18 week belly

One thing I have figured out about being pregnant is that people are VERY interested in the belly. My classmates gripe at me for trying to hide it while they attempt to check it out in class. I told myself I was going to take these pictures (because I will want them later) but I didn't plan on posting them... After a few complaints, I've started feeling guilty and decided to put them on here. It's finally looking like a baby bump and less like a beer gut!

Update

Well I had another doctor appointment today... just routine to do a pelvic exam. I was told that i'm 2 lbs ahead of schedule, which isn't a huge surprise to me since i've been eating horribly. In my first trimester I had the mindset of "at least I am actually eating" (it didn't happen much) so I didn't mind that I was eating poorly. Since then my appetite has come back in full force and my eating habits didn't go back to normal. They will now though! I have too many weddings coming up right after having the baby!

The other problem is that running has always been my preferred exercise and he advised me not to be running. It's usually not a big deal but we're concerned about the possibility that I could have an incompetent cervix and running may be too much impact for me. So far the cervix is holding up, but better to play it safe! That just means I'll be taking Bailey dog for more walks and maybe I'll be doing some yoga or water aerobics.

During my pelvic exam I was (in so many words) informed that I have a narrow birth canal which includes an extra long tailbone (that will get in the way of a baby coming through). He said we'll just have to see how big the baby gets (Cody and I were both porkers close to or over 9lbs). I'm starting to sense a C-section in my future...Or a very long and painful delivery. :) At least I get those 8 weeks off that I mentioned before!

Speaking of babies... Cody and I have a new nephew. Cory and Tamie Coltharp are the proud parents of Kache Zachery Max Coltharp. We made a trip to Dallas last weekend to go meet the little guy. He sure is a cutie and looks just like the rest of those boys! That Coltharp stamp seems to be a strong one! Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

Cody's Nenaw and her great-grandson.

Cody had a weird fascination with the elephant humidifier? This went on for entirely way too long.

Cody and Kache (and their matching hairlines)
Cody and his youngest brother, Callan, wrestling at the hotel--some things never change!

Another Video

I forgot to add this to my last blog. Video of baby Coltharp at 16 1/2 weeks. He started the session lazy but got pretty active later on and seemed to be throwing a fit. Hope that's not an indication of what's to come when he's born--ha! I love watching him move around. I guess I may start feeling it soon??

It's a BOY!

We had another sonogram today. I'm only 16 1/2 weeks so we were really only going to check the length of my cervix (so far so good!) but since a friend of mine is doing our ultrasounds we did a little more... It's so much fun to have Lindsey doing this! Anyway, we are having a boy! We're continuing the trend of Coltharp boys but it's been a while since a boy has been born in the Marten family! We're THINKING we're going to name him Caden Layne Coltharp. We were wanting to branch out of the C or K names since almost everyone's name in Cody's family starts that way...but we really have loved this name for so long so I'm pretty sure that's what we're sticking with.
We even were able to get a 4D shot of him! Lindsey said they never turn out this good so early in the pregnancy...we got lucky! I think this is sooo cool!

More good news!

I was able to get my first clinical in Wichita Falls! I start Oct. 18th at North Texas Rehabilitation Center! I'll be there for 8 weeks and it is an outpatient neuro setting, which I think I will LOVE.

This is big news for us because it makes our lives much easier--I'll get to live with Cody and the baby and we'll be close to both of our parents which will be a huge help as far as babysitting, etc (they're pretty excited about this part). I'm also excited because I think this could be a place I would like to work after I graduate if the opportunity came up!

Off topic but more good news--We are almost positive that Cody will NOT have to go to Afghanistan in May. More than 3/4 of his Reserve unit is Lubbock is getting activated to go in May so I was really nervous about it for a while but I think they have enough volunteers. Plus Cody is supposed to be out of the Marines in May (but that doesn't always mean much). He actually would really like to go if it were a different time in his life. I know it's incredibly selfish that I hoped he wouldn't go... I was looking forward to living with him FINALLY and I really didn't want him gone the whole first 9 months of our child's life.

I know we can handle it if he does have to leave again. I chose to marry a strong hearted man who believes in death before dishonor--I couldn't be more proud of him!

1st trimester

Everyone tells me about "mommy amnesia." Someday I'll want to look back and enjoy remembering these little details...

I always thought I would feel ok while pregnant. My mom said she never really felt too bad, I thought I could expect the same. I was very wrong. My 1st trimester misery came on very suddenly at about 6 weeks. This happened to fall in my last 2 weeks of my Fall semester in PT school. This means I was sick during practicals and finals. These two weeks were hard but I'm still in the program!

Nausea: The term "morning sickness" is entirely misleading. I stayed in a constant state of queasiness for about 6 weeks straight. The question everyone wants to ask is "oh so have you been throwing up a lot?" I don't feel like I had it any easier than those pregnant ladies that do vomit a lot. I spent a lot of time in the state of hanging out in the bathroom with the watery mouth knowing its about to happen and it never does... I would just be in there wishing that I would either feel little better so I could leave or throw up so that I could at least have some temporary relief.

Food Aversions: I love food, probably more than I should. But in this time, every thought of food grossed me out. I had NO cravings and everything grossed me out. Even foods I usually LOVE would make me gag when trying to eat them. I was able to make myself eat a few things (mostly just bread). I lost 8lbs in 1st trimester because of this.

Crazy Hormones: Cody met the crazy hormones one day after telling me that I didn't feel that bad and that I was "just milking it". I won't say exactly how this played out, but it wont be said again. Normally I don't get set off that easily but that's the funny thing about the crazy hormones--you never know when they'll show up. It's rare, unexpected, and not pretty.

Sensitivity to smell: Almost any smell grossed me out. It was so bad one day that I threw away ALL the candles and wall plug-ins that I bought for Cody's house because they bothered me so much. Irrational? Absolutely, and Cody let me know it. Certain smells bothered me so much that even now just thinking about them makes me want to gag.

Fatigue: I can't even put into words how extreme this was. I slept every bit of 12 hours/day and laid around for most of the rest of the day. I tried to take Bailey for a walk sometimes but that never seemed to help. Fatigue is common in pregnancy but I think I made mine worse because I wasn't able to eat much (or well). After Christmas shopping one day for about an hour I actually got back in my car and had to lay my seat back and rest for about 10 minutes before driving off.

Emotional: I'm usually not very emotional, especially for a female. I try so hard to have it together all the time, so if I do cry I try everything I can not to let anyone see that. (Something I learned from my dad--ever heard the song by Brooks & Dunn 'Cowgirls Don't Cry'--it makes me think of me and dad). Anyway, there were a few days where I would cry for no reason at all (in the bathroom so Cody never knew).

My parents would probably disagree (I saw them a lot during this time) but I really tried to appear to everyone else that I didn't feel that bad. Overall I was miserable for 6 weeks. I actually told Cody that I didn't think we could have more children because "I can't do this again".

It's amazing to me that Cody still loves me after all that. We actually had a month to live together and I never once cooked, didn't clean at all, sometimes never even got out of my pajamas, showering became more of an occasional thing, make-up was even more rare, and shaving my legs was out of the question. I wasn't my usual happy-go-lucky self and I know that's one of the things he loves most. Not only was Cody taking care of me and treating me great, he actually still wanted to be around me and go out of his way to make me happy. How did I get this guy?

What everyone has told me is holding true--Now that i'm feeling great, i'm starting to forget how bad I felt. Looking back it seems like it flew by. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Somewhat pregnant???

Monday, November 16, 2009--I found out I was "halfway" pregnant.

I had taken a home pregnancy test on Sunday. Negative. They make these tests where they can detect if you are pregnant 5 days earlier. I later learned that I can't count.

On Monday I had a sinus infection so I wasn't feeling like myself anyway. When I got home, I still wasn't feeling well so I was only going to cook rice (some garlic flavor). The weird thing was that as I went to cook it, the smell actually made me gag. I couldn't even try to eat it. I'm never that sensitive to smells and I remembered my sister-in-law, Tamie, telling me that her 1st pregnancy sign was a heightened sense of smell.

About 10:30pm I decided to go take another test. I was sure it was negative since I took one yesterday but at least for a short 3 minutes I could pretend that I might be. For this particular test to be positive, there has to be 2 blue lines showing. I go look at the test and see 1 normal line and 1 very faint line. This line was light enough that I initially thought I was imagining it. I pulled Sunday's stick out of the trash to compare results... it had ONE line. So, 1 1/2 lines?!?! What does that even mean?!?!

How hard can it really be to read a pregnancy test? I used to laugh at the fact that they advertise "easier to read" on some of them--maybe I should have bought those. Now what? Find the instruction manual for a stick you pee on. What a joke. The instructions addressed any and every ridiculous question you could possibly come up with EXCEPT the faint line. Go figure.

I always thought I would have some fun way of telling Cody. I thought I would at least tell him in PERSON. I had to call him just to help me figure this out...but how do you start that conversation? "Hey Cody, I just took a pregnancy test, it may or may not be positive and I can't sleep until I have this figured out". I couldn't even tell you how either one of us reacted in this moment and what our emotions were because we were too busy trying to decide YES or NO. Not knowing what else to do, I got off the phone, took a picture of the stick and sent it to him to get his opinion.

Next I call Kim. I knew she would be awake. I pretty much had the same conversation with her as I did with Cody. 1 or 2? 1 or 2?? She also got a picture.

Cody and Kim weren't able to help much but they did confirm that I wasn't crazy and seeing things.

Next source=Internet. After spending some time searching and learning more about pregnancy tests than I ever cared to know, I did come across some useful info. At this point I was fairly certain that I was pregnant but would have to take another one in the morning to get a better read.

I've had someone else tell me they experienced the same faint line issue. So for those of you that will be using these home tests in the future:

• These tests detect Hcg which is a hormone present when pregnant.
• Therefore even a faint line=positive test (just means there isn't much Hcg present yet).
• It's best to take the test first thing in the morning because the urine is more concentrated.
  

All things I wish I would have known earlier.

The test I took Tuesday morning was POSITIVE. I went to the doctor for the sinus infection and the blood test here also said I pregnant.

Here. We. Go!

Baby Coltharp Video

I finally got my video to upload! It doesn't show much at this point, and the clip is really short but I still like watching it. The baby didn't move around as much while she was taking the video but you can still see movement and his/her little mouth opening and closing!

While I'm on the baby subject-we went to the doctor yesterday and he said so far everything is looking good! I was supposed to go in for my next sonogram in March but he's moved it up to Feb. 18th so Lindsey can measure the length of my cervix. The doctor just wants to keep a close eye on how it's holding up after all the procedures I've been though. I'm excited though, I enjoy the sonograms and when we go in on the 18th we should be able to tell by then the sex of the baby!

Great News!!

Baby is due in July and I have classes up until Aug 13--there is not much getting out of that. However, we do have four 8-week long clinical rotations (where I basically work as a PT for free with someone supervising me) that start later in August. My professors/directors/dean all worked it out where I get to skip my first clinical so I'll have 8 weeks off to stay at home with the baby (i'll still have to take an online class though but that won't be bad). I'll pick it back up with clinicals October 18th, graduate with my classmates in May 2011, and just make up the missed clinical rotation in June/July 2011. Then, hopefully, I can take my licensing exam a couple of months after that and FINALLY start working as a Doctor of Physical Therapy (as long as I pass, they say it's a booger of a test).

There is a good chance that I won't be able to get all four clinical rotations set up in Wichita Falls/Seymour area but we're keeping our fingers crossed and hope to at least get most of them there. It'll be hard to be away from Cody and possibly the baby (not sure how that will work out) but we'll deal with it as it comes. This wouldn't be the first bump in the road we've faced, that's for sure.
Anyway, this was big news for us because it will be such a huge blessing to have that bit of time off with the baby. I have wonderful professors who are doing everything they can to help me out and everything is working out much more smoothly than I ever imagined!

Baby Coltharp--12 weeks 5 days

First of all, our sonograms are always fun because we get to see the baby but also because a very good friend of mine (Lindsey) is doing them! Our first sonogram we had at about 6 weeks because I had been having some bleeding and they wanted to make sure everything was fine. Everything was still great! We got to see and hear the heartbeat, but there wasn't much to see of the baby at this point. Baby was not even a centimeter long and just looked like a tiny grain of rice.

We had our 2nd sonogram yesterday and it was a different story. We saw arms, legs, toes, vertebrae, the brain, nose, mouth, etc. The highlight was when we watched the baby move/wiggle around! The baby would move its limbs and even turned over on it's side for us to reveal it's little face (which at this point appears more alien-like than human, but that'll change soon too!). As a first time "mommy-to-be" this was very exciting for me. It was also a moment when reality set it and I REALLY knew that there is a little life growing in there. Not that I didn't know it before, but i'm not showing much yet so I don't always "feel" pregnant (other than being sick ALL DAY LONG during the first trimester).

My dad thought the baby looked like it was hanging out in a recliner with arms behind the head and legs all propped up in this picture! The funny thing is a few of my friends from class said the baby must already have my personality because he/she looks so "laid-back". Cody's very laid-back (most of the time anyway) so i'm sure it's possible our baby could be too.

Baby Coltharp measurements put me at about 12 weeks and 5 days.

• 6.7 cm long (crown to rump)


• HR 158 bpm


• We saw what really looked like boy parts but Lindsey said that hormones cause the girl parts to swell up and that could have been what we were looking at. It's too early to tell. We should know in 6-8 weeks!