The Cravings Have Begun!!!

Jon made his first trip to the store today to buy pickles! So far she has been wanting foods that are vinegary. (Is that a word?)

Scarlett also tried on her first pair of preggy pants. They had her try on a false belly as well so she could see how the pants fit in different stages.

Baby still likes fresh air, but it is starting to get cold outside, so it is harder to spend time out there.

We also set up an appointment to go tour St. Luke's Birthing Center. This is the hospital we are thinking about having baby in. The appointment isn't until next week, but we are looking forward to it and are very excited!!

Hello All!

It is a blustery day in our hundred acre wood. The maple tree outside the house is beginning to have the leaves change, but is still quite a ways away. Scarlett is still feeling sickly, but was actually able to take a very small walk around the parking lot today. She looks forward to the 2nd trimester as they say you get some of your energy back and morning sickness is gone in most at that point...so, the middle to the end of November.

Today Jon and Scarlett were talking about how to decorate the baby's room. So far we are looking for ideas for uni-sex as we don't know if it is a boy or a girl yet. Grandma to be, Donna, called today and voiced her wishes for a Granddaughter, although I am sure that she would love a Grandson just as much.

Online resources say that the best guesser for baby gender are the mother-to-be at 71% accuracy at her guess. The second best bet is 5 year olds. So maybe we should ask our nieces and nephews what they think.

As for everything else in life we are undecided. We would be just as happy with boy or a girl and have preference reasons for both. Maybe it will be a boy and a girl, twins! That was a joke, Lord. One baby is fine :-)

Scarlett went online today to look at all of the old wives tales about how to tell if baby-to-be is a boy or girl. She said most of them say girl, but then a disclaimer follows that says...results accurate 50% of the time. This scares Jon a little bit because he is worried because we are having an easier time coming up with boy names than girl names. If any of you have any ideas of names you like let us know. You may come up with one we haven't thought of.

Other than that, Scarlett is still feeling sick all day, she actually got sick today...first time since we found out she was pregnant. Jon continues to worry about her and wishes he could share some of the burden.

Scarlett is still feeling sick today, especially when she is moving around. We ran a couple errands, and ran into Laci Wickenkamp and her family. They gave us some helpful suggestions on what helped them when they were pregnant. We are planning on trying them out to see if they will work.

Scarlett also found a doctor to go to. She went online and read about a doctor who is totally awesome and usually is hard to get into. Her name is Dr. Joy Olson and she is in Cedar Rapids. We gave them a try and sure enough there was an opening. We have set two appointments, the first one in late October will be kind of like an orientation, where we will meet the staff, get a tour of the office, and talk about family histories to determine if there is an immediate at-risk need. A couple weeks after that, on November 9th is when the first check-up will be.

As the philosopher Bill Cosby once said, "My wife and I were intellectuals. So we had to research what others do naturally." This is our philosophy as well. Being natural born researchers and educators we have been reading up on what to expect. Specifically, the book "What to Expect When You Are Expecting", the number one book recommended by specialists and parents alike... The book says that at this point the baby is developing the very beginnings of the nervous system and actually has a heart beat. From the outside all that is obvious is that Scarlett has lots and lots of morning sickness as well as exhaustion. Growning a bundle of joy is hard!

At this point we have told the family and friends. Anyone of which that has been pregnant before has their own remedy for morning sickness.... So far there are three things that help a bit, Preggie Pops prized for their healthiness and easily carried in a purse, Gatorade prized for its fluid properties and electrolytes, and Town House crackers. Grandma Lil says that crackers helped her way back in the 40s and continue to work today.

Stay tuned for more to come!

Welcome to Turf's Tummy Tribune, the blog and updates for Jon and Scarlett's bouncing bundle to be! Seeing this is our first baby experience, we thought it might be fun to keep everyone informed this way so you can track our progress by pictures and stories. Heck, maybe this will even get Grandma Lil to get a computer (not really, but we can hope). As a request from the masses, this blog will be co-authored by Jon and Scarlett.

As I am sure you know, since you are reading this, Jon got a super-special birthday present this year. After about a week of feeling crappy, Scarlett wondered weather she had bad allergies, Swine-Flu, or maybe even she was pregnant. Well, when Jon woke up on his birthday, Scarlett showed him a home test that said "YES +." We got it confirmed later that day by the doctor. We are going to have a baby!!!!!

Now we are both so happy, nervous and getting ahead of ourselves, but most of all still having trouble believing it is real. Scarlett continues to feel sick and Jon continues to worry about her. Today we found a wonderful product called "Preggie Pop Drops". They are throat lozenges that magically get rid of morning sickness, for awhile, and they are organic and taste good too. Hopefully this will help, but in the meantime we can just be happy with the knowledge that this will pass and is for a greater purpose.

At this point the doctor is guessing that she is probably about 4 and 1/2 weeks pregnant. Meaning... at a rough guess she will be due around May 25th. At the next doctor visit, in about a month and a half, they will find out exactly when she is due.
We hope you have fun tracking our progress and look forward to the day we bring the baby home!