Baby Showers

Alright, I'm not even sure how to go about this blog post . . . to properly express the extreme gratitude and thankfulness that Kelly, Brooklyn, and I have in regards to everyone's amazing generosity.  I honestly don't think I'm going to be capable of doing it justice, but I'm going to do my best.

As I type this, it is currently June 10th.  Rewind five days and go back to Sunday, June 5th.  I knew that on June 5th my aunts (my dad's four sisters) were going to be throwing us a baby shower at 2 p.m. at a local church.  That much I knew.  There was so much about that day that I didn't know though, so many things that took me by complete and utter shock . . . first off, let me recap the baby shower that my aunts threw for us, and then I'll do my best at to do justice to the rest.

My dad is one of five children and the only male.  Every time one of the nieces or nephews has their first baby, the aunts throw a baby shower for them.  Needless to say, it was our turn. =] I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was an absolutely amazing experience!  It started at 2 p.m. and I think my mom, my sister, and I ended up leaving at about 6:30.  My aunt Debbie did devotions and then a whole slew of little girls (six of them I believe - Evie, Kaydence, Abby, Bailey, Acacia, and Shelby) ranging in age from six to three, got up front and sang for us.  They sang, "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "The ABCs," and "I'm a Little Teapot."  I think there was one more song as well, but I can't remember what it was off-hand!  If I remember, I'll come back and edit this. =]

My cousin Shari was in charge of games.  The first game that was explained to us was the diaper pin game.  Every guest was given a little diaper pin necklace to wear.  If someone said the word, "baby," another guest could take their necklace away and whoever had the most necklaces at the end won a prize!  Along with that, there were three other paper and pencil games, including "Name that Tune!" and "Match the celebrity to their baby!"

We received so many wonderful gifts!  And let me tell you, this little girl is dressed until she is five!  We are so grateful to everyone that attended to celebrate little Brooklyn with us!  And we are SO excited to put all these wonderful gifts to good use!

Allow me to give you a few photo recaps of the event. =] Well, kind of I guess . . . I had every intention of bringing our camera along and then completely spaced! (Baby brain? Can I blame it on that?) I currently don't have any pictures of the actual event in my possession, but I did ask my aunt who was taking pictures if she'd be willing to send me copies and she said she would, I just don't have them yet.  So the pictures I have here are pictures of mementos from the shower that I took after we got home. =]

Shower balloons!

Adorable 'sock roses' that my brother's girlfriend makes!

Kelly's step-mom insisted upon being the one to get Brooklyn her very first doll. =] It chirps!

Brooklyn's bassinet that doubles as a changing table (also from Kelly's step-mom)!  We've even already got it stocked with newborn diapers and wipes! =]

Along with that, we received three diaper cakes!  I wish I had taken a picture of at least one of them to add her, but I dismantled them to get everything organized before I thought of it. =C There were also a lot of home-made gifts!  My parents attend church with quite a few very crafty ladies and Brooklyn received quite a few hand-made blankets!  One in particular is one that my mom commissioned from the Ladies Aid at their church.  It's a little yellow quilt based on the Dick and Jane readers from yonder years. =] 

Another gift that deserves note (although, quite honestly, they ALL deserve note) was a very sentimental gift from my mother that contained items from my baby days, including a little red dress, a hand-made activity book that one of my great aunts had made for me, a Precious Moments bible, and a plaque.  The plaque was in every one of mine and my siblings' nurseries and I remember reading it time and time again when it had moved on to my younger siblings' nurseries. In the background, it has a picture of a mother holding her baby and, in the foreground, it has the following verse:

"Cleaning & scrubbing

can wait 'til tomorrow,

For babies grow up,

we've learned to our sorrow . . .

So quiet down, cobwebs.

Dust, go to sleep . . .

I'm rocking my baby,

and babies don't keep."

- 1958, Ruth Hamilton

~~~

I knew that my aunts were throwing us a baby shower.  I did NOT, however, know what www.aywas.com had in the works.  I think I've mentioned Aywas here before.  The site opened up in October of 2009 and I've been active since day one.  Throughout our struggle with infertility and our subsequent pregnancy, I have been very open with our journey to parenthood there:  the trials, the tears, the heartbreak . . . the excitement, the miracle.  The community, even though there are now well over 20,000 users, is very intimate and amazing.  

I logged on to my account on the morning of June 5th to discover that Slash (the site owner) had proclaimed that June 5th was 'Babby Day' on-site in regards to the fact that June 5th was also the day that my aunts were throwing the other baby shower!

I don't think I can do it justice, so allow me to post snippets from the news post on-site:

"Today is Babby Day, where we celebrate all the mothers and fathers who have brought life into this world. Life is a beautiful thing, and we haven't done anything to appreciate it - but now we will.

But first, before we get into what items and pets are available for today, I want to tell you something. In the first few months of Aywas existence, I came across a rant thread made by Springdragon. In it, he told the Aywas community that his cat needed an operation, and that he didn't have the money - so the cat was going to die. Upon seeing that, I decided to run an event to raise money for Springdragon so that his cat may live. By selling some custom-colored hybrids, we raised the money. Springdragon's cat is still with him, and Springdragon's life was changed by all of those who participated. Our community had the power to do this.

See, our site is not like the others. We read the forum threads and care about the people behind the accounts. One of our users, Dana, has kept the Aywas community informed of a tragic situation throughout the year and a half Aywas has been online - she has PCOS, a reproductive disease that kept her from conceiving. But months later, something amazing happened: with the right medical attention, she was able to conceive a baby, no matter how much it seemed she would not be able to. But her fight is not over. In rant threads, she has told the community there are financial problems in her life that will make her and her husband's life tough.

Just like with Springdragon, our community has the power to help her, as she has helped the community. Our goal, beyond all other things, is to help people. We are not a faceless company that only cares about money. We are a family, a community, and when one of our community members needs our help, and the time is right that we can offer it, we help. 

Can we help everyone? No - we would go broke, and we would be unable to help anyone. However, if we can help one person, then we're reaching our goal. If we can help two, that is even better. In the future, we'll help three. Four. Five. Making a difference in the lives of a few people is a huge part of what we stand for. It is what makes us different. It is what makes our community special and caring. We are a family, and we help each other.

Today is about honoring the parents onsite. All of you are special, and have brought life into the world - or are about to, and that's a beautiful thing. We chose today for Babby Day, the day that Dana told the Aywas community she'd have her baby shower, but this day is about all of us.

...

One [on-site item] costs $25.00 via PayPal, and upon submitting your transaction, you will get a Pacifier item to submit your custom. The customs are "metal-only," no lineart changes. Why is it cash only? Half of the proceeds will be given to Dana, to help her, like we did for Springdragon, and half of the proceeds will be given to the Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Association, Inc. so that we can reach beyond our community and help as many people as we can, no matter how small our contribution may be. Anyone who purchases one of these customs will know they made a difference in the life of one fellow member, and in the lives of many unknown people that deserve their help."

~~~~~

Even now, five days later, I still struggle to wrap my head around this.  Money has always been tight and I've often used Aywas as a resource to garner ideas on how we can work towards putting away the money we need to survive while I take a few weeks off from work after Brooklyn's birth.  We've been saving, we've been trying really hard . . . but even with our best attempts, the amount of time that I would have been able to take off has gotten shorter and shorter as our finances just aren't cutting it to where they need to be for me to able to afford to take off work.

Obviously, this is no longer an issue.  We can afford it now.  Thanks to Aywas.

And what struck me even more than the assistance to us was the donation that was going to be made to the PCOS Association.  PCOS is such a poorly understood, under-recognized, and emotionally devastating syndrome.  It makes me so incredibly happy that because of Slash and Aywa's generosity, that other women who suffer from PCOS may be able to recognize the disease and get the medical assistance that they need to control it before they suffer as much emotional pain and feelings of worthlessness as I did in the three plus years that we were trying to conceive.

I know I've said it before, but it deserves to be said again a thousand times over.  Thank you SO MUCH to Slash and the Aywas community!  There aren't even words to demonstrate how grateful that we are!

3-d Ultrasound Pictures!

Okay, I decided to give these pictures their own post as well. =] As I mentioned in the previous blog post, we were able to go in on May 26th and have a 3-d ultrasound.  This gets a little complicated, but bear with me.  Kelly's step-brother's brother-in-law is the head ultrasound technician at the hospital that we've been doctoring at.  He offered for us to come in and have a 3-d ultrasound that he could claim as a practice ultrasound.  Meaning, we didn't end up paying anything for it!

He tried really, really hard to get us a good picture, but, as I mentioned in the last post, 28 weeks is the optimum time to have a 3-d ultrasound.  Once the babies start getting bigger than 28 weeks, it gets a bit more crowded in there and it's more difficult to get a good picture.  It was still an amazingly fun opportunity and it was definitely fun to get to see little Brooklyn's face!  Plus, he confirmed for us one more time that she is indeed still a girl!  Not that we didn't trust the first ultrasound technician from our 20-week scan, it's just reassuring to hear the same thing again so that we can feel a little more confidant in our pink-amassing. =]

I apologize for the not-so-great quality of these pictures.  It would have been better if I had scanned them; however, the scanner is very put away at the moment and I really didn't want to drag it out so I took pictures of the pictures instead.

I can't wait to meet you little one! =] Mommy and Daddy already love you VERY, VERY much!

33 Weeks!

Okay . . . so 33 weeks and 1 day actually . . . I'm not the most prompt person in the world.  And I actually have two blog posts to make today.  I'm going to use this one to focus on the health-related aspects of where we're at pregnancy-wise and then I'm going to make another one (because it deserves it's own post) that encompasses the generosity of a lot of different people!  I have about 20 minutes before I have to leave for work, so I'm going to do this health-related one now, and then check back some time after 11 p.m. CST for the other. =]

First, let's play the 'how big is mommy now!' game. =] Wearing the right clothes, I can still pass as just having consumed far too many twinkies, but it's definitely getting harder to hide the fact that I'm pregnant.  Not that I'm trying to hide it mind you, I've been looking forward to sporting this baby bump since we first saw that elusive second line waaay back on November 17th!

Backing up a bit, the screening for gestational diabetes came back WONDERFULLY!  Blood sugars ended up being a whopping 114 at the one-hour mark and 'normal' is considered anything below 140.  Whoot!  We were DEFINITELY excited about that! =]

On May 11th though, Mommy ended up having a strange bout of dizziness and went in to urgent care at the phone nurse's promptings.  The urgent care doctor that she saw was AWESOME!  They ran an EKG along with a large number of blood tests and blood pressure monitorings to see what may have been the cause.  The tests came back inconclusive.  After that day, Mommy has been experiencing shortness of breath and a racing heart roughly 3 or 4 times a day.  She brought it up at her next appointment with her ob/gyn on May 18th and her doctor informed her that the shortness of breath may be typical with third-trimester pregnancy; however, the racing heart is not.  So she referred me to an internal medicine doctor and I went back for another appointment on May 19th to visit with him.  He felt that the symptoms I was having were highly likely related back to my asthma not being as well-controlled as I thought it was.  He sent in a script to get my inhalers replaced and ordered a 24-hour Holter heart monitor and an echocardiogram as well, just to be sure that we weren't overlooking anything heart-related.

I got the results back from the Holter monitor on Monday of this week.  The monitor detected no abnormal heartbeats or arrhythmias (yay!); however, it did detect a notably high heart rate 37% of the time.  This, as the doctor put on the note, could again, be attributed to my asthma.  We just went in this past Monday (June 6th) for the echocardiogram and we haven't heard results back on that yet but, for the most part, Mommy's been feeling okay.

Weight wise, Mommy weighed herself this morning and is currently up about four pounds from her pre-prego weight.  At 33 weeks, that's basically NOTHING.  Brooklyn herself probably weighs about four pounds herself at this point, not to mention the weight of increased blood flowing through Mommy's circulatory system and increased uterus size!

Another not-so-fun symptom that Mommy has discovered is pelvic pain!  It kicked into high gear a few days ago and it definitely hurts to walk right about now! 

Also, some very fun things that Mommy and Daddy got to do!  On May 26th, we were able to go in for a 3-d ultrasound!  The ultrasound technician had a difficult time getting a good picture of her little face because 3-d ultrasounds are best done at about 28 weeks and we were at 31 weeks at the time.  This means that Brooklyn was starting to get a little crowded in there and the 3-d ultrasounds turn out best when they're mostly surrounded by fluid.  We did get four take-home pictures though!  I will be editing this post and uploading them as soon as I get home from work. =] Also, at the echocardiogram on Monday (which happened to be performed by the same ultrasound technician as the 3-d scan), he let us take another look at her after the echo was over. =] She's not moving around too much in there (she's pretty well crammed into a head down position already), but he zoomed in on her little face and we were able to see her tongue moving in her mouth!  Definitely amazing!

We are soooo excited to meet this beautiful little girl!  48 days from today until our due date! =] 

Check back in a few hours to see the 3-d ultrasound photos and the second blog post! =]

Third trimester!

Yep!  That's right!  We've officially hit the third trimester.  =]  As I type this, little Brooklyn is now 27 weeks and  5 days along, weighing in at roughly two pounds (as my week-by-week updates tell me).  Mommy is baaaarely showing at this point and, with the right wardrobe, it's still definitely easily hidden.

Weight gain is up a whopping two pounds last I checked.  We go in tomorrow for our 28-week appointment and Mommy gets screened for gestational diabetes.  Eek!  Wish us luck!  I feel that it could go either way, I've had one heck of a sweet tooth for the better part of this pregnancy and I know that I've indulged far more often than I should!  We're just keeping our fingers crossed that we don't have to do injections, because Daddy would definitely have to do them!  Mommy has a very slight phobia of needles and would have a VERY difficult time having to give herself shots every day!

The nursery is starting to take shape (as it has been for the past two months . . . I may have mentioned this already).  We don't have much to move in yet, but through the very kind generosity of many people, Brooklyn does have a fairly extensive wardrobe all the way up to size 5T already!  The newborn and 0 - 3 month clothing has been neatly organized and tucked away into her closet and everything else has been organized, tucked into totes, labelled, and moved down to the basement for the time being.

The baby shower has been tentatively set for June 5th.  Mommy doesn't have many more details than that at this point, but she has requested that weekend off from work!  Which is definitely a step in the right direction. Speaking of work, only two and half more weeks of working seventy hours a week!  Whoot!  The preschool school year ends on May 20th and then Mommy will finally be able to get some rest back into her schedule again.  =]  Mommy still hasn't told Wal-mart about Brooklyn yet, but that's the plan for some time this week!  Perhaps on Wednesday.  Better to get the leave of absence paperwork filed before it's too obvious . . . although I'm starting to wonder if it's ever going to get seriously obvious!

Oh!  Another fun development.  We can now see little Brooklyn move from the OUTSIDE!  About a week ago, Daddy and Mommy went to bed and while Daddy was reading us our bedtime story, Mommy looked down at her belly and noticed that it was lopsided!  Apparently little miss Brooklyn was hanging out on Mommy's right side that night and it definitely looked a little strange.  =]

Also, just a shout out to anyone reading this that has contributed to our baby experience.  THANK YOU!  There have been SO MANY kind people in regards to donating clothes, formula, support, etc. that I don't think that I could even possibly name them all!  Just please know that Mommy, Daddy, and most of all, little Brooklyn, THANK YOU for your support as we embark on this new adventure in our lives. =]

And, with that (as Brooklyn is trying to kick the laptop off of my lap) we wish you all a wonderful good night. =] We will keep you posted!

24 weeks!

So.  Yeah.  It's been a little while again.  But there really hasn't been too much to report.  Our beautiful baby is still growing and kicking.  Our 24-week appointment on Tuesday, April 5th (which also happened to be daddy's 28th birthday!) measured the heartbeat in the 150s (same as always!) and fundal height at 24 centimeters . . . which is right on target of where it should be!

Mommy and daddy finally got their rears in gear and went to Target and set up a registry. =] That was fun . . . although daddy spent most of his time there looking for camouflage items to add.  There wasn't much, but what he could find definitely ended up on the registry!  There were a few moments where he looked at me and said, a pair of overtly camouflage shorts in hand, "Do you think this is too boyish?"  I couldn't help but just smile at him and tell him, "Nah.  We'll pair it with a pink onesie."

We've almost got the nursery ready to start moving things in to.  All we have left to move out is two large bookshelves and they'll be going into our room once we find the energy to tackle them.  We've started move in what few baby things we have.  Quite a few newborn and 0-3 month clothing items have been unpacked, folded, and moved into a dresser in the closet.  Everything that we currently have that's larger than that is packed up in totes in the basement.  Oh!  And it's currently 46 degrees outside.  I think that means it's officially spring!  Which also means that GARAGE SALE season should start soon!  I can't wait to go baby girl shopping over the next couple of months!

Mommy still isn't showing much.  On one hand, I'm grateful, since that's just less time that I get to be uncomfortable.  But on the other hand, I'm a little envious of those women with their beautiful baby bumps!  I can't wait to sport mine!  To prove my point, here's a (roughly) 24-week belly picture that I took this morning:

Yes, there has definitely been some changes since the first few pictures I posted, but, I'm still at the point where anyone who didn't know that I was pregnant wouldn't suspect a thing just by looking at me!  My doctor swears I'll start bumping out by 28 weeks . . . but she said that I would probably start showing by my 24-week appointment as well, and that didn't happen.  So we shall see!

Mommy has been extra tired lately.  We're not in the best financial place, so we realized shortly after we got pregnant that there was no way we would be able to survive on a single income for six weeks.  Meaning, Mommy is now working two jobs in an effort to put aside money for this summer.  I spend my days at the Head Start and most of my evenings cashiering at Wal-mart now.  This means loooong days.  I put in four 14-hour days this week!  Sleeping in DEFINITELY felt glorious this morning!

It will only be this way until the school year ends though and then my schedule at the Head Start will be much more flexible and forgiving.  Only forty more days of a crazy schedule!  I'm tempted to break out the construction paper and make a paper chain so I can count them down!  But it will definitely all be worth it in the end.  Being able to take those six weeks off and NOT worry one bit about finances will be wonderful and we'll be able to focus all our attention on this beautiful little life that has graced ours!  Daddy has a fair amount of PTO saved up as well, so he's going to be able to take three or four weeks off as well.  I'm so excited for that time right after Brooklyn is born!

One other interesting happenstance that I wanted to bring up was weight gain.  Or lack thereof.  I was certain by now I'd be at least starting to pack on the pounds (we're almost to end of the second trimester!) but nope. I weighed myself this morning and was still down three or four pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.  I'm honestly starting to wonder if I'm going to come out of this pregnancy weighing LESS than I went into it weighing!  It doesn't matter one way or the other to me, it just surprises me that this is the one time in my life when I honestly EXPECTED to gain weight . . . and so far, nothing!

21 weeks!

Yep!  We've made it to 21 weeks! =] Strangers still definitely aren't going to look at me and know I'm pregnant or anything, but that's okay.  Weight gain is still nil, but I'm guessing that will catch up with me at some point as well.

I'll bet you're dying to know how our gender/anatomy scan went, eh?  Stick cooperated!  And the verdict is . . . dun dun dun . . . she's all girl baby! =] Somewhere between our scan last Tuesday and a few days ago, we finally finished hashing out the name details and I'm proud to say that she also has a name!  Brooklyn Leah Harper Olson.  And we're already both incredibly in love with her. =]

We were able to walk away from the gender/anatomy scan with two pictures.  One is your standard, "It's a girl!" picture and then also one of straight-on shot of her face. =] 

The second picture is a little hard to navigate, but just follow the arrow. =] We do have a few more pictures from the ultrasound as well, but I haven't gotten a copy of them quite yet so I'll make a new post as soon as I get them. =]

Heartbeat was 152 and she was measuring at 19 weeks, 5 days!  I can't wait to meet our beautiful baby!

Daddy thinks he was able to feel her move for the first time yesterday as well!  I had his hand on my belly when she was being super active and she gave two good, hard kicks while his hand was there. =]  I'm able to feel her move daily now!  It's such an awesome feeling, I don't think I could EVER get sick of it!

We've also started on the nursery!  Right now it's mostly just moving stuff out in an attempt to actually have a place to put things when we start getting nursery furniture.  All that's left in the to-be nursery now are two large bookshelves that we need to move into our bedroom.  For the time being, we have one of those plastic Sterilite dresser/storage containers and that's what we're going to be storing her clothes in.  It's already in the closet and stashed with as many newborn and 0-3 months clothes as we have for her yet. =] And, happily, we actually have quite a few! Daddy's step-brother and his wife have a 5-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy and they've set up a pretty neat system where they just saved all their baby/toddler clothes and borrow them out to whoever they know that's having a baby between family/friends/etc.  So we were able to look through four GIANT totes of clothes and already have quite the assortment all the way up to 9 months!  Everything for 0 - 3 months and newborns is in her closet and the bigger stuff has been sorted and is stashed away in totes in our basement for when she starts growing into them. =]

Also, another VERY exciting gift that we couldn't be more thankful for . . . my closest friend asked me on Monday what we needed most for Brooklyn.  I told her diapers and/or wipes because I know they're already going to be the bane of our financial existence for awhile.  And what shows up in the mile today?  A GIANT box of 276 size 1 diapers and nearly 400 wipes!  Holy crap!  I'm guessing we're probably set for the first two months or so by now!  Brooklyn says, "Thank you so much Aunty Heather!" =]

Movement!

I just wanted to share a quick milestone. =] I've felt Stick move before, but NOTHING like last night!  I think Stick may have been throwing a party last night!  For about five minutes, I just sat there in awe of this little person moving like crazy inside of me!  It was such an AWESOME feeling!

Also, something else that I wanted to document lest I forget later on, at about 16 weeks, I was researching and discovered that that's the point in a pregnancy in which baby's ear bones are forming which means baby is starting to hear!  I told Kelly this, and since then, he has insisted upon reading Stick a bedtime story each night.  I love it!  He's just as in love with this new little life as I am!

Headaches subdued for a week or so, and now they're back full force.  Blech.  I've been getting them daily again, regardless of how much water I drink.  I went home from work yesterday with a killer migraine and am still home today because I just couldn't shake and, now that the headache's mostly gone, I'm feeling queasier than I have in a long time.  Blech.  I did realize last night though, that we're now almost halfway through the second trimester!  I can't believe how quickly the time has gone since we passed that 12-week mark!  A few more days and we'll officially be halfway there!

We're trying to plan for this summer, but so far, it's not going so hot.  I'm going to be off work without pay for probably two months, and, quite honestly, we're barely getting the bills paid now with both of our incomes.  I'm trying to get a second part-time job so that we can start squirreling away funds for the summer, but so far, it hasn't been going so well.  I'm just hoping that everything works out!  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers that we can manage to find away to afford living those first two months!  After that, we should be fine, it's just to get through to September when I'll start working again.  Uff-da.  Money is definitely a stresser!

Four more days until we find out whether Stick is going to a boy or a girl!  Hopefully Stick cooperates with us on Tuesday!

Oh!  And as far as weight gain goes, I'm starting to put some weight back on, but I'm still a pound or two shy of my pre-pregnancy weight.  The scale read in at 204 this morning and I was a pretty consistent 205 before we got pregnant.  I've read that usually, 1/3 of the weight should be gained by week 20 and the remaining 2/3 should be gained in the second half of pregnancy.  Hmmm.  For some reason, I don't think that's going to be the case for me and Stick!