Jillian Louise

Jillian Louise has arrived! She is the most beautiful baby we've ever seen (of course because her parents are good looking)! We couldn't be happier. So, here's the story:

Garrett's friend, Brandt, had come on Friday night to help Garrett work on the garage. He was staying through Monday and they jokingly told me to wait to have the baby until Tuesday. They were up until 1:30am and then went to bed.
I woke up at 3am on Sunday October 24 with a moderate cramp. Though I was suspicious, I heard that labor usually starts off slowly. Before I could fall back to sleep I felt another cramp. I looked at the clock and it had been five minutes. So as I was then more awake I stayed in bed and waited for five more minutes to pass. Sure enough, another cramp. I now determined this was the beginning of what ended up being a very long day. The doctor's office had given me a sheet with beginning labor signs and at what point to call the phone number listed for after hours. I waited the one hour, contractions five minutes apart. I then woke Garrett up and told him I thought I'd gone into labor and then called the doctor. The doctor said to take my time and shower and eat something if I wanted. I went ahead and showered thinking the hot water would help me relax. By the time I was dressed and got downstairs I couldn't hardly walk. Garrett got Huntley taken care of and grabbed a few last minute things. My bags and car seat were already in the car ready to go and had been for a couple of weeks. We left for the hospital and got there around 5am. The contractions were on top of each other and when we pulled up to the Women's Center at the hospital a couple of nurses had just finished their shifts and were leaving but went back in to get me a wheel chair as I couldn't walk with the pain. I was admitted quickly and got into the room. After getting examined I was already 4-5cm dilated. The baby had passed meconium but the nurse and doctor weren't concerned about it being an issue. The nurse poked me three times in my hands to get my IV started. My veins were blowing. She gave me a dose of narcotics for the pain, which didn't make any difference in my pain level. I wanted to avoid an epidural due to the possible side effects for the baby and myself but after a couple hours I decided to get one. It seemed like foreeevver for the anesthesiologist to come. As soon as he got it put in I started to feel relief. Apparently my water had broken before arriving at the hospital but I didn't have any indication beforehand. The doctor and nurse thought we'd be welcoming our baby before noon. It took me until around 3pm to get completely dilated so things slowed down a lot after getting the epidural. I started pushing and pushed for two hours. The doctor came in at that point and suggested a cesarean because of the position of the baby and lack of progress. I asked about using forceps but he said Jillian wasn't far enough into the canal to use them. If I had been more aware I would have asked about trying other methods for getting her into better position. She was trying to come out forehead first and wasn't turning. I really didn't want a c-section and started crying when the doctor suggested it. He gave me the option of pushing up to another two hours but I was worried about stressing out Jillian and I didn't want it to turn into an emergency situation. My Mom and Danny had arrived after we called them at 7am to let them know we were going to have the baby. They came into the room and I cried even more. 20 minutes later, I was in the OR getting scrubbed while Garrett waited outside the doors. As soon as I was prepped they let Garrett come in and he stood next to my head and he brushed his fingers across the side of my forehead and my cheek. I felt the doctor pressing across my abdomen cutting through the layers. He then said I'd feel a lot of pressure. 30 seconds later I felt a lot of weight come off of me and heard my baby cry. I immediately started to cry but tried to not cry too hard because I could feel my abdomen moving with my crying. The nurses took her straight over to her station and suctioned her and cleaned her up. Garrett then brought her over to me. She was perfect. Everything at that moment was perfect. 8 pounds, 20 inches. Garrett went with Jillian to the nursery to get a bath and finish getting examined while the doctor stitched then stapled me. I went to the recovery room and stayed there for the required minimum of an hour. It was driving me crazy knowing that I was missing being with my baby. But, it was really nice to lay there in the quiet with the lights only partly on in the recovery room. After a long day mentally and physically, that gave me time to relax and reflect on everything that had happened. It's a lot to take in. I actually relaxed so much that my breathing had gone down so much that the machine was reading that I wasn't breathing so the nurse asked me at one point to take a slow deep breath for the machine to register that I was still breathing. My epidural came out along with other monitoring devices and I headed back to my room. Jillian and Garrett arrived a few minutes after I got into the room. The nurse that had been with Jillian then helped me get her to latch and she did so without any problem. The hospital stay was very pleasant. The nurses were all great, the food was good and it was quiet. I couldn't have asked for a better experience with the hospital. We went home that following Wednesday around lunch time. Brandt was so helpful and stayed at the house and took care of Huntley until Garrett went home on Monday and took him to the vet for boarding.

The first few nights at home were rough because Jillian had gas and was up until 3am crying. We are now in the groove and Jillian is a great sleeper. She only cries when she has gas (which we're still working on) and when she's hungry. She sleeps through the night except when it's time for food and even then she really doesn't like to wake up to eat. The last few days she's been eating a lot and sleeping more so I think she's going through a growth spurt. She's opening her eyes a lot more often and I feel that she's getting heavier. We don't have a scale so I don't know how much she's gained. We go to the pediatrician Dec. 9 so we'll see then. We are loving her so much and couldn't ask for a better baby.

I'll try to give updates more regularly than once a month :). We are staying home for Thanksgiving this year and will be in Missouri for two weeks over Christmas. We hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving!

Anytime Sweet Baby

Hi everyone. Things are going well. Work at our jobs and home have been busy for both Garrett and myself. This week I've been working on quick projects because I think people are hesitant to give me anything that will take more than a couple hours, just in case. Everyone at work has been very sweet and have wished me many happy thoughts. They are all rooting for Baby to arrive this weekend. According to my ultrasound in mid-pregnancy the date is tomorrow but according to days it is still Oct. 30. I'm hoping for any time. My only request is that I'm not at the hospital on my birthday, Nov. 8. Who knows, according to my appointment on Wednesday it could be any time. I was 100% effaced and almost 2cm. When it happens it may happen quickly which would be great! I've had a lot of pressure and other signs that indicate my body is getting ready. There's still no way to know for sure when she'll arrive so it's a waiting game. My wonderful husband finished Baby's room completely and I started putting things in her room last night. I didn't have energy to get much done but I did get most of her clothes and extra bedding in the closet. I'm hoping Garrett can help me put the crib together tonight. According to other people's experience this crib should take around an hour to assemble.

Garrett and Brandt, a friend of ours, worked on our garage all last weekend. They are replacing the sill plates and some studs, then putting up new sheathing, siding and windows. Brandt is coming back tonight for the weekend to continue the project. The previous owners did a lowsy job with sealing up the garage so any time it rains the water leaks in at various places.

Well, back to work I go. Have a nice weekend!

Slowly but Surely

My appointment last week was good. Her heart rate and my bp and weight all looked good. Since the docs have been measuring my fundal height (the size of my uterus) the measurements have been exactly where they needed to be, except for this week. My belly is now measuring a little over one week larger, which means she's really growing, as expected. I had the Strep B test done and will find out the results on Wednesday. If I test positive for being a carrier then I will receive antibiotics during delivery so I don't pass it on to Baby. It's pretty common and nothing to worry about as long as the necessary precaution is taken. Baby has definitely dropped. During the exam the doc told me I'm 1cm dilated and 80% effaced. The 1cm is normal and could remain that way for a while. The 80% effaced means that my cervix has already thinned by 80% which is quite progressive for my estimated due date. All those Braxton-Hicks have been doing their job! I'm curious/excited/nervous to hear how things look on Wednesday.

My work has been busy again. A co-worker and myself worked on a complicated project for the past 5 weeks that we are now having to redo because the PI made a simple mistake. Talk about losing money for a project! This person tries to do too many things and have their hands in too many different parts of what our company does. Therefore, it's hard for them to become proficient at one particular aspect that they shouldn't be working on to begin with. This isn't the first time the same situation has occurred. Ugh, it's really frustrating. My co-worker tried making a bet with me that Baby would be born before this project is finished but I agreed, so no bet to be had. At least I'll have something to do for the next few weeks that will help pass the time.

Garrett rented a dump trailer and picked up 3 loads of gravel last Friday. He got everything spread out on the driveway and created and filled a drain line in front of the garage. The dog pen gravel still needs spreading but I'm sure he'll get to it. He has today off also so I'm sure he's staying busy. He put up shelving in Baby's closet and finished hanging her bedroom door. Now we need to paint the trim for the closet and the doors and her room will be ready for move-in. It's looking so nice! Last night he used our Steam Vac on the lower living room carpet where Huntley has been staying during the day. It's amazing how dirty the carpet gets. I kept the pot of boiling water going while he worked the Hoover.

I shouldn't jinx myself, but Baby has been letting me sleep at night again. She's been wiggly for a few minutes a couple times each night but nothing like last week. One evening she was so squirmy as soon as I got in bed that I had to get up and walk around to try to get her to relax. She was moving so much all over that I couldn't lay there. My right hip has really been hurting consistently for the past 3 days. Before now they have only hurt in the night and it goes away after I get up but they are constantly achy now. My hands continue to be tight but they aren't as sore as they started off to be. Now it seems the fluid has increased in my feet. My one pair of shoes I can wear, the tan suede Birkenstock clogs, are getting tight. Wearing shoes just isn't comfortable but not having the arch support is equally uncomfortable. So, I get up for a while, sit for a while, get up for a while, nap for a while. I'm easily taking 2 hour naps and I've asked Garrett to wake me up so I can sleep during the night. Never have I been able to nap like this. It's wonderful.

Huntley sure has been sticking by my side the past few weeks. He has always preferred greeting Garrett first when we come home after work but he has been coming to me, briefly goes to Garrett and comes frolicking back to me. Also, the rest of the evening he follows me wherever I go. Before, he would go back and forth between Garrett and I if we were in different parts of the house but now he sticks with me. I think he senses the baby or the changes along with it. It will be interesting to see his reaction when we bring Little One home.

I'll keep you updated as time allows. Have a good week!

Month 9!!

4 Weeks left!! Maybe. This week people have shared they think it will only be two more weeks. I'm hoping for Oct. 23ish. A little earlier would be great for obvious reasons but it also wouldn't interfere too much with my time-off plans for work. I have Jan. 10 scheduled at the daycare and return to work at both my full time and part time positions. We'll see about the part time job. I still enjoy it and it's my individual activity but I may decide I want to be home as much as possible with Garrett and Baby. I have been making food for freezing so we can still have healthy food the first couple of weeks after Baby arrives. I've made Lasagna, chili, chicken noodle soup, biscuit dough and cookie dough and put it all in the freezer. We still have a lot of pork that we can also eat on. Our freezer and deep freeze are getting full, mainly because of the pork, so I'm not sure how much more I will prepare. That is in part because I'm running out of ideas for things that will freeze well and because of space. If anyone has any suggestions I am open to them. I've been buying extra toiletries and still have other items to get so we can limit going to the store except for fresh food items.

I've been having more regular Braxton-Hicks and continued swelling in my hands and feet. I've been taking baths every few nights to help with the circulation and all over aches. Baby has definitely dropped as I can breathe so much easier and eat more :). It doesn't matter how much I eat or what I eat, Tums are always nearby. Last night and the night before Baby has been very active during my sleeping hours. During the day she has her legs and arms to the left of my abdomen but as I sleep she stretches out and her backside migrates up, putting her little legs next to my ribs. After applying constant pressure for a few minutes to the edge of my ribs she finally stopped, and woke me by doing it again. At least she isn't doing it during the day also. With all this nighttime movement, this also means many more trips to the restroom. The nice thing is that the weather has been fantastic so we've had our windows open, allowing me to sleep very well when I am asleep. My shirts barely fit over the expanding belly but that's how it has to be for these last few weeks. We ordered a carseat that arrived last Friday. It's an infant seat that will last up to 35 pounds or so many inches long but I don't remember that part. I was surprised at how much space it takes in our car's backseat! It won't fit behind the driver's seat with either of us driving so we have to have it on the passenger side with the front seat up pretty far. It's quite uncomfortable but our only option would be to get a different car. We really like our car so we'll see how it works out. We may just take the truck when the three of us go somewhere together or one of us rides in the backseat with the baby. We looked into the convertible seats that are rear facing up to 35 pounds, then forward facing up to 65 pounds but they won't allow any more space for the front seat passenger than the specific infant seat does. I'm glad we bought the Ford because a carseat absolutely would not have fit in the extended cab of the Tundra.


Garrett worked so hard this past weekend and finished all the trim work in one day in the baby's room. It looks wonderful! It's amazing how big of a difference it made. We're also putting in new doors that will match the doors in the rest of the house. This should increase the value a lot with only spending about $800 for new doors, trim, hardware and miscellaneous supplies for the entire upstairs. As we're working on things we're going through boxes and getting rid of stuff that we haven't used/don't need. Every time I've moved I have cleaned things out and taken a load to Goodwill. Garrett said that every time he's moved, he has boxed everything up and never threw out anything. At least we're taking care of these things now. We'll have quite the loot to take to Goodwill.

My work has slowed down this week. We haven't had much work so I think things are starting to slow down for the holidays already. Garrett's work has kept him busy. They have a big tour coming through next week. In the building that they lease, there was space available so they extended their space and had some walls taken down and the space prepped for the work they do. The construction was completed only a couple of weeks ago so he and fellow workers have been rearranging the projects and equipment to prepare for the tour. Garrett plans to take next Friday off from work to get more gravel to finish the dog pen and to add more to our driveway. It will be nice to have the dog pen finished so I can put Huntley outside if need be. He really is great when we're home but it would be nice to have the option so we can have uninterrupted naps.

My next appointment is next week so we'll see how things look then.

Happy Thursday!

35 Weeks

Hi there. Things continue to go well for us. We bought trim for the entire upstairs and Garrett is going to start putting it up soon in the baby's room. We hadn't really cleaned up from the work we've done on the office room and baby's room so we started cleaning things up last night and will do more of the same tonight. We will shuffle a few things around so we can get at least the crib and changing table put together in her room. I'm also going to put up the wonderful wall hangings we've received. I will post pictures on facebook as soon as the room is ready.

My co-workers had a baby shower for me last week. 32 people came and they presented me with a generous gift card to Target. The girls I first worked with when I started at the company 4 years ago chipped in together and bought us a pack n' play. It will be very nice to have that on our main floor of the house so I won't have to go up and down the stairs to let the baby rest away from the pets. The cats may still be able to get in with her but at least she'll be out of reach from Huntley's tongue. It also has an attached changing station that hangs over the inside of the "crib". I've had a few people say they think I've dropped in the past week. Garrett just says I'm getting ginormous. Lol! I for sure feel quite large all over. Not just the belly.

I seem to be getting more and more sleepy and hungry. Chocolate milk is still fabulous and I have to keep limiting myself to only one glass each day since the calories are quite a bit more than plain milk. Don't worry, I get plenty of calcium between the plain milk, chocolate milk and my Tums. Ugh, the heartburn. Oh, I also get calcium from the ice cream, of which we have very little left. Perhaps we can talk someone into bringing us some Central when coming to visit us. My hips continue to be painful at night, then achy during the day. I've also developed carpal tunnel. I wake up in the night from moving my hands as they are sore and stiff. My hands have also been going numb when I haven't been laying on that arm. I called the doctor's office after looking it up and they said the same thing as what I read, that it's caused by the extra fluid in my body and should go away after delivery. They offered to refer me to a physical therapist to get fitted for a brace but I said I'd rather just deal with it for the last few weeks. It isn't severe right now and knowing that it's only temporary, I can get through it. The swelling in my feet are still an annoyance so I continue to take breaks and put my feet up every chance I get. Work has been busy so it's been a challenge some days but I make sure to do it anyway. I got my hair cut 4 inches off last week as you can see in my profile photo. I intended it to be about an inch longer with more layering towards the bottom but my hairdresser had a different idea. I showed her a photo I had of the back of my head from a cut I had a few years ago that I really liked but she wasn't able to cut it the same way. It took a couple of days for me to start liking it and I know it will grow. I think it's cute now and takes less time to dry and less shampoo. When I went to work the next day one of the girls in the lab said "Aw, you got a Mom cut." I didn't realize there was a "Mom" cut but apparently that's what I have. I just wanted something different and a little shorter since I've had my hair long for about a year.

At my appointment last week the doc said everything looks great and that I'm "textbook." My belly measurements have been right where they should be, Baby's heart rate is perfect, my BP is great and my weight is fine. He's now thinking she'll be 7-7.5lbs, IF she's on time. I sure hope so. I have my hospital bag packed when the time comes. He was impressed at my lack of stretch marks. Thank you Mom! Everyone at work thinks she'll come 1-2 weeks early. I'd be ok with that. She is still head down and growing, growing, growing. I can almost make out the outline of a foot that she's been stretching out the left side of my abdomen. My appointments have become about a week off due to scheduling so my next appointment is 3 weeks from my last one, so two more weeks from today. At that appointment they will do the normal measurements and weight check and also test me for Strep B and check to see if I'm beginning to dilate. Doesn't sound fun, especially the Strep B check. Oh well. After that appointment I go in weekly. I'm really getting excited and I think Garrett is, too. I plan to cook up some more food for freezing in the next few days and possibly make more applesauce now that our red apple tree's apples are more ripe. The farmers have been harvesting all over our countryside and the landscape is looking quite bare. It was such a great season and not too wet like last year that everything is being harvested sooner. They harvested the corn next to our house last week. Last year it wasn't harvested until the week before Thanksgiving. I'm sure the farmers will be happy to have more completed before the holidays. I have the house decorated for Fall and I just love it. Now if the weather could stay in the Fall temperature range that would be great. These couple of 90 degree days need to head south.

I'm sure there's more I wanted to post but I can't seem to remember at the moment. I hope everyones week is going well.

Catch up to you soon!

Not much longer

We're getting into the last few weeks before the due date. Only 6 more weeks and we'll have the little one to snuggle with. We're really getting excited. She's just as wiggly as ever. I can feel what I believe is an elbow glide across the lower left side of my belly that has been there for about a month. Her hiccups (getting stronger) are still down low and her bum is reaching towards my right ribs. Sleeping is really starting to be difficult. My hips are really bothering me and she has started waking me up a time or two in the night. That's on top of being hot, going to the bathroom, and now getting leg cramps. I've been careful with my salt intake and am still craving dairy. I've been drinking a lot of chocolate milk and regular milk with my cereal or a brownie. My feet have started swelling in the past week along with a little swelling in my face and hands. That's enough about my symptoms.

The past couple of weekends we've been able to make applesauce from the apples on our apple trees. It's oh so delicious. We cut the apples into slices with an apple slicer, cook the apples until they are really mushy, grind them with our Kitchen Aid mixer and the meat grinder attachment (this is the first time we've used the attachment), and then smooth the sauce further with a hand crank sieve. Then I add a touch of sugar and it's ready for canning. I was telling a friend of mine about it and she called me a domestic goddess! She doesn't cook or bake and I'm always telling her about things I've tried making and she heard this nickname some where. I said she could call me DG for short. She came back to me a few minutes later in the lab and said that DG also stands for duck girl and promptly starting quacking at me! I'm definitely waddling now so I couldn't argue. We had a good laugh!

I finished painting the office room and got the baby room painted this weekend! We tried a gray-toned purple and a light pink separately in the baby's room and neither of them were to our liking. The previous owners left their remaining paint in the basement so we took in a gallon and had it color matched. We went with a light tan that our bedroom is also painted. It will look nice with the farm animal theme and won't need to be repainted hopefully for a while. Now Garrett will put up new trim and it will be done!!

Work has been quite busy for both G and I. Hence, why I haven't been able to post for a while. My next appointment is tomorrow, then one more in two weeks, then we start the weekly appointments. We're getting closer and excited! Have a great week everyone!

Labor Day Weekend!

Woo Hoo! It's a 3-day weekend! I plan to gets lots of rest and also lots done at the house. It's supposed to be beautiful outside so perhaps I will clean up some landscaping. Last weekend I was able to paint all but one wall in the office room. It needed a bit more spackle in one spot but it's ready to be finished. We painted it a slightly dark shade of sage green. It's a bit darker than we'd planned but it looks nice and will do for now.

Baby is doing well. We had another appointment on Tuesday and her heart rate is great at 150bpm. My bp was 98/60 which is lower than typically for me but the nurse wasn't concerned. I gained 2 lbs which is perfect and I'm measuring right on for 32 weeks. Baby is getting hiccups on a daily basis. She is still in the head down position and growing, which means she is now reaching my ribs with her feet. Ugh. But she continues to be quite active and wakes me up around 5:30am from her wiggling. She hasn't been moving too much throughout the night thank goodness. The tour last week was nice and the childbirth class was good, too. Last night I went to a breastfeeding class that was very beneficial. I learned a lot of information.

While we were in MO for the baby showers, neighbor Frank's pigs, yes plural, all of his pigs got out of their enclosure one night and he woke up to finding them rooting around all over his yard and a couple of them in ours. They dug a few holes in our mulched landscaping that we need to fill in. He rounded them up and took them in for processing soon thereafter. He told Garrett last night that he won't be getting any more livestock until he puts up better fencing. I'd say! This is the second time and people drive fast down our gravel road. What if someone hit one or we take Huntley outside and Hello Piggy! There's always something interesting going on with neighbor Frank.

I found a changing table on Craigslist earlier this week that matches the crib we bought. It was half the price of a new one in the same model so we went and picked it up. It's in decent shape with only a few scratches. We had intended to use a dresser but haven't been able to get one to the house, nor do we have much time/money to go shopping for an antique dresser so this will do for a while. Her room is small anyway so it won't be so cramped. We hope to put primer and possibly paint her room this weekend so we can start getting it organized. I've done a number of loads of baby clothes in the laundry so when we get paint and shelving finished I can start putting her clothes in their place. I think we have enough clothes to last her through 1 1/2-2 years of age! Good thing her closet is big!

Work is letting everyone off early today so I will wrap us this post. I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the weather. Love to you all!

Long Week

Even with having Monday off it seems like it's been a tiring week at work. But I am totally enjoying the cooler weather! We borrowed the Harry Potter movies and have put one in after dinner and chores each night. I haven't been able to stay awake past the first hour of each of them because I've been too tired to keep my eyes open. On top of that I've gotten up late because I fell back to sleep in the mornings. Hello trimester 3. Oh well, it's almost Friday.

I had a great time at our baby showers this past weekend! Thank you so much everyone for being so giving and celebrating with us in anticipation of our little one. It went by too fast as always. We really had a blast!

We plan to paint the office room this weekend and start getting that room organized so we can get to Baby's room. We also need to pick apples from one of our trees as we discovered upon returning home that they are ready for eating. We plan to make applesauce out of them and they taste oh so yummy straight off the tree.

We have our tour of the hospital tonight which I am excited about. Then tomorrow we start the first of two sessions of the childbirth class. I heard from a co-worker that it is very beneficial.

That's a quick update as to what is happening for the moment. I'm heading home now to take care of Huntley before the tour. I may snag a bite of leftover shower cake while I'm at it. :)

Have a great weekend!

Clothes

I hope these maternity shirts can keep stretching! I have a few that won't cover the elastic band for too much longer. I haven't bought many clothes so I'm starting to get tired of wearing jeans and switching out my 8 shirts to work. I miss my non-maternity khakis and jeans and my black Birkenstocks. Despite all of this, I still feel cute with the baby belly and know that it won't be there much longer. 9 weeks to the due date!! This summer has flown and it's hard to believe school has started.


Baby continues to wiggle and stretch and will be going through a growth spurt these last few weeks. She is almost as long as she will be at birth but is packing on the fat. She should have a fuzzy head and be looking around at her environment, able to detect light/dark. Scooting out of bed and standing is getting harder. The weight just drops out in front and I can feel her body move downwards when I stand.


Garrett has worked very hard this week on the office room and now has it primed, ready to paint! Have I mentioned how wonderful he is? Tuesday night he mowed, weed eated, cleaned up the garage, then came inside and worked on sanding and priming. I made dinner but he was so focused on getting work done that he didn't want to stop to eat. Me on the other hand would stop about anything to eat. Last weekend he also painted the main green wall in the lower living room after spackling and fixing Huntley's drywall artwork. He's fantastic and I love him.


I toured another daycare a few weeks ago and put our name on the list. We have our name down at two locations now so we can think about the options a bit more before deciding. The first location was built two years ago and seems to have good security and people. The second location is in an older building, also with good security and people. The difference is that the second location charges $40 less per week and is a smaller business. Other than the facility being a bit older, I do not see a good reason go to with the first location when I see nothing wrong with the second. My oh my the decision. Both are also close to my work so that doesn't help in the choosing. It would be great to save the extra $160 each month. In Indiana it is public record to see all state licensed child care locations' inspections. This includes homes, churches, and child care companies. Both locations we have found do not have any bad inspections nor reported complaints. We'll probably go with the less expensive place but want to think about it a bit longer.

We still have only 3 hummingbirds. They are fun to watch. Huntley was barking the other evening after it was dark so I went to inspect. There was a full sized opossum just off of our front porch. It didn't even budge when Huntley was barking at it. Hmm. Then I recalled back in the Fall there was an opossum in our back yard that I saw a couple of times when taking Huntley outside for his evening potty trip. The thing chased us both times! Came running full speed at us so we high-tailed it back into the house and then it ran off. I wonder if it's the same one? If it is, it may be rabid and needs to head over to neighbor Frank's where critters like this one don't last very long. I don't mean to be so insensitive but I really don't like going outside in the dark and have something chase me. If it were just out there hanging out, sure no problem. You stay over there, I stay over here and we'll co-exist. I better get back to work and finish what I'm working on for the day. Yay, four day weekend!!

See you all soon!!

Week 30

It's Friday! I'm ready for the weekend to sleep, work on the house, and sleep. Did I mention I plan to sleep this weekend? The second trimester energy didn't last long enough. I feel tired all the time again and moving oh so slowly. Slow isn't too bad considering I'm a little wobbly and achy and it helps me keep my balance. Going upstairs in our house wears me out. It's getting harder to breathe. My feet have grown a bit. I can hardly wear my black leather Birkenstock clogs and my tennis shoes are snug. Just this week I've started wearing my old suede Birk clogs because they are all stretched out, which now feels comfortable. I sure hope I don't have to buy all new shoes after the pregnancy. I like my shoes and don't want to spend the money on more. Can you tell I'm starting to be ready for this baby to come? On the up side, sleeping is more comfortable now. I've figured out how to manage the growing belly when shifting positions and also being more tired helps. Our bedroom has been staying warmer than the rest of the house so Garrett bought me a vertical fan to keep me cooler. That has been wonderful.

Baby continues to be active. I'm noticing more and more stretching and she isn't twisting and moving her entire body as much. My books say she should start getting in the head down position the majority of the time, which I think she's doing. I feel kicks at the top of my bump frequently. The right side of my abdomen is where I feel most of the stretches. I think it's her bum and then her legs at the top. When she does move her body, my entire belly contorts and it's really funny to watch. My belly button is still an inny. Ok, just barely, but it is! It may not be long before it's an outy and will poke out of my shirts. It's all an adventure and it's fascinating. When we are home and the baby is moving a bunch I have Garrett put his hand on my belly to feel her. But, as soon as he does, she stops moving. It's really cool. She must like his touch. When I touch my belly she just keeps wiggling. She's going to have him wrapped around her finger.

Garrett is making progress on the office room. It was ready to prime when a corner piece came loose. He is going to Menards after work today to find another taping material that he heard is good. Hopefully we can prime this weekend and possibly paint. I'd like Baby's room cleared of the office supplies before we bring baby items home from the shower. I'm really excited and anxious to get it set up. I want to go in there and have everything in its place, ready for Baby. I know it doesn't have to be perfect but I want it to be. When she arrives I'd like to be able to relax (when she lets me) and have things organized and easy to find. We were given a couple of pairs of baby shoes and Huntley decided he liked one of them. We'd just received them in the mail and I had not put them away when he walked up to the chair they were on and began tossing it around. He didn't damage it but I promptly put the shoes in Baby's room on a stack of boxes. The next morning, one of the cats had carted it into the upstairs hallway. Crazy little kitties like to just grab things and drag them around the house. They like Garrett's socks, even his t-shirts, his ear plugs and we've found a screw that had been on the kitchen counter. We had a large cork board with push pins on it and they pulled them out and carried them throughout the house. Luckily we saw the pins, not stepped on them. They're a little nuts but we love them. I can't think of much else other than WOW is it hot outside! I'm sure our electric bill will be high next month. I'm still working at the dog playgroups, only with small dogs now, and it's been so hot my boss has cancelled a number of sessions. People nor pets have fun when it's this warm, heat index of 105 today. I work on Saturday from 10-noon and it's supposed to be this way tomorrow also. I'm hoping she cancels again because I'm hot even in the air conditioning. Everyone stay cool and remember that Fall is on the way. Hopefully we'll have a nice long Fall this year. Have a great weekend!

Huntley

Happy Wednesday everyone. Things are well on our end. The heat and humidity continues to be an annoyance but drinking lots of ice water helps. And eating the occasional Central ice cream helps, too :).

A few months ago we were throwing Huntley's favorite toy in the living room and he stopped and lifted his right rear leg and yelped and can came hobbling to us. He kept it off the floor for a few minutes and then started putting weight on it, with limping for a while afterwards. Last week he did it twice on two separate days so we took him to the Vet yesterday. They put him under anesthetic to get xrays and to manually manipulate his leg. They attained hip and knee views. The xray did not give a clear indication of anything wrong but after two of the Vets felt his right knee they determined he has a partially ruptured medial collateral ligament. It's the ligament joining the tibia and femur on the inside of his knee. They prescribed Tramadol and Rimadyl along with two weeks of rest, which means no walks and no playgroups. He likes to run through the house when we get home so that will be a challenge. The Vet said that the torn portion will hopefully grow together within that time frame. If he continues to show lameness or is painful after that amount of time they can refer us to an ortho specialist to consider surgery. After researching I'm not sure that is something we'd do. After getting him home last night he slept and when he was awake he really wasn't coherent. Eating is typically his highlight of the day and he didn't eat until 8:45 last night. He wouldn't even eat a biscuit before that. Afterwards I took him to his potty spot and he kept trying to wander in other directions when he typically heads straight for the zone. They'd given him a good dose of injectable pain meds while he was under anesthetic and I think that is what made him so loopy. He really didn't want to eat this morning but after 15 minutes he reluctantly ate. He would go to his bowl, look at the food, walk 10 feet away, go back to the bowl, etc. Poor puppy. The good news is that his hips look excellent which is a relief to hear for his breed and not knowing his lineage that has been something we were concerned about. Let's hope the ligament heals but we don't think we'll be taking him back to playgroups. He's such a rough player and loves to run with the other dogs we're afraid that if he does heal it could easily rupture partially or completely. It's so sad because he loves to play with dogs so much. We are going to MO soon and were planning to leave him at the kennel as he would be able to go to playgroups each day but now we'll be bringing him with us.

That's the latest news as everything else remains the same. Talk you again soon!

7 Months Photo

Cruisin'

We are cruisin' right along. We are beginning week 28 and mini-me has been very squirmy yesterday and today. I felt her at least every hour yesterday and today about every couple hours. She's getting so big that I start to feel her turn or twist and look down and can see a wave go across my belly. Soon I'll be able to tell which parts are which. Yesterday she had her head or her backside pressing out on my right side so much that I could see the bulge. She stayed long enough for Garrett to feel it. I really wish I could get another ultrasound but as long as she continues her exercise routines there is no justification. It's very reassuring when she wiggles. Though, I wish she would avoid my cervix. Last week that was her place of choice to bounce against but thankfully she is back to choosing more comfortable locations. I've been feeling her a few inches below my ribcage and more on my sides. Though, the ribs may not be comfortable soon. My next appointment is tomorrow, then we start going every two weeks. I will have my glucose test in two weeks to check for gestational diabetes. The doctor's office will give me an extra sugary drink that I have to consume within a certain amount of time and then have my blood drawn soon thereafter.

We now have 3 Hummingbirds!! At least that's what I've seen near the feeder at one time. The new one is either a female or juvenile. Again, I'm not good at distinguishing the difference so I stop what I'm doing and stare every time I see them. We have a 6 foot ornamental tree next to the feeder and the other day the male bird was perched on the branch closest to the feeder. Any time the others wanted to get to the feeder, he would fly them off and return to his branch. He eventually left and the others returned for drinking.

We haven't accomplished much this week on the house. We've both been tired and lazy. We've had a few small storms narrowly miss our house that apparently had high winds. We're just hoping the storms continue to bypass us until after next Friday, when the big tree in front of our house gets taken down. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us. The company we chose to do the service is a well-known local company and they are quite busy. West Lafayette had a storm come through last week that knocked down a lot of trees so they got a little behind on the housecalls due to helping the city with clean up.

That's all I have folks for this week. Happy end of July! (Already?!)

Hummer

Looks like the new hummingbird is also a ruby-throated. It's either a juvenile or a female, both of which don't have the ruby throat. I'm sure most of you already knew this and I probably should have also after seeing them at Mary Jane's and also at Mary's. I know now!

Hot!

Wow, has my thermostat gone up! I feel hot almost all of the time. I drink ice cold water or lemonade and frequently have a Pop-Ice popsickle when I'm home. There is a good part to this; I don't always have to grab a blanket when I sit for any amount of time and my feet are never cold! When I put my hand on Garrett he complains that I'm hot. He also used to complain when I was cold. He said he'd rather I be cold so I told him to remember himself saying that this winter.

We're all doing well. Baby Girl continues to squirm. It's reassuring but it would be nice if she could not kick the same spot over and over. Yesterday and today she's been stretching which is an odd feeling as well. I've read that I should feel her hiccup starting now but so far I haven't noticed it. Her eyes should be opening now and she should be able to detect light/dark. Her lungs are in their prime development stage, growing the alveoli and surfactant, necessary for respiration. And of course, she's growing in every direction. The sharp pain I had has for now subsided. Now there is a constant ache in my pelvis but it's a lot easier to walk without the stabbing sensation. My ribs are also getting a bit tender. Garrett and I looked at our financial numbers to figure out if I could go back to work part time. It would be a close call so it looks like I have to go back to work full time. I'm really bummed because I was hoping we could work it out somehow. It would work if we sold one of our vehicles but we really need to have two. Especially living where we do, it would be dangerous not to have transportation in case of an emergency while the other person was gone. We also don't want an older car that we'd be putting money into anyway. And Garrett's time. At least we have found a nice day care center and we feel comfortable with them. I'll be able to take off 12 weeks and start back to work in mid January if she comes close to her due date. Garrett continues to work on the upstairs office room. It's getting there and hopefully we can paint soon. I'm getting anxious because we don't have anything set up for Baby and it's going to be a while longer before we can get things how we want them. I'd like to be painting and getting her room set up in case she arrives early. I'm trying to stay focused on basic cleaning and trying not to get stressed. I know everything will work out fine. If she does arrive early her chances of survival are very good. Our new hospital has a Level 3 NICU that I've heard is very good which gives me some piece of mind. Let's just hope she stays put for a while longer. Ha! I may not be saying that in 2 months!

We now have two hummingbirds that come to the feeder on a regular basis. The second one showed up a couple of weeks ago. The first one is a ruby-throated and the more recent friend is a beautiful shiny emerald. I couldn't find our bird book to see what it is so I'll look it up after I finish writing this. I'm surprised we don't have more hummers but I'm thankful that we have the two. We also have a resident chipmunk that lives against the back of the house. We see it almost daily running from the back door to the back deck and everywhere in between. The other night we were eating dinner in the dining room and it was on the deck off of the dining room eating dinner as well. It found a cicada and happily munched it for a good 5 minutes. Chipmunks are quite cute. Our cats think so, too! The butterflies we have are amazing. We have all different kinds and it's so peaceful to be in the kitchen cooking or cleaning and look out and see a butterfly, probably 95% of the time.

It's about time for me to leave work and go to the store. Everyone stay cool (temperature and awesomeness) and have a great rest of the week!

Whoa!

Little baby girl is taking advantage of what little space there is surrounding her. I just finished my lunch and she pressed her head very firmly against the side of my abdomen. I could feel the almost perfect roundness so I'm confident it was her head. I wish Garrett could have felt her. After a bit of gentle massaging she moved positions. It was so cool I just had to make an immediate post. Happy Monday everyone!

6 Months

Today marks 6 months, the beginning of month 7. Time is going by quickly and it's exciting to think that in a few months we'll have a little girl sleeping in our arms. She continues to get bigger and stronger. She has become a bit more active during the day. A few times I had to stand up and walk around because she continued giving strong jabs and I was trying to work. This morning the alarm had just gone off and she started moving around. Typically she waits for me to be out of bed and awake for a while before beginning her exercises. Hmm, does this mean she'll keep us on our toes? Her bones continue to harden and her fat continues to build. Her brain is developing quickly and will be opening and closing her eyes. She is 12-14 inches long (crown to heel) and weighs around 1.5 pounds. We had our monthly appointment last week and her heart was great at 150 bpm. My ligaments are definitely relaxing and causing me some pain in my pelvis and hips. The doctor said this is normal for some women (1 in 35) and it will probably only get worse. It's difficult to walk and turn over while sleeping. I put my feet up as often as possible and this seems to help. I have a box at my desk that I prop up onto. It's also been difficult driving the car as it's a manual and I have to raise my left foot for the clutch. That doesn't help the discomfort. Other than that, I'm feeling fine and keeping up on house work.

Garrett has been working very hard on our upstairs office bedroom. He pulled down drywall on a small wall, leveled it so it isn't wavy and put up new drywall. In the process we discovered there was no insulation behind most of the wall so we added some to fill the space. Since I can't do many of those types of things I made him cookies. He also patched the outlet box hole that Huntley had made larger and relocated the box lower on the wall to make it look nicer. He did a great job so I'll be able to paint once we get it sanded. For those whom have seen our house, it's the large green wall in the lower living room. The whole house could use fresh paint but we'll see what we can get done. One thing at a time. I believe we have only one humming bird that comes every morning, afternoon and evening to our feeder outside our kitchen window. I'm so glad we at least have one. Hopefully next season we'll have more. Our purple cone flowers have all bloomed and I just love them. We also have black-eyed susans mixed in with them and they haven't begun to bloom this past week. Our garden is doing very well and I will be harvesting a few early girl tomatos soon. I had another company give us an estimate to have a big tree removed that is overhanging our house. We are scheduled for Aug. 3. I asked if they could do it before then if they have any cancellations as we are quite concerned it will fall on the house if we have another bad storm. I hope they can squeeze us in soon. We're having them leave the firewood sized pieces for next winter. It's a large tree and we will get a good batch of wood from it. We plan to plant a new tree in it's place, a little further from the house, but we aren't sure what kind to get. Honestly, we haven't had a chance to think about it but we'll decide on something, sometime. No rush.

We hope everyone had a nice 4th. We'll catch up again soon.

Belly photos

Just to show the changes, here are a few photos. The top photo is from April 22. She and I are growin!

The photo in the middle is from May 27.

The last photo is from June 24 (5.5months along).

I'm Back!

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been a while since I last posted. We've continued to be busy with landscaping upkeep, gardening, etc. It was great to go to MO a few weeks ago and wish we'd had time to see everyone. Garrett was sick with a cold and passed it on so neither of us have had much motivation for anything. Garrett's mostly better and I'm still fighting with mine. I've not had a cold linger like this one has and am I'm really tired of coughing. I'm sure Baby Girl is, too.


Baby is doing well from what I can tell. I'm feeling her jabs higher up now and the belly continues to grow. I think she has been experimenting with twists and rolls because I'm feeling her kick all over my right side instead of just in the lower abdomen. When I was relaxing earlier this week she had been moving around gently. Then I felt a lot of pressure lengthwise just under my belly button. It felt like she had her entire head and back pressed against the front of my abdomen. I ran my hand across and could feel her little head and then her body. It was amazing! As I continued to run my hand back and forth across her she moved away. Garrett had fallen asleep so I tried to wake him up so he could feel her but he was really tired. She did it again a little later but it wasn't as noticeable from the outside. We've each been reading children's books to her almost every night. We have four Skippyjon Jones books which seem to be the favorite. That is, the favorite among Garrett and myself. They are quite funny and we enjoy the different nicknames for Skippyjon. Garrett's been calling Remy, our skiddish cat, Skippyjon because he bounces all over the house, similar to how Skippyjon bounces around his room before an adventure. Anyway, we're having a fun time reading the stories. For the past few weeks I have been wearing Garrett's t-shirts to bed. My sleep shirts rub snugly on the belly which is quite uncomfortable. Garrett has more clothes (even non-maternity) than me so he has a variety to choose from. My overall weight gain has my pj pants fitting a little snug also but I think I can make it through the next few months without buying any.

Monday evening we had a bad storm come through with cloud rotation, high winds and heavy rain over our house. Soon after the storm hit I heard something outside at the east end of the house. The next morning as we stepped out of the house for work we found that two large limbs had fallen, one nearly missing the house. That evening Garrett got out his handy dandy fancy Stihl chainsaw and cut the limbs up and we hauled the pieces to the burn pile. We were able to save some of the good pieces to use in the wood stove in the winter. We're very lucky they didn't fall on the house. It's been so hot outside the last few days and with all the storms in the evenings I haven't been able to work too much outside. If I do, it's only for a max of 30 minutes and then I have to stop. I've been eating a lot of Pop Ice popsickles and some Central Dairy ice cream. Yep, that's right. Central Dairy. Before we left MO we stopped downtown JC and picked up two, 3 gallon containers of ice cream. One Jamocha Almond Fudge and one Vanilla. I really enjoy the Vanilla because I can use it in root beer floats, drizzle chocolate syrup on it or sprinkle cinnamon on top. Yummy! Perhaps I will need new pj pants :)

I'll try to update the blog a little sooner next time!
Have a great weekend!

Girl!!

We're having a girl!! We had our ultrasound last Thursday and saw our little sweetheart for the first time. It was sooo cool to finally see her. Everything appears to be developing correctly and she looks healthy. So healthy, in fact, that the doctor said she is a week ahead of schedule in growth. She was very wiggly for the technician. She paused every now and then just long enough to get a picture. She waved at us briefly and kept her little ankles crossed making it difficult to see that she is a she. After the technician pushed here and there on my abdomen to try getting her to move and after I used the restroom she finally gave us a little peek. Of course it's not 100%, but both the technician (experienced) and doctor said they are 98% sure. She appears to have quite the belly and is mastering her karate moves. I continue to feel her throughout the day at different times. She really likes to get active just as I lay down for bed. It's said they start developing their sleep/wake pattern at this time. She may be a night owl like I apparently was when I was a baby. I have not been awakened in the night by her movements so let's hope that continues. Anyway, we were so excited to see her and to know that she doesn't have any major birth defects is a big relief.

So apparently most of the family "had a feeling" we were having a girl before we told them. I find this funny because given Garrett's family genes with mostly boys on the Thorne side, I was expecting it to also be a boy. I was really surprised for about 20 minutes following the ultrasound but soon started talking pink. I'm super excited that I will have a little girl to do girly things with and she will also have a wonderful dad to show her how to change the oil and other vehicle things so she can impress the boys. On that note, I enjoyed playing with my brother's Tonka trucks when I was young. I would put my hamster in the back of the Mighty Dump and pull it around. We have a number of Tonka trucks that we've found over that past few years from going to antique shops. We went to the monthly flea market at the Fairgrounds this past Sunday where I had to keep Garrett from buying all the Tonka trucks he saw. I reminded him that we are having a girl and she may not want to play with just Tonkas. Shouldn't there be a cut off for how many we can have? She most likely won't want them displayed in her room lining the baseboards. Oh well. She'll probably play with them and have fun with them and that's what it's all about. But Garrett, honey, I really think we have a good collection.

We're going to MO this weekend for my cousin's wedding and will be bouncing from place to place. Hopefully we can catch everyone. We're leaving Huntley at the kennel since it looks like our schedule has filled up quickly. Tracy, a friend of mine, and her daughter will be checking on our wild kitties for us. Love you all and hope you're having a great week!

Wiggler

Geez, do I ever have a wiggler inside this belly. The movements continue to get stronger and more frequent. Baby has been moving around a lot today. Typically it has been active in the evenings and now it's at different times throughout the day. My cubemate, Jennifer, was able to feel it today. Hopefully it will continue this through tomorrow. Last night as soon as I got in bed the little one went crazy. Jab here! Jab there! Garrett was able to feel it. It makes me so happy that he can feel it, too. I wish he could feel every little movement that I can feel. We have our ultrasound tomorrow afternoon and I can't wait to see Baby for the first time. A friend of mine that I work with at the dog park is 3 weeks ahead of me and she had her exam two weeks ago. She said it was really cool and got plenty of photos and a DVD recording of the ultrasound. My doctor's office offers that as well so I need to dig out a disc tonight. We're super excited!

Over Memorial weekend Garrett installed ventilation in the garage. He put in a ridge vent along the entire length and began installing the intake vents. He's such a hard worker. I worked inside cleaning and organizing. We're still trying to figure out where to put things. Once we get the office painting finished that will clear up a lot of the mess. I wish I could help him more with moving things and doing more outside. I went out to the garden at 8:30 to finish planting Sweat Pea flowers along the edge. I began weeding and got hot in the 45 minutes I was out there. Part of it was the humidity but my heart was beating strongly so I needed to stop. We planted 4 hills each of canteloupe and pumpkin over one week ago and the pumpkins are growing very quickly! The canteloupe are just emerging. We planted corn the same day and they are already 3-4 inches tall. If you want corn let us know because we will have a lot that we can bring home at the end of the season. The tomato plants are doing well also along with the oregano. We're going to plant carrots as soon as it stops storming. A friend that Garrett went through Aviation with at Purdue, Mike, called him on Saturday to catch up. He is staying in Cincinatti, OH for the summer for an internship for his Masters. He came to visit for a few hours on Sunday and Garrett showed him his workplace and the new Aviation building on campus. Mike married about the same time we did and they are also expecting in October. When Garrett told him we were also, Mike said they know 11 other people around our age that are also expecting October babies! They are having a boy and are very excited.

Not sure if I mentioned this in another post but we bought an Elliptical so I've been able to continue exercising without going out into the heat. Later in the evenings we've been walking Huntley as long as it has cooled off enough for him and myself. I work every Saturday at the dog park from 9:30am-12:30pm so I've been taking Huntley with me. He has a good time and it wears him out for the rest of the weekend. We're a bit concerned about his back legs. A few times recently he will be playing/running and will stop and lift his right rear leg and put no weight on it. He stops what he's doing and comes to us if we can't get to him first. After a few minutes he will put weight on it and walk but still has a bit of a limp. We're afraid it may be the beginning of hip dysplasia. Without knowing his breeding history we don't know some things. He's still a great dog and wouldn't trade him. :) Time to eat lunch. Happy Wednesday!

Active!

I believe we have a very active one on board. During the day I feel little flutters and gentle movements periodically. After eating dinner and relaxing in the evenings is when Little One wakes up and wants to dance. Last night we were watching the news and I felt a good jab that startled me. I put my hand on my belly and it kicked again and I felt it move on the outside! I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination so I grabbed Garrett's hand and put it in the same place. A moment later Baby kicked again and I looked over and asked if he felt it. Simultaneously he looked over and asked if that was the baby. It made me really happy that he could feel it, and he liked it too. I was surprised to be able to feel it from the outside already. I looked up a forum online and many women start feeling it from the outside about this time. Baby stopped wiggling for a few minutes and then started up again. Then stopped, then started. Again, we'd put our hands on it. I think it was shying away from the little bit of pressure of our hands and didn't feel it again from the outside. I could still feel it inside. I'm starting to anticipate when it's going to give a jab. It feels like it's doing gentle rolls and somersaults and then, pow! Roll, twist, pow! Baby hadn't moved much for a few days so it was good to feel it more active. Ha, I'm not I'll be saying that in the coming months but for now it's cool. I'll feel better after seeing our amazing creation on ultrasound. Baby should be about 5.5 inches crown to rump, and close to 8 inches with legs.

We had a busy weekend. Friday night we watched The Blind Side. Great movie! Saturday I worked at KCA (Klondike Canine Academy) with the dogs and went home and made brownies. A group of girls and I went over to a friend's house for girls' night. I cut up fresh pineapple and watermelon. Laura, the host, made delicious lasagna and we all basically talked and ate for 5 hours. Well, at least I ate most of the time. But it was mostly healthy snacks. I only had 1/2 a brownie along with the fruit and mexican layer dip. Sunday we got up early and started working on landscaping outside. I worked on weeding the beds and Garrett removed the big dead bushes. Just before we moved in to the house the seller said a bug attacked a couple of them. She sprayed them and tried to get the bugs away but the bugs won. By noon I had to stop because I was too hot. I took a break every 30 minutes but it was just too warm. We had lunch and Garrett went back out and mowed. We need to go a garden center and pick out a few new shrubs to fill in the empty spots. We both have Monday off next week so hopefully we can get more accomplished. Garrett plans to put in vents on the roof of the garage and hopefully I can work on organizing inside.

Last Wednesday morning we had a few shallow holes in our yard. One was about 2 feet in diameter and we figured it was a coyote or dog. Well, we spoke with Neighbor Frank this weekend and he said he'd had a pig get out of its pen. It meandered over to our place, then back to his yard. He called a friend after finding it and they were able to corner it and get it back into the pen. The pigs are full-sized and not very nice apparently. Hopefully we won't step outside with Huntley and be surprised by a giant pig that weighs three times Huntley's weight.

Yesterday I was standing at the sink getting dinner ready when I saw our first Hummingbird! I was so excited. I've had the feeder out for two weeks and hadn't seen anything. I didn't see it again but am hopeful we will have some visitors. We also have a Robin with two babies in the nest just outside our front living room window. They are fun to watch.

Everyone stay cool during these warm days. Have a good week!

Update

A quick update, I have been feeling what I believe to be the baby moving almost daily since my last post. The last two nights after light exercising and then relaxing, there have been a few little pokes within a couple of minutes. I also felt it during the day yesterday, sitting in the lab at work. I've had two comments today from people saying "Wow, Chris! You look pregnant!" My response, laughing, "I wonder why" and "you're right." I will clarify that these people DO know I'm pregnant, otherwise they'd be in big trouble. I'm wearing a maternity shirt today that must accentuate the growing belly. I woke up feeling bigger and didn't want to wear anything fitted. My shirt is princess cut with gathering under the bust and then has a tie on the back. It is free flowing so makes me appear a bit bigger and screams, "Look at my Bellay!" I just wanted to wear something loose and comfy today. It's funny to see/hear how what I wear makes me look bigger or smaller. I'm having fun with it. It's nice to be showing now. It's like saying "look what I'm creating!" I'm so thankful and fortunate to have the capability of experiencing such an amazing process.

Hello Baby!

We are now 4 months/16 weeks. Monday night Garrett and I were sitting on the couch watching a bit of tv. I was a bit slouched with a pillow behind my back when I felt the baby move!! It felt like a little jab in the front of my belly. When people would describe feeling movement as a gas bubble, I thought "What?" I couldn't imagine it, until now. That's exactly what it felt like but instead of being deeper in my body, it was right out in front. It was soooo cool! I turned and looked at Garrett after thinking about it for a moment, and still surprised I said "I think I just felt our baby move!" He smiled and rubbed the belly. I haven't felt it since but am really excited and hoping to feel it again soon. I've tried using the heart monitor a few times with no luck. Baby is around 5 inches long and according to what I've read will be going through a growth spurt from now on. Hopefully we'll be able to hear it soon. In 3 weeks we'll be going in for the ultrasound. I can hardly wait! I think about it at least 3 times an hour.


Shirts that I bought only a few weeks ago are getting snug! They weren't maternity shirts, just shirts from Kohl's that were hip length princess cut. Another shirt that I'd bought a month ago was too big at first, now fits. The great thing about being pregnant right now is maternity clothes for summer are probably less expensive than winter maternity tops. AND I won't have to buy a big winter coat! I figured I may as well find good deals on clothes so I can be comfortable and cute throughout the 40 weeks and also because we hope to have another child in the distant future (don't get too excited). My cousin is getting married in June so I plan to go to the maternity store in our mall to buy a dress. I went in there few weeks ago and they had really cute dresses for around $30. Surely I'll be able to wear it at least a couple of times before Fall. Although by then I will be bigger and may want to wear something cooler. Anyway, I'd like to have a cute dress for the wedding so by golly I'm going to find one.


As far as cravings go, pizza still always sounds and is very good. Over the past week I've been craving smoothies and ice cream and milk shakes. We stopped at Steak n Shake last weekend and I had (I was good) a junior milk shake. It was oh so tasty. We went to Sam's and I bought a bag of Yoplait Smoothie mix. It has fruit and yogurt chunks and then you add milk. Quite yummy.


Our jobs have been keeping us busy as well as yard work and gardening. We planted tomato, jalapeno, watermelon and cantaloupe starts this week and hope the billions of rabbits around our house won't get through the fence we put up. The asparagus is in full swing and I've been enjoying some and taking the rest to work. On Tuesday morning I brought some in and the entire WalMart bag of it was gone in 1.5 hours. I am happy that's it's not going to waste.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

148!

The baby's heart rate was holding strong yesterday at 148! I've come to the conclusion that the doctor doesn't hold the doppler in place long enough. I find myself hardly breathing because I'm listening so carefully. And, it's breathtaking. I'd like to just sit and listen for a bit. My Mom bought me a heart rate monitor which says it works best at the end of the second trimester. I've still tried, hoping to hear the little one.

Today I feel exhausted. I was falling asleep this morning while Garrett drove us into town for work. I plan to take Huntley for a walk, eat dinner, watch NCIS and go to bed. I might, only might, empty the dishwasher and do a little laundry. We'll see. For now, I'm going to pick up my wonderful husband and head for home. Did I mention I will probably include eating Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream into my evening? It's good but I wish it were Central Dairy.

Take care!

Another week

Hello again,
Hope everyone had a nice weekend. We were able to work on a few things this weekend but didn't get done as much as I had hoped. Garrett worked on work benches for the garage and almost finished one of the two. He needs to order casters and then he'll be done with the first one. He made good progress on the second and will probably finish it this week. They look really nice. He may have been closer to being done if the power hadn't gone out on Friday night. I had already gone to bed and then he came in and said the power was out and that the tope of a utility pole across the road was on fire. The fire was out by the time the utility company came out. They said the isolator had gone bad and got it fixed right away.
Saturday was a busy day with the Garden Expo at the Tippecanoe fairgrounds in the morning and then the Purdue Grand Prix race in the afternoon. Then out to dinner with Garrett's boss and his wife and a co-worker and his wife. It was a fun day and very tiring.
Sunday morning we got up and I started sanding the spackle spots in the office room in preparation to paint. More spackle needs to be put on in a few spots so no painting yet. I took a nice long afternoon nap and still slept well last night. For dinner I cut a few asparagus and sauteed them to go along with the main dish. I can hardly keep up with the stuff it grows soooo fast. Now with this rain I'm sure it will grow even faster. It's great though so I won't complain. It's fun to go into the garden and gather part of my dinner.

Things are going well on the baby front. Anxiously waiting to feel movement. I have another check-up at the end of this week and will get to hear the heart again. I had read that sleeping on your back can reduce blood flow to your legs and uterus starting with the second trimester. I am a back sleeper, occasional side sleeper, so for a week I woke up every time I wanted to move and positioned myself with pillows. I wasn't sleeping well and my hips were killing me from the constant side sleeping so I called the doctor's office and asked about it. They said I don't need to worry about avoiding sleeping on my back until later, sometime in the third trimester. Even though my uterus is growing, it's not big enough to be compressing the vena cava to have an impact on blood supply to Baby. I was relieved and have slept better ever since. Another reason not to believe everything you read on the net. A change I've noticed is my hair and face have become greasy like when I was in middle school. My Head and Shoulders wasn't doing any good. I'd get out of the shower and it seemed as though I hadn't even washed my hair. I went back to using Paul Mitchel's tea tree special shampoo. It used to do a great job and then I decided I didn't want to pay for it anymore. After a week of using it my skin was showing irritation in the form of a rash that I had struggled with for a few years. After discontinuing that shampoo and later the birth control, my skin improved dramatically. So I'm guessing there is something in each of those that my body doesn't like. I tried Garrett's Perts Plus and it has been doing a better job without the skin irritation. As for the face break-outs, I'll just have to deal with it. It's worth it. :)

Taking it Easy

Hi everyone! Things are going well. I've been harvesting our asparagus crop almost daily and it tastes oh so yummy. I am bringing in the extra to work and people snatch it right up. No wasting here. Garrett and I fell asleep on the couch last night. He woke up and told me we'd been asleep for over an hour. It felt like it had been maybe 15 minutes. Water has been my primary drink for years and my body got used to consuming a steady amount. Now it seems I can hardly drink enough to keep up. I'm constantly drinking and can barely keep up. Juicey Juice has been really great to add to the selection and I'll have an Orange soda every so often.

Baby should be about the size of a peach and becoming proportionate to the body with arm and leg lengths and head size. It will also be passing it's first bowel movement which is neat but something I'd rather not think about. My hip bones are getting harder to feel among other changes. I won't go into too much detail. Now that most people at my work know about it, anytime we pass each other they take a quick glance at my stomach. I think it's funny because they try to not make it obvious but it's getting hard to miss. I don't mind as long as they don't come up and rub my belly. I'm sure it will happen and I don't know what my response will be. I suppose it depends on the circumstance. Only family and close friends are allowed. Now, don't go overboard with that.

Anyway, Garrett has been working in the garage making work benches and getting things organized and I've lent a hand here and there. It is supposed to rain this weekend so hopefully we can get more things done in the office bedroom so in about two months we can start on Baby's room. Did I mention we're starting the 2nd trimester?!! Wow, time is flying! I will probably repeat that so please forgive me. Catch up with ya later! Have a great weekend!

3 Months!

We've made it to the 3 month mark! I hope to feel more energetic and get my appetite back soon so I can function again. Garrett and I talk to Baby frequently but we're going to start talking to it more and reading children's books out loud. Baby hears me talk all the time but it really needs to hear both of us. It will be good practice for us, too. I've had a craving for Jello the last few days so I bought a package of Orange flavored that I plan to make tonight. That's the only sugary craving I've had, other than chocolate. Chocolate has been hard to resist. I have allowed myself a little tiny bit every couple of days which has helped keep my sanity.

I found new pants but of course they are all too long so I'll be hemming pants this weekend. I found a pair of jeans and a tan and a green pair of thin, lightweight cargo capris that can also be full length. The capri length goes to my ankles since I'm so short so they'll be kept the full length. There really isn't a lot of selection I discovered so I'll be able to make due with a couple pairs for a few months.

We have aspargus! Our crop has really taken off in the last week. Too bad Garrett doesn't like it. I plan to bring in most of it to co-workers so it doesn't go to waste. I had some last night sauteed in olive oil and it was tasty. Next time it needs a little garlic.

We'll be working on the house again this weekend but it's supposed to be in the mid 60's so it will be great to have windows open. The cats sure like them open and jump to the sill and watch the birds. Our landscaping has really taken off this week and I've been taking photos of everything that's coming back from dormancy. I love to see all the colors of the trees and bushes. I need to spend some time and research to see what all the flowering trees are named. Supposedly the previous owner has a diagram of the entire landscaping around the house but I haven't come across it yet.

Everyone have a great weekend and we'll chat again next week!

Pants

It's time to buy new pants. Last week I was hoping to go another 2-3 weeks before needing pants but decided this weekend that I can't hold out any longer. It's uncomfortable when I sit and they dig into my gut. I've also hit the last hole on my belt and there's not room for any more expansion. At this rate we very well could have a large baby like the two of us were. Ugh. For those who don't know, Garrett was a 9 pounder, I was 8lb. 14oz. The NP said since we were big there is a good chance this one will be about the same. I'll look on the bright side, Baby is growing! Lafayette has a second hand maternity clothes store that I plan to check out at some point in the next few months. Being sweet like he is, Garrett suggested we take an evening this week and go shopping for new clothes. Hopefully I can find something in between non-pregnant pants and full-out maternity pants.

Baby is nearly 2.5 inches long and will be growing rapidly from now on. My appetite has increased a good deal even though I've started to occasionally feel lousy about an hour after eating. I'm being careful not to eat too much at once but to graze like the cows. I will soon feel like one so I may as well graze like one. I haven't craved unhealthy sweets. They don't sound very tasty right now but fruits and some vegetables have been quite good. If I don't eat something every 2-3 hours, my stomach becomes unhappy and it's hard to eat after that. I've been going through a lot of granola bars and applesauce. I have carrots and low acid fruits on hand to keep me going. This is a great time to be pregnant because all the yummy fresh fruits are coming into season and will be easier to find in the store.

We're continuing to work on odd jobs around the house so we'll have less to worry about come the Fall. Hope everyone is doing well. I don't know how many people are following this. I would love to hear from you so maybe some more Comments could be posted! Happy Monday everyone!

Little Heart

We heard Baby's heart beat on Friday! It was such a wonderful sound. It was a very strong beat and the Practitioner found it quickly. We did not have an ultrasound this time but we will in a couple of months. It was reassuring and made it more real for both Garrett and myself. I go again in 3.5 weeks to check the heart and I can hardly wait.

Baby's eye lids have formed and fused and will open in the last trimester. The bones are developing and hardening. The head makes up for half of the mass but the rest of the body will quickly catch up in the coming weeks. Baby should be about the size of a lime and be wiggling it arms and legs. I know it's busy growing because it's wearing me out. The on and off nausea has subsided mostly and the Spring weather has helped me stay motivated to exercise. It was so humid yesterday I was sweating a bit after my walk with Huntley but it was really nice to be outside. We've been cleaning up the yard the last two evenings. Cutting out the dead flower stalks and Garrett mowed yesterday for the first time. I made chocolate chip cookies this weekend and have allowed myself one or two each day, which is really hard to not eat more!! I have avoided chocolate from the beginnning until now. The Practitioner said I can start having a little and I just had to have cookies!

We're really excited that everything is looking good and we couldn't be happier.

Excitement

Tomorrow is our first ultrasound! Garrett and I get to see Baby and hear it's little teeny tiny heart beat. It will be fascinating and I can hardly wait. I feel like time is already going so quickly.

I'm feeling relatively good. Huntley and I have started our regular evening walks since the weather has turned nice and it's given me a little more energy. The wind was constantly blowing yesterday at the homestead so we didn't walk too long.

Garrett took Huntley out this morning and there was a Coyote running across the field behind our house. Huntley wanted to check it out along with a rabbit in the yard. They had a very exciting morning. We've been watching a pair of dark colored Coyotes the last few weeks that rummage through the corn stubble. I'm happy if they stay out in the field and not come up to the house like one did a couple months ago. I turned on the back deck light and there it was about five feet off the deck. Surprise!

I won't have access to post anything for the weekend so I'll give you an update next week. I hope everyone has a nice Easter!

4 day week!

No work for Good Friday! At least at my money-paying job. We are going to be working on one of the bedrooms this weekend. This room will be our office/craft room. Baby room work to begin when we find out the gender. A few months ago I had the itch to paint the office. We decided to replace the old trim with new trim that will match the rest of the house since the previous owners' remodel didn't include much work for the upstairs. Well, upon removing old trim we found they had placed a smaller door in the space than what should be there and filled in the gap with caulk. Hmm. So, now we're replacing the trim and the door. And while we're at it, we're thinking about putting hard wood in the room since the carpet doesn't match the other carpet in the house. I just wanted to paint! That's what I get for being ambitious. At least we'll do it right and give us the peace of mind. My 3 day weekend will be busy but hopefully we'll get some things done. Perhaps if we need to get outside for fresh air we can clean the gutters. Yay, Ra! Ugh. On a happier note, we have Spring flowers popping up around the yard and I'm so excited to see what they turn into and the buds on the trees and bushes are starting to emerge.

Thinking about Spring cheers me up. I had a rough start this morning and my stomach isn't very happy. I want to eat my home-made pizza for lunch. Let's hope the stomach likes it.

I probably won't be posting much on the weekends because we don't have the internet. We're looking into it so hopefully in the next couple of months we'll have it set up. Hope everyone is doing well. Chat again soon!

Week 9

Baby Thorne:
Today marks the beginning of Week 9. Baby Thorne now has all of his/her fingers and toes and still connected with webbing! It's only around 1 inch long but is already moving. I've been calling it my little pumpkin because it's about the size of a pumpkin seed. The main construction of the heart is complete and has been beating for a couple weeks.

Me:
I'm really tired today even though I went to bed at 8:45 last night. When I get sleepy, that's it. No matter how hard I try to stay up, it doesn't happen and I'm down for the count. I haven't had any major cravings. During the first few weeks, peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches were really tasty. Now, the smell of peanut butter makes me gag. Bad news for Huntley because he's used to getting peanut butter stuffed into his Kong toy, which then permeates the house. I just go to another room for awhile. Last night I was looking for dinner ideas and nothing we had sounded very good. Garrett was still at work so I called him up. I asked him if there was a Papa Johns on his way home. He said he'd look and call back. He called back, said there was, that he'd called in an order and would be on his way shortly. What a sweetie. That made my night.

Welcome!

We are thrilled to announce there will be another Thorne joining the world! I have created this blog to keep everyone updated with our preparations to welcome this little one into our lives and also how the mommy and daddy-to-be are doing. We will meet Baby Thorne around October 28. Please add comments! I'd love to hear from everyone!