Success?

Evie has been regressing in her sleep habits so we decided to try crying it out this week since Shaun isn't working. Good news so far...it only took 15 minutes of semi-crying (more like fussing) before she went to sleep. Shaun checked on her, rubbed her tummy briefly, and gave her back the nuk after 2 min, then 3, then 4, then 5. After the last soothing session she was out! Hopefully she'll get some sleep tonight!

Yay!

Solids actually made it past the tongue today! She still doesn't seem to like it at all but at least she ate some...no video, though.

Evie's first Christmas

Christmas and all it entails was fun. Evie was thoroughly overstimulated both days and enjoyed opening/playing with all her gifts. Christmas Eve we were the holy family at church. It didn't involve doing much, just standing at the front of the church for about 15 minutes. It was fun. Evie behaved very well, even when the pastor was holding her, until he said that he was thinking of just keeping her. Then she started wailing. So cute! The whole church started laughing. Here's a pic of me and Evie all dressed up.

Later that night we went to visit with Shaun's family. For the second year in a row Shaun played Santa. Here's a pic of Shaun and Evie.

All the celebrating has been very fun so far. Tomorrow we are visiting with my mom's family and Sunday we are hanging out with Shaun's mom...then we're officially done with Christmas parties! Hope everyone else's holidays have been just as fun!

A very merry Christmas

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

4 months old

Today we went in for Evie's 4 month appointment. Dr says she's healthy and looks great. I was worried because she fell from the 75th percentile in weight down to the 25th percentile. She only weighed 12 lbs 14 oz. The Dr isn't concerned and said he only will be if at 6 months she has continued to fall in percentiles. He did give us the go ahead to start her with cereal so we decided to give it a go today. Check out the video for how it went.

Happy Birthday!

Just wanting to throw a happy birthday out there to my Dad!

Best present ever, two years running

Obviously this year it is because we have Evie to share in the holiday joy. Last year it was the knowledge of knowing we were going to have a baby.

One year ago today I was feeling utterly bummed that another cycle had passed where I had failed to get pregnant. I told Shaun I wasn't going to test at all. But anyone who knows me knows that I have zero patience for anything. I was officially one day late getting my period and decided to test. Not in the morning, like the tests recommend, but at 5 o'clock on a Monday evening.

I did not tell Shaun I was testing. Because if it had been negative he would have scolded me for using up the last test we had in the house. I didn't have to wait very long for the results. No watching a clock like you always see them do in the movies. The line appeared dark pink in a matter of seconds. The test line was even darker than the control line.

Shock. Awe. Excitement. All the happy emotions possible flooded through my mind. I had these grand plans in my head for how I was to tell Shaun I was pregnant. My running favorite at the time was to attach a sign to the back of his car before work in the morning saying "Honk! I'm going to be a daddy but my wife hasn't told me yet!" Hehe...I could just imagine how pissed he'd be at all the honkers as he drove to work, then how happy he'd be once he pulled into work and looked over his car.

Anyways, that lack of patience thing got to me instead. The moment I saw the line I ran into our office room (now appropriately converted into the nursery) where Shaun was playing some game on his computer. I don't remember the exact words anymore but I shouted something along the lines of "We're. Going. To. Be. Parents!"

A look of terror flashed briefly across his face in the nano second before he jumped up and hugged me. That's when I started bawling and panic set in. I was suddenly worried about whether we had made the right decision, if we were going to be good parents, if the baby would be healthy, etc.

I can now say with absolute certainty that we made the right decision to have a baby. Never in a million years would I trade what we have. As previously stated, Best.Present.Ever!

Picture taking fool

Look at those baby blues!

Photos for Christmas

Just had to share!

Cranky cranky baby

I had all these grand plans for today to get things done. No go. Evie is super cranky and keeps refusing to take a nap. Earlier today I could only get her to sleep by bouncing her, humming in her ear loudly, and rocking...all at the same time with out stopping. As soon as I'd stop she'd start screaming again. What the heck happened to my super easy going baby? I think she may be teething (the nurse I saw at my mom's group last week confirmed 'probably').

So about 15 minutes ago I got fed up and put her in the swing on the highest setting and had to let her fuss herself to sleep. She's out now. Heh, and instead of getting to my grand plans of getting things done I'm on here. Lol, I'm headed to the kitchen now to catch up on some cleaning...

Me 'n Evie

Omg...I'm posting a picture of me! Haven't found many I like since Evie was born but one from today was ok. We were watching the Viking's game; Evie all decked out in her gear (cheerleader outfit). Of course we always seem to lose when she wears the purple and gold so Shaun said she's banned from wearing it anymore, lol.

Ready to talk about it

Well...I lost my job due to breast feeding. They were unhappy with my feeding/pumping schedule. Yep, 100% illegal. And yes, we've contacted a lawyer and are looking into a wrongful termination suit. The corporate office offered to give me a job back but not until after the holidays. Doesn't help us much for losing a month of pay.

So, the moral of the story, do NOT take your kids to NEW HORIZON ACADEMY!!!!!

Ah, memories

It was this day last year that Evie was conceived ;-)

Having fun at home

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a blast visiting my grandma and dad's family in the early afternoon and my mom in the evening. Evie got a cute pair of baby leg warmers (babylegs) and I just wanted to share some of our recent photos. She loves sitting up and has been trying to sit on her own for about a week now. Watch her go in the Bumbo!

Hehe...our family elfed

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Short update

Evie is still sick :-( That's another downside of being in daycare. However, her trip to the Dr.'s today let us find out that she weighs 13lbs. 1oz.

Three months old

Tomorrow Evie is three months old. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. Before I know it she will be a teenager, driving, going to prom, off to college, getting married, and having kids of her own :-) Maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. We've been doing a lot more tummy time, even though she hates it. I've just learned that we need to keep it to 2 minutes at a time 4 or 5 times a day. I took some pictures of it today. Haven't been lucky enough to catch a picture while she's at her highest point pushing up, but here are a couple of cute ones.

Later today we're heading up to Flake to visit the family. Aunt Jynelle decided to come up from Marshall this weekend so we're going to spend some time with her today too. Tomorrow Evie's coming with me to go Christmas shopping at MOA (can't believe it's that time of year already!) after church and Sunday school. Busy weekend!

Like father, like daughter

I'm sitting here in the living room on my laptop waiting for Evie to wake up to eat. She's about an hour past when I expected her to be up. Shaun's out here sleeping on the couch because he had a hard time sleeping last night. I woke up with Evie at 3:30 (why did she wake up so early?), and then he took her after she ate at 5:45. She's been sleeping on his chest ever since. So they are both currently laying together on the couch fast asleep...still. Every once in a while they move and stretch at the same time. They're both so cute.

Happy Veteran's Day

To all those who have or currently are serving, Happy Veteran's Day and a big thank you!

Today Shaun is re-enrolling in college in hopes of helping to advance his military career. WTG Shaun!

Rawr

Cute new snowsuit!

Week one of work and daycare

So, for those of you who don't know yet, I just completed my first week as a preschool teacher. I really enjoy the work and my day seems to fly by fast.

I hate that Evie is in daycare, though. She just doesn't get the same attention as she did when she was home. I'm also upset that they haven't heard talk at all. Just proves to me how little attention she's getting because with any interaction she'll coo. One of them even told me that "she's such a good baby I forgot she was here." Um...hello! Not the type of thing a mom wants to hear about her daughter's day at daycare.

The only reason she's still there is because I work in the same building and get to feed her myself and see her at minimum 3 times a day. As soon as I get some experience as a preschool teacher and Evie's old enough, we're both moving to the preschool at our church. Two weeks ago I found out that they are always looking for teachers and I should apply. I'd apply there right away but Evie's not old enough to go there yet.

Happy Halloween!

Well, today we learned that Evie does not like to be held by strangers when she's overly tired. I wasn't going to have her go trick-or-treating but Vanessa and her cousins really wanted her to tag along, so we did. She looked super cute in her costume and was doing fine until she got tired. It was right around this point that Vanessa's mom, aunt, and grandma got to meet and hold Evie. She wailed like I've never heard her do before! Poor girl. My mom took her then and she fell asleep within 5 minutes. She never even made it out the door for trick-or-treating, lol. Maybe next year she'll be more up for it.

Precious sleep

Ah, sleep...it is wonderful. Evie has started sleeping through the night. Not quite up to 12 hours yet but we have had 2 nights in a row of more than 8 hours straight of sleep! If only I could retrain myself to be able to stay asleep that entire time, lol. I am so used to waking up that I wake up while she sleeps. I am sure I will get used to sleeping again :-)

2 months old

Evelyn is just two days shy of two months old (or 8w 3d). Earlier today we had her 2 month check up. She's now 11lbs 8oz, 22.75 in long, with a 15.25 in head.

Dr. S did say that she has a slight problem with her neck muscles pulling her head to the right but that it should resolve itself. Extra tummy time will help it go away quicker. She did a great job tracking his hand a full 180 degrees (fully right to left) which is what assured him that her problem was minimal. If for some reason it doesn't go away, physical therapy will be considered.

Then came what I had been dreading most...shots! In the hospital I bawled while she screamed during her blood draw so I wasn't looking forward to the cries that were sure to follow her shots today. Shaun, in true fashion, couldn't stop himself from laughing as Evie's face turned bright red and an ear piercing cry followed her silent shaking within moments of the second shot (the nurse being quick enough that the first shot didn't have time to register). I managed to do well until discovering my soothing efforts weren't having the calming effect I wanted to provide her. Thankfully, after calming her down enough to nurse, she settled in and became her normal relaxed self. She's been sleeping ever since.

Overall, things went very well today and we have a happy, healthy, growing baby!

At home photo shoot

Smile!

I love this milestone! Evie smiles a lot now. I had a follow up to my postpartum appointment today and as a bonus they weighed Evie. She now weighs 10 lbs 14.5 oz. Her two month check up is on the 14th. Not looking forward for to her getting shots and the crying that follows :-(

Just because

I like sharing cute photos!

Time flies!

Evie is one month old tomorrow! It still feels like we just brought her home from the hospital last week. She has been hitting some pretty good growth spurts lately and has outgrown her newborn clothes.

Evie 'watched' her second Vikings game this weekend, but this time she had fan gear :-) Apparently she wasn't too impressed with their game play as she slept through the whole game. At least she did so in style...

Birth Announcement

Yes, I have finally put one together and got them printed today. If I have your address you can be expecting one in the mail next week :-)

We have successfully ventured out

Evie and I have made outings on our own, finally! Much easier than I expected it to be. And now that my stitches have fully healed, even easier. I also managed to pick up the house today while Evie napped! I'm starting to feel normal again!

Here are some pictures of the cutie :-)

Finding a rhythm

We're definitely still adjusting to life at home but things are going well. She's waking every couple of hours throughout the night. Some nights it's only 2 wakings, some nights it's 4. Haven't quite found the key to keeping it to 2 feedings a night every night.

Evie had her first real bath tonight and she loved it. No screaming or crying like we expected :-)

So, that's a short update but Evie's asleep and I'm headed to bed too!

Healthy, home and happy

We came home yesterday and are slowly getting settled into things at home. It's nice to be able to adjust to our own routines without being poked and prodded by nurses and doctors.

Tomorrow we are getting a home visit from a nurse to just check that things are going well with Evie and me. I think it's great that they do a home visit for first time parents. We also have Evie's first doctor's appointment on Friday. Normally they wait 2 weeks before seeing newborns but she lost a bit more weight than they like to see while we were in the hospital. I'm not worried, though. My milk just came in yesterday so she's finally been getting more to eat.

Other than that, things are going great. Thanks to each of you who have visited and offered food or help when you come over. It's been a huge help. I've finally been able to get more than 2 hours of sleep in a day!

Evelyn Margaret, 8lbs 1oz

Evie arrived yesterday morning at 9:22 am weighing in at 8lbs 1oz, 20 inches long, and 14 inch head!

Friday I had been having contractions all day long 6-8 minutes apart (what's new?) but they started to get more and more painful. At around 5:30 pm we headed over to my mom's house to celebrate Amber and Vanessa's birthdays. The contractions kept coming through dinner and by 8 pm I wanted to do nothing but head home and lay down.

Around 10 pm something changed with the contractions and I couldn't get through them on my own anymore. Each one had me bawling and shaking like crazy. Shaun packed up the car, we stopped to pick up my mom, then we headed to the hospital. Contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart at this time.

By 11:30 we were completely checked in and settled into our hospital room. I was shaking uncontrollably and really hoping that I was dilated to at least 5cm. But no, I had made NO progress from my midwife appointment on Wednesday. All the contractions I had been having since Wednesday night had done NOTHING. I knew then that a waterbirth was out the window and I was going for the epidural.

Baby and I were monitored for about an hour before getting checked again. We had only made about half a cm of progress but the doctor on call said we could stay and get the epidural. Yay! Before getting the epidural I needed to get a liter of fluid via an IV. It took 3 different nurses before the IV was successfully placed.

But then the wonderful epidural man arrived! He got it placed between contractions so that I didn't have to sit in an uncomfortable position while in pain. I thought I'd get some sleep once the epidural was placed but I was too excited and nervous. My mom and Shaun got a few hours of sleep each, though, while I listened to my Ipod.

At 7 am the doctor checked me again and I had only made it to 5 cm. He suggested breaking my water, and if that didn't work, start pitocin. I asked him to let me have a minute to think about it since I was feeling nervous about the pitocin. He left the room and my midwife showed up 15 minutes later (just started her shift). I told her we wanted to go ahead and break my water. She checked me and said "Wow! You might be ready to start pushing as soon as we break your water!"

I ended up being about 8 cm. I went from a 5 to an 8 in 15 minutes! Yay! She broke my water and within an hour I started pushing. One hour, 15 minutes after that...Evie was born!

Still contracting

I've still been having contractions all day today. Thankfully, no matter what I do they stick around. This means they're part of the real deal, right? They've also been getting stronger.

Unfortunately, they're sticking to about 6-8 minutes apart without really getting more frequent. They are also now painful enough that I cannot sleep through them and I have to concentrate on not pounding my fist through a wall each time one comes along. If they don't pick up in frequency tonight will be a long night.

I soooooooooo hope she's here by the end of the weekend. If not, I might go insane.

Prodromal Labor

This has got to be the most frustrating thing ever, and today has been the worst of it so far.

Last night at around 11 pm, or so, I started timing contractions at 6-8 mins apart. They were steadily increasing in intensity so I was hoping this was the real thing. By 2 am I decided to try to sleep through them, since they weren't too painful, and I was semi-successful. I would only wake up every 30 mins or so when a contraction was particularly strong.

At 6 am Shaun woke up and asked if he should go to work or not. I told him the contractions were still regular but manageable so it was up to him. He decided to stay home so we timed contractions and watched a movie (Major League, since he was appalled to find out last night that I had never seen it). Contractions were now coming every 4.5 mins and were slightly stronger than last night.

Around 8 am we decided to see if we could get things moving along by going for a walk. During the walk my contractions definitely picked up in intensity but were still very manageable. We got home and I sat for a while. This is when the contractions started to space out again. I was still having them, and they were still at the same level of intensity, but they were no longer as frequent.

Back to walking.

We decided that it would be a great idea to walk to Shaun's grandpa's house; a mere 2.5 miles. HA! Not something I'll do again anytime soon while hugely pregnant. Anyways, the contractions really picked up on this walk to every 2-3 minutes and got so intense that I couldn't walk or talk through them. I just hung off of Shaun's shoulder and employed breathing techniques. Awesome, right?

No. As soon as the walk was completed (fully swollen ankles and tender knees included) the contractions spaced out again.

Talking with the midwife confirmed what I feared: PRODROMAL LABOR. Previously known as false labor, yet again. This is just plain frustrating.

I'm still getting contractions now, just not as frequently nor as intense. Looks like this little one will not be making an appearance today. Perhaps tomorrow.

No sleep in sight

Contractions, heart burn, kidney shots, more contractions...

A recipe resulting in I have not yet been able to fall asleep tonight.

Reprieve in the form of full blown labor would be nice.

We made the news

Jane, Sammi and I made the news tonight! We were out for a walk around Lake Phalen trying to get this little one to come out and a news crew asked to interview us. The camera completely freaked out Sam and she kept barking at it (which made it onto tv; Sam even had a close up). Jane did most of the talking so I really thought they would focus on her instead of me, but no. Apparently spinning the story to be "REALLY pregnant lady feels comfortable walking in the park even after brutal beatings" is a good angle to take. If they put the video online I'll post a link. Just a warning on the unflattering angle where I'm walking away from the camera!

Removed the link...they changed the video out for an updated one so it's not us anymore!

38/39 weeks and still going

Argh. So I changed the title of one of the last posts and this one since I have two due dates I'm going off of. The ultrasound dated me at being due Aug. 14th (which puts me at 38w6d today) but, and I know technically this is more accurate, ovulation dates me at being due Aug. 20th (38w0d today).

Either way, I'm in that "'OMG! You must be ready to pop any day!' comments from strangers" phase. That phase where I'm thinking "Oh, geez, baby I love you, and I love the fact that I got pregnant, but GET OUT!"

My belly button no longer exists, the stretch marks are out in all their glory, I officially don't sleep more than 1.5 hours at a time, my feet have left my field of vision, contractions are a constant, any movement on my part takes tremendous effort, and I've gained more weight than I thought possible. Therefore, I do think it is time to have this baby. She just doesn't seem to want to cooperate.

So, this morning was my 38 week appointment according to the midwife's dating (based on ovulation) and she now considers me full term. Therefore, she feels comfortable doing things to naturally induce labor. This includes a nifty little trick called membrane sweeping. Ick. Ouch. Not fun. However, if it kick starts labor, I'm all for it! I'm now 2 cm dilated and the baby's head is definitely engaged. I keep forgetting to ask about effacement and station so I don't know those numbers.

Overall, there's more progress being made! Keep fingers crossed that this little one doesn't want to be overdue!

Timeable contractions

If only they meant anything.

All day today I've been having contractions and mid-evening they started being regular. Every 8 minutes in fact! Woohoo! Maybe something was getting started, right?

No! After about 3 hours they spaced out and just about completely went away.

*sigh*

back to waiting...

36/37 weeks and making progress

It feels so good to be at this point! Well, in the sense that it's almost over. The constant pressure this little one is putting on my lower abdomen is not so great. The appointment with the midwife yesterday did confirm that I am starting to dilate, if only at 1-1.5 cm, and the baby is engaging (no wonder the waddling has gotten so bad).

On a down note, our midwife informed us that she will be in Seattle the entire week of our due date because her son is having open heart surgery. So our appointment yesterday was to meet with her backup. I really liked her too, so that is good, but her nurse is definitely not among my favorites. I think she's fairly new and just didn't really know what she was doing. She seemed more nervous than anything else. I felt like telling her..."well now you should be taking my blood pressure" and "if you're going to measure my fundal height you really should start the tape measure here"...things like that.

Anyways, the internal was not the greatest of experiences and I'm not looking forward to more, but whatever she did made contractions and cramps a constant yesterday. There were even a couple of hours where I was contracting every 10 mins! Here's to hoping the baby doesn't want to come late!

Baby Shower Thank Yous

Today my sister and my mom hosted a baby shower for me. It was great! We started off the morning shopping for new cell phones and something cute that I could wear today. I absolutely despise shopping unless it's with my mom and my sister so things actually turned out well. I got a semi-cute dress from Old Navy (I think at this point all things look ridiculous on me).

Then I got to just hang out with them and chill until the party started. We had about 40 people show up and just about everyone brought a package of diapers for a diaper raffle in which a quilt my mom and I had made was raffled off. This was such a cute idea and we ended up with about 40 packages of diapers ranging in size from newborn to 6! Thank you to everyone who participated in the raffle! This is going to help me and Shaun so much!

The food was great (when I finally remembered to eat, lol) and the day was nice enough that we could sit outside. It was too windy to open gifts outside, though, so we headed indoors. I hate being the center of attention but managed to make it through the gift opening fine. Again, HUGE thanks to everyone who bought something for baby Evelyn. She's going to love it all and Shaun and I greatly appreciate it.

Then there was cake. Yum! I've definitely got a weak spot for good frosting and the cake Taunia brought was perfect...I actually got to take the leftovers home with me ;-)

Lastly, I just want to give a huge THANK YOU for everyone who was involved in planning and setting up (including John who got roped in by default). The day was perfect!!!

July 4th

Happy 4th of July everyone!

This has to be one of my favorite holidays. We spend the entire day outside, at the lake, hanging out with family.

What could be better than that?

Getting so close!

Six weeks left until my due date. Time is flying by and creeping at a snail's pace all in one. It seems like we are still completely unprepared. We have yet to finish the baby's room, get or set up most of the gear (having a changing table set up counts, right?), pack a hospital bag, finish the basement, etc.

At least the basement keeps progressing and is getting closer to being done. The laundry room floor will be done tonight. The bedroom is done being sheetrocked and just needs some mudding/taping, paint, and carpet. The sitting room will be, hopefully, sheetrocked by the end of this weekend. Then maybe I can get carpet sometime next week! The only thing that probably won't be finished before the baby comes is the bathroom, which is fine by me!

Everything with the baby seems to be progressing well. At my last appointment with the midwife I discovered that the baby could be measuring up to 4 weeks ahead. That doesn't necessarily mean that she'll come early, but it could mean I'm having a BIG baby. I hope not. We're shooting for a weight somewhere around what Shaun was when he was born: 7lbs and some odd ounces.

In the mean time, she definitely seems to be running out of room in there. The kicks have become painful, especially during her most active time - my bedtime. Based on last night's performance I'm thinking my entire insides are black and blue. It is amusing to see my entire belly move from side to side, though. During a meeting yesterday she just would not stop, lol, and I think a couple of people thought it was odd.

*Yawn* I want to do nothing but go back to sleep this morning! Instead I'm off to get ready for work!

Civilian Life

Today is my first offical day back as a civilian. Orders in hand, I am out of the military!

I love the fact that I enlisted, and I enjoyed 95% of my time in the military, but it was time to move on. One Army parent is enough and I'm happy being an Army wife!

3D Ultrasound

It was a lot of fun! At times the images got a little scary but for the most part she was adorable!

I wish I could figure out how to get the video off of the DVD so I could post it. Maybe Shaun can work his video magic to get it to work later. In the mean time...here's one super cute picture of her hand and face.

New Job

Two days into the new job and I'm already liking it better than the last one :-)

I got there yesterday morning and my desk was set up (complete with a 'Welcome Danielle' sign) and I even already had 6 emails waiting for me with meetings scheduled! Very different from waiting for 5 months at the previous job to feel like I had things to do. I spent most of the first two days being introduced to everyone and sitting in on meetings. However, I did get to complete a couple of PR tasks too (sending information for community calendars around the cities and wrote a press release). Another big change with this job is getting used to the size of the company. There are less people at this job total than there were on my floor at the previous job. Everyone seems to know each other very well and there's a different sense of community.

Overall, I think I'm going to enjoy working here this summer. If only being pregnant would cooperate with my desire to work. Lol, I get so tired around 1 or 2 everyday that I struggle to make it until 5. I really hope that I'm doing an ok job with covering up the million-mile-stare being tired makes me get!

5...4...3...2...1...

One day more until my current job is over -- Five more days until I start the new job -- Seven more days until we get a 3D/4D ultrasound -- Fourteen days until the next appointment with the midwife -- Forty-five more days until I’m out of the Army -- Sixty-six days until the baby shower -- One more trimester, or 91 days, until the baby is due…

I feel like I’m spending all of my time this week just counting down to something! I love that so many changes are taking place but I’m having a hard time being patient and just waiting for things to happen.

Last night was our second hypnobirthing class. I was in a funky mood when we got there so I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention. Shaun and I appear to be the least able to sit still couple in the group. When there are only 4 couples in the class these things tend to be noticed, oops! We whisper to each other, I find the room to be unbearably hot about 30 minutes into the class and start waving papers in my face, and Shaun can’t sit still for the life of him so he gets up and walks around. There is one non-pregnant lady in the class (who is a sign language interpreter for one of the dads) who decided that the fan was too cold last night and turned it off! After suffering for 20 minutes I turned the fan back on and turned it directly at me. It was just cruel of her, the only one without the rushing hormones, to deny me that source of cool air, lol.

Other than that, the class was good. We watched a couple of birthing videos (I’m never taping my experience) and practiced our relaxation exercises.

Hmmmm…well, I was interrupted in typing and can’t seem to remember all the other stuff I was going to type, lol. Hope everyone’s having a good day!

Shout out to Jane and Phil

I’m not sure if they’re reading the blog or not, but I wanted to give a big CONGRATULATIONS to Jane and Phil on their engagement!!! I cannot wait to hear all about it when you get home from your trip. It sounds absolutely romantic! When Shaun read his email he called me immediately, full of excitement...at the appropriate hour of 6:15 am.

Happy Mother's Day!

I spent this morning with my mom at the Race for the Cure event and had a blast! Apparently walking 5K is a bit hard on me at 6 months pregnant, though, which freaks me out. Something like that would never have phased me pre-pregnancy. Normally I'm doing the run, not the walk. The realization that my body is not the same set me back mentally a bit but did motivate me to get out more during this pregnancy and to get into a workout schedule post pregnancy asap.

Shaun and Dad worked on the plumbing in the basement today too. Unlike all the other days they spent working down there, today I heard much swearing and yelling coming from the basement. Things did not go very well. The evening ended when the main water line coming in on the city's side of the water meter started leaking and we had to call the city to come turn off our water. In order to fix the leak Shaun had to visit 4 different stores, call 2 different plumbers, and eventually visit a specialty wholesale store located about an hour away to get the right part. It's still not quite fixed yet but it should be soon.

Speaking of Shaun, he completely forgot that today was Mother's Day. I didn't expect a gift or any big deal about it but I was hoping that he'd at least say something sweet to me today. Er, no such luck. :eye roll:

There's popcorn popping in my belly

I swear that is what it feels like right now. She's in there tap dancing or performing flutter kicks. Whatever she's doing, she's keeping me awake!

:-)

Race for the Cure

This Mother's Day I'm participating in the Susan G Komen's Race for the Cure. It's a fundraising event for breast cancer research. If you would like to donate to the cause you can do so here:

http://www.active.com/donate/komentc08/DEineke

Last week of the second tri

Holy moly! I'm getting big! Lol, I'm sure I'm just going to be getting bigger too :-)

Things are starting to get uncomfortable as I grow. I can no longer cross my legs (probably a good thing to avoid varicose veins), tying my boots every morning is starting to get difficult, and I've lost the ability to sleep more than 2 hours at a time. Oh, and I think I used to take for granted the ability to take a full breath of air!

-BUT- I still very much love being pregnant. The little one is very active in there and all day long I feel her twisting and turning and kicking. It brings a smile to my face even when doing the most mundane tasks.

Last night was our first birthing class and overall it was good. It was loooong, but good. Our instructor just went over our fears about birthing and then the mechanics of giving birth. At the end we went over some relaxation techniques. I really wanted to fall asleep while we did them (hey, it was after 9 pm by this time) but I managed to stay awake.

Overall, things are going well at home. The basement project is still moving along. The baby's room is just about done being decorated. I'm officially done with college. Shaun has been around for a good chunk of time and his work doesn't seem to have any out of town training planned between now and when the baby comes. We also couldn't be asking for better weather, finally! Spring is here and not a moment too soon!

Birthing classes start!

I am very excited to finally be starting our birthing class tonight. I have been doing a lot of reading about child birthing since before getting pregnant and decided that hypnobirthing was something I wanted to try. Lucky for us, there is an instructor in the Twin Cities and we will be able to take a class instead of just reading the books.

For those of you who don't know...hypnobirthing is a natural birthing technique involving a form a self hypnosis. It's philosophies stem from the idea that childbirth is a natural, normal process that has been around since the first human and that by overcoming our fears about birthing, we can also overcome a lot of the pain. Well, that's the most basic outline.

Our midwife has only had one patient try hypnobirthing but she says she was impressed by the outcomes. We hope to be her second successful attempt :)

Bad about updating

Guess that's why I haven't kept up a blog before, huh?

Anyways, to the latest developments around here:

1) The nursery is about 95% finished. I'll post pictures as soon as it's done. After a failed first attempt that ended with overly emotional me in tears, we torn everything down and started the project a second time. I must say that the second time around things look much better.

2) School is almost done FOREVER. That's right. My last night of class is in 2 days and my graduation is May 1st. I cannot wait! However, that does mean that by typing this update I am yet again putting off on completing my final project :-)

3) The basement is out of demolition phase and onto rebuilding. Dad and Shaun started putting together the plumbing this weekend (which involved a lot of dust as concrete was being ripped up) and next weekend we'll get the plumbing done and the framing put up. Then the following weekend we will get the electrical put together. It will be so nice to get the house back in order...hopefully before the baby arrives, lol!

4) I almost forgot to add this one...I got hired at Children's Cancer Research Fund to work in their Marketing/Communications department. It's only part time for now but it's better than being without a job this summer. It's all I was really looking for since I know for sure that I want to take some time off after the baby is born. The job sounds like it will be a lot of fun and I'm starting at the end of May!

That's about it for the major updates. For now, I better get back to my homework!

It's a...

GIRL!!!

She wasn't very cooperative during the ultrasound, however, and we didn't end up with any gender shots to share. She kept her legs crossed pretty much the whole time, lol. So I'd say the Dr. was about 80% sure she's a she. It is very exciting and took a minute to digest. I really thought we would be having a boy. I'm very happy with a girl, though.

Here are a couple of the pictures we got from the ultrasound. None of them are 3D unfortunately. I'm not sure why they didn't do any 3D like our midwife said they would. Oh well, I was happy enough to see our little girl in 2D.

In two of the pictures you can see her head with her hand up next to her face and the other one is the back of her head and her back. She was facing away from us the whole time so we didn't get to see any profile pictures.