Nesting Life!

My goodness how it has been a crazy couple of weeks for sure. 

I have gone into insane nesting mode... it is settling a bit now as I am much more easily tired and most everything is done and in place. Here are a few pictures of Benjamin's side of our room.

Elephants on parade 

So I had this idea for paintings above Benjamin's crib, but seeing as I am a painting novice I enlisted the help of my very talented and artsy friend Emily Lemons. Our efforts combined we came up with this group of four friends :) I absolutely love how they turned out! 

Here is Benjamin's side of the room. I love how everything has come together! And yes that is my hospital bag all packed and sitting next to the carseat so we are ready. 

Speaking of some of you may have heard or wondered about this last week. Well on Tuesday night as Rich was leaving for work I started to have some more rhythmic contractions, but since I had had contractions off and on for days I sent him off to work not thinking much of it. Well I began to keep track and at about 8 minutes apart I texted my mom to let her know which very soon led to me going over to their house so I wouldn't be alone. Well within about an hour or two I was having regular contractions only 5 minutes apart, so to the hospital we went. 

I measured 80% effaced and 1 cm dialated. Since I was a few days shy of 36 weeks they decided to stop my labor by giving me two shots of terbutaline which any of you who have experienced this drug know that it is not very user friendly. However it worked and my contractions stopped and after observation I was sent home. 

I had a follow up appointment on Thursday with my doctor and now since I am 36 weeks they have decided that whenever labor starts they won't try to stop it. So now we wait. Anyday it could be babytime! 

So here I am 36 weeks and a couple days! Ready to meet my Benjamin! 

May Happenings...

May has been a busy month for us! We have had so many exciting things to celebrate!

My cousin Nate came home for two weeks from Iraq and we were so glad to be able to see him safe and sound! We also got to meet his sweet new fiance, Samantha. They are adorable together and so in love. I already am praying for the next few months of waiting, cause engagement is hard and put thousands of miles between and it just escalates! So if you are thinking about it, pray for Nate and Samantha.

We also celebrated my dad's big 5-0! We had such a great time as the fam all went down to Mint Restaurant in North Portland and enjoyed deep fried risotto balls and kobi burgers. Then we headed to Nick and Andrea's house for the most intense chocolate dessert I have ever eaten and some very serious Wii competition! 

All dressed up for a night out! 

The boys and their drinks 

All the girls

Avery is a little doll! 

Chocolate Fudge Cake! Benjamin was kicking for hours after this! 

Fifty and still young! 

Yesterday, I had my baby shower and what an event! My friend Janine planned it and my mom did an amazing job with the food! The whole fam helped in the process of making cheesecake pops- beautiful and delicious!! My mom had elephants all over the place and Benjamin scored all kinds of adorable things!! 

My mom made this adorable elephant! 

Elephant garland

We had Arnold Palmer!( iced tea lemonade) So delicious!

The amazing spread! Complete with mini eclairs, cheesecake pops, veggies, fruit kabobs and candy! 

PRAISE GOD RICH GOT A NEW JOB!! He started this last week at Portland Rescue Mission and it has already proved to be a wonderful fit for him! Thank you everyone who has been praying!

So a month of celebrations and many more in the coming months! 

A new pace for now....

Yesterday we had our ultrasound check up. It went fantastic! Everything is checking out normal and he is right on track. There were no signs of an abruption and we took a sigh of relief. Ultrasounds are so fun and I love every minute I get to spend with him. He is getting so big! His whole body used to fit on the screen and now we can only get his head. Ha! We could even see the fuzz of hair on his head! They are guessing he is about 3 pounds. At the end, the tech surprised us and just for fun she gave us a 3D look at little Benjamin! We got to see his sweet face and I am so in love already!

Can’t wait to kiss those cheeks!

On another note, I got approved for modified bedrest, which means I don’t have to be laying down all the time. I can’t lift more than 5 pounds, but I can sit and walk around a bit. Sounds crazy to say but it is incredibly freeing! I am trying to embrace the down time and get some things done that I wouldn’t have done… so lots of organizing and knitting :)

I have started a couple projects and I am so excited! My friend Michelle even brought me some wonderful yarn to start Benjamin’s baby blanket. I figure I might as well since I have the time. I will post pictures when I am a bit further on it, but right now I am just making yarn balls.

Bedrest again...

On Wednesday after many calls with the doctor Rich and I headed to Adventist labor and delivery. I had started to have contractions among a few other symptoms that my doctor felt needed to be checked. We quickly found that little Benjamin was doing just fine. He has a strong heartbeat and moves apparently more than the average babe. However I was having mild contractions so they gave me a dose of uterus relaxer and my contractions let up. I was then sent home with strict bedrest until the next morning when I was to call my doctors office. 


Thursday morning I call and my doctor has decided to keep me on bedrest until my next doctor appointment. My next appointment is MAY 10th!! I am supposed to be laying down most the time and have limited permission for sitting and standing. So the last couple days has definitely been an emotional rollercoaster  - we are so blessed that everything is okay with Benjamin and even that things are going well with me, but then at the same time I am overwhelmed at the thought of another month on bedrest. The reason for keeping me on bedrest is just to keep the contractions to a minimum and keep the little man in as long as possible.  


Please be praying for 
-bedrest to be effective and for everything to remain calm in there. 
- Rich as I am unable to do cooking, cleaning, laundry... etc.
- my attitude...I tend to get grumpy when I am stuck laying around. 


Thank you all for your support! I would love any company or phone calls since I tend to get quite bored. Also if you have any movie or book recommendations I would love to hear it :) 

THIRD TRIMESTER!!

Can you believe it!?! Today marks 28 weeks and the first day of my third trimester! It is amazing how fast time has gone by.

I had my 28 weeks doctor appointment and everything is measuring great! Benjamin is strong and right on track for growth and heart rate. I have an ultrasound next week just to check on everything in there since I haven't had an ultrasound since bedrest. After having the Glucola bottle in my fridge taunting me each morning, I am so happy to report I passed the glucose test today!! It was like drinking really sugary orange pop without all the carbonation. Seriously gross! So thankfully I was right in the middle of the normal range and don't have gestational diabetes!

Here are a couple pics from today! I have really popped out! No more hiding- little man Flamm is making himself known!

28 weeks!

Whoa Belly!! 

Bedrest and Birthday!

So I have officially been on bedrest for over two weeks! I will admit that I don't sit very well, but most of you already know that. I was so glad when my doctor gave me permission to leave the house for short amounts of time as long as I got dropped off at the door and sat.

For my birthday Rich cooked a wonderful dinner of chicken alfredo with broccoli and bell pepper. It was so sweet! Then he told me to get all dressed up and he took me to dessert at Papa Hyden. We went to Papa Hyden for our first date. We had a wonderful piece of chocolate cake and I got some much needed fresh air! :)

Then the next night,  we have family birthday dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant, Mandrin Cove! Oh how I love the Sesame Beef... I had a great time with Mom, Dad, Nick, Andrea and Avery! I forgot to take pictures. We announced our little man's name! They loved it! Stay tuned in the coming days! :)

All dressed up! Finally have a bump. :) 

My sweet man making dinner! 

It was delicious!

Triple Chocolate Cake!! Mmmm! Our little man was kicking like crazy after this!

What a great night!

Update

Had a doc appt. today and they are still trying to figure out what is going on. For now I am still on modified bedrest and trying a lower dose of meds. Next appt is in two weeks...

Keep praying! 

Another Hospital Visit... :(

I woke up at 2 am on Sunday with sharp pain on the right side of my lower tummy and tried to go back to sleep. Around 10 am and after little to no sleep, we decided to call our doctor office to see what they thought I should do. Luckily with my doctor on call I was able to talk to her and she explained all kinds of possibilities. Since it could just be ligament pain from the stretching of a growing belly, she had me take some Tylenol and put a heat pack on my back. With no change in pain with the meds and a steady worsening of sharpness I called again around 3:30. This time she sent me to hospital since my pain was only on the right side, she wanted to rule out appendicitis as well as check on our baby.

So we arrive and go straight up to labor and delivery. I immediately get a whole variety of tests done... blood work, urine test, ultrasound etc. After it all, they seem to have ruled out appendicitis but still have yet to figure out what is causing the pain. Kind of scary when they are talking us through all the options which always includes the really bad stuff. But we remain hopeful and know that He is in control even when we don't understand. The baby's heartbeat was strong so they were more concerned with what my body was doing. They decided to put me on some meds overnight that relax the uterus since I had a few mild contractions and the sharp pain hadn't let up. This seemed to help and I was finally able to get a couple hours of sleep. Monday morning we had more blood work and another ultrasound. Our ultrasound tech was awesome and explained all of what we were looking at. Our little man is looking good and healthy. No noted defects and everything measuring right on track! They also checked my placenta, because they are looking at the possibility of a placenta abruption (when the placenta pulls away from the uterus). They couldn't see one on the ultrasound, but my doctor is still treating me for a small abruption since the uterus relaxer helped so much with the pain.

Very tired and slightly frusterated, we got sent home on Monday around 10:30am still without knowing what was causing all of this. So for now I am still on the uterus relaxer and on bedrest. We continue to trust and pray for the health of me and our little one. As of today, my pain is much lower and my doctor even was able to decrease the dosage for my meds since I am doing so well. I have an appointment on Thursday to decide where we go from here.

Please be praying for continued health and recovery from a tiring weekend. Also for wisdom as our doctor is watching me quite closely now. It still amazes me how much of a mystery pregnancy is. I guess it just goes to prove how we serve a wonderful and mysterious God!

IT'S A BOY!

That is right folks we had our ultrasound today and we are having a little boy!!! 

Boy or Girl??

JANUARY 28TH!!! 

We have our ultrasound at noon and will be finding out the gender of our baby!!! 

Energy up... Nausea down!

Hey so it has been a little while since I have written so I thought I would update you all on all things pregnant and baby.

I am feeling a ton better than before. I have had days with spurts of energy and much less nausea. Those days are definitely welcome! I went to the doctor for my monthly check up this last Friday and everything seems to be good and healthy. I never get tired of hearing our baby's heartbeat which is healthy and strong. We go in for our ultrasound in just a couple weeks and we are counting down the days! We are so excited to see our baby and also find out if it is a boy or girl inside me!

We have been reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe outloud to the baby. Crazy to think that it can already  hear our voices! We get emails weekly that give us updates on the growth and advances our baby is making. I am now 16 weeks and a few days along and I can't imagine that all the necessary organs and such are there already. Obviously still maturing and growing but still so wild!

As for me, no baby bump yet. I am sure it will be coming soon. :) I have had an odd love and craving for corn and also guacamole/avocados. Nothing too bizarre yet.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. Next post I will try to put pictures.

Hospital update...

Hey so some of you may have heard of our busy weekend this last weekend so I thought I would let you all in on what has been going on. The short is I had to go to the hospital to get IV fluids for being severely dehydrated from morning sickness.
         Now for all the details for those interested...
               On Saturday night I started having fainting spells and dizziness. Rich called the oncall doctor since it was 12:30am. She told us to head to the ER so we packed up and headed for Portland Adventist. We got to the ER and had the speediest entry ever! I guess when you are pregnant they take things a bit more seriously. Before I even got from the wheelchair to the bed, three people were in my room. They were asking questions and setting up. Within a half hour I had two different blood draws, an IV, urine tests, and multiple heart and blood pressure tests. I just  laid there enjoying the warm blankets they kept bringing me. Two hours later I had had 3 liters of IV fluids in me. My halarious nurse John brought me my "ticket home" I had to keep down a turkey sandwich and ginger ale. I failed. And therefore got admitted up to Family Birth( since I am pregnant even though I am not very far).
             The rooms up in family birth are so nice and you have so much space! This picture is what our room looked like.

 I was pleasantly surprised when my nurse came in and it was a familiar face. Heidi Hunt (used to be Mudrow) was my nurse. Heidi is my friend Emily's cousin who I have known since I was in 3rd grade or younger! What a small world! She was so sweet to find Rich a sandwich and chips since the cafeteria was closed unil morning. So then we settled in to our family suite and were told to rest since I would continue to be on fluids and we would have to wait for the oncall doctor to come in the morning. I tried to sleep but the sounds of the hospital and the air that pumped in my bed every time I moved made it impossible.
            The on call doctor arrived around 8:30 and it was great to see her. She was Andrea's doctor so she wasn't completely unknown. She decided to keep me for the day to make sure I was good and hydrated. I got to go home around 5 oclock in the evening with a water drinking regimen and a order to take it easy.

Update: Went to the doctor yesterday and since I still am having trouble keeping anything down she has put me on a clear liquids diet for a couple days to try and get me back on track. So I am living in the world of clear broth, jello and tea for a couple days. I will keep you posted. :)

The start of something new...

Here we go! Another wonderful adventure I find myself in... This time a bit different. I am not going alone this time and am feeling very grateful to have my best friend along with me. We have a growing excitement as we anticipate growth in a great community of people. Check out the link for the YWAM base we will be at! There is so much to be done before we go and each week holds its own set of goals and hopes.

This week is an exciting and full one!
-We have another doctor check up on Thursday. I am now ten weeks along and so we get to hear the heartbeat!  Please be praying all is healthy and good to go. In order to apply for the visa, I have to get an A+ from my doctor. Here is a picture of our little peanut from our ultrasound a couple weeks ago. Amazing how much I already love this baby! 

-Rich started a new job today serving at Old Spaghetti Factory. We are feeling so blessed that he has several shifts this upcoming week and he is excited to be working again. 
-Rich and I are so excited to get a Christmas tree this week! The excitement of our first married Christmas is wonderful. Decorating our own place and starting our own traditions while still keeping some of our favorites from growing up. I love it! I will definitely be putting up some pictures! :) 
-I also got to go to the eye doctor and get new glasses. Mine were a few years old and quite battered! What an incredible gift it is to be able to see more clearly than ever! 
-I get my new Flamm passport this week! Once it arrives we will be able to move on getting our visas! Please be praying for a smooth and quick approval for our visas!