29 weeks and lots of kicks!

Baby Stapleton does not like it when her mommy doesn't eat well and stands up too long! She lets me know with kicks in the ribs. She also loves her daddy. Whenever I come home from work and Mark starts talking to her she starts her kicking and rolling. I'm supposed to be counting kicks everday but I don't feel the need to....she is always moving and kicking!

Mark helped me buy my first pair of maternity jeans this weekend. We also found some cute onesies for the baby. If you can't read them they say "Mommy's Little Sweetie" and "Daddy's Little Sweetie."

It's already 10 days into March. This month we will have a birthday party for me (30!) and our first baby preparation class. I love March. The days are longer and the weather is getting nicer. I am so glad that the baby will be here in the spring. We can go for walks and be outside!!

7 months!

28 weeks in...2/3 way there. My book tells me that this month the baby will start blinking . Along with all the other tricks she can do...flip, kick, hiccup. My book also tells me it is time to start thinking about a birth plan. My plan is this simple at the moment...have a healthy baby in the most comfortable way possible. Not that I'm in denial about there being pain but I'm not resistent to pain relief strategies. We have our labor and delivery prep class at the end of this month so we'll learn more then.

Tonight we had a date night. My cousin Erica told me to enjoy going to movies, etc as much as possible before the baby is born so we took her advice. We went to a muscial and then to dinner. It was fun but at the end of the night I found myself getting very anxious. The hormones are playing with me. Or it could be that it's the end of night float so my body is trying to adjust to the new schedule.

Tomorrow we are planning a little day trip to New Hampshire. And then it will be March. The month of my 30th birthday!

Baby crib

Here is the crib we ordered. The color of wood we selected is called amber and is a little more red and darker than in this picture.

"Inspired by the 19th century French sleigh bed style, the elegant Serenity convertible crib is constructed with solid wood for durability. This timeless beauty allows the flexibility to mix and match with cases from other Baby's Dream collections."

New baby nursery!!

My mom was here over the weekend and we had a wonderful time! Mark and I met her in Portsmouth on Friday night and we had a wonderful seafood meal. Then Saturday morning Laura, Mom and I went to a bridal shop and found a beautiful MOB (mother of the bride) dress for her. She looks sassy (thanks to Marcia)! After that we drove back to Portland and started SHOPPING! We went to Tiny Totland and ordered our crib!!! It takes 12 weeks to get in unfortunately. But at least it's ordered. Of course that's not all we bought there. A new pink, french toile lamp, a baby book and some pink and green crates. Then on to Sherman Williams to pick out the paint color (light, mint green.) Next to Target for the new dresser, Babies R Us and last to Bed Bath and Beyond! We were wiped out! So we ended the night over a Mexican Fiesta. I slept great that night needless to say!
The next day while I was at work the three busy bees went to work. For a lunch break they came to visit me at the hospital. I showed my mom the new baby boutique. More shopping!!
The next day I came home at 6:30am after a very busy 24 hour shift. I opened the door to the nursery and felt like I was on a HGTV episode. The room had been completely transformed! I was overwhelmed. THANK YOU SO MUCH MARK, LAURA and MOM!!!! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!!

Ultrasound

I don't know how to burn DVDs on my computer so I tried to take a flip video of the best parts of the ultrasound. There are four videos. One of the baby, spine and heart. One of the arms. One of the legs. And the last of the "girl parts." They are not top quality but at least you can get an idea of some of the anatomy.

The nesting has begun!

According to Pregnancy Weekly, nesting, "is an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world." And so it has begun. Partially brought on by my night float insomnia, I awoke at 12:30pm today (I should be sleeping until 3pm) and decided to start moving things around the future nursery. I went through all my old papers and books and packed things into boxes and shoved them in the closet. I was half tempted to start moving around Mark's things but thought he might not appreciate my nesting as much if I did that. So things are a little more prepared for my mother's arrival. Which I think is also driving some of the nesting instinct. She is coming next weekend to paint and help to decorate the nursery. Grandmother/mother nesting!

I am now in my sixth month. The baby could technically survive without me in the world at this point. I guess that makes me feel better and also makes me freak out a little bit. I just read an article in General Surgery News about how female urologists have a higher rate of complications during pregnancy secondary to their lifestyle. Higher even than mothers in poor regions of the country rated to have the highest complication rate in 2004. But I try not to think about this. My program has been very supportive. Last night around 1am Dr. Radke told me that the "mother" needs to go to bed. Usually sleeping at work is not encouraged but everyone has been taking it easy on me. My surgical personality has a little bit of trouble with this concept.

Below are pics of my six month belly. I am definitely growing and so is the little baby girl. She is also kicking up a storm. Yesterday during a conference I thought she was going to kick right out of me! Also, is a picture of some of her new clothes hanging in the closet.

23 weeks

I had another appointment today with Dr. Vaughn. She said that everything was going well. I have gained about 15 pounds and she wants me to gain another 15 over the next 17 weeks. 17 weeks left! She listened to the heartbeat again which sounds like music every time I hear it! She said that it is good that the baby is kicking so much but it will not be consistent until about 28 weeks. Mark was able to feel her kick last week which was really fun for him!
We also got a very special package in the mail today with some wonderful pink things inside!! Gma and Gpa K and the two great-gmas sent us a whole bunch of surprises! Attached is a video we made tonight showing off all of the items! THANKS YOU GUYS!! Little baby Stapleton is going to be so spoiled!

x-country skiing

Over New Years I went home to Moorhead to be with mom and dad. We went cross country skiing in Edgewood Park in Fargo. It was really cold but we had a good time.

It's a girl!

I changed all the colors on my blog to pink to celebrate our little girl! We had our 20 week ultrasound last Monday. Mark took time off in his day to come up to Portland to join me. This was a special treat as Mark hasn't been able to participate in the other ultrasounds or my doctor's appointments. Our ultrasound tech was great and once she knew we were medically oriented (I think referring to the ventricles of the heart gave it away) she gave us a wonderful "tour" of the anatomy of our baby!
It was incredible to see the detail at which that little body can be imaged. We saw the stomach, liver, kidneys, bladder, long bones, heart, brain and of course the best was saved for last. The genitals! I was so nervous the whole time first of all to make sure all the parts were in order (no cleft palate!) and also to learn the sex of the baby. I read ultrasound for surgical issues so I was able to at least recognize that there wasn't an appendage between the legs. But when she confirmed it was a girl by identifying the labia I was so excited!!!! I have to admit I REALLY wanted a girl.
So now pink everywhere!! And time to paint the blue nursery walls.
Below are my 5 month pictures and also the ultrasound picture. She wouldn't turn to give a profile, despite my best efforts (coughing, bending over, walking around...). So the ultrasound pic is of the back of her head! There are also two pictures of the beginnings of a nursery. One of the new glider that Mark put together while I was away in Moorhead and the other of our growing pile of baby clothes and gifts!

Holiday season

I celebrated Christmas with my sister and Jon in Portsmouth this year. I had to work the actual night of Christmas so we celebrated that Friday. Mark was back in MN with his family. Laura and I made a wonderful meal of turkey and mashed potatoes (Jon's fav!) Then we opened gifts. I had a wonderful time with Emmit!

Mark and I opened some gifts before he left for MN and put up our Christmas tree. We got some fun baby gifts and I got lots of maternity clothes! Mark's assistant, Dottie, even gave us Santa hat and mittens for the baby!