Rough Weekend

I have had a rough weekend and just thought it would make me feel better to blog about it. :-)

I really don't know what's going on for sure but I started to experience a mild backache Friday night when Josh and I were on a date...he surprised me and took me to dinner and a movie. We saw the movie, Courageous, which is made by the same people who did Fireproof, if any of you are familiar with that movie. Just a side note: It was a sold out theatre and was really quite the experience. We didn't even feel like we were in a movie, we felt more like we were in a very lively and animated church service. People were hollering and cheering and the whole experience was very moving. If you haven't seen the movie, we highly recommend you all see it. It has a great message about parenting and especially geared towards fathers and the important role they play in the family.

Ok...back to my rough weekend. I have had occasional low back pain in the last few weeks but it has been very tolerable and rest makes it feel better. But, this back pain that started Friday night has turned into a very debilitating pain and I have barely been able to function all weekend. Nothing makes it feel better...it hurts laying down, sitting, walking, etc. All weekend, I have not been able to stand up straight or even walk very well. The pain is very low and I am wondering if it is my sciatic nerve that is acting up due to the weight and pressure from the baby? I have heard of pregnant women complain of their sciatic but I still wish I knew for sure why I'm having this pain.

I have spent all weekend wondering/worrying about how in the world will I make it for the next 10 days in all this pain. And, in addition to the back pain, I am having pretty significant hand/feet swelling, which I know is completely normal at this late stage of pregnancy. It just still worries me that my blood pressure is becoming high, even though it has been completely normal at every doctor's appointment.

If anyone has any tips or advice for the pain, it would mean a lot to me to hear from you and any ways I can cope with this. And, to top it all off, I feel like I might be coming down with a head cold/upper respiratory bug as all day I have had a sore throat and just feeling generally yucky in that regard.

I am so sorry for being such a complainer in this post...I just needed to vent a bit and thanks for listening.

Let's hope tomorrow is a better day.

37-Week Update!

Hello! Today we had our 37-Week Ultrasound Appt! I have been SO excited for this appointment as I am getting more and more impatient with each day.

We confirmed by ultrasound that the baby is STILL breech. He/she just doesn't want to turn around, I guess. Everything else looked great and after some measurements, they predicted our baby currently weighs 7 pounds so we are right on track for a 8 to 8 1/2 pound baby by the time of delivery.

Our doctor recommends doing a C-section delivery two weeks from today! Can you even believe it?? So...October 12th will be our little miracle's birthday! We had to get it all scheduled and arranged with the hospital but all the details are now confirmed. We are to arrive about 5:30am on Wednesday, Oct. 12th and will have the surgery at 7:15am. What a concept huh? Who knew childbirth could be that quick?!

We are very excited but now we realize how much stuff we have left to do in the two weeks until we meet our little miracle. We will use every bit of time we have to finish everything.

I am having some anxiety about the scheduled C-section, mainly about the surgery itself and the long, tough recovery that I know is in front of me. I will trust God that he knows what he's doing and that he will bring us safely through it. And, I just keep telling myself that many women have C-sections and do just fine. We would love and greatly appreciate any prayers for a safe and successful procedure.

Will continue to update as I can!

36-Week Update!

Today we had our 36-week update and our little miracle is STILL in the breech position! He/she is being very stubborn and as Josh says "Well, our baby is definitely special." ;-)

We will wait until our appointment next week, at 37 weeks, to confirm the baby's position by ultrasound and if he/she is still breech next week, we will have more serious discussions about our options.

Our two basic options will be to schedule a C-section to deliver at 39 weeks OR there is a procedure we can try called Version, where the doctor tries to externally turn the baby into a head down position. Our doctor actually doesn't recommend doing a version on a first time mom because the uterine muscles usually aren't limber enough for the procedure to be successful. She indicated that there is only a 50/50 success rate with this type of procedure and even less than that for first time pregnant women.

We are just praying for God to show us guidance on how to proceed with safely delivering our little miracle into this great world.

We are open to a C-section, although that's not what either of us would have preferred. I know the recovery will be much tougher and for an extreme hypochondriac like me, it could prove to be an especially rough time. But, we are trying to stay positive for now and ultimately, we just want our little miracle here safe and sound.

We will update more next week after our ultrasound!

Last Couples Shower!

This weekend, we had our last shower and this one was a couples shower again! Two of our good friends threw the shower for us and we had a ton of fun. The theme was jungle animals, which of course matches the theme of our room so that made it extra special.






One of the shower hosts, Heather and her husband Jeremy are AMAZING cake bakers and decorators and they made these cakes for the shower. They are the best tasting and looking cakes that you will ever eat and I would highly recommend hiring them for any cakes you may need!







For entertainment at the shower, our friends planned a competition between Josh and I to see who had better knowledge and skill about babies. We had to see who could change a diaper the fastest, finish nursery rhymes and put together a bottle and drink it out of the bottle! It was a ton of fun and we really enjoyed the challenge!

Here's a pic of us changing a diaper!





The two hosts, April and Heather, who threw the wonderful shower for us! They are both such great friends and we are very thankful for them!





We were blessed with SO many wonderful gifts at all of our showers and we just feel so incredibly lucky to have been showered with

32-Week Update/Ultrasound

Well, we are now 32 weeks along in our pregnancy!

We had an ultrasound yesterday to see how BIG the baby is getting. Everything continues to look great and develop normally. Our baby has changed so much since our last ultrasound at 20 weeks! His/her cheeks have really filled out and we could see HAIR! After all the measurements, they estimated that our baby now weighs 4 pounds, 12 ounces, which is in the 65th percentile. SO...the baby is on the larger side already and we still have 8 weeks to go! Our OB warned us that we could be looking at a 9 pound baby by the time of delivery! YIKES!!! Both Josh and I were in the 8 pound range so we knew might have a bigger baby anyway. Either that, or I am eating too many Cheetos and too much cake! :-)

Here's a 4D pic of the baby's face:



We also found out that the baby is in a breech position right now, so we've got 8 weeks for him/her to turn into the head down position, otherwise, we might be looking at delivering via C-Section. We are really hoping and praying that the baby will turn on it's own between now and then, and we will continue to be monitored to check on that in the coming weeks.

All in all, it was a good appointment and it was SO very wonderful to see our little miracle on ultrasound again after all this time. But, to be honest, I am finding myself more worried about the baby now after we learned of his/her size as well as the breech position. I know I just have to let go and trust God as things will happen according to his will.

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

Lincoln Baby Shower!

This weekend, I had a smaller, women's only shower in Lincoln, which was hosted by three of our good friends. This was a much more intimate group and was a really fun time for some personal one-on-one visits with friends from Lincoln. The gals who threw the shower went with a jungle animal themed shower as that is the theme of our baby's room at home!

All the decorations were ADORABLE and I am just in love with jungle animals these days!

This is me with one of the hosts, Kristen. I am just now realizing I didn't get a shot of all three hosts together! :-(





Cupcake Cake:


The most adorable monkey balloon:


Most of the group at the shower:


We got our Luv U Zoo Playmat:


Thanks to all who attended and to Kori, Kristen and Jessica for hosting a wonderful baby shower!

Couple's Baby Shower!

We had a Couple's Shower here in Omaha this weekend, hosted by my mom, my two sisters and my aunt. It was mainly family who attended and we had such a wonderful time. It was on Saturday night at my sister's house and I think everyone had a really fun time.

The theme was "Under the Sea with Baby and Me" and they all went to a lot of work to have all the decorations match the theme!



This is my mom who put SO much effort and work into the shower!







It was very humbling and a bit overwhelming to see all the people who came out for it and who blessed us with such wonderful gifts for our little miracle. We have never felt so loved and are so thankful for such a wonderful family and friends couples shower.

Childbirth Education Class!

Josh and I have been taking our 6-week Childbirth Education Classes at the hospital for a few weeks now and are really enjoying it!

We are learning all about the Labor and Delivery process, breastfeeding and how to care for a newborn. It has been so much fun meeting the other new parents in our class as we are all due within the same 2 week timeframe in October.

We are going to deliver our baby at Omaha's newest hospital, the Women's Methodist Hospital. It is such a wonderful facility and we took a tour of the hospital during one of our classes recently. The rooms are really more like hotel rooms and not hospital rooms. They have flat screen HD TV's, jacuzzi tubs and mini-fridges in each room so they are very nice.

Josh has been absolutely wonderful in each and every class! He completely dotes on me as the men often have to practice relaxation techniques by giving us massages, and "practicing" to keep us calm during the labor process. I am so excited to have him as my partner in life and as my labor coach.

Here's a picture of us as we were heading into our first class with our pillows!

SKYPE SHOWER!!

This weekend, we had our first baby shower...and it was a VIRTUAL one at that!

Josh's family is pretty spread out across the country and his parents (who live in California) decided to host two Skype Baby Showers for us! We did two back to back sessions and everything went great for the most part! We had a few technical glitches along the way but it was such a GREAT way to catch up with everyone. Plus, all of Josh's family was able to see our nursery and Josh was challenged to change a doll's diaper in front of everyone and I took on the challenge to stack baby cups as fast as I could!

It was a lot of fun and here are some pics!

Here are the supplies we needed for the games:



Here are some of the gifts we received in the mail prior to the shower:





Here is a shot of the computer SKYPE screen!




Here is a shot of me trying to stack baby cups as fast as I can:


Here is a shot of Josh changing a doll's diaper:


Thanks to JoAnn and Dave Funk for hosting a GREAT SKYPE shower and thanks to all of Josh's family for attending and such generous gifts!

Glucose Test PASSED!

I forgot to update but at our 24 week appointment, we had our glucose screening test for gestational diabetes and we PASSED! We were never so relieved because I have had alot of issues with my blood sugar since being diagnosed with PCOS, which was the whole root of my infertility problems. It had been a big stress leading up to the test so we were very relieved when we received the good news! Bring on the carbs! ;-)

Babymoon!

I'm sure some of you are wondering what is a babymoon anyway? Well, I think traditionally, a babymoon is the time after you have a baby for the new parents to spend bonding with the new baby. But, becoming more and more popular, the Babymoon is a time when the expectant parents can get away on a trip one last time before the baby comes.

Josh happened to have 5 days off in a row right around the 4th of July Holiday so we decided to take our Babymoon! I didn't feel up to flying anywhere and therefore, we settled on going to Kansas City and staying on the Plaza in one of the nice hotels. Josh and I have always loved going to Kansas City and have some many fond memories of past trips there. The Plaza area has a lot of character and we have enjoyed the shops and restaurants there!

We stayed at the Intercontinental on the Plaza and had such a wonderful time. It was just a great time to relax and talk about the miracle of a new life that is growing inside of me. We ate tons of great food, walked around the shops, went to movies, and just generally relaxed.

Some of the roads from Omaha to Kansas City were closed due to flooding, so we took a major detour to get there. Here's a shot of our picnic lunch on the way down.







A view of our room at the Intercontinental right after we checked in:



We had a nice balcony room overlooking the Plaza. It was a great view!


Our first dinner that night was at Jack Stack's BBQ and had delicious food!





After dinner, we took a private Gondala ride on the river next to the Plaza. The "Romance Package" came with non-alcoholic wine, 2 boxes of chocolate and complimentary wine glases and a private, 20 minute ride. It was very romantic and very peaceful to glide along the water looking at all the lights of Kansas City.







We enjoyed coffee and breakfast on our balcony in the mornings!


We took our dog, Pica with us on our Babymoon as the hotel allowed dogs and the Plaza is VERY pet friendly. She is a great little traveler!

We went to this amazing Italian restaurant where meals are served family style!



There was a Three Dog Bakery store in the Plaza and took our Pica there and got her some pretty fancy dog treats. She loved it and had a great time!


Our Hotel: We were in the wing on the right side with the balconies.

Room service and Movie Night in our Room!


It was a GREAT Babymoon and we are very thankful we had that time to recharge and spend some time enjoying being just the two of us.

Finished Baby's Room

We finally finished the baby's room!

Josh and I have had SO much fun making the room just the way we wanted it! We chose a combination of a Noah's Ark/jungle/safari animal theme for the room. It was pretty early on when we found a bedding set we really liked and ever since then, we keep running across things that match our theme and have just added little pieces here and there. We think it all came together very nicely and it's just been such a fun, bonding experience for Josh and I. We are both in love with the room and cannot wait until October when we finally get to meet our little miracle!

Here are some pics of the finished room!



Changing Table:




Wall Art above the changing table:


Our Baby's Daily Prayer:


We found these awesome wall animals at Babies R Us and then had a sticker set of animals and just combined them for decoration.






Chair:




We found several of our decorations at Parables, which is a Christian bookstore here in Omaha and one of our favorite stores.




Here's the sign that hangs above the baby's crib:


Here's the baby's laundry hamper and the sleep giraffe that makes four different kinds of noises and should help the baby sleep.


Finished Crib with Mattress, Crib Sheet and Bumper Pad and Mobile!