Sunday, December 15, 2013

Christmas Preparations

With Christmas around the corner and baby girl on the way we figured we better squeeze some Christmas festivities in!

-So we lit our fire, made hot chocolate and watched elf one night
-Helped make paper ornaments for a Christmas package for my missionary brother
-Went and saw our favorite Fashion Island Christmas tree with the Youngs and Thompsons
-Put up our Christmas tree and hung lights on our home for the first time 
-Watched the Christmas Devotional
-And been listening to Christmas music NONSTOP






Duffy Ride

My grandparents came into town for the blessing of my sisters baby. She is the sweetest babe and we love her so much. 

While my grandparents were here, my family finally did a Duffy ride through Newport Harbor. We had a marvelous time and I highly recommend that everyone do it

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful thanksgiving with Stuart's family out in LA. Everyone came into town and it was such a treat! We went up Tuesday night thinking we would surprise everyone at Stuart's grandmas and no one was there. FAIL. It's okay though we saw everyone the next day and the party began! We had a fabulous Thabksgiving at grandma Anderson's with all the extended family and ranch and can even put on a turkey trot for us that morning! The SSRTT. Semi Serious Recreational Turkey Trot. It was so fun, even though I walked the whole time. Stuart, as you can see in pictures below, ran his booty off and is now determined to get back in shape ;)

Friday we headed back home and some of Stuart's family came and saw our place. Then on Saturday we met up with all of Stuarts immediate family in San Diego. It was so nice to be with everyone and we cherish the moments we get to spend together.

Our top 5 thankful this year:
Eternal Families
Baby Girl on the way
Stuart's Job
Health Insurance
Modern Medicine.

We are a very blessed family

Overdue Baby

The due date has officially come and gone. It is hours before I am scheduled to be induced and there is just no way that I can sleep. Too many thoughts and emotions running through my mind at this pivotal moment in our lives.

I am so grateful for the time Stuart and I were able to have in our marriage just the two of us. It has been the most wonderful 3.5 years and I would be lying if I said that part of me wasn't sad it was ending. I have moments where I am anxious of what a baby will do to our relationship and how we will respond. Will it really be as amazing as everyone says? Will I be a good mom? Will I be able to meet all my family's needs? Can I really do this?!

These probably cross every soon to be parents mind at some point or another. However when I pray and lean on my Heavenly Father, I am filled with peace. I know this is what we are supposed to be doing at this point in our lives. It is a wonderful thing to be able to bring a child into a happy home, loving marriage, and a gospel centered environment. 

ohh I am SOO excited to see my husband become a father. He is truly going to be wonderful, I do not doubt that for a second. This baby is one lucky girl to have him as a father.

I can't wait to tickle her little toes and kiss those cheeks all day long. The newborn baby smell just melts my heart. 

We are so excited for you little one

34 weeks 

37 weeks 

38 weeks 

39 weeks 

 Last date night with my lover at Cheesecake Factory. That cheesecake was heavenly...

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Paddle Out

There was a paddle out to honor my father-in-law and I know he was looking down loving every second of it. Such a cool experience to witness...




BWD

This is a hard one for me to post and I have alot of deep emotions about this that are personal but I do wish to briefly express my gratitude for an amazing father-in-law that I was able to have.  Dave is a wonderful man who served others and loved the Lord. He welcomed me into the Lange family with open arms and always made me feel welcome. I will truly miss his great laugh, singing on the uke, story-telling, and joy for life. If there was anyone that knew how to LIVE, it was him. He was loved by everyone and brought so much joy into peoples lives. Stuart and I both miss him so dearly and look forward to the day we get to see him again.

As I know Stuart would agree, even though it is an extremely difficult time, we have been able to see the Lord's hand in our lives more than ever before. I can honestly say that Stuart and I have had spiritual experiences that we will never forget. We have never felt that love of our Savior and Father in Heaven more.

We love you so much Dave

I love this picture of him walking out at our wedding. Fits him perfectly.

Bed Rest

I feel that I should document my bed rest experience. Looking back it really was not all that bad, but in the moment I thought it was the worst. Pretty sure because in my head I had that I would be on bed rest till the end of my pregnancy which would have been 8 weeks, yikes! I thought I would only be getting up to use the bathroom and shower and have people wait on my every need (not as good as it sounds) for that whole time. But after two weeks since I had not had any more bleeding she switched me to modified bed rest. Hallelujah! I was so happy. I was allowed to be on my feet a little more, meaning I could run errands here and there, etc. Then two more weeks after that they took me off bed rest completely and gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted. So awesome. I really was not all that productive during my bed rest time but oh well....resting will he hard to come by the rest of my life, right?! I'm so grateful everything is okay with my sweet baby and that she has been growing like a champ.

Million thanks to my sweet husband who took such good care of me and was so patient with this pregger mama. To my parents who stocked my fridge and visited me often.  Also to all those who brought meals, books, movies, and visited. I'm a very blessed person.

The only pic I have from my bed rest experience...me rocking the granny scooter!

Camping at San Mateo

So we had been wanting to get in one last camping trip before this babe made her debut. It was very last minute but we headed down to San Mateo with the Hams and the Youngs and had a great low key camping trip! The spot is literally 10 mins from our house so it was easy peasy, just the way I like it :) our friends both brought their babes and they were champs! Stella and Carter are dream babies and were the best little campers. Made me extremely optimistic about life with kids. We kept it low key and ate hot dogs, roasted s'mores, and just hung out by the fire. In the morning we grabbed bagel shack, ( who needs to cook when you are that close to amazing bagels?!), and boys went surfing after. It was a grand old time and I'm grateful to live somewhere where I can camp and not be cold in October!


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Preterm Labor

Officially one of the scariest moments of my life was two weeks ago. Just when I thought we had gone through enough...

It had been a busy morning as I sold our car and ran some errands but nothing out of the ordinary. I had been having lots of Braxton Hicks but nothing consistent and nothing unusual for my pregnancy. I was sitting at my sisters house holding my beautiful new niece baby Claire when all the sudden I started bleeding. A TON. I freaked out, and my sister and I headed straight to the hospital. I was in tears and called Stuart to tell him. I was sure I had lost the baby and was just so worried. 

When we arrived at the hospital they admitted me straight to labor and delivery. The first thing they did was hook up the monitors so I could see baby girls heart rate and it was loud and strong. I was so relieved. However my contractions started to come stronger and were coming about every 2-3 mins. They hooked me up to an IV and gave me a blood thinning pill to see if that would stop the contractions. They then started asking me all the questions they need for when someone is admitted...do you have a pediatrician? Car seat? Planning on breastfeeding? We obviously had none of this figured out and I was freaking out thinking that this baby was coming that day. Stuart finally arrived and I was so relieved. They kept calling him Dad and it was all feeling so real.  

Then they finally took me to have my ultrasound. They put me on the gurney and wheeled me down through many elevators and corridors. I felt as if I was on Greys Anatomy, it was wild. The ultrasound tech checked out all the baby's anatomy, placenta, umbilical cord and she was doing great. I was so relieved but still confused as to what was going on.

We were wheeled back to the triage part of L&D and my sweet parents were there by the time I got back. Then I had to go to the bathroom so badly. Unfortunately they had not given me any bathroom privileges yet so I had to go in a bed pan. That was an experience I won't forget. They checked and I wasn't dilated, so since my contractions were still so consistent they gave me a shot to stop them. It made me super jittery and anxious for about 30 mins and then they finally started to slow down. The nurses also out two IVs in me to rebuild my fluids.

Afterwards I was wheeled into a larger labor and delivery room and they kept me over night to monitor me, baby, and the bleeding. They gave me an ambien sleeping pill so that I would sleep that night and apparently it worked because the nurse that was with me said she came in a ton that night to adjust my fetal  monitor and I hardly remembered it at all. Poor Stuart slept on the hard chair/bed next to me the whole night. 

The next morning I had some delicious pancakes and I finally got to see my personal doctor in person. Dr. Pollock was such a calming factor and checked
me again, but there was still no evidence as to why the bleeding had began since it had completely stopped. She ordered the perinatologist to meet with me later that day. Meeting with her was intense. Those doctors have quite the extensive knowledge. She checked me on a more high tech ultrasound and measured everything for a long time. Again baby, placenta, and umbilical cord were all good. Her conclusion was that a blood vessel had been nicked and when blood comes that's when contractions start. She said it's like a scab and so it needs to heal because if it is nicked again it will bleed again. Hence I was put on strict bed rest but she ordered me to stay another night in the hospital and for me to have the steroid shot for the baby's lungs/brain in case she comes prematurely. 

So we stayed another night and then saw the perinatalogist again in the morning. Since it had been over 24 hours with no bleeding and consistent contractions she discharged me for that evening after I had received my second steroid shot. We basically waited all day for the second round of the shot and then right after I was finally able to go home.  They put me in the wheel chair and put me in strict bed rest orders, only allowed to get up to go to the bathroom and take a shower. 

Overall I was so grateful for my experience in the hospital and felt extremely taken care of. I loved my nurses and felt that the whole staff treated me very well and I feel very confident that it will all work out. I am also so grateful for all the visitors. My sister for taking me and visiting me with baby Claire, Drew for picking up my husband from work and bringing him to me, my parents coming everyday to see me and then stalking my fridge full for the coming bed rest, Kim and Debbie Harrison coming to visit me with goodies,  Jessie Harrison bringing me yogurt in the middle of the night, and all the sweet calls and texts from friends and family. It was a crazy experience but we are so glad everything turned out okay!






Pregnancy first 31 weeks

Since my pregnancy has recently taken a dramatic turn I wanted to document how it has been up to this point.

The first trimester: I had a relatively good first trimester. I didn't start to have any nausea until around 8 weeks and even then it wasn't awful. I never felt like eating much and it depended on the day but it wasn't awful. I never threw up and felt like I could still take care of my family if I had to. Overall I was lucky

Second Trimester: I did start to feel better but I had the same food aversions. Any true Mexican food is definitely off limits. However I always want Cafe Rio, tart yogurt, and In N  Out. Starting to finally show was memorable and I was loving knowing it was a girl and getting everything ready. However I never felt as if I got this surge of energy. Felt baby girl move for the first time at 18 weeks and it was magical

Third Trimester: Starting to feel very tired and getting harder to sleep at night. Baby girl moves like crazy!! She is going to be an active little one. Stuart and I love just staring at my stomach and watching her move. We are getting so excited.

9 weeks

17 weeks 


21 weeks 



24 weeks

26 weeks 


Ultrasounds
8 weeks 
13 weeks 
31 weeks

Babymoon

So we did the most irresponsible thing we have ever done, and booked a last minute babymoon to Maui. Maui is where we went on our honeymoon and it was such a treat to come back and stay in the same hotel as well. We went for 8 whole days and it was absolutely perfect.  We had a fantastic time and it was so great to have my husband all to myself
for 8 whole days. Highlights:
Beautiful sunsets every night
Exploring Lahaina
Nakalele Blowhole
Snorkeling 

Haleakala Crater-this was such a highlight. We got up at 3 AM to see the sunrise from the top of the Haleakala Carter at over 10,000 feet. It ended up being initially a bust because it was super foggy that morning but then it cleared and the view was amazing. Rainbows and sun bursting through the clouds, truly magical

Spray on Sunscreen fail
The Gazebo, most amazing breakfasts, we went twice
Napili Bay
Hiking around the coast 
Hammock loving
Staying at Kahana Falls and reminiscing out honeymoon
Living it up our last two days in Wailea at the Marriott
Waterslides