Welcome Byrne Family!

We are so happy to share our news with you, and hope you follow along with us as baby and belly grow!

Here you will find updates on my pregnancy (although I refer to this as "our blog", I am the main author), sonogram photos, and updates on baby's growth and development.

As I mentioned in my email, we still haven't told everyone yet, and we want each time we share the news to be special-  so please refrain from Facebook posts or messages for now. Thanks!

11 and a half Week Ultrasound

We had a wonderful time today at the Washington Radiology Associates.  Our sonographer was so nice and pointed out tons of stuff to us, and took lots of photos. At the end of the visit, we got a CD full of photos from the visit. They confirmed that the baby has a two-hemisphere brain, a spine, two arms, two legs, and a heartbeat of 161 beats per minute.

Here's the traditional sonogram photo:

Then we even got to see the little guy in 3D!

He or she was kicking their legs, turning to the side, and bouncing around. The doctor said "looks like he's having a ball in there!" I can't feel any of it yet, which is so strange because it is 5 cm.

11 Weeks

Baby is the Size of a Lime

Although it feels a lot bigger!

10 Week Appointment

I had my 10 week appointment today. The day started off pretty badly with me rushing to a meeting downtown, which required me to get on a way too full Metro train. I started to get hot and feel really, really nauseous. It got so bad that I couldn't make it to my destination, I had to get off (run off) and sit down for a few minutes before I could continue. So I'm going to try to avoid crowded Metros for a while.

10 Weeks

Baby is the Size of a Prune

This week feels like a pretty big milestone to me. Ten weeks seems like a long time and I feel like we've done a pretty good job of keeping our secret.

We have decided to wait until the traditional twelve weeks to spread the news openly. This will coincide nicely with the week right before we go on vacation to Florida. I can tell my boss right before we head out so he will have some time to let it sink in. I plan to take 4 months off and hopefully they are OK with that.

We have told a couple of people in the past two weeks:

• My cousin and her husband, whose baby is going to be exactly one year older than our baby!
• Our friends in Richmond while we were visiting with them last week. 

Unpasteurized Cheese and Other Things Off-limits

Pregnancy is full of "No's".
Maybe this is so you can empathize with your future child hearing you say "NO!" all the time, or maybe (I think I read this somewhere) - it is for the baby's health. It is totally understandable that there are so many foods that are risky, and I have promised not to eat them, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it!

Baby Stuff

We went to Savannah this weekend to visit my sister and her family, and my dad and stepmom also came up to visit with us all. We had planned to pick up some baby stuff from my sister as her youngest is now 10 months and has outgrown plenty of items that our baby would be happy to have! I had an idea of how much it would be, but seeing it all in person it was just so much! It was AMAZING to have my sister hand over all of her precious baby clothes, toys, gadgets- it was so generous. Now our office/future nursery is stacked up with baby supplies, it is very surreal to walk in there in the morning and see baby stuff everywhere!

We got some adorable Winnie the Pooh gifts from dad and stepmom, a cute 3-D onesie and little finger puppets! AND a beautiful maternity dress from Pea in the Pod, my bump just has to grow in!

 

Now we just need to figure out where to store all of these baby supplies, as I am guessing that they will continue to accumulate via parents, friends, and of course- me! I haven't bought anything yet, maybe at 12 weeks I'll celebrate by buying something for the baby :-)

Reading Materials

The Happiness Project
I have been reading What to Expect, FitPregnancy magazines and daily email updates from BabyCenter dot com... babies babies babies, oh my! I was just thinking I could use something "fun" (and non-baby related) to read when my (psychic) friend Heather gave me an early birthday gift, The Happiness Project.
I read about half of the book in the past week, and little bits of advice and information are definitely sticking with me. My favorites so far are "what's fun for other people might not be fun for you" and getting more sleep can make you happier- I can do that!
I'm trying to convince Mike to read this once I am done as I think that this book would be great for both women and men. This is my BIG THANK YOU to Heather for being a great friend and always working hard at our friendship, including buying me this awesome book!



To Raise Happy Kids, Put Your Marriage First

Everything I've read so far says that having a new baby in your house turns everything upsidedown. Having a happy marriage is extremely important to me, so I've already starting trying to prepare myself (as much as possible). I know there are a million things that I can't anticipate, but it can't hurt to get a little advice here and there.





How to Have Your Second Child First
To keep me grounded, I thought I needed this book. I know that I tend to go a little overboard with reading and books and research so this seemed like the perfect "don't go overboard" book (is that ironic, or contradictory?) - whatever. I like the tips from second time parents and the format is very easy to read, it even has built in book marks.
They have already convinced me that I don't need a wipe warmer and that I will be able to shower once the little one arrives. Something awesome they recommended was to have happy hours at home while the baby sleeps and have friends stop by if you can't make it out. Sounds good to me!


And More!!!
 I was just about to order some baby books when I got an email from my sister in law asking if I wanted her old baby books. Perfect timing! I love informative books and I love feeling prepared so I cannot wait to dig into these books and absorb as much information as possible!

9 Weeks

Baby is the size of an olive!

This 9 weeks update is coming to you from downtown Savannah. We are on a little family vacation for the weekend :-)

The Weight of the Matter

As a person who was once extremely overweight, gaining during pregnancy has also scared me. I have been very forunate to not have much nausea and only minor food aversions. That said, my eatings habits are very different now than they used to be.

I have learned that I have to eat when I wake up, I get very very hungry for lunch; and I basically want dinner at 6pm. So Mike has been on his own (I invite him to share my bowl of strawberries for dinner, but he usually wants something more substantial).

I am trying to keep my portions down and not eat much junk. Susbtituting has helped alot. I have been eating "sweet" food that is healthy, lots of strawberries and blackberries (I'm going to need to go get some when I'm done writing this post), sweet potatoes and Kashi cereals. I will admit that I have been eating some frozen treats, but trying to be "healthier" for those too- lemon sorbet, frozen greek yogurt cups. And when I do eat these sweets, they usually take the place of something else I would have eaten.

All that said I feel very happy to say that my weight has fluctuated a bit since I found out I was pregnant, but to date I've only gained a net of ONE POUND! This falls right in the recommended amounts:

From the American Pregnancy Association:
(http://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/aboutpregweightgain.html)

For women who were a normal weight before pregnancy with a BMI of 18.5-24.9 the recommended weight gain guideline is 25-35 pounds.

On a trimester basis in a woman with a normal pre-pregnancy weight:

First trimester: 1-4.5 pounds

Second trimester: 1-2 pounds per week

Third trimester: 1-2 pounds per week

Pregnancy Weight Gain: Average Distribution

7 1/2 pounds is about how much the baby will weigh by the end of pregnancy.
1 1/2 pounds is how much the placenta weighs.
4 pounds is attributed to increased fluid volume.
2 pounds is the weight of the uterus.
2 pounds is the weight of breast tissue.
4 pounds is because of increased blood volume.
7 pounds is attributed to maternal stores of fat, protein and other nutrients.
2 pounds for the amniotic fluid.
Total: 30 pounds

My goal is to stay in the 25-30 lb range. I've lost weight before and I know how hard it is, and I can't imagine feeling like I have extra weight to lose in addition to taking care of a new baby. My doctor said that walks with the dog were perfect, so I've been forcing myself to go every other day for 20-40 minutes. Yesterday Waldo and I walked for over 40 minutes, we made it 1.6 miles. I am planning to walk in the Race for the Cure in May, so I need to get my distance up over the next month. Waldo is also getting the benefits of my healthy habits!

Originally Posted: 4/10/13

Baby's First Gift

I was very lucky to go on an outlet shopping trip with my girlfriends this weekend. And I was even luckier when my friend Littany picked me up and had brought baby a gift, his or her's first gift, too!

It was a sweet card and adorable little book that their little girl loves reading.

Thank you so much Matt, Littany and Evie!

8 Weeks

Baby is the Size of a Raspberry

So Sleepy

These days I am pretty sleepy...

But it reached a new extreme today when I had to sleep in my car during lunch. I was feeling like a zombie all morning so I told Julia my plan and to come look for me or call the police if I wasn't back in an hour. I headed downstairs, drove to the corner of the garage, luckily found a big towel in my trunk and curled up. I didn't think I would be able to actually fall asleep, but next thing I knew my Nap Alarm was going off. Now I am counting down the hours until I can go home and take a proper nap on my couch. I know I am naive but I didn't think I would get this tired!