18 Weeks and Counting

Every Tuesday I progress another week in my pregnancy.  This past Tuesday I hit the 18 week mark. I've been feeling a lot more energetic since I hit the 2nd trimester.  Even though I'm still exhausted by 9:30 every night, I no longer feel the urgency to crawl into bed everyday after work for a nap.  But don't get me wrong; I'm still more tired than usual. I've never been big on sleeping in on the weekends but now, I don't find it difficult at all to sleep until 9:30 or 10 on Saturdays and Sundays (and I even score the occassional breakfast in bed). 

My body is definitely changing a lot.  The doctor explained that when your preg, your muscle tone changes, you get more clumsy and you just won't feel as strong as maybe you're used to.  Meanwhile I'm thinking yea yea yea, I'm in good shape, I rarely feel weak... I probably won't notice too many changes other than my belly protruding more and more.  YEA RIGHT.  I thought wrong.  I feel as dainty and vulnerable as I've ever felt.

I've maintained running 2-3 times/week and each time, I notice my strides getting shorter and shorter, slower and slower... as onyx basically drags me around the neighborhood.  As long as I keep a slow pace, it still feels good to run.  When I try to keep Will's pace (keeping in mind I used to outrun him... I had to throw that in there :) I feel a sense of panic and totally don't enjoy the workout.  So, I usually run alone or let him and onyx run ahead of me so I don't feel pressure to keep up. 

The other day, I decided to do some squats and lunges (in light of my growing rump and thighs).  Afterwards, I felt like I had done a full on back workout; the next day I had to take Tylenol for the pain. I was like WHAT?  Will and I theorized that my back muscles are compensating for other muscles that aren't working normally due to being pregnant.  Whether we're right or wrong, all I know is that my body is definitely changing as the doctor expalined it would.

I think I've gained somewhere between 8-10 lbs so far.  I'm trying to love it but, it's certainly a challenge at times to not critique myself when I'm used to being in shape.  Most of the time though, I'm embracing it and absolutely loving seeing my stomach grow and grow.  Over the past two weeks or so, it has popped out quite a bit. 

This weekend Wade, Jenni, Will and I are staying at Cindy and Otho's house.  The boys are hunting during the day while Jenni and I lounge by the pool and treat it as a mini-vaca. Since I've spent some time updating this blog today, I decided to take a new picture of my bump to share.  I'll try to keep a more regular photo update....

Sharing the Gender News

When Will and I left our ultrasound appointment we called Mom (Suzie), Dad (Timmy), April, Sarah, Grandmother Smith and left messages with several of my girlfriends.  Mom sounded like she was going to bust a vocal cord when I confirmed what she had been thinking for several months.  I don't know if she was just thrilled that it was a boy or if she was purely excited to finally know who she would be a grandmother to.  When we called Dad he was at the Dixie Deer Classic in Raleigh which I thought was so fitting for the news I was about to share.  I told him to go ahead and buy his grandson a lifetime hunting or fishing license while he was there.  I don't think he cared whether it was a boy or a girl; he just wants a grandchild, period.... but, I'm excited (and I think he is too) that he finally gets a boy to help raise since he's so gracefully raised girls his whole life.

So, we had plans to go to a hockey game with Jill & Matt, Otho & Cindy and some of Matt's family the same night after the appointment.  We were headed to Jill and Matt's house while I was making phone calls and we were making the Tucker's wait for the news until we arrived. Jill and Cindy both called us a couple of times on our way "asking where we were" but, I think they were hoping we would give in and divulge what they were dying to know.  It was a fun little game for me and Will to make them wait.  So when we pulled up I was wearing both a blue scarf and a pink scarf and made them play the guessing game for another 5 minutes before peeling off the pink scarf, leaving just the blue scarf to reveal our 'boy' news.

I don't think anyone was shocked because Cindy and Jill thought from the beginning that I was having a boy... although, Jill's final guess right before I shared the news was that I was having a girl.  Jill bought us cookie cake that said "BOY or GIRL?" with blue and pink dots on the edge.  It was such a cute idea.  The picture below is the cookie after Will had smudged off the girl part so it just said "BOY".  It was fun for everyone to finally know for sure what we were having!

JACK OR JILL???!

We're having a BOY!  I know, I know.  I've been totally slack keeping you all updated via this blog.  We found out nearly 3 weeks ago the little tucker baby has a penis.  Sorry for the delay in sharing the big news! 

We were scheduled to find out the sex through our doctor's office at 17 weeks but, Will was busting at the seams to find out so he did some research on ultrasound tech offices that would do it earlier.  His boss recommended a place he and his wife had used.  So we tried it out.  The lady scheduled our appointment a few days after I would be 15 weeks along. 

It was kind of a funny scenario.  The lady told Will she had recently moved her office into her basement.  I thought that was kind of wierd but imagined this lady living in some nice Atlanta suburb area and didn't think too much more of it.  So being the procrastinator I am, I waited until the day before the appointment to goodle map her house using satellite view.  It was in a neighborhood and was decent but not exactly what I was expecting.  I joked with Will that I kept imagining being taken down to her basement and never coming back.  I knew I was being over dramatic.  Will said to me 'get your mind right - we're going'.  So we got there; the lady was nice.  She dragged us through her basement full of unorganized baby paraphernalia and into her ultrasound room.  Apparently she had an internet-based baby store as well.  It turned out to be a fine experience, although I don't know if I'd be eager to recommend it to someone else.  

She started the ultrasound and first found the baby's heartbeat - which is always music to my ears.  She had a hard time at first getting a shot of the private parts because he was moving around so much. He was standing straight up inside my belly and it looked like he was doing squats in there. And his little arms were flailing away.  At one point he looked straight into the ultrasound and his little arm was waving around.  It was like he was saying 'hi mom and dad; what's up; I'm doing great in here'.

She finally got a good between-the-legs shot and she said 'welp, look there'.  We looked hard at what she was pointing at which was his penis and she said 'looks like you guys are having a BOY'. 

Before the appointment, I tried for weeks to dig deep to see if I felt strong one way or the other about having a boy or a girl.  I truly had no feeling one way or the other.  One hour I'd imagine I was having a boy... and the next it'd be a girl.  So when the lady said 'you're having a boy' I was just excited to know.  Other than that I was kind of like 'cool, we're having a boy'.  Will grinned from ear to ear and admitted he was hoping for a boy.  He is elated to be having a son.  I'm also excited my mom and dad will finally get the experience of having a boy in the family.

My mom and I are still in search for a manual on 'all things boy'.  No luck yet so I guess we're going to learn as we go.  Lots of good times ahead!

Here's a picture of me before the appointment.  I was 15 weeks, 4 days.  Look hard and you can tell I have a little bump. 

Stomach Bug Blues

Will, Onyx and I were excited about our long-weekend trip to Pinehurst this past weekend - we hadn't been to NC since Christmas so we were excited about seeing the family and hanging out.  We had a really great weekend... until Monday.  On Saturday, we had some people over to Mom and Dad's for cheeseburgers and hot dogs.  We got to hang out with cousins, family friends, aunts/uncles and Grandmother... and there were probably 10 little babies and kids all around.  I was super excited to see Emily W, mama Vanhoy, Ella Grace and Megan & Ryan who were all in town for the weekend!!  Saturday night Will, Dad, Harry and a bunch of other guys went to a Turkey Federation fund raiser event and had a great time.  On Sunday, I went to church with mom and dad to meet the new minister at Culdee and to see Jennifer become a member of the church.  Afterwards, we all went to Grandmother's for Sunday lunch.  There had to be about 30 people there.  We celebrated Grandmother's bday - it was a good time. 

On Sunday night April stayed over at Mom and Dad's.  We were all having fun talking, laughing and watching the Oscars.  I woke up at 4am feeling nauseated and thought it was just morning sickness.  Got up, ate a little something and layed back down.  I tossed and turned until I heard April get up with Emily at 5:30.  Long story short, Emily, Mom and I all got sick at the same time.  Come to find out, Harry had also been sick as well as mom and dad's neighbor, Mr. Gray, and two of the little girls who were at the cook out on Saturday.  It was the pits.  I ended up getting sick 8 times and had to endure the 6 hour drive back to Atlanta while I was still sick.  Dad gave me a bucket for the ride in case of an emergency but luckily Will was able to pull over in time for me to use the side of the road.  Will was pretty miserable b/c he got very little sleep in the midst of all the sickness.  I was finally able to keep some gingerale down after my side-of-the-road episode and at 6 I was even able to drive for a few hours to give Will some relief.  We finally got home at 8 and I can't remember a time I was more thankful to be home.  All the other victims, including mom and Emily came around about the same time I did thank goodness.  Mom and I agreed that being that sick really made us appreciate our health, something we so often take for granted!

Will really does love me.  I looked like hell... Pale-faced, stringy hair and sweaty (yuck).  He had to hear and watch me vomit multiple times all while taking care of me (and Onyx) on the way home.  He was just as eager to get home as I was but was patient through the long road-side stops.  Not the most attractive day and yet after the fact he said he still thought I was hot.  HA.

Regarding baby Tucker... the nurse said I was the only one that suffered and the baby got the nutrients he/she needed and is fine since I'm keeping fluids and food down now.

Anyway, here are a few pre-sick pics from the weekend.  More to come as soon as I get copies from April.



Connor, Carter and Chad with Grandmother




Cousins at Grandmother's




Ella, Emily, Me with Sadie, and Megan T!





Me and Sadie




Kathleen with a chair full of kiddos



Doctor's Visits

I feel really comfortable with the OBGYN I've chosen.  I started going here when I moved to Atlanta based on a recommendation from a co-worker who had a high-risk pregnancy.  The doctor's office is affiliated with Northside Hospital which I've heard is known as the "baby hospital".  It's a reputable group/hospital.

I didn't get to go for my first visit until I was 8 weeks along for a 'confirmation of pregnancy'.  We got to see the ultrasound for the first time.  It was amazing.  Will was with me and we were in a dark room with the ultrasound technician and a big screen tv in front of us where we could see the little embryo in detail.  I was not expecting it so I was totally taken back when we saw the little heart beating.  That's when it hit me in a big way how amazing it was that I have a growing, thriving baby in my belly relying on me to do all the right things to make growing as easy as possible for him/her. 

Here is what baby looked like at week 8:  The circle on the left is the yolk sac which disappears further into the pregnancy.  The white line on the bottom of the little blob is the back bone and the dark spot in the middle is the heart.  The whole thing was about the size of the tip of your finger at that time...



Ultrasound Photo - 8 weeks

Our second doctor's appointment was on Thursday, Feb 16th.  It is a long stretch between the first and second appointment... I'm a worrier so I was just dying to get confirmation that everything was still on track and dying to hear baby's heartbeat again.  this was a 2 hour long appointment where we did an ultrasound, questionnaire/interview with nurse practitioner, visit with a doctor, blood labs etc etc. Will was told he could leave after the questionnaire but, he stayed with me the whole time and wanted to be involved through the whole visit.  I have to take this opportunity to brag on him.  He has made this new experience so easy, comfortable and of course funny for me and I don't think he even realizes how wonderful he's being.

Okay, so... the first thing we did at the appointment was get another ultrasound and the first thing I asked the tech to do is find the heartbeat for me.  It was such a relief to see the heartbeat again and to know that baby's measurments were on track and within the normal range.  We got to see the little arms and legs that had developed since our first visit.  His/Her legs were crossed and were covering privates (Will asked the tech if there was any way we'd be able to tell the sex - she said if she could get a perfect angle, she may be able to tell but since baby's legs were crossed it was a no-go.)  The baby's left hand was up by his/her mouth; looks like we have a thumb sucker.   Look at how much he/she has grown:




Baby Tucker 13 week ultrasound





Baby Tucker 13 week ultrasound - left hand in mouth





Baby Tucker 13 week ultrasound - close up on hand



Nausea, Sleepiness & Food

Our refrigerator has never been so full.  I panic when we start running out of bread, cereal and fruit.  All in all, I've been craving healthy snacks and meals.  Salads have never appealed to me so much (even though usually topped with ranch dressing).  And I can't seem to get enough oranges, grapes and apples. 

I think I've had a fairly mild first trimester.  First of all, I'm so glad I had a full 9 days of no work soon after we got the news.  I was super addicted to caffeine and especially reliant on my morning coffee to break through the fog in my brain.  I spent the entire Christmas break weaning myself off caffeine and was so thankful I didn't have to be at work through that process.  Eventually, coffee started making me sick to smell or even to look at.  I wonder if I'll ever drink it again. 

Almost immediately after we told my parents, I started feeling sick.  I was getting up with Will to eat at 5:30am over Christmas break when he and dad were heading out in their camouflage each morning.  For about two weeks, I had to get up that early and immediately eat something and even choking down two slices of bread was at times nauseating.  At one point I kept fig newtons on my bedside table and when I would wake up at 2 or 3 in the a.m. to pee (side note: I started waking up to pee in the middle of the night at week 6! I always assumed that didn't start until the third trimester but I was wrong!) I'd have to eat a few to keep from getting sick.  Will always found it funny when he awoke every night to the sound of me wrestling with the wrapper.  But not once did he get annoyed with me.  He took my nausea just as seriously as I did and made it his mission to find food for me whenever needed, no matter what we were in the middle of doing.  Lucky for both him and me, the nausea passed within 4 weeks or so and I only actually got sick a handfull of times.  Throughout this whole time, I thought about Emily W... how did she endure that during her entire pregnancy.  Nausea is a pretty miserable and irritating feeling.

Since the naseau passed, I hit my tired phase and it hasn't passed yet, although, I think it's on its way out.  Onyx and I have been crawling into bed together when I get home from work for about 30 minutes so I can stir up enough energy to eat again.  Will has also been affected by the tired phase.  Some days he is just as tired as I am and we've both been sleeping a lot on the weekends.  It's been wonderful!  I love my sleep these days and I'm taking full advantage.

According to the doctors, I'm gaining weight at the right rate.  And I recently started back running a few times a week.  Feels good to move again.  I think I'm on my way to the supposed great feelings of the second trimester.  See ya later first trimester; thanks for being fairly easy and thanks for growing our little 3 inch shrimp.

Reaction to Pregnancy News...

Will and I talked the rest of the night on Dec. 20th after we got the positive results.  But, when I say 'talked', we really just asked ourselves a ton of questions, realized we were getting way ahead of ourselves and agreed we'd just take it one day at a time.  We fell asleep easily and slept the entire night.  So, I'd say we handled the news pretty good.  I've never been one to let anything get in the way of my sleep but the fact that Will slept the whole night through confirmed for me that we were ready and would be fine.  It took us all of about 3 hours to move from feelings of 'how are we going to handle this...this is not the plan' to disbelief to total excitement.  At the end of the day, we were thankful we were able to get pregnant.  We worried that we'd have trouble getting pregnant once we did decide to start trying - I think that's a normal concern.  Although this was not "our plan", it was in fact our plan... just one we weren't controlling.  It was humbling.

We told our close family the following weekend while we were home for Christmas.  We spent Christmas with Will's family this year.  We got to Cindy and Otho's house on Friday night. Jill and Matt were already there and Grandma and Grandpa were also there from Illinois to spend Christmas with us.  Wade and Jenni were on their Costa Rica trip but, we told them before they left (thanks Wade for keeping the secret).  I was SO nervous and Will could hardly wait to tell.  Everyone knows how I love my "Wine Fridays" so because we were waiting for the perfect timing, I had to brush off the 'do you want some wine?' question four times.  Jill once, Cindy once and Otho twice.  I made up some lie about being really tired and I should wait til dinner to start drinking anything.  I'm surprised that worked but it did.  So, as we were finishing up dinner, Will grabbed a gift I had wrapped and said he had one gift he wanted to go ahead and give his parents before Christmas day (we wrapped up one of our positive pregnancy tests in a Christmas gift bag).  Cindy opened it and thought it was just going to be one of Will's practical jokes.  She was scared to open it.  She FINALLY pulled out the zip lock bag it was in, threw it down on the table and then almost had a heart attack.  Jill said 'ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!' and Otho got teary and I think said 'that... is....wonderful'. I busted out in tears I think because of all the nerves that had built up that day.

We drove to Pinehurst on Monday morning to spend the week with my family.  Mom planned a post-Christmas dinner for Monday night and we planned to exchange gifts after dinner.  Mom & Dad, April & Harry, Emily, Sharon & Sarah and Grandmother would all be there.  For the second time, I got SO nervous but was so excited to finally share the news.  It had been SO wierd and hard to withhold such big news from my mom for nearly a week b/c I talk to her every day and tell her just about everything.  It was nearly painful for me but I definitely wanted to tell them face-to-face.  So, after dinner we moved into the living room for gifts and Dad was especially excited and in a great mood to have all his girls and family home for a while.  He made the comment in an excitable, almost joking tone 'oh this is gonna be a great year, I can feel it... next year at this time I'm going to have grand-babies'.  I must have looked at him like 'if you only knew haha'.  The last gift to open was the little bag for mom and dad with the positive pregnancy tests. Mom and dad were sitting next to eachother on the couch and everyone else was watching on... they pulled it out and mom said 'oh cool a toothbrush'.  She knew it wasn't a toothbrush but did not yet know what it was... they put their glasses on and two seconds later mom had a look of shock on her face and dad was jumping up and down.  Sarah and April were both really excited and surprised.  I tell them everything too and they knew Will and I were waiting for a while before we had kids etc. etc.  And Grandmother said 'Oh I'm so glad I was here for this'.  It was a good night.  I don't think my mom made a full sentence until the next day.  :)