9 months of our lives

A little over a year ago this what I looked like.

My normal self. It was July, we had just moved to Reno, Nevada for the intern year of Sean’s residency. The apartment was put together, I was waiting to hear back about a job that I had just interviewed for, (which I ended up getting by the way) and life was moving along as expected.

Except for one sneaky snag in my regular routine….I was eating a sandwich every night before bed (generally I shy away from eating after 8:30). At the time I didn’t think much of it, I was just hungry. Seemed logical to me.

Sean however is a little brighter than me and suspected my new found appétit was more than just hunger.

He suggested we buy and try an at home pregnancy test.

EEEEK!! No way! (I’m not sure why this idea scared me so much because we were trying to get pregnant but the whole idea of it actually happening had not sunk in yet) So I told Sean he would have to go buy it, which he did, happily, but then he drew line at him trying it.

The day he bought test we were on our way to Pyramid Lake for a day in the sun and water. 

There was an outhouse on the beach near where we had set up our little day camp. Sean was so excited he wanted me try the test in the OUTHOUSE! (At the time I was thinking Sean was crazy! No, I’m wondering a little bit where my sense of adventure was. I need to branch out more, one of my goals). I have a very patient husband though, he waited until we got home and showered to find out what the results of the test would be.

After a very long 3 minutes we were thrilled and a little nervous (a lot nervous) to discover that the results were positive!

After the first 12 weeks were safely behind us we sent out the first picture of our little baby! Only the size of peanut we were already in love!

Through out the pregnancy we had ups and downs like any pregnancy but I was very blessed to have a very easy pregnancy.

Some of our pregnancy adventures include:

Dr. Daddy doing the ultrasound and discovering the sex of our baby!

When we had our appointment we told the ulturasound tech that Sean was doctor and asked if it was all right if he used the wand to find out if we were having a girl or a boy. Just like the pro he is he found out right away that we were expecting girl! It’s a good thing he found it when he did too because for every ultrasound after that (and we had quite a few because of the growth restriction) our baby was super shy and wouldn’t show her sex. What a fun experience for a super excited dad!

Our baby decided that best way to ride was wedged on my sciatic nerve for the greater part of October through December. My OB said to picture a shot glass that the baby had her bum wedged into and that was about how the baby was sitting on my right side. This position caused a sever limp and pain with each step. Sean, not fully comprehending, found these months most entertaining.

I had the most bizarre craving of pickles and peanut butter cookies….at the same time! And now I wouldn't recommend it, resulted in a very bad tummy ache.

Early on all I wanted to eat was mint…mint cookies, mind andies, mint ice cream sandwiches!

Later caramel became my dearest friend. Followed shortly by a encour appreance of peanut butter (minus the pickles).

Towards the end whole-wheat club crackers with Colby Jack cheese. YUM!

We had a scare when our baby was diagnosed with Interuteirne growth restriction (IUGR). She was about 3 weeks behind in her development and I was put on immediate bed rest to encourage her growth. Her body was sending all the nutrients it got to the brain for development which left her abdomen needing more. This was causing her internal organs to fall behind in development and growth. We were warned that she would probably either come early or they would have to take her early if she didn’t catch up on her growth. My OB had us coming in twice a week for check up’s and to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and my contractions. We were so worried she was going to come very early and be very small. What a blessing and miracle when she made it to week 38! Thank you to Sean who is the best husband ever. He cooked and cleaned and catered to my every whim. I wonder everyday how I got so blessed.

Our little baby was an active one! She loved to move around. Many times she would push up against me, I would touch her and she would immediately move and push in a different spot not wanting to be bothered by me. She would continue this pattern until one of us gave up.

When snuggling at night the baby loved to kick to Sean. Sean loved it too!

She would wake up when I took hot showers and had me chewing tums and taking Maalox like crazy! Once, we were buying the MEGA bottle of tums at Costco, cashier asked me if were buying them because of the baby. I thought it was pretty funny that he knew exactly why we would need such a large supply.

I tried to be as prepared as possible for her arrival. Since we didn’t know for sure when she would be coming I didn’t want to be caught of guard. I packed our hospital bag early, had her bed set up months before she came and washed all of her clothes and blankets. In my pregnancy state I accidently threw the shout bottle into a load of laundry I was washing. I was having a hard time understanding why that load was so noisy!

One of our biggest stressors of this pregnancy was the medical Step 3 board-certifying exam that Sean had to take. It is an 8-hour, 400-question exam that costs $700 and is non-refundable. Rescheduling was out of the question and interruptions during the exam are not permitted. 

Our due date was April 8^th. Sean was scheduled to take the boards on March 20^th, which, we thought was far enough in advance that there would be no problem. After the diagnosis of IUGR however, our doctor was thinking we might not even make it that far. As the boards drew nearer our concerns of having a baby on test day grew as well. One week before he was scheduled to take the exam I was dilated to a 2 and 75% effaced. I was progressing…. With baited breath we approached the 20^th. I had instructions from Sean to be as calm and still as I could so as not to encourage labor. The 20^th came….and went! The boards were a success (Sean passed well above average) and our little girl decided to take another week to join our family.    

 On Thursday March 22, 2012 we had our last OB visit. My doctor was shocked to see us thinking we would have had baby long before now. She took me off bed rest and instructed my to be active and walk around to let that little girl know it was all right to come. She said if we didn’t come before the next Wednesday, the 28^th she would have me induced.  The walking helped. It increased the contractions I had been having for the last several months but not enough that we thought we needed to head in.

Then Tuesday came, Sean took the day off to be with me and we woke up ready to do some more encouraging. We were excited for the baby to come! We were not far into our day when I started having contractions that doubled me up. Hospital…here we come! 

xoxo