It's a Girl!!

I am sure you already know but we had our Anatomy scan on Friday the 19th and got to see our little baby from head to toe!

Here are some things we found out at the scan:

1. our little pumpkin likes to use my bladder as a footstool.
2. she disapproves of us taking her pictures (she was shaking her head no when the scan started)
3. she lays on her back
and
4. she is a SHE, no doubt about it. Once she moved her feet from near her behind we saw her cute little bottom, both her thighs and clearly no boy parts we present.

Felicity Harper is weighing in at 9oz and right on track. The only thing that has us a little concerned is that because of how she was laying they could not get a good picture of her spine to rule out anything weird going on so we have to go back for another scan in March to check on that (fingers crossed it will be perfect with no problems). 

Once we left the scan we headed home to prepare for our reveal game night to tell everyone the news! Here are some pictures of our process:

 While we were waiting for guests to arrive Oliver decided to steal a cupcake:

But everyone else was patient and got to find out with us:

We are very excited to be expecting our little princess this summer. It will be 5 more months of learning how to raise a girl instead of a boy! I can't wait to introduce every one of you to our little girl.

145 days or less until we meet Felicity Harper Haynes!

Our Baby Story

On Saturday September 6th Dusty took me to the hospital because I had a massive migraine that medication was not touching and my vision was being changed either due to the migraine or my gestational hypertension to the point that I could not read words that were written. The doctor did not feel that the migraine was blood pressure related but my blood pressure had hit a very high peak and while it had gone back down the doctor suggested that we begin the induction process since it could take a while for the baby to come since it was my first baby and my body wasn't showing signs of labor (my cervix was barely open), he said it would most likely be about Tuesday when the baby would come. That evening at 4:15pm we were admitted to Labor and Delivery room where they had me meet with the anesthesiologist to go over pain management options including epidurals, they did some blood work and they started me on Cervadil to begin opening and softening my cervix so the Pitocin that they would start me on the next morning would be more productive in the labor process.

Admitted to room 4173 to begin the induction process, Noah came to visit!

The Cervadil, while it did leave me 100% effaced and 4cm dialated threw me into very very painful contractions and by 12:30am I was a mess. I kept telling Dusty that I couldn't handle it, that getting pregnant was a terrible decision, that we would never have another child, that the doctor needed to just take the baby out because I was done with all of it and would rather die than continue having such terrible pains, and while he was very encouraging I called him a liar and told him that while I appreciated what he was trying to do that he was wrong and had no idea what he was talking about. I was given ambien to help me sleep and some pain meds and nausea meds that should have knocked me out but instead I still woke up every 3 minutes or so in severe pain and would pass out again once the pain was over. It was a terrible night and I told Dusty that I did not want ANYONE to come visit me the next day because I was miserable.

As no pictures were taken while I was especially grumpy from contractions, here is a cute picture of Noah in his Big Brother shirt.

Around 10am on the 7th they finally got me my epidural and during the whole thing I had to sit still and not move while I was still having terrible contractions. I squeezed Dusty's poor hands really hard and my water ended up breaking in the process to which I panicked and apologized over and over for making a mess. Once the epidural kicked in life was good again. I could feel the pressure of the contractions but it just felt like I needed to use the bathroom, I was much more pleasant to be around so guests were welcome and I was happy to be having a baby again.

Drugged Dianna finished with her yummy Popsicle

My mom and dad came, so did Beverly and Lyle, Heather, Josh and the kids (Abbie, Mayson, and Noah) were in the waiting room and Anita and Michael came right before we started pushing. At 3;59pm I was dialated to 9.5cm and was told we would be pushing within the hour. I was given a bit of a boost to my epidural because I was starting to feel pain again (at this point I could no longer move my legs, just wiggle my toes and move my ankles). Mom and Dusty were the only ones in the room when pushing began while HGTV was on TV (playing the one show that I don't like...Flip or Flop).

My perfect little boy (pardon his naked-ness)

Dr. Melanie Schwartz delivered Oliver at 5:29pm
Oliver weighed 6lbs 6.1oz
Oliver measured 20 3/4 inches long
He had all 10 fingers, all 10 toes, two big beautiful grey eyes, two pointy ears and a button nose.
He was perfect.

He made quite a mess of my lower half for such a small little guy, it took the doctor about half an hour to finish stitching up my 3rd degree (very close to being a 4th degree) tear and I admit that I pretty much sat there and texted while she did that. I didn't even break a sweat pushing thanks to my epidural and didn't cry until I heard my son crying (which he only did until they got him to his warm little bed to be examined because he was quite content once he was no longer cold). Dusty and my mom told me how proud they were of me and they cried. Once they had wiped Oliver down and my stitching was done I got to hold my son and he was perfect. I couldn't believe that he was mine...almost 7 weeks later I still can't.

My Angel

One proud mommy

Daddy holding his newest little boy!

First updated Haynes Family Photo! (pardon my hair!)

It looks like a doll but Noah is holding Oliver for the first time!

Thanks for reading my story! This is the first picture mommy took with her phone of me!

Oliver passed all of his tests at the hospital perfectly even with him being born at only 37 weeks 2 days! He had no sign of an arrhythmia either! The only problems he seemed to have was regulating his body temperature (we did lots of skin on skin to help this) and a clogged tear duct which are both very common. We went to our mommy baby room where Oliver continued to thrive no problem, mommy had lots of pain but the awesome nursing staff kept her medicated and supplied her with ice packs for some pain relief. We had lots of visitors including our family members and friends David, Sierra, Lily and Hayden.

On the day we were supposed to go home I got a bad pain in my right side which almost delayed our going home but instead all tests came back fine, I got some pain pills and we were all set! By the way, the Meatloaf and Squash/Red Pepper side are DELICIOUS, I ordered it twice! When we were home many more people came to see us and meet our little bundle of joy, many brought us dinner and helped take care of us new parents for which we are very grateful.

I am officially a mommy!

30 weeks, 3 days- Good thing Oliver is NOT like his mommy!

Today I am 30 weeks and 3 days pregnant. "What is the significance of this?" one may ask. Well, quite simply it is this:

This is me, tube down the throat to help me breathe and lots of machines keeping me going. I was born at 30 weeks and 3 days, I was a decent size since mom had Gestational Diabetes but my lungs collapsed and were not developed enough to function on their own. PLUS I developed double pneumonia which helped NOTHING.

I constantly have nightmares that my water has broken and Oliver is coming so soon or that I start bleeding and he has to come out. In reality he seems to be just fine staying inside and I am not having contractions or anything that would indicate that he is planning a super early entrance into the world. On Thursday I have a growth ultrasound to make sure my placenta abnormality isn't causing him not to grow which I am not worried about because at 26-27 weeks he was already 2lbs 5oz and is probably about 3 lbs now and is still moving and kicking like he is getting paid for it! I originally told him he could not come before September 7th at 6pm to allow Noah to have his birthday party but I said if he HAS to come early I'd at least appreciate that he stays in until 35 weeks at which 99% of babies come out perfectly healthy for the most part.

Overall, I am happy that at least in this way Oliver is NOT taking after his mommy. 9 weeks and 4 days left!!

Pregnancy Milestones- 75 days until Oliver's estimated date of arrival!

 I was on Baby Center and they have an option to note when you hit certain milestones in your pregnancy and since most of you have no reason to visit that site I figured I would share these dates to remember with YOU!

Picked a name: Don't remember exactly, we had started talking about names way back before we were engaged as Anita and Michael were contemplating names for a baby they were thinking of having before little Mikey came to be. We had picked 2 boys names and 2 girls names and while so far we have changed these names a little we have kept most of the options and are all set for one more after Oliver!

Positive pregnancy test: 1/15 I believe, I know we were house/dog sitting for my parents while they were in NY with my sister and that Dusty and I were getting ready for work and Noah wasn't there so it couldn't have been a Friday. 3 positive tests and our world was turned upside down. Did I cry? Yes, I thought I wouldn't fit into my dress for the wedding as I had JUST had it altered!! As luck would have it I lost so much weight that it was loose!

Told partner: Same as the positive tests.

Told friends and family: 1/19 we told our immediate family as we are terrible at keeping secrets when we we are so excited. Friends/Facebook 1/24 via the following post:

 First ultrasound: 3/02- The day after our bridal shower I woke up bleeding and while very upset and scared ended up going to the ER where we had some tests and an ultrasound. Dusty had to take Noah out of the room since it was an internal ultrasound and it wouldn't have been appropriate for him to stay in there and they wouldn't say anything or print me a picture but I got my first view of our little guy growing inside me! I cried a bit.

Heard heartbeat: 3/10- We had one of our regular pre-natal visits a month before the wedding and the doctor hear Oliver's hearbeat nice and strong at only 11 weeks. She said she was impressed and that it was a very good sign because hearing a strong heartbeat usually means you are less likely to miscarry from that point on! Such a good visit!

Started second trimester: 3/21

Felt my baby move: 4/13- we were in the car on the way to Anita and Michael's house after little Mikey's dedication at church and I was falling asleep a little in the car when I felt like a popcorn kernel popped in my stomach. It was weird and I didn't feel it again for a little which made me think it wasn't him but I believe it was!

Found out my baby's sex: 5/4- Heather was adamant on throwing us a gender reveal party so she could reveal her niece to our friends and family. Unfortunately for Heather her niece and potential flower girl ended up being a nephew!

Halfway through my pregnancy: 5/9- 20 weeks down, 20 to go!

Found out about some Complications: 6/24- During this visit to the OB the doctor we were seeing was listening to Oliver's heart and heard that it beat an extra time every 10th beat or so. She felt it was probably just an arrhythmia that would go away by birth but sent us for another ultrasound and a fetal echo which showed that a. yes he was a boy, that he had all the right parts of his heart, and that the issue was caused by PAC's which pretty much meant that his heart should be fine but he needs some extra monitoring. We also found out that my placenta might be slightly abnormal but that is just something else to monitor a little more closely.

Started third trimester: 6/27 I hear this is when I am supposed to be begging the baby to go ahead and come out. I am impatient to meet him but he needs to bake a little longer before I would like him to come out and this mommy and daddy still need time to get ready and save money before that happens. I told Oliver that he can come September 8th or after as I will be full term and Noah's birthday party will have passed!

Started childbirth class: 7/8 - We signed up for Childbirth classes through the Forsyth County Health Department for 4 Tuesdays in July. Apparently they teach us about the stages of labor, ways to deal with the pain of labor and delivery, and try their best to convince you to not let anyone induce you until 42 weeks pregnant, not to accept any pain medication at all and that you need to breast feed or you are the devil. Ok, maybe not to that extreme but they do their best to drive home the point. The first class was ok, I found that I was not one for guided imagry as it just made me sleepy and left my mind to wander to other things like if Property Brothers was on HGTV that night, Dusty enjoyed it though and found himself very relaxed. We watched a video of some lady going through the stages of labor with her all natural birth and I found that, while informative, all it left me was scared to death of the pain. There is just something about watching this confident person break down crying because she doesn't understand how the pain could possibly get any worse and yet somehow was that just made me very VERY terrified of labor. I am semi-looking forward to the rest of our classes and am excited to report that we won the first week's raffle for outlet covers to start baby proofing our apartment!

These next few haven't passed yet but we know when they will be!

Went on a babymoon: 8/7-8/11 Well...we went on our honeymoon while pregnant in April but in August Beverly and Lyle want to take the family on a beach weekend where they, Heather and her family and Dusty Noah and I will go to the beach and relax and spend time together. This will be our last vacation before Oliver is here and we are very much looking forward to it. I know it is going to be very hot which will be difficult for me but hopefully the relaxing aspect will make it worthwhile! Plus, Noah is going to the beach the NEXT week as well and we will miss out on a couple of days more than we usually miss him PLUS he won't be able to come to the baby shower because he will be having too much fun at the Beach with his Mawmaw and PawPaw to care about baby stuff. I am kind of bummed that he will be missing it but I am doing my best not to be selfish and remember that he will have a much better time there.

Baby shower: 8/17 is the date set for the baby shower. I have MY invitation and I must say they came out awesome. I am so excited for the opportunity to see so many wonderful people and to get the items we need to take care of our new addition. I am very thankful to my mom, my mother in law and my sister in law for all the hard work they are doing to plan and prepare for this fun event!

These last few have also not passed yet but they will come in the next 75 days or so!

Finished the nursery: After the baby shower we will work on this. I will probably be employing assistance in setting up baby furniture so Dusty doesn't have to do it alone since I wont be super helpful at 8 months pregnant even though I love putting things together. We aren't painting since we live in an apartment and would just have to paint it back but hopefully we will get some decorations to hang to make the baby side of our room all set for the little guy!

This isn't our actual nursery but this is the bedding we picked!

Baby dropped: I worry about this because I have always carried Oliver very low so if he plans on dropping, he may do so in a much more literal sense than expected.

Went into labor: As discussed, Oliver knows not to start any such business until at least 5 or 6pm on September 7th if not after so that he doesn't interfere with Noah's birthday celebration! Of course I say that now but as most people know, kids rarely listen to reason...

Went on maternity leave: I plan to work as long as I possibly can. I already told my supervisor that if labor starts at work I am staying as long as possible. The plan is that when I am in early labor and have contractions but am still ok in between I will stay off the phones and focus on e-mail, letters, special projects, etc to ensure I am still getting work done. I will also begin delegating any open things I have left to do so that they can be taken care of while I am out. I promised that once I got to a point where I knew I wasn't able to be productive and do my job that is when Dusty and I would head out to continue on our labor path.

Ollie Ollie Oxen-Free!

So, my little munchkin butt is already causing his mommy stress! On the day that I went for my sugar test to see if I had gestational diabetes, a test all pregnant women are unfortunately but understandably put through, my OB found that our little growing angel has an arrhythmia, or simply put a condition in which the heart beats with an irregular or abnormal rhythm. The doctor said that she felt that he was ok but since she cannot practice medicine on her gut feelings she was sending us for an ultrasound of Oliver's heart to see what the next step was going to be.

Thursday we went for the ultrasound and they were able to see the arrhythmia (and see that yes, he really is a boy- sorry Heather, I know you were still holding out hope) and let us know that they believe it is something called Premature Atrial Contractions, or PAC's and that alone they are pretty common and harmless and usually go away by birth BUT since they could be caused by an underlying condition they were sending us for a fetal heart echo to see if they can see any congenital heart defects.

Yesterday we got to see one of Karlee's doctors who checked his heart and said that his heart looks great, all the pieces are there and from what he can see it is perfectly healthy. Seeing as there are always chances of problems that can't be seen before birth he did let us know that if he were to have a minor hole in his heart or something like that, generally easy to treat or fix, he could't say 100% but from what he can see he is confident that it was PAC. He explained this diagnosis in the following way:

Everyone's heart has a certain group of cells that sends out an electrical like impulse that tells the heart to contract and this makes it beat and Oliver's heart has this group that sends out it's impulse a healthy 155 times each minute. Oliver has a second group of cells that every once in a while sends out an impulse throwing the rhythm off for a moment or two.  The doctor explained that even though Oliver is having these extra impulses fairly often it isn't harmful and the group of cells sending the impulse will more than likely burn itself out by birth and if they don't Oliver will probably get another echo just to re-confirm PAC's but still they are not harmful. Even if his heart started to get the extra impulse every other beat at this point he should be fine. 

All that being said there are some things that need to be done differently to make sure he stays fine. While caffeine is already limited for pregnant women, I have to do my best to avoid it even more so since it can exacerbate his arrhythmia. I also have to go in about once a week to have the OB listen to Oliver's heart rate as the one danger we do have to keep an eye out for is for his heart rate to jump into the 200 and up range meaning that that extra group of cells is just constantly firing and he would be getting tachycardia (meaning his heart is beating abnormally fast) which could cause his heart to wear out which is no good! They don't have an exact percentage of the chances of this but they said it is fairly rare and don't believe it will happen but want to keep an eye out so that if it happens we can treat him as needed without letting his heart overwork for over a week.

Another potential issue we have learned about is that I have a slightly abnormal placenta called a Circumvallate placenta, what does this mean? This is a placental disease in which the fetal membranes (chorion and amnion) "double back" on the fetal side around the edge of the placenta. After delivery, a circumvallate placenta has a thick ring of membranes on its fetal surface. Our OB has let us know that it isn't something to be too concerned about because it usually doesn't cause a problem but to make sure that the placenta continues to do it's job they will be checking the baby via ultrasound about every 4 weeks until Oliver is born.  

All together Oliver should be fine but that doesn't mean that this mommy to be hasn't been super stressed lately over all of this. We have our follow up with our regular OB office on Monday to discuss all these fun tests.

Oliver hasn't been phased too much by the tests except for pushing back when they push on him. He moves around like crazy and has been rolling around which is super weird to feel! Today he has been kicking ALL DAY. It is crazy that I looked down today and felt like my belly grew overnight! There are about 87 days left until Oliver's estimated due date and in a week we will be starting our birthing classes! Next month will be our final beach trip before baby and our BABY SHOWER! So excited!

Some things I have been asked regarding being pregnant:
Cravings? Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing- I swear I could drink the stuff!
Appetite? I feel like a bottomless pit and am ALWAYS hungry!
Are you aware that Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas got married the same weekend you did and then named their recently born son Oliver? Yes, they are totally copying us...

I think that is all for now!

24 weeks down, 16 weeks to go! What YOU can expect while I'M expecting

So there are a million books out there about what I can expect each week/month of my pregnancy. Many are informative possible symptoms, size/development of the baby, tests available or suggested, eat this, don't eat that, sleep this way and so on and so forth. In some books they even tell husbands/partners what to expect while their wives/partners are growing their next generation. In this blog post I am going to tell you what to expect from me as someone who interacts with me from time to time.

1.) Baby Bump Pictures- you can expect me to NOT take or post any pictures showing you my growing belly. Don't get me wrong, these pictures are adorable...if you didn't spend most of your life already looking huge! Quite frankly I don't see baby bump when I look at myself from the side, I just see the same old overweight person I have always been. When I am standing I can see that my upper abdomen has puffed out and gotten firmer and when I lay on my back I can feel a large hard bump where my baby is growing. Perhaps, depending on what I look like by then, I will take a picture or two at the baby shower or the day I go into labor? Who knows, but just know, I am not secretly storing bump pictures, I am just not even taking them.

2.) Worrying- Something that may not seem too out of character for most pregnant women is constant worrying and you can expect me to follow the pack on that one. Can you blame me though? I have an amazing niece who was born with with CHD and spent a very long time fighting for her life when she was born, I personally was born too early that I spent months in the hospital as my lungs tried to develop not to mention all of the horror stories I have heard/read/witnessed with miscarriages, still-births and birth defects. So needless to say, I am going to worry all the time that something is going to go wrong. I was assured at about 11 weeks or so that we were doing great, the doctor heard a strong heartbeat which they were surprised at so early and said that chance of miscarriage goes down greatly once a strong heartbeat is heard. We also had our Anatomy Scan and got to hear how our little boy is developing perfectly, and all organs and such exist and look great. Still, I am going to worry. I try not to let the worrying weigh me down or cause me distress, I try to think positively like Dusty who reminds me constantly that we have no reason to think there is a problem, but it will always be at the back of my mind. And if all THAT worrying wasn't enough don't even get me started on the "which bottle will Oliver like" thought process. 12 different types of bottles and we have no way to know which he will end up using??

3.) Breast Feeding- You don't need to tell me the million and one reasons every woman in the world should breast feed. I've heard them all. I am still not going to do it. I have nothing against breast feeding as it is great for providing antibodies and nutrients FOR FREE for your child and a great opportunity for bonding, I am not opting out because I don't see these benefits, I am opting out because there are other factors I need to consider. First of all, I am on blood thinners due to my history of DVT and while no one will say that there isn't a danger to the child, studies DO show that the blood thinners can affect the time it takes for the baby's blood to clot and I do not want to put my baby at risk. Another reason I vote no is because I have anxiety issues and a history of depression and the medicine that will work best cannot be taken while breast feeding and even worse if I develop PPD I will be less likely to ask for help if I am holding myself responsible to provide my child's food. I have been depression free for quite a while but I have struggled with my anxiety for a while and having to be medication free during this pregnancy has been hard. I can only imagine how bad my anxiety will be as I am adjusting to life with a baby. So whether you agree or approve I don't care. This is what I feel is best and that is what matters.

4.) Nerd Baby- Haaaaave you met me and my husband? If you have then you can understand that our child will have Superhero themed stuff, lots of books, onsies referencing comic books, Harry Potter, StarWars, etc. Thanks to sites like Cafe Press and Etsy these things are more attainable than ever which is good because something else you should know is I hate all that baby boy stuff with mustaches on them or with camo or with really inappropriate things that while are funny for a second they are not appropriate for a baby's onesies.

5.) Baby Bottle Gift Cards- As stated earlier registering for bottles is a major source of stress. Overall I think we are aiming for Ollie to like Avent or Dr. Brown's bottles but I can't just CHOOSE one because Ollie may not like them and cause us to have to return lots of them. I am thankful that my sister in law is giving us some Dr. Browns, Mam's, and Tommie Tippie to try out if we need to and we registered for one small pack of Avent and one of the Nuk orthopedic ones. Long story short if you are wanting to contribute to our bottle or even paci needs a great idea is to get just ONE bottle and a gift card that we will use on our first family outing to get the choice bottle of Oliver Haynes.

I am sure there will be a whole lot more that I (we) encounter during this exciting time but this is all I can think of right now.

4 months to go! Baby Haynes update!

I'm sorry if I have been out of touch these days. Most of the time it has been the same routine, wake up, work, dinner, sleep, repeat. I haven't been in much of a blogging mood from being tired so much but today I woke up extremely anxious and thought maybe just typing would help.

The biggest thing that has happened recently is that we got to see our little boy on ultrasound!

We got to see him wave and jump (literally) and turn and put his feet over his head and it was amazing. His heart and head and organs looked good, the doctor explained that the Ultrasound techs have a checklist of things to look into at the Anatomy scan and our little boy looked perfect! Oh, and if you didn't already know we we found out he is a BOY! Little Oliver Holden Haynes measured exactly 18 weeks and 3 days on the day he was estimated to be this far along and surprised many people at our gender reveal party with his y chromosome!

I don't remember the exact day that I knew for sure I was feeling him kick and move but  I think the first time I felt him was the Sunday after the wedding, I felt like a bubbly popped in my belly, it only happened once and I didn't feel anything again for a while, at least not that I noticed but now I feel him moving every day when I start to relax. Dusty has been able to feel him move too! I can't imagine how much stronger his movements are going to get because at 22 weeks 3 days he can kick really strong!

Another exciting thing we got do do was register for baby stuff! I have to admit it was quite overwhelming and very tiring! Of course when you go to a baby store or a baby section what stands out most? Baby clothes! What is one thing you don't need to register for? Baby clothes! We did what we could to register for the basics a crib, stroller/carseat travel system, pack and play, swing, high chair and much much more! I think the hardest part of it is the fact that you can't tell what kind of bottles or pacifiers he will like, what kind of diapers or wipes will work best for him. We are going to need to make a babies r us or target or walmart run on the way home from the hospital after testing a few bottles to stock up on such things! I think I am going to eventually make a blog post about some of the things on the registry just to share the digs our little man will be in once he moves out of his studio apartment and into the real world!

I am excited that Noah is interested in the baby. He always asks me if he is here yet, to which I remind him that he will be 4 before Baby Ollie makes his appearance. When we read stories in the morning I asked him if he would help me read to Ollie when he is here and he says he will, he'll read the Prince book since he can read that all by himself. We always let him know what kind of things he can help with like holding Ollie, maybe feeding him, teaching him letters and numbers and one day how to poop on the potty! He takes his job as a big brother very seriously. He is getting lots of practice with his little sister too. When his mom came to pick him up yesterday she brought the baby up and he points at her and says "I love her." It melted my heart. He then brought Dusty over to where her car seat was and told him to look at her little face. He was very proud and it makes me excited for when his brother is here.

Unfortunately my anxiety is still here, full force, so I am going to call it a day for now. Hope you enjoyed the update!

32 Days left: How I Met (or briefly glanced at) Our Baby.

As many of you know on Saturday March 1st was my lovely/awesome/wonderful Bridal Shower where I got to see many of the faces that I love and miss and felt like an only child on Christmas morning with all of the wonderful gifts that I received. There was lots of yummy food including salad, REAL pizza, calzones and a Ketchie Creek cake (don't tell Dewey's!). My amazing sister and her family drove all the way down to NC from NY to throw me this party and spend some time with me and I am very thankful for that! I am still working on my thank you notes.

The next morning I woke up bleeding and my heart stopped. Dusty, Noah and I got dressed and went over to the hospital ER. After waiting FOREVER, 2 ultrasounds (internal and external), checking my urine, checking my blood, a pelvic exam and lots of hours waiting for answers their final prognosis was that I over did it and my cervix got irritated but there was no active bleeding by the time we left so they instructed me to rest and do nothing strenuous.

During the internal ultrasound they determined that the baby was 3 days further along than we originally thought (not a super big change) but right before they finished up the tech turned the screen and showed me my little one! She wasn't allowed to print a picture and I didn't have my phone to sneak a shot but I cried. She couldn't tell me if everything was ok but she did show me that there was a little baby inside me!!

NOT my baby, but a cute little 3 month old elephant in it's mommy's womb!

Unfortunately from this ER trip Dusty got a cold virus and then while I worried about catching that I ended up with a terrible stomach bug. Friday I woke up at 1 am sick and it lasted through late that evening. 1 am on Saturday I woke up bleeding again but tried not to panic, called the on call nurse and they let me know that they believe I have a sensitive cervix and my vomiting strained it a bit but again instructed me to rest, feet up, nothing strenuous. I worry what all of this rest is doing to poor Dusty because with me "resting" he has to do everything and I know it gets very overwhelming. Our apartment got really gross and lets not even discuss the bedroom.

I've been really sore from the stomach bug (chest and shoulder muscles, and my poor esophagus) but no pain in the baby space which is good. I am working on eating food again, Saturday I barely ate half a plain grilled chicken sandwich, yesterday I ate a whole one and some dry cereal. Today has been better, I ate a bowl of cereal with a banana and I am going to have some classic Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup and work on drinking my Smart Water to restore some electrolytes.

We have an OB appointment today at 3pm and I have no idea what to expect from it. I knew the first one was all about them confirming that I'm pregnant, doing a pelvic and guiding me on what I needed to do. I know they will weigh me (which will be a little inaccurate due to my 3 days of barely eating), but besides that I have no clue! I guess I will find out in a few hours.

70 day's left! Oh Baaaaby!

As you may have heard, Dusty and I are expecting our first baby together (second in general) at the end of this coming September. We are very excited but of course have our concerns and worries as every expecting parent would. I thought I would spend some of my quiet time while Noah is sleeping to answer some of the questions I have been asked since the news came out:

1. Did you plan this? No, but this is a welcomed surprise. Before the end of the year we are going to have a baby!!

2. Are you going to move up the wedding? Nope, our wedding is set, we moved it more than I already would have liked and it is just a couple months away now. I may have to get my dress let out a little before the wedding to accommodate the newly showing baby bump but hey, it is one guest I don't have to pay for, right?

3. Are you hoping for a girl or a boy? Honestly, I don't know so it is a good think it is not up to me! I can't wait to find out!! And yes, we will find out as soon as we can!

4. Any names picked out? Yes, if it is a boy right now we are planning Oliver and if it is a girl it will be Mara.

5. Are you going to change your wedding registry for baby stuff? No, our wedding is an amazing, important, life changing event that will be celebrated on it's own. No baby stuff allowed on the big day, that is why we will not make our babies r us registry until after the wedding even though we have some things picked out already

6. When are you due? Estimated Due Date is September 26th.

7. What about Noah? What about him? Noah knows that there is a baby in my belly that is very tiny right now. He is not unfamiliar with babies in bellies as his mom is having a little girl in April! He is exited to meet his baby sister and he requested that we get him a baby brother.

8. Why did you announce it so early, don't you know you can still lose it? Probably my least favorite intrusion question. We announced our baby to the world after many home tests and confirmation by our doctor. I am well aware that many people in the world have lost babies early in their pregnancy and often wait but I also know that some people lose babies as late as their delivery date. Instead of focusing on the bad we are staying positive. We are not naive and will deal with the heartbreak should it happen but for now we are planning how to re-arrange our bedroom to fit the baby stuff, how we are going to decorate and what the best way to make a superhero nursery is (my idea not Dusty's, btw). So while I appreciate your concern, I don't need to know how your sister's friend's aunt miscarried right after telling someone, trust me...I know.


That's all for now, if you have any other questions please feel free to ask.  My little 6 weeks along Pea and I are going to prepare for some scooter and remote control car time with Noah before we watch Monster's University for the millionth time.

Love you all
FMH