Count down to Baby P- Weeks 19-20 ...It's a Girl!

Week 19-

Guess what? Baby P is a Baby Girl! We are extremely excited! So let me tell you how that day went down.

In usual pregnant Leigha fashion, I had researched too much online about anatomy scans. When I would see people all excited about finding out if it was a boy or girl, I wanted to yell at them and say "Don't you know what this appointment is about?!?!" "How are you so carefree and  excited?!?!". I have a problem.

We make our way to the appointment and as wait patiently for our turn. The tech took us back and she was super nice! I gave her an envelope and paper to write the gender on and she plopped that warm gel on my tummy and there she was! So CUTE! Like really cute! The tech measured her legs and arms, looked at her heart, blood flow, kidneys, and other things. She look so amazing! Finally, it came time to see what she was a she and her legs were crossed tight! The tech told me she would leave and that I should jump around. So I did! TJ told me to twerk...um...I don't really know how to do such things, but I tried! LOL! Needless to say there was a ton of laughter coming out of room for about 5 mins! As soon as the tech came back in I laid down and ta da! The tech saw what she needed to see!

We left the office feeling excited and I headed to drop off the results at my sisters house then on to work. This was the longest day EVER! I met TJ for lunch since he was in town and really I just wanted to be around him. This day forward we would know what our baby is and could plan and dream specifically for this baby. It was a special day. Back to work to finish out the day...boo.

My sister and mom had planned a cute gender reveal just for our near family and friends. TJ and I waited to find out what we were having until that evening. Those who were at the party were asked to dress their guess and the decorations were pink and blue of course!

The plan was to spray us with silly string in the appropriate color. Well while that sounds fun in th theory, do you know how hard it is to find pink silly string? Kaytie recruited Nick to drive all over town and buy this silly string. He knew what color but Kaytie didn't. Nick is already starting on his duties as a husband! LOL! It was very nice of him though! This is what happened:

It's a baby girl! TJ is silly! He doesn't totally buy in to all the cutesy stuff! When I asked him why he was just standing there, he was like..."what was I supposed to do?" Okay good point! It was really fun! I am so thankful my sweet friends the Stucks came! Kim dressed all her BOYS in PINK! I loved it! It was such a sweet gesture and the color looked really good on them too! :) They must have known Baby P was a girl! I will miss them so much when they move, but that thought just causes tears so let me move on! I was so thankful that Cheryl came, she had a horrible week and was dealing with a family situation, but her hubby told her to get her booty out the door and got the party! It was really sweet of her to come and I know how much she had going on at that moment. Baby P is really very loved already! :)

I am so thankful for my mom and sister as well. We have been in the chaos of wedding planning and they took time out to celebrate this baby and plan her a little party before she even gets here. Really, it makes me so excited that she is being born into a family that can't get enough of her. Granted, she isn't here yet and crying and throwing fits in the store! ;)

Big Sister Veronica!

Mimi and Grandpa!

The Stuck boys and their momma in PINK!

Cheryl Langley Duke! Decked out in blue! I'm sure it's just cuz she has boys! :)

Aunt Kaytie! Best sister ever!

I must be honest. I really thought we were having a boy. Like deep down I just knew it was a boy! So when it was a girl, I had a little bit of a moment. It's not that I wasn't excited, I just hadn't really thought about our life with a little girl. So it took me a good 24 hours for it all to sink and for me to really understand that Baby P was a little baby GIRL! Like bows, tutus, cowgirl boots, and HORMONES! OMG! I went through phases. The first phase was OMG what if she was like me? I had my fair share of crazy moments back in the day! I would just pass smooth out if she acted like I did! Then I panicked about boys! I nearly had a cow. They can't handle the boys! They won't be allowed anywhere near our house. TJ will make sure of that. Then we can't even talk about the teenage years! Help us all! It's gonna take a lot of praying to get through that. Finally, I calmed down and started to think of all the fun sweet things that having a girl will mean. I love going to get pedicures with my mom, having someone to call when I need to talk, I will get to love on her and dress her up, I will get to teach her to be a brave and strong woman who has the power to do anything she dreams. When I started to think about it, she is going to be amazing.

I love our little girl. So much. It's kind of crazy since I haven't met her yet. I want her to be happy, follow her heart, be kind, be caring, and do what she can to make this world a better place. I don't have any reason to live vicariously through her. I have had the opportunities to make my own path and follow my own dreams and still will do both those things. I want her to have the freedom to find her own way (minus education! She must get all her education before she follows to many dreams! :)). She is a sweet miracle and I will do my best to love her and provide for her and be there when she needs a shoulder to cry on and when she wants to celebrate something amazing. I love her!

Week 20-

Not much happening this week. I found a consignment sale in Edmond for kids/maternity. I bought few dresses that I should be able to make work for Kaytie's rehearsal dinner and any other little slightly dressy celebrations!

Count down to Baby P- Weeks 17 & 18

I am seizing the moment and starting this particular blog on the first day of spring, sitting on my back porch, enjoying the 74 degree weather. I know quiet moments will be few and far between in a few months so now is the time to enjoy the peace and quiet of our little home in the middle of nowhere.

Week 17- 

This week was really uneventful in the pregnancy department. The only thing that really came up this week is I started to worry about me and TJ. Before everyone goes nuts, we are fine, let me explain!

We have had nearly 7 and half years just to each other. Exploring this world together, laughing, and going through life's ups and downs with each other. This guy is the the guy who I hopped on a plane and flew across the world to see shoot a bow and arrow in Beijing, China in 2008, the guy who held my hand and let me cry when I got the call about my Grandma Norma passing away, then again when my Papa Frank passed away, this is the guy who took me out in an epic snowstorm on Christmas Eve 2009 to Liberty Lake and got down on one knee in the snow and asked me to be his wife, this guy who I married and promised to love forever, the guy who I bought a little country house with, got a crazy dog with, then added a crazy cat, went to Hawaii and fell even more in love with his family, then went to Ireland to accomplish one of my dreams and goals and one of his all in the same trip.  Now we are going to go on to our next adventure and be parents to this sweet little baby.

I am excited, but I started to wonder how this will change our dynamic. We are totally in love with each other and while we have our moments and drive each other insane more often than not, what we have works for us and I don't want to lose that. Heck, I am starting to get afraid I am going to lose who I am. I don't want to become mom blob that is only defined by what her children do and their lives. I have opinions, likes, dislikes! I am an educated woman (at least according to Sallie Mae and the statement she sends each month!)! I like to run, read, plan parties, buy cute clothes (and fit in them)! I like to travel and do things! 

I understand that all the things that make up me, and that make up mine and TJ's relationship will take a backseat for a while. From what I understand it is a miracle anyone makes it through the newborn phase.

I am a perpetual planner. I don't deal well with the unknown and since this is my first rodeo, I don't know what to expect. This causes me anxiety!!! 

I know in time I will figure out this mom + wife thing. Baby P is going to become apart of our little family and we will wonder what life was like with out him/her being here and I know we won't miss it. But until that point-my poor worried self is going to have to find a chill pill...maybe in the form of a Gummy Bear...

Week 18-

SPRING BREAK! It's time to PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR!!! Drinking on the beach, getting my tan on!

Oh wait! I am pregnant! And old! I mean technically I can still do those things sans pregnancy. It's just called vacation! LOL!

Oh how life has changed! I had planned to dominate my house this week. I was going to get every room ready in some way for baby. You know, I am only 18 weeks pregnant only showing a little bit and I can still rock n roll! HA!

*Side Note- I haven't really cleaned my house or folded clothes in about two weeks since I knew I was going to do it all over Spring Break and my tired butt didn't need much convincing that this plan was a good one.

So the first day I deep clean the living room. I dusted, vacuumed the couch, cleaned off every surface. Then I started on all of our laundry. The clean had accumulated into a pile. Basically, clothes started not fitting and I was kind of at a loss wrapping my head around this concept so they just sat on our spare bed. So on this day I switched out my entire closet with maternity clothes my friend Kim is letting me borrow and clothes I think I can make work. Then I packed up all my beautiful cute clothes and shed a few tears saying seeing you in the winter or next year. AAAHHHH!!! That was the first day. Then next day, I couldn't move. I was so sore and tired and sore and sore. So that day I just sat around the house trying to not feel to awful! 

What the heck! It's not like I ran a half marathon! It was so weird! The next day I deep cleaned the front bathroom and organized the cabinets. I mean it is amazing! I also finished my closet project. I had switched the clothes but hadn't cleaned it up otherwise. This was all I got done because...

WE GOT TO SEE BABY P!!!

A lady I know was working for a newly set up clinic and they were doing practice ultrasounds, so I signed up to get one. I invited my family since they keep bugging me about seeing Baby P and I won't let them come to the doctors with me! That would be WAY to stressful! Baby P looked super cute!

So what might you ask about this glorious occasion caused me to have a nervous break down? Oh I don't know I might have Googled "Healthy Baby Ultrasound Images" and had a panic attack that something was horribly wrong with our baby... yeah... about that... I NEED TO GET OFF THE INTERNET! :)

The rest of Spring Break just involved me finishing up cleaning and getting ready to go back to work! Oh and me watching a horrible documentary that FREAKED me out about Labor and Delivery and caused yet another round of tears! This led me to ask my poor doctor all these crazy questions. I need to know the process and the steps and I needed to know NOW! She calmed me down a little bit and also mentioned that some nurses do not appreciate being handed a birth plan when I walk in to have a baby. She said it would be like someone coming in and telling me how to do my job! The best thing to do is go over everything in advance with her and she will mark it in my file, then to remind her that day. Oh and it will all be okay! Bah! What does she know!? :)

Help us all! If I cry anymore TJ may move out to the Man Cave and I won't see him for 5 months! :)

I just love our little Elizabeth Taylor! Baby P wears her out already! :)

Look how much they change in 9 weeks! Next week we will have an even better look at our sweet baby!

Hey Mom! Hey Dad! :)

Kaytie and Mom are putting together a fun Gender Reveal for us! I am so excited! I wonder what Baby P will be!?!?

Countdown to Baby P- Weeks 15-16

Week 15-

Week 15 on the pregnancy side of life was pretty boring, other than I think my belly is finally growing some! This week was all about the oh so wonderful, terrifyingly bossy, one and only bride to be...Kaytie Lenee Joiner! Her bridal shower was this week!

Mom and I had the spectacular idea to buy from Etsy one of those print your own party packs! So we based all of our other decorations off the colors in this party we bought. Now I love to plan a good party, I really do, but planning a party while pregnant is a different story. For the last week I came home every night and cut out what felt like hundreds of papers. I made banners, wrapped water bottles, wrapped Hershey mini's, put together treat boxes, cut out games to play. Our house was covered in little bits of paper scraps! So I continually cursed my sister, since of course this is all her fault. Don't worry in my sweet older sister fashion I let her know. :)

The day finally came and Mom and I plus the other hostesses decorated her friend Kelly's house and it turned out ADORABLE! The vision Mom and I had a month ago came together in a very pretty way! Plus, I think Kaytie had a great time! Several people from different parts of her life came to give their congrats and shower her with wonderful gifts! I guess all the work was worth it, but I remind her of it! :)

Week 16-

So this week started off with a scary moment. I had a crazy day at work, literally I was in meetings all day starting at 8 and ending at 5. I didn't get my work out in so I was disappointed by that, but as I left the office to head home I started having shooting pains in my abdomen area (I guess that is what you would call it, basically where the baby would be). I was talking to TJ on my way home and had to hang up because I was in so much pain. The goal was just to get home and lay down. I didn't feel like it was something with the baby, I just felt like I need to rest. I get home go immediately to lay down and it doesn't let off. So I think that maybe I am just really hungry so I eat dinner. Everything can be fixed with food right? Not this. I plant myself on the couch and try not to move, when that doesn't help I go back and lay down and finally fall asleep. Well, turns out these sharp horrible pains kept waking me up throughout the night. So much so I started to cry and TJ finally gave me a Tylenol. I try not to take them very often at all, but I just wanted to fall back asleep. I wake up early and leave a message for the doctor. They got back with me in less than 30 mins. These wonderful pains are something called Round Ligament Pain. They said it was normal and unfortunately can be very painful. Joy. I can take Tylenol, rest, drink lots of water, and a warm bath might help. I am glad nothing is really wrong and this is just a normal thing that can happen. It was still scary though.

Here are few things I don't want to forget about this point in the pregnancy:

• Apparently I have a pizza obsession! I didn't realize it until this week when TJ said that he didn't want to eat ANYMORE pizza. I guess we have been eating it 1-2 times a week since I've been pregnant. I didn't realize it! LOL! 
• I have entered the "OMG I have to pee all the time" phase. Seriously, I think it would be easier just not to ever wear pants. I find them annoying as I rush off to the restroom. 
• I love Doctor Who. I realize this has nothing to do with being pregnant, but I have only ever watched it while pregnant so I am going with it! :)
• I have realized all tv movies that have pregnant people in it are stupid. I don't think anything they show is really how it is! It's dumb! We watched a movie the other night and I swear the lady had a baby bump in a matter of weeks! It's like they say Hey I'm pregnant...then two minutes later they are like Hey I look 6 months pregnant! That's not how it happens! This bump is taking it's precious time to make an appearance. Now I realize that every experience is different, but I only know mine so I call these movies liars! :)
• I don't like chicken. I eat it in little bits, but I just really don't like it! ICK!
• I had a weird itchy leg problem. At about 10 weeks my legs broke out in weirdness and I would itch like CRAZY! It was HORRIBLE! I couldn't stand it. The doctor called in some prescription and finally just now my legs are almost back to normal. Sheesh!
• I Goggle pictures of "What does 16 weeks pregnant look like" so I can make sure my belly isn't too far off from Google images!
• My friend Cheryl laughs at me because I claim the baby levels up each Tuesday. She says its not like in Mario where they just  level up and they are bigger. I disagree. I only get emails once a week telling me "Baby is now the size of an avocado" or insert fruit/vegetable. Therefore, logically at midnight every Tuesday morning Baby P levels up! Right? ;)

I quit taking pictures each week of my belly. I was then I decided it wasn't growing fast enough and as my sweet sister told me...my hips are so wide that the baby has plenty of room to grow right now. Awesome.

So I am only taking them every 4 weeks! I am making progress people! :)

 

Hmm...it appears my butt is growing exponentially faster than my belly! Lol!

Also, I had my toes painted blue and pink in honor of finding out what we are having this month!

I wonder if this baby will have my freaky extra long toe! Poor kid...

See ya in two weeks!

Countdown to Baby P- Weeks 13-14

Week 13-

Boring! Pretty uneventful! The only thing I can think to say about Week 13 is I am growing concerned that our baby will be born speaking with a British accent! Why you ask? Because I love Doctor Who and watch at least one episode a day!

Seriously...I am IN LOVE with the Doctor...if only he wasn't spoken for...oh yeah...I am married...and he is an alien!  :)

I had a moment this week when I wondered if maybe I was Donna Noble and had traveled with the Doctor only to have my memory wiped because I had saved the world...alas...I will never know!

I wonder if this baby knows my thoughts...if so he/she is going to have one heck of an imagination! :)

Week 14-

This was the most amazing week yet! I have been very stressed about our baby. I want it to be okay. We haven't heard its little heartbeat yet. We have seen our baby twice, but it was too little to hear the heartbeat.

I went in for my doctor's appointment and I was nervous. I wanted to just hurry up and find out if he/she was still there and still awesome.

The doctor came in and put the little heartbeat thing on my belly and tada! There was our baby's heartbeat! Strong and healthy and happy I would imagine (after all he/she is currently residing in their totally awesome mom!) ! I sat up and started bawling. My sweet doctor gave me a hug and told me I didn't need to cry. I was just so relived that Baby P was doing okay. I totally forgot to ask any questions... oh well!

This appointment was also awesome because we scheduled our anatomy scan! The day we found out if Baby P will be a little boy or little girl! :)

Now I am just working on not gaining too much weight! The eating for two bit is a myth people don't be fooled!! :)

Countdown to Baby P-Weeks 11 -12

Week 11-

This week was boring! I worked ALOT and was super busy during the day and slept almost as soon as I got home... BORING!

Week 12-

This week was EPIC! This was the week I went from what I think is normal Leigha to CRAZY, HORRIBLE, AWFUL, MEAN Leigha! :)

My poor hubby. For around three days I lost my ever lovin mind and went nuts on TJ. I cried and yelled and screamed about who knows what, blaming him for everything under the sun I could think of. I am pretty sure I slammed shut the washer door as loud as possible, tried to clean the kitchen up while banging pots and pans and probably stomping my feet. It was a tantrum for the ages that lasted three days! THREE! TJ hid  in the corner and tried to avoid my wrath.

One night after my hormones had returned to the user friendly option, I came home from work and realized the beans had gotten left out of our crock pot dinner. I was looking in the crock pot thinking how strange it was and mixing it around and finally I mentioned it to TJ. Poor guy comes running into the kitchen saying he followed the directions I had written and not to get angry! I wasn't angry, I thought it was funny!

I kind of feel bad for how I acted...but now it's just funny and we can all move on...some with more scars than the other! :)

Countdown to Baby P- Weeks 9-10

Week 9

The rest of week 9 was relatively uneventful compared to getting to see our sweet baby and letting a few people at work know! The major accomplishment was that I started running longer distances! By long I mean 4.25 miles and by run I mean a nice walk/jog combo! :)

I felt fine. It was strange. I just trudged along on the treadmill like any other day. I didn't want to push it, because I just don't know enough yet. The only thing that was horrible was I WAS EXHAUSTED! When I was finished I had planned to go to the store and get some things done, yeah that didn't happen and I barely manged to shower and get regular clothes on. I laid on the couch the rest of the day. Eh. Baby steps!

Week 10

I feel like week 10 should have dramatic music in the background like DUN DUN DUUUUNNNNN!!!

Why the drama you ask? Because I dub week 10 and the week of continual sobbing. Non stop insane amounts of crying!

I was fine mostly during the day. Then I would get in the car to drive home. The first fit of crying came when I had a moment of "What have we done?" Realizing I would miss out of some of the things I really like to do at work later in the fall made me upset. I like to march to the beat of my drum. I like to do the things I like. Then it turned into "We wouldn't have go to go to Ireland, Hawaii, Beijing, Las Vegas, ANYWHERE if we had a baby!" I cried on the phone to my mom, then I stood in the kitchen and cried to TJ. And that was just one day!

Then next crying fit came after we saw our baby real quick at the doctors office on Thursday. Again, I was fine then I get home and I am panicked because how does the doctor know I am okay? that the baby is okay? That the heartbeat was fine, that everything looks healthy? She only looked for just a little bit. HOW DOES SHE KNOW!!!!! (aside from she is a doctor and knows what she is doing and all my labs were completely normal... you know, that's being rational) Cue tears.

Let's see the next day there was just on and off random crying for no reason really and finally the day after someone was very kind to me and I cried all the way home then when I got home. I was pretty tired after such a tear filled week! And perhaps a little dehydrated! LOL!

I walked/jogged 5.5 miles and felt amazing and it didn't completely wipe me out! YAY!

The best part about week 10, aside from the quick glimpse of the cutest baby ever that just a few days before I was sure had ruined our lives :), was I told my office! We have a potluck and I brought pink and blue cookies. It was so fun and everyone was surprised! I got lots of hugs and this pregnant lady LOVES hugs! :)

Finally, to wrap of week 10 I have decided that when people say "Congrats" when you tell them you are pregnant it's really like they are congratulating you on having sex! Think about it... how do babies get here? So congrats! You did the deed and made a baby! LOL! Think about that next time someone gives you the good news! :)

And just because we can't forget the cutest puppy in all the land!

Count down to Baby P- Week 9 Ultrasound Day!

Week 9

Day 1
OMG! Today was the craziest, most amazing day EVER! Today was our doctors appointment. FINALLY! I woke up at 4:45 and couldn't go back to sleep. I was so nervous. I was scared they wouldn't find a heartbeat, I was scared that they would tell me something else was wrong and I wasn't pregnant, I had every fear going through my head for an hour and a half before I actually got out of bed. So we go through the motions of the morning, get in the car and head to the doctors office. The whole way there I am nearly in tears. TJ was funny. He thought I had a terrified look on my face due to his driving and kept say "I am not driving any different than normal?". He was super confident that everything was okay so he didn't quite understand my worry.

We get to the doctors office and get to see her nurse and she walks us through everything we need to know. TJ kept asking questions, which was good because I couldn't really think clearly. She told us we would have to go to one place for blood work then down the hall for the ultrasound. I love our nurse! She is so sweet and kind! She was very comforting and every time I would bring up something, say like crying for no REAL reason or my constant worrying, etc. she would chuckle and say something like oh I was just like that or those hormones are so crazy. TJ said when we left she was a short version of me, which I thought was funny.

I asked her about running and she said there was no reason I couldn't do the half so go ahead and train away! Now, she did say not to increase my pace from where I was before and to listen to my body. Now is not the time to push it, so walk when I need to and be safe. So YAY! Now, I don't really have an excuse not to be training... is that good or bad?

We left the doctors office and found out I need to come back the next week to do lab follow ups etc. So we made that appointment and headed down the hall to the ultrasound place. They couldn't get us in until 2:30 pm so I had to let work know I wouldn't be there that afternoon. I don't usually take sick days and a couple of the ladies knew I was out that morning for a doctors appointment, so I hope I didn't worry anyone on accident. I went over and had my blood drawn and the tech at one point told me to keep breathing. Apparently, I had started holding my breath at some point. Oops! TJ and I killed a little time and had lunch then headed back for the ultrasound.

My fears were starting to be put at ease, but I still needed to see that baby for myself and know that it was there and okay. It felt like forever before they called us back. When we got back there the tech was worried she may not be able to find it on the first try and she would have to try another method. Luckily, I laid down and she put that thing on my belly and there it was on the screen.

I think the first words out of my mouth were "this is so weird". It was so weird. It was actually in there. We could see its little heart beating on the screen and then it started to move its strange little leg things!! It was all happy and moving around! I had tears in my eyes, but I kept it together. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Our sweet little baby was happy (I assume) and healthy. In my UTERUS! It is still kind of blowing my mind and I can't stop smiling. It's so bizarre that a human female body and carry such a weird little creature! I loved it. I wanted to be able to keep looking at it. I didn't realize they could move their parts so early. When the tech left the room I burst out crying (no surprise there) and kept hugging TJ. We had our little baby that we both had been so excitedly waiting for.

They gave us a disc with photos and video, so of course we had to stop by WalMart and print a few off. I was measuring exactly 9 weeks so our little baby Pemberton will arrive August 19th.

I love our picture! I will look at it everyday until the next time we get a little glimpse at our sweet baby! :)

I thank God for this amazing little miracle/blessing and words cannot begin to describe how grateful I am for this baby and how much it is already loved. :)

Side Note: I don't know if I will be able to watch the Olympics this year. We watched the figure skating championships the other night and every time one of the athletes fell I nearly cried. Really?!? Cried! I will take crying over throwing up any day, but it is kind of stupid.