25-26 Weeks

Addie is WILD. I think she is awake 95% of the time and decides to randomly take 10 minute naps here and there. While she is awake she is beating the inside of Lacy's stomach to a pulp. It's funny to me, but not so much to Lacy, especially at bedtime. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come.

The network of nerves in her ears are better developed and more sensitive than before. She may now be able to hear both of our voices while we chat. She's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of her lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when she's born and takes that first gulp of air, and then starts crying I'm sure. She's continuing to put on baby fat as she fills out.  She's also growing more hair, and if we could see it, we'd now be able to discern its color and texture. She now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches from head to heel. That's hard for me to believe, because the diameter of Lacy's belly isn't even 14 inches. No wonder she is going nuts in there.

Lacy still looks great, if she didn't have the baby belly you wouldn't even know she was pregnant. It has still been a smooth and uneventful pregnancy (for the most part), and Lacy is still doing pretty good. Her hips have started to ache a little more, and it's getting tough to sleep because of that. She is still peeing every 10-15 minutes and exercising regularly.

We finished painting the nursery, and the color looks really good. I put up the curtains (twice), but Lacy ended up having to order a longer set of them. So I will put up curtains for a third time in the next day or two. We ordered her crib, dresser, and changing table last weekend, but all are on backorder. Good news is all of it should be here early March at the very latest. Let's hope Addie doesn't decide to make her grand entrance too early, because she may have to sleep with the dogs in their bed.... which would also be mine and Lacy's bed.

23-24 Weeks

We are slowly making our way to the last trimester and things are still great with Lacy and Addie. Lacy had her glucose screening test yesterday, and we got the reports today that everything checked out A-OK. This test checks for gestational diabetes, a pregnancy-related high-blood-sugar condition. Untreated diabetes increases your risk of having a difficult vaginal delivery or needing a cesarean section because it causes your baby to grow too large, especially in her upper body. It also raises the baby's odds for other complications like low blood sugar right after birth. The concoction that Lacy had to drink on an empty stomach really got Addie going. She is already a pretty hyper baby it seems like, but the drink really fired her up. We constantly feel her moving around in there and Lacy has seen her belly move around. Speaking of belly's, Lacy's is growing day by day as you can see.

24 Weeks

Addie is growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long, she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help hers air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that her increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as the dogs barking, the roar of the vacuum cleaner, or me screaming at whatever game is on the tv — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

We started painting the nursery this weekend after the paint Lacy ordered came in. It is an "elephant gray" color from restoration hardware, and I think it is going to look really good. We ran out of paint and had to order more so we are still working on it.

Nursery Before

Nursery Before

Nursery Before

Ready to get after it!

This is what I did after Brad and I moved the furniture, yelled at the TV and the Vols.
Susan and Lacy were doing the painting at this point.

I got in a little painting at halftime.



Lacy painting.



All that painting wore Abby out. Tough life.

Lacy Here....

I’ve never attempted a blog but I love reading them. I would have no clue how to create one, and I’ve written this in Microsoft Word and asked Nick to post it in his blog.  I got a wild hair and felt like sharing for those of you interested. 

           

What a ride this has been. I never pictured THIS part of my life really, I guess because it’s hard to picture yourself pregnant.  Every week that my belly gets bigger it all becomes more “real”. Even though I feel little Addilyn move often, it still has not completely sunk in that she will be here sooner than later.With that being said, I’m very ready for her to be here, mentally. But physically, well, we haven’t purchased the crib yet. Might need to get on that!

           

I saw a small glimpse of life with 3 kids the other day and had to smile. I drove to my sister’s house, this is a weekly ritual, but who doesn’t see their best friend weekly! I was sitting at the bar chatting while she “picked up around the house”. This I’m sure was a very normal day in Susan’s life, but what I saw gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside! Caleb and Raymond are gone to Caleb’s basketball practice. Leah is sitting at the table drawing while every 2 seconds blurting, “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom”.  Clara is STANDING in her high chair eating, or finished eating; rather, laughing as she drops her food on the floor to the dog, who is begging beneath her little toes (the rest of the food is smeared across her face and in her hair of course). The house phone rings 4-5 times, “CLARA SIT DOWN, STOP FEEDING THE DOG, LEAH HOLD ON IM TRYING TO FIND THE PHONE, and WHERE IS THE PHONE!!!”.  Susan is picking jackets up off the table, moving toys in the floor frantically trying to find the phone, and amusingly finds it on the floor under the kitchen table. I giggle. Haha wow! For a minute I felt like I was reading a chapter from a book. I enjoyed watching this and had to laugh to myself.  Thanks for the entertainment Sue!

           

I’m so thankful that the Lord blessed us at the time that He did. We were ready for a baby we just didn’t know it (or maybe He made us ready!).  It’s already apparent that Nick is going to be an amazing Dad. This whole experience has made me fall more in love with him, which I didn’t know was possible J but it has. If no one ever read his blog I would still feel like they were personal love letters to me each week!  It’s something I’ve enjoyed and I’m glad that he has kept me up to date on what’s going on in there! 

I realized that my prayers for Addilyn always turned into requests to God that she would be blessed with Nick’s qualities and characteristics. These things are what made me fall in love with him, and reasons why I look up to him, and I want her to have these.  I became aware of all the things I valued about him. This may have been why my love grew stronger for him over the last few months. He has been very supportive and understanding through everything! Even taking interest in the colors for her nursery! Poor guy has heard, “Be right back, bathroom” VERY OFTEN! Although, both of us have been very blessed to experience a smooth pregnancy! Prayers to all my preggo friends out there driving down the road with a brown bag in hand! 

Nick and I have had fun so far! The holidays will only make it that much greater! Thank you everyone for all the prayers. God is good and I couldn’t be happier. Nick, I love you with all my heart and HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY! I wish I could wrap Addie up and give her to you tomorrow but baby gotta grow some more! Have a great week everyone and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

21-22 Weeks

At 11 inches (about the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, Addie is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If we could see inside the womb, we'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

Our books say it may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. This is certainly the truth. Addie is very active, this morning it felt like she was swinging around on her umbilical cord like she was tarzan. Her movements are getting much more distinct and much more powerful. She even kept Lacy up a lot of the night last night because she was rolling around non-stop. The books also say we may also discover a pattern to her activity as we get to know her better. It seems to me like she is more active in the mornings and around bedtime, but that may be because that is when I am around her most. In other developments, her eyebrows and lids are present now, and her reproductive organs are beginning to form.

Lacy is still feeling pretty good, and peeing a lot. She's starting to pop out a little more, but she really hasn't gained that much weight to this point. It seems like she gained all her weight in the first few weeks when she was high risk and couldn't ecercise. Once she was cleared to exercise she stopped the steady weight gain, she is adding weight but it is v e r y slow. She is still exercising somewhat regularly, and eating pretty healthy for the most part too. She is great, looks awesome, and this whole process has been a lot of fun. Approximately 4 months left!

IT'S A GIRL!

Just like we suspected, that little miracle in Lacy's belly is a girl. There will be no more referring to her as "the baby", "it", or "he/she". It is a "she", and "she" is "Addilyn Grace".

Thursday was the ultrasound and it was one of the best days we have ever had. It was filled with so many emotions and it is fun to look back on it. You can see some of the pictures below. When we first got to the doctor's office Lacy went straight to the restroom, big surprise there. Then we went into the ultrasound room, and the anticipation was almost overwhelming. Our ultrasound tech told us she was going to go through some other stuff, mostly measurements of different parts of the baby, before she was going to try and identify the sex of the baby. While she was going through all the measurements, which is fascinating in itself, she said, "Welp, I know what your having". I figured she must had seen something by the way she said it and because she wasn't looking for the sex at the time. So I figured something had to of  "jumped" out at her, so I said, "It must be a boy if you saw something you weren't looking for." She then looked at Lacy and kind of tilted her head and said, "Actually, your having a baby girl". It was like she said it in slow motion as we were hanging onto every syllable of what she was saying. Lacy then screamed, then almost cried, then screamed again. She finished going through all the measurements and pointing out different things to us. Addie was pretty shy after she showed us the goods, or lack there of, but it was fun to watch her wiggle around and fight with the umbilical cord on the 3-D part of the ultrasound. She weighed 9 ounces and her heart rate was 142 beats per minute. She is average right now for size, as she is in the 48th percentile based on the measurements of her torso. The doctor we saw awesome. He walked us through every photo from the ultrasound, and explained everything that they looked at and assured us that everything looked great.

After we left the ultrasound room Lacy went to the restroom again, for the 17th time that morning, and I just sat looking at the ultrasound pictures. Then I almost cried, it was starting to sink in, and I was so happy. I am ready to meet her, but we are only halfway there, ha. I hope the second half of the pregnancy goes as fast as the first half. What was really fun was knowing that the only people that knew the sex of our baby were us, the ultrasound tech, and God himself. We enjoyed dragging out the "news" to our families via pictures and text messages while waiting to see the doctor. We finally told them with a poem we made up off the top of our head, which took four text messages to send.

Roses are red...

Violets are blue..

We are proud to add...

A baby GIRL to our crew!

Another first we experienced is we can feel her moving around in there, especially around bedtime. Lacy had felt her a few times before I did, and I won't forget the first time we felt her together. It's crazy to think she only weighs 9 ounces, but she packs a punch already.

She's around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — about the length of a banana. She's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in her bowels, and we'll see it in her first soiled diaper.

Lacy is still "small", but you can tell she is pregnant now and not just chubby. She feels like she is getting ready to go through a growth spurt and last time she felt like that she was right. Something about a mother's intuition. She should gain about a pound a week from here on out.

Lacy sucking down some caffeine to ensure Addilyn was awake for the ultrasound.

I wouldn't have known she was a girl just by looking at this, but apparently her "private's" are somewhere in there.

Feet and toes.

Profile Pic.

There she is!

We also spent Sunday afternoon shopping for nursery furniture, and clothes, and toys, and everything else a baby girl will need. She is going to be spoiled for sure.

18/19 Weeks

This is a BIG week! We find out on Thursday if this little peanut is going to be a princess or a quarterback! It's like the week of Christmas. Luckily, we have plenty of other things, like work, to keep us distracted. This will be my last post that I refer to the baby as a "it" or "the baby".

Lacy is still doing good, she seems to be peeing more, which I thought was impossible. She has also been having nose bleeds, which are perfectly normal according to our books. Those books have been lifesavers. We have "What To Expect When Your Expecting", "Your Pregnancy Week By Week", and I am sure if there was a book called "Your Pregnancy Minute by Minute" we would own it.

The baby is busy flexing his/her arms and legs — movements that we'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. The blood vessels are visible through his/her thin skin, and the ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from the head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around the nerves, a process that will continue for a year after birth. If we are having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If we are having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from us during an ultrasound. Let's hope not.

The baby's sensory development is exploding! The brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he/she may be able to hear our voices now.
The peanut weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a tomato. So I guess he/she isn't really a peanut anymore. The arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of the body now. The kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on his/her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on the skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

There are plenty of wives tales and myths that claim to predict the sex of the baby. As myths become debunked, they go away. One myth in particular is a good example---18th-century French noblemen would remove their left testicle to have a boy. Not surprisingly, this method has ceased to be used as a way to ensure a baby's sex. I still have my left testicle, so GIRL it is.

Morning sickness is a common symptom of pregnancy, but if you have severe morning sickness--the kind that lasts your whole pregnancy and puts you in danger of not getting enough nutrition--you may be carrying a girl.... so they say. If this were true, we would be having a boy. Morning sickness has rarely been an issue at all. The rare occasion where sickness and nausea sneaks up has been in the evening, not even in the morning, ha. Verdict - BOY

Maybe it's because girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, but legend says that those who crave sweet foods are more likely to have a girl baby than a boy baby. If you crave salty foods, on the other hand, you may want to deck out the nursery in blue. Lacy is definitely a salty food person. Her weakness is seasoned french fries. She has craved sweets more of late, but she hasn't given in to those cravings.... yet. Vedict - BOY

Legend has it that if the baby's heart rate is sluggish and stays primarily below 140 beats per minute, it's a boy. If the heartbeat races well over 140, you have a little girl a cookin'. The heart rate has been over 140 from the beginning. Verdict - GIRL

Another legend says to pay attention to the hubby's waistline. According to some, if dad gains weight during your pregnancy you should paint the nursery blue as it will soon house a baby boy. If dad stays svelte, pick up some pink paint. If this were true, we should start buying dresses and hairbows. Verdict - GIRL

An old wives' tale contends that moms who are pregnant with girls are picky about their food, while moms brewing boys are less picky. Lacy has bever been picky and still isn't. Verdict - BOY

Final score is 3 for the BOYS and 3 for the GIRLS. So none of this helps, these legends and wives tales contradict themselves based on Lacy's symptoms and my waisteline. We'll use our "gut" as a tiebreaker.
Lacy and I both have a feeling this peanut, I mean tomato, is a girl. Dr. Victor Shamas, of the University of Arizona, conducted research that shows that mothers are accurate 70 percent of the time, based on intuition alone. So after overtime, the GIRLS win 4-3. We'll hopefully know for sure on Thursday.

17 Weeks, Beach, and Abby's B-Day



Lacy had a doctor’s appointment on the 8^th and everything went great. The heartbeat was 150 bpm, Lacy’s weight was good, and the doctor reassured her about all her questions. Her next appointment is on the 28^th, and we will find out the sex then. Lacy hasn’t gotten much bigger lately and her weight is good.



Susan snuck this picture while we were at the beach, look at that belly!



Comparing belly's, after crab legs and fried seafood. I win.



I took this today, 10/16, 17 weeks & 4 days.

The baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — the lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. The baby weighs around 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and he/she’s around 5 inches long from head to bottom. The baby can move its joints, and the sweat glands are starting to develop.

We were at the beach this past week with some of Lacy’s family, and we had a great time. We had great weather, ate great food, and got in some much needed relaxation. On Wednesday (Oct. 13), while I was golfing and while Lacy was soaking up the sun on the beach, she felt the baby move for the first time. She is certain that it was the baby, as it was a sensation that she hadn’t felt before, and it was in the exact same spot that the doctor placed the Doppler on her belly when listening to the heart. She felt it again later in the day when sitting on the couch. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to feel it either time, and she hasn’t felt it since then. I have a feeling it won’t be long before I get to feel him/her too.

Beats a day in the office 100% of the time.

Lacy’s allergies have started bothering her and it got worse at the beach, luckily it’s already gotten a little better since we’ve been home. She is still going to the bathroom every six minutes (only a slight exaggeration) and having crazy dreams. She was able to exercise EVERY day at the beach, and I’m sure this is a big reason her weight has been so good. I even went on a couple walks with her but couldn’t keep up. She did however eat well this past week too J



Lacy power walking at a pace of 20 mph.

Me walking with Lacy, or attempting too anyway.
I was more concerned about where we were going to eat breakfast.

Yesterday was our other baby’s 1^st birthday. Her gift was a new bone and Momma coming home from the beach. She’s not really the baby anymore, as she has been bigger than Neely for awhile now.

Abby with her new bone.

Being lazy w/ Momma

They don't even realize that I came home too. All about Momma.
I really think they sense something going on with Lacy.

Neely's turn.





16 Weeks

We (Lacy) are trucking right along! Lacy is doing really well. No real issues to speak of, other than the clothes still not wanting to fit right, ha. No more nausea and her energy seems to have returned to what it was pre-pregnancy. She is still going to the bathroom every 30 minutes and now she is having very graphic dreams. Other than that, everything seems normal. In all the books we have in the house (and when I say all, I mean there are multiple books, magazines, etc.) it talks about the woman having major mood swings up to this point, but I can honestly say I have been lucky in this category too, I can’t really recall any mood swings. Needless to say, up to this point it seems that the pregnancy has been great. I hope we don’t pay for this good fortune down the road. Fingers crossed.

The baby is getting ready to go through a major growth spurt. In the next few weeks, the baby will double its weight and add inches to his/her length. Right now, the baby is about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. The legs are much more developed, the head is more erect than it has been, and the eyes have moved closer to the front of the head. His/her ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of the scalp has begun, though his/her locks aren't recognizable yet. He/she has even started growing toenails. If they grow as fast as mine, he/she will come out looking like Edward Scissorhands. There's a lot happening inside as well. For example, the heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as the baby continues to develop.

We will be finding out whether the baby is a "he" or a "she" sometime within the next month. The anticipation continues to mount.....

15 Weeks

According to my calculations, if Lacy carries this little peanut to term, she is officially 37.5% of the way there. She is still continuing to do well, with no real issues to speak of. The nausea seems to have died down almost completely, her energy is improving, and she is still getting to exercise. She is having a lot of trouble picking out clothes to wear, as nothing seems to fit like it used too, I can’t imagine why. She says she is in the “in between stage”, where people can’t tell if she’s pregnant, or “just getting fat”. I try not to laugh, but it is funny because I think she is so cute with her little belly, but she is stressing over it. She has nightmares, literally, about what she is going to wear to work the next day. She also is going to the bathroom much more frequent as the weeks pass by. I’m glad her side of the bed is the one closest to the bathroom.

Yikes! Sad she has to wear preggo clothes, but happy she has some pants
that will never get to tight, haha.

The baby now measures about 4 inches long and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). It’s busy moving amniotic fluid through his/her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in the lungs begin to develop. The legs are growing longer than his/her arms now, and he/she can move all of his/her joints and limbs. Although the eyelids are still fused shut, he/she can sense light. If I were to shine a flashlight at Lacy’s tummy, the baby is likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for the baby to taste at this point, but he/she is forming taste buds. I can’t imagine that there is anything good to eat in there anyway, especially since he/she has discovered how to use the bathroom by now. Finally, if we were to have an ultrasound this week, we may be able to find out whether the baby's a boy or a girl! It would be tough, but possible. Nailing down the baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and the baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods." I think we are scheduled to find out the sex of the baby at the end of this month or first of next month. The anticipation is mounting daily.

We have some names picked out, but they seem to change from week to week. There is one name that has stuck since the day we thought of it. It is a girl’s name and it is a secret. I think Lacy thought of it, as she has been the name picker outer up to this point. As we get closer to finding out the baby’s sex I have got more involved in that process because it seems more real now for some reason.

Lacy should be able to feel the baby move around in the coming weeks, I read that she can start feeling the subtle movements at the beginning of week 16, but they get more aggressive as she gets to week 22 and beyond.

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P.S. I DID run the half marathon, and I lived to tell about it, ha. More to come on that later….

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Last Friday's 40 Under Forty Gala



14 Weeks

Lacy is now 14 weeks and 1 day and we are now moving onto the second trimester! Notice how I said “we”? I mean Lacy. She is doing great and over a third of the way to the finish line. As you can see from the picture, Lacy is growing right along with the baby and developing a noticeable “bump”. It’s important to note that Daddy is not growing with Momma and baby, ha.

Grow Baby Grow

Lacy seems to be getting some of her energy back, although she is having trouble falling asleep at night which makes it hard to wake up. She is still getting dizzy and queasy at times, but it doesn’t happen too often and is usually brief. She’s been committed to exercising and walking, and she has been able to do it regularly.

The baby is roughly the size of a lemon now, measuring three and a half inches and weighing one and a half ounces. Fingerprints have formed and all the vital organs can be seen through its still thin skin. The baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and suck its thumb! I am imagining all of these skills taking place at the same time and it makes me laugh. Just like Daddy in the mornings minus the sucking my thumb part. Thanks to brain impulses, its facial muscles are getting a workout as its tiny features form one expression after another. The kidneys are producing urine, which are released into the amniotic fluid around him/her — a process that will keep up until birth. He/she can grasp, too.

Its body is growing faster than its head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, the arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (The legs still have some lengthening to do.) He/she is starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over its body. The baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and the spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Although we cannot see or feel it yet, the baby is getting much more active and his/her dancing skills are starting to heat up. Let’s hope the poor thing doesn’t take after me in that department.

All of this is going on inside Lacy’s body; it is still fascinating for me to think about that. Human life has developed and is beginning to live out his/her plan that God has prepared for him/her. We can find out in 5-6 weeks if the baby is in fact a “him” or “her” and we will definitely find out. That should make this blog a little easier to read and I can stop calling it an “it”.

Half marathon this Sunday and I am still not signed up. I took a week off from running because it was wearing me down. My body is just not used to all the stress that running causes. It’s a different type of workout than going to the gym or doing p90x. I think I have tried to cram too much training into to short of a time period. I ran six and a half miles last night on a very hilly course. I finished in exactly an hour and I felt pretty good when I was finished. Although today, I am very sore. The sorest I have been since I started training. My longest run since I started training is eight to nine miles, and a half marathon is 13.1 miles. People say adrenaline carries you the last two to three miles, but what about the two to three miles before the last two to three miles??? I think I could do a 5k or 10k with relative ease, but I may be in over my head with a half marathon at this stage. I have not completely ruled it out, but I think I would fare better if I train another month or so and then try to do it. There are some other opportunities in the area in October and November. I’m not going to over do it the next couple days and re-evaluate on Friday. My body is telling me I’m crazy, but my mind is also saying it’s possible. Stay tuned.

It's Football Time In Tennessee!!!!



Ultrasound #3

I’m going to switch things up this time around. For those of you who were worried about my dedication to training for the half marathon, this is for you. Out of nowhere yesterday I found the motivation to run the eight miles that I was supposed to run last Sunday. To my surprise it wasn’t too bad and I actually had some fuel left in the tank at the end. I’m not sure I could have taken another step because my knees felt like grape jelly, but I felt pretty good other than that. I’m sure my knees felt that way because they simply have never been under that kind of stress for that amount of time, hopefully this will get better with time. The run was boring and I have yet to experience the “runner’s high”, but I did discover a secret that may help with future runs. Podcasts.

I usually run with my iPod pumping out a new song every 3-4 minutes and quite frankly the music was getting old. If you have any good tunes to run too let me know. While I was logged onto iTunes I came across podcasts. I have heard of these before but never paid much attention to them until now. There are plenty of podcasts that are free on just about any topic you can think of. I chose three podcasts to listen to while on my run.

1. Wall Street Recap – This was nice to listen to instead of reading all the news the next morning. I felt like I had a leg up on my job after listening to this.

2. Men’s Health Articles – I listened to conversations about articles from the current Men’s Health Magazine. This was tough to listen to because they spent a majority of the time discussing how prolonged slow cardio work wasn’t the greatest thing in the world for burning fat or improving athletically. Good thing I am not doing this for either of those reasons. It also talked about how men who consume 1-2 alcoholic drinks daily live longer then those who do not drink at all. This was encouraging, but also hard to think about while running. When Gatorade is the only beverage on your mind, thinking about red wine or Guinness stout is a bad idea.

3. Fantasy Football Focus – Self explanatory, who doesn’t need a little help managing their fantasy football team?

Needless to say, not only did I have a sense of accomplishment after my run, I also felt smarter.


Now to the fun part, Lacy’s 3rd ultrasound. Everything went great, and Lacy is no longer considered “high risk” and can begin tapering off her medication. They have been keeping a close eye on her throughout the first trimester, partially because her hormone levels were so low in the beginning, but we got the “all clear” light from the doctor today.

Ultrasound #3

We heard the heartbeat again today and it was strong, measuring 166 bpm. I think last time around it measured 165 bpm, so it’s consistent. I guess a good thing that comes with being high risk is multiple ultrasounds in the beginning stages, so we have been able to see the baby really develop over the past couple months. It is exciting to see the baby actually look like a baby now, and to see how far it has come in just a short amount of time. Every time I am in that ultrasound room with Lacy all I can think about is that all of this is truly a miracle. I am amazed at the process and look forward to what is in store next. I have posted a couple pictures from today. It looks like the baby is sucking its thumb and during the ultrasound you could really see the baby and all the parts. It will be nice when we can call the baby he or she, it feels wrong calling it an “it”, ha. Eight more weeks and we will know. Lacy is still doing well, with no real issues to speak of, which is a blessing. I am thankful for that and I am pretty sure she is too! She was kind enough to remind me that we will have a baby in our family in 194 days, or 27 weeks, or 4,656 hours, or 279,360 minutes, or, get ready...16,761,600 seconds. That is, if all goes according to plan. 

Notice the facial features and it looks like the baby is sucking its thumb.

You can see the arms and legs a little better in this one.

12 WEEKS

Lacy hit the 12 week mark today and she is nearly out of the first trimester, for this we are thankful. The nausea and fatigue has picked up slightly since my last post, but we think it could be a lot worse. We have heard other stories of mothers at this stage that make Lacy’s journey look like a walk in the park….. so far. She has also been able to exercise by walking and her appetite seems to be normal.

So what is going on with the baby these days? The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. The baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and the mouth will make sucking movements. They say, if I were to prod Lacy’s abdomen, the baby would squirm in response, although we wouldn’t be able to feel it. The intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into the abdominal cavity, and the kidneys will begin excreting urine into the bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in the baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His/her face looks unquestionably human: The eyes have moved from the sides to the front of the head, and the ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, the baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.


Below is a picture of the baby at 12 weeks. I got the picture from www.babycenter.com, which is where I get a lot of this information.

We have an ultrasound scheduled for Thursday 9/9, so we will get another picture of the baby. I have posted a picture of each of the first 2 ultrasounds as well. They are fun to compare and we are excited to see how much the baby has grown the last four weeks.

Six Weeks

You can barely see the baby on the lining of the uterus wall. It is the little white circle in the southeast part of the bigger black blob in the top left of the picture. Don't you love my medical terminology?

8 Weeks

The baby is a little easier to see this time, just to the left of the arrow drawn on the screen. Big difference in only two weeks time.

In other news, I have hit a wall with my half marathon training. I enjoy the challenge, but have lost some of the desire I once had when I decided to start training. The fact that I do not enjoy running in the slightest also plays a big part in my lack of desire. I have stuck to my schedule 100% except for shortening an eight mile run to a four mile run this past weekend. After all it was Labor Day weekend, no need to kill myself by running to much right? Not exactly the best move considering the half marathon is in 19 days and my longest run is seven miles so far. 13.1 miles seems like a stretch at this point in the game, but I am not giving up yet. I wish I would have decided to do this earlier than 7 weeks out, but I guess that is part of the challenge. The good news is my body feels pretty good considering the constant pounding it has taken as I run at least three days a week. The only problem is a few blisters on my toes, which are nothing compared to the blisters I was getting in the very beginning. The cooler weather lately has also been nice and you can tell fall is right around the corner.

Leading off....

Where to start? The idea behind this blog all started as a way to keep friends and family updated on the progress of the little jellybean inside Lacy’s belly, which I still can’t believe there is something living inside her. I admit I set this blog up a few weeks ago and am just now getting around to writing anything. So the title, “A Work In Progress”, seems appropriate. I will try to post other things that are going on in our lives if you care to read them. So, this may be short lived, but I am going to try and keep it updated, and if I can’t maybe Lacy can.


Lacy is 11 weeks pregnant today, and over a fourth of the way to the finish line. Her due date is March 22nd. She has done really well so far and I don’t think she has experienced many side effects from being pregnant. She has had brief bouts with nausea at random times, but she is a trooper. I turn into a toddler when I am nauseous and whine like a baby, but somehow she manages to keep functioning like she is perfectly fine. Although, tonight Lacy got nauseous and in her words, it hit her "like a ton of bricks". Let's hope she escapes this stage without having many more problems with nausea.

So what's going on with the baby? At this point the baby is in the fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in the baby’s body rapidly grow and mature. The baby is kicking up a storm, learning how to swallow, and the vital organs have developed and are starting to function on their own. The baby's limbs can bend now. The hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over the heart, and the feet may be long enough to meet in front of the body. The outline of the spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from the spinal cord. The forehead temporarily bulges with the developing brain and sits very high on the head, which measures half the length of the body. From crown to rump, he/she is about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, the baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches, haha.

Whew…. There is a lot going on in there. It is amazing for me to read and watch videos about the process and how it works. It is fascinating and truly a miracle.


The dogs, Abby and Neely, also sense something going on with Lacy. I don’t know if its because they are female or what, but they like to cuddle up with her a lot more now. If this baby is a girl, there will be 4 females in the house with me. Could get interesting.


Finally, here are the first signs of the "baby bump".

Lacy at 10 weeks and 2 days