22 Weeks

How big is baby:  Spaghetti squash/ Papaya

Total weight gain/loss: +7lbs so far (same as at 20 weeks, woohoo!) I've been really good the past couple weeks about paying attention to when I'm hungry and when I'm not, and Zach and I go to the rec center to work out almost every day now!

Best moment this week: I was doing clincals in the ER this week (sooooooo cool), and I had a patient ask if I was expecting (I'm just barely showing through my scrubs at this point). I said yes, and that I was due in June. She told me she could tell I was going to be such a great mother because of how I treat people. It was really sweet and unexpected from a stranger. Made my day.

I've also been working a lot on Labor & Delivery, so I get to see a lot of babies being born! My job is to basically take the baby when he's born, rub him off, suction him, stimulate him, get vital signs, put a diaper and hat on him, and hand him to mom. I always try to be super quick and rush the nurse when she's giving the vitamin K shot, because I just want to get baby to mom! And every single delivery, I cry a little (especially when the Dad starts crying--so sweet). It's such a beautiful and spiritual experience every single time. I think it's been preparing me more than anything, because I get to see exactly how birth goes down, and I've seen enough complications that I feel like I will be really comfortable in my own delivery, no matter what happens. I really have the best job in the world :)

Food cravings: CANNED PEACHES. I really eat at least 2 cans of peaches a day for the past few weeks. Sugar overload, I know, but I can't help it. I don't even crave candy or sweets, just canned peaches!!

Food aversions: Eggs. (Will I ever be normal again?!)

Gender: I'm pretty sure it's a girl (mother's intuition, perhaps?) I may have even gone a little nuts at the online Gap sale last week.... :)

Names: Anders Michael Wagner
Everly LOU Wagner (It's Zach's great grandma's name, and when we saw it we immediately loved it! It sounds so southern and sweet, Everly Lou. I love it)

Pregnancy Symptoms/Labor signs: Braxton hicks contractions happen about once or twice a day (that I can notice). Such a weird feeling. My whole stomach gets super hard for a few seconds, and it doesn't hurt or anything but it's a very strange feeling. I like it because I can feel exactly how high my fundus (top of the uterus) is when I have a braxton hicks contraction, and being a nursing student I like to measure how high it is above my belly button to make sure it matches up with how many weeks I am! (+1 cm above the belly button=each week past 20 weeks pregnant you are) Sooo cool!

What I am looking forward to: 

Valentine's Day tomorrow. 

Hawaii in a month. (babymoon!!!!!!) 

Zach's graduation/Zach's parents coming out to visit in April. 

Our 2 year anniversary end of April. 

Being done with 3rd semester of nursing school in April.

Starting my preceptorship and FINAL semester of nursing school in May.

And, June 17th ;)

Funny Moment:  This. I sent Zach this picture from work (well, actually to his sister in a group message. She asked for a bump update):

And Zach responded with this:

He is such a goof. 

Milestones: Feeling baby kick all the time. And now Zach can feel it too. We have a little soccer player in there ;)

It's a______!!!

I'm sorry to everyone who clicked on this post thinking it would be a gender reveal. That was a cruel prank and I apologize, but read on..... :)

5 Reasons Why We Are Not Finding Out the Gender (and why you should wait, too!)

#1. Because baby is healthy, and that's what really matters

At the end of our 20-week ultrasound, Zach and I were on cloud 9. We just got to see our completely healthy baby! We got to see his/her heart, growing brain, stomach, lungs, liver, kidneys, cute little fingers & toes, face, kicking and squirmy arms & legs. We found out that we are having a beautiful, healthy baby. And honestly, that's all that matters to us. If we had gone to the ultrasound and found out the gender, we would probably be going crazy over that instead, and honestly, it just doesn't matter. I just feel so grateful that I am carrying, a beautiful, healthy, 20-week baby right now, and that's the only thing I want to focus on.

Some baby Wagner pics!!

Those little feet!! I die.

And no, this doesn't mean it's a boy. That's the umbilical cord hahaha

#2. I really just like surprises.

I've always loved surprises! Can you imagine Christmas morning and knowing exactly what you're going to open before you do? It wouldn't be as fun! And honestly, finding out the gender of this baby before s/he's born just seems wrong! It's like opening a present before Christmas morning, and I'm willing to wait if it means the delivery will be that much more exciting :)

Much like this kid: (hahahaha)

#3. I actually LOVE gender neutral things!

The first thing people say to me when I tell them we're waiting to find out the sex, is, "How are you going to buy anything for your baby?? You can't prepare at ALL!" and I just have to laugh at how funny this statement is. Do you think my baby really cares if she has all pink clothes and girly nursery decorations? Or will he care that he doesn't have every single sports team jersey onesie to wear? Nope. I promise you, your baby is not a Broncos fan. 

This onesie is one of the most accurate I've seen. haha.

Also, gender-neutral doesn't mean only yellow and green! There are a TON of adorable gender-neutral clothes if you just know where to look (BabyGap, H&M, Etsy). 

And in a few (or more) years when we have another baby, we won't have to buy all new clothes, nursery decorations, carseat, stroller, etc. I will be SO glad I did this. Now I can use all of the baby things I buy now for all of my kids!

#4. We don't have a boy or a girl, so there's really no way we could be disappointed

If I really felt like we would be disappointed if we had a boy, or disappointed if we had a girl, I wouldn't be waiting to find out the sex. We will be so thrilled to have either one!! Really. And whenever someone asks Zach, "Do you want a boy or a girl?" he answers, "One. I just want one." Haha. That pretty much sums of both of our feelings.

#5. I want that whole "It's a ___!" moment in the delivery room, in the moment.

I can't wait for the moment when my husband gets to tell me if it's a boy or a girl, and we can just bask in that moment of happiness as we hold our baby for the first time. I think it will make the delivery that much more special :) 

I work on the mom/baby unit at the hospital, so I get to be with a lot of new parents every day. And every single patient I've talked to who waited to find out the gender of their baby says it was the best decision ever. It has already made the pregnancy more fun, and I know in the end it will definitely pay off when we get to hold our sweet little boy/girl for the first time 

:)

Half-baked ice cream because our baby is 'half-baked' (20 weeks) :)

P.S.-For anyone wondering, no it wasn't hard to not find out the gender during the ultrasound scan. We just told the ultrasound tech right away when we came in that we did NOT want to know the gender, and she laughed and gave us a hard time (mostly out of disbelief), but we still got to watch everything! When she went to do the gender scan in between the legs, she just had us close our eyes. (longest minute of my life!) And then she made sure to not include those pictures on our take-home disk. Easy as that!

20 weeks!! (HALFWAY!!!)

my view now-a-days.

I know, I missed week 18. Turns out "pregnancy brain" is real because I just completely forgot ;)

How big is baby:  Mango! 

Total weight gain/loss: +7lbs so far (I'm starting to hate how this asks me my weight gain/LOSS every time....who on earth loses weight at 20 weeks?!?!)

Maternity clothes: Yes! I've been going buck-wild over maternity clothes. I even bought some jeans from some random lady I found on a Facebook group. (you would have too if you'd seen they were only $2!)

Clearly maternity jeans are completely flattering and sexy

Best moment this week: We just got our 20 week ultrasound, which means we got to see the anatomy of the baby, the heart chambers, the parts of the brain, the amount of amniotic fluid, the (lack of) cleft palate, all the fingers and toes, the kidneys, stomach, and yes, the gender!! But more about that on the next post ;)

Food cravings: Gyros and greek food in general. I woke up Tuesday morning just thinking about gyros. SO I looked up greek food in Provo (which there is an extreme lack of, by the way..) and found a little food truck nearby, so I took the girls on a little adventure as we walked all the way to the food truck so I could get my $4 gyro. And it was soooooo worth it. Best craving ever.

Food aversions: Chick-fil-A & all burgers in general. This one is really sad for Zach, who had just jumped on the whole Chick-fil-A bandwagon after I convinced him for so long. I'm hoping this doesn't mean baby doesn't like Chick-fil-A, because it might be hard for him/her to fit into our family if that's the case.... just kidding ;)

Gender: I really do think it's a girl, for a lot of reasons. Mostly mother's intuition, but we'll see :)

Names: Anders Michael Wagner

Everly "to be decided" Wagner

Pregnancy symptoms: So these past few weeks I've started having a lot of "round ligament" pain. Pretty much, when you get pregnant (especially the first time) your uterus has to grow and stretch a lot, which means the ligaments on the side of the uterus stretch a lot, which, as it turns out, is really painful. It happens most often when I get in and out of the car, or when I work out or right after I've done a really intense workout. But the other week it started hurting a lot, especially when I walked. It even got to the point where I thought I was going into early labor, so I was about ready to go to the hospital to have it checked out, but I decided to wait it out and rest and everything turned out to be okay.

What I am looking forward to: I can't wait to finish the nursery! I've been debating a lot about this one, since the baby will be due in June and we move in August, so will it really be worth it to set up the whole nursery? But it's like a deep-seeded desire in me, to set up my baby's nursery. So even if we have to move a few months later, it will be worth it!

Funny Moment: Crying over this commercial. Have you seen it? Watch it now. No, really, watch it. I watch it over and over, and I cry every. single. time.

Milestones: I now feel baby kicks!! They feel like little bubbles, but stronger. I can only feel them when I sit down or lay down. It's the best feeling in the world. And when we saw the ultrasound and saw they baby kicking, I could feel them! It gives me such a peace of mind to feel baby kicking throughout my whole day at work, just to remind me that baby is healthy and doing great!

Half baked because baby is "half baked"....heh heh heh. punny.

16 Weeks

How big is baby:  Avocado :)

Total weight gain/loss: +4lbs so far

Maternity clothes: Yes! I think this week I finally "popped". Not that normal shirts are too tight around my belly now, but they're getting way too short on me. I feel like a chubby kid with my belly hanging out, so I love how long maternity shirts are.

This shirt was not a maternity shirt

Best moment this week: We got to have an ultrasound done by Zach's dad over Christmas break! He also found out the gender :) 

Food cravings: Baby got a healthy kick this week. I've been eating tons of fruits and veggies, usually just by themselves. And this has helped me out a TON with the not-so-fun side effects of pregnancy, like constipation, acid reflux (it's no joke), and overall bloaty-ness. Guess it's goodbye to queso and ramen (for now)!

Food aversions: Okay this is really funny, right as I clicked on this title to start writing about how I was so over food aversions because I was currently eating eggs now for the first time, I just threw up my entire breakfast into Rue & Harper's water bowl that happened to be on the ground next to me (thank goodness for that!) HA! Guess that's that. Baby hates eggs. I won't be trying those again.

Gender: I have a theory now that it's a girl, based on our last ultrasound pictures we got from Zach's dad. There's this picture of the little baby bum and the two legs sticking out, and I swear it looks like a girl. But everyone in Zach's family has a theory that if Zach's dad was able to find out the sex so early, he must have seen boy parts. Haha. And of course Zach's dad is keeping quiet. So who knows!

Finally got my stroller in the mail! Phil & Teds. I love it (and so does Harp)

Names: Anders Michael Wagner (Michael is Zach's dad's name and Zach's middle name. And it's surprisingly really difficult to find a middle name that sounds good with Anders!)

Everly "to be decided" Wagner

Labor signs: No! They say you can't even feel Braxton Hicks contractions until after 20 weeks, so I'll enjoy my contraction-free life very much while I can ;)

Pregnancy symptoms: Overall, besides this little incident, ahem, just now.... I really haven't been that nauseous. I've really been feeling round ligament pain though. Sometimes if I stand up too quickly I get such a sharp pain that I have to sit back down right away because I'll just get a sharp pain. Or when I turn over in bed sometimes, or take a big stride when I'm walking. It definitely makes me feel pregnant. It feels like a rubber band stretching to it's max.

Harper got featured on the official Phil & Ted's Instagram. Not surprising, though. Look at that stance.

What I am looking forward to: Next week we get the anatomy scan of the baby! I'm excited to see the baby better and to (not) find out the gender! I'm also really really scared that the doctor or ultrasound tech will mess up and accidentally tell us the gender!

Funny Moment:  Zach's been assuming that everything I eat now is because of a "crazy pregnancy craving".  I'll say, "Let's have quesadillas for lunch" and he'll say, "I can't argue with that, you and your crazy pregnancy cravings!!" haha. I don't even know if the whole 'pregnancy cravings' thing is real. I mean, I've heard of PICA and stuff, but if I feel like eating an apple, is that really a pregnancy craving, or do I just feel like eating an apple? Who knows, but I'll take advantage of eating whatever I feel like while I can ;)

Milestones: It's really fun for me to think about how someone already knows the sex of our baby. I don't find myself obsessing over wondering if it's a boy or a girl, because in all honesty it doesn't reallllly matter to me, but it's still exciting to think about :) I'm loving all the gender neutral clothes and things I've gotten too!

The 5 Best Moments of Pregnancy (so far)

#1 Finding out I was pregnant!

When I first found out I was pregnant, I wasn't at home. I wasn't with my husband, and I wasn't even alone.
Nope. I was standing in a public bathroom, surrounded by 6 other girls in my nursing school class, and I was shaking harder than a washing machine on spin cycle ;)

On a whim, I bought the pregnancy test on my way to class when I was picking up donuts. A girl in my class saw the pregnancy test in my bag during class and of course the whole class forced me to take it right then and there... (but I'm so glad I did!)

When it showed up as positive, we all started jumping up and down and screaming, and I'm pretty sure I was crying :)

Of course, the day I found out also happened to be the simulation lab with the maternity mannequin. And yes, that's a plastic placenta

It was really fun to have so many girls around me. And it's special because I'll have this baby while I'm still in nursing school, so these girls will go through it all with me!

#2 Telling Zach he's going to be a dad!

I decided to tell Zach by having him open up a gift with a little onesie inside that said "Daddy's sidekick". The hardest part was driving all the way home from Ogden (1.5 hours!), talking on the phone to Zach and not even telling him!

I was sooo worried he wouldn't be surprised at all because I always told him when I tell him I'm pregnant I'm going to film it on my phone. So the whole set up was pretty obvious by the time he sat down. But nevertheless, his reaction was priceless :)

It was such a special moment, when we hugged right after I told him. I just remember thinking, Wow, nothing is ever going to be the same now. And I can't wait.

#3 Hearing our baby's heartbeat for the first time 

Being in the cool family that I married into, I am SET when it comes to maternity care. I have a father-in-law who's an OB/GYN, a sister-in-law who's a nurse midwife, and 2 sisters-in-law who are labor and delivery nurses. (And since I want to be a nurse midwife, did I marry into the right family or what?)

That means I got to hear my baby's heart beat at only 6 weeks! I was really nervous, of course. Everyone worries about not finding the heartbeat on ultrasound the first time,  and I even had some nightmares about it the night before. But the first time I heard that 'lil thump thump thump thump and saw my 'lil bean on the ultrasound screen, I just got this overwhelming feeling of love. I have never loved anything as much as I love our little cheerio.

Here's our 'lil cheerio, only 6 weeks along :)

#4 Telling our family :)

I called both of my sisters right away (I just couldn't wait to tell them!), and they were so excited for me. Then, over the next few weeks, we told both of our families. Here's some of my favorite photos of their reaction to the news:

my parents' reaction. my mom wasn't surprised, but soooooooooooo excited

Zach's parents' reaction: we tried to tell them by taking a picture AS we announced it, but they laughed it off when we first told them because no one believed us! So we had to convince them for a few minutes before they finally realized we were actually pregnant!

Zach's sister, Brittani. She cried.

Zach's sister, Erin. She cried too :)

This is one of my favorites, Zach's sister, Ashley :)

#5 Seeing baby move (&wiggle & kick & dance) for the first time

Terrible picture, I know, but you can see the face profile and the baby's little fist :)

This was at my last prenatal visit, and baby was kicking and punching her arms around like crazy! I don't have a video of it, so I'll keep this one brief. My mom was there, and she and I both got all teary--it was really special. Before we could only see still pictures of the baby, but for some reason seeing the baby move around in realtime made the baby seem more like a baby. I can't wait for Zach to see baby dance around at the next ultrasound! It's just so surreal to know that my baby is growing in me. 

Already, it's the most wonderful thing I have ever done. 

June 17th can't come fast enough!

14 Weeks

How big is baby: Size of a lemon!

Total weight gain/loss: (still) +2 lbs.

Maternity clothes: Nope! It's all leggings at this point, though. Even my scrub pants are getting tight :(

Best moment this week: I feel like I finally started "showing". It still just looks like I ate a big dinner, but at least I'm getting the baby bump!

Food cravings: Queso. The other night we went out to dinner at Chili's just so I could get their skillet queso (soooooooooo good) and I got my entire meal to-go, and instead just ate the entire pan of chips & queso. Haha. Poor baby.

Food aversions: Still can't eat eggs. Even the smell of scrambled eggs sets me off and I can't eat for a few hours after I see or smell them. YUCK!

Gender: Lately I've been thinking it's a boy. I had a dream the other night that we took the baby home from the hospital in its carseat and we had to wait until we got home to see the baby or find out the gender. And all our family was gathered around when we opened the carseat, and when we found out it was a boy, everyone was cheering and jumping up and down. So that dream has got me pretty convinced ;)

Names: Same names. But I'll tell you about them now. Anders-- this is a family name that I've always loved. My dad is Swedish and I have always loved my Swedish heritage. (Side note: I work in the nursery at 3 different hospitals, so I see a LOT of baby names every day and I have never ever seen an Anders or Everly!)

Labor signs: No, thank goodness!

Pregnancy symptoms: Nausea is getting better! I only throw up on days when I work. I guess baby doesn't like waking up at 5am and working 12 hour shifts. (Baby takes after me)

What I am looking forward to: I get really excited just thinking about decorating the nursery. It's like a dream of mine. I decided the nursery is going to be animal-theme. I got some baby animal prints from The Animal Print Shop last week to frame and hang above the crib. I've loved these prints since before I got pregnant, and I am beyond in love with them. Here's what they look like:

Pictures above the crib (not my crib)

This monkey! I die.

Funny Moment: I think the funniest thing for me these past few weeks is my obsession with catheters. Ever since I got pregnant, I have to pee ALL. THE. TIME. And lately I've been thinking about how nice it would be if I could just have a foley catheter. (Obviously my pregnancy brain isn't making me think about how horrible catheters really are....). But I've had a few dreams where I go to the hospital in a wheelchair, unable to move or walk and the only thing the doctors do is put a foley catheter in me and all of a sudden I can walk again! It's the best dream ever! I know, my subconscious is being a little dramatic, but I really can't wait until I can go a whole night without waking up to pee ;)

Milestones: Nothing too big. I can't wait until week 16, when we can find out the gender. Or will we....? :)

12 Weeks

I've decided to do a little questionnaire every couple of weeks of my pregnancy, to be able to look back and see how my pregnancy has changed, and just for the fun of it :)

How far along: 12 weeks (every Wednesday is a new week).

Total weight gain/loss: +2 lbs.

Maternity clothes: Not yet! I have noticed my jeans getting tighter around the waist though. Can you say leggings?? ;)

Best moment this week: I got to see baby wiggle and dance on ultrasound this week :) She/He was sooo cute and I couldn't stop skipping around all day and talking about it all the time because I was just on cloud 9!

Food cravings: RAMEN NOODLES! This is probably a combination of pregnancy craving and the fact that I have been so nauseous and vomitting constantly that I can't even fathom eating anything else but ramen, gatorade, and apples. (sorry, baby!)

Food aversions: Meat. Eggs. This was sad for me because it was Thanksgiving was this week and I couldn't stomach any turkey. And my parents were in town, which means they took us out to eat a lot and I probably had 4 bites of every meal :(

Gender: At least today, I think it's a girl! I think it's a girl because I have been suuuper nauseous this week, and rumor has it that nausea=girl 

Names: Anders (boy) & Everly (girl). These have been decided since we were engaged, so this question is going to be pretty boring the whole pregnancy ;)

Labor signs: No, thank goodness!

Pregnancy symptoms: Nausea, throwing up, gagging, dry heaving. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up at this point.... I carry vomit bags around in my purse, backpack, car, and all over the house. I can't even brush my teeth without gagging. Let's just say, I'm ready to be done with first trimester...

What I am looking forward to: I ordered a stroller yesterday on Cyber Monday and I'm so excited about it! I did a TON of research on strollers, and when I found this one it was true love. I can't wait to try it out!

Funny Moment: Pregnancy has made me cry, a lot. Not like sad tears. Mostly happy tears. I cry when I hear Christmas music, I cry when I see a video about dogs. Any video at all. And this week, I cried when I took a bite out of an Einstein's bagel. I was just so overwhelmed by how delicious it was, and since I had eaten nothing but ramen & apples for 3 days, the bagel just overcame me. Haha! I can only imagine what everyone in the bagel shop was thinking when I was just sobbing eating my bagel. 

Anyway, here's the bagel: Cranberry bagel with cinnamon shmear. (Just don't blame me when you cry over its deliciousness)

Milestones: We announced it on Facebook! It was really fun, because people were so nice and excited for us! I was nervous people would be rude and judgemental for deciding to have a baby so young (like some people were when we got engaged....) but everyone is so excited for us!! It's so nice to not have to keep it a secret anymore, too :)