Carver Elliott is growing strong!

On March 14th we got a good look at the little person growing in my belly. He's a HE! We had already decided on a name and Riley loves talking to his little brother via my bellybutton. Carver Elliott Lackner is following in his big brothers footsteps and is growing ahead of schedule. He was measuring almost a week ahead and would now be due July 28th, but my doctor agreed not to change the due date so that I will have more til to go into labor before they push a c section. Yay! The last few days Riley has enjoyed feeling and seeing Carver's kicks on my belly. The little guy is getting stronger everyday. Jeromy is totally in love with the idea of having another little boy and I couldn't be happier. We've now past the 20 week mark and are counting down to when we will finally meet this new addition to our family.

16 weeks and growing strong!

Tomorrow I will be 16 weeks pregnant, which of course means our little Marley Moonshadow is now 14 weeks old. Monday (valentine's day) we had an appointment and heard a good strong heartbeat in the 150's. Ri got a kick out of it. Still counting down the days til we find out what's kickin' in there. The appointment for my ultrasound is scheduled for March 14th bright and early in the morning. I feel like I'll be really happy whether we are having a girl or boy, I just want to know. I am not a big shopper, but when it comes to baby stuff I am dying to get started. I really don't have a lot that I have to buy for this baby since I saved a lot of Ri's stuff, but if it's a girl I'll need some new clothes. I am getting excited to buy my first cloth diapers, and to do some online shopping. An update on my Jan 31st Colposcopy...there are indeed abnormal cells, but not a huge amount and doc will not biopsy til baby is born. We're hoping they will go away after baby comes, but who knows. Doc isn't worried so I'm just going to enjoy my growing family and not stress about things I can't control right now. I am feeling pretty good these days, but still battling a big of "morning sickness" in the evenings, and tend to feel sore every morning especially in my lower back. Pretty sure my bed is a bit too fluffy, but we can't buy a new one at the moment so I'll just make due and hope it doesn't get worse. Worse case? I start sleeping in the recliner or on the couch, which is pretty darn comfy. I am having some pain from my early pubic bone separation but luckily as long as I don't push myself with crazy long walks or take a lot of stairs, it doesn't get too bad. So far I am just trying to enjoy this new life adventure and soak up the last few months of having an only child. Ri is such a sweet little guy and always wants to hug and kiss my belly and talk to the baby. He even claimed the baby was riding a bike in my tummy! I asked how the bike got in there, but that just confused him. He comes up with some pretty silly stuff. At least at his age we can talk about what is going on so the shock of a new baby in the house won't be so harsh. Hopefully my next update will include a gender update! We're all waiting very impatiently for March 14th!

One day at a time.

I am now 12 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Monday I have a simple check up, but it's the appointment on the 31st that is making me nervous. At my 9 week exam the doc discovered that my cervical cells have changed. This could mean nothing, or it could be a problem. There isn't much they can do to fix this until after baby is born because messing with the cervix is just not a good idea in pregnancy. So on Jan 31st they will just take a closer look at my cervical cells so they can see how severe or not sever the changes are. From what I understand this is a pretty common issue so hopefully everything is fine. Because of light spotting and cramping my doc has recommend I take it easy over the next few days, but at this point we're not too concerned about it. Riley has a lot of fun looking over the pregnancy books with me and hearing about how baby is growing. He loves the pictures and since they are "actual size" pictures he is getting a kick out of seeing how big baby is each week. I love that he's excited and we are talking a bit about how life will change when baby comes. I hope I can schedule date nights with Ri after baby comes so we will be sure to just have Ri and I time through the week. He needs daddy nights too of course. I have been feeling ranom little flutters and at this stage it's hard to say if it's baby or just my body making internal changes and such. A few more weeks and I should start feeling the for sure, real thing. I can't wait. Our next official prenatal appointment is Valentines Day. I can't wait to hear our little ones heartbeat again. The next 6-10 weeks of waiting to find out the sex will hopefully fly by.

And we have a heartbeat!

On Dec 21st we got the first glimpse of the newest member of our family. He/she was measuring a couple days off so the new due date is August 3rd 2011. Today I am 8 weeks 1 day. Riley and Jeromy both got to attend the ultrasound and hear baby's sweet heart beat. 171bpm and music to our ears. All of our immediate family knows we're expecting and everyone at works knows but I still haven't told my extended family or posted anything on facebook. Maybe in a week or two. Right now I'm just fighting the morning sickness and trying not to worry about all the things that can go wrong. On January 1st we move to our new home and I can't wait to get settled in and start enjoying the extra space. Riley is excited to have his own room, but might have a little trouble adjusting to sleeping away from us. We'll just take it one day at a time and eventually he'll be happy to have the privacy.

Moving Right Along

On Monday the nurse called with my 5w5d blood draw and my Hcg was up to 13,244. Though it didn't double she was still happy with this number because the levels slow down as you get further along. Today I'm 6w3d according to my LMP. Still counting the days til the ultrasound on the 21st. Then I will know if my due date is accurate and I'll get to see baby's heartbeat which will be a huge relief. My morning sickness has been going strong and I can't keep much food down til about 6pm each night. I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse but usually it'll peak in the 7th and 8th week so we'll see what happens. I worked a full 9 hour day today without much break and I am utterly exhausted, but so glad I'm getting some extra hours near the holidays. Ri has been sick and that's been tough but he's such a snuggle bug lately I can't help but enjoy it. Just taking things one day at a time. Hope to have some good updates around ultrasound time!

Rough Start

On our honeymoon on Oct 9th, Jeromy and I decided it was time we started trying for another baby. Since it happened to be our honeymoon it seemed like a good time to start. Before we even officially knew I was pregant it was over. On Oct 18th I was having an early miscarriage before I even knew for sure that I was pregnant. I was sad, but wasn't giving up that easily. Our Doc said to just keep working at it and so we did. Apparently we're pretty good at making babies because by Nov. 18th I was holding a positive pregnancy test saying, "Jeromy, is that a line?" Within a couple days (Since I had a bulk stock of tests we tested daily for a week) the line was dark and obvious and we were officially excited, if not a bit nervous. By Thanksgiving we had told his family and mine plus a few friends, but we just weren't ready for "everyone" to know since it is still so early. Today I am 5 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Yesterday after a few rough patches my Doc called me in for HCG level testing. My level was 8,585 and tomorrow I will be going in for another test to make sure the numbers are doubling every 48 hours. It's a bit nerve wracking, but we just hope for the best and do what we can to ease the stress. I have come to terms with the fact that I don't have control over everything that happens with this baby. I am eating healthy, taking my prenatals, not smoking or drinking, walking regularly, and getting a good amount of sleep. I can only do so much. The rest is up to God. Hoping for encouraging news tomorrow.