Dying for a kick

One thing I've always wondered about was what it would feel like to have a baby kicking inside me. Knowing I probably wouldn't have kids, I felt I would really miss this experience.

And wouldn't you know it. Little Muffin hasn't been much of a kicker. It was several weeks after you're "supposed" to feel them. One night, I was having my usual one-person, 4 am party. My hands were on my belly, kind of meditating and feeling for any sign of life. Finally, I said the first thing I'd said out loud to the baby.

I said, "what are you doing, baby, and why won't you make yourself known to me?". About 10 seconds later, I felt it. The baby moved. It was amazing. In my groggy state, I almost thought it was a dream. But I'm so happy it wasn't.

I have learned the secret to feeling your baby kick is to be still and quiet. Also I'm so grateful to my business partner Aaron, who explained it almost feels like a spasm. This helped me make sure I was feeling for the right thing.

Feeling something move from the inside has definitely been a highlight of pregnancy. I can't wait till it's big enough to feel from the outside so Kirk can feel it too!

Five months and six days!

Happy 5 month pre-birthday, Little Muffin!

Things are really flying now! I feel great, still very peaceful and calm, which is such a blessing. We even got to have our anatomy ultrasound Thursday. It was so exciting – I got teary, as usual, when I saw the muffin moving around, heart beating, etc. Wouldn't you get teary too if you saw this on the monitor?

And if it’s possible to compound joy at such an event, we did, because Melinda went with us. She was shaking, she was so excited, and it made the whole thing more fun and exciting. We didn’t look at the gender (much to Melinda’s dismay, dare I say harassmentJ), but the doctor said the baby looks wonderful.

I have been in Colorado camping with my folks, so I’ll put up my 5 month picture here ASAP, as well as I’m hoping pictures of the muffin.

Stay tuned!

JibJab announcement

JibJab quit putting our "We're Pregnant!" message at the end of our video announcement to people, so we had to cancel the service. But not before we took a little video of it. I've watched it hundreds of times and can't get enough. Priceless. Enjoy!

The big announcement to Portland gals

This week, I got to tell my Portland book club gals about being pregnant, and it was SO fun!

Jenn and Kara knew, so they wanted a piece of the action of telling everyone. So Jenn brought her camera, and we all agreed how we would get it all on film. So we got everyone together, and said:
1....
2....
KENDRA'S PREGNANT! (all in unison) before the CLICK!

Here's the stream of how it happened. First, here are Kara and Jenn (on the ends) making the announcement with me (behind the camera):

People starting to react...

It's starting to set in:

Susan (who also announced she's pregnant that night!) and Margit:

Margit and I:

Sandy and I:

Iva-Marie arrived late, so she got her own special trivia contest to try and guess who's pregant!

The whole gang...

I also told Irene this week. We met for breakfast, and I wore my "Mom To Be" necklace. She noticed it right away. Tears, hugs, the sheer bliss that only comes from the announcement of a baby. It was wonderful!

Happy four month pre-birthday, Little Muffin!

The cutest thing in the world

Kirk was so excited to give me this little trip treat when he got home from California. We had briefly discussed decorating the baby room (assuming we actually have one) in sock monkeys, and he brought one home for the little muffin. Although this probably won't be the room theme, I was so touched, I almost couldn't stand it!

It's been a "big" week

I think I'm finally settling into pregnancy a bit. It's been a miracle not being morning sick, but who knew it would be followed by the intense tired feelings I've ever had? I kept asking Kirk to please quit drugging me! Luckily, he went to California to be with his mom for her breast cancer surgery, and I've felt a little more myself ever since. :)

My big stress over the past 10 days is that my only maternity jeans will NOT stay up! I would say this week has been my biggest growth week, and let's just say my regular jeans are no longer an option. My new jeans were cheap, but still! I was yanking on them all day. So last night, I made a trip to the mall and got some different jeans, jean capris, black yoga pants, and black dressier pants. I feel so much more prepared for life now!

I have a weekend to myself, and I'm planning to relax and get some things done!

The greatest gift – A healthy baby

Today we got the news we dreamed of – our little muffin tested very low risk for downs. We couldn't be happier. Because of my AMA (Advanced Maternal Age), my risk was 1 in 28 going in, but then a combo of blood test, ultrasound and family history reduced our risk to 1 in 2,700. I can live with that risk!

It will be interesting to see if this changes my take on wanting to know the gender (so far, we don't), plan the nursery (so far, not a big deal), etc. I'm just excited to go through the journey and most importantly, I'm trying to remain calm and peaceful throughout. So far, so good! But I have to say the enemy to peace can sometimes be information. I am really enjoying taking one day at a time, but I find that with one false move, you know more than you ever dreamed about a topic that you are months from needing to know. Mental note: continue my mantra of "I'm not there yet" when the advice, information, etc. gets to be too much.

A milestone of a different kind happens on Thursday. I will have been married to Kirk for 15 years. I always joke that marrying him was the smartest thing I did in my 20's. Luckily I still feel the exact same way. We're having a great time with all this, and true to form, he's my rock. We tried to think of what to do for our anniversary, but truth be told, we really couldn't care less. We'll go out to eat, but as corny as it sounds, we feel like we've already got our gift.

Week 12 – A new milestone

We made it to the second trimester! Things sure get busy when you decide to let the cat out of the bag! It's been so fun telling people, and hearing people's reactions has been awesome. One favorite is my cousin Kevin, who after seeing our JibJab featuring us dancing with the Gerber baby, responded:

Trip to Mexico for Kendra's 40th.....$1200pp (where I found out I was pregnant)
Family reunion for 38ppl.....$6000+ (where I went 2 weeks later)
Kirk and Kendra having a Gerber baby!!!....PRICELESS!!!!

It was also great hearing Kirk's Mom Mom saying "oh my Lordy" 15 times and be so excited with us. She also gave some great, common-sense advice:

• Love them – don't spoil them. Make sure they have respect.
  
• Mean what you say and say what you mean.
  
• And like Gomer Pyle says, every day will be a "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

Now who could argue with that?

But the most fun reactions have been from Kirk. Having this baby has given me whole new reasons to love him. He's been so supportive and excited and funny. His newest thing has been reading about what the baby can hear in vitro. He heard that one man would poke the belly once, yell ONE! and the baby would actually kick the number of times he poked. Kirk is completely committed to learning this cocktail party trick. I've never been poked so much in my life!

We also got some genetic testing done, which meant another ultrasound. Kirk videoed this one, until he got busted. This one isn't as good as ones before, but watch the bottom of the screen for a little wave.