My eggo is prego

One Last Update

2010-07-28T22:41:00.004-05:00

I decided I should write one last update in case there are any other mamas out there going through what we went through. While I was in the hospital, I spent a lot of time searching for and STUDYING blogs of moms in similar situations. It was, for the most part, comforting. So here's our story:

Our son was born small (4lb 15 oz), exactly 7 weeks early. He had no side effects from the pregnancy complications other than his prematurity. He was in NICU for 19 very long days. He was in an oxygen tent for only a few hours right after birth. He did spend most of the time in NICU being fed through a gavage tube. It was hard on all of us. They were concerned that his "suck swallow breathe" reflex might not be developed yet so rather than risk him inhaling milk, we gavage fed him my breastmilk. Pumping sometimes helped me feel like I was doing something to help him in a very helpless situation. It's hard having a child in NICU. He was too small for preemie clothes even...and those clothes are SO tiny now.

On our 18th night in NICU we spent the night in the "rooming-in" section of NICU. The idea is that if there are any problems, the NICU staff is right next door to help. It was the most uncomfortable bed any of us have ever slept in, but it was without a doubt, the happiest night of our lives knowing that we would take our son home the next morning. I was simultaneously terrified that they might not let us leave with him for whatever reason. He was too small for a car seat at the time. He had only gained one ounce in 19 days (all newborns lose weight) so when we left the hospital he was exactly 5 lb 0 oz. We had to take him home in a car bed. Google it, they're actually pretty cool. The car bed bothered me for some reason...so I switched him into his car seat within a couple weeks, as soon as I felt he was big enough. Unfortunately we also hadn't really figured out how our car seat/base combo worked so we had him too far upright for way too long. His little head used to drop forward all the time. In retrospect I wish we had just kept him in the car bed. Learning experience. He was fine though, we watched him closely.

Bringing home from the hospital on day 19 was pure joy...pure and simple. I chose my favorite little onsie for him to wear...carried him into the house and spent all day putting him in every swing/bassinet/crib and other baby item that we had. It's like I was trying to make up for all the time that I couldn't. Coming home from the hospital, no longer pregnant, to a house with untouched empty baby furniture everywhere was so depressing. It felt like I didn't have a living baby. I spent a TON of time in NICU with him. I think it was a little harder for us to bond than it should have been. I guess that's what happens when you have to ask permission to change your child, bathe him, feed him or hold him...feels like they're not yours.

He did come home on an apnea monitor. A few times in NICU he stopped breathing. It was never for very long, usually when bottlefeeding him breastmilk. The nurses he had really wanted to measure everything we gave him, to see how much he was eating. It was a criterion for leaving the hospital. He had to drink so many ounces in 30 minutes (it changed as he got bigger). The first time I tried to breastfeed him instead of bottlefeeding him breastmilk, the nurse sucked the milk back out of his stomach with the gavage tube to "measure" it then pumped it back in. It HORRIFIED me. I didn't want them doing that again, so I went back to bottlefeeding him. FINALLY at the end of our time in the hospital, we had a different nurse who supported my breastfeeding and just asked for my opinion on how well he ate afterwards. THAT is how we finally went home.

My husband and I HATED the NICU nurses for a while. We felt they weren't trying to help us get home. Now that it's all over I would say that they were just very strictly adhering to the rules...but considering my son preferred breastfeeding and so did I, I wish they had been more flexible.

Anyway...back to his health. We used that monitor religiously for a while. I swear I wouldn't have been able to sleep without knowing an alarm would go off if he stopped breathing. In that way, it was AMAZING. However, it did have the tendency to go off randomly because the leads were loose or whatever...luckily there's a different light for each type of alarm. Eventually we only used it at night...and a while after that we just quit using it. It never went off for breathing reasons at our home. I still check on him constantly while he sleeps. He's a walking talking one year old and I still find myself resting a hand on his chest to make sure he's breathing at least once a day...usually more.

For the first 5 months or so, we coslept. I loved it, our son loved it, it was so much easier breastfeeding that way. Eventually we transitioned him into his crib...without problems. We breastfed until he was 8 months old...I wanted to stop for my own reasons...like having my body back and at the time we were considering trying for #2. I planned on a long drawn out weaning. He switched to a bottle in ONE DAY (with breastmilk until the freezer supply was exhausted) and refused to breastfeed again. Would just smile at me and poke my nipple instead. I cried. I guess I wasn't as ready as I thought!

All in all, we have a perfect 1 year old boy with his mama's strawberry blonde curly hair, his daddy's love of cars and trucks and absolutely no health issues from his premature delivery. He's still a little small, but he's just tall and skinny, that's what we expected anyway. He's perfect. So...if any of you mamas are worried about your preemie or worried you might be about to have one....take it day by day. Be thankful for each day of pregnancy that you get, know that even if you're the least statistically favorable group (preemie white boy) you can come out on the other end just perfectly. Think of it as their way of ensuring they'll get their drivers license a few weeks earlier than they were supposed to...and take a moment to marvel at the development in front of your eyes that you would never have seen if they hadn't arrived early.

If you want to ask specific questions or just want to compare stories, feel free to send me an email at babyeric09@gmail.com I'll get right back to you.

New Blog

2009-07-14T07:20:00.000-05:00

Well...it finally happened...my eggo is no longer prego. Therefore, I created a new site for our family blog. As much as I appreciate all the comments from people I've never met, this new blog will be for family and friends only. So...if you did not get the email I sent last night, it's because I don't have your email address. Send me an email at BabyEric09@gmail.com and I will send you a link :)

Thanks everyone. This blog was like a journal for me and I'm going to make it into a really nice memory book for my son.

Birth Story

2009-07-10T20:31:00.001-05:00

What you've all been waiting for :)

Last night I was in a LOT of pain, we're talking grabbing onto the bedrails using the breathing techniques we learned in childbirth class. The nurses just asked if I wanted tylenol..and I did. Then they asked how the tylenol was working...it wasn't. But the whole reason I was back in the hospital was excessive bleeding...and I don't want to totally gross everyone out...so lets just say it was the kind of bleeding that freaks the nurses out. Very bad. Anyway, the bleeding had been getting better so I thought I would be going home today. Then this morning at 6am I shifted position in bed and felt a HUGE gush. I woke Brandan up and said that either my water just broke or I just lost a whole LOT of blood. It was blood. I called the nurses in and they called my doctor. Within an hour I had signed c-section consent form and the nurse told me it was just in case I had to deliver someday soon.

Soon my doctor came in and said that I need to have the baby today. I was still in a lot of pain like I had been all night and it felt like really bad period cramps. My doctor offered to let me try to deliver vaginally b/c it was really important to me and the baby looked fine on the monitor. He said that I just needed to be willing to have an emergency c-section at the first sign of distress in the baby. They immediately moved me down to labor and delivery (I had been in antepartum) and a new nurse set me up on the monitor and left to get what was needed to induce me. I was in SO much pain, I had Brandan rubbing on my back and every time he stopped, I cried. It's hard to say how much of the crying was pain and how much of it was absolute terror that I was going to lose the baby. Brandan was scared b/c he'd seen how much blood I lost, and was still losing. Then the nurse came back in and said she wanted to check me...they were planning to induce me b/c last time they had checked (2 days ago) I was a "loose 2 cm" and 80% effaced. The nurse looked up at me wide-eyed and said I was 100% effaced and SEVEN cm dilated...I was already in labor and had been all night. That explained the pain! Then as she was checking me, GUSH....my water broke. She apologized for the other nurses not having checked me and told me to lay on my side for about 20 minutes...then my other side for 20 minutes...then I was 10cm and the head was at 0 station and we were ready to go! No induction needed. I did have time to get an epidural and OMG did they have trouble getting it in! I was sitting up with my arms around Brandan's neck and him supporting me while I pushed my back towards the needle. The anesthesiologist kept hitting bone...apparently I had had some swelling in my back from bedrest and that was making it difficult. It sounds really painful but it really just felt weird since she had given me so much numbing medication. They said it was supposed to take 20 minutes to kick in, but it worked immediately and actually too well. I had the nurse turn it way down once I started pushing b/c I couldn't feel what I was doing.

So...the nurse had me push a few times to see if I could basically...then called the doctor in. Brandan stood beside me and helped me curl up with each push and I had two nurses holding my hands so I could pull. I pushed for about 15 minutes once the doctor came in (did it all though in about 3 pushes where I could actually feel a little bit of what I was doing...but zero pain). Brandan did actually look when the baby was crowning and was thrilled to see all that baby hair, and then out came baby! No episotomy, no vaccum, no forceps...all mama. He started crying right away and didn't stop :)

Brandan cut the cord and the nurses let me touch him for a sec before they cleaned him up in the baby bed next to me. Then they put him in my arms and let me hold him for a couple minutes before they took him down to NICU. His apgar score at 1 minute was 7/8 so he was great but obviously since he was only 33 weeks, he'll have to be in NICU for a little while just to monitor him. While the doctor went to sewing, they took Eric to NICU and I heard the lullaby play in the hall for my baby. They play a short lullaby in the hospital every time a baby is born.

Eric's stats:
4 lbs 15 oz
18.75 inches
born at 12:16 pm July 10th 2009

I did most likely have an abrupted placenta and the cord separated from the placenta when the doctor was trying to get it out. So I had giant doctor hands inside me removing the placenta by hand...thank god for epidurals lol. Right now I'm recovering very well...the epidural wore off very quickly so I was able to move rooms before too long and go down and see Baby Eric. We've seen him a couple times today already and I've started pumping successfully already so they can feed him for the next couple days until they let me try feeding him myself. They're introducing one thing at a time, so today they have him in a little oxygen tent even though the oxygen level is already down to JUST over what we breathe...tomorrow it comes off and we can hold him. Right now they're tube feeding him my colostrum.

I'm a mommy!

Out of the hospital

2009-07-06T10:41:00.001-05:00

OK...sorry it's taken me so long to update again. Yesterday I continued to bleed but nothing like it was the other night...that was absolutely terrifying and I really thought I lost the baby. The 2 minutes it took from when I hit the emergency button for the nurses and when they had me back in bed strapped into the monitor were like a lifetime, I've never been so scared. Hearing his heartbeat through the monitor was the best sound I've ever heard. They switched me from terbutaline to albuterol (both asthma medications that are used off label to stop premature labor)...it seems to work. I have occasional contractions still but as long as I don't stand up and walk around more than to go to the bathroom or get something to eat, they stay occasional. Just walking out of the hospital had them start up again so I immediately laid down and took a nap when I got home. Brandan and I are so thankful that we came home with baby...there are only 2 ways we want to leave the hospital, baby in my arms or baby in my belly...leaving our child in the NICU is not the way we want to go.

They had me on antibiotics and iv fluids for quite a while, then would come in constantly for shots and pills and tests...We did NOT sleep. They took blood to see if I still have rhogam circulating, and I did so that saved me another rhogam shot. They were able to give me both steroid shots for the baby's lungs so that's one less concern if he does come early. Doctor's orders were exactly, "nothing in the vagina until the head comes out" which obviously makes sense....no sex, no pelvic exams.

We had an ultrasound by a fetal medicine specialists and:

Ultrasound results:
- placenta is anterior and out of the way so that's good for delivering vaginally
- baby's weight was estimated at about 5 lbs so that's a lot smaller than the doctor first guessed (thank god!)
- he does however have a big head and long arms and legs so it looks like he's going to be a big baby just not chunky yet
- my cervix is much shorter than it was (preparing for labor)
- baby is perfectly healthy and has his head so far down his face is smashed against the inside of my pelvis and we couldn't even get a picture of his face
- baby is sunny side up...he'd be facing up if he came straight out, and it's a lot better for him to be facing down, but the doctor said a lot of time they turn as they're coming through the birth canal.
- the ultrasound actually really hurt bc he was jamming the probe down on my belly...he said that most pregos have more belly fat to soften it, but since I didn't he had to push really hard. I don't really get why lack of belly fat= pushing harder but w/e.
- then he did an internal ultrasound too and everything looked as expected too...we could see the baby's hair :) That was cool.
- he gave me ANOTHER photo of my son's penis...what is up with male doctors and penis shots? Every ultrasound they give me photos of his penis when all I want is a photo of his face lol...I get it...we have a boy....that's wonderful...but now show me the rest of him!

I'm now on bedrest at home...I literally packed my bags and got dressed and told the doctor I wanted to go home when he showed up. There was no reason I couldn't take the meds at home and be on bedrest there where I can actually get some sleep and relax. If there are any problems, the hospital is less than 10 minutes from my house and I've got a pretty good handle on what my contractions feel like now, so I know when to go to the hospital.

Long story short...I'm thrilled to be home, thrilled to still be pregnant (bet ya'll didn't see that one coming!) and very thankful for a healthy baby. We've learned what we should pack for the hospital this time and little things like shave your arms so it doesn't hurt so bad when they pull out your iv lol. I'm going to take it easy and keep this baby cooking until closer to his due date.

update

2009-07-04T12:04:00.001-05:00

Overnight we had a little scare with a lot of bleeding. They put me back on the monitor and I was contracting again so they gave me another dose of terbutaline. It slowed them down and decreased the bleeding. I don't know what's causing it yet but they said that the baby's heartbeat is just fine so when the doctor comes in this morning he'll likely do an ultrasound.

I'll update when there's new news. I can check facebook on my phone but it's blocked through the hospitals wireless so emails are easier to respond to. I'm not answering many calls but I'll try to get back to texts when we get a chance.

On another lighter note, we're amusing ourselves with the obnoxious 20 year old girl next door who is cussing out her husband and yelling at the nurses and then throwing things...you would not believe this girl. The nurses keep coming in my room to apologize and promise to move me sometime today....but when we're not in the middle of a scare from Eric, she's actually pretty funny and a good distraction.

*update*
Nurses just came in and said that they think the bleeding was from all the difficulty examining my cervix, apparently that can cause large amounts of bleeding. They're not worried about Eric at this point b/c everything they see on the monitor for him is golden. The nurse said that she doesn't think we'll be having a baby this week (YAY!)...hopefully the doctor agrees!
Also, hopefully he'll take me off these IV fluids...I'm puffy like the pillsbury dough boy! Took both me and brandan to get my wedding ring off during bag TWO and i'm up to bag FIVE now!

Attempted Escape #2!

2009-07-03T22:36:00.001-05:00

So little monster decided to make a break for it again. My cramping never really went away after we left the hospital yesterday, by lunchtime today it was pretty bad again. I still didn't want to go to the hospital but EVERYONE was telling me to go. Finally I called B to come home and we headed to the hospital. THIS time, we didn't bring any bags b/c we expected it to be just like last time...no such luck of course.

I checked in and they put me on the monitor...I was having contractions every 60-90 seconds...explains why I couldn't feel a break between contractions and just called it cramping! This time a nurse with longer fingers was able to do an exam...but she still had quite a lot of trouble. I was dilated 1-2 cm and 80% effaced. yay. So since I'm only 32 weeks they gave me another shot of terbutaline, an IV for fluids, a steroid shot to help the baby's lungs mature and a bunch of antibiotics in case there is some kind of infection causing my uterus to be so generally pissed off.

Eric however is just fine. His heartbeat is great and he wasn't decel-ing during contractions. He HATES the monitor though and kicks directly on the monitors regularly and squirms all around and screws up the readings :) That's my boy lol. I have taken a total of 4 tylenol with this pregnancy and only with contractions and doctors orders, so I'm totally not thrilled about all these medications...but I'd rather have meds and cook him a little longer than have a 32 weeker. Sorry munchkin! Mommy and Daddy get to watch fireworks from my hospital room tomorrow and he better keep his happy ass inside.

So long story short, they admitted me to antepartum...I have my own room and there's a pull out couch for B to sleep on. We have a DVD player and cable tv and B brought our laptops and a few other things from home...and now we wait. Tomorrow morning my doctor will come up and check me and we'll see where to go from there. Right now I'm still contracting every 20 minutes or so but it's not that bad.

On a lighter note, you totally should have seen the nurse put in my IV. She was telling me how she sometimes makes a mess while putting them in so she put a towel under my arm....I was thinking maybe she spills some of the IV fluid...no. She had a lot of trouble getting into a vein (they put it in the top of my forearm not my hand...which is good) then when she did get a vein, she got blood EVERYWHERE, they had to change the sheets, the towels, my outfit even. I'm exchanging looks with B trying not to laugh..it didn't hurt that badly...it was way funnier in a weird way. She was telling us how she's only been a nurse for 7 years (at which point both B and I were trying not to laugh thinking, "she's been doing this to people for 7 years??) Don't feel bad for me lol it wasn't that bad...just really funny.

I'll update tomorrow! I can check facebook on my phone but it's blocked through the hospitals wireless so emails are easier to respond to. I'm not answering many calls but I'll try to get back to texts when we get a chance.

Attempted Escape!

2009-07-02T18:46:00.000-05:00

So my little munchkin decided to try and show up early...here are the details so all the pregos who read this can benefit...might be TMI for some, so STOP READING if you don't want to know!

I had been cramping (about as bad as a normal period) for a couple days...today it got worse and I noticed some spotting...made me nervous so I called my doctor. They really weren't helpful just said if it didn't get better than go to L&D (labor and delivery for you non-pregos). I've never gone into L&D before so I really didn't want to. After about an hour the cramping got really bad...didn't feel like the contractions I've had before, they felt like HORRIBLE menstrual cramps...constant.... not like contractions. I called the hospital and talked to a nurse who said the cramping might actually be contractions. I called B and told him to come home, we packed bags just in case and left for the hospital. Btw- B was so cute lol not only did he rush home from work without even letting them know what was going on but he unpacked my bag, and repacked everything (making sure I have everything and properly folding it this time) into HIS bag (which is somehow better than mine)...we checked the list I have on the door that says what to make sure we want bring to the hospital (just in case), he fed the cats and dogs, he even packed a ton of clothes for himself lol b/c apparently he has no intention of leaving the hospital even for a 10 minute drive home to change. He was all happy in the car like "we're gonna have a baby today!"...I said, "NO WE ARE NOT!" and explained why I don't want this baby out at 32 weeks. He's convinced a big baby means he's ready.

When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to the monitor and apparently I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes, I was in a fair amount of pain but I couldn't feel any break between them. The nurse did a pelvic exam (first of my pregnancy) and wasn't able to tell if I was dilating, she has really short fingers and I have a tipped uterus. However she did mention that the baby's head was really low (my lab manager even made a comment this morning that my belly was WAY lower than last time she saw me). One of the nurses got me a heating pad (upon request) b/c my back was hurting SO badly. They gave me a shot of terbutaline to stop the contractions and other than a little shaking and racing heartbeat, it wasn't bad. The pain went away really quickly (and it's not a painkiller) so apparently it worked on the contractions within 10-15 minutes. They offered me another shot and some morphine but I declined them both...I'm not a fan of taking meds during pregnancy but one shot is better than a preemie. They monitored me for another hour or so and we're home now. I'm still cramping but they're totally manageable now. I'm just going to take it easy and drink a bunch of water! The nurses said if it happens like this again, to come in right away. In the meantime, until my doctor says otherwise, I'm to be on "pelvic rest"...no sex.

Eric held up well to the contractions, he just kicked at the monitors a lot, got the hiccups (adorable on the monitor) and his heartbeat was fine during my contractions. I chugged a giant thing of icecold applejuice and he really started dancing. Otherwise, after the pain got better B and I just watched Nanny 911 on the TV in my hospital room and talked about how we'll be back in a month or so to do this for real and how crazy that is.

A few things I learned from this experience:
1. I need to pack MY bag for the hospital (baby's bag is all packed)
2. I need to bring a book I haven't read before b/c it gets boring after the pain stops (think epidural!)
2b. I REALLY want that epidural!
3. Labor is not as obvious as I thought it would be (it was painful but it was impossible to time those contractions b/c I couldn't tell where one stopped and the next began).
4. I'm glad I took those childbirth classes so I could read the monitors myself and knew a little insider information about how the hospital worked
5. I'm glad we had already filled out the preregistration paperwork even though I didn't give it to them until today
6. At least now we know where to park, where to go, how things work when you get to the hospital to deliver!...and that it takes two ppl to put on their damn hospital gowns lol B and I looked like we were putting a puzzle together!

8 months...32 weeks

2009-07-01T11:34:00.000-05:00

Here are my 8 month photos...I have got to stop taking pics in the morning, It's really obvious I just woke up.

Ok I am so thrilled to finally be able to tell all the people at work who ask me EVERYDAY when I'm due...then make faces and exclamations about how long I still have to go and how big I'll get....THAT....I'm DUE NEXT MONTH!!! No I'm not due in a month...but it's July...next month is August...I'm due in August. Sounds a TON better than 8 weeks.

So the countdown...Eric is now 224 days old...meaning we have 35 days until he's full term (woo hoo!) or 56 days until his due date. I'm officially at least 80% through with this pregnancy, thank god. B made a comment the other day that this is the worst decision we ever made...sounds horrible right? That's totally not what he meant lol He went on to say that for two people who are so unbelievably impatient as the two of us, that something like pregnancy that takes 10 months to give you the reward, IS CRAZY. He's right...we talk about it EVERY MORNING AND EVERY NIGHT...how much longer? The house is READY...WE are READY...Eric's stuff is READY we're just waiting on him to be ready :( We certainly don't want a child in the NICU...but if we could give this kid miracle grow....we would.

Other new developments:

I have officially reached the swollen fingers and feet stage..yay. My wedding ring is squeezing in the skin on my finger and my shoes are quite uncomfortable...I wish I could wear flipflops in lab!
I've added 8 inches around the largest part of my belly since the first time I measured at 3 months prego.
AND my butt has increased 6 inches alone...I'm pretty sure now I'm never fitting into my jeans again lol This fact is kinda depressing but B has promised a big shopping trip as soon as I'm down to a size I want.
We also finished the childbirth classes other than infant cpr and car seat safety which happen next week. The last class was breastfeeding...very helpful. The rest of the classes were kinda obvious, with a few helpful hints here and there.

31 week photos

2009-06-26T09:32:00.000-05:00

Taken 31 weeks 2 days....while playing with photobooth settings

31 weeks

2009-06-24T11:27:00.000-05:00

(9 weeks or 63 days to go) Full term in 42 days...not that I'm counting.

Ok no photos this week! I've officially crossed the line from "aww look at the prego belly" to "OMG...sucks to be you" sometime in the last 2 days lol. okay okay...I MIGHT post one later tonight...or in a few days. I've also officially stopped writing down how much I weigh...I want no permanent record of it at this point! The doctor's office scale and I had it out yesterday, "oh no you didn't stupid scale...F YOU!"

Stupid/weird comments I've heard this week...
From a guy at work who looked right at my giant belly and with happy, expectant eyes said, "So...have you had the baby yet?"....My response "..................umm....no." While resisting the urge to say something mean.

A girl at work: "awwww...I feel for you." Me: "......umm......thanks."

weirdos.
On an up note....although it is FREAKING HOT and I have to wear tennis shoes and long pants to work....I do have some good news. My doctor wrote me a note to get me a parking permit to allow me to park in the very front row at work. This cuts down on the long walk from the student parking lot in the heat 2 or more times a day. Means that I'm only slightly dying by the time I walk into the building :) Before the new permit I used to get halfway across the parking lot and seriously consider saying "*F*ck it" and turning around to go home. The heat also means that B and I don't go for our nightly walks anymore. SOMETIMES if it's cool enough at night, AND I have the energy, we'll do it...but mostly we just go to baby classes on Tuesday nights, he plays softball on Thursday nights and every other night we spend a couple hours doing whatever and go to bed early. We're FASCINATING lol. I sleep like a rock now, except for the 4 or 5 bathroom trips a night. I used to be such a light sleeper, but I'm so tired by the end of the day now that I just pass out.

Okay other update from the doctor. Baby Eric is measuring slightly less huge than before. Part of this is likely because he's starting to drop...you can tell from looking at my belly, and I can tell because I'm eating 1/2 the TUMS I used to, and I have to pee 2x as often. We have an ultrasound scheduled for July 9th to see just how big he is and if he measures big at that appointment too...then we'll have regular ultrasounds up until delivery day to monitor his growth and make sure he doesn't get too big. Yay for giant baby genes.

30 weeks pregnant

2009-06-17T17:11:00.001-05:00

I'm now 30 weeks pregnant. YAY! It's weird knowing people who've had their babies within a week or two of where I am now. If I had him now, he'd be fine, he'd just have to stay in NICU until August. I'd much rather cook him a little longer tho :)

It's SO hot...so I chopped off all my hair. Reminds me of a haircut I let a girl give me, in the bathroom, in 7th grade, with fiskars scissors...that resulted in triangular hair for a couple years lol. LUCKILY my hairstylist is familiar with layering and thinning, things that Miss Michelle S. back in the day...was NOT familiar with lol. I'm just glad to feel a breeze on my neck again...help me stay a little cooler.

Check out this before and after :)
3.5 months 7.5 months
No hips left to put my hand on!

50 days!

2009-06-16T08:26:00.000-05:00

We're full term in 50 days!!! I'm no longer sure that this baby will be late. The doctor said I measured a month further along than I am...and the baby feels huge too...yay for me lol. I'm now a little more open to the idea of inducing...but not until 39 weeks. We'll have an ultrasound soon to get a better idea of just how big he is. And no...we don't have our dates wrong...I'm sure within a few days of when we conceived...we did it on purpose :)p.

Daddy is happy about having a big baby...bragging rights I guess lol Or just makes him think that this means he's going to be a professional athlete or something.

I had a couple days I put myself on mini-bedrest last week. Thursday I went into work and just felt awful (lab manager can always tell b/c rather than talking constantly like we usually do, I was SILENT). I felt like I had really bad menstrual cramps, just constant aching dull pain...my lower back was killing me too. So after about 90 minutes at work, I went home. I stayed in bed the rest of the day and then Friday I woke up feeling even worse, same dull period-type pain, then sharp pain with contractions that eventually got up to every 5 minutes or less for about 30 minutes. I called the doctor and he said to take two tylenol (up until now I hadn't taken a single medication of any kind with this pregnancy) and drink 32 oz of water within 15 minutes, wait an hour and if the contractions don't slow down, go to the hospital. I drank the water, waited an hour and the contractions weren't much better, still getting more painful and my back was hurting SO badly...so then I finally gave in and took the tylenol. After another hour the contractions slowed down and the tylenol plus heating pad worked for the backpain. I stayed in bed all day friday...and saturday. By saturday night I was finally feeling back to normal (well pregnancy normal). So sunday we ran a few errands and monday I was golden for going back to work. Thanks a bunch to Amanda for checking on me so often :)

On a happier note, baby's last piece of furniture arrived yesterday, another gift from Kim!...check it out! It rocks or swings in 3 directions, plays a bunch of songs and the coolest part is...

It projects pretty lights on itself...and these pretty lights drive the cats CRAZY.

Eric's view out his window...Hannah on left, Tyson on right. What's left of our yard since they've decided to take up digging...behind them.

We finally have a mattress!! We went with a hypoallergenic soybean foam-core mattress that's free of toxic fire retardants and other chemicals. It's eco and baby friendly.

Toy hammock for all his extra stuffed animals (and our old ones that survived us).

Pretty flowers from my pretty husband

A prego's best friend when her back/hips/everything else hurt.

29 weeks

2009-06-11T14:36:00.000-05:00

I guess it just goes to show that things are getting kinda crazy around here...I'm behind on my weekly posts. Yesterday I reached 29 weeks. Not exciting in itself, but very exciting when I think how that means that next week I reach 30 weeks. We're that much closer to meeting our little "thumper" (nickname of the week).

I've had a hard time relaxing lately. I've been pushing myself way too hard to get everything ready for him. His clothes have been washed, separated by size, folded and organized. His bedroom is organized with diapers separated by size, and put everywhere we'll need them. Now we're focusing on making sure we have everything we need and decorating his room. I just can't seem to leave his room alone. His room is clean and organized but EVERY OTHER room in the house is a disaster. I've moved all the empty boxes and packaging in to other rooms, completely neglected the other rooms, and the floors really need to be cleaned since we've had so much rain lately and have 3 cats and 2 dogs coming in and out.

I left work early today bc I just don't feel good. I've had a fair amount of pelvic/hip pain and a lot of BH contractions, so I thought it would be better to work on my stuff at home. I'm not sure if it's helping...but at least I'm at home to deal with it.

Post-Baby Shower and One day later

2009-06-08T23:57:00.000-05:00

Post-Baby Shower

One Day Later

Baby Shower (LOTS OF PHOTOS)

2009-06-08T15:05:00.001-05:00

Baby shower was absolutely amazing! We ended up playing the baby food guessing game after all. I will admit that the fruit baby food was really good...but i could have done without the smashed peas and chicken dinner thing. We also guessed how big around I was with ribbon lol Elena's mom was EXACTLY right...my 6 year old sister-in-law however, thought she might need another roll of ribbon to be long enough to go around me :)p

We had quite a turnout! For starters, the girls throwing the baby shower:

Ashley and Elena did a fantastic job, it was beautiful and I was really impressed. Melissa made a BEAUTIFUL cake and did an amazing job decorating it.

She also made chocolate covered strawberries and a few other delicious dishes. Elena should also win a prize for her chicken salad (no eggs at my request lol).

Gift-wise, Eric, B and I MADE OUT.

We had a mattress, swing, monkey stuff, and a couple other things shipped to the house. We got a diaper genie, lots of diapers, LOTS and LOTS of adorable clothes, grooming and health kits, blankets, gift cards, books, stuffed animals (some handmade!), baby's first christmas ornaments, pacifiers, burp cloths and receiving blankets, Eric's first baseball glove, bibs, FSU gear, an amazing mobile, JUST TONS OF STUFF. It filled our truck and his room when we got home. Seeing it all in his room made me a little emotional b/c it finally feels like it's happening and it's not just a dream that will go away when I wake up.

Eric is super active now and can do some WEIRD movements in there lol Daddy loves playing with Eric through my belly and is SO excited about meeting him!!

Here is a photo of the soon-to-be daddy with Kathryn

Melissa helping to set up

And a photo of 4 of Eric's grandmas...this baby has 5 sets of grandparents!!!

Baby also has 3 uncles and 3 aunts

And a few extra photos of as many people as I can fit in

7 months pregnant, childbirth classes

2009-06-03T14:11:00.001-05:00

I'm 7 months pregnant today. I feel like I'm really 8 months pregnant, and I'm counting wrong or something lol. It seems like so much longer. But then again 11-12 weeks to go doesn't sound too bad. Our baby shower is this weekend, and we're both really anxious to see everyone and GO SWIMMING (It's so hot!)! We both know that this is very likely the last time we'll leave our island of a town before the baby comes.

Our childbirth classes started yesterday. We learned about +/- stations, effacement, dilation, all that fun stuff. At the end of the class she wanted to teach us some breathing techniques. She turned off all the lights and had us all sitting on the floor with pillows and our husbands sitting behind us rubbing our backs etc. Then she started talking...she was trying to be relaxing, but when you have a dirty mind like B and I (and a few other couples in the room) it was hilarious. So B starts choking on his laughter trying to be quiet, which sets me off, and eventually I'm sitting there with tears streaming down my face, shaking with laughter, not always able to be silent, and B is still cracking up behind me, so I can feel him shaking and that just sets me off again. Thank god the lights were off. It was so embarrassing lol but way more fun than the crap she was trying to do. Next week we have even more "floor time" so this should be interesting.

We also had a tour of the hospital's labor and delivery floor. We saw the rooms we would be delivering in, the mom and baby rooms (the babies don't leave our side without permission), and the newborn nursery. The class was all in all interesting, not all entirely new information, but a few things I didn't know. One guy looked like he was going to pass out during one of the delivery videos...he looked terrified for the rest of the class...it was awesome.

Childbirth classes, Bellybuttons, Baby gifts

2009-05-30T21:35:00.001-05:00

This Tuesday we have our first childbirth class. At first I was tempted to skip them...mostly because I'm lazy...but that sounded like a really stupid reason to not be as prepared as possible for a totally new (to me) and unpredictable experience like childbirth. Therefore, we signed up for a 6 week course that is supposed to cover everything from labor techniques to breastfeeding, as well as infant CPR and carseat safety. Lately, I'm getting nervous about D day...so I think these classes are perfect timing.

My baby shower is a week from today. I'm really excited about it now, having a baby is apparently a great way to get all of our families together, a rare event. The girls are doing a great job planning it. I'm really excited to be back in town, even just for the weekend, it will be the last time we'll be in Austin before we're sporting baby bags and a newborn.

As for the pregnancy, my bellybutton is not only flat but also really sore lately. I read online that it has something to do with how thin the area is now. Anyone else have this? My left leg is also really sore...kinda achy for a few days now. Eric has been extremely active all day long lately. I don't mind it at all, I like it. He's a fun distraction...I wish he had been more active when I had to sit in boring classes, that would have at least given me something more interesting to focus on. I'm also learning to be very careful when cooking on the stove, pregnant bellies are MUCH closer to the burners than non-pregnant bellies :) I've definitely come close to catching my shirt on fire or burning myself a couple times. Bending is also becoming a big problem.

We also received a couple nice gifts from Grandma Terry for baby Eric...
This little gym is really cute and is apparently like crack to cats. I had to hide it in the baby's room to keep the cats off of it.

I was really excited about this bassinet...it converts to a changing table and a moses basket as well. We now have something for him to sleep in, in every room, at first we thought maybe we got a little carried away, but friends of ours with young kids assured us that it was perfect, and we will appreciate it. All this baby stuff is making us SO anxious! We want our little man here!

We realized that our baby has better furniture that we do lol But of all the furniture, this bassinet has the strongest wood. It's heavy and sturdy...that's a nice change from some of the other items we had considered (including that cradle we returned a while back). It's also on wheels so it rolls around the house easily.

THIRD TRIMESTER!

2009-05-26T22:56:00.001-05:00

So today I officially enter my 3rd trimester. I have baby dreams all the time now. At the beginning of this pregnancy, in all my dreams I was happily unfertilized...but I think that really had to do with how slow I was to accept this pregnant body. I'm actually coming around to it a little bit. It's pretty uncomfortable sometimes, but it's always kind of amazing and never boring. My belly button is completely flat now, and the middle of it is starting to move outwards just the tiniest bit. IT'S STARTING!!! *insert dramatic sound effects here*.

I was having a TON of BH contractions...and then I remembered something my OB said about how caffeine can make contractions worse....so I cut down on my already minimized coffee intake. (No ONE tell my hubby this..he doens't read this and I do NOT want to hear his shit about me and coffee lol)..anyway...it seemed to do the trick...I still have BH a few times a day..but they don't seem to be as regular as before.

I've also been in a really good mood lately...I don't think that magical 2nd trimester was magic for me...but the end of it and the beginning of the 3rd are pretty nice. I think it's the light at the end of the tunnel thing...and knowing we're past the miscarriage stage and most other dangers. I've seen his face, counted his fingers and toes, and I know he's healthy. His room is coming together, I can actually put away some of his clothes, get organized and GET READY.

I'm a huge fan of lists now...I'm making lists for things to pack in my hospital bag, what to pack in the baby bag, details that need to be done for his room, house projects to finish pre-baby, easy meals to make when he's here, what to bring to the baby shower, questions for the doctor...lists about lists i need to make :) I'm also attempting to make a little calendar of when family and friends said they're planning on coming to visit the THREE of us...whether delivery day or soon afterwards. Speaking of that, if you are planning on visiting and you have a rough idea of when you'd like to...please let me know.

Let's talk grad school...I'm TRYING to finish my last part of my masters degree in Medical Microbiology and Immunology. I'm done with the class part...I got a 4.0 this last semester and my overall GPA is really good too. HOWEVER, in order to graduate with a master's with a THESIS...you have to finish a project too. Long story short...my project hates me. Therefore I'm going to still be working on it after Baby arrives....not at all what I had planned and extremely frustrating. I've talked about it with B and we're going to make it work. I really only have to go in to check tumor sizes and give the vaccinations and all that...so it's not like I have to be there all day...but I really really needed and wanted to be done prior to baby...unfortunately, science doesn't care about my timeline. Basically the plan is that on B's days off, I'll go in for a little while and get some work done...and then evenings when he's home as necessary. Hopefully it will only be for about a month after Eric's arrival. So every once in a while I have a gradschool-related meltdown (yesterday)...and all I can think about is how I wish Eric was here so I'd have him to come home to and love on.

BLAH....don't want to end on that note....so back to I'M IN MY THIRD TRIMESTER...the end is in sight. Eric's room is coming together, my baby shower is in just over a week....everything minus school is going great. I need to relax and remember that what's most important is working perfectly. Eric also seems to have shifted position a little bit...he's lower and sometimes when he's moving around it seriously feels like he's about to crawl right out...but all in all it's a little more comfortable than it was.

Finally...I learned recently that not only do I have to watch for people who randomly touch my belly but I also have to start watching for those who lift my shirt up to see my bellybutton. I was NOT prepared for that.

26 weeks (6.5 months)

2009-05-20T09:07:00.001-05:00

So I'm feeling much more perky than usual about pregnancy lately. I love his kicks and punches and what feel like elbow drops lol, for now anyway! His room is by far my favorite place in the world. I love sitting in there staring at those soft green walls and all his baby clothes and blankets and thinking about how much our life is about to change...and how amazing that is. I have to admit, I heard that finding out you're pregnant is like a successful science experiment that both amazes and excites you...and it is...after all the "OMG it really happened" it kinda changed to, "holy sh*t...it worked....no way. We're parents...woah." I guess that's where the tiny bit of nervousness comes in. The "Oh sh*t...are we really ready for this?"...but we are.

Some people are really suprised about how excited we are about this baby. I really believe that when you plan a baby, with a stable partner, and you're more or less financially ready for him/her...it makes it so much easier to be excited and less stressed. I stress about things like finding the perfect color, name, and making sure everything has great reviews and safety ratings rather than my relationship or how we're going to pay for his delivery (thank god for good insurance). When people ask what it's like being pregnant...I always end with..."thank god for having a good husband...sometimes you really need someone there to help you get off the couch, bring home food, tell you "you're not fat..you're cute", and most of all to be as excited about the new arrival as you are...I wouldn't ever want to do it alone.

I'm also really looking forward to the baby shower in June...the girls working on it are doing such a great job :) It's not easy since they'd never met each other before...and don't live anywhere near each other. It's the last time we'll be in town before we have our son. It will be great to see everyone! We're also planning on coming down again maybe in September with Eric, and having a little get-together so everyone can meet him....and mommy can have a drink with friends again!

100 days left!

2009-05-18T14:31:00.001-05:00

So today is where I officially start counting down the days :) There are 100 days until my due date. I had a GREAT weekend in terms of pregnancy. I felt really energized, deep cleaned the whole house (totally not me...just ask my neat-freak husband), and spent two whole days ENJOYING pregnancy. I was in a really perky mood and really just felt great. I woke up super early on Sunday (gee thanks dogs and baby!) but rather than just lying around watching TV, I waited 1 hour....then woke B up and insisted we go to IHOP. There was quite a bit of protesting about the time, but I pulled the "baby's hungry" card then finally he agreed :) As we were nearing IHOP, Eric started kicking like CRAZY, it almost hurt a little...he always seems to know when food is coming! The breakfast was heaven...minus the soggy hashbrowns...and then we went maternity shopping and grocery shopping. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful sunny 73 degrees outside either. When we got home we FINALLY cut and installed the baseboards in the baby's room. After caulking and painting and all that fun stuff, we were both pretty exhausted and incapable of doing much else...but we did run by Rosa's Tortilla Factory for dinner...mexican cravings :)

But...back to the main point...100 days to go! I'm full term in 79 days...so somewhere around 79-107 days....I can do that. :)

Eric's middle name

2009-05-16T19:24:00.000-05:00

Okay...we finally decided on a middle name for Eric. We had toyed with the middle name Micheal...but it never felt right and I would never say that was the name we were going to go with. Today we finally found one.

Eric Brayden S.

yay!

Birth Plan

2009-05-15T14:17:00.001-05:00

I can't claim this...I found it on another girl's pregnancy blog....but I agree :)

"I’ve come up with my official birth plan.

1. Stab me in the back with an epidural. Please.

2. Get the baby out ASAP.

3. Celebrate with champagne. (except in my case I'd say an ice cold beer)

THE END"

Glucose Test Results, Confessions

2009-05-14T10:23:00.001-05:00

Well I definitely don't have gestational diabetes. I need to have a number above 130 to have any problem at all, and my results came back 88. So I guess my new baking habit and a big baby are to blame for the weight gain lol Can't blame it on anything else!

Now the confession part...

Pregnancy has been relatively easy on me. But that doesn't mean I like it. (I say this with no ill will toward my unborn son who has absolutely no control over how he must come into this world, of course)

I think I can safely say, with no hesitation whatsoever, that pregnancy sucks. I know there are women out there who love it. You all suck too. . . sorry. You make the rest of us feel guilty about NOT liking pregnancy. Now to be entirely honest, I don't HATE it, it's not like it's the worst thing in the world...but I'm really looking forward to it being over...and not just for the obvious "I can't wait to meet my son" reasons. Although I certainly want more children, I'm not looking forward to being pregnant again. I just haven't gotten comfortable in this pregnant body. I can't get used to the belly, I run into things, get smashed trying to squeeze between things, my back hurts most of the time, and I CANNOT get comfortable. I wake up feeling like pregnancy is a suit I am forced to wear for 10 months, but it doesn't feel right. It especially sucks being pregnant in the summer in Texas. The hubby and I have discussed this pregnancy thing multiple times and have concluded every time that those who say they love pregnancy are either liars or insane.

I want my body back. I want my decisions on what to put into my body to only affect me. I want to be able to run (not that I would...but I at least wish that I COULD!). The emotional part totally sucks too...just ask my husband lol.

Reasons pregnancy sucks:
1. I feel like a crazy emotional person
2. I weigh 400 pounds (not quite...but it feels like it!)
3. My skin hates me
4. My pregnancy cravings weren't so much fun, but more like, "eat this thing (that we don't have in the house) RIGHT NOW, or you're going to throw up"
5. Waking up at night 3-4 times to pee
6. Waking up too early and being unable to go back to sleep because Little One is kicking
7. Sciatic nerve pain...'nuff said
8. Extreme back and belly pain if I'm standing too long
9. Morning sickness that lasts ALL DAY LONG (not anymore thank god)
10. People feeling the need to tell you how so-and-so's baby died while they were delivering it...and equally horrifying stories
11. Not being allowed to sleep on my back...but waking up that way anyway, then feeling guilty b/c I know it's dangerous, and irrationally wondering if I killed my baby...and then being unable to fall back to sleep b/c I'm waiting to feel him kick so I know he's still alive.
12. Extreme anxious need to get everything perfect for the baby NOW...and having to wait for a variety of reasons.
13. Freak injuries from simple things like getting off the couch or into B's truck that refuse to heal.
14. Weirdos asking me if my water broke if I'm standing anywhere near water on the floor. (only happened once...but it's enough to be added to the list)
15. Car trips
16. Sitting in doctor's office waiting room forever...and my every 2 week appointments are just about to start.
17. Checking my body for stretch marks every morning and every night.
18. Being SO hot at night with no covers while freezing B is wrapped up in a thick comforter
19. Random pregnancy pains
20. Braxon Hicks contractions so often sometimes that I actually wonder if I should call B and tell him to come home, just in case we need to go to the hospital.

A host of other reasons that are too personal to put on here.

In spite of all of this, I am absolutely thrilled and excited to be having a baby...I just wish we were seahorses and this baby would be pushing his way out of B's.....parts....do male seahorses have vaginas??? How does that work?!

25 weeks, Glucose Test, RhoGam, Spiders, BH

2009-05-12T21:47:00.000-05:00

Hi!
I'm 25 weeks pregnant today....25 weeks. Only and already 25 weeks.

And now you know why I usually won't take straight side shots lol That belly is ridiculous.

I had my glucose tolerance test yesterday...I had been warned about "the drink". It tasted like an orange popsicle at first...then a REALLY sugary orange popsicle...then just plain gross. I just kept reminding myself that if I throw up, I have to do it all over again. The worst part was sitting in the waiting room in really uncomfortable chairs (not cool for pregos!) waiting my hour. B was with me (he hasn't missed an appointment yet!) so I used his lap as a pillow and laid down on one of the benches for a while. I don't know the results of the test yet.
My appointment went well...I kinda wish my doctor was more sensitive for lack of a better term. I trust him for getting this baby out safely for both of us, with as few interventions as possible (excpet for the epidural). I really don't want to be induced, a c-section, or forceps/vaccum OR that awful "snip" we all hear about so often. He says he can count the number of most of those that he's had to do, on one hand...so that's good. He also comes highly recommended from a coworker and if you google OB in lubbock...the only doctor's name that comes up positively constantly, is his. Back to the point though, I do kinda wish he was more sensitive b/c certain things are very emotional for me, like knowing boy/girl and seeing him for the first time, and he either jokes all the way through it or rushes through things and I sometimes feel a more personal experience is what I'm needing. However, I will not be switching doctors b/c trusting him with our safety is the most important thing. I'm confident he'll follow my wishes as far as possible and that he knows what he's doing and that matters more than anything.
I also got my first RhoGam shot today...NO ONE warned me that that f*cker hurts! I should have known when the nurse kept saying "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry" before she stabbed me, but when she apologized for "the size of the shot" I thought she meant needle gauge...no big deal right? Well the needle gauge did seem a little bigger, but once it was in, I thought that was it. NOOOOOO....then she started injecting, and continued injecting, and KEPT INJECTING. It was volume she was refering to. I could feel my layers of skin seperating. It would have been fine with a warning from some of you!
Summer weather has also brought us a slight insect problem. Every other day or so I find some satan-bug in our bathroom or elsewhere. So that's led to a lot of these:

Luckily my husband is quite capable of bug elimination. Only spiders get the death penalty by the way, others are released back into the wild of our front yard.

I've also been getting a lot of BH contractions. They made me a little nervous the other day b/c of their frequency, but the doctor said it was fine today...and gave me some guidelines for what to watch out for.

I also finally added that photo of the baby blanket my grandmother made Eric, so check it out on the previous post

6 months!

2009-05-06T11:56:00.000-05:00

Wow...it's been 6 months! I can't decide if it feels like longer or shorter. Here's my 24 week photo:

Lately I've really been feeling PREGNANT. Just heavy and a little uncomfortable, and TIRED. The heat makes me REALLY TIRED so I think we're going to have to remember that when planning baby #2. Some gifts for the baby have started arriving...here's a few:

Baby's greatgrandmother on the my dad's side sent us a baby blanket she made for the baby

Baby's greatgrandmother on my mom's side sent us a really nice wooden highchair

Melissa S. gave us a giant bag full of baby clothes

Monkey's 3D ultrasound

2009-05-03T11:24:00.000-05:00

We drove 6 hours to a 3D ultrasound place b/c I really needed to see my little one's face (and see family and friends while we were there). Here are a few of the photos...he's freaking cute and I can't wait to meet him! He had his hands and his cord across his face for nearly all of the photos...but I saw what I needed to see, including that he definitely has his daddy's nose.

still definitely a boy!

Baby accessories :)

2009-04-30T22:59:00.001-05:00

Here are a few of the baby accessories we've acquired recently:
First my lovely Baby bag, it came with a matching changing pad.

Eric's stroller

Eric's carseat...had to test it out on something baby sized :)

So as of now we have: Crib (no mattress yet), Pack and Play, Glider, Car Seat, and Stroller. Off to a good start!

23 weeks and how many trees had to die?

2009-04-29T11:23:00.001-05:00

Here's my 23 weeks photo. This belly is getting heavy! He's so active and daddy is getting into it. B has been blowing raspberries on my belly and humming up against it to make it vibrate to get Eric to kick him. It's cute, but Eric really doesn't need any encouragement to kick, he'll do it for free :)

I was wondering this morning, how many trees have had to die for the TP involved in peeing every 5 minutes all day long. Makes me feel guilty, but it's not like I can do anything about it obviously. I think I've peed 1 million times since I've been pregnant. This is annoying, and I feel like it's a waste of water also.

On a separate note, macaroni and cheese has NEVER tasted so good...I absolutely have to make some everyday. However, I can't eat that boxed crap and I don't understand how people can...gross! Now I just make massive portions of it and microwave it whenever I want some (like 11pm last night, and for lunch today)

My cats are stalking me and want to be on my belly all the time...the dogs are confused as to why I won't play on the floor with them anymore (they're heavy pitbulls who fight over who gets to pretend like they're small enough to still lay in my lap) and their constant jumping on me is getting worrisome as I'm getting bigger.

I also think I had my first BH contraction last night. Freaking weird. Didn't hurt or anything and it went away so I guess it's nothing to worry about :)

I see feet!

2009-04-22T21:51:00.000-05:00

Well...the effects of little feet pushing out of my belly. I thought it was likely that Eric's kicks were visible on the outside of my belly, but today is the first time I looked. There is NO question about it, he's a strong kicker and you can see it on the outside of my belly. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you can see it through my shirt. WEIRD! He kicked so hard earlier it actually scared me...I had my hand on my belly not paying attention and I jumped and jerked my hand away.

If I can get a good video of it, I'll post it :)

22 weeks....two photos

2009-04-22T10:04:00.000-05:00

These two photos were taken within 30 seconds of each other....don't know if it's the angle or not, but there's a huge difference! At least to me!

Bullet Points

2009-04-21T18:45:00.000-05:00

There should be a severe punishment for those who put custard-filled donuts in the regular donuts section.
My son no longer "baby pokes" my insides. He kept me up a couple days ago from 3:30-6:30 in the morning, either kicking, moving or just making me extremely uncomfortable. Something tells me I have 126 more days of this.
My skin is finally calming down, almost normal...not quite.
Everyone keeps asking me if I have stretch marks yet...none so far! Would be fantastic if it stayed that way :)p
Baby Eric LOVES the glider, if I rock in it for a little while and stop, he'll start kicking until I start again.

Last but not least, I was attacked by a lab mouse the other day. I dropped it b/c it tried to bite me and instead of landing on the cage, it ran around my hand and down my lab coat sleeve. Due to my newly large belly, my size small labcoat only allows me to button one button, and it leaves a gap. Little mouse ran all the way up my lab coat sleeve despite my frantic "dancing" to get it out, then ran across my belly and springboarded off my baby bump and out the gap in my lab coat! This is resulted in uncontrollable laughter by Jenn and I after we caught the little bugger. There is nothing quite so ridiculous as seeing a tiny mouse leap off your belly and soar through the air. Little mouse was just fine by the way!

strawberry cream cheese

2009-04-19T13:02:00.000-05:00

I have developed an insatiable need for strawberry cream cheese. Sometimes I eat it in tiny spoonfuls right out of the tub (gross, i know)....then I thought it might be good for me to just send B to the store for bagels. So now I can get my strawberry cream cheese craving in, in a semi-normal style...until of course you observe the strawberry cream cheese to bagel ratio.

Come to think of it, pretty much the only thing I've been willing to eat (but in great quantities) are variations of dairy products. Sour cream (not straight!), yogurt, milk, cheese, strawberry cream cheese...weird. I have macaroni and cheese (homemade ONLY) at least 5 times a week. Then quesadillas dipped in sour cream, sour cream and salsa on chips, and tons of cereal (milk).

On another note, baby Eric is doing great. He's very active and now daddy can feel him with his hands and not just by laying his head on my belly :) He's VERY active. The stupid college kids next door woke me up last night at 2:30 am and between 2:30 and 3:30 am Eric was kicking like crazy. I think this is the beginning of his acrobatics keeping me up all night. I've also decided that when Eric is here and those assfaces wake him up, I'm going to march right over there, walk into their house and make one of them hold his screaming butt until he falls back asleep. Maybe then they'll be more considerate b/c apparently the whole neighborhood calling the cops on them regularly isn't enough.

The proud daddy is finally starting to get more involved (not that he wasn't before, he just kept acting like Eric was still a decade away), he's a little addicted to ordering things for Eric off the internet. Sometimes he'll go through our registry and get things we actually need, but for every one of those items, he orders 3 Florida State baby items. We now have Florida State: onsies (4!), booties, pacifiers (2), sippy cups (2), bib, and a mini baseball helmet (why?!?). We've both recently realized that we're about 4 months away from holding our son. It's the first thing I think about in the morning, and the last thing I think about at night. We CANNOT WAIT to hold him. We talk about it all the time. We go into his room and look at all his stuff and B rubs on my belly and tell him all about all the football they'll be watching soon lol.

21 weeks (a little late)

2009-04-16T09:59:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a long day and I never got around to posting a 21 weeks photo...so here are some from this morning. I swear I'm bigger every morning.

glider

2009-04-15T12:49:00.000-05:00

We put our glider together last night...BY FAR the easiest piece of furniture to put together so far. It's really comfortable too so I'm looking forward to rocking baby Eric in it in a few months :)

The rest of the story...

2009-04-14T08:31:00.000-05:00

I was so excited about having a son, I didn't even mention the rest of the information we gained from the ultrasound. We declined the down syndrome and spina bifida blood tests a while back so I'm sure since he checked every little part of our son's body he would have mentioned seeing any markers for those. He made a few jokes about things like, "At least 5 fingers" when I said, "gee thanks" he replied, "any extras are bonus!" He likes to think he's funny lol

My little monster weighs about 12 ounces or 350 grams...which perfectly normal. I forgot to ask the doctor how tall he is but based on his weight which is perfectly in line with the "charts" he's likely 10.5 inches tall...he's getting there!

Last night we went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate (of course)...we went there to celebrate our engagement (exactly a year ago today!) our wedding, pregnancy, and now our son :) Then we went out and worked on our baby registry. Daddy kept trying to register Eric for T-ball sets, lego sets meant for age 7 and up, stuff like that lol Dork. Mommy had to take over the scanning gun. We bought a little sign for the baby's room that says, "All because two people fell in love" and one cute little boy's outfit to celebrate the news. Then our glider arrived so we picked that up too and B will put it together later today. YAY :)

OOOHHHH...AND I can't believe I almost forgot this, Daddy felt Eric kick last night for the first time. He still can't feel the kicks with his hands...he has man hands lol but he put his face on my belly and Eric was kicking like crazy like he always does at night and kicked his daddy in the face a few times. B was kept saying, "he kicked me in the face! he kicked me in the face!" It was cute lol

Thank you baby for finally kicking his whiney butt :) He was feeling really left out. I can't wait to get this family started :) We're going to have such a wonderful life together.

It's a BOY!!!

2009-04-13T09:33:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone :) We FINALLY got our answer! We're having a boy! Doctor said that he was sitting upside down (head down) with his legs crossed (indian style) we had no problem seeing the penis lol. However, our son, was not inclined to show his face willingly. This began a lot of jiggling my belly with the ultrasound probe while Brandan said, "EARTHQUAKE". It was ridiculous but funny. We finally saw his face, but you can't tell what you're looking at in the photos.

(Dear baby...I'm sorry for putting your penis on the internet lol)

Right now, our name is Eric Micheal S. It feels great to put a name and a pronoun to the kicks and other movements :) We're both escatic. Now I'm completely exhausted from not being able to sleep last night and being so excited today...I'm going to have to take a long nap before we go out and celebrate tonight.

We have a son :)

It's a ..........!!!!

2009-04-13T06:47:00.000-05:00

It's a ......______!!! I'll fill that in later lol

I'm WAY too excited, I'm so glad my dad and Kim came into town this weekend, working our asses off on home improvement manual labor was a great distraction. After they left, I was bouncing around the house, no longer distracted and just completely overwhelmed with excitement.

We decided to try a couple of those old-wives tales about boy/girl. We tried the wedding ring on a string over the belly...it went in a circle which according to the website I looked at afterwards said it was a girl (but there are just as many that say boy). I think I carry fairly low which is supposed to mean boy. The baby's heartbeat is usually over 140...girl. I carry out front, I'm not widening on the sides lol...boy. Morning sickness kicked my ass for a couple months....girl. So apparently the old wives tales are not helpful for us lol

Baby must know I'm psyched b/c he/she was kicking a ton last night, daddy still couldn't feel baby though :( I really don't know how that's possible lol but I guess he doesn't consider it a kick unless it knocks his hand off! Stay tuned for an update in a couple hours!!!

Before and After

2009-04-12T18:52:00.000-05:00

Still haven't put baseboards up...that's enough for this weekend!

Tomorrow!!!!, wood floors, storm door etc

2009-04-12T09:27:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the big day!!! We find out boy/girl. So many people were SURE we were having a boy up until about 2 days ago, now everyone thinks it's a girl :) I don't think people believe me that I honestly don't have a preference, depending on the hour, each sounds ideal! I just want to know! Less than 24 hours and we'll all have our answer!

This weekend Baby's grandpa Tim and his partner in crime Kim came into town. Kim very generously bought us Brazilian cherry floors to complete the baby's room. We've been working on installing them this weekend. By we, I mean Daddy and Grandpa Tim install floors while I make french toast, dinner and cookies and take pictures :)

Here's a photo of grandpa Tim pulling out the old nasty carpet. Also a photo of baby's room BEFORE

Storm door photos: (I actually helped my dad do this one while the hubby was at work)

Not everyone is happy about the new storm door though!

More photos later!

Tired daddy....

Completed floor minus baseboards

20 weeks!!!!!!!

2009-04-08T14:29:00.000-05:00

4.08.09
We're finally here! 20 weeks! (and 5 days until we know boy/girl!) I've been bouncing around all day. Too damn excited. Baby also finally moved up a little higher so that's a bit more comfortable too.

Everyone says it looks like I'm carrying a boy...and I agree. I still think it's a boy but as usual, I would be just as thrilled to be wrong. I'm so tempted just to sneak into the doctor's office and give MYSELF the ultrasound lol. 3 friends found out what they're having this week and all of them are having girls, so I think that's decreasing the chances that the universe will have a girl for me lol. You all are stealing them all!!!

I don't feel terribly huge for 5 months. I've seen a TON of women at 5 months that were WAY bigger than I am. I know I'm going to grow quickly over the next few months though.

As for cravings, thank god the steamed peas have been put away for awhile. Now I eat a ton of cereal (not unusual) and pasta (wouldn't be unusual except now I have to bake it for some reason)....but still very little meat. That's normal for me. Baby likes salads with ranch dressing (I used to be more spinach with raspberry vinaigrette). The only unusual thing lately was snickerdoodle cookies...I didn't even have a recipe or some of the ingredients, but I HAD to find them, and I made a batch and despite REALLY wanting to eat the dough instead lol cooked the stupid cookies. I had a few...but B has lived off them for a couple days now, so at least someone benefited :) And...I'm happy to report that FINALLY after that bad episode with the pizza a few months ago, I've been craving a fancy pizza lately. There's a local (?) place Dions that everyone has been talking about, and I think we'll have to go check it out soon.

**update** to other expectant moms
Check out #2 in this article
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/20/healthmag.surgery/index.html#cnnSTCText?iref=werecommend

driver's license, mountain climbing

2009-04-07T11:13:00.000-05:00

So today I FINALLY went and renewed my driver's license. My old license was literally 5 addresses old, had my old last name, and I was 17 with a nose ring. Yeah. So I decided I'd go renew on a day when the pregnancy breakouts weren't too terrible. Last night B came home and took me pregnancy clothes shopping. We bought a few pairs of REALLY comfy pants and some soft/cute shirts. It feels so much better not being squeezed lol. I've decided I much prefer the hugging type pregnancy shirts b/c if you wear the other kind, it ends up looking like you're wearing a tent. We also tortured ourself by looking at really cute baby clothes. I had to drag him away from the tiny sports related outfits for a boy and he had to literally drag me away from the adorable little girl's outfits. Soon.

Tomorrow baby and I officially reach the halfway point. It really feels to me like we've been climbing a mountain and now we're one step away from the peak. Even though I know the third trimester is going to be extremely uncomfortable and frustrating, I still feel like it's all downhill from here (in a good way). I like seeing my body change each DAY, and feeling the baby growing stronger, it's much better than the first trimester where you're just exhausted and sick and bloated lol. btw- I HATE that word. Every day brings us closer to the day we get to hold our first child. I find myself looking at expiration dates on food and thinking, "Oooh...baby will be here before this expires!" I know that's totally dorky, but any little thing that makes it feel like it's soon, feels good.

We're SIX days away from knowing if I'm carrying our first son or our first daughter. Woo Hoo!!!

Favorite Pregnancy Advice

2009-04-04T12:54:00.000-05:00

The best (true) and funniest pregnancy advice I read about morning sickness was "eat skittles and starburst for breakfast, you'll still puke but at least it tastes fruity"

HA

2009-04-03T14:40:00.001-05:00

19 weeks, grad school

2009-04-01T17:29:00.001-05:00

April 1st 2009
I'm 19 weeks pregnant today :) After taking a few days off, baby decided to start moving around a lot again today. Apparently little bug only wants to move when daddy isn't around to feel him/her. I think this is the first indication that we have a stubborn child :)p

I spoke with my boss today about possibly returning to finish a PhD when the baby is about a year old. Right now, although I could be considered to be 2 years into a PhD, I'm taking the Master's degree as a good stopping point either temporarily or permanently. He was really excited about the possibility of my returning to get a PhD. My goal is to teach college science (microbiology or immunology or something along those lines). You really need a PhD for that. Plus then I'll finally be a Doctor :)p. What's even better is that you get paid to get a PhD...so although it's not as much as I would make if I were to use my Master's degree to get a job, it's what's necessary to make really good money with a PhD.

All of this is hypothetical of course. I'm not sure how I'll feel after being home with our baby for a year. I might not want to go back. We've talked about it and B is cool with whatever I decide. I obviously wouldn't waste time getting a PhD if I had no intention of using it. However, I very well might decide that a year home with a baby is plenty...and even a few more years of grad school might start to sound good :)

Jeans, Easter, Stubborn bug, Doctor Appt

2009-03-29T11:22:00.001-05:00

So last night I decided, just for fun, to see if I could put on my old jeans. HA. That was depressing. Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you're almost 5 months pregnant. My bellybutton is also starting to freak me out lol...It's so much wider now due to the expanding belly.

Easter is teasing both B and I. We see all the cute little bunnies and brightly colored candies and baskets...and we both want to see our little one enjoying them. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until next year :(

All weekend we tried to do things to make little bug move around. He/she wasn't having any of it. We tried a loud movie theater, coffee, certain foods, laying in uncomfortable positions, nothing worked. Apparently bug isn't ready for daddy to feel him/her kick yet.

On another note :) I'm going to see about moving my doctor's appointment from April 13th to April 10th just to cut off a few days between now and finding out girl/boy! I CANNOT wait lol.
*update* darn...doctor is out of the office that whole week :( We actually have to wait!

So true

2009-03-28T17:16:00.000-05:00

http://www.hisboyscanswim.com/1443/35-shocking-facts-18-weeks-of-pregnancy-has-taught-this-pregnant-girl

This is not my list, but it is so true. Anyone who is or has been pregnant, will likely get a kick out of this. Btw...sometimes a little gross lol

another quote from their blog:

"6. ”Even though labor was the most excruciating pain I’ve ever experienced, the worst tearing I could imagine, or 22 hours of pure misery, once I saw the baby all of those feelings went away and it’s so worth it.”

Why do you people feel the need to scare me with any labor stories? I’m sure that I will find out soon enough just what labor is like, so please spare me. And also, while I’m going to be in love with my baby, I know that the pain I experience will still somewhat be a reminder of taking my birth control pills correctly the next time around."

18 weeks, Roadhouse, Twister

2009-03-25T12:21:00.000-05:00

3.25.09
I'm 18 weeks pregnant today. 4 1/2 months. JUST barely short of 1/2 way...although if I WAS 1/2 way today, I'd still have a healthy baby :) Don't mind the fact that I wasn't smiling in this photo lol It was really early this morning and I was still half-asleep.

I still don't feel kicks very often but I REALLY feel him/her roll around. Last night I just HAD to HAVE Texas Roadhouse, so even though B and I were both exhausted and he just got home from Florida...we went. Luckily it was really good! (and not just to my pregnancy craving taste buds). I ate a TON and didn't even care lol I didn't even feel all that full afterwards....just happy. I also had iced tea for the first time since I've been pregnant...which was actually really exciting for me b/c I LOVE iced tea and until now had banished all caffeine from my diet. Those of you who know me well, knew that wouldn't last too long lol So although I've limited myself to 1 normal sized cup of half-caff coffee, it is rejoining my morning routine. THANK GOD. Anyway, the point to this story was that as soon as I decided Roadhouse, the baby started rolling around, when we got to the restaurant he/she was freaking out baby-style and I kept giving B weird looks about the ridiculous acrobatics the baby was doing in my belly. So baby and I, both left the restaurant happy :)

The doppler isn't as much fun now that I can feel the baby, but every once in a while it's really comforting to hear their heartbeat, just another way of bonding.

A friend gave me a baby magazine today..and in the baby shower ideas section there was a thing about playing pregnant twister. Basically you strap pillows onto the bellys of the players and watch them try to play twister like a prego. Sounds ridiculous, but we might have to do it b/c it will make for some GREAT photo opportunities lol. I'm sure all the kids will get a huge kick out of it too.

Also today is the last day to vote on our gender poll. At least it's FINALLY not tied anymore lol. That was no fun! I still think it's probably a boy, but b/c B has made such a point of saying that it would be ideal to have a boy FIRST so he can protect our daughter/daughters (like having B for a dad won't scare the boys away lol)...I'm rooting for a girl :)

Dreams, Halloween, Placenta, Baby Shower

2009-03-23T13:32:00.001-05:00

I've been dreaming about lab mice lately. I understand that this is strange b/c I should probably be having baby-related dreams...but I think the lab mice are exacting their revenge, in my sleep.

On another note, I'm SO anxious to find out if it's a boy or girl, I have so many plans for either one. If it's a little girl I'm going to stencil on grass along the bottom of the walls in her room and have a ladybug trail going around the room in the middle of the wall. She's also going to be a lady bug for her first Halloween lol. If it's a boy, we're decorating in cute little monkeys and might have to put the little man in a monkey costume for Halloween!

I watched this "documentary" for lack of a better term, on the placenta. It was actually really interesting! I am now afraid though that the membranes surrounding the baby are too thin and I could rip them by lifting something too heavy or the baby kicking too hard. I'm sure that's irrational, but try telling that to the worrier in me.

I'm also really looking forward to the baby shower. It will be nice to see everyone and see what my nerdy but creative friends have come up with lol. Also, that weekend B and I will likely go to a "pay to peek" place and get our baby's first 3D ultrasound so we can get a sneak peek at their beautiful face :) Can't wait!!

Impatient!!!

2009-03-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

I'm especially impatient today. I want this baby and I want this baby NOW. I much prefer being really busy so I don't have so much time to think about how far away delivery day is. I don't mind being pregnant, at this point, I just would rather be holding them :(. I thought I'd want to keep a pregnancy diary, but I think I wrote about 4 pages so far. This blog is much more therapeutic. I do however LOVE the Belly Book. It's the one pregnancy "journal" I actually keep up with.

As for pregnancy books, What to Expect when you're Expecting, is okay. I like Your Pregnancy Week by Week MUCH better.

24 days until we find out if we're having a son or daughter :) (Monkey or Ladybug)

17 week photo..OMG.

2009-03-18T08:57:00.001-05:00

3.18.09
OMG. I had to call B and ask him if I really look like that lol! He said, "yep..that's my prego."

Changed comments

2009-03-17T17:20:00.001-05:00

Hi! I changed the comment settings so you don't have to be registered to leave comments anymore, however if you leave a comment without signing in, PLEASE leave your name!!!

Tests

2009-03-17T12:13:00.000-05:00

We opted out of the blood tests for downs syndrome and spina bifida b/c not only am I as low risk as you could possibly be...but it wouldn't change anything but add stress to the pregnancy. Spina bifida can be checked for on the ultrasound more accurately than the blood test anyway.

We also opted out of the amnio b/c I believe it's too invasive and dangerous for the information you get from it. This is especially true since we haven't had any problems or complications. The baby (based on the size of my uterus) is probably on the larger side so it's certainly growing just fine. (Yay. for a family history of big babies lol).

BABY KICKING!!!

2009-03-17T11:39:00.000-05:00

I just felt the baby kick for the first time! I had my arm resting up against my belly and it felt like someone tapped the inside of my arm. Then as I was thinking, "WTF?" I felt the tap twice more :) I now have my hands permanently glued to the sides of my belly :) That was awesome, especially since it can be felt on the outside of my belly, that means my very impatient husband will be able to finally feel more involved :)

We had a doctor's appointment this morning and baby's heartbeat was 149-155 bpm...so still perfectly healthy and very active. I started drinking a little coffee again, so I think the baby likes it. This baby is going to have the same caffeine addiction I do. He/she LOVES it ;)

We'll find out the baby's sex from the doctor April 13th. 3 weeks and 5 days if I counted correctly :)

Blog Stalkers, feeling good, tumbling, Grad school, my husband

2009-03-12T22:54:00.000-05:00

3.12.09
Apparently all kinds of people read my blog lol I hear about more every day. So Hi! Feel free to comment even if I don't know you very well :) Now that I blog-stalk a few other women who are due around the same time as me, I understand that when you're really bored, there is no such thing as too many blog posts. Therefore, I'm going to post whenever I feel like it now rather than trying to pace myself.

I've been feeling great lately. The dizziness I was having trouble with not too long ago seems to have disappeared as soon as I followed the advice of a professor of mine. She recommended I eat more protein. I used to be a vegetarian, so even now I don't THINK to eat meat. So I bought a bunch of protein bars, although they don't all taste good, I haven't had a dizzy spell since. Brandan brings home chicken nuggets for me sometimes, and still nags me about drinking enough water :) He also is sweet enough to get up and get everything for me (including bedtime snacks of toast with butter and jam). He's so sweet :)

I can really feel the baby tumble around a little now, still no kicks tho :(

I've had a few questions about how this baby is affecting grad school. My bosses are totally cool with me showing up about an hour late EVERY day b/c although I get up at the same time...I just move slowly now lol. I leave lab whenever I want a snack (no food or drinks in lab of course) which is often! My thesis project is currently underway. It's on schedule to be completed in June and then I'll write my thesis b/w June and August (mostly at home, which will be nice during summer months being 8,9,10 months pregnant). I presented my research last week as part of a competition and won the President's award (like Grand Prize) and I also won first place for my category (master's student or first 2 years of PhD). Both prizes came with a scholarship so that was great. I had a big smile on my face for my presentation b/c all I could think about was the baby rolling around, so I think little bug is my good luck charm!

Brandan has been pretty good about being extra helpful now. He makes me snacks when I get hungry in bed, he refills my water bottle all day, stops and gets me "craving foods" even though he's sweaty and tired after boxing class. He's learned the magic trick of "you're right, I'm sorry" when I have a prego moment and yell at him over something really stupid. He's really impatient to be able to feel the baby...but he's loving the expanding belly. He has a nickname for me now that I can sometimes use some help to get out of my piles of pillows on the bed or couch...he calls me Turtle. I don't mind lol that's exactly how I feel!

4 months pregnant, Photos, Weight gain, cravings

2009-03-11T14:37:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! We're 4 months pregnant today...which sounds like it should be taken more seriously than 3 months lol so that's pretty cool...the weird milestones we go by :)

My biggest pregnancy complaint is my breakouts...I NEVER had breakouts like this, not even in high school. I think I might finally be getting a handle on things though. It probably doesn't help that i'm avoiding most chemicals commonly used in acne treatments, so I have to be far more careful choosing facewashes.

So far I've gained about 5-6 lbs. They come and go a little, but I think it's safe to say about 5 pounds now. All belly. My appetite has hit with a vengeance. The baby still wants weird things like steamed vegetables (still peas, but now also broccoli and edamame) but a least after I satisfy those cravings I get ravenously hungry for either something with tomato sauce (pasta) or cheese (mexican food or baked pasta). So after eating a giant plate of broccoli yesterday I called B and asked him to bring home 3 items from taco bell lol I NEVER eat taco bell.
Here is a picture of my belly from my perspective lol

And a picture of the baby's crib so far:

I'm not the only one who enjoys naptime :)

On another note, Leah has me reconsidering cloth diapers...(but still not medication-free birth! sorry Leah!) so anyone who has tried them who feels like offering suggestions or opinions, I'm interested :) I'll probably stick with disposables for traveling or when we're running errands, but since most of our time will be spent at home....maybe cloth too.

almost 16 weeks, disappearing baby, movement

2009-03-09T20:47:00.000-05:00

3.9.09
Can't tell I'm pg on the left...just a little extra curvy, but then.....BABY. (ignore the weird smile, I just woke up).

I can feel the baby move around a little now, I was in an elevator today and felt the baby move from my right side (their favorite side) to my left. Weird feeling lol Best way I can describe it is it feels like an egg on the inside of my belly moving from one side to the other. You can feel the baby through my belly (not moving...just where he/she is). If you were to stand my child up right now, they'd be about 6 inches tall :) My little thumbelina :)

15 weeks, belly pics, doppler, registry

2009-03-04T19:41:00.000-06:00

Here are the latest belly pics...I'm really not sticking my belly out lol

Our doppler arrived today. It works and we can hear the baby's heartbeat but our child is fast lol. Baby would let us hear their heartbeat for about 3-5 seconds then move somewhere else and we'd lose the signal :) I'm still feeling "something" kind of indescribable, basically I can just tell where the baby is (sometimes), but I can't feel distinct movements.

I've had requests for our registry...the only registry that is up to date (and not just ideas for me)...is walmart. Here's the link: https://www.walmart.com/giftregistry/gr_detail.do?registryId=86200459003
It's a work in progress so if you can think of things we're forgetting, let us know!! We're trying to avoid gender specific things until the gender is more specific! So we'll choose sheets and all that then.
As for the baby shower, I'm not sure when that's going to happen. It will be easier to think about once we know if its a boy or girl (and we'll find out by the end of this month). I'm fairly sure the shower will be in or around Austin b/c we don't know anyone in Lubbock :)

Finished crib!!!

2009-03-01T21:44:00.000-06:00

This is our little one's finished crib, now we have to get a mattress and then sheets and a cute bumper :)p It's never done!

I'm really starting to enjoy the expanding belly now, especially since it's not making me throw up anymore! I have little twinges of possible baby movement, but nothing I'd swear to yet. I did buy a doppler today so in a few days I'll be able to confirm if the baby really is in the spots I think he/she is in.

Sometime soon we're going to head to Abilene and get a 3D ultrasound done to find out baby's sex! We can't wait!!!

14 weeks, belly pics, crib

2009-02-25T13:28:00.000-06:00

I'm 14 weeks today. So now no matter which baby book you're reading, I'm in my 2nd trimester. I've had no complications so far so I'm lucky in that respect. The nausea is getting much better except for this morning where my fruit loops and prenatal vitamin decided they couldn't be in my stomach together. Unfortunately they decided this while I was at work, so after making it all the way through my first trimester without getting sick in a public bathroom...not a great start to the 2nd trimester.

We started putting together baby's crib last night...B isn't thrilled about putting it together now since it will then be in the way when we redo the floors...but I'm not patient with baby stuff and he knows it :) I ate frosted flakes while he got everything set up and then we put it together last night. We need this one piece of hardware that we stripped by mistake to finish putting it together so we'll run by home depot later and finish it up. Here are the pics so far:

Here is a belly pic:

12 weeks - 14 weeks

2009-02-11T12:56:00.000-06:00

2.11.09
We officially reached our 2nd trimester today! Woo hoo! I'm far less nauseous lately, a little less tired, and showing a lot more. I've been pretty dizzy if I stand too long or especially in a hot shower, but doctor said that's normal. People seem really interested in my pregnancy pillow I keep raving about. Check it out below, it's huge, it wraps around you and goes down to your thighs behind you and to your ankles in front of you. Best purchase ever, so far. Not much else to report!

2.13.09
I was really sick yesterday but I'm not sure if
it was all baby-related or if I caught one of the
many illnesses going around the health science center right now. I guess that's the danger of working within a hospital/medical building. All I could eat yesterday was steamed peas.

I'm feeling much better today, I bought strawberries, bananas, cantaloupe, and cheese. I thought I wanted pastrami for some reason even though I don't even know what animal it comes from, but when I bought it and smelled it, I knew I couldn't eat it. Dogs were really happy though! I had a cheese and spinach sandwich instead...yum :)

I still love that prego pillow and Brandan HATES it lol It takes up a good portion of the bed and keeps him away from me at night.

*update* we JUST bought baby's crib! We had been waiting for it to be back in stock and as soon as it was, we pounced :) Check it out below!

2.16.08
Well I was feeling fantastic, at least back to normal. (Normal for an emotional, hungry prego). Then, I had half a string cheese...apparently baby didn't approve and 15 minutes later I had my head in the toilet. I guess it's time to go back to steamed veggies (what kind of kid is this?!?).

We have our 2nd prenatal appointment tomorrow, we'll hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time (we've seen it on ultrasound, but haven't heard it yet). We're probably not going to let him do anymore ultrasounds b/c my insurance only covers 1 that isn't medically necessary (our last one) and any others are $404. Instead, when we go to Austin we'll go to one of those 3D ultrasound places and get much nicer ultrasounds for around a 1/4 of that. That includes our gender determination ultrasound. If we can't make it to Austin, we'll drive to Amarillo (about 90 minutes away) b/c the ultrasound place in LBB is gone now.

**update** Baby and I compromised on the fruits and veggies thing with fruit loops lol I don't even remember the last time I had them, but I bought a box today on a whim...and now we're both happy :)p (I did give the baby steamed corn earlier....weirdo baby and its veggies)

2.17.09
We had our 2nd prenatal appointment today. We got to hear our child's heartbeat for the first time. It was so much more emotional for me than I thought it would be. I'm starting to calm down and enjoy the pregnancy now (especially now that it seems like it's going by quickly). The video lost a little sound quality with the encoding, but check it out :) You can hear the heartbeat the best in the middle and towards the end.
baby's heartbeat

This ultrasound was at 8 1/2 weeks...we'll have another one in a month or two. (and find out if it's a girl or boy!!!)

Baby's first ultrasound

2.18.09
Hearing baby's heartbeat yesterday was amazing...I can't wait to meet this child.
13 week photos

10 weeks- 12 weeks

2009-01-28T15:20:00.000-06:00

01.28.09
Woo Hoo! The last blog before the start of my 2nd trimester! We're officially at 10 weeks today. I have virtually no nausea during the day or in the morning, but nights still suck...at least until I fall asleep. I don't wake up in the middle of the night anymore, but once I wake up in the morning, I'm up. I can't sleep in on weekends at all.

I really wanted hotdogs a few days ago when it was warm and sunny, but had JUST gotten back from the grocery store so I didn't want to go back. Yesterday in the snow/ice, we stopped at United and bought hotdogs and my husband braved the snow and ice to even cook them on the grill for me :). I've been wanting pasta lately but there's only ONE sauce I like and it's sold out everywhere right now, I've tried a whole bunch of others hoping for one I can tolerate, but so far no luck :( Today I want lasagna, not sure if I'm going to buy one premade (yuck) or go ahead and get off my butt and make one. Suprisingly, I really haven't gained any weight. I'm still 3 pounds up like I have been since the beginnning. So I guess I'm not doing too badly. I'm eating much more meat than usual though, so baby is getting their protein.

1.31.09
I have had many requests for belly pics, so here are a couple from today. I'm 10 weeks and 3 days. I still haven't gained anymore weight, but the belly is different.

2.02.09
It's weird that it's already February! Well we did finally choose a crib, of course it's out of stock right now, but I'm sure it will be back soon, and then we'll pounce on it. It's convertible so it will work as a crib and a toddler bed/day bed.

Other than that, I'm feeling much better now. I'm at the weird dreams stage. Sometimes I'll dream that I'm having a boy, sometimes a girl, sometimes I'll dream that there's a problem. Or sometimes I'll dream that I'm a member of the group stranded on an island in LOST. :) There's no predicting it!

Only real symptoms now are expanding...everything! Still without weight gain though, and when I'm hungry...I'm HUNGRY...and I have to eat RIGHT THEN.

2.04.09
ok check out these pics, yesterday my boss noticed I looked pregnant for the first time, and I agree. It looks like I'm sticking out my belly or arching my back but I'm actually not.
Maybe it's just a weird angle! I'm 11 weeks today! I'm also REALLY craving sweet and sour chicken and I don't even care that it's morning.

2.05.09
My hubby brought home my sweet and sour chicken yesterday but it wasn't the crispy unhealthy kind I was craving, so not only did it not satisfy the craving, it actually make me sick. Yuck.
Today I felt like crap, I don't know if it's baby sick or sick sick...maybe a combination of the two. I'm currently at 2.5 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight.
I've been watching one of those Nanny 911 shows today and the family has 7 girls 0 boys. That is WAY too many of one sex! I bet by kid 6 they were like, "I'm sure the next one has to be a boy...what are the odds..." and then "oops." lol Brandan and I want at least one of each sex, but if we get 3 girls or 3 boys...we'll have to discuss other options lol We're not going to have 7 first.

2.06.09
I feel much better today, back to normal (well pregnant normal). My skin still hates me, but my stomach is my friend again....mostly. Yummy fudgy brownies sound REALLY good today lol. We're going to buy that pack and play this weekend, I think, since the crib is still out of stock. Mostly just looking forward to be done with my first trimester! Also, I ordered a pregnancy pillow and I can't WAIT for it to arrive. Even though I used to love it, I do NOT like being touched when I'm sleeping now, so the giant pillow that goes both in front and behind me, will make sleeping a lot easier, hopefully.

2.08.09
Yay! 200 days to go lol Seems like a million. I'm up at 6 am on a Sunday...and I don't even have a beautiful baby in my arms to explain it. This is getting old! The highlight of my day yesterday was that I was able to squeeze into a pair of my pre-prego jeans, even with the rapidly expanding belly. To be entirely truthful, I did loop a hairband between the button and the buttonhole to give myself a little extra room! Brandan was quite amused. We're going to go see Slumdog Millionaire today and maybe Gran Torino also, then we're going to Target to pick up our first baby furniture item, the playard/bassinet/newborn napper/changer thing lol.

2.09.09
Here's the actual picture of our little one's first piece of furniture.

8 weeks -10 weeks

2009-01-14T13:46:00.000-06:00

1.14.09
So today baby and I reached 8 weeks, baby has fingers and toes and actually looks like a tiny baby instead of a seahorse. I can't wait until the first doppler appointment, I'm looking online to buy a doppler to use at home.

Brandan painted the baby's room yesterday...well started on it, the color you see is actually the paint mixed with the primer, but it's pretty close to the actual color. He'll finish the room by this weekend for sure.

The pictures are a little darker on here than they look in person, but that's the general idea. Now if the baby is a girl, we'll have a little trail of ladybug wall stickers going around the room, if he's a boy, we're still thinking about what we want to decorate with.

The writing says "We love you Baby Schultz, Love Mommy and Daddy 1.13.09" We always write a message on the wall before we paint, or the floor before we put wood down, our way of leaving our mark on our first house I guess :)

1.15.09
We bought this for baby today. It will go in our bedroom next to our bed for the first few months.

1.16.09
Last night around 11:30pm, B and I were already in bed watching Grey's Anatomy on DVR and I suddenly HAD to have a grilled cheese sandwich. B didn't believe me lol. Then I got up, made a grilled cheese and came back to bed with sandwich in hand, while he's shaking his head at me lol.

This morning I was much less nauseous than usual, but I had a hard time eating breakfast, tried 3 different breakfasts before I found one that worked (vegetarian sausage patties with syrup...go figure!).

I'm really glad it's Friday, I really need a nap :( We made a quick trip to Babies-r-us last night to "shake test" the cribs lol We're trying to decide between the kind with a drop down side and the kind without. We're leaning towards the kind without. Otherwise, we're just really looking forward to Monday's doctor appt.

I took Ashley's advice and checked out Once Upon A Child. It's a consignment-type store for all things kids/baby. It's great! I bought Baby a couple more outfits.

1.17.09
I love watching delivery shows and I love spending time in the soon-to-be baby's room. I'm nauseous every morning and every night, but english muffins seem to help for some reason. During the day, I don't even feel pregnant, just a little fat lol.

1.19.09
We had our first prenatal appointment this morning. The nurse couldn't find the heartbeat with the doppler, which is scary for me, but she said that's normal at this stage. But she scheduled an ultrasound for later today at 1:30pm, so I'll update then!

ULTRASOUND!!!

See this beautiful bean? That's our son or daughter. They have a very strong heartbeat of 176 bpm and measured at 8 weeks and 4 days :) Doctor said that our chances of having a miscarriage are now less than 1-2% which is a HUGE relief. We are SO happy and Brandan caught the whole thing on video too :)

1.20.09
I woke up this morning wondering if yesterday was a dream :) I LOVE that ultrasound picture, less blob-like than any others I have seen this early on.

Last night I learned that baby does NOT like pizza. I ate pineapple pizza and spent 20 minutes later that night with my head in the toilet. That's the worst sickness I've had so far.

1.22.09
I am craving banana everything right now. I want banana bread, banana sandwich with peanut butter, banana slices with peanut butter, bananas, banana split lol anything with bananas....guess I need potassium?

1.23.09
I went home yesterday and ate a banana while making a banana sandwich, then made banana bread for dinner :) Then I felt great. I've felt great all day today too, I was barely sick this morning! I did however have a little emotional breakdown (think crying pregnant girl in the closet) when I realized I couldn't fit into my jeans I wore a few days ago, (not even close!) even though I've lost weight since then! I look lumpy in my usual shirts...not pregnancy lumpy, fat girl lumpy, it makes me sad :*( My weight is about 3 pounds more than before I was pregnant, but it's shifted all around. I'm more "top heavy" than usual (big time!) and I can't fit into a single pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans as of today, so I think it's time to go shopping.

1.25.09
I drove around until I found some girlscouts yesterday b/c I've been craving thin mints for a while :) I bought 2 boxes of thin mints and 1 box of peanut butter cookies for B. Then B came home with a CASE of thin mints. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with 14 boxes of thin mints! It's sweet...but kinda ridiculous at the same time!

I'm tired but less sick than usual, so that's a nice change. I've been extremely lazy all weekend, watching all the LOST episodes online to catch up with the series. The cradle we ordered arrived, but it was splintered so we returned it. Watch out for JcPenny's return policy on furniture though, it's only 7 days! Now we're not sure if we're going to order another one or maybe one of the ambi bed knockoffs I posted on here earlier.

Brandan finished painting the babies room, the actual color was lighter than the paint mixed with primer color so now it's actually the color I was hoping for, which is nice. I'm not really worried about the pregnancy anymore, since we've seen the baby and it's strong heartbeat. Now we just wait :)

1.26.09
Here's the baby's room now...with what we have so far in their closet :)

6 weeks-8 weeks

2008-12-31T07:50:00.000-06:00

**Btw- I update these blogs nearly daily, I don't create a new one except every 2 weeks. So if you are a subscriber, you have to check back at the old one, you won't get an e-mail.**

12.31.08
Not only is it my lil bro's 21st birthday today (woo hoo Chris!) but it is also the day I've been waiting for where the baby's heartbeat should be visible by ultrasound. Unfortunately I don't have my first appointment for another 5 days so we'll have to wait....and the doctor's office said they don't do ultrasounds until 21 weeks...which is crazy so we might have to go to another place in town that will (like planned parenthood). Kinda ridiculous that all the abortion clinics around here will do an ultrasound for free to confirm the pregnancy is in the right place (not ectopic) and see how far along you are (think heartbeat) but my doctor won't. We'll talk to the doctor and see if they'll do it. They can do doppler at 10 weeks..but we all know I'm not a patient person and I want to fully get excited about this baby and not have that little voice reminding me that I should try to stay as unattached as possible (not possible...but a little bit of a downer).

SO right now, the baby should have a heartbeat, functioning liver, limb buds, early mouth, jaw and esophagus and baby's crown-rump length is about 6 mm and weight is about 0.5 gram. Go baby lol! I'm actually proud of my kid for growing arms! I feel like I'm cheering them on :)

Last night I had really bad cramps...woke me up. It was scary because I wasn't sure if they were normal or if there was a problem. I looked it up online and apparently its normal. This morning however I noticed that that part of my abdominal area was sticking out lol. I swear I get fatter every night. It's crazy my hips used to stick out in that area, now that area sticks out just past my hipbones, and that's definitely not fat!

2009 is going to be an amazing year :)

Happy New Year everyone!

1/05/2009
Today was supposed to be our first prenatal appointment. However, on our way there, I called my insurance company to double check that my doctor was in-network...they said no. Even though I found the doctor through their in-network list online, apparently it's not "up to date". So I had to cancel my appointment and reschedule with a different doctor for Jan 30th. I'll be 10 weeks by then. So the upside of the delay is I should be far enough along for them to try to find the heartbeat with the doppler which is good, b/c this doctor's office shares the policy of the other, by which I mean that they won't do an ultrasound without a problem until about 21 weeks.

Other than that, I eat little snacks every hour or so and that REALLY helps with the nausea. I'm really tired all of the time, but apparently that's normal. I'm definitely noticing some body changes...most of which are very popular with the husband :) We're also working on the baby's room, I bought a little organizer to put the baby's clothes in...check it out!

1.07.09
7 weeks today....and SO TIRED. I barely get through work/school...then I get home, try to keep my eyes open until Brandan gets home, eat dinner, watch MAYBE one of our shows....and then its bedtime. It's all-day mild-moderate nausea but I feel like I haven't slept in weeks. I wake up tired too :(

I'm also getting tired of people trying to freak me out. I know I work with a few hazardous chemicals...but I was always careful before I was pregnant, and now that I am pregnant, I don't even handle them anymore. My lab manager has to run the gels and deal with acrylamide and ethidium bromide for me, but people like to tell me that the damage could have been done before I even got pregnant. Don't stress out the pregnant lady!!!

Also, I have 3 prego books. I'm having SO much trouble keeping up with my progress in each lol No energy to read! But I really love all the "actual size" diagrams of my baby :)

1.08.09
I woke up this morning at 5:30am feeling really sick and I have a habit of sleeping on the couch when I'm sick so I headed out to the living room and couldn't even make it. I ended up throwing up in the kitchen sink. Yay morning sickness. It took me hours before I felt well enough to stand up and get ready for work.

1.09.09
I'm feeling a little better today...at least I didn't get sick. I went home from work yesterday and slept until B got home and still went to bed early. I'm thinking I could probably sleep all day and all night given the chance, we'll find out this weekend :)

I have my committee meeting today...group of professors who decide if I have enough data to graduate. I'm pretty nervous and nausea doesn't lend itself to thinking clearly...so this might be interesting when they start drilling me.

1.12.09
That committee meeting went great, I'm all on schedule to defend my thesis in August (just before baby arrives) but it's fine to push it off anytime between August and December if I'm not up to it at the time. My degree will say I graduated in December, but I'm fairly certain they only do one graduation ceremony here, so I'll walk...if I choose to, in May 2010.

As for baby, we are getting VERY impatient to learn something about this baby, we haven't actually been to the doctor yet so we haven't heard a heartbeat, seen an ultrasound, nothing. I have an appointment on the 19th but I'm not sure if they'll do anything. Maybe doppler. On the 30th I have an appointment with a different doctor who assured me they would do a doppler. Finally.

Brandan and I have been a little overwhelmed trying to choose baby furniture, strollers, car seats, bassinets, all that fun stuff. Starts off really fun, then ends up being stressful when you get home and look at reviews and there are safety complaints or complaints in general from many of the moms. Here's what we're thinking about now....

1.13.09
I woke up at 4 am and moved to the couch again this morning. Mornings really are the worst for me. It's not too terrible, I've heard of much worse, but I'm still very ready for the first trimester to be over, and I have just under a month to go. Good new is, after another week or two, the morning sickness is supposed to start getting better.

Brandan is going to paint the baby's room today since it's his day off and I'll be at work away from all the fumes. I'm really looking forward to putting the baby's room together, it's a lot of work and money, but it's so worth it. We're replacing the carpet with Brazilian cherry laminate (looks like hardwood) floors, painting the walls green, and both of us dug out all our old baby stuff that we had access to and we'll put up some shelves to display them on around the room.

I'm getting really frustrated about the ultrasound thing. I was upset last night b/c so far I've only had the crappy parts of pregnancy, and not the amazing parts of seeing the baby, hearing the baby's heartbeat, and of course feeling the baby move. Nearly everyone I know had ultrasounds really early so I'm not sure why none of my doctors will do it. Our first appointment is Monday, so we'll likely try to talk them into doing one. Tomorrow I'll be 8 weeks, so I'll start a new blog then :)

4 weeks- 6 weeks

2008-12-17T18:16:00.000-06:00

December 15th at 1:30pm I found out I was....expecting! I was at work and Shannon talked me into testing again (I got a negative test the day before) and surprise surprise it was POSITIVE. Just barely. I had heard about evaporation lines and I was SURE I would have had more symptoms...so I went back to work. At 4pm after work I took a few more tests...and by that I mean 5 (and 5 different brands just to be sure)! ALL POSITIVE! I was so excited! I called Brandan right away...he was thrilled and mentioned something about how now he wanted to go out and buy legos for the baby...weirdo.
See all those tests? All taken in 2 1/2 days...and all positive! Called immediate family and a few close friends.

12/16/08
Called doctor and made my first prenatal appointment for January 5th. We should be far enough along to detect the heartbeat by then! Told a few more friends!

12/17/08
Officially 4 weeks along today and my
first morning sickness experience. I was completely fine getting ready for work like usual then....sick....out of nowhere!
Went out and bought ginger ale and saltines (on a whim went for low-salt...yuck) and almonds. Ended up eating a whopper for lunch anyway....and regretted that decision. Those things are NOT good anymore. I guess that's why I'll only have one every few years.
Discovered low cut jeans are NOT my friend right now...they push in all the wrong places...tried on a SUPER small maternity outfit...fell in love and bought it. I'm never going back to tight jeans and I can't wait to fill this outfit out!
Called the baby's greatgrandparents and let them know!

12/18/08
Took my 13th pregnancy test...yeah I know. Queen of the peesticks. But that line was glaringly obvious as opposed to the light ones a few days ago...Woo Hoo! Saltines and ginger ale for lunch...never thought I'd be SO happy to be sick :)

Baby info:
We decided on names months ago...
baby girl: Sara Evalyn
baby boy: Eric Matthew
The baby's room will be a rich green by the end of this weekend...and if it's a girl, we're decorating in ladybugs...if it's a boy...we're not sure...but maybe teddy bears...maybe frogs.
My due date is approximately August 26th 2009. We already picked out a crib...it's affordable and one of those 3 in 1 cribs that converts into a daybed and then a full sized bed (see below)

Btw- It feels kinda weird to be losing weight...and getting too fat for my jeans at the same time. I kinda hope the fun cravings start soon b/c right now I'm just not really wanting to eat anything.

12/19/08
Last night sucked. I felt so sick and emotional...but earlier in the day was good. I wasn't too sick...I bought the paint for the baby's room...It's called Secret Garden. I'm wearing my prego pants today....they're awesome :)

12/20/08
Baby's blood starts circulating today!

12/21/08
Brandan was in Arkansas spending time with his father when I found out I was pregnant (the test the morning he left was NEGATIVE but the next morning was my first positive!)...so this afternoon when he got home I took my first digital test and another +/- test so we could kind of share the experience. See below!

12.22.08
I feel great today. No complaints!

12.27.08
Other than needing to lay down and sleep more than usual...I'm still feeling great. I guess I'm one of those lucky women. Christmas Day I spent a lot of time laying down...but was still able to get out and throw a football around with the Armstrong family.

Apparently our little tadpole has a functioning liver, circulating blood (but not a completely formed heart) and the beginnings of limb buds right now. I love keeping track of what happens each day...b/c it really happens that fast! Tadpole Schultz is about the size of an orange seed now.

......spoke too soon! My little brother made corn chowder that as soon as I saw it and smelled it....sent me running outside sick. Tried to come back in the house a few minutes later, and ended up running for the bathroom. Spent the next 30 minutes or so outside to get away from the smell!

12.28.08
Brandan and I went to the outlet mall and bought the baby an outfit or two and little tiny socks, a little tiny hat and a little tiny bib :) Shopping is so much fun now! We're just buying everything green and some baby blues even though I'm pretty sure it's a boy. I just have a feeling, but I'd be absolutely thrilled with a girl too! I swear I'm already fat...which is ridiculous. So I bought a couple tummy-accommodating shirts today and I've found that the baby bump makes dress shopping for New Years especially difficult. Other than the corn chowder episode yesterday...I'm still feeling good!