Thursday, February 28, 2013

This Is Getting Real

We're having a baby. 

Of course, I know this is happening, but after hearing the heartbeat at our appointment Tuesday and being told to call and schedule the anatomy scan, it's really setting in.

There are so many things that need to be done before the baby gets here and I'm really happy to know that there's still plenty of time. It seems like every time I turn around, another week has flown by! 

People are starting to notice that I'm getting rounder so I'm really excited that this time, there's a reason for the roundness. I have only gained 4 pounds, but I look like I've gained 15-20! Maternity pants are my new best friends and I'm so happy to be able to find clothes that fit my round body.

We have approximately 6 months left until the baby is here. Between the monthly appointment and all of the sewing I want to do, I'm sure that I'll be pretty busy.


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

So What Wednesdays

So What Wednesday


This week, I'm saying So What if...

  • Not everyone had kind things to say about our announcement yesterday. It won't take away from our joy!
  • I couldn't be happier that today is the last day of my job! I'm ready to stay at home and not be working retail.
  • I think the cost of maternity clothes is ridiculous and hard to find! I'm only going to wear them for a short time so I don't want to spend a fortune on them.
  • I haven't sewn in weeks! My next show isn't until April so I'm taking a break in the meantime.
  • I really want to buy something for the baby, but without knowing the gender, it's really hard.
  • Some days I still need a nap. I have more energy overall to do things, but I still get tuckered out quickly.
  • Phil and I like to tell people this is our "miracle baby" and know that it wouldn't have happened without God.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Week 13 Bumpdate!


The Bump.com


How Far Along: 13 weeks 1 day

Size of Baby: Peach (2.9 inches, .81 oz)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 3 lbs according to my last doctor appointment. I go to the OB tomorrow so we'll see.

Maternity Clothes: I need to get more! I picked up three shirts last week at Target, but need more tops and pants. I wear yoga pants when I run out of maternity jeans.

Gender: It's a baby!Gender scan is scheduled for March 17th! We'll know in 3 weeks and we can't wait!

Movement: Not yet, it's a little too early :)

Sleep: I love my Snoogle pillow. I still wake up often to go to the bathroom and I still feel tired most days. It's getting better and I need less naps though! 

What I Miss: My family. But I can't wait to see them in May!

Cravings: Funyuns!

Symptoms: Cravings and being tired. Still feeling stretching so that's good.
 
Best Moment This Week: Seeing our baby on the ultrasound last week! We saw it wiggling around, waving, and kicking its legs. My husband was so excited and that makes me so happy!
 
 

Friday, February 22, 2013

New Due Date!

My MFM appointment went really well. My husband was able to go with me to the appointment so that made it that much better.

Since we didn't have an ultrasound done with the specialist yet, they wanted us to come in and get a dating ultrasound for their records. You mean we get another chance to see our baby?! We were pretty excited.

The ultrasound was amazing and Baby Reese was measuring day-for-day right on track with a strong, healthy heartbeat of 151 bpm! the baby measured at 12 weeks 3 days and we were able to see the baby's brain, heart, bladder, stomach, and a few other things. The baby was facing down at first, but then all of a sudden it was rolling around, kicking its legs, and waving at us! It was definitely a sight to see. My husband was going crazy watching the baby move all around and to see his excitement was incredible.

They printed out some pictures and the doctor moved my due date up by one day to August 31st.



Once we were in the doctor's office, he proceeded to ask me a ton of questions and we decided that I would have one extra gestational diabetes test done to make sure that I don't get it. I now get one done at 18 weeks and at 28 weeks and if they both check out, then we don't have to worry about it anymore!

I was super happy with the care we received and can't wait for our appointment with the OB next week. He happened to be at the hospital and stopped by so that was really nice. We get to tell Gram tonight when we take her out to dinner and we'll be posting an announcement next week on facebook after our appointment which just so happens to be on our two year anniversary!

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. We are elated to see that the baby is healthy and safe.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

A Day Of Rest

Today is my day of rest and I am loving every second of it! With everything going on with the job and looking for a house, I have really needed a day to do a whole lot of nothing and that's ok.

Tomorrow is a big day for us. We go see the MFM and get a 12 week dating ultrasound. Why it's so important is that when we see our baby nice and healthy, we can officially tell family and friends who don't know. Phil is really looking forward to telling some of his co-workers who have been asking when we're having kids and what's new so I know he's excited. We will also get to tell his Gram that she's going to be a great-grandma so that's pretty neat.

We're keeping faith that everything is ok and looking forward to our appointment tomorrow. It's hard not to get nervous or anxious, but God is protecting our baby and He's been more than faithful. I can't wait for this pregnancy to go to full-term and to be able to use this pregnancy and our baby as part of our testimony.

Please continue to pray for Baby Reese!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Week 12 Bumpdate!

 
How Far Along: 12 weeks 1 day

Size of Baby: Plum (2.1 inches, .49 oz)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 3 lbs according to my last doctor appointment 3 weeks ago. The scale at home doesn't show much change so I'm ok with that.

Maternity Clothes: I started wearing some maternity jeans this week. My current jeans just aren't cutting it. I need to get some more tops so I plan on going shopping next week after my OB appointment.

Gender: It's a baby!

Movement: Not yet, it's a little too early :)

Sleep: I love my Snoogle pillow. I wake up between 3-4 times per night and wake up feeling tired most days. I nap sometimes, but wake up cranky so it's only when needed. 

What I Miss: Sleeping through the night, but I'll take it for a healthy baby.

Cravings/Aversions: Starburst yesterday was something I had to have. My cravings/aversions have calmed down a lot so that makes me super happy.

Symptoms: At this point being tired and having a lot of pressure and pulling from everything growing. Oh, and I get pretty emotional quickly.
 
Best Moment This Week: We get another ultrasound on Wednesday when I see the MFM doctor! Looking forward to seeing Baby Reese one more time and being able to tell some family that doesn't know yet!

And, just for fun, here's a comparison photo from Dec. 28th (a couple of days after we first found out) and yesterday at 12 weeks.



Friday, February 15, 2013

House Hunting

After months of looking online for houses we were finally able to go on a few showings! I know it can take a while and with the baby due in September, we're trying to find a place that could work for us.

So far, I've seen a total of four houses with my friend since my husband has a deadline coming up and he's super busy. This way, we weed out the bad houses and my husband gets to see the ones that are worth considering.

House #1
It said it was a two bedroom two bath house. The pictures were great and made it look like there was a ton of potential. When we went inside, the first story was decent. Kept up well and mostly usable space. Part of the ceiling in the kitchen was a little low, but not terribly. Then, we went upstairs. It was an older house with the steepest stairs. Once we got up there, the ceilings were so slanted that there were parts where I couldn't even stand up...and I'm short! There was no real closet and the stairway was super unsafe. That was not going to work. Plus, the backyard fence could be touched by spreading out your arms from the back of the house. 

House #2
This was, by far, the most interesting situation. When we pulled up, there were five cars in the driveway and a light on. I was surprised that the people could be home, but my realtor assured me that some people don't leave for showings. We walked up to the front door and there was trash in the bushes. Clearly, this place needs to be cleaned well. We were told to come in after knocking and there was a lady making lunch telling us to walk around. She couldn't answer many questions because she said it was her brother's house. This house had a ton of potential, but clearly the people there didn't want to move. There was trash all over and the deck had pots filled with frozen water just hanging out all over between the empty beer bottles and bags of fruit. It was interesting. There were a total of four people upstairs and all of them said to look around. When we went to the basement they had turned it into three more bedrooms. Some of them were vacant, but one of them had a man with no shirt on watching tv in the dark. He told us to turn on the lights and look around...ok. One of the doors was locked and after looking at the rest of the rooms, a teenage girl came out in her pajamas from sleeping. What?! They knew we were coming! It was so awkward. Fortunately, we decided to pass on that house because it literally backed up to the railroad that gets pretty busy and is in the middle of town.

House #3
Best location ever! Adjacent to the library and across the street from a park and wonderful elementary school. Plus, it would put my husband 10 minutes closer to work. We were really hoping to like this one. The outside of the house looked great and the yard was amazing. The inside, however, left much to be desired. There was no space for a queen sized bed so the current occupants were using the living room as their master bedroom! The kitchen was decent, but we would have needed all new appliances. This house was disgusting and not kept clean at all. They had a cat (or two?) and had their litter boxes out and litter all over one of the rooms. We really tried to envision what it could be, but with the cost of renovations and the time it would take, it wasn't the house for us.

House #4
Is my favorite so far! It's small quaint and cozy, but has been updated well. There were only a couple of downsides like the one bathroom on the lower level and the second bedroom is a little small with slanted ceilings, but other than that I loved it. It had a great yard and so many wonderful features to it. It's going for a great price so I'm taking Phil to see it Monday. The realtor says it's going to go quickly and there's an open house Sunday so we'll see. If it's taken off the market by Monday, then it's not the right house for us.

I'm looking forward to taking my husband with me Monday to continue searching. There isn't much in our price range right now in any of the areas we would consider. Hopefully the market will pick up with spring coming soon!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

A New Routine

With only working two days this week, having next week off, and working my last day the following week, I've realized that I need a new routine in my day.

Right now I've been so exhausted that I basically lounge around all day when I'm not working and I'm home all day. This is not going to fly and will make for a very mundane week. So, I'm thinking of making a routine that will give some structure to my day and give me something to look forward to. Of course, it will also help time fly.

I should have a craft show coming up in April so I NEED to sew some more things for that. Unfortunately, sewing can be a huge strain on my back so I think I'll have to break it up into pieces so that I can get it done and not be sitting there for hours at a time.

I also want to incorporate my prenatal yoga DVD into the weekdays. It's important that I start to do something active and with it being so cold outside, that just might be what I need to start with before I start walking.

Of course, I have my weekly dates with one of my friends that I always look forward to. It usually involves lunch and hanging out, but has now started to include house hunting! I'm hoping we can keep up our weekly dates since we both look forward to them.

What sort of thing would you add to your day if you do or were to stay at home?

Monday, February 11, 2013

Another Sneak Peek!

This weekend has been a whirlwind of emotions when it comes to this pregnancy. Due to my PCOS, I have been on Metformin to help reduce the risk of miscarriage during the first trimester. My RE put me on it, but since I'm no longer a patient there, my OB gets to make the final call on how long to keep me on the medication. My OB doesn't prescribe Metformin so he doesn't feel comfortable making that decision and decided to have me see a MFM (high risk) doctor for a consult. Basically, I would go in with my records and the MFM would make the decision and I would continue my care with the OB. Sounds easy and do-able.

Of course, it couldn't be that easy. Friday, I called the MFM and asked for a consult like my OB's office told me to do. They asked why I needed one and I told them about my PCOS, Metformin, and results of my most recent blood work. They decided to transfer me to the diabetic counselor. The diabetic counselor asked about my blood work and when she realized that I passed my gestational diabetes test and am not diabetic, she told me how fantastic it was! Then, she told me that she wanted me to check my blood sugars 4-5 times per day, see a dietician, and be treated like a diabetic. Um, what?!

I checked my sugars three times and they were all well in the normal range. Of course, I'm willing to do what I need to do to continue to be healthy for the baby, but I was wondering why I needed to see her when I just need to find out about the medication. So, I called my OB's office this morning and told them what happened and how confused I was. They agreed that was not the person I needed to see and had me call back and ask to see the high-risk doctor.

After I called them, they then transferred me to speak directly to the doctor who told me to stop the Metformin at 12 weeks (Sunday!) and come in for a consult when they're at my home hospital in the next week or two. I called the number he gave me and tried to set up an appointment. They asked if I was diabetic and when I said no, they were confused. They then asked if I had an ultrasound done by one of their doctors or at the participating hospital and when I said that it was done by someone else, they said that it had to be done by them. They decided to call the MFM and ask what the recommendation was and call me back when they knew how to schedule me.

They called me back a few hours later and informed me that the doctor wants to see me next Wednesday, the 20th. I will need to have a dating ultrasound done by them prior to my appointment and will get to see the doctor for the consult immediately afterwards.

So, I guess we'll get an extra picture of Baby Reese next week really looking like a baby! Of course, I'm a little nervous, but I know that God has given us this child and we've had no reason to believe that anything is wrong. I'm still having plenty of symptoms and feeling the stretching/round ligament pain so the baby should be growing just fine.

Please continue to pray for us and Baby Reese. I can't wait to see the baby one more time before we can officially announce!


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Weekend Randoms

  • Three days. That's all I have left to work. I am very happy and relieved, but at the same time disappointed that it ended the way it did. I really did my best and that's all I could do. I am happy to have sold an embroidery machine on my first day by myself so that's definitely going to be helpful!
  • Sometimes I get a little nervous knowing that our next appointment is in just over two weeks. I'll be 13 weeks and officially out of the first trimester so I can't wait to be able to tell my extended family and friends, but we're holding off to hear the heartbeat at the appointment. As always, prayers are appreciated. We saw the heartbeat at 8 weeks so the risk is low and I haven't been having any problems so we're trusting God and knowing that He told us it will all be ok.
  • Oh and I love when people have expectant and new mom parking! It feels like an awesome treat and is always open!
  • Today we went to the Goodwill and I was able to find a pair of maternity jeans and maternity capri jeans for $7.71 each! They are in great condition, super comfy, and are being sold at Kohl's for $36 on sale $60 regularly...score!
  • I really need to find some t-shirts that fit me better. We plan on going shopping the day of our appointment if we have time.
  • I was told to call the MFM doctor to have them do a consult to tell me how long I need to continue the metformin during my pregnancy. When I called, they sent me to the diabetic counselor who ended up calling in a blood sugar meter and told me to check my sugars 4-5 times a day. What?! I passed the glucose tolerance test and she said my HbA1C level was borderline normal and looked great! 
  • I checked my sugars 3 times and they were well in the normal range. I'm calling my doctor Monday. I'm not sure that's who I'm supposed to see. It wasn't for a diabetic consultation and I'm super confused.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

So What Wednesday

So What Wednesday

This week, I'm saying SO WHAT if...

  • We purchased a stroller this week and paid a total of $10! It was originally $199 and on Target clearance for $50. I had a $40 gift card from the video monitor we bought so bam!
     
Target.com
             
  •  I'm considering going to a gender ultrasound place at 16 weeks for my birthday next month. Our OB doesn't do the anatomy u/s until 20 weeks and I would have to wait until the middle of April. Not sure if I will want to wait.
  • I ordered the Snoogle pillow today after talking to my chiropractor. My hip has been hurting when I sleep and it's so hard to find a comfortable position. Plus, we got it for free by using a Christmas gift card and a Target gift card from Swagbucks!
  • I seriously cry whenever I find out that someone who has been trying for a baby for a while is pregnant. It touches me and I can totally relate.
  • I believe in the power of prayer so much that I honestly pray for everyone that I know or follow via twitter or blogging who is pregnant every day. And now, my husband does too! Prayer works and I want everyone's babies to be surrounded in prayer!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Scheduling Conflicts

I started my part-time job about four weeks ago with the understanding that I would be working a total of 10-12 hours per week and 1-2 days per week with maybe a couple of Saturdays per month. Of course, this sounded perfect for what I wanted and after talking to my husband, we agreed that we could make it work.

Then, I found out I was pregnant right before I started working. I already had a start date and wasn't sure of what to do. I wasn't sure how I would feel being pregnant and wondered if I should tell my manager since we only have a total of four people working there. After talking about it, we decided that I should start the job and tell her after the first trimester at the end of this month.

I started working and everything was going well. Working two six hour shifts worked out well and I was learning a lot. I enjoyed the job and my manager was so happy with the job I was doing. In fact, she was so happy that she started adding more hours and days to my schedule. Now, normally, that would be great, but with the pregnancy, I get exhausted easily and super sore after I work. I thought it was just because she needed some coverage, but then we sat down to talk schedules.

She was changing the schedule daily and I kept getting more days and hours. I was originally scheduled for three days last week and one day this week, but the next day it was changed to five days this week...what?! Not only was I getting a ton of hours, but I was also scheduled for three weekends in a row. Once we sat down to talk about it, she asked how many I would be willing to do and I said two Saturdays.

She told me that wasn't going to work and she needed four weekend days per month. I let her know this is not what we agreed upon and she said she didn't remember that, but she probably did say it at the time. She asked me to talk to my husband about working at least three weekend days per month and being "on call" for the fourth and to get back to her on Monday.

Once again, we talked schedules yesterday. I let her know that we were not comfortable with me working more than 2 weekend days and more than 12 hours per week, but up to 18 would be the most. She told me that she had to find someone else and I told her I understood.

As of this point, I'm working as long as she has some hours for me, but it's honestly a little awkward. On top of that, it's 40 minutes away each way so the pay isn't worth driving there more then a couple of times per week and it adds to my exhaustion.

I'm looking forward to either working super part-time with very few hours for now or being able to stay at home and sew for my craft shows coming up this spring. I'm disappointed it didn't work out better, but there's always a reason and I've earned a little extra to help with some baby expenses so we're happy about that.