Kicks, Flips and Bloops!

Well, it's finally started to happen! At 18.5 weeks I started feeling the baby!! I felt my first "kick" (Felt more like a BLOOP if you ask me) the other night while sitting on the couch. I was just zoning out, watching TV and all of a sudden, I felt something below my belly button...it took my attention for a second, and then I felt it again, only off to the left of where I had just felt it! I called to Jason and told him what I thought just happened- he was SUPER excited, but a bit sad that I couldn't feel it on the outside. Cut to 2 days later...and I felt the baby on the OUTSIDE! Again, sitting on the couch, zoning out with my hand on my belly when suddenly I felt that same feeling inside that I'd felt earlier in the week but this time I'm felt it on my hand! I flipped out and immediately called Jason and told him the news! When he came home he sat with me for a few minutes with HIS hand on my belly, but the baby wasn't up to performing at that moment...but this baby has been ACTIVE, let me tell you, so I have no doubt that Jason will get to feel it this weekend.

This baby has seriously been making itself KNOWN inside my body this week. on Monday I took a brief walk at work to go to a neighboring building to use the restroom, as I was walking I felt a horrible pain in my upper abdomen (about 6" above my belly button). It felt like the worst side ache of your life but not on your side! I figured it was gas or something, and it went away after about 5 minutes. Later in the afternoon, while I was in a meeting, it came back and was so uncomfortable! Luckily, I had my blackberry with me, so I immediately Googled "Upper Abdominal Pain, 2nd Trimester" ever site that came up suggested that this was just typical stretching that occurs at this time. Basically, the baby is trying to get comfortable and is moving his surroundings around to make some more room...lovely. Given the size of my mid section, I'm sure I will have a lot more uncomfortable moments as this baby grows and grows and grows over the next few months. As uncomfortable as it may be, it's still a comfort to know that a moving baby is a happy baby so that brings me comfort :)

Good Night!

PS- Not going to bed yet, Jason is reaping the benefits of a pregnant wife tonight and I am his DD...he's at a Boys Only birthday party in Hermosa and I've promised to stay awake to pick him up...I should get a massage out of this! Haha :)

Happy 18 Weeks Little One!

Well today marks our 18th week of this pregnancy...22 weeks away from our delivery date, and 1/2 way to 36 weeks! I can't believe it's all almost 1/2 way done...granted, the first little while we weren't really AWARE of anything going on, and this 2nd half will be MUCH different than the first half, but it's still weird to think we're almost half done!

Jason took another profile picture of me last night to show the progress we've got so far! I put up some pics on Facebook that show my belly with a full shirt on, and to be honest- the pictures are quite disappointing! Who knew clothing could make you look SMALLER? Ha Ha...this picture below shows a much true-er image of how I feel!I'm sure in the coming months my belly will just get more and more ROUND- it's kind of oblong now...I wish I had a random profile photo of myself before i was pregnant so we could REALLY see the difference...maybe that will be my next project!



That's all for now! Next appointment is on February 11th...and we will hopefully find out the sex of the baby! Yay!

Keeping The Faith

So I've been meaning to write this post for awhile now...pretty much since the day we found out we were pregnant. Being pregnant, for me, at least (I know everyone is different) has done a LOT for my faith and my belief in God. I'm not normally very vocal about Religion, Faith or spirituality and I'm not getting preachy here trying to convert anyone or get them to see the world through my eyes, I'm just putting my thoughts out there for everyone to get to an idea of what I'm thinking, going through this entire process.

First of all...pregnancy is amazing. I hate to be cliche and say "it's a miracle" but I'm pretty sure it is! there were a few cells...meaningless, nameless CELLS hanging out in my body for a little while, and then they started chatting and hanging out and then *BAM* we have a fetus! What?! How does that happen? It's amazing to think about..and to know in 17 short weeks we've gone from a few cells, a weird looking thing with a tail, then something with a very large head and a small body and clubs for limbs to a little turnip that looks very much like a baby (Albeit a very SMALL baby!)- that just blows my mind! Thinking of the development of the baby doesn't so much do anything for my Faith, but it does just kind of blow my mind...what really gets me thinking about a Power or being watching out from above is the fact that I am carrying my CHILD...that I get to be a PARENT...that basically, I was chosen for some reason to carry this child in me and after I give birth to "him" I'll be responsible for his life...and that I was chosen to do that...chosen by who? Well, I say God.
I just am now in a position to think about things that I NEVER had reason to think about before...for example, if this child has any sort of handicap or disability- some may be disappointed with that outcome, but given that I am now that Mother of that child- I feel blessed that someone thought I was a strong enough, good enough person (as well as Jason) to take care of that child. If this child has no handicaps or disabilities, the same rule still applies- I was still chosen to care for this child- to guide them through life and be responsible for them for as long as I live...that is an AMAZING responsibility and an amazing gift...my job now is to make sure I live a life worthy of this gift...let's hope I can do it!! I'm very excited to try!

Baby is growing, and so is our home!

Sorry it's been a little while since my last post...things have been busy and I just haven't had the motivation to type!

As some of you know, Jason and I moved this past weekend to an amazing apartment in the Playa Vista community. That's right, we're back on the west side! For those of you NOT in LA, Playa Vista is closer to the area we lived in before- the beach cities. We're not on the water anymore like we were in Hermosa, but we're closer! Playa Vista is located between LAX and Santa Monica. It's kind of an uber-developed new community, that reminds both Jason and I of that movie Pleasantville (Minus the black and white coloring, and the streets that just end with no reason and the people that don't know how to think...). The move went really well overall, we hired professional movers for the first time and were pretty happy with what we got. Of course it was more expensive than we initially figured for, but if they only give you 2 guys and there are elevators at both locations, it's going to take more than 3 hours to move us out of the old place and into the new. If we'd had our friends help us it would have been faster,but we would have been a lot more tired- so I think all in all, it worked out just fine. As soon as we got to the new place, Jason got to work assembling ALL of our Ikea stuff!! He did an AMAZING job and everything looks awesome! I remember the days of my Mom and I going to Ikea to get some furniture pieces and then attempting to put them together...my Mom and I are pretty self sufficient people, and we always ended up cursing at the furniture, or just barely being able to put it together...that was not the case with my awesome husband- I guess power tools DO play some part, but I'm going to give them 1% of the credit...the other 99% goes to Jason!
As Jason slaved away with an Allen Wrench and a picture book of Swiss instructions, I got to work on UNPACKING and ORGANIZING! My first task was the kitchen, which looks amazing if I do say so myself. We have so much more room in this new place, it blew my mind. I kept panicking to myself saying "Oh no, where am I going to fit THIS?" then I'd realize i had 3 cabinets I hadn't even touched yet! Perfect! By the end of the weekend Jason had assemebled all of the furniture, and I'd managed to organize my closet, my bathroom, the closet, our bedside tables and parts of Jason's Bathroom and Closet (For those rooms I basically just picked everything up and put it away...I'm sure he'll change it all out as he wants it, but I at least wanted him to see some organization so he didn't freak out and feel overwhelmed when he made it to that area of the move). The most *AMAZING* thing about the entire move, was that Jason and I didn't fight ONCE...not that we're a big fighting couple, but moving does not bring out the best in us. This is the 3rd time we've moved together, and it was the best by far. Jason thinks it's because we know each other better and can let things roll of our back better...for instance- on Sunday I found a penny while I was doing laundry and since we hadn't unpacked our change cup yet, I just set it on the stove. To be more specific, I set it on the spoon holder on the stove. Jason, of course, flipped out when he saw this and said something to the effect of "Why in the WORLD would you think it's ok to put a nasty, dirty, disease infested penny on a surface that is going to get a SPOON we use for cooking??"I stared at him for a second and just cracked up...had this been 4 years ago, that comment would have caused me to storm out of the apartment and cry for days. I asked him then why he thought we didn't fight as much this time and he said, quite honestly "Because you know when I say a comment like that that I'm just an asshole and you've learned to deal with it...either that or you know I'm right and have just stopped fightin" it's definitely the former...I'll never give up fighting. PUH-LEASE! Jason decided to take today off (Monday) to finish everything up- I have no doubt that when I get home in a few hours, the apartment will be in place and it will look as though we've lived there for YEARS...I'll post pics when everything is 100% done.
Aside from the move, we had another Dr. appointment last week and it went great! We didn't get to SEE the little one this time (sad!) but we did get to hear a heartbeat!! It only lasted a few seconds, but it sounded strong and was definitely going fast! Dr. Morris said that this is what most of our appointments will be like from here on out- not a lot of pictures, but a lot of listening. At our next appointment, however, we get to see the little one again and find out FOR SURE if we're having a Laubst-A or a Laubst-O!We're very excited about this appointment, because it will let us do some major planning! We're kind of banking on the fact that it's probably a boy, but we won't go too crazy in the nursery until we know for sure!
I think those are all of the updates we have now...I'll post pics of the new place, and new pics of my and my EVER growing belly!! There will be some BIG changes from the last photo at 7 weeks!!
TTFN!

Laub Men Passing Tests and Taking Names!

So yesterday was a big day for test results for the Laub Men (Or at least, the one confirmed Laub Man (Jason) and the yest to be determined Laub Baby). Jason took his Contractor's License test at 7:45am on Wednesday and he passed!!! He said the test was way easier than he thought it would be- I had no doubt he would pass. He is so smart, and so good at tests (A skill I hope our little one inherits from him!).

The baby passed an important test as well! We got the results of our 1st trimester screening that we had done at 12 weeks (The same appointment when the doctor thought he saw that we were having a boy). I'm not sure how all of the numbers work, but basically, our baby has a VERY low chance of being born with either Downs Syndrome or the other chromosome disorder they test for. The nurse was throwing out stats like our chances of having a baby with either condition were 1 in 100, 1 in 15,000 and 1 in 50, 1 in 100,000. I am not sure why we were given 2 different statistics, but given that they were all good, I'm fine with it!

When we got back at week 20 to do our 2nd Trimester screening, the doctor will average those results with these first trimester results and we'll have a more definite idea of what our chances are. But given that the results from the first test are so low, I think we'll be in good shape. The nurse seemed to think so at least!

We have our next appointment next Thursday. This will be just a regular OB/GYN appointment for the doctor to make sure everything is still moving along as it should be. Hopefully we'll get to see the baby again and will be printed out some more photos of the little one. I'm going to ask how my weight gain is going, how the babies weight gain is going and if they'd like me to change anything that I'm currently doing. I have a pretty fast metabolism, so it's hard for me to gain a lot of weight, so I hope that all that I've been doing so far is going to be good enough. My mom assured me that once the third trimester hits, I'll be amazed at the amount of weight I gain, and that a lot of times it just happens naturally. That would be helpful, but in the meantime I'm drinking milkshakes and protein drinks to try to pack on some pounds for the little one.

The Beans Have Been Officially Spilled!

Today Jason and I were finally able to announce our pregnancy to EVERYONE! It is such a relief to have everyone in our lives know! Jas started the day out by sending a mass email to pretty much his entire contact list, which let me tell my boss first thing this morning. Then I sent an email to my team letting them in on the big news, and finally I posted a photo to Facebook...the best place to get news spread FAST! I've felt awful for the people I've had to blatantly LIE to about the pregnancy, but I know all of them understand and most of them have been in my same position, so it's all good :)

On a side note, I'm starting to feel a lot better. After I left work at 10am last Wednesday I pretty much didn't move from the couch until Sunday! My Mom was in town, so it was nice to have her around to take care of me. After she left, Jason picked up the slack and cleaned our ENTIRE apartment, bathed both kitties and did all of the laundry (he even folded it all!). I felt very guilty just sitting on the couch, but every time I tried to stand up, I got so weak I had to sit back down again! This morning was rough, but being at work has been good so far today. I'm sure when I get home I'll pass out until bed time, but that's Ok- as long as I can sleep I'm a happy camper!

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and support! I'm just so glad it's not a secret anymore!!!