Week 27 Image - No Surprises

I can't possibly describe how good it feels to be writing this blog... and announcing that there weren't any world shattering surprises in the Hansen household this last week. That's the way we like it... no surprises. We're getting more excited with each day that passes to be having a little girl joining our family. In fact, Saturday was a landmark day... exactly three calendar months until my due date! I'm feeling more and more "pregnant" with each day that passes. I'm starting to understand what "heartburn" really is. I've read about some wives tales which proclaim that the more heartburn you have, the more hair your baby will be born with. I can only hope that's the truth! If it is, we'll have one of the hairiest babies ever! I'm pretty sure I was born with lots of hair... on my head, ears, and back... so it runs in the family... lucky girl!


I'm doing a little "palming" of the stomach in this picture. Afterall, I'm wearing an orange colored shirt... and I feel like I have a mini basketball in my stomach. I've never had big enough hands to palm a normal basketball but I can handle the mini ones! Speaking of sports, Baby Hansen has been moving more and more lately. Sometimes I get a few kicks or punches that feel like they might actually come right through me! She's a tough little girl... probably preparing for a future as, I don't know... a soccer player? To assist her in this, I bought her some little soccer cleats. She'll probably be 3 or 4 by the time she can wear them but they were so little, cute and inexpensive, I just couldn't resist.


Saturday my Mom, niece Morgan and I went to the Baby Expo in Sandy. It was a lot of fun! Seeing everything out there available for babies is a little overwhelming. I mean... some people must be making some serious money off baby products! My mom and I liked looking at all the fun products. Morgan liked the bounce house and the popcorn. Lots of the baby stuff was pretty pricey so I'd whisper to my mom "don't you think you could just make that for me... and save some money?" She's super talented so I wouldn't be surprised if she could duplicate a lot of the ideas.


I picked up a few pair of shoes. When I showed Trent, he made some comment about how I'm trying to make her just like me... with more shoes than a person could possibly wear. I just think you've got to train them from the start! Shoes are a girl's best friend!

Week 26 Image - What a surprise!

As far as "surprises" go... this was our most eventful week yet. I think I'll begin with the traditional weekly photo:



Yes... the sign I'm holding is correct... at least that's what we're told. What a ride! Friday morning I had a doctor's appointment where we were doing a follow-up ultrasound to check the babies heart. Last time, the baby was moving so much that we just couldn't get a good picture. The first thing I noticed during the ultrasound is that Baby Hansen's hands were up next to the face. I remembered the doctor telling me at the previous appointment that most often, girls will keep their hands up by their face while boys have their hands down near... well, let's just say their "waist area". I was surprised to see the babies hands up by the face... especially after the hands clearly weren't there during the last ultrasound.

Baby Hansen was a little more cooperative this time around... not quite as much movement. As the doctor performed the ultrasound and moved down the body in order to confirm the gender, he made a comment... "see how she....". His words trailed off in my mind. I missed the rest of his sentence. Did he just say "she"... I wondered. I think he caught himself. The doctor then said "last time, we were pretty sure this was a little boy, right?" I nodded. The look on his face said it all. He showed me the genital area, pointed out the different parts and let me know we are having a little girl. I missed most of what he said... just trying to somehow digest this shocking news. He apologized for leading me astray the previous appointment. With all the movement last time, who knows what we were looking at that we thought was the babies private area. All three of us (Trent, the doctor, and myself) seemed 100% convinced that it was a boy. So... either the baby changed gender overnight... or... well, we were wrong. My instincts tell me it is the latter.


Now the doctor did try to add a little humor to the situation. He told me we could have a "tie-breaker" ultrasound during my next appointment. After reviewing the ultrasound pictures, I don't think that is really necessary... however, I'll still take him up on it. Who knows what to believe, right? It took me a couple days to really comprehend this sudden change in events. It wasn't the message that we're having a girl that really concerned me... it was just the shift in mindset. I was expecting a boy. From the moment we found out (thought we found out) it was a boy, my excitement for that has been growing. My response would have been the same if we were originally told we were having a girl and then found out it was really a boy. Trent's adaptability to the news was much quicker than my own. I can honestly say that we are both thrilled to be having (or at least think we're having) a little girl... and we're not the only ones.

Sharing the news with my niece, Morgan, was a highlight. She'll be four in December. When I asked her several months ago if she wanted a boy cousin or a girl cousin, she insisted she wanted a girl. When we told her we were having a boy, it took her a little while to be happy about it. She finally admitted "I guess that's okay". She was pretty confused at first when I explained to her that she's going to have a girl cousin.... she said "no, I'm having a boy cousin." Try explaining that one to a 4-year-old! When she understood we really are having a girl, she was very excited. Hopefully there are no more surprise changes in the babies gender... or Morgan might need a therapist to help her sort it out!

Everything makes sense now. I blogged a couple months ago about how my softball season was not going as good as I hoped it would and how Baby Hansen must be a girl... cause we're bad at softball. Once I found out we were having a boy, all my excuses left with that bit of knowledge. Now, however, it all makes sense. The baby and I really were bad at softball... and my initial impressions while we were playing that I had a girl growing in me were correct. It always feels good to be right!

Trent and I are moving on to the fun stage now... trying to come up with names that we both like and think our baby should go by. We're very excited to be having a baby girl for my brother's three daughters to play with. I've sure got a lot to learn... besides the normal baby things (like how to do a girl's hair)... but I'm certainly up for the challenge. We're hopeful we'll have another great week... with less surprises :)

Week 25 Image

This last week was a quick one, especially with AMD's Annual User's Conference. The baby and I spent Wednesday through Friday at the Zurmatt Resort in Midway. We had lots of good food to eat and certainly didn't hold back. Friday, we had cheesecake for dessert during lunch. I couldn't decide which kind to get so I grabbed two slices. In preparation for the crazy looks I thought I might receive, I pointed to my stock of dessert and exclaimed "it's for the baby!" It seems like a logical reason to overeat and over-indulge. In fact, people seemed extremely understanding of my need for two slices of scrumptious cheesecake. I guess they don't take into consideration that at 25 weeks, Baby Hansen is now about the size of an eggplant.With User's Conference most of the week and football on Saturday, not much else got done. We still haven't done any additional shopping or planning for Baby Hansen. I'm thinking about registering a couple places since this is our first child. Any suggestions? Registering certainly isn't my favorite thing to do. I put it off as long as possible before we got married. It just seemed like a daunting task. Hopefully this time around won't be quite as rough.



We're excited to tackle another week! Without softball two evenings a week, we'll have to be creative in our attempts to stay pretty active. I must admit though, I'm glad the softball season has ended. I'm sure by the time spring rolls around, I'll be ready to play again!

Week 24 Image

I've been publishing this "weekly image" post later and later each week. I think most of it has to do with the fact that I get the picture taken... look at it... and then enter some type of state of "shock". I suppose I just don't think I look or feel as pregnant as the picture shows that I am. Some people call that denial. I mean, I know I have a "baby bump". In fact, I read somewhere that my uterus is about the size of a soccer ball now. When I read that, I just kept thinking... I want to play soccer! I just don't feel as if I look like the same person that the picture shows me as. That probably sounds very confusing, but it makes sense in my head.

Here I am... larger than life :)
For real, I think the shirt makes me look bigger than I am. Who was it who said black was a "thinning color"?? On a different note, Baby Hansen played his last softball game yesterday. In fact, we had a double header. I wasn't looking forward to playing two games because I thought one would be enough for me. Baby Hansen and I had two good games though. There's one more game tomorrow but I won't be able to make it because of some obligations I have with work. After the game yesterday, I didn't feel like I could walk very well. I did something to my left hip/quad during the game. The entire second game was played with a limp. It probably has something to do with the extra weight and the fact that I just can't cut and move like I use to be able to.

We didn't go out shopping at all this last week so we have no new things for Baby Hansen. As a result, I haven't furthered my belief that stores disproportionately represent baby girls. I do appreciate the feedback and ideas that many of you gave. I certainly can gain much from the experiences you've had. I'm also grateful for the charlie horse advice you gave me several weeks ago. Unfortunately, my friend Charlie continues to visit me periodically. I've tried drinking more water, eating bananas (potassium) etc but they keep on coming. I'll be in a deep sleep, having a wonderful dream... when the pain won't only wake me, it will cause me to jump out of bed shrieking in pain. Trent is a deep sleeper so it usually doesn't have much impact on him. Lucky guy.

Baby Hansen is staying pretty active. It's fun feeling him move inside of me. I read that the baby sleeps about 12 to 14 hours per day. I have to admit, I was pretty jealous when I read that. How would that be? I'll probably never know... at least not for the next couple years!

Week 23 Image

I'm beginning to question why it was I thought it would be a good idea to post weekly progress pictures of my "growing belly". For some reason, pictures have the capability to make people look worse/more awkward than they perceive themselves to be. After looking at this week's picture, I'm feeling pretty large. It just might be time to step into those maternity clothes.

I've received a few comments from folks at work that I'm actually "starting to look pregnant" now. I suppose that was bound to happen. Trent and I went to Target last week, roaming through the various baby isles... when Trent started laughing. I asked him what was so funny and he said there was a couple who was walking by us, just staring at me. He said they looked at me, my belly, my face, my belly... as if they were trying to figure it out. I didn't think it was quite as comical as he did.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but I'm trying to give a "shout out" to 23 in the picture. Not only does it represent an end to my 23rd week of pregnancy, but also Michael Jordan was enshrined in the Hall of Fame this last week. There have been discussions of whether or not the NBA should retire his number, 23 for the entire league. I'm kind of hopeful they will because I never cared for Jordan much... and each time I see someone sporting the number, I automatically think of him.

As the weeks fly (sometimes crawl) by, we're getting more and more excited to have Baby Hansen. I frequently find myself wandering aimlessly in stores just to look at their selection of baby items. The one thing I have noticed thus far is that available baby girl clothes in stores far outweigh baby boy clothes. Perhaps it is a foreshadowing of things to come in their respective lives. As much as I want to believe the disparity between boys and girls options is some minor form of discrimination, I imagine it's a reflection of supply and demand. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm wondering if I'm just looking for it since we're expecting a boy.

Baby Hansen and I are very much looking forward to week 24... and we're hopeful the end ofthe week will bring another BYU victory. Go Cougs!

Week 22 Image

It was an exciting week for Trent, myself, and baby Hansen. Much to our excitement, the long-awaited doctor's appointment finally made its way to us. Trent and I made sure to arrive on time to our appointment Tuesday morning. Surprisingly enough, we had to wait a while before we could see the doctor and got to have the ultrasound.

Here are some things we learned:

-Baby Hansen is very active. There were very few times where the baby stopped moving.
-Baby Hansen isn't terribly cooperative when it comes to having ultrasounds. The positioning made things difficult to see and the baby didn't seem to care in the least.
-All the babies vitals look good... what a relief!
-Baby Hansen measured in the 25th percentile for size.
-Baby Hansen is a boy. At the very least... we are very confident that he is a boy. We did see him grab himself a number of times... but the images weren't as clear as they could have been because of all the movement.

As for me, I seem to have "popped" overnight. I swear my pregnancy was hardly noticeable on Monday and then suddenly on Tuesday, My stomach was sticking out a couple extra inches.


I think the picture makes me look even bigger than I am. (Either that or I am officially in denial). I blame this partially on the skirt I was wearing. It was a maternity skirt that my sister-in-law, Alaris, was so kind to loan me. I have determined, however; that the purpose of maternity clothing is to make a person look more pregnant than they would look if they just wore normal clothes at a bigger size. I confirmed my theory today when I spent the day with my mom shopping. We looked at some maternity clothing and I tried a few different things on. I couldn't believe the difference the clothing made! It really excentuated the right areas so anyone who saw me would have little doubt that I am pregnant. Since I currently refuse to wear "maternity clothes", I'm still having people shoot me strange glances. With the extent of their inquisitive looks, I don't doubt they are wondering, is she pregnant... or just has a 'pudgy' stomach? I suppose I don't care so much whether they realize I AM pregnant or if they conclude that I have a very disporportionate stomach. Each moment I feel our little baby move, I have little doubts that this is for real.

One thing that is beginning to sink in is the following... we're not just going to be 'having a baby'. We're going to be parents! I'm going to be a mom! That's pretty scary for me to think about. I guess I just thought... "oh, we're having a baby! That'll be so much fun!" Now I'm entering the... "oh my gosh, we are going to be parents. We will have real responsibilities. Our lives will be changed forever!" stage. Yes, it is scary.

Baby Gender

(We think... we're almost positive... but there will be more info to come on the ultrasound experience)