Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Merry Christmas!

A day late but we were having a great Christmas with family and the blog could wait. Braedan was so excited for all his presents (more so for unwrapping them!). I got the sewing machine I wanted so this momma is happy camper! I can't wait to find out the sex of the baby and get started on making some cute stuff! I also got a new coffee maker and I almost cried when I brewed my first cup. I haven't had a decent cup of coffee since my old Keurig broke a few months ago. I thank my amazing hubby for bringing that cup of sanity back into my life.

Braedan has left with my mom to visit California for a week and a half. He is going to have a blast seeing all of his cousins and aunts and uncles, but his mommy misses him so much! He's only been away from me since last night and yet it feels like he's been gone for weeks! Rich is at work and I'm sitting here in my too quiet house appreciating the silence at the same time missing the noise. What am I going to do with myself?!

Well, for starters I'm going to watch my new copy of Magic Mike. :)

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Don't worry....

I just wanted to let everyone know that this blog and text/calls are going to be my only way of technological communication for a while. I decided tonight that I need to take a serious break from social media.

The hype and hysteria surrounding the Connecticut shooting and the "end of the world" are just too much right now. I cannot stand to read one more idiotic comment about gun control, or threats, or school lockdowns, or pulling your children out of public school. The fact is that there are evil people in this world, and if they want to take others out with them they will find a way to do so. Nothing is going to stop them, not gun control, not gun bans, nothing. It won't matter if our kids are at school, at the grocery store with us, or having a fun day at the zoo. So unless you want to live your life in fear and lock your children away forever then the best you can do is to live every day to the fullest and have no regrets in life.

I, for one, don't practice living my life in fear and refuse to change that. The state of our country today really makes me sad. We are so divided, paranoid, and antsy. Maybe I was just too young to get the full effect but it seems worse now than it did after September 11, 2001. Perhaps now that I'm an adult I'm seeing the full tilt of paranoia. I've got to say, I don't like it. People are panicking and the media is doing nothing to help that. It feels like everything is slowly slipping into utter chaos, all because of people overreacting.

So, for my own health and sanity I've chosen to step away from the social media and reduce my interaction with all of it. I want to be able to enjoy the holidays with my family without the added stress of the insanity of the world. I know it'll still be there whether I pay attention or not but the less I'm reading about it 24/7 the more I feel I can enjoy my life right now.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Road Trip!

So yesterday we took a little road trip over the mountains to visit Denver. Since it's a decent trip and we don't go often it's sort of a big deal.

The purpose for the trip was mainly for the memorial service for my friend Brittany who passed away two weeks ago. It was a beautiful, beautiful service and I can only imagine that Brittany was smiling down on us all. It really helped to see her family, give them hugs, and cry with them. We will all miss her but we know that right now she's busy in heaven helping some other innocent souls that were taken from this world by evil people.

After lunch we dropped Braedan and my sister off at this place called Monkey Bizness. It's a little warehouse full of climbing obstacles and inflatable jumpy castles and playthings. My sister wasn't comfortable going to a funeral for someone she didn't know and we really weren't sure about making a 4 year old sit quiet and still for a funeral. So off they went to play while we went to the service.

Afterward we did a little shopping. Maybe it's Christmas, and maybe it's because in Denver we have access to stores we don't have near us, but there was something a little magical about shopping. I had wanted to stop by a Babies R Us and look around since we don't have any baby stores here and the selection of baby stuff in stores here is slim. Unfortunately we got caught up in everything else and didn't make it. So that just means we'll be making a return trip this spring before the baby comes.

The nice thing about coming back in spring is that we likely won't have to fight the snow. We had a beautiful drive to Denver, but coming back got a little sketchy. The snow moved in right as we hit the top of the Rockies and stayed with us all the way home. Snow is beautiful when you can sit in your living room drinking hot cocoa and watch is drift toward the ground, but not when you're driving through the mountains next to boulders and cliffs. No thank you! We made it home safely though and are looking forward to our next little road trip.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

16 Weeks

Today we met with Tiffini, our midwife, for our 16 week check-up. It was pretty routine but we did talk a little bit about the hospital. The hospital I'll be delivering at is a baby-centered hospital. Which means they support a lot of my labor and delivery choices. This is exciting for me considering I really didn't feel I got what I needed last time.

Don't get me wrong. The hospital I delivered at in Tucson, Arizona is an awesome hospital. They do really great things every day. You might have heard everything they did for Congresswoman Giffords after that awful shooting. At the time I was a hospital employee and I have no complaints for them as an employer, and honestly few complaints about how everything operated during labor and delivery. The problem lied in their inability to listen to my requests for birth.

Rich and I have decided that delayed cord clamping is best for our baby. This means not clamping and cutting the umbilical cord right after birth, thereby letting all of the good nutritional blood in the placenta to flow into the baby. It's supposed to be very beneficial to the baby and I figure, why not? I wanted this with Braedan but apparently my doctor didn't think it was important.

We also decided that letting the baby be skin to skin for as long as possible right after birth is something we want to do. I believe this is called kangaroo care and it's supposed to help initiate breastfeeding. I've mentioned before that I didn't get the breastfeeding experience I wanted to have with Braedan. So I'm really determined to be successful at it this time. I'm willing to do whatever I can to increase my chances of doing it successfully.

The great thing? This is standard practice for my midwife (and happens often at the hospital) so I won't really have to fight for it this time. I can be comfortable knowing that even if I am as exhausted and out of it as I was last time, my midwife knows what I want and will advocate for that. Not to mention I have an awesome husband who knows what I want and will be there for me every step of the way. Can you get better than that?

In other news we scheduled our next appointment...which includes our anatomy scan. Yes folks, we know the date we will find out if Baby Liggett is a boy or a girl. Hold your breath for January 3rd!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Gender experiment

Time for some updates! I mentioned in my last post that we performed a gender experiment this past weekend. There are loads of "tests" you can perform while pregnant to predict the sex of the baby.

There are the old wives tales that say you hold a ring on a string and if it spins or swings a certain way then it can mean girl or boy.

Then there's the baking soda test. Pee in a cup, add a tablespoon of baking soda and see if it fizzes. If there's fizz, it's a boy, no fizz means girl.

There are also commercial gender prediction kits you can buy at the drug stores. They are usually pretty pricey and from what I can tell aren't that reliable.

Here's the thing though. All of these are just for FUN and honestly any one of them has a 50% chance of being right...or wrong. So, we won't be painting the nursery based on our results.

Out of all the prediction tests I found online the test we did seemed to be the most scientific (aside from the baking soda test). I decided to do the red cabbage test. There's something in the coloring of red cabbage that is reactive to pH levels, which is the scale of acidity or alkalinity of a substance. I learned years ago in chemistry class that you can make your own litmus pH testing papers from red cabbage and coffee filters. (You can experiment with the leftover cabbage water after the test. Add lemon juice, baking soda, ammonia cleaner, dish soap, etc. and see what colors it changes into!) Interesting, very very interesting!

So here's what we did:

Cabbage Test

Materials:
-Red cabbage (size doesn't matter ;) )
-(2) Clear cups (regular glasses work fine but if you're squeamish disposable cups might be best)
-First morning urine
-Knife
-Pot or large saucepan
-Water

Process:
 
Cut cabbage in half

Cut one of the halves up into small cubes

Place cut cabbage into a large pot or saucepan and cover with cold water

Bring water to a boil, then remove from heat

Let sit for 10 minutes

After the 10 minutes you should have a dark purple colored water with your cabbage. Strain out the cabbage and leave water remaining.

Fill one cup 1/3 full of cabbage water. Fill the other cup with an equal amount of urine.



When your ready pour the urine into the cup of cabbage water and watch the magic happen!

If the water stays a purple color then this means you are having a GIRL. If the water turns to a magenta/red/pink-ish color then you are having a BOY.

The results are related to the pH of your urine. Boys are said to cause a more acidic urine, while girls urine is more basic. Who knows if this is really true or not, but in most of the cases I found online the predictions were correct. This was not the case with the other tests I looked up.

Here is our result:

Tell us what you think it means!

Saturday, December 1, 2012

In loving memory

Today started out great. We woke up and tried out a gender experiment (which I'll talk about in a later post), we had lunch with friends we haven't seen in a while, bought some more Christmas lights, and then I sent my loving husband and son off to see the light parade while I got ready for work.

We had sushi for lunch and afterward they passed around a plate of fortune cookies. Mine read: "Life is a gift, don't waste it." I had no idea that wisdom would mean so much only hours later.

After sending Rich and Braedan off to the light show I logged on to Facebook really quick, only to see that a good friend of mine passed away last night. Whenever I see the phrase "passed away" I think of something that happened peacefully, perhaps during sleep. This was not the case for my friend. Unfortunately Brittany was murdered, by someone she knew, and left in a cold intersection. I couldn't believe it, I still can't.

Brittany Grosse was one of the most bubbly people I knew, and her 100 watt smile could cheer you up on the gloomiest day. Brittany was one of those people who made you feel right at home, she got that trait from the rest of her family. I called them my big fat Greek surrogate family. She was smart, classy, down to earth, and loved her family and friends fiercely. She was young, too young to be taken from all the possibilities life still had to offer her. My heart aches, not just because she's gone but because she'll never get to be a mom, an aunt, a grandma. She'll never graduate from college and go on to have a successful career. She won't get to wake up on Christmas morning and flash that brilliant smile while she opens her presents.

I know Brittany would want us to remember her the way she was. Funny, loving, passionate. I know she's in a better place, and she's safe now, but that doesn't make it hurt any less.

Brittany Grosse. It's not a recent picture but it's candid. I will never forget that smile.

Friday, November 30, 2012

15 Weeks

We'll consider my cravings post my 14 week update because honestly there's not much going on at this point.

I'm a little late in the game posting my 15 weeks update as I'll be 16 weeks on Monday but it's just a number, the baby is going to come when the time is right, not when I'm "40 weeks".

I have started to feel the baby more and more every day. Every now and then I get a swift kick (more like a swift thump) but mostly it's a bubbly feeling. It really is true that every pregnancy is different because Braedan felt more like a fish swimming around in there while this little one feels like it's doing the Hammer Dance in there. I think Rich is a little disappointed every time I tell him the baby's moving but he can't feel it. I told him it'll take time for the baby to get big enough to where he can feel it on the outside, but he's being impatient.

I will take a 15 week bump picture tomorrow and put it up. Things have been pretty crazy around here and finding the time to take (even a quick) picture is hard. That and I don't trust my 4 year old to take a decent bump photo while Daddy is at work. I definitely feel like I have more of a bump this week. Not to mention my stomach muscles are stretching out and I am started to feel it. Just grocery shopping tonight gave me a stitch in my side.

I seem to have hit a dip in energy levels this week. I have been so exhausted every day and nothing has really changed as far as routine goes. I figure that's because the baby is about to hit a huge growth spurt and will soon be (for lack of a better term) sucking the life out of me.

Next week we have our 16 week check-up and for some reason I'm incredibly anxious for it. It's not like this one will be "special" or anything. Tiffini will probably just get my vitals, listen with the doppler, and ask how I'm feeling. Yet, it seems important. That could be because my crazy preggo dreams are getting a little out of hand. Last night I had a bad dream about the baby and reminding myself it was just a dream has been my challenge for the day.

There is a bit of importance in seeing the midwife next week and that is to schedule our anatomy scan! Super exciting since this will be when we find out baby's gender! We're hoping to get it scheduled before Christmas so we can tell everyone on Christmas day, but we'll see how that goes. I've heard rumors that those appointments tend to fill up around the holidays. Maybe we'll be lucky and there won't be enough pregnant women in this town who are far enough along to book them solid. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Monday, November 19, 2012

Pregnancy Cravings

We've all see the scene where the big crazy hormonal lady wakes up at 3 A.M. and has to have a cheeseburger and a chocolate shake. So the husband sleepy pulls himself out of bed and drives to the nearest fast food joint to appease his pregnant wife.

I can't really imagine wanting a cheeseburger at 3 A.M. (the thought of the heartburn that would follow makes me cringe!) but I have been experiencing some pregnancy cravings. Lucky for Rich they haven't struck in the middle of the night. Sleep and food are high on my list but put them together and sleep usually wins.

With my first pregnancy I had really strange cravings. I'm not talking pickles and ice cream though. No, I craved textures and sensations. Weird, right? I remember begging my friend to go buy me a Sprite because all they had in the vending machine was water and caffeinated drinks and I wanted something with carbonation. I also craved raw vegetables and ranch because I liked the crunch. If I had specific food cravings I don't remember them. This was probably in part to the fact that I was pretty well fed during my pregnancy. I was working in a medical office and the drug reps would cater lunch every Tuesday and Thursday. So I was eatin' good in the neighborhood!

This pregnancy I don't have that luxury *sad face*.

Just the other day I wanted salami. But not the packaged kind. No, I wanted the REAL salami (whatever that means). You know, the stick of salami in the intestine wrapping with the white mold on the outside. Wow, that doesn't sound very appealing, but it tastes awesome. So, I went to the store and bought some. Some cravings are just that easy to fulfill. Some, however, are not.

If you've ever lived in, near, or visited Tucson, Arizona then you surely know about Eegee's. If you don't, then you have not lived yet! I keep in touch with many of my friends from Tucson and recently there have been an awful lot of posts about Eegee's. It's basically a sub place, that also has hot dogs, fries (smothered in various toppings), pretzels (also smothered), and other random goodness. But this is not what they are famous for. Eegee's is famous for eegees. What in the world is that, you ask? Amazing, frozen, fruity, yummy goodness that's what that is. Oh, it's to die for. Especially on a hot Arizona day. Hell, I'd take an eegee on the coldest day here in Colorado if it meant I got to taste it's awesomeness!

So, if anyone is kind enough to send me some Eegee's I will be greatly appreciative (and so will my unborn child).

Thursday, November 15, 2012

13 Weeks

Yay! 13 weeks! This is the last official week of the first trimester.



Today we went to a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist for our first trimester screening. This is a test for chromosomal disorders. I don't have any reason to be worried but I like to have the test done because I feel if there were to be something wrong I'd want to prepare myself as best I can.

So we got an ultrasound for about an hour (holy moly!) we got to see the baby in every which way, and almost every part possible. We saw the brain, the heart, veins, kidneys, spine, fingers, toes, etc. The only thing we did not see was the gender. We will all have to wait to find out until around Christmas!

Towards the end of the scan they measured the length of the baby which tells us how far along I am. The doctor came in to tell us that I am farther along than we thought and unfortunately I am too far along to do the test. However, we shouldn't be concerned because the baby looks beautiful and there are no indicators that anything is out of the ordinary.

Although I'm farther along than previously estimated they are not changing my due date, at least not right now. So May 20, 2013 is still our date. The baby looked great and healthy and was wiggling like crazy. He or she even got the hiccups towards the end.

Here's our beautiful baby. We think he or she might be sucking their thumb!



Thursday, November 8, 2012

12 weeks

The cat is out of the bag! We've officially made the announcement that we're pregnant so everyone knows! It's relieving to not have to keep this secret anymore. Telling Braedan was interesting. He was excited until he asked, "How many more minutes until the baby gets here?" and I had to tell him that it takes a very long time for babies to grow in their mommy's tummies. He lost interest at that point. Luckily he's too curious for his own good and came back with a ton of questions the next day. So far we've avoided the dreaded "Where do babies come from?"

Sorry we haven't posted belly pictures yet. Life has been pretty busy. With school and my new job Rich and I have hardly been at home together long enough to take one! But I promise they will come soon!

The exciting news is that I feel like I actually have a belly to take a picture of. My jeans have been getting tighter and tighter by the day. I was even forced to shop for maternity shirts the other day because my regular shirts are sadly too short to cover my lame hair tie around the pants button trick.

I've also noticed a bit of swelling in my hands at night and in the morning. Not to the point where I have to remove my wedding ring, but enough that it takes a minute to get it off.

In conclusion to my 12 week update I'll let you all know that we saw the midwife on Tuesday and everything looks good. We even got to hear the little bean's heartbeat on the doppler! Next week we get an ultrasound so there will be good pictures of baby!

Here's our 12 week photo! Rich was in a hurry to get to work and Braedan wasn't interested in holding the chalkboard this time, so it's not great, but it's documentation! 3 weeks sure changes a lot!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

10 Weeks

Well, I think we're far enough along now that I can start giving weekly updates. I don't have my 10 week "bump" picture yet but I'll update with that as soon as we take one! For now I'll update everyone on what's happened since my last post (I know it's been a while).

Two weeks ago, at 8 weeks we had our first ultrasound. Let me tell you, even having already had a child, it is still something to see that tiny little human inside you. Being that I was only 8 weeks at the time there wasn't a whole lot to see, but there's definitely a baby in there. JUST ONE BABY. My mom was convinced, for some reason, that I was having twins. Ha!

Rich and I told my parents that we were expecting pretty early on. I think I was about 4 weeks. My mom is my best friend so I just couldn't help but tell her the news. That, and they were the only family that knew we were trying. To our surprise Rich's mom flew into town last minute last weekend to visit. We were going to wait to tell his family until we made the "big announcement" at 12 weeks, but since she was here in person we couldn't resist. We went out to dinner with his mom and two of his sisters. I told his mom I had something for her and handed her the ultrasound picture. She looked at it for a minute and then said, "Really!?" To my surprise I heard "I knew it!" from Rich's sister, Liz. Apparently a psychic friend of hers told her back in August that someone in her family was pregnant or would be soon, and they had a feeling it was her brother. Well, way to blow our surprise psychic dude.

And that's about all there is, news wise. I'll update soon with our 10 week picture!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

First Prenatal Appointment

So today was our first prenatal appointment. After searching for the building, and then getting lost in the building, we finally found the midwife office and checked in. There was a lot of paperwork to fill out, but we managed. Then we were called back to meet our midwife.

Her name is Tiffini and she is really great. A friend of mine recommended her and I'm so glad she did. She made me feel very comfortable and at ease, which is really important for someone who's going to be hovering around your nether regions for the next 8 months.

In my last post I explained how my last birth experience was less than what I'd hoped for. Tiffini definitely reassured me that my decision to go with a midwife was the right choice to make. We talked a little bit about my last pregnancy and birth, and then she did the exam. According to her everything looks good. We got a few pregnancy information booklets and Tiffini gave us a cute little calendar that has stickers for all of the pregnancy milestones.

We set up an ultrasound appointment for next month to see exactly how far along I am and if the baby is growing properly.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Midwife vs. Doctor? My choice

When I found out I was pregnant with Braedan I looked up OB/GYNS in my area. I ended up picking a young female doctor fresh out of her residency. I loved my doctor. She always answered any questions I had and made each of my visits as pleasant as they could be. She even agreed to have me induced at little early so my mom could be there. I was young and stupid at the time and I'll explain in a later post why elective induction will never happen for me again.

Everything was great...until the day of delivery.

I found myself waiting for over an hour, 9 cm dilated, waiting for my Doctor to come break my water. Apparently that's a task only doctors can do, despite the endless tries by my nurse to "accidentally" break it. When my doctor finally did arrive she came in, checked me, broke my water, and left. She was a busy lady with lots of patients to attend to.

She'd show up again just in time to catch my baby. She stayed long enough to finish and clean me up, and then promptly left again.

I had wanted a lot of things during the birth of my child. I wanted to have immediate skin to skin contact, because I'd read that was good for breastfeeding, and that was something I wanted to do. I wanted delayed cord clamping so he'd get all the beneficial cord blood. I wanted to nurse my baby as soon as possible. I had discussed all of this in depth with my Doctor and she assured me I'd be able to have it all.

I didn't get anything I wanted.

He was taken to the warmer and cleaned up before be handed to me. His cord was clamped immediately. The nurses let me hold him for a minute and then swiftly whisked him away to the nursery. I was too tired and too out of it to fight for what I wanted, or asked why I hadn't gotten it. I'm almost certain they fed him a bottle before he was brought to me to try to nurse. After I was moved to Post-Partum I didn't see my doctor again. I asked for help from the nurses on how to breastfeed but they were busy and couldn't stay long to help me get the hang of it.

Eventually I left the hospital feeling like I'd missed out on something. I still feel that way to this day. We never did master breastfeeding and I gave up.

So when I found out I was pregnant for the second time I had a hard decision to make. Would I go with an OB/GYN and risk feeling like just another patient? Or did I have another option? I'd always heard about midwives, but thought they for natural-water-home-birthing mommas. I certainly don't fall into that category.

I did quite a bit of internet research on midwives. Come to find out they can support hospital births WITH pain management options, or do the natural-water-home-birthing. What stood out most for me is that they seem to be there for the moms, as a support person, not just the person who catches your baby. Not to mention they are there for you after the birth and support breastfeeding in every way possible. I'm also willing to bet a midwife would be all about delayed cord clamping.

I have a friend who is also pregnant and seeing a midwife. I asked her what she thought and she had nothing but glowing recommendations. So, I called and scheduled my first appointment with a midwife.

We get to meet with Tiffini next Wednesday the 19th for our first prenatal appointment. I could not be more excited!

We're Pregnant!

It was a Tuesday morning and I should have been getting ready for school. Instead I decided to take a pregnancy test on a whim. I took the test, expecting to see another negative, and waited patiently. At the five minute mark I took a look and couldn't believe it, there was a second line! It was faint, but it was there. So, I took another test, just to make sure. Sure enough, there was second line on that too. I was using cheap internet tests (they cost me about $.88 each), so I wanted to make sure they weren't defective. So, I took a First Response Early Response test. To my surprise there was a line on that one too! I couldn't believe it! I tucked them away under the cabinet and went to school. Hoping and praying that this was our positive.

When I got home that afternoon I decided to take another test. It just didn't feel real yet. That test was positive too, of course. I was out of my mind at this point. When Rich got home from work I nearly blurted it out, just to get it off my chest. But I managed to keep quiet. I wanted telling Rich he was going to be a father to be special. I managed to keep quiet until Rich left for work the next morning. As soon as he left I was out the door, on a mission.

I bought a onesie, and some iron-on transfer paper. Rich is really into Volkswagen cars, so I decided to revamp their logo a bit. It turned out to be a cute personalized little onesie. I wrapped it up and put it in a gift bag. Then I went to pee on a digital pregnancy test.

I was waiting in the kitchen, with my stomach in knots. I was so nervous to tell him! Not for fear that he'd react badly, but just because this was big news to break. When he came home I told him I finally got him a birthday present, and asked him if he wanted to open it. Here's the video I took...


When I tell him, "That's not it." I hand him the digital test which reads "Pregnant". Needless to say we are both so excited!


Monday, September 10, 2012

Welcome!

Welcome to our pregnancy blog! I decided to start a pregnancy blog after watching a few pregnancy vlogs and promptly deciding that I would be no good on camera. My thoughts come out much better when written. So, here we are.

Let me start off by saying I know the look of the blog doesn't really scream "BABY!" but I did that for two reasons. One, I didn't want a page covered in cutesy pictures of baby items, and second, most of the baby themed backgrounds weren't exactly gender neutral. Since we are way too early to know what we're having I decided to go with something totally different.

Part of me wanted to make this blog because we have family scattered all over who we want to share our pregnancy with. It is going to be so much easier to keep all the information in one place, rather than having to remember who we've updated and who we haven't. The other part wanted to document this happy occasion for my family, and for this baby. I was young when I had my first child, and I didn't take every opportunity to document my pregnancy and the early days of his life. I feel a little guilty about that every day, and have vowed to take a different path with this baby.

I will update as often as I can, and I plan to include pictures (baby bump and all) and the occasional video update. I hope you all enjoy reading about our journey, and thanks for stopping by.

Love,

Megan, Rich, Braedan and Baby