bump update

The last couple of weeks have really worn me out! It is a good thing I am going on a much needed vacation tomorrow. I started my new job and needless to say my expectations were set a little higher than have been met so far. I guess I always just imagined this perfect job opening up, especially after being in school and working so hard to get to this point. Well I was sadly mistaken when I began my new job, but I continue to work hard, get the experience I need for a dream job in the future and learn new things everyday! It is a lot of busy work on the computer and calling families and that threw me off a little bit because my job for the last 5 years has revolved around people and patients and I'm not saying this job doesn't it does just in a completely different way. God bless that I have a job and the few patients that I get to see in a day are getting the full LIZ treatment!

On the other front Little Miss is kicking like a little soccer player! She is in constant motion especially at night when I finally sit down to relax, she seems to know that this is the time I enjoy the most and she keeps Tyler and me busy all night just staring and touching my belly. Never did I think my belly would be an object of affection! This little girl is bringing so much joy into our lives already. I went to the Doctor today to get the o.k for vacation and she was in there as usual moving her little mouth up and down(I have a feeling she is going to be a talker just like her momma!)  Hey it only got me into trouble a few times growing up? HA right mom? I am officially starting to look more pregnant by the week now, which is great! I have gained a total of 11 pounds and feel great about it! Little miss has a strong heart beat and looks happy and healthy in there which is all that matters to us! Tyler and I are about to take Babymoon number one, so I will happily report and update with lots of wonderful BEACH pictures when we return. To a safe and fabulous relaxing vacation! (Cheers)!

Judo chop!

4/20/10


Hello there! This is my first entry as a proud papa and I want to share my experience thus far. Two nights ago I felt baby’s karate kick for the first time! It was a great feeling since I really didn’t have any physical experiences with the baby until now like Liz has throughout this pregnancy. When I see her in the ultrasounds it is amazing but feeling the kick is what I have been waiting for. I just picture the baby in there smiling and doing somersaults and karate kicking, it makes me smile for sure. It is crazy to think that Liz has been pregnant for 5 months already, we’re half way home! We have a small wardrobe of onesies, little dresses and bows and they are all so adorable. Especially the Iowa Hawkeye stuff. She is going to be a huge Hawkeye fan! I look forward to going to football games in the fall with her and her mom.

At home I have been doing my best to make sure Liz has everything she needs and I am hoping to be a “go-fer” for her food cravings soon! She hasn’t really had any weird or random cravings yet but I know Dairy Queen will fit in there somewhere. We were shopping at the outlet mall in Aurora a couple of weeks ago and I spotted a wedge pillow that is supposed to help pregnant moms sleep better, so we bought it and she tried it out but it didn’t deliver as promised so it’s back to the drawing board. I’ve been thinking about all of the things the 3 of us are going to be doing together in the future and I can’t wait. It’s definitely true what they say about seeing babies all of the time when you are expecting, but then again I walk Hulk by this park near our house a lot and there are kids everywhere with their parents. Lots of babies in the city that’s for sure. Well that’s all I have for now but I’m sure I’ll be back on this blog soon to write about my days as a father to be.

Working Girl

Week 22! Slowly but surely getting through each and every week. It's been much more fun this week since we have found out she is a girl. I can refer to her by her name and I kinda just feel more connected to her now more than ever! She has been getting her share of music lessons in too. Sometimes it's my favorite country other times I just play classical baby music to my belly. I think she likes it because the minute I did it I felt her kick, i still feel the butterflies but her actual kicking or punching?! are becoming more and more frequent and strong. It is the most amazing feeling! Her and I are going to be busy busy girls in the next few weeks with lots of work before Tyler and My vacations. I start my new job in the morning (I'm excited but my lack of cute work fitting close does put a small damper on how I feel about starting a job where I have to dress up). It will be sad to leave my roomier scrubs behind. Besides starting the new job I will be picking up extra weekend shift in the PICU for some extra money. Babies are expensive and since i have a job that allows me to do lots of overtime Ill be working lots to get ready for our little miss! If she is anything like Ellen and I then I should have started saving money three years ago! Just ask my Dad he can tell you how much money girls cost and he only knows about half of the things we actually buy :), but he would also tell you in the end that the extra hard work and money was all totally worth it! Tomorrow I start another chapter in life..looking forward to my new job and all that it will offer the future Fevold Clan!

It's A GIRL!

Today we had the big 21 week ultrasound! It was absolutely amazing. I had to hold my breath for most of it because I was very nervous. Sometimes being a pediatric nurse in one the biggest PICU's in Chicago makes you a little bit on edge when they are looking to make sure the baby is healthy! We are happy to report that this little baby appears to be right on track with growth and all of her measurements are just where they should be at 21 weeks! Tyler and I spent quite some time in the ultrasound because after all the pictures were taken the doctor came back with a new resident to show her all of the normal baby things! I guess this reassured us that he was using our baby girl to help someone learn about what a baby should look like. We are thrilled to finally be able to say for sure it is a girl even though that was our hunch all along. She already has a wonderful name and nickname picked out, but we have decided that it is best to keep it our little secret until baby girl fevold decides to grace us with her presence! We have had our girl name picked out pretty much forever so that is why we thought it would be a girl! Lucky for me I have a husband who is Awesome and loved the name the second I said it! And not so lucky for all of you but a few lucky ones (My mom, sister, and aunt) you will not get to know her name for about 19 more weeks! Tyler and I had a wonderful Easter with my family! We got tons of presents for baby and got to spend some quality time outside enjoying this heat wave! We finished off our weekend by having the ultrasound today and then my mom and aunt came again to shop for more specific GIRL stuff!! My momma got us some of our bedding stuff and a tun of cute sun outfits! My aunt got us the pack and play/bassinet! What a great invention! Who needs both when they have turned them into one. My anal side ill probably make Tyler put it together with me when he gets home because I hate having stuff in boxes! Plus It just helps us take in all the baby excitement! I have attached a few photos from our weekend fun with some of our baby stuff! My bump continues to grow, although all weekend I heard that I just look "bloated" or my favorite is "I look like that everyday". P.S. this baby may have gotten some twins gear for Easter, but she will BLEED CUBBIES BLUE (there was a reason we found out she was a girl on opening day!)

20 weeks! Halway there. Wow times flies when your having fun! I can definately say it has been an eventful journey this far and I continue to look forward to the next  20 weeks or so! I continue to patiently await a bigger more pregnant looking baby bump! Everyone at work insists that there bellies look like that when they push it out too! But I swear I'm not pushing it out it is there its just tiny still. I am guessing that in the next few weeks I will surprise myself by how quickly it begins to grow.
A few things I want to jot down and remember about this pregnancy!
Week 14: All of my energy returned and I began to actually feel like a normal human being again!
Week 15: I finally noticied that my belly was not flat anymore and I began to like sweets again. I had a very large food aversion to anything sweet in the  first few weeks and now it is essential for me to have one sweet thing on a daily basis(Its where I get my extra 300 calories from)
Week 16: I felt like millions of butterflies floating around in my belly and continue to get this sensation more and more with every passing day
Week 17-20: I was convinced that I would not have any food cravings, my thought being that for so many years of my life I was so good at restricting what I ate that even now I could push away a craving and just eat the good stuff. I literally have a staple group of foods that have to be in the house and that I eat on a daily basis, this includes, cereal, yogurt, cottage cheese, bananas, apples, oranges, berries, nuts, granola bars and peanut butter! My first big craving though was peanut butter and jelly sandwich with banana on it( yes i know normal people usually omit the jelly at this point but not me) Needless to say it was delicious! I also began to have very bad acid reflux and become full very quickly in these last four weeks. So today I started out my new way of eating so that I can get the right amount of nutrition and not feel like i ate a horse after a small sandwich. I am trying the eat a 100-200 calorie item every three hours, with the exception that my breakfast which is always cereal and a banana is a little larger because I am a little more hungry in the morning that any other time of the day. We will see how this diet plan treats me, Im just hoping I can feel normal again after eating and not feel like a stuffed pig!
Week 20: It is much harder to get comfortable now, sleeping, sitting on the couch, just moving around in general is not as comfortable as it has been, which I can count on only getting worse!

Overall I have a very easy comfortable pregnancy compared to what some women have to endure. I feel lucky to have bipased major morning sickness, major headaches and just overall feeling of Blah! I cant wait to see how quickly things change in the next half! One week countdown until I can find out if this little babe is a girl or a boy! Cant wait! Happy Easter All!

Laila's Story

Tyler and I were checking out a new church in the city this past weekend, trying to figure out a best fit for our particular needs and beliefs and where we just feel at home. I think we may have found the perfect place! We both really enjoyed the service and felt as though this is the right place and church that we will be able to raise our child in. I have had a long standing battle with my beliefs due the struggles that I deal with day to day at my job, as well as several other life experiences that really make you question your faith. To make a long story short I have always had faith in the little angels above. If there is one thing I knew it was that I always had a few angels up there listening when I needed them. Church always makes me think of my little Laila and her angelic part she has played into Tyler and my life. In the toughest of times I have always prayed to Laila Star. Laila was a precious little girl who went through more in her almost 3 years of life than most of us will in our 80+ years of life. She died just before her third birthday of liver failure. She continues to live on in my heart and the heart of the many people she touched in her short life. Her part in My and Tyler's life: When she passed my roommate Laura and I decided to have a benefit to raise money in her name for the American Liver Foundation. This is the benefit where I met Tyler. I cant help but believe she brought my soul mate to me at just the right time in my life. This was in September, in December Laura and I moved into a new place. About four weeks after the move I was going through my jewelry box and was surprised to find 3 star shaped beads hidden in with my jewelry (one yellow, one red, and one purple). I asked Laura, my mom, my sister if any of them had ever seen the beads before and everyone sort of just looked at me like I was crazy. I had cleaned out my jewelry box before I moved so i knew they were not there just three weeks before. Laura and I knew that it was a message from Laila. Her middle name was star and Laura and I talked about her often and would refer to the stars in the sky representing her and many other angels. I think she was just letting us know even though we cant see her she is still there. It was like she was reminding us to keep talking to her. So that is what I did. I often prayed to her when I prayed knowing that she was always somewhere listening. Laila's picture has always been placed right next to our front door for protection and because we know she is always there with us. Last year I probably was a little lazy when it came to praying. So it was Thanksgiving morning probably very close to the time the Tyler and I had conceived this little babe. Tyler and I obviously live in a different apt. than Laura and I had. I cleaned on my hands and knees the day before Thanksgiving knowing that it was our very first Thanksgiving we would be hosting as a family. I woke up Thursday morning to get the food started for Thanksgiving dinner and on the counter top was a little blue star bead, identical to the other three I had found in my jewelry box nearly three years before. I ran in to show Tyler who couldn't believe that I had found another bead. I cant help but believe that Laila also played a little part in helping us bring our first child into the world. I anxiously awaited the next three weeks so I could take a pregnancy test, because I just felt that was a sign from her saying don't worry I listen to your prayers your gonna have your baby! She continues to renew my faith and strength in God everyday. Tyler and I cant wait to tell this little baby all about our guardian angel Laila!

Here is a updated picture of Week 19 belly and a Tyler and I right before my celebratory dinner!

Luck of the Irish

The last year has been on heck of a year! I have had some major, but absolutely amazing wonderful life changes. First I graduated grad school, then got married, then the news of baby Fevold, and now a brand new job! Despite the fact that I am just about half way through this pregnancy I still landed an amazing opportunity! I will be the newest addition to the Heart Transplant Program here at Children's! I accpeted the Nurse Practitoner position today and will probably be begining my newest journey in life in about 4-6 weeks. It is amazing all that life seems to just work out. It's a little as though we have had a touch of Irish Luck(My Poppy was a true Irishman and I cant help but believe he may have had something to do with all of the Joy I am experiencing this St. Paddy's Day)! I feel very blessed and lucky for all of the things that have occured in my life this past year and all of the support that I have been given by my husband and my family. They continued to reassure me on a daily basis that the job thing would work out just like everything else and truth be told it has! I am very lucky to have been presented with this opportunity. The best part is I will continue to work with all of my wonderful friends and coworkers in the PICU! I also will get the chance to change the lives of lots more little kids which is one of my faovrite things to do! I am super duper happy and am elated to share the news with all of you! I look forward to all that life has to offer because it continues to surprise both Tyler and I with wonderful oportunities and a very special life together!