Week 35 (Sorry week 34, but we've got pictures!)

Week 34 was so busy that I never got around to blogging! I'm sure I will kick myself for it later, but sleeping just seemed so much more important at the time :-)
This past week has been full of excitements and disappointments.
Disappointments:
We were supposed to be signing with a subleaser this past Monday. However, she had some unexpected family problems arise and had to cancel- permanently. We had another interested girl, but by the time we called her, she had already signed a lease with our complex. We went in to talk to our leasing office about everything and as sympathetic as they were, they claimed that there was nothing they could do- due to the equal housing act or some such. So once again we are on the look out for a subleaser. I was really hoping we could get moved in to our new place before Aiden's arrival, but at this rate, I'm not sure that's going to happen :-( Oh well. I just crunched the numbers and it doesn't look like it's going to set us back much more than moving now would. All I can say is thank God for tax refunds and vacation pay!
Excitements:
Onto a happier note- we have had such a nice week. I'm so happy for all of the warm weather! Caina and I can finally go for walks again and we can take the kids outside at work! Speaking of which, next week is my last week of work. I'm having so much trouble getting around, it's laughable. My boss told me that if I need to cut back my hours some days or call in, just to let them know. It's so great that they are going to work with me. If I had a desk job, I think I could stay until delivery, but toting babies around all day is a little too much in my state.
We also had an AWESOME baby shower! Thank you to my mom and Kathy for putting it all together. We had 30+ people and even more who couldn't make it that sent gifts and good wishes! It was so nice to get together and celebrate with everyone. I just hope I get a chance to talk more with everyone when Aiden gets here. So many people, means not enough time to talk. It took me nearly two hours to open gifts. So once I was done, most people were ready to go, I think! Haha! After the party, we had friends over until about 1:30. It was definitely a busy day!

My aunt Terry made hats! This one ended up a little big. So Aiden and I can have matching ones if we like, at least until she can fit into this one :-)
The grandmothers posing with the belly


Kaitlyn brought me an after delivery gift. How she loves me!
Oh how this dress shows off the bump!
The beautiful cake by Kathy, specially decorated with scrapbooking fun!
Sunday was very fun. We got to participate in the Wisley family maple syrup making tradition. It was my first experience and Dan's first since he was a kid. It was really interesting to go out and collect maple water from the sugar maple trees and boil it down to that yummy pancake companion. We didn't have a chance to finish, since it was getting so late, but Mark said he was going to finish it up on the stove. Hopefully, we'll have a finished product to taste this next Sunday!

Even Aiden joined in on the fun- being toted around by me is her favorite :P
Loading up the supplies
My first taste of sugar maple water. Mmmm...
Matt drinking the soon to be syrup!
Dan showing tree taps to Lilly and Jim (who graciously joined us for the fun!)
As for the belly news:
Aiden is definitely growing. I'm pretty sure she has gained a lot more since our last doctor
appointment. Everyone keeps looking at my belly in shock. I'm pretty sure I'm gaining three inches a week! I haven't been measuring, but that's what
it feels like. When we measured my waist at the baby shower it was a whopping 47 INCHES!!! I think she is definitely up from the 4 1/2 lbs that they last estimated. In fact, my belly button is about to pop! It's already bumped up at the edges. Dan actually got it to pop completely out just by pushing on my stomach. Yikes! As big as I think she is, she is still finding the room to move around. Although she seems to keep it to a minimum until late in the evening. I think we are definitely going to have a night owl on our hands! I'm also starting to have some regular sciatic pain, which is no fun. Dan has been so good. I get a massage whenever I need one. I don't know what I would do without him.

*When is your due date? April 12, 2010, but whenever she's ready, I'm ready!

*What week are you in? 35 weeks

*How much weight have you gained? Up 21lbs at the last appointment, I guess we'll see how much more I've gained this next Monday

*Do you know the gender of your baby? If so, what? A GIRL!!!

*Do you have a name picked out? What? Aiden Ryelle

*Maternity clothes? I can't believe I'm in large maternity clothes

*Stretch Marks? The only place I don't have stretch marks is right around my belly button where it used to be in instead of out :P

*How are you feeling right about now? Kind of sick- I need to kick this head cold

*Have you felt the baby move? All night!

*Sleep habits? Ugh! If I could sleep, I would tell you...

*Any food cravings? I just want salad, salad, salad!

*Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore? Nothing new

*Memorable Moment of the Week: An amazing baby shower!

Test Results are IN

The results of my culture FINALLY came back. Although it was abnormal, they believed there was contamination as I'm not showing consistently negative symptoms of either UTI or Preeclampsia. In fact the culture came back with traces of yeast, which doesn't normally indicate either of those. I'm not really sure how I feel about this prognosis. While I'm glad that I'm not showing severe enough signs to worry my doctors, I really don't like not having definite answers. They keep telling me to call if my symptoms get worse. But they aren't concerned enough at this time to make any definite pronouncements or make clear cut decisions, other than to wait and see. If anything, this just makes me more of a nervous ninny! I think I would be much happier doing extensive testing and know for certain that nothing is wrong, than to simply assume nothing is wrong because my symptoms don't seem consistent or extreme enough for typical concern. I'll try to look at this in a positive light. At least it's not so bad that they are rushing me in for an emergency delivery! Things could definitely be worse, rather than mildly agitating...

Week 33

I'm writing this at the VERY end of my 33rd week for a couple of reasons: One, I'm having to adjust to being so huge that I can hardly moved. It's making me super tired. So I haven't done much of anything but go to work, sleep, and eat. Two, the doctor's office STILL hasn't given me my test results! It is so frustrating! I had another appointment this morning and Dr. Cook told me I should probably hear something by tomorrow, but not to think anything of it if it's later. REALLY!?! They should have sent out the culture last Tuesday, but there was a mix up in the lab and they threw out my sample. So then they decided that if I was feeling better on the antibiotics they put me on, I didn't need to send in a culture. The issue is that I wasn't. So I went in and gave another that they sent out on Friday. I'm just so frustrated with this whole thing...
So at my appointment today, I found out that since Friday, I've gained another two pounds, which means that I've gained four pounds in one week! And my blood pressure went up 14points (still in the normal area, but still). Dr. Cook didn't think there was anything abnormal about it at all. "Oh, you're just retaining some water. Try to drink more water, eat less salt and put your feet up." I'm sorry, but if I've had a sample sent in because I have symptoms suggesting preeclampsia, and now I am showing even more symptoms of that condition--- I WOULD THINK THEY WOULD BE A BIT MORE CONCERNED, or at least not treat me like I'm overreacting. ARGH!!!
Onto other things than my rant:
I'm pretty sure this is going to be my last week of work. It takes me way too long to get up and down and I have to take way too many breaks for my own peace of mind. Nobody asks me to do anything because they feel bad for me and I feel bad that I can't do more than I'm doing. Therefore, I think it's time...
One good thing about the doctor appointment is that we heard Aiden's heartbeat and it's still sounding good. She is still head down, and is weighing in at about 4 1/2 lbs.
I'll be having my strep B testing done in a couple of weeks. Hopefully all of that will come back normal and I won't have to have any antibiotics during labor/delivery.
We have set a date to have our pregnancy pictures taken. Hopefully it will warm up a bit by March 15th! The baby shower is also coming up this Saturday. Yay! It'll be nice to have everyone together for the party.
We also potentially have a subleaser for our apartment. Hopefully we'll hear something soon. Then we can get moved into our new place and be settled before Aiden gets here. We've started on the packing. I'm definitely looking forward to being done with this whole thing!
Onto belly pictures:
*When is your due date? April 12, 2010, but please God sooner!

*What week are you in? 33 weeks

*How much weight have you gained? Up 21lbs- 4lbs in one week!!! AHHH!!!

*Do you know the gender of your baby? If so, what? A little girl

*Do you have a name picked out? What? Aiden Ryelle

*Maternity clothes? I can't believe some of them are getting SMALL!

*Stretch Marks? Hahaha

*How are you feeling right about now? VERY FRUSTRATED



*Have you felt the baby move? She's using my ribs as playground equipments

*Sleep habits? Look out Benadryl! Here I come!



*Any food cravings? I really love salad and raw fruit

*Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore? Nothing new

*Memorable Moment of the Week: Not killing my doctor is a pretty memorable moment in my opinion, considering...

Today's Doctors Appointment

Let's start with the good news:
1. Aiden's heartbeat sounded really good
2. I'm still at +17lbs
3. My uterus is measuring up well
4. Aiden is still head down

The possibly not so good news:
All the pressure/cramping/somewhat elevated blood pressure (higher than normal for me)/trace protein in urine/headaches that I convinced myself were just a normal part of pregnancy may actually be signs of preeclampsia! Lucky me! I've had a urine sample sent off for testing. So we should hear back by Thursday morning. Until then, they have me on an antibiotic that should clear up any UTI that could be causing some of these symptoms. But because I have so many issues that are connected with preeclampsia, they are a little concerned. So my doctor appointments have been bumped up to once a week a little bit early. Hopefully it's nothing and this medicine will clear up whatever is causing me all of this discomfort. If not, we just have to do some twice a week monitoring (and testing and treatments) until Aiden makes her debut. Again, hopefully it's nothing, but I'm a little worried. Everything has been super peachy so far (excluding the initial four months of puking). I'm just afraid that it's been going too smoothly and our time has now come for some difficulties. Please pray for my nerves and Aiden's health (as each is affecting the other).
I will do my weekly update once I have the results. But until then please pray for us!

Week 32

4/5ths of the way there! It's amazing that we only have eight weeks left. That's less than two months!!!
Well, Aiden is definitely getting more active (or more obviously so). My belly seems to roll around on its own all the time now. I really need to get out the video camera and record it. It is so sweet to watch, especially when Dan is reading to her. She gets so excited! We've also started doing family prayer time, to help Dan feel more comfortable praying out loud before she gets here. She had been really active before, but seemed like she was settling into a comfy spot when we started praying. It's so funny how she reacts to things. I know it's just mood and tone of voice she's reacting to, but it seems like she has so much personality already!
On the homefront: Dan has a new job beginning March 1st. Thank goodness. It will at least be something until he can find something better. We are still trying to find a subletter and are finishing the application process with the complex we are hoping to move into. As frustrating as this has been, at least baby shower arrangements are under way. And my cousin Jessie is going to take pregnancy photos for me and Dan. She is fabulous with a camera (as can be seen by my senior pictures and wedding photos) So that gives us a couple of things to look forward to in the near future, even if it doesn't make me any less stressed.
Other fun tidbits: We got my cloak finished this past week. Yippee! It is SO much more comfortable than trying to zip my coat. It's also really fun to watch people as I walk by. They either think it's the coolest thing ever, or starting snickering to whomever they are standing by. It's kind of funny... although I'm thinking of pulling out a dish of my pregnancy hormones for one of the wry smilers.
Also, all of our babies at work are steadily getting sick one by one. We're talking projectile vomiting and the most horrendous diapers I've ever seen. It's obviously contagious as it seems to be spreading from one room to another. Hopefully the germs stay away from me. I'm drinking tons of orange juice and sleeping a lot. So I'm at least doing my part to stay healthy. Now if only parents would keep their children home when they're sick, instead of bringing them in when CLEARLY they are still ill. Argh! I understand about being busy, but seriously!!! If you can't make your child's health a priority, you shouldn't be allowed to breed. I don't care how wealthy or educated you may be! I seriously think that it is time to impose some kind of regulation for procreation. I don't care how much it seems to go against human rights. If people can't show more sense than what I'm seeing lately, IT IS TIME!!! And that is the end of that rant.
Well, now for some fun stuff- The weekly preggo pictures!
*When is your due date? April 12, 2010- But I'm pretty sure I can't stretch anymore and the majority of people I've talked to agree. I will just fall over if I get much bigger.

*What week are you in? 32 weeks

*How much weight have you gained? Up 17lbs.- I'll be weighed again on Tuesday

*Do you know the gender of your baby? If so, what? A very active little girl

*Do you have a name picked out? What? Aiden Ryelle

*Maternity clothes? And some of the shirts are definitely getting shorter. That doesn't seem right.

*Stretch Marks? There isn't space for any more




*How are you feeling right about now? I want to do some scrapbooking!

*Have you felt the baby move? I've got to get out the video camera! Maybe tonight...

*Sleep habits? If I could sleep, there might be some habits.




*Any food cravings? I just want to eat everything!

*Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore? Nothing new

*Memorable Moment of the Week: Hmmm... still deciding between the blow out diapers or projectile vomiting from my lap... decisions decisions...

Week 31

Wow this time is starting to fly by! I can't believe another week has already passed. She is definitely going to be here before we know it.
We had a great doctor's appointment this week! The doctors are extremely healthy with all of my vitals and weight gain. Yippee! Aiden's head is already down and the doctor thinks that it's pretty likely that it will stay there until D-Day. This is accounting for my poor ribs and internal organs getting the crap beat out of them. I've tried switching sides and pushing on her, but she is very reluctant to move once she is comfortable. At least we know that she is making progress and that is worth all of the pain in the world. Dan actually got to feel her head at the end of the appointment. After taking all of my measurements, the doctor found her head and had Dan come over and feel. It was pretty cool, though he looked a little taken back that he could feel a portion of his daughter even though she hasn't been born yet. We'll have a couple more visits every two weeks and then it will be one week intervals until she shows up! I can't wait!
Our Childbirth classes are finally over after 6 grueling and exhausting Wednesday evenings. I suppose the classes weren't difficult, but 13hr days are pretty rough. This past class was Baby Basics. Everyone at work was laughing at me when I told them that's the class we had this week (since I work in a nursery). I told them it was for Dan and they thought that was pretty cute. Speaking of which, Dan showed that he could burp, diaper, and swaddle like a champ! I couldn't have been more proud. He did an even better job swaddling than I did! Maybe he can take my place at BDLC once I'm gone for baby time!
That's about it in regards to the baby. We've got a lot of life stuff going on that's making stress a regular part of each day. Hopefully we will find someone to sublet our apartment tonight and then we should have our application approved at our new place by Monday. So then we can get moved over closer to Mommy and Daddy ASAP.
Dan is also looking very seriously for a new job. So please pray that he finds one, that we get all of this apartment stuff worked out and that I'm not affected too much by all of this stress in the mean time. We would definitely appreciate it.
Now for belly pictures!










































*When is your due date? April 12, 2010- But I definitely think it will be a bit sooner

*What week are you in? 31 weeks

*How much weight have you gained? Up 17lbs.

*Do you know the gender of your baby? If so, what? A little girl who's geared and ready to go!

*Do you have a name picked out? What? Aiden Ryelle

*Maternity clothes? actually look normal on me... how weird

*Stretch Marks? No new ones I don't think, but they are still an awful sight!

*How are you feeling right about now? Ready to clean, pack and send out applications/resumes for Dan

*Have you felt the baby move? Well, we really just watch her move now. I need to video tape!

*Sleep habits? Well, I thought pillows helped, but now I'm not really sure...

*Any food cravings? I just want chocolate covered doughnuts. I know they are horrible for me, but I can't help it! Two boxes in two weeks. That is BAD!!!

*Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore? I had never tried them before, but miniolas are definitely off of my eating list. I tried a slice and nearly puked like a first trimester champ!

*Memorable Moment of the Week: Dan doing so well during the Baby Basics class. I couldn't be more proud of him!

Week 30... 75% DONE!

I can't believe that this whole journey is already 75% over. We only have ten more weeks to go. It's so hard to believe that we are going to meet our little girl in just a couple of months. It's so exciting! After seeing Rachel and Brad's pictures with Ella, I just can't wait to see my little girl. I'm so happy for them! I can't wait for our turn!!!
This week has been great! We found out that we will be moving to Gosport, hopefully by March 1st. We found a complex with awesome townhouses and WAY less expensive rent. I can't believe our luck! We've got a few people that are supposed to be looking at our apartment next week. So hopefully we will have someone in our apartment and we'll be into a new place by the first. It will be a perfect amount of time to get the place ready for Aiden! Yay! I can't wait!
We also had our breastfeeding class this past week. That was very informative and funny- Dan was definitely a little out of his element. So he felt the need to be funny and try out the breastfeeding positions for himself! I definitely don't think my arms are long enough for the cradle hold. Argh! What I would give to have longer appendages! I guess I'll figure something out... I'm thinking pumping during my student teaching is going to be difficult to figure out too. I never left the room except to puke last fall. I don't know how I'm going to manage leaving for 20minutes every few hours. Any suggestions?
Aiden has been extremely active this week! She has definitely been letting me know that she is quickly running out of room. I keep waking up in the middle of the night with her kicking my bladder, as if to say "Hey mom! It's getting crowded! Can you help me out?" So of course I do (like I really have any choice). As I've said before, I don't think we are going to have ANY problems getting her to let us know when she needs something. Something else that I thought was great was that she is really responding to music. I went to the opera with my friend Natasha last night and Aiden was going wild!!! It was so funny. Especially when the music was very dramatic, she would kick a whole bunch. I'm so excited! She will at least be a music enthusiast from what I'm feeling, and, heck, she's got the genes. Maybe she'll be a musician too! I definitely wouldn't be disappointed. So for a future career she's looking to be an opera singing, ninja ballerina. I guess she'll have to go for one of those create it yourself majors. Hehehe!
Anyway... on to belly pictures!



I definitely have a pointy belly. I think it's so funny. I wonder if anyone else has ever had such a pointy pregnant belly...











From the side. Yes. I swear I'm not swaying more than the average pregnant woman. My stomach actually sticks out that far from the rest of me!









And the forward shot. I will definitely be happy to have my curves back after all of this. But I am somewhat attached to my belly's pointiness.









*When is your due date? April 12, 2010

*What week are you in? 30 weeks

*How much weight have you gained? Up 14lbs.

*Do you know the gender of your baby? If so, what? A little girl!!!

*Do you have a name picked out? What? Aiden Ryelle

*Maternity clothes? are the best

*Stretch Marks? I'm starting to get over it. Who's ever going to look at my belly again anyway? Right?

*How are you feeling right about now? I'm ready to do some packing!

*Have you felt the baby move? She's dancing on my organs, ribs, whatever she can find to connect with

*Sleep habits? What sleep? I just lay in bed pretending...

*Any food cravings? Yum....rootbeer, orange juice, It's really just fluids right now. Isn't that weird?

*Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore? I'm kind of starting to not like cream cheese.

*Memorable Moment of the Week: Watching Dan trying out the nursing positions during our breastfeeding class. Did I mention that I love him?