25 weeks!

25 weeks, Its so crazy to imagine he will be here in 10-15 weeks. My how the time flies! As I rapidly approach my 3rd trimester I can feel myself slowing down. I'm getting tired often, my feet are swelling, I'm having Braxton Hicks contractions every couple of days and its getting more difficult to get up after sitting down or bending over to pick something up. Despite all of the discomfort I'm starting to experience I couldn't be happier, I cant wait to hold our baby boy!

Love, Chris and Katie

Marcus Alexander Hampton

I'll never forget the first time I saw him, I was nine weeks pregnant. I’m not sure what I had expected him to look like but I remember feeling a little confused when my doctor said there he/she is! I looked at the ultrasound monitor and all I could see was what resembled a little gummy bear, not a baby! The one thing I know is soon as my doctor pulled his heartbeat up on the screen and turned the volume up on the doppler so we could hear it I completely crumbled. Here I was laying on the table in the doctors office crying my eyes out (tears of joy, of course!) I couldn’t believe that our love had created a life and that for the next 9 months my body was going to be in overdrive building our blessing. I’m so proud of these photos!

Marcus at 12weeks

Marcus at 20weeks (look how far our little gummy bear has come)

Love, Chris and Katie

Pregnant?

My post are going to be a little out of order for a while I’m trying to play catch up.


Chris and I knew early on into our relationship that we wanted to one day have children, we would spend hours on end talking/day-dreaming about what they would look like, what sports they would play, what college they would attend and what physical features we hoped they would inherit from us. Three years ago I had been experiencing some severe abdominal pains, after several weeks of these on/off pains I had enough and Chris took me into the emergency room. During my extended stay in the ER I had several procedures/exams that later determined what was causing the discomfort. I had spots on my ovaries that the doctor believed could have been cysts that had ruptured, the placement of my ovaries (mostly my left) was abnormal and lastly my periods had not been normal for some time. I had never really paid attention to the pattern in which my periods came, When I started then I started that was the attitude I always had toward them. After finding out all of this information my Dr. had a talk with Chris and I about what our future plans were, she told us that If I didn’t make some major life changes that conceiving a child would be challenging. My weight being so high for so long had my periods so irregular and she also believed that my ovaries being slightly twisted was due to the excessive amount of weight I was lugging around. After months of serious thought and many discussions with my doctor I decided that Lap Band Weight Loss Surgery was for me. I went under the knife August 13th 2008 and as far as health goes that was the best decision I have ever made. I proudly shed 142 pounds, lowered my once high blood pressure and cholesterol and was no longer considered to be borderline diabetic. Chris and I were hopeful that my life style change was the solution to the problem and that when the time came we wouldn’t have any issues conceiving. We went ahead and scheduled an ultrasound to check the placement of my ovaries after loosing all the weight, sadly nothing had changed as far as the placement goes, but for the first time in years I was having regular periods so we had hope. October 30th 2010, one of the best days of our lives! Chris and I in front of all our close friends and family said our “I do’s” the next day we were on a plane heading to LA to jump on a ship for a seven day Mexican Riviera Cruise. It will be this trip that will forever change our lives and give us Gods greatest gift.

The end of November and the holidays were upon us, I had noticed that I had been extremely exhausted for days on end. After sleeping 9.5-10 hours every night I still felt like I could sleep even longer and HELLO heartburn, where did you come from? I was a couple days shy of starting my period but I knew I just wasn’t feeling like myself. One day after work I went by the store and picked up a two pack first response pregnancy test. I got home and read the instructions which stated “for best results take with first morning urine” I being the impatient person that I am was not going to wait until morning. I busted open a test, I remember talking my way through it telling myself your probably not pregnant you are just doing this for the process of elimination. Two minutes later the results were shown in the box, one extremely solid line and a 2nd faint not so solid line. I assumed that the test was negative, wrapped it up in tissue and tossed it away. That night I made a fabulous dinner for Chris and I and again the heartburn returned, this wasn’t normal for me so I decided that waking up and taking a 2nd test in the morning was a good idea. I tried so hard to sleep that night, but the “what if” kept running through my head, I was so excited and morning couldn’t come soon enough. 2:00 am I woke up and had the worst urge to use the restroom and I was worried that if I went I wouldn’t be able to go again in the short 3.5 hours that I would wake for the day. So here I am, 2 am taking a 2nd pregnancy test. I came downstairs with the test in hand and waited two minutes for my results to show. I was so stunned to see the same result that I saw the night before, I went to the restroom trash can to retrieve my first test to compare results. I just wasn’t satisfied I didn’t feel like it was a definite “yes” or “no”. I got on the computer and did a little research I had read that a line is a line no matter how faint it is, this had me very excited and hopeful that these two test were positive. Later that morning on my way to work I went by Wal-Mart and picked up a clear blue digital test as well as a huge bottle of water I then found myself in the restroom at work waiting yet another two minutes for what could be life altering news. Then the one word I had been dreaming of hearing/reading for years flashed on the screen ‘PREGNANT”, all I could do was cry tears of joy! I had to leave work early and go home to share the news with my husband.

Love, Chris and Katie

The belly

I thought it would be fun to take weekly photos of my growing belly starting at week 14 of my pregnancy. Chris and I have really enjoyed watching it grow, sometimes I forget how big I’m getting but am reminded when I knock stuff off of counters or take a student out at school.


The majority of these photos were taken before work (7am) so I’m still a little sleepy.

Week 14/40

Week 15/40

Week 16/40

Week 17/40

Week 18/40

Week 19/40

Week 20/40 (It's a BOY!!)

Week 21/40

Week 22/40

Week 23/40

Week 24/40 (6 months down!)

Stay tuned for more weekly photos!

Love, Chris and Katie

Happy Easter

Today is April 24th, Easter Sunday! Chris and I wanted to wish all our Friends and Family a wonderful day, may it be filled with family, eggs and love. We are so ecstatic for next Easter since it will be our little guys first, I’ve already been thinking about what I will have included in his first basket! Holidays in the Hampton home will be so much more exciting with a baby to share them with. We are truly blessed!

Love,
Chris & Katie (baby Marcus too!)