24 Week Ultrasound!

New pictures of our little girl! She is getting cuter but Rawley did say during our appointment "She looks like the Geico gecko!"  I'm starting to see a Rawley nose on her. You be the judge!

24 Weeks

24 Weeks

How big is baby: She is almost a foot long, picture an ear of corn and weighs just over a pound.

Pregnancy Symptoms: I am developing more soreness around my belly which is probably due to the ligaments and skin stretching to accommodate our growing baby.

Maternity clothes: Definitely picked up a few items as Christmas gifts. I’m excited to go shopping with some of these gift cards! Thanks everyone!

Stretch marks: None  

Sleep: I consider myself pretty lucky that at least I don’t have to get out of bed to use the restroom yet. I just need to roll over a few times a night!

Best moment of the week: Sharing Christmas with our family and thinking about how different next year will be when she is with us.

Movement: Lots of movement. I think I can feel her stretching sometimes rather than just kicks and fist pumps.

Food cravings: No new cravings but I am enjoying satisfying the old ones!

Food aversions: None

Labor signs: None      

Belly button: Still in but it looks like it is creeping its way out.

What I miss: Life before insulin shots. I feel like a pin cushion.

What I am looking forward to: Seeing our baby at Friday’s ultrasound appointment. I’m also excited to start our Bradley Method classes in a few weeks.

On the to-do list: Rawley and I put the crib and dresser together this week so now it is on to decorating. We have lots of fun ideas we just need to get started now. We also need to find a doula for labor and delivery. We are a bit behind on that.

Milestones: Baby's skin is becoming more opaque as the fat starts to pack on. And, thanks to the formation of small capillaries, her newly thick skin is taking on a fresh pink glow.

Something funny/memorable from this week: Several family members and friends got to feel our baby kick during the Christmas festivities!  



Merry Christmas!

As we do every year, we take a minute to reflect on all the blessings in our life. This year we spent our last Christmas as just spouses and thought about how different next year will be.
We are so blessed to have found eachother and share such a special relationship and marriage.
We are thankful for our incredible parents and their endless support and love. They will truly be amazing grandparents to our little girl. I'm sure it will take some years of maturity for her to realize how lucky she is to have these wonderful grandparents but Rawley and I will know it everytime we see them play together and snuggle.
We are blessed to have great siblings and have such a wonderful relationship with them and their spouses. It doesn't get much better than being able to call your sibling and their spouse also your friends.
We are blessed to have such wonderful aunts, uncles and cousins who are cheering us on and giving their love.
Although my grandparents have passed away, I am blessed and grateful to have a great relationship with Rawley's grandparents. It is wonderful to be a part of his family.
We are thankful for our friends who are encouraging and patient with our journey into parenthood. It is so wonderful thinking about the many friends and family members who have been surrounding our marriage with their love and support and will be doing the same with our baby girl.
We want to thank God for the opportunity to be parents and giving for giving us this miracle that I get to feel kicking away inside every day.

We are truly blessed and thankful for all of these wonderful "presents" in our lives. We can't wait for our daughter to be a part of this wonderful family and part of our close friendships. Merry Christmas to all!

23 Weeks

23 Weeks!

How big is baby: SHE (I love saying that now!) is more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. That is about size of a papaya. Yum!

Pregnancy Symptoms: The headaches continue and the skin on my stomach is really starting to stretch. I am also enjoying the occasional hot flash!

Stretch marks: None

Sleep: Same old story. Love the pillows but the more weight I put on in my stomach area, the more aches and pains I wake up.

Best moment of the week: Finding out we are having a girl!

Check out the video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_F_8Ip-ag&feature=youtu.be

Movement: Sometimes she is sleepy just like me and other days it feels like she is doing Zumba! It almost seems like she is beginning to respond to touch. Sometimes when I rest my hand on my belly she really starts to move right in that spot.

Food cravings: I have really started to have some cravings this week. First it was a milkshake, then Cajun fries from McMenamins, then oreo cookies, then oreo cookies dipped in chocolate. Finally by the end of the week I wanted Spaghetti Factory. Now it is all I can think about!

Food aversions: I wish!

Labor signs: none

Belly button: Still in

What I miss: I don’t really miss anything. I am just so excited that we are expecting our daughter in just a matter of months!

What I am looking forward to: I can’t wait to see her again on our next ultrasound!

On the to-do list: My friend Misty’s mom is amazing a decorating and is coming into town to help me plan out the nursery! She has some wonderful ideas and I can’t wait to see how things turn out. I can tell you there will definitely be some owls in this little girl’s bedroom and pink! Rawley is voting for purple but Mom's favorite color is pink!

Milestones: Her little face is fully formed but now she needs to put on the baby fat. Momma is sure helping her out with that!

Something funny/memorable from work: I took a poll on the last day of school before Winter Break and over 70% of my students thought that it was going to be a boy. Now they are fighting over what part in choir she will sing!

It's a Girl!!!

It is official! We are having a baby girl! We couldn't be more happy and excited! Video of the cake cutting on youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_F_8Ip-ag&feature=youtu.be

22 Weeks

22 Weeks

How big is baby: Baby is 11 inches, about the length of a spaghetti squash and almost 1 pound!

Pregnancy Symptoms: I am starting to run out of breath more quickly and I have noticed it is harder to take deep breaths when I am singing at work. The skin on my belly and lower back is very itchy.

Stretch marks: Still none and using my special cream every day.

Sleep: Sometimes the baby keeps me awake. It seems like the baby’s schedule is already preparing me for being active at night. LOTS of kicks when I lay down to go to bed.

Best moment of the week: We finished painting the nursery and are going to finish putting up the chair rail around the room. It is really starting to look cute! Pictures on the way. J

Movement: Lots of movement especially when I am sitting and playing piano.

Food cravings: My trusty old friend macaroni and cheese.

Food aversions: None

Labor signs: None

Belly button: In

What I miss: Sleeping through the night and waking up without any hip and back pain.

What I am looking forward to: We are finding out this Sunday if we are having a boy or girl. I can’t wait!!

On the to-do list: Interview and select a doula. Any suggestions would be wonderful!

Milestones: Baby is looking more like a newborn everyday with the eyelids, lips and eyebrows becoming more distinct. Baby is also sleeping in cycles- about 12-14 hours per day.

Something memorable from work: We had our huge Holiday Concert last night and we have an annual tradition of singing “O Holy Night” with all the choirs combined and we invite alumni to come up and sing with us. With all 160-175 singers right in front of me, I can only imagine what the baby was probably experiencing hearing all that beautiful singing.



21 Weeks!

21 Weeks

How big is baby: Baby is about 10 ½ inches long, the length of a carrot and weighs three-quarters of a pound.

Pregnancy Symptoms: Still having headaches and acne worse than my adolescent students. I’ve never felt more beautiful…  My belly itches too.

Maternity clothes: I’m starting to fill out my maternity tops!

Stretch marks: None

Sleep: What’s that?

Best moment of the week: I had my first appointment with a chiropractor who doubles as a midwife. The baby was doing somersaults in there! I was lying on my back while she was working on my neck and she said the baby was kicking so hard toward my stomach that the drawstring of my pants was bouncing up.  

Movement: TONS! So exciting. Rawley has felt a few more kicks and I think that has really started to make him even more excited.

Food cravings: Same…and wine is still on my mind.

Food aversions: None

What I miss: Feeling self-sufficient. Rawley won’t even let me carry a gallon of milk at the store.  

What I am looking forward to: Painting the nursery this week.

On the to-do list: Finish painting the nursery and adding the trim. Hopefully ordering furniture!

Milestones:  The baby’s eyelids and eyebrows are fully formed this week.

Something funny/memorable from work: Santa Claus gave me TWO candy canes at a caroling event I took my choir to. One for me and one for my on-board passenger!

Great News!

It's seems like Christmas has come a bit early this year! This is an answer to one of my biggest prayers during this pregnancy. Rawley and I are ecstatic and feel so blessed that this is happening right now for my birthing experience! Thank you to our midwife who has been advocating for us since we met her in August!

Received this morning from our midwife at OHSU:

Dear Julia:
Just wanted to let you know that the hospital has re-visited the policy of not allowing women in labor to get in a tub of water when they are receiving medication through an infusion pump device. That policy will be revised so that use of the jacuzzi or water tub is permissible in conjunction with wireless telemetry monitoring (when indicated).

So, one big hurdle to achieving your birth plan is out of the way. I also wanted to tell you we are in the process of revising the water tub program to make it more accessible to more women. More info on that as we proceed.