12.01.2009

the long awaited return.



wow, it has been a long time. sorry kids, having a tiny angry man does not make for easy blogging.

so a lot has happened in the past six weeks since i have neglected my blog... lets start with the stats: he now weighs 11 lbs and is 22.5 inches long and wearing clothes for 3-6 months. he is no longer my tiny tiny little baby. it is outrageous how fast they grow and no matter how many times you hear that before you have your baby, you truly have no idea until you see it for yourself.

after 6 weeks of a fussy (i thought colicy) baby, a red rash on his face, numerous vomitting spouts, mucousy and finally bloody poop, we found out that the little man is allergic to dairy. you also have no idea how many foods contain some form of dairy until you are no longer allowed to consume it, and since i am still determined to nurse him, i cant have anything he cant have.

but its not all that bad, there are actually a lot of soy substitutes for dairy that are pretty good, and i am actually a fan of the soy milk silk, especially the chocolate. and there is an absolutely delicious ice cream that is dairy and soy free made with coconut milk, i am currently enjoying its deliciousness as i write this entry. there are also a ton of really helpful websites that have dairy free recipes, and luckily i have an awesome mom that made us a completely organic and dairy free thanksgiving, and a great hubs that found me the fabulous ice cream and is always bringing me new treat finds that are dairy free.

hmmm... what else... he had his first round of immunizations a couple weeks ago and he did great! i think i may have cried more than he did. but he took it like a little trooper. sweet little guy. it was just really hard to think that i was bringing my baby to have something done that would physically cause him pain. i also cried when the nurses took him from my hospital room to get his circumcision. clearly my hormones have turned me into a girl.

overall, he is a totally happy little baby man now that the dairy is completely out of his system. hes always smiling and laughing and 'talking' it up. i can be so frustrated if hes having a fussy day and all he has to do is look up at me with that huge gummy smile and all the frustration is totally gone. i know that sounds silly and mushy but its so true.

10.27.2009

84+ in 7.

if you think you have an idea of just how often and how many diapers you will change when you have a newborn, you are sadly mistaken. i thought i was pretty mentally prepared to change a million diapers, but i didnt expect that my little man would need to be changed just about every five minutes.

not only does he poop every single time he eats, which lately has been about every two hours, he poos just for fun in between feedings and pees almost constantly. the best part is when im changing him and the exact moment his little heiny feels a clean diaper underneath it, he feels the need to poo again, so then we get to start the entire process all over again. fun fun. especially when hes a little cold and hating the fact that the lower part of his body is uncovered.

10.16.2009

a word of advice.

in my head the reason that people enjoy my blog is because i am brutally and sometimes too honest with the things that i go through. but i have always been an open person and i believe that a lot of other women have gone through these same things but are too embarrassed to talk about it. and even if they havent, who cares?

as i am sure many of you remember, i touched on the subject of kegel exercises back in march when i first realized that every tiny sneeze or burst of laughter may cause me to pee on myself. i started the kegels and after a short while i did notice that i was no longer crossing my legs to prep myself before every sneeze. this particular blog is to warn all you preggos out there that you must, i repeat, you must continue the kegels as soon as you can after you give birth.

once home from the hospital after pushing a 6 lb baby (i know, hes little, i have no right to complain) out of my downtown, i was not thinking of the kegels or anything else that work the muscles of that area that was already sore, stitched up, and swollen beyond recognition. bad move. once i was healed, or on the way to a normal vagine, i shouldve started those kegels back up with a vengence! and you should too!

after returning home from some errands the other day, i squatted down to unbuckle avery and save him from the confines of his car seat. while in this fabulously attractive squatting position, i felt a sneeze coming on, and then realized that is is terribly difficult to clench the downtown muscles during a squat and that there was no possible way that i could stand up in time... so i sneezed in my squat and i didnt just pee on myself a little, i definitely peed. i peed like i had been holding it for ten minutes and finally reached a bathroom. it was absolutely no fun and all i could think was 'thank goodness this happened while i was home.'

so to all you pregnant women out there reading this blog, continue with your kegels, they may just save you from peeing on yourself during a squat.

in other news: we had some pics taken of the little man! you can go to this website to get a little sneak peak at whats to come... hes just too cute!

libby benson photography

10.11.2009

65 degrees is chilly.


ok, i have to admit that the only reason im making a blog entry right now is just to show off how adorable my baby is... i know, im such a mom. but geez, how cute is this little man? and i was so absolutely worried that i would not make a cute baby.

i decided the other day that i think i might have been kinda different throughout my pregnancy... never once was i really scared about how i would be as a mom after he was born, and i think thats a pretty normal worry that most new moms have. but the second we were left alone with him in the hospital, i was totally scared that i was gonna do something wrong; and that was in the hospital, where there are highly trained professionals that have the ability to fix any mistake i may make with my newborn son. so imagine my fear once we were finally home and on our own...

my biggest worry is SIDS.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
and while i appreciate that there is so much information out there on how to lessen the odds, i also kinda hate it. i feel like i am constantly reading all the different things to look out for and all the different preventative measures you can take, and it is turning me into a crazy person! i read somewhere that if your baby gets too warm he can stop breathing so keep your house at 65 degrees, but you read everywhere else to keep your baby warm because thats the way he was in the womb and he likes to be that way. and then i find myself waking up every hour of the night even if he isnt crying just to make sure hes still breathing... its enough to drive any new mom crazy.

so after three weeks i feel like ive calmed down a little. the hubs and i even left the little man with my parents for a couple hours last night so we could have a mini date, but of course we missed him an hour into dinner. hopefully my confidence will continue to slowly build up and my craziness will start to fade away, but i doubt that will happen anytime soon.

10.07.2009

dont be scurred.


my sweet little man.

it has been brought to my attention that i may have scared the poop out of some readers with my pregnancy story. that was not at all my intent, actually, i left out the bad parts to spare some of you who have not yet had children.

i know a lot of what i wrote probably did sound bad but it truly wasnt terrible. i think that the worst part of the entire day was the vomitting. the breaking of my water wasnt pleasant in any way, but nothing that would make you think 'oh my gosh i cant do this ever again!' ha ha! and there was some pain in the beginning when i was still trying to be all hard core and refusing pain meds, but after that, i truly didnt feel anything. youre so numb with the epidural that you really dont even know where youre pushing when they tell you to push. ha ha!

i dont know that everyone would agree with me on this because my dad and my sister reported hearing a few very loud and seemingly in pain other pregnant women down my hall... they were worried that i would hear them too and freak out, but i didnt, so that was good. and when i was going through my pushing time, i didnt make any noise, i think all the screaming that some women do is just for effect, or because they too became obsessed with the discovery health channel and watched 263 birth stories and felt the need to emulate all of those women that screamed bloody murder during labor.

so dont be scared. even though i am not one of those ladies that absolutely loved being pregnant, i still plan on doing it a couple more times, so it couldnt be that bad.

10.04.2009

my baby boy.


my little man is sleeping next to me right now so im thinking i have a little time to start to tell you all of the awesome tale of averys birth. ha ha!

we arrived at the hospital around 7:15 AM on the 18th. i get all checked in, change into my fabulous hopsital gown and by 8 AM i am all hooked up to my IV with pitocin pumping into me. ahhh! the contractions start shortly after, at this point they really arent anything i cant handle.

a couple hours into the pit and my dr decides that she is going to break my water which is about as pleasant as you might think it would be. she took what looked to me like a solid crazy straw with a point and put it in my downtown, after poking around for a bit she thinks she has broken it and i am instructed to let the nurse know when i feel the 'water' come out. this does not happen. so about an hour later they decide it needs to be done again, after some more poking around they think that the little mans head is probably blocking things which is not allowing the water to come. bah.

after the attempts at water breaking the contractions are starting to get pretty painful, but i am still holding strong to my efforts of going au naturale. by around 3-ish i am in tears and have decided that i need something for the pain. and of course by the time i decide i want something, the anesthesiologist is going to be busy for awhile so they offer to give me meds through my IV. i was a little worried about this option because i knew those meds would affect the baby but my nurse convinced me that doing it just once wouldnt be terrible and they were monitoring the baby so everything would be fine. oh yeah, at this point i have an internal fetal monitor to keep an eye on the baby. so i get the IV drugs and it totally knocks me out and made me feel so weird. i kept falling asleep and everytime i did i would dream and the dreams were like the prius commercials with all the people that make up the trees and the sun and such...

Prius Commercial

finally the crazy drugs wear off and the epidural guy comes to the rescue! im not sure if many of you know this, but i was absolutely terrified to get an epidural, i honestly think i havent been more scared in my life, i was literally shaking when i knew it was about to happen... i am so lucky that i had my husband and my mom in there with me. wade was absolutely wonderful in keeping me calm. :) the pain finally stops when the meds kick in but im not completely numb, i can still move my legs with some effort.

hours later and still no little man, so i need another epidural. this time they definitely gave me more than they did the first time because i could not move anything below my waist at all. it was a little weird. and i also now have a catheter because i cant walk to go to the bathroom. so im like some weird tube lady laying there with a million tubes coming out of her everywhere...

at this point it had been well over 12 hours since i had eaten and you know im a fat kid so i start having some terrible heartburn. im ok'd to try a tums or a pepcid to help with that. terrible idea. maybe an hour after i take the pepcid, i start vomitting, only i hadnt eaten anything in forever so it was basically stomach bile that was tinted purple from the meds. blegh. and the vomitting continued throughout the rest of the day, we even had to take a break from pushing because i was dry heaving so much. not fun at all.

it is now around 9 pm and its finally time to start pushing, but at this point i am so exhausted i am literally falling asleep between contractions. since i banished wade to 'head up' (i cant imagine how attractive i could seem to him after seeing all the grossness come outta the downtown...) he is given the job of putting an oxygen mask on me in between the pushings. and my mom and my sister are holding my legs which birk did not want to do at all... ha ha! so everyone in the room is being super supportive and trying to talk me through pushing and they are all so into it that i cant even hear the dr counting so i have to tell them to take it down a notch. then the dr tells me to 'push like i have to poop,' after wil hears this he decides that his new method of encouragement will be 'poop babe, poop!' but then i am trying so hard not to laugh that im not pushing at all so i then have to tell him to stop telling me to poop. ha ha! crazy kid.

at 10:18 my little man finally made his fashionably late grand entrance into the world. i instantly woke up, the exhaustion completely disappeared the moment they put my tiny little baby in my arms, and i was totally selfish and held him myself the whole time, wil and i just stared at him, it was amazing.

9.24.2009

my new man.

ok, so not having a whole lot of time with the new man in my life requiring so much of it, i wont really update everything just yet... but i wanted to let everyone know the important things.

baby ave was born on 09.18.09 at 10:18 pm, he measured 19 inches long and weighed 6 lbs 1 oz. he is perfect.




you can check out more pics of the baby on my flickr page... more will be added soon!
baby ashe flickr page

9.17.2009

tomorrow...

so tomorrow is the big day.

its kinda crazy to think that tomorrow im gonna meet my son for the first time. to be honest, its a little overwhelming. i think we're pretty much ready for him, but never having had a baby before, i really cant be sure. i hope we are.

i had to go to the hospital yesterday to do the gel thing... it wasnt exactly what i thought it would be. they set me up with the fetal monitor to make sure he was doing ok before they actually did anything, and then once he proved he was good to go they went ahead and did an internal to see if i had dilated at all. i had not. the nurse said that she heard that i was like fort knox down there. awesome. so she decided to help me out manually which was totally not comfortable at all, but she did force my cervix to start to dilate so i got to 1 cm. woohoo! but i was kinda in some pain for the rest of the evening.

so today me and stelly have just been trying to get things ready for the baby and nans (wils mom) who is coming on saturday! finishing up laundry, putting clothes away, and changing all the linens on the beds... its kinda good that i have things to do because i think i might go crazy just waiting around for tomorrow. and i have no idea if that gel crap has any kind of hormones or anything in it, but i have been more emotional today than i think i have been throughout my entire pregnancy. i cried like 4 times watching stupid 'so you think you can dance,' who cries at that?! maybe its just crazy emotions that im gonna have a baby tomorrow... kind of a big deal...

so i probably wont update again for a bit, but i will definitely give everyone all the gory details as soon as things calm down again. i know i wont be pregnant anymore but im sure crazy things will still be happening once the little man gets here, so keep checking back, im sure im gonna get pooed on, peed on, vomitted on... all good things! and thanks for hanging out with a pregnant lady for the last 9 1/2 months!

9.15.2009

2nd post.

i know, two posts in one day... BUT...

we're having a baby on friday!!!

went to the dr today and she thinks that the little man is probably totally ok, but since he's measuring small, why not go ahead and take him out now? and i am completely fine with that. :) so i go to the hospital the next two days to have some sort of gel put on my cervix to help the whole dilating process, then friday morning we go in, i get induced, and we do the thang!

ahhhh!!! it is so absolutely scarey and exciting and awesome all at the same time!

sleep = impossible.


38 weeks... so ready!

i woke up this morning at a little after 4 am... to be honest, im not even sure i was actually sleeping when my husbands alarm went off. i feel like my body is fighting me. i am so tired but i absolutely cannot sleep because im a stomach sleeper and clearly cant sleep on the tum tum, both of my hips ache terribly so either side is painful, and now even my boobs are hurting. not fun.

i am so ready for this little man to hurry up and make his appearance. he was pushing and kicking so hard yesterday that i literally had to stop walking to massage his little foot back down because it hurt so bad. it felt like he was going to bruise me from the inside. crazy little thing. i guess its not so comfortable for him right now either.

i go to the dr in about 6.5 hours, so hopefully ill get a little more information on the exact dates of the BPP tests, and the induction date. woohoo! lets hope im dilated at least a tiny little bit... come on ashely!!!

9.11.2009

hospital update.

i am so sorry to keep everyone waiting for the follow up on the tests on wednesday!!!

we were at the hospital for about three hours on wednesday... not fun. they did all the initial tests which took a little over an hour, and then the tech went to show the dr all the results of everything and was gone for what felt like forever. she finally came back and said that the dr wanted her to re-do some things, what things, i have no idea, almost nothing was explained to us. she left the room again to go speak with the dr and then came back to tell me that she had to check out my cervix 'trans-labia,' she said that like twenty times until i finally had to tell her i had no idea what she was talking about. basically they didnt want to do an internal exam because they didnt want to promote any contractions.

after leaving the room for the third time, she finally came back and said that the neonatologist was in the middle of a procedure but that he wanted to speak with me. even though i wasnt getting any information from anyone, my mom and i could see the measurements the tech was taking of my little man and according to them, he had lost an ounce since my ultrasound a week ago. he was also measuring at about 33-34 weeks so they were saying i was off on my due date and my baby wasnt due until october 15th. without a doubt, i know when he was conceived... having to maintain a fertility chart and take fertility drugs, doesnt really leave much room for error. so we waited some more and were then told that i could go home... at that point it certainly seemed like there was some sort of problem since they kept asking me to wait but when i wanted information i was told that they legally couldnt tell me anything and i had to wait to hear from my ob's office.

of course i didnt hear anything back that day.

yesterday my mom finally gets a call, probably around 5:30, and its from my actual dr, not the nurse that normally calls back. i guess my doctor really went through my medical history because she brought up several things that i was prepared to point out. she told us to ignore the due date the hospital was trying to give me because they were 100% going to go by my dates because of everything we had to do to get pregnant. she also told us that he got a perfect score on his BPP tests, but because we are still high risk, they want me to have the BPP every week until we have him just to keep an eye on his growth. his measurements are pretty small for how far along we are, all except for his legs... they measure at 37 weeks, 5 days, so theyre thinking we are just gonna have a little man with long legs which is exactly how i was when i was born. so everything is pretty good. :) she did tell my mom that everytime i go in for the BPP i have to bring my hospital bag because if they see anything that looks off in any way, they will take me straight to surgery to get the little man out, but we will only have two weeks of that because she said theyre going to schedule an induction in two weeks.

so were gonna have a baby in two weeks!!!

9.09.2009

17 days & another ultrasound.

yay! 17 days... hopefully. i went for a check up yesterday and i am not dilated at all! ugh. i was so hoping to hear that i was dialted at least a centimeter or two but no, we got nothin. i was even thinking that the little man has finally dropped but the dr didnt fully agree to that either. but i am not feeling nearly as much pressure up underneath my ribs as i was before so im gonna keep on thinking that he either dropped or is definitely in the process of doing so.

ok so i have to complain about the snotty little nurse at the office yesterday... in my experience, all the nurses in an ob office are pretty nice and really try to make the hormonal pregnant women happy. i believed this until yesterday. my name gets called and i go back to be weighed, which of course is everyones favorite part, and she immediately starts it out at the 200 lb mark. not even cool. she couldve at least pretended that she didnt think i was that heavy... but poo poo on her, she had to adjust back down to the 150 mark. ha! but then when she wrote down my actual weight for my chart, she added two extra pounds! what was up with that lady?! i thought i might hit her. then she mumbled the rest of the time and i could barely hear/understand her. all i know is she better watch herself next time!..

and after all the talk about him being little and no one really having a problem with it, other than the sono tech, i got a call yesterday afternoon telling me that now they are concerned... so my ob's office made an appointment for me to go to the hospital today to have another ultrasound and some other tests (a biophysical profile) run to see how the little man is doing.

www.webmd.com/biophysicalprofile

i guess they are hoping to determine whether or not hes small just because hes small or if there is some sort of problem. and if there is a problem, it will also dictate when he comes, and whether or not i have to deliver by c-section. at this point, im just hoping hes alright in there...

ill try to update again later when i get all the results of the tests, but who knows if theyll tell me anything today. doctors are awesome at being vague.

9.03.2009

a very little man.


almost to 37 weeks...

i went to the dr yesterday... twice. i thought i was getting strep throat, ironically this was two days after i had my strep test at the ob in my downtown. awesome, right? ha ha! so anyway, thought i was getting sick so i went to my regular dr, shes thinking possibly a sinus infection so i have antibiotics, woohoo! i was trying to hold off on taking them but i have some awesomely green boogs this morning so i think im gonna go ahead and take the plunge.

a couple hours after the first dr visit, i went to the ob to have one more sonogram before the big day! of course i was super excited to get to see my little man again, its been about 15 weeks since my last one. i dont know why i get all excited, i have not left a single ultrasound feeling all warm and fuzzy... i guess i was just hoping this one would be different. but no, after measuring his torso, head, and legs, the tech determined that my little man is indeed a very little man. hes measuring at about 34ish weeks when he shouldve been closer to 37, they estimate hes weighing about 5 lbs, 10 oz. but that isnt even one full pound less than what my hubs weighed when he was born so im hoping everything is ok. and the spot is still in his heart, but i kinda knew it still would be so no big change there. i think i just wouldve like to have left with someone saying 'ok ms. persons, everything looks great!' instead i get, 'please wait right here while i show these pictures to the dr, im not sure if shes going to want to come in here herself.' bah.

oh, but that tech really pissed avery off. ha ha! she was pushing down so hard on my belly it was an absolute rebellion on his part. he was completely uncooperative and proceeded to be unhappy for the rest of the day. he pushed and kicked on me so hard all day long, i was in some serious pain. crazy little man, he seems much happier today, thank goodness.

8.26.2009

story time.

so i run into the drugstore real quick the other day to pick up a prescription for my dad... i kinda have to pee but theres no line so i think im good.

behind the counter the one million pharmacists are discussing who is on break, who should be on break, and who should be helping customers (me).

someone finally draws the short straw and asks me the name, i give him my dads name and proceed to sneeze, real hard about three times. neither i, nor my bladder were prepared for this.

after six months of triumph, i am now back to the peeing a little when i sneeze phase. only this time peeing a little, three times in a row ended up being more than i am used to... not even cool.

i dropped the rx at my dads, went home and took a shower.

the end.


just a few days shy of 36 weeks... 31 days to go

8.25.2009

two chairs, one day.


taken at 33 weeks, the day we signed on our house!

so ive been a little behind this month with the blogging... actually, ive written a few but with the stealing of the internets that ive been doing until ours gets hooked up, i seem to lose what im working on more often than not.



i had my baby shower! woooo! it was a pretty fun time, none of those traditional games like the candy bars in the diapers... we had a preggo race, which was hilarious! we also got tons of very useful items for the little man, i think we are offically ready for his arrival! wade got our baby furniture yesterday and after updating the registries, i think we are good to go. now we wait.

i will be 36 weeks in a couple days and it is getting more and more impossible to find a semi-comfortable position to sleep in, so i am totally ready to have this baby... come on ashely!

oh my goodness, let me tell you a terrible story from my weekend...

so were hanging out at a friends house for a cook out, and im sitting on an old wooden rocking bench. im just sitting there, talking and rocking, for probably a good hour or so, every once in awhile someone will come and sit next to me and rock with me. so im sitting all alone when probably the skinniest friend i have comes and sits down and the bench cracks. we totally broke the bench. not cool. so another one of the guys gets up and gives me the metal folding chair he is sitting on, and this is not a small man, he is definitely a 'guy guy.' earlier in the day this chair also served as a resting spot for another friend and his girlfriend on his lap... so im sitting on this metal chair for at least another good hour when it too decides that the pregnant lady is just too much too handle and drops me on my butt onto the concrete floor. i broke two chairs in one day... embarrassing. i am now currently sporting two awesome purple bruises on my elbow where it hit the floor. awesome.

8.20.2009

the name game.

nothing super new and exciting to report... one more week down, only about 5 to go! woohoo!

i went to the dr yesterday and everything is normal, my blood pressure was a little high, but its been pretty erratic for a bit so i dont think its a big deal. oh, and i might get one more ultrasound before the BIG DAY... the dr was feeling all around and determined that she has absolutely no idea what position the baby is in which doesnt matter much right now but if by my next appt they still cant tell then we will get an ultrasound to see for sure how this little man is hangin. fun fun.

i did have to go to the hospital last friday, and that was an experience... i continued to have contractions for about a week and a half after my last appointment and when they got stronger or i had other symptoms i called the nurse, told her what was up and then got her advice, so friday she said she wanted me to go to the hospital just to get monitored and make sure everything was ok. so we get there and everything was very laid back, very awesome, and we actually ran into a couple of friends that were being induced that day, how fun is that?

fast forward: im finally in a room being strapped to the fetal monitor when the lady comes in to ask about insurance information and basically gets herself into a tizzy when they realize that my drivers license doesnt have the same name as my insurance card (which doesnt have my name on it at all, i am listed as 'spouse'). they then explain that i may see my name listed as my maiden name and not to be alarmed, but really my maiden name is my last name since i havent changed it. i cant believe some women freak out about things like that... so while all of this is going on, i am informed by the nurse who is also in the room that they are going to monitor the baby and my contractions but they also need a 'clean' urine sample. clearly she saw the confusion in my face because she proceeded to tell me that a 'clean' urine sample is collected by catheter. so yay, i had my first catheter expereince.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catheter

so after all of that, the baby is fine, im still having mild contractions but i was sent home to rest.

8.13.2009

freakshow.

so ive decided that the first three months, and the last two months of pregnancy are pretty much the most uncomfortable and the most disgusting. i basically traded vomitting and gagging daily for heartburn like lava in my throat and leaky nipples. awesome.

in the past, i dont know, maybe three weeks i have woken up a handful of times with grossness on my shirt because i have inadvertantly lactated on myself. how weird and gross is that? so not only do my massive boobies call attention to themselves because they are absolutley huge, they now also lay claim to an awesome fountain effect. i am a freakshow. its a good thing i really dont need to go out in public very often.

ok, now for a real update. the contractions are still coming on daily but nothing that has forced me to go to the hospital to get monitored again. although after telling my ob about an episode the other night, i think she wouldve preferred me going just to make sure everything was ok. but im pretty convinced that since the contractions are the worst at night, they are being brought on by dehydration, so once i drink gallons of water they slowly go away and then my sleeplessness is due to having to pee every 12.7 minutes instead of the cramps accompanied by what i can only describe as a charlie horse of my entire stomach.

in other news, we're in the new house! woohoo! and i am convinced that there is a ghost in the averys room. i keep seeing stelly (our bulldog) sneak in there after i think that ive shut the door. so i go to shut the door... again... taking extra care to make sure the handle has 'locked' into place and the second i turn my back i hear a 'click' and the door pops open again... maybe i just have an overactive imagination sitting around this house by myself.

8.05.2009

oh pregnancy.

just got back from the ob a bit ago...

it was just a regular check up, but after telling the dr that i was cramping pretty much all day yesterday and i havent been feeling him move a whole lot the past couple days, they decided to hook me up to a fetal monitor for a non-stress test. i was thinking the lack of movement was just due to him having less room, but i guess they just wanted to make sure.

so i basically hung out with the monitors strapped on and i was supposed to click a button everytime i felt the baby move. it was kinda weird... and i decided during the test, which lasted about 15-20 minutes, that we are so lucky that we dont walk around hearing the baby's heartbeat constantly. at one point he dropped from the 150's all the way down to the 80's, and hearing the drop freaked me out. the dr said its normal that babies heartrates do go up and down and it wasnt anything to worry about.

after looking over the results, the dr determined that i am having mild contractions so i was lucky enough to get an internal exam! yay!.. total sarcasm for those of you that dont know the sarcasm that is krp. but i am all good, and my cervix is still closed, woohoo! i just need to monitor the number of contractions i have in an hour, and how often my little man moves.

now im real tired and ive decided that a non-stress test is in actuality a bit stressful. i was feeling like things were normal and then got hooked up to a machine. oh pregnancy.

8.04.2009

sicily, 1922.

so we finally hit the 32 week mark which apparently is a huge milestone. and as the baby is putting on more and more weight, he is slowly crushing all of my internal organs. i can barely walk up the steps with stopping to 'take a breather.' yes, i am aware that i am very much like an old person.

picha dis... (said in the voice of sophia from the golden girls)

sicily, 1922. (ha ha, kidding, still with sophia in my mind) a couple weeks ago, my mom, my sister and i are going to costco after a day of running errands all over northern va. i am starving so i force them to stop at burger king for me to feed this little man throwing a fit inside of me. i get a double cheesburger and a medium drink, not knowing at the time that burger king has sneakily changed all their sizes and i am actually getting a large drink which is absolutely gigantic, im pretty sure i had a liter of cola.

so we're walking into costco and i have my hands full with burger and aforementioned liter of cola when i catch a glimpse of myself in the reflection of some windows... i am wearing only a wifebeater tank top which stretches quite comfortably over my large belly, and jeans. the tank top has ridden up during my waddle into the costco revealing the lower portion of my round mountain (it can no longer be described in cute terms like 'bump'). needless to say, i was disgusted by myself and proceeded to yell at the only two women in my life i would expect to call me out on something like this no matter what!

their one defense was that its a long way to see the underside of my belly... they did promise to tell me that if i ever leave the house without the bottoms to my bikini on, they would notice and inform, since i have recently admitted that i can no longer see that area of myself.

7.26.2009

31 weeks.

How far along: 31 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 5 lbs... my weight goes up and down like a roller coaster...
Maternity clothes: you know it!
Stretch marks: wow, yes! i went from 2 to like 10 in a day!
Sleep: not too much...
Best moment this week: i finally picked out my weekender bag to pack for the hospital!!! wooo!!!
Movement: constant. this little man is like a tiny circus performer, i feel like my belly has its own dance these days
Food cravings: snickers bar ice creams & better than sex cake...
Gender: little man.
Labor signs: little bit of braxton hicks contractions just about every night
Belly button: in or out? its kinda surfaced, but its level with the rest of my huge belly... wont be surprised if i have an outtie by the end!
What I miss: a good nights sleep.
What Im looking forward to: this little man finally making his appearance, it feels like we're so close now!
Weekly wisdom: stay hydrated! you can get dehydrated so quickly during pregnancy, especially in this hot hot summer... ugh!
Milestones: started my every other week appointments... this baby will be here before we know it. :)

i dont know if you guys are ready for this... but heres a pretty sweet belly shot.

7.13.2009

i look awesome.



ha ha... a very thrilled me at 29 weeks.

not a whole lot to report right now, other than i gained 7 lbs in one month which does not make me happy at all. of course, im trying to blame all of that weight on a combination of baby & boobies.

oh, i get about zero sleep these days... the little man is definitely getting bigger and making his presence known. there are only about two tolerable sleeping positions and even those are not comfortable at all, i can sleep on either side but after awhile i start to feel like an old person with bed sores because my hips hurt so bad. no fun. and i think the lack of sleep is definitely affecting my emotional/hormonal state... i am not a pleasant person these days.

so thats about it, ive gained weight and ive been crying daily. awesome.

7.10.2009

sugar coma.

went to the doc today and had to take the dreaded glucose test which really wasnt as bad as i was prepared for it to be. i had to chug a terribly sweet orange drink and wait around for an hour to have my blood drawn. so the worst part was just the waiting... i get the results on monday, but only if its bad news which i am totally thinking it is not.

today also started the marathon of appointments... i now go every other week for awhile until i start going once a week. im thinking about just moving into the prince william obgyn manassas office, it might save everyone a lot of time...

so thats about it these days, just consumed with baby and new house stuff. and for your viewing pleasure: my picture at 28 weeks


how cute am i?!

7.06.2009

krade house.



we finally found a house, and our contract got accepted today!!! it is maybe five minutes away from my parents which i absolutely love! we could walk to each others houses if we wanted, but everyone knows how lazy i am so i dont know how often the whole walking thing will happen... ha ha! we go to closing in one month so we will be in the new house before the little bambino gets here!!!

i know sometimes i have crazy thoughts, but im pretty sure this house was meant for us. :) we were actually out to see another house but fortunately for us, a sketchy realtor changed the combo on the lock box so we couldnt get in... so wade brings up the other house that our realtor had mentioned, i didnt want to see it because i was thinking it was out of our price range. i was out voted by wil and the moms so we ended up going to see it. we get out of the car and what flower is planted right in front?! a calla lily, one of our wedding flowers, so right then my mom said that the house was meant to be. we checked out the house, i LOVED it, put in an offer and it got accepted. and they lived happily ever after.

as happy as we are, im not really sure if we are more excited or scared about the whole thing! i do know that i cannot wait for our little family to be in our own home. :)

7.04.2009

momdom.

i realized while at a wedding last weekend that i am slowly moving into what i like to call 'mom mode.' any and all thoughts that cross my mind are baby related. i am absolutely positive that i am no fun to be around. anyway, im at the wedding, standing in a circle of girlfriends and while they are excitedly telling each other about their luck at the new coach outlet that just opened, the only thing i can think of that i have been shopping for as of late is baby furniture... not too thrilling a topic for ladies that are not harboring a little castaway in the tum tum.

so for any moms that happen to read my blog, here is a picture of the most recent cause for excitement!



i know, i am so lame, totally excited about a nursing chair... but really, when you think about it, its a huge deal, i will be spending tons and tons of time in this chair. what is it, a half an hour every two hours, or some craziness like that? i better be in LOVE with that thing!

7.02.2009

the mangled town.

i really have nothing of importance to say today but i havent updated in awhile so here i am, rocking you like a hurricane.

went to the doc today because i was kinda crampy and didnt feel right so i went in to get my blood pressure checked and they went ahead and checked my pee while i was there and the nurse said that she had never seen a more perfect urine strip. how awesome is that? i have fabulous pee. you will find it on ebay shortly. everything is fine, they just want me to rest and ill get checked out more thoroughly next week with my regular appt.

i took the moms by target yesterday to check out the play pen (i know, people dont like to call them that anymore, but thats what they are) and stroller we finally deciced on... so glad i did because we realized that they were both clearanced and target wouldnt be carrying them anymore! ugh! but g'ma saved the day and purchased both so we would definitely have them, and on sale! even more awesome! so i am pretty confident that if baby ashe came tomorrow we would be pretty set...

oh... i attempted to shave my bikini area last weekend and i ended up mangling my downtown. you have no idea how hard it is to shave an area that you can barely see because everytime you bend over there is a huge belly blocking the view until you are pregnant... im thinking now is the time where i just have to suck it up and wax that thing!

6.25.2009



heres a little updated photo because i know the moms has been hearing some stuff from some family members... i wont name names... that i havent put up any pictures lately. so heres a sweet shot of my massive boobies and belly.

in other news, i got a call from the dr yesterday about the blood i had drawn last week for the possibility of icp. we are all good!!! no liver probs as of right now, so in celebration of our wonderful blood, i had a glass of wine with dinner last night! i had been boycotting alcohol of any kind with the chance of having a liver problem, but since we're good to go i figured a glass of wine wouldnt hurt anything, and it was fabulous!

ive also decided to get a leg up on the baby clothes and in doing so i realized that we have tons... i ended up splitting the clothes into lights and darks and it was two full loads, in a huge washer and dryer, and that is a lot when you think about how tiny some of these things are! my baby load was the equivalent to 17 full size towels... that is a lot of baby clothes. the little man is good to go!

6.24.2009

blue balls.

yesterday, while laying on the couch watching my stomach do what i can only describe as twitch, i came to realize two things. 1) my son is a very, very active little man and might possibly have ADD, and 2) that i should change my belly button ring. but first, let me tell you of how this blog came to be titled in the way that it is...

im looking at my belly, thinking that i should change the color of the balls on my belly button ring from pink to blue to represent the little man that is currently somersaulting inside of me. and of course, being the ding ding that i am, i start speaking to my mom as though she has been witness to my entire mental thought process on the subject and say 'i should change to blue balls.' lucky for me, after years of experience with my craziness, my mom realizes what im talking about and decides that 'blue balls' would be a great title for my next blog, and in that also suggests that its about time for a new blog entry.

pillow talk.

we finally picked out a crib! yay! but, i think like most women, this is a huge decision and i would kinda like to see it in person before we take the plunge and purchase the baby's bed for the next 10 years or so... i think that a convertible crib is the only way to go. you get a crib, a toddler bed, and a full size bed all in one! so we find one we like at jc penny online and decide to go to the mall to check it out and we're told that we can see it at the fair oaks location, so we drive out there only to be told that all nursery furniture is only available online. seeing that im a little disappointed, wil wants to keep our evening fun so he takes me to gymboree (super cute kids clothing) where there is an awesome sale going on... wil was so adorable getting so excited about all the baby clothes i actually got teary. my husband is the cutest! i am so emo these days.

6.15.2009

25 week update.

so there isnt much new to report but i figured i should at least write something since i havent blogged in a couple weeks...

i spent a wonderful weekend at bethany beach with some girlfriends and had a blast! but the last day of the trip i noticed that i had a little bit of weird colored discharge so i called my dr this morning to let them know. a couple hours later they called me back and had me come to make sure everything is ok. my blood pressure was kinda high but nothing that they were too concerned about. i had an internal exam which is absolutely never fun, especially when there is a baby kicking around in there... but everything is good to go! they did take some blood to check my liver functions because at my last appointment they thought i might be having some problems.

Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy

but overall everything seems to be good! the little man is constantly moving and kicking these days which is kinda weird feeling but very awesome at the same time. :)

6.04.2009

tum tum = tom tom.

i am undoubtedly the gassiest woman in america.

for the past four days my stomach has been as hard and tight as a drum... and let me just inform you... in case you were wondering, it is absolutely not comfortable at all. and it always happens at night, which severly impairs comfortable sleeping. not cool. i have no idea what im eating or drinking to make the poor tum tum feel like a tom tom.

at our 22 week ultrasound the tech even pointed out how gassy and bloaty both avery and i were at the time. isnt that nice? the funniest part about it all is that i have never been one who is audibly gassy, until now. at least my pain is providing my family with some comic relief.

not only am i gassy, tired, and itchy, i got called 'fat' on a bus in ocean city. i really wanted to hit that woman... long story short, i could hear two people talking on the bus and the dude says to the lady 'i think shes pregnant,' to which the skank replied 'no, i think shes just FAT.' of course being the angry and vocal pregnant lady that i am i could not let these accusations go unpunished. i yell halfway across the length of the bus, 'excuse me, are you talking about me?' (the bus gets quiet... well, as quiet as a bus full of drunk people can be, and the terribly rude couple looks in my direction) 'because if you are talking about me, im six months pregnant, so im not JUST FAT.'

i get all fired up just thinking about it. people are rude.

6.01.2009

week 23 survey...

How far along? 23 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: starting to finally gain some but still below my start weight
Maternity clothes? still just sometimes...
Stretch marks? nothing new, but the og are super dark now that im getting tan...
Sleep: tired all the time, sleeping is not the easiest task, my poor husband
Best moment this week: wil finally feeling Avery and getting super excited about it!
Movement: everyday! he kicks and rolls around, i LOVE it!
Food cravings: nothing in particular... sometimes ice cream for the heart burn
Gender: baby boy
Labor Signs: too early for any of that
Belly Button in or out? in, even though wade freaked me out saying he thought it was starting to come out! ugh!
What I miss: sleeping on the belly...
What I am looking forward to: third trimester!
Weekly Wisdom: it is absolutely crazy how much i love this little man already! and i absolutely cannot wait to meet him!
Milestones: hes hiccupping now so its funny to see what he likes/doesnt like :)

5.28.2009

bub bubs.

so we finally got in to see the specialist...

the news wasnt terrible, but not exactly what i was hoping for either. i was truly expecting/hoping that when we had the ultrasound done that they would be telling me that the spot that they thought they had seen before was just due to the baby's position, but the spot is still there, and can apparently be one of two things. 1) pretty much nothing, or 2) a marker for down syndrome which is unlikely for us since we don't have any other signs pointing that way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echogenic_intracardiac_focus

of course we hope that the baby doesnt have down syndrome but we opted not to have the amniocentesis because there are risks associated with that and we would keep the baby either way so it doenst make much sense for us to risk it.

other than that the baby is doing well! he was just as stubborn throughout this ultrasound as he has been for the previous so i think we're definitely in for a treat! and hes still hanging out in his favorite breech position, but he has plenty of time to move himself around before the big day, so all that means is that we will have more ultrasounds to check him out which is fine by me. :)

in other news... we have started referring to the little man as 'bub bubs' all because of this silly video my sister (his namesake) made us watch...

make my bub bubs bounce

5.18.2009

mom time.

i was told that once i hit 20 weeks, i would start feeling the baby move around, and every once in awhile, on a very rare occasion, i did.

but the day before my 21 week mark, i believe that avery realized that the time he has left on the inside is now shorter than the time he has currently spent on the inside... and he decided that it would be a great idea to choreograph a dance routine in which to wow and entertain us all upon his arrival. at least that is what i hope. i feel that can be the only reason that between the hours of 12-3, avery is kick, kick, kicking away.

seriously though, it is absolutely amazing to feel him moving around in there now. and yesterday, for the first time, i could feel him kick from the outside! it is so crazy to think that something so little can kick with so much force that it can be felt just by placing your hand on your tummy.

i have also begun what i can only describe as 'nesting.' for those of you that know me well, you know that i dont do things... i am not crafty in the slightest bit, and when i see something super cute for about $20 and my sister says 'oh, we can probably do that better for about $10,' i will promptly reply that 'i dont do things,' and i would much rather spend the extra $10.

but yesterday my mom needed to stop in michaels to pick some things up... first i see the tie dye kit and decide that i absolutely need to tie dye some onesies for my child. next i see the rows and rows of yarn and make another executive decision that i will be crowned mother of the year if i can successfully make ashely his own blanket.

im such a mom.

5.15.2009

Avery Warren.

we have decided on a name. :) our baby boy is Avery Warren. so happy that we finally have a name for our little man.

5.13.2009

perinatal specialist.

ok so... update.

i got a call from my dr last night which was a little weird because the ultrasound tech said my dr wouldnt receive my pictures for at least 3 days.

anyway, even after the 2 hours of rolling from side to side, the dr is not satisfied with the pictures of the heart. i was told that there was a shadow over the left ventricle which could be because of the various positions he was in, but i have to go see a perinatal specialist in a couple weeks to have him checked out again.

i wasnt too worried until i realized they want me to go to a specialist instead of just having another ultrasound done... hopefully im just overreacting.

bah. my happiness bubble from yesterday has been popped.

5.12.2009

we got a penis!

ok, i was mistaken in thinking that yesterday was the longest day of my life... it was most definitely today.

i was told not to pee for an hour before my appointment... i was finally taken back into an exam room where the tech allowed me to urinate before doing anything. i think it was fun for them to torture the pregnant woman by telling her to hold it for over an hour...

after two hours of rolling from side to side in a futile effort to get the baby to change his position, we found out that we have a little man in there! the doctor said everything looked ok, but apparently my son is already very stubborn and absolutely refused to let anyone get a clear shot of his heart, so we will most likely have to go back soon for them to make sure everything is good to go...

so next we went to buy buy baby in springfield to start our first registry! woohoo! we spent no less than two and a half hours there... i had no idea that babies required so much stuff! we were scanning and scanning and 10 pages later we finally decided that we were done for the day. we didnt even register for any bottles, sleep positioners, a stroller, or furniture... i dont even know what we did register for!

i am exhausted.

5.11.2009

longest day of my life...

in less than 24 hours is the big day, and in my opinion, its the biggest day of our lives so far... at least until the day the baby is actually born. and today is taking absolutely forever to get through. ugh!

so ive decided to blog to pass just a little more time. :)

i had an absolutely amazing first mother's day! my husband is so great, i am a very lucky girl. i got a wonderful card from wil and another card from stella and the baby, it was very sweet. i also got numerous mothers day wishes from family and friends. we spent the whole day working outside with the rest of the fam and ended it with an awesome dinner made by my baby daddy.

so check back tomorrow for the big announcement and a new name poll!!!




5.08.2009

dorkdom at its finest.

so ive realized that since becoming pregnant, i have turned into a total dork.

  • i rarely see friends anymore because if i leave a bar smelling like smoke, i instantly think of what a terrible mother i am and the baby isnt even here yet.
  • i analyze everything i eat. i did not think i was going to be one of those women that reads every little thing and freaks out... but apparently i am one of those women.
  • i truly and honestly got excited about a diaper bag. i really did... i almost got teary about it.

i am sure there are many other facts that would support my discovery but now i feel bad about myself so im done with that.

ok, new topic! we go in on tuesday for the BIG ultrasound and i cant wait... (ugh, dork fact #357) i know i should be much happier about the fact that with this ultrasound they will check out all the organs and make sure everything is developing properly with the baby, but i am honestly and selfishly more excited to find out if there is a penis or not! because really, the penis, or lack thereof dictates everything! we will finally be able to cut our name list in half, we can start registering for anything we might need, and we can totally focus on the nursery (#521) which is really what matters...

5.04.2009

a letter.

dear pregnancy fairy,

while i was frustrated that it took nearly a year and a half of calls and broken appointments, i am pleased to say that when we finally worked our schedules out to discuss the situation at hand, i am very satisfied with our agreed upon arrangement. happy that i am finally pregnant, i must admit that i would like to again sit down with you to discuss future arrangements. i feel as though you unrightly took some advantage of my naievity.

i did not know that i was to negotiate things such as morning sickness and nausea, headaches, skin ailments, sciatica pain, hip pain, breast size, and mood swings. i happily agreed to all above mentioned items as you smiled with what i can only look back and call secret glee at my immature and unknowing happiness.

having almost reached the halfway point in my pregnancy, i am finally realizing that the past 19 weeks is not exactly what i had expected. of course like most women, i assumed i would experience some morning sickness and fatigue that would 'magically' disappear once i hit my 13 week mark. i had also heard that i may go through some slight aversions to food and smells, but in no way was i prepared to gag everytime i blew my nose.

i think that with my next pregnancy i will be more assertive in my requirements:
  • i will require a guarantee that if i must experience morning sickness, it will last no longer than the standard first trimester assumption.
  • i will also need some assurance that i can blow my nose without any negative side effects.
  • i would like to request that since my hips are clearly preparing for baby with this first pregnancy, they will not go through nearly as much pain in any future pregnancies.
  • i would love to completely avoid the entire possibility of placenta previa.
with these criticisms, i do not want to seem ungrateful in anyway. i could not be happier that i have a baby on the way that is, by all current standards, healthy. i am so anxious for may 12th when i get to find out whether you have blessed us with a boy or a girl, and we cannot wait for the last week of september to see what day you have chosen for our little one to make his or her grand entrance.

in short, i am happy with your work pregnancy fairy, but in the future i do have some minor suggestions. i will be in touch soon to discuss arrangements to come within the next couple years, and as proof of my satisfaction with the situation, i have passed along your information to quite a few other women that i hope will help in my future negotiations with you.

thank you,
krp

5.02.2009

19 week survey...


How far along? 19 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: still haven't gained anything! woohoo!
Maternity clothes? still just sometimes
Stretch marks? the same two from a few weeks ago and two new tiny ones sneaking in there...
Sleep: ha ha!
Best moment this week: being told that i look 'fantastic'!!!
Movement: oh yes... the baby definitely lets me know if the position im in is not the best...
Food cravings: nope, when youre still throwing up nothing sounds good to eat
Gender: we find out in about 11 days!!!
Labor Signs: natta
Belly Button in or out? still chillin with an innie
What I miss: sleep!
What I am looking forward to: may 12th...
Weekly Wisdom: i have bump envy.
Milestones: the belly definitely looks bigger these days

4.29.2009

authors lie.

i went for a check up today because i was having some pretty bad cramping, but it turns out that it was just some round ligament pain... i know that i am a freak and i worry about every little thing that seems to be out of the norm, but i would like to formally complain and blame this on the many authors of the books i read. describing a pain that will bring tears to some womens' eyes and take their breath away as a 'discomfort,' is not doing anyone justice. i realize that these authors are not trying to scare the poo poo out of any woman trying to conceive, but come on... tell me that the pain can go from a little uncomfortable all the way to excruciating, dont make me think that something is wrong with me because i can describe my pain as being a little more intense than a tad uncomfortable... thank you.

in other good news, i did get the results back from our down syndrome test and everything came back negative! woohoo! so it doesnt necessarily mean that the baby will be perfect, but of all the tests they ran, our little one is not susceptible...

4.28.2009

bulldogs and babies.

first and foremost... we are currently 18 weeks and 3 days, and i know ive been slacking with the updates lately, but i guess thats a testament to how ive been feeling, much better! ive had some back pain that i know i just have to deal with, but other than that, we've been doing well. :)

i went to richmond for the weekend a few weeks ago to hang with my very excited soon-to-be aunt little sister where we spent almost the entire time shopping for baby. also where i made my very first baby purchase of the super awesome bulldog onesie to the left. my sister in law has decided that once the baby comes we need to get stelly a shirt with the baby's picture on it and they can wear them together. i will admit that i LOVE this idea...

we had a dr's appt last week which was pretty much just a standard check-up. the heartbeat was at 147, so down a little from the last time, but still good. i also had some blood drawn for the test for down syndrome, and i guess no news is good news because i havent heard anything back. but the most exciting part of that whole thing was that i was finally able to make my appt for the BIG ultrasound! woohoo! may 12th we find out what we're having and make sure everything with baby persons is lookin good! i cant wait!!! it will make this whole name process so much easier!

i also started a prenatal yoga class that i was a initially a little apprehensive about but am super happy about now! completely superficially i was worried that i would either be the most terrible looking preggo there or that i would look like an idiot having never taken a yoga class before in my life... but the class was awesome, there were maybe 7 of us ranging from 9 weeks to 6 months and pretty much everyone was new to yoga so it made it much more comfortable. i felt really good after the class and im really hoping that this will eventually help to relieve some of the back pain. the first 30 minutes was a lot of breathing and kegels! ha ha ha! always with the kegels...

4.16.2009

weekly survey:

How far along? 16 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: in total ive lost about 15 lbs
Maternity clothes? sometimes when im feeling a little blegh...
Stretch marks? ugh! 2!
Sleep: no more sleeping on the back = no fun for kristin
Best moment this week: being called a 'cute pregnant lady'
Movement: only the one time last week
Food cravings: i LOVE watermelon & some other fruits
Gender: im thinking girl, but of course we have no idea right now...
Labor Signs: natta
Belly Button in or out? innie thank god! just got the new preggo rings
What I miss: an ice cold beer on nice days like today
What I am looking forward to: next wed, for the next appt.
Weekly Wisdom: i must keep in mind that i am hormonal and not always completely rational...
Milestones: eh, nothing really major happened this week...

4.15.2009

the breast is yet to come...

i know ive touched on this subject before, but i must go back and re-visit. i went shopping yesterday with my mom because i was in need of new bras and i also wanted to check out some dresses for a wedding we're attending about 10 days before the big day... i have no idea what might be available dress wise for a ready to pop belly.

our first stop was the only lingere shop that i will go to after discovering the awesomeness that is Trousseau while bra shopping for my wedding dress. this place is the best, especially if you are a well endowed woman. the first time i went in there, the saleswoman basically checked me out and brought me about 4 bras that fit perfectly, including the boustier worn with my wedding dress. they also keep information on file for each customer with the model and style of bras that you prefer, along with your current size so you dont have to do the whole guess and try of a million bras until you find the one that fits you best. i should totally get paid for this spectacular endorsement...

anyway, i go in there, they look me up to find out what bra i currently wear and realize that the highest cup size is a G which is what im in now... not good. so because i am a spoiled brat and i hated all the other brands that had bigger cup sizes, i ended up getting a larger band size that gives me a little more cup room. and let me also share that for some reason, they go by the UK sizes so it makes my girls seem smaller than they are, how terrible is that? a 'G' is supposed to sound smaller... my mom then makes fun of the hugeness that is the new bra, she decides that the 'G' stands for gargantuan, and laughs hysterically when she wants to see if it will fit on my head and it does...

my boobs are huge.

4.08.2009

i am spoiled.

i am hungry. all the time.

and its not like you would think... im not eating everything in sight, im actually not eating much at all, and not because i dont want to, but more because i have no idea what i want to eat. this part is no fun, its like a weird tease that you dont know how to get past. i want to eat something and im standing in the middle of a fully stocked kitchen and in my head, 'there is nothing to eat!' luckily i have a very patient husband that will continue to offer me things until something sounds appetizing. i even got fresh pineapple and bananas late sunday night with chocolate fondue! ha ha... how spoiled am i?

in more exciting news, i am pretty sure that i felt the baby move last week! woooo! i know that it is still a little early for me to be feeling anything, but now that i felt it once, i cant wait to feel it again! we were laying in bed and it was just before i fell asleep and i felt this little flutter... it was pretty awesome. :)

this part of pregnancy is kinda boring in terms of anything to report. the morning sickness is almsot completely gone, i just get random waves of nausea from certain sights or smells... im really not showing too much, i feel like ive looked the same for the last 3 or 4 weeks... and i dont go back to the dr for another week... ugh! it kinda makes me question whether or not the baby is ok, when you go from feeling awful to basically feeling like normal, it kinda makes you wonder. im really hoping that everything is fine, but once i go back to dr and hear the heartbeat again, i will feel much better!

3.31.2009

ugly babies.

14 weeks! we are officially into the second trimester, how awesome is that?! the odds of miscarrying have dropped way down, the morning sickness should be almost completely gone by now, and i should be getting back some of my energy that seems to have disappeared within these past three months. yay!!! i even let myself have a glass of wine at a friends birthday over the weekend, and honestly it tasted more weird than anything... very anticlimatic.

and let me also report that the kegels have been working out perfectly, i have been sneezing like crazy lately with this weather change and i have not been peeing, not even a little bit with my one million sneezes. yessss!!! although i have been peeing no less than 20 times a day. i think i woke up 5 times the other night to pee, and its not like i was drinking gallons of fluids throughout the day... you think you pee a lot in the first trimester? ha! just wait...

so my new worry is that i will have an ugly baby. i kinda feel like (hope) all other moms think about this at least a little bit during their pregnancy, and im not this crazy superficial sounding girl... but i really do worry about this because lets face it, when people say all babies are cute, it is so not true. i have seen plenty of babies that i did not have the instant urge to oooh and aaah over. of course i would never tell the mother this, and i think that that is my fear more than anything; my friends and family feeling that they need to tell me that my non cute child is cute. but i think as long as our baby looks more like my husband then well be fine. i was an odd looking baby (of course my mother would disagree). love ya ma!

3.26.2009

if it looks like a duck and sounds like duck...

if you look pregnant, and you feel pregnant, odds are... youre pregnant.

went to the dr the other day and after a check up and listening to the heartbeat, it was confirmed that i am still preggo. it was kinda funny. the babys heartbeat was at 160, and according to the old wives tale, the baby should be a girl. but based on the heartbeats of both of my nephews... they too should be girls. clearly the old wives tale isnt always correct.

there are so many crazy things on the internet to supply and feed the pregnant womans insanity. when you first begin to suspect that youre pregnant, you become absolutely obsessed with ovulation calendars and predictors. once it has been confirmed that you may or may not have done the deed on the exact right day, you check out the one million sites that offer the 'early signs of pregnancy,' which make you over analyze the number of times you pee in a day before the 2ww (2 week wait) comes to an end and you can finally poas (pee on a stick). then you pee on no less than 3 sticks to make sure that they werent just messin with you. so now you know youre pregnant, you then go to the numerous websites that ask for the first day of your last period to give you an edd (estimated delivery date). you sign up and login to the many sites that offer you a community of other pregnant women just as crazy as you which will cause you to again over analyze everything that happens to you when you read about all the outrageous things that seem to be happening to all the other pregnant women. you will even have to look up the acronyms to understand what everyone is talking about... i have been online on babycenter.com for a total of six hours today.

my latest obsession has been trying to find out what the odds are that my child will have my husbands lovely blue eyes... for those of you that are curious about the odds of your own bambinos, here you go:

http://museum.thetech.org/ugenetics/eyeCalc/eyecalculator.html

long story short, i am a crazy persons.

3.19.2009

12 weeks!


i definitely didnt think id get another ultrasound this soon, but since there was a chance of multiples and my first u/s was so early, pw obgyn thought it was a good idea for me to go ahead and have another just to be sure...

there is officially only one baby persons. :) i know wil was super relieved to hear that! other than finding out we only have one in there, the tech said that i currently have placenta previa (the placenta is covering my cervix) but there is really no reason to worry yet. she said that in most cases that women do show signs this early that there is a really good chance that the placenta will shift around as my uterus continues to stretch so it will most likely solve itself. so im gonna try to not really worry about it until the next ultrasound at week 20.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placenta_praevia

this ultrasound was so much better than the first! the baby actually looks like a baby! he or she was moving all around, touching her face, it was absolutely awesome! and im not sure if they even can hiccup this early but the baby definitely did something that looked like it, i cant even explain how great it was to go in there and see the baby and know that everything is going well. such relief!

3.17.2009

episiotomy.

after a mere two weeks of daily calls and complaints, i finally got my records transferred over to prince william obgyn! we have two appointments already set up, i go in on thursday to get some more blood work done and then again on tuesday to finally hear the heartbeat! i cant wait, and i know my mama will be totally excited that she will be back in town to go with us. :)

i have also recently made the decision that pregnancy books are a little bit crazy... im not really sure who decided it was a great idea to have actual testimonials of horrible pregnancy experiences to prepare and inform an already irrational and hormonal pregnant woman. and i am positive that the most frightening part of the entire birthing process is the possibility that someone may or may not cut my downtown, before i have most likely pooed on myself in front of a room full of people. check out episiotomy info... if you dare! mwahahaha!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episiotomy

other awesome things preggo books open your eyes to: pregnancy acne, which i have none of my face but my chest is weirdly and disgustingly broken out; epidurals, a huge needle that will make the process less painful but could cause serious problems; birth plans, and their complete uselessness since every single pregnancy is different; and baby poop that is much like tar. so many wonderful things to look forward to!

and you know, as horrible as a lot of this sounds... and it does scare me, it doesnt even matter because i just think that in 6 or 7 months were gonna have a baby. and that is awesome.

3.13.2009

new names?

completely unrelated to baby news! i got laid off today... im a little bit worried about it, but not too much. wade and my mom both seem kinda happy about it because now ill have more time to rest and can focus on getting everything ready for when the baby comes. ill start looking for a new job soon, but unless i find something relatively soon, i really doubt anyone is looking to hire a pregant lady...

so we put up two new polls, one for girl names and one for boys, and now you can only choose one name per poll. wade keeps calling the baby teagan everytime he talks to my belly or makes a reference to the baby so im thinkin thats his vote. hes even gotten my mom on that one... she told me on the phone to tell wade and teagan that she loves them. crazy kids!

im still trying to switch ob's, my previous practice is supposed to be sending my records over to prince william obgyn so as soon as that happens we should get a new appointment to hear the heartbeat and possibly get another ultrasound soon. cant wait for either of those things!!!

3.06.2009

stretch mark.

im feelin pretty good today! i went to my gp the other day because i have a sinus infection and i was just feeling awful... got some antibiotics and im feeling so much better now. i actually ate a pop tart and did not feeling like throwing up right after. yay!!!

and awesomely, im still losing weight, dont worry im sure the 175 lbs that i still am is good enough for the baby... the weirdest part of that is that i discovered two stretch marks the other day. who loses weight and still gets stretch marks, especially this early?! its craziness! so im thinking that maybe im a little further along than they seem to think i am, or maybe theres more than one in there. i guess we will find out in a couple weeks... my next appt is march 18th and i will complain and complain if they dont do another ultrasound. i think im allowed to complain about anything i want now... poor wade.

speaking of wade, he is so so so great! he has been absolutely wonderful! the poor guy has to deal with me, and is still happy. we go out to eat, i order food, take two bites and feel sick, i call him when hes out and busy to bring me el taco, and i almost vomit everyday in his car on the way to work... if there was some kind of award for great husbands during pregnancy, i would so nominate him. :) and he came home from work the other day and handed me a little sticky note that was full of baby names he thought of throughout the day... it was so cute. im really lucky to have him.

3.03.2009

im pretty gross these days.

ok so i think im catching a cold or something... or maybe its just the crazy weather but i am sneezing like it is my job to sneeze lately. and i have noticed that every once in awhile when i sneeze, i pee... just a little bit. im sure im not the only pregnant lady to pee a little bit when she sneezes so shut it. but im thinking that this is another one of those awesome things that comes along with pregnancy that no one really elaborates on when telling you just how wonderful being pregnant is...

so im telling my mom of my recent relapse back to the age of three again where i cant quite 'hold it' all the time and she tells me that i need to do 'kegels.' what are kegels you say?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegel_exercise

there you go... basically its where you tighten and release your downtown, kinda like if youre peeing and you gotta stop all of a sudden. so i try to do it, and im doing it but the second i start to actually think about what im doing, im tightening everything in the lower region of my body... i feel kinda like a little kid trying to get that whole hand eye coordination thing going, but its just not quite all there yet...

so now you all know, sometimes i pee a little bit when i sneeze and sometimes i do kegel exercises... awesome.

2.26.2009

i pooped!

we're 9 weeks today! woohoo! i know, still very early, but every week closer to that second trimester is a triumph! i have actually felt really good the past two days so that is awesome. but i think i owe these good feelings to the fact that im not super constipated anymore, yay! ha ha! you guys are learning so many things about me that you probably really didnt care to know... sorry about that. im a very open persons... ha ha, i crack myself up.

ive decided to re-vamp my site just a bit, changed the colors to be a little more appropriate for the arrival of our fall baby. and i think im gonna start allowing google to post ads on my site so i can make some moolah while i spill my guts about all the personal and weird stuff im going through. so if everyone would just log on about one hundred times a day, it would be greatly appreciated. :) kidding.

and i think since im bored im going to take the baby names we still really like and add some new ones in there for a new baby name poll. and of course im putting up names i like, poor wade doesnt have too much say in what i throw up there! but he agrees with everything i like anyway, so i dont think its a huge deal...

2.20.2009

business time.

nothing new and exciting has happened lately, but i felt like i should update at least twice a week just in case you people are bored out of your minds on a friday and are all cursing me in your heads because i have given you nothing to read.

so w'ere moving in with my rents tomorrow! we're trying to be responsible adults and save some money up before baby comes. i will be doing almost nothing to help because i think if i did, both my mom and wade would freak out, so luckily we have a bunch of friends coming over to help us out.

oh there has been absolutely no business time since we found out we're pregnant. its funny, before this i always thought women were so crazy to worry about sex during pregnancy since all doctors seem to seem to think its fine... we are so freaked out about it! i feel bad for wade, im sure this is not what he had in mind when he pictured us as newlyweds... complete abstinence. ha ha. maybe when we're finally outta the danger zone we'll chill out a bit... poor guy.

2.16.2009

blegh.

ok so the grossness has fully kicked in... and it is no fun, let me tell you.

i think ive figured out that if i dont eat often enough i start to feel nauseous, but by that point its already too late because who wants to eat when you feel like throwing up? its a vicious cycle...

and my lower back is absolutely killing me! i feel like ive done some sort of exercise that would do something to my back and i am now paying for it. not the case. all i did this weekend was nap! and you cant use a heating pad, and im scared to take tylenol because i want to vomit now with no pain killers in my system...

its a really good thing im halfway through my first trimester...

2.11.2009

tests, tests, & more tests!

i had my first prenatal visit yesterday that consisted of peeing in my one millionth cup, being weighed for the hundredth time, having tons of information thrown at me, and being stuck with numerous needles without the nurse ever being able to draw blood.

so i had absolutely no idea what to expect at this appt so i didnt ask wade to come because i thought they were just taking more blood... i was wrong. the dr went over all of the tests they were going to run on my blood including the various optional tests that could be done to find out if our baby is susceptible to cystic fibrosis, down syndrome, ect. it was not the greatest thing to hear on your first 'big visit.' oh well, i guess they gotta tell you about all that stuff sooner or later... the only positive from the appt was getting prescription prenatals with a stool softener, ha ha!

the morning sickness has definitely come in and my lower back is killing me! so im not as lucky as i thought i was gonna be and completely skip out on any bad symptoms of pregnancy... ha ha, so much for wishful thinking!

2.07.2009

a bag of rice

here's the picture of our grain of rice, that's what the ultrsound tech called it anyway, and wade said as long as it isn't a bag of rice, he's fine with it... silly boy.

i know a lot of people were curious as to whether or not there would be more than one because of the fertility meds, but the tech said she only saw the one, it could change later on since we are still so early, but we're thinkin its just our one little sweet pea, and i am totally happy with that! we also got to see the heartbeat which was totally awesome!!! it just looked like a little flicker, but to know that that little flicker was out baby's heartbeat was absolutely crazy! i definitely teared up a bit... i know, im so emo lately. the rate of the heartbeat was 124 bpm, and the tech said that was really good, but i have no idea, i'm sure she tells every mom everything is 'really good' to not freak us crazies out!

i go back to the dr next week to have more blood work done, actually my appointment is scheduled for friday the 13th and i do not like that at all... so i might change it. i don't need anything working against us right now, and the only dr in that day is one i'm not too fond of, so even more reasons to switch. we'll keep you informed if anything funny or weird happens this week! so check back later...

2.05.2009

gummy bear

tomorrow is the big day!

we will hopefully get to see our baby for the first time ever!... even if it does look like a gummy bear with a heartbeat. and i will probably be one of those moms that posts the picture and sends it to everyone even though no one will even know what theyre looking at... and you will all love it! cause you know its gonna be on this most fantastical of all blogs by tomorrow evening!

nothing too great happened today... i think i might be experiencing slight morning sickness every once in awhile, ugh, i hope not.

oh, wait! heres something... so we ordered subs for lunch at work today and i specifically asked for mine to be hot since there is some weirdness about preggos eating deli meat. so we wait over an hour for the two subs to be delivered from no more than a mile and a half away and my sub was definitely not heated. stupid jerks. i waited for what seemed like an eternity for a sub that i couldnt even eat once acquired. theyre lucky i didnt call and yell real hard about them teasing me with the promise of food that i could eat... i am hormonal you know. they wouldve deserved it.

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