She's Still a Girl

Travis & I went in for our week 20 sonogram today, now at week 22.  Technically, we cheated when we found out Baby Cooper was a girl a few weeks ago.  The weather here in Texas was nasty and our midwife's group was closed for the entire day so we would have had to wait until today- almost 2 weeks later- to find out.  So... We found a really nice Sonogram center in Arlington to go to.

After today's sonogram, I'm really glad we found out this way.  The sonographer today sort of just wanted us in and out, not nearly as excited.  The sonogram was done on a very small screen where I had to crane my neck just to see.  The sonographer technically wasn't even with our midwives group so it wasn't a reflection on them.  I am just happy we found out the sex of the baby with someone who seemed almost more excited to see baby than we were!!!

Three lines means DEFINITE girl.  The sonogram before just showed a lack of anything else since little stinker had her legs crossed.   She was completely upside down this time, her head was facing down and her little legs were up by my belly button.  She's officially 1 lb now and will do nothing more than just grow for the next few months.  I feel like a house NOW sometimes so we'll see what happens but it's all for the baby.  I just hope Travis has a strong back to help get me off of things like couches, chairs, etc.

Travis and I started our Bradley class this past Monday.  Very interesting.  The Bradley Method is to prepare us for natural child birth.  I know, crazy, but ultimately this is what we would like to accomplish.

However, some of the things we are learning in the class are going to be more difficult than we expected.  Each class, they have the pregnant women sitting on the floor to practice our Indian style stretches... not the most comfortable place to be sitting for 2 hrs straight, with or without a pillow.  We have to provide a food chart each week to track my nutrients & make sure the baby is getting what she needs to thrive.  Surprisingly enough, I already have a lot of what I'm suppose to in my daily diet.  Oranges, eggs, proteins, leafy greens.  I'm lumping my daily dose of sausage into the protein category.

We were also able to start finalizing our registries.  And SOOOO happy!  We are getting a Buy Buy Baby right  by our house.  It couldn't be better timing!  Our Babies R Us really stinks by our house.

Other than that, I am doing really well.  Baby kicks mostly at night and after a big glass of OJ.  I am sleeping a little better now that I am back home with my boppy.  I am not napping nearly as often and I feel like my energy level is getting closer to normal.  I still have my moments of exhaustion though but they aren't nearly as frequent.

As always, thank you for following our blog and sharing in this exciting time with us!!!

And the sex of Baby Cooper is....

It's a GIRL!  We couldn't believe it but we are soooo excited!  I think we got so use to the idea that it was a boy that when the sonographer announced it was a girl we almost didn't believe it at first.

Ballet classes, cute outfits, prom, (against Travis' better judgment) eventual dating...  We are just thrilled.

Finding out the Sex on Feb. 9th

Hello Family & Friends.

For those of you who are following our blog, I thought I would add a new post to update ya'll on Baby Cooper's progress.

We are officially at 20 weeks (19 weeks, 1 day).  On Wednesday we find out the sex of the baby and it can't come soon enough.  Honestly, when people ask us if we have a preference, we always say "Happy & Healthy" which is as honest as it gets.  At least, our best bet is 50/50. 

I guess when I first got pregnant, I always thought we could guess the sex of the baby by indicators in the pregnancy.  Am I carrying high or low, what am I craving, have I been really sick...  The longer I am pregnant, the more I am fully convinced it is still a 50/50 guess at best. 

Stay tuned to the blog and I promise we'll post as soon as we know.

We felt the baby kick for the first time around week 16.  Since then, a glass of OJ and proping my feet up will usually get the baby moving.  It seems like the baby is pretty sleepy during the day so it's mostly night time movement.  I can feel movement mostly on my left side.  I'm not sure if that means the baby's feet are in that direction or not.  I know the baby has a built in jungle gym right now because of the space it has to move around so I'm sure the baby will flip a million more times.

No real strange cravings if you ask me but Travis corrected me when we were out at dinner with friends the other night.  I guess Klaussin spear pickles, sausage and BLTs are "strange" cravings.  lol.  Sounds delicious and completely normal to me.

Brooke Fletcher is our pregnancy angel.  lol.  She (and Drew) was nice enough to spend an entire day with us to help us register, not to mention walk me through every single question no matter how ridiculous it may be.  Man, baby registry is WAY harder than bridal registry.  Thankfully we have so many helpful friends that have kids or are pregnant.  I don't know how we would have navigated it without help.  We are offically registered at:

Babies R Us
Buy Buy Baby
Pottery Barn Kids

Thank you to everyone who made suggestions on cameras!  This is our next prebaby purchase and ya'll have been a huge help.

Til Next Time... All of our love.

Michelle & Travis

Any Camera Suggestions??

Can anyone make a suggestion for a good camera/video camera?  Travis and my old camera- Olympus 7.1- is on it's death bed.  Never mind the fact that my CELL PHONE has higher pixel resolution than this camera.


I would like a high quality camera without having to take hours of training classes & ten million attachments.  I would also like something with a built in video camera.  We just would like something that allows us to take 2-5 minutes of video, maybe a little more, but nothing made for movie making.

We were looking at the new PEN but are open to any suggestions.

4 Months Post

Hello Friends & Family,

I was reminded by one of my favorite people that I have not updated my Baby Blog in a while.  At least I know SOMEONE is reading my blog.  Lol.

Currently at week 17!  It's going by so quickly!

Four months along and all is well.  I shouldn't complain but I felt better my first trimester than I did during week 15, 16, & 17.  My midwife says this should go away by week 20.  My progesterone levels are just extremely high right now.  A little frustrating reading my pregnancy books that keep telling me how GREAT I should be feeling right now.

Travis & I decided to go ahead and do pre-screening (which just means early testing for birth defects and things of that nature).  The lab called back and said we couldn't have gotten better results and she wish she could call everyone with these types of results, so we consider ourselves very lucky.  Maybe we are just two overly worried first time parents but the results were a big relief.

We find out the sex of the baby on Feb. 9th!  We cannot wait.  I really admire those parents who are cool enough not to find out.  But cool we are not, I guess.

As for the pregnancy, the baby still loves meat, pickles, and milk .  Travis has been completely amazing and feeds the beast every morning with scrambled eggs & sausage.  I am working in my fruits & veggies with my other meals but try to avoid fruit first thing in the morning with no meat on my stomach.

I felt the baby move for the first time the other night.  We were laying in bed and I felt a few rumblings that were not gas.  It's like a rolling, tingling sensation.  The books say some people are able to feel the baby as early as 15 weeks and I have friends who have felt (even their first baby) by week 15.  It seems like the baby is more active when I'm laying down at night or taking bathes at night.  Not a good sign for future sleepless nights.






 

Sonogram at 12 Weeks

Travis and I went to our 12 week sonogram today.  It was just amazing to see how much the baby has grown since our 7 week sono.  The sonographer had to wake the baby up to get the right measurements.  Hopefully the baby's sleeping pattern is this good when he/she is born. lol.

The baby is around 6 cms, it's heartbeat is around 160 bpm and everything else looks healthy.  Right now, that's all we can ask for.

I am still feeling pretty good.  I have a new deep appreciation for pork products and hourly snack breaks. 

First Baby Blog

A friend of mine made the brilliant suggestion of starting a blog.  I started to think of all of our family & friends that live outside of the DFW area and thought this would be a great way to keep everyone involved.  Please keep in touch. We would love to hear from you!

Today, I am officially 10 weeks and 5 days along.  The due date is June 30th, 2011, which right now seems so far away.  So far, the first trimester has been good to me.  I have not had a lot of morning sickness and other than bouts of extreme hunger followed by extreme exhaustion, I've been feeling really good. 

Travis and I have had two sonograms so far.  The first one was a little too early on at 5 weeks so other than the yolk sac, not much to see.  The second sonogram was amazing!  We heard the heart beat and saw what could be either a teddy bear or a hamster.

Travis is traveling during our next sonogram but I absolutely love and trust my doctor's office so I know I'll be fine.  I think we are both really looking forward to week 12 where the baby is starting to look more like a little human.

Again, thanks so much for checking out our blog.  Keep in touch!