No Baby Quite Yet

Two things.

First: Sunday night we had a false alarm. Boo. I was up in the middle of the night with contractions that were less than four minutes apart, consistently. I didn't want to wake Tyler up because I wanted him to get as much sleep as possible if this was the real deal. So I decided to rest as well. And then I woke up a couple hours later with no contractions. Absolutely none. Zip. I was super disappointed. I thought for sure that since I had contractions that were bad enough to wake me up that it was the real thing.

Second: We were pretty close to being induced yesterday. My midwife is worried about preeclampsia still even though my tests came back normal. I still have an extreme amount of swelling that is not relieved by elevation, my blood pressure has been high or on the high end of normal every visit, I've had "sparklies" in my vision, I have had a few bad headaches (which I thought might just be due to sinus pressure since I've had a pretty bad cold this week, I told her that but she was still concerned), and also some pain in my right rib cage (which I thought might just be due to the baby kicking it since that is her favorite spot for her little feet, told her that as well but she's still concerned). All these things can be signs of preeclampsia. My midwifes thought was that I was 39+ weeks pregnant and having all these symptoms that they would probably just want to induce me because if it is preeclampsia then there is risk of having a stillborn baby. Also, baby's heart rate was a little lower than normal (still in the acceptable range) and she hasn't been moving as much lately, but all the kick counts I do are still within the normal range as well. Reienke (my midwife) thought it safe to go in to be mornitored for a little while because of all of these things. So off to the labor and delivery center at the hospital I went. They hooked me to monitors to monitor things like my contractions, baby's heart rate, baby's movements, my heart rate and things like that. They drew a bunch of blood to check things like my platelets, my red blood cell count, and levels of different chemicals (I don't know what else to call them, I would have called them "stuff" ;)  ) in my blood. To make a long story short, I was there for almost two hours hooked up to these machines while they waited for my blood work to come back. Everything came back normal and my blood pressure had stabilized since I had been resting and baby's heart rate and movement was all good so they released me with a few instructions. They said I shouldn't be working anymore (which was fine because my last day was Wednesday and this happened on Friday) and that I should be resting as much as possible. The nurse called it "basically bed rest". So there you have it. No baby yet and I have to take it easy until she comes. Which is great, cause I'm big and super tired ;)
Here's a pic of me on Thursday at exactly 39 weeks. I feel like I look super tired, remember I have had a cold for a week ;)

We are so close!!  Can't wait to meet and snuggle our sweet little girl!!

Quick Update

Baby and I are doing well. I have had a few days of almost labor, where I have pretty consistently had contractions about 4 min apart. But as soon as I go to bed at night they go away.
Baby girl is doing well, she moves all the time. My midwife said that I should be feeling at least 10 movements every 2 hours when she's being really active but it usually only takes about 2 min to get up to those 10 movements, which is good :) She moves a ton! We affectionately call her our little wiggle baby because of how much she moves. She also gets hiccups a couple times a day and those are pretty cute, although I don't think she likes them very much because she usually squirms around like she's trying to get away from them.
I love how much Tyler loves to feel her move. Almost every time I mention that she's moving a lot he'll put his hand on my tummy and talk to her. This only makes her move even more, she wiggles a lot whenever she hears her daddy talk :) Super precious. I can't wait to see those two together, Tyler will be such a sweet father and I have a feeling that our little sweetie is going to be a daddy's girl.
My tummy is measuring at 39.5 weeks and I am 38 weeks and 3 days today. I have gained about 32 pounds. Still retaining a ton of water.
I have had a cold for the past three days, I basically feel like a train hit my face. My head and throat hurt and my nose is pretty congested and there's not really any good options as far as what I can take that will actually be effective to relieve any of my symptoms. Just trying to take vitamin c and drink herbal teas, which always seem to help clear up my sinuses.
I've still been teaching but it's been getting really hard because I'm getting really slow and tired. I only have three days left of teaching before I go on "maternity leave", which may or may not be permanent.
The nursery is almost as ready as it will be for her to come. We have a crib for her, thanks Christina!, and we just need to set it up and put the mattress in it. All her clothes are washed and in the drawers and we have diapers on hand and more on the way as well as a diaper genie and a few other miscellaneous baby things that are the last of what we need for her.
Can't wait to meet our little sweetie!! Hope she comes soon!!! :D

Baby Update

Baby girl is doing well and growing as expected :) She is running out of room for sure, I don't have much more room for  her!
I ended up switching providers a couple weeks ago, at 36 weeks pregnant. Kinda late in the game to be switching, I know, but there's good reason for it. Around 34 weeks the doctor I was seeing started making a big deal about a level of a certain something in my blood and sent me in for testing for pre-eclampsia. The only problem is that they didn't draw my blood, so the level in the blood that was a problem wasn't even in my blood. I tried to tell them this, that there was a mix up and that they didn't draw my blood when they said that they did, but the PA at the office basically told me that I didn't know what I was talking about. Tyler and I were really frustrated about this because I was certain that the blood wasn't mine and they were using this blood to make me go in for all these expensive tests that we had to pay for when I didn't have any other symptoms of pre-eclampsia. So I switched to a midwife (instead of an OB) who delivers at the hospital. When I called the OB's office to ask them to send my records to the midwife I talked with the front office manager and she asked why I was switching and I told her about the blood mix up and she said that she would look into it. Meanwhile, I have had a couple appointments with my midwife and I really like the difference. She actually has time to answer my questions and is much more education based, making sure that I know why they do certain things and the risks with other things. I never felt like my OB had time to even answer my questions, and as a first time mom I have a lot of them and I worry about a lot of things. I definitely feel better about switching and don't regret it a bit.
At the end of last week I got a voicemail from someone at my old OB's office asking me to call them when I got a chance. When I called them and talked to them they said that they had figured out that the blood wasn't mine and that they wanted a copy of my bill from the testing that they made me do so that they could pay for it. It made me feel so much better to have them admit that a mistake had been  made and that they wanted to fix it. I felt like before that they were basically telling me that I was crazy and that I didn't know what I was talking about and that they didn't do anything wrong. I feel so much better with them making things right in this manner and having switched providers.
At my last appointment with my midwife I had extreme swelling in my arms, legs and feet. My right arm is so swollen that I don't have any feeling in three of my fingers and my thumb (and haven't for about three weeks now) and my feet are so swollen that they have stretch marks on them from my skin having to stretch so much to accommodate the increased fluid volume. None of my shoes fit so Tyler took me to Ross a week ago and got me a pair of shoes that I could wear to work that actually fit. My flip flops don't even fit anymore. I have tried everything that they have told me to do to get the fluid to drain from my feet but nothing works. Some swelling in pregnancy is normal, but my midwife was concerned because my swelling was beyond normal, she even used the word severe. Because of this, and my blood pressure that has been getting higher instead of lower like it should in the last few weeks of pregnancy, my midwife sent me in to be tested for pre-eclampsia. For real this time. I actually had symptoms that they wanted to make sure weren't pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia can lead to stillborn babies and other problems so it's important to catch it as early as possible if you do have it so that they can treat you for it and potentially save the life of the baby.
My test for pre-eclampsia came back negative, thank goodness. So there's really no explanation for the swelling and the heightened blood pressure but they're going to keep an eye on it.
Tomorrow (Thursday) will mark 38 weeks for me and baby girl. She has "dropped", I keep getting comments from people at church and in my family saying that it looks like she's a lot lower and I am having trouble going up and down the stairs at home because of how low she is sitting. When I am sitting it feels like she is laying on my lap, my belly touches my legs quite a bit. She is head down and has been for quite a while. She is face up, which is not the best because that means that I will have more back labor if she doesn't turn, and every time I have a contraction I can feel it squeezing my lower back and the base of my neck. I have only gained about 30 pounds, some of which is just the massive amount of water that my body is retaining. I was "term" last Thursday, which means that she is fully developed and could come anytime now. I hope she comes soon as I am in a lot of pain with all the swelling. Almost everything is ready for her to come. Her car seat is put together as well as her bassinet, all her clothes are washed and put in her dresser, the hospital bag is packed, and the nursery is as ready as it is going to be before she gets here. We are replacing windows so we can't do some things until that gets taken care of (hopefully next week) and there are boxes that need to go downstairs but can't until all the finish work is done down there. And I really wanted to paint the room before she gets here but I'm pretty sure that not everything is going to happen before she gets here and I'm just going to have to be ok with having her room the way it is for the first little while. We still need to get the crib set up, my friend is giving us her crib that she doesn't need anymore and as soon as she brings that over then we can set it up and get everything even more ready for her.
Here is a tummy pic of me taken last night at 37 weeks and 5 days:

She is soooo big!!! Can't wait to meet her and kiss her cute little face :)

Here are a couple pics that Tyler's boss's wife took of me at the zoo a couple weekends ago. She is a photographer and takes really nice pictures and just snapped a couple of me and Ty while we were at the zoo :) I was 36 weeks and 3 days pregnant when these were taken.









Photos courtesy of Angie Stinchfield: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stinchfield-Photography-Studio

Thanks Angie!!

House Update

The stairs are done!!! The construction part at least. There is still some finishing work of the wall Tyler built that needs completing as well as the laying of the carpet on the stairs. The basement is mostly cleaned up, I'm waiting to do any heavy cleaning until all the finish work is done. The important thing is that the washer and dryer are in the laundry room as of one week ago! I think I have done like 12 loads of laundry since they have been up and running ;) I had lots of baby clothes to wash!
We had the help of a good friend of mine from college and her husband to clean up the basement and bring the washer and dryer down stairs, that happened the night of my baby shower, Sept 7th. But we then quickly figured out that there was a problem with the ductwork from the dryer and also a leak in the handles that turn  on and off the hot and cold water going to the washer.  So after a few days and some work from Tyler on the ductwork and a visit by a plumber (thank you home warranty) we were in business!! And boy am I glad to have a washer and dryer in my own home! I don't think I'll ever take doing laundry in my home for granted ever again!
Here are some pics of the downstairs and the laundry room :D

Completed Stairs

 View of basement from staircase- this will probably be our "family room" when everything is said and done

 Laundry room/downstairs bathroom!!! yay!

 View from fireplace of rest of basement:

 Downstairs bedroom:

 View on the other side of the wall that Ty built:

 Around the corner from the last pic- this might end up being Tyler's office, if all goes well. But it's looking like it might not work out to have his office downstairs. :(

 Cupboards in the back of what we will call Tyler's office. There are three cupboards this size (almost floor to ceiling), I can't wait to organize all of them! They are about a third of the way full at the moment.

Close up of the vanity in the bathroom/laundry room

 Washer and dryer all installed in the laundry room!!!

Updates 2

The day before school started Kuna School District hired me to be over all the strings for the district. That means that I direct the 7th grade, 8th grade, and high school orchestras and teach a 7th grade guitar class. I really enjoy it, most days. Yesterday was a really bad day, I'm struggling with a lack of respect from my high school orchestra, I think that they think that because I'm young that they can push the limits and there will be no consequences but that just isn't quite the case. I need to be more firm with my policies and give out detention in accordance with the policies that they are all aware of and not be such a softie. I really don't like giving out detentions and being that really strict teacher but the problems we are having in class are making our little amount of rehearsal time not as productive and we can't afford the loss of time.
I may or may not go back to teaching after the baby is born. I have been toying around with keeping one class that would make it so that I'm only teaching around 3 hours a week and then letting them find someone else to do the rest. There are scheduling conflicts anyway, so they really need two people to do the job anyway. Right now I am teaching about 30 hours a week and that would be way to much to try to handle with a newborn.
This job is the main reason that my posting has been sparse, aka nonexistent. After working 30 hours a week and doing all the housework I am too tired to do much else.
Tyler is doing well. He has been doing well at work and received a good sized bonus, which is great with having a baby coming soon and a house payment. His boss and his boss's wife and toddler visited Boise a couple weekends ago and we went to the Boise Zoo with them and had a really great time. It was fun to hang out with them outside of work and get to know them a little better. His boss lives in Kallispell Montana so we don't see them very often.
Tyler started graduate classes at the University of Idaho this semester and is doing well with that. It's been hard to manage work, school, family time, church calling, and working on the things that need done with our house but everything is working out alright :) He is taking an advanced engineering math class and is learning a lot. It is a challenging class for him. He was also recently called to be the secretary in the Young Men's organization at church. This will be really fun for him I think and he's pretty excited about it. He loves scouting and all the stuff that goes along with that and is excited to be a part of that with the YM and be able to go on all the hikes and camp-outs with them.  I haven't been given a calling yet, which is fine with me since the baby will be here soon.

Updates

Wow, and here I thought I was going to be really great at posting regularly, and it's been so long since my last post. To my defense, we have had a ton going on these past few weeks and have been out of town a lot. We used some frequent flier miles to go up to Spokane and Coeur d'Alene to visit our parents up there (had to get that in before I'm not allowed to fly anymore ;)  ), then the next weekend we had the Noble Family Reunion in Rupert, ID with Tyler's parents staying a couple days after that to visit us and my sister for a week visiting as well. Then, last but not least, we went to McCall for one last vacation before the baby comes. That weekend was originally going to be a camping trip but then I got big and with the heat I was contracting more than I should so we decided to go somewhere with a hotel :) We did have a lot of fun though.
And, I forgot to take pictures. I usually bring the camera but I'm usually enjoying myself too much to worry about taking pictures. So you get lots of words, sorry!
We had an interesting time when we went to Spokane and Cd'A. I had a dr appointment the day we left and my dr put me on a medicine because she suspected that I was having gallbladder problems (which I am not, we now know after all the testing has come back free and clear). So I started this medicine our first full day in Spokane and ended up having an allergic reaction to it and going to the ER. I have never had an allergic reaction to anything in my life so it was kinda scary to have that happen, especially since we were out of town. The reaction wasn't too serious, but you never know if it's going to be or not and if you wait to find out then it might be too late. My arm started to swell and I got a little dizzy and was having trouble focusing my eyes as well as having slight swelling of my lips and mouth area. Everything ended up just fine, even though it was a scary experience since you never know what could happen with that kind of reaction!
The Noble Family Reunion was fun, it was in Rupert where Tyler's Grandma lives. We had a picnic together and the food was all really good and afterwards we swam in the Snake River with one of Tyler's cousins. The next day we went to church with Grandma and then had a nice breakfast as a family at Denny's.

Happy 30 Weeks!! and Stairs Update

Today marks 30 weeks for me and Baby  Girl!! That means that there's only 7 weeks until I am full term and 10 weeks until my due date on October 10th!

Baby Girl is almost 3 pounds and nearly 17.5 inches long!

In other news, the reconstruction of the stairs is coming along. In the last few days, Tyler managed to complete the platform!! 

He did a very nice job on it! It is very sturdy and much better built than the one that was in there before!! Good job Tyler!!