12 weeks 3 days!!

We are getting close to the end of the first trimester and I couldn't be more excited.  The nausea is all but a distant memory now, and I finally feel like I'm catching up on some much needed sleep.  I do feel like my stomach just popped out all of the sudden though.  I knew that I was starting to show, but then yesterday on the way to the movie it was more than a little obvious.  Here are the most recent pictures of my baby bump progression!

And of course... I'm sure everyone is wondering what the soon-to-be daddy and hopeful puppy look like during the 13th week....  though they don't show it nearly as much...they are just as excited:

I can't wait till Wednesday when I get to see the little pumpkin baby during the ultrasound.  I'll be sure to try and get the pictures up as soon as possible.  Love health and happiness to everyone out there!  

Finally the scanner is working!

Sorry it's taken me so long to get the latest ultrasound loaded up...I can't believe it's nearly time for another one!  The scanner has been on the fritz and it wouldn't cooperate (much like the baby at the last appointment)

So on Wednesday the 17th I went in for the nuchal fold translucency testing.  I was to have an ultrasound followed by a simple blood draw but the baby had other plans.  We were able to see the baby and she was... as usual.... darling.   It stood up, waved it's arms around in the air, spun a circle and then softly crashed back down onto the floor of the uterus.  I couldn't believe how active he was.  Kicking, wiggling, dancing.  It made me giggle so hard that the ultrasound tech had a hard time keeping the wand in the right spot!

Unfortunately (or fortunately if you see my way of thinking) the baby was too rounded to be able to correctly measure it's neck.  Every time it moved we'd check to see if it was straight enough and just when the tech thought she could snap a quick measurement the baby would curl back up tight and tuck it's head down so we couldn't get the picture.  haha.  Since we didn't get the measurements we decided to forgo the blood draw as well.  Oh well...this just means that I get to go back next Wednesday and watch my dancin' fool again.  :)

The baby measured at 3.9cm with a racing heart rate in the low 180s.  I think it's funny in the pictures how prominent it's little nose is ... especially in the 3rd one.  According to all the books the baby is probably closer to 2.5inches right now, about the size of a medium lime to a small plum.  (I just love the food comparisons).  I'm finally doing better with the nausea the the exhaustion still catches up with me almost daily.  I feel like I'm showing, although ever so slightly.  If you didn't know me you couldn't tell, but many of my friends are starting to see the little bugger poking out of the top of my pants.... actually I think that's just dinner.  All my insides have been pushed up a little higher.  The midwife says I'm carrying the baby very low and it still might be awhile before it's really obvious.

I'll be starting week 13 this Saturday.  SO excited to usher in the second trimester and all the fun that comes along with that, including our big move back to Sioux City.  Speaking of which, we have a showing (only the second one since the house was put on the market in early February) tomorrow at 10:15 so if you are reading this before or during that time say a little prayer that the buyers are feeling what we felt when we picked this house to begin with.  I should go and do a little more clean up in preparation.

Much love to all,
Jada and bebe

First Belly Picture Posts

I'm not really showing much at all but Joe was adamant that we take a "Pre-belly" shot. So here they are. It may not look it to you ...but all my pants are getting awfully tight and I know that it'll only be a matter of days - a week at most - before I'm trying to stretch the life of my pants out a little bit with a rubber band or a hair tie. Crazy.  I'm sure that right about the time of the move I'm gonna need all new clothes to get me through the summer.  I guess that means that when I pack up my clothes here they are just gonna stay in a box until after the little one gets here.

I knew I had more to say, but the pregnancy brain is at it again.  For now I guess this will have to do.  I've got errands to run before work... hopefully I can remember what I'm going out for.  ;)

Oooh ooh!  I remembered.  I wanted to tell everyone that Joe wants to hear the heart beat with me for the first time so tomorrow I'm going into his office after hours to have him check to see if we can find it with the doppler.  I'm soooo excited.  I can hardly wait.  I saw the heart beating on the u/s but we couldn't hear it because I was carrying the little one so low.  Hopefully sprout will cooperate for her daddy tomorrow!  I'll be sure to post how it goes.  I'm sure either way I'll cry.

Have a great hump-day!

Jericho's Birthday

So my baby is one year old today! How exciting! It's hard to realize since we haven't even had him a year. But we've really seen him change a lot in the 10 months he's been in our life. Unfortunately this weekend wasn't so great for Jer. He started by driving me crazy on Saturday with a trip out into the back yard, newly muddy from the melting snow.



This morning he woke us up by being sick. I teased that maybe he was having "sympathy pukes" for his mom...Joe joked that maybe Jer was pregnant! Hahahah.

It was so nice not to have to wear a super heavy coat or hat and mittens to work today! There were even some birds out singing earlier when I took Jericho outside. I can't believe that spring is here to stay though....I'm sure that winter will return with it's ugly face at least one more time to make a statement.

I was feeling quite a bit better this morning so I let Joe take some "no baby bump yet" pictures. I think we'll try to post them here later today or tomorrow.

Let's get this started!

Ok so here I've been saying I was gonna start a blog for over 7 months now...and I'm finally getting around to it. I guess the thought of bringing a new little life into this crazy world has me thinking priorities. And a priority for me right now is making sure that no one feels left out of the start of this new adventure we are undertaking.

So as many of you already know Joe and I have bought a house at 2907 S. Lyons in Sioux City. It's not too far from my parents house but it probably is a little far to walk. ;) It's at the bottom of Hayworth Hill where the new East Middle now sits. We are really excited about it. We are still waiting to hear about the current sellers agreement to credit us the money or fix a few things before we move in. The current closing date is May 14th. We are hoping to take possession and begin the remodel process that weekend. We plan to gut the master bathroom and completely update it with a new tub, walk-in shower, double sinks, and a toilet closet. The other major redo will be the kitchen. We are looking to maximize the cabinet space while not limiting the actual size of the kitchen. This is going to involve a new wall of cabinets and opening up a wall into the living room for a little more "airy feel".

And that's only the first thing on my plate right now! I went to see my midwife earlier this week. Because we were a little unsure about the actual conception time line of this baby she had me see the sonographer for an early ultrasound. The baby looks GREAT!! It's about 2.0cm long and racing with a heart rate of 173. In the picture below you can see her little head to the left and a trace of the umbilical chord off to the right. The ultrasound put me at exactly 9 weeks along today. The due date for this little guy is 10-9-10 (but I'm kinda secretly/not-so-secretly hoping for a 10-10-10 baby!) I have another ultrasound in a week and a half. This one will be more intense. It'll take about a 1/2 hour. They are going to be looking at the baby's neck and taking some measurements of the translucency of the folds. It'll help to determine the risk for Down's Syndrom and other major diseases. They plan to follow up the ultrasound with some blood work which will be repeated once I'm well into the second trimester. After both sets of blood work is compared they will have a pretty realistic report of the health of the baby! For me...I'm just excited to get to see the munchkin on the screen again! ;0)

Ok the nausea and exhaustion is catching up to me now, I should really go lay back down. I'll keep everyone updated as we know more. Hope all is well in your world!