Thursday, February 28, 2008

15 weeks today ...16 weeks on Sunday

Sorry its been so long since my last post, but to catch you up on what is happening in our lives, Jamie was in NJ on Tuesday, he worked late last night shooting an infomercial for a show product, and we leave tomorrow to head to Tennessee for his cousin Adrianne's wedding. Now that you are caught up with the small stuff on to the reason you check this blog.

I think I may have felt the baby moving inside this week...then again it could have been gas. I know your thinking how gross, but if you've ever been pregnant you know what I'm talking about. Don't even get me started on heartburn! It's like a leach. It sucks every bit of life out of you and is uncomfortable as hell. I guess I should have gotten some stock in Pepcid instead of putting money away for "BABY GAY"...how about that Ted!!!

This week the baby is the size of an apple and about 4 inches long. His/her lungs are beginning to develop and its legs are growing longer than its arms. Although the eyelids are still shut, the baby can sense light. The baby sucks its thumb and when I lay down Jamie can feel my uterus. I want him to be a part of the process as much as he can, so little things like placing his hands on my stomach and feeling my uterus and skin stretching puts a smile on his face, which puts a smile on mine.

We think that Cooper is starting to realize that there is a new family member on the way because he is slowly becoming my shadow.

Well, that's it for this week. I go back to the doctor on Monday for my 16 week checkup. Check in on Monday to see how it went.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

12 weeks

When I woke up on Feb 3rd I was so excited…Jamie was coming home from London and the next morning we would get to hear the heart beat for the 1st time.

As the day progressed, I grew more and more nervous about my doctor’s appointment. We watched th
e Superbowl and both fell asleep during the 3rd quarter. I woke up more times than normal that night sick to my stomach about the appointment. I was so worried that we were going to find out that we had lost another child and I wasn’t sure I could handle it. I know that God would never give me more than I could handle, but I was still worried.

We woke up, got ready (here I am) and off we went to the doctor. It seemed like we waited forever for the doctor to come in, but when she did I broke out in hives. We talked for a few minutes and then she put the doppler on my stomach. We heard the heart beat immediately. It was at that moment that I fell in love with my baby and actually started to feel good about being pregnant.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Morning Sickness

What is there to say about morning sickness? Other than its hell! If you have been pregnant and didn’t have morning sickness – I hate you. (Just kidding!)

A week or so after Jamie and I found out we were expecting again, the morning sickness troll decided to stop by for a visit. I guess my hotel accommodations were just too good to pass up because the troll decided to stick around for a couple of months.

Everything made me sick; from brushing my teeth, to co-workers perfume to everything I ate and drank. If I was able to keep it down I was so nauseated I was miserable. I can honestly say that the only good thing that came from hugging the porcline shrine so much, was I gained more respect for my dad. You see my dad has leukemia and his chemo makes him sick all the time. He gets up everyday and goes to work…I can’t say that I did that during the trolls stay.

I tried everything I could to help me feel better. I sucked on B-Natal lollipops, drank ginger ale (when someone at work didn’t steal it) and ate salty foods - nothing worked. It wasn’t until my doctor told me to try something called Morning Sickness Magic that I started to feel better. I can’t really tell if it’s the medicine that helped or if my body finally adjusted to what was happening, but I started feeling better.

The best part about feeling better was I started to look human again. I can now say that I am able to keep everything down and I feel great most of the time.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Ultrasounds

Jamie and I found out that we were expecting again on December 14th. We were so excited and scared at the same time. Even though we both wanted to shout it out from the highest mountain, we decided that we weren’t going to tell anyone.

Between December 14th and January 18th we had 4 ultrasounds and tons of doctor visits. Most pregnant women don’t get to have an ultrasound in the 1st trimester so it was neat that we got to watch the baby grow from nothing to the little alien it is today.

The 1st ultrasound was to determine how far along I was. As Jamie and I watched the screen all we saw was a black hole. It turned out that I was only 4 weeks and at that stage you can’t see anything.

The 2nd ultrasound was on December 26th. The heartbeat was 122 and they gave me a due date of 8/18/08.

At the 3rd ultrasound the baby was much bigger. The heartbeat was 173 and we were able to see the head and tiny toes. It was during this appointment that we found out that I had a small hemorrhage. The doctor said there was nothing to worry about. I did my best not to worry, but how can I not considering what we had already been through.

The 4th and last ultrasound we have had so far was due to stomach pain. Because of the hemorrhage, my doctor wanted to make sure the baby was ok. It turned out the baby was great. The heartbeat was 170 and she could barely see the hemorrhage. My doctor said that I was probably having growing pains. Growing pains – if that was growing pains then I am in for a rude awaking during birth.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

How it all came to be...

Jamie and I met on January 29, 2000 at Longhorn Steakhouse in Columbia, South Carolina. I was out with coworkers when I phoned my friend David; he was having dinner with his friends. I dicided to join them and little did I know that sitting accross from me at dinner was my future husband. Thanks David!!!

After a month or so Jamie and I started hanging out all the time. We had a lot in common. We both wanted to be photographers (him TV and me still), we both had amazing friends and families, and he was by far one of the funniest people I had ever met. I loved everything about him. Except he was the biggest USC fan I had ever met and that was a problem becuase I am huge Clemson fan. We decided to deal with the rivalry...it's only one day a year.
In May of 2000, Jamie graduated from USC and moved to Augusta, GA. The following week I moved to Clemson. It wasn't long after we both moved that we realized we belonged together and one year later he moved to Greenville.

In May of 2001 Jamie and I bought our first and only addition to our family. The University of South Carolina and Clemson University have one thing in common...both library's have "Cooper" in the name. WOW...wouldn't that be awesome if we called our dog Cooper! Well we did, but not becuase of the library...we actually came up with his name after seeing a billboard while driving to Columbia one weekend. Cooper is a wonderful dog, hell who am I kidding, he is in trouble more than not, but we love him anyway.

It seemed like every weekend Jamie and I were going somewhere. I loved these trips. We would just get in the car and drive. We would go to Braves games, New York City, the beach, but in June of 2002 I made one of the dumbest decisions since I met Jamie. You see I am not a camper, but when Jamie said he wanted to go camping I said I would. We spent 3 days in a tent. We fished, hiked and did all the things you do when you camp. The last night of our trip Jamie proposed and I said YES.

We got married on January 4, 2003. It was an amazing day. Not only did I have the wedding of my dreams...I was marrying the man of my dreams.
Since then, we moved to Charlotte, NC and bought our first home. Everything was perfect, until September of '07. Jamie and I were so excited because we were expecting what would have been our first child. We went to hear the heart beat and found out we were having twins - identical twins. Unfortunatly something went wrong and we lost both. Even though losing our twins was hard we rallied behind each other and today are able to cherish what is about to happen to our family even more.

That being said...Jamie and I are expecting our first child in August.