37 Weeks

Um ... ONE MORE WEEK until the amnio! Oh that is so crazy I can't even believe it! Here's what happened this week :)

When your Dad and I went grocery shopping last week I was craving a ham, so we decided to buy one and invite Scott and Sarah over for dinner. We set the date for Tuesday and ooh that dinner was as good as I was hoping! I made homemdae rolls, ham, pineapple glaze, and twice baked potatoes. Sarah brought a salad and yummy layered strawberry dessert and we ate our little hearts out! 

On Wednesday I had to go up to Salt Lake and meet with a doctor in Salt Lake. WorkMed decided that they wanted me to see a different doctor and have a second opinion. Super dumb, but I gotta do what they tell me to do so I made the trek up to St. Marks hospital and met with the doc. I don't know what his 'opinion' is yet but he should report back to my case worker in a few weeks. After that I stopped off at Colonial Flag to pick up a flag for your newborn pictures. Beth and I have some pretty awesome ideas and I can't wait to see your cute self in them! After that I went to Good Earth to pick up these little guys. I'll talk more about those in a little bit!

This hat was my project on Thursday. It's another idea for your newborn pics. A pretty cute little hat right?! Thursday also included me going to Spanish Fork to get an alignment on the Hyundai and going to a NST in American Fork right after. You, of course, looked fantastic on the Monitors. Actually, I have a cute little story for you. Since your Dad couldn't go with me I was just resting in the recliner waiting for the time to be up. I received a phone call from registration for the induction and right when I started talking on the phone your little heart rate increased and went back down after the conversation ended. I talked to your Dad on the phone a few minutes later and your little heart did it again! I'm pretty sure that's a solid sign you like me already :) You're melting your Momma's heart already!

Oh Friday your Dad got off work early and we headed to another's doctors appointment. He checked to see how far I was dilated and I was 2cm and 80% effaced. We are well on our way! We scheduled our last NST and doctors appointment before you get here :) After that we had to drive to Heber to pick up Haley and bring her down to Orem. Your uncle Ryan graduated from college and we were having a family dinner at Golden Corral to celebrate. We ate until we were full and enjoyed a little family time. 

I was so dumb and did this again on Saturday. I know I squish you so so much when paint my toenails but it's so important for me to have pretty toes! I don't know why, but it just is! But what I did realize while I was painting them that it was the last time I would have to paint them before my stomach does some major shrinking and you make your grand arrival! How exciting is that?!

After the nail painting your Dad and I went on a walk to see if we could walk you right out of my uterus. It didn't happen BUT I loved the time spent with your Dad. It was nights and times like that that make me fall in love with your Dad all over again. I sure am so lucky to have him on my team. It was fun to talk for a few hours and sit on a bench to watch the sunset. Our lives are about to change so dramatically but I know I couldn't have picked a better guy to go on this adventure with. He's going to make such an incredible Dad. 

On Saturday I also tried those two vials of Blue and Black Cohosh to try to induce labor. I took them every half hour ALL DAY LONG starting at 6am and it didn't even do a thing! All it did was taste terrible! Waste of time but hey, it was worth a shot!

On Sunday your Dad had to work a double shift so I went over to the Stika's for dinner. We brought your Dad a plate to work and then went on a drive. Your Grandma is a rock star and is running a marathon on May 4th! We drove the race route so she could get used to it and see exactly where she'd be running. I think she's totally crazy but she's got some pretty amazing strength and willpower to do it! 

After the drive Savannah and I went to the hospital to see a few of my friends at work. One of them stripped my membranes on my cervix to help induce labor. Afterwards we went home and walked 2 miles but, again, nothing happened. It was Sunday night I realized you are just going to make me wait till May 6th. I wanted to meet you sooner but hey, you are just going to be stubborn and insist that they use pitocin on me before you decide it's that time! 

Your Dad had Monday off so we hung out around the house and went to our NST at 1. After that we came home and watched some baseball (one of our most favorite past times) and I decided I would go grocery shopping. While out grocery shopping I decided I wanted to make a cheesecake from scratch since I'd never done that before. I had plans to go up to Draper to hang out with Jess and her boys the next day so what better reason to make it and I could share with them! It was a lot more simple than I thought and turned out super great! 

And here is your Momma at 37 week pregnant! I feel SO heavy all the time! Its especially hard to get out of bed and the car. Your head is so low and putting quite the pressure on my hip bones. I'm positive that can't be very comfy but hey, it's how things work I guess! I am so excited to meet you little man and kiss your sweet little features. I love you so much already. 

36 Weeks

Seriously dude. THIRTY SIX WEEKS! It is almost time for us to meet you! I can't even believe it! Well, my head can't believe it, but I'm pretty sure my body is well aware of the time you've spent wiggling around in there. Why do I think this? Because I was so not prepared for this pregnancy pain business. It feels like my hips are seriously ripping apart at all times because your head is sitting so low. Oh that reminds me, you are head down! Don't remember if I already told you that or not. That means that my chances of having a c-section just went down significantly because you see, if your little legs were down then that'd mean a 100% chance of a c section. So, your head is down. At least we've got that going for us! Here is what's happened this week:

This is a blanket I have been working on for the past couple days. One of Nick's good friends from work is having a baby and I wanted to do something special for her so I made her this and a few cute cute hats to go with. It turned out bigger than I was expecting but hey, it's pretty cute. I also made snickerdoodles for your Dad this week twice! He LOVES them. As you'll come to know soon, your Dad wasn't born with much of a sweet tooth. And the tiny bit of one that he does have he is very picky with! So when I find a dessert he will eat, it's great! And I discovered at the beginning of our marriage that he is very much a fan of my snickerdoodles :) And lets be honest, gosh I am too!

I figured that I don't have a picture of what my tummy looks like. I mean yes, I do, because I take one once a week but I haven't taken a picture of my bare belly. So, here it is! I've got a few little stretchmarkies but not much at all. Sure hope it stays that way! I weighed myself this morning and I'm still at a 20lb weight gain, which is healthy and not too much, even thought it feels like a lot more than 20 lbs! Especially when I'm trying to roll over or changing from sitting to standing. Ouch!!

Here is how I spent my Thursday afternoon. I had a doctors appointment first at 1:15 then had my NST at 2:00. My bleeding was definitely increased that day so when the doctor checked me to see how far I am dilated I think he finally realized just how much I am actually bleeding. So, he walked me over to the ultrasound room just to make sure everything still looked okay with the placenta and your handsome self. And of course, both looked great! I'm thinking it's probably just my cervix bleeding, but still, checking on you twice a week definitely gives me peace of mind. The doctor also checked me for GBS or group-b streptococcus and we will find out the results on that at my next appointment I think. If that comes back positive the only thing they'll do different is give me antibiotics during labor to hopefully prevent you from getting an infection. 

On Friday I went to lunch with Mollie, McKenzie, and her sweet little girl Quinn. Kenzie is moving out to St. Louis with her hubby for the summer so we decided to have one last hoorah for her before she left. We went to Olive Garden and I, of course, got seafood alfredo and, as always, it was divine. And it was fun to hang out with the girls for a little bit and get out of the house. After I got home I pulled out the sewing machine and decided I wanted to sew something. If I have to rest at home, I might as well be productive while I do it! Last week I organized all my craft stuff and found a bunch of fabric that I'd forgotten about. These fabrics are scraps from a Christmas Tree skirt I made a few years ago. The final product is 30"x30". I'm going to get some red minky fabric to put on the back and keep it as a baby blanket for the sister you will have someday hehe Honestly I'll probably end up giving it to a friend but hey, it's cute either way! 

This is a picture of one of my favorite cereals from when I was younger, Waffle Crisp. Last week I decided I just HAD to have it! But alas, I couldn't find it anywhere and some people even told me that they stopped making it. So, in a last stitch effort to try and find some I asked my friends on Facebook if they knew somewhere that still sold it, and my awesome friends came through. They informed me that Harmons still sells it! So, off your Dad and I went and bought 2 boxes, just cause we could :) Gotta love the food cravings! My other food craving is Kit Kat bars. At the rate of these cravings my weight gain won't be at 20 lbs for long! Haha 

On Sunday we finally booked this bad boy. Yep, that's our flight to San Antonio young man. Your Dad leaves 3 weeks from tomorrow :( My heart hurts just thinking about it. But I'm sure looking forward to July 10th to roll around and reuniting our little family! Please behave on the flight would ya? Flying makes your momma so so sick and I have the feeling a screaming baby might make that even worse, if that's even possible haha

Sunday was a typical Sunday over at the Stika's and after we went to Scott and Sarah's for some yummy dessert and fun conversation. We had brownies with Reeses pieces chips in them. Um ... YUMMY!

And here we are to today. Here's the view I had from my NST this morning. Your Dad playing on his phone, the monitor, and my empty Kit Kat wrapper. Of course. You looked better than you have before on the monitor yet, which made me one happy momma. After that your Dad and I ran a few errands. We ran into Sarah and Adi at Costco which was so random and fun. That little lady sure loves your Dad. After Costco we went over to Runners Corner to get your Dad fitted with some running shoes he can take to boot camp. He found some Saucony's and said they feel fantastic. They weren't cheap but hey, anything that can help make boot camp a little easier is worth it in my book!

And here we are, the end of yet another week. Pretty sure we only have a few more of these until I'll be taking pictures of your cute face instead of the cute bump you are giving me :)

35 Weeks

Hey little man! Well, another week has come and gone. It's gone by pretty quick, and I'm hoping the next 3 weeks do the same! 

On Tuesday your aunt Savannah turned 16 years old! She and Mom went to breakfast together and dropped her off at our apartment on her way to work. Savannah and I hung around the house for a little while then brainstormed on what she wanted for her birthday dinner. She decided on BBQ chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes and for dessert, raspberry bread pudding. So off to the store we went! I know, it was naughty of me to go to the store because it's against doctors orders but I'm such a busy body that sitting at home drives me nuts-o. So we made the trip as short as we could and she did all the lifting for me. What an awesome little sis right? Once we got home from the store we ate lunch , made dessert, and did our nails. Fun sister time! Right when our nails dried Sarah and miss Adi came over to hang out with us for a little while. Check out that awesome pony tail! :) 

Nick and Mom had to work till later so when they came over we ate dinner, talked and laughed, and enjoyed some yummy dessert! Grandpa Stika was out of town for work but we sent him this cute picture of his sweet sixteener! 

Even Sebastian game over to party. Looks like he found his own seat!

Check out your little heart rate! This was your NST on Friday. Doesn't it look so much better than it did on Monday? I sure think so. Notice those gaps in the beats? That is because you had the hiccups and wouldn't hardly stop moving around long enough for the nurse to measure how you were doing. Atta kid! 

After the NST we went to Kelly and Mollie's for some yummy BBQ and friend time. We had lots of fun with those two and their little Cooper. He is such a BOY and I love it! I'm so so glad you are a boy. I have to admit, I was hoping for a girl at first but all I can think is how I wouldn't have things any other way! There's something about the idea of seeing you all covered in dirt and playing with cars just makes my eyes water. I'm so excited for Nick and I to have a son! A little human walking around that's only ours. That the love for your Dad and our incredible marriage made you. I feel so blessed. 

On Saturday Grandpa Stika confirmed a family friend at his baptism. It was pretty neat to watch him and crazy to think that your Dad will be doing the same thing for your handsome self in 8 short years! 

And here I am on Monday, getting yet another NST done :) I am now getting them done every Monday and Thursday until you get here because I am still bleeding. We aren't sure why but you are still looking healthy and strong so whatever the reason, all that matters is that you are doing okay. I sure appreciate the peace of mind I get with these NST's though. Seeing blood when I know I shouldn't be would stress any momma out I think, but getting to listen to your little heart twice a week and feeling all those kicks sure make me feel better. See that root beer in my hand? Yes, I had to drink that at 9:00 AM because you apparently felt like sleeping. It made me sick with all that sugar so early but gosh, you liked it! You perked right up and started wiggling like crazy about 5 minutes after the first swallow! At least one of us enjoyed it :)

And here we are, 35 weeks along! Holy cow little man, 21 days to go! 

34 Weeks

Hello my handsome little ball of love! This post is a day late because you decided to give us a little scare yesterday! I'll talk more about that later. Lets talk about how this week went and then how you decided to make it an eventful Monday. 

Tuesday night was a fun night. Your Dad and I have been meaning to do this for a while but we finally got around to actually getting it done. We went to Build-A-Bear and built you a little airman teddy bear! We named him Tim. Because of where we got your name from, his first name is Tim. His last name is your name! (Which I'm not sharing on our blog, or Facebook, or Instagram until you make your grand entrance) So, meet Tim the teddy bear. We got him because your Dad is going to be in the same airman's uniform 1300 miles away during the first few weeks of your little life. We can cuddle with this little airman until ours gets back home. Kinda fun! And he's super adorable if you ask me!

On Wednesday (I don't have any pictures dangit) I met up with a few friends I used to work with on Mom Baby for a little baby shower! They bought you the cutest things, and a few of the gifts were even handmade! We sure have some awesome people around us. We met for lunch at 1 and we ate yummy food and talked and laughed way too hard. Before we knew it one of the girls looked at her watch and it was 4:45! Holy cow! It was so fun to catch up and laugh with those girls. I miss them (and working) a lot! 

On Thursday I spent some time with Savannah. We went up to City Creek and went shopping and we hit a few baby stores on the way back. We found this little gem in American Fork. After this purchase all that we have left to get for you is a baby monitor! You will be sleeping in my room until your Dad gets back from boot camp in July so we will probably just buy it then, when we need it. 

On Friday night we invited Scott, Sarah, and Adi over for a BBQ. We had hamburgers and we even grilled fresh pineapple. Why pineapple? Because that's how big you were last week. What better way to celebrate?   Your Grandma Stika gave us a wagon and some blocks for you to play with that used to be mine when I was little. When Adi started to get bored and needed something to play with your Dad brought them out and she loved them! He pulled her around in the little wagon and it sure was cute! I hope you like them as much as she did!

Saturday and Sunday was General Conference. I had been looking forward to it for weeks. For the Saturday sessions your Dad was on base at drill so I decided to bring out my sewing machine and work on a few projects I'd been meaning to get to for awhile while I listened. I made a dress for a friend's little baby, a plastic bag holder, 6 burp cloths for you, and a camera strap cover for Savannah's birthday present. I think they turned out pretty good!

Before the Sunday morning session started I headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Stika's house for breakfast. Your Dad was on base again for the day so I decided to watch the morning session there. That session was definitely my favorite one. Full of awesome messages and lots of quotes to put in my journal for sure. 

Afterwards I headed home to get things ready for Adi's first birthday party. I was in charge of bringing the meatballs (which turned out to be delish!) and I had to wrap her present. I watched the second session of conference, your Dad got home, and we got ready to head on over. We had a lot of fun! Sarah had yummy food there for everyone and it was so fun to watch Adi get spoiled and devour some cake. Sarah even hid some chocolate pudding in the middle. I think that was Adi's favorite surprise for sure. We are so glad to have Scott and Sarah as such good friends and glad we could spoil their sweet Adi a little bit!

My mom texted me to let me know a family friend had dropped off a few things for us at their house so we headed over to pick them up. Um ... a few things was a HUGE understatement! Our friend, Annie, has 2 boys and was getting rid of all her stuff. I'm pretty positive that everything those boys ever used from brand spankin new until they were a size 4T was in those boxes! Clothes, toys, shoes, dishes .... seriously. How awesome is that?! And that's what I spend my Monday morning doing. Sorting through things to keep and things to donate. We ended up keeping 3 and a half huge tuppeware bins of clothes not including all the toys and cute boy accessories. After keeping all of that we still donated 4 boxes of stuff. We owe Annie big time. Not to mention all the things Beth gave us  a few months ago. Pretty sure I don't ever have to buy you clothes until you are 24 months! Of course I will cause I can't resist a cute new outfit for you but hey, at least I don't NEED to. It'll just be because I WANT to :)

So ... Monday morning was spent sorting and relaxing but the day changed pretty quickly. To set things up ... I actually spotted some (bled) and was having some contractions on Saturday and Sunday. I wasn't too worried about it until Monday morning when I wasn't feeling you move around very much. I called the doctors office around noon and they asked me to come in at 3:15. When your Dad got off work he came to pick me up and we headed on over. There was a little bit of a wait because they were squeezing me in so while we were waiting I met with the lady that does their scheduling and look what we did! 

That's right pal. We scheduled your arrival! Well ... As long as you cooperate and those little lungs are developed enough. My fingers are crossed! I hope so badly you are ready so your Dad can spend time with you before he leaves on the 14th. Here's hoping! 

After some more waiting we were finally called back. I got weighed and have officially am out of the 'teens' as far as the gain goes. I've gained 20 lbs even. I know that's great and right on track but ooh it sure is hard to see the scale keep going up! At least I know it's mostly you. I say mostly because my butt and boobs definitely get some credit for the weight gain but like I said, mostly you :) After the weight and blood pressure check they took us into the ultrasound room. The doctor checked to make sure the placenta wasn't causing the bleeding and that it was in an okay position. That, thank heavens, was not the problem. That'd be worse case scenario for the bleeding. The doc then did a vaginal exam and said I'm dilated to a 1+ and 60% effaced. That's not suuper far but heck, I'm not supposed to be dilating at all at 34 weeks. So after that the doc sent me over to the hospital for what's called an NST (non-stress test). To pass that your heart rate has to look good for a solid 20 minute strip. I thought for sure we would be in and out of there in no time. The nurse came in, asked me some questions, and put you (and my uterus) on the monitors (The blue one was measuring any uterine activity and the pink one was picking up your heart rate)

Since I have worked on Labor and Delivery I was watching the monitors and knew that we weren't seeing what we needed to see from your heart. A baby's heart rate is supposed to be around 150, which yours was, but there is supposed to be variability. The variability of going up and down and acellerating at times is what's called a reassuring trace. Your heart rate was staying right around 150 and not deviating much from that mark. I kept rolling from side to side and poking you a little to see if your heart rate would show you awake and active. You were moving, but your heart just was still staying the same. After about an hour the nurse brought in some juice and cookies for me to see if a little sugar in my system would help. About 15 minutes later your variability started to increase some and the nurse and doctor agreed that it looked okay enough to send me home. That was great but I knew there hadn't been an acceleration on the strip and that made me nervous. I paid extra close attention to your movements that night and this morning. I still felt you moving but not as much as your normal wiggly worm self. As the day has gone on I've felt you more and more and haven't had spotting but have definitely been cramping if I'm up on my feet too long. When that happens I just sit myself down for a while and they go away after a bit. So there is the story of how you gave your Dad and I quite the scare. We have a follow up appointment on Friday afternoon which I'm definitely looking forward to. The doctor will check to see if I've dilated any more. I'm interested to see if I have or not. Who knows, you might just get here even before May 6th! I would love for you to get here early but please make sure your little lungs are ready! I know you are probably so excited to finally meet your awesome parents but 34 weeks is much too early for that my friend. Stay healthy and you keep growing strong for us okay? At least for a few more weeks! 

Here's your Dad a little while after getting home from the hospital. He's done a good job of making sure that I stick to the doctors orders of taking it easy. No excessive walking, no lifting, laying down lots, you know, the fun stuff. 

Here's a picture of us right before we headed to the doc's office. I tried to hide my nervousness and just show off how HUGE you are getting :) Not sure where you are going to grow from here because you are definitely hanging out in my ribs and pelvis at the same time now days. Guess the only direction you have to go is out! Oh the joy! :) I love you little man!

33 Weeks

Well little buddy, another week has come and gone. I can't believe I've only got a few more weeks of writing you on here, soon enough I'll be talking to your sweet face in person! I can't believe how impatient I am being! At the beginning of pregnancy I was thinking I was oh so grateful that pregnancy is 40 weeks long because I didn't feel ready and was so nervous! Now that the nursery is ready, your Dad and I feel ready, and we are just waiting for you to get here I'm wishing that 40 weeks was going by a little bit quicker! But, I will just have to hope I'll be blessed with a little more patience :) Until then, here is what I've been doing to keep busy!

I"m still loving taking baths and relaxing. At the mommy-to-bee shower I got a little kit of stuff to pamper myself and put it to good use on Tuesday. 

I spent the day on Thursday at Beth's house sewing some stuff for Miss Adi's first birthday that's coming up. It was so fun to hang out with Beth and her sweet kiddos. I used to be over there a lot but with time it hasn't been as much, but it was fun to have a little girl time! You know what else was fun?

Holding this sweet baby girl! This is Beth's little girl Ella. Can you even believe all that hair? It was so sweet to hold her and make me thing I'm going to have a little person of my own in just a few short weeks to hold. 

After going to Beth's house I picked up your Dad and we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Stika's house to make some treats for my baby shower on Saturday. We dipped pretzels in caramel, then white chocolate, and then drizzled blue and red chocolate over them. They were just as delicious as they look!

Beth, Mollie, and Sarah threw a baby shower for me on Saturday so I woke up and got dressed up that morning. Here is a picture of me just before heading out the door for the shower. I'm super sad I didn't get any pictures of the people who came but I did get some pictures of all the yummy food! And of course I got a picture of miss Adi and I haha

Sunday is always my favorite day of the week but this week it was even better than normal. It was Easter Sunday. Nothing gets me more emotional than when I talk about and learn more about the Savior's atonement and resurrection. The lessons we learned in church were amazing. Afterwards we came home, I finished making the dessert for family dinner (from scratch carrot cake) and we headed to Pleasant Grove. We had my FAVORITE meal of ham, pineapple glaze, baked potatoes, jello salad, and Mom's homemade bread. So amazingly good. After I ate what seemed like my entire body weight in ham we all pulled a blanket out on the front lawn and enjoyed the sunshine for a while. 

While I enjoyed the sun Grandpa Stika brought out the motorcycle. I told him it wasn't fair that he did that because hello, I'm growing a human which means I can't go for a ride! I was jealous. Your Dad decided to get rid of some ants he found on the sidewalk with a blow torch. Overkill? Definitely. But he sure loves fire! 

And here we are. Monday April 1st. Today had been a busy day! I decided to glitter my toes this morning. It was quite the process and I sure looked awkward trying to get it done but hey, they turned out okay! After that I got ready for the day and headed out to get my nails done. Your Dad knows how much I love to have them done and now that I'm not working he told me I need to go get it done and spoil my self. I sure love him for that. He's amazing. 

After coming home and hanging out for a while your Dad and I headed to our doctors appointment. It was kinda fun! After the normal weigh in, blood pressure check, and urine sample we met with Dr. Ollerton. I sure like that guy. He checked your heart beat and measured my uterus. It's still measuring a week ahead (34 weeks instead of 33) which is a really good thing! You might just be a week older than we think you are and that means your lungs have a better chance of being developed when we do the amnio! Speaking of the amnio, we scheduled that and the induction for May 6th! I'm still hoping and praying your lungs are developed enough by then and I know a lot of others and hoping and praying for the same thing.

After the appointment with the doctor we headed over to the hospital and pre-registered. Oh so exciting! Since it was kinda my day to be spoiled I decided your Dad could be spoiled too with some of his favorite food. Chubby's! We enjoyed our burgers and headed home. Your Grandma Chadwick and Haley stopped by for a while and chatted with us for a while before they headed back to Heber. 

All in all I'd say it was a pretty awesome day with your Dad. I just love that man.