Flutters

March 1 14 weeks
While I was extremely relaxed and enjoying a facial, I am fairly certain that I felt the first flutter of Baby Fletcher. It was the coolest feeling!

March 16 16 weeks
I went for my check-up, and everything sounded good!

March 19 17 weeks
Jeff felt a flutter, and his face was priceless!

I am sporting my maternity scrub pants. They are almost as amazing as maternity jeans.

March 27 18 weeks

I had been feeling pretty good lately until last week. The sonographer saw a fibroid on my optional scan at 13 weeks, but said it was nothing to worry about. At my 16 week check-up, the doctor said that eventually it would lose it's blood supply and die but cause some pain. Well on the second day of pain turned into cramping, I got nervous and called my doctor. They told me to come in the following day if I still had pain. The next morning I had a visible contraction so I might have freaked out a bit. Everything checked out just fine. I did learn that some women are hospitalized at some point for the pain and it can happen again; however, Baby Fletcher was in lala land and noticed none of this. So we will just keep an eye on it, but the doctor doesn't think it should cause major problems.

The following week I got to attend my first big girl National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners conference in San Antonio and learned a ton. I definitely got my exercise mentally and physically. It was kind of interesting...I found my mind wandering between NP and soon-to-be mommy as I learned about vaccine and medication updates. One of the exhibitors asked if something was going on because it seemed like a crazy amount of women were pregnant at this conference. I know they say that when you are pregnant it seems like there are pregnant women everywhere, but I had noticed an unusual number of pregnant women at the conference, especially in the lines for the restroom. We did get pretty funny looks when my two pregnant friends and I wandered around together, but this fortunately led to very generous samples from vendors for diaper cream, baby wash, etc. I also got to visit with a friend from high school. I hadn't seen her since her wedding and got to meet her precious little 5 month old son! 

Snoogle

Somewhere very early on in my pregnancy, Jeff and I parked in the expectant mothers parking spot (he hates it when I do that now) and picked up a Snoogle. Best invention ever! I call it my cocoon. I tried to take it with me to San Antonio, but there was no way to not check a bag and travel for a week with a Snoogle. I did take it to Houston for the weekend, and I plan on taking it to Florida and San Diego. I also plan on using it when I am no longer pregnant. Jeff gives me a hard time, but the has threatened to use it himself. I'm pretty sure when I leave for work in the morning he gets him some Snoogle time.

Motherhood

March 5, 2012

During my last trip to Houston, I had a day all by myself so I made my 1st trip to buy maternity clothes  at Motherhood at 15 weeks. My sister and a few friends have been super generous and allowed me to borrow their maternity clothes so I just bought a few essentials and things for work. I'm kind of in that awkward phase where my clothes don't fit nicely, but I don't need the full maternity stuff. Maternity stuff is much more comfortable! The whole trying on the little pillow to see how things will fit in the near future was a little much, though.

I also stopped at Baby's 1st Furniture to check it out and left with one thing, Baby Fletcher's 1st book. It is called Good Night Texas and is so cute! Each page is about something around Texas, including rodeo, NASA (thought about my mom), Fort Worth, Dallas, and below is my favorite page.  

I also began thinking about Baby Fletcher's nursery. My mom and I tossed around some ideas, and I think I've got it. I will discuss in a future post, but I have been getting constant texts of furniture, pictures, and other items from my mom and cousin whenever they see something that might work. It is so fun, and so sweet that they want to help find the cutest stuff for a sweet nursery.

Is it a....?

February 27, 2012

No wonder I was so tired...a lot happened in 5 weeks! Below is one of the pictures from an optional sonogram done when I was 13 weeks along. This sonogram is not for determining gender, but the sonographer was 95% sure of her guess. There is proof on another picture, which would mean something has occurred that has not happened in either of our families for at least our generation (except for Jeff). My dad is an only child, my mom has a sister with 2 daughters, and I have two sisters with a niece. Jeff's mom has a sister and a brother, a daughter (Jeff's sister), and he has two girl cousins (one with a daughter). That's a whole lot of estrogen!

Jeff's mom was at the sonogram, and I called my mom right away to tell her the news. Knowing that we would see my family the following weekend we decided to be creative...not sure how mom kept the secret. We all went to breakfast Saturday morning, and my dad opened his birthday present from his first grandson. My dad took me to many pitching lessons and played catch in the backyard no matter how many times I nailed him with a wild throw. This time it will be a baseball instead of a softball.

Angie reading over my dad's shoulder and figuring it out. 

Jeff now has a hockey playing, fishing, car fixing, gettin' dirty buddy because it's a boy!! It is so fun to refer to Baby Fletcher with guesses about his personality. We will have another sonogram when we will confirm this news at 19 weeks on April 6. We got to break the news to all of Jeff's family in person, which was really fun! Jeff found a sweet poem about passing on a name and reworded it a bit for Nana...she knew what it meant before she even finished. Jeff didn't realize it, but Cheryl pointed out that he had even used blue ink. They are thrilled that the Fletcher name will continue! I'm pretty excited...I could end up with a blonde cutie like this...

When we got to tell Jeff's sister, Leanne she had one of the cutest outfits I have ever seen. We would put this on a girl too, but Baby Boy Fletcher will look so cute in this! Aunt Lannie is celebrating her engagement to Matt the same week! Looks like we get to call him Uncle Matt now!

12 weeks!

February 20, 2012

It happened...

Those who know me well aren't too surprised by this picture, but I don't know that I have ever purchased these two items at the same time.

I was told that I would start feeling less nauseous and have more energy after the first trimester. I was almost there when I picked up a stomach bug, likely from the sweet little kiddos at work because my coworker who had worked with me over the weekend was feeling crummy as well. I spent Monday beginning my 12th week on the couch very uncomfortable and unable to eat much. I left work early the following day and went to the doctor to make sure everything was okay. Everything checked out, but she said that since everything GI related slows down during pregnancy I got to experience the bug a little longer. I worked the next day and then had a chance to fully recover just before we planned to head out of town for Mardi Gras, which had been planned prior to Baby Fletcher's presence.

Thursday morning, Jeff and I went for my second doctor's appointment. We got to hear the heart beat for the first time with a doppler and then signed consents (kind of weird but makes things real). We headed home to rest up before our trip to New Orleans. We aren't really sure what went wrong. We left with plenty of time to get to the airport, but we missed our first flight ever. I did not realize that DFW was one of about 10 airports in the country that require 40 minutes prior to flight time to check baggage. Everywhere else is 30 minutes. After sitting through construction, getting turned around heading to the parking area, just missing the bus and having to wait for the next one, and getting to our terminal, we were there 28 minutes prior to our flight time. There was not a line at security, and we could see the gate from where we were standing. They would not let us check our bag that was not small enough to be a carry-on. Seriously??? We waited on standby all day and then headed home in shock at what had happened. I hit the roof, but of course Jeff was amazing throughout the whole day. We decided that this was a good lesson for us as we aren't used to our plan and schedule not going how we planned...better get used to this.

Since we couldn't celebrate Mardi Gras (I looked into all other ways of getting there), we decided to go through the entire house and clean out everything that we did not use/want to move. We hope to have everything organized and start packing the stuff we don't use before it gets difficult for me to help since the summer will be pretty crazy. Not only will it be a Texas summer, but our house should be complete in August or September just as Baby Fletcher decides to make his/her debut.

The following day, I went shopping...my first baby shopping spree. Another lady and I were the first ones there when they opened the door at 8am...is this what motherhood does to you? I couldn't sleep knowing that there was a baby sale going on nearby. I bought a bunch of necessities for myself that are usually exceptions to sales at 15% off with excellent advise from my sister. I also bought "Froggie." "Froggie" was April's first purchase when she came to Dallas to shop for Elise. Elise carries "Froggie" around and always sleeps with him so much that he requires a "spa day" quite often. I also won something and got a free rattle!!

I brought Jeff back later that morning, and we bought our baby furniture. We actually liked the only convertible crib right now that converts to a queen size bed, which works perfectly for a visit from my entire family down the road. I am thrilled that we have furniture, and they are happy to hang onto it until our house is ready for it. They will also deliver it and put it together. I can't wait!

Smidgen received his/her first Valentine's Day gift from Jeff's mom! These are so cute and very yummy too!

Happy Anniversary, Merry Christmas!!

December 16: 5 year Anniversary

December 18: Pregnant

December 18-24: Keeping the most difficult secret ever!

December 25: The Corbin Family Reveal

December 26: Jeff's Mom's Reveal

January 1: Fletcher Family Reveal

Let me fill in the details. Jeff and I are what you might call intentional people or planners. We met at UT in 2002, got married in 2006, bought a house, fixed it up, trained our dogs, went to graduate school, started a therapy practice, got my dream job, became aunt and uncle, and took some trips. After our big splurge trip to Hawaii it was about time we got down to business. We began the exciting and strange journey of starting a family. We soon found out that we didn't get to be totally in control of the Baby Fletcher plan and by the time December rolled around, it was getting tough not to blurt out that we were "trying." We wanted to give it a little more time. I had decided I wasn't taking a bunch of home tests this month. I couldn't help myself and took one on the morning of our anniversary (what better anniversary present could there be), and it was "Not Pregnant." I knew that it was possible to still be negative at that point, but we had pretty much ruled it out this month. We celebrated our anniversary and Christmas with Jeff's dad's family, and then spent Sunday doing church stuff. At "Welcome Home a Hero" and then lunch with the group, I was super tired and felt kind of weird. Jeff had a hockey game, and I went to the youth group Christmas party. When we got home I had the urge to take just one more test. I was ready for bed, and Jeff was in the garage putting up his hockey stuff..."Pregnant." I couldn't believe my eyes! How was it that I had planned to tell Jeff? Should I wait until he came inside? How much longer could it take to put the hockey stuff away? Jeff had said that when it happened, he would probably need to be sitting down. Standing in our bedroom, I told him that he might want to sit down. He asked why, and I held up the test.

He took it in his hand and stared at it without blinking, and then he said "I think we need to talk." "What do we need to talk about, Jeff?" "I'm

not sure." Lots of hugs and kisses and staring. We remained in a state of shock and excitement for the rest of the night.

I laid on Jeff's chest as we tried to go to sleep. He stared at the ceiling and said that he felt as though he needed to start painting something. I reminded him that we were in the process of building a house and didn't know yet what we were having, so that probably wasn't necessary right now. His next thought was that he could start building something. I told him that as difficult as it was I needed to go to sleep as I had to get up early the following morning. He said that he was trying to go to sleep, but his eyes kept opening...so cute! He makes me melt and laugh at the same time, and this was one of my favorite moments ever!

I had to go to work the next morning with the hugest secret ever so naturally I told Ashley by showing her the picture of "the test" in the hallway near our office and then asked her not to say anything...sorry Ash! We then had to figure out how to tell the family. I put my embroidery machine to work quickly...

The last Christmas gift opened on Christmas day was for Elise. April kept telling me that she needed a cousin so we decided to give her one. I was immediately tackled by my ecstatic family members, oh and congrats were in order for Jeff too. Next was my best friend since 7th grade. I had somehow kept the secret at Lindsey's Annual Christmas Party, but now that I had told the family, I had to tell Jennifer. She offered me a drink when we went by her house prior to going out, and I spilled the news. Jumping up and down and lots more hugs followed.

As soon as we returned on Monday, we stopped at James Avery and started Jeff's mom her grandmother necklace. We knew the baby would be due in August so we got the August birthstone to go on a necklace. We included a Bible verse about passing things on to the next generation. When she opened the necklace she commented on how pretty it was. We explained that it was a birth stone. Once again, "it's so pretty." Jeff: "Mom, it's a birthstone." Sheryl: "Is it your birthstone?" Jeff: "No mom, it's an August birthstone." (blank stare) Me: "It's an August birthstone, and it's not mine." (Tears and smiles and hugs).

New Year's Day Lunch!

New Year's Day Dinner. I didn't get a good picture, but I love the look on Cheryl's face. Jeff's dad is holding a onesie that says "I love Grandpa Joe."

We (and somehow our families) kept our little secret until we got

the first glimpse of our "Smidgen," as Jeff's mom refers to Baby Fletcher. It was an awesome moment to see that little flutter and hear the words "Everything looks great!" You are 7 weeks and due August 28th!

Of course, next came grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, and Uncles Charles and Moses all over the phone and close friends in person as much as I could. I got to tell the kids at youth, and they were all so sweet and excited! Jeff announced it to our Sunday School class as a prayer concern that he is going to be a dad, but I think all agree that he is going to be a wonderful dad. I can't wait to see him in action! I'm surprised that we were able to tell everyone on our own time, especially since even Monster knows something is up. Until the Snoogle pillow made it's way into my bed (best invention ever), he began sleeping on the bed at my feet all night every night. Poor Monster's little world is going to change; however, Sunny remains cool, calm, and collected.

It is an amazing experience all in itself, but it is so awesome to experience how much Baby Fletcher is already loved by so many! We have already received our most appropriate baby gift...Thanks Steph! The next time I saw Jennifer she gave me the sweet customized cup below (my new love...Tervis tumblers). It was full of chocolate, but as you can see that is all gone. Sweet cards, texts and questions about how I'm feeling and congratulations have all been so appreciated! I was quite light headed, nauseous, and moody; but everyone has been so supportive! We feel overwhelmingly blessed!