Who's right?

The poll here closed yesterday with 63% guessing BOY and 36% guessing GIRL. (Okay you math majors may have noticed thats only 99%. It's really 63.6% and 36.4%, this site rounds to whole numbers). Looks like this is a case where the majority is right!

Yesterday the ultrasound confirmed that we are having a baby boy! Just as we had hoped (or as Jack says, as he KNEW all along). When we got home, I hopped straight onto the computer and took all the baby girl stuff off our Target registry. (Yea I got excited early so I registered for a bunch of stuff, both boy & girl related). Those of you who know us IRL can find our registry by searching on my given name, not my nickname. We already had a boy name picked out, so baby will be named Jaxon Paul.

Now onto the fun part, pictures! The first one here is one of my favorites. You can clearly see his head & face. That's his foot right up in front of his nose! And the second pic here shows that he is indeed a boy :) For the rest of the us pics, see me on Flickr. There's another one I like where all you see is his legs streched out kicking me plus a few others.

Today's the day!

In just a few hours, Jack & I have our appt at UNC Specialty Women's Center for our ultrasound as part of the research study. And, oh by the way, they expect to be able to tell us the sex of the baby!! **Fingers crossed** that our little one cooperates so that there is no doubt :)

Holiday Shopping

Who out there is done with all their holiday shopping? Not me! I've gotten a head start this year (compared to normal) but still have a bit to do. I'm trying to take advantage of 'Cyber Monday' (kinda like Black Friday but online). For those of you preggers out there, I got an email today with a discount code I thought I'd pass along. 2 chix is having a holiday sale. Enter code 'letitshow2007' at checkout and get 25% off (good thru 11/29). They have cute tees! That's who made my 'knocked up' tee :)

Two days til find out baby's sex!

Happy Birthday to me

Jack got me the cutest maternity tee for my birthday. Since we don't find out the sex until after my birthday, he got the generic one in yellow. But it's really cute. The little baby on the shirt is down low so it is on the belly. Very funny. Of course, just like my other cute tee, it comes in 'one size fits most'. So I had to scrunch it up a bit to get the baby in the right place, lol. But as my belly gets bigger, it'll be closer to the right spot. And it's super comfy too, nice bonus. He did a great job picking this one out!

Belly shots

Me at 14 weeks

Christmas music

I just heard my first Christmas music of the 'season' while I was put on hold by the vet's office. Only took until 39 days before Christmas. I used to have this rule, that I couldn't/wouldn't deal with anything Christmas-related before my birthday. (I was born on Thanksgiving day). My husband's birthday is close to mine, only 10 days later, and he shares the sentiment. Of course, now that I'm older, I've realized that's just impossible. There are parties & vacations to plan/attend, arrangements to make with family, gifts to buy (yes I started my shopping this week), and even marketing to your customers if you sell products (as I do as a Creative Memories Consultant).

I'm glad my baby is not being born near a major holiday! Well, it will be near Mother's Day, but I've yet to hear a song about Mother's Day in March or April :)

Knocked up & now everyone knows it

Up until now, I had not shared our pregnancy news at work. Well, I told the bosses a few weeks ago, but have not generally announced it. I don't really know why I wanted to wait so long (nearly 15 weeks now) but I did. Since I work at home, I could wait as long as I wanted. I had decided to tell after Thanksgiving once we found out the sex. Of course, plans change sometimes..

Then our team decided to have a potluck lunch at work this Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving and I didn't want to miss out. Since my belly is poking out a bit, I figured I either had to tell or not go to the luncheon. Plus a couple people already found out from Facebook, lol. So to announce it, I picked out a fun tee shirt (see it here) and decided to go. No one has seen me in a few months, so I thought it would be more obvious.

Wrong. I walked into the room where all the food was, wearing my funny tee, and no one said anything. My boss who knew, laughed & my close friend who walked in with me was smiling. But no response. So I figure they're all looking at the food, give it a few minutes. It really wasn't sinking in, so finally after about an hour, my boss said 'everybody look at Mickie's shirt'. Still, 1/2 of them didn't get it (oh you like that movie 'Knocked Up'?). Come on people. Really not the response I expected. But once they got it, everyone was congratulating me. I did have one girl still ask me a couple hours later - so does the shirt have anything to do with the movie? Ugh.

What happens at 14 weeks

Welcome to the second trimester! This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb. Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him - a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb. In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches, about the size of a lemon, and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces.

courtesy of babycenter

new poll

While reading a friends preggo blog, I realized blogger now has a new poll option. So I stole her poll idea - guess if you think our baby is a boy or a girl! I've got the poll setup to close on 11/27 at 4PM (that's when we are scheduled to have our ultrasound to find out!). So get your vote in now and we'll find out soon!

Most photographed fetus ever

Our little one had his/her 4th ultrasound photos taken today! And he's only 12 1/2 weeks old (Jack says it's good practice cuz I'll be taking pics everyday once the kid is born - lol, probably true).

So backing up a little bit, we got the call with results from Duke Perinatal as we pulled into the doctors parking lot. I normally would have written down every number she gave, but was just not possible as I was trying to listen to the nurse & give Jack driving directions at the same time. But, the good news is that our risk of any of the diseases they tested for is actually reduced (lower than the general risk for my age). So we decided not to pursue the repeat screening in 2nd trimester.

This OB office has patients bring in their pee in a cup instead of doing it there in the office. And my first experience with this was not good. I did my business and put the cup in the little bag they gave us. And the cup went straight thru the bottom of the bag and landed on the bathroom floor. Lovely. So I grabbed my stapler (ok this is at like 6AM you know and I am NOT a morning person) and stapled the bag shut. Now my pee cup is staying in the bag & I'm back to bed for a few minutes. About the time we got in the car, I realized not only is the bag busted, but now the cup is leaking. (We were in Jack's car, not mine.. haha). Of course.. this is when I realized staples (instead of maybe.. oh I don't know - tape?) was a bad idea. So I manage to get the cup & bag to the office without too much of a mess & grabbed some tissues & hand sanitizer there in the waiting room. Hopefully the cup/bag they gave me for the next visit will be a little more sturdy.

I have this tendency to be either too early or too late for just about everything. Dr visits are no exception. So even with Jack driving, stopping by the courthouse so Jack could get some lawyerly work done, and grabbing breakfast-to-go at a little shop near the courthouse, we were still over 30 minutes early. And of course, the ultrasound tech was running behind with all the other ladies needing an u/s. It is always fun to see the baby even though I just saw him last week & not much of anything had changed. The pics that were printed out for us were not the best. He/she had gotten into an odd position by the time the tech took pics for us. Everything looked good so she sent us on our way. We had about a 5 second visit with a nurse practioner b/c the OB was busy. Not much to report there. So we're all doing well & anxiously waiting til we find out the sex!

Bad Papaya

I learned an interesting fact today. IBM has a program where a nurse will check in with you for certain issues (I've used this in the past for previous surgeries & procedures) and they provide guidance and some education. The nurse called me today and most everything she went over was all stuff I'd heard before. But then she mentioned to avoid papaya. Since I'd been trying to eat lots of fruits & veggies, I was surprised to hear this. But apparently, papaya can possibly trigger uterine contractions and lead to miscarriage. Luckily it's not one of the fruits I'd added to my diet.

Is it a Boy or a Girl?

Jack & I just scheduled our 16 week FREE ultrasound through the UNC research study for November 27th. This is the one where we hope to find out the sex! Well, the ultrasound is really for their research study, but the main point of it for us is to find out, assuming he/she cooperates. What a great birthday present for both of us!

Screening

On Friday morning, I went to a specialist for some additional screening that Jack & I had opted to do. This screening checked for Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18 & 13. It was a two-part test, first an ultrasound & then some bw. The ultrasound was amazing! The tech checked out quite a few basic things like heart, bladder, structure, etc and doing so showed me so much of our baby. After a few mins, he/she started moving around a lot. I was amazed to see such obvious movement and such clear features (legs, arms, face, etc). The development in the last 4 weeks is just wild. (As you can see if you compare this ultrasound with the last one we had!). In the photos, she focused on the baby's head so some of them are closeups of his head. She was measuring a small spot on the back of his head as part of the screening and that portion came back normal. The second part was a blood test (finger prick - yuck) and I have to wait to hear back on that portion.

I also went over to Rex Hospital after my appointment in order to sign some docs to join a UNC research study on preeclampsia. While I was there, she took several vials of blood for the study, measured my belly, and asked a bunch of questions for the study. All I have to do is allow them access to my medical records, have them join me at a few appts, and take a few pills (either a combo vitamin or a placebo, I don't know which I have) each day. In exchange, we'll get paid up to $300 and get a free ultrasound at 16 weeks (where they should be able to tell us the sex of the baby!!!). The nurse is trying to setup the appt for the week after Thanksgiving so we may know before Jack's birthday!

No Space

Hi Friends and Family!

I know many of you are excited to start giving us baby stuff. Though we appreciate all gifts, right now we do not have the space to store much baby stuff and are not planning to start work on the nursery until after the new year. As our birthdays are approaching, I thought I'd give a few ideas of other items we'd like as we prepare for our little one. In order to make room for a nursery, we have to re-do our office space which we plan to begin in December. By Christmas, we should have a little more space for baby stuff!

Gift ideas & wish lists:
- Gift cards (prefer Staples, Lowes or Target)
- Maternity clothes (tops XS-S, pants/dresses 2)
- FLOR.com tiles: House Pet in Parrot or Canary
- Target wish list under Mickie, Jack or Baby Shipley (list can be viewed online or at store kiosks)
- Boxedup wish list - http://www.boxedup.com/mickie (has variety of items from different stores)

I'll update the wish lists wtih more baby/nursery stuff as we get closer. Plus then we'll have a baby registry. Thanks for understanding!!!!

BTW - New pics of the baby will be up this weekend on the blog!!

Mustang Sally

One of the most common questions I've gotten since announcing my pregnancy is 'so are you going to get rid of the mustang?'.

H*LL NO!! First off, I adore my car. I wish I still had my first mustang ('67 coupe) and plan to keep this one ('05 GT coupe) for as long as I can. Hopefully it'll still be around when our kids are my age! My husband would probably say I'm obsessed with my car (I do have two Mustang tshirts) but I just think it's a great looking and fun car to drive.

Second, it really doesn't make any sense to get rid of it. Though we still have quite awhile to go before it's paid off, there are not a lot of options I could get that would be better financially. Especially once you take into account selling this one, paying off what I owe, and starting over with a new loan on a used car. If anyone gets a 'new' car anytime soon, it'll be Jack. His is almost paid off.

Third, my car came with the LATCH system installed (required in all cars built after 2002). LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) is a system that lets you install car seats without seat belts. I didn't really know anything about it until I got pregnant, but knew that my car had it. So point being, the car is designed to hold a car seat. Granted, it won't be the most convenient since I have to move the seat up to reach the back, but I'll get used to it. I did see a woman the other day driving a mustang just like mine with two car seats in the back and an older child in the front seat. So it can be done!

Belly Rubs

Last weekend, I had my first 'belly rub' by a non-family member. Luckily it was someone I know but it was still kinda odd. I think I'm going to be one of those women that says 'hands off' when strangers reach for my belly. I remember watching random people rub one of my girlfriends belly when she was pregnant and she just put up with it. I don't think I'll mind it from family & close friends, but anyone else is going to hear about it. :)

Maternity clothes

In the last week or so, I've started having trouble fitting into my normal clothes. So I've had to start shopping around for maternity clothes. It seems early to me (10 weeks today) but it's already necessary.

So I stopped by Motherhood Maternity while I was at the mall one day. I'd been referred there for this thing called a belly belt which is actually pretty cool. If you've ever seen the 'expand a collar' thingy they make for men's dress shirts, it's a similar concept for womens pants. It has two belt pieces (2 sizes). The small one is used by itself and has a button on one side & a button hole on the other. The 'belt' itself is elastic. So you button it into your pants and it expands them a little (you just zip them up as far as you can). It's not super cute, so it's worn with a longer shirt to hide it. The larger one is the same, but includes a fabric sleeve you slide over the belt & then tuck in your pants (because you'll have your pants unzipped all the way & we don't want our undies showing). It's really very useful for this in-between time! I've used it in my jeans already. The buttons are already coming loose, but that's easy enough to fix.

While I was there picking up the belly belt, I thought I'd try on some clothes since they were having a clearance sale. The sales lady suggested since I am still early in my pregnancy, that I use their pillow to see how the clothes would fit later on. Supposedly this pillow, that you strap around your waist, adds three months to your belly. I tried it, but couldn't take it seriously. I looked ridiculous (it really didn't sit right.. there's no way I'll be shaped like that. I might as well have stuffed my own pillow under my clothes). Add in the fact that even their smallest clothes were huge on me & I looked like a kid playing dress up. I tried several different options, but everything was too big. The sales lady had told me that I'd use my pre-pregnancy size, but that just was not true at that store.

I did end up picking up a couple of items at Target. They had smaller sizes (though still made for Amazon women, I'll have to have it all hemmed up shorter). I got a pair of jeans that have a semi-normal waistband with just a little elastic on the sides. I can't quite wear the actual maternity waisted items yet. Plus I chose a few cotton tees that I can wear now. I know one thing - finding maternity clothes that fit me is not going to be easy!

First Trimester Screening

Jack & I decided to go for the extra first trimester screening. This is not required for low-risk patients, but we decided we wanted to know. Since it's just screening, if they come back positive, then we would go for the actual diagnostic tests (like CVS or amniocentesis). The nurse called today with my appointment date (this is done at a different facility, not by my doctor) which is 10/26 at Duke Perinatal. They will be doing a special ultrasound & a blood test and apparently it is not typically covered by insurance. But, they have a detection rate of 97% for Trisomy 18 and 90% for Down Syndrome. Testing in the second trimester does not have as high rates of detection.

First OB appointment

Yesterday Jack & I went to our first OB appointment. They had told us to allow two hours.. but it seemed to take longer than that.

First we met with a nurse and went through all the basics, tons of questions about our previous medical history, mostly mine of course, but a little bit from Jack too. Then she provided us with a ton of information such as all the various screening tests, what medicines are okay to take, what will happen at normal appts, etc. Of course she checked my urine, blood pressure & weight (I'm still at my pre-pregnancy weight, but a good 5-8lbs over my pre-fertility-treatment weight. But I already look like I'm pregnant so I guess it's all from bloating).

Then we moved over to another office to meet with the doctor. He reviewed some of the medical chart plus went over some of the same testing stuff again. The discussion with him went fairly quick and then it was off to another room.

The last room was for the exam and ultrasound. He did a basic GYN exam (pap & all) and then the ultrasound. At first when we talked in his office, I thought he was not going to do one since I'd had one at 6 weeks at the fertility clinic. But then he said 'lets do one anyway and check it out'. The baby looked fine. Jack was amazed at how much the baby had grown in 2 weeks. And the heartbeat looked nice & strong.. a lot more obvious than the tiny blip on the screen 2 weeks ago. The CRL (crown rump length - a measurement of the fetus) was 20.9mm which is normal. He did find a cyst on my ovary though. It seemed big to me (measured at 52x40mm) but the doctor said there was nothing to be concerned about, just we'd keep an eye on it. So he'll do another u/s at our next regular appt (in 4 weeks) just to check it out. If nothing else, it's a way for us to get to see the baby an extra time :)

After all that, they took some blood to run a bunch of initial tests. The nurse called me back with the results this afternoon. She talked so fast that I didn't get to write it all down, but basically all the ones that I didn't write down were all normal. They did test me for toxoplasmosis since we have a cat (I especially requested it but they do usually offer this if you say you have a cat). I was hoping I'd show up immune, but I did not. So, Jack is stuck with litterbox duty (I can't complain!) for awhile. I also did not show any current infection which is also very good. From what I've read, cats apparently get the disease mainly by eating rodents (yuck) and since my kitty is stuck inside.. he's only gotten ahold of one mouse that I know of (one that made it into the house a few years back). The other blood test that was of particular interest was my hemoglobin. I was at 11.8 g/100 ml and apparently at 11.3 this doc requires iron supplements. Taking a supplement doesn't sound too tough, but this one can cause upset stomach which is not something I need to add to right now. She said to just be careful to make sure I'm eating iron-rich foods since I was fairly low on iron.

We have a ton of paperwork to read through, a few lists (foods, medicines,etc that are okay & warning signs to call the doc immediately), some ads, a magazine and a urine sample cup. Didn't see that coming? Actually I did know about that from my therapist who happened to have used the same practice. They have you pee in a cup at home & bring it in with you for your appointment. (I guess to save time?).

They scheudule regular appts every 4 weeks until the 26wk mark, then every 2 weeks until 36wk and then every week from there on. So we go back on November 1st.