Turnip Time

So, while it might not seem like it, there's been a lot going on with the Snyders!  Let me backtrack a bit first.  At Christmas, Brandon and I decided that we wanted to expand our family.  While we hadn't yet learned about our human addition, we decided to start with a four-legged addition, and we adopted a new little puppy whom we named Copper Kunitz Snyder.  We brought him home on February 10th,  two days after we learned we'd be parents.  His done a pretty good job of teaching us the basic responsibilities associated with taking care of another living thing, and he's just about the sweetest (and cutest) puppy I've ever seen.  But I suppose I'm biased.   For those of you who haven't had the chance to meet our Copperpot, here's a picture...

So now onto the present.  Brandon has spent the last two weeks in Washington D.C. attending a class for work.  During that time, I've been hanging out with Copper, and doing all that I can to make sure that I'm getting our Bean everything possible to help our little guy or girl grow strong and healthy.  It seems that I've also gotten nesting fever (or maybe it's just boredom!) and have tackled all sorts of little projects like painting the front door and cleaning out closets.  Since Brandon's been gone, I've had two doctor's appointments to check on how Bean is doing.  If you remember, I mentioned in one of our last postings that we weren't having a very good time with our doctor.  Without going into details, I've seen a new doctor the last two times I've gone...and she's GREAT!

Dr. Owens says that everything looks just right.  My blood volume is good and my weight gain is right where it should be.  Our little Bean's heartbeat is strong, and it seems we have a jumping Bean on our hands...sometimes it takes a while to get a good solid heartbeat or ultrasound pick because the Bean doesn't like to sit still.  Dr. Owens adjusted our due date slightly, and after typing this, I've realized that I don't think the due date ever made it onto the blog (although yes, I know Mom, babies in our family are notorious for coming late).  That being said, we'll plan (tentatively, of course) to see our Baby Bean around October 14, but, based on my family history, it's possible that we'll have an anniversary baby, or, heaven help me, one that decides to hold out until Grandpa Harry's birthday at the end of the month!

With our adjusted due date, the Bean miraculously grew from avocado sized, to turnip sized.  I've never actually done too much with turnips, but I know they're pretty heavy...hopefully we're just talking size and not weight!  Sometimes this whole vegetable and fruit comparison thing gets confusing, but we've decided our book must be referring to organic fruit and not the stuff they pump full of chemicals and pesticides...our local grocery store sells apples the size of softballs!  That's fine and dandy when you want a snack, but when you're trying to visualize how big your baby is, it makes things confusing!  Sometimes our little bean seems to be shrinking (based on what we see in the produce aisle) when we know he or she is just getting bigger!

We have another appointment scheduled for three weeks from now, and will have an ultrasound the week before we go in to the office.  This is THE ultrasound...the one where we can find out whether we have a pink bean or a blue bean.  At this point, we're still undecided about finding out...cast your vote if you like, but if you last name is Hamilton, I already know that you're pulling for a surprise :-)

More to follow soon!

For some reason, these didn't seem to want to post before...but here we are (hopefully!!), Baby Bean at the 12 week mark!

Week 13.5 :-)

A lot has happened since our last posting!  We're just two days away from reaching the magical 14 week mark signaling the start of the second trimester.  Not only will we have reached the point where the chance of something going wrong drops off significantly, but I'll be able to go to my favorite salon and finally get a massage!  Luckily, I didn't have to wait until week 14 for my morning sickness to end.  I noticed around the 10 1/2 week point that I didn't feel sick anymore--and it was a great feeling!  Compared to how I felt at first, I feel like a million bucks!

Last week we had our 12 week appointment with the doctor.  Despite some issues with the doctor and the practice itself (the visit resulted in my crying in the waiting room and Brandon getting a little testy with the receptionist--needless to say, we've broken up with that doctor), we were able to hear our little Bean's heartbeat.  It was amazing!  It was beating so quickly, and the doctor said it sounds strong and healthy.  Do to some issues with scheduling, we had to return the following day for our ultrasound.  You might remember that our ultrasound tech promised that our next visit would provide us with a picture of a little teddy graham.  Man, was she wrong!  Our little Bean is a full blown human!  Measuring a whooping 6 1/2 cm, he or she looks like a baby!  And my oh my was that little bugger active, moving around and flipping from front to back.  Every once and a while we'd see the flash of a little fist or a little foot--from what we could see, we've got the right number of fingers and toes.  We were sent home with a few pictures, and we've scanned in two of them to share with you here...

Finally, everyone seems to be asking if I'm getting a belly yet...and the answer is...yep! Sure am!  I'm sure it seems quite a bit bigger to me than it does to everyone else, but it's there!  Even though our little kiddo is only lemon-sized, I feel like my tummy has grown ten times over!  Here are two pictures we took to show my expansion :-)

From the side...

And what I see when I look down!!

That's it for now!  Until next time!