36 weeks

After reading a friend's blog and seeing her side-by-side baby bump comparisons I had to take a bump photo and compare it to when I was pregnant with Jackson.

The black & white photo is when I was 36 week's with Jackson

35 almost 36

As I said in my last post I am sorry it has taken me this long to update everyone on this pregnancy.

This pregnancy has flown by! I really have a hard time believing that I will be 36 weeks on Wednesdays.

What's been happening:

-This pregnancy has been pretty easy if being pregnant is considered easy. The hardest thing had probably been keeping up my energy level...I really have no energy to do anything more than I must do.

-This sweet baby girl is WAY more active then Jackson.  It doesn't bother her to kick and push on my ribs & hips for extended periods of time. She also will start moving EVERY time I'm snuggling with Jackson.

- I believe my weight gain is pretty similar to last time....I can't remember exactly what it was at my last appointment but I believe I've gained between 20-25 lbs so far.

- my sweet tooth is a huge weakness. I think I could eat candy and junk food all day long, that's all this little girl wants to eat.

- I have been lucky enough to also have heartburn again. The difference is this time I get heartburn from EVERYTHING I eat: cheese, tacos, milk, ramen noodles...you get the point!

Since I'm writing this on my phone I know I'm forgetting to include some things but I promise to try and do another pregnancy before this baby arrives.

The Name Game

First I would like to apologize that I haven't posted anything about this pregnancy since we announced it way back in June.

Now as promised way back then here is a little bit of the baby name battle that the Man and I had.

The Man pretty much doesn't like any name that starts with a vowel...weird I know. And I really like the thought and idea of the name having meaning and purpose other than that I found it in a baby book, or in our case on an app.

As it currently stands we are 99.9% sure what this sweet baby girl will be named and we have shared it with a few people...but here our a few of the names that made my list and why:

- Emmalynn Marjorie: lets start with Marjorie, that is both of my grandma's names and really want it to be apart of this little girls name. Emmalynn I heard on a show and liked it, part of it that I liked was that Lynn is my mom's middle name so it would have some importance other than the tv show I heard it on. As you probably guessed the Man vetoed it pretty quick because he doesn't like names ending in Lynn...it reminds him of the movie Ted and therefore our child will never have a name ending in Lynn.

- Harper Marjorie: other than the middle name this name has no significance except we like it.

- Aidah Marjorie: this is one that wad added by the Man...weird since it starts with a vowel but whatever. I personally wasn't a big fan of it and would actually prefer to spell it Ada or Aida. Again nothing significant about this first name.

- Marjorie Elaine: Elaine is my mother-in-law's middle name and would be after her. Marjorie again after my g-ma's.  If this name would be chosen I would want to call her Jorie.  The Man has big issues with naming your child one thing with the intention to call them something else...I tried to explain that this was a little different since it would be after someone but he didn't agree.

- Jorie Elaine: This is basically the same reason as the last so no need to repeat.

Well those are the main names that made the list. Granted there were many other ones I had on there that the Man said absolutely not to like Ava or Avery. As I said before we have basically decided on a name and not that it's a secret, because it's not people know and can share with other people, but I'm not going to post it on here until she is born. This was the longest it took us to agree on a name...with my last two pregnancies we had a boy and a girl name basically decided on by 8 weeks pregnant and this time we didn't decide until probably a month ago!

Side note: this post was completely written on my phone in between playing with Jack.

day & hours before the little man

Now that the little man has been introduced I will enlighten/explain the events leading up to his arrival....I promise not to go into any gross details that no one really wants to hear about.  I will also apologize for the amount of wordiness there is.  There really is no short way to explain the events leading up to giving birth.  I promise to do some picture heavy posts to counter balance ALL of these words!!

Thursday - 4/5/2012

I had a doctors appointment that morning and the dr. checked my progress, the week before I was 1-2 cm and 50%, and I was 2-3 cm and 90%.  I happened to mention to her that it would work out best for the Man and I if we happened to have this baby either that night or sometime on Friday.  She asked if I wanted my membranes scrapped....I said sure not really knowing what that would do but she said that it would increase the chances of contractions starting and going into labor...again my goal was to have a baby before Easter so I was all for it.  Well after my appt. I wasn't feeling the best so I decided to just work from home and take it easy.  The Man and I had made plans earlier in the week to go to a movie for our anniversary since we didn't get to do anything on our actual anniversary.  Well instead of going to the movie we decided we should clean up our house and try to get a little more prepared for the baby since we were in the single digits.  After a couple hours of cleaning we went to bed, which didn't last very long for me...a whole 30 min to be exact.

Friday - 4/6/2012

Its now around midnight or 12:30.  Seeing as I only read the first 6 chapters of the pregnancy book (which only got me through the 2nd trimester) I really had no idea as to how to know when I was actually in labor or even having contractions.  Since I couldn't sleep because of the pains I was experiencing I spent the next 2 hours googling how to know if your in labor and what contractions feel like before I finally decided that I thought I was having contractions and should wake Josiah up.  He got up and we spent the next 2 hours still googling and timing contractions.  Still not really sure as to when we should go to the hospital...this made us google more.  If you haven't figured it out we really had NO idea as to what we were doing!  After googling and still being unsure we had a brilliant idea to call labor & delivery.  Thankfully they told us to come on into the hospital.  By the time we got dressed and gathered everything we needed we made it to the hospital around 5 a.m. At this time I was at 4...so progress was made from my doctors appointment a little over 12 hours earlier!!!  They decided that I could stay :)  By the time I got to the room I would deliver the baby in it was about 6:00 - 6:30.  At about 8 a.m. I decided that I wanted to get my epidural, .not really sure why I decided not to get it right away at 6:30 when they asked me the first time but better late than never. The epidural was amazing...it turned me into a happy person that was excited about having a baby instead of the person that just wanted to get this baby out of me that very second!

Around this time the nurse came in and told me that I had to lay on my side because the baby's heart rate kept going lower than they wanted and that this should bring it back up.  Which it did for awhile, then it would go low again and the nurse would come in and rotate me to my other side.  If I didn't feel like a beached whale before I did at those times,  it took 2 people to turn me since I no longer had feeling in my legs.  After a few hours of watching the game show network and many times being rotated the baby's heart rate went really low and wasn't coming back up.  Within a very short amount of time there were what seemed to be 100 people in my room, it was probably closer to 10.  They decided that they were going to do an emergency c-section.  So all the machines were unhooked and I was wheeled down the hall where about 10 more people waited for me.  Mind you all of this happened in about 5 minutes, so I really don't know what was going through my mind.  Josiah on the other hand was FREAKING OUT!  Once they hooked up the machines again they found that the baby's heart rate went back up.  So they checked me again and I was at 9...so close to being able to push!!  The doctors decided to give me & the baby a second chance to do this the "natural" way but if the baby's heart rate went down again they were going to have to do a c-section. When I got back into the room Josiah told me that this baby was already giving him grey hair!  

A couple of hours later, I think!  Keeping track of time wasn't my main priority, I just know it was around 5 p.m. I was talking to Josiah and told him that I felt like it was time to push and literally within 5 minutes the doctor and nurse came in to tell me it was time.  So they got everything ready to have the baby.  6 pushes and about 15 minutes later our sweet baby boy was welcomed into the world!!


I know I left out a lot of details because it has taken me about 3 weeks to finish writing this but a good majority of the events made it in this post.  



   

Welcome To Our Crazy Life!

Jackson Henry 

April 6, 2012

5:30 p.m.

8 lbs. 1.5 oz.

22.5 in.

One of the first pictures taken of him...for the record he makes this face quite often

My first time holding the baby

Swaddled, sweet sleeping baby

Josiah & Jackson snuggling

Welcome to our life Jackson Henry!  You are absolutely perfect in every way!

I will blog more about the events leading up to Jackson's birth next but I just wanted to finally get this posted since he will be 3 weeks old tomorrow....where has the time gone, I swear we just left the hospital a couple of days ago!!!

Where has the time gone!?!?!?!

Ok so I didn't realize that it has been a month since I have updated any followers that I still might have!!  So sorry!  I am not really sure where the past month has gone but I do know that there has been A LOT of changes.

The biggest change would be that baby Jackson has arrived!!  He is so perfectly amazing!  I will do a separate entry about that...promise!

I don't have much time at the moment to do a big entry but I wanted to post something.  The baby is sleeping at the moment and that means I need to get a few things done around the house.  I will try and get another entry or two done tonight when the Man gets home from work.

packing, packing, and more packing

I am not really sure where time is going...its already the middle of February and we are moving in exactly 2 weeks!!!  HOLY CRAP!  Mentally the Man and I are both already moved but other than that I don't think we are even close.  Call me crazy but I actually really enjoy moving.  It 'forces' me to get rid of things that I never use but have been finding an excuse to keep and it just plain-old changes things up, making old things seem new again.

Most nights we try and pack at least one box or cross off one more thing off of the to-do list...this list is almost 2 notebook pages long, we have a lot of shit to do before we move!!  So tonight was no different we packed up all of our my shoes that will not be needed for the next month.  As you can see from the picture below I might have slight shoe addiction...now I do know a few people that have WAY more shoes that I do, just for the record. Good thing we packed those up after I ordered 2 new pairs of boots from VS...they were 75% off, how could you not buy any!  I really hope I can walk in the one pair, they are 5" heel! And every girl needs a pair of booties :)  I am a little upset because when I went to find those links I see they added a bunch of new boots that I might have bought instead of a different pair.  Don't judge my scatter braininess and how we went from packing to buying boots at VS, it's the baby!

All 3 white bins are full of shoes!

After that was all done we also packed up the diaper bag, which is actually what reminded me to blog...don't ask.  I really understand that most normal people put diapers and things that you need to change a dirty diaper but our diaper bag is filled with clothes, blankets and even 2 bottles.  We figure that if this baby does decide to make his appearance before we get to our new place or before the moving truck gets there we need to be able to keep him warm and feed him.  So we figured we will just buy diapers, wipes and things like that again I don't really even know what other things we will need once the baby arrives or after we get settled into our new place.  Are fingers are crossed that we can repack the diaper bag with all the necessities whatever they may be after we are settled into the new place and before the baby arrives.  

Next to tackle is packing a hospital bag for me...again I have NO clue as to what should go in this bag but it will be packed by the end of the weekend! If anyone has any suggestions provided that people actually read this I am totally open to hear what I should/shouldn't pack.

Week 30 :)

OMG!! is all I really have to say about that...I mean our baby will be here in 10 weeks or so this is still mind-blowing!

The Scoop:

Weeks Pregnant ~ 30 weeks, day 3

Size of Baby ~ 15.7 in. or the size of cabbage

Baby's Weight ~ should be 2.75 lbs. but we all know that this little guy is on the large size so I can tell you his approximate weight after my appointment next week.

My Weight ~ we are at a total weight gain of 22 lbs.  My doctor has also now told me that I should try to only gain another 13 lbs. the rest of this pregnancy.  So we will see how that goes and if it will happen with the amount of eating out I will be doing with moving and everything.

What's New ~ Well so far week 30 has been a little rough I am really hoping week 31 is a lot better! I am more tired now than I think I have ever been during this entire pregnancy.  It is like week 30 came and stole every ounce of energy I had.  The baby has also been pushing on my sciatic nerve which is not pleasant at all and I am hoping he moves and never finds that nerve again to push on.  I have also had a few ok maybe a lot of mood swings...I really think this has a lot to do with the lack of sleep I have been getting.  For some reason I haven't been able to fall asleep at night and then I am waking up every 2-3 hrs to switch sides or pee it really has gotten old I am hoping that our baby will be sleeping through the night in no time :)

Purchased Items ~ We were doing so good at not buying things until I had a pretty big breakdown you can read about it here. It now has become really hard not to continue buying stuff.  Everything is so cute and I really think our baby needs it or would love to have it.  I don't know how you other mom's control yourself!!

Bump Pic ~

I am going to miss the weather & orange trees!

I know this isn't a bump pic but it's from that day and its of us while on our walk :)

From Breakdown to Overboard

So a few days ago I might have had a slight emotional breakdown....personally I feel like I did pretty good making it this long before I kind of 'freaked' out about all of the craziness going on.  Here is basically what occurred...

the Man and I just hanging out have a grand ole time, all smiles and laughter.

5-10 min later I am completely upset and frustrated.

the Man asks whats wrong and I proceed to inform him that we will be the WORST PARENTS EVER! because we have absolutely nothing for when this baby arrives.

So being this was the 1st breakdown I have had at least that the Man was home for, to say he was a little shocked at how fast the mood went from happy laughter to almost tears is an understatement.  But I do have to say he handled it pretty well.  After listening to everything I was saying about how we wouldn't be able to take care of our baby because we didn't even own a diaper bag, bottles or more than 3 outfits (that would fit him before 3 months).  He agreed that we might want to change our minds and buy a few more things now so we are not scrambling to get everything ready in the new apartment plus buying everything we will need for the baby 2-3 weeks before the baby is suppose to arrive.  That night we ended up purchasing  over $100 worth of baby things that we will need and then this weekend we went to Babies R Us and got another $200 worth of stuff.  Who knew baby stuff was so expensive!! ok well most of you probably knew that because you have had a baby or two but the Man and I were a tad surprised at how fast everything added up and how little we actually got.

Here are some of the things we got:
-a little jacket
-about 10 different onsies/sleepers/outfits
-a diaper bag
-bottles
-bottle cleaner
-sheets for the pack-n-play
-thermometer
-burp clothes

Now I know we have tons of things we still need to purchase but I at least feel like if this baby decides to come a little early we will have enough things to at least bring our baby home from the hospital. We might have gone a little overboard since our goal was to only buy what we thought we really needed & not too much of anything and we probably didn't need to buy as much clothes as we actually did but its all so cute!!

And now everything is good and I might even go have some ice cream :)

29 Weeks!!

Holy Crap we are already at 29 weeks!!!  Where has this pregnancy gone?!?! I can't believe that there should be around 77 more days before we get to meet this baby I say "should be around" because most people think that this little guy is going to arrive early and I am actually hoping he chooses to be a little late, it would be more convenient for me...so on that note he will probably be here early :)


The Scoop:

Weeks Pregnant ~ 29 weeks, day 1

Size of Baby ~ 15.25 in. or the size of a butternut squash

Baby's Weight ~ again it should be around 2.5 lbs. but when I had my appt. 2 weeks ago he was already at 2 lbs. 12 oz. and in the 87%   there is no hope for a nice happy, healthy 8 lb. baby

My Weight ~ At my last appointment I was at a total weight gain of 17 lbs.  I am pretty sure I gained at least 10 lbs while I was home for Christmas but then lost it when I got back to Cali because I was sick for 5 days and on a saltines diet...so back to a gain of 17 lbs.

What's New ~ The Man is home and has been able to feel and see the baby move like crazy.  I still have heartburn and berry flavored tums is a part of my diet EVERY day.  Recently the baby has started to do flips or at least now I can feel & see them.  I feel like he is on a carnival ride just flipping over and over and over again.  I now struggle to put shoes and socks on, so most days ballet flats are the way to go!  I also can no longer just get out of bed...its more of roll out of bed tactic.

Purchased Items ~  I am doing really awesome and haven't not purchased anything else for the baby.  After hearing today that we now have a moving weight limit of 8,000 lbs instead of the 5,000 we originally thought I might have to/need to/want to get something.  The Man did buy a super cute little scarf in some foreign country and a little onsie but that is it.  The baby did get a lot of really cute and awesome items for Christmas...which totally sheds some light on how spoiled this little man is probably going to be :)

So I had really good intentions of having the Man take a bump photo for this week but with so much else going on it slipped my mind...oops!  Cross your fingers for next week! 

23 Weeks

The Scoop:

Weeks Pregnant ~ 23 weeks, Day 1

Size of Baby ~ 11.5 in, size of a large mango

Baby's Weight ~ 1.1 lbs. according to my app but again last week the baby weighed 1.5 lbs. so I am not even sure why I bother with this section

My Weight ~ umm....I actually haven't weighed my self lately so I am guessing I gained another pound but who knows

What's New ~ I now have experienced awful heartburn, I mean almost in tears awful! So here is to hoping that my new best friend Tums saves the day. Apparently there is an old wives tale that if you suffer from heartburn your baby will have lots of hair...I checked the last ultrasound pictures and couldn't really tell if there was hair or not but maybe the next one will show us.

Purchased Items ~ Still going strong and not buying anymore baby things!

Again sorry there is no bump pic this week

Thanks!!

Well Nicki has been gone for almost a week now.  I really do miss her cooking for me!  But soon enough I will be on vacation in WI for the holidays and then the Man will be home.

When Nicki decided to come and live with me for 4 months I wanted to make sure she actually got to do some cool/fun shit.  So now that she is gone I thought I would recap some of the notable things that we did.

August:
- Motley Crue & Poison concert
- She got to meet the baby for the first time

September:
- Went to Las Vegas for a night

October:
- Watched the Blue Angels at the airshow on base
- Dad came to visit
- Went to Yosemite National Park
- Went to Monterey Bay & the Monterey Bay Aquarium
- Saw the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra perform the Wizard of Oz

November:
- Went to San Diego for the weekend
- Got to experience 2 hours of stand-still traffic on our way to San Diego
- We found out the sex of the baby
- Had our first Black Friday shopping experience

Overall I think we did a lot of fun things.  So I have to say thanks to Nicki for only taking 1 college class this semester so I wouldn't have to live by myself for so long.
  

22 Weeks!

I am sorry to say but there won't be a bump pic this week or next week, my photographer left!

The Scoop:

Weeks Pregnant ~ 22 weeks, Day 3

Size of Baby ~ 11 in, about the size of spaghetti squash

Baby's Weight ~ well for this week my app tells me 1 lb. but when I had an ultrasound on Monday they informed me that the baby weighed 1.5 lbs.

My Weight ~ I have gained 1 lb. since last week, which puts us at a total weight gain of 16 lbs.

Whats New ~ There really isn't much new.  My belly is getting larger and a few random people not strangers but random people have touched the belly.  I also think my caramel addiction is no longer present, junk food in general will make me happy now!

Purchased Items ~  The stroller & car seat combo that I had my heart set on was on sale, so I bought it.  Then my Dad informed me that he wanted to buy that for me for Christmas.  So technically I have not purchased anything new for the baby...I am very proud of this since there are so many fun, cute things out there.

Round Two: 4D

Today I had another ultrasound appointment to check the growth of the baby.  Everything is looking good with the baby and he is still a boy my other OB told me last week that he still thought I was having a girl, we were a little nervous!  Just like the last 4D ultrasound baby Jackson is weighing in on the bigger side...he now weighs 1.5 lbs. the norm for where I am in pregnancy is around 12.6 oz.  Jackson was really having no part in letting us see his face but the tech managed to get part of his face.  So enjoy the more human-like and less alien-like pictures :)

 One of the few times he turned his head 

Not having any part of showing us his face, just the back of his head and arm

He was showing his face and decided he had enough pictures and covered his head with his hand

Week 21!

So week 20 totally got away from me and I didn't take a bump pic...sorry!

The Scoop:

Weeks Pregnant ~ 21 weeks, Day 2

Size of Baby ~ 10.5 in or the size of a banana

Baby's Weight ~ 12.7 oz. again probably not accurate but we will find out for sure next week at the OB appt.

My Weight ~ So I decided to add this section, not really sure why.  1st Trimester: gained 5 lbs.  2nd Trimester: so far I have gained 10 lbs.

What's New ~ I have figured out that Jackson loves to move and kick me when I am relaxing and trying to get ready for bed.  Love feeling him move and kick more, not always as excited about the timing of when he likes to kick me in the bladder.  Also for the first time I have looked in the mirror and wondered where the heck did those hips and badonkadonk come from yep thats right  I am pretty sure I went to bed with a nice sized butt and woke up with J-Lo's!  

Purchased Items ~ I am super excited to add this area since it is now after 20 weeks and I can buy cute baby items!!  I was lucky that 20 weeks came around Black Friday because I scored some great deals at the Carter's website and I got our high chair from Babies R Us for half price!  Now to try and stop buying EVERY cute baby item I see.  To help with this I decided to create a couple baby registries, even though I won't be having a baby shower, it allows me to baby window shop and secretly hope those things end up in my house :)

Bump Pic ~

  I really wanted to wear jeans in my bump pic, since every one is in leggings but it didn't happen because my new sweater came in the mail and the want to wear it trumped the want to have a picture with jeans!

Here it is

Now that we are officially at 20 weeks I thought I would unveil our baby boy's name.

In case you forgot you can read about all the name options in the Explanation of Names post

While Josiah and I were Skyping we decided to talk about the 2 boy names we were thinking about.  We both were hoping we would decide on 1 name but we were both ok with not being able to decide until the baby was born.  Well it took us a whopping 2 minutes to agree on a name. We both love the name, the reason behind the name and the potential nicknames.

Our baby boy's name is Jackson Henry

20 Weeks!!!

OMG!!  140 days down, 140 days to go...

The Scoop:

Weeks Pregnant ~ 20 weeks, Day 1

Size of Baby ~ 6.5 in, size of a small cantaloupe

Baby's Weight ~ 10.6 oz. again this is probably not accurate since we were at 10 oz in week 18

Whats New ~ People are now commenting on the baby bump...instead of thinking I was just getting fat from eating to much while the Man is gone. I started wearing a belly band so I can still wear non-maternity jeans and dress pants awesome invention! Also ordered some tummy honey to help prevent stretch marks, so lets hope that works.  It is also getting more and more difficult to bend over so glad I wear ballet flats almost everyday! not sure what I am going to do when I go to WI in a month. I also feel like for the first time I have NO control over my emotions lets hope this phase will pass very soon!

Again I have to apologize for not having a bump photo for this week but I really wanted to do this post today and I just posted a bump pic on Saturday.  So look for a new one in the next couple of days!

19 Week Bump Pic

So as promised here is the 19 week bump pic!

I was on my way to the Half-Way through deployment party...I LOVED my outfit but found that the belt kept creeping up because of the belly :)

19 Weeks

The Scoop:

Weeks Pregnant ~ 19 weeks, Day 3

Size of Baby ~ 6 in, the size of a heirloom tomato

Baby's Weight ~ 8.5 oz obviously my baby does not weigh this since last week he was at 10 oz

Baby's Sex ~ In case you didn't get the memo IT'S A BOY!!

Baby's Name ~ The name has been decided and will be blogged about soon :)

What's New ~ This week has been interesting to say the least.  I now get the hiccups or burps after I eat anything that is not candy...super annoying and frustrating but I am not sure how to prevent it, so if any of you have any ideas let me know!  Also this baby boy has decided that I do not need to sleep at all...now for anyone that knows me I am NOT a happy person when I don't get my much needed sleep I might have blown up at Nicki for very little things this week oops! The Man also got to see my belly for the first time, well sort of, it was via Skype but none the less it wasn't a picture that was received 12 hrs later.

Sorry I don't have a baby bump pic for this week yet, its been a crazy week so far.  Hopefully I can get one in the next day or two.

Best Week Of The Month

This week has seemed to be eventful and crazy but yet some what relaxed Yes I know that doesn't make much sense But the best part of this week was getting to Skype with the Man!!  Some of you may be thinking its not that great of a thing or gag but it really was the best part of the ENTIRE month!  Before Monday & Tuesday's Skype dates I hadn't seen the Man's face or heard the sound of his voice since September...in case you forgot November is now half over with!  We were lucky enough to be able to Skype for 3 hours between the two days the last time we Skyped it was only for an hour and the internet was HORRIBLE. 


Best Parts Of The Date:
- Seeing the Man's face
- Hearing his voice
- Seeing his face when he saw my baby bump for the first time he has only seen the weekly pictures I have taken before this
- Deciding on a baby name for OUR baby boy
- Talking about the future and how lucky we are even though we have/will spend 90% of 2011 apart

Sorry if this made you all gag from the sappiness, I am blaming it on the hormones!  I really can't wait for him to get home.