Pillow...

I got my new double body pillow (from my earlier post) today. I took a nap and tested it out...2 hours later, I'm hooked!

24 weeks- V day!

How far along? 24 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: up 15 pounds...
Maternity clothes? always
Stretch marks? not yet.
Sleep: barely.
Best moment this week: eating cake for breakfast...oh and V day!
Movement: all the time.
Food cravings: mac & cheese today, but we didn't have any :(
Labor Signs: None
Belly Button in or out? the bottom is flat, I'm carrying pretty low
What I miss: painless sleep
What I am looking forward to: baby showers
Weekly Wisdom: take time for you and the beeb when your stressed
Milestones: I outgrew a pair of MATERNITY pants! At least they were the button front kind and not the belly panel ones!

mess

After yesterday's ordeal I'm still feeling really "shaken up". I feel like I'm constantly on the verge of tears and have broken down and cried quite a few times.
I can't exactly pinpoint why I feel so sad. I think the biggest thing is I'm worried about our little guy. I want to be sure he's fine, and there are no signs that he's not...but after all that stress and the radiation yesterday, I can't help but be worried. I almost feel guilty...like if I had just gone home and rested that we wouldn't have gone through all that. Although- the Doc's orders were to go to the ER and you can't really ignore that. I'd probably be just as stressed and worried if we didn't take that precaution.
Ugh. I just feel bleh. I'm at home today- trying to distract myself. There's no way I could go to work, I'm too much of a mess and I REALLY didn't want to have to talk about yesterday.
Here's hoping this funk doesn't last.

my trip to the ER today.

Today was a terrible, no good, rotten day.
It started out fine, I was just minding my own business sitting at work with a caramel hot chocolate. I was feeling short of breath for a bit, but it has happened before and passes fairly quickly. I just attribute it to less room for everything due to baby's growth.
At 9:30am it started to worsen and my heart was beating really hard. I decided to see what my heart rate was and freaked out a bit when I counted 110 bpm. I called Ben, who works steps away from me and he told me to call my OB's office and he was on his way over.
I spoke to a nurse and since baby boy was moving fine and there was no cramping, she suggested that I call my general practitioner's office. Called them and they got me an appointment for about an hour from then, but told me to go to the ER if things got worse.
Ben took me home to lay down before the appointment and I started to feel better. On the way there, it started to get hard to breath again, but my heart rate was normal. The Dr. couldn't figure out what was wrong because I wasn't wheezing like asthma or allergies, but I was obviously struggling.
I figured since my heart rate was normal that he'd send me home to rest.
NOPE!
He sent me straight to the ER. He ordered a scan of my lungs.
Here's where the drama started...
We get to the ER at 11:30am and I get checked in. The first triage guy asks about chest pain...which I wasn't experiencing. The second triage nurse came in and asked me to explain my symptoms again but stopped when he saw that I'm 24 weeks pregnant and called Mother-Baby. He got off the phone and told me that they don't work with women over 20 weeks in the ER. He calls Mother-Baby again to tell them they are sending me up and they said to send me to Labor & Delivery. They made me sit in a wheel chair...
A security guard takes me to the front desk, they call L&D again to get someone to bring me up. Once I get there they had just heard from the Dr. at my general practitioner's office who told them to send me back to the ER because baby is fine..
According to Ben, the look on the lady's face at the front desk was priceless when she saw me being wheeled BACK to ER.
I then had to wait in triage again for an empty room in the ER. By now, I'm feeling a bit better- aside from the irritation of being wheeled all over the gigantic hospital.
12:30 pm and they take me to a room and I'm immediately surrounded by 7 different people. One lady is telling me to take off my clothes and she'll help me into the gown, another is asking me what time things started, etc, etc...
I sit down on the bed and there's mention of an IV (which I've NEVER experienced) and I meet two Dr's at the same time who ask me the same things one after another that someone else had just finished asking me. I look over at my husband who is just as confused as I am.
I asked why I'm getting an IV and they said they needed to draw blood and the IV would be better if they needed to do anything else. It hurt like hell.
I ask why I'm being hooked up to heart monitors and another nurse tells me that it's just in case I go into cardiac arrest... I couldn't tell if she was trying to be cute...
Then I have oxygen tubes shoved up my nose...totally unnecessary since my oxygen level is at 100%
Everything was so dramatic- I thought I was just getting some sort of scan!
After everyone left and it was just the two of us I looked at my husband and asked "What just happened" and he goes "That was a WTF moment for sure".
DRAMATIC!
Ben took this picture with his phone to document how ridiculous I looked and how unnecessary we both knew all this was-
A little after 1pm I get unhooked from all that junk and taken to xray. Apparently they need xrays of my lungs to make sure there is no fluid or a puncture....wouldn't you KNOW if you punctured a lung? And isn't it impossible to puncture a lung while sitting at your desk?
1:40pm and I'm STARVING. Hadn't eaten since 8:30am. Ben asks the nurse if I can eat and she said that it would complicate the scan and if I ate now they'd have to keep me overnight and do the scan tomorrow. MORE DRAMA. When she actually asks the Dr. he says it's fine for me to eat and Ben gets us burgers from the hospital cafe.
I asked the nurse if I really need this scan. At this point I'm breathing normally. Apparently I don't have any choice in the matter.
2:30pm and the nicest lady in the hospital comes to take me to nuclear medicine for the scan. I don't remember what it's called, but it's like a CT that's safe for pregnant ladies because there's not enough radiation to hurt mom or baby. Still...radiation sounds scary.
I have to breath in some fine mist that's mixed with oxygen and have pictures taken on a machine that moves around a bed.
Then I have saline (which feels like ice in your veins) and then some substance put into my IV so they can see the veins in my lungs to make sure there isn't a clot.
Apparently clots are a common risk for pregnant women. At this point the xray had come back fine as well as the blood tests. So they're thinking I have some sort of a clot near my lungs.
3:40pm I get back to "my" room and hooked back up to all the fun machines- except the oxygen. Hubby begins to doze off in the very little plastic chair next to me. We are both emotionally and physically exhausted.
4:15pm the ER Doc comes back and tells me everything came back normal (I could have told him that three hours earlier) and that sometimes when you're pregnant you misread the changes in your body. Basically, the blamed me for the drama that I was trying to avoid, by telling them that I was fine.

Ben and I came home and took a nap and I'm still so emotionally exhausted. All day at the ER and inconclusive tests equals MUCH frustration.

Baby Shower Invites

Look what I made! (info edited so I can post it for the public). This is the same design as our nursery decor. 

precious sleep!

Last night I was having a pretty intense craving for fish, specifically parmesean encrusted halibut that I had on the coast last summer for our anniversary dinner. Obviously not going to get what I wanted, so Ben went out and bought me some fish sticks.
I totally bought that pillow online last night. Ben is known as the "enabler" by the entire family, and he talked me into buying it. It wasn't that hard to do- Since I had tried to turn over in the middle of the night and had such an excrutiating pain in my hip that I actually cursed repeatedly and had Ben turn me over.
I was considering sleeping on the recliners of our couch last night, Ben insisted he'd sleep out there with me too. I decided against it when he discovered Tylenol PM on my "safe" list from the OB's office.
Ben made his second trip to the store that evening and I can't thank him enough for it. Not only did I sleep better, but when I did wake up to turn over my body didn't hurt and I was able to fall back asleep instantly.
Precious sleep, how I missed you!

pain in the back

I over did it on Saturday and my back has been aching ever since. Last night Ben had to get up and help me turn over on my other side because something in my hip was pinching so bad that I couldn't move!
I've been in pretty bad pain all day...and have been researching body pillows as a result. This one may be the winner...doesn't she look so comfy?

Nesting

I've surely hit the nesting phase.
Today we went grocery shopping, I reorganized the kitchen, baked a cake, did laundry, made dinner, went through clothes and put away things that don't fit (the third and probably not the last time I'll do this).
Ben played video games, surfed the web, helped fold laundry, and is now editing video.
If my back and feet weren't hurting so badly, I'd probably be in the nursery going through all the junk that needs to go!

I got some maternity hand-me-downs from MIL's boss today. Only one of the tops fits right now, the rest are way too big. They'll probably be nice for the end of my pregnancy when I don't want to buy clothes for the last month, and I can wear whatever I want because I won't be at work!

Totally unrelated- have I mentioned that Ben won a vacation at work? I don't want to bother to check my previous posts to see if I've already told this story. Someone donates a week of their timeshare at a beachfront house in Lincoln City. Non-negotiable dates of July 31st-August 7th. Baby could be anywhere between 7 weeks and 1 week old by then. If we aren't up to going we'll give it to my parents. I can't help but wonder if we'll go and be able to enjoy it with a newborn...

home sick..day two

I was totally going to finish our taxes today.
Ben doesn't know here his W-2 is.
Darn.

updates...

On Thursday evening while I was cooking dinner I started to feel a tightening on my left side from my back around to my hip. I figured it was just stretched ligaments and muscles and leaned on the counter to take some of the weight off. Then it suddenly tightened up was so painful I fell on the floor. Ben rushed in and supported me for a minute. The pain subsided for two minutes and then returned again. Ben immediately called my OB's office and we awaited the call from the on call Doc. About ten minutes went by and the pain didn't come back. I explained it to the Dr. and she thinks it could possibly be kidney stones. She said that I either had passed it or that I would feel the pain again as it passes. She ruled out contractions, and since the pain was gone I just relaxed like she told me to.
Ben looked it up online and apparently kidney stones are more prevalent in pregnancy than any other time. That night I emailed with a gal from the bump who had experienced kidney stones three times! What she described didn't sound like my experience. Apparently the pain I had is similar to when the stone passes into the bladder, but then you feel more pain when you pass it out...which never happened. I have an appointment with our OB on Wednesday and will chat with her about it then.

Last week I officially withdrew from school. I was working on my Master's degree in the evenings. The plan was to take a year off once baby arrived, but a lot of complications with the program basically forced me to leave sooner. I'm glad I did- I feel so much more relaxed and at ease. I feel like I can really focus on getting our house together and getting ready for baby!

On Saturday Ben, my mom, my sister, and I registered at Target. It was a lot of fun, but also fairly exhausting. We were glad to have my mom there to offer advice. Even though it's been 16 years since she was pregnant, she is known for keeping up on things like recalls, safety, and sales. I also registered at Babies R Us (#84492299) and can't decide between two travel system sets. I HAVE to have the crib from BRU though- which is a bummer since the nearest one is two hours away!

The family shower is tentatively set for the Saturday before Mother's Day in May. I have to communicate this to my MIL and have her contact my mom to get the planning started. I haven't had any offers from friends and I'm worried that I won't be able to invited them to this shower because of how many people it would be. My family alone is huge, but we're combining both sides. On top of that, many of my more distant friends have expressed interest in being invited to the shower...


Today Ben and I are home sick. He's been sick for almost a week now and I got his bug as we thought I would. Sore throat, cough, sinus congestion...all the fun stuff! I've been sleeping on and off all day and resting on our lovely new couches.

I'm so nursery obsessed this week

I think it was the trip to BRU that did it for me...I'm loving planning and can't wait to be able to actually put it all together.

I saw this bedding not too long ago, but didn't love it at first. I think I was still mourning over the Turtle Bay set being discontinued.

My boss showed it to me again today and I've decided that I must have it...

22 weeeeeeeks!

How far along? 22 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: I think I've gained 10 or 11 pounds, but I'm not sure how accurate my scale is.
Maternity clothes? Just went shopping at Old Navy and the Motherhood outlet last weekend!
Stretch marks? still nothing new, lets keep it that way!
Sleep: barely.
Best moment this week: my sister and mom feeling him move.
Movement: still fairly active- my favorite is when I can SEE it!
Food cravings: yesterday it was a tuna sandwich with pickles. Today- who knows!?
Labor Signs: No, but I had the weirdest tightening in my stomach last night.
Belly Button in or out? On it's way out...it should be totally flat soon.
What I miss: white wine with dinner.
What I am looking forward to: Getting rid of old furniture and getting the nursery started.
Weekly Wisdom: drink lots of water- always!
Milestones: consitent enough movements for others to feel him.

that baby...

So I work at a small University, where everyone knows each other for the most part. Today one of the student workers takes a look at me and he says "When's that baby comin' out?". I nearly fell on the floor laughing. 

Sounds like a super awkward comment, but this guy cracks me up just about daily and is really a nice guy- so my response was "Whenever he's ready...but he's due in July." I then told him that he's probably the only person I know that could get away with saying that and not being offensive. He took it as a compliment.

I don't wanna

I have a bunch of homework to do- most of it consists of reading about instructional design.I started it...

Watching my belly, waiting to see baby boy kick is way more fun and higher on my list of immediate priorities. Also, so is blogging-obviously.

Baby Weekend!

Ben and I went up to Portland this past weekend for a wedding. We went up early and had lunch with my best friend and her husband in West Linn. She hadn't seen me "looking" pregnant yet, she tried to feel the little guy kick but he was being shy.

We went from there to the wedding and saw two former co-workers who haven't seen me since before I was pregnant. It was fun to see them.

Then we went to Gresham and stayed over with a girl friend of mine from college that also hadn't seen the pregnant version of me yet. Baby did kick for her- she was excited to be the second to feel it. Ben was the first (if you don't count the u/s tech...).

The next day Ben and I went on a shopping extravaganza! Eugene doesn't have a Babies R Us so that was my main goal for the day in Portland, was to experience BRU and possibly register. We actually started out at the Old Navy because the one in Gresham has maternity and ours does not. I got a ton of new clothes, so excited!

Then we went to IKEA though...neither of us had ever been, so it was quite the overwhelming adventure. We weren't really looking to buy...just checking things out. They have some of the funniest baby/kid stuff there. Our child will eventually have the following items:

But I wasn't too impressed with the cribs. They didn't seem to have multiple levels to adjust the mattress and they were kind of boring.

Next we went to Babies R Us. We went up and down every single isle and it was so much fun! We didn't formally register because my main registry will be at Target and I want to double check that they don't carry what we want first- then I'll register online at BRU.

We looked at carriers, Ben wants a front carrier like a baby bjorn and I want a sling carrier. I've read that it makes sense to get two anyway so you aren't constantly adjusting for who's wearing the thing.

We then discovered the infanct car set/stroller travel system that we want and then fell in love with the matching play yard and high chair.

There was also a bedding set that I liked, but doesn't totally match the nursery. I think I'll just get the sheets, they are white with blue and green circles, it's by KidsLine and it's called "Bubbles". There are turtles in the theme, but along with an octupus, fish, and other sea life.

We also settled on a crib we want. I originally was looking for the Da Vinci Paker or Kalani cribs, but they didn't have them in the store. I also really want a non-converable non-drop side crib that has low enough sides for me to lean over. That's a lot of requirements, but I think I found them in the Carter's Classic Sleigh crib with an Espresso finish. It's a beautiful thing...and Ben loves it too! yay:)

There's a shelf at the bottom and it's very sturdy. Also, there's a matching changing table and dresser that we'll probably register for, but most likely won't get or be able to purchase ourselves...but I can dream, right?

Well in the interest in not making this post any longer than it already is, to summarize our trip we went to Bridgeport Village in Tigard {one of my fave shopping places} and ate at California Pizza Kitchen, browsed at The Container Store and the Apple Store {for Ben}, then stopped at the Outlets in Woodburn- got a great deal on a cute mimi maternity dress at motherhood and some adorable outfits at Carter's. Finished off with hot pretzel's at Auntie Anne's and were on our way home!

First Nursery Purchase!

Before I even got pregnant, Ben and I had a plan for what we wanted the nursery to look like. It's not a super detailed plan, just colors and a general theme. This was inspired by my discovery of the CoCaLo Turtle Bay Collection that I recently learned has been discontinued.

Since I could no longer register for these items I've been searching to find deals online before they were gone. Babies R Us has nothing left, nor does Target, and most of the online stores just have the lightswitch cover and wallpaper border- both items I wasn't planning on getting.

Last night I finally found three of my favorite and must-have items online at Bed, Bath, and Beyond- much to my surprise.

The first is my favorite, the rug- we have hardwood floors so a rug in the nursery is a must!

The second is a mobile, which will be the only item to tie the crib into the decor since the bedding isn't available.

And last are the wall hangings. I'm excited to be able to take one of these with us to register to match colors as closely as possible.

I love hiccups!

Baby has the hiccups! It's like little rhythmic kicks and it's wonderful. I wonder what it feels like for him? I usually hate it when I have the hiccups...

Distracted

I'm having a really hard time concentrating these days. It's especially difficult when my little man wants to kick up a storm and I'm in staff meeting or having a conversation about my class load with my Grad school advisor. 

Speaking of...I went to talk to him today about my current class being the last one I'll take in the program before the baby is born. I'm halfway through the program, so I want to take a year off and then go back after that. He's trying to convince me to take one more class after the 8 weeks I'll have in the one that starts on Thursday.

I don't know if I can do 16 more weeks of classes and I don't think I want to be in class during weeks 28-36 of my pregnancy! It's only once a week (from 5pm-8pm after an 8am-5pm work day), but add that to the fact that I'll be working, Ben has worship band practices and we only have one car, and try to fit in getting the house ready, registering, showers, birthing and breast feeding classes...I really don't want my schedule that busy! Yet, I still can't decide if I should take his advice and do one more class. 

On another note- my MIL offered to throw a shower with my SIL in May. She had me talk to my mom and sister to see if they wanted to do a joint one. Sounds like fun! It'll probably only be able to be family though, or it would be too big for one party. I'll have to find out if any of my friends want to throw one that I can invite all my girlfriends to. 

This weekend we are going  up to Portland for a wedding. It's Saturday afternoon and we're staying the night with a friend so we can do some shopping on Sunday. We don't have a BRU in town so we'll check that out. We're also going to take our first trip to the new IKEA and stop at The Container Store and the outlets for Motherhood, Carter's, and Gymboree deals. I'm not much of a shopper, but I am really excited to start looking at baby stuff with daddy-to-be!

Daddy's Kisses

How far along? 20 weeks 2 days
Total weight gain/loss:  up 9 lbs.
Maternity clothes?  pretty much exclusively. my long tops still work for now.
Stretch marks?   not new ones yet...
Sleep:  ugh...my hips are killing me!
Best moment this week:  a tie between finding out we're expecting a boy & Ben feeling him kick.
Movement:  tons, we've got an active little guy.
Food cravings:  I HAD to have the new coldstone cupcake things after seeing them on another blog and finally got them today! Still always craving popsicles.
Gender:   100% boy!
Labor Signs: No.
Belly Button in or out? Getting really shallow.
What I miss:  being able to stay in one position for more than 20 minutes.
What I am looking forward to:  registering.
Weekly Wisdom: sleep while you can, oh glorious sleep.
Milestones:   20 week ultrasound & massive kicks.