Sixth Ultrasound.....We're Having A Little Girl!

Thursday October 1st 2009

15 Weeks 6 Days

Well we got a little surprise today! We had this ultrasound scheduled to check on the bleed in my uterus, but we weren't sure if we would be able to find out the sex of the baby or not, and sure enough we were able to! We are having a little girl! Even better news, there is no sign of a bleed anymore! All around great news. Although we were hoping for a little boy first Toby and I are ecstatic about our little girl! We just cannot wait to meet her!

I also met with my doctor again and after much talk about my dizziness and new onset of headaches, she decided to put me on bed rest for at least a couple weeks to see if this helps. I don't have to stay in bed all day which will be nice, but she wants me at home so if I get dizzy I can lay down and rest. It will be an interesting few weeks since I don't do the "Resting" thing very well, but with a baby blog to update, a little girl to register for, laundry and housework, and working on my Mary Kay business, I am sure I will make due. Plus! I can day dream all day now about our little girls room!

Now...you are all wondering about her name I am sure. We thought about keeping it a secret...but I am not good at secrets and I want everyone to be able to call her by her name if they want to talk to her. After always thinking that Madison would be the name of our first daughter, we actually decided on a different name. I really wanted our first daughter to have my mom's middle name of Ann (my middle name too, and Toby's grandma's middle name, and Anna is my grandma's first name) So we thought about Madison Ann, and Cadence Ann, but after all was said and done, we just feel that Lilly Ann is the perfect name for our little girl! Lilly Ann Service is our daughter's name and I know she is going to be beautiful!

I am hoping for a redheaded St. Patrick's Day baby with my red hair, and her daddy's big blue eyes!

It is so weird thinking about how everything changed today. I Went from being pregnant & calling our baby "it" or "baby" to being pregnant with our little girl. Our daughter. It seems so different knowing she will be here in just 5 1/2 months. Knowing we will have a little girl dressed in pink coming home from the hospital in March. Daddy's little princess just like I was, mommy's little scrapbooker. It all changed in just seconds. And I am so so so ...... happy.

I keep saying my prayers for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby! And now I can thank god everyday for blessing us with this little girl! We could not be happier!

Fifth Ultrasound and First Trimester Thoughts

Wednesday September 16th 2009

13 Weeks 5 Days

Wow! Here I am, the moment all mom's look forward to....I am on to my 2nd Trimester of this pregnancy! I am so glad to be almost 14 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby on board. These first 13 weeks came with some challenges, morning sickness, a few scares, some bed rest, and multiple doctor appointments and ultrasounds. Overall though, it really wasn't too bad. The whole time the baby has been healthy and growing right on schedule! I on the other hand have been exhausted, but it is so worth it. First trimester symptoms of morning sickness and peeing every hour seem to have passed, and I am now onto 2nd Trimester Dizziness! How exciting!

A few things I am looking forward to this Trimester:

Finding out the sex of the baby.

Feeling our little one kick and move around.

Getting a baby bump.

And I am so excited to start planning and preparing a nursery for this our baby!

This week has been a little rough, I have been having almost constant dizziness and even collapsed one night in the office. Scared both me and Toby so we called my doctore and I saw her again today. She is a little concerned about the dizziness, but has just told me to take it easy and try and listen to my body. I also had another ultrasound to see if there is a bleed in my uterus, and there is one, but it is very small and not a big concern for my doctor. I just have to continue to take it easy and rest as much as possible. The baby is doing great and is really looking more like the adorable bundle of joy we have been dreaming about. Still no determination of the sex, but it was just as exciting to look at this week's photo compared to our baby 2 weeks ago! It's amazing how fast our little one is growing!

I am really hoping the next ultrasound we will find out if we are having a little girl or a little boy!

Spokane and Timber

Saturday August 29th 2009 - Monday August 31st 2009 and
Friday September 4th 2009 - Monday September 7th 2009

11 Weeks - 12 Weeks

What a fun two weekends we have had! First we spent 2 nights in Spokane with Grandma and Grandpa! We had a great time. We rented a car and drove up on Saturday morning. On our way we stopped by my dad's favorite fishing spot and got to visit a little bit with my dad, Ty, Noe and Lexi! They were shocked to see me 11 weeks pregnant at the fishing hole, but it was so fun to visit with them for a bit. With the car we rented we saved a lot of time stopping to get gas and even though we had to stop and eat ..... and have many bathroom breaks for me and baby, we made pretty good time and were at Grandma's and Grandpa's by mid afternoon.

We had such a nice time in Spokane, we got to visit Aunt Nita and Uncle Clarke and Aunt Marily and Uncle Gordon, and Todd and Kim had all of us over for a FANTASTIC dinner including delicious grilled peaches and steak! YUMM! Toby and I had a blast at the Harvest House playing with our little cousin Emmalee, she was so fun, and it made us that much more excited about having our own children.

We love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa and we really enjoyed talking about baby stuff and learning about the projects they have been working on. We got to eat great food, lots of peaches, visit with family, and I even got in a couple naps. It was a very relaxing and wonderful weekend.

This last weekend we spent 3 nights at our camping spot in Timber, OR! WE HAD A TOTAL BLAST!!! Thanks to Toby and the guys we had an awesome shelter to keep us dry, and even a wooden toilet this year! Goodbye squatting! Hello luxury camping! It was a great group of people that came camping and we had awesome food, one night I even made spaghetti for everyone. We weren't able to enjoy the fire as much as usual since it rained a lot of the weekend, but we played lots of board games and visited with friends! It was a great camping weekend!

Can't wait for our little one to experience camping next Memorial Day weekend! Oh yes! We will be there. Baby and all!

Fourth Ultrasound

Tuesday September 1st 2009

11 Weeks 4 Days

Today we had yet another ultrasound to check on our baby! Every picture we get our little one is looking more and more like a baby! We saw the little face, some hands, and even got a few 3D pictures where baby was hiding behind it's little hands - it was the cutest thing. Totally reminded me of Toby in the morning when he wakes up and rubs his eyes! Like father like baby. Unfortunately we are still clueless to the sex of our little one. . . but soon enough I am sure we will know.

The First 10 Weeks

Sunday August 23rd 2009

10 Weeks 2 Days


Wow! What an adventure this pregnancy has been so far. I am almost done with the first trimester and so ready to move on to the second one!

I have to admit though, besides when the heat is really bad, I haven't had too much morning sickness. Only seems to be every few days or so. However, the lack of energy and this fatigued feeling is really wearing on me. I wake up tired, I go to work tired, I go on lunch tired, back to work tired, home from work exhausted, and off to bed ready for hibernation! I have never experienced such a thing in my life. I thought planning a wedding was exhausting! That is a piece of cake compared to being pregnant! I love it though! And it is so worth every tired morning, and every exhausting afternoon just knowing that we will have a baby soon, something I have wanted since I can remember.

So besides being totally exhausted just about all the time, and having to pee more often than is convenient I feel so blessed that I am having a healthy pregnancy.

One more thing I have to brag about a little bit.

I am so lucky! So lucky to have such a wonderful, understanding, supportive husband! Toby is amazing. He goes to work before I do, and gets home after I do and makes me dinner and does most of the house work, and rubs my feet, and lets me be lazy, and is just a wonderful husband. I feel so bad being so useless around the house, and he is just so understanding about it all. He just tells me to sit back and relax and he will take care of this or that. I can't wait for our baby to be here, because Toby is going to be an incredible daddy! Think he'll do all the diaper changing too?

A complete first trimester recap to come in a few weeks. In the meantime, keep us and our little one in your prayers! Love you all!

Third Ultrasound

Tuesday August 18th 2009

9 Weeks 4 Days

Today I had my third ultrasound. It was so exciting! Our little baby is starting to actually look like a baby! I got to see little arm nubs, and even saw our baby's legs moving too! The heartrate was still strong at 172 BPM!

I still can't believe in just 7 months we are going to be parents! We got a ton of photos to take home this time which was helpful since Toby and I tend to fight over the best ones! No fighting this time, plenty of good ones for both mommy and daddy. Hopefully the next photos of our little one will show boy parts or girl parts! Come on October! Get here fast!

First Doctor's Appointment

Monday August 10th 2009

8 Weeks 3 Days

Today I had my first appointment with my doctor since we found out we are pregnant. Pretty typical appointment.

Medical History

Exam

Blood Work

Etc.

The best part of the appointment was when we got to hear the baby's heartrate. Unlike the ultrasound where we only heard it for a few seconds, my doctor let us listen for a good long time, and it was amazing! Baby is doing great and mommy and daddy got sent home with a ton of information on the hospital and a list of what I can and can't do during the pregnancy. We even got our first baby gift, a diaper bag from the doctor's office!

We got to talk to my midwife about natural birth options (I know, I know...I am crazy...tell me something I don't know) and she fully supports our wishes in having a natural as a birth as possible and gave us some advice on some great classes to take.

We are feeling pretty good right now, next appointment isn't until September, but we are more anxious about finding out the sex of the baby, which won't be until October. We will keep everyone posted!

Second Ultrasound

Thursday July 30th 2009:

6 Weeks 6 Days

Ah! Much better this ultrasound. The baby's heartrate is right where it needs to be 160 BPM and there is just a little more than a blob on our second photo this week. We feel much better now about our baby's progress! We appreciate all the prayers and support we have been getting from friends and family! We love you all and can't wait for baby to meet you.

Oh! One more thing, according to the baby's size, the due date has been moved from 03.20.2010, to 03.17.2010, to now 03.16.2010!

Personally I am sort of hoping for a redheaded St. Patricks' Day baby!

First Ultrasound

Wednesday July 22nd 2009:

5 Weeks 5 Days

Today we had our first ultrasound! We got the first photo of our baby! We were surprised to be coming in so early, but excited nonetheless. There wasn't much on the photo, just a little white blob they said is the baby's heartbeat. It was so exciting to see that screen, but it was nervewracking when the ultrasound tech said the heartrate was a little slow. What a way to freak out first time parents.

She told us we might have to come back for another ultrasound next week. Until then she printed some pictures for us and confirmed the due date that I had already calculated out as Saturday March 20th 2010!

A little worried about the heartrate, but excited we got to see our baby today.

We're Having a Baby!

Friday July 10th 2009:

Wow! What a week. I have been bugging Toby all week to let me take a pregnancy test, he said we should wait until we have a reason too...so here we are today taking the test.

This morning we decided that we would take the test tonight. So I picked up two on my lunch break with Lindsay. Little did I know Toby also picked up two tests on his lunch. I waited all day at work to finally go home and take the test, but to my surprise, I get home and we have company. Kris was over barbequing with Toby. It was a great surprise to have a yummy dinner ready when I got home and I was so excited to hang out with our great friend. At the same time I was thinking "Go home! I have a stick to pee on!"

Well to add my anxiety, Joseph decided to come over and hang out, then Andy joined, then Hyrum, by the end of the night we had a house full of boys and no results from our test yet! Finally at 11:30 pm the crowd left and we were able to be alone and take the anticipated test.

We had been trying not to get our hopes up since we started trying just a couple weeks ago, because we know that these things usually take time. I totally had my heart set on a "Pregnant" reading though.

I sat.

I peed.

We waited.

3 excruciating minutes later Toby picked up the test first and sure enough, "PREGNANT" it read! I almost fell to the floor.

We were so surprised, and although I had my hopes up I really didn't think that we would get pregnant so soon. We immediately felt blessed by this experience and we knew from that moment our lives would be forever changed. We cried a little....ok....I cried a lot, we hugged and we started sharing our news!

It was 11:30 at night so we wanted to be respectful to our family and their beauty sleep, but our friends weren't so lucky. Julia, Kris, Natalie, J.R. and Lindsay got some late night calls and texts with our great news!

I don't think either of us slept much that night, we were way to excited to get up in the morning and call some more loved ones!

The next morning we made the call to Grandma and Grandpa, they of course were ecstatic, and later in the day we shared the news with soon to be first time grandparents Dad and Rocio, and they were just as shocked as we were, but so excited. Rocio literally jumped for joy and dad is already enjoying being called Grandpa!

We also went and visited Toby's mom who will be on her 10th grandchild when this baby is born, and she is so happy for us.

It is so fun to share the news, but we are trying to keep it to our closest friends and family for now. We will see how long that will last. What an exciting weekend for us!

The Decision

Friday June 19th, 2009:
Today I had my followup appointment with my surgeon. My surgery went well, but was not much help in my situation. It was diagnostic which is helpful, but it doesn't seem that this will help my pain.

I have 3 choices.
-Stay on narcotic pain meds and continue to live in chronic pain and allow my endometriosis to get worse.
-Be put into hormone induced menopause at just 25 years old. I will be pain free, but it is a lengthy and exhausting treatment plan.
-Or .... get pregnant which puts my endometriosis into remission until long after the baby is born.

Well, after a long conversation with the husband, we made our decision. Today we decided we are going to start trying to get pregnant! We are feeling excited and nervous, but mostly just happy with our decision.

We will keep family and friends posted and are excited to take that first pregnancy test! Wish us luck!

Much Loves,
Toby and Brandi