Baby Girl's Update Pictures!

So this whole pregnancy people have asked to see pictures of my "bump" and asking how I'm doing, but I thought it would be fun to show the progress of the little one who is the reason for the changes in my body and life--our baby! I'm not the only one getting bigger in this body!

I know each clinic does things a little differently, but I was surprised to find out that generally, there are only a few ultrasounds done throughout the entire pregnancy for most women! However, we've had one or two more than some people get up until this point for various reasons, and I've been so grateful because it's so fun to see her grow!

~7 Weeks:

This was from my very first appointment when we went to to confirm pregnancy! I was so nervous because at the time I didn't "feel" pregnant--I was just going off of what a little stick said, so I was hoping it was really true! They took us in a little room and did the ultrasound. The nurse had to point out what I was supposed to be looking at (the little 'bean' inside the sac) because it was so tiny and I didn't know what I was seeing haha. Even at just under 7 weeks, we could see a little heartbeat beating quickly. It was so exciting to see this little tiny life that was already so real no matter how small. 

10 Weeks:

Can you believe the difference in this ultrasound just three weeks after the first one?! Obviously you can see they zoomed up a little in this one, but you can actually see her body formed and even her little hand! Since I wasn't quite as far along as I thought I was at the first appointment (I thought I was 8 weeks but was actually just under 7), they had me come back once more just to double check the pregnancy looked good and healthy! This was my favorite picture forever because, again, she was tiny but she was a real baby and you can totally see that in this picture. 

20 Weeks: 

OK I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing how excited I was for 20 Weeks , but this was the best! At the anatomy scan they go through and measure baby and make sure everything looks on track! It was incredible to see her progress since the last ultrasound 10 weeks earlier. At this ultrasound they told us our girl has long legs (like her mama!). It was so fun to be able to see her development since all I normally see is how I'm affected by it on the outside. I love the bottom ones where we see her little feet. 

24 Weeks: 

As I mentioned here , my doctor wanted to follow up on a couple things from the last ultrasound (everything looks good :)), so we got to get this extra ultrasound. It's not shown in one of these, but we got to see her little face and she has chubby cheeks! It was adorable! In the third picture down you can see her foot is up by her head, which makes my argument of her being a dancer a little stronger :). The bottom picture is her foot and she totally has Taylor's feet.

I loved sitting yesterday and comparing all these ultrasounds as I took these photos. It is crazy to think about our girl's development since her very first "photo".  There is a lot of debate today about whether or not abortion should be legal, or if and when a fetus is considered a live human being. And I have to say I have never felt more strongly that sweet little babies are live human beings all the way through pregnancy. I'll just be a little real here and say that I have always been pro-life for multiple reasons, but watching our baby girl's heartbeat for the first time at just 7 weeks, and now being able to feel her kick like crazy and very strongly (she made my laptop move on my lap yesterday!), I personally believe the life of an unborn baby is just as valuable as that of people who are born. I'm so grateful for our sweet girl. She gives me so much hope when life gets hard, and I just can't wait to meet her and raise her. 

                                                     

Week 25- Pregnancy Brain

Don't mind that I look tired in this picture...because I have been very tired lately! This pregnancy is honestly flying by! I always felt like time passed quickly when I had friends who were pregnant, and occasionally I'd say "wow, that went by fast" when it was time for their delivery....and later I'd realize it probably didn't go by fast for them and they probably wanted to smack me haha. But really things have gone by fast for me! I think I've just become used to being pregnant and not being the only one affecting what happens with my body, so time just flies by. 

Lately I've found myself getting tired more easily, and I have to take a break off my feet if I've been on them all day (generally I am because I nanny). Houston is also heating up quickly, complete with the retched humidity (I miss my dry Utah!), so that's made my hands and feet swell sometimes. I am still hearing "oh, you don't even look pregnant!"...which, again, confuses me. But really, I get it in that sometimes if I'm not wearing something that definitely shows that I'm pregnant, it's not super obvious because I don't have a petite body so it doesn't stand out as easily. But something I've learned about pregnancy, or rather something that I've been reminded of, is that we all have different bodies, and our bodies know what they need! So for me, this is how my body adjusts for pregnancy! 

This week I was driving to a girls night so naturally I had my music turned up since it was just me in the car, and I started feeling baby girl moving like crazy! I thought it was just a coincidence, but later when I turned the same song on and played it loud (I did this one or two other times) and she did it again! Taylor and I argue about whether she is practicing her dancing or doing soccer drills. I guess only time will tell :). 

Side note: as mentioned below, pregnancy brain is 100% real. I have so many moments where I forget little things, can't think of a certain word I want to use, etc. which drives me crazy! I have to make sure I write things down and keeps lists otherwise I will forget them! 

Week 24- "You Don't Even Look Pregnant"

"You don't even look pregnant"....pretty much sums up life lately. Now, I'm not longing to be huge by any means. But since I am almost in my 3rd trimester, and since I definitely know my body doesn't normally have a bulging belly and some extra round edges all around, all I can think to "say" when I hear "You don't even look pregnant" is "...". Pretty much a blank stare. Cause I just don't get how people don't see ANY pregnancy going on. If you've said this to me, don't worry. I'm not offended! I know lots of women get really offended by what people say to pregnant women, and I'll agree, some of it is super off and sometimes I wonder if they even realize what they're saying before it comes out of their mouths. But I know nobody has bad intentions, and I'm sure I've said something awkward or just wrong to a pregnant woman before, so now it's my turn to be on the receiving end :). To be honest, it's been nice to be able to still fit in just a couple pre-pregnancy things (like the striped dress below) because buying a whole new wardrobe gets expensive! 

This week we also got to see our baby girl on ultrasound again. We had the anatomy scan at 20 weeks, but the doctor wanted to follow up on a couple things she saw in that one (don't worry everything seems to look OK now), so we got to have another one this week. I seriously love getting to do ultrasounds this far along because I really feel like we see our baby girl's personality as she moves around. She moved a ton again this ultrasound and then wouldn't move when the technician needed her to! It was cute to see her feet even better this time. I think she has Taylor's feet! She also looked like a little chubster! One shot (regular ultrasound, not 3d) showed us her face and we could see her little round chin...followed by some pretty round cheeks! It looks like she takes after me :). She had the hiccups during the appointment and it was so funny to feel her move and see it at the same time on the screen. I'm so excited to have another ultrasound in the next month or so. 

Also, as mentioned below, I got a diaper bag! Doesn't sound that cool, but we don't own hardly an baby 'essentials', so this was a fun one. I joined Petunia Picklebottom's outlet sale mailing list, and found out they had a sale going on! All the moms I've talked to have a less-expensive brand favorite, but they all agreed that Petunia Picklebottom was worth the investment and that they lasted forever. Since I got a good price and they had the print I've been eyeing forever, I was able to get a really nice bag from them! I suggest joining their mailing list (just go to petunia.com and click on "outlet") to find out about future clearance sales! 

This week Taylor's classmates planned a beach bbq, and it was so much fun! Living in a city (like, smack-dab in the middle of the city), we don't get to just enjoy the outdoors much, so it was really nice to get some sun (literally...I burned on accident.) and enjoy good company and food! Side note--Target has some pretty good maternity swim if anyone is looking. 

The optometry school pregnant wives! There are four Mormons in Taylor's class including Taylor, 3 married and 1 single (shout out to all my single lady friends--he's great!). All 3 of the married ones are expecting. Melissa, on the left, is due in just 5 weeks! Sarah (middle) is in our ward and she is due just a week ahead of me. And we are all having girls! It's so fun to have this little group going through the same things as we are! 

That night Taylor's school had a banquet! It was called "The Roaring 20 | 20s" (gotta love an optometry pun). It was really fun to get dressed up and have a night out since those days will be long gone in just a few months! I had lots of people ask where I got my dress (thanks for the love! :)) so I'll just share I got it on clearance from ASOS Maternity! They were super good with returns (I got two sizes to try) and the dress was beautiful. I definitely recommend them as well. PS this post sounds sponsored, but don't worry. I'm not that cool. I just like sharing good info :) 

 

Week 23-Hello Hospital

Week 23.... Well the most interesting thing that week was probably our trip to the hospital at 3:30 AM. I woke up around 3 with a lot of pain in my stomach, so I went to the bathroom (sorry ahead of time this post may be too TMI for the very light-hearted---AKA it's not that bad but just in case...). Anyway, I did have a little gas (sorry :/) so I thought that was the problem so I went back to bed. But about ten minutes later as I got back in bed the very strong pains came back, and I also had some pain in my lower back. I'm a pretty deep sleeper and I love my sleep so anything that keeps me awake has to be pretty powerful. I got up again and got some water and started praying because Taylor had a big test that next morning and I didn't want to wake him up unless there really was a problem. I tried to lay back down again and the pains came back and were really bad and I felt like something was really wrong. I woke Taylor up and told him I needed to call the doctor. I called the emergency line at my Dr.'s office and was transferred to my Dr.'s nurse practitioner she works with. She pretty much didn't know what to tell me because contractions aren't really normally at 23 weeks, but I didn't have any bleeding or anything, so we didn't know what was wrong. She suggested I go to the hospital to be monitored because if it was contractions it wasn't good. Taylor and I got up and got to the hospital and were directed to Labor & Delivery because I was past 20 weeks. I will tell you that really freaked me out. We signed in right after a girl who was about to pop who was there for a scheduled c-section. Her family was all there wearing bright green shirts that said "Team Gavin" with their respective family relations on the back ("grandma" "aunt so-and-so", etc.). It was super cute and exciting but it made me so nervous that I was not very far along and being seen in the same place as people who were about to give birth! 

I got put in a hospital room and then had me on a contraction monitor. She also wanted to test my urine to see if I was dehydrated or if I had any infections that could be causing the pain. I gave her a sample, and it wasn't much but I figured I probably give them way more than needed each time, right? She took the urine for sampling and kept me on the monitor for a while. 

In the meantime a woman came in asking if we had a living will, if I had a birth plan, etc. and I started to feel so overwhelmed! We didn't even own a crib (still don't), and they were asking me all these serious questions that we hadn't even thought about! That made reality set in really quickly. 

Later the nurse came back and said they didn't see any contractions being recorded but just some possible uterus irritation being recorded. I was happy that everything seemed to be OK and was ready to go home. Poor Taylor stayed up studying for his test the whole time, and since his progress in school is important to both of us I wanted to get him home! But then the nurse told me that they didn't have enough urine from me to sample, so we had to stick around until I was able to give them a bunch more. So she brought in this giant cup of ice water for me to drink and then wait until I could give them a bigger sample. Eventually I did, and they tested it, and the test came back normal. 

They weren't ever sure what caused all my pain, but gave me some instructions to stay off my feet for a bit, avoid heavy lifting, etc. Although going to the hospital for 4 hours in the middle of the night wasn't ideal, I was so grateful everything was OK. It's funny because I don't always feel like a 'parent' quite yet, but ever since I became pregnant, it's become so natural to be OK with just doing whatever is best for our little girl, even if it's uncomfortable, unappetizing (like eating really healthy food that I really don't want to be eating), or scary. I am not saying I'm perfect and unselfish by any means, but I am starting to understand the love and devotion that parents really have for their kids! 

Total side note: when you go to the hospital (it was my first time), you should really wear those little booties they set out for you. I thought I was fine but ended up freezing cold just being in the little hospital robe and with just a sheet I was kind of too tall for.