A quick update at 17 weeks. . . .

I wanted to post a quick update from last week's post. I had my doctor's appointment this week, baby and I are doing good. The heartbeat of baby is moving fast. My midwife kept calling it a "he" during the whole visit. It made me chuckle a little. From what I have heard from various people, a strong fast heartbeat means it is a boy and slower heartbeat means it is girl. But I believe that could be all rubbish. I had a strong fast heartbeat. . . .they thought I was a boy. . . .and then I popped out. . . .little Miss Newton. We find out the sex of the baby a week from today!!! John and I couldn't be more excited!! We want to plan and pick out for the baby. Right now we are shopping around for the crib and baby dresser. It can all we overwhelming because there is so much to get for the little one and there are so many options for everything. So I keep telling myself, one thing at a time. My cramping is starting to subside. The midwife confirmed with me that the cramping is indeed "growing pains." I am petite and this little one is starting to grow at a rapid pace. Just last week I posted a picture of my belly barely showing, well yesterday the little one decided to take the plunge and really pop out of my belly. I am beginning to look more on the pregnant side and less like I am bloated.

John has one more week left of school until the winter break. I can't wait because then he'll have more time to spend with his wife. How exciting for him!! More time to help me get ready for this little peanut growing inside me.

Love to All! Check back in next week for the reveal of the baby's sex. . . .are we destined for blue or pink???? I'd be curious to hear what everyone's prediction is. . . .

Happy Turkey Day, we are 16 weeks!!

Happy Turkey Day to all our friends and family!! We hope everyone had a fun and thankful day. John spent the day working on school stuff and visited his mom for a couple hours to eat some delicious grub. I spent my turkey day at work taking care of sick patients. I am very thankful to have a job and to work with a wonderful  group of people. I feel very blessed in that regard.

This week marks baby and mine's 16 weeks together. It was a non-eventful week for us. The baby is barely popping out of my belly. But I am definitely experiencing some growing pains. On Turkey Day it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Everything that I read says that baby should be hitting a growth spurt by now, and I have to assume that means my little belly will be hitting a growth spurt as well. Baby should be 4 1/2 inches long from head to rump and 3 1/2 ounces in weight. About the size of a mango. Baby's heart is now pumping 25 quarts of blood each day and this number will continue to rise; as an average adult heart pumps 5 liters of blood per minute. The tiny bones in the baby's ears are now in place, making it likely that baby can hear my voice when I speak or sing. So baby will begin to know my voice and the music I listen to. I plan on giving this child an eclectic taste in music.

An update on our poor little pup. He is going in to have surgery tomorrow morning. Through all the stresses of his last surgery and developing a infection on his neck from the stupid cone he had to wear, he developed cherry eye. Which is a bulge in the gland of his inner eyelid. It has to be removed or it will cause problems later for our Brutus. Soooooo here we go again. . . . round 2 in surgery. Poor little guy!

We hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! We have a baby appointment on Monday. So hopefully there is more updates to share next week. Lots of Love to all!!

A Big Milestone - 14 Weeks. . . .

14 weeks is a big milestone for baby and me. It means that we are now in the second trimester. The best is yet to come (said by my favorite singer Frank Sinatra). At 14 weeks the baby is sprouting hair on top of its cute head, eyebrows and body. This hair is called lanugo. It develops its own furry blanket. The body hair is not permanent, it’s just meant to keep little baby warm. This is good because it has been COLD here this last week. The baby should be 3 ½ inches long from head to bottom. This is about the size of an avocado.

I had another doctor’s appointment this week. My doctor did not take any new pictures of baby but I was able to hear baby’s heartbeat again. It was beating 152 beats per minute. This is good. And it was moving around a lot! I could hear the movements through the Doppler. They say that in the next few weeks I should be able to feel baby moving in my tummy. But I haven’t felt it yet. The only thing I am feeling right now is a lot of cramping. I think this is due to the stretching of my stomach muscles and growing of my uterus. But my doctor wants me to drink LOTS of fluids . . . .over 2 liters a day and I am to go back in the office in 2 weeks to re-evaluate my cramping. I was given a referral to get a full ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby! Yes, Johnathon and I will find out the sex of the baby. We will find out between 18-20 weeks. So in about a month everyone will know whether we can call this baby a she or he!! And we can start to figure out what we need to buy for the nursery!! I am very much looking forward to getting started in buying stuff for our little Muchow.

On a sad note, while we were in Florida, our poor little puppy hurt himself. His leg muscles are so strong that when he was jumping around playing with a cat he pulled his leg muscle away from the growth plate in his leg bone. He had to have surgery and is now moping around the house with an ugly cone on his head. The orthopedic doctor that did his surgery thinks that he will heal just fine. He’s a tough dog.

Johnathon has started student teaching this week. He will pretty much be student teaching every day until school is out. . . .busy boy. I had the last 8 days off of work, not by choice but because our union had gone on strike again. Now that Obama has been re-elected the hospital is freaking out about the Affordable Care Act and how it will affect the hospital financially. It’s a scary time right now for us nurses that work for Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Administration wants to reduce our benefits, not give us any raises and reduce staff to cut costs. What I have been told is that nurses haven’t had a raise in our hospital in the last 2 years. I feel blessed that we have such a strong union. Out of 600 nurses that work at the hospital, 436 voted to go on strike against the hospital and 4 nurses voted to not strike. This is a pretty strong number. Go SNA!!

All my love to our family! Until next week. . . .

My Lucky Number 13......

Johnathon and I spent the last week in Key West with our Hatfield family. There is a big Halloween festival that we got to be apart of called Fantasy Fest. Thousands and thousands of people travel to Key West to go Fantasy Fest. People walk the streets dressed up in costume, not dressed up in costume, in their birthday suits or in painted costumes. It was quite the adventure and experience. One night Johnathon dressed up in his usual short shorts and tight tank top with a bright blue crazy wig. The next night was toga night, so John and I dressed in our Roman attire. The third night was a march from the Key West cemetery to Duval Street (the Main Street in town), so we dressed up like He-man and She-ra, which was one of Johnathon's favorite cartoons/comics growing up. The last night was a big parade where the locals put floats together and toss beads into the crowd, like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We had such a great time, spent with great people. Most importantly I got to relax, which means baby got to relax. We had a few hiccups getting home, which I am pretty sure was related to the awful weather the Northeast was having. While in Key West it rained off and on, and was windy but we weren't too affected by the hurricane.

I have to brag and share a story with everyone. We flew from Key West into Atlanta, then to SFO. During our layover, while trying to get onto the concourse train, a gentleman collapsed to the floor and had a cardiac arrest. I at first thought the man had merely passed out, but when I took a look at him his lips were blue......so I began CPR. I did CPR for probably 10-15 minutes before paramedics showed up. I don' know if he was ever revived but I walked away knowing that I did what I could with the knowledge that I have. But it's kind of funny the thoughts that cross your mind when you are in the heat of the moment. While doing CPR on this guy, the thought crossed my mind....."what is a pregnant women doing CPR in an aiport concourse train doing"....I kind of felt like a pregnant "badass."

On another note, baby has turned 13 weeks and has begun rapidly growing. Baby is now 3 inches long and weighs about an ounce. It is the size of small peach. Can you believe it baby went from a size of lime to the size of a peach in one week. I have a feeling that this little one is going to start really showing and popping out of my belly soon. A very cool development this week for baby is that it's fingerprints have formed and now has it's own identification.

The big question that Johnathon and I keep getting asked, and I am sure I will get asked lots more is: do we have names picked out......the answer is no. Johnathon and I have decided to not waste our brain power on picking out a name until we know the sex of the baby. So family and friends since I have made that announcement just maybe the question won't be asked (ya right.....I know I'm dreaming). 

We hope the family is doing great; living happy and healthy. Our next appointment with the doctor is November 9th.....just a week away!

A Late 12 Week Post.....

I was planning on doing this 12 week post a week ago, but life took over. So I am sorry for the delay. The reward is that you all will get two posts this week. At 12 weeks, Baby Muchow is 2 inches long from crown to rump, about the size of a lime. When I put this lime in Johnathon's hand, all I could think is that the little peanut isn't a little peanut anymore. At 12 weeks, baby's big development is it's reflexes: it's beginning to open and close it's fingers, the mouth has begun to make sucking movements, toes will curl and eye muscles will clench. This all means baby is getting stronger.

We had our 12 week doctor's appointment, I was very excited to go in hopes that I would be able to see baby again and get a new picture. However, the doctor did not do an ultrasound. So I do not have a new picture of baby to share. We were able to hear the heartbeat by use of a doppler. This was quite exciting for us, that we recorded it to share with the family. So below is a video of the floor of the doctor's office but most important is the sound. Baby's heartbeat is strong. After hearing baby's heartbeat, I personally was relieved to know baby was doing okay. I have been struggling with the anxiety of not knowing if baby is doing okay. It's hard knowing there is a little being growing inside me but I can't see it, feel it, or hear it. I just have to trust that my body is  strong  enough to house such an important creature. I will admit that from time to time I intend to use the dopplar at my work to listen to baby's heartbeat.......shhhhh don't tell........

So I told you I would post a belly photo at 12 weeks, so here you ago. Here is a picture of me at 12 weeks, I am barely showing..... I hope I can stay small but I know that I probably won't. It's hard for a woman to watch her body change so quickly. Oh, by the way I cut my hair off!