It's a Boy! We think?!

On Tuesday the 23rd, I had another OB appointment.  I've lost two more pounds, but the Doc says she isn't super worried about it.  My bloodwork and bloodpressure are all excellent.  She said that many times women will start eating much healthier during pregnancy, and it will cause weight loss instead of gain.  I don't think I've really changed my eating habits much at all though.  Because of the gastric bypass I had in 2000, I can't fit much into my stomach at one time.  I have to be so careful what I eat and how much of it, or I end up losing it all.  Sometimes, if I eat the wrong thing or too much, I have to lose it just to be comfortable and function through the rest of the day.  So I've finally decided that what that means is that I have to eat about half of what a regular serving would be, but eat those small servings every 2 to three hours throughout the day.  Hopefully that will work.  How ironic is it that you try to lose weight your entire life and the one time it's acceptable for you to gain, all you can do is lose?! :)

It also doesn't help matters that work has been completely out of control the last month or so.  I was there so late on Tuesday night that I ended up getting a hotel room in Irving rather than make the hour and a half commute home.  The audit is winding down though, so I'm hoping my schedule will calm down considerably.  I'm sure everyone I work with is glad for that too.  I am normally able to control my emotions pretty well - or so people say.  I always feel that when I'm raging on the inside that it shows, but no one usually sees that.  Lately, however, my hormones have contributed to some venting sessions that can be seen and heard by all!  I take pride in the fact that I am able to remain in control in the most stressful of situations, so these little "losing it" sessions have been quite embarassing.  I pray daily that I will remember the big picture and what is truly the priority in my life - and  that is NOT work.

On Thursday, I had my sonogram to find out whether baby Payne is a boy or a girl.  I was joined by Mom and Dad and Tim of course.  It was wonderful to have everyone in the room while we got to see this little miracle inside me.  First, and most important, is that baby looks perfect.  The spine is beautiful and shows no signs of spina bifida.  The heart is equally beautiful and has four perfectly visible chambers.  The baby is growing just exactly as expected.  Baby was moving around quite a bit and we could see the little fingers and toes just wiggling up a storm.  The brain looks perfect and baby has a good size head - thanks to me :)  Dad reminded me though that my big noggin' is necessary to house all those smarts.  So we already know that baby must be super smart as well :)

Profile Shot of Baby Payne

The sonographer took his sweet time showing us every angle of the baby before he said anything about gender.  When he started to look to see if we have a boy or a girl, baby Payne thought he'd make things interesting for us by putting his little hands down between his legs!  The pranks have already started - we'll blame his daddy for this behavior.  The sonographer looked and looked and even shook baby a little to try and get him to move.  He finally found what he called "the little testeronies and a little turtle".  It was all I could do not to laugh at this description of the male genitalia!  Tim's comment was "that doesn't look like anything I have" LOL.  It just looked like some little white dots and a tiny protrusion.  The sonographer gave us 80-90% odds that we have a little boy :)

Baby Boy Payne - We think!

So now.... it is back to the drawing board on names.  We had the perfect name for a little girl (thanks to my wonderful friend Brianne who came up with the name), but we are having a little difficulty finding an equally perfect name for our little boy.  This of course drives me crazy because I cannot stand loose ends!  Any suggestions would be welcome!

I cannot believe I am nearly half way through my pregnancy.  It is just flying by.  I am so looking forward to the showers and decorating the nursery!  We have the furniture all set up and I will wait to post photos until we have done some decorating.  The furniture is from JC Penny's and it really turned out to be beautiful.

Until next time..... much love from Mommy and Daddy Payne and our already difficult little Baby Boy (we think)!

OB Appointment #2

Had my second OB appointment today and everything went great!  I have lost 5 pounds since my last visit and they seemed a little concerned.  I assured the doctor that I wasn't dieting - which I'm not!  I just think baby is kicking my metabolism into overdrive.  All of my bloodwork from my previous appointment came back perfect and my blood pressure has been great as well.

During my first OB appointment they tried to find the baby's heartbeat with the doppler and weren't able to find it.  That scared me to death so they sent me for a sonogram where everything was just fine.  Today she was able to easily pick up that beautiful heartbeat on the doppler.  I was so relieved when I heard that sound!  The doctor asked me if I wanted to hear her guess as to the sex of the baby.  I said "of course!" and she said "I think it's a boy!".  She said that she could tell because the heart rate was slower, not fast like a girl.  She said she's right about 90% of the time.

My next appointment is on February 23rd and after that one they will schedule the sonogram to determine the sex - hopefully that same week.

Tim and I are going to go start our registry at Babies R Us on Friday.  We got an awesome list of "best products" from our Newborn Care Specialist that we are going to take with us.

Pregnancy Update

Tomorrow I will be 14 weeks.  Things have been going along well so far.  I've had the usual morning sickness and it has proved to be quite unpredictable.  I thought I had it figure out for a while - it seemed to always hit me about 3 in the afternoon.  The other day blew that theory out of the water though because it lasted from about 7am until about 1pm.  So I never really know when it's going to hit.  Hoping this part is almost over.  The first few months of the year are always the busiest for me at work and this year is no different.  Being slowed down by nausea just doesn't work for me!

Mom and I made a trip a few weeks ago to look at furniture and the other big items we will need for baby.  I finally found the nursery furniture set I loved on the JC Penny's website.  It's a really beautiful collection.  We ordered it in the Espresso color.  I loved the carved details on each piece.

Mom and I also found some great maternity clothes for me that I'm hoping will get me through the entire pregnancy.  I know that my favorite is going to be this super comfy jogging suit.  Already wishing I had several more colors!

Tim and I have been re-organizing the house like crazy to make room for all of the baby stuff.  Seems like every time I came home last week Tim had completed another big project.  Things are starting to shape up as we figure out where to move things around.

My next doctor's appointment is Tuesday the 26th.  It should be just the normal measurements, etc.  It will be another month before we find out the sex of the baby.  I can hardly wait!  You know me - I'm all about making decisions and checking things off my list.  When we know if baby is a boy or girl I will be able to decide on many more things.
 

Baby on the way.....

After almost exactly a year, we are finally pregnant!  It feels like it has been such a long process, but when I think about what some other couples have to go through, I feel very blessed.  I will be 10 weeks along tomorrow and will have my first OB appointment on Tuesday.  We had our first sonogram at the 8 week mark.  It finally made things real when we could see and hear that pulsing little heartbeat.  The sonographer told us that everything looked just as it should with our tiny little gray blob.

Our Little Peanut's First Photo Session

For a long while I had suspected that I had PCOS, or polycistic ovarian syndrome.  Basically it means that I don't ovulate regularly.  I had read a lot about it and had self-diagnosed it long ago.  So I was expecting to have some difficulty getting pregnant.  About a year ago, I told my doctor that we were ready to start trying and that I knew I probably had PCOS.  They took a bunch of blood, ran a bunch of tests, but never could confirm for sure that I had it.  She started me on a drug called metformin.  Women with PCOS are generally insulin resistant, which causes a chemical imbalance that prevents normal cycles.  I took this for about 4 months but did not have any success.  Our next step was to start clomid.  Clomid is a drug that tells your body to ovulate.  When you start clomid, life becomes a very scheduled thing.  The process works like this:

1 - Take clomid on days 5 through 9 of your cycle
2 - On day 12 begin "trying" to get pregnant every other day
3 - On day 22 go to the doctor for bloodwork to see if you ovulated
4 - Sweat it out until you find out if you had a successful ovulation
5 - If it was successful, do a pregnancy test on day 35; if unsuccessful, go back to the doctor between day 1 and 5 of your cycle to start the process all over again

We did this process 6 times, starting with a very low dose of clomid.  I tried to do everything perfectly, from taking the medication at the exact same time each day, to timing our attempts without missing a day.  As with so many other things in my life, I learned that the more I tried to control things, the less control I had.  Each unsuccessful attempt, the dosage was increased.  On the 6th try, the doctor had me take the clomid on day 3 through 7 instead of 5 through 9.  To make matters a little more interesting, Tim and I were both sick during this cycle.  We weren't able to keep to our schedule at all.  I figured this 6th round was a lost cause for sure.  God had other plans though!  I think it was the combination of the higher dosage, the timing change of the medication and my release of the reigns of control that finally did the trick!

Isn't it something how thoroughly depressed you can be when you are right in the middle of going through something difficult, but the moment things turn around you forget so easily how down you were before.  I try to keep that in mind whenever I have challenges in my life - that even though things seem so bad, I will most likely look back on this and see the blessings shine through more than the pain.

So here we are awaiting the arrival of a tiny person who will change our lives forever.  My heart grew a little bigger with the birth of each nephew and niece - I can only imagine how much bigger it will grow with the birth of my own child.

God Bless!

Eureka! Inspiration hits!

Hello Blogosphere!

I've had this blog set up for quite a while now, but until now, I just haven't been inspired to start it.  There are so many blogs out there.  I really want mine to somehow make a difference - even if it's just to one person.  So I've decided to only write when I feel God nudging me to say something.

Tonight I felt that nudge.  I would even go so far as to say it was a PUSH.  I attended an Emmaus closing this evening.  It's been quite a while since I was involved in the Emmaus community.  I attended Chrysalis, which is Emmaus for teens and those in their early 20s, when I was 15.  Holy cow that was 16 years ago!  It was a phenomenal experience, and this experience was even the connection that led me to marry my husband.  Tim has also been involved in the Emmaus community and in Kairos (a prison ministry)- serving on many teams, as Lay Director, and now as a Clergy team member.

My nudge tonight came from a very unexpected place.  At the closing, there were several South Koreans.  Tim had explained to me beforehand that they were shadowing the Lay Director and Board Rep on this particular walk in order to learn more and take their experiences back to South Korea.  Even before they spoke you could just see the joy pouring out of these wonderful people.  At one point in the closing, several of them got up to speak at the podium.   They expressed their sincere gratitude for the love and hospitality shown to them by the people of this Emmaus community.  They wanted us to know that the Emmaus community is very much alive in South Korea.  They even extended an invitation to all of us to come to South Korea where our stay in the country would be free and they would take us on a tour!  How generous is that?!  And what a wonderful opportunity to see how God is working outside of our little bubble.  So many of us, myself included, have such a small world view.  I am not well travelled - it is hard for me to imagine life in other countries.  You hear so many stories about "the ugly American" because we live in our palace on the hill and don't often respect, or take the time to understand other people's way of life.

I was so proud tonight to have witnessed an occasion where we, as American's, were given the opportunity to broaden our world view and show love and hospitality to people from another country, and we came through with flying colors!  People are people - no matter what race or nationality - we are linked to these people through our love of Christ.  How wonderful that we can join hands and spread the Good News.

De Colores!