12 Weeks!!!

I know it's shocking, but I actually am doing an update - with pictures - on time!! LOL!!

So yesterday was our 12 week appointment with the OB. All of my tests from our last appointment (at 8 weeks) came back just fine, and I can even stay on the Flintstone's vitamins instead of special prenatal ones because things look so good! The doctor tried to do the doppler, but the baby wasn't intrested so we still didn't get to hear the heartbeat. :( Despite my questions and concerns, I was assured that not hearing the heartbeat doesn't mean something is wrong and that it is quite normal to still not hear it at this stage. The sliver lining of not hearing the baby with the doppler, though, is that we got another ultrasound. Sure enough, it's little heart was doing the strobe-light-effect right in the middle of it's squiggly little chest! And we were able to see it's little face... or at least what is the start of the most beautiful face ever!! It's amazing how baby-like the baby looks now compared to just 4 weeks ago!!

I have to admit, that I did need to be told that I was looking at an umbilical cord when the baby came up on screen!! You can't really tell in the pictures, but it was sssoooooo clear on the screen and there was something sticking straight up... I about died! I think I even said something along the lines of "I didn't think that developed yet"!! Luckily the doctor is very cool and thought I was funny. Then he told me that's really not what I thought, but is in fact the umbilical cord. LOL! Needless to say, I was slightly embarrassed, but I was right thinking nothing like that should show up yet! :D

So anyways, here's the pictures for 12 weeks ::

Pictures... Finally...

No, you're not imagining things! I finally got all the pictures up... So here are the much needed belly shots and our amazingly beautiful squiggley ultrasound of the baby!!

*5 Weeks*

*10 Weeks* *Baby Swader's Very First Pictures* 8 Weeks 2 Days Old *

As of our appointment on 2 Jan (yeah, I know I'm a little behind), the baby was measuring 2 days ahead of schedule. So, while the baby was 8 weeks 2 days old, he or she measured at 8 weeks 4 days. Not really that much, but considering that's an extra day per month, it's huge for this stage! We go back for the 12 Week appointment on the 27th, so we'll see what happens then.

A Ravens Prayer

Let us bow our heads in prayer...

Our Father who art in Baltimore,
Football is thy game.
Thy kingdom come,
2000 Super bowl we won,
On earth as it is at M&T Bank stadium.
Give us this day a playoff win,
And forgive us our penalties,
As we forgive those who despise us!

And defeat the Pittsburgh STEELERS who play against us,
Please lead us into victory and deliver us to Tampa!

AMEN!

Pregnant Rant

So I know that I'm lucky to be thin... I know that there are plenty of other women who are 5'2" and haven't weighed 110 lbs in too long to remember... And don't give me a hard time - you don't have to keep reading. But I really kinda have to complain when it comes to being tiny and pregnant!!

First off, I'm 10 weeks pregnant and am already starting to show. However, instead of a baby bump that's all cute and has people smiling when they stare, I have a beer gut looking flabby thing that people stare at and then give me looks as I'm scarfing a granola bar during our shopping trip! I know I've only gained like 3 pounds, and I can see that some other areas have thinned out (luckily one area has at least remained the same even if I was looking forward to the growing that's supposed to already have me buying new bras). But really?!?! Can't I have a nice little bump or just not show like every normal woman until I'm in at least the second trimester?!?! Granted, the gut is a comforting thought since I know the baby is growing and that's why I'm growing... but the baby is the size of a fricking kumquat! And that's apparently only like an inch or two so it's really not big enough to push my whole gut over my pants. Even the grapefruit size uterus shouldn't be forcing the muffin top just yet. But there it is, staring up at me from past my boobs.

Secondly,I've always had a hard time finding clothes because I'm small. Most things that are in my size are made for preteens and definitly don't help in making me look my age, much less adding anything to my professional wardrobe! I'm not saying "oohhhh my legs are fat" or anything like that, but my legs are definitely thicker than my waist/hips. And my chest, well let's just say that even 10 weeks pregnant it still closely resembles a child's! So when I would find something in my size, it would be too tight in the legs or too loose in the waist; the shirt would sag in the chest area or be a little too snug around my hips; it was was too cutesy or cartoonish for a 27 year old to wear; it looked like I was borrowing my mom's clothes when I was 6... Of course, after many years I've learned to try everything on and even found a few no-fail stores that I can comfortably shop in.

Now I'm pregnant. I looked online at the maternity stores, and just like most shops, thier clothes are made for women with grown up bodies. Women who can shop in grown up departments and wear grown up clothes without looking like they're playing dress up. Granted, I'm only 10 weeks and I'm not exactly "showing" so I don't have to really worry about it, but what about in a few months?!?! What am I going to wear when I'm the size of a house, uncomfortable, self conscious, and sweating like a whore in church because it's summer and I have an extra human attached to me?!?! Seriously!!!

Do I buy "normal" women clothes? What about having the cute stuff that shows off the (hopefully) beautiful bump I'm sporting? What about the special fit that maternity clothes are designed for? Am I just going to wear the equivilent of a junior's moo moo?!?! What is there for the little mommy-to-be? I'm sure that plus size mommies-to-be have the same problem so shouldn't there be some store that caters to us freaks in the maternity world?!?! I mean, even in pregnancy shouldn't we be able to finally dress like the rest of the women in the world?!?!

Technology Isn't So Great

Today I was all set to post the ultrasound picture from our first appointment at 8 weeks and 2 days (you know, from over a week ago now), along with the belly pictures from 5 weeks and the more recent ones that I was going to take this weekend... But technology sucks so now you just have to wait longer!!

We got this fabulous new camera with the award money Chris got from work. Well, we also got a new printer/scanner/copier since the last one decided to make up an imaginary part and then make up that it was broken... not that I'm bitter about the damn thing breaking after I finally figured out how to work it without calling Chris at all!! Anyways, the super-amazingly-ginormous card we got for the new camera is apparently too new for the computer now. Of course, we didn't know that though. So I took the Christmas pictures off the old camera and proceded to try and get the other pictures off the new camera. I gave up after about an hour, and decided instead to work on getting the ultrasound pictures on the internet... after an hour or so of fighting with them (the whole 2 of them) I conceded the reigns to Chris and took a nap!

Come to find out (after many hours of playing with things and then reading the camera's manual) the card is just too new. Our computer at a ripe old age of 3 or 4 years old, isn't up to speed with the new technology these cards are using now. So finally Chris resorted to using the cord-thingy to get the pictures. Then he moved onto proving me wrong about the ultrasounds... only he didn't actually do what he set out too. When he scanned the pictures in, the files automatically decided that he would be the only one who could do anything with them, including loading them to photobucket! Yeah. Chris finally fixed that too. But by this time, the puppies and I were crashed out and not moving. (That picture will come too... Chris couldn't resist taking a couple.)

There are recent pictures up on our photobucket if you want to take a look...
All Pictures:: http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s241/swaders_1girl/
Puppies :: http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s241/swaders_1girl/Fur%20Babies/
Christmas :: http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s241/swaders_1girl/Holidays/Christmas%2008/
And, because I'm anal like that, everything is broken down by albums... You'll see it in the first link. You should be able to move around through all the albums without a problem, and please feel free. :)

Freaked Out

Now I know I'm a worrier. And, I know that I have a slightly overactive imagination - especially for someone at my age. But I think I have a very valid reason to be freaked out right now...

Last night, Cuya (for those who don't know, she's our 10 month old Boxer) started kinda pacing the house. Finally Chris asked if she needed to go out, and they went to the kitchen door. Before the door was all the way open, he said her hair was on end. She went out onto the step, but just stood there with her hair sticking up and was definitely in her protective stance - which I only know because Chris has scared us a couple times before. So Chris walks out to see what she's staring out too... that's when he notices the gas tank door on my truck is open.

So, my Marine goes into action. Within seconds, he's been upstairs, got and loaded the gun, is issuing directions to me about calling the cops, and is on his way back out the door with Cuya by his side. (Dobie - the 5 month old Boxer - is completely unphased and still snoring away next the couch. He hasn't gotten the "protecting" ideas yet.) After securing the perimeter, I convinced Chris to call the cops and just stay inside with me. Since there was no sign of anything else being off, he agreed but kept the gun safely by his side. Cuya positioned herself at my feet, chest out, and on full alert. (Dobie was still sleeping.)

We called Jimmy and Jeana - the ones who actually run the farm - and let them know what was going on. Jimmy was down in no time, and checked his barns and gas pumps for the tractors. Nothing abnormal with his stuff, so he went back home. And then we paced waiting for a cop to show up... the whole time, Cuya right at my feet.

Finally, the officer showed up and told us he drove around for a little while to see if there was anyone on foot and that's what took so long. Of course he didn't find anything, but he did say that it's suspicious. He promised us that there would be a few patrol cars watching the area for the next few days/nights and would let us know if they saw anything odd. There's no marks or anything on my truck, and no gas was sucked out or anything. Chris checked all the doors and windows and everything, but nothing's different.

Chris thinks it was just some kids being stupid. I have to disagree though. See, we live on a farm... a FARM. There's nothing around us. There's only way to our house, and there's nothing else on the driveway. We're not in a neighborhood with some dumb kids could've been bored and decided to wander around. Our house isn't even by a sidewalk! It's on a main road with no sholder. Despite the fact that there's a high school just a stone's throw up the street, it's a private/Catholic high school so the students live all over, not just in the concentrated area around the school. Plus, being a Thursday night, there wasn't anything going on at the school where kids would have been there. A Friday night might have had a basketball game, where the kids could have been hyped up and looking to be rambunkious, but this was a Thursday night. A Thursday night, mind you, that was not during any "holiday" breaks that schools would have.

Yeah... Now I'm just a little nervous and am already pushing for a couple changes. The first of which is a new door in the kitchen. It's a typical kitchen door with the wood bottom and frame, and glass pannels on the top half of the door. This thing is so old though, I'm surprised the glass doesn't break every time one of the puppies jump up on it! And I really don't think that I'm out of line to be freaked about this! What would you do?!?!

Lazy Lazy Lazy

I know I keep promising pictures - the ultrasound, belly pictures, updated pictures in general - and they are coming... The last few days have been a little wearing. Besides (finally) announcing that we're pregnant, Nanny's birthday was kinda hard for me and I'm still battling the fatigue. Seriously, I feel so horrible because all I want to do is sleep aaaallllllll the time. Poor Chris is totally doing everything!! It doesn't help that I have the hardest time falling asleep either. Talk about rough mornings. Ugh!!

So I know that I still haven't posted any Christmas pictures, much less any preggo pictures that everyone wants to see... (by the way, if one more person tells me that they can't wait to see me fat they're totally cut off!!!) Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to sit down and, at the very least, get the pictures online. To be honest, I still haven't even done the cd for our wedding album! Seriously. Granted, it is quite different for us because we have to make a cd of all the pictures we want from everyone, not just the photographer - who sucked royally. But still, it's been 6 months since the wedding. And while it did take a month to get the pictures from the company, and then some more time telling them how horrible the job was done, it's still been 6 months since the wedding. That's just how lazy I've been the last few weeks!

I do have a new picture of Kherington though... I know, I know. Don't say I never gave you anything! LOL! This will just have to hold you over until my lazy, pregnant ass gets the energy to sit on the computer at home and load up pictures. :)

Oh, and this is the latest from Shannon ::

"She is doing really well. no jaundice, gaining weight, on an every 3 hour feeding schedule, diaper rash clearing up, we couldnt ask for anything more."

It's Nanny's Birthday...

Yeah... I'm trying to keep focused on the blessing that she sent us (the baby, duh) and what little I have to do at work right now. But it's not exactly easy when I'm trying to watch the weather and plan my eating so that I can go to the graveyard after work. I know she's in a better place and all that. I do. And I know it's childish to (at least really want to) throw a fit because she missed watching the first of her grandchildern get married and won't get to be here to hold her goddaughter's first baby... I know that. So why, 10 months later, is it still so hard not too?!?!

I know, without a doubt, that she sent the baby to us; that the miracle that is our baby was sent to us courtesy of Nanny (and Pop-Pop, of course) to give us reason to celebrate these few months when we would miss her the most. Christmas - the first without her - wasn't as hard because we were able to talk about the baby. Our first appointment was just a few days off from her birthday. We'll find out the sex of the baby not too far from the one year anniversary of... well, when we said goodbye to her. I know this isn't coincidental. So, why is it still so hard?!?!

Maybe because my grandmother was one of the two greatest women I've ever had the privlege of knowing. I wouldn't be half the person I am today, if it wasn't for the love and strength I learned from her. While she no doubt had her flaws, Nanny always took care of you. You never left her presence without a full stomache or a renewed sense of family. She loved whole heartedly and she gained courage from things that would make normal people weak. Nanny instilled religion and family into her children and grandchildren. Nanny didn't waver under the duress of an alcoholic daughter, or the abuse that insued from living with her and her son. She gratefully took on the roll of a mother to my cousin, and did everything she could to provide him with the strength and courage he wouldn't have gotten anywhere else. She was the stable, unfalible foundation that the house of our family was built upon. My grandmother was a rare breed of human, of woman. She was the little old lady you see at Church, every Sunday, sitting in the exact same seat of the exact same pew; the one who looked a little worn, like she had stories upon stories she could tell; the one who always gave to the collection because there were others who would need it more. A rare, dying breed of a woman who did for her family before herself. My grandmother was extraordinary.

Perhaps, being so irreplacable, so incredible, is the reason that it still hurts she's not here for another birthday. Maybe it's because she loved so much, that it hurts so much and for so long to be without that now. All I know, is that Nanny made my life and the lives of sooooo many, a better place by being a part of it. Today, on her birthday, it is especially obvious to me that my baby will be a better person because of my grandmother's blood running through it's little heart. It was an honor to have such an amazing woman, such a genuinely beautiful person in my life for so long.

We're Pregnant!!!

We wanted to wait to announce our pregnancy until we knew that the baby was healthy and there was little chance for... well, you know... We went to the doctor's on Friday and saw the baby's heartbeat!! Dr says that we're looking very good and very healthy. In fact, although only 8 weeks and 2 days along, baby measured 2 days ahead of schedule!! It's not much, but it's a huge healthy sign... and that's huge!! Currently, our due date is 10 - 12 Aug 2009... It's really 12 Aug, but since the baby is a little bit ahead of schedule, the doctor is saying the 10th is more likely. So, YAY!!!

Since we couldn't really announce it, I've been "blogging" on the pregnancy website... and I figured now that the baby is fully known, I'll move all those blogs over here for everyone to catch up on. Then, from now on, I'll just post everything here... and you know me, I mean everything!! LOL!! I'm going to put those blogs in on the dates I wrote them... so you'll have to kinda go through all the blogs here to get to those. Sorry, but it kinda makes more sense to do that than to post them all back to back to back up front. Hopefully it makes sense to everyone else and not just the crazy pregnant lady!! LOL!

Oh, and before you can ask, we will have pictures coming soon. I promise you won't have to wait too long to get the sonogram picture or any (very early) belly pictures!! :) So, happy reading!!!

The Old Man :)

I'm talking about Chris... his birthday is just 5 short days away; upon which time, my wonderful husband takes the first giant step into the 30-something category!! LOL! Yeah, he's already hit 30 so is one more year really that big of a deal?!?! Ooohhhhh, yeah it is!!

This year, he instructed me that all he wanted was "a chill dinner with a few close friends"!! Seriously. Every year since we met, Chris' birthday has been a big production that I put on with no less than 30+ of his "closest friends"... but this year, it's to be a dinner out. I just find this amusing.

Of course, I'm grouped right in there with the "old" part. Almost 4 years younger or not, the fact that I was all for staying in and - yes I can admit it - setting an alarm to get up for the ball drop on New Year's, only proves that I'm just as old. But I still have the blessing of being in my 20's and using various excuses...

So, as his big day approaches, I just had to take a moment to laugh at my wonderful and old husband!! Plus, it's an added bonus for him that this also kind of says how amazingly cool he is to have such a young wife! LOL!!!