Baby: It's a...!!!!!

We are officially 21 weeks which means we are over halfway to meeting our sweet baby!  And as we passed our 20 week mark, we had our twenty week ultrasound.  And with that comes our first chance to see our baby's gender.  And the great news is... It's a boy!!!!

20 weeks, 11 oz and due on October 18th!

Now, for those of you who haven't heard, Kevin guessed the gender within 5 minutes of the second line appearing on the stick!  He very boldly declared that it was a boy and hasn't wavered from that since. His mom was, from my understanding, just as certain as he was.  Meanwhile, my mom was quite certain we were having a girl.

I was pretty much just on the fence in the beginning of the pregnancy.  When we had our first ultrasound between weeks 11 and 12, the first thing I said when I saw baby was "wow, look at him!"  But that is as close as I ever got to guessing the gender.  And even then, I didn't feel any certainty.  And while Kevin was still guessing it was a boy, we both knew we wouldn't have any disappointment either way.

Farney family (Kevin's Dad is center)

Now the next question is always, do we have a name picked out and if so, are we telling people.  The answer to both is yes.  Not surprisingly, we had our names picked out before we even got pregnant.  Our son's name is Joshua David Farney.  It was a pretty easy choice.  In Kevin's family, the boys' middle names are normally named after a family member.  And this being the first baby boy since Kevin's Dad has passed, we knew we wanted to name him after him.  So, that is where the middle name David came from.  We also knew we wanted to name our children after people in the bible, with names that have meanings that we hope our children strive for.  We want the names to help shape the identity and personality of our children.  Aside from David being the name of Kevin's Dad, it also means "beloved" which is very fitting for our little boy.  After picking the middle name, we went through a lot of options for the first name before finally landing on Joshua, which means "YAHWEH is salvation".  We thought both names not only had rich meaning, but are also named for two very strong biblical figures whose lives' are worth emulating.  So there it is, Joshua David Farney (or J.D. if he so chooses).

20 weeks!

As a quick pregnancy update, I will say that the morning sickness is completely over (Praise the Lord!).  However, it has been pretty much replaced with acid reflux.  It doesn't seem to matter what I eat, some days it is just worse than others.  Most of the time it is manageable, though if it gets much worse, I am probably going to need to start sleeping in a chair instead of my comfy bed.  It has already stopped me from running (which was upsetting my stomach even more), so that's a bummer.  Aside from that, I am experiencing low back pain and a slight return to my energy levels. I am extremely thankful not to have swollen feet, stretch marks or spider veins and am hoping none of those are coming.  I also started feeling flutters at my 18th week.  My placenta has a front position (though off centered to the right) so I mostly feel baby's movements when his feet are on my left side.   The movements are becoming more pronounced and I can feel a larger variety of movements every day.  Kevin, of course, is really looking forward to when he will be able to feel Joshua moving too!

We are still planning on a pond themed nursery (turtles and froggies and ducks! Oh my!) with mostly green and yellow.  I might go a little crazy every time I see something with a frog or turtle, but I haven't bought anything since we found out (mostly because Kevin has been the voice of reason on the matter)!  I have spent a fair amount of time on Pinterest, and etsy.com looking at nursery ideas though.  It's really addicting!  I also started registering for a few items at target.com (though will probably add a lot more when baby is closer to coming home).  And last night, we went to Babies R Us to do our main registry.  I won't lie, it is really hard to look at all the cute baby stuff without buying anything!  In case you are interested in seeing all the cute things I have found, all the links are posted below.  It is going to be hard to be patient and wait for baby showers, but I am sure Kevin will help keep me sane/ practical!

BabiesRUs - Baby Registry
Target
Etsy
Pinterest

Life: We're expecting our first child!

Alright, I know I have suspiciously absent from blogging for the last few months.  At first, it was just the business of having friends and family coming to visit and hitting the slopes during any down time we had, but then that reason changed.  On February 13th, Kevin and I found out that we are expecting our first child.We kept the news mostly to ourselves until week 8 and decided that after we told our family, we wouldn't put anything online until we reached our second trimester (when the risk of miscarriage is greatly reduced).

Baby's first rattle- From my mom

13 weeks

We have had our first ultrasound and our due date has been set for October 19th.  It is hard to believe that we will have a baby  before the holidays even hit.  (If you didn't know, Kevin and I had decided to stop preventing children at the new year and had thus expected to it take the average 3-6 months to get pregnant. Instead it took less than 45 days). Kevin declared it as a boy the first night we found out while I wasn't feeling either way.  I still really don't feel any one way, but when we first saw baby moving and playing on the ultrasound, I said, "Wow! Look at him." So we shall see.  Neither of us are really hoping one way to another, but I think it is fun to try to guess.  We have every intention of finding out the sex at our 20 week appointment.

Assorted books- from my mom

Book from Aunt Heather

The Army has been both frustrating and extremely helpful during this time.  I didn't have my first appointment until week 8 and that was just an intake appointment (no ultrasound, just some lab work and family history) and I had my first ultrasound in week 11.   The Army is pretty good about not doing an unnecessary testing (unlike a regular physician who can get away with charging insurance companies for extra ultrasounds that don't really have a purpose) which is both good and frustrating.  Naturally, I would have wanted to see baby much earlier, but at the same time, I appreciate the idea of not indulging everyone of my wants.  I have also been going to pregnancy physical training instead of my normal unit PT.  This includes one day a week of prenatal yoga, one day of pool PT, two days of either cardio or light weight training and one day of classes.  The classes are taught my nurses and midwives that cover a range of topics from how STDs can affect pregnancy and delivery to nutrition to delivery methods.  It really helps that instead of having a bunch of extra appointments during the day, most of our education occurs during our regular hours and I know that if I have a question, I will see a nurse that week (though with my step mom and best friend both being doctors, I normally just text one of them when I have a question).

Soft ducky- from my mom

For those wondering, and since I have already been asked, this doesn't change anything about me being in the Army.  I got pregnant with every intention of staying in.  Technically, my commitment is up next May, but I plan on staying in past that at this point.  Yes, I can get out of the Army now that I am pregnant but no, I am not planning to.  Even if I change my mind after baby's here, (which I know some of you may be hoping for) I will at least stay in until next May and fulfill the commitment I first made.  Kevin and I timed it this way so that we would almost be forced to try and make things work with us both working.  I am not the type of person to quit because something is tough, but I will quit if I decide this is something I don't want to do anymore.  If I am being perfectly honest, I cannot imagine that I won't want to be in the Army after baby is here.  I love my job and though I am

Baby's first piggy bank- from my mom

sure I could find success elsewhere, I appreciate the structure and responsibility that doesn't exist outside our military.  If I am not in the Army, I will probably be a stay at home mom, at least for a while.   So, the question will be "do I want to be at home with baby more than I want to be in the Army?"  At this point, Kevin and I are planning on me being in until 2017/18.  If plans change, they change.  If I go for twenty years, then awesome.  If I decided I am done after my four, then so be it.

Baby's first ducky- from my mom

As far as my first trimester of pregnancy, I started getting morning sickness at week five and by week six, I had already moved into nausea with vomiting.  I have experienced a few other symptoms too (congestion, nose bleeds, fatigue, cravings, food aversions and pretty much everything in between too) and that has changed some things around our house.  For instance, I haven't been cooking much and Kevin has had to do some of the grocery shopping.  But things are slowly returning back to normal.  In fact, yesterday we hiked 12 miles to the top of a mountain and back (about 4500 ft in elevation change).  I plan on continuing to hike, but I am not sure that we will be doing any more mountain climbing as I get bigger (mostly because of the risk of falling on the snow and ice that is still up around the 10,000 ft mark).  We cut our ski season short this year in part because of the risk of falling (not much for me), but more because the morning sickness pretty much killed any desire I had to get up early and be in a car for two and a half hours.  The only weird food things have been that for the first time in my life I don't want anything to do with vegetables (which I normally love) and have only really been able to do raw carrots and I haven't really wanted chocolate (super weird for me).  I have craved McDonald's (so weird!) and Chipotle (not surprising!).

Kevin and I hiking

Bible- from my mom

Kevin and I have only bought a couple of things for baby.  The first is a bag I intend to use as a diaper bag.  I bought it during a thirty-one benefit party for Caring-for-Carter.  I bought a bag called the city weekender (may look small in the pic but it is definitely a bag for an adult with enough room for a couple of changes of clothes, etc.).  I figured it was perfect since I didn't really need or want a new purse, and this is the type of thing I can use on weekend trips after baby doesn't need a diaper bag anymore.  The second item we bought is a play yard.  We decided to buy this early since our 8 month old niece will be staying with us in a couple of weeks and we didn't have any place for her to stay.  We pretty much went with the most expensive model because it packs compactly and will be perfect for our trips back to Illinois.  It has a removable bassinet with a stand, a changing table, storage under the changing table area, a raised bassinet and then the normal play pen for when baby gets bigger.  I sent my sister-in-law a picture to let her know we have a place for our niece to sleep and she told me that her and her husband were planning on getting us a pack in play as a gift so that they could use it during their visit!  I just had to laugh that we had the exact same idea, I was just faster at ordering.  Also bought were onesies to announce we were expecting to aunts and uncles, and some bottles, blankets, jammies and a toy to tell my mom.  But none of those things are here with me and I don't have pictures, sorry.

Baby's first onesie- from Michelle

We have also had a few people already starting to buy baby gifts.  My friend Michelle technically got the first baby gift (but she was also told early as I felt horribly guilty.  I am supposed to be a bridesmaid in her wedding on October 18th and baby is due the next day!)  Naturally, since we met in college, she bought baby's first Illini gear.  My mom came in second with a silver rattle, a duck toy (we are going pond themed for the nursery since it is gender neutral), and a piggy bank.  Since then, I only know of one toy that has been bought by my mom and a bunch of books.  My mom and sister have made it their mission to create baby's library.