Week 22: a pound of pain

Baby's Development This Week:

Sweet baby boy now weighs almost a pound and measures almost 11 inches from head to heel. And he's about as long as a package of Oreos...

...and as heavy as a large bag of tortilla chips. 

Baby's hands have grown bigger and stronger and the nerve endings in his fingers have developed his sense of touch. 

Baby's brain is developing rapidly this week (note to self on loading up on Omega 3).

Baby has started growing taste buds and should be able to detect strong flavors in the amniotic fluid. 

Mom's Development:

This week I had the start of the first notable pregnancy symptom that was quite unpleasant! It started with a tour of a new hospital client's campus on Monday and after the two hour drive back to the city I was almost unable to walk without a lot of pain. This pain continued throughout the week and even after a visit to my magician of a massage therapist it persisted. Then on Saturday I spent most of the afternoon and evening managing a portion of a parade for work. After that 30 minute drive home I really couldn't walk. Owen pretty much had to carry me in and get me ready for bed - Sunday was sorta' miserable and involved lots of rest and a heating pad. Thank goodness for my chiropractor and baby doctor's appointment on Monday. 

And Dad? What else?

Owen's doing great. His favorite thing is my growing belly and he can't wait to feel little baby kicks on the outside. He's also very anxious to get started on getting the nursery ready. We are starting with replacing the carpet with Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors and we're also adding chair railing and crown molding - all to match the rest of the house.

We're also still trying to nail down the baby's name. Cooper is still on the short list but I also love my Papa Huck's middle name - Miles. 

I've also still been scouring the Internet for nursery ideas. My only decision at this point is that I don't want the room to be super theme-y. I've seen so many nursery rooms that the list few that my friends/family have shared with me as ideas - I've already seen.

Week 23 - you are sounding closer and closer to 40!

Week 21: Lions and cards and presents - oh my!

Week 21.
This week mom traveled to North Carolina for work. Of course I had to baby boy a present so I picked up this cute little hat.

 Me and coworker Jentry also finished an art project for the company apartment during our visit.

I received a sweet baby boy card from Stacia, Trenton Jade and Haas. Speaking of cards Owen's Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Stan have been sending us cards throughout the pregnancy - so sweet and thoughtful! Here are a few of our favs:

 Aunt Cheryl and Uncled Ed bought the baby a Cowboys set that Ed brought when he visited.

We also went and saw Bill Cosby this week. His comedy is so much about family and kids and it was fun to hear his comedy from a different perspective and time in our lives! 

Week 20: half-way mark, the gender, first kick, shopping!

Week 20 - we've hit the half-way mark! And with the half-way mark came a lot of firsts!

Tuesday, Oct. 5 marked 20 weeks.

{Facebook post}

It's going to be a great week: today is officially 20 weeks - half way there. And this is the week we find out if the baby is a girl or boy! Get ready for some serious baby shopping on Saturday Owen Hein

Friday, Oct. 8 at 7:30am we had the anatomy appointment. We had a room all to ourselves and a large viewing screen on the wall. The technician let us know she would be taking all of the measurements and walking us through everything on the screen. We got our first shot of our little one at 20 weeks and 4 days.

 

The tech then started with the head and brain measurements and checked the blood flow. The next biggie she checked was the heart. 4 chambers, blood going to and coming from, heartbeat (167 bpm) - check, check, check.  So far, so good.

Then came the measurements of the boy parts (circled here) which was measuring at 2 centimeters... Owen is so proud.

Being a bit of a girly-girl I have to admit that I was a little dissapointed at first... and there might have been a few hormone-enduced, lack of sleep, coffee and food tears. But, we did both really want to have a boy first so after a post appointment visit to IHOP and calling our families we both couldn't be happier to be having a sweet baby boy.

When I arrived back at work my desk was decorated with pink and blue baby-themed flags and  a sign that said "Ask me if I'm having a boy or a girl."


Natalie, friend, Third Degree account exec and desk neighbor also made blue and pink cupcakes for the occassion (she's a cupcake pro). So the agency piled around my desk and everyone chose a blue (for a boy guess) or pink (for a girl guess) cupcake. 

In the meantime I pulled out my new ultrasound photos and announced to everyone "Look at him waving." Yes, the "him" totally gave it away but it was still a special moment sharing our news with all of my friends at work.


I posted to Facebook around noon and received such a wonderful response from all of our friends and family. We're very blessed.


{Facebook post}
We're having a sweet, baby... BOY! Check him out waving to the camera!

Baby boy is moving his hand from side-to-side for his first wave!

On my way home that night Owen and I stopped at Target - we just couldn't help checking out the baby boy merch. We purchased a set of onesies and I have to admit that I've fallen asleep with one of those in my hands now a couple of times. And we both can't help but marvel at the tiny size and thinking about the baby that they will dress in a few months.

That night I went to my massage therapist for a late night appointment to help relieve some of the growing aches and pains. As I was laying on the table and she was about to start I felt a little bubble in my stomach. After a few minutes I realized that no, it wasn't gas but my first baby kick! The active tiny kicks lasted for almost the entire massage. What a big day!

Saturday, October 9
We've planned all week to go shopping today so around noon we headed into town (45 minute trek from Harrah). Our first stop, one of our favorite baby stores, was Storkland, where bought our baby's crib. It actually wasn't one of the ones we originally had picked out but knowing the sex changes perspectives on things. In 12 weeks our crib should arrive.

We then visited Super Target and started our baby registry which took a good couple of hours. Owen threw in something special for himself on the registry so we'll see if anyone brings that item to the shower. Owen has no shopping stamina so he quickly hit his limit. I starting wearing down too so we made one last stop to Baby's R Us to take a look a baby bedding options and then headed home.


As I am writing this post I just felt another set of kicks! Owen thought I was referring to the Dallas Cowboys that were kicking - ha!


Onto week...

Week 19: sweet tooth, parent's visit and cantaloupe

It's week 19: 

And we have a baby cantaloupe at 6 inches and 8.5 oz.

Baby's already has developed a sweet tooth! If sugar water is injected in the amniotic fluid, the baby drinks twice as much of the fluid as they usually does. Hm... I seem to have more of a sweet tooth lately too!

Photo courtesy of Thoughtfully Simple

I am still waiting patiently to feel the baby kick!


Photo courtesy of Cafe Press

We got to spend week 19 with my parents which was really, really wonderful. We had lots of baby conversations and made lots of decisions. Although, we're waiting patiently to find out if the baby is a girl or a boy to implement all of those plans or start spending!

I am still feeling great this week! My only complaint is just a little typical heartburn.

Fun Fact
When Lucille Ball was pregnant during her run on I Love Lucy, TV censors thought using the term "pregnancy" on air would be in appropriate. Instead, the script called for the actors to refer to Lucy as "expecting."

Courtesy of CNN.

On to exciting week 20. We'll be half way there and we find out if baby is boy or a girl... finally!

Week 18: Cribs, bedding sets and grandparents

Week 18 down 22 more to go!

Our little pickle is about 8 inches long and weighs a little more than five ounces.

Other new developments: the baby is now conscious of noises from the outside world and the sense of sight is evolving as well. Other skills baby's showing off: yawning, swallowing, sucking, hiccuping, and making faces.



Google image search came up with this pict for baby yawning and it was too cute to not post... even though we hope our baby will be much less hairy. 

We hung out this week with Owen's grandparents, Granddad and Granboddy, that were visiting from New Mexico. Here are some highlights.

Granddad bought the baby a stuffed animal - as his tradition goes. We named this soft kitty Mr. Tom after one of their favorite cats.

And Granboddy handmade us a Raggedy Ann and Andy doll. Awww. Sweet.

We also did a bit of crib shopping. Here are a few of our favorite crib styles. Once we decide on the crib one of the hardest decisions is to go with cherry to match the rest of the house or white. We may lean towards the white since we can paint my baby furniture white and because it would look great against the new cherry hardwood floors.  

Crib 1:

Crib 2:

Crib 3:

Crib 4:

We also found a few beddings sets we really like. One of our favorites, for a girl is this unique set by Cocalo Couture.

Photo courtesy of: Cocalo Couture

One of my favorite elements is the mobile with these great little birds - which I am sorta' obsessed with right now.