Only 2 1/2 weeks away!!

As I sit here bouncing on my yoga ball trying to induce labor, I figured it was the perfect time to update the blog since I've slacked off lately.
Things have been really great the past few months. I really can't complain because I know so many women have things far worse off than I do. Everyone keeps telling me I'm so small, but I am measuring exactly where I should be so I have no idea what they're talking about. I feel huge and that's what really matters, right? We finally have everything we need for the baby (except a stroller.....) and we are just getting excited for the day to finally be here! We made our predictions for when we think he'll come a few weeks ago. Brandon says this Thursday (which would be cool because it's 10/11/12) and he will weigh 6 lbs 4 oz. I said the 15th (which I promise has nothing to do with the fact that I have a midterm that day..........) and he'll weigh 6 lbs 10 oz. We will see who is right! (I secretly hope Brandon is right because that means we will see him this week!)
We have been taking long walks lately and I have been bouncing on my ball in hopes that it will speed things up a little, but to no avail. We also went out for Chinese food the other night and that didn't work, either. I guess we just need to be patient.
I've been reflecting a lot lately on our journey to have a baby, and I'm extremely grateful that Heavenly Father decided it was time for us to raise a child. We thank Him every night for the baby and are aware that this is a special opportunity for us to learn and grow. Thank you so much for your support and love through this long journey--the prayers and thoughts have been much appreciated.
Anyway, until next time...(we will have a baby next time!!)

22 Years and 29 Weeks

Yay for being a year older! Now I'm feeling really old since both my mom and Brandon's mom had their first child when they were 19 and here I am at 22 having my first one. Oh well! Let's just say we hit about 5 road blocks on our journey to start a family. Anyway, the past few weeks have been good for the most part. Sleeping has really gotten quite uncomfortable, but what can you do? We took our summer vacation this past week to Oregon. Neither of us had been there before, so it was quite the experience. The humidity was a very nice break for us. It almost felt like home, except for the extreme amounts of cloud cover we experienced. We had fun traveling around the city and going to Todd and Jessica's wedding at the Portland temple. The baby kicked me pretty much the entire time and I had quite a few braxton hicks contractions which made me a little nervous. 

My birthday was pretty awesome. We stayed in a little town called Astoria in Oregon which is really close to the beach. We traveled up to Long Beach, Washington and Brandon actually thought it was a good idea to stick his feet in the water. We were wearing pants and coats, so I don't know what made him think that would be at all fun, but hey, boys will be boys. Needless to say, his feet were very cold once he got wet. It was fun to see the ocean, though. We had some seafood for lunch and then headed back to Astoria for the evening. We went to a really nice restaurant for dinner that was sitting right on the big river there (I think it was the Columbia River) and had a delicious steak dinner. Then, Brandon surprised me and got us a room at a bed and breakfast for the night. It was pretty cool! I definitely think we'll stay in another one. On our way home, we got to stop by Brandon's grandparents house and stay with them. It's always fun visiting with them. We played games and ate lots of food and watched the Olympics. Nothing too terribly bad happened on our trip and we had lots of fun so we're calling it a successful summer vacation! We do think, however, it was a little too much driving...especially with how uncomfortable I am these days. 

Enjoy some vacation baby bump pictures!

25 Weeks!

Holy cow! I'm 6 months pregnant...and people still can't tell. Hmm. Not so sure what to do about that. Maybe I should walk around intentionally pushing out my belly. I may not look huge, but I really do feel huge. I am now fitting snugly into the pants I normally wear not pregnant. (I really don't like wearing tight clothes, so my family always makes fun of my "saggy butt" pants). How funny. Anyway, we had a checkup last week and it seemed as though everything was normal. I'm just a little underweight, but my doctor didn't seem concerned at all. He said I should consider myself lucky I don't have to deal with extra weight during the hot summer. The heartbeat was good--I can't remember the exact number, but I remember it was in the 140s. I went in today to get my blood drawn to see if I have gestational diabetes. Whatever it was that I had to drink before made me a little sick and the baby was kicking pretty hard.
For the most part, things have been really great. I have felt really good and been able to do a lot of things. However, on Sunday, something really strange happened, and I still don't know what it was. We were at the garden and I was just minding my own business weeding. I suddenly got a shooting pain in my right side so I got up and out of the garden. In just a few seconds it was near unbearable pain. I couldn't bend over and I felt like I couldn't move. Soon enough, it had spread into my neck and my right arm. Oh, and by this point I was crying because it hurt so bad. So I painfully walked over to the picnic table and sat down for a while. I seriously have never been in so much pain. It was terrible. But you know us Rodmans, we never go to the doctor--even if we're dying. After about 20-30 minutes, Brandon and his brother were done watering the garden so it was time to leave. While I was sitting there, I had managed to stop crying, but as soon as I stood up the pain was back, as were the tears. On the way home, things calmed down a bit and the pain eased up. I think maybe the baby kicked a nerve or something and laying down in the car helped on the way home. By the time we got home, the pain was completely gone and everything was back to normal. Now I know my parents would say that I just made that all up to get out of weeding the garden, but seriously...I thought I was going to die. So I plan on asking the doctor next time I see him about it. Everything has been normal since then, other than the occasional foot cramps, so I'm not too worried. I still feel the baby move (and might I add, A LOT!) so I know he's doing just fine.
Other than that, there hasn't been too much excitement. We watch the baby do somersaults every night, which is extremely weird to feel and see, but it's really fun. He kicks me really hard sometimes and my whole body will jerk. Those ones are always fun. My baby app says he's 13 1/2 inches long and the size of a rutabaga. Whatever the heck that is. I've never heard of a rutabaga.

As far as other news goes...
We bought a piano! Yes, a real acoustic one. It's a pretty old junker, but it works! The lady who tuned it said it was the 2nd flattest piano she's ever tuned (for you music people, it was a whole step flat in the high register). But now it sounds great. Ok, not great, but bearable.

Brandon took the LSAT and got his score back. He's starting applications now for law school. Hopefully the wait won't be too bad to see if he gets accepted to the ones he wants.

This thing has been in the oven for 20 weeks and it's still not done!?

20 weeks!!!! That's halfway!! Can you believe we've made it this far? It seems like just yesterday we found out I was pregnant! Time has seriously flown by! Anyway, enough chit chat...
We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday--they check to see if the baby has arms/legs/brain/heart and all that good stuff. The tech said everything looked great! It was amazing that we could see all 4 chambers of the heart. I had no idea ultrasounds could do that. Oh, and she confirmed it was a boy again.
The baby has been super active the past couple weeks. He kicks me quite a bit, but it doesn't hurt. Sometimes it just surprises me. Brandon felt the baby kick a couple weeks ago and while he was kicking last night I totally saw my belly move! It was so incredibly weird! I guess normally, you can't feel the baby kicking on the outside for a couple more weeks but we asked the ultrasound tech about it yesterday and she said it was because I am so dang skinny. I have gained a total of 6 pounds this pregnancy. That doesn't seem like it's been enough. So for the next 20 weeks, I will be accepting cookies, cakes, pastries, and other fattening foods to try and fix this situation (I like chocolate). :) The baby has 10 fingers, which I pointed out to the tech was great because that meant he could play the piano--I was afraid if he only had 3 then we would be stuck with a trumpet player (gasp!). As we were getting our things together, the tech nonchalantly said "Everything looks great, just a little big." I laughed really loud and said, "WHAT!?" {Those of you who I have not talked to personally--I will NOT have a big baby}. She told us he weighed a little over a pound. WHOA!!! HANG ON! A pound!?!? My little pregnancy tracker app on my ipod says the baby should only weigh 10 1/2 ounces. And my baby weighs over a pound!?!?!?!? As you can see, I am quite distraught over this. That is waaaaaaaaay bigger than what it needs to be! And the funny thing is that I really don't have much of a bump yet...so I don't know where this big guy is fitting in my tummy! Anyway, I just have to take deep breaths to try and deal with it.
I have been having some pains in my side all day today. I haven't had anything like these yet, and I haven't been able to find anything about them. I really hope they will be gone by tomorrow.
I have had a lot of trouble sleeping lately and I know it will only get worse with time. I need to get some more pillows!
Oh, another bit of sad news--the ultrasound tech said we don't get another ultrasound! I guess unless my doctor is worried about something. But looks like so far we're doing pretty good so our chances are slim that we'll get another one. Oh well! We were pretty spoiled getting so many so we'll just have to deal with it (although Brandon has expressed he may twist their arm so we get another one).

Brandon takes the LSAT on Monday--be sure to wish him luck (and say a prayer, too)!

Oh, boy...

Well, there ya have it. We're having a boy. Not going to lie, just a little disappointed since my side of the family is very much dominated by girls, but I'm sure by the time October rolls around I'll be mentally prepared. We went to the doctor this morning expecting an ultrasound and turns out that they weren't going to do another one until 20 weeks. We must have been really spoiled at the fertility center because we got one every week over there. To top it off, the doctor wasn't even there because he was delivering babies so all we got to do was listen to the heartbeat again (don't get me wrong, that is fun...just not what we were expecting). So at the office, you can request a gender scan earlier than 20 weeks so that's what we did and they fit us in this morning. Luckily someone didn't show up, so we got their spot! The tech had some trouble getting the cord out from between the legs--she had to push down on my stomach quite a bit (ouch!) but it finally moved out of the way. I can't tell you how excited Brandon is--there are no words to describe that kind of excitement. The tech said as we were walking out, "at least boy diapers are easier to change!" Ha. Funny.
To those of you asking about a name, we have not yet decided. I'm not a fan of the whole naming-your-baby-before-it-comes-out thing. For now, we will call him baby.

17 Weeks

Yay for almost being halfway!! I'm beginning to feel like a whale and have had a lot of growing pains these past few weeks. Nothing too exciting has happened...other than actually being pregnant! We went and listened to the heart beat 2 weeks ago since we were over at the doctor's and it was at 146 which was quite a bit lower than what it was in the first trimester (usually it was 160-170). Our ultrasound is on Monday and we're nearly positive they will be able to tell us what we're having. (You should guess by voting over on the right.) If we do find out on Monday, you probably won't have to wait long before we announce it to everyone! Until Monday, you can enjoy another lovely baby bump picture.

Belly Photo!

Wow, look at that belly! Looks a little weird on the picture, but maybe that's just me. Anyway, we'll hit 15 weeks tomorrow!! That means only 5 more weeks until we can find out what we're having. Maybe, hopefully, possibly sooner, though. We have a checkup near the end of the month and if they do an ultrasound we may bribe them to see if they can tell that it's a girl ;) We finally started cleaning out the piano room and tackled cleaning the desk. That was quite a chore! Now it's time to clean out the closet and make room for more baby stuff. Not much else has happened in the past week. We are just enjoying relaxing (me more than Brandon) and the warm weather. We are still trying to get rid of the organ, so if you know anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone who really is dying to get an organ (who does that?), let us know. Otherwise the baby will be sleeping on the organ bench when it's born.