Baby blog #3

This blog is going to be titled "Gas: I hate you!" Being pregnant sure gets your insides all out of wack. One of the many joys (for me) is dealing with gas pains. You know, the kind that just doesn't want to go one way or another so it just makes you hurt on the inside. Ugh! Every time I get bad gas pain I have to evaluate myself to make sure I'm not having contractions or Braxton hicks contractions (false ones for those who don't know that). I think every woman goes through these panics and conversations in their heads of "what was that?" "is everything still okay?!" And of course it has been every time. Just a little taste of what it'll be like once he gets out.

There is good news though. You always have to look at the good things. Like... because your uterus grows and shares the same space as your stomach, you throw up less because your stomach is smaller. :) Always gotta see the positive. I'll let you know more positives that I find. :) That's it for today though. Nothing exciting.

Baby blog #2

Apparently acknowledging that you have weird dreams due to pregnancy sets off this explosion of strange dreams! The past few nights I have slept terribly because of my dreams. We have a humidifier in our room and I dreamt that it wasn't working because I for some reason turned it upside down when I turned it on. I almost apologized to Joel the next morning for it not working. Last night was another strange dream. As I was tossing and turning trying to fall asleep, Bentley was also tossing and turning I guess. He was VERY active... good reason I couldn't sleep... So in my dream that night, I had a dream that he was moving around a lot and I was watching my stomach move (like always). Then I decided that I wanted to see if I could figure out where his head and feet and what not were. So I look down and my tummy was kind of see through and HEY... toes. So I grab them and was like "aww here are his toes on his little bitty feet". I feared in my dream that I would hurt him if I kept holding onto his toes since he moves around so much. I guess it's not as strange of a dream as the last one I reported but when you wake up and remember these things, thoughts like "as if I could grab his toes... honestly" and "...a see through belly??" tend to creep into your mind.The logic just isn't there when you're sleeping.
Yesterday was Bentley's active day. He wiggled SO much that I was able to record about 3 minutes of quite a bit of movement. The weirdest part is seeing your stomach jerk sideways and watch a lump move around. The video is cool to have. I have also found slight joy in being able to feel a hard lump in my stomach every so often. It must be him with his back towards my belly button or something. Only been able to feel that 2 or 3 times, but it's kind of neat. So close to holding him and yet so far.
Joel and I are doing well otherwise. We're trying something new for dinner. We are generally terrible at thinking up meals to make and often end up eating unhealthy things. So now we're trying something new. We've made a 4 week meal plan and each week has a grocery list and nutrition information. Hopefully it's something we can keep doing. It's gone well so far. Wish us luck.

Baby blog #1

So I've decided to start reporting the interesting (or weird) things that happen during my pregnancy. I've started to notice how BIG Bentley is getting. When I lay on my back there is this very defined lump. Sitting up in bed has become more of a chore. When they say you should roll onto your side and then push up... no joke... Trying to just sit up in bed is like trying to do your 100th sit up in a work out. EFFORT. (Plus the doc/nurse really try to tell you to not do that. You try breaking a 21 year habit) It's also kinda fun to watch Bentley move now. He is super active right now which gives me positive and negative feelings. A) It's so new to see your stomach move on it's own and in no particular pattern but B) When he gets going, it makes my stomach sick. Laying in bed trying to fall asleep is his new favorite time to kick mommy. Like he's saying "wake up woman, I've slept all day." haha. The oddest of new things to report is a dream I had. I've always had really strange dreams but it seems that lately they are always about babies or children. This last one, I had baby early. But the real suprise was that there were 2 more in there that the doctor didn't catch. So I had 3 babies. AND the really confusing part was that one of them was black and I was trying to figure out how to convince Joel that they were all his... even the black baby. But 2 of them died..? And I held one and when you sat it up, it's eyes were open. When you layed it down they closed... like those dolls do... seriously. I wasn't sad about them dying either which was weird. So then someone hands me Bentley (infant, minutes old, bentley) and he's crying. So I go into the other room to calm him down (? don't know why) and my niece Ukiah is in the room. So what happens next... Bentley sits up and yells at her about how stupid her name is and yells profanities. The whole time I'm trying to stop him and I'm crying because my baby came out mean. Very mean baby. I think I woke up after this and was mad at Bentley. I told Joel that night that that whole day I didn't want him anymore because he was going to be mean. haha. I didn't mean it of course, but sometimes your feelings from a dream has its way of staying with you a while. So there you go- tripletts, black baby, and mean talking baby.

Happy Birthday

Well, yesterday,  May 5th was my birthday. I had a wonderful day. It started with calls from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday. Thank you Ukiah for being 3 and making me laugh. My second phone call of the morning was from Kim and Ukiah. Ukiah asked me if I had gotten any presents for my birthday and I told her yes. She asked me what... so of course I tell her a camera (beautiful new camera from mom and dad, thanks!) and some cards(forgetting the beautiful tulips my husband had given me, sorry honey). She said," that's it!? Only TWO presents?! I got lots of toys for my birthday." Afterwards Kim got back on the phone and told me her eyes got really big from the shock. It was a good laugh. I absolutely love my new digital camera. Thank you to everyone who called, texted or left me a message on facebook. So my day continued with going to my mom's work and having lunch with her. It was a celebratory pizza and salad. School lunch, you never left me hungry- thanks. 

After lunch I headed to Boise to check out Archivers and buy myself a couple things. After that I got to see megan and bob's new kitten, Larry. Tiny little guy still.

I got lucky too because usually on Wednesdays (which is the day my b-day fell) Joel has a class that starts at 6pm so he doesn't usually get home until 8 or so... but lucky me... Last week was the last time he had to go to this class so he got home early. Yea. We got ready to go out to dinner and I took a few pictures of us before we headed out.

This one was my favorite of both of us. You can even see the beginnings of Bentley showing. That tummy sure doesn't look like my regular self. It's definitely weird to see myself from other people's point of view. At least I look pregnant now and not just fat like I did a few weeks ago. (22.5 weeks pregnant here)

This picture I really liked because I was setting the timer on the camera and taking practice pictures to make sure we'd both fit in the frame. Going back through the pictures later that night I discovered that Joel had been posing for them :) Silly husband.

We went to Wingers for dinner and got free dessert at the end because... of course, a birthday. I'm almost annoying myself how many times I've said birthday so far, haha. At any rate the ice cream cake was delicious! Joel and I took a while getting that down because we had gotten so full from dinner. But needless to say.. that cake was not wasted. It's amazing the portions they give too. Joel and I figured that they either cut the dessert in fourths or fifths, because it was huge!


Once we left Wingers we went to Hollywood video to rent a movie. At the check out we discovered that I was able to get a free movie because- you guessed it.. I was celebrating :) To end our money spending for the night, but not quite conclude, we went to Coldstone and got ice cream. Yum yum. The very end of our date was spent in our in-laws hot tub. Ohhh so nice. (And don't worry.. I listened to my body and didn't stay in too long to hurt baby) It was a wonderful 21st birthday spent with my husband.

Exciting updates...

Well Joel and I have settled on a name for our little boy. Baby Bentley. It was amazing how real everything became once I could refer to our baby by his name. I couldn't help but feel unattached to this baby that was inside of me that I couldn't see growing or feel moving. It was unreal if you could imagine. BUT.. now we have a name AND a couple days ago I felt Bentley kick with my hand!! Joel and I were getting ready for bed and I was rubbing lotion on my tummy and could feel that he was moving around. So.. I held my hands on my tummy thinking no way will I be able to feel it. And then I did! And it was so cool. Almost immediately I doubted that I had really felt anything and then he kicked again. It is the weirdest but coolest thing. Joel is jealous and really wants to be able to feel baby move. It's still early, but I think definitely within the next couple weeks he will have his turn.

Otherwise we are doing well. Joel just got a promotion at work and is finally off the phones doing customer service. He is so much happier and we are both really grateful for the pay raise. Life just keeps getting better and better :)

And the big news is revealed! It's a BOY :)

For those of you who I haven't told personally, I apologize. Joel and I were trying very hard to keep the baby's gender a secret until we could tell the family. We found out on April 1st that our little bundle is a boy. I looked at the screen and there was no doubt in my mind that we're having a little boy. He was wiggling all over the place and doing little flips for us. At our very first ultrasound (just over two months along) the doctor was checking to a) confirm we were indeed pregnant and b) see how far along baby was and set a due date. At that time he told us baby was still small so he set us back a week from what we thought we were. We had to do 10 weeks twice... it was a bummer! The reason I bring this up is because at this last ultrasound, doc said that once again our little one was smaller than what my new set due date is. Only by a few days I guess, but I'm wondering if we're going to have a small little boy. It doesn't worry me because I know that doctors try to keep all babies in one general "this is where your baby should be." He said everything else looked good; heart, tummy, brain and spinal fluids... so no reason to worry about him yet.

As for me- I'm starting to feel pregnant. And by that I mean that my stomach is getting bigger and after I eat I definitely feel like I need to wobble to keep the pressure off my stomach area. (otherwise it is very uncomfortable) Of the 3 pounds I have gained so far, baby is a whole .5 pound of it. I'm also starting to feel like my skin is not big enough for him anymore. Imagine trying to stuff a a body pillow into a plastic grocery bag... it just doesn't fit... that's how I'm starting to feel. A little overstuffed haha. People still tell me they don't think I look pregnant yet, but I CAN tell! I ran into a friend yesterday who said they thought I had miscarried because I wasn't showing very much for being almost 5 months prego. Compliment? I think so?

Other than that, life is going well. We're getting settled into our new place here in Nampa. I LOVE it! It's so close to family and bigger! I'm loving the third bedroom. Baby's room is coming along. He has a few outfits and diapers in the closet, a dresser, nightstand, and crib. So most of the big furniture is covered. Everytime I pop by the baby section at store I have to force myself to put things back because who knows what we'll get at the baby shower. I anxiously wait for it :) It's like a big party for ME (not joel) and I get all these presents to open and be excited to play dress up on my baby. Joel hates it when I even joke that our little boy will be a momma's boy and not a "manly mans" boy. haha... So anxious for him to arrive. Names picked out? ha! Boy names are so hard... suggestions are SO welcome! Hopfully we'll have something picked out before he's born.

I was only a little bummed.... :(

Well I have found great support these past 3 months of being pregnant from a website called Babycenter.com. I joined a group of young women who are also first time mommies due around the same time I am. It has been great to share concerns and hear that other women truly are going through the same things I am. Sometimes complaining to your husband just isn't enough. haha. The reason I bring this up is because while I read about other womens' stories, I have discovered that a lot of women have the chance to go to a 3D/4D imaging center. At these centers women have had the chance to find out the sex of their babies EARLY! At first I though, "oh, why spend money for an extra ultrasound?" But now... now I'm thinking "ugh! i want to know the sex of the baby now! Then we can pick gender specific clothes and accesories and NAMES." Soo... I got online and looked for places that did this kind of thing. The women online had been saying they were paying anywhere from $40-$120. And so I thought... it's worth a look. Well I got online to find a place like that in our area and NOTHING! The only place that popped up didn't do the 3D/4D (because typical ones are 2D) ultrasound until 17 weeks!! And my doctor can tell me between 18 and 20 weeks!! ugh... there is no way I'm paying $100 for someone to tell me a mere week early. Stupid stupid. So of course as the heading says, I was only a little bummed.... :)