Well… it was a fun, exciting weekend for William and me. It started with my birthday on Friday, my sister’s birthday on Saturday, and then Mother’s Day today where we finally revealed Baby Girl Cody’s name to our mom’s (and therefore everyone else). We sent them Mother’s Day cards from the baby (with her name inside) that they were told not to open until today.
So…. the new member of the Cody household will be named…………….. (Click “read more” below)
Happy Mother’s Day to our moms… Sandra Brown and Betty Cody!! We love you!!
They are getting a special Mother’s Day gift today… they are finding out the name of their new granddaughter due this July!! More to come….
Can you believe I only have 1 1/2 more weeks in the 2nd trimester? Today, Tuesday, I am 26 weeks and 3 days. The 3rd trimester begins at 28 weeks. I am getting pretty excited knowing we are only about 13 1/2 weeks away from meeting our new baby girl. However, I am also worried I am running out of time to get stuff done on my “to do” list like finalize a pediatrician, figuring out who will take care of Baby Girl Cody when I go back to work, get some spring cleaning done, and most importantly…. getting some sleep while I still can!! William and I have several busy weekends until Memorial Day weekend, and I really plan to make sure I am on a strict action plan for rest after that. I am so glad he is doing the nursery!! He is so right… I would have driven myself crazy. He still will not tell me when the “big reveal” is, but I assume it is coming in the next couple weeks.
The pregnancy is still going great. I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday and it went very well. Two weeks ago, I had my 1 hour glucose test to screen for gestational diabetes. I heard many people talk about how disgusting the sugary drink is that you have to drink as part of the test. I was a bit nervous when I found the “beverage” to be pretty tasty. In fact, it tasted like orange soda to me and I am a huge fan of orange soda. I even have a Fanta Orange t-shirt that smells like Fanta Orange that I got at the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta a few years ago 🙂 I was hoping that my affinity for the drink was not an indicator that I had gestational diabetes and fortunately it was not. The test came back normal as did all the other labwork done. Baby Girl Cody was apparently pretty excited about all the attention she was getting at the doctor’s office. When they placed the doppler on my belly to listen to her heartbeat, her heart rate was accelerated. She even started kicking where the doppler was, which was pretty funny. Her heart rate did not stay accelerated for long and returned to normal within several seconds, so everything seems to be going very well!
William is enjoying watching my belly grow, telling me how pregnant I am, and making predictions on when my belly button it going to “pop”. It’s still migrating forward, so we’ll see how far it goes.
This past weekend, William and I attended a wedding of one of my good friends and sorority sisters and it was a beautiful wedding. It was also great to catch up with the rest of my sorority sisters. I am guaranteed to have a good time when we get together. Baby Girl Cody slept the whole trip to South Carolina, but was moving and kicking on the ride back to Dallas, so I guess she enjoyed the weekend also. I posted a couple photos below from the weekend since I didn’t take a belly photo this week. I also posted a picture my sister took while I was out shoe shopping at DSW after work last week. I am sure my mom will be pleased I am wearing something different 🙂
I didn’t mean to get this far behind, but I am glad William helped me out by posting last week’s baby bump photo.
In pregnancy news…..
Things are still going great! Baby Girl Cody is starting to move a lot more lately and not just when I eat. I have noticed that her kicks are getting stronger. William has felt her twice now and that was a great experience. His facial expression was priceless! The first time (and even the second), his mouth flew open in utter amazement and he had this huge smile on his face. I will probably never forget that moment. It was very special.
As you have probably noticed from the photos, my belly is really starting to grow now. Most people at work can clearly tell I am pregnant now and aren’t afraid to ask me about the baby and how I am feeling. It is interesting watching my belly grow. I am getting to the point where bending over is not as comfortable and easy as it used to be, but I can still reach my toes and don’t have any significant issues yet. I am still able to take three flights of stairs up to my office everyday and multiple times a day when I am walking throughout the building. I am usually a bit winded when I get to the top, but that is not much different than prior to being pregnant 🙂
I told William that I felt confident that our baby can hear, which is a good sign. When the fire alarms went off at work last week, it was very loud, and she definitely started moving around a bit. According to BabyCenter.com, this is the stage where hearing picks up. She was also moving a bit during the really bad thunderstorm on Monday morning (it was the type of storm with explosion like thunder), but it seems like she has been awake and moving every morning this week when my alarm goes off, so it may just be her routine for the moment.
Well… that about sums it up. Below is my 23 week baby bump photo. My mother suggested I wear a different outfit 🙂 I have only been trying to wear the same thing to make the comparison easier, but perhaps I will throw in a photo of me in something different this weekend. I should have taken a picture today! I wore a cute Isabella Oliver wrap dress. It was one of my splurge maternity purchases, but I love it.
Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! I hope you had a fabulous birthday weekend. Baby Cody and I look forward to celebrating many more with you!
Wow. This weekend was so full of baby that we literally wore ourselves out!! 🙂
Some of you may have heard that William is surprising me (and probably most of you) by completely designing and decorating the nursery. I really can’t even remember how this came about, but I do remember him telling me that if I were responsible for the nursery, I would get too stressed and drive myself crazy. He is probably right and I have to admit that with my work schedule remaining pretty busy, I haven’t really had a lot of time to research designs and nursery decor, so I enjoy not having that on my to-do list. I was allowed to make a list of 10 things I wanted to see included in the nursery and after that… I am locked out of the room until the room is done. I was a bit nervous about this arrangement, so the compromise was to ask my sister to ensure cinder blocks were not part of the room 🙂 . William was on Spring Break , so every day this past week I came home to him being behind closed doors for several hours working on the nursery. One night, I heard him hammering away at midnight… but… I was still able to fall asleep with no problem 🙂 The only details about the nursery I know are the crib, dresser/changing table, and rocker/recliner. We picked those out together and I am very happy with our decision. He has been so excited about this project, so I am anxiously awaiting the big reveal, which will probably be around my birthday, which happens to fall just before Mother’s Day. How exciting!! I can’t wait!
On Saturday, we had the first part of our childbirth class. Yep… childbirth class already. It was mainly because the dates for this weekend and next fit in with our schedule better than other dates over the next couple months. The class was from 9am-4pm, so it was a full day devoted to preparing for the big event. After class, we decided we were going to go set up our baby registries. We had already planned to do it this past weekend prior to registering for the childbirth class, so we decided to just stick to it and make it a day full of baby. After spending about 2 hours at each store, we were done and it was 9pm. We had been up since about 7:15am and we were exhausted. After enjoying a late dinner, we came home and collapsed on the couch. Needless to say, we didn’t make it to church today. It was about 10am before either of us attempted to get out of bed and the rest felt great. In fact, we didn’t even make it out of the house until about 6 or 7pm when we decided to go for a walk to get some exercise in for the day. Fortunately I also made is to the grocery store also to stock up on some breakfast foods and healthy snacks for the week.
So… a busy week and a very busy Saturday, but we accomplished a lot, so I think we are both happy even though we are a bit tired.
So… how has the pregnancy been this week?…. Still smooth! I can see why people consider the 2nd trimester the best of them all. You’re not dealing with the symptoms you may have had in the 1st trimester, the fatigue is not as bad, and your stomach is growing, but not too big to cause any problems or major distractions. I have not felt as much movement this week from the baby, but I know I am only a few weeks from feeling the major kicks and movements, so I should probably enjoy it while it lasts. One change I have noticed this week is my belly button has begun its journey forward and seems like it is going to start popping out in the next few weeks. It’s an odd thing to notice it pushing forward day by day.
Below, is my 21 week belly shot as well as some of the items we couldn’t resist buying for the baby while we were registering. Isn’t the purple Share Bear cute?! As you can see, we added some additional colors to her wardrobe, I like pink , but I want to make sure she can enjoy all colors. A couple of the items are actually for when she starts wearing 12 month clothes, so you probably won’t see her in a picture with those until next year.
So we have finally reached the halfway point! 20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go.
Now that we know we are having a girl, the excitement has picked up because we can begin decorating and buying things for her. In fact, the Cody grandparents were in town this weekend and kicked off the shopping with us. We found some great outfits for her as well as a few gadgets, and a diaper dude bag and baby carrier for William. We also found some books to add to her library. It was a fun weekend and I am glad William’s parents were able to come into town and celebrate with us. Check out the results of our shopping below. Yes, there is probably more pink than I would like, but the store we were in had mostly pink clothing. More colors to come in the future. I love my purple and reds!
So… how have I been feeling? Well… overall I am still feeling pretty good. This past week was a bit rough because I was fighting a sore throat and cold. I lost my voice for pretty much an entire week, which has never happened before (I have lost my voice, but not usually longer than 2-3 days). I will admit that I was hesitant to take any medication. I know there are certain medications that are approved to take during pregnancy, but I didn’t want to take anything unless I felt I really needed to do that. I did go through a few days of terrible coughing that was driving both William and I crazy. I finally ended up taking Tylenol one day and Robitussin another and for the most part, things seems to be better. I am still coughing a little bit, but not nearly as much as I was last week (or even Sunday morning for that matter).
Other than fighting a cold, things are still smooth. Baby Cody has been moving a bit more. She loves to move when I am eating. She definitely reacts to the blood sugar rush :-). Almost without fail, she will move when I am eating. There are other times she moves, but I feel the most movement while I am eating. It’s kinda funny. Right now, it’s still more flutters than distinct kicks, but I am finally to the point where I can tell that it’s the baby. The movements do feel like they are getting more distinct as the weeks go on, so I look forward to more movement.
GIRL!!!!!
William and I are very excited about Baby Girl Cody. We just found out this morning and I worked all day, so I haven’t made any purchases yet, but I can’t wait to start shopping!
We would have been happy either way, but I really am thrilled that we having a girl. I guess I just feel that we will have a good time decorating, and shopping for her and I am already excited about tea parties, cute dresses, lip gloss, girl scout cookies, mani/pedis when she is old enough, and even one day being the “mother of the bride”! Yeah… I know I am a long way off from that, but those are the things that cross my mind with a girl.
I am still feeling pretty good. The only issue I am running into at this point is comfortable sleep positions. At this point in my pregnancy, the recommendation is to sleep on my side, specifically the left side to provide optimal blood flow to the uterus. I have been a stomach sleeper for years, so this is kinda difficult for me. During the night, my hips start hurting and I have to flip sides, then I fatigue that side and have to flip back over, then I am fighting congestion, then I have to go to the bathroom, then when I get kinda comfy, William wakes me b/c my snoring (a new routine since becoming pregnant) woke him up. Then my alarm goes off. Though this is a bit annoying, it has really just started and I still don’t really have trouble sleeping, just end up waking up during the night a few times, something that did not happen much before. I am one of those people that falls asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow and can’t remember the last time I had trouble sleeping. I think I have some possible solutions. I will more than likely go ahead and buy a pregnancy pillow. I have heard mixed reviews, but I figured it is worth a try.
The Cody parents (soon to be Cody grandparents) will be in town this weekend, so that will be fun. We will likely go shopping together for Baby Girl.
The bump is growing as you can see from the picture below. According to BabyCenter.com, her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear our voices. With that in mind, William and I made a trip to Barnes and Noble this past weekend to buy our first book for the baby. We planned to only buy 1, but bought 3 books :-). I guess we will start reading to her this week. She has already been able to enjoy the beautiful singing I do in the car on my travels to and from work. 🙂
So today is the day William and I were hoping to find out Baby Cody’s gender.
Drum Roll please………………
Ok. Nevermind. We still don’t know. What we do know is that our baby is pretty intelligent for realizing that he/she could hide their anatomy of interest behind the umbilical cord and play a fun hide and seek game for us. We have another opportunity next week, so we will see if Baby Cody will cooperate this time. My plan is to drink some fruit juice or something with a bit of sugar to getting the baby moving. 🙂
The good news was that the baby appeared to be healthy and things seem to be progressing very well. The heartbeat was strong at 153 bpm. The baby was actually measuring 3 days ahead of schedule, but I don’t think that really means much and they typically do not change the due date. The baby was moving around a bit, but usually appears pretty cozy and comfortable and also appears to be a thumb sucker (his/her hands are usually by the face). Despite not knowing the gender, William and I both left with huge smiles on or faces.
Sorry I am a day late with my post. We had a busy day yesterday. William and I went to a Family Expo where we got to check out the latest baby products. That afternoon I attended a baby shower for a dear friend I have known since middle school. We ended the evening with a movie, and yes… me falling asleep on the couch with the computer on my lap. 🙂
Yesterday marked 18 weeks for me and things are still going very well. This week’s exciting news…. maternity clothes!! I ordered several items online from Gap and they arrived on Wednesday and the timing could not have been better. The day before, I was unbuttoning my pants by the end of the day because they were so uncomfortable. Maternity pants are awesome!! It was so nice feeling comfortable going to work the next day. They were a tad too big, but that didn’t matter to much to me. The length was perfect… one of the reasons I bought them. Gap offered longer length pants, which can be hard to find in regular sizes let alone maternity sizes. I now need to purchase some tops and maternity jeans. Since my jeans have a lower rise than my work pants, I have been able to still wear those and keep them buttoned, but this weekend, I found myself wearing them with my BellaBand. I have tried a couple pair on, but they were either too short or not really worth the dollar amount. Maternity clothes can be expensive!! Especially for something you can only wear a few months (until the next pregnancy).
In other news, I think I am beginning to feel Baby Cody moving a bit. It started out as the flutters people describe, kinda like bubbles or popcorn popping in your stomach, but recently I think I have felt some distinct thumps or kicks. Every time I think I feel something, I stop and try to stay still to see if I can feel it again, but I usually don’t. I am sure I will begin feeling more movement in the weeks to come, so I look forward to it, especially when William can begin feeling movements.
Well, tomorrow is the big day. We find out the gender! So… will it be a girl? or a boy? Any predictions? Most of my friends are predicting a boy, so we’ll see if those guesses are correct. William is convinced it’s a girl, but will of course be happy either way. Stores beware… William won’t make it through the day without making at least one purchase for the baby. If it’s a boy, it will likely be something Star Wars related. If it’s a girl, it actually may still be Star Wars related 🙂
So, we have finally uploaded pictures of my belly growth. Sorry we don’t have one for each week, but we plan to take one each week from now until 40 weeks.
