Archives For Pregnancy

Okay, I am actually 21 weeks along now…but I took my 20 week baby bump photo a week ago, and am just now having the chance to sit down and write an update. :) Last week we were given the opportunity to get away and stay with some friends in Florida. It was a much needed break, and we had lots of fun as a family. So thankful for that time!

Now that we are back, I am ready to share a little 20-21 Week Pregnancy Update with you!

20 Weeks

At our 20-week check up we had our “big” ultrasound where they go in and check everything. The doctor said that Gideon was very cooperative, and they were able to see everything they needed to…AND everything looked “absolutely perfect.” I cannot even begin to tell you how reassuring those words are. What a great blessing this healthy baby is to us!

We loved getting to sit there for half an hour watching our little guy on the screen. It’s the next best thing to getting to hold him in my arms, which I am so looking forward to!

[pictured below is his little foot, and also his profile]

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Lately I have been feeling amazing! This past week I had more energy than I have had for a very long time. It probably helped that we were spending lots of time at the beach and had lots of time for rest. :) But I also think I’ve hit that “sweet spot” in pregnancy where I feel like myself again. I plan on making good use of this time and will try and get as much done in preparation for little Gideon’s arrival before I enter the third trimester.

Cover Photo 14-20 weeks

One thing we were told at our appointment is that Gideon is measuring about a week larger than they expected. I wasn’t surprised though…Liam was the same, and it just appears that I have big babies. :) Jonathan and I were rather large babies ourselves, so I guess it runs in the family!

Thanks to everyone for all your prayers throughout this pregnancy. It is such a joy getting to share this with so many loved ones. We are so excited for all that God has in store for our family!

It’s so hard to believe that I am almost halfway through this pregnancy. Time is flying by so fast! I’ve had many people tell me that this pregnancy would go by much quicker than my first, and they are right! I guess that’s what happens when you have a fun, energetic toddler running around. :)

Gideon is now about 5.6 inches long from head to rump and weighs approximately 7 oz. It still amazes me how fast babies grow in the womb!

18 Weeks

As he is getting bigger, he is getting much stronger too! I feel his movements and his kicks all the time, which makes my heart happy. The other week, Jonathan was able to feel Gideon kick for the first time, and he’s felt him several times since then.

Liam has grown to love babies. When we are out and about, he’ll point and say “BABY!” And he is constantly bringing me his big brother books so that we can read about the baby. I know already that he is going to be the best big brother that Gideon could ever ask for.

Words cannot express how thankful I am for this baby. He could not be coming at a more perfect time! No matter what our family faces, we will always have each other, and I am forever grateful. My husband and my children are God’s greatest blessings to me. When I focus on those blessings, every other problem or difficult circumstance shrinks in comparison. God has blessed us so very much!

Cover Photo

Last Friday we had our 16 week OB appt. and we were so pleasantly surprised to find out the gender of our precious baby a few weeks early! (If you missed it, you can see the announcement here.)

Since finding out we’re having a boy, this has seemed even more real to me. We can now call him by name, Gideon. And we can talk to Liam about his little brother. I know that Liam is going to be an amazing big brother. They will be the best of friends!

Here is my 16-week baby bump photo…

16 Weeks copy

I have been feeling pretty great! I only get nauseous once in a while, and although I am still tired a lot, my energy has come back a little as well. I am happy and excited for all that God has in store for our family!

As far as cravings go, my new one is breakfast sandwiches. Last Thursday, ALL I could think about was a sausage, egg, and cheese on croissant. I thought that after I had eaten dinner, my craving would go away, but no. So, my sweet husband made it his mission to find me a breakfast sandwich at 8:00 at night. He searched high and low (because there aren’t many places that serve them after breakfast time), and brought one home for me. I love that man. We joke that food is one of my love languages…especially when I’m pregnant. :)

Here is a 16-week photo of our Gideon James…

16 Week Ultrasound

I cannot wait to kiss those little cheeks! It was so sweet, on the ultrasound it kept looking like he was waving at us. Melted my heart! And Liam kept pointing to the screen saying “Baby! Baby!” He is excited too!

I know that many of you have been praying with us during our pregnancy, and we so appreciate it. I am incredibly thankful that our baby is healthy and that everything has gone so smoothly this time. Thanks for joining us on this exciting journey!

We’re having a…BOY!

Announcement - Photo

SO excited to announce that we are having another boy! Liam will have a little brother (or “Baybee Bubba”, as he pronounces it right now), come July!

We went for our 16-week OB appt yesterday, and weren’t expecting to have an ultrasound (our “big” ultrasound is scheduled for a few weeks from now). But when our doctor came in, she rolled in the portable ultrasound machine and asked if we wanted a peek. Of course, we said, YES!

Our doctor told us, “Now, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to tell the gender right now.” But as soon as we saw our little one on the screen, it was very clear…he is a boy. :)

As I’ve mentioned before, we have felt very strongly from the beginning that this baby was a boy. So, it is wonderful to have our suspicions confirmed. We can now call him by his name!

Gideon James is the name we have chosen for our little guy. Gideon means “powerful warrior”, and we absolutely love the story of Gideon in the Bible. James is in honor of my Dad, my Pawpaw (my Dad’s dad), and Jonathan’s Grandpa. It’s a special family name that belongs to three mighty men of God.

Now that we know for sure that our precious baby is a boy and we can call him by name, this is feeling even more real. I thank God every day for blessing us with another healthy baby. And I am so excited that Liam will have a brother to play with and grow close to throughout the years (I already have images of them having light saber battles!). :) My heart couldn’t feel fuller or happier right now.

Next week I will share my 16-week baby bump photo as well as the ultrasound picture. But for now, we couldn’t wait to announce the gender. SO EXCITED!

It’s so hard to believe that I am 14 weeks along in this pregnancy already! As of this week, I am now in my 2nd trimester…a third of the way there! With each week that passes, I get more and more excited to meet our little baby face to face.

Right now our little one measures about 3.5 inches long from head to bottom – about the size of a lemon – and weighs 1.5 ounces. :) It is still amazing to me how fast babies grow!

Here’s an updated picture of the baby bump…

14 Weeks

I have been feeling pretty good lately! I am still tired most of the time, but the nausea has reduced to a once-in-a-while thing, which is wonderful. I’ve only had a couple days in the past two weeks that I’ve been really sick. A new symptom I’ve started having recently is migraines. I had them with Liam starting around this time as well. It is interesting to me how very similar this pregnancy has been to my first. Headaches aren’t fun, but I’ll gladly take them since it means we’re having a baby. Totally worth it! (Although I do hope they don’t continue the entire time) :)

Last week I posted on Instagram one of my new cravings…mushrooms! Specifically, a certain stuffed mushroom. I made them twice in one week, and already have plans to make them again this week. Yum! Fruit Tea is also a current obsession of mine. I never knew what fruit tea was until I moved to Tennessee, and now that I know…there is no turning back. It’s the perfect combination of sweet tea and fruit juices. I adapted a couple recipes to come up with my own, that I am now a huge fan of (I hope to share it with you on here soon). Of course, I make it with decaf tea, but it’s still as tasty as ever.

I am still feeling the baby move around, which is always a wonderful feeling. The movements are getting stronger, and what used to feel like tiny flutters now feel like tiny taps.

From the very beginning, I’ve felt as though this baby is another boy, and last night I had a dream that we found out for sure that it was. But we would be absolutely thrilled with a girl as well. We would love to have more children after this baby, and I do feel as though at least one of them will be a girl…but I have an inkling that this one is a boy. I’m looking forward to our big ultrasound on February 28th where will we find out for sure! We shall see! I’m excited to be able to start calling the baby by his or her name.

I am so thankful that this pregnancy is going well and that our baby continues to grow healthily. Such a blessing!

Thank you for joining us on this journey!

In case you haven’t heard already…we are having another baby!!! Words cannot describe how thrilled we are!

It’s hard to believe that I am 12 weeks along already. We are more than a quarter of the way there. This first part of pregnancy has flown by so quickly! When I was pregnant with Liam, I took bi-weekly photos of my baby bump and shared little pregnancy updates along the way. Since we have many friends and family who live far far away, some of them have requested that I share the same with this baby as well. So, that is what I’m going to do! If you don’t care to read pregnancy and baby updates, feel free to skip over these posts. I will not be offended. :) But if you do want to stay up-to-date with our progress, you can look forward to bi-weekly pregnancy posts on here. [You can also go back and read the posts about Liam on my old blog, if you want].

Here is what my current baby bump looks like…

12 Weeks

I’ve read many times that with your second and following pregnancies, you can start showing a lot sooner than with your first. And yep, I’ve got to say from personal experience, this seems to be true. Haha. I started noticing a little bump a few weeks sooner than I did with Liam. It’s as though my body is saying “Oh yeah, I remember pregnancy…let’s do this!” And I am excited about it! It may seem weird, but I am looking forward to my belly getting bigger. Each day that I grow means our baby is growing and is healthy and we are one day closer to holding him or her in our arms. I love being pregnant!

I get asked all the time how I’ve been feeling, so I’ll go ahead and tell you. From about week 5 until week 10, I was very sick and very tired almost all day every day. This was challenging at times with an active toddler in the house, but we made it work. There were days when all I could do is lie there…and Liam would bring me books to read to him, or we would play with cars on the edge of the couch, or I would watch as he played his drums. Jonathan was very helpful during this time too, and would help me cook and clean on days I didn’t have the stomach or energy too. I am thankful for him!

But honestly, I was happy I was sick. That may also seem weird, but if you’ve experienced pregnancy loss, you’ll understand. Any day I was sick, I would feel peace knowing that this was a good symptom meaning my baby was healthy (not that people who aren’t sick don’t have healthy babies…it is definitely different for everyone and every pregnancy). It was just reassuring to me. So, I didn’t mind being sick.

Since the weekend after Christmas, I have started to feel better (which is to be expected as I near the end of my first trimester). I am still very tired almost all the time, my energy hasn’t returned. But although I still have morning sickness at times, it is definitely far less frequent.

As far as cravings go, it’s almost been identical to what I craved with Liam. Healthy foods for the most part…fruits and vegetables. Lots of fruits and vegetables (especially guacamole and berries)! I’ve also loved cheese (although, that is nothing new, haha). Any day I’ve felt sick, I haven’t even wanted to smell something sweet. And hamburger meat has been a big turn off as well. The one new craving I started having this week was buffalo sauce. Spicy hot wings! YUM!

On Friday, we had our 12 week appointment. It went wonderfully! We got to see our precious baby again, and it was SO active…kicking almost constantly and hiccuping as well. We also heard the heartbeat, which brought tears to my eyes. Everything is looking so good, and the baby is looking healthy. Such an answer to prayer!

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I have also started to feel the baby kicking around…A LOT! It feels like little butterfly flutters right now. This is also so reassuring to me any time I feel it move around.

One of Liam’s new words is “baby”. I have a folder from the doctor’s office that has a baby on it, and he likes to carry it around and point to the picture, look at me, and say, “BABY!” Haha. I know he is going to be an amazing big brother.

Another question I have been asked a lot is, “When will you find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” And the answer is, February 28th. I will be 19 weeks along at that point. It feels like forever until that day, but I’m sure it will go by fast. In the meantime, I will just enjoy the anticipation. :)

Thank you to everyone who has been praying and believing with us for this healthy baby. We appreciate your love and support more than you know.

Thanks for joining us on this journey. We are so excited!