The Invasion of the Crazy Pregnant Lady

Everything is still going well, and we have no big news to report! I would venture to say that I feel almost normal, just with a belly to carry around. I feel lucky. I am trying to enjoy this time because I realize that as time goes on, I will likely feel less "normal" and more uncomfortable. For now, all is well. Andy and I can SEE Camryn's big kicks now by just looking at my belly!! It is amazing. We are debating as to whether she is going to be a soccer player or a martial artist... the jury is still out. We are headed to Connecticut to celebrate Christmas, then coming back to enjoy a couple of additional days off from work. Life is good.

A quick story from this week:

First of all, I have come to realize that there is a bizarre force that often influences the lives of pregnant women. This force seems to make us forget things, suffer from severe absentmindedness at times, order or prepare copious amounts of food despite the fact that we get full after a few bites, and forage for certain foods on a whim as though it is an emergency (and the world might end if we do not get the desired fare within a few minutes). I like to call this force "The Crazy Pregnant Lady."

The Crazy Pregnant Lady invaded my body while I was in the Denver airport this week, and forced me to take a 20-gate hike through the terminal in search of french fries. I only had 15 minutes until my flight was to board, so needless to say it was a fast (and desperate!) hike. Seeing The Steak Escape in the distance was like an oasis coming into view while being stranded in the desert. As I approached the counter to order, I suddenly could not speak, and the Crazy Pregnant Lady spoke for me. This was greatly appreciated until I heard the words "two large fries please, with extra ketchup". Two large fries?? A wave of embarrassment came over me, and I looked around sheepishly to see if the other customers heard the outrageous order this woman had placed on my behalf. They did. I paid, hoped that it was assumed I was traveling with my husband (one order of fries for me, one for him), and rushed back to the gate. I ate the fries straight out of the bag on the flight to avoid revealing to the traveler sitting next the actual contents of the bag. And yes, as much as I hate to admit it, I finished them all. Maybe the Crazy Pregnant Lady is not so bad after all. It sure is good to be back at home. :-P

We posted a new picture in the slide show tonight also, enjoy!

Today's picture for the slideshow

19w3d. Apparently this is the point in pregnancy when your belly starts growing by the day. Haha.

Thankful

We had a fantastic doctor appointment this morning. We were able to see our little girl (yes, it's still a girl... and they are 100% sure this time!) and she was kicking and wiggling around. She actually looks remarkably human now, and we could almost picture what she will look like in real life while looking at the ultrasound screen (especially during the 4D part). They told us that the blood clot they have been watching is now completely resolved and non-visible, and that the baby is growing like crazy. All of her measurements were still on target, and she is estimated to weigh about 10 oz now. Her heart rate was 156 bpm. They do not even feel that it is necessary for me to continue with the follow up at Duke, so today was the last appointment we will have there!

Here are some pictures from the appointment today:

We are excited to say that several of our friends and family members have successfully guessed the baby name we have chosen, and we would like to take this opportunity to announce it to everyone. Her name will be Camryn Lee Shelton. We can hardly wait to meet her in April!

'Tis the season to remind ourselves what we are thankful for, and I have to say that it probably could not be any easier for Andy and I this year. On the morning of Thanksgiving, as Andy was peeling shrimp and I was preparing our green bean casserole, we discussed what an amazing year it has been for us. We had a wonderful marriage ceremony that we were able to share with many of our closest family members and friends. We are now expecting a perfect little bundle of joy in April. We were able to share Thanksgiving day with Andy's parents (Brenda and Steve) and the Parker Family (Amy, Rafe, and our nephews Caleb, Josh, and Seth). We have so many wonderful people in our lives that we were still making and receiving calls to say "Happy Thanksgiving" at 8pm that day. By the end of our discussion, we were truly humbled by the great number of wonderful things we have in our lives to be thankful for.

Felt A Kick From The OUTSIDE Today!

Coolest. Thing. Ever.

A clue!

Well, you may be happy to hear that we have decided to start giving clues about our baby name (our excitement seems to be getting the best of us, hehehe), and the first clue is in the nursery! Some of our frequent house guests had the opportunity to see it this past weekend... so to be fair, I felt obligated to post a picture of the clue here for those of you who do not live close:

Any guesses are welcome... so start 'em coming! As of this moment, four people have guessed it(kudos to Eddie, Jen, Brenda, and Amy!) We will be happy to share it if you guess correctly!

No other news for now. Posted a new "belly" picture in the slide show at the bottom. Love to all!

It's ALIVE!!!

I can say now, without a doubt, that I can feel this little girl moving around "in there"! It is just once in a while, and just for a second at a time, but still the weirdest/coolest thing I have ever felt. I can't wait to be able to feel it from the outside!

I went to see Dr. Scott on Wednesday. It was a quick check-up as I expected. He listened to the baby's heartbeat from the outside (said, "yup... there's a happy baby in there!"), and asked me if I needed any more vitamins. I take my prenatals every day, and STILL have piles of samples at home! They gave me so many at the beginning that I can't imagine ever running out. I'm sure it will happen, but at least Dr. Scott will be there to save the day.

I got a rug for the baby room this week (that has pink in it!!!), and a couple of girly things to hang on the wall. I will have to work on hanging them up this weekend and take some updated pictures.

This baby stuff is becoming more and more real by the day... I am already incredibly anxious for her to make her debut (though I would like her to be fully cooked!). 6 months to go...

It's A...

Yes, that's right! They told us at our appointment today that they are 95% sure that we are going to have a little girl! This turn of events made for a VERY exciting ultrasound, and we could not be any more thrilled.

They did the full anatomy scan today, and said that everything looked fantastic. The heart rate was 147 bpm, apparently that is great. We were able to see the brain, kidneys, stomach, bladder, heart, and of course all the normal things like arms and legs. It was amazing. Here are a few pictures:

Profile (facing up):

Full Body (facing down):

A Hand!:

And a foot:

One in 3D (facing to the right, hand is next to the face):I literally get so excited during the ultrasound that I come home worn out every time! It is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life... and the pictures do not do it justice. To see the baby moving around, turning over, and kicking in real time is just unbelievable.

Also of note: the doctor told me today that he expects me to graduate from the specialist appointments after the next one (on December 5th). The blood clot on the placenta is still small and not changing in size significantly. He also gave me the all clear for exercising!!! He instructed me to keep my heart rate at or below 140 bpm, so I may be out shopping for a heart rate monitor this weekend.

Before I forget, I painted the nursery last week!! Andy was in Puerto Rico for 4 days, and I thought I would put myself to use. Here is a picture of that (pardon the regular bed still in the room):

Phew... that is all the fun stuff I have for today! We will be seeing Dr. Scott (our regular OB) on Wednesday of next week, which should be a short and sweet visit given how everything went today. I am anxious to see if I am gaining weight appropriately given that my home bathroom scale is telling me I still weight the same as before I became pregnant! He is going to try to hear the heart beat from the outside, which will be a first. Definitely looking forward to next week.

Welcoming the second trimester!

I hit 14 weeks yesterday which means that I am officially in the second trimester! Yeah! To celebrate this big event, I added another picture to the slide show at the bottom. :-) Is it me, or did my belly move up??

Nothing new, we are anxiously awaiting our appointment next Friday.

Baby Birthday Presents

For my birthday, I got the BOB Revolution stroller I have been dying for. I think it is going to fit our lifestyle perfectly. It is rugged, you can jog with it, hike with it (on easy trails)... pretty much do anything with it. We got the infant car seat adaptor so that we can use it right away, and hopefully as our only stroller. Andy is even excited about it, and eagerly shows off how easily and quickly it folds and unfolds to any visitors we have :-). Here is a picture:

The next one wasn't officially a birthday present, but we received it on my birthday so I figured I would include it. Andy's Mom got us the most beautiful rocking horse a few years ago. Yes, it was while we were still dating, and yes, it was long before we were married or pregnant! It is handmade, and she has been saving it in a bedroom in her house with a sheet over it for years now! We knew about it the whole time, but it is different, and incredibly exciting, to actually have it in our own house! I think this thing has "family heirloom" written all over it. Take a look:

Having baby items in our house has inspired me to really start thinking about decorating the baby room. I have gotten a few decorations, and Andy and I discussed paint colors yesterday. I might even go to home depot today to get some paint swatches. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as any progress is made.

Other than that, things are still just trudging along. I am now anxiously awaiting feeling the baby move for the first time. There have been a couple of times when I thought I might have felt something, but nothing definitive enough to shout of from the mountain tops. I have been very tired again the past couple of days, hopefully that means baby Shelton is getting some growing done in there! Between the possibility of feeling movement soon, and having another doctor appointment on November 7th, it should be an exciting month. Until then, I guess I will just continue pushing the BOB in circles around the downstairs! hehehe

Baby Shelton's first trip to Kentucky!

We went to Kentucky this past weekend, it was the first time we had been back since we moved in 2005, and it was a blast! I got sore sitting in the car for the drive there (8 hours or so, and my belly gets sore in the sitting position these days), but held up pretty well all things considered! We went to some of our favorite restaurants, the bar we met at, Keeneland, and a UK football game. Lauren and Bobby came down from Northern Kentucky on Saturday morning, it was great to see them. Here are a couple of photos from the trip:

Tara and Lauren tailgating before going into the track:


Tara, Andy, Bobby, and Lauren at Keeneland:


Andy and Tara at the football game:


Also, I forgot to mention in the last post that my due date is now officially April 29, 2009. Apparently the specialist and my regular OB had two different dates, so at my last OB appointment, they decided to go with the 29th. They also told me that I will have the option to be induced on a day of my choosing between 39 and 41 weeks, however, I think I will wait and see if I go into labor on my own. Unless I am extremely uncomfortable when I get to that point. Hmm... maybe it will have to be a game time decision. Time will tell I suppose.

Finally, I added another picture to the slide show at the bottom. It is not a big change from the last time. When I look at the front, it is starting to look a lot rounder, like an actual pregnant person belly. I can't image what it will be like after another 6 months of growing!

I will be back to post later this week to show off pictures of my baby-related birthday presents! Stay tuned!!

A normal appointment with Dr. Scott... Finally!

I realized a few weeks ago that when I go to Duke, all they do is an ultrasound, and that I should possibly be going to see my regular OB as well... at our appointment last Friday, they confirmed that. Silly me. So, we went to see Dr. Scott today for my 12 week appointment and finally, it was a normal, boring, run-of-the-mill appointment! Basic blood work, questions answered, and a quick ultrasound to check the heartbeat (which, of course, looked great!). By the way, based on the quick ultrasound, Dr. Scott also hypothesized that we are having a boy! We are headed back at 16 weeks (to Duke for another ultrasound, and to Dr. Scott for the normal stuff), then at 20 weeks for the ultrasound anatomy scan. In summary, nothing much to report, but in our case, that is a good thing!

We are counting down the days to our next ultrasound, which will take place on November 7th, when we will hopefully get a gender confirmation!

Also, I was caught completely off guard when I was at a site yesterday, and the study coordinator (whom I had not met previously) asked me when I was due! This is the first time anyone I didn't know has noticed (or was brave enough to acknowledge) that I am pregnant... I was so surprised that I stuttered, and could hardly get the date out! Haha I guess I need to take another belly picture soon...

Today's Appointment

Well, another good appointment for us and baby Shelton! Still measuring right on target, and development looks perfect. Heart rate of 163 today, also perfect. The baby is about 2 inches long from crown to rump now.

We could not believe how much the baby was moving around today. It was constant, and you can see the arms and legs (even hands and feet) so clearly now! We also got to see the face, umbilical cord (baby was playing with it), brain, spine, ribs, 4 chambered heart, and (drum roll please)... potential boy parts! The ultrasound tech said it is very early to determine the gender, but she definitely saw something there. We are hoping for confirmation at our next appointment! She said not to run out and buy blue or anything, but we definitely got an unexpected "hint" today that we MIGHT be having a boy!!!

The most amazing part of the ultrasound was that near the end, she switched it into a 3D/4D! We got to see the 3D image of the baby moving around in real time, it was SO cool.

The mysterious blob is still there, but they STILL think it is a placental bleed that has now clotted, and they STILL do not think it is causing any harm to the baby. The doctor burst my running bubble, and said that since the clot is still there, I should be doing a maximum of 20 minutes of easy walking per day. Ugh. Like, walk the dogs, that's it. Not even weights or anything, and I am not allowed to get my heart rate above 120 bpm. Oh well, what's best for baby is best for me. The doctor, also a runner, understood my running nature, and said that I might get cleared for more activity at my next appointment. She also said that my chance of miscarriage is less than 2% at this point. We sure have come a long way since the pregnancy was deemed a "threatened miscarriage"!

Now for the best part, pictures:

In this one you can sort-of see a side view of the head (on the left looking down), though it isn't quite a profile shot. You can also see the body, and the ribs are slightly visible. Pretty neat.

Here is a picture of the head (the back I think), and the arm and hand! At our last visit, the arms and legs were just "sprouting"... you can see in this picture that they are pretty much completely formed now!

This picture is of the front of the baby. The head is on the left and the body is on the right. Above and below you can see the hands.


This is a picture of the possible boy parts! It is a cross section of the abdomen (to the left), and a cross section of the thighs and "parts" on the right. The little thing sticking out to the far right is what makes them think it *might* be a boy!
Here is the first 3D picture. It is a side view of the baby's face with the hands near the face. The baby is facing to the right, with the left hand (and fingers) visible from behind the face, and the right arm and hand in front of it. Between the hands you can see the profile. You can also see the right leg sticking out at the bottom.

In this one, the baby is facing you, and the hands are next to the face on either side. It is much easier to see in real life, but this is my best attempt at reproducing it:

This is a pretty good view of the right arm and leg. The baby's head is at the top, but it is facing mostly away from you. Below that you can see the arm, then the leg. The curly thing in front of the arm and leg is the umbilical cord.
Well, that's about it for today! Our next appointment is in 4 weeks, on November 7th.

Back in action!

After a month or so of feeling terrible, I think I've got my groove back!!! I FINALLY don't feel tired all the time (only sometimes ;-)), and I actually went for a RUN today! Ok, it wasn't quite a run... it was more like a jog with a couple of walk breaks, but man it felt great! Running is such a huge part of my life, I have felt lost (not to mention depressed and chubby) without it! I am hoping that I can at least continue the jog/walk combo for most of my pregnancy. Today it felt great, and now I feel like a million bucks! Keeping up your exercise routine is supposed to be great labor preparation, and do wonders for post-baby recovery, I am hoping this is the case.

By the way, I am still planning to at least WALK the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston this year. After a 3 year streak, there is no way I am missing out on the Clampet's yearly camping trip for the race. Note: May need a bigger cheering section this year, somehow I don't think the usual competition with Andy and Zack is going to cut it this time, I don't even think I'll be a contender :-(.

I guess I am truly a runner at heart :-).

More cake, please...???

Well, I seem to be over the extreme exhaustion/constantly nauseated phase of pregnancy, or so I hope. It has been a week or so with very little queasiness. However, I still can pretty much only eat sweet things. Which is incredibly bizarre, because I normally have no sweet tooth at all. I never eat dessert, I never eat candy, I do not even crave it under normal circumstances. Pregnancy is so strange. Another item of note this week, the baby must be growing in there, because my belly seems to be starting to (unless it is all the sweet stuff, haha). Here is the picture from today (also added to the slideshow at the bottom of the page):



Headed to the doctor again on Friday... looking forward to it, but nervous at the same time (as always!). I will be in St. Louis tomorrow, so hopefully that makes the week go by a little more quickly.

Thanks for visiting!

Well, it has been an eventful summer for us! Our wedding in July was one of the most exciting yet stressful periods of our lives... ever! We had a wonderful time, an amazing honeymoon, then came back from Mexico to get back to "real" life... or so we thought! Soon after, we found out that we are expecting a baby! We went from feelings of elation, to pure terror when two doctors told us they were concerned that the pregnancy may not be viable. After multiple doctor appointments, and multiple ultrasounds, things are looking up. At our last ultrasound, done at 8w6d, we saw a nice strong heartbeat, and even got to see the baby move!

We look forward to sharing this journey full of excitement and, we're sure, countless unknowns, with our beloved friends and family!

Here are some details...

Due date is May 2, 2008 (Zack's birthday!)

We will find out the sex of the baby as soon as it is possible. We have no preference... just hoping for a healthy one!!

Names ... we have them picked out, but they will be a secret until the baby is born!

Our next appointment is Friday, October 10th at 7:45 am.

And here is a picture from our 8w6d appointment: