Stoked to see the Stokes in Atlanta!

Sonal came to visit this weekend and we had a great time. Oh yeah, Bruce was there too! We had a lovely time. I had to stop Sonal from flashing her growing baby bump to everyone we met. She was a little outta control!! Just kidding! Sonal is about a month behind me. She is due on August 21, 2008. We had a great dinner with about 11 of my good friends on Friday. Saturday we went shopping, dinner and a movie. They had to leave on Sunday, boo! But it was great to see them! Next time we see each other, we will have some babies.

19 weeks today!

Well, we are 19 weeks today! My back kinda hurts but it always kinda has. Last year I went to the chiropractor alot but I am not really sure that helped. So I need to work on my back daily when I workout but I don't. I'm lazy. I am still hitting the gym about 5 days a week and that is still feeling great! No bump yet and still not feeling any movement. We go to the doctor on Monday for a regular OB appointment and then on Friday for a BIG ultrasound. It's the one where we could find out the gender if we wanted to.....but we aren't! Mat's friend Hutch's girlfriend Melanie is an OB and she was poking around at me on Saturday. She said the baby is about right underneath my belly button which is pretty cool. I guess it is a bit "harder" there but I still don't notice anything.

Anyway, Mat's in Costa Rica. He is going horseback riding on the beach today. He got to see monkey's yesterday so he was pretty pumped about that! This is a picture of some sort of sloth that Mat got to see. He gets back on Saturday. Hope all is well with you!

New day...new me

After much coaxing from my fabulous friends, I started wearing maturnity-type shirts. It's a big step for me and I feel good today. I am really going to try hard to do it at least once a week till I actually get a belly and am forced to!
Thank you to my girlfriends! They are the best!

Back Bedroom (soon to be nursery)

Old Back Bedroom: This is going to be the baby's room. We cleaned this room out almost completely.


We aren't going to use this map but it's one that we picked up at a yard sale. Sorry I will take a better picture of the cleared out room when I get everything out!

Front Bedroom (guest bedroom)

Old Front Bedroom: We still want to keep this room for guests (like Sonal this weekend!). We got rid of bed and moved in the bed from the back bedroom.

Here is the new! I brought in the lamps from the piano.

Did anyone see Bobby Cutts fake cry on CNN yesterday? It was quite pitiful. There aren't even tears! Just a bunch of fake crying. There are no words I have for this jerk who killed his pregnant wife and child. The other attorney just started questioning him and says "Do you have a cold Mr. Cutts? Cause I see no tears!"


Good find of the day!
I have been looking for a bike trailer even though I know it's forever away until I could possibly use it. And someone on my message board suggested a bike trailer / jogging stroller. It's two in one!! Genius! Too bad it's super expensive but it's still something that we can save up for! Genius!

17 weeks and 3 day Belly Pics!

Am I getting any bigger? I little bit above the belly button.
Mat is looking good! His pants are starting to get loose so it's all good news at the Tainow house!

How cute is this!

Thank you to Amy's mom KC Faessler! So cute!

Day Care (Vol.1)

Okay, sorry no baby belly pictures yet. Since there is no real change, maybe we will do this every other week to see if there is a difference.

So Mat and I went to a couple daycare centers on Friday. Here is the low-down.

Central Presbyterian Church
So we show up on time and walked right in. I saw a keypad near the door but we didn't need it. We just walked right in. Mat was looking all around the place. Going up and looking in all the kids in the classrooms. I was looking for the person who we were meeting. We found the person who we were meeting and she began the tour. The daycare was really nice. It was not new, kinda old fashioned. It was a Church after all. There were 3 teachers for the nursery alone so the ratios were really good. They have a nursery, 1 year-old toddler room, 2 year-old toddler room and then they go upstairs with the bigger kids. They do daycare till 5-years old. In the nursery they wrote down when the kid pooped/peed, each feeding and when a diaper was changed. That goes home with each parent. It seemed helpful. Each room had a schedule that they followed. Outdoor time, reading, naps, etc. Everything looked good. No tv's in the classrooms. So after the tour I whipped out my list of questions. I started off with asking why we can just walk into the building without anyone stopping us. She said that this is not the norm and a parent must have not shut the door behind them. I guess parents have a key code specifically to them. And that's what they use to get in the building. We will have to go back and check on that again. Otherwise I liked it. She answered all my questions. The location is really, really convenient for both Mat and I and it's about $350/month cheaper than turner. On our way out, we spoke to a Dad who had 3 sons. We asked him how he like it. He said that all 3 go there and they love it. They are members of the church and drive quite a distance just to go there. He said the teachers are sooo nice. So that was nice to hear.
Sooooo, overall I liked it. We will probably sign up on the waiting list.

CNN/Turner
This was the place that said they could only offer a tour from 10-2. So we said screw that and we went anyway. They let me in cause I had a CNN id and then followed other parents in. No one was at the front desk so we went and found the director and he was totally cool about giving us a tour. He showed us all around. It amazes me that they allow 9 babies in the nursery for the 4,000 employee's at this company. It seemed much like the church only more high-tech. Newer toys. A bit newer/nicer facility. Anyway, the director said there is nothing we can do about the waiting list. Blurgh. On the way out we talked to a mom about how she liked Turner. She said she LOVED it. But said that her daughter was 6 months before she got in. She had another newborn but I didn't ask her about the sibling policy. I should have. Anyway, we are on the waiting list there.

Mat said that I need to be more direct in my questioning. He said that I would start out asking a question and then ask 5 others in the mean time. I guess I was nervous and getting jumbled. So I am going to work on that.

16 week update!

So I told my doctor about the pains and she said it was just my uterus stretching. Completely normal. She listened to the heartbeat which was nice and strong. The doctor said she saw the pictures and numbers from my 12 week ultrasound and said that it looked like the baby was in a 19 year old!!

I have another big Ultrasound and check-up at 20 weeks, at the end of February. I have gained only 4 pounds so apparently that is good!

Mat and I will take some belly pictures tonight!

Feeling Strange...

So, I have been feeling really strange for the past 2 days. I have felt a really strong stretching-sort of sharp pain in my lower abdomen. Like maybe at the bottom of my uterus? Sometimes I have felt a sharp pain over on the right, same lower abdomen area. The sharp pain came back later that night when I was laying on the couch but it only last for just a second.

Today I am sitting at my desk and getting all kinds of oh! and ouch! feelings in the same lower abdomen area. I just happen to be going to the doctor today so I am going to have her check it out.

Sorry I can't describe it better. I know that there is a lot of stretching going on around this time. And I know that I might be able to start feeling the baby soon. This is the first time I have felt this poorly. I posted this on my message board and someone said something about "Round Ligament Pain". I looked it up and it seems to be exactly what I am feeling.

I have a doctors appointment at 4pm today. I am hoping for another ultrasound but I am not getting my hopes up. I'll keep you posted!!

Great weekend :-)

Well, we had a great weekend. Talked to the neighbors about some daycare possibilities. Talked to our other neighbors about possibly renting out another neighbors house for the family.

We are heading to the doctor tomorrow. Probably just a checkup with the doppler. I am keeping my fingers crossed for an u/s.

Mat read a book sent to us by Lauren, Crawling: A Father's First Year. Mat read the entire thing in one day and seemed quite moved by the book. I started it and hopefully will finish it soon. If I don't fall asleep which I seem to be doing everywhere!

15 weeks!

We are 15 weeks along today! Woohoo! We go back to the doctor next Tuesday but things are going well! Mat and I are officially #100 on the Turner Daycare yesterday. I got two bags of maternity clothes from a couple girls at work. But I also blew through my Christmas target gift card from Terry for some maternity clothes this weekend as well! We are hearing the heartbeat pretty regularly on the doppler. It comes through loud and strong. I told my co-workers this week and they were all very excited. Since most of them know Mat, it was really special.
Don't forgot to do the poll! Will it be a boy or girl??

14 weeks, 5 days

So far my co-workers are enjoying the blue and pink funfetti cupcakes I brought in to tell them about my pregnancy. It's great to see thier reactions. I have only had to explain it to a couple people cause they didn't "get it". We all work staggered shifts so the fun will continue until the last people get here at 4pm. These are pictures of my girlfriends helping me with the cupcakes!

14 week belly post

As mine gets bigger, Mat would like to document his getting smaller. Hopefully we will do this weekly. I am pooching out above and below the belly button. Kinda strange! When I stand up and start feeling around on my belly, I do notice some changes. It's all very surreal!

13 weeks and 6 days

Okay, I signed up for Daycare. Yeah, I can't believe I am typing those words. Apparently the Turner daycare list is incredibly long and it's first come-first serve. We will see!

It's not really in the building but it's "close". I live about 4 miles from work. The daycare is about 6 miles from home. So it's about 2 miles further than work. My old boss and his wife (who both work here) say it's so much better that it's not inside this building. Don't know what that means but I am taking their word for it.

My friend has been on this list since December and hasn't moved one spot. It's basically one in-one out. And if you aren't ready when the daycare has a spot for you, then you have to pay to hold the spot...or give it up and move to the back of the list. If you are ready and the day-care isn't, then you have to find somewhere else to go until the daycare is ready for your child. Apparently, it's a nightmare. But it's very trust worthy.

And of course, ridiculously expensive. I shutter to even think about how we are going to be able to afford it. But as my boss says, you get what you pay for. You want a cheaper daycare, then you are going to get a "cheaper" daycare. You get what you pay for. It's also more expensive for newborns since they require so much attention. As the child learns new things (to eat, to go to the bathroom) the cost goes down a bit. Ahh, I am going to love spending an entire paycheck on daycare!

13 weeks, 1 day

I have to say that today is a great relief to have made it this far. I am blessed. Things are going well. There seems to be lots of stretching and "things" going on downtown but whenever I feel this way, I hook up the doppler to quickly find the heart beat. Yesterday I did really good and found it right away. Other than that, it has been fun being a bit more open about the pregnancy. I told my hair dresser last night.

The other day, someone gave me an updated version of the "what to expect when you are expecting" and he was reading it to me last night. He kept saying, "are you awake". I would say "yes", even though I was totally sleeping. And he would read something interesting. I would make some comment and then continue sleeping. It was funny when I thought about it this morning. He is totally into all this.

Any email I wrote to my friend Kelly who was freaking about possibly starting to TTC.

"Yeah, I am freaked too. Who wouldn't be! But Mat is only getting older and it kinda just happened pretty quick. So here we go!

But I would love to have a prego friend. I have no one that is pregnant here. It totally sucks and I really feel totally alone. But I am just going to stay focused on trying to not gain ridiculous amounts of weight and to try and to stay positive.

I don't really have a problem with needles. I just don't look. I needed to get my blood draw alot at the beginning and even more during my miscarriage. All these levels raise up when you are pregnant and then after you have a miscarriage they have to fall back down. So I was going back like every other day for blood work. But it took just a couple seconds and I was back in my car in 15 mins. I think the drive there might have been longer than the actual appointment!

I am all about the epidural. They already asked me if I wanted one and I said "HELLS YES"! From what I can tell on the baby story shows, you can't even see them give you the epidural so I am not really scared about that. It goes in your back. I have never been in a hospital so that will be super strange. I haven't EVER been in the hospital for anything except once when I had an urinary infection.

The watermelon thing...yeah. I am pretty freaked out by that but I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will have to have a c-section. I don't know why but my sister had two and that seems the "norm" to me so I am hoping that for some reason, I will have to have that. If they ask me, I am certainly signing up!! But lots of people have had the watermelon come out their hole so if it must be done, then so be it. Just part of life baby.

It's been pretty exciting so far. Mat is 110% into it so he is like my 2nd doctor. I haven't read a single book and he is on his 10th. So all I do is ask Mat "Can I do this" & "Can I do that". I like that I am getting bigger/fatter and not caring. I get new clothes which is a great new perk. I just got two new pair of maternity pants and I am loving them. Amy is going to help me find a new bar cause I am growing out of mine super fast. And I get to see you all when I am super prego (at Karla's wedding). Still sad about Cedar Point but oh well.

Seriously, if you have any more questions/concerns/freak outs, just ask. Cause I am probably freaking out about the same thing!! Just limit your watching of Baby Story and Maternity Ward. You might freak yourself out for good!"

12 weeks, 6 days

Gosh, I am bad about keeping this blog!! I wil try to be better. So this weekend we told the grandparents and family members. Everyone was very happy for us. We got lots of loevly emails and phone calls. Mat's grandma Frances squealed. Grandma Gilda got teary eyed. My grandmas were super excited. Grandma Beckett told me she didn't think this was ever going to happen. Ha! Anyway, so that was fun.

So we had our NT scan yesterday. The nurse came in and started the ultrasound. It was soooooooo cool to see everything so clearly. The baby wasn't moving much so both DH and I looked straight for the heartbeat and saw it right away. That was quite a sigh of relief. I was pretty uncomfortable because I really full bladder. But the full bladder was appreciated but the doctor. The nurse couldn't get the baby to flip so they could see the back of the neck (for the down syndrome measurement). The nurse said nothing which was really disconcerning. So after poking around for like 5 mins (and saying nothing) she said that the doctor would be in. So we were sweating for what seemed like forever until the doctor came in and put our minds at ease. Everything looked great! He pointed out everything that we were supposed to be seeing. At this point, the baby was moving all around and they were able to take all the measurements and such. It was great!! I gave some blood and we were outta there! I should get my blood results in one week.

Last night I finally got to tell my girlfriends. Amy, Amanda, Jess, Angel and Katie were all there. They were so excited and loved the magnets. Woohoo! I called Kelly and Karla at half-time and told them. They were super excited too. I told E this morning. Everyone seems genuinely excited for us.

Kelly had a list of questions for me so here are my answers.
what room is the nursery going to be and what is it going to look like?: The nursery is going to be a "map" related/themed. Mat and I are obsessed with maps. We actually already have several that we have collected over our years from all of our travelling. I know it's more boy-like but it's going to be cute even if it's a girl. We are converting the back bedroom into the nursery. So any decorating ideas you can send them my way. Jess, your HGTV watching skills might come in handy.

when did you find out?: We found got the first positive result on November 10. Apparently I am a late ovulator cause I still had no positive result one week after my period was due. The same thing happened the month before when I miscarried.

how far along were you in july when you miscarried?: I wasn't too far along when I miscarried in July. I got that positive result in August and the bleeding started that following week. It was a natural miscarriage which was okay. It sucked but it was okay. I figured I would be opened about the m/c since 1 in 3 pregnancies end that way. Chances are, there will be several of us who will or might have had one unfortunately. (Way to be Debbie Downer Kenzi!!!)

As I told the girls last night, thank goodness I used BC for all these years cause I got preggers right away, both times! Mat likes to tell people he has good aim.

how are you feeling? pukey at all?: The first weeks in December, I was a bit queasy. Every morning I felt like I was gonna puke but didn't. It was so annoying. Then when we went to Spain it all kinda went away. But I figured it was just cause we were constantly on the go. Then since I have gotten back, I have been feeling okay. I think the pressure of keeping this all a secret was getting to me cause I feel like a big weight has been lifted. Honestly, now that you all know, it's so much better.

It's been a struggle to get from appointment to appointment without completely freaking out. Having a miscarriage can bust your confidence like no other. But Mat is always right there supporting me and getting me back on the positive side of things. I go back to the doctor at the end of this month which will be great and yet another sigh of relief.

do you have any names picked out?: We do have a girl name picked out. Amanda was asking if we were into old, new, funky names. We are more names based on our family history. But of course we are going to keep you guessing until Baby T is born.

Great 12 week appointment!

Soooooo we went in and the doctor said that she was just going to listen to the h/b. We were kinda bummed cause I thought we would have an ultrasound. Mat and I have a doppler at home and in the past, we have found the heartbeat really quickly. So the doctor whips out the doppler (that looks just like ours at home) but then she was having problems finding the h/b. She was like "oh well :wink wink: too bad I will have to get the ultrasound" Yeah! Mat just winks at me. I know he could find it real quick but who doesn't want an ultrasound! On the outside of the belly this time. No getting naked! Woohoo!

Yeah for week 12!
So she whips out the ultrasound machine and we see our little baby going all crazy! His/Her arms & legs were moving all around! It was so cool! Then it would stop and be still. Then move again! Sooooooo cool. I just can't believe it's going to get even cooler than this. The doctor took a couple pictures that just look like blobs. I'll post them tonight. The moving images were just so much better. I let Mat call the families cause he was just so excited.

12 weeks and 2 day

If all goes well today (appointment at 4pm) we are going to tell Grandparents and Mat's brother either today, or this weekend, or whenever we get around to it.

If all goes well on Monday (appointment at 2:30pm) we are going to tell my friends at our OSU viewing party at my friend Amy's house.

Here is what I decided on to get my girlfriends and Kari. The ornaments were too expensive. Obviously it's going to say 2008. Sorry about the old picture.