I want to remember what my bruise looks like- do not open post if you are squeemish

This is what my terrible hernia bruise looks like today. It literally came out of nowhere last sunday. I wish I still had a belly button. This is at 34 weeks, 4 days. I have 38 days to go until my due date.

34 weeks- L&D Trip 2

This photo was actually taken last weekend at 33 weeks 6 days.

On Tuesday I was having severe stomach pains, contractions, and some bleeding. I called my doctor and she told me to go ahead and come into the office to get checked out. 

So she took my weight, blood pressure, checked for any dilation (none) and poked around on my belly. She could tell I was in terrible pain right around the belly button so she sent me to Labor and Delivery, again, for monitoring and so that they could do some ultrasounds. 

I really really love the hospital! I was wheeled over to L and D and my nurse from Sunday was there, and remembered me (i am always impressed by that). She got to take care of me again which I was so thankful for. In Corpus the nursing staff was NOT NICE but here they are fantastic! I really really love the experience I have had so far. My doctor came to check on me about an hour after I arrived and ordered me some pain meds. A little while later they took me down for an ultrasound. They checked my gallbladder, pancreas, intestines, etc. The placenta looks good, it is just anterior (meaning it covers my belly instead of my back). 

Owen looks great! He is approximately 5lbs and 19.5 inches long. He is in the head down position, however he is "sunny-side-up". So instead of him facing my back, he is facing my stomach. This can cause a ton of back pain (yup), me feeling him less than some people (yup), longer to dilate when delivery happens, it will take longer to push him out, etc. 

By the time I got back from the ultrasound John had arrived at the hospital so he was able to spend the next 5 hours with me.

I was hooked up to the contraction monitor and my uterus was quite "irritable". I was having not so timable contractions- but pretty big ones. My doc gave me a shot to make them stop, and the shot was terrible! It made my heart rate go up 20 beats per minute, I got so HOT, I was shaking, etc. But it did the job, the contractions tapered off a bit. 

They finally sent me on my way. Basically I may have a hernia, they can not really prove it at this time, and if I do, there is nothing that can be done about it anyways. It will go away after the baby comes. They said all they can do for now is treat the pain symptoms. YIKES!!!! 

I go back to my doctor next Friday. I hope she has something a little more encouraging to say! 

Meal Plan Monday

Monday- John and Amy's Chili 

We actually made this yesterday, but since I feel a bit under the weather we are going to just do leftover tonight! 

Tuesday- Pasta Primavera 

I plan to make enough to freeze and have leftover when Owen gets here

Wednesday- Crock pot chicken tacos

Again, I plan to make enough to freeze some 

Thursday- Grilled Chicken with Veggies and Rice

Using our McCormicks Montreal Steak Seasoning marinade- YUMMY! 

Friday- all kinds of leftovers! 

Friends- please share your weekly menus! I need inspiration! :) 

34 weeks and a hernia!

Well Sunday morning I woke up with bad abdominal pain, bleeding, and a terrible new bruise on my belly button area! So I called my doc who told me to head into Labor and Delivery right away for monitoring. 

After a few hours of an IV, monitoring Owens heart rate, and my contractions, (oh and a LOVELY internal exam) it was diagnosed as a probable Hernia!! Apparently when the muscles of your abdomen separate during pregnancy, sometimes your intestines can push through. YIKES!!! 

It also was shown that I am having a bunch of uterine contractions- but nothing timeable and nothing that is making me progress at all. I am not dilated one little bit. Which is ok with me, he needs to cook a little longer. 

So this morning I got a call from my OB who wanted to check on how I was feeling, and to ask me to be on pretty strict bed rest for the next 3 days to see how I feel. If the pain continues she wants me to come in, if not, we will just wait it out until after he is born and make sure that the hernia goes away. 

I am trying not to ask God why, but come on! Sometimes it feels so frustrating that this pregnancy has been so filled with complications! As long as we get a healthy boy out of it i will be happy- I just wish the process to get there was a bit less complicated! 

Updates- 33 weeks pregnant!

Well I am officially 49 days away from my due date. YIKES! I feel like it was just 100 days, 150 days, 200 days! YIKES! 

Here is a photo of Owens area! We decided to go ahead and hang his quilt and mobile to make it more homey. Not that he cares at all, but it helps John and I get into the spirit of baby having! I still can not get over how the mobile looks like it is supposed to go with the bedding set- it is not! It was purchased separately! It just looks GREAT though! 

John had a 4 day weekend which was really nice! We were able to complete some pending tasks and also relax a bit! John did however make a Turkey. Yes, that is right, the man made a Turkey! haha. As part of Johns nesting and getting ready for baby, he wanted to make a turkey so that he could make different meals to freeze for when Owen comes. 

So John made a Turkey Soup (recipe here) that uses EVERYTHING in the Turkey. Those who know me know I will NOT be eating this soup! Here is a picture of his homemade Turkey Stock- step 1 in his soup making! 

I made a Turkey Tortilla Soup (recipe here) using the white meat. I have not tried it yet, but it sure smells good in my house! Here is a photo of the soup just before adding the corn and the turkey. 

We plan on eating a little bit of the soups tonight, and then freezing the rest for easy meals once the baby comes. Our house smells fantastic!! 

I am really excited about this week! I am starting a Bible Study (click here for the information) a couple of weeks late with my friend Sarah Hobart. It is at her church and she invited me to come along. This will be something good to get me out of the house once a week (much needed) and it will allow me to focus on something else besides being uncomfortable!

I also have a doctors appt on Friday which for some reason I am really excited about. Probably because this is my last normal appt. before the fun dilation checks begin! 

ALSO, the show LOST comes back this week. I AM SUCH A HUGE FAN of this show! Like it is ridiculous really. The show is so complicated, psychologically involved, and fascinating all at the same time. You literally have to watch every second of every episode in order to stay up to date with what is going on. Last season left me with so many unanswered questions and I just can not wait to hopefully get at least a few answers. Is anyone else out there an avid Lost watcher? If so we should definitely discuss!!!  

I hope everyone is having a great Monday. I am off to do some laundry i have been putting off all weekend and to start looking at my bible study information. Oh I have also been having pretty crazy contractions today- so pray those go away!!! 

Growing stomach at 32 1/2 weeks

John took this photo of me on Friday. My belly is out of control! You can see how uncomfortable I am just by looking at my face!!! Oh and yes, my hair IS much darker than before. I decided to dye it a couple of weeks ago. With the prenatal vitamins I am taking my hair is growing at a REALLY fast rate. I had gone back to having blond highlights a while ago, but now I just can not keep up. When I first dyed my hair it turned really really dark and red. However now it has toned down quite a bit. I will take a photo soon of it actually down and styled for the day.

Yesterday we went to a fun diner, the Purple Cow, for lunch with our friends the Hobarts. It was quite yummy. Sarah even had a purple milkshake! I just LOVE diners! We used to frequent them often in Pennsylvania, however in the midwest we do not have many around at all. It was an excellent find!

Afterward I did not do much at all (nothing strenious at least). Around 6pm I started having CRAZY contractions! I had about 6 in an hour and a half period- and these hurt WAY worse than before. I got a little nervous thinking maybe I was going into early labor! However, a little walk around Target, and a ton of water, plus a frosty from Wendys (i can't lie!) made them go away finally! I did however purchase a new watch from Target with a stop watch function (for only $14) so that I am prepared next time the contractions keep going and going.

Next week I go to the doctor on Friday for my 34 week appointment. Then I will go again at 36 weeks, 37, 38, 39, 40 (hopefully no more than that!). This appointment should be pretty boring, just the normal blood pressure check, weight check, listen to the heartbeat, measure the belly, etc. However at 36 weeks the "fun" starts to see what kind of progress I have made! Ahh. Getting to the end.

I am emotionally feeling a little bit better. I have found that if I walk around a ton it actually helps with the pain factor in my stomach/ribs. Thank you everyone for all of your prayers. I am sure I will hit more and more "walls" in this pregnancy, but for today, I am alright! :)

The new Piper....

As I mentioned, Piper got a really ridiculous haircut. Here is a before and after photo of our little girl.

Before...
And after...
I absolutely HATE this haircut! haha. Though, I can not complain, this is exactly what I asked for. She just looks HIDEOUS! I really wanted her to have shorter hair (it was about 4 inches long, curly, and nappy) all over, and I asked specifically to have her beard cut off (but to keep her eyebrows). So that is exactly what the lady did. I just think she looks absolutely terrible. My sweet cuddly Piper dog now looks like a Doberman and quite scary.

I know with the baby coming this will be a great cut for her. Her beard used to collect so much dirt and funk..... she just looks very very silly.

And I am a bad mom. I did this haircut for her 2 days before the lowest temperatures in Arkansas in years (10 degrees)!!!!

So if you see a skinny little doberman walking around, it might be my doggie! Once she looks in the mirror I am pretty sure she is going to leave town!

Prayer for Harper

Kellys Korner  (click on name to be taken to blog) is a pretty famous blog on the internet. I have been following this blog for several months now watching a wonderful christian woman go through a pregnancy that she so deeply prayed would happen for years. Yesterday she delivered her baby, fully believing she would be healthy. However Harper is very very ill. She had to be flown to the Tulsa Childrens Hospital for a heart/lung bypass. 

I encourage everyone to check out her Blog and pray for the Stamps family. 

If I don't have anything nice to say, I probably won't say anything at all

I have hit my "wall". I am absolutely exhausted. I can not sleep at night, I get 1-2 hours, then I am awake for 3 hours, and so on and so on. I am in extreme physical discomfort- my ribs are literally bruised from Owens powerful kicks, I can barely walk because my right hipbone feels like it is basically out of its socket (I am told this is because my hips are literally moving), my broken toe is still broken and it really really hurts, I just spent the last 20 minutes throwing up the delicious spaghetti dinner I spent all of my energy making today, my head is pounding, my throat is sore, I can hardly breathe because my lungs just have no where to go, I can not sit up for any period of time (even to eat dinner) because Owen is in such a position that literally makes it impossible- this makes mandatory car rides quite fun, and I feel just completely done. 

John and I have spent the last 2 weeks on the phone every night for hours with mortgage lenders, USAA, and constructing lenghty emails to work out a house deal for North Carolina. Every bit if my energy has gone to trying to formulate offers, counter offers, doing research on school districts, etc. 

I have 14 calls to return, my inbox is flooded, and I just have no energy to do anything.

I am moody, cranky, opinionated, and just plain miserable. I literally have nothing nice to say at the time being, so I will choose not to say anything at all. 

So please do not take offense if I do not call you back. Please do not worry if I return your emails at 3 in the morning-this seems to be the time I am most awake. I spend most of my daytime day attempting to get some additional sleep, taking care of the dogs (oh did I mention Piper has been violently ill?),  and getting sick. 

Pregnancy is just not my thing. I have not been good at it since July, and I am told by my doctor I am only going to get worse at it. My body is tired and has just been through way too much in the past 7 months! 

And please do not email my husband and ask what his wife's problem is. She is 8 months pregnant, that is her problem. She feels absolutely miserable. That is her issue. Do not judge, just pretend to be sympathetic! (those are my words, not Johns) 

On a lighter note

1. Our offer was officially accepted on our house in North Carolina. We should be signing paperwork before the end of the week 

2. Piper is finally starting to feel better. 

3. I took the dogs to the vet today to get groomed. They brought Piper out to me and I literally had no idea she was my dog. She had about 4 inches of curly thick hair shaved off. I also had them shave her beard and moustache because it was always collecting dirt and funk, and with the baby coming I just did not want to have to deal with that. She looks ridiculous. I will post a photo tomorrow, I am too tired to get off the futon for now! 

Below is a photo and a floor plan of the house we are getting. The "storage area over garage" we are having turned into a 4th room. This will most likely be Johns "man room".  We are quite excited. 

"Product" Recommendation

Many people have asked how to be automatically notified of when I post a new blog entry. I have a list of 10 people that are automatically emailed the blog, but that is all that blogger allows.

I would like to recommend anyone who enjoys reading blogs subscribe to Google Reader! (http://www.google.com/reader/view/#overview-page). If you would like to subscribe to this blog, click on the icon to the right that says Subscribe to Posts. Then click on the google reader icon. It will help you set up an account. 

With google reader, you can subscribe to many blogs. Each time you log in it will pull up all the blogs that have been updated since the last time you logged in. You can organize the blogs you read under specific headings (such as "Friends", "Family", "Fun Food Blogs", etc.  You can even share interesting blog entries with friends. 

I definitely recommend using Google Reader. It has made my life so much less complicated! 

32 week stats

Me at 32 weeks! 
I am really just posting this so that I can look back in a few months and remember exactly what I felt like at each stage of pregnancy. 

Current stats: 

32 weeks, 1 day pregnant

current weight gain- 2lbs (since i lost so much in the beginning, my weight gain is only counted from my prepregnancy weight

blood pressure at last visit- 130/80- getting progressively higher, but my doctor does not seem to be worried about it (prepregnancy my blood pressure was always in the 80's over 60's.) 

current pain- foot in rib syndrome. I just can not sit properly right now because Owens little foot is literally stuck up in my ribs. It has been like this for over a week and I do not like it one bit. I try to coax him down, but with no luck! 

We finally hung the mobile above the pack and play. We had a hard time deciding exactly what to use to hang it, or if we were even going to hang it here for fear of it getting damaged in the move. It is just so adorable though, we could not resist! 

We went ahead and set up the swing too. I really wanted the dogs to have a chance to get used to it so it is not so "interesting" once it is around WITH the baby. John says the swing is a little girly,so I put Owens coming home outfit in it to hopefully make it a little less girly. I think it looks like a beautiful wonderful place for a baby to relax! 

I wanted to clarify something from my previous entries.... I am in no way wishing for Owen to come now, or even soon. When I say that I am all ready for baby to come I just mean materialistically. I am fully aware that he has some great growing left to do and I would never wish that he would be a preemie just so that I could get some physical relief. I only mean that "stuff" wise, we are all ready for his arrival. 

In fact, I am so incredibly terrified of actually birthing this child, I would rather him stay in for another 15 weeks at this point. Though, my friends who are currently 37+ weeks along let me know that it gets to a point where you are so uncomfortable that you just want to get him out- and the fear of childbirth sort of takes a back seat to the feeling of just being done. 

Again, I wish no harm upon my child, I am not wishing for him to come early, I was just pointing out that we are "ready" for his arrival. 

32 weeks pregnant- 56 days until due date

"Sleeping boy. the baby sleeps 90-95% of the day, and sometimes experiences REM sleep, an indication of dreaming. 

Now that your baby has grown so long and your uterus is higher, you might notice a new discomfort. Your baby is probably head-down and may occasionally stretch out and kick you in the ribs. The pressure on your rib cage can make you sore, especially if one of your baby's feet becomes caught. You can prevent this by sitting up straight as much as possible. Because your baby's demands for vitamins and minerals are higher than ever right now, you should continue to take your parental vitamins for the entire pregnancy. 

This week your baby's movements will peak. You should continue to monitor the fetal movements daily and address any concerns with your caregiver. The wrinkles in your baby's face are disappearing and fat is still being deposited throughout the baby's body. 

The body growth slows down from now on. 

Because of the lack of space in the uterus, the legs are drawn up in what is known as the fetal position."

31 1/2 weeks along- 60 days until due date!

We have gotten so many adorable things for Owen! I just had to share some photos! 

Once we got back to Arkansas from our 2 week trip to the East Coast, I decided I needed to set up everything for baby, just incase he were to come sooner than anticipated(which his due date is currently 60 days away!) 

This is the adorable pack and play. Our family friend Tom got this for us. I am so in love with it. Owen will sleep in this until we get to North Carolina as we are not setting up his crib here. The top right is a diaper changing area. He will sleep in the bassinet portion until 16 pounds, and then he can sleep in the bottom portion. I am just in love with this pack and play. 

Here are some photos of all of the amazing clothes and things we have for Owen. Please note, this is only the things that will fit him up until 3 months! We actually had no room for the other things and had to put them in storage. This kid has a lot of stuff! (thank you everyone!) 

His sleepers

His hanging clothes, plus on the left are all of the gadgets I have for him. 

His pants and bathtime things

Looking inside his pack and play! (SO CUTE)

An adorable airplane mobile from MomMom. I just need to get to the craft store to get a hook to hang this up with

Some adorable outfits! John and I got him the grey fleece from Old Navy on sale. It is so soft and cozy! I can not wait to dress him in it! 

Thank you so much everyone for all you did to contribute to all that Owen has. 

Christmas Photos- VA shower

Robin, Amy, Michelle- My step mom and sister 

John and I at my favorite place to eat, Cheddars! 

Adorable Diaper Cake

Step-Grandfather Doug, Aunt Kathy, me, Grandmother, John, Couisins AJ and Adam

My sister and I 

Owens new airplane bedding! 

John and I in front of the yummy cakes! 

Grandmother and I 

Thank you to my whole family who participated in giving us an amazing shower in Virginia! We truly appreciate everything you did for us! 

Christmas pictures- PA shower

Johns mom and my best friend Erin threw us an amazing baby shower while we were in Pennsylvania, here are some photos! 

The beautiful table of yummy stuff! There was a whole other table of hot food as well. YUMMY!

The Salottis and the Trumps. Kirsten is 2 1/2 weeks further along than I am. 

Some of the nicest peole I know! 

John and I 

The three pregos! Erin- Due January 30th, Me- due March 9th, Kirsten- due February 14th! 

Thank you so much everyone for throwing us such a wonderful shower. We got so many amazing presents for Owen!