Okay, my first blog... 24 July 2007: I'll be 16 weeks pregnant in two days. I haven't had any morning sickness, just some stomach cramping at nights and a little nausea when I think about eating something like fast food or grease! I'm in love with salad since I've been pregnant, can't seem to get enough Granny Smith apples or sandwiches. I hate ice-cream tho! How unusual is that for a pregnant lady? :-) My husband really wants a girl, I just want a healthy, happy baby, boy or girl. This is my first baby, I'll be 20 in August, and if you had asked me a year ago if I wanted kids, I'd have said you were nuts! Something happened when I met Matt and all I could think of was how cute our kids would be. Since then I've been DYING to get pregnant! After he joined me at my base(we're both active duty Air Force), it only took us a month or so to get pregnant, so no problems there! I was really scared of miscarrying because my grandmother had about 6 miscarriages and I take after her a lot in so many other areas...but so far, everything is good. I hate being far away from all family and going thru this. All I seem to think about is being close to my mom again. Alaska is sort of cut off from everyone else and flights in or out are expensive. Thank God my mom and grandmother are able to come up here for the birth of baby. Anyway, that's enough for now, if you have any pregnancy advice, mostly like delivery and such, I'd love to hear from you! I feel so out in the open as far as knowledge goes. Thanks all!

2nd Blog: 1 day from being 16 weeks. No real changes, can still feel butterfly movements in my tummy. I can't wait to actually feel baby kick hard! I have some of the weirdest dreams since I've been pregnant and I'm always so tired... I feel bad that my husband doesn't get big home-cooked meals anymore or all of his wife's attention all the time. It's hard working full time Active Duty and then coming home to clean a house and take care of a hubby. Anyone else feeling the same pressure? My next ultra-sound is on Friday. Yay!

3rd Blog: Just a problem that I had at 15 weeks. I had to go to the ER because I vomited a lot of blood after eating lunch one day. It was quite a scare! They had to shove a tube up my nose and down my throat into my stomach, then they pumped water into my stomach and pumped it out to make sure there was no blood in the stomach itself. It was the most horrible experience of my life! I could hear the blood vessels in my nose breaking as they shoved it up, then proceeded to shoot blood all over the place. :( Ick! Has anyone else had a problem like vomiting blood? They told me I probably tore my asophigus from vomiting so much in one setting. This is the ONLY time I had/have thrown up since I've been pregnant, I just thought it was weird.

4th Blog: Okay, forget the butterfly movements, s/he's REALLY kickin' now!! I can feel baby rollin all over the place, spinnin somersaults and everything else. S/he hasn't been as active during the week as on the weekends. Probably because at work I'm moving around too much to really even notice. When I'm home on the weekends, laying in bed or whatever, the movement seems constant.

5th Blog: Finally 18 weeks today. The 23rd of August seems SO far away! And I'm so jealous that all these women have 18 week or 19 week ultrasounds and already know what they're having! Military makes you wait forever to get your ultrasound, so I HAVE to wait until 20 weeks. :( Oh well, guess it'll be an awesome birthday present! My birthday's four days after we find out what the baby is (IF baby co-operates). I know January seems to be a "Boy" month for some reason, but still crossing my fingers for baby girl! Baby kicks more when I eat and lay on my back than any other time. It makes me love to eat! lol.

7th Blog: WOW! The big day is finally here! I can't even tell you how excited I am!! 20 weeks exactly as of today, and REALLY praying this baby moves in just the right way so we can see what the sex is. Also praying I don't pee on the doctor!! This 32 oz of water and no bathroom is BS if you ask me, but I'm going to do my best... baby is still so active, but sleeping for longer periods of time. The other night he/she didn't sleep at all, which kept me up all night with his/her hard kicks, so I assumed the baby would at least sleep the next day. Didn't happen. Kept kicking all through the work day and finally went to sleep around 4:30 or 5:00. Crazy kid. :) Trying to run a marathon already! Wish me luck, everyone, I'm so excited! :)

8th Blog (August 24th): Yup, using this color for a reason. It's a BOY! Little Micah Kaleb. We were so surprised, I had such strong feelings that it was a girl, guess I was wrong! But I did keep having dreams about this ADORABLE little boy with bouncy black curls and the handsomest smile... I kept telling Matt I thought the dream was about our son, but didn't think this baby was it! :-) I thought Matt would be disappointed he's not getting his little girl, but as soon as he saw the little face in the ultrasound, he said, "Wow...that's a handsome face!" before the guy even told us it was a boy. Then when he called his parents he got to say, "We're having my son!" and he's been gloating like the proudest father in the world since then! So we're both super excited! I got my little boy first to take care of our future daughter, that's what I always wanted. Always had two brothers to take care of me, and I thank God for them. So anyway, thank you ladies, for your good luck posts and wanting me to keep you updated! We'll get pics from the ultrasound at my 22 week appointment. The hospital is studying them before I go in again. Hopefully after that I'll be able to post some pics. Good luck to everyone else if you haven't found out what you're having yet!

Grrrr.... SO frustrating. The site deleted half of my page, including most of the pics and some of my blogs. Oh well... have to sort of start over I guess. As of today, 11 October 2007, I am 27 weeks and 5 days. I have gained 11 lbs since I got pregnant. We never did get pics from our 20 week appointment like we thought we would, so we're putting out the extra money to have an off-base one done next Wednesday. I'll definitely put some pics up on here, hopefully they won't get deleted again! I'll write more later, for now I'm at work and keeping busy, for once. ;)

LABOR PREDICTION QUIZ:

Just about the time you think you can't handle hearing one more "when is that baby going to pop?", your baby will decide to make it's appearance. We predict your baby will be born 3-7 days before its due date. Your baby will most likely be born in the morning. Justmommies predicts that your baby will weigh approximately 8.0 pounds and that your labor will be about 11 hours long.

9th Blog (23 October): Technically, this is about my fourteenth blog, but alas, as I said, the above have been deleted. So my baby shower is going to be the first week of December. My supervisor is hosting it for me, and all the people from work will be there with a few exceptional friends. My sup wants to send invitations to family members too, because even tho they can't come, she figures it will give them our registry information in case they'd like to purchase anything for baby Micah. Good idea, I guess. I can't wait to get his bedding! I'm trying to hold out till the shower, to see if someone will get it for us, but don't know if I can wait that long. It's only $99... I might cave. Things have been going really great with the baby. We had our 28 week appt last Thursday, which went really well. Baby kicked the heart doppler so hard it slid off my belly and freaked out the doctor. She went, "Oooh! He didn't like me doing that!". I explained to her, no, the baby just thought she was playing probably because Matt always pushes on my tummy and baby pushes back. Their little game... but it made me laugh, all the same. The doctor said I should have no reason to even count kicks seeing as how active my baby is. He doesn't give me a break! lol. So I don't have to do a lot, or worry about much, since everything is going so well with both baby and me. Too healthy! :) I do have anemia, which is not uncommon in pregnant women, especially me since I've been border-line anemic in the past. Not bad, I just have crazy weird "almost fainting, shakey hands" spells. They usually go away if I drink water, eat molasses, nuts, or dried fruit, and rest for a minute or two. Then I'm up and at 'em again! As of my last appointment I have officially gained 15 lbs. More than I wanted to, because my lucky cousin only gained 9 during her pregnancy, and my mom and gramma were both very small when they were pregnant. But I'm happy, I don't feel nasty overweight or uncomfortable. And my husband still loves me, so YAY! :) I'm starting to freak out as I just realized I have less than eleven weeks before I'll be holding this little guy in my arms. I'm so excited for that, don't get me wrong, but on the other hand I'm going, "Wow, I don't have curtains up in the house yet because we always find something more important to spend the money on, baby's room is not completely finished even tho we have the crib and bassinette, we don't have a carseat yet, so what if I go into labor early? They won't let us leave the hospital until we have a current and safe carseat...", all these crazy thoughts running through my mind every single day! :) I know it's silly stuff to worry about, but hey, there it is. I want everything to be so perfect when my mom and gramma come to see the baby in January. They are getting here the day after my due date. Let's hope I'm not in labor and unable to meet them at the airport! Phew, ok, I know this was a long blog, but it's been a while since I've really put a good update on here. Been busy, or just haven't had the energy to sit down and think about what needs to be written. Thank you for reading, and good luck everyone, we're 75% done and that much closer to holding our bundles! Much love....

10th Blog (November 2): So I'll be 31 weeks on Monday. Seems like such a huge deal! I remember going crazy when I hit 20 weeks because it was such a milestone to me. But now we're in the last ten weeks. Time seems to have flown by, until I stop and think about how long ago it was that I looked at that blue strip...then it seems like I have been pregnant forever! :) My husband probably doesn't remember what it was like being married to a woman that's not pregnant. There's a few things I miss about not being pregnant, but all-in-all I don't feel a whole lot different. Some things, yes. Like this baby kicking me all the time! I'm so used to it now I think it will be very weird not feeling him anymore once he comes out!

I think Micah has finally rolled and has his feet facing upward. He fought it for a LONG time, really wanted to keep his head up. Then he started running out of room and I could feel himself scrunching up into a ball, but still not wanting to roll. Then my stomach hurt terribly for about 3-4 days because he was stretching the skin so tight by being stubborn. But today I can feel his head and hands down low, and his feet getting stuck in my ribs. :) He better stay that way. If he's in breech position at 32 weeks, the doctor will start getting worried.

Work has been going well, not a lot of stress to deal with lately. I am on studio photography for the next 2 months until baby pops, so I'm not doing a lot of running around the base. Much as I hate to admit it, things were getting harder to do. :( I hate not being able to be as active as I used to be! And I hate that I have to put my feet up on my desk at work to tie my boots! My supervisor laughed when she saw me attempting to bend over and tie up my trash to take out the other day. But she's pregnant too so I told her not to laugh too hard or I'll get her with payback. :) All in all, things are just peachy. Hormones might be acting up a little more than Matt or I want them too... I've been a little more snappy over the little things than I used to be. I'll get so offended over stuff that is not a big deal at all, and feel like such a fool later when the emotions have subsided and I start looking at it logically.

I still miss home, but am realizing that Matt and Micah were so worth giving up my home state for. I sort of wish we were closer to family, but that will come with time. For now, we're really learning a lot about what it takes to support ourselves, to love each other unconditionally even tho we both miss family, and to take on the responsibility of giving up our selfish habits for the little one coming into our lives since he will be more important than anything else in the whole world. We really have so much to thank God for. And the holidays are coming! To be pregnant and know Micah will be seeing red, blue, green, pink, and white twinkle lights through my belly is exciting. I really am having a hard time not putting up the Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. Anyway, I'm going to enjoy my hot chocolate and apple cider for the next few months while waiting for this little guy, and enjoy my Thanksgiving! Best wishes to everyone, don't get too down or tired to enjoy the Holidays...

11th Blog (10 December 07): So 36 weeks today... I have an appointment on Thursday, I think we'll finally get a tour of Labor & Delivery. Get some fun tests done too, ugh. Baby is doing really well, I'm just so ready to see him! We had our Baby Shower on Dec. 6th and got so much GREAT stuff thanks to everyone at work, friends from church, and our awesome family members. I have had insomnia lately, so been up washing loads of baby clothes, hanging stuff in his closet, getting all his dishes for when he's older washed and ready to be on-hand for the day we'll actually need them. Boiled all of his pacifiers, washed his blankies, arranged his toys, and now we're waiting on the crib bedding which is currently in the mail, so we can decorate his little room. YAY! :) It's getting so close, and almost everything is done. I'm so glad he didn't come early, I'm just now realizing how unprepared we would have been! But as it is, we have a ton of diapers, even more wipes, ointments, lotions, shampoos, clothes, and toys to last him a while. You can never have enough diapers, I'm sure, but we have a good start, and a Costco card, thank God! Matt's mom is sending a diaper bag, baby monitors, and another car seat to us, all the things we didn't get at the shower. We're going to buy a changing table this week some time, or a dresser, one of the two just so we have something to put all his clothes and diapers in. I think I'll just go with a low, fat dresser, we can use that for a changing table just as easy. Anyway, I'm SO ready to see my little boy. The mom side of me is really coming out now. No more, AAWW, belly moved, it's more like, "Stop moving, just come out so I can see you!". I keep having dreams every night that I go into labor and Matt's driving me to the hospital. Then I wake up... :( Too bad none of the dreams have been real yet! But I'm sure he'll come just when he's ready, so I'll just have to hold my horses and be patient. And there is still a lot that could be done in preparation for his arrival, so I guess I shouldn't get too ancy. I wish all you ladies luck, and comfort!!! We're almost done, those at 36 weeks. Crazy, it's been a long and beautiful journey. Loves!

12th Blog(11 Dec 2007): Ugh, okay, yesterday was SO frustrating!! The crib bedding came in the mail, so I was super excited! I went running upstairs to get everything put together and done with, so I threw the bedding in the washer, got the runners and the headboard put together, put up the wall hangings, cleaned all the extra stuff out of his room, vacuumed. Once the bedding was washed, I put the sheets on his mattress, got everything with the crib done, so all I wanted to do then was get a changing table so that the nursery would be complete. We left at around 6:30 to go out and look for one. Finally we just ended up buying a changing table we'd seen at Wal*Mart for $150. It looked really nice, pretty wood, exactly what we needed. So we got it home, by this time around 9:00. I get all of the pieces out of the box after my poor husband had to lug the very heavy sucker up the stairs. I made sure all the parts were there, everything was accounted for, I'd read the instructions for the first step(putting the drawers together). So I begin drawer number 1. The wood is literally such crap that when I put the screws in, they would pull right back out. Wood was too cheap to hold and was just getting stripped. CRAP!!!!!!!!! I was so pissed. At this point I'm yelling for Matt to come look at what a horrible mess this changing table is. He says we'll just take it back. All fine and dandy, but I SO wanted to get Micah's room completely done last night. So I wanted to just try and make it work. There's no way, this thing is a disaster. Well, we're taking back the changing table tonight, and I said, "You know what, let's get on Craig's List, find a nice used changing table for way cheaper and that we won't have to put together!". That's the plan. I was just frustrated beyond all measure! I don't know if it's nesting or what, but I was in the shower a mess of tears just because I felt like the last four hours of our night had been wasted running around looking for this thing and finding out that the one we got sucked. Grrrrrrr. I could have spent that four hours doing OTHER house work, preparing for my mom and gramma when they get here, doing dishes, bathing the dog, anything. But what's done is done. And for the most part, his room looks really cute! There's just diapers, boxes, and wipes laying all over from our baby shower and nowhere to put them yet. That was another thing. I thought Wal*Mart would have a diaper stacker, the kind that attaches to the crib. But they don't. Ugh. Just not a good night. But Thank God the bedding is here! The wall hangings are adorable, the lamp that came with it all is adorable, and the little measuring cloth with picture holders that hangs on the wall is SO cute! It also came with little certificates that you can frame and put his handprints on when he first gets home. I'll put up pics on here when everything is completed. Hopefully soon or I think I'll go nuts!!

13th Blog (December 17): So we had a false alarm on Saturday night... we were at the movies with my friend Ashley and her boyfriend Ryan. Finally went to see "I Am Legend" because I've been dying to see it ever since I saw the first advertisement! The 9:30 P.M. showing was sold out, so we opted for the 10:30. Well, as we were standing in line for drinks, I started having stronger contractions. I'd been having a few after dinner in the car on the way to the theatre. After a while, they were every 5 minutes, about 15-17 seconds long. I was not too worried because this had been happening the last two nights also, always after 8 P.M. So we went ahead and got our seats. Literally RIGHT after I sat down, I started getting terrible pains all down my back from top to bottom. The worst pain was directly in the center, and the only thing that would help was if I stuck a fist back there and pushed on it. I had to keep getting up and walking around down in the empty hallway during the half hour or more of previews. But the pain was not releasing. I had a terrible migraine and my pelvis starting getting a throbbing pain on both sides. I was worried somewhat at this point that I may be having "back labor", which I've heard is not uncommon. But I also have scoliosus in my back, so I figured maybe Micah was just pushing on it wrong and making me uncomfortable. The movie started so I got back in my seat and did my best to sit still and not think about the pain. My hubby was watching me closely tho, and just as the movie was really getting exciting, he felt like we should leave. My eyes were watering from the pain and my whole face probably looked awful. I agreed reluctantly. I didn't want to miss the movie, but on the other hand, the pain was becoming intolerable. Thank goodness we'd driven our own car, so we told Ash and Ryan what was going on and they said to call if it was anything serious. As soon as we got to the car, I called Labor & Delivery to tell them what was going on and to see what I should do. They said, "Go home, take 2 extra strength tylenol and a bath. If the pain hasn't gone away in an hour, call us back." I tried all that, back pain was still horrendous and if it's possible even with the tylenol, the headache was getting progressively worse. But at this point my whole body was exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep. My husband was not very happy when he found me half-crashed on the bed trying to sleep. He made me call the hospital(good husbands are sometimes so frustrating!) and they said to go ahead and come in so they could monitor me. Since I didn't get a vaginal check-up at my 36 week appointment, they had nothing to go off of. At this point it was after midnight, so we got to the hospital around 12:45 A.M. They hooked me up to the monitors, Micah kept kicking at them and pushing off the straps. Little booger! The contractions had pretty much subsided at this point, I was just worried about the severe migraine and back pain. After checking, they found I was only 1 cm dilated, so there was nothing to worry about there. But they did think I was experiencing some back labor. After making sure everything looked ok, they sent me home, recommended more tylenol and some rest. Micah was mad that the doctor was putting her hands where they "didn't belong", so he proceeded to climb all the way up into my rib cage and make his bed there for the night. He made mommy so uncomfortable that I didn't get to sleep until almost 4:30 in the morning. I was so tired!! If that was just false labor, I don't want to know how exhausted I'll be after the real thing. Since then, nothing really to report. No more contractions, just pelvic pain and sore hips/legs for the last two days. On a different note, his nursery is almost done! We're putting together the dresser now, and then I'll be able to put all the clothes and diapers somewhere. Texas Gramma sent a diaper bag, some bibs, and baby monitors to us that we got on Friday. The monitors work great, the diaper bag is ADORABLE, she personalized it and put Micah K Coleman-Foster on there. It's so cute! The video camera Matt's gramma sent should be here today or tomorrow. In time for his birth, thank goodness. I bought a few crafty things for his room, a picture frame, mirror, and shelf with wooden pegs. I'm going to paint them all and personalize them for the nursery. We got a few 8x10 frames to frame the certificates that came with his bedding. I can't wait to get everything in place! The room is such a transformation already, I'm really pleased with it. I think Micah will be too. I can't believe my mom, gramma, and dog will all be here in a few short weeks. It seems like there's so much still to get done. All the Christmas decorations will probably still be up when they get here January 7th!