More....

Hello everyone. My name is Jessica and my husband Rob and I are expecting our first child. We're so excited, especially him. We find out on September 11th if we're having a boy or a girl and he's hoping for a boy, so think blue. :)

My pregnancy started out rough. I had really bad "all day" sickness and even had to have an I.V. not to mention unexplained spotting and bleeding that I had from week 5-week 10. They always told me that it was a threatened miscarriage but we somehow got through that and haven't had any since then. Of course I'm always worried because of the complications that I had in the beginning. How do I know my baby is ok? My last appointment was on July 11th, and my next one isn't until August 30th so it's been killing me to know if my baby is ok. That's a long time to wait. I can only assume that things are well since I've had no cramping or bleeding and my husband said that he sees my belly getting bigger. I also have some symptoms still, so everythings fine I guess. I just want my appointment to come so I can be told that everything is fine.

Weight gain has been interesting....I weighed about 135-140 prepregnancy and now i can't seem to get past 135. Some days I'm down to 128 and other days I'm 133.....so either way I'm not gaining weight. I've read that it's fine as long the baby is growing as it should. My friend also said that since I kinda had some weight around my middle that the baby has been taking from that. I can tell that I've lost weight around my hips, but my tummy is still getting slightly bigger. I think i'm finally starting to look a little pregnant. :)

August 31st: I had my first group appointment yesterday. It's a program offered at the Navy hospital in which you get together with people around your due date. Two midwives lead it and have a topic every week for us to talk about. We also play games and get to know each other. It turned out really well and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. It was exciting to know that I was the furthest along in the group. I'm finally further along than someone else! :) 2 of my friends just had their babies; one in July 6th and one on the 23rd of this month and poor old me has to wait until February. Anyway I got to hear the babies heartbeat and it was 151, so that was very reassuring. I'm confident that his pregnancy is going to last now. Earlier I kept hearing "threatened abortion" over and over because of my spotting and even had to make an ER trip because I bled a lot, but that's long past me. It's nice not being sick anymore. My doctor also told me to start drinking the carnation instant breakfast in hopes that I start gaining weight. I tried it for the first time today and it wasn't bad. It tasted like chocolate milk, so I hope that it helps me. :) Well that's the only update I have for now. My next appointment is on the 11th when I find out the sex and my next group is on the 27th. Exciting stuff. I can't wait to find out the sex. :)

September 11th: I had my ultrasound today and everything looked good. My baby boy was bouncing around like crazy. He kept his hand up by his head and looked like he was scratching it and then his other hand had the hitchiker thumb. He also kept opening and closing his mouth and lifting his head up and down. He was probably swallowing the amniotic fluid in order to practice breathing when he comes out. My due date stayed the same and she said that he weighed 9 ounces. I looked up the weight for the baby at 19 weeks gestation and it said that the baby should be about 8 1/2 ounces so he is right on track. I was actually surpirsed because I figured he would be small. I weighed 6 lbs when I was born and Rob weighed 5 something pounds. I wonder if I can predict how much he will weigh once he's born based upon the weight today.....?? Hmmm.....anyway the most important thing was that he looked healthy. She said he had a charlie brown head, which I take it to mean that he has a perfectly round head? i'm not too sure on that one....anyway I've posted the ultrasound pictures that we got.

October 25th: I had another appointment today and everything looks great. Aiden is measuring right at 25 weeks which is good news for me because I was worried that I was looking too small. I've also started to gain weight. I have gained 7 lbs total this pregnancy which isn't too bad for 25 weeks. His heart rate was 130, which is lower than what it's been but as long as it's above 120 I'm sure it's ok. He's so funny though because he kept kicking the doppler. He's been reacting a lot more to touch on the outside. You can even interact with him a little bit. Sometimes I'll press on my belly just to get him to kick. Just yeserday my husband and I were watching him move around and I felt a little hard spot to the right of my belly button and when I pressed it he kicked me. My husband then pressed on it and he kicked him too and then that hard spot moved. It must have been his hand or his foot or something because that hard spot was only like 2 finger lengths wide. I just can't wait until he actually comes though. I'm curious to see who has been kicking and moving in me this whole time. My cousin just got her 4d done today (she's 5 weeks ahead of me) and it turned out great. I wish I could get the 4d done but the military won't sign the permission slip. It bums me out but it makes me even more anxious to see what he looks like and at least now it'll be a surprise. I just can't wait! 3 more months left. On one hand it's not that far away but on the other hand it seems like forever!!! I think it's the whole fact that it's next year. February seems so far away. Luckily it's the beginning of February so really I just have to get through January and then I'm practically there. I keep seeing a bunch of little babies and all the baby clothes are so cute!!! I wish I could hold my little one right now.... oh well the day will come soon enough.

January 25th: So I had my 38 week checkup today. Aiden's doing well. His heart rate is 140 and he's measuring about 37 centimeters, so that's good. Every time I get measured I'm always 1 cm behind my week, but they say that's ok. He's just probably going to be a small baby. They estimate him to weigh about 6-6.5 lbs right now which is good for me since I'm on the smaller side. I did have an internal exam done though and unfortunately I'm only a fingertip dilated and 25% effaced. Kinda sucks, but oh well. Like the doctor said, it's just a number. That internal exam hurts though!!! I don't think I'm going to get that again until I have to. Man....and just think I have more of those to look forward to once I'm actually in labor. I'm hoping that after the epidural though that I won't feel them as much. I'm just so excited to meet my little man. I'm currently only 9 days away from my due date, but he's probably going to be late since this is my first baby. My husbands anxious to meet him. He keeps calling me to check up on me and ask if it's baby time yet. I keep having to tell him no and he gets all dissapointed, but I should be glad my body is doing it's job and allowing him to stay in as long as he needs to. I want to make sure that when he comes out his lungs are fully developed and he has gained as much weight as he can. I only have a couple more weeks, that's not much compared to the 38 weeks I've already gone through. The docs said that they start inducing a week after the due date, so I don't have to wait too long. However, once it gets to my due date and nothing has happened I'm going to try to self induce to get things going. My husbands anxious to try the sex method, especially since he's barely gotten anything this whole pregnancy. I'm also going to try nipple stimulation, walking etc. etc. Anyways there's the update. I've been horrible about updating this thing, but I'm not sure how many people come on here and read it anyways.

September 11, 2008: Aiden just recently turned 7 months old. I can't believe it. He's over that half year mark and before I know it he'll be a toddler. He's crawling now, and pulling himself up to stand. My baby is slowly and surely growing up. It makes me sad, but excited all at the same time. Yesterday I recorded a video of him where he was cracking up! I've never seen him laugh so hard. It's hard for me not to laugh everytime I see it. Here's the video:

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