32 Weeks

Well, we made it to 32 weeks now. Everyone keeps telling me how small I am, but I don't feel like it. He still moves around a lot, and sometimes he wakes me up at night with a party in my belly! After weighing in at the doctor's office this week, I have gained a total of 27 pounds so far. Everything is looking good with the baby. Now if my ribs/back on my right side would just quit hurting, and if I didn't have to use the bathroom so frequently, and well, this list could go on! In the picture you can see I got a haircut recently. I don't think I've had my hair this short before but it is so much easier to fix in the morning!

Floor--After

Here's the "after" pictures of our floor. Brian did a great, great, great job with the tile! Here's the dining room.
Here's the laundry room. Please excuse the laundry on the floor; I didn't really get to do any for two weeks.
Here's the hallway in front of the laundry room.
Here's our kitchen. Finally! I have my stove and oven back. We became regulars at the nearby Sunrise Cafe for a while since I couldn't cook.
Here's the entryway that Brian added in front of our front door. I love this part! Again, thank you so much, Brian, for all of your hard work for over a month. I hope your knees and back start to feel better soon!
We also had carpet installed after Brian got done with the tile floor. Here's Raddy enjoying the new carpet.

Floor--Before

Here's the "before" pictures of our floor. It's actually a little after because Brian already got up the linoleum layers (3 in most places). It took him two weeks to do that part. I guess it took me two weeks to find the camera in our jumbled-up house! Here he is cleaning up the last bit of dirt off the concrete floor.
Here's the floor in the laundry room.
Here's the floor of the hallway in front of the laundry room.
This is our dining room and you're looking into the water heater closet.
Here's our kitchen floor.

Ultrasound Baby Pictures

I added a link at the right so that you can view the pictures from the 4D ultrasound. Some of the pictures look the same, but I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Hi everybody!

Hey, I've been noticing that people I don't know are actually looking at my blog because I've gotten a few comments. I didn't think anyone but my family and some friends looked, so I appreciate all of you checking it out. Thanks!

Baby Stuff

All of these pictures show things that Aunt Cathy found for the baby. Here are a few summer outfits she found.
Here's an extra large diaper holder that she found. Someone had made it and she found it at a garage sale. I don't know if I'm going to use it as a diaper holder but Aunt Cathy suggested I could put blankets in it.
Here are two blankets that she found. They are really pretty.

I have gotten so many things for the baby already! Mostly from several family members. I wanted to take pictures so that you all can see too. I only took a few pictures right now, so I will try to take more later when the house gets back to normal after tile and carpet are finished.

Mini-Vacation

We went to Quartz Mountain for a mini-vacation. We stayed one night at the lodge, and it was Brian's anniversary gift to me. I'm sitting at the picnic table after we finished eating lunch. It was about 98 degrees but we were in the shade and had a nice breeze. We had sandwiches, chips and dip, carrots, and desert.
This is our view from the picnic table. I think we found a good spot.
Brian really wanted to get in a canoe so I went too. It was really hot and I didn't feel like paddling, but he had a great time. Afterwards, I made him buy me a sno-cone to cool off.
We stayed the night at the lodge and this is the view from our door. That night after dinner we enjoyed taking chairs out on the patio to look and the view and talk.
After dinner we also decided to take a short walk and look around. Here I am already tired and ready to go sit down. Seems like I get tired a lot more easier than I used to.

We had a great time and it was nice to get away for a couple of days. We've been talking about how it's already time to go again!

4D Ultrasound

Here's a video of the 4D ultrasound that we got yesterday. It is just a video of everything we saw and it is about 25 minutes long. Brian's family (Jill, Alan, and Heather) went with us. We got to see the baby's face in 3D. We also saw his feet, arms, hands, and his boy parts. The 4D part is to see all of that while he is moving. So, sometimes the video shows him open his mouth to yawn or put his fingers or toes in his mouth. He was moving around a lot and covering his face up with his hands and feet. I guess he didn't want his picture taken! I think he has Brian's nose and lips. He might even have the dimple in his chin like Brian does. It's hard to tell, but he's already a cutie!! As part of the ultrasound we also get a website that you can look at pictures and make comments. I think I will just have the pictures there instead of trying to put all of them on here. That will be a lot of work! As soon as I get the other website figured out I will let you know. I hope you all enjoy a sneak peek at the baby!

Oh, and good news, I don't have gestational diabetes! Guess I shouldn't have eaten fruit loops and Welch's fruit snacks before the first diabetes test! Oops, it seems obvious now!!

28 Weeks

The baby and I have reached 28 weeks. The doctor said I was doing well this week. My blood pressure is good and I have gained a total of 21 pounds. I have about 12 weeks to go until B-day! I had to do the gestational diabetes test this week and I didn't pass the first one. I went back today for the second one and had to give blood 4 times. That was not fun. I will find out the results in a day or two, and if I've got it I'll let you know. Oh yeah, my belly button did pop out but not a lot!

Brian is off work for this month and he's been doing a lot of work at home. He is taking up the linoleum in the kitchen, dining room and laundry room. He's going to be finished with that by Friday! Then he is going to put down ceramic tile.

24 Weeks

Happy about my belly and baby inside! Belly button is still an innie, and I hope it doesn't pop out!
I don't know...can you tell any difference from the last picture? Just kidding, I can definitely tell I have grown, which means baby is growing too. I had another doctor appointment this week. Everything is going great and I gained 5 pounds in the last month. So I have gained a total of 15 pounds. I am supposed to start putting on more weight from now on as the baby gains the majority of his weight now. I am supposed to gain 25-35 pounds total. So let's see, it took me 6 months to gain 15....I guess I can gain another 15 pounds in the next three months :)

Right now the baby enjoys listening to music (I guess he does anyway). We listen to it together instead of the headphones on the belly. I learned some songs to sing to him, so almost every morning I sing him one. I figure if he gets used to hearing my singing voice now, it won't scare him later!

I will have to take some pictures of the things I have gotten for the baby so that you all can see. We've gotten clothes and all kinds of things from family, and few we bought on our own. I will try to do that next week.

Neighbor's Damage

A power line was down across the road, so neighbors were out to try to keep people from driving down that street. Later the police came and blocked the area. The debris on our streets was so bad that cars had trouble getting through. Small bulldozers came through and worked all night clearing the streets. Broadway street and part of highway 62 were also closed, so the street of Park Lane became a major way for the diverted traffic for a few days.
Here's our western-side neighbor's backyard. You can see my car under the carport at the left. To the right, you can see the black electrical line that is lying on our fence and it extends into their yard. We got our power back on Saturday evening, but they got theirs back today when the line was put up.
Here's their tree where the dog was chained up. There is a shed on the left next to the tree and the dog was found between the tree and the shed. She has some boo-boos but she is alright.
Here's our western-side neighbor's front yard. Their tree is mostly gone and you can see it lying there. They lost several shingles on their roof as did our neighbor's to the east of us. Both of them will probably have to get new roofs. We only lost one shingle.
The front of the church across the street suffered damage. The whole overhanging porch roof blew away. You can see one of the white poles on the ground and the other lying across the doorway. Part of the roof was lost so that this part of the building was open to the elements, so I'm sure they have lots of water damage on the inside.

Like I said before, this is just some of the damage. This doesn't even compare to other damage in neighborhoods close to ours. My brother-in-law, Nick, took lots of pictures around town. You can see them at http://flickr.com/photos/tech2/

Tornado (unofficially) in Altus!

We lost our redbud tree when the whole tree was pulled out of the ground leaving a hole! I'm really sad about losing this tree because it was the most beautiful redbud I had ever seen :(
Branches from our neighbor's tree fell all around Brian's car not on it! Thank you, God!
We lost our shed and some of the contents. The shed is folded up against the fence and contents are lying around. This was the next morning so Brian had already picked up our grill which you can see at the right of the picture. That was turned over and sitting on its lid with the legs in the air. Oh, and some pieces of the shed are lying in our neighbor's yard!
Here's a look at the front of our house the next morning. Brian had to move the branch in the driveway so he could go to work. We had no electricity but the tech center did, so off to work!
Here's our neighbor's dog (on the right) who is staying in our backyard until things get fixed in theirs. The dog was chained to a tree that got blown over. Their electrical line also fell in the tree and yard, but we had already lost power before that. We were worried at first that she had died because she did not come when we called. The neighbors got home right after the storm. Brian and Pat found the dog out of her chain but still in the fallen tree.

So in case you didn't know, we had a tornado in Altus last Thursday, June 5th. It hit hardest on my part of town, the air force base, and in Blair. I said in the title "unofficial" because the base sounded the alarm but the town of Altus didn't. So the county officials cannot say it was a tornado, if you know what I mean. But we all know it was and some people have pictures of the funnel touching ground. The damage was really bad for some. We lost power on Thursday about 20 minutes before it hit (because of the high winds) and we got power back on Saturday evening. Our neighbor on the west side lost a tree and lots of branches of others, and they also lost one vehicle when a tree fell on the carport. I saw many homes with huge trees lying on their cars and one home I saw had part of the neighbor's tree in their house! Many homes also had partially lost their roofs. I can't even begin to describe all of the damage here. So, I am thankful to God that no one lost their homes and no one had died. I'm going to post a blog next that will only have pictures of my neighbor's.

WOSC

Well, it was official yesterday that I got the full-time position for biology instructor at Western Oklahoma State College (WOSC). Yay!!! I'm really happy and excited to have this full-time job. I have been enjoying working there part-time. My full-time position takes effect in August. I am still working part-time this summer, but I will get a key to my new office soon so I can move in!

Lots of big things have happened this year for us so far. #1--we bought Mom & Dad's house here in Altus, #2--baby's coming!, and #3--now I have a full-time job!

Brian is enjoying his new work this month at the tech center. He is working with the simulator instructor on the flight simulator machine to repair it. If this works out he may be on an 11-month contract in the future.

In July Brian is putting in tile floors for my kitchen/dining room and the laundry room. We are also looking at getting new carpet in the rest of the house. I'm excited about this because I have been wanting new flooring for a long time.

Another Ultrasound

I got a call this morning that there was a computer problem last week and my ultrasound exam never made it to the doctor. So I had to go in again today. Don't worry, it wasn't done again because of the baby.
This picture is labeled. It shows the baby holding his foot. The foot is in front of the hand in the picture with his wrist and elbow bent. So just above the word "foot" are the fingers, but you can't barely make them out.
This picture shows one of the feet. The heel is at the left and the toes are to the right. The other foot was underneath this one.
This one shows the boy parts. One leg is at the top and the little rearend is at the left. There is a T just above the testicles and to the right is the penis. Just right of that you can see part of the umbilical cord. So I can really see now that the baby is a boy!

Ultrasound

Baby's face looking right at you with the forehead (looks like a large black spot) at the left side of the pic. You can see two black eyes, the nose and chin. A fist is at the top of the pic.
Baby's legs from a front view with baby lying on his side. The abdomen is at the left of the pic and feet (which are upturned) are at the far right of pic. You can see two large knees in the center of the pic.
Baby's legs at a slightly different view. The feet are at the left side of pic. The lower leg is more straight and the top leg is slightly bent.
Baby's profile looking up. You can see the forehead, one eye (black spot), a pointy nose and mouth.
Another profile pic. The head looks much bigger and you can't see the nose and mouth as well.

You can click on the pictures to see them larger. It was very exciting to see the baby moving around. I could feel it sometimes as I was seeing it. We saw the baby do a total flip and move hands and feet. We also saw the baby scratch my placenta which was actually really cute. We could see the bottom of the feet and toes really well. We saw the heart beating too. The technician pointed out the boy parts to us twice, but I couldn't really tell. She said that she was pretty sure the baby is a boy, but that it's not 100%. Right now the names we like are Alexander Charles or Brian Charles (after Brian, but we would call the baby Charles). We will probably wait until the baby gets here to make up our minds.

Interview

I had the interview today for the full-time biology instructor at WOSC. I think it went well, and I answered the questions as best as I could. I should hear either way within the next few days, so I'll let you know.

20 Weeks

I went to the doctor today. I have 3 doctors and I have been to all 3 now. The one today was Dr. Hyde, who is my usual doctor that I see every year. All 3 doctors are women and I see all three of them because it is possible that any one of them could deliver the baby. It depends on who is on-call the day I deliver. I would only get to choose which doctor if my delivery is planned ahead of time, like for surgery or induction. I gained 4 more lbs. Dr. Hyde said I was doing well. She asked if I had a good appetite, and Brian was sitting there shaking his head "yes" really big! We listened to the heartbeat again. I get an ultrasound on Wednesday, so if we find out the gender I'll let you know. Brian was really excited about the ultrasound, and the nurse and I were laughing because of it. Here's a picture I took today, and I think there's a big difference from last month.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers! I love you, Mom! Thank you Mom and Dad for the beautiful flowers you sent to me! I'm looking forward to being a Mom, and I hope that I can be as great as my Mom.

Doctor Yesterday

I went to my cardiologist yesterday because I had told my doctor about feeling cold. My cardiologist said that it was not related to my heart. He said it sounded like it could be my thyroid or possibly just part of pregnancy. My other doctor said my thyroid level is normal. My cardiologist and I talked about my medication, and I am planning to continue not taking it while I am pregnant and breastfeeding. So I will see my cardiologist in one year unless I have any problems before that.
As far as feeling cold, I have been feeling fine. And I haven't had any "morning sickness" for the last two weeks! I'm hoping that means it's done. I still feel the baby move every day, and sometimes it feels like the baby is ramming his/her head into me. Or pushing on me and trying to stretch my uterus! It doesn't hurt but I don't like it anyway.

Still Moving

So I felt the first movement on April 26th at 10:20am, and I have felt it move every day since then. Sometimes I forget for the first nanosecond that it is a baby moving, and I think "what is that?" Then, oh yes, there is a baby in there! Sometimes the baby hits me so hard that I can actually see it from the outside! But that is only sometimes. And I keep calling Brian over to see, but then nothing happens. So the other night Brian was talking to the baby and kissing my belly where I said the baby was moving. Then he laid his cheek there, and the baby kicked so hard that Brian felt it! Brian was really happy and satisfied that he felt the baby move too.
I'm in my 5th month now and I will find out in about a week and a half when I will get an ultrasound done. Hopefully then we will know if we have a girl or boy!

School is almost over for this semester/year. Brian will be working in June for the first time as a trial basis. They are changing up his program and he might be put on an 11-month contract in the future. This is really good and he is happy about that. I have applied for the full-time biology instructor position at WOSC. I have an interview on May 14th, so we will see what happens! I will be working this summer as adjunct instructor (part-time) teaching two biology classes. I'm looking forward to that.