Sigh of Relief

Ok, ALL my prenatal screening test have come back negative! Yay!

I tested negative for being a carrier for cystic fibrosis and got those results a few weeks ago. Today in the mail I received my first and second trimester screening tests results.  The post card I got in the mails says "your test result shows that the risks of certain birth defects including Down syndrome, neural tube defects and abdominal wall defects are all lower than the program cutoffs.Although not all birth defects are found by this prenatal screening test, your test result is reassuring. You are considered to be at LOW RISK for having a baby with these specific birth defects."

So I guess I will share some videos of the baby now and why I was able to do this.

The family business bought an old medical building that an old Planned Parenthood used to occupy, but they went bankrupt and left a few pieces of medical equipment in it, which my Dad commissioned my brother and I to sell. Well this lot of equipment included 3 ultrasound machines =) Last Friday I couldn't help myself, I had to check and see if they worked. So I turned them on and it doesn't take a PHD to figure out how they work! So I pressed the probe on my belly and I was able to find our baby, and watch him or her move around. It was so much fun to just sit and watch. Not to worry all this equipment had stickers on them with their last date of service which was just last December so, I was not endangering me or the baby in any way. So anyhow, at one angle I got a very good shot of his or her face, and I yelled at Spencer to come look and he said, "it looks like Jonas" and I thought the same thing! It was reassuring to see our baby moving around so much, because I'm not really feeling it yet. I get little punches here and there but they are so faint. I could see the hands, the spine, the ribs, it made it so real and to just watch baby T squirm and move the head around like a little baby. Wow, what a miracle!

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnqFLhyVF9E
 Not a very attractive angle of myself but I'll worry about that later!
 This was my first attempt at video taping with one hand and using the ultrasound probe with the other

2)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b3mhyGLQ68

     What you are watching is the baby's head to the right his/her hands come and go, and his knees and legs   to the left. I shake my belly a bit to get it to move around too.

 

Enjoy these!

Productive Weekend

Looking into the baby's room from the hall, closet on left.

Since we didn't have any major plans this weekend we decided to get started on our list of house projects to be completed before January. So Jonas worked on the closet in the baby's room, switched the opening direction of the door and then put in some shelves and a bar instead of one big bar, which is not really efficient for a infant or toddler. I don't know one Mom who hangs her babies clothes! That bar is for my stuff! The shelving system is really easy to adjust and take out one day so we are happy with the new look!

Right side of closet

left side of closet

I just repainted the closet bright white, since it had a lot of marks on the wall. It just looks more polished now. Sunday we had a swedish friend over for a little crayfish fest, not really, but she had been gone for the last 3 weeks so it was nice to get together and catch up!

boiled potato's, hardboiled eggs, smoked salmon and we also had toast skagen

Mr T hanging outside while we had our fest!



looks like a dead cat in the yard!





Finished!

Finally, finished the yard, I mean I can always move pots around and replant some flowers in them but for the most part, this area is done!

Happy Birthday to me!

Jonas got me some nice red roses and a funny birthday card. It made me laugh, and it was just his style, corny, but I love it. And right now at 12:30 I just received these from Jonas parents! So fragrant and beautiful!! Thank you!

Today we visited Dr Kung, she found the baby's heartbeat, nice and strong.  I guess I'm still pregnant! The big day is September 22nd. That is when we have the big ultrasound where they look at all the parts to make sure it has developed correctly and when we can find out if it's a boy or girl!

Today I almost finished with the pavers and sand, but I need more sand. Here is an almost completed picture. I think it is a nice touch to our tiny yard!

Sorry

I know you all over there in Sweden are looking at the blog waiting for an update, but there just isn't much to tell. Jonas has been working double time because as usual he is the only one at his job that is capable of doing everyone else's job as well as his own. I myself have been trying to keep busy. Bobbi Brown has really cut back their freelance hours so I haven't been working hardly at all and it's quite lonely at home just me and the cats. Especially now, my parents are on their trip through the Northwest Passage so I can't even go and hang out with my Mom. I can't really go shopping, because while my clothes are tighter, I don't look pregnant and therefore find it hard to really go and wear maternity clothes just yet. I guess that this is a benefit to being tall, I don't think I'll really get that huge, fingers crossed no bad stretch marks either.

Anyhow, this weekend we worked on the house a bit, and when I'm done laying the flagstone I will post a pictures. Jonas is working on a few spots on the roof where we found leakage. I doubt we would have had leaks but we had so much rain this past winter, and they say it's going to be another wet one so we need to fix what we can. The biggest expense we have to take care of is replacing the fence along the bedrooms, the same area where we got rid of the concrete. Not only is the fence in this section falling apart and full of old termite damage but it's barely 6ft high. Our neighbor, as sweet as she is, however, lives extremely close to us, I would say barely 15ft separate our window from hers. I hear her alarm go off, her shower, her coughing, her blow dryer, her tv, her phone ring, her conversations and her oven bell ding. I am so anal about redoing this fence because I want to make it higher, about 2-3ft higher with the lattice on top. I want to plant more vines and I am hoping that not only will this give us more privacy but hopefully will deflect the noise too. Since the baby's room is right there too, I want this done before it starts to rain.  Once this is done hopefully no major issues besides a new baby will befall us!

Our next doctor appointment is this Wednesday, we don't get an ultrasound but we should be able to hear the baby's heartbeat. That will be the best birthday present!

Speaking of baby, just to keep you entertained I thought I would link to a few ideas I have for the babys room. Since I already painted the accent walls orange, that will not change, it's bright, cheerful and unisex. We are going to keep the comfy queen bed in there because I have been told by a few friends that it will be easier to feed in bed and even sleep in there with the baby in the beginning if I have to. I also hope this will allow Jonas to still get his sleep. I do not plan on having the baby sleep in our room, my Mom didn't do it with me so I wonder why everyone else does it? Anyhow, I moved the bed around and there is still enough room for a crib, changing table, hopefully some drawers and of course there is nothing on the walls in there so we need some shelves. I also really want one of these http://www.target.com/Dutailier-Ultramotion-Glider-Rocker-Ottoman/dp/B002WB14VO/ref=br_1_25?ie=UTF8&id=Dutailier%20Ultramotion%20Glider%20Rocker%20Ottoman&node=2954732011&searchSize=30&searchView=grid5&searchPage=1&sr=1-25&qid=1313382830&rh=&searchBinNameList=target_com_category-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin%2Cprice&searchRank=pmrank&frombrowse=1  . A few of my friends have them and they are nice to rock the baby asleep, very comfortable too.

Since I like the contrast of the dark furniture against the bright walls, and again dark furniture is unisex, I'd like to get things that look like this http://www.csnbaby.com/DaVinci-M4791C-Nursery-Set-DV1355.html . But again I'm not even going to start actually comparison shopping until my Mom gets home, and then we can start looking. These are just images I quickly found on the internet to give Sweden an idea of what we are thinking about!

Sometimes..

I really wonder if I'm actually pregnant....? I guess I am, today is 14 weeks.

I'm happy to report my jeans still fit, and I said that my goal was that they still fit by my birthday. That's 13 days away, fingers crossed. I'll be 33 and I always had this feeling that I would have my first baby at 33, the SAME age my Mom was when she had me. =) Since my parents are leaving on their 6 week trip through the North Pole, down the coast of Greenland, ending the cruise in Iceland then hopping over to Denmark, we will be going to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend, just the 4 of us. By the time my Mom get's back I will have just hit 20 weeks. I have invited her to accompany Jonas and I at the ultrasound where we find out the sex of the baby since my Mom didn't get all this technology with me and my brother. She was very excited, I think she is more excited for that trip to get over with so we can start shopping for the Baby's room!

Anyhow, I feel good which is great because I've been a lot more productive around the house (I think I'm nesting) but then again, I'm the opposite of a hoarder and clean stuff out all the time! I also sleep through the night without peeing 6 times, but then I wonder if I'm not drinking enough water. Green vegetables still make me cringe, I hope I can start adding them back in, I can however enjoy my Chipotle salad's again.

Tomorrow Jonas and I are going to a Giants baseball game and then early Saturday morning we are driving up to Reno to hang with my parents at the Reno/Tahoe Golf Open in the development where my parents live. I thought it would be fun to hang out in the VIP tent with everyone up there and watch some golf since that is Jonas's new hobby, ...after photography of course. And the summers are just so beautiful in that area, looking forward to it. We will be back up in September too.

2nd Trimester!

Yesterday Jonas and I went to Monterey and Carmel because I finally feel like myself! The last two months I've been sitting around the house feeling sick but not this weekend! I worked on Saturday and Jonas and I spent the day out of the house yesterday. I have to say though I was pretty tired after working on my feet for 5 hours but I have to get back into the swing of things. We had a nice lunch and took a few pictures and just enjoyed the day.

On saturday Jonas shrunk the planter box we had, where we tried to grow vegetables. BUT, nothing was really growing so by shortening the planter box, the yard seems a bit bigger.

This is before.

This is after, and we are deciding if we want to pave that area of just put down bark pieces.

And as for my belly, the baby is just growing and pushing my fat out, baby is not really that big yet, but there is a lot of growth in the next few weeks so we will get to see some baby bump shots soon! stay tuned....