It's only been a little while...

Ok...really...it's been over 2 years.  In that 2 years, a ton has happened.  We had a second child (Cecilia Louise, whom we adore).  Wyatt accepted a new position at Shell that involves an international move.  We did our best to navigate the first 2 years of Callum's life and the first year of Cecilia's while living away from family and our awesome friends in Houston.  We moved into our house.  We sold our house.  We tried to stay sane, even attempted to remain joyful, through all of it.  We attempted to learn the ways of New Orleans, and about the time we felt like we were getting a slight hang of it, we found out we'd be leaving.  We made great friends who we didn't have enough time to spend with. 

I'm not going to try to rehash all the great/crazy stuff from the past couple years, but I am going to try to at least do better than posting every 2 years.  We are moving to the other side of the world soon, and we want to stay in touch with our friends and family as best we can.  We are hoping to use this blog to let everyone know what we're up to.  So, be looking for more posts to come soon!

Crazy Times at the ENT

Before we left the hospital, they told us Callum had failed the hearing test on the right side.  This definitely worried us, but we prayed about it and we knew there was a pretty good chance that after being retested, he would measure normal.  They told us sometimes the baby's ear is blocked with vernix after being born and that is why the hearing test is failed when it's first given. 

So, we scheduled a visit with the ENT for a week after Callum was born.  Let me just say, you should get a medal for just making it to the doctor with a newborn.  I tried hard to time my arrival at the doctor's office with the time of the appointment, but with juggling the stroller, car seat, feeding Callum so he wouldn't be fussy, parking, and actually getting into the building, I ended up being about 15 minutes late for the appointment.  Imagine my disappointment when I tried to check in and they told me I was too late and I'd have to reschedule the appointment.  I seriously almost started crying in the middle of the doctor's office.  (Ok, I might have actually cried some.)  I was so upset.  I'm sure some of it was due to lack of sleep and hormones, but some of it was just that I couldn't believe they would make me reschedule given the circumstances.  

I left the office and called to reschedule.  They were able to reschedule me for later on that day.  You better  believe I was on time for that appointment!  So, finally at the appointment, the doctor examined Cal's ears and said his right ear (the one he failed the hearing test in) had an extremely narrow ear canal and it was crammed with all kinds of stuff (my summary because I don't know all the medical terms).  He said this is probably why Cal failed the hearing test, but that they'd have to wait 3 weeks to retest and confirm this, because Cal's ear still needed to grow some.  So, he cleaned a bunch of stuff out of Cal's ear, and we proceeded out of the office.

The drama continued.  I got to my car and I could not for the life of me figure out how to collapse the stroller to put it away in the car.  I'm sure some of it was stress, some exhaustion, and some just not being able to keep up with everything new going on, but it was extra crazy because there was some determined man sitting in his car waiting for my parking spot, and he had a line of about 10 cars behind him.  It probably took me 5 minutes to figure it out and get Cal loaded up.  I had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction in the midst of all of this, and at that point, I just had to laugh.  Cal and I finally made it out of there, and I was relieved, to say the least.

So, three weeks later, we go back to the ENT for the follow up visit and retest.  The visit with the doctor is relatively uneventful, but the hearing test, lets just say it was an ordeal.  When they test a baby's hearing, the baby needs to be quiet and just about asleep.  Tell that to a one month old who's hungry and has a dirty diaper.  The nurse was able to test the left ear with no problem.  Then she moved on to the right ear, which was the ear that had previously failed the hearing test.  Then the craziness began.  Either Cal would start crying or knock the sensor out of his ear every time the test got going.  Then we had to start over again.  This repeated itself probably 20 times.  At one point, he was sitting in my lap, and I felt a warm sensation on my shirt and jeans.  I didn't dare move because I was hoping this test would take.  It didn't, he cried and we had to start over.  When I lifted him up, sure enough, he'd peed through his diaper on to me.  Extra fun when I was going to have to walk through the office building with a huge wet spot on me.

So, we decided to take a break and I'd go change Cal and then we'd try again.  I successfully changed Cal, but in the process, got peed on again.  We went back into the office and tried the test a few more times, and eventually, the test took, and he passed in both ears!  You can't imagine how relieved I was to be done with that.  We were probably in there trying to get the test finished for at least an hour. 

But, the important thing is that Cal's hearing is normal, and hopefully, we won't have to endure any more hearing tests in the future.  Whew!

3 Week Checkup

We went in for a 3 week checkup on Thursday, September 9th.  We would have done the typical one month checkup, but our Pediatrician wanted to see Callum sooner to check on his bilirubin levels.  So, to the doctor's office we went. 

Callum had a great checkup.  He meaured at 8 lbs., 2 oz., so up 2 lbs. from his birth weight.  He also grew 1/4 an inch, which meant he was up to 19.5 inches long.  His head circumference was 36 cm.  We went over his measurements with the doctor, and she said at this point he was at the 25th percentile in height and weight.  Time will tell if he stays at this percentile or not.  I have a feeling he's going to do a lot of growing in the coming months, especially for the way he eats.

All else looked great.  His next checkup will be at 2 months.  This will be the big appointment where he gets his immunizations, and after that he'll be free to explore the wide world (well of course with parental supervision).  We are thankful for a healthy baby!

Hungry Man

I think it's safe to say we have a hungry baby on our hands.  Callum was born on the small side, weighing in at 6 lbs. 2 oz.  When we left the hospital, he was down about 4% from his birth weight (which put him about at 5.9 lbs.).  Usually they expect babies to regain their birth weight within 2 weeks from the date they are born.  Well, by his first visit with the pediatrician, which was five days after he was born, Callum was already back up to his birth weight.  By the next visit, which was eight days after he was born, he was up to 6 lbs. 10 oz., so up 8 oz. from birth within just over a week from birth.  Yay for a good eater!  I'm so glad he is eating so well and getting what he needs. 

Also at his first visit to the pediatrician, they checked his bilirubin levels, and unfortunately, Callum's level was on the high side.  This meant he had to get his heel pricked multiple times during the week to make sure the level wasn't going up.  He did NOT like the heel pricking part, but within the week, his bilirubin levels stabilized and started going down again.  We were thankful for that! 

Callum's Name

If you recall an earlier post, we were pretty specific in the kind of name we wanted for our son.  We wanted something traditional, but not common.  It took us a very long time to settle on something, but once we really started talking about names, we discovered that we'd both found the name Callum and we both liked it a lot.  At this point, we decided to go with it unless we had a major change of mind. 

Here's some history on the name.  The name Callum is of Scottish and Gaelic origin.  It is is pronounced KAL-um. It is a variant of Columba (Latin), meaning "dove".  It was a popular name among early Christians because the dove was a symbol of gentleness, purity, peace, and the Holy Spirit.  Saint Columba was an influential sixth-century Irish missionary who founded a monastery on the Scottish island of Iona. His contemporary, Saint Columban, also Irish, was a missionary in France, Switzerland, and Italy.

Callum is currently very popular in Europe, particularly Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England, but it's only just barely within the top 1000 in the US (at #976 right now).

We love the name for many reasons, especially because of the meaning and its association with peace and the holy spirit.  We think it goes really well with his middle name (also his daddy's name), Wyatt, which means guide.

Callum is also a family name.  Wyatt has a lot of Scottish on his mother's side of the family, and it turns out there were two Callums in his family tree, one as a first name and one as a middle name, so that makes the name extra special.

We are so glad to have a name for our son.  Roshambeaux was good while it lasted, but he needed a real name at some point.  We pray that through his life, he will grow be an instrument of peace just as his name means.

Callum Wyatt Smith's Arrival- Part II

Once it was confirmed that my water had broken, we called our families and alerted them that we were staying at the hospital and that baby Smith was on his way.  It was about 9 PM Tuesday night when we got checked in and I got moved to my room in Labor & Delivery.  Things were still pretty fun at this point. 

Just checked in...still smiling!

Getting hooked up to the monitors.

It was cold in there!

So, after the excitement of getting checked in, we talked with my doctor about what was going to happen next.  Let me back up and explain...  We had planned on doing a natural birth- as in, no pain medication.  We had taken a great child birth class and felt as prepared as we could be to go this route.  We knew our plans might have to change, and we were ok with that, but we really hoped to make it the natural route if possible. 

Back to present day- with my water breaking, the baby needed to come soon thereafter.  Since at the point I was admitted I was having just about no contractions (except really small ones that I barely noticed) and I was almost completely not dilated, my doctor recommended they start Pitocin to get things going.  I really, really, really didn't want or plan on Pitocin, but I knew at this point they had to get labor going and I didn't really know of another option to get that accomplished.

So, Pitocin was started at about 11 PM Tuesday night.  We were still hopeful for a natural birth at this point, but we knew it would be more difficult since I couldn't leave the bed to get into positions and the Pitocin would make the contractions more intense sooner than if labor would have progressed naturally.  But, we still hoped that I'd be able to deliver naturally.

The contractions weren't too bad at first.  I stayed up the whole night, breathing through each contraction as it came.  I watched 3 movies throughout the night- Leap Year, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.  I actually quite enjoyed the first two.  By the third, things were getting a little rough.  Wyatt was able to get a few hours of sleep during the night, which I was glad about. 

By the end of the third movie, it was morning, Wyatt was up, and the contractions were really intense and very close together.  This is what I looked like at this point...just trying to make it through each contraction, one at a time. 

Wyatt was great through the whole thing- praying with me, breathing through contractions with me, and telling me jokes to try to lighten the mood as much as he could.  At one point, he asked what he could do for me and I requested that he sing Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff."  He obliged, and I really needed that laugh.  It was a great moment.  I don't know what I would have done without him. 

My doctor came in at about 7 AM, told me I'd dilated to 6 cm and asked me how the epidural was.  We told him I hadn't had an epidural and he just kind of looked at us with a surprised face.  He was really encouraging that I could make it the whole way, though, so we kept going. 

Within the next hour, things really intensified.  The nurse checked me and said I was 7 to 8 cm dilated.  She said I could have some pain medicine given through an IV.  This wouldn't be as strong as an epidural, but it was supposed to at least take the edge off.  I went for it; it had been a long time and I was totally worn out.  I hoped the pain medicine would be what I needed to get me to the pushing phase. 

The pain medicine did help, I think mainly because it allowed to to rest a little and get a little more calm.  But the contractions kept coming- they were about 2 minutes apart and very intense.  At this point, the anesthesiologist came in to make sure I didn't need an epidural.  They explained that I could still get one, but they thought I could make it the remainder of the way without it.  They left and Wyatt and I talked.  After discussing, we ended up opting for the epidural.  Although this wasn't part of the original plan, I had been having contractions for about 10 hours at that point, and I had barely slept.  I was worn out.  If I had known that I would get to 10 cm within an hour or two, I would have persevered, but there was no way to know how much longer I had to go to get to the point of pushing.

So, I got the epidural.  It didn't really hurt going in and the relief started shortly thereafter.  Then, the fun really began...  Apparently my system didn't take too kindly to the epidural.  My blood pressure dropped dangerously low (as low as 80/40), and the baby's heart rate dropped as well (as low as 60 bpm, which is VERY low for a baby).  Since I was so drugged up, I was pretty oblivious at this point, but Wyatt saw all  the vital signs dropping, and he was extremely worried.  Within the next half hour, tons of people came into my room.  I was pumped full of all kinds of fluid, and eventually, my blood pressure normalized.  Baby's heart rate was still fluctuating, but not going quite as low.  The doctors told us the baby's heart rate might be dropping like it was because the cord was around his neck.  Again, I was pretty drugged up, so not too worried, but Wyatt was still very anxious.

My mom and sister arrived at about noon, which was right after all of the mayhem had subsided.  I was so glad to have them there, especially now that I wasn't in crazy pain.

Within the next couple of hours, I got to 10 cm, and it was time to push at about 2 PM.  I pushed for about 30 minutes, and our son was born at 2:27 PM in the afternoon.  The cord was around his neck when he was born, so that explained the drops in his heart rate.  It was incredibly emotional.  I was so glad to see him after all that time. 



Wyatt went out to tell our families that he was born, and announced the name we had chosen- Callum Wyatt Smith (story of the name to come later). 

Callum was weighed and measured.  He weighed in at 6.2 lbs and measured 19 1/4 inches long. 

Wyatt and I were extremely happy and relieved.  Here are some of our first pictures with out son.

After they took Callum to the nursery, I got a few treats.  First, there were Sour Patch Kids, which if you know me, you know these are my favorite candy.  I am a bit obsessed with them and after about 24 hours of no food, I was quite happy to see these!



Then Wyatt gave me a special gift- a necklace to match my engagement ring.  It was such a sweet gift.  I am so thankful for Wyatt.  Callum has a great dad.

My dad and brother arrived at the hospital later that night.  I have some great pictures of them that I'll add later on.  Here are some pictures of Callum meeting some of his very favorite people.

Callum with his Auntie Em and Grammy Sandy (we still have yet to settle on a grandmother name for her). 

Callum with his Pappy and Grandmother.

We spent the next couple of days hanging out at the hospital.  Wyatt took our families out for a couple of meals, and I took advantage of the nursery to try to get a little sleep before we headed home.  Here are a few shots of us before we left the hospital.





And that's it!  It was an adventure to say the least.  No, the birth part didn't go at all how we'd planned, but I am just incredibly thankful to have a healthy baby and such wonderful support from our family.  We still hope for a natural birth in the future, but we're ok with whatever needs to happen for the sake of health and safety.  We thank God for the blessing of our son.  He is so good and He was so present through the entire pregnancy and birth. 

Callum Wyatt Smith's Arrival- Part I

I have not been good at posting lately, but before much more time elapses, I wanted to record the story of Callum's arrival.  So here goes...

First of all, I had a very uneventful, healthy pregnancy (praise God for that).  Everything was looking perfectly normal when I went in for an check up with my doctor on Thursday, August 12th.  As of that day, I was one day away from being 37 weeks, which is full term in pregnancy-land.  I was measuring a little small, but my doctor said that could be because baby had already dropped into position at that point (which he had as of a week or two before).  So I left the appointment feeling good and still assured that I probably wouldn't be having this baby for another 3 weeks or so.  I even double checked with the doctor that I could keep working out, and he assured me I could. 

I worked out that Friday, using the elliptical machine as was my norm, and Wyatt and I had a full weekend of errands, we saw a movie (Inception), and we went to church.  On Monday, I ran a TON of errands for just about the entire day.  I felt fine...ok a little tired considering it was about 102 degrees that day...but otherwise, I felt pretty good.  Wyatt and I went to eat at a favorite pizza place that night and I got a raspberry cream soda.  Yum!  Everything was normal in Smith pregnancy-land that night. 

Tuesday, August 17th started off a little different.  Let's just say I woke up with the distinct impression that my water was breaking.  It wasn't anything super dramatic, but enough of a difference from the norm that I thought something was happening.  So at 5 AM, I told Wyatt we probably needed to head to the hospital just to make sure it wasn't anything.  So, we finished packing up our bags (which were not finished being packed, mind you I didn't think they needed to be for another couple of weeks) and headed to the hospital. 

We arrived and were sent to labor and delivery.  There they ran some tests and concluded that my water had not broken, and I was sent home.  I felt a little dumb at this point, but I knew going in to be checked was the right thing to do regardless.  I'd read that if your water breaks the baby needs to be delivered within about 24 hours or so, so I knew we needed to be cautious.  So we went home, took a little nap, and Wyatt headed off to work.  I determined that if I wasn't going to have our boy that day then I was at least going to be productive with the remainder of the day.  So, I cleaned a little, did about 6 loads of laundry, and took a shower.  Throughout the day, I was still having water breaking symptoms, but again, it was nothing too dramatic, so I just assumed it was nothing.  At about 4:30 in the afternoon, when the symptoms were continuing, I decided it would be good to call my doctor just to make sure I shouldn't come back in to be checked again.

So, I called and my doctor said I should definitely come back in and get re-checked.  I began cramming more items into our hospital bags and called Wyatt to say that we officially had plans for the night, and they would include doctors, scrubs, and possibly some hospital food.  So, off we went to the hosptial again.  We were a little anxious at this point but still both pretty sure that we weren't having this baby yet.  The drive seemed to take forever, and it wasn't helped by the fact that we were stuck behind some car from California that maintained 15 MPH the entire time. 

Eventually, we arrived at the hospital, explained what had being going on that day, and they began running the tests again to see if my water had broken.  This time, the results were very quick and definitive.  My water had definitely broken.  Now the fun was really ready to start...  Stay tuned for Part II of the saga.

28 Weeks

On June 11th, I hit the 28 week mark!  I had a doctor's appointment that day, which included  the joyous glucose test.  Everything went pretty well; the glucose drink wasn't even that bad.  It tasted like hawaiian punch with a strange aftertaste.  I had to drink it within 5 minutes and then come back to get my blood drawn one hour later. 

In the meantime, I had the appointment with my doctor, which was pretty uneventful- the usual taking the blood pressure, listening to baby's heartbeat, getting my weight, etc.  They measured my belly, which was right on track for how many weeks along I am.  I got a good report from the doctor and was on my way.

I went back to get my blood drawn and was glad to have it over with.

This Tuesday, I got the results of my test back, and thankfully, the glucose test was normal.  Yay for that!  If you know me well, you know I love carbs, particularly sugary carbs (but really any carbs make me happy), so any limitation on that would have made for a very unhappy pregnant lady.  They did tell me I am a little anemic, so onto the iron supplements I go.  I joked with Wyatt that I guess now I have license to eat bags of sour patch kids and hunks of steak for the rest of the pregnancy.  That would be fun if I didn't know that any pounds that go on now must come off later...

Speaking of weight, I'm trying hard to stay on track for the rest of the pregnancy.  As I've mentioned before, I got a little carried away in the first trimester, and now I'm trying to be extra vigilant to make sure I stay within the weight guidelines up until the end.  It's a hard balance, though!  Strangely enough, my appetite feels just about normal now, so I'm actually having to make myself eat a little more than I usually would.  I never thought that would be hard for me, so it's been an experience. 

Wyatt and I started taking birth classes two weeks ago, and we've both learned so much!  It's good to have a better idea of what we've gotten ourselves into, even though sometimes it's a little overwhelming. 

And little mister is still moving around like crazy.  He moves around a ton at night when I've settled down.  And just this week I noticed I think he's started hiccuping.  At least three times this week I felt a rhythmic tap/bump feeling that lasted at least a few minutes each time.  It's been a fun new feeling. 

I know I need to add an updated picture, so I'll do that soon!  In the meantime, just imagine me with a 29 centimeter belly and that will give you a pretty good idea. 

6 Months/26 Weeks!

Thankfully, this week was much less eventful on the health front for me.  I made it through the week without feeling like I was going to pass out, and that made me happy.  I was able to keep working out and overall, felt good doing it.  I even ran 3 whole miles on Monday.  Was I so slow I probably could have walked faster?  Yes, but the point is that I did it.  I had to pull Ellie along with me toward the end, and that made me feel a lot better.  I might not be able to keep up with most people, but at least I can keep up with my dog. 

I hit the 6 month pregnancy mark on Thursday, May 27th, and I was 26 weeks as of Friday, May 28th.  I'm feeling great and definitely getting bigger.  One new thing this week I noticed is how well I can SEE little mister moving around in my belly.   One day this week, I looked down and it was like a wave was moving across my belly, almost as if baby was doing sommersalts in there.  I have no idea if it's normal to have a baby move around so much at this stage, but he seems to me to be extra active.  If the trend holds true after he's born, we may have a little mover and shaker on our hands. 

One of the big things on my agenda this week has been trying to get my registries in good order.  I've met with a number of good friends who have had babies to get their advice, and it's been really helpful.  I even ordered this book to help me navigate through all this stuff:

It's just still hard to know what I need and don't need.  I know I shouldn't stress over it too much, but the whole thing is just a little overwhelming to me.   I'm hoping to get it finished out soon!

25 Weeks and Strange Occurences at the Gym

On Friday I hit the 25 week mark.  Every day this whole thing gets a little more real, especially as I'm starting to move slower and feel a lot bigger.  A couple of interesting/not fun incidents happened this week after I worked out.  To give a little background, I work out over lunch on most week days, usually for 30 minutes or so on a cardio machine.  Well, on Tuesday, I went as usual, and worked out on the elliptical machine.  As I was doing my usual workout, I felt much more tired than usual and a lot more hot as well.  So, I slowed way down and decided to call it a day.  I walked back to work feeling really yucky, just very worn out, unsteady, and shaky.  I sat down and ate lunch and started to feel better within about 20 minutes. 

So, in true Amy fashion, I was determined to go again to work out on Wednesday.  I was sure that whatever ailed me on Tuesday was a fluke and I'd be fine on the next try.  Not so.  Again, I work out on the elliptical, and even with lessening the resistance and slowing down, I still feel super run down and tired.  Yet again, I call it a day and walk back to work.  On the walk in, I run into 2 coworkers and talk to them as we're about to get on the elevator.  As I get ready to get on the elevator, I feel like I'm about to fall over.  I never feel like that, other than maybe the time I ran 8 miles in super hot weather.  I think I scared my coworkers a lot, so they helped me back upstairs to my office.  The feeling again passed after sitting down for a while and eating lunch. 

I called my doctor's office and they didn't seem too worried.  They said I was fine to keep going, just to bring water with me and drink it while working out and to take breaks when I needed.  Ok, point taken.  So, on Thursday, it's attempt #3 to work out without feeling like I'm going to pass out.  I come armed with lots of water, a protein bar, and an orange.  I drank water throughout the workout, kept the resistance low, and ate the protein bar immediately afterwards.  Success!  I didn't feel sick this time afterwards.  I was really glad to know that I can still work out, just maybe not at the same intensity I'm used to.  We'll see how I hold up in the remaining months!  By the end, I may have to be ok with just walking from point A to point B. 

Other than the work out incidents, though, I'm feeling great, which I'm very thankful for.  I've been so blessed to be in good health. 

And, finally, here's an updated picture of me.  Here I'm at 25 weeks, 2 days (on 5/23). 

Roshambeaux Smith?

We're fervently trying to settle on a name, but thus far, we haven't made any decisions.  Thankfully, we have similar taste.  We both like traditional names, and we agree that because of how common our last name is, we're trying to go for a less common name.  This is no small feat!  So many traditional names that we love are super common, and it's been hard to find a less common traditional name that we both really like.  So, we'll see where we get, but we definitely haven't made a decision yet.

I don't know what the procedures are now, but when I used to work in my dad's office over the summers, multiple times I came across charts where the patient's first name was listed as "Baby Boy."  Not kidding.  I thought it couldn't be real back then, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't make something like that up and put it in someone's medical record.  Apparently "baby boy" or "baby girl" were the names given by default when parents hadn't decided on a name in time to leave the hospital with the baby. 

For now, this baby will continued to be called Roshambeaux. Hopefully we'll finalize a name soon, because I'm pretty sure he won't appreciate it if he ends up with Roshambeaux or "baby boy" as his permanent name by default.

Like a vintage (I mean rhinestone) cowboy...

We started planning the nursery just about the minute we found out it was a boy.  Since all the time leading up to the 20 week ultrasound I'd assured myself it was a girl, I hadn't thought much about themes for a boy's nursery.  But, now that we know it's a boy, there's no turning back, and I know as much as I love pink, there's no way it's going to make it into this boy's nursery. 

So we started by picking out furniture.  We went to baby's first furniture and were able to settle on something pretty quickly.  Here's what we ordered:

This is the crib, and we ordered it in the color pictured (an antique black).

Here's the hutch and dresser: 

We love the classic look of the furniture, and we hope/plan that this furniture will last for a long, long time.  The crib converts all the way to a full bed, so this boy is going to get many years of sleep time in this bed.  We ordered the furniture in mid-April, and it was supposed to be ready in 5-6 weeks, so we should be getting it very soon. 

The theme we're going for is vintage cowboy, and the colors I'd like to use are shades of aqua blue, rusty orange/red, and chocolate brown.  I would have loved to find crib bedding already done in this theme and colors, but I've yet to find something that fits the vision in my head, so it looks like we'll be having the bedding made.  I come from a long line of champion shoppers, so I'm hoping that with my mom and sister's help, we'll be able to settle on something very soon.   

I've found a few pictures of nurseries that I like.  Here's a color scheme I love:

Here are some super cute cowboy themed nurseries, just not quite in the color scheme I want:

Here are a few of the fabrics I'm considering:

And here's a lamp and chandelier that I'd love to find a way to make:

I'll keep you posted once I finally decide on fabrics and get the bedding ordered.  Hopefully it won't be long now!  And if anyone has input on good websites for fabric or baby bedding, please let me know. 

Week 24

Yesterday I had my 24 week appointment.  This was another very quick appointment.  They checked my blood pressure, weight, and listened to the baby's heart beat.  I was really glad about my weight.  Let's just say I went a bit food crazy at the beginning of my pregnancy, so now I'm focusing on making sure I stay within the recommended weight gain allowances for the remaining weeks.  I did really well this past month, so I'm glad my hard work and restraint paid off. 

One new thing they did was measure my belly from top to bottom.  I'm not completely sure the significance of this, but I'm pretty sure the number of centimeters your belly measures is supposed to be about the same as the number of weeks along you are.  For me, it was right on par.  My belly measured 24 centimeters, and I was exactly 24 weeks along on the day of the appointment.  I guess this means that at the end of the pregnancy, my belly should be measuing about 40 centimeters...  Yikes! 

Overall, everything looked great.  Next appointment, I'll take the glucose test to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes.  I've heard the glucose drink is not very tasty, so that will be an interesting experience.  I'm praying hard I don't have gestational diabetes- mainly because I know it's not good for me or the baby, but also because I am NOT a happy camper if I am not allowed free reign to eat lots and lots of carbs.  Carbs and I are good friends. 

I'm still working out 5-6 times a week, and in general, enjoying it. Using the elliptical machine feels just about normal to me, but running became a lot more difficult right about when I hit 20 weeks. If I go slow enough, it's fine, but if I go anywhere above a really slow jog, it's not pleasant at all. So, if you see a pregnant lady jogging really really really slowly, possibly also with an impatient dog, it's probably me! I'm going to keep it up for as long as I can; hopefully it will be for many more weeks. 

To sum it up, at 24 weeks, I'm defintiely feeling large, but overall, doing great.  I need to post a new belly picture soon, so hopefully I'll get that done this weekend.

And it's a....

BOY! 

We went to have the 20 week ultrasound on April 13th.  As advised by my friend Katy, I made sure to drink something sugary beforehand.  My beverage of choice was orange Fanta, and wow, this baby didn't know what to make of it.  I don't usually drink soda unless it's diet, and haven't been drinking even diet soda throughout the pregnancy (ok, fine, maybe I did have 1 diet coke in a moment of weakness).  So I think baby Smith was a little surprised by the all sugar and carbonation.  He was moving around like crazy right at the time of the appointment.  I got a little worried that the sugar was going to wear off; they were running over an hour behind on their schedule.  But, come ultrasound time, thankfully, baby was still very active. 

The first part of the ultrasound, I was with the ultrasound technician by myself.  She took all of the needed measurements, and it was so fun getting to see baby for so long.  The technician did check the anatomy to determine if it was a boy or a girl, but since Wyatt wasn't in the room with me yet, I opted to wait until he joined me to find out. 

At this point, Wyatt was allowed into the room.  The radiologist came in and did a detailed scan of the heart.  He said that at this point in the pregnancy, the baby's heart is the size of your pinky fingernail.  Amazing!  He zoomed in on the heart and was able to show us how the blood was flowing into the different chambers of the heart and in different directions.  It's so amazing how intricate the human body is, even at this stage, and how we as humans have absolutely no control over or part in it.  God is definitely a god of creation and details!

After the radiologist gave us the thumbs up and said everything looked good, it was time for the big reveal.  The ultrasound technician gave Wyatt a look at the baby and showed him hands, feet and head.  During this part, the technician caught baby pulling on the umbilical cord, and we were able to see it too.  I'm pretty sure baby was yanking in an effort to get more orange Fanta, but I'd run out of my supply by that point.  Sorry baby!

Finally, the moment arrived, and the ultrasound technician showed us that it was definitely a boy!  I was pretty shocked.  I told myself beforehand that I didn't know what it was and I was happy either way, and while the latter was and still is true, I think I was expecting a girl more than I'd admitted to myself.  I don't know why, but I'd convinced myself that it was a girl, so when she said it was definitely a boy, I asked "are you sure?"  Almost all of our friends and family have boys, so I guess in my mind, assuming the odds amongst our circle of friends and family are collective, it was likely to be a girl.  But, not so!  It's a boy, and although it took me a while to get used to the idea, we are definitely excited and beyond blessed. 

Wyatt is excited to have a future hunting, fishing, and general man-activity partner, and I'm so excited just to get to know this baby boy and to figure out what boys are all about. 

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound:

The feet...

Hands...

3d profile...looks a little funny, but it's fun to see his face...

Profile...

And another profile.  It looks like he's either sucking his thumb here or ready to punch something.

 After the ultrasound, we went for our regular appointment with the doctor, and it was very quick.  They took my blood pressure, listened to the baby's heart beat, and checked my weight (my least favorite part).  My doctor reviewed the ultrasound report and said everything looked great! 

We then sent out mass text messages to let people know the news, which was a lot of fun.  We called my parents who were still in Israel on a trip, and they were very excited. 

Now it's on to picking out names, nursery themes, furniture, and all that other fun stuff.  Lots of decisions to be made!  We are excited and so thankful. 

Week 19

Today I am officially at 19 weeks- so close to being at the halfway mark!  I am still feeling great so no complaints there.  The main thing I've noticed lately is that I'm having some problems with balance.  I was on the elliptical machine yesterday working out and I had to grab the handlebars at least twice to keep myself from totally falling off.  You wouldn't think the elliptical machine would be a high risk exercise, but I guess for me, at this stage, it is.  I took Ellie running on Wednesday and I think she was happy that I was moving slower than usual.  Pretty soon she's probably going to be dragging me down the sidewalk.   

All the books say that swimming is a great exercise to do while pregnant, so I'm hoping to start back up on that again.  I swam a fair amount last spring and summer to train for a triathlon, so it will be good to get back into it.  I have no idea where to find a maternity swim suit for swimming laps, so I'm sure that's going to be an adventure in and of itself.  We'll see what I find, but DON'T expect to see any pictures of it. 

Baby is moving a lot still, which I love.  The other day I was driving in to work, listening to some cheezy pop song, and baby seemed to love it.  I don't usually feel baby move in the morning at all, so this child must be a fan of dorky pop just like mama.  Wyatt, looks like you may be in for it!

We have our big ultrasound this coming Tuesday (4/13), where they'll check to see if baby is a boy or a girl, and also scan baby's anatomy to make sure everything is developing normally.  We are so excited the day is finally drawing close! 

At 19 weeks, baby is supposed to be about the size of a large heirloom tomato now, about 8 1/2 ounces.  Too bad we don't have a garden right now or I just might have an example of what this looks like.

Week 17

I'm at 17 weeks 2 days now, and still feeling great.  I had another checkup on Friday, and everything was good.  Baby's heart beat was at a strong 150 BPM.  I was so happy Wyatt was there with me for this appointment; this was his first time hearing the heart beat.  It is so reassuring to hear that baby is doing well.  I had another round of blood drawn for more tests; we should get results at our next appointment. 

The next appointment I'll have is the one where we'll find out if it's a boy or girl, so the time is definitely drawing near.  We are ready to know!

Either I'm highly delusional or I've been regularly feeling baby kick since this Wednesday.  It's been the same feeling since it first started, and although it's getting more regular, it's still a bit of a strange feeling.  It's crazy that something that small can exert enough force that you can feel it.  According to a baby website, this week baby is about the size of a turnip (around 5 ounces). 

Here's a picture of me yesterday, at 17 weeks 1 day.

I think it's safe to say I'm showing now...

Houston, we (think we) have baby movement!

I'm pretty positive I first felt the baby move yesterday.  I was at work, and I felt a definite wiggling, almost the feeling of someone tapping me on my belly (but of course, it was in my belly).  It happened probably 8 times within a couple of minutes.  I'm almost positive this was the real deal because it was a definite feeling of movement, not just a faint flutter (like a muscle twitch), and it felt like it was happening in the right place (rather than underneath my rib).  It was so exciting to feel; my heart actually started racing.  I'm hoping to keep feeling these from here on out, mainly because it helps me know that baby is doing well, but also slightly to prove to myself that I'm not totally delusional. 

I am excited for a fun weekend.  Wyatt and I are off to a date night tonight.  We may even be crazy and go see a movie after dinner.  We'll see. 

Happy (almost) weekend everyone! 

Random Encounter

So this past weekend I went to Austin to visit my sister.  We did a lot of shopping, eating, and lounging, so all in all, it was a great time.  One funny/disturbing incident that I have to share.

My sister and I go to Target on Friday evening, looking for various things that are on our list (and no, the movie New Moon was not on the list, why do you ask?).  As we're in the entertainment section (again, not desperately searching for New Moon and wondering why it isn't on the shelves yet), we witness a family's inner workings in the video games aisle. 

There's a mom, a boy (maybe 10 years old?) and two other siblings (I think).  The boy is holding up a video game and is on the cell phone at the same time.  The mom is looking on.  The boy says "Hi dad, can I have this video game?"  (Can't remember what the name of it was.)  "It's rated R for extreme violence, blood, nudity, sexual situations, adult situations..."   And I think he even listed a few other items after that, I just can't remember what they were.  His mom is just standing by her son through all of this, calmly awaiting a decision. 

I didn't stay to see what happened (kind of wish I had now).  As I walked off, my first instinct was to laugh at this.  How many more really bad things did this kid have to list off for the mom to just take the game away and say no?  Then the more I thought about it, my emotion was more sadness than amusement.  I don't at all think I'm going to be a perfect parent, but I pray I'll know enough to know that a 10 year old shouldn't be playing a game that involves extreme violence, blood, nudity, etc. 

To end on a lighter note, the New Moon movie was released on Saturday, not Friday, and was at Sam's on sale for $20.88 at 7 AM that morning, not that we were interested.

Slight Change in Plans and Updates

So I said in my last post that our big ultrasound was scheduled for Thursday, April 15th.  Well, the appointment was moved to Tuesday, April 13th, because my Doctor wasn't going to be in the office on the 15th.  Not a huge change, but I'm happy that the appointment was moved up rather than back, since this waiting thing is hard!

In other news, I know I could start feeling baby move at any point now.  I've been trying to be extra alert to notice when it first happens, but I can't definitively say that it has yet.  It's hard to tell, since I've never felt anything like it before, so it's hard to know what to expect.  I keep getting these strange muscle twitches under my rib, and for a second I wondered if that could be it.  Then I thought a little harder and realized that the likelihood that the baby is all the way up under a rib this early in the pregnancy isn't high.  So, I'm still waiting! 

Wyatt and I are hopefully going to start looking at baby furniture this weekend, which should be fun.  I found a great store that I'm excited to take Wyatt to.  I'm also trying to get a good jump on getting registered.  It's a little overwhelming considering I know next to nothing about baby stuff, but thankfully I'm not at a shortage of friends who have recently had kids, so I'm hoping to bribe one of them with ice cream or something to get them to come with me to do battle at BabysRus.  It will be an adventure, I'm sure. 

Oh, and yes, I know I need to put up a new picture of my belly.  I wish I could get by with my picture at 5 weeks, but I know that's not going to cut it.  Funny how excited you get for belly pictures when someone else is having a baby.  When it's YOU having the baby, let's just say it isn't quite as fun.  Still a little fun, but also a little bit on the shocking side too.  So all that is to say, I hope to get a 17 week picture up this weekend.

Boy or Girl?

We are scheduled for the big ultrasound on April 15th.  This is the ultrasound where they determine if it's a boy or a girl (assuming baby cooperates).  We are very anxious for this appointment; I can't wait to know.  I think knowing if it's a boy or a girl will make the pregnancy even more personal for me.  We will see! 

At this point, neither of us really has a strong feeling about whether it's a boy or a girl.  I lean slightly toward it being a girl; I'm not sure why other than just feeling like that's what it is.  Wyatt leans slightly toward it being a boy, again not for any real specific reason. 

At my 13 week ultrasound (the nuchal translucency study), I thought I might have seen something to indicate that it was a boy, but considering that half the time I can't figure out which end is the head, I don't think this is a really reliable way to make a prediction. 

We really hope to find out on April 15th.  At that point, baby shopping is ON.  I can't wait to start buying stuff for baby, but I just can't get myself to do it now since I feel like I need to know boy or girl first. 

Any predictions out there?  Do you think baby Smith will be a boy or a girl? 

And before people start suggesting names, we are already set no matter which way it goes: Ubifida (nickname: Biffy) for a girl, and Varcarious (nickname: Varcy) for a boy.* 

*Before everyone starts freaking out, yes this is a joke.  One of our favorite hobbies has been coming up with outlandish/terrible baby names and  trying to pass them off on friends, thus far, to no avail.