Lauren is here! The Birth Story...

Well it's been a while since I've updated. I've been a little busy to say the least. So I will start from the beginning with Lauren's birth story and share some pictures from her first week at home.

It all started during my 36 week doctor's appointment. For some reason, I was extremely nervous before going in to my appointment and I couldn't figure out why. When they took my blood pressure, it was pretty high (150/90). I thought it was just because I was nervous so the doctor completed my ultrasound where she estimated the baby's weight and finished the appointment and she took my blood pressure again. It had dropped to 144/80, however, it was still high for me so the doctor sent me to the hospital to be monitored. She also told me that she was taking me off of work right away. She thought I was too stressed and she wanted to the hospital to check me for pre-eclampsia. My blood pressure went down and most of the lab work came back normal, however, they found the protein levels in my urine to be higher than normal which is a sign of pre-eclampsia. That and my severely swollen feet were a problem.

So early Thursday morning, my doctor called to tell me that she wanted to induce me on Tuesday, the 18th because I would be 37 weeks, the baby would be full term and the risks of continuing the pregnancy outweighed the risk of inducing. It was a pretty scary phone call and John and I were definitely shocked. I spent most of the next few days freaking out. It didn't help that John had to work the next 4 days so he was not even here to calm me down. Luckily, my mom and a couple of friends came to keep me company. I was worrying about anything and everything that could possibly go wrong: For example, that the baby would not be ready or big enough, that the induction wouldn't work and that I'd need a c-section, that we would have a baby to raise and that we wouldn't know how, that John and I would never have any alone time anymore, even stupid stuff like that they hospital would not let me eat anything or drink water and that I would panic. I know...great timing, I have no idea what I thought I was getting myself into for the last 9 months. I just knew that I thought I had 3.5 more weeks to process it all and all of a sudden the doctor was telling me that I didn't have 3.5 weeks, I had about 5 days.

Anyway, so let's fast forward to Sunday. It was John's last day of work before his leave since I was going to be induced on Tuesday, so I decided to have a pamper myself day. I went and got a manicure, pedicure and prenatal massage and generally just tried not to think too much about what was to come because I was driving myself crazy with all the things that "could" go wrong. So we went to bed that night and I just could not go to sleep even though John was totally knocked out. At about 12:30 a.m., I felt a small "gush," I thought my water may have broken, however, I wasn't sure because I had always heard that it was a very large amount of fluid and that's not exactly what was happening, plus I was not having any contractions or in any type of pain at all. So I called labor and delivery and spoke to the nurse there who said that it probably was not my water breaking. She said I could come in if I wanted to to be checked but that she didn't think that was the case. Well...she definitely should have told me to come in because I later found out that your water is not supposed to be broken for more than 24 hours or you risk getting an infection. So anyway, at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning, I was still leaking so I called my doctor's office. The nurse there told me that I needed to go to the hospital because my water had broken and I can't be walking around like that.

I still wasn't convinced. John had told me that he had traffic court to go to Monday morning and he was already gone. I had told him I was fine and that he should just go. Turns out that he didn't have traffic court, he was actually buying me a ring but he wanted to surprise me. So after I spoke to the nurse at my doctor's office, I called him and told him that they wanted me to go to the hospital. I called my mom and told her the same but I was still completely in denial. I was in no rush. I told everyone to take their time, I was going to shower, put make up on and finish packing my hospital bag. The entire time, I was rolling my eyes and complaining about how ridiculous this was because they were just going to end up sending me home. My mom kept saying she didn't think so and that she was pretty sure the baby was coming on that day. John has learned to just not argue with me in situations such as these so he didn't say much.

So we got to the hospital at about 10:30 a.m. on Monday and they did a test where they can see if my water really did break or not. Well, it did break and they can't let you leave the hospital if this has happened. So they get me admitted. They hooked me up to the IV, which took 2 different nurses and 3 different pokes before they found a vein that would work, which ended up being in my right hand! They don't normally like putting IV's there, however, apparently, I have no good veins for IV's. It was pretty awful. It hurt horribly and I was paranoid every time anyone walked by it that they were going to hit it and hurt me. We waited for a little while and I was not having any contractions at all so at about 1:30 or 2 pm they started the Pitocin. By 3:00 p.m. I was having contractions 3 minutes apart. They hurt but it wasn't extremely horrible yet. The nurse came in and checked me and I was only dialated to 2cm. She asked me if I wanted the epidural. I had never heard of anyone getting an epidural at 2cm so I told her I wanted to wait. The nurse told me that if I was going to get the epidural anyway, that I might as well get it now because then she could crank up the Pitocin dosage and everything would move along faster. So I agreed to get it. Within the 15-20 minutes it took to get the epidural, I went from 2cm to 4cm. I was feeling pretty good after the epidural, nothing was hurting, I was numb...but only for about 30 minutes. Then little by little, I started feeling everything on my left side. My right side was numb but I was feeling every contraction on the left and they were getting very strong. I was crying every time they would come. I tried pumping more medication with the little epidural button and it was not working. They called the anesthesiologist in and he gave me something stronger, that still wasn't working. All that was happening was that I was getting more numb on the right but I was still feeling everything on the left. There was nothing I could do. When the nurse had checked me and I was at 4cm, she said I would probably be about 6 more hours because it normally takes 1 hour per cm from that point on. Well about 3 hours later, I told John that I felt kind of weird and that I felt the urge to push but I didn't think it would happen that quickly. It was supposed to be 6 hours, not 3! So the nurse came in and checked me again and I was at 10cm. The shifts were changing at that exact time so the nurse I had had all day was leaving and I got a new nurse. Luckily she was great too, however, it was time to push.

My mom, sister and John were all in the room during the delivery. I have to say that my mom was the best behaved of the 3. She was quiet and stayed in the corner and just provided comfort when I needed it. My sister was quite freaked out and made the most ridiculous scared faces through the whole thing, but she was fine as long as I didn't look at her, which wasn't so hard since I had enough to focus on at the time. I think that was probably the best birth control lesson she could ever receive. All she kept saying after was "I'm never having kids." LOL. Poor John, he was trying to be comforting and during the contractions, he was wonderful, however, during the pushing, I almost killed him. He would not stop talking the entire time. Everything the nurse would say, he would repeat. On about 3 different occasions, I nicely asked him to "stop talking"...apparently, he couldn't help himself. He did not stop talking. Eventually I just screamed "SHUT UP" and everyone in the room laughed, although I was not trying to be funny. It was also really tough because the nurse and John kept telling me that I was "almost there" repeatedly, so I really thought I was almost done, however, after pushing for about 50 minutes, I realized that I was not "almost there" and I kind of had a panic attack. I just was so tired from pushing, I felt that I could not do it any longer but I knew that I had no other choice and I did not see any end in sight. Finally, about 5 minutes after my panic attack, I felt a difference. I could actually feel her head coming out and I knew that I was really almost there at this point. The contractions started coming a little further apart and I was able to regain the strength to push her out. The nurse told me that is your body's way of letting you finish when the contractions spread out a little bit.

She came out and I heard the doctor say "Look at those cheeks!" and a few seconds later she put her on my chest. It was truly amazing and love at first sight. I just kept saying "Oh my God, Oh my God!" Everyone, including the doctor was shocked at how complete she was. The doctor said that they never look like that at 37 weeks and that she was perfect. I had to agree. She got a 9 on her Apgar score and the nurse said that they never give out 10's. She got to hang out on my chest and with my family for about 2 hours before they even bathed her. I was shocked that she didn't smell weird at all considering where she just was lol. They weighed her and we found out that she was 7lbs, 6 oz. That is huge for 37 weeks! If she would have made it to 40 weeks, she probably would have been 9lbs so I am definitely glad that she came early. I am so grateful that none of the things I feared would happen actually happened. I did not worry about the epidural not working and that happened but looking back on it, I am glad it was that and not any of the other things I feared.

We are just so happy that she is here and healthy and we are truly enjoying being parents. Although I have to admit that things have been much easier on me because John and my Mom have been incredibly helpful. She also sleeps all day which has helped with the exhaustion. The last couple of nights have been a little rough but we're working through them and hoping to get it all figured out soon. It is so nice that John is off with me until the end of the year because at least we are enduring it together. Thank you all for the well wishes and here are some pictures from her first week!

34 Weeks...My Fall...

Well I skipped Week 33, mostly because I don't have enough interesting things to share on a weekly basis. I probably would not have much to share this week either if I were not so clutzy.

So as you probably already saw on my status, I had a little accident on Sunday afternoon. My grandma recently moved into a retirement home due to some medical issues. My Mom came from Riverside to go visit her in Downey so I decided to meet her there to see my Grandma and to have lunch with my Mom. After lunch, we stopped by my Aunt and Uncle's house for a little while.  My Mom and I had taken separate cars there but I was busy talking to my cousins about baby stuff and didn't realize that my mom had already gone to the car. As I was walking out of my Aunt & Uncle's house, my Mom started calling my cell phone because we really hadn't said goodbye to each other. Well I was still blabbing on, trying to answer the phone, trying to look for my keys and walking down some steps (basically not paying attention) when I fell face forward down the steps and into some plants that were right in front of me. I had so many things in my hands that I wasn't even able to brace myself for the fall. I was down for what felt like a long time even though I really wasn't because my family came to pick me up pretty much immediately. I had managed to answer the phone in the process of falling because my Mom heard everything and came running back from the car. The problem was that I could not get up. My left knee was completely scrapped up and I could not move my right ankle at all.

This all probably would have been much less scary had I not been pregnant. I've already realized everyone cares more about this baby than about me lol...but again...I'm totally okay with it. I didn't think I had hit my stomach but I couldn't be sure since it all happened so quickly. Apparently I scared the heck out of everyone because the next thing I knew, my Uncle was calling the paramedics (who got there extremely quickly), my cousin was crying, and my Mom was on the phone with John (who raced to the hospital from work, breaking all sorts of traffic laws I'm sure), and then she called my sister (who apparently cried as well). Again, I'm pretty sure nobody would have cried for me alone lol...

Anyway, the paramedics get there and check all my vitals. My blood pressure had gone a litte high but I think it was mostly because of the scare because by the time I got to the hospital and they took it again, it was back to normal. Then they took me in the ambulance to the hospital. It felt like we were there forever, even though they gave me a room and a bed right away. My ankle was hurting pretty badly and for some reason, nobody would clean up my scrape (which was bleeding, burning & dirty) until the doctor looked at it, but I just wanted them to hurry up and check the baby. I guess the only positive thing was that I got an additional ultrasound I wasn't expecting. She was doing just fine (her little face tucked into her favorite place-my right hip & hiding her face). John was a little disappointed because they have some dumb hospital policy where only the patient could be in the room so he didn't get to see the baby but he was right outside and was able to hear that her heart was beating nice and loud.

Then we waited some more and they wanted to do an xray on my ankle. I refused it at first but then the ER doctor came in and reassured me that it was safe because 1) I am so close to the end that the baby is already fully formed, 2) They would put a shield over my stomach, 3) My ankle is nowhere near my stomach. 4) There was no other way to determine if I had broken my ankle or not.

Finally, the results came back and luckily my ankle is not broken, just sprained. They gave me crutches that I have not been able to learn to use. I probably would not be able to use these anyway because that would require coordination and I have none, however, being this pregnant makes my center of gravity totally off and it is nearly impossible to use them. Thankfully, my boss allowed me to work from home all week so the furthest I've had to walk was to the restroom and to the kitchen. I am starting to get cabin fever though...I hadn't seen another human being other than John in several days and he's been gone at work for most of the last couple of days. I was so happy when my mom came to check on me today. I didn't want her to leave.

Here is a lovely picture of what it looked like a couple of days ago. Yup...kinda gross with the bruising and swelling but it's starting to get better...I'm not even going to post a picture of the scrape, I figured this was gross enough for one blog. (Sidenote: My feet don't normally look that bad lol)

Oh and here is a picture of the plant that I truly credit for making sure Baby Lauren didn't get hurt...I think the fluffiness that WAS there (no longer is because I smashed it) prevented my tummy from hitting the ground.

Anyway, the only other exciting thing that happened this week is that I officially scheduled my Maternity leave. I am only taking 1 week off before the due date because I think I'll go crazy at home impatiently waiting for her. But because we have every other Friday off, my last official day is 4 weeks from today! I cannot believe how close it is! I am also extremely excited because I will have a full 13 weeks off with her once she is here! John also gets bonding leave and he'll be home with us for the first 8 weeks after she is born (which means he will be off for the holidays! Yay!) Hopefully we don't kill each other lol...I don't think we've ever spent THAT much time together!

Next week should be fun. We have a class scheduled at the hospital on Monday night and then on Wednesday I have my last offical ultrasound to make sure the baby is in position (as of Sunday she was still head down which is nice of her lol). The doctor told me that the chances of babies flipping (in either direction) after 35 weeks are very low because they don't have much room left anymore. They will also give me an estimate of her weight. I am really hoping for a normal size/weight baby, I don't think I can handle a large one since I already know she is going to have her Daddy's large head lol. Anyway, until then...thanks for reading!

32 Weeks, Baby Shower and Nursery is Done!

Well...I skipped last week again, I was busy helping my Mom finish last minute shower details. But I'm back and so excited to share how my last week has been.

Last Tuesday, John and I took a class at the hospital. It was about labor, epidurals and neonatal care. It was a really interesting class. I have not really decided if I want an epidural yet but I'm going in with a realistic mindset that if I am lucky enough to have quick labors like my mom, (2 hours with me and 1.5 hours with my sister) I will try to hold off, however, if the labor ends up being long, I will probably end up getting the epidural. The class made me feel much better that if I do decide to get it, it will not affect the baby. We also learned some interesting facts about how neonatal care became so prominent in the U.S. It began when President Kennedy was in office. His son was born prematurely at 32 weeks and there were not any neonatal care units in the U.S. at that time; they only existed in Canada. President Kennedy's advisors thought that it would look bad if the President of the most powerful country in the world was going to a different country to have his baby cared for. By the time they decided to take the baby, it was too late and he had passed. That sparked the start of neonatal units in the U.S. and medicine has come such a long way that a baby born at 32 weeks gestation has an equal chance of survival as a baby born at full term. I, for one, thought that was a very comforting statistic!

Anyway, this past Saturday was my Baby Shower. My Mom and I had been worrying that the weather was going to be too hot and uncomfortable for everyone. We had diligently been checking the weather forecast every single day and we kept seeing that it would be around 85 degrees. We were happy with that since 2 weeks before, it had been 106 degrees in Riverside. Well, Saturday morning comes around and we start setting everything out including table clothes and diaper cake centerpieces that my mom made herself and bingo cards for the game. The sky looked so dark and gloomy and we kept hearing thunder in the distance. We looked up the weather forcast and it said there was a 50% chance of rain. We had no idea how we were going to fit over 100 people + tables and chairs inside the house. Well, I guess we lucked out because it did not rain and the weather was absolutely perfect! It was neither too hot or too cold.

Everything turned out so perfectly. We are seriously so blessed to have such amazing friends and family. I cannot believe how many gifts we received. It took over 2 hours for me to open them all. This baby is not going to be lacking anything! I was exhaused by the end of the day, but it was so worth it and we could not be more lucky. John and I had a very exhausting couple of days to follow. My poor husband worked his butt off! I tried to help as much as possible but I was in quite a bit of pain from exhaustion, so he didn't let me do much. We had to borrow a truck to bring all the gifts home. John and my sister loaded everything up on Sunday morning and drove it 62 miles from Riverside to Torrance, unloaded it in the baby's room and came back to Riverside to pick me up. Then on Monday, he went through it and organized it. We have been doing baby laundry all week and finally got all the clothes put away into drawers and hung in her closet.

Here are some pictures of what it looked like when John brought all the presents home:

And this is what the nursery looks like now (Charlie felt the need to be in the picture):

And here are a couple more of the closet...thank goodness this closet is so huge because otherwise, I have no idea where we would have put all this stuff (yes, that's a Tiffany's box there...she already has an adorable Tiffany's piggy bank from my sister's best friend Michaela) It is currently sitting inside the Princess Carraige):

I also want to share a cute gift that our friends Katie and Adrian got made for us. I, in no way, want to leave anyone out because every gift we got was super special and we are extremely grateful for everyone's extreme generosity, but this one was very personalized so I thought I would post a picture!

Front:

                                                                         Back:

Anyway, we are so excited and ready for this baby to come. I don't know what we are going to do with ourselves for the next 7 and a half weeks since practically everything is already done. But I am just so grateful for my family, for my husband and for our friends. I know that she is going to be so loved!

30 Weeks (Sorry I skipped Week 29)

Well I'm back...sorry I skipped last week, it was just a crazy and busy week.

First, last Saturday my poor Grandma fell while getting off of the bed and she broke her hip. She ended up having to have surgery last Sunday to repair it. Fortunately, she did very well and they were able to repair it without having to do a full hip replacement. Unfortunately, she will have to be in rehab for a few weeks until she heals.

Then last Monday, I had to have a mole removed from my hand. This is the first time I've had to have stitches in my life (yeah, I'm an indoors type of girl, I never really got hurt playing sports or anything, mostly because I just didn't play sports lol). I was so nervous over absolutely nothing. It was an extremely easy procedure. The only part that hurt was the injection to numb it. I'm just sad that now I have to have an ugly scar. Thank goodness, it's only about 5mm and it turned out to be completely benign.


I was being such a baby about this simple procedure, I have no idea how I'm going to handle childbirth. Strangely enough, I am not that nervous about that (or maybe it just hasn't hit me yet). I guess I figure that if most other women in the world can do it, so can I. And if the pain is too much for me to handle, there is always the epidural lol.

Then on Wednesday, I had my regular check up with the doctor. She said the baby is growing perfectly on target. At that point, I was 29 weeks and measuring 29 cm. She said that probably means I will have a very average sized baby. This made me very relieved because John keeps teasing me that our baby is going to be so HUGE. I told him that just because she may have HIS huge head, doesn't necessarily mean she will be huge all over lol. I had also read in my pregnancy book that at this point, the baby is supposed to be starting to get into position. I was also relieved to find out that she is already head down...now I just am hoping she stays that way. I have to admit that although I am not nervous about regular birth, I'm completely terrified of having a c-section, and that is pretty much the only option if the baby is breach at delivery time.

So Wednesday started out pretty well, I was excited that the doctor's appointment went so well and also that the Taylor Swift concert with my sister and her friends was that night. So my sister and her friends came to pick me up and we had dinner in Torrance to avoid the crowds near Staples Center. John came with us to dinner but took his own car so he could come home after we left for the concert. Well, as they were leaving the parking lot at the restaurant, him and the car behind him hit each other while backing out. The next thing I know...John is running after my sister's car to tell me what happened before we left. I was too far away to see damage but John claimed it was "minor." Because I know my husband pretty well, I was pretty sure it was not that minor. Well thank goodness for car insurance because it was almost $3000 worth of damage. But...that doesn't change the fact that we still have to pay the $500 deductable...and also that we have had to get by with one car since Friday and will have to until this Friday. It has been interesting to say the least. We are lucky that I work from home a couple days a week and that his work schedule has just worked out so that the car has only been needed on opposite days this week. It's so weird because sometimes you can be at home with a readily available car and not want to go anyway, but as soon as you don't have a car there and you have no option but to stay home, it kind of feels like you are trapped.

So anyway, enough of the not-so good news. The Taylor Swift concert was a lot of fun! (Yes, I am 25 and I like Taylor Swift, don't judge me lol). She is a really great performer and sounds exactly the same live as she does in her cd/radio. We didn't have very good seats to begin with, however, we got very lucky that we have a great friend who works there and was able to move us up MUCH closer. We were on the side of the stage and we even got to touch her hand as she walked by after one of her performances. I felt a little old being there since I was with 4 eighteen to nineteen year olds and I'm pretty sure I was not showing the kind of enthusiasm that they were lol. I felt even older because I was so tired after the long day I had and being 7 months pregnant doesn't really allow you to stand for an entire concert without having to take a break. Nonetheless, I had a great time and I'm really glad John encouraged me to go by reminding me that I won't be able to do this that often after the baby comes.  There definitely were a lot of Mom's with their little girls there though, so who knows...maybe in a few years, I can take her with me :)

The best part of the week was definitely this past Saturday. We had a 3d/4d ultrasound done. It was so amazing to be able to see all of her little facial features, along with her hands, legs and feet. (If you haven't already, you can see some of the pictures on my Facebook page). This one is one of my favorites:

Even though it's not of her face, I think it is absolutely as adorable as the facial ones. It reminds me of that scene in the Little Mermaid where Ariel first gets her legs and feet and is stretching them all out.

The place we went was very cool. It is a huge room that fits up to 25 people. They project the ultrasound on a huge screen. We didn't have 25 people but John and my Dad, Mom and sister all went. John and I were a little disappointed that she slept through the entire thing even though I tried to drink juice beforehand. My parents and sister didn't seem to mind though. My Dad as especially thrilled because the baby looks a lot like him. She definitely has his nose and chin. John says that he knew she would look like my Dad's side because they have very dominant features. Even though they are soft, baby-like features, everyone on my Dad's side of the family seems to have them. She definitely did get some of John's features too though. This is all speculating from one ultrasound but it seems like she has his forehead, eyelashes (thank goodness, I was hoping she'd have his long eyelashes instead of my little short ones), big feet and long legs. I was 29 weeks and 4 days when I went in for the ultrasound and her legs were measuring 32 weeks and 6 days. I'm glad for her, I don't particularly like being short. John was hoping she'd have my tiny feet but it doesn't look like that's the case...guess we will see for sure when she is born.

Finally, I found a dress to wear to my baby shower! I am so relieved because this was starting to stress me out! I cannot believe it is only a week and a half away. I feel like my mom started planning it so long ago and now it's just around the corner. Now I am just hoping that these 9+ weeks that I have left go that quickly! I cannot wait!

28 Weeks and Finally in the Third Trimester!

Okay so I'm a little late in updating this week but I'm still here!

Tuesday I hit 28 weeks and I am officially in my third trimester! It's such a strange, exciting and surreal feeling when I think about the fact that we are going to have a brand new member in our little family in less than 12 weeks. But things are definitely starting to feel more real.

On Sunday, John and I went on our tour of the hospital where I will be delivering. We both thought the hospital was really nice. The labor room was also very roomy and comfortable looking. I started to get a little emotional in there. It just felt very real and it made me even more anxious to meet our baby girl. I started getting teary eyed...that is until the lady doing the tour pulled off the bottom of the bed, pulled up the stirrups, pulled out a "squatting bar" and showed us the big red bag that was there to basically "catch" the placenta. Then I was just freaked out.

Although the delivery room was nice, I was not too impressed with the patient room where we go after the birth. I wouldn't say it is too small (for one couple) but it's not big by any means. The lady doing the tour said that they try to have everyone in their own single rooms, however, every once in a while "when there is a full moon," the hospital can get very busy and sometimes they have to pair people up. I literally cannot wrap my head around how 2 patients + 2 spouses + 2 babies (and sometimes visitors) would fit in these rooms. Although the chance of this happening is very slim, of course it gives me something else to worry/obsess about. There is 1 couch that turns into a bed for the father. So I asked John if we had to share a room with someone, if he was also supposed to share the sofa bed with the other father. John said that he would be willing to cuddle lol. At that point I was very grateful that my mom will be there with us because if I get paired up with someone, somebody is going to need to pitch a fit and since I know that Mr. Passive, Nice Guy John will not be doing that, my mom is the perfect candidate. She gets things done, plus she can be a bit scary lol.

Later on Sunday, John's brother Anthony and his girlfriend, Christine came over with their cute new puppy, Lily. We were happy that Charlie would get to meet his cousin Lily, however, Charlie did not behave too well. He was not happy about having a furry visitor in "his house" and he barked at her non-stop and tried to bite her tail. He loves human visitors, however, apparently K9 visitors are not welcome. He ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in his crate. We were very grateful because Anthony and Christine brought over the stroller that they had bought the baby! John and Anthony put it together while I read them the instructions and Christine handed them the appropriate parts lol...who knew it took 4 people to build a pretty simple stroller. Thanks again Anthony and Christine, I am sure we are going to get a lot of use of it!

Today, John was finally able to pick up the rest of the nursery furniture that was on backorder. Poor guy brought 2 heavy dressers up the stairs all by himself...the things he already does for his baby. They look absolutely beautiful in the room. The wooden blinds we ordered for the room also arrived today, but putting them up will be tomorrow's project. The room is really coming together! After tomorrow, all we have left to do is put in the crib mattress and the bedding (and of course all the baby stuff but I was just referring to the decorative stuff). I am waiting to post more pics until everything is done, which probably won't be until after the baby shower.

On a final note, my sister is finally coming home from Australia tomorrow! I've missed her! I was informed by my mom yesterday that my sister is bringing home 1 souvenir for my mom, 1 for my dad, 1 for John, 1 for me and 4 or 5 for Baby Lauren. My mom's exact quote was "now you know how we are all ranked." I've already been warned by several people that once the baby comes, I will no longer exist to people...I guess it is starting early, but surprisingly enough, I think I'm okay with it. :)

27 Weeks & Belly Photo

So this past weekend was again pretty much filled with Baby stuff. On Friday, I had my regular checkup with the doctor and my glucose test to check if I have Gestational Diabetes. The doctor said everything is going well, I was measuring right on target, blood pressure good, and baby's heartbeat is strong. I took the glucose drink earlier that morning and then an hour later they took my blood. I was a little nervous about this test for a couple of reasons. First, I had heard the drink is absolutely awful and second, I really didn't want to end up with Gestational Diabetes. Well, I must have a super sweet tooth or something, because although I can't say the drink tasted good, I really didn't think it was that bad. It just tasted like flat orange soda.


Today I found out that I don't have Gestational Diabetes! Yay! I guess I was worried for absolutely no reason. I asked the doctor when she would have the results and she said Tuesday and that with her "no news is good news" so that if I didn't hear from her by Wednesday, that I was in the clear. She also said that if I really needed to know a straight answer, that I could call the office on Wednesday....Well I am kind of one of those "need to know" type of people lol...(come on, we had an ultrasound at 14 weeks because I "needed to know" the sex of the baby). So I called first thing this morning and they said everything came back normal, so I passed!

After the appointment, John and I went to pre-register at the hospital. I can't believe we are close enough to actually get to do this! I can see why they want you to do this ahead of time though, it took a lot longer than we had expected and it is not something I’d want to be doing on delivery day. We didn't get to see too much of the hospital, we will have to wait for our tour this coming Sunday to do that, however, what we did see was really nice and I do like the free Valet Parking they offer. It will be nice and convenient for our family and friends come to see the baby.


Then Saturday morning, I went to an Infant/Child CPR class that is offered through the hospital. I have to admit that John made me take this class. I have taken a CPR class before and I could not remember anything I learned from it. I told John that if something were happening to our baby, I would be too panicked to remember anything I learned anyway. Also, John is already certified through work and he thought it was pointless to pay the extra money for him to go again so I had to go by myself. He guilted me into taking it by saying “If something were to happen and you couldn’t do anything about it, you would feel really bad knowing you could have taken the class.” So needless to say, I took the class and I am really glad that I did. They really simplified the techniques and I actually think I could do something about it if I needed to.


I did tell John that he was going to all future classes with me though even if he knew all about the topic (luckily I am pretty sure John is not an expert on childbirth, breastfeeding or infant care basics). It was pretty much all expectant couples in the class with the exception of one other pregnant woman, and another girl who was taking the class for her childcare job. I felt kinda like the "single pregnant girl." It doesn't help that I already look so young and that this whole pregnancy I've been concerned that strangers think I'm "16 & pregnant". I am so ridiculous that I kept making my left hand visible at any possible point in time to make sure people saw my wedding ring…lol…I know...I'm kind of crazy and obviously overly concerned about what people are thinking of me.

This weekend was also exciting because we received our first gift in the mail. It was shipped to our house and it was the very cute high chair that we registered for! We were totally not expecting that so it was a fun surprise! We are also so grateful because (like I’m sure most mom’s-to-be do), I peaked at the registry and people have already bought the baby some very necessary items like the stroller, car seat and bassinet! I actually have a really funny story about the car seat. If you don’t already know, pregnant women are known to have some crazy dreams. I have been having some pretty weird ones lately (including one where my parent’s dogs were being shipped on an airplane from New York to L.A. in those clear plastic food containers they give you to take leftovers home at restaurants). I woke up from that one panicked that they were not alive when they arrived. Plastic containers with no air holes do not seem very practical for living things that rely on oxygen. Anyway…back on topic lol.. I have also had 2 separate dreams where we are driving around with me holding the baby in my arms because we had no car seat. I’m not sure why this was causing me such anxiety. I already knew that hospitals don’t let you leave without a properly installed car seat and I also knew that if nobody bought us the car seat, we would buy it ourselves; however, this was still causing me concern for some reason. I guess you don’t get to be real rational when it comes to pregnancy dreams. Well Friday morning, I wake up and tell John about my second crazy car seat dream. Literally about 1 hour later, I happened to look at the registry and the car seat had been purchased! So I am very grateful to whoever did purchase that, I can sleep so much more soundly now lol. Anyway, it really is awesome to have such wonderful friends and family!


On a completely different note, I just wanted to share a cute story…John and I both have these pregnancy apps on our phones that tell us how much the baby weighs, her length and interesting things about her development each week. Two or three weeks ago, we read that if you put a flashlight up to your belly, that the baby can now see it. We have been meaning to try it but kept forgetting. So Monday night, we were lying in bed (this is usually the time when John starts talking to her because she is the most active) and we remembered about the flashlight. We were both too lazy to go downstairs and get one though so John downloaded the flashlight app on his phone (if anyone has seen this, you know it is really bright, like a real flashlight). So John put his phone up to my stomach and she immediately kicked it off! It was so funny and cute! I guess we bothered her. We probably won’t be doing it again because I don’t want to bug her or hurt her eyes but it was definitely a fun little memory for us.


Finally, I've been kind of avoiding posting the bump photo for quite some time because I’m a little (well, a lot) self conscious, but due to the fact that everyone keeps asking me to I guess I will post it here and end this week’s blog with this.


Taken yesterday at exactly 27 weeks:

Week 26, Nursery Sneak Peak & Name Reveal...

So it's been yet another busy week. Worked all week...which felt long. I have every other Friday off and I get a little spoiled because the weeks that I do work Fridays, feel absolutely never ending.

Despite being extremely tired, John and I went to dinner and to see Crazy, Stupid Love, which I really liked. Definitely a romantic comedy /drama but not your typical chick flick. It wasn't all predictable and it had a really good message. We are taking advantage of this time when we can spontaneously have a date night because we know it will take a lot more planning in the near future.

Saturday we went with my Mom and a couple of her friends to downtown to buy some baby shower decorations. That was fun and went really well. Then later that day, our friends Katie and Adrian came over to help us with some stuff. John needed help with moving the treadmill out of our room to make space for the bassinet and he also needed help finishing up building the crib so Adrian helped him with that. Meanwhile, Katie helped me with the letters for the nursery.  Thank goodness she is creative because I had no clue where to start. The picture does not do the letters justice because you can't see the cute designs but trust me, they look very cute! So I guess this leads to the big name reveal lol (like anyone who doesn't already know really cares). Here is the pic of what is done in the nursery (we still have quite a ways to go) and I will explain how we came up with the name below. Also, please excuse the fact that I look like horrible...John forced me to take a picture...and as you can tell by the look on his face...Charlie was forced too.

As many of you know, we have had a very difficult time picking a girl name. So while on vacation, I was talking to my Dad and I told him that I was drawn to a lot of the old Hollywood names like Katherine, Elizabeth, Audrey, Sophia, etc but that I just kept finding reasons why we couldn't name her that (ex. Katherine, would likely be shortened to Kate or Katie and I know about 10 Katie's, my cousin has a little girl named Elizabeth, and my friend used Audrey as her baby's middle name. Then there was Sophia...ahh...we both LOVE the name Sophia, however, it is the #1 most popular baby girl name right now and as much as it killed me not to use it, I would feel bad if she was 1 of 5 Sophia's in her class at school. I know firsthand how annoying it is to have a best friend with the same name, and Diana is not even that popular of a name. So my Dad suggested Lauren since it fit into the old Hollywood theme that I love and although it was popular at one time, it is not extremely popular in babies being born now. We also decided that since we loved the name Sophia so much, we would still include it as her middle name. This way, we could still use it, but we wouldn't run into the whole confusion of being called on in class. So her name will be Lauren Sophia Meneses! Yay! So...I hope you all like it and if you don't...I don't really want to know lol...

So the pregnancy is still going really well...the baby has been moving around so much! It has been so cool to be able to share that with John now that he can feel her on a pretty regular basis (usually right when I am trying to fall asleep lol) but it seems like he is getting just as much joy out of it as I am. My only complaint right now is that this summer heat and walking around a lot is making my feet swell. It is not fun and not pretty. I am looking forward to the heat going away...along with all this extra water in my body!

I also did very well on my new healthier eating plan last week. I lost 4 pounds just by cutting down on my carb intake. Don't worry, I am eating, I promise that am not starving the baby, I just had to stop indulging in my bread and chocolate weakness so much. Part of the reason (other than the weight gain) that I needed to get it together is that I have my gestational diabetes test this Friday. They do this test on all pregnant women between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy and I really don't want to get GD.  Too many carbs and sugar are not good for this! So wish me luck!

Anyway, so I promised my sister I would mention her in this week's post...she is in Australia for a whole month, 2 weeks of volunteer work with the animals and 2 weeks of exploring the country and getting to do fun excursions! I guess I kind of miss her...but only kind of j/k...Nique...Since I don't get to talk to you very much...I hope you are having a blast and call me when you can!

That's it for now! Thanks for reading!