Baby Shower and Stuff

37 1/2 weeks

My wonderful friends Stacy and Cortney hosted a baby shower for Reece and I on December 5th. We received a bunch of wonderful and cute things for baby Reece. And the biggest surprise was my great friend April came out here all the way from Austin, TX! It was great to see her! We all had a great time.
My appointments have been going pretty well, my last one was Monday for 37 weeks. I was 1.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. I hope the rest goes quickly, but I know I can stay like that for quite a while. I had another appointment this afternoon, I'm now 1.5 - 2 cm, 80% and at 0 station, which means he is engaged in the pelvis. What my doctor said today is that it means that I'll be much less likely to require a c-section, but it is no indication as to how soon I will deliver.
So, I guess we'll both just continue to get bigger until Reece is ready to make his debut!

35 week update!

Thanks for the help Jenn!

Nursery!

One of my favorites...
(I think Daddy is thinking about Reece's first baseball game)

Oops, it's been a quite a while since my last post. Things continue to go well with everything. We are just about to start weekly appointments, it's getting close! We have the carseat/stoller travel system and have practiced installing the carseat. It turns out it was easier than we thought. We haven't had it inspected yet, but I'm pretty sure we did it correctly. We also got a new dresser/changing table combo and a new/used upholstered glider for the nursery. I think we've arranged the furniture they way we like it and I'm happy with how it looks. The only thing I would like to add is a small bookcase and a few shelves.
Reece continues to wiggle around and grow. From time to time he finds my ribs and surprises me with a little push or pull. He's taking up more and more room in my belly and I'm hungry all the time and have no place to put the food. According the updates I'm getting, Reece is about 5 lbs and 18 inches long, no wonder my stomach has no room. Most of his physical development should be complete and from here on out his job is to gain weight. I'm having a few "practice" contractions from time to time. If the real ones are as easy as the practice ones, everything will be a breeze. Unfortunately, I'm thinking that won't be the case.
As I'm trying to document this as much as I can, we (well, me and I kind of made Tyler participate) decided to take maternity photos and they came out great! Jenn also helped me do a belly cast. It's still a work in progress, but I'll post a picture of what it looks like now.

Vaccinated!

30 weeks, 2 days

No flu for me! Swine or otherwise. I've gotten both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccine. Hopefully I'll be protected from getting too sick this winter. I was able to get the H1N1 vaccine at my 30 week appointment on Friday. My OB said that everything looks good and I'm measuring right where I should be. I also broke the 150 mark on the scale, that's a little scary but only to me I think. The other slight disappointment is that there will be no more ultrasounds. As long as everything goes smoothly from here, we won't see Reece again until he's out in the world.
As for other baby updates, according to my updates, Reece is about 16 inches long and weighs about 3 lbs. He continues to be active in my belly and every now and then we actually see a little baby body part move across my entire belly. He's definitely on my right side because I can feel him in my ribs. It's a little uncomfortable and typically when I push, he pushes back.
As for Tyler and I, everything is going well. We've got the nursery mostly done, we just need to add a few items. We ordered our stroller/carseat travel system this weekend and that should be here by the end of the month. Things are coming together and the Morse household and we can't wait for our new arrival!

Reece is stealing my brain!

So, I'm learning what everyone means by "Pregnant Brain". I've been fairly forgetful and absent-minded lately. A recent example, I showed up at my OB appointment Friday with my wonderful husband only to realize, after the receptionist asked more than once if I actually did have an appointment that day, that we were a week early! There are probably other examples but that's the only one I can remember right now. The next few months should be entertaining at least.
Other than just feeling a little dumb, things are going well. The belly is growing quickly and Reece has been quite active. When he moves around now you can watch my belly move. We can also feel little body parts in my belly every now and then. According to my updates, Reece weighs about 2 1/2 lbs and is about 15" from head to toe. He's working on gaining weight, his skeleton is beginning to harden and his head is growing to accommodate his developing brain. (Which I like to think is why I'm so dumb these days.) We're really looking forward to meeting the new family member!

29 Week Belly!
October 17, 2009

Reece's Temporary Home

Belly Pics

September 22, 2009
25 1/2 weeks

September 29, 2009
26 1/2 weeks

October 4, 2009
27 weeks +1 day

Updates...

New family car!

Crib

We have a few updates since the last post. We bought the crib for the nursery (which I'm excited to say I found on sale with free shipping!). It's a simple design, just our style. We also got a our new (to us) family car! It's a lovely '02 Audi S6 Avant. If you don't speak Audi, it's a wagon with 340 hp. We love it!
Nothing too new with the pregnancy. Reece and I are doing fine. He's definitely getting more active, and I think he keeps getting a foot or something stuck in my ribs on my right side. According to my updates, Reece weighs about 2 lbs. He's supposed to be sleeping and waking at regular intervals, he does seem most active around the time I'm trying to sleep. I have one more week left in my second trimester, next Saturday will be 28 weeks and the start of the third trimester. It seems to be flying by!

Vermont Wedding

We enjoyed a wonderful long weekend in Stowe, Vermont for our friends' wedding. The wedding was wonderful! The weather was amazing and the location was beautiful. We had a great time, we got to see a few friends that we haven't seen in quite a while and we saw two of our great friends join the married club.
We also got to spend some time with Tyler's family on Labor Day. Tyler's step-dad, Chris, had his band play for us and we got to hear him sing. He sounds great as Bon Scott from ACDC! They were pretty good for a group of old guys with regular day jobs. We received a few wonderful gifts for Reece and lots of love.

After Nursery Pics

I included a picture of the lovely artist, also soon-to-be Grandma!

Before Nursery Pics

Recent stuff

So, there have been a few things going on since the last post. First thing, thanks a bunch for painting our nursery Mom! Second, since I think I must be one of the most impatient people in the world, we found out the sex of Nugget and Nugget is a he! His name will be Reece J. Morse. Third, we had a little scare at a recent OB visit. When they did the 20 week ultrasound, they found my cervix to be a little short. They told me to limit my activity and stay off of my feet at much as possible. Apparently, it worked because my cervix has lengthened back to where it should be over the last two visits. We were thrilled to find that out because had it not improved, bed rest would have been the next step.

So, now we are enjoying preparing for our little boy! I'm sure he'll be outfitted in plenty of Red Sox and Patriots gear as soon as he's born. I'll have to make sure he has enough Saints apparel as well. I'm looking forward to our growing family!

The Nursery Begins!

My wonderful mother arrived on Wednesday and has been hard at work making our nursery look wonderful for our soon to be coming bundle of joy! We decided to go with an animal/safari theme. I figure that's neutral enough, what little kid doesn't love animals? It looks great so far, but I want to wait until it's done and I'll post the photos.
She did get to take one break though; Tyler, Mom and I went to see Kooza, the Cirque du Soleil show in town. It was amazing! The things these people were doing with their bodies was absolutely outrageous. It was a great show. We all had a good time and were very impressed.
Well, I think I've decided to find out the sex of the baby. I just can't take it! I'm too nosy! I want to know, with so many people I know having babies (5 at work and about 8 friends) I'm eager to find out. My next ultrasound appointment is Thursday and we'll be able to find out then. I'm looking forward to finding out whether it's a little girl or boy doing somersaults in my belly.

Feeling Wonderful!

So, I'm about 20 weeks along and I feel great! I finally look convincingly pregnant and I have energy again and I'm hungry all the time! That's much better than tired and queasy. I'm feeling Nugget move around in my belly and that's just crazy. I can't wait until it's strong enough to feel it from the outside and Tyler can feel it too.
Other than that not much is new, I'm just about exclusively wearing maternity clothes now. My great friend Stacy played personal shopper for me while I started my maternity wardrobe and that was a blast. The lovely shirt in the picture is one she picked for me.
We are trying to decide how to decorate the nursery, my mom is in town next week and had volunteered to paint while she's here. Right now the room is completely empty which is an improvement in itself.
Other than that, things are the same and going well. Hopefully next time I'll have some new ultrasound pictures.
Here's to babies and bellies!

Pregnant or Muffin-Top?

Ok, so two weeks since my last post. Everything is going well. We had an appointment last Friday and everything is looking (or sounding) great. No ultrasound until next visit, so we only got to hear the heartbeat this time. The doctor says it's nice and healthy, what more can you ask for? The next visit is when, if we decide to, we can find out the sex of Nugget. I'm still leaning towards waiting and being surprised at Nugget's birth. Tyler wants to find out. We've talked about it a little bit, but as the appointment approaches, those conversations may become more frequent and more of a debate than conversation.
As for me, I'm feeling great! My pants are getting pretty tight and I went shopping for maternity clothes for the first time this weekend. I'm pretty quickly going from looking like I've eaten a few too many ice cream sundaes to actually looking pregnant, which is great! Tyler has been amazed at how quickly the baby belly is growing these days.
The belly picture is from our camping trip this past weekend and I think it's even visibly larger today only 4 days later (sorry no picture from today)! I've also included a belly picture of Tyler, so far he's not gaining any "sympathy weight". We'll keep track of Daddy's transformation as well. Enjoy!

Not quite the beginning...

So, here's a little background... Tyler and I were married in Scott, Louisiana on March 14th, 2009! Since we live in Colorado and got married in Louisiana, we decided to delay our honeymoon a little to avoid major travel difficulties. Our honeymoon was scheduled for May 9th, 2009, on April 29th one week before our lovely, all-inclusive Sandal's honeymoon in St. Lucia, Tyler and I found out we were pregnant! We definitely enjoyed our wonderful trip to St. Lucia, although I had to keep all of my drinks virgin.

So, now here I am 14 weeks along, for now we're calling the little person developing in my belly the Nugget. So far, everything has been fine my worst symptoms have been trouble brushing my teeth and the smell of anything grilling. Both make me want to throw up just a little, oh and I now hate steak. With just those few complaints, so far so good!
I'm just beginning to show, however, Tyler and I are probably the only ones who really notice. My guess is most people just think I had a few too many donuts.
As I grow and the Nugget develops, I'll try to keep whoever might enjoy reading this post updated on our little family.