How Cute Am I??

PRETTY DARN CUTE!!! I could look at these pictures all day everyday! We had our follow-up ultrasound this morning to check on my placenta previa and to get a better view of the baby's spine. My doctor's office offers a 3D/4D package for an additional fee. I was originally planning on going to Expecting Mom Spa to do our 3D/4D ultrasound, but my doctor's office had a cheaper package that offered more time and pictures than the cheapest Expecting Mom package. So since we were going in for a follow-up today, I scheduled our 3D/4D at the same time. We were going to wait until closer to 30 weeks, but Chad leaves next week for 3 weeks and I did not want him to miss out!!

Great news to report...not only does the baby look GREAT, but my placenta previa is completely gone and the spine is totally normal!! I no longer have any restrictions and my doc said I will not need another ultrasound unless I go past my due date!! The ultrasound tech said the baby's estimated weight was 3 lbs 1 oz. She said that they usually weigh 3 lbs around 30 weeks...well I guess I am feeding the baby well, because I am only 28.5 weeks! Haha. I guess that would explain my 9 lb weight gain from 3 weeks ago! Ahh! I knew I would gain it all toward the end! Chad, my dad, and my Nana all say the baby has 'masculine' features, so we will see! I don't think you can tell by looking at it's features, but my gut still says boy :) Either way, we will be thrilled!!

I am SO excited that one week from today, my mom and I will be traveling to Northern VA for my baby shower! I am SO SO excited to see all of my wonderful friends as well as Chad's family! It will be a long 8 hrs in the car, but it will be well worth it! The only sad part is when we return Chad will already be in California :( What am I going to do without him for 3 weeks?! I know time will fly by and he will be home before I know it!

My next appointment will be in 2 weeks, and hopefully by then spring will be here to stay!!

27 Weeks and a Whole LOT of Clumsiness!

(I wrote this post last week, but I waited to post it so I could get a belly picture. Well it turns out I can't find the camera charger, so there is no 27 week belly pic! I will post lots of 28 week belly pics after our doctor's appointment on Friday!)

I decided since I am now 27 weeks, it was about time for Chad to get the maternity ward tour at the hospital where we will be delivering...what better way than a surprise visit to triage on a Sunday night?! Why do these things always seem to happen at night AND on the weekends? I swear, the very few times in my life I have ever needed to see a doctor ASAP has been on a weekend when there are NO doctor's offices open! So the story goes...I had been keeping myself busy that night by organizing closets and trying to put 3 weeks worth of laundry away. I was carrying clothes from the basement to the 2nd floor and when I reached the top of the stairs, BB, my parents english bulldog who we had been babysitting, was standing at the top of the stairs. Rather than push her out of my way, I decided it would be a good idea to step over her. Bad idea. Being the skiddish dog she is, she freaked out when I stepped over her, so she decided to start running away as I had one foot over her. Well the laundry went flying, my shoes flew off, and I hit the hard wood floor! Chad was in the hallway where this happened, and he immediately shoved the dog out of the way and tried to pick me up off of the ground, while yelling at the poor dog. I told him I was fine and to let me get up on my own and to stop yelling at the poor dog who is now terrified and bleeding in the stairwell. I get up and at first nothing hurt, but after a few minutes I realized my right rib cage started to hurt. This was a relief, because I didn't know how I hit the floor, so I will take my ribs over falling flat on my growing belly. I decided to call the doctor on call, just to be on the safe side. Well the dumb _______ (left blank for your imagination) took 35 minutes to call me back. In that time frame I went from thinking I was totally fine, to freaking out and thinking what if I hurt my baby! Chad walked into the room where I was sitting just waiting for her to call me back, and tears were streaming down my face. When she did finally call me back, she asked what happened, and I told her I tripped over the dog. I told her at first it didn't seem to hurt, but now my right rib cage and my right wrist were starting to hurt which made me think I did not fall on my stomach. She then proceeds to ask me if I can move my wrist and if it is swollen...seriously lady?? You are asking me about my WRIST right now? How about MY BABY?? I am no doctor, but I can think of about 20 questions I would have asked me before asking about my stupid wrist. She told me the baby was probably fine, but that trauma can cause contractions, so she told me to go to triage at B. North so they can hook me up to monitors and see the baby's heartbeat and make sure I am not contracting. I got to triage, and they hooked me up to monitors and I sat there for about 30 minutes. The second she put me on monitors and I heard the heartbeat I started crying again. I can see her notation now... "patient tearful" blah blah blah. I was just so relieved! And poor Chad...I love my husband, but when it comes to being the strong one in a situation like that, he is not so good at it. He looked more terrified than me! I might have to kick him out of the delivery room after all....kidding. We had a very nice nurse and once we were cleared to leave, she said she won't be seeing us again until June or maybe the end of May...DAMN STRAIGHT YOU WON'T! She also told me to make sure Chad doesn't kill the dog while I am sleeping :) Poor puppy! It was not her fault at all...with all of the clumsy things I have been doing lately, I should have NEVER tried to step over the dog!! So rest assured, that will NOT be happening again!

Nursery!!

26 Weeks!!

Happy 26 weeks!! I can't believe that I am just a couple weeks shy of my THIRD and FINAL trimester!! For as slow as this pregnancy started out, it now feels like it is flying by! My doctor's appointment last week went great and the nurse practitioner said that I got an A+ on all of my tests! She also said that my lungs sounded clear, which means no walking pneumonia! Before my appointment, I had to drink a nasty glucose solution and then have blood drawn an hour later to check for gestational diabetes as well as another blood test to check for anemia. If my glucose was 140 or higher, then I would have had to take a three hour glucose tolerance test. My glucose was....139! No joke! I passed by one point! She said she was sure I would have passed the three hour test, but I am just thankful that I don't even have to do it!!! My hematocrit & hemoglobin levels were also fine, so no pneumonia, no gestational diabetes, and no anemia! All good news! In three weeks, I only gained a pound, but she didn't say anything to me about it, so I figure I am going to be one of those people that gains all the weight towards the end! My next appointment is scheduled for the end of March, and that is when we will do our second ultrasound to check on my placenta previa and to hopefully get a better view of the little peanut's spine!

On Chad's last day at Maxim, his wonderful boss and co-workers threw us a baby shower. It was such a nice gesture and it was definitely hard for both of us to walk out of the office at the end of the party. I know that I don't know all of his co-workers that well, but it was very apparent how highly everyone thinks of Chad. One of the nurses kept threatening to tie him to his chair and not let him go! I know they were all sad to see him go, but I am certain that we will keep in touch with the wonderful friends we have made during his time at Maxim.


This past weekend was a rough one for me. I had to miss out on my friend Lauren's wedding weekend in Baltimore :( All of my wonderful girlfriends got to have a reunion weekend and see Lauren and Patrick tie the knot! I have several upcoming trips and I figured it was not healthy for me to travel constantly now that I am further along in my pregnancy. I HATE missing out on these reunions! It makes me wish I never moved away from them! I do love living in OH and being close to my family, but in a sense I feel like I moved closer to one family and moved further away from another. I lived away from my family for more than six years, so my girlfriends became my family. They are the best group of friends anyone could ever ask for and I can't wait to see most of them at my shower in April! As I was looking at pictures of the wedding on Sunday morning, I found myself in tears! I always miss them, but for some reason this weekend was worse than usual! I have been blaming most tears on pregnancy hormones, but I really do think I just miss my friends that much, overactive hormones or not!!


Not too much else is going on around here! We are definitely ready for the warmer weather!! Chad starts his new job on Monday and then he leaves in April for three weeks of training in California...something we are both nervous about! Chad does so much around the house that I don't know how me and my growing belly are going to live without him for three long weeks! Until then we are working on the nursery and getting things done around the house!

25 Weeks Down...15 To Go!!

I know it has been a while since I have updated our blog! I have thought about it and have had plenty of time to do it, there just hasn't been much to report!! As far as my pregnancy goes, I still feel great! No nausea at all and I'm not any more tired than the non-pregnant full-time night shift nurse :) I did catch a cold from Chad a couple weeks ago, but I never felt that bad, so I started to think it was just sinuses. Well this was 3 weeks ago and the constant coughing has not let up, in fact in the last 2 days it seems to have gotten worse. I worked all night on Saturday night and came home Sunday morning and slept until about 2:30 pm. When I woke up, I felt really funny, almost like I couldn't catch my breath. I ignored it for a while, but the more time went by, the worse it got. So of course I started to panic, which in turn, made it worse! I called my doctor and she told me to drink fluids, take robitussin, and go to the ER if it got any worse. Well the shortness of breath seemed to improve, but I felt weird all night. I woke up today and felt better, but still have this horrid dry cough. I am not due to go to the doctor until Tuesday of next week, but when my doctor called me today to check on me, she heard my cough and told me she wanted me to come in this week instead. Her concern is that it could be walking pneumonia and doesn't want me to sit on it all week. So, I will go in this Weds and see what is going on. I was scheduled to do my glucose test text week, so she bumped that up to Weds as well. I PRAY that I pass this test, because I think I will pass out if I have to do the 3 hour glucose tolerance test!!

So now it is time to brag a little bit... I think that I might be the luckiest girl in the entire world. Maybe I am biased, but I think I have the most amazing husband, brother, and dad in the world. I will tell you why I think so...My amazing brother has been more excited than anyone since the moment he found out I was pregnant. He texts me several times a week with baby name ideas and to tell me about all of the baby dreams he is having! Last week, I woke up to a package at my front door. It was from Uncle Matty of course. The package was full of healthy pregnancy food, tea, PICKLES, aden & anis burp cloths for the baby, and the best part...a letter from Matty! It was the most thoughtful package and I just know that he is going to be the most smitten uncle in the entire world. All of you single ladies out there don't even know what you are missing out on, but that's ok because that means I don't have to share him! He already loves my mom more than me, I don't think I can share him with anyone else!

Now on to my husband...Chad has done more for me than I can even begin to share in a short blog post. What I admire the most about him is his extreme dedication. Chad was approached with a new job opportunity a couple weeks ago. This opportunity was one that he could not turn down and while he was so excited for the opportunity to grow professionally, he was literally tortured at the thought of letting his boss and other co-workers down. For almost an entire week I had to listen to him talk about how he feels like he is letting someone down, but wants to do what's best for his family. While I knew everything was going to work out fine, it broke my heart to see him struggle. He is the hardest worker of anyone I have ever met and I am not just saying that because he is my husband. I am so proud of him and can't wait to see him further his career. I can sometimes be annoyed at his "I have to be the best at everything" mentality, but it is also one of the reasons I love him so much. There is one thing I know he will be the best at...and that is being a daddy!!

And last but definitely not least...my daddy. My dad has spoiled me rotten my whole life. Even though I am a married women, I pretty much don't make any decisions without consulting my dad. He always says to me, "what will you do when I'm not around," and I truly have no clue! He knows everything about everything and I would be lost without his knowledge, experience, and ability to fix EVERYTHING!!! We had our baby furniture delivered on Fri. It has been sitting in the dining room in boxes, because we still had some touch up painting to do. Well he came over today, and in a matter of 3 hours, he finished all the painting and put the whole crib together! While I do love my husband...he is nowhere close to being this handy!! Thank goodness my parents live a mile away :) Told ya I was a lucky girl!!

I will be sure to post a quick update after my appointment on Weds. Keep your fingers crossed for no pneumonia and a passing score on my glucose test!!

New Tricks!

Let's see what the little one has been doing since I last updated...

* Not only do I kick my mommy all the time, but now I kick my Daddy too!
* I have learned where my mommy's bladder is and I like to kick it to get a reaction out of her!
* I can throw a punch and a kick all at the same time!
* I am so strong now, that if you stare at my mommy's belly, you can see my spastic karate moves!
* I weigh almost ONE WHOLE POUND!
* I made my mommy gain 6 lbs in 4 short weeks!
* I like to kick people who talk to me! I learned to do this in the middle of the night when mommy was at work :)
* I already have my days and nights mixed up...good thing my mommy is a night shifter...poor daddy!!
* And last but not least, I am no longer hiding, I have made it very apparent that I am taking residence in my mommy's belly!

Today we had our 22 week appointment with Dr, Valido. It was a very short appointment, I think we were in and out of there in 15 minutes! I am happy to say that I have FINALLY gained weight! 6 whole pounds to be exact! The nurse said she was going to have a talk with me if the scale read what it had for the past 2 months. Haha. The doc said all my vitals were good and the baby's heart rate was in the mid-140's. I told him about some cramping that I have been experiencing for a while now and he said it was more than likely what they call round ligament pain. He says the pain is coming from the stretching of my uterus. I assumed that is what it was, but I was starting to get paranoid, because it seems like I always have some degree of cramping everyday. He said unless it gets very painful or is timeable, then there is no reason to be concerned.

As you read above, this baby is a moving machine. It cracks me up every time. You would think that I am used to it by now, but every time he/she moves, I stop what I am doing and wonder what the heck the little nut is doing in there! I love every second! Chad had his face by my belly last night and every time he talked to the baby it would kick near his face. I was cracking up at how deliberate the movements were!

Well as it turns out, I have won the battle with paint colors! Not that Chad stood a chance anyway :) We bought four paint samples, and I put them all on the wall last week. We had a green, blue, yellow, and beige to choose from. I really thought we would want to do green, but the green that matched the bedding made the room too dark. I was between the yellow and the beige and Chad liked the blue. It is a pretty blue/teal color, but my argument was there is a good deal of blue in the bedding, and I wanted to pick a less dominant color so it would bring out that color in the bedding. The yellow and green aren't as prominent colors in the bedding, and with the green being too dark, that left us with yellow...so that was my choice! Our photographers told Chad on our wedding day "a happy life is a happy wife," I think this quote is very appropriate for this situation and many others for that matter!

I just couldn't help myself...

Either way...we are good to go! June can't get here soon enough!!!!!!!