It's a...

???

Bad news! Baby didn't cooperate fully... The ultrasound tech wasn't able to get a clear shot of the gender organs, but at one point she said she saw 3 little lines are indicative of a.... girl! BUT!!! It's not a for sure, positive thing. The other news is that as of our ultrasound last Tuesday, she was sitting breech, so we get to have another ultrasound in October. Hopefullly then we'll have another peek, see if we can be a little more certain of her gender. :-) She's also measuring in the 95th percentile for her age catagory, which means she's a big one. Her daddy is proud!

We're still going to go with mostly gender-neutral items at this point. If we have a more definite picture in October then I might want a few pink items, but gender-neutral I guess is the smart thing in the long run, since we do plan on having a Neunuebel clan. ;-)

Our vacation was lots of fun, I'll post a pic or two when I have a chance!

Weekend Recap

Saturday we went out for our first real "house hunting" experience- very exciting! We drove through several neighborhoods with our realtor and walked through 3 houses. The first house was a dirty mess, it was a foreclosure so it hasn't been fixed up at all, not even vacuumed. It was sort of neat to think how we could totally redo the house, but considering I'll be 8 months pregnant when we finally buy a house, I don't know how much help I'd be doing something like that. The second house was AMAZINE, they'd obviously been watching their TLC and HGTV "sell this house"-type shows. We'd have made an offere if we'd been ready to buy. The third house was a 70s, out-of-date ugly thing. Definitely not. After talking it out with the realtor, we decided that to move into a house in November, we'll need to close in October, which means we need to seriously look to buy in September. Which is next month. :-)

On Saturday when we got home, I was relaxing on the sofa when I felt the baby kick. I've been pretty much feeling them every day, but this time he or she was really going at it! I called DH over to me and he put his hands on my belly, and he felt his first kick. :-) He was so excited and so happy! It was another reality check for him- this is really happening!

Tomorrow is the big day! We're heading right out after the appointment to go on vacation to the beach, so I won't be blogging again until next week sometime. But hopefully by then, everyone will know so I can post it publicly. :-) Until then!

8 DAYS!

*8* days until we find out if I'm carrying a boy or girl!

Let the polls open... Please repond to this post and give me your vote- BOY OR GIRL?


The results will be posted AFTER both sets of grandparents have found out. :-)

I got it!

With the help from some friends, I decided that I wasn't ready to give up my belly button ring yet. So I purchased a "maternity" ring from here. I bought the first ring listed on the page. It came in the mail yesterday, so of course, I cleaned it and stuck it in. I had to trim it quite a bit, since it was so long it was uncomfortable. I can't imagine I'll need it longer, but if so, it was only 4 bucks. :-)

Only one more week until we find out! The anticipation is wonderful! I want to have mostly gender-neutral items for the baby, but I think that buying some little pink socks or baseball-themed onesies are defintely in order. :-)

This week I researched slings and pouches. I think I've narrowed it down to having one of several, to see which is best for what. I really like the looks of pouches but I think slings might be easier to discreetly breastfeed in public with. I'm still debating a wrap- I'm thinking since they're two-shoulder instead of one shoulder, they might be better as the baby gets older.

I really like these and these pouches. I haven't found any slings yet that I'm in love with... But to help you get the idea (if you've never seen a ring sling before), some can be found here. Next week, I plan on researching cloth diapers!

Physical Therapy

This week I started physical therapy for my neck. It was prescribed by my internist, who is a genius and the best doctor I've ever visited. Anyway, we have fantastic insurance so the copay is decenet per visit, and I will go three times a week for 4 weeks. So far this week I've been twice, and she's talked to me about the pain (the headaches), applied heat to my neck, massaged my neck and showed me how to do some stretches. It's soooo wonderful, she can tell just by feeling my neck where the tension and pain is. So this is something I'll be doing for the next several weeks.

I also decided that I wasn't ready to part with my belly ring, so I ordered one. It's made with PTFE, a medical plastic substance, and has a metal ball on either end. I'm looking forward to getting it soon since my current one keeps falling/slipping out since I lost one of the metal balls...

We have a slow weekend planned. DH has a final to study for, so we'll probably go to Barnes and Noble so he can study, I'll be the person sitting in the aisles reading books. :-) Most likely pregnancy and labor books, of course. So far, I've been told to check out some Dr. Sears books and another one- can't remember the title right now. I just finished the entire Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell (fiction), so I also need to find another writer to get hooked on. Preferably another series-type thing, because I like reading about the same characters in different books. Suggestions?

I want to, but I can't.

I've tried four times to take out my belly button ring, to let the hole close up. Every time I've put it back in, I can't help but feel I'm losing a part of me. It's pathetic, but when you think about it, I've had it since January of 2002. It's been quite awhile! I figured I'd just let the hole close up, but I'm not ready to let it go. I keep hoping it'll fall out and I won't notice, so it will close up on its own. That hasn't happened yet. I'm so torn!

18 week photos

Big belly.

Ignore my face. :-b

This photo was taken July 16, 2006- our one year wedding anniversary. It's at St. Mary's Cathedral and we were lucky enough to be able to attend mass on our anniversary date at that church. :-)

The year before!

Current Ailments

1. Super stong and quick-growing fingernails (they're so pretty, I want to paint them)
2. Heightened sense of smell (kind of a bad thing, especially with a cat box around the house)
3. A vein in my right wrist that I can see pumping through my skin. Really entertaining when I'm bored.
4. Who knew I had hair on my stomach?
5. I can see inside my belly button without having to move it around (not really a useful talent).
6. My back is like an accordion. I sit down and it compresses down. When I stand up, it pops and feels like the spaces between my veretebra increases by a huge amount. I've never heard it pop this much.
7. Itchy belly.
8. Emotional. Moody. Short-tempered?

Our 1 Year Anniversary

As of Sunday July 16, we've been married for a whole year. :-) My fantastic DH surprised me and took me out of town on many adventures, he even secured a day off of work for me. I was able to see family, visit the church we were married in, feed sheep, read the hearts written for us at our reception, eat peach ice cream, watch bats at dusk, antique shop, and enjoy my husband's company. It was really a great weekend. Plus my little car, who so faithfully takes us wherever we need to go with decent gas milage, surpassed 100K miles this weekend. And she's still going!

I don't know if it is our anniversary or the pregnancy but I'm SO emotional right now. It's funny, at a friend's wedding when I was only 10 or 12 weeks pregnant, I couldn't manage to cry a tear. But now, silly things like a song or commercial or even just a memory make me want to bawl! I've really been having to control myself, because once I start crying it's hard for me to stop, and my nose gets really stuffy and it's hard to breath. All because of pregnancy!

I'm also starting, just now, to have real cravings. I fixate on something until I get it. Recent examples have included an M&M Sonic Blast, chocolate (any kind), Dr. Pepper (non-diet) and other things that are really bad for me. Actually I just polished off a a bag of peanut M&Ms, a regular-sized bag. Lasted about 3 minutes and I REALLY want some more.

It's more than obvious that I have a pooch now. My dad jokingly and (hopefully) lovingly called it a pudge, I believe. I gave in and purchased two pairs of maternity blue jeans from Kohls and JC Penny yesterday, I couldn't hold out any longer. I have maybe 6 or 7 pairs of blue jeanas, and only one pair still fit, so it was time. I guess I should post another picture soon!

Besides the occasional headaches (no more migranes!), I am really feeling good. I'm enjoying being pregnant right now, I'm at a very pleasant stage. Almost 18 weeks, I'm waiting to feel a kick or a nudge from little baby... I have felt what *could* be the baby, but I'm not positive that's what it is. It's difficult being a first-time mom! Just as I was writing this, I felt what could have been the baby, on my left side maybe about a finger's length from my belly button. Maybe he/she is saying hello. :-) I read in a book that at this point, babies can hear pretty well, so I'm wondering if I should do the Mozart to the belly thing... Actually in the book I was reading, it talked about how this baby, after birth, would always quiet down when the theme song of a particular soap opera would come on... Because the mom watched it every day while pregnant. Definitely something to think about!

Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'am

We had our third doctor appointment today... It went so fast! She listened to the heartbeat for maybe a few seconds, told me to pee in a cup, took some blood for tests and then I was done. If we hadn't have waited, we seriously would have been out in 3 minutes! I almost forgot to ask her about my headaches... Which she was no help anyways. She just said to ask the other dr. I'm visiting tomorrow about the headaches to call her to approve medicine. Fabulous. I did gain a whopping 1 pound though, which puts me back to my original starting weight of 135 (I'm not ashamed!). Although the weight has definitely re-distributed, I just can't tell from where though I know to where!

We did, however, schedule our next appointment- THE 20 week appointment. Wohoo! Come August 8, I will know if I'm carrying my Bethany or my Ethan. I'll start taking votes now. So far, I've got DH's brother and a few friends who've told me it's girl... Let's see what everyone else thinks. My "old wives tale" symptoms are- carrying high (I think!), high heartbeat, I've dreamt it's a girl (well twin girls, actually), and I wasn't very sick in the first trimester. I haven't done the "spin the wedding ring over the belly button" thing yet. But the dr. this morning told me I need to take out or find a non-metallic belly button ring soon, so I will have to make up my mind within the next 3 weeks! Eek!

I have THE best husband in the world.

Last Wednesday, I asked DH what we our weekend plans were. He said, don't worry about it! He has a sneaky way of surprising me, so I didn't know what to expect... But I knew our one year anniversary was about a week away so it couldn't be a huge ordeal. I expected lunch and a trip to Rice Village to shop for maternity clothes. Well I was right about lunch! We went to a yummy little pizza place and then he wanted to go by Borders "to browse a little bit." Well it had started raining so I figured he was just waiting for the rain to subside since Rice Village is an outdoor mall. We "browsed" in Borders for a bit then around the time it stopped raining he said okay, so we left. As we were driving away he mentioned wanting a latte so we pulled into a center with a coffee house and as we started to walk toward it, he detoured into a spa! He had made an appointment for a 50 minute massage for me! I was so shocked, it was a VERY fancy place too so they really treated me well. They offered him wine while he waited but no wine for me since I was there for a prenatal massage! WOW it was amazing, I told her about my neck pains and so she spent a little extra time on my neck and shoulders... my neck pain is gone. Nada. Zilch. I feel amazing. The rest of the massage was very nice, but I am so overwhelemed that she was able to work whatever it was out of my neck. I've had *minor* headaches since then, but nothing out of the ordinary from my daily, non-preggo life. He really shocked me! He said it was my pre-wedding anniversary present, because next weekend for our actual anniversary he's planning a trip...

Again, another surprise. He's been dropping hints- I know we're going somewhere by car, not to the north or east, water is *not* the main component but a factor, and it's a series of events. I'm so excited! Our 1 year anniversary, already. I know time flies but sheesh, we still feel like newlyweds. I hope we always do. :-)

I'm feeling better.

Dare I say the past 2 days for me have been fantastic? *knocks on wood* I've had some neck pain and some headaches, but it hasn't been bad enough to the point where I have to take the Vicadin. This makes me sooooo happy! I have been a little crampy though, my lower left side of my abdomen has been hurting a little bit. But again, nothing severe like before. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers!

I went for a hair trim today, I needed one but mostly I was looking forward to the hair wash. When that gay guy went to town on my head, massaging away and rubbing my temples, I thought I was in heaven. It really made me want to go for a real massage, but in time. Maybe. If we can afford it. By the way, have I mentioned yet my birthday is in August? *wink*

I have been experiencing other pregnancy symptoms that I probably shouldn't write about on a public blog, even though it's my blog. I'm not sure how comfortable I, or you, would feel about reading some of these things. If you really want to know, ask. I'm keeping a separate journal of these other changes so that next time around, I know what's happening, or should be happening, at certain times. Something that I will tell you is the bloody nose and the "pink toothbrush" (bleeding gums while brusing teeth)is becoming more common, I believe it's due to the increased amount of blood circulating in my body. Fun.

Tonight we are going with some friends to the Astros game versus the Cardinals. I'm hoping it won't rain so we can see the fireworks since we didn't get to see them on the 4th (it rained that day too). Pretty soon I'm going to need an ark to travel to work.

Drugs :-)

The Vicodin is helping lots! I feel soooo much better. The prescription said I can take 1-2 every 4 hours "as needed" but 1 a day has been providing the pain relief I've needed. I don't actually take one until I need to, because sometimes I can take a nap and it will help. I'm so happy to be feeling like normal again, I just hope they go away before I run out of my prescription!

Today I didn't have to work. We visited my grandma and mom and several family members in Conroe this weekend, it was really nice to go spend some time over there instead of just the day like we usually do. We went Friday night and I left this afternoon, DH left last night (had to work). I went to another maternity clothing store and tried on a couple of dresses- I really felt like I was starting to show. I know in the pics I don't seem that big, but I can tell and DH can tell. My mom bought me a beautiful maternity dress, something I could wear to a work meeting or to a wedding. And it doesn't look too maternity, it's just so cute!

We purchased a book awhile ago that is a day-to-day journal of the baby development and of my progression (found here.) It's really neat, I recommend it to anyone newly-pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant. :-)

Headache Update

I went to the minor ER this morning because my headaches have been so terrible that they're keeping me from daily life functioning. My OB said there was nothing they could really do, so they sent me to see someone else. The dr. at the minor ER said that I don't have a migrane, but the symptoms are pretty darn close, and he prescribed me Vicodin. That's scary. I've never taken that before, don't people develop serious addictions to that stuff? And how am I supposed to go to work if the drugs make me too tired to function? So either I can be awake and in pain, or asleep and out of pain. The dr. even said it was a "bandaid" to cover up the pain. He said if I get worse, they'd want to do a cat scan or an MRI, but due to the pregnancy they're not supposed to do those things on me right now. So we're going to wait it out and see if these blasted headaches go away. I'm really nervous about the drugs, but I need some relief so I will take one and see how it goes... Please pray for healing for me.

Maternity Clothes and Headaches

Today is the very first day I've worn a full maternity outfit. And it's weird- I actually look pregnant. When I wear my regular clothes, the ones I can still fit on, I don't look so much pregnant. I wonder if the maternity clothes were made to make you look pregnant? Just a thought. I only have one pair of maternity pants at this point, they have the low belly band, and they're a little big in the rear-end portion. But the belly is nice- it's nice to have elastic there instead of blue jeans that don't quite fit.

I've had to call the doctor about these headaches I've been getting lately... I'm still waiting to hear back. They're more severe than any headache I've had before, and it's concentrated on the left side of my head. I think it's kind of odd. I am also having neck pain on the left back side of my neck, so I'm wondering if the neck pain is causing the headaches. But I've also heard that wacko hormones can cause severe headaches, so I'm not sure- which is why I've called the nurse's line. Tylenol doesn't really seem to help all that much. Yesterday the pain was so severe I was certain I was going to throw up- it's been very unpleasant. But all for a good cause, right?

For our one-year wedding anniversary, coming up in a couple of weeks (!!!), we decided to purchase a bed! Well, a mattress technically. We sprung for a king, figuring we'll have this bed for at least 10-15 years and probably co-sleep with several kids. And a queen just didn't seem that much bigger than the full we were sleeping on. We shopped around 4 or 5 different places before deciding we were tired of mattress shopping. I know you're supposed to lay on the mattress in the store for about 15 minutes to get a good "feel" for it but I felt so odd just laying on a bed... While people walk by... And at one of the stores, a guy tried to use his high-pressure sales tactics on us. Gosh, I just wanted to punch his lights out!!! The more he kept telling us we neeeded to buy this bed from him on that specific day, the more certain I was that I woudn't buy it from him ever, especially not on that day. And then he told me that I'll be sleeping on my back when I'm 8 and 9 months pregnant... Uhh from everything I've read, a pregnant women isn't supposed to lay on her back after her 2nd trimester because it constricts blood flow. In a hormonal rage, I wanted to tell them that if he was going to try to sell to my demographic, he should learn his facts. But I kept quiet, and smiled and nodded.

So anyway, thanks to brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and friend, we now have a king-sized mattress in our second-story apartment (that is a whole 'nother story...). Poor DH threw out his back trying to get that mattress up those stairs, it was not a pleasant ordeal. When we move out, we're trying to figure out how we can chunk it over our balcony so we don't have to do the stairs again...

Pics of my belly

These photos were taken tonight, I'm 14 1/2 weeks. Yes, I have grown, I have a small belly!
Today we toured the maternity ward at the hospital. They're upgrading and redoing all of the L&D and recovery rooms, they all look very nice! We walked by the nursery and saw some itsy bitsy babys.. So tiny and soooo precious. I can't wait to meet our baby!



Today is also our Vegas's first birthday! Her present was a flexi leash, and purple because it's her favorite color. :-) I believe she liked chewing on the packaging more than the actual freedom of the leash!

Belly Button Woes

Should I keep my belly button ring? I thought it really wasn't an option, but I've discovered there are maternity rings that are flexible. I'm not dying to keep it, but it might be good motivation to get back to skinny Stephanie after the baby. :-)

http://www.evalillian.com/pregnancy-piercing-navel-ring-prod413.htm

And there are other cute ones I've see where there's a little charm dangling down that says "It's a girl" or "It's a boy" or a little stork or something...

I've had this ring since 2002, so it's been a long time. And I think I'm allergic to the cheap metals- I tried to put a ring in from a Claire's-type store and it got kind of infected, so I'm concerned that anything less than stainless steel or silver or whatever is in there right now might make it more infected. My tummy is already starting to harden out though, you can tell it's not fat but baby because my rolls have disappeared (yes, there were 2 rolls before). And I can see inside my belly button. It's crazy.

It's open for discussion. Can anyone see pros and cons? Votes?

Bad Dreams

I had a bad dream last night. It was very vivid, why is it that you always remember clearly the bad ones and forget the good ones? Anyways, it was bad, but it also told me that I was having a little girl... This is the 4th dream I've had where there was a little girl involved! Yay. But I think my dream revolved around the fact that I really haven't gained any weight... I don't "look" pregnant yet, and I can't help but wonder if there's something wrong with me because of that. I'm almost 14 weeks! I know first pregnancies take a while to show, but I was kind of small to begin with, you'd think a smaller girl would show sooner than a bigger girl? Ah, well, there's not much I can do. I've been walking over a mile a day to stay healthy, trying to remember to take my vitamins, and drinking lots of water. I guess if anything horrible happens I'll just have to find a way to cope.

It had to happen, I guess.

We had a nice, lazy weekend. We were going to go to Galveston, but there was a 50/50 chance for rain so we didn't want to risk that- good thing, too, because it poured!

Sunday was father's day, and DH received his first father's day card from his parents. :-) I made him cinnamon rolls in the morning (a rare treat) and we attended mass, where he stood for the blessing of all the fathers. That was really nice, all the dads stood up and everyone else extended their hands while the priest said a prayer. One guy looked at us trying to figure it out (since I'm not exactly showing yet). I think it's important for dads-to-be to acknowledge that they already ARE dads! He's fathered a child that I am carrying, and though he/she isn't born yet doesn't make either of us any less of parents.

So Sunday afternoon, DH was working on homework and I was cleaning up around the house (cleaning out the fish aquarium-ewww). Something caught me off guard, whether it was the fish tank, the red beans on the stove top, or the cherry/coconut snow cone I'd had about an hour before, but I lost it. For the second time. And this time, there were no witnesses! I'm not sure how everyone else does it, but I didn't want DH near me at all while I was taking care of this business, it's kind of a gross, personal thing, you know? I'm just glad I realized it was going to happen so I could get myself to the bathroom on time!

On a different note, some people have been asking if we're going to find out the gender- YES! DH and I are much too impatient to wait it out, I don't know how other people do it! Plus I'm a freak when it comes to planning ahead, so I will *need* to know for my personal planning purposes. And I want to start calling this baby by name, instead of DH and I referring to him/her as a him/her all the time. It's time consuming!

Round Ligament Pains

From Dr. Spock:

"Many pregnant women describe round ligament pain as a pulling or sharp pain in either side of the lower abdomen. It most commonly occurs in the middle of the pregnancy.The most typical causes of round ligament pain are activities such as standing quickly from a sitting position, turning your body suddenly, rolling over in bed, or coughing. What you are probably feeling is spasms in the muscular ligaments supporting the uterus. Fortunately, this discomfort is of no real medical significance; it is just another one of those nagging aches and pains of pregnancy."

So my belly is growing but I haven't gained any weight. This is all so odd to me. I haven't worked out consistantly for 3 months, and though I've lost my appetite the things I am eating are mostly junk and "bad carbs" (I *heart* white bread). If I weren't pregnant right now, and had these same habits, I seriously would have gained at least 9 or 10 pounds. At least then I'd have a reason that my clothes didn't fit. Right now, they just don't fit, and I have no idea why...