I am trying to get a post written to tell my birth story. My sweet little girl wakes up when you put her down and can't fall asleep unless nursing or at least being held, shushed, and jiggled. We are bug fans of Happiest Baby On The Block! I am typing one- handed right now, holding a nursing/sleeping baby.
I need to ask my husband if it is okay to share her name and pictures, so until then, I will call her Miss R.
Miss R eats a lot, but she is not gaining weight at the rate the doctor's want. My lactation consultant thinks she is getting plenty. I go back a week from Monday to get her next round of shots and to have a weight check. So, hopefully she will have gained a good bit but I feel doubtful. Why can't my body do what it needs to do?
I decided to leave my job and stay home with Miss R so I am on my husband's insurance since Sept 1. I still don't have my card, so I have to wait to make an appt with an endocrinologist. I wonder if my thyroid is the problem.
I have just started eliminating dairy from my diet to see if maybe a sensitivity to dairy is causing her to not absorb all her nutrients and gain so slowly. She has the right amount of wet and dirty diapers.
I am hoping not to have to supplement.
I am so in love with this little girl. She is so sweet. She is ahead developmentally, so she's a lot of fun right now.
We are so so thankful for her!
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
She's Here!!!
Our daughter arrived on June 25 at 1:47pm! She weighed 7lb 3oz and was 20.5 in long. I still cannot believe it. She is absolutely beautiful. I will give our story another day when I have my laptop. I was in labor just short of 13 hours and I pushed for almost 3 of those.
I actually had a really long post in the works about pregnancy updates when I was 6 days late (I went 10 days pays my due date). But, apparently Blogger doesn't love my iPad. So, I never got on my laptop and fixed it.
But, her story deserves to be told. I will tell it. Soon!
I actually had a really long post in the works about pregnancy updates when I was 6 days late (I went 10 days pays my due date). But, apparently Blogger doesn't love my iPad. So, I never got on my laptop and fixed it.
But, her story deserves to be told. I will tell it. Soon!
Friday, May 3, 2013
Gifts at the Hospital
So, I tend to not make friends with medical people. I somehow manage to offend them, actually. I am thinking about doing something to win us a little favor with them. I have seen where some people make a tray of cookies or muffins ahead of time and freeze it then grab it from the freezer before they head to the hospital. I saw on one thread where a lady make individual gift bags for those people. Like, granola bars, cookies, etc...
I had also been thinking about having favors for whoever comes to the hospital or to visit us in the first few days.
Any ideas? It's hard to plan ahead b/c we don't know what we're having. Maybe I can get my sister or dad to pick up cupcakes or a birthday cake in the right color on the way and we can share those with visitors...
Just wondering what everyone else did.
I had also been thinking about having favors for whoever comes to the hospital or to visit us in the first few days.
Any ideas? It's hard to plan ahead b/c we don't know what we're having. Maybe I can get my sister or dad to pick up cupcakes or a birthday cake in the right color on the way and we can share those with visitors...
Just wondering what everyone else did.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Catch Up
Wow, it's been a lot longer since I posted last than I intended it to be. I have been extremely busy and had some things happen that I was very upset about and I didn't think it would make me feel better to put it down, so I held back. I have a feeling this post will take me several sittings, so I am going with bullets.
- I failed my one hour, then failed my three hour glucose tests. I was extremely upset and blaming my sedentary lifestyle and the fact that I love pizza and icecream. Then, unlike a lot of the websites, the diabetes education people said that marathon runners get gestational diabetes and there is pretty much nothing you can do to keep from having it.
-I knew that people with GD had to follow a strict diet. I did NOT know that they had to prick their finger 4 times a day to check their blood sugar. How is this going to work for the girl who passes out with needles? I am actually handling it alright. And, the diet isn't that bad. I am eating more food now than ever before.
-We aren't convinced I actually have GD. I passed out at my second blood draw (the one hour) and I passed the first two tests with extremely good numbers and the second two I was kind of over. Did you know that a stressful event can mess with the chemicals in your body and affect your blood glucose levels for up to 24 hours? So, my midwife drew another blood test call an A1C which takes the 6-week average of your levels. Mine was exactly in the middle of the normal range. But, because it is a 6-week average, the OB in the office was hesitant to say I don't need to test my blood sugar after meals. So, we will draw it again in a couple of weeks and see if it is still normal. If it is normal, I can stop testing and I can not be labeled as having GD. That would be nice.
-I had my first shower! It was lots of fun! It was a couples shower thrown by my sister and cousin and we played lots of games and a lot of my friends from college came as well as some family from my side of the family. We had a taco bar and cupcakes. It was great! The games were sippy cup bowling, guess the number of jelly beans in the jar, and guess the measure of mom-to-be's belly. My sister ordered t-shirts for my husband and me, all the people organizing the shower, and as prizes for the games. They were super cute!
-TMI ALERT!!! I am still having issues with constipation. I am annoyed. I finally have gotten regular (pardon the pun) in taking Colace. I have taken it every time I take my other vitamins (morning and evening) since Sunday. I have finally started going. I am thankful for my bodily functions to be working again!
-I had another shower this Saturday - it was one that my SIL and MIL threw for me at my MIL's house. It was my husband's side of the family and some friends from our neighborhood as well as some friends I used to work with. We played some cute games and had a lot of fun! The games were matching the animal with the gestational period and then she had a card table full of candy and a worksheet with a bunch of pregnancy/baby terms and you had to match the candy to the term.
-My SIL is gave us her baby bed, which she used with both of her children. We got it this weekend when I had my shower. We have a small book case from Ikea and a changing table that has drawers and a cabinet. I believe we will also need a chest of drawers. We are getting everything second hand off Craigslist, when we can. Finding a chest of drawers is proving harder than we thought.
-We got a rocking chair that was my grandmother's that she gave to my mom when my sister was born reupholstered. It looks great. I'll have to post some before and after pics. I am very pleased that I can use this little family heirloom. I love this rocking chair because it is the perfect size for me. My feet touch the floor, so I don't feel like I need an ottoman. My husband's parents bought us a glider for in the nursery w/ a gliding ottoman, now we have the rocking chair in the bedroom. We are set.
-I am reading The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I also borrowed Dr. Sears' The Breastfeeding Book from a friend at church. I am determined to breastfeed and hoping that I don't have some of the challenges I see a lot of people having who have gone through infertility, and some people that have not.
-So, I have not really had a lot of weight gain anywhere except my belly during this pregnancy. However, since I started eating so much food for thie GD diet, I have gained weight in my face. It is scary. I need to start getting up and walking around the office more.
-I am still fighting the fear of not taking this baby home. The baby seems perfect. I am measuring perfect, the baby is punching, tickling, kicking, hiccupping - all the normal stuff. But, I have heard so many times that one day someone was at the doctor and the baby was perfect and the next day, the baby had died. I am just in constant prayer that the Lord will lift this anxiety from me. I hope that these thoughs do not inhibit my going into labor in any way.
Here are some belly pics. Just for reference, I will include the first one I took to post on FB at 17 weeks and the ones I took on Saturday before my shower. I took a fun "overhead" shot today at work and I thought it was funny, so I am including that too.
- I failed my one hour, then failed my three hour glucose tests. I was extremely upset and blaming my sedentary lifestyle and the fact that I love pizza and icecream. Then, unlike a lot of the websites, the diabetes education people said that marathon runners get gestational diabetes and there is pretty much nothing you can do to keep from having it.
-I knew that people with GD had to follow a strict diet. I did NOT know that they had to prick their finger 4 times a day to check their blood sugar. How is this going to work for the girl who passes out with needles? I am actually handling it alright. And, the diet isn't that bad. I am eating more food now than ever before.
-We aren't convinced I actually have GD. I passed out at my second blood draw (the one hour) and I passed the first two tests with extremely good numbers and the second two I was kind of over. Did you know that a stressful event can mess with the chemicals in your body and affect your blood glucose levels for up to 24 hours? So, my midwife drew another blood test call an A1C which takes the 6-week average of your levels. Mine was exactly in the middle of the normal range. But, because it is a 6-week average, the OB in the office was hesitant to say I don't need to test my blood sugar after meals. So, we will draw it again in a couple of weeks and see if it is still normal. If it is normal, I can stop testing and I can not be labeled as having GD. That would be nice.
-I had my first shower! It was lots of fun! It was a couples shower thrown by my sister and cousin and we played lots of games and a lot of my friends from college came as well as some family from my side of the family. We had a taco bar and cupcakes. It was great! The games were sippy cup bowling, guess the number of jelly beans in the jar, and guess the measure of mom-to-be's belly. My sister ordered t-shirts for my husband and me, all the people organizing the shower, and as prizes for the games. They were super cute!
-TMI ALERT!!! I am still having issues with constipation. I am annoyed. I finally have gotten regular (pardon the pun) in taking Colace. I have taken it every time I take my other vitamins (morning and evening) since Sunday. I have finally started going. I am thankful for my bodily functions to be working again!
-I had another shower this Saturday - it was one that my SIL and MIL threw for me at my MIL's house. It was my husband's side of the family and some friends from our neighborhood as well as some friends I used to work with. We played some cute games and had a lot of fun! The games were matching the animal with the gestational period and then she had a card table full of candy and a worksheet with a bunch of pregnancy/baby terms and you had to match the candy to the term.
-My SIL is gave us her baby bed, which she used with both of her children. We got it this weekend when I had my shower. We have a small book case from Ikea and a changing table that has drawers and a cabinet. I believe we will also need a chest of drawers. We are getting everything second hand off Craigslist, when we can. Finding a chest of drawers is proving harder than we thought.
-We got a rocking chair that was my grandmother's that she gave to my mom when my sister was born reupholstered. It looks great. I'll have to post some before and after pics. I am very pleased that I can use this little family heirloom. I love this rocking chair because it is the perfect size for me. My feet touch the floor, so I don't feel like I need an ottoman. My husband's parents bought us a glider for in the nursery w/ a gliding ottoman, now we have the rocking chair in the bedroom. We are set.
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| Rocking Chair "Before" |
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| Rocking Chair "After" |
-I am reading The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I also borrowed Dr. Sears' The Breastfeeding Book from a friend at church. I am determined to breastfeed and hoping that I don't have some of the challenges I see a lot of people having who have gone through infertility, and some people that have not.
-So, I have not really had a lot of weight gain anywhere except my belly during this pregnancy. However, since I started eating so much food for thie GD diet, I have gained weight in my face. It is scary. I need to start getting up and walking around the office more.
-I am still fighting the fear of not taking this baby home. The baby seems perfect. I am measuring perfect, the baby is punching, tickling, kicking, hiccupping - all the normal stuff. But, I have heard so many times that one day someone was at the doctor and the baby was perfect and the next day, the baby had died. I am just in constant prayer that the Lord will lift this anxiety from me. I hope that these thoughs do not inhibit my going into labor in any way.
Here are some belly pics. Just for reference, I will include the first one I took to post on FB at 17 weeks and the ones I took on Saturday before my shower. I took a fun "overhead" shot today at work and I thought it was funny, so I am including that too.
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| 17 weeks |
.jpeg) |
| 33 weeks |
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| 33 weeks |
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| 33 weeks "overhead view" |
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
26 Weeks and Counting
Hi Everyone!
I hope everyone is doing well. I am just moving right along with this pregnancy. The baby is just kicking away. I had another appointment with my midwife about 3 weeks ago and have another one this Friday, which will include my glucose screening. At the last appointment, she measured my belly for the first time. I was right at 24 weeks and measured 26 cm. She said that they give you a leeway of 2 cm either way before they start to feel concerned. I wonder how I will measure up this time. The baby did just have a serious growth spurt. I had a cold one week where I had a fever for about 12 hours and wasn't feeling like eating a lot, so I lost about a pound that week. Then, when I weighted myself the next week, I had gained 3 pounds! Yikes! I weighed myself this morning and I haven't gained any since that last time where I'd gained 3 pounds. My total weight gain so far is about 17 pounds.
I am still enjoying being pregnant! I have started to feel a bit tired sometimes and I am still having round ligament pains. They seem to be multiplying. Almost every time I stand up after sitting for any amount of time (like maybe 30 min or more), I have pains under my belly on each side. If I stand up for too long, my right side near/under my rib hurts. I originally thought something had gotten jammed up in there, but now I think there is something stretching from the weight of my belly. It goes away if I sit down usually. But, sometimes if I can't sit down, it will spread to the same location on my back. I have had pain around my belly button off and on, but today I really wasn't sure I would be able to stand up all the way it hurt so bad just above my belly button. I am not sure if it hurt that bad or if it was just a scary feeling like I was going to pull something. I am mainly listing these so I don't forget. They aren't terrible and they aren't constant.
I have had some swelling in my ankles, feet, and hands. I had some a few weeks ago in both ankles and feet and it went away mostly except some in my left ankle and foot - but not much. Suddenly this week it is back with a vengeance and my fingers are a bit swollen. Ick. One benefit is the ease of shaving when your ankle bones are sticking out, though. I am definitely going to ask about it. I took pictures. I mean, they say you shouldn't worry unless it's excessive. Well, how much is excessive? And, if one leg is swollen but not the other, you may have a blood clot. I read that this morning on google. Great. Thankfully, my face is not swelling.
I will have to post some belly pics when I can get some loaded on my computer. I haven't really widened out any that I can tell. My belly is all in the front. It is kind of amazing how large it looks.
I love watching my belly jump around as the baby kicks. A lot of times, the left side of my belly is bigger than the right side. I am guessing the baby hangs out over there more.
I'll update again soon, hopefully, with a report from my midwife visit, glucose screening, and some pics!
Take care!
I hope everyone is doing well. I am just moving right along with this pregnancy. The baby is just kicking away. I had another appointment with my midwife about 3 weeks ago and have another one this Friday, which will include my glucose screening. At the last appointment, she measured my belly for the first time. I was right at 24 weeks and measured 26 cm. She said that they give you a leeway of 2 cm either way before they start to feel concerned. I wonder how I will measure up this time. The baby did just have a serious growth spurt. I had a cold one week where I had a fever for about 12 hours and wasn't feeling like eating a lot, so I lost about a pound that week. Then, when I weighted myself the next week, I had gained 3 pounds! Yikes! I weighed myself this morning and I haven't gained any since that last time where I'd gained 3 pounds. My total weight gain so far is about 17 pounds.
I am still enjoying being pregnant! I have started to feel a bit tired sometimes and I am still having round ligament pains. They seem to be multiplying. Almost every time I stand up after sitting for any amount of time (like maybe 30 min or more), I have pains under my belly on each side. If I stand up for too long, my right side near/under my rib hurts. I originally thought something had gotten jammed up in there, but now I think there is something stretching from the weight of my belly. It goes away if I sit down usually. But, sometimes if I can't sit down, it will spread to the same location on my back. I have had pain around my belly button off and on, but today I really wasn't sure I would be able to stand up all the way it hurt so bad just above my belly button. I am not sure if it hurt that bad or if it was just a scary feeling like I was going to pull something. I am mainly listing these so I don't forget. They aren't terrible and they aren't constant.
I have had some swelling in my ankles, feet, and hands. I had some a few weeks ago in both ankles and feet and it went away mostly except some in my left ankle and foot - but not much. Suddenly this week it is back with a vengeance and my fingers are a bit swollen. Ick. One benefit is the ease of shaving when your ankle bones are sticking out, though. I am definitely going to ask about it. I took pictures. I mean, they say you shouldn't worry unless it's excessive. Well, how much is excessive? And, if one leg is swollen but not the other, you may have a blood clot. I read that this morning on google. Great. Thankfully, my face is not swelling.
I will have to post some belly pics when I can get some loaded on my computer. I haven't really widened out any that I can tell. My belly is all in the front. It is kind of amazing how large it looks.
I love watching my belly jump around as the baby kicks. A lot of times, the left side of my belly is bigger than the right side. I am guessing the baby hangs out over there more.
I'll update again soon, hopefully, with a report from my midwife visit, glucose screening, and some pics!
Take care!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Ultrasound Pics
Our anatomy scan went well. We did not find out the gender. The ultrasound tech said that everything looked like it was measuring normally. Whew! It was a lot of fun to watch the baby moving around in there.
Here are some pictures:
Here are some pictures:
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| Profile |
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| Two cute little feet! |
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Time Flies!
Wow! How is it already February 5? I had so many posts I wanted to do, but have had no time to sit and type them. So, this is kind of going to be a condensed version of them all!
I had to change doctor's because the OB that owns the practice I was going to decided she didn't want to have a midwife anymore. I really want a midwife. So, I looked around and I think I have ended up in a better practice at a hospital that is much more natural birth friendly.
We are going to the new place tomorrow for our anatomy scan tomorrow! We still plan to not find out what we are having, but I can't wait to see our little baby again. One of my friends at church is also pregnant and she had her anatomy scan a few weeks ago. She has a lot of experience having babies, so this was not her first rodeo. She said that it's cool if the baby kicks you while they do the scan because you can see them kicking and feel them kicking. I hope we get some fun stuff like that!
We are in our Bradley Childbirthing class. We will finish kind of early, but the instructor said that if we want to re-take some of the classes in their next session, we can. We had to take it so early because the next one won't end until a couple of weeks after our due date. This class really prepares you for a natural childbirth and teaches a lot of exercises to prepare for childbirth and gives you a lot of pushing positions to try out. I am glad we are taking our class early so that I have lots of time to practice these things. I would really like to have a completely natural childbirth with no needles, no nothing. The hospital we are going to will allow that as long as there are no needs like Group B Strep or any other risks. I figure doing everything I can to avoid tearing is a huge part of my "no needles" strategy since stitches require needles. (shiver).
My reading list is pretty extensive. I feel like there is so much to read! One of my close girlfriends recommended that I focus on having the baby and taking care of the baby for the first month. I was kind of thinking that, but still felt like we should at least have researched a parenting style and have some sort of general plan. I had read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. This was an excellent book that I highly recommend. I am so glad that it was recommended to me by more than one person. My husband is reading Husband Coached Childbirth and I think it is helping him a lot. I have borrowed a few books from a friend from church and will probably buy a couple of them, but I just perused them. They are The Attachment Parenting Book and The Complete Book of Christian Parenting and Child Care. Those are both by Dr. Sears. I am not sure if we'll do 100% Attachment Parenting, but we will probably do some version of it. I am in the middle of reading (all the way through) Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and intend to read all the way through Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way. I was also given The Baby Book, which I understand reads kind of like an encyclopedia and you can just read the section that is the age your baby is approaching, so I will read the first little bit of it before the baby comes. So, it sounds like a lot, but I am really only going to have read all the way through 3 books by the time the baby's here. I know that a lot of being a mother will come very naturally, but I don't think it hurts to do some studying ahead of time.
We are rearranging our house to make room for this new little one. I have probably mentioned that in a previous post. We had a lot of furniture in our house, mainly because my grandmother was one to want us to take everything she owned. So, we both took some, but as I had more room, I got more. So, I gave one piece to my sister that I didn't really need and another piece to my cousin that I also didn't need. The piece we gave my cousin was a nice sofa table that was in our foyer. We replaced it with a bookcase that my husband and his dad made shortly before we got married. We got rid of the mattress and boxsprings that was on our old full size bed and put the frame and headboard up in our bonus room. In order to do that, we had to clean out our bonus room. We took an entire pickup truck full of stuff to our local goodwill. We could probably go through there one more time and get rid of more stuff, but for now, the bed fits. On a gross aside, when my husband drug the mattress and box springs out to the curb for trash pickup (he had to call for a special truck), within less than 5 minutes the mattress was gone along with an old Christmas tree we couldn't give to goodwill. That mattress was about 16 years old. Plus, what if we had bed bugs? Ick. Oh well. Not my problem.
We have our guest bedroom all cleaned out except for the boxes of stuff we had to take off of our big bookcase, and those will have to be moved out for us to paint. I've emptied off the cubby-style bookcase in our office/craft room and put away all my other craft stuff including my sewing machine. We are mostly done cleaning off the desk in there. We have this weekend to get everything cleaned off, clean off the baseboards and anything else that needs to be cleaned, and repair any holes in the drywall. Next weekend, we have friends coming over to paint. The next weekend, we have my sister and brother-in-law coming over and my BIL is going to put up our wall decal that is a tree. This is what it looks like, except our owl is sunflower yellow and the two little birds are blue. So cute! We are painting the walls in there a similar color. We had to move out of the office because it is going to be the nursery and the guest room will be no more as we are moving the office/craft room to the front room which used to be the guest room. We had a red accent wall in there, which I just don't want in our office, so we are painting that one a light green color. We have our colors picked out, we just need to go buy all the supplies.
We have three groups of people planning showers for us! I still can't believe I am pregnant and people are planning baby showers for us! We are having a church shower, a shower for my family, and a shower for my husband's family. We are so blessed to have so many people that want to do this for us.
We are still praying for our little one every day. I so want to meet this little baby and get to snuggle with him or her. I pray daily that God will keep our baby healthy and allow us the opportunity to raise this baby to seek Him and to put His glory above all other things.
If you are still with me, I am impressed. Thanks for stopping by! Until next time...
I had to change doctor's because the OB that owns the practice I was going to decided she didn't want to have a midwife anymore. I really want a midwife. So, I looked around and I think I have ended up in a better practice at a hospital that is much more natural birth friendly.
We are going to the new place tomorrow for our anatomy scan tomorrow! We still plan to not find out what we are having, but I can't wait to see our little baby again. One of my friends at church is also pregnant and she had her anatomy scan a few weeks ago. She has a lot of experience having babies, so this was not her first rodeo. She said that it's cool if the baby kicks you while they do the scan because you can see them kicking and feel them kicking. I hope we get some fun stuff like that!
We are in our Bradley Childbirthing class. We will finish kind of early, but the instructor said that if we want to re-take some of the classes in their next session, we can. We had to take it so early because the next one won't end until a couple of weeks after our due date. This class really prepares you for a natural childbirth and teaches a lot of exercises to prepare for childbirth and gives you a lot of pushing positions to try out. I am glad we are taking our class early so that I have lots of time to practice these things. I would really like to have a completely natural childbirth with no needles, no nothing. The hospital we are going to will allow that as long as there are no needs like Group B Strep or any other risks. I figure doing everything I can to avoid tearing is a huge part of my "no needles" strategy since stitches require needles. (shiver).
My reading list is pretty extensive. I feel like there is so much to read! One of my close girlfriends recommended that I focus on having the baby and taking care of the baby for the first month. I was kind of thinking that, but still felt like we should at least have researched a parenting style and have some sort of general plan. I had read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. This was an excellent book that I highly recommend. I am so glad that it was recommended to me by more than one person. My husband is reading Husband Coached Childbirth and I think it is helping him a lot. I have borrowed a few books from a friend from church and will probably buy a couple of them, but I just perused them. They are The Attachment Parenting Book and The Complete Book of Christian Parenting and Child Care. Those are both by Dr. Sears. I am not sure if we'll do 100% Attachment Parenting, but we will probably do some version of it. I am in the middle of reading (all the way through) Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and intend to read all the way through Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way. I was also given The Baby Book, which I understand reads kind of like an encyclopedia and you can just read the section that is the age your baby is approaching, so I will read the first little bit of it before the baby comes. So, it sounds like a lot, but I am really only going to have read all the way through 3 books by the time the baby's here. I know that a lot of being a mother will come very naturally, but I don't think it hurts to do some studying ahead of time.
We are rearranging our house to make room for this new little one. I have probably mentioned that in a previous post. We had a lot of furniture in our house, mainly because my grandmother was one to want us to take everything she owned. So, we both took some, but as I had more room, I got more. So, I gave one piece to my sister that I didn't really need and another piece to my cousin that I also didn't need. The piece we gave my cousin was a nice sofa table that was in our foyer. We replaced it with a bookcase that my husband and his dad made shortly before we got married. We got rid of the mattress and boxsprings that was on our old full size bed and put the frame and headboard up in our bonus room. In order to do that, we had to clean out our bonus room. We took an entire pickup truck full of stuff to our local goodwill. We could probably go through there one more time and get rid of more stuff, but for now, the bed fits. On a gross aside, when my husband drug the mattress and box springs out to the curb for trash pickup (he had to call for a special truck), within less than 5 minutes the mattress was gone along with an old Christmas tree we couldn't give to goodwill. That mattress was about 16 years old. Plus, what if we had bed bugs? Ick. Oh well. Not my problem.
We have our guest bedroom all cleaned out except for the boxes of stuff we had to take off of our big bookcase, and those will have to be moved out for us to paint. I've emptied off the cubby-style bookcase in our office/craft room and put away all my other craft stuff including my sewing machine. We are mostly done cleaning off the desk in there. We have this weekend to get everything cleaned off, clean off the baseboards and anything else that needs to be cleaned, and repair any holes in the drywall. Next weekend, we have friends coming over to paint. The next weekend, we have my sister and brother-in-law coming over and my BIL is going to put up our wall decal that is a tree. This is what it looks like, except our owl is sunflower yellow and the two little birds are blue. So cute! We are painting the walls in there a similar color. We had to move out of the office because it is going to be the nursery and the guest room will be no more as we are moving the office/craft room to the front room which used to be the guest room. We had a red accent wall in there, which I just don't want in our office, so we are painting that one a light green color. We have our colors picked out, we just need to go buy all the supplies.
We have three groups of people planning showers for us! I still can't believe I am pregnant and people are planning baby showers for us! We are having a church shower, a shower for my family, and a shower for my husband's family. We are so blessed to have so many people that want to do this for us.
We are still praying for our little one every day. I so want to meet this little baby and get to snuggle with him or her. I pray daily that God will keep our baby healthy and allow us the opportunity to raise this baby to seek Him and to put His glory above all other things.
If you are still with me, I am impressed. Thanks for stopping by! Until next time...
Thursday, January 10, 2013
How We Broke Our News
I know I am a huge blog slacker. But, what's new?! I always thought I would be a super blogger if I ever got pregnant. Does not seem to be happening. There are a lot of things I wanted to kind of get off my chest in this space. I think I will have to split this into several posts. First, I never shared how we told people about our pregnancy.
Of course, we'd told our very closest friends from church the first weekend after we found out, before our second Beta. We wanted them to be praying for us. They knew about our struggles with infertility. That was before we really knew what would happen with the immune issues and whatnot. So, they told us excited they were but it was much more subdued than it would have been had we not had any worries. They understood and respected our worries. But, they have cheered us on the whole time. We are blessed.
Here's how we told our families:
We told my sister and her husband first. We wanted them to know so that we could plan the cruise easier. Plus, we had originally planned to just wait and tell them the day we left from the cruise then it turned out we would be seeing my dad and his wife and my hubby's sister and her family and his parents all in the same day before we were going on the cruise. As I am closer to my sister than to the rest of those other family members, I wanted her to know first. We needed to get together anyway because she had lost weight and I had some old bathing suits that would probably fit her. So, we got together for dinner one night and told them. We were probably about 8 weeks at the time. I could tell they were totally not expecting us to tell them that. But they were excited. I think my BIL made an "it's about time" comment, but my sister was just truly excited and surprised. It took a minute for it to sink in, so her facial expressions were hilarious. Apparently she discussed planning a shower with her husband all the way home and is already planning it now...for April!
Then, after our final RE appointment at 9 weeks, we had the tour of the Marietta/Dallas, GA area where we saw the rest of our families. I bought a shirt that had a picture of a bun in an oven. It was cute. Well, I wore that. We had brunch with my dad and his wife and I stood around in that shirt the whole time we were fixing brunch. After we finished eating I finally said, "so, did y'all notice my shirt?" They were like, yes, but we can't tell what it is. I said, well, it's a bun in an oven. They were like "oh" and they laughed. Then, my dad said "so, are you trying to tell us something?" And, of course I said yes. I had the picture from the most recent ultrasound, so I showed them. They were excited. I was surprised that my dad didn't just make his nodding, semi smile face that he makes. He actually got a big surprised smile. I knew he'd enjoy having a grandchild around after they were here, but I didn't really think he'd show any interest until after that.
We then went over to my husband's sister's house to celebrate her daughter's 11th birthday. We did gifts at the house then when we were about to leave for dinner, I opened my jacket up so they could see my shirt. No one noticed. They are a bunch of talkers anyway. I thought my husband was going to announce it at the house, but he never did. So, he told everyone at the restaurant. Everyone was surprised. His parents both reacted exactly like I was afraid they would. They both said things like "it's about time" and "yeah, we only had to wait 9 years!" I just completely ignored their jerky comments. His sister asked some questions and then proceeded to spend the rest of the night talking about her pregnancies and advice she had. She also offered us their crib and then said that she'd give her parents the travel swing that she had so they'd have it there and we didn't have to bring it when we came. We really don't go to their house that often, and I'd have rather had it here, but I wasn't arguing. They usually have different ideas than we do. My husband told me on the way home that night that he intended to have a serious talk with his parents in a couple of weeks in person. He didn't appreciate the comments they had made to us over the last few years and he especially didn't appreciate the comments they'd made that night. He didn't want them talking to anyone else like that, like younger people at their church.
The next time my husband talked to his dad, he apologized for what he'd said. His excuse was that he was so surprised and excited he just said something stupid. Generally when you're surprised you say exactly what you mean to say. But, whatever, I appreciated the gesture. My husband went ahead and had his talk with them. Luckily I didn't have to listen to this conversation because I was in the shower or something like that.
After that, I asked my hubby if we could tell our pastor and his wife the next day at church because I really needed a good reaction and I knew we'd get a good reaction from them. They knew about our struggles also and my pastor's wife if uncontrollable when she hears about a pregnancy. It was exactly the reaction I needed.
Well, those are the main people. Everyone else had varying responses, but all were positive. I found that telling people was more stressful than fun. I was always afraid that people would make rude comments. But, most people were nothing but excited.
Of course, we'd told our very closest friends from church the first weekend after we found out, before our second Beta. We wanted them to be praying for us. They knew about our struggles with infertility. That was before we really knew what would happen with the immune issues and whatnot. So, they told us excited they were but it was much more subdued than it would have been had we not had any worries. They understood and respected our worries. But, they have cheered us on the whole time. We are blessed.
Here's how we told our families:
We told my sister and her husband first. We wanted them to know so that we could plan the cruise easier. Plus, we had originally planned to just wait and tell them the day we left from the cruise then it turned out we would be seeing my dad and his wife and my hubby's sister and her family and his parents all in the same day before we were going on the cruise. As I am closer to my sister than to the rest of those other family members, I wanted her to know first. We needed to get together anyway because she had lost weight and I had some old bathing suits that would probably fit her. So, we got together for dinner one night and told them. We were probably about 8 weeks at the time. I could tell they were totally not expecting us to tell them that. But they were excited. I think my BIL made an "it's about time" comment, but my sister was just truly excited and surprised. It took a minute for it to sink in, so her facial expressions were hilarious. Apparently she discussed planning a shower with her husband all the way home and is already planning it now...for April!
Then, after our final RE appointment at 9 weeks, we had the tour of the Marietta/Dallas, GA area where we saw the rest of our families. I bought a shirt that had a picture of a bun in an oven. It was cute. Well, I wore that. We had brunch with my dad and his wife and I stood around in that shirt the whole time we were fixing brunch. After we finished eating I finally said, "so, did y'all notice my shirt?" They were like, yes, but we can't tell what it is. I said, well, it's a bun in an oven. They were like "oh" and they laughed. Then, my dad said "so, are you trying to tell us something?" And, of course I said yes. I had the picture from the most recent ultrasound, so I showed them. They were excited. I was surprised that my dad didn't just make his nodding, semi smile face that he makes. He actually got a big surprised smile. I knew he'd enjoy having a grandchild around after they were here, but I didn't really think he'd show any interest until after that.
We then went over to my husband's sister's house to celebrate her daughter's 11th birthday. We did gifts at the house then when we were about to leave for dinner, I opened my jacket up so they could see my shirt. No one noticed. They are a bunch of talkers anyway. I thought my husband was going to announce it at the house, but he never did. So, he told everyone at the restaurant. Everyone was surprised. His parents both reacted exactly like I was afraid they would. They both said things like "it's about time" and "yeah, we only had to wait 9 years!" I just completely ignored their jerky comments. His sister asked some questions and then proceeded to spend the rest of the night talking about her pregnancies and advice she had. She also offered us their crib and then said that she'd give her parents the travel swing that she had so they'd have it there and we didn't have to bring it when we came. We really don't go to their house that often, and I'd have rather had it here, but I wasn't arguing. They usually have different ideas than we do. My husband told me on the way home that night that he intended to have a serious talk with his parents in a couple of weeks in person. He didn't appreciate the comments they had made to us over the last few years and he especially didn't appreciate the comments they'd made that night. He didn't want them talking to anyone else like that, like younger people at their church.
The next time my husband talked to his dad, he apologized for what he'd said. His excuse was that he was so surprised and excited he just said something stupid. Generally when you're surprised you say exactly what you mean to say. But, whatever, I appreciated the gesture. My husband went ahead and had his talk with them. Luckily I didn't have to listen to this conversation because I was in the shower or something like that.
After that, I asked my hubby if we could tell our pastor and his wife the next day at church because I really needed a good reaction and I knew we'd get a good reaction from them. They knew about our struggles also and my pastor's wife if uncontrollable when she hears about a pregnancy. It was exactly the reaction I needed.
Well, those are the main people. Everyone else had varying responses, but all were positive. I found that telling people was more stressful than fun. I was always afraid that people would make rude comments. But, most people were nothing but excited.
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