16 Weeks and A Big Sister Update

Well... today marks the completion of my 16th week of pregnancy.


We're pretty excited about it, because this Friday - December 13th - we go to find out the gender of this baby! When I was pregnant with Ada, our entire family (literally - my parents, siblings, Jordan's brother's family and my grandparents) loaded up and headed to Atlanta. We went to a place called Stork Vision and all found out at the same time whether Ada was a girl or a boy. It was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything! However, with this pregnancy, trying to find a day that everyone could go was difficult - especially since my siblings are spread out over 3 different states now (Missouri, New York and Texas). So, we decided to just have the sonographer at my OB do a gender reveal sonogram. 
This time, instead of a room full of people, it will just be Jordan, my mom and myself. We contemplated bringing Ada in, and up until yesterday - that was the plan. We've now decided to let her hang out with my grandmother while we go and telling her ourselves. 

There were a couple of reasons we decided to do it this way:
1. The sonographer at my OB isn't the most pleasant woman you've ever been around. I'm sure it will be a very dry "It's a boy." or "It's a girl.", and I was sad thinking about not getting to witness or experience Ada's reaction. 


2. I'm a faithful reader of the "DIY" blog Young House Love. Seriously... sometimes I talk as if Sherry and I are BFF's and Jordan just makes fun of me. Sherry and John are expecting their second, and they have a 3 year old. They blogged about how they told Clara, and I LOVED it. In fact, my plan is to do the exact same thing, and video tape Ada's reaction!! I can't wait! I think I'm more excited about her reaction than I am about actually finding out the gender!


Of course we'll have family and friends to share the news with before I share it on here or on Facebook... we're already brainstorming some creative ways to share with my siblings so that they all find out around the same time... (we're thinking a mass FaceTime or Skype session)... Once we've shared with our family and close friends - I'll most definitely blog about it!

Ultimately, we couldn't care less what the gender of this baby is. We're just so thankful that God's blessed us with another sweet baby! But, my hunch is that it's a boy. Jordan's hunch is that it's a girl, and Ada has said from the beginning that she was getting a baby brother. We'll see - hopefully - on Friday!

What do you guys think it will be?

Moving on to Big Sister Ada. 

As I've mentioned before, Ada couldn't be more excited about her new baby coming! We can only hope the same enthusiasm is sustained... after the baby actually comes. haha.

Being the firstborn of five children, I feel like I can relate to Ada in a way that is special. After all, her world is about to be rocked. For three years, she's been the center of attention. She's our first child, my parents first grandchild... etc. Now, a new baby is about to come in and take some of that attention off of Ada. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Ada will still get PLENTY of attention - probably too much, but we wanted to try to prevent Ada from feeling that she has to "work for" or "earn" the attention and affection of those around her. 

So, from the beginning, we've tried to help Ada establish and embrace her role in this new journey. One of the first things we did was enroll her in a dance class. Why? Because we wanted her to have something that was hers. She'll have to share parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, toys, etc. with the new baby, but dance class is something that is hers. 

This dance class has proven to be just a joy for her and for us! We love watching her learn and try new things! Obviously, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know that we struggle sometimes with paying attention and following directions - but, we're improving. 

Ada had her first performance this past weekend. 

They danced in the Quintard Mall to Rosemary Clooney's "Suzy Snowflake". Ada did great! Of course she didn't do all the moves perfectly - and she even went rogue a couple of times. She almost refused to do her front roll out of concern for "messing up her hair"... but, she did it - and she loved every minute of it. After it was over, she said "Mommy, I'm so proud of myself."

Click Here To Watch Ada's "Suzy Snowflake" Dance - She's second from the right! 

Early on, when talking to Ada about the baby, we realized that even though she seemed to understand what would happen, she had NO concept of when it would happen. So, I whipped out some construction paper and did the first thing that came to my mind... a "Big Sister" chain.

I made a link for every week until Week 40. Every Tuesday, Ada gets to take a link off of her chain, and she understands that as the chain gets shorter - it's getting closer to time for the baby to come!

She's super into this. It makes it more real for her.

This is a terrible picture I snapped with my phone, but you can see the chain hanging from her window.





Well, I'll leave you with an "Ask Big Sister Ada"! 

The next post should be one revealing whether Baby Weathers is a HE or a SHE!

1. Mommy's belly is the size of a _____________ ? A computer

2. The baby, right now, is the size of a ______________ ? A coconut

3. What are you most excited to help with once the baby gets here? Changing his poopie diapers

15 Weeks

I've just finished my 15th week of pregnancy. I have to say that this week has been the best one yet.

Maybe it's because Jordan and I were off for most of the week, so we were able to spend lots of time together as a family.

Or, it could be because I can finally feel little flutters in my tummy and I love it.

We went yesterday for a sonogram, just to rule out placenta previa, and everything looked great! We got to see our sweet baby wiggle and squirm, and we got to see his/her little heart beating. I was a little disappointed in the picture we got. Apparently, since she was just checking the location of my placenta, she snapped a picture at a really odd angle. You can't see his/her profile and their poor brain looks all separated from itself.

It actually freaked me out a little bit, so I whipped it out of my purse and asked Dr. Daniel to take a look at it.

Can I just stop and say AGAIN (because I know I've said it a million times) how much we love Dr. Daniel and his nurses? I expressed my concerns (even though they were somewhat outrageous) and he took the time to go over every little aspect of that sonogram picture to put my mind at ease.

While I'm on the subject of Dr. D, I guess I'll go ahead an open this can of worms... warning... it could get wordy.

At my 12 week appointment, Dr. Daniel caught us off guard by asking us how we wanted to "have this baby". We were caught off guard, not because we hadn't been thinking or praying about it, but because he asked us so early. We'd already made a decision - to try and have a natural, unmedicated birth this time - but I felt that I'd need to "sell" him on it... especially because of my birthing experience with Ada.

Let me explain...

I was 22 years old when I had Ada. 22... Oh so young and naive. I had all kinds of preconceived ideas about pregnancy and birth, and I was (and still am to a certain extent) a control freak.

I wanted to have my baby when I wanted and how I wanted, and anything I could do to try and work that scenario out I did.

I chose to be induced. I don't like surprises. Anyone who knows me well would tell you that. I don't like not being aptly prepared for situations... at all. So, the answer for me was to be induced. To beg to be induced. Seriously... I begged. It was pitiful. We got our date... I was so proud. I fixed my hair, put on my make-up, and be-bopped into Labor and Delivery without a care in the world. Oh boy... naive I tell you.

Once we were all settled in, I asked for an epidural THE MINUTE I started feeling contractions. I didn't want to feel any pain. I was afraid of it, and I knew there was an option not to feel it. I was proud of my decision a couple of hours in. Tons of friends and family were coming in and out of my delivery room. We were laughing and talking... my brother and sisters were even playing a game with how high the "number" on the monitor went when I had a contraction. Things were great... or so I thought.

I'm not sure when it all started going downhill, but it did. Not dangerously downhill by any means (Ada was fine and her oxygen levels were beautiful throughout the entire process)... things just changed from my "idealistic" situation to one that was completely out of my control. I won't go through the entire story, but it consisted of..

a second epidural, lots of nausea and vomiting, pain (due to the fact that the 2nd epidural only numbed half of my body), and an almost c-section

I want to stop here and say this. There are too many young mothers out there who have all sorts of information shoved down their throats, and it's doing nothing but putting fear in their hearts and doubt in their minds.

What we should be doing is encouraging them to pray... to research. Sure, we can share our experiences and knowledge with them, but we should do it in a way that is loving and encouraging. We shouldn't try to scare them into making decisions by using cold statistics and scary experiences we've found on the internet.

I am in NO way anti-induction or anti-epidural. I've seen and heard of too many deliveries where things went great. Our decision to have a natural (unmedicated) birth came from my own experience and a desire to "try something different". Seriously... that's it.

After having Ada, I knew that my experience with induction meds and epidurals wasn't great, and so we thought "if that didn't work, let's try it another way".

I have done TONS of research over the last 3 years. I've read articles, watched documentaries, read books, talked to other mothers who've given birth naturally, etc.... but the biggest thing we've done is pray. We've prayed for 3 years that when God gave us another opportunity to bring a child into this world, that He would give us a peace about how to bring them into this world.

And He has. He confirmed it big time during our conversation with Dr. Daniel... he was SO supportive, and 100% on board. He even got excited and giddy talking about all the "new" options available to mothers who want to give birth naturally at RMC (the hospital where I'll deliver). He couldn't emphasize enough how much he thought this was a great decision for us.

I have to say, I'm excited for delivery. I have a lot more preparing to do. It's no joke getting ready to deliver naturally.

I'll leave you with a weekly "Ask Ada"...

1. What color hair do you think the baby will have? brown

2. How much do you think the baby will weigh when he/she is born? 10 pounds

3. What's the first thing you'll teach the baby when he/she gets here? Duck Duck Goose