nothing to see here

seriously. 14 weeks pregnant and nothing to really see. but i thought i'd document anyways. i'll probably post every other week. depending on if there are significant changes. so it begins.

sorry for the bad photoshop infusion. i really need to invest in a tripod. propping my camera on it's side, with notebook and camera lens took some work. and getting in the same angle...impossible. i did a quick cleanup, hence no shadow on the left. i'll try and figure out a better way to do this in the future.

had another ob appointment last thursday. pretty much a check up from the neck down. heard the baby's heartbeat with the doppler this time. 150 bpm. also got the results from my bloodwork all came back normal. so far, all is still good. and i'm actually feeling better all around. a bit more energy and starting to get somewhat of an appetite.

we leave tomorrow for southern illinois. pretty much have a whirlwind schedule ahead of us while we're there. unfortunately we won't be making it to robinson or springfield. i think we need more days in the week to squeeze everyone we want to see in. i'll try and update while we're there, but no promises.

michael is #1

yes, this was a nine-year-olds tribute to the king of pop. a few months ago i picked up my old sticker album from my parents house and was surprised when flipping through that this page existed. actually, not too surprised, i was quite the fan. still am. and yes, a few tears were shed upon his passing.

r.i.p. michael.

oak island

this past weekend we headed to the beach with the caraway clan. here's a few pics from the trip. awes and i had a great time hanging with the caraways and we both hope we can do it again next year.

baby got back

yesterday i decided to give the free clinic a shot. since i'm officially starting my second trimester, i thought it'd be nice to see how the little one is progressing. i called in the a.m. and they were able to squeeze me in an hour later. this was my first abdominal ultrasound. at first the tech pointed out the heartbeat. "see the little heart beating?" uhhh, no. "right there." pointing to a little speck on the screen. okay. suddenly there's a clear view of the face. almost alien-like, with the big eyes. it's mouth opening and closing. is it eating i asked? "no, it's breathing." it was cool and creepy to see. i wish i could have gotten a video of it.

the tech continued to take measurements. baby westphal is measuring right where he/she should be. unfortunately by the time the tech got around to taking pics for me, the baby decided to flip completely over. she tried to jiggle the baby to turn over for us, but that proved to be futile. so here is a nice pic of the baby's back side. you can see the spine (the brighter line in the pic), it's little head, and even an ear.

i'll go back on the 17th of july to the free clinic to have another ultrasound, hopefully i'll be able see what we're having. if not, i have my official ultrasound with my ob on the 28th of july.

pickles and ice cream

well not really the ice cream but pretty close. i was watching unwrapped the other day when they did a little segment on bob's pickle pops. i immediately thought how appropriate considering my current situation. so far i've only consumed one jar of pickles, but i can hardly blame the pregnancy for that. i've pretty much loved pickles my whole life. i am debating if i should purchase a packet. maybe if i get a hardcore craving i'll take the plunge.

pacing the panic room

i was looking for creative ways to do pregnancy progression shots when i came across this site, pacingthepanicroom. actually it's about the only site i found that had a clever take on the process. i'm far from showing but want to do something on the creative side when the time does arise. any suggestions? check out the site to see more candid and cute shots.

atari 2600

jen asked me to make a few blankets for a friend and informed me that said friend would be naming their son, atari. of course i couldn't resist and whipped up a quick stenciled onesie to go along with the blankets. i think it turned out pretty good considering the cutting i had to do. i tried using the least difficult of the space invaders. pretty neat.

daily morningness

one of my friends, janett, started up a website yesterday and asked me to participate. mornings lets you follow a group of photographers (amateur and pro) all around the world as they show you a little piece of their morning. the good, the bad and the ugly. this project is wholly inspired by the book, "A Year of Mornings, 3,191 miles apart" by Stephanie Congden Barnes and Maria Vettese.

i originally took this photo, the first thing i see when i open my eyes, but it was a little blah so i went with my old standby. lucky for me, marley was up for a photo session this morning. i'm not much of a morning person, so it'll be interesting to see how long i can go. if i can post one a week, i'll be happy!

little buddy

so this is about a week after the fact, but here's a pic of my latest ultrasound. little krispie has now graduated to having buds. it's amazing how fast it's growing, and how fast it'll continue to grow. not only did i hear the baby's heart beating i could see it. it's little heart just fluttering away in it's tiny little chest.

i had my first ob appointment last thursday and was surprised that instead of seeing my normal nurse practitioner i'll be seeing a doctor. apparently my pregnancy is still considered high risk (at least to this group) because it happened through IVF. my RE reassured me that as long as i was carrying one baby it should be considered a normal pregnancy. i guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

at my appointment i was told i have to wait another 8-10 weeks before i get another ultrasound. it's so weird to have already gotten two in the last two weeks to having to wait what seems like a lifetime for another one. the girls at aaron's work told him about a clinic in town that'll do ultrasounds for free. i'm almost tempted to go every friday to check on the baby's progress. ok, maybe every other week. ;)

another thing i learned at my appointment. even though the baby measured a couple of days early at the first ultrasound they stick with my original calculated due date. unless it fluctuates by more than a week they keep the same date. which makes sense since at the second ultrasound the baby measured two days older. so my official due date is december 25. yes, baby westphal is officially a christmas baby! yep, he/she is gonna be one of those poor kids that gets birthday presents wrapped in christmas paper.

as far as symptoms go my major problem is being EXTREMELY tired all the time. this baby is sucking the life force out of me, literally. i'm told that once the second trimester starts that'll dissipate. fingers crossed it does, i hate feeling like a huge slug. another problem i'm having is being hungry but nothing looks or tastes good. i think it's my body subconsciously avoiding morning sickness. it's just really odd that i have to force myself to eat. according to my ob it's normal and is considered a form of morning sickness. so i guess by definition i am having some slight morning sickness but no vomiting or extreme nausea. thank goodness.

the computer went on the fritz last week and has been getting repaired the last two days. i love apple. luckily i purchased the apple care program with this computer. why would you not with a huge purchase like this. i called monday morning and they physically sent someone here to boone yesterday to fix it. it had a defective fan that was making all this noise and the guy replaced it and went ahead and replaced the motherboard while he was at it. i can't believe how quiet it is now. amazing.

so this means updates should be coming more regularly. we've got a busy month ahead of us. aaron's dad and grandmother will be here next week. then the caraways will be heading our way and we'll all be heading for the beach in a few weeks. the summeys will officially be residents of boone in a few weeks. and aaron and i will be heading back to illinois to celebrate the 4th. we fly in on the 1st and will be there til the 7th. yes, busy, busy, busy!