Jul. 31, 2007 - Pregnancy Update

I had a sonogram yesterday.  This is what we in our family impatiently wait for from the beginning of the pregnancy.  Especially this time.  With three boys and only one girl, man, the pressure was on!  And yes, I told the kids that it is Daddy's contribution that determines the s-x of the baby.  There.  Less pressure on ME!  LoL

We make the sonogram a family affair, so all of us piled into my doctor's office yesterday, along with my niece.  We created quite a stir and had just about everyone in the waiting room asking, "Are they all yours?"  After we would claim our niece as our niece, they would look at the remaining kids, count, and then say, "So this is your FIFTH?"  If they only knew that we would take more if God decides to bless us this way!!!!!

First Son, a.k.a. Mr. Manager, kept track of the time with his watch.  We arrived five minutes early for the appointment, and as each of those five minutes ticked away, he let us know how much time we had before we were called.  When we were on the last minute before the appointment time, we got the update every 15 seconds.  Imagine all the kids expecting for the door to be opened and my name called at exactly 10:15 and it not happening.  My Husband and I warned them, but did they listen????  Noooooo.  We had another 15 minute wait ahead of us and Mr. Manager kept us informed of how late the doctor was until we were finally called. 

We took a poll on the way to the doctor's office and there were four votes for a boy, and only two for a girl.  My daughter and I voted "boy" just because we felt the odds were stacked against a girl.  First and Second Sons voted "boy" because, well, they wanted a boy.  My niece voted "girl" because she wanted us to have a girl, and my Husband voted "girl" because he LOVES the name we had picked out for a girl.  I'm sure Third Son would have voted "boy" if he could - he is ALL boy, and I'm sure would have loved to wrestle around with a younger bro.

I have to say, our sonogram tech is the same woman who did First Son's sonogram over 12 years ago.  The experience shows because during the sonogram, she would say, "There's the two kidneys."  or "Look here at the bladder."  We would all squint and lean in to try to get a better view, but it sure looked like blobby static  to us!  But the shot of the baby we were all looking for was perfectly, perfectly clear.  This baby is a girl!!!!  My daughter and niece were sharing a chair and were squeezing each other to death during the entire sonogram until that time.  Then they did what they had practiced in the car - they let out HUGE, silent screams.  We were all excited.  This baby is such a blessing to our family.  God is so good.

It's kinda interesting......I come from a family of six kids.  Only two girls.  My older sister is nine years older than me, just like my daughter is nine years older than her little sister.  And this new baby girl is the 5th, and I am the 5th!  Wonderful omen, in my opinion.  My sister was always so good to her little sister and I'm expecting that history will repeat itself with my two girls.

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Jul. 13, 2007 - Pregnancy Update

Had an OB appointment this morning.  It was for 9:45 and I was pulling into our driveway at 10:15.  It's so funny.  I am SO excited about our new baby that there are times when I feel that along with me, everyone else should be making a big, fat deal out of our impending arrival.  So a short, short OB visit seems so anticlimactic.  ;-)  But after sharing the news of the pregnancy, even my own family has settled down into a "we're just waiting for the baby to be born and living our lives like real people until the birth" routine.  Ho Hum. 

I have been stressing hard the last few weeks, though.  My husband sent First Son up to the laundry room to get a bottle of bleach.  Well, the poor kid dropped it, and it broke, spilling the bleach all over the laundry room (small, 5x6 room), into the hallway, and across the hallway into our bedroom.

As an aside, let me say that if you can get your laundry room UPSTAIRS and across the hallway from your bedroom, do it!  It has been so kewl to not have to run up and down the stairs with laundry.  I have to do one or two loads per day to keep up with the demand around here and I just can't imagine what life would be like having the laundry room shoved off in a corner of the house next to the kitchen.  What a drag!

So First Son spilled the bleach.  Ugh.  What a mess!  To keep prego me out of the fumes, my husband and First Son cleaned up the mess.  I didn't really give it much more thought after that.  The day was busy, and when I went to bed that night, I fell asleep in about two seconds.  My husband woke me up in the middle of the night saying, "Isn't that bleach smell bothering you?"  As I wrote, it had also gotten into the carpet in the hallway and in our bedroom.  But I was so out of it, I told him no, then rolled back over and went back to sleep  as soon as I shut my eyes.  The next morning, my husband and I both had headaches and sore throats from the bleach fumes.  I finally understood what his issue had been.  :-/  I frantically searched the web to see if I could find anything that would tell me if inhaling bleach fumes for hours on end was harmful to the baby but could find nothing.  My husband told me to quit stressing and trust God, so I said "okay." 

I've just been praying, and waiting till this visit when I could chat with my OB about it.  And talk about anticlimactic!  There I was, telling my bleach story, about to get all teary with thoughts that I could have hurt the baby and my OB just shrugged her shoulders, wrinkled up her nose, and said, "The baby is probably just fine!"  And so that is that!

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Jun. 20, 2007 - Pregnancy Update

I had my second OB appointment last Friday.  My daughter went with me because she wanted to hear the heartbeat.  God bless her.  I love to hear it, too.  :-)

According to my monthly schedule, my due date is December 9th.  But when I had a sonogram done, the way the baby was measuring, my doctor changed the due date to the 14th.  When I came in for this second appointment, the nurse said, "So did we decide that your due date is the 9th, or 15th?"  HA!  Where did the 15th come in????  I'm sticking with the 14th!  I never have the baby on the due date anyway.

I just knew that my OB was going to tell me that we would do a sonogram at the next visit, but when I asked her, she said she wanted to wait until the next visit.  Waaaah.  ;-)  I am dying to know if this baby is a boy or girl.  With my last pregnancy everyone around me was convinced we would have a girl since we already had two boys and my daughter "needed a sister."  But I knew that the baby was a boy.  Mother's intuition, or something like that.  And we did have our third boy!  Well, this time I am a bit on edge, and my Mother's intuition on the sex of the baby is being clouded out by emotion.  My daughter is SO SWEET.  She would LOVE to have a sister.  She is a GOOD big sister and it would be so cool to see her get her heart's desire in this.  At the same time, we're in a groove with boys and it wouldn't bother me a bit if the baby is a boy.  So I'm dying to find out.  I just have to know TODAY.  ;-)

While my OB was listening to the baby's heart rate, she happened to say, "About a hundred and fifty beats per minute."  I didn't think much about that until I got home and was wallowing in my disappointment at not getting a sonogram next month.  I started wondering if I could find any info on the web about the heart rate equaling the sex of the baby.  I had heard something about it before.  So I did a search and found out that the faster heart rate means a girl!  Woohoo!  But as I was reading on, I found more info.

You will have a boy if:
baby’s heart rate is under 140 beats per minute. - sounds as if we're having a girl!
you are carrying low and in front - too early to call, but I usually carry something like "as big as Jabba the Hut."
your urine is bright yellow - I refuse to investigate this
your right breast is bigger than your left - this is getting ridiculous
you don’t experience any morning sickness in the first trimester - didn't experience any sickness with my daughter, so this ol' wives tale is officially null and void

You will have a girl if:
baby’s heart rate is faster than 140 beats per minute - there's that whole "we are having a girl-thing"
you are carrying high and all over - see the above
your urine is clear - ahem
your left breast is bigger than your right - SIGH
you sleep on your right side - I DO!  I love to sleep on my right side!  But I did with one of the boys, too.  Dang!  I just can't win with these wives tales.

Here's a winner:
String and Ring Test:
This "test" can also predict whether you will have a boy or a girl. Tie your wedding band or other ring on to a piece of string. Hold this string so that the ring hangs down in front of your belly. Gently swing the string: if the ring moves in a circular pattern, you are having a boy; if it moves in a straight line, you are having a girl.
Yeesh!  Why don't I just lay down inside a pentagram while I'm having this done!  That "test" just creeps me out.

Another:
Do you have acne? Some believe that getting acne during your pregnancy indicates you're carrying a girl. Maybe the acne is caused by twice the amount of female hormones?
Now this one brings up bitter feelings.  Weren't we all told that when we became adults we would no longer have zits???  I'm pretty sure some adult told me that.  Man!

Another: (last one, I promise)
Many people believe that your cravings are caused by the sex of your baby. So, if you can't get enough chocolate, you could be having a girl. Does the idea of drinking straight lemon juice sound delicious to you? Then those sour cravings are a result of the little boy inside of you. However, if you go by the scientists, then some of them will claim that you're not even having cravings because cravings just don't exist.
1) Craved chocolate with my last baby, a boy.
2) Drinking straight lemon juice has NEVER sounded good to me
3)The scientists MUST be men.  Come on, I've been craving POTATO SALAD, of all things.  Wouldn't my subconscience pick something better than that if it were all in my head?

So I'm going out on a limb here.  I'm going to throw my guess out there.  My odds are pretty good, right?  About 50/50?  I think it will be a boy.  We'll see in August! 

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Jun. 11, 2007 - Craving

I haven't had many cravings since finding out that I'm pregnant, and this first craving has taken me by surprise.  My Mom's potato salad.  I tried to fill the need with potato salad from the grocery store (yes, I am that lame), but it just didn't do the trick.  It didn't taste like Mom's!  So I called Mom and got her recipe.  It seems the "secret" indgredient in her potato salad was handed over to her by her sister-in-law, my Aunt Lonie.  Boiled eggs.  Uncle Alvah and Aunt Lonie were chicken farmers so they had plenty of eggs to spare.  My Mom said that Aunt Lonie put boiled eggs in a lot of recipes that one would not suspect simply because she had a surplus of eggs on her hands.

Here's the recipe that Mom gave me.  I come from a family of six kids, and even though we kids have not been living at home for years and years, Mom still cooks big, so I cut this recipe in half.

8 potatoes, cubed and boiled
12 boiled eggs
1 onion
1 c. mayo
mustard to taste
 1/2 to 1 c. dill relish

I am sitting here waiting for my husband to get home so we can plow into some roast and potato salad!!!!  Never thought I would be this excited over potato salad.  ;-)

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May. 17, 2007 - Pregnancy Update

I had my first OB appointment today.  I was about to DIE until time for this appointment.  I love going and hearing the heartbeat of the baby for the first time (always makes me cry!), and because of my Advanced Maternal Age (WELL! I never!), I usually get a sonogram.  ;-)

There were no disappointments in this visit.  I got to see the baby and he/she was very busy!  So early in the pregnancy, and yet we could see little tiny arms and legs moving.  It made me all teary and so anxious to meet this little person. 

Every time I'm pregnant, I think that the newest baby just cannot outdo the latest baby in cuteness and cuddliness, and I certainly feel that way now!  I mean, Third Son just couldn't get ANY cuter.  Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, chubby cheeks, hands and legs.  I mean, come on, you would want to squish this boy if you could see him. 

Yesterday when I was talking on the phone to his Dad, I ended the conversation with "bye."  That little mockingbird repeated what I said, and then today was walking around with a fake phone talking his sweet gibberish into it, and then after a minute or two, he would say, "Bye!"  And he would say it as if he has a southern accent - "bi!"  I know we live in Texas, but I grew up in Buffalo, NY, and my husband grew up here, but has the standard American accent.  Not sure how he ended up with that, but that's how it is.  So it is so funny to hear Third Son say, "Bi!"

The only "setback" to the visit was that when my OB measured the baby during the sonogram, the measurements were coming up at 9 weeks, 5 days, rather than the 10 weeks, 5 days I "should" be.  So now my due date has been moved up six days to December 14th.  Now I need to see if I can fix my counter-thingy up at the top of my blog!  Honeeeeeeey.......!

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Apr. 21, 2007 - I'm Pregnant!

My  husband said he knew two weeks ago, and of course I said, "Why didn't you TELL me?"  LoL  I honestly did not suspect a thing until about Wednesday/Thursday-ish of this past week.  I took a test on Friday afternoon.

We took the kids to dinner to celebrate and to tell them the good news.  They are all so precious.  First Son teared up.  He's not always an easy one to read, so I asked him if those were happy or sad tears.  He said "happy." 

My sweet daughter screamed so that just about the entire restaurant could hear her.  She hasn't been able to stop hugging me since and has been carrying around her dolls all day today, telling me that she can't wait to be a mom, too.

Second Son was oblivious to Dad's announcement.  When our food came, he was going to pray for it, when I said, "Don't forget to thank God for our new baby!"  He said, "What new baby?  Henry?"  doh!   I said, "I'm pregnant!  We're going to have a new baby!"  He said, "No you're not!"  Totally shocked.  He has joined Sweet Daughter in the constantly hugging me.  He is so excited.

Of course Third Son has no clue that he is about to be de-throned from his special perch as the youngest.  Ignorance is bliss, right?  ;-) 

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