So it's October now, I know, I'm a bad, bad blogger!

Sorry for not updating in over a month, things have just been busy, busy, busy! So I guess I should start by sharing my most recent appointment with Marie, which was my 38 week appointment this last Monday, the 12th...

Fundal height: Measuring at 39 weeks, now only a week ahead, things are slowing down a bit since I am getting to the end of this journey, woohoo!

Total weight gain: 21 pounds, pretty happy with this.

Blood pressure: It's getting a bit higher than normal since I'm at the end, I think it was 130-something over 70-something

Fetal heart tones: 140's-150's, perfecto!

Complains/Ailments from me: HAHA! Do you REALLY want me to get into this? I'll spare you a novel and just say I'm not too comfy at this point, lol!

Baby boy's postition: Head down, although he was liking to do flips in the last few weeks, little stinker! Marie says he is pretty centered over my pelvis at this point but he is still "floating"

Oh, and I will add that even though Marie doesn't do routine cervical checks, she did check me on Monday and I was at a very stretchy 2cm, VERY soft and about 80% effaced...doesn't really mean a whole lot as far as when labor is going to be but it's nice to know that my body is getting ready for the big day.

Next appointment: Monday Oct. 19th at 6:30pm, I'll be 39 weeks, wow!

Alright, so I have obviously been very busy in the last month and a half, busy enough not to update my blog anyway lol! Right before I turned 36 weeks, I had a baby shower over is Spokane and it was amazing, I had a great time and I think everyone else did too. It was sooo great to see my family and my friends, I was very happy that Marie let me take this trip, she almost didn't just because of being in my last month and the pre-term labor I had in August. We recieved alot of wonderful gifts for the baby and it was just an overall very fun shower!

I have pretty much just been getting all the baby stuff put together and washed up in preparation for this little guy to get here, all while trying to spend quality time with my kids and enjoy being a mom of two while I still can. I have been having bouts of nesting, it's like a rollercoaster, one day I will get a whole bunch of stuff cleaned and done and the next day I don't wanna move...it's pretty much been like that since around 34 weeks or so.

Well, I guess that's all for now...I have more stuff to write about but honestly don't feel like sitting here that long to type it all out, LOL! I will try to keep this thing updated as best as I can and not go a month in between posting! Thanks for reading!

32 weeks pregnant! 8 weeks left..give or take a couple weeks!

I had my 32 week check-up today with my midwife, here's the stats:

Fundal Height: Today I measured at 33 weeks, a week ahead as usual

Total Weight Gain: 15 pounds

Blood Pressure: 126/68

Fetal Heart Tones: 130's-150's, excellent

Complaints/Ailments from me: pubic bone pain(what's new, lol), decreased appetite, insomnia

Baby Boy's Position: Head down, head in my right hip area, bottom under my ribs on left side.

Next Appointment: Monday, September 14th at 6:30pm, I will be 34 weeks pregnant!

My appointment went very well today...we followed up on my little trip to the hospital, rewind to yesterday: I ended up going to Labor and Delivery at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Tacoma due to contractions and lack of movement from little baby boy....he instantly started moving and kicking and hiccuping as soon as they put the monitor on, I was relieved, but I was contracting regularly for some unknown reason so they ended up giving me 2 shots of terbutaline(a drug used to stop contractions), checked my cervix (I'm dilated to 1/2cm, no big deal), monitored me for a bit longer and decided I was fine to go home.

Anyway, back to my appointment......I am always FULL of questions, so we talked for quite awhile today, we discussed me writing up a birth plan and the different options I have, we talked about some game plans as far as getting me to go into labor on my own when that time comes and quite a few other things. I got some new vitamins and supplements from her today also. Things are going just fine other than the little detour we took last night but I am confident that I will have the birth experience that I am wanting and a very healthy little baby in my arms within the next 8-10 weeks!

Keep checking back, this is when it starts to get interesting!

30 weeks pregnant! 10 weeks left!....Or maybe 12? Or maybe 7?

Wow, I can't believe I made it this far! I am about 75% of the way through my pregnancy! Here's what's up this week:

Fundal height: I measured at 32 1/2 weeks this week so still measuring a bit ahead but I have measured a bit ahead this whole pregnancy.

Total weight gain 10-13 pounds, it has been fluctuating between the two weights, depends on the time of day.

Blood Pressure: 120's over 60's or 70's, I can't quite remember, but it's good.

Fetal Heart Tones: 140's and 150's, he was wiggling around in there getting his exercise!

Complaints/Ailments from me: Loose joints, pelvic pain/pressure, mild indigestion, frequent, very intense Braxton Hicks contractions, back ache....all the "normal" stuff I guess!

Baby Boy's Positition: At the appointment he was head down, but he has been flipping around alot.

Next Appointment: August 31st @ 6:30pm! I am getting very excited about being so close!

Still no "definite" name...I think we will just keep it a secret till he is born, if we figure it out before then, lol, maybe, we aren't sure yet....

I keep wondering when this little guy will make his appearance, if he will be an early bird(not likely) or a late-bloomer(more likely)? I had several first trimester ultrasounds which are supposedly accurate to about 7 days so my "due" date is give or take 7 days I guess, I just wonder though, since this pregnancy has been such a wild card, what kind of a loop this little boy is going to throw us for, I'm sure he has a few more tricks up his sleeve for us!

29 week appointment

I had an appointment with my midwife this morning. She had me fast for 12 hours and did a fasting draw and then I drank the glucola and she drew my blood at the one hour mark. She will have the results in a couple days so I will post that when I know more. We went over some paperwork and history and had a normal check-up.

~BP was great, 102(I think)/63

~No protein or glucose in urine

~Measuring at 30 weeks, only a week ahead but that's what I've been measuring at so it's good that it's consistant.

~Baby's HR was 130's-140's, she had to search around for it for like 15 minutes though, he was being so stubborn, he was kicking around all the while she was trying to find his HB! I think his back was facing my back, so it made it hard to find it.

~Baby is head down, which is good.

~Get ready for this....I lost 3 pounds! How is that possible? But whatever, my midwife wasn't worried, she actually told me "You're doing great on your weight gain" so now I am back to 10lbs gained for this pregnancy, I'm happy about that!

So it was a great appointment I go back in on the 17th, yay for appointments every 2 weeks! I'm getting closer!!!

28 weeks pregnant!

Ok, so I guess I need to start blogging now that we are settled in our house! Alot of things have been going on, I don't know where to start! First off, I decided that I wanted to give birth in a birth center and not in the hospital, actually I have kind of felt like this my entire pregnancy but Joe wasn't comfortable with the idea until just recently. So, it's taken a little bit but I have switched ONE more time to a midwife/naturopathic doctor who I absolutely love! We are totally on the same page, she gets me and that's an awesome feeling! The office that I switched from was just not for me, it wasnt what I thought it was. Come to find out, there was only one midwife from the practice that actually delivered and she was only on call one day a week, so I could see that that was just not going to work for me.

The kids are doing great! Just getting bigger and smarter everyday! They are getting very excited for the arrival of their new baby brother, they talk and sing to my belly all the time not to mention slather it with hugs and kisses! It's so cute, it just warms my heart!

We went up to Seattle this weekend and saw the aquarium, it was a blast! The kids loved all the exhibits, especially the touch pool, that was great, Joe and I liked it too, hehe! We saw all kinds of fish and ocean creatures, we saw seals and otters as well. It was a great experience to share as a family. Then we walked along the piers, went on a carousel ride, got lunch at Red Robin, yum, then went up to Pike's Place market. It was very neat to be able to watch the kids looking around and everything, there is so much to see. We stopped and watched a man on the street do a juggling show and then got some ice cream. We decided to start walking back to our truck and a mime stopped and did a little "show" for Alyssa, she didn't know what to think but it was great!

Ok, so for week 28, pregnancy is going well. Symptoms for this week:

Fundal Height: Measuring pretty right on, only about a week ahead. At 27 weeks, I measured 28, so that's good.

Total Weight gain:13 lbs

Blood Pressure: 120's/70's I think, at this last weeks appt, a little higher than normal but not bad.

Fetal Heart Tones: 140's

Complaints/Ailments From Me: Very loose hip joints, some pubic bone pain, occasional indigestion

Next appointment: Sat. Aug. 8th at 9am, i am going every 2 weeks now, yay!

Baby boy's position: Head down

Oh it's a wonderful life!

Gosh I feel like since we have moved I havent had a chance to post anything!!!! So we've been in our new house since Monday night and its been great! The unpacking is going pretty slowly because Joe wont let me lift hardly anything, he's afraid I'll start in on the preterm labor again, and he has been on a longer shift so we havent really been able to unload the moving truck completely. We are going to drive up to Bremerton, about an hour north of here, when he gets home today to get a new living room set, I am totally phsyched for that! Next purchase: 52" plasma, LCD or LED TV, we havent quite decided yet!

I FINALLY have a midwife appt. next Wed., now that I am going to be a week behind on my baby appts, but, if all goes well and I like this office and midwife, they do waterbirths!! So if my labor goes semi according to plan atleast, I might get to have a waterbirth, I am really excited to talk to the midwife about that!!!

My kids are totally loving having all their toys back and having their own rooms, they are in heaven and so am I because they are just so much happier, so I am happier, heck we havent had our TV set up yet since we got here and the kids dont seem to miss their cartoon "shows" at all!


Baby boy's movement are finally getting stronger and I am feeling him alot more now, I am hoping it's because he is starting to catch up on his growing. I think that I wasnt able to feel him much before because he is soo small, so maybe stronger movements mean bigger baby!? We are still having name dilemmas, so he still doesnt have a name, poor kid!

Now we are also getting to the point in this pregnancy where umm, having to buy things is coming to mind! We have NOTHING! We have kind of chose to do it this way, waiting till like the last 3 months and then having to get EVERYTHING, I can see why this was probably a bad choice, lol! I really want to have pretty much everything bought and set up by the end of September, that's my goal, so I don't have a ton of time on my hands. Ok, well sorry for the novel, just needed to get all that out I guess, we have ALOT going on, lol!

Been awhile, I know I know......

Well hey there, we have been really busy it seems and I haven't had anytime to update my blog in over a month, geeze! Alot of great things are happening lately, both big and small: Joe has now been offered 2 jobs, the first one we found out about a couple weeks ago and the only reason he hasnt started that yet is because he has to get into the Air National Guard, well that has been an interesting venture the last couple weeks, but then just yesterday, he got an e-mail from a job in Ft. Lewis, WA which seems like an even better deal for us! The whole thing is just so new I don't quite know what to think about it yet! It's all very exciting though!

The pregnancy is going really well now, I am not as sick and am trying to get off of the phenergen, I went down to a quarter of a pill for about a week and just last night didn't take any, so we will see how it goes in the next few days. I will be 13 weeks on Monday so I will be officially out of my first trimester and in my second! That itself is just great that things have gone well and I have made it to this point. I feel less worried and feel now that I am going to be able to enjoy it. On another note, so many things have pointed to this baby being a girl, it's getting rediculous, lol. I will be shocked if it's a boy just because of all the "girl" signs I have! My IntelliGender said girl and now the ring test says girl, plus other wives tales and gender predictors said girl as well, I know they are just for entertainment value, so I'm not taking it seriously, the only thing that can tell you what you're having is an ultrasound and sometimes those are wrong too!

So it seems like things are just moving along for us in the right direction, don't get me wrong, it has been really hard, we have had tough times, but it's nice to think that maybe the worst part is over! Ok, well, I will try to keep posting, really, I will!

Guilt, justice and midwives......

So I feel a little bad but after being with my OB Dr.'s office for over 6 years I think I am going to switch, that's right I'm doing a bad thing, I'm switching to a Midwife practice. I have my first MW appointment on the March 9th and depending on how it goes, it's kind of a little interview for me, I will switch. Don't get me wrong, I love my Dr. and the whole office but I don't like the protocol they have have for pregnant patients. I know it's her job to do what she does but i am looking for a more "free-spirited" if you will, approach to the whole birthing process. I wanted to switch when I was pregnant with Kaden, my second but I guess I was too chicken or something so I didn't. So, when it was my due date, she put a strict "Im only letting you go 1 week and then you're getting induced!" rule on me, which sounds fine to some people but to me, I really wanted to let my body do what it was suppose to do. Then getting to the hospital, you have to have all this unnecessary-for-the-moment stuff, which I just don't see any point in having, like having a hep-lock as soon as you get settled in, not necessary. Continuous fetal monitoring, not necessary. Just stuff like that. There is a time and a place for everything and I am not downtrodding modern-medicine, it's just it's not for me, although I will be advocating it in about 4 years when I get my RN degree, but that is also why after I get that I am becoming a certified midwife, so I can help other people like myself, who feel that medical intervention isnt always necessary.

I love mornings, sometimes, because I get to be creative and type out my blogs while my kids occupy themselves because they are in good moods because they just slept all night. I can sit and drink my tea and type my blogs or whatever while my kids play nicely with eachother and their toys, it's fun to watch them use their imaginations.

Avon anyone? And other interesting tidbits, I think.....

So, yesterday, I decided to take the plunge and become an Avon consultant. Why Avon you ask? Well, I have always really liked their makeup and other assorted products, it was only ten dollars to start up and I already had a slew of people I knew would buy from me. So after a very information packed meeting with the district manager, so much info I thought my head was going to explode, I had a huge tote bag full of stuff and a half sure grin on my face with the thought "If I just go to the meeting tonight, I will remember everything she told me." Well, that's partially true. I went to the meetingSo last night and there was so much to learn, everyone kept saying once you place your first order, you will totally get it. Ok. That sounds good. So, that is what I am going to do today, start filling out my first order form online. Luckily, I went over to my mom's last night to drop off some books for her to take with her to work and she ended up ordering a couple things. Cool!

Last night, I made taco soup and it was sooooo good! This pregnancy has me craving some really weird stuff-I want taco soup all the time, green olives and olive juice, sour patch kids, but just the sour powdery stuff that is on them, one I get to the sweet gummy part I just want to spit them out, hot sauce on EVERYTHING! Anyway, I really don't like sweets at all right now, and salty is my preference.

What to say?

Ok, this is my first entry in our family blog, what to say, what to talk about first? Well, obviously I'm pregnant, so that could be a topic, but we are also unemployed and "homeless", that could be another topic too. There are so many things that I could talk about right now. Well, I guess I will just touch on a little bit of everything. So, this pregnancy, which I still don't know how many weeks I am or my due date, has come at a very intersting time, good thing we have 8 months to figure out what we are doing before he/she gets here. I go back in to my Dr.'s office to have another ultrasound done on March 4th, so then we will be knowing a bit more. I woke up this morning feeling nice and nauseous, thinking to myself "I'm not far enough along to be getting sick yet!" But here I am, still feeling kind of blah, so I guess, here we go with this part, I thought I had more time.

The job thing is just taking longer than we expected, Joe has been applying to like 3 jobs a day and perfecting his resume, he is way too skilled for someone to not pick him up for a good job. So we are just taking it one day at a time for all this stuff and we pray all the time for good fortune to come our way. I really feel like we are hot on the trail to something good finally, it's close, I can feel it.

The kids are being pretty resilient with the situation, they have melt downs every now and again, but overall are handling it very well. We are trying to do as much as we can with them, finances allowing, to keep their little minds off of it.

Ok, so I guess I just blogged my first blog, I will be coming back for more, it feels good to type this stuff out!