To my honey

Andy is graduating in a few weeks!! This last few months have been super tough. Getting up at the crack of dawn and working six days a week, all while finishing his masters. I'm proud of him and all his hard work. In just a few short weeks, it will all be over. He will be graduating with a masters in exercise science. My oh-so-talented girlfriend LeAnna designed these awesome graduation invitations for us. I love them so much I could eat them.
I am now in my second trimester. Whoo hoo! I had a dream last night that they were taking me to the hospital to induce labor. I was saying: I'm only 14 weeks. I dont think this is a good idea. But, they were insisting. Pretty funny, considering it is the ONLY dream I've had about the baby so far. It was a boy in my dream, by the way, but I'm still holding out for PINK. ;)

Here's a look inside:

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. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

12 weeks!

So, I went back to the doctor a week ago. I didn't post because it was a pretty uneventful visit. We just talked and I asked my questions. She told me that I would be into my second trimester on April 5th. Whoo hoo! Maybe I won't feel so icky all the time. We also got our estimated bill in the mail for how much its going to be to have this little booger. Good Lawd, that's a lot of money!

I most definitely cannot fit in most of my clothes anymore. I was getting ready to go out with my girlfriends last week and none of my pants were fitting (comfortably at least). I was panicking. Where did this come from all of the sudden? It was like out of the blue I couldn't fit in anything. My doctor told me I had gained 4.5 pounds already. On Friday night, I weighed and it was more like 5. On Saturday, I weighed and I was one pound under my pre-pregnancy weight. SIX POUNDS IS A LOT OF WATER WEIGHT! Not to mention how sexy I felt that I had retained that much water. The good thing was that I was now justified in saying that I felt huge when Andy would tell me that he didn't notice anything.

Andy has been getting up at 4:30 every morning (he has a few early clients right now), and getting home around 7:00 at night. Needless to say, he is wearing thin quickly and I feel terrible all the time. We're not the most exciting bunch.

Last week my friend says to me: Do you know how much you are making me want to get pregnant right now?

I'm gearing up to say soothing things like: You guys will be before you know it, and all that.

ANd she responds: Not much.

Ha. Guess I'm not the glowing pregnant woman in the magazine.

Your baby this week:
This week marks a turning point for your baby. At 12 weeks pregnant, the herculean task of developing new bodily structures is nearing an end as most of your baby's systems are fully formed. Now comes the maintenance phase, during which your fetus' systems continue to mature for the next 28 weeks and the organs get to work.

Your little fetus weighs as much as half an ounce now, and the crown-to-rump length is about two and a half inches (the size of a large plum — busily working his or her way through the whole produce department). It's hard to believe (especially from the outside, since you're probably barely showing at this point), but your baby has more than doubled in size during the past three weeks. And that's just on the outside — there's plenty going on inside too. The fetal digestive system is beginning to flex its digestive muscle — literally — as it starts practicing contraction movements, a skill your baby will need after birth to push food through the digestive tract. The pituitary gland at the base of the brain has started producing hormones. And the bone marrow is making white blood cells, which will one day help your baby fight infection (including all those germs passed around the snot-nosed playgroup).

If you haven't already had the pleasure, it's likely that at this month's checkup you'll finally hear your baby's fetal heartbeat — a sound that will make your heart race with joy!

Speep Happens

I'm pretty sure my animals are trying to prepare me for sleepless motherhood. This site is what I woke up to Monday morning. Thanks Jack. Bearing in mind that he has NEVER done this before. I imagine it will become a regular issue now that he knows the goodness housed in the trashcan. Apparently he knew about the spaghetti thrown in there the night before. Andy swears it was premeditated. We joked about Jack waiting for Andy to leave in the morning and pretending to be asleep, occasionally popping open one eye to see if he had left yet. I was so tired Monday that I left work to go home and sleep. While trying to sleep my cat was licking my nose and "kneading the dough" on my shoulder, meanwhile Jack was spotting something outside the window and bellowing. I felt like crying. Not like you can reason with the dog to tell him to stop because you're just too tired.

So this morning Andy leaves and says to me that he is going to put Jack in his kennel because he wont settle down. Usually we leave Jack out in the morning and he passes out on the couch until I wake up. Well, this morning he was whinning and yelping in his kennel (bringing me to near tears again). I got up, opened the kennel, and he preceded to pace back and forth from one door to the other, whining. Eventually I didn't hear him moving around and suspected another trashcan bandit. I opened the door and immediately smelled it. He had made the most massive pile of goodness on the kitchen floor I have ever seen. I KNEW the spaghetti wouldn't go down that quietly. So, I put on my big girl pants at 430 in the morning and grabbed some kroger bags. Thankfully, I got some of Jack's goodness on several fingers. So, running to the sink, I was washing frantically while dry heaving at the same time. Great way to start the day I think. After that, Jack went and passed out. I never heard another peep from him.

Once I realized why he was acting that way I felt terrible. He was trying his best in his doggie ways to tell us that he couldn't hold it. Sometimes I think God gives dogs the sad eyes so that we can't help but love them even when its gross or annoying.

As for the pregnancy, I am feeling less nauseated but still feeling sickly most days. I only have a few more weeks left in the first trimester and hopefully a lot of this stuff will go away. I have the appetite of a teenage boy. This for me has been the worst thing to deal with. No one warned me about the hunger, but it goes a little something like this. I think I'm getting hungry. Ten minutes later: If I don't eat, I'm going to kill someone. It's pretty dramatic and all happens pretty fast, leaving me petrified of not having food near me.

Check out this amazing video on this website. It blows my mind everytime. http://www.i-am-pregnant.com/pregnancy/calendar/week/10


Here's a little look inside: Your baby's growth is fast and furious when you are 10 weeks pregnant. He or she is nearly an inch and a half long and the size of a prune, but not nearly as shriveled (even with all the time it spends in water). In fact, your baby is really taking a human shape now. Bones and cartilage are forming, and small indentations on the legs are developing into knees and ankles. The arms (complete with elbows) can flex already, but don't run to the store for a baseball bat just yet. Though your baby's arms are taking shape and getting stronger, each one is only about the size of this number 1.

The tooth bud fairy is making her appearance this week, heralding the arrival of your baby's little choppers, which are forming under the gums. (Those pearly whites won't break through the gums until your baby is close to six months old). Other systems are go, too. Your baby's stomach is producing digestive juices, the kidneys are producing larger quantities of urine, and, if your baby's a boy, he's already producing testosterone (yikes!).

Our Poor Little Controversial Dog

Andy piled blankets and pillows on top of the dog where he was completely covered and jack just laid there. Then he uncovered just his tail. He would say: Jaaaack, and his tail would whomp on the couch. Poor Jack. We're just preparing him for kids. hehe

Last time I blogged was the day we got our first ultrasound. The tech said: Have you had any nausea? ME: Nope. Not yet. Tech: Knock on wood. LO AND BEHOLD, Tuesday night I started getting sick. Tomorrow will finish up my second week of being nauseated from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep. JOY, OH what JOy I feel. I'm so looking forward to the second trimester when at least if I feel sick, I have a bump to show for it. My next doctor's appointment is March 23rd, where I will meet with the doc for the first time.

And pray for poor Andy. He is used to an affectionate wife. He's had to relegate himself to cuddling with my head. (the only part of my body that doesn't hurt). But only if his breath doesn't smell like a food that doesn't make me want to hurl.

First Doctor Appointment and Ultrasound

Oh, what a beautiful baby we have. It has it's mother's lima, and its father's bean. Part of me thinks that most people find ultrasound pictures irrelevant, but here it is for those of you that love seeing it like we do.

I went to my OBGYN office yesterday for my first prenatal appointment. I was so excited. On the elevator up I was saying to myself: This is my very FIRST visit to the doctor PREGNANT. I'll never do this for the first time again. (Those of you that have been pregnant or are pregnant know that there are about a zillion doctor appointments throughout the course of the pregnancy.) I always try and make sure the weight of what is happening in life is realized so that I don't let the moment pass.

Basically, I can't eat or do anything so that's cool. Ha. I'm most sad about giving up the Diet Coke. That will most likely be the hardest for me. Besides asking me three hundred questions, the doctor's visit was pretty much uneventful. The best part was that when I got to the doctor's office, I had to pee really bad (for those of you that know how much I peed BEFORE I got pregnant, imagine this 10 x worse). Anyways, I was thinking I better suck it up and hold it since they'll probably need a sample. Well I guess I was squeaking in my chair a little too much and looking a little pained because the receptionist looks over at me and mouths: Do you need to go to the bathroom? Ha. Guess I'm not very discrete with my body language.

This morning Andy and I went to our ultrasound appointment at Vanderbilt. (Once again, I say in the car: This is the FIRST time we will see our baby!!) I dont know if I mentioned this before, but I am participating in a study with Vanderbilt for pregnant women. One of the incentives is a free early ultrasound. If I wasn't part of this study, we would have had to have waited until I was 20 weeks! Anyways, the nurse told us that the woman doing the ultrasound wouldn't talk to us (since I am a participant instead of a patient). We were bummed because that meant we couldn't find out how far along I was. Not to mention how weird it would be to have someone probing around and not responding to us. I guess I could think of creepier situations.

BUT, we get in there and the ultrasound tech is like: I'm not suppose to talk to you, but I'm going to tell you what you want to know. How awesome is that?!?! SOO...I thought I was 6 weeks and 4 days, but she tells us I'm 6 weeks tomorrow. Nothing to write home about I suppose. OUR DUE DATE IS OCTOBER 19TH. And the heartbeat was 102. (Normal at 6 weeks is 90-113). Go baby!

It was so cool to see the little flicker. Andy says, beaming: Well, ITS OFFICIAL. Like it wasn't before this. hehe.

Seven Week Update

Today marks the beginning of the seventh week. Yeah!! Only 33 left to go! ha. I'm still having occasional cramping, but for the most part that has gone away. No nausea so far, THANK GOD! Seems like I got this notion into my head that besides possibly feeling sick, I would escape any noticeable outward changes to my body, at least for a few months. Unfortunately, this is not true (at least for me). Although even Andy tells me he doesn't notice and the scale still says the same number, I have a hard time believing it. Everything from my butt to my stomach to my other unmentionables seem to be growing. Unlike my poor little battered self-esteem, which is taking its tole. Ahh...the joys of being knocked up. ;)

Don't ask Andy how the pregnancy is going. I'm afraid of what he'd answer. He often says something like this to me: I know that my sweet wife is in there somewhere, but this horrible monster has taken over. hah. Talking about my very short fuse. I often find myself apologizing in the middle of a sentence. Hey at least I recognize I'm crazy. Most crazy people don't know they're crazy.

Our first doctor appointment is on Monday, and we have an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday. I think this might be the first time it really sinks in for Andy. Up to this point, he's basically had to take my word that there's a little creature in there. I didn't know I could be this excited to go the doctor. I will post an update (hopefully with some ultrasound pictures) on Tuesday.


(Oh, yeah. Here is a picture of my stomach before any growth.) I wanted to post a picture pre-bump so you could see some growth.


The baby this week: How does your baby grow? Pretty fast, actually. At 7 weeks pregnant, your baby's length is approximately a quarter of an inch — the size of a blueberry. Sounds pretty tiny still? Consider this for a little perspective: Your baby is 10,000 times bigger now than it was at conception a month ago.

The biggest fetal growth this week is your baby's head (the better to store all those smarts in), with new brain cells being generated at the rate of 100 cells per minute. How's that for a budding genius?

And talking about buds, your baby is going out on a limb this week as his or her arm and leg buds begin to sprout and grow longer (and stronger), dividing into hand, arm, and shoulder segments — and leg, knee, and foot segments (though the limb buds look more like paddles than hands or feet at this early stage).

Also forming this week are your baby's mouth and tongue. And although your embryo is just one month old, it's already gone through three sets of kidneys. The ones in place now are the permanent set and are poised to begin their important work of waste management. In about a week, your baby will start producing urine. Lucky for you, there's no need for diapers (yet). As your baby matures inside you, much of that urine will be excreted into the amniotic fluid, swallowed again by your baby, and then excreted again in a continuous cycle.

WE'RE PREGNANT!!

We are SOOO excited. I wake up in the morning and realize it wasn't a dream, I really am pregnant. We have been secretly trying since November and even though its only been a few months, the negative test results were hard to get. When we took a test on Thursday it was negative. But, I was CONVINCED I was pregnant and kept hoping. Friday night I was up all night severely cramping (this is normal in early pregnancy, due to your muscles and ligaments preparing for baby). I woke Andy up around 3 AM. I said: Wake up. I'm hurting really bad and there is NO WAY I'm not pregnant. This is NOT normal. We made ourselves wait til the morning to take the test. At this point, I didn't even need the test. I just knew. We took the test and fought over whose head was going to be directly above the results. I saw it first. Me: TWO LINES!! TWO LINES!! Andy: Where!?! (there was a very faint line). I don't see it!. ME: IT's THERE! I pulled the negative test out of the trashcan and held it up to the positive result. SEE!!! TWO LINES!! It took me a while to convince Andy that I was indeed preggo.

We had a grand old time making our way around town to various family members who were able to meet us spontaneously. We told family by giving them a giftbag with a pacifier in it, with the pretense of forgetting to give them one of their Christmas presents. It was one of the funnest days we've had so far. Waiting with anticipation until they finally figured out what the pacifier meant. Our mommas were the favorite. My mom cussed and then started crying. Andy's mom fell on her knees and said: Thank you GOD! haha. It was awesome. More to come. We made this blog with the anticipation of keeping various grandmas and family members up to date on what's happening with the now present Baby Kurek.