Our Little Wax/Clay Baby!!

We had our 3D/4D Ultrasound appointment on December 29, 2010 when I was about 29 1/2 weeks. Darin and I invited our parents to come since 1) we had already seen the little guy so many times and had shared those moments together, and 2) neither one of our parents had ultrasounds with any of their children and we thought it would be neat to share that with them. I was honestly a little hesitant to do this type of ultrasound because I really do think they are a bit creepy. The babies look like clay or wax and it is a bit odd! But, I definitely had a totally different opinion upon seeing my own child!

It was so incredible to be able to see him in 3D. Granted, he was not the most cooperative and decided to cuddle up against something, which made it very hard to get any good pictures of him. We saw quite a bit in the 2D form, but every time she switched it over to the 4D, I swear he would nestle up against the wall and hide his face. Or the cord would get in the way or something! Therefore, a lot of the pictures we have of his face kind of look like Jabba the Hut because you cannot really distinguish his full head...it's kind of molded together with whatever he was using for a pillow! However, it was pretty cute to see him snuggling...I hope he is a snuggler on the outside too!

We did manage to see quite a bit though. We were able to see his little eyes and mouth open and shut a few times. He also was not shy about showing us that he is in fact a boy! Guess he just wanted his grandparents to see!! We also got a sneak peek of his little feet and toes, but not a very good one since he has decided to keep them up in my rib cage! We also got to see some hair, which makes me SO excited!! He is definitely a chunky little boy and appears to already be running out of room. His chipmunk cheeks were almost too much for me to handle...I just cannot wait to smother them in kisses! He definitely has his Daddy's nose and the cutest, plumpest lips. OK, I will stop gushing about my unborn child now, but I highly recommend having a 3D/4D ultrasound done...it really makes you want to meet and hold your baby even more!!

Hello 3rd Trimester - 28 weeks!!

After the last scare, we had a pretty uneventful few weeks! I was very excited for the week of December 20, partially because of my love for Christmas, but mainly because I was getting another ultrasound at my 28 week appt. to check on that pesky placenta. I was amazed by how much the baby had grown in 8 weeks! He was so cute and I could have stayed and watched him all day. Apparently, he is going to have really long fingers...the ultrasound tech was just amazed by how long they already were! But, let's be honest, we didn't really think this baby was going to be small!! It was pretty neat though because he was opening and shutting his fist a ton during the u/s. At one point, I saw his mouth moving and thought maybe he was sucking his thumb. The tech said, nope, I am pretty sure he is licking his fist!! I about fell off the table laughing because I thought about how well he and Hoyt will get along!

I then met with Dr. Santiago, who told me more great news...my placenta was right where it should be! However, now the baby was breech. But, nothing at all to worry about, as he is still small enough to flip...which I am pretty sure he will based on how much the little turkey moves around during the day (and night!). This just means that I will get one more ultrasound...putting our total to 8, including the 3D one we are getting on December 29. It has been a rough road thus far, but I honestly feel pretty lucky because we have been able to see him so much and love watching him grow in there!! I also had the Rhogam shot since I am Rh+...wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! Pretty quick and mostly painless!

As you can see from my pic, I have quite the basketball belly! It just keeps growing, but I really feel like I am mostly belly (I am still squeezing into my pre-preggo jeans!). I am not sure how much bigger I can get over the next 12 weeks, but it will be interesting to see!! Time is flying and I can't believe in less than 3 months, Darin and I will be holding our baby boy!

Here we go again...another trip to the ER @ 26 weeks

We had another minor bump around 22 weeks, but nothing that warranted going to the ER. I was hoping this would be how the rest of the pregnancy would go. Not so much! I was honestly feeling great - getting a little uncomfortable with my big old belly, but overall was loving every minute of being pregnant. On December 4, my family went to Chicago to see Wicked. We had a fabulous time and Bean loved the music! I was also looking forward to going to Kristy and Dave's housewarming party that night (mainly because I thought she was going to be announcing something very important that night...and I was right! Bean is going to have a friend to play with!).

We got home around 8ish and I decided to go to the bathroom before we left, only to find I was spotting. Of course this happens on a Saturday night when my doctor's office is closed. I had also experienced what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions the night before at my work Christmas party, so I decided to call the on-call doc. She told me to be safe and head to Labor and Delivery because it could be a sign of pre-term labor. The tears were flowing yet again and Darin did such a wonderful job of keeping me calm (as did my parents and sister!). We headed to the ER and I got wheeled up to L&D. They hooked me up to the contraction machine and also put a heartbeat monitor to keep track of little bean's heartbeat. It was hilarious because he literally moved or kicked the ENTIRE half hour I was hooked up. At this point, I figured all was OK. Sure enough, they found nothing wrong and I was sent home. The next day was a bit rough, but I figured the cramping and pains were mostly in my head. I already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the next week, which was reassuring. Granted, it was for my Gestational Diabetes testing (which I passed!!!), but I was able to follow-up with the doctor as well. They pretty much told me that a lot of people will experience 2nd trimester bleeding because of all the growing and shifting inside. I was just one of the lucky ones to experience it! Another sigh of relief that everything seemed to be just fine.

First Kicks!!

I was amazed how quickly it went from me not being able to feel anything to feeling him move all of the time. It was October 27-28 when I felt my first hard pokes and actually felt it from the outside too. I started to keep a log of when he was the most active and will be interested to see if it is the same when he is on the outside!

Day by day, his pokes were turning into full fledged kicks and I was able to see my stomach move from the outside on November 9. It wasn't until November 17 when Darin finally felt him move. I think he would get shy around his Daddy...he would stop moving every time Darin put his hand on my tummy! But, we finally got him and I was glad to share that with Darin. Now, I feel like this little guy is a ninja or break dancer with how much he moves! Feeling kicks is definitely another one of those surreal moments...and it makes you realize even more that you are growing a human inside of you!

Picture is of Lindsay and me on Thanksgiving @ almost 25 weeks!

It is definitely a Boy! 20 week appointment

We had our genetic ultrasound scheduled for October 25, 2010. Even though we knew, I was still very eager to see Bean again and actually get the doctor's confirmation that he was in fact a he! And, this is the appointment where they spend quite a bit of time measuring everything to make sure the baby is growing correctly and there are no visible defects.

It was wonderful to see the little man again. He was moving ALL over the place again this time. Almost to the point that she couldn't get the measurements! Might have been because I drank OJ on the way to the appt...I had read something that told me it would help get the little one moving. I kind of got in trouble though since he was moving so much and was told to not drink OJ next time! It was crazy to see him so active because I still really couldn't feel him too much. He was measuring 11 ounces and was definitely still a boy! He showed us his goods quite a few times...definitely not modest. The best part was the tech was trying to move him around to get a few more measurements and apparently he did not like that because at one point opened his little hand, stretched out his fingers, and then put all but one finger back down....yeah, he flipped us off! We knew we were going to have a little stinker on our hands, but this defnitely solidified that notion!! But, everything was measuring great...still a week ahead and no visible issues!

After the ultrasound, Dr. Santiago met with us and gave us even more great news! My placenta was completely out of the way and now was just low lying. I was still advised to take it easy, but with 20 more weeks to go, there was no doubt that it would be totally out of the way by "go time". I kind of felt like now maybe I could stop worrying so much and actually enjoy the second half of the pregnancy. And poor Darin would maybe be able to get rid of the crazy woman who had overtaken my body for the last 4ish months...well, I guess I am pretty neurotic all of the time, but pregnancy has definitely exacerbated my neuroses!

16 weeks!

Definitely starting to show! I am glad it's starting to look more like a baby belly and not an "I ate too many cheeseburgers" pooch! I think I started feeling flutters, but it's still pretty early to tell.

I received some great news from the doctor this week. I went in for my 16 week check-up on September 30 and actually got my 4th ultrasound since they wanted to follow-up from the ER visit. And, my placenta had moved a little! So now I just had partial placenta previa. Still not great, but definitely a step in the right direction. The movement may have also attributed to what caused my ER visit. I was happy to get some good news after the whirlwind week I had.

Is this normal?? Our first trip to the ER.

September 22 is definitely a night I will never forget. I had kind of felt funny all day at work, but just chalked it up to another lovely pregnancy side effect. As I was getting up to leave work at 5, something wasn't right. I will not go into details, as I am sure many of you would not care to know, but I did call the on-call doc and she advised that we go straight to the ER to get checked out. Of course, I am thinking the absolute worst and of course, Darin is thinking it's all going to be just fine. We were there for over 5 hours and they did blood work and some other tests. BUT, one of the scariest moments of my life turned into one of the BEST nights of our lives. They ordered an ultrasound to make sure everything was OK. I was over 15 weeks at the time, so in the back of my head, I thought just maybe we would be able to find out what Bean actually was...team blue or team pink.

The poor ultrasound tech got called in at about 8:00, which actually was to our benefit because she said she might as well make it worth her while and ended up spending almost an hour on us. It was so amazing to see him again. This time he was moving ALL over the place. Looked like he was doing laps in there! And we got to see all of his little bones and fingers and it was just the most incredible thing! She had done all the measurements and let us know that I was actually measuring at 16 weeks, so almost a week ahead. As she was winding down, I realized we still didn't know what Baby Weber was! I asked again and she giggled and said she had actually known for quite some time and just forgot to tell us. So, she turned the screen away, found a good shot, and turned it back around. Darin and I stared intently at the screen, but it was pretty darn obvious what we were looking at! At that point, we knew our little Bean was a boy. I started crying, which of course was very out of character =). Another indescribable feeling that I will forever remember.

They finally released me at about 11:00 that night, not really knowing what was wrong. But, everything looked perfect with the baby, so that is all they really cared about at that time. I was just told to take it easy and follow-up with Dr. Santiago. As I said before, what started as a terrifying night turned into an unforgettable one!

Bean's 2nd Ultrasound

We had our follow-up ultrasound and 12 week appointment on September 2 to check on the hematoma. As scary and upsetting as it was to find out I had one, it was also kind of a blessing in disguise because we got an extra chance to see Bean!! I was so nervous going into this appointment. Luckily, I didn't have any bleeding or cramping episodes, so I was hoping for the best. And of course Darin, Mr. Optimistic, knew everything would be fine! We had the ultrasound and when we first saw the screen, we were amazed at how big he had gotten!! His little legs were already so long! However, Bean did not want to move AT ALL during the ultrasound. The tech was trying everything to get him to move and all he would do is stretch out a leg or flip over. He mooned us at one point...already a stinker!! It was so interesting though because you could see his little spine, his heart beating and his little bladder, which was full when we started...not so much at the end! Again, I was just in awe and so amazed that this little miracle that we created was growing inside of me. Of course, I cried again...but that will be a common theme during this pregnancy =).

The good news was the hematoma was gone!! The bad news was I now had Complete Placenta Previa. This is when the placenta is completely covering the cervix. It does not affect the baby's development in any way, but when the baby is ready to come into this world, the exit is blocked and we therefore would have to do a c-section. Not a huge deal, but there are also a lot of other complications that come with previa, so again, I was extremely terrified. Dr. Santiago said with as "complete" as my previa was, he only gave me about a 20% chance of it moving up by the time I would be ready to deliver. I was kind of amazed by this since it was still so early in the pregnancy, but stuck to the doctor's orders and rested and moved as little as possible over the next few weeks. Another scary moment in our pregnancy, but again, we just tried to hope for the best and pray that little bean would be just fine and stay nice and cozy in there!!

Telling the Families!

We decided to get Darin's side of the family together for dinner in Cooksville on Friday, August 6. It was pretty funny because Scott asked me at one point why I wasn't drinking. My excuse was I was so hungry that I needed to eat before drinking anything...real believable! So, we decided we needed to get the show on the road because it was getting obvious! As we were sitting around the kitchen table, Darin got up to go put on Hoyt's t-shirt. We thought we would just let him run around in it until someone noticed. Not such a good plan because 1) Hoyt HATES clothes and just proceeded to pout by Grandma Kim's feet, and 2) no one noticed for quite some time! Kelly finally noticed and just started giggling with us because he was right at Kim's feet and she still hadn't really noticed yet. Finally, everyone realized something was going on and figured it out! It was a pretty funny situation!

We then decided to tell my parents on Sunday, August 8. We were going to order pizza and hang out at my parents' house. We decided to try the whole shirt thing again even though it did not pan out so well before! We put it on Hoyt and he again decided to pout behind my legs. Jeremy finally noticed that Darin and I were both laughing and trying to get Hoyt to run out in front of everyone and then read the shirt. He just smiled and waited for everyone else to catch on. Finally, I just picked up Hoyt and held him in the air for everyone to see. I think my sister was most in shock! She was already about 15 weeks pregnant at the time, so I was super excited to be able to share this journey with her! My Mom said that she had this small inkling that I was pregnant...a Mother's Intuition! Everyone was thrilled for us though and it was so great to FINALLY be able to tell my family (I had gone to lunch or dinner about 10 times with them in the weeks leading up to it and it took everything in me not to tell them!).

We swore both families to secrecy because we wanted to wait until the 12 week appt. to make sure everything was OK. But, we just could not keep the good news from our families for 4 more weeks! I know the news leaked out to a few people (guilty as charged!), but for the most part, everyone was very good about keeping the secret!!

First Appointment!!! 8 weeks!

We had our first appointment on August 5, 2010. We got a sneak peek at Bean. I was amazed that he actually already looked like a baby...he had a head and little nubs for arms and legs. He also had a little tail, but for the most part, looked like a mini baby! Hearing the heartbeat for the first time was something that still gives me goosebumps! It definitely made me teary and made this whole experience that much more real. Unfortunately, we did find out that I had a small subchorionic hematoma, which is essentially a small tear or blood clot. I, of course, rushed home and started researching it (not smart!!) and read some scary stories. However, my voice of reason (Darin) calmed me down as usual and assured me all would be just fine. Easier said than done, but we were scheduled for another ultrasound at 12 weeks to see if it had disappeared or grew. Hoping for the former!! I was just told to rest as much as possible, which really was not too difficult since nausea was a 24 hour symptom of mine! The 4 week wait seemed like an eternity though!

I didn't really have any physical morning sickness during the 1st trimester, but as previously mentioned, I was nauseous ALL day EVERY day, which in my opinion is just as bad. Cereal was about all that ever sounded good to me. I am pretty sure I boosted Cheerios' sales exponentially during the first trimester...banana nut, fruity, and Honey Nut were my saviors! Oh, and my only craving was (and still is) York Peppermint patties and/or Junior Mints. Not real sure what that is all about, but I HAVE to have one every single day!!

Baby Weber!!

We are having a baby!!! We found out on July 3, 2010 in the morning. I think I took about 4 tests that day and then a few more over the next few days until it was confirmed by the doctor. I kept First Response in business that week! Probably one of the most surreal moments of my life, and I will never forget the feeling I felt when I saw the digital test say PREGNANT! We were both very excited to start this new journey!! 

That night we had a housewarming/4th of July party to go to for Emily and Jeremy. It was definitely interesting pretending to drink, but Darin and I had a pretty good system and I think we pulled it off! I even managed to burn Matt with a sparkler and blamed it on the alcohol!! Fun times!