Our sweet beautiful baby

Today was the day! Today I finally got to hear our little one's heartbeat and finally see him or her. I cried during the whole thing. But yep, there's only one baby inside of me so my feeling about multiples was wrong. Our baby is so healthy!! The heartbeat was 164 bpm and during the ultrasound he was a little wiggle worm. His crown to rump measurement was just under 5cm, so he's barely under 2" long. He measured at 10 weeks 6 days even though according to my LMP I'm 10 weeks and 4 days. The midwife is still keeping our original due date of December 23. It was such an amazing experience seeing our baby, there truly is nothing like it. I wish more than anything Jake could have been here. We tried to Skype during the ultrasound but it wasn't working so I had to record everything. But without any more waiting, I'd like to introduce you to Baby Lester   :))

This is a close up. He's facing kind of sideways so his belly is on the left and you can barely see his foot at the far left bottom. You can also see both arms and of course the head is the big circle on the right.

Here the baby is facing us, head on the right, torso on the left. You can see both arms and you can kinda see his legs crossed at the far left

This picture is almost identical to the other. 

Isn't baby the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? It's truly a miracle that something so small can already have such a huge impact on your life and already have your heart. 

Here are the links to the videos I took: First one is a recording of the heartbeat, 164 bpm. The second video is the actual ultrasound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52M0vFAXyDc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izfur3xrZO4

Thank you everyone for your support! It means so much to us that we have family and friends that care so much about us and about our baby already. He or she is definitely going to grow up SO loved!

Love

Mommy, Daddy, and Baby L

10 Weeks

Yay! We've made it to 10 weeks!! Our little grape has grown to the size of a kiwi this week! He's now an inch and a half long and weighs less than .25 ounces!! This week he is officially a fetus and no longer an embryo which means the most important parts of development have already taken place. All the tissues and organs will now be rapidly growing and maturing. He even is beginning to have little finger and toenails grow and his body will be covered in the peach-like fuzz. Our sweet little baby also has wrist and ankle joints forming and he's moving around like crazy in my belly. It won't be until 15-20 weeks when I'll be able to feel him, but that's only 5 weeks away!!

I had my very first doctor's appointment on Tuesday the 24th. All I did was meet with a nurse and she input all my information into the computer system and then I had urine and blood tests done. You know when they draw you blood they fill up those little tubes? Well I had to fill up SEVEN of them!! I was 2 seconds away from completely being passed out when he pulled the needle out of my arm. On tube #3 I was already light headed and the man told me that we were "almost done and to hang on." It was not a pleasant experience. I even ate breakfast and everything, I think it was because I have lower blood pressure. This also happened in high school when I attempted to donate blood. But I have some great news! The first ultrasound is Tuesday May 31. At this appointment I'll finally be able to see the baby and listen to the heartbeat. I can't believe it's only a few days away. I really wish Jake could be here for it though. We're going to try to Skype during it or I'll at least record it and send it to him.

This past week I've been living off of fruit and Wheaties cereal. A bowl of Wheaties actually sounds really good right now, even though that's what I had for breakfast. hahah!

My belly is definitely growing. My pants all still fit fine, it's more in my shirts where you can see I've got a little something happening. Even though I just look kinda chubby right now instead of pregnant I try not to mind it so much, I've got a baby inside me for pete's sake!   :)

Here is the picture I took this morning. I feel huge already so maybe we do have multiples growing inside!!  ;)

I can't wait until Tuesday to upload the ultrasound pictures for everyone.

We love you all,

Mommy, Daddy and Baby L

9 weeks!!

Some days I feel like time is flying by and other days it seems like time is just creeping along. It's really nice days like today where I can't wait to take baby out for walks and push him in his stroller and have everyone 'ohhh and ahhh' over him  :)

At 9 weeks all of baby's organs are formed and his eyelids are completely formed and fused shut until week 27. All 4 chambers of the heart are formed and his heart valves are also in place. He is about an inch long and weighs less than an ounce, think of him like the size of a grape this week.

You know how sometimes they say the dad can have a "sympathy pregnancy"? Well Jake definitely has it!! It's so funny because he'll tell me about how he craves certain food items or he's really tired. I think it's cute he's still so connected even though he's on the other side of the country.

My first appointment is Tuesday. I'm so anxious and excited and nervous all at the same time. I really hope they try to find the heartbeat. Being pregnant so far has just been a surreal experience. Since I can't feel him/her move inside me sometimes you forget you're pregnant but hearing the heartbeat will just bring everything more into reality. I'm sure I'll cry like a baby when I hear it.

Baby sure is growing rapidly in my belly. Here's a pic I took this morning. I take all these pics as soon as I wake up, so before any breakfast or drinks. I need to buy a scale and see how much weight I gain or lose each week. I'm sure I've gained a couple pounds by now. They say you should gain between 1-5 pounds the first trimester but girls' weights fluctuate so much day by day even without pregnancy so  it's kind of hard to tell.

In other news, many of you know that Jake is trying to get in the MECEP program through the Marine Corps. That's where he pretty much gets paid to go to school and get a degree. He can go to any university with ROTC and we're hoping he can start school August 2012, which is when I'll also be going back to school. So we're thinking it'd be nice to move close to home for 4 years and be close to family for as long as we can before we'd have to move back to CA. So with that said, we're going to be applying to KU for the Fall 2012 semester. There are a lot of different things that have to fall into place for this to work, but for now this is our plan. And this way we can come to all the holidays and we can visit family more often and everyone can see baby grow up in person rather than through pictures and videos.

I think this post is long enough. I'll update everyone on Tuesday after my doctor's appointment.

Love you all!
Mommy, Daddy and Baby L

The Facebook Leak

So I was thinking... when Jake and I decide to tell everyone else that we're pregnant and we start talking about it on Facebook, that I'm not just going to make a status about it, I'm going to hint it towards everyone and see how long it takes for them to guess. You know how each week they say your baby is the size of 'x' food?! Well each week I'm going to make my profile picture a picture of the food that's relative to the baby's size that week. I wonder how long it'll take people to guess? I thought this was a cute idea. And if no one gets it after a couple weeks then maybe my status will be something like, "I'm starting early on baking Christmas cookies!"

What do you think? Cute ideas or will no one get it?



EDIT: I hate how Jake's gone and if I'm craving something from a restaurant that I can't go sit down by myself. If I do then I'll seem like I don't have friends. I'm going to make a shirt that says "Don't ask, I'm pregnant!" so people won't question if I'm a loner or not. And then in a couple weeks I'll make another shirt that says "I'm not fat, I'm pregnant!" and just wear that everywhere I go. I'll make it in 10 different colors so I won't have to do laundry very often. This seems like a fool-proof plan.

8 weeks down, 32 more to go!!

Wow! Can you believe it? 8 weeks along already!! Our little blueberry is now the size of a raspberry, or a kidney bean, whichever you prefer. I think a raspberry sounds much cuter. Anyway, our little raspberry has more defined facial features this week with an upper lip forming, his cute little button nose and eyelids that almost cover his eye. His fingers and toes aren't so webbed anymore, all the better for him to wrap mommy and daddy around his little finger! His knee, wrist and elbow joints are forming and he's beginning to move around in the womb!! Too bad it'll be a while before I can feel him practicing karate moves inside of me. Primitive neural pathways are forming in his brain too, our little genius! 

I've been trying to keep my tummy from being empty and when I do that my morning sickness gets better. By now my uterus has doubled in size since our pregnancy began! I don't think I have that pregnancy glow yet either, they say that around this time in the pregnancy your face gets either really oily or really dry. Well mine can't get enough moisture! I can just put my moisturizer on and 10 minutes later it's dry again! It's kind of a pain, but hopefully that subsides soon. I haven't noticed my pants getting any tighter but if you look through each of my pictures my belly has definitely grown, so I don't know what's going on there!

I was thinking last night about how I'm going to be between 7-8 months pregnant at Jake's Marine Corps Ball this year. I don't know if they'll have a dress that'll fit me by then! hahahah

Speaking of Jake, he's doing really well in North Carolina. He goes fishing almost everyday and he has been reading a lot, both about baby and also a series he enjoys. He finished one of his classes yesterday and so next week hopefully he'll be doing more hands on stuff with his new helicopter instead of all the bookwork. We talk about how we can't wait to come home in August! It'll be so nice to see everyone again. 

comparing this picture to last weeks', there isn't much difference but it looks like my belly is filling out around my hip bones! They say if you're carrying them low it's a BOY! But we still have a long ways to find that out.

love you all!!!!!!

I spoke too soon

Well as funny as this may sound, I have been praying to God to show me a good healthy sign of my pregnancy since I thought I had been losing some symptoms. And He answered my prayers by giving me the lovely morning sickness. I am definitely NOT complaining though! I haven't actually gotten sick yet, but for the past two days just the thought of food makes me queasy. I'm never hungry and I only eat because I know I should be for the baby. I went grocery shopping about a week ago and bought a lot of food thinking about all the stuff I was going to be making for lunches and dinners and, well, it was all kind of a waste. I've eaten my fruits and veggies that I bought and that's about it. But anyways, although most pregnant women would complain about this, I'm rejoicing about it because I know I'm lucky enough to be carrying a healthy child. My little blueberry makes everything better. There isn't a single day that goes by where I don't thank God for giving me another healthy day of pregnancy and to continue to bless our family and lead us to a safe delivery and healthy baby or babies.

I wanted to thank you all for the happy mother's day wishes you sent me yesterday! I really appreciated it. I hope all you mommy's also had a wonderful day. I went and bought lunch for a friend of mine for her mother's day. It was a cool 1950's diner. It was yummy but kept me full the entire day.

Jake and I are getting so anxious to start buying things for baby. I know it's a long ways off before we find out the sex but it's so hard not to go into stores and just stare at all the baby things. Jake and I get to Skype almost every night and it's so cute because when he goes to bed he always tells me to kiss baby and our doggies goodnight. He's going to be such a good daddy!

Well, I'm about 7 and a half weeks along. Almost 8 weeks! Wahoo!!! I'll post a picture and baby update on Friday!!

Love you all!

7 weeks!

Wow! Can you believe it? We're already 7 weeks along! At 7 weeks our baby's arms and legs are growing more and hands and feet are emerging with webbed fingers and toes. He's about the size of a blueberry now! His brain is also growing rapidly and he still slightly has a little "tail", which will be gone within the next 2 weeks. He's doubled in size from just last week, isn't that amazing!

On Tuesday I went to the doctor to get my horrible cough checked out. My doctor thought I just had a sinus infection and gave me some Amoxicillin, but I don't think it's working. My cough is still just as bad! I wake up in the middle of the night now and have these coughing fits that last up to an hour! Sometimes I cough so hard that I gag! It's terrible! I'm going to finish my week's worth of medicine and if I'm still not better by then I'll go back to the doctor. I don't really want to take any cough medicine because I'm scared of the effects it'll have on the baby. One of my books says that cough syrup is questionable to use during pregnancy. So I'll just hold out for now.

I woke up this morning and it was like a teeny tiny bump emerged over night. When I went to the doctor's office on Tuesday I had lost about 4 lbs, but even with that my belly I think got a little bigger. Still no morning sickness though, not that I'm complaining, but I've heard that morning sickness and/or nausea is a sign of a healthy pregnancy. I know people have gone through a whole pregnancy without it and delivered a healthy baby, but sometimes it still worries me.

I'm just counting down the days until my doctor's appointment so I can finally schedule the first ultrasound! I can't wait to see this little prince or princess!!

Here's my 7 week picture, what do you think? Tiny baby bump in the works?

My wonderful momma sent me a mother's day gift!!! Chocolate covered strawberries and apples are A-MAZ-ING!!

Dan sent this to me. Is baby a boy or girl? We'll find out in a few months!

Finally, a doctor's appointment!

I finally got a call from the OB/GYN at the Naval hospital here in San Diego! My first appointment is scheduled for May 24 at 8:30 am!!!!! There I'll just be doing the blood tests and going over my medical history, but also that day I'll get to schedule my first ultrasound!! I can't wait to see growing baby inside of me! I will be about 9 and a half weeks along during this appointment, so hopefully they can schedule my ultrasound soon after that. By that time, in the ultrasound you'll be able to see baby's little hands and feet and his big ol' noggin. These next few weeks can't go by fast enough!!!

love you all!

Momma, Daddy, and little Baby