Thursday, August 30, 2012

Bump to bump!

Just a quick photo of me with my gorgeous friend, Emily. Hope you all are having a wonderful day!


Friday, August 24, 2012

Blood Draw #3 kicked my butt...

Veins aren't cooperating since I am dehydrated. No clue where they will get blood for #4.


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Glucose Rematch, Swag and Namesakes

So, I made mention of the fact that the glucose test kicked my butt last week, right?  Good.  Well, I failed that test.  I have to retake it tomorrow and I can't say that I'm thrilled about it.  Luckily, Rik is going with me so I should be able to make it through without keeling over and revisiting the fruit punch shower of 2012.  I guess we'll know in about 12 hours.  I have to have blood taken 4 times so that's 4 excellent opportunities to test my theory that Rik is my security blanket and if he's there, I'm all good.

Things are going pretty great around here as we get ready to meet our little fellow.  I know I still have all but a week of my third trimester left to go, but this is the point where it all gets real.  Like, really real.  There's a crib upstairs for goodness sake.  A CRIB.  Amazing.

I haven't had that many symptoms to complain about the past few months.  The back pain finally eased up and I thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant my whole second trimester.  I had my energy back, no pain to speak of, no moodiness or anything like that...It was rather nice!  I mean, I'm a pretty pleasant person naturally, so what else did you expect? Ha!

I haven't had any cravings other than wanting hot wings a few times.  I've gained a total of 14 lbs at the last dr's visit (last Tues) but I think I've gained 2 more lbs since then.  I have only gotten one little stretch mark and that's on my tushy which I find kind of odd since that's not the part of me that's stretching or expanding that much (YET).  I've always had a bigger bum though so I can't say I'm shocked really.  I'm expecting that I'll end up with a few on my stomach for no other reason than I can't IMAGINE my skin stretching any further without tearing and yet, I know it will.  My belly button is almost flat now, which I find very peculiar looking.  The inside of a belly button is not attractive.  I know you grow up with your parents telling you your perfect in every way and all that jazz, but they never looked in your belly button.  Seriously, yuck.  ((And what's up with these websites making jokes about "look on the bright side, you can finally clean out all that lint"?  Ga-ross!  If you've been harboring that much lint in your belly button for that long, I find it highly doubtful you're going to be excited to part with it now!))  

The baby is super active and I could honestly sit and watch him wiggle and move and kick 24/7 and never get tired of it.  I always wondered if it'd freak me out or if I'd be all into it....Me? Totally into it.  I love it and I'll miss it when he's here.  Sure, I'll be thrilled he is here to hug and kiss but just in case this is the only time I get to experience this, I'm going to relish in every bump and nudge I can.  So far, I have carried him pretty low but also very out....He hasn't once gotten up in my ribs or anything like that.  I am sure he will soon, but so far, he's stayed more to the right side (if I'm looking down) and pretty low.  I don't know what he's got against my left side, but the kid rarely makes it all the way over there for a visit...ha, he just kicked or punched over there just now so apparently, he's letting me know what's up.  I've gone up a bit in the booby contraptions.  That was a n awesome day too b/c it was like going from feeling imprisoned in a straight jacket to running free in the warm sunshine after a long winter!  I haven't had any serious swelling other than my rings getting a little tight the other night.

Scrip Scrap's room is adorable so far.   Of course, all we have is paint on the walls, a crib and a dresser, but hey, it's a start.  I love just going in there and looking around at his little space.  I have a few ideas of what I would like it to look like eventually but I'm not in a huge hurry to finish it since he'll probably be in our room for a while.  Our bedroom is on the main floor and his is up about 20 stairs on the opposite side of the house.  I don't think we'll be leaving him up there alone for quite a while.  We're converting our front room into a playroom and I think that will be much better for him since it's just around the corner from our bedroom.

I will say that our boy is going to have serious swag.  I mean, that's my goal anyway. (I've been obsessing over little boys clothing lately.  Not in an unhealthy way, but still....it may need to be addressed.)   Rik was a ballplayer (still is) and a coach, we are obsessed with the Atlanta Braves, I was a ballroom dance instructor and a hip hop dancer for years and love dressing up little boys.  Recipe for disaster.  This means he will definitely have sports swag and just the regular ol' super awesome swag.  Case in point?  This sweatshirt on the right:
AyNJr1bCcAI23Ld.jpg-large.jpg


It's just too cute for words! haha

I seriously doubt though that his Daddy will allow the flat-bill hat though, we're a little more traditional when it comes to baseball gear.  I have found the cutest Braves outfits that I can't wait to get the little guy.  They even have a jacket for a 12 month old that matches ours.  Too cute!  Anyway, this is a total tangent now that I'm not sure how I got on...but anyway....he'll have some swag, ok?  :)  

Well, now I guess I should go ahead and share with you our little tot's name!  I know I left you hanging last time but I have to do what I can to get you back for more, see?   We really thought long and hard about what his name should be and I had several different criteria that ended up taking several "potentials" out of play.  The criteria was this: 1) It had to be easy to pronounce on sight 2) It had to be easy to spell when heard it said 3) It couldn't be too trendy/unique 4) it had to sound good with our last name (no small feat there) and 5) I wanted to avoid all dirty nicknames and initial/monogram fiasco's 6) it had to feel/sound natural being yelled up the staircase.

Here is a running list of names that we kept adding and subtracting from with a dry-erase marker on our bathroom mirror based upon the above criteria (minus the one we chose):
Rowan
Tucker
Ryne
Nolan
Rhyce
Lincoln
Hudson
Robinson
Most of these are baseball names, if you're not familiar with the sport, and we liked several of them quite a bit.  For a while, I was hung up on the non-baseball name of Tucker.  Rik was then crazy about Nolan and I almost relented and gave the nod on it.  Then, I re-stumbled upon a name that we had discussed in passing a few days into the pregnancy when such things were not to be discussed b/c it was still a scary time and we didn't want to jinx anything.  That day, I jokingly told my mom that if we had gotten pregnant with twin boys I would have named them Easton and Weston.  She thought that was a riot and then I remembered how much I really loved the name Easton.  Shortly thereafter (next day, I believe), Rik was flipping through the baby name book and said, "What about the name Easton?"  All I could do was smile because it just sounded so right.  So, we put it on the mirror.  A few days later, we were sitting at this little country diner talking about the little guy and discussing his name and Rik just said, "Easton.  Let's do it.  I love it," and so did I.  So, we did.  

Our little boy's name is:

Easton Andrew

Andrew is the name of Rik's best friend and we've always planned to name our son after him if we ever had one.  That one's been in the books since 2006 when we were making a very long trip home from Colorado during a snowstorm.  I am absolutely in love with my son's name.  Just reading it above makes me a little teary eyed.  Knowing he has his own identity and it's a good strong name just makes me feel wonderful.  I was so stressed about his name and what a huge responsibility it is to name someone you've never met, seen, etc.  Having it decided upon and loving the outcome is fantastic!  I hope you like it.  :)

Ok, toodles for now.  Keep us in your prayers tomorrow.  I am a nervous wreck about the possibility of having gestational diabetes.  I've read up on it and I do not want to chance my son being sick or overweight at birth.  That scares me to death.  I'm hoping that tomorrow's test goes off without a hitch and that last test was just a fluke. 

Till next time, 
Shannon

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

BU - This one's for you girl!!!!!!

(shower button above designed by Natalie @ "pajamas are comfy")

BU over at "Relaxing Doesn't Get You Pregnant" is having a baby girl!  This is in spite of her Bum Uterus (BU)!  After living in a house full of boys and testosterone, some of her blogger buddies decided to glam up her life with the girliest of girly things!

BU, I couldn't be happier for you!  I am thrilled that you are having this little girl and I can't wait to see how she shakes up your household!  Pink, sparkles, ribbons, hairbows, pearls, lace....ah!  I can't wait!  To help the little miss out with that, I've packed up and mailed out the following goodies and a few others that I didn't get a good photo of!  I hope you love them and I hope Miss Thang gets lots of good use out of them!  

Every little girl needs a pink onesie with a love bird on it!

What kind of online baby shower attendee would I be if I didn't make her a very feathery, sparkly, rosy headband?  I mean, c'mon!  :)

BU, enjoy this special online shower.  We all love you!  Here's to your Bum Uterus and it's wonderful cooperation!

Muah. 
Shannon




Saturday, August 18, 2012

Super fast update!!!!

I've been admonished for not updating recently!  I'm sorry!!!!!

I decided the best and fastest way to update everyone on what we've been doing is to post a ton of pics out here and show you.  :)  Sorry I've been missing in action lately, we've had a lot going on not related to the pregnancy that's kept us pretty busy and distracted.  However, no excuse....  I'll do better!

ENJOY!


We babysat the cutest and sweetest kids on the planet.  I even found the girls playing "Shae Shae" and cannot express to you how much I absolutely adore this photo.  Mallory (L) and Reaghan (R) lumbering around the house acting like me.....too precious. 

We've been cramming as much information as we possible can into our brains about labor, delivery, pregnancy and being a new parent.  Hugemongous thanks to Oak over at Acorn Chronicles for sending me these wonderful books to help me through this crazy process.  These books have been a Godsend for certain!  I'm feeling more and more prepared by the day! (Amazing how unprepared I will still be come show time though!) 



We registered!  Rik picked out his diaper bag and we went ahead and bought the little guy his first stuffed animal.  It's a curly-furred puppy dog that is currently sitting in his new crib (more on that later)!  We registered in stages so that we didn't get overwhelmed and I think that made it so much easier.  We still have the bath and safety stuff to register for but are mostly finished. 



This is me at about 26 weeks.  I'm really loving having a baby bump.  I may even be slightly obsessed with the fact that I have one now.  I waited a looong time for this!  



We got the crib!  The original delivery date of August 1st was pushed back b/c the boutique we bought it from had a snafu and sold our crib to another couple b/c they thought we didn't need ours until September 1st.  Needless to say, I was not a happy camper since I took the day off to be here when it was delivered and was over-the-moon excited to just have it HERE.  Oh well, two weeks later, it made it.  Obviously, there was some assembly required.  Rik and I got right to work that night and obviously, Rik had NO problems figuring out which piece went where and with which screws. 

I got in on the action and worked my allen wrench like it was nobody's business....and it wasn't!  Those screws had another thing coming once I got started!



We had a little help from our Quality Control Team.  Tess, the Director of Operations, gave us the "Ok to go" when she deemed everything safe and secure enough for the baby to sleep in.  So, we proceeded.



Here is the finished product!  Quality Control was doing their last inspection, but we got the green light.  This was me at 26 weeks 5 days.  The walls will NOT be this green color for much longer.  We just hadn't yet gotten around to picking out which color we wanted to go with!  



We bought our bedding a few weeks ago and went through what felt like 200 paint swatches before narrowing it down!  I love the bedding and I love the color we chose.  We're actually painting today (once I get off here and help Rik tape off the trim!) so wish us luck!


We also went car shopping on the hottest day of the year.  It was a balmy 104 degrees this day and as you can tell by Reaghan's cheeks, it was a scorcher!  Uncle Rik reallllly loves this little girl, can you tell?  She helped us make the final decision on the car we ended up with!




We ended up with this!  A Honda Fit.  The color is what Rik has taken to calling Olympic Bronze.  It works.  The car needed to get great gas mileage, be roomy enough for his 6"4 frame, easy to get a carseat in and out of, have enough room in the back for all of his baseball equipment and have less than a certain number of miles.  This is the only car we found that fit every need and they took $2k off the asking price b/c Rik's dad has been such a good customer at the Audi retailer. 

We made room for the baby in the front room of our house which will be his temporary home the first few months and eventually, his playroom.  Thank goodness Matthew (blonde) and Owen (brown) were here to help Rik move this couch!  It's friggin heavy!

We snuggled and spent time getting used to our new belly.

 We played in the rain.  (her life is a stage)



 We took our Olympic Swim Team to show off their skills in the natural spring beside our house.


We had our huge backyard fenced in for the dogs to enjoy a good romp around out there and to have a place to stash them once the baby gets here!  We've been planning this since we moved in 4 years ago and just haven't gotten around to it or wanted to spend the money on it (either way).  The dogs are LOVING it.



I made a few things for a friend of mine who is due a few weeks before me.  Emily had a baby shower last weekend.  It was the sweetest couples shower and everything was so beautiful.  I'm waiting on her to send me a belly shot we had taken together so I can share it with all of you.  She is so adorable and we are so excited for her to have Madelyn!

I had my glucose testing this past Tuesday.  Just looking at this picture makes me slightly queazy.  It didn't go so well.  I had an early dinner the night before and fasted that morning so obviously, I was completely starving by the time this got started at 8:45. I drank it down in 5 mins as required and then went to meet with the doc.  Scrip Scrap's heartbeat was 150 and strong.  I gained 2 lbs since my previous monthly visit and she said I was looking great.  I have gone through a serious growth spurt the past two weeks and my belly is really going places these days so I was anxious about weight gain and his size.  The tech that measured my belly said the baby was measuring 29 weeks but she measured a little higher than where my uterus actually ends so I think that's a little bit off.  I asked the doc why I would be measuring 2 weeks ahead and she said that it could be either a chunky baby or a long baby.  I laughed.  Rik wasn't with me so I had to tell her how tall he is.  She said, "Well, there ya go! I'd rather you deliver a tall baby than a really chunky baby!"  She said it's likely though that next visit, he'll be back on target and it could just be that he went through a growth spurt the two weeks before our appointment.

After I met with her, I went back to the lab and waited to have my blood drawn for the testing. Thank your lucky stars I don't have a photo to post of this!  I started getting woozy.  That's NEVER a good sign with me.  I have low blood sugar on a regular basis AND I used to faint with needles.  I wasn't sure what was going on but I was cursing Rik for not being there right at that moment.  He is my security blanket.  I never pass out when he is with me.  NEVER.  It's been years!  Dealing with infertility has made a huge difference too, so I never even worry about it.  

Anyway, you can guess what happened.  The nurse drew my blood, I keeled over and proceeded to throw up what seemed like 2 gallons of fruit punch glucose "beverage" (it should NOT be referred to as a beverage, for the record).  When I woke up, I was sitting in the same chair, surrounded by four or five nurses with wet towels, dry towels, water, ice packs, etc.  And I had fruit punch coming out of my nose.  Fantastic.  I threw up all over myself.  It was NOT pretty.  Sitting in a puddle, my clothes were ruined, my dignity pooled in the floor at my feet and filled my shoes.  It was horrible.  I had to borrow scrub pants (they brought me a SMALL!!!!!  I barely got them up over this rear end people!) to wear out of there (who cares if you have vomit on your shirt right?) and had to go home for the rest of the day b/c I was so sick.  Once I got on the road, I had to throw up again in a cup at a red light because it was lunchtime traffic and I couldn't go anywhere from the turning lane I was in and then pull over on the interstate on ramp to finally rid myself of the last of the fruit punch.  It was a day I will NEVER forget.  Absolute mortification.  I thought I'd never show my face there again until they told me I had to come back Friday (yesterday) to get a Rhogam shot.  Ugh.  I survived.

So that's what we've been doing the past few weeks.  I hope this update has been informative.  :)  I guess the last piece of news to share with you all is that we finally picked a name for our sweet boy.  I'll be sure to update you with his name in my next post.  I mean, I have to keep you coming back for more, right?  Love you all!

Shannon