Baby Update

I can't believe another month has gone by! At the end of 19 weeks my friend Jenny came to Chicago for work, and she was able to meet up for dinner one night. She is also a first-time pregger, so we have lots of things to discuss and share and freak out about. This picture also represents the last time I was able to wear regular clothes. The jeans I'm wearing here were unbuttoned and unzipped all the way, held up by a BeBand, which is basically a stretchy tube that holds your pants up. It's a miracle invention, if you ask me, second only to the full-panel maternity bottoms that I will get to later.

Jenny at 9w, Me at 19w

I then went to Michigan for about 9 days and stayed at my parents' house. I always love going back to visit, but this time it was especially nice because of the central air and firm mattress and tons of firm pillows in the guest room. I love the pillow top mattress Scott and I have, but it's not exactly conducive to comfortable sleeping when you're pregnant. Anyway, my first day in Michigan was 20 weeks. The halfway point!

20w, channeling Violet Beauregarde

My mom and I met with Scott's mom a couple of times to work on baby shower stuff. There was a lot to plan! I originally thought we'd just do a backyard bbq, but this is the first grandchild for both sets of our parents so it's kind of a big deal and a bbq is not going to cut it. So we are going all out and obviously the grandparents are spoiling this kid already! I also want to give a shout out to my aunt Colleen who designed the invitations. They are awesome and I'm proud to be related to someone so talented, even if it's only relation by marriage. ;)

Early into my Michigan trip my doctor called with the ultrasound results. She said everything looks good except the baby's kidneys are a bit dilated. She said it could indicate a blockage, but my fluid levels are good so it probably isn't that. She said they will send me for a more detailed ultrasound with a high-risk OB around 28 weeks and take it from there. So of course I went for a second opinion AKA google.com and from what I read this is pretty common in boys, and 9 times out of 10 corrects itself before birth. I decided it's pointless to worry about it until I have to, because stress is bad for the baby and bad for me. For now I'm just going to be happy that I get to see my baby again in a few weeks, since that 18 week ultrasound would have been the last time I saw him until he is born.

While in Michigan I was able to attend my friend Jane's baby shower. I grew up with her husband, Chris, so it's kind of cool that we are having babies at the same time. Jane is one of those women that pregnancy "agrees with" and she is just beautiful and radiant and I'm so glad I got to see her while I was in town. The only picture we got was this crappy one with a camera phone, and I have no idea how to use photo editing software, so I'm stuck with this super dark shot.

Me at 20w, Jane at 30w (ish)

It was also time for me to get some new clothes! My mom and sister Lauren took me on a speed trip to Target and Motherhood Maternity and scored some really good deals. That is definitely important because it's pretty ridiculous to have to buy a whole new wardrobe that you're only going to wear for a couple of months. Also let me just say that the full-panel maternity bottoms are freaking amazing. I don't know that I'll ever go back to regular pants after this! I mean, I don't know why anyone wears regular pants at all when they could just wear maternity bottoms all the time. In this pic I am obviously very excited to be wearing my new Liz Lange maternity shorts. I was still trying to pull off a non-maternity shirt however. The transition has to be gradual to be painless.

21w

After my lovely 9 days in Michigan I headed back to Chicago because I missed Scott a lot and had been having nightmares about him being in the hospital, or leaving me. Plus Michigan was pretty much chilly and rainy almost every day I was there, and I really missed the beach. Back in Chicago this was the last time I wore my regular bathing suit. My stomach was starting to pull the neckline down even lower and stretch the material thin. Not the kind of thing you want to be wearing when you're lounging on the beach in public.

So long, favorite suit

I had a short and sweet four days in Chicago, then Scott and I were off to Michigan for a quick 20 hour trip to see our friend Ron get married. I had bought this dress specifically to wear to my baby shower in August, but I had nothing else to wear to the wedding, so it's going to get an encore appearance next month.

Finally feeling like a lovely pregnant lady

The next morning Scott and his parents hung out with me and my parents in my parents' backyard, staying cool with beers and iced tea. It was one of my most favorite times this summer, and I wish we lived close enough to do it more often. I love Chicago, and I love Livonia, but I wish they weren't 300 miles apart. On the plus side, at least we are able to make the round trip in 24 hours or less. It could definitely be a lot worse.

22w on the hottest day ever

During the ride back to Chicago Scott was able to feel the baby kicking for the first time! That was super cool and I'm glad he finally got to feel it. Also on the drive back I discovered that if you are craving salt and vinegar chips, dill pickle Pringles are not a suitable substitute. I found this out the hard way. They smell like pickles, but taste like vom, so beware.

When we returned home I enlisted the help of my friend Amber to assist me in trying out baby gear. I originally thought I'd register at Babies R Us and Target, but the Babies R Us in Chicago is SUPER ghetto and the company had already screwed us over on a crib we ordered. Long story short, it was 50% off with free shipping, my mom bought it online and printed out a confirmation saying the purchase was made and the item was in stock and ready to be shipped. And then Babies R Us cancelled the order without telling my mom. When she called customer service they told her the crib was longer available (even though she has a confirmation that says IN STOCK and purchase CONFIRMED) and she could have 15% off any other item she wanted. Which makes me so livid I can't even write about it. So I am boycotting that stupid store. I ended up finding a better and cheaper crib at Target that I love even more anyway, so take that Babies R Us!

Buy Buy Baby is about 30 miles away via toll road in the suburb of Schaumburg. Amber and I were just going to try out the big gear like strollers and car seats and bouncers because it's hard to make an informed decision on the internet, but I ended up just registering there. I know they have one in Canton so it's not too far for most people to get to, and I tried to transfer everything I could to my Target registry. The bedding and stroller/car seat are only available at BBB though. The good thing is they take most Bed Bath & Beyond coupons, and I get a discount on everything left on my registry after the shower. The store is freaking huge though, and Amber and I ended up staying there over five hours!

Trying out a kneeling pad for bath time

Half of the overwhelming stroller section

I'm sorry but these things gross me out. My baby will not suck food out of a mesh bag.

I am so glad to be done registering! I am also so incredibly thankful for Amber's help. She kept me motivated and in good spirits and I know the day could have easily gone downhill fast but with her company it ended up being a lot of fun.

After that hard work it was time to make it back to the beach. It's actually really good exercise for me to walk there and back, and the vitamin D is good for the baby. Here I am in my new maternity suit. The size smaller fit really well, but I know I'm only going to get larger so I erred on the side of looking tent-like to looking sausage-like.

23w with some brand new cellulite -wtf!

The past week I've been taking it easy because I've been having a lot of pregnancy pains. I've gained 20lb so far, and the extra weight sucks. My abs are ripping apart and my rib cage is expanding to make room for my now soccer ball-sized uterus. The ribs moving is the worst. It feels like I have a knife blade stuck in my ribs and the pain is unrelenting. I had a pretty narrow rib cage to begin with. My bra band size used to be 32, four weeks ago it was already a 36, and now even the 36's feel too tight. Add a dozen other pains plus the constant hunger and fatigue and I know this kid is growing like crazy. I feel bad about complaining, because I have friends who are unable or struggling to conceive, and I know it's a blessing to even be able to have a baby... But it still sucks sometimes and it's uncomfortable all of the time.

All in all I'm doing well and just getting really excited to meet our little boy. Yesterday was the 24 week mark and I went with my friends Sumiaya and Ann to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. The baby was kicking like crazy during the movie, so maybe he'll inherit my love of the HP series. Also, apparently I still subconsciously suck in my stomach for pictures because I'm about two inches bigger in real life than I appear to be in this picture, haha.

24w

Almost the Same

Kendall: haha im going to send you a pic hold on

so the backstory is i ordered a few things from old navy, this shirt being one of them (although i ordered the blue, which they no longer have. so heres the warm one for reference)

Kendall: and now im going to text you what they sent me

Katie: is this the package you've been tracking?

Kendall: yeah!

its sending

so not only is it hideous, its not even the same shirt! they just grabbed whatever they wanted and shipped it to me!

Katie: what! that shit is hideous!

Kendall: LOL i know right??

Katie: I can't believe they sent that to you!

Kendall: HAHAHA i know!!

and the other two things i got are completely tasteful

Katie: just cause you're pregnant doesn't mean you want to look like shit!

Kendall: its true

customer service was pretty great though

and i get 15% off my next purchase

Katie: sweet!

So there's that. They are shipping me the red shirt and I'm obviously sending the hideous one back.

Pest Control

Our roach problem seems to be under control at the moment. We have been here two months now and have only seen 9 total. Some of them are dead when we find them, thanks to our awesome bug killing cat, Spaz. But it's the live ones I have a problem with. I haven't seen a large live one in about a month, but last night I found two babies in the bathroom, and that was when I discovered an awesome way to kill them! Usually I'll call Scott in and he'll take care of them with a can of hairspray and a lighter, but the hairspray was just about empty and wouldn't catch fire. So I grabbed the closest thing to me: Seventh Generation Bathroom Cleaner. It shoots out a foam that basically kills roaches on contact! It's amazing and my new best friend. Also it's all natural and plant-derived, so bonus!

The miracle product

Baby Stuff

I didn't want to blog about my pregnancy until it was no longer a secret, but now I'm almost halfway through, so I guess I have a lot of back blogging to do!

I first thought something was a little weird the beginning of March. My boobs hurt worse than they have ever hurt before, even walking or rolling over in bed made me want to cry, and they hurt way too long for it to be just regular PMS. So I took a home test on March 9th and it turned positive immediately. I didn't even have to wait 5 seconds! I kept the test on the counter and looked at it probably 50 times that day, not believing it was real. I even took a photo of it because I didn't want the result to fade, and then I wouldn't know if I had just imagined it, haha.

A big fat Positive

I think I spent the next four hours crying, because I had just quit my job and no longer had health insurance, and didn't know how to tell Scott. Thankfully Katie called me and calmed me down and sent me a ton of helpful links. She has seriously been a life saver throughout all of this, and I don't know what I would do without her!

Anyway, that night I told Scott when he came home from work, and I think we were both feeling a lot of nervous excitement. We knew we wanted a family together and talked about it pretty often, maybe once a year to make sure we were still on the same page. We just never discussed WHEN we would start having kids. So it was a surprise, but definitely a good surprise.

At the end of March Scott took a morning off from work and went with me to my first obgyn appointment. I still didn't believe I was pregnant, and joked with him before the doctor came in that even if there was nothing on the ultrasound, I was just about due for my annual pap so at least the visit wouldn't be a total waste, haha. But then we saw a little blob on the screen with a tiny fluttering heart and we knew we were having a baby.

Our "little snowman" according to my obgyn

It was right around that time that my morning sickness started to set in. I can only describe it as the worst hangover of my life that lasted 24/7 for two months. I never threw up, but I am really good at being able to hold in puke, and there were definitely a few times I had to run to the toilet and drop to my knees and just gag. It was really horrible and the whole time I wondered how people have more than one kid, because the constant nausea is just so terrible. The entire first trimester I only gained 1lb!

Here I am at 10 and 11w. Even though I only gained 1lb, I looked like I gained at least 5. Right before I got pregnant I had lost some weight and my stomach was nice and flat again, so even though I look normal in these pictures, it was depressing to have a muffin top again. Also, I used to make fun of women who said they were "showing" during the first trimester. I was like, Do you even know how small your embryo is? It's the size of a grape! You are not showing! But I have since learned that by week 10 your uterus has doubled in size and your guts are pushed out of the way, causing the muffin top effect. So it's not just bloat and fat, that's good old fashioned guts sticking out in these pictures!

10 weeks

11 weeks

Scott and I wanted to wait to tell anyone about the pregnancy until after the 12w check up. We wanted to make sure there was still a heartbeat, since a lot of pregnancies just spontaneously terminate in the first trimester. After you hear a heartbeat at 12w though, the miscarriage rate drops drastically. But there was a strong heartbeat! Rate at that visit was 156 (it was 167 at the 8w ultrasound). I sent my parents an email with the 8w ultrasound picture, and Scott called his parents to tell them the news. Deniese screamed, Tom asked Scott if he was sure he was the father, and my parents sent me some beautiful flowers.

The roses smelled so good!

Around 12w I had my lab work done and everything came back normal except I borderline failed the glucose screen. They usually won't test for that until 28w but I have a family history of diabetes and my doctor wanted to be safe. The cutoff is either 130 or 140, depending on the doctor, and mine was 131. Since I don't have any other risk factors and I was only 1 point over the most strict cutoff, they aren't going to do anything at the moment and will just retest me at 28w. It's kind of scary, since there is nothing I can do to prevent or avoid getting gestational diabetes, it's just how my body reacts to pregnancy. It's also scary because of all the complications it can cause during pregnancy and later in my life.

12 weeks

Right around 13-14w we moved to a new and bigger apartment. I am so thankful for the help of our parents and Erik and friend James. There is absolutely no way we could have done it without everyone's help! At the end of 14 weeks I started to get over the morning sickness, and get my appetite back. Over the next month I gained 10lbs! I also wasn't looking very pregnant and just felt fat and disgusting and stopped taking pictures for a while. (Note: When I took these I never thought I'd share them with the world, but they are the only ones I have so I am SOL!)

14 weeks

15 weeks

16 weeks is when I started to feel the baby move for the first time. It felt like tiny flicks or pops in my lower abdomen, and I only felt it every few days when I was sitting still and concentrating. All I can say is it is super weird and super cool at the same time. Now I feel it throughout the day, and sometimes it's so strong I stop what I'm doing and look down like What the heck!

17 weeks

19 weeks

This past Wednesday I had the big ultrasound at the hospital, and Scott was able to come with me. I had to drink 1 liter of water an hour before the appointment, and then they didn't even take me back right away so I thought I was going to explode. The tech thanked me for following the prep instructions so well, and my reward was I got to pee halfway through, haha. This ultrasound was so much more fun than the 8 week one! For one thing it wasn't a probe with a condom on it, two it lasted at least half an hour, and three the baby was more than just a blob on the screen! We could see him opening and closing his hands, stretching his legs, opening and closing his mouth, and we even saw his eye balls because he was awake the whole time! It was pretty amazing and I wish they gave us a dvd of the ultrasound but at least we got some good pictures.

Kirsten says it looks like he is playing guitar

That's our son! Showing off the goods

We also were able to take a quick tour of the labor and delivery wing at the hospital. It seems nice enough, and I get a private room with a shower and fridge and stuff like that. I can have two visitors at a time, from 10am-8:30pm. There are also a few hotels in the area that give discounted rates, so parents I will be forwarding you that info as November draws near! And I think that's enough blogging for now. I'm driving to Michigan tonight for a 10 day stay, so I'm sure I'll have lots to write about after that!

My Secret Past

Kendall: omg i have a present for you and jon

its a book to burn at your bbq

for your anniversary

dianetics by l ron hubbard =D

Katie: LOL ok!

why do you have it?!?!

Kendall: shawna had it!!

Katie: ahhhh

Kendall: someone stopped her on the street downtown and asked her if she wanted to take a stress test, cuz she looked stressed

then trapped her into a 20 min scientology speech and she walked away with a free book lol

j/k i used to practice but couldnt afford past level 2

Katie: wait what

really?

Kendall: NO

Katie: OMG

Kendall: LOL

Katie: stop it!

Kendall: im lawling so hard right now

Katie: damn you

Kendall: =)

Moving Again

We finally found a place that we both love, and it's within our budget. I knew we could do it! It's a 2 bedroom with a washer and dryer IN FREAKING UNIT! If you live in the city, you know how rare this is. We'll still have to wash dishes by hand, but who the heck cares. I get my own washer and dryer! What else is there to mention... It's a 1st floor walk-up in a condo community in a courtyard building. It has a small back porch off the kitchen, and it's bigger than the porch we have now so we can put our table and chairs and maybe a grill out there. One of the bedrooms has a brick wall, which is pretty cool. It's really cute, and I can't wait to move. Two weeks! We sign on Sunday, and I hope they will let us move in before May 1st, because we have to be out of this place by April 30th. I don't want to spend the night sleeping in my car with my cat, since that won't be fun for anyone.

Here's a handy map of the Chicago neighborhoods. We are moving from Ravenswood (area 4) to Andersonville (area 77). And that's all I have for now. Back to packing.

A Very Good Day

We finally broke the unlucky streak with apartment viewing! Scott and I looked at one this morning and we both love it. I don't want to say too much at the risk of jinxing it, but we have our fingers tightly crossed for this one. If we hear good news I'll post all the fancy details.

After that excitement, we took the bus down to Lincoln Park and met up with our friends Ben and Jaimie for some lunch. Then we walked down to the lake and sat in the warm sun. The wind was crazy, and leaves and other debris pelted our skin and got in our eyes, but no one cared. It was 85 and sunny and it seemed the entire city was outside enjoying the day. It looked like some storm clouds were starting to form, so we headed back, said good bye to our friends, and then Scott and I got some mocha frappuchinos to cool us off.

(You can see Jaimie's shoe in the picture.)

Now we're at home waiting for the storm to blow in and cut the humidity so we can sleep comfortably. I'm debating running up to Trader Joe's... I know if I go I will lose my awesome parking spot and the sky will for sure dump on me while I'm carrying groceries from the next nearest spot around the block or two streets over. It's some sort of nature law that never fails.