11 Weeks

My baby is just over 2 inches long now. I just can't believe it. What started out so small is gradually increasing in size and ability. No more webbing between the fingers and toes, and kidneys that now work. Baby now has open nasal passages, and even right now the torso is straightening out more and more. No more alien, shrimp, blob.....but baby. Sweet, precious, little baby.

As the first trimester starts to come to a close I can't believe it has been so relatively easy. So I've been tired, big deal. That's not worst case scenario by any means. Some people hug the big porcelain bowl the entire time. There have been a few days of not having my sea legs, but otherwise it's been smooth sailing. I did end up in tears after watching a St. Jude Children's Hospital Commercial, but I think I would have cried even if I weren't preggo. I cry at commercials...that's nothing new.

We're thinking within the next few weeks we'll be ready to make the news public. You know, take out the front page of the Miami Herald. Headline: "Tim and Kristin Will Soon be called Daddy and Mommy"! So weird! So exciting! So marvelous! We constantly muse about what we think the little one is going to look like. Whose features will be more dominant. Tim's lips, my eyes, who knows! I do know that it has been "fearfully and wonderfully made"!

Wiggle Worm

Here is how big little Dot is now! Baby's head is down and to the right. Can you see the little hand waving? In this one you can actually make out two little spots that are eyes and a nose and mouth. I think it's easier to see in person.

In this one you can see one of Dot's feet pointing at us. This was during it's dance routine!

So this past Monday I had a little episode where my blood sugar dropped, and consequently so did I. The dizziness brought me to the ground and it was really scary. I was able to get an appointment in with my new doctor, Dr. Devilla, and evidently all is fine. What a relief! Little did I know dizziness and light-headedness are pretty common with preggos! I just need to be more aware of eating protein and lots of mini-meals. Eating and more eating..... it's all about eating. The best part of the appointment was my amazing sonogram. Not nearly as clear as the one's I had from Dr. Gellman's office, but still super cool. In these sonograms we could actually see arms and hands and legs. I couldn't believe how clear those little features were on the screen. As we were sitting there listening to the swooshing of the heartbeat our little Dot started to wiggle and squirm. It was unreal. It wasn't just a little bit, Dot continued to do an amazing little dance on the screen. Hands down the coolest thing I have ever seen! My little baby is just wiggling around and getting comfortable inside of my womb. I can't wait until I can actually start to feel it. That was the most surreal part, I could see with my eyes the amazing movement going on, but couldn't feel a thing. First Trimester is almost over, hopefully my energy returns! I've never been such a slug in my life!!!

Spreading the News

So here is my 2 month picture. Don't mind how tired I look, it's 7:00am! I feel like I look totally different from this already!

This is at dinner after picking up Casey from the airport on March 12! Tim and I had jackets on the entire night to cover up our shirts, we took them off after we passed out everyone elses amazing shirts. Casey loved his blue and brown.

Kaitlyn was just so sweet and excited. She has her shirt proudly displayed hanging up in her room!!!

Everyone with their custom made, one of a kind t-shirts! The joy that we shared that evening was so special and something I will never forget.

A few nights later we were able to go to dinner with my dad and grandma and grandpa Guise. It was another special moment and my dad was so sentimental and the hugs were generously given out. Dad's going to make such a great sweet Grandpa!

So here are the stories.....At dinner with Casey, Kaitlyn, mom and Leo it was Casey who figured it out first. After they started opening up the shirts and reading them, it took a second and a huge gasp excaped from Casey's mouth. He was so excited and couldn't stop patting my back. It took Leo looking at Kaitlyn's shirt to understand what was taking place. He had a very funny classic response. Kaitlyn sat proudly smiling and hugging her shirt. She's thrilled. My dad was just so sweet, and Grandma Jo was just thrilled. Grandpa Ernie didn't understand what was going on right away, but we filled him in quickly and I got the typical "at'a girl Kristin". I loved making the phone calls to my Aunt Merilee and cousins Megan and Lindsey. My question to them was whether or not babies were alowed at Lindsey's wedding in December. It took a second to sink in but I loved the wooping that promptly followed! My Grandma Harriet needed a second to have it settle and her yells got a little louder with each moment she understood what I was telling her. It was exactly what I thought it would be. It was special to tell my girlfriends, and even more special when some of them started crying. I didn't expect that, but I will never forget it, and I am constantly aware of how lucky I am to have such wonderful girlfriends, even though some of them live far away. Laura Parente has known the entire time, even though I never told her, and she has been so sweet not to put me on the spot or ask me about it until I was ready to divulge the secret. As soon as I did tell her she was jumping up and down and screaming how she's known! It was a funny celebratory cheer. It really has been great to finally share the news. There are still a few we haven't been able to tell yet because we want to tell them in person, but I don't feel like I'm about to burst anymore. I feel like I have an incredible amount of support and love in my life and I am blessed constantly by my loved ones.

Updates Updates!

Here is Dot the Kidney Bean Baby. If you look in this sonogram the baby is more curved with it's head on the left. You can see the little black dot which is it's eye. Baby is curled around tucked up in a ball.

In this sonogram Dot is more vertical with it's head at the top. I'm not sure if we're looking at it's back or it's front, but how cool is it to make out the head?

I cannot even begin to put into words how wonderful it has been to start sharing the news. It is incredible the amount of love and support and joy we have received just by sharing two simple words, "I'm pregnant". At this point the very important people are in the know, and I feel so much closer with everyone again. Casey is still in town which is what has kept me from posting for so long, but I wanted to write a quick post about how absolutely wonderful the reactions have been. I've heard cheers, tears, and even expletives (in a good way)! My immediate family is absolutely overjoyed, and I really do feel warm all over, and no that's not the hormones! I'll post pictures soon of the cute shirts I made, and I even have a great video from when we handed them out. Once life gets back to normal I'll go into greater detail of the reactions. We're going to Disney this weekend, and Leo and I will be the bench warmers, and yet, I'm still excited! Life is good being pregnant!

Countdown

I keep telling myself only a few more days...you can make it! Casey comes home Friday night and I have a plan already. I'm so fortunate because Dad will be in town too. That night everyone is going to Tim's softball game, then to the airport to pick up Casey, and then to dinner. Dinner is when we'll pop the news. A few weeks ago I made everyone shirts according to their new title. I made 6 shirts with cute little iron-on transfer letters. One says Uncle Casey, another says Aunt Kaitlyn. There is a Grandma and a Grandpa, and then a Daddy and "Baby Bumb". My idea is to pass them out saying I had picked something up for everyone. I'm super excited, and the shirts turned out great.

Aside from the day I thought eggs were from the devil I've only had one day of "sickness". I did not feel human on Monday. I felt green! Thankfully I never vomitted but I sure thought I was going to, and it didn't go away. The terrible feeling lasted all day. I thought to bring crackers with me to school from home, but they were gourmet crackers and just did not sit well. Mom came to the rescue with a whole box of saltines! Those saved me! I'm keeping them in my desk for those moments of uneasiness. I also have a refrigerator stocked with Canada Dry Ginger Ale! Tuesday was better than Monday, and by today I was totally back to normal. I consider myself lucky to not have full blown morning sickness all the time. After my experience Monday I am A-ok with waiting a while to experience it again.

Tomorrow I have my last appointment with my specialist. It will be my 8 week appointment. I can't believe it's been 2 months already. It is unreal. We have been amazed by the weekly sonograms we have gotten, and the leaps and bounds little Dot is making every week is incredible. We are thrilled to be able to start spreading the news. I'm glad we made the decision to wait a while before we tell people. I just think it's the right thing to do. I can't wait to update with how Friday goes.

The Heart

"The heart is the first feature of working minds." ~Frank Lloyd Wright

There it is. That beautiful rhythmic pulsating image at the bottom of the sonogram. It's our baby's heart beat. I have had regular weekly appointments with our specialist and everytime we go it is even better than the last time. This week was a huge appointment, we got to see the heart actually pumping on the sonogram monitor. There was no mistaking the blinking circle in the middle of our long blob-looking baby. It was Dot's heart. To make it even better they turned on the volume and we heard the beautiful swooshing sound of the heart actually pumping. There is nothing like it in the world. Tim and I locked eyes, and our smiles were ear to ear.



I find this sonogram the most interesting. You can see how much bigger Dot has gotten since the last sonogram which was only a week ago. If you look right in the center of the long "blob" you can see the circle, and that is the heart. A beautiful, pumping heart. It's unreal what the Lord creates in His amazing power. Psalm 139:13 has played over and over again in my head all day. I will leave you with it:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

Eggs

Today it happened. The aversion has started. I cannot handle the smell of srambled eggs.

We had a teacher work day today, and our wonderful administration provided breakfast for us. How fun! I got there early to help with set-up, I was bringing the croissants, and that's when it hit. As soon as they brought out the trays of food something did not sit well. The closer I got to the tray of eggs the worse it got. My hands started to shake, sweat appeared on my forehead, and I thought I was going to lose it.

I sat down quickly, I forced myself to eat a croissant and some bacon, but that took a lot of focus and concentration. The ladies sitting around me had gotten eggs and it was really taking a toll. I just couldn't believe it. I love scrambled eggs! It's been hours since breakfast but somehow the smell is still lingering, and it's driving me crazy. I tried to sleep it off at mom's house, but I still don't feel like myself. She attempted to get me to eat a sandwich and just the thought of food was starting to bug me again. So, here I sit, ginger ale in hand, dreading the task of making dinner tonight.