7 Weeks to Go!

Saturday, my good friend, Ashley hosted a second baby shower for me at my house. I was completely showered by my friends and family members. Thank you so much to everyone that was able to make it...I think it was a great time and thank you Ashley for hosting. You did a great job!

Ashley wanted to have everyone create a burp rag for us and they turned out much better than what was expected. I had to judge which one I thought was the "best" (they all turned out awesome and will be used)...and the winners are...
Erica and Tina with their winning burp rag. They created patchwork down the middle. Great job girls! Below are just a few more pictures from my shower.

The hostess and me

Jessi and me

Here are a few pictures from my first shower, hosted by my sister, Lindsey. (A few weeks ago)Lindsey, Mom and me

Dessert Table

The centerpiece...Diaper Cake made by Lindsey

Overall, I am still feeling okay. I am definitely feeling pregnant though. My back is sore by the end of the day, from standing and I am pretty tired. Tanner has been a real trooper and has been helping me out a lot around the house. He spoils me!

Last week we went to our checkup appointment and all went well. My blood pressure was still good, baby's heart rate was still great and baby sounded good and healthy, and I'm still measuring right on track. The doctor mentioned to us that he is ready to meet our little one and I responded that I am more than ready. Everyone keeps asking me if I am getting nervous and I respond with a no. I am so excited and anxious but not at all nervous. I feel as if we have been waiting for the day for so long that everything will go the way it should whether we expect it or not. I don't really have any control over much from this point on.

The nursery is still a work in progress. My dad just finished a bookcase for us and I still have to paint it, then we have to hang pictures and shelves, and then I think it will be pretty much done with it!

10 Weeks Left!!! (30 Weeks Preggers)

This has been quite the week...first off, my sister hosted my first shower for me last Saturday. What a day that was! I feel so blessed that so many family and friends were able to make it and Baby Brous sure is spoiled already! Thank you to all of those that were able to make it; Lindsey sure did out do herself!

Wednesday, we went back for round two (or I should say redo) of our 3-D ultrasound...and Baby Brous cooperated! Above are a couple of pretty cute pictures. The first one turned out awesome...if you are like my parents and Tanner and me, you are probably also thinking, "My goodness, look at the size of that nose! Who's nose is that???", well the tech said that it was actually smashed against my placenta. Phew! The second one is more of a profile with it's hands up next to it's cheek. After this appointment, I am so ready to meet this little one. When I showed my coworkers and family members, most people's reactions were that it looks like a boy...we'll see! Just 10 or so more weeks left.

Following the ultrasound, we had our regular checkup. Now, I am visiting the doctor every two weeks, since I am nearing my due date. Again, everything is looking good. My blood pressure is still very normal, no swelling, I'm measuring right on track, fetal movements are still pretty strong, and baby sounds good.

I can't believe I am no longer counting the weeks I have been pregnant but rather than counting down the weeks until my due date. It's getting pretty darn real!

3-D Pictures

Well, Baby Brous did not cooperate very well for our 3-D sonogram. The technician told us that the baby is in great placement for delivery; however, just not for the pictures. So after over an hour of trying to have the baby move it's hand away from it's face and turn just a slight bit, it really didn't. Here are a couple of okay pictures we got. Luckily, they are going to let us retry on Feb. 10th. I will be talking to the baby the next couple of weeks to try to make it cooperate.

Leg/ankle/foot

Face with it's left hand near it's cheek

28 Weeks

I am offically in my 3rd trimester now! I went to the doctor today...blood pressure still doing well, 120/80, baby sounds healthy and I'm measuring right on track, about 27-28 weeks. Again, the doctor asked about fetal movement and I said that there is definitely more and more each day. Kind of a silly story...Saturday morning Tanner and I were lying in bed and my belly was on his lower back/butt and the baby kicked him really hard! I told him that was the baby telling him to hurry up and get ready to go to the gym. It made me laugh a bit. Tanner finally got kicked, even though I still got kicked too. He agreed once he placed the Doppler on my belly and saw the baby swishing all around.

If you've read the previous post, you know that I had a little trip to the hospital for bleeding, well again this morning when I woke up, I noticed I was spotting again. I talked to the doctor about it and he's sure it's due to the amount and intensity of fetal movement. Apparently, when the baby kicks, punches, turns, etc, hard enough it causes the uterus to stretch and expand, which in turn would cause some "bruising" or bleeding. So, I guess I'll have to just keep dealing with it for the next few months.

We get to take another trip to the doctor's office this week. This time it's for fun...we are choosing to do the 3-D sonogram on Thursday. I know many of you are thinking, "you'll be able to see the gender of the baby...", don't worry, they will not show us the full body, they will only show us the face. Be on the lookout for the pics. I will post them (as long as the baby cooperates) as soon as I can.

As for now, here are a couple pictures of the nursery so far. We have now painted, put up the "dream" decal and placed the furniture in it's place. Hope you enjoy!

26 Weeks and a Little Eye Opener

Well, yesterday was my first emergency visit to the doctor or should I say hospital...I woke up very excited for work because I really hadn't worked for awhile, due to all of the snow days. When I arrived at work, I got myself situated and thought I should use the restroom before the kids got into my room. I went to the restroom and found a little surprise. I was bleeding! Yikes! I really didn't panic too much but I did go ahead and call the doctor. When I put in a call to the "on call" doctor, she called me back and asked that I go to the hospital, right away. This is when I started to feel a little bit nervous and scared. I asked her where in the hospital and she said Labor and Delivery. Now, I'm very scared because I've never been to the hospital (other than the ER thanks to all of my softball injuries) let alone Labor and Delivery. All I could think about was the fact that I wasn't ready to have a baby yet and I knew the baby wasn't ready to come out yet!

Of course I called Tanner and he calmed me down a bit. Several people at work offered to drive me to the hospital, but I insisted that I drive myself to pick Tanner up and then go to the hospital. (Tanner's work is on the way to the hospital so it really didn't take much time.) Once I picked up Tanner, I started to feel a little better. Then we got to the hospital, where they were expecting us and the nurse checked me all out. She asked me a million questions and hooked me up to the fetal heart rate monitor and another monitor to tell if I was contracting. She said the baby looked and sounded great, so all of my worries diminished. Plus, I wasn't contracting so now it was the waiting game to figure out why I was bleeding. The nurse did some other tests and had the doctor come in to check me out.

The doctor did another ultrasound and said that everything looked good and fine! Basically she said that I could have possibly had a broken blood vessel on my cervix. Then the doctor asked me what seemed like millions of questions trying to find out why I may have broken a blood vessel. I answered no to all of the questions, but then told her that I did shovel the driveway on Friday. (Oops, I guess the part when they said "no heavy lifting", I didn't really listen to.) The doctor pretty much said that I shouldn't be doing that anymore and left it at that.

Tanner actually was upset with me on Wednesday when he came home from work to a shoveled driveway and took the shovel away from me. He took it to work with him so I wouldn't shovel anymore. But then I found it Friday, when I was eager to get out of the house. Now I realize I can't do everything I used to, for the next 3 months.

I'm so glad everything is okay and I'm luckily back at work!

23 Weeks

There really hasn't been a lot going on these past few weeks. However, we did go to our monthly appointment this week and the doctor says that I look great and the baby seems very healthy. My blood pressure continues to stay right around 110/70 and when I went in at 23 weeks and 3 days, I was measuring at 24 weeks, so pretty much right on target.

As I have mentioned before, the baby seems to be very active and kicking a lot. When the doctor asked if I am feeling much movement, I quickly responded with a, "for sure!" While the doctor was listening to the baby's heartbeat, the baby kept kicking the Doppler right off, that's when the doctor agreed that there was a lot of movement and said that we have a feisty one on our hands!

The last couple of days I have been really enjoying my tummy (a lot of it due to the fact that I have time, since we are on Winter break). My tummy is very alien-ish. The baby's kicks are big enough now to see my entire belly move. Tanner's mom and sisters were able to feel the kicks for the first time on Christmas Eve and my mom was also able to feel the kicks on Christmas day. Everyone seems to be amazed at the size of the kicks...we better watch out! Also, today the baby had a definite case of the hiccups, my tummy kept pulsing for a few hours. It is so much fun and I can thoroughly say that I LOVE being pregnant.

This week Tanner also was off, so we painted the baby's room. We ended up choosing a neutral color, that way we don't have to change it everytime we change the bedding. It's pretty much the same color as most of the inside of our house. Although, it does have more of a greenish tint to it. I'll be posting pics soon, so look for those.

21 Weeks and "Kicking" Right Along

"Kicking" is my new description of the movements I have been feeling. For the most part the flutters are gone and the kicks are in full swing. It's quite fun but I have to admit, sometimes its a bit much. I know...some of you are thinking, just wait a few more weeks until the baby is much larger! Tanner has been chasing the kicks around patiently and last night he finally got to feel his first kicks. I was lying in bed with the headphones on my belly and the baby was kicking my left hip. I frantically pulled Tanner's hand to my hip and had him feel. He was in for a special treat! He felt the biggest kick yet and actually a couple of them. How exciting...as you can imagine, I started to cry again. Man I will be glad to get my emotions under control.