I Had A Dream

Back in January, before I had even become pregnant, I had a dream.

In my dream, I was in the hospital having just given birth to a perfect, sweet angel.  A baby girl.  As I sat there holding her, I was overcome with love and emotion as I recalled the details of her face, her hands, her feet.  She was beautiful.  She even had a name. 

4 months later, I was laying on an ultrasound bed in the Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic at UVRMC, anxiously looking at the screen to see either "boy parts" or "girl parts".  Knowing in the back of my mind that it was a girl... it HAD to be.  I dreamt of her!  

Finally, after much patience waiting for the umbilical cord to move out of the way, and waiting for baby's hand to stop covering it up, we saw those three cute white blobs that indicate a GIRL!

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.  

I knew it.  

My dream was becoming reality.

I look at her darling little face in the ultrasound picture and I am brought to tears.  Knowing the gender, makes it so much more real!  

Words cannot describe the LOVE I already feel for this sweet baby girl :)

Popped Overnight

I always thought that I would be the kind of pregnant woman who never even looked pregnant until the 3rd trimester.  I am tall, and thin and thought that I would hide a baby bump quite well. 

Well, my body thought differently about that.  

Between 11 and 12 weeks, baby decided to show up... in the form of a "strangely big for the time being" baby bump.  It seems that overnight, my belly popped.  And there's really nothing I can do about it.  I definitely look pregnant and there's no hiding it.  At first I was a little concerned that there might be TWO babies in there, considering how much I've poked out.  But I can assure you, that there is only one. (thank goodness)

Doc says I don't have a lot of room in there for hiding, and baby has to grow, so baby grows out!

And how do I feel about it, you ask?

AMAZING!!

I have waited how long to finally be pregnant?  I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

If my body wants to act differently than how I always expected it to, then so be it.  

I am LOVING my bump!

My Mother's Day

I've always loved Mother's Day.  A day set aside to honor the incredible woman who gave you life, who raised you, taught you and unconditionally loved you.  

What greater day is there than that?

I must say that I have THE BEST mom in the world. 

What a remarkable woman my mother is... she is my friend, my mentor, my everything.  

And my other mother, the one I gained when I married my sweetheart, is just as great.  I love her dearly.

 Such wonderful examples of strength and love I have in my mothers.  I am truly spoiled.

This particular Mother's Day, was obviously a special one for me.  The thought alone of knowing that in 5 months, this precious babe growing inside of me will give me that sweet gift of motherhood, brings me to tears.  The most important job I will ever have, the most important role I will ever take on, will be given to me by this sweet child.  And how grateful I am for it!

 It was a very emotional Mother's Day to say the least.

My sweet husband showered me with gifts, as well as did my family.  

My favorites were these:

Such precious keepsakes to remember this wonderful new time in my life.  

I cannot wait to become a mother to my precious little peanut :)

What To Expect

Last week I entered a contest on this BLOG to win tickets to the premier of "What to Expect When You're Expecting."  I LOVE entering contests, always expecting NOT to win, but always hoping to get lucky! 

Well, this particular time, I got lucky!  I was one of 5 winners for that blog who got two tickets to the premier at The Gateway.

I took the husband along with me, seeing as the movie is VERY fitting for us right now :)  Pretty sure I liked it more than he did, but he was such a good sport and we had a lot of fun!  

There were 3 bloggers who hosted the contest, sponsored by Centrum Prenatals, and here are all of the winners.  More than half of us, pregnant :)

And we got t-shirts that say,

"Coming Soon! 

To a crib near you. 

PG Pregnancy is Great."

If you want a good laugh, and don't mind a scattered, jumbled movie of sorts, go see it!

NuMoM2B

Each year, more than 500,000 first-time moms-to-be across the United States deliver babies with potentially avoidable complications such as preterm birth, low birth weight, and preeclampsia. Unfortunately for some moms, many of these risks go undetected until the last possible minute, often too late to prevent.

In May, 2011, Intermountain Healthcare partnered with University of Utah Health Care to study women who are pregnant for the first time, in hopes of better understanding why some of these outcomes occur during some first time pregnancies.

Approximately 40 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. are women who have never given birth. As a group, they sometimes have complications with their pregnancy, but there is no information from a previous pregnancy to identify who might have a problem. The goal is to learn more about unknown complication risks to perhaps prevent them in the future.

Shortly after announcing my pregnancy to family and friends, I heard about this study and became very interested.  I called IHC for more info and was informed that I would be a perfect candidate for the study. At no cost to me (and compensation at the end) I couldn't resist this great opportunity.  The study involves 3 visits to the Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic at UVRMC over the course of my pregnancy.  At these visits, they will collect blood, urine and vaginal fluid samples.  I will participate in interviews and questionnaires and they will do an ultrasound at each visit.

My first visit was a couple of weeks ago when I was 12 weeks pregnant.  These ultrasounds, that most of you have already seen, are from that visit:

(There were a total of about 6 pictures, but these two were the best)

My next visit will be at the end of the month, when I am 16 weeks along.  Jace and I are SO excited for that appointment, they will be able to tell the gender of our baby at that time!  

I then will go in for my last visit sometime between 22-29 weeks and the final steps of the study will include amniotic fluid and placenta samples at the time of delivery.  

I feel great about being a part of this study, not only to help myself with my future pregnancies, but to also help other women who may benefit from my research.

If you'd like to learn more about the NuMoM2B program, go HERE.