Our 5th Anniversary!

On Saturday we celebrated 5 wonderful years of marriage! I can honestly say they've been the happiest of my whole life. I'm one of those lucky people who married my best friend <3

We obviously couldn't go away or anything since I'm 9 months pregnant, but it was my first day off of bed rest and we had a delicious dinner on the lawn of my favorite restaurant in town the Brae Loch Inn. The weather was absolutely perfect and it was so awesome to sit and enjoy the evening together.

It's amazing how much has happened in the span of 5 years...

Gettin' hitched (2006)

Adopting our kittens and enjoying life as a young couple (2007)

Buying our first house, getting a new job, and beginning our TTC journey (2008)

Traveling and buying our first (but not our last!) boat (2009)

Moving to a new town, selling our first house, buying our second house, and beginning infertility treatments (2010)

And finally, after a lot of waiting and countless tears, starting our family!

(On bed rest after IVF#1)

(Success after IVF#2!)

After dinner we walked across the street to the lake, where Mr. E took this picture of me. I can't believe that tomorrow I will be 37 weeks pregnant with this precious gift of life.

Life is so sweet and I know none of it would be this way without the love and strength of my partner in crime and in life :) I'm looking forward to the next five years!

I'm off of bed rest!!

Woo hoo! I had my weekly OB appointment today and was officially released from bed rest. I'm so happy! For the first time in nearly 2 months I can walk around without fear of a baby falling out of me!

My NST went well. I only had one contraction in 15 minutes and baby girl did awesomely.

The OB also did a cervical check since I'd made so much progress last week. I am now about 3cm dilated, 70% effaced, and the baby is at a -1 station. This is all great news. I can't believe I'll be full-term on Monday!!

Don't...

...put M&Ms in your Rice Krispies Treats. It doesn't taste as good as you'd think it would. Didn't stop me from eating half of the batch in 24 hours, though ;)

Bump@36w2d

36 weeks

Baby is now the size of a: Honeydew, according to the fruit comparison chart. Not sure how accurate that is! At Thursday's growth scan, she was estimated at 5.4lbs, which is still petite - in the 25th percentile - but healthy.

Total weight gain: I don't even look at the scale anymore.

Maternity clothes: Some. Today I actually broke my bed rest rule and tried some maternity shorts on at the mall, just because they were on sale. I do not recommend viewing yourself in a three-way mirror when 9 months pregnant.

Sleep: Ehhhhh sleep is going ok. As good as I can hope for at this point!

Gender: Girl

Movement: She doesn't seem to be slowing down, as I've heard babies start to do around 35 weeks. That's just fine with me!

Food cravings: Today I am craving rice krispies treats!

(Yummmm)

What I miss: Although I am truly so thankful to be pregnant, I am finding myself missing my pre-pregnany body more and more. I spent about an hour yesterday just browsing the J Crew site, planning what to buy once I'm looking more like myself again!

(Horizontal stripes!)

What I'm looking forward to: Being done with bed rest! I just have to make it to Friday!

Milestones: Getting to 36 weeks is a huge milestone. I feel SO relieved and happy and grateful to be here!

Symptoms: Big heavy baby belly, peeing all of the time, lots of contractions, loss of muscous plug, fatigue.

35 week appointment surprise

Yesterday we had our weekly appointment at the OB.

First up was the growth sono. Our little girl was wiggling and kicking all over the place! So cute. She is now 5.4 lbs, which is the 25 percentile for size. So she's still a little small, but they are not concerned. I was asked to up my protien intake though to try and help her add some ounces. She was practicing breathing which was very cool to see!

When the sonographer checked my cervix she found that it was very short (less than 1cm) and was funneling. When she applied pressure to my abdomen the baby's head pressed down on it and made it change even more.

Next I got on the monitor for the NST. I only had two contractions so that was great! Baby girl's heart looked awesome. She had really good accelerations.

Finally I had the Group B Strep test (standard) and a cervical check. And that's when I learned I am 2cm dilated and 80% effaced. Whoa! Needless to say I was not allowed off of bed rest. The OB said "if you make it to your appointment next week, great, but I would not be surprised if you have the baby before then." That was a little upsetting. Although I'm thrilled to have made it this far, I'm still hoping to get to 37 weeks. I am still hoping for a full-term baby.

Good thing we have everything ready to bring this baby home, though! Mr. E just needs to install the car seat but the nursery is complete, the clother, blankets and burp cloths have been washed, and our hospital bags are packed. Now I'm just waiting on pins and needles. It's so hard not knowing what to expect! I guess that's always the way it goes with childbirth, though.

Bump@35w2d

35 weeks

Baby is now the size of a: baby! Ha. We did not end up having a growth sono last week so I hope to find out this week how much she weighs. She should be well over 5 lbs now.

Total weight gain: 25 lbs

Maternity clothes: Still yes and no. My wardrobe basically consists of pajamas at this point.

Sleep: Sleep is so-so. My hips still hurt me quite a bit and I don't expect that to change any time soon.

Gender: Girl

Movement: She's still moving and her movements are becoming pretty strong! Sometimes they can really hurt!

Food cravings: My appetite hasn't been super strong lately. I think it's because it's very hot out.

What I miss: Summer fun! I've had quite a few meltdowns over this the last few days.

What I'm looking forward to: Thursday's appointment. I'm hoping they'll tell me I can just take it easy and not do bed rest anymore. I need to NEST!! I'm also looking forward to my sister-in-law, Jess, coming to visit for a couple of days. I've had a lot of visitors lately, but she's one of those people that's just so easy to be around. She's such a sweetie.

Milestones: I'm just two weeks away from having a full-term baby! If she were to be born this week there's a good chance she'd only have to go to the NICU for monitoring for a couple of days.

Symptoms: Fatigue, thirst, world's smallest bladder, and the general feeling of not caring what anyone else wants. My filters are gone! I'm really only concerned with my own comfort at this point.

Bump@34w2d

Nursery Reveal!

Our baby girl's nursery is finally done and I'm so excited to share it! There is not specific theme - I just wanted something pretty, soft, feminine, and of course, pink :)

This is the view when you first enter the room. The paint color is "Bunny's Nose" by Olympic, and can be purchased at Lowes. It's a non-VOC paint and it covered really well. The crib is the Graco Sarah, the crib sheet and bunting are Simply Shabby Chic (Target), and I made the crib skirt. You can't tell from the picture but it's white on white linen.

This is the far corner of the room. Eric's Grammy gave us the Moses basket. The chair is an antique (re-painted with non-VOC paint) and the diaper bag is by Vera Bradley.

Looking from the far corner of the room: The chair is a recliner by Little Castle, the nightstand is antique (repainted with non-VOC paint), and the curtains are from Pottery Barn Kids. I've had the lamp forever and honestly don't remember where it came from! It's hard to tell but it has a pink gingham shade and I made a mini bunting that fits over the top of it to match the one over the crib.

Directly across from the window is her changing table/dresser. Again, it's an antique that was repainted with the same white non-VOC paint. I also replaced the old knobs with pink glass flower-shaped ones. The lamp is from JC Penney and has the cutest pink toile lampshade. The mirror, as well as the two other small mirrors in the room were picked up at Marshalls/Home Goods.

Another view of the changer/dresser which holds diapers and diaper accessories, burp cloths, receiving blankets, and all of her newborn onesies, outfits, hats, mittens, booties, etc.

"Bunny Parade" print purchased from Etsy seller Trafalgar Square. So sweet.

Just a little vignette. The silk dress (which I feel pretty certain she'll never wear!) is Baby Gap and I made the fabric bird hanging from the hook.

Her closet! The room is so tiny that this was the best picture I could get of it. All of the clothing on hangers and in the baskets is for when she's a little older and/or bigger. I put all of her blankets in the hanging storage.

We're all ready! The only thing missing is a our little one! I can't wait to bring her home :)

34 weeks - second goal met!!

I am so excited today!! I can't believe I've reached 34 weeks! I've been on bed rest almost 5 weeks now and I really didn't think I'd be pregnant at this point. But here I am and it feels great! Next goal: Keep this baby in utero until she's as close to full-term as possible.

Baby is now the size of a: honeydew! She should also be about 5 pounds. We're doing growth measurements as our sonogram on Thursday.

Total weight gain: 25-ish pounds.

Maternity clothes: Yes, but not exclusively. A lot of what I wear is just large-sized regular clothing.

Sleep: Sleep is still not great, and I don't anticipate that changing any time soon.

Gender: Girl

Movement: Lots of movement, but I can tell she's starting to get crowded in there.

Food cravings: Still lemon flavored things and sweet, cold things. I also ate soft ice cream TWICE this weekend!

What I miss: Boating, swimming, long walks. Vacations at the beach.

What I'm looking forward to: Growth scan on Thursday.

Milestones: DID I MENTION I'M 34 WEEKS? :)

Symptoms: Movement, thirst, hunger, constant pee-ing, and uncomfortable contractions. I'm basically uncomfortable all of the time now.

More complications

I went into my OB appointment on Wednesday feeling so confident. I had my sono first, and unfortunately it showed that I'd lost a good deal of cervical length since last week. It went from 2.4cm to 1.7cm. Additionally, I'm more thinned out (effaced). Baby girl is still head down and LOW. No wonder I'm so uncomfortable. I was scheduled for an appointment on Friday so we headed home and I went back to the couch.

On Thursday I was having contractions that were causing me lower back and hip pain along with some pressure in my lower abdomen. After a few hours of this I called the nurse and was told to come in. They did a NST (I'm getting so tired of these already), and, surprise, surprise, it showed that I was having contractions and that my uterus is still very irritated. There wasn't a discernible pattern though. Baby girl did GREAT through all of this. She's just as healthy as can be :)

Next the MW did a cervical check, determined that I wasn't dilating, and declared that I have an infection. An order was placed for an antibiotic that I began taking that night.

Today I got a call from the nurse saying that my test results came back negative. I don't have an infection after all. However I was told to keep taking the antibiotic anyway. Sigh...what is going on here?? I wish I knew.

Bump@33w2d

Yikes. I am feeling laaaaaarge. And just to show you the full spectrum, here is the head-on view:

Oddly enough, my legs really haven't changed. They look funny supporting my huge abdomen!

33 weeks and happy 4th of July!

Baby is now the size of a: honeydew! As of Thursday her measurements had her weighing 4lbs 2oz, which is in the 30th percentile. So she's a petite girl, but totally within normal range.

Total weight gain: About 23 pounds.

Maternity clothes: About half of the time. I wore my first pair of maternity shorts this weekend.

Sleep: Ugh! SLEEEP. I have a feeling I won't be seeing you for a very long time. My body appears to be preparing me for a newborn.

Gender: Girl

Movement: Lots of movement. SO fun!

Food cravings: Still lemon flavored things and sweet, cold things.

What I miss: Not being on bed rest. 4th of July beverages :)

What I'm looking forward to: Still looking forward to having that lamp delivered (where are you, lamp??) and finishing the nursery. It's soooooo close to being done!

Milestones: Another week down, another week still pregnant! Hooray!!!

Symptoms: Lots of movement, ever-growing belly, hunger, thirst, increased urination, fatigue, sleeplessness. All the same. Still.

Yesterday I had some painful contractions that got me a little scared. They calmed down with the help of fluids, and lying down in our air-conditioned bedroom, though. I'm finding that the heat really seems to trigger them. It's still not time yet, baby! Don't get any ideas.

On Thursday we had another OB appointment. Sono showed that my cervix is holding strong at 2.4cm, 50% effaced. That represents a 0% change since last week so we were thrilled. Next goal - 34 weeks!!!!

Bump@32w2d