Just some things I want to remember...

- Carter's newborn onesies were the smallest ones we could find for Tricia, she is just now growing out of them after 6 weeks.

- She was on the regular similiac and then we moved her recently to the orange label for fussiness and gas. I am starting to think though that she might be ok on the regular but she does have some tummy issues so I guess we will stick with the regualr. I do put mylicon drops in a few of her bottles because it seem to help her also

- She likes her baths! She is not happy when she is out of the tub and cold though.

- She only had a small diaper rash a week after she came home but it cleared right up with destin!

- She likes to be warm. She will wake up in the middle of the night whimpering because her legs are uncovered because she likes to kick her legs ALOT. So at night we are putting her in body suits so she stays warm.

- She is eating anywhere from 4-5 ounces now. She started wanting 5 right around her 6 week birthday but now she isn't really eating that at every feeding. Maybe only two or three a day. Some feedings right now she will barely eat 2-3 ounces. But sometimes then she will wake up an hour later wanting more. Crazy little girl for sure!!

- She has a rash or baby acne on her skin that just developed over the last few days. I thought it might be heat rash but it could be either. It seems to have spread down her face to her neck and chest a bit so I'm just not sure though!!

- I still haven't done anything on her scrapbook. I lost some of my pictures that I took weekly of my belly so I'm not happy at all and want to cry about that so I am almost too depressed to print the pics because I don't have them all like i should. But I'm hoping to do some work on it over Labor Day weekend. I'm going to get the pics printed here soon hopefully.

- I go back to work on Tuesday. I have so many emotions it's not even funny right now. I want to stay home with her so bad because I just think she needs me and I know her. And i know how she is and what to do with her and how to make her feel better. I'm just so worried. But financially we can't afford that. I don't know what we can even afford even if I do go back!! I'm just a huge stress ball right now...

Birth Story

**I wrote this back a few days after I came home**

I was having some pretty severe upper back pain since like July 1st. It wasn't horrible but everyone once in a while it would get bad but i would take Tylenol and it would go away. Well on Tuesday the 6th I couldn't take it anymore and went to the doctor. They gave me some percocet and sent me home and told me to take off the next two days from work. They did bloodwork and said they would call me if they saw anything. I laid down and about 2 hrs later my doc calls and tells me that my blood work showed I had pre eclampsia and that I needed to start heading to the hospital. That they would call and let them know I was on my way. And oh yeah by the way because of it no epidural. Of course I freaked out. Then 10 mins later get a call back again from the doctor and they said you need to go now because your levels are severe and you could have a seizure. So off we went to the hospital.

They started me on magnesium and got me induced with a foley ball and cervidel around 7 pm. It was really painful with the contractions and I'm pretty glad the magnesium made me feel so out of it. Around 3 pm on Weds they started saying I was around 9 cm and that I would be pushing soon. Then a resident came in and told me that I was only 6-7 not 9, after another doc and 2 nurses had told me I was. Everyone was pissed at the resident but then the doc came in and confirmed I was only 6-7. I did end up taking some pain meds at that time since I was only that far along they would allow me to have some. After that things did progress pretty quick and by about 8 pm I was back up to 9. So they started getting everything ready but my contractions were still so far apart - like 6-7 mins. They kept saying if they would just get closer together I would be able to get her out in like 1/2 hr. Finally the doc came in and they really had me start pushing which was so painful but i had a great nurse and she really helped me through it. I pushed for about 3 hours or so. The doc finally decided that things just weren't going quick enough so they got out the vacuum. They tried twice with the vacuum before they got it to work and they did end up having to cut me down there as well. Thank god she was as small as she was. But she was perfect.

I lost a lot of blood after delivery and they were having a hard time getting it to stop and I still don't remember a lot from that time. I do know my blood pressure dipped pretty low and they were worried about me. They kept me down in labor and delivery overnight so they could keep a closer eye on me rather than moving me to post partum right away. And from there things just have been not good with my health - I was on the magnesium for 24 hrs after her birth and then we thought things were ok. Then my blood work came back and I ended up needing calcium and a blood transfusion. Then I started to get that upper back pain again - turns out that was gall stones. Then my liver enzyme levels still aren't right and my blood pressure keeps going up. So they finally let me go but I do have to go back for blood work tomorrow.

2 weeks :*(

So my surgery went well last week. Still having some pain here and there but they got everything out. I was doing pretty good right after and felt pretty fine. Just a lot of pain in my stomach area but the motrin they prescribed helped a lot.

So what else is new...I'm just going to list these because it's easier for me...

- I gave up breastfeeding. She wasn't latching on and she was having some tummy issues. I thought it might be from breastfeeding and formula feeding. I think she was getting confused. I hurt to give it up but I feel ok about it. I really wanted to go at least 6 weeks but then I had to have this surgery also and I wouldn't have been able to anyways during that time. So it was 4 weeks but some times I'm still sad about it. Plus my production wasn't going up, in fact in seemed to be going down and I was having to use more and more formula.

-The baby is doing great. We did take her for 1 month pics and they were absoultely adorbale. I can't wait to do some family pics in a few months. Around Christmas time we are doing those and we are going to include my sister, her hubby and my parenst as well.

-Tricia is a lot more alert and awake now. She hasn't started really cooing or anything yet. Ben's cousin had a baby 11 days before me and her baby started that about 2 weeks ago. So I wonder when Tricia will start. I hate to be one of those mom's that compares their child to others but I can't help but wonder.

-I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks before I go back to work. I want to cry. I miss work more than anything because I love the people I work with and it will be nice to see everyone but I can't help but wonder how I will be away from her everyday :( I just hope I can handle it. I know I will be wreck when I go back the first few days.

-In prep for me going back to work and being away from her everyday, my sister took her all day today. My sis wanted practice with her anyways alone and I wanted to see what it was like. I miss her so much though :( Its too quiet and I'm bored without her. I just miss being able to look at her.

-Ben is having a meeting with his district mgr at work tomorrow so we will see what he wants. HE was supposed to get a raise and promotion to mgr months ago and it never happened. Tomorrow he might get promoted, or he might get demoted. He doesn't really know. I'm doubtful that he will get promoted but I'm also very angry with that company. He's been doing the managers job at his store for months now and they havne't even paid him for doing that work with the promise that it was coming "soon". So at this point I could care less if they do promote him because he's just so tired of doing all this work and not getting paid for it. So we will see...

- And last but not least, I love being a mommy :) I don't know what I would do without her but some days it's still hard to believe I have her and she's all mine. I just love her so much and she's my world!

I think that's all for now...still gotta come back with the birth story and pics...

Issues Issues

I still need to come back and post pics and the birth story but here's an update on what's going on now. Don't read on if you don't have a strong stomach.

So last Friday and Saturday I was having some bleeding issues - I was having these huge gushes of blood and then passing some larger clots. So after talking to the doctor 3 times between the two days I finally went to the ER on Saturday. Luckily we were at my parents house (we were making dinner for them and my sis and her hubby to say thank you for everything) and there is a satellite ER for AGMC right by my parents house in Bath. So we went there and I was in and out in a hour. They wanted to do an ultrasound but I would have needed to go to the main campus to get that done and after talking to my doc they decided not to send me. But my blood work came back fine and my exam went fine as well. So they had me go back to the doc on Monday. So Monday I see the doc and they want to do an ultrasound but again everything else was looking fine. So Weds this week I went for the ultrasound - it's what they thought - part of the placenta was still inside of me. I couldn't get in to see anyone Weds so I had to go back Fri (hello 3 times in 1 week!!). So now I get to have surgery on Tues to remove this part of the placenta that is still in there. It's about the size of a nickel. So they are going to knock me out for this because they coudl use a local and a numbing agent but I guess people still tend to squirm around a lot and because it's so precise what they are trying to do its easier to knock people out and just get it done. So I have to go at 1:30 pm on Tuesday and it's outpatient. So I will be in recovery for around 3 hrs and then I will get to come home. They said to take it easy that day but I should be back up and going on Weds.

Still waiting to hear what they are going to do about my gall stones. I just got the report sent over to my doc so hopefully next week I will hear something!!

She's here!

Our baby girl graced us with her presence almost 3 weeks early! Patricia Grace was born July 8th at 12:39 am, 5 lbs 5 oz, 18 in long. It was a really rough labor and delivery. I developed HELLP syndrome therefore I couldn't have an epidural and while I did have some other pain medicine, it was really rough. And I had some complications after but things are good now. We are doing well and just adjusting to having her here and getting on some sort of a schedule! I will hopefully jump back on here soon and post some pics!

It's the weekend!

I'm so ready for it to be the weekend. It's been a pretty rough week. I went to my appointment on Monday. Everything is still looking good and I'm measuring right on. I go back next Weds for my next appt and the Group B Strep culture. We will see then how things are going and if I'm dilated at all. I don't know if I am but I can hope! :) I don't like having to wait until Weds but they are closed Monday and no midwives are in on Tues for some reason. So then I will turn around and go the following Monday again because I'm off on Mondays so my appointment needs to be then. Hopefully they don't get mad about that!

I did have some upper back pain the other night. It was so bad that I got sick from it. Not sure what was going on there. It did stop for most of yesterday though and then it has come back some today again. Not sure if it is form the way she is laying or what but it doesn't feel good at all. I am taking some regular strength Tylenol and that helps some but I don't like to take too much of anything right now so I try not to take it unless I am really hurting. I also have started to get some pelvic pressure so that could be a sign of something? We will see!

We did finally get our crib mattress in the mail the other day. So that means this weekend I can put her bedding set on her crib finally! My sister bought our pack and play yesterday and a bottle set for us. And on Monday me and Ben are going shopping and picking up the rest of the things we need. There is still stuff we need from both stores so that should be fun. I'm excited to get the rest of our stuff and get everything put away and be done with it until she's here.

So plans for the 4th....Ben is going out of town. Not too happy about it but it's kind of his last chance before the baby. I don't want him to go but I know he won't be bale to go in the next few weeks because I could go at any time and even though he's only 2 hrs away that's too far if I do go in to labor. So he will be d own at the farm and I'm not doing much of anything tomorrow but Sunday I am going to my godmothers house in Austintown for the parade and a cookout at her house. She has a pool so I will probably take a dip in there. I think that's all my plans for this weekend since I just want to lay around and hopefully my back stops acting up!

I will need to come back and post pictures but Ben's cousin (who was due 10 days before me) had her baby this past Sunday, June 27th. She is absolutely adorable! She was born on 6/27 at 7:19 am, she was 7 lbs 4 oz and 19 in long. Kind of scares me because she was three weeks early and that would be next week for me! Everyone keeps saying they think I will go early but I'm not so sure. She seems quite comfortable in there and not ready to come out yet. But I know that could change overnight and plus I want people to stop saying that - they are going to get my hopes up! LOL!

Well i think that's all the updates I have for now. I will come back and post pics of the baby and from the 4th! Happy 4th of July everyone!

Busy Weekend!

So it's going to be a busy weekend!

Tonight I have to go to my boss's surprise 40th birthday party. It should be fun but it's quite a drive to get back home so I won't be home until late probably. Tomorrow I have to get up and go shopping (and try to return some stuff) to Babies R Us and Target. I have to get a baby shower gift for a coworker and then a wedding gift for someone. Then it's off to said wedding that is about an hour and a half away. Probably won't be home until late again (going with my parents and they say that they want to leave by a certain time but we will see!). Then Sunday I'm very excited to be getting my maternity pictures done! I think they are going to awesome and I can't wait!!! Then I am meeting my friend who lives in Michigan now for a bit because she wasn't able to make it to my shower and she has a gift for me. I'm very excited to see her because it's been a few months! :) Then Monday I have my next doctors appointment. So all in all a very busy weekend with not much time to relax or sleep. Hopefully I won't get too cranky.

I don't think I've done much of an update on how I'm doing with baby so I probably should. I'm still feeling pretty good overall. My right foot and ankle swell just about every day. But not my left. They say it has to do with how the baby is laying. I just look like a freak that's all! It doesn't really bother me until it gets really bad and hurts because the skin is stretching so much. But I try to stay off my feet as much as possible so I don't make it worse. Everything still looks good though and no other problems. At my last appointment two weeks ago I did have to do a non-stress test because I hadn't been feeling her as much but as soon as I was hooked up to everything she went crazy! So I think she was just relaxing for a few days but they wanted to be sure so we did it. I can't believe how time is flying. Only 34 more days until she (might) be here. I'm hoping I don't go over but knowing my luck I will! I'm working up to the last minute possible so hopefully there are no issues and I'm able to. After my appointment on Monday I will start going every week until she arrives so that will be fun. Hopefully she comes a little early though because I don't want to be late :) I'm also scheduled to go to a breastfeeding class on July 12th so hopefully she doesn't come before that because I would like to go to that class! I think that's about all the updates for now!

Our Baby Shower

So last Sunday was our baby shower and it was wonderful! We spent most of Saturday at my parents house getting last minute things done and it rained some so we were nervous. But there ended up being no rain at all! It was kind of humid and warm but I would take that over rain anyday!!


We were very blessed and got almost everything we needed for her! There is still some things we need to pick up but we will do that probably in the next 2 weeks. I might go shopping this weekend at Target and get some stuff. We will see. I have more clothes than I know what to do with (at least in the smaller sizes - bigger sizes not so much so I do need to buy a few things in bigger sizes) and we got tons of wipes! Not as many diapers but lots of wipes :)


See pics below!

Me right before the shower with my beautiful corsage made by my mom's coworker!

My mother in law and me
Ben's cousin Carmie Jo who is due 10 days before me
Our gifts and my pink chair!

Me and my wonderful momma!
My sister during the games
Ben was so excited about the diaper bag and all of the Michigan stuff my mom got him!
Amy, me and our cousin Kelsey

So much going on!

So much is going on right now I don't even know where to begin!

This week was our annual work meeting for GOJO. Everyone from the company was in. It was a good but long week!! It's nice to see everyone though. We did get to go out to Clay's Park on Weds but it had rained all day so it was really muddy. I almost fell a few times but luckily I didn't! I didn't win anything though which made me sad :( I won two years ago at bingo a few times but with the rain and not much else to do so many people were playing and so odds were slim. But it seemed like the same people won multiple times. Just luck of the draw with the cards I guess! My co-workers did have a baby shower for me on Monday though :) I was surprised - I had some idea that they were going to do it this week while everyone was in but I had no idea it was going to be Monday. They were all beyond generous with gifts and I'm so grateful. I got something I really wanted which was the rocker and ottoman! They also got me two activity sets (one that she can walk around the toys and the other was a jumper), our swing, our bouncer, the cover for the car seat for the winter time to keep her warm and the carrier to have her strapped on us. Plus some other people got me clothes, a glow worm, head bands/hair clips, diapers, wipes, books, and so much more! They were all so wonderful and I couldn't be more thankful!! I love them all dearly and they are the best!!

And on the note of showers - ours is the weekend! I can't believe it's here already. I took today off to recuperate from this week and to finish some last minute shopping with my mom. We are going to be doing that in a bit and then spending some final hours at my parents making sure everything is ready. Unfortunately, I think it's going to rain all weekend. It's just our luck. Oh well. We will just do the best we can. I can't wait to see everyone though!!

On a baby note - everything is looking good! I'm 33 weeks and 2 days today, less than 7 weeks to go! I can't believe how fast it is approaching. I think we have figured out our hospital (Akron General) and I think we are pretty much ready. We just have to finish up her room (Ben has painted but he has some trim to put up around the door still). Once Ben finishes that I just need to mop the floor and then its time to start putting everything together! I plan on doing some of it on Monday after the shower but knowing my hubby that's not going to happen. We will see though :)

Alright I will be back after this weekend to update on how the shower goes!

And I'm back!

I'm finally back from all my work trips. I survived them but just barely. The one to Nashville was really rough with all the flooding but what can you do? I had some extra flights and I was stuck in Charlotte. And when I got to Nashville we had no hot water! Not a very happy momma after taking a cold shower every morning. I was so happy to be home after that. But it's over and now I'm home for good. But I've been super busy since I've been home.

We are moving to a different floor at work and that has been hectic. It's nice that I get to go through all my files and clear everything out and I've been doing it little by little. But it's still a lot of work! We are moving on Weds although the rest of our group moved yesterday, they have to reconfigure the desks in our area so we have to wait. Oh well...it's peaceful for the time being at least without the rest of the group there.

As far as the baby goes...things are well. I was just at the doc on Monday and they said everything is fine. I'm not sleeping that well because my hips hurt really bad and I just toss and turn all night. But oh well. They say I am measuring right on as far as my size. I'm 30 weeks and 3 days as of today. I can't believe in less than 10 weeks she will be here. It seems like forever but I know it's going to fly.

Ben still hasn't finished the baby room. He did the patching and painted but now he has to paint tthe whole room because the paint doesn't match for some reason. He thinks it's because we didn't get the same finish but how are we to remember which finish we got last time 4 years ago! So he needs to do that. He took the trim down around the door so we can put the new up since it was ruined. I think we are going to lowes tonight to get paint for the trim also and hopefully pick up the trim pieces so we can get this room done.

My shower is about 3 weeks away now and we really haven't done anything so I'm freaking out. My sister made a list of everything we have to get but we haven't gotten anything yet! So hopefully this week we can start to make progress on that and I will feel much better!

Alright I think that's it for my updates for now!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, moms-to-be and fur baby moms out there!!! I am hoping to get back in here and write an update soon but I still have 1 more work trip this week from Thurs-Sun! So hopefully after this I will be back!

I'm outta here!

Well I figured I would do one last update before I leave tomorrow. I'm out of here until Weds for a work trip to Orlando. It should be a good time but of course I'm nervous about flying. And even more nervous about flying with a baby in my belly! But I will be ok and I just can't wait to get there. It will be good to see all of my field sellers from work for a few days and be out of the office.

On Thurs is my glucose test at the doctors. Hoping that everything goes ok with that! I think I should be ok but you just never know. So that will be a fun time sitting there for an hour until they do the blood draw. I hate needles though so this is not going to be fun!

In other news, I ordered and recieved our invites for the shower! I love them and they turned out really good. I designed them myself and it only cost me 50 cents to print them on vistaprint including shipping! So I'm very pleased and will probably use them again to do my birth announcements once the baby is born.

I also ordered our crib and changing table. It had been out at Babies R Us. I just by chance was looking at my registry yesterday and it was available so I ordered it before it wasn't anymore! I was supposed to get an email when it was back in stock but that never happened for some reason. Oh well! It has now shipped so we should get it by Thurs I think the tracking said. We won't be assembling it for probably another month or so but that's ok. As long as it's up before the shower so we can bring everything in I will be happy. And the changing table came from Amazon because it was cheaper by 30 bucks plus I saved some shipping too. So all in all i'm very happy that it's on it's way and no more waiting!

Well I think that's all for now. I will try to update between trips but not sure I will be able to!

Time is ticking away....

Time seems to be going slow but then I look back and it has gone so fast! I only have 15 weeks left which seems like forever and tomorrow at the same time. We just got the baby's room cleared out (Ben's mom was in there) and so we can just now start work on it. Just a few little things to do - we have to sand down the trim and repaint it, we had some patches on the walls and we need to sand them down some more because they were poorly done the first time around because we were in a hurry. Then we need to repaint that. And we need to replace the trim around the door. So not too much to do, if we had the time we could probably get it done in one weekend but I don't think our schedules will work like that. So hopefully in the next two weeks we can get that stuff done so I can start cleaning and decorating the room.

We did get our bedding set yesterday (see above) and it's absolutely adorable!! I love that it's not over the top pink, it has lots of brown, green, red, and other colors. I got a great deal on EBay for a 13 piece set and then we also bought the lampshade that matches. Just need to buy a lamp base for that and then a mobile and the crib will be all set! As for the crib and changing station - I think I am going to be ordering that in the next few days here because I think the crib is on clearance at Babies R Us. So it said something about saving 10% when you buy clearance plus it's free shipping. So I will probably order both pieces now and get it over with, which is why I would like to get the stuff done in the room. Hopefully we can get this stuff done within the next month or so before the shower so I can bring everything home from the shower and start putting it where it needs to go!

We did go and register at Babies R Us last weekend which was a fun experience! Ben still doesn't understand why we need to register at two stores (we are going to Target this weekend to finishregistering there) but he doesn't understand not everyone can get to a Babies R Us! Luckily the one in Chapel Hill will be done with their remodel soon and so people will be able to shop there. Although I was there last weekend and they had plenty of stuff so that was good. So people might not be able to find everything on registry if they go there but they should be able to find some stuff. I'm excited to finish up our Target registry this weekend. And I think I'm going to order our shower invites online in the next few days as well. I designed them myself so I just have to send them off to the printer to be printed. Everything is starting to come together!!

I am going to be travelling for work coming up next weekend and I will be gone off and on for the next few weeks. I'm gone April 24-28 in Orlando, May 2-5 in Nashville, and then back to Orlando May 13-16. So it will be a busy next few weeks and then before you know it, it will be time for our shower in June!

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Since our anniversary is coming up we went out last night with my parents to celebrate. We went and had dinner at Hoggy's in Independence. It was really good. Everyone had been there before but me! It was a BBQ place and it was pretty darn good! We will be going back there. Then we went and saw Clash of the Titans in 3D. Not my pick but everyone else wanted to see it so I went for them. It was different because I don't think I've ever been to a 3D movie before. Again, not a movie that held my interest but that's ok.

I also want to say a big CONGRATS to our friends Melanie and Brian. Their son Mason William was born last night (Saturday, April 3) at 9:19 pm. She did end up having to have a c-section because after being induced Friday night at 7:30 she had made no progress at all. He was 9 lbs 12 oz and 21.5 in long. Because he was so big they don't think she would have been able to deliver him naturally anyways so it worked out for the best. He is currently in the special care unit though due to Mel being diabetic and the baby needing to get used to no insulin. He will be fine though but they have to watch him so they moved him down there. We did go up and visit this morning but we weren't able to hold him because he was in that unit. But we did get to visit with him and I will have to come back and post pictures. I am going over tomorrow as well so maybe he will be out of there if things go well tonight with regulating his sugar.

We did spend Easter at Ben's Grandpa's house. He made a huge feast as usual - ham, chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, peas/corn, buttered noodles, coleslaw and rolls. I'm still so stuffed I feel like I can't move!! It was Ben's grandpa, me, Ben, Ben's mom, her boyfriend, my mom and my stepdad. My parents didn't really have anywhere to go for Easter so they came to his house. It was good to see them :) And it was such a beautiful day out so it was nice to be able to relax outside. It was one of the first Easter's in a while that it hasn't snowed or rained around here.

Well this week I am supposed to be on jury duty so we will see how that goes. I know I don't have to report tomorrow but not sure if I will be called at all the rest of this week. Hopefully not seeing as I have plenty to do at work. But we will see!!

Have a great week everyone!