| By MortonBaby, On 11/11/09 6:18 PM |
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| Yesterday we hit Week 25! Just a couple of weeks away from the 3rd trimester! I seriously can’t believe it. Last week, I was at 6 months, which I told Brian as soon as I realized that. He seemed a bit shocked and went into prepare-for-the-baby mode. That’s been nice. This evening we took our tour of I think I officially look pregnant at this point. People can actually tell that I’m not just fat any more. It took long enough! I can still fit in a couple of pairs of jeans, but broke down today and wore a belly band (an elastic band around the outside of my unbuttoned pants). I’m not a big fan of maternity pants mainly because they are pretty hideous. I have bought some cute maternity tops and dresses and need to buy some more. I’ve missed shopping over the last few months. Pregnancy Symptom Update: I’m feeling pretty well these days. Besides being beaten up from the inside by the little soccer player and feeling exhausted all of the time, things are good. My tailbone continues to hurt, but I’m getting used to it. With Baby Morton’s kicks becoming stronger and stronger in the last couple of weeks, it is a little more uncomfortable, but I’m still loving every minute of it. He loves kicking when I play certain - typically louder - songs on the radio. I hate when he doesn’t kick me because it makes me worry that something is wrong. Brian keeps telling me to stop waking him up, but I just like to play with him. Our favorite game with him is to push on one side of my stomach and watch him kick like crazy on the other side. We’re mean, I know. Bending down has become very challenging for me. I’ve also noticed that walking down the hall at school leaves me out of breath and today even with a cramp like I’ve been running miles (it is a pretty long hallway but still). I read yesterday that this is normal due to the lack of oxygen I’m receiving as well as the baby pushing on my lungs. Another adjustment I’m making is to the fact that people no longer look me in the eye. Now the first place people’s eyes go is straight to my stomach. It’s funny when I’m teaching to see my students’ staring at my big belly. The best is when my stomach gets in front of the projector. Nursery Update: Christina, Brian’s sister, was so sweet to paint the nursery with Brian. Grandpa Jim helped as well, but unfortunately I was banished from the upstairs in order to avoid breathing in the paint fumes. Therefore, I was no help at all. Brian also assembled the crib! We’re currently looking for a new dresser for our room, so we can move our dresser to the baby’s room and use it as a dresser/changing table. We’re gearing up for another 3D ultrasound on Saturday. Hopefully, Baby Morton will look a little less like a demon-alien (thanks to 3-D images) and more like our adorable baby boy this time. Brian and I are so excited to get to see our baby again!! Only about 15 weeks to go till we get to finally meet him!!! |
| By MortonBaby, On 10/6/09 5:05 PM |
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| The baby officially reached 20 weeks today, meaning we’re half-way through the pregnancy!! About 20 weeks till Brian and I finally get to meet our little boy! Along with that exciting mileston, the baby apparently is a big soccer player in the making. I realized that I was feeling him kick about a week ago at school. I was in the middle of teaching when I kept feeling little bubbles in my stomach. At first, I thought it was gas, but gas has never been that bubbly for me. Since then I realize that I probably have been feeling DCM kicking for a couple of weeks and didn’t know it was him. Ever since I realized it though, I have been feeling him kicking persistently, and I absolutely LOVE it! Whenever I tell Brian to feel my stomach for the baby kicking, the baby gets shy and doesn’t seem to want to kick for a while. Poor Brian has to wait for several minutes before feeling it usually. The funny part is that the first time that Brian felt him kicking, Brian didn’t completely believe that it was the baby. He seemed to think it was just gas. Finally, last night Brian finally felt a big kick and became much more excited. Just a few minutes ago he actually saw my skin move when the baby kicked. Honestly, when I feel little Baby Morton kicking me I think it’s one of the most amazing feelings I’ve ever experienced. I know, I’m a dork, but it makes me so happy – yes, so happy to be kicked! I’ve started playing primarily 90’s Alternative (thank God 99X has made its return to Brian and I worked more on our baby registries over the weekend. The first baby shower is in November, so I told Brian we need to get our registries done by then. We’re making a trip to Babies-r-us again this coming weekend to try to do some more. The crib has made its way (thanks to Brian and his dad carrying it) in pieces upstairs to the guest bedroom. Since we’re getting the nursery painted, we didn’t want put it in there until that’s been taken care of. We still have so much to do! I guess that’s about it for now. I’ll keep you updated on little Baby Morton… |
| By MortonBaby, On 9/26/09 10:35 AM |
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| Now that we finally found out that the baby is a BOY, Brian and I have gotten started on the nursery! Last weekend in the pouring rain we got a great deal on a new crib...which is still sitting in the box in our living room...but we have our crib now! We decided to go with a white crib and a light blue nursery. That way we can keep the crib and nursery color the same for the next baby (who better be a girl). We're still picking out the specific shade of blue for paint, but Brian is talking to someone about painting the room for u. After our disastrous experience painting the foyer, stairwell, and upstairs hallway over the summer right before we discovered I was pregnant, we vowed to never do our own painting again. Obviously, I can't be near paint at this point anyway. I did finally get the baby’s closet cleaned out to promptly make room for a few adorable outfits that we bought last weekend. What can I say? There was a sale at Carter’s (my new favorite store in the world). Brian and I also decided on the nursery's theme too...Snoopy. As many of you know, my family (my mom in particular) is pretty much obsessed with the cartoon character, and Brian is a big fan as well. We registered for cute Snoopy bedding and other Snoopy accessories at Target, which I'm excited about. We have started a little bit of our registries at Babies-r-us, Target, and Pottery Barn Kids but still need to get on top of registering seriously. Brian is reading his Baby Bargains book to help us determine what items we really need and what brands and models to get. We have been so lucky to get a lot of stuff from friends so far. My friend Kari from work is letting us use her son’s beautiful bassinette from Pottery Barn (I’m especially excited about that!), which is only a year old. She also lent us her baby swing, some other baby things, and her maternity clothes. I’m not quite ready for maternity clothes yet, but they’ll be great when I am. The family my sister nannies for gave us stuff as well including a very cute mobile. Brian and I also already got a baby seat that goes with 2 car seat bases and a stroller as well as a pack-n-play. I’m so amazed at how generous people can be! I ended up getting 2 ultrasounds this week. The first was my big 18-week ultrasound where they measured all of the different parts of the baby, and everything looked great. They confirmed that he is in fact a boy – much to my relief after buying some clothes the day before!! After hearing stories from people about the gender being determined incorrectly, I had a fear that he would turn out to be a “she” after we went out and bought stuff for him, but that does not appear to be the case. In the 3-D ultrasound a week prior, the baby was sitting right side up (upside down for a baby technically), but in the week in between, he had turned where his head is down, putting him right above my bladder. That might explain how often I’ve suddenly been going to the bathroom. The ultrasound doctor and technician also said that the baby was measuring at 18 weeks and 4 days when he was still only technically 17 weeks and 6 days, making me wonder if he’ll be arriving a few days early, but that of course could change. They additionally told us that he's about 10 oz (so smaller than a can of coke or less than half a pound - so tiny). Despite him being larger than expected, people keep telling me that I don't even look pregnant. I'm still wearing my regular pants and am just having to wear looser shirts (flowy ones from the juniors department luckily are fashionable right now). I’m noticing my stomach getting bigger, but other people don’t seem to see it. Anyway, all of the flooding and everything gave me a day off from work on Tuesday but also caused a lot of dangerous puddles. That doesn't make a good combination with me because I have a tendency to fall down (i.e., breaking my ankle at Holy Innocents in 8th grade causing me to get surgery to get my screw in my ankle, spraining my wrist last year when I fell in a puddle, spraining my ankle on my way to a UGA football game when I tripped in a pothole by the stadium - the list could go on). On Wednesday morning when I was getting into my car to go to work, I slipped in our garage and fell backwards. Luckily, my laptop bag broke my fall when I landed on it. I was worried about the baby so I called my doctor, who wanted me to come in. Brian and I both left work early, and the doctor gave me my 2nd ultrasound for the week. Apparently, our little baby boy is fine and moving around in there very actively, so she said everything looked good. We also listened to his heartbeat, which I never get tired of. I have been sore for the last several days since my fall though mainly in my thigh. It feels as though I had a big workout, but it seems like any physical activity these days makes me that way. I'm just so thankful that the baby is okay! We are still not telling people the baby’s name, but I had no idea how difficult it would be to keep this secret. I have almost slipped and used his name talking about him at least once a day. Even just typing this blog, I’ve almost written his name several times. People keep asking about monogramming for gifts, so we are telling people his initials: DCM. I’ll give you the same clue that I gave my 4th graders…the M stands for Morton. ;) Most people could also pretty easily figure out the C, but that’s all I can tell you. And no the D does not stand for anything related to Saved by the Well, we’re off to do more baby stuff. We’ll update you again soon! |
| By MortonBaby, On 9/13/09 5:55 PM |
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| Brian and I went into get a 3-D ultrasound today (yes, on a Sunday), and they were able to tell us that our baby is a BOY!!! When they told us, Brian literally stood up and started dancing in the ultrasound room. He's so happy! I was fully expecting the baby to be a girl, so I'm more shocked than anything else right now. I really didn't care one way or the other what sex the baby was. I slightly wanted a boy first to be the "older brother" to our other future kids. However, I have to admit I'm a little sad that I won't be able to dress this one up in a cute, little UGA cheerleading outfit next fall, but I'll just have to find an equally cute UGA football jersey for our little boy for next football season. I was just happy to know that "it's" a boy and get to see him! I now need to get used to referring to him as a "he" and "him" instead of an "it." How do I already love this little person who I've never met so much? Now that we know the baby's sex, we have to start really getting started on the nursery and everything else. We're planning on painting the nursery blue and are currently working on what to do about the crib. I'll keep y'all updated on here with the theme, specifics in color, furniture, etc. as we actually get stuff accomplished (which may be a while). We registered this week at Babies-r-us, Target, and Pottery Barn Kids but haven't started putting anything on our registries yet. I think that's going to be a bit of a process. Everyone tells me it's incredibly overwhelming, so we're trying to research everything and talk to our friends who have babies before we put too much on our registries. I'm so excited about getting all of this done but also a little stressed just thinking about it. So much to do in fewer than 5 months! Pregnancy symptom update: my nausea is pretty much gone (yay!!!), but I've traded that symptom in for heartburn and tailbone pain. I'm dealing with the heartburn with baking soda and ice cream...yes, I'm a cliche pregnant woman eating ice cream all of the time now...and I actually enjoyed eating a pickle the other day far more than I ever have enjoyed eating a pickle before. Anyway, back to my symptoms, when I sit on hard surfaces for at least 15 minutes, I have terrible pain in my tailbone (a.k.a., my butt hurts). I'm going to have to get one of those embarrassing doughnut pillows and carry it around with me. From what I've read online, there's really nothing I can do about it except maybe get massages, which I suppose I will if I must :), and take tylenol. And what's worse is that I will most likely have to continue to endure the pain throughout the rest of my pregnancy and even possibly for a month or two after. Brian says I need to tell the baby that he's being "a pain in my butt," but I'm happy to have this pain in my butt if it's for my little one. Uploading our 3-D ultrasound pictures and 2-D ultrasound picture that is proof we're having a boy now... |
| By MortonBaby, On 8/22/09 10:00 AM |
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| I know I just wrote, but unexpectedly I had to announce to my 5th graders that I'm pregnant, which was extrememly humorous! The reason that I had to say something is that one of my co-workers happened to say something about me being pregnant in front of one of my students (thanks, Katelyn). So, once one student knew, the rest of the class had to know...mainly because the girl started telling the entire fifth grade. When I told them that I'm pregnant, some of the highlight responses I received was, "Mrs. Morton, I thought you were pregnant when I first met you but didn't want to say anything in case your stomach was just fat." Another little girl said, "Mrs. Morton, I thought you just gained weight since last year." So apparently, I'm showing... At one point, a little girl raised her hand and bashfully asked the logical question, "Are you going to find out the se---sex of the baby?" The entire class of 5th graders, of course, started giggling and the little girl's face turning bright red. She used the "S word" after all! This is why I love teaching. The kids are brutally honest, but you can't get mad at them because they're so cute - even in fifth grade. In other news, my brother Ryan and his wife Molly had their baby on the 18th. Caroline is absolutely adorable, and I love holding her. It makes me even more excited for when Brian and I have our baby in about 6 months!! It'll be so cute having the two baby cousins play together as they will be so close in age. All the First Trimester Screening test results came back in the normal range! :) 184 days to go till the due date...but who's counting? |
| We've Made it to the 2nd Trimester!! Finally!! By MortonBaby, On 8/18/09 3:08 PM |
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| Today is officially our baby's 13th week, meaning I've endured the first trimester! The nausea has improved quite a bit, but I'm still exhausted. That could have more to do with school starting back up again though. Yesterday, Brian and I went to our First Trimester Screening where they check for chromosomal disorders such as Down Syndrome. We won't find out the results for a week, but everything that they saw looked normal they said. They tried to take a peek for us during the ultrasound to find out the baby's sex, but no real luck. The nurse did say that she was 75% sure it's a girl (Brian doesn't believe it), but when the doctor came in and zoomed in on the baby between his/her legs, he said it could go either way. In other words, we're left still not knowing. We have a 3-D ultrasound appointment coming up in mid-September where we're supposed to find out the sex, and we are dying to know at this point. I'm not sure if we'll be able to wait these next 3 weeks or so. Brian and I even tried the at-home gender test, but the results were pretty inconclusive. I'm thinking it's a girl, but Brian insists that it's a boy. I know we'll be happy either way. We just want to know! Every time we have an ultrasound and get to see our baby, I fall more and more in love. My belly is getting bigger by the day. I can't wear tighter-fitting shirts any more, and people keep telling me that I've "popped." At this point, I think I just look like I have a beer belly...quite the opposite being true. It's a lot harder to get used to people telling me that my stomach looks big than I expected. Obviously, I know it's a good thing, but it's very weird after spending 27 years hoping people would say the opposite. The growing tummy definitely makes the whole thing more real and increases my excitement as well. I can tell it's beginning to sink in more for Brian too. He's getting more into the whole thing with every ultrasound. I think he's more eager to find out the sex than even I am. I know he's in a hard position because he's the first of his good friends to have a baby. We're definitely seeing a big difference between his grown-up, family man lifestyle versus his single friends'. Perhaps once we know the gender, they will show a little more interest. I think it's a lot easier for girls. 187 days till the due date! I can't wait to meet our little girl or boy!!! |
| By MortonBaby, On 7/24/09 7:41 AM |
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| Yesterday, Brian and I went in for our first My 27th birthday was very uneventful. I couldn't do the normal young person celebration, but honestly I didn't feel like it anyway. Most of my friends were out of the town (summer birthday curse), and I felt terrible thanks to my "morning sickness" (that lasted all day) and a terrible cold. I caught the cold surprisingly not from my students but from Brian. I'm feeling SO much better now though! My nausea has almost gone away completely. Brian had me start taking B6, which has helped in comination with taking my prenatal vitamins at night instead of first thing in the morning. I'm still exhausted all of the time and very picky with what I can eat, but other than that I'm feeling much better! Brian is a bit annoyed with my keen sense of smell. I know exactly what he's eaten that day as soon as soon as he walks in the door. It's pretty scary. Hopefully, I'll manage to scan the ultrasound pictures and put them up on here soon. |
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| By MortonBaby, On 7/12/09 5:33 AM |
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| Last night Brian and I babysat for my sister's friend's adorable, 7 month old baby boy! This was Brian's first real interaction with a baby, and he did such a great job! I hope it didn't scare him too much because the baby had a little bit of the sniffles and had some trouble falling asleep and then staying asleep. Before that though, Brian seemed to enjoy playing with Chase. The whole thing just made me even more excited to have a baby on the way. We may still need a little more practice in the next 7 months a.k.a. time to play with babies! |
| By MortonBaby, On 7/8/09 7:22 PM |
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| I thought it would be nice for Brian and me to start a blog to keep everyone up to date with the latest with our baby on the way. I'll try to be good about updating it fairly regularly. I'll try to answer the really obvious question to start with...no, it wasn't really a "surprise," but we weren't really trying either. We were just not not trying with the expectation that it was possible to get pregnant and that had been a few months of that. I think I was expecting it much more than Brian was. Another example of Mars versus Venus, I guess. And yes, we are both really, really excited! This is definitely something that I've waited my entire life for. I've always dreamed of starting a family and being a wife and mother, so this is literally a dream come true for me. Brian is also happy to be getting a daughter or especially a son to play with.
Until next time... |
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