Belly pics, by demand

A lot of you have been wanting to see belly pics and so I'm bravely posting them for you! The 1st one was taken about a week after we found out we were expecting at 5w2d, already some bloat then. The 2nd one was taken at 13w4d on Aug 7th. I've only gained 7 lbs so far and I'm almost at the half way mark.

It's a BOY!

It's a BOY! We are so happy! My husband, Ray, was just beaming! We would have been happy either way, of course, but he's so looking forward to his new son. So, Aidan Thomas will be here soon! It's so neat to say "he" or "him" or "Aidan" now when we talk about the baby, instead of "it". We went and registered at BRU after our appt and chose a nautical theme w/white furniture. I'm excited to get started on the nursery!

16w today, end of 4th month

Week Sixteen
Fat begins to form underneath skin, providing your baby with insulation for the coming months.
Did you know that both baby and placenta are now about the same size?
Your little one has reached 4.57 inches (11.6cm) and approximately 3.53 ounces (100gm).
His head and neck are held straighter now.
This is a week of "mights!" You might hear the tiny thumps of his heartbeat with an external monitor now. The genitals are developed sufficiently that an experienced sonographer might be able to determine if your baby is a boy or a girl.
Her heart is pumping as much as 6 gallons of blood a day and beats at a rate about double your heartrate.
If you could take a peek inside, you would witness your child's reflexes in action! (Sucking, swallowing and blinking are now evident.) She is probably even hiccuping even though you don't feel it yet!
Your baby has learned to breathe! This is apparent from the regular movements of his chest. Isn't it amazing that he is able to breathe "underwater," inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid? These actions help the lungs to develop and grow.

I have felt the baby move about 4 times now. At first, I wasn't sure but now I am. It happens so quick and then it's gone. I'm looking forward to more movement as I get further along. Next week, I start my 5th month. I am down to taking my PIO shots every 3 days instead of every night. I suspect at my next appt they may tell me it's ok to stop them all together.

We were supposed to go to San Francisco this weekend to be in my friend Tanya's wedding (yes, we have the same name) but it was canceled b/c she is 26w (6mos) PG and is already dilating and so they put her on bedrest so she had to cancel her wedding. So now, we are going to Dallas for the weekend to visit my mom and our friends, Cade & Cory and their new son CJ.

Only 5 more days until we find out the gender!! Aug 29th is the date. We can't wait! We do have names picked out for a boy or a girl....they are....for a boy, Aidan Thomas and for a girl, Juliana Sofia. Originally, we liked Anna Sofia for a girl, the then the initials would be A.S.S. since our last name starts w/an S. :( So we had to pick a new name. It's really too bad, we both really loved that name. O well... My husband, Ray, has Irish heritage and I have Italian heritage so we picked names that we felt paid homage to them. Aidan is Irish and Juliana Sofia sounds Italian-esque to me. I am so excited to start decorating the nursery. There are so many options these days. I'm afraid I'm going to second guess my choices along the way. I know I want a sophisticated, vintage type nursery and I'm excited to put it together. I'll be sure to post pics as we go along.

15 weeks as of Aug 17th

Week Fifteen
You may begin to feel some fluttering movements as baby kicks, flails, twists and turns (but don't panic if you don't yet). She can also grasp, squint, frown, grimace and maybe suck her thumb!
Your baby's legs have grown longer than the arms and the body is now longer than the head.
And you'll be happy to note that he is moving those arms and legs often!
His skin is very thin -- so thin blood vessel are visible. It's covered by a fine, soft layer of hair called lanugo. Lanugo comes from a Latin word meaning "down." This hair is thought to help insulate your little boy.
The three tiny bones in his middle ear have begun to harden. The auditory centers in your baby's brain haven't developed yet, so she might not really understand what you say but her hearing capacity is in the process of developing.
Fingernails and toenails are growing.
Eyebrows are beginning to grow and even the hair his head is sprouting. It will probably change color and texture after birth.
All this and your little one is an amazing 3.98 inches (10.1cm) long and may weigh 2.47 ounces (70gm).

I'm feeling good. I've only had morning sickness the one time still (knock on wood). I could swear I've felt the baby 3 different times now, but I'm not 100% sure that's what it was. Lola is doing better. She is sleeping on my lap right now as I type. This is her usual spot whenever I'm at the computer. We have a few home improvement projects going on right now. We just had the pool replastered, got a new garage door and had all the shrubs in the front pulled out so I can relandscape. And we are getting a new front door in early Sept. All of this is in prep to sell our home sometime in the next 1-2 yrs. I'm not crazy about the school district we are in and Ray works in south Austin and my brokers office is south too, so we want to move south and get a larger home since with the addition of our baby we will no longer have a guest room.

Less than 2 wks now and we'll know our baby's gender! I just hope the baby cooperates for the ultrasound that day so we can see what we need to see, ;) !

My puppy Lola is getting spayed today :(

I know it's best for her, but I felt bad leaving her there today to have surgery w/o her mommy there to love on her and make her feel safe. With all these PG hormones, I'm so emotional about this today. She'll be 6mos on the 20th and she's a Chihuahua, so she's been my little baby since we got her. She is my "infertility dog", since I couldn't get PG, I got a puppy on Easter. But then it seemed she brought some baby dust w/her b/c I got PG 2 mos later. We call her Lola-Bean when we're loving on her. I'll be glad when she's back home later today. Our other 2 female dogs are older (12 & 9) so I've forgotten what this is like. Here's a pic of Lola. My little Lola-bean...

Week 14, 4 mos - I'm officially in my Second Trimester!!!

Week Fourteen
Thyroid gland has matured and your baby begins producing hormones which will be used throughout his or her life.
In boys, the prostate gland develops
In girls, the ovaries move from the abdomen to the pelvis
Your little one may have learned to suck his thumb by this point!
Your child's bones are getting harder and stronger by the day!
Your 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!
Your baby is 3.42 inches (8.7cm) long and weighs about 1.52 ounces (43 grams) - approximately the weight of a letter!


I'm so excited to be this far along! Today, I am 14wks, which means I'm in my 4th month and I'm also starting my second trimester. I'm looking forward to being able to feel the baby moving inside me. I thought I felt something last night, but maybe it was my imagination or wishful thinking.

13 weeks, what's baby doing this week?

Week Thirteen
Your infant is about 2.91 inches (7.4cm) and weighs around 0.81 ounce (23gm) - This is about the same weight as 4 quarters.
If you could peek in again you may spot your baby as he begins to practice inhaling and exhaling movements
Eyes and ears continue to move and develop
Baby's neck is getting longer, and the chin no longer is resting on his chest
Her hands are becoming more functional - Your baby may find it comforting to start playing with her fist.
At this point all nourishment is received from the placenta
On your next doctor visit you should be able to hear heartbeat with a Doppler by now - (Don't worry though if you can't, the heartbeat can be confirmed through U/S). Your baby's heartbeat is much rapider than your own and may remind you of the race towards birth that he is running!

I've started to decrease my progesterone in oil (PIO) injections down to every other day, instead of every day. I'm having a lot of anxiety about this and finding it hard to trust my body to work when it's failed me before. Everything I can find about when the placenta takes over, says that it should be fully functional by now. I'm praying for faith and trust.

Back from NT Scan - 12w5d

We had our NT scan today and it went well. The area around the neck that they measure was 1.7 mm and anything under 3 mm is good. So everything still looks good so far. Whew! The baby was moving around quite a bit again today, we got a few pics from our u/s today. It was pretty awesome today. I shed a few tears during the u/s - still in shock that I really have a baby in there and so grateful.

Our next appt (on Aug 29th) is our "BIG ultra sound" where we find out the gender of our baby! I can't believe we are far enough along to find this out and in only 4 weeks we will know if we are having a boy or a girl!

In the u/s pics above, the 1st one is a profile shot w/the head on the left. The 2nd one is from overhead and the baby's head is on the right with it's right arm up by it's head.