Seven Weeks: Take Two

Seven Weeks of pregnancy, take two. Now that we've been given a December 24th due date. The week count for May 8th was officially seven. It was an interesting week: our third anniversary, Kyle leaving for Colorado, and Mother's Day.

May 8, 2013
7 Weeks, 1 Day
Woke up this morning and snuggled with Kyle while we played 'our song' on the radio. It IS our anniversary today, even though it's also John's birthday, and also the day Kyle leaves for Colorado. I like snuggling with Kyle. He is the best husband.

This morning we met the summer camp team early in the church parking lot and drove over to surprise John with a donut breakfast party. I kind of love that stuff like that happens around here in Small Town, TX. 

7 Weeks Journal

How far along? 7 Weeks, 1 Day
Maternity Clothes? Nope, although yoga pants are my favorite right now.
Stretch Marks? Same old, same old.
Sleep? Sleeping great, waking up once to pee...
Best Moment This Week: Seeing our little guy (or girl) for the first time on the little ultrasound screen. Mostly when we got to hear the heartbeat and see that cute tiny heart beat on the screen. We're really having a baby, it's not just a condition. I think I'm in love already. I play the song "I can't help falling in love with you" often in my car... it's our (me and baby's) new song.
Miss Anything?: Sleeping the entire night... I already miss feeling skinny...
Movement? Nope. I guess the heart's moving :)
Food Cravings?: Anything that sounds good at the time. Oddly enough it's not ice cream or sweets, it's like two hot meals per day during work hours and snacks and more snacks.
Anything making you queasy or sick? Thinking about food makes me sick. But then when I get the food to my mouth I usually can't stop eating it if it's warm. A little concerned about moving to camp where the food options are a little more limited, okay, a LOT more limited.
Boy or Girl? No idea, I think I say 'little guy' more often, but to me that's gender neutral.
Labor signs? Nope. Although the pain from getting blood drawn makes me think I may not be as pain tolerant as I thought I was.
Belly Button In or Out? In.
Wedding Rings On or Off? On
Showing? I'm sure someone would say "Oh I can see your tummy already." Then I would hit them.
Happy or Moody Most of the Time: Pretty mellow. Tired this week, but not as miserable nauseous as last week so that's good.
Looking forward to: Camp. I know that has nothing to do with the baby, but I'm excited about camp!

Cold foods were my friend this week and I ate all flavors of red Jello more this week than I probably should. Cold & Fruity seemed to appease me. Or maybe I just wanted an excuse to eat my favorite foods...

May 12, 2013
7 Weeks, 5 Days

Kyle is in Colorado. He left a few days ago, but today he sent me a facebook message telling me to look in a secret place for a secret surprise. Here's what I found...

It was a giant-giant Mother's Day Card. My very first one.

I'm convinced I have the very best husband. It made me cry. I blame it on the hormones...

This week for some reason I thought it appropriate to see if I could fit my bloated preggo self into my wedding dress... it was my anniversary after all. Forgive me if you think I'm crazy. Kyle wasn't there to stop me, and I thought it was pretty clever.

This week they say the baby's the size of blueberry. Here's a review of our blueberry pictures. Because who doesn't love blueberries...

So there is it. Week Seven Take Two. Here we go...

Friday Pic

Today I planned to update you on the happenings up here in Colorado. Last weekend was Christmas in July up here! I took way too many pictures and was probably way too excited about it.

But because the internet connection (where I do my uploading) in Lake City was down during our trip into town last week, I don't have any Christmas in July pictures to share just yet.

So I think I have a sufficient substitute. Today maybe you could enjoy this picture that we had taken of our little kiddo on Monday...

I can't stop looking at it.

I hope Baby Hess is this cute in person. Who am I kidding... this kiddo may even be cuter in person :)

Happy Friday. It's a good one.

The First Appointment

Still on the trail of playing catch up to our current baby status... we give you 'The First Appointment.'

Okay so try to follow with us. We know it's about to get confusing. It's confusing for us too... We had our first doctor's appointment on May 6th thinking we were about 8-9 weeks along...

May 6, 2013
6 Weeks, 6 Days
Note to Baby Hess: "Today was a pretty big day. Today I got to see you for the very first time. I heard your little heartbeat and I knew you weren't a tumor and I wasn't crazy and you're actually a living, heart-beating baby in my fun little uterus nest. And I love you already. You have a cute heart, and the rest of you looks like a blob. And I thought your yolk sac was your head. I love you, and I can finally start saying 'baby,' because before I think I was too scared to call you anything else."

Today was our first prenatal doctor's a appointment. I dropped something in the toilet on accident, a lady blew out one of the veins in my hand and Kyle and I laughed a little more that people are probably supposed to laugh while waiting in the doctor's office. The doctor was great and she probably thought I was a little crazy, the words "Sorry, I'm kind of a Nutrition Nerd" did come out of my mouth.

It all started with the urine sample. They handed me a cute little sterile (important) cup and I headed to the bathroom. I opened the sterile packaging, set the cup on the back of the toilet and reached down to unbutton my khakis... and I heard the splash. Yep, apparently the back of the toilet in the doctor's office is not flat. It's round and my *sterile* cup was in the toilet. I had to tell my story to the nurse to get another cup, I'm sure she thought I was crazy, and I'm sure she lied to me when she said "it happens all the time" but I like her more for it. I found out the nurse has twins in her belly so I already think she's a champ.

Urine sample complete. And back to the exam room, where Kyle and I kept giggling at the posters in the room. It's clearly an office for ladies and not for men... Kyle has a good sense of humor. And I'm glad because I think we were in that office waiting for 30-45 minutes. I know you think I'm exaggerating, but I checked my watch. It was that long, pregnant lady was getting hungry.

Doctor comes in, asks a few questions. And get to the business of showing us the baby. You know that baby we thought was 9 weeks old, the pregnancy where I thought I was almost free and clear of the nausea of the first trimester...

First thing she says is, "well, you're not that far along." Hmm... Then she started measuring things with her fancy machine. She seemed really good at what she was doing with her little arrows on the screen so I didn't interrupt her to say "what are we even looking at?" After she measured then she started to tell us what we were seeing.

I said, "So there's a baby in there?" And she pointed to a blob on the screen that looked a little like a cocoon thing. I was kind of freaking out that there was actually a baby in there. I told Kyle while we were waiting "I'm going to be so embarrassed when they say 'yep, don't know why you thought you were pregnant, nothing in there..."

But they didn't. And just as I thought all we'd get to see was out baby blob, she said listen to this...

And it was our little guy (or girl's) heartbeat. I started to tear up because that meant we had a baby and so far it's little heart was beating and so it was healthy and I was in love already. Kyle said later that he was pretty sure he thought it was my heartbeat, that he wondered how they could tell the difference. That made me laugh.

But then she said, "Oh wait, I love when we get to see this..." And there it was on the little screen we could see the little heart beating. I knew our doctor was really good at what she was doing.

And so she took some more measurements to tell us how old our little cocoon baby was and then she told us 6 weeks and 6 days. Which Kyle immediately looked up and saw that we were back to blueberry baby. I love blueberries...

She didn't tell us until the end when she printed out the pictures and asked us lots of questions and then spun her little cardboard baby timer thing. You know, after I said, "Did we tell you we're moving to Colorado for the entire summer?" and we all freaked out a little. After all that nonsense she said, "so looks like the due date is:

December 24th."

Well Santa's bringing us a baby everyone. Oh my. Must have been on the nice list this year.

Eight Weeks

May 1, 2013
8 Week, 0 Days

8 Weeks! We have a fetus people! At least that's what the app on my phone tells me. I haven't seen it yet or anything and those pregnancy tests were just so long ago. Every once in a while I wonder if I should take another test, and then my name tag lanyard at work hits my neck in the perfect way to make me feel incredibly nauseous and I remember that there's definitely a baby (excuse me, fetus) in my belly.

Between the apple sauce and the ginger ale, and then fact that I want to eat mac & cheese or hamburger helper immediately upon returning to the Hess House...I think we're still pregnant.

First prenatal visit is on Monday, you know, five long days away... just want to see that little guy (or girl) in there so badly...

Since it's officially Week 8 (well as far as we know), I'm ready for the weekly journaling questions to begin. I found these somewhere and I figured I could spend too many hours figuring out better questions or go with these...

How far along? 8 Weeks, 0 Days 
Maternity Clothes? Not yet.
Stretch Marks? Just the ones I already had, let's be honest.
Sleep? Not the best, but I usually only wake up once to pee and feel the cramps... could be worse I'm sure.
Best Moment This Week: When my sister made the worst Julia Roberts cry face I've ever seen when we told her we were pregnant. I'll never forget it. She cried and screamed and was absolutely hysterical. Or my brother who was scared of the baby bottles we hid as a surprise in the fridge... we got that one on video...
Miss Anything?: Lack of nausea, energy. Never really consumed a lot of cold lunch meat, caffeine, or alcohol...
Movement? I hear the baby's bending joints this week and the uterus is moving doing what they call "stretching.' Me? I'm trying to limit the movement... to limit the nausea.
Food Cravings? Anything that will make me not nauseous. And maybe I'm craving salty/processed/cheesy/stovetop meals... who knows.
Anything making you queasy or sick? This one would be better if I said what didn't make me queasy... and I can't think of anything really. Except distraction, being around great people/friend/family.
Boy or Girl? I really have no idea. I told my parents that right now I think of it more as a 'condition' than a 'baby.'
Labor signs? Not yet, thank goodness.
Belly Button In or Out? In.
Wedding Rings On or Off? On
Showing? If you mean bloated, yes. If you mean actual pregnant belly popping out, not at all. I keep waiting for Kyle to say "I can see your baby tummy" and for me to go cry because that's just what my tummy looked like before I was pregnant.
Happy or Moody Most of the Time? Last week was Happy! Overall Happy! But usually the happy accompanies with a pitiful fatigue and nausea that makes Kyle hug me more.
Looking forward to: First Prenatal Appointment on MONDAY. Couldn't get here soon enough. Did I mention I have lifeguard recertification on Saturday... hope I don't puke in the pool.

May 2, 2013
We took what they call 'belly pictures' last night. You know we're at what we think is 8 weeks, so we took pictures for both week 7 and week 8. The kids not even here yet and we're already behind. I blame it on the fact that last Wednesday I went swimming and then took a 2 hour nap after work... Hopefully I can keep up (gotta prove to Kyle I can keep up with cloth diapers, right?)

After the double photo shoot we made diner, AKA can of beef and vegetable soup and what Kyle lovingly calls 'unsaltines.' Buying saltine crackers with 'unsalted tops' is a way I can help us reduce our sodium intake... especially if I'm eating canned soup. But Kyle thinks it's hilarious that we eat unSALTed SALTines... Either way, Kyle and I split a can of beef soup and then I was needing more soup. I just wanted something to dip my crackers in, and anything fruity/sweet/creamy was out of the question. So I made some more soup! Pregnant hungry woman, get out of the way.

Today a friend told also me to make sure my stomach never gets empty, and while I've been so nauseous that I can't eat too much (other than hot salty soup), I can eat 'unsalines.' For 1.5 hours now I've been eating 1 cracker every 30 minutes and it's working... at least I think it is. Or maybe it's the leftover canned salty soup I had for lunch...

They say our kiddo is the size of a raspberry. I love raspberries but was too cheap to buy the fresh ones at the store when that grossed out my nauseous stomach. I bought the frozen ones because I figure maybe in a few weeks I'll be able to stomach them...

We took the bump pictures for "Week 8" a little early. That's why they got posted on the Week Seven post... then we had our first appointment and we were all mixed up... you just wait...

Independence Day

Here in Lake City Independence Day is what I would call a "hoot-n-holler" or a real good time. First of all, they have a parade. You know I LOVE parades. Second of all, we're surrounded by our sweet Ute Trail Family.

Third... they have turkey legs. My husband thought it was Instagram-worthy...

No one's going to deny a pregnant lady her turkey leg. Especially because it was grilled not fried, especially because the man cooking them used a meat thermometer, and especially because it was yummy... The baby wanted a turkey leg guys...

It was a beautiful day. Full of red, white, blue and independence. And Yankee Doodle on stilts and historical town criers...

Happy (Late) Independence Day. I hope yours was wonderful.

Six & Seven Weeks

April 23, 2013 Six Weeks Six Days  (Or so we thought)

Today I turned twenty-six.

No one called me this year and told me I had tuberculosis on my birthday.

Instead we're celebrating a number of things. I don't have tuberculosis. I don't take tuberculosis medicine anymore. And we are having a baby.

Last year we were trying to have a baby and they called me on my birthday. I sat in a waiting room for the results of my very first pregnancy test to make sure I could get an x-ray for my tuberculosis. It's like the Lord has come full circle, and while I may not have said this a few weeks ago, but I feel like the Lord is somehow keeping a promise he made to me one year ago today. That he is reassuring us that he is in control, and that he loves us, and that he provides for us. If it were appropriate to name a child tuberculosis bacterium, I'd probably do it. 

We took more pictures, these would be the "Week Six" pictures. We've got the "our baby is the size of a pea this week" pictures, baby's growing quite a bit, the size of a sweet pea at six weeks they say. I figured that the girls get to take fun 'bump' pictures so we're getting Kyle to take pics with the fruit/veggie of the week. Maybe I'll start a new trend on Pinterest... or maybe not.

This one's my favorite. I can picture Kyle holding our little kiddo with the same smile 

We went with the "It's My Birthday" theme for the weekly 'bump'picture. We had balloons and gift bags already... I could not resist, I was excited.

I'm not sure why I didn't wear shoes for these pictures... or why I didn't wear more form fitting shirts... or fix my hair, lol...

April 30, 2013 Seven Weeks Six Days

Last week I read about the 25% of women that don't get morning sickness, and I thought to myself, "oh wow, that must be me!"

I was wrong.

Today has been categorized by nausea. Like nausea when sleeping, when walking, when sitting, when bending over to get the milk out of the refrigerator, when bending over to change pants, when hungry, when full.

After a few nights of 'Whatever You Can Find' on the menu at the Hess House, I figured I needed to go to the grocery store and buy us some real food. Last week I bought tons of healthy things like spinach and beans and cabbage. (Eww, gagged at the thought of cabbage...) Stop typing cabbage... This week it was hard to look at some of the items in the store without gagging...

This was the list this week. My poor husband's last ten days here in Texas eating 'homecooked' food and here I am buying canned goods, salty things, and the most processed foods I can think of:

• Organic Skim Milk
• Reduced Sugar Frosted Flakes
• Cinnamon Life Cereal: May be lacking on fiber, but it's got 100% of folic acid!
• Kraft Mac & Cheese
• Hamburger Helper: Beef Noodle and Double Cheeseburger
• Chunky Soup: Beef Vegetable, Rib Roast, and Pot Roast
• Ingredients for Chicken Pot Pie: including Canned Chicken, because cooking chicken sounds gross...
• Mott's Natural Apple Sauce
• 1 Box of Strawberry Jello, 1 Box of Strawberry Banana Jello, & a ready-to-eat 4 pack of Strawberry Jello... because who can wait 4 hours for Jello to set?
• Sara Lee 100% Whole Wheat Bread and Polander Strawberry Jelly (PB&Js)
• Red Grapes
• Bananas and Frozen Fruit for Smoothies
• Canada Dry Ginger Ale
• A Small Jar of Olives, only because we need them for this week's picture. NOT because they sound appetizing...

So on the Menu this week is: Canned Soup, Chicken Pot Pie, Mac & Cheese, Hamburger Helper... so much for 'homecooked'...

So there it is. $66 worth of food I think I'll be able to actually stomach. I think. At least there's been no throwing up yet. And we still have our sweet little baby growing, so I'm a-o-k with the nausea if that means a healthy baby on the way. Just hoping it doesn't mean TWO healthy babies are on the way... right?

Baby's the size of a blueberry this week. Growing fast.

Then these are the "Seven Week" bump pictures that really say "8." We didn't know. So we held up a large golden eight... Oops. I also apparently forgot to take a picture of the actual 'bump.' Double oops.

Then my photo uploader did a funny thing and made this little animated GIF out of all my silly pictures. I figured it was too hilarious not to include... Feel free to make fun...

That's us at 7 weeks... or so we thought. We're new at this, so you ma have to give us some slack...

Sisters, Sisters

I have a favorite sister. Her name is Payton. This week she moves halfway across the country to the great state of South Carolina. I tell people she's wonderful, she's got all my good qualities and none of my bad qualities. And not too long ago she came to visit me volunteer up at camp.

Since we're four years apart it's been a while since we were in school together, or lived in the same city. I graduated high school just as she graduated middle school. I graduated college and left Baton Rouge just as she graduated high school and was moving to Baton Rouge. So any time I get with her is precious and wonderful, and usually quite entertaining.

She arrived just in time to participate for the last 5 minutes of the staff volleyball tournament...

We spent a little time in town in the park... (maybe she was talking to her boo Drew)...

And of course we went kayaking on the most beautiful lake I've ever seen...

and of course we took our signature Kingsley gal picture...

It was a blast. Now I've trying to figure out how me and the kiddo on the way are going to roadtrip to see her on South Carolina next year...

Five Weeks

So we found out we were pregnant in what we thought was week five of pregnancy. They have all these different ways of calculating things. We put our info into all the calculators and they said:

Due Date: December 12, 2013
Five Weeks Five Days Pregnant

So like any other Pinteresting pregnant lady we started taking 'bump' pictures. I'm excited to share those. Not because you can see a bump of any sort, but because my husband had a great smile and we love taking pictures together.

It gets confusing when I say, "oh look here we are 6 weeks pregnant" and I'm holding up the number "8." We didn't know. I'll explain as we go...

Monday April 15, 2013 5 Weeks 5 Days

It's Tax Day, I forgot to send a letter in for a project for my aunt's 60th birthday. I've been distracted this week. I've been thinking more about birthing than birthdays.

Called the OB today, told them I needed an appointment because I was pregnant. First thing the lady on the phone said was "Congratulations!" When I go in I need to tell them to keep doing that. It's fun to hear congratulations, especially when it's 'too early' to get to tell anyone else.


April 17, 2013 6 Weeks 0 Days
At dinner last night we talked about how and when to share the big news. There are plenty of opinions and there's no right or wrong. Kyle is so excited that he wanted to tell everyone, but being the sweet loving protective husband that he is, he's being cautious with getting too excited at the risk that something could happen. I for the first time in my life am not worried about a thing. #answeredprayers

Last night, we talked about who we should tell and when. It's a pretty interesting list of people. Do we wait until the first doctor's visit? Do we tell our parents first? If we wait until the second doctor's visit, is it okay to tell our parents on the phone because we'll be living in Colorado all summer? What happens when I waltz back into the school for work in the fall and it's very obvious I've been growing a baby all summer? "Surprise?"

Last night, no one knew. We did realize; however, that if I can't climb a 40 foot pole wearing a harness while pregnant (#campproblems) then we're going to need another college student to help us with activities this summer. Kyle devised a plan to hire another college staffer due to 'need' and take money out of my camp paycheck to pay them for the summer. Essentially this means the first person we tell about the baby is a guy named Doug that Kyle works with who makes those kinds of decisions. It's SO random.

Then there was today. Just when I thought I'd get away without telling anyone, the reminder popped up about my work training two days from now. We'll be spending all day in sweatpants learning the proper holds for restraining kiddos who have gone wild and are a danger to themselves or others (I work two jobs... I know). This sounds like a contact sport, which unlike ab work in the first trimester, is strictly prohibited. I emailed the lady about my "abdomen" trying to be discrete .. She didn't get it. So I emailed her back and told her our baby secret. She says I'll be just fine in the class, but it cost me a tell.

The first two people we told about the baby are Doug the guy who works with Kyle and Kim the random lady at my work, who I've never even seen or spoken to before.

Just trying to be a good mom...

Oh gosh. I said the 'm-word'...

Took our first 'Maternity' pictures tonight. They are incredibly cute. At least I think so. I went all out and made a chalkboard sign and bought both sweet peas and blueberries for picture taking. We aren't quite sure how far along we are yet, or we aren't certain. So I'm taking a myriad of pictures to cover our bases. And as for the 'standing in the same place for every picture' idea... well that won't work for us. Like I told the OB/GYN receptionist on the phone, "we'll be moving to Colorado for three months..." (followed by shock). So I figure we take pictures of the things we're doing that week, the places we are. This week it was the living room... because this week, before I knew I was pregnant I painted the entire living room... oops.

So here's the first official bump picture. There is no bump yet... if you think you see one don't say a word. That's my crazy large ab muscles... or they could be right? Just a note, don't say "oh you're already showing!" I'll tell you when I think I'm showing :)

Kyle isn't showing yet either :) Only showing his big 'ole "I'm gunna be a dad" smile. It's a great smile.

I think this is gunna be a great adventure. I have the best friend in the world who's gunna make a great dad. I think we're gunna have a great time figuring out all this baby stuff...

Middle of Nowhere

So up here in Colorado we live in the middle of nowhere. The post office that delivers the mail is approximately 30 minutes away, there is no cell service, and our internet comes in via limited satellite. It's beautiful with the stars and the mountains and the rivers, but it is the middle of nowhere.

I drove into town today to upload pictures for the blog, particularly the pictures of me and my sister up here in Colorado. Or you know, the fabulous pictures of me and a very large turkey leg on fourth of July. Unfortunately the upload was cut short and all that I got were these pictures.

These demonstrate how we live in the middle of nowhere.

We're just driving along waiting for the sheep to move...

Aren't the ones with the black feet so cute!

So hello from Colorado. Enjoy the sheep, and the mountains. We love it here.