Just PLUM excited about week 13!

We have reached the last week of the first trimester! Baby B is the size of a plum (or a shrimp, but I think shrimp are gross). We had our first visit with the Birth and Women's Center today, which is the birthing center we have decided to use (http://www.birthcenter.net/). I know that choosing a midwife and birthing center over a traditional ob/gyn and hospital may seem a little strange. It was important for Chad and I to have a birth with as little unnecessary medical intervention as possible. Not to get too granola on ya, but I feel like women have been doing this for centuries outside the hospital, so I can do it too! A dear friend of mine, Catherine, is in midwifery school and was the first to give me information about natural/midwife/non-hospital birth. She recommended a documentary called the Business of Being Born, and Chad and I really agreed with the principles shown in the film. I think every mom-to-be should watch it! More info at http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/ or you can borrow my copy! Don't let the Ricki Lake association throw you, it's really very well done :)

Basic update from our visit:

• Heart rate of 163
• January 6th - week 18 sonogram to find out the baby's GENDER!!
• Baby Barnes has FINGERPRINTS!! Crazy!!
• I have gained a whopping 1 1/2 lbs.

On a wedding note - we had a fabulous engagement party in Natchez this past weekend (I'll post pictures when I get them)! It was so fun to get to celebrate with Chad's "people" and I was touched that Mom, Dad, Memaw, Aunt Clarice, Tabatha and Emily were all able to come out to Natchez too! I am now in wedding planning mode because a lot has to get done in the next 4 weeks! 

Week 12 - Lime and a Psalm

A lime! Our baby is the size of a lime - how incredible is that? For some reason that shocked me today! Maybe it's because this is the first fruit/veggie comparison that I had a frame of reference for. But a lime is pretty big! This has got to sink it soon, right??

Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 

How amazing! God already knows my baby on the deepest level! He knows its thoughts, all the things it will do in life, the kind of character it will have, the personality that will emerge, all the parenting mistakes it will endure, EVERYTHING! I find it so comforting to know that God loves this baby more than Chad and I are capable, and we already love it so much! Thank you, Lord for this wonderfully made miracle you have given us!

Side note: I am going to use “it” until we find out girl or boy because it is more convenient than he/she. Also, you can vote for Baby Barnes’s gender! 

A lil pumpkin!

The day after we found out about Baby B we went to a local pumpkin patch.

I can't imagine our little pumpkin getting this big. Hopefully that won't happen for a loooooooooooong time! Today is the start of Week 11 and we have a fig-sized baby. What amazes me, though, is that critical development is already finished! We are pretty much just growing from here on out!