Y’all! I think I gripe a lot about how I’m ready for this baby to be here because 9 months seems like suuuuuch a long time, but there’s a part of me that can’t believe we’re already five months in! That time seems to have flown! (And I’m hoping it keeps flying!). We are over the half way mark at this point, and yes, I have been singing “Livin’ On A Prayer” to myself more often than I should. (“Ohhhhh, we’re half way there…. Ohh oh! Livin’ on a prayer!”, for those of you not familiar 😉 ).

We are at 22 weeks, which is a little over the five month mark, but I was waiting so I could share the big news all in one post. I’m just going to get this out from the get-go so that I can use the name and specific pronoun through the rest without having to hold back. So, without further adieu, Baby Smith is a…

 

That’s right… My husband officially has another chick in his life!

So, just for a little backstory, on the day that I published the last Bump-date, we were supposed to have two weeks until our big anatomy scan sonogram at Scott & White (our delivery hospital, which is also where Steven works). Steven was on a med-consult rotation that week, so he came home for lunch, and was going to take call from home that afternoon. I had gone to the ladies’ Bible study at our church that morning and just had plans around the house that afternoon, and then once he passed off call, we were going to head out to the lease to dove hunt that night (Steven dove hunts with the boys; I read books and paint my nails, and relax…). I was talking with him at lunch about how one of the girls that works for us out of the Houston office is about six weeks ahead of us, and that she’d told me earlier that week that she’d had 2 or 3 of the elective 3D sonograms done because there was an elective place in the same office building as our Houston office that offered an in-office building discount. We began discussing the sneak peek sonogram place in Temple, and how they were actually much less expensive than we anticipated (the gender sneak peek was about $75, and I was thinking they would be at least a few hundred dollars. The 3Ds are more than that, but we don’t really anticipate going back). That piqued Steven’s interest, and he said to call and ask if they had an opening that afternoon. Well, they did, and that’s how we wound up sitting on a couch an hour and a half later getting ready to find out what we are having.

I think I mentioned in our last Bump-date that I was 90% sure I knew what it was. Well, I thought I was 90% sure that it is a boy. 😐 The sonogram tech called us back and we got going. She showed us all the landmark stuff (head, spine, position, heartbeat, etc.), and then started zeroing in on gender. I was watching the screen intently (for this place, you lay on this weird elevated bed, and there are 3 or 4 giant TVs on the wall connected to the ultrasound machine, so you see everything as it’s happening), and she started typing on the screen. As she typed out “B-O…”, I knew she was about to confirm what I thought! And then she finished with “T-T-O-M”. And then she typed “IT’S A B-“, and I knew it again! And then she finished with “A-B-Y GIRL”. And I was shocked.

I looked over at Steven, who did a two week sonography rotation (not by choice 😉 ) while in med school, and he gave me this little head nod indicating she was right, and that he’d figured it out long before I did. And I think we were both in shock. Not a bad shock, and not disappointed by any means, but just so surprised. We were both so convinced that she was showing us Henry, and it turns out it is Olivia! (And we definitely called it Henry a few times before we knew for sure, so hopefully she doesn’t remember that or have any remaining emotional issues! 😉 )

So, we were in a little shock for a little while just because of the surprise. I am under no delusions that parenting period would be easy, but I think I had been preparing myself more for boy parenting– a lot of “get off that”, “don’t hit that”, “get down from there”, “don’t jump off that”, etc. And then when she said girl, my heart felt so heavy about the different and hard type of parenting coming up that I hadn’t been preparing myself for– emotional parenting. I had not been preparing myself for middle school girl drama, and teen girl attitude, and how to deal with mean girls, and all that fun stuff. Now, with that being said, I did a pretty quick 180 turn, and began praying hard about this. I know God will equip us to be the best parents we can be, but I felt like I need more equipping than I even thought I would after this. And I feel much better about it now, honestly. Just as a side note, I started reading Jonathan and Wynter Pitts’ new book “She is Yours” just after we found out, and it has been really good so far. I highly recommend it for girl parents!

When the sonogram tech told us, she said that even though by my due date I was supposed to be 17 weeks exactly, she was measuring the baby at 16 weeks 2 days. She said they don’t typically make 100% conjectures on gender until 17 weeks, so she recommended keeping tags on everything and seeing what they said at our official scan in two weeks, but that she was really certain nothing would change. We got a DVD of the entire sonogram and a stuffed elephant that plays her heartbeat when you push its stomach (obviously its name is Ella Phant), so all-in-all, we had a great experience finding out earlier than we thought we would. And, I was glad we did it because our official sonogram was a much different experience!

Two weeks later, we had a quick visit with my OB, and then down to radiology for the sonogram. Our OB told us that they would take pictures and measurements for everything, and then if they had any questions, a Maternal/Fetal Medicine specialist would come take extra pictures, but that we would know results really quickly afterward. The sonogram tech was really nice, but didn’t really talk to us during the process, so I kinda felt like we were hanging and would have been really anxious had we not just saw her two weeks before. She took tons of pictures and measurements, and I strained my head back the entire time to watch her and our girl. She told us it was a girl as well, and got everything she needed except pictures of the spine because Olivia was laying down on her back and wouldn’t move. The tech had me speed walk up and down the radiology hallway for about ten minutes to get her moving and I have absolutely never been more winded in my life. And I didn’t need to use the restroom before, and after about five minutes of laps, I felt like I might wet my pants. Steven was sweet enough to stand by the door to our room and cheer for me every time I passed even though I couldn’t wait to stop! Finally, the tech came back, we got pictures of the spine, and she gave us a huge envelope full of pictures of all kinds of things- profile, head, spine, each foot, each leg, you name it. One of the big pictures she gave us is of her profile, and she said it is of her sucking her thumb, but we think we see her lips a little further down, so we’re thinking she might actually be picking her nose… Who knows!

At this point, both of our parents and my grandparents knew the gender from the sneak peek results, so we confirmed with them that it was still the same. We didn’t really know any results of the additional scans (they are looking for organ issues, Down syndrome, and other structural abnormalities with this scan), but MFM didn’t come in to take additional pictures so we were counting that as a good sign! We got the official results a few days later, and everything looked good, and she was actually measuring a few days ahead at that point.

So, this past weekend, we had a gender reveal party with the friends and family of Steven’s home church congregation in Midland. They have all been so sweet and excited for us, and it was special to be able to share the surprise with them! Steven’s granny didn’t know, so we had her open the box for everyone…

And everyone was so excited for our little girl! I made a sign earlier that week that we will hang in her nursery that has her name, so once Granny opened the box, we pulled off the wrapping paper to officially announce her name– Olivia Anne Smith. We picked that name because we liked it, and then found out after choosing it that it is actually a family name for two of Steven’s great grandmothers, so that made it even better! We had so much fun sharing our surprise and felt so loved by everyone that celebrated with us, both near and far!

Here are the stats for this month…

How far along: 22 weeks/ 5 months

Total weight gain: 5 pounds. I’ve been holding steady at 130 the last few weeks.

Maternity clothes: Not yet. My dresses, tops, and tights still fit (except the ones that were tight or smaller to begin with), and all my pre-preggo pants that button/ zip fit with my BellaBand or with a safety pin.

Stretch marks: None that I’ve been able to find yet! I’ve read that the best prevention for stretch marks besides the cocoa butter creams is a slow weight gain, so I’m trying to stick with that!

Sleep: I feel like it’s been better than last month, although I never feel like its enough each night! A few Saturdays ago, I slept in/ went back to sleep once Steven came in off his night shift and ended up sleeping until 11:30, so I guess my body wanted to catch up some! I’m waiting for this supposed 2nd trimester burst of energy, but it hasn’t found me yet!

Best moment of this month: Finding out our gender! (Multiple times! 😉 ) And then announcing it to family and friends.

Miss anything: I miss being able to run through a drive-through and grab a Coke or sweet tea, or regular cup of coffee. I know that you are technically allowed some caffeine during pregnancy but I’ve done well just staying away from it entirely to be on the safe side and I hate to ruin my streak because I know I’ll be cheating all the time then. Plus all of those things aren’t really great for you, anyway. But sometimes a nice icy Coke sounds amazing!

Movement: Yes! About 17-18 weeks, I started feeling the “flutters” as people describe it, and now there are times I feel straight up thumps, typically right after I eat or drink something, especially ice cream (Girlfriend’s all about that food! I’m thinking she may get that from her father… 😉 ). We’re getting close to being able to feel them on the outside, I think, it’s just trying to predict where she is that makes it harder to feel those.

Food cravings: Nothing in particular, just hungry in general 😉 Still loving the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches, and I am dying for some good salty Chinese food. I seem to really want the extremes– really sweet and really salty.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing really makes me nauseous anymore, but my heartburn/ acid reflux makes me sick at times. My OB upped my extra strength Zantac to add in Prevacid and said if it continues to get worse, I may end up with a GI referral (but… Steven says they might order a scope, so I think I’ll just tough it out for the next four months 😐 ).

Have you started to show yet: Yes! I was a little on the last update, but it seems to be more noticeable now, and even Steven says that it looks like a definite baby bump, not just an out of control beer belly.

Gender: sweet little girl!

Belly button in or out: In!

Wedding rings on or off: On and still loose!

Looking forward to: Getting little miss’s room ready! We had originally tentatively decided not to set up a nursery until it was time to move her into it (The AAP recommends infants sleep in the same room as caregivers for the first six months to help reduce risk of SIDS). We wanted to keep it as a guest room for as long as we could since we knew family would be coming to stay with us once she is born. But, once we found out the gender, I started accumulating things for her (Clothes. Girlfriend has a LOT of clothes already! 😉 ), and it began driving me a little crazy to not have a good place to go with them. And then a good friend mentioned that we would have less time than we think to set up the nursery once she’s here. All of this, combined with mine and Steven’s need to nest this (he gets restless and likes to get things in order, too), means we are getting stuff together to make her room over the next few months and then figure out other solutions for house guests. We still have one guest room that will sleep two, and we’re contemplating upgrading to a sleeper sofa to make up for the bed we’re losing.

 

Once we found out gender, it was time to start getting busy! I took a plywood board we had leftover and upholstered it, and then added hooks and ribbons to hang headbands and hair bows (which I’m planning on having plenty of!). I’m using this fabric as color inspiration for her nursery, so we’re going to use mainly turquoise, purple, gray, and green, probably with dark wood furniture.

 

I’ve been getting familiar with my Silhouette machine, so I made this sign to hang in her nursery:

 

And I have iron-on transfer vinyl that I have plans to make lots of cute onesies with! Every time I go to Target, I peruse the baby clothes and end up with at least one something if not more, so she is accumulating plenty of clothes.

We also had several sweet people leave us gifts at our party, and I am so excited about all the children’s books we’re getting! I love to read and I can’t wait to share that with Ollie Lou! (She has plenty of nicknames already– Ollie, Ollie Lou, Livy Lou, Livy Lou Who, and Olliewog 😉 ).

And that’s a recap of Month 5! Now we’re just waiting for Months 6, 7, 8 and 9 to fly so we can meet our girl! 🙂