Christmas & no baby

I was really hoping to not blog again until I had a baby here with me, but that's just not happening.

I had my doctor's appointment yesterday (Wednesday). My cervix is still unchanged. Like, it's doing absolutely nothing. My doctor is now gone on vacation and will be back next Thursday, the 3rd. So he's having me come in early Thursday morning and suggests we just schedule a c-section because he really just doesn't think my body is going to go into labor on it's own. Baby dropped weeks ago, but her head isn't far enough down to be dilating me, so I'm just at a standstill, making no progress whatsoever.

He says I can choose to try to be induced first, but unless my cervix suddenly becomes favorable, the induction will most likely fail and I'll end up with a c-section anyway. I'm really torn about the whole thing, because I feel like I should just wait it out and my body has got to eventually go into labor on it's own, right? But if it doesn't, or if it starts to but stops dilating during labor, I'll just end up with a c-section anyway, and I'd much rather have one sooner than later so that Sterling has more time with me and Brynleigh before he has to go back to work on the 7th.

I just really wish she would surprise us all and show up in these next few days on her own. But it seems that there's a very slim slim chance of that happening.

Anyway, on to other things! Christmas! My doctor didn't want me traveling, so on Saturday Sterling's whole family came to our apartment and we had a Christmas party here. We had a lot of fun and it was good to see everyone. Christmas Eve I made a big dinner then Sterling & I went to the Lutheran church's candlelight service at nighttime. Then we came home and got into our traditional new pj's (picture to follow:). Christmas Day we just slept in then opened our presents. I got a new laptop! I needed one SO bad. My old one was like 4 years old and overheated constantly. So now I have a nice new one! I got a lot of other goodies, too. Sterling spoiled me. He got a Leatherman and some silver and the Dark Knight and some other fun things. Brynleigh got a few cute outfits, too :)

Then we went down to Pocatello for Chinese food, like they do in A Christmas Story (aka Sterling's favorite movie). It was a nice, relaxing Christmas. It was a little weird to not be with family for it, but it was also pretty nice to just enjoy it together.

Anyway, here is our PJ picture! Mine were some wonderful fleecy leopard ones, and Sterling got A Christmas Story ones. P.S.: Ralphie is exactly what I picture Sterling to have been like as a kid, so I just crack up all throughout the movie.

Yes, I'm huge.

39 weeks.

I'm 39 weeks. And I'm still pregnant. I feel like I'm going to be pregnant forever. I feel great, much too good for someone who should be popping out a baby anytime now. Thus, I am brought to the conclusion that labor is nowhere near.

My cervix is 'unfavorable'. Cool.

On Friday at my appointment, my blood pressure was high, so my doctor told us to come to the hospital Saturday morning for a non-stress test. He said that if they found something wrong on the test, they'd probably have to induce me. If everything was fine, he just wants to see me on Wednesday, when he'll check my cervix again and if I'm 'favorable' then I'd have the option to be induced then. Otherwise, he's going out of town after that until the new year, so if I went into labor while he's gone, some random doctor would deliver me. But if I'm still pregnant when he gets back (which he thinks I will be), he'd likely want to induce me in the first few days of January.

So we told ourselves that the test would probably go perfectly fine and we tried to really not get our hopes up that we'd be having a baby on Saturday. We packed all our bags, loaded the car with the carseat and my bouncing ball, and headed to the hospital Saturday morning. Of course, the NST went perfectly fine, no problems there. And we were sent home. With no baby. And we were disappointed and sad.

Now, I do not want to be induced. Induction usually makes your contractions much more painful than they'd naturally be, and since I want a drug-free birth, it would make that really hard. Plus, being induced (especially when your cervix is nowhere near ready) majorly increases your risk of having a c-section, which is my biggest fear. In general, what I want most out of this birth is that it is as natural as possible, so really, an induction is the complete opposite of my desired birth plan.

BUT, when someone is offering you the chance to meet your baby, that is really really tempting. So not having to be induced on Saturday actually turned out to be quite a let-down, even if I know I really don't want to be induced. And if I'm offered an induction on Wednesday, I don't know what I will do. I hope I can stick to my goals, but it will be really hard to turn down the opportunity to meet this little girl. We are so so super excited for her to be here.

That's about it for the pregnancy update. Be praying that there's a baby here in time for my next update!

Full Term!

As of this past Monday, I am officially full term! Not that that means much to Brynleigh, though. She's apparently perfectly content staying in my tummy until January. When I was at my doctor appointment last week, my cervix was "thick and closed". Meaning, she ain't tryin' to get out of there anytime soon. I go back tomorrow and I am PRAYING it's changed. Even just a little bit, I would be ecstatic. 

Everything is going well, just lots of aches and pains. My back and stomach are constantly hurting. I get a new form of pain daily and I excitedly google it (you should really see how many times a day I google something hoping it's a labor sign) and think that maybe it was a real contraction. But they never turn out to be, because here I am, super pregnant still.

I bought an exercise ball today to bounce on at home to get her moving down lower in my pelvis & help dilate me. I bought the one for short people (short ADULTS, it says, I should clarify), since I'm barely 5'2. I get it home, exhaust myself trying to blow it up, then sit on it only to have my knees practically at chest level. Uh, yeah, that's not gonna work. It's like a toddler-sized ball. I'm angry. Hopefully Walmart will let me exchange it, even though I already tore the package apart and got my slobber all over while blowing it up (because the foot pump it comes with is garbage, by the way).

While in Walmart, a lady was telling me some 'cute' story about a baby who was born at Mountain View yesterday at 12:12pm on 12/12/12 without being induced or a c-section or anything. Instead of thinking it was a cool story, I was just pissed off the entire time she was telling me it because the stinkin' woman wasn't due until December 30th. And she already has her baby. Grr.

I really am a nice, happy person, I swear. I'm not grumpy all the time. I just need a little time daily to moan about how I'm still pregnant. And yes, I'm perfectly aware that I'm not even due for more than two weeks. I shouldn't be complaining yet. Let's all just hope I don't go over my due date. Oh man.

Anyway, here's a picture from today.

 

Oh, Sterling and I went to a childbirth class last Saturday. I think Sterling learned a lot. Maybe more than he wanted to. But now we're totally prepared. You know, in case Bryn was waiting on that. I'm not quite sure what else she'd be waiting on now.

Ready.

Over the weekend, I decided to get my bag ready for the hospital (you know, because I was convinced labor was imminent).

I couldn't find my silky leopard print pajama top anywhere. They're super comfy and button down the front (for nursing) and they were the only pj's I wanted to take.

So I tore apart our apartment and couldn't find the top anywhere.

Then I called my mom and had her tear apart their house in California for it. Three different times. I kept thinking of different places it could be and told her to go search again.

Guess what? Totally found it today, tucked away in my cedar hope chest with all my winter clothes that don't fit over this pregnant belly.

Okay, NOW I'm ready to have this baby. The Labor Gods were just waiting for me to find it, right? Contractions, you can start any minute. Bring it on.

36 weeks

Today, I am 36 weeks pregnant.

I'm big and uncomfortable and getting crankier each day.

For awhile now, I've been feeling like Brynleigh is going to come early. A few days ago, I was convinced I was about to go into labor. After a couple of days of nothing, I decided that I just need to get used to the fact that I'm likely going to be pregnant until January. Watch me go until 42 weeks. So here I am going to be, watching for signs of labor every single day for the next six weeks. See, this is why I'm cranky. This is the hardest part of my pregnancy. I think all the morning sickness of my first 16 weeks was easier to deal with than this waiting game. Ugh.

Anyway, so I'm 36 weeks. One more week until full term. Four more until my due date. My lower back is hurting me everyday, I can never get comfy, I wake up 3-5 times every night to pee, Bryn has dropped, I've gained about 22 pounds altogether, still no stretch marks or swelling (and it better not start now), and I. Am. Ready.

Our nursery is entirely ready, as of today. Her changing table came today and I built it all by myself. Honestly? I was secretly hoping that all the exertion of struggling to put that thing together would send me into labor. No such luck.

I know, I know, she'll come when she's good and ready and that'll be what's best for her. But dang, I am not a patient person. I want my baby here. We are ready.

I guess I should want her to wait to come until after I finish all my schoolwork for this semester. I still have an 8 page research paper, five finals, and four other smaller papers to write until I can be done. Stinkin' school.

Anyway, there's the update. Cross your fingers that the next update will be a birth story. Wishful thinking, I know.

Half of the nursery. I need to do some decorating still, but we've got everything we need. PS: I love my glider.

Anniversary thoughts and picture recap!

I've been meaning to write this post for over a week....whoops. Anyway, last Monday (the 19th) was our first wedding anniversary! On one hand I feel like we just got married, but on the other I feel like it's been ages ago. Anyway, I'm so very very grateful to be married to such a wonderful man and that we have the relationship that we do. You always hear how the first year is the hardest, and if that was the worst then the rest of eternity is going to be a breeze :) 

Don't get me wrong, we had our issues. Back when we lived in Moscow for the first 6 months of our marriage, we fought a ton more than we do now. It was never that bad or anything, but we definitely didn't always get along the best. Both of us were stressed, working students and we spent every free second we had together so every little annoyance we had, we took out on each other. Plus I think there was just an added stress of being married during that young, college time of our lives too. Not that we've suddenly morphed into super mature adults over the past 6 months, but we're just in an easier, calmer place in our lives now. We're not the old married couple trying to go out with our college friends every night when we really just wanted to lie in bed and watch reruns of The Office. There's not the pressure to keep up with all that stuff anymore.

We've settled into our comfy little life full of having dinner ready when Sterling gets home from work so that we can watch our weekly favorite shows, Saturday date nights, getting ready for baby, teaching Primary classes, and whatnot. We like it. And we get along much better these days. Yeah, we still get on each others nerves, but I think we have a lot more respect and appreciation for each other these days. We don't let big fights come out of little dumb bickering anymore. Well, we do have some dumb fights, but they're over in about five minutes. Like, I was telling my mother-in-law recently that we can't go to Arctic Circle anymore because it caused an argument three trips in a row (someone refuses to let me use coupons there because it embarrasses him!) and she laughed and said that if that's our biggest problem she's not too worried about us. I think she's right.

I'm proud of us for how much we've grown together in the last year. Maybe it's the pending arrival of this little girl that's helped us, but we've really reached a good, happy place. I can honestly say that being married to Sterling is easy, and I know that we're really blessed because marriage isn't an easy thing for a lot of people. I've said before that I knew I was going to marry him the day that I met him, so I've always just known that this is right. But I have such a sense of comfort and happiness, I can see the Lord's hand in every step of the way. Everything has fallen together so perfectly, I can't believe it sometimes. Life is just so good.

I rambled on with all the sappiness a little more than I was expecting :)  I have some pictures from the last few weeks of our lives! We went and got a 4D ultrasound of Brynleigh, so I'll share a picture from that. We couldn't get the best pics since she's getting so big and crammed in there, but it was still a lot of fun getting to see her!

And last weekend, I kidnapped Sterling for a getaway in Salt Lake City. He had no idea. He thought we were going to meet his parents at the Logan Temple on Friday, so he's all dressed up in his suit and everything. I wore my normal clothes and told him I'd just change into church clothes at the temple before we went in, which confused him, but he didn't question me too much. So I drove us down, and he fell asleep on the way. He woke up waaay past the exit to Logan and was super confused and thought I was crazy just driving along down though Ogden. We had some good laughs out of it. So anyway, I got us a room at this swanky hotel in downtown SLC, and they upgraded us to a super nice Premier King Suite even, so it was quite the luxurious stay for us :)  That night they lit up Temple Square for Christmas, so we walked over and saw that and got some yummy dinner at P.F. Changs. The next day we had tickets for a Idaho Vandals game at Utah State, so we went to that. We lost horribly, but it was fun still. So we had a very nice little weekend :)

Here are pictures!

Our little girl!

He's been refusing to shave again. I put his goatee in pigtails. He was pretty proud.

The hotel delivered us Anniversary cider. Someone was excited :)

I told him to smile and this is what I got.

The lights at Temple Square.

More Temple Square.

Heeeey pretty temple!

Blurry us and the temple.

Our hotel had animal print robes. He's gonna be mad I posted this picture :)

Us on our anniversary, with a picture of us on our wedding day. Notice the huge baby belly too :)

 

I've started telling my daughters I'm beautiful.

This is just a quick post, I'll do a real post in the next few days, promise :)


Here's an article a Facebook friend shared. It's a good 'mom read'.

I've started telling my daughters I'm beautiful....

 

 

 

 

California, Baby Shower, 31 weeks!

Time for an update! We went to California a couple weeks ago to see my family before I pop and have a baby shower!

We broke up the 12 hour drive by leaving a night early and staying in Jackpot on our way down, then had a little 'Babymoon' in Reno on our way back! We got a nice hotel room, a good dinner, and then won a bit of money in the casino, ha. Sterling doubled his money in Blackjack and I won $28 on a penny slot. It was fun and breaking up the drive a bit made it a lot easier.

Seeing my family and friends was great! They spoiled us and Brynleigh, we got a ton of cute stuff at the shower. Bryn's room is a work in progress at the moment. Her crib is all set up, and I'm ordering a changing table and glider/ottoman set from Target later this week. Right now, the floor is covered in clothes and baby shower presents and is a complete mess. But I bought a bookcase yesterday that I'm going to get some cute storage baskets to go into, then I can start organizing! There's just really no place to put anything at the moment since we use the closet in her room for storage for other things. I'm excited to get it all together in there and looking cute!

Anyway, I'm getting huge and ready to have this baby. I'm a little over 31 weeks now! Brynleigh has been moving SO MUCH this last week. It's getting pretty uncomfortable. She's so strong! Last night she was literally going crazy in there and bouncing off the walls! Sterling couldn't believe how much she was moving. She always kicks him in the middle of the night too now when he's spooning me and has his arm over my stomach. She's getting to be a crazy little girl!

She's been perfectly fine and healthy, so we're very happy! We're SO anxious to meet her though. I'm convinced she's going to come early. Hopefully not too early, but a week or two is okay :)  Actually, a week early would be Christmas and I don't want her to have a Christmas birthday. I suppose she will come when she's ready though! We're just in the waiting game for now. 

My camera was dropped and broken in Reno (it was three and a half years old, so that's okay), so I don't really have any great pictures of the bump right now. I'll hopefully have a new one soon though! For now I'll post a few pictures from California, plus a fabulous cell phone picture from a few days ago.

Us with our presents :)

My family :)

Two of my favorite ladies :)  PS: Corina totally came all the way down from Moscow and surprised me!

Aw, Sunnymarie.

Tender moment with my sister haha

Awful mirror picture at 31 weeks. Please ignore my messy bathroom counter :)

28.5 weeks

Time for a little update! Well, I'll be 29 weeks on Monday. Everything is going great, though we did have a bit of a scare earlier this week.

Last week, Brynleigh's movements slowed down, then on Monday I went in for my glucose test. I hadn't felt Bryn move all morning yet, which had me a little worried. So then I drank the bottle of gross syrup-y sugar water, and the nurse told me that usually babies start bouncing off the walls and moving like crazy after the mom drinks that stuff, since it's pure sugar. So this had me pretty worried. I called my doctor's office once I got done with the test, but my doctor and his nurse were both out of town. I told the lady at the desk my concerns, so she said if I was really worried then I could go get checked out at the Labor & Delivery unit at the hospital.

After some crying phone calls to my parents and Sterling, they all convinced me to just go to the hospital to make sure everything was okay. So I went and they monitored me for a little bit, and everything seemed to be fine and she started moving. Then suddenly her heart rate dropped really low for a minute. They called in the on-call doctor who ordered a biophysical ultrasound so we could check the amniotic fluid levels and everything. The ultrasound came back perfectly normal and baby Brynleigh looked just fine, so after monitoring me for a little longer, making sure her heart rate stayed stable, they released me. I went to my normal doctor on Wednesday so he could check me out again, and everything was perfect. They're thinking her heart rate dropping is nothing to worry about, she must have just gotten caught in her umbilical cord for a minute or something. So I was a very relieved momma! And she has been kicking up a storm since this incident on Monday, so I am very happy. Little Girl was just being stubborn there for a bit :)

Anyway, everything else is going great. I've had some trouble sleeping, and I get some nasty back pains pretty much everyday now, but it's all manageable. I really can't complain too much. Oh, I have been getting nauseous sometimes lately. That's really not fun. For some reason, breakfast seems to cause it the most. I don't know if my stomach is just getting squished by Baby or what, but it's not too much fun. But it's not too horrible. I'm getting so huge though! Still not sure where she's gonna go for the next 11+ weeks! I am going to be SO big. Still no stretch marks though! Thank you good genetics and/or Palmers :)

I'm pretty much completely out of any of my pre-pregnancy clothes now. My shirts look funny or aren't long enough, and well, I've been out of my jeans for a good month now. So I did some good maternity shopping the other day. I found an amazing pair of jeans that I love. They're super comfy and are actually slim-fitting, which is nearly impossible to find in maternity jeans! Everything usually is like a tent in the butt and thighs. And I bought a few new shirts to get me through for awhile. 

We're headed to California this Thursday! Hopefully the drive will go smoothly and Brynleigh and I won't have any issues. And next Saturday is my baby shower! I'm excited.

That's about it for now! I'll leave with a bump picture from today :)

Finally!

Alright alright, I haven't blogged in over a month. Oops. I decided a month or two ago to blog less (I'll go into that in another post), but not quite this infrequently! So anyway, here is a long overdue update.

I'm a little over 26 weeks along now! And I'm getting biiiiig. Here are my 25 & 26 week pictures:

I

I really don't know where this little girl is gonna go for the next 14 weeks! I'm going to be toppling over forward! I actually called my dad sobbing a few weeks ago because I was so big and in pain and my clothes didn't fit and I had no idea how I was going to last until the end of December. It was a bit of a pregnancy breakdown, haha.

Anyway, I've gained 12 pounds (though it feels like much, much more) and none of those pounds have seemed to find their way to my chest yet. Sheesh. My arms are getting a little extra padding though, how nice. Oh, and I have no butt anymore. My stomach has sucked it forward or something. I'm happy to say that I still have zero stretch marks though!! That's a perk for this crazy pregnant body.

Brynleigh moves around SO much! She actually got her first nickname last week--Trout. The best way to describe how her movements feel is like there's a fish flopping around in my stomach. She seriously kicks and punches and tumbles and flops all the time. And she found my ribs, which she likes to kick and rub against while I'm sitting in class. But she's fun! I feel like she's developing a little personality already :)

I feel pretty good most of the time, but I have been getting a lot of aches and pains lately. My hips and lower stomach and lower back kill me sometimes, especially when I'm on my feet for more than 15 minutes or so! I don't know how any pregnant women exercise! I can't even make a trip around Winco without being in excruciating pain by the time I get back to the car.

We're trying to plan a quick trip to California in the next few weeks so I can have a baby shower and see all my family. We were planning on going in the beginning of November (once Sterling is done with spud harvest), but my doctor says that's too late in my pregnancy (it'd be 32 weeks) and he'd be worried about blood clots and hypertension on the long road trip. SO we're frantically trying to move it up a couple of weeks, but we're not sure if Sterling can take off time that early since they might still be in harvest, which they need him for. So I'm just crossing my fingers that we can work something out here soon. I'm really excited to go to get some good sushi and go to Apple Hill when we get there. I am badly craving both and can't wait to get there! The whole 12 hour drive thing isn't so exciting though.

Anyway, everything is going pretty well for the most part. It's been pretty tough lately because Sterling is working a TON. He's been having to leave by 4am and doesn't get home until between 8 and 10 at night, and then he has to go to sleep immediately so he can get up and start it all over again. So he's kind of a stranger around here lately and I've been having a hard time with that. BUT I just have to get through a few more weeks and it'll get a lot better.

My mom flew up last week for a visit, which was wonderful :)  She kept me company and we did lots of shopping and fun stuff. Brynleigh got a little spoiled by her Gramie! And my mom bought me my first pair of maternity jeans. I was not digging them but she convinced me. And I'm glad she did because they are SO much comfier than trying to squeeze into my pre-pregnancy jeans everyday! Now I just need another pair.

My momma and I :)

I think that's about it for now. I'll try to update a little more frequently!

Quick rant

Three random people have recently told me I don't look pregnant. Do they really think my stomach just looks this disproportionately huge normally?!

One of those people was a doctor. Yup. He thought I already had the baby 5 months ago, not that I was 5 months pregnant. This baby needs to pop out another foot or two apparently so that I can look like a real pregnant woman.

One more pregnancy rant:

I've read SO many blogs/forums about women who say their boobs started getting huge at, like, 8 weeks. Um, so when exactly is that going to kick in for me?? If people are going to think I'm just fat, I might as well have the chest to go along with it.


That's all for now :)  In all honestly, the pregnancy is going great. Just a few minor, likely hormone-induced rants!

PS: where did my bottom lip go in that picture?

20 weeks and a GIRL!

Time for a quick, much overdue update. We found out last week that baby is a girl!!! We've named her Brynleigh Grace. Here's a picture of her cute little face:

 

I'm in love with her little nose. I just think she's the cutest thing ever :)

Today I'm 20 weeks! Can't believe I'm halfway through. It's gone by so slow and fast at the same time! Here's a picture from today:

Anyway, everything is going great with Baby Brynleigh. I saw a specialist last week for my bladder and kidney issues. I'm on daily antibiotics for the next 8 weeks, along with a bunch of supplements, and then we'll see if I need to stay on them for the rest of my pregnancy. I've started feeling sick again the last few days, and I'm hoping that it's not related to the meds. Let's just hope it passes soon!

And, as promised, here are a couple of pictures from when Sterling and I went to the temple a few weeks ago:

 

Isn't he so stinkin' cute? And I get him for eternity :)


Anyway, that's all for now!

The Big City

Finally, a post on my recent adventure to Los Angeles!

So I flew down there for a long weekend July 26-29. My sister moved down there (from Sacramento) last fall, I hadn't seen her since Christmas, and I hadn't visited her in LA yet, SO it was time for a visit! Here are a few pictures recapping the trip.

Somewhere in Hollywood. The Hollywood sign is in the background if you look hard! Fun Fact: A human head was recently found up at the sign. Eeek! Another Fun Fact: The Boulevard of Stars actually isn't very exciting at all. The majority of the stars are people you've never heard of, and they're in front of sketchy porn stores. They sure don't show that on The Hills!

Getting my sushi fix my first day in LA.

The Santa Monica beach! Yeah, I got burned.

Me & Sheet in her apartment. PS: Sheet=Tara=My sister. It's a weird mutual nickname we've had for years.

Us & Matthew (Sheet's boyfriend)

At In-N-Out. You know, eating.

Sunny drove down from Santa Maria and visited us for the day!

So as you can probably guess, our main events on my trip involved food. We eat a lot. And we drove around a bunch. I saw a lot of the city. And it was confirmed that I'm not a city-person at all. I don't know how people live there! It was fun to visit for a few days, but my beloved Idaho felt really nice to be back in :)  Though I do miss being near the ocean, that's one of California's perks.

Anyway, I loved seeing my sister and eating yummy things that Idaho is lacking. And it was also nice getting my first tan/burn of the year finally.

18 weeks and a mystery baby.

Here's the 18 week picture. Getting pretty big! We had an appointment with my doctor today and we were supposed to find out the sex of the baby. Buuuut, little baby was too busy moving around and not showing us its little parts, so we couldn't find out. The doctor says his guess is a girl, but that he really doesn't know. It was the most disappointing thing. I was to just know finally!!!! My next appointment isn't for 4 more weeks. Ughhhhh.

I'm thinking I want to switch OBs. The one I have is really nice and good and everything, but he just seems too rushed and not really involved on an individual basis. Plus his cell phone kept ringing during my ultrasound today, and he didn't even silence it. Just let it ring and keep going off. Then he rushed out of the room without even asking me if I had any questions for him, which I did. SO I called another office in IF that is supposed to be great, and I have an appointment with them on Monday. I'm really nervous about this whole switching thing though. I have to have my records faxed from my current doctor to the new one by Monday, and I'm afraid that if I don't like the new guy and want to go back to my original doctor, I don't want my doctor to be mad that I've been trying to find someone new! So I don't know, I have a few days to think it over still.

Anyway, everything is going well. I've gained a pound finally, haha. I've been feeling really good and have more energy. And I want to eat everything!

That's about all for the update. I still need to do a post about my LA trip! I promise I will get to that soon.

Mean people.

Before I got pregnant, Sterling and I always joked about how crazy I would be once I was pregnant, since I'm a pretty sensitive person already. So far, I haven't had any pregnancy emotions at all really. I've stayed pretty steady. No crazy hormones and mood swings. It's really surprised me. I was just thinking about it this morning, actually.

Then I ran home crying because my mean neighbor lady yelled at me.

I was asked to post fliers for a Relief Society night event on the doors in our apartment complex. I got a list of the women who are on our ward records, so it wasn't like I was just posting church stuff on everyone's door. I was only giving it to women who are part of our church (or were at one point then didn't bother to remove their records).

So I tape the little flier on this one door then walk down the stairs to my mailbox. I turn around and this lady is running after me, waving the paper at me and yelling that she is 'sick of getting this crap on her door'. I apologize and tell her I was just assigned to do this, and she yells at me some more. I walked back to our apartment as quickly as I could, then started bawling as soon as I walked in the door.

I know I'm naturally sensitive and all, but I really hope that this isn't something my non-pregnant self would cry about. So I'm labeling it as my first hormonal experience.

And now I'm terrified to go get my mail ever again because it's right in front of her apartment.

To make myself feel better, I'm going to keep reminding myself that she's one of those annoying parents that lets her toddlers play alone in the street and leave their toys all over the place while she's busy watching Oprah inside. So there.

17 weeks.

 

Here's the 17 week bump picture. Please ignore my gooberish face. I'd also like to add that this is an official maternity shirt. Monday morning I almost cried while getting dressed because none of my normal shirts looked good on me, so I went shopping :)

Anyway, I don't really feel like doing the usual preggo survey this week, so I'll just summarize it. 

I've been feeling pretty good. I still battle fatigue most days, but rarely nausea anymore. My appetite is mostly back, so like I said in my last post, I'm just about back up to my pre-pregnancy weight. I don't know if I've had any real specific cravings lately, just food in general. Yesterday I wanted chocolate for the first time in this pregnancy, so I now have mini Snickers in my freezer (don't tell Sterling ;)  I've started feeling the baby flutter around a bit, but it's still hard to tell sometimes what's truly the baby and what is just digestion, haha. 

There's this lady in Grace (a mom of Sterling's good friend actually) who can supposedly tell the sex of your baby by looking at the veins in your eyes. She has a pretty good success rate too, I guess. So we saw her last weekend and she checked me out. She had a hard time telling on me, because of something like the vein was longer than it should be in accordance to how far along I am? But she said her guess is a girl, though she's not positive. So maybe Baby Stoddard isn't a little boy after all. We will just have to wait and see for sure next Wednesday :)

And now I'm going to go back to bed, because having woken up at 6:30am just isn't working for me today. 

PS: The background of this post is being weird. Ignore that, too.

I'm Back!

I've been MIA for almost two weeks now, yikes! It's been crazy busy and fun.

Last week, my parents drove up from California and stayed with us for a few days. I haven't seen them since Christmas, so it was really nice! We didn't do anything incredibly exciting, I just showed them all around up here. We went to Winco for their first time, and it was the funniest thing. They were so amazed by how cheap everything was!









They left Friday morning, then Sterling and I headed down to Logan, Utah to go to the temple for our first time! It was very exciting and nervewracking and wonderful all at once. I don't think it was exactly what either of us were expecting, but we really enjoyed going. And we got to be sealed for eternity, so that was very special :)  We didn't take any pictures on our camera, but other people did so we will have pictures to show soon!

We stayed Friday night in Grace, then on Saturday we drove up to Ririe to go to the Gee (Sterling's mom's side) family reunion. Since we were driving up from Utah, we took the back way and went through Wyoming for my first time! I want to live there, I loved it. Anyway, the reunion was fun. We bought some yummy fresh honey and Walla Walla onions from the auction they do.

Sunday, we were back home in Shelley and Sterling and I both had to speak in Sacrament Meeting in church. It had been such a busy week that we didn't have time to write our talks until Sunday morning even! So that was pretty stressful. But our talks both went well! Then we had to teach our Primary class for the first time! It was fun and hectic. We teach the five year olds. We had 4 boys and 1 girl. They were all so cute and fun, but boy do they have a lot of energy! It was so hard to get them to sit still and listen to the lesson. But it was really fun and I'm excited to teach them every week.

So now that the crazy week is over, I have three calm days then I leave for Los Angeles on Thursday! Haha, things don't slow down for very long lately. So I'll be gone from Thursday until Sunday visiting my sister down there. I'm excited to play with her in the city and eat real sushi  and lots of good food :)  I'm officially eating like a pregnant woman. My appetite is back finally and I'm almost back up to my pre-pregnancy weight. Now I'm just worried about packing on too many pounds! But anyway, so Sterling will be a bachelor for a few days while I'm gone. I'm a little worried since he doesn't seem to do well without me, haha. I went grocery shopping yesterday and stocked up on easy food like hot pockets, apples, and frozen pizza. I'm worried that he won't actually eat those things though and will just live off of popsicles and Diet Coke for 4 days. Goodness :)

And then after I get back from LA, we find out if Baby Stoddard is a boy or girl! Yup, August 1st is THE DAY. We're super excited.

Well, hopefully tonight we will take the 17 week bump picture and I'll do a little pregnancy update tonight or tomorrow.

15 weeks

Here is my week 15 bump:

Knock on wood, but I've been feeling better so far this week. Weeks 13 & 14 kicked my butt, but the last few days have been much better so I desperately hope I'm finally into the smooth part of the second trimester. I had an appointment on Monday. We tried to find out the sex of the baby, but the doctor couldn't tell yet. Disappointing :(  But Baby did wave during the ultrasound! So now we're scheduled to find out on August 1st. It seems so far away! Bellywise, I'm in that awkward stage where I just feel chubby all the time. I don't feel like my bump is a distinguishable baby bump. But hopefully that'll be changing in the next few weeks! It's growing fast. My bump seems bigger everyday. I'm waiting to feel Baby move. I kind of think I have a couple of times already, but I don't know for sure. Most nights when I'm laying in bed, you can definitely see the baby on one side of my stomach or the other. It's pretty funny, because one side will just be bulging out! Anyway, here's the weekly survey.

How far along? 15 weeks

Pre-pregnancy weight: 122 lbs

Current weight: 119 lbs
Total weight gain/loss: -3 lbs.
Maternity clothes? Not yet really. Some of my waistbands are a little tight, but manageable for now.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Sleep: Still get tired a lot. I wake up at least two or three times every night for a bathroom trip. That gets annoying :P
Best moment this week: Seeing Baby on the ultrasound
Miss Anything? Clothes looking good on me, haha
Movement: Not sure. We'll just have to wait and see.
Food cravings: Salt, salt, salt. And gummies. Beef jerky. Thai. Basically, anything salty or savory.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Still water as always. And yogurt. And most salad.

Have you started to show yet: Yep, not as much as I'd like though!
Gender prediction: Boy.

Labor Signs: Nope.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I've been a little more emotional this week, but I still feel like I'm handling the preggie emotions pretty well so far. Lucky Sterling ;)
Looking forward to: Finding out the gender! Feeling Baby move! Getting a bigger bump! Everything :)

Shape of a Mother

The Shape of a Mother:

http://the-neff-family-blog.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-shape-of-mother-submission.html

Two different blogs I read posted this article this week. It's amazing for any pregnant woman to read. I've been self-conscious lately because my stomach has definitely gotten much bigger, but I don't think it looks like a pregnant bump yet. So I'm convinced that everyone just thinks I have a giant, flabby belly that I let hang out all the time.

This woman's story really puts things into perspective and makes me so thankful that I'm even able to experience all this, flabby tummy included. I'm not saying I'll never be self-conscious about it again, but this really helps change the way I look at myself and this new body I'm receiving. I'm thankful for this time with my baby while he/she is busy stretching me out and making me sick and everything else that comes along with the wonders of pregnancy.

PS: The website this woman wrote this story for is pretty touching, as well.

http://theshapeofamother.com/

The Non-Pregnancy Post

I've been a little caught up whining about the woes of pregnancy on my blog lately that I've neglected to update about the other things going on in life. And there actually are a few other important things even!

Last Wednesday, Sterling and I had our temple recommend interviews. We were deemed worthy, so since Monday was my one year anniversary of my baptism, we are now officially ready to go to the temple! The Logan and Idaho Falls temples are both closed the first two weeks of July, so that set our plans back a bit. But we are scheduled to go down to the Logan temple on Friday, July 20th! So on that day we will take out our endowments and be sealed for time & all eternity :) We are very excited.

The same night we received our recommends, our bishop also gave us callings in our new ward here. Sterling and I get to teach the CTR 4 (four-year-olds) Primary class every Sunday! It is the exact calling I wanted. Since I didn't grow up in the church, I didn't learn all the things everyone else learned in Primary, like all the songs especially! People are always making references to Primary that are over my head (popcorn popping on an apricot tree? Huh?...or my personal favorite, Sterling doing the 'Lamanite Dance') so I can finally learn them all while I'm teaching the kids! I always joked that I'll just go to Primary with my own kids when the time comes, but this works out even better, haha. So we're very excited for this. I also got called to be on some Relief Society Night committee, so that's good as well.

Last weekend we went to Grace. On Saturday, we went to Twin Falls with the family to see our cute little niece Randy Sue get baptized.

Here's the Jensen's! Cute family, right? :)

You know who these two are.

Anyway, it was nice taking a quick little weekend trip to see the fam. The week after next, my parents are coming up from California to visit us for a few days! I haven't seen them in almost 7 months, which is crazy. I'm excited to show them around and everything. They're driving down to Los Angeles first to visit my sister, then they're driving all the way up here. They're pretty big on road trips. I can't imagine driving all day through Arizona, Nevada, and Southern Utah makes for a very exciting trip, though. The rest of Utah on up is good though, at least I think. So anyway, we're excited! I'm trying to plan a quick trip down to LA to visit my sister sometime later this month or early August, I'm just waiting and wishing my constant sickness will calm down first. I know they give you barf bags on airplanes, I just really would love to not have to use them!

I think that's about it for now. This weekend will be a calm one. There's a hugely important UFC fight that Sterling has talked me into ordering on Pay-Per-View this Saturday night, so we will have a date night in.

Weeks 13 & 14

Finally an update on The Bump.

 

 Week 13

Week 14

I don't feel like it's grown much over the last couple of weeks. You can't really even see a bump in this weeks picture! It seems much bigger in person, haha. 

I'm going to the doctor's on Monday and I'm hoping that we might be able to find out the sex of the baby, but I really don't know, so we will just wait and see!

How far along? 14 weeks

Pre-pregnancy weight: 122 lbs

Current weight: 120.5 lbs
Total weight gain/loss: -1.5 lbs. Still not really gaining anything.
Maternity clothes? I still fit into everything, but I can't just hang out around the house in my normal pants--I have to unbutton them for comfort or switch to yoga pants! And my skirt that I wore to church last Sunday was pretty tight so I think that one is being put in the closet for awhile.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Sleep: Still tired all the time. And I wake up a lot during the night. I'm looking into buying a pregnancy pillow. I hear they're amazing.
Best moment this week: Actually NOT being sick for once yesterday so I could enjoy the 4th!
Miss Anything? Not having to worry about whether the food I'm about to eat is going to stay down or not.
Movement: Not yet. Sometimes I think I feel a little something, but can't be sure yet.
Food cravings: Still sushi, of course. Chinese food, fruit, Powerade, eggs, beef jerky, anything salty. It really varies day by day.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Yogurt, water, lettuce, some meat. I have different aversions every day. Mangoes made me sick the other day so I'm turned off from them for awhile, and I can't eat veggies on an empty stomach.

Have you started to show yet: A little. I basically just look chubby though.
Gender prediction: Boy.

Labor Signs: Nope.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I get in little funks sometimes but not bad.
Looking forward to: My appointment on Monday.

The Pregnant Vent.

Pregnancy is THE most frustrating thing. I just can't figure it out for the life of me.

I'm 14 weeks now. OUT of the first trimester. Everyone says the second trimester is the best, most enjoyable part of pregnancy. So why is it that this past week, I've been the sickest I've been the whole time?

Last Monday was wonderful. The best I've felt since being pregnant. I thought, Hey! I'm there! I'm finally to the good part! I woke up at 6am with Sterling, stayed up the entire day with NO naps, accomplished a bunch, and felt great.

Tuesday I puked the entire day away. I should say now that this post is going to talk about throwing up a lot, so I apologize. But really, I don't think an ounce of food or drink stayed in my body all Tuesday. Before this past week, I could easily count how many times I've actually thrown up since getting pregnant. Now I can't even tell you how many times I've puked in a day.

Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday I couldn't keep a thing down until around 2pm. No matter what I tried, it came right back up.

Yesterday I felt pretty good again and had the best appetite I've had in weeks. Granted, my appetite really only wanted beef jerky, but I ate a full dinner complete with veggies (something I can't handle much of lately) and I even wanted to snack on gummies while we watched Harry Potter.

Today seemed to be one of those great days. I got caught up on almost everything I neglected while I was busy with my head in the toilet last week. And I ate plenty. It all sounded good. Cereal, cherry tomatoes, frozen pizza, mango! And everything was just fine and dandy until about half an hour ago when I was hit with that nauseous urge and raced to the bathroom.

People say this ends, but I honestly don't believe it.

I don't think my child likes food at all. Which is a little surprising seeing how much Sterling and I enjoy eating (when not pregnant, that is).

I'd love nothing more than to fast-forward to December. I just want this little person here and to not be sick anymore. I don't care if I'm fat and get no sleep. That plus Baby sounds wonderful compared to now.


And I know I'm behind on my weekly picture post. In a day or two I'll get caught up on weeks 13 & 14 :)

Success.

So I actually completed my goal of making yummy cupcakes today. See?

They're dark chocolate with peanut butter frosting and Reese's on top. They're pretty good, if I say so myself.

The only problem with pregnancy baking? I make them then I don't actually want to eat them. I'm not hugely into sweets lately. 

Dang.

Hope Sterling is up to eating dozens of cupcakes on his own while I practice my new hobby :)

Cupcakes & Apartment life.

This weekend was nice and easygoing. I have two things that I want to blog about:

#1) The one not-so-nice or easygoing part. I love our apartment. It's nice and pretty and feels like home. But I want a house. A real house. One that isn't surrounded by neighbors. The apartment below us has been empty the entire time we've lived here, until this weekend. A lady and her preteen/young teen daughter moved in. And some scraggly guy, who isn't a husband and I can't tell if he's family just staying for a few days or if he's some sort of boyfriend fellow. Anyway, the lady had a bunch of trashy people help her move in on Saturday. They were nice in the short passing I had with them. But I had all my windows open all day, so I got to hear the lady's entire life story with commentary from her friends/family and it was all heavily-laced with F-bombs. Her past drug addictions, relationships with bad men, dodging jails, etc. They were discussing it loudly outside. In a complex that has little kids playing outside 24/7. Ughh. Can't stand it when people have no awareness of what is appropriate to share in public.

And that actually wasn't what I had intended to write about concerning our apartment. But then as I got writing I remembered how it bugged me. Anyway, what I really want to vent about is teenage hooligans whose parents don't care where they are at 2am. Because where are they? Ringing my doorbell a bunch of times then running away. AT 2AM. Sleep doesn't come too easily during pregnancy so if you disturb mine, you are on my death-list. I was livid, to say the least. Especially when I thought about what if they do this crap once we have a baby. I tell you, if some kids ever wake up my sleeping baby in the middle of the night, I will hunt them down. I'll go to every house in this town until I find their mommas and I will tell them exactly what I think of them and their child.

This time though, I just stayed awake for the next hour, staring out our windows into the dark, waiting for those dang kids to sneak back so I could catch them and chew them out and make them pee their pants.

I know, I'm a little crazy. When I get angry I picture myself as some hardcore scary beast. Not the little 5'2 blonde that I really am.


And now I'm so fired up that I can't even remember what #2 was. Whoops.

Aaaanyway, Sterling gets off work from Friday at 2pm alllll the way until Monday morning. To us, this seems like the equivalent of having a week off. We're super excited. Our big plans are to go to Grace :)  There will be some other fun stuff thrown in there, too. Probably some good eating. That's always the center of our outings.

Speaking of eating, I am desperate to find a good Chinese restaurant in IF. Cause our luck isn't the best, so far. Well, according to me at least. Sterling thinks it's all great. It's not :)


OH, I remembered #2! Yesterday while being a farmer's wife and driving around the farm with Sterling, checking his pivots, I figured out my New Life Plan. I'm going to master the art of delicious, fancy cupcakes (if you've seen my Pinterest in the last 24 hours, you probably have already caught onto this). Then we're going to move to Grace and I'll have my own little business of making cupcakes and cakes for the variety of Mormon events that are always taking place in that town, like weddings and mission farewells and baby showers and everything. Great plan. So now I'm a little obsessed with starting this exciting new hobby. Last night, throughout all my different, weird dreams (I dream the craziest stuff since being pregnant) I was continually in the process of baking and frosting this amazing chocolate & peanut butter cupcake. So that is my first thing to tackle. Today I'm going to go buy supplies and I'm making this chocolate&PB cupcake. And I'm praying it's as amazing as it was in Dreamland. And I'm also praying that I complete this cupcake before The Preggie Fatigue hits me. 

And my short weekend update has suddenly turned into a novel. Funny how that always happens...

12 weeks!

Sterling takes my bump picture every Monday or Tuesday, so today was the day! Here is the 12 week bump.

It is a little blurry, but I think you can see the growing tummy. And yes, as you can see, I broke out the stretchy pants :)

I also am finally back to my usual blonde, thanks to the lovely Michelle Smith! You may have noticed it looking a little darker for awhile, I had her give me some brown lowlights a couple of months ago. It faded to a caramel-y color and I was missing the blonde! So now it is here to stay.

Michelle is in Rexburg, so I ventured there for the first time today! And I didn't even get lost once (I'll tell about how my pregnancy-brain has affected my sense of direction another time soon). I found my way to the temple and everything! It seems pretty small, but I really liked it! All perched on top of a green hill and pretty.

Anyway, the pregnancy has been good, though definitely taking its toll on me. The nausea isn't too bad these days, but goodness, my energy level is awful. I'll go to the grocery store then come home and have to nap until Sterling calls to say he's on his way home from work. I can handle about a two-hour outing and that is it. I hope this improves sometime soon, because I'd love to rejoin the productive world. Right now, productive is managing to put away the groceries I bring home!