24 Weeks

Loved hitting up baby clothes sales while Christmas shopping...all this for a mere $6.00.  Baby T has his first pair of shoes!

24 weeks, taken after being up for almost 24 hours...object in picture appears larger than normal size :-)

23 Weeks!

Baby T's infant seat and playard have arrived.  Since the color choice we opted for was discontinued we ordered it through the local Bed Bath & Beyond.  We were able to use a 20%-off coupon on each item and get FREE shipping!  Arrived to the house within 3 days of order being placed.  Not bad!

 Thank you sweet, sweet UPS man for carrying this 44lb. worth of baby goods into our house for us during the busiest delivery time of the year!

Very happy with our Chicco Keyfit 30 infant seat.  Color = Romantic.  Perfectly neutral for a Baby T, edition 2 in the future!

Obligatory Thompson family Christmas photo.

It's A...

BOY!!!!

22 weeks today and had our ultrasound.  Baby Boy Thomson is a mover.  He enjoys punching his mom continuously.  He's breech, with plenty of time to turn!  Estimated weight based on measurements is 1 lb., 1 oz.  Arm and leg bones look normal, heart has 4 chambers with septal walls intact, bladder in good shape, and spinal cord looks good. 

On a side note...we have placenta previa, type II marginal, which means the placenta is slightly covering my cervix.  However we are having another ultrasound in 4 weeks to see if things have changed.  Fingers crossed that they have or Baby T may have no choice but to be born via cesarean section and bedrest may be required.  

22 week bump....

21 Weeks!

A banana...weighing in around 12.7 ounces and 10.5 inches in length.
Just 1 week until our ultrasound and we get to discover if Baby T is a girl or boy!!!

Nothing really new to report this week.  Intermittently nauseous still.  No problems sleeping yet.  We did order a Snoogle though, so excited to get this giant pillow in the mail!  The BEST thing ever :-)

And I have 'popped' in a big way.  This is post meal.

20 Weeks!

Week of the Cantaloupe...which means we are approximately 6.5 inches in length, weighing in around 10.6 ounces!

Monthly prenatal exam was quick, all is well.  We have a heart rate of 155.

So the physician I saw this week in practice didn't agree with our due date being moved up 6 days, so we have an estimated due week, not day.  April 9th - April 15th!

No pic. this week, just too busy between my horrendous work schedule, end of semester school work, and the Thanksgiving holiday.  We have a lot to be thankful for this year :-)

19 Weeks!

We have a Mango!  Baby is now around 6 inches in length and weighing in around 8.5 ounces.  Which means, just a week before we are at the HALFWAY point, whew!  It's amazing to think of this awesome developing little person we have...our little one can now hear, smile/frown, hiccup and even has fingerprints and LOVES to move around in there!

I feel like "me" again!   Morning sickness virtually gone so I can now indulge in my daily cup of coffee!  I only get sick now when I eat too much.  I definitely can't eat like I used to, meals are much smaller.  The dreaded heartburn has kicked in in full gear. Tums are my new best friend.   My craving continues to be spicy Mexican food and pizza.  Weight gain: 2lb.

3 weeks to go until we know if there is a girl or boy in there :-)  It's VERY weird to think of that little one being our daughter or son!  

We've slowly been working on registries, which has been overwhelming since I have absolutely no idea on everything we'll need.  Amazon.com seemed to work the best for us since we can add items from any store to it!  Here is a link...am I missing anything?  Amazon.com Registry  and buybuy Baby Registry

I am sooo grateful for my best friend and sister who have graciously started planning a baby shower for Baby T!  We're planning for February or March in Culpeper, VA.  Plan accordingly, would LOVE to see ya'll there :-) 

19 week bump photo

18 Weeks!

Baby is now the size of a Sweet Potato!  Which means our baby is approximately 5.59 inches in length, weighing approximately 6.7 ounces.  We have movement, or at least what I think is movement from the little jumping bean!

I am feeling better, much more rested and not nearly as sick.  Weight gain at just over 1lb.  Yes, full on maternity clothes are most comfortable now.

Next routine doctors appointment on November 22nd AND our anatomy scan/2nd ultrasound is scheduled for December 5th.  So, we can get down to serious shopping business when we find out if Baby T is a he or a she!!!


18 week belly shot:

16 weeks!

Yikes!  We have an Avocado this week: approximately 4.6 inches in length, weighing approximately 3.5 ounces.  Our fetus can now hear us...kind of scary!

I just arrived home from routine 16-week prenatal appointment...happy to report so far, so good!  I have actually not gained a pound and Baby T heartbeat at 155bpm.   My BP was perfect 110/64.

Next big event: scheduling anatomy scan/2nd ultrasound in December to find out GENDER!!!

Will post a belly pic. this weekend.  We're off to Charlotte for Ang & Jon's wedding and to also see some long lost friends :-)  Very much looking forward to sporting maternity gear, including a dress.  Be prepared, haha!

Diapering Decision

We're going disposable!  While cloth diapering is certainly growing in popularity, we've decided to not go that route.  Our reason why: the small amount of cost savings versus the practicality for our lifestyle.  We did much research and decided that cloth diapering isn't nearly as 'green' as people want to believe.  There isn't enough cost savings involved when compared to our time.  We'd rather be able to just toss the mess and walk away instead of put it in our wash.  Also, the glorious nursing schedule of 12-hour day, night and weekend shifts does not bode well to an every-other-day laundering schedule in the Thompson household.  We thought it was ironic that cloth diaperers usually aren't 100% cloth users anyway :-)

We began our diaper stash not long after we knew we were pregnant.  I'm an avid couponer and have been watching out for deals here and there.  Sofar, we've scored our full supply of 100-ish Newborn sized diapers.  We have 120 of Size 1's, with at least 400-500 left to purchase between now and when Baby T arrives.  We're using the buying recommendations of "Baby Bargains" and pre-purchasing our first few months of diapers now to help spread out the cost and to avoid late night runs to Target!

If you have ANY spare diaper coupons, send them our way!!!

Here is our current stash (with some HUGE wipe packs that I got a STEAL on included):

Second Trimester

We made it!  Baby is now the size of a Lemon!  Which means our baby is approximately 3.4 inches in length, weighing approximately 1.5 ounces.


Still sick...but I can safely say we are 1/3 of the way through this pregnancy!  Just 25 weeks-ish to go!!!  Fatigue is subsiding, but yes, definitely still sick from time to time.  Actually, the nausea/vomiting has been at its worst during the 14th week.  Here's to hoping it fades away quickly!

I am no longer able to wear my 'regular' jeans.  The transition to maternity clothes was quick once I tried on my first pair of, what John calls, "elastic waist jeans."  They are the most comfortable pair of jeans I've ever owned.  They might be sticking around post-pregnancy...haha, not really, but they are that comfortable.

Here is my 14 week, 5 day photo, post-dinner so I actually appear bigger than I really am.  A food baby and real baby in there.  I couldn't suck it in anymore.  (p.s. that is my new iPhone 4S that I am learning to love as I miss my Droid)

Our journey...

So once we moved to Virginia and had some time to finally be a normal married couple I started catching "baby fever."  It wasn't until Christmas 2010 that I knew we were really ready to consider taking the plunge in 2011.   John and I weren't bored, but realized an addition to our family would be a good thing.  We were ready.

In January 2011 my Mirena IUD was removed.

I read "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" and signed up for the FertilityFriend.com service and started charting my basal temperatures every morning at 5am (due to my glorious work schedule).  Our bodies truly are amazing.  I learned a lot about me during this time.  We "officially" started trying in June.  We went into this journey knowing it could take a healthy couple up to a year to conceive.  Lo and behold, God had other plans...by August 2, 2011 we had our positive pregnancy test and the best HUGE secret to keep to ourselves until WE wanted to share!  Charting my basal temperatures allowed me to know I was pregnant before any test could tell...here is my positive chart from July 2011.

NT Scan

So we opted for the Nuchal Translucency Screening (NT Scan).  Mainly because insurance covered it and we were already going to be at the office for our first ultrasound.  Super excited that our results were extremely good!

NT measurement below 1.8mm and + nasal bone present.  The nurse from our office called with all the numbers today and I wrote them down, but left at work in my locker.  Will update next week.  The one number I remember, Down's Syndrome risk for us 1:less than 10,000 (which is an AWESOME result!!!)  Our risk based on my age alone was 1:860, but with measurements and blood work we are rated NEGATIVE.  Love it!  Hoping for a healthy bean!!!

A little info on this screening can be found here: http://www.babycenter.com/0_nuchal-translucency-screening_118.bc

First post...

So here we begin.  I have a lot to cover, so I'll work on this post over the next couple days.  For now, here is a pic. of our little one.  We had our first ultrasound/NT Scan today.  Baby T measured 6 days ahead of schedule, so our due date has been moved to April 9, 2012.  Here's to hoping Baby T sits tight until then at least then so he/she doesn't have to share a birthday with their mom or our anniversary! 


We're growing a peach.  At least thats the size of Baby T this week...average length 2.9 inches, weighing in at approximately 0.81 ounces.

Healthy.  Bouncy.  Non-stop.  HR 161bpm.  Waving hello.  SUPER CUTE.  Baby T.

13 weeks, 1 day

More photos., we're already proud parents!   (All at 13 weeks, 1 day)

Thumb sucker

Crown to Rump Length --> 7-ish centimeters =2.8-ish inches!

+ Nasal Bone

Spine

Bump @ 13 weeks 1 day (ignore the self-portrait)

I have had to resort to maternity pants now.  I no longer feel comfortable in my regulars :-(

Bump @ 5 weeks, my starting photo. (ignore large shadow, couldn't edit it out!)