Week 21

Happy Leap Day!  I'm blogging today from Etown... with my professional photographer, Olivia.  She had to take over the duty of my weekly pictures but fortunately she was astute enough to find a yellow wall in my parents house ;)  I finished OB last week and took my test Friday... who knows how that went.  This week I started my family medicine rotation with a local doctor in Etown.  It's a very different patient population from what I'm used to seeing but definitely a good thing! The dr. has been super nice as well.

We spent last weekend looking at a few houses.. and actually found one that we loved! We put in an offer yesterday and they accepted so Andy went and signed the contract this morning!  It's in a new development out near Hamburg but on the Winchester road side... which should mean MUCH better traffic.  Andy drove there after work today and said it only took him 7 minutes from his office which is amazing in Lexington.  Our house has been started but basically only the basement has been poured.  We saw a nearly identical house in another neighborhood and just loved everything about it.  It has a huge living area with beautiful built ins and a see-thru fireplace to the kitchen.  The kitchen has a breakfast nook, nice island and pretty cabinets/countertops.  It does have a formal dining which we also wanted!  The upstairs has 4 bedrooms... including a master bedroom with a his and hers closet!! Or a hers and half hers closet ;)  The bedrooms are very generously sized and will be perfect for sweet baby Harper!  Andy negotiated in that they paint a couple bedrooms and the kitchen our preferred color so I guess I can officially start the nursery dreaming! We also decided to go ahead and have the basement finished.  That will add another bedroom and a bath so we are going to be more than ready for houseguests (once we buy more furniture;)).  We're not sure what we'll do with the basement yet... all I'm worried about is getting a treadmill or elliptical down there to work off some baby lbs.  Either way, it's going to be such a great house for our family to grow into and should be perfect for entertaining!  We are set to close June 15th so fingers are crossed that the house is completed on time and Harper stays put until 40w3d ;)

My baby bump is growing like whoa!  In hindsight the weekly outfit I'm wearing doesn't show it off enough but it's absolutely there.  When I lay down flat it gets huuuge!  I still haven't changed into any maternity clothes but I'm seeing that happening in my very near future.  I am feeling her move all the time!  Olivia has even felt her once.  It's pretty amazing.  One of my tasks with this doctor is to ultrasound myself and find my liver, gallbladder, aorta, etc... I think I'll just use it as an opportunity to get some more peeks of our little girl :)


Here's our update and pics for the week!

How far along: 21

Total Weight Gain: forgot my scale in Lex

Stretchmarks: Nope

Sleep: like a rock

Best Moment This Week: having a new house to bring our sweet girl home to!

Movement: Yes!

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button: I feel like bottom half is maybe getting a little more shallow?
What I Miss: nothing :)
What I am Looking Forward to: Carrie's shower this weekend!

Milestones: Size of a banana... and I read that her amniotic fluid tastes differently depending on what I eat and it can influence her taste buds... so I apologize in advance for fueling a love of ice cream and other sweets :)

Week 20

Our sweet little baby is officially halfway there!!  It is so hard to believe that she will be here so soon.  It almost makes me a little sad to know how fast this has gone by but I am so much more excited to have a little one to add to our family :)

Our doctors appointment Monday was fine.  I have finally accepted the fact that I will be getting weighed every time and will continue to gain weight so my blood pressure was nice and low this visit :)  Routine OB visits are not the most exciting but I am so thankful that my visits are routine and we aren't having any issues that need to be discussed.  Our ultrasound appointment today was far more exciting!!! we got confirmation that it is, indeed, a baby GIRL! I was SO pumped for this visit but kind of nervous that some little boy parts were going to pop up.  Andy reassured me that he now knew it was a girl and he was right :)  She was measuring perfectly.  At this ultrasound they measure arm/leg bones, abdominal circumference, head, brain and tons of other stuff.  She was measuring 20w to 20w3d on everything...except her head!! Her head circumference was 21w and her little cerebellum was 21w2d.  Andrew initially thought this might be a good thing... big head, big brain?! umm... unless you're the one pushing the head out! ;) 

We were so amazed at the weird position she was contorted in... baby girl is super flexible!  And she always has one arm up by her head which is how I sleep :)  When the doctor came in she said she was watching the monitors and that our baby had such cute ears... I said, what does that mean?! are they big?!!  She laughed and assured me that no, they were just cute but I don't believe her.  I'm sure I will probably agree they are the cutest ears ever no matter how large and floppy they may be ;)

At the very end of our appointment, the tech said she'd try to get us a couple of the 4d images and they turned out so neat!  She said they aren't the best at this age because they don't have a ton of fat on their faces but we thought they were pretty amazing. 

I'm confident now that what I've been feeling is baby moving :)  I just wasn't sure at first but I know that's what it is and it is so cool.  I'm excited for her to keep growing so Andy can feel more too!

It's been a pretty exciting week and I'm seriously looking forward to finishing OB tomorrow!  The residents/attendings have all been super nice but I am not going to miss scrubbing into a surgery for the rest of my life :)  I'm headed to Etown next week for my family medicine rotation.  It will be so nice to see the fam but weird not to see Andy every night!  And I have a feeling I am going to grow a lot this month... it will be up to Olivia to take the perfect weekly picture!  I'm planning on buying one of those belly bands this weekend and some super long tanktops.  I am starting to feel pretty uncomfortable in my clothes and have been spoiled with all the scrubs I've been wearing this month.

Here's some ultrasound pictures as well as our weekly update :)

 Yes, that's her leg stretched up in front of her face!

 Frontal view

Thought this was so cool... hoping she got the long, lean leg gene from her dad :)

How far along: 20

Total Weight Gain: 8... next week we'll change this to what maternity clothes I'm rocking ;)

Stretchmarks: None, but I can feel my belly starting to get itchy

Sleep: like a rock

Best Moment This Week: baby moving and our ultrasound!!

Movement: Yes!

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button: In... Olivia told me she's going to Band-aid my belly button in whenever it becomes an outtie :(
What I Miss: nothing :)
What I am Looking Forward to: The weekend of freedom between rotations

Milestones: She is the length of a banana!!! And still about the size of a mango :)

Week 19

It's actually more like 19.5 weeks by the time I'm finally sitting down to write this. It's been an eventful past week and a half and I've found myself putting this entry off.  As I'm sure you all know, we lost my Grandmom Hamilton early Thursday morning.  Although I felt like I knew this was coming very shortly it still didn't make it any easier for some reason.  I've been so lucky to have all four grandparents for the first 24 years of my life and felt so blessed to see both couples dancing at our wedding.  All of Andy's grandparents passed away when he was younger or before he was born so I think he has also adopted mine as his own, as they have adopted him as well.  I so wish Grandmom could've met baby Harper but I know she'll be up there as her little guardian angel.  Bailey and Erica were so sweet to send flowers to the funeral and the basket had a little ceramic angel in it which I'm going to put on a shelf in the nursery :)  It's been a hard couple days but our house has been full of family and love which has definitely been a welcome distraction that I think everyone has enjoyed.  We will miss Grandmom so, so much but know she is in the best place now.

On the baby front, I think I am feeling some movement.  I know everyone says it feels fluttery but I am seriously thinking I felt 3 thuds the other night when I laid down to bed.  And everyone in my family legitimately has seen the bump now.  Depending on how baby is sitting, when I lay down on my back, I can sometimes have a flat tummy and sometimes it will look like a little softball is sitting right below my belly button.  It's pretty neat to see and my dresses I wore for the funeral and visitation definitely showed it as well.  It's definitely still an awkward stage though where I'm just feeling kinda chubby.  People who know I'm pregnant will obviously assume it's a baby bump but I don't think strangers would guess that there's a baby in there just yet.  I'm looking forward to the next few weeks as I know baby is going to start growing pretty rapidly!

She got her first personalized outfit from one of my mom's coworkers this past week! It's a onesie with some pink feet embroidered on it and Harper Leigh... too sweet.  I love, love personalized things so I have a feeling this will be one of many more to come!  Olivia's latest purchase is a bib that says, "Are these people really my relatives?"  That's for whenever the brothers get to babysit... ;)  We've had a baby in the house for the past couple days so I think that's been fun for everyone, getting to imagine what it's going to be like soon! Andy has officially held his second baby and was looking like a natural :)  David was also looking pretty comfortable with baby and I believe I overheard Mom mentioning that it would be nice at Christmas to have one grandbaby and another on the way ;)  It's going to be so fun to have a new little generation of babies when we're at my parents house!  I loved having so many cousins when I was growing up so we're hoping that all of my siblings end up close enough that our kids will play all the time!

Here's our update for the week! :)
How far along: 19

Total Weight Gain: 7... enjoy this until week 20 cause then it disappears ;)

Stretchmarks: None 

Sleep: Pretty great!

Best Moment This Week: potentially feeling baby move?!

Movement: I really think it was baby moving but I'll report back if we feel more of it

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button: In... Olivia told me she's going to Band-aid my belly button in whenever it becomes an outtie :(
What I Miss: Gmom
What I am Looking Forward to: Doctors appointment on the 20th and ultrasound on the 22nd!

Milestones: Size of a mango

 

 

Week 18

Happy week 18/4.5 months baby! :)  I'm a day late posting/picture taking this week as I finally finished my last overnight call on Wednesday!! Yayy!! not sad to see these go... Somehow we were never too slammed when I was on so I always got to sleep 2-4 hours each night which was very nice!  I did get to deliver two babies, both of which went so smoothly and I saw a c section of a 28 week baby last night.  The 28weeker was actually really healthy for that early... came out crying!  I did have to scrub out of the csection last night... I got SO hot and nauseous feeling - felt like I was back in the first trimester :)  The residents all know I'm pregnant though and were super nice about it.  Not very excited about all the surgery I'll be in on in the next two weeks.

I will say that dealing with all these pregnant people has truly enlightened me on some things that happen during pregnancy... that no one ever mentions... Something I am currently most concerned about is little "accidents" that happen when pushing................ grossness.

Not a lot new is going on with baby this week.  I'm starting to think a lot more about nursery ideas and have spent way too much time on pinterest.  Ideally I would like beadboard and a chair rail on the bottom of the walls and then pale green walls... I think.  I've pinned some cute pink/green bedding on pinterest but it's hard to decide!  We've begun looking at houses so until I know what the room is going to look like, it's difficult for me to definitively picture anything.  We won't get serious about the house hunting until after Andy takes his CFP exam in mid march and then hopefully will find something we're happy with by mid April.  Andy reassured me that his first task in the house will be to get the nursery ready in case baby comes early :) I can't imagine how much fun it's going to be to move 8 months pregnant but I'm guessing it's going to get me out of a lot of heavy lifting ;)

So I took two pictures this week, the same that I always do and then one where I'm trying to show the little bump better.  This is my end of the day bump so a little bit larger than the AM bump but hopefully you'll be able to see it a bit better.  I'm still wearing all my normal clothes which is great.  The maternity pants with the belly panel are SO comfortable but I'm not excited about buying lots of clothes that will only be worn for a few months.  Target has a ton of cottony kimono dresses that I will likely buy a few of and wear them as maternity when I get a little bigger in the spring. 

Speaking of spring, who is ready?! I was complaining about the current cold weather tonight when Andy reminded me it is the beginning of February and I needed to get a grip ;)  Jan/Feb are definitely my least favorite months so I'm looking forward to the warmer weather and longer days!

How far along: 18

Total Weight Gain: 6.5... enjoy this until week 20 cause then it disappears ;)

Stretchmarks: None 

Sleep: Pretty great! even in the creepy bunk beds at the hospital

Best Moment This Week: finishing overnight calls ;) the amount of sleep I've been getting can't be good for baby :(

Movement: No :( It makes me so paranoid.  I was telling Mom tonight that when I sit really still and try to feel it, all I feel is my aorta pulsating haha!

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button: In... Olivia told me she's going to Band-aid my belly button in whenever it becomes an outtie :(
What I Miss: Getting up later than 4:45... only 2 more weeks! And I'm off all weekend!
What I am Looking Forward to: Doctors appointment on the 20th and ultrasound on the 22nd!

Milestones: Size of a sweet potato

I will make an effort to turn my head more next week as the eyeball in the corner look is kind of creepy :)

Week 17

I can't believe I'm just now posting for Week 17 when it's definitely one I have been SO excited about!! I'm sure everyone knows by now that we are expecting a little girl!!!!  Or at least that's what our 16w1d ultrasound said ;)  We were both SO surprised.  I'm not sure why we both thought it was going to be a boy but we did.  When we cut the cake I was so happy/shocked... and I think Andy was just shocked!  My family has teased him because I cut into one corner and saw pink... and a few seconds later he cut into the other side to make sure it was pink too ;)  Needless to say, he is also very excited to have a baby girl and I know she will have him wrapped around her little finger!! 

We went on a little shopping spree the day after the party.  Olivia had been dying to get me to go to this boutique in the Etown mall but I had kept blowing her off as I figured our mall has just about nothing... but whoa, I was wrong! This was the cutest store and had the most adorable stuff!!!  They carry a lot of Mudpie brand clothing which I have found is going to be a fast favorite.  I bought her a little Christmas outfit and Olivia bought her what may be her first birthday party outfit... or the outfit she wears to Olivia's 14th birthday party (not that we plan ahead or anything).  Mom went to TJ Maxx that Sunday to supposedly buy me a cute dress that doubles as maternity wear and found that they were out... but fortunately was about to find about 10 little girl outfits! I feel like this may be the end of Mom buying me any clothes... which is completely fine :) I'm positive it's more fun to buy baby stuff than it is my stuff.  All in all, little girl has about 4 tutus already with Paigey promising to make her another blue and white one to go with her UK jersey onesie for football games this fall :)  She's going to be rotten!

The reason I'm so late in posting is because I've started OB this week with labor and delivery.  We are on 24 hour call every 3 days and it is pretty exhausting!  I'm not a big fan of the specialty as I hate surgery but if I could have a job just delivering healthy little babies all the time, I could totally do that! ;)  I got to deliver my first one yesterday!! I was so excited as I helped admit this girl in the early morning who was totally equipped with a birth plan, birthing ball, bribery treats for staff, plans for no pain meds or other intervention, etc.  I figured this would be good exposure to how potentially awful labor could be.  She progressed really fast and triage was super busy in the morning as well.  I was walking over to check on her when I heard the Dr. get called over the intercom and just was I was walking in they held up the baby to show mom. I was SO disappointed!  Fortunately, a few hours later, a mom rolled in 9cm dilated also with the no pain med or other interventions birth plan so I basically stayed in her room the whole time she pushed to make sure I didn't miss it.  It was really my first whole delivery I had seen but the attending let me pull the little baby out and then deliver the placenta!  This mom was great and it was her second delivery so there was really no drama or whining (hope I can say the same for myself.)  And it was totally cool to be the first person to hold this little baby boy! 

Today is Mom's birthday and she's coming up here to dress shop for David's wedding.  Fortunately I'm post-call right now and have the day off to hang out with my momma! :) Happy birthday Mom! (Gmom, grammy, kiki, etc.)  She's trying to pick a grandmother name so we'll see what she comes up with!

Speaking of names, everyone wants to know what we're thinking for baby names... currently we are thinking Harper Leigh.  I love the name Harper.. it's a little different but not totally weird.  And Leigh was Mom's middle name before getting married.  My middle name came from my maternal grandmom so we thought that would be cool to continue.  And her initials will be opposite of mine! lol... that was not planned, just realized a few days later.

How far along: 17

Total Weight Gain: 6... enjoy this until week 20 cause then it disappears ;)

Stretchmarks: None 

Sleep: Pretty great! even in the creepy bunk beds at the hospital

Best Moment This Week: cutting into that pink cake!!

Movement: No :( I've been asking all the 17 week patients and comparing myself to them... fortunately I'm not the only one

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button: In... Olivia told me she's going to Band-aid my belly button in whenever it becomes an outtie :(
What I Miss: Nothing :)
What I am Looking Forward to: Next drs appt!

Milestones: Size of a turnip (I don't even know what a turnip looks like).  And I definitely have a little bump now!

 

 

First family pic! :)

 The cake

 Team Pink!

 Team Blue!

 

And the results are in... Baby girl!! :)

 And the small cut at the very right... that's Andy's confirmation cut ;)