20 weeks...and A GENDER!!!

On July 24th, I couldn't even sleep in...it was baby gender day!!! When I was pregnant with Easton, we went to a ultrasound clinic called Fetal Fotos, and found out he was a boy at 13 weeks...so being 20 weeks with this one seemed like an ETERNITY to wait on finding out the gender!! I killed time that morning by going to the gym, and then packing up for Easton and I to go to St. George and meet my family for the weekend. Finally it came time for the appointment! I scheduled it for early afternoon so Ryan could meet us on his lunch break, and be there to hear the big news!
Thank goodness we didn't have to wait long for the appointment in the waiting room. Our appointment was at 1:15, and the time stamp on the gender ultrasound picture was 1:17....and it was obviously a BOY!!!! We were so excited and Easton was so happy that it is going to be a brother. Ryan gave a few fist pumps and was smiling ear to ear...his dream come true to have another boy! I was a little surprised, I thought it was a girl the whole time, but I am just as happy with a boy...I'm just happy to be getting another baby, and feel so lucky and blessed to have this little miracle join our family this winter!
We announced the big news to my family that night at dinner in St. George. I ordered cupcakes with blue filling so it was a surprise when they all bit into them at the same time! My mom and Jeanette and I went shopping one afternoon while we were there, and got lots of fun new little cozy outfits for this new little man coming to join us!

BOY!

BOY

thumbs up...I'm a boy!

another thumb sucker, just like his big brother

baby foot...**swoon!**

thumbs up again

a foot....somewhere in there?

as Ryan says..."He's Kapernicking"

his arm was up by his face the whole time.

top view of his head, sucking his little thumb

arm

still snuggled with his arm up

HE MOVED IT!

July 23rd, day before the ultrasound, 19 weeks 4 days.

it's BLUE! my mom was super surprised and said she was fully expecting pink...tricked her!

BABY BOY BLUE!

He's gonna be a proud big brother!

Sunday July 27, 20 weeks 2 days....and feeling hearty!

announcing the babe!

Both of our parents came down for Ryan's graduation weekend, and the night before graduation, we had them all over and gave them a little surprise: another grandbaby!
Norm and Kim had actually found out the night earlier because they were visiting Julie when we called to tell her the news. Haha! They were so excited either way, and it was fun for them to be in on the anticipation of telling my mom and dad and Jeanette.
My parents have a 5x7 framed picture of all their grandkids, and when I get new photos done of Easton I always print off an extra copy for her to update Easton's frame. So I took the opportunity, and decided to just simply print a photo of Easton holding a book titled "Best Big Brother" When she opened the envelope, she was sitting by Kim, and was just oooing and awwing over how cute his little face is. It wasn't until Kim said to her, "Look at the title of the book he's reading..." My mom immediately started screaming with excitement! My dad and Jeanette quickly took the photo to see what was going on, and they were all so excited! Lots of hugs and some tears of joy even. It was a perfect way to start the fun weekend!

SURPRISE!

For the last year and half, Ryan and I have been going through some different fertility treatments, and lots of blood work and testing while trying to have another baby. It started out with different amounts of Clomid, the drug we used to get pregnant with Easton. But after the Clomid was prescribed in higher and higher amounts, and I was responding less and less, the doctor suggested we try a more aggressive approach. He started me on Follistim injections in conjunction with low doses of Clomid, hoping that the combination of the two would get results. When you are on Follistim, they check your blood work, looking at your estrodial levels, and once those are over 100, you go in to the doctor to get an ultrasound to measure the follicles in each ovary. The hope is that a couple will grow to at least 2 cm, which would make them ready for the HCG trigger shot to release the eggs into your Fallopian tubes, and hopefully from there be fertilized. Sexy right? Anyway, I did two rounds of this process, but the follicles never grew enough for me to receive the HCG trigger. The last and final time we did the whole process, my follicles had finally matured! I had three nice big ones, and they sent me home with the HCG shot. Ryan gave it to me that night, and we waited a good week and half with high hopes that the pregnancy test would show a positive result. Unfortunately we didn't get the result we had hoped for. We had already decided that would be our last round of Follistim for the forseeable future, and we would be putting the idea of baby #2 on the back burner for awhile and instead turn our focus to the family we already had. I had some of the Follistim and HCG left over in the fridge at home, I asked him if it would be ok to use the remaining amounts during my future cycles and just see what happened. He didn't want me to use the Follistim without being closely monitored by him and his staff. But he did say I could give myself the HCG trigger shot if a home ovulation test showed that I was ovulating during a cycle. So, we did that shot during my next cycle and then completely forgot about it. When my next period was due, I took a pregnancy test and expected to see the negative result that I had gotten. A few weeks later was when I headed up to Utah at the end of March. While I was working and staying with Kristin in the hotel I kept telling her how crazy of symptoms I was having, I also told my mom all about them. I was feeling super exhausted, light headed, and having a very tender and sensitive chest. I kept joking that they were all pregnancy symptoms, but my test had clearly been negative! I even took another test in Utah, I swore I had seen a very faint positive result, but chalked it up to wishful thinking because when I showed my mom and Kristin, they both sadly told me that they didn't see it. 

As soon as I came back home to Las Vegas, I scheduled two appointments: one with my family doctor, Dr. Allen to have allergy testing done, and another with Dr. Swainston to have my hormone levels checked. I thought for sure that all these symptoms were being caused by all the fertility treatments I'd been on.

I went into Dr. Allen first, and told him I wanted an allergy shot because it had been such a miserable spring for me! He said if I even was thinking of trying to get pregnant, the shot was a bad idea, and we should do testing, and take a blood sample to get a precise pregnancy test result. 

MUCH TO MY SURPRISE, they called back the next day, while I was at our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, and the nurse told me my blood test had come back positive! I was completely blown away, and went to Walgreens right after the hunt to get a test, that one came back positive too! I was totally floored, and so excited! I called Dr. Swainston's office and changed my consultation appointment to a new pregnancy appointment, and I was able to get in to see them the next week! We didn't hear the heartbeat yet, and it was confirmed that I was just 6 weeks along. 

We are SO excited, and can't wait to have this next baby join our family. Easton can't wait, he changes all the time between thinking it's a boy or a girl, he has named it multiple different names, but the one he comes up with the most is Alex. Haha, don't know where that came from! He loves going to appointments with me and seeing the baby on the ultrasound screen. It's definitely our favorite day of the month to go in! 

can you believe it!?

second appointment ultrasound: 7 weeks, 2 days

Our busiest/best week ever! (moving, school, and a baby story!)

Wow! I feel like I haven't been on the blog forever, I usually check it everyday, you know, to catch up on all your happenings in your lives, and I've tried to make a goal to post more often...but when you don't have internet in your new house, it causes problems. I just read through all the blog updates I've missed, and I was two weeks behind! Tragic!! Anyway, just thought I'd update all of you on what has been going on with us...there has been a LOT! I'll start at the beginning. (warning, long post!)

Thursday June 30:

This was Ryan's last day of work at Cache Valley Specialty Hospital. They have been so good to him for the last 5 years. He went golfing that morning with two of the therapists, and his friend from work who was leaving to come to school here as well. Then he worked a half day, and then we got the U-haul and started loading up. Our plan was to pick up the U-haul, and have it all packed and ready to go then be on the road by 5:00. Wrong. It took a little over an hour just to pick it up, of course loading always takes longer than expected, and then we had a couple mechanical problems with the cab part of the truck. So we didn't end up leaving Logan until about 8:00...ugh. We met my parents in North Ogden, I hoped in their car and left Ryan and his dad to drive the U-haul, and we were off. We got to Beaver, and noticed that a chunk of tire tread was missing, so Norm (Ryan's dad) stayed in a hotel for the night waiting for the U-haul repairman to come fix it. Ryan got in the car with my parents and I, and we were off to Vegas. We finally pulled up to the hotel at 6:00 am.

Friday July 1:

We checked into the hotel, took a 2 hour nap, and then went to the title company to sign the closing documents for the house. Our meeting was first thing in the morning, so we had to drive all night to get there! After signing our lives away (YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!) We went back to the hotel to get some more sleep and wait for Norm with the truck. He got to Vegas around 3:00 that afternoon, and we (the guys) started unloading.

My mom and I ran lots of errands to Lowes and Wal-Mart during the unloading. We even had a little adventure of our own in Wal-Mart, my mom locked the keys in the car, while it was running! Ha, we had to call a locksmith to come and save us, it was hilarious! My feet were not having it with all the running around in stores and of course this day was the hottest day of the year so far...113! I was quite swollen and had to take lots of breaks to soak my little piggies in an ice bath!

Saturday July 2:

unpacked all day, mixed with more ice baths for my feet!

Sunday July 3:

My parents left to go back home, Ryan and I again, unpacked all day. We forgot to look up our church meetinghouse location before we left, so we weren't able to go to church this day :(

Monday July 4:

Weirdest holiday ever. I don't think one second of the day felt like the 4th of July. We were in the house all day getting more and more unpacked and set up. That night, we went to Target to get some stuff for the baby, also went to the outlets looking for the Nike store, and got Ryan a new backpack and stuff for school.

Tuesday July 5:

RYAN STARTS SCHOOL! The whole reason we came here! Yay!!!

He looked so handsome! They had orientation with the whole school on this day, and then later that evening he came home and picked me up, and we went back to have an ice cream social with everyone as a welcome to school thing. After the ice cream social, we recruited his friend Steve and his brother in law to come back to Target with us to pick up the crib and changing table with their truck. This day, I was officially 37 weeks.

Wednesday July 6:

Ryan's second day of school. Orientation round 2. This day it was just orientation for the Physical Therapy students and their new 2014 class. That day I went to the hospital to get pre-registered, and then went to my first doctor's appointment. I was so excited to meet my doctor finally! He first met with me in his office to see what kinds of questions I had, then we went into the exam room to be checked and have an ultrasound. In the ultrasound, Easton was measuring ahead of what my weeks were. His head was measuring at 41.5 weeks, and little legs were measured at 38.5 weeks! This worried me a little, and then the doctor checked to see how I was progressing. I thought for sure with all the commotion of moving and unpacking I'd be dilated more than the previous week. Wrong. I was only 1 cm and 60% effaced for the 3rd week in a row! The doctor thought we better strip my membranes to give my body a kick start so I could be moving along as much as the baby was. He said if it worked, I would probably go into labor that night, or the next day! WOW!!! That night, we thought we'd better get his room set up since there was a chance for baby to come sooner! So the crib and changing table got put together :)

Thursday July 7:

Ryan's first day of actual school. I stayed home, and tried to take it a little easy, not wanting to put myself into labor quite yet. Got more stuff unpacked....as the day progressed, I thought for sure the baby wasn't coming. I wasn't feeling any increase in contractions, and didn't have a 'feeling' or anything. That night, we watched the Giants game, and some popcorn and then when the game was over early, we decided to just go to bed. Ryan asked me "do you think you'll have the baby tonight?" and I told him very sure of myself "no way, I think he'll just come around his due date still."

Friday July 8:

Good thing we went to bed early! At 3:35 I woke up to my water breaking. I was so confused, I'd been up only an hour earlier to pee, and now it wasn't stopping. Every time I'd stand up straight another gush would come. It was the weirdest feeling, and I was still so confused because I wasn't having any contractions still! I woke up Ryan, told him to call the hospital and ask if I should come up or wait for contractions. They of course said, "get here now!" So at 4:30 we left to the hospital. I got all checked into the triage unit. Got hooked up to all the monitors and was dilated to 4 cm. Then they moved us into labor and delivery. We called my mom at about 6:00, and she immediately booked a flight down that morning. At 6:15 I got my epidural. I had only felt about 2 easy contractions at that point. After the epidural, the rest of the morning was a breeze.

Besides being starving, I was feeling great. Ryan and I watched the Price is Right and the news. He went and got breakfast, and then later got a yummy looking early lunch. I was so jealous as I sat there with my ice chips. By 10:00 I was still only dilated to 4 cm, so they started pitocin. This helped move things along a lot quicker! My mom got there at about 12:30, and I was dilated to 6 cm. They turned up the pitocin again, and I had to go on oxygen at this point to get more air into little Easton. His heart rate was dropping during each contraction (we later found out, when he came out, that the cord was around his neck, and would tighten during each contraction) By 2:00, I was finally dilated to 10 cm and ready to start pushing. It's amazing how pushing is seriously the ONLY thing that feels good at this point! They had me just breathe through a couple contractions, and it was so much more painful then just pushing. Ryan was so sweet and supportive the whole time, he was counting out my pushes for me, and held my hand the whole time. I didn't have to push for long, because at 3:03, Easton was born! It was such an amazing experience and I woudn't change it for anything! He was perfect, and screaming and I was so happy! Ryan cut the cord and then the took him over to get cleaned up. Ryan and my mom went with the baby to watch him get cleaned, and measured. He was 7 pounds 7 ounces, and was 19 inches long.

The nurse had Ryan put on the first diaper, and then he brought him over to me to hold for the first time.

It was such a rush of emotions! Its amazing all the love that you feel for this tiny person who you've never met! That night, Ryan stayed in the hospital with me, we had to change rooms in the middle of the night because the plumbing in our bathroom was backed up. Easton was able to stay with us all night in the room.

Saturday July 9:

All day this day, we just played with him, passed him around between me, my mom and Ryan. He was perfect!

That night, he had to stay in the nursery under the bililights. His blood work showed he had a slightly high bilirubin count. This was the hardest thing for me. Taking him into the nursery and seeing that little mask on his face.

I started bawling! I didn't want to leave my little baby there all night long! We went to go get him every 3 hours through the night for feedings, but had to have him back in exactly 30 minutes. It was so hard. But it was good to get some good sleep that night.

Sunday July 10:

He got to come out from under the bililights at 9:30 am. But we still had to wait to have his blood tested again at 5:00 pm. So another day spent in the hospital!

I was starting to go stir crazy and just wanted to get home by this point. Finally he had his blood test done, and about and hour later, the doctor came back and said he had passed and he was ok to go home!

YAY! I was so happy to finally get to take my sweet baby home.

That night, my mom made us a yummy dinner (so much better than hospital food!!!) and we all went to bed.

Monday July 11:

My Dad and sister Jeanette drove down to meet the baby, and to help Ryan with some home projects (more and those to come later)

My family stayed here with us until Thursday morning, and since then we've been on our own and done great!

At Easton's first doctor appointment Tuesday, he weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces, and was 20 inches long. And then he went back again on Thursday for his circumcision (so sad!) and had gained another ounce! So he is growing already so much, and is so happy!

Right now, we are feeding him both formula and breast milk. He is sleeping so well. Sometimes too well maybe? I set my alarm to get up for his feedings, but there have been two days now that I fall back asleep before I get up to feed him....other moms, is this ok? He just sleeps through it and doesn't seem starved at all, even at his next feeding. For instance, last night, I fed him 2 ounces at 11:00, then slept through his 2:00 am feeding, and at 5:00 he only ate 1 ounce. Is this normal??

Anyway, we are so happy! And even though we moved, started school, and had a baby all in a week, we couldn't be happier! Thanks for all of your love and support, I'll try to stay more updated on the blog since we are far away now!

Showers Galore!

This past month has been so much fun, and so busy! I've been so lucky to have amazing friends and family to throw me a bunch of showers to get us ready for Easton! I am so grateful for all the work they've put into them, and had such a great time seeing everyone who came to the showers!

The first friends shower I had was given by Melanee, she held it at Firehouse Pizzeria here in Logan. It was so much fun to see friends from all over, high school, college, work places, hair school, etc! We had yummy cupcakes that were baseball themed and really just had a great time! At this shower, I was 29 weeks :)

Ashley, her baby Sophia, me, and Alyssa (who is due one week before me!)

The next shower for us was given by Danielle! She had such a fun idea to have a couple's shower for Ryan could come and see all of his friends too! It was such a great idea and we had so much fun! She held it at Elements here in Logan, and the food was amazing! She made yummy desserts and had some fun games for us to play as well!! At this shower I was 30 weeks :)

me and Danielle!

cute table decor, pretty flowers, and pictures of Ryan and I from our baby albums! And her yummy cake balls for dessert!

The Gooch's!

The Hall's!

The Davis's!

Ryan loving opening the presents :)

The last friends shower was thrown by my friends from work at Texas Roadhouse! It was so much fun, Andrea held it at Roadhouse, and had the cutest brown and blue giraffe decor. Tons of yummy treats and cupcakes, and Liz brought delicious french dip sandwiches for lunch! My sister Jeanette was in town and was able to come with me to this shower, and that was really fun! At this shower I was 31 weeks :)

Cute little onesie from Heather and Liz!

me and Jeanette (I look crazed in this picture!)

Annie, Alison, Hala, Megan, and Cherise!

Erin and Quin, Gracie and Andrea! (Cute mamas!)

Heather and Liz!

Again I am so lucky to have so much support from friends and family that already love and care about this little guy so much! I wish I could take you all with me to Henderson so you could all watch him grow up! I guess I'll just have to be really good at keeping the blog updated so you all can see him get bigger and bigger!