Reason #4389

. . that I am married to the sweetest guy anyone could ask for. (The bashful should hide their eyes because I'm about to gush!)


These are my Mother's Day flowers. We found out I was pregnant 3 days after Mother's Day this year and on his way home from work that day, Brad picked these up to wish me a Happy Mother's Day! I wasn't even thinking about it!

I love him so much. He's a keeper! ;-)

~Layne

Magic?

Several weeks ago Kerri over at Six Until Me had a post talking about meter accuracy and she linked to a Magic 8 Ball site. This was just a neat little website where you type in a question and the simulated Magic 8 Ball shows you your answer. I was amused, so I decided to play.

I was pregnant, so I wanted to ask the Magic 8 Ball something about the baby or the pregnancy. The worry-wart in me wanted to ask something like "Is the baby healthy?" or "Will the baby be ok?" But the realist in me knew that it would upset me if the stupid thing gave me "bad news" and that I should ask a more benign question where I didn't care what the answer was.

And this is what I asked:

Bizarre, huh? At this point, Brad and I had both talked about it and we were both feeling "girl" but also knew that we were full of it and, in reality, we had no clue. But when I got this answer, I immediately snapped a screenshot and sent the pic to Brad. We got a laugh out of it and 6 weeks later it turns out the Magic 8 Ball was right!!

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction! ;-)

~Layne

It's a . . .

GIRL!!!!

As you can see, all signs point to girl! I don't know why but we have always just felt like it was a girl and even thought we tried not to, we called the baby she forever before we really knew. At first, I thought it was just me and that, since I'm a girl, it was just that I identified female and assumed I was carrying a female. But when I asked Brad, he always said he felt like the baby was a girl too!

I don't put much stock in "the feeling." Maybe we knew (but I doubt it), or maybe we both just thought a little girl would be fun. Either way, that's just what we got and we COULD NOT be more happy and excited!! I asked Brad if he was ok with being surrounded by girls (me, Raina and now the little one). He just grinned back at me and said "There are worse things." He's so cute! I think secretly he's hoping for a little daddy's girl.

This other photo is her profile. This is the first time we've really seen her face on ultrasound. Technically, we've seen the front of her face but on ultrasound (from the front) a face just looks like a skeleton. So getting to see her profile was so exciting! It felt like we finally got a peek of who was hanging out in there! Adorable!

We have both thought it was a good idea to hold off on a lot of decisions until we found out the gender. Why talk about names and color schemes or shop for furniture, bedding, and clothes when 50% of what you are discussing won't even be relevant once you know the gender? And more importantly, why not make it easy on ourselves and eliminate half the choices right off the bat?!? I'm not going to say we didn't toss around a few names here and there but, for the most part, we've left that for later. Well, later is NOW and Brad is really excited about picking out stuff for the nursery and I'm ready to get down to business about a name!

Lots of things to think about and talk about! Hopefully we'll be able to agree and make a decision!

So excited!

So I may have denied being baby crazy. But now that I'm officially knocked up I can't deny being super excited about this baby! Specifically Brad and I have been dying to know the sex of the baby. At first, I wasn't too keen on finding out the gender. Because I'm around births and babies all the time, I figured that anything I could do to make this experience exciting and different from what I see all the time at work would probably be the way to go.

Well, first of all, I can say that this is already such a wonderful, fun, scary, exciting time for us that I really don't need to torture myself to make it that much more interesting. But the bigger problem came when Brad wanted to find out. One of the things he's most excited about is the nursery . . . painting, decorating, building furniture, etc. I'm assuming becuase, for the most part, it's the only real and tangible thing he can do during the pregnancy. And he feels like he can't get started until we know the gender. I suggested we go with neutrals like yellows and greens and we'd be set no matter what the gender was. Well, that idea was shot down. Specifically, his reaction was a matter-of-fact, "That's so lame!"

So, since the poor guy has so few other decisions he can make during this whole process, I decided to give in and find out the gender. (You wouldn't believe how appalled most people were at the idea that we wouldn't find out before the birth!) And ever since we made this decision I have grown more and more antsy to know what my baby is!! And now I can't imagine not knowing. I have become so impatient, in fact, that I called last week to move up my original ultrasound appointment by a week and a half becuase I just couldn't wait any longer!!

So we will be finding out very soon and we can't wait! I'll keep you posted!

~Layne

Shameful

After re-reading my last post and some of the comments I got, I felt kinda bad. Sometimes even thought something my bother me a little, I will vent or complain about it in a way where I think I'm being funny and light-hearted but others just kinda think I'm being a downer. And I get that. Especially when it's the written word and you can't see me smile and laugh and poke fun at myself for being whiny.

But this pregnancy is one subject that I NEVER want to be perceived as complaining about. Or ungrateful for. Or unhappy about in any way. First, because I feel that, despite a couple bumps early on, I am beyond grateful for how easy this pregnancy has been on me. Especially when it comes to symptoms. I have known friends and family members who have had very uncomfortable or complicated pregnancies. And I truly feel blessed not only that the baby is doing so well but that I have been feeling pretty great too.

Probably the worst thing I can truly complain about is the constant worry and wonder. (I can't feel the baby so how do I know she's ok? Is she doing well? Growing? How is her heart developing? Her lungs? Her brain? Did that one bad blood sugar hurt her? Is she getting everything she needs? Should I be doing more? Should I be doing less?) But I think those thoughts just come with the territory of being a soon-to-be-parent, especially when you have a job like mine!!

But most importantly, I don't want to seem grumpy or cranky about this pregnancy because when I say that I (WE!) are deliriously happy and unstoppably in love with this child it's a gross understatement. And I think that's the reason I'm so anxious to feel her kick, see her grow in my belly, hear her heartbeat, feel pregnant, look pregnant, etc. From the moment we found out we were expecting, it has seemed to me that I had loved this little baby for a long while already. And as the days, weeks and now months have passed, it's crazy to me that I'm still are so early in the pregnancy! How is she not here yet? How is it we still don't know if it's a boy or a girl? How can it be that she is only/already 4 inches long?!? Some days it still doesn't even feel real.

Anyway, just wanted to put those thoughts out there. Hope they make sense.

~Layne

PS: No, we don't know the sex yet. Only a few weeks left, though! I'm referring to the baby as "her" because I hate saying "it" and I'm sick of playing the pronoun game (he/she). Plus, we kinda have a feeling . . . . just sayin'.

Of course, if a little boy pops out, the poor thing will be scarred for life that his mother called him a girl on the internet. ;-)

This is depressing. . .

Let me start by saying that I'm not one of those women who ever understood why pregnant women insist that they are or look fat. I don't get it. It is so obvious that pregnant women are PREGNANT and not FAT. Those two things look completely different. I figured it was just hard for women to grow out of their clothes and (later on) swell in various places and that it just was overall hard to be that much bigger than you are used to being. So they called themselves fat.

But I couldn't WAIT to look pregnant. First, I'm not the thinnest girl on the planet and to finally have an excuse NOT to suck in my belly sounded glorious. And second, I think pregnant women are the cutest thing ever!

But! I was not prepared for this. For the first 7 or 8 weeks or so, I battled with some serious bloat. I definitely didn't look pregnant but my jeans were pretty snug and I knew it was more bowel than baby. Still, not much different than a period would be so I didn't really worry about it. Then around week 12 or 13, Brad and I both started to notice a change. Hooray! The first signs of a tiny baby belly. But I knew it was too small for anyone but me and him to notice. Me, because it's my body. And him, well, because he's my husband and he knows my body pretty well. ;-) Sorry, TMI.

But by week 14 or 15, I thought for sure people would start noticing. I even stopped sucking in because I was sure it was obvious that my new-found belly was all baby! (Am I the only girl out there who makes sure to always be "sucking in" a little just to make sure that any potential muffin-top or tummy roll remains at bay??) And I was sure those close to me, who were used to seeing me pretty regularly, could tell. I was sure they'd notice the change and say something. But no, nothing. I was a little disappointed because I was so excited to think that I might be showing! I made the mistake of telling Brad this. And then he made the mistake of being "helpful." Thinking that it would be genius to quietly ask friends and family if they could tell. He did this thinking, bless his heart, that they just weren't paying attention. That maybe if he pointed it out they would finally notice.

Instead, I have had 3 people tell me that I, in fact, DO NOT look pregnant. My own mother even asked today if I had gained any weight yet. Wha?!?

Why is this depressing, you ask? Because I've outgrown my pre-pregnancy jeans (well, I suppose I can button them but it ain't pretty!) Because my tops no longer reach down quite as far as they used to. And because I definitely have a noticeable pooch. And why do they all think this is how I normally look?!?

Yes, it is seriously depressing that everyone thinks this is my normal. And to answer my mother's question, NO! I haven't gained weight. In fact, I lost 5 pounds in the first trimester and have only gained 1 pound back! Proving that this pooch, here? It's all baby!

So I leave it up to you to judge. Please be kind. But, also, be honest. Here goes nuthin':
This is from back in January. I had just started the pump and would be going off birth control in a couple of weeks! Little did I know, I would be pregnant within 3 months!
Here, I was 7 weeks pregnant. Holy bloat, Batman! My waist? She's a-gone.
And this was today, at 15 weeks and 4 days. For the love of everything that is good and holy, how is this not a change?!?

So, for me, I will be so stinking happy when this belly finally comes into it's own. When it enters a building before I do. When it is so ridiculously obvious that I'm pregnant, that not to notice would mean you are in serious need of corrective lenses. Then, and only then, will I stop whining that I look fat. ::sigh::

Crankily yours,
~Layne