Week 18

Stephen and I just got back from our latest visit to the doctors for a check up on me and baby. I get so amazed and emotional every time I get to 'see' them on the ultrasound monitor and hear the little heart beat! We saw baby's head and brain, the little heart pumping, the spinal column, little arms waving and head moving around. Our doctor is a Christian and jokingly said, "Isn't it amazing what evolution has done!" To which we all laughed and discussed how we can't imagine anyone seeing a baby in a womb and all their organs growing at just the right rate and time, in just the right way to develop them into a full grown baby at birth and then beyond, and NOT realize that it was all designed by God! It truly is miraculous!

We may have a slight problem that can be addressed. I had blood work done 4 weeks ago, and today the doctor told me my blood type is O negative. I didn't know my type before then. Anyway, that can be a problem if Stephen's type isn't the same or compatible to mine because then baby's could also be incompatible with mine. But they will give me an injection at 26-28 weeks if needed to make sure my body doesn't reject the baby. And if Stephen's is compatible with mine we won't need to worry. He will have his blood typed and see what it is and then we will know what to do from there. But God is looking after us and at least we are informed and have a great doctor to help us too!

I am feeling SO much better, had a burst of energy this past Monday and cleaned the entire house, went grocery shopping, and helped Stephen in the garden! Tuesdays are always busy as I teach piano lessons most of the day. So Wed I decided to take it easy and today I am off to run some errands! I am having the start of the food cravings, though, and at the moment it is for McDonalds fries and grape soda!! I wish I could just crave healthy things!! I am eating healthy for the most part, lots of veggies and fresh fruit.

The pictures are of the baby's brain and spine. When Stephen saw the brain he was very impressed and said that we will have a very clever child! He's wanting to teach the little one calculus by the time they are 2 years old!! I told him not to get his hopes up!! LOL

Veg Garden

Stephen and I have been working on our veggie garden and it is mostly all planted now. We are so excited about all the lovely veggies we will be eating this summer straight from our garden. Stephen put in the most hard labor as he dug the ground all by hand. It took him some time to get it all dug over and the ground broken up, but he did a great job.


I think we may invest in a tiller for next year, but this worked and Stephen said he enjoyed the exercise. He shoveled off the top soil and then broke up the clay-like dirt underneath, then worked the top soil back in. He then mixed in some fertilizer. I planted the seeds in seed trays and started them indoors. We have corn, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini (courgette), okra, onions, tomatoes, and cabbage. The corn shot up the quickest! We planted them out last Saturday.


They are all growing well and seem very happy out there! So exciting growing things!

Week 16

Wow time is just flying by! I can't believe how quickly the weeks are passing, but then time does seem to go by faster the older you get. I am doing so much better the last couple of weeks. The nausea has gone except for when I smell things that don't smell good to me, which is a couple of rooms in my house! Anyway, been catching up with housework and also started a veggie garden with Stephen. He is doing most of the digging and I planted the seeds in my seed trays. They were sprouted on 1 week and Stephen is now frantically trying to get the ground tilled and ready so we can plant the very fast growing plants!

Spring is here in full bloom, the trees look just lovely, but they are also causing allergy problems for many people and there is a yellow film of pollen everywhere! I'm trying to wait until the trees are done before washing my windows. I have had a lot of sneezing problems from the pollen, but managing without needing any medication.

I'm growing in the belly area, just about out of all my regular clothes. I've got a few things that were a little big for me before that I am able to wear now. My weekly e-mail about baby said that baby will start on a growth spurt for the next couple of weeks, so I am preparing to be hungry a lot and for bigger clothes!! I've not gained much weight as far as the scales go, just re-distributing! I am eating healthy for the most part, just have sugar cravings every now and then and cheesy things like cheese chip (crisps) and crackers and cheese in general!!

Made these little baby booties I saw on a Martha Stewart show and got the pattern off of their web-site. They are yellow and green so should be ok for a boy or girl! Stephen and I are talking about names, but I think we will keep them a surprise for when the baby is born, and also we won't know the gender until then either. We are both getting very excited! Stephen talks to the little one and rubs my belly. It is so sweet! We are reading the Bible out loud together for baby to hear and I try to play the piano and sing every day too. I'm hoping he/she will be musical in some way, but we will love them no matter what!!

Rough day with the blood work!

Went for my 3rd check-up with the doctor today and got to see and hear baby again! Such a precious life growing in me! Listen to me I'm already being a proud mommy!! Everything seems to be fine, baby is growing normally as far as Dr. Barker can see from the ultra sound today. I was due also to have the routine blood work done today. So I sat down in the chair and a nurse came to start taking blood and asked me if I had problems with having blood taken. I told her no as I've never had any trouble before. I have a 'road map' on my arms you can see my veins quite well! So she started to get in and had trouble getting into the vein as she said it kept moving. It started hurting and so she pulled the needle out. Then another nurse came in and tried the other arm, having the same trouble. By that time the first nurse could see me going white and asked me if I was ok. To which I responded that I felt sick at my stomach. I literally started feeling extremely nauseous and then light in the head. So she handed me an alcohol towelette and made me sniff it to stay awake and the other nurse was about done. Finally they were done and had the blood, but I was hot and dizzy, so they got me a Sprite and I sipped that while trying to take deep breaths! I felt so silly as I've never had that trouble before, but the nurse said that it was a mixture of them hurting me by trying to get into my veins and then sometimes being pregnant makes it worse too. It took me quite a while to get over it, and when I finally got to my car, I just sat there for a few minutes to make sure I was ok before driving.
I'm still feeling a little weak and think I'll take a short nap this afternoon. So that was my exciting morning experience! But at least everything is going well with the baby and it's development. They will tell me the results of the blood work and also make sure my blood type isn't going to cause trouble with the baby's blood type. I should hear in a week or so. I am feeling so much better too, praise the Lord!
Looking forward to the Easter celebrations this weekend. We are having lots of special music and scripture reading around the crucifixion and resurrection this Sunday. Then we are having dinner at church with everyone bringing something. Praying for visitors and ways to keep ministering to our community and reaching them with the gospel message! Happy Easter to everyone!

13 Weeks

This week I have still been some nauseous, but starting to get better, praise the Lord! I've still been looking through lots of baby things on-line to compare prices and see what I would like. Since we are waiting to find out if we're having a boy or girl at birth, I need to plan a 'neutral' theme nursery. It is a bit of a challenge, but I think it will be worth it in the end. The nice things about having a neutral nursery is that if the next child we have is a different gender, it won't matter and I won't have to purchase new things! I've also been making some homemade things for the baby as I thought it would be more special. I've been doing some watercolour paintings of teddy bears to have framed and they match some teddy bear figurines I've been purchasing too! I think they will look so cute! I'm also wanting to paint some pictures with children's songs and nursery rhymes to hang in the nursery too. I'm loving making all these little things for my little one!

This week baby has fingerprints and their veins and organs are clearly visible through their still thin skin. Baby is about 3 inches long and weighs nearly 1oz. Their body is starting to get bigger so the head is not as big in proportion as is used to be. So amazing how all this is happening and all in the right order, at the right time. What an amazing Designer God we have!

This week I also had the opportunity to go to the True Woman '10 conference started by Nancy Leigh DeMoss who has had a minstry to women for many years called "Revive Our Hearts". The conference was amazing and I was challenged to study God's Word more and more and to be encouraged that God's plan for my life is to be a godly wife and mother before anything else. We heard the scriptures preached and challenged to be godly women and to treat our husbands with respect and love while training children in the Word of God. I truly do want to follow what God's plan is for my life and not let the secular culture define my womanhood. After all, didn't the Designer of women have a purpose and plan for our lives and shouldn't we be more concerned with what He plan is for us? A friend of mine from church attended the conference with me and we are challenged to start a woman's Bible study for our church ladies that defines true womanhood from the scripture's perspective. What a challenge and opportunity to stand for Truth in a world gone wild with relativism. I also got to sing along with Keith and Kristin Getty from Northern Ireland!! WOW! They led the music for our conference and we sang many of their modern hymns as well as some older hymns!! I turned to my friend, Michelle, and said "I'm singing with the Getty's, LIVE, and I'm hearing and seeing Nancy Leigh DeMoss in person...YAY!" These are the true hero's of the faith and it meant more to me to see them than any Hollywood 'star'. These are the men and women we should be encouraging our children to listen to, and emulate, not the world! What a blessed time of praise to our Lord!

Getting exciting about the upcoming Easter time and services. Our church is praying for ways to reach out into our neighborhoods and community with the gospel message. What a wonderful time to remember the huge sacrifice our Lord made on the cross for our sins! I don't want to EVER take that for granted or not be moved by the great love shown to me by my Lord and Saviour!

12 Weeks Along

Feeling better this week, I actually had 4 days in a row without nausea. But it didn't last as the weekend was a bit rough with the queasy feeling back again. But praising the Lord that baby is well as far as we know!

This week my cousin has been e-mailing me about some things for the baby, and she told me about a local babies and mommys re-sale called "Jack and Jill". So I went along to the re-sale and found some great bargains! I got a stroller (pushchair) and matching baby car seat for a great bargain! It was used, but very gently used. On Friday I painstakingly figured out how to get the cusion parts off the stroller and car seat frame, and put them in the wash. I then washed down the frames of both and let them all dry in the beautiful sunshine we had on Friday. My neighbor saw the items and asked if I was expecting. I was able to chat with him for a few mins and get to know them better. His wife works at a children's hospital TC Thompson, here in Chattanooga, and said if I ever needed any advise or help to just ask. I've been praying for a way to get to know my neighbors better so that was a great opportunity.

The stroller and car seat cleaned up beautifully! We are so blessed with the Lord's provision. I was also able to purchase some maternity clothes at very good prices too, so it was a very profitable day!

This week our little one is about the size of a lime, has fingernails, is developing more intestines, and is developing reflexes! It truly is amazing how God designed them to develop inside the womb! We truly are "fearfully and wonderfully made" by a great Creator designer!

I've been craving salty things and strong tastes, but I am still trying to eat as healthy as possible. Lots of fresh fruit and veg, and cheese! Stephen and I went out on a date Friday night as it was the first Friday I felt good in 3 months! I ate way too much food at the Italian restaurant, though, and suffered with stomach ache the rest of the evening...I need to watch my portions as the pregnant belly doesn't like a lot of food at one time.

I have been getting so excited about the baby coming. I've been looking at cribs (cots) and baby bedding on-line just to get an idea of what is out there and what to register for in the next couple of months. What exciting times!

Expectant Mom

Tweleve weeks ago I found out that I am going to be a Mom! What wonderful news! We were very surprised at first, but became more excited as the weeks went by. I had my first appointment with the doctor at 6 weeks and there I saw my baby for the first time on the monitor during the ultra sound and I also heard the little one's heartbeat! I became very emotional hearing the heartbeat, so very strong but little, and the realization that I truly was carrying a baby hit me. I knew it before, but seeing and hearing made it so much more real. I walked out of that visit telling Stephen that I could NOT believe that people could ever think of aborting their child! It truly is a human life inside of me, one that God has entrusted me to protect and cherish, and that is a huge but lovely responsibility. It is also amazing how God is growing my little one every day!
I have suffered with morning sickness, and the aversion to smells especially scented things like shampoo, body wash, plug in airfreshners, and perfumes. The first couple of weeks I searched for unscented everything, or at least scents I could stand! Stephen was banned from wearing cologne and had to start using my unscented deodorant. I have finally found things that work. I also have been trying to find foods that help with my morning sickness, and apples and cereal seem to be doing the trick! But now at 12 weeks I am actually starting to feel much better and I have more energy, though still not like I used too!
At my 10 week visit, the baby had developed little hands and legs and was just swinging and kicking away! Everything seems to be going well for both me and baby. I am so thankful for all the prayers and encouragement from friends and family. Stephen is so excited about becoming a dad. He kisses my belly every day, sometimes just walks by and rubs the belly, and talks to the baby!
I will try to keep this updated with baby news and how I'm progressing to share with you all! I am very blessed and so thankful for God's working in our lives!