Last day of 2009

Well we are 33 weeks pregnant as of yesterday and today is the last day of 2009! Tomorrow starts the year that we will become parents!!! As it turns out i passed the 3 hours sugar test that the Doctor said he thought I wouldn't pass... But he said i failed the first 1-hour test so badly he wants me to go on what he calls the "brain diet". Basically no ice cream or baked goodies; i have to cut back on starches such as white bread/rice/potatoes... I hate that - really - I refer to myself as a carbaholic... Also, no cokes or caffeinated drinks. Hard to think of what i can eat... Well, only about 7 weeks left until Keegan gets here!!! We met with the pediatrician yesterday for the first time, she's glad that I'm going to try to breastfeed. Well, we're excited and it's getting closer and closer all the time!
OH YEAH - The shower is Jan 9th! Can't wait to see what goodies we get to stock Keegan's room with!!! I have a few things, like free trial type stuff and a few little outfits that he's received already - i reorganize all the time. I guess that's the nesting syndrome everyone talks about! Don't let him lie to you, Casey has it too!

A few Miscellaneous Items on my Wish List

There are a few extra items on my "wish list" that can't be found on the Target or Wal-Mart registries.
1. I like a diaper bag that i found at Amazon or 1800diapers. It's really cute and it's made of a wipable fabric and it comes with a few extra's! It's around $35.
2. I need a satin hanger to hang the diaper stacker on. I found a set @ Amazon for around $12.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Today Casey and I went to cut down a Christmas Tree and we set it up this evening! Last year, our first Christmas, was my first real tree. I had never been to a Christmas Tree farm until last year, so this is still a fairly new experience for me, it's exciting! Well, I've been getting Christmas ornaments for us to represents certain exteriences we've had during the year and since we were pregnant this year - i got a Mom-To-Be Angel from Hallmark (seen to the left). I also got us a Parents-To-Be ornament!
This ornament to the left is a pregnant woman holding a jar of pickles and a bucket of ice-cream. Steriotypical right? I thought it was cute!!!
It snowed yesterday evening - exciting to wake up to snow on the ground - that doesn't happen much in Louisiana...

HickUps

On Wednesday November 25th, I woke up to a constant bumping in my tummy. The bump was very consistent in time, the same length apart this reoccuring bump. At first i was concerned, and then it occured to me this was hickups! I laid still for about 5 minutes letting Keegan get it out of his sytem before i got up to start the day... It was very exciting. I woke Casey up to feel and like most mornings he was still very sleepy, but excited.

Sugar Test - FAIL

Well, i went to take my sugar test on Tuesday November 24th. Turns out i failed the first sugar test, so i have to go back to take the longer version of the test where they draw your blood several times over a number of hours versus the 1 hours/2 draw first test... The doctor said a lot of people fail the initial test and have to take the second one, nothing to worry about so far. But if i fail the extended version of the test, then I'll probably have to be on a diet of some sort controlling my sugar intake or something. Well, we'll keep the website posted when we're updated on that subject.

28 Weeks

From Baby Center.com "By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can open and close his eyes, which now sport lashes. This movement is more of a reflexive blink than a deliberate opening and closing, but it won't be long before he's batting those beauties at you."

25 Weeks

Well, tommorrow we'll be 25 weeks!!! I discovered by googling that Keegan's about 1.5 pounds and 13.5 inches long!!! Wow, how'd he get so big so fast? Don't know, but here's what else I read: "Get ready for pat-a-cake! Baby's hands are now fully developed and he spends most of his awake time groping around in the darkness of your uterus. Brain and nerve endings are developed enough now so that your baby can feel the sensation of touch. That doesn't mean he can feel it when his father pokes your stomach, however, so tell him to knock it off. Other highlights include:Your baby's arms and legs have grown to almost the proportions they will be at birth, which is still sort of short. So don't be alarmed when your newborn's arms barely clear his waist. Baby's nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, clear out (like he's taken a super-dose of Sudafed) and he can practice breathing through the nose. The structures of your baby's spine are now made up of 150 joints, 33 rings and some 1,000 ligaments. Can you believe you're growing something that complicated inside of you?The capillaries, the teeniest blood vessels, are now forming in your baby's body, giving his formerly translucent skin a pink glow. The blood vessels in the lungs also develop this week. You'll see how well that worked out when your baby gives those lungs a workout while you're on line at the bank in a few months. Your baby weighs about a pound and a half and is about 13½ inches long." (parentsconnect.com)
On week 28 I'll have to take the glucose screening test to check for gestational diabetes. Which means I'll have to fast the night before and cross my fingers that I pass the test!!!

Keegan's Newly Designed Nursery (by: Daddy)

Bedding Collection

Sunday 10/11/09 Casey and I were in Lafayette visiting Papa J.
We went shopping Sunday for crib bedding and found a little store called Cullen's. They had a lot of different things to look at - even more so than the local Baby's R Us! So we saw the Cocalo Couture Collection - Aidan; and we loved it! We got the bedding collection so we could match paint colors and paint the room.

Baby Bedding

Since we've found out that our little bundle of joy is a boy we've been looking at bedding for the nursery. We got the nursery furniture a while back and it's ready to go. But it seems that mom and dad are having a tough time compromising on one style. I like patterns and geometric shapes in all sorts of colors, but daddy likes trucks, trains, animals, and all sorts of themed decor. We've yet to find common ground on a set, but we'll get there. We're trying to pick out the bedding so Casey can go ahead and paint the room. He wants all the fumes to be long gone before we start putting any furniture or decor in there. He's really being cautious about my exposure to "bad things". It's really sweet!!! In fact, he's already prepped the room for paint which means he sanded and stuff. He actually didn't want to me open the door to the room for a week after he got done with it just in case there were some airborne particals from the sanding... But - our nursery bedding search continues...

Sonogram Pics

It's a BOY!!!!!

We had a gender reveal party Wednesday September 30th @ Ryan's. It was our 20th week and our gender revealing sonogram!!! Courtnie made a blue cake and a pink cake both covered in chocolate icing so that you couldn't see the color of the cake inside. The cakes were left at Meredith's house, Courtnie's sister. We dropped by on our way to the party and Meredith opened the sealed envelope containing the picture showing the gender of the baby. Casey and I still do not know at this point! She gave us the cake that was the correct color coinciding with the gender of our little Peanut! (Not so much a peanut anymore, check out the sonogram pics) We cut into the cake at the party to reveal that our little bundle of joy is a BOY!!!

Kicking Baby

Last night we visited Rose for her birthday and stayed for supper. After supper, Peanut started moving around and I announced it to everyone. I had three hands on my belly at once trying to feel the little kicks. Casey and mom were both able to feel a kick before Peanut stopped moving. So, yes world, Daddy has felt Peanut kicking! It was really exciting and cool to see Casey's reaction!!!

18 Weeks

I know it's been a while since I wrote on the blog, but it's been hectic lately... Two more weeks until we find out if Peanut is a boy or girl!!! During week 17 I started to feel the first "butterflies" which is what the first movements feel like!!! YAY!!! They're still too shallow for Casey to feel by touching my belly, but dialy I've been feeling the little butterflies in my stomache! I've had one good poke and that was when I was lying on my belly; I think my little Peanut was telling me to get off my belly!!! This is what's going on this week: "Ears move to their final position and they stand out from the head. And start brushing up on your lullabies — in the coming weeks, your baby will probably be able to hear! The bones of the middle ear and the nerve endings from the brain are developing so that your baby will hear sounds such as your heartbeat and blood moving through the umbilical cord. He or she may even be startled by loud noises! Your baby's eyes are also developing — they're now facing forward rather than to the sides, and the retinas may be able to detect the beam of a flashlight if you hold it to your abdomen. Until now, your baby's bones had been developing but were still soft. This week, they begin to harden, or ossify. Some of the first bones to ossify are those in the clavicles and the legs." Compliments of http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_calendar/week18.html

14 Weeks

I always mark the new week by searching the net to find out what's going on in there. I found some exciting stuff this week at Parents Connect. Here's what they have to say, "Think of it this way: You're a third of the way through and baby's a third of the way cooked. Now that the "big stuff" (like skeletal and organ development) is taken care of, your baby starts a period of rapid brain growth, fat buildup and detail work. Highlights this week include:Your baby now has fingerprints! Believe it or not, he actually created them himself while swimming around in the amniotic fluid. As he moved his hands, the skin on the tips of his fingers formed unique ridges and folds. That's why no one on earth has the same fingerprints, not even identical twins! Cool, right? Baby's arms are now in proportion to his tiny body, but his legs are still on the short size in comparison.Meconium, that tar-like, sticky first baby poop, is now loading up your baby's intestines, which means you might want to set aside a bottle of olive oil, one of the few things that will get the gooey poop off of baby's bottom. Your baby continues to gain new and impressive skills such as practicing and controlling voluntary muscle movements (this will help him fling food across the room later in life). Your tiny dancer's movements are no longer the jerky, uncontrollable twitches of yore—he now moves with graceful control. Your baby is now weighs about an ounce and is the length of a flip phone, or roughly 3.5 inches—he's tripled in size from a mere three weeks ago!"

12 Weeks

Well Wednesday 8/5/09 I was 12 weeks!!! 8 more weeks until we find out whether we’re having a boy or girl! We had an OB appointment Wednesday (12 week anniversary), and we listened to the heartbeat; so cool!!! We were only in the office for 5 minutes or so, they don’t do much in the early visits after the initial visit. I bought Casey an LSU Pacifier Holder; one of the nurses in the OB office makes and sells them. It’s cute, I’ll have to take a picture and post it. Well since we got to listen to the heartbeat yesterday, I guess Casey got inspired. He bought a heart monitor so we could listen to the heartbeat at home, but little did he know that it doesn’t really work until you’re in your early 3rd trimester. That was in fine print in the booklet… So, he tried and tried, but we couldn’t find anything at home last night. But it was so cute to watch the intensity in his face as he was searching for that heartbeat!!! Once he thought he found it, but it was just my heartbeat - lol...

Daddy's getting anxious

Well, we'd had the nursery furniture in the dining room, still in boxes for about a week and Derek helped Casey unwrap the furniture and store it in the guestroom until the nursery is finished. It was getting in the way in the dining room... But since the crib box didn't take up much room, we had decided we would just wait until the nursery was finished/painted to put it together in the nursery. I got home today and apparently Casey had become impatient - so cute!!! I walked in the door and he had the crib half-together just grinning from ear to ear! It was the cutest thing - he couldn't wait any longer. He had to see the crib put together. I have to admit, we did a really good job picking out furniture, I love it in the house! The crib will probably still sit in the dining room until the nursery is done though; that might take 2 months or so since we're waiting to find out boy/girl to paint the room. After he put it together, Casey realized it was too big to fit through the door... He will have to take it apart to get it in the Nursery... Ooops!!! Gotta love his enthusiasm!!! :)

The Nursery Update

Casey and I spent the weekend at Bryan and Heathers house in Shreveport. We went baby shopping - lol... We found a furniture set @ Burlington Coat Factory's Baby Depot. We bought the set accept for one peice that we'll have to special order. It's so exciting...
I came home Monday evening and Casey was painting the nursery ceiling. We knew we were going to paint it white, so Casey just surprised me. He's so sweet!!! He wouldn't let me walk in the room either, he's afraid the paint fumes will bother me or the baby... So the furniture is in the dining/living room area still in boxes...

Our 1st Sonogram

OMG we got to see the heartbeat today!!! It was so exciting!!! He/She is only 1.73 cm's long, and we're exactly 8 weeks and 1 day pregnant today. --Click on pics to make larger--

Bridgett's Parents

We didn't know what my parents would like their grandchildren to call them, so we couldn't make the T-shirts for them. I made a bib that said "We are pregnant" and my mom said "Is this a joke?" She's hilarious - I was like - "NO"... Anyways, Rose put on the bib and she was running around shouting "Bridgett's pregnant!!!" Mom said, "Rose, that means that Bridgett's going to have a baby" and Rose just stopped, dropped to the floor, and closed her eyes like she passed out on the floor. She's so funny!!! We didn't get film because we couldn't figure out how to hide the camera - if they'd have seen it, it would have given away the surprise... So, we'll make shirts for them now. Mom decided she wanted to be called "Meme". I designated the name of "Poppa Frank" for Frankie... lol

The REACTION!!!!!

This is the video Casey took of his parent's reaction. We made T-shirts that said "GG" and "Papa J." It takes about 20-25 seconds to get to the good part, Casey was recording the couch for a few seconds before he could pull up the camera without being noticed... It's great!!!

We're Pregnant!!!!!

Today my period is 2 days late. I've been having slight cramping and sore/swollen breasts for over a week. Two nights in the last 2 weeks I've gone to bed @ 7:45pm and 7:00pm. This morning I had a POSITIVE TEST!!! I woke Casey up @ 6am to tell him and he couldn't go back to sleep, he usually wakes up @ 6:45am... We were both scatter brained this morning. Casey forgot his work phone at home and I forgot to feed MayMay (I went back and did it...) and I almost forgot to fix my lunch... I've been smiling so much already this morning my cheeks are sore...

My Basal Temperature Chart

Here is my Basal Temperature Chart. You can see the red horizontal line, that indicates my ovulation. The red vertical line indicates the day I was supposed to start my period. The little yellow box with a "P" in it shows the morning I took the Positive Test!!! (That was today)
**Click on the picture to see it better

Cycles Shortening!!!

Well, the last cycle was 52 days long. This cycle - was 38 days. This cycles was a whole 2 weeks shorter. This means my cycles are getting back to normal; which means my body is getting closer to being ready for conceiving a new bundle of joy!!! I've never been excited to start a cycle, but this time I really did get excited!!!

Nursery Furniture

Here is the Heritage Collection in Cherry by Creations Baby. We've been looking at the collection on the internet; but we finally got to see it in Lake Charles this past weekend and we loved it just as much as we thought we would. You can visit the manufacturer's website @ http://www.creationsbaby.com/. You can see all the peices of this collection @ http://www.creationsbaby.com/pdfs/6025.pdf.

UPDATE 7/9/09 this furniture is no longer manufactured... We'll keep looking.

Furniture Shopping

We're going to Lake Charles this weekend to look at Nursery Furniture. Hopefully we'll remember to take the camera...

There may be a Delay

I spoke with the nurse today and she told me that since my cycles have been as long as 52 days with no indicative peek, I'm probably not ovulating yet. This is due to the birth control pill that i took for less than a year... It may take up to 6 months for my cycles and ovulation to get back on track... I hope it doesn't take that long...

Doctor Visit...

Casey and I went to the OB/GYN today for my checkup and to make sure the doctor gave us the thumbs-up on continuting with our plans. He gave me a clean bill of health and gave me some different prenatal vitamins to try. He said the over-the-counter vitamins I was taking probably had too much Iron, causing me a headache...

Bad Prenatal Vitamins

Well... I had to quit taking my prenatal vitamins today because they were giving me severe headaches. I'll see what the doctor says...

Preparing for Baby!!!

The first thing we did was finally go through all of the junk we had accumulated and thrown into a "junk room". We decided in order to have a baby room (nursery), we really had to have a room devoted as a nursery and another room decorated as a guest room/office. We (mostly Casey) painted the guest room in an LSU theme. It's so cute! That's what we planned and accomplished during the month of January. We moved everything back into the room, now we're waiting to decorate a nursery!!!

Guest Room - Before

Guest Room - After

We're Trying to Conceive

We decided to start a family!!!! YAY!!! I took my last pill in December!
Also, in January Casey ordered a book, Taking Control of Your Fertility. I've been reading it and learning a lot of things I didn't know. I started charting my basal temperature and taking prenatal vitamins on 2/10/09.