Pregnancy. Part I.

Have I really been pregnant for 8 months?! That's 2/3 of a year. Holy cow. I shouldn't make cow jokes right now. 

So what's it been like? Let me tell you. Caution: i'm not shy, you may not want all the details I might give you.

I actually found out I was pregnant in February at 3-1/2 weeks. The first thing that tipped me off was my nose. I could smell everything. I remember washing a white bra in bleach with the other whites, wearing it to work the next day, and being able to smell the bleach . . . ?! Yup. I also had a little spotting, which never happens. So one night while family was over eating, I got a call from my grandmother, excused myself from the table and went to my bedroom to talk to her. With nothing better to do I thought "well, let's just pee on this thing for fun". Yes, I peed on a stick while on the phone with my Grandmother. This is what I saw:

Yippee. Nothing really explains the thoughts or emotions that go on when you see that second little line. I went back to dinner with the fam like nothing was new (holy crap!). After everyone left and the kitchen was cleaned I went to my bedroom and wrote a little diddy for Tim. A few minutes later I called him into the bedroom and told him I had someone to introduce him to.

He was speechless for a few seconds, looked a bit confused, then it registered and we laughed and jumped for a few minutes. That was fun. The next day I went to work and told my designated doctor's nurse that I thought I was pregnant but had had some spotting and wanted to do blood work to make sure all was good. My progesterone level was a tad low so they recommended I take a synthetic progesterone pill every night for the first trimester especially due to the spotting. 

Tim and I decided that we wanted to keep this a secret until at least 8-10 weeks along in case of anything happening. I have to admit, it's kind of fun having a secret with only your husband--makes you feel a sort of distinction among your peers. 

Look! A squiggly shape . . . 

Week 6-14----THAT'S 8 WEEKS-----welcome morning sickness! Which is not really morning sickness. It's just all-day nausea. I was one sick girl. I remember telling my boss that I thought I had a stomach bug. He said "Katherine, you're pregnant". I remember thinking wait, I thought morning sickness was a bit of nausea with certain smells and foods. Nope, this was the type of nausea where I scouted every trash can in every room I entered, kept a plastic bag in my purse and car and basically felt miserable. I tried everything anyone told me. The only thing that made eating possible was Zofran, every 8 hours. I only actually threw up a dozen or so times but felt awful enough that I lost about 5 pounds from not eating. People said to eat crackers and then I would feel better--didn't work. It was better to just not eat and pray the Zofran kicked in soon so I could try to eat something. It's bad when you take a deep breath just to feel normal for 0.5 seconds. Needless to say, I spent many moments with the Lord begging for patience and help. 

We decided it was time to tell my parents because we had family coming in town and my mom would probably notice that I never ate. So late one night after a hockey game in early March, around 7 weeks, we told my dad we had a birthday present for him (his birthday is in October). We told him we'd planned a trip for him--a trip to the hospital to see his grandbaby! Her due date is actually on his birthday, 10-21-12. My mom immediately said "I knew it!". How do they know these things? My dad looked confused for a minute so I said "I'm pregnant", then he got it. It was a fun night--until I started feeling like throwing up again. We swore my parents to secrecy until later in March when Tim's entire family came to Midland for his sister's wedding. We told them after the wedding. This will be grandbaby #1 for both sides of the families.

Here's 11 weeks. It's in 4d so some parts (like the neck) look see-through . . . 

 So that gets you to 14 weeks. The rest is coming.

Before you judge and think I'm weird for doing this, just know it's mostly so I can remember my pregnancy and print this off for the baby book or just to have. 

Katherine 

Summertime

So, I made it to June. This means I finally graduated and actually have a little more time on my hands. How about a quick update? Here you go . . .

I'm pregnant . . . Oh did I forget to mention that to my blog friends? This is a fairly old sono pic at about 11 weeks. I'm 22 weeks now.

Here we are at 20 weeks. No comments please about how I don't look pregnant . . . you might have missed my flat stomach pre-pregnancy, so to me, it's something.

I graduated from Texas Tech University with my bachelor of science in nursing . . . Summa Cum Laude thank you very much. I worked hard for my 4.0

 

Awkward wave to my camera happy mother.

  

  

Major has had a fun summer in pool. He really loves swimming . . . especially when there's a ball to jump in after.

Major and uncle Joe like to play tug-of-war. I'll let you guess who won.

Can't forget about little Jinx. I owe her for helping me stay on task while doing homework. She's a strict tutor--no slacking with her around.

Big thanks to my parents and husband for buying me an awesome new camera. (Nikon D3200 for my camera savvy friends) It took the 4 of Major--see the difference a good camera can make?

So, due to being pregnant, with a girl, I forgot to say, I am quitting my nursing job in approximately 2 weeks to prepare to stay at home. I can't wait to jump in to that role. Hopefully it will give me more time to blog and update you!

As always, I thank my upstairs Daddy for his amazing gift of life in the form of currently 1 pound little being in my belly. May she learn to love and bring Glory to You.

Yours,
Katherine and fam -- including the furry ones.

Winter

Welcome Winter!

It's a chilly 34 degrees outside. What does that get us? Mist. It's awesome. This is the kind of weather that makes you want to grab your book and a cup of hot tea, and wear your sweats all day. Too bad I have this thing called a job. So now I think, "how could I make this cold day even colder?". My answer: Let's go to the hockey game and sit next to ice with the air conditioners on! So I plan on leaving here in a bit to meet Tim and watch the Jackalopes (which I think is a ferocious bunny for the mascot). Who knew hockey could be so fun. We've been to probably 75% of their games so far. It's an adrenaline rush to sit on the front row next to the tall plexiglass windows and watch guys get smashed up against them.

In other news, Major the Doberman turned a whole one year old during Thanksgiving. He celebrated by devouring a dinosaur-size bone in about 4 days. Happy Birthday!


He's too cute. Well it's time to go freeze! Enjoy your winter and hopefully I'll post again before spring.

Katherine

Morning

I think it's easier to blog when you have a cup of coffee next to you--though I'm not sure what I do is actually called blogging--it's more like . . . rambling? Not sure. Interesting. So we survived another week in record heat. I got my Southern Living magazine yesterday that had fall colors all over the front cover with some kind of fall bunt cake. It made me feel like there is no way on earth we will ever make it out of summer and into fall. How could the temperature ever drop below 100? I'm trying so hard not to let myself think of sweaters and long-sleeve t-shirts just yet, seeing as how I'm melting in my own home. I hope someday I will live somewhere that actually has "seasons". Somewhere where you don't need to look at a calendar to tell you it's August because it really feels like July--where you actually watch the seasons changing instead of going straight from 100 degrees to 50 degrees, then back to sweltering.
So anyway, I have a list of probably 10 things I'm putting off right now, but this is my favorite part of the weekend. Major and I get up first on Saturdays and let Tim sleep in. It's the time when the house is quiet, the sun is shining, and I only have my coffee and my mind or book to think about. No work, no chores, no noise (except my iTunes on occasion). Just me . . . waiting for Tim to get his sleepy head out of bed. It's fun waiting for him, because it makes it even better when he finally does get up.

Speaking of, he just woke up. That's my cue.

Caught by a wave my back to the ocean.
It knocks me off my feet and
just as I find my footing
here you come again
DMB

KlH

Heat.

There is no place on earth that could possibly be hotter than Midland, Texas. I am convinced. It hasn't been lower than 102 for the past million days, I swear. The only thing rescuing my mind from going absolutely bananas while trapped indoors to prevent evaporating are books. Several books actually. Actually, I didn't really realize how much I like to read. I'm not in to the whole bettering yourself/educational books or (gasp) religious books. They lose my interest by about page 0.5. I read the last Harry Potter book, again, before going to see the movie--which wasn't everything I hoped it would be, but then again, the movies are never as good as the books. I also read all 4 Twilight saga books--and then read the first one again--and plan on reading the other 3 again. I fought society on those for a long time refusing to read something 15-year-old girls across the world were obsessed with--and lost. They are really very good. Fiction, of course, but wonderful. I'm going to force my daughter to read them someday so she never settles. I've also used my indoor time to watch a TV show--Vampire Diaries (ignore the trend, I'm not nuts). It's good too. I think I've decided I really like the whole "damsel in distress", protective mate idea. It's a good thing I'm married to a hunk with big muscles and a to-die-for face. It also doesn't hurt that I have a ridiculously over-protective doberman pinscher who guarded me like a hawk while my hunk with big muscles was out of town for very long week. Too much time alone = crazy book nerd. Too bad my nursing school books fall under the bettering yourself/education books or I would be very smart. I have a trend of doing all of my homework on my lazy Sunday. This keeps me from thinking about it for the rest of the week.

A new week. I can't say I'm that excited about it considering my phone tells the temperatures are all varying degrees of one-o-something. But, I will press on because I have another book ready to go--The Host--by the same author of Twilight. Sweet.

Enjoy your week. Don't evaporate.

Seriously . . .

I am really awful at posting regularly on here huh? I can't believe how long it's been. I have missed it though. I enjoying reading all of your blogs so I feel guilty not posting on my own!

Where to start . . . since I haven't breathed a word since January . . .

Our four legged child! Yes, he is wonderful--barking at the biker going down our street right now. Ok, he really doesn't bark that often, only when the neighbor dogs stir him up or when he is trying to alert his poor mama that there is danger--which he is good at. He has 2 barks: one is a silly bark which is more like a huff from his jowls, the other is a code red fire alarm bark that means DANGER! You cannot mistake the two. I'll never forget the first time I heard his #2 bark. I was standing in my closet collecting hangers while the back door was open for Major to come in and out as he pleased (cut down on indoor accidents--mind you this was several months ago--he is potty trained now hallelujah). Suddenly this 3-1/2 month old 45 pound dog turns on his imminent danger, code red bark. Needless to say I dropped all 1,284,832 hangers and ran to the back door. The sweet protective pup butt-slammed me as I tried to walk out to the backyard. He literally sniffed the perimeter of the yard before allowing me to walk outside. Did I tell you how much I love him?! I still don't know what caused the code red bark but I am glad I didn't have to find out! He has only performed his #2 bark one other time.

Here is my baby at 5-1/2 months old: 60 pounds.


We also visited Tim's family in Wisconsin--brrr. 40's in April is different to me! Anyway, one whole week of nothing to do. It was wonderful. We drove around a few times and decided we could live there--except in the winter when there is like 4 feet of snow, so just kidding.

Here is the spot I picked out to build a house.


We also hosted Mother's Day at our house. We had a great time eating and . . . eating? Oh my, we like to eat. I'm surprised we don't all weigh 300 pounds.

Sweet potato/regular fries and lots of meat!



Ooo we also painted the kitchen! I will show you before and afters so you can capture the ugliness of before.




Thanks for putting up with my lack of posting. I know I always say it but I will try to do better! I start back to school again in June so life will get busy once again. Thanks for hanging out with me for a few minutes!

Katherine

PUPdate

New pics of MAJOR! We pick him up this Saturday and I can't wait! He is such a handsome little man.





This is Major's daddy, Nitrous. Major had just taken a bath so daddy had to sniff him!


He is coming home soon!