37 week update

Well this has been a very eventful week! I went to my doctors on Tuesday for my normal weekly checkup and everything checked out normal. My doctor checked my cervix to see if I had made anymore progress as I have been having nightly contractions up to that point and I had a minor change! I was now 2cm dilated! I left that appointment and almost immediately started feeling cramping and by the time I made it home, started having contractions. The contractions were not horrible, but enough that I noticed them. I just kind of mentally kept track of them until after supper, and then sat down and used a contraction timer to time them. They were coming nice and steady in a pattern. I timed them from a little after 7pm until maybe 10 or 10:30. At that time, Hans was wondering if I wanted to head into L&D, but I decided that I would try and take a shower to see what that did to them. The shower was nice and relaxing, but I continued to contract the entire time at the same rate as I had been all evening. I was just still hesitant to head in because not all of them were super painful, so I didn't know for sure if they were doing anything. So after my shower I decided to lay down and see if I could get some rest.

I was able to fall asleep and only wake up a couple of times. Sometimes I woke up because I needed to use the bathroom, and a couple of times I woke up because of the contractions. Shortly after I woke up for the day, I started to time the contractions once again and they were back to their normal pattern. I did have sometimes that they would back off for 30 to 45 minutes at a time, but they would start right back up and get back into a normal pattern. Around 2pm, I had finally had enough painful contractions all together that I called Hans at work and said that I thought we should head into the hospital to be checked.

We got to the hospital and checked in around 2:30pm. The nurses got me all settled in and checked me. I had progressed to 4cm! That was a nice change from just 24 hours earlier. They got me hooked up to the monitors to see how little man was doing and to monitor my contractions. They did this for 24 hours and would normally have me on the monitors for 1 hour then off for an hour. While I was not on the monitors I was up walking, sitting on a birthing ball or using the jacuzzi tub! After 24 hours, my insurance required that they either fully admit me to the hospital for delivery or send me home (I was still just in the hospital as an observation patient) Since I had only progressed another CM and my contractions were still doing the weird patterns of coming and going every hour or so they send me home and told me to come back when the contractions were strong again or my water broke.

So we have been home since Thursday afternoon, and I have been constantly contracting. It isn't fun, but I am dealing with it as best as I can. We went on a nice long walk last night around the neighborhood and then again today to see if that would help kick up the contractions. So who knows, we might end up with a baby in the next couple of days and he might just be causing me lots of problems already and not come until closer to his due date! Only time will tell!  

Goodby second trimester....hello Third trimester!

I can't believe how fast my second trimester has/is flying by! Tomorrow I will be 26 weeks...the last few days of the second trimester. Today marks 99 days until my due date! I can't believe we are already down in the double digits!

Last weekend, we went and had some maternity photos done as I won a session with a new photographer! Here are a few of my favorites from that shoot!

How far along are you? 26 weeks (as of tomorrow)
How big is baby?  Baby weighs approximately 1.5 to 2 pound and is 14ish inches long. I am however measuring 2 weeks ahead, so this baby might be a little bigger than that already! 
Maternity Clothes? All the time.
Weight - loss or gain?  Still at a loss due to my hyperemesis, but slowly gaining back what I lost.
Sleep: Pretty good for the most part. I wake up at least once a night to pee. I also have to fall asleep on a icepack to help with my low back/hip/pelvic pain that is not going away.
Movement: All the time! He likes to make my belly shake all over the place. :) Jacob loves getting to feel his baby brother. :)
Food Cravings: Still loving the fruit! I tend to buy the largest bunch of bananas that I can find at the store each week and 4 to 6 containers of strawberries! Love my morning smoothies. :)
Food Aversions: I still can't eat large portions of meat, but it is getting better. My biggest problem now is that baby boy is squishing my stomach so much that I just can't eat very much at one time.
Belly Button In or Out? It is getting pretty flat. I would have to say that it would still be considered an in, but not for much longer.

What do you miss? Energy, and seeing my feet! I have not seen them in awhile. :) 

Jacob is doing great! He is a typical 3 year old little boy! He loves to play outside all the time. He really enjoys when we pull out the sprinkler and let him run through it. He has also enjoyed going to the local pool, and starts swim lessons tonight. 

On the 4th of July, I took him downtown for the parade. He had a blast seeing all the people go by and getting a ton of candy tossed his way. Here he is sitting in the stroller waiting for the parade to start. 

It's a.....

Boy!

We had our ultrasound last week on Hans birthday (Happy Birthday Hubby!) and found out that we are expecting a baby brother for Jacob! We are very excited and now the search for the perfect name starts!

Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound. Sorry they are not the best quality - I had to take pictures of the pictures to get them on my computer.

 Face with arm, leg and the umbilical cord by his face. :)

 Baby feet!

 Another face shot, this time with his hand on his face. :)

4 years!

Today Hans and I celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary! I can't believe that we have already been married for 4 years! We have been together for 6 years as of next month. In the past 4 years we have had lots of changes, and we look forward to the changes to come for our family!

Since we married in 2006 we have seen job changes for both of us (me with different employers and opening my own business - him changes within the same company). We have bought new cars, furniture, been on a handful of vacations and most importantly started a family by welcoming Jacob into the world.

In the next year I hope to accomplish Hans getting a new job! Moving for that job and getting settled in a new place. Depending on when that actually happens, I want to then buy a house in the area within a year of us moving. Next I want to get Jacob into some kind of preschool program to allow him socializing time with kids his age and allow him to start making friends where ever we move to. Next (will somewhere in the mix) we hope to add to our family by two little feet (no I am not yet pregnant!) but we hope to be by this time next year!

To celebrate we went out to dinner last night with Megan and Mike. We had some great food with some great friends! We will miss them a lot when we move away. :( After dinner we came home and had some Cheesecake for desert! My sister Kim (she is up visiting for the week) watched Jacob for us so we could go out adults only! Then today Hans and I met up and had lunch together!

6 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe that Jacob is 6 months old already!!!! Hanzy had to work, so Jacob and I stayed home all day. I had some homework to get done, but Jacob had some other ideas. I think that the teeth that he is getting are about to come through so his mouth was bothering him. He only wanted to sleep on me which made doing my homework harder, but I was finally able to get it all done and turned in.

We have had a busy weekend. Jacob, Hans and I went to the Aces game on Friday and then Jacob, Brooke and I went to the Aces game last night. He did great! The ear protectors that I bought for him don't even bother him. He even falls asleep during the game.

This week is going to be another busy one and a exciting one. Auntie Jessica's 30th birthday is tomorrow, then Wednesday is our 3rd wedding anniversary. Diane is watching Jacob so that Hans and I can go out to dinner. It is also the day that Jessica and Caleb find out the sex of the twins!! (I am crossing my fingers for one boy and one girl, but will be excited no matter what!!)

I will post some pictures later. I have a sleeping baby in may arms at the moment.

On top of all that is going on, tomorrow starts my week 2 of my final set of classes! They are proving to be harder and with both Hans and I in class we are having to figure out how to balance our work/schoolwork/Jacob and both getting in enough study/homework time as well as spending time with Jacob. However I will be done in just 8 short (or some days long) weeks. I am also looking forward to graduation while we are on vacation next month.