3-4 Weeks!

Baby boy is 4 weeks old today! Things have been so busy lately I haven't had time to post. Last week was busy since it was Christmas week. Tons of shopping, wrapping, and baking to finish up before the big day. We had a great weekend celebrating with friends and family. Ollie was spoiled and had lots of snuggle time with his favorite people. It's nice that he's so relaxed. We don't mind him bouncing around for different people to hold him. I enjoyed dressing him up in his Christmas outfits  :) It's amazing that now I couldn't care less what I look like (most of the time) , as long as Ollie's cute and happy.

Our first Christmas as a family!

Daddy and Ollie snuggling Christmas morning

Ollie's "Define Naughty" onesie

There have been a lot of "frists" for Ollie this week (week 4). He's been smiling a lot and even at the right times. When we tickle him his face lights up with his cute little smile. He LOVES his bumbo and is sitting  up in it all by himself. On Wednesday he had his first bath! He didn't seem to mind it at all and was pretty relaxed. Then he peed all over me while we were toweling him off :) Fun stuff! 

It's so nice to be home with Ollie but in 4-8 short weeks I'll be back to work. My doctor finally released me to start working out. After 14 weeks of no activity, I'm sooo out of shape! I went for a nice hike this morning on a trail I used to be abe to go up and down 3 times in an hour. This morning I only made it twice - the mountain won! I was even passed by a 75 year old man who was running up the mountain! Hopefully I'll be able to walk in the morning! I'm pretty excited to be able to workout again though. I have another 35 pounds till I'm back to my pre-baby weight. I'm motivated and ready for it to be off! Not so happy everyone and their uncle will be at the gym for a few weeks. Luckily, things seem to empty out in February after the "resolutioners" dwindle away. I'll still be there spinning my Chipotle booty back to normal :)

2 Weeks Old

Baby boy is already two weeks old. This has been a long week for him ....and us. We are adjusting to lack of sleep and trying to make a schedule. Jonny is quickly loosing his OCD-ness. Ollie has managed to pee on our bedroom wall, poop on our bed and has peed on me 3 times this week. We are managing to smile and laugh through it all. On Wednesday he has a doctors appointment to be circumcised. I was not pleased at all with the doctors office! We walked in to talk to the doctor and had to stare at all the needles and scalpels for the procedure. Not to mention, we had to put him in a baby straight jacket before going to the waiting room... broke my heart. We came back in to Ollie screaming louder than I've ever heard. They didn't pick him up to comfort him or anything :( I know professionals get desensitized to the work they do and don't realize what kind of impact it has on their patients. The places I've worked at are very patient care oriented and I expect to go to the same... especially for Ollie. Needless to say, we will be having a nice chat with the doctor when he goes in for his check up.

Ollie had his newborn pictures done by our friend Meghan this week too. We didn't get to many in since it was chilly and Ollie wasn't up for posing. The one's she got so far are awesome though!

Being a mommy is one of the best things ever! Ollie is soo good and puts up with us when we're not sure what we're doing. His eyes are wide open now and he loves looking at lights. He's getting used to is diaper changes and isn't fussing as much when we change him (if we're in his time limit). He's smiling here and there now too, probably form gas but we love his smiles :)

1 week old already? Time, PLEASE slow down!

I woke up really early this morning while Ollie was still sleeping. I wasn't sure what exactly woke me up, until I looked at the clock. It was 3am on the dot! One week ago at that exact time, I got to see my baby boy for the first time. I can't believe he's already a week old! I'm sure times only going to continue to fly by.

We are really enjoying his sweet temperament and personality! He is soooo sleepy during the day and loves to keep momma up at night.... although we are getting a system down. He absolutely hates being changed (clothes and diapers). Jonny and I try to tag team him as much as possible to calm him down as quickly as we can. He is the strongest newborn I've ever seen! While burping him on my shoulder, he loves to pick up his head and look around or straight at me. I heard that mom's who worked out through their pregnancy have stronger babies, I thought my cravings for Chipotle and Moe's canceled out most of my spinning... but maybe we lucked out.

Can't wait to see what other fun things the next few weeks has to bring :)

Oliver is finally here!

What a crazy week it's been! Last Thursday Jonny and I went to my scheduled doctors appointment at 10:50 am. I brought along all of my hospital bags just incase the procedure they were doing would break my water (membrane sweep as planned). I organized my whole bag and grabbed a few last minute things.

Dr.Crum took a look at my swollen legs and my blood pressure and asked how we felt about having our baby that night. We were pretty taken back by the question, but of course we wanted him here as soon as possible! Dr.Crum called over to the hospital to see if they had rooms available that night since she was on call. My cervix wasn't dilating so she inserted a ballon catheter that would start contractions and dilate me. She told me to wear it home and that the hospital would call me in when they had a room available. On the way home I started having pretty good contractions and we turned around and headed to the hospital. On arrival they admitted me and started pitocin to help speed things up. Dr.Crum came in around 4pm and took out the ballon catheter and broke my water. The contractions started getting closer and stronger. I asked the nurse for the epidural a few times, but did't get one till 10pm. Afterwards, I was loving life! I felt sooo much better! My wonderful family came to wait out Ollie's arrival and it really helped pass the time by talking with them. An hour or so later, my blood pressure was down to a normal range but my temperature started rising. They packed my body with ice bags to get it to go down, but didn't have much luck. The temperature was also increasing Ollie's heart rate (usually around 150/due to my temperature was averaging 200). They tried a few other techniques but nothing was working to help the baby, even when my temp came down a bit. The nurse called Dr.Crum and they decided to do a C-section. I was shocked since I was already dilated to 8cm and thought things were going to be going the normal route.



They wheeled me into the operating room and gave me a stronger anesthetic. I loved my anesthesiologist! He was amazing and talked me through a lot of the surgery. Once I was prepped, they brought Jonny in and made the first cut. I felt lots of pressure but no pain at all. The only rough part was when they tugged him out. Jonny said he could see my whole mid section being lifted off the table as they muscled Ollie out. I was sooo excited once he let out his first little cry. Dr.Crum said she was amazed at how big he was and that she didn't think I would have been able to push him out.  They took him over to an incubator to check his sats and measurements. I was surprised that he wasn't crying at all after his initial squeaks. I remember asking the anesthesiologist a million times if he was okay and if that was normal. He said it was and I tried to relax while the sutured me up. I found this part to be the worst! Still no pain, but I could feel them piecing me back together and hear them using the suction. ewww!

Ollie was born at 2:58 am on December 2nd @ 8lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long! Almost a 9lb baby! They checked him over and then took him to the NICU where he had to be monitored for a while. They took me into recovery till I got some feeling back in my legs. I also had the shakes really bad wich was quicly cured with some Demerol- once again, love my anesthesiologist! They wheeled my by NICU to see Ollie before they took me to my room.  It was so hard not being able to hold or even touch him since I was in a lot of pain and laying on a gurney.

It was a long night. All the adrenaline and anxiousness made sleeping impossible. People were in and out the next day for visits. It took forever for me to go see him! The morphine made me extremely grogy to the point where I made no sense talking and feel asleep randomly. They started me on Vicodin and once I could walk to the bathroom the promised a visit. I finally got to go down to see him on my own at 3pm. the wheeled me down to the NICU and let me stay as lon as I wanted. They also decided to release him to come stay with us in our room. For the rest of our stay, the NICU nurses did random checks and antibiotic drips on him.

We are so happy our boy is here! It's the most amazing thing to look at him and know he's ours. Not to mention that he was the little guy kicking in my belly :) He's such a calm boy and we have it soooo easy compared to other people we know. The last few nights have been rough, but totally worth it when you look at his little face. We are so excited to see what the next few weeks have to bring!

Love this article- There are only 3 Things you should say to a pregnant lady

Read this article today and I love it! Had to post!- http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705394587/There-are-only-3-things-you-should-say-to-a-pregnant-lady.html?pg=2


A week ago I received a call from my neighbor Janna, with whom I share a backyard fence. On sunny days we let our children play together in our backyards as we sit on lawn chairs and try to answer the world's greatest problems.
It's a charming life I have.
Janna was calling to say a few extra neighborhood children were over playing in the backyard, and would we like to come out and join them?
At this point I was one week overdue with my third child (and, at this writing I am two weeks overdue, hooray!) and it sounded perfectly lovely for us all to get out and enjoy some sunshine. So I put on the children's clothes, boots and coats and sent them out the door. Then I focused on getting dressed myself.
There isn't much I can wear these days, but thanks to a vast, colorful muu-muu collection, I always have a tent-like dress to drape on my body. I found my fushia dress which features gratuitous pink lilies and white blossoms in sporadic patterns. To protect my cold feed I put on warm, furry brown boots. I threw on my bright, orange trench coat which couldn't be zipped up due to the protrusion in my mid-section. Lastly, I found my dollar store sunglasses — frames with a slight '80s throwback look — put them on and headed out the door to join the children.
In my shadow I could see I had forgotten one small detail — my hair. From the dark outline of my profile on the grass I could see how it puffed from the crown of my head to my shoulders. It was messy and swirly and even my efforts to pat it down only aggravated the situation, so I let it be.
When I showed up where the kids were playing, I watched them all stop to stare at me. They looked like a gang of beady-eyed meerkats, frozen with fear of the oncoming tiger.
"You look good," offered Janna, maybe a bit aware of the sudden silence.
"Uh, I do?" I said, surprised she even offered that compliment.
At that point my child — he who is used to seeing me in such an eclectic get-up — distracted the other children by declaring a light saber war. After that the playing became intense and Janna and I could talk without much interruption. It was hungry calls for lunch that ended our lovely morning in the sunshine.
Later that night, Janna called me again. Apparently one of the children went home and told his mom that I came out to play that afternoon dressed as a clown. That mother then called Janna to see exactly what was going on, as in, did she owe me some sort of performance fee for entertaining her child that morning.

A clown.



Apropos, I thought. I feel like a clown. Or a whole circus for that matter. Everywhere I go there are sideshows of incredible feats, like me bending over or me trying to squeeze through the pews at church. There is nothing inconspicuous about being majorly pregnant. The spotlight never rests on your situation. Your every moved is tracked and noted.

"You look ready to pop!"
"Oh bless your heart, you must be so worn out."
"Are you sure you aren't having twins?"

My good friend Emmelyn has always said there are only three things you should say to a pregnant woman:

You look great!
Would you like to sit down?
Can I get you a cookie?

That's it. Don't ask them about due dates, don't ask them silly questions they can't answer ("When is that baby coming?") and no matter how entertaining they may be to watch, please don't mistake them for a circus act.
And yes, I'll take a cookie.
Thank you very much.

39 Weeks.... The waiting game

Hurry up and wait.... any day now... he'll be here in no time.... blah blah blah blah blah! I couldn't wait to be this far along... little did I know, it's seriously the hardest part. Everyone wants to know whats going on, but there's nothing to report. Now that I'm not working, the days creep along sooo slowly. I'm running out of things to do. I'm completely bored of knitting and baking isn't the same when there's not an occasion for it. Mom talked me into making her peppermint hot coco stirrers to market with. I was thinking it wouldn't be a problem... I can bust out a few dozen in no time! Her order is for 200! At least that will keep me busy till Thursday! 

Thursday is our next appointment with Dr.Crum.  Last week I talked to her about some natural induction attempts that she can do in the office. She is usually pretty against induction of any type. When I mentioned what I had read about "sweeping the membrane" she was all for it! I was pretty shocked actually. She asked me if I wanted her to do it last week, but she was worried I'd have the baby the next day... on Thanksgiving. Mom would've been stoked, but I'm sure that's the last thing Dr.Crum would want to deal with on her day off. Membrane sweeping is a term for when the doctor scans the part of your cervix thats behind the water bag with two fingers. This is supposed to released natural hormones to start labor... if your body is ready. So far I'm just over 1 cm dilated but I'm 70% effaced! Slowly but surely, we're getting there! I'm trying to stay optimistic. Especially since the doctor was worried about labor kicking in the next day if she did the sweeping at our last appointment. If all else fails, we should be picking an induction date too... just incase! 

Trying to tie up all loose ends before Thursday. Going to get some cleaning done and hopefully catch up on some sleep! I'm sure I'll be loosing a lot more when he gets here than I am now :)  

Yummy Recipes We're Making For Thanksgiving

Oreo Cream cheese Balls
1 Package of Oreo's (I get the double stuffed ones)
1 Package of cream cheese
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 Package of milk chocolate Almond Bark (Chocolate that melts and forms a shell)
Wax Paper

Directions:
Put Oreo's in a plastic bag and crunch them into tiny pieces with a rolling pin
Mix Oreo's, cream cheese and vanilla in a bowl  (quicker in a kitchenAid mixer)
Put bowl into the freezer for an hour or two
Make mini balls out of the mixture and put back into the freezer to harden again
Melt Almond Bark (I usually do 4 squares at a time)
Drop one ball at a time into melted chocolate and make sure it completely covered
Drop on to wax paper till it hardens
- The key is to make sure the chocolate stays as melted as possible, don't let it get too thick. Also, make sure the Oreo ball mixture stays as hard/cool as possible. This makes it easier to roll them in the chocolate and is less messy.

** These have been a favorite at all my work parties! They are super easy to make once you get used to using Almond Bark **

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes W/ Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting
1 box yellow cake mix
16 oz can of pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/3 cup veggie oil
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Chocolate chips (quantity depends on how much of a sweet tooth you have :)

Directions:
Mix all contents, except chocolate chips together in a big mixing bowl (or mixer). When completely mixed, pour in chocolate chips and lightly stir them into the batter. Spoon into muffin pan and put in the oven for 16-20ish minutes.

While it bakes, make the frosting :)

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz unsalted butter (softened)
4 oz cream cheese (softened)
2 cups powdered sugar (only use 1 cup-1 1/4 cup if you don't like frosting super sweet)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Mix all contents together in mixer on low for 3-5 minutes. Add more sugar or cream cheese to your liking if needed


Candy Cane Coco Stirrers (see picture in previous post)
Candy canes
large marshmallows
white chocolate Almond Bark
Sugar - sprinkles- or colored sugar
Wax paper

Directions:
Roll marshmallow sides in white chocolate  (make sure its not hot- it WILL melt marshmallows!)
then roll in sugar/sprinkles
Let them harden on wax paper
Heat up one square of white chocolate
dipp bottom of unwrapped candy cane into chocolate
Spear through top of marshmallow (if the chocolate is NOT hot it WILL break shell made around marshmallow! Make sure chocolate is extra warm for this part)
Wrap in individual baggies and tie off with curled ribbon

Garlic Cream Cheese Smashed Red Potatoes
5lbs red potatoes
chopped garlic
cream cheese (softened)
unsalted butter (softened)
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
Boil red potatoes till soft (if you're a garlic lover- boil potatoes with chopped garlic)
Mix potatoes, cream cheese, chopped garlic, and butter with hand mixer or KitchenAid
(your amounts will vary based on how creamy/ somewhat healthy you prefer your potatoes)
Add salt and pepper to taste



Good luck! :)

38 Weeks

The bun is still in the oven. At times you start thinking there's no end in sight. At most, we have just about 3 weeks till he's here (induction if needed). Hopefully, he'll be here on his own before then. Last week I was put back on bed rest. Blood pressure was high again and my swelling has gotten worse. I figured my blood pressure would get higher since they took me off the blood pressure meds. Unfortunately, it's only a minor concern for the doctor. She's not willing to induce early unless it gets worse. She's pretty strict on when she's comfortable inducing. To me this is frustrating since Ollie's considered full term and the blood pressure is enough of a concern that they put me on bed rest. I wish they would just take him out or put me back on the meds. I'm a bit more effaced but haven't dilated much more yet. Time to look into some ways to speed up this process!

While on bed rest this weekend, I spent my time knitting new born beanies. I've been making a few here and there for Ollie, but started making some for girls. A lot of our friends had girls within the past few months. I'm a bit sick of boy colors so it's been fun to switch it up to pink :) I made about 20 beanies! Can't wait to get them mailed out.

Today I finished up Thanksgiving shopping. I definitely didn't want to wait till the last minute. It's hard enough trying to shop when the stores aren't busy. We're making garlic cream cheese smashed red potatoes,  pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting, Oreo cheesecake balls and hot coco candy cane stirrers. I figue if we tackle one item a day so it wont be as bad. Today I made the coco stirrers. I found them on Pinterest a while back and they looked really yummy and festive. They are marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and rolled in sugar. Then you insert a candy cane into the top and you have a yummy, sweet, stirrer for your hot chocolate. It didn't seem like they'd be too hard to make.... but I ran into some problems at first. Pintrest only gave ingredients... no directions for smooth sailing. The marshmallows were melting from the warm melted white chocolate and too much white chocolate caused a "dripping" look. Then, spearing the candy cane through the top caused the hardened white chocolate on the outside to break from the marshmallow expanding. Finally, I got the technique down. Didn't take too long and they are pretty cute. Tomorrow I'm making the Oreo cheesecake balls! I've been making those forever, so they should be pretty easy :)

Happy Anniversary to us :)

One year ago today I married my best friend. Crazy how time flies! At this very minute last year we were busy getting ready for our ceremony.... today we are doing baby honey do's. So much has changed since last year, and I'm sure this following year will bring many new and exciting things with Ollie in our world. I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend it with! 

36-37 Weeks

The last two weeks have been pretty boring. After the medicine decided to kick in, my contractions got a lot better. Not to mention I'm just getting used to the feeling of them since my doctor says some people just have a lot of Braxton Hicks.

Halloween was relaxing this year. We got some candy and cookies and headed over to my aunts house for a family get-together. My cousin, Cade, went trick-or-treating with some of the family and the rest of us stayed back to see the kids who came to the house. My aunt and uncle even had mini beers to hand out for the parents who came to the door (they are definitely the cool house on the block). In my case, I guarded the yummy food! Pizza, reese's peanut butter cups, oatmeal brownies.... I was in heaven. This time last year we were getting ready for our wedding. Which ment I had a small dress to fit into so I skipped out on binging on all the goods. This year, I totally made up for last years loss :)

Thursday was my last doctors appointment. They confirmed that Ollie's head is for sure down ( I could have told them that... his head rolls on my bladder constantly). I am now, FOR SURE, dilated to 1 cm and 40% effaced. This is great news, but it's really common in our stage of pregnancy to start dilating. It doesn't mean baby boy's making his way out anytime soon. In fact, we talked with the doctor about when we would need to schedule an induction if Oliver stays cozied inside for too long. I stopped taking my blood pressure meds last Sunday at 36 weeks. The doctor is fine with Ollie coming any time now, and of course he's not trying!  Time to start talking Jonny into taking long walks around Anthem to get labor kick started.

Jonny has been really busy with shop work, races and now mountain biking. He's even joined a mountain bike team that's sponsored. I'm thinking he's trying to squeeze in as much fun time as possible before we are lacking sleep and zombies everyday. I've finally caught the nesting bug. Who woulda thought I'd be cooking/baking, cleaning, organizing and doing Jonny's laundry? Jonny keeps saying he doesn't now whats gotten into me... apparently he's not aware of how "nesting" sets in. I haven't done his laundry once in the last 3 years we've been together... this week alone I've done 5 loads to catch up. For now, I'll let him think I'm Susie home maker :)

35 Weeks down... 5 to go?

This last week has been quite eventful. Had another trip to labor and delivery on Tuesday since the increased dose of my blood pressure pills weren't helping my contractions. We were worried that since they thought I was already dilating and didn't want it to get worse. According to our nurse I was still the same amount dilated. She said her guess is that I'll go into labor on my own in the next two weeks. They checked my blood for preeclampsia again, gave me a shot of Terbutaline and sent me home on a "modified bedrest". This basically means I need to be sitting or laying down most of the time. I started working half days this week so I can rest and still keep things above water at work. 


I saw my OB, Dr.Crum, on Thursday. I was soooo happy to finally get to talk with her. When she checked my cervix, she found I'm not dilated or effaced! She said the NP and hospital were feeling a scared portion of my cervix from my surgery 2 years ago. She also said some people just contract a lot. Which must be the case for me. My belly is hard all the time and cramping sets in at night. She's thinking we won't have any problem with preterm labor unless my blood pressure goes back up. She said she doesn't have any indication that baby boy will be here in 2 weeks. In fact, she thinks I'll be able to go full term. They are taking me off the Nifedipine next weekend at my 36 week mark. They are thinking this may help my body go into labor. If my blood pressure spikes again they will consider inducing me or planning a c-section. I was happy to hear that if I go into labor from here on out, my doctor will deliver Ollie :)

34 Weeks (waiting.. waiting and more waiting)

So many questions and not enough answers! My contractions haven't eased up much at all. In fact, last night while shopping they got pretty painful.  When I'm laying down or resting I'm perfectly fine. The minute I stand up the contractions start and don't let up until I sit down. The meds they gave me aren't helping a bit. They actually doubled my dosage today but we haven't seen any results yet. Luckily, my next doctors appointment in Thursday. I'm really quite interest to see if I'm dilated any more then last week. I am at the point of wanting more answers. At first I didn't think much of whats going on. But now with back pain and contractions... i'm becoming a demanding preggo :)  So far they're thinking they will take me off the meds in two weeks and let me go into natural labor. I thought first time moms weren't supposed to dilate very easily. Just my luck, i'm already dilating and live an hour away from the hospital. I'm also worried about my "high blood pressure" during delivery. I'd rather be induced and coached through delivery... even a scheduled c-section would be nice. Anything where they can make sure baby and I are okay by monitoring us would be just lovely. I'm looking forward to voicing all my concerns to Dr.Crum. I don't know if I'm being unrealistic with my expectations or if everyone has these thoughts.

I've been slowly but surely packing hospital bags for me and Ollie. It's kind of surreal to think that we are packing the fist things he will be using from home. I keep looking up lists on google to see if we're missing anything. I'm sure we will forget something. Luckily there is a Buy Buy Baby right next door :)

Crazy week..... (33 weeks and 5 days)

We are still in our 33rd week :) After a weekend of bed rest, I feel much better and well rested. Mom came down for the weekend to keep me company and Jonny's been super husband/dietician (helping me pick less salty foods to keep down the water retention). The swelling has gone down a lot! My legs are still swollen, but not as severe as they were last week. The doctor thought I'd be ok returning to work since I mostly sit at my desk all day.

By Tuesday I noticed I was having Braxton Hicks more regularly. I started counting them and had 7-8 every hour. I called my doctors office to let them know. My fear is always to be that "crazy patient" who calls about EVERYTHING. But since they asked about them at my last appointment, I thought it’d be best to let them know. I got a call a few hours later from Mary, the triage nurse. Their office was going to be closing within the hour and she recommended I go straight to labor and delivery at the hospital. I reminded her I wasn't in pain, and they mainly happened when I would get up and walk around. I've never felt a real contraction from labor so I’m not sure where mine stack up. She let me know if they are strong enough to notice the tightening and trigger me to count them, they are too strong (definitely considering how far along I am). I asked her if I could rest for the night and come in to see my doctor the following day. She said false labor contractions go away when you walk around. The fact that mine were more pronounced with activity was a huge concern. She said she would let the hospital know we were on our way. The whole way home to get Jonny we went back and forth on what to do. I didn't want to go to the hospital just to be put on monitors for a few hours and sent home. We ultimately decided to go...

When we got to the hospital they immediately checked my blood pressure which was way too high.... 143/93. They started an NST right away to make sure baby was active (which I could already feel) and to see just how bad my contractions were. A nurse came in and drew more blood for another preeclampsia test. We spent the next two hours waiting on results and watching the monitor screen. We also watched an episode of Friends, which happened to be the one where Phoebe has twins, how appropriate! Finally, the nurse came in to let me know that I was once again negative for preeclampsia. She gave me a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions and sent us home. My blood pressure was back down to 128 over something….. Since I was lying down for a few hours it had gotten better. They never checked to see if I was dilated or anything. Walking to the truck, the contractions started again. We decided I would just call my doctor the next day to see what was going on.

After talking with the MA on Wednesday, she recommended I come in so they can put me on daily medication to ease my contractions. My doctor wasn't in, so I saw Laura the NP. She checked my cervix and found that I'm already 50% effaced and 1cm dilated. His head is down and he's getting ready to make an entrance. Laura did a Fetal fibronectin (fFN) test to send to the lab which should tell how high my risk is for premature delivery. fFN is a protein produced during pregnancy. It acts as a biological glue, attaching the fetal sac to the uterine lining. If fFN is detected before 35 weeks of pregnancy, preterm labor is indicated. It usually suggests you will go into labor within the next 2 weeks. They said the hospital technically should have done all of this when I was there! They also put me on a hypertension (high blood pressure) medication called Nifedipine to ease my contractions. The NP is thinking I will probably wind up on bed rest until delivery after my appointment next week. They want to make sure Ollie cooks till at least 36 weeks at the absolute earliest. They are pretty much set on delivery at 37 weeks though. Which lands us right on our 1 year anniversary (11/13/2011)! What a wonderful gift :) It's a bit overwhelming to think that our little boy could be here in 4 weeks or less... there is sooo much to do! and to buy! We've been slacking!

Luckily, I already had this week scheduled off work. I decided to come stay with mom since Jonny is headed to NY for his brother’s wedding tomorrow. Today my routine has been: sleep, eat, pee.... usually in that order. It's been nice to relax and finally get some sleep. Hopefully my fFN test results will be in by tomorrow at the latest. We are really looking forward to meeting with our doctor next week to try to set a more permanent plan in stone for delivery... and hopefully see that I'm not dilated any more.

33 weeks ... NST and Preeclampsia

After my pictures last week, I noticed that my feet had swollen up worse than they ever have. I thought it was just because I was busy with errands all day and on my feet. The swelling never went down and eventually got worse throughout the week. By my appointment on Thursday, my legs looked like one big blob. Jonny and I named them "Thankles". Thighs, knees, calfs, cankles and feet all in one. I was worried about the swelling, but at my last appointment my doctor said it was very common at this point in the pregnancy. I thought it was somewhat normal. When the nurse saw my feet she knew something was wrong. My blood pressure was also pretty elevated and there was protein in my urine. All three together are signs of Preeclampsia.

They did a few blood draws to send to the lab for confirmation. Then they did a NST (Fetal Non-Stress Test) to see if Olliver was okay. The put a monitor on the baby's heart beat and one on my uterus to see if I was having contractions. The doctor was worried that I was in a stage of preterm labor since I've also ben having mild braxton hicks at night. By this point I was a bit freaked out. It's one of the only appointments Jonny hasn't accompanied me too. I knew going in there was a chance I'd be diagnosed with preeclampsia. Mom and grandma both had it with their pregnancies and it's hereditary. After googeling my symptoms before going in that morning,  I knew what they were looking for. Luckily, baby boy was fine and I wasn't dilated  They sent me home on bedrest for the rest of the weekend.

Never google a diagnoses ..... unless you don't intend on sleeping that night. The information on Preeclampsia is scary. Preterm labor, bed rest in the hospital, and if it's not monitored the mother can elevate to the "eclampsia" stage wich causes seizures and strokes. Needless to say, we got very little sleep Thursday night. Friday afternoon, we got the call to let us know my tests came back negative. The nurse said to stay on bedrest for the weekend and drink lots of water. What a weird deal, I'm swollen from water intake, but the more i drink the more it flushes out my system. I would have thought the complete opposite!

As of today, my swelling has gone done quite a bit. We had a babymoon and vacation (and Jonny's brothers wedding) scheduled in Boston/New York this week. We were supposed to leave Tuesday. My doctor said flying would only make my symptoms worse and strongly suggested I stay home. Even with the compression hose, my swelling is still to drastic to fly.

I'm really hoping this is a better week. Keeping my swelling down is my main priority, but I'm still working and on and off my feet all day. Jonny's been great about helping me make better choices on what/whatnot to eat. Trying to keep down on salt and carbs just might be the death of me.

 Only 7 more weeks till our baby boy gets here!  :)

Maternity Pictures (32 Weeks)

The last couple weeks I've struggled with watching myself grow and put on more.... fluff. Well, fluff and water now that I am swelling beyond belief. When you see another pregnant women struggeling with the same thing, your first reaction is to remind them they're pregnant and growing a baby. I did this a lot with friends and couldn't understand why they were so worried or shocked at their body transforming. I now realize how hard it is when you're the one growing. It's sooo annoying when people remind you your growing a baby and this is to be expected! Especially when you see other people who's bodys only show their pregnant in their belly. Why can't mine do that? My face and hips showed I was pregnant less than  months in! I decided to keep working out through my pregnancy because I didn't want my body to get carried away gaining weight. Truth is, your going to gain what your going to gain weather you like it or not. It's hard seeing your old body stuck in the new one that's being taken over. When you think of how people view you, you image that they see you as your oldself. This isn't the case for people meeting me while 8 months pregnant. They never meet me before so hopefully they've Facebooked me to see this isn't anywhere near what I used to look like.

I know a lot of this seems shallow  but it's a true feeling that a lot of people go through.

With all this going on, maternity pictures were something that I'd go back and forth on wanting to do. One day I'd be excited and the next I'd be having a minnie meltdown. Finally I decided I just needed to do them because one day, when I get my body back, I'll want to see these and remember. Our friend Meghan is a wonderful photographer. She had taken our engagement pictures last spring and they look amazing. I never questioned her ablility, I was just worried about picking myself apart in the picture.

Yesterday was the day! We went to Skull Valley since Meghan had lots of ideas for that area. We wound up driving down a frontage type road that eventually turned into a dirt road. We followed some train tracks to see where the best scenery would be to use them in our pictures. As we were driving, we came across a beautiful old ranch. It had a long dirt driveway with huge trees that made a conopy over the drive. It was PERFECT! Meghan is pretty bold and decided we should just ask the family if we could use their driveway and pastures as a back drop for our pictures. It was better to ask then get caught bare belly in front of their home. It payed off because they were more that happy to let us use their land. Meghan shot some great pictures in front of their driveway and then we moved to the train track and a broken windmill we found. Any ideas Meghan had on poses I was happy to try. We had driven all the way out there, so I'd better make the best of it. I laid in weeds and on a train track. It's amazing how hard its become to get up, let alone lay down on the ground. Pain is beauty...... right?

I'm soooo happy I followed through with the pictures! They turned out great! They will be a great reminder of how far I've come, when the baby weight starts coming off.

30 weeks..... time is flying by!

As of today we are 30 weeks pregnant! In 10 weeks or less our little boy will be here! Hoping we don't go past our due date, fingers crossed! My belly is getting pretty big and is getting bigger everyday. Baby boy is also getting much stronger with his movements which have also become less sparatic. As i'm writing this, Ollie is kicking and moving the laptop that's resting on my belly :)  Pregnancy has been a lot easier than I thought it would be. I've had minor discomforts along the way, but I know it could be a lot worse.

Some things that I'm currently experiencing:

1. Heart burn is finally subsiding thanks to a new medicine from my doctor, love her! Who would have thought that a $4 prescription would be the cure?
2. Swelling is sooo not fun. I'm retaining lots of water in my legs, cankles, feet and hands. I'm pretty sure my days in heels are numbered. 
3. Back pain just started... our 3lb baby feels like he's about 20 pounds :)
4. Shaving my legs has become a chore instead of a necessity. 
5. Rolling over in bed takes A LOT of work. 
6. Jonny can't sleep from my snoring. Besides waking up a few times a night for bathroom breaks, I sleep great!
7. Braxton Hicks... these have been weird to get used to!
8. I can now usually tell where baby boy is in my tummy at any given time. My favorite is when he positions himself just right and makes my belly lopsided.

The worrying has also set in. My mind is constantly racing and there are SO many things to think about and get done before he gets here! What do we still need? When will Ollie make his debut? The biggest one..... how am I going to get this thing out!? I know I'm not the first person to have a baby, but I am nervous about the whole pain factor. Since I've never even broken a bone,  I wonder how my pain tolerance will hold up. All I know for sure is I'm saying or screaming "YES!" to the epidural and a side of Pitocin. I know it's pretty controversial, but I don't feel like I need to be a superhero and deliver all natural. I want this to be as pleasant of an experience as possible! In order to save Jonny and the nurses ears... gimme all the meds that will help!

Tuesday is my next OB appointment. Afterwards, Jonny and I are doing a hospital tour at Scottsdale Shea to register and see how things work there. I switched doctors at 24 weeks and can honestly say it was the best decision I've made. It was scary to leave what I've been used too, but my new doctor is amazing and her staff is really on top of things. They call me with questions or test results before I even have the chance to check on them.... I love it! 

In the next few weeks there is soooo much going on! Maternity pictures on the 8th, baby shower on the 15th, then heading to NY for a wedding ( and small vacay) on the 21st! October is really going to fly by! When things start settling down again, we'll be tying up all the loose ends and waiting on Olliver to arrive. We are getting more and more excited by the day to meet him :)

It's a BOY !

On Saturday, Jonny and I went to Prenatal Peak. It was highly recommended to us by some friends for being able to actively predict gender at the 14 week mark. What was supposed to be a 15 minute appointment, turned into 45 minutes of trying to get baby to uncross his little legs. He was either upside down, backwards or hiding the goods the entire time. They had me push on my belly, get up and hop around, and even drink some cool water. Finally, baby started getting more active and stopped being shy. We got a couple good pictures to prove he is all BOY! This was a bigger shock to Jonny than it was to me. We know about 7 people who are pregnant with, or just had a baby girl. Odds were, we were having a boy. Even though Jonny said those odds had nothing to do with it, and I was to "girly" to make a boy, he's on his way! We are both very excited for a boy, and truth is we would have been just as excited for a little girl.

Now comes the fun part of getting the room ready! we will be ordering our crib set after vacation and getting baby's dirt bike room started. We found tons of fun ideas to make it unique and not so trendy. I think Jonny will want the baby's room as a man cave by the time we're done :)

Time To Tell the Parents :)

Since we decided to tell our parents a week early, we didn't have much time to plan how. We decided on a homeade card with a beatiful poem I found online a few weeks ago.

"I do not have a face to see
or put inside a frame
I do not have soft cheeks to kiss
I don't yet have a name.
You can't yet hold my tiny hands
Nor whisper in my ear.
It's still too soon to sing a song,
Or cuddle me so near.
But all will change come December 4th
That's when they say I'm due.
I'm your new grandson or graddaughter.

I can't wait til I meet you.
All I ask between now and then
Is your patience while I grow.
I promise I'll be worth the wait.
Because of all the love we'll know.
So what I have to give you now,
Is a wish to you from me.
I cannot wait to be a part
Of this wonderful family."

                    Love, Baby

Jonny sent the card to his parents yesterday and it should be there around three this afternoon. We told them they can't open the card until we Skype them. We have to see their reaction :) Afterwards, we are headed to Prescott for dinner with Mom, Stepdady, and Grandma Hess. I don't think Mom will be expecting this tonight since we are coming up to see Grandma Hess.

It will be sooo much easier talking to everyone now without having to worry about slipping the news about baby (or hoping someone else doesn't slip for us). I think things will seem much more real now that our family will be in the loop.

So Excited ! :)

Baby Makes Three.....

Waking up this morning I had such a mix of emotions flowing through me. I was sooo excited to see our blueberry size baby but nervous at the same time. We also couldn't wait to see if we would be having one baby or possibly multiples. My mom and aunts are twins so we have high chances of twins (they skip a generation).

After loads of paperwork, consent forms and 3 trips to the restroom from all the water I chugged this morning..... we got to see our peanut. That's right, uno peanuto! The doctor said all my tests came back great and that our baby has a strong heart beat. Baby W measured in at 8 weeks 1 day, so we are a bit further along than we actually thought. We are due on December 4th! What a wonderful early Christmas present!

We decided to tell our parents this weekend. . . Jonny finally talked me into it! We were going to wait until Mother's Day, but we are way too excited to wait an extra week. I'm counting down the days! Even though today's visit made everything very real, we can't wait to be able to share the happiness with our parents. I won't have to bite my tongue 5 times a day when talking to my momma! Only 5 more days : )

Surprise ........ we're expecting!

On Sunday March 27th, we drove home from the Worcs race in Lake Havasu. I've never been car sick before but felt extremely sick on our way home. I knew it was time to take a test or go to the doctor.......

      Over the weekend I had stomach cramps and back pain but didn't think too much of it since I've been having them for a few weeks. Jonny kept telling me that I need to go to the doctor, but I refused. I was just hoping we'd get a positive test that would prove that's what was wrong with me. Every negative test made me question going to see a doctor, but I had a "gut" feeling to wait a bit longer and keep trying. The week before my face turned bright red and was such a dry/oily mess that make up didn't stand a chance at helping. I figured it was just my body getting used to not being on the pill anymore. Now these symptoms seem perfectly clear, but the negative tests were driving me insane.

When we got home I took two boxes of pregnancy test... four tests total. The positive line was barely showing up, but I swore I could see it. I called Jonny in to verify and pulled out 5 negative tests I had kept (at least they came in handy :). They were good for comparing though! Jonny could even see the faint line. I couldn't sleep since we didn't know what a barely there line meant. I pulled out my Nook and started flipping through the book What to Expect Before Your Expecting. I thought I had read something about faint lines but didn't remember what. Sure enough it said that even a faint line is a positive line. The line shows up when HCG is detected, and you have to be pregnant for your body to produce HCG. I handed the book over to Jonny so he could read it too. We sat speechless for a few moments with huge grins on our faces. We decided that I would take a Clear Blue test in the morning (it spells out "pregnant" or "not pregnant"- pretty fool proof).  I woke up at 4am to pee (even my bladder knew the test was positive before I did). I decided not to waste a "good pee" and took the test. Jonny heard me opening the test and laughed about how I couldn't wait. I put the test on the counter to let it register and waited in bed for a while. After five minutes I picked up the test and there it was, a big fat positive! PREGNANT! Jonny and I were thrilled! I was even happier all these crazy symptoms weren't just in my head :)

The next day I called the doctor to make our first appointment. They said we could come in at the end of April or beginning of May. I was shocked we had to wait so long! We made our first appointment for April 25th. They said there isn't anything they can see before then and unless something is wrong, there is no reason to come in.

The hardest part has been not telling our parents! We plan to tell them the day after Mother's Day with a ultrasound picture. We will be Skyp-ing Jonny's parents and going to see mine for dinner in Prescott. We've been trying to get Jonny's parents to come visit so we can tell everyone together in person, but haven't been successful. We've almost slipped the secret a few times while talking to them. My mom has also noticed my "stomach muscle" getting bigger and poked at it last time she was here. I wanted to tell her to stop poking her grand-baby, but decided it will be worth the wait to tell them in a more special way. Only 2 more weeks! We can do this!

The last few weeks have been exciting and nerve racking. Expecting the best and trying to prepare our feelings for the worst, just in case. We can't wait to hear our baby's heart beat tomorrow and hopefully hear things are going well. According to a website we are using, our estimated due date is December 6th! I'm excited to hear when Dr.Binnion thinks we're due. As of today we are 7 weeks and 6 days along. We have along way to go, but we are so excited and ready for everything pregnancy has to throw at us. I'm sure Jonny will be happy to get away for race weekends when the mood swings start kicking in :)