13 weeks!

YOUR BABY THIS WEEK ...Week 13

This week your baby is approaching 3 inches (7 cm) in length and weighs between .015 and .02 kg (0.5 to 0.75 ounces). Your baby has nearly doubled in sized in the last two weeks and is now about the size of a sweet, ripe peach!

We are approaching the end of the first trimester! It's incredible to think we are almost 1/3 of the way. Above is part of one of the many weekly newsletters that update me on LK's progress. I think Fridays have become my new favorite day!

Some other good news for us is that my energy level is ramping back up! I've been taking the higher thyroid dosage for a week now and I can definitely tell a big difference.

Below are some fun pictures from our recent trip home to MI...

Gifts from our friends the Bowmans! Who we will miss again
as they go back to China! It was so great to see them :)

Elijah Bowman

Ryan practicing again with little Rachel Grace Bowman.

Our niece Alison - "How big is Aunt Missy now?"

Our niece Hope at her birthday party!

Our Most Anticipated Blog of All Time

A picture and audio of little Krauss


Hear the heartbeat of little Krauss:

• 400 kb wav file
• 100 kb mov file

(O.K. the picture isn't actually of our baby, but that is a baby at 12 weeks - which is where we will be Friday.)

11 Weeks 5 days!

Today we went to our OB appt. with our new doctor and we were both impressed. He is very laid back, but listened to our concerns. We discussed my medical history and we both felt like we made the right decision in choosing him. We got to listen to the heart beat! Ryan is going to work on posting the recording of LK"s heart beat tonight so you call all hear it! AND so we can hear it anytime we want to :)

We also got a call back from my endocrinologist and he is upping my thyroid medication because it dropped quite low. That could be some of the reason for the worsening of my headaches in the past few weeks and for how tired I've been (it has seemed lately that I've been more tired than less when I should be starting to get my energy back) We just figured I was just pregnant and it was normal. So that is all very good news that we can significantly increase my thyroid levels and hopefully begin to feel better soon.

It was so awesome to hear LK moving around in my body and to hear LK's heart beat. So incredible to think that this is for real and we are going to have a baby. Some days it feels real and then some days it's a bit hard to believe. Today is definitely one of the "real" days!

Love to all of you!
Missy, Ryan and LK

10 weeks 4 days!

Hi everyone,

Things here continue to go well. Each time we see someone, there are fun new gifts for the baby which is so much fun to know how loved Little Krauss is already. We feel so blessed to know how everyone is supporting us and encouraging us.

Next week Wednesday, July 11, we get to hear LK's heart beat! We will also be meeting our new doctor. After some prayer, and discussions with other people we decided to switch doctors. Nothing went really wrong with the place I was going, but the reputation and personal experiences from some of the girl's in my group were enough to want us to rethink our choice. I went to the woman's center in October because it was close to home and in our highest insurance coverage. We both feel really good about the change. My new doctor is known to be very compassionate and personal. We feel that with my medical history that is important.

So far things continue to go well. I have a touch of the flu right now, nothing major. Overall, our pregnancy is going very well. Some achy, pulling type pains as LK grows but nothing that is more than a little uncomfortable. I seem to have been very fortunate to not have had to experience much morning sickness. I can tell I'm pregnant because my clothes are a bit tighter but most people probably couldn't tell at this point.

As far as headache stuff goes, there has been no change. I'm trying to make sure to rest as much as I need to.

Ryan finishes his summer class next week! He'll have some time off from class prep, but will be busy working on research stuff.

I've been reading some parenting books but was wondering if any of you had any suggestions?

I hope you are all doing well. We'll try to post some pictures soon :)

Love,
missy

10 weeks!

We are a little more than 10 weeks pregnant. Can you believe it? We are 25% of the way done. Crazy.