Missing An Organ

Well Tuesday morning I got a tummy ache that lasted for about 2 hours, and then slowly drifted away...  Then come Thursday morning, I woke up with the exact same ache in my lower abdomen.  I went along with my normal morning routine anyway~got ready, got Jack off to the sitter's house, and went into work.  About 2 hours into my shift, I was hurting pretty badly, and decided I better go home and rest it off.  I thought for sure it would go away in an hour or two, and that I would just go back into work.  But as I layed in bed, it got increasingly worse.  By the time Brock came home for his lunch break, I was rolling back and forth in pain.  By 2:30pm, I had talked to my friend Krista who said that if it didn't fade away by evening time, that I really should go into the ER, because a few years ago, she had about the same thing happen, and when she went into the doctor, she found out she had Appendicitis, and they had her in surgery 30 minutes later.  I am so lucky I listened to her!

I went to Instacare, and as soon as I pulled up, my tummy didn't feel nearly as bad.  Dang Murphy's Law!  Doesn't that always happen when you get to the doctor's office?  You suddenly don't feel so bad?  So I sat in the parking lot for a half hour, until I finally decided it might just be smart to get it checked out.  They got me right in, and I was honestly only there for a matter of minutes before the doctor told me he was pretty sure I had Appendicitis, and sent me immediately up to the ER for a Cat Scan.

My mother in law met me at the hospital (thankfully! It would've been tough to sit out all the waiting time alone) and I filled out paperwork, got ink put up inside of me (not a pleasant experience), found out my fever had gone from 101 to 101.6, had a Cat Scan for the first time, and found out I had a "bouncing baby appendix!"  You hear about people getting their appendixes removed all the time, so I know it sounds silly now, but I honestly didn't know I would have to stay the night at the hospital...  I heard the doctor say something about "tomorrow," and I was like, "Wait, you think I'll have to stay the night here??," And his response was, "Well we can discharge you whenever you want, you could even leave right now, but you'll be dead in two days."  Well if that ain't enough to freak you out, I don't know what is!  SCARY!

So 45 minutes after my scan, I went in for surgery. Brock finally got to the hospital right before I went in, thankfully!  I had the hardest time getting a hold of him at work.  I was a little bit scared of surgery, because I'd never had one before.  I was especially scared because Jackson wasn't there, so I didn't get to kiss him goodbye.

I got into the operating room, and it really freaked me out.  I heard really softly in the background, "The Piano Man," by Billy Joel playing.  I told the anesthesiologist I liked that song, so he blasted it for me :)  If I was going to die, at least I would've died with some good background music!  I am very thanful I didn't though!

When I woke up, I had the HARDEST time breaking off the anethesia.  I tossed and turned for a good three hours.  I felt like I was on some hard drugs or something.  If that's how people feel on drugs, I think they're all insane.  My brain was going about a million miles per minute, and my eyes felt glued shut.  All I wanted to do was sleep, but I couldn't!  I kept telling the nurse, "I feel so weird.  I feel so weird."  She kept telling me to wait it off, and in a couple of hours I would feel okay.  The only thing that kept me going was to keep thinking that over and over again, "It will be gone in a couple hours...it will be gone in a couple hours."  That had to be one of the worst experiences of my life.  Honestly.  I HATE anesthesia.  It is awful.

After those few hours though, everything was okay.  They sent me home the next afternoon (one organ less than I had came in with.)  Brock bought me a beautiful summer scarf from the hospital gift shop, and got me super bright happy daisies when he went to pick up my pain prescription.  What a good hubby!

Everyone has been really helpful while I've been recovering.  My mother in law came and cleaned our house before I even came home from the hospital, and my babysitter Kylee brought us over pizza for dinner.  The clan from work brought me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers, and my neighbors did too!  Thanks you guys!  You're all too sweet!

Jackson is 6 1/2 weeks old!

Time has flown by these past few weeks.  I can't believe that in a week and a half, I'll be back to work.  I'm ready to get out of the house though...I'm feeling a little bit clausterphobic!  I will be sad to leave my little guy, but I'm sure I'll be so excited everyday to come home and see him.

He has started SMILING!  A LOT!  Brock discovered that if you tickle his little neck, and make funny noises he'll get a big grin on his face :)  And usually once he starts, they just keep coming.  It is about the cutest thing I've ever seen!  Sometimes my eyes just water up, because he is just so gosh darn cute, and we are such lucky parents to have such a happy, healthy, beautiful child.

We are thinking that he will start crawling super early, because he is such a strong little bugger!  When I hold him up on my shoulder, he is always trying to crawl up me.  He pushes his little legs into my belly, and just kind of pushes off.  I have to be really careful that I've got a good grip on him, because if not, he is gonna crawl right over the top of me!  And when we lay him out on a blanket on the floor, he is such a wiggly worm.  He is determined to roll over!  He gets pretty close, but no cigar.  I'm sure it'll happen before we know it though.  Wow,  I can't believe how big he's getting!  It feels like we were in the hospital yesterday, and now he's trying to roll over!

At the doctor last week, he weighed 10 pounds 15 ounces.  I'm sure he's well over 11 pounds now!  He's gained over 2 pounds since he was born.

Welcome Jackson! 1/1/11

Well it's about time that I tell you about Jackson coming out of my belly and into this world-don't worry I'll keep the detailed bits to myself! ;)

Friday (New Year's Eve), I dropped by my girlfriend Tiffany's house.  She was telling me that there are some pressure points on your feet that can help you go into labor.  She said it would hurt really bad, but you all know that I was nearing desperation to get that little guy out of there!  So she massaged these pressure points on my feet until I was close to crying.  Then I came home, and my family had come up to visit from SL.  My dad massaged the same spots for me too, just to make sure we gave it our best shot.

Then we all went to see Little Fockers (cute by the way! We got some good laughs)  By the time we got home (about 10 pm), my contractions had begun.  They were 10-15 mins apart and lasted for a few hours.  And they were pretty painful!  The Braxton Hicks contractions I'd been having felt nothing like the real thing!  I went to bed about 12:30am after cheersing Martinelli's, playing Pictionary with the family, and watching the ball drop.

The pain didn't wake me until 6am surprisingly (& luckily!) Contractions were now 8 min-ish apart, and super painful.  I got in a warm bath, and they got closer and closer 7 min, 6 min, and finally when they reached 5 min and were killing me (at about 10 am I think), I woke Brock up and told him he should probably hop in the shower, because we needed to go to the hospital.

We got there at 11:30am, and I was dilated to a 3, which was good news because I was at a 2 the week before.  They said they needed to wait an hour to see if my dilation changed to know if they could keep me or not.  I think I would've died of pain if they had sent me home!  Now I know why they all labor "labor!"  At 1 pm, I was at a 4 and I asked for the epidural.  Can I just tell you something?  I LOVE epidurals.  I told the anethesiologist that he was my new best friend.  He probably gets that a lot...

They broke my water (weird eperience), and then gave me the epidural, which went perfectly smooth.  My doctor, and all of the other doctors were out of town for the holiday.  They called mine, and he said he was sure I wouldn't have him until at least 8 or 9 pm, and that he would be back in town by then.

At about 5:50 pm, the nurse asked me if I'd like her to check and see what I was dilated to, or if I'd like to wait a little longer.  I told her to go ahead and check.  BABY WAS CROWNING!  She's like,  "This baby is coming RIGHT NOW!"  I started freaking out and telling people to find my husband (he was down in the cafeteria), and my mom was calling my family and telling them to hurry their butts over.

They called my doctor, and he said, "I am at Maddox in Brigham City, I'll drive thru the canyon as fast as I can.  Tell her not to push."  WHAT?!? NOT PUSH?!?  I can't even feel my legs,  how do I know if I'm pushing or not?!  Doc walks in the door at 6:06, out pops Jack at 6:16, four pushes later.  Piece of cake!

Couldn't have asked for a better delivery, or a more beautiful baby.  We are so blessed.

Only one minor thing-I think I broke my tailbone in delivery.  Still hurts pretty bad, but I have this amazing child, so all is well.

The Waiting Game

Well, we've tried nearly every trick in the book (minus the castor oil, that one a little freaks me out!)  We tried the spiciest Mexican food we could find, loose leaf red raspberry tea,warm bath, walking, rolling bath and forth on an exercise ball, massage,  and two other things that I don't want to mention on here (lol!), but it looks like this baby is just gonna come when he's good and ready!

Our last doctor's appointment was on Wednesday,  doctor guessed that Jackson weighs between 7.5 and 8 pounds!  (the size of a small watermelon) I lost a pound since my last appointment, yeah didn't know that could happen, but I guess it's normal near the end of your pregnancy.  Don't get me wrong though, that's great!  I don't want to gain anything else!  I am dilated to a two, 80% effaced, and the baby is positioned at a -1.  So pretty much, we are ready to roll if I could just start having some contractions already!  I have been having them spuratically, but that's about it.  Oh, except on Friday I had about four an hour for a couple of hours...That was as close as they've gotten.  We thought for sure that was going to be it.  That they would slowly just get closer and closer together, but I went to bed, woke up, and sadly they were gone :(

Now it looks like we're just going to have to learn some patience.  Maybe it will make me a better mother...

Almost 35 Weeks!

Wow, we are really rockin' and rollin' now!  I can't believe how much time has passed with this little baby in my belly!  Only 5 1/2 more short weeks, and we will be parents, wow that is so crazy to think about!  It almost doesn't feel real even though the nursery is nearly completed, and he has a million cute little things that everyone so kindly gave us at the baby showers :) You guys are the best!

Brock just got done refinishing the baby changing table, and it looks wonderful!  Now I just need to complete the finishing touches, and it will be done!  I am going to put denim fabric down on the three shelves, because that'll match cute with the room.  

Jackson now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz).  And he weighs approx. 4.4 lbs (about the size of a cantaloupe!), and he is about 18 inches long.  It is incredible to me that somehow he fits inside of my belly!  There is a little human in there :)

It is crazy that he could be born anytime now.  Babies born anytime after 34 weeks are generally healthy, and do just as well as full-term babies.  I don't feel like it's going to happen anytime too soon, because I haven't felt any sort of contractions or anything (or so I think!  I guess I don't know what they feel like).

Here is what's happening with me:

I have been short of breath, and had heartburn a lot lately.  It's become really hard to get out of low chairs, and roll over in bed.  I also feel pretty tired most of the time, so the doctor is having me take an iron supplement, which I think is helping a little bit.

I find myself waddling as I get my Christmas shopping done, ha ha!  I see my reflection in the big glass doors sometimes and can't help but laugh at how funny I look.

A couple weeks ago, I was at a sushi restaurant, and they had these big pretty wooden wardrobers that were like 6x6 ft.  They were pretty close to our table and as I went to sit down, I turned around quickly and my belly bonked the wardrober, and it came toppling down! SO EMBARRASSING!  I turned around, and the whole section of people near our table were kind of laughing, and I looked down at my belly and said, "I just don't remember how big it is sometimes!"  Then everyone laughed more.  It was pretty embarrassing when it happened, but now it's kind of a funny story.  That dang belly of mine!     

I had a second ultrasound a little over 2 weeks ago, and everything went great!  They had me do a second one, because they thought my placenta was low (eek!), but turns out I have a perfectly normal amount (yay!)  So we got to see Little Jack in there again, and he is just as cute as can be!  There is one picture they sent us home with, where you can see his face pretty well, and I'm just in love with his little button nose.  He's gonna be so cute!  I can't wait to see him! 

My right side ribs have been giving me a lot of pain lately.  Might be due to a pulled ligament, the baby pushing on my liver, my uterus tipping to the right, or one of Jackson's little feet stuck in between them!  Or a combination of some of those things.  This has probably been the hardest part of my pregnancy so far : /  It's feeling so so much better now, but for about 4 days at the beginning of this week, I just thought I was going to die.  Literally.  No not really, but it hurt really really bad.  I am hoping that it doesn't get that bad again!

A few weeks ago my friends Bobbi and Jennifer threw me my second baby shower in Murray.  (Thanks girls!)  It was perfect!  They hung a cute clothes line across the room, with little baby clothes hanging from it :)  And they had tons of delicious food: pomegranates, mini deli sandwiches, eclairs, cream soda (my fave!), and lots of vegetables.  I learned how to make homemade baby wipes, and got a million wonderful presents for baby.  We got a beautiful matching car seat and stroller, which we desperately needed, lots of fun clothes, a Boppy, bathtime toys, blankies,  and lots of other cute things! It was really good to see all of my old girlfriends!

The cute clothesline

The tummy yummies

The adorable car seat & stroller

Kaylee Bug & Grandma Bird

My sisters

Me & Amanda

Besties!

Sandy & Megan (my mother and sister-in-law) just threw me my last baby shower, which turned out really great too!  We got a lot of things we still needed: baby monitor, bottle sterilizer, some books, diapers, a teddy bear...And a lot of really fun stuff too: knit blanky, baby snow boots, some more shoes, scrapbook, book of baby crafts, and lots of super cute clothes!  Sandy made delicious pumpkin rolls with cream cheese, and homemade spiced cider. YUM!  We had it at the clubhouse in our neighborhood, which was perfect!  Everyone just hung out on the couches, and chit-chatted.  I think everyone had a really good time :)

My cute sister-in-law Megan 

The present table :)

Tricia & Me

31 Weeks

Wow, we are really moving along! The time is flying by quicker and quicker, and it's crazy to me that we only have a teeny over 2 months to go.

Jackson is bigger than a cabbage now, weighing over 3 pounds!  And he is over 15 inches long.

Now I feel him kicking, squirming, and rolling around on a regular basis.  I have even seen a body part or two poking out of my tummy!  AMAZING! (But also very strange at the same time...) There is a human in there!  Sometimes it's just unbelieveable to me that I could actually be growing a person in my belly!

I am feeling more and more uncomfortable as I get closer to my due date.  Lower back pain, sore ribs, swollen feet... :( But I hear this is completely normal, so I am just patiently waiting for it all to go away!  I am also having a very hard time sleeping.  I can usually get to sleep after an hour or so of laying there, but then I always wake up sometime between 3-4am, and can't get back to sleep!  Some days I even get up and get some stuff done around the house, hey, might as well be productive if all I'm going to do is lay there.  But other times I just try and try to get back to sleep, but usually to to avail.  Or if I do finally drift off, it's usually not too long before I need to be up. That would happen!  I did finally catch up this weekend though, which will be good for the week to come.  Friday I slept for almost 8 hours, and last night for almost 10! Woo hoo! Go me!

Times have been busy but fun!  My mom threw me my first baby shower on the 16th, and it was a blast. We got everything from whale-shaped baby bathtubs, to musical projectors to hang in the crib.  It just amazes me all of the fun things that are out there for babies now.  Our little Jackson is going to be spoiled rotten-wait, he already is!

My mom's best friends

Me and my old girlfriends Shalese & Lyndsi 

Me and my bestie Jas

Oh Grandma, don't cry!

Mom hard at work!

My cute mother-in-law Sandy

Mom made us delicious homemade navajo tacos! YUM!

It was a BIG group!

Cute cousins playing with the bunny

It was a long day for Harey too..

Opening presents (cute Darla in the back!)

25 Weeks! & Other Fun Things...

So we have passed the 6 month mark, and into the 3rd tri I go! Jackson is kicking and kicking and kicking...maybe he'll be a kick boxer someday? ;) I am loving feeling him in there though!

I read yesterday that if I could see into my belly, Jackson now has enough hair that I could tell what color it is!  I am so curious to see what our beautiful baby boy will look like!  Brock and I have voted that hopefully he gets Brock's ears, because lets face it, Brock has good ears, and mine, well, we don't even want to talk about mine...And hopefully he gets my nose, because apparently that's my best feature.  I remember one time when I was probably 15, and me and all my little girldfriends were out to lunch.  We started having this conversation about what we liked about each others features and what we didn't like (big mistake!)  I haven't been able to forget what people said about me my whole life!  Of course the bad things are always easier to remember than the good (sadly!)... But I do remember one good thing, and it was just my nose. Ha ha. I used to be pretty disappointed that that was the only good feature I had back then ha ha.

Jackson now weighs about a pound and a half, and is approx. 13 1/2 inches long.  Apparently he weighs as much as a rutabaga (whatever that is!)  I googled it, and this is the picture that came up.  Never seen one in my life!

I am feeling huger and huger! And am obviously looking that way too!  Brock says that if he sees me from behind he can't even tell that I am prego, but then when I turn to the side, it's like WA-BANG! Lol.

Brock and I have been trying to stay busy, and have some fun with each other (and our friends!) before the baby gets here.  Last Friday Jas & I got together and made delicious fruity dessert crepes!  They were soooo good! Nothing beats Nutella, cream cheese, powdered sugar, kiwis, and strawberries! And Saturday we went to another demolition derby, but this one was in Logan, and it was way bigger than the last one we went to!  It was a double date with our friends Jasmine & Bryce (who we love!)

Sunday, we were big bums and just lounged around the entire day.  I think Brock didn't even get out of bed until 2:30 pm! He's been working really hard though, so he deserves it!