Third-Trimester

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This past Sunday marked 29 weeks and day 1 of my third-trimester. I know I keep saying this, but I cannot believe how quickly time is flying. Where did 2009 go? How is the Christmas season already here? Will there really be a baby here in 11ish short weeks? It is absolutely crazy to think about.
I had another check up today. I got a Rhogam shot because I am Rh- and it should help prevent antibodies from forming and attacking the fetus if she is Rh+. Dr. Gowan says baby is doing well. She has a good strong heart beat and is moving around like crazy. I feel her all the time now, except when I am sleeping- thankfully she hasnt gotten strong enough to keep me up!
With the holiday season, and my birth month, in full swing and every weekend booked with some fun event, January will be here before we know it! I am looking forward to that as we have a couple of showers in the works which will be a lot of fun!! Happy Holidays!

How is it already November?

This is what I look like just walking down the street


Seriously? Where has this year gone? I cant believe Thanksgiving is less than 3 weeks away. Well, I am past 6 months now, which is scary. I finally ordered the crib last week, I am very excited about it. When it gets here, I guess it will really be time to start getting the nursery in order, just in case baby girl decides to come early. I found out that my grandmother, Mama, and one of her closest friends have a bet to see who's birthday she is born closest to. Mama's is Feb 13 and Mrs. Melnyk's is Feb 22. I dont think anyone knows what the prize will be for the winner, but I personally am pulling for Mama, more for my own comfort than anything else ;)
So I had another doctors appointment Friday. I had a diabetes test, which came back negative, yay me! I have gained 3-4 lbs since the last appt 5 weeks ago. As for baby girl, Dr. Gowen was very happy. She is very active and had a heart rate of 152, both which are positive signs for great health! We most likely wont be having another ultrasound until 36 weeks unless they determine she is breech, which, based on her movements and past ultrasounds, that is not the case. We have progressed to the point in the pregnancy where I will be seeing the dr every 2-3 weeks. Yikes!
Thanks to several friends I compiled a list of registry necessities, which made the trip to Babies-R-Us MUCH less overwhelming. I think we were able to do the whole registry in 1-1.5 hours, which I was pretty impressed with.
I guess thats all for now. Have a great day and looking forward to seeing friends and family over Thanksgiving!

24 Weeks!

I know it has been a while since my last post, but I dont feel like I have that much to say very often! So I am at 24 weeks now. I feel like I am getting bigger all the time! I still dont feel like I look pregnant yet, though. Only to those who know that I am! This picture was taken when Pauls parents and grandparents were in town visiting/helping! I dont typically wear t-shirts out unless I am on my way to the gym because they are a little tighter than I like to wear right now. But they are perfect for lounging around the house! My boobs are huge, though. I swear they account for half my weight gain.
Baby Girl has obviously been getting bigger and stronger because I can feel her all the time now. It has become very frequent when I lie down for bedtime- seems like thats when she wants to play. I have gotten used to the little hits, or kicks or whatever movements they are, but at times it seems like she is rolling over and sitting up and spasming out. My uterus just shakes and moves.... it is a little weird. I can actually see my stomach moving when that happens. I guess I should get used to it for the next 16 or so weeks!
Pauls mom and I spent the weekend cleaning out what will be the nursery to make room for a lot of hand-me-downs from Pauls sister. All of which are much appreciated! Thanks to a few friends who have become recent mothers themselves (i refuse to use the word mommy at the moment), I have compiled a list of baby must haves. My mom and I are going to Babies-R-Us this week to do some registering, and I am sure, some excessive shopping will be done by Grandmom-to-be (name to be determined) Laws.
Other than that not too much to report. I have my next appointment next Fri. I dont think I am scheduled to have a sonogram at this one. I think its just a heartbeat check, weight update (i do not want to know!) and diabetes test. Will let you know how it all goes.

20 Week Check-Up

Hi all! So I have reached my half way point in the pregnancy, which is a little scary. Here is a picture taken at exactly 20 weeks.
I feel like I have already grown more since then, and it has only been 5 days. I guess I will need to post these kind of pictures more often.

In other news, I went to the doctor yesterday and had my 20 week check-up. I have gained 8 lbs since becoming pregnant- all of which have come in the last 5 or so weeks- which is good, but also frustrating since I have spent my whole life trying not to gain weight. Baby girl was not quite as cooperative this time and we did not get a lot of great pictures; however, we were able to see that she seems to be perfectly healthy. She has both kidneys- so she is one up on me already. Her heartbeat was strong at 142 beats/min, and her heart looked good and strong. They said her head was measuring 4 days bigger than my expected due date, but they wont change the estimated date yet. Here is the one semi-decent picture we were able to get.

Durrett, my mother-in-law, came with me to my appt and then we went to a few baby stores in Jacksonville to look at cribs. It is an understatement to say that it was very overwhelming wandering around babies-r-us, looking at everything we have to get before she arrives. Thankfully we have friends and family who can give us an invaluable amount of advice and hand-me downs ;)

A little of this, little of that.

So, I am in my 18th week this week, I have been told that I should be feeling baby girl Moerman move sometime in the next couple of weeks. I am not exactly sure what it is supposed to feel like, but I think I may have felt a little something on Wednesday- the 16th. Then I had a Sprite on Friday and I was having what, to me, felt like little random muscle spasms. I am pretty sure those are little movements, which should continue to get stronger and stronger, until, I hear, I will actually see body parts protrude like little aliens. Lovely.

I have my next appointment on Oct. 1. It is the 20 week checkup, which I guess is when the technician measures certain body parts to help determine a more precise due date/age of baby. I will post more then, along with some pictures of both baby girl and myself. I feel like I am getting bigger, but not in an obvious 'you're pregnant' way, it looks more like I have had a few too many beers, which is never attractive.

17 Weeks and Counting

Happy Labor Day to everyone! I have been asked to upload a picture of me, so I had my friend Joanie, who is visiting for the weekend, take one before we went down to the beach. Here I am at 17 weeks. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Its Official!

It's a girl! Paul and I went to the doctor this morning, I got blood drawn, which was not much fun, we listened to the heartbeat- which was very strong!- and had a sonogram. She spread her legs (NO COMMENTS) for just long enough to let us see that there was definitely nothing in between; however, when we went back to get a picture for proof, they were closed quite tightly... Below are a few of the better pictures we got, she was waving away at her Daddy, and, as you can see, has at least one hand with five fingers! She definitely has both arms and legs and all four chambers of her heart appear to be in great working order.


As soon as we found out, Paul said that he had enough women in his life, but we are both extremely happy that no matter what the sex, at least she is a healthy baby! And I reminded Paul that he still has Buck, which is boy enough for everyone.

I know that 4D pics scare a lot of people, they definitely do me, but they are the only ones I can look at and actually be able to identify what the image is of! The one below is her head and abdomen. We tried to get pics of feet, hands, etc, but they just did not come out very clearly. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hello from Fernandina!

We have decided to make a blog so those of you we dont talk to as often as we would like can keep up with all our goings on for the next 9 or so months!

Paul and I are very excited about everything going on right now- a little scared, but I suppose that is to be expected. We feel a little more prepared, I suppose, since we have just bought our first home. But how prepared can anyone be, really, to bring a baby into the world? I have had two appointments so far and have been told that everyone seems to be happy and healthy. I have my 15 week check up next week, which I have been told is when all sorts of tests will be done, we may be able to find out the gender as well. I personally think its a girl, but Paul, of course, is really hoping for a boy- no surprise there :)

I am no computer wiz, so I will try my hardest to upload pics of my growing belly and baby Moerman as often as possible. Hope everyone has a great day and check back whenever to see if there are more updates!

Love,

Sara and Paul