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.