Our baby shower is just around the corner!

I have been busy these past few weeks helping my sister Dana plan my baby shower. She is hosting it, but since she doesn’t get off work until late and I stay at home, I offered to help her with some things. She reserved the clubhouse where she lives as the venue, which is very nice because it has a full kitchen! We also picked out and ordered the cake. She also bought all the supplies that I needed to make the invitations, programs and party favors. I started with the invitations. I designed it how I wanted it, printed them out and got them mailed out a month ahead of the shower date! I also designed and printed the programs, which look adorable. I am now working on the party favors and prizes for the games. Phillip and I went to Babies R Us and finished our registry. He was like a kid in a candy store with the registry gun! He was scanning everything! We both had a lot of fun!

Phillip is so excited about our baby boy, so we discussed having the baby shower co-ed so he could take part and experience it also. We both decided that it would be so much fun, and we had a lot of guys that would come, so we went with the co-ed idea.

Phillip’s boss, Dave, was generous enough to offer to provide the food for the shower, so we put together a menu. I’d have to say it’s very delectable! Since we are having a luncheon shower, we decided to serve Rib eye steaks, grilled chicken breasts, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy and dinner rolls for the entrée, chips, dip and salsa, crackers and cheese, a variety of soda, water, beer and sangria (homemade, and it’s delicious! Too bad I can’t have any).

I am so excited, I can hardly wait! We have been holding off until after the shower to go shopping for ‘Lil Bean. We want to wait and see what we get and don’t get so we can buy accordingly. We still have a lot of work to do with the nursery. We finally got the crib and changing table picked up; it’s in the garage and just needs to be assembled. But before we can do that, we need to paint the nursery first. My sister Dana is buying the bedding, so we will get all that at the shower. We are still waiting for the armoire to come in. There’s so much that I need to get done; I need to have a few blankets embroidered with our baby’s name, I need to re-cover my rocking chair as it does not match the nursery color and décor, I need to decorate the nursery, get everything washed…. Ahhhh, there is just so much that we still need to do. I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Hopefully, in the next few weeks we can get most of this done. I have a list started that way we don’t forget anything. If you can think of anything else we missed that we need to do, please feel free to comment. Any ideas and suggestions are appreciated! Thanks, and God bless!

Another trip to Labor & Delivery

Early Friday morning, May 8th, I woke up with some cramping and back pain. It wasn’t all that bad, so I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. I managed to get a little bit of sleep on and off through the pain. When the alarm clock went off at 5 am for Phillip to get up and get ready for work, I noticed that the cramping was a bit more painful and my lower back was hurting more. I asked Phillip to massage my back to see if that would help, but it just seemed like it irritated my back more. Then I noticed that my belly was tightening up a bit when the cramping would start. I thought to myself “I hope I’m not in labor”. My mind started thinking a million and one different things. I remember my OB telling me that pre-term labor can occur with placenta previa, which I have been previously diagnosed with. I couldn’t think straight. But I did manage to call the after hours number to my Ob office, and the nice lady immediately got one of my doctors on the line with me. I explained to him what was going on, and he suggested that I head straight to the hospital and into Labor & Delivery where they could diagnose me better. So I got ready and off I went. I arrived there at 7 am. A nurse showed me right away to my room, had me change in to one of the very lovely gowns, get a urine sample and lie down on the bed where she proceeded to hook me up to the fetal monitor. She asked me all the normal, routine questions, then went to call my OB to see what course of action they wanted to take. ‘Lil Bean’s heartbeat was very strong, and he was very active. He kept kicking the monitor! It was such a relief to hear him! There weren’t many strong contractions at first, but there were definitely signs of an irritable uterus. The nurse came back in and told me that there was a lot of blood in my urine, and my OB wanted me started on an IV and a drip antibiotic, so that got done immediately. The nurse had a hard time finding a good vein – she stuck me 3 times with the IV needle, to no avail! She had to call on another nurse to come in and get it done. Finally, on the 4th try, it was a success! It was after that that the contractions started back up. Once again, my nurse had to call my OB, which luckily, was there at the hospital already making her rounds, to see how she wanted things handled. So my OB came in and checked to make sure my cervix and cercalge were still ok, which they were, thank God, and then decided that I could get a shot in the back of my arm to hopefully stop the contractions. She also said I could get Stadol to help with the pain. I gladly agreed to both, and was given both before too long. A few minutes after receiving the Stadol, I was in dream land! That stuff works wonders! My Ob also ordered an u/s on my kidneys, because of the amount of blood that was present in my urine. I was taken to get that done, and the results came back fine. No kidney problems! And the shot also worked, because the contractions started going away. I took a nap, and when I woke up, I felt a lot better than I did when I first arrived. It was around 1 pm when I was discharged and sent home with the same restrictions as I already had – bed rest with bathroom privileges and meal privileges.

So far, I have not had anymore episodes. My OB said that luckily, I was not having full-on contractions, or she might have had to keep me in the hospital for the duration of this pregnancy, which would have been AWFUL!!! Thank God that everything turned out the way it did! God is so good, and I praise Him for all that He has blessed me with. I am praying that 'Lil Bean and I remain healthy and problem free until delivery.

I have an u/s on Friday, May 22 at 10 am followed by an OB check. I have a few things that I need to discuss with my OB, and hopefully, the u/s will reveal more about my placenta and about ‘Lil Bean’s development so we can go ahead and finalize a date for my c-section. I’d like to have things panned out, as I feel like I’m running out of time and still have a lot left undone. So I guess for now I just have to wait and see what my next appointment brings! Pray with me that everything works out! Thanks and God bless!

Kaleb's (Big brother-to-be) 7th birthday party!

Kaleb, the big brother-to-be, turned 7 on May 4th. We celebrated his birthday on Saturday, May 2nd at Chuck E. Cheese’s after his T-ball game. We invited all his teammates and family. We had quite the turn out! We had such a good time!

When we were planning the party, we asked Kaleb what he wanted for his birthday. His response was very interesting. He said that his birthday list was a flat screen TV, Verizon Fios for his room, a remote control car, a Wii, a laptop and an Ipod! I got to thinking, Oh boy; my son is just like me!!! So we were in a frenzy trying to figure out what to get him, since everything on his “list” was pretty pricey. And he never failed to mention his “list” to anyone who asked him what he wanted for his birthday. I have to admit, I was expecting Kaleb’s list to have Lego’s, remote control car…. you know, the typical things a 7 year old would ask for! So I got thrown for a loop when he started to rattle off his list!

After his T-ball game, we had to go home to change clothes and to pick up the cake we had ordered, and then proceeded to Chuck E. Cheese. We weren’t there long before all the guests started showing up. They had a table prepared for us in the Birthday area, so we set up camp there. We got tokens for the kids so they could go and play before the entertainment began. After the kids played for a while, the pizzas came and they brought us drinks, so the kids sat down and ate. The grown-ups pizza came, too, so we were all able to sit down and eat. After we ate, Chuck E. Cheese came out and performed, and greeted and hung out with all the birthday stars and their guests. After the show, we had Kaleb open all his presents. He got a lot of cool stuff! He racked up on cash!!! Let’s see, he got a Hummer remote control car, a Dodge Ram remote control truck, a digital camera, an Ipod, some Lego kits, we got him a Wii with some accessories, and he also got Mario Kart for Wii! He was so happy! And we all are very thankful to everyone who gave him stuff.

We stayed there for a few more hours and let the kids all play together. We finally called it a day at around 3 pm. We h ad such a good time, and Kaleb had such a great birthday party. It really meant a lot to him that his friends and family were there. We have started to think of ideas for his birthday next year. Any ideas and suggestions are greatly appreciated!