Spencer is here!

He's here! Spencer David Bingham finally made his appearance on Monday April 5th at 12:09 pm. He weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz and measured 19.5 inches (not too shabby for very short parents!) The birth story will have to wait for another post. Suffice it to say that labor was only 6 hours and I managed to have a natural, non-medicated birth -- just what I wanted. It was harder than I ever imagined it would be... but the sense of accomplishment was like nothing else. It would not have been possible without Mom and Cory at my side for the entire 6 hours, so I'm grateful to them for supporting me when I needed it most.

Spencer is happy and healthy, which we're grateful for. I'm healing nicely, which I'm grateful for. This is moving week for us, so we're loading the moving truck on Wednesday and beginning our journey westward. Spencer rides in the car well and seems to like his car seat, which is good, since he's got about 4 days of riding in the very near future.

Blog posts are probably going to be sparse over the next few weeks. In the meantime, here's a couple of pictures. The general consensus seems to be that he looks just like Cory. I think he's pretty darned cute, but I might be a tad biased :)

Baby Shower

A few pictures from the shower my work threw for me. We got some really cute outfits. Is there anything cuter than little baby clothes? I think not. Well, except for maybe little babies dressed in their cute clothes :) Anyways, it was a sort of combined baby shower/going away party. My last day is Friday March 26th (unless baby has other ideas and decides to come early). I've loved working here at the chiropractic college. Not only for all the perks I get (free chiropractic and acupuncture care, discounted tuition for Cory, lunch time with Cory, etc) but because I've loved the people I've worked with. I was truly blessed to land this job. It's been the perfect fit and has blessed our family tremendously. I'm excited for baby to come... but I'm definitely going to miss working here and miss all the great people who make this a wonderful place to work!

32 weeks

Alright, as you can see from my weird smile, I dislike posing for pictures. But it does show off nicely our growing baby. I'm now 32 weeks (almost 33) and feeling more and more uncomfortable. Baby seems to be growing straight out... looking at me from the back, you wouldn't even know I was pregnant. Various muscles and ligaments have all started giving me grief, so thank heavens that I'm married to a wonderful man... who (conveniently) happens to be a chiropractor! I was already a big fan of chiropractic... and now I'm an even bigger fan. It's helped so much ease some of the aches and pains.

Baby is very active, kicking and punching me quite often. He even gets the hiccups. He's head down and his little feet are up in my ribs (just one of those aches!) I can sometimes feel his feet through my skin and see them as he's moving them... which is a fantastically strange sensation!

We don't have much other exciting news to share. I pretty much go to work, go to the gym, make dinner and then sit on the couch (or sit on the couch while Cory makes dinner). It's a really exciting life :) We've started to pack some stuff up, so we can sell some furniture that we don't plan on bringing with us. We've got a tour of the hospital planned for next week, we're going to a cloth diapering class, and we've been reading lots of books and watching natural childbirth videos. Like I said, exciting.

I am putting together a list of what needs to go in the 'take-to-the-hospital' bag (for both Cory & I). I've got a fairly extensive list, but feel free to comment about what you thought was essential. There's always the chance you think of something that we haven't. Also, for those couple of people who have asked - we are registered at Target. Please don't take this to mean you have to buy us presents... it's just an FYI. Our ward is throwing us a shower, and the college is throwing us a shower/goodbye party and we're telling people that gift cards would be wonderful gifts. The less stuff we have to move, the better :)

Less than 2 months 'til baby makes his big debut! We're so excited!

Wonderful Weekend

We had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend. We stayed in town and had dinner with a family in our ward. Of course, I took my camera and then forgot to take a group picture. The Simmons family has been a true blessing to Cory & I. I tutor 3 of the kids with their math homework, so that's been an additional source of income. They often feed me dinner when I'm there (and then pay me on top of that). They graciously welcomed us into their home for Thanksgiving, and let us bring all our laundry, so we didn't have to go to the laundry-mat (one of my least favorite things to do, especially whilst pregnant).

As we were eating the delicious feast Deena made, we went around the table and said the things we were grateful for. Cory said he was grateful for the true gospel and that no matter where you live, there's always a ward family there to take you in. The Simmons family has done that for us - taken us in while we're so far from home. I'm grateful to them for that. I'm also grateful for Cory, for I don't think I would have survived these past 5 months without him. As much as this pregnancy has been not fun, I'm so grateful that Cory and I will get to welcome a beautiful little spirit into our family.

Instead of going shopping on Black Friday, we slept in, cleaned house and went to a tree farm and cut down our Christmas tree.


We played Christmas music and decorated the tree. It was a nice alternative to the craziness that is Black Friday. Normally I love Black Friday shopping, but we live so far from any stores ... and I'm 5 months pregnant and just so very lazy :) We did venture out to the malls on Saturday, and just about completed all of our shopping. Hooray for us!

Here's a picture of the decorated tree:

And a picture of me at 23 weeks, with the tree. People keep saying to me "wow, you look pregnant" ... which I guess is a good thing, since I only have 4 more months to go!

20 weeks

Yep, it's official. I'm definitely pregnant.

I think I feel more pregnant than I look in these pictures. I'm at 20 weeks, so about halfway done. In that first month of being so sick, I never thought I'd get this far. I couldn't fathom being pregnant and sick for one more day, so even one more week felt like an eternity. But here I am, halfway done! I can't believe it. Now we've got to think of things like a registry, names, etc. I find myself talking to him all the time. Sometimes I still can't believe I've got this little miracle growing inside me!!

We're made the decision to stay here through mid-April. For lots of reasons that I won't get into -- but the main one was insurance. We'll stay here, I'll continue to work and be insured, Cory will also continue working at the school, and we'll have the baby here. Then in mid-April we'll pack up and move back to Utah. A cross-country drive with a 2-week old... wish us luck. Better than going at 6 months pregnant and in the middle of December, right?!?! It will be adventurous, that's for sure.

And we're starting to think about getting stuff for the baby. So I'm open to suggestions from all you experienced moms. Stuff you can't live without... stuff that seemed cool then wasn't worth the money... pretty much any advice you want to throw my way!

We're having a...

BOY!!! Kudos to all you readers who guessed boy. Cory and I were both convinced we were having a girl. Everyone I work with thought it was a girl, my OBGYN thought it was a girl, my acupuncturist thought it was a girl... but nope, it's a BOY! After a little bit of initial shock, we couldn't stop grinning at each other. He will be the first grandchild on my side, and the first grandson on Cory's side.

Baby is healthy, which is what I'm most thankful for. I've been half worried that baby is starving to death, since I so often throw up my food. But nope, baby is growing and quite active. We could see him kicking, squirming and rolling. I think I've been feeling a little bit of him squirming, but no kicking yet... and watching him on the screen, I'm sure that's going to change. The ultrasound tech said he was very cooperative, and she got all the pictures and positions she needed.

It was so neat to see all the little parts on the screen. His little femur bones, his spine, his heart chambers... everything. So precious. We feel so blessed!

And now for the best part... pictures!

Nice profile shot

Cute baby feet

And my personal favorite... the alien picture

We're just so excited. We've told all our immediate family members... but my mom wants to be surprised, so if you're reading this, don't tell my mom. We'll see how long we can keep the gender a secret. I'm sure I'm going to slip up and call "it" a "he" and the surprise will be out. But in the meantime, we'll see how long it lasts :)

The bump

I'm finally getting to the point where I actually look pregnant, and not just fat :) Some of my regular clothes still fit, and some... well, not so much. I bought a few maternity things and Em was kind enough to lend me some of her stuff (thanks Em!) Plus my mom promised to take me shopping when we're home in a couple of weeks. We figured since I'm finally looking pregnant, it was time to start taking some pictures. So here's a few.

I'm not photogenic and I hate posing for the camera... consequently, I just look awkward.

This was Cory's suggestion for a pose...

I wish I could report that I'm feeling fabulous, but no such luck. We went to the doctor last week, got to hear the heartbeat again, and were basically told by the doctor to "hang in there!" We did get an ultrasound appt for November 2nd, so assuming baby is cooperative, we should be able to tell whether we're having a girl or boy. I'm putting a poll up on the right hand side of the blog, so people can vote (you've got 3 weeks). I'm not telling what Cory and I think we're having until after people vote, cause I'm interested to see what others think. Enjoy!

A picture is worth a thousand words

We are thrilled to share the news that we are expecting!! We couldn't be anymore excited to grow our family of 2 into a family of 3! This was taken at my ultrasound in my 8th week; I'm now in my 11th week. At our ultrasound appointment, we got to hear and see the baby's heartbeat, which was very special to us. They calculated my due date at the end of March.

I've been sicker than I ever thought possible, which explains my lack of blogging (and my lack of doing anything, really). After losing weight and being unable to keep anything down, the doctor's office finally got me some powerful anti-nausea medication. It definitely helps, though I still have good and not-so-good days. We even did a couple of days of an at-home IV treatment, but it seemed to make me feel worse... so we're not doing that anymore. Everyone keeps telling me that I should feel better once I hit my 2nd trimester... and we're certainly crossing our fingers that that's the case.

All in all, it's been pretty good timing, since the nausea hit a couple days after graduation... on the day that our 6 visiting family members left town to go back to Utah. Now that Cory doesn't have classes and homework to worry about, he's been spending his time taking care of me... and doing all the stuff I used to do, like cooking, laundry and cleaning. He's been one humongous support to me, and I couldn't be more grateful. There's no way I'd make it through this without him! He even graciously puts up with my whining :)

Everyone is now asking what our plans are, post-graduation. The current plan is to stay here through December, so I can continue working and earning money. Cory will be teaching a chemistry course, one day a week, starting September 10th. He's also assisting in one of the anatomy labs. He's looking for a job in northern Utah, so we can move home and be closer to family (so if anyone knows of a chiropractor looking for help, let us know :) Now that I'm pregnant, it throws a slight kink into our plans. I've got great insurance through my work at the school, but as soon as I quit and we move home, we join the ranks of the uninsured. Bummer, since my insurance would make the baby free. So we're now looking into our options, like buying out our insurance policy, or a program in Utah that would assist with the cost of giving birth. I know they exist; I have no idea what they are, or how they work. So for anyone who's given birth and used one of these programs - please, email me or call me. We need all the information we can get!