Stephen's first Halloween

Stephen was luckily born right before Halloween. I say luckily not because I love the holiday (if you can call it that) but because of his costume. Last year, we were at a church function around this same time and I brought candy corn to share with everyone. Someone said facetiously that candy corn was not allowed because candy corn was evil. When I asked them to explain they said that there were people at our church who thought that candy corn represented Halloween, Halloween was a pagen holiday and thus evil, and as a result candy corn was evil. They said that that was why candy corn was not allowed at the church harvest party. Now, if it had been an issue of sanitation and not wanting dirty hands reaching into the same bowl then I could totally buy not having candy corn at the harvest party. But because it represents halloween? Come-on!

So, as a result. Last year I decided that if we had a baby in time for Halloween this year, that we would be going to the church harvest party dressed as a candy corn for a costume. So that is exactly what I did, I made my baby into a candy corn. And if you ask me, he's the cutest darn candy corn there is!

Baby is here!!

Stephen Michael Reyman joined our little family on October 20, 2009 at 11:54pm. He weighed 8 pounds 7.2 ounces, and was 20 1/4 in long. He was born 6 min shy of one week overdue. He was also born on his great-grandpa's birthday. This was the chain of events that lead to his birth.

I saw my doctor on Mon the 19th and we decided that since I was close to going overdue that we would plan to induce if I didn't deliver on my own. Having talked with the nurses that were going to be there to support me, and discussing it with Lonnie and the doctor we made the decision to go ahead and induce on Tuesday the 20th. That way no one would have to work that night and things wouldn't get complicated. I wasn't comfortable going much over 41 weeks anyways and was getting really frustrated that I wasn't going into labor on my own despite having contractions fairly regularly. I had tried with the help of my doctor and a nurse to try and induce my own labor by having my membranes stripped multiple times, but it didn't do anything other than make me dilate a bit more each time. So that night I cleaned up the house like a mad woman doing some last minute "nesting." Lonnie just sat back and laughed while I did it...he didn't understand. We also took some time to spend as our last night of just the two of us.

On Tuesday morning we got up before seven and got ready. We had to be at the hospital at 7:30, but were just a few min late. We got settled in our room (I had pre-arranged which one I wanted), and my nurse Linda filled out the paperwork with me. I thought that my doctor would have orders waiting to get things started but she didn't, so we had to wait for a couple hours for her to come in and see me. She came in and said that I was 3cm dilated and 90% effaced and she decided that since I was already contracting she'd go ahead and break my water to see if that would be enough to put me into labor.

Right after she broke my water the contractions felt stronger then they were before, but still tolerable. I got off the monitor and took a lap around the parking lot with Kathi. Kathi is one of the nurses that I work with in the OB unit. She and another nurse Pam were the nurses that trained me when I started at the hospital and are very close friends. It was important to me that they be there when I had the baby because they had been involved (or at least around) during the whole thing. They were around when I just wanted a baby really bad, and when we decided to start trying, and when I found out, and throughout the whole pregnancy. So Kathi came in on her day off to be my "doula" and support me in whatever way she could while I was in labor. So we took a lap around the hospital lot to try and stimulate more contractions. I was allowed to be off the monitor for 30-45 min per hour, so we took one loop and went back in. Lonnie decided to take this opportunity to run and get coffee before things got really serious later. The nurse checked me at 11:30 or so and I hadn't dilated but I was then completely effaced. The contractions were getting much stronger as well. Between my walk with Kathi and this check I took a few more laps around the lot with Lonnie. After our second outing I tried to get in the shower and see if that relaxation would help me to dilate. It seemed to slow the contractions down so I decided to get out and get back in bed.

After I got in bed I just decided to relax. The contractions were getting really intense and it was really difficult to get through them in any other position then just laying in a half-sitting position and really relaxed. I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to be touched, all I wanted to do was to relax as much as possible during the contraction and between them. I almost felt bad for Lonnie because there really wasn't anything for him to do. He couldn't hold my hand, he couldn't rub me or help me in any way. The nurse checked me again at 2pm and I was 3-4 cm. I continued to just deal with the contractions as best I could while laying and relaxing. The contractions did slow down to about every 4-5 min apart, which was nice for me, but not productive for making me dilate. So when the nurse checked me at 4pm I was still 3-4 or 4 cm. I knew this meant that I was going to have to get pitocin to make me have stronger contractions. I also knew that if I was going to have to get pitocin, I was going to get an epidural.

So I got my epidural next before we started the pitocin. I had pre-arranged with the nurse anesthetist that I wanted for him to come and do my epidural, and luckily he was already at the hospital, and was on call for OB that day. So I got a great epidural, although I still had some pain on the left side in my hip and low back. The anesthetist gave me a little more medicine which took the pain in that spot away. I was much happier and a lot more comfortable. Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief once I got the epidural because none of them liked to see me in pain. Once the epidural was in they started the pitocin, and things started to progress more quickly.

At 8:45 I got checked and I was completely dilated. We got me in position and I started to push. I could feel the pressure and the urge to push which was helpful but also uncomfortable. I pushed for about 1 1/2 hrs, then pushed on my side for a 1/2 hr because the dr could tell that his head was turned a little funny and we were hoping that turning onto my side would turn his head as well. After 2 hrs of pushing the dr said that his head really hadn't come down much at all, and that she wanted to call Dr Tynes the OB/GYN in to see if he could do anything about the baby's position or see what needed to happen. He got to me just before 11pm and I pushed through a contraction or two with him. He said that the baby's head was turned funny and just wouldn't budge and that the cervix was starting to swell back around his head. He said that the best decision at that point was to do a c-section and get him delivered safely. I was SO exhausted at that point that I was thinking okay...whatever you have to do to get him out. I knew that if his head was turned funny, AND the cervix was swelling up around his head, that there was no likely way that he would be coming out naturally. I told Dr Tynes that we could do the c-section but he had to get the baby out before midnight so that he would be born on my grandpa's birthday.

I went back to the OR and they got me ready to go and brought Lonnie in. Because I was a "VIP" all of the nurses that had come to be with me in labor were able to come and take pictures and video of the c-section. I guess sometimes it pays to work and deliver at the same hospital. So they started the c-section and within a little bit I could tell they were getting ready to get him out. Lonnie stood up and watched most of the c-section. Stephen was born at 2354 on Oct 20th. He went over to the warmer and they got him pinked up. He did need a little bit of oxygen to get him going even though he was crying. Hearing him cry for the first time was an amazing thing. I looked up at Lonnie and I could tell that he was crying too, and it made me tear up as well. Lonnie got to go over to the warmer and see Stephen, and then the nurses wrapped him up and brought him over to me to hold. I got to hold him for a few min, but I was so tired that I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. After a bit, I told him that he could go to the room to get weighed, and then he was going to meet me in recovery. He left and I laid there while they put me back together. I was SOOOOOO tired that I mostly dozed through the rest of the surgery. I had also been shaking and the anesthetist gave me some medicine to make that stop, and I think it made me drowsy.

After the surgery I went to recovery and they brought Stephen to me. I fed him with the help of my nurse, Kelly. She had to do most of the work because I was so sleepy that I couldn't stay awake. We went back to my room after recovery and Kelly gave him his bath while I slept and then he went to the nursery at about 2 am. Lonnie and I were both exhausted at this point and needed to sleep. I woke up at 4 and Kelly brought him in to eat, and then he went back to the nursery until about 8 am. I felt SOOOOOO much better after getting some sleep. I felt like I could keep my eyes open and finally enjoy my baby.

So that is the summary of our labor and delivery of Stephen. The rest of the hospital stay was uneventful and mostly involved sleeping and eating. My recovery went very well and we were discharged on Friday morning.

39 weeks

This was my picture at 38 weeks

I am just over 39 weeks now, and have been off of work for 3 weeks. I think that I have managed to accomplish most of the stuff around the house that I wanted, but I'm sure there is more that I could accomplish if I felt like it. My goal was to clean the house well, then just keep it clean after that. Sometimes that's the hardest part. I'm not quite sure how it happens but our coffee table seems to collect things so rapidly that it's hard to keep up with. Same thing with the dishes in the sink. Seems like all I have to do is just think about making something, and the sink is full of dishes. Now I'm just putting finishing touches on different things around the house to make sure it's ready.

One of the recent developments is that Lonnie has now almost finished refinishing my dresser. This project started last January after we found out I was pregnant. Since the dresser went to the garage for refinishing, I have been living out of laundry baskets. Needless to say I am anxious to get my dresser back into m room. The dresser that he has been refinishing was a dresser that my older sister Katrina had when I was a girl. I'm not sure where it was before then, but I know that the dresser is at least 25 years old, and it was showing a bit of wear. I'm really excited to get it in place upstairs in our room because we'll be using that for the changing table for the baby in our room. I told Lonnie that if it wasn't done by the time he came I would be changing the baby's diaper on his side of the bed so if we had a baby who liked to pee when you open his diaper it would be on his side, not mine. But it looks like it will be able to come into the house tomorrow morning. Once that is upstairs we will be able to finish setting everything else up in our room for him. Once it's put back together and in place in our room I'll take a picture of the dresser and post it.

I saw the doctor yesterday for my 39 week appointment. I have been walking nearly every day for the last 2 weeks...even if it hurts to do it, just to try and cause more contractions and bring the baby down. I was pretty convinced that the doctor was going to tell me that my cervix hadn't changed at all during the week. I was VERY pleasantly surprised when she told me that I was 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced. Last week I was closed and 50%. She said she could feel the baby's head through the cervix. She said he wasn't tightly engaged into the pelvis, but was heading in the right direction and was lower and easier to reach. She said that she would be really surprised to see me in the next 24 hours after my appointment, because I just didn't look miserable enough. I told Lonnie that maybe I needed to try looking more miserable. He said that it wasn't so much "looking" miserable, but "being" miserable. So hopefully since I am heading in the right direction, I will deliver in the next week or so. I don't think that I'll be getting SUPER impatient until I hit my due date next wed. After that I'll be pretty anxious to get him out and see him. I may even try getting accupuncture next monday or tuesday to try and spur on labor. I have a friend who has some castor oil waiting for me whenever I give her the word. I think I'll have to get pretty desperate to go there. The girls that I work with who are going to take the pictures and check me while I'm in labor are working this weekend so they are hoping that I don't deliver until they get to their days off so they don't have to try and be there for me and work at the same time. I think I will probably deliver close to my due date...give or take a couple of days. I'm just so excited to see him and take care of him. Although the pain and hardship of labor doesn't excite me too much. My goal is to try and do the labor and delivery without pain medication, but I have the best nurse anesthetist on retainer in case I want an epidural. I think it will make a big difference if I am able to stay home as long as possible and move freely. One of the nurses I trained with is going to come over an check me so that I don't go to the hospital too soon, which will be really nice.

Anyways....we are just getting soooooo excited to see our baby boy. I told Lonnie he needs to come out because we have cute clothes, a nice place to sleep, and good food for him to eat. I just hope that he isn't a procrastinator like his dad, and he overstays his welcome. I can't believe how fast the pregnancy has gone and really how easy it has been. We have been so blessed by God to have a healthy pregnancy, healthy baby (as far as we can tell), and a healthy marriage. We just look forward to what God has in store for us as we raise this little one.

The countdown begins!

I am now officially 36 weeks, so the countdown until the baby comes has now commenced. It's just incredible to think of how far we have come, because it seems like just yesterday I took the pregnancy test. I am getting bigger by the day and am finding more common tasks difficult. It feels like I am always bending over a beach ball if I try to bend and do anything. I still sleep really well, and am always up for a nap. And for the most part am still really comfortable. I guess I expected to be more uncomfortable at this point so close to having him. I have been so blessed by God to have had the pregnancy that I've had. Even if the next 4 weeks are miserable, I have still had a great experience. We are both getting really excited. It's getting so much closer now, and it's hard to believe that sometime in the next 5 weeks or so, we'll be parents. I am getting torn between wanting him out so that I can see and hold him, and wanting him to stay in a little longer so he's not premature and has problems. I have been having contractions now for the last 3 weeks or so. They are still painless for the most part, but have picked up a little bit in the last week or so. Now hopefully they will start to do something, and even get more intense to help make it an easier labor for me by making me dilate before hand.

I am also officially disabled as of thursday the 17th. The state of California will start to pay you disability 4 weeks prior to your due date and it's a use it or lose it situation. So, I finished work at the earliest possible time I can, and I'm getting paid for it. I started my disability off with a wonderful pedicure to ensure that my disabled feet look good for the job. I probably wouldn't have left work at 36 weeks if I could have been guaranteed to work in OB, but there was no guarantee. There are a number of patients in the ER who don't care that I'm pregnant in their confused, violent, or belligerent state. Plus it's a lot harder to get around and do some of the things that I need to do at work. So, it works out. Now I have time to finish projects around the house and can get everything ready for the baby to come.

We have the baby's room pretty much decorated now. I made the curtains, and put together the bookcase. The crib and changing table my mom and I put together a month ago. I also made a few other decorations around the room. I am proud of how it turned out. We just have to get the bedset in the room and the comforter up on the wall. After that we plan to have one of our pregnancy pictures framed and placed in the room as well. It has been a lot of work for a child who will probably never remember his room as a baby, and will not really appreciate it. Although I did discover today that the chair we bought is a good chair for sleeping because when I sat down to take a break, I promptly fell asleep. I'm sure that some good sleeping will happen in that chair in the future.

So I will continue to be disabled, and we will continue to have dr's appointments every week from now until he is born. I have a baby shower on the 30th, when I am 38 weeks. For now my days will be filled with trying to do my prenatal yoga DVD, meeting my goal of walking 2 miles a day, and cleaning the house in preparation for him to come. All this while continuing to grow him.

Only 8 weeks left

I am now officially 32 weeks, and only have 8 weeks (give or take) until we get to have him in our arms. I have still been feeling really good. I saw my doctor at 28 weeks and she said everything looked good and that she would see me in a month. Because she was on vacation at 4 weeks, I have to wait 5 weeks. So, I have my 33 week appointment with her next Wednesday. At my last appointment they told me that I had passed my glucose tolerance test which means that I do not have gestational diabetes, which is great news. I didn't figure that I would, but it's always a risk. He now moves a ton in there. He's gone from just kicking to now he does what I call "swirling." This is where he doesn't just move a limb, he moves his whole body which makes my whole belly roll. It's quite entertaining to watch him move, and kick, although his new attraction to my ribs on the right side is not quite as fun. It's just amazing to think that he'll be out here in just a couple months. I have been having some irregular but painless contractions. They are just Braxton Hicks contractions, and don't seem to be doing anything other than making me worried.

My mom came down this last weekend and we organized his room. We tried to prove all the movies and shows wrong by putting together the crib with no problem, and managed to do it with only one snaffoo. We got the changing table put together, clothes sorted and gone through, and the drawers filled with the appropriate sized clothing. All in all it was such a productive weekend. My mom even cleaned my showers and bathrooms which is such a huge blessing because I hate to do it. Now we will just have to incorporate the gifts that we get and put the bedding set on once we get that. But now I feel like even if nothing else got done before he was born we'd still be ok...things are put together enough.

I also had my first baby shower this weekend on the 15th. A number of friends from church and the community came. It was interesting because two of the people that were there are my friends because I have been there to take care of them when they had their babies. And there was another one there who I knew before, but got to know better when I was there and helped deliver her baby. We had a great time, and I got a ton of great gifts from my friends. I still have two more baby showers, one in Portland on the 29th, and then one with the ladies from work on Sept 16th. We are just so blessed to have so many generous friends around to love on us.

Work is going pretty well. There have been some big shake-ups in the OB unit here, and it has required me to be pulled back into working shifts there. In the span of about a month we lost one of our nurses to cancer, one was fired, and one had a son who was very seriously injured with a head injury when thrown off a motorized dirt bike. So, in the span of a month we basically lost three of the regular employees, because the one has gone to be with her son. So, I am working just about every other week in OB trying to help cover shifts that the other ladies have vacated. The ER has "released" me from my orientation in order to help, so I work any shifts I can in OB, then work in ER to get the necessary hours I need. It works out. It's nice to work in OB, although they have been VERY busy lately and are working me ragged.

Lonnie's work is going very well. He is in Santa Rosa this week for training so that he can arrest people if he needs to. He is very lonely with out his pregnancy pillow (Me!) to sleep with, but he's surviving well. He will be home on Saturday, and we will get to spend a little time together. They really seem to like him at the probation office and appreciate the hard work that he does.

The next month is going to be really busy. I'm still working 3 days a week until I get to 36 weeks and then I am taking my leave. I have a 4 day trip planned up to Portland for my baby shower up there. We have Dr's appointments, dentist appointments, and chiropractor appointments. I am going to be taking some maternity pictures by myself tomorrow with a friend. Then on Sunday, Lonnie and I will be taking pictures together. We want some couple pictures and then some pictures with "the belly" as we call it. This is a special time in our lives and we want to be able to remember it.

Moving Right Along!!! 24 weeks

I am now 24 weeks 5 days to be specific. The pregnancy is moving right along perfectly as far as I am concerned. I had a check up last week and the Dr said that I am doing well. The baby is moving around and doing what I call "bumping." I started feeling it at 17 weeks, and Lonnie felt him move for the first time at 22 weeks. At first he could only tell it was him if I confirmed it for him, but now you can see my belly jump when he moves or kicks or does whatever it is that he does. It's a fantastic feeling to know that he's in there and doing well. I can't really tell if there is rhyme and reason to his moving. He doesn't seem to move any more if I eat or drink something, or at a certain time. If I am busy and concentrating on something at work he tends to move a lot. I've also been noticing some braxton hicks contractions that are painless. Of course they started the day after my appointment with the doctor and so I didn't get a chance to ask her about it. From everything that I've read online it's ok for your uterus to do this because it's practicing for labor.

I have now been working in the ER for about 3 or 4 weeks. This came about because of overstaffing in the OB unit, and in order to have a full-time job I had to move down to the ER. I am still allowed to go back to OB and help them if they need it, but my primary position is down in the ER. It has been going well, and I have a really nice preceptor to work with. I am getting more and more comfortable with the responsibilities of my position and taking care of patients from start to finish. There is just so much to know in the ER, that I think it will take me a really long time to pick up all of the information. I have about 3 1/2 more months left of work, and a little less than 4 months left of the pregnancy. The job is a bit more physically demanding that I am used to, but I think that it will work out okay.

We recently went up to Portland over father's day weekend. One of the main goals was to register for baby gifts, which we successfully did at Babies R Us and Target. Lonnie held up very well throughout the process and was very patient and even gave input when asked. I think that he had the most fun "testing" the various types of rocking chairs and analyzing them for smoothness of rock, type of fabric, size of the seat and assorted other things. It was an interesting process, and amazing to think of all the stuff that a baby requires just to take care of it. Part of our trip was to find my birthday present from Lonnie which was whatever rocker/glider that I wanted for the baby. We visited about 4 different baby stores, and chair stores and finally settled on and bought a rocking chair that is more like a lazy boy. It's nice and big and has a really nice rock to it.

We have also had some visitors. Lonnie's parents came into town as we were getting back from our trip. We were able to spend some time with them and then his sister came to town and we got to see her too. We haven't seen his sister for about a year and a half and she is moving to Liberia in Africa for her job. She won't be able to come back until Christmas to see Stephen. Lonnie got to see them more than I did because of my work schedule, but we had a good time.

Halfway there!! - 20w 4d

I am officially halfway through the prenancy now. I saw my doctor on Wed and she listened to the baby's heartbeat. She said that we both looked fine and I'll go for my next appointment in a month. I also went to have the big 20 week ultrasound on friday morning. The doctor that I work with, Dr Tynes, offered to do the 20 week ultrasound to make sure that everything was ok with the baby even though he isn't my doctor. So we went to the ultrasound. Because of timing Lonnie was only able to go about 10 min of the appointment, which he was bummed about. The doc checked out the heart, stomach, brain, umbilical cord, placenta, and just general anatomy. He said that the baby looked really good. He was very proud of his boyness and was showing his parts off. The dr tried to get a good picture of his feet but he had them pressed up against the side of my uterus really hard and he couldn't get a good picture. This was our first "official" ultrasound even with all the others we've had. It's just so nice to know that our baby looks healthy and that everything is going well with the pregnancy. I have been very very fortunate in how easy this pregnancy has gone.

There are some changes in store for me at work. I found out last week that because our OB unit is overstaffed that I will be moving down in ER. I will be working in OB and ER for the next six weeks. After that I will be working on my orientation into ER for the next 12 weeks. At that point I will be going on my maternity leave. I'm not sure about the logic of moving me into a new position right before I'll be leaving on maternity leave, but it's not up to me. I know that God has a plan for it and he's put it all together, so that's why I think I have handled and dealt with it as well as I have. I figure that I'll take in as much as I can, learn what I can, and let them pay me to get certified in many different ER specific areas. The trouble is figuring out what to wear to work because I am starting to grow out of my scrub tops.

Lonnie's job is continuing to go well. He is starting to get more responsibilities and is liking it. He spends some of his time in court watching court precedings or giving testimony or recommendations to the judge. He also spends some time working on and writing reports for the judge. So far it looks like it will be a great job and fit for him. He's also staying busy taking Akido which is a martial art, playing tennis on wed. He is still leading worship at church most Sun.

IT'S A BOY!!!!! - 18 weeks

Well we found out. We're having a baby boy. We weren't planning to find out the gender, we'd been planning for a surprise. We'd decided this much to the shagrin of all the people who want to know what we're having. We've been doing ultrasounds about every two weeks just to see the baby and watch the baby change and grow. We've really enjoyed it, but we knew we were tempting fate by looking at the baby so often. I guess I naively thought that we wouldn't find out and that it would be too hard to see unless we specifically asked someone to look. However, after work on Saturday (May 9th) we decided to take another look at the baby, I was about 17 1/2 weeks. There was a nursing student in our unit who hadn't seen an ultrasound so we decided to do one so that she could see. We got started looking but couldn't figure out exactly what we were looking at, We could tell that the main thing we could see was the baby's abdomen. Then we could see legs and the baby had his legs in a frog like position, then we could see his butt facing us. We were having trouble locating the baby's head. Then we figured out that the baby was curled up facing my back. At one point while we were looking for the baby's head the baby flipped around and opened up his legs. There was a collective gasp in the room as a number of us identified the baby boy parts front and center on the screen. The nurse doing the ultrasound was just sweeping around and there they were again. After that I was pretty sure we were having a boy. However, ever since we got pregnant I've been saying that it's a boy the whole time.

I got home from work a little bit later and told Lonnie. His initial reaction was that he was disappointed. Not that we were having a boy but because now we likely knew what we were having and it would no longer be a surprise. I also felt the same way, I was really looking forward to that surprise. However, I do have a tendency to ruin surprises before holidays. After this we had the decision to make on whether or not we would find out for sure what we were having. My leaning was toward yes, Lonnie said he was unsure.

Well, Monday we got to have another ultrasound. I was 2 days shy of 18 weeks. On the ultrasound we could still see the baby moving and wiggling. She used the 3D wand so that we could see what the baby looked like. Mostly the baby looked really creepy because of the 3D. It will start to look better as it gets bigger and more developed. But we'll probably slow down on the ultrasounds now that the baby is bigger, not only because it's harder to see things because of the size but because there aren't as many changes now. The baby is just refining the features it's already developed. But she asked us if we wanted to know the gender, I told Lonnie it was up to him and he said "We might as well." So she took a look and confirmed what we already strongly suspected....It's a boy.

We also decided on a name for him. After much debate and negotiation we decided to name him Stephen Michael Reyman. We came across the name Stephen when we were reading Acts at church. It was a name that jumped out to both of us, and the name Michael popped into my head and we felt like it flowed really nicely. So now we can shop even easier and give our families a gender to focus their attention. We so look forward to seeing our little boy in just about 5 1/2 months.

Baby moving??

I have been paying really close attention lately to see if I am feeling the baby move. What I thought might be the baby moving last week was a little bit high in my belly to be the baby, so it was probably gas. But yesterday at 17 weeks 2 days when I was sitting in a really awkward position on the couch I am pretty sure I felt the baby moving. It felt like a tiny little flutter on the right side of my uterus. I hear this is how it feels when the baby starts moving. It's only very slight, and I've only felt it that once. I try holding my breath to see if I can feel it moving because my breathing is distracting, but my ability to hold my breath is limited so eventually I have to breath again. I'm hoping that in the next few weeks I will begin to feel the baby move more, and then Lonnie will be able to feel the baby moving too.
We are still in negotiations on a baby name. We have picked a name for a girl, Rebecca Grace, but we are still negotiating on a baby boy name. We have a whole list of names that we have "ranked" or at least Lonnie does. I have to have him rank the names from 0-5 with how much he likes them, just so I know if the name is in or out. The main list of names is on the blog, but we've also added another name to the list, Stephen. We both really like the name, but still haven't concluded our discussion It's a big responsibility to name a child. I told Lonnie that we HAVE to have a name for this baby before it's born. So no matter what we will have a name for this kid.

16 weeks and counting

I am now officially over 16 weeks (16 weeks 2 days today). I have still been feeling excellent. I am starting to feel a lot more pregnant lately. In the last week or so my belly has really started to fill out a lot more, and you can tell that I am pregnant now depending on the shirt that I'm wearing. I am not sure if I have been feeling the baby move yet, I suspect that I have started to feel some movement but it's very soft. I only notice it when I am laying in bed to go to sleep and I lay really still. It kindof feels like gas bubbles bubbling around in there. Not sure yet if that is the baby or if it is indeed just gas. Hopefully I should be able to start feeling it a lot more distinctlly in the next few weeks.

We got to have another ultrasound just before 16 weeks. Unfortunately the ultrasound tech that usually does one every 4 weeks had a family emergency so she couldn't do it. We did a more informal one with our lame machine in OB. The baby was moving like crazy the whole time we did the ultrasound so it was hard to get really good pictures. I didn't realize the extent to which I really look forward to those ultrasounds until I wasn't able to get one as planned. I'm hoping that the tech will be back at work next monday and she can fit us in for an ultrasound when I'm closer to 17 weeks. She is always able to get much better pictures than we do with our machine. One thing that we could tell with the OB machine is that the baby is getting A LOT bigger. We could hardly fit the whole baby on the screen because it was so big. Next time we do it I'm sure that we will only be able to look at one part at a time because it will be too big to get all of it on the screen.

I also had my doctors appointment for 16 weeks. She was very happy with how things were going. I had gained 5 pounds since my last appointment (I blame at least 1 of those pounds on the water I was drinking to generate the pee that they wanted) which is an appropriate weight gain between appointments. Supposedly I'm supposed to gain about a pound per week from now until the end of the pregnancy. If I can do that then hopefully I will stay within the recommended weight gain for my size. I am still trying to work out and eat "right" (easy mac and cookies are on the pregnancy diet, right?). Lonnie had to leave work to make it to the appointment and got there in just enough time to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was really strong and really loud which means that the baby is getting a lot bigger now and is healthy. She didn't measure my uterus like I thought she would but I suppose that may start next visit. They drew some blood at the end of the appointment for what's called the quad screen. This test tests for proteins(I think) that show up in the mom's blood if the baby has a number of defects. It tests for down syndrome, and spina bifida among others. We'll get those results when we go to our next appointment in a month. I see my doctor again on May 27th for 20 weeks, and I have scheduled the 20 week ultrasound for the 29th with one of the other doctors that I work with. This ultrasound is where most people find out the sex, but we aren't going to find out and are going to wait for the surprise in the end.

In other important news, Lonnie's job is going very well. He started on April 3rd and has now been there for about a month. The assistant chief called him into a spare room and told him that he was going to make everyone look bad. This freaked him out a little bit but then she went on to explain that his first report that he did was one of the best that had ever gone out of the office! She now calls him "Hemingway" as a joke to play off of his writing skills. Apparently around here being able to put words together to make a coherent sentence and thought is a hot commodity. He's been enjoying having more to do around the office now that he is no longer stuck reading the penal code for hours on end.

That's our life for now!

Changes coming

I will have a few changes coming up for work for me. In 2 weeks I'll be changing to night shift on the opposite weekend that I normally work. Apparently there will also be changes with a number of other staff members. A couple of the ladies are coming over to us full time vs part time. And two others moving to the night shift as well. Our manager is trying to make it so that no one loses their jobs over the changes, but there is only so much she can do. I'm just hoping that because I'm the most recent one hired, that I won't automatically be the first one forced to move somewhere else. That worries me a little bit. But I know that God is in control of everything. He has it all planned out. Actually with things this way they are then it might make it even easier to take my maternity leave and get as much time as possible out of it. And maybe even easier to go to part time after teh baby is born. Hopefully this will all work out with the least amount of hassle, heartache or bloodshed at work as possible. I really enjoy my job and I know that it will work out and that God is in control. I just don't like uncertainty.
I am now 14 weeks. Still feeling awesome! I have a lot more of a baby belly now. Some folks at church said they could see my baby bump when I was standing up singing, and they were sitting across the church. We took another look at the baby last night but didn't get any good pictures. But the baby was sucking it's hand. You could actually see it doing a sucking motion. We could also see a lot more definition in the heart and could see different chambers. It ended up just whipping around and doing all kinds of flips and making it so we couldn't see it very well. We also got a good look at the feet too. So looking forward to another one in radiology in 2 more weeks at 16 weeks.

13 Weeks

For about the last week, after putting up the last post I have noticed some change in myself. I have noticed the beginnings of a baby pooch. It is not strikingly obvious but you can tell that it is there. I have also gotten to the point where I can no longer button the top of my pants. I thought that all of the waists of my pants were really loose in the waist, but apparently not loose enough. I have started to keep the tops of my pants closed with a rubberband. Quite possibly the best invention ever. Now I just have to figure out how to use the bathroom without losing my rubberband. It is an interesting feeling to feel like your body is getting away from you. I am trying to watch what I eat, and exercise just to stay in a good condition and not gain weight excessively. I'm sure that as I get further along in this I am only going to start feeling bigger and bigger. It is the price one pays for carrying a baby I suppose. It's just amazing to think that there is a little baby inside there growing.

12 weeks down, 28 to go!!

I have officially reached the 12 week mark. And thus, am officially done with the first trimester. I have still been feeling really good. I am still able to wear all of my pre-pregnancy clothes without much of a problem. There are now one pair of paints that I can still wear but if I've just eaten and am sitting down then it feels better to undo the top button. I'm just feeling a little fat but have only gained about 3 pounds, which is within the appropriate range for the first trimester when you're supposed to gain between 3-5 pounds. I haven't really started to show only a little extra around the middle. It will nice when I actually move beyond the "fat stage" and actually start showing, although I'm sure that I will wish that I was back to being this small. I now have tons of maternity clothes though thanks to my older sister who took me out shopping while I was up in Portland a couple weeks ago. Got to try on a bunch of clothes, and use the "fake belly" at the maternity stores to see how shirts looked with a belly under them. At Kohls they didn't have a fake belly so we tried everything from my mom's purse, to a Easter pillow, and 2 six-pack of socks. The socks worked the best, but I'm sure it's nothing like how big my belly is going to be. But now I have tons of cute clothes to wear as I get bigger. Part of me wants to get bigger just so I can wear them.
We got to have another ultrasound this week. I was 11 weeks 6 days at the time. The baby measured at 12 weeks 2 days. Last time it measured a few weeks behind and now it's caught up to being ahead now. Lonnie was able to come to this ultrasound. We took a video but aren't sure how to edit it or do anything so we could post it. But we got to see it moving around and bouncing. It was so fun to see Lonnie's face when he looked at it. It's always special to see the baby though. It finally has started to look like a baby now. We could see it moving it's arms and legs. She showed us it's developing brain....it looks very smart! And we got to hear the heartbeat again. I never get tired of hearing the heart beat and knowing that it's healthy and growing. We also got some great pictures of it in it's more human looking form. It's just incredible how much it's changed in just a month, from a lima bean to a baby.
We went and saw the doctor today for my 2nd appointment. She said everything looked good and even heard the heart beating with the doppler. I plan to see her again in a month, on the 29th. I double checked with her and she said it was ok to keep doing the ultrasounds just for fun. I'll do an official ultrasound at 20 weeks that another doctor is going to do for me, just because then he'll be able to make sure that everything is okay with the baby. That's normally when people find out the gender but since we aren't going to find out, it will make it easier on him. I really like the doctor I have because she's really laid back. I'm just looking forward to all the changes that are going to come with the baby.

10 weeks along

I am now 10 weeks exactly. I have been feeling excellent, no problems whatsoever. We are looking forward to another Dr's appointment at 12 weeks. Hopefully then we will be able to hear the heartbeat again. We have gotten to see the baby. We have an ultrasound machine in the OB unit so we pulled it out to take a look at the kid. The first night was just me and a couple of the other OB nurses who have no clue how to work the ultrasound machine trying to figure it out. We did find the baby (we think) and could see the heartbeat fluttering. We couldn't make out much else other than it moved around. However, at like 3am on Wed (this is what you do on night shift) one of the nurses from ICU came over and she used to be an ultrasound tech. So she got the machine working better than we did and was able to show us the baby. We could see it's arms and legs wiggling around and then saw it's whole body bounce around. We could very easily see the heartbeat and she showed us the umbilical cord. She said she could see where the face was, and could see the starts of the ventricles in the brain but it looks like a grayish blob to me. I was so excited to see it moving all around. I know when we get to take a look at it at 12 weeks it will be moving even more. She said the best time to do the ultrasounds if we do them at work is before 20 weeks because you can get a better look, but after that they start getting too big and you can only see individual parts not the whole baby. So she's going to do one once a month on the off weeks that I get the ultrasound tech from the hospital to do them. So that means that we/I will get to see the baby about every 2 weeks. I've gotta try and remember to take my camera with me to work to take pictures of the screen. That's how we got the pictures below of the baby. We took it with the OB unit camera. It's just an incredible thing to watch it change and grow into our baby.

Tomorrow I'm leaving in the morning to go up to Portland. I plan to leave around 8 am but when I said that Lonnie laughed at me. He doesn't think I'll be able to get it together and get out of bed in time. I'm going to go up and see my sister who moved back from Australia a couple weeks ago. I'm sure we will have a great visit and we plan to do some browsing at maternity stores, and Babies R Us. Probably won't buy much of anything, but it's all in the name of research.

Baby makes 3!!!

Lonnie and I had been talking about having a baby. We decided to wait until after we went on our vacation to Africa so I wouldn't have to worry about being sick or having to take antimalarials while pregnant. We decided to start trying in January. Apparently we're really fertile because it only took one month. I was hoping for that so that I could surprise Lonnie for his birthday with the announcement. On Lonnie's birthday I thought that I might be pregnant so after I woke up from working night shift in the afternoon, I took a pregnancy test. It was immediately positive, and I paced back and forth before deciding for sure to make it a surprise for Lonnie. So I ran out to walmart and found a onesie that said "my heart belongs to daddy" and I wrapped it up with the positive pregnancy test and gave it to him and told him it was his birthday present. He was totally shocked when he opened it and then he had a bit of trouble deciphering the lines to determine that it was indeed positive. We are just so excited!
On monday 3/2 one of the ultrasound techs at the hospital that I know said she'd sneak me in for an informal ultrasound. Everything on the baby looked just like it was supposed to. She confirmed there was only one in there. We got to hear the heart beat and could see it beating on the screen. It looks like a lima bean with just a hint of limb stubs. It just made it so much more real for me. Lonnie says he had his mind wrapped around it, but I think even he thought it was cool.
We saw the doctor today 3/4 and she said everything looked great and that we'll just continue one with the care as usual. So I had blood drawn for all the usual tests. I am going to be working on our blog and updating it anytime something happens so if you want to be kept up to speed you should keep checking back.

Dealing with Grandpa

Well, we've been really busy these days trying to sort out grandpa's life. It has now gotten to the point that he can no longer live safely on his own. We thought about bringing him into our home and that was the working plan for awhile. Now we as a family have realized that that is not a viable option. If grandpa lived here he'd have to be under 24 hour supervision. We can't pull that off even with some help, and as our lives change it would be increasingly difficult.
Now, the working plan is to get him moved up to Brookings, 30 miles away, in order to get him into a facility with a dementia and alzheimers unit. This is going to be a HUGE adjustment for him, and we're pretty sure he's not going to like it one bit. He's probably going to go kicking and screaming. Right now we have Lonnie's uncle Mike and aunt Deanna here to help us sort out all the legal aspects because Mike has power of attorney. They are going to have the first conversation with him tomorrow about needing to move out, and hopefully all the other pieces will fall into place and he can be in the facility in the next few weeks.
The question after he goes in the home is where this leaves us. Well, we don't know exactly. We currently don't have an exit strategy to get out of Crescent City. I really enjoy my job at the hospital and we've grown to like it here. So for the foreable future (or at least until God leads us otherwise) we're staying here. It's hard because part of us is drawn back to Portland, but this has become home. Lonnie's parents are moving back to the states in April and hope to get to CC by late June. If they can find jobs then they will try and stay here, if not they have to go where the jobs are. We will still have to do stuff with and for grandpa while we're here, including coordinating rides too and from church, and getting the items that he needs.
We know that God put us here for a reason and he clearly made all the pieces fall into place to make that move happen. So until the time he shows us that it's alright or that he wants us somewhere else then we'll stay for the time being. C'est la vie

Well, we went on our month long trip to South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. We had a hard time getting over there, including delays getting to London which meant limited time with my sister Katrina and her husband James. Plus on the way to London Lonnie passed out on the plane in front of the lavatory after he took some sleeping meds. Of course I lied to the flight attendant when she asked if he was taking any medications....I wasn't about to admit that I had drugged my husband (with consent) three hours before. After the losing consciousness incident he refused any more medication and decided to just stay awake for the rest of the trip.
We got to Johannesburg on time, and were picked up by his parents. We spent some time at their house, and I took a nap. Lonnie opted to stay awake because he figured he'd feel worse if he went to sleep. By the time we got to bed he'd been up for 51 hours since we got up at home, and had only had the 3 hours of restless sleep before he passed out in that time frame. We spent the day after we got there getting settled a bit and packing for the rest of our trip. The plan was to go to Botswana, then into Zimbabwe for a total of about 2 weeks then get back to Johannesburg. I'll spare everyone all the details and give you the highlights.
Botswana:
-We had our own little hut to stay in, complete with bathroom.
-We got to see impala, waterbuck, lone elephant, tons of birds, hippo, baboons, and a lion in the wild sitting underneath a tree - all on a morning game drive
-Right before we left the game drive we saw a herd of elephant about 40+ of them walk across the road in front of us before we left the park, an amazing thing to be so close to wild animals and get to see that
-We saw crocs, more hippos, swimming elephant, and the whole herd of elephants from the morning came to the water to play in the mud and drink.

Zimbabwe
-Drove into Victoria Falls, visited the falls in the morning.
-Shopped for tons of souveniers
-Went to the Boma-"The place for eating" and ate an authentic african dinner. We ate warthog, ostrich, buffalo, and sudza, didn't eat the mopani worm though despite the dares to do it
-Drove down to Bulawayo and visited the KCV orphan village that Lonnie's parent's started
-Celebrated Thanksgiving with a bunch of people who didn't know what Thanksgiving was
-Went to Matopos National Park and saw Rhino, Lonnie and I got within 15 feet of a female and calf
-We went to Chipangali wildlife orphanage, and got to feed a rhino, and see lions, leopards, monkeys, croc, birds
-Drove up to Gweru and went to antelope park. Got to go on a mule drawn carriage ride and see zebra, birds, giraffe's and kudu, as well as wildebeests, and warthogs
-Got to walk with two 19 month old lion cubs in the morning. Got to touch them, pet them, and walk through the park with them

South Africa
-Drove 14 hours to get back to Jo-burg in one day
-Stayed in Jo-burg for a week and went to see Beauty and the Beast broadway performance
-Lonnie and I flew down to Cape Town
-In Cape Town we got to go up to Table mountain, down to the waterfront, hike, get sunburned, see penguins, visit the Cape of Good Hope (the most southwest point on the continent), and visit Robben Island, Kirstenbosch botanical garden, and the Castle of Good Hope.

After a month on our amazing vacation we headed back home. We had an incredible time and will always remember it. All of our flight (amazingly) went smoothly and we were able to get some rest flying back and all our flights were on time. We got home to a warm house (very nice considering it was 30 degrees or less outside) and dinner in the oven, from a nurse I work with. When it was all said and done we were glad we took the time, money and energy to make the trip and to do all we did.