Watch Donovan grow here in pictures!

Birth Day: April 21, 2009

1:17 pm: Donovan Vincent born! 5 lb. 8 oz., 18.25 inches long and HEALTHY. :)

11:28 am: Ready to head into surgery soon! (note the hospital gown inflated with warm air - keeping me toasty before surgery!)

9:00 am: Laundry folded, bills paid, dogs boarded, bags packed & clean underwear on. Leaving for the hospital within the hour!

6:04 am: Been wide awake since 5am. So excited about today!!

Week 37

4-21-09 6:04 am: Been wide awake since 5am. So excited about today!!

4-20-09 4:21 pm: As of tomorrow at about 12:30 pm, we should have us a NEW BABY! WOOT! INCOMING!

4-20-09 Had a debate with my OB today on whether we should deliver sooner or later. He agreed to consult with the head perinatologist at the hospital and said that we'd do it this week if that doctor agreed it was best.

Week 36

4-19-09 The baby's room is ready & waiting...and waiting...

4-16-09 I was hoping to schedule the baby's birth today but there's conflict between my two doctors on when they think the best time to deliver is. My regular OB (who will do the delivery) wants to wait until he's 39 weeks but my high-risk OB feels that sooner is better now that Baby's lungs are mature and he's a good weight. Looks like I'll have to wait until my (delayed - grrr) appointment on Monday to schedule. Was hoping to know sooner. :(

4-15-09 Had my amnio this morning, accompanied by my mom and grandparents, and it wasn't nearly as painful as I'd been worried about. Got the results back this afternoon and his lungs should be mature as of Saturday, so we can schedule his birth for any time after that! Woo! Below: The band-aid is where the amnio needle went in. The oval above is an imprint from the heart-monitor while they were watching his heart rate after the procedure.

Week 35

4-7-09 Had low-level contractions again this morning just before I was supposed to go to the hospital for clinicals for nursing school. Took some terbutaline but was still contracting by the time I needed to leave for work so I headed to the L&D department for monitoring. My showing up in scrubs confused them - they thought I was there to work, especially since other UT students were there too! By the time they were monitoring me, though, the terb must have kicked in so they just monitored for me for a while. Then I checked out of one hospital and went to the other to do rotations for the day. Bonus: when I checked out of the hospital I got an employee discount on my muffin because I was wearing scrubs. Woo! $0.32 saved! Stickin it to da man!

4-6-09 Baby was doing something weird. Finally figured it out: he has hiccups.

Week 34

4-2-09 "WHEN are you due? OMG you don't look that far along - you're so small" count for today: 5

3-30-09 Had low-level contractions in the early morning. Went to the hospital and they finally got them stopped after several rounds of terbutaline, which also made me shake like an epileptic on a jackhammer and my heart pound. Afterward they gave me a prescription for terbutaline to take as needed to try to bake this baby a little bit longer.

Week 33

3-25-09 Went to an appointment with my High-risk OB. If all goes as planned, it'll be the last time I see him until my amnio - to schedule baby's delivery! Also, tonight Matt noted the roundedness of my shape, and that it's like a marine mammal. Apparently I'm manatee-sexy.

3-23-09 4 lbs, 17" Fully formed & packing on body fat every week - and the baby is too. His delivery is likely in less than a month now!

Week 32

3-21-09 The baby's been so extra active the last couple days that I'm waiting for him to burst out Alien-style any minute.

3-16-09 Baby is about 3.75 lb. and 16.5" long. He's gaining an average of a 1/2 lb. per week at this point to fatten up for birth and should have all of his toenails, fingernails and some real hair. If he cooperates, there's less than a month to go now until he joins us out in the "real world!" Watch part of the 4-D Ultrasound below!

Week 31

3-11-09 My doctor's office just called to postpone today's appointment & 4-D ultrasound until Monday. Darn it.

3-9-09 He's 16 inches long and about 3.3 lb. He can turn his head and is adding baby fat this week. Lots of rolling and bumping going on lately. 4D-ultrasound on Wed! Also, my fingers are now too fat for my rings and my feet are WAAAY swollen today. Considering the necessity of home foundation reinforcement. My sexiness knows no bounds!

Week 30
3-4-09 He's about 3 lb. and 15 inches long now and still growing. He seems quite the gymnast lately - I can feel and see him rolling around and kicking, especially up under my lower right ribs. The hospital tour is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, too, since I've never spent any time in the hospital I'm supposed to deliver in (either as a patient or student nurse).

Week 29
2-23-09 ~2.5 lb, 15" His muscles & lungs continue to mature. Head growing to allow for increasing brain. Had an appointment with my high-risk perinatalogist, including an ultrasound. I could see him blinking and watch him move while I felt it at same time, which was very cool and a little odd! He's starting to run out of room in my belly, though, so it was hard to get a good picture of his face. (See below) While I was at the office, they also had me schedule my next two appointments, including one on Wednesday, April 15. We'll do an amniocentesis that day and if it shows that baby's lungs are mature at that point we'll go ahead and schedule my C-section for the very next day. So if he cooperates and waits that long, we may have a baby on April 16!

Week 28
2-19-09 Ordered a car set and stroller for him today. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's a big step for us emotionally to feel like we can start to plan to really bring this baby home someday.

2-18-09 Baby is now about 15" long and weighs around 2.25 lb. He can blink and see light through my belly. He has eyelashes and is busy adding billions of brain neurons and body fat this week. Time to start kick counts - counting less than 10 within an hour after my meals can indicate some type of distress for baby. Not a problem so far - he kicks me all day, especially up under my lower right ribs. Additionally, I now start seeing my Ob/Gyn every two weeks (instead of monthly). Also: Woot! 3rd trimester!

Week 27
2-10-09 His weight is roughly 2 lb and he's about 14.5" long. He's asleep and awake at intervals as well as able to open and close his eyes now.

Week 26
2-5-09 This week he weighs about 1.75 lb. and 14" long. His testes are decending and his hearing and breathing abilities are improving. He's also now officially farther along than Brendan was able to go - another milestone achieved and additional stress reduced. And the sexiest part of pregnancy? The parachute panties. Am I right ladies?

Week 25
1-26-09 He's now approximately 13" long and 1.5 lb. This week he's working on putting on some baby fat and growing some hair. Still no name chosen yet. We're tryin', we're tryin'!

Week 24
1-21-09 Just finished an ultrasound at the Dr.'s office. Baby looks great and is clearly still a boy. :) Below on the left you can see his long legs and little feet, while in the picture on the right you can see his face as he lays on his side (head to the left, belly to the right).

1-19-09 He's now about 1 lb, and 12" long. His lungs are developing more and surfactant for them is starting to be made this week. His skin is still thin and translucent. If he were to be born this week, he now has viability outside the womb, but with high risks. We're also soliciting boy name suggestions - we're stumped! Feel free to suggest some good names that aren't too common (Mike, Matt, Joe) or too "out there!"

Week 23
1-12-08 Baby's now about 11" long and weighs about 1 lb. The blood vessels in his lungs are developing for breathing and supposedly he can hear the song "Satellite" that's blaring out of my speakers at the moment, too (although judging from his motion, he has a strong preference for Peter Frampton).

Week 22
1-7-09 He's now roughly 11" long and weighs about 1 lb. He's developing tooth buds under his gums & fine hair covers his wrinkly body. Pancreas developing. I'm enjoying feeling him move. Matt shot me in the butt for the first time this week - he gets an "A" on his first intra-muscular injection.

Week 21
12/31/08 I started having weekly progesterone shots this week to try to prevent pre-term labor. Therefore, I celebrated New Year's Eve by getting shot in the butt with a big ol' needle. My Ob/Gyn's nurse did it this week but Matt will get the honors from here on out. On the upside, Matt got to feel the baby move for the first time earlier this week! Baby's now roughly 12 oz. and 10.5" long.

Week 19
12-22-08 I can definitely feel him kick now! Also, we went in to see my regular Ob/Gyn, Dr. Hagen, at 19 weeks and 5 days where we got to see our first "3D" image of our son. He wasn't entirely cooperative, since he has his right hand and umbilical cord in front of part of his face, but you can see his chin, lips, nose and left eye peeking out from behind them. Hello!:

Week 17
12-3-08 And...confirmation at 17 weeks from Dr. Berry's office that it really was a tiny peepee that we saw last week (buttocks to the right, thighs to the left).

Week 16
11-28-08 At 16 weeks and 2 days, in the top picture you can see baby's spine, perfectly formed. His head is to the right and his little butt is partly visible to the left. In the lower picture you can see his profile, including his little nose and lips (head to the right and belly on the left).

Week 14
11-18-08 Now 14 weeks and 6 days (one day shy of the second trimester of pregnancy), you can see some of baby's face here (head to the right and body to the left):

and you can also see the gender below (looking up between the thighs, buttocks to the left):

It's a boy!

Week 12
10-29-08 At 12 weeks, we now have more baby pictures below. Top is baby's foot and bottom is looking at baby from the front. You can see the face to the left and shoulders to the right, with hands up by its ears. We looked for gender but couldn't make it out yet. Baby's about two inches long now and weighs about a half-ounce.

Week 10
10-16-08 Finally a picture that looks like a baby! Now at 10 weeks and 1 day, you can see baby from the front in the first picture laying on his/her side with the head to the right and belly to the left and hands up to either side of its face. In the lower picture, you see baby from the side like it's in a hammock on its back, with head to the left and legs to the right. Weighing less than a quarter of an ounce, baby's now swallowing fluid and kicking around, although I can't feel any of it yet. Organs now in place and beginning to function include kidneys, intestines, brain and liver.

Week 9
10-9-08 At 9 weeks and 1 day, baby (laying on its back with some arm buds visible in the picture below) is now about an inch long. The heart is now four-chambered and teeth are starting to develop inside gums. Eyes are fully formed but eyelids are still fused shut. Itty bitty earlobes, mouth, nose, and nostrils are formed now, although too small to be visible on ultrasound yet, which was taken at my first visit to my high-risk perinatologist, Dr. Berry.

Week 7
9-26-08 Although you can't see it well in this ultrasound, our tadpole baby's developing little paddle feet and hands here at 7 weeks and 2 days along. Now up to about a haf-inch lng, baby now has an appendix, a pancreas, and intestines. Both hemispheres of the brain are grwoing also.

Week 6
9-19-08 Now 6 weeks and 2 days along and about a quarter of an inch long, baby looks like a tadpole with a visibly beating heart, which is pumping blood through the body. The fetal pole that's identified below is our "tadpole." As small as it is, though, the pituitary gland, brain, muscles, and bone are already beginning to form. The yolk sac is providing the baby's nourishment until it can form its own complete circulatory system.

Week 5
9-12-08 Baby's first picture. A few evenings before this, I peed on a stick and it came out positive, so we're hopefully on the road to having a baby. The below was taken by Matt at 5 weeks and 2 days gestation. It's not very impressive at this point. Although baby is working on growing a neural tube, which will give rise to the spine, brain and nerves later, all you can really see in the image is the gestational sac with yolk (the dark circle just left of center):