Hey everyone. My name is Lisa and this is my boyfriend, Jared and my 1st child! I have no idea what to expect and I have a bazillion questions....

I am an elementary school teacher in Maryland but I grew up in Western Pa (around Pittsburgh.. Go Steelers!) and I moved to MD about 6 years ago to teach.

I look forward to hearing how everyone is progressing. It is amazing that I started on this site at 5 weeks and now, here I am. Feel free to drop me a line

anytime.



Myspace Comments

Pregnancy Survey
About You
Name?:	Lisa
Age?:	29
Height?:	5'4"
Pre-pregnancy weight?:
About The Father
Name?:	Jared
Age?:	25
Height?:	5'11
Are you still together?:	Yes
About Your Pregnancy
Is this your first pregnancy?:	Yes
When did you find out you were pregnant?:	July 30th
What was your first reaction?:	Are those REALLY 2 lines?
Who was with you when you found out?:	No one, I was by myself
Who was the first person you told?:	Jared... Texted messaged him something and all of the sudden, he said, "are you pregnant? He had a feeling for a week that I was
How did your parents react?:	all were surprised, but happy
How far along are you?:	37 weeks
What was your first symptom?:	Sore boobs and fatigue
What is your due date?:	April 8th
Do you know the sex of the baby?:	Yes
If so, what is it?:	IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have you picked out names?:	Yes
If so, what are they?:	Andrew William
How much weight have you gained?:	So far, only 20 pounds, but I am all stomach
Do you have stretch marks?:	No and I am going to try my hardest to not get them (I just need to stop being lazy and put the lotion on all the time.
Have you felt the baby move?:	Yes, at the beginning of Nov. and it was nothing like people described it. Mine feel like little pinches and shocks, not flutters. I know it is the baby though because it is all over the place and all the time.
Have you heard the heartbeat?:	yes
About the birth
Will you keep the baby?:	Absolutely
Home or hospital birth?:	Hospital
Natural or medicated birth?:	Probably medicated
Who will be in the delivery room with you?:	Jared and my mom if she is down here, if not, his mom I guess.
Will you breastfeed?:	Yes
Do you think you'll need a c-section?:	I hope not
Will you cry when you hold the baby for the first time?:	Definately
What's the first thing you might say to him/her?:	"So our the one who's been kicking me and sqirming around all these months?" If my mom is down here from Pennsylvania, I will let her videotape it. Jared will be beside me and I don't feel comfortable having anyone else videotape it.
Would you let someone videotape the birth?:

8/14/07: So far in this pregnancy, I have only experienced mild abdominal cramping and a sore chest. I have been lucky. I have my 1st appt with the obgyn on 8/16. I know they will give me lots of info. I am excited to get an u/s but extremely nervous. I will feel a million times better once that is all done. So far, so good! 8/16/07: I am driving myself insane. I have my 1st appt. today with the obgyn. She is going to do an ultrasound and check to make sure things are ok. I am so nervous. I hope it is good news. I will be devistated if she tells me something bad. 8/16/07: I had my appt and what a waste! The didn't do anything to confirm I was preggo, said that the HPT were accurate. When she did the internal exam, so couldn't find the position of my uterus. I have been to the obgyn plenty of times and noone has told me that! I was also told I was getting on u/s and I didn't. Because she couldn't find the postion, i have to have an ultrasound the 28th at a radiology place. I don't know how that is going to help since my dr. will not be there to explain what is going on. I feel like my appt. was a complete disappointment. I am angry and think I should get a new dr. 8/17/07: After my appointment yesterday, I needed more confirmation so I went to this store this morning and bought a digital tset that says preg. or not preg. It came out pregnant! I feel a million times better after that and I have one test to spare that i can use before my u/s! 8/22/07: Still feeling good with barely any symptoms. I am so anxious for the 28th when I have an u/s! 8/28/07: Well today is the big day. My u/s! I hope all goes well with it. I am not feeling too many symptoms, just fatigue. My bbs aren't are sore as they were before which makes me nervous (but hey, what doesn't?) I hope this appointment goes much better than the 1st. I took yet another HPT yesterday to prepare for today and it said pos. again. I gotta stop spending so much $ hee hee. 8/28/07: My appointment was amazing. i saw the little peanut and the heart beating. The beats per minute was 168, which the sonographer said was good. I feel a million times better knowing there is actaullya life inside of me. I wanted to cry when I saw it! Jared asked a million questions, which is fine with me because I was in awe.. I really want the 1st trimester to be over so the risks for m/c lower. 10/03/07: Well, it looks as if all my upadtes from Sept. grew legs and walked away so I have to remember what I wrote. I had an appointment at the beginning of Sept. with the new dr. who was awesome. He told me my pap at the last place I went to came up mildly adnormal, so I had another appointment on 9/19 to have a colposcopy done to make sure all was ok. i was irratated because the other place I went to never called and told me that their might be a problem. grrrrrr... He tried to find my baby's heartbeat but was unable to find it. At my next appointment he found the heartbeat and checked me out and it turns out all is ok with my cervix. Nothing to worry about. This time he was able to find the heartbeat! It as awesome! I almost cried when I heard it. I had been a mess before that appointment. i was constantly worryinf, but it made me feel better. I still didn't have any symptoms or anything and wasn't feeling pregnant at all. Now, here I am at 13 weeks! All still seems ok. I am feeling good, but I am now back to the worrying stage. i wish I didn't have to wait so long until my next appointment. I wish I could see the baby all the time. I have been having these huge headaches that last all day and no matter what I do, I can't get rid of them! 10/08/07: This is my last day in week 13 and things are going perfectly (so it seems.) I feel great, my boobs aren't even that sore anymore and I am starting to show. I went to my mom and dad's this weekend in Pittsburgh and had a blast. We walked around Station Square in the city, rode the incline and ate at a nice resturant at the top of Mt. Washington. Later Saturday, mom my and I went to Old Navy and they were having a sale on maternity clothes and I went all out and bought tons. My mom was laughing at me for my little belly and the fact I have boobs now. I am happpy to get that out of the way. I could buy them with no problem with my mom there. Only 2 more weeks until my next appointment. Hopefully the dr. will order an ultrasound for me and if I am lucky, I will be able to see the sex. I just want to hear the baby and see him/her to make sure that there are ok. It is hard having a living thing in my belly and not being able to check on it all the time! I wish pregnancy was much shorter. It will all be worth it in the end. 10/16/07: I'm still feeling pretty good. I guess I am showing a little, but only noticable to Jared and me. Eight more days until my next appointment. I wish I were getting an u/s done because I haven't had one in almost 8 weeks, but I will settle for just hearing baby's heartbeat and knowing he or she is ok in there. I am really looking forward to feeling my baby move, but have no idea what it is going to feel like. I am afraid I am going to miss it! I am sure I will know. I have small twinges now and then in my abdomen and I don't think that is movement because from what I heard, it is supposed to feel like flutters. Right now, it is just deep breaths for me and continued patience. 10/18/07: I am getting so anxious for my appointment. Six more days! I don't think I have felt the baby move. At night, I lay there quietly and hope to hear him/her move, but I only get small twinges. I don't know whether that is my uterus or the baby. I think I need to relax though. Soon I am going to start imagining I am feeling it move! I figure it is ok, I have 5 months to feel the baby move all the time. I am sure I will definately know it is the tater tot when it moves. 10/22/07: Ok.. I think I am going to go nuts until I see my baby again and I feel it and I find out if it is a boy or girl. I hate waiting. Everytime i go to the store, I check out baby things and it drives me insane because I can't buy anything because I don't know the sex of my baby. I did buy a baby book a couple of weeks ago and filled in as much as I could, but that wasn't much. I am anxiously awaiting my appointment and waiting to feel the baby move. Hopefully the movement will come soon so I can put my mind at ease. I really think I am going to end up in the nut house with all this waiting they make us do! 10/25/07: I FINALLY had my appointment yesterday. I swear that was the longest 5 weeks that I had to wait to hear my precious baby's heartbeat! The heartbeat was 160, which the dr. said was good. He also measured from the top of my pelvic bone to the top of my uterus and it was 16 cm, which he said was very good. I asked him why the books all say you can feel the top of your uterus 2-3 inches below your belly button and mine was right above and he said because everybody has a belly buttton in differnt places and I am short waisted. That made me feel better. I am supposed to call and schedule and u/s for in 3 weeks. I am going to try to get it for Nov 13th, which will bee xactly 19 weeks, Hopefuly I get it and hopefully they will be able to tell if it is a boy or girl. That would be a good Thanksgiving gift to tell our families. I just feel sooo relieved now that I got to hear my baby's heartbeat. Jared went with me this time and he seemed pretty excited too. 11/12/07: I haven't written in awhile in my journal because a lot has been going on. I am so stressed out and I know that isn't good for the baby. I had the AFP blood test done 2 weeks ago and the dr. called me last week to tell me the tests indicated I had a high risk for trisomy 18. I have been worried all week long, but I have a feeling everything is ok. I was scheduled for an u/s to see what I am having on 11/17 but now, because of the test results, I am going for a level 2 u/s today and finding out what caused the results as well as what I am having for sure! I am still going fo my u/s on the 17th (my mom and dad are coming down from PA for that) so this is a bonus. I get to find out 5 days sooner! I was a mess for a couple days but I have a lot of people praying for the 3 of us and the wonderful ladies on this site have put my mind at ease. Other than the worrying, I have been feeling great (just tired and I have a cold.) I can actually call my baby by it's name as of today (even though we haven't picked on out yet) so that is good. I really appreciate all the love and support I am getting. My mom and I both think the tests are wacky because of my Multiple Sclerosis making my blood come back funky. Anyways, i will write more in my online journal later informing everyone what I am having 11/15/07: Well.. my appointment went PERFECT! Absolutely nothing wrong. I found out I am HAVING A BOY as well! I was nervous for nothing. I had a lot of people thinking of me and saying a prayer for me and the baby. It worked out well. I think Jared and I finally came up with a name last night. As of right now, the handsome baby boy's name is Andrew William. I am so thankful and relieved that everything turned out alright. They checked everything they could possibly check and everything was ok. He kept on moving around so they didn't get a good shot of his heart. He is a mover! He kept on flipping over and at one point, he extendd his hand nd waved at the camera. It was so cute. 11/24/07: I had another u/s done last weekend and it went well. My parents came down for it and my mom, Jared's mom and I went into the u/s room first. We got to see Andrew's "parts" clearly. Andrew was not being shy at all. Then my dad and Jared came in and the technician showed them the baby. Andrew was being shy with them though and kept his legs kinda closed. When my parents and Jared's left, the tech had to check my bladder and Andrew must have thought we were all done because he was in there kicking his legs up and down. He kept yawning all through the u/s. It was so cute. I went to my mom and dad's fo Thanksgiving and copied pictures for them and my grandparents of the u/s. So far, Andrew has been moving like crazy, but we can't feel him from the outside yet. I know Jared is looking forward to feeling him kick. I am so excited to be half-way through! Only 4 more months until I can see him and hold him. I know he is going to be spoiled. He is the first grandbaby in the family. 2/12/08: I haven't updated my page in awhile, so I figured it is about time since I have to day off. Things are still going great in this pregnancy. It is hard to believe I onlyh ave about 56 more days to go before my wonderful baby boy is born! He is such a kicker. The past few weeks he has been feisty and kicking all over the place. I have a dr. appointment on Thursday and then I have to see the doc every other week. Jared and I finished the baby room and bought a crib. We decided on the jungle theme for Andrew. It is adorable. Everything is going perfectly. I can't wait until he is born so I can hold him. I talk to him all the time. He kicks me a lot when I am working and the kids are reading in their reading group. The other day, Andrew kicked me hard and a couple of my students saw it and laughed so hard. Hopefully everything will continue to go well. 3/24/08: Its been another month since I updated my page. Andrew is squirming more than ever! I am so ready for him to be here. I want to see the little boy who has been kicking me and squirming around in my stomach all these months. I had a u/s 2 weeks ago and he is head down so all I have to do is wait. It could be any day now. I haven't really felt any changes, but then again, I don't know what I am supposed to be feeling.Th dr. hasn't checked to see if I am dialated or effaced yet. Maybe he will this week. I have had 3 showers. One at work, one in Pittsburgh and one here in Maryland. Andrew got so many nice things. I really wish he would decided to appear soon. I am impatient and I am kinda tired of being pregnant. It is a beautiful thing, but it is like waiting to open a Christmas present. Jared is so excited and I think he is more impatient than me.