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!