21 Weeks and Counting!

This past week has been a big week for us. We had our "growth and development" ultrasound this past Monday, which was very exciting. During the ultrasound the doctor was unable to get a clear image of the Corpus Callosum. The Corpus Callosum is the fibrous part of the brain that allows the two hemispheres of the brain to communicate with one another. So, my doctor sent us to a high risk pregnancy specialist for another ultrasound. At first, I wasn't really worried about it...I figured she was just sending us as a precaution. Unfortunately, I started looking at "Dr. Google" (as Tyson likes to say) and read everything I probably shouldn't have. Of course, I started freaking out immediately! I know, I know...everything you read on the internet should only be taken as a grain of salt considering I'm not a Obstetrician. The only excuse I have is that I'm an emotional pregnant woman who was curious and worried; a horrible combination. We had our appointment at the Antepartum Testing Unit on Friday and met with a high risk pregnancy Obstetrician. As it turns out, our little ones Corpus Callosum is fully developed and is very healthy. The doctor was able see that all parts of it's brain are fully developed. HURRAY!!! She went over all the gross anatomy again and said that it appears that we have a very healthy little one. Talk about two very relieved parents-to-be!

We had a busy weekend of chores too. We (mostly Tyson) finished unpacking, putting our bookshelves together, assembling baby furniture, worked on the yard, and cleaned our old apartment so we could do the final walk through. I have a wonderful husband and I'm ready for another weekend!

Tyson was checking out his handy work (spreading grass seed)

On to everyone's favorite part of the blog...the baby bump picture and stats. This week our little one weighs about 12 ounces and is about 10 1/2 inches long. It's about as long as a carrot!

The baby has been moving around a lot! Right now, it's breech (right side up) and has been using my bladder as a trampoline. I'm ready for the baby to turn. The baby's movement has become more forceful and doesn't feel like just little nudges or pokes anymore. It now feels, mostly, like kicks. I hope over the next couple weeks Tyson will be able to feel the baby move! It seems like the baby is most active late morning into early afternoon. It moves around when I first wake up in the morning too. It's almost like the baby is telling me "Good Morning!".

I feel like my belly has grown a lot over the past couple weeks.

Even though our weekend was successful and started with good news, we did get some very sad news. My grandpa passed away, very suddenly, on Saturday. We will be heading home this week to spend time with my family and the attend his service. While it will be wonderful to see my family, it's a very sad loss as well.

I hope everyone has a great week!

20 Weeks and New Ultrasound Pictures...YEAH!!

Hey Everyone! As of last Friday, I was 20 weeks. We are officially half way there! It doesn't seem that long ago that I was avoiding food and trying not to get sick around every corner. On Monday I went to my 20 week appointment and had my "Growth and Development Ultrasound". This is usually when people find out the gender, but we stuck to our guns and didn't peek! It was really hard and I feel like we spent the whole time looking away. The ultrasound technician was very graceful and prompt when telling us to look away...she was great. I didn't realize how much they look for during this appointment. I thought it would only last a few minutes, but our ultrasound lasted about 45 minutes. It was really cool to watch the baby move and feel the baby move at the same time.

Well, here is what everyone has been waiting for...

Since we aren't going to find out the gender, they had to be careful as to what pictures they could give us. The baby was moving around, a lot, during the ultrasound so my doctor is having me go in for another ultrasound next week to get some clearer images of the baby's brain. It's looking like I will have more pictures next week! I've been feeling the baby move around more frequently, lately. Hopefully, in the coming weeks the baby will start moving around enough for Tyson to feel it move too.

Other than that we finally moved last weekend. Tyson awesomely orchestrated the whole move and we got it all done in one day. With the help of one of our friends (Thank you Zach!) and Tyson's brother (Lain) we made it all in one trip and were unpacking by Saturday afternoon. I haven't taken any pictures of the house, but I will post pictures this week along with a new belly picture. The dogs are very happy with there new yard and we are loving all the space!

Hope everyone enjoys the pictures!

19 weeks and few days

Here we are, almost half way there. We hit a milestone this week. I felt the baby move for the first time! It wasn't much, but as soon as it happened I knew what it was. So far, it's been one of the best things about my pregnancy. It felt like a small poke or a nudge...I think I would have easily missed it if I hadn't been waiting for it to happen. It was truly one of the most amazing things I've ever felt. Everyone talks about how wonderful it is to feel your baby move for the first time, but you never really know how great it is till you actually feel it. I think it's the closest thing to a miracle I've ever experienced.

It's here, it's here! We finally move this week! We spent all of Saturday finishing packing so we can start moving our stuff on Thursday. The dogs don't know it yet, but they are going to have a backyard! YEAH! That means no more taking them out when it's cold or raining...they can take themselves out now. Along with packing we also spent some time at IKEA looking at baby furniture. Needless to say, Tyson was definitely not prepared for all that is IKEA. We went to look at cribs, but they aren't going to be available for another two months because they had to do 'safety modifications' on all their cribs...basically they had redesign their cribs to they wouldn't have the sliding gate anymore. We didn't get a crib, but I found lots of other house items...of course! Before we even left the store Tyson told me I wasn't allowed to go to IKEA by myself...I found it very easy to 'need' tons of stuff! Haha!

So, lots of people have been asking me about pregnancy inspired food cravings. Honestly, I don't really crave 'out of the ordinary' foods. One thing I have been loving is peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches. That's right...just plain peanut butter and jelly! I'm convinced it's a kick back to my childhood. For some reason I can't get enough of them...I like them so much that I'm likely to growl at anyone who might ask for a bite. Haha!

This week the baby is only weighs a little over half a pound and is only a little longer than a dollar bill. It's hard to believe that my baby bump is a big as it is, but the baby is still so tiny!

This week the baby is about 6-7 inches long and weighs about 8.5 ounces. It's size is comparable to a mango!

Here is a funny addition to my belly pictures. Tucker was very curious as to what all the fuss was about. Tassa wasn't as interested..I think she felt that lounging on the bed was a better use of her time.

I hope everyone has a good week! I'll post pictures of our new house with my next post.

P.S. I wanted to say congratulations to my brother Joe and sister-in-law Roya! They are going to welcome their little one in March 2012! Congratulations guys!!! Love you.

18 weeks and a few days


I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!

This past week has been the week of dreams and less sleep. I have always enjoyed the fact that I am pretty good sleeper, but lately I haven't been sleeping very well. I sleep for a few hours and then I spend the rest of night dreaming and sleeping off and on. Most of the books I've read talk about how you dream more vividly during pregnancy. I would say my dreams are more random... I dream about telescopes (I know...it's weird!), my friends, flashbacks to when I was in high school, about driving around in my car, strangers, etc. I dream so much that I feel like it interrupts my sleep. When you are dreaming you are supposed to be in a deeper sleep, compared to when you aren't dreaming, but lately it's been causing me to wake up more often during the night. Dreaming is fun, but I kind if wish I could do it less so I could sleep better!

This weekend marks two weeks till we move to our bigger place. Right now, we live in a one bedroom condo close to downtown and a lots of stuff to do. While we love where we live, once we found out I was pregnant we knew we had to find a bigger place. So, we found a house and we move on September 15th. The closer we get to our move date the more excited I get because we will have lots more room and our dogs will have a backyard to play in. So, this weekend we started the dreaded packing process. In a word...yuck! It's inevitable, but still no fun. Even the dogs don't think moving is very fun...

For those of you who haven't had the chance to get acquainted with our bubs...Tassa is the one in the front and Tucker is the one in the back.

Now for the much awaited belly picture. Feast your eyes everyone...it's getting bigger! Please forgive my ragged appearance, but its a holiday weekend so all efforts to look nice are off! Ha!

This week the baby is about 5-6 inches long and weighs about 7 ounces. I read about two different comparisons for the size of my baby. So, here goes.

We either have a dill pickle or....

I prefer the bell pepper, but I thought the dill pickle was kind of funny! This past week people have started to notice my bump more and more. It's fun that people notice, but sometimes I run out of creative and cute responses. It could be worse...people could be trying to touch my belly already. Ha!

17 Weeks and a few days!

Well, this week has been the first week where I felt like wearing maternity clothes was a necessity. I still have some normal clothes that fit fine, but most of my work clothes are pretty snug around the waist now. I've found that Old Navy and Gap are the best places to buy maternity clothes. As far as cost, Old Navy is great because you can find great deals on basic items like jeans, black pants, etc., and their return policy is pretty easy. Gap is also great because their maternity clothes are, usually, marked down pretty quickly so you can get the quality you want at a price that won't raise your husband's eye brows every time you come home with a shopping bag (love you hunny!). Here are a few items I would recommend to any future mama who is on the verge of needing maternity clothes:

Smooth-Panel, Skinny Jeans from Old Navy

Smooth Panel, Double Weave Trousers from Old Navy

Crew neck T's from Gap

Also, accessorize, accessorize, accessorize! Statement necklaces, infinity scarves, bright colored tank tops (for layering), and fun earrings. You won't grow out of these items and you can continue to use them after you get your pre-maternity body back!

Lately, I've been a on cooking kick. I've been combing cookbooks and cooking magazines for new recipes a lot recently. While it has probably been related to food cravings...Tyson doesn't seem to mind... and it's been pretty fun trying new recipes. Also, since summer is coming to a close we have been trying to use more ingredients from our mini garden, so there is a ton of pesto in our fridge and Serrano peppers in a lot of things. Tyson is waiting semi-patiently for a 'ghost pepper' to sprout, but we will likely have to wait until next summer.

In preparing for our "little bit", we've been looking at baby items we will need. Not to surprisingly, Craigslist has been an awesome source for baby items. It's a great place to find lightly-used baby furniture, high chairs, car seat bases, etc. for cheap. After I found out I was pregnant we created a list of baby items, so we could budget for buying all of it. Needless, to say buying used items on Craigslist is saving us tons of money and we can buy everything little by little. Some people might have issues with buying used items, but we are fairly frugal so it's worked out well for us.

The biggest change in my baby bump, this week, is that it's become more round...at least I think. Feel free to judge for yourself.

In order to continue the theme in which I compare the growth of our little bit to produce, this week it weighs about as much as a...Turnip!

It weighs about 5 ounces is about 5 inches head to toes. Also, as of last week our little bit's hearing has fully developed so now it can hear our voices. Hopefully, it recognizes more positive inflection in my voice rather than any negativity!

Books I've found helpful:

• "The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy" - it validates your feelings and gives some decent perspective.
• "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way" - this book is full of tons of information about pregnancy and delivery. It also teaches you relaxation methods to practice (which are really comfortable once you master them) and to use during delivery. If you can't tell, I'm planning on doing natural childbirth.
• "The Baby Book" - this is an excellent textbook-style reference book.
• "What to Expect Before You're Expecting" and "What to Expect When You're Expecting" - These books are great sources of information about what you should do to prepare for pregnancy and information for your pregnancy. My major disclaimer is "What to Expect When You're Expecting" can be kind of overwhelming. It tells you about everything that can go wrong and the likelihood of it going wrong. You have to be sure you don't get too wrapped up in it and take for what it is...informative.
  

16 weeks, plus a few days

Welcome to the Lawrence Family baby blog!

While I am a little behind on starting this blog; better late than never! For those of you who don't know we are having a baby! Our bundle should arrive around February 3, 2012.

Because I'm behind I thought I would catch everyone up...

My first trimester was less than perfect...to say the least! Morning sickness abound, exhausted all the time, and overall feeling like I had been hit by train all the time. Just eating was a battle in itself. Eventually, I found a method for eating that worked, but it was rough for a while. At first I thought I was going to get a way with not having "all day morning sickness", but it hit me like a ton of bricks around 7 weeks. Thankfully, it started to fade around 11 weeks and was gone by 13 weeks. The babies heartbeat is good and is growing healthily. My next appointment (at 20 weeks) is the "Anatomy and Growth Evaluation" or "big ultrasound" and when we could find out the gender of the baby. Here is the kicker...we are NOT finding out the sex! Take a minute to gasp and say "WHY NOT?!". The simple answer is, we want to be surprised. So to all of you who can't wait to know...sorry! Until we get to meet our little one it's going to be our "little bit".

As of now, I don't really have much of a bump. It looks more like a food baby. Honestly, I feel pretty good these days. My second trimester has definitely been a honeymoon compared to the first. It's almost like you wake up one day and think, "There is a light at the end of the tunnel!"

I'm sure in a few months I will look at this picture and wish I felt as good as I do now. Ha! Right now, the baby weighs about 3 1/2 ounces and is about the size of an Avocado.

A few things I've learned:

• All of your maternity books tell you to buy a three way mirror. DO IT! You spend so much time paying attention to your belly that you forget that as your belly grows, so does your butt. It's very unfortunate!
• Everyone will give you advice...acquaintances, strangers, friends, and family. You start to feel like you are wearing a sign that says, "I need advice all the time". Haha! Just smile sweetly and say something affirming. It's much easier to play along.
  
• Food starts to taste so much better. Once I got past my initial aversion to food, I was shocked by how good something simple like plain oatmeal tasted. Who knew?!