We're getting so close...

Baby Major is 30 weeks, 3 days today.
Wow it's been a very long time since I've updated this. I apologize for that should anybody be disappointed in my lack of information. Things have been pretty hectic for the Major family lately. Mostly vacations, unexpected trips out of town and wedding that I was a bridesmaid in. Not to mention work and family time. Needless to say, those are the excuses I'm using for not posting in the recent weeks. Now it's time to put the pregnancy memory to test to see how much I can remember since my last post.

Shortly after my last post, around 26 weeks, I did get to pay a nice little visit to labor and delivery in the middle of the night. The contractions that I had usually been having started to get more frequent and more intense until we both felt it was necessary to call in to the doctor. She told us to head on over and we did. By the time we arrived and got hooked up to the monitors my contractions were close to 3 minutes apart. So they gave me some medication and a few more hours of monitoring before sending me home. Luckily I haven't experienced anything like that since that night.

A few days later we got to have another ultrasound done to check on Reid's progress. You can see those at the end. The doctor said he looks perfect and as long as I can make it to 35 weeks (June 16th) we shouldn't have anything to worry about. She's cautious but hopeful that I'll make it to 35 weeks since my early onset of labor. Reid must be just as anxious to meet us as we are to meet him.

We are slowly but surely filling up Reid's dresser and closet with clothes for him. Each time we see a set of parents we leave with a handful of baby clothes and other "essentials". We can't wait to see him in some of his little outfits.

I am now down to visiting the doctor every two weeks instead of monthly. It sure is helping to make the remaining time go faster. Each time the doctor sees me she tells me she's so excited that I haven't been in to see her for any unscheduled visits. She's also pleased with how well everything is going. I passed my glucose screen and received my Rh- shot. Now we're just counting down the weeks.

We were also able to do a 3D ultrasound last week. Brad and I were on the fence about doing a 3D ultrasound but we are so glad we did it. If you ever have the chance to do one I would highly recommend it. Not only was it nice to have that extra reassurance to be able to "see" that he truly is a healthy baby boy but it was so awesome to see him move around and become a real person versus an outline on a regular ultrasound. Plus we got a DVD with the complete ultrasound recorded and a ton of photos which you can see on my facebook profile page. And for those that are wondering...we both think he takes after Brad more so than me.

Anyway I hope to be able to do at least a couple more updates before the big day arrives. Don't forget to check out the photos down below and on facebook!

Click on the photo to make it bigger.

Short But Sweet

Baby Major is 23 weeks, 3 days today.
As the title suggests this will be a rather short post tonight. Mainly because there just isn't a lot going on at the moment. I did have my monthly doctors visit this week and everything is going wonderfully. Baby boy is measuring a little bit ahead of his expected due date by about a week so I was told to not be surprised to make it to July 21st. I couldn't have been more pleased. Brad and I are very anxious to meet him.

I've gained 5 lbs since my last appointment which made my doctor very happy. It was quite a jump up from any of my previous appointments. I'm also starting to have some very minor contractions at this point. Last Monday was a little more intense than usual but things seemed to calm down after a couple of hours. The doctor told me to just be vigilant about it and come in when I think it's necessary.

On to the better news. We've picked out a name and have finished the basics of the baby's room. I've even uploaded some of the pictures for you to see! We've decided on Reid Harrison Major for the baby's name. Reid was one of the few names we both absolutely loved and then we decided to use my maiden name Harrison because, as it turns out, I was the last Harrison in my family. So now I can put all the pressure on Reid when he gets older to pass on the name if he wants to. The weight is no longer on my shoulders. :) Reid Harrison Major has a nice flow to it too, so that was a nice bonus!

Now on to the pictures. Brad took another picture of my ever-expanding belly. He likes to point out that soon you won't be able to see the fireplace behind me. Isn't that sweet?! That picture is followed up by a panoramic view of Reid's room. You don't have to look too closely to see the three pictures I cropped together. And finally just a close up of Reid's crib and bedding. You may notice he already has a little friend waiting for him. :) As always you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

It's A Boy!

Baby Major is 19 weeks, 2 days today.
...And he's a boy!! Brad and I had our "big" ultrasound appointment yesterday and found out Baby Major is going to be a boy when he arrives into this world in July. We are very excited. We were hoping for a little boy the first time around. Now we get to start working on the nursery room and picking out little boy names.

Our dog Oakley knows for sure that something is up too. He has started to follow me around the house all the time and when I lay on the couch he hops up there and rests his head on my tummy and usually goes to sleep. It's way too cute to discourage right now. Although once I'm bigger there won't be much room for him to put his head any where.

We're just about at the half way point of the pregnancy and everything is going wonderfully. I could feel the baby move for the first time a few weeks ago and then about a week ago Brad could actually feel him move as well. I believe his reaction was "That is so weird!". Baby Major is definitely a very active boy in Mom's tummy right now.

And my goodness did he ever show us just how active he was during the ultrasound! He would not stop moving around. It made the tech laugh because he kept moving around so much on her. I will say it is the weirdest thing to see the baby move on the screen and feel it at the same time. But he's a healthy baby boy which was good to hear and he was measuring around 7 inches long and 12oz. He's about a week ahead of his due date right now according to those measurements.

But enough jabbering. I'll post the ultrasound pictures now along with a new belly shot that Brad took this week. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Belly Pictures

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2nd Trimester and Baby Furniture

Baby Major is 15 weeks, 0 days today.
Well I officially moved up to the second trimester a couple of weeks ago. I have to say things are already looking better for me. I'm feeling so much better than I was even a month ago and I only tend to get sick on very rare occasions at this point. The fatigue, or hibernation as Brad would say, is definitely starting to subside as well. In fact, the only negative thing I can say at this point is that it's starting to get very uncomfortable to sleep; regardless of position. I'm sure I'm driving Brad crazy with all my tossing and turning every night. But I just tell myself it's only going to get worse so enjoy it why you can.

We had our third doctors appointment today. It wasn't all that exciting but I didn't really expect it to be. I was anxious to see how much weight I had gained since they had expected me to gain between 10-15 lbs by now. Unfortunately I only gained 3 lbs. The doctor said that was okay, she just thinks that I'll be one of those women that is all baby. So nothing to worry about apparently. Everything else looks really good. She talked to us about some second trimester screenings that were coming up and Brad and I are discussing the optional ones to see if that's something we want to venture into. Finally we got to hear the heartbeat again. It was very fast and strong and took no time at all to find. Baby definitely likes to hang out on my right side.

We made our next appointment for February 25th. This is the BIG appointment with the BIG ultrasound to see if Baby Major has boy parts or girl parts and, most importantly, all other healthy parts. Brad and I are both very anxious to find out what we'll be having but we are both pretty confident that we are having a boy. Of course that means we'll probably have a girl. LOL! But either would be just fine with us. We already have really great names picked out for either. Well we think they're pretty great anyway. Once we know we can really start decorating the baby's room.

Which is a nice little transition to the baby furniture! We've been shopping around for baby furniture over the last month but kept going back to this one set that we really liked and it finally went on sale last weekend. So we decided to just go ahead and get it. We picked the Urban collection by Munire. You can see it here. It's a very dark brown set and we decided to just do the crib and hutch/dresser piece. The other dresser we may or may not do. We haven't completely decided yet. But I must say it looks fantastic in the baby's room. I'll be sure to post pictures up once we have the room painted and decorated.

I believe that's all the update I can give you at this point. I do have nice little bump that started last week. It's quite a surprise to wake up one day and not be able to button your jeans! But with the help of a little rubber band I'll be able to get a little more use out of them. Brad has been taking belly pictures over the last few months so I'll post them up in the next week or so. But unless something big happens in the next few weeks I'll probably just wait until after the Feb 25th appointment for my next real post. Only 4 more weeks!

The End of 2009

Baby Major is 11 weeks, 1 day today.
Today just happens to be the last day of 2009. And yesterday just happened to be our 2nd appointment with the doctor! But I'll get back to that later. Brad and I both happen to have tonight off work which is quite a feat. I believe this is the first time we've both been off work since we started dating over 8 years ago. So what are our big plans you ask? Get ready. They're exciting...

We're painting our master bedroom! Yep that's right. And by we, I mean Brad will probably paint while I come in and out and supervise. We picked out a really pretty dark blue color after the doctor's appointment yesterday and tonight we plan to start on it. At midnight, if we're both still awake, Brad will pop the tab on a Coca-Cola while I will drink some not-so-bubbly water. But chances are we won't make it that late into the night. At least I probably won't.

So the doctor's appointment. It went really great and was pretty uneventful. Plus it didn't last very long which is always appreciated. I have not gained a single pound since my last appointment in November. Or at least I'm back to what I was at my November appointment. There were a couple of weeks in between appointments where I was very sick and I'm still not able to eat a lot at a time most of the time. So I'm pretty sure I lost some pounds and then gained them back. The doctor would still like me to gain about 5 lbs in the next couple of weeks. I would be happy to do that if I could.

Who knows, maybe I can. I have been feeling a million times better in the last week and I'm hoping what they say is correct about symptoms disappearing as you approach the 2nd trimester. It certainly feels like it is. I like to believe I'm not as tired any more but that would be a lie as I just got up for a 3 hour nap once I got home from work. But the morning sickness is passing for sure. I guess if I had to pick between fatigue and morning sickness, the morning sickness is the one I would give up first. So Yeah!

The doctor also let us hear the heartbeat again which is such a relief to hear after 4 weeks of the "unknown". But it was beating quite strong and fast and will hopefully sustain me for another 4 weeks. Other than that we just talked about blood work. All my blood work came back fine which is a relief but I do have to get the Rhogam shot because of my Rh factor. Basically she said I was prefect except that I need to gain some weight.

We have our next appointment on January 26th which is my 15th week. They said it will be the exact same thing as this time except we'll discuss some 2nd trimester screening options and get those scheduled if we want to. Then the next appointment in February is the big one! The one where we see if we're having a boy or a girl. We cannot wait!!! We're so anxious to buy baby things and paint the nursery and do all the things that can be blue or pink.

Okay I think that's all for now. I hope everybody has a really safe New Year's Eve and an even better 2010!

First Doctor's Appointment

Baby Major is 9 weeks, 4 days today.

Well this is our first post on this site! Thanks to my cousins Chase and Sara (who are expecting their own little one in January) for giving me the idea to start this. Now let's just hope I can keep this updated and stick with it through the busy months ahead!

We had our first doctor's appointment on November 30th. It felt like we were there forever! They went through all of our family history, did the initial exam and followed it up with blood work. We were then told we would have an ultrasound to date the pregnancy and determine the due date. This was completely unexpected since we were told we probably wouldn't have our first ultrasound until closer to 18-20 weeks. But we were very excited to see if there was really anything growing in there. And there was!! They gave us three pictures of the ultrasound, which you can see below, and told us we were 6 weeks and 5 days at the time of the appointment. Our due date is July 21st.

Our baby's first picture!

This one is more of an actual size photo but we were able to hear the heartbeat. It's displayed at the bottom of the picture and the heart rate was 123.

Needless to say the ultrasound was definitely worth the wait in the doctor's office. We have our next appointment scheduled for December 30th. I will be exactly 11 weeks on that day. I believe they just plan to go over the blood work results, maybe listen to the heartbeat again and schedule any 1st trimester screenings that will be done.

Since then I've been feeling decent throughout most of the pregnancy so far. I had my share of morning sickness between weeks 4 - 7. The biggest thing that has been affecting me is the fatigue. As Brad would say, I sleep about 90% of the time. Which is a bit of an exaggeration but not by much. I'm definitely in bed by 10 on most nights and after work I almost always take a nap. But that's really all so I can't complain too much.

I believe that's all I have to say as of right now. Like I said, hopefully I will remember to keep this updated with new and interesting information. Merry Christmas everybody!