on october 14th we went in for our routine ultrasound. at that point i was just over 19 weeks along. to most people this is a huge day because it is the day they find out what the sex of the baby is. we, however, choose not to find out what we are having until the day it arrives. so the thing i got excited about at this visit was to see if i had the extra fluid this time around or not. oh, and to see the pictures of the baby, of course. the ultrasound tech told me that at this time the fluid is normal, but that they normally don't see extra fluid this early. i was just about 100% sure they did see the extra fluid at this ultrasound with hayden but wasn't quite as sure if we knew this early with talan. the baby's leg was basically curled up over it with the foot practically in its mouth. at one point, the tech got a picture of the baby with its mouth open and the foot was right there. we left the ultrasound feeling good and then i realized she never did really tell us that everything was fine. thank goodness i was going to see the dr. in a week. so on friday, october 23rd i went in to see dr. hakim for what was my 20 week appointment but i was actually closer to 21 weeks at that point. he told me that the baby was measuring perfectly normal and said that they had the due date as march 9th vs. march 8th. obviously that's not a big deal, but i'm shooting for the 9th seeing as though this family has so many birthdays on the 9th (mom, jess, me, talan). it would just make it a bit easier for me. so dr. hakim said it sounded good to him and he'd change the date in his chart to the 9th. i talked with him a bit about the fluid levels and he checked my chart (they only have info on talan, not hayden as we went to a different practice then). he told me that at 22 weeks with talan i did not have the extra fluid. apparently somewhere down the road i started measuring bigger and they sent me in for an ultrasound which then showed the extra fluid. so. he will continue to keep a close eye on it especially since i have had it with both of the boys. although, that does not mean that i will have it this time around. i pretty much figured i didn't have the extra fluid right now seeing as though i am feeling this baby move A LOT. that and the fact that in 21 weeks i have only gained 4 or 4.5 pounds so far. hooray!!! mom seemed worried about that, but i certainly am not...and the dr. doesn't see to be either. talan has come with me to the last 2 appointments and does not like it one bit when the dr. walks in, and especially when he has me lay down so we can listen to the heartbeat. i have no idea what talan thinks is going to happen, but he doesn't like it. he tries as hard as he can to get out of his stroller and just cries and yells for me the whole time. we even had a talk about it before we left for the dr.'s office this time around and he told me he wasn't going to cry and seemed to get that i was going to lay down and we would listen to the baby. he's such a liar. i don't really remember feeling the boys move quite so much this early on. it could be that i just forget or it could be that i actually am a TINY bit more in tune with my body during this pregnancy. i even sometimes feel like i might be feeling braxton hicks contractions which is insane to me. i hope that doesn't mean i'll feel my contractions way earlier in labor than i did with the boys. i like the whole, as soon as i feel a contraction i have about an hour to get to the hospital before the baby jumps out of me, thing. i'm still feeling good but i do seem to get a lot of headaches lately. so that's pretty annoying. jessica is pretty much convinced that it is a girl because of all of the little differences this time around. for naming sake i hope it's a girl as we actually have a couple of girl names this time around and nothing that we are agreeing on for a boy. with talan it was the opposite. so we shall see. i head back in to the dr. for my next visit in 4 weeks, so on november 23rd. at least it's right before thanksgiving and not after for the whole weight thing!
face looking right at you: profile view (leg over the body): feet: baby trying to eat its foot:
so i've been meaning to write this blog for awhile now and have just been lazy about it. i will add a new blog www.bloggersatemy (you won't know until this thing comes out).blogspot.com after the baby is born. so in the mean time, i wanted to keep everyone up to date with this pregnancy through this blog. but i'm already 19 weeks and obviously haven't done a very good job of that. so we had planned on trying to have the next member of the family in the summer as i'm tired of having kid's birthday parties in our basement because of michigan weather. but back at the end of march i found out that i was pregnant. all i could think of was...NO!!! not another winter/holiday baby!!! and in fact, i would have been due a day or two before thanksgiving. which in a way was pretty fitting seeing as though i've had a christmas/new years baby and an easter baby. so after panicking about having yet another winter baby i then panicked about the fact that talan would only be 2 1/2 and i just didn't think i could handle that small of an age gap. i used to think the over 4 years hayden and talan are would be too big, but i LOVE it and if i were younger i'd aim to have all of my kids 4 years apart. but since i keep having birthday's, 3 years is about the biggest gap i can have...and that still freaks me out a bit. so i pretty much realize on a thursday that i am pregnant but don't want to pee on a stick because i've never once peed on a stick and had it come back negative. i like to live in a land called denial. but on friday i realized there was no escaping it and i took the dang test. a couple of days went by and i started to get a bit used to it. maybe because dave was so on board with it so that lessened my anxiety a tiny bit. but the whole time i felt different. i kept wondering if the baby would be healthy which i never really did with the boys. i never have really been sick during my pregnancies but this one just felt different to me....inside my head at least. and then a week after finding out i was pregnant, i had a miscarriage. i called the dr. who was just about ready to close so they told me to head to the er. dave came home from work and i headed to the hospital (which i will NEVER do again...such a waste of time to sit there for over 4 hours to eventually be told "yeah, we think you are miscarrying but aren't totally sure. go to your dr. in a couple of days.). after the total waste of time i finally headed home sure that i was having a miscarriage. but i was ok with it. i mean, i wasn't the happiest day of my life, but i knew it was for the best all the way around. the next day i went to see my dr. who pretty much confirmed i was miscarrying. basically i just had to wait it out and come back in for another blood draw to make sure my levels were going down to normal. i didn't cry until my dr. came in and told me how sorry he was. why?! why does he have to be the nicest guy in america?! so yeah. that ended that. we were now in early april and it was back to planning on a summer baby. until july 6th when we see this: (that means...hey! you're having a baby!...see, never a negative) about a week before we are to head to kings island, and i find out i'm pregnant again. god really doesn't want me to have a summer baby (it's really probably for the best since my pregnancy with talan and this one i get a really bad rash called PUPS...some pregnancy related rash...when i get really warm. i guess god really does know best.). so immediately i'm doing research online to see if i can ride roller coasters if i'm just barely pregnant. i even call the dr. everyone advises against it, but i know it's for "just in case" purposes. i rode a roller coaster anyway. i told jessica i was knocked up and she just looked at me and said "you are not." yup. i am. we kept it quiet until i went to visit the dr. for the first time at 9 weeks when we saw this: (that's the baby the stick told us about) after that, we told mom and then jenn. but we decided to wait to tell most everyone else until we heard the heartbeat at 12 weeks. this time around i once again wasn't consumed with thoughts of "will it be healthy?!" i mean, i'm naturally a pessimist...so if something goes wrong, i'm expecting it. but i just felt more like i did with the boys this time around. and then on august 25th we heard this:
and then the word spread via facebook and this blog. i went in to see the dr. on sepember 22 for my 16 week checkup. he went to listen to the heartbeat but couldn't find it. he searched for a little while while i got a little more freaked with each passing second thinking, yup, figures. after a few minutes he went out to get an ultrasound machine to see what was going on. it turns out that the placenta was laying right over top of the baby which made it hard to hear the heartbeat. the baby was also laying in a very weird position which then made it hard for him to get a good picture on the ultrasound machine of the heartbeat. he did see it though, but then the baby would move. apparently, my womb breeds hyperactive babies who never stop moving. this one was moving so much that he could never get a good picture of it. every time he did, the baby immediately moved. so things looked really good. it was a strong heartbeat and the baby was very active. i believe that i started feeling the baby move around 14 or 15 weeks. i can never be too sure because i'm not a person that is very in tune with her own body. i mean, i never even know i'm in labor for goodness sake. so i feel a flutter and usually just think it's a twitch. but this time, i'm pretty sure it was the baby a few of those times. at my 16 week checkup, dr. hakim sent me home with the papers to call and set up my ultrasound between 18 and 20 weeks and i made my next appointment to see him on october 23rd when i'll be close to 21 weeks. i came home and scheduled my ultrasound appointment for october, 14th which would be this coming wednesday and i am now 19 weeks along. i still feel the baby a couple of times a day (i think) and i still feel great. i had a day last week where i felt HORRIBLE though. i've never felt that way with either of the other two pregnancies. i went to the outlet with my mom and just felt gross and yucky. not really nauseated, but just awful. i had a bit of a headache and my stomach felt like i was about 8 months pregnant. i couldn't sleep well the nite before and i couldn't lay on my stomach or hardly even on my side i felt so huge. luckily, by the time i went to bed that nite, i felt almost normal again. i woke up the next morning and felt fine and have continued feeling fine ever since. maybe it was just so i could have a little more sympathy for what most other pregnant woman go through! either way...i don't want to feel that way ever again! i'll try to post a little more regularly throughout this pregnancy if only to remind myself as my memory is completely shot. but expect photos from the photo shoot we have on wednesday!
fireflight is out on the road headlining their own tour right now and they came to richland michigan on saturday. dave had to work but the boys and i drove out after hayden's soccer game to hang with the family and the band and then watch the show later that evening. talan had been counting down the days and talking non stop about fireflight the entire week. he couldn't wait to see justin and jessica...and fireflight. we got in around 1:30 and were able to hang out quite a bit with jessica. we also got to spend some time with justin in between him getting ready for the show. eventually the boys found the nursery (the show was at a church) and were entertained by a room full of toys. so much so that talan kept saying he didn't want to go watch fireflight, he just wanted to play with the toys. we eventually lured him away by telling him fireflight was about to play "stand up", his favorite fireflight song. before i left our house in the morning, my old jr. high leader from ward, mark huysken, sent me an email stating that he would be at the show with 2 of his daughters and wondered if we would be. i hadn't seen him since i ran into him at meijer back when i went to western....14 years ago!! so it was so great being able to see him and talk to him a bit...in between my running after the boys, of course. fireflight put on a great show, as always, and the boys loved being able to see jess and justin again. when we were heading to the car to leave, talan kept telling jessica "jessca, talan's car." wanting her to come with us. thankfully they will be home soon for a little while. we miss them when they're gone!
jenn and talan before the show. mom bought talan this hat that says "rock nation." talan would say each letter and then say "fireflight!!": dawn and hayden making balloon animals on jenn's iphone: no matter where i am standing, i can't ever get pictures of phee. he's always covered by cymbals. i was able to get a few this time: phee is the man. or as talan now says "phee cuckoo!": hayden took this one: and this one: dawn and hayden after the show: talan finally getting a chance to play the drums:
so for a minute we forgot that we have 2 kids and we headed out on friday to our second show in just three nites.our friends jennie and eric shanburn headed over to our house and we all went over to niki's for dinner before the show. while we were there our friends michelle and derek swanson walked in which was a great surprise since we haven't seen them in a LONG time.we finished up with dinner and headed over to st. andrew's to see the show. we got there when the opening band was playing their 2nd to last song...so pretty much perfect timing on our parts.while we were standing in our normal spot...by the sound stage near the back...we ran into our friend carrie bartus and then finally met up with our friends bill and sarah burns. we felt like quite the little socialites, let me tell you.the show started and i waited to see if other people were taking pictures since there was a sign at the door saying no cameras. i saw a few flashes and figured i'd give it a try. i got a few pictures before some dude that worked for live nation came and took my camera away.the show was great and i was so happy that they actually had a shirt for kids which we got for hayden. it was wonderful seeing so many of our friends, most of whom we never get to see.i picked up my camera at the end of the show and was happy to see they hadn't erased the pictures. so now i will share my bootlegged photos with you. once again, concert lighting doesn't go together with point and shoot cameras. these are the best i could get before the man took me down.
we headed to the magic stick in detroit last nite to see trail of dead. they are one of my most favorite bands and maybe my absolute favorite band to see live. they play with 2 drummers which could be disastrous but always ends up being incredible. both of the boys have always LOVED trail of dead and i had thought about possibly bringing talan with us to this show. i know the venue and i also knew that the last time we saw them (several months back) the crowd was pretty small. the show was also an all ages show. i just wasn't sure if we actually needed to buy a ticket for him or if we could just bring him in. the show was going to start pretty late so i didn't really know if we would bring him or not, but thought i'd call to get some info so we could at least have the option. when i called the venue a couple of days before the show i spoke to a lady that was less than helpful. she answered the phone from the bowling alley that was downstairs so i let her know i had a question about a show at the magic stick. "yeah, ok. what is it?" off to a great start. so i tell her, we are going to a show there in a few nites and i know it's an all ages show, however, we have a young kid and we wondered if he could get in with us and if we'd have to buy him a ticket. "well how young is young?" 2. "TWO?! uh, yeah, i don't know about that. i mean, i would think all ages would mean like maybe 16 and over. something like that, not a 2 year old." ok....so are you telling me he can't come? "the venue has a BAR in it." yeah. "people will be DRINKING." yup. "and there aren't any SEATS in this venue. it's like a BAR." uh huh. "i'd just be worried that he would get hurt." ok. "what band are you going to see?" trail of dead. "TRAIL OF THE DEAD?!" (she obviously had never heard of them before and probably thought they were some devil worshiping thrash metal band) "yeah, i don't think so." ok...so you're telling me he can't come? "yeah, i'm going to have to say no." even though she wasn't really even in charge of the whole situation. i honestly thought she was going to track down where i lived and send child protective services to our house to take our children away. how dare we even THINK of bringing our children to a show with a band called and you will know us by the trail of dead?! gasp. so...we didn't bring talan. but i did tape a couple of songs for both of the boys which they were SO excited to see first thing this morning. oh, and the crowd? yeah, there wasn't much of one at all. most of the floor was totally empty and we were able to stand up on a little platform area (that actually had chairs!!!! huh, seating, what do you know?!) the whole time without a single person getting in our way. we aren't a fan of opening bands and usually try to miss them, although we end up catching them most of the time anyway. we have learned that when trail of dead plays we shouldn't try to miss the opening bands because they are almost always great. we have been introduced to a lot of great bands through them, one of which is the sword and is one of talan's favorite bands. at this show they had the secret machines open. we apparently saw them a couple of years ago at lollapalooza (so says dave, i wouldn't remember) but they were so great last nite. dave told me he thought they probably had the best tone he had ever heard before. he ended up getting a chance to talk to one of them and complimented him on that. he seemed really appreciative of the compliment and a few minutes later he came back with a beer for dave. trail of dead came out after the secret machines and once again blew us away. after the last time we saw them i had told dave that i would never again miss a show of theirs in our area. the 2 drummers make me want to cry, they are that good. unfortunately, venue lighting sucks and i can never get good pictures. this show seemed to be darker than normal and the lighting on stage does crazy stuff to cameras. one day i will invent a camera with a "concert" setting and i will make millions. to sum it all up, the secret machines were great. trail of dead was great. if you ever have a chance to see them, do it. if you don't have their albums, buy them. maybe next year when talan turns 3 the magic stick will think it's ok to bring him...
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baby trying to eat its foot:
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