It's been too long without an update

Time to let the general population know how things are going! And they are going, well... crazy! We move in less than 2 weeks, I'm not done with school yet (something like 3 days... I dunno, it's too overwhelming to count), and we still have tons of stuff left to do and buy for baby and the trip!

I discovered stretch marks on my stomach. Gross. I was hoping I had enough fat/stretchy skin before pregnancy to avoid those! But don't worry, I still wore a bikini to the pool yesterday. (Hence how I discovered them.) And no, there aren't any photos. Ha.

The movers come this Monday to box up all of our stuff! School is done Wednesday for me. State swim meet is this weekend for Daryl. His last day of work is next Friday.

Baby's doing great. She's really growing and letting me know she's running out of space. Somehow it's now possible for her to stick her little butt up under my ribs, and shove on my bladder at the same time! How is she so big already??

Prayers for peace and sanity during this time are much appreciated! I'm also starting to get really sad about leaving Kansas, so that sucks too.... Oh, and we're getting preggo pictures taken next weekend! By this wonderfully talented girl! :)

100 Days to Go!

YIKES!! Today marks day 100 in our pregnancy count-down. Hard to believe! Daryl always asks me, "Did you ever think you'd make it this far?" which always kind of makes me laugh, but sometimes my answer is no. It still kind of trips me out. At school everyone is counting down the days until summer, but I still can't bring myself to do that, because I'm afraid it will stress me out too much with everything we have left to get done.

When we talked about moving to Alaska, back before we were even pregnant, I never thought it would really be this much work. I mean, come on - the Coast Guard hires movers to come in, box up all your stuff and ship it for you, what else could there possibly be to do?? A lot, apparently. But, it will all get done, somehow. Or it won't. Those are our two options.

In baby news, she's doing good. We had our latest check-up last week, and everything's looking right on schedule. Well, except my weight gain. I gained too much last month. Geeze, I can never please this woman! (Remember the peach pie update?) But at least our little girl is happy - I'm guessing, as evidenced by her constant kicking of me! The placenta is still between us, though, so she isn't able to get in too many good jabs. Ha ha, take that, baby! (Just kidding.) I have no idea if she recognizes my voice or not, though, even though I talk all day long.

Anyway, this is kind of a rambling post, but I felt like I needed something to go along with my sweet new look. Don't worry, I spent 2 hours on the heading up there. It would have felt like wasted time if I didn't also update.

Take care, everyone. If you think about it, keep praying that our little girl stays nice and snug in there until AFTER we make it to Alaska!!

Baby Shower #1 and Nursery Plans

Hi folks!

Well, our first baby shower is under our belt! Whew! I never knew those things could be so exhausting - and I wasn't even the one planning anything! A SUPER HUGE thanks to all our Colorado family for putting it together - it was awesome and very special! I think my favorite part was all the hand-decorated onesies. Such a cute idea and now she'll be set with onesies for awhile!

I've also been making nursery plans... finally! Now that we know she's a girl it's much easier. We went last night to pick up our crib from Babies R Us but it wouldn't fit in the back of our SUV, so my dad's going to get it this weekend for us in his truck. Thanks dad! :) I'm hoping we'll be able to paint in whatever place we move to up there, but I haven't picked out the exact color yet. I did go to Hobby Lobby yesterday and get fabrics for her sheets and little decorative pillows. I'm excited about making my own sheets - I found a tutorial that looks pretty easy. I should be able to whip out a few in no sweat! Haha... when I have time, that is.

Anyway, enjoy the photos! Baby says hi - she's very active, kicking me all the time now! :)

Fabrics I've picked out for sheets and pillows. I'm kind of going for a very
girly theme, mostly pinks, greens, and purples (even though I couldn't find
the purple I wanted) with lots of other random colors thrown in!

                                            

Another shot of the fabric.

Baby shower! The garage was decorated so cute! All the bibs,
socks, etc. that you see hanging from the clotheslines we got to keep!

The birthday pool! Such a cute idea - guests got to pick a
date and time they think our little girl will arrive.

Cake - yum! And super cute!

A shot of some of the fam. I don't know where Wendy was. Daryl's dad
was outside, I think.

My favorite part, I think - these are all so cute and special!

Ah yes - here are the men!

The Big Reveal!

Well, the day has finally come! We got to reveal the sex of our little baby, and now YOU get to find out, too!

First things first, when we went to our last appointment to have our ultrasound, everything measured just fine and on target, so we still have our same due date of July 20. HOPEFULLY, since we'll be traveling to our new home in Alaska about a month before then, this little kid will stay put until we're getting settled.

Anyway, ready for the big news? It's... a...

GIRL!!

Of course we would have been happy with either boy or girl, so this is very exciting! I've already bought a few little girl outfits, and can't wait to start planning the nursery! Daryl's excited too, and I know he's going to be a great daddy, and try his best not to spoil her. :) Oh, also exciting is that I've been feeling her move and kick around in there for the last week. She's tapping around in there right now, in fact!

Here are a few more pictures of the baby, plus one or two more recent belly shots of me.

This is one from a couple of weeks ago. I think I was about 19 weeks in this one. I'm currently 21 weeks now.

This is a shot of our little girl!

You can see her little foot here! The toes are on the right side of the picture and the heel is on the left.

We had our reveal party with friends last night, and this is the cake I made. The inside was pink, of course. :)

Peach Pie and Update

I'm sitting here eating a slice of peach pie. Not homemade, I just bought it at Dillon's, lest you be too impressed. The smell and taste of sweets FINALLY does not make me want to vomit everywhere, and at my check-up yesterday my mid-wife wasn't very happy that I lost a pound since last time, hence the decision to eat peach pie for dinner.

We had another appointment yesterday, and I'm so pleased and relieved to report that it was great - praise God! I get so nervous every time we go in ... granted, it's less and less nerve-wracking as time goes on, but I still think they should take your blood pressure LAST thing, not FIRST thing. Anyway, we heard the heartbeat again, chatted a bit, and scheduled our next appointment - with an ultrasound!! Woohoo! I'm so excited to find out more about this little baby. :)

Lastly, here are the 2 belly pics I've taken so far. I really didn't think my stomach was expanding so much until I saw these photos next to each other. Oh, and yes - I did choose this photo effect because it makes my skin look more tan.

12 weeks

15 1/2 weeks

Nothing But the Truth/Welcome!

As I just announced our news on Facebook, and plan on providing the link to this blog very soon, this will be the first page that you all see (and are reading right now)! So, I figure it's probably time to share the story of how this little baby came to be.

Let me just start by saying that it wasn't easy. And that's exactly the reason that I'm writing this blog. I've spent months and months watching other people's Facebook pregnancy and birth announcements roll across my news feed, feeling discouraged and depressed. I've been jealous of fictional TV characters who got pregnant before me. At times there were even some tears. If you know me personally, you know that I am fairly level-headed and not a super emotional person. Well, not so when it comes to this baby business.

I think I was ready (or thought I was at least) to start trying for a baby about 3 weeks after we were married. Of course, I didn't share these feelings with my beloved spouse immediately, because come on - I had some sense! So I waited a few months, and began dropping what I considered "subtle hints". (You may want to check with him for the full story on the alleged "subtlety" of these hints.) Anyway, he wasn't ready, and that meant no babies. Eventually my hints became what I'm now sure was flat-out begging and pleading. Yet, he stayed calm and collected, always responding with, "Someday", "Eventually", or even worse "Soon enough". It drove me crazy. And of course I'm sure my begging didn't drive him crazy at all, or make him wonder what kind of weirdo woman he married, who just wanted him for his baby-making abilities.

I'm sure you're surprised to hear that "eventually" did come around "soon enough" and when we both had prayed and had peace (what a concept - perhaps I should have tried that sooner) we began trying for a baby in July 2010! I was ecstatic! I was just sure that it would happen right away, and I couldn't wait to begin planning our new life with a little baby! I had started Natural Family Planning a few months before, and was very in-tune with my body, so I knew exactly what we needed to do. We prayed daily for God to bless us with a baby, and were quite positive.

As I'm sure you've guessed by now, it didn't happen the first month. I was disappointed, but thought surely it would happen the next. Nope, not then either. As a few months went by, I began to get very discouraged. Daryl, ever the optimist, remained hopeful - but I was sure this was just the beginning of a long road where we slowly discovered that we would never be able to get pregnant or have our own children.

We visited our doctor 6 months into the process to discuss concerns with my fertility, and what kind of tests we might begin. My tests weren't that bad - I simply got poked with needles and countless ounces of blood drawn, as well as spending close to 3 hours on Valentine's Day evening waiting in the lab for a glucose test. Daryl's test (even though he only had one) was far more embarrassing than mine - but that's another story for another time. Thankfully, his test came back just fine! So, more testing for me - needles, blood draws, and even an ultrasound. Finally my doctor decided that I could have PCOS (polycycstic ovarian syndrome), but she wasn't for sure, however went ahead prescribed a medication called Clomiphene (Clomid) to help me ovulate regularly.

By this point, it had been too long for me to be too hopeful about trying any one specific thing. I began the Clomiphene, and also started researching other methods for getting pregnant (IUI, IVF), as well as adoption. Round 1 of Clomiphene - nothing. Round 2 of Clomiphene - nothing. I called my doctor. She reassured me and said that we would try a few more rounds before moving on to anything more drastic. Round 3 of Clomiphene - hmm.... I didn't want to get my hopes up, but something was different. I bought a pregnancy test. Nervous, I took it. I waited. Seriously, how long could 3 minutes be?? I peeked at the test. There was 1 line... was that another line??? Oh my gosh - THERE WERE 2 LINES ON THE TEST!!!!!!! I raced into the living room to show Daryl. I was shaking. I shoved it in his face and said, "Look - 2 lines!!" He was a little surprised and confused, but finally the news sunk in for both of us. I WAS PREGNANT!

Prayers and waiting bring us to the point where we are now. It's beginning to feel real, like this will actually happen. We will actually bring home our baby in July. (I still appreciate all prayers for peace of mind for us, and safety and health for our baby.)

I feel a little bit more kind-hearted to pregnant girls out there now. I'm not overcome by insane jealousy when I see someone with a cute little baby bump. However, our struggle to get here has given me unique perspective. I'm blessed beyond blessed to be carrying this baby right now. I'm so excited that God has chosen this child for us. I'm also aware of how painful others' joy can be for those who are suffering. So that's why I've decided to share all things baby-related here. I won't bombard your Facebook feed with ultrasound pictures and baby updates - you'll have to come here for those. But be warned - I'm excited about this baby and will be sharing everything here!! It's been a long time coming, and I'm ready! Thank you, Jesus!!!!!

Another Successful Appointment!

Thank you, Jesus! I love hearing the heartbeat - and we got to again today!! It's music to my ears. :) Anyway, this is a short post, but that's the important news!