Pictures!

John and I had our ultrasound today. According to my dates I am 13 weeks along. According to the ultrasound technician she estimated that the baby is measuring 13 weeks and 5 days, so since that is within a week of where I think I am she said that the due date is accurate. She said that from crown to rump the baby is about 3 inches long. She didn't give us an estimate of weight but at 3 inches long I'm sure it can't weigh that much. Here are some pictures:

This is a shot of the top of the head. The brain is the butterfly looking thing. It shows both lobes.

Saying hi!

Looking at the camera - face to the right, belly to the left.

Full body shot - head to the

right, feet to the left.

So there we have it. Our ultrasound tech did say that there wasn't anything popping out at her either way as to the sex of the baby. We'll just have to wait until our next ultrasound which will probably be at the end of January or so.

This is so weird! But very cool! I'm having a hard time believing that this little thing is growing inside of me. What a miracle!

Overruled

Alright, I got overruled on the Polish names. John doesn't want to use any of them and I'm sort of starting to agree. He also vetoed Sloane which is okay too. Delaney and Reagan are on our short list still.

We have an ultrasound scheduled for Thursday. It will be fun to see something finally. And I have eaten a salad the last two days! Yay for me finally getting some good vegetables! I also started our registry on Target.com last week while I was at work the day after Thanksgiving (yes, we were one of 16 or so states that worked that day). At least I was productive!

It's getting cold here. We had to turn on the heater this weekend. I'm such a wuss now. The highs have been in the upper 60's and I'm freezing! I have to wear a coat during the day and then I come home I put on sweats and slippers. I thought pregnant women were always warmer than everyone else. Not so for me!

I'm planning on having almost all of my Christmas shopping done by this weekend, and everything mailed by next weekend. One can only hope.

Girl names

I know a lot of people say not to tell any of the names that new parents might be considering because we'll get all sorts of criticisms, etc. about them, but I guess I'm not heeding that advice. I really just needed a place to write down names that I like so I won't forget them so I am going to use this forum. I don't think we're going to announce the name we choose before the child is born, but here are some options for girls. Most of them are Polish names that I found in my baby name book. You'll probably either love them or hate them. I don't think there'll be much in between. I think if we have a girl I would like to give her a Polish name.

Girls:
Ania (Polish)
Kasia (Polish)
Minka (Polish)
Delaney (Irish)
Sloane (Irish)
Reagan

I have found that I am enjoying looking for girls' names more than boys. Probably because I like more uncommon names for girls and more traditional names for boys. Plus I think we've pretty much decided on the boy name we'll use. IT IS NOT TROY SWITZER!

Also, here is the bedding we are going to get for the nursery. We are going to get cherry or another dark wood color for the furniture. The walls will be light as well. Notice how it is gender neutral. =)

Heartbeat!

John and I had a Doctor's appointment today and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! It was done with the doppler thingy so we didn't get to see anything but we definitely heard it. (I almost wrote him instead of it - I guess I'm thinking it's a boy, or maybe it's just wishful thinking.) It was really cool. The Doc said that the beat sounded good, that the rate was normal (168 per minute) and that the size of my uterus was right along with 10-11 weeks along, which is where I am. So everything is looking good. It is definitely a relief, and very neat, to hear something. It's making this seem that much more real. Of course all the side effects I've been having have been making it seem real as well. Men have NO IDEA what we go through!

John also got to sit through my internal exam. =) I'm sure he loved that. He can't even stand to hear the word tampon or anything female hygiene related so I'm sure seeing my feet up in stir-ups wasn't fun for him. Of course I laughed at him.

Our next appointment is November 29 when we have the Ultrascreen ultrasound so that will be our first glimpse of the baby. We are going to have them record it for us. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to get it on here so everyone else can see it too.

Have a wonderful Happy Thanksgiving! We'll be thinking of all of you in the cold weather while we chill in the upper 70, low 80 degree weather out here. =)

Busty

One of my co-workers told me I was really busty today. Yeah, well. Not much I can do about it. Thought all of you out there would appreciate that. As if I'm not already busty enough, pregnancy has just made me bigger. And I know it'll just get worse. I'll try to keep them under wraps in our Christmas picture. They don't need to take that over too.

First time pregnant ladies

I have no idea what is going on with my body. I have never been through this before so the things that I feel kind of freak me out. Since about week 5 or 6 I occasionally get this fluttering feeling in my chest - right in the center. I don't know what it is, but I do know that I did not have it before I got pregnant, so I figured it was pregnancy related. I tend to feel it more in the morning or when I am working out. I called the Doctor's office and they said that more than likely it had to do with the increased blood flow, etc. related to bringing this new life into the world. The heart is working harder and blood volume is increasing so weird stuff might happen. They said that as long as I wasn't seeing any stars, or having any dizziness or pain I should just watch it and that everything was probably fine. Anyway, my Dr. decided to move my appointment up two weeks because of it, but as soon as I rescheduled I started having pain in my chest. Not bad pain, like an ache that went all the way through to my back. It wasn't constant but I could feel it for the better part of the day. I thought maybe it would be related to heartburn but I didn't want to wait to get to the Dr. to find out I was alright.

So . . . I ended up at the Urgent Care place on Tuesday night just to get it checked out and I have good old indigestion. Great. The doctor on duty did an EKG just to make sure and everything with my heart was perfectly normal. She told me to keep my Tums with me. They stay in my purse at all times.

Like I said, as a first time pregnant lady I have no idea what to expect or what is happening. And this is just the beginning. I hope I don't become one of those patients that freaks out every time something weird happens.

Ten weeks and counting!

Ellie pictures!

Here are some pictures of our family's newest addition:

I'll post more as I get more. She's so cute!

Ellie

Ellie's here! Yay!! She was born this morning at 9:15 a.m. Dallas time. She is 6lb 3oz, 20 in. long and apparently beautiful. Which I have no doubt about. I am so excited, I just wish that I was there to see her. Mom and baby are healthy and doing well. I'm hoping to have some pictures soon, so I will post them when I get them.

I was able to tell my extended family this weekend. It was driving my mother crazy not being able to say anything to anyone. So they all know now. Busha was hilarious. (For those of you who don't know, Busha is the Polish word for grandmother. She is my mom's mom.) She basically screamed on the phone. I'm glad my parents were there so they could make sure she didn't hurt herself. =) Everyone else was happy too. I have the best family. They are all so supportive. I'm waiting a couple of more weeks to tell everyone else.

I got really sick on Monday morning. It was really weird. I'm thinking it was something that I ate the night before because once I got it out I was much better. I had not felt that bad before Monday, and I haven't felt that bad since. So I think it must have been a fluke. I don't think that it was morning sickness.

Our next doctor's appointment is November 30, but we have a screening for Down's Syndrome on November 29. I don't think that I am at high risk for Down's but the screening is covered by my insurance and it'll give us our first chance of seeing the baby, which is the main reason for scheduling it. We're going to take a CD-R to record it. I'll try to get some still shots to put up here. Then in January or February we'll probably be able to find out the sex. I don't really mind not finding it out, but John wants to know, so we're going to go ahead and find out. My mom doesn't want to know, so if we tell you, don't tell her!

I'm going to try to get John to go out and do some shopping with me this weekend. Not really shopping, more browsing, trying to decide what sort of stuff we are going to need for the nursery, etc. Strollers are going to be a big thing for me. There is so much to do and so much to get! We need to get the rooms repainted too, and new flooring for the house. We can start that now actually. Maybe we'll go to Home Depot and Lowe's and look at laminate flooring. I think that John wants to try to install it ourselves to save some money. Good luck with that. I know for sure that we are going to get someone to come in and paint. There is no way I am going to do that again.