Week 28- 2/3 of the Way Through!

As of Thursday I will officially be 28 weeks pregnant and into my 3rd trimester. It is hard to believe how the time has flown by. I am trying to enjoy every moment since I may never get this opportunity again. I want to remember what it feels like to have a new little life growing in your stomach. It is amazing and scary at the same time. Cooper is kicking up a storm (I think he's doing some kind of prenatal acrobatics)as I write this and I always want to remember what that feels like. It is such an amazing gift from God and I can't think Him enough for this opportunity and experience. (I may have to remind myself of that gratitude during labor!)

The past couple of weeks have been good. I have been scouring the internet researching all of the baby items we will need. My sister was nice enough to create a list of all the things she recommends, including brands and just good motherly advice. Now I just have to get Ryan to agree to the things I've picked out. =) We have picked out our bedding for the nursery and I am very excited about it. It is called "Enchanted Forest" and is really cute. We had decided to do the nursery in a camping theme but I was having a hard time finding exactly what I wanted. So after much research I found this set. It has an adorable forest theme with lots of cute little animals like foxes, deer and owls. We are going to paint the room two shades of green. I am posting a picture of the bedding set.


A couple of weeks ago I had to take the glucose test to see if I had gestational diabetes. The good news is that my test came back normal and I do not have gestational diabetes. The bad news is that the test taking experience was not that enjoyable. It sounded so simple: go to the lab, drink 10 ounces of a glucose drink (it looked and tasted just like the orange Kool-Aid they used to serve at McDonalds), wait an hour and then have a quick blood test. It proved not to be.

I admit I have a hangup with needles. I hate them. Amazing coming from a person that had to stick herself with needles daily for what seemed an eternity, but I digress. I have had my blood drawn many, many times and have always handled it very well. I simply tell the phlobotomist that I can't watch and that they need to talk to me about something else as they take my blood. Always works...usually.

After drinking my drink I waited an hour, no problem so far. I went back to have my blood drawn and was still o.k. That is until the lady says to me, "Your veins are rolling and I can't get the needle in." Oh my goodness, those are not the words to say to me! At that point, I was starting to feel a little nervous, but hoped she'd be done soon. I ask her to try the other arm, which she does. Suddenly, I start to feel a bit spacy, things are going dark, I'm very clammy and everything sounds like it's in a tunnel. I tell the woman that I don't feel so good and am clearly starting to pass out. Then I suddenly felt the urge to puke. Not good.

The very patient phlebotomist asks me if I am going to be sick and I say yep. She got the trash can to me just in time. She calmly stood holding the trash can while I upchucked the entire bottle of orange drink and my Cheerios from breakfast to boot. I was so embarrassed and horrified! I was perfectly fine once I emptied my stomach. Apparently, fainting and vomiting are side effects of the glucose drink. I guess I was the lucky one to get to experience those side effects.

Thanks for reading my rather long and disgusting tale. The moral of the story is: don't tell someone afraid of needles that their veins are rolling, just lie instead! =)

Weeks 24-25- Vacation

I am officially on summer break and am enjoying not having to get up before the sun everyday. Ryan and I recently returned from two and a half weeks in Boston and Maine. We had an incredible time. I admit I was a little nervous about how I would handle flying and traveling while pregnant, but am happy to say that I had no difficulties at all.

Ryan spent the first week (in Boston) attending a course at Harvard while I hung out with our friends that we were staying with, Jeff and Clarissa. It was great to get to relax and just enjoy the time with Ryan and friends. Maine was also a lot of fun. We stayed with some more friends up there (Russ and Krisztina) and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and wildlife. Our first night there we spied a doe and her fawn on the front lawn through the window . It was so neat to see them roaming through the yard. We also saw some other cool animals we don't usually see here in Florida- a woodchuck, a chipmunk and even a fox. I also am fully convinced I saw a bear on one of our drives, but couldn't convince Ryan. I'm still waiting to see a moose. Maybe on our next trip.

I have definitely crossed the line into "she's definitely pregnant" territory. It is now clearly obvious that I am with child. I successfully made it through the school year before switching completely to maternity clothes. And I have to say they are of course much more comfortable. I was having to get very creative with my existing clothes to make them fit. My mom and I did a little clothes shopping before I left for vacation. We found some great clothes at JCPenney's and I really like my "new wardrobe".

I am not too big yet, but I have definitely noticed that it is getting harder to do things like bend over (although I am happy to say I can still see my feet!) and get comfortable in bed or on the couch. The baby also really enjoys doing somersaults in my tummy. Thankfully he hasn't kicked anything too vital yet, but I always get a kick out of watching my stomach move up and down.


I am posting my latest belly shot. This photo was taken in Maine along a beautiful cliff walk by the ocean. I am twenty-five weeks pregnant in this photo.

More Pics! Ultrasound #2- 25 weeks and 5 days

I had my latest ultrasound on June 30th and have included some of the pictures from that visit. Normally you only have two ultrasounds, one early on in your pregnancy and another at around 19-20 weeks. At my last ultrasound in May they discovered I have something called placenta previa. This is where your placenta is too low and is covering either all or part of your cervix. The placenta should be much higher, no where near your cervix. It is not an uncommon thing and hopefully will become a non-issue as my pregnancy develops. I have read that of all the women that have this problem at their 1st ultrasound (in their 2nd trimester) that only about 10% still have it at the next ultrasound.

Thankfully, my placenta is only covering a small portion of my cervix. Unfortunately, at the latest ultrasound my placenta had not migrated up to where it needs to be and is still too low. Since it is only covering a portion of my cervix the doctor says that there is still a good chance for it to move up as my belly gets bigger. So the good news is that I get to have another ultrasound in about a month. Ultimately, if my placenta does not move then I will have to have a C-section since the placenta cannot be delivered before the baby.

Ryan and I really enjoy the ultrasounds (aside from drinking the 32 oz. of water ahead of time). It is so incredible to see the baby up close and watch him move. At both ultrasounds the baby has been very active and seems to enjoy putting his arm up by his head. I will be interested to see if he likes to relax with his arm above his head after he's born as well.

Enjoy the pictures! I will send out another update soon!

This a snapshot of the baby's leg and foot. Doesn't that look like the leg of a champion athlete?!

O.k., you may have to look closely at this one, but the long horizontal white bar is the baby's leg bone and below it are his "little boy parts". The baby's first naked picture!

A profile shot. You can see the baby's face pretty clearly and I believe that's his elbow above his head.

A profile shot. You can see his nose and open mouth.

You may have to study this one for a while, but this is a horizontal view of the baby's face. The top of his face is to the left and his chin is on the right. You can make out the 2 dark spots of his eyes, then his nose is below that and then his mouth.

Finally Some Pictures! Ultrasound #1- 18 weeks and 4 days

This is a profile shot. You can see the baby's arm above waving hello.
Another profile shot. The baby is just relaxing with his arm above his head.
Another profile shot. You can see his nose and mouth.
This is a shot of his face. His forehead is to the right and then you see his eyes to the left.
I like to call this my alien picture! It is another shot of the baby's face, where you can clearly see his two eyes.


Here are some pictures from the first ultrasound I had done on May 11th. I finally took the time to sit down and figure out how to work my scanner. I hope you enjoy the pictures and can decipher what everything is!

Week 19- A First Look at Our Baby

Wow, this has been an amazing week. Ryan and I were able to see baby Bretsch on Monday and it was the most incredible thing. I am thrilled to announce that we are having a boy! We were able to see the baby for the first time since my week 7 ultrasound and wow, what a difference.

Our appointment was set for 3:00 Monday afternoon, but due to a mistake at the doctor's office we almost had to reschedule. My doctor has two offices. I made the ultrasound appointment last week at the office on Bearss for the office on Bruce B Downs. When Ryan and I showed up Monday we were told that the sonogram tech hadn't worked on Monday afternoons at the Bruce B Downs office in months and that this mistake happened all the time. We were told to reschedule for next week. As you can imagine, Ryan and I were very much looking forward to this visit and were very upset, not so much because of the mistake, but because it apparently happened quite often and the doctor's office hadn't bothered to fix it in 4 months! This was a huge day for us!

Ryan told them that he expected them to find a way to keep our appointment. The doctor's office called the sonogram tech and she was able to set up an appointment for us down the road at an imaging center. It turned out that she had a friend that worked there, who also happened to be a friend of ours. She agreed to do the ultrasound for us. So, it actually worked out to our advantage because we were able to have a friend give us our first views of our baby.

We have some incredible pictures of the baby that I will post on here as soon as I can. They are just so cool to look at. It is always amazing to me how the ultrasound tech can tell you exactly what everything is- a leg, the kidneys, etc. It is so amazing to know that this little person is living inside of you. We were able to see him move around- wave his little arms, scratch his head, even stick his tongue out! (Ryan's comment at that was, "Yep, he's a Bretsch!")

Ryan also got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. He really enjoyed that. Our friend told us that the baby looked great and even weighs 10 ounces. We can't wait to meet our little guy and get to see him up close!

Week 17- Some More Pictures to Share

I am officially seventeen weeks and 5 days along in my pregnancy. It is always amazing to me how quickly the time is flying by. I went to the doctor today for my monthly check-up. Everything looked great. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat, which is always my favorite part. The rate was 140 beats per minute which she said was good and strong.

Ryan and I are going back on Monday for my ultrasound. It will be the first time we've gotten to see the baby since the 7 week ultrasound. Plus, we'll get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl. I am so excited! I can't wait, but yet I can because I don't want this whole experience to fly by. I am really trying to savor every moment, good and bad, in case I never get this opportunity again. But it will be so awesome to really say "he" or "she". Plus it will be so incredible to see what the baby looks like. Please pray though that everything goes well and that the baby is healthy and everything looks perfect.

I have included a few more pictures of my belly to share. They may not be very exciting for all of you, but I have to say it is neat for Ryan and I to see the changes. The first picture is from week 15, the second from week 16 and the last from week 17. I have definitely noticed a change over the past couple of weeks and am not sure how much longer I can squeeze into my regular clothes.

Don't forget to add your vote to my poll. I'm curious to see what everyone thinks the baby will be. I will let you all know on Monday. Plus, I will post the latest pictures of the baby as soon as I can.

Week 16- A Beary Good Week

I officially hit my 16th week of pregnancy this past Thursday. It is amazing to me how quickly the time has flown by. In only a few short weeks I will be halfway through my pregnancy. Unbelievable! Nothing too exciting has been going on. I have gained 7 pounds so far. I don't think I am going to be able to wear my normal clothes for too much longer. Thank heaven for the Belly Band! My hope is to finish out the school year in my "normal" clothes and then jump into maternity clothes for the summer. I've got another month to go so we'll see.

My next doctor's appointment is May 5th. I am seeing a different doctor in the practice because I want to be able to get to know all of them, since I don't know which one will be on call when the baby is born. At this appointment I am hoping to get to make my appointment for my next ultrasound. This ultrasound would be when Ryan and I find out if we're having a boy or a girl. I am really looking forward to finding out. Should I be shopping for Transformers or Barbies?

Last week Ryan bought his first official gift for the baby- an adorable teddy bear that he made at the Build a Bear Workshop. He bought the bear and a very smart looking pair of teddy bear glasses for him. I thought it was such a sweet gift that I am including a picture of it. The bear is sitting atop a pile of kids games we have been collecting over the years for our kids. Doesn't the bear look like such a smart bear?

Once we find out if we are having a boy or a girl Ryan wants us to both go to the Build a Bear Workshop and each create a bear for the baby. I think that is such a sweet idea! I am really looking forward to going because I have always wanted to go and build a bear. Ryan is going to be an awesome dad, the baby will totally have him wrapped around their little finger!

I will have more news next week and hopefully another belly shot. I feel like my tummy has just kind of popped out in the past couple of weeks! It is definitely all good though! =)