Happy Emotions

I haven't really documented my emotional state of being throughout my pregnant just yet, but I felt like today was a good time to do so. I happened upon the video below and I did nothing but bawl while watching it. This is something I'm very excited for my little baby boy to know about me because I think it's one of the things that makes me unique. I cry....A LOT. And I don't cry because I'm sad...in fact, most of the time I cry because I'm deeply touched and happy about whatever it is I'm seeing.

This video for example:

It is so cute and creative! And while I'm not really sad I didn't do a time lapse video such as this, the reason that it made me cry was because it truly shows what a miracle bringing life into this world is. You get to see it all from start to finish in a short period of time and that has a powerful effect. I think when you're in the midst of pregnancy you can tend to forget about all of the progress that's been made and to me, the journey is well worth remembering, especially the outcome at the end :)

I also want to ensure that I document some pop culture items that have had an impact on my pregnancy. One of the most popular movies of my pregnancy has been Disney's Frozen. My friend Jenn went to see it before I did and told me how awesome it was. She wanted to see it again with her daughter and so I went with them. I bawled throughout that entire movie too (including the dang previews). This song below "Let it Go" is a very poignant piece of the story and I cried throughout the entire song....for various reasons. It was sung so beautifully by Idina Menzel, the graphics were amazing and the meaning behind the lyrics all contributed to my emotional response. For some reason that I cannot pinpoint I feel like it was special to me because of my fertility journey. I could sit and analyze each section of lyrics, however I won't. Just know that whenever I hear this song I'm glad I finally got to "let it go" and finally achieved the dream that I'd been wanting for so long.

Anyway....there are days where I'm super emotional - not in a weird psychotic way - but more of an overwhelming happy way and I can't help but cry because I'm so thankful for where I'm at right now. I have absolutely no doubt that when baby Gilbert finally arrives I'm going to have a total meltdown from the immense joy that I feel....crying is my way of releasing all of the intense emotion that I feel. Don't be surprised if our first pictures of us together show me as a sobbing mess! :P

Week #25 Update

This week was extremely uneventful...which is both good and unfortunate. It's good in the fact that there was no stress or anything weird going on with the baby (as far as I know) and it's unfortunate because I feel like this will be a rather boring blog update.

The two pieces of news I do have to share with you are 1) Ramin's aunt Koby sent us an awesome baby gift package with tons of fun things in it :) Toys, clothes, books, a very soft blanket and lots of onesies (I love onesies!). I'm hanging on to every card I get (I do that anyway) and I'll compile them in a nice book for the baby for when he is older. Here's a picture of all of the fun stuff!

2) I updated my artwork because I didn't really like the "Bo Peep" picture I had now that I know we're having a boy. At first I wanted to change out both pictures to blue from the original green, however I've come up with a new idea for the wall above the crib. I'm not telling yet but I'm hoping to get my last bit of supplies this week and finish the project over the weekend.

Last weekend we got my Mom the supplies she needed to re-stain the dresser to match the crib as well as all of her supplies to make the rocking chair pad and create a blackout curtain for the room (since it's SO bright in there all day long). She's going to do the dresser first since it will take less time and because I need it to be done so I can start organizing the nursery more effectively :)

How far along: 25 weeks, 6 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I finally stepped on the scale once this week...I'm up about 15lbs total.

Wedding Ring on?:  Yes, but my fingers swell up at random times during the day

Major Symptoms: This was the first week I've finally started to feel like an uncomfortable pregnant lady :P Monday night I experienced my first bout of acid reflux. I've never had it before (although I have had heartburn years ago). This acid reflux came like a rushing volcano right in the middle of the night as I was sleeping. I woke up kind of panicked because I felt like I was choking and it burned really badly. Obviously my internal organs have shifted around and now I really feel the acid starting to build up at night. So...I need to buy myself a larger bottle of Tums and keep it on hand. Good thing I did prepare myself a little bit and already had a few tiny rolls of it. I'm also finding that I'm moving more slowly at work. I try to take the stairs as often as I can (when I'm not carrying heavy bags) and I always try to tell people to pass me on the way up cause I can't go fast :P

Stretch marks: Yep, on my lower tummy, they're nice and red....joy.

Sleep: This week I had a rough time sleeping. I'm trying so hard to adjust pillows everywhere to help me sleep. I've found that one under my belly as I'm laying on my left side is helpful to prevent my back from aching when I wake up. I wish I could sleep in that position all night but inevitably my hips start to hurt  (even with my body pillow between my legs) and my left arm falls asleep. I have been wearing my brace on my right hand and it helps tremendously to prevent that arm from falling asleep, but I don't have a brace for my left arm :-/  Friday night I also developed a sore throat and it's gotten progressively worse over the weekend. I'm trying to drink lots of tea (with honey and lemon) and gargle warm salt water. I hope it just stays as a sore throat but I can feel that my energy level is lower as my body tries to fight it off with it's limited immune resources. The sore throat woke me up a few times last night and I ended up moving to the couch to try and sleep. I actually found the couch to be VERY comfortable because of the full back support....I may end up sleeping there more often.
Best moment last week: Still feeling all of the baby kicks and receiving the thoughtful gift from Koby and family.
Movement: Loving every movement I feel!
Food cravings/aversions: Still cereal all the time. 

Belly button - in or out? In
Labor signs: No, not true labor signs, however I do notice that if I'm out and about for too long my back will definitely start to ache and my tummy will become a lot harder....I doubt this is anything significant.
What I miss: As much as I have felt uncomfortable this week I'm still reminded every time I feel the baby kick how happy I am he's in there :) 
What I am looking forward to: 6-month prenatal visit is this coming Friday :)
Milestones: None this week....other than maybe reaching the "uncomfortable" stage :)

Week #24 Update

This week was rather uneventful in terms of the pregnancy other than the that it's really the first week that baby boy's kicks have been extremely noticeable to me. I decided to make a post about it on Facebook and got some funny responses, even from baby's daddy, Ramin :)

It's been really fun this week feeling baby boy kicking every day....it's something I look forward to and I always try and take a moment to stop and enjoy the feeling if I can.

This week our first registry gifts arrived from Ramin's aunt Maryam. The registry wasn't quite ready to be sent out to everyone else yet but Maryam was anxious to shop I think and so I sent her the Amazon.com registry anyway :)  She bought the baby sling carrier I'd added as well as the stroller!! Holy cow we were shocked when we learned she sent us the stroller. It arrived one night this week and we had a fun time putting it together and figuring out how it works. Here it is in all it's glory!!

It's a seriously awesome stroller and we are so thankful to have it!! We picked it because it's a jogging stroller and I think it will do really well on the canyon trail we have near our neighborhood that I LOVE walking in during the Spring and Summer. I'm so excited to start using this!!

I think it's important to document as much as I can of my pregnancy and a big part of it has been my iPhone apps that I check on a regular basis. These are two of my favorite ones. "Pregnancy" and "Sprout" are my favorite 2 of the 5 I have downloaded on my phone. I really like the timeline on the Pregnancy app because I remember when I first downloaded it the little orange ball was just starting it's journey in the 1st Trimester, now it's almost near the end of the 2nd Trimester, time is flying by so quickly!

Sprout has been fun because every week it shows a visual representation of what your baby looks like and provides some cool tidbits of information. When we first downloaded this app the baby looked like a little alien and it was very weird to think about. Now he's definitely a little human in there.

And finally, here I am with my 24 week picture. My belly is definitely growing bigger and I have felt like my uterus has really pushed upward this week....I've been able to tell by the way my maternity pants fit AND because the baby's kicks keep getting higher and higher. I've started reading about the Bradley Method of birthing this week and I also scheduled our breastfeeding class and 3rd trimester calls for sometime in March. Things are going well and we're making good pregoess :)

How far along: 25 weeks, 1 day (I'm writing this a day late as I saved my post for the MLK holiday)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: No clue at this point!

Wedding Ring on?:  Yes, but getting a bit tighter.

Major Symptoms: I've had a great week! Nothing to report here.
Stretch marks: Yep, still sprouting.
Sleep: Have I mentioned I looooove sleeping?
Best moment last week: Feeling all of the awesome baby kicks up higher than usual....and receiving our awesome stroller!
Movement: Heck yes!
Food cravings/aversions: Nothing really.

Belly button - in or out? Still in
Labor signs: Nope
What I miss: My attitude has remained the same here. I don't miss anything and in fact, I'm happy for all the new things I get to experience.
What I am looking forward to: More kicks from baby and my upcoming prenatal appointment on the 31st.
Milestones: Officially feeling the baby kicks on a regular basis!

Week #23 Update

This week I made a tiny bit of progress on the nursery and made TONS of progress on the baby clothing front, due to some generous friends :)

First, the bedding set we got last week needed a good ironing out before I could do anything with it. So I spent a few hours yesterday doing a thorough job of ironing not only the dust ruffle, but also the two valances. I spent another hour putting the crib together. I'm not sure if I'll leave the bumper up or not....I know it's recommended not to have the bumper for SIDS concerns, so I'll do some more research to see what I want to do. I just wanted to see what all of it would look like together.

I also took some items from the crib set that Jill gave to me along with the crib. It's jungle them as well, but more green and brown rather than green and blue. It doesn't look bad combined with the Pottery Barn set. The crib quilt hanging over the side of the crib is actually going to become a wall hanging. I think it will look really cute hanging up on the wall and from what I've been told, many people don't even use their crib quilt for the baby.

The picture above shows the dust ruffle really well and how it matches perfectly with the rug :)

For a really long time I was dead set on making my own mobile. But now that we know we're having a boy and because the quality is so good on the one Jill gave to me, I just didn't feel like it was worth my time to make a whole new one. Perhaps if we have a girl later on I'll make one then, but for now I figure my energy is better spent on other things. Plus this one already has the music and spinner attached, so it really is perfect!

Here's the full crib with the sheet and bumper. I'll obviously have to still take it all apart in order to put on the mattress pad when we get that and like I said, I'll most likely take off the bumper anyway. I just like to see it all put together :)

This week my mom and I also went to JoAnn's and purchased at least 10 yards of various yellow fabrics. We got gingham, stripes, polka dots and two types of solid yellow that all coordinate with each other. She'll turn all of the fabric into the rocking chair cushioning, additional draperies and other random items for the nursery. We found this pattern at the store and because we didn't want to pay $17 for it there, I found it on eBay for $6. It arrived just the other day :)

Finally, my friends Genevieve and Dayna both have boys (6mos and 1 year) and they were so generous and brought me bags of clothes this week! Ramin and I  went through both bags of clothes together and looked at all of the cute clothes (we are so excited!). I decided to keep them all in the bags for now until we get the dresser put into the nursery and the closet more organized.

How far along: 23 weeks, 6 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've been lax on checking. At this point as long as the midwives are fine with my weight gain, so am I.

Wedding Ring on?:  Yep

Major Symptoms: I *think* I experienced my first Braxton Hicks contractions this week. I had some moments of breathlessness accompanied by a really strong tightening of my tummy. It wasn't painful and it didn't last long. Once I sat down the pressure went away. I'm not entirely sure that's what it was, but it's my thought. I still have the usual random hip pain at night but I'm always trying to configure my pillows perfectly to help me feel better. My back also has been more achy. I did exercise twice this week and I always feel better afterward so I'm really going to try and make it a priority this week.
Stretch marks: Still sprouting. I've got some lovely red dots on my tummy. Also, my linea nigra has expanded upward and gotten a bit darker....I have read that if it extends above your belly button, it indicates a boy....this is TRUE in my case :)
Sleep: Could be better....the weekend is always the best.
Best moment last week: Receiving such generous gifts from my friends....I'm so thankful!
Movement: Absolutely!! Those kicks that started last week have definitely continued this week. I feel them more often when I'm leaning forward while sitting at my desk .They are very down low and they feel like someone tapping on my tummy. LOVE IT!
Food cravings/aversions: Nada

Belly button - in or out? Still in
Labor signs: Nope
What I miss: This isn't something I miss, just something I'm getting used to. I'm trying to get myself in the mindset that it's OK to not do so much at home. Each weekend I always want to do a lot of chores and catching up, but I know how it wears me out and I'm getting used to not being so go-go-go.
What I am looking forward to: More kicks from baby! 
Milestones: Seeing the crib complete!

Week #22 Update

Um, holy cow! Have you seen the ticker at the top of the blog? It's so weird to see visually how far along I actually am pregnancy-wise!

Things got a whole lot more "real" this week in more ways than one! To start with, it was still a holiday week and I only worked 1 day - Thursday. On New Years Day I was out to lunch with my mom when Ramin called me and told me he'd found an awesome deal on KSL for a crib bedding set, complete with matching rug - all from Pottery Barn! Don't ask me why but early on in the pregnancy I developed an obsession with Pottery Barn rugs. I just wanted a rug so badly in the nursery and after a few failed attempts at getting a nice used set, this set popped up on KSL. I talked it over with my mom and while we both thought it was more on the "boyish" side, we agreed that we could spruce it up a bit for a girl if we needed to. We could add more red accents and bows, etc.

I had Ramin call the lady and within a few hours we were on our way to Cedar Hills (near Alpine) to pick it all up for $80! Such a steal!  We got the AWESOME rug (usually retails for at least $200 alone), the crib bumper, crib sheet, dust ruffle (skirt) and TWO valences. All of pieces are embroidered (minus the sheet of course) and the rug actually looks 3-dimensional to me. It's so high quality I'm just in love! I don't even want to think of the amount of money we'd have to spend to buy all of it new....in fact, buying new never crossed our minds.

Here's the set:

Earlier in the week I'd also made some of my own custom decor items for the wall. I still want to incorporate a nursery rhyme theme into this new animal safari theme (it CAN be done)....and I originally used a green cardstock that I had on hand. Comparing the pictures to the actual color of green used in the bedding, it doesn't quite work out.

I think instead I'll go with a BLUE background! Why?  Well.....because this week we also found out at our big ultrasound that we're having a BABY BOY!!!

Yesterday we had our 22-week prenatal appointment and then headed over for the ultrasound. My prenatal appointment went just fine, albeit very quickly so that they could get me over to the next one, apparently those Maternal Fetal Medicine folks don't like waiting. It was ironic because we actually waited about 20-25 minutes before they called our name. If other appointments go the same way that ours did, I can understand why.

We got into the dark ultrasound room and the tech had me lay on the cushioned table. I told her that I had a full bladder because everyone had told me to have one before going in....she told me it most likely wouldn't help and would in fact, hinder the pictures. I was relieved to hear this because I really had to go! She had a first look around to check my cervix and when she couldn't really see very well she told me to go to the bathroom. So I did and came back.

The next little while was fun because she pushed around looking at various parts of the baby's body and measuring things. At this point we didn't know what it was yet but we got to see it's feet and legs squirm around and kick.

We also got to see it's face, measure it's head and even look inside it's brain! I was amazed at that part because I had no idea we would be able to see his actual brain! Below are profile shots of his head.

This is supposed to be his face and lips, but Ramin and I are baffled by it, we can't figure it out :P

The main technician we had did a great job but she was having a hard time finding and measuring everything she needed to, including the heart, because the baby was scrunched up in a nice little ball for most of the ultrasound. It didn't help that he was so low down where I have a tummy pouch - it kept getting in the way too I think, although all of the technicians and doctors were nice enough not to focus on that :P  She ended up calling in another technician who came in quickly and found and measured everything else. As she was done she asked "Is that all of it?" to the first technician and before she could answer I yelped "We still need to find out what it is!" :) The first girl said she thought she may have seen it but wasn't sure...but then the second girl quickly found what they needed to see and they snapped the first picture I posted - clearly a boy :)

They also made us a DVD of the entire ultrasound...one day it will be fun to watch it with the little one so he can see how he started out and see how much trouble he gave us during that ultrasound :P

It was so much trouble in fact, that the doctor who reviewed everything had trouble seeing the heart clearly for herself, or at least getting a good picture of it....so she had ANOTHER doctor come in and check. We had a total of 4 people come in to check out baby boy and while none of them really got the best picture of the heart that they wanted, all of them were satisfied that they did see everything within the heart that they wanted to see - no need for us to come back and check again....phew!

All in all it took 2 hours for this entire ultrasound, something we were not expecting. It was also rather painful for me as they had to dig down hard on the area where I just had my yeast infection rash. That skin is extremely sensitive and each time they pressed down my skin would tear and stretch. I'm also left with some nice bruising under my belly as well....I can feel some pain every time I sit down. But, of course it's all worth it!

Such a great week - we're really getting the nursery together and now we finally know what we're having!! We are so excited that baby is healthy and moving around....it was just beyond amazing to me to see him moving around so much and to know how big he is! They told me he is measuring at 1 pound 2 ounces and measured at 22 weeks 2 days. Of course, I'm happy for that measurement because it aligns very closely with my own measurement of 22 weeks, 4 days :)

How far along: 22 weeks, 5 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I was up for sure....in fact I think I was up 7 pounds from my last appointment. But, it has been 6 weeks since the last appointment. My mom commented to me that there always seems to be that one month where you really grow a lot, let's hope that I don't have any more like this :P

Wedding Ring on?:  YES, although it has been getting slightly tighter.

Major Symptoms: The hip pain I'd been having has disappeared the last two nights and I believe it's because I'm trying out a new technique while sleeping. I'm trying to avoid crossing my ankles because they puts my hips out of alignment. I really think it's working because I've been able to sleep pain free :)
Stretch marks: Still sprouting 
Sleep: Pretty good this week
Best moment last week: SEEING BABY BOY!!
Movement: Today I think I finally experienced some real kicks! After seeing how low down baby is and knowing the general area of where to expect things, I definitely felt some light taps earlier today while Ramin and I were at the Olympic Speed Skating trials.
Food cravings/aversions: Nothing unusual

Belly button - in or out? Still in
Labor signs: Nope
What I miss: As weird as it sounds, I'm starting to miss the once-a-night-pee :P I'm starting to get up more and more frequently to go potty at night and I usually end up going twice a night. As friends have said, it's all in preparation for when baby arrives.
What I am looking forward to: More kicks from baby! 
Milestones: The BIG ultrasound! Knowledge of a healthy baby. Knowing that we're having a BOY!