Sunday, November 30, 2008

Have You Thought of Any Names?

The number one question we are getting these days, well, right behind when is the due date? And, yes, we have been thinking about some names. So, if you haven't heard, these are the names we are thinking about now (and might change a few more times in the next 7 months).

If the baby is a BOY...

Ethan Thomas is the front-runner.
This name is after Mark's late Grandpa Green, Edwin Thomas (Tommy, E.T.).
Ethan means "strong and firm" in Hebrew and Thomas is a family name in Mark's family.

other names we have considered are... John, Cole, Samuel, Luke, Jackson, Michael, Noah, Aiden, Caden, Caleb, Charles, and Carlton

If the baby is a GIRL...

Abigail Grace, Abigail Kate, Emma Grace, Grace Elizabeth, Catherine Grace ("Grace" or "Kate"), Hannah Kate, Hannah Elizabeth, Hannah Grace, Rebekah (Rebecca) Catherine ("Kate")

The names we are thinking about are therefore some combination of...

Emma
which means "universal"

Catherine/Kate
which means "pure" and is a family name (my name and my mom's)

Elizabeth
which means "consecrated to God" and is my name.

Rebekah/Rebecca
which means "captivating" and is my mother-in-law's name.

Hannah
which means "grace of God"

Abigail
which means "father’s joy"

and Grace which obviously means "grace" from God.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving Break

This entire past week I was off from school, and I have been really lazy these days. Unfortunately, I have been feeling really ill because of the baby, but I did get some much needed rest. I am going to try and see if the doctor can prescribe me something so I can eat (and keep it down). I know I need to eat but it has been a real chore. Although, from what I've heard sick mom means a healthy baby, which is what we have been praying for.

Mark and I enjoyed seeing the family that we were able to spend time with. It is always a blessing when we get to see Mark's brother, sister-in-law, and our nephew. Our nephew is getting so big, and he is so cute! It makes Mark and I excited to have our own. We did thanksgiving with Mark's parents on Thursday and my parents on Saturday. And, both sent us home with tons of left-overs, not to mention the roast and potatoes I made on Monday. I don't think I've cooked really all week, well except for those random cravings.

I think my first true craving came on Thursday night, when we passed several Braums on the way home from Granbury, and they were all open. But, since had other passengers in the car, I didn't make Mark stop. He picked up on my heavy signaling and right before we got home he took me to Walmart and got me my own pint of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. And, it tasted so good, nice and creamy! I also had to get some gummy bears this week after posting the picture online of them. And, then there was the green bean casserole that I had to make in the middle of the night. I am not sure how many of these were related to my random eating habits or true pregnancy cravings. Either way, Mark has been such a blessing, never complaining about my random food habits.

We began putting up Christmas decorations this week. We will have to post pictures whenever we finish all the lights outside (if Mark will please put them up for me!).

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Week 8


This week our baby had webbed fingers and toes are poking out from his/her hands and feet. In his/her brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. Our baby — about the size of a kidney bean (or a raspberry) — is constantly moving and shifting, though I can't feel it. It is growing at the rate of one millimeter per day.

Most of the information I post on here is from www.babycenter.com.
I also enjoy the www.parents.com website and www.whattoexpect.com.

Books we are reading...



This is the first book we bought for our pregnancy. It is nice because unlike other popular pregnancy books it is divided by each week.




Mark bought this book and has already read the entire thing. He knows more about pregnancy than me.




I bought this book because I have a hard time with my weight management with all of my medications and a broken thyroid (i.e. no metabolism). It pretty much told me everything I already knew but it has some nice recipes in it.






I bought this book so I will know what to do with the baby whenever I bring it home. This book is essentially Baby Care 101 and goes through many different topics.




This book is one of the top rated books. I actually haven't read it yet, but it offers ways to soothe a crying baby. It is suppose to be a really good book. Hopefully I will learn all the techniques.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Second Sonogram

We had our second sonogram today. We learned that our baby is healthy! The official due date is Tuesday July 7th. Which means I am 7 weeks 6 days today. Here are some of the pics from the sonogram.


Mark thinks the baby looks like a ghost from Mario brothers....


However, I think the baby looks more like a gummy bear (minus the ears of course).


This is a lateral (side) view. That is the baby's head, arms, and legs.

The baby's heartbeat was 168 bpm, which is nice and healthy. The bottom is the doppler showing the heartbeat. We got to listen to the baby.

I don't have to go back until the first of the year (Around 13 weeks). We think we will go to the special high-tech sonogram and prenatal testing in Dallas. It will be right at the end of January or beginning of February when we will find out the sex for sure (usually around 18 weeks).

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Tomorrow's Doctor Appointment

Tomorrow, Monday we will be going to the doctor for our second sonogram. We are supposed to see a heartbeat. Also, the baby should look more like a little alien (he/she had arms, legs, eyes, and eyelids even) than a black spot on the screen. We are really excited to see the baby tomorrow and we pray that everything will be healthy and have a healthy heart beat.

I will post tomorrow with the results and the sonogram pictures of our baby.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Marathon

The marathon weekend was really fun. It was kind of crazy trying to get around downtown San Antonio since I chose not to fly with my team. I wished I would have had more time to look through the expo at packet pick-up, but it was so crazy with over 30,000 participants trying to pick up all their stuff. We got a free t-shirt, unfortunately it isn't very cute, and, all the cute shirts for sale only had large or bigger left. Oh well. Friday night was the Team in Training pasta dinner which had motivational and inspirational speakers for the over 7000 TNT participants that came from across the nation and even Canada to run in this event.

Race Day. I woke up at 3:45am, thankfully the people above me in the hotel were stomping around, so that I couldn't sleep in. Mark dropped me off at the team hotel at 4:45am. We had breakfast and loaded the buses to the start line. We got to the start line at around 5:45am, and it was about 30 degrees. We had about 45 minutes to use the restroom and get our gear bags check, meaning we had to check everything we weren't going to run with (including our jackets). So at 6:30am we were standing in our corrals (Which is how you start when you have thousands of people, you group them into about 1000 people and put them in corrals, and then each corral has a different start time). Me and my friend Rita we in corral 29 out of 30. We wanted to be at the back, because it gets pretty intense in the front. We didn't cross the start line until 8:30 although the race officially started at 7:30. The chip on our shoe doesn't start counting until we cross the line.

And we're off. When we crossed the finish line we had been standing without our jackets for 2 hours, so needless to say we couldn't feel anything waist done. We took off on our nice jog like we had been practicing for about 6 1/2 months. About 2 miles in we could finally feel our feet and so we stopped and stretched. Soon after we went through our first water stop, and since my doctor told me to be really careful not to get dehydrated, I took 2 water cups at each water stop. Well about 10 minutes later, right before the 3 miles mark I had to take my first bathroom break. I said good-bye to Rita and went to stand in line for 15 minutes. This would be the first of 7 bathroom breaks during my 13 miles, I proabbly set a record. The first 5 miles or so were nice and I was just trotting along like during all mytrainings. It was so neat to have tons of people lining the streets cheering for you. HOwever, I soons tarted getting really hungry since we had breakfast at 4:45 and it was about 9:30. Luckily, a restrurant was handing out breakfast burriots. I was so excited to have something to eat. While I was walking down the street eating my breakfast burrito, woudln't you know, my coach appears. She was curious as to why I was eating, and I just laughed. I went ahead and walked/ran the next 3 miles with her, she was our pace coach. Soon, she had to leave and go back to get one of my teammates. So I decided to just take it easy and enjoy the rest of the 5 miles. I had a really nice walk and took it all in. I met some really nice TNT people from all over the country.

I finished at about 3 1/2 hours (remembering that about an hour of that was standing in line at the bathroom). It was really nice to finish, and I really felt good and didn't feel like I overdid it or was unsafe at all. I had so much fun, and I am already planning on doing TNT again so I can finally run my full marathon.

After the race Mark amazingly found me about the hundreds of thousands of people. It was like bingefest at the finish line, they were handing you boxes of all kinds of food, it was disgusting. It was really fun to get to see all my teammates (Well the one who had finished). Here are some pictures of the day...



My friend Rita and I in our corral about 10 minutes before we crossed the start line.


My TNT Jersey. This is the back. All the ribbons are those who have fought cancer. I asked everyone who donated money or supported me to put the names of those I could run in mmory or honor of.


After the finish line, when Mark amazingly found me. Under my super cool blanket is my boxof food. This is one of those sun blankets so I don't cool down too quickly, I was honestly just cold the whole race until I crossed the fnish line and got the blanket.

Mark taking a picture of my medal. My shirt says bump for my mom. She says that I trained for the full marathon but hit a bump in the road.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Week 7


Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point. Our baby has something of a small tail, which is an extension of his/her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Our baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.

Our baby already has eyelids and some color in his/her eyes, I wonder what color eyes our baby will have, or I guess already has. And, both hemispheres of our baby's brain are growing. A loop in our baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body. It is surreal to think about this little life growing inside of me. His/Her heart is beating, brain is developing, and now has hand, feet, and even eyelids. We can't wait to see our baby and what he/she will look like; and, even more, we can't wait to find out the gender of our baby.

By now, I already have about 10 percent more blood than I did before I was pregnant, and by the end of my pregnancy, I will have 40 to 45 percent more blood running through my veins to meet the demands of a full-term baby. And, this is what must be sending me to the bathroom every hour on the hour!

My morning sickness is in full-swing. But, it really hasn't been that bad, I'm defiantly not complaining. I have not been able to eat anything sweet. And, I have really been wanting salty (yumm.. potato chips). And, I have been eating a lot of green apples and Sprite.

Friday, November 14, 2008

San Antonio Here We Come

On Monday night Mark and I went to dinner with our friend Mark Volk (who goes to Law school with Mark) and Annie. They are so sweet, but we never get to hang out because they live in Dallas and us in Midlothian. So, Mark has a wonderful idea of moving to Dallas right after the baby is born, which isn't a bad idea (because we would be much closer to his work and job, and possibly closer to my internship), but I just don't want to move again! We will have to wait and see about that. Back to dinner, we were really glad we got ot see Mark and Annie and celebrate the baby with them. They were so sweet and brought our baby his/her first gift... a cross for the nursery.


On the way home from dinner, I felt really special because Mark followed me the whole way home (since I drove up to meet them for dinner in Dallas, we both had our cars). Usually Mark flies by me (because I drive teh speed limit) and then pretends that he has been home forever when I "finally" get there. This is now the second time in the last few days that Mark has done this, and I love it, because he shows that he cares, and trying to protect me (and the baby).

This weekend is going to be a big weekend. Mark is in the Moot Court competition on Saturday morning, and if they win on Monday at lunch. He is partnering with Mark Volk again. They did very well last time and won some award. Best of Luck to them both this weekend. Then, on Saturday after its over, we are going to travel to San Antonio for my marathon! I have been training for this marathon since May 1st, and I am completely confident that I can finish the race (since I've run 24 miles before). However, my doctor and Mark and not as enthusiatic about the marathon; in fact, they are not wanting me to do any of it. I have been debating what I would do for a while, and I have decided to run-really-slowly/walk the half marathon because there are just oo mnay risks to the baby (dehydrating, over-heating...). And, I'm not going to lie about mile 20 it gets pretty ugly. So, I am really sad about having to drop down, but I am excited running wearing my purple Team in training shirt and all the ribbons I have collected. I will make sure to take pictures and give na update when we get back Sunday.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Week 6

This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears are beginning to take shape. His/her heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as mine — and blood is beginning to course through his/her body. His/her intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His/her pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, our baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean. Over this week the baby will double in size. Next week it will be the size of a blueberry.


Monday, November 10, 2008

Big Weekend!

This past weekend we celebrated my brother's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and so was Laura! They are honeymooning at St. John's in the Virgin Islands. Hopefully they are having the time of their life and the hurricane (now down-graded to a tropical storm) will stay away!


The beautiful bride getting ready to walk down the aisle.

Mark and I at the reception.

This weekend, I started feeling nauseated, mainly motion sickness in the car. But, also at the reception, which might have been because I was so exhausted by then, and enjoying dancing, loud music, and flashing lights. But, on and off now, I am getting a little queasy. It hasn't been that bad, and I am grateful for feeling some morning sickness, because it means everything is going well. It is hard to make myself eat, since I am not really wanting to eat anything.

The baby's heart is beating by now. I am so amazed whenever I think about this miracle baby growing inside me, and now it has a heart that beats! We are continuing to pray for health for both the baby and me. And, we have to make a decision about my marathon (that I have been training for since May) that is this weekend. This isn't an easy decision and we are praying for wisdom.


I was at target and saw this set of two matching onesies on sale. I just had to purchase it! The second purchase for our baby.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Good News

Today we got the news we have been waiting to hear. The doctor called and said that the tests he did on Monday came back. "Everything looks great!" woohoo! I don't have to go back until the Monday the 24th. I will be 8 weeks then, and we are going to do a sonogram to look for the heartbeat. Once, the heartbeat is seen, the miscarriage rate drops to below 10% some say as low as 2%. So we are still in constant prayer, but are so excited. And, we are sharing the news a little bit more.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

5 Weeks


At this point, our baby about the size of a sesame seed, and he/she looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human. He/she's now made up of three layers — the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm — which will later form all of his organs and tissues.

The neural tube — from which our baby's brain, spinal cord, nerves, and backbone will sprout — is starting to develop in the top layer, called the ectoderm. This layer will also give rise to his skin, hair, nails, mammary and sweat glands, and tooth enamel.

His/her heart and circulatory system begin to form in the middle layer, or mesoderm. (This week, in fact, his/her tiny heart begins to divide into chambers and beat and pump blood.) The mesoderm will also form our baby's muscles, cartilage, bone, and subcutaneous (under skin) tissue.

The third layer, or endoderm, will house his/her lungs, intestines, and rudimentary urinary system, as well as his thyroid, liver, and pancreas. In the meantime, the primitive placenta and umbilical cord, which deliver nourishment and oxygen to our baby, are already on the job.

This week symptoms have been stronger. One of he most noticeable symptoms is my new bedtime, 8pm! I find myself kissing Mark goodnight right after dinner. Needless to say the dirty dishes and unfinished homework are piling up. Also, I have had more dully achy cramps (which I think are normal). Also, I am still experiencing random food aversion. The most shocking thing is anything sweet makes me sick to think about. I used to eat ice cream and/or m&ms every afternoon. I have also been so thirsty all the time! Which probably is the reason my frequent trips to the restroom are growing.

Once again, all these symptoms just remind me of the huge blessing we have been given. And, I am so thankful that I haven't experienced much nausea and actually haven't been sick at all. This might change, which is fine if it does, because it means you have a healthy baby. But, for now, we are enjoying our blessings.

Monday, November 3, 2008

First Sonogram

We went to the doctor today, and we saw the baby! He/She was a small dark dot right there on the screen. It was so amazing to see the baby, although he/she didn't look like anything but a dot. The doctor thinks he saw the yolk sac in the amniotic sac. Although everyone in the room saw it too.

He took my blood and said he was hoping my levels were around 2000 today since they were 986 last Wednesday. So we are just now waiting to hear the news. Keep us in your prayers!

And, we didn't get a picture of the baby to take home. The doctor said there wasn't much to see on the picture. Which was true. But, I still wish I could have taken home a picture of the fuzzy little dot on the screen!

Go Bears!

This past weekend was homecoming. Mark and I went with Luke, Brittany, and Jeff to the bonfire (and I didn't take any pictures!) and 10:30 pigskin on Friday night. Phi Chi and Tri-Delt were first and second, so we were kind of ready to leave pigskin but glad we stayed. The first place act was last, and it was worth it to wait and see it. Then Mark drove us back late Friday night to Midlothian, getting home around 2 am

Then I drove us back early in the morning so we could go to the parade. Tri-Delt and Phi Chi won first place in their class and their float was awesome (once, again no pictures :( ) It was fun to get to see a lot of our friends at the parade. After the parade Mark and I went to the bookstore and got me an him Baylor t-shirts. I didn't own a single Baylor shirt that didn't have my Greek letters on it. And, I was in long sleeves, which we knew needed to change. We bought a cute Baylor onesie and newborn hat at the bookstore! We were excited because it was our first purchase for the baby!


Then, we went to the Phi Chi tailgate and saw a bunch more friends. And, we went to the Baylor Missouri game, which was so exciting. The game started off exciting, when the team entered the field through the stands (I did take pictures of this). And, then Baylor played awesome and the fans were so loud and into the game. Unfortunately, Baylor barely lost at the very end of the game. But, I was so proud of the team and the awesome fans.

The players entering the field through the stands and down the corridors of the Baylor Line.