Catching up with the Busans: A Baby's on the Way!

We are having our first baby! We also live about 2000 miles away from our dear family so I thought to keep everyone updated with what's been going on so it at least "feels" like you were here with us (at least a bit closer).

You'll get to not only join us in the baby's progress but also in the interesting, albeit very foreign (and somewhat alienish), physical changes and watch as my waistline grows in every direction. 



I don't think they know what they're in for...

   Enjoy and Welcome to our "baby blog"!

Finding out...

As some of you know, we had lost our first pregnancy last spring through a random occurance called a "blighted ovum".  This means that early on, the development of the embryo ceases for no known reason and it becomes an unviable pregnancy.  It was pretty sad, but we knew that God was in control of this and there was nothing we could do.  So we trusted that if God wanted this for us, we would have kids.

Job 1:21 "...the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

Mr. Squeakers wanted to help out; it was a good try!

So when we decided to try again, we trusted God will be faithful.  And He was! We found out on an early Saturday morning in November that sure enough, we were pregnant! (I of course took several tests to make sure, but all came back positive).

Of course, wanting to be cautious before telling anyone, we told only a couple of trusted friends who knew what we went through before, just to keep us in prayer, until we would pass through the first trimester. 

At 7 weeks, we had our first appointment with the ob-gyn and our first ultrasound.  Unlike last time, we saw something in the picture and the ultrasound tech said "there is the flutter of the heart beat!".  Pretty big feeling of relief to actually see something there!

First view of our little "squid"

The first trimester...man, ohman, ohman...

Wow, can I really put into words what a first trimester is like? I know everyone's experience differs but you can really have certain expectations:
1) It will be bad.
2) You can't do anything about it.
3) I couldn't really imagine what "it could be worse" felt like in the day-to-day.
4) Throwing up doesn't provide relief.
5) There is a light at the end of the tunnel. 

Thankfully, I had a couple of really great things on my side: my awesome husband, Robert who got me snacks, drinks and let me just lounge on the couch while he washed dishes, I got to work from home most days of the week, and it got alot better around 10 weeks, rather than 14+ like I feared. 

But it does for those weeks, make you wonder how will you ever get past 9 weeks of throwing up, burning stomachs, nonstop burping, bloating and nausea AND are you crazy to ever do this to yourself again? Hang in there...if I could do it, anyone can, as I seriously have little to no tolerance for any kind of pain (in other words, I'm a big baby).

On Christmas Day, we decided to tell Rober't family. It was pretty great seeing their reaction, especially my mother-in-law! And I got it on tape.

At our 10 week ultrasound-the day after Christmas, we were able to see the baby alot more clearly.  Kind of crazy how quickly it goes from a strange blobbish shape to an actual babyish shape.


Baby at 10 weeks

 

12 weeks puts us at 3 months and generally the time where most people start publicly telling people that they are pregnant.  BUT because I really wanted to surprise my family in person, we would have to wait a little while longer until we went out to California to visit. 

12 Weeks

I though alot about how we could share the news and of course wanted to be somewhat original, so I came across the idea to create a picture book. I gathered a bunch of pictures of Robert, I and the cats since we left California and then lead them all to the end where the kitties were anxiously awaiting becoming a "big brother and big sister" (see first post) and then the ultrasound above. 

On January 6th we had our 12 week ultrasound.  The baby was so much clearer here.  I saw the heartbeat, the arm moving around and you could see the spine and bones in the mouth.  Very cool!

Baby at 12 Weeks

We went out to California at week 13 and I knew it'd be a little hard to hide as my belly had started to show some but I tried to suck it in until Robert got there. The reaction was pretty cool when my mom was looking through the book and got to the end and got all excited-I was a little afraid she would miss it because of all the commotion in the room! Eloise and Crina were busy keeping the kids under control because they just opened up their presents (bad idea to let them do it first!) so when Eloise heard my mom, she looked shocked.  My dear and very clever older sister of course, found out a little early on accident the day before when she came across an ultra sound picture on my phone (which I should have been more careful about deleting!!) But nonetheless, everyone was super excited for us and the plans for who was coming when began. 

We then called my dad on Skype since he couldn't be with us and when I showed him the picture of the cats in their sweaters, I said, "Dad, the cats are gonna get a new brother or sister".  My dad, of course thinking I was referring to another cat, was like "Oh no no!"  Robert realizing my dad didn't understand what I meant, clarified. He was very happy and probably relieved that it wasn't another pet and wished us a healthy pregnancy.

By the end of the week, we had left to go to LA and spend some good times with Robert's family and got to also tell a lot of people from church which was really nice to hear their well-wishes.  Everyone kept saying "Oh! You're showing!"-little did they realize part of the showing was due to "a few extra holiday treats".  The end of our trip led us to entering week 14 and the official end of the first trimester. Hoorah!




Belly at 14 weeks

Second trimester!

So supposedly the second trimester is the "golden age" of pregnancy.  You feel great, have energy, have stopped getting sick over everything you've shoved down your gullut...

Well, for the most part-they are right. You feel pretty close to normal. Except that very soon you'll begin to:
Have a larger appetite (just a tad bit of course)...and you need a special pregnancy belly band to hold up your pants because none of them zip up, and it's starting to hurt to put your socks and shoes on...and you go to the bathroom like every 10 minutes..all night long. Also, a strange occurance-your nose gets super stuffy due to the pregnancy.

The great thing is by now, you are in the clear as far as the survival of the baby.  Obviously something can always happen, but by the time you reach the second trimester, the baby is generally pretty safe. 

Also, I can only say so much as to how the Lord has blessed me with a job in which I get to work full-time from home.  So, no matter if I have a doctor appointment or I don't feel well, I'm right where I want to be and it's a great feeling.  I don't deserve it, but I'm so grateful. I think this has made being pregnant so much easier.  I get to see Robert pretty often, we spend time together at lunch, and I get to have the cats around me all day long! I love it.

 

 

 

 

 

Week 15-16

Since starting this blog a little late, I'm going to do a little catch up and then you can see more regular current updates so here are some pictures of the belly growth progressing:

Week 15

Week 16 meant we reached the 4 month mark. This week we had our 16 week doctor appointment and ultrasound. The really nice thing about the doctor we see is they do ultrasounds like everytime. So where some people may have only seen 2 ultrasounds, we have had at least 4. So this week during the ultrasound, I asked the tech if she could tell what was the baby's gender. She looked around and said "It's a boy!". I asked her if she was sure and she said "Well, where most babies are hiding, the one is very much out in the open!" She pointed with an arrow and printed out a picture for us. 

 

It's kind of crazy when you first hear that it's going to be a boy or a girl because that will be a huge indicator of how your life with this new baby will be. Robert and I didn't really prefer one over the other but thought it might be nice to start with a girl. They seem cute and quiet but when you find out it's the opposite, you start thinking of all the great things you can do if you have a boy (and start worrying about the scary things), plus the namesake has been established and neither Robert or I grew up with a brother so it'll be really interesting. We told our family soon after and my mother-in-law was the only one that thought we would have a boy. My sisters, mom, dad and cousin all thought it'd be a girl. Although, Eloise did say she just recently had changed her mind! We will confirm it with the doctor at our 20 week appointment when we will have the fetal survey (which I'm not exactly sure what that is). Here is the picture we got-what do you think?

 

 

 



Week 16

Week 17-18

Since this is my first pregnancy, everything is very strange and new.  It's a unique experience and firsts are always pretty awesome because you'll never have them again.  They are also a little unsettling at times because you just don't know what to expect.

So during week 17 as I was working on the computer I felt this strange tapping sensation in my belly.  At first I wasn't sure if it was just air bubbles popping from my stomach digesting but then it happened again.  I put my hands on my belly and sure enough I felt a kick or punch or whatever it may have been! I also started getting these strange sensations sort of like some kind of a cramp that would last for a few seconds and I figured-I think maybe the baby is rotating around cuz it just did not feel normal. It seemed to happen randomly, but I could really feel something moving around or something was happening.  It definitely gives it this alien feeling that something is alive in your belly but it is also pretty cool, that the baby is finally big enough to sense his presence. I tried several times to have Robert catch the tapping but it would always stop, of course.

I can only imagine it will be quite painful when the baby is huge and also stretching and punching around my organs. Yikes!

 

Week 17

 

I'm currently now at 18 and a half weeks.  The baby has been quite active and the "kicks" happen pretty often.  I was able to even see the kick a couple of times through the skin and feel it quite a few times with my hand.  I called Robert over when it seemed the baby was kicking several times in a row and he finally felt a little kick and thought it was "so cool".