Happy New Year!

It's New Year's Eve! I had to do a 24 hour urine test over the weekend so they could check for protein in my urine. We took it to Bethesda on Saturday, and my level was right at 300. I spoke to Sue on the phone Saturday and she said if it had been above 300, they would want to induce me due to a risk for preeclampsia, but that they would continue to monitor me.

We had our follow up appointment today with Cheyenne, had more bloodwork done, and a nonstress test and ultrasound in the office. I'm 3 1/2 cm dilated, but Ethan is still sitting high. I haven't been having contractions that I could feel until today when she did the nonstress test, I could tell that I was having some contractions - they felt like belly cramps - and Daddy could see the contraction lines on the strip. Cheyenne did the ultrasound to measure the fluid around Ethan and everything looks good! She wants me to do another 24 hour urine test today and wants to schedule an induction for Thursday if no progress has been made by then. I do not want to be induced, so hopefully Ethan will decide to come join us. She did suggest that if no other methods worked to get labor going that I could try to drink castor oil. We will see!

Mommy and Daddy made Ethan a "Happy Birthday" cake last night! It was fun to do something relaxing together and to decorate the cake for when Ethan comes to join us :)

We went to Heather and Brian's house to celebrate New Year's! Mommy's modified bedrest :)

Bedrest at 40 weeks...

Today is Ethan's due date! He seems pretty comfortable inside mommy, and there isn't any signs of him coming out yet. We went to our 40 week midwife appointment and my blood pressure was high for the very first time. Gwen was our midwife today and she was very nervous about my blood pressure, and there was trace protein in my urine. She did an ultrasound at the office to see if Ethan was head down, and he is. After the ultrasound, she wanted us to go to Good Sam to have some tests run and to monitor me and Ethan since my blood pressure is high. She was afraid that I might be developing preeclampsia. I have had no issues in my pregnancy until now so this made me really nervous! Daddy drove us to Good Sam and I didn't make any phone calls because I didn't want to do anything to make my blood pressure go higher. Once we got to Good Sam, they put us in a room and started blood pressure checks on me and fetal monitoring on Ethan. They drew some labs and took another urine sample. All went well and my blood pressure went down each time they took it. There was still trace protein in my urine, but Paulette, the midwife on call at Good Sam, said I was okay to go home on bedrest. So we will patiently wait Ethan's arrival!

39 weeks!

Ethan is 39 weeks along today! We met with Nancy at our appointment today. It is so hard to believe that he could be here anytime - his due date is just a week away!! Mommy's taking off through the next few days so we can celebrate Christmas and relax some before the due date. I'm dilated one centimeter, and Ethan hasn't dropped yet.

38 weeks!

Ethan is will be 38 weeks tomorrow! We had a Wednesday appointment so we could meet the midwife Gwen, she was the only midwife we hadn't met yet and we like her very much! She did the Leopold maneuver to feel on Mommy's belly and asked us if we would like to feel the head, and of course we did! She pushed down on Mommy's belly where Ethan's head was and put our hands so we could feel as well. So awesome!

Getting ready!

Mommy and Daddy went downtown to Palomino last night to celebrate Daddy's birthday. Today we made our packing list and got the suitcase all packed for the hospital!

Just 3 more weeks?!

We start our weekly midwife appointments now. It is hard to believe that Ethan is due in just 3 weeks!! Everything was pretty much the same as last week's appointment. Mommy's belly is still measuring on track and Ethan's head is down :)

Happy 26th, Ryan!!

Today is Daddy's 26th birthday. Happy Birthday, Daddy!! We got Daddy a pumpkin pie from Coldstone Creamery and had some friends over to play Scene It.
Baby Ethan is 36 weeks along! At our midwife appointment yesterday, Mommy's belly was measuring right at 36 weeks and she's gained 16 pounds. Nancy was our midwife - she did the Leopold maneuver to feel around on Mommy's belly and found out that Ethan's head is down. Yay! Even though we had some activity this week, I haven't dilated or anything yet. Keep on growing, Ethan :)

Braxton-Hicks?

Mommy and Daddy went to Red Robin for dinner tonight and Mommy had a few contractions for the very first time! It felt like cramping, and came and went very quickly.

What's going on?

Mommy was at Bethesda nursing orientation today and lost part of her plug. She called the midwife office and talked to Cindy and she said that it is perfectly normal for this to happen, and we will just wait and see if anything happens!

Hiccups!

Mommy felt Ethan hiccup for the first time inside her belly today! It felt like little pops or flicks :)

34 weeks

Today Baby Ethan is 34 weeks. We had our midwife appointment today, Mommy's belly is measuring at 35 weeks and she's gained 14 pounds. All is well! We forgot our camera this week - oops!

Busy, busy day!

We had a very fun, busy day today! First, we woke up and went on the maternity tour at Good Samaritan Hospital where Ethan is going to be delivered.

Next, we had a photography session with Erin Ziegler at Ault Park for some pregnancy pictures. We had a wonderful time and are so excited we were able to have a session to document this special time!!

That afternoon, we had a baby shower thrown by Aunt Lindsay, Grandma Anne, and Aunt Amy at Lindsay's house. We had a wonderful time!

Today is also Simeon's 18th birthday. Happy Birthday!

32 weeks!

Baby Ethan is 32 weeks today. We had our midwife appointment. Mommy has gained 12 pounds total, and her belly is measuring one week ahead at 33 weeks today. Ethan's heart rate is still hanging strong in the 140's!

Today is also Aunt Haley's 11th birthday. We went in with Mammaw and Papaw and got her a cell phone :) Happy Birthday!

31 weeks - We saw Ethan kick!

Baby Ethan is 31 weeks and 1 day today. Mommy and Daddy were sitting on the couch watching tv when they saw something move on Mommy's belly! We both saw it out of the corner of our eye, stopped, watched Mommy's belly, and saw it bounce again! How fun, we saw Ethan kick for the very first time together!!

30 weeks!

Ethan is 30 weeks today! We had our 30 week midwife appointment. Everything is going well! We discussed the 3 hour glucose test results and all the values were normal. What a relief! Mommy's belly is still measuring right at 30 weeks and Ethan's heart rate is still in the 130's-140's.

Co-ed shower!

Tonight we had a co-ed friends baby shower at our house! Everyone was being really secretive and Mommy and Daddy went out to Michael's to buy letters to hang above Ethan's crib while the girls got things setup at our house. When we came back, we walked in and they had Ethan's stroller all set up in the family room with cute toys and links hanging from the top. What a surprise! Mommy started crying, she felt so blessed by everyone's generosity! We had a great night with good food, good friends, fun, and laughter.

Awesome monkey cake made by Aunt Jenni!

Glucose test :(

We had to go today to have a 3 hour glucose test at Bethesda North. My one hour glucose test from last Friday had come back high in the 170's and they needed to run more testing to check for gestational diabetes. I was so nervous when I got the phone call yesterday that my test was high! So Daddy took me to Bethesda after drinking the sugary orange drink and they did blood draws, had me drink more orange drink, more blood draws, and so on. I was so tired and weak afterwards!! Daddy took me to Mimi's for my favorite breakfast - Stuffed Berry French Toast :) The results from the glucose test ended up coming back normal, so I don't have gestational diabetes! Thank you, God :)

3rd Tri! And Ethan kicked Daddy!

Welcome to the 3rd Trimester! Our baby boy is 28 weeks and 4 days now.
We had our 28 week appointment with the midwives on Friday. Mommy's belly is measuring right on track and Ethan's heart rate is 130's-140's.

Big news today - Daddy felt Ethan kick! We were laying in bed and Ethan kicked Daddy's hand multiple times :)

We had a big weekend with our first baby shower on Saturday. The Branton family, Maisie, and Irene threw us a shower at Karenetta's house. We had lots of fun and were very blessed with things we needed for Ethan!

We also started our Bradley Method childbirth classes with our instructor Maren. We are very excited about taking the course to help us become more informed on the natural, unmedicated childbirth that we want to have!

Starting the nursery!

Ethan has been growing inside Mommy now for 26 weeks! We went to our midwife appointment today and Mommy had her first weight gain - 7 pounds! I guess we had too much fun on vacation :) Ethan's heart rate is in the 130's-140's and you can really tell that Mommy is pregnant now :)

Mommy at 26 weeks:

We also started on Ethan's nursery! The bedding came in - Papagayo by Lambs and Ivy. Mammaw was so nice to buy it for Ethan and she's planning to give it to us at the baby shower at Karenetta's house in a few weeks. We had the paint color matched to the bedding! We are painting Ethan's nursery a Valspar color called Seawall.

Handsome Daddy painting Ethan's room:

Mommy looks tired!

23 weeks in Vegas!

Our baby boy is 23 weeks along today... it happens to be a Thursday - go figure! - and we decided for sure on his name today :) While we were in Las Vegas, we were in this cute little gift shop at Excalibur with Mandi, Jason, Danielle, and Jon, and we found little jungle bowls and silverware sets that with names on them... I was walking around the gift shop going back and forth, back and forth - should we choose Ethan or choose Logan?? We really had our hearts set on Ethan for a boy before we were pregnant, so we decided to go ahead and name him Ethan Christopher. It just felt right!!

Mommy at 23 weeks:

Happy 4th Anniversary!

We had a fun, busy day celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary! It started out by Mommy making our favorite banana pancakes for breakfast in bed:



Then, we had our 22 week appointment. It is hard to believe, but our little one will be here in 4 short months!! All is well :) The baby's heartbeat was 144 beats per minute, and the midwife could palpate Mommy's uterus now 2cm above her belly button.

Mommy at 22 weeks:



We went for a 4D ultrasound at Becoming Mom Pregnancy Spa and Imaging Center, and it was absolutely incredible to see our little baby in that way!!



Here is a slideshow of some of the 4D images from our ultrasound!!
After the ultrasound, we went to a yummy dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, The Melting Pot!



We got to visit with Dean, Becky, Allison, Melody, and Danielle a few weeks ago in Indianapolis, and we took the baby name book along for the ride... we read through the entire book, and we have narrowed the baby's name to Ethan Christopher or Logan Christopher. Now comes the tough part of deciding which to go with!

We go for our next appointment in one month, and then we switch to every 2 week appointments!! It is hard to believe the pregnancy is going by so quickly. We are heading out for our "babymoon" to Las Vegas on Monday morning with 4 wonderful friends - Mommy is armed with seabands and Dramamine to prevent air sickness!

First kick!

Our baby boy is 21 weeks, 1 day... and Mommy felt him kick for the first time! Inside Mommy's stomach, it felt like someone flicking their finger :)

First movement!

Our baby boy is 19 weeks, 6 days today... and Mommy felt him move for the first time! It felt like a wave moving over my belly :)

Mommy at 19 weeks:

It's a boy!!

We had our 18 week appointment and ultrasound today. Mammaw and Grandma Joy went with us! We had our ultrasound at Bethesda North and they say It's a Boy!! We heard the baby's heartbeat twice, once at the ultrasound and once at the midwife's office, it was 146 beats per minute! My blood tests from 2 weeks ago came back with great results, no signs of neural tube defects or Down's Syndrome, and my one hour glucose test came back normal, so no signs of gestational diabetes!! Everything is going great, now we have the challenge of figuring out what to do with the nursery :) We will have our next appointment and a 4D ultrasound on our anniversary August 23. Then we're off to Vegas!
Mommy at 18 weeks

Daddy and Mommy at our 18 week appointment

Grandma Joy, Daddy, Mommy, and Mammaw after our appointments

It's a Boy!

Our baby's profile

Our baby's foot :)

14 weeks

It is hard to believe, but the baby is now 14 weeks along. We went to our second OB appointment today at Trihealth Nurse Midwives. We were able to hear the heartbeat!! Ryan had the hugest smile on his face and I cried, of course!! We met with another midwife, Cheyenne, and she was very nice. I'm working at Bethesda some now through TriHealth, and she treated me very much like a colleague which made me feel good! She said the heartbeat was very strong (in the 140's) and perfect and that everything is looking great!! She wanted to do the ultrasound at 20 weeks, but we talked about it and she agreed that we could get it the same day as our 18 week appointment, so we will get it in 4 weeks on July 26!! Hopefully the baby will cooperate and we will get to find out then if we are having a boy or a girl! When we found out we were expecting, it seemed like it would be so long until we could find out what we are having... now it is only 4 weeks away :) We are also going to go on our anniversary, August 23, and get a 3D ultrasound and video done as a special gift to us :)

Mommy at 14 weeks - starting to have a little baby bump :)

First appointment at 10 weeks!

We went to our first OB appointment today. We decided to go to Trihealth Nurse Midwives and we really like the practice!! Everyone there is really nice and we are looking forward to going there. They deliver at Good Sam. Everything went really well, we didn't really hear anything that we didn't already know!! Neither one of us have any health issues so that was easy :) They are still saying the estimated due date is December 27, lets keep our fingers crossed that the baby will decide to come before the holiday!! Physically she said I am measuring around 9 weeks, date wise I am 10 weeks. We met with one of the 6 midwives on staff and loved her. She said they usually can't hear the heartbeat until 11-12 weeks, so we will have to wait until our next appointment, which is June 28. They won't plan to do an ultrasound until around 20 weeks, which is standard practice now. So hopefully we will find out in August if our little one is a boy or girl!! It will be a nice anniversary present and also some encouragement for baby shopping on our Vegas trip with friends the end of August :)

Today was the start of our "Thursday" rituals! Mommy and Daddy planned the midwife appointments on Thursdays and had date days together :)

Mommy - 10 weeks pregnant



Mommy and Daddy at our first midwife appointment:

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Mommy and Daddy were so excited to finally share the big news of their pregnancy with their families! We wanted to plan something very special to announce our pregnancy.

Mommy and Daddy bought special cards for the grandma's, bibs that said "I Love Grandma", and vases with fresh tulips.



We went to church with Mammaw and Papaw, and went to Outback for lunch with the Branton family. Here is Mammaw opening her card - she looked at the card, grabbed Papaw's glasses, read it again, and then started crying!



Then we went to Mom and Jim's house. Mom was very excited and got the news right away when she read the card!



We then went to Dad and Anne's house, and Grandma Gabbard was there too. It took them both a minute to realize what the cards meant, and then the excitement kicked in!



We were very excited to share our news with our families!! We will be going to our first midwife appointment May 31 at Trihealth Nurse Midwives. Our little baby will be 10 weeks along then!

The secret's out...

Mommy and Daddy went to Putter's to hang out and listen to a band with their friends Danielle, Jon, Mandi, and Heather. Mommy was nervous before going because she was trying to keep the pregnancy a secret until Mother's Day! She had Daddy buy her a strawberry daquiri without any rum so no one would notice she didn't have a grown up drink. Heather noticed this, but Mommy tried to push it off :) A little later that evening, the girls went and brought Mommy another drink and she tried to give it to Daddy, but it didn't work... the girls noticed what I was trying to do, and Heather said "You're pregnant!" Everyone got all excited and started crying and announcing the big news to the people at Putter's :) They were all sworn to secrecy, because the very next day we were having a fundraiser for the March of Dimes, and the grandma's were going to be there!

We're having a baby!!

Mommy and Daddy found out today that they were expecting a baby! Mommy woke up early in the morning and was reading some posts on the chatboard on The Nest. Mommy's period was late but she had just been waiting to see if it would come. One of the girls on The Nest (Jenna!) announced that she had a bfp (big fat positive!), and Mommy got up the nerve to take a test herself. She got dressed and went to the store to buy a test. She came home and took a digital Clearblue Easy test, which said Pregnant! Daddy woke up and came to see what Mommy was doing, and she told him the news :) We were both very excited about being parents and both started crying! We decided to wait until Mother's Day to announce the big news :) We thought it would be extra special to announce it that day. Mommy went out and bought prenatal vitamins and started them right away.