April 26 2013 (January 2013)

January 2013:

24 weeks.  Holy crap is time flying by!  6 months.  That's how far along I was.  I wasn't sure when I was going to officially be showing, but my belly did finally pop!  I actually looked like I was carrying a LO:

No stretch marks! lol  But I do have that line down the middle of my belly (linea nigra).  It looks awfully funny, but I know that it will fade or that its supposed to fade after my pregnancy.  I think its pretty cool; all these changes that are occuring with my body.  Did you know that my abdomnial muscles are actually separated right now?  Like this:

If I am laying in bed and I try to sit up, my abdomen makes a really funny looking shape.  If it weren't for my doctor explaining that that was normal, I probably would have freaked out about it a bit, but now I know that it is perfectly normal.

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (December 2012)

December 2012:

20 weeks. That point when you can find out your baby's gender if you want to know...  I was so excited! I had been debating on names for quite some time, but I knew that after finding out the gender I would be able to really start narrowing down that list.

As I was laying down for the ultrasound tech to start probing my abdomen for pictures of my LO, I wasn't sure what I wanted.

Did I want a boy?  Did I want a girl?  What if something isn't developing right?

These questions raced through my mind as the tech was looking for different features on my baby.  She said that she couldn't tell me anything (since she wasn't licensed to be able to) so I just had to be really observant, and boy, was I being observant!  I didn't want to miss a thing!  Then I saw it.  I had the perfect view, and there was no doubt in my mind: I was having a boy!!  His perfect little features were shown on the screen to me... My oh my did he look like a little cutie!

As for my health, my doctor told me that I was right on track.  That the little baby bump I was developing was right where it should be and that I was right on track for weight gain.  I was so glad to hear that!  I had, after all, completely changed my diet to correspond with the needs for my child and my pregnant self, so to hear that I had my doctor's blessing for what I was doing was very reassuring!

December was the month that I really started branching out and telling more and more people about my pregnancy.  We had some family gatherings where there were people there that had not heard that I was pregnant yet, and those were the coolest moments ever.  I now realize how supportive all of my extended family is.  There are so many of them that I will have to write Thank-You's for because of the items they were willing to give to me for my LO.

More to come....

With love,

Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (November 2012)

November 2012:

16 weeks.  My third OBGYN appointment went great.  I had to have my blood drawn to finish up the rest of my first trimester screening.  I have no issues with getting my blood drawn, so it was no biggy.

I was safe. There were no more worries of me losing my baby. Although they say that the safe point is 12 weeks, I still didn't want to get too excited or tell too many people until I was sure that my LO wasn't going anywhere. I started slightly showing at this point, but honestly it could have looked like I had just gained weight and I could have totally covered it up by wearing baggy clothes lol

The biggest significant change for me was no more morning sickness!!  I had it really bad for a while.  I was literally vomiting every single day, and not just in the morning..  It was terrible!  Not only was I getting sick for no apparent reason, but I would also get sick if some smell hit me wrong.  Since I was working at Arby's, I tended to get sick at work (due to the smells).  Arby's has good food, but some scent would just hit me the wrong way and I would end up needing to take a bathroom break.  For instance, bacon and rootbeer!  I could not stand either of those...

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (October 2012)

October 2012:

12 weeks.  My second OBGYN appt (this time with a different doctor), went just as well as my first one, but it was decision time!  I had to decide what kind of first trimester screening (if any) that I wanted.  I decided that I wanted to do the more thorough one.  The one that would make me drive out to Minneapolis to get it done.  I was excited, but also nervous about that appointment.

What if my baby has special needs (specifically Down Syndrome)??  What if my child needed surgery right after birth?

All of these "What if...?" situations kept running through my mind, but I didn't know that much about genetics and how it all worked so I put my faith in the Genetic Counselor who was interviewing me and the Sonographer who took the pictures of my baby.

In the process of the Sonographer taking pictures of my baby, he kept pushing around my abdomen and asked me to move around to try to get baby to sit right.  But of coure, my little one wouldn't sit still for long or sit in the same position for long.  In order to get the pictures that he needed, the Sonographer had to take quick snaps.  He also made a comment that my baby had "beautiful anatomy".  How reassuring!

My baby was so tiny at this point, but you could count all of his little fingers and toes!  My LO even decided to give mommy a wave:

After a week of waiting on a call, I finally received one that informed me that the chances of my LO having any genetic defects or Down Syndrome was extremely unlikely!  Like, the lowest possible risk!  I was very happy to hear this news.  I also knew that he could still be born with something, but now I knew that science was on our side!

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (September 2012)

September 2012:

8 weeks.  I didn't really feel like I was pregnant..  I kept touching my abdomen in hopes that there would be some sign that would show me that I was pregnant, but at this point, there were none.  Other than the fact that I wasn't getting my period. I was still so scared..

Was I really having a baby??  Was there really a tiny person inside of me?

My thoughts were always racing, but I was relieved when I went to my first OBGYN appointment.  The doctor I decided to see for my first appointment was absolutely awesome.  She walked me through everything. I had no idea what was happening or what I was supposed to do, but she was very calm and reassuring.  While at this appointment, I got this book full of information.  It literally had everything in it (I still am using it).  This book walks you through every trimester of pregnancy!  It was and is my life saver.  Along with this book, I also got a folder full of pertinent information: medications that were safe to take, prenatal classes, etc..

After my appointment, I felt so much better!  I had all of this information to help me get everything together.  I felt so empowered by this one book!

Out of no where I got really sick though.  The kind of sickness where my throat hurt so bad that I didn't even want to swallow my own saliva.  I was really scared, so I went to Urgent Care.  Turns out that I had Pharyngitis.  The doctor at UC said to me that I needed to take antibiotics.

So began my regimen of taking antibiotics and prenatal vitamins every day. 

More to come...

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (August 2012)

Oh gosh how the day is getting ever so near!
As I was debating on how to let the world know about this very special day, I decided that I should post on Facebook as well as tell you all the story (in sections hehe)...

August 2012:

I was freaking out, I hadn't gotten my period in three days and I wasn't sure what that could possibly mean.  I had been on birth control, so I thought maybe since it was a new method (for me) that it would take time to get out of my system.

On the fifth day of not getting my period, I went to my mother with tears in my eyes to explain to her what was going on.  My dad proceeded to get me two pregnancy tests.  The day after getting these tests (Friday), right away in the morning, I took one of them...  It took time for the test to develop ... I swear they do that on purpose!! ... And it showed a pretty little positive on it.  I immediately burst into tears.  I was finally out of a relationship and THEN I found out I was pregnant.  But I did a little research and it was possible for there to be a false positive on a test.

I waited 'til Sunday morning to take the second one. Positive. Again.  With both tests coming back that way, I scheduled an appointment with my doctor to make sure that I really was pregnant.

Walking into my doctor's office Monday morning, I wasn't sure what to think, say, or do.  But I knew one thing for sure: I was going to get a pregnancy test done.  Once the test came back saying positive, as I should have expected, my doctor had me go get an ultrasound done; she wanted to make sure that everything was as it should be.  And so I got the first glimpse of the beautiful person that would be growing inside me for the next 3/4 of a year <3

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

My Job(s)

I started my job at Jackson Hewitt. Man was there a lot of training to do! I had to go through tax school, StaRT training, and 3 days of on-sight training. But it was totally worth it! Now I can prepare people's taxes for them! I love it! Seriously. This job is perfect for me, I get to talk to people all day and use my brain at the same time. So cool! :)

In addition to working at JH, I also have been working at Arby's (since August). In other words, I am a pretty busy gal!! But I would not have it any other way. I need to put some money away for a very special reason.

"I think that my biggest attribute to any success
that I have had is hard work.
There really is no substitute for working hard."


Love,

Kjerstin L.

A New Year

Happy New Year!!

Oh my goodness!!  Its already 2013!  How crazy!  I'm ready for this year to be amazing.  We all are given a chance to start this year out with a bang.  I know that this year is going to be a year of A LOT of changes; beautiful, glorious changes.  I mean, we did survive the ending of the world, after all ;)

I'm looking forward to the things that are heading our way this year, even if some of these changes are going to be extremely drastic.  That's alright for me!  The best I can do is embrace it.

"Everyone messes up in relationships,
and has peaks and valleys in their personal lives.
When I realized it wasn't the end of the world,
and I would keep on standing,
I knew it was going to be OK."

Love,
Kjerstin L.