still is and how I'm able to feel movement already! She was moving so much a few minutes ago that I put my hand firmly on my belly and I thought I felt her, so I told DH and he immediately put his hand on my belly. She moved and he said "I think I felt her!" Everyone was right! I love this part of pregnancy!!

Our anatomy scan was on Tuesday at 17 weeks. I was worried that this may be too early, and I feared that something may not look right or developed enough. I would have been so grateful to get another chance to check on her, but I didn't want the extra stress and worry on top of our car issues. Luckily, everything looked and measured perfectly!! I think we have a perfectionist on our hands!!!

And lastly, if you've noticed I've continued to say SHE and HER, because as of Tuesday she is definitely still a SHE!! We're have a baby girl! I'm so excited!!!! We do have a couple of names picked out, but we're not 100% yet. I really wanted to pick a name before the shower or definitely before delivery, but we're so undecided on these two names, that we may want to meet her before we choose! Here's a pic from our scan:

My other life

Having our first child is definitely a huge part of our lives now! It's the topic of conversation 9 times out of 10, but I do still live "my other life." I'm still a student, business owner, and full time employee for the world's greatest OB/GYN; however, now I'm a pregnant student, pregnant business owner, and pregnant employee!

Finals are upon me. I'm studying for two this weekend and completing a take home final by Tuesday. As of Tuesday evening, hopefully I can say that I'm done with Fall Semester 2010!! Too bad Winter Break is only a few weeks long before Spring semester starts. I'm taking a Chemistry class next semester. Do you think my 8 month pregnant belly will be a science lab hazard?!?! lol.

Speaking of my belly... I've had a few requests for belly pics and I'm grateful to say my belly hasn't grown that much! I've only gained about 2 or 3 pounds and I don't think it was in my belly - maybe my booty! Here are my belly pics from 8 weeks and this week! Not a huge difference, maybe because I was overweight to begin with or I have a tiny little girl growing inside!! I do notice changes in my belly. I'm no longer able to wear most of my pre-pregnancy jeans, my belly sticks out more when I'm sitting down, and I can no longer sleep on my back for very long (can't breathe!!).



Sleeping has become more difficult. I cannot roll over as easily as I used to. I have been experiencing minor back pains in the morning, so I'm thinking I may need to buy one of those pregnancy pillows soon. I can tell I'm totally out of shape. School has taken all of my available gym time from me. I'm so eager to get back into the gym. I hate being out of breath so often! I feel so sluggish.

Getting used to the idea of having a GIRL...

I know our scan wasn't 100%, so I've kept an open mind, but I've been looking at other u/s videos and pictures and I'm convinced we're having a girl!

Everyone, including myself, was proven wrong! I felt like I was carrying a boy. I guess my intuition isn't off to a good start! It's strange saying "she", but, oh my goodness, was it fun looking at girl stuff at the mall yesterday!! I do have to say I'm positive having a girl will be so much fun... and probably very expensive!!

I'm looking forward to the "Daddy's Girl" and the "Apple of his eye" aspects. I can't wait to see how DH reacts to a baby GIRL!!

I was able to get the video upload online, if you'd like to humor yourself. I apologize for the blurriness. I had to crop the video to exclude my full name, birth date, and doctor's name, and it compromised the quality. :(

14 weeks 3 days

sigh... It's been difficult getting back to reality after the Thanksgiving Holiday. We traveled south to Austin to see our family and friends. It has been almost a year since we were there last, so it was so great to see our family and friends that we had not seen in so long! Talk was all about baby!

I did have an appointment yesterday at 14 weeks 2 days. We did get a very thorough u/s and DH and I were so very grateful! Doc says we have a healthy baby who measures right on time! I couldn't have asked for anything more.

I have to be honest, I was a little too preoccupied about possibly getting an idea of the gender prior to my appointment; however, while I was laying down looking at my baby that notion completely escaped me when he measured the head, the belly, and the heart rate and everything was perfect! Then, doc looks between the legs and asks "Would you like any ideas on gender?" I immediately said "Yes!"

Doc is 80% sure we are TEAM PINK!!!

I'm driving myself crazy about the gender stuff though. Please don't get me wrong, first and foremost, I'm forever grateful we have a healthy baby; one that we've waited for for so so long!! I couldn't ask for anything more!! But here are my worries about the gender. During my u/s's at work and my u/s yesterday w/ my doc, both during 14 weeks, we saw 2 lines, but nothing sticking out... I know my doctor has been doing this for a long long time, and I'm trusting that he's right, but I can't help to think doesn't 2 lines mean boy?

We have our anatomy scan on December 21st, so I just need to wait it out, stop getting u/s's at work, and just stop thinking about it!!

If baby cooperates, I will be forever grateful that we will have confirmation by CHRISTMAS!!!!

Here are a few pics from my scan yesterday...