Holy crap, we had a baby!!!

Here it is, folks!  The hotly anticipated entry with the birth story!  This post is soooo long overdue!!  Get ready to read a lot. :) First off, I think it's about time to update the name of this blog, now that "we're having" has changed to "we had!"  I can't believe it's been 12 weeks since our little Parker Michael came into our lives!!  Some days I still can't believe we even had a baby, let alone that he's already almost three months old.

I don't know where to start with this entry!  Start with what's currently going on and backtrack?  Or start way back at week 36 and move forward?  I think I'll do the latter, because those last few weeks of the pregnancy and the early weeks with the baby are already becoming a distant memory.  And based on my blog track record, there's a good chance I'll only get to week 1 or 2 and then get distracted and not post about weeks 3-12 for another month.  I know most of you out there will only skim through the final updates on the end of the pregnancy, but since I'm also writing this blog for me and my new little family, I'm going to go into exceedingly boring detail, just like I always have!  This is going to be a long one. :)

In my last pregnancy post (the start of week 36), I was feeling great and was quite optimistic for the last few weeks of pregnancy.  Well, we hit a bit of a snag in the pregnancy right after that post.  We showed up to a slew of bad news at our normal checkup appointment on February 25.  First, we found out I was Strep B positive.  Not horrible news, but it did mean we were going to have to stray from our birth plan, since I'd be hooked up to an IV right away so they could run the penicillin and fluids.  Next up, the nurse ran the normal blood pressure test...only the results were not so normal.  My blood pressure had skyrocketed up to 150/95.  Not good!  In fact, so not good that I was sent immediately to the lab for blood work and then to the Labor & Delivery floor at the hospital for a non-stress test.  In that moment, I was so nervous and panicky.  Nervous for the baby, nervous for me, nervous that my body was freaking out and I'd be delivering much sooner than expected.  The Dr. told us that if my pressure continued to stay that high and baby seemed to be at risk at all, they'd induce labor around week 37.  Week 37?!  As in, the very next week?!  Scary stuff.  But by the time I got to the hospital, my blood pressure had lowered a bit and stayed that way (around 140/80 for most of the checks during the NST), the lab results showed I didn't have protein in my urine, and baby's heartbeat was steady and strong, so no dire action was needed, like inducing labor that day.  My blood work did show other high markers for pre-eclampsia, so I was told to continue the non-stress tests twice a week.  For the next few days I felt pretty dejected.  Everything was going so amazing in the pregnancy and then all of a sudden, I was hit with near pre-eclampsia and high blood pressure in the final stretch.  It could have been much worse - I could have been dealing with those things for a majority of the pregnancy, as some women do.  But it was still pretty disheartening.

The one good thing about heading to the hospital that day was that I got to do a dry run for the big day!  Aron and I had actually attended a "Meet the Maternity Team" presentation the night before and I had joked that the next time we'd be driving to the hospital would be when Parker was on his way.  Little did I know it would actually be just the very next day.  The nurses on the floor were great that day, and I got to meet the hospitalist.  I felt a little bit more prepared about what to expect on the big day.

Per doctor's orders, I went to my NSTs on February 28 and March 4.  My blood pressure continued to be high, but not worrisome high.  Baby's heartbeat was great and he was super active.  On one of those days, or maybe both (I already can't remember!) I was having contractions.  Which I didn't even know until the nurse pointed it out to me.  I had thought it was just pressure from baby pushing out, but she explained to me that babies are not coordinated enough to push out on both sides with equal pressure.  Der, oh, right.  So that was cool, and from then on I was finally able to identify when I was having Braxton Hicks contractions.  It was actually pretty cool to go to the extra testing and get to hear baby's heartbeat and see him on the ultrasound a few more times.  Which reminds me, we also had a fluid level scare at the NST on February 28, but it was back up by the next NST.  So much happened to freak me out in those last few weeks!

At our next check-up on March 5, I got some more surprising news: our OB told us that I needed to stop working asap.  Apparently, I was supposed to have stopped the week before - I guess she just assumed I knew that after all the scary news at that appointment.  I was planning to work until the following Friday (March 14) so this unexpected directive threw me for a loop.  And like I do with all things, I had procrastinated a lot of hand-off type work things so I had to get my butt in gear that afternoon to tie up loose ends.  The doctor actually had told me to go straight home from the appointment, but I couldn't leave my team in the lurch.  I was pretty emotional that last afternoon.  Even though I had chosen to quit my job and I had thought I was ready to leave, the unexpectedness of my departure that day had me feeling pretty down.  I ended up working until 8 or 9 pm, spending my final hours at the office alone.  Which was a good thing; it helped to have time to truly absorb the fact that I wasn't coming back to work and my new job was going to be "mommy" most of the time.

The day after my no-more-work sentence, I spent a lot of time doing more work. :)  Trying to make sure my team and the other support staff at the office had everything they needed.  Yes, it was a bit hard to let go!  By Friday though, work was more or less out of my mind.  It felt like I was going into vacation mode.  And apparently being more relaxed made my body want to do something, as I started feeling more active contractions mid Friday morning.  Aron had that Friday off so I made us go into high gear getting last minute items ready, just in case something was happening.  Errands at Target, Babies R Us, and Vons.  I got a pedicure.  We went out to lunch.  And then we headed to our NST appointment...at which I had NO contractions the entire time we were there!  And baby was very quiet, so I had to stay extra time to get the required amount of heartbeat spikes in.  Wth?!  I was bummed that my contractions had slowed/stopped.  And they stayed that way all day Saturday.  Saturday night we out to Buffalo Wild Wings for some hot, spicy chicken wings to see if that would get baby boy moving again.  And apparently it worked, because I went into labor on Sunday morning!

And so begins our BIRTH STORY...

I started feeling contractions around 3:00 am on Sunday morning, March 9.  They were strong enough that they woke me up.  For about an hour I lied peacefully in bed, trying to determine if the contractions were increasing in frequency or strength.  They started coming a lot closer together by 4:00 am, but weren't increasing in strength.  But I knew something was definitely starting to happen, so around that time I woke Aron up so he could be on alert.  For another hour or so, we stayed in bed, timing my contractions.  We chatted a bit, but mostly just kept saying things like "wow, is this really happening?" and alternating between awe and nervousness.  We spent 8 months preparing for a baby, but in those early morning hours I felt very unprepared for the huge life change that was possibly going to occur that day.  Sometime in that hour I called the hospital to ask if I needed to head in earlier than we had originally planned based on contraction frequency/strength due to the Strep B stuff.  I hadn't thought to ask my OB the week before.  Hospital confirmed we could come in at the normal time, which was good.  One less thing to think about.  

By 5 am, I was too antsy to sleep and I couldn't figure out what my contractions were doing anymore (they were staying close together, but still not increasing in strength) so we woke up and started getting ready for a hospital trip.  We took a nice long shower, packed the final items in our hospital bag, and got the pets ready.  At 7 am, we decided to head in.  Worse case scenario, they send us back home to labor more at the house.  Best case scenario, baby was really on the way!!  I texted Joelle to pick up our dogs in a few hours to take to daycare, we called all our family (and of all the people I called, the person I least expected to be awake was the only one who answered - Randi!), and I called the hospital letting them know we were on our way.  Oh, and we snapped a few quick belly photos since we realized we never took any week 37 pics!  It was Week 38, Day 1 when we headed into the hospital.

After a pit stop at McDonalds (who knew when we'd get real food next?!  Yes, we consider McDonalds real food!), we headed to UCSD Hillcrest.  It was 8:30 by the time we were all checked in.  My vitals were taken, and my blood pressure was pretty high.  No surprise there.  Finally, the first check to see how far along I was.  2 centimeters and 70% effaced!  I was pretty pleased that at least something had happened and I wasn't imagining all of those morning contractions.  Not a ton of progress, but enough to satisfy me.  For about an hour or so, they monitored my contractions and came to the same conclusion we had - that they were coming close together but weren't really increasing in strength yet.  I was told to go walk around the hospital and get some food, and come back in 2 hours for another check.  I felt very lead-in-a-pregnancy-movie-scene, pacing the hallways in my hospital gown. :-)  

At 11:30, I was checked again and had made no progress.  Aww man!  If anything, my contractions seemed to be slowing.  What the hell, body?!  After resting for a bit, they took my blood pressure again and it was still high.  After some consultations, the doctor decided she wanted to induce (this wasn't our OB/GYN, but another one on shift at the hospital).  We weren't too surprised by this recommendation because of the blood pressure issues and pre-eclampsia concerns.  I was already at peace with the new birth plan so we gave them the go ahead.  Since they considered me in active labor but things weren't progressing, I was scheduled for a hit of pitocin fairly soon, around 1:00 pm.  Aron and I had another moment of "this is really happening!"  This baby was really on the way today!!!  I was getting my wish after all - for Parker to come early. I was all smiles knowing our baby boy was really, truly, actually on his way to join us!!!

Since we had an hour until the pitocin, Aron headed home to take the dogs to daycare.  I can't remember what I did for that hour alone in the hospital room.  I'm pretty sure I had a magazine propped up on my belly but I was mostly zoned out, just breathing with my contractions and watching them come and go on the monitor.  We had a really fun time watching the monitor the entire day.  Even though I wanted to have a more natural birth, I thought it was pretty neat seeing science and technology at work.  Watching my contraction and baby's heartbeat chart go up and down was really cool.

Right before Aron got back, I got the pitocin in my IV and the first round of penicillin.  I opted not to do any pain medication at that time because I wanted to feel how the pitocin would work and I wanted to know what the increasing contractions would truly feel like.  And dang...that stuff really works!  I probably had 30 mins of more mellow contractions after Aron got back before they really started increasing in strength.  For 3 hours, I labored without pain drugs.  I spent most of that time on the birthing ball because it was the only way I could get semi comfortable in between contractions.  Even though Parker was facing the right direction, I ended up more or less having back labor.  Aron had to press on my lower back with all his might during the contractions.  (Side note: about a week after Parker's birth, I asked Aron to show me how hard he was pushing on my back.  Before he even got to full strength, I yelled "ow!"  But during labor, that pushing felt like nothing!!  Incredible how everyday pain becomes just a blip compared with the pain of having a baby.  I still can't get over how powerful the female body is!).  Here's a picture Aron took of me on the ball.  Check out my sweet socks!

Around 4:00 pm, I started (TMI alert) bleeding and dripping fluid and we thought my water had finally broken.  At that point, I was already tired from 3 intense labor hours and decided I wanted an epidural.  We decided to have my progress checked again before making the final pain med decision.  The doctor came in to see how far along I was and turns out, my water hadn't actually broken.  And, I was only 4 centimeters along.  Noooo!  I told the team I definitely wanted the epidural.  Forget feeling what increasing contractions felt like!!  :-)  They warned us it could take awhile for the anesthesiologist to arrive, but she ended up coming right away.  I got the epidural around 4:30 pm.  One of the hardest parts of the whole labor was having to sit still for the epidural to go in while contraction wave after wave crashed through me.  That was one of the moments where I remember looking at Aron and he looked just a little bit terrified about what was happening.  Luckily, they got the epidural in on the first shot and pain relief was fairly immediate.  I got a pretty low dose so I could still feel every contraction, but it was more of a soft ripple going through me, followed by heavy downward pressure each time.

I actually really enjoyed this part of the labor.  I could feel my contractions but I was so relaxed.  During the next few hours, I chilled in bed and at some point Aron got dinner and took a nap.  We were both dozing when the shift change happened at 7:30 pm.  Because a new doctor had arrived, I was getting checked again.  Earlier, we were told that the epidural may slow down my labor and that the baby might not arrive until much later or even the next morning, so with this in mind, we were both very shocked when I was checked and I was 10 centimeters, 100% effaced, and Parker's head was RIGHT THERE!!!  The first few times I had been checked, the whole process was fairly uncomfortable.  But man, when I was at 10 centimeters the doctor's hand slipped right up there no problem!  Yes, TMI, but it was one of the funnier moments of the whole thing.  Anyhoo - The doctor told me to get ready because they were breaking my water right then (it never broke naturally) and I was going to start pushing in 30 mins.  I was only on the epidural drugs for 3 hours!  WHAT THE HELL?!?!  We were prepared to just wait out the night and then all of a sudden we were told we were HAVING A BABY NOW!!!  You'd think by this point we'd be prepared, but yet again, we had another moment of "this is really happening!!! holy crap!!!!"  We called our families again to let them know that Parker was finally on his way and then I took a few minutes to work on my breathing and pushing counts with Aron.  He was SUCH an amazing husband and partner throughout the whole day, and absolutely incredible during the final hour of labor.  Loving, supportive, encouraging and telling me exactly what I needed to hear at exactly the right times.

At 8:05, Parker's heartbeat started to slow way down during contractions, so they put me on oxygen just to be safe.  And of course, to make me look even sexier while giving birth.  Hehe.  In a neat turn of events, we found out our OB/GYN, Dr. Macaulay, was on shift for the night so she came in to deliver our baby!  We were so lucky she wasn't already in with another patient!  At 8:15 pm, I started pushing.  Aron was holding one of my feet and doing my counts for my breathing and pushing and he ended up watching the entire birth (I knew he'd never be able to stay up by my head anyways, he's too curious!).  At one point I remember yelling at him to count faster.  This part of the labor is already so very hazy.  I remember the deep breaths, and groaning at the end of every push.  I remember when I paused between contractions when Parker's head was already almost through and the pain shooting through my body was horrific.  I so badly wanted to keep pushing in that moment but had to wait until the next wave.  Which of course was just like a 30 second wait but felt like eternity.  I was very fortunate because even with the epidural, I could feel every contraction, which made pushing at the right times very easy.  I never had to be told when to push because I could feel everything (just a milder version of everything, thank God!) Because I had greater feeling, and probably because Parker was so ready to go, I only pushed for 15 minutes.  The moment when they told me to stop pushing so they could rotate his head and pull him out I started crying and laughing uncontrollably.  What a beautifully overwhelming moment that was.  Our baby was here!!!  Parker Michael Lum was born at 8:33 pm, March 9, 2014.

Those first moments with Parker were truly indescribable.  One of the best moments of my life, and I have no appropriate words to describe the incredible joy I felt, along with a million other emotions.  Although, I wish I had written down at least some of what I felt right away, because the moment is already blurry in my mind.  I remember a slippery baby, me shaking uncontrollably, Aron kissing me, both of us crying (all 3 of us!), Parker looking so much like his daddy, and feeling so naked and alone when they took Parker away for just a few minutes to get his stats.  Aron got to cut the umbilical cord but I was so intent on holding Parker that I didn't see it happen.  It sort of worked out that now Aron has a labor/birth memory all his own to cherish. :-)  Official stats - our beautiful baby was 6 lbs, 13 oz, and 19.5 inches long.  He was so handsome!!!

The next few hours were kind of a blur.  I texted my family that Parker had arrived, and then it was a blur of getting stitched up (yes, I tore during labor), learning how to breastfeed, learning how to hold and cuddle our little miracle, passing Parker back and forth between us, and watching him take his first nap on my chest.  As soon as the drugs wore off and my IV fluids were done, I walked around the room a bit, and then they moved us up to the postpartum floor.  We got to pull the cord that plays a lullaby on the way up so the entire hospital would know our precious baby had arrived in the world.  That was so fun!!  Another moment when my heart swelled up so big with love.  A baby was born and it was OUR baby.  It definitely took a few hours for reality to sink in that we all had survived the pregnancy and our baby boy was here and healthy.

Up on the recovery floor, baby and I had another round of vitals done, we met our new nursing team for the night, and got settled in.  I was finally able to call my parents around 11:30 pm (and they were sleeping! Their first grandchild and they were sleeping!) and Aron called his mom.  After leaving joyous messages all around, we settled into our first night as parents.  And I think that's where I'll end this blog entry.  It's already soooo very long and I'm emotionally drained after reliving Parker's birthday.  I've been crying off and on writing this entry.  Happy tears and bittersweet tears, because the pregnancy and labor may have been a once in a lifetime thing for us. :-)  All things considered, I think I had an excellent labor (I say that because I had drugs. Ha!).  We'll call it 9 hours of easy-ish labor, with 7 hours of intense labor.  12 hours in the hospital before Parker was born, and only 15 minutes of pushing.  Not too shabby of a birth story!!  I'll leave you with a few more pictures of Parker's first night out of the womb.  What a little cutie!!!  I miss that little 6 pound baby!!!  Stay tuned for the next entry about our first few weeks with this precious boy.

Yawn

Might just start posting pictures. This is attempt 2. Hope it works.

Week 36...less than a month to go!!!

Week 36!  Holy crap!  Holy crap!  I think the title of our baby blog has been so fitting this entire pregnancy.  There have been so many "holy crap" moments throughout the past 7-8 months!!  From finding out at the very beginning, to the first ultrasound, to the first time baby boy moved, to putting together the nursery, to realizing how close we are, to sooo many more events, there's been a gazillion moments where we've said "holy crap!" or "this sh*t is gettin' real!!"  There are still so many times when I question if we're truly ready...I mean, we're having a BABY for cryin' out loud.  Only one more month until all our preparation or lack thereof is put to the test!

I feel like there's so much I/we could write about.  There was a lot to still catch up on for the week 32 entry and now another month has passed with a million more baby details behind us!  I'll start with our recent baby appointments.  We had an exciting one right around week 31 where we got to have a surprise ultrasound!  We hadn't seen baby on screen since our anatomy scan back in October so it was cool to do it again.  Although I barely got to see anything because the screen was pointed towards the doctor and Aron.  But Aron assured me our baby boy was in there and adorable! :)  The reason we ended up having the ultrasound was that I was getting a little anxious about all the downward pressure I'd been feeling the week prior to the appointment.  First-time-pregnant fears!  Our OB is awesome though and was quick to offer both an internal and external ultrasound just to check everything out.  Turns out baby boy was just very very low in my belly and also...in a breech position!  Not worrisome since we still had plenty of time for him to shift into position, but good to know.  Good to know it was his big butt causing me all the discomfort. :-p

By the time we went to our next appointment at 33 weeks, baby boy was head down!  We did another quick check up ultrasound (again...I didn't even get to see him! Our doctor was too quick with the machine! argh!) and the OB confirmed he was head down...very, very down.  Translate: still very, very uncomfortable!  But good news that he was already in position for the final countdown...not to say he might not move again, but as space is running out in there, it's highly unlikely.  I wish we would have had time to request a quick ultrasound printout, but we were pushing the limits of our 15 minute appointment already.

We just had our week 35 appointment last week, which went really well.  We saw a different OB because ours was out for the week.  We've now seen 3 different OBs at the practice, which is actually kind of comforting because any one of them could pop up at the foot of my bed when we're in labor!  It's nice to at least know a few of the faces.  Now that baby boy is so big, the doctor was able to point out exactly where his butt, knees, and feet were.  We were fortunate that he was so squirmy during the appointment so she could feel quite a bit of him pressing out.  Also during the appointment, I was surprised with my Group B strep screening.  Even though it was sort of on my radar, I wasn't expecting it that day...and for those of you who have been pregnant you'll know why this test is even more of a surprise than other routine ones!  Ha!  We have another appointment tomorrow (and we'll be going every week now!) where we'll find out the results of the screening.

A few weeks ago, I also scared myself into thinking I had pre-eclampsia.  All of a sudden one day, my hands and feet swelled up HUGE, and I started reading all about swelling and of course, any possibly related problems.  I'd been lucky the entire pregnancy not to have any swelling at all until that day, so it freaked me out.  But I was reassured at our appointment that I'm just fine and it's normal swelling.  No high blood pressure and no protein in my urine.  Phew!  Now, how many more times can I freak myself out in the next month before baby is born?!  The swelling went down quite a bit for a few weeks, but now it's back and seems to be back for good.  I need to remember to take some time every day at work to put my feet up.  I also had to take my wedding rings off, which is so sad!  I can't wait to wear my beautiful rings again.

What else has been going on?  My left shoulder/upper back has been killing me the past few weeks, and I'm sure it's because I've been primarily sleeping on my left side.  I'm not normally a side sleeper and I think my body isn't loving it.  Luckily, I have a Massage Envy account so I've been able to get fairly regular prenatal massages.  Can't complain about that!!  I need to remember to do more icing to bring the inflammation down.  I'm soooo looking forward to being able to sleep on my back again!

A few weeks ago, I think during week 33, there was a stretch of days where I was really nauseous and dizzy.  I ended up taking a day off of work just to chill and relax and get the symptoms to subside.  From what I've read, both of these things are pretty common, from a squished-up tummy, extra heartburn, and the constant flood of hormones.  It lasted 3-4 days and then I felt much better again.  I'm lucky to still have a ton of sick time to use for days when I feel miserable.  That week I also got pretty moody and emotional between feeling really crummy and stressing out about last-minute preparations and wrapping up my last few weeks at work....luckily the moodiness has also passed for which I'm sure Aron is very grateful!!  He's really been such an amazing partner during this whole journey.  He brushes it all off, but he's been there for me every second, whether I'm extremely happy (and possibly/probably annoying!) or feeling blue.  I honestly don't know how I would have made it through this pregnancy if I was going at it alone.  I know so many women do and I have so much more respect for them now!!  It takes a whole lot of guts and strength, sometimes just to get through the day to day.  I sent Aron out to go drinking with his buddy Arun on Saturday night, figuring he could use some time away from me and my craziness. :)  Plus, I have a feeling boys nights will be somewhat limited in the next few weeks and will certainly be non existent for a few weeks after baby is born!

In happy pregnancy news, our nursery is now finished!  Next week I'll post some pictures.  We also have the glider chair, the bassinet, and the baby monitor set up in our bedroom, and the swing and bouncer set up in our family room.  We've been turning the baby gear on to get the dogs used to the new sounds, but both pups are pretty indifferent at this point.  I don't think we'll have any problems at all with the pets and baby boy, but we're trying a few "prep" things just for the heck of it.  We also got the car seat installed in my car this past weekend!  Now that "full term" is looming on my mind, I want to be totally ready...at least with the easy things.  Some of the books say we're full term NOW (yay! I like those books!) and some say it really isn't until week 38 now.  Who knows...and who cares!  Baby is almost here either way!!  I'm not-so-secretly hoping he arrives early, but only if he's really ready.  I need his brain to be as developed as possible pre-birth, to prepare him for a lifetime of being a nerd like his mommy and daddy!  :)  But if he happens to think his brain is ready 2 weeks before his due date...I'd SO be okay with that.  I mostly hear stories of first-born babies being late, but every now and then I hear an early-arrival story which gives me hope.  Hehe.  I can't wait to meet our son!!!!

Time for some pictures!  Oh man, my weight gain jumped UP in the past few weeks.  I've now hit 30 pounds gained...eeek!  Still within the perfectly normal range, but not exactly where I'd hoped to be.  Especially since these last few pounds have definitely not been baby weight gain, but rather double-chin and pudgy-arm weight gain.  Agh!  More salad, less pizza. :)

Here are some shots from Week 32.  The blue dress looks so different on me now!  Check back in the blog and see how little my belly was when I wore it to my work Christmas party!

   

Big blue belly!

 Bare belly! Aron was snapping shots as I was readjusting my jeans belly band and I really liked this one. :) 

 Covered belly.  This tank top has survived the entire pregnancy...only 1 month to go!

We're having "casual clothes February" at work which means I can get away with comfy dresses at work this month!

Somehow we missed week 33 (what was that I was saying about being so moody and cranky?!), but here's a few pics from Week 34.

Another comfy dress!  90% of my wardrobe is still made up of the maternity hand-me-downs that 3 of my girlfriends have given me.  I'm so blessed!

Man, I'm as big as a house here but I love this family photo (minus the hubby)!  Rory's being a little antisocial on the back bookshelf, but at least he made an appearance. :)  Baby boy is going to have to learn at a young age to stake his claim on the couch!

Finally, here are some Week 35 pics.  Pink for Valentine's Day weekend!  Aron was playing around with his camera a bunch that day so there's some fun black and white and sepia shots too.

Baby belly is still growing a bit!

I love this one! Aron caught me laughing at something baby boy was doing in my belly.

 Pensive.  Sometimes in my day to day world I don't think I look that pregnant, but then I see photos like this and it really hits me...I'm making a person inside my body!

 Puppies! Ignore our dying lawn...stupid California drought!!

One more pregnant in pink shot!

Babies and love everywhere!

Note on this entry...I've been composing this one for MONTHS now and I'm finally getting around to posting!  And so many new things keep happening while this has been in the draft stage!  Re-reading everything makes me happy all over again that so many wonderful things have happened to the people in our lives throughout the past year!

Here goes...

Over the past eight months, so many exciting things have happened to our friends and family!!  We've been very lucky to be a part of these incredible events and wanted to share a few pictures and stories.  Starting in June of this year (er...last year!), at least one of our friends had a baby every month!!  I have so many mommies in my life now that I can go to for baby advice.  And in other happy news, two gals in my life got engaged in the fall!  More on that below the cute baby pics. :)  And even more updates - two of our friends are now pregnant!!

First up for the baby events, one of my oldest friends, Lisa, and her husband Seth, welcomed their baby girl Kiyomi in June.  Sadly, I haven't been able to meet the little darling yet; maybe next year!  But I have been able to see some really cute photos.  Here's one of her in the 4th of July outfit I sent her.  How sweet is she?!  Since Kiyomi is the oldest of the babies this year, she's been the first to hit all the milestones.  I can't wait to meet her in person!  Kiyomi is a little halfie baby like Aron and I will have...I only hope our son is as cute as she is!

Next up, my cousin RaChelle had her baby boy, Rekker, in July.  I was finally able to meet him up in Spokane at my baby shower in December.  Here are a few photos of the cutie pie (if you're following our blog, you'll recognize that first pic since I've already posted about the shower :)!  He wasn't feeling too great (ear infection) on this day but still managed to be a trooper and hardly cried during the shower.  This first picture is with me, RaChelle, Randi and our Grandma.  Also exciting in RaChelle's life - she got secretly married to her man, Justin, last month!!  Their 2013 was pretty awesome. :)

In August, our friend Sara and her husband Brian welcomed their baby girl, Calliope.  She's adorable!  I first got to meet her when I was in Seattle in November, and then Aron got to meet her at Christmastime.  There is a pic of Aron, me and Calliope from December but it's not so flattering...so here's one of me and Calliope in November.  I look a little goofy but Calliope is cute!  In December she showed off how awesome she is at rolling over by herself.  Babies grow up so fast!!

In September, my friend Michaela and her husband Joe had their baby girl, Emilyn.  This was their second baby, younger sister to big brother Lincoln.  I got to meet baby Emi in November when they took a road trip out to San Diego.  They stayed with us and we had a great weekend!  Michaela and I went to Babies R Us and she showed me her top picks for everything.  I know that a lot of what Aron and I decide on will be what works for us, but it's nice to have a starting point!  Here's a photo of Michaela, Emi, and me at Dog Beach...Emi was a little tired of all the pictures.  I don't know why we didn't take more photos during the weekend with their family!

In October, two of our friends had babies!  Lulu and Clement had their baby boy Theodore (calling him Ted) and Lilian and Eric had their baby girl Sabrina.  We haven't had a chance to meet Ted yet (DC is so far away!) but we did see Clement last month year and he filled us in on how Ted's doing and life with a new baby.  I love hearing new-parent stories; it's good prep for us!  We got to meet Sabrina the day after she was born at the hospital.  She was so incredibly tiny...I can't believe I'll be holding a son of my own that small in 3 months!

Here's a photo of baby Ted that the Kam's sent out and below that are a few photos of me with Sabrina at the hospital and one of the happy family.

In November, two other friends had their babies!  My friend and coworker Corinne and husband Tyler had baby girl Elliana (their second baby after big brother Kai!) and my bestie Amanda and husband Chris had baby boy Charlie.  Amanda's due date was originally 3 weeks before Corinne's but Corinne's little girl decided to arrive early and Amanda's little boy decided to arrive late so their due dates sort of swapped!  I've had the chance to see adorable Ellie a few times now and I was able to spend two days with cutie pie Charlie while we were up in Moscow over the holidays.  Here are some pics of me and Aron and Charlie, followed by one of me with Ellie.  They're both such good babies (at least when we were around...)! :)

(oh! My heart! I can't wait to see Aron with our son!!!)

(Charlie was not so happy in this posed photo with me and his mama, Manda!)

In December, my friend Yesenia's sister, Blanca, had a baby boy they named Christian.  I've had the chance to meet Blanca a few times and Aron and I went to her shower to celebrate their baby boy.  Congrats to Blanca and their growing family!!  And speaking of Yesenia, she is expecting a boy boy due in July!!  It will be fun to raise our sons together!

I *think* that wraps up all the baby news for 2013!  There were so many other people from different times in my life (old high school acquaintances, college pals) that also had babies (thank you, facebook!) or got pregnant last year.  Congrats to all of them - 2014 is going to be just as exciting!!

In other awesome news, my baby sister got engaged last November!!  I was able to fly up for the surprise party that her fiance, Erick, organized.  It was so much fun and I loved seeing her so happy and in love.  He really pulled off the surprise and his proposal was perfect.  They're getting married this August and I get to be Matron of Honor! (WHY do they call it that?!)  Here are some pics from the party.  Congrats, Randi and Erick!  I'm so excited for you two!!!!

My friend and coworker Jane also got engaged last fall!  Her ring is spectacular - super blingy and it catches the light every time she moves her hand.  I love looking at it at work!  Jane and Jeremy are getting married in Bora Bora this November.  Sigh...how perfect does that sound?!

And one last piece of exciting news...some good friends of ours here in San Diego are expecting their second baby!  I won't name names because I'm not sure if they've told everyone, but I will say they sent an awesome email announcing the pregnancy!  Everyone is so creative these days.  I'm lucky my hubby created such a cute announcement when we shared the news that we were expecting!  We are very excited for our friends and their growing family.

Ok that finally wraps up this entry!!  I really hope I didn't forget any 2013 babies...or engagements...or announced pregnancies...!!  We're so happy for our friends and family and can't wait to see what this year will bring.

32 Weeks!

32 weeks! 32 weeks! 32 weeks!  It's hard to stay calm every day when we are getting SO.CLOSE. to the birth of our son!!  I keep jumping ahead of myself and thinking we only have 5 or 6 weeks left, when in actuality we still have 7.5ish weeks.  I need to remind myself to stay calm and really try to enjoy these next few weeks.  Pregnancy really is a magical time and I need to enjoy it while I can.  I'm just so freakin' excited that I can't help getting anxious!!!

I've had a few not-so-great pregnancy symptoms the past few weeks but I don't even care so much because they're all overshadowed by my anticipation of our baby's birth.  But just to memorialize the symptoms for the blog, I'll tell you about them.  First up is the heartburn.  It has really escalated in the past few weeks.  I'm popping my tums every evening now, and occasionally in the afternoons if I have a lunch that doesn't sit so well.  The evening heartburn means no more lying down on the couch after dinner, relaxing.  I'm forced to watch our programs in an upright position with two pillows behind me.  My posture has never been as great as it is now!  I sort of thought I'd avoid a lot of the heartburn because baby is sitting so low in my belly, but no such luck.  I can still solve the problem with Tums though, so at least there's that.  Nothing stronger or a prescription needed at this point.

I've started having a lot more issues with sleeping over the past week as well.  I toss and turn and fight with my body pillow and the covers almost every night.  When I end up actually waking up to pee (there's only so many times I can tell myself to just go back to sleep and ignore my bladder!), it takes me forever to fall back asleep.  Mild insomnia, I suppose.  My brain is just so full!  I'll lay awake thinking about our son, the labor and delivery process, what I need to accomplish at work before I'm done (only 6 weeks, 1 day left!), and so much more.  My body has also just been more uncomfortable in general when I'm sleeping...sometimes the extra weight I've gained seems like a lot to move around at night!  I'm up to 24-25 pounds gained as of today.  I'm at a good place where I can keep right about my current weight for the next few weeks, without hampering baby's growth or anything.  Whether or not I'll actually stay here is another story. :)

Even recognizing that I feel a lot better when I eat healthier, I seem to be regressing to first-trimester eating habits and all I want is comfort food or my favorite restaurant food.  Dinners this week have consisted of spaghetti and meatballs, Arbys, pizza, and tonight we're having baked mac and cheese.  Tomorrow night might be time for some Souplantation and veggies!  Although I really want to see the movie "Labor Day," which is out tomorrow, so dinner might be movie popcorn. :)  I've been good about keeping up with the fruits though and I do have salad at least once or twice a week for lunch, so not all is lost.  And my water intake has been through the roof!  Twice this week I've hit 100+ ounces in a day so I'm staying very hydrated.  Keep drinking and peeing in there, baby boy!!

I've also been suuuuper congested recently.  I've always had sort of a post-nasal drip thing going on and I think pregnancy has only made it worse.  I'm sniffly all day long (which means reminding people all day long that I'm NOT sick and NOT contagious with something...unless I really don't understand how pregnancy works and I am contagious...) and my eyes alternate between being really dry and really watery.  It doesn't help that I sit in an office with the HVAC blasting all day.  I've managed to wear my contacts every day this week but there's been a few weeks where my eyes couldn't take it and I had to make due with my glasses.  My frames are super old and always slip down my nose, making my nerdiness factor go wayyyy up. :)

One symptom I haven't had, or haven't noticed, is any Braxton Hicks contractions.  I may very well be having them but I haven't been able to differentiate between potential contractions and just general pressure in my belly from baby squirming and sitting so low.  Our OB says it's totally normal not to have any yet and also totally normal not to know what I'm feeling, especially since it's my first pregnancy.  But I do hope I feel a little something soon.  I want to know my body is preparing diligently for the big day! 

Baby boy has still been very active and he likes to push his head (or butt? butthead?) really far out so my stomach is lopsided when I look down.  Although I'm certainly used to him moving around every day, I still feel elated every time he does something super cute, like send ripples all the way across my stomach, or does some rapid kickboxing/kickpunching.  And he still gets the hiccups, which is adorable!  Two nights ago, Aron and I just sat watching and feeling my belly as the flutters went on for a good five minutes.  We like to play little games where we tell baby to "kick on the left if you want this, or kick on the right if you want that."  Or "kick on the right if mommy is right, and kick on the left if daddy is right."  It always makes us laugh when he responds with the funnier answer.  I'm sure those of my friends who have never been pregnant are rolling their eyes at this part and thinking we're ridiculous.  But until you've sat in bed for 30 minutes just watching your child roll around and be adorable even from inside the womb, you can't judge me! :)

Besides the symptoms, these days I'm really just so very...happy!  Happy seems like such a bland word but I guess there's no other way to describe it right now.  I've always been a generally content and optimistic person but I've never felt the way I feel now.  I'm borderline giddy most days.  Not to say I don't have my down or whiny moments, but I bounce back so quickly it's just a small blip in my day.  I feel like everything is going so well that it's almost bound to go downhill soon...the pregnancy has been mostly fantastic, Aron and I are in such a great place, we're surrounded by friends and family that love us, we already have wonderful pets and an amazing house...who gets all this in life?!  I feel like Charlotte in the SATC movie when she's nervous about running when she's pregnant (anyone know what I'm talking about? "I'm so happy, I'm scared."  Ringing any bells...anyone?).  Since I'll never know what the future will hold, I'm going to embrace this time and enjoy feeling this upbeat while I can...before I'm running on 2 hours of sleep a night and covered in spit up.  But I'll probably still be pretty damn happy if the way I feel now is any indication.

There's many other things to write about from the past few weeks, but for now I'll just post some pictures from our second baby shower!  Our friends Viviana and Joelle threw the shower for us and it was wonderful!  I'm so lucky that I got to do the baby shower thing twice.  More fun games, more amazing gifts (thank you thank you thank you!), and more delicious food and cake!  We truly appreciate everything our friends and family do for us.  I can't wait to have our son and introduce him to our circle of love!

Viv and Joelle came up with the cutest ideas for the shower!

Some of our beautiful guests (beautiful women...handsome men!).
Apologies to any guests we didn't capture on camera!

The happy couple!

Aron finally got some UCLA gear for the baby! (baby boy already has an SU onesie!)

My cute husband practicing being a father with our friends' daughter Abby. :)

The hostesses!!

It's been awhile...

...but I guess I'd chime in with my perspective.  Cassie's been a trooper through all of it and hasn't called on me to do a whole lot that I normally didn't do before the news broke.  Sure, I have to lift more things and scoop the litter box more frequently, but it hasn't been the roller coaster of emotions and frequent trips to the grocery store that I anticipated.  I was expecting her to be laughing one second and then break a beer bottle over my head the next when I looked at her funny for demanding I make her an anchovy-jalapeno jello mold.  Thankfully, none of that has happened.  Yet.

People often ask me if I'm ready.  My reply has been "Yes?  No...?", mostly because I haven't read enough to really know what I should be ready for.  And of the very little that I have read, I've taken away one thing: there is nothing in your life that will prepare you for having a child.  I'm not sure I'm getting it right, but it seems that parenthood as a wonderful type of hell in which you never sleep and derive an inordinate amount of joy from merely being a slave to a 10-pound poop machine.  That joy seems to fuel you through those sleepless nights and countless runs to the baby store for more baby things.  I've never subsisted on joy alone, so am I ready?  The answer is a resounding no.

I'm fairly certain I'll never be ready, but everyone who has a child seems to think that we'll figure it out as we go and that there's no need to worry.  Of course, they follow it up with, "Now if you're gonna know one thing..." and that's where I've been zoning out for whatever reason.  About the only advice that I've taken to heart is some quote (which may be famous?) by some dude (who may also be famous, but whose identity escapes me) that goes along the lines of "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."  I can do that.

On the more superficial level, I've packed on about 10-15 pounds of sympathy weight so far, but I'm going to make an effort to take that off before Parker gets here.  Once upon a time, I made a goal to weigh less than her at some point, but it's looking pretty unlikely.  I have been getting on the old stationary bike in the morning and I'm starting to realize there's a reason we sleep in a bed and not on a bike.  It's just so much cozier in bed, so... that whole exercise in the morning thing will probably come to an end soon.

Anyways, Cassie was sitting on the couch the other day while we were watching TV and she was just watching Parker do his thing.  She said, "It's so weird having something in your body just moving around and having no control over it.

And I said, "Now you know what it's like to have a penis."

Then Hank said, "Now you know what it's like to have a tail."

Then Stripes said, "Now you know what it's like to SHUT UP.  Where's my food?"  So we sat in silence for awhile.

TEN weeks left!!!

30 weeks and the countdown is on!!  This entire pregnancy, we've been counting up as the weeks go by and now I'm finding myself counting down until the due date.  For example, before, when people would ask me how far along I am, I'd answer with something like "six months."  Now when people ask I say "ten weeks left!"  It's a different mindset and a really exciting change.  Our due date feels so incredibly close now!

Ok, get ready for the rest of my rambling...this is a long entry!

We're starting to do more and more each day to prepare for baby boy's arrival.  We got the crib built awhile ago (see photos below of Aron building it!), but we still need a mattress.  Not high priority since baby Lum won't be in there for a few months but certainly on our to-do list.  We built a dresser for the nursery and filled it up with all the clothes we have so far.  Between my very dear friends Michaela and Amanda, we pretty much have baby's entire first-year wardrobe complete thanks to their cute hand me down outfits.  We also received several great gifts at the shower we had in Spokane to fill in the gaps.  We were so spoiled by our friends and family!  Besides the dresser we bought, we haven't had to buy anything for baby ourselves yet.  Our friends are hosting another shower for us in San Diego next weekend, and after that we'll plan to do some serious baby shopping and gather the rest of the items we need.  I haven't even bought any baby clothes of my own choosing yet!!  We've been pretty budget-conscious lately with all the changes in our lives, but I have a feeling I'll go crazy anyways in the few weeks before baby gets here.  Also on my shopping list: I want to buy a rocking chair or glider of some sort and get some cozy rugs for the nursery.

 

Hanky was very curious about this new furniture!

Kitty bunk beds! Rory is up in the crib and Stripes is hanging out below. :) Pretty sure this will be happening allll the time now.

Here are some pics from the baby shower we had in Spokane!  My sister, aunt, and mom all hosted and it was a huge success and really fun!  I had such a wonderful time with the guests, which included some family that I hadn't seen in years.  Thank you to everyone who came out and made the day so special!!  We truly were spoiled with gifts and love and support.  Baby boy is going to grow up so loved!  I can't wait to do it all again this weekend with our San Diego friends.  We really are lucky to be surrounded by people who are willing to listen to us blabber on about the pregnancy and our plans without getting so fed up they punch us in the face. :)

Me, my cousin RaChelle and her baby boy Rekker, my Grandma Marilyn and my sister Randi

Me and sissie!

The handsome hubby!! The boys hung out downstairs so the gals could be girlie and ooh and ahh over cute baby things. :)

One of the tables - everything was so beautiful!!

Me and Grandma

Me and my beautiful mama!! I look more and more like her every day, which is an awesome thing!!

Friends! Emily, me, Susan

Me and my Grandma Janna

An exciting event in our lives last week was that we found out I don't have gestational diabetes!  On January 3rd I went and took the two-hour glucose test and we found out the results last Monday.  I was actually pretty nervous but I passed the test with flying colors.  I actually tested on the low end of the "normal" range for all markers!  I've been joking that thanks to my sweet tooth, my body has had years of training in metabolizing sugar.  Ok ok, I know it doesn't quite work like that.  I'm just very fortunate to be healthy!  And now I can continue eating sweets for the next 10 weeks!  On Friday night I had my first real craving of the pregnancy.  As in "find this for me NOW or I will DIE" type of craving.  And of course, it was for sugar.  Raspberry sorbet in particular.  I made Aron go to the store and buy me some and I ate half the carton in one sitting.  In my defense...it was one of those baby cartons.  And it was sooooo good and just what I needed.  It was the first time I've made Aron go buy me something!  He's gotten off pretty easy this pregnancy. :)

Another exciting event in our lives this week is that I just gave my notice at work that I won't be returning after the baby is born.  That's right folks, I get to be a stay at home mom!!!  More of a work from home mom, since I'll still actively be doing my Mary Kay business.  Hopefully I'll actually be working it even more now that I won't have the bothersome 10 hours at my day job to get in the way every day. :)  I'm thrilled that I get the opportunity to stay at home and raise our baby.  Major thanks to my sugar daddy for making it happen!!  We're gonna have to give up a few fun luxuries, like my expensive seeing-movies-at-the-movie-theater habit, but it will totally be worth it to be home everyday, not missing a moment of my son's life.  That didn't sound like a smothering stay at home mom comment at all, right?!  But really, I can't wait to spend my days with baby boy, watching him grow up and become the super genius his father has predicted he'll be.

Every day my belly seems to stretch a teensy bit bigger.  Below is a photo from last week when we went to the beach, during week 29.  A summer dress at the beginning of January!  All f omy maternity dresses are in use right now as its EIGHTY-FIVE degrees here!  It'll be in the 80's all week, unbelievable!  I'm a little disappointed that my belly button hasn't "popped" yet despite my growing tummy.  But maybe I just had a very deep innie all my life.  It has definitely gotten super shallow, which is bizarre.  And no stretch marks yet, thank goodness!  Lisa sent me cocoa butter lotion which I've been using diligently every night!  My skin has been very itchy all over, which I've read is pretty common.  This next part might be TMI for family members (or my more prude friends!) so avert your eyes for a few sentences. :)  Another changing-body update - last week I started leaking colostrum, but only from my right side so far.  I first noticed when I was wearing a pajama shirt and I was very surprised!  I had to double-check online that it was about the right time that that would start happening.  It happened two or three days in a row but I haven't noticed since.  But I could just be unobservant.  It's all another sign that baby is very very close to showing his face to the world!!

Squinty-eyed in the sun. 29 weeks!

Time to wrap this entry up with a few more photos!  Here are fun ones from our time in Seattle and San Diego.  I wish I would have gotten some with the friends we saw, but it didn't cross my mind at the time.

 Diva remembering what snow is like! We put her up next to the mini snowman that Aron made :)

 The decorating committee!

 Just because. My wicked feet!

 Diva in her Christmas dress. I so wish Hanky could have been in Moscow with us too!

 Christmas morning 2013!

The family gathers. My parents cooked an amazing meal!!

Christmas 2013. 

 The soon-to-be grandparents! Love you guys!