It's a BOY!!

Our 20wk appointment was Friday where they did a Fetal Assessment Ultrasound. Basically, just taking pictures and measurements of the baby's brain, heart, spine, organs, etc. And at the end of all that, they revealed the gender! We (me, Tim, my mom, Emily, and Gay on speakerphone) were all in shock when she said boy! Everyone had psyched themselves up to believe there would be a girl in my belly! We are so happy though! He looks to be growing and developing just as he should! Now if we could only pick a name! Wow, it's so tough!! To realize I am now more than half way seems crazy to me. It still feels like I'm dreaming! I have been feeling some movement... which is not at all what I had expected it to be like, and is easily missed. Everyone told me it would feel like butterfly flutters - to me, it feels like bubbles. I usually only notice it when I'm at home - I guess because I can be still, so the nights & weekends are a good time to pay attention for them. I guess the last half will start to go by pretty fast since we're now into football season and then the holidays... January will be here before we know it!


Definitely all boy!


Lovely profile :)


The yawn was so adorable to watch in slow motion!


Kicking feet!

18 weeks...

I'm feeling so much better these days!! I started a new job last week, and am loving it! I know it was the right thing for me to do for so many reasons. I'm rarely sick anymore, and the tiredness as starting to ease up. Last week's doctor visit went well, no news really. Baby's heartrate was 152 and doctor said based on that she's guessing it's a girl! We find out for sure in 2 weeks, can't wait!!

I'm posting the first pic of my pooch...

15 weeks (almost)!!

I had my last doctor appointment on July 9 (13w 1d), and everything seems great! Baby's heartrate was 140, and she said 120-160 is the range for that size. I've been experiencing a lot of back pain, but the ultrasound didn't show any cause... so she said it's most likely just from being on my feet all day at work. I'll be 15 weeks this Thursday, and am feeling much better overall. I am rarely sick anymore, but I don't have the energy yet that I've heard the second trimester brings. I am hungry and eating every 3 hours, though I have lost 2.5 lbs. I imagine that will soon change.

We are off to the beach this week for some much needed relaxation!!

Baby!!


This is a down angle on the face...


And top left, a little hand!

Can't wait to be a dad!

So... Amanda sends me a text saying "Ummm.. Hmm" and it's like I knew right away! I called and made her tell me and I could hardly stay in my chair the rest of the day at work. I know I couldn't keep it a secret long!

Seeing the little heart beat (after going crazy in the waiting room for 30 minutes!) is the most amazing thing. I think I showed the ultrasound pics to anyone who would look at work that afternoon.

Now that it's settled in for a few weeks, I can't believe the work to do! Furniture, daycare, books, articles, strollers, car seats; start stocking diapers now?!? And my poor, sick wife. ;-(

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts and wishes for us. After 3 years of marriage fun, the real journey has begun! Look out 2011! There's another Hicks comin!

Tim aka Dad!

Our BIG News!

Surprise! Surprise! We're expecting!

Here's how it all came to the surface for us...

Wednesday, May 12, I left work early because I was so sick. I went to the doctor the next morning, and blood work confirmed that I had a bacteria infection. And they were also concerned about a possible appendectomy (All results came back negative for that). I went through the next week still so sick I could barely function. Something just didn't seem right since I had been on very strong antibiotics and I seemed to be getting worse.

Thursday, May 20, I woke up knowing I was pregnant. I had never had that feeling before, and it was so strange. I had sent Tim a text message asking his opinion, but we both just didn't think it could be true. It took everything I had to make myself go buy a pregnancy test (first ever in 29 years). So I got an entire basket of things I didn't need, in hopes of the cashier passing the pregnancy test through without noticing. I couldn't tell you if that worked... or why I was so weird about the ordeal. Within minutes, there were 2 pink lines showing. I could not believe my eyes. Over the next half hour, I rechecked it many times to see if one line might have faded or disapppeared... it never did. My exact text message to Tim was at 1:23pm reading "Ummmmmm. Hmm.". So he called and we talked about it... both in shock, but equally excited. I immediately went back to the doctor to have this confirmed (which she did) as well as taking me off of the antibiotics I had been taking.

And I continued to be sick... very sick... all day, everyday.

Friday, June 11, my first OB appointment. I was so nervous. I had no idea what to expect, no idea if I would like the doctor, no idea if there would be good or bad news. Tim met me there with a dozen yellow roses and a chocolate chip cookie... my heart melted, so sweet! The appointment went great, much to my surprise, I was unbelievably relieved. Through the ultrasound, we were able to see little Baby Hicks and even hear a heartbeat!! The baby measured to be 9 weeks, 1 day - 1 inch long - 178 heartrate (which she said was good!).