Baby Update

Baby is finally big enough that you can SEE some evidence of my labors from the last 4 and a half months. Which is exciting!!

ALSO, less than one week until we find out if baby is a pink or a blue! Hooray!

Old Navy's Maternity/Baby Sale

Old Navy has been having this HUGE Maternity/Baby Sale. And I needed another pair of maternity jeans. So we got some stuff. Then we realized that we were only about $12 away from being able to get free shipping. So, we decided to take a look at what baby things we could add on.

We haven't bought ANY baby things yet. We don't find out the gender for 2 more weeks (Oct 6). But we decided it wouldn't hurt to look for some neutral things that we liked.

And this was just too cute to resist:

The Beginning of Nursing School

I started Nursing School this semester. So far, nothing too exciting has gone on.

But on Monday, I had my first round of clinicals at the hospital!

I was on a Medical/Oncology floor and assigned to a nurse named Trent. Because we haven't learned much, there wasn't much for me to do. I listened to some heart beats/lung sounds on some patients. And checked their pulses and such. And cleaned up some poo. Otherwise, I just followed the nurse around.

So, it was uneventful. But everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Here I am all dressed up and ready to head to the hospital!! I felt so official in my uniform with my badge and everything!

I would like to make excuses for this picture by saying that at this point in the day I'd already been at work for almost nine hours (after working twelve hour shifts the two days preceding)... So I was TIRED! But the battery on the camera died so we only got one shot. And this is it.

Baby - 17 Weeks

Okay... So... I realize that it has been FOREVER since I posted. But.. School started and life got busy! Until I have time to do another post (which will either be tomorrow or sometime late next week), here's a belly picture and a quick story!

I went into the OB yesterday. And we were listening to the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler. All of a sudden we hear this loud WHOOMP. The nurse starts laughing and said that that was the baby kicking at the microphone!

ALSO.... we scheduled the big anatomy scan/gender ultrasound!! So mark your calendars! October 6th at 3:30PM

Can't wait!

Back to School Barbecue!

My parents like to send us Omaha Steaks packages (which we LOVE!!). However, we usually go through everything else before we use up the burgers. So we have had hamburger patties accumulating in our freezer for a while. We decided to put them to use by hosting a back to school barbecue!

Jake took charge of cooking the meat.

We invited a bunch of old roommates and good friends - some of whom I hadn't seen for a year and a half or so.

It was fun! There was lots of yummy food and I think everyone had a good time.

And what better way to end the night than with an impromptu watermelon seed spitting contest?

14 Weeks

Well... 14 weeks (3 and a half months) down... and not much to show for it yet!

Someday...

But anyways. Baby is now about as big as a lemon, and making its own urine! And, baby's thyroid is now starting to produce some of its own hormones! Which I think is pretty cool! :-)

On another note... Our OB won't check gender until 20 weeks (roughly mid-October). But there are some clinics where you can pay $40-$50 and go in around 16 weeks to find out gender. If I can talk Jake into it (big maybe), then we might know by the next time we post a belly picture!

12 Weeks Belly Picture!

With all of the kidney and hospital shenanigans, I never got around to posting the belly picture for 12 weeks pregnant. Since tomorrow we're at 14 weeks and probably taking another picture... I figured I should get on that.

So here ya go! :-)

Mary Versus the Kidneys: Round Two

If any of you have been reading the blog from the VERY beginning (as in... March of 2009), then you may remember the first round of the ongoing battle I have with my kidneys. They like to throw rocks at me from time to time. LITERALLY!!! Kidney stones. Last time I spent about 7 hours in the ER and then 3 days drugged on my couch before finally passing the stone. This round of the battle was FAR worse than the first time... Here's how it played out.

Friday, August 13th, 2010

NOTE: Friday the Thirteenth!! This should have been my first clue!! Nothing too bad was going on at this point. I just had a crampy achey feeling in my left kidney. It just lingered, and didn't get worse, so I just chalked it up to weird pregnancy pains or something and somewhat ignored it, going to work like usual. I was scheduled for the 4 PM - midnight shift, but went home around 10:30 because I wasn't feeling well and the night had settled down by then.

*NOTE* It wasn't as silly as it may seem that I ignored it. With the other kidney stone, I went from being perfectly fine to being completely debilitated by pain within about an hour and a half. Since this nondescript achey feeling went on for HOURS, I figured it was something else.

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

Saturday, I was scheduled to work from 9 AM - 9 PM. Just before 7 AM, I was awakened by my phone ringing... the second person scheduled to work at 6 AM didn't show. Leaving only one person working the floor. Despite the fact that I was looking forward to about another hour and a half or so of sleep, I hustled my bum (attached to my still achey kidney) into work to help out. I got there just before 7:30 AM. I mentioned offhandedly to my coworker that I thought I might be starting to pass a kidney stone. By 8:30 the pain had gotten MUCH worse, and I was vomiting from the pain. The other CNA for the day had shown up by then, and they volunteered to cover the floor so Jake could take me to the Urgent Care.

We ran to the BYU Urgent Care. They ran blood work and checked out some other tests that I had *conveniently* just had run on Friday for some routine prenatal labs. They agreed that it was likely a kidney stone, and sent me on to the ER.

So, we headed to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center's ER (still vomiting and in tears from the pain). They ran more blood work. And hooked me up to an IV. Got some morphine and some good hydrating fluids.

You can still see the bruise on my arm from were they drew my blood the day before!

We spent... a good 4-5 hours in the ER on Friday. Because of Baby, they didn't want to run a CT scan to locate the kidney stone. So, they opted for an ultrasound. They did a full abdominal ultrasound - which was kinda cool. I got to see my kidneys and ribs and lungs and whatnot. But... they couldn't FIND a stone. However, my urine tests indicated that the kidney was probably infected. So, they went with that diagnosis and sent me home with drugs for pain and nausea as well as some antibiotics for the infection. They also told me to come right back to the ER if I started running a fever, or had uncontrolled pain or vomiting, etc.

It was a long, unhappy day.

Jake was a trooper though. He read his book and helped me out when I needed it. :-)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The day started out promising! Less vomiting, and the pain meds seemed to be doing their job. Until about 9 PM that night. The pain meds (the prescription said 1-2 pills as needed every 4 hours) were... no longer doing their job. Those two pills were only lasting about an hour. I roughed it out through the night, sleeping on a bag of frozen veggies to help with the pain.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Monday morning showed no signs of improvement. We called the OB to check with them about what they wanted me to do. They said to head back to ER. So... we did. After another 5+ hours full of blood work and ultrasounds (and THANKFULLY some serious duty pain meds!), they decided to admit me. The new theory was that although the infection was under control, there was ALSO a stone that was blocking my kidney and not allowing urine and other fluids to drain the way they should.

So, we were wheeled up to the seventh floor to my luxurious room!

I did have a pretty sweet view. This isn't actually the window in my room. It's a window across the hall, but I could see out it from my bed. So it kind of counts. I could see Life Flight, BYU, Rock Canyon, even the Provo Temple!

Here's most of the room. And the chair where Jake spent his time. (Although I did let him go home to sleep in a read bed. I'd been keeping him up the last 3-4 nights with my tossing and turning).

The urologist decided to give me throughout the night to see if I would pass the stone on my own. To facilitate this, they were gave me my own little morphine pump! It was all hooked up to my IV and I had a little button that I got to push! Whenever I pushed my magic button - instant relief!! SOOOooo much better than having to bother the nurse every hour.

But... I DIDN't pass the kidney stone that night... which led us to Tuesday.

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Tuesday morning, they decided to do a cystoscopy and go seek out the stone. Basically, that just means that they sent a little camera scope up through the bladder and on its way to kidney. When they found it, they went ahead and took it out!! BEST WAY TO GET RID OF A KIDNEY STONE EVER!! SOOOO much better than passing it mysef! I was a little scared and worried... but it really wasn't bad for me. I was out under a general anesthetic for the whole deal.

A few funnies:

If you are around Jake and I, you may have noticed that instead of regular pet names, I call him "Boy" and he calls me "Girl". I vaguely remember as they were wheeling me into (or out of?) post-op, asking everyone "My Boy, My Boy. Where's my Boy?" I guess they all assumed I was talking about the Baby, because they kept telling me "We don't know that it's a boy, but it's fine." Of course, this didn't satisfy me. I kept asking about "My Boy" until someone finally asked what my boy's name was and connected that "Jake" meant "husband".

As I returned to my room, the nurse and CNAs were asking me if they could get me anything. As in anything - a blanket, meds, etc. Evidently I immediately said "Orange juice??". So, they brought me orange juice. But that wasn't the end of it. I guess I was sooo excited to have my orange juice that I told Jake MULTIPLE times "Look, Boy! I have some orange juice! They brought me orange juice!"

While I enjoyed a nice post-op nap and slept off the rest of the anesthesia, I SWEAR I saw Jake come back from the cafeteria with pizza and a plate full of DINOSAUR EGGS! There were all different kinds of dinosaur eggs, and each one had a picture of the kind of dinosaur that would hatch from it!

But, immediately after the operation, I felt so much better! Didn't need any pain meds from the minute I got back! The only lingering unpleasantness was the matter of my potassium... Evidently my potassium levels were CRAZY low. So they decided to give me a boost through my IV. But... potassium through an IV is NOT fun!! It burns up your arm the whole way through the vein. I had to have an ice pack on my arm to be able to bear it. :-(

I got back from the operation around noon. And by 6:30 that evening, we were cleared to go home!!

Mike and Karen where wonderful to bring over dinner for us that night. It was such a blessing!

NOW

I'm still kind of tired and feeling a bit weaker than normal. And my bladder/kidney area is still tender and a bit sore. But nothing so bad that I've needed so much as a tylenol!

MUCH BETTER!

Fun Outings

Last Thursday, I had to drive up to Taylorsville (near Salt Lake) to get fingerprinted as part of my background check for the Nursing Program. Jake was kind enough to accompany me!

It was NOT an enjoyable drive... Sasha, our Ford Taurus does NOT have air conditioning. So... it was a hot yucky miserable drive.

Afterwards however... we had some coupons for....

THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY!

Conveniently located on our return route! Our coupons were to get a slice of cheesecake (any flavor) for $1.50. They usually cost about $7 - $8 a slice. So the fact that we got TWO slices for $3?!?! A steal!

The restaurant itself was PACKED. So we walked next door to the mall to eat our cheesecake and enjoy some people watching.

I chose just plain original cheesecake with strawberries on top! YUM!

Jake always likes to try new and exciting things when we eat places. He chose a White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. He let me try a bite. It was good, but I preferred mine. :-)

The city of Provo hosts outdoor movies on Monday nights in August at Rock Canyon Park. They set up a big inflatable screen at the bottom of the hill and project the movie onto it. Then everybody brings blankets and such and sits on the hillside in a stadium seating sort of arrangement.

This week they were showing New in Town, which neither Jake or I had seen. It was pretty good! I kind of want to go EVERY week. But, I need to remember to bring pillows!

Week 11

No belly picture this week... It looks the same as ever. So... until there are noticeable changes, we'll likely shoot for every other week.

This week, baby is about the size of a lime! And there is about a 1:1 ratio between the size of baby's head and the rest of baby's body!

Supposedly, this is about what baby looks like right now (it is so hard to write these things using non-gender-specific pronouns!... No "her" or "his" or "she" or anything... only "baby". haha)

Baby's fingers and toes are no longer webbed, and they're growing hair follicles, tooth buds, and starting some fingernails!

Baby's ears have moved to their permanent position... I'm going to have to do some more research to figure out exactly where they were before...

Baby is busy kicking and stretching (I can't feel it yet) and soon will be able to open and close little hands into fists!

Baby's diaphragm is forming, and baby is likely hiccuping to strengthen it! Baby's kidneys can function now and are cycling amniotic fluid.

10 Weeks

First of the weekly baby updates!!

Officially 10 weeks along! Roughly a quarter of the way through!

No belly yet of note.

Baby is approximately the size of a prune.

Baby is forming bones and cartilage. The arm joints are now movable and baby has started making their own red blood cells! Microscopic fingernails are starting to grow and baby is sprouting hair!

We're Pregnant!!

Remember, you blog readers are getting this a day early. Facebook and others find out tomorrow. So please don't post anything on facebook until then. :-)

Our big news!! Jake and I are going to have a baby!!

We found out on June 17th. It'd been a while since I'd had a period, so my coworker and friend Cathi sent me off to the Dollar Store to buy a pregnancy test. At around 11:34 that morning, it turned out positive!! Here's that first test:

I decided to rush to K-Mart on my next break to buy some more tests. I simply couldn't believe that this one was correct!

Cathi made us a little document to track all the tests of the day.

We did 6 total!

My favorite (aside from the first, of course) was this fancy digital guy. Nice and clear, not so easy to argue with this one!

Before I left work that day, Cathi and I decided to take a commemorative photo. :-)

The belly rub.

Even though it was only a few days until Father's Day, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep this a secret from Jake for that long!! We were planning on having burritos for dinner that evening. So I got a little creative.

I used food coloring to make baby faces on the burritos and moved their wrappers like baby blankets. I laid out the pregnancy tests from the day and called Jake over to the table for dinner! At first he just looked at the burritos and said "Oh, that's cute.".... then as he started to notice the tests he said "Wait.... are you....?" haha. We had some hugging and laughing time, and then decided to eat our burrito babies while they were still warm and tasty. :-)

YUM!!

Poor baby!

Last Wednesday (July 21st), we had our first appointment with the OB and our first ultrasound!

There's the baby. And this is what we learned:

Baby is 2.49 cm long from crown to rump. That's almost an inch!

Baby's heartbeat was 173 beats per minute! We got to listen to it!

At that point I was officially 9 weeks pregnant, making baby due on February 22nd.

And NOW... baby is officially a fetus! (Instead of an embryo!)

And this week it is about the size of a green olive.

I'll try to post weekly updates on how big baby supposedly is/how baby is developing/etc. But there won't be any more ultrasound pictures until we're at 20 weeks when they will check out baby's "plumbing" and see if it is a pink or a blue.

Exclusive News Release

You special folks who follow our blog are in for a treat today!

Later today (not sure when) you will be privileged to some special information before the rest of the world is!

All we ask is that you pay attention today and then not spread this announcement (facebook and the rest of the world will find out tomorrow).

:-)

World's Biggest Water Balloon Fight!!

BYU didn't have classes on Friday ("Pioneer Day" was Saturday, and in Utah it's a state holiday). But they DID have the World's Biggest Water Balloon Fight! So Jake and I went!!

There were almost 4,000 people there (they beat the previous world record by only 25 people!) and over 120,00 water balooons!! And some kid was trying to record a music video in the middle of it!

We got a free lunch and free T-shirts (see above). They used the colors of our shirts to divide people into teams. Jake got a green one, and I got a pink one.

It was crazy! But tons of fun. Jake and I were in the middle of the group instead of on the front battle lines. And we still got soaked! Some of the balloons hurt pretty bad if they didn't pop when they hit you! We thoroughly enjoyed the chance to cool off and spend time with friends we ran into.

(I borrowed the pictures from the Daily Herald. You can read their story about the event here.)

DQ and Ducks

Jake and I are members of Dairy Queen's Blizzard Fanclub. So about every other month they email us a coupon to "Buy one Blizzard, get the second free". Since there are two of us, this works out PERFECTLY!

Jake likes to make fun of me though. Because I ALWAYS get the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard, while he likes to try a new one every time. Last night he got something called "Choco Cherry Love".

Although it had been pretty hot during the day, it looked like it was shaping up to be a nice evening. So I suggested that we go to the stream/duck pond by Heritage Halls and watch the ducks while we ate our ice cream.

It wound up being a BEAUTIFUL night. And I LOVE ducks.

We headed home with happy hearts and tummies.

Fireworks Videos

All right... I tried uploading videos... Supposedly it worked? We will see...

This first video is of a firework called the "Magic Crystal"... We fired off two of them - both shot up about twice as tall as Mike and Karen's house... One of them even wound up in the yard of the people behind them! We were not expecting that at all!

These little guys were called "Baby Sunflowers". Jake thought they would be lame, so he only let me buy one box of them. But they were SO FUN!! They would spin and kind of hover about 5-6 feet above the ground and then dart off in different directions. Only problem was that sometimes, they would attack!

Here is a clip of when one of the Baby Sunflowers headed straight for us! There was one (not this one), when I actually had to hit the ground and even then it just barely missed me!!

Nothing like a little excitement to make your fireworks more enjoyable!

Fireworks!

On the ACTUAL Fourth of July, Jake and I were busy driving back from Colorado. So the evening of the Fifth, we went over to Mike and Karen's house to set off some fireworks.

Mike was the primary firework-lighter.

Here's Ethan with a sparkler! And somewhat uncertain of what to do with it!

Also... there were all these random neighborhood kids that showed up and kind of annoyed me... But we still had a pretty good time.

This is my favorite picture of the evening! Managed to get in all the main participants!

We had a great time, and we're planning on heading back on the 24th to use up the leftovers.

I have a few video clips. I haven't yet managed to upload videos onto the blog.. But I'll give it another shot and we'll see what happens!

Colorado Trip

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Jake and I went on a little trip! My maternal grandparents live in Loveland, Colorado. My grandfather doesn't travel any more for health reasons. This meant he was unable to attend our wedding and hadn't met Jake. My mom LOVES the fourth of July in Colorado. So we made plans that they (Mom, Dad, and Laura) would drive west from Nebraska and Jake and I would head east from Provo and we would all meet in Colorado!

Whenever my family is driving I-80 through Wyoming, we always stop in Little America outside of Cheyenne. It's usually at a time when we need to refill the gas tank and they have 50 cent ice cream cones!

I decided to introduce Jake to this little tradition!

YUM!! Twistie Cones!!

Most of the time we were there, we just hung around at my grandma's house. I don't have too many pictures from that.

There was one day when Dad drove Laura, Jake, and I into Denver and around some places... including to Casa Bonita! The funnest Mexican restaurant EVER!!

The whole restaurant is designed to look like you are in a Mexican village near the jungle! There's a haunted cave, Mariachi bands that wander among the tables, a mine, a giant waterfall with cliff divers.... it's fantastic!

So excited! The food is good, but you DEFINITELY go for the environment!

Well... the environment and their sopapillas!

They're little bits of fry bread that puff up hollow in the center!

And they're served warm with honey.

My favorite way to eat them is....

1. Rip off a corner or a side of them.

2. Drizzle honey into their hollow insides.

3. Move it around a bit so the honey spreads out through the whole thing.

4. Dig in!!

YUM!! We had about 3-4 orders of these! They're the best!

They also have a bunch of little merchants and goofy little gift shops. We found these ENORMOUS "diamond" rings in one. So Jake "gave" one to me.

It was tough with the lightning, but here's Jake and I in front of the waterfall/diving pool.

We stopped for a photo op at the fountain outside!

After we were all full, we drove over to Boulder. Dad wanted to find the apartments we used to live in there and some other landscapes from my EARLY childhood.

We also drove up the mountain to NCAR - The National Center for Atmospheric Research - where my dad worked while we lived there.

The hills behind the building are GORGEOUS and Dad used to take me hiking there when I was VERY small!

This is what I used to call the "Bench Rock" when I was little.

So, of course, we needed pictures sitting on it like a bench!

It was a fun weekend to be able to get away from things and see family. We really enjoyed the trip.

And, of course... we stopped for more ice cream on the way home!

Although the ice cream wasn't our only stop...

We also stopped to buy some fireworks in Wyoming... which we came to find out later may have been of questionable legality in Utah.... Whoops!

Sneaking back across the border with our "loot"...