Update!!

Hey, everyone! Sorry I haven't updated this lately. No excuses. Just an apology.

Things have been going well. Unfortunately, our doctor's appointment was canceled this past week. We've been rescheduled for early next week, though. One of the things that had been so much fun about going to the doctor has been getting the opportunity to hear the Bun's heartbeat and know that he/she is still in there and doing well. Early last week, though, the Bun was moving around like a crazy person. We are well aware now of his/her presence and well being. S/he has had some very active days. S/he has calmed down a little bit, though, since early last week; still moving every day but not as much.

Nicole is now housing a wonder-baby who weighs nearly a pound and measures nearly a foot in length. The Bun's perfect little pancreas is now further developed and they’ve also started producing their own hormones! Our baby's future in the circus as a world-famous tight-rope-walker is secure: his/her inner ear is now developed to the point that s/he has his/her own sense of balance. Luckily for our little explorer, balance also promotes physical dexterity, which has him/her actively feeling out their surroundings where skin, body parts, and the resident umbilical cord are the big sensory experiences. Our foot-long baby is looking a bit like an oversized raisin right now as more and more wrinkles are showing up each week. Not to worry, all that excessive wrinkling is just their skin’s way of planning ahead for the time when they’ll start piling on that irresistible baby chub.

We're Halfway There!

YAAAHOOOOOOO!! We are over halfway to the Bun's arrival! It seems like each day we both get more and more excited about that fact.

I know that this post is late, but the picture of Nicole was taken on Sunday. So at least we're staying consistent with the pictures.

We have heard from people recently that the Bun will most likely start to move around at night. Apparently s/he gets so used to the noise during the day that s/he becomes restless at night when it's quiet. Nicole has definitely felt that this is the case. She seems, at least right now, to only be feeling movements at night or when she wakes up in the morning.

We've spent some time this week reading to the Bun, too. Talking to the Bun and reading to him/her is a lot of fun. I don't know why I've enjoyed it so much.

Nicole's cravings have changed recently. She is now craving a bagel a day and Sour Patch Kids. She also got a new maternity skirt (from a consignment store) and shirt. Apparently pregnancy does not cause women to lose the joy they find in shopping.

I thought I'd also include a picture of some of the little diapers that we've bought. They are adorable.

Sonogram Photos!

We just got back from the doctor's office and thought we'd share the sonogram photos with you all!

The Bun's head looks empty but we saw a brain in there. I promise.

The Bun kind of looks like the Terminator in the picture. You all better watch out.

While we were looking at this shot the Bun took a nice, long yawn.

Here you can see that the Bun is going to be a diver. S/he is holding onto his/her foot.



Hopefully, this video will play nicely for all of you.
You can see the Bun's heart beating in the video!!

19 Weeks

We are so close to being halfway there! Next Sunday will be 20 weeks and Nicole will have made it halfway through her pregnancy. Nicole thinks that it's been pretty easy so far (except for her headaches that have gotten progressively worse) so, hopefully, the second half will be as good or better than the first.

In my mind, at least, this last week has been the biggest week of change for Nicole. She is happy, too, because now she feels like she looks pregnant and "not just chubby." She does, however, already miss her favorite jeans. She didn't know that that part would be this hard.

The Bun did keep Nicole up one night this week because s/he wouldn't stop doing somersaults! She thinks of it as a nice reminder that s/he's still there.

We did decide to do the Quad screen so Nicole gave some more blood to Kaiser last week. We decided that if something was wrong we would take the opportunity to learn as much about it as we could so that we could be the best parents for our Bun. The screen came back normal! We know that no screen is perfect but we're happy for the good news so far.

Wednesday is going to be a big day for us. We have our 20 week ultrasound at 10:15 a.m. I am already expecting lots of tears again from Nicole. This is the ultrasound where they may be able to tell us if the Bun is a boy or a girl. We aren't sure yet that we are going to let everyone in on that detail. I guess you'll just have to wait and see.

Our amazing little baby is now around 10 inches in length! If this seems a bit shocking, you’ll be relieved to know s/he has not actually grown over 3 inches, but that his/her little legs are now straight enough to be measured. This is when doctors begin measuring fetal growth from head to toe, (no longer “crown to rump” or CR). Lanugo (little hairs) covers his/her whole body now, trapping that charming cheese-like vernix caseosa to the surface to the skin. This week our little Bun will start on an appetizing diet of amniotic fluid which they are now capable of swallowing, digesting, and passing the fluid as far as their tiny “large” intestines. Fortunately for Nicole, this nice little lump of baby-poop won’t be coming out while s/he is still in the womb. Some time shortly after the Bun is born, this fun lump will become the first in a long line of baby poops.

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.