Appointments, appointments, appointments...

That's all I seem to do lately. Well, at least every 4 weeks. Today I had the added bonus of a 1-hour glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes, in addition to my regular check-up. They gotta do these things to keep you coming back... the regular appointments just aren't fun enough I guess.

Although, I'm going to remember to avoid the lady who took my blood this time. She did not do a good job. The last lady who did it was a pro - I didn't feel a thing! It was great! (as great as having 8 vials of blood sucked out of you can be) This time, they only took 2. But holy-cow woman, when you have a fat-ass needle jammed in someone's arm - HOLD STILL FOR GOD'S SAKE. Ouch!

So, then she takes the needle out and says to me, "You might have some bruising". Geee - YA THINK?!

Everything is still looking good and pretty text-book. No problems, baby is active & growing, weight gain is on target for me (26wks 5 days, 20 lb gain) and I feel fine. We were a little puzzled with my blood pressure though and she took it twice to make sure... I was registering in at 94/38 and then 94/46. I consistently have low range blood pressure (110/60) but this was a decent drop from my range of normal. But, I guess it's nothing to worry about since the doctor wasn't concerned and I wasn't feeling dizzy or faint.

Maybe I'm just extra healthy. yeah - that's it. Extra healthy. :)

Are you smokin’ crack in there?

Hello, baby? I know you can hear me, so listen up. What on earth are you doing in there? For two days you have been bouncing around like you are M.C. Hammer on crack! I feel like I’ve done a million frickin crunches but have nothing to show for it. So, please – take a nap and give my tummy a rest or else I’m telling Daddy on you.

Sheesh.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Chirstmas! We had a great Christmas weekend with the family. Probably the best Christmas in a long, long time... Spent Saturday in Portland with Chris' family and then headed down to Crooked River Ranch for Sunday & Monday to hang-out with my family (and 5 dogs). There was tons of good food, LOTS of presents, plenty of time to relax, no dog fights, and laughs to be had by all. Good times. Good times.

Ky even found himself a new girlfriend, Trixie. Trixie is one of my Dad's dogs, a cute little Britney. Ky loooooooooves him some Trixie. Wherever she went, he followed. He couldn't even take a nap without lifting his head every couple of minutes to make sure she was still near him. He is now sitting at home all by himself - lovesick. He misses her (and all the friends he tried to make) and moped around all night. Poor pup.

Kinda makes me want to get him a friend. A doggie all his own who he can cuddle and play with 24-7. But, with baby on the way, that's not happening. Sorry Ky. Guess we'll just have to try to make more play dates for him and his friends.

Here's Ky and Trixie together

Alright.... here's my belly

These are pretty self explanatory.

4 weeks pregnant











20 weeks pregnant














24 weeks pregnant

We're alive!

I'll spare the gory details but after 3 days in bed with a stomach virus, we are finally beginning to feel alive again. Chris and I, that is.

Sunday night was the absolute worst and almost ended up in the emergency room. After being violently ill for about 6 hours, I guess my body was going into overdrive and I started having contractions about 2-3 minutes apart. Not just little ole' braxton hicks kinds either. These ones hurt! Once I was able to distinguish between the abdominal cramps, nausea and contractions I decided to call the hospital. (about 3am) They told me to drink 5 big glasses of water in 30 minutes and if I couldn't keep it down or if the contractions didn't stop within 30 minutes of that, that we were to immediately head to the emergency room. ha - very funny. Not an easy task when you're absolutely ill. So, I choked down the water and within 5 minutes... Well, you can guess that one. But, it must have done some good because the contractions did eventually stop and I passed out. Or, I passed out and didn't notice them anymore... Either way - they stopped and I narrowly avoided the emergency room.

Monday was pretty rough and Chris stayed home too. Even though he was also feeling sick, he had to take care of me. Poor guy... I was completely incapacitated and had to practically be carried out of the bathroom to the couch a couple of times. He cooked me chicken noodle soup, went to the store and got me drinks, and woke me up from naps to make sure I kept drinking fluids.

Chris returned to work today after 2 days of being sick. My boss wants me to stay home another day to make sure I recover completely... I think that's a good idea. So, I'm getting stir crazy now. Maybe I'll clean. I haven't done the dishes for 2 days and we don't have any clean bowls.

Being sick sucks.

Tiiiiiiiiimmmmmm--Berrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

That's what we were saying as Chris gave his finest rendition of Paul Bunyan in our back yard last night.

We got back from our walk at 8:00pm (bbbbbrrrrrrr) and were looking at something on the computer when I hear a loud "POP". I directed my attention towards the living room where it seemed to be coming from and asked Chris if heard that. Not two seconds later we hear "POP - CRACK". Now I know I wasn't hearing things. The first thing to cross our mind is - "what is Ky getting into?". But Ky was outside in the yard... And that was too loud a noise to be him - even though he is quite the beast.

So, we get up to check things out... Chris looked around the house while I peeked out back to make sure Ky was ok. He was fine, but I noticed that one of the trees in the "forest" seems to be leaning a little to much to the left. No - it was leaning a lot towards the left. I call Chris over and ask him "does that tree looks a little sideways to you?". He agreed.

Now, this tree had been dead since we moved in two summers ago. Larry, Chris' dad, took a few swings at it with an ax a while ago but stopped short of his intentions when he realized that the 50 foot log would most likely fall onto the garage when it came down. We were going to take it down someday by cutting it in half first as to not damage anything. It wasn't a priority as it seemed to be holding up well. But, apparently it was time for the tree to go and we had no time for Plan A. Plan B: take it down now - in the dark - and hope for the best. Great. How much is this going to cost us?

So, I called Ky inside and Chris headed out to take on the tree. We watched through the windows in the french doors as he gave it a few of his best Jackie Chan ka-ra-tae kicks. He went back for one last kick when we heard a loud "CRRRRRRAAAAAACCCCCKKKKK". He jumped back and TIIIIIIMMMMMM-BERRRRRRRRR - the tree was down. As soon as it hit the ground, I flung open the door and ran out to survey the damage. Chris beat me to it and held up the 2 inch branch that clipped the side of the garage. That was it! No damage was done! YAY!

We reveled at the possibility of it causing serious damage and thanked our lucky stars that Plan B was successful. Then, the "what ifs" started flowing. "What if it came down when we were sleeping? - that would have scared the crap out of me" "What if it came down while Ky was playing in the yard" "What if... What if... What if..."

Meanwhile, Ky thought he hit the jackpot of sticks and didn't hesitate 2 seconds to go down and check out his new toy. He quickly began ripping apart the downed tree and found himself some nice sticks to run around with. Merry Christmas Ky! We went inside since it was a chilling 25 degrees with the wind chill and Ky happily stayed behind and played with his abundance of sticks.

Just another day in the life of Chris & Mel.

It's not only a girl...

It's a River Dancer!

On Monday night, I had to have a little chat with miss thaaaaang in there. Apparently, she has taken up River Dancing and chose to do so on my cervix for about 30 minutes - right when I laid down for bed. Thanks.

It was a long day and I was so tired and it was already later than I usually go to bed. So, I was getting pretty frustrated with her and gave her a stern talkin' to. Finally, after she hadn't listened to me, I jiggled my belly around and poked at her until she moved positions. Two can play this game.

It was kind of funny looking back on it - but I was seriously mad at the time. What a little butt-head! hahaha

la-dee-da

Nothing new and exciting to report today... so, I'll just ramble on for a bit.

We've been enjoying some down time from the home improvements. I've never found so much joy in coming home and doing the dishes - knowing that was the only thing I had to do ALL NIGHT LONG. Pure joy I tell you. But, that's all soon to change I'm sure... as we still have a bit of flooring to complete. Chris wants me to paint the office while that's going on but I'm certainly not jumping at the offer. I just don't wanna!

What else...

We're making some progress in preparing for our little rug rat. I'm picking up a huge lot of baby clothes that I bid for on Craigslist tonight on my way home. It's about 100 pieces of clothing/outfits. We got a great deal!

We also picked out the nursery furniture we want and the bedding. :)

We'll be touring a potential daycare in a couple of weeks that I think sounds really great. I like what I've read about them so far in regards to their philosophies and daily routines. So, I'm hoping the tour goes as well.

Also in a couple of weeks, We'll be meeting with a doula for the first time. She sounds great and we have emailed back and forth a few times. If you've never heard of a doula before, just goggle it and you'll find a bunch of information. I am planning a med-free birth so having a doula is quintessential in supporting my choice to do that. My insurance won't cover a home birth, which was my first choice, so a doula at the hospital to help Chris and I keep them doctors with their needles & drugs & contraptions away from me will have to do.

Now, I'm not a crazy person who will refuse medical intervention if it is necessary. I don't think doctors are bad... But, many doctors look at labor & birth as something that's wrong with you that needs to be fixed. It's much easier and convenient for them to stick an IV in, strap a monitor or two on, give you drugs to make you labor faster, give you drugs to make it hurt less (because the drugs they gave you to make you labor faster also make everything more painful), use medical contraptions (if not a c-section) to get the baby out because the drugs they gave you to make it hurt less because of the drugs that made you labor faster made it nearly impossible to change positions or feel what you're doing so you can't be as effective, then they will probably just end up cutting you because they are impatient. And by this time, you have a cathedar in your back, a needle in your arm, a cathedar in your bladder, a monitor on the baby and a monitor on you. Yeah... doesn't sounds like my cup of tea. especially the side effects of all the drugs. I could go on and on and on. But I'll spare you and cyberspace my ramblings. There's only so much space.

So there's the short & hasty version of why I need another person to help us keep them doctors with their needles & drugs & contraptions away from me! :) And help me do what my body was made to do. I have NO FEAR when it comes to labor, delivery, and pain. That's all natural... it's not something I need to be cured of. I fear what the doctors are going to try to do to me!

I think this is one trait I got from my grandmother... Doctors have their place and serve an important role in healthcare. BUT - they are not always right and can sometimes cause more harm than good. That's why I eat an apple a day! Seriously. I do.

Maybe she'll be born at home on "accident". Just kidding. Maybe.