We announced some exciting news to our families during Christmas in December 2006 this past year... we are expecting Baby #2. Here's how we announced it at Christmas... We wrapped up a book called "I'm a Big Brother" for Joshua. (We read it to him a few times beforehand so he knew the title of it.) On Christmas, he opened it he announced our good news to everyone!


Our bundle of joy is due to arrive in June and we are so excited about increasing our family. Because of all the problems I had after Joshua was born, getting pregnant again wasn't an easy thing for us! In fact, the doctors told me they had done everything possible, and it wasn't working. Thier suggestion? A fertility specialist. We called our doctor a few weeks later and informed him that, after 5 pregnancy tests, we were pretty sure we were pregnant!!

So, the doctors are keeping a close eye on our little miracle and so far everything is going good. Below are pictures from the sonograms I have had. 

7 Weeks


Here's the baby at 7 weeks. So tiny! We got to see and hear the heartbeat at this appointment.


12 Weeks


Joshua got to come in and see the baby at my 12 week ultrasound. He was so excited. We also got the hear the heartbeat again. You can't see the little legs in these two, but they are there... tucked underneath him/her. During the next ultrasound we will hopefully be able to tell what the baby's gender is.


16 Weeks


Well, no luck learning the gender during my 16 week ultrasound. Baby was not cooperating and he/she was still pretty small. We will be patient for the week 20 ultrasound in February.

20 Weeks

Twenty weeks has arrived and we are having...
    

                                                                                                ...a baby girl!!

As you can see, we have already begun to celebrate the arrival of our new addition with a little shopping!! Joshua has been very curious what the baby will wear to church, swimming, and other daily activities that he already enjoys. He decided since Mama wears a dress to church, than the baby should too! He had fun setting out the new outfits for Daddy to snap pictures.

Talking about the baby gets Joshua pretty excited. Below he is getting out his excitment bouncing a balloon around. He insisted Daddy take a picture of him since he was taking pictures of the baby clothes too!


Here are our 20 week ultrasound pics:

(Above) This profile is our favorite ultrasound pic so far!




We also got the good news that my pregnancy is no longer considered high risk!! While the doctors are still keeping a close eye on our little girl, they will not need to do ultrasounds every 4 weeks as they have been doing. It has been exciting to watch the baby grow with all the pictures, but we are relived to know she is growing healthy and strong without all the worrying. Thank you to all of you who have kept us in your prayers! The Lord was listening and we have truly been blessed!!


MARCH 2007

Okay, so I am not the cutest pregnant person you have ever seen so don't expect any pictures of my belly! I haven't had anymore ultrasounds. Things have gone really well during the last few months though. My nausea has really subsided a lot, which is a nice change from my previous pregnancy. The doctors say everything is progressing normally and the baby looks strong and healthy. I am now a little over 6 months along. We did have the flu go through our house at the end of February and I landed myself in the hospital with some dehydration, but am doing much better now.


APRIL 2007  

Well, not too much longer to go now. I am having some pretty immense hip and back pain as the baby increases in size, but the doctor assures me that the baby is fine and just likes sitting real low. Usually it is bearable, but every now and then she likes to move into an area where she is sitting on a nerve in my right hip, which makes my whole leg and hip on that side throb.

I am now in my third trimester and I still have not gained any weight with this pregnancy. The baby weighs a little over 2 pounds and if she was born now, she has a pretty good chance of surviving. (Things are going good though... so we are not expecting her arrival anytime too soon!) This last month we were able to move Joshua into what used to be our spare room (which is a little bigger). He seems to like the new set-up. Joshua's old room is slowly being converted into the baby's room.


MAY 2007

I am nearing the finish line and we are busy getting everything ready for our baby girl's arrival. Her room is nearly complete... with pink everywhere! All the cute, little clothes are washed and put away and our bags are packed for the hospital. I have (finally!) gained about 5 or 6 pounds. The hip and back pains are still present, which makes sleeping near impossible some nights.

The baby weighs about 5 or 6 pounds now and is somewhere between 15 and 18 inches long. She is getting squished in there, but still likes to kick pretty hard. Slouching is out of the question and she lets me know rather quickly if I am invading her personal space with a swift kick to the nearest internal organ! She gets hiccups quite often (usually when I am trying to get some sleep it seems.) I feel like her little personality is already shining through. We are excited and grateful for our little miracle. Joshua prays for Mama and the baby every night. I know he is going to be a great help to me! He has grown up a lot in the last few months.

MAY 5, 2007

Today I had my Baby Shower. Traveling has become quite difficult because of the hip pain and digestive issues so a trip to my hometown was out of the question this time around. I actually decided to not have the shower, but thanks to my conniving mom and a close friend who lives here... it went off without a hitch (or my permission!!)

In my church ward here there are lots of pregnant women. Now, when I say a LOT... I mean it! So far this year, seven babies have been born and there are currently 9 more due to arrive throughout the coming year. So, naturally, I assumed the turn out for my shower would be low, but I was completely wrong! I showed up to find this huge spread of food!! It was all delicious. The chocolate covered strawberries (even though I had heartburn for the rest of the day) were my favorite!! And the turn out was wonderful! 

This is my dear friend Wendi, who ended up organizing and throwing the shower at her house. Thanks Wendi!! I had a great time and it was fun to see so many of my friends and family members.


JUNE 2007

On June 1st we went in for an appointment. The doctor informed us that the baby is getting ready to come. I won't go into all the details, but I am 37 weeks pregnant and the doctor said that if I go into labor now, they will not stop the process. I am progressing very well and we are hoping I will actually go into labor with this one!! (FYI: I was induced with Joshua about two weeks after my scheduled due date.) Because Joshua started running out of amniotic fluid in his last weeks in utero, one last ultrasound has been scheduled for June 8th to check for correct levels of amniotic fluid for our baby girl. (Maybe we can get them to run one more check on the gender...hahaha!) Anyways, things are progressing nicely in the labor department and we (well, maybe it's just me) are starting to get a little nervous (but very excited!) for our little one's arrival.


Friday, June 8, 2007

Today I had what should be my very last ultrasound. I can't believe how big the baby is. They were able to verify that she is in fact a she! After the ultrasound tech was done checking fluid levels and taking a few measurements she took some 4D pictures. What an absolutely AMAZING experience. The baby insisted on keeping her hand by her face the entire time we were taking pictures. Stubborn child! At one point we got to watch her go from having a tight fist, to stretching out all five little fingers. It was so neat. She is so squished in there that we also saw her little foot enter the picture a few times. We learned that my amniotic fluid levels are at a nice heathy level (15 for those of you who know what that means) and she is about 6 and a half pounds right now.

Well, here are the super cool 4D pics. In the one to the left she has her fist right up near her face. In the one to the right she is almost completely covering her face with her opened hand. Can you count all the fingers!? Not much longer now and she will be here...





We finished the baby's room a few weeks ago and finally got around to taking a picture of it today. I like how it turned out... just enough pink with a little bit of Pooh!



Okay... I know I said no pregnant pics, but this one's for posterity (and it's the ONLY one!). I am 38 weeks along here. Went in for an appointment on Monday (June 11th) and it looks like my body has stopped progressing and it at a stand-still. Just playing the waiting game now. Is this stubborn little girl gonna push me to my due date???