Updates and Doctor’s Appointment – 16 Weeks

I am now in my second trimester, and my quality of life has gotten a lot better. I have more of my energy back, and I am not as nauseous as I once was. I am really grateful for it!! Seems like first trimester, I had about 2 good hours of work in me a day, and then the rest of the time was spent just trying to get through without falling asleep. I also couldn’t live without my sea bands (wrist band things that have beads that press in on acupuncture points that help with nausea). Now I just feel more normal!

I am not quite that big yet, but can tell that I am growing. I did make the leap to maternity pants, and I am LOVING them!! I told Chris that I may just wear them after I have the baby too! They feel like sweat pants. I could kind of limp along with my old jeans, but when I sit, they dig into my stomach and it is pretty uncomfortable. I spent a few weeks sitting at my desk at work with my pants all undone, because I just couldn’t stand it! I had a hard time finding maternity pants that are long enough, so I had to go buy pants I liked and then had them cut up and converted to maternity pants by a seamstress. Best money I have spent so far. They are cute jeans! People at work have told me that they don’t even look like they are maternity. Perfect!!

I had my first food aversion as well. I cook Mexican-style things all the time with black beans, corn, chicken, etc. I have an enchilada casserole recipe I have eaten a few times before with no problem. There was something about this batch though. It looked unappetizing to me even after I cooked it (for no good reason), but mind over matter, I would eat it. I got one bite of food in my mouth, and it was all I could do to get to the kitchen quick enough to spit it out! I couldn’t stand to look at or smell anything that had to do with that recipe! Chris was awesome. He didn’t ask questions. He just inhaled both his and my portions, got the leftovers cleaned up and put away all so quickly. He brought me a sprite to sip on in another room while he did all of this. He must have read that chapter in the book already. So, I am off Mexican food, and anything with similar ingredients. I even saw the recipe card laying on the counter the next day, and got nauseous all over again. Ugh…

I have also started prenatal yoga. I am absolutely in love with it. It is a few blocks away from the new house, which is super convenient. It is taught by this German lady, whose main mission in life is to bring healthy babies into the world through yoga, massage, natural childbirth classes, etc. She knows so much, and is such a great caretaker of all of the moms in her class. I am grateful to be in her group. The class starts off with everyone going around the room saying who they are, how far along they are, who their doctor is, and what hurts this week. Then we move into the stretches and she tailors the class to help stretch out whatever is bugging the ladies in the group most. We do a whole relaxation thing with breathing too. I feel like a million dollars when I leave. All the other moms are a lot farther along than I am, but the teacher says it is good to start early. Start working out those muscles now so that labor and delivery will be much easier on me and the baby. I have heard from a few former students that it really does help a lot!

So that leads me to today! I had my 16 week appointment today and started off with a new doctor. The old one just wasn’t a fit, and fortunately, my mom is friends with the woman who is (or has been?) the head of Obstetrics and Gynecology for the Penrose hospitals here in Colorado Springs. She made a phone call for us and got us in. What a nice place!! The staff were all so sweet, and really went the extra mile to take care of even the smallest details. They have nicer equipment than my old doctor did too which was really cool. We spent some time with paperwork, getting everything filled out, and going over where we left off with the other doctor. There were no tests to do today. Just a checkup to feel on my tummy how big the placenta is, and then we listened to the heartbeat! It was so much stronger this time!! VERY clearly a heartbeat. Last time, you kind of had to listen to make it out. This time, it was just so strong and healthy. As you can imagine, hearing the heartbeat is just about the best sound in the world to me. I am just so happy to hear it! It always makes me laugh, which causes the baby to move, and the doctor to lose the sound! Dang it!! Both times we have done the heartbeat thing so far, the doctors have been patient, found it again and let us listen a little more. I will have to bite my lip and try not to get so giddy about it next time!

Our next visit (20 weeks) will be the next ultrasound, where we will learn the sex of the baby! I am really looking forward to it. I have no idea what it is. I keep leaning towards it being a girl. Probably because Chris is so picky about boy names, that a girl is a little easier to imagine. I will be just so excited no matter what it is!

Quick update on the house: To date, every square inch of the house has been repainted. Ceilings, walls, and we just have the trim to finish up in the basement. We have all new light fixtures throughout, and all new flooring. New tile and carpet in the basement, and we are having the hardwood floors refinished upstairs. We peeked in on them today and they look AMAZING! It is really shaping up to be a beautiful house. Once the hardwood floors are done, we will have the ducts all cleaned out, finish some odds and ends and move. By the end of February, we will be living there full time. We can’t wait! We will post before and after pictures in a few weeks.

Hope everyone is doing well!

12 Week Update

Hello family and friends! I hope you all have had a nice holiday season. Chris and I had a busy, but good one. We went to Kansas City to see Chris’s family this year. It was so great to see everyone, especially since it was the first time seeing that side of the family since we had announced that we had a baby on the way. Everyone was super excited for us. We did the usual family parties: Christmas Eve at Grandpa Heinen’s house, Christmas morning at his parent’s house, and then Christmas afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Wilkerson’s house. We saw EVERYBODY! It was to catch up. We spent about 5 days there. New Year’s we spent quietly at home. I have been feeling a little more tired and nauseous (morning sickness) since Christmas, so I was feeling more in the mood for a quieter evening. I cooked a healthy dinner, and we watched a movie. We were in bed by 11pm. Man, we are old!

This week I crossed the 12 week mark. I am out of my first trimester (woo hoo!!) and am therefore much less likely to have a miscarriage. It was also time for another checkup. This one was a lot quicker than the first one was. They weighed me (I have gained 5 pounds. Oh lord…) and they measured my tummy. They also did the doppler listener thing to hear the heartbeat. It took the doctor a minute or two, but then sure enough, there it was! Kind of faint, but definitely there!! We were so excited to hear it. I hear that I am not the only one who feels this way, but there are times when I still wonder if this is all really happening. Like maybe I am not pregnant and it is really something else?! But nope, it was wonderful confirmation that there really is a healthy growing baby inside of me. It was the best sound in the world.

The doctor was in kind of a rush because she was eager to get me down to the lab to take some more blood for testing (the lab was closing soon). All of the blood they took from my first visit came back completely normal. Everything came out negative for all of the diseases, and my blood is still O+ as it always has been. Normal all the way around. They did another round, this time for genetic testing. They are mostly checking for down’s syndrome. It isn’t 100% accurate, but tells them if they need to do additional testing later down the road.

Chris and I walked across the parking lot to go have dinner at Macaroni Grill after the appointment was over. It was nice to sit and have dinner, and feel excited about hearing the heartbeat. After dinner we ran over to Burlington Coat Factory to look at baby furniture. They actually have really nice baby stuff…who knew? We didn’t end up buying anything, but it was fun to look and think about what we might want. We will probably start buying things pretty soon.

We continue to make progress on the house. Chris has worked so hard, and it is really shaping up to be a very nice house. I can’t wait to live there! Chris thinks that within a month we will be there full time. We are getting down to what we call “finish work.” That includes finishing up paint and small fixtures. The major grunt work is getting to the point it is all finished, and we are relieved. We hope to have before and after pictures for you soon!

Happy 2009 and we will write more soon!