We have a crib!

Greg and I spent the afternoon putting together the baby's new crib! I'm very excited about it - we love it and we got a great deal on it...always a good thing! Hopefully we can find a dresser and rocking chair or glider that match to go in the room for just as good of a price. We'll see!

It wasn't too complicated to put together. Greg did most of the work while I held pieces up. Riley and Sammy oversaw the entire project and checked out all the pars to make sure they didn't have anything scary hiding inside!

Greg working hard while I take pictures...hey, it's what I'm good at!

Sammy and Riley making sure we're doing a good job.

The finished product! I can't wait to get cute bedding to go inside :)


The "babies" get to try it out! :)

Rough couple of days!

I know that God has a purpose when we go through valleys and that all of our time on Earth can't be spent on the mountain top, but I feel like it's been a long, hard struggle to get up the mountain for us!

First of all, I apparently hit something (without knowing it!) in our Mustang and came out to a gigantic oil leak. Basically every bit of oil that was in my car had leaked out onto the ground. We had to have it towed to Leif Johnson...and then, since it wasn't a manufacturer defect, we have to pay for all of it. And it's not cheap! We pick up the car tomorrow, and I'm seriously considering giving up driving...I mean, all the bad things in that car happen while I'm driving! Like the rock that cracked the windshield three days after we bought...Who was driving? Me! Or the time that the key wouldn't turn in the ignition and I was stranded at the apartment. Or the time that I was trying to fill up with gas and the gasoline came shooting back out all over me? Yep. Me driving. And then if we go back further in my driving history (before the Mustang) there was the incident in the Explorer where the passenger side mirror randomly shattered. I swear I'm a careful driver. Bad luck while driving just seems to follow me.

Then this morning, I had a scary moment where I thought I was going to pass out. I got really shakey, dizzy, and broke out in a cold sweat with a horrible headache. Since I've had moments of low blood sugar before I got pregnant, I thought that could've been what was causing everything. So I got my snack out of the fridge at school (crackers and a cheese stick) and ate that. Thirty minutes later I still felt horrible, so I went down to our school nurse's office. My blood pressure was on the "low side of normal" (101/70). She had me drink a juice box and then we took my blood sugar. Normal sugars range from 70-120...After eating crackers and drinking the juice, mine was only 84, which is pretty low for having sugar in my system. She had me drink another juice and we waited about 15 minutes and tested it again. It had gone up to 99...I felt a little bit better, but definitely not great! My doctor said to watch it and to mention it at my next appointment. Unfortunately, this puts me at a higher risk of having gestational diabetes - which I do not want to have! Although, if this is the only real complication I have with my pregnancy, I'll be glad. So many other things can go wrong and this is relatively minor.

It's really hard to stay positive when it seems like so many things are going wrong...but I'm trying so hard to trust in God and really put my faith in Him. I know he will provide for us and take care of us.

On a happy note, here's a tummy picture from last week. You can't really tell from this picture, but the little peanut is definitely growing! I'll try to take a better one this weekend.

Healthy baby

I had my monthly appointment with my doctor this afternoon...after locking my keys in my car at school, having to call Greg and have him leave work to pick me up, and then getting to the doctor's office only to find out that they had my appointment scheduled for tomorrow, not today! Thank goodness everything worked out alright!

My doctor measured my tummy - I think she said it was around 16 inches, which she said was "tiny" for being 17 weeks. Nothing to worry about though - either it means that I'm actually due later than April 1st or I just have some catching up to do. I also got to listen to the heart beat on the doppler...it's so fun to hear the little wa-wa-wa-ing from our baby's heart! It was right around 146-149 beats per minute. Last time it was in the 150s, and she said it sounded strong and great.

She asked me if I wanted to have any genetic testing done, but I declined...it's wouldn't change anything with the way we viewed the baby, so there's really no point. Plus, there's a high rate of having false positives, which would cause me unnecessary stress and worry. I feel good about that decision!

I also scheduled our "big" ultrasound to find out the baby's gender...The big day is November 7th! Pray that the baby is cooperative so s/he can get a name, clothing, bedding and all that fun stuff! I'm putting up a poll so you can vote on whether you think the baby is a boy or a girl...I'll tell you what I think after a few days!

17 weeks

Today, our baby is 17 weeks old! I get an email every Tuesday telling me about all the growth and development that will be happening that week. This week's email said that our baby's skeleton is hardening into bone and that sweat glands are beginning to develop this week. The baby is now the size of a turnip and weighs about 5 ounces. Last week's email said that the baby would be doubling in weight approximately every week for the next few weeks...Crazy, isn't it?!

I have my second doctor's appointment tomorrow. I'm not really sure what is supposed to go on at this appointment, but I will be scheduling our "big" ultrasound...the one where we get to find out the sex of the baby! I am praying that s/he is cooperative during this ultrasound so we can find out...I don't know how much longer I can last not knowing. Unfortunately, my insurance only pays for two ultrasounds, unless more are medically necessary. So if our little peanut isn't being especially cooperative, we could potentially not know until the delivery!

Greg and I are looking into paying to have a 3D/4D ultrasound done. There are some various centers in Austin that do them...it would be so fun to have "real" pictures of the baby, but we'll see!

New baby, new blog

I figured it was time to start a blog to keep everyone up to date on what's going on with me and the surprise baby in the next coming months and years. I hate living far away from family and friends, but at least the internet makes it a little easier to keep in touch!

For those of you who need to get caught up on things, here's some background information. I'm in my second trimester, 15 weeks 5 days pregnant (or about 4 1/2 months) with a surprise baby! Greg and I definitely weren't expecting this, but the Lord knows better than we do what He has planned for us. We are only along for the ride, and what a fantastic one it is turning out to be! Our baby is very wiggly and active, although I have yet to feel anything. I hear that will come in the next week or two and I'm very excited for it! I am due on April 1st, 2009 - April Fool's Day. Hopefully there will be no more big surprises to come! I've had my first doctor's appointment so far and have the next on October 23rd. We should find out if it's a boy or a girl sometime around Thanksgiving and I couldn't be more excited!

Here are a few pictures of the baby:







I will try to update this every few days or so to keep everyone informed! I'm definitely looking forward to the coming weeks and months...everything is going by so fast and I'm really trying to savor every moment of it (good and bad!). A blog seems like the perfect way to do that!