12 Weeks!

Yesterday (1/22/09) we had our 12 week appointment. Steve and I were both nervous and excited since this would be the first time we would hear the heartbeat. Up until this point, we've kind of been on eggshells, not really knowing whether/not there really is a baby inside me!
Well...there sure is! We heard the beat-beat-beat of the baby's heart at 166 beats per minute!! We then had an added surprise...the doctor brought in the ultrasound machine and we got to see the baby again. That was a very surreal moment, mostly because we could see the baby bouncing around, twisting and turning...but I did not feel a thing! This picture is not as clear as the last one, mostly because it is from an external ultrasound. I placed a box around the baby, and the line points to his heart. Like I said, the baby was wiggling around a lot, so it was hard to get a good picture. According to my baby books, the baby should be about the size of a small lime.

Now that I am at the end of my first trimester, another thing I am looking forward to is SHOPPING for baby! I can't wait to go to stores like Babies R Us for the first time and just wander around to see all of the fun baby items out there. I'll also have to start shopping for maternity clothes soon. You cannot see physically that I'm growing, but I can definitely tell my pants are getting tighter & the curve of my waist has pretty much vanished. UGH!

Our next appointment will be February 19, which will be right at 16 weeks. I don't think we'll be able to tell the sex until after week 19...but we will do another ultrasound, so I'll have more pictures to post!

Best Christmas Gift Ever!

Happy New Year!
It will definitely be a happy and exciting one for me and Steve. This year we got our Christmas gift a few weeks early when we found out we're having a BABY!!!!!

Our little blessing was totally unexpected! As many of you know, we have undergone infertility treatments over the past few years with no luck. We decided to take a break from treatments, and I haven't been on any medication or anything since March, 2008. In fact, we were planning to go back & take the next big step in January...but I guess we won't have to do that now, will we?? :-)

It was definitely exciting to share our news with our immediate families over the Christmas Holiday. I made "Grandma's Brag Books" for each of our moms, and included the following picture, along with a "Congratulations!" tag. Needless to say, they were both estatic! We were in Kansas when Steve's mom opened hers, and fortunately my brother-in-law was filming the Georgia Christmas festivities when my mom opened hers. So we got to see the reaction of both moms. It was great! This will be my mom's first grandbaby, which is fun...and for those of you that know her, you can just imagine what she's already picked up for the baby on her Georgia shopping adventures! Ha!

Our current due date is August 3, 2009. It's not very common to have an ultrasound picture so early in a pregnancy...but I had had some cramping when we were in Vegas, so my doctor wanted to make sure that the baby's "environment" looked OK (which it does!). This worked out great for my reveal! (This picture was taken at 6 weeks...so he's grown a little bit. According to my books, he's now about the size of a large olive! Of course, we don't know what we're having yet...but for some reason I've been referring to the baby as a he. We'll see!)

My next appointment is on January 22, which will be my 12th week. We will get to hear the heartbeat for the first time, which we are both excited about! We've seen the little peanut's heart flickering on the ultrasound...but hearing it will help to make it all seem real!

I've always held in my heart and BELIEVED that God has a plan for us, and that he would bless us with a child when we are ready. After waiting for so long, we can hardly believe that the time has come!

Because of the excitement, along with our trip and the busy-ness of the holidays, we did not get Christmas cards sent out this year. So we now wish you a
Wonderful New Year, and Happiness for You and Your loved ones!