Welcome Baby Jocelyn

Elsie, Mike & big brother, Aiden welcomed their new little girl, Jocelyn Myra into their family yesterday. She was born 2 1/2 weeks early but was a healthy 7 lbs 5 oz! Now if it weren't for the fact that she has been born into an Ohio State family, we might already have an arranged marriage worked out. But I don't know if the daddies would ever agree to a Wolverine-Buckeye union! :) Even so, we think she's adorable and can't wait for BabyW to meet her! Congrats Elsie & Happy Father's Day to the proud daddy &(the rest of the dads too)!

BabyW has a new cousin!

My cousin, Mike, and his fiance, Marilyn, had their baby girl today! Makayla Grace was born (5 weeks early) in Maryland and she is 5 lbs 14 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. The new mom & dad are doing well and super-excited. Mike manages my dad's Baltimore store and it worked out that my dad was up there teaching today so he got to meet his great-niece and see my aunt Brenda who flew in today from Florida to meet her first granddaughter. Here's a picture of the proud new dad and his little girl.

27 Weeks... 3rd Trimester!

Well, we had our 4D ultrasound today. We had nearly an hour of checking BabyW. out... the u/s techs were amazed at how perfect his spine and heart looked. They said they could have scanned him all day because everything looked textbook-perfect. We saw his chunky little legs and even his hands with all the details. He kept his face hidden though! He buried it in the back of me and wouldn't let us peek! He sure didn't mind flashing his boy parts though... we got some good laughs out of that! So we didn't get any clues as to who this little boy will look like, but we got lots of reassurance that he is healthy and growing strong. He actually measured 3 lbs 2 oz. which is in the 99.7 percentile for 27 weeks... he's a BIG boy!! They still estimated my due date as exactly July 15th... just with an at least 8lb. baby. Both grandmas, Aunt Stiney, Grandpa Wheatley and Daddy were all there, and we had a great time. It's funny because as neat as it would have been to see his face, I think it will be a fun surprise in 3 months... so I wasn't too disappointed. Here are a few pictures if you can decipher them. (The orange one... picture his arms kinda crossed in front of his face and you can see one of his hands/fist.

26 Weeks

Fetal development in pregnancy week 26: This is your last week of the 2nd Trimester! Your little one is weighing in at almost 2 pounds and measures about 14 inches long. At long last, your little swimmer can see the womb! Your miracle’s little eyelids have finally separated (they were fused closed previously) and they’re probably having their first moments of sight as you read this (or maybe it already happened while you were brushing your teeth or watching Oprah or something). In addition to seeing their little studio in your belly, they’ve recently acquired the ability to say “yes” and “no” in rudimentary sign language as they can now move their head back and forth. This is also the time where your little super star’s head hair is starting to grow! A cute little cowlick or two may be springing into position right now, getting ready for years of cute-but-stubborn bed-head. Also, their toenails have grown in and you little raisin continues to slowly pile up fat beneath their still-loose skin. Most importantly, brain tissue and neurons are all developing at a rapid pace, increasing their (genius-level?) brain activity and will continue to function at accelerated levels for the first seven to eight years of childhood!

181 down... 99 to go.

99 days and counting... we're in the double-digits now! I never knew I could have so many different thoughts/emotions at the same time. In some ways, 3 months seems like an eternity before we get to meet our little boy...I won't miss being pregnant, I just want to meet him. I can't wait. And in the same moment, I sometimes think how I don't know if I'm ready for how much our life is about to change in just 14 short weeks. I have so much to do between now & then, and the days of independence, newlyweds, freedom are about to be forever gone. The former is definitely the stronger of the two thoughts. While I do get moments of "this is really for real, what were we thinking?! how are we going to do it?" they are far surpassed by the excitement and the anticipation of the changes this new little life will bring. Sure, life will never be the same, and it will surely be full of sacrifices and challenges, but there is a joy awaiting us that is completely worth it.

Welcome Home Aunt Stiney

...or Justine, as most of you would know her :) My sister, Justine, made the cross-country drive from Denver to here last week and got home Saturday night! She'll be here at least through September, which is great since Baby W. will definitely be making his arrival sometime between now and the end of July... hopefully on the later end of that range! We wish Justine could stay longer, but oh what a pity...we'll just have to go to Hawaii to visit her! She will likely be joining a team of staff to start a new YWAM base on the island of Kauai later this year.

We were loving the beautiful weather this weekend ~ we've had the windows open for over a week now! It's been so refreshing! We got up early on Saturday, and Mike's mom joined us to stand in line for a local Baby Consignment Sale... that was lots of fun! I might have to get there even earlier for the next one to really get the good stuff...I'm all about bargain shopping! Mike also painted our thrift-store-find glider on Saturday and now I just have to find fabric to recover it. There are a few things we splurge on, but for the most part, we have no problem with hand-me-downs and bargain finds for this little boy.

Big Relief!

Now that's more like it. I had my appointment today with the new doctor, and it was wonderful! She was so professional and kind and thorough and genuine. I felt completely comfortable with everyone there and was just so thankful that God gave me some extra grace and it was not only just "fine" it was actually a great experience. Funny story: When I went to get blood drawn, I turned to my side and saw a bulletin board of pictures... one of which was of my cousin, Shaun - random! So of course I asked whose pictures these were, and as it turns out, the lady sticking a needle in my arm is his girlfriend's mom. So she gave me updates on my own family (haha) and we talked about Aunt Bea & Nana going to the Homerun Derby and loving baseball. Anyway, what a small world.

Mike went with me today and we both were astonished at what a night & day difference it was from the other practice. Baby W. seems to be doing great. We heard his heart beating strong and she gave us more details from my ultrasound that the other doctor didn't take the time to do. She even said at my next appointment, she'll do another ultrasound just for peace of mind and so they'll have it on record - it's always fun to get a peek at him. So I go again in 3 weeks and then I start going every 2 weeks. Wow...that makes me feel really far along! Anyway, it was a good day.

I even got to work from home the rest of the day and all day tomorrow since there are painters doing work on my hallway at work and I'm not supposed to be around those fumes. Fine by me!

A New Day!

Some of you know the story. I had a terrible experience with my OB practice, but was kinda stuck there until I could switch my insurance and find a new practice. I don't usually resort to negative publicity... but I was so appalled at the lack of care, that I'll warn you all... don't ever go to Beach Midwives - Valentine OB/GYN in Virginia Beach. So far, my experience with baby doctors/midwives has been a huge source of stress and frustration... and I was just counting down the days until I could go somewhere new!

Well, tomorrow is finally that day, and I've never been so excited to go to a doctor's appointment! It does feel a little strange to be meeting the doctor who will hopefully deliver our son when I'm almost in the 3rd trimester, but I can't tell you how relieved I am! Even though I haven't met her yet, I have a good feeling about it, and she came highly recommended (thanks Ashlea, Carletta, and Mike's co-workers) :) God has been gracious, and as much as I was sick and had lots of concerns earlier on, I've managed to make it 5 weeks feeling great and not needing to call the old practice...my ultrasound at 20 weeks was my last contact with them, and as of today, I'm officially on Mike's insurance and can take a big sigh of relief.

So, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Partially because I'll take any reason to get out my office for a few hours, but mostly because I'm looking forward to this part of my pregnancy being more positive and full of anticipation like it should be.

Corn, Chicken & a Soccer Ball

So what do these three things have in common?
They are this week's measurements (24 weeks)!

• Baby W. is about the size of an ear of corn (12 inches long).
• He weighs about the same as a regular pack of chicken breasts (1.3 lbs)
• And my uterus is the size of a soccer ball!
  

HaHa! I don't know if I look quite big enough to have a soccer ball inside of me, but that certainly explains why I'm always short of breath, need to pee every 20 minutes and sleeping at night is more like a bunch of 30 minute naps in between flipping over trying to get comfortable! In fact, maybe Baby W. got the memo that he's inside a soccer ball and that would explain all his kicking! :)

The really exciting news is that 24 weeks is kind of a milestone week for babies. At this point, he would be able to survive outside of the womb, not without lots of intervention, but it's possible. Of course we are praying that he will just stay put, right where he is, all the way to full-term and will just continue to grow healthy and strong! But I must say, hitting the 24 week mark does let me take a little sigh of relief.

23 weeks 2 days

1 & 2. Shelby likes to lay on my belly...hopefully she'll still be this sweet with Baby W. when he arrives!

3. A sassy shot :)

4. We didn't know that Shelby was posing for this family picture too, but apparently she didn't want to be left out!

Bumbleride Stroller

We have researched our hearts out for a great stroller. We'd like to have something that will not only be nice for this baby, but hopefully for future kiddos as well. A few priorities have been: quality, manuverablity, comfort, lightweight, style, longevity. After reading countless great reviews, we've settled on the Bumbleride Flyer and have registered for it in the color "Seagrass" and we are really excited about it! Today I found a contest to win one in "Spice" so I'm entering... and if you want to enter too to try to win it for me, that would be GREAT! :) Here's the LINK TO ENTER THE CONTEST. You just have to leave your first name, email address and a quick comment saying why you want to win. :)