Pregnancy catch up (weeks 18-36)

So, it's been a while, hasn't it! I've been a bit busy getting ready for out little Ava Elizabeth's arrival! I'm 36 weeks, only 4 more to go! I'm going to try to remember some of my pregnancy from where I've left off...

18 weeks

November 8th at 19 weeks and 4 days we got to see little baby in the 18 week anatomy scan. Everything looked wonderful and Addison even got to tag along and see her little sister! Sadly this is the last ultrasound we got to have. I would have loved to have seen her sweet face again, but now it won't be long!!

19 weeks

19.5 weeks

20 weeks

24 weeks

We picked out the name Ava Elizabeth somewhat early on. We both loved the middle name Elizabeth, but I had to fight a bit for Ava. I love the vintage feel of it and think it sounds great with Addison. We liked other names but this one worked for us. We announced the name around 24 weeks.

25 weeks

27 weeks

I had my gestational diabetes test around 26 weeks, right before Christmas. I got a call while we were vacationing in Disney World saying that I failed my test my 4 points and that I would have to take the longer glucola test when I got home. I wasn't too thrilled. After 3 hours in the doctor's office, 4 blood draws and a couple days, I found out that I did not have gestational diabetes!

28 weeks

29 weeks

31 weeks

All doctors appointments went fine. Blood pressure and weight gain were fine and nothing major to report. Until...

33 weeks

I started having contractions on Feb 15th (33w, 5d) so Jordan and I headed to the hospital around 10:30 that evening. I'd been having the contractions since I got off work at 5:30 and they just weren't letting up. They weren't super strong or painful enough that I couldn't talk through them, but they were coming somewhat regularly, around 10 minutes apart. It was enough to get me concerned so I called the triage nurse and she told me to go ahead and get checked out. When we got there, they hooked me up to the monitors that announce the baby's heartbeat and when contractions happen. They gave me fluids to see if that would stop the contractions. After the first bag of fluids, my contractions did seem to be slowing down, but they seems to intensify after starting the second bag. I wasn't dilated any so the contractions weren't really doing anything other than to make me uncomfortable, but we didn't want them to continue, so the doctor gave me a shot of trebutaline to stop them. I also have the fetal fibronectin test to tell if I would be going into labor in the next 7 to 10 days and it was negative. (It's a test that measures a certain hormone that is released shortly before going into labor. Read more here. Neat test.) I was getting so tired and the contractions started to ease off, so I was thrilled when they told me I could leave! We got home around 2:30am and I was still having contractions through the night but they went away the next day. Poor Jordan was getting so anxious and excited to meet our little girl. I think he really wanted her to come, but I knew that she needed some more time to grow bigger before meeting the world!

35 weeks

The next two weeks went by fine. I had a few contractions but none with any regularity or intensity. Then this past Wednesday February 29th (leap day-which a friend of ours predicted would be Ava's birthday)(35 w, 5d) I started have lots of back pain and several contractions throughout the day at work. I came home and got Addison to eat her dinner then sat on the couch and timed my contractions (with a nifty little app on my smart phone!). They weren't too painful- probably about the same as before, but for the two and a half hours I timed them, they were coming every 5 to 6 minutes and very regular. I didn't think there were strong enough to worry about, but Jordan was concerned (and once again excited for the baby to come, especially since he didn't think they'd try to stop my labor at almost 36 weeks). After we put Addison down for the night, I gave in and called the nurse. I knew she would tell me to come in and sure enough she did. I called Mom and Dad and told them that we were going but not to get excited because I was sure that nothing would come of it. We got there and checked in and went through the same drill as last time. Thankfully they didn't waste time giving me fluids or the fetal fibronectin test. The nurse checked and I was 1 cm dilated (which 6 days before I was still completely closed). My contractions were starting to get more intense as I was laying in the hospital bed. So the doctor ordered for me to have the trebutaline shot again. This time after getting that very painful shot my contractions started coming every 3 minutes and were slightly more painful (though nothing like true labor). After being there for 3 hours the nurse checked me again and said that I was 1.5 cm dilated but that I wasn't anymore effaced. They went ahead and sent me home since, once again, it didn't look like there was any progress being made toward labor.

A neat thing about the night was that the doctor on call was Dr. Lipscomb. Although I've seen all of the 6 doctors with my practice multiple times and I'm fine with any of them delivering a baby, I have a preference for Dr. Lipscomb. He was the doctor that delivered Addison and the doctor that did my D & C and walked us through that difficult time. He's the one that I was for all of my follow-ups and for any of the complications I had. I was surprised to see him since the next day he was leaving my practice to start one of his own. I had already come to terms that he wouldn't be the doctor to deliver Ava (I totally just typed Addison right there...I guess I'm entering the world of sibling name confusion!) since I'm not planning on switching with him. So it was neat to think that he might be delivering Ava on the last night that it could happen. Obviously that didn't happen.

Jordan was a bit disappointed that she didn't make her appearance but it's fine with me. Yes, I am ready for her to come and I am getting to be pretty uncomfortable (though not nearly as much as I was with Addison). But, I also want Ava to be healthy and ready before she makes her grand entrance.

36 weeks

At 36 weeks, I'm still feeling good. I get pretty uncomfortable in the evenings but all my pains and aches and ailments are all pretty mild. I remember how bad I felt when I was at the end of my pregnancy with Addison and how intense the back pain, heartburn, and terrible swelling was. I'm very thankful that I feel so much better this time. I think some of it has to do with knowing its all going end and having a better mindset about it, but also I've had to stay active with Addison and I haven't gained as much weight (27 pounds vs. the 37 pounds I gained with Addison). I am so excited for her to be here!! It's different this time. I don't have all the new mommy anxiety and I am so, so ready to hold my sweet girl and experience a newborn again! We've been waiting a long time for this!!

Disney World!

Jordan, his parents, Addison and I decided to go to Disney World the week after Christmas. We left on Christmas night after we had our family celebrations. We drove for about 5 hours and stayed the night in a hotel and got up early the next morning to head straight for Epcot.

Addison did wonderful in the car until about the last hour so we got out the DVD player and let her watch a movie. It did the trick and we had a great ride. She was so excited to go to Disney World!!

Here we are at Epcot. I had a little pink doggie harness for Addison to wear while we were there. When she first saw it, she asked what it was. I told her that it was a doggie back pack that she got to wear with a long tail that Mommy or Daddy would hold on to and she says, "Oohhh, so it's a leash!" How is that kid so smart?! She's only 2 and a half!

This was right after we got there. We were waiting to see some characters...

Addison was so excited!! I left all of her hair clips in the car and her hair was in her face all morning. It was bothering me so badly that I stopped and paid almost $10 for 6 little barrettes with Mickey Ears on them.

Can you tell that she was excited?!

I wasn't sure how Addison would do with all of the huge characters, but she wasn't scared at all. Daisy Duck was the first one we saw and I think it ended up being Addison's favorite (and she'd never ever heard of Daisy Duck before seeing her at Disney).

So cute!

Now, Addison loves Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, but she was a little but afraid of these two. She wouldn't go up to them without her daddy coming too.

She's also never heard of or seen Marie from Aristocats but she loved this kitty!

Addison with Nana and Papaw

We rode on a little canoe type ride in the water that was very slow and relaxing and Addison completely passed out on Papaw's shoulder. We laid her in the stroller and she slept for about an hour.

Minnie was the last character of the first day. We were all exhausted and ready to get back to the hotel. It was the longest we stayed at any park of all 4 days we were there (it's a lot of walking, and we me being 7 months pregnant and Gena having a bad knee, we got worn out pretty easily).

Day 2: This was Addison's favorite day I think. It was the day we went to Magic Kingdom, which is home to all the princesses and Cinderella's castle. She loved it! (She's wearing her leash here)

Here we are on the Ferry to Magic Kingdom. It started out being a little chilly that day but it warmed up very quickly. The next few days were colder.

Addison and Papaw waited in line for an hour just to ride on the Dumbo ride. It goes around and around and up and down. Addison loved it and Jeff says it was completely worth the long wait to see her so happy! (Side note: DO NOT EVER go to Disney World the week after Christmas. It is crazy crowed! And I mean, CRAZY!! They actually had to close the parks while we were there because they had reached capacity.)

Mommy and a silly-faced Addison in front of Cinderella's castle.

Addison is super happy here because Nana had just bought her this little Cinderella doll set and she couldn't wait to open it! She loves it!

Nana Papaw and a very distracted Addison.

I love this picture of Addison and Papaw. Super cute!

Addison on the "Merry-a-go-around." I think this was the only thing that we came to that didn't have a line.

And this starts Addison favorite part of our whole trip! The Princesses! We waited for about an hour to see Aurora, Belle, and Cinderella. From the moment we walked into the room that housed the Princesses, Addison was in awe. She was so incredibly cute!

Addison with Belle (whom I think also played Pocahontas later in the week).

Cinderella was Addison's absolute favorite thing while we were there!

After she posed with Cinderella, Addison jumped up from her lap, without saying goodbye and ran back over to Jordan and I. We couldn't figure out what she was doing or why she was running from her favorite person of the week until she grabbed her dress up Cinderella doll and Daisy Duck doll to show to Cinderella. It was so cute!

On Day 3 we went to Animal Kingdom. It was such a pretty park and had some of the coolest things! There was a safari that everyone went on but me because it advised pregnant women not to go. That was the worst thing about going to Disney while I was pregnant; not being able to ride any of the rides. Poor Jeff didn't have anyone to ride them with because Jordan and Gena don't do rides (Not that he could have ridden them anyways. All of the good rides had nearly 2 hour waits. I'm telling you, it was INSANELY crowded!!)

Addison wasn't scared of Thumper (even though he appears to be trying to choke her in this picture...) and ran right up to him.

This was probably Addison's runner up favorite person to see at Disney World. Pocahontas and Cinderella are the ones that she talked about seeing before we went and who she remembers most now. (Doesn't this look like the same girl that was Belle? She's a horrible Pocahontas, but at least it didn't matter to Addison and she was really sweet with my baby!)

This was such a pretty picture (and there's a big roller coaster in the fake mountain that I really wanted to ride).

Gena got Addison an Aurora night gown and she LOVES that thing! She cried every time we had to take it off her to put on real clothes. Its how we had to bribe her to take a nap some days!

Here's a cute little video of Addison in her princess night gown. So cute!

We went to Hollywood Studios the 4th day of our trip. Apparently I was exhausted to the point that I couldn't even take a picture because I have none from that day. It was fun but we barely made it to 3 pm before calling it a day and retiring back to the room for naps. We had intentions (every day) to go back to one of the parks to see the awesome firework shows but never made it. We showed it to Addison on YouTube and it scared her so it's probably a good thing we didn't go in person (and it would have been so CRAZY with all of the people there!).

When we bought our tickets, we actually bought 5 day tickets and thought about going back to one of the parks the last day and driving back during the night, but we were all too tired and  decided to just go ahead and hit the road. Addison did so good while we were in the car even though she barely slept during the whole 10 hour drive (there or back home). It was a fun trip and I'm looking forward to going back again when Ava's a little bit older (before she turns 3 though because then we have to pay for a ticket for her too) and when it's not to insanely crowded!!

Where did my baby girl go?

Happy Halloween!

17/18 weeks

17 weeks October 21

18 weeks October 27

(please excuse the pajama pants. It turns into pajama time any time I'm at home!)

I'm feeling pretty good this week. I've definitely noticed that I'm hungry a lot more often and I want to eat ALL the time! It's such a nice change over being so nauseous constantly for the first 15/16 weeks. My stomach is poking out (a whole lot) enough now that people are noticing it. Twice now I've had strangers to ask if it was my first, or how far along I was. It's been strange because I because I haven't advertised this pregnancy a whole lot (especially to my customers at work) so when people that I haven't told notice, it catches me off guard. It's fun and makes me smile! I feel like I'm looking huge right now considering that I'm only 18 weeks! I've been feeling little baby girl moving around a lot! I feel her most when there is pressure on my stomach (she just kicked as I'm typing this...the lap top is pressing into her a bit!) and I love, love, love it!! I think I've gained about 7 or 8 pounds now. I'm trying to eat healthy but it doesn't always happen, especially after dinner when my ice cream/sweets craving kicks in! I've also been wanting super spicy stuff (hot salsa, hot wings, red pepper flakes added to lots of things) which makes for lots of heart burn. It apparently isn't bad enough for me to stop eating spicy things though. I can't think of other recurring cravings, other than maybe spaghetti...I've wanted that quite often, but not to the point of a real craving. I think I'm carrying exactly like I was with Addison...very high. I have an appointment for my anatomy scan next week on Nov 2, and I'm so excited about it!! It would have been when we find out boy or girl, but we got to find out early, so now it will be a fun show and tell! I have a few names that I like but I'll wait until we have decided to tell.