Okay…so here is the scoop.  On Tuesday of this week we went to the doctor for a check-up.  Everything was good…but when the doctor measured my abdomen I measured smaller than I should be.  Two appointments ago I measured larger, one appointment ago I measured right on and this time I measured almost 3 weeks smaller than I should be.  So as a precaution the doctor said we should do an ultrasound to check and make sure my amniotic fluid was good and that the baby was okay.  So…we drove to Oxford today and had our Ultrasound.

The ultrasound tech, Bob, was the same guy who did our 20 week ultrasound and she measured big then was surprised that I was measuring small.  Sure enough, she did not disappoint us.  She is still BIG!  He even double checked measurements and according to his calculations she now weighs 7lbs 5 oz.  Wait…..did you catch that?  7lbs and 5oz….we still have 5 weeks till my due date.  The computer did say there was a variance of 17 oz….but that could either direction.  It could make her 6lbs 4 oz or it could make her 8lbs 6oz.  He also stated that according to her measurements that the computer calculated her due date as April 3rd not April 23rd.

Now…I realize that this isn’t an exact science and that many women were told one size and delivered another…but…it definitely brings up my gut feeling that she might come early and possibly even on Easter…which is when we have our big Easter production. As long as my water doesn’t break we should be good…but you never know.

I am getting very anxious, excited and nervous…and I realize every day how much closer she is to being here.

As well as having an ultrasound this morning we also had our car seat installation inspected.  Micah did a fabulous job and we passed with flying colors.  The lady said, “In all the years I have been doing this, I have only seen about 2 installed correctly.  Good job!”  I was proud.

After the car seat inspection we met with the anesthesiologist.  He went over all the preliminary paper work and what my options were when it comes to pain medicines.  He explained how the epidural works and pros and cons.  It was very informational and he was hilarious.  He cracked joke after joke but gave us a lot of information.

After the anesthesiologist appointment we went to meet with our Baby Bound nurse.  She reviewed several things that we learned in our Birthing Class, but covered a lot more detail of afterbirth care, infant care and breastfeeding.  It was very good…and a good refresher before she gets here.  I’m not 100% prepared (I don’t think that is ever possible), but I feel that I at least have a good basic knowledge that will help me face the days ahead.   Please pray that we will be the parent’s God intends for us to be.

Enjoy the pics of our new little one!

On Saturday, March 6th 2010, the ladies of Calvary Baptist Church of Connersville, IN threw me an amazing shower.  I was so blessed.  So many women attended and brought us some wonderful goodies for our future little one.  Michelle Reynolds, Heather Wright, Jane Mullins coordinated and took care of all the major logistics from food, to games, to helping me keep track of all the goodies.  I was so blessed not only by the generosity of so many people but by their presence.  Having just moved to Indiana in September 2009 and leaving all that was familiar, I was overcome with emotion that so many people would care for me and my family after only knowing us for about 6 months. Words cannot express my gratitude.

We were also blessed that some of our family could come to the shower as well.  I know it was quite a journey but we were so glad to see them.  Micah’s mom, Jeanne Larkins (Mimi) and sister Sarah Mathis (Aunt Sarah) came up on Friday the 5th and stayed with us thru Sunday AM Service before they traveled back to MO.  It was great to visit, eat lots of food, play board games and just enjoy their company. Also, Micah’s Dad, Keith Mathis (Gramps) and Step-Mom, Wanda Mathis (Grammy) came for the shower.  They had a quick trip of coming and leaving on the same day, but we were also really glad to see them and visit even if it was for a short time.

This day was a wonderful day!  It was a great reminder of the importance of family…both blood relatives and our family in Christ.  I am so grateful that thru the loving grace of our Lord we become family.  No matter where I am, if I am with God’s people, I am with my family.

Here are a few pics from the day to enjoy.  It was beautiful.  Thank you to everyone!

Wow… I’m 8 months along.  It’s a weird thought.  Sometimes it seems like this pregnancy is taking forever and other times it feels like this journey just began.  I am now at 32 weeks and we had a busy day.  We got our crib and our shelving unit in…so today is the day that we are going to put it together.  We started with the shelving unit and got that put together pretty quickly.  It looks awesome!  I am so excited that we have an IKEA in Cincinnati.  I love IKEA.  They have such fun and trendy stuff at a fairly inexpensive price.  Thanks to Michelle Reynolds…because she spent the day with me and agreed to drive her van so that I could bring the shelving unit home.  It barely fit in her van and definitely would not have fit in our cars.  Plus…I got to spend a wonderful day with a wonderful woman of God.  We left at about 10am and headed out to Cincinnati.  Then we stopped and ate at Applebees and headed to IKEA.  After we explore the amazing store and picked up several things to improve our homes. We began our journey home with a stop off at Starbucks.  Yummy!  (Again…you can see where the 19lbs has come from. )

Well..on Saturday, February 27th Micah and I set-up the shelving unit and the crib.  The crib took about 3 hours to put together.  We of course ran into some problems.  One of the pieces wasn’t cut correctly so Micah had to be Mr. Fixit.  He took a box cutter and shaved down the piece that was too big and we made it work.  You can’t tell unless you take it apart.  He did a fabulous job!  We also got along fairly well.  We only had one little tiff and it was easily resolved.  So we did really well for being highly hormonal and doing a home improvement project at the same time.

After we finished we just enjoyed the fruit of our labor.  Putting these things together definitely helped me feel better about her coming.  I was starting to get nervous about her coming and us not being ready.  I think they call this the beginning stages of “nesting.” So here are some pics to enjoy.  We have the Before and After of the crib, and shelving unit. We haven’t done much more with the room because we may not be in this house for very long.  We are searching for a house to buy, and hope that it won’t be too long before we move.  I’ll have to post more of her room once we get a house. Also…I have also included my 8 month (32 week) belly pic.  We are definitely growing. 

I am officially in my third trimester.  Today I am 28 weeks 4 days.  There is a lot that happens in the last 3 months or so of pregnancy.  And this is definitely uncharted territory for the Mathis household. I did receive good news today at the doctor’s office.  I passed my glucose test and my Iron is back to normal.  So…no extra, icky iron supplements for me.  Yay! Also, I have gained a total of 13 pounds so far…even though my belly seems huge.  Heartburn is the worst of my symptoms and issues and Tums seems to help most of the time.  And…yes….I know that it is supposed to mean she will have lots of hair. 

She is a very active child.  I feel her move quite often and her little gentle pushes are starting to pack quite a punch.  If you see me whince everyonce in a while it is probably her reminding me that she exists.  I can’t complain…I feel blessed to be having a healthy pregnancy.

Now…if I can just figure out what things to buy for this little one.  There is so much stuff out there, and everyone has their preferences.  I have never been more intimidated in my entire life than I was, walking down the bottle ailse at the store. There are so many to choose from.  So many styles, shapes, colors, brands, sizes, etc. Micah keeps looking at me like I am supposed to know what to get.  I keep telling him…I’m new at this too.   We are learning together. By the way…(side note)…I am so grateful for a loving, supportive and actively involved husband.  He has stood by me every step of this pregnancy and even when he doesn’t understand he still does his part and whatever I ask him to do.  I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband.  I know that even though we have a lot to learn and figure out, we will be fine, because we will do it together.  I love you Micah!

We have lots of upcoming events so there will be a lot more to post in the upcoming days and weeks.  I’ll try to keep you posted on all that is new and interesting.

Third Trimester Begins

On Tuesday the 1st of December we went to my monthly check-up.  I am 19 weeks now and everything was going good…my weight was good (I’ve only gained back 5 of my 8lbs that I lost when I was so sick), my blood pressure was good, my appetite is back and the baby’s heartbeat sounded good.  It was a really good appointment and the Doctor was pleased with my check-up.  Then…the much anticiapted part of the appointment….the scheduling of my 20 week ultrasound.  The place we get the ultrasounds done at only does ultrasounds on Tuesdays and Wednesdays…I just knew we were going to have to wait a week to find out what we were having.  Then…the doctor said…you know what…you can schedule it any time.  She said I was thin enough that we would definitely be able to see everything.  So…I was able to schedule the ultrasound for the next day.  I was so excited and relieved.  I’m not sure I could have waited another week to find out.  So…we went to the lab next door and scheduled the appointment.

The next day, at 1:45 pm we had our Ultrasound.  Our ultrasound techs name was Bob.  We had him for our very first ultrasound here in IN.  He was very nice.  The first shot we got our of baby was the butt, legs and feet.  The kid was laying horizontal across my abdomen.  Even though one of our first images was where we could find out what it was…he didn’t say a word and continued to examine the areas required in this ultrasound.  We saw the 4 chambers of the heart, the brain, legs, arms, profile, abdomen, etc.  When it came time to view the kidneys, spine, etc.  The baby wouldn’t cooperate and turn it’s back towards us so we could see those, due to the kid being stubborn.  (This is not a good sign…I sense a strong willed child coming.)  As we continued looking at all of the parts of our baby’s body…he took some measurements.  Come to find out…our kid is getting even further ahead.  I was at 19 weeks 5 days when we had the ultrasound.  The baby measured at 20 weeks 6 days.  The first ultrasounds the baby was measuring right on time with my due date…but at the last two the kid has measured big.  And…the kid is already weighing at about 14 oz.  Apparently this is also bigger than normal.  If this kid ends up being huge…I’m not going to be happy.

Then, it came time to look for the genitalia.  My prayers were answered because the kid did cooperate for this.  Bob zoomed in really close right in the center of the legs.  He examined it…we stared (we had no idea what we were looking for or what we were actually looking at)!  Then he verified that we wanted to know and he said…

http://chir.ps/2kQ

You can hear the live announcement at the link above.  But….if you can’t wait…..
It was a Girl!!!  Yes we were staring at her labia…to put into technical terms.  Yes…I know….these are not 100%…but it wasn’t like he just didn’t see anything, he specifically described the female anatomy and pointed out everything that we could see.  So…I will keep all my receipts just in case…but at this point I will refer to the baby as a her…unless she comes out otherwise. You can can here the most recent heartbeat at:

http://chir.ps/2kP

You can also see some pics from the ultrasound…one of my favs is of her feet.  They are getting so big.  It was truly a great day!  I was just so glad that we finally knew what the baby’s gender was…I was tired of calling her an it, baby or the kid.  Now… she is our daughter.

Just so you know…we are not telling the name until she gets here…so don’t bother trying to get it out of us. 

Alright…I am now at 14 1/2 weeks and the Baby Bump is pretty visible.  Well it is to me.  I know many people have asked for me to get some pics up of the baby bump, but when you feel really bad…you also look really bad.  I don’t quite want to advertise how miserable I feel sometimes.  I have had some glimmers of hope over the last couple of weeks.  I have had some days where I almost felt normal again.  And then…there are other days like today…where I feel like I could throw up any second and do.  I’ve tried every remedy known to man…and nothing really relieves the sickness.  I have to admit it is really hard to think positive some days.  Yes…I do know that this baby is a blessing from God, and I am grateful for the baby, I’m just not happy about being sick.  I really wanted to enjoy pregnancy, and the experience of becoming a mother.  I pray that this day comes.  However, I have been comforted by God’s love and God’s people.  I am blessed to have so many friends who love me and want what’s best for me.  I am also encouraged by God’s Word…”I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” “I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you not to harm you.” ” He is my light and salvation.”  There are so many truth’s and promises from God.  The comfort I have found is that I am not walking thru this alone.  I have my God, my loving husband, my family, my friends, my church and I have a little baby growing inside my belly.  That’s what I see when I look at my baby bump.

Baby Bump at 14 Weeks

Today…we had an ultrasound.  This was the unscheduled ultrasound that checked the baby’s abdomen to make sure there wasn’t any reason to be concerned.  As far as the ultrasound tech was concerned she saw no reason to be alarmed and all looked normal at this time.  We still have to wait for the official “okay” from the doctor, but I am eased by what I experienced today.

Okay…on to the cool part.  I was amazed today!  First of all…the baby has grown and changed so much even in just 4 weeks. It is actually starting to look like a baby, well sometimes….in some angles it definitely looked like an alien or a skeleton…but it was so cool.  The ultrasound tech spent a lot of time examining the organs and features of the baby.  We got to see it’s brain (which Micah was really excited about since he used to teach Psychology), it’s arms, hands, legs, stomach, spine and even it’s little tiny pumping heart.  It was so cool!  At one point in time the baby had it’s little hand up by it’s face, resting on it’s forehead.  It was so cute.  We did get to catch a couple little shots of it’s profile…the little tiny nose and mouth were such a neat thing to see.  I am just amazed at all that we saw today and I am amazed that all of THAT is happening inside of me.  To be perfectly honest…it’s all a little weird.

The tech also informed us that I have a posterior placenta which just means that my placenta is towards the back…which means that I will probably feel the baby moving soon.  She said if the placenta is in the front you have to wait longer to feel the baby.  I thought that was pretty awesome too.

The only other interesting piece of info was that I am supposed to be 13 weeks 5 days….however….this little one is measuring at 14 weeks 2 days.  The little stinker is getting big.  The tech explained that this is totally normal, but all I know is that I was only 6 lbs 8 oz. However Micah was 10lbs, 14 oz…if this kid ends up being like daddy…I am not going to be a happy camper. 

Well…today was very exciting for us.  Please continue to pray for us as we continue this journey through pregnancy, delivery and parenthood.  As the song says…”We’ve Only Just Begun.”

Please enjoy the pics.  The baby’s heart beat can be heard at

http://chir.ps/1JB

This time the heart beat was only at 152 beats so…not as fast as it has been….maybe it isn’t a girl.  We’ll see in about 6 weeks.

The baby's profile.

See it's hand resting on it's head

another capture of the precious little face

Well we had our first ultrasound today. It was awesome. The baby is doing well and based on it’s size it is estimated to be 6 weeks and 4 days old. We did not get to hear a heartbeat, because the baby is still to young, but we did get the following pictures.

We will let you know more when we actually talk to the doctor next week.

-Micah & Courtney

Well we told our church family today, and the congregation rejoiced. It was a fantastic outpouring of love and celebration. Our church family has been praying for and hinting at our pregnancy for several years, so today was a much awaited declaration. We used a picture similar to the one we used with our parents to announce the big news. Here it is:

Thank you to all of you who encouraged and congratulated  us. We are so excited to get to share this experience with so many close friends and loved ones. We look forward to the days and weeks ahead as we celebrate God’s blessing on our family.

–Micah

Well almost. As of last night we have told all our parents and immediate family. We will tell the rest of our church family tomorrow morning. Everyone was excited and/or surprised. We gave my mom a Precious Moments figurine and my Dad and Courtney’s parents each got a commemorative picture and frame to break the news. Here is what each looks like:

–Micah