One month from today...

We will welcome Kylie Brynn into the world *squeal*  Most days I still can't believe I'm pregnant.  I know the growing belly and feeling her move should have gotten me over that but it took so long to get here that I honestly still have to pinch myself.  This afternoon I have an OB appt and from here on out appts are every week.  It's amazing how certain times seem to fly by and others crawl...I think I'll be flying from here to the end!

For all my girls in the TTC world I hope it helps to say that most of the bitterness and pain that accompanies the journey goes away during your long awaited pregnancy (which will come!!!) and is replaced by an overwhelming respect for how fortunate we are and how amazing our bodies are.  This is of course from my point of view...but it's been amazing to let go of all those negative feelings, which I NEVER thought I be able to. 

A big shout out to Katie and Rebecca whom I hope will be finding out great news very soon =)  I've got everything crossed for you!

Sad day...

Hi girls,

I'm going to take an uncharacteristic break from my perky self to say some things about a friend I found out died on Friday.  His name was Jamie and he was in his late 30's.  Apparently he was injured from work and on pain killers and sadly combined them with alcohol on Friday and didn't wake up Saturday.  We hung out a lot in college (93-97) and even though I usually only saw him on our friends yearly camping trip since then I feel an incredible loss not having him in my life anymore.  He was one of the kindest, most sincere people you could ever hope to meet.  A true good time charlie.  It's a big reminder not to take anyone in our life for granted.  Here's a picture of Jamie (on the far right) with a couple friends of mine at our last camping trip. 

Please think a good thought for his family and friends as we all say good-bye to him this Wednesday.  Good-bye old friend...I'll miss you!

Ahhh, thank you!

You girls are so sweet!  All your thoughts and comments following me along on my blogging journey mean so much to me.  Sometimes it's overwhelming to me how kind and supportive this on-line community is.  After all most of us don't get that kind of support from 1/2 the family and friends we have in real life =)  So I just wanted to dedicate a post to all my girls who are still in the TTC trenches and those lucky few who have made it to the other side too.  Thank you so much for being the loving, kind, lovelies that you are!!!

Hospital tour and getting ready...

Yesterday we visited the hospital for a tour. The first half had to do with the labor and delivery side of the floor. We got to see a L&D room which was nice and had a great view of the mountains...but we won't ever be there, we'll only be in one of the surgical rooms and recovery room. They don't tour the surgical room for obvious reasons but we did pass by the recovery room. I guess I'll be in surgery and recovery for 3-4 hours. So we figure around noon I'll be moving over to the Mom/Baby side of the floor. I guess when you're wheeled over they play a lullaby and you get to visit with family who has been waiting for a few minutes. Then they have your family go to lunch or whatever while you get settled in your room.

The rooms on the M&B side have queen size hospital beds so your DH can stay with you...we're pretty happy about that =) I'd feel bad if he had to sleep on some uncomfortable pull out thing for 3 days. The hospital seems really flexible on doing anything you want during labor and during recovery. It's nice to feel like you have some control there. They gave us a packet of info at the end of the tour that included general hospital info, a list of what they suggest you bring to the hospital, lactation info, baby classes, car seat installers in the area, and a call list for the hospital (all visitors have to check in and if they aren't on your list they won't let them in without checking with you). I've spent a good portion of today going to the store and buying some stuff for the hospital and trying to get the bag stuff together. Hopefully this will ensure that Kylie doesn't arrive until her due date!

This week I'm planning on making an appointment for the car seat installation and check with insurance that lactation services are covered. Feels like it's coming up fast now...my DH still says he thinks it feels like forever away. I think that has something to do with him not being the one they're cutting into ;-) Here's a pic from yesterday at our 33 week mark...

Fingers crossed!

Hey girlies,

As usual the appt was pretty basic with a test of urine for proteins and sugars (clear!), weigh in (UGH!), and a doppler reading of Kylie's heart rate (in the 150's). Everything looks great, WOOO-HOOO!!!!

The unusual part of the visit is that we got an answer on the silly amnio issue!!! For a recap the issue is I'll be 39w on Saturday May 29th. Since they don't normally schedule c-sections on weekends and that is Memorial Day weekend my DH and I wanted to do it on 5/28. The doc insisted that if I did it before 39w that I had to have an amnio to check lung function on 5/27. She instead suggested Tuesday 6/1, when I'd be 39w3d. Our reasons are a little silly for pushing for the 28th but both my DH and I have family who would like to drive in from out of town over the long weekend to meet Kylie and I honestly am anxious about going so close to my due date since I'm not suppose to go into natural labor for risk of uterine rupture (sounds so scary!).

After finding out that my insurance wouldn't apply the ~$2500 amnio toward my $5K deductable and reviewing the risks of an anmio I decided it wasn't worth it and gave one last shot at convincing my doc that we shouldn't have to do it to deliver on 5/28. At total risk of pissing the doctor off I printed out this article, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2505159/, and gave it to them at my last appointment. I once again explained my medical and non-medical reasons for wanting the timing to be a little earlier.

At yesterdays appointment the OB said they have decided to let me schedule my c-section for Saturday May 29th, right at the 39w mark =) The doctor on call has agreed to come in...can you believe it? That is such a great compromise and I am so grateful to them. Now the only hurdle left is getting the anesthesiologist on call to schedule it. Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow is our hospital tour so I'll try to write about that this weekend...hope everyone is getting some beautiful weather for this Spring weekend!!!

32 weeks and a first!

For the first time we felt Kylie have the hiccups. It lasted 3-4 minutes and was a rhythmic jump of the belly. Hopefully next time we can manage to record them on the Doppler. Speaking of the Doppler she played hide-and-go-seek with it this week and then went through a session of kicking it hard enough to make the sensor jump off my belly. All the movements are getting bigger now =)

We've had a busy weekend starting to get the veggie garden tilled and the lawn and flower beds fertilized. Here in Colorado we don't typically plant anything until the end of May but since I will probably be useless in helping at that point we attacked it a little early. Plus the 70 degree days were enough to entice us outdoors!

Monday is my last class in a 12 week series for work. I'll be relieved to have it finished as it's a 4 hr class and it's hard to work all day and then go to class. Thursday I have an appointment at the OB and am hoping they will just let us cancel the amnio. Our suspicion is that they will make us move the c-section to June 1 though. Not a huge deal but just silly. Saturday we have our tour of the hospital, looking forward to that =)

Here's a 32 week picture, Chai my little girl Chihuahua couldn't resist being in it this week:

Hope all my girlies are doing well!!!

Baby Shower & Easter

Happy Easter girls!!!!  Hope everyone is having a wonderful day =)

There's a lot to catch up on this week.  On Tuesday Kylie and I met a Colorado Senator.  I managed to find an outfit that allowed me to smuggle my little beach ball through the event without too much notice.  Here's a photo of most of our company employees, I somehow ended up between the Senator and our President.

Then on Friday I had my 31 week appointment at the OB.  Everything is measuring right on and Kylie is doing great!  The issue at hand was to continue the fight on the amnio they are wanting me to have, particularly since I found out that my insurance wouldn't apply the $2500 test to my $5000 deductable so we'd end up paying for it OOP.  The full story is that I want to have my c-section on May 28th (at 38w6d).  They say if I have it before 39w then I have to have the amnio, it's "policy".  I found an article on pub med that says amnio's are neither medically necessary or finicially sound practices on patients between 36 and 39 weeks.  I find it SUPER silly for 24 hours to require this kind of test and this kind of drama.  The doc we met with said she'd take it to their next "problem patient" meeting (thanks, btw!) and discuss options.  One of the options she mentioned is scheduling it for 5/29, which I think would be a great solution.  Not sure exactly when we'll find out but our next appointment is on 4/15 so my guess is we'll know before then.  My DH treated me to a fantastic cheeseburger after the appointment so we could discuss all that went on. 

Yesterday (Saturday) was baby shower #1.  It was thrown by some friends who live in the town we moved from 2.5 years ago. There were about 20 people and boy did they shower us with gifts!   Here's a couple pictures:

We got a boppy, diapers, diaper pail, photo album, books, Dad's vest (complete with changing pad and pouch), baby proofing kid, bibs, clothes, blankets (one with her name embroidered on it), clothes, shoes, wrist rattles, toys, stuffed animals, a beautiful bouquet of flowers (lilies, roses and snap dragons)from a friend who lives in New Jersey, and a wonderful hand made play blanket for the floor with her name embroidered in it. It was so kind of our friends! My Mom is going to be throwing me a shower May 1st that will probably have another 20-30 people at it that live around where we live now.

Afterwards I have to say I was exhausted...it ended up going from 2-7pm and we have an hour drive each way. So this morning when we needed to get up at 7am and make four quiches for our Easter brunch I wasn't feeling my spunkiest. But my DH's folks, my parents, my brother, sister-in-law and nieces came over at 10am and we had a wonderful brunch. My nieces were upset that this is the first year the Easter bunny didn't come (they are 15) but seemed to get over it when I gave them the chocolate bunny I got them =) Everyone stayed until about 1pm and then headed home. Here's a photo of me looking for a pie server for the quiches and my DH behind me cutting them.

 

Hope everyone had a wonderful week!!!!