16 weeks pregnant!

We are back from our beach trip and baby's girl's first family beach trip! We had such a great time relaxing, spending time with the family, and soaking up some rays! It was definitely hard getting back into the grind of work today after being off since Wednesday! Here is our first family beach picture! :)

Baby Growth: Baby Paulk is now about 4.5 - 5 inches long (about the length of an avocado) from crown to rump. So the baby is 5 inches from the tip of the head to the hiney. Baby is also weighing in at a whopping 3 – 3.5 oz! Toe nails are starting to grow this week. The baby’s head is also erect this week and not tilted inwards like it has been. The very early stages of hearing are starting now, but it will not be fully developed until about 24 weeks. 

My Symptoms: Still feeling pretty good although when we were doing our gender reveal pics at the beach last week, I started getting lightheaded and felt like I was going to pass out if I didn't sit down. 

I have started getting some back pain all in my lower back and that same spot above my butt, that is my sciatic nerve, I guess. 

Weight: Still haven't weight since being at the doctor's office but after being on vacation last week, I don't even want to know! haha. I guess I'll weigh this week at the gym and see...

Belly Pictures:  It was so nice of our wonderful photographers (Aarron and Misty) to take my pictures again this week at the beach. And Misty made me another super cute chalkboard!

A sneaky pic Misty got of me while I was unaware, but I love it! :)

Not my favorite pic of me, for sure, but it was baby girl's first beach trip, so it seemed appropriate and I LOVED the chalkboard!

My favorite belly pic so far! My photog and assistant are so talented! :)

And here are my non professional sticker pics for the week!

Gender: All GIRL! Yay!

Maternity Clothes: Still wearing most of my clothes. Some of my smaller scrub tops are getting a little tight on my belly but other than that, I'm just not a huge fan of wearing any of my jeans anymore!

Movement: Ok, so I think (key word, think, haha) I felt the baby move several times at the beach this week. Maybe it was because I was so relaxed and really aware of feelings all week. It's still hard to tell if it is her or not, but it felt like a little thump or wiggle a few times. 

Sleep: Not too good this week again. I can’t seem to get comfortable. I’m very restless and toss and turn all night trying to stay off of my back. I also seem to wake up earlier than I have to because after sleeping for a while, my back starts hurting and I have to get up. 

What I Miss: Vacation! And just doing nothing and relaxing at the beach with no cares!


What I’m Looking Forward To: Feeling the baby move and knowing for sure it's her! And giving baby girl a name! We have several we really like, so it has been super hard narrowing it down!

Cravings: I randomly craved a slush drink from Sonic yesterday. I guess it was because I was talking with a friend about wine slushies and it made me want one SO bad. I never got it, so maybe I will later this week :)


Best Moment of the Week: Being able to share with our family and friends that the baby is a girl! 


My Concerns or Questions: No major concerns right now, my knee randomly started hurting really bad today but I don't think it has anything to do with the baby :)

My Goals for the Week: Finish cleaning out the baby's room and get ready for a yard sale. I've almost got everything emptied out and separated into piles for yard sale, trash, and what I'm keeping but now I have to find places for everything I can't seem to throw away :)

Gender Reveal!!!

We finally found out this week what the baby is! I felt like this day would never come since we had the appointment booked so long ago. I almost hated that I told everyone the day of our appointment because it was so hard to keep it in until we got down to the beach this week. We wanted to tell our whole family together in person, but wouldn't see them all until Tuesday night and we had our appointment Friday morning! It was so much fun to finally be able to tell the whole family and all of our friends too!

We went to The Bump Friday morning for our appointment and it was so fun to have a friend our ours, Leanna Greene, to actually do our ultrasound and tell us what the baby is! When we first started the ultrasound, the baby was just chilling out and didn't want to move around too much. It had it's legs crossed and would not open them for anything! So, after a while, Leanna had me eat a dum-dum pop and move around on my side to get it moving a bit. It finally uncrossed its legs and she was able to tell us that it is a GIRL!!!!!! I was so excited, becuase it's what I was hoping for, although we just want a healthy baby regardless! When we went at 14 weeks, Leanna actually guessed that it was a girl but wanted to be sure, but she was right! I'm so ready to start shopping and decorate this sweet girl's nursery! I'm going to be one broke mama spoiling this baby girl! Here are some of our pictures from the ultrasound!

Here she is in 3D and some of her little parts labeled!

She's such a skinny little thing right now, gotta fatten her up! :)

And....her debut!!!! So hard for me to tell, but you can see the little white lines if you look very closely!

 I could tell better in this picutre that she's a litte girl!

Now let the shopping begin!!!!!! I love her already!

15 weeks pregnant!

So with all the excitement this week, I didn't find time to update this so I'm a day late! Sorry! :)

Baby Growth: This week, baby is about 4 inches long (about the length of a large apple or a navel orange) and weighs about 2.5 oz.  Her body is now longer than the head and she can move all of their extremities very well! Even though the eyelids are fused shut, the baby can sense light. This means that if we put a flashlight up to my belly, baby might even move to get away from it.  Ossification also begins this week. This means that all of those teeny tiny bones are starting to harden!

My Symptoms: I think I am finally in the clear with the morning sickness! I feel pretty good everyday unless I get really hungry and then I sometimes get a wave of nausea. Otherwise I feel like a normal person again!

I can also tell that I have really gotten a lot of energy back.  I'm still pretty tired at the end of every day but nothing compared to that first trimester!

I have noticed that I have been pretty hormonal this week also. It's a strange feeling, not being able to control my emotions and being happy one minute, mad the next, and crying following that. And poor Merlin typically gets the brunt of it all!

Weight: I haven't weighed since I've been to the doctor a couple weeks ago so hoping I'm putting on  a good, steady weight and not too much at once!

Belly Pictures:  I've finally starting to feel like my belly is begining to look more defined and not so much like a gut! It's still pretty small in the morning but it grows throughout the day, especially after I eat! These were taken at the end of the day, so a little rough :)

And finally, a much more professional picture once we got to the beach with our wonderful photog and assistant! Beach bump pic!

Gender: We finally were able to find out what the baby is this week and we were SO excited to find out that it is a GIRL!!!!!!!! Merlin knew the entire time but I honestly never had "the feeling". But I couldn't be more thrilled to welcome a sweet baby girl into our lives!!!

Maternity Clothes: Still just pants, I'm able to still wear all my shirts and dresses.

Movement: Not yet! Or if I have, I don't know it and am not able to differenciate that feeling from anything else. SO ready to really feel this sweet girl kicking and moving around and to know for a fact that it is her!

Sleep: I've started not sleeping too well this week! I guess it's because I know I'm not supposed to be sleeping on my back anymore because it will cut off blood supply to the baby. But every time I wake up in the middle of the night and in the morning, I'm on my back and it scares me. So, I've started putting a pillow behind my back and between my legs to help keep me on my side but it hasn't been super comfortable yet. My sister gave me her pregnancy pillow so I plan to get that out of the attic this week and see if it's more comfortable.

What I Miss: Nothing really! 

What I'm Looking Forward To: Relaxing at the beach the rest of the week and spending time with the family! Also feeling the baby move!

Cravings: Still haven't really had any major cravings or things I "have to have". I still just love sweets and am hungry all the time!

Best Moment of the Week: Without a doubt, finding out that Baby Paulk is a sweet little girl!!!!! (post to come about this)

My Concerns or Questions:  Feeling okay about everything right now regarding the baby! We started looking around at baby furniture and everything we are going to need and got extremely overwhelmed and wonder how we will pay for it all! Not to mention, the doctors office told us this week that starting in August we will begin paying for the Doctor's delivery fee until December. So slightly stressing about where all this extra money is going to come from but at the same time, knowing God blessed us with this baby and he will take care of it all!

My Goals for the Week: Relax and enjoy time away with the family!

14 weeks pregnant!

We had an exciting baby week! We got to go to the Bump again and see our sweet angel! It wasn't as active as last week (I guess because we went early in the morning and I hadn't been moving around as much either). But we tried to see if we could determine what it is early but it was hard getting the baby to move into a position that we could really tell. Leanna (our friend that owns The Bump) had an idea of what it is but wanted to wait until our actual 15 week appointment this week to tell us for sure! Here are a few pictures of sweet Baby P at 14 weeks!

This is the baby in 3D! You can see the top of the head and sweet little arms, belly, and knees touching at the bottom!

This is, by far, my favorite pic we have so far of the baby! It looked like it was waving at us and its little hand is so perfect already! You better believe I counted those five fingers and they are all there! :)

We went to the Doctor immediately after our ultrasound. It was a pretty quick appointment, he used the Doppler and checked the heart rate (which was 150). He said everything looked good and that was pretty much the just of the appointment, in and out in 15 minutes! I guess since we had just come from seeing the baby and we have a Doppler at home so I get to listen to my baby whenever I want, the Doctor's appointment wasn't as exciting as I had hoped! Haha When we go back, I'll be 18 weeks and we will do the ultrasound there too. 


Baby Growth: The baby is averaging in at a whopping 3.5 inches!  Roughly, he/she is the size of my clenched fist.  Baby also weighs about 1.5 ounces right now.  The baby can now suck his/her thumb and move all around my belly!  Baby is also starting to get a thin covering of hair all over his/her body.

My Symptoms: I feel SO much better! I haven't taken my Zofran going on two weeks now. I still get a wave of nausea/weakness every now and then but as long as I eat something of take a minute to sit down and rest, it goes away. I still feel pretty tired all the time, not quite as bad as it was but its definitely still there!


Weight:  I don't even want to admit this! We went to the Doctor on Friday and according to the scale, I've gained a total of 7 pounds! OMG!!!!! I freaked out a little when I saw that but I hear it's not too bad for 14 1/2 weeks. I guess it makes sense though going from a strict diet to trying to eat healthy for the baby and indulging when I have a craving! I'm hoping this slows down and stabilizes this next month!

Belly Pictures:  These are definitely not my best, but we had just gotten back from a trip at the lake all weekend so it's the best I could do! haha! I did finally get my belly stickers in this week though so I was excited to use them!

  

Gender: Merlin is still completely convinced it's a girl and I'm starting to get the feeling also but it could really go either way for me!

Maternity Clothes: I can still wear all of my tops and most of my pants with the hair tie but the maternity capris I bought are SO much more comfortable!

Movement: I've felt a couple bumps that could possibly be the baby but it's so hard for me to tell!


Sleep: Still no problems sleeping just continuing to get up for potty breaks. Its starting to get a little uncomfortable now, though, to sleep on my stomach. So, I'm usually on my side now. 

What I Miss:  Not too much, maybe just not being able to control my weight anymore and having to accept that gaining weight is good for the growth of the baby. 

What I'm Looking Forward To: Finding out the gender this Friday morning!!!! Yay! Although we are waiting to tell friends until next week because our fam will be at the beach and we want to tell them first (we can't go down until Tuesday night) and then we will reveal to everyone else!

Cravings: I'm all about some chocolate milk right now!

My Concerns or Questions: Nothing in particular right now since we just went to the Doctor and he said everything was great!

My Goal for the Week: Get things together for a yard sale we are going to have in a few weeks to try to get rid of some of the junk we have in the baby's room

13 weeks pregnant!

So glad I finally made it to the 2nd trimester!!! It seemed like the first trimester drug on forever! This week was so exciting! A friend of ours that owns The Bump asked us if we would be willing to come in at 13 weeks and 14 weeks to help her see the changes that take place from 13-15 weeks and be able to compare. So, of course, any chance to see our little one and I jump at the opportunity! We went on Thursday, on our lunch break, and it was so awesome to see the baby actually moving around, kicking, and turning! The last time we saw the baby was at 9 weeks (when it just looked like a peanut) so this was a huge change! Our baby is definitely an active little one so it was hard to get a good still shot. It was still too early to determine the gender but we were excited just to be able to see our little Baby Paulk! Here are a couple of pictures we got of the baby while we were there, it's upside down, so head is down and the little arm is coming across the front. 

This is another shot of our sweet baby!

Baby Growth: Baby is now about 3 inches long and about the length of a peach!  Our sweet little one now has finger prints and even may be starting to sprout a little hair.  If baby is a girl, she already has about 2 million eggs in her tiny ovaries.  He/She can now put his/her thumb in their mouth and may start to suck it soon.  Both the nose and lips are done developing this week.  The baby is also starting to form the voice box, even though it won't be used for about 7 more months.  

My Symptoms: I cut back to half a Zofran this week and I seemed to do fine with that! So yesterday and today, I tested it out again and did not take anything and overall, I've felt great! I'm so excited! I got a little bit nauseated yesterday afternoon but I think it's because I did not eat much for lunch and needed a snack. After I ate something, I felt fine again. Here's hoping that stage is over! I'm not going to take the Zofran anymore this week and see how it goes! I had some major sinus pressure around my left cheek yesterday and behind my left eye, but that felt better when I woke up this morning too. I'm still blowing my nose every five minutes but I'll take that over nausea any day! I'm feeling like I'm slowly getting some energy back also. I'm still tired at the end of the day but nothing like I was feeling a few weeks ago! So things are definitely looking up!



Weight: I didn't weigh this week, so I'm not sure! I'll got to the Doctor on Friday so I'll be able to get an accurate read of how much I've gained so far, yikes!

Belly Pictures: My awesome sista and brother in law came to hang out this weekend and did my updated belly pics! I love these! We are so blessed to have such talented family members that do such sweet things for us and the baby!

Gender: I still don't necessarily have a "feeling" either way. I still am hoping for a girl but don't have any feelings. Merlin is really feeling like it is a girl, though! Yay! We will know for sure in 2 weeks!!!!


Maternity Clothes: I broke down and bought some maternity capris this week that have the full belly band and I'm so glad I did because they are SO comfortable! I can still wear my shorts, but still have to use the hair tie trick. No maternity shirts yet, though!


Movement: I felt something a couple of nights ago and I wasn't quite sure what it was! It was almost like a little tickle on my left side. I think it may have been the baby but then again, it may just have been gas. I'm ready to feel movement that there is no doubt is our little one!


Sleep: I still sleep good, but continue to get up once a night for a potty break! I'm still pretty comfortable on my stomach or side right now! 


What I Miss: Not even gonna lie, I miss WINE!


What I'm Looking Forward To: Seeing the baby again this week!!!! And our Doctors appointment on Friday to confirm everything is going right on track!


Cravings: Still loving some sweets! A few friends told me this is typical for a girl, so we shall see!


Best Pregnancy Moment of the Week: Seeing our precious baby and watching it move around and kick its little legs! I wish I could see this everyday!

My Concerns and Questions: Nothing in particular! I felt so great after seeing our baby this week, that it suppressed any fears I was having!


Goals for the Week: Enjoy relaxing and having a day off this week for the 4th!