Woah, we're half way there!!
That's right ladies and gents, we are officially 20 weeks along today! I apologize in advance for the delay between posts. I know it has been over a month and a half since we officially announced we are pregnant, but a lot has been happening here in the Ray household. To back track - here is whats been goin' on since May 5:
Let me first start by saying having my mother hold this secret for so long before we actually announced publicly was probably the hardest thing she has ever done. Having to come up with ways to tell people "she didn't have any updates (bs)" or "It wasn't her place to share" was so hard for her. When I gave her the green light to tell someone she was SO excited! So thank you to all that were wondering and asking, for your patience :)
May 24 - our 7 week ultrasound at the fertility clinic. My anxiety was through the roof because I needed that reassurance that everything was on the right path and she was healthy. Everything checked out great and our little peanut girl was perfect.
We were off to Michigan for the weekend to celebrate the holiday and my birthday. This was the best gift a girl could ask for.
June was an exciting month. On June 10, we went back for our FINAL appointment in Carmel at the fertility clinic for our 10 week ultrasound and graduation day. If we passed this appointment, we would officially be done and graduated to a normal OB right in town - so much nicer than a 2.5 hour drive each time! (don't get me wrong, I would make that drive a million more times if they needed me to just to make sure this girl was healthy and got what she needed). But on that day, we passed with flying colors and graduated! This also means that I get to stop taking the additional 400mg of progesterone a day and estrogen shots twice weekly! I am now a normal pregnant person! Thank you for everything Midwest Fertility Clinic, we will be seeing you again when we are ready to de-thaw baby #2-3.
After that appointment, it's like my mother was let loose! I think every garage sale and Facebook Marketplace person knew who she was. She was finding deals left and right. How about this? I got this for you! Look at the deal I got! From 25cent outfits, to a basically brand new pack-n-play and car seat, brand new bath tub, boppie and more... I think she needs to reconsider this as a new career. Also, Sophia is set until she is at least 18... haha
June 25 (11w6days) - I had my first appointment with a regular OB. Holy cow, the difference between a fertility clinic and regular doctors office is crazy. I was always in early and before my appointments at the fertility doc, and here, I'm not used to the waiting! But the bonus of being a "new patient" is I got to get another Ultrasound to see baby girl. THANK HEAVENS she has her father's chin ;) She is getting so big!
July 8 (13w5days) - We officially made our announcement on our 2nd year wedding anniversary, right before I was 14 weeks along. Thank you to everyone who reached out and showed love and support, we were very touched! Here is the video that we used to announce:
About 5 years ago I had a procedure done called a LEEP procedure. With this, you have to tell your doctors so they can double check your cervix to make sure it is a good length. If it is below average or super short, they have to watch you towards the end of your pregnancy to make sure you can carry the baby to term. So, on July 22 (15w5days), I had a check-up appointment to make sure everything looked okay! Bonus of having all these complications PRIOR to becoming pregnant, is you get an ultrasound or scan almost every appointment. I am not going to know what to do when the appointment comes that I don't get to see her on the screen. But, we measured above average and everything looked awesome. Sophia even stuck her hand into the camera and waved at us. She is an active little bug!
As far as symptoms, I have been very lucky these last 20 weeks. I had zero morning sickness, minus the occasional time that all of the medicine I was taking made me nauseous, up until about week 10, right as I laid down to go to bed, but nothing ever came out (whoop whoop!!). I had a slight food aversion to bacon... I mean come on baby girl, BACON IS OUR FRIEND!! We walked into a cafe in Jasper and it smelled like bacon, I turned to Cheyenne and said "we need to leave now or I am going to be sick." But, I tried bacon last week while on in DC for business and it was delicious. Just has to be the right texture (burnt basically) to tolerate it. The one main thing I do have is heart burn. About an hour after eating ANYTHING I get some serious burnage haha. Tums have become my best friend. But besides those few things, it has been a smooth ride so far for me and Baby Sophia. Now Cheyenne having to deal with my "baby wants Taco Bell, or Qdoba for the 3rd time this week... sorry!" is something he has been very good with! I am going to take advantage of this food freedom for the next 4 months.
Since announcing in early July, Cheyenne received a promotion with his current company - MasterBrand Cabinets - that relocated us from the middle of no-where Jasper, Indiana, to a new city and state: Louisville, Kentucky. So we had a few things to do in a short amount of time: look for an area to live in, find a realtor, find a house we wanted (get our hopes up on so many, only for them to be under contract before we could even see them), put an offer on one house (get beat out by another couple - sad), then at the last minute, find our perfect house and put an offer on it 20 minutes after they listed it. We were okay with not even seeing it before putting an offer on it - that's how much we liked it. And just like that, July 31 (17 weeks) we signed the contracts and closed on our first home. This picture made me look UBER pregnant, but then you see me in person and its like "wait you are 5 months preg??"
We had some rock star helpers come down the first week we moved in: my mom and dad, and Cheyenne's mom and aunt. We were able to get almost everything done/fixed that we needed to and unpack practically everything. Having a Lowe's 3 minutes down the road I have found is not a good thing as a homeowner. Then of course, we had some shopping to do: new bed set/bed, new couches for the man cave, TV for behind the bar - you know, the essentials :)
Downside to this new house is we had to put a baby gate on the stairs so that our furry little animal, Sky, doesn't go upstairs in the rooms or cry outside our door wondering where Mommy is. Within 3 days of moving in, I, being my smart/clumsy self, decide to just step over the gate on the stairs, but was unlucky. My slipper got caught on the back side of the gate and thankfully it was only 5 stairs up from the bottom, but I stumbled down the first two then took a pretty decent crash on the floor below with the gate landing between my legs. I braced myself with my hand, then elbow then shoulder but was terrified about baby girl. The gate had hit my lower abdomen and I could feel a bruise coming. Was she okay? Did I need to go to the doctor? HELP! I didn't have any major cramping or pain and no bleeding, so we decided to just wait it out and see how I did. I called the doctors a week later to check in on it and see if I could get into my appointment a week early but she said she wouldn't be too concerned since there wasn't major pain or bleeding, plus they didn't have anything earlier than 3 days before my 20 week appointment. So we waited it out.
And we are up to today - August 21, 20 weeks pregnant! Yesterday I had my 20 week checkup and met my new OB here in Louisville. She seems great! The hospital is a women's and children's specialty hospital so I know I am in good hands. My main concern was checking on her to make sure that fall didn't cause any harm. But, she was an ACTIVE and sassy little one during her scan. Upside down and flipping around, kicking away when it got to her feet, and trying to get a look at her face, but she kept covering it with both hands or sticking her WHOLE hand in her mouth. She was perfect and everything looked great. Weighing in a little over 11 oz and all of her cute long fingers and toes, she was right on track! I am up 7 lbs so far and thank heavens for these birth-giving hips my mother gave me, because baby hides really well in there. We go back for our anatomy scan this Friday to get all of the details and sizes. Super thankful for how easy these first 20 weeks have been and looking forward to the next 20 and finally meeting our sweet Sophia Lynn.
Here is our growth progress so far!
Until next time...JR
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