23 weeks...or 24....?

How far along? Well i'm 24 weeks today, but so much has been going on that I missed my 22 and 23 week posts. BLAHH...moving (and not moving), and caring for an infant and her unborn sibling REALLY take up a lot of time. So sorry to her sister, who will probably be deeply offended that some of her posts are missing ;) Mom tried....really, I did. 

If you'd like to go back to when I had OODLES of time, and read about my 22nd week with Elsie, click right here! 23rd week?...click right here! and lets just add the 24th week for good measure! You can find it HERE! Uff da! 

Maternity clothes: Still on the same routine as far as that goes. 

Stretch marks? Nada. My belly is still pretty small. Some days it still barely looks like i'm even pregnant, which is actually sort of a bummer to me. (Sometimes lol) I had a doctor's appointment last week and I've only gained about 3 lbs so far. They aren't very concerned, especially considering I only gained about 15-17 lbs with Elsie and she was an almost 8 lb baby. Also considering the baby is right on track with growth, she's actually measuring AHEAD. I'm definitely not restricting myself as far as my diet goes, so it's a mystery to me why i'm not gaining weight. They are going to start monitoring my weight gain a little closer from here on out. 

Sleep: No problem! 

Best moment this week: Week? Don't you mean closer to MONTH? gulp. Let's see..I guess getting the official word from my ultrasound that she's a perfect little healthy babe! That's always such a weight off my mind. So grateful and blessed to have another healthy baby a'brewin. Also we've had a couple field trips as a family now that the days are getting warmer. LOVING that.  

Miss anything?: Meh, i'm good. 

Movement: Yep! She's a little wiggle worm! But she doesn't seem to wake me up at all through the night. (fingers crossed that will remain the case AFTER she's born! hehe) 

Food cravings: Lots of ice cream has been on my mind lately. Also I had a DEEP craving for brownies/cake with chocolate frosting. I got all the supplies, but my dear husband had already packed up our pans. I still haven't had that brownie. Tragic. 

Anything making you queasy or sick?  Nothing!! Funny story though, literally within hours of me saying that on my last post, I threw up. So i'll tread lightly on that one.   

Gender: Chickadee 

Labor signs: Nope, lots of braxton hicks though!! 

Symptoms: Indigestion like a mofo!! braxton hicks, general achiness especially my hips 

Belly button in or out? Still rockin and rolling. 

Happy or moody most of the time? Meh, the process of buying a home is for the birds. It's had me down lately. Also packing is legit my most hated thing. Literally #1. So annoying.

Looking forward to: I'd like to say moving...but who knows when that will ever be. I'll just say steady warm weather. lol. This up and down crap ain't cool. 

15 weeks with baby #2

How far along? 15 weeks! 
If you'd like to read about my 15th week with Elsie, you can find it here

Maternity clothes: Still the same ol routine, luckily my work wardrobe consists of yoga pants and sweatshirts ;) Can't wait until the dress code changes to sun dresses and swimsuits!!! I don't feel like i'm showing as fast as I assumed I would this time around! 

Stretch marks?  None to report!  

Sleep: Sleep isn't an issue here! 

Best moment this week: Well my baby turned 6 months old, so that was pretty exciting! My little lovey sure is growing up fast!! 

Miss anything?:  Not having to walk on eggshells to disturb my stupid head. UGH. 

Movement:  Still feel the little bubbly flutters here and there. 

Food cravings:  hmmm....
Mexican food, white castle, and charleys subs. It wasn't a very healthy week lol

Anything making you queasy or sick?  I had a really rough week in terms of nausea. Felt like I was back to square one with feeling sick every morning and even sometimes all the way through the day. So over it!!!  

Gender: Not sure still! Still totally gettin the girl vibe! 

Labor signs: No! 

Symptoms: Still being utterly tortured with migraines. My doctor finally gave me a prescription of Fioricet, so i'm PRAYING that will work. I'm reaching my wits end, literally the only thing that I can do to NOT get a headache is to lay completely still in bed all day. (HAHA) I can't pinpoint any specific thing that triggers them besides literally just living my life. It's HARD!! 

Belly button in or out? Still in!  

Wedding rings on or off? Off 

Happy or moody most of the time?  It's hard to be real happy when I feel so crummy all the time, but i've got a pretty sweet reason to be happy! 

Looking forward to:  Finding out what this baby is! 

Birth Story

Since it's still fresh in my memory, I thought I would document and share our birth story! Also, be forewarned, it's going to be VERY long and well...TMI. ;)

It all started on Friday, August 22nd. I had gone to work as usual and I felt fine for the most part. I had actually started to come to terms with the fact that I was probably going to go all the way to 40 weeks and beyond potentially. I got home from work and just spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watched Mrs. Doubtfire. We went to bed and I noticed that I had to get up to use the bathroom a LOT more than usual. Also, every time I would use the bathroom and go lay back down I had some pretty bad cramps. It felt like those obnoxious aching cramps you get right before you get your period. I thought it was a little odd, but didn't think anything of it-just figured it was false labor or some painful braxton hicks. When I got up in the morning, I still felt a little off. Josh had to work and I planned to get up nice and early and go run some errands. We had planned to get EVERYTHING baby related done that we had left to do. Well I used the bathroom and noticed a little bit of blood. I just told myself it must be due to having my cervix checked at my most recent doctor appointment. (The denial begins...) But since I wasn't feeling the best, I thought it was probably a good idea to just wait for Josh to get home instead of going gallivanting all over town by myself.  As I was getting ready, I took a pic (which ended up being my last bump picture) because I wanted to see if maybe it was obvious that I had "dropped" or what the deal was. Maybe that would explain why I wasn't feeling the best.

Josh got home and we got ready and headed out. At that point I was still feeling really crampy, but we had SO much to do. It was our plan to go to Roseville and go to World Market and Babies R us. On the way we decided to stop at Planet thrift because we were looking for a piece of furniture to finish off the nursery. We ended up seeing Josh's aunt and her mom there, and she seemed to think I definitely looked like I had dropped since she had seen me at the shower the weekend before. Well as we are walking around the thrift store, I felt a small "leakage." Basically wasn't sure if I had randomly lost control of my bladder or what was going on. At that point Josh started feeling a little concerned but I was still brushing it off. (cramps are getting worse) We stopped at Dock 86 quick and then made our way onward to Roseville. We got to World Market and the cramps started picking up. To the point that Josh started getting REALLY annoyed at my insisting to call them cramps instead of contractions. He even whipped out his phone and tried to time them. I just kept telling him that I was fine, and nothing was happening. We got all that we needed there, and headed next door to Babies R Us.  Well as we are walking around there, another gush-this time a bit larger. Josh starts freaking out, I continue to be in denial but at that point it starts feeling a BIT more concerning and we decide we will call the doctor when we get home and see what she thinks we should do. I still hadn't packed a hospital bag or anything despite my doctor scolding me to do so at every appointment. We grab some things at Babies R Us, focusing on things we NEED in case we have a baby on the way. Josh rushes me out of there and we head home. If it were up to me, I probably would have tried to stop a couple more places to get some things. We get home and I get on the phone and spoke with the nurse and she tells me the doctor will get back to me. Well as i'm waiting for the call back, I go in the bathroom and all of a sudden I feel a big WHOOSH and at that point it's pretty clear that it's undeniably my water. OMG my water broke!! I wouldn't say it's like in the movies, but I think I definitely experienced about as close to that as it comes. I've heard most women don't really even have their water break, and more often gets broken during labor. So, I get a call back from the doctor and I tell her all that has just occurred and she basically tells me to get some things together, get something to eat, and get to the hospital.

So after a long drive  (aside from my request to stop at burger king first....denial still) sitting on a towel, and progressing contractions- we finally made it to the hospital. I step out of the car and it's like a flood, SUCH an uncomfortable feeling. Josh ended up having to push me in a wheelchair because I was NOT about to go walking through the hospital dripping everywhere. We make it up to labor and delivery at about 4 and we were initially told they wouldn't "room us" without me getting an exam first. Well, they took one look at my soaking wet shorts and it was CLEAR I wasn't leaving the hospital without this baby. Talk about a crazy feeling! So they brought us down to our room (We got the "big room" by the way) I got into my gown and started rolling with the contractions, which at this point were getting WORSE and worse. My midwife came in and checked me and I was at 3 centimeters, so it was left up to me to do what I wanted. I could get in the bath, sit on an exercise ball, or whatever really until I decided I wanted my epidural. I chose the exercise ball. I think I lasted about 45 minutes total before I was like OKAY that's enough, lets get this epidural process going. They had to give me an IV of fluids before they could give me the epidural so unfortunately I still had to wait a bit longer. Those contractions are NO joke. I truly applaud any woman that can make it through the whole way. Anyways, I get my fluids and the anesthesiologist comes in and works his magic. The process wasn't all that bad, just a little uncomfortable, but I knew what the result was going to be so I was all for it. The hardest part was staying completely still through my contractions as he's sticking the giant needle in my back. Once the meds started setting in, I was a HAPPY girl!

After I got the epidural going, the doc came and checked me again and I was at a 5. She could feel another "water bag" that was still intact, so she went ahead and broke the rest. We were then left to chill out and the waiting began. We watched some tv and they told us to "get some rest" but it seemed like whenever we would doze off, the nurse would be coming in. I felt so bad for Josh because he had worked that morning, so he was really sleepy and only had a SUPER uncomfortable couch to try to rest on.

So a couple hours past (I think anyway) and the nurse came back in to empty my bladder with a catheter, since I was not able to get up to use the bathroom with the epidural. (FUN!) And she goes "ya know...I think i'm going to check you if you don't mind." So she does, and she goes "Oh! you're at a 10 and the baby is SUPER low now!" YIKES! So she says we're going to let your body work her way down some more with the contractions, that way you won't need to push as much. (which I was definitely a fan of) So it was about 12 at that point and they said I would start pushing at about 1. 

So 1 o clock rolls around and the midwife gets there and we get the show on the road! I was TERRIFIED!! Josh was such a good "coach" I really don't think I could have done it without him. So a contraction comes and they tell me to push and I do, and they basically tell me she's just about out already! I pushed 3-4 more times and she was out! I started pushing at about 1:05 and she was out at 1:23. It was the most insane thing I have EVER EVER experienced. Just to finally see her face, it was a really really surreal feeling. She was beautiful, it was absolutely love at first sight! She was 7lbs, 15oz and 20.5 inches long. She is absolutely a gift from God, and we can't imagine our lives without her now. It's like she's always been here! 

We love you Elsie Grace!!

17 weeks + SURPRISE!!!

How far along? 17 weeks!

Maternity clothes: Every now and then, still don't need to all the time. 

Stretch marks? I'm still doing okay, but I had a dream the other night that I had HUGE sore stretch marks so that was a bit frightening 

Sleep: Okay I suppose!

Best moment this week: Well I ended up getting sick AGAIN with an awful cold, so that was pretty unfortunate. My immune system has really taken a SEVERE beating obviously. But the BEST moment was today!! (Oooo the suspense!) 

Miss anything?: I miss not catching every plague that crosses my path! 

Movement: Noo not yet. 

Food cravings: Oranges and Apples

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nothing in particular

Gender: !!!!!  

Labor signs: Nope 

Symptoms: headache, and then all my horrible cold symptoms but i'm not sure they count.

Belly button in or out? Still in

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time? This week i've been BLAH again. 

Looking forward to:  Spilling the beans...

cause oh yeah, by the way...........................................................................

WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!! 

I swear it's not an April Fool's joke. 

Now, I guess I have some 'splainin to do. SO, as you all know we had our anatomy scan scheduled for next week. Well I just last week finally made the decision to transfer care to the midwives at U of M. So I was in a predicament. Do I keep the ultrasound appointment with the old providers and then have to transfer all that information? Or do I just wait until 20 weeks with the new providers? OR..do I give in to my insanely impatient ways and get an elective ultrasound now AND a 20 week ultrasound with my new provider. I think you can guess what choice I made. 

So we went and did that TODAY. Of COURSE the little peanut had the cord absolutely RIGHT on top where we wanted to see and she had the cord in her hands messin around with it, but the tech was pretty confident that it was a GIRL!! (I mean, even willing to bet 100 dollars! :P) So we were SHOCKED! We were both totally thinking boy, but we are thrilled!! She will have Josh wrapped around her little finger I can already see it. I must say I am glad we will get one last chance to check and make sure the cord wasn't hidin anything! BUT OMG! We're having a little girl!!!!!  They couldn't get the best shots of her cause she was movin all over the place but she's so cute and we already love her so much!!

16 weeks!

How far along? I'm 16 weeks! 

Maternity clothes: I went shopping at my favorite thrift store and got a nice little starter set of maternity clothes, it's still not COMPLETELY necessary yet but i'm definitely getting there. Better to be prepared! ;) 

Stretch marks? Still holdin up! 

Sleep: Sleeping okay, not so much this week but in general sleeping well. 

Best moment this week: I don't really know to be honest because I had an absolutely AWFUL week. Starting Monday I came down with a horrific migraine which then migrated into an awful awful sickness of some kind. I had a low fever, headache, chills, and absolute non stop vomiting. On Wednesday I started to feel improved as far as the "bug" went but they think I was so badly dehydrated and starving that It just started re-triggering baby nausea all over again and my body just couldn't catch up. So Wednesday evening after not eating or drinking anything since Monday it was decided that I needed to head to the ER to get IV fluids.  She pumped me full of fluids and nausea medication and I felt SO much better. I have felt good ever since so lets hope and pray something like that NEVER happens to me again. I feel like I could cry just thinking about it. Miserable. So I guess I could say my best moment was when I didn't feel that way anymore! 

Miss anything?: Can't think of anything at the moment! 

Movement: It's really hard to say! Every so often I feel a little gas bubble type sensation that maybe COULD be the flutters? But i'm really not sure obviously cause I have nothing to compare it to. Could just be actual gas LOL. 

Food cravings: I haven't really eaten enough this week to even KNOW what i've been craving lol. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? This is becoming a bit redundant but again,considering most of the week EVERYTHING made me sick, it's hard to say. 

Gender: 2 weeks until we (hopefully) find out!! AHHH I can't wait! 

Labor signs: Nope 

Symptoms: achey head, that can stop any time and that'd be alright with me!   

Belly button in or out? Still in

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time? This week i've been BLAH. 

Looking forward to: I'll give you one guess!!!! C'mon April 7th!!! 

13 weeks!

How far along? 13 weeks!

Maternity clothes: Not yet, at this rate though it's probably not too far in the future

Stretch marks? Still none. And i'm kicking myself because I was JUST at Walmart tonight and forgot to pick up that dang cocoa butter!! AGHH!! 

Sleep: Still sleeping okay. 

Best moment this week: I actually had a very good week! We got to see our peanut at our ultrasound on Tuesday! And I got my hair done on Thursday and that felt AMAZING! I needed the pick me up! 

Miss anything?:  I miss staying full for more than an hour and a half. I swear i'm STARVING every 2 hours. 

Movement: No

Food cravings: Still no new ones, I crave "food" ALL the time, does that count? 

Anything making you queasy or sick? Still gagging when I brush my teeth. And the only other time I feel like I could be sick is when I get really hungry, which like I said is EXTREMELY common these days.

Gender: No clue. The ultrasound tech wouldn't give us any clue (BOO!) For some reason I just have a feeling it's a Boy though. We shall see!

Labor signs: Not quite yet....

Symptoms: Still pretty fatigued, i've been struggling with headaches pretty often lately which is real cool considering there are rumors that Tylenol is linked to ADHD so I guess we're just SOL for any sort of relief during pregnancy. And still getting nauseous here and there. I've been very fortunate this pregnancy because i've heard some HORROR stories from other poor pregnant ladies, but when my symptoms are bad they are BAD.  

Belly button in or out? In, I did take my belly ring out though because it started to poke out all awkwardly in my shirt 

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time? I don't feel like i'm OVERLY moody, I'd say pretty standard. I have good and bad moments, but more good. (I think anyways?) 

Looking forward to: We will be getting our results back from the NT screening hopefully tomorrow, so i'm looking forward to getting GOOD news from that. (fingers crossed) I'm looking forward to warmer, sunny weather. It's really hard to remain optimistic and happy in this awful, miserably cold weather. We have had ENOUGH!!!! Come on Spring, I am SO SO ready for you. 

Oh my gosh, it's REALLY a baby in there!

So we had our ultrasound today! It went really well, she said the baby looks great. The fluid at the back of the neck is a normal level (which is what I guess they're mainly looking for for this screening) so that's GOOD! They just had to take a blood draw as well and those results will be back in about a week, so we'll pray that that comes back with good news as well! 

It truly is absolutely remarkable how much has changed in just the span of a few weeks. The little peanut was movin' all around in there! (makes sense now how sometimes it's hard for me to catch the heartbeat on the doppler!) Moving its little arms and kicking its little legs, putting the hands up by its mouth. It was SO cute and just truly awe inspiring. We could have sat there and watched it all day, like the ultrasound tech said it's literally the best movie in the world! There is an actual little moving, growing human in there that is part of US! What a miracle. And if you're wondering, we didn't get any clue on the sex. I was pretty bummed but I guess this clinic isn't about guessing. They must have had too many experiences of getting it wrong and people getting upset or something. Oh well, something to REALLY look forward to for the next one.

Now on to the fun part-the pictures!! 

Quite the difference from the little bean we saw in there a few weeks ago! 

Little arm and hand waving at us! 

The profile shots are my favorite.

Sweet little footsie. The tech said "You have your first little footprint!" awww....

Make every day count

This picture. Was not an intentional shot at all. Took some pictures using my zoom and then forgot to take it off. Not much to it right? Could have easily been one for the delete pile. But no. For some reason this picture makes me think. Stirs up something inside me. Weird right? 

This picture makes me think about Life. How quickly all our lives go by. How quickly things can change, shift, and ultimately end in the blink of an eye. Our lives are just a blip on the map. So insignificant in the grand scheme of things, yet so precious. Do we truly appreciate this life we are given, on a daily basis? Do we give the proper thanks everyday for all we have, all we are blessed with. No, probably not. When things around us go wrong, or we see or hear about tragedy's that happen to others, we may stop and think to ourselves, wow I am so blessed. But why don't we feel that way every day? Why don't we wake up and Thank God for the day we are given. Just for giving us another day to be with the people we love. Thank Him for all the tremendous indescribable beauty all around us. Why don't we soak up that beauty everyday. Absolutely Cherish it. We are only given this one life. This one crazy tiny life. We should be doing everything we can to absolutely jam pack it with happiness and love. Do we take full advantage of all the love we are given, and all the love we have been equipped with to give? When you REALLY think about it, isn't it just crazy? It's terrifying in a way. Life as a whole scares me, the uncertainty of it all. I've never been fond of the unknown. And that's not to say I don't have faith. I certainly do. But to just think that You could be gone tomorrow. The most important person in your life could be gone in an instant. I've never been able to wrap my mind around that. I don't anyone can or ever will. 

That person in that picture up there will someday be a memory. Nothing more. 

There's no way to even begin explain what that thought feels like. I feel tears welling up in my eyes just to even briefly contemplate it. Your day to day problems, your drama, all that stuff doesn't make up your life, or at least it shouldn't. IT DOESN'T MATTER! It may feel like it does right now, but it DOES NOT. When it really comes down to it, you won't look back on the stupid, pitiful, bad moments of your life. It's moments like that one up there^that count. There's happiness in that face. Hope. Life. It's a picture that speaks volumes without really showing or saying anything at all. I wish I always lived my life with that kind of freedom. Letting go of all the stuff I can't change, all the stuff that really doesn't even matter. Free yourself. Let the grace and love of God surround you everyday. Wouldn't we be so much happier? Life is so so short. We all say it, but when do we stop just saying it and start living that way? I know we can't ALWAYS live everyday as if it were our last. Everyone is bound to have a bad day here and there that you just can't shake. But I challenge everyone to just TRY as much as you can! Be kind, be honest, be loving. Think about your lives. Realize how very important it is to cherish what you have today, before today is too late. Try your hardest everyday to make the memory of yourself the absolute best and happiest it can be!