3D Sono

We went to El Centro College yesterday afternoon to let the Sonography students practice doing an ultrasound on me! I place a lot of these students when they come to Parkland for their clinical rotations and have been invited to come check their facility out. This school has an AMAZING set-up and great equipment! We enjoyed this sono so much because the school instructor was teaching during the entire thing and it was great to hear them explain every little thing that they were looking at along the way. Cade wasn't very cooperative at all and had his arms up in front of his face throughout the entire thing. We got a couple of pictures and videos that show him off a little.

This first picture shows the best shot of the face that we could get. You can see his forehead at the top of the screen and his eye and cheek on the left of the screen and then his crossed arms covering the rest of his face.

Little feet!

It was fun to get a glimpse of our little guy yesterday (even though he wasn't very cooperative)! We are so blessed by this pregnancy and cannot wait to meet Cade in 10 short weeks!

28 week Pregnancy Update

I am several days late on this since I was actually 28 weeks on Monday but here it is!

I'm 28 weeks pregnant!!!

Again, I just left the pertinent questions that have new answers to read!

Total Weight Gain/ Lost: I went back to the doctor yesterday and was up 17 pounds. (I was at 14 pounds when I was there 4 weeks ago so hopefully I can keep gaining slowly the rest of this pregnancy.)

Sleep: Not really so great anymore! I do believe that my body is getting me adjusted to being up with the baby. I wake up to use the restroom probably 3-4 times each night and then wake up several other times because I am just not comfortable! I also have been staying up later because as tired as I am all day long I am just not tired when it comes time to actually lay down and sleep so therefor waking up in the morning has become more difficult also.

Best Moment this Week: Well, the moment hasn't happened yet but the scheduling of the moment has. I scheduled our 3D sono this week and we go for it next Wednesday! We are getting to go to one of the schools that sends Parkland Sonography students for clinical rotations and they have great equipment and said they would LOVE to practice on me!!! We haven't had a sono since 18 weeks so I am very excited about getting to see our little boy again!

Movement: All the time and I LOVE it!!! I like to call him my little jumping jelly bean because he is constantly doing some sort of acrobatic movements in my belly (especially at night about 30 minutes or so after I lie down)!

Food Cravings: I have craved onion rings quite a bit recently but I don't actually want the rings I want those thin onion straws instead! I am still craving fruit, popcicles, and any kind of frozen fruit drink. (I had a fantastic strawberry pineapple fruit mixer from the cafe at Medical City on Sunday!!!) I don't necessarily crave them but I eat a lot of waffles in the evening for dinner. They taste good and are easy for me to make when Gregg is working!

Anything make you queasy or sick?: I am only getting sick about every 10-14 days now! I don't know what triggers me to actually get sick but ever so often something just gets to me.

Have you started to show yet? Yes! And I am finally pregnant enough looking that strangers have asked me about the baby and when I was due!

Leakage: Nope

Labor Signs: I am having occasional braxton hicks contractions and did have to make a trip to L&D triage a couple of weeks ago because I was having real contractions and did not feel normal at all. Other than that one day I have had no labor signs and am making sure to drink lots of water and get plenty of rest so that I can avoid that. (I have several pregnant nurse friends right now that are all on bedrest at 24 weeks for the rest of their pregnancy!)

Belly button In or Out: It is in for now but it's looking like it might pop out at some point!

Happy or Moody most of the time?: I would say that I am happy but emotional! I cry all the time and for no reason at all. My favorite time to cry is when I get in the car. I have no clue what triggers it but I will start crying for no apparent reason! (I cried 5 times yesterday alone! Twice at the Physical Therapists, twice at the OB's office and when sitting in the nursery last night. Just emotional!)

Milestones: I have made it into the 3rd trimester!!! I cannot believe how fast this has all passed and that we will bring a baby home in just 11 1/2 weeks!

Weekly Wisdom: My Mom sent the following quote to me last week when I was frustrated with myself for a mistake that I made. I found the quote to be enlightening and think that we should all keep this in mind when fussing about our own and others mistakes. "Look back in forgiveness, forward in hope, down in compassion, and up with gratitude." -Zig Ziglar

Weekend Wrap Up

On Saturday our department at work had a "Summer Get Together" at one of our Manager's house and pool! I honestly was dreading going because it is so darn hot outside but was in charge of all the planning going into the party so was "forced" to attend. We went a few minutes early to help get everything set up and Gregg got assigned to grill duty immediately! We grilled burgers, hot dogs and hot links all throughout the day as more people came and went and had all kinds of yummy snacks inside the house for everyone to enjoy! The day turned out to be really enjoyable and not near as uncomfortably hot as I was expecting! It was plenty hot out but there was a huge pecan tree in the back yard that provided so much shade and there was a decent breeze that blew on and off all day which made everything tolerable! I spent the day running back and forth between the grill and inside where the food was, sitting in my lawn chair talking and relaxing with everyone else. I did put my legs in the pool for a little while but decided not to bust out the maternity swim suite and scare all the kiddies!!!

Trying to stay cool

Ava and Ellie swimming in the "little girls only" pool

just lounging

feeding the fish

Ellie and Ava in their tent (these 2 little ones became best friends on Saturday!)

Going fishing

Will with his fish

Mathew with his fish

headed out for a ride on the paddle boat

the little girls were SOOO excited that they got to go on the paddle boat

Ava and Ellie after going on their boat ride

Overall, the party was a huge success and I really did enjoy spending time with everyone outside of the hospital and getting to meet the families of all my work friends. We are already making plans for next years get together and hope to do it in June before it is stifling outside!

*View picture below with caution! It is bloody!*

On our way home from the party Saturday afternoon my Mom called me and said that my 97 year old great aunt, Cleacy, had fallen at her nursing home and was being taken to the ER at Medical City. We happened to be right at the exit for the hospital and so we stopped there to check on her. My Uncle was already at the ER waiting for her and so he and I went back once she arrived to see her and then Gregg came back a few minutes later to help us understand everything we were being told. Poor thing was all banged up! She had a pretty severe cut to her head (picture below) which ended up requiring 9 stitches and also big tears on both of her arms and her left knee. She was still in the c-collar when we first got into her room because they were waiting to take her to get a CT scan and have lots of x-rays done. Cleacy didn't remember what had happened and the people from the home were fuzzy on the details so the hospital wanted to rule everything out. Her blood pressure was also crazy high, which is not normal for her and so we were all concerned that she could have a brain bleed. All her scans were finally cleared and the x-rays didn't show any broken bones (praise God) so they gave her something to bring her blood pressure down and admitted her to a tele unit for observation over night. Once she was admitted, Gregg and I went home for the night and let my uncle get her settled into the room.

Cleacy's head before they stitched her up

On Sunday we went back up to the hospital and spent the day with Cleacy and Rod waiting on discharge orders for Cleacy. She was feeling so much better, was talking to us and back to being her self. She never complained of any pain and every time we asked her if she was hurting she would say "I know I look pretty rough but I really feel pretty good." I can't imagine how she wasn't in any pain and kept telling her that she is so much tougher than I am because I would have been crying like a baby if I had split my head the way that she did! Cleacy was finally discharged around 5pm and we took her back to the nursing home where she ate a really good dinner and then was ready to go to bed. The weekend was long and hard for us all but I was so glad that we were able to spend the time with Cleacy and be there to help my uncle with everything he does for her. Family is precious and Gregg and I are both so blessed to have wonderful families!

And here is Cleacy today!

(still looks a little like a mummy with her bandages but is doing much better overall)

Closet Make-Over

The closet in the nursery is extremely small and not really all the great. The closet sits over our stair case and so about 18 inches of it are lost to the stairs. It also only has 1 hanging bar which didn't hold much at all. We have been debating different ways to make this closet better for several months now but I have been hesitant to do anything because I didn't want to invest a lot of money into it. We finally found a solution at Home Depot that was easy enough sounding and relatively inexpensive and so we re-did Cade's closet last Friday (and by we I mean Gregg did the work while I supervised from the chair and took pictures!)

First thing to do was to tear all the current closet fixtures out in order to install the 2 side bar things that the new shelves would be installed on. Gregg was a man on a mission with his crow bar and pulled out the old stuff pretty quickly! (Please excuse my sweaty husband! He had been outside cutting the shelving and rods to fit this closet and it is WAY hot here!!!)

Gregg the demo man!

2 new shelves with hanging rods

we decided to put a couple of hanging baskets on the bottom shelf

And here is our little man's finished closet! I am loving it and cannot believe how much more space we have already! (I had to hang up a lot of clothes for the pictures to get the full effect!) Between his dresser and this new closet I think we will be doing all right on storage space.