This Week...

Busy, busy... I feel like I am either always doing something these days, or I am sleeping, or I am having morning sickness...

So, as I think I mentioned in one of my past posts, Ryan decided he was going to help me out with some of my photography jobs for a while. We had our first wedding on Saturday. I think it went pretty well! I've narrowed down all of the pictures we took to over 500 keepers, so now I've got plenty of extra work to keep me busy in the coming weeks...

Sunday was Father's Day. I was really excited to get to splurge a little and get Ry a couple of fun things for him and a couple of fun things for him and the baby. Because we've finally chosen a name (and no, we're still not telling what it is!), I bought a letter "M" for Ry to hang in our little man's room! We went to visit both of our dads in the afternoon and enjoyed spending some time with our families.

Monday, we had two doctor appointments. Appointment #29 was our sixth ultrasound. It went well, though I could have cried when the nurse told us that the baby is 7 pounds, 7 ounces... While I sat in a state of shock, Ry chatted away with the nurse. He asked her some questions about the amniocentesis we've been informed we have to have. She told us a couple of stories about dads passing out for them, LOL! After she was done with us, we saw Dr. Schemmer for the first time in months. He was unusually pleasant and actually fun and nice to talk to this time. He told us to set up our amniocentesis for three weeks.

Here are photos and the video of our latest ultrasound... P.S. The video has a lot of pauses because the nurse was telling us stories, and the baby is getting big so it's hard to see much now!

Ultrasound Video


Baby's profile!

Baby's boy parts!

Baby's foot!


As soon as we were finished with the ultrasound, we went to have another non-stress test. That went well and we were happy to be finished with doctor appointment #30!

We stopped at the nurses desk to schedule our amniocentesis before we left. Apparently nothing was open for Monday, July 12, so we scheduled an appointment bright and early on Tuesday, July 13. I guess what will happen is we will go in for another ultrasound and the amniocentesis. Then we will have another non-stress test. If everything looks good, they will call my doctor and ask him if he wants us to have the baby that day or the next. So, it looks like our little one should be here either on July 13 or 14! We are excited and nervous about it. I'm not sure if we'll be induced of if they'll have to give me a C-section. I guess we'll find out the day of that appointment!

Wednesday, we hit 35 weeks in our pregnancy! So here is your update on that...

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"Your baby stands tall this week--if he or she could stand, that is--at about 20 inches, and continues to follow the 1/2-pound-a-week plan, weighing in at about 5-1/2 big ones. While growth will taper off when it comes to height (the average full-termer is born at about 20 inches), your baby will continue to pack on the pounds up until delivery day. Something else he or she will be packing on in the few weeks that remain are brain cells. Brain development continues at a mind-boggling pace, making baby a little on the top-heavy side. And speaking of tops, it's likely your baby's bottom is. Most babies have settled into a head-down, bottoms-up position in Mom's pelvis by now, or will soon. That's a good thing, since it's easier on you if baby's head (the biggest part of his or her body) exits first during delivery. Here's another plus: Baby's head may be big, but it's still soft (at least, the skull is), allowing that tight squeeze through the birth canal to be a little less tight."

-text from What to Expect When You're Expecting

-photo from http://www.babycenter.com

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Today we had doctor appointment #31--yet another non-stress test that went well!

:-)

Hope everyone is doing well! Check back hopefully on Monday for the latest check-up with the OB.

-Aubrey

The Past Week and Two Days...

And the winner for the biggest slacker in the world goes to... ME!!

I feel like I am dragging and like I will never catch up...

Anyhow, let me break down the past nine days for you!

Wednesday, June 9th, we hit 33 weeks... Here is your update!

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"Baby's gaining weight almost as fast as you are these days (averaging out to about half a pound a week), which puts the grand total so far at more than 4-1/2 pounds. Still, your baby has plenty of growing up (and out) to do. He or she may grow a full inch this week alone and may come close to doubling in weight by D-day. And with that much baby inside your uterus now, your amniotic fluid level has maxed out (there's no room for more fluid now). Which explains why those pokes and kicks are sometimes extremely uncomfortable: There's less fluid to cushion the blows. Antibodies are also being passed from you to your baby as your little one continues to develop his or her own immune system. These antibodies will definitely come in handy on the outside and will protect your baby-to-be from many of those playground germs."

-text from What to Expect When You're Expecting"

-photo from http://www.babycenter.com

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Thursday I had another non-stress test. This was appointment #25. The baby and I were both sleepy, I guess, because he wasn't as active as they wanted him to be. So they used a little buzzer thing to wake him up. He started moving around a lot and then the doctor and the nurses were happy and let me go home.

On Friday after work, I started helping my little sister, Brooke, with my baby shower preparations. She wanted to throw my baby shower and I wanted to help her out. So I ordered two six-foot subs from Wal-Mart and crossed my fingers that we'd actually get them (the girl who took my order seemed really put out to have to make more six-foot subs for Saturday). The weather was pretty bad all week and we were planning to have the baby shower at the Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove. Luckily Brooke was able to change the location to the Pleasant Grove Community Center instead!

Saturday, Ryan helped me out a ton! I had so many things to do and he made the brownies for the baby shower so I could attend to my other obligations of the day.

Anyway, after a long day, I finally headed to the baby shower. Brooke and me and a bunch of family got things set up so we could eat. I handed over my camera to my mom to take pictures. She did a great job and got everyone's picture, so thank you, Mom! And posted below are some of the photos she took...

First up is my cute little sister, Brooke! She threw together the entire baby shower and did a great job! I would like to thank her so much for everything! I had so much fun seeing everyone!

These are my friends, Angel (holding her first son, Jaxon) and Aubrey. Angel just announced that she is expecting baby #2 and Aubrey came to my baby shower on her birthday!

My cousins, Kiera and Sabrina!

My Aunt Reta and her granddaughter, Autumn!

My older sister-in-law, Melissa, and my mother-in-law, Valerie!

My Aunt Madeleine!

My Aunt Betty and my grandma! My grandma informed me yesterday that on her way to my baby shower she fell on the stairs at her house and fractured her tailbone and got a concussion... I'm a little upset that she didn't tell me then and go straight to InstaCare or the emergency room, but I was glad she was there... :-/

Aunt Lynn and my dad's girlfriend, Michelle!

Michelle again and her daughter, Chainda!

Dad's cousin, Cindy!

My step-sister, Amanda!

My friend Noemi's mom, Noemi, Cozette, and Cozy's baby boy, Braxton!

My cousin, Amy! Brooke put her in charge of handing out the cute blue Mardi Gras beads!

Me and my mom! LOL!

Me and my friend, Kim!

My cousin, Ashley, and her son, Noran! She wants to have baby cage fights when my little one gets here, LOL!

My friend, Rebecca, and me!

My friend Amber, and her friend, Savanna (holding her baby boy, Rykar)!

Patti and me!

Me opening gifts in the VERY comfortable rocking chair my mom gave me!

Brooke helping me out!

Rubber duckies!

The cute little T-shirt Brooke got for her first nephew!

Balloons!

Gifts!

The cute little goodie bags Brooke put together in the cute basket she got us!

The cupcakes Brooke made!

The veggies and fruit Brooke and I (and Ryan) prepped!

Anyway, the baby shower was definitely fun. Thank you to everyone who came, everyone who helped set up and clean up, and to everyone took food home for me! Thank you to my mom, Michelle, Grandma, Chainda, Russ, and Ryan for helping get everything back to my house! And thank you especially to Brooke for making it all happen! I had so much fun and loved every minute of my baby shower!

On Sunday I got home from work to find out that Ryan had finished the touch-up paint in the baby's room and put up the wallpaper. He also put together the crib and the stroller! He did such a good job! I love our baby's room!! It is so cute!!



Monday I had an appointment with my OB. This was appointment #26. The doctor said my uterus is measuring at about 38 weeks... He said that the baby is big and we may need to consider doing a C-section. But I don't really care to get into details right now...

I cancelled my diabetes appointment that day because I didn't realize that it overlapped with the OB appointment. But later that day we had appointment #27--another non-stress test. This one went well. The nurse was a little bit overly worried about the baby's heartrate going back to where it was originally when she first started the monitor, I thought, but I guess it's nice to know that she's one of those who makes absolutely sure that everything is going okay. It means that the baby is especially okay!

Tuesday we went to see Ryan's step-mom, Maralee, for her birthday. I got the phone number of my sister-in-law's pediatrician and a family practitioner she's really liked. I need to start making some phone calls...

Yesterday I had an incredibly frustrating day at work, but oh, well, I guess... My boss is trying to set up "set schedules" for every department and expected me to know what my schedule is going to be in October, and even after repeatedly telling him I didn't know what my schedule was going to be, he seemed to expect an answer...

Anyhow, we also hit 34 weeks yesterday, and here is your update for that!

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"Your baby could be as tall as 20 inches right now and weighs about 5 pounds. Got male (a male baby, that is)? If you do, then this is the week that his testicles are making their way down from his abdomen to their final destination: his scrotum. (About 3 to 4 percent of boys are born with undescended testicles, which is nothing to worry about; they usually make the trip down south before the first birthday.) And in other baby-related news, those tiny little fingernails have probably reached the tip of his or her fingers by this week, so make sure you have baby nail cllippers on your shopping list!"

-text from What to Expect When You're Expecting

-photo from http://www.babycenter.com

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And finally, today... Yet another non-stress test! Appointment #28. It went well again today. The little guy was tuckered out once again, I guess. They had to do the buzzer to wake him up, and after that, they were pleased with the results. I'm starting to have more contractions and I was lucky enough to actually feel them when I saw them on the screen. So now I know how a contraction feels to me! I'm not sure I like them so much, but at least I know how they feel!

Anyway, that is it for today... I think I'm ready for bed already, LOL!

Stop by next week for more!

-Aubrey

The Past Week - Sorry Again!

I have yet again lagged behind on this blog... My apologies for the thousandth time!!

So on Tuesday last week, we had our first non-stress test at the hospital (doctor appointment #22). For those of you who don't know (I admit I didn't!), a non-stress test involves monitoring the fetal heart rate and calculating the amniotic fluid index with ultrasound. The test takes 30-40 minutes unless the results indicate a need for prolonged testing or a biophysical profile. Anyway, so what happens is you crawl into this high up chair that is really uncomfortable, especially if you have your hair in a pony tail. Then they strap two monitors to your belly--one to monitor the baby's heartbeat, and the other to measure any contractions. Then you sit there for the 30-40 minutes while the computer charts the the results. If everything goes smoothly, you attempt to hoist yourself out of the chair and go home. And I don't know what happens if everything doesn't go smoothly, because everything went smoothly for us. Oh, and the nurse said that our baby was doing some fetal breathing and that that is a good thing.

On Wednesday, we hit Week 32. Here is your belated update!

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"This week your baby is tipping the scales at almost 4 pounds and topping out at just about 19 inches. And growing isn't the only thing on the agenda these days. While you're busy getting everything ready for baby's arrival, baby's prepping for that big debut, too. In these last few weeks, it's all about practice, practice, practice, as he or she hones the skills needed to survive outside the womb, from swallowing and breathing to kicking and sucking. And speaking of sucking, your little one has been able to suck his or her thumb for a while now (okay, maybe it's not a survival skill, but it sure is cute). Another change this week: Your baby's skin is no longer see-through. As more and more fat accumulates under the skin, it's finally opaque (just like yours!)."

-text from What to Expect When You're Expecting

-photo from http://www.babycenter.com

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Thursday of course was doctor appointment #23--another non-stress test at the hospital. This one went well, too, except for the fact that the baby moved too much and knocked the monitor off balance. The nurse had to come in and turn the ultrasound on to make sure he was doing okay. She said he was doing some more fetal breathing and that he was doing just fine.

On Friday, my step-sister, Taylor, graduated from high school in Layton. Ryan couldn't come to her graduation because he had too much going on at work and we were told about her graduation date a little late, but we are both proud of her! Here is Taylor with her dad and my mom!

On Sunday, Ryan and I were going to finish wallpapering the baby's room. Unfortuately, for the second week in a row, all Babies "R" Us had was one opened roll of the paper we needed. A girl looked it up for us and said that the computer said they had three in stock, though they obviously didn't... So we just ordered some online instead. It should be here tomorrow so hopefully we'll have a chance to get it up soon!

Also on Sunday, I saw our neighbor, Kathy, outside. Her niece was three weeks ahead of us in her pregnancy and was being induced early like us, so I asked Kathy if she'd had the baby yet. She told me that her niece had lost the baby--at her last ultrasound, the heart wasn't beating. Because we have a high risk of still birth, I was devastated to hear the news. I can't even imagine how it would feel to be so close to meeting my baby and to lose it in one horrible moment. Ryan and I are both so excited and love our son so much already. He is our world. As we get closer and closer to the end, I am so afraid of losing our little boy. I'm hoping that everything goes well and that I will be holding him in my arms in the next month or so. I've been nauseous non-stop for over a week now, and everytime the baby moves, it makes me feel even more sick. But I've decided now that it's worth the nausea. As long as the baby is moving, I'm told he is happy and healthy. Regardless, Ryan and I are truly grateful for any thoughts and prayers sent our way as the time draws ever near.

Yesterday was doctor appointment #24--yet another non-stress test. The baby did great again, so we were pleased to hear that.

Anyway, that's been the past week! The baby shower is this Saturday and my sister needs to know who is coming and who isn't, so if you haven't talked to her yet, please do! Or get in touch with me. Also, if you haven't received and invitation and would like to come, please let me know!

Hope everyone is doing well! Check back tomorrow for the 33 Week Update!

-Aubrey