21 weeks 5 days today...

Only 18 weeks and 2 days more to go! I'm just over halfway! Oh my, where did the time go? At my last appointment this past Friday, we didn't do an ultrasound since I have to have one this Thursday at the hospital. I guess you're supposed to drink a ton of water before the "Big" ultrasound not only for making it easier to see the gender but also for other things like checking the position of the uterus. From what she saw, I should be fine but they're making me come back just to be sure. At the Planned Parenthood appointment, I heard the heartbeat again. There's nothing more soothing to me than hearing that little drum beat. :-) Within the last couple weeks, I've started to feel her movements a little more each day. Now I feel her at least once or twice a day, if not more. :-) Her favorite thing to do seems to be kicking my bladder which is not comfy and sends me running to the bathroom every time. I've started feeling her kicks (or punches, I can't tell the difference) off to the side and below my ribcage. She's really working out in there! Jon isn't able to feel her kicks yet but we're patiently waiting for that day! I read that you can't feel the kicks on the outside till around 24 weeks. So just a few more to go!

I wouldn't say I've hit the nesting stage yet. I hear that comes in the third trimester. I think I'm in the panic stage right now. Ha ha! Meaning, it's sinking in that we're halfway there, assuming I carry to 40 weeks, and I'm worrying about getting our room ready in time, will I be able to handle labor, what pain relief options do I want, will we be able to afford a doula, where the heck to I fit the clothes we've been given so far and what will I do with all the baby things yet to come!

I miss working and am anxious for January to come around so I can start my medical assisting program and start that new chapter. I'll probably need to work before then, I'm thinking by November but I'm so excited for school! We plan to move out before Baby Kali starts crawling so I've been wanting to work to start contributing to our savings for that. As much as the budget crunch sucks, one good thing is it's easier for me to keep my blood pressure down. As my NP says, if I wasn't pregnant, my blood pressure wouldn't be anything to worry about. But with being pregnant and my current blood pressure rates, I need to be little bit more aware of what I eat and my stress levels. She says it's nothing to be worried about now but it's something they will be monitoring. We're trying to keep me out of the high risk group as much as possible. One easy way she said I can lower it is by reducing my salt intake.

So now I'm trying to adjust my diet more and bad habits are so hard to break! I'm trying to stay away from fries and chips. I'm trying to cut back on my sweets too because next month I get my hour long glucose test! I'm really nervous about having gestational diabetes because I was already overweight before the pregnancy but I've kept my pregnancy weight gain pretty much on track. I just need to continue to get myself to make healthier choices. Being on the WIC program helps a lot. It gives me a guideline on what I should be having.

I feel like I'm rambling so I'm going to stop blogging now. Ha ha! Until next time!

It's a... GIRL!!!!!

My dream was right! Well partially anyways (so far). :-) About 2 months ago, I had a dream. I was picking up my baby to put her into a stroller or seat. I didn't see her face as I was picking her up from behind but my baby was a little girl with short, wavy brown hair, about 1-2 years old and wearing a dark brown and blue polka dot dress. I woke up wondering... is that my baby? I'm a big believer in dreams and intuition so I kept wondering when I'd find out what we're having. The closer we got to the big appointment, the more sure I felt. So did Jon. I even started knitting a baby blanket in pink and brown! I figured if I was wrong and having a boy, I could give the blanket to someone having a girl as a gift.

April 5th came and when I showed up, it turns out they had rescheduled my appointment and forgot to call me. I was upset and tried really hard to hide my tears but they came anyways. Oh, gotta love those pregnancy hormones! I had to wait till next Monday, the 12th. Only a week but it felt like an eternity. In the wee hours of that Monday, I got sick... really sick. I couldn't keep anything down. Turns out I had the flu! I forgot how much I hate the flu! Thank God for Jon and him being able to clean me up because I was too weak to do it! He takes such good care of me. I'm blessed to have him in my life.

After trying to be strong and convince myself I could still make the appointment, I had to reschedule. There was no way I could make it. I was too weak. At first they said I'd have to wait until May 5th BUT then they had a cancellation at another location for Tuesday! I'll take it! I'll make it somehow!

Tuesday morning came and I felt better. Still a little weak but good enough to handle this appointment! Jon made it at the last minute from work, right before the nurse was going to give up on checking the waiting room for him. Whew! Close call! I really wanted him by my side. This is his baby too and I wanted us to find out together.

She did the measurements first and Baby is measuring on schedule. The legs measured a couple days behind but I've learned babies in development have spurts so it's nothing to worry about yet. We didn't get to hear the heart beat but this time it was 143. Last time it was about 152 (beginning of March). She said that was normal though as it depended on how I was feeling (more calm, excited, etc.) and how the baby was feeling (resting, moving a lot, etc.).

Baby LOVES to keep its legs lose together and tucked. But after much pushing (gently) on my tummy, she saw those 3 tell-tale lines on the ultrasound that usually mean a girl. :-) Eeeeeeeiiiii!!!!! A girl!!! Of course, she can't be 100% positive as ultrasounds aren't perfect and she kept her legs pretty tight most of the time but she was willing to say she was 90% sure it's a girl. Sigh, how is it possible to be so in love with a little being that we haven't met yet?

We're NOT running out and buying everything pink though!!! I've never been a big pink fan after I was maybe 10 years old and don't see why a baby girl has to be in pink all the time. Seems a little silly to me. Besides, I love color and hope she will too. So that means purples, reds, blues, greens, yellows, you name it! Daddy Jon is already planning to put her in San Jose Sharks Teal! :-)

If I had to say what "theme" we're have for our baby things, I'd say baby Noah's Ark animals. It was gender neutral and I love the colors or light greens, yellows, blues... basically like spring time. Happy colors that are still soft and soothing.

We had names picked out for either boy or girl and it's nice to start using a name for our baby! True, it may change once she's born but we're pretty sure we're sticking with it. It just feels right. It came to us pretty easily. Spelling may change but I think that's it, if anything. But we're pretty set on it. :-)

Jon picked the name KALI (pronounced Cali, Kah-lee). We were inspired during our trip to Hawaii back in August 2008 back when she was just a twinkle in our eyes. So we've been playing around with K girl names for a while. I just found out recently that Kali is also the name of a Hindu goddess, consort of Shiva! She is a Mother Goddess, of time and change. I chose BETTIANNE as a hybrid of my grandmother's name from my dad's side: Barbette Ann. She was one of the great role models in my life besides my own parents and my 2 grandpas (her husband, John and my grandpa on my mom's side, Zenon). My grandpa John used to call her Bette. I also kinda wanted a Betty to keep up the Archie comic book name thing (ask my dad about my name. ha ha!) Bettianne is a combo of Betty and Ann which comes out to mean graciously consecrated to God.

I think she's in for great things! A real life Angel! Hee hee!

We can't wait to meet you Kali Bettianne Smith!

Week 17:


Week 18:


Week 19:

First Trimester Screening Pics

As promised, although a bit late, here are the ultrasound pics I got while waiting for the baby to get into position for the NT testing. The NT (nuchal translucency) test measures the amount of fluid in between the bones at the back of the neck. I don't have the results yet. They will go over it at my next appointment this Friday. But my NP is a "no news is good news" kind of person so I'm not worried. As for finding out the gender, we won't find out till April 5th. I will be going to Valley Med for that ultrasound because they have more sophisticated equipment. It'll be much more accurate than what they have at Planned Parenthood. So far I've felt baby movement just one other day since St. Patrick's Day, but I'm sure it's still a little early and soon the baby will get big enough and strong enough to really make itself felt!

These were taken at 13 weeks, 6 days... one day before I hit my 2nd trimester.

2nd Trimester

Whew! I graduated to my 2nd trimester a couple weeks ago. People are saying I'm starting to show. I still think it's just my original tummy fluff but maybe I don't notice it because I see myself everyday. Ha ha! As of today, I'm at the end of my 16th week, going into my 17th. Four months gone in a flash... just in time for a nice hot summer! Whew-ee! I bet this will be fun! ;-)

I have noticed my tummy gets in the way a little bit now. I went up to see my parents. I tried to squeeze by Mom's car to exit through the garage door. Yeah... I didn't make it through and had to go back into the house and go out the front door. When I wash something in the sink and lean forward to reach for the soap, I notice my reach is a little shorter now and my tummy is uncomfortable leaning against the counter. My tummy has accidentally hit the button on the dishwasher, turning it on. I can't reach my pinky toes to paint them myself. Although, it's now a GREAT excuse for getting pedicures!

I went to my first prenatal yoga class. I am sold! I love it! The om's make me giggle a little. I admit it. But the exercises are great! Plus I always have used controlled breathing whenever I had pains so this helps me learn how to better concentrate on my breathing. I highly recommend it to anyone! Now don't let this mislead you into thinking I'm planning on an all natural birth. I'm probably the only woman in the class that's not having it in my birth plan. It's just not for me. I do have a lot of respect for the women who are planning on it though! You girls are tough as nails!

I'll be at the end of 18 weeks at my next appointment. I'm really hoping they will do an ultrasound and tell us if it's a boy or girl! Yesterday, St. Patrick's Day, in the morning, I thought I felt the baby hiccuping! There were two distinct bubble kind of feelings while I was laying down. After talking to Tina, we think it was probably actually the baby kicking! I guess when the baby hiccups, it goes on for a while. Ha ha! My first baby movement that I can feel! Eeeeeeiiiiii!!!!!!

I had gotten 3 more ultrasound pics with I had my first trimester screening (horrible experience btw) but I need to scan them in. Hopefully I'll get those up soon. In the meantime, here are the latest belly pics.

Week 15:


Wek 16:

Recent Belly Pics

Here are the belly pics for these last 3 weeks. People are saying I'm starting to round out a bit and show! I sort of see it but I think I notice it less since I see myself every day.

Week 12:





Week 13:




Week 14:

Our First Ultrasound!

This past Friday we had our very first ultrasound! It was so exciting, nerve racking, and scary all at the same time. I was so worried that maybe we wouldn't see anything and this would all be a dream. I was excited to see the little life that was growing inside of me. Will it be moving? Will it be facing forward? Will we hear a healthy heartbeat?

While our nurse practitioner, Joan, was doing her thing showing us our little one, I swear it waved at us! Okay, so maybe it didn't know we were looking at it and it happened to move it's arm, BUT it looked like it was waving. ;-) So I say it waved at us. Ha ha! It was trippy to watch the screen and actually see it's heart beating. I still can't feel any kicks yet since it's still early so it was surreal.

It also reminded me why I want to get into being an ultrasound tech myself. To show someone else something so cool and wonderful... how amazing would that be!

I was also approved for the WIC program today which will be a great help! It's a program that helps supplement your diet with healthy foods for mom and your children. I've never been the best at shopping for healthy foods so this is a great way to get into some good habits.

This Wednesday, I go to Fremont for my neucel translucency (sp?) testing. Apparently they have to do it before I hit 14 weeks and however many days so they have to rush me in to get it done in time. Another small blessing for not working so I can do this round of testing. Basically this is where they test for Down's Syndrome, T13, etc. Fingers crossed all is well!

Here's the ultrasound pics! :-)

Knitting again :-)

I'm so excited!!! All I've done up until now has been beanies and scarves. But yesterday I finished my first pair of baby booties and started on a second pair! Whoot whoot!