Baby S Collection!

I've added a button to the header of the blog titled Baby S. You can click on here at any time and be brought back to this page - a collection of all the baby-related posts we've written to get caught up on our little blessing due June 2013. :-)


We're Expecting!

The Big Reveal

Little Bean's First Gifts!

Praise You in This Storm

First Trimester Collection

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

Week 18

We're excited to announce that Baby S...

Week 19

Week 20

Week 21

Baby Girl's Heartbeat (at Week 22)

Baby Girl's Growing Closet

Week 22

Week 23

Houston, We Have Movement!

Week 24

Week 25

Week 26

Second Trimester Recap

Too Early to Ground?!

Week 27

Week 28

Week 29

Babymoon in Mexico

Baby Girl Name Reveal...

Week 30

Madison's First Baby Shower

Madison's Second Baby Shower

Week 31

Week 32

Stay tuned for more to come!

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First Trimester Collection

I haven't been very good posting updates on how the actual pregnancy has been going (symptoms and appointments) besides the initial announcement (read here), how we told our family (read here), and the scare that we had right after finding out we were expecting (click here).

Since I am about to hit the second trimester mark, I thought it would be a good time to capture everything that we want to remember from the first trimester. It's going to be a long post so grab a cup of coffee and get reading! ;-)

First Trimester Symptoms -

1. Morning sickness. Granted, taking the progesterone every morning made it really difficult to get going and I didn't feel great, but I never got sick. Then two days after I stopped taking the progesterone I got sick. I emailed my doctor and he said he had heard of that happening before and that it was perfectly fine. Probably not the word I would use to describe getting sick, but understandable. The rest of that week was a bit of a struggle, but only in the morning. I also realized that I wasn't eating enough at night and I added a yogurt before bed and since then I've been fine. Overall, I would call it a huge success that I was only sick once during the first trimester!

2. Fatigue. Um, yes. In my defense we were also trying to study for the PE exam, get the house ready to put on the market, finish up everything at work and getting ready for the big move to Norway (read here). Yet I still found plenty of time to nap despite hating to nap. I would come home from work, sleep for 20 min, then get up and study for 4 hours and go to bed. Talk about ridiculous! I've started to get more energy, but still a bit sleepy. Fortunately my new office has a nap room. Yep, you read that right, they have a room with a bed and pillow in it dedicated for napping to anyone who needs a rest. I ventured to find said room this past week at work... that 30 min power nap was amazing!

3. Food aversions and cravings. The oddest (and only) food aversion I had was a week when I couldn't eat sweets. Anyone that knows me then knows that something is gravely wrong with that sentence. We even had our 8 week appointment during that time and I had the audacity to tell the doctor that I didn't think the baby was mine because I hadn't been able to eat sweets. Jason just shook his head in embarrassment  I told them we could figure out the mixup later, but that I was positive the kids was not mine if it didn't like sweets.

Jason would accuse me of having cravings, but fortunately they haven't been anything extreme. I saw someone eating taco bell when we went to sell my car at CarMax and I made him stop and get me a doritos loco taco on the way home. Then last week we were at the grocery store and I saw ramen - those disgusting noodles that cost $.15 ($.50 in Norway) that you ate in college because you were broke - and nothing could have sounded more delicious for dinner. Jason would like me to make it known that he ate real food that night and definitely not ramen. ;-)

Overall though, I have been able to eat really healthy since we got to Norway. We made sure to get our share of our favorite restaurants and foods before we left Houston. Since the move and eating healthier here plus getting outdoors and hiking, I found that I have actually lost 7-8 pounds from my 8 week appointment to my 12 week appointment. I had become slightly fat pants since our hike to Peru and was slightly overweight when we got pregnant so the weight loss isn't something to be concerned about.

I've also gotten to the point where I am tired of eating. My sister-in-law made that comment when she was pregnant with her first and I thought she was crazy (who doesn't love to eat?!). But now, when I cannot finish my dinner and proceed to get hungry again two hours later and have to eat, I know understand what she meant. (This really is Jason's baby with a super high metabolism. Grrr.) It's like I have this trigger telling me when to stop (which I think I ignored a lot of the time pre-pregnancy...), but now you cannot ignore it or I feel like I would get sick. I stopped mid-cookie this past weekend and told Jason if I ate one more bite I think I would be sick and handed it to him.

4. Body changes. I really haven't noticed much here. Since I am not showing at all it really doesn't feel like I am pregnant. I was glad to have the 12 week ultrasound to make sure something was still in there since I felt totally normal!

We decided to take pictures each week to document my growth progress (or lack thereof in my case...) I was quite bloated week 9, but that seems to have decreased (perhaps the biggest reason for the weight loss...?)

Doctor Appointments

1. 5 Weeks. We also got to have a very early ultrasound and see our little one at just 5 weeks when the doctor was following up on my levels of progesterone and checking to make sure we were still pregnant. Granted there is not much to see and the doctor had to draw the lines on there to measure and help us know exactly where the heck the baby was at inside there!

Fortunately, the Lord had His hand of protection around us and our little one. The prayers of a few close friends and family helped us through the difficult time we had early in the pregnancy. I continued taking progesterone through week 10 of the pregnancy. It was probably the most horrific thing about my first trimester. I literally started crying every time my alarm went off and I had to take another dose. So glad that's over with now!!

2. 8 Weeks. We had an appointment with my regular obgyn at week 8 before we left Houston to see the heartbeat and make sure things were still looking good.

We didn't do any pre-natal screening as the doctor's office since it would be a hassle to try and get the results and transfer them to Norway, but she did perform an ultrasound and we got to see Little Bean's heartbeat!

3. 12 Weeks. Last Friday was my first appointment with a private doctor here in Norway. There is a lot more to share regarding the healthcare system here and I'll do that in another blog post soon. (There are quite a few difference between having a baby here and one in the States and we are still learning about their system.)

She did an ultrasound since it was my first visit, but explained to me that normally they only do an ultrasound at 18 weeks. We were glad to be able to sneak in an extra one because it was the first time to actually look like a baby! It also scared the crap out of Jason and I because the baby was moving, squirming, twisting, and JUMPING the entire time! Even the doctor was surprised at the amount of movement and switched the screen to 3D just in time for us to see the little one fist bump me and kick out! And I would like to state that I have ZERO caffeine before this appointment. If our child is moving that much at week 12 I am scared for what the future holds... We both stared at the screen in awe while the doctor laughed and told us to sign up for volleyball and soccer now!

We are praising the Lord for everything that He's blessed us with and we are so grateful for this opportunity to become parents to a (hyper) little angel. :-)

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Praise You in This Storm

The blog title is what I originally called this post back on Oct. 15 when I first wrote it. I decided to keep the name since I don't know what else I would call it.

I kept meaning to share the post once we found out the wonderful news, but never really found a good time. Now that we are nearing the end of the first trimester and we had our first appointment in Norway last week (more to come on that later), I wanted to make sure and capture my thoughts and feelings during that time.

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Oct. 15, 2012 - As I sit here writing this blog post, the title is most appropriate on a couple of levels. First, it's pouring rain outside and second, Jason and I are remembering that the Lord is sovereign and works everything to glorify and honor Him. We have to keep praying and turning to Him for strength right now.

You're probably pretty confused at this point so let's take a walk together. Imagine that you just found out you are 5 weeks pregnant. You are overjoyed and thrilled at the prospect of a little bean growing inside you. You plan a wonderful surprise for announcing it to your hubby. You get him a congratulations card, put the positive test in a bag (because no one wants to touch your pee stick), and last, but not least, the little onesie that you purchased months previous that says "Daddy's Future Race Car Driver" on it with a picture of your husband racing. The two of you hold one another and praise the Lord for the little blessing you've just received.

You spend the next day thinking you have a fun secret that you don't want to tell, but it's constantly on your mind. You already start planning how you are going to tell your family in a couple of weeks and start making those arrangements. You call you obgyn and make an appt for 8 weeks so that you will be able to get an ultrasound and see your little bean for the first time.

You smile everytime your husband tenderly touches your stomach and calls you mama. You take your 5 week picture in front of the fireplace with an outfit that you plan to wear throughout the pregnancy for size comparison. You have to document everything because it's your first one!! You impulsively buy a baby bag, a maternity top, and a couple pairs of maternity pants on Zulily, the worst site ever if you watching spending because you know you are moving to Norway soon and it will be nice to have a few items purchased here.

Then you remember that you need to call your reproductive endocrinologist - the doctor that you've spent the last year working with since you went off birth control February 2011 and didn't get your cycles regulated until you did hormone therapy February 2012. You saw him the day before you ovulated and got confirmation that things were looking good finally and you should have no trouble getting pregnant on your own. He wanted you to let him know what happened and so you call the office to tell them the great news! You leave a message with the nurse and a couple hours receive a phone call back. They tell you that you need to come in for blood work immediately. They are about to close so first thing tomorrow morning. You don't panic, but start to get a little wary as to the urgency of the visit...

The following morning you pray with your husband for the Lord to protect your little bean and to give you peace about the appt. You go in, expecting the doctor to just confirm the pregnancy and check your thyroid levels, but notice on the lab sheet that he's circled a test for progesterone. You think back to your fertility "bible" Taking Charge of Your Fertility and recall that before ovulation your levels of estrogen peak, but after ovulation your levels of progesterone peak. You still don't worry too much, but also remember you have a shorter luteal phase that concerned you while you were tracking the past few months and had inquired about at your last appt.

That afternoon you get a phone call that stops your heart. The nurse tells you that you are pregnant still (still, what the heck?), but that your levels of progesterone are too low to sustain a pregnancy. They are sending you to a compounding pharmacy as soon as possible and you need to start taking straight 200 mg doses every 8 hours, no exceptions. The nurse says this will eaither cause your levels to go up or it won't and the pregnancy wasn't meant to be. They want to see you next week to do blood work again and an ultrasound if you are still pregnant.

You are processing what all of this means while trying to write down the information she's giving you about the pharmacy when your husband walks into the kitchen. He sees your distress and immediately puts his hand on your shoulder to try and comfort you. You receive a list of things you are not supposed to do, a few of which you've already violated just that morning! Don't lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk (you spent the morning hanging blinds), don't exercise (you hiked 3 miles the previous weekend and have been running around cleaning), and relax (can you please define the word and use it in a sentence? do you realize everything that we have going on right now?)

You hang up and go over everything with your husband through the tears that you cannot control. He grabs you and holds you tightly and begins to pray that the Lord will give us strength to trust Him, strength for little bean to keep fighting, and protection over you and the baby you are carrying. It takes everything you have to try and calm down and for the next hours start crying uncontrollably on-and-off. You get to the pharmacy and begin taking the drug that might save your little bean's life.

There's nothing more you can do, but wait and pray and praise. Wait for your next appt Wednesday to see what's happening. Pray that the Lord will protect little bean. You know He loves little bean already more than you ever will and you trust that you will meet little bean one day - but you are praying that it's in 9 months, not in heaven. You remind yourself that the Lord has a purpose for your life and that His timing in everything is perfect. You praise Him for His timing of going to the doctor Friday and starting on the medicine. You praise Him that you were able to get pregnant since you know children are a blessing that not everyone receives. You praise Him for his goodness, kindness, and love and hold to the hope that things are going to work out for your little bean.
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We praise the Lord every day for the little blessing that we have growing inside me. We went back to the doctor the following week for my follow-up appointment. The doctor did an ultrasound and told us the wonderful news...everything looked great! He did more blood work to check my levels and told me to keep taking the progesterone through week 10 of the pregnancy.

Here is our first ultrasound picture from that appointment -

We are so grateful for His amazing love and timing in everything! We are overjoyed and thrilled to meet our little one next year and raise him or her up knowing and trusting the Lord in everything they do. Thank you again Lord for the opportunity to raise up this child and love him or her.

Psalm 127:3-5 NIV 1984
Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

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