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!

22-Week Belly Pics!

I haven't posted many belly pictures but thought I would post a few that Josh took tonight! Today was my birthday, 34 years old! So, we thought it would be a good time to take some more shots.



Here's the envelope where the baby's gender is sealed away!



We found this saying for the baby's room at Parables and thought it was very appropriate after our long journey to becoming parents. It says, "Good Keeps His Promises."

20-Week Ultrasound/The Suspence Continues....

Well, we made it to the HALF-WAY MARK!! We are officially half-way done with the pregnancy! It's so hard to believe! Today, we had our big 20-week ultrasound but we ultimately decided NOT to find out the gender and be surprised.

I really went back and forth about finding out, but Josh made a good point. He said that throughout all of our fertility treatments, everything has been so scheduled and predicted. Nothing throughout this process has been a surprise. So, not finding out our baby's gender is the one surprise we have in this process.

The ultrasound wasn't as impressive as the ones we've had in the past because the ultrasound tech appeared to be new and didn't really take the time to let us get a good glimpse of the baby. But, we did get some pictures!





Here's a pic of the feet:




They did a full anatomy scan of the baby and everything continues to look perfect! We did have the ultrasound tech look for the gender and she printed off a picture for us and wrote down the gender and then we sealed it in an envelope. Just in case we change our minds and can't wait to find out, we will have the option to peek!

We are very thankful to our amazing God for giving us 20 weeks so far and we look forward to the 2nd half until we welcome our little miracle into the world!