Best Christmas Present… Ever!

Throughout my 26 years I’ve definitely had some greeeat Christmas presents… I mean Santa has really hooked me up through the years. So to say that this year, I received my most favorite Christmas present of all time is definitely a big claim… but it’s so true. For a week before Christmas there was a Barbie doll shaped box beautifully wrapped under the tree. I shook it, weighed it and sniffed it, but besides realizing that it wasn’t a Barbie, I had absolutely no idea what it was. As you can tell from my previous posts about the gender prediction tests, I’m not a patient person… at all. I thought about ripping the paper a little to take a peek, but didn’t want to disappoint Jer on Christmas morning. I LOVE giving gifts and so does he, so for him to miss a genuine surprise face, is just not fair. So I waited and waited…

Although it did cross my mind a few times, I thought these were too expensive so imagine my surprise when I unwrapped this gift to find a Fetal Doppler that allows me to listen to our baby’s heartbeat anytime I want to! Something about that little “swoosh, swoosh, swoosh” just puts all my fears at ease and is so peaceful.

So of course as soon as I unwrapped it I had a ton of questions for Jer:

- Where did you get it? Jer got the Sonoline B Handheld Pocket Fetal Doppler from Clinicalguard.com

- How much did it cost? $52.95

- Did it have a good reviews? Yes! So clearly Jer rocks, but he’s now seriously competing for daddy-to-be of the year. He reads pregnancy blogs and forums, like reddit.com/babybumps and found some great reviews for this Doppler.

- What if we can’t hear it? Not hearing the heartbeat has to be every couple’s fear… but it’s important to remember the home models are not the same as your Doctors. Also, this specific Doppler says that you need to be at least 12 weeks to hear the heartbeat. Since we heard our baby’s heartbeat the second our Dr. used his device, Jer felt confident we would hear it with this device – and boy did we hear it. As soon as we lubed it up and put it on my (don’t worry folks – we’re not going there) belly, we heard that beautiful “swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.”

So since Christmas, we’ve listened to Baby D’s heartbeat every day! Here’s Baby D and the Doppler in action. You’ll notice the heartbeat number is all over the place because I was moving the device around.

xoxo,
Jamie

Week 13: It’s a…?

So I’ll admit it…I’m officially the least patient person in the entire world. A few weeks ago my OB told me that I’d have to wait until 20 weeks to find out the sex of the baby. My response? “Umm…. sorry doc that’s just not gonna cut it.” So instead of relying purely on wives tales like peeing in baking soda and dangling a needle over my palm (both of which I did, of course!), I wanted to get a little more scientific with my research… thus why I decided to try both the IntelliGender and Gendermaker tests. Jer suggested I call Miss Cleo up instead but I couldn’t seem to find her number…? I know, I know… I sound like a total spaz but I really just did these for fun. I’m not painting a room or getting my hopes up about a boy or a girl because honestly, I have zero preference on the gender. I hope God blesses us with both a boy and a girl eventually, so whichever He decides to give us first, works perfectly for us!

The Tests…

So I followed the IntelliGender test to a T, using my first morning urine and filling/mixing the test cup perfectly. This test, although a little more expensive, just felt more legit. It came with clear instructions and nice instruments for testing. With the Gendermaker test, I followed the instructions almost perfectly. It says to use your first morning urine, but being prego it’s hard to hold it in when you gotta go at 1 AM. So I used my second one when I woke up.

IntelliGender from CVS                             Gendermaker from Amazon.com

      VS    

The Results…

With the IntelliGender test, if your urine mixes with the hormones in the test and turns a greyish green it means Boy. If it turns a goldish red, it means Girl. So as you can see below, my test result indicated Boy.

With the Gendermaker test, Blue-Grey = Boy while Pink-Purple = Girl. As you can see my test result was a deep greyish purple which I think means Girl.

So all in all these were a blast to take, but I’m just as clueless as I was when I started this experiment. I have a good feeling about the success rates of our next text… a 4D ultrasound in January!

*1/25 Update: It’s a boy!!! IntelliGender was right. Also, after I got the first purple result from GenderMaker, I emailed the company and they sent me another test for free. The result? Girl again. So two Gendermaker tests were wrong. I would trust IntelliGener ladies – but just make sure you follow the instructions to a T.

Week 9: Jer + Me = WTF is that?

It’s only normal to be curious what Baby D is going to look like, right? At this point all we’ve seen are two ultrasounds, which we can only compare to the illustrations from our Baby Center app. So all I can tell right now is that it’s definitely got Jer’s bruiser of a forehead and a tail, which I think it may have been wagging during it’s photo shoot…? Wait, does it wag? Anyhoo…good news is that my app is telling me the tail is gone, so let’s just keep our fingers crossed on the whole forehead thing. Totally kidding babe, you know I love that big ol’ forehead and everything else about ya

On second thought, I think we have a lot more to be concerned about then that forehead. I put a picture of me and a picture of Jer into morphthing.com and this is what it said our baby would look like. OK, cute eyes and nose but what is going on with those lips and hair?  And I think they said this was the boy image. Yikes. Maybe this is like one of those don’t do drugs PSA’s… “this is your baby on crack”. Regardless, this is a good reminder to take my prenatals today!

  +     =  

As much fun as it is to speculate, no matter what the baby looks like, it’s going to be our sweet angel from the Lord and the prettiest baby in the entire world. I guarantee, I’ll be one of those annoying mom’s that’s constantly posting pictures of their kid on Facebook because I think it’s the cutest one in the world

Week 8: You Make Me Wanna Puke

I remember when I used to drink too much in college I would lay on the bathroom floor and declare “I’m never ever drinking alcohol again!” Then the next day, I had a Gatorade and some greasy food and I was right back at it again the next night… ahh the good ol’ days. Oddly, I still have a picture from one of those nights. Even stranger… it was on Facebook. Keep it classy Jamie.

So why am I having to relive this again and this time without a fun night of regrets, frat feet and greasy food? Oh that’s right, it’s because I’m having a “normal pregnancy”. Well let me tell you sister, there is nothing normal feeling about throwing up every morning. And to top it, when I’m not throwing up, I feel carsick all day long and every day tasks like doing dishes also make me want to hurlios. Wait… am I on the something here? I’ve already got Jer cleaning the bathrooms, because you know… I can’t be around any toxic fumes. Maybe I can make him think Dawn soap is toxic….? Nah… it has those cute little penguins on the bottle, plus he reads my blog. Hey boo!

So luckily, getting pregnant is a side effect from drinking the water where I work. Talk about pretty sweet work perks….right? And all this time I thought it just took a little bump-n-grind! So my manager, who of course is also pregnant (because she too drank the water!) gave me a little slice of pregnancy heaven…. Reed’s Ginger Candy. These all natural chewy candies are sweet & spicy and bring my hurlios to a screeching halt. They pretty much taste like a ginger snap with a little extra heat and are super chewy. Not sure I would eat these non-prego but they are a flippin’ lifesaver while knocked up.

Speaking of lifesavers, aside from the Reed’s Ginger Candies, Peppermint Lifesavers have also been well… a lifesaver. I carry these with me at all times, so if I eat one in front of you, chances are that I was about to puke on you. You’re welcome.

Ok, I’ll stop talking about puking now. I can’t imagine it’s as interesting as my DIY posts – wait, please tell me it isn’t!!! Also, let me know if you have any recommendations for showing morning sickness whose boss. Or have you had success with ginger candies or peppermint?

Jamie