13 week baby

We saw our high risk doctor today. He wants to now see me every week to keep an eye on my cervix. Everything looks great though. He is counting on everything to go smoothly he is just being careful. We don't mind that. The baby had hiccups today. It was bouncing around. So cute. It is growing into it's head as well. Hurray! :)

Belly @13 weeks

This is for my family who lives outside of Idaho and can't see the stages of the belly growing. So it has been requested that I post them. I know my belly isn't big.... but it is the beginning stages and I have retired my jeans for a season. So fun!

Cravings for Grandmama and Papa

Last night I got a bit sick. It started out with a small headache (well... I have a had a headache for a week but it didn't amount to anything) and I figured it probably wouldn't get worse - just like the days before. WELL... of course it did. It turned into a migraine. I refused to take any medicine. After 2 hours of throwing up I surrendered. Matt called my mom and she said throwing up isn't good for me either. SO, I took the tylenol. And sure enough it helped.

I decided to stay home from work today. I hate staying home from work because then I just end up thinking about work.

To say the least my stomach has still been a bit upset. I know I need to eat... and I have a little. Not much sounds good BUT what DOES sound good isn't obtainable. My Grandmama Bishop's cooking! Grandmama and Papa Bishop live in South Carolina. They are my mom's parents. Last time we were able to see them was a little over a year ago. Too long! South Carolina and Idaho are just too far apart.

Here are a few things that I have been craving that can only come from Grandmama and Papa Bishop's home....

1. A S.C. fresh tomato sandwich on her oh so delicious homemade bread. (With the skin peeled off- of course).
2. Planters Cheetos that come in a can. (They are sooo much better than the cheetos that come in a bag that are made by Frito-Lay). I remember her putting the cheetos (that come out of the can- of course) in a metal measuring cup and sitting next to my papa listening to the cop radio or watching the news.
3. Her vegetable soup. I don't know if it is homemade or out of a can but however it comes... it is delicious!! I remember eating this vegetable soup of hers and only because I wanted to see the picture of the bunny on the bottom of the bowl. (What a great way to get a kid to eat their meal!) - Now I just want the soup... but I wouldn't mind it in a bunny bowl.
4. A bag of salty, juicy, boiled peanuts... possibly while swinging on their swing they have in their yard looking over the water, watching the sunset, looking for porpoises, getting eaten alive by mosquitos, while listening to my papa sing "back and forth... back and forth" Something soothing about that. (Minus the mosquito part :) Grandmama usually wouldn't let us out of the house without being sprayed down).

Maybe what I am really craving isn't so much the food (even though these are the only things that sound good to eat) but is SEEING and spending time with my grandparents. There is nothing like Grandmama and Papa's home.... and food :)

Can't wait!

So Matt's Dad and Step-Mom sent us a present... a blanket!! We can't wait until we can place a baby inside of it. It is so nice and soft. We love it!! Thanks mom and dad! We love you!

12 weeks!!

Hurray! Today is my twelve week mark! Victory! We had our appointment at Dr. Leavitt's everything went fine. They did an ultrasound and she kept on saying "perfect" "gorgeous" "beautiful." I never knew my uterus would ever be called these things. I left pretty confident. :)

Here are the pictures of the 2 inch baby! It was kicking and squirming around. So cute! So weird that I couldn't feel any of it too.

Baby!!

We are pregnant!! As of today 9 weeks and 2 days :) We loved this ultra sound... We got one at 7 weeks and we got to hear the heart beat but the picture of the little one is hard to make out. BUT this ultrasound (about 9 weeks) we could see the baby's little flipper feet move and see the flutter of the heartbeat. WE LOVED IT. So cute. The feelings of being pregnant are indescribable and very personal. So neat. Truly a blessing and a miracle to be able to be in this situation. The doctors thought that I would never be able to get pregnant because of all of my fun complications.... and thankfully they are pleasantly surprised. We are not. We knew Heavenly Father is in control... not the doctors. :)

How am I feeling? WONDERFUL!! I have experience some nausea BUT no throwing up (knock on wood) and I seem to be feeling better with each day. As long as I put food in my belly I feel great. (Too bad I don't love eating more) :) I have such a sweet husband who has LOTS of patience with me and caters to ALLL of my needs. (Even if I can do it myself, he is still willing to do it). I better enjoy it while it lasts. :) I could be pregnant forever. I love it. (Of course I am feeling good right now... I might change my mind later).

How is Matt feeling? He is a nervous dad. To say the least. He is worried about me... about the baby... about everything. He is very cautious about EVERYTHING I should be doing and not doing. I love it. One less thing for me to worry about!

So what do the doctors say with my health? Depends on which doctor you ask!

I see my ob-gyn, Dr. Leavitt, every month. I have only seen him once but everything looks great from the tests I had to get done. Of course, my RH factor is Negative. (I am always in the smaller percentage). So I will have to have a couple of shots so that the next pregnancy will be okay. Matt's blood type is A positive.

I also see a high risk pregnancy doctor, Dr. Belfort, every month at EIRMC. (The hospital here in Idaho Falls). I have also only seen him once and basically by the time I was leaving the appointment Matt and I were planning my funeral. Dr. Belfort is VERY freaked out about my kidney and the function of it. So he is requesting that all of my doctors (including my kidney doctor) keep a close eye on me. Urine cultures every week. Blood tests every month. 24 hour urine cultures every month. We are suppose to get a blood pressure machine and keep an eye on that too. Right now, my blood pressure is perfect. Blessings!

Dr. Raheem, my nephrologist, isn't worried about my kidney. He said that there he has had women who have had kidney transplants and went through pregnancies just fine. He said, yea we should keep a close eye on me, but there is nothing to worry about. (I agree with him). The more optimistic we are the healthier I will be. Heck, I am feeling better than most women, that are perfectly healthy, by this stage in pregnancy. I am not bragging BUT I am saying that we are not going to worry. Heavenly Father is in control... we will do the best that we can and put trust in Him. As Dr. Raheem said, "you are practically a 3rd through and didn't even know it!" I love his attitude. Seeing him and chatting with him made all of us feel a lot better.

Work is going great for both Matt and me. My work has been VERY patience and extremely helpful as I have been dealing with exhaustion and being nauseous. I work with the best people.

The fun thing about being high risk is we will get an ultra sound every month. (They are checking my cervix). So we will get to see the progression of the baby every month. FUN!!! AND of course we will post them!! I also promised my mother-in-law to post progression of my belly. So I will do that too. :) We took a picture of me in TX. Of course, there isn't anything. (I am just bloated right now). :) I can't wait until I can feel the baby move. We are just so excited.

Congrats to all of the great-grandparents and grandparents :) This baby has the best family waiting for his/her arrival.

APRIL 7th!!!!! Can't hardly wait!!

Update

So I haven't updated our blog in quite some time.... sorry!! Some things that have happened lately...

1. We had a really fun family reunion. My mom made a cute slide show on her blog. You can check it out. www.tumbleweedchaser.blogspot.com It was really fun to see everyone. The Later family haven't gotten ALL together for over 15 years.

2. I got pretty sick in July (before and during the family reunion) with a kidney infection and a serious case of constipation. Well.... I am always constipated (sorry tmi) But this time it was bad. I looked like I was 6 months pregnant, I was so bloated. SOOO, the doctor decided I needed to drink 3 liters of Golytely. HATED IT. HATED IT. It was absolutely dreadful. BUT I did finish it and of course took a pic. So proud and RELEAVED!!! :) No pun intended :)

3. Matt got a full time job at the hospital.... YAY!!! And a promotion.... YAY!!!! Blessings!!!

4. We are going to Texas next weekend. It is going to be a FAST trip but it will be a lot of fun. We haven't seen Matt's family since last Christmas. Way too long.

So that is the short update for now. I am sure that we will have more after our fun trip. I wish the trip was longer.... I would love a vacation. :) Some day.