Your pregnancy: 14 weeks

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How your baby's growing:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

See what your baby looks like this week.

Your pregnancy: 13 weeks

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How your baby's growing:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

See what your baby looks like this week.

Heartbeat!

Today was our appointment to hear the babies heartbeat. It wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be or that some people make it out to be. The doctor used her little magic gadget thing, squished it onto my belly moved it around a bit and then said "That's it, can you hear it". We could which was cool. She let us listen for a little bit and showed us the heartbeat range was from 157-169. She seemed satisfied so she moved on to poking and prodding me.

So that was it. I think that part of the let down today was that we have already seen the baby in an ultrasound and saw it's heart beating then. Now we just have to wait for the 20-28 week ultrasound when we get features and heartbeats and possibly find out if it's a boy or a girl!?



***Side note - thank you Karen and Neil for the presents that arrived today!***

Your pregnancy: 12 weeks

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How your baby's growing:

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

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

Cord Blood....say what?

So I was doing some reading, trying to figure out what exactly the deal is with this cord blood saving stuff. This is what I have learned: 

Cord blood stem cells are currently used in the treatment of several life-threatening diseases, and play an important role in the treatment of blood and immune system related genetic diseases, cancers, and blood disorders.Recent studies have shown that cord blood has unique advantages over traditional bone marrow transplantation, particularly in children, and can be life-saving in rare cases where a suitable bone-marrow donor cannot be found. Approximately 50% of patients requiring a bone marrow transplant will not find a suitable donor within a critical period. In certain instances there may be some medical issues around using one's own cord blood cells, as well as availability of cells, which will require treatments done using cells from another donor, with the vast majority being unrelated donors. However, studies have shown that cord blood stem cells can also be used for siblings and other members of your family who have a matching tissue type. Siblings have up to a 75% chance of compatibility, and the cord blood may even be a match for parents (50%) and grandparents.

Your pregnancy: 11 weeks

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How your baby's growing:

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

See what your baby looks like this week.

So....sometime in June!

We had our first appointment at All About Women today. Family history etc etc. She calculated my due date as June 8th when she first starting asking questions. Then we discussed the ultrasound and she went with that due date June 29th.

But really that is almost a months difference! So yeah, we will have Baby Gines sometime in June....that is my prediction!

They Sound Cool...BUT!

Ok so 3-D Ultrasounds may sound cool, but really...I MEAN REALLY PEOPLE...they are creepy! They look like someone took a can of that spray foam insulation and made a sculpture of the baby. Neat concept yes I agree, but very creepy in practice. I think we will be sticking to the regular 2D :-)

See Sample:

You know your going to be a dad when...

...you open your inbox and you have an email entitled: "If she gets sick during pregnancy" and it has the following links:

Getting sick is never fun, but during pregnancy it's especially hard 
What is and isn't safe when she's sick

How to handle colds while she's pregnant
Are herbal teas okay during pregnancy?
Should she get a flu shot?

And on a side note, I think Erin registered for her very own Babys'R'Us, who knew a baby can use more things that a grown adult uses in a week!

More to come....

Your pregnancy: 10 weeks

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How your baby's growing:

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

Death by Mayo....

So everyone keeps asking how I am feeling....well here is a little insite into my life.

Trying to be the good wife I was cleaning up the kitchen after Shaun had been home for the day and made himself lunch. He told me that he made tuna fish so I was prepared to hold my nase while moving that dish. As I was doing that, I picked up two spoons from my ceral bowl that morning and leaned over holding the spoons close to my face as a did. That is when I smelled the mayo.

Now mayo makes me gag on a normal day because it's just gross. BUT at this moment it completly made my stomach turn i started gagging and trying to hold lunch down. Shaun was cleaning and had moved the furniture around so that i was trapped in the kitchen with the gross mayo. When Shaun stopped vacumming I yelled at him between gags. "WE ARE SO IN A FIGHT". He came running thinking what now and finds me over the sink gagging, he moved the table out of the way and I RAN. Shaun appologized and brought me lemondade as i sat on the floor by the door as far away from the kitchen as I could get.

Yeah so death by mayo....it's amazing some of the things i can can smell now that are gross. The dogs food, cream cheese, MAYO, there are certain parts of the gorcery store that I have to breathe through my sleeve to not want to vomit. It's so weird!

Your pregnancy: 9 weeks

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How your baby's growing:

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

so everyone knows....

Well since almost everyone knows (and if you don't know it's because you didn't answer the phone). Everyone's reactions were so different and it was fun to find creative ways to tell people. We couldn't hold off on telling Kevin because someone was liable to slip.

So far...the morning sickness and nausea is getting better. I still have bad days....like Friday. I have to eat something before i get out of bed in the morning and that has helped ALOT. I am tired all the time!!!

I was telling Mel at work that it feels weird when I lay on my stomach like a pulled muscle or something and she told me "Duh Erin something is growing inside you". The baby will be 9 weeks tomorrow, I'm glad we didn't find out until now because it just makes the wait until June that much shorter!

Shaun has been SO CUTE! He is so excited. Calls me baby momma and tells me not to carry things or do things that he will do it for me. Yesterday he put the ultrasound on facebook and made his status message "Shaun and Erin are having a baby!".

So let the fun begin for the next 7 months!

at least the day gets better in the end...

“Can you go downstairs and get me a granola bar”….I hear this as I am half asleep still in bed. I get up and go get the “wommity” pregnant lady her comfort food. Apparently we have learned to take medications at night and not in the AM as they do not agree with certain pregnant people in the morning (that would be Erin of course) Erin leaves, I finish getting ready, go get in my car and … crank…crank…crank…crank. Ok so I admit I had been ignoring the warning signs that I may be needing a new battery, but I thought I could buy some time. Apprently all I could buy was a new car battery. Go figure the car is ALREADY jealous! So Erin went to work did her stuff and then left to come rescue my behind. We drop “Buddha” (that’s my cars name in case you didn’t know) off at Pep Boys and we both go into the office. I finish up some stuff for my meeting and then we leave for the appointments. Appointment 1 – Pick Up Buddha, Appointment 2 – Lunch, Appointment 3 – Ultrasound. So we roll into the office (after we had a few minor directional issues) and check in. Fill out the obligatory paperwork and have a seat. The doctor/nurse (not really sure of the term) comes out to get us. We meander the halls that are the maze of the place to the room. Erin lays down on the table they lube up her belly, the lady fires up the machine and POOF….just like that BABY ON THE SCREEN (see picture) It was in the next moment I had the OMG I AM GONNA BE A DADDY though….she goes and that’s the baby’s heartbeat. I know baby means…well a baby, but a heartbeat at that moment meant a living thing! I look down at Erin and she was just a smiling away (crying a little too, although she may or may not admit it. I think I was smiling ear to ear, if not I was in my head….my body may have just been to excited to actually figure out how to smile and process the thought of OMG that’s OUR BABY! But anyway, she then proceeded to measure the baby to figure out how far along this whole process was. (Let me tell you , I assume she knows what she was doing, if not she did a WHOLE lotta clicking on the screen for no reason at all) She then figured out the baby’s heart rate (162bpm) and says “Good, that’s normal at this age” Now maybe your thinking what I was thinking…AND WHAT AGE IS THAT? Good I knew you were thinking the same thing. She finished up clicks print, and says you are at 8 weeks and 2 days and your estimated due date is June 29. Erin then proceeds to use the same speed in which she came down the stairs the other day to run into the restroom (she had to pee really bad since she had to drink all this water) The lady hands me the picture and she shows us how to get out (remember MAZE?!?!) Erin then hops in her car, I hop in mine (since I now have a new battery) and we both head back to work. I go back to the office and tell EVERYONE I can find. Jessie helped me scan in the ultrasound, so that I can email it to Erin. We do that and I continue my telling EVERYONE spree. So by this point all the office people know, I tried to call Kathy, but she didn’t answer. The funny part is that Kathy is paranoid to answer the phone when I call anymore because she thinks I am gonna tell her Erin’s pregnant…well she calls me later thinking I called for another reason and I said…remember how you are always afraid to answer my call…today is the day you should be afraid!! Needless to say…we chatted and I told her about our plans to tell Kevin and how we wanted to see his face when we tell him. Hey Kevin, at least we waited until well after the bet J!! So the day ended with a meeting in Middletown (relay meeting) after being introduced I told there may be a chance I might not be at Relay (June 5-6) and they gave me the why face, so I showed Susan the picture and she goes OMG a BABY!!!!! Screams and congratulations began….and then I came home and…yea more tomorrow…

In the begining...

It was a Monday night and I had a doctors appointment the following day because I had missed a few cycles. So I decided to take a home test to just make sure of what I knew before I went in to see the doctor. I took the test set it on the edge of the tub to wash my hands turned around and the "pregnant" line had already showed up. I grabbed the stick and RAN down the stairs to show Shaun.

He was a little shocked and didn't know quite what I was trying to show him. Eventually he grasped the concept but was still pretty shocked. He told me to "save up my pee and take another one" to be sure. Always the joker.

We spent the rest of the night staring at each other and asking...Really?? Everything made sense though why I had been so tired, why i wasn't feeling well and had thrown up two mornings in the past week, why "the girls" were sore. We didn't want to tell anyone yet until the doctor confirmed. It was pretty hard for both of us to get to sleep that night!

Tuesday I went to the doctors, they handed me a cup and told me they would take another test. It also came back positive so they sent me to go have an ultrasound to see how far along I was. (After the first skipped cycle they gave me a blood test which came back negative so the doctor wanted to be certain of everything this time.) I scheduled the ultrasound for Wednesday. I went to ACS to tell Shaun things were confirmed, he looked pretty pale.



Wednesday, Shaun came with me to the ultrasound and we were told the baby is 8 weeks and 2 days old today. With a tentative due date of June 29th. The heartbeat is 168 beats per minute which is normal for a baby of this age. AND...we both got to see the baby. I tried really hard not to cry but a few tears slipped out. Shaun just kinda stood by my feet and smiled. We got our first picture of the baby. I think it kinda looks like a butterfly.



The stars are the top of the baby's head and the bottom of well it's bottom I guess. The white dot in the center is the baby's heart.


We have told some people but not everyone yet because we are waiting to see a few people in person this weekend or over thanksgiving. So far everyone has been very excited for us.


I am very excited to be mommy! I am amazed that the little guy (or girl) is already 8 weeks! I still feel kind of shocked and I keep waiting for it to really sink in. I know that it will soon...time to go read the books to figure out what I should and shouldn't be doing!

the erin is preggo...not the eggo

Just another day at the office…or so I thought. I consulted with the resident Baby Guru’s at work and got their thoughts and opinions as to what to expect…kinda like my own peronal What To Expect When Expecting, we decided to wait and see the results from the certified baby certifier (the doctor) and we would go from there. Next thing I know Erin comes walking into my office (well my temporary one at the moment) and informed me…”We’re gonna have a baby!” We then proceeded to tell a few people around the office that I had consulted throughout the day, and saved the remainder until after we went for the ultrasound. That evening…the baby blog was born….and it was initially to be called “Preggo the Eggo” but as Becca pointed out, the Eggo was not Preggo, Erin is. So with a little thought and effort the new title came to life. “and so it begins…” So after some fiddling with the site, I gave up decided to go to bed…I’ll work on it tomorrow I said….Good Night!

Your pregnancy: 8 weeks

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How your baby's growing:

New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby —about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

You better pee on another stick...

Ok….so here I am fixing dinner…(spaghetti and meatballs, and actually I was warming it up from when Erin made a TON of it a few weeks ago)…but none-the-less the story begins. So any other night, the usual is you start down the stairs and the dogs beat you down, but this time I hear Erin come barreling down the stairs and to my surprise (and the dogs too) she actually beat them down the stairs. She thrust...yes thrust….a pregnancy test in my face and says look. I look at the stick and wouldn’t you know...PREGNANT! My immediate thought and statement “You better go pee on another stick” although apparently you have to wait in between pee seessions. So after dinner and some TV, back to the urinating on the stick before bed…and within a minute…PREGNANT! So that’s like what…2 out of 3… its gotta be right. Ok well lets see what the doctor says tomorrow I thought….Good Night!