My nephew was born!

My sister Maggie had her baby!  Her due date was approximately July 1st.  She went into labor on Wednesday and gave birth at 9:50 p.m. to Silas Jonah.  I’m so excited that Baby Silas is healthy and adorable:)  We got to Skype with them in the hospital on Thursday night.  I drilled Maggie on some of the details of the labor and delivery (since that will be me in 3 months).  Everything went really well.  I’m so excited to be an aunt to Baby Silas!

Silas Jonah

Born: Wednesday, June 26, 2013, 9:50 p.m.

Stats: 7 pounds 1 ounce, 21 inches long, brown hair 

My sister and her beautiful family of 5!

Look at that growth!

It’s fun to look back over the pregnancy weeks and see just how much has changed!  I started taking weekly chalkboard pictures at 12 weeks because I thought I was already starting to “show” at that time.  How crazy!  When I look at this progression, I was barely showing at 16 weeks.  We didn’t publicly announce the pregnancy until 13 weeks, and it felt as if I had already been pregnant for forever.  Here is a recap of my bump and chalkboards 12-25 weeks:

BUMP REPORT – 25 Weeks

PREGNANCY WEEK 25

My age: 27

How far along: 25 weeks

How big is baby: the size of an eggplant.  She is 13.5 inches long and weighs 1.5 pounds.

Exercise/Activity Level: I exercised 6 days this week: 3 days running and 3 days of weights and cardio.  One of my runs was I just had to laugh…I had to go pee SO BAD during the run and every step I took made the situation worse!  I was still about a mile an a half away from home when I nearly asked a swimming pool if I could use their restroom.  I decided I would just deal with it rather than embarrassing myself.  I ran the rest of the way praying that I didn’t pee my pants, haha!  That was such a miserable run:)

Maternity clothes:  I am SO EXCITED that my friend brought over a bin of maternity clothes for me the other day!!!  I am 100% set on clothes for the rest of this pregnancy now.  I’m so thrilled to have so many new things to start wearing.

Stretch marks: None.

Belly button: Pretty flat these days.  Only a matter of time until the flat belly button starts poking out.

Sleep: My sleep is pretty good.  Whenever I want to shift from one side to the other, I feel like I have to build up momentum just to get my body to flip over!

Newest baby milestones this week: I read on my pregnancy app that baby’s nostrils have been plugged up until this point.  Now they are opened up (like she took a dose of Sudafed!) and she is practicing breathing in and out through her nose.  She is also forming her capillaries, which give her skin more of pink glow.

Best Moment of the Week:  My best moment this week was getting to SLEEP IN!  We were both so exhausted from our week that on both Saturday and Sunday we slept till 10:00 a.m.  I am pretty sure that means we were in desperate need of sleep.

Worst Moment of the Week: Having someone tell me how “chunky” my cheeks have gotten.  Thanks 🙂  Really appreciated that one.  Just learning to roll with the punches.

Food cravings: Orange pop, fruit, Milk Duds, yogurt and sherbet.

Food aversions: Chicken.

Symptoms: Quickly growing belly, extreme soreness in my ab muscles/rib cage area, mild heartburn that comes and goes, feeling “uncomfortable” a lot, occasional low back pain from sitting and mild swelling on hot days.

Movement: Lots and lots of movement.

Gender: Girl

What I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to my work baby shower this week.  I wasn’t expecting to have so many showers, but I’m really excited to get to celebrate with the gals from work.

What I’m nervous about/praying for: My stress level.  I have been super stressed out lately due to work and feeling like I’ve got way too much on my plate. I’m praying for my sanity.

What I miss: Feeling comfortable.

Next appointment: Tuesday, July 16.

Dr. Appointment Today + Maternity Clothes

Dr. appointment.  This morning I went in for my regular monthly O.B. appointment.  It feels like I hadn’t been to the doctor in ages, and realistically it was only 5 1/2 weeks since I was there.  The visit was a pretty standard check-up: urine sample, weight check, blood pressure, listen to the baby’s heartbeat on the Doppler, measure my belly’s fundal height and ask for any questions.

One thing I was really curious about was to see how much weight I’ve gained.  I don’t weigh myself at home, so I just find out each time when I’m at the doctor.  As of last time I was up 9 pounds (at 19 weeks), and as of today (24 1/2 weeks) I’m up 14 pounds.  I feel like that’s pretty good!!  For some reason I was expecting more since my body just FEELS huge, haha!  I’m hoping that I keep my total pregnancy weight gain between 25-35 pounds as recommended by the doctor (hopefully more like 30 or less).

Today was the first time the doctor measured my belly’s fundal height.  She said that the measurement should be within a centimeter or two of the number of weeks pregnant I am.  I measured 24 cm, so that’s right on track!

Baby’s heartbeat was in the 140s.  When we listed on the Doppler, it was so much clearer and easy to hear than it has been on previous visits.

My next appointment will be in 4 weeks from now.  That is when I’m scheduled for the glucose screening.  They gave me this bottle of “juice” I have to drink before I come in to the appointment so they can test my blood sugar.  The results of the test help determine if gestational diabetes is an issue or not.

Maternity clothes.  One of my good friends mentioned a while back that she had a bin of maternity clothes that I could use.  She dropped the bin off last night and I am SO EXCITED for a ton of new items to wear!  There are so many really nice clothes….shirts, pants, capris, leggings, dresses, etc!  I definitely am set on maternity clothes now.  I have been feeling like I am very limited by my small maternity wardrobe lately.  Now that is no longer an issue since I over DOUBLED my current wardrobe.  I am just so excited!!!  (Can you tell?? haha)

BUMP REPORT – 24 Weeks

PREGNANCY WEEK 24

My age: 27

How far along: 24 weeks

How big is baby: the size of an ear of corn.  She is 12.5 inches long and weighs 1.25 pounds.

Exercise/Activity Level: This past week I exercised 5 days.  I’ve had a super hectic week with my work schedule being back to long-hours (leave the house at 7:30am and get home at 7:30pm Mondays through Thursdays!)…  So I didn’t get my usual 6 workouts in, but honestly the fact that I managed to get 5 workouts in this week was pretty incredible.  Those 5 days were mostly outdoor running.  I think I did 4 outdoor runs and only 1 gym workout with weights/cardio.  Running is getting slower and slower as time progresses, but I’m okay with that.  I think I might need to invest in a pregnancy support belt too since my belly feels heavy with every step I run.  I’m going to start researching those once I find a free bit of time!  Overall, I feel GREAT when it comes to exercise.  I know that all of this activity is keeping my baby and I super healthy.  I love the feeling of being healthy! 

Maternity clothes:  Yes, yes, yes.  I don’t really think non maternity works anymore for me.  This belly is growing so much more rapidly in the past few weeks that the name of the game is: LONG SHIRTS!  Non maternity shirts are simply too short now.  I try to still squeeze into regular shirts when I run or go to the gym, but I realized it might be about time to invest in a few workout tops in a bigger size (and of course long enough to cover my ever expanding belly).

Stretch marks: None.

Belly button: Innie.  Becoming more shallow and I think it’s going to be popping out before I hit 30 weeks.

Sleep: Sleeping is still pretty good.  My body pillow is my friend.  I’m not waking up a ton for bathroom needs, but I’m sure this will not last too much longer.

Newest baby milestones this week: On Sunday I was sitting on the couch and gasped when I looked down at my belly and could SEE (with my eyes!!!) the baby’s movements.  I obviously feel her moving all of the time and can feel her from the outside, but this was a new one.  SEEING the movements through my skin and my clothes was an out of this world experience!  How neat!

Best Moment of the Week:  My best moment of this past week was getting to spend 5 days with my brother Luke, sister in law Ellen and their two kids David and Emily.  My nephew David is almost 2 and my neice Emily is almost 4 months.  This is only my second time meeting David and it’s my first time meeting Emily since they live out of the country.  The past several days of spending time with Luke, Ellen, David and Emily has been such a FUN and fabulous time together!  It makes me sad that I see them on such a rare occasion, but thankfully Skype closes that gap a little bit for when they go back home.  Over our 5 days, we went to Sports Authority Fieldhouse (Bronco’s stadium), went for runs & hikes, went to a water park, went to a lake (beach & kayaking), went to church, checked out a car show, witnessed a car accident while we were on a walk, went to the Tim McGraw concert, went shopping, played games, went to Red Rocks park, watched movies, changed diapers and ate lots of good food!  It was such a blast spending time with them!

Here is a photo of Luke, Ellen, David and Emily from this weekend.

Eric and I LOVED spending time with my nephew and niece!

My nephew David is almost 2 years old.  He is such a character…how cute is he?!

Eric got to spend a lot of time with my niece Emily.  She is almost 4 months and is the sweetest little girl ever:)  He got in some good practice for our baby who is only a few months away.

Me and Emily = twins with our roses

My brother and his beautiful family at the water park.  They are picture perfect!

Worst Moment of the Week: My worse moment of the week was when I was at the gym.  I was on the leg curl machine when this older man walked up to me and said, “Wow, your belly is getting big.  By the end of your pregnancy you are going to be huge!  Your husband must be really tall.”  It really hurt my feelings that he used the words “big” and “huge.”  Now I get that he mentioned the “tall husband” part which should have kept me from feeling so hurt and offended, but I literally started tearing up as soon as he walked away.  People just have no filter when it comes to pregnancy.  I can’t stand this guy and I will avoid that old fart at all costs when I’m at the gym now:)  Haha!  And for the record, I don’t have a tall husband.

Food cravings: Strawberries, peaches, greek yogurt, milk and chocolate.

Food aversions: Chicken.

Symptoms: My belly is growing SO FAST that I’m shocked at the rate of growth!  Even people at work are telling me that my belly seems to be expanding rapidly all of the sudden.  I agree.  In addition to rapid belly growth, other symptoms I’m noticing are: occasional heartburn, sore low back, difficulty getting comfortable when sitting down on the couch, more frequent trips to the bathroom, soreness/aching around my ribcage and tight calf muscles during running.

Movement: I can’t believe how much this baby moves!  She is a little feisty thing!  She is awake and kicking and flipping around so much more lately than in previous weeks.  Imentioned earlier that her movement is now VISIBLE from the outside.  Crazy.

Gender: Girl

What I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to my work slowing down eventually.  I’ve been working much longer hours while also training two new employees (they will eventually replace me when I leave).  I am exhausted and feel like I’m pushing myself to the max.  Thankfully the gals I’ve been training are really amazing employees who are quick learners.  That does make things better.  So these longer hours and demanding workload due to training is only temporary.  I’m looking forward to a slow down here in a few weeks.

What I’m nervous about/praying for: I’ve been praying that God will help me when I’m feeling exhausted and strung out from work.  I don’t want to take out my exhaustion in the form of a grouchy mood on my poor husband.  I am working on this and praying that God will keep me sane!

What I miss: I miss working less:)

Next appointment: Friday, June 21.  I will be interested to see what has changed since I haven’t been to the O.B. in 5 weeks!

Maternity “photo shoot” – Pregnant Sisters!

I live in Colorado and I have for 5 years ever since my husband and I graduated from college, got married and made the move.  My entire family lives in Indiana (except my brother Luke who is a missionary in Nicaragua), where I’m originally from.  When I went back to Indiana for a visit, it was fun to see everyone.  My older sister Maggie is also pregnant.  She is due July 1st with her third son.  I’m so excited for her baby to make his entrance into the world!  It was fun to take a few pictures of each other when we were together.

It’s so fun to be pregnant at the same time.  I just wish we didn’t live so far apart!  My sister Maggie pulls of pregnancy GLORIOUSLY!!  She is 36 weeks in these photos.  I hope I can look half as good as she does at 36 weeks!

BUMP REPORT – 23 Weeks

PREGNANCY WEEK 23

My age: 27

How far along: 23 weeks

How big is baby: the size of Subway footlong.  She is 1 foot long and weighs 1.1 pounds.

Exercise/Activity Level: Keeping strong!  6 days in again this week, yay me!  3 outdoor runs, and 3 days of cardio & weights at the gym.  My calves continue to be really tight when I run, boo:(

Maternity clothes:  Yesterday I put on a regular shirt that I could still wear 2 weeks ago….and it was NOT WORKING!  Crazy how quickly that happens.

Stretch marks: None.

Belly button: Innie.  Becoming more shallow.

Sleep: Sleeping well for the most part.  Minus sleeping on the ground on a thermarest for camping over the weekend.  I woke up multiple times in the night with an aching hip and shoulder.  Plus, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. with a strong urge to pee.  That’s the worst when you wake up in the pitch black night of the woods while camping to go to the bathroom!  I contemplated not getting up and holding it until morning, but realized after about 15 seconds that it wasn’t going to work out.  So I climbed out of my sleeping bag, unzipped the tent, and only got about 6 feet away when I decided that was far enough away.

Best moment of the week: Getting away over the weekend to go camping with just my hubby and our dog was great.  It reminds me how great it is to slow down and take a deep breath every now and then!

Happy to be on a relaxing camping weekend.

Eric and I.

My handsome husband and my precious dog Koda!

Food cravings: Peaches, grapes and Milk Duds.

Food aversions: Chicken.

Symptoms: Heartburn isn’t as bad as it was a few weeks ago, but it’s still there time to time.  I also notice it’s getting harder to bend over and reach for things.  I made a loud grunting sound when I reached for an X-ray film the other day at work, and quickly looked around to see if anyone heard my unintentional grunt!  Haha!  My belly also seems to be growing by the day, leaving me with a sore low back and soreness around my ribcage.

Movement: On Thursday, June 6th was the first time Eric felt her kick!  It was so exciting!  We were lying down on the couches that evening watching Extreme Weight Loss with Chris Powell (I am sucker for life transformation TV shows!)…and she was kicking strong enough that I could feel her with my hand on my belly.  I made Eric come over and he instantly felt two solid kicks.  It was such a special moment for both of us.

Gender: Girl

What I’m looking forward to: Seeing my brother and sister-in-law in a few days from now!  My brother Luke and his wife Ellen are missionaries in the country of Nicaragua.  I feel 100% spoiled that they are coming to Colorado and are able to spend a number of days hanging out with us around Denver.  Because they live in Central America, it’s not very often that I get to see them.  Their (almost) 2-year-old David is my nephew who I have only met in person one time.  Emily, who is nearly 4-months-old, is my first neice!  I will be meeting her in for the first time when they come!  I’m so excited to spend time with them!!

What I’m nervous about/praying for: I’m a little nervous about the idea of feeling uncomfortable (especially with my ever growing body) in the heat this summer.  It’s been hot here and so shorts are back on the menu….I feel kind of like a huge whale and just uncomfortable.  I know it’s totally silly and irrational, but it’s how I feel sometimes.  I’ve been praying that God will help me feel better and that shorts are not going to be my worst enemy.  Body image has always been a constant struggle for me since about age 12.  So this is nothing new.

What I miss: The occasional drink.  I’ve never been a huge drinker…but something about the idea of not being allowed to have a drink makes me desire one!  Summer BBQs and parties are here, and I’m the water or lemonade drinker now:)

Next appointment: Friday, June 21 instead of June 11..  Had to reschedule my appointment due to my work schedule.

Surprise Baby Shower!

Last weekend I flew back to my home state of Indiana to help celebrate my brother and sister’s graduation from high school.  Little did I know that I had a surprise baby shower that my sisters and mom had been planning and scheming about for a while.  Our plan for Saturday afternoon was for all of us girls (Mom, and sisters Jill, Maggie, Melody and Christine) to meet up at Maggie’s house to then go shopping and eventually out to dinner.  My mom drove me and Christine to meet up with the other girls.  On the way there she said, “We need to stop at the church to pick up a pot roast container for the graduation open house tomorrow.”

So we pulled up to the church and my mom asked me and Christine to run in and grab this pot roast container.  (I thought—you are making the pregnant girl go in and get it?)  Christine led us to through the church and I peeked through a window and saw a baby shower going on.  I said, “Christine, we CAN’T go through there–there is a baby shower going on!!!”  It didn’t dawn on me that the baby shower was MY PARTY for a few more seconds.  “SURPRISE” yelled the guests….only then did I catch on!

What a great honor to be completely surprised by people that I care for and love.  There were about 20 people who came out and blessed us with generous gifts for our baby girl.  I feel so loved.

Here are some snapshots from the shower:

Me hesitantly walking through the door.  I really thought I was invading on someone else’s shower!

“Whoa, you guys got me good!”

Playing baby words scramble game.

The food table.  They even got a chocolate fountain!

My sister Melody (in purple) and friend Brittany (in blue).

Me with my sisters: Jill (black and white), Melody (purple), me, Christine (brown) and Maggie (36 weeks pregnant)!

Eric’s Grandma Helen, me, my mother-in-law Dian and Eric’s Aunt Denise.

My gorgeous momma and I.

More games…

Purple and teal….wonder where they got that idea?  How intune are they?!

Playing the “drink apple juice from a bottle” race….guess who won?  Yes, I won it!!  I smoked Mom and Brittany!

Opening gifts.  I got so many nice things.  What a blessing!  This specific gift was Purdue University onesies:)

My mom drinking juice from her bottle.

Pretty decorations.

My little sister Melody and I.

My big sis Maggie and I.  I’m 22 weeks and she is 36 weeks!

These baby cousins got to “meet” while still in the womb.

22 weeks at my baby shower.

22 weeks pregnant at my baby shower.

BUMP REPORT – 22 Weeks

PREGNANCY WEEK 22

I’m now 55% of the way there!  22 weeks means the countdown is a mere 18 weeks until our sweet little girl makes her official entrance into this world.  As a whole, this pregnancy (that results in an actual BABY GIRL) is becoming more and more real as these weeks pass.  And lately the weeks are starting to FLY by compared to the dragging weeks, days and minutes of the 1st trimester of secrecy and sickness.  I am not sure if time flying is a good or a bad thing.  I’ll take it for what it is….it’s getting me closer to holding our baby in our arms.

This past weekend was CRAZY!  Let me explain.  I did not mention before that I had a planned trip to Indiana to visit my family.  The reason I failed to mention even a WORD about it was because the trip was intended as a surprise for my brother and sister.  Mark and Christine were graduating from high school and I thought that it would be very sisterly of me to make a surprise visit in their honor.  Well, I must say, the surprise was successfully pulled off since both Mark and Christine were in utter shock when they saw me!!  I think that they felt really special that I made an effort to be there to help celebrate their accomplishments.  I am so glad I went.

Mark, my 18-year-old brother is the kindest guy you will ever meet.  He simply has a heart of gold.  He will also keep you entertained and laughing for hours.  He is a leader and has shown that as the president of his class at school.  Christine, my 17-year-old baby sister is the most intelligent little stinker ever.  She skipped a grade years ago, putting her in the same grade as Mark.  She was the homecoming queen this spring and she just graduated as salutatorian (2nd only to the valedictorian) of her high school class.  Both Mark and Christine are going to Purdue University in the fall to pursue bachelors degrees (I also went to Purdue!).  At their graduation there were three students who gave speeches…2 of the 3 speeches were from my siblings!  So proud of them.

Here I am with my sister Christine and brother Mark.  (Silly brother-in-law Andrew is purposely photo bombing us with his dog, haha!)

The surprise that keeps on giving.  Now….if you recall, I just happened to mention that I planned my trip as a surprise to Mark and Christine.  I pulled it off.  My mom knew about the trip ahead of time and helped keep it a secret.  BUT—my mom and OTHER sisters besides Christine (Jill, Maggie and Melody), pulled a quick one on ME!  On Saturday afternoon they threw me a surprise baby shower.  I was in pure shock when I walked in the room to a party full of purple and teal balloons and smiling faces.  Apparently my sisters thought that this trip home would be the perfect opportunity to throw a baby shower (since I’m unable to get back to Indiana anymore pre-birth due to an overly busy summer schedule).  They planned this baby shower for the past month (ever since I booked my flight).  I feel absolutely loved beyond words.  That baby shower made me feel really special.  THEY GOT ME GOOD!

A few snapshots from the surprise shower.  My sisters even did a purple and teal color scheme since they had checked out my blog and pinterest ideas!

My age: 27

How far along: 22 weeks

How big is baby: the size of a spaghetti squash.   She is 11 inches long and weighs 1 pound.

Exercise/Activity Level: Despite my travels this week, I managed to keep up with my workouts really well!  I am proud of myself for that.  I got in 6 days of exercise…4 of those days I did outdoor runs and 2 of those days I went to the gym to do cardio and weights.  When I was in Indiana, it was so much fun to go running (at low altitude!) on the flat country roads where my parents live.  One morning I convinced my 9-year-old nephew Elijah to go on the run with me and he could ride a bike.  Well, we figured out that the bike’s tires were in need of some air, so he ended up having to run with me and dropped the bike on the side of the road until we grabbed it on our way back.  Poor kid….

Maternity clothes:  I am wearing mostly maternity clothes.  Most of my non-maternity shirts are getting to be too short to wear now.  Motherhood Maternity sends me e-mails with online sales, and I scored on swim suits with the 50% off swimwear sale they had a few days ago.  I will be in Florida this summer and will need to have appropriate fitting swim suits, so I am glad I found such a great sale.

Stretch marks: None.

Belly button: Innie.

Sleep: Sleeping well.  The past two weekends I have traveled and slept in other beds, but none of that really phased me.  Thankfully.

Best moment of the week: I have two best moments:

1. Surprising Mark and Christine.

2. Getting surprised at my baby shower.

More on these later.  In fact, I will probably write an additional post later this week about the trip, surprise baby shower and my pregnant sister, Maggie.

Food cravings: Fruit and Gatorade.

Food aversions: Chicken.  Although I bravely ate orange chicken from Panda Express.  Then I realized the only reason I could eat it is because it doesn’t even taste like chicken with all the breading and sauce on it:)

Symptoms: Growing belly.  Mild heartburn comes and goes.  Feeling really great for the most part.

Movement: I know it’s a matter of days until Eric can feel her kicking.  She is kicking harder and harder now!

Gender: Girl

What I’m looking forward to: My older brother Luke, his wife Ellen, and their two kiddos David and Emily, are coming to Colorado for a visit in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!  This will be my first time meeting my niece Emily since she is only 4 months old.  Now that my Indiana tripped is done, my next big excitement is seeing Luke and Ellen.  Can’t wait!

What I’m nervous about/praying for: I never answer this one because I’m rarely nervous, so I added the “praying for” part.  I’m currently praying for our baby to keep growing and stay on track like she has been doing so far:)

What I miss: My family.  It’s always hard getting back to regular life after a fun-filled time back home with my parents, brother, sisters, brother-in-laws and nephews.  For the record, I am one of 8 kids, so family is a huge deal.  I love my parents and am so grateful that they raised us to be successful and healthy adults.  My siblings have each played a big role in my life and I wouldn’t trade my big family for a small one no matter what!  I miss them!

Next appointment: Tuesday, June 11, 2013.