Dealing With a Nasty Cold

I am still working on the fine art of being sick while pregnant. Oh, how I long for Mucinex and Nasonex and... Sudafed officially stopped working around 2:30 this afternoon. I can't breathe. I feel very blessed to have a sweet little friend tapping my belly in response to my coughs. I am going to believe that Baby O is encouraging me and not saying "stop coughing!" She really is entertaining. I feel a kick on the left, then on the right, then by my belly button. She's all over the place. I even felt her squirm across my belly like she was swimming from one side to the next. She moves around enough that David manages to feel her move at least once a day. I love watching his face light up when he gets kicked. What provokes a kick from Baby O? David beat-boxing beside my belly. Baby likes to party.

It's a girl!!!

David and I were so excited to find out that Baby O is a girl! We will no longer be calling her "It". I hated that. I didn't believe it when the ultrasound tech said, "Looks like you're having a girl..." I had to hear it from Dr. Rosemond. The tech had seen some cord between her legs, but the doctor confirmed her! My Mom came along, and I am glad she was able to see. We have a great videotape of the ultrasound, and they took a 3-D picture of her.

She already has a name, but you have to wait until she is born to find out. David was sweet and gave me a card that said, "I knew it was going to be a girl!" when we got back to the car. I said, "How did you know?" Then it occured to me, "You bought two cards!" I reached into the map pocket behind my seat, and sure enough, there was the other. I was laughing so hard that I was crying. We went to TJ Maxx after the ultrasound, and I went a little crazy buying cute girl outfits. I just needed that connection with our baby's gender.

Last night, I think she knew she had really made her presence known, and she proceeded to do every form of modern dance possible in my belly. At 4 AM, I sat up starving and cracking up laughing. I ate a banana in our dark room, laughing the entire time. Poor David. Thank goodness we took a personal day today to go to the film festival downtown.

Thursday is Gender Day!

David and I cannot wait until Thursday. I have an appointment with Dr. Rosemond at 3:15 to hopefully find out Baby O's gender. We are crossing our fingers that Baby O is being indecent and is willing to flash us. Ha! Over Spring Break, David came up with a little rhyme during dinner...

Baby, Baby, oh, so slender,

Please just tell us of your gender!

If all goes as planned on Thursday, I will be raiding our TJ Maxx, Target, Wal-Mart, and maybe Rattles and Rhymes for some gender specific clothes. I can't wait!!!

Now, how on Earth will I sleep Wednesday night? How will I concentrate at work on Thursday?

Rounding Out

So, I know that I am not very pregnant, but today I am feeling BIG. My students have yet to figure out that I am pregnant, but I feel like I have a big sign on my stomach. I ordered pants from Old Navy, but I can't seem to find something that fits right. I ordered 5 pairs, and I am keeping two. This rubberband thing isn't going to work much longer. The "secret fit belly" pants I got at Motherhood Maternity 3 weeks ago suddenly fit. They were huge in the belly then. Now, they fit. If only the store in Athens wasn't so teeny tiny. (Beware of the store at the Mall of Georgia- those sales associates are rapacious!)

15 Weeks!

Today, David and I went to the doctor to hear Baby "O's" heartbeat. The nurse couldn't find it, and she made us very worried. I don't think it helped that she was trying to find it near my belly button. She said, "Have you felt the baby move yet?" Then she said, "I'm going to send you down to the doctor." The doctor had no problem finding our growing peanut with the ultrasound. The baby was reclining on its side with its knees bent. It looked like it was reading a book. She said, "What a sweet baby!" David recorded the hearbeat with his IPod. We were thrilled to get to see how much the baby has grown. Hopefully, we'll know the gender on March 19th. I am dying to know! I keep having dreams that the baby is a boy. We'll see what happens!

I'm Pregnant!

You have all been such an amazing network of support through our adoption process. We were about to schedule our home visit, when we received miraculous news! On November 20th, I found out that I am pregnant. We are so excited. We were dying to tell everyone, but we wanted to make sure that things were going alright first. This has been the hardest secret to keep- especially for an impatient person such as myself. I will be 13 weeks on 2/4, and I am due on August 12th. I have had two ultrasounds- the first at 5.5 weeks and the last at about 10 weeks. At our last ultrasound, Baby "O" waved at us and promptly flipped over. It was AMAZING. We feel blessed by your friendship and we will keep you all posted!

Please help us pick our "first impression" profile photograph!

In our profile, we will show photographs that represent us for perspective birthmothers to look at and get to know us. These will go along with our "Dear Birthmother" letter. Today, we took some photos, hoping to find a good "first impression" photograph. Could you help us pick? We narrowed it down to two, and they look almost exactly the same! Good luck!

Choice #1

Choice #2