15 Weeks... 25 to go! :D

Phwe- These past couple of weeks have slipped by.

Over the last couple of weeks there hasn't been much change. I am starting to grow out of the "awkward" stage where people can start guessing that I'm actually pregnant and not just gaining weight, specifically in my waistline. Brad and I haven't been to the Dr. in 3 weeks. We have our 16 week appointment on Monday, so that will be exciting. We'll get an update on the heart beat, and we will have more blood drawn for our genetic testing for the possible genetic disorders (see previous posts).

As the time gets closer and closer Brad and I start realizing more and more things that will need to be changed in our daily routines with a baby around. I've been sleeping better lately since my last Dr's appointment. I have been trying to stay up until after 9PM which usually results in me sleeping soundly until around 6AM, but every once in a while I'll be awake around 3 or 4 AM. I've been finding myself less and less tired these days also, which is helping the sleeping issues a little bit. My sleeping methods drive Brad CRAZY now because I have to have a flock of pillows around me just to get comfortable. Brad hates it because he's gone all week, so to fill his spot I use pillows for comfort. When he's home on the weekends I'm either completely leaning up against him or he's getting shoved off of the bed by pillows. hehe. my bad.

The dreams are really starting to catch up to me. My hormones must really be going when I'm asleep. I have had more dreams that I can't even imagine what caused them to arise. Totally random stuff. My first dream was about me and my family when I was visiting over Christmas. I was ready to give birth (even though at Christmas I'll only be 6 months along)... And one night while we were celebrating at my dads house we were chased into the basement by aliens. Everyone else in my family then became pregnant (including Dad and Brad) and then the next night the Aliens cut out their green slimy babies from all of our bellies and left us. Then I woke up. The End. These dreams are SO weird.

I'm going to start trying to take pictures every week so that I can see my growth. Everyone else says its noticeable week by week that I'm growing. I haven't been able to notice much, besides the fact that my jeans keep getting tighter and tighter. I've turned to sweat pants for my comfort clothes. When I'm not at school (some days even then...) I'm wearing sweats or shorts and a t-shirt. Jeans just don't fit right anymore. ha.

Anyways. I'll update again next week after our 16 week appointment. We're getting closer and closer to our half way mark, and we're excited to find out the gender of baby Punt. Here's a picture at 15 Weeks!

13 Weeks, 1 Day

Again, Tuesday got away from me and I find myself writing week 13's post a day late. Sorry! :)

This past week has been so SLOW. Brad and I had a check up last week Thursday. All is good. They took my weight and I gained 3 pounds the last 3 weeks. I'm up a total of 9 pounds from my "beginning" weight which we considered as my consistent weight for the last year since I haven't fluxuated much. My Doctor said that a majority of my weight gain is due to water uptake. Baby shouldn't be weighing quite at a half of a pound yet (anywhere from 5-8 oz Dr. said).

As much as I don't want to admit this, my gas gauge seems to be "full" at all times. hehehe. Even Maddie and Shepp have been  turning their noses up at me.... oh well. Doctor said it's normal for one to pass gas more often, so I blame it on the baby! I have also started new cravings within the past week. My largest, most ugliest craving of all though, is a tuna salad sandwich. Ugh. Just typing that makes my mouth water. My doctor has said I need to limit fish intake to 3 oz a week. I've decided this equals about 1/2 of a tuna salad sandwich a week... which doesn't fulfill my craving.

Sleep has started to become... uncomfortable?.... As much as I would love to sleep 20 hours a day and never get out of bed, I find myself restless during the night and not able to find a comfortable position. Having to transition from a belly sleeper to a side sleeper is killing me. My Dr. last week ordered me to start staying up past 930 PM (at the earliest) and trying to stay awake up until 11 even. I have been so tired at night that 730/800 bed times have been normal, but as a result I was waking up at 300/400 in the morning and being restless and done sleeping for the night. I started staying up later and find myself able to sleep up until 500/600 each morning now. The only problem with this is I fall back asleep around 630/645 and my alarm goes off at 700, which puts me back into my tired mode. Whatever! I'm getting used to it. Everyone keeps telling me "this is the transition into NEVER getting another full nights sleep, EVER AGAIN..."...... i don't know if i like hearing this....

Our next appointment isn't until October 1, which is just another regular check up. I'm hoping that I will start feeling squirms and wiggles here within the next couple of weeks. I'm excited for it to start kicking... kind of. But, I'll report up again next Tuesday!

TaTa for Now!

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12 Weeks, 1 day

EEK!

Sorry everyone, I seriously ran out of time yesterday for me to blog. I had way too much going on at school to have any extra free time to sit around and type out a long story for you all....

So today will have to be it instead.

This past week has been an up and down rollercoaster of emotions. The sickness is starting to subside and I am starting to feel "normal" again. I can no longer do heat I have learned because I overheat very quickly and then I get dizzy and weird feeling.

Friday morning Brad and I had a doctor's appointment as many of you read from my previous post. I was very nervous for this and was afraid as to what the "genetic testing" included. I was afraid they were going to stick this 12" needle into my tummy and pull out blood or something (the horror stories I had come up with).... Well, it ends up they just needed 1) Blood! and 2) and ULTRASOUND! whoo.

Brad and I were super excited when the lady pulled out the sonogram machine and was talking about taking pictures for us and everything. I had absolutely no idea that we were going to be able to see our little human swimming around. The sonographer looked at my uterus, ovaries, and whatever else she saw (I mainly just saw black and white lines all over the screen), and then she found baby! My heart seriously about went flying through the roof. She first measured the heart beat, which was racing at 153 (21 beats lower than at 9 wks, 3 days) beats per minute. The also measured the body length from forehead to buttocks to make sure we were measuring in with our "timeline". The sonographer informed us we are measuring in at 5.06 cm, which is just over 2 inches long! :) She also told us that we are actually measuring in at 11weeks 5 days and we were only at 11weeks 3 days.... so I hope the little tyke doesn't grow too quickly! The thought of an 11 lb baby kinda freaks me out a little bit! =/ hehe. Oh well.

We then needed to get measurements of the head circumference and the length of the head. This was easy for the sonographer to do as the head is a very easy body part to locate. The next part was a challenge though. She needed to find the base of the neck so that she could measure the spine thickness just below the brain...... Well. Baby didn't want to lay on it's back and was laying on it's side. The sonographer tried poking me in the belly to get it to roll around, but it was fast asleep and did not want to be woken up. The sonographer then asked me to cough. Can anyone else NOT cough on demand.... I ended up laughing more than coughing! Well. Ends up. Baby didn't like me coughing, and then started throwing its fists and kicking its legs around and doing cartwheels and jumps and bumps inside of me.... (and I didn't feel a thing....). We eventually got baby to lay on its back, and she got the spine measurement which was .2 cm which she said was right on track according to the due date.

This is baby laying on it's back. You can see a hand up by the face and then one of it's little feed down by its tummy. 

This is a facial shot of baby. You can see both of the little hands on either side of its chest/neck area, and the head you can make out, but you can just barely see the eyes and mouth taking shape! 

I must admit. The Ultrasound was my favorite part of that Dr. appointment!

Friday night Brad and I got to hit up some supper with some friends in Sioux City as we went and visited Brad's grandpa in the hospital. Of course, I took the pictures along and showed off our little human to them. Grandma seemed extremely thrilled and excited to see the pictures. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were all weekend days for me and I got to sit at home, relax, and do NOTHING, which was amazing. I find myself sleeping a LOT more these days and I wear down quickly. NAPS are my new best friend when I get home from school in the evenings.

Brad and I have a regular Dr. appointment tomorrow in Des Moines. This will just be another check up, hear beat monitoring, and the usual stuff (I think). We're not expecting another ultrasound until 20 weeks, which is when we will find out if its a boy or girl! Yes, we have decided to find out the sex, and yes, we are going to make it public. :) Brad and I have also started talking about NAMES! :) So far we have a girl name picked out, but we haven't really settled on a boy name yet. And NO, these names will NOT be made public! They are completely a surprise for birth-day!

I'll let you know how the Dr. appointment tomorrow goes on next weeks update!

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Week 11!

Oh boy.

The last week has DEFINITELY made some changes.

My jeans are now tight and my butt feels like the size of the moon.

And then there's the morning sickness. I've officially decided that whoever named it morning sickness was bat shit crazy. Why didn't they call it all day sickness? I have been fortunate enough to not be miserable with the "sickness" but, I am definitely "feeling" the hormones changing. Just through the last week I have noticed being queasy a lot more and I have to eat every 2 hours or I get nauseated. I haven't been bowing to the porcelain god like a lot of people say they do for nearly 4 weeks of their pregnancy, but I still don't like the "tummy ache", gross, upturned stomach all the time.

ALL physical activity has ceased to exist as it makes me short of breath and lightheaded. I will do the necessary up and down the steps, walk to and from the car, but other than that... I try to avoid walking at all. I got home and I sit. I sit and read and watch TLC "Preggy" shows...

and I cry. I cannot believe the frequency that tears are shed from my eyes! It's a wonder I'm not dehydrated with as much fluid that I loose out of them. It even drives myself crazy.

And then there is also "crazy bitch" who comes out to play. OMG. When my hormones are raging, you better be running. Brad especially has learned that there are times where there is NO stopping me. I will go and go and go until I have released the steam. Sometimes I'm complaining and whining and just flat out bitching and I don't even know why because its something as silly as the printer being out of paper. I get so fed up with stuff so quickly that my fuse is about 1/8 cm long. It takes nothing to piss me off, and when I'm pissed, the hormones start flowing into a raging river.

Brad and I started "baby shopping" this past week.
We managed to get a Crib, Changing Table, AND Drawers all in one set....
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Child-of-Mine-by-Carter-s-My-Nursery-3-in-1-Convertible-Crib-and-Changing-Table-Combo-Mocha/19394579?findingMethod=rr
We also managed to get a stroller and infant car seat for 1/2 the price! (It looks just like the picture in the below link, only ours is blue, brown, and tan stripes instead of circles).
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Graco-Spree-Travel-System-Barcelona/13017422?adid=1500000000000027727720
Brad and I also found a second hand store that carries JUST kids stuff. So that was a blast. We found a TON of cute little books and toys and stuff that we splurged on. I found a whole set of 'Little Golden Books' at "Duck Worth Wearing" and of course, had to get them. I remember my parents reading them to me when I was little... and I'm kind of excited to continue the trend!

Friday morning Brad and I make a visit to the specialist in Des Moines for the genetic testing that we are having done. We are having an Integrated Screen done which tests for trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards Disease), open neural tube defects (Spina Bifida), as well as "nuchal translucent" sonogram/ ultrasound (Brain Size Measurement). I am kind of nervous for this, but with the history in both of our families we have decided that it is something we want to make sure we get the proper care if something is wrong with the baby genetically and physically.

We also go in on Tuesday, next week, for our 12 week appointment. Its hard to believe that next week we are nearly out of the first trimester! I can't believe how time is flying by so fast! Tiffany has been talking about how she can feel their baby moving and kicking inside of her already, and I am SO jealous that she is to that point. My time is coming, I know, but I'm really excited to be able to have more "reality" hit. :)


Well, Until next week!
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10 weeks and Counting!

Saturday afternoon Brad and I made the announcement on Facebook that we are expecting our first child!

We visited the OBGYN last Thursday for our first visit. We were pretty nervous to find out if everything was normal and if the pregnancy was viable or not. :) The doctor did her normal exam and then went on to go through all of the screening tests that are available and explained what was expected within the next 3 weeks before my next visit. At the end of the visit she took out the "Doppler Radar" and was able to locate the heart beat. Brad and I both were pretty excited about that. The little stinker's heart was racing at 172 beats/ min, but the doctor notified us that this was pretty normal at 9 weeks along. We didn't get to have an ultrasound done yet, the clinic we are working with waits until week 20 to do the anatomy ultrasound, so we are anxiously waiting that day!

Today we have reached the 10 week mark. I am officially 1/4 of the way through my pregnancy! I can't believe how fast the time is going. It seems like just last week we found out we were pregnant, and now, here we are, 1/4 of the way through it!

Morning sickness has hit just within the last few days. I was hoping and praying I'd miraculously be able to skip that whole section of the pregnancy, but it caught up with me. =/ I started school yesterday, so it has been kind of a hassle keeping my tummy full with carbs and fluid throughout the day, but I have been managing. The sickness isn't extremely horrific, I just have this constant urge to hurl, even though I haven't yet! :) It's just this constant feeling of "ickyness" in my stomach that just makes me walk around like a zombie (or at least that's how I feel).

Brad and I were both pretty surprised when we found out I was pregnant, but we are both very excited for the future as well. I'm just going to chug through the semester as well as I can and hope and pray that this is a normal pregnancy and that nothing drastic happens when it's not supposed to. It helps that two of Brad and I's best "married" friends are pregnant as well. We are only 6 weeks behind Mike and Tiffany Van Roekel, and 2 weeks behind Matt and Nikita Kleyer. No, the 3 of us did NOT plan our pregnancies all together, it just so happened that the Kleyer's and Van Roekel's were trying to conceive without each other knowing, and then Brad and I "whoopsidentally" got thrown into the bunch! The three of us are all very excited to be pregnant together as we get to share our personal horror stories and excitements throughout the pregnancies. I'm very much looking forward to the holidays when the three of us are all hanging out and, with only one bathroom in the VR's house, I have a feeling all of us will be fighting over the bathroom!

It is a very exciting step in our lives, although it is a very large step, we are looking forward to it none-the-less.

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Trip to Tennessee for Interview

Thurday afternoon at 3:15 I left Omaha, NE on my first solo plane ride ever. I was so freaked out about flying on my own, not to mention the fact that I was going to be "interrogated" the next day for 6 hours straight by 7 different superior men who are well established within the company.

My flight to from Omaha to Minneapolis went flawless. We didn't fly very high and I was able to see everything on the ground. We flew over Iowa, I was able to see the interstate, fields, lakes, rivers, towns. It was amazing how much I could see. The clouds were gorgeous as well. We flew just above the level of the clouds, but they were perfect floating marshmellow's up in the sky.

When we landed in Minneapolis I had about an hour and a half until my connection flight. I gathered some food and sat and read for the remaining wait. My flight wasn't until 7:15. The flight ended up being delayed by about 45 minutes, so that put me landing in Nashville around 10:20. We took off to Nashville at our delayed time, and then we landed in Nashville around 10:15. I was informed by PIC that there would be a car waiting upon arrival with me. I walked out to the luggage collection and there, with a big "hollywood movie" sign... "PIC: ROSLYN PUNT". :) I felt famous. :) lol.

I checked into my hotel at 11:00 pm Thursday night. Showered, got settled, and was awake at 6:15 the following am to prepare for a long day of interviews, checked out of my hotel, and got everything packed up and ready to go again.

The interviews went well. It started off at The Cracker Barrel at 7:30 am. My first interviewer took me to breakfast, and after, took me to the main office in Hendersonville, TN. I was then questioned and asked questions to the next 5 interviewers for the morning. At 11:30 another one of the interviewers took me to lunch at a mexican grill, which was very good and filling, and then we returned to the office where I went on to be interviewed by one last person.

The interviews went very very well, I do believe. I was nervous at the beginning, but as I started to relax, I realized that the people were asking very good, concerning questions. I had a nice time getting to meet a bunch of new people and learning about PIC. After the interview, another car came to pick me up from the office where he took me to the airport in Nashville.

My flight from Nashville to Atlanta was delayed by an hour and a half, therefore giving me much needed time to change out of my interview clothes into something more comfortable, and then, I managed to get in some more reading time and was able to relax a little more. My flight to Atlanta was very short, but I was anxious by now to return home. When I landed in Atlanta I had about 45 minutes to get to my next flight. I landed in terminal G and needed to make it all the way to terminal A. I didn't manage to get much time to look around, but I did make it to my gate in time, just so they could delay my flight by another half hour. =/ The plane we were taking back to Omaha had just flown in from the Bahama's and needed to have a "cross country contamination" check done for any foreign animals or diseases.... I guess. :s

When we finally made it onto our plane, and were preparing for take off, they decided that the weather was too harsh for us to take off. So, our plane sat still for another hour, on the runway. We weren't able to turn any electronic devices on, nor take our seat belts off, so it was a long wait. We then took off about 1hr 45 min after we were supposed to and flew through a thunder storm for the first hour of our flight. We weren't allowed to take our seat belts off during the entire flight, and I really needed to use the bathroom. :( It was a miserable flight and we didn't land in Omaha until 11:30. We were supposed to land at 10:15. Brad was kind enough to pick me up from the airport though, and I was able to sleep in the car on the ride home.

The job I interviewed for was a Field Research Technician. I would be traveling anywhere from 3-5 days a week, all commercial flying, and then I'd be spending most of my time between barns collecting data, as well as within pork plants collecting data there as well. It is an awesome job for anyone to take. I'm waiting to hear back from the company as to weather they will offer me the job, or to someone else. I won't be able to start until late December, due to graduation not being until December 20th. But, I still look forward to hearing from them.

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Internship Finale!

Friday, August 3rd I presented my final presentation to the AMVC Staff and other 2012 Interns. I had a wonderful summer working with such a wonderful group of Swine Producers that I'm more than willing to go back next year! :) I am really looking forward as to where I can go within the Pork Industry, and AMVC was wonderful to open that gate for me this summer.

I have been set from day #1 of College that I wanted to  become a beef specialist whether it be within Vet School or just regular schooling. But I knew that I wanted to be in the Beef Industry. AMVC opened my eyes to another industry that is striving to become more efficient, more productive, and lower prices for both farmers, and consumers. I look forward to the challenges that the Pork Industry is facing with the whole Gestation Crate debates currently going on, and to see where we end up in the future. I can't wait for the improvements to come.

AMVC was a wonderful company to work for this summer, and they welcomed all of us from no animal experience to growing up with hogs. I got to meet so many powerful, representing folks within the industry that have spent years dedicated to the industry, as well as AMVC. Although AMVC is located in Audubon, they manage barns all across the US. They do such a good job representing the company and being able to manage farms from hundreds of miles away. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many important, knowledgeable, and amazing people within the company and industry.

Thank you AMVC for an unforgettable summer. Both inside, and outside of work, my memories will not fade of a very determined, well established company.


To learn more about AMVC, or to learn about their internship program please visit: http://www.amvcms.com/

They are all more than willing to help interns out, and to open the doors for new opportunities and improvements within your schooling efforts. Please, consider AMVC for an internship if you are interested in the Pork Industry. Even if you aren't, this is still a good internship to open your eyes to any type of production and the work that is involved "behind the scenes".

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