Dr. Appointment #4

I had my fourth doctor's appointment yesterday; I exactly 18 weeks. My appointment went very well. My blood pressure and other vitals were normal and my weight continues to be healthy and on track. We found the baby's heart rate right away with the doppler. Per Dr. McGrew the baby's heart rate was somewhere between 150-160 beats per minute. The heartbeat was very strong and loud (I wonder where the baby gets that from)?! Final bit of good news is that I am not retaining any excess fluid, so that is always good.

I am anxiously awaiting feeling the first movement of our little miracle...I feel that it is coming soon. Hopefully I will be able to blog about that soon!

What a Sunday

It was a very eventful Sunday. We woke up at 6:30 AM to get ready for the 1st annual Run @ the Roo 5K at the University of Akron. I was very excited about the race. My goal was to run the entire time and (if possible) run the 5K (3.1 miles) in under 35 minutes. The weather conditions were a little cold and windy, but I am happy to report that I completed the 5K with a time of 30:00 I was 143 overall out of 260 people (which for being 17 weeks pregnant isn't too shabby). I felt so great the entire run; I had a lot of the excitement from the race to keep me going. I did not push myself hard...I actually thought I was running very slow as I had a watch on (that I borrowed from Lauren) but there were no mile markers throughout the race. When I got into the stadium toward the finish the aannouncer was yelling "you can make it in 30" and I got very excited!

Before the race when Lauren and I were warming up and stretching I said wouldn't it be crazy if I felt the baby move for the first time during the race? Luckily I didn't but I am happy to report that Baby Beyer made it through his/her first 5K with flying colors.

Later on this afternoon my mom and I went maternity clothes shopping as I will soon be at the point when my clothes just look a little odd, I am not there quite yet, but it is coming soon. I am happy to report that we found a nice assortment of sun dresses, work pants, and shirts that I can wear to work or out. I was so happy to be shopping with my mom and very blessed to have here there with me as I rummaged through the racks of maternity craziness. Thanks for being so great mom.

I think after all of that excitement I am very ready to relax for the night. Our next doctor's appointment is this Friday, April 22...more after that.

Belly Pictures 17 Weeks

For all of you that have been dying to see these you will finally get your wish! Here are pictures of me at 17 weeks and 2 days. While my bump is easy to see in person, in the pictures the "roundness" is less then impressive. I am happy to report that through the first 17 weeks I have gained a healthy amount of weight and I am on track (actually slightly under) as advised by my OB/GYN (I figured I am saving it all for later when I gain like 10 pounds overnight)!

Enjoy!

It Happened

So it happened….I “popped.” At the end of March when my good friend Renee was in town for our friend Erin’s baby shower, Renee and I were talking about when I was really going to start showing. Renee looked at me and said “Don’t worry at some point during your second trimester you will just POP.” Well she was right! I think Monday or Tuesday morning after I took my shower I was looking at my stomach and noticed that it was significantly more round then it was 8 hours prior when I went to bed. Now granted it wasn’t necessary that much bigger (I mean it was a little), but it just got very round over night. Joe agreed that it did get a lot rounder overnight. So there you have it. Now that I am “round” in the middle I have decided that it is ridiculous to attempt to hide it at work. I mean I am not walking around wearing baby tees or anything (like we all wore in high school…lol), but at the same time I know that I should just be proud of the bump and if it wants to stick out well I should just let it.

On another exciting note my friend Lauren and I are running in the University of Akron 5K (3.1 miles) on Sunday. I am very excited about it. Lauren and I ran 3 miles last night (which I ran the whole time) and it felt great. I did not run terribly fast, but my goal is just to have fun and run the whole time Sunday morning.

More exciting news to come after the race!!

A special shout out to Erin who started her third trimester yesterday! I was looking at my calendar and realized that I start my third trimester on June 30 which means that less than a week after I start my T3 Miss Delainey will be arriving…I know we are all SO excited.

Sunday Morning Dad Scribbles Volume 5

Yesterday, Marissa and I visited with my Great Aunt Irene who turns 90 next month.  Aunt Irene is an incredible woman with a passion for children and the miracle of giving birth.  It was nice to sit down and talk with her as she asked question after question and smiled through it all.  There were times where she was even choked up about it all.  We talked for almost two hours until both Marissa and even my stomach began to growl.  It was a very nice visit.

On Saturday we had some friends over to watch the Final Four and play some games.  I was glad to see that my buddy brought over their daughter and our god-daughter Maddie.  She is an amazing little girl who is around 2 years old.  I can start to see our lives changing towards more parties and gathering with little ones running around and soon it will be parties revolved around their concerts, plays and/or sporting events.  I especially enjoyed that little girl always checking on where I was and her little voice saying "joe?!"  Jason and Sarah are expecting their second in August I believe and hopefully we can raise our children together and Maddie will be that Big Sister to everyone.

Lastly, Marissa will kill me for writing this, but be careful around her lately - another "symptom" has arose!  Let's just say sometimes she is waking me up in the middle of the night.  I thought I was the only one in the family that could clear a room/dance floor.  Hey, it happens, right?  It's science.