Bump Watch: Month 6

Today I hit week 25. Only 2 more weeks and I am in the final trimester. Crazy how fast it is going. This past week we celebrated my 29th birthday. I also had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. Everything is going smoothly, Heart rate was still in the 150s and when she put the Doppler on my stomach, he kicked so hard it startled the doctor and she pulled her hand away. Jack has been moving and kicking so much which is fun. At 25 weeks, the baby is finally starting to put on some baby fat and measures about like a Zucchini. Fingerprints are completely formed and unlike any one else in the whole world. We are getting really excited to see what Jack looks like. People ask Tim and I all the time if we think he will have curly hair like Hannah, be big like Tim, have blue eyes or brown eyes and I just don't know. All I can really picture is Hannah so I'm so excited to see. But for now, you must settle for seeing a month 6 bump pic.

V DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers that inspire me each and everyday. You know who you are and I love you. It's not an easy job, but it's the most rewarding job in the world! I feel so blessed to have the best mom in the whole world and I feel so blessed to have the coolest kids ever. In addition to Mother's Day, it is also 'V-Day.' In baby land this is a big day. It stands for Viability Day. Little Jack is 24 weeks and can officially survive outside of the womb. We obviously want him to grow much much bigger, but it's pretty amazing to know our little man is capable of so much already. Baby Jack is now the length of a ruler or to continue with the food reference picture an ear of corn. Big sister Hannah weighed in at 28lbs. at her doctor's appointment last week and loves drawing pictures of baby Jack and kissing mommy's tummy. Jack, we are off to Disneyland today to celebrate, but Mommy will be thinking of you!

Hi JACK!

Four weeks ago Tim and I went to a special ultrasound place to determine if baby Jack had a cleft palate. They were pretty confident everything looked good, but wanted him to grow a little more and then do one more double check. Today Granny, Hannah and I went back, and the doctor said she got a view of the palate three times and it looks great. Having a child go into surgery is one of the hardest things in the world. Anyone that has experienced it knows you would do anything to take their place and yet you are helpless. So even though cleft is fixable and in the end not the end of the world, I am so grateful we will not have to hand over another baby and sit and wait while you know they are being cut up. Dr. gave Jack an A plus. With a 30 year old Daddy who's had open heart surgery, they also carefully identify each valve and make sure there are no defects. Exact words were "beautiful heart!" Yeah! all great news. Oh and yes, he is still a boy. Other fun facts, Tim felt Jack kicking for the first time last week which is always exciting. My latest craving is cream cheese. YUM and we registered for a few essentials. I will be 23 weeks on Sunday. At 23 weeks baby is the size of a mango. More accurately, based on today's measurements, Jack is 1 lb. 1oz. You can see in the 3D pic he looks like a baby now, but is super skinny. I feel so blessed and now that we have a name I feel so much closer to him.

All curled up: He saves the kicking for bedtime usually. I love the little profile. I hope he has Hannah's cute little 'Uncle Tyler' nose.




3D Picture. I like how his little hand is up. Hannah kept waving to him. The blob on the left side is my uterus.

The Name Game

As you know boys names come much harder to Tim and I then girl's names. We have spent hours making lists, highlighting in books, looking up meanings, etc. We went through categories such as biblical names, family names, president names, etc. At one point Tim threw out 'Mark, Matt, Clayton, Justin and Andre" which at first I thought were all fine names and later realized he was going through the Dodger's baseball lineup. As you see we were constantly thinking baby boy names. We were even watching the credits of movies to see if anything caught our eye. In the end there were about five names that we both liked, but we struggled to decide which one stood out the most as our son's name. Well everyone can rest easy, our son has a name!

Over the weekend, Tim and I agreed that our son is JACK BRYANT TATUM. It's already displayed on wall and Hannah is saying it instead of baby boy which is so cute to hear. They have matching piggy banks and Hannah keeps saying "My pink pig big money, Jack's pig no money." Okay so back to the name, according to the US Department of Social Security (which in my opinion has the most accurate rating of baby name popularity) last year Jack was the 45th most commonly used baby name. It's meaning is "God is Gracious" which I love. It is such a wonderful reminder of God's love and that in all things we should be thankful. I like looking up the meaning of names because let's just say you won't find the meaning of Lesley in my baby book "The Gray Fortress." And now to clear a few things up, thinking of my reader population I'm going to guess that only two of you even know this, but yes, Jack Tatum was a famous NFL player back in the day. Personally, never heard of him, but I'll just throw it out there to clear the air. No, we are not naming our child after a man who is most famous for paralyzing a guy after tackling him. Ok, good, glad that's clear. I like Jack because it's timeless. I think it's such a cute name for a little boy running around and yet you can walk into a board room introduce yourself as Jack and feel good. It's easy to say and spell and I think it fits with Hannah. Daddy says your nickname is Jax which I think is cute too.

On to the middle name. Son, I'm sure you and your father will enjoy pretending that you were named after Daddy's favorite basketball player Kobe Bryant, but sorry, it's just not true. The real meaning behind your middle name is that Bryant Ranch is where Mommy and Daddy first met and the name forever holds a special place in my heart because of it. I can still picture exactly where I was sitting when Daddy walked in the room. When I first heard another intern would be joining us, my first reaction was 'oh good, I can size up the job competition, I bet he's got nothing on me.' But as soon as I saw Daddy I knew there was something special about him and we became instant friends. We understood each other and have been each others support every since. We have so many good memories of the groups we ran together, crazy parents we worked with, and work outings we attended. I can still name and picture all 10 1st graders we worked with and it blows my mind to think those little guys are currently in middle school. Anyway, without Bryant Ranch, Daddy and I would have never met. So to me your middle name is a reminder of love and that God has a special plan for all our lives. You never know when your competition might turn into your greatest ally. The internet meaning of Bryant is "Strong" which is also a wonderful meaning. Remember to be not just strong in build, but Strong in faith, family, morals, mind, and heart.

Mommy and Daddy love you Jack Bryant and can't wait to meet you. And P.S. I hope you like your name :)

Bump Watch

Yesterday Hannah and I went to my monthly doctor's appointment. The appointments are pretty quick and easy. Hannah loves hearing the baby. She tells the doctor it sounds like a choo choo train. Baby boy sounded great. Heart rate at 158 and doctor said he was moving like crazy. I feel him move daily which I love, but it's still fairly delicate. Doctor said my placenta is in front so that is common. I am looking good, gaining weight appropriately, etc. I am excited that I get one more special ultrasound in two weeks because my doctor just does one more for a growth check at 32 weeks which is a long way away. Wait no more, here is my month five, week 20 bump watch picture.

Half Way Point

Today is a big day as we have reached 20 weeks, the half way point! Baby boy is now the size of a large banana. Last night I was feeling him move so much and I know movements are going to get even stronger which I'm excited about. Baby also has all his taste buds and can develop preferences already based on what I eat. I am feeling good,a little tired, but doing well. When I am on my feet a lot I feel the separated pelvis I had with Hannah (due to my fall) returning. The doctor said this is common because your bones naturally soften with pregnancy so it often brings up old injuries. With Hannah I couldn't even walk and I remember Tim carrying me up out apartment stairs. I just pray it doesn't get to that point again. Activities where I have to separate my legs are what hurt the most. In particular everyday things you usually do without thinking. The worst are putting on pants, stepping into a shower,and getting in and out of a car. Hannah still thinks she also has a baby in her stomach. I haven't found it in my heart to tell her otherwise yet. She thinks we should call the baby 'baby boy.' I feel like we are inching closer to a name, but still go back and forth between a few. Hitting the half way mark makes me think just how fast life flies by and I know he will be here before we know it. Below is a picture of Hannah and her best friends one year apart. Life goes so fast and I just want to enjoy each day. Coming up this week is a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and posting my 20 week: 5 month bump watch picture.

Safe to Buy Blue (or green cus that's the color of his side of the room)

Today Tim and I went for our anatomy scan and fancy birth defect screening. Good news is that everything is perfect. In fact, it is so good that the doctor said she would use our babies anatomy (heart, brain, kidneys, etc.) pictures in a textbook. My numbers are 100% which she said she never sees and joked that I am setting the curve for the whole office because he looks so perfect. Tim laughed and said it reminded him of when he asked my dad for his blessing and my dad's first comment was that when I was born I received a 10 on the apgar score. At the time, Tim didn't even know what an Apgar score was, but now he gets it that a parent is forever proud of their baby and a parent never stops believing their baby is perfect. That's the way it should be. Being a mom of a baby with a birth defect, it just felt so good to hear because I think I will forever blame myself a little for Hannah's struggles as a baby. This doctor seconded the fact that Hannah should have never gone 9 days undiagnosed. She said she likes to give colleagues the benefit of the doubt but that that was a major oversight. Anyway I digress, back to my perfect baby BOY. Yes, it is confirmed. I felt 90% sure it was boy, but finding out so early you just never know. But for anyone still skeptical see photo below. There is no doubting it. More good news, my hematoma is gone! Additionally, the office we went to specializes in baby echos. and when I told her that the daddy had open heart surgery at 29 she jumped right on it. We got a million shots of the mitral valve and looks like the valve takes after mommy because she said heart is 'beautiful.' Heart beat was 160. Baby boy was sleeping the whole time and it was a long ultrasound. They have many different imaging techniques which was interesting. Baby for sure has a normal lip and nose. The hard part to tell is palate, but based on all their measurements of various bones and how far the chin protrudes etc. it looks like palate is intact. They are going to have me come back one more time in four weeks just to verify again. I think they feel bad about what happened to Hannah so they want to be totally confident. So moral of the story, we have a boy and he looks perfect! Boy is still nameless. I promise I am not holding anything back. Tim and I talked about it the whole way to Newport and it only made me more confused. And by the time we arrived our conclusion was he might just be Tim Jr. J/K he won't be, even though I love the name Timothy. One more fun fact, baby weighed in today at 8 oz and growth is completely on tract for 9-1-13.

Baby's profile, mouth open, hand up by mouth


Sorry son, don't be mad at me someday for posting this. This is a shot of legs open (I think you can decipher the rest.)