Cupcake Party

Here are pictures from the cupcake party we had to reveal Sprout's gender.

Enjoy!


cupcakes lined up on the counter... EVERYONE was anxious to take a bite!



first bite!



can you tell what color the frosting inside the cupcake is???



Mommy, Daddy, and BOTH Grandmas! What a LUCKY baby!!!


Mommy holding my blankie bear


silly Daddy put my blankie on his head! Mommy says he loves to wear all kinds of funny hats.


My first picture with Auntie Kakes


My first picture with Auntie Laura

So, if the pictures aren't clear enough - Sprout is a girl! We are going to name her Lorelei Josephine.

If it's possible, we are both even more excited about this - now that we know our baby is a girl. We started major work over Labor Day weekend clearing out a bedroom for the nursery (or the "Sprout House" as we lovingly call it).

-mama g

THE ultrasound

We had a very successful ultrasound this afternoon. Sprout was completely cooperative. No bribes required. :)

This ultrasound involved a full anatomy study. We got to see legs, feet, and toes (of which Sprout has the appropriate amounts) as well as arms, hands, and fingers (again - appropriate amounts) the heart with all the required chambers - functional, a face with eyes, nose, and well-formed lips, and even brain... Well, the sonographer saw the brain - and could tell that it was doing whatever it was supposed to be doing.

Sprout weighs in at a whopping 12 ounces!

The sonographer said that best she could tell, the baby is progressing perfectly.

It couldn't be happier news.

We were able to CLEARLY see the gender... And I will post it on here after this weekend. Alex and I want to tell our families before we broadcast it to the world. (It's only fair!)

All this good news makes me one happy Mommy!! :)

- mama g

Finally posting the most recent ultrasound pics!

These are from the unexpected ultrasound on August 12th. :) Sprout is getting to look more and more like a baby all the time.







Also - a mini update: eggs are officially on the ban list. I have tried them several times in the past week, hoping that I would be able to stomach them. But this morning, I actually lost it.

So no more eggs for at least a while.

In other news, however, I am able to eat baby carrots again.

Pregnancy is strange. :)

-mama g

the belly, the vaccination, and the beginning of swollen feet

Greetings, faithful reader!

For those of you who might have lost count... We are half-way through week 19. Sprout is making him or herself more and more known each day. Including right now. (I'm being kicked as I type this).

I am officially showing. Thankfully, Alex thinks my pregnant belly is cute. This is really good news for me, because it didn't feel anything even resembling cute until he said it was. Now - I'm starting to feel better about it. It's really bizarre... We girls spend most of our lives trying to keep our tummies from view - and then we get pregnant, and they are out there on display. It's hard to let it go, and be okay with a tummy poking out. But what do you do?

I've gotten a few emails and phone calls asking me how I'm going to handle all this flu nonsense. I'd be lying if I said I'm not a bit concerned. I'm concerned. College campuses are giant petree dishes for diseases, and since the H1N1 likes the young folks... I'm sure that it will be on our campus in force. The good news: my particular college has moved off of the main campus due to remodeling of our building. And my one and only class is being held in the off campus location. That means I will only be exposed to College of Ed people. The bad news: most of the College of Ed people work with children at schools during the day, and then attend class in the evening. My particular class has only 7 or 8 people in it... And I think only 1 or 2 actually teach in schools, so really - with hand washing, and good hygiene as the CDC recommends... I should be fine. I am getting the regular flu vaccination tomorrow, and then HOPEFULLY - the campus health clinic will get the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available in October. If they get it - I am already on the list. But they won't know for a couple more weeks. I am being careful already. I carry clorox wipes and anti-bacterial wipes with me at all times - AND I do use them often. (i.e.: today on the shopping cart at Target) I've been washing my hands very carefully, and if I even sense that someone I'm around is sick... I'll leave the room. I'm not afraid to be rude at this point. I've got to look out for Sprout.

Today, I did the grocery shopping for the week... Which, I have to say is getting more tiring each time I do it recently. I'm hopeful that it will start getting easier - OR that I find another solution for getting groceries into the house. (I've actually been thinking that if I break it up into 2 smaller trips, it might be a little more doable) Anyhow, as I was driving home, I noticed that my flip flop was digging into the top of my foot. I looked down, and saw my little toes were all kinds of swollen. My ankles weren't too bad, but my toes were puffy and stiff. I've read that the whole swollen feet thing is super common and gets worse as the pregnancy wears on... My thought? Minimal. I can handle swollen feet. It's some of the other possible side effects of pregnancy that have me sleeping with garlic & holy water on my bedside table. Thankfully, I've not had to deal with any of those...

...and just to prove that I still have a sense of humor about things... Pregnant Women are Smug (I wouldn't watch this at work. It has one or 2 inappropriate words)

- mama g

Who's that girl?

By and large, I am still feeling okay. Today - I am headache-y which I'm getting used to... My biggest complaint is that a couple of nights ago I must have slept on my right arm wrong, and it has been hurting for a couple of days. I've tried icing it - tried elevating it (which only made me overextend my elbow, and made it worse). I'm by no means babying it - because it's my right arm, and I'm FAR too dependent on it... But I can't figure out how to make it better. :( (I even took some Tylenol in the hopes that it would help, but to no avail)

It is still so strange how different I feel. I barely recognize myself most of the time any more. I find it impossible to concentrate, I am tired all the time, I overreact to stuff... These are not characteristics I know to be mine under normal circumstances. PLUS - I can't remember things very well, and I just sort of feel foggy - like when I've taken cold medicine, pretty much all the time.

One of my girlfriends said that she felt that way pretty much until she stopped breastfeeding. That's a long time from now. I wonder if she actually did return to her former self, or if she just got used to her fog-brained state, and improved slightly from there.

- mama g

Doing better

Eighteen weeks.

We are almost to the halfway point. In just a couple of weeks, we will have our gender ultra sound - and I'm getting really excited.

Over labor day - work will begin on setting up the nursery. I'm afraid that once we know the baby's gender - I'm going to have a hard time not buying all kinds of stuff!

I am feeling much better today than I did last week. The bleeding seems to have stopped, and I'm starting to be able to fathom engaging in "normal" activities such as showering and leaving the house without feeling too exhausted.

I even ran an errand yesterday in Norman, and then (after a nap, of course) Alex and I went out to dinner with our friends Laura & Ralph. And I did just fine.

I'm ready to think positively, and I've decided that today is the magical day during the 2nd trimester when I woke up feeling good, and wound up feeling great for the next couple of months. So - HOORAY!

The glass is half full, folks. Because I say it is. :)

- mama g

rocky road pt. 2

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who have called, emailed, texted, etc... your concerns and offers of support. It is really wonderful to be so surrounded by people who care so much about Sprout & me. :)

Now... on to the update.

The first thing that they did at my doctor's office was another ultra sound. This ultra sound machine is 2009 to the 1976 ultra sound machine they had in the ER. And, the ultra sound tech spoke fluent ultra sound, whereas the ER doctor was struggling with his little "ultra sound to English dictionary". (note: I am not dissing the ER doctor! I am extremely grateful to him, and I think it is an extraordinarily difficult job he has to do. I can't imagine having to know a little bit about so many things. The ultra sound tech does this one thing day in and day out - so of course she is much more accomplished at it)

Sprout wasn't squirming much today, but enough to make the ultra sound tech happy. She said it was satisfactory fetal movement. (and honestly, she was probably pleased to not have to chase Sprout around with the little gooey wand thingy) She went ahead and took measurements... Sprout is growing perfectly, weighs 5 1/2 ounces (she said "that's a stick and a half of butter") heartbeat is good & strong (146), and otherwise all is just great for little Sprout.

Now on to Mommy, and why there is bleeding... The ER doctor thought that my placenta was down low in my uterus, partially covering the opening to my cervix. That could be the beginnings of placenta previa, a scary diagnosis indeed, but not life threatening... just disturbing. I thought bed rest was immanent. Anyway, the ultra sound tech found that my placenta is no where near being low. It is up on the side of my uterus completely out of the way of my cervix. (see - the ER doctor's ultra sound machine was SUPER sub par) HOWEVER - I had formed a clot in the (or on the) placenta wall. That was causing the bleeding. It's not uncommon, but not common either. The doctor said that through delivering more than 6,700 babies in his career, he's seen "some crazy shit" and that this is "normal crazy" not "crazy shit crazy". (i told you, this guy is funny!) This should heal on its own and cause no disturbance to Sprout whatsoever. As for Mommy? The bleeding should subside soon. Until then, rest as much as is possible, no stress, etc... I'm just going to take it SUPER DUPER easy the next few days until the bleeding stops - and probably for a week or so after. I'm not going to get out unless it's TRULY necessary, and I'm going to increase fluids - because as we've learned throughout this journey... Increasing fluids is the cure all. :)

Oh? And that urinary tract infection?? My doctor asked if I were having any symptoms at all of that. I am not, and have not. He said that pregnant women have all kinds of bacteria, etc in their urine that might throw another doctor - so as long as I am symptom free... Go ahead and take the antibiotic for a 3 day run instead of the 10 day run prescribed and "that'll probably be overkill". :)

So, to sum up... All is fine. When we got home from the doctor, Alex put his 2 babies down for a nap, and I slept for 4 hours. From emotional breakdown to 36 hours of worry, I was completely exhausted.

Sprout probably has no idea what has transpired over the last couple of days. Blissfully unaware of the worry going on surrounding him or her. At least - I would like to think that's how it is. Sprout just floating around, kicking and practicing sucking (which is what What to Expect says is going on in there this week), and not worrying about anything at all. :) A happy little baby.

And now, that happy little baby's much relieved Mommy is going to relax, have dinner with her WONDERFUL husband (who did stay home from work today) and breathe.

I will post a couple of the ultra sound pics from today soon.

- mama g