13 weeks!

Today is 13 weeks into our pregnancy!  This is officially the last week of the first trimester!....REALLY?!?  Can time please slow down for just a little while???
But I can already tell a difference in my energy levels lately.  I didn't realize how tired I actually was for the past couple of months, but now I can totally tell a difference....and it's great!  :)

Here is what is going on with the little squirt inside my belly at 13 weeks:

Your baby can make a fist and even suck his or her thumb this week—both skills that are über-cute during infancy ... and not so much at the age of 9. If you're really lucky, you might catch a glimpse of baby's thumb sucking on an ultrasound photo. That's a framer! 

Other exciting developments include:

• Your baby's eyelids are fused shut to protect his eyes as they develop. His bones and skull are solidifying and soon itsy-bitsy ribs may appear. (Baby ribs! How cute is that?!) Baby's intestines are finally right where you want them—in his or her belly instead of poking out into the umbilical cord. Baby's tooth sockets are all loaded and ready to pop out baby teeth six or seven months after baby is born (causing baby a lot of pain and you a lot of lost sleep).
• Who's that singing? Elton John? Could be your baby: His vocal cords and larynx are completed now.
• Your baby-to-be now weighs about 20 grams and is nearly 3 inches long, or about the size of a Nutter Butter, covered in chocolate. OK, it doesn't have to be covered in chocolate, but isn't everything better that way?

Woohoo!  Our next appointment is on April 6th...less than a week away.  I'm really hoping they will do an ultrasound, but we'll see!  Lately, Jeff and I have been leaning more towards thinking that Baby Jennings is a boy.  But who knows!  We will find out soon enough!  :)

12 weeks

On March 24th, we were 12 weeks into our pregnancy!

Here is what our baby is going through:

Baby's face is looking more human as his eyes have moved to the front of his head and his ears are in place. Hooray! 

Other amazing fetal highlights this week:

• Your baby is able to swallow this week and practices on the amniotic fluid he or she floats in. (And you thought baby food was kind of nasty!) And in case you're wondering how your kid can breathe in all that fluid, here's your answer: Fetuses get oxygen from the blood pumped into their bodies by the placenta and don't breathe with their lungs. Mystery solved!
• This is kind of gross, albeit fascinating, so feel free to skip ahead: Your baby's intestines are well under way, but they aren't all where you'd expect them to be. Instead of all being locked away in the body cavity, some are dangling on the outside, in the umbilical cord. Ewwww.
• Don't forget to put a baby nail file on your registry—your little nugget's finger- and toenails are forming this week. The chin and nose are also becoming more defined.
• Junior has doubled in size over the past two weeks and now weighs almost 1/2 ounce. He's also now around 2 1/2 inches long, about the length of your pinky finger or a Vienna sausage, which, in a few months, will be indistinguishable from one another.

Sooo exciting!  Here is the belly picture at 12 weeks:

 

Not too much bigger.  :)  I need to weigh myself because I haven't in a while!  It's quite uncomfortable to button my jeans, so I just wear a belly band with them, and everything is good to go.  I also just bought 2 maternity bathing suits for the summer.  Hopefully we will be making several trips to the beach and lake and by the time the warm weather gets here, I will probably be ready for my bump to be covered!  haha  :)

We're going to Charlotte this weekend to visit with our good friends Shelley and Tyler!  Christin and Jason are also going to meet us there.  We can't wait!  It's been way too long since we went to visit Shelley and I'm so excited we're FINALLY going!  :)

Mom came up this past Thursday and brought a bunch of plants for the yard.  She and Jeff spent the whole afternoon outside and got a bunch done!  It was great to see mom that evening and catch up a little bit.  :)

We've also starting painting in the guest bathroom!  I will share pictures once we get everything done.  So much to do....so little time!  ahhh!!  :)

Spring has sprung

This past weekend was full of absolutely gorgeous weather!  Plenty of sunshine and a spring breeze.  Jeff and I tried to spend as much time as we could outside, soaking up rays and doing a little yard work.  We got so excited because our Japanese Flowering Cherry Tree was finally blooming!  We planted it the year we moved into the house (2008) and it has grown so much, but has not bloomed until this year!  So we took several pictures of the  blooms and the yard work that Jeff did on the front of the house.  We desperately needed to plant new bushes and put down mulch....so that was finally done this weekend.  Next step is putting up gutters---which will be done this week hopefully!  :)  Here are some pictures:

Scout wanted to help put out mulch

 

New bushes with mulch (Jeff did all the work!) 

   

 From the other end of the house.  Our red-bud tree

  

Yay for new bushes and mulch finally!  Looks good, don't it?!  :)

 

 Front of the house (sorry, it's a little blurry, forgot I had it on manual focus!)

 

 Blooms on the red-bud

  

Red-bud again, looking down

 

 Japanese flowering cherry tree blooms!

 

 

Next spring will be completely different, with a rug-rat crawling around.  Can't wait to play with them out in the sunshine!!  :)

11 weeks!

Today marks 11 weeks along!

Here is how our baby is growing this week:
All of your baby's vital organs are now formed and functioning, so the risk of defects decreases this week as your baby becomes less susceptible to outside influences. Phew! 
Other exciting developments include:

• Baby's ears are assuming their proper place this week and the fingernail and toenail beds are beginning to form. Your little "pumpkin head" really lives up to his nickname as his head is nearly as big as the rest of his body.
• While testes or ovaries are completely formed now, don't start decorating the nursery. You won't be able to see your baby's gender for a few more weeks yet.
• Your baby is really on the move now. In an ultrasound you might be able to see your little acrobat flailing his or her arms and legs and doing somersaults worthy of Cirque du Soleil. You still won't be able to feel any movement, so if you feel something "kick" in there, it's probably gas.
• In the next nine weeks, your baby will increase 30 times in weight and almost triple in length. You might feel like you're increasing 30 times in weight at this point, too, but we can assure you're not—because, honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet!
• Your baby now weighs a third of an ounce, about the same as two small, Starbucks-sized packets of sugar, is about 2 inches long, the length of one of those sugar packets. Isn't that sweet?

So apparently headaches are common for pregnant women.  *KNOCK ON WOOD*--I haven't dealt with any major headaches recently.  Anyone who knows me pretty well knows that I have a history of migraines, and I pray that they don't make an appearance during my pregnancy!  Especially since I am limited on what medications I can take.  Hopefully things will keep going as smoothly as they have been for the past 11 weeks.  :) 

Aunt Jacy bought Baby J his/her "first fishin' shirt" from Bass Pro Shop.  I LOVE IT!  :)  It's really our first piece of clothing that we've received!  Right now, it's laid across the back of one of the dining room chairs, and every time I walk by it, I pick it up and imagine a little person filling it up!  haha  :)  I can't wait to hold our baby and hear him/her laugh, and take them fishing and play games outside!  Oh my goodness, it makes me giddy! 

Jeff is working on cutting up a fallen tree for a lady today.  It's nice b/c he's getting paid and I think he enjoys doing stuff like that for people!  :)  He's still turning in applications and resumes and hoping to find a decent job sometime soon.  So everyone still keep him in your prayers too!  I have to brag on him b/c he does fix us dinner every night and he tries to keep the house looking semi-clean.  I will be a little sad when he actually goes back to work and I have to go back to cooking and cleaning!  Oh well!

Ok, well hopefully we can post the videos this weekend sometime!  Sorry for the delay!  :)

10.5-ish weeks :)

Ok, I know I've been slack about updating the blog this past week.  Sorry!

I am posting the slideshow that we used to tell our families the news, and I'm also posting their reaction videos.  I will put them on this post lower down...so check them out!  The news officially went out everywhere on Monday, March 7th.

Our next doctor's appointment isn't scheduled until April 6th.  It will be our first visit to the Durham Women's Clinic, and we're very excited!  I put it off until April because that's when my insurance starts over for the year with my company.  I am almost over the limit of what my company will pay of my deductible for THIS year, so I wanted to wait until I had a fresh start, and have them cover me as much as possible.
I will be about 14 weeks along when we go to our appointment, so hopefully there will be plenty of our baby to see this time!  I'm also looking forward to getting a lot more information and start meeting some of the doctor's that will be taking care of us.

Our good friends, Julie & Warren just found out on Friday that they are expecting a little girl!  Their due date is near the end of July.  We're so excited for them!!  And I'm excited because Julie and I can sit together and watch the boys play softball this spring/summer!  haha  :)

Wondering about what sex our baby is has also got us thinking about names.  It's hard to think that this is what their name will be for the rest of their life!  But we definitely have a few that are a favorites at the moment.   Boys names are so much easier for me to come up with than girls names!  For boys, our top 2 names at the moment are Wyatt Dean and Luke Wallace.  For girls we like Campbell Laura and lately, I've been liking the name Evan _________.  I kind of like the middle name Pearl with it, or maybe Kate?  Something simple and old-school, feminine sounding.  I looked up the meaning of the name Evan and found this:

Evan meaning and name origin

Evan \e-van\ as a girl's name (also used as boy's name Evan), is a variant of Evangeline (Greek), and the meaning of Evan is "good news". See also Vanna.


and since it's a variant of Evangeline, I looked that name up as well and found this:

Evangeline meaning and name origin

Evangeline \e-vangeli-ne, ev(a)-nge-line\ as a girl's name is pronounced ee-van-ja-LEEN. It is of Greek origin, and the meaning of Evangeline is "good news". From "evangel", the term for the Gospels.

I thought that was pretty cool!  Anyways, it's a little different and has a good meaning to it, so I like it!  Of course, we are just throwing around ideas at the moment, so who knows!

I have still been lucky in the fact that I am feeling good for the most part.  I've been tired a lot, but I can deal with that.  I have found that recently if I start feeling hungry and DON'T eat, that I will really start feeling bad.  So I always have to have something to snack on in case my hunger hits me.  My belly is growing just a little bit.  It's like a have a little gut, and just can't suck it in anymore.  I can still button my jeans, but it's a little uncomfortable...So I've been wearing one of those belly band things when I wear my pants.  :)

Here is what our baby is going through at 10 weeks:

By the end of Week 10, your baby graduates from embryo to fetus, which literally means "little one." It also translates to "I'm just going to keep getting bigger and bigger and so are you!"

Other highlights this week:
Your baby has finally morphed from a little tadpole into, well, a baby. Not only is the face more human-like, but that unflattering "tail" (really just the developing spinal cord) has disappeared, fusing into the spinal column.

Your baby now has discernible fingers and toes, which will explain the steady stream of kicks and punches you'll feel down the line.

Junior's skeleton is starting to grow and harden. The ears are beginning to take shape and the eyelids are no longer transparent. Tooth buds are forming, although your baby won't get any teeth until six or seven (or eight or nine or 10) months after birth.

Baby's brain will make an incredible 25,000 new neurons every minute this week. While you may feel like you're losing as many as he's gaining, we can assure you it's not permanent. "Pregnancy brain," like nausea and bloating, is a temporary symptom that soon shall pass. (And then you'll get "Mommy brain," but we won't go there now.)

If you're baby is a boy, he's started producing that macho hormone testosterone. And whether your baby is a boy or a girl, the kidneys are creating copious amounts of urine. Lucky for you, you won't have to change a diaper for another 30 weeks.

Baby weighs only 4 grams and measures 1½ inches, about the size of a mondo Brazil nut.

Baby Jennings is growing away!  I would post about what's happening to MY body, but it's mainly about constipation and flatulence, so I will spare everyone!  haha  :)  Oh joy!  Luckily for me and Jeff, I haven't had to deal with much of that.  Everything that I've been reading says to try to exercise regularly.  And I'm glad that I'm still trying to go to Jazzercise every night that I can!  It really does make me feel better, and I hope that in the long run, it will help me be in better shape when the baby comes and I can get back to my pre-pregnancy body a little quicker.

Here is a picture of of me, at about 10.5 weeks pregnant:

We're having trouble uploading the video, but we'll post is as soon as we can...

8 weeks!!

(This was written on Thursday, February 24th, 2011)

We are 8 weeks into our pregnancy!  Last night it felt like all of a sudden my belly started poking out more.  It's probably because I pigged out during dinner, but it's still crazy to think about.  :)

Our original first ultrasound date was Feb 23rd, but the place we were getting it done at called my on Feb. 18th and said they had a cancellation if we wanted to go ahead and come in.  Of course we did!  We couldn't wait to catch our first glimpse of our sweet baby!  Amanda happened to have that day off, and we asked her to come along so she could take a couple of pictures of us during the appointment.  But the office wouldn't let you bring any cameras to the exam room.
Honestly, I would NEVER recommend anyone go to the ob/gyn place we went to.  It is NOT my regular doctor.  The nurses were extremely rude and it was not a good experience.  I don't care to go into detail, but let's just say that Amanda was so mad about how we were treated that it kept her up all night the following evening!  Needless to say, we will NOT be going back there.  BUT despite what one of the nurses said, we DID want a copy of the DVD of our first ultrasound and a copy of the pictures.  :)

Despite our bad visit to the ultrasound place, it was still an amazing experience to see our baby for the first time.  We could see the little heart just fluttering and it was so cool!  We were all smiles after that!  There's not much to see at 7 weeks 2 days, but there was definitely a baby in there.  And here is our first picture of our little one: (you can always click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Here is what our baby is going through at 8 weeks:

The arms and legs continue to develop - These limbs are stretching out more and more. Later on you will be feeling those feet and elbows up close and personal right in your bladder. The embryonic tail has almost disappeared.

The pituitary gland is also forming and the embryo is beginning to grow muscle fibers. The heart has divided into the right and left chambers and is beating about 150 beats a minute which is about twice the rate of an adult.

The baby's facial features are visible, including a mouth and tongue. The eyes have a retina and lens. The major muscle system is developed, and the baby starts to practice moving. The baby has its own blood type and the blood cells are produced by the liver now instead of the yolk sac.

So much is happening so quickly....it's hard to believe!  It feels like the baby will be here in no time at all.  And that's fine with me!  :)

We took our first belly picture tonight.  We plan to take one every 2 weeks to see how much I grow.  But here we are at 8 weeks:

And I also wanted to brag on my wonderful, amazing husband.  For Valentine's Day he got me the sweetest necklace.  It is 2 silhouettes that form the shape of a heart...one silhouette bigger than the other.  And the card inside the box says "Mother and Child" and says the following: "The Mother and Child is more than a design.   It's an artful and elegant expression of one of the strongest bonds in nature: The love a mother has for her children."  Of course my eyes started tearing up.  He is too sweet to me all the time.  I can't wait to see Jeff with our baby...He will be such an amazing dad.  I cannot wait!

We leave for the ski trip in 2 days, and then we finally get to tell the Jenkins side!  Woohoo!  OH---I forgot to mention that we found out this week that our good friends Preston & Lorie are also expecting!! They are only a few weeks behind us!  It's so exciting!  Ok---well hopefully the next time I post, I can ACTUALLY post these entries online and share them with everyone!  :)

Almost 7 weeks

(This was written on Wednesday, February 16th, 2011)

Last night we drove to Fuquay to pick up our new ride....Mom & Dad's 2004 Explorer!  They were generous enough to let us buy that from them, and they ended up getting a 2010 Explorer to replace it.  The Rodeo and the Ranger are still doing OK, but we know it is only a matter of time before they become money pits!  So we decided to move forward and get a newer vehicle.  We love it and we are so thankful to Mom & Dad for helping us out!

Mom & Dad were also kind enough to cook dinner for us and Amanda & Jake too.  It was delicious and we had a great time hanging out!  :)
It's funny, because the only people that know about our little "Baby J" are Amanda, Jake, Christin & Jason.  We HAD to tell someone, and of course my best friends were the first ones to get in on the news.  :)  But Mom made a comment last night as we were leaving how she hopes that in about 5 years down the road she can go skiing with her grandchildren.  And we just laughed and said "yeah, yeah, yeah"----but little does she know....  ;-)

In less than 2 weeks she will definitely know!  We are planning on telling my family on our ski trip to Snowshoe in a little over a week.  We're leaving on February 27th (Sunday) and coming home on March 2nd (Wednesday).  We plan to tell them the last night of the trip.  Jeff and I are hoping to record their reactions, so hopefully that will work out!  We're also hoping to tell the Jennings side of the family the following weekend we get home from our trip (March 4th-6th sometime).  And then the beans will have officially been spilled and we can FINALLY let the world know about our exciting news!  :)

Ok--so tomorrow we will be 7 weeks pregnant.  And it truly is amazing how much Baby J has developed already!  God is absolutely INCREDIBLE!!  Here are some fun facts on how much he/she has grown and what we can expect (thanks to Amanda for looking this stuff up for me!):

The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.

If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

How awesome is that???  It is still unreal to me!  The following is what MY body is going through (in case anyone is wondering!)  haha  :)

Your uterus has doubled in size in the past five weeks, and eating may feel like a chore — or worse — thanks to morning sickness, which by now may be in full swing. (If you're feeling fine, don't worry — you're lucky!)

You may need to pee more than usual, too, thanks to your increasing blood volume and the extra fluid being processed through your kidneys. (By now, you already have about 10 percent more blood than you did before you were pregnant. And by the end of your pregnancy, you'll have 40 to 45 percent more blood running through your veins to meet the demands of your full-term baby.) As your uterus grows, pressure on your bladder will send you to the bathroom as well.

Woohoo!  Ok--so I have been extremely lucky so far in the fact that I have really had NO morning sickness.  Thank the Lord!  My main symptoms have just been tender breasts, fatigue (duh!) and occasional cramps (they feel like menstrual cramps).  But I apparently cramps are pretty common, and I would guess so since there's quite a bit going on with my uterus!  I don't mind the cramps because it actually lets me know that something IS going on in there and that I am actually pregnant!

We are so excited about everything and we just CAN'T wait to tell everyone!!  One week from today we will have our first picture of our baby!!  I love it!!  :)

2011 = BEST YEAR EVER

So I'm typing these entries to be posted at a later date (when we break the news to everyone that we're PREGNANT!). But as of right now, they are just being archived so I can get out some of my thoughts. :)

Ok, so can I just say it again.....WE ARE PREGNANT!! :) :) :) BIGGEST SMILEY EVERRRR!!

Jeff and I can not be more excited than we are right now. Today (February 2, 2011) was our first doctor's visit to get the positive test for the pregnancy. And of course, it was a wonderful appointment! We had our questions answered, had blood drawn, and made another appointment for February 23rd to get our first ultrasound done where we should be able to see our little "peanut" for the first time. Jeff was grinning ear to ear the entire time, and all the ladies at the office were saying how excited they were for us.

We took our at home test on Sunday, January 30th, and it SPRANG up QUICK with a positive...and we both FLIPPED OUT with excitement and disbelief! We had taken the same test 5 days before my "missed" period because we obviously had been trying to get pregnant and wanted to see if it had worked....and we got a negative on that test. So I honestly thought we just weren't pregnant yet. This was our very first time trying to get pregnant, so needless to say, we really weren't expecting to get it our first try. I don't know---I guess I like to set myself up to expect the worst, so when it actually happens then I can FLIP OUT and be extremely happy about it! haha :) But I totally did NOT think I was pregnant. I was late starting my period by 3 days when Jeff recommended we try another test again. And I was thinking, "I'm probably just going to start a few days late b/c I'm having some PMS symptoms anyway." Little did I know that our baby was definitely in there and ready to let us know right away! I mean that positive result came up quick and bold. Oh man, we are soooo happy! :)

Anyways---I'm so glad to have this blog to share thoughts on! I will try to keep it updated whenever I have time. It will be so cool to look back at this years down the road. I can't wait!

Oh---I forgot to tell you! The due date is October 6th, 2011. By our first ultrasound, they should let us know if that is still the e.t.a. for the baby, or whether it might need to move a couple of days. I am so excited! More to come soon! (you can make the pictures bigger by clicking on them)