22 weeks, 5 days

I'll have to try and get some tummy pictures this weekend, because I've been told by a handful of people that this week I've really started to pop out much more noticeably, even more so then when they saw me last week :) which makes me happy, because 1- she is growing, obviously and 2- I had to actually tell one of the guys I work with that I was pregnant (and finishing up my 6th month to boot) because he thought I just had a beer belly (ew, gross). In all fairness, he IS legally blind, but I figure in another few weeks, there will be no mistaking the fact I'm pregnant.

Jesse and I hopefully *crosses fingers* are ordering the crib this weekend! That will be a load off my mind for sure. Obviously we don't need one, laundry baskets and dresser drawers work fine I've been told, but we have this adorable bedding and I'd like somewhere to put it! :P

We have our next midwife appointment next week..I was actually talking to a lady at work who just had a baby and she also used a midwife, and her midwife sounds exactly like the type Jesse and I were looking for in the first place, so that was a bit of a bummer. Jesse told me to get the midwife's name and number for the next one hah we'll see where we are in the world when THAT happens ;)

In other news, the Pagano Parentals, Joel and Kimmy are coming to visit this weekend! YAY! So very excited.

I can't believe that I'm almost completely done with month 6 already. aka the second trimester. I mean, really?! Where has the time gone!? Jesse was telling me all about rabbits and how they have a gestation period of something ridiculous like 30 days? That's so short! I told him I was quite glad that humans have at least 9 months..while I hear it gets quite uncomfortable towards the end, at least you don't find out you're pregnant and then only have one month to wrap your mind around that and plan for it! We are given 9 months total..so in Jesse and my case, 6ish months to get through the shock, worry and time to wrap our minds around it and then 3 months to actually get ready. We're awesome.

21 weeks, 5 days

Nothing is really going on, I just haven't posted in a few days and was bored, so thought I would give everyone a quick update on life with Team Hildebrand :)

I decided this morning that it is probably not in the best interest of our little girl or my growing belly to wrestle Zeke to the floor anymore to show him who is boss. Jesse agrees, so I guess that means I need a new tactic. Although wrestling a dog that acts like an alligator is an art, I will let it rest for awhile. I also decided that today is my last day of being stubborn and doing things myself..I haven't over-exerted myself, no worries, but I don't know what is "too much" so I better just stop while I'm ahead. This decision was reached after I rearranged and reorganized two rooms upstairs in an attempt to make room for a crib and other miscellaneous baby thing. The upstairs is still pretty well trashed..because, true to form, I can't focus on one thing at a time: so reorganizing both rooms at once was a trip, while also compiling things for a garage sale/Goodwill run, lining the hall with stuff galore. Brilliant. Like my mom, I make a bigger mess in an attempt to clean up the original mess (love you, Mom! Our way of cleaning DOES work!).

Also, in other news, Jesse and I bought kayaks the other night. We are ridiculous. Obviously since we have nowhere to store them, they were first living in our dining room, and now have taken up residency outside. We took them out on their maiden voyage tonight and it was a lot of fun! I love kayaking, and so does Jesse now too :) we plan on taking them out on the lake this weekend or sometime it's not raining to go fishing. So excited :) Jesse told me he sees this as our last summer to do just "us" stuff, so why not. He doesn't think we'll be able to do this kind of thing after little Squirt arrives, but I don't see why she wouldn't love a kayak ride..it's not like I'm going to practice rolling with her out there :P
I figure kayaking is okay for now..after all, my midwife DID tell me that an arm workout was fine :)

I guess that's it from here! Zeke and I have been enjoying going to the puppy park..and he continues to find the ONE MUD PUDDLE in the whole place and playing in it. Awesome. He actually sat down in one today, but I couldn't get a picture fast enough.




The nap is a result of playing hard at the park :) aka how I get things done around the house.

21 weeks, 3 days

Well team, we are over half way there! CRAZY. I had a minor panic moment the other day about that..and the fact we have done basically nothing to prepare for the arrival of a little girl into our lives. We've talked about a lot of stuff, but talking and actually having a firm plan in place and actually getting a crib are completely different things. Basically, before this weekend, all I had for our daughter was one bag of clothes from garage sales haha oh boy.

Fortunately, I have some awesome people in my life who pointed out that there is still tons of time, and that I would get some really good stuff from the shower that my mom, sister, adopted mother and wonderful lady from our church were throwing for me. They were right of course. I don't remember who it was that pointed it out to me (probably Erin, Jesse or Emily..so who ever it was, thanks!) but viewing the time between now and the baby arriving as "less then 4 months left" is much more intimidating and scary then "you're only halfway there, you still have 19 weeks to go". I don't know if that math is right, so if it's wrong just smile and move on to the next bit and understand I didn't really sit and figure it out.

In other news, I had so much fun at the baby shower :) it was great to get up to Findlay and see my family and several of my friends. And eat delicious food. And get some absolutely wonderful things for Squirt and some much needed items :) Even though we don't have her crib yet, seeing other bits and pieces of her room and things we will need come together made me feel much better!

I'm still not feeling prepared enough, mentally or with having all the essentials, but it gave me a confidence boost for sure that everything will be fine. I've come to grips with the fact that I will never be 100% ready for Squirt to arrive...but what first time mother is?

20 weeks, 5 days

Jesse and I had the follow up ultrasound for our baby this morning, bright and overcast early. The ultrasound itself went well, though it was so early Squirt wasn't quite awake enough to cooperate (surprise surprise, she's not a morning person). Anyway, everything looks good as far as growth and heartbeat go :) apparently her femur is pretty big for a 14 oz baby, indicating the possibility of a large kid. Obviously no surprise there since I'm 5'9" and Jesse is 6'3"..

As far as the spot on her heart goes, it is still there. The doctor called it an echogenic focus and then moved on without explaining. Dear people going into the medical field, for those of us who did NOT major in anything medical, please don't assume we know what you're talking about. Just because we nod our heads and say "mhm" does not mean we understand. Dumb it down for us, thank you.
He did explain that it used to be thought of as an indicator for Down's Syndrome, but this is no longer the case, praise God. He told us that I am half the risk for women my age for delivering a baby with such chromosomal defects, so we can cross "possibility of Down's Syndrome" off the list of things to worry about. Obviously he couldn't guarantee it, but as you can (sort of) see in the ultrasound pictures, she has a nasal bone; over half the kids born with Down's Syndrome are either missing this entirely or it doesn't show up until later or something (again, lack of explanation).

However, there is still the echogenic focus on the left ventricle of her heart. After doing some google searching, texting to Aunt Jessica who asked one of her professors, we have determined that it is a calcium deposit. Typically, these go away by the third trimester and something like 3-5% of the pregnant women have seen them on their ultrasounds. Bottom line here, no big deal yet. I'm still praying that it goes away completely and it really, truly is 100% nothing.

On a lighter note...Pictures :) I think you can enlarge the image by clicking on it...? Top, she is looking at you; middle, profile; bottom, a cute little foot. These were all taken before she decided to fold in half and somehow put her foot up next to her face (which made for an interesting view to see a foot up next to her arms). We would discuss the possibility of a gymnast if we weren't so sure she's going to be tall like us :)



We have another appointment (with the regular midwives) on June 3rd, and then the doctor mentioned something about another ultrasound at 28 weeks. So that is about all I know!

20 weeks, 2 days

Jesse and I were able to go garage saling this weekend with our friends Jenn and Chris. Weird thing about WV, or at least Clarksburg, the majority of the garage sales went Friday-Saturday instead of Saturday-Sunday, so we missed a good chunk of the stuff it sounded like. But we were still able to find some great things. Jesse found some odds and ends he wanted and I found a small front pack to put baby in. I had already registered for one, but Jenn pointed out that with two, one could be kept in the car for the spur of the moment things, which I found brilliant. The last sale of the day was a church sale and by the time we got there, they had the wonderful "fill a grocery bag of clothes for $1" so we were able to find a bunch of baby clothes.

There weren't a ton of first year baby clothes, but since it was only a $1 for whatever we could fit in the bag, we filled it up with clothes she will grow into so 3T-4T things. Also found a few hats and a pair of shoes! I don't care if they are supposed to be for boys, just don't tell me that. They are cute anyway :)

Finally, just grabbed a few handfuls of socks..who knows if they'll all fit her, but for $1? Doesn't really matter if some stuff doesn't fit. Zeke really likes the baby socks though. I had them all out in a pile yesterday and he came sneaking up, grabbed a pair of socks and took off! He went and hid under our bed, so by the time I finally got him out, he went running back downstairs. The silly guy had the whole little ball of sock tucked in the side of his mouth and he was staring at me like "what? I didn't do anything, I don't have anything in my mouth.." It was so cute and funny I couldn't help but laugh because OBVIOUSLY I could see a bulge in his jowls. What a ridiculous dog. Jesse helped me fold the baby socks today and looooved them.

19 weeks, 6 days

I got a call this morning from the midwife clinic. They went ahead and set up an appointment for me next Wednesday morning in Morgantown for the follow up ultrasound. And by Wednesday morning I mean 730. AM. Oh, did I mention that Morgantown is 45 minutes away from my house? blaaaaaaaaaaaaah early mornings.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for the baby! I have definitely calmed down and found a peace about the situation, and have had several people tell me that they had similar situations with one of their pregnancies or they know someone who had heard the same thing and there were no problems.

Something humorous I forgot to mention in my post the other day..the poor nurse who was doing the ultrasound was struggling to take measurements of the baby because she was moving so much! I asked if the baby was being difficult and the nurse said "yah, a little bit..she won't stop moving!" And I apologized and said that it made sense knowing both Jesse and me, it made sense that our child would be difficult too. After she announced it was a girl she said "oh, no wonder I was having so much trouble! Should have figured it was a girl."

We're going garage sale-ing tomorrow, and I'm really excited!! There are several that are announcing that there are lots of maternity clothes and baby things, so maybe we'll start making baby purchases :)

19 weeks, 5 days

Jesse likes to surprise me :) and since neither of us really feel that I fall into the category of "mother" yet, these are "just because." He's good <3

19 weeks, 4 days

Well, you may know by now that we are having a girl!!! And yes, Jesse is excited anyway :)

According to the ultrasound and the midwife, she's looking good and her heart beat sounds great. However, I am going to ask for prayers. Apparently there is a spot on the left ventricle of her heart, which could be just a muscle contraction from when they took the picture or it could be a cyst, leading to something more serious. The midwife didn't go into detail, I think she didn't want to scare us, but she said that it is more then likely nothing, but we're going to do a follow up ultrasound in 4 weeks to double check. I kind of freaked out a little bit, but all Jesse reminded me it's not for us to worry about, it's in God's hands. Several of my friends who I sent text messages to after we found out were all very supportive, agreeing that it is probably nothing and won't even show up on the next ultrasound. I'm so glad God is in control.

The only other thing the midwife told us was that the placenta is low. She drew us a lovely picture (and reminded us that she did NOT major in art) to show us where it was supposed to be and where mine was. As a result, I have been banned from running or other strenuous activities for at least 4 weeks. We'll check again at the ultrasound, but if the placenta doesn't rise as the uterus grows (as it is supposed to apparently), I may be put on bed rest. Which. Would. Be. Awful. But, again, it's not in my hands. All I can do is..nothing I guess :)

But, I figured out how to work the scanner! Yay! So, a few weeks late at 8 weeks..

And now a current picture of her profile

she's kind of looking at us I think..that's my understanding.


That's all I know for now! Oh, and no, we don't have a name picked yet, but we'll get it sometime I'm sure!

19 weeks

If anybody is keeping track, only 2 full days left until we find out if the baby is a boy or girl!!

In other news, Joel and Kimmy came to visit for the weekend. The Clarksburg Scottish Highland Games were today so we went to partake in the fun. We all had a blast, got sunburned and generally roasted in the sun. I was barely able to still fit into my kilt, so I wore it today, and have since vowed to never wear it while pregnant again, especially if it was over 85 degrees. But I could get into it, so I wore it proudly!

The games were small, but we still enjoyed the pipe bands, dancing and heavy weight competition. We were distracted by the Caber Toss, and so we didn't get to go see the sheep dog herding demonstration which we all enjoy but hopefully will be seeing next time!

And, baby's movements are starting to feel much more pronounced :) which makes me smile. I was pretty aggravated a few days ago because the baby was moving like crazy, kicking where Jesse would have actually been able to feel it, and Jesse was at work! I was kind of upset, but I have it on good authority that there is still time and Jesse will get his turn to feel his son or daughter kicking.