25 Weeks

It's Spring, it's Easter, the weather is windy BUT warmer, and I'm just over 25 weeks along!

I'm feeling great and everything is going great.  I had an appt yesterday; my weight is good, blood pressure is good, the doctor said I'm measuring perfect, and little miss Larson's heartbeat was at 140bpm.

She is kicking me like crazy and I love it.......except for when she kicks my bladder.  That is very uncomfortable.  But I love to lift up my shirt and watch my belly when she is kicking.  What's funny is every time she starts kicking good I tell lorin to feel my belly and she immediately stops.... But once in a while she will behave and he gets to feel her.

Still no maternity clothes and still no specific cravings.  I am going to have to get some maternity tops soon though because most of my shirts are too short.  Its funny to watch them roll up on my belly.

I have to say that I have been so blessed with this pregnancy.  There is nothing, other than some discomfort here and there, that I can complain about.  I know all women are different and experience different things but my pregnancy has been awesome so far.  A small confession though I am anxious to be done just because I'm ready to have this little girl here with us.

I also want to say thank you to all my awesome family and friends who have been giving me the cutest gifts already.  Our little girl is definitely spoiled and she isn't even here yet.  Heaven help us, or at least her father.  ;)

23 weeks=6th Month. Plus its a ......

I am 23 weeks today which is the official start of my 6th month of pregnancy.  In ways it seems like time is flying by and other times it seems to drag on.  But the exciting info this post is that we found out our baby is a....... GIRL!!

Sorry it's so blurry my scanner is not working so this was taken with my phone

 Yep it's a little girl.  To say the least Lorin and I were both shocked because we have been very confident that it was a boy.  I have felt like it was a boy from the start and so did Lorin, then when we had that 13 week ultrasound that indicated it could possibly be a boy we knew it!  Well at the 19 week ultrasound that baby wouldn't open the legs enough so we couldn't confirm (I now firmly believe she was mad at us since we had been calling her a boy this whole time).  So I scheduled a gender check because it was driving me crazy not knowing.  Lorin was still confident it was a boy and I was a little doubtful.  Well sure enough we went in there and BAM......girl!

It was an adjustment at first, it feels like a brand new baby since the first half of the pregnancy was spent thinking she was a he!  Of course as long as my baby is healthy I don't care about the gender, we are both so excited to meet this little girl!  And she is now kicking me all the time.  Its still subtle kicks but here and there will be a super strong one.  Its the coolest feeling in the world.  We have been talking and reading to her so she will know our voices and Rocky likes to bark a lot so she should be pretty familiar with his as well.

Here is one last picture... We got a 3D one and this one is so cool to me because it is her profile and you can totally tell she has the Larson nose, plus she was literally bent in half with both her arm and leg in front of her face.  Once again sorry for the blurriness...

22 Weeks/Nursery (before)

I don't have a pic to post this week....honestly I haven't changed much since my 20 week pic.  

But I did have an appt this week and everything was great.  The baby's heart rate was 144 bpm (Doc said 120 to 160 is where it should be) and my blood pressure, weight and measurements were all right on track.  This coming Tues we go in for a gender check ultra sound, so hopefully once and for all we will figure out what baby Larson is.  Lorin and I still feel boy but the Lord could have other plans for us.

As far as how I'm feeling, I feel great!  Running has been good and makes me feel so energized.  I love it!  Still no specific cravings.....other than Watermelon, of course they are not in season, and I'm sure once they are in season I wont want it anymore...lol!  Still not in maternity clothes.  Thank heavens for the tummy sleeve, it helps your current clothes last longer which is especially nice for my work clothes.....since I won't be working after the baby I don't want to spend a lot of money on them.  I am finding it hard to put on socks...lol.  This belly is definitely starting to get in the way of normal day things but I still love it!  I think its awesome and so amazing that there is a human being in there.

We are starting to put the nursery together, just waiting on the crib and changing table and then we should have all of the furniture.  I decided I didn't want to do anything major as far as decorating/painting goes so we are keeping it very simple.  We are going to paint all the trim white and frame the window.  Other than that, depending on what the gender is, I'm just going to throw in a few pops of color here and there.  I found some pictures of nursery's that are so cute yet so simple so that's what I'm going for.  Here are some of the Nursery (before) pics.  Please excuse the mess....

20 Weeks

Here I am 20 weeks along!  I cannot believe I'm halfway through this pregnancy.....or less if I have the baby earlier!  Its crazy how fast the time has gone yet it feels like it has taken forever to get here.  I feel like this belly grew overnight, but I love it.

I had a pretty rough time a week ago.  I got really sick (cold/flu/whatever this crap is going around) and just had to suffer.  I took two days off from work along with a 3 day weekend and barely started to feel better by Tues just in time to go back to work.  It just sucks that I can't take any medicine.  Oh well, hopefully that is the last time for this year.

We had an ultrasound on Tues, the Dr wanted to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be with the baby and also check on my cyst (more on the cyst in a min) and we were also supposed to find out the gender for sure but that didn't happen.  Baby Larson was being one stubborn, or shy, baby and kept the legs closed or crossed the ENTIRE ultrasound!!  The baby also wouldn't even look at us, it kept its back to us or would just turn to the side enough to get a profile view.  The one time it did look straight at us it immediately threw both arms in front of the face and turned over.  Hilarious!  So more waiting to find out......Lorin is still confident its a boy and I'm on the fence a little.  The most important thing is the baby is healthy, right on track and everything looks great!

I have felt little movements or "flutters" here and there but nothing really solid yet.  I can't wait to feel this baby kicking all the time, although I'm sure I'll be eating my words when I have a foot jammed in my rib.

My cyst is gone!!  Yay!!  And because it's gone the Dr gave me the ok to start running again.  That was an amazing thing to hear, of course I have to take it easy, be careful and no half-marathons or anything that strenuous (duh!) but it feels so good to be back at it.  I ran 2 miles yesterday which I thought was pretty good seeing as how I haven't ran in 3 months.  I've also been doing prenatal yoga which kicks my butt......but I'm just trying to keep myself and this baby healthy.

Still no specific food cravings, I'm just back to eating normal.  Also no major mood swings, I do find I can cry a little easier then normal but that's it.  My boss bought me a really cute picture frame the other day to put our ultrasound picture in and that made me cry....random....but nothing dramatic.

So that's where I am at 20 weeks....stay tuned.

15 weeks

Here I am, 15 weeks along.  One picture I didn't post from the ultrasound (it was really blurry) is the one indicating that the baby's gender is possibly a boy.  Lorin and I have both felt like its a boy from the start and that ultrasound pretty much confirmed it for us, although it's still a little early to be 100% sure.  So until I find out otherwise this is Max (not sure on a middle name yet) Larson.

I am so excited to be getting farther along in my pregnancy.  I've been feeling better as I've moved into the 2nd trimester but still feel a bit queezy once in a while.  I don't have any specific cravings right now, just kind of eat whatever sounds good that day.  One thing that is my go to food, if nothing else sounds good, is a turkey sandwich with cheese and miracle whip. Simple and very tasty.

My clothes still fit although most of my pants are starting to have to remain unbuttoned. Its always hard to put on weight, but because I have a life growing inside of me I've been perfectly ok with the changes I'm going through. And it doesn't hurt that I have a husband who makes me feel beautiful everyday and "can't wait for my belly to get bigger".....  :)  I'm learning to embrace these changes and anytime I look in the mirror I'm keeping a positive attitude!

I have become a walking fool.  It's not quite as fulfilling as running (I miss my "runners high") but it works and is still a stress reliever.  I need to do whats healthy for me and the baby and I'm all good with that.  Plus running is a little hard on the joints and the way my body is stretching and expanding at the moment walking is so much better.  There will be plenty of time to run after the baby.

As far as mood swings go I would say I'm doing really good.  I had a couple of episodes in my first trimester where I would just cry for no reason but other then that nothing major.  One thing I have noticed is that I have become a super home body, I hate leaving the house, period.  I don't want to even go to the store, but then again I have always hated going to our Safeway.  It makes Lorin a little stir crazy sometimes but he is handling it well.  I think the major thing is that I am just super tired therefore I feel like being lazy and a bum, especially on the weekends.

So that's just a little update so far.  Stay tuned for more.

1st Trimester

Here is a little breakdown of how the first trimester went for me:

1. Felt amazing and normal until I hit week 6
2. Had some complications around 7 weeks which led to a hospital visit and the discovery of a very large cyst.
3. Bed rest for a few days.
4. No running at all (worst part so far...)....and some other restrictions, because of the dang cyst and other minor complications.
5. One hospital visit and 3 Dr appointments in 2 weeks which resulted in 3 ultrasounds and each time seeing the baby and the heartbeat.....the most amazing thing I have ever seen.
6. Only 2 emotional breakdowns.....and they were pretty minor. (Go ahead and ask Lorin he will agree).
7. Smells driving me crazy.
8. Feeling nauseated all day but never puking (not sure which is worse).
9. Liking food one day and hating it the next.  I was running out of things to eat.
10. No desire what so ever for sweets, only salty things. 
11. Sleep, Sleep, Sleep. 
12. Peeing all the time!!!   (TMI?!?)
13. And.......  I think that is about it!

Now on to the 2nd Trimester which is supposed to be better.  And I have to say so far it has been!

13 Weeks

I had a Dr appt yesterday and once again we got spoiled with an ultra sound.  All I can say is AMAZING.  It has been so amazing to see our baby change from a "blob" to an actually baby in a matter of weeks.  Yesterdays appt was also a big relief for me as I've been worried about the baby, not that I have had any problems since my last appt, I just tend to be a worry wart.  I just need to have more faith and trust in Heavenly Father.  So that's what I will do!  

Now on to the baby - He/She is measuring right on the money at 13 weeks and 1 day, around 7 centimeters.  The heartbeat is about 154 bpm, which is fantastic!!  He/She was super active yesterday, bouncing around, stretching, and turning from side to side.  Lets just say the baby gave us quite a show, even the ultra sound tech seemed surprised at how active the baby was.  It was sooo cool!!  Here are the amazing images that Lorin and I have been oooo-ing and awww-ing over since yesterday.

I present baby Larson:

Looking right at us

Waiving hello from behind, or waiving us off like he is annoyed......lol!!

Perfect little profile pic.  See that pointy nose??  That is a Larson nose for sure!!