Bradley at 19 Weeks

Today I am 19 weeks along, and also had my 5 month checkup at the doctor. All is looking well and right on track. Heart rate was in the 140's, and fundal height is right at my belly button. Here are the updates:

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

My next visit is March 2, and we will be doing the glucose test then also. No other big news right now, check back for updates soon!

Pink or Blue?

Everything went really good at the ultrasound (except for waiting for an hour to get back there). My little one is measuring in at a whopping 10oz and 3 days ahead of schedule. Now check out the pictures and the big reveal!!!

^Profile view

^The little hand!!

^And the tiny feet!

^All curled up in a little ball

It looks like 58% of you were correct!!

Bradley Nicholas Pierce

18 Weeks

18 weeks is here already, and only 3 more days till our Level II ultrasound!!!!!! My next post will be all about that on Thursday, but today is our weekly update:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

As for an update on us, one of the things we talked in depth about on our anniversary is our next residence location. Basically right now we are still going to sell our house and get an apartment to cut down our living expenses and save money while he is finishing his degree. But we are probably going to reopen the option of moving out of state. We have to do what is best for us and our family in the end, and we hate to leave our family and friends behind if we do move, but we must keep it as an option right now. We probably have at least a year before we seriously do anything next but that's it for now!

Check back Thursday for the big news!!

6 Years as Mrs. Pierce

Yesterday was our sixth wedding anniversary already! It's like everything else in life--the time seems to go slow but when you look back it has flown by. We met almost 11 years ago and married just months after we officially started dating. We are more in love than ever, and of course ecstatic to finally have a little one on the way!! We have come so far and achieved so much together from where we started, and we have more big plans for our life coming up!

To celebrate, we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Guthrie, OK. We had a great time there, good food, and long intimate talks. Here are some pics!

My Little Turnip

Today I am 17 weeks along, and I am still so freaking excited about my upcoming ultrasound!!! It is one week from this next Thursday. Nick really wants a girl, but I kind of have a feeling it's a boy. We'll see! Either way we will be so blessed to finally have the miracle we have wanted for so long. Here are the updates:

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

I finally bought my first pair of maternity pants--those things are not cheap! I guess I feel that since you only wear them for a few months, they should cost less than regular jeans. I guess not! My sister-in-law is have a baby this month so hopefully when she finally does I can swoop in and borrow hers. I have a friend--Lisa--at work who just had her second baby at 1am on Jan. 9. They did it the old fashioned way and waited till delivery to find out the gender. It was a girl! She is very happy, and I will be visiting her and baby in a couple of weeks (and also swiping some of her maternity clothes). And I have finally gained a couple of pounds! Hopefully I can keep it under control. With Lisa's first pregnancy she gained 90lbs, and fortunately with a lot of hard work she lost it all before this one. So with this one she was very strict and only gained 25lbs.

As for me, things are good. Work is busy--I decided not to take the supervisor position because I simply need to focus on the other priorities in my life right now without being weighed down with additional stress at work. I was always kind of back and forth on it, but I canceled my interview and I'm not looking back. Nick is back in school but will probably be able to go ahead and get a job next month after he gets his A++ certification (some kind of computer lingo).

Holy Guacamole!

I'm a day late, but yesterday marked the 16 week milestone!! I can't believe I'm already this far, and for you who just recently found out you are expecting--it flies by!! I still have a little belly, still no weight gain, and I SWEAR I felt kicking on my way home from work today. Here are the updates!

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avacado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

The bad news is my handy dandy ghetto ultrasound at work no longer works for me because she is too big to see!! I can only see appendages and bones, and can't hardly make out what I'm looking at. That makes me a bit sad, but we have a really nice one down in the ER--I just have to convince someone to use it on me when they're not busy.

Other than this, we still have bunches going on with the house, land, my job, and his school. Also an anniversary coming up!! I am wanting to stay at a B&B in Guthrie for it, so check back for the one we decide on.

One last special treat...belly pictures! Sorry for those who like full body shots, but this is all you will be getting from me. These are just about ALL after a 12-14 hours shift at work, so that doesn't make for very pretty pictures :)

Hopes and Dreams for 2009

This entry will not be specifically about my pregnancy, so breathe a sigh of relief! And I am not doing the typical "New Year's Resolutions" list either. I don't really do those, and I never have. I forget about them the next day anyways so it's never worth it!

So what is this entry about? Well my darling husband Nick and I have a lot of really huge things coming up this year and I feel like talking about them :) I'm talking major life milestones--things that people plan for and hope to achieve their entire life. Those of you who know me personally are aware that I'm pretty gung-ho and am all about making goals and plans for my life and family. And not only making them, but executing them and seeing them through! That's the best part. 2009 is going to (hopefully) bring a lot of those plans that have been in the making for years now into reality and we are very excited!

**The first of these is the obvious--a child. Since March of 2003 Nick and I have been trying for a family of our own. I have always wanted to get my own life started and going and having a "family" was right there on the list. But God had another plan for us, and he decided that our time would not be until the summer of 2009! I absolutely am going stir crazy waiting to find out the gender and am ready to buy everything for the nursery now!!!!!

**Next on the agenda is--moving into our "permanent" residence. I say that in quotations because we have sort of been vagabonds the last few years, moving every couple into a different house. But we both planned that the house that we design will be the one that we live in for at least 15-20 years and raise our children in. After that--retirement baby! We are currently in the process of buying an acre in the semi-country, and have submitted a few house ideas to a builder for estimates. We are actually meeting with him tomorrow afternoon to find out what they came up with. This will be our first estimate, so we will still talk to another builder after this to get an idea of our options.

**This brings me to the next big thing--selling our house. We bought our current house in July of 2006. We both knew when we moved there that it would not be permanent because there was practically no yard, and nowhere to put a shop for Nick. But we loved the house, and the neighborhood was VERY safe as opposed to our previous house in the ghettos of southside OKC. So now that we are building our next house in a different city, we need to sell our house first. And not with a realtor mind you! Nope I'm going to take it into my OWN hands and list it FSBO. It will be a huge headache I'm sure, but in the end, the money we save from handing over commission to a realtor will so be worth it.

**The big thing for Nick will be--graduating college! He got a little of a late start on his further education (thanks to lack of encouragement growing up...) so then I come along and fill his head with all the possibilities of life and eventually convince him that he too can get a college degree. So right now he is almost done with his Network Technology degree and should finish up next year. Things are a little whacky with the baby coming, and me going on maternity leave but we'll figure it out! I'm very proud of him for doing so well--he is at the top of his class!

**And last (thank you for sticking it out!) is me--getting a new job!! No I don't think I'll be quitting OU because I really do value the experience I get in the ICU. But my goal is to get into home health care and cut back my hours to part time. Nick will be working also and our mortgage will be less than it is now, so we won't have to both work full time. I will start looking into this after I am done with maternity leave in September and hopefully find something quickly after that so we don't have to use any daycare!