34 weeks, 6 days!!!

We've reached the day in the pregnancy when Jadon was born! This is a HUGE milestone!! Now, every day that i'm pregnant after today will be the most pregnant i've ever been.
Wasnt sure if I was going to make it to today! Yesterday morning I was feeling pretty crampy, but nothing too frequent or regular, so I didnt bother trying to time them or anything... just kept my eye on them. The cramping was gone by the time we were done eating lunch, and I was fine the rest of the day. Derek wouldnt let me do anything all day. So, he was Mr. Mom. He cleaned, cooked dinner, took care of Jadon and me, etc. Plus, I think he had a burst of the nesting instinct too because he was doing all this cleaning- Moving things around so he could vacuum underneath stuff, and mopping... that sort of thing. It was pretty amusing to see him scurying about all day, he seemed to be tireless! He's so sweet! :)
Anyways, i've had a headache the last couple days, so I havent wanted to do a whole lot anyways.

This morning I woke up feeling like I was getting the stomach flu... my head was pounding still, and anytime I sat up I felt like I was going to throw up. That had Derek and I both worried because the morning I had Jadon, I woke up feeling sick like that in the hospital, and I was sure that one of the nurses must've passed on a bug to me. I got up, took some tylenol, and Derek stayed home from work for a bit to take care of Jadon. After an hour or so I was feeling much better... I think my stomach ache was just the popcorn I ate last night not agreeing well with me because I kept burping it, and now I will never eat popcorn again!

But, the bottom line is, I feel like a ticking time bomb now, and any little thing that happens makes us think that now is the time!

Doppler

I'm getting ready to send back the doppler that I've been renting, except that i'm having a hard time saying goodbye to it. I know, i'm a weirdo! But, its been such a lifesaver for me since I was at 15 weeks, I almost feel like its been a good friend who's been there for me everytime I have needed the extra support. I dont know how I would have gotten through the last few months without it. Its been my lifeline!!! I had always planned to send it back around 20 weeks when you can definately feel baby moving. However, up until around 26 weeks, id still go a day or two where I wouldnt feel her moving regularly, and it would scare me to death. And then after that I kept thinking that if I sent it back, I knew something bad would happen and I'd wish I had the doppler with me to check on baby. I still feel like that sometimes.

Anyways, my doppler has been worth every penny of what we've spent on renting it (which is $25/month.) And i'm so glad my hubby has been so supportive of me needing it. I'm sure at times he's thought I was completely nuts, but he's kept his mouth shut like a good boy. ;)

So, my time with my doppler is drawing to a close, and it wont be long now until we are holding our baby girl!

My water broke!

Not this time, but when i was pregnant with Jadon, today is the day when my water broke with him! At 34 weeks and 2 days. Such a weird thought!
Derek made us a video of Jadon's first year of life so we can see what we have to look forward to again with having a baby in the house. Seeing him in the hospital, so tiny and completely helpless..... sometimes I look at him, and its strange to me that he is upright, and walking around, talking, eating, running, playing, etc. Considering how they start out completely helpless and dependent, and here 2.5 years later he is a little person!! Absolutely Amazing to say the least!!!

I only have 2 more progesterone shots left! I cant believe it! When I'm done, i'll be more than happy for her to come anytime after I finish them! I am getting sooo uncomfortable! And my belly itches sometimes, and my old stretch marks from my pregnancy with Jadon are growing new stretchmarks. I know its a small price to pay, but its sad to see them growing. Especially since i've gained less than half of what I gained with Jadon at this point. :(

Tic toc tic toc.....

I think she's coming early. This morning I am almost 100% certain I lost my mucus plug. This means that the labor process has begun (the cervix has begun to efface and dilate), although after lots of research, once you lose your plug, labor can begin anywhere from a day to 3 weeks later. Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesnt happen until closer to the 3 week mark!!

I had another OB appt this afternoon, and saw one of the other doctors. She didnt seem concerned about it, just wants me to keep doing the shots (I only have 3 left!!!) and if anything changes to call them. My blood pressure was creeping up a tad, but still within an acceptable range... whew!!! Next appt in 2 weeks I will get checked for Group B strep, and see if i'm dilating and they'll be able to tell me if my "cork" is really gone! ;)

Strangely enough, today is the day in the pregnancy when I lost my plug with Jadon... didnt realize this until after this mornings incident! The difference is that with him, I also started spotting right before I lost it.

So what do we do now? Well, Derek is now insisting that I start taking it easy and rest a lot to try to keep her in as long as possible!! Thankfully, i've done most of the cleaning and organizing that I wanted to do before she comes, so I dont need to protest with him! ;) And i've got all her clothes washed, dried and hung. I've got my new bedside cosleeper all set up (thanks mom!!!!!) Really, all thats left is the baby! I know I mentioned that I was going to spend a day cooking meals for after she comes, but I decided that the thought of being in the kitchen ALL DAY LONG, and even worse on my FEET all day long, was really not appealing at all. So, i've picked out a bunch of recipes, and have been making 2 meals a week, but instead of cooking all day, i've just been making the meals for dinner, but then doubling the recipies so that I can freeze the other half of them. Its worked out really well!! I have 6 meals in the freezer waiting for me now!

So, I really feel all set and ready, but praying she stays put for at least 2 more weeks!

Nows your chance.....

So, just a reminder about the baby poll! If you want to change your guesses, now's the time to do it! And here's a little helpful hint: Derek weighed 6lbs 14oz at birth, and he was 19.5 inches long. I weighed 8lbs 13oz at birth, and was 21 inches long. (Jadon was 5lbs 6oz at birth- but he was born 5 weeks early, so i'll let you do the math to determine how big he would have been had he stayed cookin' until 40 weeks!)
It wont be long now, in fact, this thursday marks the point in the pregnancy when my water broke with Jadon!! (34weeks 2 days) Really puts into perspective how early he was!
Now watch, I say that and then she'll end up being late! ;)

Oh, and I have another cute Jadon story. ... yes, i'm getting alot of those now! Today him and I were on our way home from town, and we were behind a pickup truck that was leaking water from the back of it. I didnt even give it a second glance, but Jadon said "that truck is peein'!" ;)

More cute stories

As promised, here's a picture of Gingerbread Woman keeping Jadon company while he sleeps.


Jadon informed me yesterday that Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain.

A couple weeks ago, Jadon and I were at Michaels Craft store, (i'm making the baby's babybook), and everytime we go there, he wants to look at the stickers. But, not just any stickers! He wants to look at the instrument stickers! Well a couple weeks ago when we were there, we were in an aisle with the stickers, and these two older women overheard him talking about the instrument stickers he was holding. The one lady asked him what a couple of the instruments were, and of course he knew them all. She was impressed that he knew his instruments so well. Then she asked him if he was going to play an instrument someday and he nodded, and she asked which one and he said "oboe."

I knew that he was learning things from watching Little Einsteins! ;)

He's just too cute!

We have two trees in our backyard that were never expected to live. I put one in one of the corners without even digging a hole to put it in, and low and behold, the next spring it started growing! The other one I did try to salvage a little. I put it in a big whiskey barrel, but wasnt expecting it to get too big in that.
Well, needless to say, both trees are growing and thriving VERY well! Too well actually. They are getting to be huge, and overhanging the fences into our neighbors yards. Since we live in such close proximity to each other in our small little development, come autumn when those trees shed their leaves, its all going to end up in our neighbors yards.
So, we decided we needed to move them or do something with them. I REALLY love having them in the yard... makes me feel like we have more privacy, plus they provide great shade in the afternoons/evenings! But i'm just not sure what to do with them. It doesnt matter where we move them in the backyard, they are going to get big and shed all over the neighbors.
Tonight we cut one of them down :( and the other one we are going to try to move to the spot where that one was. I doubt this is a good solution, and we will probably end up cutting it down as well.

Anyways, the point of my story was this. I was finishing up cleaning the kitchen after dinner tonight when Derek started working on digging up the one tree. He got the wheelbarrow out, and Jadon was out in the backyard with him. I heard Jadon tell Derek "Thats a dinger binger!" He was talking about the wheelbarrow. All night long he called it a dinger binger. I'm pretty sure he got this terminology off of one of his Little Einsteins shows, but i'm not 100% sure. We were pretty amused by it though. He's just getting to the age where he says adorably cute things unknowingly. Time to get out my paper and pen and start writing down some of these cute phrases! :)

We have this pot holder that I got from someone for Christmas last year, and its a gingerbread woman. One day while we were waiting for Derek to get home from work, I was using this gingerbread woman potholder like a puppet. He loved it, and after that, Jadon really took to this potholder! Now, Gingerbread Woman (thats her name), has to do everything with him- read his books, brush his teeth, sleep in bed with him, etc.
This afternoon I went to get him up from his nap, and laying on the pillow beside him was Gingerbread Woman. He had put her comfortably resting on the pillow beside him. I took pictures that i'll have to post soon, but its pretty cute. :)

Enchanted Forest

Today we went to Enchanted Forest! I love that place, i've always loved it! This was Jadon's first time there. Jadon wasnt feeling very brave today like he was when we were at the county fair. You have to admit, some of the stuff at Enchanted Forest can be a little scary to little children. So, it started right at the beginning when you walk through all the little castles and stuff that are dark inside and some have the scarier characters from the old stories. So, he was very uneasy going through all of those to begin with. Once we got to the rides, he saw the bobsled and wanted to ride that, but Daddy said no. The thing always feels like its going to ride right off the tracks!!

Anyways, we headed up to the kiddy rides, and Jadon's new favorite word lately is "no" so everytime we asked if he wanted to go on something, he said no. We could barely even get a smile out of him... like I said, he wasnt feeling as brave as he did a couple weeks ago at the fair. Anyways, Derek talked him into going on the little kiddy train. The first time they came around, here's the look I got from Jadon... he looks like he is giving me the stink eye!

But, by the time the ride finished he was smiling and looked like he had a slightly good time.
Then we went and sat (the pregnant lady needed a rest) and we watched the Frog Hopper ride for a bit, and convinced Jadon to go on that too. He was fine until the thing started hopping, then he looked like he was going to start crying. His face was white as a sheet by the time the ride finished! However I managed to get a little smirk out of him at the end of the ride.

One of his favorite parts was the water/light show. He loves sprinklers and water, so we knew he'd like that. It had him entranced through almost the whole thing, and he barely moved a muscle, which is weird since he is such a BUSY BODY!
Anyways, here's some other pictures throughout the beginning of the park. Just so Derek couldnt argue with me, I quickly suggested he take mine and Jadon's picture in front of humpty dumpty... my hope was that Humpty would make me look skinnier, but I dunno, I think we look pretty close in shape! :) At least Jadon's smiling!!
He also enjoyed the crooked house, but I didnt get a smile from him until he was coming out.
Derek took him down the big slide from the woman who lived in a shoe. His expression going down was the same that he had going down the slide at the fair- terror!
One of his favorite parts was an area where you can insert quarters and you get to drive a boat around. He and another little boy who was close to his age stood there next to each other "driving" the boats (neither was actually driving as there were no quarters in either of their machines)... he had a blast doing that, and we could have stayed there all day if we had let him!
This was supposed to go up with the other train pictures, but i'm too lazy to move it. This was his face before the train started moving.... he wanted to get off.
By the time we left, I think he enjoyed himself somewhat, and he passed out in the car pretty quickly! Hopefully next year when we go he'll enjoy it a little more.

The germ freaks nightmare

Last night I had a dream that the neighborhood sewer system was not working properly, and everyones toilets and drains were backing up into their houses. This was just a problem in our neighborhood only that was apparently caused by everyone in the neighborhood using antibacterial soap. The soap was causing the pipes to get clogged. So, to fix the problem, they banned the entire neighborhood from using any antibacterial soaps. *gasp!!!!*

I also had a dream that I got preeclampsia and I had to deliver the baby early.

And a third dream I remember had a great big spider in it, but thats all I remember of that dream.

Obviously i'm not sleeping well at night, and this time its not because of Jadon!

Camera

We got our new camera last night! I have to admit, I am a little intimidated by it! Its so big and theres soooooo much to it! Derek seems to be having a blast learning all the ropes to it though.... so that makes me nervous! I'm afraid he'll have the camera all the time now, and I'll end up in all the pictures! This camera also has the video function, like our last camera. This was important to us! We love our little video's!

Anyways, today is Derek's friday at work. He has friday and monday off for our anniversary, which is on sunday! Usually he takes a week off, but he wants to save as much time as possible for when the baby is born.
I am so proud of him... he just had his yearly review at work, and the review was EXCELLENT! I have always known that he is a fantastic worker, and an asset to any company, but its nice that he is finally in a company and under management that recognizes all his hard work! He never got any credit at the clinic, and it would make me so mad!
Unfortunately he doesnt get a great raise for his excellent review (doesnt get any raise at all actually.) But hopefully once the economy picks up again, they'll promote him or something! We're just thankful that he has a job!

I am beginning to get really uncomfortable, and wonder how in the world i'm going to make it 2 more months, and how in the world this baby is going to be able to fit anymore growth in there! I cannot get comfortable for the life of me. Sitting is really uncomfortable- my belly feels like its jammed up into my throat, and the baby always has her heel crammed up in my ribs. Standing isnt comfortable either- my feet and back begin hurting from all the extra weight (which by the way, i've gained about 15 pounds so far. With Jadon, I gained 35 pounds total, so i'm hoping to not gain as much this time around!) Laying down isnt very comfortable either thanks to the heartburn. So, i'm beginning to feel very ready to have this baby and get my comfort back! :) I'm feeling very restless and irritable since I cant get comfortable!

Oh dear

Well, I spent the entire weekend with a migraine. Yes, thats right, a migraine. I havent had one since shortly after first trimester ended, so the fact that I got one now really worries me. I'm afraid i'm going to start getting migraines again in this last stretch. In an effort to try to not freak myself out over the thought of more migraines, I tried to tell myself that I'm almost done, only 8 more weeks at the most (unless she's late), I can do this!! Then I started thinking, if theres 8 weeks left, and worst case scenario, I get 1 migraine a week (which is about how often I got them in the first trimester), thats 8 migraines. They all last at least 2 days, so thats 16 days worth of migraines... thats more than 2 weeks!!!!!!!! The absolutely mortifies me!!! So, i'm hoping and praying that this weekends migraine was just a fluke!! I look forward to being able to take my migraine meds again! Thankfully I am able to take them while breastfeeding!

Well I had my latest appt yesterday, and all is good. I was worried that my blood pressure would be going up and they'd make me go on bedrest because of it, but so far it held steady. So, i'm bedrest free for another 2 weeks until my next appt when hopefully it will stay down again!!!
So all was good at the appt, I measured right on, baby's heartrate was in the 140's, and everything seems to be moving along well. Other than this HORRIBLE heartburn that I am getting. I've been taking a full dose of Zantac for a couple months now, and its starting to not be as effective, and in the early morning hours when i'm trying to sleep, the heartburn is keeping me awake. So, my next option is to do something stronger, so my OB suggested Prilosec. So, i'll be picking up some of that today and praying that it does the job better! I need all the sleep I can get now!
Derek's been treating me like a helpless puppy. ;) I think he is worried about the baby coming early again, and is trying to keep me as stress free as possible so that she'll stay in there longer. So, pretty much when he is around I am not aloud to do much of anything. ;) And when he is at work all day, he is telling me that I just need to sit and relax all day. Its sweet, I really have such a sweet, caring husband! :)

Jadon has definately hit terrible 2's lately. I like to call it toddler PMS. He'll be fine one minute, then having a cow the next. Or, he'll ask for something, so we'll give it to him, then he'll throw a fit that we are giving it to him because now he doesnt want it anymore. Its really quite amusing!

Well, I think thats about it on our end!

Anniversary camera

As you can see by the ticker on the right, our 6 year anniversary is less than 2 weeks away! Then in September we will have our other anniversary... of when we started dating. That will be 10 years!!!!!! Its hard to believe! There's nothing better than being married to your best friend and sharing your lives together! :)

Anyways, this year for our anniversary we decided that instead of getting each other gifts, we will just go and get ourselves a really nice camera. Our little digital camera has gotten lots of good use. Actually, we got our first digital right before our wedding, and that lasted us several years and several vacations. Then like 2 days before Jadon was born we got our current digital camera, and it has seen ALOT of miles as well, but not road miles- picture miles! We have SO MANY PICTURES of our little man!!! Now a few weeks ago that camera started making strange noises when we turn it on, so before our daughter arrives, we want to make sure we have a camera that isnt going to die on us right before she's born!

So, I cant wait to get the new camera and start sharing better quality pictures with you all! :)

County fair

We spent the evening at the fair. We got in free thanks to Derek's employer, also got a free dinner, thanks to Derek's employer. We just had to pay for parking and for the ride tickets. So, we only spent $22 total!

It was Jadon's first trip to the fair, and the first time Derek and I had been in many years... possibly a decade or more. It was incredibly hot, and I was dripping with sweat.

Derek went with Jadon on 3 little kiddy rides (I was not allowed on any rides since i've got a baby on board.) Anyways, we were a little worried how he'd react to the rides. He enjoyed watching the bigger ones while we were eating dinner. First he went on the carousel while Derek stood next to him and held him. He was smiling from ear to ear, and seeing his little face light up like that just about made my stomach flop into my throat and make me cry.

Then he went on a rollercoaster that was a pretty good rollercoaster for a little guy like Jadon. Derek could barely fit in the seat and had to contort his body to make himself fit. Anyways, Jadon didnt show much emotion on that ride, but he didnt look worried or scared.

Next was the big slide, and looking back at the pictures I took, he had a terrified look on his face the whole way down. Pretty amusing, but he still seemed to like it.

We also went and looked at all the animals, and he liked the horses.

Before the ride started

During the carousel ride

This is the rollercoaster before it started... it amuses me looking at how small of a place Derek had to fit into.. .he looks like a giant sittin in it!
There they are, second seat from the back, you can barely see Jadon's little head poking up over the side of the seat.
Here's the bottom of the slide... kindof hard to see Jadon's expression though :(

I cant wait to take a shower now! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Just wanted to wish my wonderful hubby a happy birthday, even though it was yesterday in case some of you forgot....

So, Happy Birthday Derek! I love you Sweetie and I hope you had a nice, relaxing day!

Did I die and wake up in a tropical climate???

Its been miserably hot here lately... yesterday it was 108!!! Thats unheard of around here! Anyways, the only thing I like about this crazy heat is the mornings and the nights because it cools down a little so that its more bearable, but its also humid and smells like a tropical island! :)

Anyways, this morning at about 10:30am, I glanced out the backdoor, and saw a gecko crawling across the fence.... wait, what?! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, so I grabbed my camera before it ran off, and snapped some pictures of it. Looks like a gecko to me! So now I really feel like I died and went to a tropical climate heaven. Is it really possible to have a gecko in Western Oregon????

You can just sortof see it in this picture....

First ice cream cone

Jadon had his first ice cream cone ever this weekend. Saturday we had one of my favorite kinds of days, a family day, just the 3 of us and we didnt have plans to do anything so we just hung out at home and enjoyed each others company. I LOVE those days!!!!!
Anyways, for dinner we got some salmon and Derek grilled that on the grill... very yummy!!!! We also got some icecream and cones and after dinner we made Jadon his first icecream cone. I know, I can hear some of your comments already about depraiving him of such fine things in life as ice cream cones! Well you can hold your snarky comments (thanks Ashley for recently using that great word :) !!!) We dont buy ice cream that often unless its on sale and usually we dont buy it much at all unless i'm pregnant. ;) Jadon has had some bites of ice cream, but isnt really interested in it that much. That is, until he had it in a cone!

He had so much fun eating it from the cone! The next night I offered him some in a dish and he wanted nothing to do with it unless it was in a cone. He could care less about it, but since he can carry a cone around and eat and play at the same time, its a dream come true for him!

So, he made a nice little mess, and never did make it to the cone. The cone soaked up all the moisture of the icecream and it ended up a squished mess and with a big hole in the side.



Thats the squished cone... sorry its so blurry. The kid also needs a haircut, obviously!
Anywho, its hotter than the dickens right now. Its 98 and its only 2:30pm, we're supposed to get temps in the 100's for a few days, so my plan is to stay inside as much as possible, and open the door as little as possible. Thank goodness for our little window a/c unit we got a couple years ago, and new ceiling fans we got a couple months ago for the living room, master bedroom and Jadon's room!!!!! Otherwise, i'm afraid i'd croak!

Ultrasound *Update*

***The nurse called this morning, and the kidneys look fine now. So, good news!***

Today we had our follow up ultrasound for the baby's kidney. It went well! She is much bigger than she was 8 weeks ago! The tech took measurements of all of her parts and she was measuring exactly the size she should be, which is 29 weeks and 2 days. He also gave us a couple profile pictures, and a picture of the bottom of her foot. Oh, and we had him double check her privates to make sure that no winky sprouted in the last 8 weeks! She's definately still a she! ;)
We will get the results from the nurse in a day or two regarding the kidney.

She is still head down, which is great! At this point she will probably stay that way so I wont have to worry about her being breech (which I wasnt worried about anyways.) After our appointment though, I now feel quite a bit more relieved. For some reason I was worried that she hadnt grown in weeks and wouldnt be thriving in me. However, thats obviously not the case, and she seems to be doing wonderfully! Now my biggest and probably pretty much the only worry I have at this point, is an umbilical cord accident. I know I have no reason to worry about that happening, but you all know me! I'm a worry wart, so if there's anything at all that I can worry about, I will!!! :)

Things are moving right along. I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable by the time evening comes, and it feels like my belly is up in my throat! I'm also not as hungry, and I think part of it has to do with the fact that my stomach is probably beginning to be squished up into my other organs. The other part i'm sure is because i've been getting nauseated again. The nausea from first trimester never completely went away during second trimester, but it did get better and was just occasional, however now that I'm in 3rd trimester it seems to have picked up a little more again. I seriously dread breakfast in the morning! I always heard of women having morning sickness throughout their whole pregnancy, but never imagined i'd be one of the "lucky" ones! Oh well, I know it wont last forever, but it sure seems like it will! It will be so worth it in the end!

Also, i've been getting so exhausted. Yesterday evening I attempted some yard work which I normally LOVE doing, but by the time I finished I was sorely exhausted and aching all over! Unfortunately I dont like to take naps anymore.... I always end up waking up with a headache when I take naps, so I try to avoid sleeping, but I do often lay down and rest if I need to.

She's been getting hiccups several times a day also. Jadon would get hiccups about 3-4 times a day, and this little girl is the same way. Its cute at first, but it gets really annoying... like a tiny twitch in your belly that just wont stop!

Overall, I am just getting to be eager to get my body back, eager to get my energy back, and most of all eager to meet our daughter! Saddly, this will most likely be our last baby. This has just been such a long, and trying experience, I just dont know if we can go through all of this again. Plus, the first trimester migraines absolutely KILL me!

Oh yeah, funny story... while we were waiting in the waiting room to get the ultrasound, a man came out of the bathroom that was across the room, and Jadon said really loudly "he's all done poopin'... he's all done peepin' !" (he says peeping for peeing)

6 weeks

It just dawned on me today that I am now 6 weeks away from when I delivered Jadon! Scary thought!!! My goal is to make it 7 more weeks, which would put me at 36 weeks, and the time when I stop the progesterone shots... but 8 or 9 weeks would be even better and put me at "full term!"

Next week I get to stop taking the baby asprin! I'm so excited to stop taking that! During the first trimester, those baby asprin pills tasted so horribly bad I could barely choke them down. Funny how now I don't taste them at all!

We are still having issues with Jadon going to bed at night. It seems like just when we figure out something that works for a week or so, he figures out some other way to make things miserable for all of us, including himself. So, now we have resorted to putting the baby gate up in his doorway. This comes after we have warned him about getting out of bed several times. Let me tell you, HE HATES THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But, to him, continually getting out of bed is a game. It hasn't mattered what we have done, nothing seems to be "punishment" to him. So, this is finally the first thing that seems to qualify as punishment to him since he is stuck in his room and cant get out. I'm sure this will work for a week... i'm sure next week we'll be back to square 1.
Its just frustrating because we have ALWAYS had such sleeping issues with him! Since day one he has given us grief when it comes to sleeping. Still praying that by the time he is a teenager he'll be a better sleeper, but at the rate we're going, I dunno.....

My dream last night

Last night I dreamed that I was pregnant again- let me explain this a little more. I was still pregnant as I am right now, however, like cats can do, I managed to get pregnant again while already pregnant. Strange, I know! Dreams during pregnancy are weird!

Anyways, in the dream I ended up having another miscarriage. It was really sad. And I was so confused, not understanding why it was happening AGAIN. :(

Today

Its been a busy day, yet at the same time we didn't do much of anything... funny how that works!

I got my hair done today... it has been well over a year since my last trip to the hairdresser, so I felt that it was time. My hair was to the point that it was going to drive me nuts, so it was definately time! Anyways, my mom came and babysat with some of the kids, and Jadon had a good time as always but was exhausted by the time they left. Mom managed to empty all the dirty dishes from my dishwasher and put them away, thinking they were clean. Thats the second time she's done that while babysitting! :) Thanks Mom for keeping things interesting around here and for trying to be helpful! I do appreciate that! ;)

Anyways, it was miserably hot here today- 95- so we stayed inside until this evening when the sun finally dipped behind some houses and shaded our backyard, and Jadon then played in his pool. I got a few good videos of him squirting us with his water toys- he thinks its absolutely hilarious. Unfortunately you dont get to see those, as he is naked and I feel weird posting video's of his naked front on here for the entire world to see. Buns are ok for your viewing pleasure, but not the hotdog! ;)

So I did get a picture of him sitting in his pool tonight. And a few pictures from the other day when he was outside playing with our cat Bear. But first, here's a few random pics from the last few days. This first one was after Jadons nap. Since his naps are so short (30-45 minutes) he has a hard time waking up, and this was after I had already gotten him up, he threw a fit then laid on the floor and fell right back to sleep. Its almost as difficult as trying to get his daddy out of bed in the morning!

Then the next two are just cute pictures I took of Jadon and Derek on the couch together.

Do you think he loves the cat????

And finally here's tonights belly pic and my new haircut. Still not sure if I like the bangs or not.... my hubby said they arent his favorite, but then again, he's never seen me with bangs before. I'll see how I feel about them after I have to try to style them. They were supposed to be the side sweeping bangs that are so popular right now, but apparently I have cowlicks on both sides of my bangs, and right in the middle, so getting them to side sweep like that will be next to impossible. Rats!

Anywho, this belly pic is at 28 weeks and 2 days! Horray for 3rd trimester! Horray, I only have to take baby asprin for a week and a half more, and Horray that theres only a couple months left!

The crib

Here's a picture of baby girl's crib. We got it in the mail a week or two ago, and I am THRILLED with it! It is sooooo beautiful!! We want to thank my grandparents from the bottoms of our hearts for buying our cribs for us. We are so grateful, and I am just ecstatic over this crib! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! G&G! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Here's Jadon's bed, converted to a toddler bed....unfortunately when he was teething as a baby, he beavered his way around the bed, so now we'll have to sand it and restain it when he gets older. Yes, we tried using those rubber rails, but those are worthless, kids figure out how to take those off in just a few minutes. I recently painted the letters above his bed and hung them (notice the "O" is green... that was a complete accident!!! Obviously if I had been thinking clearly I wouldnt have done that!) Anyways, I painted letters to hang over baby girl's bed too, but I wont hang those until after she is born. :) So, sorry if any of you thought you could sneak over and find out what her name is ahead of time! It aint happenin' ! I have her letters hidden away.

Jadon's sleeping saga update

Well we have had a little success in the sleeping dept. over the last week. We have really just been experimenting with trying different things, for instance, different nap times, bedtimes, etc.

This is what we know right now.... Jadon is NOT ready to drop his nap yet. We tried doing that for a couple of days, and he would fall asleep in the middle of dinner.

So, what we have no been doing is moving his nap a tad later (anywhere from 2-2:30pm) so he is tired for nap, and then we moved his bedtime to an hour later (9:30pm.) Which is insane to me! I always thought 8:30pm was a little late for a baby/toddler. We've kept his sleep routine the same, and it starts about an hour before his bedtime, and seems to work well so we didn't change that at all. But, now instead of being wide awake and unable to settle down for bedtime at 8:30pm, and getting out of bed every 2 minutes for an hour and a half, finally going to sleep between 10pm-11pm.... he is now tired when we put him down at 9:30pm, and just lays there talking for 15-30 minutes, and is usually sleep by 10pm.

After that though, the consistency is gone. Some nights he wakes up once or twice a night and while he usually always goes back to sleep easily after I take him back to his bed, it still disrupts my sleep, and I usually cant go back to sleep and will lay awake and frustrated that I cant sleep for an hour and a half to two hours.
Also, morning wake up times have not been consistent at all either. Sometimes he wakes up at 5:45am and comes to our room. At that point I just put him in our bed so that we can both hopefully go back to sleep quickly before either of us wakes up to the point that we cant sleep anymore. Anywhere from 5am-7am i'll do this, and he always goes back to sleep and will sleep in our bed anywhere from 7:45am to 9am. But, then again, on occasional days he'll sleep all night long in his own bed until 8:30am. THOSE are the days that I hope we can have on a more regular basis!!!

So, while our new arrangement is far from perfect, and only gives Derek and I about 30-60 minutes of time to ourselves in the evening, at least we have all been happier and less grumpy since we arent dealing with a little boy who wont stay in bed anymore. Its just frustrating because he was doing really well in the last year with sleeping, until we made the transition to his toddler bed.

On a different note, here is a video of Jadon singing his ABC's the other day:

All boy!

My son has recently discovered a love for dirt. Now we cant keep him out of the dirt when he's outside!
After lunch today, he was outside playing, and after I finished cleaning up I went out to see what he was doing, and this is what I found sitting in the dirt:

Here he is throwing dirt at me.

Looking a little sheepish after being scolded for throwing dirt at me.

Digging in the dirt with an empty flower pot.

Throwing dirt over the fencing... not sure why he likes doing that so much!

At one point he was laying in the dirt on his belly, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get a picture of that.

After that he came inside because he wanted some milk. But immediately after he'd finished his milk, he went right back outside. After wiping the counters off, I went back outside to see what he was up to, and sitting by the door was a used diaper. Not only does he love to play outside in the dirt, but he also likes to do it in the nude!
Happy as a clam- has a full belly, naked buns, and dirt, also the kitties to pick on! He just has a blast out there talking to himself or the cats, having a good old time!

Solicitors

We get so many solicitors in our neighborhood its not even funny. I have long since quit opening the door when someone knocks or rings the doorbell because i'm so sick of having to shoo them away all the time. Plus, they are getting more and more pushy! Once in a blue moon i'll open the door when someones there.

So this afternoon was one of those blue moon days. The doorbell rang late this afternoon, so I thought id open it. BIG mistake! It was some guy who said he was from some security type company. And he started talking to me about how since the economy is so bad, more and more break-in's are occuring, and blah blah blah. Ok, whatever, he seemed legit. Then he starts asking me things like "do you have any guns or dogs in the house?" And said that most break-in's happen through backdoors, and wanted to know if he could come in and see our backdoor. Immediately alarms were going off in my head and I declined but he was persistent wanting to know why. Grrr... I finally got rid of him and messaged Derek at work and told him what had just happened, and he came right home (it was time for him to come home anyways.) Derek felt uneasy about what I told him, so he called the cops and reported it. We got to see the cop stop and talk to the guy from our window, and from the looks of it, the guy was legit because the cop shook his hand and left after several minutes.

So, we may have overreacted a little to the situation, but at least we'll be able to sleep tonight. Con artists are getting so clever and sophisticated, I just dont trust anyone these days. Plus, what kind of door to door salesman asks those kinds of questions?? I understand they are just trying to do their job, but its so annoying! I'm more likely to respond to an ad for a company in the newspaper or flyer or something.

Funny thing though, he was back in the neighborhood at 8:30pm tonight ringing doorbells again, except this time he had a woman with him.

OB appt and glucose test

Today I had my glucose tolerance test. I dont mind drinking the drink, so it wasnt bad. My biggest problem is trying to drink it in 5 minutes... I like to sip my drinks, so I rarely chug-a-lug! I dont know when i'll find out if I passed the test or not... but hopefully I did!

In the middle of the test, I had an OB appt. My doctor got called out on an emergency, and another doctor was in surgery, and another doctor was out of the office... so that left 1 OB and 1 PA left in the office. So, I saw the PA today... she seemed a little overwhelmed, afterall, I dont think she really deals with OB patients as much as GYN patients. So, she did a good job considering the circumstances. Anyways, I measured big still- 27 weeks (i'll be 26 weeks on tuesday.) And baby's head is down still, so thats good! Lets just hope she stays that way!

I go back in a couple weeks for my other ultrasound to check the baby's kidney to see if its dilated still. If it is, then they will just do an ultrasound on the baby after the she is born. My OB told me at my last appt that its really not a big deal and its so common. So, we're excited to see her again, and get another verification that she's really a "she!"

So, I dont go back now until early August. Thats 6 weeks away, and I dont know if the receptionist meant to do that or not (usually you go every 4 weeks.) I'll be 32 weeks then!!!! YIKES!!! Also, at around this time in the pregnancy, you schedule all the rest of your appts until you deliver, because after my next appt, i'll go every 2 weeks, then the last month i'll go every week. It was really surreal scheduling all those! It felt like I can finally see a light at the end of this long tunnel! We're almost to the home stretch now!!! WOW!!!!!

Latest belly pix

I'm 25 weeks and 3 days pregnant today.... its been almost 2 weeks since my last belly pic, so here's the latest:



I've lost my chin, and my face is so fat, and my boobs are disappearing! Unfortunately I have never been blessed with growing boobs during pregnancy.... but that is probably a good thing!!:) Of course, I cant blame that on this pregnancy... that was already beginning to happen after gaining 15 pounds after the miscarriages last year! Needless to say, after having to look at my picture every 2 weeks (belly pix), and post them here in complete embarrasment, I am seriously motivated to get back in shape after the baby is born!!!!!
On a more positive note, my belly grew!! I'm so glad! I have felt like it hasnt grown at all in the last month, but it looks like it has! I woke up this morning and felt bigger, and noticed that my shirt was getting tighter and shorter around my belly! Horray! That makes me feel better because I took a big leap today and ordered the crib! I was so nervous ordering it, and I still dont feel the same excitement that I felt when we ordered Jadon's crib. I guess i'm afraid i'll jinx it or something.
Here's the crib:
http://www.simplybabyfurniture.com/071119.html

Anyways, saturday we are going to the coast. Lincoln City has a kite fesitval in June and October (and an indoor one in March), so we thought it would be alot of fun to go to that with Jadon. Plus, he loves the beach! And its supposed to be 70 there tomorrow! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Can you guess what this is?

Any guesses what that is???? I'll give you a clue- its not poop!

The other night, Derek was trying to dish up some chocolate ice cream for himself, and it was really hard, and I think his hand must've slipped and the scoop of ice cream went flying under the microwave stand. We died laughing when he moved the microwave stand and that is what we saw! Good times!! :)

Our cute son

Took some videos and pictures of Jadon in the last couple of days and thought i'd share them with you since they are so cute!

This video is of him singing a song from Little Einsteins. It goes "This is my new song, you can sing along, I love when you and I sing a song." When he sings "love", he crosses his arms trying to do the sign for love. Oh yeah, and the balloon was from our Day out with Thomas... it was a weiner dog, but he took it apart and was using it as a microphone and a weed eater. Yes, a weed eater. He has a weird fascination with yard tools that make noise, and can match each sound with the correct lawn tool- ie- lawn mower, weed eater, leaf blower, etc.

This one was just a cute one of him drinking through a fun straw.

And here's just a couple cute pictures.

What a ham! Anyways, we've been really busy this week, Jadon and I have had alot of errands to run, and Derek is CRAZY busy at work with a big project. I have even devoted many of my "breaks" (my hour long break when Jadon is napping) to helping Derek out by being his test subject. And even some evenings when i'm dealing with a hungry, cranky toddler, and trying to cook dinner at the same time. I keep telling him I should get paid for my services, but I have yet to see a paycheck. ;)

Our day out with Thomas (beware: picture overload)

Today we FINALLY got to go spend the day with Thomas the Train! After months, then weeks, then days of telling Jadon that we were going to go ride Thomas, it finally happened!
It was alot of fun! The drive up to Hood River was good- no traffic problems and clear weather.

We left home at 9:45am, and got to Hood River at 11:45am. Then we park, and board a school bus (which Jadon was thrilled about because he loves buses) and it shuttled us to the Day Out With Thomas event area. We had 2 hours until our train ride, so we went across the street and grabbed some pizza for lunch.

Then after lunch we went back to the event. They had all kinds of fun (and free) little booths of fun things for young kids to do.


First off, Jadon got a temporary tattoo of Thomas on his hand.


Next up I made him stand next to a poster of Thomas so I could get his picture. Of course he wouldnt smile for nothin'... he is much like his mommy and gets overwhelmed in large crowds, plus he had so many things to look at.

They had a bunch of bubble bowls set up with big wands for making bubbles with, and he enjoyed that. If you look closely, you can see a smile. ;)


There was a big, open tent set up with arts and crafts type things, and several sets of Thomas the Train toy tracks set up. Those were a hit with all the kids.
Here he is using stamps on a Thomas picture. He had alot of fun with the stamps.


Here I am helping him make a necklace out of noodles. He wasnt very interested in that. It was hard to get the noodles on the string, even for me.


Then it was time to ride Thomas!


When I ordered our tickets way back in March, I picked one of the back trains to ride on so that if we went around a corner, Jadon could see Thomas up ahead of us on the tracks. Turned out to be a good pick because there was only one other family in that car with us. So we basically got the whole car to ourselves! Unfortunately there was too much vegetation to see Thomas on the tracks in front of us on corners. The train ride was a half hour long, and it was very lulling, Jadon looked about ready to pass out several times. I felt like curling up on the seat and taking a quick snooze too.

No, thats not a whale Jadon's sitting next to. Derek insisted that he get a picture of the two of us on the train.

After the train ride, we stopped and saw Sir Topham Hat. Alot of the kids were afraid of him and threw fits when they were supposed to stand next to him for pictures. Jadon was one of those kids (was afraid of him... he didnt throw a fit though.) So, this is the best (and only) picture I got of him and Sir Topham Hat. Poor Sir Topham Hat!

Next stop was the balloon artist (is that what they are called???) Jadon got a weener dog.

Finally we headed to the gift shop, where they had another train set up and it ran all by itself, and I think that was the highlight of Jadon's day. He saw this train going and he was all smiles as he watched it.

Next stop was the little petting zoo, to which I failed to get any pictures. The sheep were sooo friendly, and came up to him and let him pet them alot. He really liked that also and kept talking about it in the car. By then we were beginning to get pooped, so we decided to board the bus and head back to our car. As you can see, he was exhausted.

We had planned to stop at Multnomah Falls on our way home, but shortly after we got onto I-84 after leaving Thomas, we ran into a torrential downpour. The day started out a little gray, and I thought for sure we'd have a few sprinkles at the event. However the sun came out and was there the whole time until shortly before we left when some gray clouds started rolling in. The forecast had been for p.m. showers, so I wasnt surprised to see the clouds... I WAS surprised at the flood of rain that we ended up getting on our drive. I'm telling you, i've never driven in rain like that before except in Florida. It was so hard to see, and finally when we got to Multnomah Falls, Derek decided to get off the interstate and wait for the rain to pass. Visibility was pretty much nothing, it was horrendous, and needless to say, I was a nervous wreck. We didnt get out and see the falls since it was pouring, and Jadon was passed out anyways. We waited for a bit, but the rain wasnt letting up, so we got back on the interstate and headed off with caution. It continued to pour the rest of the drive, and there were massive puddles all over the place. On top of that, it was getting to be rush hour, so traffic was awful.

We stopped almost as soon as we saw a sign for Portland, and decided that the first Food sign we saw, we'd get off and eat at. That turned out to be Elmers. While in Elmers, it continued raining hard. When we finished and went to get back on the freeway, the traffic was still horrific, so Derek thought maybe we'd find a mall nearby and could wait it out a little so we didnt have to deal with that traffic. Well, I dont know where the heck in Portland we were, but we didnt find any malls or anywhere to go for that matter, so we tried to head back but since it was rush hour, it took us 45 minutes to finally get back on the freeway. Then from there it didnt get much better. The rain stopped shortly after we got on the freeway though, and it looked like it hadnt even rained the rest of the way home. We didnt get home until 8pm, and Jadon was full of energy after having sat for so long, so we let him stay up for awhile and burn some energy off...(plus he hadnt pooped yet and he doesnt go a day without pooping, so we knew it was in there waiting to come out!)

Overall it was a fun family outing, but a horrible drive home. We did get a family picture taken with Thomas, but I will have to order it. Anyways, its late and time for bed now! I'm so wiped out! Hopefully we'll all sleep good tonight!

Another milestone reached!

Today I got my Progesterone refilled! For me, that was just another milestone to gladly be reached! After getting it, I got back into my car, and felt so relieved and happy to have reached this far that I almost cried. This pregnancy has been nothing but milestones.

First trimester, every day that passed successfully was a new milestone reached. Also, making it to each appt was a milestone. Other milestones: Getting to second trimester, making it to 16 weeks when i would start the progesterone shots, feeling baby moving, making it to the big ultrasound, making it to 24 weeks (viability).

From here, I have so much more confidence in this, yet i'll always be guarded because it still seems like its too good to be true, and I know alot can happen still. I know i'll get alot of negative comments about my pessimism, but thats just how I am. Right now, id rather not be in oblivion to things that could still happen, and then find out something has gone wrong and be completely dumbfounded. Like i've mentioned in previous posts, I like to be prepared for things. BUT, with that said, I am slowly beginning to relax more and more and I am thrilled and beyond belief and so grateful to be where I am today!

I keep looking at her ultrasound picture, and I am blown away by it. Its the most beautiful thing i've ever seen. To know that the little head in the picture is IN me, moving around and growing. I didnt feel much that way with Jadon. Mostly because the thought of labor/delivery scared the you-know-what out of me, but also because i'd only had one miscarriage and thought that i'd never have another one again. Having had several, I look at pregnancy in a completely different way now. My heart aches for women who struggle to get pregnant, or to stay pregnant. I wish with all my heart that I could do something to help them. I know how frustrating it is to feel like your body is letting you down in doing what it was created to do. To see pregnant women all over the place, to hear about people popping babies out left and right. Its such a frustrating and hopeless feeling. Its also something that so many people cannot understand. But, at the same time, there are alot of people who can understand.

When I got pregnant this time, I joined an online support group for women who are expecting after having had a loss. It has been so great to hear that I am not the only one who feels the way I feel, knowing that there are so many women out there who are pregnant and scared out of their minds that they will lose yet another baby, and at the same time, being able to share the excitement and triumph of reaching each new milestone. Seeing that I am not the only one who has horrible dates burned into my memory- Feb 2nd, the day my first little one was due. June 5th, the day I lost my first little one. Feb 17th, the day my 2nd angel baby was due. July 6th, the day my 2nd angel baby grew wings. November 1st, the day my 4th angel went to heaven.
BUT, amidst all of these bad dates, theres also some wonderful dates too: April 18th, the day Jadon was due... March 13th, the day he chose to come instead. And of course August 16th, the day I married my best friend! I'm hopeful that October 6th will be another positive date to add to my growing list of dates!

Well, I did not mean for this to go on like this. The purpose of this post was to celebrate another milestone on this crazy rollercoaster!

VIABILITY!!!

Today i'm 24 weeks, and to the point where the baby would have a chance to survive outside the womb if for some reason she was delivered now. I've been counting down the weeks until this day since about 16 weeks! From what i've heard, babies born at 24 weeks have about a 40% chance of survival with intensive neonatal care. By 26 weeks, theres a 60% chance, and with each week that passes, the odds increase dramatically from there.

She let me know that she was doing ok last night while I was laying in bed by moving around like CRAZY! And when I woke up this morning, she started in again. I can now breath a *little* sigh of relief to have reached this milestone.

Housework

We had a good weekend... well, one that I consider to be a good one... I dont know how Derek felt about it. ;) Saturday I spent the day painting Jadon and the baby's room. I still have one wall to put a second coat on, and then the top 2 inches of the walls right under the ceiling. It turned out fantastic! Even better than I had hoped it would! I did a taupe color because it needed to be something that would work for both boy and girl since Jadon will be sharing a room with his sister. I LOVE the color, and in my opinion it makes the room look bigger. I told Derek it looks like an expensive color... like one you'd find in a model home or something. I am absolutely thrilled with it! Once I get the room completely done, i'll post pictures.

Anyways, so all day saturday I spent the day painting while Derek watched Jadon and made meals. It was really weird and nice to have the meals made already, rather than being the one making it! Needless to say, by the end of the day I was exhausted! I woke up today with every muscle in my body sore, and my shoulder has been killing me. I also felt crampy, so I'm pretty sure I overdid it with the mad painting! The baby was also not moving much at all that I could feel, and between that and the cramping, I was feeling pretty worried. Thank the Lord for that doppler!!! I have checked on her several times today to make sure she's still in there ticking away. I think I may keep the doppler around until I deliver because on days like today, it is really reassuring to have and to hear the little heart beating away.

So I did take a break between paint coats, and when I did that, Derek installed what he called a "poor mans sprinkler system." Just sprinklers hooked to hoses in a line, and hooked up to a timer. Our front yard is so difficult to water... it takes a long time because its long and narrow on the side, and then the front is too big to reach all areas. Plus, most of the time we turn it on and then forget about it until a couple hours later. So, hopefully this will save us a little on our water bill! It's not very pretty looking, but a sprinkler system is not in our budget right now, nor is it a high priority. For now, it works.

So, today I took it easy for the most part. Tonight after dinner the boys were in the backyard golfing, so I took some pictures. We also took another belly shot since its been 2 weeks since the last one (i'm trying to do it every 2 weeks to see the progression.) To me it looks like my belly shrank from the last picture, but Derek said it was because of the shirt I was wearing in the last picture. So, here's some pictures for you...some from today, some from a few days ago: By the way, does anyone else hate uploading pictures to Blogger?? I always end up having to rearrange the whole post after inserting pictures... very annoying and time consuming!

Jadon golfing tonight

After dinner being a ham for the camera

Another ham picture after dinner
Peeping Tom

Sleeping soundly in his bed

23weeks, 5 days belly shot

Another week has passed already!

Guess its been awhile again since i've blogged! I've been preoccupied with thinking about preparing for a new baby.... not to mention, pregnancy brain is in full swing, and probably will only get worse as time goes by! Its the weirdest part of pregnancy.... I remember having it with Jadon, and not being able to remember conversations that i'd had just recently with Derek (or anyone), or completely forgetting random things. I dont normally forget things. So, it almost feels as though I've exited from my own brain! I guess this must be what it feels like to be a dumb blond!! ;)

Anyways, the last couple weeks have been tiresome. Jadon's been testing us at naptime and bedtime, and last week was horrible. One day I stood outside his door for almost an hour just to keep putting him back in his bed! I tried letting him play in his room quietly for a little while so I could get a break also. That didnt work. All he does is get into trouble... messing with electrical outlets, his lamp, the baby monitor, etc. Plus, theres no way to keep him in his room so he kept running to our room and getting my hand lotions out and squirting them everywhere, or playing with the doppler.
Last week, nighttime was not any better. He wasnt going to sleep until 11pm, then he'd fuss himself into a tizzy, and start panicking to the point that he would start gagging and throw up. We've tried it all... and we really think he is just testing us. This week, i've been trying to put him down for nap an hour or so later than usual, because he is not tired at his usual time. However, then it interferes with his bedtime, and he's not wanting to go to sleep at his normal time.
Last night he finally stayed in bed and didnt get out once. He laid there talking for awhile, which he always does, but he stayed put (Thank you Lord!)
He's not ready to give up naps yet because I also tried that a couple days last week, and by dinner time, he was so tired he'd fall asleep eating dinner. So, its just kindof been a testing process for us to see whats going to work and whats not going to work. It feels like he is at an in between stage where he's almost ready to give up naps, but not quite yet. I feel its imminent though.

Also, he's getting his last molar in and has been chewing on his hands and shirt alot, so that could possibly also have something to do with the sleep issues, but I think its more of a toddler testing his parents thing. Needless to say, my patience was completely shot last week, and so I went out for chinese and shopping with a couple girlfriends on thursday evening just so I could get away and have a breather. It was helpful, and i've got more patience this week.

It dawned on me that I hadnt mentioned how my latest OB appt went. We had one last friday, and all went well as usual. Same heartrate of 160bpm (for baby, not me!) My uterus measured 24 weeks (at that time I was 22 weeks pregnant.) Nothing much else to report. My next appt I take my glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes. I cant believe that will be already! This is just flying by! A couple weeks after that i'll be entering the 3rd trimester! Then i'll really start hoping that these pain-in-the-rear progesterone shots do the trick and keep this little girl cooking for a little longer than Jadon did. The shots are becoming a dreaded task for both Derek and I on Wednesday nights. I hate it because most of the time it stings and burns like crazy, and sometimes for hours afterwards. Last weeks even left a welt, which is completely normal. The doctor actually said it looks like Derek is doing a really good job administering them. I dont think i'd want anyone else (other than a nurse) giving them to me. He is doing an awesome job! I'm almost halfway done with them though! I always remind myself before each one that its for a good cause and i'm blessed to be this far along to be getting them. Way back when I had my 7 week appt, I never thought i'd make it as far as 16 weeks, which is when I started the shots.

I feel very VERY blessed!

Well, I gotta go get the little man up from nap now!

First baby purchase

I made my first baby purchase last night. I haven't been able to bring myself to buy anything yet, and sometimes its hard just looking at things too, so I usually just avoid looking at baby stuff. However, last night I went to dinner and shopping with some friends and found an adorable pink onesie that said "My heart belongs to daddy" and I was going to wait until Fathers day to give it to Derek, but just couldnt wait.

Its going to be weird having girl stuff in the house!

Ultrasound Update

I got the results of the ultrasound today. Everything looked great and measured good, except a kidney on the baby was slightly dilated. The nurse tried to assure me that its a very common thing and usually corrects itself as the pregnancy progresses. I'll just have to go back in a couple months for another ultrasound. So hopefully this is an issue what will correct itself. Just another thing for me to worry about.

ITS A GIRL!!!!!!!!!

She was perfect, measured 21 weeks 1 day! Everything looked perfect! She was really wiggly, and if she wasnt wiggling around she was curled up in a tight ball. At one point she was pedaling her legs like she was riding a bicycle!

Thats all I have time for now, but to answer everyones questions, yes we have her first name picked out- its been picked out for many years. And no we arent telling anyone the name until she is born, so dont ask! ;)

1 more day!

One more day until our big ultrasound, and i'm really excited!!!!!! I've been feeling less anxious lately, and I think its because I am feeling the baby moving alot more now. I think i've felt it every day for close to 2 weeks now, which is a huge relief. I still have my moments though. I woke up the other morning, and instantly felt horribly anxious (for no apparent reason.) Luckily the baby did a ton of moving around that day, so that helped put my mind at ease, as well as a listen on the doppler.

Things are really progressing. My belly is really starting to poke out, and its getting firm too rather than just fatty. I'm afraid i'm going to be GINORMOUS by the time I have the baby! I'm still getting nauseated occasionally, especially in the mornings after I eat cereal for breakfast.
I finally allowed myself to look at some baby stuff at the store the other day. It was the first time i've done that, i've been too afraid of jinxing myself.

My shots are going good... as good as a shot can be! ;) Derek is doing a really good job, and the last one he did I barely felt, although we both dread wednesday nights which is when I get the shots.

We bought Jadon a Big Brother book at Costco the other day. He sits very attentively through the book every time we read it. I hope he is understanding a tiny bit about whats going on, though i'm not holding my breath. We told him long ago that mommy has a baby in her belly, and now every morning he says "Listen to baby?" And we go have a listen with the doppler, then we listen to Jadon's heart, and then mommy's heart, and on weekends we listen to daddy's heart too. And Jadon sometimes lays his head on my belly to see if he can hear the baby, and he also talks to my belly saying "hi baby" and waves at it. I've also been explaining to him that the baby will be sharing his room with him, and his toys. I'm hoping that talking alot about the baby will help him transition better once the baby comes, and it wont be such a huge shock to him.

Well, not much going on here. We've been having alot of nice weather lately, so Jadon and I try to spend as much time outside as possible during the week. I'm SOOOOOOOO thankful for the good weather! I was getting to the point where I thought that Jadon and I were both going to lose our minds if we had to stay inside another day!

Well, I need to go get ready to go to bed. I need to try to get a good nights sleep tonight because I doubt that Monday night i'll do much sleeping.... too many excited nerves!! ;) Next time I post, i'll probably be announcing our baby's gender!

The coast

We decided to go to the coast this weekend since it was going to be a nice sunny weekend. The forecast was for 80ish here in Albany, and 65ish in Newport.

First stop we made was at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Its free and we thought Jadon might enjoy looking at the fish and sea creatures.

Pointing at Nemo

Touching the Anemone

Looking at a water exhibit with daddy

Eyeballing a crab

After that we headed to the beach for some fun in the sand. It was beautiful and sunny, but windy and the wind was a bit nippy!

We saw groups of people on horses a couple times.

Stomping on the castles that daddy made.

A rare picture of me and Jadon. My "hilarious" husband said "Look Jadon, its the first picture of you and mommy!" I prefer to stay behind the camera.

He pulled this wagon around for a very long time!!

After that we decided to head for town and find somewhere to eat dinner, and ended up stopping at the lighthouse.

We froze our butts of at the lighthouse, it was SOOOOO windy, and freezing cold!!!!!!!

In case anyones interested, we ate dinner at Sizzler. Not our first choice, but I had to pee sooooo bad at that point I really didnt care where we ate. Apparently this baby enjoys laying on my bladder and using it as a drum. ;)

19 weeks!

We made it to 19 weeks! I can hardly believe it! Never thought id make it this far again and i'm so grateful! I am savoring every bit of movement I feel from this baby, its such a blessing! Everytime I feel a kick I almost cry. I have so much more appreciation for those little kicks than I did with Jadon. Soon Derek and Jadon will be able to feel them as well, and I cant wait for that!!!

I think its obvious now that i'm pregnant. My mom made the comment to me in church on sunday "oh, you're really starting to poke out there!" Its weird, I dont feel like I look pregnant until I see a picture. It was the same with Jadon too. Never felt like I looked as big as I did until I'd see my picture and realize just how enormous I was!

With that said, I took my picture in the mirror last week. I want Derek to get pictures of me like he did with Jadon, but timing is tough. The only time we have to do it is in the evenings, and I always forget until its almost time for bed, and by then I dont have any makeup on and I do not get my picture taken without makeup on. Its just not a pretty sight.

Derek and I are taking golf lessons. Its just 5 classes, and we have 2 more left. This time of year Derek always starts talking about golfing alot, but this year he hasnt shut up about it. The parks and rec offers beginner classes and advanced classes. Derek already took golf lessons once before at LBCC, so he does know a bit about golf. I on the other hand know nothing, yet I really enjoy going golfing with Derek, however I hate feeling like a moron when I play. We thought we'd take the class together, and we had to do it asap before I get to be too big. We are having alot of fun, and I really enjoy it alot now that I know how to hit the ball correctly! Not to mention, its good exersize hitting balls over and over and over again! We were pretty sore last week! But then again, we arent in the best of shape! ;)

I had a WONDERFUL mothers day! We celebrated my mothers day on Saturday since we'd be busy all day Sunday, and all I really wanted was to have a nice relaxing day with my hubby and Jadon. I have the sweetest husband in the world. He wouldnt let me lift a finger for anything. I didnt touch a dirty dish, I didnt make any meals, I didnt change 1 diaper!! He did let me do laundry though since I dont let him do that. ;) We went to Old Navy and I bought 2 pairs of maternity pants that turn into capri's. Our Old Navy had a TINY selection, so I was really disappointed. Then we went to Target and got Jadon some big boy sheets and comforter for his new big boy bed.

After that, Derek told me to decide where I wanted to eat lunch, and I thought McGraths sounded good, and we hadnt had it for a long time. Mmmm.... it was goooooood!

We also spent alot of time outside, since it was gorgeous out! After dinner we went to Home Depot for some yard stuff. Any day where I get to go to Home Depot is a good day in my book! I dont know why I love going there so much. I think its because I love anything that has to do with home improvement. I usually just have to dream about projects (and I have a million projects dancing around in my head!!!) since it does cost money to do home improvement projects.

Nothing much going on. Jadon's doing well sleeping in his toddler bed now. We had a few days that werent good, but we quickly got that taken care of. I'm sure he'll test us again eventually. He's definately 2 now, and has not been listening to us very well lately. He's climbing on EVERYTHING, getting into EVERYTHING, and can open (and lock) all the doors now, and is constantly trying to make an escape out the back door, and he's lightening fast!!! One morning at 7am, he managed to get by me and was outside in nothing but a diaper and socks and it was only 40 degrees out. I had to drag him back into the house, and he was squealing at the top of his lungs. It happens alot when we try to bring him inside when he doesnt want to come inside. Good morning neighbors!

This darn worry!

So I started worrying about the fact that I am measuring so big because I know it can be indicative of a problem, ie- gestational diabetes, problem with the baby, etc. Well I decided to look in my journal from when I was pregnant with Jadon. It turns out, when I was 20 weeks with him, I measured 24 weeks. I thought that I didnt start measuring so much bigger until the end, but not so! So, maybe my baby's just have a huge growth spurt around this time? At 27 weeks, my uterus measured right on target again, but then after that Jadon had another growth spurt and I measured 2 weeks ahead again.
We'll see what the ultrasound shows in a few weeks! As usual, i'll pray for the best, but prepare for the worst. It stinks that I cant just sit back and enjoy this ride the same way I could with Jadon. I'm glad I was able to experience that innocent bliss at least once though!

Today's OB Appt

Well, it went terrific! Heartbeat was again a nice strong 160... but I knew it would be since i've been listening in to it for the last 3 weeks! ;)
I'm already measuring big. I'm measuring 23 weeks, but i'm only a little over 18 weeks. The doctor said that the baby is just growing like a weed. I almost cried when she said that. I measured big with Jadon too, but not this early on.

Our big ultrasound is scheduled in a few weeks! I'm so excited/nervous/anxious for that day to come!

Derek gave me my 3rd progesterone injection on Wednesday. He did a great job for it being his first time giving anyone a shot! It stung and burned quite a bit, but after talking with the doctor today, its probably because he didnt insert the needle in far enough. That freaks me out because the needle is not very small! I have a slight bruise around the injection area, but thats common, and its actually not uncommon to get welts and sometimes even infections around the area. Hopefully THAT wont happen!!

I'm just so thankful that everything seems to be going well so far! I'm counting down the days until I hit 24 weeks, because at that point, if the baby is born it will have a chance of survival! And each week after that the chances of survival dramatically increase.

Toddler bed update

Well last night went perfectly. Jadon didnt get up once, and he slept all night and when he woke up in morning he even stayed in bed talking and playing with a stuffed animal that he sleeps with. I'm sure eventually he'll realize that he can get out of bed when he wants to in the morning. His nap today went fine as well, and he didnt get out of bed at all. I just have to say i'm so proud of him! I'm sure he'll be testing us at some point, but considering where we came from with his horrible sleeping in the past, the fact that he is doing so well is such a breath of fresh air!

Toddler Bed

Jadon has really started climbing lately, and figured out that he can climb things pretty good now. With that said, the other day he started trying to climb into his crib. Because of this, we decided it was time to try out the toddler bed. We wanted to get him out of the crib before he climbed out the first time because he is a clutz like his mom (thanks to my mom who I got my klutziness from) and i'm sure he would end up with a broken arm or something. I'm hoping he'll grow out of this clumsy faze and be super smooth and agile like his daddy.



So today we took one of his crib rails off and put up the toddler bed attachment. Jadon was so excited!!!! We told him he was such a big boy now! I was a little worried about how naptime would go. Surprisingly, he only got up once, and it didnt take him any longer than normal to go to sleep. I'm a little more worried about tonight though.



Here's a couple pictures of Jadon when we put him down for his nap. He was pretty excited. I tried to get one of him when we went in to wake him up, but he crawled out of the bed so fast, all I got was a picture of the back of him crawling out of the bed.

Daddy reading a book before nap

Laying in bed excited to be a big boy!

After nap, crawling out of bed

I was scolded by a 12 year old

Tonight I was doing a digging in the yard around my tree in the front yard. I'm planning on putting some stuff around it and had to clear some of the grass thats around the tree. Anyways, tonight a boy was walking by, id say he was probably about 11 or 12 years old. He asked me if I was digging up the tree, I said no, and he proceeds to tell me that its not good to dig up trees, its bad for the environment, and I should know better than that. ;)

Its amusing to me how kids these days are so much more aware of their environment than we were growing up. Kids are now being taught to be "green." When we were growing up, I never knew the word "recycle"... did they even do recycling back in the 80's???

Has it really been a week?

Wow, has it really been a week already since my last post?? That doesnt even seem possible!

Well, nothing new to report here. Been pretty slow around here. Yesterday Derek went with me to get my 2nd progesterone shot, and the nurse (who was smacking her gum... it was really annoying to me) showed Derek how to do the shots and gave us supplies to do it, and then marked me with 2 big purple "x's" (with a flesh pen so it wont wash off) where he is supposed to give me the shot. Then she shoved all the supplies into a white paper sack. Not very professional in my opinion, but then again, i'm not surprised since it IS the Corvallis Clinic afterall. So next wednesday Derek will give me the next shot... it will be interesting to see how it goes! I'll be impressed with him if he can do it... I dont think I could do it!

My next OB appointment is next friday, and im sooo eager because after that we get to schedule for the big ultrasound!! I've been having a little nausea occasionally still- almost always in the mornings after i eat breakfast, and an occasional bout of it at other times. I'm contemplating skipping breakfast all together!

1 down, 19 to go!

Shots that is... I started my progesterone shots yesterday. To my surprise, it was almost painless! I've heard such horror stories of how badly they hurt and burn and sting! Unfortunately the nurse informed me yesterday that every time I come in to get the injection, we get charged for it. So, Derek might be having to learn to give it to me anyways!

So I broke down and rented a doppler. Its only $25 a month for as long as I want to keep it, but I plan to only keep it for a month, until I start feeling the baby moving stronger and regularly. Its nice to be able to check the heartbeat anytime I am feeling a little worried. Since i've had it, I have felt soooo much less stressed about the pregnancy, and thats a good thing for both me and the baby!

Other than that, nothing much else going on. Its been pretty nice here lately, so Jadon and I have been trying to spend as much of our time outside as possible. Unfortunately its cooled down quite a bit this week, but at least its not raining!!!!!

Well we are supposed to have a beautiful weekend, so dont expect to hear anything on here from me for the weekend! I fully intend to spend every possible second outside! :) I bought some flowers this week, and can hardly wait to plant them!

I did want to share this little tidbit that Jadon said tonight. Derek was brushing Jadon's teeth in the living room, and I was in the kitchen putting a couple dishes in the dishwasher, and out of the blue Jadon says "mommy purdy".... I might also add that it was not prompted by his daddy either!

He just scored some major brownie points!!!!! ;)

15 weeks and counting

Well, nothing much new to report here. We had a fine Easter, of course it was a typical Oregon easter- rainy, windy, and overall just ugly outside. I didnt really get any pictures of Jadon... we had to do our Easter egg hunt indoors, and he didn't really get it that much. He just wanted to dump the eggs out of the basket, and didn't understand that he was supposed to carry the basket with him to each egg. But, he did have fun finding the eggs. The only pictures I got were a couple of him looking at the stuff we got him in his Easter basket, which was nothing much. We did get him a new train for his Thomas and Friends track that we got him for his birthday, so he was really excited about that.


This is the best picture I got of him. Derek was trying to get him to look up and smile.

Other than that, things have been pretty slow here the last couple of days, which is fine by me. I'm still being bothered by some pesky nausea, mostly in the mornings after breakfast, and in the evenings after Jadon goes to bed. Last night I didnt have any at all, and this morning wasn't too bad either, but all afternoon I was feeling it, and still am right now. Luckily its not bad like it used to be, but still annoying. I try not to complain too much about it though... but at this point its just getting old. Yesterday my friend Linda sent me an encouraging email in regards to the nausea hanging on, and here's what she said:
"I know with all the heartache you've had that you'd like to just enjoy beginning to feel the baby moving and watching your tummy grow but if you can just try to keep looking at this stage of nausea as God telling you...I heard your prayer for another child and I have answered it......"
Anyways, that was really encouraging to me yesterday, and she is right. I never thought id make it this far ever again in a pregnancy, so I am really ready to be able to enjoy it (as much as I possibly can through all the worrying.) On that note, I am pretty sure I felt the baby move shortly after my last post. It was so quick, and so subtle, that I just sat here for a second trying to see if it would happen again, and convince myself that I wasnt dreaming. I hadnt felt it again for a few days, and then last night I was laying on my back in bed watching TV, and I felt it again several times! Again it was so subtle, but since I was laying down and I was so still, it was very easy to feel. I cant wait to be able to feel that all the time! I'm so thankful to have made it this far and pray that everything continues to go smoothly!

Update on the update

I forgot to mention that when my doctor was listening to the baby's heartbeat with the doppler, the baby was doing quite a bit of moving around, and she had to keep following it. That made me feel good that the baby is in there being active. :) Hopefully i'll be able to feel the baby soon too! It could happen any time now!!

Also, I found a picture online of a fetus at 14 weeks... this is what our baby should look like right now:

Update

Sorry, I would have let you know how my appointment went sooner, but ended up getting a migraine Wednesday night, and all day Thursday and was confined to the couch all day thursday. Still have a bit of a headache, but its much better than yesterday, and i'm hoping that by tonight it will be gone, or at least mostly gone.

Anyways, my appointment went fine, and like all the other times, my worrying was for nothing. However, that still doesnt keep me from worrying.

So we heard the heartbeat again, and the rate was in the 150's again.... nice and strong. As I mentioned in my previous post, i was concerned that I didnt seem to be showing or my pants getting any tighter. She felt my uterus and it was measuring right where it should be, so even though I am not growing, my insides are. I did lose some weight in the first trimester, so that is most likely why my pants dont feel any tighter. She also told me that its not a bad thing that i'm not showing yet.... meaning, just enjoy it now, because it wont be long before i'm huge and uncomfortable.

So, I got to stop my progesterone suppositories a week ago, however now I get to start progesterone shots in 2 weeks. The shots are a higher dose of the hormone progesterone, and are meant to help prevent preterm labor. I have to do these once a week from weeks 16-36, and I have to do them because Jadon was born premature. Whatever it takes though!

I go back to the doctor again in 4 weeks, i'll be 18 weeks then, and after that at around 20 weeks i'll have my big ultrasound... which of course i'm already nervous for. I dont care if its a boy or a girl, i just worry that i'll go in and they'll find something fatally wrong with the baby. I'm so glad I didnt have these fears when I was pregnant with Jadon.

Just cant stop worrying

Well i'm 14 weeks today, and I thought maybe by now i'd start feeling a little less apprehensive about the pregnancy, but that doesnt seem to be the case.
I've started physically feeling better the last few days, which is great. However I worry that my pants dont seem to be getting tighter, and that I dont feel like i'm "growing" much, if at all. I thought with second (or more) babies you start showing much sooner? Even when I was pregnant with Jadon, I had mentioned in my journal that at 11 weeks my pants were beginning to get tight, although I didnt start wearing maternity clothes until 19 weeks.

I guess I just feel like everything has gone so well so far, that this is just too good to be true. I find myself feeling very apprehensive thinking about the future, or any farther than a few days out... like i'm going to jinx everything by letting myself get excited. The innocence is gone- I dont think I will ever be able to really "enjoy" being pregnant ever again, which is so unfortunate because I loved being pregnant with Jadon. But on the other hand, I know the things that can happen, I've read all the things that can go wrong at this point from articles, books, and real people who have experienced them, and I am glad I know so that I can be prepared should something like that happen to us.

One of my great, wise friends told me a month ago when I told her that I was still very skeptical about the prenancy, to not worry, because its out of my hands. That was really comforting to me, and I repeatedly reminded myself that over and over again throughout the rest of the first trimester. From the moment of conception, God had a plan for this little one, whether its being born healthy, or whether it never makes it that far. I have no absolutely no control over what will happen, nor do I have any idea what will happen, which I think is why its so hard to accept. I am a planner, and like to know well in advance what is going to happen in the coming weeks. It would be so nice to be able to peak into the future and know what the outcome will be. Unfortunately I cant do that, and I know its absolutely horrible, but I sometimes just assume that things wont end well with this and I start mentally preparing myself for the outcome, and the possibility that Jadon will be an only child.

I guess i'm just feeling anxious because I have my next appt. tomorrow morning, and its been a very long 3 weeks since my last one. And the GORGEOUS days we've had over the last few days have been taken over today by dreary, gray clouds, and its amazing just how much the weather can affect your mood and outlook.

Well I thought i'd post real quick while I'm eating breakfast. The next few days are looking to be very beautiful ones, so i'm really hoping that i'll feel well enough to play in the yard! Yesterday I felt pretty good, except all afternoon I was dizzy. We did go to Home Depot to pick up a few items, and while there I got a few flowers. Unfortunately its only April 5th, so not much is available yet. But i'm sooooo eager to get my hands in the dirt!!!!

If I eat anything thats slightly greasy, fattening, or very flavorful throughout the day, I end up with RAGING heartburn in the evenings. If this is how its going to be through the whole pregnancy, then i'm convinced I wont gain much weight since all I can eat is healthy, bland foods. Which is fine, I want to eat as healthy as possible, but Derek has now dubbed Fridays as Pizza Night since Jadon is able to understand more (ok, he asks for pizza at every meal). So this past friday Derek brought home some of those cheap Totinos pizza's, which I LOVE, but avoid at all costs when i'm not pregnant because they are loaded with fat and calories. I shared a pizza with Jadon, and that evening I was totally regretting eating it at all. I had horrible heartburn, and my stomach was not happy with me at all. I hate going to bed feeling miserable. Yes, I took a Zantac, which my OB said is ok to take during pregnancy. I can hardly choke down Tums anymore, and they dont always work the best.

Anyways, so we are going to be coloring eggs for Easter sometime in the next few days. Also going today to get Jadon's Easter basket put together. We're going to get him another little train for his Thomas the Train set that we bought him for his birthday. He'll be so excited!

We played with the playdoh again the other morning, and as always, Jadon was requesting snowmen. So, I made a large, multicolored snowman this time. Here is Jadon posing with this one:

Playdoh Tragedy

For Jadon's birthday, Derek and I bought him a Playdoh kit. Turned out to be a good gift- he requests to play with it just about every day, usually around meal time- either after breakfast or lunch, or while I'm trying to prepare dinner.

So this morning after breakfast he requested playdoh before I had even finished cleaning all the oatmeal off of him. I dont mind it, its actually pretty fun for adults too if you use your creativity! I told Derek one day that I dont know who is having more fun with the playdoh, me or Jadon!

Jadon especially likes it when I make snowmen out of the playdoh. This morning I told him i'd make a snow family, so I made a daddy with a top hat, a mommy with huge hair, and a baby. When I finished we had a "photo shoot" of the snow family. Jadon was just dying to get his little paws on them!

The Snow Family

Jadon eagerly awaiting to play with the snow family

Here I posed the snowfamily in front of Jadon and told him to wait until I took the picture before he touched them.... and I said to him "ok, say chee-" before I could even finish saying cheese and getting the picture snapped, he just couldnt take it anymore, and grabbed for them.

Within seconds he had the poor family completely ripped apart, and some of their body parts were seen scattered around the floor. Such a tragedy!

Home Improvement

Its always this time of year when I start thinking about projects to do around the house to improve it. I think its because I get antsy from being cooped up in the house all day.... and especially the last 2 months have been that way!

Usually its the yard I start thinking about, but there's so much I want to do to the yard I dont even know where to start. Plus there's the part where I have to convince my husband to let me do things. And this year we've got a little critter living underground who has decided to make our yard his permanent residence. The backyard is a mess and will need to be re-done thanks to that little guy. You can actually walk around and feel his tunnels because you sink into the yard. Anyways, so there's so much that needs to be done with the yard that I feel overwhelmed by it, and I'm never satisfied with how it looks.

So now i'm thinking about stuff that I want to do inside instead. Usually when we do something inside, I like it and am satisfied and dont need to change it. Basically the only thing we've done so far is the two upstairs bathrooms and the downstairs windows. One thing that i've been pondering doing for a few years now is the kitchen. I've been thinking about painting the cabinets white and then painting the walls a color other than the white that they currently are.... probably a light taupe/tan color or something? And then someday we'd like to have all of our trim and doors white (right now they are a fake oak looking color that I cant stand.)

Just curious what everyone thinks? Here's the kitchen right now: Wow, it really is small!!!!

Jadon's birthday party

So we had Jadon's birthday party March 14th, and everything went well- except that most of you decided not to show up. Thanks for that. (this does not include our family members that live in other states- you are all off the hook ;)

So, I want to say an extra big Thank You to everyone who did show up- Gramma Debbie, Gramma Karla, Grampa Byron, Daniel, Alayna, David, Jon, Adriana, Jenny and Ryan. Thank you so much for sharing the day with us!!

Here are a few pictures of the day:

Anyways, id write more but i'm not feeling well today. I had 2 days of almost no morning sickness but today its back again. It was the same way with Jadon about this time of the pregnancy... it would go away for a couple days, then come back for a couple, then go away for a couple, back for a couple, until 14.5 weeks it just stopped all together. Today i'm 12 weeks, so if i can just hold out for a tiny bit longer!

Pimples!

So, Jadon has recently learned the word "pimple" and is now saying it all the time, because the first time he said it we laughed, and this kid looooooooves to be laughed at. I think we can thank his dad for that....

Anyways, yesterday at dinner, we had grilled cheese sandwiches. Jadon ate all his sandwich, so I asked him what else he wanted. His answer: "Pimples!" (of course he sat there with a big grin waiting for me to laugh at him!) Who can resist him!? ;)

Surprise! I'm pregnant! And no, i'm not joking!

Yes, this was planned- less than a week in advance. ;) We were not going to try again until this summer, but then January rolled around, and I kept thinking about it, and prayed about it, and had a really, really good feeling about it, so we decided to try. I knew when I got myself into this that there was a very real possibility that I could miscarry again, and I am ok with that and prepared to deal with it. Not to mention, there was the possibility that I wouldnt even get pregnant anyways.... afterall, you only have like a 20% chance of becoming pregnant each month. (Just for the record, I have a 100% track record so far!)

Anyways, I tested positive 3 days before "Aunt Flo" was due. I tested again on the day she was due, and again it was positive. So I immediately called my OB, she saw me that same day, got me started on progesterone suppositories (yes, suppositories) and baby asprin. And she sent me for bloodwork to get my hormone levels tested, and they were all perfect. And she told me to come back in 3 weeks.

1st positive test

Second positive test

So, at just over 7 weeks, we went in again, had an ultrasound and got to see a little bean and a heartbeat. It was beating nice and strongly- somewhere in the 150's bpm. Again, I had bloodwork done, and all the numbers again came back perfectly! Since my doctor knew how apprehensive I was about the pregnancy, she was having me come back every 2 weeks, or even more frequently if I felt like I needed it.

First Ultrasound- 7ish weeks

So, at just over 9 weeks we went again, had another ultrasound and saw that the baby was much bigger and the heart was beating away still! No bloodwork done this time.

Second ultrasound- 9ish weeks

So, that brings us to today. Tomorrow (tuesday) we'll be about 11 weeks. Today we saw the doctor again, and this time the nurse tried to find a heartbeat with the doppler. At first she found a heartbeat, and it was really really slow for a fetus, so I was a bit worried. Then she said that she thought that was my heartbeat..... which made sense because my own heartbeat was beating the exact same. So she moved the doppler over a little and instantly found a rapidly beating little heart!! 160 bpm, which is the same as Jadon's was! The sound of a little tiny heartbeat is one of the best sounds ever.

Anyways, i've been horribly exhausted for most of the pregnancy- HORRIBLY exhausted. I've been nauseated since around 5.5 weeks, and it got really really bad around weeks 7 and 8. Since then its mellowed out, but is pretty consistent and is worse in the evenings after 8pm. Sometimes its so bad that I cant even brush my teeth at night. I've also been dealing with horrible heartburn and indigestion. And i've had several migraines as well. This pregnancy has been pretty similar to when I was pregnant with Jadon. Except with Jadon, the nausea was worse and the exhaustion wasnt as bad.

So, now you know why i've been "distant"- in real life, and in blogging life! Its just too exhausting to do much of anything- including blogging! :) Anyways, just a few more weeks and we'll be "free and clear".... which means absolutely nothing to me!