Labor is a tough job

My day with baby Joel went well yesterday, except for he is sick so he just really wasn't feeling well. poor little guy. I am so loving taking care of him on Thursdays.

Had an OB appointment yesterday. My glucose screening test - I passed with flying colors!!!!!! YAY! And i am not anemic. My blood pressure, urine, belly measurements and baby heartbeat all good. I lost a pound, but I don't think they were worried about it. i think last time i was dressed for winter and this time for summer. my Uggs alone probably weighed 2 pounds last time. i also had the FNN test (to see if i am producing labor hormone) and I'm not. Great appointment. One nurse that I had never seen before was very surprised to see me prego with a newborn and asked how I accomplished that one. Funny!

We had our childbirth class last night. The topic was L&D. let me just say stressful. Hearing all that stuff got me really scared and feeling like I won't be able to get through it all. I have this plan of how I want it to go, but there are so many things that are out of my control, things that could happen, things I can't plan for. I just need to let God take the driver's seat and I need to move on over to the passenger side or maybe the back seat or even the trunk! Any way, after that class i came home being very poopy and not in a good mood at all, but lots of talking and praying has helped and today is a new, much better day. i will get through this and God will be with me. It is not going to be easy (hence word labor), but I am not alone. It won't be easy for our little baby either. Or Sean. Stupid Eve for eating that dang apple!!!!! ;) So, while i can say all day i want a drug-free, vaginal delivery, we can take our birth plan with our pages of instructions to the hospital, I just have to remember to have an open mind, let go and just let it happen.

New Schedule - having an actual quitting time!

Everything went well with the glucose screening test. Well, i don't have the results yet, but it wasn't that bad. besides getting lost and going over the Belleair Cswy. The wait was long and i was an hour late for work, but ohs wells. the orange concoction was not bad at all. i just don't like slamming things so that part made me a little nauseous and indigestion - like. I will get the results tomorrow at our OB appointment. Please pray for me!

Well, we think we felt hiccups for the first time last night. We are either feeloing hiccups, heartbeat or either or both. Baby is so active. We love it!

My work schedule changed and i am loving it. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays i will now go in at 8 every morning and Fridays at 9. Still have Thursday off. The great thing about it is now I have a set time when i can leave since i am going in earlier now. I can leave at 5:30 everyday, which is so much better than not leaving until 8:30 p.m. some nights. it will be awesome to know the time and have some more evening time at home with the hubby. And now my Saturdays are scheduled with Sean's, so the ones he works (every other) now I work and then the other 2 we have poff together. God has blessed us! it will be a wonderful new schedule until it changes again when baby comes.

Happy Wednesday!

Is the orange drink that yucky, Becca?

Really not too much to say. We have had a pretty relaxing and fun weekend. I was supposed to work this past Saturday, but switched and am working next Saturday so I get this one off with the hubby and then we both work the next one. Friday we got pizza and watched a movie. Yesterday after our usual chores, errands, etc., we went to the mall and walked around for a couple of hours. I tried on one of those belly support things to see if it would help my back, it didn't. I contemplated buying a Boppy full body pillow, but didn't. Sitting in the massage chairs at Brookstone made my back feel 100% better though, so I'm thinking that's what I need!!!! :O) Today was again our usual. We went to Bible study. We were then in the nursery, but no babies came so we did homework instead. Then back for our financial class, that is altogether stressful, exciting, exhausting and soon to be rewarding, especially when we are rich! hee hee! :o)

I have no idea if this is possible or not, but we think maybe we could feel baby's heartbeat. Maybe it was something else. I also read that you can feel and see baby hiccups. I want to experience that!!! Tomorrow is my glucose screening test so I am on a no carb or sweets diet this evening and tomorrow morning. It doesn't sound like much, but it is when you go to church and there are like a million yummy desserts laid out! Weeks 28-32 are extreme baby movement times and already this week I have felt the most. I love it and can't get enough of it. :O)

Well, a new work week is about to start. I'm going to get ready for bed and cuddle with my hubby! Nite.

It's Friday - yay!

i first want to say thanks for all the anniversary cards and well wishes. We really appreciate that! it is a very special day for us and we are happy that we get to share in that with friends and family.

I am officially in the 3rd trimester now as of yesterday. i am 28 weeks. All is going well. I have had some pretty bad back pain, but other than that I have been feeling good.

yesterday started my first day of baby sitting 8-week-old baby Joel for our friends, which i will be doing every Thursday. We had a lot of fun! It is such a sweetheart. i am already learning lots, what to do and not do, what things i will definitely want to purchase and what things won't be of much use. i also got to observe Allie. She is such a mama dog and protector. it was very sweet and i feel we will have nothing to worry about with her, as long as we are still always cautious. I had a work meeting to go to yesterday and brought Joel. he was a little fussy, but i better get used to things like that. Figuring out car seats and swings and baby gear was also a learning lesson. he got to test drive our crib and changing table.

We started our 6 week free pregnancy and childbirth classes last night. It went really well, we enjoyed it, love our teacher, love that its faith based and know we will learn a lot. i am the most prego one there!

Well, that's about it. Oh yah, we are really enjoying our financial class on Sundays and have learned so much. We already have our 1000 emergency fund and are starting to work on our 3-6 months of job income. We have about 5,000 for that, but need to grow it to about 11,000. Baby steps. we did get a 1200 check from paying too much on our mortgage, so that was a nice surprise and gift from God.

Work has been pretty difficult this week, but i don't think I feel like talking about it. I just need prayer!

Vacay Part 2

Vacation

Profile and foot with toes

Our anniversary, V-Day, babymoon weekend

2/13/09

Our anniversary getaway weekend has started out great! I guess it is also our Valentine’s trip and our babymoon, but above all it is for our anniversary.

So, we went for our ultrasound on Thursday morning before leaving. It went well! Baby was resting, so there was not a ton of movement. Heartbeat was 126. She (ultrasound tech) looked at the 4 heart chambers (all normal) and the left and right brain hemispheres (looked good). She said baby had long legs. Listen to baby’s position – head pretty much where my belly button is and body comes around to the left and the legs were behind the head. Silly baby! Baby was also sitting on my bladder, which we could see baby and see my bladder. How nice right before a road trip!!!!!!!! I have been thinking that I can now feel when baby is on the bladder, but I wasn’t sure. Well, that confirmed my suspicions – I can definitely feel when that’s where baby is. It is a strange sensation- kinda like a flick/tickle/movement/I gotta pee feeling! Baby is still breech, but no worries about that right now. She said they usually move in time for labor. My cervix measured 3.2 cm, which was great. We got some pics, but at this point baby is getting big where it’s starting to look pretty distorted and bones have started to really harden so it is just not as good. I will upload them though. There is a really cute one of baby’s foot and toes!

After the ultrasound we left for St. Marys. We had a lot of fun on our road trip. We left at 9:30 and got here at 2:30. We only had to stop 4 times for me to pee – not too bad.

So, we checked into our hotel. Built in like 1910 or so. I have stayed here before with mama. It is old and kinda spooky looking and definitely not the Westin, but it is clean, comfy and most certainly has character! We even have a cat! There is a hotel cat I guess that has kind of adopted us. He hangs in our room and even slept with us overnight. He is a love.

We walked around a lot yesterday and checked out the stores, drove by mom and Mike’s old house, drove the whole area and re-familiarized ourselves and reminisced. hAND went to Dick’s Wings. The food was the same – we both got the hot lap chicken sandwich. Yum! The place was the same. Even one of the workers was the same. We just had a good time and that little place was actually very romantic for us!

We both love it here. We both feel very at peace, calm, at home. It is nice.

We ended our evening with a walk and some cuddle time watching TV.

2/14/09

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

After breakfast right on the waterfront, we took a ferry over to Cumberland Island. It is so gorgeous out there. As soon as we got there, we saw a wild horse. I was sitting in the grass; relaxing before the 3.5 mile walk we were about to embark on, taking pics of the horse and just enjoying God’s scenery. Unfortunately, I realized that I had sat in a bunch of those stickers. Ouch! So, we took the guided ranger tour and learned a ton about the history of the island. It was fairly easy because we would walk a little and then stop and sit and listen to the ranger for a while. Not to strenuous. However, I of course had to pee every 20 or so minutes, so we would lag behind, wait for others to be down the trail a bit and then I would cop a squat behind a tree. A prego girl has got to do what she has to do! After the guided tour, we were set free to do what we wanted. We walked around “The Dungeoness” (old mansion built by The Carnegie’s). It must have been beautiful in its day. Then we walked down to the beach and walked about 2.5 miles back to the dock. I started to get very tired. I stopped and rested as much as possible, but we also had a time limit and didn‘t want to miss the ferry back. The beach there is so gorgeous. Seeing tons of wild horses was so cool. We also saw an armadillo. We had such a good time. We came back and ate at Pauly’s (yummy, quaint Italian restaurant) and then went to the bar in our hotel (Seagle’s) so Sean could grab a beer. We did not stay there very long because of the cigarette smoke. I was very proud of myself for walking 3.5 miles yesterday! Not such a feat prepregnancy, but nowadays it can leave me short of breath climbing the stairs in our house.

12/15/09

We are on our way back home. It was such a nice trip! I am a little sad to be leaving, but it did feel like we had a good amount of time there. I know we have to get back home and I do miss our Allie. Thursday to Sunday was a good time – not too short, not too long. Well, I’m not sure vacay can ever be too long! :O)

Yesterday, we were L-A-Z-Y! in the morning. After we finally did get ready and left our room, we went to the submarine museum. Then to lunch at Lang’s Seafood House. It was tasty and we had a nice waterfront view. Then we went to more stores and did some browsing. We went into a used bookstore and I was reading the cutest little pregnancy book (I read the whole thing in there!) and I just cried and cried. It was so true, every word. Every word that I cannot find, but every feeling that I feel in my heart. My hubby musta thought I was crazy. Well, by now he is probably used to it. But the owner of the bookstore may not be and he probably did think I was a looney toon. And I didn’t even purchase the book, but I had already finished it there! We did buy a baby cookbook that I am sure we will get a lot of use out of. We also went to the Cumberland Island museum. Then to Dick’s Wings (yes, again!) for dinner. Then to get ice cream. Then to relax some more and watch V-Day movies on TV.

It rained most of yesterday. So glad God made us go to Cumberland Island on Friday. We had wanted to go Saturday, but it was booked. We were also thinking of going to Jacksonville, Amelia Island, The Golden Isles or St. Augustine, but I am happy we just stayed in St. Marys. Any way, we are in Tampa now.

Thanks lovey for an awesome weekend. I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 Glorious Years

Happy Anniversary honey! I am so excited for our trip to St. Marys, where God first brought us together. Yum, Dick's Wings - the place we met. I can't wait to have a hotlap sandwich and play video games with you there. It is going to be an awesome weekend! Well, I wanted to give you a little tribute, but it has to be fast b/c I need to shower. We have an ultrasound to get to and then off on our road trip. What gifts God has given us on our special day - we even get to see our precious little baby today!

I love you.............because..............
1. You love me and treat me like a princess and would do anything in this world for me.
2. I don't ever have to worry if you would stop loving me, go astray or intentionally do something to hurt me.
3. How absolutely excited you are about this baby, which just shows on your handsome face every time baby is brought up.
4. Brilliant.
5. Hardworker.
6. You make me laugh. You're so silly.
7. You always have me in mind no matter what you are doing.
8. I love your phone calls and texts everyday. I miss you so much when we are apart and these really help my day.
9. You sleep so cute and you rarely snore, which I am very thankful for.
10. You are a great cook and you make me dinner almost every night.
11. You help me clean, do laundry and other chores and errands.
12. You are incrediably hot!
13. I KNOW you will be a wonderful father.
14. We share a love for travel.
15. Our cuddle time is the best - we just fit together.
15. I love your hands.
16. You actually like to shop and browse stores with me.
17. Your my Yoga and walking partner.
18. My family loves you - maybe more than they love me! ha!
19. Allie loves you.
20. Your a Marine, you fought for your country, you are strong and you have such admirable values and beliefs.
21. You stay true to your word.
22. You love God.
23. You give the best foot and back rubs.
24. You would rather spend every minute by my side than anywhere else.
25. You even suffer through 2 hours a month of going to the nail place with me so I can get mani/pedi's.
26. We share the same goals - financially, parenting, fun stuff, life stuff.
27. You are you, my husband, the man I fell in love with and continue to do so more and more eveeryday. I pray to God that he gives us another 70 years of blissful marriage.

Gotta get in the shower. I could go on and on! Sorry I forgot to get you a card. And oh yah, Happy Valentine's Day! smoochies. YLW, SM, love your wifey!

I think this helped

I'm sure I have complained about this very often on here, probably every Monday, but my Mondays are so rough. I guess cuz the weekend is over. I don't want to go to work. I don't go in until 10, but stay til about 7:30 or so, so it's a long day. I love my job, just not Mondays, and I am thankful to have a job. I miss my husband EXTRA much on Mondays. I ususally cry when he leaves (did that already). I always have a yucky feeling. How do I get over it? Yikes!

Any way, enough of wallowing in my Mondays. It looks to be a goregous day out and I need to appreciate all that we have, be glad to be alive. :O)

So, our weekend. Saturday we both worked. I suprised Sean afterwards and took him to his favorite Philly cheesesteak place. They hail from Philly and their sandwichs are supposed to be authentic. We wouldn't know the difference since we have never been to Philly and had one, but either way they are delicious. We came home and finally looked through nearly 600 prego photos and picked out our top 50 and sent them to mama for photoshopping. Thanks mama! We are really excited and happy with the ones we got! YAY!

Yesterday, Bible study, church and then Jackson, Joy and Joel (the little one - I think maybe 7 weeks now) came over. We discussed everything related to me caring for Joel on Thursdays. I start next Thursday. I am really excited and I think we are going to have a lot of fun. I am also happy we can help them out. YAY! I don't want to say it will be good practice, because I am not "practicing" on their child, but it will be a good way of finding out kinda what it will be like when our baby comees. It also helps us cuz it's an extra bit of money. :O)

We started our 13 week financial class at church. It's from 5-7 on Sundays. 13 weeks is cutting it very close to expected due date - the weekend before, not that I will go into labor on our due date! The 1st class went really well and I think we are going to learn a ton and we get to see our friends and it should really help with our finances and I am excited to make the necessary changes.

Finally, we went to Red Lobster with the family for my cousin's birthday. We were late because of our class, but we still really enjoyed our time with everyone.

OK, cheer up! it's just Monday (that was note to self!)

Probably just a case of the gassies!

I guess I had a bit of a scare yesterday. I was at work when I started getting really bad tummy pains, like to the point where I could barely stand and leaning over made it even worse. They were not down low. It hurt so bad. I tried to stick it out, thinking it would pass, but it kept getting worse and I felt like I may vomit and/or pass out. So, I tell Leigh Ann and she asks if I'm having contractions and I'm like I don't think so, I dunno! Well, out of the 7 girls working yesterday, only 1 has had kids, so I was going to ask her, but I was pretty positive that contractions are down low, not way up high. I did Google it. :O) However, since Leigh Ann was worried about baby, I started to really worry. At first I was not because I thought it was just some weird thing going on. I ended up going outside and calling Sean from my cell phone because I knew I would start crying, which I did. I worried him and he said call the doctor. I called and the nurse said baby was probably sitting on a nerve, to go home, take a bath and some Tylenol. I felt so bad leaving Leigh Ann and everyone else at work (it was super busy), but they were very understanding and concerned. So I left at 3 o'clock and did as doctor ordered. I felt so much better after the bath and Tylenol, but I have to say I was also very gassy when I got home, so I am more thinking that is what it was. ;/

Thankfully through the whole thing baby did not seem to mind and was busy as ever moving around in my belly. And to top it off I have a cold!

I am just glad baby is fine!!!! We started to get super scared and I came to realize that this is the first scare we have had all pregnancy; the rest has been so normal, smooth and wonderful. WOW, it was no fun! I think I have learned through all this to relax some more, listen to my body, take care of baby even more than I do and not worry and stress about what I need to get done, money, school, work, and everything else under the sun!

Blessings

I cannot say enough how things have been so great for us. Other than the fact that I am sick, but oh well! I don't get sick very often. We have had freeze warnings here the past couple of days! Cold!

We had an OB checkup yesterday. Everything went great. They also have started testing me to make sure my body isn't producing the "let's go into labor" hormone because of my cervix issues, so the first test was yesterday and all is good! Yay! Baby heartbeat is good and my tummy measurement, blood pressure, weight gain all good!

Sean and I had 2 firsts. We can actually feel where baby is in my belly, which is awesome. It's doesn't feel all that great to push around on my belly so we won't be doing it very often, but it is so cool to feel baby and then baby will move to the other side and then we will find him again. :O) Also, baby moved the most last night. I love it! Even if it did keep my awake or maybe it's the cold that kept me awake or most likely both.

We had 2 appointments yesterday - The Kimberly Home and Bay Area Pregnancy Center. I got a ton of free maternity clothes. I should be good until birth. They are really nice outfits and God is amazing. Also, long story short, but they both work on a points system (you earn points by attending classes, going to church, working, going to school, doing lessons, donating, etc) and you use your points to get free stuff and they have everything - from strollers to baby clothes, diapers, toys - anything and everything you would need. We are so excited. One is government funded and one is supported by about 8 local churches. Did I say how blessed and amazing our Lord is! All this stuff we are getting from him for free and it will be such a HUGE help!

OK, gotta get to homework and leave for work. Happy Friday!

Happy Groundhog Day!

http://www.123greetings.com/events/ground_hogs_day/groundhogday6.html

Super Bowl

Super Bowl was fun. We were supposed to have a big party here, but decided not to about a week or two ago. It was just too much for me. I was getting too stressed out. I didn't feel I had enough time to plan for it nor did I want to spend that much money. Well, I am so glad we decided not to. We had 2 friends over only and it was a lot of fun. We cooked brats on the grill. It was nice to be more relaxed. I was still sleepy most of the time so I would have never made it, had a ton of people come. They stayed until half time. They brought us over a huge cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. Delicious! Any way, good times. I didn't make it to end of the Super Bowl. Fell asleep the beginning of the 3rd quarter. I know Chrissy is super happy today!

Work Schedules

AAAAHHHHHH! We have more wonderful news. Sean found out yesterday from his boss that he got the a-OK to work from home, soooo that means that I don't think we will need childcare for our little one. That is going to be so awesome - for us, for baby and for our finances.

This will be the plan.

Mondays and Wednesdays - I will work from 7-7. Sean will take care of baby on Mondays and Wednesdays working from home.

I will be off Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Saturdays - I will work every other Saturday while Sean takes care of baby and vice versa, Sean will work the other Saturdays that I am not working and I will have baby.

Sunday we are both off of course.

WOW, how exciting.

I haven't gotten the final OK at work yet, but I have talked to Carly (office manager) and she seemed fine with it.

I will still get the required 30 hours to keep my health insurance and I will still get the required 20 hours to stay in the vet tech program on-line for school.

Yippie!

I love God!