Bob Marley and the Bump

Hey All,
So, my bump isn't much, but I worked hard for it! I'm feeling great and eating a lot of yummy food. I'm enjoying taste and it is wonderful! Toby is easy to persuade for us to go get ice cream or chicken nachos. Yes!
Me and baby bump got to spend the weekend with Alison and Aunt Heather, Gigi(Lyzette) and Grandpa(my dad). We had a great time relaxing and oogling over Alison, my sister's two month old. We went out to the Winter Park Art Festival and listened to Swingerhead, a local swing band in the park and enjoyed the cooler weather. It is nice to be outside in Florida sometime when it's not too hot.
Here's a little update on the baby, how it's forming and what it's doing now that I am 17 weeks, or a little over four months. Again, it's from babycenter.com . Hard to believe I'm so far along, yet have so far to go. Two more weeks til we know if it's a boy or a girl. I can't wait!
I'm learning to focus on the present, though there is so much to look forward to. I'm enjoying my husband and my family and trying not to freak out too much about the future. Gigi just told me that it's ok to not know how to do all of this (motherhood, pregnancy, relationships, my house, just about everything), that no one knows how to do it and to stop putting so much pressure on myself to do all and be all. I can only do the best I can with what I have and that's enough. I'm taking lots of deep breaths as Toby reminds me all too often in the words of Bob Marley, "Don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing is gonna be all right!" I have many wise voices encouraging me and surrounding me with their love, and I am so thankful for it all. So, I'm trying to be a little easier on myself and enjoy this time. It is a good time right now. Tomorrow will take care of itself...

Your baby weighs about 5 ounces now, and he's around 5 inches long — about the size of a large onion. He can move his joints, and his skeleton — until now rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden to bone. His sense of hearing is also developing. The umbilical cord, his lifeline to the placenta, is growing stronger and thicker.

Maybe baby bump likes Bob Marley too, now that he/she can hear...

My first bump pictures!

Friday Natalie finally started showing. It was so exciting to see the growth of the belly. For the last couple of days I haven't been able to keep my hands off Natalie's bump. I've also included a picture of the crib we purchased. I'm so excited, I wish March would hurry up but I know that we need this time to prepare. Thanks for reading.

Toby

14 Weeks and Growing!

Hello All,
It's Natalie. Wanted to fill you in on what is happening with us. Friday I went to the doctor and everything is going well. I heard the heartbeat and it was beating about 150 times a minute. I love hearing that sound! It's one of the best sounds in the world. Hearing it makes it so much more real that there is someone growing in there. I'm still not showing right now, but I know I will have to get into new clothes sometime soon. The nurse practitioner said I should be showing in about three weeks. We'll start posting pictures once I start showing.

I have started to feel a little bit of movement. It feels like a butterfly fluttering. You have to pay really close attention to it, or you'll miss it. Here's how he or she is growing right now. I got this from babycenter.com if you want to check out some more information. We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet. Our appointment is October 30th, I'll be 18 weeks along. We're super excited! So is the family!

Head to bottom, your baby's 3 1/2 inches long — about the length of a lemon — and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces. Her body's growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. By the end of this week, her arms will have lengthened and will be in proportion to the rest of her body. (Her legs still have some growing to do, though.) She's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over her body (called lanugo). Her liver starts secreting bile this week, a sign that it's already functioning properly, and her spleen starts contributing to the production of red blood cells. She's also producing and discharging urine into the amniotic fluid, a normal process that she'll keep up until birth. You still can't feel your baby's movements, but her hands and feet (which are now half an inch long) are more flexible and active. Thanks to brain impulses, her little facial muscles are getting a workout as she squints, frowns, and grimaces. She can grasp now, too, and she may be able to suck her thumb.

We purchased our first item for our baby. We got a crib! It's beautiful and I got a great deal on it! We'll post some pics on that too. It's solid and a dark espresso color. We've been clearing out the second bedroom, which will be our nursery. It's hard to imagine the finished product with it such a wreck right now, but it will happen.

Thanks for your support and your prayers. I am feeling much better. Very little trips to the bathroom, and I'm able to eat. I've been warned that I'll want to eat everything in about three weeks. I'm ready for it! I appreciate taste so much more now. Right now I'm stuck on chocolate milk and potato chips and french onion dip. Not all together, but they taste good right now.
Love you all.

8 week update

Natalie has been suffering some of the "morning" sickness that so many have. Although I don't really understand why they call it morning sickness because it comes all times of the day. Maybe for some people it comes in the morning.

Today we go for the first sonogram. We are both so excited to hear the heartbeat for the first time. I think this will really make it sink in that we will be parents. We are hoping to hear only one heartbeat today. I'm not sure what we would do if the Dr. says "twins." Natalie said she would laugh, but I would probably cry.

I will post a an update with a picture about the sonogram in a couple of days. Thanks for reading.

Toby

Telling immediate family

Now that the initial shock had worn off we had to figure out how to tell our immediate family. A few days earlier my brother Nathan and I talked about grabbing a pint and hanging out sometime because it had been a while since we've seen each other. Nate calls me that morning and wanted to see if I would meet him at Fiddler's Green, a local Irish Pub, that afternoon. On my way out of the door Natalie told me not to tell him. I told her that was impossible that he's my brother and there would be no way for me to hide the excitement. She conceded. When it comes to hiding exciting secrets I'm not the best. If I get Natalie a gift for Christmas too early there's a good chance she gets it early. So I went to the pub and told Nathan, he was extremely excited. The following evening we were going over to Titusville to see Natalie's sister Heather. When we got to their house we were sitting around talking and Natalie asked Heather if she could borrow her maternity clothes and Heather looked puzzled for a second and then Natalie told her. Heather, who was 9 months pregnant herself, starting jumping up and down while screaming for half of the neighborhood to hear. It was a great reaction. That night we went to the best restaurant in Titusville known as El Leoncito. There they make some strong margaritas. We stayed the night at their place that night because we were going to Jacksonville the next day. We found out that Natalie's parents, Larry and Lyzette, were coming over that evening so we decided to stay and tell them when they got there. Natalie and I picked out a picture frame that said "so another adventure begins." Inside the frame we put a picture of Natalie and Heather each pointing to Natalie's tummy. Larry and Lyzette opened up the package and looked quite confused, both afraid to assume anything just awkwardly looked at Natalie. Finally, Natalie said I'm pregnant. Tears filled the eyes of two proud grandparents. That weekend we went to Jacksonville to visit some friends, Nick and Heather, and had set up a dinner time with my parents, Wayne and Yvette, and Nana for Monday evening. Natalie and I arrived at their house like two hours before dinner just to hang out. It was killing the both of us not to say anything but we wanted to wait for Nana to get their. Dinner was ready and I volunteered to pray for the food and while I was praying I asked God for protection over Natalie's pregnancy. Eyes quickly flew open in the room and Mom began crying, Dad was overwhelmed and pissed we didn't tell him two hours ago, and Nana was saying "Oh My." It was a great time telling our family and our friends.

Our first post

I decided to create this post so that everyone can keep up with Baby Hurst. About three weeks ago I was sleeping and Natalie comes into the room. She had been working all night. She wakes me up and has her hand behind her back. "I think you should see something." She sticks this white stick in my face and my eyes can't even focus on what it is. However, I assumed that it must be a pregnancy test and that it is positive or else she wouldn't be shoving something in my face that has urine on it to tell me we still weren't pregnant. This was a surprise for me because I didn't even think about her possibly being pregnant. But the test was positive. I was shocked and sleepy at the same time. Natalie and I just laid there in bed in total shock and awe. We had tried for over a year to get pregnant so this is something that the both of us really wanted. Being the romantic that I am we went for a celebratory breakfast to the fancy place of Denny's. That's right, don't hate. So that's the story on how we found out about Baby Hurst.