Registering

This weekend my mom and Steve came down. On Sunday Steve and Justin went rock climbing (a favorite past time of mine) while my mom and I went to Babies R Us to work on my registry. Fortunately one of Justin's friends works there and she was a huge help! Nicole had also sent me a list of things to add to my registry and that also came in extremely handy. Let me back up. Friday night after work I went to Babies R Us for the first time to start my registry. I'd looked at some things online, but I hadn't done much in person. I figured I should go see what some of these things look like first hand. I walked into the store and was immediately overwhelmed. I'm used to having the convenience of pulling up the reviews on items online while I'm looking at them and searching other places for the same item to compare costs. Yes, I could do that in store on my phone, but it's just not the same. So here I am with the registry scanner/gun completely out of my element and by myself. I started scanning some things but after an hour I hadn't made much of a dent. You wouldn't believe how many different bottles, pacifiers and crib types there are to chose from. I was about 3 crib sets away from breaking down when I realized I needed to suck it up and keep at it. I was also adamant about not owning too much pink, but much to my surprise everything seemed to be either pink or blue. So, I have much more pink on my registry than I'd like. Anyway, after being there for about an hour and a half I went next store to register at Target. I was greatly disappointed with their selection, especially since everything is either cheaper on Amazon or the same price at babies r us. I wasn't there for too long before giving up and heading home.

                     Before Registering:                                                           After Registering:

 

Back to Sunday...

Sunday I had a much clearer idea of what I was doing. It became much more fun, especially having my mom with me. We also went to Joann's fabric store to pick out some materials for blankets and bibs. Another overwhelming experience. We then rushed home to meet the guys, get in our jammies and settle in to watch the Oscars! Justin and I look forward to watching them every year, so this year was no exception. I just didn't get any champagne :/
I spent Monday night finishing up adding stuff to the registry. I'm happy to say that it's pretty much done. I'm still trying to find cheaper options for things, like a glider and ottoman. I can't believe how expensive things can be. The chair I want is 500 bucks and that's not including the ottoman. The ottoman is an extra $200. I mean, you slap the name baby on something and it's like using the word wedding, everything jumps up in cost. You would think there was some unspoken fine or tax just for using the word. I'm trying to be sensible about things, but I also want these items to last. I don't want to pay $400 or $500 for a set that's going to fall apart in 9 months (like the reviews state).

21 Weeks!

21 weeks and only 19 to go! I can't believe how quickly time is starting to go by. I mean we've already known for a week what we are having. It seemed like that day was never going to come, and now here it's come and gone. I'm sure I'll be repeating this phrase again in a few years. It seems so far away before baby Gill's arrival, but I'm sure next thing I know it I'll have blinked and she'll be five.

This week's discussion (besides needing a bigger place) is names. I have four names that I really like, now it's just to get Justin on board with them and start to narrow them down.

21 Week update on baby Gill:

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and if you're having a girl, her vagina has begun to form as well.

I've been feeling great. Starting to show a bit more but still not a whole lot. I've still been working out and trying to eat as healthy as possible. Of course I indulge every now and then, but for the most part I try to make sure my food intake is full of nutrients.

I've been having so much fun looking at baby girl stuff. I get more and more excited every day. We are still a bit stressed out about space and finances, but it will eventually work itself out and we'll make the best of it.

20 Weeks 4 days!

20 weeks 4 days and feeling great. I hiked Cowles Mountain this morning with Mary Beth, Erin, her husband Scott, and their dog Bowen. The hike is only 2 miles round trip, but it's a good hike; not too easy and not too difficult. The trail was fairly croweded but we still had a lot of fun.

This week's big developments...I felt baby Gill move...on the outside! I seem to really feel her kick when I'm lying down in the mornings and at night. Justin hasn't felt it yet.

It's fully sunk in that we are having a girl and I couldn't be more thrilled. My mom and Shelley have been going to town finding cute crochet patterns. My mom and Steve came down tonight and my mom is going to teach me how to crochet! Justin just looks at me and says, "really, are you even old enough to crochet" or something like that. I told him I may as well do something while I'm doing nothing! I apologize if this post is all over the place. I'm sitting in the living room with my mom, Steve, and Justin trying to do two things at once. I'll post more in a couple days.

20 WEEKS 4 DAYS

IT'S A...

I had the results on my desk all day long and didn't peak once! I was just happy knowing that in just a short while we'd find out what we're having. I left work around 5:10 and stopped by Ralphs to pick up the cake and ice cream. Mary Beth came with me to make sure the cake didn't expose the gender. We went back to our place and waited patiently for Justin to get home from the gym. Vic, another friend from work who lives in our complex, also came over. Once Justin got home we set up the video camera and called my parents on facetime. Mary Beth and Vic were a huge help. They were in charge of holding the phones up. The anticipation was building and finally around 6:35pm we cut the cake! It was so fun using facetime. It almost felt like we were all together.

Drum roll please........

I can't tell you how shocked I was (we both were) that the inside of the cake was pink! I would have bet money that we were having a boy. Especially because I thought I saw the girl at the bakery mouth the word boy. Justin thought he saw the boy parts on the ultrasound. I'm so excited it's a girl. We didn't care which gender we were having we just really wanted to know. It was a very big surprise! I just can't describe how surprised I was. I literally thought we'd see blue on the inside of the cake. I even checked the ultrasound tech's writing to make sure Enrique, the baker, read it right. We took video of us cutting the cake and I'll post that later.

We were caught up in the moment we forgot to take a picture of the two of us with the cake! Our next endeavor...picking a name for our precious baby girl. Our baby girl, that has a nice ring to it :)

I can envision us hiking, running, playing, having tea parties (with daddy too), going to baseball games and all sorts of fun things. Oh I'm so overjoyed!

20 Weeks Pregnant and The Results are in...

BUT I haven't looked yet! I know, I know. I'll make another post tonight once it's been revealed. I'm unfortunately not going to be able to skype people in as I hoped, but I will film it and post it to my blog. Here's how my doctor's appointment went down...

I thought my appointment was at 9:20 so we got there at 9:15 to check in. However, it turns out my appointment was actually at 9am and in Radiology, not OB. The Kaiser Zion hospital is huge and we were on the opposite end of where we needed to be! It took us 5 min. to walk very quickly over to radiology. By this point I'm on the verge of tears because I just know they are going to tell me to reschedule since I'm so late. After impatiently waiting for the woman in front of me to check in I explained to the lady what had happened (my fault, confused start times). She was really nice and said not to worry, that things like that happen. She told us to have a seat and they'd get to me when they could, but it could be a while if they just called the next patient. I figured I was going to have to wait at least an hour (with a full bladder) before they called me back. Fortunately they called me back just about as soon as I sat down. The technician started the ultrasound and informed me I didn't have enough water in my bladder just yet so we may have to wait a few more minutes! Ahhh. He went about his business doing the best he could until things filled up. He was able to get measurements of everything he needed. I informed him that we wanted to know the gender, but we didn't want him to tell us. Instead, could he write it down on a piece of paper and give it to us at the end. When it came time to reveal the gender he had us look away. He said the umbilical cord was in the way but he "thinks" he saw enough to determine the gender. I said, "you think". He said sometimes they are wrong, but he was pretty sure he had it down right. So, while we are supposed to be looking away Justin took a little sneak peak! By the end of the ultrasound my bladder was at full capacity and I thought I was going to pee my pants. He informed us that baby Gill's head was in a downward position and hard to get to and it was important he got the measurements. So, that led to him pushing on my uterus and bladder area with his hand and doppler to try and get the baby to switch positions. I wasn't sure if I was going to pee or cry from the pain of having to hold it. After about 10 minutes he was able to get what he needed. He also informed me that I'm actually 20 Weeks! not 19 weeks. My due date is July 9, 2013 (which is what I figured from the very beginning based on my menstrual cycle - TMI? Sorry). Okay, so let's cut to how we are going to reveal the results.

When I was 21 I worked with a girl who was pregnant. She revealed the gender by having the technician write it down on a piece of paper and took it to the bakery to have them make a cake. This isn't just any ordinary cake. The outside is gender neutral while the inside filling reveals the gender (pink if it's a girl, blue if it's a boy). She then had her family over and they cut the cake together. When she told me this is how she did it I knew that that's how I wanted to reveal the gender whenever I got pregnant. That was about 7 years ago. I'm a bit disappointed to see it on Pinterest, meaning, other people have done it. However, I don't personally know anyone else, besides the girl I worked with, who did it that way.

After my appointment this morning I dropped Justin off at home and headed to the bakery. I met with Enrique, the baker at Ralphs who also doesn't speak very good English. I explained to him as best I could what exactly it was I wanted. After going round and round about not wanting the outside of the cake to reveal the gender I told him I was going to show him the picture with the gender written on the back. This will tell him if it's a boy or girl and what color to do the frosting. He looked very confused when I gave him the picture and he called another girl over to help him. I walked away so I wouldn't hear what they were saying. After a couple minutes I looked over my shoulder to find out what was taking so long and saw they were looking at the pictures. What the heck!! Hurry it up already! The writing isn't on the front. Anyway, as I glanced over I swear I saw her mouth the word boy and then walk away!!! NOOOO!! I didn't want to find out that way. Anyway, she could have said "boy, you have your hands full" (he only had two hours to make the cake before his shift was over). We'll see what the actual results are. I've thought it was a boy this whole time so who knows.  Anyway, I pick the cake up at 5:30 tonight. Once I get home we'll call my parents via FaceTime on our phones and cut the cake, that way they can be a part of it too. It's hard with them being so far away. I don't want them to feel like they are missing out on things. I unfortunately don't have any ultrasound pictures to post. The ones they gave us weren't very clear because of the baby's position.

20 Week update!
Okay, so I went to sleep thinking that when I woke up the next morning (today) I'd be 19 weeks. However, when I went to my appointment I found out I was actually 20 weeks. That was fun! I gained a whole week in a matter of hours ;) This means I'm halfway done! I'm also glad to see I've only gained 7 pounds. My weekly update says it's normal to have gained 10 pounds by this point so I feel like I'm on track and I'm not overdoing it with the pizza and other fun food.

How Baby Gill is growing:

My baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He or she is also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he or she is measured from head to toe.)
He or she is swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his or her digestive system. He or she is also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his or her bowels, and you'll see it in his or her first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

President's Weekend

Tomorrow it the big day! If Baby Gill isn't shy we will find out if we are having a girl or a boy!!! I've been losing sleep over it all weekend because I'm so excited. I literally feel like a kid who's been waiting months to go to Disneyland!

Today is President's Day and I was fortunate enough to not have to work. I had a three day weekend! It was very nice, and definitely needed. Saturday we drove to Mount Laguna (about 45 min. Southeast from us). Justin and I split up so he could ride his mountain bike and I could hike. It was very peaceful. It was just me, open terrain, and my headphones. I hiked/walked for two hours. I couldn't believe how quickly the time went. Justin and I met up on the trail the last mile or so and walked back together. By the time I met up with him he was soaked and his lower half was covered in mud. We didn't expect there to be snow on the mountain...and with snow comes water and mud! I fortunately stayed dry.

So I mentioned how much snow there was and of course this is the one area of the mountain that didn't have any. Go figure.

Saturday night we went to Green Flash Brewery. While there we came across the Pizza truck (Red Oven) that of course was closing up, so no pizza. However, we talked to the owner for quite a bit. Turns out he studied pizza making in Italy and every Wednesday he has his cheese shipped in from Naples! Apparently the type of pizza he makes has to be made a certain way. I forget all the details but it was enough for us to seek him out the following day at the Solana Beach Farmer's Market (more on that later).

Sunday we slept in. I went to Macy's to shop their maternity sale. Didn't have much luck, but I did get a couple things. I'm at the in between stage where my regular clothes don't fit and the maternity clothes don't fit well. I'm trying to buy things that I'll be able to wear through the whole pregnancy but that doesn't seem possible. Things either fit decently or they are too big. I absolutely hate spending money on maternity clothes because I know I'll only be able to wear them for such a short time. Justin and I then met up at the gym for a bit. We cleaned up and drove to the Solana Beach Farmer's Market to seek out the Red Oven Pizza truck. Low and behold we found it and the pizza was amazing!! It's definitely something we'll track down in the future. After that we came home and took a TWO hour nap! It felt so great. We finished up the day back at the gym. Side note: Justin has a work out program he's following and it involves two-a-days (cardio in the morning and weights at night, or vice versa). So, because I had so much energy from my nap I went with him for round two. I did weights for upper body and about 45 min. of cardio. My morning work out consisted of lower body. Today (Monday) I took the day off from working out. Justin rode the silver strand (about 24 miles) and I shopped the maternity section at Old Navy. Again, not much luck, but I did get a couple things. We attempted to go to a comedy show tonight but long story short we weren't going to be able to sit together and it had been a rough day for other reasons so we left. Instead we did our grocery shopping for the week and are back at home...where I'm wide awake anticipating tomorrow!

Update on Baby Gill - He or she has been moving around all weekend. I swear this baby doesn't sleep for long before it's moving around again...and I love every second of it. See you tomorrow baby!

18 Weeks!

Exciting news!!!
I felt Baby Gill move last night (and again in the middle of the night). It was amazing, and kind of weird at the same time. I was watching t.v. with Justin at about 9:35 last night and I felt four distinct movements in my lower right abdomen (that seems to be where baby G has been hanging out). It almost felt like he or she gave me a 1-2 punch with a right kick.

I then felt him or her again at 3:20am when I got up to go to the bathroom (nightly ritual). I got back in bed and Justin was awake too. We were lying there talking and all of a sudden I felt a few pops, almost like popcorn popping.

My first thought was, if real life is like womb life for this kid, he or she will be a night owl like his or her dad. My second thought was, he or she is moving around to tell me to stop talking so we can both get some sleep. Needless to say, I'd stayed awake a bit longer to see if I'd feel any more movements. I was so relieved to feel the baby. If you've been reading my posts, or if you've been talking to me, you know that's one of my biggest concerns. I'm always worried that something is wrong. Feeling the baby move gave me some reassurance. One week from today we will find out what we are having!! I can't wait. We really want both so it will be fun to see which one God has picked out for us.

Literally, as I'm typing this the little guy or girl is moving again!!! There's that popcorn feeling. No, it's not gas (that was Justin's first thought).

18 WEEK UPDATE:

Head to rump, Baby Gill is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

18 Weeks 3 Days

I've been feeling Baby Gill move all week long! It's been such an amazing experience!

17 Weeks!!

Today was kind of a sad day. It was Kristen's birthday and almost 6 months to the day since she's passed. I can't believe it's been six months. I contemplated not adding this to my blog but I figured it was how I was feeling so I should. The weather today was cold, overcast, and gloomy - seemed semi-appropriate for the mood. This weekend I got together with Shelley, Danielle, Matthew and Kristen's dad to celebrate Kristen. We went to LACMA (LA County Museum of Art) and then to an Irish Pub that her and Matthew liked to go to for dinner. It was great just to be together.

I had my 17 week check up today so that helped keep my mind preoccupied. Everything went well. We heard the baby's heartbeat, which was a relief. I find myself contstantly worrying if everything is okay. I know it doesn't do any good to worry, but most of the time I don't feel pregnant so to me it only seems natural to worry. The doctor said it's good that I'm feeling normal, it means everything is going along smoothly and I should consider myself lucky. My workouts have been great (toned them down quite a bit) and I've been sleeping better. Two more weeks until THE ultrasound appointment!

HOW BABY GILL IS GROWING THIS WEEK:

Our baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Our baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

17 Weeks 3 Days

 

Dreams During Pregnancy

I was so glad to read this next part...I've been dreaming like crazy lately and they are always so vivid. Now I know why!

"Many women report that their dream life shifts into high gear during pregnancy. Interestingly, during the second and third trimesters, you spend less sleep time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the cycle in which most dreams occur. Why, then, all those frequent and vivid dream memories?
It's probably at least in part because you may be interrupting a dream-filled cycle when you wake up to pee, cope with heartburn, leg cramps, restless legs, or a backache, or to shift to a more comfortable position. Waking up during REM sleep makes you more likely to remember your dreams.

It may also be in part that dreams seem so vivid during pregnancy because for most women pregnancy is a time of such heightened emotions — from joy to apprehension and everything in between — but no one really knows for sure."

Some of my dreams lately have involved Star Wars and Star Trek characters taking over earth - literally R2D2 came out of a space ship and rolled up to a Bank of America ATM (I can attribute this to watching Star Trek with Justin before bed); undercover people trying to kill others and it's up to me to solve what's going on (I attribute this to watching Bones); and sometimes I have dreams I have a baby but it's of a different race and in the dream I try to convince everyone that there's no way I just gave birth to a toddler that looks nothing like Justin or I and I spend the whole dream trying to get the hospital to admit they gave me the wrong child. I also tell them I'm only in the 2nd trimester and there's no way I could have given birth...to a toddler! Weird right?

I'm now taking pictures on the 3rd day of my pregnancy week (Fridays). It works better for our schedules. So, the photo will be posted on Friday :)

I plan to print this blog out when my pregnancy is done and make a book out of it (for myself). They do these things nowadays. I decided when I started this blog that I shouldn't hold anything back because I want to look back and see everything I went through during these nine months without sugar coating any of it.

Ultrasound Appointment - New Time!!

Yipee!!! My ultrasound appointment is now on Tuesday, February 19th at 9am instead of Wednesday, February 20th. That's one whole day earlier people. :) It was originally set for 6pm on the 20th and being the impatient person I am I called and had it changed to 9am. Well, when I excitedly told Justin the good news he said he wouldn't be able to make it because he has sweeps that day! He said 6pm was perfect because he would have been off work. OH NO! What did I do?!? So, because I jumped the gun I had to undo the mess. I called to see if I could change it to Tuesday the 19th and they gave me a hard time because the doctor didn't want me to go in until the 20th. The appointment nurse even agreed that was stupid (her words not mine, although I was thinking it), so being the nice person she is she went ahead and put me down for the 19th at 1:30. Then I realized it's the 18th I have off of work not the 19th and that'r right in the middle of the work day. Oh boy this is getting crazy. So I called back, talked to another nurse and got her to change it to 9am (she was unwilling but did it anyway) so I wouldn't miss too much work. So there you have it, 9am on the 19th :) Two weeks from tomorrow!

Do you think Baby Gill is a boy or a girl?