15 Weeks and 6 Days: Everything is Up in the Air....Thank you Factor 7!

 I had my 16 Week check up today and second hematologist visit. I have been referred to a hematologist by my O.B because when I got sick with mono in college I was diagnosed with a type of hemophilia called Factor 7 protein deficiency. At the time of my diagnosis I was told I would only ever need treatment for this if I were to have major surgery, be in a bad car wreck, or you guessed it...have a baby! So when I got pregnant, off to the hematologist I went!  I thought this was going to be no big deal. I would go to the Dr., get checked out, get some blood drawn, and then get told I have a very mild case, and go about my pregnancy. WRONG!  When I saw the Dr. today he informed me that what I have is so rare he has only ever had two other patients with it apart from myself. I am 1 in 700 people in the United States that has this blood deficiency. Not only that but my levels are actually on the low end of moderate. 0-35 is severe and my levels are at a 40. He assured me that this will not effect my pregnancy but that my delivery will need to be closely controlled and monitored. There is medication that I can be given before delivery to get my clotting levels up, but that requires my blood to be closely monitored because if they don't give me enough I'll bleed and if I get too much I run the risk of getting a blood clot. Unfortunately, because Factor 7 is so rare, most hospital labs don't have the proper equipment to run blood to check for it. It usually has to be sent out and takes 2-3 days to get the results. And when a baby is on the way there won't be time for a 2-3 day wait. He said the only hospital with the right lab equipment would be Emory so I would need to deliver there, and deliver by C-section. This is not good news....that means a whole new set of Drs. A new O.B (I've been seeing mine for like 10 years) and a new hematologist, and I really wanted to experience labor and a vaginal birth!
I left very down in the dumps, but my good spirits returned when he called me back saying he spoke with an expert at Emory who specializes in Factor 7. I need to see her in January and depending on what she says there may be a chance I can deliver vaginally and at the hospital I had planned on with MY doctor! So everything is kinda in limbo right now until I see this new hematologist after the first of the year, which sucks! I am a planner and I like to know the plan. If I need a new Dr. I want enough time to find a good one and get to know them. If I have to have a C-section I want enough time to prepare and learn about it. I don't like not knowing what's going to go down.
Other then that my 16 week check up went great! I'm getting some nasty varicose veins that make my legs look disgusting, but I was finally able to hear my baby girl's heartbeat through a doppler. We go back in 3 1/2 weeks for the anatomy scan ultrasound! I am looking forward to that one!

15 Weeks! Gender Scan

I am so excited to announce that Baby and I are at 15 weeks! Baby is growing and so am I! According to my ever reliable "What to Expect" book, baby is about the size of a navel orange this week! It's ears are in position and it's very wiggly. Unfortunately, I cannot feel anything yet. There's no denying the fact that I now have a pretty prominent bump when I wear tight clothes. It's been hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that it's the baby growing and not fat.

 No other symptoms except some cramping and pains on my sides and rib cage. I'm assuming they are stretching pains. Last night it literally felt like I had done 200 sit ups after dinner. I had to lay down.
So, on a very exciting note, this past Thursday at 14 weeks and 6 days we had our gender scan! It was so much fun! My whole family came out for it and made it such a special experience. We went to First Impressions 3D, and for those of you in the area I highly recommend it. The room was huge and they had all these big screens set up so everyone could see. The lady, Lauren who preformed the ultrasound was so fun! She asked Andy and mine's guess of what we thought baby was before getting started and I am happy to say that we were both correct and:

It's a Girl!!!!

I knew it the whole time. It was just a feeling I had. I even saw girl parts during the ultrasound, or lack of boy parts I should say. Poor Andy was so confused because they didn't show the whole baby. Just the back of the legs and in between. He got afraid the baby was now deformed. But he was super excited after we pointed out the parts to him! We have decided to name her

Annalise Claire

Her name means: Graced with God's bounty. Claire means Bright. After the ultrasound Andy, my mom, and I went to celebrate by going to Kohls and buying our first baby outfit! It was so fun looking at all the cute pink stuff! After Kohls we went to eat at Applebees to celebrate our sweet baby girl!

Andy, Daisy, and I at Gender scan! Thanks again Daisy for recording the awesome video!

 Andy, Mom, Lindsey, Miller, and I after the scan

 Family Photo 2!

 Andy, Miller, and I! Miller was so excited and kept walking around saying Boy or Girl?

It's a Girl! No doubt about it!

 Grammie is so excited to have a granddaughter this time around!

 Hardly able to contain her excitement over all that PINK!

 Proud Mommy and Daddy shopping for our sweet little Annalise

First outfit set for our little girl! Can' wait until she's here to wear it!

Now that I know we're having a girl, I keep thinking about all the fun things I can't wait to do as a family next year, especially with the holidays getting closer. I made a list of all of them.

I can't wait for (to name a few)

Her first Halloween and dressing her up cute!

Play dates with her cousin Miller

Family dinners with everyone

Thanksgiving

Decorating for Christmas

Taking her to see Santa

Her first Christmas  

Andy is excited about Fourth of July and showing her fireworks

Hooray for Little Girls!

14 Weeks: Baby Bumps and Belly Bands!

It's here! The beginning of the fourth month of pregnancy! Baby is the size of a fist and is supposedly going to start doubling in weight each week! He or she is also beginning to straighten out in position. Since I am now solidly into the second trimester I asked Andy yesterday what his favorite first trimester memory was. We both agreed hands down that the best memory was that 9 week ultrasound, and seeing that something was actually growing and moving inside me! The memory of finding out we were pregnant was a close second.
With the beginning of the fourth month came some exciting new developments. My pants no longer close, and my tummy is growing! I now have to wear a belly band with my pants! I fully believe that the belly band is the single most greatest invention in maternity fashion! It was so nice to be able to go to work this week and be able to breathe because I could wear my pants unzipped and unbuttoned!
It will hopefully only be temporary though, because my sweet Nana offered to order me some maternity shirts and a pair of pants that should be arriving on Tuesday! Friday when I went to get ready for work I noticed my shirt did not fit the same as it did 2 weeks ago! It looks like my bump has arrived! Here are some pictures:

This week is going to be a HUGE HUGE week for us! On Thursday we have our gender scan!!!!! I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl!!!!!!

13 Weeks: Crazy Dreams and Baby Clothes Obessesion!

Baby is now the size of a Peach! Baby's fingerprints are developing as well as intestines and vocal cords! Nothing too major is happening on my outside this week, unless you count my continued weight gain. The one exciting thing that has happened is that I can finally feel my uterus! It's this little hard section right at the bottom of my tummy! Now that I've found it I like to touch it! I can't wait till it starts growing up even more!
The other thing that has been occurring more and more frequently are my dreams.I have never dreamed in my life like I have dreamed this past week. One of the dreams I remember really well was me giving birth to this beautiful baby girl. In my dream she was so prefect and beautiful. I even remember what she was wearing. She was wrapped in a lime green blanket and wearing and light pink and lime green stripped hat. Then they took her away and gave me a kitten to take home instead, and in my dream I started breast feeding this kitten. So weird.
So, ever since I have known the date of our gender scan I have been obsessed with baby clothes! I have been looking at various websites trying to find the perfect coming home outfit to buy if it's a boy and if it's a girl.
So here is what I have picked out for our girl: Annalise Claire Collier
Coming Home Outfit:

And what to wear at hospital after she is born. They also have this one in boy colors for a baby boy.

Here is what I have picked out for our boy: Andrew (Drew) Thomas Collier
I like these two for coming home

And I like this one for at the hospital

I can't wait to know the gender! Annalise or Drew? Which will baby be?