Christmas

What a hectic first Christmas! I'm sort of glad it is over. We spent 3 days leading up to Christmas time in Children's Hospital as Grace had a UTI. I'm glad we live in a city with such great medical care. Our time in the hospital wasn't bad. Grace was actually in a good mood there overall....I think she really liked the bright hospital lights. I actually miss her sweet her little face as we walked up and down the the hallways of the hospital. I'm thankful I was permitted to take her out of the hospital room. I would put her in the wrap and we would walk around :-)

James's parents were able to come in for Christmas. I'm glad that Grace has grandparents that love her very much....and even some great grandmas. We had my family over for Christmas Eve...spent most of Christmas day just hanging out at the house with James's parents...and then went over my grandma's in the evening for a bit.

We had to make a tough decision while in the hospital. Some circumstances changed with James's job and I am now going back to work. I was very much looking forward to being a stay at home mom. I'm trying not to think too much about going back to work. But, as I have less than a week now until I'm going back...I guess I'll need to think about it soon. James will stay home with Grace while I go to work during the day and he'll be working in the evenings at a part time job. I'm thankful that I have a husband who is a great father to our daughter....but I'm going to miss Grace very much.

I will be able to update this a bit more now that I'll be at work though and sitting in front of a computer again all day :-)

I have no idea why, but I can't seem to add any photos here....so you'll have to wait on holiday photos!

Christmas Time!

The holidays have been a little rough the past couple of years while we were wondering if we'd ever have a child. Every year I would wonder if the next year I would be pregnant atleast. Well, this year we have our Grace :-) and that is so special. Here she is meeting Santa for the first time....she was really into it.

No Sleep

I promise one day I'll actually update this regularly. Unfortunately, Grace does not sleep at night and my days are a fog of trying to keep the Cooper household running...my amazing husband is gone working 16 hours a day to support us....and so during the week, it's all me.
Our computer is in the basement...and I don't come down here too often to get on it.

So....some quick updates. Grace seems to have some acid reflux. We started her on medication Friday evening for it...hopefully she'll feel better soon and be more willing to sleep soon. They weighed her at the pediatrician's office and she's up to 9 lbs 6 oz. Wow. The doctor said she is doing great. She was one month old yesterday. We also made it to our first church service as a family yesterday. Grace slept through most of it, but I think she liked it :-) We also visited Santa this weekend...Grace slept through that as well. And we got Christmas photos done....she was awake and had her diva moments through that one.

I'm struggling a bit. I've never been one that did well on little sleep...nor do I like napping. So, life's a struggle at the moment. Grace is a bit high maintenance. But, we'll make it through.

Grace is here!!!

Well, with a newborn it's quite difficult to get to the basement to type on the computer. So, sorry for the lack of updating!

But, Grace is here!! It was a bit of a scary journey. Inductions are no fun and I'll save the icky details, but I will call it a bit traumatic. In the end I was in labor for 17 hours (well, from the time contractions started regularly) and we ended up with a c-section. Grace's heart rate began to drop into the 60s (a normal heart rate would be about 120-180) and I was rushed into the OR. James was amazing throughout it. He's truly the best husband and I know it was a scary experience for him as well. Grace had some blood sugar issues after birth, but those were quickly resolved as well.

We are so in love with our Grace. We are overwhelmed by God's gift to us. After 5 years of infertility, it's hard for us to wrap our mind around that we are now parents. I think I look at her and cry daily....but hopefully that will stop before she's old enough to be embarrassed by it. Here are some photos of our amazing gift from God.

A couple of updates

Well, I noticed it has been a while since I last wrote. I guess there have been some things going on, but mostly just the same stuff.

Grace is now considered full term. So she could arrive any day! And also should not need any medical assistance if born now. That is a comfort to know :-)

At my 36w growth scan, she was 6lbs 8 oz which puts her in the 71st percentile. The doctors are very happy with her size and also with my gestational diabetes control and health in general. Inductions can only be scheduled one week in advance at the hospital I am having Grace at; so it is not officially scheduled yet, but it should be on 11/5 per my last ob appointment. I'm hoping she goes on her own before then.

We also recently attended a baby shower thrown for us by James's clown group. It was so nice of them. I've only met most of them once. They are all very excited for Grace and were very generous in their gifts and time to have a shower.

Speaking of generous gifts, Grace has received more homemade blankets than any other baby I've ever heard of. It's crazy. We so appreciate the time and love people have put into our daughter already. We've received 3 quilts (James's cousin, a former coworker of mine, and one of the clowns--all made amazing quilts) and we've received knit/crocheted blankets from--James's great grandmother (who made extra ones before she past away for future grandchildren), my aunt, a lady who is at the bus stop with James sometimes, and one of James's coworkers. My aunt also made Grace 2 hats, booties, and a sweater. They are all so special to receive. I keep telling my self to take photos of these to post, so...hopefully I'll do that soon.

I'm headed into week 2 of not working. It's nice so far. I'm very tired, so it's nice not to use up all of my energy at work, but then part of me feels like I have enough energy to work, but then I have to remind myself that I only have any energy because I'm not waking up at 6am, going on an hour commute on a bus and walking, and working 8 hour days.....

Well, let's pray that Grace comes quickly and remains healthy. We thank God daily for our miracle baby :-) Who ever thought I'd be 9 months pregnant!! Not me.
And, prayers for my perseverance as I try to get all of the last minute stuff together and the house cleaned for Grace...and for my amazing husband working 2 job and not complaining once.

so busy

Life has gotten a bit busier. I guess James working 2 jobs and me having 3 medical appointments a week will do that to you. My work has also been crazy busy. I am trying to leave instruction manuals and organize everything that I do in a way that others will be able to do it easily in my absence....that is a full time job in itself, but then more work keeps pouring in. It's like the students knew I was down to my final weeks and decided to make it interesting. But, this upcoming week is my last week! I am praying that I'll be able to leave things organized.

All of Grace's appointments have been going well. They are a little time consuming, but it's so nice to get to hear her heart beat 3 times a week--and 2 of those times are for atleast 45 minutes. I am always happy for the reassurances that all is well.
This upcoming Friday we have our next growth ultra sound and meet again with the maternal fetal medicine specialist. We are excited to hear what he has to say and also very interested in how big Ms. Grace has gotten. I'm thinking she's going to be around 7lbs at this point.

I have contracted a bit of a cold. It sort of stinks because I was already feeling a bit rundown and tired....and now I'm very rundown and very tired. I'm hoping it passes soon. Getting into a comfortable sleep position is near impossible at this point as well too...and my hips hurt. But, I'm so excited to be having Grace soon and feel so blessed that God gave us this miracle pregnancy...so when you reflect on it, it's hard to complain :-) I am looking forward to a couple of weeks or relaxation and some little things that need to be done to prepare for Grace's arrival.

God is good!

Another weekend gone...

With James working 2 jobs now (both Monday thru Friday), our weekends are filled with to do list items and trying to get some sleep. I'm so thankful to have a husband dedicated to our family who would take a second job to help support us though! Grace and I are blessed :-)

We did get some reorganizing done...and some shopping done. We finally got a mattress for Grace's crib. I was waiting for a good coupon or sale and a good coupon came along which wasn't good until this weekend. I'm not sure why crib mattresses have such a weird price range. Either they are cheap or pricey---not really an in between set. We had previously purchased a somewhat inexpensive one that had good reviews, but it was too small for our crib (even though it claimed to be standard crib size) so we had to return it. So, we finally got to put our crib bedding on! It makes the room look so much more complete :-) The bedding, I also had a coupon for and we made a trip to babies r us to get the one from our registry. Then when we were walking to the back of the store to the bedding section, we walked by a clearance section--and there was my bedding! They were selling the one they had on display. So I opened the package and went through all of the pieces--all accounted for, no stains or damage... So, between the clearance price and my coupon, I got quite the good deal.

3 Appointments a week!

Oh my...that's a lot of appointments.

So, I was supposed to have 2 ob appointments a week from here on out. I need twice a week NSTs (non stress tests) on Grace--both were to be done at my ob's office and then one of those times I'd also my ob appointment. Well, I went in for the first one yesterday and it didn't work out well. The nurse couldn't get Grace on the fetal heart monitor and I was sent to the hospital. We knew Grace was still alive because her heart beat was being picked up by the doppler and I could feel her moving. But, I needed to have the screenings done at the hospital. Luckily, I was right across the street from the hospital.

So, now I have to go twice a week to the hospital to get NSTs and then one a week to the ob for a regular weekly visit. The NST at the hospital still was a bit hard and it took over an hour to do the test (should take around 20 minutes). I'm praying that they aren't all that long. It's nice to lay there and listen to Grace's heart beat, but my back was killing me from the bed I was in and I kept falling asleep.

But the next really big day is October 15th!! On that day I go in for my 36 week ultra sound growth scan and then meet with the maternal fetal medicine specialist. The specialist will make the call on when Grace will join the world :-) Best case scenario is still the week of October 29--November 5th. He'll look at all of my glucose test results (4 tests a day since May), my twice a week NSTs, all 3 of my growth scans, and then give his expert advice. If Grace needs to come earlier than 39 weeks they will need to perform an amnio which I really don't want. So here's praying for week 39!!

The room is coming along...

I know that babies are a lot of work, but the prep work is crazy! I feel like we've been working on her stuff forever. Trying to figure out what we need now...what to pack up until later.... where to keep things (what floor of the house makes most sense for things).... it's never ending.

I can say that we finally do have everything up on the walls! Woo hoo! We finally finished the decals up this weekend. They were a little trickier than we thought because the walls are slightly textured in her room. Putting up these bird cages were so hard because of the textured walls. The decals pull off as you are trying to apply them because they aren't sticking flatly...and all of these thin pieces...it made for a long hard job. But I love how they look!

So we have the cherry blossom branch, the bird cages...and multiple birds around the room. We hope she will not have a fear of birds. Because after all of that work--they aren't coming down!

I am 31 weeks 3 days now...I can't believe we just have like 7.5 weeks to go!! I am going to talk to my doctor this week as to when it would make sense for me to stop working. The actual work part isn't bad--I'm at my desk the majority of the day, but the commute is getting difficult and sleep is increasingly difficult so I am so tired all day. Then starting next week I will have to go in for heart monitoring on Grace twice a week (nst--non stress test). That will add to my commuting significantly as I will be busing to another ob's office to do that.

Hopefully Grace's room will be completely done soon and I'll post some pics of the complete finished product!

What a weekend!

Where to begin...so much has happened this weekend. So, on Friday I had my regular 30w ob appointment. All was well. I was informed though that starting at 32w (so in 2 weeks), I'd need to come into the office TWICE A WEEK!! AH! I did know that at 32w I would need to have a NST (non stress test) on Grace, but I thought it was a one time thing. Nope, I'm getting it twice a week until the end. I will pretty much lay there with a fetal heart monitor on my tummy recording Grace's heart measurements for about 20 minutes. They'll make sure that her heart is responding normally, she's not in stress, etc. My work has been very flexible with appointments and things, but twice is a week is tough. I know my obs work out of another office and I'm going to call to see if I can go there for the NSTs....it's much closer to my work and I can take a bus there and back. To get to my ob's office I'd have to take a bus all the way home (about 45 minutes with the walking and the bus) and then drive about 15 minutes to my ob's office.

So, then on Friday, we drove to Frederick, MD and stayed at a hotel for the night. In the morning James went to check out breakfast (to see if I could eat anything there) and then go out to car to get something I forgot to throw in our hotel bag and he ran into 2 of his clown friends from West Virginia. Small world!

Anyways, then we got on the road and drove the remaining 2 hours to Elkton, MD. Later that day we drove to Malvern, PA to have a 3d/4d ultra sound. What a neat experience :-) We are very thankful that we could schedule it when James's parents were able to go with us. It was nice to have them be a part of our pregnancy. So, lately Grace has been spending her time head down...I know this because I get strong kicks high up...but the day of the ultra sound I was getting low kicks...so I had a thought she may be sitting upright. About 45 minutes before the u/s I ate something small and drank some pop to get her moving. Well, it didn't work. She was breech and soundly sleeping curled up with her arms in front of her face. The first 45 minutes of the ultra sound was the guy poking my stomach and making me flip from side to side. He left the room twice and told us to do what we need to do to get her to wake up. So James yelled at my stomach...we shined a flash light....put our iPhones playing music on my stomach....I drank freezing cold water...etc. Finally she woke up! We got to see some yawns and stretches...and got some face shots without her hands in front of her face. This one is my favorite!

It was pretty funny watching her sort of wake up and then just ball up more and roll over. She did not want to be woken up.

So, then on Sunday we had our Baby Shower #2! It was so nice to have everyone together. We hadn't been to Elkton in 2 years--so there were plenty of people who we have missed in that time. My mother-n-law and sister-n-law did a fantastic job pulling everything together. The Cooper men did a wonderful job at getting the back yard cleaned up and other heavy lifting :-) Here are a couple of photos :

Our cake--we loved the message, but dear baker--there's just one baby in there!!

This is the pastor that married us almost 6.5 years ago. It was very special to have he and his wife join us!
and the Cooper kids hanging out in the tree in the front yard. It's always nice when we can all be together with my parent-n-laws too.

So, then finally we made pretty good time returning to Pittsburgh on Monday. Then we were up early on Tuesday for a 6:45am ultra sound appointment. This was growth scan #2 for Grace. She's still perfect! She is now up to 4 lbs 6 oz and in the 77th percentile. My ob said as long as she's under the 90th percentile we are doing well and will be able to wait until 39 weeks to take her.

The funny part was...at this ultra sound she was super active and move around. When the medical ultra sound people need her to stay still she's moving everywhere. But for the ultra sound that is just for fun, she's super still.... OH Grace...learning disobedience early :-)

We can hardly wait to meet her...just 8.5 weeks left! Tonight is our hospital tour :-)

30 weeks!

Can't believe I'm in the final countdown! This seemed so far away before! In under 9 weeks we should be holding our Grace :-) 5 years of prayers, hopes, wishes....coming true in 2 months. It's overwhelming.

We've had a busy week of trying to do some final touches in Gracie's room so we can start moving in all of her new gear and getting organized. We haven't been as successful as we would have liked to be, but we've made some headway. James started his 2nd job this week too. So far, after 1 day, he likes it :-) Tonight we leave for Maryland to spend some time with that side of the family celebrating the pending arrival of Grace. We'll have a 3D/4D ultra sound and also a baby shower. Can't wait to see everyone!

Before we leave tonight, we'll make an attempt at getting the house in order so it's not too bad when we come back and move in even more of Grace's stuff. I also have an ob appointment before we leave.

Then when we return on Monday, we really need to get to bed early because we have a 6:45am growth scan on Gracie (yawn....that's so early)! We are trying to save our vacation time though, so we should both be able to get to work on time. Then Tuesday evening we have our hospital tour. I'll definetly sleep well on Tuesday night after these long days I have ahead.

On that note, the 3rd trimester issues are beginning....not as bad as I've read that some women get. And, don't get me wrong--I'd go through anything to have Grace at the end :-) But, I am super exhuasted--I think worse than I was at the beginning of the pregnancy. And, I am in a lot of pain when I try to roll over in bed or anything. I've also had some swelling of my feet--but it's been very little. But, I'll never complain about being pregnant....I love that I'm pregant.

Here is the 30w bump update....pretty pregnant.

So, in my next update I should have lots to discuss--2 ultra sounds...growth scan numbers....baby shower #2....hospital tour....

Back to Decorating

We need to finish up the wall decorating so we can start getting Grace's room organized...because right now, our living room is a baby disaster. So, our next big project is the wall decals. We read some instructions...watched some how to videos...watched the videos again...read the instructions again....and then we made our attempt. I think it turned out very nicely! I did have a mini panic attack when we realized that the decal company sent us the branch going in the wrong direction. Even the invoice that came with the decal has it correct, but the decal itself is wrong. We just decided to hang it upside down and I don't think you can tell. It worked out fine :-)

Our goal is to finish the rest of the decals this week...figure out where the other items will be hung in her room...and then start getting organized!!

9.5 weeks until we get to meet our baby Grace!!

1st Baby Shower

SO EXCITED FOR OUR FIRST BABY SHOWER!

I will admit, over the 5 years of trying to conceive...attending baby showers was difficult. I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to have one. So we were so excited to get to celebrate the pending arrival of our miracle baby! Here's the sign outside of the church.

and here is our arrival. A church friend, Kathy Adams, is sort of our church photographer and she acted as the paparazzi for the event. I still need to download the photos from my camera.
The shower favors were placed on the table in the shape of the letter "A"

and here's our cake!

My mom competing in one of the shower games. James took a crack at this too, but Arielle came out the winner (you can see she was watching closely for strategy).

Then there was present time. James was very handy to pile all of the gifts on as a I opened them :-) Thank you so much to all of our super generous family and friends! We have so much stuff to organize now and I'm sure Grace could feel the love...she was kicking me all day!

We are excited for our next shower hosted by James's family in Maryland over Labor Day weekend.

I can't believe I'm less than 10 weeks away from meeting our little Grace. God is so good!

Quick Update

Just a quick update...

Our bathroom plumbing issues were taken care of Friday, Aug 20th. My mom's boyfriend, Rob, was a hero and was able to fix it without taking down the ceiling--what a blessing! So thankful he was able to save the day :-)

Even though I'm not in res life anymore, I am super busy at the moment. I just have 2 days of training with my judicial board reps, but I've been presenting at multiple other trainings this month. Plus baby brain and prepping for training do not go well together and I put a lot off until the end...so I'm frantically trying to prepare for the training tomorrow now.

This weekend is our first baby shower and I am so excited!! I've waited for a baby shower for so long and can't wait to celebrate our Grace with friends and family.

All else seems to be going well....movement has been constantly on my mind...is she moving enough? is she convulsing?? I'm hoping by next week she'll be more consistent. I still feel her multiple times a day so I'm just trying not to worry about it. I'm tired of worrying about everything.

I'm 28w 5d....life is good :-)

Plumbing Problems....

Well, our life has been distracted with plumbing issues. On Tuesday morning James took a shower and the water decided not to go down the drain. It was weird because our drain hadn't even been slow before this. So, James plunged for a while....we tried drano...looking for the hair clog....nothing. So, I stayed home from work and called one of those plumbers that advertise on tv--same day, $99, any drain clog. While I was waiting for him I realized the sink wasn't draining either. Now our sink has been slow for a long time. So, I went around checking the other drains, toilets, basement, etc...all else appeared fine.

So, the plumber showed up and looked at things. He said I have a clog in between my sink and tub before it connects to the toilet and he would snake through the pipes under the sink. So, he did that for like 25 minutes and then came down stairs and told me that he keeps hitting something and believes that one of my pipes must have rusted through. He said the ceiling under the bathroom (which is my dining room) would need to be torn down to get a better look and find the pipe. When I asked him how much that would be. He said $422 to tear down the ceiling and then he could give an estimate on the pipe. I then sent him away. I was pretty sure I could tear down a ceiling myself if I needed to.

So, called my mom--whose boyfriend is a contractor to see if he could help. He seemed convinced it was a drum trap issue which older houses have. From all we looked at online, that did appear to be the likely culprit. So, he couldn't make it over until about 9:30pm that night. James and he worked until past midnight....cleaning out the trap (didn't work) and then running to Home Depot to get a snake....then snaking...pulling out all sorts of gunk (I don't think any of the previous owners ever used like hair traps on their drains)....but still the tub won't drain.

So, we got our 4 hours of sleep or so and then headed over to my grandmother's to shower in the morning. Being pregnant on no sleep is like the worst thing ever. I was pretty convinced I was going to throw up all morning....I felt worse then I did with first trimester morning sickness.

We then get my uncle to run out a rent this super powerful snake thing. I called home depot rentals and the man I spoke to was amazingly unhelpful and first claimed to not know what I was talking about even though I was looking at the website and calling it exactly what the web site called it. Then he didn't tell me it came in different sizes or anything and only quoted one price. So, we ended up with one that was too big for the job. So, at 9:30pm again....James and mom's bf start working away...with the too big snake and then one that my uncle brought over that belonged to my grandfather. So, they were able to snake the complete way from the tub to the sink....but still no clog can be found....and still the water won't go down.

So, again we were in bed after midnight--yawn. But, my handy husband did manage to turn the water on for an old shower in the basement. It's sort of just in the middle of the basement wall and right in front of washed and dryer. But, we put a tarp over the washer and dryer and showered in the middle of the basement this morning. Since it is summer, not too bad. I would freeze in the winter though. So, I was able to get more sleep since no 5am grandma's house trip.

So, tonight is the next installment of the late night plumbing work at the Cooper house. My mom's bf may be trying a forced air thing to see if that gets the clog moving--no one thinks that will work though (well, maybe he does). Then we start to open up my dining room ceiling.

I'm so praying that it is just a clogged pipe and can be found and replaced quickly. My fear is that we open everything up and still cannot find the issue.

I think my tiredness is causing my stress. I'm so exhausted and just want this over so I can go back to concentrating on getting Grace's room together and preparing for her. God has blessed us so much with this pregnancy, it's hard to be too upset about a plumbing issue....but yes, I am stressed about it :-/

PLEASE LET IT JUST BE A CLOG!!

Back at Work...

It's so hard to get back in the groove of work when you've taken a week off. Plus we're headed into our busy time of year....not as busy as when I worked in residence life...but I still have student trainings and things coming up :-/

So, we had a pretty productive week off. We had a lovely time at Oglebay. It was super hot! So, we pretty much went to the pool and hung out in the lodge. We had a couples massage too...wouldn't mind getting a massage once a day.

We had our first growth ultra sound on Grace. She's doing well. Her rate rate was either 152 or 153 bpm--very normal. She's up to 2.7 lbs and in the 80th percentile. Here she is playing with her hand in front of her face. She had her whole hand in her mouth during the ultra sound.

On Friday, I had my regular ob appt. The doctor said everything was going "phenomenal." That was a good word to hear. She said that at this rate we could more than likely wait until the 39th week to deliver Grace. So, all was well there.

We also got a lot done in the room. That pink was so hard to cover.... I hope Grace really likes blue...because we are not changing her room for a long time. We also put together the crib and changing table and put the ceiling fan back together.

I don't think the wall colors showed up well in this photo. They aren't as pastel as they look in this photo. Once we get the room more together, I'll post photos.

And here's the bump update...27.5 w.

26 Weeks

Update photo...

I have my first growth ultrasound on Monday. This is to see how the baby is growing due to the gestational diabetes. After the ultra sound we are going to head to Oglebay for 2 nights for our mini-babymoon. Then we are off of work the rest of the week and will work on the nursery. Hopefully I'll have some photos to share next week :-)

IF (infertility)

Touching video and portrayal of our lives for the last 5 years...

What IF? A Portrait of Infertility from Keiko Zoll on Vimeo.

Our miracle baby is the biggest blessing from God...she's a medical miracle and an answer to years of prayer. God is so good. Even if we weren't pregnant, God is so good. That he would bless us with our heart's desire is overwhelming to us.

Praying for all the couples still going through the IF journey...

Decorating Mode

Grace's room is the only room that we have left in the house that hasn't been painted since we've moved in. We weren't using it for anything and although small, it was going to be a lot of work--the previous owners had a 9 year old daughter who really liked pink and flowers...the room is an explosion of bright pink with flower stencils...a blue ceiling and even flowers painted on the ceiling fan! So, we are going to tackle the room next week while we are on vacation.

I have been picking up some decorations here and there though :-) I ordered the wall decals shown on a previous post...I found some very cute things on clearance at Joanne Fabrics (they have the best clearances). And we had purchased letters to spell out her name and I made this last night!

I was watching the bachelorette finale as I painted :-)

and the finished product!

Another Week

Another week has gone by. I'll be 25 weeks tomorrow! Just 13-14 weeks left of pregnancy :-) I can't wait to meet our Grace.

James definitely felt Grace kick this week. She kicked him hard, twice. It was so exciting! I'm glad he was able to finally feel her. I pretty much feel her throughout the day, every day. I do get a little nervous sometimes when I haven't felt her in a long time. But, I'm working on my non-nervous side and try not to give into that.

James's parents have ordered our crib and changing table (so generous of them)--and I'm so excited for it to get to our house. I think once the room is painted (which should be done the 2nd week of August while we are both on vacation) and the crib gets set up--this is going to feel so real! I also can't wait for our showers--the first one is August 28th and then we have another Labor Day weekend in Maryland. So much to look forward to :-)

This weekend the weather is supposed to be more manageable. The plan is to finish working in our back yard. It kind of got away from us with all the summer heat and pregnancy things. We would like to maybe have a cook out or something this summer, but our yard has been less than attractive. We finally tore out most of the crazy plantings the old owners had...and we had to cut down half of our poor tree.

As you can see, I think more was on the ground than left on the tree. Plus that tree left thousands of tiny hard apples all over our yard when those branches came down. So it's like walking on marbles in our yard--safe! So much of our time has been to picking up apples. So, maybe after this weekend our yard will be presentable and we can have people over eventually :-)

Baby Basics

We attended our first class at the hospital we will be giving birth at. We attended Baby Basics. It was 3 hours long, and it went over everything from what tests and procedures the baby will go through at the hospital to some basics on feeding, bathing, SIDS, car seats, etc...

Here is James practicing how to put a diaper on a baby without hurting the belly button scab.

I think there were about 14 couples there. For the first 1/2 of the class (so for an hour and a half) one of us had to be holding the baby in a "safe" position the entire time. James actually held the baby for much longer than I did.

Here is James's swaddle.

So, Gracie still kicks away unless James is trying to feel her. It's gotten to the point where my whole stomach moves sometimes when I'm at work....and I can feel her when I put my hand where she is kicking. But when James tries to feel she either stops kicking or won't kick hard enough for him to feel. I took this photo a couple of nights ago. But I was laying propped up in bed and James was sitting in front of me with both of his hands on my stomach just waiting for her. His head was turned watching tv...

24 Weeks (well...23w6d)

Here's the newest baby bump. And, I'm wearing my first pair of maternity pants! I've been living in yoga pants and the rubber band trick on my regular pants thus far.

Nothing is too new with the pregnancy. I'm starting to get some lower back pain if I'm on my feet for a while....and my hips have been hurting the past couple of days...probaby round ligament pain.

Tonight is our first class at the hospital :-) It's a baby basics class. So, we get to play with dolls. Hopefully it won't be weird if I take photos...who doesn't want to see a photo of James putting a diaper on a doll!

Our first growth ultra sound is scheduled for Monday August 9th...I'll be 26 weeks. James and I have that week off of work. So, we'll go to the ultra sound in the morning and then we are driving up to Oglebay for 2 nights. We'll do some swimming...probably get a couples massage. Then the rest of the week we will work on Gracie's room.

We've also made plans to visit James's family in Maryland for Lab0r Day weekend. They are kind enough to throw us a baby shower while we are there. That will also be a nice time to see many people we haven't seen in a couple of years (it's been 2 years since our last visit). We are also getting a 3D ultra sound while we are there. They don't offer them here as part of regular ultra sound screening...so we are going to a for-entertainment-only type place while we are there. It will be nice to share that experience with James's mom and dad too.

Tis the Season...of Appointments

As I'm headed into my 3rd trimester shortly (feels crazy to say that), it feels like there are so many doctor appointments to remember.

I have another ob appt, 4 weeks from today--then I start going every other week. In 3 weeks, I need to schedule a growth ultrasound (for the gestational diabetes) and then I'll have ultra sounds every 3-4 weeks from them on. The around 32 weeks I will need a non-stress test on the baby. This is to make sure Grace is handling everything ok as we get closer to labor and delivery...also due to my gestational diabetes. I also have to go in for some blood work soon to check my iron levels.

The 2nd week of August, James and I are both taking the week off of work. We'll go up to Obglebay in WV for 2 nights...this will be our mini babymoon. I didn't know how to traveling I'd feel...so I wanted somewhere with a pool and a spa. Then we'll take the rest of the week to do some room prep for Grace (because my shower is Aug. 28th and we'll need to have the room ready to take on her stuff). We'll probably also do some Pittsburghy things that week like go to the museums or something.

Also, on a very fun note. I FELT GRACE ON THE OUTSIDE OF MY STOMACH FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY!!!! She's been getting some pretty good kicks in for the last 3-4 days or so...I've been feeling her pretty much all throughout the day. So I kept feeling her pretty hard right next to my belly button. I placed my hand there for a minute and of course she stopped...then I started to watch my stomach because I really thought I saw it move once. Then a couple of minutes later she started up again and I placed my hand there and so felt her kick my hand! I started laughing and crying. I'm glad I don't share my office...people would have thought I was nuts.

22.5 weeks

The 2nd trimester is going faster than the 1st I think...but overall, I'd like time to go a bit faster. I can't wait to meet our Grace!!





Here I am at 22.5 weeks. Still looking about the same.

We had a bit of a scare over the weekend and we spent a couple of hours in labor in delivery...from 2am to 4am on Friday night. But Gracie is doing fine. Her heart rate was 130 bpm (the doctor said between 110-170 is fine). Cervix is still closed...so life is good. I'm feeling better as well.

Next ob appointment is this Wednesday. Then I'll just have one more monthly one before we move to every 2 weeks. Maybe time will go quicker then?

Happy Indepence Day!

We had a pretty tame weekend actually. Friday night we watched our nephew. We took him to the park and let him run around in the sprinkler there. The neighborhood park is about a 3-4 minute walk from our house. That will be amazing for when Grace is park age :-)

Here is looking cute :-) I was sitting in the grass while Uncle James followed him around the park. He walked up to me and gave this smile :-)

At first he wouldn't go near the sprinkler...then we couldn't get him out of it. He was running so fast through it!
This photo should seriously be on a poster for this park. Have you every seen a more excited kid!

Then on Saturday we worked/volunteered at our church's first community outreach picnic. It was a great turn out from the neighborhood. I more chased the nephew around and James was the one "working" but it was a good time. I got a bit sunburned. My nephew did not agree with my plan to hang out in the shade during the picnic.

Then on Sunday, we did a Target diaper run with some Target coupons I had. We are trying to stock up our diaper supply while we still have disposable income. Those little diapers add up! But I just don't see myself as a cloth diaper person...sorry.

Then we pretty much lounged around and did some housework...the only fireworks for us were watched on tv. This pregnant lady was not willing to brave the 90 degree heat and lack of bathroom facilities to watch the amazing down town fireworks this year.

Then on Monday, 2 old friends came over for lunch. One has 2 kiddos...James had fun entertaining them. And then other is pregnant with twins due just few weeks after me. We've come a long way since our 3rd grade playground days :-)

The Nursery

We've started to prepare the room for our Grace. This is the fun part of being pregnant...and much more exciting than worrying about all of the things that may go wrong.

We are painting the room 2 shades of blue. There is a very high chair rail going around the room...below the rail will be a darker blue and above will be a lighter blue. We are going to go with a sky/nature theme with the main focus being birds and branches. I'm ordering the following 2 wall decals. I just need to decide on color. I'm thinking of doing dark brown and white.

Both of these sets come with more birds than our pictures...so I'll have some bird decals to place around the room too. They are both from http://www.dalidecals.com/ . They have so many neat decals, I may just do my whole house in them :-)

Those decals will obviously be on the top half of the room...and the bottom half will be more meadow-ish. The bedding set we registers for from Babies R Us is called bunny meadow...below is a photo of the blanket.

So, I think our room colors are brown, green,and pink on a blue background... I'm as curious as anyone on how this will all come together :-)

Starting to show!

The only full length mirror I have is at work....so you get what you get. But, I feel like I'm starting to look pregnant :-) 20.5 weeks...more than half way done!

Weekend Fun

Well, Friday we went to have to the echo cardiogram done on Grace. There were no abnormalities seen on the test. So that is definite praise...one less thing to worry about :-)

Then over the weekend we decided to do some shopping for Grace. It's more fun to focus on shopping then on medical concerns. So we hit some estate sales on Saturday. IT WAS SO HOT!!! and of course none of the houses had air conditioning. Nothing like climbing through someones cluttered house with a lot of other people on a hot summer day :-) We did find a couple of things though. We got her a stocking holder (for a Christmas stocking) and an old copy of the Velveteen Rabbit. We also found a good deal on a nice dresser. I love finding old wooden furniture at estate sales. The are always real wood and so much cheaper than the particle board stuff you find today. The dresser wouldn't fit in our little Honda (we didn't even try). So, our very nice Pastor and friend, Dan, will be going out with James tonight to pick it up in his much larger vehicle. So nice to have friends with large vehicles :-)

Then we decided to take advantage of some diaper sales and coupons we had at the grocery store. We filled a cart just with diapers and wipes. The cashier asked us how many children we have..... "None, why??" We figured while we'd build up our stock a little at a time...spread out the expenses.

I think this was the most expensive personal grocery shopping trip I've ever had. (I'm sure I've spent more shopping for Hall Council or RAs during my days in Res Life...but that wasn't my money).

But it was fun seeing how much we saved on the receipt!

Fetal Echocardiogram

I was assured that the ultra sounds have looked completely normal, but my ob told me to schedule a fetal echocardiogram. I have it scheduled for Friday. I'm nervous that something will be wrong with Grace's heart, but mostly I'm excited to see Grace on ultra sound again :-) From my understanding it is a powerful ultrasound machine that zooms in on the heart and will be performed by a fetal cardiologist. I guess if there is something wrong, knowing now is the best.

But my prayer is that Grace will continue to grow healthy and not have any complications.

I have a friend who says that I'm going to be a pregnancy expert after this as I've had every test possible. I'm thinking she's right :-)

James is coming with me on Friday. He's been there for every ultra sound, about 1/2 the ob appointments, and even came with me for some of the tests...what a good husband :-)

Gracie Grace

I've taken to calling her Gracie Grace...no idea why. Before we knew, we would ask her..."are you a Gracie Grace or a Pauly Paul." Paul was going to be the name for a boy baby. So anyways, she's a Gracie Grace.

I've been pretty tired lately. Well, I've been tired for the last 18 weeks or so, but a good friend's mother has been in the ICU and we've been spending time at the hospital. It's emotionally draining as well. Her mother past away this morning. I'm sad for my friend, and I'm sad because I'll miss her too.

I'm also going to have a specialized ultra sound on the baby called a fetal echocardiogram. I have it scheduled for next Friday (June 25). All of the regular ultra sounds have been normal, so we are praying this one is too. It will be neat to watch her heart really close up.

A regular monthly ob appointment is this Friday as well. My life is turning into a series of appointments.

Team Pink

It's a girl!! Her name is Grace. It's very exciting for all of us. our families are boy heavy...so everyone wanted a girl...I'm glad I didn't let them down :-/ I would have been happy either way...my mom and grandma...I'm not so sure ;-)

More ultra sound photos! I love this profile shot. You can make out her eye...nose...cheek...mouth. I think she is already the cutest thing!

In this next one it totally looks like she is smiling :-)

And of course you have to get the thumb sucking shot!

One More Day

One more day to our big ultra sound! We are so praying for a perfectly healthy baby. I think I've been feeling movements here and there...so that is a good sign :-) They ultra sound tech will scan all of the organs and check for abnormalities; so, we will get a good sense if everything is going well. And the Big News...BOY or GIRL!! I don't really have a guess. At the beginning I was leaning towards thinking it was a boy, but then lately I've been thinking it's a girl. But, I have a lot of people in my life who want a girl...so I don't know if I'm influenced by them :-/ Hopefully by this time tomorrow, we will know :-)

We are also going out the Babies R Us tomorrow to look at some cribs and start a registry. Yay fun stuff!

I was also looking at our hospital's web site today and scheduled our birthing center tour. It's not until September, but I thought it was fun to do.

Our Miracle Baby

After 4 and 1/2 years of struggling with infertility...we are expecting our little one :-) We had prayed for, cried over, loved, and missed our child for years. In our weakness and doubt, God was faithful...Great is HIS faithfulness! In recent months, we felt like we were to stop the fertility treatments (that are overwhelming and pricey) and move towards adoption. We chose an agency and were working through the application process when we found out that I was pregnant--all on our own (not as a result of a treatment). I'll save you the medical details (e-mail me privately if you really want to know), but basically we were told that without intervention it was a medical impossibility for us to concieve. But now I'm just about 18 weeks pregnant :-) We've had some struggles (it has not been easy so far), and that is why we haven't been very public with the information. But this weekend we have our 18-20week ultra sound and if all seems well from that, we are going to share the news with everyone. We'll also hopefully know the gender of our little one. We are looking forward to proper pronoun use and getting the nursery ready :-)

Here are some of the first baby pics.... The first one is when we had our pregnancy confirmed. The baby is 8 weeks along. What looks like wings are either the hand buds or feet buds forming. We had this done on Good Friday--and a Good Friday it was!

This 2nd one was taken at an emergency ultra sound at 11 weeks. You can see the profile of the baby looking up. S/he is waving his/her hand in front of her/his face. This is my favorite image to date.

This final image is from a 13 week ultra sound. It was a test where they are looking for some genetic abnormalities, but all was well. James thinks this one looks like a sock monkey. I was having a contraction during the ultra sound, hence the lump the baby is laying on.

I'll have more to update after this weekend!

Our prayer for today "Lord, we praise You and thank YOU for this amazing miracle! Please be with the health of our little one. Let it continue to grow well and be safe. Lord be with our hearts. Keep doubts and fear out and fill our hearts with YOUR peace. In Jesus name I pray. Amen"