2009 Already? (A Long one)

At this time last year if someone would have said to me, "Next year at this time you will be very pregnant!" I would have laughed in their face and said, "Oh no, not me, we are going to wait for a while!" What an unexpected blessing that we received in 2008...Matt has said more than once, "We had a plan, and God laughed!" We grow more and more excited as Kellen's arrival is nearing. But at the same time I have got a horrible case of the "What if's!" I have been told that every new mother has these, and that has helped calm me a little, but not really. Matt could not be more excited he has the attitude of everything will be fine and work out just the way it is supposed to! I have been trying to take on this same attitude, but my "what if's" have a pretty strong hold over me. If you ask Matt how I am...he will tell you that I am doing great! Don't listen, the poor thing has been putting up with a "VERY" moody Stephanie for a while now.

As for Christmas, Kellen made out like a bandit. Grandma Marquitta bought him his car seat, which was a BIG help to us. Uncle Andy and Aunt Crystal bought him a very cute Pooh outfit. Aunt Sara spoiled him with a bunch of very cute clothes. Grandma Dee bought him a very cute picture for his room and some very cute frames. Then with all the Christmas money that Matt and I received we bought some last minute items that we felt like we needed. So I can honestly say now that we are ready for him...whenever he decides to come.

I have had a couple of Dr's appointments since the last update. Things are going well. My blood pressure remains good along with all of my other vitals that they check. Kellen's heart rate has been good and strong. He is still moving away in there. He doesn't really kick so much as just move around and stretch out. At my ultrasound on Tuesday they estimated his weight at 7 lbs 13 0z. Yes almost 8 lbs with 3 weeks to go. The ultrasound Dr then told me that he has a BIG head and looks like he will be difficult to birth. Of course this does not help my case of "what if's" that I have. He also told me that if he continues to grow at this rate he would be about 11-12 lbs. Yes you read that right! One BIG Boy! I was by myself at this ultrasound so of course when I left I was a little bit of a mess. Matt just laughed and thinks it is a little funny. I on the other hand have had to remind myself that this is just an estimation and it can be off as much as a pound. So of course it sparked a bunch of questions....Will they take him early? Will I have to be induced? Will they want to do a c-section? What if they decide that it would be best to take him early and he is not as big as they say, then did we make the wrong decision? Pretty much from day 1 I have wanted to do a natural, no drug birth, but all of those options don't really lead to that outcome. Corrinna (our Doula) has said that if I am induced I probably will need to take the drugs, because it is like going from 0 to 60 and our bodies are just not meant to do that. Then most people that I have known lately that have been induced ended up in a c-section. So neither option really goes down the path that I wanted for my birth. But I will do whatever is necessary for the safety of Kellen and for me. I have not meant with my OB Dr since this ultrasound, so I will have to wait till Tuesday to ask my millions of questions. Until then here is a picture of Kellen from Tuesday.

Update on Kellen's Kidney!

The latest ultrasound showed that Kellen's kidney is the size that it should be for his age. It even was measuring smaller than last time. :-) Everything else is looking good. His heart rate was good and strong. He is moving up a storm...my belly kind of looks like an alien when he gets going since you can see him moving around in there. On Thursday he was in (what I think) a very uncomfortable position, but maybe he likes to be balled up. He literally looked like he was bent in half with both feet up by his head! She was able to get a good picture of his foot and toes and yes that is his head next to his foot! :-) Matt and I can't believe how fast time has gone. As of tomorrow I am 35 weeks, it feels like yesterday that we were telling everyone that we were pregnant. Everyday Matt reminds me of how excited he is..it is really cute! He is going to be a great Daddy. He tells Kellen he loves him and gives him a kiss each day. He has also taken up calling him K-Dawg...which I was not thrilled about so he settled on calling him K-Bear. But Matt did tell me that there would be a time when he becomes K-Dawg. :-) All I can say is I hope Kellen likes football! :-) With Matt's luck, Kellen will get his mommy's clumsiness and no hand, eye coordination what so ever. I cannot wait to meet the little man who has been kicking me and growing inside of me...I am sure that he will be here before we know it! Merry Christmas everyone!

Kellen's Room is Done!

Jerilyn was able to come over and finish Kellen's room so it is all finished! We have a few things left to get for his room and we are still deciding what to do as far as pictures on the wall or what not. We are leaning towards waiting till after he is born to do that part. So for the most part we are ready for him. We have a few items on our list to get, but they are small and I have enjoyed doing a little shopping here and there buying some of the items needed.

We had our last HypnoBirthing class on Saturday. She brought in an aromatherapist to talk to us and it was so interesting to listen to her. She has a 12 year old son that has had 5 fevers in his life time and never once has taken any antibiotics. He does not have the word medicine in his language...he just knows oils for different ailments. She talked about different ones that help with different things such as colds, cramps, stretch marks, energy, and on and on! I really was fascinated with the whole thing...I could have listened to her all day. Corrinna handed out some scripts for the hospital and went over any last minute things with us. It was a very fun class since it was the last one and next step means practice...practice...practice...till Kellen decides it is time to come! We have learned so many things over the last month, not only about the upcoming birth of our child, but I have learned things about myself as well and what I am capable of. It has been a growing experience for both Matt and I!

Daycares, Dr's, & Decorating!!!

I can't believe it has been over a week already I am not sure where time is going. On Friday (Dec 5th) Matt and I toured 2 daycare centers. The first one was very structured and all about curriculum and learning. The rooms were very tiny though and dark. There was not a lot of space to move around in. In the infant room there was 9 boys and 2 girls along with 3 teachers. They offered extra curricular activities and had a meal plan that cost an extra $3 each day. It also had a very hefty price tag that came along with it! The second one was bigger, brighter, and looked very clean. The playground is divided for each age group (and has a water park). The Director that gave us the tour knew each child by name and each of them knew her and their faces would light up when she walked into the room. They have a cook on staff that will make the meals and each meal has been planned out by a nutritionist....and it is at no extra cost. You got the feeling that your child would be loved there more than anything. It was also about $400 less than the 1st daycare. On Monday I received a call from the owner of the 2nd daycare and he wanted to make sure that all my questions were answered and also to let me know that he is there every afternoon and his door is always open. He was a very nice guy and you can tell that he really does want to offer the best!

Tuesday's ultrasound and Dr's appointment went well. Kellen's heart rate looks and sounds good, along with all the other stuff that they looked at. Matt could not go with my so my mom was able to go. We got to see his hand...it was really cute and I can almost imagine the small chubby little hand in mine. For some reason he does not move much for the ultrasound...he must know we are trying to look at him. I have decided not to post the pictures from this weeks ultrasound as I am looking at them, I can't even tell what what is. :) Instead I am posting pictures of our house all decorated for Christmas. Our tree looks a little like something from a Dr Seuss movie, but I still think it is beautiful when it is all lit up. Skyler likes to sit underneath it like she is a present. The whole time I was decorating I kept saying how different it will be next year. Next Christmas there will be 4 grandkids at my inlaws instead of 2, and one will be our child. I am so excited that I can hardly wait till next year! BUT I know that the next year will be an exciting one through out the whole year. We will have many "firsts" to look forward to and I can not wait to share them with all of you!

One BIG boy!!!

Kellen is really a growing...today they estimated his weight as 5 lbs 1 oz. One of the fun things that the tech told us was that he has a full head of hair (but they told my friend that too with her little one and she came out bald). My mom says that there is a good chance he will have lots of hair since I came out with lots of black hair, so we will see! His heart beat is good and very strong. Something new at today's visit, is that we got to listen to the blood in the umbilical cord...that was pretty neat. One of my coworkers ask what that sounds like...well it makes a swish, swish sound. He slept through the entire ultrasound and decided not to move at all. So after we finished with the ultrasound, they wanted to monitor me for awhile...so they hooked me up to this machine that monitors his heartbeat, movements, and contractions. After 20-30 minutes they took me off. So far I am not having any contractions and Kellen's movements were good. There were a couple dips in his heart rate, but the Dr thought that he probably just leaned up against the umbilical cord causing a shortage of oxygen for a moment, but then moved off of it (he said that this is normal)! As far as the pictures go...the top left one is his face and the tech says the white on top of his head is hair. Then the bottom left one is his face again...he is really looking like a baby! The top right one is his face with his arm across it. The bottom right one is his foot...big foot! :) The Dr walked us through all the pictures they took. Everything is looking normal except his right kidney. His left kidney is back to a normal size, but the right one has doubled in size since the last visit. The Dr still is saying that there is no cause for concern at this point and they will continue to monitor me closely. I will be going for ultrasounds every week here on out, so look forward to pictures weekly! The Dr said that if his kidney continues to enlarge then a perinatal urologist will be called in. If nothing changes then he will recommend that the pediatrician take an ultrasound of Kellen's kidney after he is born to measure the actual kidney size. The Dr said it may just come down to Kellen being on antibiotics when he is born. Even though he says there is nothing to worry about it is hard not to. If there is one thing that I have learned it is that "mommy's" just worry! :) It starts when you first get pregnant and I wondered if the worrying ever stopped, but my mom still worries about all of us and her youngest is 22!!! I guess it is true that they will always be your babies and never really grow up in your eyes! Matt is so excited...he told me today that he already loves Kellen and can't wait to see his cute face. Then he told me that he could not wait to carry him around like a football just so he could add something manly into the conversation! I know that we are all awaiting his arrival and when he makes his appearance he will be one loved baby boy!