SHE'S HERE!!!

Our little princess, Berkley, was born on January 3rd at 4:06 AM. She weighed 7 lb 1.6 oz and was 19.5 inches long. She is PERFECT!!! We love every moment with her and love being parents! More details and pictures to come!

9 DAYS!!! Well, really only 2!!!

That's right! Only 9 days until my due date! I am being induced on Sunday (2 days away) if I haven't had Berkley already! Aaron and I couldn't be more excited! Her bags are packed (with way too many outfits but we honestly narrowed it down quite a bit), her new carseat and base are in the living room along with the stroller, and our bags are pretty much ready other than things that will have to be grabbed last minute because we use them every day. Santa gave us a sweet new camera for Christmas too and I can't wait to use it to take pictures of our sweet angel! Aaron bought a new memory card just for the camera today so we will have plenty of memory available for the thousands of pictures soon to come! The nursery is adorable and ready for our princess and the house is pretty darn clean (thanks to nesting syndrome) and all that is missing is our sweet baby girl!

She has been squirming a ton lately and I tease her that if she is so squished, she should just come out! My contractions have become more and more uncomfortable and yesterday I was down in bed literally the whole day because I had some sort of 24 hour flu or something. I am feeling lots better today, thankfully!

I had to stop working last week because of gestational hypertension. My blood pressure while I was working my last shift was as high as 163/103, which is pretty bad, so the doctor had me do a 24-hour urine to check for protein and make sure that I don't have preeclampsia. He said that my protein levels were within normal limits though so he decided that I have gestational hypertension and that working could be harmful to me and Berkley. I started bawling when he told me I couldn't work anymore. All sorts of stressful thoughts flooded my mind, mostly the concern of having to use my maternity leave without having my baby girl home. I am still bummed but I have come to appreciate having this time to relax and wait for Berkley.

I constantly have to pray for patience though because I just want to hold my baby girl so badly! Honestly, I am very uncomfortable lately but more than anything, I want to have her just to have her, not so I can be more comfortable. I'm not gonna lie though. Comfort will be a HUGE bonus! Thank heavens for ambien! I didn't sleep well for about 5 nights in a row thanks to all of the pain I have had and then with being sick so last night I took 1/2 of an ambien and I slept SO well!!! I think it was just what I needed to prepare me for the sleepless nights of being a mommy!

I really can hardly believe that she will be here with me so soon! It seemed like it would never come but her day to join us is nearly here!!! I am so grateful that I have had this wonderful opportunity to be pregnant and to love such a sweet spirit that Heavenly Father trusts me and Aaron to raise! I am so blessed to have Aaron as my husband and I can't wait for him to prove everyone right by being an amazing daddy! Happy New Year's everyone! I hope you celebrate with those you love!

AAHHH!!!

I need to get busy! My cousin just had her baby 19 days before her due date and I am only 17 days behind her! CRAZY!!! I need to do so much still! I feel so underprepared! The main thing I need to do is finish her nursery! Good thing I bought some of the stuff I needed today! Only 36 days until I am due! Pray that I get everything done!

Maternity Pics 34 weeks 3 days along!

My friend Traci introduced me to a friend of hers named Kaylee and she took these awesome pictures for me! These were a few of my absolute favorites! She did such an AWESOME job!!! Only a few weeks left! YAY!!! It will be super fun to see our little princess!

Update on contractions!

After having 76 contractions in 5 hours while at work last night, one of which lasting 13 minutes followed by another one literally one minute later, I decided to go to the Family Birth Place to be checked out. I'm SO glad that I did! One of the first things that they have you do is pee in a cup. I did so, as I have many times over the past couple of months, and I could tell that there was crap in it just by looking at it. I was very right! There were lots of leukocytes (White Blood Cells) in it and they determined that I definitely have a nasty UTI and possibly pyelonephritis (a kidney infection). After making this determination they decided to start an IV and give me some Rocephin (a strong antibiotic). One nurse came in and tried twice and my veins blew (probably related to the infection) and then another nurse came in and tried twice without success. After 4 IV start attempts, I decided to just get the Rocephin IM (in the butt). I was NOT excited! Especially since I was given a shot of Rocephin in the butt during the summer for a bad UTI and it still hurts occasionally. I decided that I didn't want to be poked any more though so I just wanted to get it done and over with! They came in and gave it to me in 2 shots (one in each butt cheek) and I am SUPER sore now! Both hands and wrists got poked and both butt cheeks! Talk about super uncomfortable! My hands hurt so badly afterwards that I could barely even get dressed so we decided to leave one of our cars there and we will just have to go get it later. We finally got home around 9:30 this morning, meaning that I was at the hospital for 17 hours straight and pretty much contracting the whole time! What an exhausting night! Anyways, the antibiotics should take care of this nasty infection pretty fast! They said that the infection was what was causing me to have so many contractions so things are good! Now I'm just hoping that I don't bruise too badly!

I have to say thanks to Aaron for being so sweet and supportive and for coming to the hospital after only 1 hour of sleep and then going to work all day! He truly is awesome!!!

CONTRACTIONS!

Call them Braxton Hicks or whatever the heck you want but I have had contractions every 2-7 minutes for 3 hours now and they are EXHAUSTING!!! The worst part is that I'm at work and have to get up to do stuff so I can't just lay down and hope they go away. Talk about SUPER uncomfortable! Right this second I am having my 43rd contraction in 3 hours exactly. I have witnesses if you don't believe me! The worst part is that when I am standing, I feel like I am going to pee all over! I literally have one witness convinced that this baby girl is going to be here in the next couple of hours! I can't even imagine! I don't even have my hospital bag packed yet! I honestly think I still have at least a few weeks left, but I highly doubt that I will make it to January at this rate! The last 5 contractions I have had have been 2 minutes apart each. It pretty much feels like a constant contraction and my back and pelvis are SO sore! I really want to be home in my bed next to my hubby! Come on 4 AM! Hurry up and get here so I can go home!

Thankful

10 Things I am SO thankful for:

1. My husband. He is the most amazing man that I could imagine having as my husband and father of my not so future children. He actually felt really bad that he didn't get to tuck me in the night of his surgery (it was the first time in our marriage) and he is ALWAYS putting my needs first. I LOVE HIM!!!

2. Our jobs. We are both lucky/blessed enough to have great jobs with amazing bosses who make it easy to feel secure in our jobs. What a blessing! Especially with how difficult it is to get a job!

3. Our home. I am so thankful to have somewhere warm and safe to go. It kills me when I am driving home from work at 4:30 AM and there are at least a handful of men standing outside of the employment place waiting to get a job for the day so they can take care of their families. It breaks my heart, especially when it's below freezing outside.

4. Our baby girl, Berkley. I LOVE EVERYTHING about her! I love when she gets her hiccups or kicks me or wiggles like crazy for daddy because it all reminds me how real she is and lets me know that she is still doing good in there!

5. Maternity clothes. I don't know what I would wear without maternity clothes. My butt is extremely large in comparison to my legs and only maternity clothes are capable of keeping it covered! I love how comfortable they are too!

6. Medical technology. It amazes me that technology has come so far! I am thankful that Aaron was able to find out what was wrong with him and have it surgically fixed thanks to the advancements in technology.

7. Pens. Yeah, I know it's weird to be so thankful for pens but honestly, I am so glad that I don't have to carry around a thing of ink and a quill to write or sign my name to things. Thank heavens for this brilliant invention! Honestly, think of how much of an underappreciated advancement it is! I LOVE PENS!!!

8. Cars. Even though they don't always function as they should, I love having cars! Think of how long it would take to get from one place to another without cars! We would all be super skinny, but I think cars are awesome!

9. Family. I am thankful that when I can't be there to take care of Aaron somebody else can be. I am so thankful and comforted to know that he is in good hands tonight even though I am working and can't take care of him myself.

10. Talents. I am not only thankful for my own talents but for the talents of others as well. Their talents make my life so much easier! Just think, what would we do if all we had was our own talents to live off of? I wouldn't have working vehicles, nice looking hair, bedding or clothing, or many other things that I tend to take for granted! IT WOULD SUCK!!! So, thanks for being talented at the things that you do to make my life easier!

I could go on and on about the things I am thankful for, but then my blog would be way too long like the one a few weeks ago so I will keep it simple. Let us all remember to take time to realize the things that we underappreciate but are so thankful for as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving!

HAPPY FALL/THANKSGIVING!!!