Labor?

The contractions and changes continue but slowly enough for labor to hold out for a little while longer. I was at the doctor this morning and I have to say little miss was looking as cute as ever and I kinda cant wait to see her in person. She took a huge big yawn while we had the ultrasound on her, it was so adorable. She looked pretty comfy when she was yawning like that. She looks like a little person in there. I got a really good view of her face today it was snuggled right up against my belly like she was trying to sniff what was on the outside! She definitely already has a curious side! In a week I have dilated a bit more which means when she comes hopefully labor will be pretty fast considering im going on three weeks of slow labor. I am still contracting everyday my contractions get stronger and longer which makes my job a little difficult, but so far so good just hanging in there waiting on baby girl to make her decision. My mom is home from vacation now so I am ok with anytime that she wants to come at this point. The doctor says at this point she is measuring perfect and even if she were to come out today she would do well! Which is great new! It's not going to be easy to tell when the baby is coming considering that the instructions they give you in the hospital tell you to call anytime that you have more than 4 contractions in an hour, for me they say when they get worse or stronger then come to the hosital. Well they feel strong all the time, to the point it takes my breath away at least 5 times an hour. So Im hoping to just know when the right time is so Tyler and I can get to the hospital as soon as i need to! Just took a break from writing so that Tyler and I could feel my rock hard belly during a two minute contractions. Baby Girl Fevold I think we will see you soon :))
When do you think baby girl will come? Guess her weight and date?!

Baby Girl Wants Out

So my day off which was today was a normal scheduled doctor appointment, which unfortunately turned into a 5 hour long trip to over to the hospital. Once again I'm contracting every minute, yes every single minute with a big long contraction every 8 minutes or so. Since I am only 32 weeks and babies lungs are still immature the doctor wanted to be sure that everything was staying the same. I am currently at 50% effacement and 2 cm dilated which means my cervix is thinning with the contractions and beginning to dilate, which basically means my body is slowly preparing for little miss to make her way out. The progression seems to be slow and steady for now, so I will now visit the doctor twice a week for closer monitoring and if need be stay in the hospital for further steroid treatments. For now its back to desk work, but as the doctor has said even rest isn't going to stop the contractions once they have started so just taking it easy, eating and drinking well and sleeping well will at least keep me relaxed and both baby and I as healthy as possible. She continues to not seem to be bothered by the contractions. She was dancing all around this afternoon and her heart rate was showing the great variability which is what they look for. All this baby talk and knowing that she will be here soon has got us really thinking about what she will look like! Tyler and I cant wait to meet her and we have both had our share of dreams entertaining the idea of what our baby girl will look like. Ill let you all make your guesses after you see what Tyler and I looked like as little ones! We are guessing she will have blue eyes since we both do, but will her hair be curly or straight, blonde or brunette? We think she will be pretty long because both Tyler and I are pretty tall. Posted below or pictures of us as infants! Yes the outfits are not as cool as they are today, but like Ty and I say, little miss in 20 years will probably be asking us why we put huge flowered bows in her hair and tell us that that trend was so 2010! It is amazing how much style changes over the years! Tyler is the first two and I am the additional 3 pictures! I resembled a little boy for awhile due to my lack of hair (which we all know that I have plenty now)!

Pictures By Tara!

Thanks to my best friend who is extra multi-talented we got baby belly pictures today! She was awesome at getting just the right pictures. We planned ahead and did today because we dont know when little miss will be here we wanted to make sure we got to cherish and have keep sakes of her life so far! A wonderful and much appreciated thanks to Tara for all of the wonderful photos that she took! She was even bossing me around true Teacher style telling me where to put my hands and my head! She definitely knows what she is doing! Here a just a few of the 200 pictures that were taken! Enjoy! This will be the first and last time you will see my bare belly!

P.S Where I am laying down I actually had to push my stomach out to make it look more pregnant! I mean really who does that! Hope you all enjoy the photos! Again I am so thankful for having such a wonderful friend that was willing to help Tyler and I cherish our baby girls life so far!

Nesting!

I went to the Doctor for my now weekly and if anything changes bi-weekly appointments. I am still pretty much continuously contracting, my uterus is very active. The Monitor is evaluating that my contractions are about 3-5 minutes apart. Luckily for me I only feel about half of them. The ones I do feel are painful best described as a very bad menstrual cramp. So I can officially say goodbye to the perfect pregnancy. Between my legs going tingly and numb from the baby being so low to the constant contractions I would have to say that I'm hanging in there for now. Its more annoying than anything because things that were so easy like walking Hulk for 45 minutes the other day was a simple enjoyable workout for me to now where 15 minutes of walking is dreaded and uncomfortable. I have officially been on "bed rest" for a full week and my doctor has been nice enough to approve me heading back to work for now on Monday. He did put restrictions on my work schedule, so for now Ill be confined to my desk doing mostly outpatient duties, such as refilling prescriptions, answering lots of family and patient questions, following patient labs and reviewing charts. Not my favorite part of the job but I am looking forward to just trying to get things back to as much normalcy as I can. The Doctor thinks that little miss will be arriving anytime in the next 3-4 weeks because of her position and frequency of contractions. Ideally we would all like her to wait to 35 weeks so that her lung development is good enough for her to be able to come home and not have to stay in the the hospital. Either way we are all ready for her arrival. My mom and I put together the dresser that my parents bought yesterday! We got our car seat in the mail yesterday. We had to make an early purchase of this in order to be fully prepared for her arrival. All of her things are washed and ready to be worn. Most importantly the hospital bag is fully packed and ready to go! Bed rest for me= cleaning the condo, I have a feeling this is my nesting period! I have gone in the nursery a gazillion times to ensure that we have everything we need and I think it's safe to say we have enough of the necessities that we are officially ready for her arrival. My mom and I also bought a box of diapers and wipes that will get us through a week with a baby at home! Let's all hope and pray that Baby Girl decides to cook just a little bit longer, even though we are ready and cant wait to meet her, we both want to make sure she is as healthy as can be and the longer her lungs can develop the healthier she will be! Keep us in your thoughts that she doesn't come this week because my parents and aunt and uncle will be in Mexico and there help has been essential throughout this whole process. Thanks again to my Mom for helping me get all the baby stuff together this week! Oh and thanks to my dad who slept on the floor and gave up his bed for the pregnant women all week! Lots of Love to everyone for all the help! Posted below are final pics of the nursery! Love It!

P.S. Tyler and I missed our baby classes because I was in the hospital. So I went to Barnes and Noble and got What to Expect when your Expecting and a Healthy Baby Sleep book. We are just going to learn together by reading up on baby stuff and I'm sure well be learning lots about each other and babies when little miss arrives!

Contractions, pokes, and proding

So friday started out like any other day, shower, walk hulk, work. Nothing abnormal about that. At around 1 the left side of my stomach started hurting sort of a stabbing pain that would not go away. I didnt think much of it for the first half hour or so but as the pain persisted and seemed to be gettting worse instead of better, I called the Doctor who told me to head to the hospital to get checked out. I really didnt think it was a contraction but then again I have never had one so how would I really know what they feel like. I headed to triage in labor and delivery and sure enough I was having contractions about 2-3 minutes aart. So there initial thought was that I was dehydrated which can cause contractions so after two liters of fluid through and IV and no improvement dehydration was quickly ruled out.  I was poked several times for blood to look for different types of infection which can also cause early contractions. All of my blood work was spot on and all the infections they were concerned about came back negative. Despite the frequency of contractions both baby and I looked fine. The contractions were not affecting baby girl fevold at all. So they tried a tocolytic drug which is a drug that is used to stop contractions. I was given a high dose of Nifedipine which again did nothing to stop the contractions. It seemed to slow the contractions down some about 10-12 minutes apart but did not stop them. The hospital monitored both baby and I closely all night long and because I had no signs of cervical dilation in lamen's terms the baby wasnt trying to get out! They sent me home on bed rest for at least the next week. Tyler and I spent a night in the hospital and I learned quite a few things, I am a monitor freak( meaning I stared at the monitor the entire night to make sure little miss was doing ok in there). I always used to tell families in the PICU the importance of not watching the monitor because it will drive you crazy and here I am doing exactly what I tell other people not to do. I was a pretty good patient I would disconnect myself from the monitors and then use the gel to find babies heart rate and hook myself back up. It's easier to be a patient when you know the flow of hospitals.  Tyler and I definitely made the best of our hospital stay we talked about lots of stuff and just hung out like we would at our own house. When he went to sleep I sat up watching infomercials and now I have to have a magic bullet! I mean seriously they put those infomercials on to trick people like me who are over-tired and stressed. I tell you I am convinced that the magic bullet might be the best invention ever! Tyler was wonderful to me and it was funny to see how excited he was to get to wheel me to the car in the wheel chair! We definitily know how to make the best of every situation. Im staying at my parents for the week in order to just be able to relax on the couch and hope the contractions stop. It would be too hard for me to stay at the condo with Hulk because it is a little hard to explain to Hulk why I cant walk him and am just laying on the couch all day long. I will go to the doctor this week to get some more information, but the doctor at the hospital said that unfortunately some women begin painful frequent contractions that stay that way until the moment you deliver and that may just be me. So hopefully ill be able to go back to work next week and just do office work until little miss decides to grace us with her presence. We are glad she is still waiting inside after all these contractions! Here are a couple pictures to document our little misses life so far.

I just got back from my three hour glucose check and doctor appointment. I was stuck four times for blood and in between could not concentrate because they don't let you eat anything. I don't think anyone had to worry about my blood sugar being high today when it was at all time low after over 12 hours of no eating. You cant do that to a pregnant women! I need my food, even if it has to be a veggie sandwich with a small piece of fruit! Baby Girl is looking great. She has turned head down for now, hopefully she will stay that way! Like I told Tyler she is getting ready for her decent into the real world! She is continuing to grow and her heart rate is perfect! She is currently weighing in at about 3 pounds 5 ounces or so! I have gained a total of 16 pounds! That feels pretty huge! But I think so far I am all Baby! Hopefully it stays that way in the next ten weeks! She is now moving more and more but her moves are much stronger and forceful. I get to feel her kick and punch all day long and at night Tyler and I just laugh at how funny my belly looks transforming into different shapes! We continue to prepare for her arrival. The room is just about ready as the Rocking chair arrived this week! We also got the BOB stroller as a gift from Tyler's family. It is all getting ready to go! We have been using the rocking chair at night to read some of our Children's books to little miss. I think she really likes green eggs and ham! She was moving so much when I read that one to her. Tyler and I switch off and read to her on a nightly basis now so that she gets used to our voices! Childbirth classes are this weekend and I cant wait to learn some new things and teach Tyler all kinds of fun baby stuff! Cant wait to update after our weekend adventure of baby preperation!

Few Pictures from our Trip!

Road Trip!

Tyler and I are safe and sound back in Chicago after are long adventurous road trip! We took off last Thursday and headed to Cleveland where we got a quick cat nap before continuing our journey to Boston. We stayed in very cozy old vintage hotel. Much like our Hotel Boston is filled with historic sites and old vintage streets, cemeteries and buildings. We explored the entire city on foot! We found a great breakfast spot where we spent two mornings enjoying the breakfast among many of the local Boston people. Since we were there over Memorial Day weekend there was also many tourists like us exploring the streets and vast sites. We made our way all around and even went to Harvard where we had a picnic in between all of there amazing beautiful buildings and atmosphere. Later that evening we headed to Fenway to watch the Red Sox take on the K.C. Royals. Fenway was a magnificant site, no quite Wrigley Field, but an overall great experience and something that Tyler and I will cherish forever. Since both Tyler and I love baseball this was one of our favorite parts of the trip! Ever since the beginning of our relationship we have cherished the moments that we get to spend together watching baseball. From our first dates at Wrigley until the other night at Fenway. We love that we have now gotten to be watch the greatest game in two of the greatest baseball stadiums of all time. We spent another entire afternoon walking the historical freedom trail. We then went to the famous Barking Crab restaurant right along the Harbor. It was a long wait but worth every bite! We shared a big bowl of New England Clam Chowder and crab cakes. Tyler had lobster and crab. I had fish and chips. It was a great way to end our trip in our very first New England State!
We packed up early Monday morning and headed to Connecticut. We found a little spot called Esker Beach that was surrounded by the beautiful Atlantic Ocean and sail boats. The town this was in was incredibly tiny and very patriotic. There was a small Memorial Day parade that literally shut down the entire town for the day. The one gas station was closed and there was one general store. It was a great way to spend a nice relaxing memorial day. We sat on the beach read our magazines and talked about all kinds of baby related things! From there we drove into New York City. I can officially say that I have driven and survived the awful traffic and drivers in New York City! I think the traffic and highways are even worse than they describe them to be. Again we stayed in a great little vintage hotel that was right near everything we seemed to need. That night we walked part of central park and had a nice little dinner at a bar. On the morning of my 27th birthday we headed straight to the Empire State Building. We then put our walking shoes back on and took on the many streets, shops, neighborhoods and people watching that make up New York. We walked the entire city so that again we could not miss a thing. We then headed to Little Italy for some a great pasta dinner. It was hard to pick a restaurant when each one has a manager outside begging you to eat his homemade pasta! We definitely picked a good one with some amazing pasta! The next day we headed straight to the statue of liberty. We took the Ferry and took in the amazing city from a completely different angle. We took in the area where the old trade towers used to be and the new construction and memorial that takes place. We both sat in silence remembering where we were the days that the news of the attack came and talked about it. Its these moments that we will one day share with our baby girl. That night we went to times square and then to the Lion King! What an amazing show, the music, costumes and performance was none like anything we could have ever imagined. We ended our trip by giving our last bit of cash to a homeless man in order to feed his Dog. He didn't want our money it was clear that this man had pride and was not a beggar as are some homeless people. But for three days we passed this man's dog that lay on the sidewalk appearing so hot and so sad that it broke our hearts. So i proceeded to beg this man to take my money in order to feed and water the dog. He eventually took it and I know in my heart he will use it to feed his dog. New York city may be one of the dirtiest cities that we have ever seen but one of the best vacation spots that we could have ever hoped for!
It was the next day that we ventured in our car to make the 14 hour trip back to Chicago. We were happy as ever to get home and to just sit on our butts and relax all day. The walking and constant excitement from the trip made us more tired that we have been in quite awhile. Ill be resting my legs for days due to the constant tingling and numbness that they felt from the days of walking. We have not been home for long but we are glad that we skipped Washington D.C. and came home to relax for a few days. I got a call while on vacation that my fasting blood sugar from the week before was high, likely meaning that I have gestational diabetes. While I have none of the common risk factors it is still a very common condition in pregnancy. I was thrown off by having this information while we were on vacation and that there was nothing that I could do about it. I was starting to feel helpless and wanted to be able to make the appropriate changes to my diet immediately in order to make sure this baby is as healthy as can be which means keeping my blood sugar within the consistent normal range. I have already been shopping and made the necessary changes to my diet. This won't be easy seeing that the one thing I have craved the entire pregnancy is sugar and sweet stuff, but ill do what I have to do to keep little miss healthy! Here is to a safe and happy traveling! Now sweet home Chicago until baby girl has arrived!