Catch-up Post #1

As we mentioned....we'll try to catch you all up, since we only started posting at week 16! We are ending week 17, and all is well! Melissa has been feeling good, and is counting down the days until we find out what we're having (26 more sleeps!).

We found out we were pregnant on November 6th...Melissa's Dad's birthday. The next night we had our first Christmas party of the season...so it was fun to get dressed up and have a mini celebration! It was REALLY odd knowing something that NO ONE else knew anything about. We seemed to talk about the news all the time. It was as if nothing else was happening in our lives. We were super excited.

For Thanksgiving, we drove to Texas to see the McReynolds family. Melissa studied all the way there and a bit each day when we were there, trying to complete 3 classes of her MBA. We figured that everyone was a bit suspicious that Melissa declined coffee every morning and wine every night. That was a bit out of character for her! Overall, it was a fantastic visit and we drove back to Alabama uneventfully.

Upon returning home, Melissa and Clint went into high-speed-mode, trying to wrap up the year at work and school, as well as getting ready for a big trip to London England and to North Carolina for Christmas to visit with the Lloyd family.

Before the trip, we had our first prenatal appointment with our friend and doctor Jacquie Tessen. Jacquie was THRILLED when she heard us both talking in her office. She knew Melissa had been thinking about becoming a patient of hers, but had no idea that we were expecting. It was a great appointment, as we got to see the baby for the first time on the ultrasound. The baby looked like a little kidney bean and was 1.75cm long from "crown to rump". Little tiny baby! More later....

16 week appointment

Melissa went for her 16 week appointment this morning and both mommy and baby are doing great. Our doctor, Jacquie, is really happy with how everything is progressing. Everything on the blood work from the 12 week appointment came back normal and Melissa's weight gain is right on track. Melissa had another round of blood taken today in order to complete some testing and the baby's heart beat was heard and measured. It was 164. To bring you all up to speed...here are the measured heart rates that we have received:
@ 8 weeks: heart rate was 180
@ 12 weeks: heart rate was 160
@16 weeks: heart rate was 164

So....look up all your old wives tales and give us your prediction on what we are having!!! We will find out on Wednesday February 25th at 8:30am!

Ending Week 16

This is our first entry....but we will try to compile some blog entries that talk about the weeks we didn't write. We are in fact completing the 16th week of Melissa's pregnancy. All has gone very smoothly so far....no sickness, no complications and the doctor has said everything looks great.

As some of you know, Melissa found out we were pregnant on November 7, 2008 and we have been excited ever since. We kept it quiet until Christmas Eve when we told our families. Both sets of grandparents are extremely excited, as are Uncle Jeff, Uncle Vic and Aunt Heather.

This week, Melissa began transitioning into maternity clothes. The pants are absolute heaven, and although some shirts are still a bit big, a tight knit maternity sweater just gives that extra bit of room that she needs. This weekend, Melissa will organize her closet to have better access to the maternity clothes she has purchased thus far.