21 weeks

Well this should get me back on track! Again, the following topics come from The Belly Book.

I'm most comfortable sleeping: on a side, but by the looks of the picture above, I'm not real well-rested! I didn't realize how scary I looked that day! Guess I better start sleeping in more when I can!

I now get up to pee about once a night. Unfortunately it is usually about an hour before I have to get up so I don't really fall back asleep fully before my alarm is going off. But I will certainly take it while I can get it. What's my alternative...getting up at 1 a.m., 4 a.m., and 6 a.m.? I'm sure that will all come soon enough!

Other notes: Aunt Meg and Uncle Cary were vacationing in Jamaica this week so Baby Keebs and I spent a lot of time with Grandma and Papa Caudle and Lukey. Tuesday was a beautiful day so we spent it at the park. Luke LOVES the slides! Wednesday we met Tass (Great Aunt Kass), Dave, David, RaRa (Madi), and Rachel at Chuck E. Cheese. Luke had fun, but I think it's fair to say Daddy and the older kids had a blast too!

After Chuck E. Cheese, we went back to Kass' house where Miss Baby Keebs was moving all over the place! Almost everyone was able to feel a couple good thumps from her. I love days like that! She's moving more often these days, but this was a special circumstance. She's never moved enough for so many people to feel her. Usually as soon as Daddy tries to feel her move, she goes into hiding. And even though it will probably mean I'm pretty uncomfortable, I'm really looking forward to the days when she's big enough to feel almost all (if not all) her movements from the inside and outside. I know Kory is anxious for this day too!

Yesterday Daddy and I went registering. It was much harder than either of us expected! You'd think with as long as we've been waiting and with knowing as many people with babies/children that we do, that we would have had a very precise list ready and waiting for this task. We did not, and we were SO confused! Now that we have the lists started, we'll have to think about it some more and update them online. We'll let everyone know where they are as soon as we have everything sorted out!

That's all for now. Keep growing healthy and strong Baby Girl...we are so excited to meet you this Summer! We love you very much!

20 weeks

All right, so we're a little late, but that's better than never, right?!? I promise to catch up and get back on track now that life is returning to sane after all my business trips.


Weight gain to date: 9 lbs

There is no hiding the belly anymore unless I wear a baggy sweatshirt. Most days I'm ok with this, but I have entered the stage where occasionally I don't like how I look. The problem is never the belly...it's always the hair or the face or something else. I'm usually good with the baby belly.

The thing I miss most from life-before-the-belly: being able to sleep without caring how I'm lying in bed. This whole staying on one side or the other is not as easy as you'd think. Plus it's proving to be more and more difficult to roll over without completely waking up.

Here are some more pictures from the day we found out Baby Keebs is a girl:

A profile pose - they're her favorite!

Despite what Aunt Meg says, I refuse to believe I'm going to give birth to Big Foot!

Modesty shot #1

Momma and Daddy, they call 'em "private" for a reason!

She's just so cute already!



Daddy thinks it's very funny that she gave such a big, forceful kick and I didn't feel a thing.

And the verdict is in...

Watch the video below to see what Baby Keebs is going to be...

We were told by the ultrasound tech that this was her educated guess. While we are now considering Baby Keebs a girl, we won't be taking any tags off of things until she is here and we know for sure.

Here's a few more pictures from tonight.

So it appears most everyone's guesses/votes were correct. Even Daddy says he secretly always thought Baby Keebs would be a girl!

I'll post more updates and photos from the ultrasound tomorrow, but I knew this was the important part people were waiting on.

Goodnight Baby Girl Keebs! Momma and Daddy love you very much!

18 weeks

Total weight gained so far: 6 pounds

Notes: So this week was another week of "firsts" for the baby. I took Baby Keebs on his/her first business trip. Our time in Washington, DC was mostly uneventful. The flights were smooth and other than my nerves were as good as I could expect. The only unfortunate part of my trip was the fact that I wound up with a touch of the flu on Wednesday/Thursday. Let me tell you, it's not at all pleasant to have the flu while traveling and pregnant!

On a good note, the baby has started moving a little more often these days. I usually get one or two good thumps a day, nothing huge, just enough to remind me there is someone growing in there.

Another first was Baby Keebs' first trip to the University of Illinois and his/her first basketball game. The team kind of stunk but Daddy and I had fun spending the day on campus, even if it was raining, and relived old times.

We also took Baby Keebs to his/her first wedding. Many people expressed how large they thought I looked, but family liked my dress. I'll have to post a picture from that day at another time. I have to get the picture from Grandma Kebert first. We had a great time and the wedding was beautiful...congratulations Jenna and Mark!

Keep growing healthy and strong Baby Keebs! We can't wait to see you next week! That's right, we're going for our big ultrasound next week. That means not much time left to get your votes in on what Baby Keebs will be. By Tuesday night everyone should know...provided we know (you know, there's always that chance the baby decides not to tell us!). Daddy and I love you Baby Keebs!

17 weeks

Morning belly (excuse the bed head!)

Evening belly (after dinner at Aurelio's)

Extreme close-up

I have been meaning to post a morning belly shot and an evening shot, and I figured what better week than the one after there was no picture at all?! As you can see, there is a big difference between what my belly looks like when I get up and what it has grown to by the time I go to bed. I think Kory used some secret magnifying glass on the close up shot because that view of my belly makes it look huge! While I will say that it is no longer just a pooch, I refuse to think it is huge.

My appetite is currently: similar to what it used to be. I think it's the same, although I'm probably eating a little more than I used to. But come on, there's got to be a little increase expected. I try to keep things balanced still, but I must admit it seems the sweet tooth craving is winning more often these days. Hopefully it's just a weekend thing.

Baby has been moving: more often just in the last few days! Last night I had a few circus peanuts (really it was the Easter version of that candy) and the baby must have been doing cartwheels. It felt like a bug running across my belly! I called Kory over and even he could feel it. It was very exciting to hear Kory say, "There's a baby in there!" He soon followed it with, "It's probably gas." I tried to tell him I've never felt gas like that before, but even if it was we could always think that it was the baby that was causing the gas to move. Either way it was fun to think we both finally got to feel our baby.

Other notes: We went to Pierce's first birthday party this weekend. It was fun to watch another one of my cakes get demolished by the little hands of a new found cake lover. We also did a little more shopping this week. I'll be taking the baby on its first business trip this week and let me tell you, finding maternity clothes suitable for Capitol Hill is not an easy task to do unless you're willing to spend a whole lot of money! Seeing as how I don't need these clothes that often, I wasn't quite that willing.

That's all for now. Only a few more weeks in the wait to find out the sex of Baby Keebs. We're getting very excited and anxious!

Keep growing healthy and strong Baby Keebs...and keep moving for Momma and Daddy! We love you and can't wait for this Summer!

16 weeks

Sorry all, but there is no picture this week. We just never got around to getting the camera out, but I assure you there will be a 17 week picture and you'll all be surprised at how much the "bump" is sticking out these days!

Total weight gained so far: 3.5 pounds

Most recent symptoms: still feeling the head congestion, although we have found that consistent nightly use of the humidifier relieves it greatly. The restless leg syndrome (the intense itching I mentioned in another week) also continues. This is still somewhat humorous, but I am glad it's not something that happens on a daily basis...yet. And our newest, and my least favorite, are leg cramps. Until last night these weren't too bad. Nothing that took control of my leg just enough to let me know that I probably wouldn't escape this symptom all together. Last night, however, I wore boots out for the night. I went to bed pretty late and a couple hours later my left foot was no longer in my control. I was so tired and couldn't find a way to make it comfortable that I wanted to just cry. I have learned not to wear those boots anymore during this pregnancy!

Other notes: We went to Indianapolis this weekend to spend some time with Aunt Erin. It was a really quick visit, but we had a lot of fun and laughed so hard while playing 3-puck air hockey that I almost peed my pants! We had a good dinner and laughed pretty hard at the comedy club. Overall it was a great weekend and hopefully a nice time distraction for Erin.

We did get our quad-screen results back on Thursday...all are negative! We know this isn't a guarantee of anything, but at least our chances are better this way. It was definitely a happy day and one less thing to worry about, as I'm sure you all know we do plenty of that as it is!

We're hoping to start feeling Baby Keebs move around more often soon. I'm getting impatient and I know I'll feel him/her long before Kory does. It's really going to be a test of his patience, I think.

That's all for this week. I'll try to post the 17 week update a little sooner since there was no picture this week. ;)

Goodnight Baby Keebs, Momma and Daddy love you very much and are so excited to meet you!

Dr. appointment update

Kory and I saw the doctor today. It was our first visit without coming home with ultrasound pictures. I know this probably sounds sad, but I wasn't really disappointed. We didn't need an ultrasound because we could actually hear our baby's heartbeat on the Doppler. This might seem petty to most, but this is a milestone I've been looking forward to for a while. As much as I would have loved to have seen my son or daughter again today, it was really great just hearing his/her heart beating away.

There was a lot of what I thought was interference while trying to listen. The doctor said this was the baby moving. Apparently the Doppler picks up every kind of movement so when the baby moves, it makes noises too. Once I knew what it was, it was pretty cool to listen to also.

We did our quad-screening today. This is bloodwork that screens for Down Syndrome, Trisomy-18, Spina Bifida, and Cystic Fibrosis. Basically the screening will give us our statistical risk of having a baby with one of these conditions. It's not a guarantee, and honestly can have a lot of false positives, but we saw it as a way to prepare just in case. Hopefully we'll get the results back and our risk won't even be worth considering. If it is worth considering at least we'll have the extra time to adjust and learn more.

I wasn't worried about doing the screening as I've been poked for blood draws MANY times before. I quickly learned they needed more blood than I knew. All I can say is thank goodness it was me and not Kory (I think we all remember what happened at his last blood draw). They had to take 7 tubes of bloodwork! This was way more than I've ever done before, but I made it. I also had to do a urine sample, which believe it or not was harder than the blood draw. I had already peed at my appointment so I didn't really have to go when they asked. Instead we had to drive around for an hour or so while I drank water and lemonade until I had to go again. I didn't really expect that to be part of my day!

Our next appointment is March 9 and we'll get to schedule our "big" ultrasound then. It's only a matter of weeks until we find out if Baby Keebs is a boy or girl... get your bets in now!