It has been over a month since we last updated the blog.
Pregnancy fatigue and video game playing have been big factors in the lack of blog updates. The pregnancy fatigue is finally letting up a little. I'm still passing out around 1.5 to 2 hours earlier than usual and waking up frequently and early. When I can't go back to sleep, I usually go lay down in the guest bedroom, so I won't bug Jason. I have been reading several different kinds of baby books. Turns out reading too much in one sitting can cause increased baby anxiety...I am now limiting it to one chapter at a time.
Yesterday, after Jason's haircut, we went to Walmart to set up a baby registry. We were told if you register in the store you get extra stuff, like coupons and samples...at the Woodlands Walmart this is not the case. Boo. This morning we got on our Walmart registry and added some baby stuff. We'll probably register at Babies-R-Us and Target also in order to have a larger variety for people. We'll do the bulk of the registry after we know the baby's gender.
The January OB appointment:
The first ultasound tech came in and was able to find the placental pulse right away with the doppler but couldn't find the baby's heart beat. Then, another tech came in and looked and looked for a really long time, but she finally found it. When the techs can't find the heart beat right away, they seem to get pretty flustered. She kept pushing harder and harder with the head of the doppler-wand-thing and trying strange angles. They used the doppler to measure the heart rate (BPMs) and the baby's pulse was 162. Dr. Morgan said that was a really good rate and the position of the baby seemed appropriate, so he couldn't justify doing an ultrasound. We assumed because I was nearing the 12 week mark that the doctor would want to do an ultrasound regardless. And when he didn't, I was a little disappointed; I felt like Jason took off work to listen to the doppler and watch the doctor measure my abdomen...also I really wanted to be able to post better ultrasound pictures. The little smudge and tadpole pictures aren't terribly exciting. I have two more OB appointments scheduled for February 15th and March 17th. In March, we'll hopefully get to find out the baby's gender.
Baby gender and quantity:Jason and I have talked about this a lot. What we want most is a full term healthy baby. Most of my baby experience is with girls: Jessica, almost everyone I babysat in high school, the kids I nannied in and right after college, and the major of my Aunt Marcia's grandchildren. I think life would be a tiny bit easier if our first child was a girl...I think Jason feels the complete opposite. He is in for quite the challenge either way as his baby experience is pretty much limited to playing with Andrew (our nephew).
There seems to be some spectulation among female relatives and co-workers that due to my already showing in a rather obvious way that there might be more than one baby in there. While missing a baby on early ultrasounds is a possibility and happens more frequently then either Jason nor I would care to admit, Jason and I continue to hope mostly for the baby(s) health that there is only one in there. I currently know 2 people who are pregnant with twins, both right around the 6-7 week mark. They have a permanent deer in the headlights look...the one Jason has finally lost/overcome.
Nursery projects:
Just before Christmas, Jason and I (mostly Jason because I got too hot and tired) cleaned out the nursery, which had become sort of a catch all for random junk and boxes we hadn't unpacked. After the nursery was clear of flotsam and jetsum, we assembled the fixed-side crib (for those worried about drop-side recalls) and the changing table. I bought these way early because Target was having a great pre-Thanksgiving sale; the crib was $100 off and the changing table was free with purchase!
Below are photos of Jason and I assembling the crib.
The following photos are of the completed crib and changing table. The other things in the nursery are presents Baby Mooney got from Santa, including a turtle night light, bouncer, munchkin feeding accessories, and a very fancy Boyd's Bear that Baby Mooney won't be able to play with until it is much older.
The following photos were taken on the morning of Friday February 4, 2011. They are not terribly attractive photos, however I think they show the size of my baby bump well. And as previously stated in my Facebook post, I am trying really hard to stand up straight and not pooch out my belly. When I pooch it out, it looks scary huge.
I bought patterns from Hobby Lobby in order to sew my own baby bedding, but when we went to Babies-R-Us on a scouting expedition Jason really liked the Carter's brand Tree Top crib bedding. I posted a picture below. So now we're thinking about a uni-sex nature/forest theme with a tree mural. A chalkboard area has been suggested and we may try to incorporate something like that or add it later when the baby is older.
We might not get to another post until after the February 15 appointment, but we'll make sure to update everyone then!
