May 29, 2012

The Maternity Session

I was so excited for this day! As you know, hubs and I have been wanting a baby for about two years now and I never thought we'd get far enough in a pregnancy to actually have a maternity portrait session.

But, last Friday- we did :)  Rachel, from August Tea Photography helped us out on this one and we LOVE how these portraits turned out.

Below are my favorites from the session.

 This one is my mothers favorite and Fred loves it too.

 This one is Fred's favorite :)

 I think this one is my absolute favorite!

 I love how Fred looks in this one...priceless!

May 26, 2012

Week 31

I'm not going to say AGAIN, how fast time is flying but...but I got about 51 days left...so I'm starting the very early signs of hyperventilation lol!

This past weekend my mother threw us a beautiful baby shower at a local hotel and banquet center. It was attended by about 55 people and it was wonderful. We have absolutely everything we need for baby and then some. After three showers and countless gifts sent to our home...I was shocked to realize I have written about 130 thank you notes! 130! That is insane...it is about the same amount I wrote for our wedding. We are incredible lucky and blessed people.

Here are some shots from the 3rd and final shower- compliments of my friend, Rachel from August Tea Photography.

 Home shot I took on our way out to the shower!

 Beautiful hand-made bouquet my friend Lori and her mother made :)

 Compliments of August Tea Photography - I love this shot!!!

 My adorable cousin, Mr. Chicken- stole his penguin!

 My aunt, cousin and I

 Friends Brit and Lori

 The Rachels!

 Brit feeling the baby for the first time...it was so cute!

 Gorgeous Grandma, don't ya think?

 My friend Courtney loves feeling the belly :)

We have so many of opening presents, I won't bore you with all of them...just some of the funny ones!! That's Lincoln's first fishing hat on the Hubs' head and pee-pee teepees compliments of my friend Lori.

 A "My Auntie Rocks" onesie from my Aunt Alicia....mother of Mr. Chicken.

 Apparently I make this face a lot...I'll need to stop lol!

 Adorable cake my Aunt made for us. The penguin is gluten-free!

Hand-made mobile by my friend and photographer, Rachel. I love it so much!

We honestly could not ask for a better set of family and friends. When I start to think about it I get all teared up. We are surrounded my loving, good people and we are grateful and humbled by it.Thank you to everyone for making this very special time in our lives even better.

Pregnancy symptoms: Man, this belly is getting HEAVY! I know this is the pack-it-on stage for our little man and boy am I feeling it. Lower back pain, foot cramps and just all around feeling tired. Had my first Braxton Hicks contraction last night while walking...that was...interesting.

How far along: 31 weeks 5 days

How big is baby? 3.3 pounds; 17 inches long

Weight gain/loss? +12 lbs

Sleep: Still getting up at least 2-3 times every night and adjusting those pillows. But I've been so tired that I am sleeping like a rock!

Gender: Boy!

Maternity clothes:Yes

Food cravings/aversions: I'm just hungry. I eat, I get full fast and two hours later I'm ready to eat again...repeat.

What are you looking forward to this week: I have my first non-stress test in a about a week...not really looking forward to it, but its something new....

May 18, 2012

Week 30

Man, 30 weeks along...only 8 weeks or less left. So hard to imagine we're even here and that in just about two months we'll be having a baby! Crazy how fast time has flown...

This week has been pretty good. Nothing crazy, new or unusual to report.

Last weekend we had a baby shower from my husband's side of the family- it was really very nice.

 Aunt Nancy bought Lincoln his very first fishing pole!

 Miss Gentry...still makes my heart melt...she just needs to stop getting so big!

 Our dear friend Carrie with daughter Emma and niece Electra

 That's my "Awww its sooo cute!' face...apparently lol!

Fred's Mother- so beautiful and so awesome!

 Fred and his wonderful Mother and sisters

The soon-to-be family of three!

I saw the doctor this morning and learned some interesting news. Everything is going well. He things the phlebitis is nothing to worry about and may actually be bumped up against a lymph node which is what is causing more pain. I passed my glucose test as I reported last week and he's comfortable with my Vitamin D regime at the moment (although we disagree on this, but whatever). My weight, blood pressure and fundus height is "perfect" and the baby's heart-rate is a healthy 164 beats per minute.

Starting in two weeks however, I'll start undergoing weekly non-stress tests. A test where they hook the belly up to two straps and monitor the baby's movement, oxygen, contractions I may be having etc. After that I repeat the test one week later then it will be bi-weekly tests. Yes, that's twice a week...man- talk about things moving along. He said the purpose of these tests are to be sure the baby is safe in his environment and that if anything comes back off he will feel comfortable inducing me as early as week 34...that's June 12th...yeah, OMG. He says with my compromised circulation and other issues I'm at a really high risk for preclamsia and he wants to keep the baby inside as long as it is safe- but if anything starts to go awry he's comfortable "getting that baby out of me." He said the absolute LAST day he would induce would be 39 weeks or July 16th. So, looks like I'll be having a baby any time between June 12th and July 16th.

I never thought induction that early was even an option and I'm HOPING we make it until at least the first of July...but then again nothing is predetermined, especially in pregnancy and apparently that is even more true in high risk pregnancy.

May 12, 2012

Week 28 & 29

The last couple weeks have had their ups and downs but at the end of it all I feel pretty good.

It is no secret to anyone I have a blood clotting disorder, or maybe it is- who knows -  well anyway early last week I developed a clot in a superficial vein in my groin, known as phlebitis.  Because it wasn't in a deep vein I don't need hospitalization but it made me rather uncomfortable none-the-less. I still have it, but it is starting to get more manageable

In addition I received some good news that lovenox (anticoagulant) manufactures started making 120mg syringes of lovenox- so I'm back to two shots a day...from four- woohoo!!

Finally, I also received a call that I failed my one hour glucose test. F'ing bummer. So yesterday I needed to take the 3 (more like 4) hour fasting glucose tolerance test. This test sucked and anyone that ends up needing to have this done should prepare to be hungry, crabby and poked a lot in a short period of time. All and all I did pretty well with the exception of a nurse on my 3rd draw missing twice and poking through my vein...yeah my hand is pretty nasty looking today. But, good news is- I passed!!! So when I found that out I sighed a huge sigh of relief. No gestational diabetes!!!

I was surprised to be in the room with 4 other pregnant women being tested for the same thing and none of them were significantly overweight.  I've also been talking to some women at work and many of them had gestational diabetes with one or more of their children. While weight and health play a factor, it seems age is a larger determinant. Women having children in their 30's despite weight seems to be at a pretty high risk....I guess this is another "myth" busted...or just assumption I had that I found to not always be true. I started off this pregnancy about 30 lbs more than I would have liked to be...so I wouldn't have been surprised if I failed to be completely honest. But, I didn't so I'm glad. 

Two weeks ago Fred and I took a "babymoon" - a little three night getaway to the Irish Hills. We stayed at a cute little Bed and Breakfast and did some shopping, ate at local restaurants and visited Hidden Lake Gardens.

This past Monday the ladies I work with threw me an awesome, owl-themed baby shower at work. I was shocked that we had 29 people from work attend...my car was stuffed with gifts on the way home. It brought tears to my eyes! I know I'm liked at work, but I keep work and personal life pretty separate, so I was very surprised by the warm reception from so many. My boss gave me a hug and said "you touch a lot of people's lives, Rachel." And then the tears came. It was a wonderful day.

Pregnancy symptoms: Awesome leg cramps in the middle of the night and of course baby boy is getting stronger and his kicks are a lot harder. Most don't hurt but it is much harder to ignore them these days. No more nausea or vomiting, so that's awesome...I think my last "episode" was around week 26...so very glad that seems to be over.

How far along: 29 weeks 5 days

How big is baby? 3 pounds; 17 inches long

Weight gain/loss? +10.5 lbs
Sleep: Sleep has been interesting. I sleep good but I'm up about 3 times every night to shift positions or for bathroom breaks...and I need to readjust my assortment of pillows lol!

Gender: Boy!

Maternity clothes: Of course, no choice now.

Food cravings/aversions: I've been craving a lot of non-gluten free foods lately...so that kind of sucks...but nothing bad...mainly I'm craving subway sandwiches with the REAL bread.