Yay 3rd Trimester!

I made it!
Today I had my 27 week appointment and had my glucose test, which was not bad AT ALL! I drank an orange sugar drink in 5 minutes, then went on to my appointment, heard Emily's strong heart beat (158-160), got measured and weighed, I am measuring at 29 weeks (2 weeks ahead) BUT my Dr. told me because of my body type and position of my placenta that is just fine. After my quick check up I went back over to the lab to wait to get my blood drawn. Then I was done! YAHOO! My next check up is March 17th and at that appointment I will be 31 weeks, can you believe it?!
Emily moves a lot throughout the entire day...and night...:) I don't mind it all. I don't think there is really much more to update, I have been feeling great, just a little more tired than normal. Life is good in the Stone home:)

Little bit of this...little bit of that

I feel like I am ALMOST to the home stretch of the pregnancy. I am almost in my 26th week, and in about 2 weeks I will be in the 3rd Trimester. Hard to believe! I am definitely feeling it these days. Acid reflux has begun to kick in, I have never experienced it before, so initially had no clue what the burning sensation I had been feeling in my throat has been. Emily's movements have been getting much stronger and more often. Some mornings I wake up and my stomach is actually sore. It is pretty amazing watching the movement from the outside, usually every morning she pushes out, making my stomach bulge, almost as if she is saying "Good Morning Mommy!"
Todd and I were in the grocery store this past week and my shoe came untied....I could not bend over to tie my shoe, so bless his heart he bent down and tied it for me.:) I love having strangers ask when I am due, or if we know if it's a boy or a girl.
I have my first Baby Shower next month! AND my last day of work will officially be April 15th. I am so excited to have a month to prepare and CLEAN and organize everything that is BABY! Todd and I also signed up for our Birthing classes at St. Peter's hospital. We start March 5th, and will have 4 classes, also included is an additional class on Infant Safety and CPR which will be VERY good for us to take.
I think that is all of the updates for now! My big comfy bed is awaiting me!

Holy Leg Cramp

I can't believe that this week I will be starting my 6th month of pregnancy with our little Emily. On Tuesday I will have my 24 week check up with my Doctor. Todd has done a great job on painting the nursery, it turned out just how we wanted it too:) We got new crib, and ordered our bedding and are beginning to set everything up, and DECORATE!:) My favorite part :) Hard to believe in that in 16 weeks the finishing touch of our little girl will be added to the room!
I have been feeling really well! I am beginning to get a little uncomfortable, as my stomach has really been growing! And sleep has really been an issue, I wake up 4-5 times a night to go to the bathroom, and then sleep very lightly in between. I know God is preparing me for those late nights, and every time I get up and stumble to the bathroom, I remind myself that this is a blessing:) Another late night occurrence has been leg cramps! I have tried eating a banana in the day to keep them away, but they still come, and they are HORRIBLE!!! I used to get them when I was little, but I forgot how much they hurt! I wake poor Todd up every time I get one so he can massage it out for me, (poor guy).
Emily is still moving a lot throughout the day, and I have seen her make my stomach move several times. Pretty cool!! It is funny the different comments that I have gotten on my appearance, some people have commented on how big my tummy is, others say I still look really small. :) Everyone is different, and probably relates it to how they looked when they were pregnant. All I know is we are all healthy and happy and ready for our little girl to get here!

21 weeks and kicking

I have always wondered what it would be like to feel a baby move inside of you...well I have recently realized that it feels like...something moving inside of you! WEIRD! Emily has been very active in the past 2 weeks, and has seemed to develop a routine of when she decides to stretch her little arms and legs. Usually right after I eat lunch, and around dinner time is when I begin to feel rolls, turns, hiccups and kicks. She especially moves anytime after I eat fruit or drink orange juice. Todd was able to feel her kicking on Sunday evening! It was pretty exciting for him! We have her room completely painted and this weekend are putting the white chair rail up in the room. I can't wait to move everything back in there and begin organizing and decorating. :)
My work/church is throwing me a baby shower on March 24! And friends are blessing me with more showers! I can not wait:)
Sleep is one thing I can not get enough of and I am thankful that I have been able to sleep through the night better. I usually go to bed at 10pm and wake up around 8:30, I definitely get a full nights sleep! We recently got some wonderful news with Todd's job, he got a much deserved raise! It could not have come at a better time and we feel very very blessed, as we know there are many people who are getting laid off and can not find any work at this time.
Work is getting busier for me, but I have learned to leave it all at work when I leave.:) Auction planning time is beginning and this year I won't be playing as active a roll as I did last year. Since I will be leaving the school in April right before the Visions auction, I won't be around as much. I think this is a blessing in disguise...:) shhhhh!!!
I will be posting pictures of the nursery once it is complete! Can't wait!

Our little Love Bug

Our adventure begins on December 2nd...we had our 16 week checkup and were able to schedule our ultrasound to find out the gender of our baby. We thought it would be really fun to surprise our families for Christmas by letting them know the gender of our baby. By some miracle we were able to schedule our ultrasound for December 23rd! We told our families that we were not having the Ultra Sound until December 30th and there began our 'secret mission'. We decided that we would wrap up a boy or girl outfit to surprise our families on Christmas Eve.
December 23rd came FAST, especially with all of our preparation for Christmas and the holiday season. Before we knew it we were driving to find out the if our baby was a 'he' or a 'she'. As we drove through our 'Winter Wonderland' to the office, we nervously held hands and were busting at the seams with excitement. If our baby cooperated this could be the PERFECT Christmas gift, if not, we would still be happy to have seen our baby, but our little plan would have been ruined.
Our ultra sound tech was very friendly and thought our idea was very fun. As soon as she began the ultra sound we saw our babies legs...spread wide!! 90% girl!! I expected for her to have to search around and get the baby to move to get that perfect shot to tell if it was a boy or a girl, but we found out right away! Todd and I both had HUGE grins on our face for the remainder of the ultra sound.
HER little body is developing right on target with how far along I am. Everything looked beautiful according to the tech. She did say that our baby has very long arms and legs, which are more than likely from Todd. We got some pretty amazing shots and were amazed at how informative and thorough our tech was. After the appointment we walked out of there holding a huge strand of photos, with big smiles on our faces, anyone could tell we were prouder than ever!
Now began the hard part....me keeping my mouth shut for 1 day...Luckily I was able to do so and our parents had no clue what we had just found out. We went shopping and found some baby girl outfits and wrapped them up for each set of parents.
Our daughters name will be Emily Jean Stone.

Emily meaning 'ambitious'
Jean meaning 'God is gracious' and Jean was also the name of my Nana ( my Mom's mother) who passed away 15 years ago. So it is in honor of her.

Revealing the news to our families was amazing! Just how I pictured it, we got the perfect reaction from both sets of parents and it was well worth the wait and secret holding:) Little Emily Jean is already spoiled and loved so much. Knowing that our daughter is growing perfectly and peacefully inside of me has set our minds at ease. We love calling her by name and talking to her through my tummy:) Our next big task is her nursery, what a job that will be!! But a fun one to do together:)

25 and Pregnant

I have always been a 'planner'. My life has always seemed to follow a predetermined time line that I have created in my mind. I knew once I graduated High School I would go to college, did that. I hoped that sometime between High School and College I would meet my husband, check. Got married after College graduation, done. Start a family by the age of 25...is this really happening? You could say I am either really good at setting a goal and attaining it, or that I have been extremely blessed. I choose the later. One of the things that I do not think I could have expressed on a time line was how extremely happy I would be by the 'ripe old age' of 25.
"Lucky" is a word I have always disliked. People don't just get lucky, they are blessed. This passed week and weekend Todd and I have been extremely blessed by our family and friends, I have always known that no matter what we would have the support and love, but I just never knew the extent to which some people would show that support and love.
Every day I get more and more excited to bring our little one into such a warm and welcoming family. The baby moves like CRAZY at night, I think he or she is either doing back flips, or just can not seem to find that comfortable position (like mommy). It is amazing how every day those little twitches and taps seem to get stronger and stronger.
All I know is the little person we meet this spring is not anything I could have ever written onto paper to check off a list. There is not one word that could describe how I feel right now other than BLESSED.

16 week appointment

Today was our 16 week appointment! We had the opportunity to do a 'Quad Screen' test which is where they would draw some of my blood and test it to see what the chances are that our baby would have Downs Syndrome. It isn't actually a diagnosis, and we decided that this test isn't something that we needed, we will love our baby no matter what. The test is not accurate most of the time, and would just cause worry and stress on my part, it just was not worth it to us. We got to hear Baby Stone's heartbeat , well actually we heard 2 heartbeats! The Dr. reassured us that the other heartbeat we heard was mine because it matched perfectly with my pulse...then we found the babies and it was much faster it was at 140. You should have seen the look on Todd's face when the Dr. said...well there is a heart beat, but I hear another one down here too....HOLY COW! I got a Flu Shot (preservative free) and have gained 4 pounds so far right on track:)
Today 3 different people told me I was glowing...awwww:) Made me feel really good, and I have gotten numerous belly rubs from friends and coworkers. I don't mind it at all, just more love for the babes:) We got to schedule our BIG ultrasound! December 30 is when we find out the gender of the baby we can not wait! It really is not that far away, hard to believe!
Todd is gone in Kirkland until Friday with training for his work. LAME! This house is not the same when I am all alone, at least I have Chloe:) Tonight she layed next to me and stretched her paw across my belly...it was so cute!
We had a very relaxing and fun Thanksgiving, it was very hard to get back to work, but I only have to last until Dec. 19th, then my school is on break until Jan. 5th! That means we crack down on this nursery business! Can't wait!:)
Hope everyone enjoyed spending time with their families this past weekend!