Only a few weeks left in 2009

Well, since my last update, we have taken our last vacation before we are officially parents. We went to Florida, and had a great time. As you know, Matt competed in the half Ironman World Championship in Clearwater. We stayed with Aunt Helen who lives just outside of Tampa, so we had about a 20 minute drive to Clearwater, which was a piece of cake.

This race isn't as spectator friendly as other races, but there is one spot that you can hang out and see the athletes bike out and back and then a few times on the run, with out moving, so its not as bad as it could be. I spent the morning visiting with my friend Erin, who moved to Florida in 1992, and that was the last time we had seen each other, thanks to Facebook we were able to reconnect.

After our time in the Tampa area we drove about an hour and a half to Orlando, and spent 2 days at Sea World. This was my first experience at Sea World Orlando, I was let down a little bit, but it was relaxing and that is what is important. Matt said that the only difference between Sea World now and Sea World when he was last there (in junior high, he thinks) is that they have added a few roller coasters. We bought our tickets online ahead of time, so we paid kids price & we got the second day free, so we can't complain to much.

We also wandered around the two outlet malls, Downtown Disney and Universal City Walk. My only complain the entire time was how hot I was. I'm glad that I won't be at the end of this pregnancy in the middle of summer. I am warm all the time now, luckily when we were there it wasn't much over 80!!

At this point, I am 30 weeks and 4 days pregnant! Less then 10 weeks until we get to meet this little person. Each day that goes by, I get a little bit more excited. Luckily, I am enjoying being pregnant and I am not miserable. I feel really good my only complaint has been my left rib cage has been hurting for about 3 weeks and the on and off sciatic problem - which are all common. This past Tuesday was the 30 week ultrasound/growth scan. I learned that the rib pain is compliments of the baby bum and tailbone that is wedged right under there shoving all my organs into my ribs - awesome!! Lets see, we were also told that the baby's head is measuring a full week ahead (nothing like being told your baby has a large head! However the tech did also laugh and say that the head isn't what keeps them in), organs are all working like they should be. We were able to see the nose and the upper lip. Baby was practicing breathing and we were able to see the tiny little mouth move, and the chubby cheeks - which makes me happy, I love chubby cheeks!! We were able to see the organs and they are all doing what they should be doing and where they should be. Head is down, so baby is smart enough to know which way is out, which makes me one happy Momma. The best part was seeing where the different body parts were in relation to the movement I've been feeling, so when I have lump sticking out, I have a pretty good idea of what is what. Head down, back/side is curved up along my left side, bum is under my rib cage (or near it, I guess), feet are on my right size, this baby is folded in half, and running out of room, we'll see how the next 9 weeks go and what kind of changes happen to my bump.

I cannot believe I am going to admit this, but I have gained about 27 pounds at this point. However, as of Tuesday 3lbs 5oz of that was pure baby love - and this baby love has a lot of baggage also - placenta, amniotic fluid, etc. They say that about 30-35lbs of weight gain is normal and healthy. My goal was to be right around 35lbs, we'll see what happens, if its a little over, that's ok to. Just more motivation to get back into shape and be ready to hit the Hawaii beaches just 7 short months after the baby is here.

And, for those of you wondering, the gender of baby.....still a surprise! We did not find out, I never even attempted to look or try to find out. Usually surprises drive me nuts, but for some reason this is totally different and I cannot wait to be surprised in the delivery room. It doesn't matter if I have a son or daugther, this little person already means the world to me and I Love this baby more then words can describe already.

Last Saturday, was our first of 4 labor and delivery classes. They are 2 hours each, and at the hospital I will be delivering at. There are 10 couples (I think, including us), 2 of them are having girls, we are the only ones that don't know and the rest are having boys. Last week was pretty much an intro and a what to expect from the class, and a little relaxation breathing. Yesterday, was our second class, we went over the stages of labor, what to do during each stage - at home, when to head to the hospital, etc, and pain management options. At the end we did some relaxation breathing again, this time holding ice as a distraction to see if we could forget about our and how cold it was while we were concentrating on our breathing. Next week is the tour of the hospital, the following we have off thanks to the holiday and the last class is the 1st week in January, I don't know what will be doing in that class, but I do know there are some videos involved.

That is about all, I will update again very soon with some pictures. Hope everybody is doing well & enjoying the start of the holiday season!

Beginning of September

Well, I am 16 weeks pregnant, already. I had my 16 week appointment yesterday, it was fast. Blood pressure, hear the heartbeat from the baby - could even hear when the baby would kick and move around - and then lab work - wow that was a lot of blood they took yesterday. It's the "pre-natal" screening, they are testing everything - blood type, blood count, I don't even know what else at this point. My next appointment is at the beginning of October, 20 weeks already! I don't get to meet with a doctor next time, just the ultrasound tech. If we were going to find out what we're having we could find out at this visit, but we're not. They do also record the ultrasound to a dvd so, that's pretty cool.

Ironman Wisconsin is next weekend!! I cannot wait. So far the weather looks good, but that is still subject to change this far out. There are lot of people from Endurance Nation heading up there to volunteer, spectate and help me cheer on Matt. Along with cheering on Matt, we'll also be cheering on the other EN members. So, we'll know in just 10 days if were heading to the Ironman World Championship in October, 2010.

The weather has been pretty much perfect for the last week or so. It's been cool out at night, not to hot during the day. I'll take it.

That's all for now. Look for an update in about 2 weeks with the results and pictures from IMWI.

Well, our lives are changing!

As most of you know, we're going to be parents!! Well, in February 2010, the baby still has some growing and developing to do.

Apparently, we follow the trend of doing big things at once. We closed on our house and got engaged the same weekend. A year later, Matt competed in Ironman Wisconsin and we got married 3 weeks after that. Now, on Friday, June 12th, we find out we are going to be parents on the morning we are leaving for Ironman Kansas 70.3.

So, at this point I am 14 weeks pregnant. I wouldn't change it for the world, this is by far one of the best adventures. I get weekly updates from 2 different websites that email me what is going on this week with the growth and development of the baby and the size of the baby (comparing it to a fruit), this week, the baby is the size of a lemon, the organs are moving into position in the stomach from the umbilical cord. I have become 'squishy' in the midsection, and have a little bump, which is more noticable after a big meal.

The timing for everything is perfect. I was just over 4 weeks pregnant in Kansas, so the 1st trimester symptoms hadn't kicked in yet. I'll be about 18 weeks pregnant when I'm spectating Ironman Wisconsin (in less then 4 weeks!!!!), and I'll be about 27 weeks (just entering my 3rd trimester) as I'm spectating the Half Ironman Championship in Clearwater, FL and wandering around Sea World.

So far, things have been going great. I had my first pre-natal appointment on July 8th. I had an ultrasound, to confirm the pregnancy and then some time to chat with the doctor. The ultrasound was amazing. So here is this little blob (yes, blob, the head and body was all that you could see - the arms and legs were tiny little nubs, the placenta isn't even there yet), with a heartbeat of 168 bpm. Just amazing, to see the heartbeat flickering away and to then be able to hear it. The doctors part of the visit was quick - he goes over the basics, answers any questions and sends you on your way with a bag of stuff.

I had some morning sickness, but the worst of it was at night, or before I had left for work. I did a lot of sleeping early on, when I was asleep it was a dead to the world sleep. I had some food aversions, which is normal. I went for about a week or two of being hungry but not knowing what I wanted to eat, nothing smelled good or sounded good. But I survived. I lost 3-4 pounds during the first trimester, which is perfectly normal and fine.

On August 7th, I had another ultrasound. At this point I was 12 weeks 2 days and the baby was measuring 12 weeks 5 days. We were able to see the profile & bone structure of the face, right arm, complete with 4 fingers and a thumb, the left arm was at the babies side and the hand was in a fist so we couldn't see the fingers on that hand. The little legs and tiny little feet. The baby was measuring close to 3 inches (about the size of a lime) and had a heart beat of 154. When the ultrasound had first started, the baby was laying face down, curled up sound asleep. I guess that's what happens just after eating lunch. The tech woke up the baby so we would be able to see the details. Matt keeps telling me that we will pay for that one day, I just laugh, but as she was trying to wake the baby up, I kept thinking to myself 'never wake a sleeping baby'. It is amazing to me, how much you can love somebody, when you haven't even seen or met them yet.


Baby Ancona, 12 week ultrasound.

My next appointment is at the beginning of September, at the 16 week point. At that visit, I will get to hear the heartbeat on the doppler - basically a stethoscope, and they'll do more blood work. Blood work has become the story of my life. The next ultrasound is at 20 weeks, the beginning of October. At that visit, we could find out if we're going to have a son or a daugther, but we are waiting until the baby arrivves to find out.