It's Decided...

Most of you know that Del and I have been calling Baby Clark by one particular name but now that I have completed my project for his room I'm ready to officially announce it :-P
So, without further ado....

Jaxson Andrew

This little project only cost me a whopping $12. My mom was nice enough to let me steal from her plethora of scrapbook paper to make the letters. Then after some shopping around, I finally found these frames at Target for $2 each.

Now, hopefully in the next 3 months I don't change my mind on his name! Haha. Even if I did, I don't think that Del and I could agree on another one. So I think we're pretty committed to Jaxson :-P

Oh, also while I'm at it...I had my doc appt yesterday to go over my little gene thing. To keep it very simple, with my good health history my doc doesn't see anything to worry about at this point. If I start showing signs of certain conditions then we'll change directions. Or if in future pregnancies I have problems with miscarriages, then I will need to go on some extra medication. We will still be watching the abruption to make sure it hasn't worsened, but he has no reason to believe that it will.
Now I'm just excited for my next ultrasound on the 30th because I'll get another look at Jaxson! And hopefully he'll be a little more cooperative and show us his precious face :) :) He's definitely getting good at reminding me of his presence every 4 hrs or so by kicking and rolling around, so maybe he'll let us get a look at him while he's at it :) And right as I typed that he kicked me haha so maybe not :-P

Well, until next time!

Summer Has Arrived

Well, the hecticness of summer has started! This past week Del, Oakley, myself and Baby took off down to Klamath River, CA for a Ramey-Grow Family Reunion for 4 days and had a blast catching up and meeting family! We spent lots of time in the sunshine and heat hanging out by the river and eating way too much. Perfect situation for a pregnant lady :-P ...except for the heat....definitely got a taste of the swollen feet and ankles thing! But it was totally worth it.

Chillin' on the Scott River

Sisters in law with Oak

Mom Clark enjoying time w/her granddog

The rest of July is looking fairly slow, so far, but come August and Sept I've got something going on almost every weekend!

In the world of baby, all is well, mostly. I did get some genetic testing done and found out of I have a gene called MTHFR. To put it as simply as possible, having this gene mutation can cause several different health issues but it's also linked to several pregnancy complications. So far Baby Clark himself hasn't given us any signs for concern but the one thing that caused my doctor to ask I get the testing done was some bleeding of the placenta (placental abruption) that we found at my 20 wk ultrasound. It was very minor and not a major concern, but now that we know I have this gene I'm thinking they'll want to monitor me much closer. Placental abruption can be scary because it can happen at any point in the pregnancy without you even knowing it and, if severe enough, will cause a miscarriage. I'm not saying that this WILL happen, just saying the cause for concern. This MTHFR gene also interferes with the absorption of folic acid, which is very important to babies, so I have been prescribed a folic acid supplement on top of my prenatals.
I meet with my doctor next week to go into more detail about where we go from here. I'm not sure what to expect at this appt, could go lots of directions so I'll keep you all posted!
Just keep us in your prayers that I'll be one of the many women who have full-term pregnancies and a healthy baby in spite of me having this rare gene. :-)

23 wks 5 days

Del modeling the burp rags Mom Clark made!

1/2 Way Done!

Today we had our 20 wk anatomical ultrasound with the radiologist. My mom even came up from Olympia to meet her newest grandson so it was an extra fun appt.
Our baby boy was a little bit camera shy but with some coaxing, bouncing and shaking we were able to get him to look at us for just a couple pics.

Baby Feet!

Such a dramatic pose

We of course looked at all his vitals and everything looked good! As far as the doc could tell, Baby has all 10 fingers, 10 toes, and a nice strong heart. Our "slightly increased" chance of spina bifida was addressed right away and there was no cause for concern.
I'll leave you with what people are always asking for...a belly pic :)

1/2 way!

Head Start on the Nursery

Over the last month or so I've been keeping my eye out for nursery ideas and good deals on stuff. My first "big" purchase was 9 piece nursery set that I found at Babies R Us for just $50! Someone had bought it online and returned it in the store so they automatically clearance it. I wasn't dead set on any sort of theme, so I figured if it's cute and only $50 then why not! Plus, it works JUST in case we hear the words, "actually...looks like you're really having a girl!" :-P
After that, I started piecing together ideas and made mental notes for crafts I could do for decorations. I found an idea online for wall decor so my mom and I made it a reality this weekend. But before I could enjoy either the bedding set or the wall decor, I felt like I needed to transform our current office into a nursery by replacing the big table/desk with a crib. So that I did!
Del and I hit up Target on our way home from Olympia last night and both really liked this crib so we figured why not! We also found a good mattress that was on sale :)

Today after work I took on the task of moving out the table/desk to further the transformation and slapped up my homemade wall hangings while I was at it.

The leather chair is a place holder for a future glider :)

There's still lots of organizing to do and changes to make as the next 5 months go along - like getting more baskets for the shelf, converting the top of the shelf to a changing table, etc, etc. - but we have a good start and I'm satisfied!

40% Done

This past Wednesday marked 16 weeks for me. I had a check up appt with my doc yesterday and all was great! No ultrasound this time, which was fine seeing as I've had 3 or 4? But Del was able to make it to this appt and we got to hear the heartbeat via sonar which he thought was pretty cool since he'd never heard it before! His heartbeat was 160bpm which is right on the money for this stage.
When I said to Dellas "that's him. That's his heartbeat" he goes "really? Crazy..........he sounds like one of those tractor back up sensors." the nurse and I looked at each other with confused looks and I said "his heartbeat sounds like a beeping noise???" but Del explained that newer tractors changed their back up sound because the beeping was too loud for people's ears. So now they have a weird sound that apparently sounds like a baby's heartbeat! lol. The nurse said, "leave it to a guy to make a comparison like that." haha.

16 wks, 3 days

Next appt is in a month for my big 20 week anatomical ultrasound. My mom and Dellas both plan to come to help make sure Baby has all 10 fingers and 10 toes :)

90% Chance...

We're adding a BOY to the family!!

Last Tuesday, I had another ultrasound but this time it was with a radiologist (instead of my OB) for what they call Sequential Screening - which screens for the potential of baby having down syndrome. Everything went VERY well! The radiologist I went to was super informative and was kind enough to take a ton of pics for me, several of which were in 3D/4D. He was also kind enough to give us his prediction for gender and he thinks there's a 90% chance we're having a boy!

Almost looks like he's sucking his thumb

Aside from the fun news, the ultrasound gave us more good news that Baby Boy is growing just the way he's supposed to. The radiologist didn't find a single thing that he was concerned about and said things couldn't look better. He was able to see all 4 chambers of Baby's heart, which he said is pretty rare for this stage - so he has a strong heart :-)

 

Facial features still have some developing to do

Unfortunately, Del couldn't make it but the Doc sent me home with a DVD of the whole ultrasound. So I was able to show Del everything at home and I think things became more real for him. It was fun to finally share some excitement together :)

Next Doc appt is in a couple weeks with my OB and hopefully he'll be able to close a little bit of that 10% chance that the radiologist was wrong ;-)

Growing Baby & Belly

Today I had my 12 week check up appt which means the 1st trimester is about over! First, I got to hear Baby's heart beat by use of a doppler which told us the heart beat was about 165bpm - a perfect rate for this stage.
After the doppler we did a quick ultrasound which found Baby a little....camera shy?

I the above pick the baby has both hands up to his/her head almost like he/she's saying "no pictures please." hehe, taking after daddy already!
Next, is just a decent shot of the overall body. Which is being measured at about 55mm (just over 2 inches) from crown to rump.

I also decided it's about time to start with belly shots. In the last few days I've decided my feeling of being bloated or full has progressed to an actually baby bump since it's getting harder and harder to suck in!

Last but not least, Dellas and I have been having a blast the past couple of weekends with our new-found hobby: Kickball! My sister (who lives just 25mins from us) asked us to join their kickball team this season and we're so glad we did! It's a total blast and gets us out having fun together. Del's only objection is that our team color is PINK. And in order to be eligible to play you must wear a shirt in the team color with a number on it. So every weekend I get to see him lookin' studly in his pink.

Bros-in-law, Del and Jake

Well that's about all that's been going on in this neck of the woods. Del's busy as ever with work, and I'm just truckin' along glad the 1st trimester nausea stuff is over!