Going to have a baby in 2.5 - 3.5 weeks

I'm due on Valentines Day but according to my doctors, she will be joining us in probably in about 3 weeks because they want to take her between 36 - 37 weeks so that would be anytime between Jan. 17 - 24 ish. In a way I'm really excited for several reasons selfishly because I'm not as comfortable as I'd like to be and won't have to go full term and also because I can't wait to hold & kiss on her! Then part of me is a little nervous mostly because I don't feel ready for her yet mostly because I don't have everything I need for her yet and want her to be healthy. I honestly think she will be fine but then there's a tiny bit of worry in the back of my mind for the what ifs like her lungs and the possibility of blood transfusion(s).

I did get a car seat, stroller, swing and a diaper bag last weekend so at least I have a car seat to bring her home with. Will needs to finish sanding and painting her crib & changing table, we need to paint her room (buy paint first), wash the clothes that my sister gave me & her bedding. BUT I still need to get diapers, wet ones, soap, lotion, bottles, going home outfit, headbands, blankets and the list goes on and on (hopefully I will remember what else I need, it's been so long! ha ) and I need to do it fast, but I also need to keep my feet up and take it very easy. A bit of a dilemma. :O) My doctor put me on the contraction monitor today and they were about every 20 minutes and at a 60 on the scale, so she said I'm pre-term labor that's why she wanted to put me on bed rest. I begged her not to and promised to lay down if I had more than 4 contractions per hour it would totally shorten my maternity leave and I'd rather spend the time with the baby not on bed rest.

Next Monday I'll have blood work done again to see if the antibody level has increased in my blood then that Wednesday, Jan. 6th they'll do another ultrasound/Dr. appt to see how baby is. If any of the levels have increased, antibody or baby's anemia we might have this baby girl that same day, however Will and I are optimistic and feel that everything will be alright. We will take it week by week. I just hope that my Mom is able to change her flight to be here with me if not she'll be coming on Feb. 5th which is still good.

What NOT to say to a pregnant lady & Belly shots

Taken 12/23/2009 @ 10pm

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This post contains complaining and may be offensive to some the author apologizes in advance READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

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Recording my baby's development and had requests for a couple of weeks now of current belly shots. I'm 33 weeks tomorrow the baby is probably about 4.5 lbs and 18 inches long. I've gained 21 lbs so far and this will probably be the baby that I gain the most with. But ya know there's nothing better to say to a pregnant woman who feels like a beached whale trying to waddle back into the ocean that she is huge especially by another woman who has children of her own! It really takes a genius to come up with this great comment! Isn't it common courtesy or common sense to NOT say things like that even if you think it? As if the constant stares at your belly aren't enough but to go and add such nice and sensitive comments like wow you are huge....really does a wonder on this whales confidence. I think I need a pregnant shirt that says, "If you can't say something nice to me, then please don't say anything at all"....or "yes I know my belly is big, yes I feel huge and NO I'm not due any day now although I can understand how you might not be able to calculate my due date but let me tell how blessed I feel to be having another child because bottom line this is a gift from Heaven and your stupid comments shouldn't make me want to cry about it" or "no really please tell me how huge I am because I couldn't tell that my belly was bigger because my feet still look skinny!" or "YES... I'm growing another human life in my belly so undoubtedly it makes my belly bigger!" Now maybe I'll change my mind about the shirt thing tomorrow and this is just the lack of sleep I've been experiencing or the hormones talking but seriously say something else besides WOW YOU ARE HUGE to pregos we don't care to hear what we already know and feel!!!! The kids put their letters to Santa on the tree because we didn't mail them in time. I let them decorate the tree all by themselves this year and decided to not have a theme and be all controlling and matching....it felt nice. :o)

I seriously had 4 hours of sleep last night due mostly to my hip and the extreme pain it causes when I try to roll over in bed so I can try to sleep on one side or the other...yes it's the beached whale syndrome and feels great to try and sleep on the side that has a dislocated hip & pelvic & s.i. bone. She's worth every ounce of pain I have and more! I can't wait to have a baby girl in this house! :o) Worked 6am to 1pm then went shopping from 1:10pm until 4pm, wrapped gifts for the next 2 hours, then drove with the family out to a friends house that is about 40 minutes away, visited for a couple of hours and delivered all the gifts and bags of clothes, decided to skip the Temple Lights tonight and drove home as you can see in the picture my eyes are looking pretty droopy and sleepy town is calling my name.

Update 12-22-09

Been too busy to update my blog but we are all doing well. I'm not ready for Christmas and am so glad that tomorrow I get off at 12:30pm and then have all day Thursday off. As of 12/18 Friday baby girl's anemia is the same and my antibodies are the same so she's safer to stay right where she is at! What a huge blessing! Calvin & McKenna are on winter break and loving it. They are excited for Christmas of course and enjoying playing with their friends and outside the past few days. It's still 65 or so degrees here although today it was a bit colder and we had a good rain storm. Will is luckily staying busy with real estate and bpo's. He seems to be working all of the time but at least a lot of it is from our very own home. My belly is getting huge and I still am amazed every time I feel the baby move! I feel so blessed to be having another baby so no matter what drama or pain she is worth it! :o)

Baby Sophia Update

Went again today and had a level 2 fancy ultrasound and baby Sophia's anemia levels were lower today than Friday so that is good news!!! Her blood is healthier today than Friday! She looked great and then we waited and waited to see the specialist....the perintologist and she talked to us for a very long long time. Basically she wanted to do a bunch of non-sense tests that wouldn't result in anything for this pregnancy. She had both of us go get our blood drawn today and so by the time we were done it was an all day event with a ton of waiting in waiting rooms!!! She wanted Will's blood to confirm that he is a carrier of Big E since the baby is and to see if he has two Big E's or one big and one little e which will determine the risk for anything in the future. She wanted to test my blood to see if my antibodies had increased and we will have the results on Friday. If my antibody levels have increased then they will have me come back in for another ultrasound right away if they are the same or less it will be in 2 weeks. So in other words and to sum it up she might come early but she might just stay right where she is at and if my levels and her levels stay good she could be a full term baby which would be the absolute best thing!!! Thank you Heavenly Father!!!

Dr. Appt Results & Pics of Our Baby Girl

Yesterday the Dr.'s office called me and said that I didn't need to see a genetics specialist that I needed to see a perintologist and one wouldn't be in until Monday so I would only have an Ultrasound. So I went to the ultrasound and my Mother-in-law Maggie met me there. When the tech was done she said she had to have a doctor review it but that Baby girl probably Baby Sophia was great! 3 lbs 12 oz with their fancier machine and at the 48% percentile of babies at this stage which is 30 weeks 6 days so practically 31 weeks.

A doctor came back and said she needed to continue with the ultrasound to look at one more thing she was a genetics specialist and extremely nice! She looked at the babies brain and at a specific blood vessel in her brain and explained to me that it appears that the antibody anti-e is possibly taking effect on the baby by causing her to be anemic and they determine how anemic she is by looking at this vessel in her brain, the faster is goes the more anemic she is. She said she was a little anemic but would have to put the numbers into the complicated equation to tell us how anemic (should know Mon).

She explained more of what the anti-e was and that Will is probably a negative blood and carrier of anti-e and that I probably developed the antibody because I'm obviously not a carrier of it in my blood. She said this probably happened in a previous delivery or miscarriage. She said that the perintologist would go over all of this on Monday and that they might want to test Will. She told me that our baby was great in every other way but Monday they want to do another ultrasound to look at that vessel in her brain to see if she is more anemic and we can go from there. I asked her if she is what would they do she said that they would access how anemic and try to have her stay in the womb until at least 34 weeks if I was less along like in the 20 weeks and she got more anemic they would want to do a blood transfusion through the umbilical cord which can pose a few risks but because I'm further along they would take her via c-section and she would possibly have to get some blood transfusions as soon as she was delivered to give her clean blood that isn't being attacked by the anti-e antibody. So she said everything looks pretty good come in Monday and let's see what levels we are at and hopefully we can just do an ultrasound every week to make sure she's not in the severe anemic stage and we can get you past 34 weeks. That is only 3 weeks away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look at her chubby little cheeks so cute!!! I can't wait to kiss those lips!!!

It was a relief being able to talk to a doctor who explained this a bit more to me. I asked if I could do anything to help her anemia because I'm anemic also and was just given a RX for iron she told me to take it...it couldn't hurt but it probably wouldn't do much good if the anti-e was the culprit making baby girl anemic because it was in her blood trying to destroy her red blood cells making her blood more watery thus going faster through her vessels. We left with hope because I thought they would say oh you need an amniocentesis right away and blah blah instead she said your baby is good size, overall very healthy, moving great and responding well and super cute she should be fine even if we had to take her early.

BUT Holy cow we don't have anything set up or bought or ready for this little girl and she could be born in 3 weeks (well actually less I guess but Monday we'll see for sure)! I hope she isn't because that is still too little and she would probably have to stay in the hospital for awhile until her lungs developed fully etc. I would prefer 6 weeks before delivery. :o) We haven't cleaned out the room that will be hers and currently it is a craft office room for me with all sorts of junk in it, we need to paint her room, need to sand and paint the crib & changing table, get bedding, we don't have anything else for her so I need to get the basics and a car seat immediately! Brandy gave me lots of clothes luckily some are preemie clothes because Kyah was only 5 lbs so I need to wash them up and sort them. I don't have a dresser for her or anything I'll need to get diapers and stuff and pack up my bag and be ready I just in case. I truly feel stressed to get ready and usually would have been because I'm such a planner and want everything perfect but life has been too crazy busy and work has been extremely busy with 10 -12 hour days this entire week.

By the way thanks so very much for caring, for praying for us, for offering to go with me to the appointment and for the words of encouragement it truly has helped!!!! I appreciate it so much!!! I plan on getting a blessing this weekend and going shopping & packing my bag today!!!

Here's some pictures of baby from yesterday....look at those full lips and chubby cheeks!!! I LOVE IT!!! Allot like Calvin had. Sorry if these pictures freak any of you out I'm amazed and love seeing what she looks like because I'm so impatient! The best part about this whole ordeal to me is the awesome 3d or 4d ultrasound that shows me exactly what she looks like because I love that kind of stuff it amazes me! :o)

This one the cord is near her face on the right side so it made it a bit blurry

and she didn't turn all the way so the machine couldn't get her full face

She's not a hairlip she was starting to make a face and the cord is still there
The tech said she has hair but you can barely see any both of my other two were baldies :o)

Her face is in there and she had raised her hands & the cord so it's a bit blurry

Her profile with both fists up...if you look close you can see her full lips sticking out. :o)

Again, thanks for all the support and prayers! We hope this little dolly stays right where she's at and that she doesn't get more anemic and we can go full term or at least a few more weeks so she's got a better set of lungs. :o) Sorry Mom looks like you might have to change your flight.

A little nervous - level 2 ultrasound & genetic spec appt tomorrow

So today the referral department had the specialists office call me and they wanted me to come in today or tomorrow for the level 2 Ultrasound and said that immediately after the fancy ultrasound that I would be seeing the Fetal & Women's Genetics Specialist. I asked them why and they said it was because of the antibody anti-e in my blood. I asked why they needed to see me so quickly and she said because it said on the order ASAP.

So I'm scheduled for tomorrow at 1:30pm and Will can't come with me because he is having more dental work done and can't cancel because the dentist will be closed during the holidays and having to utilize the insurance before the end of the year thing.

Do these people know how much of a heart attack or worry they can cause a pregnant lady who has wanted another baby for 7 long years??????? To top it off I'll have to go alone and probably not remember a word they say.

Still hoping that all is well and TRYING not to get stressed out about it.

Dr. Appointment Yesterday ?? Anti-E ??

So yesterday I had an ultrasound and doctor's appointment. The ultrasound showed sweet baby girl but never would she look at us she kept turning her face and putting her arms and feet in front of her face so no good pictures darn it. She weights 3 lbs and 14 ounces and is in the 70% of babies that are in 30 weeks so kind of a porky. :O) Everything looked great with her according to the tech and the doctor.

The doctor however told me my 28 week lab results and said that my iron had dropped again and so I had to be put on RX strength iron, my potassium is still a low to keep taking the pills and eating lots of bananas etc but the thing that bothered me was that she told me that my blood came back with antibody anti-e in it and that it is treated like rh- factor and that I need to go see a specialist, have another $1180 ultrasound and more blood work done because it could attack the baby. Of course she also told me like three times not to freak out because the baby was great etc. I didn't understand what she was talking about really and neither did Will. She kept asking me if I had a blood transfusion and I said no.

Well after looking it up online it turns out that it's not treated quite the same as rh- factor because in rh- factor you get a shot to prevent your blood from making the antibodies that attack the foreign blood or thing in your body. I already have the antibody and so I have to have another level 2 fancy ultrasound to see if my blood is mixing with the babies or vice versa. The blood work will see if the antibodies have increased. My anemia or low iron could be partially contributed to the antibodies as well. I'm not freaking out about it because she could have the same blood type as me and there's nothing to worry about. Plus I already know I have to have a c-section and because I had pre-term labor with the other two it's crossed my mind that she might come a little early or bed rest might be in my future but it would have been great if she explained it a little bit better yesterday. I'm now waiting for the referrals department to call me in the next day or two to schedule this fancy ultrasound. Oh yeah I read that it can be caused by a blood transfusion or by a miscarriage or a previous child who had negative blood when Mom has positive blood and that my body could have made the antibody after I miscarried or delivered but once you create an antibody you always have it.

In my prayers last night & today I felt peace and comforted that everything would be ok so that is so awesome. I just hope that the antibodies don't attack or increase so she can continue to develop right where she's at and where she needs to stay for awhile longer. :o) I'm due on Valentines day but my doctor will take her by Feb. 8th if I don't go into labor or have problems before then. Besides my hip being dislocated and a few more braxton hicks contractions than I'd like today, I've feel great and feel so blessed to be pregnant! Well I guess I feel kinda of fat these days too but that's to be expected. ha ha

I'm wondering if anyone else has ever heard of this or dealt with it????

Rocco the Bird & Family Pictures Nov. 09

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving and stayed a week...it was great! My Mom & Jim have a bird named Rocco and he talks & sings a little bit and loves people. Here's a picture of Will and McKenna trying to get him to talk to them.
So a little bit later my Mom & Rocco's favorite lady comes over and starts singing to see if Rocco will join her. As you can see it ruffles his feathers. :o) Oh how my Mom loves Rocco so she's going to give him a little kiss like usual right. Except this time he decided to kiss her back! Yikes! She was hoping he didn't tear off her lip! Birds beaks are pretty strong and this was a first time event.

Oh sick Rocco! Luckily he let go softly and my Mom hurried and wiped off her mouth! We gathered around so Jim could take all of the pictures my Mom wanted of us...we all forgot to get group shots on Thanksgiving Day so this was the last night we were there last minute.

McKenna, Me, Will and Calvin 11/28/09

Jim (Pops) & Mom (Grammy) 11/28/09

McKenna (age 11.5), Me and Baby Girl

A whole group shot taken 11/28/09

front row: Kenna, Adia, Pops, Kyah & Calvin

back row: Will, Me, Mom, Brandy & Tyson

Another group shot

Adia & Calvin

Cute Cousins!

Me and Calvin hugging his baby sister :o)

Us girls Brandy my lil sis who wasn't feeling well, Mom and I

Will and I and baby girl bump :o)

I'll post more later but we had a great time! I miss them already and wish we all lived closer so we could be together more often!!!

Going to Utah...Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!! We are heading off to Utah to have it with my Mom & Sister. We are so excited to enjoy a week of being with them and not working :o)

My Step Dad Jim aka Pops & my Pretty Mom Sherri

My TV Sister Brandy & Kyah & Adia & Tyson :o)

And although our kids are going to miss playing on their new playhouse/swing set they are looking forward to playing with their cousins and hoping there is SNOW!!!

It's still 75-79 degrees here during the day so they play everyday after school on this thing! Below is Grammy's house a couple of years ago with the first snow of the season and they are really hoping for snow!

Will & I on the other hand hope that it the snow evades us as we drive and the roads are clear. We like to visit the snow but neither Will or I like living in the snow. I'm a sun shine girl and only like snow around Christmas. :o)


If there's no snow on the ground at my families houses then we will drive up to the snow because the kids are set on building a snowman while we there and I can't say I blame them!

I am so thankful for so many things but most especially for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father, for his Son Jesus Christ who atoned for our sins, for the Holy Ghost, for being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, for having a testimony of the gospel, for repentance, for all of my freedoms, for the men and women that have and continue to make that possible, for great friends and especially for my wonderful FAMILY!!!

Hope you all get to enjoy lots of yummy food and be surrounded by the people you love!

November 09 Update Post

I know it seems kind of vain to put a bunch of pictures of myself on my blog....I'm sorry to those of you looking at it...but in my "advanced maternal age" I realize that I should document my appearance more than I did with the first two. So my apologies in advance as this is really more for my memories and for my Mom & Sister who are out of state and can't view my baby bump on a regular basis. :o)

26 weeks pregnant Nov. 7, 2009

At the end of a busy day and late night movies with the fam.

11.7.09
Side view and yes I'm definitely showing!
11.07.09
Calvin started off the month being sick and missed an entire week of school. We tried all week to get him to pull these two teeth out. Here he is on Thursday 11/5/09 with his 2 I mean 4 top front teeth! He wouldn't pull them and was scared to death of anyone getting within 2 feet of him. The dentist had to pull the bottom four because he started growing a row of teeth behind his baby teeth! My kids are sharks I guess because McKenna did the same thing! Braces are in their future I'm sure.
11.5.09
Look at how loose they are when he bites down. The one on the right starting turning a darker shade because it was dead but he wouldn't pull it out. I got frustrated and tried to get out myself and to be honest it was holding on by something because it bled.
11.5.09
He finally pulled the one on the right later that evening but the one on left stayed in until Saturday when it fell out while he was eating pizza. We celebrated by going out to eat dinner at Dave's Famous BBQ and then went and watched A Christmas Carol with Jim Carey. The food was great the 3d movie well it was a bit dark. We thought we'd feel all Christmas-ee but we surely didn't. Calvin thought it was Halloween and Christmas. The 3d screwed up about half way through the movie and so we ended up watching the last of it in regular which was probably a blessing because it got a bit scary with the 3d popping out in front of your face for Calvin and I. They gave us 2 free movie passes each as we left so it worked out.

Even though this is right after he pulled it out it looks like his new teeth have been growing in for a couple of months! He looks so cute and sounds so funny without his front teeth. :o) 11.7.09
I know I know enough pix of me....Kenna snapped these two pictures of me today when I got home. I'm now almost 27 weeks (26 wks 5 days technically) and I've gained 15 lbs! I went to the doctor yesterday and because my hip is still dislocated she is sending me to physical therapy and giving me a 6 month temp handicap sign for my car. She wanted to give me a walker but I told her I would be too embarrassed to use it and would wait until it was more difficult for me to walk. Little Sophia's heart beat was 146 beats per minute and according to the baby websites she is approximately 2 lbs and 13-14 inches long. She's very active which is awesome! I love having the reassurance she is alive and kicking and it is still such a neat feeling to feel her move unless she hits something vital. :o) We are scheduled for a growth ultrasound on 12/2/09 and I'm very excited to see what she looks like again and just for peace of mind verify the gender again. My doctor said I could have the c-section anytime around Feb. 7th and we will schedule it the end of Dec. My Mom will be flying in the morning of Feb. 5th and staying for 3 weeks which I'm very excited about since my last 2 c-section recoveries were rough. I have the best Mom in the world well at least in my world!!!
11.12.09
If you think I look tired and big I am...unfortunately it is painful to sleep on my sides with this silly hip thing but she's worth it and I have less than 3 months to go. I usually gain all of the weight between now and the end looks like I will be huge!!! I feel big already :o)
11.12.09

My poor Mom had to have another back surgery that makes for 3 or 4 now and had some complications so they kept her in the hospital last night. I talked to her today and she said it was the worst night ever. It breaks my heart. She was released today though around 3pm and is home now but in lots of pain. :o(

11.8.09
This post is a bit out of order but I'm too tired to change it....here's some family pictures we took just outside of church on Sunday, Nov. 8th. We had a ward picture right before which they took right after the Primary Program and as it turns out it was McKenna's last one ever as she will turn 12 and be in Young Women's before the next one. She's growing up too fast! Look at how tall she is already I think she's 5 ft 3 inches and Calvin is getting bigger too. Kids grow up too fast!!! I want them to stay little forever! Unfortunately Kenna started feeling a bit sick yesterday and came home from school today but she has no fever or anything was just tired and had a tummy ache. I hope it's not female tummy aches like some are suggesting my baby is too young for that!

11.8.09

So tomorrow is Friday the 13th of November and it is also my honey's 39th Birthday! He has such a baby face still and if he wears a hat and just shorts/t-shirt people think he's a teenager still! He usually stays busy with real estate but every now and then he gets to do a few fun things....tomorrow he is escorting Calvin's 2nd grade class to the Phoenix Zoo and then he and Calvin are going to take off with a buddy to go check their predator cams up in the mountains or otherwise known as scouting for a hunting trip. We were going to all go but it's supposed to snow and be below 32 degrees...so they decided that us girls would probably opt to stay home regardless of a 5th wheel trailer to stay in. :o) And it wouldn't be complete without doing some predator calling while out there and practicing with their bow and arrows so really just a bunch of guy stuff and I don't really feel like camping in the snow. I know they will have more fun without us anyways.

So I just want to wish Will a very Happy Birthday tomorrow!!! I love ya babe more than anything!!!

Halloween 2009

McKenna, her best friend Sierra and Calvin 2009 They look so cute!

Will & I (yes that baby bump is getting bigger...we took a vote last night and I think we might go with Sophia/Sophie but one can never be sure we still like Lauren too! :o)

Calvin took a very close up of us but Will looks too handsome for me not to post the picture so just look at him. :o)

The girls enjoying their candy!

ARGG me hearties.....checking out his loot!

Today was busy we cleaned house, kids had friends over to play, Will helped a family move and had an inspection and I went to see my Grandma Glenna who was flown to a Mesa Hospital late Thursday night with heart problems today. She is doing better and should have test results tomorrow we are all praying that it is just her battery in her pace maker that needs replacing. We were worried she had another stroke but she did not.

Will took the kids Trunk or Treating at church and then we went to a great Halloween Birthday Party at the Nolan's House! (forgot my camera) Will and I didn't dress up as you can see but enjoyed everyone else's costumes! The food and company was great and we had a great time! Happy Birthday to Tiffany and thanks for putting on such a great party! :o)

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!