3.17.2008

Pregnancy Is My Favorite

16 weeks

18 weeks

23 weeks

24 weeks

25 weeks

27 weeks

29 weeks


30 Weeks down, 10 to go. Here are the highlights so far:

Deciding to start trying.

We had been married for 3 and a half years, with a house and dog for 3 of those years. I kept telling myself we were practicing with the dogs, that we'd know when we were ready. I am the oldest of 5, my youngest brother is 9. I enjoyed playing with him and then leaving him to go home afterwards, let my parents do the rest. Paul, on the other hand, has been ready since about 6 months in to our marriage. He would drop hints every now and then, but the last year the hints were getting stronger. He wasn't pushing, but he liked pointing out cute babies all the time, saying, "wouldn't it be nice...?" I consider myself very lucky that my hubby was ready before me, I know how tough some women have it in that department! I started getting the twinge about a year ago, but little things nagged at me, I kept wondering if we were really ready. Then our best friends Mike & Kelly announced they were expecting their first. I was so excited for them, and loved seeing how happy they were. It really made me realize how much I wanted that for us. We started trying that week (mid-April) and were pregnant by September, just in time for our 4th anniversary. Those few months in between were tough, due to my aforementioned impatience, but we made it through, and woo boy, was it exciting when we first saw those 2 pink lines!!

The first ultrasound.

We had our first ultrasound in October 17th, a dating ultrasound. We found out we were 9 weeks along, our due date was set at May 21st. We were beyond excited to hear our baby's heartbeat and to see her floating around in there, even though she still looked like a little bean rather than a baby. Both of us got pretty teary-eyed. I wasn't really showing yet, so it seemed a lot more real then!

Starting to show.

It seemed like forever before I started to show. For the first 3 or so months I kept thinking I was getting a little belly, but it wasn't much to speak of and really just looked like I was developing a beer belly. I couldn't wait until people could tell I was pregnant just by looking at me. It didn't really feel like I was pregnant. Plus my little brother kept asking my mom what was going on because he thought "pregnant ladies usually have fat bellies." So when I woke up one morning around 16 weeks and all of a sudden a little round belly was poking out, we were thrilled. We could finally tell there was a baby in there! Every week it's a bit bigger. We love watching our baby grow.

Our second ultrasound.

Our second ultrasound was January 4th. We scheduled it for 20 weeks because we wanted to find out the gender. She was very cooperative that morning, flipping around so the technician could get all the views she needed. We saw her hands, her head, her feet, all 4 chambers of her heart, her legs, her arms, everything. We saw her pushing up against the walls of my uterus with both her hands and her feet, and I couldn't believe that I didn't feel her yet! When the technician zoomed in for a profile view, she was saying that usually babies keep their fists balled up in the womb. Right then Annie flattened out her hand and pushed at the wall above her. Then she opened and closed her mouth a few times, like she was laughing at us. Paul said that's when he started tearing up. I started to lose it when the technician asked, "are you ready to find out the gender??" We nodded and I started sobbing as soon as she zoomed in to show us it was a girl. I'm not usually the sentimental type, but I felt my Grandmother's presence so strongly right then. We had decided 5 years ago when she passed away from cancer that we would name our first girl after her, so now we knew we had our Annie. I was afraid Paul would be a bit disappointed because he had his heart set on a boy, but he said that he pretty much didn't care after he saw her opening and closing her mouth in there. The ultrasound was amazing, we are almost hoping we will have to go back for another one!

Feeling her move.

The morning of my January 14th doctor's appointment I thought that I felt some fluttering around while I was still in bed. The next morning I felt some definite thumps and knew for sure it was her. Paul couldn't feel her until a few weeks later, but we sure had fun waiting to feel her jumping around in there. About a month later, when I was off from work for Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I was sitting on the couch watching some tv when I felt some really strong kicking, looked down, and saw the sides of my belly pushing out. That was the coolest. Now she keeps me company all day at work, all night while I'm sitting on the couch watching tv, and in the morning just before I get up. It's the best. I think I'll probably miss this the most when I'm not pregnant anymore.

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