4th quarter stretch

30 weeks down, 10 to go. Here I am, posing for the obligatory belly shot:

Seems like a good time to take one, before the 4th quarter "stretching" begins. Ha ha.

I also thought I'd share a few tips on maternity clothes, since I was looking for info when I was at the stage of outgrowing my regular clothes. I did have a few clothes left over from my previous pregnancies, but many I had given away or loaned out, and the rest, well, let's face it. Most things are pretty out of style after 5-8 years!

I wanted to be fairly modest about what I purchased, so I bought mostly pants and just a few tops. I've been able to use a lot of tops, elastic-waist skirts, and jersey dresses from my regular wardrobe which has been great. My options are thinning as I get bigger, but hey- only 10 weeks left! People can forgive me for wearing the same things all the time for that long.

So, in the photo above I am wearing a pair of dress slacks I bought from A Pea in a Pod. Their pants fit me the best by far (they have a what they call a "secret-fit belly panel" that is very comfortable to wear.) I needed dressier clothes because of my job, and even though I wasn't able to find these on sale, they were worth the money since I wear them once a week at least.

I'm also wearing an open cardi from Anthropologie. I have several cardis like this and they make a great transitional wardrobe item.

And here is another photo of me modeling my favorite (and only) pair of maternity jeans:

I bought and then returned 2 other pairs of more expensive jeans before I found these. I found them at the Expected maternity boutique in Fort Union. They carry a few pricey high end brands also, but the brand I really liked was the more affordable Lilac line. These jeans were long enough for a change, stretchy, and super comfy. I got them on sale for about half of one of the other pairs I had purchased and returned. Lilac specializes in maternity clothes that can be transitional (worn after your pregnancy too). These jeans do have a fabric belly panel, but they also have an elastic band on the inside that can be tightened, much like those they put in kids pants these days. How cool is that?

I also bought 2 shirts at Expected; the red patterned shirt in the jeans photo and the white shirt in the top photo. Both were on sale (even better!) and both have ruching on the sides, so I do think I will try them after pregnancy as well.

Hope that info is helpful to all you newly-preggos out there!

April Fools!

I got to stay home with the girls today because my sitter was going out of town. Abby had us dress up as monsters for Fool's day. (She made our masks and hands out of paper.)


Oooooh, scary!


This is what it looked like out our front door today. Mother nature's idea of an April Fool's joke?


Blogging hiatus

My blog has been neglected lately—as I'm sure you've noticed. I've been focusing on more important things like baby-making . . . and sleeping. I figured I would return with a vengeance when baby #3 makes her appearance but the thing is, now I'm worried I'll lose all my readers in the meantime. Are you still there? Really?

Actually, I've missed the interaction I get through this blog, so I'm feeling some renewed motivation to post more often. And I don't want to look back on these 9 months with no memories to show for it.

So, with that, above I'm sharing one of my favorite photos from last fall. Mom took this when Dad walked the girls to the babysitters house on the last morning of one of their quick visits to see us. If I remember right, this visit was when I very first found out I was pregnant and was very uncertain what the outcome would be. Mom and Dad came down to lend their support. I had a lot on my mind at the time, but it's great to have this photo of a happy memory.

(Speaking of, see that cute little jacket Sarah is wearing? Has anyone seen it? I've been missing it for a few weeks I think, and I can't remember with my pregnancy-governed mind where on earth we may have left it.)

redneck recreation

We began our first day in Vegas doing the tourist thing. (This isn't the redneck part, by the way, in case you are wondering). We went on a fabulous tour of the Ethel M chocolate factory. Well, they weren't actually making any chocolates that day . . .


but the free samples,


and the chocolate shop . . .

. . . made up for it.
Here is our crew for the trip:


THIS is the redneck part of the trip:


Yep, we made the adventure to the Nascar races. On top of that, we actually stayed in RVs in the parking lot. Here is our campsite:


But to be really be considered a redneck, we would have had to have astroturf, couches, and our own flagpole complete with flags for all our drivers:


At least that's what I told myself.

Hanging out with Uncle Lee:

Striking their best poses:

A view of the stadium from our seats. The place was gigantic and the amount of people stifling.



See the black cover on the car? That was because of the rain delay we had the first day. In Vegas of all places.


And this is the face of bored children while they waited for the track to dry off.


Eventually, the drivers entered their cars. We had a good view of the pits (here is Danica Patrick getting in her car).


And the green flag flew:


(Notice the empty seats in this photo. This was the Nationwide series race. The next day for the Sprint series race, these seats were all full.)

After another rain delay, they still finished the entire race. And some of us (Sarah and I) were finished too by the time the race was over. Oh well, nothing a little cotton candy can't fix, right?

We were glad for sunnier and warmer weather the next day.

The noise level in this place was out of control. First, there was this:


Next to the air force base with heavier than usual air traffic meant that we heard these overhead from 6 AM to 10 PM everyday.


Then, at the track, we wore these headphones for noise protection, and to give us something to listen too other than the roar of the cars during the race. Aren't we cute?




Here are our race buddies, Tawnya and Lee:


If we were seriously redneck, we would have race jackets for our favorite drivers:


Even if it means sporting a sponsor like Viagra:

As it was, we did sport some of our own memorabilia, but we were more into M&Ms:



All in all, it was a grand family adventure and we enjoyed our time with the girls' cousins. Speaking for myself, however, I can honestly say that my first Nascar experience with likely also be my last.

Ultrasound update

Everything looked great today, and I am cleared to go back to full time days at work next Monday. No new anatomy revealed itself either, so we are still prepared for a girl!

Being the 3rd time around we are running out of brilliant ideas. How about some name suggestions? Other than the fact that the first two are both biblical names, we have no patterns to follow (A, B, C, or T, T, T :)

Help!

Pregnancy update

20 weeks today!

That means I'm halfway there. An also-pregnant friend recently reached the same milestone and said "the long half is ahead". Probably so, but I can't help hoping that after 5 ultrasounds, doctor appointments at least every two weeks, countless nights of worry, one ambulance ride, 2 nights in the hospital, 2 units of blood, ugly medical bills, and too many head-in-the-toilet moments to count, the long half is over for me. Hoping for smooth ride ahead. I am feeling pretty good (aside from the typical fatigue and nagging bouts of nausea) and am working again. I have another ultrasound on Thursday, so hopefully we will have an update and more good news then.

Thanks again for all your support and good wishes!

amazing technology

I'm not sure which is more incredible; how developed everything is at just 16 weeks or the fact that we can see it so well. We were able to get 8 minutes of video of our new little one, but I'll spare you that. Here is a few seconds if you would like to watch:

IT'S A . . .

I had an ultrasound and doctors appointment today that went very well. The baby looks healthy and gave us a great show of it's wiggles and acrobatics. The placenta abruption area has appeared to have gone from 7 cm down to 2 cm, which is very good.

The plan for returning to work is to start January 11, and work half days for 2 weeks to ease back into the activity. It has been a relaxing 3 weeks, but it was also very nice to see outside of our house today!

And yes, we were able to see certain anatomy. It is quite early for that (16 weeks) but the tech got a good look and is pretty certain it's a . . .

. . . GIRL!

We do know how to make girls and we are certainly excited to have some more sugar and spice in our household. Tom did say he needed to go home and watch some sports to feel manly again.

season's greetings

Sending some Christmas cheer from our home to yours!

Even though we originally planned to be in Montana with our families, we still had a special time together at home. After being away from the girls for a week and a half, it was a sweet reunion.

On Christmas Eve we let the girls open a couple of presents to get them started: pajamas, a game, and a Christmas movie.



This picture was taken the next morning with their new prized American Girl dolls.

You might have noticed Sarah's new short "do". Well, she took the scissors to her own hair, not once, but twice, so we had to do a little evening up. I actually had to choke back tears while doing it because her hair has grown so slow. :( Oh well, suits her sassy personality I guess.

Tom got me a Kindle for Christmas so I've been passing my time in bed with a good book,"Three Cups of Tea". I recommend it. Now I'm moving on to the next book, "Stones into Schools". Both are about a guy (who happens to live in Bozeman, MT) who has dedicated his life to building coed, non-religious, non-extremist schools in small villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is pretty remarkable to think about spending your life in such a selfless way.

Happy Holidays to all! Good night.

an update

Today I had a visit with the doctor. She listened to the baby's heartbeat (healthy and strong) and drew blood to see if my body was doing its job of building its supply back up. I don't yet know the results of that. I am feeling a little stronger each day but am still battling with morning (all day) sickness.

Here is the plan at this time: I am to be on bed rest for another 2 weeks. Then I'll have an ultrasound to see if the placenta is healing properly. Then, with a good report, I might be able to increase my activity and go back to work. That will bring us almost to the new year!

Thanks to all of you for your support, e-mails, phone calls, comments, etc. It builds me up and keeps me encouraged (and gives me something to do in bed!) Thanks also to our amazing neighbors who are providing us with yummy meals. Your help is so much appreciated.

We were also advised to cancel our plans to go to Montana for Christmas, unfortunately. We knew that might be coming, but it is hard just the same. We may have Tom go up and bring our girls back next week so they can be with us in time for Christmas.

One thing I neglected to mention in my last post—my official due date is June 13!

plans are what you make until you know what you're doing

So, I spent the weekend in the hospital.

Oh boy. This is a long story. Where to start.

I've kept this close to my chest for awhile because it seemed like it would be easier "in case", but now it is apparent that I won't be able to keep it to my self much longer, plus I've realized the support of everyone around me is so valuable. I am 14 weeks pregnant! This unexpected expectation has us delighted and scared at the same time. It all started when I was feeling really lousy for days. I thought I was coming down with the flu and went in for a test. The doctor ruled out the flu but drew my blood to check for mono (turns out I've already had that-who knew?) and various other ailments. The tests came back negative on all accounts, so he diagnosed me with stress and depression. I thought I was going crazy. It wasn't until I was chatting with a friend about my symptoms and she said "Are you pregnant?" that things clicked. I took a test and immediately called the doctor (a different one!). I had been using the Mirena IUD for about 3 years. It is supposed to be 99.9% effective, and when pregnancy does happen it is often ectopic (tubal) or due to a displaced IUD. Not the case with me. How could we not feel like this was meant to be?

The first ultrasound indicated that the IUD was so close to the the sac (or even in the sac) that removing it would almost surely result in miscarriage. After a second ultrasound and advice from a specialist that leaving the IUD in place would create even more serious complications (premature labor and infection), we choose to remove the IUD.

Remarkably, an ultrasound 2 weeks later revealed a normal pregnancy. I say remarkable because from even before I was pregnant, I was constantly bleeding. Sometimes terribly. I had so many scary moments where I have completely lost hope, only to find it again. The bleeding continued but I was able to get reassurance every couple of weeks when my doctor listened for the heartbeat.

The last couple of weeks I saw some improvement. I was looking forward to hitting the 14 week mark where I would hopefully see the morning sickness start to subside (as it did with Abby and Sarah). Fast forward to last Friday. I headed to the doctor for a routine prenatal appointment. It was supposed to be my last bit of reassurance before I broke the news. That is where the hospital comes in.

(Warning... stop here if you want to avoid TMI-too much info!!!) I walked into the clinic and stood in line waiting to check in when I suddenly felt a huge gush of blood. So much so that I could feel it running down my leg. I rushed into the bathroom and proceeded to bleed a very alarming amount of blood and clots. I used my cell phone to call the clinic, and my doctor was able to come in and help me. She advised me to call Tom to come get me as I was going to have to go to the ER to have a probable D&C (to terminate the pregnancy). In the meantime I was very close to passing out from losing so much blood so she decided to call the paramedics. The rest is a bit of a blur, but I had my first (and hopefully last) ambulance ride and arrived at the ER. When I got there they did an ultrasound, and miraculously, there was Baby. Kicking and sucking his/her thumb. (Sorry. Too early to tell which!)

The ultrasound revealed a placental abrubtion. Basically, a portion of the placenta detaches from the uterus and causes the bleeding. This can occur without affecting the pregnancy. It is unclear whether or not this was a new injury or the cause of my bleeding all along. Over the course of the next two days they monitored my blood levels, gave me a transfusion, and sent me home with orders of bed rest, at least until the bleeding has subsided. I'm am pale and weak, so at this point I'm just not sure when I will be able to return to work and normal life.

The prognosis is good. Hopeful. If the bleeding starts again (at a signifcant level), worst case scenario is they will have to terminate the pregnancy to stop the bleeding. Best case, I get lots of rest and the placenta heals itself.

I've been on a blogging hiatus the past couple of months because I've had to focus simply on taking care of myself. I will do my best to keep updating about my situation. In the meantime, I can't say enough thanks to our family, friends, and neighbors for your support and prayers through this challenging time.

My Mom and Dad braved the bad weather arrived yesterday to retreive the girls and keep them until Christmas, so they are well taken care of.

On a final note, since this post has gone on long enough, I wanted to give a shout out to all of my friends and fellow bloggers who are going through their own pregnancy experiences. I feel like I haven't given adequate congratulations while being so uncertain of my own fate, but I am truly excited and happy for all of you!

halloween

I'm nearly week behind the Halloween posting trend, but I couldn't let this year go by without sharing photos of my own scary ghouls . . . er . . . beautiful princesses.



a recent visit . . .

. . . from two of our favorite people!


^ Us girls in our coincidentally matching red and black.

Thanks for coming Mom and Dad!

Happy Birthday Abby!

{ Abby is Seven!!!! }

One minute I can hardly believe Abby is turning 7, and the next I can't believe she is only seven—she is so grown up. Right now she is enjoying first grade, reading chapter books like a champ, making arts and crafts in every spare moment, and is looking very toothless (and about to loose the second of her two front teeth!)

We had a birthday party for both girls at Jungle Jims. I had a hard time narrowing down the photos, but you'll see they had LOTS of fun with their cousins and friends.




























Thanks for coming, everyone!

Canon in Love

Last weekend I was asked to play piano for a wedding (my sister-in-law's sister-in-law). Here are a few photos from the event:

^ Me and my dear husband. (I managed to let his birthday slip by on October 6th without acknowledging here on the blog. We celebrated at the Cheesecake Factory. Yum! Happy Belated Birthday Tom!)

^ Me and my sistahs

^ My sweet nieces


The bride asked for the traditional and beautiful Canon in D, but I wanted to change it up a bit. I ended up mixing it with "Can't Help Falling in Love" for what you could call "Canon in Love".

I made a quick little recording in Garage Band (very easy, I might add!) and thought I would share it with you. The recording isn't perfect so don't be too critical. The part I mixed up is towards the end during the brides processional.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

{ Our princess turns 4 today! }

^ Since daddy had to be gone today, we celebrated as a family last night. She gets to share a birthday party with Abby next weekend.

^ Abby made hats for the occasion. Sarah's said "birthday girl" and Abby's said "lucky sister".

^ Look at the card I got from Grandma B! Thanks Amma!

^ She opened this and said "I love this! I love this! I love it... What is it?"

^ It's her costume/dress up, and it suits her to a T.


Happy Birthday Sarah!