29 Weeks

Not much to say this week, you've already been informed of how exciting it has been. I do want to make sure I express how insanely grateful and truly blessed I am to be carrying around my little Bean Sprout. I don't care what I have to do; I am going to do it for him. So I hope that my whining doesn't out shine that.

There is something that I haven't shared on here yet, so I guess this is as good of a time as any.

Bean Sprout now has a first and middle name. It's Griffin Van. That has been the name that we have been "feeling" for a while now, just had to sit/sleep/eat on it and it has passed the test for us. The more I say it, the more I love it. Now, I am a little picky about the way it's said. Don't worry; I won't jump down your throat if you don't conform to my pickiness. This is mainly for me. After I tell most people that his name is Griffin Van, they immediately respond by saying GrffinVanJeffers, really fast and all together. I, however, don't like the sound of that. I prefer to say GriffinVan [short pause] Jeffers. Anal, I know. It's very nice that we now have a name for him; I was getting worried that we'd still be going back and forth while filling out his birth certificate.

Update: I did get the call back from my doctor this morning telling me that I do have gestational diabetes. The news was very disheartening and scary to say the least. I had got myself so worked up over diabetes of any kind; I should have known it would knock me down if I ended up with it. After being upset with it for a while, I decided that instead of worrying about it I am going to look at it as an opportunity to learn to eat a lot better. And if I didn't have a reason to keep an active lifestyle, here it is. I prefer eating healthy and being active, and maybe a little guidance on how to do so won't hurt in the least. Like I've said, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure Bean Sprout is taken care of in the best way possible.

Just a Few Things

I woke up this morning with a hankering to write. The further along we get in this adventure, the more I want and have to share. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am a pretty open book. In my head I have a million ideas/thoughts spinning around at a time, and most of the time I find it difficult to tell stories or jokes or even just sit and think about a single thing for more than a millisecond. To go ahead and warn you, this post will reflect my ADD.

Pre-pregnancy dog/animal pictures would catch my eye and I could spend too much time searching for cute ones. Since the hormones took over my brain, I just melt when I see adorable baby pictures. I can’t help myself; I just sit looking at the pictures ohh-ing and aww-ing. This morning I was browsing through the blog, A Cup of Jo, and found this, which made my heart smile.
Pictures like this almost bring me to tears now. The images that they play in my head make me so anxious to get our little Bean Sprout here. I’ve said a million times that I don’t really enjoy the being pregnant process, but I know that I can’t even begin to imagine how much love, devotion, and adoration that our baby is going to bring out of me. I can’t wait to be sleepy with him. I can’t wait to be his nourishment. I can’t wait for him to make best friends with the dogs, Jack and Lucy. I can’t wait to see his little fingers and toes and little lips and tiny nose. Even though I didn’t know this 6 months ago, I can’t wait to be his mom.

I have been going back and forth asking myself if I should or shouldn’t post what I will tell you next. But like I have already mentioned, I’m an open book. The subject: Bean Sprout’s legal name debacle. The verdict: ehh....pretty much almost kinda close to maybe having a real name. Let me remind you that if Bean Sprout were going to be a little girl, she would have already been named. I asked Dave, since he’s being the indecisive one, why this was. He said that he knew deep down that we weren’t having a girl so we didn’t have to drive ourselves nuts over if it was perfect or not (although it was), I’m not sure if I believe him. So, we’ve been stuck on one name for months and haven’t decided against it or even thought of anything else. I really like the name and it fits all of my stipulations for naming my child. Most of the time I already think of him as this, even though I haven’t referred to him by this name. I need to get out there before I tell you this name, that we haven’t “named” him yet. (Although, most likely this is it.) I am just going to start referring to him by this, and if our hearts change before he gets here, then we’ll go with something else. Are you ready? Griffin. If you see me on a regular basis you already knew this, but now it’s in writing. There is a middle name that I have a good feeling about, but we’re just going to start with the first name. I’m not sure if I’ll stop calling him Bean Sprout on here, it’s kind of already stuck.

There’s an exciting thing possibly happening today! When we bought our house there was one thing in particular that I already despised. It wasn’t a deal breaker, but I really really didn’t like it at all. On the side of our house we have a holly tree. Hollies shouldn’t be trees; they should be bushes. Sometimes I dream that I am in a terrible horror movie where that awful tree is taking over our house and ruining our lives in the process. It is ugly. The more I look at it, the uglier it gets. In a year it has seemed to grow exponentially, just as my hate for it has. We have talked and talked about cutting it down, but just haven’t got around to doing it. Yesterday our neighbor had a tree cutting service at his house cutting some of his larger trees down, and then another neighbor got them to cut one of his down. Dave wanted to go ask what they would charge to make our holly disappear, and I was willing to pay whatever they quoted even if I needed to get a second job to afford it. He finally decided against asking them, worried that he’d be too tempted to pay what would definitely be much more than doing it ourselves. What is worth more than all the money that a second job could have provided is the determination that he got to call his Dad and ask if he would mind helping do it today!!! Oh happy day! I’ll post before and after pictures later.

I should stop here. That’s enough for today.

P.S. Happy 6 months Griffin “Bean Sprout” Jeffers! We’re almost there.

21 Weeks

21 weeks 4 days

We're past the half way point and every day I am more and more ready to meet our little boy. It won't be much longer till I hit the third trimester, and I am hoping that it's all down hill from there. Bean Sprout is a wiggler. I feel him all the time now. He still feels rather low, but I am starting to feel him a little above my belly button too. The other day I was laying in the bathtub and felt a pressure move across the top of my belly, as I looked down my whole belly moved to the left. He must be getting stronger. Dave still hasn't been able to feel him yet. I believe that Dave calms him down, because even if BS is moving around Dave will put his hand on my belly, then BS is still. Dave has a calming affect on me too. All the kicks and movement make this experience all the more real, and draws me closer and closer to my little boy.

The name debacle is still on going. I think I have something in mind, but Dave is still sitting on it. I swear, he is much more picky than I would have ever imagined. I am still trying not to rush the process, but I have some projects that I would like to work on for the nursery that involve his name. I guess they will wait.

My appetite is noticeably increasing. Even with my grazing technique, I am feeling hungry right after I eat. I am trying to keep lots of good foods around to munch on, but we eat them up faster than we can buy them. It would be nice for our garden to be flourishing, and to have the ability to run outside to grab whatever I am wanting. Too bad we're amateur gardeners. It's our first gardening experience and we're doing so-so. In the beginning we had 3 tomato plants, a cucumber, a couple of banana peppers, a jalapeno, and 3 bell peppers. So far we have been defeated by only one tomato plant. We have havested 2 banana peppers and we're waiting on everything else. It looks as though we will have an abundance of tomatoes, unless they're planning on kicking the bucket too. Next year I am hoping to expand our little garden to include a larger variety of veggies. I have read that the baby can now taste what you're eating via the amniotic fluid that he swallows, and that eating a variety of foods will accustom him to different tastes. This hopefully will make him less of a picky eater.

15 weeks

The four month mark is soon approaching, and 4.5 months will mean that we're half way to meeting Bean Sprout (and no longer being pregnant!). The doctor's appointment that I have been not so patiently awaiting is in one week! We're almost there. Hopefully my blood pressure hasn't risen from stress that I have caused myself over this. I have never wanted to go the doctor so badly in my life, it's funny what pregnancy does to a person.

Bean Sprout is starting to make my belly poke out a little more every day. Thankfully I still fit in my regular clothes. In some ways I am excited about maternity clothes, in other ways I am not the least bit excited about them. However, even though I fit in my regular clothes, I now do not need a belt. This is great because recently I developed a nickel allergy, in other words, I have become allergic to my belt. I had a little red rash below my belly button, where my belt would touch me when I bent at the waist. The solutions were few for tackling this allergy. I could either buy a belt with a sterling silver, gold, or platinum buckle, or use a rope. Or I could get a bigger waist, it's crazy how that worked out.

I think I stayed hot for 3 weeks straight...ewww. And the temperature was only in the 70s or low 80s. Can I hibernate through July and August this year? God showed me that he is looking out for me by sending chilly mornings and evenings this week. Thank you, I needed that. Now I just need 5 more months of chilly. Have I mentioned that I am normally hot natured? Now hot natured is way too under stated.

I can't get enough chicken flavored ramen noodles. I want them all the time, and that is all I have been wanting for lunch. If I eat something else for lunch, I'm dissatisfied with whatever I have had and still want ramen noodles. I don't want any other flavor, just plain ol' chicken. Normally I get very tired of eating the same thing all the time, now I would be happy with only eating ramen noodles and sweet tea. Weird.

Dave and I still have not decided on any boy names. This is becoming painful. He doesn't seem to like anything. Something in me, I am guessing hormones, is forcing me to pick out something quick. I am tired of thinking of names, but it's still a priority. To Dave, it is not a priority in the least, in his words, "it is the absolute lowest possible priority." This makes my hormones make me sad. I know that we have plenty of time, and forcing it will only cause Mr. Bean Sprout to have a name that I don't actually end up liking. Ugh...Ironically I have come up with several dog names that I would love to use with our future dogs, this helps me with nothing.

All this writing has worked up my appetite (for ramen noodles, or course).

3 months down, 6 to go

This past Sunday marked 12 weeks, so I just have 28 more weeks to go. Woohoo! I think I have felt better since Sunday, although it could just be a mind over matter thing. Or it could be that I am done with my finals and so close to being finished with this semester. I haven't felt nearly as tired, but last night i couldn't sleep. Sleepytime tea didn't even help. I ended up finally going to bed around 4:30, but I did get my fix of middle of the night infomercials.

I am really hoping for a pleasant 2nd trimester, it sure would be a nice relief. But more than that I hope that we have a healthy happy baby. The past week I have really been worrying about the bean sprout. After my initial doctor's visit I felt fine about the health of the baby and had planned on being extra careful during the crucial 1st trimester. Then came the surgery. At first I felt good about having the surgery, since we were removing something that shouldn't have been inside of me, and especially next to the baby. But all the medication is what is worrying me. The anastetics during the surgery, the strong pain meds in recovery, the take home pain meds, and the hormones that I am taking for 2 weeks. I trust my doctor, but I know that there are risks involved with everything and that worries me.

I am going to celebrate this Cinco de Mayo with an ultrasound. I get so antsy to go back to the doctor (at least for my scheduled appointments), and I really can't wait for this one. Dr. Brody had mentioned the possibility of determining the gender of bean sprout. I also can't wait to hear his or her heart beat again. Speaking of gender, I believe we have chosen the girl name. At first I wasn't going to tell the names that we picked out and surprise our family and friends at the birth, and then I remembered that I can't keep exciting info in for very long. Drum roll, please.......Harper Magnolia. There is a rather long story as to why I chose Magnolia that I may blog about one day, but basically it is after my Nana. My Nana is very very important to me as she taught me and influenced me more so than anyone ever has. Okay, so for the life of me and Dave we cannot pick out a little boy name for bean sprout. I have came across names that I like but not that I love, hmm....maybe I'll think of something soon.

Yesterday I was searching through the names on the babycenter.com and was blown away by some of the names that I found on there. Now I have looked at several unique names lists, but have yet to see what I saw on baby center. I want to warn you that I will not be naming my child any of these, and felt like these were so outrageous that they deserved mention on my blog. I was looking for mainly boy names but saw a couple of crazy girl names to.

So here goes:
Crazy boy names
fu (really?? Fu Jeffers)
firstborn (this is fitting for us, but no)
fish
froggy
fuzzy (this also could be fitting)
faggot (Seriously, why would someone do this to their child??)
food (I do love food)

Crazy girl names
fakhr (I am not sure if I am saying this one correctly)
hypothetical
haha (this is scrapping the bottom of the barrel)

These were just a few of crazy ones that I saw, and now I want to know where the babycenter.com gets these names from.

Time to get cracking on finishing my papers for my Scientific Writing class, as of this Thursday I will be completely finished with school for a little while. And, I'll have more time to concentrate on getting ready to meet the bean sprout and more time for blogging.