22 weeks.

21 weeks.

It's weird to think that I've known about the baby for 20 weeks, & she'll be here in about 18. According to What to Expect When You're Expecting, I'm 5 months pregnant. Which makes sense since my due date is in 4 months. Weird. Every week seems to bring some new challenge to overcome, but luckily I have great doctors & a wonderful husband. I'm very blessed. & while pregnancy is anything but easy on my body, this little girl is going to be so so loved.


The picture to the right is at 21 weeks. I didn't feel like taking a picture this weekend. But I don't think I look much different anyway.

My baby shower is in a month & I'm trying to get the registries done. It's a little overwhelming, but very exciting. There's so much stuff to think about! We found a dresser on Craigslist this week & Gabe is refinishing it now. I can't help him because he has to work in the garage & it's too hot for me, so that's kinda sad. But I told him what I wanted it to look like & it's going to turn out awesome. It's going to be the changing table. Found out this week that my parents will be buying the crib, so that's really nice. But there's so many other things to buy! I mean, I was fully aware of this before I got pregnant, but it's a whole different story when you're actually looking at a list of things that should be on hand. There are so many things that are so simple that I didn't even think about. It's a good thing I have people I can ask.

How far along? 22+1 weeks.

Total weight gain/loss: The last time I was weighed, I had gained 8lbs. The time before that said 10lbs. So it depends on the day. haha.

Maternity Clothes: Just pants.

Sleep: The last few days I've been so exhausted that I sleep pretty well. But I have a really hard time falling asleep.

Best moment this week: Getting things done on the registries. 
Miss Anything? Not having to wear this stupid heart monitor 24/7. The stickers are agitating, the cable gets caught on things & the pack gets in the way. But I guess it's for my own good.
Movement: Definitely.
Food cravings: Last night I wanted ranch style beans. Other than that not really. Very little has sounded good to me this week.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Almost everything.
Have you started to show yet: Yes. But it usually just looks like a beer belly. It doesn't look like a baby belly until much later in the day.
Labor Signs: I've had some contractions. Both Braxton Hicks & other more painful ones. I just have to be careful & pay attention. I keep telling baby girl it's far too early for these shenanigans & she has to stay in there longer.

Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy. My other mood is sleepy. Can that be considered a mood? Cause it's definitely different from happy.
Looking forward to: My mom (& MAYBE my dad) getting here at the end of August. & then the baby shower. 

That is all.

- Alexa

20 weeks.

I'm halfway done! So freaking weird. I can't believe I'm already 20 weeks pregnant. It just blows my mind. A lot of people don't believe me either. My pharmacist (because I'm at Target for drugs so often they know me by name) asked me how my pregnancy was going. I told her it was good & that we just found out it's a girl. & she couldn't believe they told me so early. When I told her that I'm 20 weeks pregnant she stared at my belly for a second & said "no way." It's kind of a nice feeling, but I still get the feeling people that don't know I'm pregnant just think I'm eating too much chocolate. 

So on Friday July 13th we went for the anatomy ultrasound & found out the sex of the baby. The baby is growing great, & everything looks good so far. & it's a GIRL! Big shocker there. No really. I, along with the majority of my family, were convinced I was going to be the ONE Staples this year to have a boy. But nope! When ours is born, that will make 6 girls born to the Staples family in 2012. That's just crazy. So many girls!! 

I was THRILLED when she said "those are little girl parts." I teared up. Then I looked over at Gabe & he was just staring at the screen in shock. He's pretty much always like that at ultrasounds. Seeing the baby move around in there makes it a lot more real for him. For me too, but he reacts differently. He made her check again just to make sure. But he's happy. He's not used to the idea that there's a little baby girl in my belly yet, but it's growing on him. 

Today when he got home I was standing there talking to him & he interrupted me & said "wait, are you pregnant?" He was staring at my belly. It's become more noticeable in the last few days. Of course, I rolled my eyes, but I thought it was funny. I can't wait til he's able to feel her kicking around in there. Right now he'll just have to watch my belly grow & continue to hold my hair back & sit on the bathroom floor with me while I throw up to remain convinced that I'm pregnant.

We didn't tell our parents right away what we found out at the ultrasound. I told our parents on Friday that the baby was too squirmy (which was almost true) to see between her legs & that we would have to wait 'til my fetal echo in a few weeks to find out the sex. Of course, this was a lie. I actually went out & bought a pair of pink baby socks & sent them each one to tell them the gender. They got them yesterday. My mom was hilarious. She called me & spent the first 5 minutes cursing me because I lied. But she's happy! She's getting a grandson & a granddaughter this year!

Fun pregnancy things: the baby shower. A very best friend of mine, Lindsey, who was my first roommate at BYU, just so happens to live in Ohio with her husband & baby. In fact, they're moving to the Dayton area next month! So she's planning my baby shower along with some help from ladies in my ward. & my good friend Rachel, who made our wedding invitations, & is a co-owner of Sweet Root Village, (PLUG: Take notice of the link. They are EXTREMELY talented. They do events & photography & flowers & everything. So amazing.) is making the invitations for it. She started making a boy & a girl one before she had her own baby girl just a few weeks ago. Now she's finishing up since we know what we're having. It's already amazing. I love her & I'm so lucky to have her around. & by around I mean in Virginia. She's going to be doing my maternity shoot in September, which I'm WAY excited about. I've always wanted to star in a Rachel Bridgwood photo shoot. =] Anyway. So the baby shower will be on September 1st, since that's when my parents are coming out & I really want my mom to be there. It's about a month earlier than what I guess is normal timing for a baby shower, but my only other option is to not have my mom there, & I'm just not okay with that.

Anyway. I'll stop boring you. Here's this thing.

How far along? 20+3 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 6lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Just pants.

Sleep: Not good.

Best moment this week: Um. Well Friday we found out we were having a girl! That technically wasn't THIS week. But I'm now in my 21st week so we'll go with that.
Miss Anything? Excedrin Migraine.
Movement: Yessir.
Food cravings: Spinach & tomato salad.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Pizza, spaghetti, macaroni & cheese. 
Have you started to show yet: Yes. But I still just look like I have a beer belly rather than a baby belly.
Gender guess: No need for guessing. It's a girl!
Labor Signs: Just some braxton hicks.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Depends on the day. & if I'm sick or not.
Looking forward to: Not having to suck in the top of my belly anymore when the baby gets bigger. The muscles right under my rib cage feel like they've been worked out every day. hahaha

The end.

19 weeks.

I'm now 19+2 weeks pregnant. But I didn't have time to post on Saturday, my 19 week mark, because I was too busy passing out at the Dayton Air Show. I'm so selfish. I apologize. & I also apologize for depriving you of my 18 week update. I was at our family reunion in Southern Arizona, which took precedence over this blog.

19 weeks

People keep telling me I don't look 19 weeks pregnant. I can't decide whether I feel like that's a compliment or an insult. On the one hand, they're saying I'm not looking like a humpback whale, which is nice. But on the other, apparently they remember me having this bulge in my belly before I got pregnant. Which I did not. So... can't decide. To the right is what I looked like on Saturday, pre-heat exhaustion troubles. I know. Not much to look at. & I'm wearing a lot of colours. But I needed to wear loose thin clothes...& that's all I had. & it STILL didn't keep me cool enough. 103 degrees + humidity & somehow I was still miserable. Imagine that. 

So basically what happened was my doctor told me on Friday to stay out of the heat. So naturally we went to the air show the next day on Ohio's hottest day ever. Duh. What else would we do? Big mistake. Huge. I passed out within 15 minutes of getting there. Then about every 10-15 minutes thereafter, according to husband. I remember the Blue Angels though! So that's nice. But there's no amount of water, slushies, or shade that could save me at that point. When we were leaving, I was basically unable to walk & husband was probably supporting about 80% of my weight. Then someone noticed me struggling & somehow they got me in to a chair. & I don't know what happened next, but I woke up in the medical tent when they were putting an oxygen mask over my face (cause I couldn't breathe) & I had an IV in my arm getting liquids. Husband says I was pretty much unconscious the whole time...which is good cause I don't like being surrounded by medical people or having needles jabbed in to my wrist. But then I ended up in an ambulance being rushed to the ER. An ER I will never go back to because it was awful. As soon as I got there they took away my IV liquids & oxygen, even though I couldn't still breathe. & when I told them I had a history of strokes they just looked at me in disbelief. & they didn't take my chest pain seriously. I was there for like 5 hours & they did nothing for me. Other than check for my baby's heartbeat an hour & a half after I asked them to make sure the baby was okay. Poor baby. But it's okay. Still has a heartbeat & is kicking away. Anyway. I was finally discharged. Went home to bed. Woke up on Sunday just fine. & then I went outside to take Anya potty. Then the headache kicked in. Killed me all day. It finally got to me when I was standing at the sink last night & started hyperventilating again. Felt like someone was sitting on my chest. Husband picked me up & moved me to the couch, where I passed out again. Or so husband says. I don't remember this. I remember needing to pee, but that's about it. So I went to bed early & called the doctor this morning. Had to go in for a check up & now I'm on bed rest for this week! Possibly longer depending on how I am by next Monday. But since I've been dizzy the last 2 days, they're concerned. She's also concerned about my heart so I have to go to the cardiologist again on Thursday. My blood pressure has been elevated since Saturday. Oh. & I've lost 2lbs this weekend! So. My total weight gain as of Saturday was 7lbs. But now it's 5lbs. So... heat exhaustion is a quick weight loss regime. Also hard & painful. I don't recommend it.

Oh wow. That was a lot. Anyway. I'm okay now. Super tired. & going outside for longer than 30 seconds raises my heart rate & makes me breathe funny. So I don't do a whole lot of being outside. I'm not supposed to be driving either. I'm supposed to be a doctor ordered "couch potato." However, I missed school last week, & this week is supposed to be finals. So... bad timing. I feel like a degree is not in my future any time soon. You know. It could be worse. At least the hole in my heart is fixed or else I'd be suffering from strokes & heat exhaustion. Don't need that!

So anyway. I'll be okay. & most importantly. Little baby is okay. We find out what IT is on Friday. According to most of the family, it's a boy. According to the facebook poll I took, & husband, it's a girl. Really hoping for a girl, but I'll be happy with whatever. Just hoping for an exceptionally healthy baby. =]

So. Here's this thing.

How far along? 19 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 7lbs... minus 2lbs thanks to Saturday's escapades. So 5lbs.

Maternity Clothes: I'm still wearing regular shirts & things. But my pants haven't fit since... a long time ago.

Sleep: Ever since Saturday, good. Passing out 20 times makes you tired.

Best moment this week: Spending time with my family in AZ.
Miss Anything? Not having heat exhaustion?
Movement: Yep.
Food cravings: I'm pretty much living off of ham, cheese, & tomato sandwiches these days.
Anything making you queasy or sick: I still get morning sickness every morning... so waking up.
Have you started to show yet: According to me, yes. According to others, barely.
Gender guess: Boy. But so hoping for a girl.
Labor Signs: No.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: With the stress, I'm super down. But it depends on the day.
Looking forward to: FINDING OUT HE OR SHE ON FRIDAY!!!! <3

K. The end.

- Alexa