It's A Boy!

Today was the biggest day of the pregnancy yet in my opinion. As can be seen above…. gut feelings and old wives tales, have got nothing on Mother Nature, IT’S A BOY! Emily said from the second she saw the first images of the anatomical ultrasound she knew. She put on a big smile, like a trooper….but it is no secret that she wanted a little girl to play tea party with!! Sex of the baby aside, we really did get exactly what we both wanted, a healthy little baby who is in the 68th percentile in anatomical dimensions and weight. Below the little man is just not ready to show his face yet. The doctor did mention that the ultrasound tech noted that there was a amniotic fold in the sac, but it was not endangering the baby and they are going to take another look at it in 4 weeks....meaning that Em and I get another look at the little mister in less than a month!! :)

The 20 week Ultrasound!!!!

The $64, 00 dollar question will finally be answered tomorrow at 10:00AM Eastern "are we having a little girl.....or a little boy". Tuesday morning Emily and I will go to the ultrasound appointment she has been waiting for with baited breath. She really tried hard to get an ultrasound out of her doctor before Christmas, (she dumped herself onto her tush in the icy parking lot in front of Steak-and-Shake) but they simply felt around on her a bit and listened to the babe's heartbeat with the Doppler (all was well BTW). Emily REALLY wants a girl, I am leaning towards a girl myself just because of all the wonderful little girl cousins I grew up with. But a boy would be awesome as well. We have the names picked out (spellings aside) and that blog will be forthcoming I’m sure! In the meantime throw out your guesses in the poll above this post!!

Maternity Clothes Shopping

On December 23rd Nathan and I headed to Columbus on a shopping trip (after his follow-up Dr's appointment) to pick up last minute gifts and maternity clothes. I had to face the truth....if I didn’t get some new pants soon I was not going to have anything to wear! So we go into a Maternity Clothes shop...one of those higher end ones…you know the ones that offer you juice and water and follow you around asking if you need anything! I tried on tons of pants and even a pretend big belly to give me the real idea of what I would look like near the end of the pregnancy. So much fun! We then headed over to Old Navy where we hit the motherload sale at 60% off all maternity clothes. I piled Nathan’s arms full of pants and tops…needless to say I have plenty of clothes to last me awhile!

Thanks sweety for being so patient and supportive

Baby Bump!

As I approach the 20 week mark I have finally noticed the infamous “baby bump” beginning to show. A couple of the girls in the family (Stephanie and Heather) are also pregnant and further along in their pregnancies than I am, so naturally I want to ask them a million questions since they have recently been in my shoes. I asked Heather (who is 11 weeks further along than me) when she first noticed her belly had began to show and she told me I would just wake up one morning and it would be there. I was in utter disbelief until last week when it really did happen over night! Maternity clothes shopping here we come!

Christmas Card 2008

Hope everyone enjoys a wonderful holiday with family and friends.

Love,

Nate, Em and Baby

Back in Action

5 weeks ago me…the indestructible titan of pain tolerance was felled to his knees by a tiny pinched nerve in my back. I have suffered contusions, broken bones, and stitches all over my person, but nothing compares to the helplessness I felt when every task in my normal daily routine became heuristic. All of a sudden I went from being the workhorse, go-to man, Big Nate----to being waited on hand and foot (literally Emily had to put my socks on for me) by Emily. Turns out I had re-injured an old high school injury and taken it to the Nth degree by totally blowing out a disc in my back, leaving a prune sized section of disc compressing my L5 S1 Sciatic nerve. After three weeks of pain, percocet, and boredom, I finally went to surgery. Today, exactly 2 weeks after surgery I am back at work full time (usually after this particular surgery a patient is off an additional 4-6 weeks before returning to work). Granted I am taking it easy and doing only sedentary work, but that is no different from my workload before the surgery….what can I say, I am a research scientist, we do a lot of butt sitting in my business!!! If the surgery had to happen (which it obviously did) there could not have been a better time. We were in a lull at work so I really did not miss anything (besides the paycheck of course), Emily was able to take care of me even though she is pregnant, she is just now beginning to get the baby bump, and she has yet to gain a pound. If the situation would have waited even another month to present itself things may not have worked out as peachie keen as they have. Emily thinks I am crazy to be so happy to be going back to work, but 5 long weeks of daytime television can do serious things to the gray matter. Long story long I am officially Back in Action.

15 Weeks and Counting

Dr Visit December 2nd:

This morning was another Dr. visit and I was so thankful to hear the baby's heartbeat once more on the doppler...this always puts my worries aside. I found out that the Ultrascreen testing came back completely normal so more good news....of course this isn't 100% accurate but pretty close (Down Syndrome: 5% false positive rate and Trisomy 18: 1% false positive rate).

My next apt/ultrasound is Dec 30th and we will get to find out the gender of the baby!!! I can't hardly wait!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving Thankfulness

As Thanksgiving approaches I often think of how very fortunate most of us are. These past couple of weeks have been difficult for us as we found out Nathan has a ruptured disc in his back and has to have surgery on Nov 24th (Most of you probably remember he had this surgery his senior year of high school too). This time around it is much worse and he is in so much pain that he has to lay flat at all times. As we find out he has to be out for 4 or more weeks for recovery without pay we become a little more depressed. An email goes out at my work from the university suggesting OU's facing substantial budget cuts and my heart sinks in thinking what this will mean for everyone at OU. As my back pain is increasing with my pregnancy and it finally hits me that Nathan can't help around the house anymore I get more and more depressed. I pray constantly that God is watching over us and that we will make it through all of this. As I go to work I hear of others problems....someone's brother has just passed away, someone is going through kimo therapy and the list goes on and on. I hear on the news of fires and deaths and I realize my problems aren't as bad as I had thought. I am so very thankful for all God has given me and all that he does for those around me. This year we asked to host Thanksgiving at our house and are expecting 30-40 family members. I knew this would be a lot of work but well worth it. I can't wait to visit with everyone. I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope you remember to give thanks this holiday season.

Ultrasound #3 & Ultrascreen Testing

WOW!

November 11th

I was scheduled for another ultrasound and the ultrascreen testing ( First-trimester prenatal screening protocol designed to provide patient specific risk for Down Syndrome, trisomy 18 and other chromosomal abnormalities. Ultrascreen combines ultrasound measurement of the fluid accumulation behind the neck of the fetus (nuchal translucency) with maternal serum markers and is the earliest and most effective Down Syndrome screen available) on November 11th and couldn't hardly wait to get to the Dr. so we could see the progress of our little one. Nathan and I were shocked at what we saw when the technician began the ultrasound. The little spot on my old ultrasounds now looked like an actual baby....we couldn't believe it. She also turned on the 3D and 4D ultrasound and we were amazed to see the little one moving about and sucking its thumb. At this moment it became real to me that we were actually going to have a cute little one to love and spoil soon and I was so very thankful that God has given us this precious gift. This video is of the baby moving and we will hopefully post more videos and ultrasound pics of our little one in the next few days. In case your wondering....we were unfortunately not able to find out the sex of the baby.

What more can you hope for!

So.... Since October of 2007 (when on a whim) when we decided to start trying to add on to the Chapman family name, it has been a mildly bumpy road. We often think of ourselves as strong individuals. We attest to a impervious belief in the whole "things happen for a reason" mantra...but ohh how quickly we question our own high ground when "things are happening" and we see no reasoning behind them. When I first read that it takes most couples a full year to get pregnant, I was in more than disbelief. However, here we are more than a year of trying later and there is just now a little Chapman on the way. It seems like it took so long to get pregnant, but now as we approach the 12 week mark, TIME IS FLYING BY! Emily ONLY wants a little girl. She says she would not know how to be a boy mom. I on the other hand, really do not care either way. I would love to have a little boy to golf with on Saturday mornings, but hey.....girls can golf too Right!!! But like I said I really don’t care either way. If he/she has 10 fingers, 10 toes and is totally healthy----What more can you hope for??

Sleepy

Will this sleepiness ever end???

For those of you who are close to me know that it is very normal for me to fall asleep early (on grandma's couch on Saturday nights, at the movies (yes even at the movies), etc.) but this has gotten so much worse since baby. I'm tired throughout the day and when I get home I'm ready to crawl in bed for the night. I'm usually out by 7pm and sleep up to the time when I get up in the morning. So much for quality time with hubbie :( I hope this ends soon and I get that overwhelming burst of energy in my second trimester.

Dr Appt & 2nd Ultrasound

Worried...

October 21st

My Dr Appt turned out to be really good...I got to meet the new female Dr and just love her! I told her I was worried because my "morning sickness" was easing up and some cramping had began so I asked if it was normal. She decided to send me over for an ultrasound just to make sure things were okay. I was so relieved to find out that baby is growing as it should and its little heartbeat is now even stronger at 176 bpm! The only disappointment was that hubbie wasn't with me to share in the excitement. I told him he didn't have to come along since this was just a general check up . Needless to say he is now coming to the rest of the appointments just in case this happens again!

Pickle Craving

Pickles...my craving of all time!

I now understand what it means when you get pregnant and crave something out of the blue. You think about a certain food night and day and can't hardly stand it until you have consumed it. We went on vacation the week of August 21st and by Thursday evening I was craving pickles so bad I couldn't take it any longer. After calling every sub place next to our hotel to try and get the jumbo deli pickle and not succeeding I made poor hubbie run me down the street in the pouring rain to a local grocery store just so I could purchase a large jar of pickles. He's such a trooper! Needless to say I ate most of the jar (5 I think)!

Morning Sickness

Why do they call it morning sickness if it lasts all day and all night?

October 2nd

I have read in many mommy-to-be books that if your mother didn't get morning sickness chances are you won't either. So, I of course talked to my mom and she told me she didn't get it until her 5th month so I'm thinking I'm home free for at least 5 months. WRONG!!!

Morning sickness (all day sickness) is simply defined as the worst thing possible. I feel nauseous all day and then when I get home and think I can lay down and relax it gets worse. Eating feels like a chore and I often wonder where did my appetite go for food? I love food and I can't hardly bring myself to eat anything. To top the morning sickness off I came down with a cold and feel absolutely miserable. Nathan, bless his heart has been so sweet and patient with me. Thank you honey!

OB Appointment

Questions...Questions

October 15th
My
I wasn't sure what exactly to expect from an OB Appointment but found out very quickly that this was the boring appointment where they ask you every possible question. You know the ones you really should know but sometimes you don't:

Do you or anyone in your family have....
Have you had this shot...
Have you been around any chemicals...

and the list goes on and on. Overall it was a good appointment and I got to take home a packet of information to read on the babies future developments.

Ultrasound #1

Ultrasound: The most amazing thing to me so far

October 1st (1:15pm)

Nathan and I headed to the doctors office hoping to see our little one and to see a possible due date. The ultrasound picture was a little hard for us to make out since the little one was in the corner and not cooperating but we saw the so called "flutter" which indicates the heartbeat and then was amazed when the ultrasound technician flipped on the machine and we could actually hear the little ones heart beating at 122 bpm! My reaction to all of this is "Are you sure there's not two in there????" (my thoughts: Please let there be two in there...I won't have to do this again) The technician quickly informed me that we would be able to see and hear its little heartbeat as well so I accepted that twins are definitely out and was so very thankful to see our little one. Due Date: May 23, 2009

HCG Levels

Who knew how a simple thing like HCG levels could tell you how your babies developing?

For those of you who know me...you know that I have had two miscarriages this past year so when your pregnant for the 3rd time you worry from the time you see the positive test up until every DR Appt to know whether or not everything is okay. The DR suggested we monitor my HCG Levels in order to determine if this pregnancy was a go. For those of you who do not know these usually double in a 24 hour period (but also may take up to 72 hours):

Appointment #1 (Sept 11th) HCG Level: 46.2
Appointment#2 (Sept 13th) HCG Level: 153.49
Appointment#3 (Sept 15th) HCG Level: 255.61 Didn't double :(
Appointment#4 (Sept 17 th) HCG Level: 580.52

After all of these blood tests my arm is bruised and I am so sick of needles but at least I know that baby is developing as it should. I'm so relieved and thankful but still worried as usual.

We're Pregnant!

September 11, 2008

I got up this morning and just couldn't take it anymore so I decided to take the at home pregnancy test and was quite a shock when the line came across that I was pregnant. (I had taken a test a week before and it was negative so I thought for sure I wasn't pregnant.) Of course I couldn't believe the test so I called the DR to get a blood test to confirm. A few hours later...its confirmed I'm officially pregnant!!!