2nd OB appt today

Good afternoon everyone. Today I had my 2nd OB appt. It went very well. We went over all my lab results from last time.. and everything was good . I knew I was an RH baby, but found out my blood type is A+ so I wont be needing the rhogam shot.. woot!!! Doc said my uterus is measuring perfectly. They took 2 more vials of blood, for a neural defect screening. So I guess that means it was the BW part of an NT scan? Idk.

Now the exciting part I got to hear my baby's heartbeat for the first real time. It was so amazing. They did a doppler, and it was 150bpm. Paul was crying, it was such a sweet moment! We are so stoked. My next appt is in 4 weeks, on Feb 17th. Then on that day we will schedule my big u/s for the following week. So in just 5 weeks we will know what team we are on!!! Unless, the baby doesn't cooperate of course.

Now for something I know some of you wanna see... belly pics :) I am 13w6d today, and these pics were taken at 13w2d.

I'm a horrible blogger...update on me

Hello my friends :) I'm not even sure if anyone checks my blog, but anywho. I realize I have not updated my blog since Dec. 17th, so this will be a long post! lol

Well Dec. 22nd I had my first OB appt. It went well. They took tons of blood, a urine sample, and did a pelvic exam/pap smear. Omg the pap hurt worse than ever before. My doc wasn't in that day, but another OB in the office tended to me. I liked her, and I truly look forward to meeting my OB. They called back 1 week later to tell me that I had a UTI. They prescribed meds, and it seems to be cleared up now. yay!

My 2nd OB appt is scheduled for Tuesday Jan. 19th. Early in the AM too... so I don't have to wait all day :P At this appt I will get to hear the baby's heartbeat again via a hand-held doppler. I can't wait to hear that soothing sound, and also to find out what the baby's heart rate is :)

This Wednesday (the 13th) I will be 13 weeks, and officially in my 2nd trimester. I couldn't be happier to reach this land mark! As you can see on my blog page, the baby is about the size of a peach now :). Soon enough, I will start to feel flutters. Then in about 7 weeks or so, we will find out our baby's gender!!! Paul and I absolutely can't wait!

I am amazed with how great my pregnancy has gone so far. It seems to be flying by! I didn't get any morning sickness really until about 10.5 weeks. Since then, I have had m/s off and on.. a few days it has been pretty bad. But luckily, I have only vomited once this pregnancy so far! Knock on wood :) So yea, other than being tired.. I feel good.

On a not so good, and not so pregnant related note.. I have some news. Paul is still looking for a job, but still receiving unemployment. Which is a blessing. But... yea always a but isn't there. This past Sunday I lost my job. They basically just "let me go", and yes.. it has everything to do with me being pregnant. Also, my great grandmother passed away the day after Christmas, then 5 days later my oldest horse passed away. I had owned her since I was 13. I have also gotten bad news from several friends since then.

So needless to say, this past month has been a rough one. I'm trying to stay positive, and try to stay up-beat for the sake of me and the baby. But it's not so easy when you keep getting hit with hard balls. I know soon things will start to look up. Up is the only way it can go from here. :) I'm sure God has a plan, and I'm trying hard to trust in that.

Well, I am sorry this was so long. But I seem to be kinda crappy at updating :P But there you have it, and I promise I will try to update more often.. Hmm I think I've said that before lol. I hope everyone is doing well!

Our First Ultrasound!

Today we got to see our little one for the very first time. It was such a beautiful moment! Paul cried and cried :) It was so sweet. We got to see the baby kicking/moving all around. We also got to hear the heartbeat, and it was the most gorgeous sound ever. It definately is real now for the both of us! I got 3 pics, and had to take pics of them with my camera. So they aren't that great. I will try to scan them soon so that I have better pics to show you guys. Well here is the debut of baby Gentle! :) In the first pic, the head is on the left but not very visible. In the second, the head is on the right. The round object you see on the left is a yolk sack.

Yay for a letter

Yesterday I got a letter in the mail that I didn't expect for 2-3 more weeks. My acceptance letter for Medicaid! Yay, so the LO and I have insurance now and I couldn't be happier about that. It was so precious; under my name, bday and insurance # said Unborn A. Gentle and the baby's EDD, and insurance #. That got me so excited for this LO. As days go by I feel more confident in the fact that everything will be fine. Although I still worry.

This is day 3 of not feeling like crap. I have had adversions,cravings, and nausea off and on. But the morning sickness and fatigue isn't constantly bringing me down. I reckon that's a good thing, but I can't help but worry a little.

In just 11 days I will get to see my LO!! Just 11 days! Oh my how it seems like forever, but close at the same time :) I also have my WIC appt tomorrow so that we can start getting WIC checks. I'm sure that will help out a lot. I hope everyone is doing well :)

Appointments are in place!

Yesterday I had an appt with Best Start. Best Start is a program in Alabama for women on Medicaid. They work kinda like a social worker and are the middle-man between you, medicaid, and your OB. They really help you to figure things out, and are there for you during your pregnancy. My B.S. worker helped me pick out an OB and called to make an appt for me.

My first OB appt will be Tuesday 12-22, and I will be 9w6d at that appointment. Only 1 day away from 10 whole weeks!!!

I still get to have that free u/s from the pregnancy clinic. It will be Thursday 12-17, and I will be 9w1d at that appt.

I am so excited to see my LO for the first time and to hear his/her heartbeat. I can only imagine how magical it will be when Paul and I know for sure that something is live, well , and growing inside. I have my fears of course, but I'm trying to stay positive.

Update on me: I am 7w1d today, so only 1 week until I am a full 2 months pregnant! Symptoms have really started to kick in, so now in addition to the fatigue, bloating, tightness/cramping I now have: real morning sickness... horrible nausea but not enough to actually vomit, headaches, food adversions, and every now and then.. cravings :).

You can see updates on my LO on the ticker to the right side of the page :)

Baby's First Gifts

Our little one has already aquired some gifts. Tons of which are just hand-me-down clothes. But here is the latest/cutest stuff.

The first gifts are from Paul's grandmother:

His/her very first Alabama gear

And first Auburn stuffed tiger (yea we are a house divided)

Next is gifts from my mom:

Auburn and Bama bibs :)

The top 2 have each logo and stars, the second 2 says Color me (crimson tide and tigers), then the bottom one says furture crimson tide and tiger

A "my first christmas outfit" It says that on the pocket :) Covered in santas and reindeer

Slacker Cont'd.

Well that all was mainly insurance/doc related.. so now I will update you on my pregnancy and life in general.

I don't really "feel" pregnant yet, and I am suprisingly anxiously awaiting my first signs of morning sickness lol. That is, if I get them. Currently my symptoms are as follows (they come and go): Fatigue, Sore/tender/swollen breasts, cramping and tightness/pulling in lower abdomen, some queasyness but not bad enough to throw up lol, frequent urination, pretty bad gas, and I am of course.. quite moody. I think I covered it all.

I keep going back and forth about feeling positive, it's kinda hard when you don't feel anything. You kinda wonder if everything is going alright down there or not. Especially since I've had an early miscarriage before.

In other news... as you know this is Thanksgiving week. I had already told both my siblings, and my mom that I am pregnant. We had T-giving dinner on my moms side Tue. 11-24. I decided to tell my Grandparents that day at dinner. Since they were the only people there that didn't know. We used to do this thing where we would go around the table, and mention what we are thankful for. Well I told my mom, that I wanted to bring it back, and that be the way I tell my g-parents. So we stood in the living room and had prayer. Then my mom began the "I'm thankful". Then it ended with me. I said "I am thankful that I'm able to tell yall (looking at gparents) that you will be great-g-parents again." Grandma was shocked and automatically said "Is it a girl?". I told her it was too early to tell. She put in her order for a girl, as did my mom. All I have is nephews lol. My grandfather, who is not an emotional or outspoken man actually teared up and began to cry. It was a happy night :). My grandma took me shopping for yarn yesterday and is beginning to make an afghan for the LO. :D

I called my dad later that night, which was a hard decision to make. I knew he would be upset, considering our job situation and insurance and all. He was upset, but very happy and excited as well. He also put in an order for a girl. And gave me tons of advice and offered to help financially when we are having trouble making ends meet. He said although it's a bad time, he can't wait to spoil my LO rotten lol. (my mom says he has to stand in line :P). Well then today at T-giving dinner (at dads) I had him tell his family. Which he did in a joking manner. He said "Oh so Ashley is pregnant, and it's a girl.. and Paul had nothing to do with it" lol You would have to know my dad. I guess you can tell he wants a baby girl. I am sad to say that people over there weren't very excited about it.. really not many people have been excited anyways.

Then Paul and I went to his grandmothers for dinner. His brother (and his fiance) already knew the great news.. but no one else in the family did. This was a great opp to tell them since everyone was there. I wanted to wait until Christmas, but since my family all knows.. I understand why he would want to tell. I got a new camera from my mom as an early Xmas present. She got it for me so that I can document my pregnancy, and LO's life. I took it with us and decided to do the everyone say Ashley's pregnant thing. So we gathered everyone, and I held the camera (on vid record). And Paul finally said it. The majority of the ppl didn't catch it, and the ones that did said Congrats. His father didn't realize what he had said for about 10 minutes, after he left the room and came back. His g-ma and dad were excited, but everyone else was kinda mediocre about it. I reckon its something that has to grow on everyone :)

Well the cat is pretty much out of the bag to everyone. I wont tell friends and FB until nearly Christmas, when I will be a little over 10w. I figure thats a bit in the safe zone. Hopefully I will keep you guys updated better so that I don't have to type these long a$$ posts lmao. Thank you to all and any who actually took the time to read.

I hope that you all had a great Turkey Day!!!