bed rest.

i meant to update a while ago but didn't have time between the move and leaving for swamp land last week! first, i want to give a shout out to our super fans (lauren, leanne, aunt kim, and aunt karla) who gave me lots of compliments and told me how awesome and hilarious our blog is over lunch in kingsland last week. much love to the fans! :)

i have been on modified bed rest for the past two weeks (june 24 - july 10) due to a complication called partial previa and a small tear in the placenta that caused some bleeding and scared this mom-to-be to be half to death! we went in a couple hours after the discovery and they confirmed the tear on the ultrasound (technology is amazing) and we also got to see Audrey. she was sleeping (surprise!) and was breech so we couldn't see her face but her heartbeat was in her usual range and she seemed to be happy. i was told to eliminate a lot of my daily activities and things that i'm used to doing in order to let the tear heal and the complication correct itself. the complication is pretty serious but if i took the bed rest order seriously, my OB was fairly confident that all would work out in the end.

we went in on friday to check the progress of the previa and also to get some additional pictures of Audrey's heart that they were not able to get last time because she was so sleepy and bunched up in a weird position. this time though, we had the opposite problem -- girl would not stop moving! there were arms and legs flying around everywhere! she was really active all the way to the appointment and even more so during the ultrasound. at one point in time she had her foot above her head! it was so surreal to FEEL her kicking me and SEE it at the same time. i was laughing and crying all at once -- she has such a personality already and i am so proud of her! we also saw her blinking, opening and closing her mouth, and wiggling her butt around making it almost impossible for the tech to even get a measurement in! everything looks perfect and she now weighs a whopping 1 lb. 5 oz.

my favorite -- legs up by her head, can't see it in this picture but she was playing with her toes on one foot and kicking me with the other foot! haha

surprise, surprise -- arm across her head AS USUAL!

what it looks like in there when i feel her kicking me :)

her face is now fully formed, minus the cute baby fat. this was taken when we caught her blinking and moving her mouth

teeny tiny feet! one foot is flat and one is laying across the other

yep! she still has those lonnnnng legs like her dad!

 measurements taken indicate that there was less than a centimeter's worth of change in the last month but it's still better than nothing. it's moving in the right direction, slowly but surely. we will know the severity of the condition pertaining to the rest of my pregnancy at 28 weeks but for now, my restrictions were slightly lifted to limited activity and still no exercising (which is driving me crazy), no lifting, and pretty much no doing anything fun. two weeks away from work was taking a toll on us both financially and emotionally (being on bed rest sounds nice but it's actually pretty depressing) so i decided to go back to work a for a few hours a day this week.  it was nice to rejoin the real world and say goodbye to Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, Oprah, and my Kindle in the afternoons :)

oh, and did i mention that my husband is my hero? he packed, moved, and unpacked us before we left for Georgia and didn't complain once! my dad helped out a lot with the big stuff (thanks dad!) but all those annoying parts of moving, and there are many, were tackled in style by our very own Willbey. i'm the luckiest! he has been so helpful and supportive during the last few weeks, helping me and reassuring me when he was uncertain himself. he is going to be an amazing dad.

more on the trip to Georgia next time!

audrey katherine.

A is for Audrey -- a name we both fell in love with that just kinda popped into my head one day. we love it because it's such a classic and timeless name that is not too common and all the while so very charming :)
K is for Katherine -- even though she will never be able to meet my mom, this little girl is gonna hear all about her grandmother and will know her through me and the relationship we will have. my mom was my best friend and our relationship was one of a kind. i want to have that with my daughter as well. we are giving her my mom's first name as her middle name to not only honor my mom but also to pass along to Audrey a piece of the inspiration and love that my mom left behind.

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our appointment on friday was so much fun! my dad came along for the surprise and had all of us laughing during the ultrasound, especially once we found out that baby boatright is indeed a GIRL (!!!) and he shared his successful gender prediction "technique." i love my dad! father's day was great as well. Will and i went out to lake townsend for the day to fish and relax, and then had a fathers day cookout with my brother and dad later that night. i made my famous mashed potatoes and Will wowed us with his secret "redneck marinade" recipe on the steaks. michael made my latest favorite, steamed green beans, but ate them all while waiting for the potatoes to get done and had to make corn instead. it was a blast :)

baby b was sleepy and curled up as usual during the ultrasound, even though i drank a little bit of orange juice and pepsi right before to wake her up. while the tech was taking measurements of the right and left hemisphere of her brain we saw a little hand pop up on the screen and could clearly see her little fingers wiggling around. it was so sweet. she LOVES having her hand across her forehead. during the last three ultrasounds she always has her hand laying all the way across her forehead (which is exactly how Will sleeps every night -- makes me laugh whenever i catch him like that in the morning knowing our daughter is inside me doing the same exact thing).

the "blob" above her nose in the picture is her hand hehe and the other "blob" to the left is her foot. she eventually worked her foot all the way up to her head!

we have to go back in four weeks to do another scan so they can get additional pictures of her heart that she wouldn't cooperate for. ironically, when we met with my doctor about 45 minutes later he had trouble getting her heartbeat (170 bpm) on the doppler because she was moving around so much. silly girl!

for those who don't know, i did end up having to serve on a jury last month. the judge understood that being pregnant and sitting on a jury for up to two weeks wasn't ideal but informed me that if i were to request to be deferred, i would be called back for a capital murder case that is going to trial in september. by then, i would be so much more uncomfortable and many times, capital murder cases require that the jurors are sequestered and so therefore i would be in seclusion for at least six weeks (yikes!). i decided to accept the possibility of being chosen for a civil case involving contract law, fraud, and tax evasion instead. i was indeed chosen and once the case got going, it ended up being pretty interesting. there was one piece of testimony involving $30,000 allegedly being paid to the plaintiff in an old McDonalds bag (classy), and the prosecuting attorney accusing one of the defendant's husband of being a "good ol boy" which was pretty hilarious. the other members of the jury were fun to get to know -- we all went out to lunch together every day so it was nice to not have to roam downtown greensboro alone. for my week of service i received a check for a whopping $92. although we are on a pretty strict savings plan for when Audrey arrives, Will agreed that i should spend my hard earned jury duty money outfitting our daughter. i had a blast at Carters and they also happened to be having a huge sale. i got a ton of sleep and play onesies in 3 months size and a bunch of knit dresses and shirts with matching leggings in 6 months size. here are some of my favorites:

shopping for little girl clothes is the best (does she really need another dress? why yes, i believe she does!) and am glad that we have a collection started for november! it's hard to believe that we will be meeting our little girl in a little over four months. oh, and before i forget -- happy birthday Will! :) and happy wednesday to everyone else!

it's halftime.

although pregnancy is technically measured in trimesters. i would like to take a moment to celebrate halftime! i'm headed into my 20th week and it feels so good to be halfway done!
i have also been counting down the days until our anatomy scan. perhaps one of the most exciting parts of being pregnant in today's wonderful world of technology is having the ability to look inside myself and see what is going on in there with our little Baby B. the anatomy scan is the motherload of all ultrasounds. it is the longest, and most detailed scan of them all and i am so looking forward to it. anatomy scan also means we will be finding out if Baby B is a boy or a girl. here is what outcome is looking like at the moment:

symptoms: virtually none. except my face looks like a pepperoni pizza and the fatigue seems to be getting worse and worse. the promise of energy in the second trimester has been deceiving thus far. oh, and i'm really cranky too. poor Will.
-- could be boy or girl
distribution: i'm carrying "all over" aka my arms, legs, and face are *ehm* expanding along with my growing baby bump.
-- girl
old wive's tales: i haven't really gotten sucked into this genre of gender guessing. although i did cave and let my contract rep at work do the string test with a needle and wedding band on me last week. and that was only because she asked really nicely, several times. and because she said that she has been right the past 7 out of 8 guesses. both times, the needle/band made circles (which is said to mean it's a girl)
-- girl
aunt debbie: my aunt gave me a once over a few weeks ago and declared girl. i trust her. she was a firm believer that sara was a girl, even when everyone else guessed boy. as we all know, aunt debbie won that one.
--girl
me: i truly and deeply believe this baby is a girl. i have thought girl for a while now and that feeling has grown even stronger as i approach halftime. but does mothers intuition really exist? or do i think it's a girl solely because that's what i want the baby to be? i guess we will find out.
-- girl
husband: Will thinks it's a boy. enough said. :)
-- boy


and now for a funny pregnancy story...
Will and i were out to dinner last night. the waitress comes up to the table and tells us about a great half off any bottle of red wine special they are having. she recommends the pino noir. if you know me, you know that pino noir is my most favorite beverage in the entire world. i had my menu hiding my torso (if you would even call it that anymore hehe) and as soon as i lifted it to set it on the table she stops mid sentence and says, "oh....oh my gosh i'm sorry." why was she sorry? because i had started CRYING. ugh. the embarrassment. the awkwardness. there was plenty to go around and then some. that poor girl had no idea what to do. Will thought it was hilarious. hey! i miss having a glass of wine buddy! anyway, she comes back and i ask her what comes in the three salads they offer.
(by the way, i've moved on from pancakes and smoothies to mexican dishes and salad. mainly salad. i have an obsession with going to a lot of different places just to see if they have a cool, new salad i might fall in love with. salad bars are my hero.)
she tells me and none of them sound very good. sad, but i move on to the carbs section and am content. Will asks her about some new dish and she tells him about it, finishing her schpeal with, "and it comes with a soup or salad"
but, what i heard was, "it comes with a SUPER salad"
my eyes lit up and i looked at her with amazement and said, "what is a SUPER salad?" fully expecting her to tell me about an amazing secret salad that she had failed to inform me about earlier.
she apologized as she corrected me and cringed when the waterworks began...again.
was i completely mortified? oh yes.
could i stop it from happening? sadly no.
i made sure to leave her a very nice tip.

but other than that...i'm handling things pretty well ;)

18 weeks

20 weeks

pancakes and smoothies.

i am obsessed. Will and i went fishing yesterday and since we were out on the lake so long we almost didn't make it to IHOP in time! i love my husband simply because he has played along with this pregnancy craving so nicely - going to IHOP with me, ehm, many many times over the past week. as for smoothies, i am not as easily satisfied. what i really, really want is a blue smoothie from Cone City in Michigan. and some Mancinos. i would gladly trade my stack of blueberry pancakes for a grinder right now. can you tell it's dinnertime? can you tell im pregnant? :) if anyone wants to help a girl out with any of the above Michigan items when they are in town this weekend i would love you forever! if not, i will probably still love you forever anyway. after the whirlwind that was our wedding day back in october, i was so sad that i didn't get to spend a ton of time with all of the family that had traveled so far to be there. i am looking forward to seeing everyone in a few days!

new ultrasound picture.

last week i officially....
GRADUATED!
survived being sick and pregnant
had SO much fun spending time with Will's mom while she was in town
and decided that i most definitely look like i'm...well...having a baby!

15 weeks

our doctor's appointment went well - baby was asleep and not cooperating for the ultrasound tech but once she finally got a good position, she was able to take measurements for the nuchal fold test and results measured at a perfect 1.5mm! she was also able to capture little baby boatright's adorable facial features - much different than the skeletor baby we saw a couple weeks ago!

we also got to hear baby b's heartbeat for the very first time and i will admit that it brought tears to my eyes...what an amazing sound!
i will post pictures of "baby's first graduation" (term given by my business school bff - Laura) soon, just wanted to give a quick update.

i should have known.

for the last five years of my life at the beginning of each semester and sometime around finals week i get sick. very sick. it's called the semester sick monster around here and for some reason i believed that being pregnant would give me superwoman powers and i would not suffer during my last round of finals (ever!!). i should have known. i am one sick pregnant lady. good thing my husband has gotten several rounds of semester sick monster experience in throughout the years because he is now a pro and hopefully i will be feeling well by the time my graduation ceremony rolls around.

it is official: i have completed my studies as a business school undergrad.
i had a brief moment of panic following my three hour advanced spanish final. during the final hour, we had to write a 200 word composition on what changes we would make politically, economically, socially, and environmentally if we were elected president. i wrote about 7 sentences and got stuck. we never learned any vocabulary on politics - i don't even like politics in english! i drew a line and began writing (in spanish) an essay about why my professor shouldn't fail me on my final. he emailed me yesterday and told me how unorthodox my composition was but that he appreciated my efforts. i passed (barely)!!
i have officially accomplished what i set out to do five years ago - find my little place in the world where i could bring something to the table. it feels so good!

another turn of good luck: i got the very last cap and gown made for short people. the lady was rambling on and on about how they were out of the set for that height and how all they had left was the set made for 5'8" and up (i'm 5'2'!!). she suggested wearing heels. i looked at her like she was crazy (me? heels?). she gave me a quick once over and started digging for a back up plan. luckily, she found one. 

happy monday everyone!
lindsey and will

baby boatright.

Will and i are so proud, amazed, happy, and blessed to announce that we are expecting a little baby boatright in early november! my due date right now is set for 11/11/11 :) i am feeling great and will be headed into my second trimester at the end of next week! here are some pictures of our little one from our ultrasound earlier this week:

baby in "sleepy" position, arm laying across face

the face developments are still very "skeletal" but you can definitely see eyes and a hint of a smile :)

ultrasound tech: "wow! look at those long legs!!" (yikes!!)

we are so excited for Sara and Corey's wedding coming up in only three weeks! graduation is in 2 weeks and i am so excited for me! haha i finished two classes this week and will finish the other three by the end of next week. Will's mom is flying up for our next ultrasound (may 4th) and graduation ceremony (may 6th) so we are looking forward to seeing her! annnnd seeing everyone else the week after. hooray for family :)
xoxo
Lindsey and Will