Maternity Photos: Baby #4

I had asked a friend of mine to take some photos of me at one of my favorite spots {Chatham Manor} while I was still in the comfortable phase of my pregnancy - mostly for John. I thought it would be cool to surprise him with these pictures as he has missed much of this pregnancy due to being away long distance for work. I love how they turned out! Looking back, I wish I would have brought along all of my kids to be in some of the photos. With it still being winter, there weren't many warm days to choose from but I did choose the warmest day of the week which was still in the 30's. At least the sun was out! It was VERY cold and windy and I was trying to get Andrew's 2 year photos taken at the same time but it just wasn't in the cards. Because it was so cold, his poor nose was running and his face was all red and chapped!! I'll have to take him to Penney's or do something else instead. But he sure was a trooper (minus the meltdown at the end because I wouldn't let him stick his hand (or whole body) into the freezing cold pond to touch the fish) despite the hour long photo shoot...just walked around and followed us while eating his snack and holding his stuffed puppy dog. :)

Here are some of my favorites:

3rd Trimester!

{29 Weeks}

Yeah! I've made it to the third trimester - and all I want to do is meet this sweet little boy of mine. But I suppose I can be patient for another 10+ weeks. I believe this to be the hardest trimester to endure...being tired, dropping things and the ever growing heavy belly but being a mom is so worth it! We still can't decide on a name. With our other three, we knew before they were born what we'd name them. I think this time around, we are going to have to meet this little guy before we know what his special name is going to be. I can tell you though that the kids are so excited to have their little brother join our family in just a few short months. And John and I are anxiously waiting to hold him in our arms.

Fall Fun

Here are some pictures from our time outdoors today:

{22 weeks pregnant}

{November 2010}

{11 years & 4 years}

{22 months}

When The Going Gets Tough...

...just get in the kitchen and DO something! That's what I decided to do today anyways.

My oh my this has already been a hard week for me. I can't sit on my hands anymore. Waiting for our little one to arrive has been much harder than I thought. So today after a short power nap, I made a special treat that I thought would also be a great present for Aubrey's school teacher and bus driver. These make great last minute gifts too. I think it turned out really nice!

It's called Cinnamon Toast White Chocolate Pretzels. (The pictures she has up on her site obviously do a little bit more justice than mine but they still look nice and tasty!)


I found this recipe this morning on one of my favorite sites: Your Home Based Mom. She has a lot of great recipes (among other great ideas) on her site too that you should check out. This treat was so fast and easy too. Not to mention YUMMY! :-) Her recipe is on her site if you want to try it. (Click on the link above). Just a side note: when it tells you to sprinkle with additional cinnamon sugar, it's easiest to just use the same measurements it calls for in the recipe (the sugar and cinnamon). I just mixed a separate batch and put it to the side until I got to that point in the recipe. Also, just eyeball how much white chocolate you'd like to melt for the topping. I used 4 individually wrapped Baker's White Chocolate Baking Squares that were 1 ounce each (4 oz total) and I was happy with it but you can always use more or less depending on how much you want.

So just when I thought I had nothing else to do...I found myself back in the kitchen. BAKING! I swore a few weeks ago that I was good and done with that for a little while but I guess never say never! Enjoy!!

Now I'm going to go BACK into the kitchen and clean up my mess. (Which was hardly anything at all might I add.) With being this far along in the pregnancy, the clean up is my least favorite part of baking and cooking because my back hurts towards the end but it'll give me something else to do, right? Oh Andrew...I can't WAIT to meet you! It better be soon too before I snack my way to an extra 35 lbs! LOL

40 Weeks Has Finally Come

A month and a half ago when I went into preterm labor, it was hard to fathom getting to the 40 week mark but alas - we're here! My doctor was pretty surprised that I was even at my appointment this morning. The baby's head has come down some since last week's check-up, his heartbeat is strong and healthy, my blood pressure is a tiny bit higher than what it usually is but that's probably due to a little bit of swelling in my hands and feet, and I'm still dilated to a 2. She doesn't want me to go too much longer without being induced so I have until next Monday to go on my own and then they'll step in and get things moving. This Thursday I have a bio phys (ultrasound) scheduled to confirm that all is well with the baby's growth and then Friday I go in to get my blood pressure checked again. Monday morning I am to go back in to the doctors office with my bags packed and ready so they can admit me to the hospital. I was also told to just bring them on Friday just in case they can get me in sooner. Doubtful, but I'm going to do it anyways!

Picture: 39 Weeks

Wow! This week has just flown by. I promised to post a current picture this week though so here is one that was taken today (39 weeks & 5 days). Not much new to report. Tuesday night I called the on-call doctor to discuss some symptoms I was having (mainly some abdominal and back cramps) and she said that I was probably in the early stages of labor and to call if things got progressively worse. A few hours later, the symptoms and constant contractions ceased and I went to bed. So I suppose that this labor will just go in stages and gradually over time instead of all at once. I'm feeling fine though otherwise. Just some tingling in my hands and being really tired. With John reporting to his training mid-January, let's just hope the baby comes sooner than later so I can get as much of his help as possible. We're looking at that being 2 to 3 weeks of time before I'm on my own for 10 consecutive weeks. Better than nothing! I thankfully have wonderful friends and family that will help me keep sane while he's away. I don't think I could do it without them! Lots of love to you all. And hopefully we'll have some baby news to give to you soon. :)

{Me at 39 weeks with Andrew - John making me laugh at who knows what!}

{Close up of the baby bump!}

{Andrew's bassinet all ready and waiting}

39 Weeks Update

Today's appointment didn't confirm many new changes despite all that I have been feeling but I am now dilated to about 3cm instead of last week's 2cm. Oh and that I have officially hit the 35 pound weight gain. Woo Hoo! Still 15 less than when I carried the girls to full term. Thankfully this pregnancy has treated me pretty well. I'll get John to take a new side shot of the baby bump in the next few days and will post it for you to see soon. It's getting so close...I can hardly wait to have him here! :)

This Week In Pictures (11/30-12/6)

So this week in pictures is going to be on the rather short end. Surprisingly this past week was crazy busy but I was still able to manage posting quite a bit and therefore don't have any left over pictures to display except for this one of Jocelyn. She loves her sunglasses and asked that I take a picture of her wearing them...crooked and all! She was really proud of herself for putting them on all by herself - something that she's been working on for a little while now.

An update on baby news: last night I started to get contractions every 5 minutes for a good while. I was laying there timing them and must have gotten real tired of that because I woke up a short time later to find out that I slept for an hour or so. Got back to timing. Still every 5 minutes. Walking around didn't change things either. So after that had gone on for a good 3-4 hours, I called my doctor's office around 11:30pm. The on-call doctor called me back (sounding pretty tired) and asked if I was dilated. I told her that the past Monday at my appointment I was at a 2. She asked if there was any other symptom and I said no. She said that she didn't seem to think that I was in labor and could just stay home and wait until it felt like my cervix was dilating but also to not wait TOO long as it's my 3rd child. Yeah. Okay. That makes a ton of sense! How the heck am I supposed to know when my cervix is dilating? Frustrated with the conversation that made absolutely NO sense whatsoever to me, I went to bed - hoping I wouldn't end up delivering him at home! John mentioned that we had a tarp that I could use in the backyard if we needed to. HELLO????? I don't think so!!! A little traumatizing, don't you think? Not even an option! I know it's strange that I'm so concerned about knowing when I'm actually in labor (I'm sure it'll be pretty obvious!) but with Aubrey I was induced 6 days before her due date and in labor for 24 hours and I was at the hospital the morning they had scheduled me to be induced with Jocelyn but lo and behold I was already in labor on my own with her and had delivered her in just 4 hours. This time, I'm not being induced unless I go 7-10 days AFTER my due date of December 15th so this would explain my concern. Though I am glad I most likely won't be induced. NOT fun! So. That's my update at this point. Everything's done and ready so we're just playing the wait game. I have another appointment tomorrow (Monday) morning so more news to follow...

8 Months & 2nd Ultrasound

{34 Weeks pregnant}

At my last office visit last week, my doctor was mentioning how big I looked compared to how far along I was. I told him that this size seemed to match my previous pregnancies and with being petite, it may just appear to be bigger. He suggested getting another ultrasound done just to be sure. No arguments there! What? I get to see the baby again? :) Aubrey had the day off of school today and John took a little bit of time off of work to meet us at my ultrasound appointment. All of us were able to go into the room together and see him on the screen. While the tech was running the test, we were able to make out a bunch of things like the spikey hair on his head, his parts that definitely say that he's 100% boy, him waving to us with his hand across his face, his eyes closed, his toes wiggling, his "fat feet" according to the tech, and his heart beat beating strong. The test shows that his head measures (as well as everything else) at 34 weeks which is where I'm at right now so the due date stays somewhere around December 15th. His current weight is estimated around 4 lbs. 13 oz. My pregnancy books state that on average, they gain 1/2 an ounce a day in the last trimester so that would put him in the 6 - 7 lbs range. Both of the girls weighed in the mid to high 6 lbs so it appears that all is well. Here are a few pictures the tech was able to print out for us. A few of them didn't show up very well so these were the best of the four. Just 6 more weeks to go and we get to see him face to face. Can't wait to hold him. We're all so excited!

Results Are In

My doctor called and said she had good news: the fetal fibronectin test came back NEGATIVE! Whooo Hoooo! I'm so happy about that. She said that this news should bring me some comfort and less worry and it does. They want me to be seen on a weekly basis from here on out to keep a close eye on me but as far as these contractions go, she says there's little to no risk involved. If I notice any water leaking, bleeding, or more pressure/pain in my pelvis that that is when I will know there's more going on and need to be seen immediately. For now on, I'm just going to take things slow and rest whenever possible. The longer I can carry him to term the better! BIG sigh of relief though. Thank you to all who kept me in their thoughts and prayers. I love and appreciate you.

Contractions Update

Just a little update on how things are going today. The contractions were continuing still this morning when I woke up. All day yesterday I was on strict bed rest but it didn't seem to cease the contractions any. I gave up timing them too. But this morning they seemed to be getting too close together (1-2 minutes apart). After slowly walking Aubrey to the bus, I called my doctor's office again. They told me to get in and they would work me into their schedule. Once getting there and in the exam room, the doctor walked in and wanted to do a Fetal fibronectin test that would be sent to the lab and would tell us if I would be going into labor within the next 2 weeks or not. It's 99% effective if it comes out negative and only 50% effective if it turns out positive with 15% of that 50% still making it to full term. If it's positive, she said they would treat me at that point. Not too sure what that entails other than medication and bed rest but will find out more before the end of the day. The doctor also confirmed that even with all of these nuisance contractions, that they are NOT starting active labor and I'm still closed and high. Very good to know. I'm worried but not stressing myself out with what's going on. Don't see the point in that really. But I admit I am a little worried. But then again, what mother wouldn't be? I have faith everything will be okay or work out the way it's supposed to be. Baby is still moving and getting hiccups and heartbeat is great so that's a relief!! More news to follow once I hear from the doctor.

Onto some more happier news, I wanted to wish my sister a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today!! Lots of love to you sis! xoxo Hope you have a great one :)

{My sister and nephew - July 2008}

7 Months

{Me, yesterday, at 30 weeks pregnant}

Preterm Labor?

Last night, John and I spent the evening at the hospital. I noticed that I was getting some more than usual contractions (4-6 in one hour). I didn't think too much of it at the time but did start getting concerned. After getting home from taking Aubrey to piano practice, we thought it would be fun to take the girls out to dinner since we don't eat out very often and well, I had not planned a new weeks worth of meals yet. So we were at dinner and I started to time them at 7:11pm. 45 minutes had gone by and I had counted 12 contractions. My next move was to call my doctors office and speak to the on-call doctor. She recommended that I go to Labor & Delivery to get things checked out. We got home from the restaurant, I laid on the couch, and John put the girls to bed. I called the first person I could think of: our wonderful home teacher & friend--who was able to come over and stay at the house while the girls were fast asleep so we could run to the hospital.

Once there, things went slowly. I didn't expect anything but slow so I wasn't too surprised. Being triaged, I knew I wasn't the top emergency patient at the time. Thankfully, John was there to keep me company. And cable tv didn't hurt either. Since I don't have much time to write before going back and laying down, I'll list things in order on how our evening progressed.

**Arrived at hospital at 8:45pm
1. Urine sample given.
2. Hooked to fetal monitors - contractions coming every 3 - 3 1/2 minutes for 5 HOURS straight. They were starting to get painful towards the end. Baby looked great and heartbeat stayed in between 140-160 bpm.
3. Cervix checked. Nurse said I was at 1cm long and high.
4. Contractions still not backing down. Given a shot in arm to stop preterm labor. Which followed by an adrenaline high and racing heart rate.
4. I.V. started and given a bag of fluid to see if it would help slow down the contractions.
5. Labs were back. Was told I had a urinary infection.
6. Antibiotics were then administered through the I.V. for the urinary infection and was told to call my doctor in the morning and get a Rx called in to pharmacy.
7. After bag of fluids and shot, contractions subsided and I was released to go home and be on bed rest for the remainder of the morning. To come back in if contractions became more than 6 in an hours time.
**Left hospital at 1:45am

Once home, I was exhausted and didn't have much of a problem going to sleep. Woke up around 7:15am. I noticed then that I was having a contraction but it wasn't painful so from that time until John took the girls down to the bus stop at 8:15am, I counted 15 contractions in that hours time. My doctor's office opened at 8:30am so I called them as instructed. I also noted that I was having more consistent contractions and was told if more than 6 happened in an hour to get back to L&D so that was were I was going. They put me on hold to consult with the physician in the office and said they would rather me come in to be checked first. We arrived at the office at 9:15am and gave yet again another urine sample. They have to send it in to be cultured but they don't suspect I even have one with the simple test they took in the office. They checked baby's heart rate. Still beating really well and strong. Had my weight and blood pressure checked and those were fine as well. The doctor came in and took measurements and said I was still on track. Then another cervix check. She said I was thinned some but still high, long, and CLOSED. Not dilated at all. They didn't feel that I needed an antibiotic at this time with me having no symptoms unless the culture shows differently (that won't be for a good 3-4 days though). Was ordered to be on bed rest for the whole day and to drink plenty of fluid. To call them back if things changed or got worse. My next office visit in next Thurs. the 16th. They don't really know why these contractions are occurring but it doesn't surprise me with my past pregnancies and history. I went into preterm labor with both of the girls and was ordered best rest and delivering them full term. So looks as though this one may follow suit. Not sure at this point. I'm only 30 weeks and 1 day today so we obviously don't want any of this to progress into active labor. I've documented this mainly for myself to remember but I also wanted everyone to know how I was doing. I think things are going to be okay but if you could keep me in your thoughts and prayers, I'd very much appreciate it. I'm not sure when I'll be back on here to update but I'll get back on here as soon as I'm allowed to let you know how the babybump and I are doing. John was able to take today off to help with the girls and I and the hospital is only 10-15 minutes down the road so we're in good hands.