12 Weeks!!!

We have now officially made it to 12 weeks!! Yeah! Only 1 more week and I am done with my first trimester! Oh how I never thought this day would come :) Our visit to the doctor went great. Dr. Franklin tried to find the heartbeat on the doppler but unfortunately due to my uterus' position she was unable to hear it. So she took me for an ultrasound and she was able to see it! And we were able to get an update picture of our little peanut (that's for you Auntie Karyn!)!! Okay so lets try to explain where the baby is. On the left side of the ulstraound ther eis a black area....that is my uterus. The white area on the left side of the uterus is the baby. The BIG white area on the right side of the uterus area is my placenta...the very thing that is giving my little one nutrients :)

We are very excited as the weeks pass on. Our next appointment is on April 16th! Hopefully we will be able to hear the heartbeat at that appointment. Very exciting! Last night we went and looked at cribs at Babies R Us. We have found the one that we want. Here is the picture of the crib and dresser from the company's website:

They are very sturdy and very beautiful! It will be very exciting to be able to purchase those. I can't wait until we find out what we are having so that we can pick out bedding and all that good stuff.

We have bought a few things already. We have bought some outfits, safety items (outlet plugs and cupboard things), pack of diapers and wipes, and a few other things. It is nice to be able to look at things but I can only assume it will get more fun once we find out what we are having! Also once we find out I can make a baby blanket for our little one!

Okay now we will end this blog with a picture of my baby bump :) I can't believe how much my belly has grown! Amazingly I have only gained 2 pounds this first trimester!!!!! Anyway...enjoy the belly shot! 12 weeks down...28 to go! :)

8 week ultrasound...

So our 8 week check-up went really well. It was really long though. We got a whole bunch of information which was really helpful. Our official due date is October 3rd, 2009. Seems so far away! It is going to be a long summer. We are set to deliver at Reston Hospital...which from what I hear is actually pretty nice. It is really close to which is nice.

Overall I am feeling pretty good. My morning nausea seems to be settling down a little bit which is nice. I am nearing the end of my 1st trimester (about 1 more month left) so that could be part of the reason I am sensing a little relief. When I went for my check-up, I hadn't gained any weight! That was great because I feel like I have. It was probably partly because I really couldn't eat a whole lot. However, my pants are starting to get a little snug :( Sweatpants are definitely more comfortable!!

We had another ultrasound done at our check-up. The baby has now quadrupled in size! She/he is about 1/2 inch big now. Hard to believe that when we go for our next check-up on March 19th she/he will be about 2 1/2 inches! Grows soooo quickly! Here is the ultrasound picture from our check-up:

If you can't tell...the "baby" is the white blob on the bottom right of the big black area (in between the two "+" symbols). Not much to see...but worth sharing!

So I have decided I am going to poll my family to see who all thinks it is going to be a girl and who thinks it is going to be a boy. I think it will be a boy, as does my mother-in-law but John thinks it is going to be a girl. May is too long of a time to find out!! The anticipation is driving me nuts! I don't know how my friend Karyn could not want to find out what the sex is when she has kids...she's crazy! :)

John Ski's Roundtop

On February 7th, John, Courtney, Joey, and Bob decided to try out another skiing area - Ski Roundtop. This was supposedly had cooler trails. All I know that it was on this day that Bob & John decided to try out black diamond trails and realized that they probably should have helmets if they want to do them again! I completely agreed with both of them! Overall they had a great time and put in lots of time on the slopes! Maybe next year I will get to join them!

John Ski's Liberty

John has decided this Winter, with the help of his brother, to pick up skiing! And to nobody's surprise he really enjoys it and is pretty good at it. The first couple of times he ventured to Ski Liberty which is not far from our house. He has even bought himself some ski boots, helmet (to mine and his mother's request), and some nice goggles. Below are some of the pictures from his Ski Liberty trip.

7 weeks...long way to go!

Well this is the first "Baby Stuntz" blog! I am roughly 7 weeks along...I say roughly because my hcg levels say 7 but my ultrasound says about 6 weeks and 4 days as of today. I have had my levels checked twice and they were great. I have also had 2 ultrasounds already. The last ultrasound on Wednesday (which they said I was 6 weeks) showed us the little heartbeat!!! It was so amazing to see the little beating heart. It made it feel more real. It was a very strong 107 bpm (That is very strong for a 6 week old fetus --- they say it should be between 80 - 90). The tech couldn't give us any pictures because of course we were in the room where the printer wasn't working. But they said they would put them all on a cd that I could pick up next week! So I should have a picture of the mini-Stuntz soon to share!

Overall I am feeling okay. I have quite a bit of morning/early afternoon nausea which seems to be more tolerable with fruite or juice. I am also really tired. I have been falling asleep at night between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. But then I am up the next day by like 5:30 a.m. But overall, not too bad!

John and I have thought about names already...it is so exciting to think of naming our baby. If it is a boy (which I am almost certain it will be...hahaha) it will be Benjamin James and if it is a girl it will be Alexis Madison. I have a feeling it will be a boy. Mainly because I would love a girl! I will be happy either way though :)

Our families both seem to be very excited. I think my dad is much more excited than he wants to let on! That is my dad for ya :) All of my close friends are excited too. I called Tammy the day we found out and she was really excited. I wish we were closer because I could sure use her around to keep me sane!

Well we have our 8 week appointment on Thursday at 8:00 a.m. so I will hopefully have more good news for you then! Maybe we will even have a strong heartbeat to report!

Sharing some news...

It is early...but I had to share...

Shedd Family Christmas

Okay so yeah I know it has been a looooong time since an update!! So I am going to try to catch ya up! Christmas was spent with Jennifer's dad in New York. We got there a couple of days before Christmas and stayed until Christmas day night. The night before Christmas we spent a few hours making cookies! We would have made a lot more, however, we ran out of all necessities: eggs...flour...etc! Next year hopefully we will be more prepared. The cookies turned out great though. We made raspberry stars and peanut butter cookies. Christmas morning we woke up and had the traditional "Shedd Christmas Day Breakfast" of homemade waffles and bacon! It was soooo yummy! This was the first year John has been able to experience that! It was great! Then we went over and opened stockings! I think dad was surprised that he actually had things to open in his stocking! Then on to presents! John and I got a blu-ray dvd player from my dad. So logically I got John a few blu-ray movies...as he did for me! He gave me Get Smart with Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway! I love that movie. He also gave me my Williams-Sonoma Snowman bundt cake pan that I have been wanting. Then we finished the day off with a good Christmas dinner filled with ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, and of course pie! Overall it was an awesome Christmas! Here are some pictures from out cookie extravaganza :)