Baby Update

Gestational age: 32 weeks, 5 days
BP: 118/60
Weight gain: 2 pounds (in 3 weeks)

This doctor's appointment went WAY better than my last appointment. The nurse Becky asked me how I was doing as the CNA was weighing me and after hearing that I only gained 2 pounds in 3 weeks my answer was "fantastic!"

Baby girl is measuring right on target and her heartbeat sounds great. She is currently breach. It was fun to find out that the large round object right below my rib cage is her head and not her bum. Ephraim was breech at this point too and turned around 34 weeks. Hopefully she will turn soon - but she is such a roller, that she may wait longer.

I have been having a lot of headaches lately - usually at night, but several have lasted all day. Tylenol will dull my headache, but not make it go away. I have been trying to drink a lot of liquid thinking it may have been dehydration related, but that hasn't worked either. My doctor thinks it is due to a lack of sleep. Ephraim has not been sleeping well at all so we will blame him. :) He offered me painkillers with narcotics, but I declined. The headaches are annoying, but not so terrible that I feel the need for major painkillers.

The best news was that there is currently not a national shortage of heparin, so it doesn't look like I will be induced for that this time. My doctor can't tell me if I will need to be induced for other reasons - it is too soon to tell that - but at least it won't be heparin related.

My next appointment is in 2 weeks. I can't believe baby girl will be here in less than 8 weeks.

Ryan and Emily

For those of you that don't know - Ryan and Emily left the USA on Sunday to move and work in Garmisch, Germany at the Edelweiss Resort (a resort for the US Department of Defense). They are going to be there for 13 months. Both Ryan and Emily have started blogs to document their adventure. You can click on their names on my sidebar to check out their blogs.

A Glimpse...

Into what our lives have looked like lately...

Ephraim loves to lounge in our bed with his daddy.
Driving remote control cars.
These next pictures are titled "Fun in A Box"
Mommy trying to teach Ephraim to hide

Holiday Card 2009

I am being lazy this year and not doing a holiday card. The farther it gets into January, the less motivated I become. If I had sent out a card and letter though, it might have contained the following:
2009 Recap:
January: Ephraim turned 9 months old. Ephraim, my mom and I drove to Jackson for several days to surprise Colleen and Erik.
February: At 10 months old - Ephraim started to make discernable sounds such as "uh-oh" and roaring like a lion. At the end of the month he took his first steps. Forrest and I completed some home improvement projects.
March: Ephraim got his first haircut and Frank and Forrest built me garden beds. I also purchased a worm composter.
April: Ephraim turned 1 and had a tractor birthday party. We watched Ryan compete in the NWC decathlon. Ephraim attended his first political protest. We bought a zoo membership and began enjoying the zoo.
May: Ephraim and I went to Ohio with my mom, Colleen, Elisa and Sadie to watch Ryan compete at nationals. Our garden started growing.
June: We bought Ephraim a pool, continued working on our garden, took a trip to Oregon to have fun with friends.
July: We traveled to Jackson for my cousin Alfred's wedding to our good friend Bailey. The day before the wedding we found out we are pregnant with #2. Ephraim took his first trip to the ER.
August: We went camping with the Moody's and Brownlee's at Lost Lake. Our garden grew like crazy - with my favorite vegetable being the humongous pumpkin vine that grew out of our dirt pile.
September: Colleen and her girls came out for a few days and we went to the fair and zoo. We spent 10 wonderful days in Hawaii for a friends wedding.
October: We went to the beach on the first to remember my dad, Ephraim had several new friends be born. I turned 31. Ephraim and I went to a pumpkin patch. Ephraim turned 18 months and we learned he wasn't gaining enough weight and put him on high fat/calorie diet.
November: Forrest celebrated his birthday, we found out #2 is going to be a girl, spent Thanksgiving with our families.
December: Spent a lot of time in Oregon with family and friends. All of the Forbes clan was together for Christmas.
Things we are looking forward to in 2010:
*The arrival of baby girl Arnold in March
*Camping and gardening this summer
*A trip to Wyoming in October so Forrest can go hunting
*Ephraim starting soccer
*Spending as much time as possible with family and friends

Baby Update

Gestational age: 29 weeks, 5 days
weight gain: no longer going to be mentioned
BP: great

Today was a pretty normal doctor's appointment except for the fact that I gained an insane amount of weight in the past 5 weeks. I don't think I look like I have gained the amount of weight that I did, and am seriously doubting their scale. (Although - It is my fault that I am pregnant over Thanksgiving and Christmas) Baby's heartbeat is great and I am measuring perfectly. I had to get my Rhogram shot (my blood type is O neg and Forrest's is O positive) and that thing hurts like the dickens. You would think that giving myself a shot everyday would prepare me - but it doesn't - my butt was sore for a few hours.

I have been in major nesting mode lately. My nesting has not been around having a clean house (I wish it was) but instead has been centered around food. In the past two weeks I have made and frozen: spaghetti sauce, a casserole, pumpkin muffins, cookies, homemade poptarts and rolls. I have also slowly been organizing different areas in my home. Much to the dismay of my husband a lot of my organizing is requiring buying things to help me store items in a more orderly fashion. I have also been planning ahead and know which meals I will order from Dinner's Ready in February as well as have Ephraim's big brother, Easter, and Birthday gifts planned and partially purchased. (cutting fruit, bath toys/crayons, and a basketball hoop for those that are curious)

Our nursery (which is currently our office) has not been started on yet. Forrest's parents are coming up around the end of the month to help us paint, move furniture and get organized. I can't help Forrest with moving things so we have to wait for help.

My next appointment is in 3 weeks and I hope to find out if I will need to be induced again.