Welcome Isabella Rose Mitchell

Well as I had been saying since about 33 weeks, I just knew my baby girl would come a few weeks early. And she did. My body had been showing the signs that labor was near and finally my constant cries of "I feel like this baby is going to show up any second" were answered. Wednesday it was 101 degrees out and I came home feeling a bit weathered. Then Carter was sleeping on the couch and he rolled over and I ran across the room to catch him and I strained my pelvic area. I was in a lot of pain all evening and the pain just got worse throughout the night. I had a doctor appt. scheduled for the following afternoon, but I had decided I would call my doctor first thing in the morning cause I could barely walk. But at about 4:45 in the morning I was laying on my back when I felt a pop in my stomach and a gush of fluid followed right after. I knew exactly what it was of course. I alerted Brett that my water had broke and told him to get me a towel as fast as he could. Before I moved an inch we had a towel underneath me and we successfully managed to not get a drop of fluid on our bed. Yes, I'm that good! I can't say the same for our floors. Apparently I carry around a lot of fluid.

At that point I called my parents' house and like I predicted, they didn't answer any of their phones, so I called my brother who still lives with them. Thank goodness he answered his phone. He then went in and woke up my dad and told him my water busted, in which my dad in his sleepy haze thought that meant the water pipes in my house burst. So his response was, why is she calling me? Why doesn't she tell Brett to fix it? Haha. Gotta love men. After a few seconds I think he realized what my brother was telling him and he woke my mom up.

While we waited for my dad to show up at my house, Brett and I got showered and finished packing for the hospital. I took the time to do my hair and makeup, because I know people get camera happy when babies are born and I didn't want to look like a pile of crap. After my dad arrived, we loaded up and headed to McDonalds. Yes, that's right, I said McDonalds not the hospital. I knew I wouldn't be allowed to eat for the entire duration of my labor, so I was going to get something in my stomach while I still had a chance. Obviously McDonalds was not the healthiest choice, but it was the closest and fastest. And while we sat in the drive through, I had a contraction which pushed a heck of a lot of fluid out and soaked everything in site. So I decided since we were so close to our house still, we would return so I could change clothes, because I didn't want to waddle into the hospital looking like I had peed all over myself.

For this reason, my mom actually beat us to the hospital and she got us checked in. By the time we got there, we were able to go right back. I actually got the last available room, so I didn't end up laboring in the hallway. Can you believe they just built a brand new hospital and they don't have enough labor and delivery rooms and they actually have women lined up in the hallways at times? Must have been a man that designed the labor and delivery floor. I got a tiny observation room, but was upgraded to a bigger room once one became available. My contractions were not starting off very strong or consistent, so I was put on petocin. Once I reached about 3-4 cm, they allowed me to get my epidural. My thought was that the pain wasn't that bad, but if I was planning on getting an epidural, I might as well do it before I was miserable. I was pretty nervous about getting one, because when I got mine with Carter, the guy putting it in was extremely mean because he had a hard time getting it in the right spot and my back muscle spasm when they're poked. And when someone is threading a wire in your spine, being still is very necessary. Well my nerves were not calmed when he couldn't find the spot with the first try and he had to pull out the wire and try again. The second time he got it in the right spot, but hit a blood vessel and a nerve and pain started shooting down my right leg. Need I mention every time he fished that dang thing down my back, it would cause more amniotic fluid to come rushing out? Gross. After he pulled the epidural out for the second time, I got really nervous and almost told him to forget it. But he tried for a third time and got it. I guess third time really is the charm.

So long story short, my labor lasted all day and I wasn't progressing very much. My contractions were off the chart, but it wasn't making me dilate much. The doctor actually manually progressed me from 5 cm to 7 cm at a time my epidural had worn off and as you can imagine, it was pretty painful. I don't think he realized I could feel it. They checked me again in a couple of hours and I was still at 7 cm. I was getting nervous at that point, because the talk of a C-section was being brought up. The nurse measured my contractions and they were way stronger than what they consider sufficient, so she talked to the doctor about a C-section. He told her he'd give me plenty of time to dilate, so that really calmed my nerves. After that, I progressed and was almost fully dilated shortly there after. It was then time to call the doctor and he was about 25 mins out. The nurse checked and it appeared that baby Bella was not going to wait for the doctor. She actually crowned on her own without a single push from me. So we called in the house doctor and got the show on the road. Unlike my delivery with Carter in which they had turned my epidural completely off for delivery, they allowed me to keep it turned up and I felt absolutely nothing. I was thrilled. I took about 2 contractions and 4 or 5 pushes and girlfriend made her entrance into the world. I couldn't believe it! Was it really that easy?! It was the polar opposite of my delivery with Carter. I took me almost an hour to push Carter out and by the time I was done with him, my eyes were swelled shut, I had to have a 2 to 3 degree episiotomy, and some other very unwelcome things showed up. None of that happened with this one. I didn't even break a sweat.

She made her arrival on August 4 at 7:04 p.m. She weighed in at 7lbs. 6oz. and was 20 inches long. Not baby for a baby that was actually considered a preemie. She was born 2 days shy of 37 weeks. Can you imagine how large she would have been if I had to wait until 40 weeks? Glad that didn't happen.

She was completely healthy and suffered no birth injuries. We are adjusting very well to having 2 children in our house and she has proven to be a very good sleeper so far. She sleeps for 3 to 4 hour stretches, eats, and goes right back to sleep without even needing to be rocked. Love her!!! I'm back in bed within 20 mins of her waking up.

Carter is adjusting to his little sister and is doing a pretty good job. Of course he's a rough and tough boy and doesn't understand why he can't squeeze her little hands and feet off or why he can't lay on top of her, but he's learning.

So here is a snapshot of our newest addition.

Another Bowling Ball In My Future

Well I'm 36 1/2 weeks pregnant today and I had my latest ultrasound last Thursday. The purpose of this was to determine the size of the baby and start talking about inducing around 38 weeks if it looked like I was gonna have another Carter sized baby. Now folks, it's not that I'm afraid of delivering another 9+lb baby for myself, but after Carter got all jacked up from it, I'm not doing it again!! So as of 35 weeks, 5 days my petite little Bella was already 7lbs. Yes, that's right, 4 weeks shy of my due date and my baby was already bigger than most are at birth! And the real kicker is I've only gained just shy of 30 lbs with this one where I gained 52 lbs with Carter.

So I planned on having another serious talk with the doctor after my ultrasound, but he sent in the nurse practioner instead. Need I mention I've never met this woman and she was not the one I wanted to talk to. When she went on and on about my baby being so big and then said "we'll do another weight check in 3 weeks", that's when I had to restrain myself from karate kicking her in the face. Are you serious lady?!?! I politely asked her to go get the doctor, because we had discussed other plans she wasn't aware of. So she went and talked to him, but I guess he was too busy to come in the room.

They scheduled me for my weekly visits and a final ultrasound on Aug 11 to do another weight check. I understand if they need to see her again before making the decision to induce at 38 weeks, but it's a little irritating that they call it a "weight check". Ummmm...hello!!! The girl is already 7 lbs, do you think she's going to shrink in 2 weeks time??

Anyway, I was already 1 cm dialated and 50% effaced at my last visit, so I've been hoping that she'll just show up on her own before I even need to be induced. Although, I've done a lot of walking, a lot of eating eggplant parmesan, and a few other things to try and coax her out with in the next week or so, but so far no luck.

The good thing is my PUPP rash went away before it had a chance to spread to my arms and legs. Now let's hope it's gone for good. Now if I can only tolerate being at work for the next week or so, it'll be amazing. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but something about being 9 months pregnant and haggling over truck deals makes me a little cranky at times. And I've given up all together waddling out on the lot to talk to customers, because there's just no way I'm standing out in 100 degree heat when I feel like I'm wearing my winter parka. Would someone please turn off the furnace down here?! It's killing me!

Anyway, no baby yet, which is just fine as long as she's here in about a week and a half. I'll keep you all posted. Later!!

I've got the PUPP

If you're unfamiliar with what the PUPP is, it's best described as a red, itchy rash that a small percentage of pregnant ladies develop. Technically it's only supposed to happen when you're actually pregnant and go away within a couple of weeks of delivery, but I know I developed it about a week after I had Carter. It was HORRIBLE! It spread all over my tummy, arms, and legs and the only thing that could stop the itch was freezing cold water.

Well the last few days my belly has really began to itch and I blamed it on my newly developed stretch marks (yes, I didn't think it was possible to get anymore, but it is). I tried my hardest not to itch them because that only makes the stretch marks worse. Well this morning I woke up with a definite rash on my belly that itched like hell. I read more about PUPP and it says it starts in your stretch marks and spreads and can soon cover my arms and legs. LOVELY.

So now, not only am I waddling around uncomfortably like an over stuffed turkey at Thanksgiving, but I have a very irritating rash. Awesome. Honestly, this only puts my doctor in more danger of losing his life. Because if this rash sticks around until after I give birth, he better say he's inducing me at 38 weeks or I might just kill him.

Also he severly crushed my hopes of possibly entering labor naturally in a couple of weeks, when I told him I lost my mucuos plug. He told me it could regenerate and that it didn't mean I would go into labor within a couple of weeks. Love ya doc!

So if it sounds like I'm a really crouchy, irritable pregnant lady; it's because I am. I can't help it. I've reached that point in my pregnancy where time seems to stand still and it's just not fair. I've never been one of those girls that loves being pregnant (not even close), but I think I've tolerated it a lot better this time around, but enough is enough. I'm ready to have this baby!!!! So come on already!!!

The End May Be Near

No, not the end of the world; I'm talking about the end of my pregnancy. I will be 34 weeks in 2 days and I'm already showing possible signs that labor could be here within the next couple of weeks. For one, my baby girl is sitting so incredibly low I feel like she could fall out at any point. With Carter, I carried just right, not too high, not too low. With Bella, I'm really feeling the need to cross my legs. And with a low riding baby comes extra pressure on my bladder and if you read my last post, you know the results of that.

But just cause she's riding low, doesn't mean she will arrive any earlier than normal. Although, I did have a conversation with my doctor about not wanting to deliver another 9+lb baby and at about 36 weeks he will do another ultrasound to check her size and at that point we will decide what we're going to do. He has given me the option of a C-section or possibly inducing at 38 weeks. I'd rather go with the induction.

Well the last few days I've been feeling pretty crummy and not just any kind of crummy. The kind of crummy you feel when you're body is getting ready for labor. And to top it off, this morning I lost a good chunk of my mucous plug. I know that's not a lovely topic, but it's a sign that labor could be starting with in days or weeks. I lost my plug with Carter at 38 weeks, so I'm thinking I'm not going to make it another 4-6 weeks with this girl if I'm already losing it.

Of course, if she arrives before 37 weeks, we're talking pre-term labor. I'm really trying not to worry about that and with each day that I get a little bit further along, I feel better. She's almost to 34 weeks and based on her size at 29 weeks, I don't think we'll have to worry about too many complications.

So I guess I'll just sit back and wait. See if this plug business means anything. In the meantime, I've got Bella's bag packed, Carter's bag packed, and I'm still working on Brett and I's bag. But at least the kiddos are taken care of. I'll keep you guys updated. Later!!

Leaky pipes

So last Friday afternoon around 3:30, I had a bit of a liquid spill in the baby region. It came out of nowhere and I thought to myself "Did I just...?" or "maybe it was my water leaking?" Well it seemed like my pipes were still leaking a little bit, so I left the office a little red faced and called my doctor. The girl that answered the phone told me the doc was out and that I should go to labor and delivery right away. Great....

So I made the appropriate calls to my husband, childcare provider, and parents to ensure Carter would get picked up from daycare and that there was someone to watch him. My parents were actually out of town so Brett picked him up and took him to our neighbor's house. As I drove to the hospital, it seemed everyone else was panicing and I was keeping it cool. I figured if it was my water leaking, they could put me on bed rest and monitor it.

Apparently the girl at labor and delivery registration didn't think it was urgent because she took about 30 mins to get me checked in. Once I got back to my room everyone kept texting me (and by that I mean my mom mostly) freaking out and asking me what was going on. Hello! I didn't know yet cause even though I had been there 45 mins, I hadn't seen a nurse yet! Finally when a nurse did come in, she did the strip test to see if it were amniotic fluid and that test came out negative. So then she did another test and sent it off to the lab. In the mean time, Brett showed up with sheer panic on his face. I told him to calm down and not look like he was going to fall over dead, because I may have just peed on myself afterall!!

Well about an hour after the nurse took the second test, she came back with the results. In her very polite, shy voice she said, "well, it's not amniotic fluid". That's when Brett chimed in, "so she just peed on herself?" Gotta love my husband. The nurse wouldn't say that for sure, because she didn't want to embarrass me, but I've already give birth in front of a room full of strangers, peeing on myself isn't the most embarrassing thing I've ever experienced. So we packed it up and went home. Thankful that my baby girl was not trying to make her entrance at 30 weeks. That would have been terrible. Now if she wants to kick a hole in her bag of waters at about 37 weeks, I won't argue with her. That is if my doctor doesn't induce me at that point anyway.

On a side note, my in-laws have already given me 3 points in time that I can not have my baby because of their schedules. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Both were people that have never been/will be pregnant so I guess their ignorance on the matter is understandable. Because anyone that's ever been pregnant knows you don't tell a pregnant lady when she can and can't have her child. Sons of bitches!

P.S. I am trying to figure out what's going on with this stupid blogger thing. I can't seem to leave comments for anyone anymore and it's making me made. Poop on that!

Nervous

So as I approach 30 weeks of my pregnancy, I'm getting a tad nervous. I'm not really nervous about the whole labor thing as far as contractions, pain, etc. go...but I'm nervous about possible birth trauma with this child. I know it sounds weird, but once you've had a baby that has suffered quite a bit of birth trauma that led to the majority of their first year in and out of specialists, it's something you'll never get over.

I was really praying and hoping that this little girl would be just that...little. Well it doesn't look like she's going to be that. In fact, I'm starting to worry she may be bigger than her brother. It makes no sense. I gained 52 lbs with Carter and with this one I've gained only 20 lbs so far and I'm really trying hard not to gain more than another 5 lbs or so. But when I had an ultrasound done the other day to check her size, she was estimated at 3 lbs 9 0z give or take 5 oz either way. She measured in the 76th percentile with the 50th percentile being average. Are you kidding me?! From here on out an average baby gains about 1/2 lb a week. If you do the math based on my ultrasound at 29 weeks, that's another 5 1/2 lbs. And that's an AVERAGE baby. So there is quite a good possibility that I'm looking at having another 9 pounder.

With that said, I now have to go into my OBs office and beg and plead for him to induce me at 37 or 38 weeks if the baby is looking healthy and all that. I was induced at 39 weeks with Carter and he was still 9 lbs 6 oz. It's not that I'm impatient, it's just that I think it's much healthier for me and the baby to induce a couple weeks early (and it's really not considered early once they're term) than take the chance of birth trauma or a c-section. I know women have birthed bigger babies than Carter, but apparently my body was not designed for a baby that big. Because aside from his trauma, my eyes swelled shut from pushing so hard and let's just say I was in A LOT of pain for a few weeks afterward.

On another note, I'm nervous about my maternity leave. Most women get to take their maternity leave from their jobs and not have to think about anything other than getting adjusted to their new baby. Well that's not the case here. I work for family and I play a huge role in running our semi truck dealership. A lot of people think I just sell trucks, but that is far from reality. On top of being a sales person, I manage our mechanic and have to instruct him on his daily duties, I have to order parts for trucks, I have to arrange moving trucks, I have to arrange getting trucks in and out of our detail shop, I arrange getting trucks in and out of the tire and body shop, I take care of listing our trucks for sale on the internet and making all changes to our ad, and basically anything that is involved in getting our trucks from the place we bought them to our front line. It's A LOT of responsibility. And it's not just something that can be shrugged off on someone else. To put the icing on the cake, we just agreed to purchase 150 trucks from a dealer in WI and we'll be getting in about 25 trucks a month from now until the end of the year. And that's just on that one package of trucks.

It was hard for me to detach from my job when I had Carter and my responsibilities are about 10 fold from what they were then to what they are now. I just don't know how I'm going to do it. I'm nervous. Really nervous. How do I just pass that kind of responsibility off on someone else?

Oh yeah and did I mention I'm a tad nervous about having 2 kids?! Carter isn't exactly to the stage that he's very independent considering he'll be 21 months old when his sister is born. He still wants my full attention every second that he's awake and if I don't give it to him, he gets upset. This may be a problem when it's not just him anymore. Hopefully he'll make a radical change in the next 2 months and he'll become understanding and be able to self entertain better. Ha! Fat chance!!

Anyway, that's my sob story for the week. Maybe now that I got it out, I'll be able to relax a bit.

Carter's Hearing & Prego

Carter went for his appt. with the Audiologist and she did a couple of tests on his ears and everything showed that his hearing is just fine. So he's only hard of hearing when he chooses to be. He does have a little fluid built up behind his right ear which may cause chronic ear infections for a while, but he should grow out of that. She didn't even recommend tubes for that ear. So praise the Lord!! Nothing to worry about in that department.

As far as his talking goes, I think it's just his personality that keeps him quite. Sometimes he babbles on, but for the most part he's a really quite kid. We did take a trip to Chattanooga over the weekend and he proved he could learn new words. As we went to the Aquarium, Railroad Museum, and the Riverboat Cruise; he learned to say train, choo choo, fish, and boat. I think it really helped to see an actual object that we were teaching him about. He has identified pictures before, but does much better with the "hands on" experience.

So I'm just going to continue to read to him and work with him on his speech, but not worry too much until he's at least 2 if he's not talking more by then. He's very smart and picks up on a lot of things, I just think he knows he can get his point across without talking much at this point.

Thanks for the prayers!! They really helped ease our minds.

Now onto a blog about me. haha! I will be 28 weeks prego on Saturday and so far it has flown by. That may be in part to the unusually cool spring we've had here in TN, but that has changed. The temps hit the mid 90s a few days ago and there is no relief in the near forecast. So hopefully the next 3 months don't drag by. I went from hardly a couple lbs. gained by 20 weeks, to a total of 20 lbs. gained by almost 28 weeks. Of course I'm still doing better than I did with Carter, but I was 15 lbs. heavier when I got pregnant with Bella than when I got pregnant with Carter. So not only do I not want to get near the 52 lbs. I gained with him, but I really don't even want to get up to the same weight I was when I had him so I can't gain much more here!!

Since I started packing on the pounds, I have been trying to eat healthier. I have been staying pretty active with yard projects, but I've also been trying to get out of my office chair more often and do lunges and things like that when no one is looking.

So here's to a healthy pregnancy and not gaining anymore weight!!

18 months

Carter turned 18 months old on May 19th and he had his checkup this morning. He's still growing like a weed and weighed in at 26 lbs and 33 inches tall. He's just slightly above average in that dept. He's also up to par on most of his developmental skills. Even the ability to walk backwards. lol. Checkups are always a little nerve wrecking for me, because it seems everytime I take him in, we end up visiting a new specialist. My two biggest concerns today were his feet being a little turned in and him not being able to say more than about 5 words.

The doctor said his toes did turn in a little, but that research has showed some of the world's best athletes have turned in toes and they stopped putting braces on children to correct it. So that was a relief. Maybe he'll be an amazing track star or something.

As far as me telling the doctor that he was not able to say at least 15 words, that raised a red flag for him. He said that it could be normal and until he's 2 we didn't really need to worry, but the more we talked about it, he decided to do a hearing test on Carter. When he was a newborn, he passed his hearing test but today he did not. Both ears came back "referred", whatever that means. So the doctor is sending him to an Audiologist for further testing. I took the news in stride like I always do. In the back of my mind, it worries me, but until we know something for sure, there is no sense in freaking about it. I'll just put it in God's hands and we'll do whatever is neccessary to get Carter on track.

I really do try to keep these things in perspective, because we've never yet faced anything we can't handle and weren't able to correct. And I always say to myself "at least he's healthy and happy". We're not sitting in a Children's hospital getting the news that he's sick with cancer or anything like that, so if there is something wrong with his hearing, we can deal with it.

As for now, I just ask for all your prayers that there is nothing seriously wrong with Carter's hearing and that he'll be talking up a storm in no time.

Tornadoes

Tuesday night the weather forecasters began to warn us about a large storm heading for the south and to prepare ourselves for possible severe weather. I am always a sceptic when it comes to this, because they seem to cry wolf a whole lot, but when I looked at the radar and saw the storm stretching from Nashville to Tulsa, I figured it may get pretty bad. So Carter slept in his pack n play in our room and I kept an eye on the radar on and off all night. We don't have a weather radio, so this was my only way of knowing what was going on. The storm was extremely slow moving and I finally gave up checking it at about 3:30, because I thought it was bunk. At about 5:59 a.m. our house began to shake and the wind sounded extremely nasty. I jumped up and told Brett to take Carter to the bathroom right away because it sounded like our house may come down. I have to say in all the bad weather we've had, this was the first time we ran to our "safe place" and we were actually concerned we may be in danger. Even two years ago when an EF-4 tornado came past our house, we weren't home when it happened.

The wind died down in about 10 seconds and all seemed clear. After I stopped shaking, I went to make coffee and looked out the kitchen window to see one of our large trees completely uprooted and laying in the neighbors' yard. It actually looked like it was laying on their garage, but it turned out one of their own trees was laying on their garage. Either way, it destroyed their fence, took down some of their trees and clipped their house. Whoops!!

All day long storms kept coming through our area, but the worst of them hit just south of us on the TN/AL stateline as all of you probably already know. I believe 33 people died in TN and much more in AL, MS, and GA. It's really sad. We surveyed our neighborhood and surrounding areas and although it looked really bad, it was mostly just trees down. There wasn't much structural damage. We had minor damage on our house and just have a lot of yard work ahead of us now. Here are some pics that Brett and I snapped.

*Our Backyard*

*The next door neighbor's yard*

*Around Murfreesboro*

Feel Accomplished

Remember that T0-Do list I posted a few weeks ago? At the time I was feeling very overwhelmed with how much Brett and I had to do now that Spring was rolling around. Well, we've managed to knock some big projects off that list and I'm feeling much better. The first project we accomplished was having a garage sale. I really didn't want to mess with it, but am glad I did. We got rid of just about everything we put up for sale and we managed to rake in a good amount of money. Of course we spent most of the money buying the 24 new screening trees we planted in hopes they would grow 15 ft tall and block out our creepy neighbor. My dad planted over 100 trees at his house, so he rented a power auger to dig the holes. After Brett got done helping plant my dad's trees, my dad brought the auger over to our house and dug our holes. Then the next weekend my brother came and helped Brett put in our trees. I had to work that day, so I wasn't able to help. (Not that I would've anyway, since I'm conveniently pregnant). Here's the beginning of the trees going in. I have yet to post an after picture.The next project that got crossed off the list was finishing Carter's big boy room. I buckled down and painted (with plenty of ventilation I might add), put together all his new furniture, and put up his Dr. Seuss decals that I made through UpperCaseLiving.com. Here are some pics of his room. If I can manage to find my regular camera, I'll take better pictures.

I am so glad that project is done. It was a big one. Carter loves playing in his new room, but I have yet to decide if he loves sleeping in it. The last couple nights have been really horrible when it comes to getting him to go to sleep, but I'm not sure if it's the new room or the new teeth he's been getting in. Poor kiddo. I just love the fact that his new room is big enough to hold a lot of his toys, so they don't have to be in my living room anymore.

Now the next project we have tackled is staining our deck. That's something we hadn't done since we moved in and it was in bad shape. Fortunately I didn't have much work for my mechanic at the dealership the past couple days and while I was trying to scrounge things up for him to do, a light bulb went off in my head. Why not pay him to stain your deck? It would definitely be worth it. So Brett prepped the deck by bleaching it and Jack was there this morning to start staining it. So by the time I get home tonight, I will have a newly stained deck. So excited. And for a couple hours this morning while Jack got started on the deck, I installed the new skimmer on our pool and got the new filter and pump pretty close to operational. I just have to get sand for the filter and we'll be in business.

The only major projects we have left this Spring is to rock part of our backyard and put together Carter's swing set. I guess we can accomplish at least one of those things this upcoming weekend. Did I mention I've only gained 5 lbs during this pregnancy so far? It's no wonder, right?

So what are some of your DIY projects?

Drum Roll Please....

It's that time. 20 weeks and an ultrasound. We went in this morning with my bladder full of way too much water and the tech was once again running an hour behind. Lovely, right? After I had gone to the bathroom twice and still felt like I was going to flood the waiting room, they finally called me back. That's when the tech told me that I didn't need a full bladder and I could go empty it. Are you serious?!?!?! So why have I always been told otherwise? Or better yet, why didn't the nurse tell me that when she knew I was about to pee my pants? Anyway, enough about that. The baby appeared to be completely healthy and also quite stubborn. He/she kept his/her legs crossed for 30 mins. Finally he/she revealed she was just being a lady, because SHE's a GIRL!!! We are so excited!!!! One, because we wanted a girl, two, because this may mean I never have to be pregnant again!!! One boy, one girl. Sounds good enough for me. Now it's time to hit up Target and Old Navy, because I'm in need of some dresses. Anybody need boy clothes? I have boxes and boxes that it doesn't look like I'll be needing!!

Spring Projects

It's that time of year again, when it seems as though all weekends from here until June will be filled with projects. Part of that is the glory of home ownership. Unfortunately it seems as though I always seem to be pregnant when we have the most to do. I guess that will just keep me in shape, right? Well here is what is on Brett and I's to-do list for the near future:

• Get our pool cleaned and ready for the summer (just an above ground, so it shouldn't be too much work).


• Assemble Carter's swingset.


• Kill off half of our backyard, lay weed fabric, and spread rock in the area that won't grow grass real well. As well as replacing all of our mulch with rock.


• Plant 12 screening trees to block out our sex offender neighbor who likes to call the fire dept. on us for having small fires in our fire bowl.


• Power wash and stain our deck. Brett wants to also do the fence, but I don't know about that.


• Have a garage sale (I hate this idea, but it's a must to clear out Carter's new big boy room).


• Paint and decorate Carter's new Dr. Seuss themed room. Assemble the new crib, dresser, and storage shelf.


• And just keep up with the typical weeding and yard work that comes along with owning a house.

This may not seem like anymore than a couple of labor intensive weekends, but when we both work every or every other Saturday and have a 16 month old that requires constant supervision; it's very tough to get some of these things done. Oh yeah and we need a new roof, but that's a subject for another day. My neighbor who owns his own construction business likes to remind us on a constant basis that we need a new roof and my thought is "yeah just add that to the list buddy". So anyway, that's what we'll be up to for the next several weekends. Oh and we'll also be finding out if we're having a boy or a girl next Thursday. I'm stoked! Praying for pink!! haha. But I sure wouldn't mind another boy.

15 months-Full Steam Ahead

Carter just turned 15 months old on the 19th and I figured it was time to share with you what's been going on in his life. He finally started walking at about 14 months and although I kept urging him to do it for a long time, I'm now wishing I hadn't rushed him into it. Needless to say, we have 5 baby gates up now, including one on our bedroom door, because he has learned how to turned the handle and open the door. And we don't have round knobs, so the gate was our only way of keeping him out. He has also become quite the climbing machine and I can't seem to keep him off of anything. He climbs on everything!! He climbs on his play table, he stands up in his rocking chair, and he even climbs on the shelves of our built in media center. He's a little monkey, I tell ya. With all this climbing, he's also done some falling, but that doesn't seem to stop him. Anyone got any suggestions on how to stop all the climbing? It's rather nerve wrecking.The only time I get him to sit down and give myself a break from chasing him around is when it's bathtime. He loves the bath! I swear I could leave him in there for hours and he'd be pefectly happy. He has even gotten used to me tipping him back in the water to rinse out his hair. His daddy also helps with baths and likes to give him bubbly mohawks.
Carter is quite the social butterfly as well. He has never suffered from separation anxiety and he definitely isn't shy. I credit this to him being exposed to lots and lots of people since he was born. He loves daycare and gets along with the kids great. He is quite the ladies man if I do say so myself (but that might have something do with the fact that there is only one other boy there).
He went to work with me a couple of days last week, because his daycare provider was sick, so needless to say I got zero done and ended up leaving early. Here he is sitting in his seat next to me.
So I have to say, this past month our lives have really changed. We can go outside and play more, we are wearing shoes all the time (except in the house), we have gotten our first moler, we are ordering off the kid's menu, we have been expressing our strong will more and more each day, and we have kissed the paci good-bye for good. Although some nights I wish we still had the paci, but I refuse to cave after he's been without it for a few weeks. Brett and I feel more worn out at the end of the day, but we are loving every second with our little man more and more each day. All the chasing Carter around has kept my pregnancy weight down. I'm 13 weeks along and have yet to really gain any weight. The doctor's scale said 1 lb, but that was right after lunch and my scale says none. By this point in my first pregnancy I had already gained like 5 - 10 lbs (yeah I know, shut up!). So we love you little man and we are looking forward to watching you grow up!!
*Note the obnoxious look on his face. I'd say that describes his personality well; he's a very strong willed individual. Kind of like his momma.*

Ticker's a Tickin'

Well tomorrow I will be 12 weeks pregnant and I went for my second checkup today. They weighed me in (always my favorite part....barf) and I only gained 1 lb. I guess I can live with that. According to my scale I hadn't gained anything (and actually lost a couple since I was so sick the last couple of days), but I blame it on eating a pretty hefty lunch right before my visit.

The doc went to listen to the heartbeat and picked it up right away. Success!! I guess since I haven't had most of the terrible pregnancy symptoms I had with Carter part of me has been thinking "knock knock, you still in there baby?" I'll take today's visit as a yes.

So we're just plugging away. My mom has already been gracious enough to purchase new bedding and a new convertable crib for Carter. We have decided to do his bed in the Dr. Suess theme and found some really great bedding at Pottery Barn. My plans for his room look a little like this:

Except he's getting a Chocolate finish crib, because I just couldn't bring myself to putting him in a white crib. White would be great for a girl, I'm just not sure about it for a boy. We're going to keep the nursery just the way it is. Except I will definitely need to buy a new sheet for the mattress. Carter has been pretty rough on it.

The only thing I'm finding that I'm dealing with a lot more than I did when I was pregnant with Carter is that I'm sick a lot more often. Partly because they say having a kid, a miscarriage, and another pregnancy all in 14 months is a lot for your body to handle. So I guess I'm pretty depleted, but then I have Carter in daycare and the kids in there are constantly sick. So he's constantly sick, so I'm constantly sick. He actually managed to not catch a stomach bug that was going around daycare, while I did catch it. Out of nowhere, I became violently ill on Wednesday morning and pretty much didn't get out of bed for the next two days. It was miserable.

So I guess that about wraps it up. We've got a healthy baby so far and now I just need to worry about keeping him/her healthy and keeping myself as healthy as possible. Here's to hoping winter comes to an end very soon!! (please don't remind me of this when i'm bitching about the heat in August).

25 and already having EKGs run

Well yesterday proved to be a kind of scary day for me. It started off like any other day, but around 11:00am I started to feel pretty weak, so I decided to eat lunch early in hopes that would make me feel better. Well it didn't. I found myself struggling to catch my breath and feeling worse by the minute. I then started to feel a flutting in my chest and after about an hour, it dawned on me to take my pulse. That's when I noticed every time I felt the flutter in my chest, my heart was skipping a beat. It wouldn't have bothered me, except that it was skipping a beat about every 5 seconds or so. I called my dad and told him what was going on and he said he'd be back to the office in a few minutes.

Once my parents got back to the office, I let my mom feel my pulse and within just a few seconds she felt my heart skip two times. So we decided it was best that I go to the walk-in clinic to have them take my vitals. Well, we went to 2 different clinics and they were really backed up, so my mom just told the nurse practitioner what was going on and that's when she referred me to the E.R.

So it was off to the E.R. we went. It's amazing how when you tell them you're having heart problems, you get rushed right in without even having to wait 5 mins. It wasn't long after I was there that they ran an EKG to see if my heart was okay. That came back normal, so they hooked me up to a monitor to watch my heart beat for a while and they took some urine and blood. They also tried to listen for the baby's heartbeat, but it wasn't loud enough to get a good count. I also went for a chest X-Ray and that came back normal as well. After a couple of hours, my heart went back to normal and the doctor said he saw it skipping beats, but couldn't watch it long enough to see if anything was abnormal. My blood work did show that my potassium level was low and that could have very well caused the irregular heartbeat. So they gave me 4 big potassium pills, a referral to a cardiologist, and sent me on my way.

They also recommended that I drink Gatorade and eat a banana everyday. I just hate when things like this happen. I leave feeling like I just spent a whole lot of money to be told "we don't know what's wrong with you". Awesome. I also feel very frustrated because I feel like I'm falling apart. Two visits to the E.R. within 6 months. Really? I mean, my OBGYN did express concern that 2 good pregnancies, and a miscarriage all within 14 months is a lot for my body to handle. But I never expected this. I just feel like my body has been completely drained of all the "good stuff".

Anyhow, I guess I will make a follow up appointment with the cardiologist and she if that leads anywhere. My guess is my heart will act completely normal and he will not see anything like what was going on yesterday. I guess that'd be a good thing though.

Goodbye Suck Suck

Well Carter is 14 months old and I have finally tested my will power and took away his "suck suck". We got back from dinner Friday night and he was about 45 mins past his bedtime, so as I was changing him into his PJs, he kept laying down. I thought to myself, I will embrace his super tiredness and see if he'll go to sleep without the paci. Well it worked, he went right to sleep without any crying.

So for the rest of the weekend (except when my mom was babysitting him on Saturday morning), he didn't get his paci. At times he put up a little fight, but at other times he would just go to sleep. During his afternoon nap yesterday, he really fought it and after about a good 45 mins of hearing him cry, I went to rock him back to sleep. That's when I smelled a poopy diaper and figured he may have been crying about that rather than not having his "suck suck". I changed his diaper and put him back down, but had no luck on getting him to sleep. So we just skipped the afternoon nap.

By the time bedtime rolled around, he went to sleep without any fussing. I felt somewhat successful. Now, I had to pass my responsibilities onto our daycare provider. She said she'd not give it to him and I was just praying he wouldn't give her too much of a fight. Well, I checked in after his morning nap and she said he went to sleep without any crying. Success!!! Now let's just hope the same goes for his afternoon nap.

People keep telling me "he's still young, you know", but I just figured I found an opportunity to start getting him off the paci and I jumped on it. I also figured, the longer he has it, the more attached he will get. Plus, with the new baby coming in August, I want the paci to be long in his past, so he may not have such a hard time seeing the new baby with one. Of course, it doesn't help that my husband put a paci in the cupholder of his carseat before we left for church yesterday. I looked back and saw him grab it and almost put it in his mouth. I asked Brett why he would do that when we're trying so hard to break him of the paci during sleeptime and he hasn't gotten it during "awake" hours in a long time. There's no explaination for some of the things men do.

Anyhow, I'm really hoping we are successful on this one, because I will feel like I accomplished something big. Plus I will be extremely proud of my little guy. Well, wish us luck!!

Birth Plan

When I was pregnant with Carter I kept hearing ladies talk about birth plans. At the time, I didn't even know what the heck a birth plan was, but when I figured it out, I laughed. Birth plan...really?? I mean I'm a control freak, but when it came to giving birth (especially for the first time) I figured the nurses and doctor had it figured out better than I did and didn't need any instructions from me. So needless to say, I went in to have Carter and had absolutely no list of expectations.

Well after having Carter, there were several things that really upset me and I'd definitely want to make sure they didn't happen again. So this time around, I will definitely be having a birth plan. No I'm not one of those extremely brave women that wants to do things naturally, I'd just like to be a little bit more in control in what happens in my labor and delivery room.

The first thing is, I want to make sure of is that I never get asked again "how do you feel about students?" Are you kidding me lady?! I'm exposing my most sensitive parts to two family members, 4 nurses, and one doctor...I don't need any students getting a peak too!!

Also I do plan on getting another epidural, but I will make sure that only nice anesthesiologists apply. I will list that I have a very sensitive back and my muscles spasm on their own and that I need not to be yelled at when it happens.

One of the most important things will be restriction on who comes in and out of my room. The one thing that bothered me the most was that I didn't get my "hour" with Carter before family was barging in. I was literally still throwing up in puke buckets when my dad, MIL, and SIL started knocking on the door to come see the baby. I hadn't even really got to hold him yet!! Of course the stupid nurses thought nothing of keeping people from coming into my room.

Finally, there will be no lactation consultants allowed. I can not even describe my disgust for those people. They say they are trying to help, but I believe they had a lot to do with me not being able to breast feed. They would come in at the most inopportune times, they were pushy, and they practically made me starve my child, because they refused to let me supplement him with a bottle when he wouldn't latch on. They stressed me out and they made me feel inadequate when I couldn't feed my baby naturally. So for that reason, I will personally slam the door in their faces if they even think about entering my room this next time.

But for real, the very most important part of my birth plan is serious discussion about a C-Section. After Carter coming out so large for my body and having so much trauma that lead to so many medical problems, I'd rather have gone through a C-Section. If he had been born that way, he wouldn't have had a broken collar bone, which means he wouldn't have had Torticollis, and probably wouldn't have developed that flat spot, and never would have needed a helmet. For a first time mom to take her newborn for repeated X-rays, physical therapy, CAT scans, to see bone doctors, plastic surgeons, and orthopedic specialists was a little much. So with that said, I will have a serious discussion that if the next one is close to the same size, I'd like to consider a C-Section.

So I guess birth plans aren't just for the tree-hugging naturalists. I can definitely see how they ease the stress of the situation. The nurses won't have to bother me with their stupid questions if they know the answers ahead of time. Not such a bad idea afterall.

What about you ladies? Have any of you used birth plans and if so, did you find them to be helpful?

The Cat Is Out Of The Bag

Well for those of you who don't already know via Facebook, I'm pregnant again!! Yep, I waisted no time after losing my last pregnancy to start trying again. Brett and I found out about a week before Christmas and we kept it to ourselves until Christmas day to surprise our families with the news. We did also decided to keep it quiet until we felt that we were in a safer stage in the pregnancy to announce it to the world. After announcing the last one and then having to go back with the bad news that we lost it, I just didn't want to have to do that with this one.

As it happens, I did have some more than normal spotting/bleeding issues a few weeks ago and I was terrified that I was losing this pregnancy as well. But the bleeding stopped and I was still pregnant according to E.P.T., so I went ahead and scheduled a doctors appointment. I met with my new doctor and he said everything looked normal, but he went ahead and scheduled an early ultrasound to make sure anyway. Last Tuesday I went in for the ultrasound and beside the fact that my bladder was full of water and the tech was running an hour behind, everything looked great. They could see the baby's heartbeat and it was beating at 170 bpm. I was thrilled!!

So at this point, I'm 9 weeks pregnant and my due date is August 27. Yes, I said August 27. That means I will be at my absolute biggest when it is often times averaging 100 degrees here in Nashville. I may be crazy and I will probably wish I had chosen a better time to be pregnant, but right now it's feeling pretty good. I am actually having a much easier pregnancy thus far than I did with Carter. With him, I threw up every morning and stayed sick and tired all day long, everyday. With this pregnancy, I've had little to no morning sickness. Really, I've had a couple of times that I've gotten a little sick feeling, but nothing that I'm really going to complain about. As long as my head stays out of the toilet this pregnancy, I'll be satisfied.

I'm watching my weight extremely close this pregnancy and will not allow myself to gain the 52 lbs that I gained with Carter. Not to mention, I still had a good 15 lbs that I never lost, so I definitely can't gain that much again. This time around I actually have a scale and weigh myself every morning. So far I haven't gained any weight, but I am definitely growing in size already. Of course they say you start showing sooner with your second pregnancy, so I guess I shouldn't be too upset that my jeans are already almost not fitting at this point. I actually think I will be digging out my bella band soon. Oh gosh.

So anyway, Brett and I are very excited and are hoping for a girl this time around. Of course, if we have a boy we will be equally excited. A girl would just be something different. Carter is also getting upgraded to the big room on the other end of the hallway. His room now is really only good for a nursery, because it's so tiny, but his new room is as big as our master bedroom and there will be plenty of room for a lot of his toys.

I guess that about sums it up right there. I'll keep ya'll updated and am very excited to bring this next child into our lives.