First Pictures of Baby Clements

This is our 6 week ultrasound taken 9/29. The little bean measures at 6weeks and 5 days. It's a cute little blob, isn't it?! The little blob between the x's is actually the baby, and the little circle thiny below it is the yolk sac. I think the little guy already looks like a little monkey! Kinda like one of those sock monkeys with the x eyes! Lol! Katie (Tom's little sister) said it looks just like Tom! Ahh, how cute! It was pretty unreal to see this for the first time. Tom said that this was the coolest thing he'd seen or heard. It's just going to get better and better! The second picture is the heartbeat picture. The heartbeat was 138, nice and strong! The lines at the bottom show the actual heart beat, and if you look carefully, there are two little white lines outlining the heart! It was just beating away! This definately made everything more real! I'm feeling fine. I haven't had any morning sickness yet. I've felt a little queasy every now and then, but nothing awful. I'm hoping it will stay this way! We're already scheduled for another ultrasound in 2 weeks! So we'll get to see the little bean again on October 13th! Then it will actually look something like a baby!

Spreading the news to Gramma Nissen & Grampa Clements!

We went to South Sioux City this last weekend to share our news with Tom's parents. We went to Peggy's house first. When we got there, we sat and talked for quite awhile. I didn't tell her right away because we had a plan. The right moment just wasn't coming. So we ate dinner and visited some more. I was getting so nervous! I have no idea why, I think it was just because I was so anxious to get the news out! Finally, after at least an hour and a half, I said, "Hey, we're finally going to start repainting our guest bedroom and I need your opinion on the color." So I pulled out 2 color swatches, one pink and one blue. I handed them to her, she took them, kind of cocked her head a little and put them up to my blue shirt (this is when I thought she had caught on) and said, "Hmm, I think I like the blue in your shirt better." ***pause pause pause*** Then it was like a light bulb switched on! She snapped her head up at me with her eyes really wide (I will never forget that face! I wish I had a picture!) and said, "Are you pregnant?" I just nodded and the screaming and hugs began! It was super cute! Andrew, Tom's little brother was there too. I think he's pretty excited to be an uncle twice! As long as he doesn't teach them to bang their heads on the floor, we're good! :-) The next morning we woke Katie-his sister-up from her deep dark slumber way too early in the morning to tell her the good news. She perked up pretty quickly! We made it short and sweet so she could go back to sleep! ;-)

Later in the night, we went out to the river to break the news to RC. We pull in and he, Ty, and Val were eating at the picnic table. So we sit down and of course the first question asked at the river is "What do you want to drink"-drink meaning an adult beverage :) I, of course, said no thanks. RC said something like "Last time I asked that, there ended up being a pregnant girl at the table". Hah! I just smiled at him, he looked at Tom who just gave him a little shrug and said, "Well, what can I say?" The "last time" he was talking about was Ty (Tom's brother) and his darling girlfriend Ashlee's big news last month. So now the poor guy is going to think that every girl that turns down one of his cocktails is preggo! Two grandbabies in two months, whew! It was a great night and such a weight off the shoulders to finally get the news to some of the family! We also got to tell a bunch of Tom's friends that we played in a softball tournament with. And his Grandma and Grandpa came to watch us play a game (bless them for sitting through our butt-whooping), so we got to tell them too! It worked out perfectly!

Now we still have to wait 1 1/2 more weeks to tell my side of the family and it's going to be torture! It is absolutely driving me crazy that I can't tell them right now, but I really really want to do it in person. That's it for now! My first ultrasound is Monday! Woo Hoo! So I'll have pictures up then!

The First Nicknames :-)

So the first actual nickname that I've given the little bean is just that...the little bean! But some new, more creative ones have been thought up by none other than my little sidekick in the ER...dear Heather. What has she named our little bean?? Cletus the Fetus. LOL! Yes, Cletus Clements. Or otherwise known as CTF squared. Thanks Heather!

My HCG Levels...

I had my blood drawn for my quantitative hcg level when I was 4 weeks and 1 day (Friday). My level was 214, which is great for so early in the pregnancy! Then the doctor wanted to draw it again 2 days later to make sure the number was rising adequately. It needed to increase by 66%. I peed on another stick :) on the day in between to see if the line got darker to try to settle my fears, and of course it did! My level on Sunday was 530! So it was perfect! I did some research, and those numbers are acutally kind of high. You know what high hcg level means?? Twins!! Nah, I'm not having twins, but I'd thought I'd scare Tom a little! :o) There was one study done that showed that many women with higher hcg levels end up having girls, and if the levels are lower, they have boys. That's just one study, so I don't know how much I believe it! I guess we'll find out in about 15 weeks or so! Oh, yes, we are going to find out the sex of the little bean!

Holy Crap I'm Pregnant!!!

Ahhhhh!!! After 14 months, I could hardly believe my eyes! I got my big fat positive!!!
Thursday, September 11, 2008 at about 5:00 in the afternoon (after I woke up from my daytime slumber), I decided it was time to take a test. Well, actually I couldn't wait any longer! I knew at this point it would be really really early in the pregnancy, but it should at least show something. I had gotten so used to seeing negative tests that I refused to look at it until I counted out 2 minutes.
So there I am, sitting on the toilet, actually mouthing the numbers, not wanting to look because I had this feeling that it was going to be negative. When I finally looked, I just said "No Way!" And I just started laughing! I started kissing the dogs because Tom was on his way home from Cedar Rapids. I called to see where he was-he told me he was an hour away. It was a perfect amount of time for me to rush out to buy something to I could tell him in a fun way. I had a perfect excuse so he wouldn't think something was up. His birthday was 3 days away, so of course I just told him it was an early birthday present! Luckily they had just what I needed at the Copper Cupboard-this little "me and my dad" picture frame. So I grabbed my scrapbooking supplies and finally used these baby stickers I've had since 8th grade! I got it all wrapped up just in time-he walked in the door about 10 minutes later. So I wasn't tortured for too long! I told him I wanted to give him his b-day present early, so we sat down on the couch and he opened it up. It seemed like it took him forever to get it (of course it didn't-it just felt like it to me)! He snapped his head up really fast and said "Huh uh! Seriously!" And he tackled me! Gently of course! It was more of a jumping onto the preggo wife and her falling backwards...We were all smiles the rest of the night. We went out for dinner to celebrate! And that was my first day of my pregnancy!