Baby Bedding

So Jake and I have narrowed down our selection of baby bedding we like. He picked out the boy bedding, and I picked out the girl bedding. Since we aren't registering for any bedding things because we'll have no idea what we're having until the baby shower, I thought I'd share our choices.

For a baby girl the choices are:

And the choices for a boy:

We are slowly but surely working on our registry. It's proving to be a little difficult picking everything out from a computer screen instead of seeing it in person in the store, let alone not even being together to see the items. But it's coming along! I can't believe we'll be home (hopefully) in a little over a month!!!! Yay!!!!!!

Love you all!

Mommy, Daddy, Baby L

Home Doppler Use

So last night my mom and I were finding the baby's heart beat with my doppler. The sound was soooo faint that the doppler didn't even pick it up and read out a bpm. I held it in the exact same position for a while and all the sudden it got super loud! Baby must have had his or her back to us and first and then turned around! It was the neatest thing! While you could hear the heart beat in a steady rhythm there'd be a very brief static noise randomly every 10-15 seconds. My mom and I figured that was the baby swinging or kicking his or her legs and when they got in the way it created the static. It was the sweetest thing. After a while the heart beat got super faint again and I kept telling baby to turn around (of course he can't hear yet) so I started poking my belly in different places and when I poked near the doppler he turned back around the the heart beat got super loud again! It was the sweetest and most precious thing in the world! It's just so crazy to think that there's a tiny baby inside of me moving around all the time and he's got the reflexes to move when poked and everything! Our baby is just so perfect!

I just had to share with everyone!

Oh ya, the heart rate was between 145-150. He's been at a constant 150 for a long time now. I think that's a good sign!  :)

14 Weeks

Wow! This week has really flown by! I think that's because my mom is here visiting, and it's so nice to see her and get out and do something fun every day!

So baby Lester is 14 weeks today! He or she is about the size of a lemon, about 3.5 inches long and weighs between 1.5-2 ounces. He or she is also sprouting hairs all over his or her body called lanugo which helps keep baby warm since he has no fat at all. He is also working out his facial muscles by squinting, frowning, grimacing, and they say if I got an ultrasound now I could even see my baby sucking his or her thumb! How precious! Baby is also now peeing out into the amniotic fluid because the kidneys are in full force. The liver is also making bile this week and the spleen is helping in the production of red blood cells. Baby's leg and arm movements inside used to be jerky, but now they are more smooth and controlled. Speaking of arms and legs, his or her feet and hands are half an inch long! I hope soon I'll be able to feel those little arms and legs move around!

So Jake and I are thinking it could possibly be a girl more than a boy now. We've both had dreams that we were having a baby girl. I guess it won't be too much longer until we find out- August is only a little over a month away!!

My belly has definitely grown a lot this week. I'm in the "is she fat or pregnant?" stage, but that's ok. My pants are finally starting to get a little tight when I wear them. I bet within the next week or two I won't be able to button them without being uncomfortable.

I had a group appointment yesterday. It's something new called Centering Pregnancy where small groups of girls (about 8-12) who all have a due date within the same month get together once a month with a midwife. We track our weight and blood pressure and get to hear the heart beat each time (baby's was 150 yesterday! She found it as soon as she put the doppler on my belly!) Yesterday our session was all about nutrition, next month it's about exercising while pregnant. The spouses or dad's can also come to the meetings. I had my mom go with me which was a great idea! She loved it and I loved having her there!

Here is my belly picture from this morning! I love the fact that it's only going to get bigger from here on out because that means our precious little one is growing!

Nana also bought baby some new outfits! 

Until next Friday,

Mommy, Daddy, and Baby L

Random

I think my belly has grown over night. I felt extra big today. In our town there's a Target right next door to a Babies R Us. I went into Target first and I felt like everyone was staring at me because my belly was stretching out my shirt. And then I go into Babies R Us and not a single person looked at me funny. I loved the feeling of just walking around in there looking at all the baby stuff knowing that our baby will be here in just a little over 6 months!

I've been looking at girls bedding a lot because I feel like all girls bedding looks the same, just flowers and butterflies, well I FINALLY found some that I'm in love with. If we have a boy that's still undecided, they have so many more options! But here's the girl bedding I want

If you can't tell by the picture, it's girly looking giraffe, elephant and zebra. And on the border of the blanket is different animal print like lime green flowers, zebra, and hot pink polka dots. They had the whole set up in the store where they display their cribs and I fell in love. 

My mom comes into town tomorrow! I'm so excited to see her! I'm sure Leila is also excited too. We'll see what my mom thinks of Lucy. hahah

P.S.- I just bought a new refill for my AirWick plug in warmers and I'm obsessed with the new scent I got. It's white peach and magnolia. Go try it out! 

P.P.S.- Happy Father's Day to all the daddy's out there! I know my brother and I were blessed to have a great father, Gary Hattock! My brother, Jake, and father-in-law all deserve a special father's day too!  :)

Ok, I love you all!

.

Helllooooo Second Trimester

Wahoo!! We made it everyone! I'm officially in the second trimester, I'm 13 weeks along today!

Baby this week is the size of a peach (approx 3" and over an ounce in weight!)!  I bought some peaches at the grocery store and I couldn't believe that there was a little baby inside of me that big already! This week baby's vocal cords are in the making! I won't be able to hear baby cry of course until after the birth. Most babies up until this point grow at about the same rate but from here on out babies grow at all different rates. Also this week, fingerprints have formed on baby's fingers! The head makes up 1/3 of the total body, but the body will begin to catch up in the up and coming weeks.  If we are having a girl she already has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries!

I heard and read online that when you're pregnant with a boy you crave more greasy/meaty foods and when you're pregnant with a girl you crave more fruits and veggies. I thought this entire time we were having a boy but I might be changing my mind! I couldn't even stand the thought of meat earlier and not until just this last week had I really eaten any chicken, hamburger, etc... I had to eat protein bars to get an appropriate amount of protein intake.

Today I signed up for WIC. It's a nutritional program for pregnant moms and moms of young children. You get these food checks at your appointments for you to purchase fruits and veggies, milk, cheese, eggs, bread, cereal, and juices. They're really particular in what you can buy, only whole grain, only low fat milk, etc... I got over $24 in groceries for free today so I can't complain. The only thing is that I had to buy a gallon and a half of milk today and there's no way I can drink all of that before it expires! haha! And once baby is born I'll get checks to purchase baby food.


So far I've lost 6 lbs since before I was pregnant. At my ultrasound appointment on May 31 I was only down 4 lbs, but they weighed me today at my WIC appointment. My midwife didn't seem concerned at all with my weight loss but the WIC nutritionist did. I have to go back next month to make sure I've gained some weight. They say starting in the second trimester I'm supposed to gain about 1 pound per week. Since my nausea was never really bad I think I lost the weight because I've just been eating super healthy. I'm trying to take care of my body the best I can right now. Besides, living with Jake we'd have meat everyday of the week (he's such a carnivore!) and since I haven't eaten much meat so far in this pregnancy and focused more on whole grain, and fresh, organic foods I feel as if that's why I've lost weight. Baby was measuring big at my ultrasound and my belly is growing so I'm sure everything is okay. I'll ask my midwife when I see her June 23.

Speaking of June 23 I have a group meeting with my midwife. It's something called "Centering Pregnancy" where it's a group of about 20 women with due dates all within a couple weeks of each other. We get together once a month with a midwife and we discuss something different each time. For example, breastfeeding, nutrition, exercising, etc... The naval hospital here provides this service and I think it's a great way to ask questions and learn more information about my pregnancy.

As far as Jake and I's plan to come back home in August, it is looking like Friday, August 12 as the potential day we'll be back. We have our gender ultrasound scheduled for August 9 and we didn't want to wait long after that so Jake didn't have to keep it a secret for too long!  ;)  We aren't sure how long we'll be home. It stinks that driving from CA to MO and back takes up 4 days of Jake's leave, but as soon as we know we'll let you guys know. But as always, dates can change so just be on the lookout for updated info. I forgot to tell you guys also that I have changed my mind about finding out the sex at our gender ultrasound. Only Jake will find out at the appointment and I'm going to be surprised along with the rest of you all about whether we're having a boy or girl and we'll find out at the baby shower!

EDIT:I bought a fetal heart doppler from Ebay and received it in the mail today. I found baby's heartbeat after about 10 minutes of searching and it's still a good pace of 150 beats per minute.

And oh my goodness, if you read all of this, give yourself a round of applause. I feel like I have more I could write about but I'll stop here. I'll close it out with my belly picture from this morning.  :)

I think my belly has finally "popped" You can really tell if you click on the picture; which enlarges it. I don't think it's bloating anymore, I'm finally starting to show!!! Yay!!!!!

Love you all,

Mommy, Daddy, Baby L

Call Me Crazy

Call me crazy but sometimes I get butterflies in my tummy for no reason at all. I can be sitting there watching tv and get them. People tell me that when baby moves that it feels like butterflies but it's WAY too early in the pregnancy to feel the baby! I'm also sure it's not the baby because I get the butterflies kinda higher up in my tummy and I know that baby is still in my lower abdomen.

Can anyone explain what it is I'm feeling?

Saying Goodbye to the First Trimester

Hi everyone! I am 12 weeks along today which means it's the last week of being in the first trimester!! I can't believe the pregnancy is already 1/3 over!

Baby makes some exciting improvements this week. He or she is just over 2.5" and has nearly doubled in size in the last three weeks! Little baby weighs half an ounce now too! By now most of the body systems have formed and now baby is just in the maintenance phase. The digestive system is beginning to practice contraction movements and the urinary system starts producing urine this week. The pituitary gland has started producing hormones and bone marrow is making white blood cells. One of the coolest features of this week is that baby is learning reflexes! Fingers are opening and closing, the mouth makes sucking movements, toes will curl and eyes will clench. They say if I poke my belly that baby would move in response to it by now, but I still won't be able to feel it for a while. It's hard to believe that baby pretty much has all of his or her body systems and is now just going to grow and mature for the rest of the 28 weeks inside my belly.

My symptoms are beginning to calm down. Although, I'm still really tired/exhausted all the time. Also, my sense of smell is still very strong and I start gagging when I open up the trash can to throw something away. I've got these cool new chewable prenatal vitamins that taste like gummy bears! They make taking the vitamins much easier because I still have a hard time swallowing pills.

They say in about 4 weeks baby will begin to hear my voice! Even though I read to baby now, sometimes I'm sure he doesn't like to hear about medical assisting, I just want him to know the sound of my voice and for it to be soothing to him.

Here's the 12 week pic. It looks so similar to the 10 week pic, I have no idea what happened week 11...I deflated some. But I think this is the true beginning of a bump though and not just bloating (that's what I'm blaming the big 10 week pic on)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! Another week closer to seeing everyone!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy and Baby L

Dear Baby

To my sweet little Prince or Princess,

I found a poem that is close to summing up my feelings right now.

Before you were conceived,
I wanted you.
Before you were born,
I loved you.
Before you were here an hour,
I would give my life for you.
This is the miracle of life.
-Maureen Hawkins-


There is nothing in this world that brings me more happiness than you do. I have only known about your for less than two months and you have already made the biggest impact on my life than anyone in this world. You are a part of me; you are my blood, you are my heart, you are my soul, you are my child.

My whole life I've dreamt of becoming a mother- from pregnancy to you starting your own family- I've dreamt of you. I've dreamt of what you would look like, what hobbies you would enjoy, the friends you would make, the relationship that we would have, I've dreamt of it all. You aren't even here yet and you have made me the happiest woman in the world. Everything in my life up to this point I have done for you. Now that you are here and now that this is real, no words can describe how I feel.

I want you to know that this was not an easy road to get to, but that is what makes you even more special. Your daddy and I have been through many struggles- long distances and long separations, and we have been waiting for you for a very long time. You are the best gift that God could ever give us and we are so incredibly thankful and blessed that He has given us the chance to become your parents.

I also want you to know that Dad and I will never give up on you. We will always love you with every ounce of our being. We are going to be new parents so we will make mistakes, but your best interest will always be at the forefront of our minds. You already are our whole world and I can not tell you enough how much I love you.

Sometimes there will be nights and days where Daddy can't be here, but know that he is always inside your heart. Also know that he is thinking of you every second of every day and he can not wait to come home and see you again. I will always show you pictures and videos of him, play recordings of him reading you your favorite bedtime stories, and we can even sing Daddy's silly songs. I know the days and nights will seem long without him, but just as Daddy says, another day down another day closer.

If I only had one wish in life it would be that you were always happy. No matter how life turns out you have to have a positive outlook on things. See every obstacle as just a bump in the road and a lesson learned. Know that it is okay to make mistakes, just look back and see what could have been done differently and move on. Know that working hard will always pay off and be kind to the people you meet. But ultimately, no matter what you choose to do or what path you take, I want you to be happy.

Baby, I can not wait for this long, wonderful journey that is ahead of us. As a family we can conquer anything.

I love you so much.

Love,
Mommy

Is it a boy or girl?!

As many of you know, Jake and I will be coming home in late August/early September! (Finally, right?) We'll be finding out the sex of our baby as close as a few days before we start heading back home. And while we're back we're planning on having a gender neutral baby shower. Jake and I are going to be the only people who know if it's a boy or girl and at the shower we're going to also have a gender revealing party!! Before the party, Jake and I will make the cake and dye it pink or blue and cover it with frosting so no one can see it. At the baby shower we will cut into the cake and reveal the gender to you all! We think that's a pretty special way to tell you all whether we're having a boy or girl. We can't wait to see the look on everyone's face!

I just had to share our idea with you all! Can't wait to see you in a couple months!

love,
the 3 of us

11 Weeks

It's hard to believe we're almost done with the first trimester already!! I am 11 weeks along today and baby is the size of a fig or plum. (But based on the ultrasound, our little boy or girl is a grower and is always on the bigger end of the size range each week!) But at 11 weeks some of the bones are hardening and the little hands are forming fists. The testes or ovaries are fully formed but we won't be able to find out the sex until the beginning on August. But as you could see in the ultrasound video (linked in last post) our little baby is quite the acrobat! He or she was doing flips and wiggling around and waving. I loved watching baby move!

But we finally made the big announcement to everyone else! It seems as if everyone is extremely supportive of us and we couldn't be more blessed with great friends and family!

Here is my 11 week belly picture. Not too much of a difference between this week and last week. 

We hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy and Baby L