30 Weeks



    Wow, time is really flying by. It is hard to believe that I am 30 weeks already, just 10 weeks to go! Part of me wants it to slow down a little, really enjoy it (not that I am not enjoying it, but it is flying by). All you moms out there are going to laugh because I am sure you all know that in about 6 weeks or so I am going to be posting that I am so ready to be done! I feel pretty good. Sleeping is a little more difficult, finding a comfortable spot to sit so my back doesn't ache is a little more difficult, but all very minor things. Even the swelling in my legs is pretty limited to working my 12 hour shifts. I also can't say enough how much I enjoy feeling her moving! Those kicks, rolls and jabs are just so much fun!

  I had my 30 week appointment on Friday and although I have like all the nurse practitioners and doctors I have seen, I really like this Dr. Krause. He was really kind and told me what to expect in the coming weeks and why. For instance, everyone says "you need to feel 10 fetal movements in 2 hours or you should call the doctor." That has always made me a

little nervous because she is not a real active baby. What he said was that I should feel her move at least 10 times in 2 hrs once a day and mostly in her active time. The reason being is the further along you get the older the placenta gets (especially after 36 weeks). He said even if you have an appointment the next day at 8am, just give us a call if something doesn't seem right. I would hate to have someone wait too long and not find the heartbeat. The once nice thing is that we do have an at home doppler so I can check if I get nervous and it does really put me at ease. The doctor said right now things look really good. My weight gain is on track, although it feels like a lot to me (I have gained 20lbs so far). The average weight gain is 25-35lbs for pregnancy....now lets just hope I can lose it fairly easily! He also said my blood pressures are running great and the baby's heartbeat sounds fantastic. I am down to going every two weeks now!

  It is funny the things that get harder to do with a bigger belly. Shaving my legs, while do-able, is a bit trickier these days. Clipping my toenails is out of the question so it looks like I will be getting a pedicure in the near future. Work is still going pretty good, it is the bending over that gets me more than anything, but I am still doing my 12 hour shifts.

 I am really looking forward to my showers in the next couple of weeks. I am so blessed to have wonderful sister-in-laws and friends who will be throwing me showers. I also have some amazing work friend who will be throwing me a shower in July. I am certainly blessed (and so is this little girl) to have all this love and support.



My girlfriends Erika and Maija who are throwing my shower



  One of my friend's throwing the shower is experiencing some infertility treatment of her own at the same clinic. At this point, it is unexplained, but I hope for her that she doesn't have to go through all of the steps that I had to. Although worth it in the end, it is very hard, emotional journey to take so I hope and pray it is quick for her.     





My Friend Stephanie Madson

   I also have a friend who I have talked about before here. She is current undergoing her last round of  chemo and will be undergoing a stem cell transplant to try and rid her of her Hodgkin's lymphoma. In addition to all of that, she got some devastating news that this stem cell transplant, while it can do wonders for her cancer treatment, had a great risk of infertility. Not the kind of news you need in addition to all the other things she is going through. I know her and her husband will be wonderful parents whether through conceiving on their own or adopting, but I do hope she has the chance to carry a child of her own. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. She is a strong woman and there is no doubt she can get through all this, but it is a lot for a person handle and she deserves a break! We have been friends for a long time and although we lost touch through the years due to distance, that facebook has a way of getting people back in touch and I am so glad it did. Here is a picture to enjoy of us in kindergarten!





3rd Trimester!

At 28 weeks I have officially made it to my 3rd trimester. I had my 28 week appointment a little early (at 27 weeks) because they had to get the glucose screening test done. I wasn't that nervous, but with my mom having gestational diabetes with my brother, I knew there was a chance I could have it to. Luckily I passed so it is not an issue. My blood level was just slightly lower than they like to see it (hgb was 10.8 they like it 11 or greater), but they were not concerned and I don't need any supplements. My grandma asked me if it felt like it was going slow. I actually feel like it has gone very fast. I am trying to savor every moment since I am sure this will be my only pregnancy. I am trying to take in all those sweet baby kicks and rolls and even the comments "when are you due?", or "look at that cute belly." However, every week that goes by is just another week she is safer if she did happen to come early, so for that fact it is very comforting. Sleeping has become a little more difficult (I know, can you believe it? even for me!) only because I have to lay on my side and the pressure after a few hours tends to hurt and I have to flip. Oh and there is that little thing of having to get every few hours to pee, but for the most part it is just fine. I was even still rocking the mini heels yesterday! I had some minor cramping the other day in my lower abdomen that made me slightly nervous, but when I called they told me to drink more water and that it was probably just my uterus stretching. I laid down and had some water and low and behold they went away. I have been lucky to not have that round ligament pain that you read about so any kind of pulling/cramping is new for me and scared me a little. Like I said though, although it would not be ideal if she came out, I can breath a little easier knowing that she could do okay. However, little Paityn....STAY IN THERE!

  I spent some time at my friend Maija's house yesterday with her and her girls. We had a lot of fun hanging out in the sun. She also gave me a car load of things to bring home including a boppy, swing, and bouncy seat. I know I have said it before, but I am so blessed she is letting us borrow all of her stuff. We are saving a TON of money. We also hit up another just between friends sale in Elk River. She found some fun things for her girls and I found the below items (of course with super mom's recommendations):

I got all this stuff for $16.00 - not bad!

  I was at target the other day looking for a gift for our friend's Scott and Julie who are expecting girl number 2 any day now (literally just got a text after I wrote this sentence, little girl is born and is 9lbs 11oz!!!! Woooo Hooo). I have really been trying not buy any clothes because this little girls already has a ton of stuff.



That is just the closet. Not to mention I know she will get more stuff for her showers and I have a TON of clothes from Maija, but I just couldn't pass this outfit up. How cute is that skirt? It even has white undies underneath the skirt.



Seriously, could you pass it up?

   We also got the NEW and unbroken dresser that we bought. We are really happy with it. We just need the changing pad to do on top of it (of course we registered for it :) ) Also below I will put some pictures of the lamp that I mentioned in another post. I still need to get the orange ribbon on it and it will actually go on the nightstand, not the dresser. We will have to do a little room organizing since the window and the closet take up so much space, but everything should fit and hopefully look halfway decent. I don't have any artwork up yet, but my lovely girlfriends are going to help me with that soon. We are going to have a craft day!!!

 With mother's day coming up I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful mom and mother-in-law. There is so much love and support from the two of them! Last mother's day it was a very real possibility that I may never be a mom. This mother's day I am so overjoyed that I am pregnant and Brian and I will get to raise this little girl. For all those who are still experiencing infertility, it is long, trying journey filled with heartbreak. But hold your head high, because in the end, all those tears will be worth it!

What's in a name

  My friend, who is an avid reader of blogs, suggested that I do a post on how we came up with our daughter's name. Unfortunately, being a nurse,  a lot of names I correlate with patients I may have taken care of (most of them being a negative correlation). Brian liked a lot more names than I did and I spent the majority of the time shooting down his ideas.

  We were lucky enough to have some phone apps and a name book to search through names. Most people are surprised when I tell them that we have already come up with name, but once we found out what we were having, Brian wanted a name we could start calling the baby by. Some people are very adamant that a baby may not "look" like the name and to wait. I personally think a lot of babies look similar and don't really grow into their "look" until further along so that has never been something that has concerned us.

  Both Brian and I were never "set" on a name we had always wanted (well I guess that is a lie, I was set on the middle name) for a boy or girl so we just started throwing out ideas. Brian came up with the name Peyton for a boy. I told him I didn't like it for a boy, but for a girl I did. Brian didn't care if it was a boy or girl name, he just liked it. The more I started to think about the name the more I started to fall in love with it. Once we saw some of the meanings behind it, I was sold! From day one the embryologist called this baby a fighter and to give it a chance. With only one two-celled embryo, I knew if this baby took it was going to be a fighter. Depending on what app or book you look at, the name Payton comes from either "fighter's farm", or "from the warrior's village." How perfect!!!!

  There are three ways I have seen Payton spelled and, of course, we are going to spell it the least common of the three. PEYTON is often the spelling used for boys. PAYTON is the most common female spelling. PAITYN is another way to spell it and, to me, it is the feminine especially with it being a gender neutral name. People always warn you about spelling a name differently. They say "you will never find a cup with her name on it, etc." So many things can be personalized these days it doesn't even bother me. You can make a case with even the most popular names: Sara, Sarah, Katie, Kate, Katy, etc. I will tell her to not get mad if people spell it wrong, it her mom's fault :)

  The middle name I have touched on before. My great grandmother's name was MAE. I feel so blessed to have been able to enjoy 21 years with her. She died when she was 96 and was one of the most wonderful women I have ever met. Not only that, but my grandmother, mother, and myself all have the middle name of MAE. I told my great grandma before she died that if I had a girl, her middle name would be MAE also. I am so excited to carry on a such a meaningful name and can't wait to tell Paityn about her great great grandmother.

 So with is all decided, our little fighter daughter will be named:     

PAITYN MAE HIME