Baby...Let's Start Talking Months Now - Like, THREE Months!!!!

Hi baby!  I am so excited to say that I am 12 week - or three months - along with you!  For some reason three months seems like a huge milestone!  Although I am still in my first trimester...next week is the official move into the 2nd trimester.  You have a lot going on down there in my belly!  Here's just a few things:

You are the size of a plum this week!  Your vocal cords begin to form, while perhaps not quite ready to be introduced to the nearest opera stage, you will use these immediately following the moment of birth. And we can't wait to hear that first cry!  Your precious eyes begin to move closer together - and we wonder if you will have Daddy's green eyes or my blue eyes.  Your eye lids cover your eyes now until around the 7th month.  Your ears also have now shifted to their normal place on the side of the head (yay!).  The most dramatic development this week are your reflexes. Your fingers will soon begin to open and close, your toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and your mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if I prod my abdomen, you will squirm in response, although I won't be able to feel it yet (darn it!). Your intestines have moved farther in to your body (they used to be in the umbilical cord).  Also, your liver begins to function, which is responsible for cleansing the blood, storing nutrients, and providing needed chemicals, this is an important event!  And guess what? You are now at a whopping length: about 2.5 inches and weigh anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 of an ounce.

We had a busy week with your sisters.  They are almost done with school...and most of their finals are done and over at this point.  They just have a couple more days.  I am off to Illinois tomorrow morning (with you too!), so your Daddy has to hold down the fort.  Luckily, the girls are with him this weekend, so he won't get too bored without you and me.  =)  I am so looking forward to seeing all my family and friends in Illinois!  But, it will be tough to leave your Daddy and sisters.  We will tell you much more about this as you grow up, but we used to live 1600 miles away from each other while we were dating and didn't see each other for weeks at a time...so I guess we can handle 5 days. =)  Then, after I get back next week, we get to finally see you again at the doctor's,  It's been a while...we can't wait to see you again!  Wondering if we will catch an early shot of whether you are a boy or girl.  It defnitely wouldn't be a 100% thing...your "stuff" is still developing until the 14-15th week...but who knows...maybe you'll cooperate!  What we have been able to do is hear your gorgeous little heart beat on the fetal doppler we bought.  Yes, I am addicted.  Usually two times a day I listen to you (well, yesterday was three, but Kyndall wanted to hear you!).  And you are still a mover!  But, you come in nice and clear...which defnitely means you are getting bigger and bigger!  Your heart rate last week was always around 170...and this week it's more like 165..which is normal...you should level off here soon in a couple weeks.

My belly is probably about the same during the day...but watch out...at night, my muscles around you just give up and say "I don't want to hold it all in anymore!".  So, night times are a little more "out there", if you will, than day times.  Here's a 12-week pic...during the day.

12 weeks

Oh...and here's some cutie patootie pics of your sisters goofing around this week with the camera.  Thought you'd like to see their cute faces!  Believe it or not, we were headed out the door to a school event and they were already in the car ready to go...waiting for your Daddy and me!

These are their "we are up to something" faces

Trying to be serious

Not so serious!  =)

Well, baby, it's just you and me taking the flight to Illinois!  Our first trip together...can't wait to show you off to everyone there!

11 Weeks!!!! (and one day, technically)

My sweet baby...we are now at 11 weeks! So much has been going on around here - with you, with your sisters, with me....we've been busy! Here's what's going on with you!

Your crown-to-rump length should be anywhere from 1.25 to 2 inches. Your weight anywhere from 5 - 8 grams at this point. Your growth is phenomenal now and your length will double in the next three weeks. Sorry to say this, but your head is grossly out of proportion to your body and is almost half of the your length. Don't worry, everything will even out soon!


This last week was the last of the embryonic period. From now on, you will be called a fetus (I'll just call you baby though, fetus sounds a too...well...scientific-ish)! Your fingernails appear this week! External genitalia are beginning to show distinguishing features on you and the development of male or female will be complete in three weeks. My placenta's blood vessels increase to provide you with the nutrients and oxygen you need for continued growth. Your ears are gradually moving from the neck towards the sides of your head. Inside of your abdomen, intestines are developing. Because the intestines are so large, some of them project into the umbilical cord and they will return to the abdomen within the next week or two.

At the size of a small lime (Woohoo!  Another graduation on the fruit hierarchy!), you are now able to swallow. The urinary system functions.  And get this...you swallow and urinate the amniotic fluid and the fluid is continually replaced (I guess I could've lived my whole life without thinking about you swallowing your own pee!). You are kicking (and we saw you last week kicking away!) but I cannot feel it yet (darn it!). All vital organs are formed and, for the most part, function normally (How cool is that?  All the hard work is over! Yeah, right.). From now on, they will grow in size and efficiency.

As a preparation for breastfeeding, you have now learned how to swallow. You swallow amniotic fluid in the uterus. Which includes, as we learned above, pee.  Super.

I can defnitely feel you growing!  My tummy's muscles are still sore at night and I think I am getting hungrier too.  Oh, and, your Mommy is growing out of her clothes.  Just in the last week I have really noticed that clothes are becoming an issue.  Thank goodness for babydoll type of shirts and dresses.  But, luckily your Daddy knew of a consignment store that sells used maternity clothes.  And we all cleaned out our closets last weekend and took in our unwanted clothes, so we got a pretty good credit there to use.  I now have some maternity clothes, and am very thankful, but at the same time feel like I shouldn't be in maternity clothes already.  But after sliding on pants with an elastic waistband instead of trying to button those old capris of mine...that feeling quickly goes away in the sheer comfort of the moment!  And I really got some cute maternity clothes too...so that definitely helps!  I rearranged my closet and pulled out clothes that I would still be able to wear through some of you being in my belly...not a lot...but I do have some.  I am so thankful that a lot of the styles right now are A-line, babydoll, blousy shirts and dresses!

Your sisters are busy, busy with their last week or so of school...which means, lots of band concerts and choir concerts for us!  Megan had her band concert last night and your Daddy and I are continually amazed at how incredible a 7th grade band sounds.  They were really good!  I thought I was going to die by the end though because my butt and those bleachers don't mesh too well anymore!  Kyndall has her choir concert tonight and I love those concerts - they have various levels of choirs in the high school that we will hear.  They are always really good too.  And...thank goodness for small blessings...we get to sit on padded seats tonight!  =)  Your Daddy recorded Megan's band and will record Kyndall too...so one day, you'll get to see all of this!

So, of course you know that we listen to your heart beat now with our new toy.  I love it!  We listen at least once a day (okay, maybe I am a little addicted and it's a lot more than once a day!).  You know what I found out about you in the last couple of days?  You are a swimmer!  You swim from one side to another, and flip around.  We will get your heart beat, loud and strong, and then just like that...you are off swimming or turning around and it's gone.  You are already a busy body!  Your Daddy and I are looking into an external 3D/4D ultrasound place (not connected with my doctor's office) that will be able to give us these great pictures and video of you.  They recommend waiting until 26 weeks, which is mid-August.  What's even cooler is that if we set it up ahead of time, we can stream the ultrasound live over the internet, so your grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles, etc. can watch no matter where they are!  More to come on that...but these ultrasounds will show you in non-skeletor form, meaning, you will look like the little baby you really are instead!

Oh...and we get to fly to Illinois in a week to see family and go to cousin Jene' and Tom's wedding.  Super excited for this, although Daddy doesn't get to come (or your sisters) so I'll miss them a bunch.  But, I get to spend a ton of time with Mimi and Pa...your cousin's Kiara and Vera and Aunt Nikki and Uncle Ryan - plus see tons of other family members of yours - great grandmas and grandpas too! 

I am just amazed each day with you being in my belly and how relatively easy it's been (granted no morning sickness...that helps!).  But even with the diabetes, so far has been great...lots more to do and think about, but super manageable.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat!  And I give that glory all to God.  It is truly a miracle that I get to be so lucky to have you with me like this and feel you grow and hear your heart ticking.  I can only imagine how amazing it will be to feel you move.  I love you baby...only two more weeks until your 2nd trimester begins!

We can HEAR you!!!!

Hey baby...your parents are dorks, yes, we will just clue you in on that now...but we had to do this...just had to. =) So, we splurged last week and ordered a home fetal doppler to hear your heartbeat from home, any time we wanted! Well, we got it today and recorded a bit of it on video so all your relatives and friends can hear and see it too! The readout with your heart rate on it is a little slow on the uptake capturing the correct rate at first, but by the end it gets it. You seem to be a steady 160-170. From what I read, your heart rate is at its peak now and will stabilize a bit lower in a few weeks for the rest of the pregnancy.

Wiggle it....just a little bit!

Okay, so, I know that I should understand by this point that there is a baby inside of me...but after days like today, it just takes my breath away still!  Today was my appointment...and thank goodness another sonogram (was thinking they may just do the doppler to get your heart rate...but we got the sono instead - yay!).  I've read that you should be moving around by 9-10 weeks, so I was excited to see if we could catch some movements...and we did!  Your arms and legs were there, moving around...one of your arms was up by your eyes and nose...and the legs were-a-kicking!  Literally took my breath away...I didn't want it to end!  And as she took a few measurements (heart rate was 164 - good and strong!) and your Daddy and I were still in awe, you fell asleep!  Crazy little baby!  She tried to wake you up by pushing the sono wand on my belly a lot, but you were out!  She said that at 10 weeks you sleep every 30 minutes.  Or, maybe you knew that we wanted to get some good pictures of you, so you were holding still until the end?  =)  Either way, we did get a couple good shots of you today.  Okay, so let me explain.  The first picture is of your face, straight on.  She moved the wand so it was at a little different angle to get a front shot.  You can see your eye sockets, little nose area and mouth (the whitest part is your mouth)!  The second shot is the profile shot.  Your head in on the left, with one of your arms up by your eyes (no, you aren't a Who from Whoville with a pointy turned-up nose, I promise!).  Your legs are there and I can even see your belly!  Love it...you are really a baby!  I know I should know this and today really helped...but still sometimes crazy to see you as a little baby!  The screens in the room were so much better with detail than these pics...but we'll have to just take these for now!

The doctor's appointment went great too! I saw a different doctor than the first one we met several weeks ago.  Still the same vibe from him - they have a very balanced approach about the high-risk prenancy - meaning, they don't scare the crap out of me about my disease, which is much appreciated, and honestly, it's the way my nature is and always has been about my disease anyway (thanks Mom and Dad!).  So, he came in and looked at my blood sugar numbers for the past two weeks and said my numbers look great!  Woohoo!  We talked through several things/questions I had collected over the last two weeks.  I'm flying to IL in a couple weeks - all good, just need to get up and shake my legs out halfway through.  Same goes for our July trip to Colorado in the car - and your Daddy and I (and you!) are flying again at the end of August to IL again...no worries there.  Also wondered about my blood type (there is a Rh Negative issue/worry with babies and depending on blood type of mine and Daddy's then we would know whether to worry or not).  I am A+ (never knew that before)...so no worries there.  He also told me that I would get a 3D ultrasound around my 18 week appointment.  That is the week before we leave for Colorado...so we should have a CD full of great pictures of you before we go and see our family there!  Yay!  I also asked when I would get my A1C done (this measures my control of my blood sugar #'s over the last 2-3 months)...he said I would get that in two weeks (at 12 weeks).  So, I will go in and get that done the day before I head out to IL.  He explained that a "normal" person (a.k.a. - no diabetes or other high risks) has a 3% chance of congenital abnormalities - ranging from anything like an extra finger or two to a brain malformation.  That's a normal pregnancy chance.  This A1C result I get, if under 8.5, I will have the same 3% chance as a normal person of abnormalities.  If it is over 8.5, the risk goes to 22%.  Wow, right?  Well, an 8.5 A1C is pretty high and with all I've been doing with my numbers, I'm expecting to be under 6.5 (cross your fingers for under 6.0 - I'd love that!).  I'd never heard it explained like that before, so it was interesting to hear.  I look at the A1C test as kind of my "grade" for my blood sugar control.  It's really the only gauge out there to determine your average number over a long period of time.  Oh, and by the way, a "normal" person (a.k.a. no diabetes) has an A1C of 4.5 - 6.5...so that's the range I'm shooting for!  Ugh...I still can't get you wiggling out of my head!  =)

I wasn't sure I was going to do this, but what's a pregnancy blog without a belly picture.  So...we saw what you looked like from the inside up above...and here's how you are taking shape on the outside.  Still can't see a big bump...but you are definitely making an impact a little bit!  Can't wait until you are bigger and my belly is loud and proud!  =)

If you are wondering what the white thing is on my tummy, it's the CGM sensor.  You may even see a little tubing from my pump too...just ignore!  =)

So, here's the sad news....I won't see you again until after I am back from IL...a whole THREE weeks from now.  Part of that is good news because the doctor was pleased enough with how I was doing, so I didn't need to be back in for a while...but the sucky part is I don't get to see you for that long.  So until then, just keep pushing on my ab muscles and showing yourself in that way so that I know you are doing  a-okay!  I think in three weeks we get a good detailed scan of you - checking on the chambers of your heart.  Can't wait to see you then!

We're in the double digits now - 10 weeks!

Hey there my little one!  Wow, can you believe it?  We are at the 10 week mark!  I haven't seen you since eight weeks...so your Daddy and I are very much looking forward to this Thursday morning when we see you again!  Here's a little bit about you this week:

Though you're barely the size of a small plum — an inch and a half long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, you  have now completed the most critical portion of your development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in your body rapidly grow and mature.
You are swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including your kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout my pregnancy with you.

If I could see you up close, I'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on your fingers and toes (no more webbing - quack quack!) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on your tender skin.

In other developments: Your arms and legs can bend now! Your hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over your heart, and your feet may be long enough to meet in front of your body. The outline of your spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from your spinal cord. Your forehead temporarily bulges with your developing brain and sits very high on your head, which measures half the length of your body (wow...that's quite a head!). From crown to rump, you are about 1 1/4  - 1 1/2 inches long. In the coming weeks, you will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

And on top of all of this developement, it makes sense that I am feeling a bit pregnant now!  I love it.  My belly sticks out a little bit...especially at night, I think my stomach muscles are tired from the day and I just don't have the strength to have good posture anymore.  And my tummy below my belly button is pretty tight to the touch...so much fun to feel!  I am definitely tired a lot too - starts mid-afternoon and by the time dinner and dishes are done, I'm ready for the couch or bed!  My tum tum also feels tight in general too - it feels like I just worked out those ab muscles for two hours!  I have to be a little careful in bed at night because if I shift sides, I feel like I could pull a stomach muscle!  From what I read, this all very normal...and just means that you are growing inside of me and pushing out my muscles in my tummy.

And my blood sugars are behaving pretty good.  Sometimes some weird low numbers out of the blue...usually one a day or so...but they are manageable.  The high's are further between, which is great...and sometimes they are out of the blue too...but they are pretty rare.  The CGM is working out pretty nicely for me...still liking it and thinking it definitely helps predict lows and highs, which is critical for you.  I will be able connect it to some software on my computer and run reports for my doc (with all the hundreds of blood sugar numbers it's recorded) for Thursday...that will be interesting to see if they use them and adjust my basal rates or bolus amounts.  I have tweaked my basals the last couple of nights trying to get rid of some lows early in the morning...not sure it's working...we'll see again tonight.  I'm usually up about 2-4 times through the night checking my blood sugars, so I catch them if they happen.  I don't think I will get a full eight hours of sleep for several more years now.  =)

Your Daddy and I celebrated Mother's Day and had a relaxing weekend.  The girls got me a card and said some really cute and thoughtful things, which was wonderful...of course, they were with their mom on Mother's Day, so that kind of stinks, but completely understand at the same time.  Your Daddy made me feel plenty special and even made me breakfast and then took me to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner - YUMMY!  I tried the low-carb cheesecake to help with the blood sugar levels - and it was pretty good - and it worked with the numbers pretty good too.  Oh...and we started looking a little at nursery furniture.  That was a whole lot of fun!  =)

Alright baby...I have to get to bed so that you can grow more.  I already love you so much, it's crazy. 

You are 9 weeks (and a day - I'm a little late with this post!)

Hi baby!  You are nine weeks (and a day!).  So much is changing with you...here's just a little of it:

Your are nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape (another promotion for you on the fruit ladder!) — and you weigh just a fraction of an ounce. You are starting to look more and more human (less seahorse-y). Your essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do your tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone (it's official - not a seahorse!). Your organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. Your external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks (and we can't wait to know - it's killing us!). Your eyes are fully formed, but your eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. You have tiny earlobes, and your mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your basic physiology is in place, you are poised for rapid weight gain.  And I can't wait - I just want to look pregnant already - and have an excuse for my belly to hang over my pants!  =)

We've been having a lot of fun around here, waiting for you to join us.  Your sisters each had a friend over on Saturday night after church and we decided to be brave enough and take them late-night bowling.  Your Mommy actually made it our bowling until 12:30am!  And even beat your Daddy on a game!  =)  The girls' friends were super fun too.  The next morning we woke up and made them a yummy breakfast - eggs, bacon, biscuits, chorizo, and cinnamon rolls....everyone loved it!  We went to a park called Sahuaro Ranch Park (which was started by a man from Peoria, IL - your Mommy's hometown! - back in 1885).  It was a pretty place - an old ranch and farm - we even saw a peacock or two!  We went to the library after that and I found some prenancy books to learn more about you - and your Daddy found some gardening books (I don't think I told you that he has a garden going this year - lots of stuff - squash, cucumbers, green beans, radishes).  All in all, a great weekend!

Oh, and my new pump and CGM is working fabulously.  A little to get used to, but it definitely helps me know if my blood sugar is headed too low or high.  It's kind of a fun little thing to have on me all the time.  Makes me feel a lot more comfortable about blood sugars and where they are (or aren't!).  Plus, I don't have to prick my fingers quite as much because of it.  I still take it 5-6 times a day...but much better than 15...my poor little fingers!  The trainer called me on Saturday and asked if I wanted to get together to learn how to use it.  I guess I wasn't to have read the manuals and started it on my own the Friday before when I got it!  Oh well, I still met with her just to be sure and she pretty much thought I had it under control...she was a little surprised that I got it working correctly on my own, but hey...you got one smart Mommy (and Daddy - he helped me a lot!).

I'm going to miss seeing you this week - I don't have another doctor's appointment scheduled until next Thursday.  I got kind of used to see you so much!  And your heart beating...gotta love seeing your heart beat!

Well, Mommy is tired - you are growing a ton I think because I have no energy by 5pm and my blood sugars are super low, even if I eat a ton.  So, grow away and I will try and get some sleep!  Oh, and here's some pictures of your sisters from this weekend with their friends (and the peacock!).

Tristin, Megan (your sis), Kyndall (your sis), and Charlotte

Megan, Kyndall and Charlotte at Sahuaro Ranch Park

Megan and your Daddy

Sahuaro Ranch Park

Peacock - and it even made goofy noises for us (of course that could've been because the girls were making peacock calls to them first!)

YOU are a God thing!

So, my bundle of love...I thought I would write down some of the crazy timing things related to you and how you were created.  So many things just lined up too perfectly for God not to be involved in all of this.  I wanted to capture all of this so we would never forget your beginnings and how we owe all the glory to God.

1.  Your Daddy and I, from the beginning of our marriage, didn't stop YOU from happening (if you know what I mean!).  It had been a little over a year and were beginning to wonder what was going on and where you were!  Looking back now, our first year of marriage was great to enjoy with each other and the girls to establish "us" as a family first...much needed in hindsight.  And, we had several things happening anyway - I took the voluntary separation from Cat, then we decided to move houses and areas (great decision, by the way, since you wouldn't have had a room at our old house!), took the girls on vacation to San Diego, finished their school years at their old school, started thinking about doing the vacation rental house for Pa and Mimi, worked on the house through the summer to get it ready, enjoyed the summer with a trip to Colorado too, started the girls at their new schools (which they both love), finished up the vacation house and got ready for the first official renters, headed to Illinois for Thanksgiving with the girls, had a crazy December with Kyndall and Bobby's b-day, then Christmas and our 1-year anniversary, started the new year with a bang, having family here, and then February and March were filled with rental after rental at the vacation house.  Whew!  In other words, YOU had perfect timing!

2.  About mid-February, your Mommy (me!) realized that she had gained some happy pounds during the first year of marriage - and - realized that I needed to buckle down a bit more with my blood sugars if you were ever going to happen.  I wanted to be as ready as possible.  So, I started the 30-Day Shred on Feb. 15th and started watching what I was eating more.  By the end of February, your Mommy (me!), got a little frustrated because none of the happy pounds were coming off yet.  So, I started reading Mastering Your Metabolism - which is a book all about getting rid of yucky stuff in our diets (sweetners, soda, high fructose corn syrup, etc. etc.) and eating what helps make our metabolisms work the best for us - how our bodies are expecting us to eat.  Started eating more organic and whole foods (not 100% of the time, but quite a bit) and started seeing my blood sugars really even out with just a few changes.

3. Your Mommy's (that's me!) body felt weird in mid-late February...wasn't sure why...just thought I had a heavy dose of those pre-menstrual things this month. Kind of thought - hmmm - prego? But then the monthly visitor came and that ended that!

4.  By the time we went to Vegas on March 16th, I had finally lost some weight with the new way of eating.  I also had finished the 30-Day Shred and felt great.  I'll just say this right now - by our best guess, March 16th was a big day for your Daddy and I - and YOU.  =)

5.  So, yes, I was now pregnant with you at this point - my blood sugars stable, my eating is healthy, my body weight nearing a normal weight and BOOM!  After over a year of trying, YOU are created!  Coincidence?  I think not!  God is so good...He completely put all of these things in my path to make YOU possible.  God knows and loves us before we are even created - and that is soooo evident with YOU.

6.  At this time, we didn't know YOU were created though.  So, your Daddy and I get back from Vegas (which was such a blast with all the McCully's, by the way - can't wait for you to meet them too!) and think our lives will be business as usual.  We get to the end of March and I have the dreaded yearly exam at my gynecologist's office.  We talked about your Daddy and I not getting pregnant yet and what the next steps are - she told me she would write me a prescription for Clomid and I would try that next month and see what happened.  She did the exam and we talked a little more and I mentioned the weird PMS-y symptoms I had a month and a half ago (see #3) and asked if I had a period after, I said yes, and I thought that was the end of that.  Right before she walked out the door and we were done, she said, "Before you leave, let's have you take a pregnancy test, just to be sure, okay?".  Of course it was okay...and I went and peed in a cup for them and before I knew it, she was rounding the cornor back into the exam room where I was waiting saying that I was pregnant!

7.  The special part about this piece is that these weird PMS-y symptoms that I had weren't from you being created...I ended up not being pregnant until March 16th (Vegas baby!)...but for whatever reason (enter God here!) I had these symptoms to tell her about at my yearly appointment.  Without them, there would have been no reason to have me take a prego test, and then I wouldn't have known for another 1-2 weeks most likely that you were already with me!  March was a crazy busy month for us - and even though I'd checked ovulation and pregnancy tests every other month - this month was just one of those where I didn't have time for it...so how cool is it that God put me at my yearly appointment at the earliest possible time to get a positive result on the prego test?  And this is SUPER important to me because I was able to start watching my blood sugars like a hawk so you weren't affected by anything bad.  I literally couldn't have found out any sooner that I was pregnant with you...so how cool is that?  Best yearly gyno appointment I've ever had!

So...new way of eating, losing a little weight, taking out sweetners, taking a Vegas trip, weird PMS symptoms, crazy busy March, and random yearly appointment all result to YOU!  Someone may blame this all on luck (we were in Vegas after all!), but I say luck scmuck!  No such thing...it's all God's timing (perfect, at that!), and His plan and design.  You are a blessing from God, this has nothing to do with luck!