Major updates! (20 weeks, 1 day)

Whoa, I'm bad at keeping this thing up to date. So much has happened, it's been so crazy around here lately. 

boy? girl?

To start, back in February (at 16 weeks), I got to have my first glucose test - lucky me! Normally, this test isn't done until later on (I think around 22ish weeks), but since there's a huge family history of diabetes, they decided to do mine early. Unfortunately, I think I still have to retake the test at the normal time even though I PASSED (yay!) the first one - just for precautionary measures. It wasn't nearly as bad as everyone was making it out to be. Got there, drank an icy cold fruit punch type drink, and read my Kindle for an hour in the waiting room. The worst part was getting my blood drawn. I told the tech that my veins roll and she wasn't going to be able to get it out of my arm....of course, they never listen, so 2 pokes in each arm later, she decided to try the back of my hand. Taught me a little trick too - run my hand under warm water for a minute and my veins pop out! Got it instantly after that. Whew! Apparently she got it just in time because she said that if she had waited just a minute or two more, I would have had to retake the whole test. That didn't make me super happy.

 

Next major event: my mom came up to visit us 2 weeks ago (at 18 weeks). Of course, she came up to see me and Jonathon and spend time with us, but the main reason was to go to the 3D ultrasound with us! This was one of the coolest experiences ever. On Saturday, March 10th, We finally make it out to the clinic and the tech was very nice, but didn't have a whole lot to say which was a bit off-putting for me. As soon as we got in the room, I hopped up on the table and she started the U/S right away. Our little jellybean was sleepy so there wasn't a whole lot of movement (which led to some not overly-exciting pictures...but that's ok!). The tech spent about 12 of the 15 minute ultrasound looking at baby's head/torso/arms. I was getting really anxious that she wasn't going to show us baby's goods...well finally, she changed the view and we saw our sweet baby's family jewels! 

IT'S A BOY!

I'm so excited to finally be able to put a name with a face for my baby.  It wasn't so much that I wanted to know the gender, but "baby" and "jellybean" and "it" just don't make it very real. I love being able to call him by name when I talk about him, and know that he is real. 

Announcing....Aaron Folsom

Aaron Folsom Pritchard

He's kinda cute, huh?

boy oh boy, it's a boy!

The ultrasound was done at 18 weeks, and I am now officially 20 weeks and 1 day! That means Aaron is halfway done! The countdown will now begin. 

We reached one of the most exciting milestones so far - feeling him kick. I have been feeling him for a few weeks now, just little nudges and flutters, but the other night (March 22nd, around 10PM to be exact), we were laying in bed and I grabbed Jonathon's hand and put it on my stomach. After about 5 seconds, Aaron kicked really hard, twice, and then a few more times a little later. It was so amazing finally having my hubby get to feel him! He's not been very active since then so J hasn't been able to feel him since then, but in the coming weeks, I know that's definitely going to change. 

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Here's the recap (for me, since I haven't been keeping good track of this pregnancy...oops):

16w: Feb 28th - 1st 1-hour glucose test; results: passed!

17w(ish): March 1st(ish) - felt baby's first flutters

18w1d: March 10th - it's a boy! Aaron Folsom; 3D ultrasound

19w6d: March 22nd - husband felt Aaron kick

20w: March 23rd - halfway done! & craving all things salty and spicy (salt & vinegar chips, jalapenos, onions, hot sauce, chipotle), and ketchup.

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17 weeks, 4 days

It's almost time for PINK or BLUE!!

I'm super excited, but super tired and have a lot of cleaning to do before my momma gets in down in 2 days. So, that's all for now :)

Onions, jellybeans and puppydogs

I've really not had very many cravings...until recently. Now, I can't get enough salt & vinegar chips. I'm obsessed, thanks to Courtney. The Utz are my favorite brand, but I also love the baked ones in the dark green bag. Yea, I love them. And jellybeans. Again, thanks to Courtney, I'm hooked. Finally, and most weirdly, onions. What on earth? I like onions, I really like them cooked, but the past few days, I've been putting raw onions on everything. I made a huge bowl of guacamole (yes, that's all I had for dinner, and it was fantastic) and put a half an onion in it. Which was probably about 3 times as much as any normal person would have put in it. However, I thought it was amazing and I was very happy with the outcome. 

In other news, Sadie is the most irritating dog ever. She just stands around and stares at me. All the time. Sometimes she paws at me, which is almost more annoying. I know I'm just being hormonal but seriously, she needs to stop staring at me. And when she's hungry, not only does she paw at her bowl until we fill it, but she stands on the base of the floor lamp next to her bowl and rocks it. Sometimes, if that's not enough, she'll knock it with her nose, which almost knocks it over. What a brat. Good thing she's so cute:

In other news, my belly continues to grow. I'm still in that stage where I just feel fat rather than pregnant - and I know that's what every stranger thinks too. Whenever I'm out, I have the urge to just announce to everyone in the building that I am indeed pregnant, stop staring, I promise there's a baby in there, not just fat. Yes, this is absurd, as I'm sure no one even notices, but I do, and I feel like the world watches me. I'm really looking forward to getting a big baby bump just so that I really look pregnant, all the time. It'll be nice :) 

Puppydogs

I feel like a bad doggy mommy - the past 3 months, I've only posted about the baby growing in me and have neglected my fur babies! So here's a post dedicated to my furry darlings:

Littledog

My sweet Little is just as obsessed with me as I am with him. I know mommas shouldn't have favorites, but, he is our first-born and he's super small and fuzzy and cuddly...

Hubby and I take turns taking the pups out at night - and by "take turns" I mean, I take them out twice a night for 3 nights, and finally on the fourth night when I can't take it anymore, I have to kick him to wake him up and he begrudgingly takes them out. This fourth night has developed a little problem...Little, who follows me everywhere, is taking his love for me to the extreme. He absolutely will not go downstairs with Jonathon. Sadie happily prances along behind him and takes care of business outside, but Little will hold it until morning when he spins in circles til I take him out. Poor pup. He loves me just a little bit too much. It's kinda cute though - I feel so loved!

Crazy Sadie is entering her tween stage. She's just over a year so she's around 11 or 12 human years. This means, she's a brat. A spoiled, rotten, prissy little brat. It's a good thing she's so pretty (I may be a bit biased, but I'm pretty sure she's the prettiest hound dog you ever did see. You can't deny those puppydog eyes and her cute white paws and her huge floppy ears!). 

This little miss certainly has a lot goin' on. A few weeks ago, she was playing with Jonathon and they both got a little too wound up. She ended up scratching his eye (on accident of course, she adores her daddy), sending us to the urgent care center and getting him a whole week off work. It was rough. Poor guy was miserable. She felt pretty bad about it too. 

Then, earlier this week, I came home to find her playing with a jalapeno. Yes, those really hot peppers, ya know, the ones that make things spicy. She found it in the fresh produce bowl on the counter and chewed off the end, ensuring that she tasted those juices! Apparently, this chick likes her some spicy. She absolutely wouldn't give it to me. Took me 5 minutes to chase her through the house and get it to the trash can. Ridiculous. 

Next time, I'll leave a habanero out and see how she likes THAT!  

Ha! 

And finally...Sadie is obsessed with blankets. She won't lay on the couch unless she is either on or under a blanket - sometimes it takes both. She won't go to her bed until we cover her up with her favorite princess blanket. We actually have to tuck her in. At first, I did it cause I was trying to be a good mommy. But now, she literally will not settle down until she gets her blanket. I've never seen a dog need a security blanket.  Jonathon said she's the dog version of Linus (yea, the one from Peanuts). 

These are my babies and this is how they greet me every day:

How much is that doggy in the window....the one with the waggley tail....

I'm really worried about how they will transition with the new baby. On one hand, they're going to be delighted that I'll be home all day. Though they won't get even close to all my attention, they'll get a whole lot more than they do when both hubby and I are at work all day. I'm not too worried about them being jealous. We can deal with that. However....my dogs are crazy and rambunctious. I won't be able to let baby have tummy time on the open floor with them running around. That means baby's gonna be in pack n' plays or baby gates will have to go up asap or pups will go outside (ha...like that'll work...). So, lots to think and worry about. I'm sure it'll all work out, but, as a worrier by nature, I worry. 

That's pretty much all that's up with my furry loves at the moment. And you just can't deny how freaking cute they are...

Little thinks momma's bra is comfy*

Sadie wishes she could wear it*

 

or eat it*

Candy cane bone at Christmas

 

*none of the above bra pictures were staged - all were taken on different days. They just really love bras.

14 weeks, 3 days

14 weeks, 3 days and counting....

I am successfully into my second trimester and have gotten away with only about a week's worth of very, very mild morning sickness. GO ME! My body must like being pregnant. My headaches are going away and my back is barely hurting and I almost feel normal (with the exception of my baby bump...which is mostly bloating in the picture below since it was taken at the end of the day...oops). 

baby bump!

There's not a whole ton to report on...I've been overly busy with work and just day to day stuff. I'm due for a pretty nice promotion in the next few weeks which is exciting, however....I'm not coming back after I have the baby. Kinda stinks that I'm just now getting this promotion, but, I guess the experience and extra money will help regardless. 

We've decided to use my old crib for jellybean. I wanted a nice dark wood crib, BUT not only does my crib have sentimental value, but it matches the desk that we'll be using as a changing table almost perfectly (oh, and we don't have to spend several hundred dollars on it). My sweet hubby bought me the gorgeous glider rocking chair I wanted for my birthday - he even set it up and everything! Go hubby! 

And the most exciting news of all....

I'm having a 4D ultrasound on March 10th! 

And equally exciting...my momma gets to come up tor it! I'm so grateful Jonathon agreed for her to come up for it. He originally wanted it to be just the two of us, but once he realized how important it was to me, he was ok with it. I'm so excited! Taking 2 whole days off of work...lots of sight seeing and shopping and hanging out....then the ultrasound...and then baby shopping! I'll be 18 weeks and 1 day, and we'll finally get to see what we're having!! 

(is it a kitten? a puppy? a chick?)

This pregnant lady is tired and her brain hurts...so that's all for now, folks.

It's facebook official :) (and my first ultrasound!)

Well it's official - FACEBOOK official. Yayy! 

And even more exciting than that is 

WE GOT TO SEE BABY!

Seeing my sweet jellybean's heartbeat was so amazing. I've been insanely nervous about this ultrasound. So many girls in my BabyBump forum were reporting miscarriages after their first US (ultrasound) so I have been really anxious about finding an empty sac or see a baby with no heartbeat. But my little one was super active, doing somersaults and waving it's hands and kicking it's feet and the little flicker of a heartbeat was going strong (heartbeat was 150 - old wives tale says boy...as well as all the other old wives tales...guess we'll find out soon enough)! We listened for a few seconds and got the typical galloping horses sound (which by the way is so much cooler when it's your own baby than when it's someone else's). Jonathon was so quiet - he sat and stared at the screen. The doctor and I chatted the whole time but he was 100% silent - shock? excitement? Who knows. But he definitely beat me to posting the official announcement on facebook - before the doctor had even left the room, he had posted it and already gotten one "like"!

Here's my favorite US pictures - the doctor gave us 7 but these were the best and the only ones where you could really see anything

Funny story: My doctor is obsessed with baby feet. The entire US, she kept telling us that our baby has the cutest feet ever and she kept squealing with excitement (unprofessional? maybe. But it was SO nice seeing her excited about our baby rather than it being "just another normal day at work"). Every time baby would put it's foot out, which was non-stop, she would snap a picture. At the end as we were walking out, she told me to hide the pictures before I left the room because she was really only supposed to give me 2, but since my baby had such cute feet, she couldn't help herself. Made me grin! 

And finally, my dad is so excited about baby. He's been waiting rather impatiently to announce it from the pulpit of his church and calls me all the time to check on me and baby. He's busy making plans and giving advice - I love it! My mom is equally excited, but no surprise there! And the uncle-to-be is apparently obsessed with baby as well. This is gonna be one very very loved baby. 

:)

9 weeks, 1 day...

I'm exhausted, I'm irritable, I'm nauseous about half of the time, I have a million random little tugs and pulls and pinches, I'm paranoid, my back hurts, my head hurts, and I'm ready for this first trimester to be over! 

*Disclaimer: this is a rant. I am overjoyed to be pregnant, and I was as aware as possible of what I was getting myself into when we began trying to conceive, however, as a hormonal pregnant lady, I'm entitled to a rant every now and then*

This isn't fun so far. Once I can actually announce the news, I'll be a lot happier. Having to hide Saltines at work and sneak to the bathroom every half hour isn't exactly making me happy. Several of the women there know that we've been trying to get pregnant for a while because we're a pretty close-knit group. One lady in particular is beyond nosy and every time she asks how I am and say anything like "I'm tired" or "I'm ok" or anything other than "perfectly fabulous" she goes "oh my gosh, are you pregnant?!".   

Ugh. Stop. Enough.

As if that's not annoying enough (if I weren't pregnant, the last thing I'd want to be constantly reminded of is me NOT being pregnant, so, either way, she needs to just stop), once I tell her I'm not, she proceeds to give me advice on how I should go about getting pregnant:

"Oh, it'll happen when you least expect it" 

"Just stop trying and it'll happen"  

Really?! 

 These are the two most annoying things someone could ever say to someone trying to conceive. Every blog, poll, forum, conversation I've read lists these two comments as the #1 most irritating piece of "advice" that is likely to solicit the receiver of the advice picturing the adviser in a Vulcan death grip. 

just shut up.

Now, on to my original statement:  

I'm exhausted - every day I come home, I take a nap. A two or three hour nap. The house is a mess (except my amazing hubby cleaned the whole downstairs yesterday - woohooo!), we're not eating well because I'm too tired to cook, much less go grocery shopping, and the poop pups are being neglected.

I'm irritable - I don't want to talk to anyone or see anyone pretty much most of the time. They irritate me. All of the time. Most of the time. I don't even know.

I'm nauseous about half of the time - so morning sickness hasn't really hit me hard at all (hence the reason I've accepted the fact/assumption that I'm having a boy - thank you to the old wives tales and just a "feeling" - go ahead and laugh at me), but almost every day once I get settled into work, I just feel like poo.

I have a million random little tugs and pulls and pinches - there's pin-pricks in my side, my belly button feels like it's bruised, everything is stretching and pulling which results in tons of odd sensations. None that really hurt, but, are noticeable and irritating and enough to make me go "ummm....huh?"

I'm paranoid - since the pregnancy started out with some spotting, I've been overly paranoid about a miscarriage. They are oh so very common, especially this early on, I'm doing everything I can to prevent one (no drugs/alcohol obviously {this is harder than you might think....because no drugs/alcohol means no Excedrin for my migraines, no muscle relaxers when my back aches, and no cold medicine when I'm all stuffed up}, taking it easy, not eating the million foods on the list of no-no's, etc.). However, all the little tugs and pulls and pricks just keep me on edge. Thankfully I've started to calm down and stress a little less over this the last week or so as stress only makes things worse, but I'm still nervous. I'm really looking forward to my first ultrasound so I can see my little jellybean and hear his little heartbeat.  

Make sure my baby's ok.

My back hurts - constantly.

My head hurts - constantly.

And I'm ready for this first trimester to be over! - I can't wait to have a baby bump, to feel him kick, to really "feel" pregnant, to find out the sex, to get the nursery ready, to start buying stuff, to start having fun! Yes, I know I will only get more uncomfortable as time progresses, but so far, I'm just the same ol' me with nothing to show for it. 

Just ready for that next step.