Wahoowa!

That's all I've really got to say! My wahoos have won the ACC regular season and defeated those annoying Dukies for the tournament championship today! Plus we were rewarded with a #1 seed in the tournament.

I hope we can make it to the final 4, but right now I'm just trying to embrace the joy that is Hooville right now!

It makes this 6 inches of snow were supposed to get tonight (despite it being 70 degree yesterday....) slightly more bearable.

Wahoowa!

Xoxo

Oops

So I have been doing a terrible job updating this lately. I don't really have any excuse - things are the normal level of busy, I'm feeling great these days, everything is wonderful. I just keep forgetting and putting it off.

So here we go. Corey got us some new baby girl clothes (to go alongside the baby boy clothes she bought us last month). They're absolutely adorable. I can't wait to find out which ones our little baby will be wearing!

Katie got me a birthday present to read to the baby. Wahoowa!

And besides that, things are moving along smoothly. The bump is starting to get a little more pronounced and I've gained about 5 lbs to this point, but otherwise nothing too exciting. I really love being pregnant - the only annoying part is that I've been sleeping terribly lately, but last night I didn't wake up at all, so I'm hoping my body figured it out and we'll be good for at least a little while!

The last several bump pics I forgot to upload...

23 days until we find out if the nursery will be blue or pink!

xoxo

Y'all.

I have been terrible about keeping up with this. And taking bump pictures. Really all of it. So this will probably be a doozie of a post.

So last I checked in, I was on a plane to Seattle. Brad and I had a great time checking out the city (and thankfully spent a lot of time relaxing too, which was much-needed). It's probably easier to recount in picture-form, so here we go.

Coffee as delicious as it was pretty! (Decaf for me...)

Gorgeous weather wandering around the city. So we wandered up to the business district and went to the top of the Columbia Center to take advantage of a beautiful day and 360 degree views:

Then we hopped in the car and drove over to gasworks park. It was really cool -  an old industrial center that now is a beautiful park with great city views!

On Saturday it was a little rainy, so we stuck to eating delicious food and drove out to Snowqualmie Falls for a quick photo-op. It was so cold and windy, we didn't stay long. But it was beautiful and there was so much water! Very impressive.

The trip back was uneventful. We missed the foot of snow that was dumped on Charlottesville, so that was nice. It did mean I had a few classes get cancelled while we were gone, which luckily meant I was actually less behind than originally anticipated. Woohoo!

Last Monday went by slowly... Dealing with jetlag is no fun. I had my monthly checkup on Tuesday morning. Showed up at 10:30 to find out my appointment was actually at 9:30. Oops. They were awesome and squeezed me in anyways. Heard baby's heartbeat - 160 bpm! In and out, everything is looking good.

Until two hours later. 

I had been feeling a little nauseous before my appointment. Nothing crazy, just like breakfast wasn't sitting quite right. I went to my appointment, got back to the office, and about two hours later ran to the bathroom and threw up what little breakfast I had eaten. Return of morning sickness? Awesome.

Then an hour later I threw up again.

Then again.

And again.

By 2:00, I was getting a little nervous. I wasn't even able to keep down saltine crackers and ginger ale. Even water made me throw up! I hadn't kept anything down all day, so I called my OB back. "Yeah, I know everything was fine this morning, but now all hell has broken loose..."

The nurse told me that there was a nasty 24 hour bug going around, so she prescribed me some meds to help stop the vomiting so I could at least keep fluids down.

I missed work Wednesday (but did manage to take my midterm that I was supposed to do Tuesday night), but drank lots of Pedialyte and took multiple naps.

By Thursday, I was feeling back to ~90%, which was good because it was my birthday!

I got this hilarious card/text from my brother, Bobby (Sour Patch Kids Glamour Shots is the next big thing, ya know), and Brad cooked me a delicious porkchop dinner with angel food cake and strawberries for dessert. Besides that, it was lots of relaxing and recovering.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were more of the same. Just trying to get my energy levels back up. I lost about 3 pounds in one day, which put me back down below my pre-pregnancy weight (which isn't good!). I've gained a little more than a pound back, so I'm about a pound up right now. Okay, but something I'll have to keep an eye on.

The bump is definitely there though! Maybe not quite so obvious in pictures, but in real life it actually is starting to look more pregnancy and less post-burrito-lunch. I really can't wait to get a real obvious bump that leaves no question :)

Most recent bump pics:

And today I'm rocking my first pair of maternity pants. Boy are they comfy... and fit me a lot better than my "fat pants with a rubber band" that I've been wearing... I might have to make the switch.
Still sticking with regular/longer shirts though. No need to get all flowy just yet.

Okay. So that's the goings on around here. Hopefully I can remember to post more often than once every two weeks!

Update

Well I wrote this on Wednesday but just got around to posting it today... Whoops.

So things have been a little hectic lately. My bosses graduate school advisor passed away, so I stepped up and went to a trade show in his place last Thursday and Friday in DC. It definitely wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't home.

I got home on Saturday afternoon just in time to hang out with Brad's parents. They were visiting for the weekend which is always great - I just felt bad missing half their trip!

On Sunday we went to run some errands, which included a quick stop by Babies-R-Us. We had a lot of fun pushing strollers (I like ones that fold easily and are tall at the handlebars - two things I wouldn't have thought of!) and looking and baby things. It was definitely a reminder of how expensive this endeavor is going to be. As much as we can appreciate gifts from our parents and family/friends, they won't be gifting us the big things like a crib and rocking chair and a dresser. Those are things were going to have to start looking for now!

So we want to make sure we go for function over fashion on these - picking out a chair that will work for nighttime feedings but also for reading stories to our eventual toddler(s)? Furniture that the child can grow with - and maybe take to college someday (though I doubt we'll spend enough for something that high quality!) We want to make sure that these purchases are the right ones, so we're going to have to get started with some research!!

On Tuesday I left for NJ with my boss and another coworker. I knocked my presentation out of the park, and they dropped me off at the airport where I'm currently on my way to meet Brad in Seattle for some fun! Let me just say - My goodness traveling is a pain when you're pregnant. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just me, but I feel bad asking them to stop every hour like I want to, so I have to basically dehydrate myself instead. Yuck. Also, a pregnant girls gotta eat! Thank goodness I've been good about keeping snacks on hand. There were a few times I thought I was going to be sick from a lack of eating (if that even makes sense). Besides that, I've been feeling great.  Still a little tired and run down, but nothing too terrible. I know this is the easy phase, but so far I love being pregnant!

That's all I got for now. Belly pic to come soon, I swear. It's really there now. I couldn't wear half my dress clothes this week at this presentation. Thank goodness for the belly band and hiding completely unbuttoned pants. Shhhh don't tell anyone.

Update

Things have been a little crazy lately. I'm traveling to DC for a few days to work a conference, then I'll be in NJ early next week to give a presentation. I actually leave from NJ to meet Brad in Seattle for a little vacation at the end of the week next week, which I'm really looking forward to.

Things on the baby front are good. Morning sickness seems to be relieving itself a bit, which has been nice. I get winded easily and don't like standing for long periods of time (which should make this show interesting this weekend), but otherwise my energy levels are okay. I'm hoping they really pick up here soon - I'm going to need it!!

I had a scare yesterday where I fell down the stairs. I didn't fall far and landed on my butt - two very good things - but it was terrifying. I did some googling that said it was probably fine, but ended up calling the doctor anyways for reassurance that there wasn't something I should do. Now I just feel bad for bugging him at night! No pain except some soreness in the back, so that's a really good sign.

Still no-to-minimal weight gain. Haven't picked up anything significant outside my normal daily fluctuations. As a side note, how do people tell that they've 'gained a pound'? I could be two pounds up from my 'std weight' one day and two pounds down the next... At what point have you officially gained a pound?

I want to keep a close eye on my weight gain throughout, I'm just not really sure how to do that.

Eh. It will work out!

Last, but not least, belly picture! I can't suck it in anymore - a very little something is there and I think it might actually be baby! Woop woop!

NT Scan Results

I'm obviously running a little behind on things, but we had our NT scan on Monday. I swung by the office last Thursday to give a blood sample so they could run a few quick tests and have the results ready by Monday.

Monday came, and we went back for the ultrasound. The nurse was super-nice and took the time to explain everything. Then she put the gel on my stomach (brr! cold!) and Baby Costella popped up on the screen!

He/She was wiggling all over the place, doing some flips and all kinds of crazy. Of course, I found this hilarious and came down with an embarrassing case of the giggles that made it impossible to get a good look for the next 5 minutes. Yikes.

Once I had calmed down a little bit, she started snapping pictures. She even printed a lot of them out for us to take home!!! Here are a few:

  

It actually looks like a baby! So adorable. She mentioned that the bright white spot was the baby's nasal bone, which is an awesome sign - most babies with Down's Syndrome don't develop a nasal bone (at least not this early). She finished up making the measurements behind the baby's neck for the NT scan, and then the doctor came in. The doctor repeated a few of the pictures the nurse had taken, and also randomly just switched the machine over to 3D and took a few pictures over there! I think they're a little creepy looking, but still pretty cool.

 

We also got to see the baby's heart in 3D and watched it fill with blood. That was awesome. Heartrate was 169 beats per minute! Still spot on!

This particular doctor also prides himself on "early sex guessing", so we asked him what he thought. His guess was that Baby Costella is a little girl - with 80% confidence. It's still pretty early though, so we shall see! He also is very involved in the diagnosis of spine and heart conditions, and said that from his experience things are looking really good.

After the ultrasound, we met with the genetic counselor on staff and she went over the NT scan results with us. Based on my age, our risk of Down's going into this appointment was 1:850. Based on the results of the scan (presence of nasal bone, ulltrasound measurements, and blood tests results), that risk has dropped to 1:15,000! Similar results for a few of the less-common other genetic disorders. Baby C is looking really healthy!!

Everything else is going great. We're slowly starting to spread the news to close friends and family. The official date the floodgates open will be Feb 1 (I think that date is circled in red on my mom's calendar!).  I'm not sure if we'll do an official Facebook announcement or not. That is how I stay connected with most of my cousins, but I'm also just not big about putting personal info on Facebook like that. We'll see.

 Here are last week's and this week's belly pictures. I kinda forgot to post last weeks... whoops!

Next appointment is a checkup on Feb 18th. Our next ultrasound is scheduled for April 7th. Team blue or pink? We'll find out then!!

xoxo

Happy Update!

We heard the heartbeat and it was beautiful.



The doctor said it was between 170-180 bpm - fast, but perfect.
He answered a few other questions we had, and then it was back out the door. Next appointment is February 17th.

We do need to decide if we want to get the NT scan that screens for increased odds of chromosomal defects. The scan just tells you if you're at increased risk - with our young ages, right now our odds are ~1:1200. It's so nervewrecking - such a big decision. We're talking things over and then we'll make a decision.

Besides that, things are good! My morning sickness is calming itself down a lot, which has been nice. We're just really happy and excited for everything to come!

My roommate from college and her boyfriend are coming to visit this weekend, along with my sister. I'm so excited to see them! It should be a fun weekend of wine tasting (well, DDing for me), great food, and happy times!

Also we're almost done with our new backsplash in the kitchen - Brad is such a handy guy. He's done a great job! I'll post a picture once it's all finished.

xoxo.