Month 1

Ask and you shall receive...

So I have decided to make an effort to resurrect my pregnancy blog now that I am pregnant again. I just want to warn everyone that this time around I have decided to be a little more candid about my experiences. I think I will make it a forum for other moms to join in. If you have something to say...by all means please comment!!! I welcome your thoughts and opinions!

Those of you who just "love being pregnant" and think it is the greatest thing ever...you might get a little annoyed by my blog.

I personally do not enjoy being pregnant.

GASP!

Yeah, I said it. I hate sharing my body with what is basically a parasite. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a mom. I love the whole idea of having lots of kids but if I could do it without the whole concept of 40 weeks of prison I would probably have 10 kids. Okay, so not 10 but you get my drift.

Okay another thing to clarify. It is definitely exciting to think that you are growing a baby in your body. Yes, very cool. As far as gaining weight, stretching out, feeling nauseous, gassy, and blah...it's not very fun for me.

So far in my early weeks of pregnancy I have been SLEEEEEPY. I could probably sleep for 10+ hours a night and then take a 3+ hour nap during the day. Seriously. This is what I did when I was pregnant with Jack, especially on my days off. I would sleep and sleep and sleep. It was wonderful. All those people kept saying, "sleep now while you can." Well I heeded that advice.

Reality check: This time around I have a (almost) 2 year old to chase around. He doesn't even take a nap half the time lately. There is no sleeping in, taking naps, or resting. It's just not fair to him. Believe me, there are days I wish I could just lie on the couch with him and cuddle while watching his new favorite movie Toy Story. He would do it, too. I just have never been that kind of mom. I can't plop my kid in front of the TV and use it as a babysitter.

So for now I have been sucking it up and fighting the urge to snooze. It is even worse since Ed is gone right now for work. Yesterday Jack and I had a lovely morning at the zoo and then played at the park in the afternoon. Today we had a play date with his friend Tristan, went to the park with the twins, and then in the afternoon had another play date and did some crafts (more to come with that later) with his buddy Madelyn. After that we went to dinner and now he is asleep. I should be going to sleep but it's only 7:30 pm and I just needed a minute to vent and get my thoughts out.

So there you have it. My first post on the pregnancy blog. I am not promising to keep up with this every week...this is a trial period. For now, I am going to go enjoy a nice hot cup of my pregnancy tea and fold all the laundry. Maybe next week I will blog about the different array of teas I seem to like to drink when I am pregnant. Have a great night!

Storch Family Blog

We started a new blog...

http://storchfamily.blogspot.com/

Week 40

Well today is March 6, 2009. It just happens to be the baby's official DUE DATE and so far NOTHING. I was so excited when I woke up, because I thought maybe the baby would really come on it's actual due date. Here are some pictures we took in front of the house this morning before we left for our appointment.

We went to our doctors appointment at 8:00 this morning for a Non Stress Test and an exam. Here is the update: these past couple of weeks I have been gaining weight like crazy (total weight gain is now 53 pounds), my blood pressure was 100/60, baby's heart rate is in the 140's, my cervix is about the same as it was last week, I am not dilated at all.

The NST is basically where they hook you up to a fetal monitor for 20 minutes and see how the baby's heartrate is reacting to any contractions you are having. It also makes sure the baby is moving around like it should. I don't know how it moves at all since it is so squished in there, but somehow it manages. We passed the NST and now the plan is to wait. If nothing happens this weekend we are scheduled to go into the hospital on Tuesday night and check in. I will be induced early Wednesday morning.

So I guess we are just going to try and enjoy our weekend. Today we have a hot date to get pizza and go miniature golfing. :) We will keep you updated if anything happens! Here is one last belly shot for your viewing pleasure.

Week 39

Well we are down to the final stretch!! 7 more days and the baby is due to come out!! :) Yay! I went for my doctor's appointment yesterday (Friday) and she says that the baby's head is right there. My cervix has thinned considerably, but not all the way. I am still not dilated at all. It still could be any day now. I have my next appointment on Friday, March 6th (due date!) and if the baby has not come by then I already have an induction scheduled for early Wednesday morning. Some good news...the baby is not big, blood pressure was good, blood sugars have been good. Everything is right on track so now it's a waiting game.

Here is a 39 week picture that Ed took today. Who needs a tan? This girl!

This weekend we don't have a whole lot planned. Basically we are going to clean the house, get the guest room ready, clean out the garage, and make sure everything is washed and ready for baby. I need to pack my bags too. I have a list that I made, but I think this weekend I will go ahead and have it all ready so that when the time comes we don't have to worry about it.

Here is a picture of baby's room still in progress...

My latest addition is the book shelves on either side of the crib. I needed more space for storage and they matched perfectly. We have started a book collection for baby. We got a bunch of books that we both loved to read as kids and we both agree that it is never too early to read to a child. I can't wait! Ed already read all of the books to Hope so he could practice reading out loud (how cute!). I think this weekend I might set up the pack & play downstairs so we have somewhere for the baby to sleep close by. I don't have a monitor yet and I don't think I'll be comfortable with the baby upstairs without being able to hear it cry.

Well I guess it's just a waiting game from here on out. We will keep you posted if anything happens!! :)

Week 38

Week 38! 14 days to go! Friday I had my doctor's appointment and he said the baby has definitely dropped down into the pelvis...yay! Unfortunately I'm not dilated or anything so it could still be weeks, but at least baby is doing what it can to get here. :) Either way it will be soon!

Ed and I had a nice weekend. Friday night we went over to a friends house and played a game of poker. It was a first for both of us and we didn't end up winning, but we both had a lot of fun trying. Ed held in there pretty long. Saturday Ed went iceskating with his friends Randy and Tyson. I went shopping at the mall with Randy's wife. That night another neighbor was going to have a poker game at his house but Ed and I were exhausted from the busy day so we volunteered to watch Randy and Andrea's baby Madilynn. She is so cute!

They brought her over around 7:00. She had a snack of goldfish and shared with Hope. Then she got a little fussy so we thought a bath might be fun but she started screaming and reaching for Ed. We cut the bath short, got her dressed in her pajamas, and I started warming up her bottle. She only wanted Ed to hold her (so cute!) so he gave her a bottle and she passed out in his arms. Ed and I watched a movie and passed out on the couch.

Sunday we went to church in the morning. We came home and made delicious Reuben sandwiches for lunch. Mmm! Ed watched the Penguins game and I cleaned up a little bit. For dinner we made cheese stuffed manicotti.

On to the next week...maybe the baby will make it's debut...we shall see!

Here is the start of packing the baby's bag. I have a bunch of outfits, pacifiers, diapers, wipes, blankets, etc. Hopefully we will have everything we need. The carseat is in the car ready to go!

Week 37

BELLY PIC

As of today I have 18 days to go!! CRAZINESS! We have had a good week so far. At my last appointment I had lost 1 pound from the week before (yay!) and my blood pressure was good, my sugars have been good (except when I eat yummy cake!), I'm measuring fine. They checked me and said that the baby is still WAY up there and shouldn't be here anytime soon...darn. :( I was really excited because once you hit 37 weeks in your pregnancy, the baby is considered full term.

I stopped working as of last week because I was having contractions all day long and they were starting to get uncomfortable. I really wanted to work through my whole pregnancy, but the 12 hour shifts were becoming too much and I just couldn't do it. I felt like I was sitting down for a break every 10 minutes to make the contractions stop. I guess I will take the extra time to get caught up on my cleaning, getting the nursery ready, etc. There are so many things to do around here, I don't even know where to start. I made this huge list so hopefully I can tackle everything before I go into labor.

Other than that, we are just sitting here anxious to meet our baby and find out if it's a he or a she. We're both really curious to see what baby looks like, we talk about it almost every night before we go to bed. Ed thinks baby will be blonde like he was and I think it will come out with dark hair like I did. We will see soon enough.

As soon as I get the nursery cleaned up and everything put away I will take an updated picture of what I've done so far. We still don't have a theme (we're waiting until we know what the baby will be), but we have some things in place.

Week 36

The Week of the Showers...Part 2

This is Amanda's famous diaper cake...ADORABLE!!

After my PSA shower I loaded my car with presents and drove straight to Jacksonville. My BFF Monica had planned a shower and invited all of my Wolfson girls!! I was soooo excited to see everyone, they hadn't seen me since September (see past blog "Last Night at Work"). I was a little nervous about driving by myself 9 months preggo, but I had been to the doctor's office the day before and she assured me I would be fine. So I made it to Monica's house and she was the best hostess ever. It was more like a vacation than anything. She had worked so hard to clean her house and she even had a low-carb dinner ready for me when I got there. We ate dinner and visited for awhile. Her hospitality was incredible. She even turned down my covers when it was time for bed. Here is a picture of her and Max.

The next morning we got up early and she made me coffee with cinnamon (mmm!) and breakfast. We ran a few errands, and I helped her get everything ready for everyone to get there that afternoon. It was soooo nice! Here are some pictures...

Here is a picture of the spread...DEEE-LISH!!

The girls trying to figure out the word scramble game...

Angela won that game...with some help from me! Haha!

VACCINATION!! (inside joke)

Baby Madelyn shared her birthday with me...she came straight from her party!

Opening Presents!!

Me & Jamie!

Lindsey & I...and my big baby!

Thank you Monica for hosting this baby shower!! It was so much fun to spend a weekend with you. It was nice to see everyone from the floor. I can't thank you enough for your kindness!!!