life is amazing

baby fingers

baby leg (side view)

baby feet (bottom view)

baby spine (in fetal position)

well, i'll be a monkey's uncle!

I decided to look into some of those “old wives tales” to see if they could predict our baby’s boyness or girlness. There are TONS of old wives tales out there, so I just picked a handful. Some of these are really silly, but it’s kind of fun to see what the results are. Here ya go!

Morning sickness:
It’s a boy if you experienced little to no morning sickness. It’s a girl if you had morning sickness. According to this, it would be a boy. I had morning sickness, but it wasn’t really that bad. Never actually vomited…just felt queasy a lot.

• Points: Girl = 0, Boy = 1

Fetal Heart Rate:
It’s a boy if the heart rate is below 140 beats per minute. It’s a girl if the heart rate is 140 beats per minute or higher. According to this, it would be a girl. The heart rate has consistently been over 150 beats per minute.

• Points: Girl = 1, Boy = 1

Food Cravings:
It’s a boy if you crave sour and/or salty foods, and protein. It’s a girl if you crave sweet foods and fruit. I haven’t really craved much of anything. But according to this, it could be either because some things that I reach for are sweet, but some are definitely salty and protein. Points for both.

• Points: Girl = 2, Boy = 2

Hair and Nail Growth
It’s a boy if your hair and nail growth has become faster during pregnancy. It’s a girl if your hair and nail growth has not changed or slowed during pregnancy. According to this, it would be a boy. I think my hair grows as I’m shaving it!

• Points: Girl = 2, Boy = 3

Urine Color:
It’s a boy if your urine is bright yellow. It’s a girl if your urine is dull yellow. According to this, it would be a boy because I always see a toilet bowl full of pee that looks like bright lemon-lime Gatorade. And yes…I’m drinking at least 80 oz of water a day!

• Points: Girl = 2, Boy = 4

Age Test:
It’s a boy if you add your age and the number for the month you conceived and the total is an even number. It’s a girl if you add your age and the number for the month you conceived and the total is an odd number. According to this test, my number was odd…which would make it a girl.

• Points: Girl = 3, Boy = 4

Needle and Thread Test:
It’s a boy if you dangle a needle and thread above your palm and/or belly and it moves from side to side (in lines). It’s a girl if you dangle a needle and thread above your palm and/or belly and it moves in circles. According to this, it’s a boy because the needle moved in lines, from side to side. However,..some of the websites that I found said that it's the opposite - it’s a boy if it moves in circles and a girl if it moves from side to side. So according to these others then, it would be a girl. Points for both.

• Points: Girl = 4, Boy = 5

Chinese Gender Calendar:
I looked up a couple different Chinese gender prediction calendars online. They asked about maternal age, due date, conception date, etc. By entering the same exact information each time, a couple of the calculators predicted boy…but a couple of them predicted girl. So…points on both sides.

• Points: Girl = 5, Boy = 6

Statistically (in the U.S.), there are more females than males. But according to these old wives tales, there's a better chance that we're having a boy.

Take a look HERE to see if they were right!

love this beast

she's perfectly beautiful

she's the sweetest little thing you'll ever meet


she has our hearts

dear baby

Dear Baby -

My name is Theresa and I am your mother. Your father's name is Joseph. Both me and your father love you very much and are trying to get prepared for when we finally meet you! You have a sister named Lucy. She's not going to be like you at all because she is a beagle dog, she walks on four legs, and eats from a bowl on the ground. But she's your sister, nonetheless, and is very excited to meet you! You also have grandparents and aunties and uncles and cousins who are anxiously waiting for your arrival and are happy whenever we have new updates about you. So I just wanted to let you know that you are already so loved and that everyone is so excited to meet you!

You have been living in my uterus for about 18 weeks now. And uterus is a weird word, actually, so from now on I will use the word "belly". So, let's start over...

You have been living in my belly for about 18 weeks now, and I really hope that you are comfortable in there. I have been trying to eat as well as I can every day (except when we have a pizza lunch at work, like today!) and have been taking vitamins to help you grow into a strong and healthy baby. I even go for long walks with your daddy and Lucy to help keep you (and myself) as healthy as possible. And I actually need to do way more of this because I want nothing more than for you to be healthy.

I've been reading a lot of books, and websites and blogs (you'll learn all about those things in due time) about what to expect during pregnancy...and most of it is very helpful. But I am learning a lot on my own, too. For example, I have learned that if I go without eating longer than 2 hours, you will send my body into a headache-filled uproar until I eat something...even if it's just a glass of juice. I have learned that I never really knew what true heartburn was until now. I have learned that the second I start to roll over onto my belly (which is my all-time FAVORITE sleeping position), I get instant discomfort and have to lean back on my side. I have learned how quickly my body can change within a really short amount of time. I have learned that you, actually, have primary control of my body altogether!

I have also learned that I know nothing about being a mother.

Your daddy and I are learning a lot about each other and have spent a lot of time (and more to come!) talking about how we are going to be parents. It's scary for us! The thing that scares us the most is that we really don't want to mess up and be terrible parents. I guess that's probably a normal parent fear...but we really truly want to be the best parents. So we will continue talking about how we want to raise you, where we want to raise you, how we are going to show you love every day, how we are going to provide for you, how we are going to care for you. And...though, I know we don't quite know what we're doing...if we keep talking about you and loving you, then I have a feeling everything will be perfect.

I hope you are doing okay and can't wait to feel your first little kick!

XOXO...

know the signs

During one of Joe's chemo sessions a few years ago, he snagged a free magnet from the hospital that lists the warning signs of stroke. At the time, I think he possibly just thought, "cool...a free magnet!" But having this on our fridge over the past few years recently paid off while we were in the company of a loved one. If we hadn't known any of the warning signs, we might not have known that they were possibly experiencing stroke.

This stuff is serious. There is really no other way to put it. So I just wanted to share the following with you. Get yourself familiar with these warning signs and, because stroke is so serious and can cause irreparable damage, be sure to contact 911 right away...EVEN if symptoms go away!!

This is serious!!

The following warning signs are taken directly from the American Stroke Association website (http://www.strokeassociation.org/STROKEORG/).

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body confusion
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
  
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
  
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

Additional stroke resources:
American Stroke Association
National Stroke Association
Mayo Clinic
National Library of Medicine | National Institute of Health

baffled

As if you didn't already know...I'm pregnant.

I know I'm pregnant. I do. It was confirmed with the home pregnancy test, the doctor's pregnancy test, and the ultrasound pictures. And it is confirmed yet again every time I have a checkup and the doctor listens for the heartbeat.

So yeah...definitely, absolutely, 100% pregnant.

But as I just sit and THINK about this, it's just so weird to me. It's definitely amazing and just ONE of life's miraculous events. But it's SO WEIRD!! I mean...I can't feel the baby yet and I definitely can't hear it yet or hold it yet. So the fact that there is this little tiny being (that I can't see, hear or feel) floating around in my chunkiness right now is SO WEIRD to me!

Amazing.

But weird.

mmmmmmm....prednisone!

Joe and I think that having our beagle, Lucy, has slowly prepared us for having a child. For example, we have learned the importance of handling/touch, positive reinforcement, training, and patience (to name just a small few). And...we have learned the importance of keeping things up high so that they can't be swallowed/eaten.

The reason we have learned this is because Lucy decided, last Monday night, that instead of chewing on a chew toy it would MORE fun to chew on one of her daddy's bottles of medication. Prednisone, to be exact.

All of a sudden Joe looked over and saw a chewed up bottle in her mouth with pills spread around on the ground in front of her. We had literally JUST filled the prescription so we knew there should have been 30 pills in there. So we counted the pills on the floor.

There were 25.

Now, Joe is a tall adult man (for those who did not know) and he only takes 1 of prednisone a day. But Lucy...little 34 pound Lucy...had managed to swallow 5 pills somewhere during her chewfest.

Awesomeness!

Joe called the vet and they said that dogs of Lucy's size have actually been given large quantities of prednisone before (probably for things like Valley Fever), but to be safe they mentioned that we could induce vomiting by having Lucy ingest 8 mL of hydrogen peroxide. Nasty, huh? They said if it didn't work the first time, after 15 minutes or so we could try 8 mL more...but no more than those two doses.

So, Joe ran down to the store and got some hydrogen peroxide and we had her take 8 mL and kept her in the kitchen where the floor is easily cleanable. 20 minutes or so later she was just as hyper and normal as ever. So we grudgingly gave her a second dose. About 10 minutes or so after that second dose, she still hadn't vomited and we really began to think that our beagle had a stomach of freakin' titanium or something. But then she got a little queasy and the rest is history. Mission accomplished.

We hated having to do that to her, but we thought it was better than having a beagle so hyped up on steroids throughout the night and possibly getting ulcers because of the steroids. That would have sucked WORSE than a little vomit!!

MORAL OF THE STORY: Leave your prednisone where little dogs and little people cannot reach them. Actually...scratch that. Just leave EVERYTHING out of reach! :-)