It's a Girl

She's so beautiful and perfect...
And she is totally not ours... (LOL I crack myself up!)

Anyway, I am due in two more days. I went to the doctor this morning and I am still progressing beautifully and my body is doing what it is supposed to. While Oliver was away for work in New Jersey for two weeks people were incessantly asking how I was, checking up on me, etc and it was overwhelming and frustrating and annoying.

So this past weekend, to help with my personal sanity, we stayed home ALL WEEKEND. It was divine. We ran some necessary errands early Saturday morning, re-cleaned the house, packed our hospital bags, watched movies, ate at the park, read, napped and just spent time together. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend and it has prepared me for another week of constant badgering by the generally caring and curious public who actually do love and care about us.

We'll be sure to update you with any progress and post pics as soon as we have them. We did find out this morning that I will be induced on August 12th, if she doesn't come before that, so either way, we don't have much longer to wait.

Here's to a healthy happy baby and successful delivery!

Eclipse

When Oliver was out of town last week we had a girls night and went to see Eclipse. We had fun at dinner and the movie - and truthfully the movie was better then any previous one we have seen. But that's not that hard - they couldn't get any worse for sure!
The other fun thing is that 6 of us have just had or will have babies soon! Pretty fun!

Commonly Asked Questions

Q: How are you feeling?
A: Great - honestly, I really feel great, I'm not lying to you, I have no complaints - I'm really enjoying this miraculous experience.

Q: How much longer?
A: Technically we have 16 days left - but it could be as many as 26...either way less than a month.

Q: Are you ready?
A: What kind of question is that and does the answer really make a difference, she's coming either way and we'll make the most of it.

Q: When are you quitting work and just sitting at home waiting to have the baby?
A: Never, thanks but my days pass faster at the office and I think the thought of just sitting home waiting sounds horrific.

Q: Have you packed your bags for the hospital?
A: No, and I'm not going to until Oliver get's home from New Jersey - it's my silent sub-conscious way of telling the universe that I'm not going into labor while Oliver is away.

Q: Do you have a name?
A: NO - seriously, we really don't. In fact Oliver just went out and bought a baby name book on Saturday to take with him on his business trip which he read through for 4 hours on the plane.

Q: What names are you deciding between?
A: None of your business - if we had one decided and wanted to tell the world we would - but we don't, and our short list has more than 9 names on it - which makes it not a short list. We don't know what we're naming her and we are okay if that bothers you - you aren't the parent...GET OVER IT!

Q: Are you still throwing up?
A: Yes, just this morning, I think it's a Monday thing. No - I don't mind, I'm used to it.

Q: How are her kidneys?
A: Her right kidney has totally self-corrected and there is still a little fluid on her left kidney. They will be sharing the test results with her pediatrician who will decide what we should do from this point forward.

Q: Will your doctor start you early?
A: Nope, well she might, but I don't want to be started - I want to go into labor naturally when my baby and my body are ready. I'm okay if that isn't the popular thing these days - it's my choice. We also intend to deliver naturally which is a choice - so I'd appreciate if you would keep your negative thoughts about that choice to yourself - I don't need your bad energy.


I try to remind myself that people care about us and love us and just want to share in our joy and I try to not be irritated - is that possible at 38 weeks pregnant? I'm grateful for all the support that we have and I know that there are dozens of people I can call while Oliver is out of town if I need anything at all. We have a lot of love in our lives and our baby is already very loved. So we're just living and loving life and anticipating her great arrival...whenever she chooses for that to be. Thanks for your care - if you have other questions post them!

Nursery is Finished...And It's the Nicest Room in Our House

For the past 4 or 5 years I have been eying these chairs and for those of you who know me...you have heard about them often. Well, it is here and delivered and about to be assembled.
Oliver thought that he would be the first to try out the chair - but that was not happening! Here is me sitting in the chair and testing it out (yep I even fit at 36+ weeks pregnant).
Here is Oliver calling his mom at almost 11 pm to tell her how excited he was that the nursery is finally finished - she thought it was too late to drive over and see it - but hopefully she'll make it out soon. It is the nicest cleanest room in our house! Every wall, baseboard, handle, closet piece, door, etc have been wiped with Clorox and you can see the beautiful new coat of paint. I actually hate the paint color in the rest of our house - it isn't bad to most people - just not my taste and this is the first painting that we have done since we moved in. We figure if we do one room a year for the next 10 years then our house will be pretty amazing!
Here's the view from the window seat toward the closet.
Here is the awesome chair!
Now you can see the window seat (I am currently covering the pad and will post another picture when that is done) and her changing table and her dresser.
I decided that the lighting is kind of weird - probably 'cause I took the pics at 11 pm at night. But you are welcome to stop in anytime to see how awesome it looks. It turned out beautifully!

Girls' Camp 2010

Last week we went up with the girls from our church to go camping for the week. We had a small group this year which was really fun! They did all sorts of fun things like...

Certification...Crafts...
Pretending to be different things (dinosaurs, pirates, Russians, ninjas, etc)...
A high ropes swing...
A low ropes course...
We also saw a lot of wildlife and they were comfortable to come really close to us. We saw one deer with her three babies and one deer with her two babies - it was awesome!
The girls had fun playing together and goofing off too - 'cause that is really an important part of camp!
We went canoeing...

And here we are as ninjas - I was the sumo ninja :)

We also made lunch one day for everyone (200+ people) at camp.


The last night Brother Eckman from our bishopric came up to have some fun with us.
I love girls' camp and have fun every year! They are a great group of girls!

Father's Day Waterfalls

To celebrate Father's Day I made breakfast and we just had a lazy morning until church. After church we came home and packed a quick sack lunch so that we could go for a Sunday stroll in the mountains. The weather was beautiful and we were able to see two water falls before needing to head to Oliver's parent's home for dinner. We could have stayed up the canyon all day - it was gorgeous!
We hiked the Mill B South Trail first to see this waterfall. Once we got up to the falls I found a nice place to sit on a rock and enjoy the water while Oliver ran off to explore and play.
We then hiked back down and went to find Hidden Falls. It was seriously hidden, but the easiest "hike" if you can even call it that. It is less than .15 miles from the road but very pretty.


After our short jaunt through nature we headed to Oliver's parent's house for dinner and then off to see both sets of his grandparents. It was a nice and relaxing day and it was nice to spend part of it outside in the woods with each other.

Happy Late Father's Day to all the wonderful men in our lives that have impacted us both so much!

Proud Married Moment

I went to my 33 week check-up and left feeling a little discouraged. For a couple of different reasons, one of which is because of the number on the dreaded scale. I went home feeling fat and a little depressed about it.

*Blah, blah, blah is what I hear when people say things like - you're pregnant, you're supposed to gain weight, it's healthy for the baby, just eat well, there's nothing you can do it about it until the baby comes, don't worry about it, you look great - blah, blah, blah. Maybe I'm not like other pregnant women - but that stuff doesn't make me feel any better and it doesn't change anything.

The conversation with Oliver went like this:

Heidi: I have never been this heavy in my whole life.
Oliver: How much do you weigh?
Heidi: (responds)
Oliver: HOLY COW!
Primary Result: Heidi in tears.
Secondary Result: Oliver attempts damage control and back pedaling.
Final Result: The hole he was digging just kept getting deeper, we laughed, and decided to just move-on and leave it alone.

Yep, probably not his best choice of words and his facial expression of shock wasn't that helpful either.

Luckily, I married my best friend and I know that he loves me and thinks I'm beautiful. Also, I know how he meant it and what he was trying to say - it just didn't come out so well.

Hopefully his skills continue to develop and improve as the years go on...

Crafty

I have never taken a sewing class, but when my great-grandma passed away I inherited her table sewing machine (more than 10 years ago). I have had it through the years and when Oliver and I purchased our home I finally went and had it serviced and tuned up. I have made two rag quilts since then (but I never took pictures of either) and just this past weekend I have continued to try my hand at sewing. I really like it - I'm not great at it - but I enjoy it. Hopefully soon I will sign-up and take a sewing class because there is so much that I don't know how to do!

The first thing I made was Baby X's duvet cover for her comforter. I just can't justify buying a $150+ bedding set that she can't even sleep with - so for $12 I bought the fabric I needed to cover a $15 IKEA crib comforter. Much more within my price point :)

My mom helped me pick out the fabric while she was in town the other week and then it has sat in Baby X's crib for the past while. This weekend I was finally motivated enough to cut out all the squares and then Oliver helped me lay out a pattern.
Since I just guess at stuff, when I originally bought the fabric I forgot to take into account that when you sew the squares together they get a little smaller because of the seams. Oops. So Monday I went back to the fabric store to buy some more fabric to make a border so that it would fit her quilt. I lost 8" in seams and fabric shrinking when washed...experiment and learn!

I'd say it turned out great for my first duvet cover - patternless!

It makes me even happier that Oliver loves it so much and I feel accomplished for saving a few dollars too!

When making rag quilts and the duvet I have always just guessed at how it should go and never used a pattern. This weekend brought a change to all that with my second project. My cousin Sarah is having a baby girl, Ava, and she is due just a month after me. I thought it would be easier to work on her baby gift now then after our baby comes. I wanted to make her a car-seat cover and Baby X was kind enough to allow us to use her car seat to model how it turned out (however, Oliver was not happy that I opened her car seat for my modelling session).

I followed a stupid simple pattern written by a brilliant woman who showed pictures at every step of the way. I also learned, that since my sewing skills are all self-taught, just because the pattern is stupid simple doesn't mean that it looks just like the pattern when completed. I have a thing or two to learn about seams and Velcro and in-seams and ironing and closing seams, etc, etc. But, since you can't see it too closely, it looks great!

I love that it keeps strangers from breathing on your baby, touching her, and shades her from the snow, sun, and rain, all the while allowing you to easily grab the handle and keep the blanket in place.

Super cute...if I do say so myself!

Yes, I will happily make one for you too! Just call and I'll tell you how much fabric to send my way!

Update

The condition of Baby X's kidneys and ureters has not changed...it's not better and it's not worse. The half-full outlook is that we are scheduled for another ultrasound at 35 weeks...I just love looking at our baby girl!

Long Awaited and Much Requested

Back in December I took one of these - mostly to prove to Oliver that I was indeed pregnant. He kept asking how I knew, I just did. December 5th was a day to remember - I was five weeks and a few days.
On that day we looked like this (for the record Oliver still looks like that).
Then after 15 weeks I looked like this...yeah YOU can't tell, but I could.
Then at 20 weeks more people could tell.
Since some people thought I was just getting fat and since I was feeling fat, I hacked off all my hair. It was so people would stop focusing on my weight/waist/whatever, and have a conversation about something else. I work in an engineering office - they aren't known for being subtle, sensitive, tactful or politically correct. It was supposed to make me feel better and beautiful and it mostly worked. But then, ask anyone who knows me, I LOVE CHANGE!

So then at 29 weeks I looked like this.

New Machine

I went in for my regularly scheduled doctors appointment on Monday and asked about when they would be scheduling my follow-up ultrasound to check on the progress of her developing kidneys. It just happened to work out that the office that does my ultrasounds would have a rep in town the next day demoing some new features of their machine to be able to see the baby with all her skin, etc. This type of ultrasound is ideal for women past 26 weeks and before 30 because the baby has some skin and fat but isn't too big to be able to see anything. That made me a perfect candidate. My doctor doesn't believe in doing ultrasounds just for fun...but since I was needing a follow-up anyway she scheduled us for the next morning at 10 am! Our friend Missy came with us and there were 4 techs in the room learning how to use the machine...it was hot and AMAZING!

First we got some standard pictures like ones we have seen before like her profile...
At my appointment I was diagnosed with a pregnancy rash that isn't supposed to manifest itself until 35 weeks and 75% of the women that have the rash deliver boys. Needless to say I left my Monday appointment worrying whether she was still a girl (and if I was super far along)...so I asked the ultrasound tech to check and make sure. I would be devastated...hello, her room is already decorated! :) Sure enough, she is still a she.
She was yawning over and over and they were able to catch a picture of it.
After they measured her kidney progress (the tech doesn't tell me anything I have to wait for the doctor to call) they switched over to their new technology and started looking at the baby in 4D. These pics don't even do justice to how amazing it was in the office. Everything at the office was in color - not full color - but colored. So the picture below shows her resting against the placenta which is attached to the uterine wall. In the office her skin was one color, the placenta another and the uterine wall a third. AMAZING!
And here she is with her hands curled up to her face...she's learning to say her prayers.
And we don't have to wait to make sure that she has all her fingers, because you can count them clearly in the following pictures.
We'll let you know about her toes when we meet her.
For now, it was amazing and we haven't heard anything. But we'll keep you posted as we learn more. She weighed in at 2 lbs 12 oz and is measuring 8 days ahead of schedule, but this won't affect my due date.

We also still lovingly call her baby x. As we were discussing names last night I vetoed one from Oliver's list I was pretty emphatic that it didn't matter how much he liked it, she wasn't receiving that name. When he asked why I told him that it has nothing to do with the name, I just hate the way he says it! Yep, he's from Utah, and consequently some names are immediately stricken from the list because I don't like the way they get said... :) No, I'm not telling you which name it was...

Public or Private

Our blog was once public, then Oliver wanted it to be private, then I wanted it to be public and I'm sure we'll have the same back and forth hundreds more times. Currently it's public and I prefer it that way. I like that I end up at the top of people's blog rolls when I have posted recently so that my blog actually gets read (kind of self-serving but whatever). I like that people that don't know how to log into a private blog can now read mine - like my parents, etc. I also like that people don't have to ask to view my blog, they don't have to have a gmail account, and they can just read when they want.

I don't like the Chinese character comments though. Do you know what I'm talking about? What is up with random people commenting on my blog? And I have a few OCD issues in my life so every time I get a Chinese character comment I delete it (I cannot verify that they are actually Chinese characters but my sister can correct me if they are/aren't 'cause she's fluent). But do you know what bugs me about deleting these comments - they still add into the total comment tally - and they aren't real comments. If I could change the number of comments and delete them you bet I would! Anyway, returning to my original thoughts...

I read a post yesterday of a friend requesting that everyone remove her family's last name from their blog roll and it was a huge AHA moment. And so, out of respect for her privacy, and all my other friends who go back and forth and public/private, I am removing everyone's last name from my blog roll. Because, well, I'm OCD, and it's all or nothing for me!

I also hate reading private blogs. I understand the need for privacy, protecting your kids, going through divorce, etc. The part of it that I hate is that it doesn't come up on my blog roll when it's been updated. And since I have OCD, I click on each private link EVERY SINGLE DAY to see if it has been updated. It used to be a good use of my time when only one or two people had private blogs but now I read 14 private blogs! I probably should get over my issue - but I find it really annoying when people with private blogs only update once every 6 or 8 weeks - because by then I have clicked on your blog, typed in my username and password, and waited to be re-directed more than 50 times!

Yes, I know I have issues and maybe I'll re-title this post OCD. Thanks.

Poor Baby Girl

I had my regular monthly check-up last week. In between the last two appointments I had my exciting ultrasound appointment and determined we're having a GIRL! :) Well, the purpose of that ultrasound isn't really to find out about the baby's sex, but to measure all sorts of other things. While at the doctor on Friday I asked about the results of the my ultrasound.

She flipped through my chart and said that everything looked good EXCEPT - that's when I stopped listening or my breath caught or something - EXCEPT - who says that to a pregnant woman, why didn't you call and say something to me, etc, etc flew through my head. Okay - Heidi - seriously you probably should listen to what she is saying EXCEPT about...

The babies kidneys and ureters (tubes connecting the kidneys to the bladder) are swollen. Sometimes, a birth defect in the urinary tract will block the flow of urine in an unborn baby. As a result, urine backs up and causes the ureters and kidneys to swell. Swelling in the kidneys is called hydronephrosis. Swelling in the ureters is called hydroureter.

Here's a picture of what it looks like normally...
And here is a picture of what it looks like swollen...
She went on to explain that it is not known what causes the condition (they compare it to acid reflux of the bladder kicking stuff back into the ureters and kidneys) and that it typically corrects itself during fetal development. The next step is to have another ultrasound at 32-33 weeks and see if it has corrected. If not, Baby X will have her own ultrasound once she is born, to see if the last few weeks of development corrected the problem. Then, if not, WHO THE HECK KNOWS, they just tell you it normally corrects itself.

So then, like any good parents or informed person, you go home from the doctor and start surfing the web. I've decided I'm a "worst case scenario" kind of a girl. That is not helpful. I read all sorts of stuff online and probably should just quit. Luckily I married a "best case scenario" kind of guy who adds some needed perspective. Truthfully, there isn't anything we can do right now but wait and most likely it will work itself out. If not, there is all sorts of information, it is a well researched issue, we live in a country with excellent medical care, we live in a state with tons of pediatric specialist, and we both have great health insurance.

So now we wait, we pray and we are patient (nope not great at any of that kind of stuff - luckily I married a great man)...she'll probably be just fine. And the upside is we get to "see" her again at 32 weeks...and that's always fun!

Random Thoughts...

I am a blog stalker. There is a general theme in stay-at-home mom's blogs that have expressed in moments of frustration that it would be nice to go to work, to dress up, to eat out and to pay someone else to raise their kids. It would be less stressful - but overall, when they step back and reflect, they are enjoying being home raising their kids the way they want to.

I want to stay home - I want to be done being pregnant - I want that luxury that so many get to "enjoy".

I think staying home to raise kids is a lot of work and a totally different kind of work then the job kind. My work can be stressful and demanding and wake me up in the middle of the night too (seriously people, I don't care that you're sprinkler didn't come on and it is 3:30 am - but I'll pretend I do) but it's working for someone else and not really changing the world. I have never wanted to work at a traditional job for all of my life.

I have worked really hard, I put myself through college and a masters degree debt free, and I have had a job all year round since I was 16 (except while on a mission) - I am tired of traditional work and ready for a change. But it isn't going to happen - at least not at this point in my life - unless one of you would like to purchase our townhouse.

I have serious anxiety over putting our daughter in daycare. I have guilt about not being able to stay home full-time. I have the best possible work situation for having to work after she comes in terms of setting my own hours, having a flexible schedule, still making good money and keeping full benefits without working full-time - but I just don't want to do it. I don't even have a child yet and I feel like people are judging me because I will choose to go back to work.

The following rant is controversial and I am okay if you don't agree with me...but this is my blog so STOP reading if you want to. I currently HATE some government programs which provide assistance to people choosing to grow their families without the financial ability to be able to do so. I am talking about health care, medical insurance, food stamps, food assistance, getting more money back on tax returns then they pay into them, walking away from a house commitment, having a reduce mortgage because you chose to over finance for some cash out, etc. It might be because I am jealous that people can "afford" to stay home because they are receiving handouts...but it makes my angry.

I would love to just walk away from the commitment that we made to own a townhouse. I would love to say to the entire economy/neighbors/bank/etc - sorry we bought at the top of the market, sorry that the housing market sucks, you just deal with it because I don't want to - but there is no integrity in that. I am not saying that everyone who does those things is doing so with the before mentioned thoughts - but it happens.

I realize that many of you don't care about my rant or my frustrations or my guilt...but there it is...in all it's randomness.