Old Wives Tales

Here we are at 18 weeks and our little peanut is the size of a green pepper! There really isn't very much going on in the baby world this week. Little peanut has been kicking more and more often, it feels like we might be having a little break dancer to follow in daddy's footsteps! Besides that, we are looking forward to finding out the gender and also really excited about all the friends this little one will be having! So many babies!
In other news, we are hoping that our house will be getting started soon. After hearing the same thing from our builder for months, Jake contacted the ROOTS program coordinator at the city and they are going to be putting some pressure on our builder. If you have the chance to pray for this process, we would really appreciate it. It would be really helpful if we could be in our house before the baby comes.
Since I seem to be lacking a little bit on content this week, I thought it might be fun to post a couple of old wives tales about gender so everyone can start calculating their guess! Have fun!

Information about Peanut:

EDD: Feb 27th (152 days)

How mom's feeling: Great! Enjoying being a full time wife!

How dad's feeling: More excited everyday!

Peace

17 weeks already! Isn't that crazy! I apologize for the late post, you would think with the extra time on my hands I would be better about getting it done. Last Tuesday was my last day of work, what a bittersweet day! We shared some gifts and had a delicious Culvers lunch to celebrate! If anyone is looking for a sentimental but fun gift idea for young kids, I ended up getting them cute little personalized books that had their names, their siblings names, and my name in the story. They loved them! As much as I miss the kiddos, not working has been wonderful in so many ways. Physically, I'm able to get things such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping done while still being able to rest when I'm not feeling well. Jake especially enjoys the home cooked meals! Emotionally, I feel so much peace from knowing that I have the time to get everything done. We're having some friends over for supper Saturday night, if I were still working I would feel so stressed thinking about having to get all the cooking and cleaning done before they come. Now I'm able to just relax and get it done throughout the week! Most importantly though, I have been feeling spiritually at peace. I've been getting out and walking for an hour every morning, while I walk it is so calming to the spirit to be able to just pray and listen to worship music. It's really just a great way to start off my day with my eyes on God!
In baby news, we will be finding out whether little peanut is a boy or girl on October 10th! WOOHOO! We're so excited (if you can't tell)! In other baby news, our little one can hear now! It's so adorable to watch Jake talk to them. He's going to be such a sweet daddy! Little peanut is now 5 inches and 5 ounces, and the bones are starting to harden. I said it before, but I'm just so amazed at how quickly they grow!
Finally I wanted to tell you a little bit about something that has finally been giving me some relief as far as sickness and headaches go. My friend Carrie suggested I try out essential oils and gave me some samples to try. I can not even express to you how happy I am with them. What I've found works for me is ginger oil for morning sickness and peppermint oil for headaches. I have never had anything give such instant relief like the essential oils do. I definitely recommend giving them a try, they have oils for almost any sort of ailment! If you'd like to learn more, feel free to contact Carrie at carrie.kearney12@gmail.com

Information about peanut:
EDD: Feb. 27th (157 days)

How mom's feeling: Great! Thankful to be able to take afternoon naps!

How dad's feeling: Loving all the home cooked meals! Having fun talking to little peanut!

2nd trimester symptoms

16 weeks is here and wow is our baby getting big! Our little peanut is now 4.5 inches and weighing about 3.5 ounces. Also, their little heart is now pumping 25 quarts of blood every day. I've been continuing to feel them move most everyday, which is really neat! Along with headaches, I've started to experience another 2nd trimester symptom, round ligament pain. Here is WebMD's description of round ligament pain: Several thick ligaments surround and support your womb (uterus) as it grows during pregnancy. One of them is called the round ligament. The round ligament connects the front part of the womb to your groin, the area where your legs attach to your pelvis. The round ligament normally tightens and relaxes slowly. As your baby and womb grow, the round ligament stretches. That makes it more likely to become strained. Sudden movements can cause the ligament to tighten quickly, like a rubber band snapping. This causes a sudden and quick jabbing feeling. For the past week or so I've been experiencing this once or twice a day, however I had no idea what was going on! I was getting a little concerned but decided to wait to ask my doctor at my next appointment (on Monday). However, I happened upon a segment on round ligament pain as I was reading what was going on with our baby this week and it described my symptoms perfectly. This week I also visited a chiropractor to see if he could help relieve some of my headaches. I'm feeling very hopeful that it will help. He explained that there are occipital nerves that connect to the back of the neck (my headaches often start with, and are the worst, behind my right eye and at the base of my skull), as he was adjusting me he noticed that I have some large knots right around the area that the nerves are, explaining a large reason why I get these headaches so often. Since getting adjusted it has definitely helped some, and I'm confident that with a few more adjustments it should relieve the situation even more.

Information about peanut:

EDD: February 27th (167 days)

How mom's feeling: Excited about our growing baby!

How dad's feeling: Wishing he could feel the baby! (It makes my heart so happy to see him talking to our little one!)

 

"Hey mom! Here I am!"

We had a little surprise to welcome us into 15 weeks, last night I felt little peanut move for the first time! I had a little cramp in my stomach so I was massaging it and after I stopped I felt a tiny little jab from the inside that felt almost like a bubble popped in my belly, it was as though peanut was saying "hey! Stop that!"! I felt it once or twice today too, so exciting! In other pregnancy news, peanut is now about 4 inches long and about the size of an apple! This week was really rough as far as sickness goes. For a couple weeks now I've been really struggling with getting headaches several times a week. Being pregnant Tylenol is the only pain reliever I can take and it does nothing. This week I got a headache Monday night, it got bad enough Tuesday morning that I was throwing up most of the morning and lasted until Thursday night. I finally got in to see my OB today and everything checked out normal so she prescribed me some stronger pain meds which should hopefully help. I'm also looking forward to seeing a chiropractor next week to help with some of the neck pain that accompanies the headaches.
Finally, I wanted to share that I will be done working a little sooner than I had originally planned. After talking with Jake and my boss, we decided it would be best for everyone if I were to quit working. I try to only stay home sick when I absolutely can not function, however I was still missing a lot of work between sickness and appointments and I didn't want to continue to put my boss in that position. We also felt like it would be nice if I were able to take it a little easier on the days I'm feeling sick but maybe would push myself to work through it. So Friday the 19th will be my last day working as a nanny. I'm so excited to be a full time wife for a few months before our sweet little peanut arrives and I thank God (and my very hard working husband) that this is possible. However I'm also sad to be leaving such a wonderful family! Yasue (my boss) has become one of my closest friends and I just love these kids to pieces! But I know that I will continue to see them, even if it's not everyday, and from everything I've heard about Kirsten (my replacement) they are in great hands!

Information about peanut:
EDD: Feb 27th (175 days)

How mom's feeling: praying for relief from these headaches! So excited about feeling the baby move!

How dad's feeling: jealous that he can't feel the baby move yet!

*picture to come tomorrow ;)

size of a peach

I'm now in week 14! Our sweet little peanut is now the size of a peach and can make facial expressions and suck their thumb! This week I was actually able to get another ultrasound with my OB (she prefers to do an early ultrasound as well as the 20 week ultrasound, I knew I liked her!). It was really neat to see our little one again and the picture quality was even better this time which made it extra special! Little peanut was swimming around a lot and everything looked great! I was even told that I have a "fantastic cervix!", haha!
I want to apologize for the late post. I had really wanted to share with you guys about some of the work God has been doing in my life but I haven't figured out how to say it without it coming across as prideful yet, so I will save it for a later post! I've also been sick. I've been getting tension headaches a lot lately. They last for days and usually result in a lot of nausea. They're no fun!

Information about peanut:
EDD: Feb 27th (177 days)
How mom's feeling: frustrated with these headaches!
How dad's feeling: relieved that school is going well!