Sunday, September 6, 2009

My Favorite Pregnancy Product....

...thus far.

The home doppler (ordered from Dynamic Doppler).


After a few random days of near panic episodes on my part, absolutely sure something was wrong, we ordered this home doppler. I have a very generous friend who let me borrow hers, but we were never able to pick up anything other than static, so we upgraded to the medical grade one and it is MUCH better. I laid down, gel-ed up the probe and within seconds Ben had found Baby's heart beat pumping away at a strong 170 bpm!

Would I recommend this? Absolutely, 100 times over. If you can't throw down the $400-525 upfront to buy one outright, they have a rental program that costs $22/month for the standard and $44/month for the deluxe model. There is only one difference between the two-the deluxe displays the heart rate on the screen and the standard doesn't. We bought the standard and count out the heart rate on our own.

If you have had a prior loss, then I recommend it even more. It is so nice to be able to pop out the doppler and have a listen on days when I am really nervous or anxious or days when I just need to hear Baby to feel okay. I can't say enough how a loss robs pregnancy of all innocence but having this has made the past week so enjoyable and stress free for me. Pregnancy has gone from being fun and enjoyable 40% of the time and filled with worry 60% of the time to full time, loving, enjoyable happy time for both me and Ben. I can't say enough how much I love having this at home to use at my disposal.

Also in Baby news, I've been feeling more random kicks and tumbles this week! It's usually after I eat or drink or while I'm driving in the morning. He/She moves all over the place! It's such a great feeling and I can't get enough of it. I know this will be the number one thing I miss once Baby goes from an inside baby to an outside baby.

I also haven't pooped in days and I'm still throwing up on an almost daily basis. The traffic jam in my colon is something I could do without, but gives me something to look forward to. Who doesn't enjoy a good poop? And the barfing episodes? It gives us something to laugh at. Ben just HAD to comment on the distance I got in the shower with my most recent barf (showering seems to be my barf trigger, but my options are not barf and stink or barf in the shower and thank God for the easy clean up). I was literally standing at the back of the tub and vomit hit the opposing wall. You might be scratching your head wondering what on Earth Ben is doing watching me barf in the shower? Does he have some weird fetish? I can assure you he doesn't (as far as barfing nekkid girls go). I can feel the urge to puke coming and always yell for him. There have been a few times I have felt really faint after getting sick and have had to sit down on the edge of the tub. Our main concern is me fainting in the shower and him not being there or knowing what happened-and it's nice for him to help me hose all the chunks down the drain, haha! If that isn't solid proof of commitment in our marriage, I'm not sure what is. I luff him.

We are also starting to wrack up the baby gear. We had some we kept after Buddha (we returned some of it), we have some I have bought thus far this pregnancy and the rest is stuff other people have gifted to us already!

Ben's mom was SUPER generous and bought our crib for us this week! HOLY CRAP. That means we are having a baby. A crib. In my house. O_O
I knew we wanted an all white crib and I love the simplicity and classic look of this one. I can't believe how blessed we are to have so many so willing to go out of their way and buy gifts for Baby!

Last fall I found a Peg Perego stroller for an amazing price and snatched it up. I always thought I would be pushing Buddha around in it, but I am now just as excited, if not more to use this with Baby. We bought the PlikoP3 in Orange and I LOVE it! LOVE, love LOVE it. I love how bright it is and how fun the colors are.
Cute, huh?

A few weeks after buying the Peg Perego, we found an Espirit SunSpeed Umbrella stroller in the same orange to use as Baby gets older and we need a lighter weight stroller. I can't decide which one I like better!




A very good friend of mine also gifted us a brand new Jumparoo, travel swing to leave at my in-laws house, a snap and go stroller frame, an aquarium for Baby's crib, a gliding rocker and ottoman (they used it ONCE!) AND her breast pump with all new tubing and horns. I can't believe how generous she was (actually I can, she would give you the shirt off her back if you asked for it) and she would not accept a single penny for any of it! All of the stuff is new or used once and in perfect condition. Again, I can't believe how blessed we are to be surrounded by such generous people.

Other than that, we have lots of clothes and toys we have picked up over time, we spend time looking at nursery ideas online (we have the girls decided and are still flipping around on the boys) and have picked names (we aren't telling yet!). We have so much to look forward to with getting the nursery set up and all the little things picked out and set up. In a perfect world, everything would be done by 30 weeks so I can enjoy the last 10 weeks (or less) of our pregnancy. We have the date for my Charlotte baby shower set that my mom is nice to be throwing for us (November 7, for those interested) and the date for my Huntington shower set that my friend Marci is nice enough to offer (January 23, 2010) and have a tentative date for our shower in Logan Ben's mom is graciously throwing for us (I'll let you know, for the few Logan-area people when we nail something down for sure).

Whew! That was a long post! Hopefully we will find out what we are having by the end of the month, which would be awesome, but I have a feeling it will be more like 6 weeks from now, which will put me less than 10 weeks away from my 30 week goal to have everything completed. We'll see. If it's not done by 30 weeks, it'll be fine. I'm just a planner and controller :)

Hugs&Kisses

14w4d (measuring 15w1d)

5 comments:

*Amy Leigh* said...

I always thought I would have everything finished and ready to go by 30 weeks...but here we are rounding the corner on 34 weeks and we are almost there!
I am glad you are enjoying pregnancy, the movement never ever gets old, I still get chills whenever I see my little Hadleigh somersaulting in my stomach!
I just wanted to throw this out there...there is a place that does "gender" ultrasounds @ 16 weeks for $50 and that includes pictures and a dvd of the baby...They are only open on Fridays and the lady that does them is an ultrasound tech Monday-Thursday and works on her own on Fridays. I couldn't stand to wait a second longer so we found out at 16 weeks and 4 days! Just a thought!
Keep enjoying it, it really does fly by!

Cate said...

Ok, spill it! Where are they! We have been searching for a place around here and have found NOTHING!

I'd LOVE you forever!

PS-When did you get to 34 weeks? Your pregnancy is FLYING!

*Amy Leigh* said...

It seriously is FLYING and I am TERRIBLE about blogging about it!!! Anyway, it's called Peek-a-Boo Ultrasounds and it is in South Charleston. You have to call the lady and make an appointment (for a Friday) and if she doesn't answer she will call you back...here is the website:
http://peekaboowv.com/

Let me know if you go!!!

Cate said...

We will be going! Thanks SO SO SO much!

Amanda Hoyt said...

Great post, Cate! I'm so glad you got a doppler - it saved my life most days too in the early months. As time goes on, the movements of Baby get more and more regular and you are able to FEEL as opposed to HEAR on a daily basis (which I think is totally awesome!!)
Love the crib and strollers you have and the pump is awesome (had one 5 years ago with Cait and it worked great for 1.5 years and I just and got a new one a few weeks ago for Madison - would have used the same one but what do you know it's lost!!). I'm so excited for you!!!
Can't wait to find out what you're having :)
Hugs and prayers,
Amanda