Kyler update

Since he was born, Kyler has been in the NICU at North Kansas City Hospital. Most of the time he's been in there, he's been receiving some help with his breathing in one form or another, but on Saturday morning, they took him off his nasal cannula for good (we'd assume). He is now doing well breathing on his own and keeping his oxygen saturation up without having to work too hard to breathe. Other than that, his heart rate has been unusually high, especially considering that they couldn't find a real reason why it would be high. After being carefully watched for two weeks and hoping that with time would come some change, the neonatologist ordered an EKG and then today had the cardiologist from Children's Mercy Hospital come see Kyler. Luckily, everything came back normal with his heart and the cardiologist said that he would be comfortable releasing Kyler! To help his heart along, the neonatologist wanted to do a blood transfusion which occurred this evening and seemed to go over well. Now we are just waiting and hoping that he'll be home soon (which we've been told could definitely be the case).

This whole situation has been very tough on both of us (and probably little Kyler too). I could never have imagined how hard it would be to have a baby in the NICU and I really would never wish this hardship on anyone. We really can't wait to have Kyler home so we'll actually have MORE time to do things. Commuting to and from the hospital as well as planning our days around these trips is not easy and it ends up taking up almost all of our free time.

Assuming everything goes according to plan, Kyler could very well be home before the end of this week, but we're trying not to get our hopes too high. Thank you again to those sending their thoughts and prayers - we will keep you updated!

Introducing Kyler Aaron Rhodes!

As most already know, at 9:16am on 11/20, little Kyler Aaron decided to join this world (over a month before his due date). He weighed in at a very healthy 5lb 10oz and was 19 inches long.

Right after I got all cleaned up in the operating room (and the only time that he's been without any wires, tubes, etc. so far)

As you can probably tell from the photo, he was born via c-section. At about 9pm, while putting the sheets on his crib, my water began to leak though I thought nothing of it at the time and just assumed that he had simply made my bladder leak. Just before going to bed at 2am, I felt more leaking and realized that it probably wasn't just my bladder so I called the doctor and was instructed to go to the hospital where they'd test the fluid and find out if it was urine or amniotic fluid. I was pretty sure that it was amniotic fluid, but due to how early it was, I was kind of hoping that it wasn't. I arrived at the hospital at 4am where they promptly tested the fluid to find out that it was amniotic fluid and then they put me on the monitors and told me that more than likely they'd either let me labor progress or induce it if I wasn't progressing on my own. Needless to say, I was in quite a bit of shock and had to call David to break the news that he wouldn't be able to be there for the birth of his son. About that time, they brought the sonogram machine in to check his position which ended up telling us that he was feet first. The doctor gave me a few options - try to turn him (which could hurt both him and me since the fluid level was low due to my water breaking and he wasn't just butt first, but rather feet first), have a c-section at approximately 8:00am, or delay a c-section and risk infection to both baby and me so that David could possibly be there. David, my mom, the doctor and I all agreed that it was in the best interest of the baby and me to go ahead and do the c-section. The surgery went well, though Kyler sure wasn't making it easy for the doctor to get him out and at 9:16am, Kyler was welcomed into this world and began crying his little lungs out. Hearing him was absolutely magical and the moment I heard him, I knew my life had just changed forever! They brought him over so I could see him (after what seemed like an eternity) and then he was taken up to the NICU where he's been ever since.

On Sunday night, I finally got to go see him and I got on Skype so that David could see him as well. It was great to finally really see him, but I was in quite a bit of pain and it was really hard to see my son hooked up to so many machines and with an oxygen hood over his head. David flew in on Monday and got to the hospital shortly after 6:00pm. My pain got better with each day and we were able to at least put our hands on Kyler, but it wasn't until today (11/25) that both David and I finally got to hold him. I was also given the opportunity to breast feed and I'm happy to report that Kyler is a natural! Prior to today, I was giving the nurses in the NICU the milk that I have been pumping and he's been fed using a feeding tube that they put down his nose and into his stomach. With each day, he seems to be improving and we're hopeful that we'll be able to bring him home soon!

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, gifts, etc. - we really appreciate your support and can't wait for everyone to finally meet our little blessing, Kyler Aaron! As far as visiting him goes - nobody is allowed to visit without either David or me present nor is anyone other than us allowed to hold him. I know there are a few people who would love to see him, but due to him being premature and requiring a stay in the NICU, it's just not really practical. We really apologize for this and thank you for your understanding.. many of  you will probably meet him very soon anyhow!

Tanning aka photo-therapy for jaundice

Reach for the stars :p

Wanting to get up and go hold my son so bad..

34 weeks belly!

Just because Gina is cute. :)

Gina really wanted in on the pictures.

..and I'm only gonna get bigger. Oi!

Baby Rhodes is 34 weeks!

Today was another routine appointment and everything looked fine. My fundal height is right on (if not a bit high), baby's head appears to be down, and his little heart is beating away at 140bpm. Baby is still very active though he's definitely not doing any flips anymore thanks to being so cramped. He certainly knows how to make me feel uncomfortable though with his kicks to the bladder and diaphragm. Despite that, I am already so in love with this little guy and can't wait to meet him whenever he decides to make his appearance.

This past weekend was my baby shower and I'd like to thank everyone who was there or sent their best wishes for our little baby Rhodes. So far this week I have been busy getting the nursery ready for the arrival of our little guy. There are still a couple of art projects left, but I've mostly been focusing on getting his sheets and clothes washed, bottles sterilized, etc. Although decorating is fun, it isn't quite as important as just getting everything ready for his arrival.

I know I promised a belly photo last week, but I really will get one up here (possibly as early as tonight). On another note, after this next appointment in two weeks, I'll be seeing the doctor every week which means there are only 2 appointments left that David will be missing! I can't wait until he can join me!

33 weeks down, 7 to go!

Well, there's not much new to report this week. Baby is as active as ever and really has some strong karate moves going on. With it being November, I've started playing him some nice instrumental Christmas music which he seems to love. Sometimes I think I feel him moving to the beat of the music and reacting when the music gets loud or the instrumental sound changes which is so cool!

Unfortunately for me, I think this may be the last week or so that I'm able to wear my wedding rings - as if I needed more reason for people to think that I'm a single, teenage mom :p. If I am active at all, I find that I pay for it later with back pain and swelling of the feet and hands - occasionally even my sciatic nerve decides to join in on the fun. I suppose when I think about it and realize that my body is carrying 30+ more pounds than it's used to it all makes sense though.

With David not here, I've been putting off taking a birthing class of any sort, but I think I will probably give in and at least go to the free one that NKCH gives. There's one there on December 10th that David will be here for (he'll probably be back on December 2nd), but who knows, this little guy may not wait that long to join this world.

The art projects for the nursery are officially underway, though I'm still at a loss for how to complete one of them. Several of my Austin friends are great artists and I wish they were here to help me out, but considering the cost of shipping something as large as I want, it just isn't practical.

I think that about covers it. This weekend is my baby shower and I couldn't be more excited!! I wish that all of my Austin friends could make it up, but I know they'll be there in spirit (and I look forward to seeing all of you soon, I hope!). I look forward to seeing those awesome folks that are able to make it on Saturday, though!

Baby and I miss you, David!

My long weekend with my hubby flew by. It was extremely hard to say goodbye to him even though we have plenty of experience with being long distance - though not nearly this long of a distance. Being pregnant, I'm naturally more emotional, but also I just love seeing David interact with our little boy that is growing in my belly. The plan is for David to be back here in a little over a month which is much better than the two months that it had been since I had seen him this time. In those two months, my belly grew a ton so it was fun to see David's face when he first saw my belly (and when my belly got in the way of a hug :p). While he was here we discussed names for our little guy and I think we may have picked one, but it won't be for sure (and thus announced) until he's born.

I had a routine appointment today which was pretty uneventful (not complaining at all). My measurement is still slightly ahead and I've gained about 30 pounds so far and with 8 weeks to go, who knows how much I'll end up weighing when I give birth. Our little guy's heartbeat was much slower today at 140 which makes me feel better as I was a bit worried his heartrate wouldn't go down. Maybe David's visit helped me and the baby calm down as we were both happier with him here or maybe it's just a coincidence.. who knows.

I think that's all for now, I'll post another belly photo this weekend or early next week.

Under 2 months!

With yesterday being 10/22, I am now less than two months from my due date!

Although I have limited time with my husband, I thought I should at least write a short blog post. Once he leaves again ( :'( ) I will write a longer one.  Baby and I have been enjoying our time with him and he's been getting to feel our little boy kicking and moving around a lot which is quite exciting for him. The last time he was with us, baby was definitely not as easy to feel and wasn't moving nearly as often.

This Wednesday I have a routine check-up, but with David leaving on Tuesday morning, he won't be able to come along. I really wish David could have gotten to go to an ultrasound appointment with me, but even I won't get another one of those unless my measurement gets off or something isn't seeming quite right to the doctor.

Now I'm going to go spend more time with my husband, but here are a couple belly photos!

31 weeks 3 days

31 weeks 3 days with my family (minus Bandit)

Only 10 weeks to go!

This past week has been full of progress for the nursery! After spending several days removing a wallpaper border from the nursery (thanks, mom), my parents were able to get the room painted. Once the room was painted, I put together the crib and shelving unit which really helped to make the room look more complete. Today, the crib mattress arrived so I threw the crib bumper on and had my mom take my belly photo in the nursery!

Today I also had a doctor's appointment for another routine check-up. Since my last visit 12 days ago, I've gained 5 pounds, bringing my total weight gain up to about 28 pounds. Strangely, I haven't had any real swelling or weight gain in my face or feet or anything so who knows where all these pounds are going. I'm wishing they'd order another ultrasound just so I can find out how much this little boy is estimated to be weighing. Baby's heartrate was at 165 today and he was, as usual, extremely active during the visit. My belly is measuring at 31, so about a week ahead of schedule still. Other than that, the visit was mostly just chatting with the doctor about what I'm feeling and any questions I have, etc. Back to the doctor in two weeks..

Over this past weekend, our neighborhood had a garage sale that happened to feature one house where it was said that they would have "enough clothes for ten boys (Newborn - 18mo)." Sure enough, they had lots of clothes and we walked out of that garage with quite a few clothes, bibs, etc. for practically nothing.. $4 to be exact. Oh how I love garage sales! We've also been to a couple of consignment sales and such where we've picked up a few random baby items. I have officially cut myself off on buying clothes for the baby (except for exceptionally cute and cheap finds), knowing that I'd just keep buying until this little guy gets here. Baby clothes are just too adorable..

David will be here in less than 10 days for a short little trip (a HUGE thank you to Remedy for making this trip possible) and I'll be sure to make him get in on a belly photo! For this week, these pictures will have to do..

29 weeks 6 days

29 weeks 6 days

Hello third trimester!

At 28 weeks and 4 days, I am officially in the third trimester! Yay! Last Friday I had a doctor's appointment that went pretty well. Baby's heartrate, at 170, was slightly high, though they didn't say anything about it so they must not be worried. He was active at the time which raises his heartrate naturally and I also had the glucola test prior to the nurse checking his heartrate, so those may be why they didn't even mention that it was slightly high. Hopefully it will be lower next Wednesday when I have my next appointment. My blood sugar came back fine (phew!), but the test showed that I am slightly anemic, so more iron supplements for me! I was measured to be 29cm which is about right for how far along I am (at this point it's usually 1 to 1).

Today my maternity clothes finally returned from their month and a half long trip to Finland! It took them about two weeks to get to me after they finally shipped them back to the states, but I'm just happy to have them. Along with that package, I got some of the things I bought on eBay for baby. I've been on quite the eBay kick lately - so far I've gotten some extremely cheap onesies, swaddle blankets, and even Packers gear for our little Packer fan!! The deals you can find on eBay are absolutely amazing, so I highly recommend it to any parent.

Baby shower invitations went out this past weekend, so they should be arriving soon! If you've been to a baby shower where you've played a fun game or done something that you really enjoyed, please share your ideas. For those interested in the baby registry, I will put the link at the bottom of this post.

Less than 12 weeks until this little boy is due to arrive in this world and we couldn't be more excited!

http://www.amazon.com/registry/baby/2YVCPLR4ZNALL

Almost 28 weeks belly!

I will put up a new picture soon, but I know some of you really want to see this belly of mine. With David not here, I either have to have my mom take the picture or take it myself.. this time I took it, hence why I am wearing my pajamas! Pretty much any time that I am not going somewhere, I am in pajamas, so get used to it (they're so much more comfortable).

27 weeks 5 days

Nursery Progress and Such!

For those who don't know, it has been decided that I will remain in the states and give birth to our baby here. David is currently still in Finland (which has been extremely hard for us) and will be coming back to the states near the end of November or very early December. David's employer, Remedy Entertainment, has been extremely supportive of us and our decisions and I thank them so much for that. After the baby is born, David and I will decide where we want to go from there. While in the states, we will be staying at my parent's house where they have so graciously agreed to let us set up a nursery. It's kind of cool because our little boy's nursery will be in the same room that I lived in for most of my life.

As far as the nursery goes, the paint color has been picked and even if you know David and I well at all, you know that especially after finding out  that we're having a boy some "geekiness" will be involved. Like I said before, the nursery is a surprise that David will see when he gets back to the states, so no real details on that. If you need to know for some reason, feel free to email or facebook me. The crib came in this week and will be put together once the room is painted. My mom and I have some craft projects planned for the nursery as well, which are going to be fun to do together!

Also, for those that don't know, a baby shower is being planned for November 5th - keep an eye on your mailbox as invites will be mailed out soon hopefully.  I know some of you have been asking about our baby registry, so here's the scoop... The registry is pretty much complete, though as I'm sure most of you know, it's hard to stop looking so a new item or two may be added every now and then. The only registry is on Amazon.com, but if you look next to any item, there should be a link that says "Buying this gift elsewhere?". If you click that link, then you'll just enter your email, click a link in an email that Amazon will send you and then the item will be marked as purchased. This feature allows you to purchase the item elsewhere if it is more convenient, cheaper, etc. for you. As far as clothes go, anything 3 months or above will be great - we have quite a bit of newborn items already (we couldn't help ourselves). Here's a direct link to our registry, but you can find it by typing either of our names in as well (David Rhodes or Angela Rhodes).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/baby/2YVCPLR4ZNALL

I think that's about it.. I don't think my mom will let me go much longer without taking a belly photo, so you can bet that one will be up soon!

26.5 weeks and finally getting the nursery started

Since finding out that we are having a boy, I have been hard at work trying to plan the nursery and get a baby registry going. The registry is pretty much complete and I have a fairly clear plan on what I'd like the nursery to look like. David wants the nursery to be a surprise, so I can't say too much about the details, but the color scheme is going to be light blue and chocolate brown! This week we picked up a changing table (espresso/cherry colored) and got the crib ordered (should be here in the next couple of weeks). Although I never thought I would like a crib like this one, I loved it the moment I saw it in person - here's a picture of it:

Our little boy's crib

 It has been really cool this past week knowing what I am feeling as far as kicks, punches, etc. go. Thanks to the ultrasound I know that the baby's head is down which makes it much easier to figure out whether I'm getting hit by his little feet or fists. I'm starting to get kicked more and more in the back and ribs which doesn't feel so great and leaves my back hurting.. and I'm sure it will only get worse. It will all be well worth it when the little guy gets here though! It's hard to believe that I'm almost in the third trimester, but three months still seems like such a long time to wait for our little boy to arrive! Lately I feel like my belly grows every day which, though I'm sure it technically is, isn't growing by a noticeable amount every day. I'll get a picture up soon since it has been over two weeks!

In another week and a half or so, I will be heading back to the doctor for a routine appointment as well as my glucola test (ugh). I look forward to hearing the little guy's heartbeat! After this appointment, I will be going every two weeks for a checkup.. crazy stuff!

It's a BOY!

Well I'm sure most all of you already know thanks to facebook, but we found out today that we're having a baby boy! It was very exciting to see the baby again, especially now that he actually looks like a baby. He is currently head down and at least at the appointment, his legs were crossed as if he were trying to hide his little package though they were apparently able to get enough of a view to be able to tell that he is, indeed, a he. The doctor and ultrasound tech said that everything was looking good and that according to the measurements taken today they'd estimate 12/24 as the due date and that he's weighing about 1 pound 12 ounces.

Now we're going to start on the "nursery" and start picking up more things for our little boy as well as start discussing names! Feel free to leave your suggestions for names..

Well, not much more as far as news goes, but here are some ultrasound pictures (which are also on Facebook).

Hand up on the forehead

Profile shot

Front view of the face

That's his little fist punching me

Thumb-sucking

Fist by the mouth

His little leg on top with the foot on the left

24 weeks!

This past week has been a very eventful week! We ordered the first thing for the nursery, got some baby clothes, bought a very nice Pack N Play which will be our bassinet for the first several months, and I even had a doctor's appointment.

It's kind of funny, it was my birthday last week, but basically all of the gifts I received had something to do with baby. I'm already beginning to see how the little one will become the ruler of our worlds :). Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all about getting baby things as gifts seeing as they are what I asked for - even used the gift card that I got for an adorable swing for the nursery! I'm definitely excited to do even more with the nursery space!

The doctor's appointment went well. I was told that I shouldn't have any problems with a normal delivery despite my size which is always nice to hear. My fundal height is right on par with my due date and baby's heart sounded nice and strong, beating at a nice 160bpm (still possibly indicating girl). Although I had some issues in the beginning with eating and my weight dropped about 3-4 pounds, that's certainly not the case anymore - the doctor was very satisfied with my weight gain. We're working on the whole sonogram situation and should have that all settled soon I hope!!

On another note, according to the books that I've been reading, baby would have about a 50% chance of survival if he or she were to be born now. Considering I'm still in the second trimester and have almost 4 months to go, that is absolutely amazing to me!

It's been a couple weeks, so here is the belly photo!

24 Weeks

Weekly update - Special Birthday Edition :)

It's hard to believe that on this day next year we will have a little baby crawling around! This next year is sure to be full of lots of surprises, both good and bad, as well as lots of excitement surrounding this new life that will be added to our family! Perhaps next year I'll get some nice slobbery kisses for my birthday - been missing those slobbery puppy kisses, so can only imagine that slobbery baby kisses will be better (sorry, Kilu and Gina :p).

Baby has been getting more and more active which is great fun for both David and me. We both love to feel baby moving around and guess what part of the body we are feeling. Music time has also begun in the Rhodes "house" and baby really seems to enjoy it. I will usually play some nice relaxing piano music, sometimes some nice classical music, but most every time the music is over I feel a couple nice strong kicks from baby as if to tell me that he or she wants more. It's quite cute and it is amazing how responsive a baby in the womb at only 23 weeks is! Oh, the miracle of life.

Well, time to go celebrate my birthday with my amazing husband who just made me breakfast :D.

For fun, here's a few baby photos of myself.. can't wait to see what our little one looks like!

Shortly After Birth :)

One Week Old

6 Weeks

7 Weeks

Our little karate kid

I think baby has found a "fun" game to play with me. No matter if I have been laying down for an hour before actually falling asleep, baby has found that right before I fall asleep if he/she kicks that I will instantly wake up. Feeling baby moving is so amazing and I love it, so if I'm feeling kicks or movements, there's just no way that I'm going to sleep :). I'd say that this happens at least every other night. Otherwise, baby seems to be becoming more and more active all the time. David's hand seems to calm the baby down, but mine sure has no influence on the baby whatsoever! I love watching David's face when he gets to feel the baby.. I can't wait to see him with the baby once it's here!

There's really not much else in news.. I'm still extremely excited to find out if we'll be having a little boy or girl at some point. We've started looking at all sorts of baby gear and I think that's making us more anxious to have this little baby in about 4 months. Oi, I can't believe there's still so long to go!

My belly feels like it's filling out, though I don't think it shows in pictures (you can judge for yourself). Here's the 22 week photo..

From super happy to super frustrated

Today was the much anticipated doctor's appointment! We'll start with the good news.. We did get to hear baby's heartbeat which was recorded as 150+. That apparently suggests that it could be a girl, but it is far from 100% accurate. From what the nurse could tell, baby is very active and healthy which is the most important thing! My iron count was slightly low, so back on the iron supplement I go, but everything else was fine with me as well!

Now for the frustrating stuff. Women here apparently get two ultrasounds, which is all fine and dandy with me, but seeing as I missed both of them (one is early on and the other is just before 20 weeks), I don't get to have one. This is frustrating for two reasons... 1. If they had let me go a month ago, I would have been sent for an ultrasound. The nurse that I saw today was far from the only nurse there, so there had to of been one available before today and we still don't have our Kela cards, but they saw me anyways. Ugh.. I don't get it. 2. Back in the good ol' states, they don't have set deadlines where if you don't get an ultrasound you simply miss out and don't get to have one. You'd think that since the only ultrasound information I have is from when I was 6 weeks pregnant they'd want to do one anyways. My paperwork from my doctor in the states is useless in every other aspect and every other test (blood, urine, etc.) has to be redone here (which I'm obviously not amused about as I hate to give blood), so one would think that an ultrasound would be part of that.

I do have the option of going to a private clinic and getting an ultrasound done there and paying out of pocket, but that isn't cheap and apparently I'd have to have an "internal exam" as well which would only add to the cost. I'm not quite sure why I'd have to have the internal exam just so I could get an ultrasound, but who knows.

All of this was topped with a very clinical, cold, unwelcoming environment and a nurse that had a hard time communicating with us and thus I'd need a translator at every appointment. So all in all, I'm happy that baby seems healthy and everything seems to be progressing normally, but really frustrated with the whole Finnish healthcare system (at least the maternity side of it).

Oh, and David finally gave in to finding out the sex of the baby (Yay!), so the whole no ultrasound thing was an even bigger disappointment to me.

Halfway mark!

Well, only one week to go until we finally get to go to the doctor! We're both excited to say the least. At least it isn't like it was in the beginning when I had no belly and couldn't feel the baby move and wanted to take a pregnancy test just to make sure I was still pregnant. Just a few days ago I really started to feel the baby and now there are times when I can just feel where the baby is (and what he or she is laying on :p). Feeling the baby move and seeing my belly grow helps me to realize that everything is probably fine, but there is still nothing that can compare to hearing the heartbeat or seeing baby on the ultrasound monitor.

On Thursday, at least according to my first and only ultrasound, marked 20 weeks, so 20 weeks (or so) to go until baby is here! We are looking forward to finally going to the baby store here sometime soon and getting some of our first "nursery" items. I finally broke down and spent some money to get a pair of maternity jeans to go with the couple of maternity tops that I brought and I'm so happy that I did. That belly band is really quite nice as far as jeans go, but there's still nothing that compares to wearing a nice, comfortable, loose dress! Within the next couple of weeks a package should be arriving with some more maternity clothes (Thanks, Mom! <3) and I couldn't be more excited.. great early birthday present to be sure!

Well, here are the 20 week belly photos - I made David get into one of them this time :)!

18.5 weeks and hungry all the time!

Now we have just over two weeks until my doctor's appointment and luckily, time seems to be moving fast enough. We're both excited to learn more about having a baby in Finland as well as to hear the baby's heartbeat. If I read correctly, ultrasounds are not performed onsite, but we'll have to see. Either way, you can bet that we'll insist on an ultrasound (and I doubt they'll disagree since it's been over 12 weeks since the last one).

This past week, I've really been able to feel the baby every now and again. David even got to feel the baby kicking which was really exciting for the both of us. My appetite has grown like crazy and I now feel the need to eat almost constantly. Toast with strawberry jam (made by my wonderful husband) has become a daily evening snack for me :). My food cravings are very specific and unfortunately as of right now, the few things that I'm craving are unavailable here in Finland. C'mon Finns, why don't you have shaved ice?!

Well, not much else to update on, but here's a picture of the baby bump - sorry my hand is kind of in the way, but my shirt wasn't cooperating with me wanting to show off my belly.

Let the countdown begin!

Well, as some of you know, people here in Finland like to take a long vacation (at least 2 weeks, but usually a whole month) during the summer. All companies and such, yes, even McDonalds, give their employees a long summer holiday which is awesome when you get to take it, but unfortunately it can also be a huge inconvenience. Since I wasn't in the computer system at the maternity clinic this week, I won't be able to go until August 12th because the nurse is on her holiday now until 8/11. I have an appointment set for 9:45am on the 12th though, so needless to say, we are both counting down the days. By then I should not only be in the system, but we should have our KELA cards so there won't be any issues once I get there. It seems like an eternity away (especially when following Lisa and all of her appointments and ultrasounds - thanks, Lisa :p), but we will manage.

I'm still working on David, hoping he'll come around on finding out the sex of our little baby. Since our place is only a one bedroom, the baby will have a small nursery corner in our room. I'm kind of sad that we won't get to decorate a whole nursery since that was something I had really looked forward too, but we'll work with what we have and make the best of it! Hopefully some generous co-worker of David's will have some baby furniture that they are willing to hand down to us at least temporarily because there's just no way we're going to afford buying our own new set. Even if we could, we'd have to part with it when we left to come back to the states, so it just isn't worth it.

We're also not sure how we're going to work a baby registry for a few reasons (see below), so any suggestions are welcome. It is highly unlikely that either of us will be back in the states before the baby is born since flights are expensive and quite long, especially by yourself. So.. our reasons..

1. Shipping to Finland from the states is quite ridiculous price-wise.
2. The one baby store we know of here doesn't have online shopping, so that's not an option.
3. We have to pay customs, taxes, duties, etc. on anything that we receive here (and those can be pricey).

So, again, any suggestions are welcome... VERY welcome.

I think David and I have decided on a belly picture every two weeks unless my belly decides to really pop out overnight, so you have to wait another week for that, though I promise that my belly hasn't gotten much bigger. That said, I am having problems sleeping as I just can't stay comfortable in any position for long. Baby has also decided the past couple of nights to get really active before bed and I can feel him/her moving around (I think :p). At this stage, it is hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure it is the baby moving, which is very exciting! I just wish baby would decide to play around during the day, not when I'm trying to sleep :).

Hope everything is well with everyone back in the states!

Getting settled in!

On Monday we moved into our apartment which was great after trying to live in a hotel with only a small fridge and no microwave for almost a week. One of the first things we did was go to the grocery store and get some basics. Trying to figure out what things are is kind of fun, but can also be extremely annoying when you are looking for something in particular. Luckily, most everyone here speaks English so it isn't too hard to find someone to help. After spending most of the week without internet, we got our modem today and now have internet. Living without internet was extremely difficult since it is our only connection to our friends and family so we are very happy to have it up and running!

As far as the pregnancy goes, we applied for our KELA cards today, which is what I need in order to get to the doctor here. Hopefully we'll hear back on that soon as I would really like to hear the baby's heartbeat and get another ultrasound! We can't believe that it has already been 10 weeks since the last ultrasound and are very anxious to see our little baby again! David still says he doesn't want to know what we are having, but I most definitely want to know if it's a little boy or girl, so we're working through that. Hopefully he'll just change his mind and then everything will work out from there since there's absolutely no way I'm changing my mind :).

Hope you all enjoyed the belly picture - sometimes when I just catch a quick glimpse of myself in a mirror I'm surprised at how big my belly has gotten. I've decided that my old undershirts (camis) are just too tight and have moved on to my maternity tank tops which are much more comfortable as they aren't extremely tight. My jeans still fit for the most part as they were pretty low-rise in the first place, but I'm thinking it won't be long before I have to pick up a pair of maternity jeans as well (which I should have picked up back in the US where they aren't quite as expensive).

The next ultrasound could possibly show us whether it's a boy or a girl (if we decide to find out), so what does everyone think - will it be a boy or a girl??

16 Weeks Belly Picture!

So, here's the long-awaited belly photo! This was taken today, which makes me exactly 16 weeks pregnant based on my first ultrasound that was now 10 weeks ago. More on that in the full blog post.

We're Finally Here!

Three flights, three trips through security, one flight almost missed, and running around two of the four airports with an extremely heavy backpack definitely doesn't make for a happy pregnant woman. Luckily, we both made it here and minus a few death stares, the people around us were unharmed as well :). Unlike our previous trip to Finland, all of our bags arrived with us, though we think when our bags were screened back in KC our bag of European plug converters fell out. Now to update everyone on the pregnancy which I'm sure is the real reason many of you are reading this..

As of today, I am 15 weeks pregnant and showing waaaaay more than I thought I would be (pictures soon). Just this past week my belly really started to pop out and I can even tell which side of my stomach the baby is on much of the time. Baby definitely seems to prefer my right side when not in the middle of my belly which makes for one hilarious looking stomach, but we both are really enjoying being able to watch the baby move.

Yesterday, we picked out our apartment and got the process started for what is essentially our Finnish social security numbers. Basically, these numbers are needed for everything from getting a cell phone plan to getting in to the doctor. We expect to receive our numbers next week and hopefully I will be able to make an appointment and get to the doctor soon! On Monday we will move in to our apartment which is very exciting as well. Although the link won't work for much longer, here is a link to our apartment for those who would like to see where we'll be living.


http://www.vuokraovi.com/vuokraovi/main/showrental.action?id=228146&entryPoint=fromSearch&rentalIndex=2&searchIdentifier=-1740644263

I think that's about all for now, but we'll keep everyone updated on our life here in Finland as well as the little one on it's way! When David gets home from work, I'll see if he's up for taking some belly pictures too. We miss everyone very much and look forward to many visitors in the future!