Nursery Ideas!

I didn't even start thinking about the nursery until yesterday because in all honesty, the thought of it overwhelmed me!!  What I am struggling with is - how do I go about picking something that I know I will like to look at every day, while trying to make it something different than what everyone else has - and not to mention, a room that doesn't cost an arm and a leg!

I'm still trying to figure out that last part, but I think we actually have ideas that may cover the first two problems!  Of course, we don't know if we are going to be decorating this room for a boy or girl yet - but I am really excited about what we've come up with!  And, I've actually been thinking a lot more about a little boy's room - is that foreshadowing for what we'll be finding out a week from now!? :)

I know one thing that makes me very lucky - I have a husband who cares about decorating AND actually has really good ideas.  We will most likely design a crib bumper and skirt on babybedding.com (very cute website if you haven't seen it yet!).  Ben came up with the idea that we should pick a gender neutral bumper and skirt so that we can reuse it for baby #2 (and #3?)!  At first - my initial reaction was - "Umm, no, I want it to be specific to boy or girl."  But, then I started thinking that it really does make sense - saves us money in the end!

Most likely we will do some sort of grey/white combo for the skirt and bumper.  Then if we have a boy - do a navy blue, grey, white room and if we have a little girl - do a pink, grey, and white room.  And of course, picking a theme based on either boy or girl!

That got my wheels turning - what theme for a little boy (which is about how far I got since like I said, I was feeling the little boy planning for some reason!)!?  As much as I would LOVE to do a Packers themed room - it is kind of hard to make that look like "classy" (I'm sure many of you are thinking...well, of course, Packers are never classy :)).  So one option we came up with would be to do a football themed room with Packer accents - maybe a little nick nack here and there to show our Packer pride!  But option #2 - I'm really excited about - an airplane themed room!!!  This was inspired by my favorite pilot - my dad :)  I think that would be super cute.  So we'll see...obviously we need to know boy or girl first then we can really start planning! :)

DIY airplane lamp!

I think no matter what if it's a boy, I'll be getting this blanket :)  So snuggly!

Now here is a question for people - what do you think of white baby furniture vs. dark wood (like espresso) furniture?  Could white be used for a boy?  If we go with espresso furniture, can we do a white and grey rocker/glider?  We found one we really like....any thoughts are appreciated :) :)

17 weeks!

I absolutely love Thursdays!  It means I am one week closer to meeting our baby in person! :)  And today, I am 17 weeks!  That also means only 1.5 more weeks until we have the appointment I've been looking forward to since we found out I was pregnant - we have our first true ultrasound (where the baby actually looks like a baby) and we find out (hopefully!) if it is a boy or a girl!!!  We are so anxious to know whether or not we will be buying blue or pink clothes!  Well - there will still be lots of yellow and green, I mean come on, we are huge Packers fans! :)

As of right now, I don't really have strong feelings one way or the other on whether it's a boy or a girl.  Almost everyone is guessing girl - and I kind of having that feeling too.  My dad swears he is having another granddaughter :)  But, I also really feel it could be a boy!  So who knows - guess we'll know soon enough :)  Ben and I also found out recently as we were looking at names and finalizing our top choices that there are a lot more boy names that we like than girl names!  There is really only one girl name we love and about 3-4 boy names we really love (still a secret for now...but we'll tell once we know for sure! :) )  Well, August 6th at 12:30pm cannot come soon enough.  Luckily we will be on a mini-vacation to Traverse City, Michigan the Thursday through Sunday before that, so hopefully we'll be distracted and the appointment will be here before we know it!

Everything has been going pretty well!  I have been feeling really good - I had another appointment last Thursday to meet with the doctor about my gestational diabetes and that went pretty well.  You know, it's kind of funny - since I got pregnant, I've lost about 6 pounds (go figure - I can do it now, but not for the last 10 years!).  I was never sick or anything, so my weight loss is really coming from the fact that I had to re-do my diet and I have been working out almost every day.  I hope I start gaining soon though - I should enjoy it though because I know there will be a time when I want the scale to stop going up and up!  But - the positive side is, at least I know this diet I'm on now will work to lose weight post-delivery :) :)

After about 2 weeks of changing to my new diet and exercise, I got a call from the doctor that she wanted me to go ahead and start medicine to help control my blood sugar.  As you can imagine, I was completely bummed.  I had been working so very hard to control my numbers, and I was little confused why she was already wanting to put me on medicine.  Granted, my numbers had been kind of high the previous week because I was traveling pretty much every day.  But - there were reasons for the high numbers.  When I was home and in my "normal" setting, things had been pretty good. 

I really wanted to talk with her at my appointment before starting the medicine, and luckily she agreed.  After talking with her, I feel a lot better about starting the medicine.  Basically, it's a hormone that's produced in my placenta that causes me to be diabetic during pregnancy.  As the placenta gets bigger, as you can imagine there is more and more of this hormone.  So, it's kind of an uphill battle that sometimes just eating right and exercising can't control.  I looked at my numbers and started to see they were less controlled as the weeks went on (even eating well and exercising at home) - the doctor told me this is a good sign because the placenta is getting bigger!  She told me what she looks for in the numbers too - if they are spiked more than half of the time, she knows that some medicine assistance is probably needed.  She gave me one more week without the medicine - and that week was up today.  I called in my numbers today and will wait for her call to see what she says!  I will not be surprised if she has me start meds tomorrow - and I really think I'm okay with that now.  I know this needs to be controlled, even if it's not ideal to be on this medicine during pregnancy!  I'm going to keep doing what I am doing - eating well and exercising - and hope that the baby stays nice and healthy! :)

Speaking of the baby - I did get to hear the heartbeat at the appointment last Thursday!  It took TWO AND A HALF MINUTES to find the heartbeat!  Oh my gosh was I nervous - and of course this was the first appointment Ben wasn't able to be at!  But finally after what felt like forever, there it was!  155 bpm! :)

I know this post is long, but only one more thing :)  I really think that I felt the baby move yesterday!!!!!!!  I don't want to get too excited because it might not have been the baby, but it just felt different - something I haven't felt before - right in the spot where the baby is (based on where we found the heartbeat!).  So who knows - pretty cool though, excited to feel it more and know for sure that it is our little one! :)

Here are my 15 and 16 week pictures!!  Not much of a difference, but I'm definitely getting a noticeable baby bump!  It's funny, if you look back at 14 weeks, I look so much bigger than in 15 and 16!!  I think my shirt was situated differently in week 14 and it made my belly look bigger than it was!  Oh well :)

Week 15

Week 16

It will all be worth it!

Hi everyone!

Being pregnant is one of the most amazing things ever - sometimes I just stop and think, "wow, there is a human being growing inside of me!".  It is really unbelievable that it is even possible - it's amazing how God created us to create life! :)

While pregnancy is amazing, unfortunately I found out recently that I have a slightly higher risk pregnancy than I was expecting.  However, I keep reminding myself that I know I could have things much, much worse.  When I was about 12 weeks pregnant, I found out that I have gestational diabetes.  I wasn't super shocked because I had had some high blood sugar issues before pregnancy (never diagnosed with diabetes though) and I had 4 out of the 5 risk factors for developing gestational diabetes.  For those who don't know, gestational diabetes is basically diabetes that starts or is first diagnosed during pregnancy.  Doesn't mean I will retain the diabetes after pregnancy, but there is a chance.

Most of the time, women don't develop it or are not diagnosed until around week 24 - but since I failed my first 1-hr glucose test, I had to go in for the dreaded 3-hr glucose test, and unfortunately did not pass that one either.  Even though I have a long road ahead of me, I am really glad that I found out now.  Even if it is a bigger pain for me, I would much rather know and start controlling it so the baby is not as stressed and stays as healthy as can be!

What this means for me is that I have to be super careful about my diet throughout my whole pregnancy, take my blood sugar 4 times a day, daily check for ketones, see the doctor about every 2 weeks instead of 4, get more lab work done, work out every day (recommended at least 30 mins a day, 7 days a week), possibly start medicine, and even possibly insulin as it gets later in my pregnancy.  Also, the baby will be monitored frequently at the doctor's starting around 28 weeks, I'll have more ultrasounds (not so sad about that! :)), and I could very well deliver early (not complaining about that either as long as everything is okay!)

What this means for the baby is unfortunately, there are higher risks for pretty much everything.  Even though I haven't had to do it yet, the baby's heart will be monitored more closely to make sure it developed correctly (since my blood sugar could have been high the first 8 weeks of his or her life).  Also, when I deliver, there is a higher risk of jaundice and hypoglycemia - the baby would be okay, but he or she would have to go to the NICU right away. 

Honestly, I'm trying not to focus on what could go wrong - I am just trying to focus on what I can do to keep my diabetes under control.  It seems as though those bad cases for gestational diabetes are when the blood sugar is not under control during the pregnancy - so that is what I'm focusing on.

I had a diabetes education class and received all of my blood sugar testing stuff.  Let me tell you, those monthly supplies are not cheap :/.  I've also started working with a dietician to make sure I'm following the correct diabetes diet for my body.  So far, things have been going well!  It is SO much easier to eat right and work out everyday when it is for the baby - I really think I've been doing a good job and I have to pat myself on the back for that! :) 

Like I said, I know I could have it much worse - and I count my blessings that this is all I'm dealing with.  I just keep praying that I can keep this under control and that the rest of the pregnancy, and especially delivery, goes smoothly and that we have a healthy little baby at the end of all of this.  THAT is worth any sacrifice - even if it means turning down that dessert or pizza more frequently than I would like :)

I'm sure you'll be hearing about my diabetes successes and struggles on this blog a little bit :)  Hopefully there are more success stories than struggles, but part of this is out of my control.  I decided to share it instead of hide it - figured there might be others out there in the same boat! :)

And, a special thanks to Ben, who has been very understanding through all of this - dealing with my emotions daily, going on walks with me if I can't get to the gym, and allowing me to talk about what I'm eating and my diet way more than he is probably interested in :)  And, another special thanks to my family who has been understanding as well and has really been a great support through all of this! :)

Second trimester!

This past Thursday I officially started my second trimester!  For those who have had kids before, you can relate to how relieved I was!  Maybe even those who haven't can relate - I know I had a huge sigh of relief when my sister made it to the second trimester with my precious niece! :)  It's just nice to know that the risk factor goes down quite a bit - although of course it is always still at the back of my mind.

We went in for our 14 week appointment on July 2nd and were able to meet our doctor at Carle - Dr. Fulfer.  We really like her!  She was our first choice, so I'm happy we got her!  My mom had asked her Carle friends who they recommend, and she came up about 4 of the 5 times, so I figured she had to be good!  I had been so anxious though up to this appointment because I was so afraid we weren't going to hear the heartbeat - as I'm sure I'll be at every other appointment I have!  As the nurse put the fetal doppler on my stomach, it took a minute or so to find the heartbeat (so of course I was freaking out inside!)...but then FINALLY, there was the heartbeat!  It was such an amazing sound to hear - a strong 156 bpm! 

So I definitely don't think it is in all my head anymore - I officially did get a bigger baby bump from week 12 to 14 (yay!)!  One main difference I see is that in week 14, I actually started filling out at the top of my belly too, not just at the bottom (does that make sense!?).  Hopefully these pictures clarify :)

WEEK 12....

 

THEN....

I can't wait to start showing more!!  Especially because people will actually know (hopefully) that I'm pregnant and not just getting *ahem* fat :)

Have a great night!

Molly :)

And baby makes three!

Ben and I are so very excited that we are expecting our first baby!

We had the baby itch for quite a while now (possibly due to our super cute niece, Ally), but just wanted to wait until we had things a little bit more "settled" in life.  I say settled in quotes because who ever feels completely settled in life these days!?  But, there were a few things we wanted to be in place - 1) for us to feel secure with good jobs/income and 2) to be in a place where we have family around (and Champaign is perfect! :)).  We finally had that feeling at the end of last year.  And, on New Years Eve - right after midnight, we made the resolution to "have a baby in 2012!".  From that day forward, we didn't turn back!

And, at the end of April, we found out that I was pregnant!  We feel very blessed that so far, everything seems to be progressing as it should and the baby seems to be doing well too!  But boy was it hard to keep it a secret for so long!!

Even though Carle usually doesn't do sonograms until 18-20 weeks, we had to have one at about 7 weeks because I was having some pain and they wanted to make sure everything was okay and the baby was in the right place.  I was secretly happy that we were going in for this sonogram because I had been SO worried about the fact that we wouldn't even get to see our baby until 18 weeks (beginning of August!)....just seemed like so far away.  Of course though, I was nervous as I went in because we didn't know if everything would be okay.  But - luckily, the baby (didn't look much like a baby at this point though!) was doing well - had a heartbeat of 117 bpm and was measuring at 6 weeks, 4 days!

Here is the picture from our first sonogram on May 14th!

The baby is in between the arrows - the white circle is the yolk sac (not the head - haha - I kind of thought that when I first saw it, must admit!  On the plus side, at least I didn't admit this out loud to the ultrasound tech!)

The baby wasn't measuring quite as far along as we had thought, so they moved my due date from December 27th to January 3rd!  We had to laugh when we heard January 3rd because that day already means so much to Ben and I - it's our anniversary!  We just think it's perfect that the baby is due on this day!  Although, I must admit - I'm kind of hoping the baby isn't actually born ON our anniversary - I guess only 4% of women actually have their baby on their due date, so our chances are pretty good that it won't be :)

So far I've been feeling really good!  I was lucky that I didn't really have any morning sickness (I know I am very, very lucky!).  My biggest pregnancy symptoms have been being tired, ligament stretching, a smaller bladder capacity, and just a few food aversions (I can't eat grilled chicken and salmon doesn't taste the same!). 

I definitely think I've started developing a little bit of a baby bump.  The first progress picture I noticed the biggest difference was in our 12 week picture a few weeks ago.  Here it is compared to week 8, notice a little bump?!  Just a little bit - not much though :)

I am just over 14 weeks now and am taking another progress pictures shortly - so I will share soon! :)  I definitely think I have a bigger bump now, anxious to see if it's all in my mind! :)

These two are also pretty excited to be a big brother and sister! :)  So I guess technically with these two included....And baby makes FIVE!

Molly :)