Planning

Now that I feel more comfortable with getting ready for this little guy, let the prepping begin! First things first! Well, first names actually. Drumroll please...dadadadadaadadada (yeah, thats how you spell "drumroll")

The whole baby-name thing is absolutely exhausting. There are so many factors to take into consideration. Are people gonna like it? Will he get made fun of? How will it affect his future? Yeah these are the things I thought about. I wanted something different but not crazy. Cody just had to make sure it would sound good being announced during the highlights on ESPN. Jax was the first boy names we agreed on liking quite a while ago. (It may or may not be from a TV show but I'll let you figure out which one.) I've always like Jackson but thought spelling it with an "x" was a better fit for Johnson, plus I got that little dash of unique I was looking for. And yes, it may sound like he has 3 last names (which I really got hung up on for a while) but I've always wanted to have my maiden name as a middle name.  After making a list (which only consisted of "J" & "C" names for some reason), Jaxon was the one that didn't get crossed off for one reason or another. And I love it!
Probably one of the funnest parts of the planning process is registering! And I wanted to do it as soon as we found out what we were having, like that day! Partly because it's just fun but also because I thought it would help get me get alittle more into all this boy stuff. I'll be honest- my eye naturally goes towards all things pink, ruffled & sparkly. I knew it was gonna take some getting used to being attracted to blue & well, plain. But thanks to Target & the internet, my hopes are high! Anything the screams "little man" is right up my alley. Like those tiny little church suits complete with vest & tie. Ugghhhh!!!! Feel free to peruse my greediness, uh, I mean registries, if you have a minute that needs passing :)

Target     Babies-R-Us     Pinterest

Last but not least is the nursery. Pinterest & I have gotten very close these last few weeks, especially when I was on bedrest. All I know is that if I ever wanted to start my own business, I'd desing nursery bedding & decor. You know, like stuff that does NOT have dinosaurs or whales or bugs or winnie the pooh on it. Stuff that could possibly go with the rest of your house. Stuff that could grow with them past age 2. All I wanted was plain colors & patterns but not pastels or plaids. Is that too much to ask? Turns out, it is. So I will be doing some pretty heavy mixing & matching. If I were on one of those HGTV shows my mother so desperately loves I'd title this episode "Little Man Cave". Vintage sports, motorcycles, "guy stuff". I want my husband to be jealous of this room.

Here's a sampling of what I'm thinking...

So there you have it. Good has been done here! And it's only gonna get better!! My mom is coming next week (cha-ching!). Oh & we get to prepare for the arrival of a handsome little dude. That too ;)

Very 1st Baby Bump Picture

Ta-da!! The first bump pic I've taken since I've been preggers :) This was Valentines Day & I'm 17 weeks. More to come!

OK, let's try this again...

I see all these cute blogs about being pregnant & doing the whole weekly-update & bump-shot thing & think "love that! must do it!". Well I'm 18 weeks & have yet to begin. I totally planned on it, not just to keep creeper friends & family (you know who you are) updated, but also to act as a journal for myself. Just as I was starting to think "Ok, let's blog!", I was thrown a curve ball.
I guess you can call me a bit a of a worry-wart but ever since I saw those 2 little lines on my Dollar Tree preggers test the thought of something going wrong has been in the back of my mind. I couldn't wait to get out of the 1st trimester since the chance of a miscarriage goes down significantly. The first day into my 2nd TM was one of the worst days of my life.
Just a few details: 1st day into 13 weeks - Had just dropped my hubby off at football practice - Was walking into Target - Thought I had uncontrollably started to pee my pants - Discovered it was in fact not pee - Commenced the freaking out - Drove to the ER.
I will spare you what followed but lets just say after the most HORRIFIC emergency room experience I'm sure I'll ever have, I was told "Yep that's a lot of blood. You're probably having a miscarriage. Sorry." They handed me one piece of paper with a couple sentances explaining what they said was happening, said to call my OB in the morning & sent me home. Uh, excuse me! I don't think I've ever cried so hard in my life. You know that kind of crying where you don't care who sees you & you can't catch your breath & you feel like your brain is melting out your eyes? Yeah, pretty much like that. So we went home. Elevated my feet (per the instructions of that extremely helpful piece of paper) & tried to catch a few winks on the couch.
Fast-forward 6 weeks...
I am now 18 weeks along with healthy baby boy! Those nerds in that ER had no idea what they were talking about, thank God! Literally everything they told me was untrue. My little guy stayed strong & held a great heartbeat the whole time. What had happened is called a subchorionic hemorrhage & I won't even pretend to be able to explain what it means. Feel free to Google it if you feel so inclined :) All I know is that after over a month of bed rest, I have been cleared & can be treated as a normal pregnancy. Thank you Jesus!
That whole experience has been burned into my brain & will forever affect how I feel about being pregnant. But I can't tell you what a relief it is to finally be able to feel like I can start planning for this little guy. Up until now, I didn't want to do too much "just in case". But I'm feeling good & ready to go baby boy crazy!
Bring on the baby-bump pics & Pinterest links & blog updates!!!