Christmas - 16 weeks

On Christmas Eve, we officially reached the 16 week mark!

The belly is growing ever larger, causing some of my "friends" to ask "Are you sure you aren't carrying twins?" We had an amazing Christmas, and the little one has already received several gifts! Bill surprised me with original artwork for the nursery that I had begged him for, but I thought it was too expensive. It is called "P is for Promise" by one of our favorite local artists, Judy Verhoeven. It is amazing and beautiful and already hanging on the nursery wall, although we have a lot of work to do in there!

We also got our nursery bedding from my parents, a cute t-shirt for the baby, some burp clothes, a sweet blanket (called a "nite-nite" in the Bridwell family) and lots of awesome books! Look out world, this baby is going to be spoiled!

We have picked out the paint for the nursery and will hopefully start that process soon. Thanks to one of our good friends, we also received a beautiful white sleigh crib, only slightly used, that will go great with everything else we have picked out. Sometimes I am just overwhelmed at how blessed we are! Now we are looking forward to the ultrasound on January 12!

Well we just finished the first trimester and are now in the great powerslide to Christmas. Things are good. Both of us are gaining weight at acceptable levels and enjoying the plumpness that is soon to be critter. Well, hers anyway.

We finished putting up the Cristmas tree last night and found so many of Meredith's angels from her kin growing up. It was really kind of nice and perfect: the dogs molesting me as I put together some ornaments and Mer putting them on the tree.

We really are enjoying life... all three.

peace

Doctor Visit

Well, our December doctor's visit was this week on Tuesday, and it went really well! All of my vitals were normal and good... blood pressure, hemoglobin, and whatever they are checking for in my urine! The good news is that so far I have only gained 6 pounds. Of course, that may be a lot, but it was not as much as I feared! The best part was hearing the heartbeat again. My heart melts every time I hear that sound! I just wish Bill could have made it to be there with me! The heart rate was 150, which is good. Dr. Stamm said "If you believe the old wives' tale, that means it is a girl... of course, I don't believe that wives' tale." Hmmm... Bill thinks it is a girl now, too. I'm not sure why he got that feeling all of a sudden. My next appointment is January 12, and that is when we will have the ultrasound! We are still not sure if we are going to find out the sex now or wait until he or she is born. I guess we need to make that decision soon! Either way, it will be amazing to see this little one inside of me!

12 Week Update

Well, here we are at 12 weeks! I cannot believe I am almost at the end of the first trimester! Of course, it is exciting, and I am glad to be feeling better. I'm still looking for that boost in energy that is supposed to come with the second trimester, though. Despite the fact that all the books say "you probably won't show until about 16 weeks," I am definitely showing, as you can tell in this (unattractive) picture. On Thanksgiving, I realized that my belly is also starting to get firm, which is good news for me, because it lets me know that I'm not just getting fat. There really is a baby in there! It is finally starting to sink in that this pregnancy is for real, and I am actually feeling pregnant. Now I cannot wait to be able to feel the baby move! We go back to the doctor next week for our third check-up and to hear the heartbeat again! I wish we could go every week!