A Scary Visit

Well, last Thursday we had a wild and somewhat scary day. I had been sick since Tuesday and finally on Thursday I called the doctors to see what to do and make sure everything was ok. After talking with them and describing my symptoms they sent me to the hospital thinking that I was in early labor. Thankfully I was able to get ahold of Wayne right away and he came home from work to take me to the hospital. They put the heartbeat monitor on my stomach and realized that the baby was fine. Then after the doctor checked me and said that I was not dilating; they decided that I would be ok but decided to put me on an IV. Wayne and I spent 5 hours in the hospital and finally got home around 11 that night. Since then we have both been fine but it was definitely a scary moment when they told me to go to the hospital right away! And to end on a happier note, Wayne created these animations of both himself and I that he wanted me to post on the blog for people to enjoy so I have posted them below. Have a great week everyone! If you want to create your own Meez, go to www.meez.com and refer us to get points for more personalized options: Wayne_Yates or Alicia_Yates. (We get points too!)

July Update #2

Well, I am down to a doctors appointment a week. I had my appointment yesterday, Monday, and found out that I am 50% effaced and -2 station. I've been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions and at one point thought we were going to be on our way to the hospital. We took our last trip before the baby comes this weekend to visit Wayne's mom and brother Kirk, wife Jen and daughter Mackenzie. We had a fun time visiting and finally got the rest of the stuff we need so now the baby can come any time! My sister-in-law is also expecting the same week as me and so it was fun to compare stories and experiences and I got a lot of advice from Jen on things to buy and how to be prepared. I've posted a picture of us below. We will continue to keep you updated as much as we can and please keep us in your prayers.

July Update

It's been a while since I've updated on this blog, mostly because there hasn't been much to tell except that I continue to get bigger and more uncomfortable with each passing day. But, there have been recent requests for an update and so I've decided to post another one.

Wayne and I recently took a long vacation although mine was longer than his. We decided to visit family and friends one more time before the baby comes. It started with a trip to New York on Friday, June 15. I was given a baby shower by the church that next morning. It was a lot of fun and we recieved so many wonderful gifts. The following day, Sunday, June 17, my youngest sibling, Cassandra, graduated from high school. She will be attending Liberty University in the fall. We had a big party afterwards to celebrate and it was a lot of fun. On Monday Wayne returned to Virginia for work and I stayed, filling my days with movies, strawberry milkshakes and tons of my family, the Royces and the Lyons.

Wayne returned that Friday after work and on Sunday we left to head up to Maine. We had a relaxing five days there. We were given a shower with Wayne's family annd friends. We also were able to attend a baseball game of Ryans, go out to eat and just relax.

That following Friday, June 29, we left to go to Pennsylvania and my grandparents camp for the weekend. We had a family reunion to attend on Saturday which was filled with food, poker and sports. I made the mistake of playing both volleyball and softball which felt pretty good at the time but my body later punished me for it. The trip was tons of fun and now we are back in Virginia awaiting the birth of our daughter.

As far as an update on the pregnancy, there isn't much to tell. She is still very active despite the little room she has left inside me. Her favorite time to kick and squirm is between 10pm and 11pm, when I'm trying to get to bed. I've now gained 30 lbs. and feel slow and lazy much of the time. Having the weather be in the 90's doesn't help much either. In two weeks I will be down to one doctors appointment a week which means we are getting so close. This past weekend Wayne and I put together the baby's room, building the furniture, organizing things and washing all the sheets and clothes. Also, this week I developed a pregnancy related rash on my belly referred to as PUPPP. Don't ask me what it stands for becuase I don't know except that it makes me itch constantly. I'm on both oral medicine and cream to help clear that up but it won't completely go away until the baby is born. Despite the growing uncomfortableness we are both so excited and counting down the days until we will meet our daughter face to face. Please keep us in your prayers and we will continue to keep you updated. Below is a slideshow of our vacation. Enjoy!

May Update

Well, here we are, a month closer to meeting our daughter! We are getting more and more excited with each day and it seems she is too! She kicks almost non-stop and makes me uncomfortable A LOT! Wayne finally got to feel her kick Saturday night and that was pretty exciting! She's kicked hard enough that he's been able to feel her a couple more times since then. I had a doctors appointment today and the baby is doing great and I have gained even more weight! Wayne and I have been busy this past month not just over the baby whirlwind. We've joined a small group at church, emptied our guest room to change into the babies room, registered for the baby at babiesrus.com and we were able to go to take a vacation for a weekend. We traveled to Wayne's moms house with my brothers and spent the weekend watching videos, eating out and going to Busch Gardens. Even though I couldn't ride any of the rides I did enjoy my time hanging around with Jen and Mackenzie. And we have even more exciting weekends to come before we're parents! Due to a big request I am going to post some pictures below to show the progress of my growing belly. The first picture is 21 weeks and the second is 26 weeks taken 5-15-07. Enjoy and we will continue to keep you updated.

,

The Results Are In...

The results are in and....IT'S A GIRL! Wayne and I went to the doctors on Monday morning and it was very exciting. We were taken right into the ultrasound room and got to watch for almost 30 minutes as the nurse looked at our daughter to make sure she was healthy. According to the ultrasound, she is doing great and is right on schedule for the 22 weeks that she is so my due date is still August 19th. We were both very excited to finally be able to talk about her just not as "baby" but "our daughter." And since then she has been kicking a lot. I think she wants us to know she is going to be spunky just like her mother. I know she's small but she's already making me uncomfortable when she kicks. Above are some still pictures of her and you can click on it to enlarge the picture and look at it closely. Below, you will find a little live video of the ultrasound. It's pretty cool although you have to look close to figure out what you're seeing. Enjoy and we will continue to keep you posted.

Wayne and Alicia Yates

Our New Blog!

Today (April 12), I have decided to create a blog about our life. We have so much going on right now with the baby and work and some other big changes. For that reason, I thought it would be easier to send out short e-mails every once in a while but mostly post here so that you can be updated as often as you would like. So, to bring you up to speed I have posted the past two baby update e-mails in the respective months that they were sent and hopefully now will continue to post and update here. We'll see how it does. Thanks for reading!

Update Number Two!

Here's an update on the baby and I. I am now 19 weeks so I'm in my fifth month, just a few days away from the halfway point! I just had a doctors appointment and the baby is doing great. Every doctors appointment is so exciting to get to hear the heart beat and everything. I am definitely getting more pregnant looking and have gained eight pounds which I am not all to thrilled about. Our next appointment, April 17th, is the day we find out if our little one is a girl or boy. I'm praying for a girl and of course, wayne is praying it's a boy but we'll both be excited either way. Another piece of exciting info is that I felt the baby kick for the first time on Sunday, March 25th. I wasn't sure what it was at first and it felt really weird but it happened a couple more times and I was sure. I haven't felt it since but it was a really exciting moment. I think that's it for now but we will continue to keep you posted and please keep us posted on you as well. Have a great day!