One Month Before to One Month After!!!

Yes I know that it has been a while probably way to long and no one is interested anymore. But now that Josh is home and I can actually do stuff again I am going to try to start this up once more!

Well after going into pre-term labor on Dec 10th i was put on modified bedrest which pretty much meant I could do normal things just not a lot of it. Like i could go shopping but just one store, or i could move around my house but only up and down the stairs once...things like that and No Work!! Well that made it for a very interesting month and a half to say the least. I am most definitely not a home body but had to learn to be one quickly. Lucky me though it was around the holidays and we had family coming in to town and Dave had taken off work so I think I only spent a couple days actually alone.

During that next month and a half we had several false labors. I think it was happening every weekend. I would have contractions about 3-5 min apart for hours then they would just disappear. It definitely made me an emotional wreck...is he coming isn't he coming. I was pretty much done being pregnant at this point. Well Friday January the 22 came and i again was having my contractions we decided to go in to the hospital because they had gone on long enough when we got there they said i was still 3cm dilated but defiantly having contractions they were at 5 min apart but that was not "good" enough for them. They sent me walking. Dave and i decided to go to the PX and walk around for about 2 hours. We went back and they said his head was lower but i had not dilated any more so they sent me home.

Monday the 25th came around and Dave was getting ready to go to work, it was about 5 am when he was about to leave i told him to be ready for a call, i was just feeling different at this point. He left and the contractions started. This whole time I was the type of pregnant lady that had here contractions in her back so I would try as much as possible to rub it on my own. By this time i was a pro at it, I would rub a little then go take a warm shower and normally that would take care of it...Nope not this time. So i layed back in bed and tried to rest...that didn't help. I was definitely in pain. I started texting Dave asking to see if he could come home, he was unable at the time so I called my Parents at this point the contractions were about 2-3 min apart when my parents got there. we sat around for an hour or 2 trying to figure out what our plan was going to be. At about 12 we finally decided to just go to the PX and walk around again but at least be closer to the Hospital. We waited for Dave to get home and we left. We walked around that place so many times that Dave got to the point of "lets just go to the hospital already and have them tell us whats going on". I on the other hand didn't. My contractions again were slowing down and i hadn't noticed them get anymore painful. I didn't want to be that person that would go in to Labor and delivery 8 times because she keeps thinking she is in labor...being turned away once was good enough for me. If i was going in to L&D i wanted to know for sure. But my vote didn't count my parents kept telling me to go and same with Dave so we did.

At about 2pm I reluctantly walked in to L&D and i made Dave go check me in because i was so pissed. I wasn't feeling any contractions again at this point and was completely embarrassed. They hooked me up to the monitors to see what was going on. I think i the 20 min i was laying there i had 2 contractions. I again was an emotional wreck. When the Midwife came in to check me Dave and i were expecting me to be maybe 4 pushing 5 cm dilated when she looked at us and with disbelief herself told us i was 7cm we about died!!! He was coming and he was coming today!! The doc and nurses couldn't believe it i was just walking around and in no pain. That was short lived lol. Once they put me in my room and put the hep lock in just in case i needed an IV the contractions were back and rolling. I labored the whole time standing or squatting. I was having twin contractions which means i would have 2 contraction before i had a break which was no fun a wish it on no one. At about 4pm i was 8cm at about 7pm i was still 8cm so they broke my water, at about 9pm i was 9 cm and at this point i was soo done i wasn't progressing as fast as they thought i would i was falling asleep sitting i got to the point i just wanted to lay in bed because my legs were tired of standing even though the bed makes contractions 10x worse.

Finally i asked for the epidural by the time she came i was already 10cm and while they were giving it to me they told me i could push. I almost made it!!! I was able to get my energy back with the 5 minutes rest before I started pushing around 10pm and Josh was born at 10:35pm on Monday January 25 7lbs 4.3oz 21inches long.

This last month has been good he is such a good baby. He only cries when he needs food. He eats about 4 oz at each feeding. Dave and I have gotten in to the swing of things! He now weighs about 10lbs and is still about 21 inches long. He is such a blessing!!









The Day he was born!



4 Weeks old

30 WEEKS!!!!

Here we go! I am 30 weeks today! 10 more weeks to go and i'm hoping to go 2 weeks early, but only time will tell. I am def at that uncomfortable stage...not to horribly bad but I have my moments. It takes me a while to get comfortable in bed at night and sitting on the couch def is a no go. It is funny hearing what people have to say about my size. Some look at me or a picture and tell me I'm huge...while others look at me and say wow your little to be 2 months away. So really who knows. I know i got big fast but really not getting to big in my eyes. These next 2 months I will probably blow up and i can't wait :)

I had my "big" baby shower this last Saturday, and had a blast. It was so nice blue and green everywhere. The ladies that put the shower together did an amazing job! The games were fun, the food was delicious, and the party favors were just toooooo cute!!! But the best part of all were the presents. We got so many nice things and such a range of items it was great. Dave and I still need a few 'big" items but everything else has been taken care of. What a relief to know we are good to go if I had this baby today! I will try to put pictures of the shower up soon but my mother has the camera. So stay tuned!

Marine Corps Ball! Baby's Room and Doc appointment!

Here is just an update of what our lives have consisted of these past few weeks!

The Marine Corps Ball! Where to start. Well I had bought my dress about a month before the dance. So I was set in that department. The Day of the dance I get off work early because I was going to do my hair and nails myself I didn't see spending the extra money for one night (the beauty of pregnancy you don't need fake nails). Well I think that I sat on our bathroom sink for like 3 hours messing with my hair nothing I did was making me happy. I ended up cutting about 2 inches or so off of my hair while I was trying to figure out what to do. (I needed a hair cut anyway) well finally I just went with my hair down nothing special. Since I had spent that much time on my hair on our way out of the door I realized that I had not painted my toes, which any other day no big deal, I grab the polish and attempted to paint my toes...big problem I couldn't reach them. So of course I look at Dave and ask for some help but since he was in uniform already he couldn't help either so I had to do some great bending I felt like a circus performer trying to paint my nails. Well after that was done we were on out way. We got to the Gaylord Hotel in the National Harbor,parked the car in the parking garage and started to walk, after about 15 steps my right shoe brakes. We walk back to the car and try to find something to rig my shoe up. Dave finds some chevrons (ranks), and proceeds to push the pins through the strap and sole of the shoe I put it back on and we are good to go. We make it all the way to the elevators, as Dave is opening the door I look at him and say "my other shoe just broke" (by the way calm as can be, Dave actually said he wished he would have gotten a little more emotion out of me) Well Dave walks back to the car and finds one of his Rifle medals, takes that apart and comes back with a bar and does the same to my other shoe. We go down the elevator and start walking towards the doors one of my shoes pop again we fix it and at this point I was just praying that i would make it inside. That was all of the drama for that night. We had a great time with some good people, we ate our food and when the music started Dave looked at me and that was my sign to say bye and head home!

The girls 2 of us are Preggo the one in the blue is a week behind me

Also I had my first baby shower Tuesday of last week. It was at much church and it turned out to be such a great time! There were like 20 people there and it really made me feel loved. I had always been on the other side, when I was little I would go with my mother to the showers and I would be the one that would give the gifts to the bride or mommy to-be. This time I was in that special chair with other little girls that came with their mothers handing ME the presents. It was so sweet! It def made me think..."wow I'm all grown up". While I was having a blast at the shower Dave was with the men of the church at IHop enjoying some pancakes and a good round table discussion i do believe it was " How to be a good baby daddy, while keeping baby momma happy". I thought it was great, Dave was a little out of his element but still had some fun!

After the shower the next day was Veterans day so of course I had to take all the new stuff out and wash and put away and decorate a little. So I did just that. Dave and I woke up went to IHop for breakfast (i was craving it after hearing that's where he went) then we went shopping. We hit up Lowe's for some Christmas decorations for the new house, then we went to Babies R us to get somethings that were still needed. And headed home. We then cleaned the house to bring in the new stuff and set up some of the baby stuff. That night I was in so much pain I was in tears. My back hurt so bad. I was out for two days Thursday and Friday i spent in bed but Friday when i thought i was feeling better boy i was wrong. I started getting Braxton Hicks contractions and those were no fun. My tummy would get as hard as a rock, but they passed. Sunday I did it to my self again and started decorating for Christmas, and decorating the baby's room while Dave was doing some homework. The house looks great but my back was killing me again. I think I have a problem with pacing myself when I feel up to it, I just go!!

Well besides all of that, I had a Doctors appointment this past Tuesday. Dave was finally able to make it to one it's been a while. I had to take the glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes. I had to drink this stuff that tasted like a really strong sprite, which was a lot better then thought and was told that it would be, and sit for an hour. But during all that I saw the doctor. I have gained 2 pounds these past 3 1/2 weeks which I thought was a little low but she thought it was perfect she also told me that I had only gained 16 lbs total i thought it was like 21 lbs but they count from the first appointment so it made me feel better :) she said I am right on track and couldn't be happier. We were also told that he was in the head down position which was funny because since about 4 months he has been transverse and comfy so he never moved and i was getting worried that he would not turn. But the last few days he had been more active then normal and i guess flipped himself around. Needless to say I'm happy!

I am attaching some pictures of the Baby's room still not finished waiting on the Name to go over the crib some clouds in the sky and our glider Enjoy!!

Some cute Wall art!

Still waiting for Dave to hang the cubby holes over the changing table!

Still missing his name above the crib

Cute Blanket that my mother made!

26 Weeks and Counting!!!

Well here we are at 26 weeks!!! There really hasn't been much going on since the last time that I posted...just our normal daily life stuff.

We were with out a car for a few days after we found out that the drive shaft needed to be replaced. Which would have been crazy expensive but thank God for Extended Warranty's.

Other than that nothing really major! The baby's room is coming along. We have all the furniture in, bought a new shelving unit to put over the changing table, the fan is good to go, the bedding set is on all we need is a BABY!!

This next month will be busy! We have the Marine Corps Ball on the 6th and I have 2 baby showers coming up. The First will be at the church! This will be the first baby in like 5 or 6 years so they are super excited. They call this baby their baby. The 2nd will be the "BIG" one. 2 ladies from church were nice enough to throw the main baby shower for me. I can't wait to have my friends and family there to enjoy this time together. And of course the presents...you gotta love presents.

My latest appointment was Tuesday Oct 27th, in 4 weeks I had only gained 3 lbs. I was soo happy, that's one of the things I hate the most is getting on the scale. I now have gained a total of 19 lbs I have about 3 months to go (hoping for about 2 and 1/2 ) and if I keep it up I should be golden! I am right were I should be!!!! Since i didn't have morning sickness I gained weight much faster I thought I would be huge...but its leveling out. They handed me my medical records and said you may want these if you go to the hospital...i was like now! They looked at me and said it could happen any day now. It hit me like a sack of bricks... o gee this baby can come now. It was nice to think about having a baby but I hope he stays in much longer than 26 weeks!

Well that's enough for now! I will post a little later.

Sporting Event!!!

So last Saturday we went to a Huskers vs. Virginia Tech game. It was a HOT game to go see. I had spent all week looking for tickets to this game it's not very often the the Huskers make it out this way so it's one of those things that you just have to do. The tickets were going for $200 a piece sitting in the nose bleeds I just couldn't see paying that much for tickets but I kept looking! I was on Ebay and StubHub! On craigslist and random sites trying my hardest to track down some tickets. This one guy that I had never met before from Nebraska saw my post on Craig's list and decided to lend me a helping hand. He would send me new post of tickets and contact people to see how much they were selling them for. He found this one post on Craig's list and emailed it to me. When I contacted the seller he wanted $100 each and they were on the 50 yard line 5 rows up as you can tell from the picture!!! SOLD!!

So we headed out early Saturday for our 4 hour car ride to Virginia Tech. We met up with some old High school friends of mine and went to the game. It was a great day for a football game. Huskers were playing well and we thought we had it in the bag but the last 40 sec of the game VT was able to throw a hail Mary and score a touchdown. What a way to end a game, but we were glad that we were able to be there!!!

House guest, Baby room and Promotion news!

We have had a house guest all last week. One of Dave's buddies from the Marine Corp got out and needed to stay an extra week so he stayed at our place...But we quickly put him to work. Dave took the week off to spend with him and do some painting in the babies room. We decided to go with a safari theme for the room and Dave picked out this really cute bedding set that has animals and different sport balls throughout. We decided to go with 2 colors for the room that matched the bedding. Blue on top like the sky and green on bottom like the grass. We were going to put a border that matched the bedding as well between the 2 colors but after we pulled the tape down we are not sure if its something that we are going to do or not. Below are a couple pictures of that day!


pretty much done not sure if the boarder is going to go up or not

Nick (the house guest painting away)

Dave in the picture he doesn't even need a step stool!

While they were painting Dave received a phone call with some Awesome news!!! He is finally getting promoted. This has been a long time coming. The MOS (job) that he is in has been 120% full for over a year now making it very hard to move up in the ranks...but finally he has seen the light and it couldn't come at a better time! He will be reenlisting in to the Marine Corp in December but LAT moving (changing jobs) and in that MOS it is much easier to move up. So now he will more than likely be able to pick up SGT sometime next year. But we will have to wait and see!!!

Going Great!!!

So it has been way to long since I blogged last it is funny how fast time flys when you are having fun so much to say! Let's see where to start. I had my 20 week U/S on the 21st. I had to drink 32 oz of water before the appointment needless to say I had to go to the restroom really bad on the way to the appointment. And of course I sat there 20min past my appointment time waiting. I felt like a child again having to cross my legs and do a little dance. Then during the appointment with all of the poking and prodding I about wet myself! But everything went great. It is amazing what you can see when they do those High resolution pictures. The tech was able to show us the liver, the 4 ventricle heart (beating of course soooo neat). We were able to see the different parts of the spine, then his little legs and arms including the bones inside. and of course his little profile!!! It is just amazing to see and how much he has grown in such a short amount of time! They are also able to push a button and you can see the blood flow in his body very neat as well! During the appointment they did several measurements on him the size of his head and size of his mid section/waist. Then they were able to tell me about how much he weighed...it was 14 oz almost 1 pound. According to the books at about this "age" they are supposed to weigh about 11.5 oz he was about 2 weeks ahead but they are not really worried! I have some great pictures but have not scanned them in yet so they will be up later!

It's A ......

What a weekend is all i have to say!!!

It was a long Thursday-Sunday. I think I had food poisoning or at least the food did not fall right with me. So I was out Thursday and Friday started feeling well Friday afternoon and decided to clean a little for the Wedding Shower at my house on Saturday. I don't know what i was thinking I looked at the tiles at my entrance and decided that they were dirty and sprayed bleach to whiten it...Dixie was playing on the stairs with her ball and it started to roll down the stairs i didn't want it getting into the bleach so I went to catch it and slipped on the wet tile and got a nice sized "whole" in my leg I hit the banister and cut it pretty well. Probably should have gotten stitches but I was alone and didn't want to move. Dave and JV got home and we decided to go get the food for the party. I managed to get up and go get the food to feed 20 some odd people. I had an appointment to find out the sex on Saturday before the party so I wanted to get all the food ready/put together before hand so we got home and I did just that...once I was done I went down stairs to help Dave finish cleaning when the phone rang...it was Casie telling me that the wedding was off at 9pm. I didn't know what to do I wanted to yell and cry at the same time. We had spent over $700 on this wedding between my dress Dave's Tux, shoes, presents, and food. Needless to say I was drained.

Saturday finally came and it was time to go to the appointment and got some wonderful pictures. We found out it is a Boy!!! Since my parents are in PR I called a cousin up and had her bake a cake and make the cake blue put white frosting on top and "can you guess what it is" written on it. She took it over to them so they could find out...when she got there she had locked the cake and keys in her car so my father spend 2 hours trying to get into the car so all the nerves were up...they called us when they finally got the cake and took pictures so we could see it while they cut the cake. All I heard in the back ground was my mother yelling BLUE!!! then yell "I WANTED A GIRL!!!!" it was too funny. But I'm glad we got to do it. It didn't work as well with Dave's parents what we did with them was upload the sonogram pictures to Wal-Mart for the 1 hour photo for them to pick up at theire Wal-Mart in Nebraska and they had to look at the pictures to find out. That was fun also.

I'm a little worried because JV already has some ideas up his sleeve for this poor little boy....But let the shopping begin!!!

Sunday morning we had to take JV to BWI at 7 in the morning he will be in New Mexico for the next 2 months.

That was my weekend!!!! Still in some pain but doing better.

Belly!

17 WEEKS (picture is 16 weeks)

I'm super excited! My belly is starting to look like a pregnant belly. We have bought our crib and nursery set, and for the first time Dave felt the baby move!!!

Last night i got home from a LONG day at work, all i wanted to do was relax. I sat down on my couch and that's when it all started. The baby just decided to do summersaults. I had felt the baby before but nothing like this just moving all around from one side to the other and around and around kicking and punching...after about 5 min my hubby gets home and after he changed i asked him to see if he could feel the baby (which he nor I could ever feel it on the out side) he decided to lay next to me on the couch he put a hand on my belly and his head on his hand. We sat there for like 5 min. and i could just feel the baby having a ball hoping that my hubby would be able to feel it. The all of a sudden my hubby jumps "i felt it i felt it!" he said. We layed there a little while longer, he enjoyed feeling the baby going back and forth and what felt like slamming in to his hand! He was supper excited asking me what it was doing. I looked at him with a smile on my face and said well now you know as much as I do. I am just super excited if you can't tell and had to share!!!

Can't wait till we have some more first!!!

Just another day!

So here I am 5 weeks 6 days pregnant and feeling OK. When I first found out I was Pregnant I had a little nausea and it kind of went away and I (of course) started to get worried. I thought here we go again. But yesterday and today its come back, When I am up and about is when it hits me the most, I rather have that then nothing at all.
I have my "First" Appointment on the 15th which Dave is not going to be there but it really is just to fill out paperwork and get like 10 viles of blood drawn. Trying to get a real appointment before we leave for Cancun to make sure everything is OK. It's the Military so who knows?!
But other than that we have 2 weeks until our Cancun Trip I am super excited to finally be able to go to Mexico. We got our Passports in and we are ready to go. I will keep you posted and put pictures up when we get back.

So it starts!

Well it's been a week now, that Dave and I found out we were pregnant again! Wahoo to us! I'm only 4 weeks and 3days pregnant. Dave is way more excited then I remember him being last time, that or I'm just more reserved this time around. It's been 7 months since we lost our first and hoping that this pregnancy is better. At this point I will take all of the morning sickness and extra stuff to have a healthy baby!

We finally told my parents at my Fathers birthday on Friday. We made him a shirt that said Grandpa-to-be February 2010 on the front and Grandpa V on the back with a number 1. They thought it was too cute!

As for me I'm feeling OK, every now and then I feel a little sick but it goes away. I am way tired can't stay up past 8. I take an hour nap then can't go back to sleep. But that's OK by me.

I will try to keep this Blog up to date we will see how well that goes and get some pictures up as well. Got the idea from my Neighbor which just had her baby last Wednesday and is way too cute. I know she probably did a better job of keeping it up to date than I will but only time will tell!


Pray for Dave and I and Baby McDowell