20 wk ultrasound: DEFINITELY a BOY!

20 weeks baby bump shot...I feel like my stomach grew a lot this week!!!

I love this ultrasound shot...Owen is measuring what my doctor calls "a tall baby" I think this picture really shows that! Look at those lanky arms and legs!!! we actually saw him jab at me with his elbow, but I can't feel it yet!!!

Above is a picture of Owen's male parts....I was showing these ultrasound pictures to my patients at work today, and one of the old ladies goes, "wow, his pee-pee is really big, I bet your husband is proud!" HAHAHA! This is of Owen's face and arm...kinda looks like an alien...

I like this picture too because it shows his cute little "budda" belly :) and face :)

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Today, Ryan and I went to the doctors' for my 20 week checkup and ultrasound. Everything is looking great, and Owen is definitely growing and is healthy. (And yes, OWEN is definitely a boy!) It is just so neat to see him on the screen, I could watch it forever! He is still very active, flopping around everywhere, but I cannot feel him kicking yet...which is probably a good thing because we could see him jabbing me left and right, but my "placenta is anterior" and is acting like a pillow right now, blocking that feeling.
I asked my doctor about my SI joint pain, but like I thought, she said what I was doing already was good. She said to take it easy and allow myself to lay down more often if needed, but also to keep exercising and staying active. Just listen to my body. Sooo, I am just gonna suck it up. Seeing our baby today made all that pain so worth it though. I cannot wait to hold him, and have him out here with us!!! :) :)

SI joint pain :(

hey everyone! just a quick update...I was feeling really good this week, still working out almost every day, even running a couple miles every other day. Thursday during work, I all of a sudden felt this shooting pain down my left leg that literally almost brought me to my knees! I automatically thought it was my sciatic nerve, because I could feel the pain radiating all the way down to my calf. I could barely get through my morning of working, the pain was so bad. Luckily, one of our Physical Therapists working that day specializes in outpatient therapy and knows a lot about backs. He assessed me at our lunch break, and found that my left leg was longer than the right, which is unusual for me. He did some other tests, and came to his conclusion that it was not sciatica pain, but my SI joint has come out of line :( I put up a picture of what the SI joint is, it helps me to kind of visualize what exactly is going on with me:( It is the joint that connects my lower back to my pelvis. He said that the hormone surge I am getting being pregnant makes the ligaments around my joints more relaxed, and what likely happened the ligaments around my SI joint have really stretched, and a joint that typically does not have a lot of give, is now coming in and out easily. When it comes out, it gets jammed out of place, and that is what causes that shooting pain. He performed something that literally popped my joint back in, and the pain was instantly gone. But later on that day while talking to a patient and his family, it came out, and I literally yelped out in pain mid-sentence (kind of embarrassing!). He did the stretch again, and it worked again, and he taught me how to have Ryan perform it on me when needed. He also gave me a lot of exercises to do to strengthen the muscles around that area, as well as to continue to exercise. He suggested to do yoga, walking, biking, and the eliptical. He said I may want to stop running because of how easily the joint is coming in/out, the running could cause too much impact right now. He doesn't think the running cause it though, he said my back injury history is most likely making me more suceptible to back injury during my pregnancy (my biggest fear and something I knew would likely happen.) I did pregnancy yoga yesterday, and it helped during the day, but last night, I felt that pain again. I am trying to rest more and lay down in a comfortable position with ice on the painful area. I have my 20 week doctor's appointment this week, so I will make sure to let the Dr. know of this pain and what the PT told me. The PT told me my Dr. will most likely just prescribe PT, which I can just get at my work. The PT also told me he has a SI joint band that I can use to stabilize my joint if that is prescibed by my doctor. He also said I need to really get this area stronger before I get bigger because it will just get worse the bigger my belly gets! :(

On a lighter note, Ryan painted Owen's room yesterday. We are doing a Chicago Cubs room theme. We decided to paint the room a lighter blue because the Cubbie blue was a little too dark for a room wall. We are going to go to Wriglyville today to look at Cubs stuff to decorate the room. And hopefully find some time to go shopping to get baby furniture soon too.

Grizzly Bear Jack's with the McDs

The whole family before our mini golf experience! Ryan got TWO hole-in-ones!

Krista-going on 21 weeks and me-going on 19 weeks :) :)

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY COLMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our train shuttle from the cabin! Cole loved it!

fun rides and water park for Cole...he loved it!
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This past weekend was so much fun! My family got together up in Utica, IL at the Grizzly Bear Jack's Resort to celebrate my nephew Cole's 3rd birthday. My brother, Sean, and sister-in-law, Krista, even flew in from NY to join us and we all stayed in a cabin together. The place was really neat, a little kid's wonderland! It had an indoor water park with a wave pool, lazy river, and water slides. Even the "big kids" had a blast! There is also an indoor amusement park, mini golf course, and of course the place is smart and sells beer for the adults, so everyone, big and small, were happy! hahaha! It was so nice to have Sean and Krista in town. Krista is pregnant as well :) :) and we are only a couple weeks apart, so it was nice having another prego along, and comparing stories and just catching up with the both of them! It was definitely a nice family weekend. We probably won't see Sean and Krista again until after both of our babies are born, so I am so happy we got to spend this time with them!!! It is really neat being pregnant together! I cannot wait to meet BOTH of our babies!!!!!!!! and so sooon!!!!! :) we are both about half way through:) So exciting and scary at the same time!!! :)

Happy birthday to me!

Flowers sent from my in-laws!

New Patio furniture!

My 27th birthday was on Monday, and it was a really great day! One of my presents from Ryan was our new patio furniture. Our deck is so huge, that we think we are still going to get some more furniture, maybe a little sitting area on the other side, and we still want to decorate with pots and other outdoor items. Ryan's parents got us this cool outdoor clock that we still need to mount as well. But slowly our house and backyard are coming together! (BTW, some people asked about our window, we found a guy that fixed it for a reasonable price, and we had an exterminator come out for the ants! everything is looking good). My sister and parents got me some cute maternity clothes, as well as this amazing body pillow that is making my sleep so much better!!! Ryan's parents also sent me those beautiful flowers pictured above. My co-workers threw me a little lunch birthday party, and Ryan took me to this amazing restaurant with amazing SEAFOOD, that I indulged in!!!!!!! :) Thank you to everyone who called, or sent me cards/messages on facebook! Can't wait to celebrate Cole's birthday this weekend with my family, including Sean and Krista!! :)

17 weeks, Easter weekend & Butterfly Flutters!!!!!

This past weekend, Ryan and I went home to Noblesville. We haven't been home since Christmas time! We had a busy weekend once again. We got in late on Friday. Woke up, ate breakfast with my parents, then met with our Life Insurance agent (fun stuff, got to make sure Owen is covered if heaven forbid something happens to us!). After that, Ryan ran to get fitted for a tux for an upcoming wedding, and I headed over to my friend Ali's house with my friend Lydia to visit her and meet her newborn baby, Gavin! He is sooo cute, as well as her two older children, Griffin and Grady...I haven't seen them in forever! (My PREGO brain forgot to take my camera home! but don't you worry, Lydia is just as crazy about photos as me, so she was prepared and we got some cute pictures of Gavin...once she sends me some, I will upload them!)

We were going to go downtown Indy to meet Ryan's friends at a bar to watch the Butler basketball game, but being around a bunch of drunk people in a smokey bar just didn't sound very good to me, so we went over to Erin and Doug's instead to watch the game. Ryan won his NCAA bracket so he was pretty excited! Sunday, we went to church with my family, then all of us met Ryan's parents and sister for Easter Brunch. It felt like Christmas for me because Erin, Ali, and Lydia all gave me their really cute maternity clothes, as well as my mom got me really cute maternity stuff for my upcoming birthday!! Another exciting thing that happened this weekend was I felt these butterfly fluttery feelings in my stomach alll the time! From what I hear, that is what you feel when you first start feeling the baby kick, so that was a really wierd sensation to have!!!!!!!!!!!! (and continue to have now :) ) From what the ultrasound showed and the doppler last week, Owen is one intense kicker and likes to flop around, so I have a feeling these "flutters" are going to be like a dance party pretty soon!!! Good thing I am getting use to lack of sleep already!!!!!!! :) :)