Welcome to the world, Breahna Aharon...

Okay, so hopefully this isn't too boring or long, and you can make it through Breahna's birth story:

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011:

    I was 5 days past my due date, and scheduled for an induction on Friday, Septemeber 9th (I had already came to terms that I was going to have to be induced because my baby was just as stubborn as me and didn't want to come on her own). It was 5 a.m. and Nate had just left to go to work.  I was laying in bed about to fall back asleep when all of a sudden I felt like I had kinda "piddled" myself.  I didn't assume much because (TOO MUCH INFORMATION ALERT!!!) I had a lot of discharge towards the end of the pregnancy which made me feel the same way at times.  So I got up to go to the bathroom,
and all of a sudden...BAM...I started GUSHING liquid.  I was like: "OH SHIT!" and ran to the toilet.  So I am sitting there just gushing liquid and I thought about how I needed to get my phone which was back on the night stand.  So, I said "Fuck it" and got up, waddle my way to the night stand (still pretty much like a fountain going on in my crotch) and got my phone to call Nate and tell him to turn around and come home.  Nate was home within 5-8 minutes, which was enough time to see the aftermath of my gushing all over the bathroom floor, and semi on our bedroom carpet.  Being the brave little toaster that he is, Nate cleaned up the mess and assured me everything was alright.
    I am advid on having the house cleaned/picked-up before I go to bed at night, because I am OCD and HATE waking up to anything messy.  I always wash what little dishes are in the sink, and pick up whatever it is around the house that needs to be done.  Well, I ended up leaving dinner's dishes in the sink the night before because I thought it would give me something to do the next day (I was trying to keep myself occupied in the days leading up to my induction to keep myself busy and not stress). I also didn't shave my legs in the shower that night because I thought it was something else I could do later (along with some laundry, and other things).  So, Nate ended up washing the dishes (on his own, I didn't have to ask, so he must know me well enough to know that I couldn't just leave the dishes, haha) while I shaved my legs in the shower.  Mind you, this whole time I was still GUSHING liquid.  When they say your water breaks, it's not like a one time deal, you are like a frickin' fountain
beverage drink dispenser at the local 7-11.  I also had to OF COURSE blow dry and straighten my hair before going (I had to tell myself there would be time to do my make-up later).  Some of you may be like: "WTF!  Who does/thinks that!"...well, if you knew me at all, you know I do. :)  So it was about 5:50 a.m. when we finally left the house (I had the hospital bags packed for like a MONTH already and had the carseat all waiting on the dining room table).  I remember the nurses telling me to make sure I ate breakfast before coming in for my induction because it would be awhile before eating, so Nate and I had to OF COURSE stop off at McD's.  They didn't open til 6 a.m., so we waited in the drive through for like 5 minutes, haha.  Best part of the story right there folks!  Haha.
    We get to the Labor & Delivery at the hospital and wait so I can get a cervical check to make sure it was indeed my water that had broke (because having a girl with a towel wrapped around her waist gushing clear liquid isn't a sign).  As soon as the nurse tried to open up my legs, I gushed (not blushed, GUSHED, haha), and she was like: "Okay, well obviously there is no need to go any further"...um, BAHAHAHAHAHA, but DUH!  Haha.  I showed her.  Silly rabbit...So she checked me for dialtion, and guess what?!  Yup, that's right....0% dilated.  OF COURSE!  Why would I have any progress 5 days after my due date?!  So they admit me, and let me know they are going to give me a few hours on my own to see if I naturally progress before starting anything.  I am going to say it was sometime between 8-10 a.m. (my mind is VERY fuzzy about times of things because it was SUCH A LONG DAY) when they checked me and  noticed that my body was NOT going to do this on it's own, so they started the pitocin.  I was aware that contractions with this medicine would be stronger than any natural contraction, but WOW, I was sooo not prepared.  I ended up with a pretty high dosage of pitocin before I coudln't take the pain anymore.  I ended up getting some Phenergan to help with the pain (I did NOT want an epidural yet), and this is why I do not remember the hours between like 2-7 p.m. very much.  So, I end up dozing off and on, and repeating myself A LOT to Nate due to the fact I could not remember telling him anything, haha.  When I do finally wake up, I decide it's time for my epidural.  I could
NOT tolerate the pain any longer.  So the epi goes in, and I end up only feeling it on the right side of my body.  I probably lay in bed for an hour trying to evenly distribute the medicine, and the whole time I have this EXCRUCIATING pain in my left side.  I keep telling the nurse, who finally gets the anesthesiologist, and he gives me ANOTHER epi.  This time, it seems to work on both sides.  They check me and I am finally at 6 cm dilated.  Within the hour, I went from a 6 to 7 cm dilated, and I thought FINALLY things were getting going.  Boy was I wrong. My last epidural lasted on both sides MAYBE an hour, and then the pain in my left side comes back a bazillion times stronger.  I think by this  time it's like between 10-11 p.m., and they check me.  I am at 8 cms, my epi seems to be running out, and I have no options left for pain except to deal with it.  I wanted nothing more than to get up and try to walk this pain off, but they wouldn't let me since I had an epidural.  I remember getting SO MAD with them and telling them I know I could walk since I know my epidural was wearing off.  But, there was no changing their mind.
   
Thursday, September 8th, 2011:

    It was somewhere between 1-3 a.m. when I remembering having this uncontrollable feeling that I needed to go to the bathroom.  The nurse told me to "just go" since I had a catheter in, but I assured her I needed to PUSH and not go to the bathroom.  She told me how I was only 9+ cm and that there
was still a "lip" on my cervix.  By this time I was sooo exhausted, tired, frustrated, you name it and so I told her I wanted to start pushing.  She said
if that is what I wanted, then we would do it, but it wasn't going to be easy.  So my pushing saga begins.  OH...MY...GOD.  I have never worked SO HARD
for ANYTHING in my whole life as I did just to get that "lip" gone enough to even start to try and push for this baby.  It took a few hours of me pushing, but I had FINALLY done it, and was ready to now push for the life of my daughter.  Mind you by now, I can feel my legs, and feel everything.  I have this horrible pain in my left side, and they tell me the only way I can get rid of it is to push the baby out.  I honestly did not think I had the energy in me to do this next step in the game.  I was crying and yelling and just so exhausted.  They kept telling me I could do it, and that I had no other option (mind you I kept telling them at this point I wanted a C-Section, haha).  The nurse told me that her shift was over at 7 a.m., and that we WOULD have this baby before she left.  I remember at one point looking at the clock and it being like 6:15 a.m....I told the nurse she only had 45 minutes left until her shift was over and that this baby was STILL not here yet.  Apparently I had pushed enough that they could see the baby's head by this time.  Poor Nate ended up watching the whole thing!  Haha.  He had said how he didn't want to watch down below (and I don't blame him, I didn't even want to see, haha), but I assume that when the nurse told "daddy to look and he could see his daughter's head", he couldn't help himself.  So from there on out with every contraction I had, I pushed.  I remember the contractions being so close
together I barely had time to take a breath in before I had to push again.  I remember pushing so hard that when I pushed I felt even though I was pushing as hard as I could, it didn't feel like enough to push the baby out.  The nurse who started with me the night before came in at 7 a.m.m and the nurses joked that Breahna wanted to wait until she came back before she made her debut.  Even though the other nurse's shift was over, I think she was determined to see this through with me (I mean she was the one who had to listen to me yell and bitch the WHOLE time).  So from 7 a.m. I had 2 nurses by my side who kept encouraging me and telling me to push through the pain.  FINALLY at 7:25 a.m., Breahna Aharon was born.  I have never felt so much pain relief/happiness at one time in my life!  They put Bre on my chest,
and I rubbed her back along with the nurse until she started to cry.  Nate came to my side, and we just held each other crying and saying how we had our daughter. It was literally the most amazing feeling I had ever felt in my life.  The worst part was having to lay there while everyone else got to see and touch my daughter while I had to be inspected and all that jazz.  I remember just looking over at the newborn station and smiling at the sight of my husband with his daughter for the first few minutes of her life.  It was such an incredible moment to capture in my mind.  I will NEVER forget it.  She was so perfect, and is so perfect, and I am so blessed to not only having her, but an AMAZING husband as well. 

I am going to sum up this last part since everything else was SOOO long.  We ended up going home on Saturday, September 10th since you have to stay 48 hours after deliveryat the hospital on base.  Pretty much my whole stay in the hospital was spent lying down in bed due to horrible headaches I got from an apparent "nick" in my spine with my epi.  They ended up doing a blood patch to fix it, which I believe is slowly working, but I am still keeping an eye out on it.  We are home, and I hope that I never have to go through that kind of an experience in my life ever again.  I will say if you asked me at the time if it was all worth it, I would have angerly said no.  But now, as I look down at this little miracle that my husband helped me have, I will tell you yes.  I have wanted this child even before she was thought of, and nothing else I will receive in life will be anything compared to her.  And I now leave you with some photos...

40 weeks...

So I am once again late on this post.  I am STILL pregnant (yay, not.)  Unless this baby decides to come within the next few days, I will be getting induced on Friday, since I will be exactly 41 weeks then (oh em gee, wtf, who is pregnant for THIS long and WHY, JESUS, WHY!?!?!).  I am UBER nervous about this because I have no idea what to expect.  And, that is all I have to say for now since nothing else interesting is going on.  Adios.

39 weeks...

...and I am certain that this baby is going to stay inside of me until she is 18 and then pop out and go to college.  Her due date is in like 4 days (not including today) and there is no sign that she is wanting to come into this world anytime soon.  I know I don't need "signs" and that she can just come whenever, but still.  I am SO over being pregnant.  I am over the pains, and the sleepless nights and hating the world.  I know I will probably miss being pregnant when I'm not, but as of now, stick a fork in me, I...AM...DONE. 

38 weeks...

Guess who has two thumbs and is a bad blogger?  THIS GIRL!  Anyways, yeah, 38 weeks and Bre is showing no sign of wanting to come into this world anytime soon.  With everything evil happening in the world, can I really blame her?  No...but I don't care.  Haha.  SHE DOES NOT HAVE A CHOICE!  If I have to live here, so does she.  I got my test results back and everything is NEGATIVE.  The doctor I talked with said I had a "boring pregnancy and everything was perfect".  Psssssh.  I made the comment on how it felt like the baby was never going to come and probably be stubborn and come after her due date, and the doctor told me: "It's looking like it".  WHO SAYS THAT?!!!  Whore.  I don't get why this baby does not want to come out and stretch her little arms and legs.  I mean, she HAS to be cramped.  Fetal position is nice and all, but how long can it really be that comfortable?  Nate is out in the field right now, which means sleepless nights for me (if I could even have more sleepless nights than I already do). Side note, Snickers has been stalking me all day, and right now is no different.  She is just sitting here on the floor staring at me, and to be honest, it's kinda freaking me out.  Weird ass dog.  Anyways, yeah.  I have like 12 days 'til my due date, and I dunno.  I know the baby will come when she is ready, and I still have 12 days, and babies come without any warning sometimes, but DAMN GINA!  I am ready now!  Well not really, because the thought of pushing a watermelon out of my hoohah scares the bajeebus out of me, but....if every other woman in the world can do it, than so can I [insert Rosie the Riveter image here]!  I am however over the extreme upper back pain that can only be resolved laying down flat, the stretching and pulling feeling that the skin on my belly has, the not being able to clean or do pretty much anything else without feeling exhausted, and pretty much everything else associated with being pregnant.  So 12 days...(in the words of Chris Brown)...LEGGO. 

37 weeks.

Gah.  I am getting REALLY BAD at remembering this blog!  Anyways, not really much is going on.  I went to my OB appointment today and ended up having high blood pressure.  So I had to get blood drawn, and starting tomorrow I have to pee into a container for 24 hours.  I am also on bed rest for awhile.  I will get to talk to a doctor about the results Friday.  I am sooo read for this baby to come out, and I am all for her coming early, but not on a bad note.  So we will see.  Nate is gone in the field for the next 2 weeks, so I am a lone wolf in all this right now.  We'll see...I will post more later this week with the results.

36 weeks!

...AKA 4 weeks to go!  I know 4 weeks isn't that long to go, but it sure as hell seems like it right now.  Especially when my days are dragging by.  I don't sleep at all anymore during the night, so basically my rest comes in the form of a daytime nap.  Blah.  My upper back is sore ALL THE TIME, and I get exhausted from doing nothing!  And guess who is back to peeing 24-7?!  This girl.  I know that once Bre is here I won't be getting much sleep, but at least I know the sleep I do get will be able to be with me SLEEPING ON MY BELLY!  I miss it soooo much, and am sooo excited about being able to do that again soon.  So, I am starting to go to the doctor's 3 times a week now.  WOOT...not.  Once a week for my weekly OB visit, and then twice a week for my no stress test (NST).  It is going to be a hassle, but whatever it takes for her to be healthy I guess.  Speaking of doing things for her, next week I have to switch from Lovenox (which is one shot a day), to Heparin (which is 2 shots a day).  Reason being that Heparin can be reversed with medicine, and Lovenox cannot be (so I can get an epidural, or if I need surgery or whatever).  Oh joys.  Who is jealous of me now?!  No takers?  Well, poop.  Meh...I guess that is it for now.  Until next time, this is miserable me signing out...

35 weeks...

Wows.  Well as of today I am 35 weeks along with only 33 days to go.  Where the EFF has time gone...seriously?!  Between having to roll off my bed and/or couch, my left leg feeling restless in the morning, the upper back pain, Bre deciding that her foot just HAS to be up in my rib all the time and the constant urge to pee all the time again...I am doin' just peachy keen...not.  I know it is still too early for me to say this, but...I AM READY FOR THIS BABY TO BE OUT OF ME!!!  I am so completely miserable right now, and I still have 5 weeks to go!  It is only going to get worse from here!  I can't lay flat anymore, or even somewhat elevated like I was because then I have the hardest time breathing or catching my breath.  Last night I had to sleep pretty much sitting up, which let me tell you, is NOT comfortable or fun.  I guess that is it for my bitching...for now...

34 weeks...

Not really much going on this week.  Went to my regular monthly OB visit on Thursday, and the doc I had manhandled the area above my pelvis area and said: "Yep, feels like a head!".  Thank you doctor.  Yesterday Nate and I could clearly feel what we believe to be Breahna's ass on the right side of my stomach up under my ribs.  We assume this since we know she is head down, and we know her leg is always up in my rib.  It's like this big handful mass feeling thing, so yeah.  We go Wednesday to my high risk doctor, so hopefully we will get to see her again in 4D.  After this next week, there will pretty much just be a month left until Bre's arrival.  It's excited and scary all at the same time!  I don't really have much to say, so this shall be the end of this for now.

33 weeks...

...and 49 days to go!  Less than 50 days is CRAZY!  Ahhhh!  Haha.  I have also reached my 30 lb mark today, which I was not hoping to go over, but...meh.  Everyone keeps telling me how "tiny" I am, and yada-yada, so hopefully you can't really tell.  Um...I have pretty much become a miserable bitch, and poor Nate gets the majority of my wrath.  So if you're reading this baby:  I'M SORRY!  Hahahahaha...he really is an amazing guy for a.) putting up with me in general, and b.) putting up with me while pregnant.  I have come to the conclusion that Breahna is a secret ninja for the CIA or government or something, because this lil' lady is always beating my insides up.  Especially my right rib area.  I enjoy feeling her move sooo much, but I cannot wait til the day that I do not have to feel her foot kicking the shit out of my ribs anymore!  I also can't wait for the day that I can finally lay on my stomach again!  So, plans on first night home goes: sleeping on my belly and having an alcoholic beverage.  Nothing to get drunk or buzzed off of, just one drink...don't judge me monkey!  Um....I can't believe it's the middle of July already!  These past 8 months have gone by SUPER fast, I can't even believe it!  I have been debating how comical and sitcom worthy my life is going to be after having Bre, that I might start a new blog to showcase my awesome days!  We will see how I feel of course after actually having her and if my sanity is still somewhat in tact.  Meh....

32 weeks, give or take some...

...once again I am late on posting.  BAD ME! *smacks own hand*  Anywho, not much to report other than me being EXTREMELY uncomfortable! I can't sleep anymore no matter what I try, and even lounging around is becoming less appealing.  *sigh*  What's a preggo girl to do?  Nothing.  That's what.  So I am going to end this short post with: bbbbbblllllaaaaahhhhhh.......

31 weeks, or something like that...

Wowwww....I am late on this.  My apologies! Nate, myself, our dog and our friend ended up driving from Kansas to Ohio over the past weekend to have our baby shower!  We ended up getting a lot of clothes, and between gifts and gift cards Breahna's room is pretty much complete and ready for her!  Being 7 months pregnant and in a car for 11 hours (each way) really wasn't that bad.  We just had to stop more often than normal for me to pee, but no biggie.  It's still boring as HELL sitting in a car for that long.  It was really nice to see family and friends who we haven't seen for 6+ months though.  Our ultrasound went well!  Bre is still a girl, which is a relief, haha.  She has my nose for sure (I wish she had Nate's instead, because I HATE mine, but whatever), and we thought she had Nate's lips, but are unsure.  They look SUPER big, but my aunt says that could just be swelling since that's how babies roll.  We'll see when she makes her debut in the world.  Sleeping has gotten somewhat better, and I can pretty much sleep through the whole night this past week.  I don't know if it's because all of the running around we have been doing or what, but I like it! And....I guess that is pretty much it for now.

30 weeks...

Sorry this post is a couple of days late as well.  I have been spending a lot of time with my baby daddy this weekend since he was in the field all last week.  Anywho...30 weeks!  WOOT!  It's such an awesome feeling to be this far!  Just 10 weeks left, and after today only 67 days...give or take.  Even though we planned for Breahna, the closer we get to her due date, the more nervous and anxious I am!  I am imagining that it's normal, just saying.  Last Tuesday, I took my 1 hour glucose test....and...PASSED!  I was soo nervous about it, but apparently had no reason to be.  I was a 95, and my OB's cutoff was a 130, so I was well below.  I know it's for the well being of Bre and myself, but the thought of having to not only give myself a shot in my leg everyday (which I can now proudly and officially do without flinching) AND having to test my blood sugar level and then give myself a shot of insulin did NOT seem appealing, haha.  Sooo....crisis adverted folks.  Tomorrow, we go to the high risk doctor, so hopefully I will have some more ultrasound (3d...fingers crossed) pictures to show yall soon.  I am so excited to see how Breahna is doing, and I hoping she is still healthy.  A couple of days ago she stopped moving around as much, and I was worried, but since yesterday she has been moving around a lot more which makes me smile again.  Um....I got my hair highlighted/lowlighted with some red.  And I got it trimmed.  It's nothing SUPER noticeable, but I can see it, and whatever it takes to make a preggo women feel better about herself, then so be it, haha.  Pic time:

29 weeks...

...day late, but whatever.  Let's start this discussion off with the topic of:  belly buttons.  Or, my soon to be lack there of one. :(  I have always been weirded out by "outties"...no offense to those of you with one.  I have taken pride that I have always had a fairly deep "innie", but this pregnancy is trying to take that pride away from me, and I don't like it!  I took a photo back in April of my belly button, and was sad to notice that is was slowing going from an "innie" to....well I dunno what the final outcome will be, but as of right now it's trying to be flush with my skin.  And then I took one the other day, and sadly, it's still making it's way forward.  I like to name inanimate objects (I am cool like that), so let's call my belly button...Fuzzy.  Has a ring to it, no?!  Well here is a picture of Fuzzy from April, and then another one from now (June):

Sad day for Ashley and Fuzzy ladies and gentlemen.  :(  Haha.  So far, no stretch marks, but I know I am not out of the clear yet, because some women go their WHOLE pregnancy and then like the last week or so they pop up out of no where like an unwanted one night stand at a family funeral!  Um...Breahna's nursery is pretty much complete, but I am going to wait to take pictures until after the baby shower that way I don't have to go back and retake pictures later.  I find myself going in there from time to time, standing around, and just smiling.  I can't believe in like 2 months and some odd days that she will be here.  Speaking of Breahna, let's have a little crash course in her name.  This has kinda been irking me for awhile, so might as well bring it up now.  Her name is BREAHNA, pronounced like Bre-ah-nuh.  We spelled it Breahna knowing that is was different, and hoping that it would help decipher between the great Bre-an-nah...Bre-ah-nuh debate.  Sadly, this is not the case, and people still ask me how to pronounce her name, so there you go folks. :)  ALSO, her name is spelled: B-R-E-A-H-N-A.  Not Brehanna, not Brehana, or whatever other spellings you think it's spelled like.  I guess this just bothers me because it's MY child's name, and if I was unsure of how to spell someone else's child name, I would ask, or try and see if it was spelled anywhere else (I have spelled it numerous times on FB).  I am well aware this is going to come off as bitchy to some, but I promise that in no way am I attempting for that.  So now that the name thing is settled, I don't really have much else to blog about for now.  So, until next week...

28 weeks, son!

12 more weeks to go, ahhhh!  Haha.  So I know the whole heartburn=hair is a wives tale, but I am hoping that with all the heartburn I have it makes Bre have  a full luxurious head of hair!  Haha.  The only reason I have heartburn though is because I can't stay away from spicy foods!  I know they are the devil to me, but they are soooo tasty, and I would much rather suffer later hugging my bottle of Tums than not eating them at all!  And that folks would be why I have "stubborn" tattooed on the back of my neck.  True story.  Um...what else...the 27th of this month, we get to go back to my high risk doctor, which I am excited about because that means we will get to see Breahna again, and by then I will be 30 weeks!  WOOT!  I am hoping they do another 3D so I can see what her face will kinda look like!  I am glad now that no matter what I wear, I look pregnant, even big ass t-shirts.  I remember when I used to be sad, because I just felt "fat" in my clothes because I knew I was pregnant, but I knew others wouldn't be able to tell.  But that worrying is all behind me.  OH!  Something I haven't talked about at all yet...I HATE driving and especially being a passenger in a car now!  Why is this you may ask?  Why simply for no other reason than being pregnant.  Like being in a car wreck while pregnant is my biggest fear anymore it seems.  Being a passenger in a car is worse, because I'm not having to pay attention to the road, so I am watching everyone else, and I don't know if you're aware of this, but other people driving= BAD NEWS BEARS!  And poor Nate, I am always making "EEEK!" noises if he doesn't break to my standards of soon enough, or me yelling at him if I don't think he is paying attention to what is in front of him, haha.  He has been a trooper through this whole pregnancy.  It's funny, because I know that in general I am not the easiest person to understand or get along with at times, but somehow he amazes me everyday and puts up with it.  And I know it's even worse now that I am preggo, and OH GOOD LORD when I go into labor, haha.  That is some of the reason that I love that man (he is also pretty much awesome town).  And now to leave you with my fat kid syndrome for the day: Wal-Mart blueberry loaf slices=ROCK MY WORLD!

26 & 27 weeks...

My bad on not blogging for 26 weeks...nothing really eventful I guess, so I just forgot.  Soooo....we are now at 27 weeks, and as of today, only 89 days left to go.  Soooo crazy!  It's like having the last 100 days of school to countdown, except this doesn't involve 3 summer filled months of fun!  Instead, 18+ years of kid town.  It seriously feels like just last week I was peeing on a stick and seeing those 2 pink lines.  These last 6 months really have FLOWN by.  A part of me is excited about that, and a part of me isn't.  I am sooo ready for Breahna to be, but then it will be bittersweet to not be pregnant anymore.  Nate tells me how he is super excited to see what she looks like and to hold her.  I feel very lucky and fortunate to have him as my "baby daddy".  He is going to be am amazing father, and he doesn't even know it!  Haha.  Breahna's nursery is coming together nicely.  Nate and I have been doing some "DIY" decorations, which I think are turning out fairly well.  Once all is complete, I will post pictures up.  We will be going to Ohio the beginning of July for our baby shower.  I'm pretty stoked to be seeing family and friends!  Living out here with Dorthy (I live in KS, remember?!) in the middle of no where really makes you miss people, haha.  The weather has been warmer and the sun has been out, so Bre and I have been getting our tan on!  Well more so me than her, since she is inside my womb, PLUS I make sure my belly has sunscreen on it, haha.  And...I guess that is it for my rambles as of now. :)

25 weeks...

...and only 15 weeks to go!  Thinking of it as 15 weeks is CRAZY (as opposed to 3 months)!  I seriously remember looking down at the pee stick like it was yesterday!  I can't believe 6 months (almost, whatever) has already gone by!  When I first got pregnant, I thought time was going sooo slow (especially during my sucky 1st trimester), but now that I look back it has gone sooo fast!  I have a feeling it will slow back down in my third trimester due to anxiousness and apparently how bad 3rd trimester sucks.  I cannot WAIT to see what Breahna looks like, and to hold her in my arms!  To be honest, I STILL can't believe that I have this little human being growing inside of me that Nate and I created together.  I have always wanted to be a mother, and have children of my own, and Nate has finally granted me that wish, and I am so appreciative. Speaking of Nate, he is going to be an AMAZING dad.  He tells me all the time how he cannot wait to "hold his little girl".  It makes me smile just thinking about it.  He loves our dog Snickers so much, and she has him wrapped around her paw so much, that I know he will be the same way with Bre.  Like, I already know I am going to be the "bad guy" of the two of us.  I will be the one disciplining her while he is the one giving her everything she wants, haha.  Oh well...I will say that a part of me is still scared about this whole "parenting" thing, because even though I have been around sooo many babies and newborns, I have never had one 24 hours before, ya know?!  Plus, being a parent is scary...there is so much to worry about, and you just want the best for your child.  I know it's how every new parents feels, so I am not too concerned.  And as much as all her kicking and punching can annoy me, at the same time it makes me smile so big because I know that is her in there moving around, and being her.  Breahna doesn't even know how much she is loved yet, nor does she know how long she has been wanted.  Thinking of her just melts my heart...

24 weeks/6 months!

So, for those of you that didn't know, hitting 24 weeks is a MAJOR milestone.  Why?  Because...if the baby HAD to be born right now, it has a HIGH rate of surviving outside the womb.  So being 24 weeks makes me very thankful and happy!  Apparently, 24 weeks means I am now 6 months as well.  I read somewhere that ALL TOGETHER, you are pregnant for like 10 months (I am guessing this includes the whole time from conception and all that jazz), so...yeah.  I feel like these past few weeks I haven't grown very much (belly wise), which worries me.  Nate always tells me how he can see me growing.  And a lot of people keep commenting on how "small" I am, which also worries me.  When I went for my 20 week visit, I was exactly on track and the right size as I should be, so we will see.  I go back to the high risk doctor late June.  I go for my monthly doctor visit next week I think...hmmm..need to check calendar to make sure.  I know every woman is different, and so is body size, so every woman carries different.  I am just a nervous nelly I guess.  I take it as a compliment that many people don't think  I am very big, but then at the same time, my mommy-ness (yes, I just invented a new awesome word) kicks in, and makes me worry that Bre is growing right.  Only time will tell I guess...

Errr....23 weeks...

So, I am about 4 days late with this post, haha, MY BAD!  Not much to report really.  My pre-pregnancy 38Cs, have now gone up to a 38DD, and I am pretty sure they are still growing!  You could possibly even make a horror movie out of it or something  "Will they ever stop?  WHO KNOWS!...Tune in next week!!!"  Nate and I went to a nearby lake with some friends here yesterday, and well....I wanted some color, but RED wasn't really what I was hoping for.  See, usually I am that girl everyone hates because I don't get sunburn, I just get a nice dark golden brown.  Well, silly me forgot that it has been MONTHS since my skin has seen sun, and soooo....yeah....sunburn city!!!

22 weeks...

Erm....yeah.  Nothing much to say this week.  Had our monthly doctor's visit a few days ago, and Bre's heartbeat was like 144 or something like that.  Crazy how each time it drops...I know it's supposed to, just sayin'.  I also got lectured by the doctor how I need to take out my belly button ring, or "my tummy will rip it out for me".  Blah.  I still have tons of room as of right now.  I will say that my once deep innie is slowly becoming a gross outtie (no offense to you outties).  It looks like the bottom of a navel orange, and it's round.  Haha, very odd as well.  Also, the doctor measured my stomach with a measuring tape and said how it was a little bit bigger than normal, but that it wasn't a big deal.  It's funny because the doctor at the high risk place I went to said everything was on track.  Just goes to show how everyone has their own opinion or what not.  Nate and I went on a long over due movie date tonight to see: Fast Five.  We both love the Fast and the Furious movies, so I was excited.  I will say I wish there was more cars in this one, but I did like the action scenes a lot.  Nate and I used to go on movie dates at least 3-4 times a month back while we dated, and even while in NC.  But here, not so much.  Maybe it's because the movie choices of this year have been crap so far, or maybe it's because Kansas sucks big monkey balls.  Either way, tonight was nice. :)

21 weeks...

So today our little girl (this makes me smile that I can say that) is 21 weeks old!  I was told yesterday that she weighs about as much as a soda can with some pop in it. :)  I really can't tell you how relieved I am that she is measuring perfectly on track.  That was my biggest concern yesterday was that she was healthy.  Nate and I opted out of the NT testing (it's where they test for things like down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, etc.) because we knew no matter what we would love our child either way, and if something was wrong, we didn't want the added stress the rest of this pregnancy.  We would rather just deal with it if/as the time comes.  It's a preference not for all, but it's ours.  And we still feel like that.  I just hope Breahna stays healthy, and comes out healthy.  I know Nate and I are strong enough to handle whatever comes our way, I just don't want Breahna to have to ever suffer (but then again what parent does?).  Anyways, so because of us opting out of that, it still made me worry (which was the whole point of opting out!), so yesterday eased my mind some. Okay, so enough serious things talk, and onto something more playful.  On the night of the 21st, I was laying in bed, and I always put my hands on belly at night while I'm laying down.  It's kind of my way of "blanketing" the baby, haha.  I am weird in the way I think, so yeah.  Anyways, I thought I felt this VERY slight "thump" on my hand.  So I pushed down with my fingers on the spot where I felt the "thump", and sure enough...another thump (this one more distinct).  So I got all giddy, and had Nate push around and see if he felt anything....and sure enough he did!  So the next day while I was laying on the couch I decided to mess around with the baby, and I felt this super hard thump.  So once again, it was Nate's turn...well he gave her a good lil poke, and all of a sudden he said that he felt this super hard thump, and the weird feeling thing was, I FELT IT TOO THROUGH MY BELLY!  It was sooo crazy.  Haha.  I will just say that it's such so weird to feel movement go on inside your belly.  Last night I must have been pushing down on a shoulder or some type of joint because when I did, I could feel this movement happening on the other side of my belly as well.  Since yesterday, I have been on a shopping spree of sorts, well not spree per say, but I bought some things, haha.  Nate and I decided on a Nursery theme...CUPCAKES!  Who woulda though, eh?!  It was down to that, this quilted look bird theme, some paisley thing, and I forget the other.  In the end, we both ended up liking the colors the best, and I mean, she is our little cupcake, so why not?!  So we bought her bedding online last night, and then went to Hobby Lobby to sort through whatever cupcake decorations they had left from the months ago that I seen them.  We also got the ever so popular "letters to spell out name", to put up above her crib.  They are white, so Nate and I plan on painting them the different colors in her theme sometime.  All we need now is to get the furniture, which will probably be sometime in late May or early June.  We live in a 2 bedroom apt, and the second room right now is our guest room/game room.  Well, we don't really have anywhere to put our computer, futon, and t.v., so I plan on splitting this room up and making one side Bre's, and keeping the other side for all the junk that is in here now.  It's not my ideal baby room, but it will work until HOPEFULLY we can move and get a 3 bedroom or something.  So I will shut up....for now. ;)

It's a GIRL!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, we have a vagina!  Haha.  AND, she is exactly on track where she should be with her measurements, and I am exactly on my due date according to her measurements and all that jazz as well.  So, Breahna Aharon will be here on Sept. 2nd (unless she decides to come earlier or later of course!)  We chose to spell it Breahna because Nate and I wanted a different spelling, and we wanted people to know that her name was Breahna not Breanne.  Aharon is the middle name of Nate's brother Matt who passed away.  We both wanted our child to have a piece of their uncle with them no matter what sex they were.  So there is how she got her name. :)  I am extremely ecstatic that she is healthy and on track!  It is SUCH a HUGE relief to know that.  I am also excited because my placenta previa has worked itself out, and I am now back to normal down there, so no more pelvic rest (YAY!)...BRING ON SEXY TIME!  [insert Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake here] ....YEP!  Haha.  My weight gain seems to be on track...I have only gained 11-13 lbs and I am about to be 21 weeks (tomorrow), so I feel pretty good about it.  I will be going in a few days to my normal doctor (the one I seen today was for high risk since I had my previa and I have my Factor V) for my monthly visit.  I dunno how it's going to follow this appointment, because it was pretty eventful, haha.  Erm...I guess that is about it for now.

20 weeks/5 months!

Baby is now the size of a cantaloupe!  WOOT!  I now officially have less months til I am due than actually being due....does that make sense?  Ehh...whatever.  Not including today we have 6 more days until the anatomy scan.  I am praying that everything looks healthy on the baby, and that it will let us see what sex it is!  Giving myself shots STILL sucks, but some days I am getting better.  And I say some days, because some days I still suck and bruise the hell out of myself.  Womp, womp.  So...my grandma (or G-Ma as me and my cousins refer to her as) doesn't have the handy dandy internet, so I have to send her all major images (ultra sound scans, etc.) through the good ole' united states postal service.  Anywho, she has yet to see my "bump", so I told her that after today I would send her an image of all my bi-weekly images so she can see the progression.  I am sitting here looking at it, and man oh man is it depressing.  The sad part is I was even smaller before my 12 week photo, and I worked hard on being smaller, and NOW LOOK AT ME!  Blah.  I know it's baby, and I know I'm pregnant, but still...THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT DAMNIT! :)  So for your laughing enjoyment, I have included that photo, plus an image of all my shots so far, because it's random, and I'm cool like that.

 

19 weeks...

So unless baby decides to hibernate until 40 weeks, it's safe to say that we are half way through this pregnancy!  I am SUPER excited.  It's like at times I complain that this pregnancy isn't going fast enough (I just already want to be able to hold our baby and see what it looks like), and then other times I look back like WOW, time is flying by!  Today marks the 10th day that I have been taking my Lovenox shots.  I have gotten used to the idea, but I still have to tell myself to "just do it" right before I stick the needle in.  Haha, almost like I give myself a lil' mental nudge.  I can also now officially look down and see belly, haha.  It's sooo crazy!  Nate told me last night how he likes seeing my belly grow because he knows that means the baby is growing and getting bigger!  I personally am having a hard time with my belly growing and this weight gain, because for the past few years, it has always been about losing the weight, and having a smaller stomach.  So, I pretty much just feel "fat", but Nate always reassures me that I am beautiful, and it's all baby.  We will be hopefully finding out the sex of the baby in a couple of weeks!  I am super excited!  Hopefully they will be able to let me know if the Placenta Previa has worked itself out then as well too.  We will be driving to a city an hour away for this appointment, because I am now considered a "high risk pregnancy" with my Factor V, and on base does not deal with that type of pregnancy.  Boooo!  Ermmm...I still haven't felt the baby move.  Mostly gas, haha.  I think the last few nights, I might have felt the baby move because I get this weird feeling below my belly button that I can't describe.  It's not a "flutter" or a "pop", so I dunno.  I am excited for the baby to start kicking and us being able to feel it on the outside.  So, COME ON BABY, DO WORK!  And I guess that is about it for this post.  Sorry if I lack on some...I just forget because there really is nothing eventful going on.

I have to do what?!

So, yesterday I got my blood results back and found out that I do indeed have Factor V Leiden.  Joy.  I always thought if I had it, no big deal because no one in my family has to take anything for it unless you get a blood clot.  Well...I never factored into the equation that I am pregnant, so...yeah.  Turns out, that I have to be put on a blood thinner (Lovenox), which is taken by injection.  So on top of the nurse telling me yesterday that I had this blood disorder, she then went onto saying how I was going to need to come in this morning so they could teach me how to inject myself every day.  I stopped her right there, and was like: "  You mean like put medicine into myself with a needle?", and she said yes.  Haha, WOW.  Talk about insane in my brain!  This also makes me a "high risk pregnancy", so now I get to have my ultrasound rescheduled so I can go to this other hospital in Topeka (like an hour away), and they will do it there so they can check on the baby.  I am kinda bummed because I have to wait to see when the appointment is for.  The anatomy scan was on April 22nd, but now who knows!  Anyways, while the nurse was trying to tell me how to stick myself, she told me to use a "dart like motion flick of the wrist", so in doing so, I made the needle go in, and pop back out...haha.  And then I proceeded to yelp: "SHIT!" in front of the nurse, haha.  Yeah, I am smooth.  I got reflexes like a cat, what can I say.  So we had to throw that needle away, and I had to try again.  I am needing to take this medicine to prevent blood clots.  I don't have any yet, we just want to be on the safe side for mine, and the baby's health.  All in all, this is going to take some time getting used to for sure.  I am just glad that I only have to do this for the remainder of the pregnancy.   I took a "bump" photo for a baby forum I am apart of, because Wednesday is "hump day", so today is "Hump Day, Bump Day", and so I shall leave you with that photo.

17 weeks, 5 days.  And yes, I am rockin' the "duck face" and deuces. :)

16 going on 17...

So since things have been boring lately, I have decided to put 2 weeks into one post.  I had my 16 week visit today, all is well, and the heart rate was 152.  We have an ultrasound schedule Apr. 22 so we can hopefully find out the sex then!  Erm...I am finally starting to see my "bump", and my weight gain is finally starting to happen.  My eating habits have been HORRIBLE, so I need to get back on track with that.  I have been feeling as normal as I can feel, which is awesome.  Still a little tired from time to time depending what I do that day.  I got my blood drawn to see if I have Factor V lieden, so now we are just waiting on those results.  And...that is about it folks.

15 weeks.

So nothing really interesting this week.  My random dark brown spotting has stopped, so I hope that is a good sign that the placenta is moving away from the cervix.  I will feel better when I got for my 16 week check-up and get to hear the heart beat.  I am always nervous at those check-ups until I hear the little pitter patter of the heart.  Um...I am finally noticing a "bump" in my clothes.  I still feel like it looks more like fat than a baby bump, but we shall see.  I have included some pics of me, one from pre-preggo ness, and the other now at 15 weeks, same dress.  One I have no bump at all, and the other, well...you know.  Haha.  It's still so crazy that I have a HUMAN LIFE GROWING INSIDE OF ME!

14 weeks...

...yesterday, andddddd...I got nothing.  Haha.  My life is at a boring stand still right now.  I will say that I am a bit confused about my ticker below, because last week my baby was a peach, and this week it's a lemon?!  Hrrrmmm.....yeah.  Haha.  I guess I am finally starting to get my "bump" going.  In my 12 week pic I had a flat rib cage area, and now at 14 weeks, it's gone and looking like my stomach is trying to round itself out.  It's very odd what 2 weeks can do to your body.  Um...I just ate some Captain 'n' Crunch with crunch berries for breakfast!  Jealous much?  Most gangsterish cereal ever!  Why?  Because it cuts the roof of your mouth, that's why!  Speaking of breakfast, it's only 8:44 a.m. here ON A SATURDAY AND I'M AWAKE!  What the eff, David Blaine.  Anyone who knew me before this pregnancy knew I was a night owl, and I slept in until like 11 or 1ish.  But with this baby, I go to bed early, and wake up early.  I guess that's a good thing since I need to get into this habit for the baby.  Speaking of baby, just 6 more weeks until we find out the sex!  YAYNESS!

Appointment time...

...so I just got back from my 13 week appointment with the doctor.  Everything is rising how it should, and the baby's heart beat was 161 where it needs to be.  I left the office feeling good and happy that all is well.  AFTER I get home, I get a call from the doctor saying how she had looked over my 12 week ultrasound (I had told her how we had the bleeding scare, and how I still have some dry blood from time to time show up) and she said that my placenta is covering my cervix.  Joy.  This does happen, and it can move as my pregnancy progresses.  If not though, I will most likely end up on bed rest towards the end of the pregnancy and have to have a cesarean section.  This also means no kind of sexual activity until my 20 week ultrasound...another joy.  Blah.  And my grandmother, mother, and aunts all have this blood disorder called Factor 5 Leiden which has to do with abnormal blood clotting.  I told them about this at my first appointment, and apparently even though they took ALL that blood from me, they didn't test for it or something?  So now I get to go back and get some more blood work done so I can see about that.  Basically, a happy visit turned into a blah day, and now I just feel like these doctors are dumb.

13 weeks!

Mmm...peaches.  That is now the size of the baby.  Haha.  Okay so, my night time headaches have officially gone away (YAY!).  I now find that I get dizzy if I don't eat a lot through out the day, I am guessing due to low blood sugar.  IT'S SO HARD TO EAT SO MUCH!  I am not used to it.  I am going from eating like 1 meal (maybe 2)a day, to like 3 full course meals, PLUS eating in between.  Ugh!  And I forget to eat, not like my meals, but in between, but OH DON'T YOU WORRY, my body doesn't let me forget.  I go on Tuesday for my next OB check up.  I am hoping all is well with baby.  Every time I go, I am just nervous until I hear the heartbeat and get an "OK" from the doc.  The good thing about being 13 weeks is I am pretty much out of my 1st trimester.  Hello 2nd trimester, you are now my new bff!  Hmmm...I just forgot what I was going to type...ugh!  Stupid preggo memory!!!  OH YEAH!  Haha.  The other good thing is, I didn't really gain any weight (maybe 1 or 2 lbs) my 1st trimester which leaves me with my 25-30 lbs to gain the rest of these months.  If I do it healthy and how I want, I am looking at gaining no more than  4-6 lbs a month.  I think that is the right math, haha.  I have like 6 months left...so 6 x 4 = 24...yeah okay I am right.  YAY for me!  Haha.  Sadly, lately, ice cream has gotten the best of me.  I need to watch it!  I do not want to plump up because of this pregnancy!

12 weeks!

So I am about 4 days late with this post, my bad! :)  Anyways, I am now officially 12 weeks, or as I like to think, 3 months preggo!  It's so crazy, because as I look back, these 3 months seemed to go by quick!  I am happy to be almost in my 2nd trimester, because that means chances for a miscarriage lessen, and so do some of my pregnancy symptoms (hopefully).  My night time headaches are finally going away, but now due to weather changing, I have sinuses.  Ugh!  So now every morning and every night I have this pressure of stuffiness in my head.  It's definitely a better feeling than the headaches I had, but still makes me feel blah.  Erm...I guess that is all I have to report on right now.  I am hoping that within the next few weeks I start to see a "bump" so I can stop feeling fat.  That is all. :)

11 weeks!

So...I am a few days behind.  Friday was the baby's 11 week birfday (you read that correctly my friends), but laziness got the best of me (as usual).  I have also decided that in order for me to have more interesting posts, I should stop posting so much baby mumbo jumbo on FB (facebook), so I can stop double posting.  Meh.  So baby is 11 weeks, and I FINALLY got to see it on an ultrasound after making a very exciting trip to the ER.  More graphically, when I wiped there was a good amount of blood, which is not good.  Nate ended up having to come home from work early, and our 2 hour journey began.  The waiting room is always the devil.  It's like unless your arm was dangling by a vein, then you are fine.*WARNING*This may turn into some TMI (too much information), but I promise it will trail off sometime in this blog and go back to normal.  Haha.  So once in the room (after once again peeing in a cup, which seems to be an on going thing) a nurse came in and tried to find the heartbeat with a doppler.  The dumb bia obviously wasn't aware that babies do not always rise above the pelvic bone at such early weeks.  She was trying to doppler my "pouch" and wasn't getting anything.  She said:"Have you had trouble finding the heartbeat before?"...NO YOU DUMB B****!  I told her that my doctor had the doppler lower since the baby was lower.  Who does she think she is scaring me with not finding the heartbeat?!  Right as I was about to freak out, the ER doctor came in with the ultrasound, and right away found the baby.  Does anyone want to guess how low he had the wand?!  I'm sorry that it took a man to find something on a woman!  WHAT...THE...EFF!  He showed us the heartbeat, and let us listen to it.  Said it was healthy, and was like there is your healthy baby.  I literally just kept telling the baby: "Thank you for being alive baby!"  Haha.  Apparently I have a UTI (urinary tract infection), which is a bladder infection.  It's odd because there is symptoms that most of the time go along with this (burning, itching, smells, the whole gross 9 yards), and I have NONE of those.  So, I dunno.  Medicine it is, and we'll see how this works out.  In other news (see, I kept my promise from above, yay!), I am finally getting my Sylvia Brown nails, but my left pointer finger nail is like bending down as it grows.  Haha, so I have to like paint my nail at an angle.  It's something that I don't find odd, since I am weird and things like this always happens to me.  I need summer to be here ASAP so I can lay out and tan.  How do you not let a tanaholic tan?!  HMMM?!  It's LUDICROUS (guess what song is in my head now?! heh.)  Due to my many "narcoleptic" naps, I also haven't played video games in days, and I think I am missing them.  Bleh.  Speaking of, I used to have a teacher in high school named Mr. Bleh.  He was awesome, and let me get away with murder pretty much.  I once got an "A" on a paper that I wrote on tanning.  Haha, yup, you read that right, tanning.  My senior year, I could have graduated early, but I decided to stay the second half and just take elective classes.  Mr. Bleh's class was called "Into the Wild", which was a mixture of literature and actual outside nature (his two loves supposedly).  Anyways, he would take us outside randomly and have us write in our journals about nature.  I decided since it was such a nice day out, that I was going to lay on the bench and tan.  And then later I wrote some BS about it, and VIOLA!  Haha.  I...am...amazing!  I know.  I will now leave this super long random blog with a picture of the ultrasound, and then a drawing a did to help you see that I think the "baby's face" looks like a jester's face.  Haha.

*click on image to enlarge it*

Mt. Dew = the devil...

...and I have sold my soul. (eep!)  So basically I wanted to NOT drink any pop (soda for you non-northerners) while preggo, except for the few occasional slip ups...you know.  Mainly due to me not gaining any additional weight that I do not need to gain (I did after all work my ass off to lose 30 + lbs before Nate came home from his last deployment).  WELLL...(if you know who Antoine Dodson is...think of that being said like him, heh) apparently Mt. Dew (any soda with caffeine I am guessing) is the cure all to the headaches I have been getting EVERY NIGHT.  I am sure you all are like: "But Ashley, you are allowed to take Tylenol!".  No.  I have only taken Tylenol once during this pregnancy and coincidence or not, I had some spotting the next day, so I am not going to take anymore chances!  I am mad about this whole headache thing though, and I don't get why I get them.  Is this my punishment from the pregnancy world since I don't have any morning sickness?!  DAMN YOU PREGNANCY GODS....DAMN YOU!!!  I have also began to lose my appetite around dinner time as well.  Well not so much lose it, but NOTHING sounds good.  During the day I can eat whatever, and things sound good, but come 5 p.m. and later bring on the headaches and nothing sounding good! WOOT!  Not.  Oh!  So, it's the part of the show where we share a fun fact about Ashley (cue music)!  I have this thing where if I am talking, or talking to someone else and they say certain words, I start singing songs in my head.  Haha.  Anyone else as weird as I am and do this?  It's like I have a full blown musical going on in my head 24/7!

10 weeks!

So today marks 10 weeks for our lil' cupcake!  We got to hear the heart beat on Wednesday.  It...was...AMAZING!  The doctor put the little doppler towards the middle of my stomach down by my pelvic bone, and viola!  There was this little heart beat that Nate compares to a choo-choo train. Ha ha, if you ask him, he will even make the noise for you.  And then the doctor moved the doppler to my right side to hear my heart beat so we could compare.  It's soooo crazy!  Right then and there it all hit me!  Growing inside me is a PERSON that Nate and I created together!  What could be more special and magical than that?!  I know that the next time I am going to feel this way is when I first hold the baby after it's born, and I cannot wait!  Soo...while typing this all, I called and got an appointment for an ultrasound made.  Guess what date?  FEBRUARY 14th...Valentine's Day!  What could be a better present that day?!  And, listen to this, the lady was like: "Are you ready for the instructions?"...and I was like: "Uhh...yeah..."...apparently at 1:15 p.m. I have to go pee, and between then and 1:45 p.m. I have to drink 32 ounces (4 glasses) of water, and then guess what?!  I CANNOT GO PEE AT ALL until at least 2:45 p.m. (when my appointment is) or later.  WHAT...THE...FUCK!  Ha ha, the lady was like you are going to be full and miserable!  Um....I can't pee for at least an hour or so?!  They are aware that this seems impossible, right?!  Ooooh man.  This baby better be doing flips and tricks when I see it!

9 weeks.

Martinis anyone?  Why?  Because, the baby is now the size of a green olive.  GROW BABY, GROW!  So peeing non-stop has come back FULL FORCE!  It died down for awhile, and now for unknown reasons decided to reappear in my life.  And, I am going to be rude and NOT say thank you.  What the hell?!  Is the getting up every few hours to pee during the night my body's way of getting me ready for the baby?!  No bueno.  For convenience purposes Nate and I are switching sides of the bed so I can just roll my preggo ass out of bed and go pee, instead of walking around the bed half asleep.  While it serves a good purpose, I also don't like it because it means I have to sleep closer to the bedroom door.  Okkkaaayyy...short story time.  I do not like to sleep closest to the bedroom door (I'm guessing in fear of if someone breaks in or yada yada they will have a less likely chance of killing me first?!  Haha, sorry Nate I LOVE YOU!), NOR can I sleep with the closet door open (in fear of monsters of course, DUH!).  DON'T JUDGE ME MONKEY (Family Guy reference because I am cool like that)!  My belly itching has subsided, but it's still dry as hell and kinda flaky (SEXY!).  Craving for the time being (BESIDES the previous foods that I have posted about and still want like no other)....CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES!  Oh.  My.  Gawd.  Haha.  In other good news, Nate will be home tomorrow!  So stoked.  A month away from him has sucked HUGE balls.  Like Jolly Green Giant sized balls, and heck, let's make them green even!  Tuesday will be our appointment to hear the baby's heart beat, so fingers crossed! :)

8 weeks!

So today marks 8 weeks for baby!  Super excited, but that means that I had my first doctor appointment today!  YAY!  It was a sad day because Nate is still in training, so couldn't be here, but he didn't miss much.  As of now, I am due Sept. 2nd, and things seem to be on track.  The nurse did a quick ultrasound to make sure baby was doing good since I have had some spotting and was nervous.  Apparently my junk inside my body is all messed up, and it was VERY hard to see anything.  Plus the ultrasound was SUPER grainy.  Her words were that she is almost positive that she seen the heart beat.  She would keep pointing to the screen and be like " do you see that there", and I would be like "no".  Haha.  She showed me the sack, which was obvious cause it was like a black hole amongst the graininess, so I don't know.  If she is certain about it, than so am I.  I know that at only 8 weeks not everyone can see the baby, but I have also seen some ultrasounds at 8 weeks that were amazing looking!  DAMN YOU BODY!  DAMN YOU TO HELL!  I always knew my body was against me, and this proves it.  Maybe the baby was waiting until Nate was here to show itself.  If that is the case, then damn you baby!  Damn you to...errrrr, wait, no.  BLESS YOU BABY! Haha, like it sneezed or something.  I am dumb, and now rambling to probably all of the 0 people who read this blog.  Anywho, I got massive amounts of blood taken today, and I had to pee into one of those little cups (grrr!).  I will go back on February 2nd to hear the heart beat (and I BETTER HEAR IT BABY...DO YOU HEAR ME!!!!), which is exciting cause Nate will be home by then and he will be able to witness it too!  I dunno about "civilian doctors", but here on base they give you this "purple bible" (as my friend Stacey calls it), which has ALL sorts of info in it.  It's kinda like the Military's version of "What to Expect when Expecting"...except it's free, and purple.  It has places to write down things as well such as your appointments, weight, yada...yada.  It's funny because right now I am ecstatic beyond words, all over something that I couldn't even see today and that is the size of a raspberry.  It's the little things in life I tell ya...

KFC=yum!

Let's take this time to talk food shall we?!  So, I have decided that at the moment, if I was Superman that my kryptonite would be KFC.  Remember before how I said I didn't have cravings?  LIES.  Apparently I do, and I didn't really notice it.  Also, back in NC there was this fast food type Japanese steak house which had AMAZING teriyaki chicken with white sauce.  OHMUHGAWHHH!!!  I could literally eat that stuff every day, and I kinda did for awhile back then, haha.  Anywho, after wanting KFC for the past few weeks, I FINALLY gave in today and got some for dinner.  Mind you, it completely went against my no fast food during pregnancy, but eh...whatcanyado?!  Speaking of badthingsthatashleylovestoeatbutwontallowherselftohave...Dr.Pepper.  It has to be one of my favorite pops (yes I said pop, NOT soda...it's a Northerner thing, you wouldn't understand).  Anywho, I decided since I was being bad, that I might as well get that with my meal as well.  To my surprise, it no longer does anything to me.  I'm guessing since all I have been drinking was water, that it ended up being too sugary tasting to me, so I stuck with what I know, which is bottled water. And finally, my second favorite thing about KFC (besides the food), would be...SPORKS!  YAY!  I LOVE me some sporks.  I think they are UBER cute!  Haha, random, but true.  I will leave this post with a picture of my dinner tonight, because I feel that it deserves it. :)

7 weeks.

Woot!  7 weeks folks, amazing.  The baby is actually starting to look like a baby!  This means one more week until I get to go to my first doctor's appointment.  Yay!  The baby is now the size of a blueberry.  Mmm, blueberries, haha.  Not much has been happening lately.  I did have to buy Nate new windshield wipers because I accidentally broke one trying to hit the ice/snow off of them on his car.  Oh, I guess that could be something to talk about...SNOW!  We got snow!  I haven't seen a good snowfall like we had since back in Ohio.  I don't mind snow as long as I don't have anywhere to be, and it's actually pretty.  I have had some spotting, which is scary.  According to all my web research, and thebump.com forums, it's natural.  I just need to watch out for extreme bleeding, and anything else out of the ordinary.  And even though it happens to a lot of women, something could still be wrong.  Good thing I do to the doctors in a week.  I wish it was easier to contact the OB on base here.  Everything is automated though, and seems to only be an appointment type line.  Super dumb.  Fingers crossed that this lil' blueberry is healthy and kicking ass!

6 weeks.

I am now officially into my 6 weeks!  WOOT!  The baby seahorse is gone, and I now feel it looks like a baby seal according to online illustrations, haha.  My urgent bathroom breaks have slowed down a little, and my constant narcolepsy state (as my husband puts it), has also minimized.  The belly itching is still going on.  Still no morning sickness (THANK YOU), and no food cravings.  Chicken always sounds good though, especially fried.  I guess that could be a food craving.  Meh.  Also, last night I sneezed and it made me want some wavy potato chips, haha.  I didn't give in though.  I am trying to stay healthy and not eat "bad" delicious fatty foods.  Before getting preggo, I had lost 30+ lbs before my husband got back from his last deployment.  Now, I am worried about gaining it all back.  I know I need to gain between 25-30 lbs for the baby, so I am trying to eat more than I used to (which shouldn't be hard, cause I used to just eat dinner), but just be healthy about it.  I have started back exercising, which has been a slow and not very productive.  I need to take this opportunity while I can, since after the first trimester I won't be able to exercise like I can now.  It hasn't even been a week since the hubs has left for training, and I am already missing that kid like crazy!  I have kinda become a hermit here in the house.  There is really nothing to do, and people aren't very friendly around here.  Back in NC I knew ALL my neighbors, not here though.  Oh well.  We will see how things go as time progresses.  Til' then, me and lil' baby seal are signing off.

Itching.

Welp folks, it's 2011!  And an exciting year it will be since this lil' baby will be born!  So far, I do NOT look like Sylvia (reference from previous post), but I do ITCH a ton!  After much reading online, I have come to the conclusion that it's a mixture of dry skin, hormones, and my stomach growing.  I have already bought "tummy butter" to help prevent stretch marks, and it works for itching as well!  All I know is, this whole pregnant thing is NOT cute, and not very enjoyable.  I have a feeling the only "beautiful thing" that is going to come of all this is when the baby is actually born.  And the dreaded "morning sickness" better stay away from me if it knows whats good for it!  Even though I don't have it now, I read somewhere that it can come later on.  Dislike.  Another dislike is that Nate will be leaving tomorrow for a month of training.  Which means he is going to miss the first doctor's appointment.  I know it won't be a huge deal, but still sucks.  And it will suck to have to sleep alone again.  I mean fuck, it's only been 5 months since he has been back from being deployed, and I have to be without him again.  True, he can get on my nerves sometimes, but I love and adore that kid to death, and miss him every minute he is away from me.  I have been researching pregnant belly button rings (I know it's super early, but I like to be prepared), and HOLY BAGEEBUS!  These things are LONG.  It's like, what, do they expect our belly buttons to grow long ways too?!  So if I was to sum up pregnancy so far it would be this:  You will look like Sylvia Browne with a protruding belly button the size of a small finger and itches all over.  Fantastic.