18 Weeks (Oops! We missed one.)

Sorry about missing week 17. I don't have any excuses for you. It just didn't get done.

The last week and a half have gone well. We are both getting more and more excited for our upcoming ultrasound. That will happen in about a week and a half or two weeks. It is the big ultrasound. The one that is longer and the one where we could potentially find out whether we have a boy bun or a girl bun.

The biggest problem over the last week and a half has been regarding Nicole's prenatal vitamins. We were unable to find another bottle of the brand that she had been using and so we called the doctor, talked to a "vitamin expert" at Vitamin Cottage, and finally decided on a new brand. The biggest problem with these new vitamins is that Nicole thinks that they smell horrible. She makes a face and whimpers at the thought of having to take them. She can be a little dramatic.

The exciting news is that Nicole bought some new cloth diapers for the Bun this week. Since we don't know the sex we got some green and orange diapers. The diapers are amazingly small since they are newborn diapers. It's hard to believe that our little Bun will be here soon and will be that small.

The other really exciting news is that Nicole felt the Bun moving for the first time today! How cool is that? She says that describing what it felt like is difficult other than to say that it wasn't a usual feeling. Kind of like a bubble in her stomach.

Our baby is now about 5 ½ inches long and weighs about 6 ounces. During this week the Bun will gain weight at an incredible pace! Now that all of the organs have developed, the Bun’s body will focus on gaining weight and size. Nicole may begin to feel a bit off center as the baby and her uterus are getting larger.

Because the Bun's inner ear has formed its bones and nerve endings from the brain have formed, hearing has become very acute. Our baby can hear Nicole's heartbeat and the blood moving through the umbilical cord as well as our voices. S/he will even try to cover his/her ears if s/he hears a loud sound!

The Bun is sensitive to light now, as the eyes are further developed and the brain is growing very fast. A little girl will have all the eggs inside her ovaries that she will need for her entire life. Little boys begin to develop the prostate. Brown fat begins to cover the Bun, so his/her skin appears less transparent.

16 (and a half) Weeks

Yes, yes. I know this is late. I'm sorry. There is a part of me that wants to type "now don't be alarmed" but I know that if I type that that you all will become alarmed so I won't do that. Here is the statement that I will not warn against being alarmed about:

Today did not start off ideally for Nicole, Chris, and the Bun.

I know, you're freaking out right now even though I didn't tell you to not be alarmed. Hang in there, though. Here's an explanation:

Chris got a phone call this morning from Dr. Pott (don't freak out). Dr. Pott is Nicole's dentist. Nicole missed her appointment to have her teeth cleaned that has been on the calendar for about six months. The next available appointment at Dr. Pott's office was in June. (That is not a typo. June. That is four months away.) Nicole was frustrated to say the least. I believe that this is the first real opportunity Nicole has had to use the "the baby is eating my brain" excuse. So we're going to. The Bun has now begun to encroach upon Nicole's clear thinking. Poor Nicole. (The dentist story does end happily, though. Nicole was able to get an appointment at another dentist's office thanks to a referral from sister-in-law Melissa. You all can now rest well knowing that Nicole's teeth will be, not just clean but, dentist clean after her appointment on Monday.)

The Bun has also begun to communicate with Nicole by letting her know that even short stretches of unhealthy food are a bad idea. After two consecutive meals that were not particularly healthy this week, Nicole felt, well, not good. Not horrible but not good. We are trying to make sure that our meals in the future are consistently well balanced.

On a side note that has a little to do with poor eating (the not-too-healthy meals included Super Bowl Sunday), perhaps we should do something to honor the New Orleans Saints victory. I haven't run this by Nicole yet so we'll see what she thinks. Maybe we could name the Bun "Who Dat" or something. Thoughts?

Our baby now measures about 4.3 to 4.6 inches from crown to rump and weighs about 2.8 ounces. Fingernails are well-formed and the fine hair, lanugo, may be growing on the head. Arms and legs are moving. The nervous system is functioning and muscles are responding to stimulation from your baby's brain. We have been able to hear the baby's heartbeat in the doctor's office. Our baby's fingers and toes are well-defined; eyelids, eyebrows, eyelashes, nails and hair are formed. Teeth and bones become denser. Our baby can even suck his or her thumb, yawn, stretch and make faces. The nervous system is starting to function and the reproductive organs and genitalia are now fully developed.

Thanks for catching up with us. Feel free to leave us more comments! We love reading them.

15 Weeks (and Counting)

This has been a good week for Nicole, Chris, and the Bun. Yesterday was appointment number three and the first opportunity that we had to meet our doctor. That, as it turns out, was the major objective of the appointment. Our doctor's name is Camille Calderwood. We both really liked her and she happens to be pregnant too. Outside of meeting Dr. Calderwood for the first time, the appointment mainly consisted of doing some measurements on Nicole and listening to the Bun's heartbeat. Let me tell you that that will never get old. Ever. It is so amazing. We also have the option of doing some screening blood work this next week for a few diseases like Down Syndrome. We are still discussing that course of action.

We also have found out that it is highly recommended that you receive an H1N1 vaccine if you plan on spending significant time with a child under the age of two. Since we are planning on doing that, we are in the process of both getting the vaccine. Chris has already received his and Nicole is headed to a different clinic today to get a version of the vaccine that is made for pregnant women. If you're wanting to spend significant time with our Bun when it arrives, it would be great if you'd consider getting the shot. It's not a mandate or anything, we're just trying to follow the advice of our doctors.

We have our next appointment in three weeks on Wednesday, February 24. At that point we'll schedule the big ultrasound for sometime the next week. The one that is a lot longer and the one where we may find out if the Bun is a boy or a girl. (Concerning that, most people who "have a feeling" about our little Bun seem to think that the Bun is a boy. Feel free to leave a comment and let your "feeling" be known. I'm disallowing any "I knew its!" if your position isn't clearly made beforehand. For the record, Nicole is thinking boy and Chris is thinking girl.)

Right now the Bun is probably about 4.5 inches long and weighs almost 2.5 ounces. Our baby is growing rapidly. If you were to peek inside Nicole's uterus during pregnancy week 15 (which won't be allowed by anyone except our medical staff) you would still be able to see our baby's blood vessels through his/her paper-thin skin. In fact, the blood vessels forming in our baby's body make him/her look rather like a map! This week, our baby will start producing lanugo, which is fine hair that will cover our baby's body up until a few weeks before birth. Lanugo covers every part of our baby in utero, except for the palms, soles of the feet, lips, penis, nails, and inner fingers and toes. Typically babies will shed this hair by the 8th month of pregnancy, but it can persist in some newborns for a short period of time. Pre-term babies are more likely to be born with lanugo than full term babies. Our baby might start sucking his/her thumb this week.

The bones in our baby's body are also starting to get harder during pregnancy at 15 weeks and will continue to do so throughout your pregnancy. Our baby is spending most of his/her time practicing breathing, by inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid. Believe it or not, the very act of doing so will help our baby's air sacs develop during pregnancy. Our baby continues to form taste buds at this point in time.

Thanks for taking time to catch up with us and the Bun! We appreciate your love and support.

100 Days! / 14 Weeks

Well the Bun made it through a hectic week, as did Nicole and Chris. We have officially moved and are happy to report that it went very smoothly thanks to some help from our amazing friends and family.

Nicole did make it through this week with one minor complication: she had her first pregnant vomiting experience. She ate a piece of pineapple and as the juice was running down her throat she thought "this isn't good." She was right. A few seconds later and a couple of ounces lighter, she felt great again. Nicole also got in contact this week with a woman who does classes on the Bradley Method. This is our planned route for child-birthing and we're looking forward to taking the classes in May.

Chris did not vomit this week. So that was good. He is also on a pregnancy book dry spell. Seriously, if anyone has suggestions for good books, let him know. Chris also had the great idea to move while Nicole was at work and thereby keep her from trying to do too much or lift anything too heavy. It worked like a charm.

The Bun turned 100 today! 100 days, that is. At 14 weeks the thyroid gland

has matured and our baby is producing hormones which will be used throughout his or her life. If our Bun is a boy, the prostate gland develops this week and if the Bun is a girl, the ovaries move from the abdomen to the pelvis. Our little one may have learned to suck his/her thumb by this point! Our child's bones are getting harder and stronger by the day! Our baby's skin is very transparent still. Lanugo (very fine hair) covers the baby's body and will continue to grow until 26 weeks gestational age - Generally this will be shed prior to birth. Its purpose is to help protect baby's skin while in all that water! Our baby is 3.42 inches (8.7cm) long and weighs about 1.52 ounces (43 grams) - approximately the weight of a letter!

(Sorry we didn't put up a picture of Nicole yet. That will get updated tomorrow.)

Week 13

The Bun has been pretty well behaved over the last week. He/she made Nicole a little dizzy a couple of days but nothing too bad. Nicole's week went especially well because she got to eat Chinese food more than once. (It was delicious.)

Nicole and Chris both have been trying to glean information from people who already have kids over the past week. Kyle and Carly (cousins who have two kids with a third on the way) were in town this last weekend and they had some good conversations about an array of topics. If anyone has advice on a specific topic or on something that you consider to be a great resource that we should read, please let us know. We are always looking for more help. We know that we don't know what we're doing.

This week the Bun's fingerprints have formed on his/her fingertips, his/her veins and organs are clearly visible through his/her still-thin skin, and his/her body is starting to catch up with his/her head — which makes up just a third of his/her body size now. If we're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Our baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

We're going to start to post a picture of Nicole and the Bun every week so that you all can track the progress. Well, at least we'll try to remember to do it.

We love you all so much. Feel free to leave comments on here. We'd love to hear from you.

We're starting a blog to document our pregnancy!

Hey, all. We're starting this blog to document our thoughts, our feelings, and the going-on(s) as we embark on this incredibly exciting journey.

Right now, Nicole is almost through her first trimester and things are going splendidly! We had our first appointment on Wednesday, January 6th. Seeing the baby for the first time on the ultrasound was so amazing. It was literally (and yes, we mean literally) indescribable. Nicole cried through the whole thing. The pictures don't do it justice. We got to see our little Bun moving around and see and hear his/her heartbeat. Nicole thinks that the Bun was punching. Chris calls it flailing.

Right now the Bun measures about 2.5 inches from crown to rump and weighs between three-tenths of an ounce and half an ounce. It is fully formed, from tooth buds to toenails, and his/hers job now is to continue getting larger and stronger for the rest of the pregnancy.

Nicole has felt like her first trimester has been relatively easy. She's gone through a little bit of nausea, but nothing too extreme. She has definitely been more tired (hello, 8:30 bedtimes), but has felt pretty healthy overall.

Chris has been reading whatever he can get his hands on about having a baby. He's read Dad's Pregnant Too! by Harlan Cohen, The Expectant Father by Brott and Ash, and has read through some of the classic What to Expect When You're Expecting. (Consequently, while Chris has been reading pregnancy books, Nicole has been reading books discussing finances.)

We look forward to updating you on everything that happens as we journey through this. Thanks for all of your love and support.