Flippin' Out (in a good way)

I've gotta get two posts up in one day here since I'm very overdue in updating this thing! Last Wednesday (9/3/08) Davey picked me up at work again for my OB check-up. The doctor said my blood work all came back fine and told me my blood type. Come to find out it's something like my philosophy in life: "be positive" (sorry. couldn't resist!) The rest of the appoinment we discussed what tests I was going to have done and when, and then had a routine heartbeat check for the baby. When the picture showed up on the screen, our little acrobat did some kind of crazy flip! It was so neat to see Baby move! We laughed about it and on the way home jokingly hypothesized what he/she could have been doing. Davey's theory? "Maybe he was doing bootcamp class" (which is a workout class he used to do at the gym). My theory was that maybe Baby Akin is a girl and she was doing gymnastics. Regardless, seeing our baby move made this whole thing seem a little more real. I smile every time I think of it.

I love getting updates from different websites (whattoexpect.com, babycenter.com, thebump.com) about what changes are taking place with Baby each week. Check the link on the right side of the page to see how big Baby is this week. It says that from crown to rump (aka head to butt) Baby is about 1.6 in., or the size of a lime. However, I have never seen a lime that small, but maybe you have. Regardless, it's incredible to think of the miracle taking place inside of me as fingers and toes are visible, that precious little heart is working so hard, and even hair follices and fingernail beds are beginning to form. It amazes us everyday.

Camping trip to Black Rock Mtn. State Park

Over Labor Day weekend, we drove up to northeast GA with some friends of ours, Kurt and Shelah, to camp for 2 nights and enjoy the great outdoors. Lately I've been experiencing some queasiness in the evenings, and I was a little apprehensive about being sick in a tent in the woods! Also, I knew that I couldn't make it through the night without a pit stop, but Davey and Shelah both rescued me different times by walking with me down the hill to the bathroom in the dark. Overall I felt great the whole time...until I got home on Monday night!

The drive took about 2 and 1/2 hours, and fortunately we didn't hit any of the weekend construction traffic that everyone in Atlanta had been warned about. When we got to the park and I checked in, the staff said that they advised us to keep all food, even toothpaste, in our car because of the bears and raccoons! Apparently they will smell anything and then come after the food. It was inconvenient to have to drag everything up to the campsite for every meal and then take it all back, but I guess that's better than finding a bear in your tent in the middle of the night.

The weather was pretty nice the whole time we were there. The first night could have been a few degrees cooler, but it definitely wasn't as hot and humid as it has been earlier this month. The GA heat is the reason we don't camp in the summer anyway. We like to stick to fall and spring.

After sleeping in and breakfastthe next morning, we decided to go hiking. Davey and I had hiked at this park before, but we forgot which trail had the great lookout point. Come to find out it wasn't the one we chose. We got halfway through the trail and came to a point where we crossed a road. Davey and Kurt decided to walk back up the road to the car and then come get us girls. We laid in the grass and talked while enjoying the breeze. I think a few people driving by thought we were stranded, but when we smiled and waved instead of looking desperate they probably figured we were alright. After about 35 min. the guys finally arrived and we contemplated our next adventure: find a place to swim!

Davey and I didn't have bathing suits with us, and Kurt and Shelah had left theirs back up at the campsite and didn't feel like going all the way back up there. So, it was off to Walmart we went. I guess we just missed bathing suit season, so Shelah and I ended up with shorts and tanktops. The boys, however, had some fun trying on way too small boys swim trunks! I believe Kurt's was Transformers and Davey's pick was Batman. This was quite entertaining, let me tell you! They finally ended up with some other shorts, and we headed off to "Rabun Beach."

Little did we know that Lake Rabun would be so beautiful! Sorry I forgot to take pictures, but just imagine a lake with mountains surrounding it, and incredibly gorgeous lake houses, or shall we say, lake mansions. We seriously considered showing up at one of the immaculate lake houses and crashing someone's Labor Day party. Instead we settled for the public beach, which was small but still very nice. After lunch at a shaded picnic table, we ventured down to the water. We never really "swam," but just being in the water was nice. It definitely cooled us off after hiking earlier.

That evening we worked to keep our fire going so I could cook "hobos" on the fire. They consist of hamburger meat, potatoes, carrots, and spices wrapped in foil pockets. It took awhile to get the fire right, but we finally enjoyed our dinner and relaxed around the campfire while roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. Our dog Rudy was so tired he just slept in my lap all evening. Seeing a 30 lb. dog squashed up on my small lap was pretty funny, but he just wouldn't budge.

This will probably be our last camping trip until Baby gets here, but hopefully someday we'll be able to pick up camping again. We hope so!

Baby's First Picture

You're looking at our "little peanut." Yesterday (Wed, Aug. 20th) we went to the doctor for our first ultrasound and were able to see our baby's tiny heart, beating at 183 bpm (beats per min). Fast is normal if you didn't know. We thought we would hear the heartbeat on the machine, but the ultrasound tech said they don't typically do this since it's a lot of power output on the baby that's not really necessary. Baby measured at 8 weeks, 3 days, putting the estimated due date at March 29th (6 days later than previously thought).

It was very neat to see the tiny heart beating, and it reminded me of God's amazing hand in this whole pregnancy. We praise Him every day for this miracle!

The new weird and crazy pregnant me

"Just to warn you, you're going to get weird." These were the recent words of my 5-months-pregnant friend. I laughed along with her while she told me of her recent weirdness (including putting shoes in the fridge), and wondered when all that would start for me. Well, the fun has begun! I might not be refrigerating footwear, but a few of the strange changes have to do with what normally goes in the fridge..FOOD.

Anyone who knows me knows I like to eat. While I try to eat mostly healthy stuff, I also have a crazy metabolism that makes me capable of burning up anything (I know, you're yelling at me. Sorry, but you can thank genetics). So, now with Baby on board, I find myself getting hungry even more frequently. And if I don't eat, that's the only time I get queasy. It's now a common sight to see me walking between classes pushing my music cart, guitar on my back, with a handful of pretzels, fruit snacks, a granola bar, or anything else I can grab quickly to keep myself going. Okay, so that's pretty normal as far as pregnant women go. But it gets more interesting.

I can be absolutely starving, and I will look at food and find it gross! Sometimes it's mind over matter to make myself eat. And some things I just can't eat at all. Things I've always liked are now just weird. I can't figure out if it's the smells, or just the thought of eating it. I don't know! The other day I was with my sister, her husband, and my dad in Athens. We walked into a restaurant which I had been to before, and my first thought was "uh, I don't know if I'm going to be able to eat anything here." I ordered anyway, attempted to eat a few bites of my dinner, then had to admit defeat. My appetite was just gone! I made a sandwich later (thanks, Amy!) which helped fill me up. But of course, I was hungry again before bed. The foods I have been enjoying with no problem have been fruit, potato salad, raisin bran, and yogurt. And snacky stuff like I eat between classes has been serving me well too.

Since last year, I have increased my water intake. Because of this, I usually frequent the ladies' room a good bit anyway. But it really hit me that I am definitely pregnant when the other day, while out with a friend, I went 4 times in a 3 and 1/2 hr. period, and she didn't go at all! Kind of breaks up the flow of conversation, you know?

Davey says I'm more emotional now. His words were, "you can cry at the drop of a hat." I will admit, it is comical to find yourself with a lump in your throat at an insurance commercial. [You know, the one where one person helps another, and someone sees it and then helps someone else, and so on? Isn't that nice?]

I always thought that the whole nesting thing didn't happen until later, but a few weeks ago I cleaned up the living room, dining room, and kitchen unconsciously while on the phone with a friend. When I hung up, I looked around puzzled and wondered, "did I just do all that?" It was great! I can't say that lasted very long, but my cleaning was one of the first things that set Davey off thinking I might be pregnant. (By the way, he's the one who prompted me to take the pregnancy test. I thought it was too early, but he INSISTED.)

My tired brain can't think of anything else at the moment, but I'm sure I'll think of more things later. Bye!

Frequently Asked Questions

I wanted to take this opportunity to answer some of the burning questions on your mind about our pregnancy. So, happy reading!

1. WAS THIS PREGNANCY PLANNED? This summer after a lot of long talks, lots of prayer, and tons of deliberating and thinking, we decided to begin the journey into parenthood...we just didn't know it would happen the first month! (so, yes, baby was planned) God always knows what He is doing.

2. WHAT IS THE DUE DATE? March 29th, 2009 **This has changed as of 8.21.08**

3. ARE WE EXCITED? Totally! Davey was smiling the rest of the day when we found out. :)

4. AM I SICK YET? Thankfully, not much at all. My symptoms have been mild so far. Most days I'm just hungry and any queasy feelings are quickly remedied by food!

5. AM I (SARAH) GETTING MOODY? I will answer for Davey...yes.

6. ARE YOU GOING TO FIND OUT BABY'S GENDER? Ahh, the big question on everyone's mind. Drumroll please. . . . . . .we're leaning toward not finding out.

7. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? Send me them, and I will post.

First OB appointment

Sorry for the delay in the post. We've had a very busy week! We were gone all day Sunday celebrating Davey's 27th birthday, and when we returned home, we realized our air conditioning was not working. With the temperature pushing the upper 90s during August, this was NOT a good time for it to happen. I'll spare you the ridiculous long details of repair guys not doing what they say and just tell you that it FINALLY got fixed Tuesday (2 days later!). Monday evening it was 87 degrees in our house!!! Thankfully we have a wonderful brother and sister-in-law who live 4 houses down who let us sleep over there to get through it all. Thanks Nick and Julie!

So, now to the good stuff. Tuesday afternoon Davey picked me up from work at 3:15 for our first prenatal appointment. The nurse was checking my blood pressure and such and also did a pregnancy test (but she didn't say that's what she was doing.) She just said, "well, pregnancy test came back positive." At which I laughed and said, "It's a good thing! Otherwise I shouldn't be here!" She laughed at that. She gave me my EDD (estimated due date) of March 23rd, a day earlier than my other doctor's office had said. No big deal, since chances are Baby won't be coming on his/her exact date anyway. "End of March" is good enough for me.

After a ton of paperwork about past health info - including the question "Is the father of the baby involved/uninvolved?" which I jokingly asked Davey and he gave me a "duh" look - we met the nurse practioner, Sunny, who we both loved. Everyone there at the office was positive, friendly, and very supportive of us. We didn't get the feeling like we were just "one more baby," but rather that they were concerned about our individual pregnancy. She made it clear that we could call anytime, night or day, with any concern, and that they were here for us. It was nice to know we had that support.

We get to go in two weeks (Aug. 20th) to hear Baby's heartbeat, and in a month (Sept. 3rd) for the next OB appointment. We're going to check to see if Davey can bring some recording equipment to record Baby's heartbeat. Wouldn't that be cool? We'll let you know how it goes!

First Week of School

The kids are back from summer break at the school where I work as the Fine Arts Coordinator (and music therapist). I didn't know how tired I might be, but so far I've been feeling great. Calm before the storm? Of sickness and fatigue that is. Maybe I'll be one of those really lucky pregnant women who doesn't get sick. For some reason I have a feeling that isn't going to happen. Wishful thinking doesn't hurt though!
I ordered a pregnancy workout dvd for the cold winter months when we (me and Rudy) can no longer take our brisk evening walks. Hopefully it will get here soon.
Davey and I have worked hard to clean out our office (soon-to-be nursery) and it looks amazing! For those of you who have stayed in our guest room, you will now have a desk, dresser, and bookshelf instead of a papasan chair and ironing board (which really should have been put away all the time instead of staying out :) The empty little office will now be mostly empty for a while until furniture and baby stuff starts accumulating. We(correction "Davey")will be painting it sometime this fall when we get a chance to pick a color.
No other new news yet. I'll update after our appointment on Tuesday.