21 weeks

You will have to forgive these belly shots. I have been doing them on my own. I usually have the energy during the day when Nate is at work. It looks a lot bigger in real life. And it hurts a lot too!!! Hopefully my next 75 pregnancies will not be so painful because my tummy will already be stretched from this little guy.

Grocery shopping again

Well, even though I just went and have our food for the month, I had to go out again today. One of our local grocery stores was doubling coupons up to 1.00. This means that if you have a coupon for a dollar off, they will double it to two dollars. WOW! I definitely had to take advantage of this before the sale ended on this Tuesday. My total before coupons came to 185.23 and my total after coupons was 53.08. That is roughly a 71% savings. I thought that was pretty good!!! Almost all of the stuff that I bought are things that I can keep in the pantry. No produce or meat today.

Just a List

After hours of listening to different commentaries on the current President's desires to change the US into a socialist nation I just thought that I should make a list of the things that Obama has said or tried to put into effect that backs these claims:
He wants to tell us what cars we can drive
He wants to make any commentaries / news etc balanced by having the opposition's view required on the same show
He wants his own personal military
He wants to create nationalized healthcare
He stated that no one should listen to Rush on the radio
He against us having our own guns
He wants to censor the internet and monitor it (in an attempt to make it more secure - or so he says)

There will probably be more to come as my husband is very well versed on these issues LOL. If you ask me it is just plain scary!!!

Bran and banana muffins

Well, over the weekend, Nate went wakeboarding. He ended up coming home with a torn ligament in his right leg. He was supposed to go to St. Louis on Monday for work but seeing as though he can barely walk and certainly can't drive, he is staying at home with me this week. He will see and orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to determine if the ligament will heal itself or if we need surgery etc.
The pain medication that he was put on causes constipation so I thought that I would make him some bran muffins to ease his woes. LOL I found this awesome recipe and on accident I left out the last two ingredients on the list. The muffins came out awesome. They are chewy and tasty and don't even need a pat of butter!!! Here is the recipe

1c flour
1c bran flakes
1/3c sugar
1c banana ( I used 6 small burro bananas - Nate had these on his mission and loves them)
2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt
1/4tsp cinnamon
1c skim milk

mix the bran flakes, banana, and milk in a bowl. Let sit about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients. put in muffin pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. I figure that these come out to about 235 calories per muffin but they do have some good fiber and nutrients in them from the bran and banana!!!

Another belly picture

Ok, so it doesn't look like much right now but but by the end of the day this thing is huge. I am almost 20 weeks at this point. Even though I have only gained 7 pounds since we began the pregnancy, I feel like a big lead weight by the end of the day. I will lay on the couch with Nate and not be able to get up without help. I am thinking that it all has to do with my center of gravity changing!

18 week ultrasound

Perinatologist Visit

So we had a level 2 ultrasound today. I am 18 weeks and 3 days today. The baby is measuring 18 weeks and 5 days. Basically what that means is that the baby is growing very well and is getting all the nourishment that he needs. His measurements are in the 72% percentile which means that he is bigger than 72% of the babies at this stage in development but he is smaller than 28% of babies at this age. I am hoping that he will be 6-7lbs when he is born. I am scared of anything bigger. He weighs 9 oz today. one week ago he weighed 7 oz. He is growing fast. The ultrasound showed that everything is normal (the growth, heart components, 5 fingers, 5 toes, good brain development etc). It also confirmed once again, to Nate's approval, that we are having a boy.

Groceries

Well, as many of you know I clip quite a few coupons for groceries. In fact, if it isn't on sale, I probably wont buy it. So today Nate and i assembled all the groceries on the counter and I will list out what i got and how much it ended up costing. Here goes.
PRODUCE:
5 granny smith apples
5 gala apples
1 cabbage
2lbs baby bananas
1lb carrots
cilantro
3 cucumbers
lettuce
7 brown onions
3 mexican onion bunches
5lbs potatoes
4 grn peppers
7 tomatoes
2lb cherries
1lb strawberries

GROCERY
tortillas
spaghettios
mcCormick vanilla extract
4 12packs of diet mtn dew
3 Kraft dressing
2 bush's baked beans
wheat thins
mayo
parmesan cheese
12 string cheese
24 oz sour cream
3 boxes trix
3 boxes cheerios
2 dove soap
plastic wrap
4 McCormick grill mates
2 kraft marinades
2 pkg angel soft TP
2 coolwhips
2 kraft BBQ sauce
2 glass cleaner
2 colgate toothpaste
1 gallon fruit drink
4 dial hand soap
2 seltzer water
2 wisk HE detergent
2 electrasol dishwashing tabs
1 jet dry
1 pkg tortilla chips
flour
cream cheese
1 cattleman BBQ sauce
1 pkg shredded cheese
hamburger buns

MEAT
2 pkg hotdoags
6 lbs ham shoulder
10 lbs chicken leg quarters

BABY
2 pkgs size 3 huggies supreme diapers
3 pkgs huggies pure and natural diapers
2 pkgs huggies natural sensitive wipes

So, all of this cost me 140.00
Now, if I take out the diapers (which are really expensive than my total is 103.00 . This isn't my best savings but it is pretty good.

Busy little baby

Well, for all of you that don't know, Nate and I are having a boy!!!! We are very excited and Nate of course is thrilled that he will have his own little prodigy. LOL This baby is so busy inside. He is constantly moving and kicking and punching. We are 18 weeks today so almost halfway through the pregnancy. We will have a visit with the perinatologist on Thursday the 21st. It will be fun to see the ultrasound. It will be a lot clearer because this ultrasound will be a bit more in depth than the standard ones you have seen so far on the blog.
Overall I have been feeling pretty good. Nate is doing well also. He is working and traveling quite a bit so he is very busy. And yes, Brutus is doing well too!!! We are all surviving the weather out here. It has been over 100 degrees for the last 2 weeks. We are basically locked in our house during these hot days:(

It was better when I thought it was just gas!!!

So yesterday was the first time that i felt the baby move. I didn't actually feel it but I saw it. On my lower tummy I saw a little twitch. I put my hand over it and the baby kicked me 3 times. Right now I am laying on the couch and decided to take a look at my belly. I haven't felt the baby move inside at all during the pregnancy but I just did a minute ago for the first time. He kicked so hard that it raised my tummy like a 1/4 of an inch. Wow! How neat. But then he continued and now it is freaking me out. It is funny to think that you actually have this baby growing inside your stomach. It feels like little bubbles or twitches in your lower abdomen and if I thought it was just gas it wouldn't bother me. Since I know that it is a little baby it is a big weird feeling. LOL

17 week ultrasound

Isn't that the cutest baby you've ever seen. I will post a 3D one next week after we see the perinatologist!!!!

A nurse should know these things

So.........I woke up at 2:30am and I had this bulge in my lower abdomen that was hard. No pain or anything so I went back to bed. Nate got up at 5:30 because he had to fly to Houston today. I noticed that the bump was still there on my abdomen and was hard as a rock. It would come and go about every 5-10 minutes and it would even go from the right side to the left side. How weird. I decided that maybe it was the baby moving ( although it was too big of a bump ). I went along with my normal stuff and then started feeling tightening and crampy. I then decided that this wasn't normal and that I was having contractions. I made an appointment with my doctor. He confirmed that it was a contraction (Braxton-Hicks contractions) and that the bulge on my abdomen was in fact my uterus. He also confirmed that everything was absolutely normal. I felt so stupid. LOL. The ultrasound showed a good placenta and umbilical cord. The baby is measuring 17 weeks and 2 days. The heart rate was 156/minute. The baby is about 5-6 inches and weighs 7 oz. The ultrasound tech showed me a bunch of things like the four chambers of the heart, the skull and the baby's femur. I will post some pics of the ultrasound today. Nate and I will go and get a 3d ultrasound on the 21st and then I see my doctor again on the 26th of May. Anyways, everything looks great!!!!!

My tummy at four months

Ok, so here it is. Nothing too big yet but you can definitely see the baby bump. I have gained back the weight that I lost when I was sick and nauseated but nothing else. I don't know how that's possible. Doesn't the amniotic fluid or increased blood volume or the fact that my uterus is bigger than a grapefruit count??? Well, I am sure I will be 9 months pregnant and feel too big then so I guess I should just enjoy this. LOL.

Frogs

Nate saw a pattern for these cute little bean bag frogs and he made sure to buy it for me. After some pretty simple sewing, we ended up with two cuties.

boppy pillow

Ok so I saw this boppy pillow in a baby magazine. I thought Wow! I have to have that. When I researched it the price was 59.99. For all of you who know me I am very frugal so 59.99 was too much for me. So..........needless to say, I made my own. The first pic is the one in the magazine. The second and third are the top and bottom of the one I made to copy the magazine. The fourth pic is of another cover that I made for the boppy. Oh yes, and for those who don't know, a boppy is a pillow that you put around your waist and lay the baby on to breastfeed:)

14 week ultrasound on 4/22/09

Again, the baby was very busy during this ultrasound. We are still having a bit of bleeding so I am still at home, although the baby looks great and the heart rate is about 178.

12 week ultrasound on 4/7/09

This ultrasound was done at 12 weeks. The baby was very active and jumping a lot. the babys head is to the right side just in case you can't tell. You can click on the photo and I think it will enlarge it!

9 weeks today

Ok so here is a picture of our baby today. Last week the baby was 1.5 cm so the size of a small blueberry. Today the baby is 1 inch long and we saw it move and the umbilical cord pulsing. It was really pretty cool. So....another ultrasound picture was taken. I love my doctor. He is awesome. And today was the first time that we were able to see the baby thru my tummy. The previous ultrasounds have been transvaginally so this was a nice surprise today. We are so excited.

Here I am after my appointment today

So I had an appointment today to follow up with my subchorionic bleed that we found last week. Last week the bleed was 2.5 cm and today it was 1.5cm so it seems to be resolving itself. I am supposed to be on very limited activity and not doing too much but I can be up more than I have been this last week. I am still off of work at least until 3 weeks from today which is when I see the doctor again. My mother in law goes home tomorrow and my mom is coming into town. I am really excited to see my mom!!! My mother in law was such a help. She cooked and cleaned and even ironed Nate's clothes. We are really grateful to her for taking care of us. So, when we were leaving the doctor's office today we were making the next appointment. Well because I have been very nauseous i had eaten rice krispies for breakfast and a few mini rice cakes and 1/2 an apple for lunch. Well this was about 3:30pm that we were leaving the office. I started getting really nauseous (I was actually afraid that I was going to throw up on the girl making the appt because she was right in front of me at the desk). LOL It is funny now but not at the time. Nate said that I got really pale and I felt like I was going to pass out. I was sweating and my heart was pounding. Dr. Rahaman came to where I was sitting and got me some gatorade from their employee fridge. I felt so bad!!! They are so amazingly nice there. He told me to go get a big mac at McDonalds. Yuck, I passed on that one but after I had the gatorade I felt much better. I have lost about 3 pounds in the last 2 weeks so hopefully this nausea doesn't last too much longer. I was always afraid of gaining weight when I was pregnant, not losing it!!!

Brutus and Nate taking care of me

So Brutus saw that Nate and I were sitting together and he got a tad bit jealous. He decided he needed some love too. So, to my surprise, Nate said it was ok to have him come up with us as long as he was on the blanket. So, here we are, our little family!!!

Nate is home!!!

Well,
Nate came home last night. He got in around 9:30 pm. I am so glad to finally have him home after a long week. He is laying with me on the couch right now sound asleep. He was supposed to go get me and his mother some frozen yogurt ( Yum that sounds good) but he is out cold. Bummer!!!! Bed rest is going as well as possible I suppose. I find that I am quite tired during the day which I find amazing because I am not doing anything. When I go up the stairs at night to go to bed I am winded. It is amazing how fast you loose your conditioning. When I get up I feel so weak and lightheaded. I am not sure if it is from the pregnancy or what. I know that I am definitely not dehydrated because I have been drinking a ton. It is definitely a new experience for me. It is the worst when Nate is home from work and outside or in another room because I just have to lay here and can't follow him. Usually I am like his little shadow. Lucky him. Well if anyone has good suggestions on how to keep occupied on bed rest please let me know. I have already been knitting and cross stitching and today I colored and did origami. Please let me know if you have read any good books lately. thanks!!!

Bed Rest

I was always afraid of being on bed rest because I thought all I would do all day would be to eat. I tell you what though, this nausea thing is really working to prevent me from eating. When I finally think of something that sounds good, I eat it and then get super nauseated. I basically cannot eat anything that I have eaten during this nauseous period more than once. So for a quick list I can no longer eat:
Pancakes
salad with dressing
soup
asparagus
rainbow sherbert
cream of wheat
grapes
cran-raspberry juice
nachos
garlic bread
spaghetti
meatballs

So, what can I eat? The only thing that sits well with me is Rice Krispies. I hope I spelled that right. Well, I should go to bed. Good Night

Sad Sad Brutus

Here is Brutus all sad that I can't play with him. So...........I invited him up to cuddle with me. :) Don't tell Nate, He'll kill us. LOL

Here I am on bed rest

TLC A Baby Story

Ok, I have decided that this show is not a good thing to watch when you are pregnant. Although I see this stuff everyday in real life these stories are just so moving. I am here on the couch on bed rest nauseous as ever just sobbing away about this show. I should probably be watching one of those crazy talk shows. :) I am feeling pretty good today, a little bit of cramping which I am hoping is normal. My mother-in-law should be here around 3pm so that will take some stress off of me. I won't have to get up to tend to the dog or get meals etc which is nice because every time I move I swear I can feel my uterus. It is probably all in my head now that I am thinking about it so much :)

Oh the joys of pregnancy

Ok, so I am 8 weeks pregnant today. 2 weeks ago the baby measured 2.62mm and now the baby measures 15.71mm. Wow that is quite a change in 2 weeks. According to the ultrasound and my wonderful doctor (who sees me every 2 weeks and always does an ultrasound for me) the baby looks fantastic. He did however see a sac to the right of the baby and gestational sac. This is called a subchorionic bleed. What it means is that the placenta pulls away from the edge of the uterus causing a bleed. It is about the size of an inch which my doctor said that he was surprised by. He thought the amount was pretty large. He told me "I am taking you off of work." I giggled and said "Whatever." He looked at me and I said "Seriously? I know I should probably be upset right now but I'm not." It is funny because before the appointment I had been wondering what I could say to him to make him put me on bed rest so I could get out of work. I haven't been to work for 2 weeks now. One week they put me on call because they knew I wasn't feeling well and the second my Dr sent a note because I had a temp of 102.2 and the flu. I was actually scheduled to work tomorrow and Thursday and wasn't looking forward to it now that I have morning sickness all day long. Anyways, the Dr said that it should resolve on its own but he doesn't want to take any chances at this point. I see him next Tuesday and then we will see if the bleed is gone or what the report is.
Now as many of you know Nate travels quite a bit. In fact, he is in Kentucky today and will be in Missouri tomorrow and Thursday. Well if I am on bedrest, who is going to take care of me? My mother-in-law so graciously (OK, she practically jumped all over the offer) accepted to come to Phoenix and help me out. How nice is that? It will make it easier on me and I think it will take a bit of stress off of Nate too which is good.

I hate being sick

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been very sick. I am actually going on my 3 week of being sick but am finally getting better. I had the flu with a temperature of 102.2. It was horrible. Now that the temp and sore throat are gone, I am starting to get morning sickness. It is hard for me to tell if it is part of the flu or part of the pregnancy. I am not sick enough to be in the bathroom but my stomach is just upset and churning from the moment I wake up until late afternoon. It is not a pleasant feeling. Poor Nate has been taking care of me. It is no fun for him. He wants to go do things and have fun and I want to lay on the couch all day. I feel like a big blob! Prior to pregnancy I used to run everyday for 45 minutes. When I found out i was pregnant, I stopped running because I was so afraid that I would cause a miscarriage. After we saw the heartbeat, I began running again and then I got sick about a week later. My life lately has been laying on the couch and watching tv. I don't even feel up to sewing or anything. Maybe in a few weeks I will feel better..........Hopefully:) Hope you all are feeling better than me!

Our little bean

This ultrasound was done on 2/24/09. Approximately 6 days prior the gestational sac was only the size of a sunflower seed. Now it is the size of a large grape and you can actually see the baby. It is amazing but the little bean shaped thing is a baby and it already has a heartbeat.

New developments (literally)

Well, as many of you know, Nate and I are pregnant. I am six weeks and due on 10/21/09. We are ecstatic and we were able to hear the heartbeat yesterday. It really is an amazing thing. I have not been nauseous at all. I have been extremely tired though. Especially today. I guess that explains the 2 hour nap. LOL. Nate and I have started looking at all the fun baby stuff that we get to buy now. Looking at the toys I have realized that the colors really don't go with our decor. What will we do? Well, that is our update. We will keep you all posted. Oh yes, and our baby is 2.6mm. When we heard the heartbeat I had tears in my eyes. Nate was sitting next to me holding my hand. He says to the ultrasound tech (during this moving moment) "Could you make sure to zoom in on the male parts?" We all got a kick out of it, considering that the baby is so tiny and looks like a little bean. Then when they were drawing my blood he asked the nurse if he could ask her a question. He holds up the ultrasound picture and asks her who the baby looks more like. Oh my goodness he has quite the sense of humor. He makes me laugh so much. Anyways, that is it for now.

More pics of the diaper bags

This one is my favorite of the two.

Diaper bags

Here are 2 diaper bags that I made. I am so proud of them. The first one has a divider in it and the second one doesn't . I like the fabrics in the second one much better than the first.

What's been going on

Well, let's see. There hasn't been too much happening here in AZ. The weather has been great and Nate and I have both been working quite a bit. I was supposed to work today but I got put on call. I love being on call. As you all can see I have been sewing a lot. It is my new thing I guess. It keeps me busy. Nate and I have been finding a bunch of friends and relatives on facebook. It is pretty neat to see what everyone is up to these days. Well, we are going to play a game on the Wii so I guess I will have to write later.:)

Kimono Dress

This is one of my new creations. Ok, I followed a pattern but I've never made a dress before. This one is for a 9 - 12 month old. It took me 6 hours to do this one today. Whew, I think Im done sewing for today. :)

booties

So my new project was making these booties. They are my first pair ever and are pretty cute but not exactly what I wanted. I think that I need a bit more practice. LOL

Flowers

Nate and I made this one together. I saw the flowers at Michaels and he made that box for them to go in. we filled it with river rock and arranged the flowers. Isn't it nice? It's fun to do those little things together.